weightloss wednesday: eat your heart out

the biggest obstacle for me and for most people when losing weight is food. either making good choices or portion control. justin is a pro at this, which drives me insane. i've always been of the school of thought 'life is short - enjoy the twinkie'. mostly because i love twinkies so much. but really, i don't like fad diets. i don't believe in cleanses. i believe in eating right things in the right amount with some leeway.


some.

that's the hard part for me. as i've mentioned before i am just in love with sweets lately. i have a friend from zumba who gave up sweets almost a year ago and lost tons of weight- just sweets, nothing else. [not including things with natural or built in sugars because let's face it, there's sugar in everything now days]. that's just crazy to me - i couldn't give up sweets forever! i have too many dreams of chocolate cake to do such a thing. that's why moderation is the key. here's when i talked about doing weight watchers which is great but sometimes not realistic for some people. or if you're like me, you get bored and lazy so give up.

now we all know what we should be doing - eat more vegetables & fruits [really, let's all admit that there are some days vegetables or fruits don't even grace your plate], less carbs but make sure the ones you eat are complex [meaning whole grain or whole wheat - not that refined delicious white crap], or cut out soda or other calorie filled drinks. here are some other tips to help me curb my fappetite.

- if you're craving something sweet after a meal, grab a couple raisins or go brush your teeth.

this is for a certain someone i know who is NOT fat
but does have a history of breaking chairs hahaha

- only fill your plate half full of what you think you want. once you finish that, wait 5 minutes then assess if you're still hungry or just want to eat more for the sake of eating. most often then not, we really aren't hungry, we just want to chew some more [so pop in some gum!]
- drink more water - all day every day. when you wake up, after you eat, during your meal, driving in the car. carry water with you and sip on it all day - it will honestly curb your appetite. and if you don't like the taste of water, buy those cute little mio or crystal light additives that make water gross more appetizing for some.
-don't watch tv and eat. it really will eat more because you're distracted by the whole elana/damon/stephan love triangle and not your turkey wrap.
-cut down on calorie bumps like mayo, ketchups and oils. switch to better versions of these if you can [mayo with olive oil, mustard only, or use olive oil] then cut in half what you normally use.
-stop associating emotional tysts with food. after the gym, don't reward yourself with froyo. but at the same time, it's ok to have a few hershey kisses to satisfy your sweet tooth.
-when it comes to sweet cravings, you can try those weight watchers cookies or other things but i'm of the school of thought that imitation is not a sincere form of flattery but a gross waste of calories. because after i eat that 100 calorie pack of cookies, i still want more. so i eat what i want just in smaller amounts.

*i saw this one morning with landon and almost died laughing. this is how i live my life - with visions of food dancing around me saying 'pick me! pick me!'
-speaking of amounts, weight or measure your food. it's amazing how much you really don't know serving sizes. read the box and measure. doing this seems like a waste of time but it's amazing how if you just measure your 1 cup of cereal, eat that, then realize that you can supplement your hunger with some fruit instead of another serving of cereal.
-why ww works is because it holds you accountable for every single thing that enters your mouth. i have an aunt who just recently lost tons of weight just writing everything down - in a journal, an app, telling your friends, whatever works. this stops you from absent mindedly finishing your child's plate, eating a few chips mid-afternoon or gorging on that pint of ben & jerrys.
-limit take out to once a week and when you do go out, make good choices. or as good as you can. but don't be afraid to enjoy your food. i'd rather be fat and eat some chocolate cake every once in a while then skinny and grumpy [aka life without cake].