Sunday, May 1, 2011

Action Plan on How to Shed Weight

Most of us are now addicted to eating in restaurants and thereby we lose control over what we eat. The problem is that restaurants are profit oriented, so they try to make you eat a lot without considering the implication on your health. They spice their dishes up with a lot of rubbish to make them enticing and attractive. They add things like extra butter and rich cream sauces, carmelized sugar toppings, cheese sauce etc. All are just to entice you. It is good to eat in restaurants once in a while but it is bad when you make it a habit because the dishes you eat in restaurants have a lot of fats and calories. However, here is a way to eat in restaurants and still control your diet.

Restaurants later came up with the idea of “Extra Value Meals”. For extra value meals, you pay a little more money to get much more dishes. Who would resist such offer? Nobody! It is meant to push you to buy more. McDonald initiated the idea, but today, most restaurants have adopted it. These days, the quantity of food served in restaurants is mind-blowing.

There’s a book called Restaurant Confidential. Please get a copy of this book, read and digest it. You will find the calorie content of some of these restaurant dishes very disturbing. It would give you the reason for the ubiquity of obesity. Take Cheese fries with Ranch dressing for instance, it contains over 3,000 calories and about 217 grams of fat. To make matters worse, it is just an appetizer! Do you get the argument? If you take in over 3,000 calories from an appetizer, how much calories would you consume from the main dish?

Cheese fries is just one of the dishes that give you a lot of calories. There are many more dishes that have much more calories than Cheese fries. It is believed that if you eat in a restaurant just once a day, you consume about 5,000 calories a day. If you eat more than once in a day, figure out how much calories you take in on a daily basis. Now, do you realize why obesity is everywhere? The painful truth is that you have to be ready to pay a lot of money to eat plain food if you don’t want to be overweight. Restaurants have fixed prices for every meal and they are not likely to give you any discount if you opt for a plain meal. Here is a better way to cope with the situation:
·         Just say NO to super sizing. The quantity you ordered is already too much. Do not ask for any extra value. It’ll save you some money and save your health as well.

·         Skip the bread and rolls served with most meals. Most restaurants will give you some bread along with your meal. You should ignore the bread if it is not fresh from the oven or some special kind of bread. If you can’t resist it, then try to eat it without butter. If you see it as a waste of money, tell a waiter to pack it for you. You can eat it at home or give someone else.

·         Stop ordering drinks with your meals. Do not buy soft drinks along with your meals. You should opt for ordinary water instead. If you have to take drinks, then order diet drinks. But never ever ask for “fat pop”.


·         Trim visible fat and skin. You have learn how to trim down the visible fat and skin from your food before eating it. Eat the lean part instead. Take chicken for instance, its skin tastes good and may be difficult to resist. But you have to choose between good taste with a burden of extra weight and not so good taste without the burden of extra weight. It is as simple as that.

·         Get a copy of Restaurant Confidential and start checking how much calories are in each meal you order. May be when you discover how much calories you take in on a daily basis, you’ll flee from restaurants completely. You could split the meal into two or ignore the extra food items or cultivate a habit of eating at home.

·         Order one dinner and ask for an extra plate. Go to the restaurant with a friend, order a meal with an extra plate and split everything into two between you and your friend. Both of you should share the cost too. That way, you’ll eat less without wasting some money. It is important that you watch what you eat, watch the environment in which you eat and also watch how much you eat. If you can’t give up restaurants, try and make it a once-in-a-while issue. In addition, if you just have to visit a restaurant everyday, then learn how to order plain and unadorned dishes.

·         Train your Eye to Accept Less Food. You have to train your eyes and mind to expect small quantity of food in your plate. We are all used to large quantities of food in our plates. You may not be conscious of this fact, but it is a fact. Your body does not need so much quantity. It is difficult to eat little because most people do not eat because of body nutrients. Instead, they eat for pleasure. That is part of being a human being.

You have to learn how to cook at home. That would put you in total control of what you eat, when you eat and the quantity you eat. All the tips given above are meant for restaurant die-hards. The best way to maintain your weight is to quit eating in restaurants.

It is difficult to suddenly change your diet and your lifestyle. If you try that, you won’t get anywhere before slipping back to your old habits. The change in diet has to be gradual and it has to be what works for you. Is it changing what you eat that works for you? Is it reducing the quantity? Or is it staying completely away from restaurants? You have to find out. 

You have to make a plan and set a target for yourself. That is a good way to start. If you later realize that the target is too harsh or your body can’t just adjust, you have to loosen up on it a bit. Or re-strategize and reset the target. I mean you should reduce the target. You could also save the extra on your meal on Sunday night for your lunch on Monday. Become a member of any nearby gym. You could invite some of your colleagues for a long walk during lunch time at least once a week. All these little efforts would make a long term difference. Remember, little drops of water make an ocean.  

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