When it comes to losing weight, small changes can have a big impact. In fact, small changes in eating and activity can have a more positive impact on your health than drastic ones. This is because you are more likely to stick with smaller changes over time than with extreme diets and exercise plans. When thinking about weight loss it is important to implement changes that you know you can maintain for a lifetime.
Here are some small changes that you can make to help cut calories form your daily intake:
- Use smaller plates and bowls: Research shows that people serve themselves in proportion to the size of plate that they use. A 1 cup serving of pasta on a 10” plate looks like a sizable portion. However, the same 1 cup serving looks much smaller a 12” plate. As a result, we overeat when we use larger plates and bowls.
- Don’t eat out of a box or bag: When you eat out of a package you are more likely to over eat without even realizing it. Pour one serving into a small bowl and put the box or bag away. This allows you to be in control of your serving.
- Use tall, slender glasses: If you’re drinking anything other than water using a tall, slender glass will make you drink less but feel like you’re getting more. When glasses are short and wide, we tend to fill them with more fluid and to drink more.
- Choose water over other beverages: Beverages such as regular soda, energy/sports drinks, juice, specialty coffees and alcohol add calories to our daily intake. Whenever possible, choose water over beverages that have calories.
- Don’t clean your plate: This is especially hard if you grew up in the “clean plate club.” By leaving just a few bites on your plate you can cut your calorie intake and over time this can result in weight loss.
- Do not combine eating with other activities: When you engage in other activities such as watching TV while eating, you may not realize when you’ve had enough. If your attention is focused on your something other than eating, your brain might miss the signal from your stomach telling you to put down the fork.
One Response