Balance," said the tightrope walker, "it's all about the balance!
Keeping a food diary will give you a much greater understanding of what you really eat. You may think you're not eating much, when in fact, you could be adding numerous extra ProPoints; such as, milk and sugar in your coffee, that handful of nuts, and all those biscuits or chocolates you grab every time you walk past the jar. All those bite, licks and treats (BLT’s) add up. Capturing those tiny bits on paper especially at this time of year when the ‘old’ you comes out can open your eyes to where small changes can make a big difference in the future.
Your mission should you chose to accept it - Keep a food diary for one week that’ll take you up to Christmas eve. If this sounds like torture because you’ve so much going on, do it anyway. Realising the choices you make when you’re not 100% on track will help you in the new year when you refocus totally.
Tiny changes in your lifestyle can result in big changes in your overall intake, and will result in the changes you want to see.
When making the effort to keep a food diary you'll discover foods you may not realise you're eating. They sneak in and wreck havoc with your weight loss attempts. You'll also see if you're overdoing one food group while under eating another.
It’s making small changes that will make big differences long term. For example, I never put spread on a sandwich anymore, I no longer have sugar in my tea. These things I wouldn’t change even when I’m not tracking and watching my weight. I always use low fat mayo, low fat coleslaw, and skimmed milk. In restaurants I almost never eat the bread unless it is fresh baked or very special. Skip the white rolls and type of bread you could eat any day at home. Why fill up on bread when the food you're really waiting for hasn't yet arrived!
I rarely drink fizzy soft drinks, I opt for water. I don’t know if it’s true because there are so many studies out there but Aspartame has been linked with increased appetite and I don't want that. Drink more water. Easy and saves your wallet too.
When at a coffee shop drink low-fat lattes, or no lattes at all. There are more calories and saturated fat in a Starbucks' coconut latte than in a McDonald's Big Mac plus fries! If you're drinking a latte every day, you're getting a big load of extra fat and calories right there; even a skinny latte has ProPoints. Be sure the ProPoints you have are worth it to you.
What to do if you just love all the things I mentioned above, and you can't bear the thought of giving any of them up? First, decide if you are happy just the way you are. Not everyone needs
to make a change. If you love your lifestyle more than you'd love the idea of changing it, then don't change it. Accept yourself as you are, and move on to other things in your life. Why waste your life wanting what you're not willing to have? However you’re reading my email so I doubt that that’s true, so you need to learn balance, you can have these things sometimes but not all the time.
When I was a kid we had bread and butter with everything, we even had it for pudding dipped in the sugar bowl! No this wasn’t a delicacy this was a lack of money, the bread was there to bulk out the meal, these days I still absolutely adore bread, ooo toasted with butter, have to say dipped in sugar isn’t doing it for me, however I rarely buy it because I know when I do, I overeat on it and the taste of bread and butter is just not worth the extra couple of inches on my waist it would produce!
Just because you grew up doing something, doesn't make it a rule. If you grew up buttering everything, see if there aren't times you can just skip it. A tablespoon of butter has 3 ProPoints, and it's all fat.
Remember, it's one day at a time, one bite at a time. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were those thighs.
Have a wonderful Wednesday xx
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