Anu Morgan, Author of Get Real About Weight Loss

This is a weight loss nutrition counseling session I did with a client.  We discussed a lot of issues that are common problems for people who are having trouble making progress on their weight loss efforts.

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by Anu Morgan

Just about anyone trying to lose weight will tell you that one of the most difficult situations is eating out.  Most dieters do not know how to handle this issue, so they just forget about their diet all together, and order anything they want off the menu.  People do not understand that you can enjoy a meal out with friends or family, and still stick to your diet.  Here are a few tricks to help you keep from sabotaging your diet when eating out at a restaurant.

Choose Your Beverages Wisely

Beverages can pack an astounding amount of calories.  Why would you want to waste all of your calorie allowance on just one or two drinks?  A great way to avoid a diet mistake is to only drink water for your beverage.  Cocktails, beverages that contain sugar, and sodas can add hundreds of empty calories.  Sip on your water throughout the meal, and keep it coming!  If you simply must have something flavored, ask for a wedge of lemon or lime, or opt for unsweetened coffee or tea.

Avoid Appetizers

As much as we all love them, do not order an appetizer before your meal.  The only time you should break this rule is if you chose a fruit or vegetable platter.  A Fruit or vegetable platter (without any dipping sauces) is fat free, it will fill you up a bit (which may keep you from eating more of your entrée), and it allows you to enjoy an appetizer with the rest of your party.

Bypass The Bread

As tempting as that basket of warm delicious bread is, try to skip it.   Bread can add a great deal of calories, sugar, and even fat to your meal without you even noticing.  Add some butter, jam, oil, or other type of spread to the bread and you have a diet disaster on your hands.

Choose Your First Course Carefully

If your dinner comes with a first course, such as soup or a salad, choose carefully.  Opt for a vegetable based soup rather than a cream-based soup, and choose low fat or fat free salad dressing instead of full fat versions.  If the restaurant does not have reduced fat dressing options, ask for oil and vinegar.  Always request that your dressing come on the side so you can control how much is added to your salad.

Choose Low Cal Or Dieter Friendly Options

Today, many restaurants have low calorie, low fat, or dieter friendly menu options.  If this is not the case, order a simple salad, a piece of grilled or broiled chicken or fish, and steamed vegetable sides.  Try to avoid heavy, starchy sides such as mashed potatoes.

Skip Dessert

As much as we all love it, and as hard as it may be, you should skip dessert.  However, if you absolutely have to have a sweet treat at the end of your meal, choose a fruit cup, or ask for just a few (no more than three) bites of your companion’s dessert.  This will save you a good deal of extra fat and calories.

by Anu Morgan

Just about everyone has some experience with the issue of weight loss.  We all know how easy it is to pack on the pounds, and how difficult it can be to get rid of them.  Today, there seems to be more pressure than ever to be thin, and more ways than ever to achieve this.  With all of the various fad diets, diet books, DVDs, and weight loss professionals offering their help with this process, there is actually one simple thing you can do to give yourself the best chance of achieving your goals.

A food log is one of the best ways to help you work toward your weight loss objectives.  This simple method is free, takes just minutes per day, and gets to the bottom of the number one problem when dieting: not knowing how much you really eat in a day.  The process of keeping a log forces you to stop what you are doing, assess what you are eating, and record it in a manner you can track.  You will be amazed at just how insightful this process can be.

It is estimated that the majority of dieters underestimate how much they really consume per day by as much as twenty-five percent.  For this reason alone, you should keep a food log.  Recording every single thing you put into your mouth allows for a truly accurate representation that you cannot avoid or dispute.  As well as “forgetting” or leaving out food items during the day, most dieters do not count meals they eat out toward their daily consumption.

The unsettling reality about this fact is that most dieters eat at least one meal out per day.  This means that the underestimation factor may really much higher than twenty-five percent and may actually be closer to thirty-eight percent.  Another dieting problem when calculating calories is that most people do not consider portion size either.  Portions, especially when eating out, are often very large.  One restaurant portion may actually be equivalent to three appropriate servings.  All of these factors need to be fully noted in your log in order to really assess your progress.

The process of recording your intake in a food log also encourages you to examine everything you eat, not just your main meals.  Everyone can tell you what they had for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, but almost no one can tell you all of their little nibbles here and there.  Most dieters think that the couple of chips they had while making their child’s lunch does not factor into their diet, and that cookie they grabbed in the break room between meetings does not count or matter.  However, these small little “tastes” really add up and can add several extra calories and fat grams to your day.

Keeping a food log allows you to confront your dieting mistakes head on.  Your log will expose all kinds of information, such as behavioral patterns and stressors.  You will begin to get a better idea of why you eat what you eat and when, and you will able to adjust your behavior.

Finally, when you truly make the commitment to use this system, food logs can yield wonderful results.  An honest log provides you with a clear picture of your overall diet success.  By monitoring this information you can better determine what changes in your life have worked, what else you could be doing, and what changes still need to be made.  Your log will become an an excellent source of self-encouragement.  This type of positive reinforcement is key to sticking with your weight loss goal and achieveing your desired results.

Anu Morgan, Author of Get Real About Weight Loss

You have started working out, eating better, and you have really stuck with your commitment to your new healthy lifestyle.  Your clothes are fitting a bit looser, and your body is starting to look much more toned and fit.  The only thing left to do is to step on the scale and see the difference in your number.

You have heard that you should weigh yourself every single day, but is this really true?  Is this going to make you a slave to the scale and cause you to obsess over your weight?  Isn’t it better to focus on your plan and not the scale?  You are going to need to track your progress, but how often should you weigh yourself?

Unfortunately, there is no one specific answer to this question.  There are varying schools of thought on this matter, and just about everyone has a different opinion.

Some diet experts and weight loss centers believe that you should absolutely never weigh yourself on a daily basis.  These diet professionals suggest that weighing yourself no more than once per week, or better yet, just once every month is a much healthier way to approach weight loss.  These people remind us of the fact that body weight varies from day to day for many different reasons, and individuals that step onto the scale each day may become discouraged with irregular numbers.  This then leads dieters to give up their weight loss program because they feel as if they are making no progress.  The same experts encourage a monthly weigh in because they believe this is the most accurate representation of your current weight and your weight loss progress.

However, a group of dietary physicians recently conducted a study of both overweight adults who were trying to maintain their current weight to avoid further weight gain and overweight and/or obese adults who were trying to lose weight.  The study monitored these subjects for over two years, and found that those who weighed themselves on a regular basis prevented more weight gain than those who only weighed themselves sporadically, or once each month.  The physicians concluded that there are definitely certain types of people who will benefit more from facing their weight number on a daily basis.

If you are still confused as to how often you should weigh yourself, ask yourself a few simple questions:  Do you have the constant need to be in control?  Do you need to have regular feedback?  Do numbers help to keep you motivated?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may benefit from weighing yourself weekly.  Also, ask yourself how much weight you need to lose.  If you are trying to lose less than twenty pounds, you really do not need to constantly track your weight with a scale.

No matter how often you decide to step on the scale, remember these important tips: if you do decide to weigh yourself each day, weight can vary each day so do not worry if you weigh more today than you did yesterday; always weigh yourself first thing in the morning; do not fear “plateaus”, consistency is not always bad; and women’s weight can change around the time of menstruation.  Regardless of what the scale says, be honest with yourself.  Your own assessment is often the most valuable tool in the weight loss process.

• 1 pound flank or skirt steak
• juice of 2 fresh squeezed limes
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 8 corn tortillas

For Relish –

• 2 roma tomatoes chopped
• 1/4 medium onion finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 medium avocado, diced

Directions:

1. Combine lime juice and worcestershire sauce in a shallow dish. Coat the steak on both sides and then sprinkle dry ingredients evenly on both sides of the steak. Cover the dish and marinate for 5 hours in the refrigerator.
2. Heat the grill and cook steak to desired doneness. Cut steak into 1 inch pieces.
3. Combine all ingredients for the relish in a bowl (adding the avocado last).
4. Heat tortillas on warm grill for 1 minute. Place steak evenly in the tortillas and top with relish.

• 1 pound fresh baby spinach
• 8 ounces sliced white mushrooms
• 1 medium shallot finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• course salt and ground pepper

Directions:

1. Heat a large pan with oil on low heat. Add the shallot and garlic and cook until softened for about 5 minutes on low heat, do not brown the shallot and garlic.
2. Add the mushrooms and raise the heat to medium. Cook until the water from the mushrooms evaporates.
3. Add a large amount of spinach to the pan and stir until it begins to wilt. Once it has wilted down, add the rest of the spinach. Stir on medium heat until it is all cooked evenly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Anu Morgan, Author of Get Real About Weight Loss

Now that you have made the decision and commitment to eating healthier and getting in shape, you have to learn how to shop so you can properly prepare your meals.  The grocery store is one of the biggest obstacles that stand in a dieter’s way.

In fact, many diets fail in the aisles of a grocery store.  You cannot go to the store and wander around aimlessly choosing food items that sound like a good idea at the time.  You have to take some time before you head out to sit down, plan your meals for the week, and design your list accordingly.  Once you get to the store you need to stick to your list, and avoid making any impulse purchases.

Here are some items that should be included on your healthy grocery list.

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables

This group is first on this list, and it should be first on your list.  Fruits and vegetables make up one of the largest portions of your diet, and you should make sure you purchase enough so that you can consume the recommended three to five servings daily.  Fresh fruits and vegetables are fat free, low in calories, and packed with all kinds of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.  Take your time in the produce section and make sure you select a wide variety of items so you do not bore yourself, and so that everyone in your household has their favorites.

Meats and Lean Proteins

You should choose mostly lean protein options, such as poultry and fish for this group.  Other sources of lean protein include eggs, legumes, and seeds.  Stay away from prepared meat items, prepackaged foods, breaded meats, and fried products.  These types of food tend to be high in calories, fat, sugar, and sodium.

Whole Grains

Try to choose a good variety for this group.  Choose whole grain breads, pastas, rice, and cereals.  You should avoid any processed or refined food items.  Whole grain foods provide many health benefits, are low in fat, and supply you with plenty of vitamins and minerals.

Dairy

Opt for low fat, or fat free dairy choices.  Most cheeses, milk, and yogurt have lean options, which are still quite good.  For even healthier options, soy products, and goat milk products can be purchased in place of traditional dairy items.

Beverages

This category is a major factor in your daily diet.  People tend not to count fat and calories that are consumed in liquid form.  Some appropriate choices include: water, low fat or soy milk, and herbal teas.

Fats, oils, and condiments can still be enjoyed but should be consumed in moderation.  Choose low fat or fat free options when possible.

Prepackaged frozen dinners and store prepared foods should be avoided.  These foods are usually quite high in saturated fat, calories, sodium, and sugar.  Sugar free gelatin, low fat frozen yogurt, or frozen fruit juice bars are good substitutions for ice cream and other fattening desserts.

Other items to avoid include canned foods (which can contain a good deal of sodium and preservatives), processed lunchmeats, and sausages.  In place of these items try fresh items, grilled chicken breast, turkey breast, slices of roast beef, and natural peanut butter.

Finally, you know it already, but you need to skip the junk!  As much as you may want to purchase those delicious cookies, chips, cakes, and other sweet and salty treats you need to leave them at the store.  These foods will wreck your progress and only encourage extra nibbling.