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I'm celebrating the loss of exactly 20 pounds today! Here's what I did for the past couple of months.
Change your 'white' starches to 'brown' ones: switch out white bread for wheat, enriched pasta for whole wheat, etc. For a while I was mixing wheat and enriched pasta to get used to the taste. I don't eat much white refined or enriched pastas or breads anymore.
Take a multivitamin daily (I take One A Day WeightSmart - but follow the directions on it! Taking it on an empty stomach is a bad idea).
Increase fiber intake either through supplements or high fiber foods.
Avoid fast food and restaurant food when possible. I literally have to fight myself not to go 'run out and grab a quick bite' sometimes.
Serving sizes for starches like this should be around the size of your fist, and the rest of your meal fleshed out with vegetables, fruits and proteins. I tend to go heavy on the veggies, medium on the proteins and lighter on the starches.
Snack lightly and every couple of hours on fiber or protein heavy snacks (I like to keep apples, beef jerky, cheese, nuts and stuff like that around). to maintain blood sugar levels and help you control binges. If you starve between meals, you'll eat more at every meal. When you are hungry eat something - but keep it reasonable. Stave off the hunger now, avoid binges later - it works for me, anyway.
If you are a chocoholic, or you have similar food cravings - keep them around in small quantities. You'll do yourself no favors by "banning" certain foods. Eat what you like - but use judgement in how much you eat. I love my Hershey's chocolate - but I'll eat a Kiss now instead of a giant bar. If I want chips, I'll have some - but I'll portion it out according to serving size. Never, ever eat out of the container.
Drink lots of water, all day and before meals. If you drink sodas, wean yourself down until you are drinking only one a day, and try to drop it down to no more than one or two a week. This one was easy for me - I drink maybe 4-5 sodas in a year. I am mostly an unsweetened tea/water kind of person.
You will slip up and overeat. Its inevitable for everyone who is trying to lose weight. If you do, don't panic. Just stop your eating and drink water.
Eat only half of what you think you can eat - your eyes are always bigger than your stomach. Eat slowly. If you are still hungry after you finish (give yourself 20 minutes or so to digest), then eat a little more. Or... eat a reasonable dessert instead! When I go to restaurants, I generally just ask for a to-go box at the beginning and pack up half of what I have. Surprisingly, I am pretty satisfied with half, and I get the other half waiting for me later.
Avoid "fat free" and "low carb" labels on most foods - often these pack some hidden sugars and whopper calories. You can eat the 'real' things, just follow the serving sizes on the containers. Everything in moderation.
Make conscious choices when you eat. Sometimes I'll go to the fridge, and take something out and think to myself - do I really want to eat this? I will sometimes even be able to actually switch out what I want to eat for what I need to be eating and end up feeling better for it.
Get moving. I try to get in at least 20 minutes of some activity a day - even if its a lunchtime walk around downtown with Mr. B or an afternoon game of frisbee with my friend R - or just making more trips up and down my stairs during the day.
I don't do this much now since I've adjusted what and how I've been eating but at first I was not happy about changing what I eat - so one day a week, I'd set aside to be my 'free' day to eat what I like and how much I liked. Rarely did I end up gorging though.
Oh, and put away that scale! I had to force myself to weigh in only once a week, at that - the 'fluctuating five' of water weight/etc. can be demoralizing and when the needle is higher than you like it is all to easy to step off the scale and start justifying reasons to quit what you are doing.
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No man chooses evil because it is evil; he only mistakes it for happiness, the good he seeks.
--Mary Wollstonecraft
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