If you want to set a goal of weight loss and want to implement steps of reaching it.
There are several steps to be followed that you have to keep in mind as eating lesser is influenced by factors such as where you are eating.
You may be in your home or a restaurant and will always be hungry, which is, in turn, is controlled by your emotional state, mood or mindfulness.
In fact, however, you may try there are certain situations where you cannot just control your emotions too – not eat more than required. But, certain ways can be tried to divert or distract your mind from eating more and feeling full.
As they say, “it’s all in mind” and thoughts can be controlled with certain shifts of perspective and by bringing the bad influences to work in your favor. The certain unique techniques can help you achieve your weight loss in a painless manner.
1. Forget Health Claims
The primary process you have to keep in mind before starting to initialize a weight loss regime is to forget about what they say in the ad promotions.
Healthy food like fruits, vegetables, and other unprocessed foods do not have any labels on them at all.
Food products that claim of health benefits are more often than not processed, repackaged, junk and no good for you.
In fact, research has shown that people tend to overestimate the calories of foods with evident health claims on their packaging.
As a result, people tend to eat more food in general due this miscalculation. Therefore, it is advisable to stick to simple foods like fruits and veggies without labels.
2. Smaller Plate equals smaller meals
More often, it is our eyes, and our flavor addict tongue is the main reason for overeating.
Research has shown that using larger plates to eat, and larger utensils to serve causes us to consume more food that required.
As shown through the research people who serve themselves with bigger spoons on to bigger plates consumed 31% more than ones with smaller spoons and plates, the psychology being that larger spaces need to be filled with more. (1)
Therefore, it is advised to keep away the bigger plates at home for special occasions and to stick to the smaller ones for everyday meals.
Try and eat from smaller salad plates and use smaller bowls for daily use, the benefit of this is that without even realizing, you will serve less hence, eat less.
3. Enjoy your meals
You should make your eating time enjoyable.
You should focus on each bite and practice mindfulness while eating; it has been shown to lower the calorie intake.
By slowing down in between the bites, you realize when the hunger has satiated and when not to continue eating anymore.
Eating at a slower pace makes you chew the food thoroughly, and you experience lesser digestive problems.
The hustle of our daily lives makes it difficult to do this, but making a conscious effort makes you feel full while eating less.
It is advisable to eat for 20 minutes by hand for having a fulfilling meal without extra calorie intake.
4. Size-up your food
You will find yourself eating out of a bag of chips or crackers more often which make you lose control over your food or calorie intake.
It is advised not to eat directly out of a bag or box to keep your calories in check.
The reason behind that, you tend to overeat while eating from a bag. So, try and grab a small container or plate and pour your required amount on to it.
You will see that you have more control over how much you eat after dishing it up, and it will make you feel full by eating less.
5. Know your food weaknesses
There is always that food that you can’t just resist, the food you can’t stop eating, the food you can’t refuse even when you are full.
The first step to deal with this is to recognize your craving for it and derive measures to counter it either by consciously controlling your urges to overeat or by avoiding the food item as a whole.
Stick to whatever plans you may seek and if that food were to loom by you, try it once, and keep saying, “I have had enough, no more for today, at least.”
Being conscious, will help you take yourself towards your weight loss goal.
6. Keep a food note
It has been found through studies that maintaining a diary, note or journal about your food intake can help to reduce twice the amount of weight.
Writing down the things you eat in the day will help you make proper food choices.
It will lead to considering what you have eaten already and to curb chances of overeating or control your calorie intake.
Don’t forget to take into account the beverages, sauces, etc. on your log as it affects your total calorie intake in the entire day. The list helps to put a check on the things you will eat further down the day if you already had a high-calorie meal once.
7. Have a healthy plate full
You will find that most meals we have at our home or restaurants are full of all the things that are not healthy.
There are big proportions of carbs and meats on them and lesser vegetables.
Lesser vegetables in diet mean that you are consuming too many calories that will affect your weight-loss goals.
To reverse the effects, you need to fill your meal with disease combating vegetables that have vitamins, fiber and minerals. Such a diet also helps to control portions of protein and starches, which at times becomes more than necessary on a diet.
A full meal consisting of more vegetables will certainly make you feel full by way of eating less unhealthy carbs and meat.
The major benefit of eating veggies is Fiber. Fiber will supercharge your metabolism to burn more calorie, and also it will effectively kill your hunger faster and for a longer time.
8. Consume protein
Research has shown that protein plays an important role controlling appetite and food intake. People who consume protein rich food have been shown to gain less weight.
Protein fills the stomach faster and takes longer to digest. So you will have a feeling of fullness for a long period.
Shredding protein from your diet makes you prone to hunger pang that in turn initiates are overeating.
So, it is advisable to consume protein rich snacks and meals throughout the day with egg whites, beans, lean meats, hummus and low-fat dairy products like, yogurt, cottage cheese, and milk, which gives you muscle-building proteins without additional fat.
Do include in breakfast.
9. Get the food packed
You will find that as you go out eating at restaurants, they serve great quantities of food, more so because you want your money’s worth out of it, but the food comes at the price of your health more than your money.
At most eateries, a full course meal can go up to 1200 calories excluding the deserts. Even with your best intentions to stop halfway, you will find yourself not knowing where to stop.
So, in circumstances like this, it is advisable to pack half of food for you and is better done even before the food hits the table.
The policy is a great way of controlling your tongue and your calories, besides you can always have the packed food tomorrow.
10. Have breakfast
They say that breakfast is the most vital meal of the day and for good reason.
It has been found that people who eat breakfast have a low Body Mass Index (BMI) and consume lesser calories throughout the day than those who don’t have breakfast at all.
Having breakfast reduces hunger pangs throughout the day.
People who skip breakfast consumes extra calories throughout the day and end up losing out on their weight loss goal.
Eating breakfast is healthy and aids in proper weight maintenance. Those who do not feel hungry in the morning should start out with having lesser amounts of food. Having some breakfast makes you feel full for a prolonged time resulting is lesser unhealthy food intake throughout the entire day.
11. Eat thrice a day
People tend to think that having small meals throughout the day is better than three full meals in a day, but research says something different.
Eating more than 3 meals a day do not have any additional benefits and skipping meals makes the process of controlling the appetite even more challenging. Eating correctly thrice when required reduces the need for having extra food.
( It’s quite beneficial when you want to gain muscles. )
12. Out of sight is out of mind
People are more prone to snacking when food items are available and visible right in front of them.
Keep the tempting food items out of sight or even better, out of the house and keep the healthy food items at a prominently visible place to help you lose calories.
13. Chew the Food 32 Times
Once you start taking more time to have meals, you will even start paying attention to chewing your food.
You will find that most people, maybe even you, do not chew your food as required before swallowing.
Individuals who shovel food down their mouth substantially eats more than the ones who chew more while eating.
Chewing more reduces the calorie intake in your body and makes feel full while you eat less.
14. Eat Food Not TV
Getting distracted while eating can lead to overeating and make you eat more than required, which leads to a further gain of calories.
It is advised, not to park in front of a movie or long show while eating as you are disrupting the normal intake of food that puts your digestive system to ill effect. So, it is suggested to take a break of twenty minutes, have the proper meal before enjoying your shows.
Also, drinking water between meals is a great way to feel full while you eat less.
Eating mindfully can help you notice when the body is satisfied and makes you bring a check on the food consumption and calories.
Following some of the above simple procedures can set you towards your weight loss goal in no time.
The good news is you can control the many reasons of weight gain by the simple and effective techniques. You have to keep in mind that it is just a matter of bringing these tips to effect and in front of your awareness until they start becoming habits.
The proven actions can help you eat less and keep the calories in check. With time, the tips will become second nature to you, and your weight loss goal will be achieved sooner than you think.
So don’t wait to supercharge your weight loss and start eating healthy.
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