The trick with any diet when you have a significant amount of weight to lose is to make the diet so much a part of your life that it becomes a habit. For this reason, the kinds of diet plans that have worked best for me have been diets that involve most of the same foods I eat regularly– just less of it and in balance nutritionally. Some of these ideas were also offered on Dr. Oz’s show this past week to help a woman who needed to lose over 100 lbs.

You may substitute some things in your diet– for example,
>a few water crackers in place of a roll or piece of bread,
>a small piece of 70% or higher dark chocolate instead of that bowl of ice cream,
>a protein shake or a bowl of oatmeal sweetened with stevia for breakfast rather than a sweet roll or sugary dry cereal,
>a smaller baked potato with plain yogurt as a topping, or two green veggies rather than having any high carb veggie or grain for dinner,
>a small piece of lean meat that is broiled or baked rather than fried.

For most people these are small enough changes that after two or three weeks they will just become habit.

Write these healthy ingredients down each week on your shopping list and stick with the list. Don’t be tempted by impulse buying to get a lot of pre-packaged junk foods and snacks. They almost always contain too much fat, sugar and/or salt.

Another idea for staying the course is to eat slowly and mindfully. A psychologist friend of mine calls this “mindful eating.” Savor all the flavors. Eat without other distractions from TV or Internet. When you eat slowly and mindfully you allow time for your stomach to register the fact that it is receiving nutrition and is getting full. If you eat fast and in a distracted way, you tend to eat more because it takes 20 minutes or so for your stomach to register that it is full. To me, this is actually a much harder new habit to acquire than substituting and fixing smaller portions. It involves a real commitment to break the cycle multi-tasking in our busy lives and to pay attention to what we are putting in our mouths as a “main event” rather than just a distraction in our lives. Who knows, making the food the “main event” could just bring your family back together for meals!

Next, eat several small meals per day, not just one or two big ones. If you eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours throughout the day you keep the brain from telling you that it is deprived. Eat the right kinds of small meals and you will never feel hungry and your body will metabolize your food better. Of course, the same kinds of substitutions as given in the list above should be made, adding things like a handful of almonds, a low fat protein bar or protein shake, celery and other green veggies or a small salad with an olive oil and vinegar dressing.

The diet plans I’ve been most successful with also allow moderate amounts of fruit such as berries and apples and veggies like carrots and tomatoes, and low fat yogurt. There are good plans that disallow fruits, certain veggies and dairy because they tend to spike blood sugar. I would tend to avoid these higher sugar fruits, veggies and dairy for a two or three week reset period for my diet, but then reintroduce them thereafter in moderate levels to use as snacks. Personally, my body is less likely to feel deprived if I have a full range of the food groups available to me as long as I limit my intake of those products that can spike blood sugar.

Exercise is a critical factor in a long term diet plan. This is another one that I personally find hard to work into a habit. When I do, it invariably helps to keep my diet on track with faster and more consistent weight loss and a greater feeling of well-being. Make sure that you have checked with your doctor before starting a physical exercise plan and don’t overdo. Still, you can’t let obesity be your excuse for never getting off the couch! Even if it starts with just a few stretches done while sitting in a chair, you must get more active in order to stimulate the metabolism! As you lose weight and feel more energetic, then get out of the house and take a walk or go to the gym for a light workout at least 3 or 4 days a weeks.

It will take maybe three weeks for any of these changes to become new habits. Once they are set in place, they should all be maintainable long term because they involve only small changes in lifestyle and no sense of being deprived.

Liz Nichols

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