10 Ways To Lose Half A Pound Per Week
83It takes 3500 calories to make up one pound of fat so if fat loss is your goal, you should aim to create a deficit of about 250-500 calories per day in order to lose ½-1 pound per week; a healthy rate for weight loss. While this may seem like a lot of calories to cut out, it really isn't all that bad if you have a close look at some of your current eating habits. Calories can sneak into so many places so if you have a careful eye and can spot them you'll be way ahead in your calorie reduction. Here are 10 places you might want to start.
6. Don't Eat Off Someone Else's Plate
If you often pick at the fries on someone else's plate, you could unknowingly be adding a number of extra calories to your day. French fries in particular seem so harmless because one in itself is so small but chances are one fry leads to two fries leads to three fries....you get the point. It's very hard to stop at just one and it doesn't really take much to work your way up to 250 calories. If you've ever seen a small fry order at McDonald's, that's the equivalent to 250 calories. Isn't very big.
7. Skip The Pre-Drink Session
If you have reservations at a restaurant, try to avoid going early. Doing so will likely have you standing at the bar ordering some form of a cocktail while you wait. Most of the elaborate restaurant cocktails these days add up to 250 calories or more so you will then have to add this to your likely already high meal total. Furthermore, with alcohol in your system your defence against food may be slightly down leading you to eat more than you'd originally intended and increasing the total calories even more. For dieting individuals, happy hour should be something that's avoided - unless you have very good self-control and can do happy hour with a simple spritzer instead.
8. Bring Hard Candy To The Movies
If you are one of those people who can't go to the movies without something to snack on, consider bringing in with you some sugar free hard candy (or if you cannot tolerate sugar free, regular hard would work too - just not as good). The reason for this is because unlike soft candy, popcorn, licorice or chocolate bars, hard candy takes a fair amount of time to eat. At 20 calories per piece for the regular variety and a mere 5-6 calories for the sugar free, you really don't have to worry about the calories adding up too quickly.
9. Get Up During The Commercials
Ever notice how almost all commercials during your prime time television are geared towards food ads? This is not just a coincidence. Marketers known that the evening is prime snacking hour and by showing you tantalizing graphics of so many delicious snacking options you are going to be bound to walk into your kitchen to grab something to eat. It's not hard to load up 250 calories in a single trip to the panty, all of which will be devoured in a matter of minutes. To avoid this before it happens to you, get up and do something in the commercials - bonus points if it involves sit-ups, push-ups or some other form of physical activity.
10. Buy Snacks In Single Packages
Rather than purchasing extra large bags of chips, Smarties in a 2 KG package and gallon tubs of ice cream, try and seek out snacks that come already portioned. Halloween is an excellent time to stock up. If you run a craving for chocolate year round, these little bite-sized bars are the perfect option to always have around. To slow you down even further during your noshing session, place the bars in the freezer and eat them partially frozen. You can't chew as quickly and thus there is less of a chance you'll eat 5 or 6 in a sitting. Considering your average size chocolate bar these days is about 300-400 calories and a mini is 50-80, this is a very simple way to knock off 250 calories fast.
1. Clean Up The Kids Lunches In A Hurry
While unpacking the kids' lunches, how often do you sneak a bite? If you're like most, you might take a few bites out of the remainders of their PB and jelly sandwich or maybe scoop out the chocolate brownie you packed for them. It's a small size to begin with so it can't really hurt right? Unfortunately picking away like this can really add up. It's incredibly easy to rack up 250 calories from a few bites of a couple of foods.
2. Always Go For Marinara Over Alfredo
Don't let yourself fall into the pasta trap. While pasta in itself in moderation can be part of a healthy diet, it is what you put on the pasta that is going to make all the difference. You really must try and avoid alfredo sauce at all costs unless you know specifically how it's been made and that it's a light version. Most alfredo sauces are not only incredibly high in calories they are also high in saturated fat. Add to that that they are normally served in gigantic portions over pasta and you've got yourself a meal that usually goes over the thousand calorie mark. Switch this for marinara and you'll looking at half that or less. Watch out for how marinara is made though, most of the time it will be safe but if it's an oil-based marinara you might also want to be slightly on the lookout.
3. Don't Always Think Salads Are Safe
If you always order a salad thinking that you are completely safe and in complete control of your diet you could be seriously mistaken. Some of the more complete salads can be loaded with fat and calories. Items such as chopped eggs, nuts, bacon, cheese, taco shells, ground beef, meat, creamy or mayo based dressings and croutons can really add up. Make sure if you are going to order a salad you have a close look at what it contains. If you are unsure, ask your server. They should know the exact ingredients that the salad is made of and can make any adjustments you need. Luckily salads are really easy to make alterations to so don't feel shy at all about asking. When your talking hundreds of calories that would take a considerable amount of time to work off in the gym, it's definitely worth it.
4. Watch Your Cheese Consumption
While getting in plenty of calcium is important not only to promote healthy bones but also because it has been shown to help in the fat loss process, you really need to watch when it comes to cheese. A serving size that resembles a pair of dice will give you about 150 calories and more often than not most people do not stop at that serving size. If you are regularly slicing cheese and having it with crackers as a snack you may be eating many more calories than you think. If you really must have cheese, try and work it into your meal so you need less since you are eating it with other foods. An example of this technique would be to sprinkle it over your pasta marinara or grilled chicken breast. Another option is to eat the lower fat variety of cheese such as fat free cheese slices (although these are fairly processed so not quite as good), cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. These are lower in calories and often actually supply you with a really good dose of protein. Cottage cheese is particularly nice because it's a source of casein protein, which is digested much slower than other sources of protein.
5. Go With A Veggie Sub
Think the submarine fast food places are your best option? You might want to reconsider. While you definitely can get a good meal there if you choose right, if you go with their meatball, BLT or hero subs you could be in for a rude awakening. Furthermore, choose the monstrous footlong variety and you are doing yourself no better than if you had just had a deluxe hamburger at another fast food joint.
Choose a veggie, half foot sub for a nice light meal that won't weigh you down. It'll normally be around 250 calories so long as you watch the condiments you put on it. If you'd like to increase the protein content on that slightly, add on some lean chicken breast, turkey breast or a small amount of roast beef.
