Healthy eating and regular exercise are part of the “must do’s” every day. Does that mean there is no room for chocolate truffles or a Sunday afternoon nap? Of course not. It’s like brushing your teeth or taking a shower — it’s part of living.
So what happens when you’re eating healthy and you’re involved in some type of physical activity most days of the week, and then you find your’re still not reaching your weight and/or fitness goals? I often hear this from people who have been trying year after year to lose weight. They feel they are doing everything they need to do to live a healthy lifestyle, but still can’t shed some extra pounds.
The first thing I recommend is to take a week to evaluate where you are. Keep track of what, when and how much you eat and what type of exercise and the duration of that exercise each day. This may seem like a lot of work, but remember: it’s just one week.
From there look at some key things:
- Are you eating at least 3-5 fruit and vegetable servings each day?
- Are you eating mostly whole-grain and fiber-rich carbohydrates for snacks and meals?
- How many calories are you consuming in a day? You do not have to be a registered dietition to figure that out. You can go to www.calorieking.com and plug in your information to determine the caloric value of any food or recipe.
- Lastly, are you doing the same thing each day when exercising? When was the last time you changed it up?
So now you have this information and you have evaluated it. Now it’s time to think of some small changes you can make that could make a big change.
Let’s say you see you are not consuming at least 5 fruit and vegetable servings a day. Think of some fruits and vegetables you like and and add them to your meals or snacks. We often think about having a fruit or juice at breakfast and maybe some fruit at lunch. But how often are you having fruit as a snack or as part of your dinner meal? Instead of having one serving of vegetables on you plate, try two. Extra vegetables not only help to fill your plate, it helps to increase the fiber and nutrient content of your meal.
Whole grain foods also help you to feel fuller longer. Why not choose the food item with more fiber? This is often easy to do with cereals, breads, crackers, granola bars and rice. I recommend looking on the nutrition facts label on your packaged foods. Try to find foods with at least 5 grams of fiber per serving (or more). Then look at the number of calories you ate each day. Often when doing this you may find that you are eating healthy foods and snacks, but the portion size may need to be adjusted. For instance, whole wheat pasta is a great source of fiber and protein. The portion size is one cup (the size of a baseball). How many cups were on your plate? Measuring out portion sizes often helps one to get a sense of the amount of your favorite foods make up a serving. The website www.myplate.gov is a great resource for learning more about food portions.
I don’t believe many people avoid keeping their teeth clean, so just like brushing your teeth each day, think of ways keep your body healthy and fit.