Choose Healthy Over Yummy
Always remember the saying: a minute of pleasure on the lips is a lifetime on the hips. All foods that are pleasing to your taste buds are not necessarily good for you. By avoiding fast foods, mindless snacking and watching what beverages you drink, you will be on the road to a healthy 2012. Having the occasional burger and fries from your favorite drive-thru is fine but you must be sure not to eat them daily, nor weekly. Also, remember not to binge eat or mindlessly eat. It’s easy to become bored in your dorm room and eat everything in sight. Eat only one snack if you feel the need to snack and make sure you eat a healthy snack like an orange or an apple. Fruits have more fiber and nutrients with less calories; you will fill up faster and eat less. The drinks that you consume have a lot of calories. Even though they taste good they don’t really take away your thirst. By substituting water for those drinks your thirst will be quenched and no unnecessary calories will be in your body.
Portion Control
The first step is to eat in a consistent manner. By eating three small meals a day, you will give your body a chance to properly digest food. Don’t wait more than five hours to eat the next meal. Don’t wake up to eat in the middle of the night.
Be sure to measure and weigh your food. An easy way to do this is to compare your meal sizes to things you can relate to.
On your dinner plate.
50 percent – More vegetables on your plate than any other food is the perfect way to start off your meal. Don’t load your veggies with butter or salt
30 percent – Know that your serving of lean meat should be the size of a deck of cards.
20 percent – Starches should be the least on your plate. A dessert should be no larger than the half of your palm.
If you must eat junk food snacks, be sure to only eat no more than two handfuls. Put the snacks in a plastic sandwich bag and put the rest away.
EAT SLOWLY- In order for portion control to work you must give your body a chance to send you the message that you are full. By eating slowly, you will be surprised on how much less you are able to eat in order to make you full.
Utilize the gym
Exercise is essesntial in order for you to lose weight. As much as you diet and cut out foods high in calories and fat, you still need to exercise to strengthen your body. When you burn off more calories than you take in, you lose weight. Be sure to change up your routine to give your body more of a challenge.
What can you do? Things offered on campus:
Body Bar Pilates- Wednesday from 9-10 a.m.
Bootcamp- Tuesday from 5-6 p.m.
Power Yoga- Friday from 10-11 a.m.
Spin and Strength Combo- Thursday from 11-12 a.m.
Zumba- Wednesday from 5-6 p.m.
Spinning- Tuesday from 6-7 p.m.
Cut down or OUT alcohol intake
Now that the eggnog is gone and the champagne is tapped, you may want to resort to your old drinking habits.
Alcohol is full of calories. For every one-gram of alcohol that you consume, you are bringing in seven calories. The problem is not only the calorie count but also human and scientific effects.
Humans.
Most people don’t just drink. They drink and munch on something at the same time. Bars always offer pretzels, nuts or other oily stuff to go along with the liquor you’re consuming. The more you drink, the more you eat and the cycle never ends.
Science.
There’s little doubt that alcohol can make you drowsy and lethargic- not the best thing for someone who wants to burn more calories. Alcohol slows you down, makes you heavy and doesn’t support an active lifestyle. Again, this is an indirect consequence of drinking, but it does affect your chances of losing fat and it can make you gain weight.
Adopt the Lifestyle
The holidays are over but they will return! After you have reached your weight loss goal you must keep the new habits in place. This way it will be ensured that you will not have this problem again. The five healthy habits listed above will be the stepping stones to a healthy life. These are healthy habits that if you look at as a lifestyle, you will not fear the heart break you give your body after the holiday.
