8 Reasons Why Size Matters: When Smaller is King
Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Jeremy over at SalutaryBlog.com. He recently started SalutaryBlog to help inform readers about health and fitness.
So often people try new fad diets but cannot (and should not) continue to follow the guidelines of these diets. Atkin’s, South Beach, The Chocolate Diet — you name it and it probably exists. Anyway, there is no reason for you to go on a “diet” – Yes, whatever you consume throughout the day is part of your “diet”, but work on creating a balanced diet and you will create for yourself a lifetime of proper nutrition and good health.
The problem with fad diets, is that people need to make complete lifestyle changes to adhere to the terms of whichever diet they have chosen. If you have a family you need to eat specialized meals or buy completely different food than the rest of the people eating with you. It can become extremely burdensome. Here is a number of ways to make small changes throughout your day that will make a big difference in the long run. Of course some amount of self control is still needed, but much less than if you were to get on a stupid fad diet. After all, do you want to be healthy or not?
Breakfast – If you do not already eat breakfast, the addition of breakfast can make a huge, healthier change for you. I wrote about the importance of breakfast, calcium, and fiber, but I will briefly explain them here as well.
Not enough time for breakfast? Wake up 15 minutes earlier and you have just begun your journey to lose an additional 12 pounds in the next year.
Don’t like breakfast foods? Don’t be turned away because you don’t like cereal or because you don’t like milk. Have a couple pieces of whole wheat toast with low fat butter or peanut butter, a glass of juice (orange, apple, pineapple), and a banana.
Portion size – Instead of 2 sandwiches, eat only 1. Instead of bringing a bag of chips to watch TV, bring a bowl with a handful of chips.
Frequency – Eat less, more often. This is similar to portion size, but linking them together has a huge impact. Instead of eating 2 sandwiches, and then 2 hours later eating something else, simply eat 1 sandwich, and then 1-2 hours later eat another sandwich. When you eat a lot and then don’t eat for awhile, your body goes into conservation mode. It doesn’t know when it will get energy again, so it stores it just in case it won’t for awhile. If you train your body to understand that you are providing it constant energy, it will work with you and become a constant calorie burning machine.
Water – Water is one of the most important factors. DRINK WATER! Bring a regular size cup of water to your desk computer. When you finish, go fill it up again. Do this all day. You will be annoyed by peeing every 13 seconds, but your body will thank you. Drinking cold water helps weight loss as your body works harder to bring the cold water up to your body’s temperature. Drink water when you are really hungry, and then eat. You will eat less. Creating a deficit in your eating vs. what you burn = weight loss! Drink water or skim milk instead of pop or 2% milk. Small change… Big results!
Fiber – Fiber is great at filling you up. You eat less food but feel full quicker. Whole wheat bread, vegetables, healthy cereals (raisin bran, cheerios, etc), fruits, beans, wheat pasta are all great examples.
Sugar – Sugar intake releases insulin which promotes the storage of fat (not good). Candy and pop are completely “sugarified” and un-needed. Mild portions if you are craving it, otherwise lay off!
Fat – Fat is needed, there is no doubt about that. But, there is fat in nearly everything we eat, and we do not need much extra. Therefore, instead of a turkey and cheese sandwich, eat just a turkey sandwich instead (use mustard and/or pickles as mustard has 0 calories).
Sleep – Sleep more. When you don’t get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food.
Remember, attempting to implement all of these changes at once will be extremely difficult. Best results are shown when people work really hard at changing 1 or 2 things per week. If you can concentrate really hard on decreasing sugar and doing that alone, you are much more likely to be successful in making these small, yet very effective changes in your lifestyle.
Good luck.
Thanks for useful article! Regards!
No problem! Thanks for the kind comment 🙂
Water is one of the most important factors. DRINK WATER! Bring a regular size cup of water to your desk computer. When you finish, go fill it up again. Do this all day. You will be annoyed by peeing every 13 seconds, but your body will thank you. Drinking cold water helps weight loss as your body works harder to bring the cold water up to your body’s temperature. Drink water when you are really hungry, and then eat.
I drink tons of water, and get up to use the bathroom a lot!!! You are right that drinking cold water is best, because the body burns energy/calories in heating it up. Also, you burn calories getting up to use the bathroom frequently.
Exactly. Aside from that, you feel SOOO refreshed after drinking a lot of water.
Great article! Over the last 4 weeks I have made my lunch bigger (containing lean chicken or fish and a raw salad) and then my dinner portions a lot smaller.
This has had a great affect on my weekly weight loss.
Awesome! Of course there are many different ways people could adjust, but that’s great that it is working for you! Keep up the hard work and “discipline” 🙂
So you get more calories early in the day? Is that the thinking?
Great tips my friend.
Thanks StrongOne. Glad to see people enjoy my writing. Hope to be able to provide great content for a long time coming.
Writing is like losing weight: be consistent
Great points about fad diets. They may help you take of weight quickly, but once you are done with the diet if you have not made changes in your eating habits, the weight will come back.
Long term success is really more about changing your eating habits. Eating healthier and eating less – what a concept!
Mike
Indeed, change your mindset, how you approach it, don’t just go into this thinking “if I diet I will be fine.” Look at those people on The Biggest Loser, they lose tons of weight on the show in 3 to 6 months, but then gain it back if they dont have their minds “right.”
Exactly. Just another reason why the biggest change needs to be in a person’s lifestyle.
I have always followed a strict diet plan. For me weight is of utmost importance. I would never want to take this thing lightly as after all Health Matters 🙂
Agreed. Health and fitness together are definitely king though!
Drink a lot of cold water- your body will use some energy when heating it up
“Drinking cold water helps weight loss as your body works harder to bring the cold water up to your body’s temperature.”
yea, losing weight is a very big issue. i have been dealing with it for several years now
thanks for such a great article!
will help others like it did to me.
cheers
Thank you for this great article!
But too much sleep is also not good for your health, the maximum is for me nine hours, or I`m feeling tired and lazy.
Best regards
Oliver
Indeed.
Peoples perceptions of so called normal weight is way completely of. Who said big is bad? The six pack obsession can be extremely funny, how you look doesn’t represent your knowledge.
The main thing for fat loss is training correctly, if you want to loose weight watch what your eating and your fine.
Anyways good article and people need to concentrate on the bigger picture.
Very good point!!!
I know that at 260lbs I will look pretty good because that is how my body is made up.
Fiber, oh fiber! I’m still working on getting more fiber in my diet. Guess I’ll have to come up with more creative ways to do that.