While most people think of the body as the most important of weight loss, the truth is that the mind is much more important. Therefore, you need to do anything you can to help your mind get you to lose weight. Using a calorie counter guide is one way to help you think more clearly. How so? By allowing you to see the cold, hard facts and make logical choices based on those facts.

To put it simply, the only way to lose weight is to store fewer calories than you burn. It only makes sense that you need to know the caloric value of the foods you’re eating. There are a lot of foods that have labels on them, but not all of them do; and guessing is not a viable option when you’re on a diet. Besides, food labels are only found on foods you buy at the store, but restaurants don’t have them. Some restaurants do publish nutrition information, but they aren’t required to do so.

It has been shown time and time again that people are not very good at estimating how many calories are in their food. That may not matter to most people, but if you’re on a diet, then you need to know how many calories you’re taking in. Too few calories can be even worse than too many. This doesn’t mean you absolutely have to count calories, but you should have a good idea of how many you’re eating.

What all of this adds up to is that a calorie counter guide is an indispensible tool in the battle to lose weight. You can use the guide when you don’t have access to food labels. That alone would make a worthwhile guide, but it can also be used to help you plan your meals.

If you consult your calorie guide before you go grocery shopping or before you go out to eat, then you will be better prepared. You can decide what foods you’ll get ahead of time. If you like, you can make up your entire grocery list by just using the guide. It’s always a good idea to make up a list ahead of time, and using the guide will make it easy to compare one food to another.

You can get calorie guides in the form of a book or in electronic form. A book is handy because you can take it anywhere, and you dont have to worry about it running out of batteries. An electronic calorie guide has the same information as a book, but some models can be updated with new items and some even allow you to chart your caloric intake throughout the day. If you are serious about losing weight, then getting one of each (a book and an electronic version) is the smart way to go.

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Whether your traveling on the go or around the home, you don’t need to give up healthy eating simply because you are on the run. The fact is, healthy eating is even more important when your trying to keep up with a busy schedule.

Having a good diet will help your body to handle stress better. As you hustle about, a healthy meal is probably the last thing you think about. The following tips can help you eat when your on the go.

Restaurants
With tempting menus, large portions, and a festive atmosphere, it’s easy to skip healthy eating. It’s okay to splurge every now and then, although you’ll pack on a lot of weight if you make it a habit. When you eat out at restaurants, always be smart
about it.

Airports
An airport can be a very stressful place, although you shouldn’t scrap your diet because of it. Eat because you are hungry, not because of stress, boredom, or to kill time.

In your car
Keep some healthy snacks in your car at all times, so that when you get hungry – you have them.

At home
Evenings and mornings are busy times in most homes. Making the time to eat can be hard, although you shouldn’t run out the door without eating breakfast first. Cereal with milk, a banana, muffin, or even a bagel is a great way to start the day.

Anytime you are on the go, always make sure that you make the right food decisions. You can take healthy food with you if you need to, so that you have it when you need it. Eating healthy on the go is easy to do, once you know how. Never sacrifice healthy food for junk, as your body will regret it later.

Tags: Airports, Bagel, Banana Muffin, Boredom, Breakfast Cereal, Busy Schedule, Busy Times, Diet, Eating Habits, Festive Atmosphere, Food Decisions, Habit, Healthy Diet, Healthy Eating, Healthy Food, Healthy Snacks, Home Evenings, Losing Weight, Menus, Restaurants, Sacrifice, Splurge, Stress —

Simple Ways To Lose Weight – Watching What You Eat

There is no question that obesity is a big problem in the United States and other Western nations, and it’s not showing any signs of going away soon. If you have been looking for simple ways to lose weight, then chances are you have stumbled across a few fad diets, perhaps you have even tried a few. But there is only one way to shed those extra pounds: you have to burn more calories than you take in. One way to decrease how many calories you take in is by controlling your portions. Here are some tips to help you do just that.

The first thing you need to know is what a normal portion is for most of the foods you eat. You may be quite shocked to find out that you have been regularly eating three to four times the normal portion. For example, a serving of meat is considered to be 3 ounces, that works out to be about the same dimensions as a deck of cards. A serving of ice cream is a half cup, so if you eat a pint you will have consumed four servings. And that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Most of us will mindlessly fill our entire plate when we sit down to eat. We don’t really think about what we put on the plate, we just know that it should be full. Therefore, you can trick yourself into eating less by using smaller plates, cups and bowls when you eat. That way there will be less plate to fill.

You can also look to tricks used by restaurants to make your plate look fuller. A favorite is to use garnishes like thinly slice fruit, raw kale and fresh parsley. These aren’t normally eaten, but they take up extra room and give the illusion of having more food on your plate.

If you put the healthiest foods on your plate first, then you will automatically limit how much of the less-than-healthy food you’ll have room for. For example, if you start by putting veggies on your plate, then a small salad, you will be forcing yourself to take a smaller portion of meat.

Did you know that the type of glass you put your beverages in makes a difference? This is nothing more than an illusion, but it ranks as one of the simple ways to lose weight. Taller, thinner glasses look like they hold more, so use those. If you’re having a cold drink, then fill the glass with ice first, then pour in your beverage. Yes, restaurants use this trick, too.

Only cook what you’ll eat. A lot of recipes are designed to feed a family of four, but if there are only two of you, or you’re on your own, then reducing those recipes will help to keep your portions under control. After all, you can’t eat more of a certain dish if there isn’t more there for you to eat.

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