Diet Tips

My Diet Tips. This goes along with my diet and does not include all the stuff you usually hear like “drink a lot of water.” These are my observations I find that are not common things people think about.

1. Don’t reward yourself for exercise. If I walk 3 miles, I burn about 400 calories. If I reward myself with extra food, or something that is not on my diet, all my gains from jogging are canceled. There is no point in exercising if it makes you justify not following your diet. This goes for sports drinks as well.
2. Compare food brands and types. I used to eat eggs and sausage pretty regularly for breakfast. One day I compared the pork sausage I usually ate with a different brand. For the same size serving I found another brand B was 140 calories per serving compared to Brand A, 190 calories per serving. Going even further, I compared those calories to Gimmie Lean, and soy based meat like product. The calories there for the same 2 oz, is just 70 calories. I also looked at egg beaters, and they have roughly 1/2 the calories of real eggs. When I started my diet, my breakfast was 330 calories, by making the substitution of egg beaters and Gimmie Lean, my breakfast is now 130 calories. It doesn’t taste the same, but I rather save those 200 calories for later in the day.
3. Know your options. It is important to look at the nutritional facts for some restaurants and fast food places, in case you have no other options. if you are on the road, and have no other choice, or if co-workers want to go get lunch one day, you need to know what is not going to destroy your diet. There are things at Jason’s Deli, and Subway that I don’t mind eating, so I try to steer them in that direction.
4. Don’t try to max your calories each day. When choosing what to eat, first think of what you want, and what you need, not what you can have. If it is dinner time, and you have 500 calories left for the day, dont look for a 500 calorie meal, or award your self extra granola bars and snacks until you hit your max. Any calories below your goal is going towards the larger weight loss goal.
5. Know your snacks and potions. Make sure if you buy some snacks like chips or beef jerky, that you measure your servings. I like to fill Zip Lock snack bags when I buy something, and then I know if I open this pack I have consumed whatever number of calories. If I don’t do that I find myself grabbing a chip every now and then, and not recording it.
6. Find some safe foods in case you mess up during the day. It is a good idea to know some really low calorie filling foods in case you make a mistake during the day. If i eat too many calories during the day, for dinner I can eat some soup, or green peas.