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LEARNING ABOUT NUTRITION, DIETING AND WEIGHT LOSS
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SOME SIMPLE THINGS TO DO TO HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS
With over 10 years of experience working with patients who have severe weight problems, I have learned about many easy but effective changes in habits that will help you shed more pounds. It starts with looking around your kitchen and pantry to see what types of food you typically buy. If you have a lot of snacks, chips, cookies, and candy, than you need to reevaluate buying these foods. The best thing to do is not buy anymore of these items and replace your comfort foods with healthy snacks, i.e. fruits, vegetables and high protein snacks such as protein bars.
Next you have to evaluate how you prepare your dinner. Do you plan ahead or put together a meal in 15 minutes with what ever is around the kitchen? Do you think about the size of the portions for each family member or just put out a lot of food and expect left overs? Are your meals balanced and do you serve each family member or serve family style?
The best results occur when you plan meals ahead. You can then calculate approximately how many calories each member will consume. Your portion sizes will be controlled by you and this eliminates anybody from eating too many calories. It is much easier to have a balanced meal when planning ahead. If you try to put together meals right before you eat, you will tend to eat more and eat foods that are higher in calories.
Putting all of these simple techniques to work will help you begin to lose weight without feeling that you are starving or being denied the foods you want.
Next you have to evaluate how you prepare your dinner. Do you plan ahead or put together a meal in 15 minutes with what ever is around the kitchen? Do you think about the size of the portions for each family member or just put out a lot of food and expect left overs? Are your meals balanced and do you serve each family member or serve family style?
The best results occur when you plan meals ahead. You can then calculate approximately how many calories each member will consume. Your portion sizes will be controlled by you and this eliminates anybody from eating too many calories. It is much easier to have a balanced meal when planning ahead. If you try to put together meals right before you eat, you will tend to eat more and eat foods that are higher in calories.
Putting all of these simple techniques to work will help you begin to lose weight without feeling that you are starving or being denied the foods you want.
LEARNING ABOUT NUTRITION: FAT, CARBS AND PROTEIN
What to eat and how much is at the basis of every diet. I tell people starting a diet to eat the protein in their meal first. Many times this will satisfy most of your hunger and limit the amount of fat and carbs you eat. A good place to start is understanding how much protein you should have everyday. Most people ( those without special nutritional issues or health conditions) need about one half a gram of protein for every two and 1/2 pounds of weight. If you weigh 200 pounds eating eighty grams of protein per day is perfect. 80 grams of protein will give you about 320 calories in your diet. That is both protein and carbs have 4 calories per gram. Fat has 7 calories per gram.
The rest of days calories will come from fat and carbs. What types of carbs should you choose? You should eat complex carbohydates before simple sugars. The reason behind this is that simple sugars get absorbed into your blood stream faster and will contribute to earlier hunger before your next meal. Also the more fiber in the food you eat will make you feel full without adding calories. Fiber is like eating paper. You do not digest the fiber and therefore it does not count for calories.
The amount of fat and the types of fat you eat will also effect how successful your weight loss will be. As stated above fat has almost twice the calories per gram as protein and carbs. Also fat comes in different types. Certain fats are harder to process and can contribute heart disease.
AS A RULE OF THUMB--LESS FAT IS ALWAYS BETTER!!
You are trying to get rid of the fat on your body, why would you want to eat more fat?
The rest of days calories will come from fat and carbs. What types of carbs should you choose? You should eat complex carbohydates before simple sugars. The reason behind this is that simple sugars get absorbed into your blood stream faster and will contribute to earlier hunger before your next meal. Also the more fiber in the food you eat will make you feel full without adding calories. Fiber is like eating paper. You do not digest the fiber and therefore it does not count for calories.
The amount of fat and the types of fat you eat will also effect how successful your weight loss will be. As stated above fat has almost twice the calories per gram as protein and carbs. Also fat comes in different types. Certain fats are harder to process and can contribute heart disease.
AS A RULE OF THUMB--LESS FAT IS ALWAYS BETTER!!
You are trying to get rid of the fat on your body, why would you want to eat more fat?
GETTING STARTED: How to manage your weight.
When you begin a diet, there is always a stimulus that gets you motivated. There is also a goal that you want to achieve. That might be a weight or a clothes size or a number of pounds to get off. It is important to understand where you are with your nutrition prior to starting your diet in order to make the right choices during your diet.
I always suggest to my patients that they count their calories for about two weeks to get a daily average of calories. Let us say that your daily calorie count is 2500. For every pound that you want to lose, you have to decrease your baseline intake by 3500 calories. That means you need to eat 2000 calories a day to lose one pound a week during the initial period of your diet. 500 calories X seven days = 3500
Obviously you won't continue to lose one pound per week forever. That is because as your total weight decreases you need less food and calories. At the point when your weight levels off, you will need to reevaluate how you will remove more calories from your diet.
If you have questions on how to count calories, let me know. There is a website my practice created to help my patients count calories called www.myphonediet.com. Check it out it is free.
I always suggest to my patients that they count their calories for about two weeks to get a daily average of calories. Let us say that your daily calorie count is 2500. For every pound that you want to lose, you have to decrease your baseline intake by 3500 calories. That means you need to eat 2000 calories a day to lose one pound a week during the initial period of your diet. 500 calories X seven days = 3500
Obviously you won't continue to lose one pound per week forever. That is because as your total weight decreases you need less food and calories. At the point when your weight levels off, you will need to reevaluate how you will remove more calories from your diet.
If you have questions on how to count calories, let me know. There is a website my practice created to help my patients count calories called www.myphonediet.com. Check it out it is free.
Welcome
Welcome to my blog. I am a weight loss surgeon in New Jersey and I have been practicing for ten years. I hope that this blog will help with your diet. It has information for people who are dieting and for people who have had weight loss surgery to aid them with their dieting. Please check for new entries every week.