Small changes in eating habits to lose weight successfully

© Keith Frith time scale
© Keith Frith

Use lower calorie substitutes

Eating what you usually do

Just make small changes by switching to foods with fewer calories can make a huge difference. For example, use low fat spread instead of butter, 0% fat yoghurt instead of ordinary yoghurt or cream and skimmed milk instead of the full cream variety. Apples and oranges have fewer calories than bananas, jaffa cakes far fewer calories than chocolate digestive biscuits.

You don’t have to make drastic changes, just small substitutions.

Don’t eat between meals

Eating outside of mealtimes can add a huge number of calories over the course of the day. If you get hungry between meals, simply add in scheduled snacks, a few over the course of the day if necessary. A healthy snack will maybe add a hundred calories or so, while nibbling all day can add far, far more.

Write down everything you eat

Many people really don’t know what they eat. They think they eat very little, but conveniently forget some of the snacks and nibbles and all the trips to the fridge when peckish. Writing down everything can be quite educational. It is then possible to work out a sensible way to cut down or make substitutions.

Allow yourself some treats

When trying to lose weight, it’s important to have a treat now and then. If you don’t, life stops being worth living, and you’ll probably abandon the weight loss attempt altogether. So have one high calorie treat a week, or perhaps a meal out at the weekend, and never mind the calories.

Don’t keep leaping on the scales

Being a slave to the weighing scales has sabotaged many weight loss programmes. Eat sensibly in the way described, and only use the scales rarely. Weight loss need not be quick; even half a pound a week adds up to two pounds a month, or 24 pounds in a year!

Try the above – it works!