Ways to sabotage your weight loss program 3

Other things that you need to stay aware:

Eat at buffets and fast food chains:

If you desire success in your weight loss program avoid eating fast food. Most selections are oversized, filled with ingredients that are unhealthy and loaded with sodium, (salt). In case you were not aware: salt retains water and water retention = weight gain. Another weight loss bomb is eating at all-you-can-eat-buffets. For one price, it is hard to turn down anything, including the desert table. 

+What you put into your body counts…make your choices healthy ones, even if eating out.

Hoard food in secret stashes:

For some people food is an addiction, or at the very least, a compulsion. And, just as an alcoholic may hide bottles of booze around the house as an emergency stash, so does a food junkie. Therefore, it is important to stop hoarding food and come clean with yourself. If you cannot cut your hoarding yourself then share this information with someone you feel confident will support your efforts in changing this habit. Keep the car clean of being a food hideaway. Empty the boxes, the bags, the nooks and crannies in attic, basement and garage and come clean.

You may need to join a 12 step program called ‘Overeaters Anonymous’. Or, you may want to read the book: Women, Food,　and God by Geneen Roth. 

+Being honest about your desire to lose weight is the first step toward a healthy weight.

Eat Unaware:
 
The difference between success and failure is the amount of attention or awareness we have on our goal. Mindless eating: in the car, while driving; eating while talking on the phone; or, while watching television are all ways that, while engrossed in the other activity, we ‘forget’ that we have eaten. Don’t be distracted when you sit down to eat. Know what you are eating and enjoy yourself. 

+Tuning into your body and knowing what its needs are is the art of Mindful Eating.
 
Don’t count calories:
 
This is simple math-one loses weight if one creates a deficit between what their body needs to stay active and what it takes in. Part of the equation is to figure out your BMR-basal metabolic rate.

The calculation for that can be found online by asking for a BMR calculator.  The online formula will do all of the work as you plug in your individual statistics based on height, current weight, age and gender.  Knowing your BMR allows you to calculate how much food you need to maintain your current weight at that level of activity, vs. lose weight by dropping 500 calories / day. This will give you results that you will be proud of.

+Counting calories supports awareness and mindful eating. It is a matter of healthy choices.