Day 28: Eat Vegetables, Lose Weight | 30-Day Weight Loss-athon
It’s time for Day 28 of the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon.
All tasks in the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon are adapted from my 52 Weight Loss Missions program.
Read the steps first, then take 10 minutes to think about and complete them. Ready?
What You Need:
- Willingness to see vegetables differently.
Step 1
Our first step today is to remind ourselves why vegetables and legumes are such an asset on the weight-loss journey:
- They contain lots of fiber – which helps to fill you up, so you’re less likely to overeat
- They’re packed with nutrients – so you’re less likely to have cravings for something you’re not getting
- They help your skin look good – and when you look good it can motivate you to take better care of your diet and exercise
- They help you feel good – so you have plenty of energy to perform well
- Perhaps best of all, they can crowd out other foods – people tend to eat the same weight of food most days, so eating lots of nutrient-dense vegetables and legumes simply leaves less room for poorer choices.
Okay, so it makes sense to eat heaps of them. So how do we get ourselves to do that?
Step 2
You may not love vegetables, but you can talk yourself into liking them more. Yes you can. I think a little self-deception is a small price to pay for looking and feeling great.
- Choose the vegetables you do like and eat more of them. Become aware of enjoying them so you’re more inclined to eat them more often.
- Try vegetables you’re not sure about and be open to discovering things you like about them. Maybe the crunch of capsicum or sweetness of carrot is rather pleasant after all.
- Don’t make a big deal about the ones you hate. If you really hate them, then don’t eat them.
- Experiment with different ways of eating vegetables – perhaps you dislike salads but enjoy roasted vegetables, or hate well-cooked vegetables but like them with plenty of crunch.
Choose what you can like about vegetables.
Step 3
Next, with your vegetable-friendly mindset from Step 2, choose ways to eat more vegetables and legumes. Here are some ideas:
- Start a habit of having salad as a starter before dinner
- Add vegetables as a side to any meat, fish or poultry dish
- Swap half your pasta or rice portion for vegetables
- Swap half your meat portion for vegetables
- Add salad to ham, tuna, cheese or chicken sandwiches
- Keep canned or frozen vegetables so you always have some on hand when you prepare meals
- Experiment with new recipes that have plenty of vegetables
- Pre-cut vegetables and store in sealed containers in the fridge for quick snacks
- When cooking, add more vegetables than the recipe calls for
- Add a range of vegetable colors (orange, green, red) to make dishes look appealing
- When you’re busy, distracted, in a rush or don’t care much what you eat, choose something with lots of vegetables
- Serve yourself more of the vegetables you like; don’t feel you have to eat the ones you don’t like
- Revisit Day 21: Set Up A Weight-Loss-Friendly Recipe System and tweak your recipes to include more vegetables and legumes
- Create a self-perpetuating habit: eat more vegetables and you’ll start to like them more. It’s true! Ask anyone who’s lost weight.
How will be be upping your vegetable intake?
Bonus Step For 52 Weight Loss Missions Members
- Review Mission 20: Create A Smart Pantry System so that your pantry is always well stocked with vegetables.
- Review Mission 27: Eat More Vegetables And Legumes for the additional hints.
Check in!
And you’re done!
Be sure to leave your comment below to check in and stay accountable. If you’re reading this by email or in a reader then please click here to leave your comment.
See you tomorrow!
I am finding that this weight loss plan is forcing me address “other” issues as well. I love a good funky salad but haven’t been eating as many cold foods because my teeth have started to complain. Off to the dentist so that I may once again enjoy cold foods. 🙂
I was one of those people who used to HATE veggies. My advice for those who hate them: Try the Green Giant frozen steamer bags that come w/low fat cheese. Now I prefer fresh veggies but I still like cheese! Tonight I steamed brocolli with the ziploc microwave bags and sprinkled on some low fat mozzarella. Yuumm! And Hey So CA peeps, Stater Bros. had strawberries on sale.99 for a 1 lb. Also slice up zucchini or yellow squash and cook w/a little olive oil spray & salt & pepper over the stove. Fast & yummy.
I am much better than I used to be. I don’t like raw vegetables much so I try to drink V8 a bit when I don’t have time to cook. I mostly love fall vegetables like squash, rutabaga, sweet potato. I love stir fry so I will do my best next week to start as this week I am still fasting, but a liquid fast of smoothies, milk and chocolate milk.
I am already a vegetable eater. I have already changed some items in my refrigerator so that when I want to munch I have the option to choose carrots, tomatoes, etc. before I choose something unhealthy. We always have a vegetable with our dinner and I’ve frequently added a salad to my dinner. This shouldn’t be a difficult change for me but it’s good to know that it is something to keep doing.
Vegetables, I can’t eat enough of them. I will cut up a variety of vegetables and make it into a veggie salad. Once a week, we love to eat our veggie stirfries! Usually on a Sunday nite, I will soak some beans overnite to eat with our veggies during that week, or make something like hummus. Love the veggies and beans.
I’ve gotten into the habit of having pre-prepared salad in a huge sealed container in the frig. So easy to grab some for lunch with a few cheese cubes or bit of shredded left over meat. Also great to put on the table in the evenings to encourage the children to eat more salad, too. Lots of leafy greens, sliced capsicum, whatever other salad veges look good. I also usually have handy sundried tomatoes, olives, etc to add a Mediterranean feel to the salad. So delicious and easy when it’s already prepared!
Love my veggies! 🙂
The more I read, the more I am inspired to eat more vegies. They are so good for you.
OK. I love veggies, I love the colors. Some meals work better with lots of veggies than others… so I’ll try to focus on those.
I love vegetables.. even to the point that I have salad for breakfast as I wasnt a breakfast eater.. now I can eat vegetables all day.. yay
I love veggies but my teens won’t eat them. I need to stop using that as an excuse not to make them more often! I’ll be sure to buy more veggies when I shop this weekend.
I’m a veggie lover also. Buffalo chicken salad (tons of great veggies with a ‘bite’ of chicken) has been my go to thru out this mission.
I shall make more stir fries because they are full of veges and also with the cooler weather starting I will be back into making my big pot full of vege soup. My family loves eating veges so this task is an easy one.
I’m not a big veggie fan but over the last few years have opened up to re-trying (and enjoying in some cases) a lot of veggies I previously wouldn’t eat. definitely making a conscious effort to expand the different veggies I will eat and have been adding a lot more veggie content to my lunches in recent weeks. it makes me feel a lot better knowing that I am eating a healthy lunch!
this one is too easy as I love all veges except a few I am allergic to and broad beans, yuck. I even make rissoles from eggplant with lots of fresh basil and some parmesan cheese, zucchini fritters, and heaps of veges in my pasta sauce and I make a great vege soup that has at last count 17 veges and a small amount of chicken or beef in it. now its getting cooler I will get that soup pot going again and have pumpkin or vege soup for lunch most days.
Love the veggies! Wish they weren’t so expensive in the winter. Looking forward to farmers market opening soon.
this is definitely the easiest task so far, love all veggies except brussel sprouts, we go through heaps in this house. have lots of meals without carbs but lots of veggies as it is now, also make your own pumpkin chips, better that sweet potato, my kids particularly like slow roasted capsicum, eggplant. zucchini, pumpkin, onion asparagus and garlic all done together with a little olive oil on silicone paper in the oven (no washing up), we then take to work/school for lunch with a bit of chicken and cheese on top for lunch…. yumm
I have started swapping half of my meat or pasta or rice for vegetables. It doesn’t seem as filling but I think it is a bit of mind over matter.
This is an easy one. I just had a plateful of veggie sticks for my lunch, carrots, celery, cucumbers, tomato, red pepper. Usually have a salad or veggie sticks with each meal. Have become my go-to snack when I prepare dinner and want to munch.
I love veggies and being creative with salad variations as well. For some reason Japanese have come to view a “Western” breakfast as having salad served as a natural part of it…so after 25 years here in Japan, I even eat salad for breakfast 😉 This is good incentive to try some of the lesser-known Japanese veggies that I find at the farmer’s stands here and there!