Most people don’t know where to begin when they decide to lose weight. You come to a point where you just want to lose the weight and you decide that come Monday (we all start on Monday right?) you are going to follow a strict meal plan and start exercising for an hour every day.
You are determined.
Monday goes great and it’s on to Tuesday. Tuesday isn’t quite as good as Monday but hey this is new and you are motivated. By Wednesday you are asking yourself why you are doing this and your head is hurting a little bit. Just one cookie and you will keep going after all, you earned it.
By Thursday we are elbow deep in a bag of chips while we sip our soda because our headache is not going away and for the love of God, we are hungry. It’s ok I get it. I’ve been there many times myself.
So how do you start to make the necessary changes to your diet to finally see some weight loss?
Start Slow.
If you’ve hung around here for any length of time you probably know by now I‘m going to tell you to start by eating a healthy breakfast. Make that the only change in your diet if you have a history of start and stopping when it comes to weight loss. Lasting change only happens when we begin to incorporate the necessary habits to move us forward. So start with one thing, if breakfast is too much, start with your usual snack and pick something healthier.
Educate Yourself.
One of the most important things to do when you are trying to lose weight is to educate yourself on what proper nutrition looks like. Now a days we have trends popping up all over the place. We see keto, oh wait its South Beach, now I better jump over here and try this thing, and on and on it goes. And you may see a little weight loss, but it becomes the rollercoaster cycling of losing and gaining weight.
So along with reading with posts here, find a good reputable source who understands nutrition – nutritionfacts.org is a great one- and start educating yourself. I also highly recommend the book – It Starts With Food.
Choose Organic as much as possible.
The less chemicals we put in our bodies that can disrupt our hormone system causing us to gain weight, the better. One of the best ways to change your diet is to change to an organic one. If your budget is a factor, like it is for me and many others, start by making one small switch (see the pattern – start small) from a non-organic one that is naturally more susceptible to chemicals, to an organic one.
I started with the dirty dozen list and then as I find more and more options, I continue to choose organic as much as I can.
Walmart and many other stores are starting to add organic lines to their selections and the more mainstream that becomes, the cheaper the products become. For instance, the Wild Oats organic pasta line at Walmart is $0.98 a box. I pay more for name brand pasta so that’s an easy choice for me and my family.
Add Fiber.
Most of us don’t get enough fiber in our daily diets -about half the recommended amount actually. Your goal is 25-30grams of fiber every day. Increasing the fiber in your diet will clean out your colon of all negative weight loss inhibitors. This means that instead of eating refined or processed foods, you should eat whole grain foods like bananas, apples, nuts, brown rice etc. Always err on the side of increasing your fiber from natural foods rather than supplements when possible.
A word of caution, if you don’t eat much fiber now, I suggest increasing this slowly to avoid possible intestinal distress. For those of you who are constipated and bloated just this one step of increasing fiber can make all the difference in how you feel.
Eat more lean protein.
Why lean proteins? When we eat lean proteins, we send a signal to the body’s hormone system that we are full. Choosing chicken, fish and turkey over red meat can greatly reduce your weight and increase your heart health. In addition, lean meats have less calories and fat resulting in less caloric intake and therefore weight loss.
Stop Buying Junk Food.
One of the most important parts of changing your diet is to eliminate as much junk food from your diet as you can. It may seem obvious but few of us think it’s actually possible to do. We keep the foods in our pantry and think we can rely on will power to resist the temptations of eating it until the first big stress event happens and we find ourselves opening the package of cookies.
Stop buying things that will tempt you! This includes candy, chips, popcorn, ice cream, milk shakes and soda. I don’t buy Oreos for this reason. I love Oreos, like I could eat a whole side of the container at once, love Oreos. If I have them in the pantry, I am eating them plain and simple.
I know a lot of us have kids or spouses who want to keep some junk food in the house. Start by explaining what you are trying to do and why it’s so important to you. I buy the things they like but don’t tempt me. Soft Batch cookies, no thanks they can eat them all.
Choose water over soda or other heavily sweetened drinks.
First, I love coke and hate water. I just do. Fight me.
I have found though that replacing my soda with the newer carbonated flavored waters has made a huge difference. Pick brands that are natural though like La Croix and Bubly, so you aren’t adding a bunch of fake crap into your body while trying to be healthy.
Instead of sodas drink water or dilute juice with water for flavor. You will find this makes a huge difference in your sugar and fat intake therefore, weight.
The last thing you want to do is make the necessary food changes in your diet only to have them completely destroyed by the large iced coffee with all the fun stuff.
It’s worth it.
Changing your diet has all kinds of health benefits including weight loss. You will feel healthier and have more energy when you start making even small changes to your diet.
At first you may feel a little off with the extra fiber and the changes in food, but this will soon pass, and your body will begin to feel better, work better and look better. And by look better I don’t just mean weight loss.
Changing the amount of water we drink and the amount of sugar we ingest can make a dramatic difference in the way our skin looks. Our eyes become brighter, our skin starts to glow and the bloating from the unhealthy foods decreases.
Remember that looking after your health and staying fit is an investment in yourself and something you should not neglect. The regret later in life from poor health choices you make now is not worth it. Choosing to stand up for your health is worth it!