I'm new to this and slowly changing my life style towards more nutritional eating. I'm slightly confused whether it is better to aim for hitting the daily calorie target by eating meals which have a similar calorie balance (ie 6 meals per day at 350 calories per meal) or simple eat to the calorie target regardless of calories per meal.
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Calorie count
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Posted 3 years ago #
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When it's all said and done, losing weight is all about eating fewer calories than you burn through activity.
Everyone is a little different about what is going to inspire them and keep them motivated, but in general here are a couple tips that I found worked for me personally.
1) Whole foods are going to provide more nutrition and fill you up better than "processed foods"... it means more work, but making yourself a "appropriate" calorie meal is always healthier than eating a frozen diet meal. For example, eat a fresh apple for a snack instead of a "diet bar".
2) Don't skip breakfast -- It's true breakfast is the most important meal. Many studies show that people who skip breakfast are more likely to be overweight. Why? Well, maybe we overeat later in the day to make up for the nutrition we missed at breakfast.
3) Track your calories eaten and calories burned... it's amazing how easy it is to assume you're eating less or burning more than you actually are.
For me personally I found that when I lost weight (over 60lbs) it was easiest to set up a set of meals that I could easily prepare, and I knew how many calories they had. Since I'm relatively small framed, but goal to lose weight was about 1200-1500 calories a day. Please check with your doctor to determine what's right for you.
So for example, for breakfast, I made myself an "egg sandwich" -- I used an english muffin, some egg-whites, and a slice of lean turkey meat. I avoided cheese and mayo... and got this meal down to 200 calories. I pretty reasonable morning serving size. Lunches, I would alternate between a couple meals, but usually it was a salad. Again, I skipped the cheese and dressing, and focused on lots of vegetables and lean meat (tuna some days, turkey other days). I'd sometimes eat non-fat cottage cheese with it. I tried to keep my lunch to 400-500 calories. This would leave me about 500-800 calories for dinner. Which is actually a lot for one meal, but since I wanted to give my wife more freedom to not worry about my "diet" when she made dinner, or give me more freedom to make an enjoyable meal for her when I made dinner, I found that it worked for me, to save those calories for dinner with the family.
Anyway, whatever approach you choose, I wish you luck! You can do it!
Posted 3 years ago #
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