RealJock: Five Ways To Lose Weight Without Losing Your Mind
By Beth Sumrell Ehrensberger, RD, MPH
In January, after all the merrymaking decadence has passed, the predictable weight loss resolution signs emerge: nobody’s taking seconds, the TV is overrun with diet ads, and the treadmills at the gym are always taken. And let’s be honest, the dry cleaners really didn’t shrink your pants and your bathroom scale probably isn’t on the blink. Maybe you overindulged over the holidays or perhaps you’re finally ready to loose those last ten pounds. Whatever your motivation, there’s no better time to get down to the business of weight loss, since you’ll be trading your oversized sweats for swim trunks in just a few months.
Diet math is simple: you have to burn more calories than you take in. But it’s how you go about trimming those calories that isn’t quite so simple…unless you know a few good tips. Lucky for you, we’ve culled a few ideas to keep D-I-E-T from being a foul four-letter word.
Pump Up the Volume
Dread a diet because you hate to be hungry? Maybe it’s time to change your approach. Instead of making choices that pack big calories in an unsatisfying little package, try the inverse: low calorie foods in a bigger package. Take, for example, raisins. At about 120 calories, a serving of raisins is only a handful, ¼ cup to be exact. However, a larger one cup serving of grapes also has about the same amount of calories as the handful of raisins—that’s four times the volume for nearly the same amount of calories! Along the same lines, a one ounce serving of potato chips (and who really eats just one ounce? That’s only about ten chips!) will set you back just as many calories as an apple paired with one ounce of reduced fat cheese. At least with the latter you’ll be getting a healthy dose of filling fiber and some satiety-packed protein from the cheese. Get the picture? Aim for more food and less calories.
For a solid hunger-trumping weight loss strategy, fill your day with low calorie, high fiber foods. Try simple choices like adding a big salad to your lunch and dinner, choosing whole grain breads and crackers, and taking in at least five fruits and vegetables a day. Fill up on fiber and you’ll be doing a lot more than reducing your girth: a 2008 Danish study concluded that a diet low in fat, but high in fiber and reduced-calorie carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables and whole grains is a sure bet to combat not only weight gain, but also, type 2 diabetes.