I know, diet advice from a big girl? Well, these aren't mine. They're from the best sources I can find!
1. Learn to cook
Why is this first? Because if you learn to make your own food, you control what goes into it. I'm not saying you have to be an Iron Chef here, just the basics: Learn to make a few basic soups , salads, and some basic meals that conform with whatever diet you've picked. Most pre-made "healthy" foods have chemical ingredients, and frequently hidden fats/sugars/salt. making it yourself means you control what goes in to it, and usually saves money to boot.
2. Eat Breakfast
According to the National Weight Loss control registry, 78% of their members (people who have lost weight and kept it off 5 years) eat breakfast every day.
Personally I'm a big breakfast fan. My standard breakfast is 2 sausauge patties, 2 eggs over a pile of spinach nuked until tender. It's a lot of food and it keeps me going most of the day. Runny egg yolk on spinach, as gross as it sounds, tastes far better than dipping toast into the yolk. Plus since I'm a woman, the folic acid in the eggs and the iron in the spinach are must-have nutrients. If I stop losing weight, the sausage goes or switched for turkey sausage, ham or some other meat with lower calories. No biggie.
If your one of those people that gets nauseaous at the thought of breakfast, try this: Blend your morning coffee with ice and protein powder for a healthy alternative to those coffee shop milkshakes. There are a ton of sugar free syrups out there to match the taste, and you save hundreds, sometimes over a thousand calories!
3. Vegetables are good, mmkay?
In this case "good" is an understatement - they're fantastic! Where else are you going to get so many nutrients for so few calories? I understand if you think you hate vegetables - especially if you grew up on frozen, canned or overcooked vegetables (shudder). Spinach is one of my favorites, but my grandmother tried to make me eat spinach soufflee once as a kid.Let'sjust say it didn't end well. She also steamed broccoli until the kitchen smelled like someone ate too many beans! In fact, the farther I go on this weight loss journey, the more I realize that I DESPISE steamed or boiled veg. I thought I hated asparagus, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and beets because my grandmother cooked them to death- now I can't get enough of them. Yes, there's oil on my vegetables when I roast them, but that makes the nutrients easier to absorb - plus it tastes a lot better.
If you think you hate certain vegetables:
- Try them raw instead of cooked: Spinach in a salad, or shredded broccoli slaw.
-Try them local and in season
A summer tomato from a local farmer is a world away from those pale, bland, rubber tomatoes you get in winter. They have to be sturdy to make the trip from South America or Europe, and the taste is sacrificed.In my area we have a variety called yellow pear , and the taste is almost explosive!
Be sure to try a whole variety of vegetables to keep yourself out of a rut!
4. Exercise
Will it help you lose weight? It may or may not,but it will probably make you feel better. You don't have to go to a gym to excercise, either, many people walk. My passion is bicycling. I love bieng outside and finding new scenic rides. It's also a great place to notice the changes in your body that don't happen on the scale, like breathing better. Another statistic - out of the sucesses on the registry, 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.
Some Additional Info Learned From the BBC Series : How To Be Slim
To stay fuller longer, eat a protein based meal, versus a carbohydrate or fat based one.
The same amount of food will also keep you satisfied longer if it's soup rather than solid food.
Keeping a food diary helps to remind you what you've eaten, so you eat less. I recommend Sparkpeople-it's a great site.
High Calcium dairy foods like cheese, yogurt, etc., help you excrete more fat, making it easier to lose weight. The documentary reccomended low fat dairy because of the lower calorie count.
Youtube splits it up into 6 parts, and it's fascinating!
