Adjusting Your Eating Habits

Once you've set your goal you need to believe that you can achieve that goal. Then you need to work out the details of how to get there. This will require some rearrangement in your current eating habits and perhaps your lifestyle.

You need to learn to be aware of what you are taking in. That may be counting calories or watching fat, salt or sugar intake. Concentrate on eating healthier foods that will provide nutrients that in some cases will even help in your weight loss endeavors.

Some things to consider:
Eat more fresh fruits and vegetables. They have more nutrition and can help when you have a craving for something sweet. An apple or carrot sticks is better for you than a chocolate bar. The fruit has natural sugar rather than refined. It also has dietary fiber that will be very beneficial. Natural fiber can help you feel more full before consuming a lot of food.

Watch your servings. Eat smaller amounts of food at a time. Four or five smaller meals will be better than a large one. This is where calorie counting and fiber awareness comes in. If you know how many calories your snack can be then you will make wiser choices. Also, remembering that fiber is filling you might choose a snack that will also allow you to be satisfied within your calorie count. The basic idea here is that the smaller serving should allow your body to adjust to new habits, to "shrink your stomach" if you will, and you will find that over time you don't require half a pound of pasta at dinner to be satisfied.

Weigh daily at roughly the same time each day. This sounds harsh. However, when you see that you are at least not gaining any weight that is encouraging. When the scale finally starts going down that is positively exciting. The results of weighing in daily can be very slow to see. I was weighing daily last year and I remember it seemed I was not losing weight. Then one day it seemed I had lost 2 pounds! Then I noticed the weight was dropping by about 2 pounds a week. This may seem slow but when you consider 5 weeks of conscientious, healthy eating, you should lose 10 pounds. That's really not too bad. Stick with it.

Let me say right here that with Christmas and the holidays right around the corner you don't have to deny yourself the festivities and special goodies. You will just need to employ some special diligence. You really don't have to sit down and eat an entire cookie tin of snickerdoodles. (There I am again!) Have two but really ENJOY those two. Also be extra diligent about the serving sizes at holiday meals. Remember how easy it is to end up with an overflowing plate when all you wanted was a "taste" of everything. Maybe you need to decide what 3 or 4 things you want to especially enjoy and stop there. Be sure to enjoy plenty off of the veggie tray (light on the dip). Stay on track and eat sensibly.