Q: What's the best way to lose weight -- follow a special diet or just fine tune your eating habits?
Well, there's no question that you need to reduce your calorie intake in order to lose weight. But how you go about that seems to make a difference in not only helping you lose weight, but keep those pounds off.
Research suggests that what we call a "small steps approach" works best. Making a few small changes every day to diet and exercise that you barely notice has a much greater impact on weight control than drastic changes that can't be sustained.
According to a report published earlier this year in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, decreasing your intake by 100 calories per day, or burning off those calories with exercise, is enough to prevent the 1 to 2 pounds that most people gain every year.
If you're already overweight, losing 20 to 30 pounds would require a decrease in food intake and increase in exercise amounting to 175 to 250 calories per day. To lose 40 to 60 pounds, you'd need to drop 325 to 480 calories per day -- an amount that can be reached by making a few minor tweaks to your habits on a daily basis.
Q: What are some small changes that pay off for weight loss?
Consider that eating -- and not burning off -- an extra 100 calories every day can lead to a 10 pound weight gain in the course of a year. You need to identify a few areas in your diet and exercise that can be tweaked to save calories. Here are some examples:
- Replace your glass of orange juice with an orange at breakfast will save you 50 calories.
- Substitute a teaspoon of mustard for one tablespoon of mayonnaise on your sandwich will save 100 calories.
- Swap your side of rice at dinner with a serving of vegetables will also save 100 calories.
- Switch from a bagel with cream cheese to an English Muffin with reduced fat laughing Cow cheese (save 300 calories).
- Forgo the mid morning muffin at Starbucks for a piece of fruit (save 370 calories). � Using your pedometer and walking an additional 2000 steps per day will burn off 100 calories.
Q: Are there any "super foods" that can promote weight loss?
Actually, there are a few foods that might help, provided you're also controlling your calorie intake.
Green tea. Some studies suggest that green tea might promote weight loss by stimulating the body to burn calories. It's thought that antioxidants in green tea called catechins are responsible for this effect. These antioxidants have a half life in your body of only a few hours, so it's best to drink a few cups of green tea throughout the day to get the most benefit.
Grapefruit. There actually might be some truth to the grapefruit diet! In an American study, researchers found that eating half a grapefruit before a meal can help people lose weight. The study grapefruit capsules, grapefruit juice, and whole grapefruit. All three seemed to help but eating whole grapefruit got the best results. It isn't clear how grapefruit helped people lose weight - perhaps by reducing their appetite before eating a meal.
Eggs. In another study, researchers found that women on a low calorie diet who ate an egg for breakfast with toast and jam lost twice as many pounds as women who ate a bagel for breakfast providing the same calories but without the egg. The protein in eggs is filling and can help you eat less later in the day.
Q: Any other strategies you offer your clients to lose weight?
Yes. There are a few key things I have my clients do that make a big difference in their ability to reduce portions and stick to their plans. Eat breakfast. Eating breakfast helps to kick start your metabolism and prevents you from getting too hungry before lunch.
People who eat breakfast on a regular basis are more likely to have a structured eating plan throughout the day and are less likely to snack on empty calorie foods Include snacks. I can't emphasize enough how important this is.
Eat every three to four hours to help keep your blood sugar stable, your appetite under control, and your portion sizes down. Snacks should combine carbohydrate and protein - fruit and yogurt, a small handful of nuts and dried fruit, or small energy bar are good choices. Keep track.
Journaling what -- and how much -- you eat and how much you eat provides awareness, focus and motivation. It will make you think twice about reaching for seconds or those sweets at the office. Step on the scale. Weighing-in once a week gives you feedback about how well you are maintaining your weight. Frequent weighing allows you to catch small increases in weight very quickly and take corrective action to prevent further weight gain.
