Although it may not be easy to find a diet plan that fits your lifestyle, you just need to remember that you’re not “going on a diet” but you are making lifestyle changes.  There will need to be some sacrifices made in order to help you lose those 10 pounds, but here are several tips to help you transition into healthier eating habits.

There are SO MANY diets and programs out there that it can be really confusing on how to choose the right one.  Hopefully these tips will help you choose the right plan for you, and get rid of those extra 10 lbs., or more.

1.  Plan Your Meals

I know this may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s really very important to plan your meals.  It can seem overwhelming at first because most of us are very busy people.  However, when you do this first step, you actually save time in the long run.  And if you fail to plan, you are essentially planning to fail.

You could plan your meals in the evening for the following day, or even better yet, just plan them for a full week ahead of time.  For instance, make a weekend day, or a day off, a day for preparing a bunch of your food for the week for easy planning.  An example would be boiling a bunch of eggs, grilling a bunch of chicken breasts, slicing a bunch of veggies.  You get the idea.  Then, just write out your meal plan for the following day, and putting everything together can be done in a snap.

2.  Purge Your Fridge and Pantry

When you have this goal in mind of losing 10 pounds, you are not going to easily get that weight off by leaving junk in your cupboards.  If you’ve ever seen Jillian Michaels on her show “Losing It With Jillian” you would see how she goes into a person’s house, and basically throws everything out that is bad for you.  Now, she does take it to the extreme, and I’m not trying to shock you into getting rid of everything so that you are deprived and go on a big binge later, I’m talking about getting rid of the basic “bad” stuff.  I’m talking about the ice cream, cake, chips, candy…you get the idea.

3.  Shop For Guilt-Free Snacks

There are some snacks out there that would definitely be better choices for you than those chips and cookies that you love to mindlessly munch on.  Of course there are always carrot sticks (or baby carrots), or even pretzels would be o.k.  They are baked snacks and aren’t fried and don’t contain those awful trans fats that we hear so much about these days.  I’m not saying they are “healthy” but they are better options than those fried snacks.

Some other tips would be to have almonds on hand, they are a great source of protein and are good for you.  If you’re having a bad chocolate craving, then how about some sugar free chocolate pudding?

Of course water is the best thing for you to drink to hydrate your body, but if you’re craving a sweet drink, rather than grab that soda, opt for some flavored tea/iced tea instead.  And if you want to sweeten it further, try to choose the more natural sweeteners rather than the chemically loaded sweeteners that really are bad for you.

4.  Choose White Meat Instead of Red Meat

If you basically cook most meals with ground beef, you will really benefit from switching to a more lean protein in your diet.  However, saying that, if you do use beef, make sure you choose the lowest possible fat content, such as a 93/7 percent.

What you’ll want to do is choose chicken breasts or a white fish.  Although salmon has some good omega fats in it, it’s really the more fatty fish so you wouldn’t want to eat that all the time.  There are so many different ways you can cook these lean proteins that you would never get tired or bored of eating them.

Some other sources of protein may be a low-fat cottage cheese, or buffalo meat.

Remember, making small changes can create a good outcome as long as you are consistent and make it a true lifestyle change and not just a “diet” for temporary purposes.

For more information on lifestyle changes check out either Jillian Michaels’ program or The Biggest Loser program.

 

 

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Filed under: Food to Lose Weight

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