More Really Can Be Less

Aside from giving up soda, cutting things from my diet was more the exception than the rule.  Most people I know who are trying to lose weight spend the majority of their time trying to figure out what not to eat.  My weight loss journey took me down a very different road.  Instead of cutting lots of things from my diet, I actually started adding things.

An interesting Forbes article discusses nine habits that make people fat.  One of those habits is skipping meals.  Like a lot of heavy people, I never ate breakfast.  In fact, very often dinner was my first meal of the day.  Not eating regularly throughout the day depresses your metabolism and can increase overeating later in the day.  Also, most of us are least active at the end of the day after dinner.  As your metabolism slows down at the end of the day, your body has very little time to burn the calories you consume later in the day.

After conquering my sugary drink habit and incorporating regular exercise, the next thing I did was add meals to my diet.  I ate three meals and three small snacks every day.  Once eating six times per day became a habit, I started to pay closer attention to what I was eating.  My food journal helped me accomplish this.  Initially I added more fresh fruits and vegetables to my diet.  The goal was to eat at least three servings of fresh fruit and five servings of fresh vegetables per day.   

The next thing I did was to add water to my diet; the goal was eight glasses per day.  Water maintains our hydration and helps to keep us feeling full.   Drinking plenty of water has other advantages as well.  Caloriesperhour.com details many ways that water consumption supports weight loss.  If you don’t like water, you can try the myriad flavored waters on the market.  A fresh slice of lemon or lime in your water or sparkling might also do the trick.  Also, see Redbook for other good alternatives to water. 

After adding exercise, meals, snacks, fruits, vegetables and water to my diet an interesting thing happened.  I started to feel better - both physically and mentally.  The more good things that I added to my diet and exercise regiment, the more weight I lost and the more committed I became to a healthier lifestyle. Suddenly, and with very little effort, I was more motivated than ever to take control of my diet.  I was making better choices.  I was not perfect, but I was better.

Almost by accident, I discovered that when it came to weight loss, more really can be less.