Whether you're a gourmand with a penchant for pastry or a sweet tooth with a snacking habit, many of us are carrying a few (or more) extra kilos.
The dangerous combination of gluttony, complacency and marriage has resulted in a recent expansion of my hips and thighs. While I'm not quite contending with the likes of back fat and a muffin top, I'm on a buttery slippery slope.
If you're a fellow food lover with a bit more jiggle than you'd like, here are some tips to help you get back into shape without resorting to diet foods or meal replacement shakes.
1. Lose the guilt: If you come home from work exhausted and you have no energy to cook, don't feel sorry for yourself and pick up tasteless takeaway. Take the opportunity to go out for dinner or pick up something that you will enjoy instead.
A fabulous seafood risotto may be calorie laden, but you're more likely to be satisfied and thus less likely to snack in the evening after a proper meal as opposed to a burger and chips.
2. Learn a new cuisine: Start attending cooking classes or hit the library for some books and teach yourself how to cook different foods.
If you get out of the food rut and learn something new, you can shake up your metabolism and enjoy lower fat alternatives. You might want to try the delicate balance of Vietnamese or get yourself a tagine for moist but no-fat-added Moroccan style cooking.
3. Eat better but less: Trade in the supermarket milk chocolate for a few squares of Belgium's finest. There is something ultra-luxurious about fine dark chocolate and a tightly pulled ristretto.
4. Make it worth it: Cut out the easy calories first. If you're going to go high-calorie, make it worth your while. Substitute the stuff that doesn't matter to you (mineral water instead of soft drink, for example) and enjoy the things you love. Low fat cheese makes me cry.
5. Track your progress and celebrate success: It is hard to be motivated unless you monitor your weight loss. Keep a diary and weigh yourself weekly, at the same time of day.
6. Bonus! Check out 17 Arse-kicking strategies to stick to your diet and get fit over at Zen Habits for more sustainable weight loss tips.
You're welcome to follow my progress as I attempt to follow my own rules. Tomorrow's post will be my first weigh in. Please keep me accountable and subscribe to my feed!
Your comments, tips and suggestions are appreciated.
Other posts you might be interested in reading
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Tags: calorie, chocolate, coffee, complacency, cooking classes, diet, diet foods, drink, Eat it, food lover, gourmand, hips and thighs, kilos, lose weight, low fat cheese, milk chocolate, muffin top, tagine, tips, weigh, weight loss
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THIS IS ACTUALLY A GOOD IDEA BECAUSE I STRUGGLE EVERYDAY NOT KNOWING WHAT TO COOK UNTIL I GET SO HUINGRY THAT I START WHATEVER I FIND IN MY WAY. EVEN THOUGH I TRY TO CHOOSE HEALTHY SOMETIMES IS NOT AS HEALTHY AS IT COULD BE.
reminds me of alot of the philosophy of 'slow food' which i'm looking into for my thesis. ive stopped dieting, eating tasteless lame food. long live food enjoyment!!
Absolutely agree - enjoyment is everything. I just don't think a "diet" can ever be sustainable. However I do think that a better, healthier attitude to food (eating for sustenance and enjoyment, not as an emotional crutch) is a realistic, achievable goal.
I'd love to read your thesis by the way, please keep me posted on your progress.
I love this post, Rachel! You're absolutely right about making small, otherwise insignificant changes... I call that being mindful. Mindless eating is what gets you to the hot cross buns instead of a banana or some oatmeal (or GASP! a glass of milk or water!)
Mindful eating is a matter of getting your thoughts to the present moment before you put something in your mouth. Thinking about it. Not obsessing, but thinking. It works, especially when you're out at a restaurant or a party-type function.
Thanks Lara - you're right, mindful eating is absolutely the key.
BTW your weight loss journey is inspiring and it is awesome of you to share it on your blog. Your ethos and wisdom is amazing and I can't believe that you're getting it together so young (oh now I feel all old and crusty) - all the best for a fabulous life!
Awh, thanks Rachel. Hey, I've been at this dieting thing since 9th grade... I've got almost 20 years learning, now it's just a matter of DOING for me.
Hello Rachel ,
You are so right on all the points .But you know the most of all is the being consistent in what we do .Its really hard some times and then tongue takes control of what you eat and not the mind .
Keep in Touch
Regards
Sudeep
Sudeep’s last blog post..Mother's day : My thoughts
Thanks for this, I am a total foodie who is not willing to eat filler, but needs to lose about 25lbs to be healthier and feel better about myself.
It's good to meet others who can balance wholesome and healthy.
Cheers!
I agree with the idea to eat food with many calories - if this is what we like. It does fill us up for a very long time. But - some of us have a real problem that we do not have the "I'm full now" sensation. So - if such a person would eat the wonderful fish-risotto, they would probably keep going way longer than what they could lose by being full a longer time. I don't know if all obese people are just like I was - All or nothing! The problem, I think, is that most of us who have had a life of overweight cannot abstain from the pleasure of eating "right now" in order to have a beautiful body and great health later. This is the constant struggle in our lives.
We truly desire the beauty that comes with self mastery - but we obviously want even more the freedom of enjoying the pleasure of food. And my guess is that such a personality type will see the same kind of dilemma in other areas of our lives. For example; don't you think there are many of us who would have loved a college degree - but we wanted to have fun with our friends NOW, or we wanted to make money NOW instead of living the life of a student pauper.
Reasearch has shown that simple tests with children will show a pattern in the that is very hard to break any time of their lives. The child who could not wait for 10 minutes in order to get twice as many m n m's, would later in life be without education, be overweight and perhaps have an adiction problem. Kids that could wait for 10 minutes would have better jobs and educations, they would be fitter, etc.
It suggests to me that we must train our children from a young age to defer hedonistic pleasures in order to attain greater benefits in the future. Could this be the reason why making a log is such a threat to us? It threatens to take away our "freedom" to react on the spur of the moment. What do you think?