As I mentioned in my pumpkin tart post on Monday, I have lost 17 lbs recently and I wanted to share with you 10 tips just in time for summer aka swimwear season. These tips are easy to follow and will contribute to the weight coming off and staying off.
1. Drink Water
This isn't a new one but I won't just tell you why, I'll also tell you how to increase your water intake. It is very hard for me to detect when I am thirsty and I think I often eat when I need a drink so keeping hydrated avoids this and also keeps me tummy full between meals. I recommend drinking a tall glass of water before every meal. I also suggest having a large bottle of water with you somewhere within arms reach, you will find yourself drinking more if you don’t have to stop what you are doing to go and pour a glass. As far as the spending more time in the bathroom is concerned it’s inevitable so don’t hold it, just go!
2. Think About It
Instead of eating as a response to every impulse, I urge you just to take a few seconds to think about everything that goes into your mouth. Ask yourself things like: is it worth the calories? Are you actually hungry? Is this a craving that won’t go away? If your answer to these questions is yes, then hunny dig right in, but if not go drink some water ☺ Also I find that sometimes I was eating simply because I enjoyed the taste of whatever it was that I was eating but not because I was actually still hungry. To this problem, the solution was to remind myself that I can always have some tomorrow, there is always a tomorrow to enjoy those fine flavours so it is ok to stop today.
3. Don't Think Too Much!
I know this sounds like a complete contradiction but hold on one second. Yes think about what you eat but do not over think weight loss. I find that when you worry about weight loss you put added pressure onto yourself and this leads to bad choices. I lost my weight and only realised 6 weeks later because I wasn’t actively trying to lose weight I was just trying to be healthy. So don’t stress out so much.
5. Small Bowls
I began eating everything out of a little bowl, one with the diameter the size of the palm of my hand. Our tummies are not very big and by eating out of a small bowl I was able to control my portion size without even thinking. In a month I went for seconds maybe twice but that probably because I was experiencing ‘enjoying-the-flavours’ syndrome described in number 2. You’ll be surprised how little you need to eat to get full.
6. Stay Busy
It is very easy to eat out of boredom but once you are physically and mentally active this won’t happen. Have you ever been so busy you forgot to eat? Exactly! I do not recommend this though because I consider missing meals a no-no under most circumstances (I will explain in the next tip) but the point is being busy means you have less chance of idle eating.
7. Go To Bed Hungry
I used to never go to bed hungry. I’d come home after a 15 hour day and be ravenous, so I’d eat dinner albeit out of a little bowl and then go straight to bed. Whilst I am not convinced about how the time of eating affects the body because the Spanish eat incredibly late and they don’t seem to have an obesity issue, I do not feel positive about eating and going straight to bed. I do think that there should be a couple hours between your last meal and going to bed. So my tip is, if you cannot stay a wake for a while after dinner, don’t have dinner just go to bed.
8. Routine
For breakfast I was having oats EVERY morning, I know this sounds monotonous and unbearable, especially for foodies who appreciate that the world is full of so many delicious options. Think of it like a uniform, when we wear a uniform every day it means we do not have to waste time thinking about what to wear every morning. I recommend developing a healthy routine because before you know it you’ll be see the pounds shed and not even realise why. For lunch I had a salad EVERY day that my dad made.
9. Less Meat More Veggies
Towards the end of my weight loss period I decided to stop eating meat for 40 days. I am not sure exactly how this impacted my weight loss however I would say that whatever you do to increase your intake of vegetables has to be a good thing. Before I would plan my meals around which meat I’d cook and now it’s the other way around, the veggies are no longer the side but they become the main focus.
10. Get Moving
When I was in London I walked more than I do when I am in Jamaica, wherever you are if you can walk there start using those legs, if not make some time for exercise. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, do some jumping jacks during the commercial break of your favourite TV shows, just get moving.
