Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

10 Extra Smart Food Switching Tips for Weight Loss

One of the tricks to losing weight while still enjoying your favorite foods is to get rid of the extra calories in your favorite foods while still keeping the “comfort food” aspect. If you give it some thought, you will most likely find many ways to do this with your favorite recipes and cultural comfort foods – or even your favorite fast foods.

1. One big calorie savings for me was to buy an air popper for pop corn. You can, if you want, sprinkle it with something flavorful spice like chili powder or another favorite spice, or even a product like Molly McButter if you miss that buttery flavor. This switch is good when you want something savory and crunchy.

2. At Papa John’s Pizza, you can save 50 calories a slice by ordering the Thin Crust Pizza with Pepperoni (260 calories a slice) instead of the Original Crust Pizza with Pepperoni (310 calories a slice). Every little bit helps!

3. Chili’s Restaurants make a wonderful onion dish called the Awesome Blossom and serve it with an great sauce. But, even if you share it with three friends, the calorie count is very high. You would be better off getting an order of onion rings at a fast food joint to get that “onion” craving out of your system.

4. At Wendy’s if you want to save calories and are getting tired of always having to chose Chicken, you will be happy to know that you will save 300 calories if you order a Junior Cheeseburger instead of a Chicken Club Sandwich. That will be a big help when you’re looking’ for the beef!

5. At Quizno’s Subs, their Baja Chicken small sub with cheese and dressing weighs in at 490 calories whereas their Chicken Carbonara small sub gives you a calorie boost to 570 calories! A saving of 80 calories!

6. Craving cheese but think you must always give it up? Not so at Applebee’s. You can save 805 calories by eating their Tortilla Chicken Melt (from their Appetizer menu) instead of their Fiesta Lime Chicken.

7. At Auntie Anne’s Pretzels, if you go for an Original Pretzel at 370 calories you will save 80 calories over the Cinnamon Sugar Pretzel.

8. Back to Wendy’s! An easy way to save 250 calories is to have their Garden Sensations Caesar Chicken Salad instead of the Southwest Taco Salad.

9. At the world-famous White Castle, you can save 131 calories by swapping Mozzarella Cheese Sticks (169 calories) for their French Fries (300 calories). And, if you substitute the Double Bacon Cheeseburger (360 calories) with the Double White Castle burger (290 calories) you will save another 70 calories.

10. I love Del Taco, and there are wise choices that can be made here, too. For example, if you chose to have a 1/2 Pound Green Burrito (430 calories) you will save 620 calories over the Macho Combination Burrito (1030 calories)! Also, their fantastic Chicken Taco Del Carbon (170 calories) is a better choice than their Steak Taco Del Carbon (220 calories).

Don’t be afraid to eat out at your favorite food establishments, just order intelligently.

————–
Article word count: 533

 

Related Blogs

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Should You Consult a Doctor for Weight Loss?

The first rule when you decide you want to lose weight is to go have a talk with your doctor. Let him or her decide if you need to lose weight, how much, what plan you should follow, what supplements – if any – you should take, and when you should come back for follow-up visits to make sure everything is proceeding as planned.

It will also be helpful if you bring a list of any medications you are taking, as well as any over-the-counter supplements, herbal products, Ayurvedic products, spices for health purposes, and a brief summary of your medical history. It will be important for your doctor to know if you have had any surgery, or if you have heart problems, diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension, etc. Your doctor will probably know all – or most – of this, but it won’t hurt to put everything done on one piece of paper. Remember to date it and keep a copy for yourself.

It’s especially important to list ALL medications you are taking because sometimes they can contribute to weight gain. Especially if your weight gain is recent, and coincides with the commencement of some new medications.

One test your doctor may want to take is a thyroid test to make sure your thyroid is functioning properly. Have you also become more tired than normal? Note anything in your life that may have changed about the time the weight gain started.

Emotional factors can be a big factor in weight gain. Have elements of your lifestyle changed drastically? Have you moved to a new city, changed jobs, got married, got divorced, and had a child? All of these factors can contribute to a change in your health and weight.

Weight gain does usually come down to “calories in versus calories out”, but sometimes there are other medically related factors that can cause you to put on extra weight.

Another important list to take with you is a list of any questions you may have for your doctor. You may want to ask the following things:

* What is my ideal weight for my bone structure and height?
* Do I really need to lose weight, or shift my weight from fat to muscle mass?
* Could my health problems be causing my weight gain?
* What other problems might I have due to my increased weight?
* Explain the different weight loss medication options to me?
* What about weight loss surgery?

Another good item to take with you is a food journal. Keep a food journal for the two weeks before your appointment, writing down everything you eat, when you eat it, if you were really hungry or succumbing to a craving, was it an emotional hunger or real hunger, did you eat sitting down at a table or cramming the food in your mouth straight from the refrigerator? Don’t worry about what you write, just be brutally honest because it’s for your health that you need to address these issues.

What are your cultural comfort foods? Do you eat at fast food restaurants often? Do you always feel that you have to “clean your plate because there are children starving in Africa”? What kind of programming and triggers lead to your eating?

If you already have a certain diet in mind, such as the Atkins Program, or the Mediterranean Diet, bring the details with you so you doctor can check it out. It’s amazing how many different diet programs there are and it’s even more amazing how uninformed a lot of doctors are about what’s available.

Good luck! Keep your goal in mind, work with your doctor, and remember to include some exercise each day.

————–
Article word count: 625

Related Blogs

Categories
General Weight Loss Tips

Body Confidence by Mark MacDonald: A Book Tour Review

I was asked to join in on another TLC book tour, remember this one from last year? I agreed and when the book arrived I found myself skimming the first few pages. Pages about Mark’s efforts to lose fat and gain muscle, to get back in shape, watching his mom struggle with her weight and eventually his wife when she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. And then I get to the first chapter: Why Diets Fail.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard this line many times before. So I was prepared to read the same information that I’ve read before. But what he wrote stunned me because it was so accurtate and spot-on.

He talks about that one moment in our lives when we felt in control of our health. This could be a week, or several months. A time when we were breezing through diet or exercise- or both. Everything was working, we felt good…we look good. And then it’s gone. The effort goes away with life circumstances. We get thrown off course.

I don’t know about you, but this has happened to me countless times. I think back to my days on Atkins.. And then the time when I did Weight Watchers and I was losing 10lbs a month. Both times I dropped 30-40 lbs. And then stopped.

Mark says “we spent endless hours focusing on the past, trying to figure out what had changed. That moment becomes our hope, out future possibility–our ace in the hole. We believe that at any time we can pull out that ace and get back to where we were during that moment.”

We justify that life is too busy, that we will get there when projects are complete, after the holidays or when the timing is right. Each day telling ourselves that we know what we need to do but are just not doing it. We keep tight hold of the ace in the hole, ready to use it at any time.

And then the day comes when we pull the trigger and dive right back in. Trying to minic those ace in the hole days, and it’s much harder. We try again the next day, and then on the third day we are wondering what is so different this time. This is when panic sets in…and when as he puts it “diets attack”.

“People use diets in their moments of frustration and desperation.”

And there you have it friends. The cycle.

So what’s the solution? According the Mark, blood sugar stabilization through meal intervals, nutrient ratios and calories per meal. He believes that nutrition should be used to create an internal balance.

Mark will guide you through meal plans for your body type (your metabolism), creating a set-point with your weight, and helps you to discover the “why” in your goals. He calls his place Venice nutrition and shares many meal plans and recipes for each body type. He talks about the difference between high quality and low nutrients, such as protein.

The meals he suggests are easy and would take minute to prepare. Such as Salmon with rice and asparagus, italian tuna salad with a side of fruit, steak with sweet potatoes and steamed cauliflower, seared scallops with brown rice and spinach, and spicy turkey club wrap.

In the last chapters of the book he helps you  in creating an exercise plan, how to adopt this way of eating into your current lifestyle and he has a whole chapter dedicated to staying true to the process.

Here is what I like about the book and Venice Nutrition:

I like that he focuses on real, clean food that is easy to prepare. This is food that we should eat 90% of the time. He focuses on quality of food rather than calories in, calories out.

His plan is about eating for life, rather than “how I will eat when I’m losing weight”.

He talks extensively about blood sugar, nutrition and the way we metabolize food.

He gives real-world solutions for all lifestyles.

He focuses more on what you should eat rather than what you can’t or shouldn’t eat.

He covers the importance of both cardio and strength training. He provides a plan for both.

He is positive and hopeful.

What I don’t like about the book:

I’m not a big fan (at all) of food products: protein bars, shakes etc. Some of the recipes include protein powders.

The recipes are simple. This is a good thing for some people. But for me, I enjoy cooking. I like following recipes. To me, a turkey burger is about as sad as it gets. I don’t like to buy ground meat unless I know the source and most of the ground meat the I buy is local and doesn’t promote “leanness”. Rolled up deli meat with a side of cashews is not a meal. I don’t know if I believe turkey or chicken should be ground up and made into burgers or meatballs or whatever else. I’ve done this before, but it just seems wrong.

The book doesn’t seem to address eating out, or social occasion. I could have missed this section, but I enjoy eating out with my husband. I enjoy trying out new to us restaurants that are locally owned. I like long meals with friends. These things are non-negotiable. I’m not going to bring a shake with me, or have a cooler of prepared food to a gourmet/real food establishment. Not gonna happen. I also realize that these are special occasion meals.

Bottom Line:

I believe that the Venice Nutrition can be done 80% of the time. It’s about eating smaller meals about five times a day. This stabilizes blood sugar, boosts your metabolism and prevents cravings. It focuses on eating real food: lean meat, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

Mark helps you to set goals for yourself and gives you the tools to see them through.

Visit his site, Venice Nutrition for more information.

Thank you to TLC Book tours for including me.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me free of charge, for review.

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on fat