Tips for successful eating

Sorry about the gaps in between posts.  Sometimes life gets busy as you all know.

Today I want to talk about a few tips for healthy eating and making sure you're on the right track! I am by no means an expert but this is a compilation of things I've found have worked for me and that I have found online and tried or just tried myself.

Here are 10 helpful tips that work for me:

1. Be mindful about your eating: I am totally one of those people who can just sit there and pop piece of popcorn after piece of popcorn into my mouth without paying attention to what or how much I'm eating! Also if I have a little bit of alcohol, I get the munchies and then I just keep eating things I wouldn't have other wise. When you're eating, it is helpful to be aware of what you're eating and why. If it is because you really want a little bit of ice cream, that's fine. If it's because you're eating dinner to sustain yourself or you're having a pre work out snack, that's good - but make sure you've pre portioned what you're eating so you don't go over board!

2. Only eat from a plate: This kind of fits with mindful eating, but I am so guilty of grazing from the fridge or from the pantry. You can wind up eating so many extra calories.  Make sure if you plan on eating that you go get the food you want, put it on a plate and sit down and enjoy it. Enjoying your food and taking time to think about what you're eating makes such a difference.

3. Food scales and measuring cups: I cannot tell you how helpful a food scale is. If you're tying to lose weight, change your body, tone up, etc. a food scale is so so so important.  There are lots of guess-timation tools for knowing how much a portion is like how a deck of cards is about 3 oz of meat or part of your finger is about an ounce, however, the scale will help you tremendously. The same goes for measuring cups and spoons. You might think you know what a tablespoon of peanut butter is but going over could be an extra 50 calories! How many times do you look at the back of the bag to check out a serving size and it's in grams or ounces without a count? All the time! This will help you see what it looks like, and you might even be surprised that you were having more to eat than you thought.

4. Lighten foods you already enjoy: You can cut calories from meals by switching to light butter, light sour cream. You can also add veggies to bulk up what you're eating, for example, if you're making homemade pizza load it up with some veggies! I like to have a big side of vegetables if I'm having a pasta or something that tends to be less on the healthy side so I can fill up on the healthier options but still have what I want. You can also google "light" versions of some of your favorite foods and get great ideas!

5. Avoid "diets" eat clean and avoid processed food!: It's important not to think of what you're doing as a temporary or after you lose enough weight or hit a goal and go back to eating how you were before, you will see your hard work go away. In order for the change to stick it has to be a change of mind and a change of attitude and how you think about food.  You can still treat yourself! Trust me I still eat ice cream, cake, brownies but I don't have them every day and if I do indulge its usually on a work out day. Some people say not to do this at all, but I know how my mind works and depriving myself leads to binging in a terrible way. It's best to find what works for you in this capacity and stick to it.
I find it best to eat as much whole and clean food as I can. Lots of veggies, fruits, lean proteins, and avoid processed foods and focus on complex carbs rather than simple carbs. This means I chose a sweet potato over a regular potato, brown rice over white, etc.  I still eat processed foods like yogurt, string cheese, and cookie chips hahaah but I try to make those less frequent in my diet and avoid "boxed carbs."

6. Be Smart at Restaurants: When you eat out at a restaurant think ahead! Many restaurants post their nutritional information online. Things you thought might be "healthy" could be full of heavy cream or salt or more.  Check salads, especially. Dressings can be full of sugar. Is the chicken grilled or friend? Is the shrimp marinated? Is it loaded with cheese and croutons? If there isn't nutrition information, you can usually at least find the menu and having a plan before you go in to the restaurant makes it easier to avoid temptation.

7. Plan your meals: One or two days before I start to plan my meals. I play on my fitness pal to make sure I'm getting enough protein, staying with in calories, getting enough vegetables and more.  It also makes my meals seem very final, helps me see the calories for the entire day in perspective.  Some people make their meals for the week on Sunday and that's awesome but that's not my thing. I like cooking at night and having some variety, but making sure you pre-plan helps keep you on track. You're way more likely to grab what is convenient so make your healthy foods are convenient.

8. Water: Water Water Water - I cannot say it enough. On a day I go to the gym, I easily drink about 2 gallons of water, if not more.  Water helps your skin, helps with weight loss, digestion, brain function, and so much more.  We all know the recommended amount of water is eight 8 ounce glasses of water a day, but if you are trying to lose weight, you should be drinking more. Water also helps you feel full.
I know a lot of people don't "like" water, but there might be some small changes that make it better. For example, I  used to only really like ice cold water out of glass so I made sure to drink water that way and now I can drink water pretty much any way and CRAVE it.
If you go buy a 32 ounce bottle of water and drink 2 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon you will see a difference and feel a difference.  Now, a lot of what you lose will be water weight, but it's still important to drink all that water.

9. Set daily goals: One of the best pieces of advice I've ever read was to make sure you set daily goals and not just long term goals. For example "today I will only eat a piece of dark chocolate for dessert after dinner" or "today I will allow myself a piece of that birthday cake but just one." It gives you a small victory for your day and helps you stay on track.

10. Don't beat yourself up: If you don't do as well as you plan on it's okay! Look at the next day as a day to do better. No one is perfect and no one will be perfect every day. I like to remind myself that I made the decision to eat it so that's the choice I made. It's okay to mess up - just earn from it and move forward.

Bonus tip:
I get sweet tooth cravings a LOT and I once read that when you are craving something that you know you kind of want but you're not sure, set a timer for 20 minutes. Most cravings only last that long. Usually by the time the timer goes off, I'm not interested in whatever I'm craving.