4 Smart Ways to Improve Your Diet For Weight Loss

[Anonymous]

You've no doubt heard the following: "eat natural food grown fresh from the earth. Drink plenty of water. Eat locally grown foods. If it has more than 5 ingredients, it's probably not good for you. If you cannot pronounce the ingredients, it's probably not good for you." You've heard them, but most people tend to ignore the advice that we've known about forever and a day in regards to our diet and our health, but if you listen, you can help improve upon your health and drop some weight. Here are a few ways to make that happen.

1. Get Rid of Soda, Diet Soda, and....Juice!

Most people know soda is bad, so they rationalize that drinking 'diet' soda is therefore good because it has the word 'diet' in the title, but diet soda is an addictive concoction of chemicals designed to leave you feeling thirsty for more. It's loaded with salt and many cleverly disguised names for sugar. Artificial sweeteners will trigger insulin, which sends your body into fat storage mode and will lead to weight gain. So if soda and diet soda are bad, surely, nature's fruit, squeezed into juice form is good for you. Sadly, it is often worse than many other drinks one thinks of as bad because of the terrifyingly high amount of sugar present and it's one real beneficial property, fiber, disappears when it's pulverized and strained down for juice. As for the sugar, a typical 8 oz...not even the 10-12 oz cups most people tend to drink from, contains about 32-35 grams of sugar.

To put that into perspective, for men, you are only supposed to have about 37g or 9 teaspoons of sugar PER DAY, and for women, 25g, or 6 teaspoons PER DAY and yet before you've tucked into that pancake, the Starbucks coffee (also terrifyingly loaded with sugar), the donut from the office, and the ice cream at dinner, you've already met or nearly met your quota for the day. So if you've been going at it with juices and sodas, try this; without changing anything else about your routine, try drinking unsweetened natural beverages, but mainly water for a month, and see if you drop weight. I think the experiment may be quite the eye opener.

2. Get a smaller plate

Since the 60's, the American plate has only gotten bigger and bigger. A lot of people have been trained since a young age, to clean their plates and to not waste food. So what happens? You have this huge 14 inch plate which the person serving you, or you fills to the outer edges with food because empty spaces on a plate signify in your mind, not getting enough to eat, and you sit there and you clean your plate which is nearly triple the amount you really need to eat proportionally. Swap out your 12 and 14 inch plates for smaller sized 8-10 inch sizes. It's an easy way to do portion control without having to do much other than swap out your plate.

3. Say No To Diet Frozen Dinners/Meals

It seems so great in theory. A portable frozen meal comprised of portion controlled food that is low in calories and fat...until you look at the 50 ingredient list for what should be fish, rice, and vegetables or the sodium content, or the sugar content, or taste the rubbery or chemical taste of the food. There is no substitute for eating clean, fresh, whole foods. If you want to spend your cash on something, hire a food service which DOES make fresh whole food meals rather than buy the diet frozen food or better yet, make your food in bulk once a week, bag it, box it up, freeze it, and you'll be set to have your own meals ready to go for the week.

4. Drink Water!

Once again about that water thing...seriously the next time you are just absolutely starving, before you dig in to your breakfast, lunch, or dinner, drink a full glass of cold water or two, and wait a few minutes before eating. Most of the time when we are really hungry, we are really thirsty first. When you constantly drink water, your body feels refreshed, you're hydrated, and you're less likely to overindulge.

[Fathoms77]

Excellent Take.

If I could only give one piece of advice to people trying to lose weight, it would be cut out all the soda. That shit is just plain evil; it has zero redeeming qualities and it's almost tailor-made to mess with a human's psyche. It wants us to think we're quenching our thirst when in fact, it's only making us thirstier given the gigantic amount of sugar, and it's easy to over-indulge in liquids, thinking they can't possibly be as bad as solid foods. I honestly think most people could simply replace all soda they drink with a glass of water and not make any other changes, and still manage to lose weight.

Portion sizes have also gotten so far out of control, people have simply forgotten what it's like to feel content as opposed to overstuffed. Worse, because we are an increasingly sedentary species, we actually need far LESS sustenance than our ancestors who expended a LOT more energy on a daily basis.

I will disagree a little with the frozen meal thing, though. Not in terms of mainstream standard grocery store garbage, but there are some really high-quality frozen dinners out there now, most of which can only be found in dedicated natural or health food stores. Some really good options come from Blake's and Amy's, if someone is interested in eating decently (organic, quality ingredients), and the portion sizes are perfect. Not like that Hungry Man crap that should be freakin' outlawed. :P

[myTake Owner]

I did look up Amy's Lean meals, and they are more in league with what healthy frozen food options should be, but I think most people are grabbing those Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice options which are terrible for you which is why I suggested going the food service route where food is prepared for you with the correct healthful guidelines. Some good options though for just running to the store.

[Anonymous]

Freshly made juice from raw, organic fruits and veggies is actually healthier than regular, highly processed juice at the grocery store. It has its own natural sweetness.

[Oram52]

Even simple things can make a big difference. Soda and frozen meals, just eliminating them would make a big difference, both unhealthy.

[Xfitchick]

Since you publish that many interesting things here, why do it anonymous? It only takes a few minutes to make a profile.

[Anonymous]

i already do all of this but I don't loose weight :(

[myTake Owner]

This is but one small piece in a journey to lose weight. You can do everything on this list, but if you're still eating junk food, still not exercising, you are going to only see a minimal amount of weight loss. In order to see real loss, you need to be getting 8 hours of sleep a night, drinking water, eating a clean (healthy) diet, exercising doing both cardio and weights, and not engaging in any other bad habits like smoking, drinking, etc. Even with that, you can't do the same things especially in regards to your exercise over and over and never change up your plan and expect to see results. If you were only running a mile 4 months ago, you shouldn't still only be running that mile. You need to challenge your body constantly in order to see improvement. If you're doing all of that faithfully, not just saying you are, but actually doing it... and then still not seeing any changes, you might want to check in with a doctor to make sure you're medically okay, and second see a trainer.

[Opinion Owner]

I know they're things I should do (like follow a special diet (I just reduce a lot what I eat, tiny portion) and do cardio but that's hard cause it's really hot where I live I can't do exercices cause I faint when it's too hot).
Other than that I don't drink, smoke and workout a bit everyday. I stop eat junkfood like 2 month

[myTake Owner]

If you're reducing your calories too much your body is going to respond by keeping weight on. We are designed this way to keep us alive during times of starvation. Your body doesn't know you're on a diet, and so if you restrict severely it treats the situation as the same, which it is. Instead, you can actually eat a whole bunch of food as long as it is comprised of as many fresh veg as you want, some fruit, a couple of oz of lean meats, and plenty of water which is calorie free. As far as the workouts, don't let "it's too hot," therefore I can't do anything be your excuse. You don't have to work out outside. Even if you don't want to go to a gym or cant' afford to, there is always your bedroom or living room to workout in. Try my other post for some workouts: www.girlsaskguys.com/.../a29038-7-totally-free-workouts-dance-edition

[Opinion Owner]

It's really too hot it's 35° c in my home and I have a weak body, I don't suppport high temperature, I faint a lot during summer.
I will check your take ^^

[RicanEyes]

Thanks for this Take :-)

[Kate2001]

Definitely will try my best to follow this

[BarbieDollT]

I Always do #4. Thats how I lost 10lbs.

[YoungAndInnocent]

Nice take.

[Omar5881]

No juice AT ALL? 😢

[myTake Owner]

If you simply cannot live without juice, squeeze it yourself and ditch the sugar which is the main problem in nearly every juice on the market, however, you'd be better off overall eating a whole piece of natural fruit because that way you get all the fiber and vitamins within the fruit which are great for you.

[Omar5881]

I just got a question if I am going to eat a banana why not drink it?