The Polka Dotted Zebra

Some of these tips may sound weird or pointless, but I’m sharing them because they’ve made an impact on how I lose weight and maintaining the weight loss.  Slow and Steady wins the race!

1.  The most important tip, is to Eat a healthy carbohydrate and protein together for every meal!  You’ll learn about this in the Eating for Life Cookbook.  I’ve found eating  a healthy carbohydrate and protein together for every meal helps to curb any and all cravings.

For example, have you ever eaten some potato chips and then wanted something sweet or the other way around, you have a huge piece of chocolate cake and now you want some Doritos?  For me that’s an imbalance, and the easiest way to fix it, is to again, eat a healthy carbohydrate and protein together.

I say healthy carbohydrate because I’ve noticed when I eat white pasta or white rice, I do not lose weight.  I lose weight when I eat whole wheat pasta or brown rice.  So just make sure it’s the “Healthy” carbs you’re eating.

2.  Eat what you like!!  What I mean by this, is when you eat healthy you need to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in your diet.  A lot of people feel eating healthy means they can’t eat the stuff they like, or they eat fruits and vegetables they don’t like.  The key  is to find the fruits and vegetables YOU LOVE!  This will make a big difference!

For example, I  hate pea’s so I never eat peas, BUT, I love green beans and cucumbers.  Lately, I’ve been eating a cucumber a day with my lunch with a fat free dressing for dip, I don’t get tired of cucumbers.  I also love green beans from a can or raw, this gives me some flexibility to carry them with me raw, or warmed up on the stove as a side for dinner.

Over the years I’ve grown to dislike apples, I’ll eat one if I have to or if there’s no other choice, but nowadays I buy bananas, and oranges.  Oranges are a little more expensive, but they never go to waste because we love to eat them.  And in the summer, I eat lots and lots of watermelon.  I also eat a  bowl of Cream of Wheat every morning, I’ve done this for the past 2 months.  Some people would puke at that the thought of it, but I love cream of wheat and when it starts to get boring for me, I’ll switch it up but for now it works for me.

3.  The Mind Game.  Don’t tell your self, “I can’t have any (Fill In The Blank).”  This may sound strange, but I’m gonna share it any way.  If I tell myself, I’m not gonna eat any sugar for the next month, I can bet you, I will fail starting day one.  Why, well for some reason when we tell ourselves we can’t have something, we end up wanting it more and more.

For me I  end up wanting it more and more, and then I think of the sweet taste of chocolate and then I see it in my mind and next thing you know I’m chomping on a candy bar!  And I kid you not, I WILL NOT make it past the first day of when I set my goal. SOOOOO, here is what I do now, here’s the weird part, it may work for you, it may not, my sister thinks I’m crazy but hey what ever works right!

I tell myself, “I want something sweet, but I don’t need it now, I’ll have some tomorrow.”  I just repeat it over and over until the craving goes away and then I quickly try to focus on something other than food.  I don’t know why but for me this works, I do it every day and see how long I can go without eating any sugar.

Next thing you know a week has gone by.  As a back up and some people may not like to do this but it helps me, I keep some Snack Packs in the fridge, and when I do get a craving during the day that I just can’t resist, I eat ONE Snack Pack, only ONE a day, so if I get a craving I normally try to hold out until after dinner, this way I eat it, go to bed and start over the next day.  I would rather slowly indulge in a little snack pack than a candy bar.

Find your back up, and just make sure it’s something you know you wont over eat.  

In Short:

1.  Eat a protein and a carbohydrate at every meal!!

2.  Find the Fruits and Vegetables YOU LOVE!!

3.  Play the mind game and tell yourself you’ll have some tomorrow.

Let me know if any of this helps!

Till tomorrow!

Sweet Dreams!

thepolkadottedzebra