10 Weight Loss Stop Lights

[Guest guest]

Got this in my inbox today from the Nutrisystem site, however it applies to

all diets....some interesting tips Michele

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10 Weight Loss Stop Lights

It's Saturday night and you've just come from one of the best dinner

parties ever – great appetizers and great company. You had a couple glasses

of wine. Okay, they weren't on your meal plan, but you've been good all week

You can deal with it. You stayed away from most of the hors d'oeuvres

except for the vegetable tray. You only took one bite of truffle and gave

the rest to the Ficus tree in the corner. But then you get home and you're

still hungry. You forgot to eat your salad at lunch and missed your apple

before dinner. Maybe a snack? Why not, it's the weekend...

Stop and picture a big traffic light in front of you – it's red.

Dieting is difficult. You change your lifestyle and your daily routines. You

stress over calories and it is difficult not to get on the scale only once a

week. The hard part is being able to recognize when slip-ups are leading to

more.

Here are a few warning signs you might want to look for. The goal is to

avoid compounding these slip-ups so you feel either so guilty or frustrated

that you say it just isn't worth it.

Red Light #1 – Food as a reward

Has this gone through your mind? " I deserve a treat for doing so well on my

meal plan. " You know what, you do deserve something – but try not to make it

food. Rewarding yourself for doing well can be great motivation, but beware

of the spur of the moment rewards that are often also high in calories.

Green Light – Plan your rewards ahead of time. Write down your goals and

make these the only rewards you get (so you better make them good enough).

Red Light # 2 – Skipping breakfast

If you have never been much of a morning person, this can be an easy habit

to fall into. A large cup of coffee seems to tide you over until 10:30 when

you can eat your mid-morning snack. You're not getting hungry in the morning

so it doesn't seem to hurt.

There are a few dangers here. The first being that you are setting yourself

up for later in the day. You may end up hungry, but worse, you may start

rationalizing foods that are not on your meal plan. " Well, I didn't eat

breakfast, so I can have a drink or two after work. " The calorie count may

be the same, but you have just replaced healthy calories with empty calories

that don't provide nutrition. Not to mention the fact that even one drink

can do horrible things to a person's will power.

The other danger can be you are actually slowing your metabolism down by

skipping meals. You want to get your body accustomed to burning food

calories throughout the day, not just at the end.

Green Light – Order breakfast items like granola bars that are easy to carry

and can be stored at work. Keep the fruit bowl at home stocked and leave

your car keys in it. Do anything to grab an apple and not an apple fritter.

Red Light # 3 – No snacks on hand

You forgot your banana and ended up with a bag of Cheddar popcorn. Not

having a snack on hand may mean you need to plan ahead a little more.

Green Light – Take some time the night before to figure out what you are

going to eat the next day. By taking five minutes to plan, you will help you

avoid eating high-calorie snacks or not having a snack at all.

Red Light # 4 – Social drinks

Your intentions are pure when you go to happy hour. Mingle with friends,

have some water or a diet soda. Then someone offers to buy you a drink and

before your brain knows it, your mouth has just ordered a Muddled Old

Fashioned. What happened? What ever it was, it happens to all of us. While a

couple of drinks might not have a ton of calories, the situation can lead to

things like appetizers, bar food or even dinner.

Green Light – A good trick can be to get a glass of water before you start

to chat with friends. This way your hands are full and people are less

likely to offer to get something for you. Diet soda with a lemon wedge is

also a great disguise for its rum and Coke look-alike.

Red Light # 5 – Tired of yogurt

Your fat-free milk servings are important for both nutrition and for keeping

you full. When the mere sight of yogurt makes you cringe, you may have to

make a change.

Green Light – Think about some skim-milk alternatives that are simple and

easily stored at work. Chewy fudge bars or Barbecue Soy Chips give you the

same nutritional value and keep you in a routine.

Red Light # 6 – Not eating the salads

You're not a rabbit and no one wants you to be. Humans should not live on

lettuce and carrots, that's all there is to it. The problem is that salad

with your meal is crucial to making sure you have a balanced meal plan and

keep from getting hungry. Like skipping snacks or skipping fat-free milk

servings, leaving salads out can make you hungry later on.

Green Light – Try adding things like cucumber and spinach salads to your

meal plan. Keep adding variety to your day.

Red Light # 7 – Going out to lunch

Do you have two or three lunch entrees in your desk at work? If you do, it

might be a sign that you should think about your decisions. Have you been

going out to eat with co-workers? Have you been skipping lunch because you

got busy?

Green Light – Schedule to exercise at lunch – leave 15 minutes before

everyone else does. Put yourself in the position to succeed by not being

around when people are asking who wants to go out for Chinese.

Red Light # 8 – I'll exercise more to make up for what I ate

Oh, these are very, very bad words and almost all of us have uttered them at

some point. The problem is they assume you will have motivation to exercise

on the same day you lack the motivation to stay on the meal plan. Which you

might, but you might also just chalk the day up as a loss and promise to be

good tomorrow.

Green Light – Don't allow yourself to trade off parts of your plan. Think of

each part of your weight loss program as standing on its own. You either do

one piece or you don't. (Remember if you forget a piece of the plan that's

fine, just don't try to compensate by changing the others.)

Red Light # 9 – I slipped up at lunch so I'll just start my diet over

tomorrow

If dieting were like gone with the wind, tomorrow would be another day.

Inexplicably, many tomorrows never come when it comes to dieting. The

morning arrives and your motivation is low. The rationalization comes, " I

missed yesterday anyhow, and I'll just take one more day off. " You can

probably guess how the rest goes.

Green Light – Start over with your afternoon snack. Have your fruit serving

and get yourself back on the meal plan. Don't tempt fate.

Red Light # 10 – Late night cravings

This could be a sign that you haven't eaten all your portions and can lead

to snacks that somehow look so much better after 9:00 pm. A satisfied

craving can easily be followed by a morning when you feel bad about yourself

and think it's just not worth it.

Green Light – If you are hungry at night, try having a cup of hot tea or

chugging a glass of cold water. Both help to fill your stomach until you go

to bed.

In the end, it's worth it to struggle through the slips and learn from them.

After each one, return to your meal plan without trying to modify it or

compensate for something else you ate.

Say to yourself, " Okay, that happened, but I still know what to do – and I

am going to do it now. " Everyone hits red lights, so do what comes naturally

– pause, look around, think and then continue working towards your goal

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