Day 4: Tweak Your Diet | 30-Day Weight Loss-athon
Here we are at Day 4 of the 30-Day Weight Loss-athon. Today we turn to that dreaded downfall of wannabe-weight-losers everywhere – the diet.
Read the steps first, then take 10 minutes to complete them.
We only have 10 minutes, so move fast, act quickly and stop over-thinking. Just throw yourself in. Ready?
What You Need:
- Blank stickers, or post-its, or paper and sticky tape
- A pen.
Step 1
Most people with weight to lose are eating more food than they need. Or more of certain types of food.
So our first step is to choose a couple of ways we’re going to eat a bit less for the rest of the month.
You don’t need a strict diet that makes you crazy and is ultimately counter-productive in order to eat less. There are many smarter, saner and more achievable ways to do it – ways that don’t require psychological self-abuse.
For instance, you could:
- Reduce your portions by, say 10%
- Reduce your portions by using smaller plates
- Switch to low-fat milk/dairy
- Halve or cut out the sugar in your tea and coffee
- Skip the syrup in your coffee
- Cut down on desserts – skip it, skip on alternate days, share dessert, halve dessert
- Drink fewer alcoholic beverages – alternate with water, dilute with ice, substitute with lime and soda
- Find something you eat most days but could do without, and stop eating it
- Stop putting butter on sandwiches
- Add less (or no) mayonnaise, gravy and sauces to your food
- Cut down on snacks – skip them, skip on alternate days, share snacks, halve snacks
- Use less fat when you cook
- Switch to lower-fat cooking methods like baking and roasting versus frying
- Use less butter or a lower fat spread.
For some people, just giving up alcohol or desserts could make a huge difference to your daily calorie intake – and your weight.
For others, several smaller changes – like switching to low-fat dairy, cutting down on sugar and reducing portion sizes by just 10% – could combine to pack quite a weight-loss punch.
You need to find actions that you can make for the long term – so don’t go too drastic. Better to aim low, have some success and then use that to bolster your efforts, than to aim too high and give up because it’s too great a sacrifice. Pace yourself – you will get there.
So choose a couple of tweaks to your diet that you can live with for a month – tweaks that won’t drive you or the people you live with crazy.
Step 2
Depending on the tweaks you’ve chosen, now take whatever action you need to take to cement these tweaks in place.
For example:
- Find smaller plates and put the larger ones away
- Put a ‘10% Less’ sign in your kitchen
- Go buy low-fat dairy products
- Put ‘Use less’ stickers on your sugar, oil, butter, alcohol or whatever
- Find smaller bowls for your snacks or desserts and put them in front of the bigger bowls
- Cut your treats in half or portion them into baggies.
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!
It’s very much about the snacks and sugar (cookies /chocolate) for me. So, I’m giving up the sugary treats, at least for a month. I’m also working on a commitment to track my food, because I’m sure I’m just overeating in general, and I need to figure out where and what.
Comprometo-me até dia 21 de Março, dia da próxima consulta da nutricionista a só beber água, chá, café e coca cola zero
Done! I am doing 10% less, and cutting down on my snacks and desserts.
Done, one dish and one plate of smaller size and one less glass of wine. And no Easter eggs!
Done. Going back to smaller plates, “taking 10” seconds before I eat anything to ask myself if I am really hungry? Will this be helpful or hurtful? Lastly, starting my meals with salad rather than at the end.
My main problem are cakes and mayo, I like to’ have a piece of cake with my coffe and some mayo at dinner so I’ll try to’ avoid it.
Ok! I want to drink a glass of water before meals, eat slowly and leave some food on plate. Let myself tune into I am satisfied! Less sugar and only small bites of dessert when available. I commit
Done. Although I don’t like notes all over the place… 🙂
oh that´s easy. I enjoy my coffee black,
~ püree some potatoes in soups instead of taking cream.
~ eat smoked pork chop instead fat sausage… but the potatoe chips…hmm ;).