Easy Low Calorie Diet Tips

I’ve probably been on more diets than most people my age. Actually, I’ve been dieting since I was in middle school. Being on a diet, usually means being miserable, because most diets deprive you of your favorite foods. One of the keys to having a successful diet is being allowed to eat the foods you love. The most important thing to remember is moderation. Obviously, moderation isn’t easy or people like me wouldn’t be overweight. So how do you learn moderation? One of the easiest ways to keep your favorite foods in your diet while still practicing moderation is to go on a low calorie diet. I have been on low calorie diets several times and it always works. Of course, you can’t sit down and eat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and expect to have any calories left for the day, but you will still be able to have a serving size and that’s better than nothing.

Tips to Stay on Track

When starting a low calorie diet there are certain things you must do to stay on track other than keeping track of your calories. If you don’t follow these tips you may think you are doing rather well on your low calorie diet only to find out later that you have gained weight.

Low Calorie Diet Tip #1: Buy Measuring Cups

Being on a low calorie diet means that you have to measure out serving sizes. Unless the package says you can eat a certain number, you need to measure out that food. For example, a package may say that you can eat 15 potato chips. That’s great, just count out the number of chips. But, if the package says that a serving size is ¼ cup, you will need to measure it out. You may think you know what a ¼ of a cup is, but you’d really be surprised just how little a ¼ of a cup actually is.

Low Calorie Diet Tip #2: Weigh Your Foods

Sometimes you can’t simply measure out a serving size. A package may say that a serving size is 1 ounce. In these cases you will need to actually weigh out the food, preferably on a set of digital scales.

Low Calorie Diet Tip #3: Prepackaged Foods

When it comes to snacks, it’s really best to buy single serving packages. This will ensure that you only eat one serving. If you cannot find your favorite snacks in single serving packages, weigh out or measure out your favorite snacks and package them in zip top bags. If you think you can sit down with a large bag of potato chips and only eat 15, you’re wrong.

Low Calorie Diet Tip #4: Write It Down

Write down everything you eat along with the amount of calories in each item. This will make it easier to keep track of what you ate for that day. To make things even easier, purchase a calorie counter book. This will more than likely include just about every item you can think of. There are also great websites that have the same information (see reference section), but a book can be taken with you to the grocery store.

Low Calorie Diet Tip #5: Make Sure to Eat Enough

You may think you should drastically cut your calories, when going on a low calorie diet, but this will only hurt you in the long run. Cutting your calories down to 500 calories a day will make your body think it’s starving. This will cause your metabolism to slow down and your body will start to hold onto every calorie. You will eventually start to lose weight as your body breaks down your muscle, which is not a good thing. You need to eat enough calories for your weight.

Reference:

• www.principalhealthnews.com/topic/nutritiontoolbox