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Super-Sly Ways to Slim Down Your Portions
1. Use a smaller bowl and think of them as standard size. Who came up with bowl sizes anyway? They’re hardly suited to everyday portion sizes. If you start small, you’ll end up eating less, AND you can be one of those ultra-positive people and think “my bowl of ice cream is full to the max!” instead of “I have one lowly scoop of Chunky Monkey in here, OMG so deprived.”
2. Start with half. Of course it’s okay to have an entire bagel, but only toast one half to start. After you’re finished, if you’re still hungry, go ahead and toast the other half if you want to, no problem. Starting with half just prevents you from wasting food or feeling guilty if you do in fact end up full from the first half [and you might surprise yourself that you are, in fact, full from the first half!]
3. You’re not “wasting” food. The habit of finishing everything on your plate is a bad one—it forces you to override the ‘full’ signals your brain is giving you and stuff yourself even though your body is telling you to stop. This will make it harder later to figure out if you actually are hungry or not. Just because you eat the food you’ve been served doesn’t mean you’re not wasting it—you’ll just be w-a-i-s-t-i-n-g it instead [Ohmygosh so clever.]
4. Act like a three year old. You don’t have to eat the parts of a meal or a snack that you don’t like. Having a piece of toast but don’t really care for the crusts? Cut them off and don’t worry about it. Why put something unhealthy in your mouth if you’re not enjoying it? Think that whoever invented pop tarts could definitely have left off those filling-less, cardboard-y edges? Me too. You don’t have to eat them. Only like the peanut butter cups out of your ice cream? Feel free to dig them out and throw the rest away. Make sure you’re enjoying your indulgences 100%.
5. When you go out, split a meal with a friend instead of getting your own. Eating out is one of the biggest triggers for stuffing myself, personally, because if I paid for it, I’m going to eat it. But splitting huge restaurant portions with a pal ends up with both of us feeling satisfied, but not so stuffed we want to stay in bed and die.
6. Another eating-out trick to try is skipping dinner altogether—just get an appetizer and a dessert. The appetizers are always yummy, perfect for two to share, and thenyou get to have dessert, which is really all you want anyway.
7. Make “small” the standard. When you order a cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant, make it a small. Same with getting a sugary coffee drink, or some fries, or an ice cream cone. You really aren’t sacrificing much, you still get to enjoy a treat, you just don’t start out with so incredibly much to finish. Plus small is cheaper, so you can buy one of these.
8. Get a bowl of chips [or some other delicious snack] rather than bringing the whole bag with you when you have a snack. You can always have more, but you’ll know how much you’re actually eating, instead of “somewhere between most and all of the bag.”
I like these tips. I particularly like, and also already do, 1-4. The eating out ones are not as applicable because I don’t have that many people to share with, and I tend not to go out often. I will share these tips with my family though.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lu3hdy8SN31qcwijgo1_r1_500.jpg)
Super-Sly Ways to Slim Down Your Portions
1. Use a smaller bowl and think of them as standard size. Who came up with bowl sizes anyway? They’re hardly suited to everyday portion sizes. If you start small, you’ll end up eating less, AND you can be one of those ultra-positive people and think “my bowl of ice cream is full to the max!” instead of “I have one lowly scoop of Chunky Monkey in here, OMG so deprived.”
2. Start with half. Of course it’s okay to have an entire bagel, but only toast one half to start. After you’re finished, if you’re still hungry, go ahead and toast the other half if you want to, no problem. Starting with half just prevents you from wasting food or feeling guilty if you do in fact end up full from the first half [and you might surprise yourself that you are, in fact, full from the first half!]
3. You’re not “wasting” food. The habit of finishing everything on your plate is a bad one—it forces you to override the ‘full’ signals your brain is giving you and stuff yourself even though your body is telling you to stop. This will make it harder later to figure out if you actually are hungry or not. Just because you eat the food you’ve been served doesn’t mean you’re not wasting it—you’ll just be w-a-i-s-t-i-n-g it instead [Ohmygosh so clever.]
4. Act like a three year old. You don’t have to eat the parts of a meal or a snack that you don’t like. Having a piece of toast but don’t really care for the crusts? Cut them off and don’t worry about it. Why put something unhealthy in your mouth if you’re not enjoying it? Think that whoever invented pop tarts could definitely have left off those filling-less, cardboard-y edges? Me too. You don’t have to eat them. Only like the peanut butter cups out of your ice cream? Feel free to dig them out and throw the rest away. Make sure you’re enjoying your indulgences 100%.
5. When you go out, split a meal with a friend instead of getting your own. Eating out is one of the biggest triggers for stuffing myself, personally, because if I paid for it, I’m going to eat it. But splitting huge restaurant portions with a pal ends up with both of us feeling satisfied, but not so stuffed we want to stay in bed and die.
6. Another eating-out trick to try is skipping dinner altogether—just get an appetizer and a dessert. The appetizers are always yummy, perfect for two to share, and thenyou get to have dessert, which is really all you want anyway.
7. Make “small” the standard. When you order a cheeseburger at a fast food restaurant, make it a small. Same with getting a sugary coffee drink, or some fries, or an ice cream cone. You really aren’t sacrificing much, you still get to enjoy a treat, you just don’t start out with so incredibly much to finish. Plus small is cheaper, so you can buy one of these.
8. Get a bowl of chips [or some other delicious snack] rather than bringing the whole bag with you when you have a snack. You can always have more, but you’ll know how much you’re actually eating, instead of “somewhere between most and all of the bag.”
I like these tips. I particularly like, and also already do, 1-4. The eating out ones are not as applicable because I don’t have that many people to share with, and I tend not to go out often. I will share these tips with my family though.
00:00
in one week i move to a new house. i know there is no time like the present, but i’m going to turn things around in one week. i’ve been slacking off with the end of the semester and the stress of my living situation. i’m only in this house with no real kitchen and a roommate who doesn’t talk to me and floors that threaten to cave in if i even think about trying a jumping jack. i’ve been unhappy. i’ve been hiding away in my room, where there are two square feet of floor space, trying to avoid everything. i’ve gained weight. i don’t eat enough good food. i don’t drink enough water. i’m not taking care of myself. but in a week i will have a huge kitchen and a huge fridge to hold my produce. my kitchen will have air conditioning and my bananas won’t go bad in a day because of the heat. my room will be nearly twice the size of what i am sitting in now. i’ll have floor space, and the whole house won’t rock because i want to dance. it sits on solid foundation. i will have a big living room. i will have a dining room table to eat my meals at. in one week i will make sure things change. i hate having to wait a week. for my sanity and to survive this place i need to stick to my coping mechanism of hiding away.
♥ you can do anything you set your mind to.
Pack a healthy self prepared lunch and save yourself from any trans fats, artificial colours, sweeteners, refined grains, enriched flours and high fructose corn syrup.
Currently making Zucchini Fries! I made them once before and let me tell you, they are soo stinking good. I didnt follow a recipe exactly, but i found one super close to what i used to share with you guys. (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/baked-zucchini-chips/detail.aspx) Yum Yum! They smell soo good while cooking! I cant wait till there done.
//Better than Fries!
My tips on making a healthy, fitness transformation (sorry if any of this doesn’t make sense, I’m a little slow today):
- Set realistic goals… both small (ie. drink a gallon of water everyday), medium (ie. lose a pound a week) and major ones (compete in a bikini competition).
- Get rid of the junk food! Make your own meals from wholesome lean proteins, veggies, fruits and healthy fats. No soda, cookies, chips, crackers, candy, white breads and pastas, fruit juice, sugary cereal, fast food or packaged, processed crap.
- While you’re at it.. cut out the alcohol. It shuts down your metabolism, promotes fat storage and breaks down muscle tissue. (lovely eh?)
- Plan ahead… prepare your meals and workouts in advance, always keep workout clothes, a water bottle and protein powder with a shaker cup in your car so you never have an excuse not to hit the gym. “If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail”.
- Stay positive… setbacks will happen, don’t let your mistakes define you! You’re only a failure if you quit.
- Rid yourself of negativity (including the people who try to belittle your healthy dreams and goals).
- Track your progress… take before pictures and weekly progress pictures. Also, keep a journal of everything you eat and of all your workouts (including how many reps, sets and weight for each workout).
- Be patient… losing weight and getting fit takes time!
- Make a motivational posterboard of quotes, pictures, anything that will remind you of your goals and keep it where you can see it!
- Ask questions.. don’t be afraid of looking dumb! I asked millions of them when I first started (and still do sometimes!) In fact, the first person I ever asked was an NPC Fitness Competitor!!! And guess what? She answered every single one of my questions, and we have continued to stay in touch!
- Believe in yourself, believe you can do it. “The best way to predict your future, is to create it”.
By the way, a lot of people have been asking this, and I guess I forgot to post it anywhere, my name is Savannah =)
This chick^ Bamf.
