If you’re trying to lose weight, there’s lots of ways that you could sabotage yourself. But probably the worst and easiest way is simply not to think about what you’re eating. Here are some things that you’re definitely better off without.
- Snacks with only sugar and carbs. There’s a difference between carbs from fiber and carbs from sugar and nothing else. If you’re snacking on crackers, cereal, or bread, you’re guaranteed to be hungry before you’re even done eating your snack. You can eat carbs, but just make sure that the snack also has healthy fats and protein so that you’ll actually feel a little less hungry afterward.
- Cereal in a value box. That goes for anything “family-sized,” especially if it’s just you eating it. Studies have shown that keeping food around in larger packages means you’re likely to consume 22 percent more food than you usually would. This goes for anything that you feel like you’re getting a “good value” from. If your food cost less, you’re also more likely to eat more of it. Instead of feeling free to snack away in order to get your money’s worth, measure out your portions to make sure you don’t overeat.
- Alcohol. We’d all love it if we could lose weight through drinking. Even if you’re drinking skinnier drinks, alcohol just encourages diet-breaking behaviors anyway. When you’re drinking, your body wants to burn that off first, not fat. And you’re much more likely to overeat when you’re drinking. So if you can’t cut it out all together, cut back to once a week or less. You don’t need it anyway. ##MN_RESP##
- Fruit juice. Drinking fruit juice instead of just eating fruit should just seem like a replacement, right? Well, not exactly. A glass of OJ lacks all of the fibers and nutrients of an actual orange, and the natural sugars make you more likely to eat more, since fructose makes it harder for you to realize when you’re full.
- High-fiber snack bars. Snack bars can be great if you’re looking for a snack to tide you over. But if you’re eating a snack bar that has something like twenty-five grams of fiber in it? You don’t need all of that in one serving. That’s just giving your body a fiber does it doesn’t want to and shouldn’t need to handle. Eat fruits and veggies if you need your fiber, or bars with a more balanced set of nutrients.
Too much of any good thing can hurt your weight loss in the long run. But you'll notice that not much is off limits here. With a good sense of portion control, you don't need to limit yourself that much to lose weight. As long as you know what to look for, it should be easy.
