In This Chapter
Uncovering real-life solutions to weight maintenance
Discovering daily motivational tools to overcome temptations
Balancing food, activity, and daily life
The road to weight loss and maintenance is a well-beaten path, with arrows pointing in many different directions promising success, but then dead-ending with unrealistic goals and rigid food rules. The quick-fix, fad-diet path seems promising in the beginning, but then it’s too good-to-be-true nature seeps in and the realities of individual taste and preferences take over.
Maintaining a healthy body weight throughout life is a vital part of staying healthy. Two out of three people in the United States are overweight or obese, so finding permanent ways to lose weight and keep it off is a public health imperative. Carrying too much weight around not only is uncomfortable, but also can lead to multiple chronic diseases and conditions, such as type-2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and cancer (especially breast cancer and colon cancer). So, what can you do today to stay on a successful weight-loss path for life?
A ten-year study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine examined the weight-loss route of weight losers in the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), the largest investigation tracking more than 10,000 individuals of long-term successful weight loss maintenance, who lost more than 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year. In fact, 87 percent of the 2,886 participants maintained at least 10 percent weight loss five and ten years later. How did they do it? Consistent behavior changes long after the weight came off.
In this chapter, I offer up ten tips to help you effectively keep weight off in a realistic and healthy way.
Keep a Food Diary
It sounds so simple: Write down what you eat and drink every day to create awareness of your consumption patterns and encourage healthful choices. A food diary fosters a sense of accountability — to yourself.
But does writing down what you eat really work? A study in Psychology and Health found that food diaries work for weight maintenance. Researchers recruited undergraduate students from the University of Greece to join in three studies, which used food diaries to induce mindfulness and self-compassion. They compared concrete (how they’re eating) diaries with abstract (why they’re eating) diaries and found that at a three-month follow-up, the students who continued to keep the concrete diaries performed better at weight maintenance. Also, the researchers surmised that the food diaries may encourage more mindfulness and self-compassion, which potentially promotes weight loss in the long run.
So, what are some quick and simple ways to stick with a food diary day in and day out? Here are some Total Body Diet suggestions:
· Keep a notebook by your bedside or desk at work to make it easy to jot down meals and snacks.
· Create a simple food log on your computer or smartphone to simply note what you eat and drink.
· Use the voice recorder on your smartphone to keep track of your intake and how you feel before and after eating.
· Take advantage of the myriad food diary apps or websites and record your foods and feelings that way. You can even take photos with some apps, making it even easier!
Plan, Plan, Plan
Planning creates purpose. If you have a plan, you’re more likely to stick with it. Mindless eating comes in when there’s no structure. Weight gain can occur when the future is unclear, but if you’ve planned your meals and snacks for the day, there’s less chance of overeating and more security in keeping your weight stable. When left up in the air, food choices become knee-jerk reactions, in-the-moment decisions — and that typically doesn’t go very well.
If you aren’t a natural planner, take stock: Planning can be learned. When you start to plan, it becomes second nature. Start with balancing meals and snacks with healthful foods from the food groups: whole grains, vegetables, fruits, proteins, lowfat dairy products.
Plan to not plan at least one day a week. This unplanned day will allow you flexibility and renew your focus for the rest of the week.
Cook the Healthy Way
Unfortunately, cooking does not top the list of priorities for the average American. If you had four extra hours in the day, would you cook more? Not so much, according to the International Food Information Council Foundation’s 2015 Food & Nutrition Survey.
The good news is, you need only 20 to 30 minutes to make a tasty and healthy meal! And you don’t have to be a trained chef to cook healthy meals. There are so many culinary learning outlets today — from cooking schools to websites to how-to videos, the list of ways to get into the kitchen are endless. Cooking can be fun and a great way to try news foods and bond with family and friends. Experimenting with new herbs and spices, plant-based proteins, a multitude of whole grains, and vegetables and fruits will expand your nutritional repertoire, too. It’s liberating to create recipes from scratch or place your personal taste stamp on someone else’s recipe!
If you’re relying on dining out for nourishing meals, the promising news is that culinary trends reveal a focus in food that is good for both the planet and health. According to the National Restaurant Association 2015 Culinary Forecast, which polled 1,300 chefs nationwide, locally sourced meats and seafood, locally grown produce, natural ingredients, and minimally processed foods top the list of current hot foods trends. Translating these trends to your home kitchen can help you create your own healthy meals, plus help reign in your calorie budget (and financial budget, too)!
Eating at home bodes better for your waistline — as well as cuts salt, saturated fat, and sugar consumption. A recent article published in Public Health Nutrition using data from the National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey looked at nutrition and dining habits of 12,000 American adults. The study findings revealed that regardless of where you dine out — fast food or full-service restaurant — you’ll eat at least 200 calories more per day, plus sugar, fat, and sodium intake soars when dining out.
Here are five simple ways to get cooking that don’t take a lot of time:
· Gather a repertoire of three or four recipes that are simple to make and use them throughout the week. Grocery shop for the week with your recipes in mind.
· Limit your recipes to five ingredients total. Feel free to swap ingredients — such as different fruits, vegetables, proteins, grains, or herbs and spices — to add variety to your meals and snacks.
· Cook with family and friends to make it more fun!
· Play music while you cook to relax into the process.
· Dabble and try new flavors with herbs and spices, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and beans. Enjoy a bounty of good food in your kitchen!
Steer Clear of Temptations
I’m all for allowing yourself small indulgences, but what about foods that cause you to binge (excessively indulge to the point that it’s hard to stop)? These foods or beverages are often called triggers because they set off a period of overindulgence. Usually, these foods and drinks don’t have a lot of nutritional value, and your brain and body are craving the feeling they give you. (Think sugary beverages, cakes, cookies, candy, or alcohol, as well as salty chips, dips, and fries.)
Set a steer-clear attitude — not a restrictive one:
· Clear your home of tempting foods or beverages.
· Replace unhealthy foods and beverages with healthier, individually portioned substitutes. For example, if you like soda, get some mineral water and add lemon or lime. If it’s chocolate you’re after, buy an individually wrapped dark chocolate square and savor one. If chips are your kryptonite, get an individual bag of baked chips and enjoy with a turkey and avocado wrap for lunch. And instead of dessert after dinner, have a piece of fruit or a bowl of berries to end the meal.
· Share with family and friends. Sharing creates more from less. If you’re dining out and you usually get dessert and wind up overeating, share a dessert with your spouse, friends, or family. Just think: You’ll eat less overall and get the feeling of more that comes from sharing!
Establish a Supportive Structure
Surrounding yourself with social support is key when you’re trying to lose weight and maintain weight loss. Think about it: Who can help you on your journey to a healthy lifestyle? Your place on the path to health and wellness may be different from your neighbor’s or friend’s place, but knowing that you’re are all here together trying to attain health, happiness, and longevity is a great source of support.
Resiliency in life and with weight maintenance requires reaching out for support, even though it can be hard at times. Try naming at least one person who can help you in each of the following situations:
· When you’re tempted by food at work
· When you want to stop at your favorite fast-food restaurant on the way home from work
· When your neighbors invite you to a party where you know there will be a lot of food and alcohol
· When you want to blow off your workout
· When you’re dining out with friends and you’re tempted to overeat
Are there people you can reach out to for help talking through the eating challenges that these situations may impose? If so, reach out to them in times of need. If you can’t come up with anyone to help you, reach out to your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian nutritionist (RDN) for professional assistance. Visit www.eatright.org to find an RDN in your area.
Check in with Yourself
How you feel about your food choices is just as important as the actual food on your plate. That’s why checking in with yourself to see how you feel is so important. At first, you may find it challenging because you’d rather eat waffles than oatmeal, but making a compromise by switching to whole-grain waffles will allow you to feel much more content with your choice.
The Total Body Diet isn’t about eliminating your favorite foods — it’s about allowing you to stretch your taste buds by making new, healthy choices. You may never even have thought of making vegetable chili with beans instead of meat or replacing a sugary, gourmet coffee drink with a cup of green tea for a soothing, stress-relieving reprieve during your workday.
Ask yourself the following questions throughout the day:
· Do I feel satisfied right now with my food and beverage choice?
· Could I have made this a more mindful experience?
· What new health-enhancing food can I try today?
· Am I eating with awareness of my choices?
If a day goes by in which you don’t check in, just get back on the horse — now. There’s no greater time than the present to appreciate the moment. You’ll be happy you did!
Savor Good Foods and Flavors
Eating on autopilot doesn’t allow for savoring and really tasting foods with their amazing bevy of flavors. If you think about it, when you go to a tasting class — whether it’s wine, cheese, or chocolate — the flavors on your tongue ignite as you stop and slowly allow the food or beverage to dissipate.
To savor means to taste and enjoy the food or drink completely. The slow, deliberate act of tasting excites the senses and creates an extraordinary experience.
So, how can you more fully savor what you eat and drink? By understanding the concept of taste-specific satiety also called sensory-specific satiety — the notion that your taste buds are chemical receptors that tire over time. In other words, the first few bites or sips of a drink taste the best on your tongue (and should be savored!). With every bite, a food’s taste begins to dull and your tongue is soon in search of another taste sensation. This can be dangerous to your waistline, if you keep seeking flavor and eat until uncomfortably full. Instead, create mindful bites, savor small tastes, and listen to your hunger and fullness.
You can train your taste buds to enjoy less sugar, salt, and fat over time. As you begin eating less salty, sugary, and fatty foods, your palette becomes used to it. When you eat a salty, sugary, or fatty food again, it’s a shock to your system. You’re training your palette that less is more!
Stay Active Every Day
According to the International Food Information Council Foundation’s 2015 Food & Nutrition Survey, if given four more hours every day, 36 percent of respondents would use that time to exercise more! Exercise is one of the top ways to maintain weight throughout a lifetime. You don’t have to spend a lot of time working out, either. Activity can come in many forms and in short bursts — ten-minute increments spaced throughout the day can do wonders for your mind, body, and spirit!
Before beginning any new physical activity consult with your healthcare provider. Start small, with light activity, and then progress to the harder stuff. Aim for 150 minutes per week.
Here are some ideas for short-burst, ten-minute activities:
· Ride your bike to and from a corner store.
· Walk your dog around the block.
· Jog to and from the mailbox.
· Hula-hoop to music.
· Dance to your favorite song.
· Hit the mat for push-ups, sit-ups, and/or planks.
Laughter burns calories, too — and it can boost immunity, alleviate stress, and reduce muscle tension in your body. Research in the International Journal of Obesity found that 10 to 15 minutes of laughter a day can burn 10 to 40 calories. That adds up over time — to the tune of 2 to 4 pounds of weight loss in a year (when laughter is combined with your regular physical activity)!
Eat Balanced Meals and Snacks
Combining lean sources of protein with high-fiber carbohydrates and healthy fats helps keep blood sugar in check, fends off cravings, and can help to decrease the chance of overeating and weight gain.
One food, meal, or snack does not make or break a healthy diet — it’s the balance of food groups over time that counts. According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ position paper, Total Diet Approach to Healthy Eating, and the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the overall pattern of food eaten is the most important focus of healthy eating. The goal of the Total Body Diet is to place less emphasis on foods to avoid and more emphasis on foods to add for health, happiness, and vitality for life.
Think about balancing the nutrient density (the quality of the calories you consume) with what you expend with physical activity. Aim to include more foods that will give you greater nutritional bang for the calories. Plus, think about the form of the foods — when a healthy food like grapes are dried in raisin form, you get less for the calories. The greater the volume on your plate, the more satisfied you’ll be for the same number of calories!
Nutrient-dense foods to include in your day include: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fat-free and lowfat dairy products, seafood, lean meats, poultry, eggs, beans and peas, nuts, and seeds.
Allow Small Indulgences
Part of balancing your eating and drinking is allowing some of your favorites — moderately and mindfully. There’s nothing wrong with having a cookie, chocolate, or ice cream, but it’s how often — and how much — you eat that counts. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans refers to these extra calories that are made of solid fats and added sugars as “empty calories.” These foods don’t provide a lot of nutrients for the amount of calories they contain, which is why eating these foods sparingly and slowly is important.
Your parents offered sage advice when they told you to eat your vegetables, fruits, proteins, and grains on your plate before reaching for a sweet treat. After you’ve eaten a day’s worth of nutrient-rich foods, indulging in a decadent, calorie-controlled treat is perfectly acceptable.
Here are guidelines for a small indulgence:
· Eat nutrient-rich foods beforehand.
· Calorie-control the indulgence (150 to 200 calories is enough).
· Choose food over liquid indulgences — you’ll enjoy it more and chewing food will force you to slow down.
· Don’t forget to write your indulgence on your food diary. Include how you felt before and after eating it.
· Enjoy the indulgence guilt-free!