Improving Your Eating Habits

When it comes to eating, we have strong habits. Some are good ("I always eat breakfast"), and some are not so good ("I always clean my plate"). Although many of our eating habits were established during childhood, it doesn't mean it's too late to change them.
Making sudden, radical changes to eating habits such as eating nothing but cabbage soup, can lead to short term weight loss. However, such radical changes are neither healthy nor a good idea, and won't be successful in the long run. Permanently improving your eating habits requires a thoughtful approach in which you Reflect, Replace, and Reinforce.

• REFLECT on all of your specific eating habits, both bad and good; and, your common triggers for unhealthy eating.
• REPLACE your unhealthy eating habits with healthier ones.
• REINFORCE your new, healthier eating habits.

Reflect, Replace, Reinforce: A process for improving your eating habits

1. Create a list of your eating habits. Keeping a food diary for a few days, in which you write down everything you eat and the time of day you ate it, will help you uncover your habits. For example, you might discover that you always seek a sweet snack to get you through the mid-afternoon energy slump. It's good to note how you were feeling when you decided to eat, especially if you were eating when not hungry. Were you tired? Stressed out?
2. Highlight the habits on your list that may be leading you to overeat. Common eating habits that can lead to weight gain are:

• Eating too fast
• Always cleaning your plate
• Eating when not hungry
• Eating while standing up (may lead to eating mindlessly or too quickly)
• Always eating dessert
• Skipping meals (or maybe just breakfast)

3. Look at the unhealthy eating habits you've highlighted. Be sure you've identified all the triggers that cause you to engage in those habits. Identify a few you'd like to work on improving first. Don't forget to pat yourself on the back for the things you're doing right. Maybe you almost always eat fruit for dessert, or you drink low-fat or fat-free milk. These are good habits! Recognizing your successes will help encourage you to make more changes.
4. Create a list of "cues" by reviewing your food diary to become more aware of when and where you're "triggered" to eat for reasons other than hunger. Note how you are typically feeling at those times. Often an environmental "cue", or a particular emotional state, is what encourages eating for non-hunger reasons.
   
   Common triggers for eating when not hungry are:

• Opening up the cabinet and seeing your favorite snack food.
• Sitting at home watching television.
• Before or after a stressful meeting or situation at work.
• Coming home after work and having no idea what's for dinner.
• Having someone offer you a dish they made "just for you!"
• Walking past a candy dish on the counter.
• Sitting in the break room beside the vending machine.
• Seeing a plate of doughnuts at the morning staff meeting.
• Swinging through your favorite drive-through every morning.
• Feeling bored or tired and thinking food might offer a pick-me-up.

5. Circle the "cues" on your list that you face on a daily or weekly basis. Going home for the Thanksgiving holiday may be a trigger for you to overeat, and eventually, you want to have a plan for as many eating cues as you can. But for now, focus on the ones you face more often.
   
6. Ask yourself these questions for each "cue" you've circled:

• Is there anything I can do to avoid the cue or situation? This option works best for cues that don't involve others. For example, could you choose a different route to work to avoid stopping at a fast food restaurant on the way? Is there another place in the break room where you can sit so you're not next to the vending machine?
• For things I can't avoid, can I do something differently that would be healthier? Obviously, you can't avoid all situations that trigger your unhealthy eating habits, like staff meetings at work. In these situations, evaluate your options. Could you suggest or bring healthier snacks or beverages? Could you offer to take notes to distract your attention? Could you sit farther away from the food so it won't be as easy to grab something? Could you plan ahead and eat a healthy snack before the meeting?

7. Replace unhealthy habits with new, healthy ones. For example, in reflecting upon your eating habits, you may realize that you eat too fast when you eat alone. So, make a commitment to share a lunch each week with a colleague, or have a neighbor over for dinner one night a week. Other strategies might include putting your fork down between bites or minimizing other distractions (i.e. watching the news during dinner) that might keep you from paying attention to how quickly — and how much — you're eating.
   Here are more ideas to help you replace unhealthy habits:

• Eat more slowly. If you eat too quickly, you may "clean your plate" instead of paying attention to whether your hunger is satisfied.
• Eat only when you're truly hungry instead of when you are tired, anxious, or feeling an emotion besides hunger. If you find yourself eating when you are experiencing an emotion besides hunger, such as boredom or anxiety, try to find a non-eating activity to do instead. You may find a quick walk or phone call with a friend helps you feel better.
• Plan meals ahead of time to ensure that you eat a healthy well-balanced meal.

8. Reinforce your new, healthy habits and be patient with yourself. Habits take time to develop. It doesn't happen overnight. When you do find yourself engaging in an unhealthy habit, stop as quickly as possible and ask yourself: Why do I do this? When did I start doing this? What changes do I need to make? Be careful not to berate yourself or think that one mistake "blows" a whole day's worth of healthy habits. You can do it! It just takes one day at a time!

Want to learn more?

Losing Weight
What is healthy weight loss and why should you bother?
Getting Started
Check out some steps you can take to begin!
Keeping the Weight Off
Losing weight is the first step. Once you've lost weight, you'll want to learn how to keep it off.

Resources: Centers For Disease Control & Prevention http://www.cdc.gov 

How to keep weight off

If you've achieved your target weight, well done! But don't undo all the good work by reverting to old habits.

The effects of quick-fix diets often don't last, as many people fall back into old eating and activity habits after the weight is lost. If you find your weight is going back up again, it's time to take action.

How to keep weight off

The key to reaching your ideal weight and then keeping weight off is to make long-term changes to your diet and lifestyle that you can stick to for life.

The following tips are likely to help keep weight off:

• Stick to lower-calorie eating. A lower-fat, higher-protein diet has been shown to help maintain weight loss for some people. This could be because protein-rich meals make you feel fuller more quickly, making you less likely to snack between meals.
• Plan ahead. Maintain your healthier eating habits regardless of changes in your routine, such as eating out, weekends or holidays. By planning ahead, you're less likely to slip up.
• Eat breakfast. Research shows that breakfast can help people control their weight. Having breakfast can help you avoid getting too hungry and snacking later on.
• Stay active. Build up your physical activity levels. So if you’ve already been walking regularly, think about walking for longer, or start running.
• Watch your weight. Weigh yourself regularly so you can keep a close eye on any changes to your weight.
• Get support. If you have talked to a health professional about your weight in the past, make sure you go back regularly to get support from them.
• Keep it interesting. Variety is the spice of life, so if you feel yourself slipping back into old ways, mix things up a bit. Buy a new healthy cookbook, sign up for a healthy cooking course or try a new activity.
• Set yourself goals. These can help to motivate you into keeping up your healthy diet and exercise regime. For example, is there a special occasion coming up that you want to feel your best for? 

 

What should I eat now?

As a guide, the average man needs about 2,500 calories and the average woman needs 2,000 calories a day to maintain their weight. If you’ve been eating a lower calorie diet and you've now reached a healthy weight, you may want to increase your calorie intake. But do it by small amounts to avoid putting on weight again and remember to keep active.

More weight to lose?

“When we look at people who lose weight successfully, the lessons are clear,” says Dr Andrew Brewster, a GP with a special interest in obesity and weight management. “A combination of diet changes and changes to their level of physical activity is the best method. The key is making small changes that you can keep for life, rather than drastic changes that you only stick to for a few weeks.

“You don’t need to achieve a healthy weight overnight. Losing even a few kilos can make a huge difference to the health of someone who is overweight.”

You can check the weight range that is healthy for you by using our Healthy weight calculator Set a realistic target. Give yourself enough time to work towards your goal – the safe rate of weight loss is between 1lb and 2lb (0.5kg and 1kg) a week.

Download the new NHS 12-week weight loss guide.

 

Healthy food swaps

To start, you might decide to swap just one high-calorie snack a day with something healthier. For example, you could have a smoothie or a piece of fruit instead of a morning pastry. Or you could choose a drink that's lower in fat, sugar or alcohol and therefore contains fewer calories. For example, you could swap a sugary, fizzy drink for sparkling water with a slice of lemon. You can learn more about small, healthy changes to your diet by reading Healthy food swaps On the whole, eating less while maintaining a balanced diet and being more active will keep weight off.

You can also find lots of information on eating a healthy, balanced diet in Food & Diet

Exercise

 

Adults are advised to do 150 minutes of physical activity every week. Read more about activity guidelines for adults and older adults. 

When it comes to physical activity, find ways to fit more movement into your day. It’s recommended that adults between 19 and 64 get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity – such as fast walking or cycling – every week. If you are new to activity then you should try to build up to this amount gradually. For more information, see Physical Activity Guidelines For Adults

Being physically active is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. People who do regular activity have a lower risk of many chronic diseases, such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers and stroke.

For many, brisk walking is a great way to fit activity into daily life. Learn more in  the 10,000 steps challenge.

There's more information and advice on getting active in Fitness.

Stick to the changes 

 

Once you’ve identified the lifestyle changes you want to make, give yourself time to make them part of your life.

At some point, the weight loss that results from these changes will stop and your weight will stabilise. But it’s important to remember that if you want to maintain your new, healthier weight, you need to stick to the changes.

“This is where many people slip up,” says Dr Brewster. “They feel as though the changes they’ve made 'aren’t working any more', and so they go back to old habits. In fact, the changes are working, as they are keeping you at your new weight. If you let go of them, you’ll put weight back on.

“Really get those changes set into your lifestyle. Once you’ve done that and your weight has stayed the same for a while, if you’re still not a healthy weight you can think about another set of small changes.

“That’s the step-by-step method that will give you the best chance of achieving a healthy weight long term.”

Article Souce:
http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/keep-weight-off.aspx#physical

Last reviewed: 22/02/2013
Next review due: 22/02/2015

Get the Body of Your Dreams with Fat Loss Factor Principles

Fat Loss Factor contains guidelines for a quick healthy lifestyle plan that can help anyone in any physical condition to lose unwanted belly fat. From the first principle of preparing for success to the last one, FLF implements a lifestyle of fitness, eating right for your body, and the mental attitude that it takes to reach your goal weight. The book is chock full of practical, down to earth advice.

Fat Loss Factor starts by measuring your basic statistics including weight, and body fat percentage. You are also asked to get photographs of yourself at the start so you can monitor your progress through the program. You’re advised to check your clothing at the beginning too, because you’ll likely find it to fit more loosely as you apply the principles of the program. Waist measurements are important too: women should ideally be around thirty two inches while a thirty five inch waist is ideal for men.

The program doesn’t take a miracle approach to get what it promises: a lean, healthy body that you can be proud of. These goals are reached through the consistent practice of proven principles of fitness and health. For example, the book stipulates early on that a change in eating habits is essential to your physical goals. Eating healthy foods that promote fat loss, metabolism, and energy is equally important to following the exercise regimen prescribed in the book.

Once your body is cleansed and fueled by natural foods, you are introduced into some basic fat loss principles for exercise. According to the book, building muscle is essential to burning fat. That’s right, you won’t need any diet pills or other trendy supplements to get the body you want. The book explains how muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, giving you the ability to burn fat even when you’re not working out. By working in sets and supersets, Fat Loss Factor guides you through basic exercises that will build the muscle you need without bulking up.

By the time you reach the fourth principle of fat loss, you will find out that traditional cardiovascular routines are not what you want to do for your exercise. Citing scientific research from around the world, Fat Loss Factor urges exercising in bursts or what is called burst training. By alternating between high intensity and low intensity intervals, your body burns more fat and your workout is much shorter!

Readers will find Fat Loss Factor an entertaining and informative read that will motivate them to avoid weight loss and fitness gadgets and gimmicks and steer them toward practical fat loss methods that work.

Have a look at Fat Loss Factor for yourself