1. Use the KISS principle, Keep It Simple Silly. The idea of simplicity when it comes to losing weight may come as a surprise because we get lost in the drama of our diet story. The do and don’t rules, restrictions and limitations of a quick fix diet abound when we’re confronting those extra 20 pounds and are desperate to lose it. And I understand reacting in crisis mode having been there myself one too many times.
But there’s a mindset worth nurturing that will help you every day, crisis or not, to make simple changes that take almost no effort yet benefit the bottom line, your weight. After all, weight gain comes down to a simple idea. More calories in than needed, the excess is stored as fat. It doesn’t get more complicated than that and yet many women forget or overlook applying the Kiss idea in their daily lives especially regarding eating.
What are some ways you can use kiss as your guide. cut down on consumption, lose weight and rethink how you eat and manage your diet?
2. Try applying flexibility, be open to creativity and be willing to switch high impact foods and drinks to lighter substitutions you can self-create. When you decide to eat something that’s high impact, resist for a moment and ask yourself how you can tone it down, maybe substitute or leave something out so you can control your own story. Keep in mind, whatever you choose to action for yourself that improves an outcome is proactive and sharpens your awareness. There are many opportunities every day to apply Kiss. For example:
3. In coffee, Frappuccino’s, Caffe Mocha, Latte’s, Smoothies, Alfredo’s, switch to no-fat milk without whipped cream. Get only one pump of the flavored syrup, or ideally, switch to the sugar free syrup. Instead of all these high impact drinks that distract from the pure pleasure of a great tasting coffee, why not return to the basics and add your own signature flair? Try a double espresso with nonfat foam layered right to the top. Sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg atop the foam, some low or no fat milk, mix and presto, a delicious low calorie foamy drink without a big impact. Experiment and enjoy how great the pure taste of coffee is when its not buried under other stuff.
By the way, cinnamon helps the body regulate your intake of sugar. It helps to prevent sugar spikes by moderating sugar’s release into the blood. That’s not a license to overload on sweets, it’s just a tip t0 know and use to help moderate sugar absorption.
4. In drinks: replace high sugar sodas, shakes and juices with sparking water or plain water with lemon. Lemon naturally balances the body’s Ph levels. Try club soda, preferably salt or sodium free, seltzer, plain iced or hot tea with a sprig of mint or cinnamon stick, fresh squeezed carrot or fresh squeezed orange juice. Sugar free Kool-Aid or sugar free Lemon-Aid works.
Important point about sugar –it’s in almost everything. Read the food labels and be aware of where and how the foods you buy and eat are impacting your health and your weight. Soda and big gulp sodas overload your body with empty calories, carbs and sugar and because sodas have high phosphorus content, they tend to lower calcium levels which weakens bones, a huge red flag for women especially over 40.
5. In fast foods: You can still order a fun meal only with a slightly lighter impact. Here’s some suggestions for saving calories at some of the more well known chains.
KFC – replace fried chicken, crispy and extra crispy for grilled. Grilled is delicious and saves on calories, fat and sodium. The chicken meal with corn, mashed potatoes and gravy with biscuit is just as delicious getting grilled and deleting the gravy from the potatoes. You won’t even notice and every little bit of calories saved helps. This includes not using butter on the corn or biscuit. You don’t need it since KFC has the best, sweetest corn by itself and their biscuit plain is outstanding. These are simple adjustments that you can make that do not affect how you experience your meal..it still tastes great and is fun to eat with a little less impact on your bottom line, calories in.
McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s. The Big Mac’s or double cheeseburgers, bacon and cheese meat or chicken combos can be enjoyed without the bread. Yikes, am I kidding? No. Remember you’re being flexible so ask for a knife and fork, toss the bread and be surprised how easy it is to do. Or if that isn’t imaginable right now for you, how about a compromise? Eat it open faced. Toss half the bread, the top half. Really satisfying with fewer carbohydrates, calories and sodium. Substitute fries for a salad or donate half your order of fries to the trash bin if you can’t resist them without feeling deprived.
Wendy’s – instead of french fries, get a baked potato and top it with a little ketchup and eat it with a spoon. You’ll hardly notice the “fried” is missing from the all potato taste.
Remember the drill at any restaurant, fast food or home –grilled, baked or broiled to replace fried.
5. Sweets. Switch sugar intensive desserts for fresh fruit salad or angel food cake topped with fruit. You save on calories and sugar and give your body the natural fiber in fruits. Plain yogurt, cinnamon, raisens and sliced banana works in any combo, or vanilla yogurt over angel food cake with fruit.
The amounts of sugar in foods today is amazing and startling as you will appreciate the more you pay attention to food labels. The equation to remember is 4 sugar grams equals one teaspoon of sugar. For example, a 12 oz. can of soda has 39 grams of sugar or almost 10 teaspoons of sugar in one can. Wild Cherry soda is 42 grams or 10.5 teaspoons of sugar per can. Smoothies start at 30 grams and up and you’d better sit down for this one, all the specialty coffees and drinks in Venti size without whip range from 71 to 82 grams of sugar and Green Tea Frappuccino Venti no whip weighs in at 86 gr. Is that insane? Think about and visualize 23 teaspoons of sugar before you indulge.
6. Flavor enhancements: Request sandwich dressings, special sauces, mayonnaise, barbeque, salad dressings, honey, butter, syrups, gravies, cheese and cream sauces by any name, including the Alfredo on fettucini, benedict sauce on eggs, as a side dish. Do you think restaurants or fast food chains have a clue or even care if they’ve added hundreds of high fat, high cholesterol, high sugar, high calorie, high sodium amounts to your meal? No.
These sauces, etc. are big on flavor and a little goes a long way. Put it on the food yourself, lightly, and be in control. Try it. The point is to help yourself shave off calories doing little things that really do matter and are easy to implement. It’s no big sacrifice doing anything on this list, is it? Small improvements every day accumulate big rewards. Little things matter, because they do affect and change outcomes over time.
These are small steps you can take every day. Add some of your own as you remember you don’t have to do without, you just have to do it smarter. Try it. If you want to learn more about smarter not harder diet tips and tricks, go to my website Diet-Bailout and sign up for a free 17 page chapter of my eBook that will change your life and your weight.
Rosemary Hershey
