I Just Ate HOW Many Calories?!

If you are a person who has started reading labels to find out how many calories you are eating, good for you! This is a great move towards becoming more aware of what you are eating and whether or not you are choosing foods that are contributing to carrying an extra few pounds on your body. Most helpful is comparing calorie content from one food to another.

For instance, you may have no idea how many calories are supposed to be in a slice of cheese, but if you compare a slice of part-skim mozzarella, or fat free kraft singles, to an ounce of a full fat cheese, you can see the difference: You could be eating 50 calories, 80 calories, or 100 calories, with each slice, depending on the brand and variety you choose. Now I'll fill you in on the information on the label that is even more important than the calorie content. It's the serving size. Because the serving size that the manufacturer chooses is what all the other information is based on. And if you are trying to figure out whether you're eating a low calorie food, a low fat food, a significant source of calcium, or anything else nutrition-related, you have to know that it is all based on what they call a serving size. This might be very different from your serving size. At one time a "serving" of Triscuits was three. Three tiny, little crackers. Who eats that much and then stops? What about a serving of Grape Nuts cereal? This has increased recently to 1/2 cup... still a smaller amount than most people probably eat. And when's the last time you measured out 1/2 cup of ice cream from a carton and settled for that much without throwing on an extra rounded spoonful just for good measure!

My favorite calorie story is when my husband came home from work one day and confessed that he had eaten a Snickers Bar earlier that afternoon--even though he was reportedly trying to lose weight--"But it only had 170 calories," he told me, justifying his treat. Well, the last time I checked, a Snickers Bar had about 280 calories. Maybe they came out with a diet version of the candy bar with chocolate and peanuts? NOT! A thought hit me as I was in the supermarket check-out line a few days later and I eyed a King Sized Snickers Bar on the snack shelf. I reached for it to read the label and there it was: "170 Calories" under the nutrition information. All I had to do was look up a little bit further on the label for the serving size and I had the answer to my question: "serving size: 1/3 candy bar". Uh oh. Who eats a third of a candy bar? What would you even do with the rest of it? My darling hubby had unwittingly eaten 510 calories that afternoon between his lowfat lunch and his low calorie dinner.

So here's your tip for the day. When you read the nutritional information on any food label, be sure and check out what they call a serving.

Can Meal Replacements Work for Weight Loss?

Several years ago, meal replacements were frowned upon by many dietitians and other health professionals. The emphasis was on learning to eat healthy, real foods in the proper portions, and no substitutions were allowed! Now the philosophy has changed. Leading experts in the field of nutrition are offering up this advice: If it works to help you lose weight and it's not potentially harmful, go for it!

That being said, there are dozens of ways you can choose a meal replacement diet!

1. Many diets can be purchased which include an entire program for you. You've seen them on tv with their famous spokespeople. You don't buy any of your own food: These programs provide meals, snacks, desserts--everything. The downside is they can be expensive, and you may not like the taste of their food. You are also highly likely to regain the weight when you go off their program and back to eating supermarket and restaurant food. But it's a good idea to try if it will help you lose weight now. Maybe you'll gain it back, but maybe you won't!

2. You can eat one or two regular meals and substitute the third with a meal replacement, such as a bar or a drink. You know the saying, "a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a healthy dinner". It can be a diet drink, or it can be Carnation Instant Breakfast Drink. The important factor is that you are getting a good source of important nutrients in a limited amount of calories at that meal time. The reason it works is it takes away the work of figuring out what to eat and how to prepare it. Just pop open a can and drink your breakfast and maybe lunch, too. One of the hardest parts about dieting is all the planning--this takes that hard part away.

3. Another option is to prepare a low calorie frozen meal for lunch every day. This can be considered a meal substitute, just like the Subway diet can. It's a prepared item that you do not have to think about or fix or cook.

4. You can use any combination of these: A slimfast for breakfast, a 6-inch low fat sub for lunch, and a Lean Cuisine for dinner. Just be sure to use the food pyramid guidelines to also get in enough servings of fruit and dairy, which are often not included in these meals. Sound like a lot of calories? I calculate less than 1200. That means you have enough leftover for a 100- calorie snack bag in the evening. enjoy!

Please let us know if you try this! Comment here and let us know which way you did it and what your results were.

Let Me Count the Weighs

Weighing yourself on your bathroom scale every morning isn't the only indicator of how you are coming along on your quest for achieving and maintaining your ideal body weight. There are other ways you can measure your progress, and a few things to keep in mind that the scale doesn't tell you. Here's a list of things to know when you are tracking your weight loss:

1. The scale does not tell you that your weight includes the two glasses of water you just drank (which actually weigh exactly one pound). Try to weigh yourself at the same time every day: for instance, first thing in the morning.
2. The scale does not remind you that you were naked yesterday when you weighed yourself and this morning you are wearing flannel pajamas which weigh exactly 1.5 pounds. Remember to wear the same type of clothing each time you weigh yourself.
3. A typical bathroom scale does not differentiate between water weight, fat weight, and muscle weight. How are you to know when you are a few pounds down that you are not just dehydrated? If you are a few pounds up that it might be water retention because you had a high sodium meal of chinese food yesterday evening? The answer ... a special scale that measures your body composition. There are several brands and types of these scales. See the website of a company called Tanita for one brand of scale and an explanation of how this works. No more guessing about whether you've put on muscle or fat!
4. BMI is another measurement that shows you how close you are moving to a healthy weight. Go here to calculate what yours is, and see how close you are to a healthy weight. A great goal is to move out of the 'obese' and into the 'overweight' numbers, or out of the 'overweight' range and into the 'healthy' range. This gives you an idea of how realistic your weight goal is and how meaningful it can be.
5. Waist circumference is another way to assess your progress towards a healthy body weight. Current recommendations from national health organizations determine at what waist measurement men and women suffer from increased risk of chronic diseases.
Go here for information on waist circumference

Using more than one measurement can give you a better view of how you are doing when you feel like things aren't moving quickly enough. Keep in mind that every week you are moving toward a healthier you. Keep heading in the right direction and don't worry so much about how long it takes. As long as you are eating better this week than last week, better this month than last month, you are successful!

Do You Have Buffet Pants?

In my "healthy eating, healthy weight" class last weekend the attendees were talking about some previous habits that led them to becoming overweight. Now Janet is losing weight by making healthier choices, but what did she do to get to her present state of overweight?
"I used to have buffet pants," she confessed. "I had pants that were a little bit too big on me, roomy and with an elastic waist. When I would go out to eat at a buffet I would wear them, knowing that I would want the extra room when I finished eating all I could". Wow! She was planning to eat so much that she anticipated becoming uncomfortable in regular pants. She wore special pants to accomodate for the belly bloat she knew she would experience after an all-you-can-eat buffet. Does that sound familiar to anyone out there?

Here's the good news: she planned ahead! Now Janet can use this 'skill' she already knows she has. She can plan ahead before meals. This is such an important step when trying to lose weight. Thinking about the choices you will make ahead of time prevents deciding on something spur of the moment. Usually our spur of the moment choices are those we make just because we want something that sounds good or tastes good; not because it is a healthier, lower calorie and lower fat choice.
Now Janet plans her meals ahead of time. She knows what she's going to make for dinner ahead of time, she plans a smart choice for lunch before she goes to work, and she knows what she's going to order before she goes out to dinner. Most restaurants make their menus available online, some even pointing out their healthier choices.

If you have been able to plan what you were going to eat ahead of time when dining out in the past, you can still do it! I know I've heard many overweight people do this time and again--think about it. How many times have you looked forward to a particular dining experience, saying, "I can't wait to go there this weekend; I'm going to have their ribs--they are delicious!" or "I am really looking forward to the fettucini alfredo tonight--it's the best!" See? I know you've done it before so you can do it again! This time, try preparing ahead of time for the delicious entree that's a lower calorie choice. "That place has the best baked salmon/roasted chicken breast/broiled pork chops". Say it with me now, "I am going to enjoy exactly half of the plate tonight and savor the other half tomorrow for lunch".

Planning ahead is not hard and it is not new. You've done it before, but for a different reason. Now try doing it for the best reason--your new healthy eating plan!

Resist Temptation by Changing Your Environment!

If you're having a hard time resisting those treats, maybe it's time to try another strategy. Is there something in your pantry, on your desk, or even on the drive home that you repeatedly indulge in, only to beat yourself up about it later? "Why did I drive thru and get fries again?"; "Why do I keep going eating the chocolate kisses on my desk?"
If your willpower or common sense isn't working, take a stab at changing your environment. Do what you can to avoid those tempting treats and see how this works for you. Here are a few suggestions:
1) Find another route home. You know your favorite QuickMart has that cappuccino drink you can't resist, so find another route home and stick to it. Out of sight, out of mind (not right away, of course, but soon enough!)
2) Buy treats for the office that YOU don't like! If you have candies or cookies around 'for everyone else' but you keep eating them, make an effort to bring in some type that you don't like. Fill in the blank: "I would never eat _____". Hate licorice? Fig Newtons? Bring these in for your coworkers and you won't be tempted!
3) Buy snacks for home that aren't your favorite. Keeping chips around for the rest of the family? Buy a flavor you don't like! I happen to enjoy Kettle chips, fritos, baked lays and anything sour-cream-and-onion flavored. But I don't like barbeque chips. What kind do I buy when I don't want to be snacking on chips all week? Maybe you guessed it--barbeque flavor!
4) Keep fattening snacks out of sight. Yes, sometimes we know they're there anyway, and they're even calling our name! But when you open the pantry door and the first thing you see are the Little Debbie cakes you adore, you are going to be much more likely to eat them! Move the snacks to a higher (or lower) shelf where they won't be the first thing you see. Keep rice and pasta and high fiber cereals within view--not things you'll be most tempted to grab and eat before you can think twice.
5) Hide, don't seek. Put ice cream, Halloween candy, and other temptations behind other foods in the freezer or cupboard. Yes, you might go for them anyway, but you may be less likely to eat them as often when you don't view them every time you open the door.

Try a new strategy. Keep tempting foods that are high in calories and low in nutrition as out of sight and out of reach as possible. Making them ultra convenient for you makes it more likely you will eat them more often. See if keeping them out of the house, out of reach, out of sight, or out of the office will save you from indulging even just a time or two this week!

Free teleclass one week from today!

I'd like to tell you about next week's teleclass so you can mark it on your calendar! At 7 pm (central time) on Tuesday, September 9th, my guest host this month is Sandra Martin, RN, MHS. Sandra has been working in corporate wellness and health promotion for over 20 years, and now lead workshops on emotional fitness.

Please mark your calendars and be sure to join us to hear about a different approach to eating issues: the emotional side. Experience one of the skills that "The Solution" process teaches you to use to check in with your emotions before you eat.
Email me at laurie@mycoachlaurie.com to register. Attendance is free but space will be limited!

In the meantime, you can call in to hear last month's call (How to get more fruits and vegetables in your daily diet) to see what a teleclass is like--call 641-715-3414and enter access code 553407#
This recording will be available until September 9th, 2008.

Motivation Monday: "How much did you lose" versus "How much have you changed"?

I'll ask someone who I know has been eating healthier and exercising, "how much weight have you lost?" and the answer sometimes comes back, "I haven't lost a thing!"
"Nothing?" I ask. "You've been making lower calorie food choices consistently and going for your walks every day for two weeks and you haven't really lost anything?"
"Well," they reply, "just three pounds".

It is so frustrating to hear people discount the successes they have. Three pounds! In two weeks! Why, if you keep that up for a year you'll be 39 pounds lighter!! That would be a very acceptable amount of weight loss for the average dieter.

Why is it that one pound a week--or even one pound a month--isn't enough to satisfy someone? It is important to put things into perspective. The ideal way to lose weight is not to starve yourself and produce those magical weight loss numbers of four or five pounds a week. If you have ever done that before, you know how short lived the success story is. As fast as it comes off, it comes right back on. That is not how anyone likes to spend their days: starving, losing weight, and putting it back on as soon as they look the other way and eat a decent meal.

Here is how you can lose weight and live a good life at the same time:
1. Avoid crash diets that severely limit your calorie intake in attempts to lose several pounds a week. They will make you feel starving, deprived, and miserable; you won't be able to keep with it for very long; and you'll gain back whatever you lose in this manner.
2. Change your eating habits to make one or two better choices at a time. Learn to subsitute high calorie desserts, snacks, and drinks for lower calorie choices; drink plenty of water instead of sugary soft drinks; reduce your portion sizes; and learn to stop eating when you are no longer hungry, instead of stuffing yourself until you are full.
3. Go about your days striving to learn to live with these new and healthier habits--not to see how many pounds you can lose this week. The goal is for permanent weight loss, and that will only happen with permanent changes.
4. Be happy you are not gaining weight; even happier if you are losing a pound or two a month. Remember how much weight you will lose after a year of living like this and think about where you want to be a year from now instead of how much you want to lose in two weeks.
5. Focus on the new habits you are developing. Maybe you no longer snack in front of the television, or you take a walk each evening after dinner. These small changes will only show up on the scale as a pound or two a month. But keep your eye on the big picture. As the years go by you will be lighter and fitter. You will weigh 10 or 20 pounds less next year, and another 10 or 20 less the year after.

We all want weight loss to happen right away but fact is, that's not humanly possible. It took you a while to gain the pounds you are carrying now, it's only fair to give yourself time to lose them. Do it the right way. Change the habits that took you to the place you no longer want to be. Stop the dieting and weighing. Live a new way, a healthier and smarter way. End up lighter as a result of the way you eat and exercise, not because of how you diet!