theGYMkc's Blog

Cut 100 Calories a Day for a Year/Lose 10 Pounds

12/7/2014

Cut 100 calories a day, every day, for a year, and you'll save 36,500 calories [which equals 10 pounds].

Easy trade outs:

[1] use avocado instead of mayo
[2] swap 5oz of Alfredo sauce for 7oz of marinara
[3] order thin-crust not thick-crust pizza
[4] pat the top of your pizza with a napkin
[5] have spaghetti squash instead of pasta
[6] skip the croutons on your salad
[7] drink sparkling water with a splash of natural juice instead of regular soda

Savor Every Bite/Eat Less

12/7/2014

Want to munch less in the afternoon? Slow down at lunch.

A new study in the journal Appetite found that people who chewed each bite of their midday meal for at least 30 seconds consumed half as many snacks later in the day as those who ate at their usual pace.

"Focusing on the process may help the brain remember food for a prolonged period of time, delaying hunger signals," explains coauthor Suzanne Higgs, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Shape April 2013.

Portion Control

12/7/2014

The FDA standard serving size for ice cream is 1/2 cup. If you aren't careful, you might scoop up more than you realize.

When dishing it out, try to visualize a tennis-ball size portion ... that equals approximately 1 serving.

Try using a smaller bowl when eating ice cream. It's been known that the bigger the bowl ... the more you'll eat. So opt in for a smaller bowl and a smaller waistline.

If you love to bake but have a hard time controlling yourself around cookies, scoop the dough into an ice cube tray, freeze it, and pop the cubes into a freezer bag.

Then the next time a craving comes on, stick one in the toaster oven, suggests Heather Bauer RD, author of Bread Is the Devil.

"The freezer keeps cookies out of sight, and baking them individually forces you to practice portion control," she says.

Apple Trick

11/2/2014

One of my little secret that helps me not eat out-of-control when I eat out is to eat an apple before I leave the house. An apple is low in calories and high in fiber and can save you from eating your arm while you are waiting for a table and/or your food once you are at the restaurant.

This will [in most cases] save you from over-eating and moaning: "I've eaten too much! My stomach hurts!"

You know you're guilty of saying that!

Plate Size/Color

11/2/2014

Did you know that you could cut your calorie intake by 50% by just reducing your plate size from a 12-inch plate to an 8.5-inch plate?

Did you know that you can trick your mind into eating less by simply using a smaller dinner plate?

Did you know that by changing your plate size, you could save yourself from overeating by 1000 calories?

It's been said that the size of your dinner plate can trick you into actually eating more than the recommended portion size. We are visual eaters ... therefore, we tend to dish out our portions in relation to the size of our plate/bowl.

The right plates can help you cut portions painlessly. Research shows that you pile more food on large dishes, so downsize from dinner plates to salad plates.

A study from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, showed that serving white food on white plates prompted people to help themselves to 30% more. To avoid these results at home, invest in a few brightly colored dishes.

Change Your Plate Size

1/18/2014

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It's been said that the size of your dinner plate can trick you into actually eating more than the recommended portion size. We are visual eaters ... therefore, we tend to dish out our portions in relation to the size of our plate/bowl.

I often tell my clients that what we dish out and "think" is a portion ... will often be larger than a recommended portion ... therefore, we are eating more calories than what we think we are.

Test it yourself. Pour out what you consider a portion of cereal into a bowl ... but before you eat it, take a true measurement of it ... and compare it to what the serving size listed on the side of the box. You can do this for everything you eat. This is a good way of understanding how many calories you are truly eating throughout the day.

Believe it or not, the dinner plate has increased in size over the years ... and has been blamed for the increase in obesity. One source states that the average dinner plate in 1960 was only 9 inches in diameter. Fast forward to 2014 ... and the average dinner plate is now 12 inches in diameter.

You can trick your mind into eating less by simply using a smaller dinner plate. Check out the illustration to the right. The 12-inch plate appears to have a smaller portion as opposed to the 8.5-inch plate. In reality, the portions are exactly the same.

Plate Size in Relation to Calorie Intake:

An 8.5-inch plate holds about 800 calories.
1 10-inch plate holds about 1000 calories.
An 11-inch plate holds about 1600 calories.
A 12-inch plate holds about 1900 calories.

A 3-inch increase in your plate size can more than double the calories that you are eating.

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Cut 100 Calories a Day for a Year/Lose 10 Pounds

Savor Every Bite/Eat Less

Portion Control

Apple Trick

Plate Size/Color

Change Your Plate Size

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Cut 100 Calories a Day for a Year/Lose 10 Pounds

Savor Every Bite/Eat Less

Portion Control

Apple Trick

Plate Size/Color

Change Your Plate Size

Archives

Categori﻿es

Categories