Keeping Records: Best Chance for Weight Loss Success

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Awareness matters! The evidence keeps stacking up. If you want to succeed with weight loss take a close look at a famous quote from Socrates: “Know Thyself”. How well do you know yourself? If you are like most other people you probably feel confident about the answer to this question. The problem is that just about everyone thinks they know more about many things then they actually do. And that is precisely what can keep you from reaching your weight loss goal. How did scientists and health professionals come to this conclusion about weight loss? Rather than speculate or theorize what works with weight loss, many recent studies have taken a close look at what has actually worked. Researchers have been following and tracking the habits of those who successfully lose weight in the first place as well as those who succeed in keeping the weight off. Whether a person has successfully lost weight with a professionally led behavioral weight loss program, a commercial weight loss program online or off, or designed a do-it-yourself program there are common themes. The strongest theme is that of improved self-awareness with some form of record keeping. Accepting that keeping records works is the first step. But if you are reluctant to get started because you think it will be all drudgery and tedium, relax! Not all of the methods require a lot of work. Keeping a food diary will take some time and effort. But this method shows up repeatedly as a strategy that works for many people. The majority of the participants in the National Weight Control Registry, a study of thousands of successful losers (more than 4,000 people some for as long as 12 years) report having kept some form of records, including food diaries, when dieting. In addition, more than 50% of the initial group of successful losers continued to maintain some form of food records for maintenance. Just the idea of keeping a detailed food diary can be discouraging! Although the information you could gain from this practice is invaluable, it won’t do you any good whatsoever if the whole project is overwhelming. If that’s how you feel, just stick to the basics. Write down what you eat, how much, and the calorie count. Do this for just a few days if that’s all you can stand. I’m sure you will learn something helpful. If you feel you can continue and possibly expand on the records you keep, the benefits will be even greater. (Read my article on Keeping a Food Diary for more information.) Keeping track of physical activity also helps. But what you may not realize is just how easy it may be to burn additional calories simply by increasing awareness of something you do everyday without giving it any thought. That’s the number of steps you take in an average day. A number of recent studies have revealed that people who wear a pedometer, a simple and inexpensive device for tracking steps taken each day, are more likely to take more steps than those not wearing a pedometer. Every 2000 steps is approximately 1 mile. Health professionals recommend walking from 6,000 to 10,000 steps a day for better health. What you may not realize is that every step you take counts whether you are cleaning house or going for a formal walk. Getting feedback on the number of steps taken seems to be motivating. More steps means more walking and burning more calories. A third kind of record keeping that has been found to make a big difference with successful losers is daily weighing with a bathroom scale. Honestly, it is not what I would recommend but the facts speak for themselves. It helps more people than not. Researchers suggest that getting the daily feedback evidently helps to keep people on track. The weight results may be just what you need to prompt you to eat a little less or exercise a little more to get back on track. There are many ways you can increase your knowledge about nutrition, calories, your food habits, and more to improve your chances for weight loss success. The three possibilities I’ve shared here seem to be clear winners. Have a great week, watch those calories, and stay healthy! calories, Health, Maintenance, weight lossrecords keeping record keeping food diary diaries weighing bathroom scales pedometer Enjoy this post? Click here to treat Lori to a coffee and say Thanks!

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Sample 1200 Calorie Diet Menu

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Ah yes, the challenges of coming up with nutritionally balanced meals and snacks with only 1200 calories! It doesn’t always work out just right. This is the ninth 1200 calorie diet sample menu that I have shared so far. The menu is low fat (only 15%, which is less than the recommended 20-35%**), however the good news is that it is balanced with good carbs and a healthy dose of protein. What I mean by good carbs is that most of the carbohydrates are not coming from sugar or highly refined and processed foods. The nonfat vanilla yogurt and Jell-O vanilla pudding snack are the two main sources of “added” sugar. You could choose plain yogurt and reduce the sugar by about a half. Or you might choose a sugar-free pudding. I don’t like to use or buy products with artificial sweeteners. There are numerous studies that seem to support the safety of many sweeteners, however, there are still too many unanswered questions and concerns in my opinion. Despite the inclusion of the yogurt and pudding, this menu comes up short for calcium. If you give this menu a try consider taking a basic vitamin and mineral supplement (that includes calcium) or a calcium supplement to round out the nutrition for the day. For breakfast I suggest having 2 clementines instead of orange juice. Or you might elect to have an orange. Yes, it will require more time to eat. But the benefit of this choice is that you gain about 4 grams of fiber over getting little to none with the juice. (**Please note: I don’t recommend following a regular diet this low in fat but an occasional day now and then won’t hurt. Getting enough fat is important for obtaining sufficient essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins. However, the truth of the matter is that our everyday diets (when we are not vigilant about making the best choices) are far from balanced despite our best efforts. Our bodies are designed for the most part to handle an uneven influx of nutrients if we are eating enough calories and a variety of food. What we do not handle well is a barrage of unhealthy refined carbohydrates and highly processed foods particularly those rich in fat and/or sugar.) Breakfast 2 Clementines Scrambled Eggs (4 Tbsp. egg substitute) 1/2 Tbsp. Light Butter (Land O’Lakes with canola oil) Water, unsweetened tea or coffee Morning Snack 1 Nonfat Vanilla Yogurt Lunch 1 Honey Wheat Pita (Kronos Pita Bakery - 180 calories) 3/4-cup chunk light tuna 1 Tbsp. light mayonnaise 1/2 cup Blueberries Water, unsweetened tea or coffee Afternoon Snack 1 pear Supper 3 oz. Lean Ham 1/2 cup of Bush Vegetarian Baked Beans (1 serving is a little more than 1/2 cup - 130 calories) 1 cup spinach 1/2 cup tomato chunks Water, unsweetened tea or coffee Dessert 1 Vanilla Pudding Snack Cup (Jell-O 110 calories) (Always remember to drink plenty of water throughout the day.) Total Calories = 1214 Total Fiber = 22.1 grams Fat = 15% Carbs = 61% Protein = 24% Calcium = 733 mg (Women between 19 and 50 years need approximately 1,000 mg a day - the calcium in a basic vitamin and mineral supplement might be sufficient to get your total closer to the recommended level.) (Women 51+ need 1,200 mg a day - a calcium supplement would be the best choice for meeting your calcium needs with this menu.) Iron = 8.6 mg (Women 51+ need 8 mg) (Women 19 to 50 years need 18 mg of iron - a basic vitamin and mineral supplement would be plenty to boost iron intake.) Vitamin C: 209 mg Need more 1200 or 1500 calorie diet menus for ideas? (Scroll to the bottom of each page for links): 1200 Calorie Diet Plan 1500 Calorie Diet Plan Questions? Be sure to ask. Comments? Feel free to share. As always, have a great week, watch those calories, and stay healthy! Health, weight loss1200 calorie diet 1200 calories sample menu diet 1200 meal planEnjoy this post? Click here to treat Lori to a coffee and say Thanks!

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Healthy Low Calorie Recipes: 8 Super Sites to See

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Recipes aren’t hard to find especially online. However, finding healthy low calorie recipes to support your weight loss efforts is bit more of a challenge. Do be careful about the sites you frequent for recipes. Lots of sites claim to have healthy recipes but they may be anything but. I hope this list will introduce you to at least one or two healthy and tasty recipe sites you were not aware of till now. Whether you are looking for recipes that include certain ingredients, are a good source of particular nutrients, or can be prepared and ready to eat in less than 30 minutes, I’ve found sites that will deliver. I hope my recommendations will get you inspired to have fun experimenting with these recipes. Who knew weight loss (and maintenance) could be an adventure? CDC (Fruits & Veggies: More Matters) I believe fruits and vegetables should be a cornerstone of a healthy diet. By filling up at least half your plate on a regular basis with fruits and/or vegetables, you may very well have won half the battle in your weight loss efforts. Trust me your body will thank you whether you lose weight or not! At this government site, the CDC has a wide selection of recipes specifically for fruits and vegetables. From appetizers to beverages, breakfast, desserts, dips/spreads/salsas, entrees, finger food, salads/slaws, side dishes, and soups they have something for everyone. Type in the fruits or vegetables you like best in the search box and the system will pull up a list of recommendations that incorporate your favorites. Or be adventuresome and try something new! Oh yes, you’ll get a complete nutrition breakdown for each recipe as well. The World’s Healthiest Foods Eating healthy, cooking healthy, and feeling great. These are the three main categories you will find on the home page of The World’s Healthiest Foods site. To me that’s what it is all about. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight doesn’t have to be about deprivation. Click on the Cooking Healthy tab and you’ll find an option for 100 quick and easy recipes. Each of the recipes features a tempting photo, preparation and cook time, and a nutrient profile that lets you see at a glance which nutrients are particularly rich in a given dish. Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic Healthy Recipes Center may not be much to look at but don’t let that stop you! Check out the list of options you have for finding healthy low calorie foods! There are hundreds of choices categorized by appetizers, beverages, bread recipes, desserts, main dishes, salads, sandwiches, sauces, side dishes, and soup recipes. Included are some recipes I’ll bet you thought you had to give up for good. What do you think of 0 grams of fat and only 114 calories for a serving of crispy potato skins? Mmm…Now that’s something I’d like to try. The nutritional analysis includes the basics (total calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates, fiber, and sodium) as well as a few others: saturated fat, monounsaturated fat (nice!), cholesterol, potassium, and calcium. But sadly there is nothing for vitamins and minerals. A Healthier You A Healthier You is the recipe site for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. You won’t find lots of recipes here but what they do have are healthy and hopefully easy-to-make as the site claims. The “heart healthy” recipes were developed by researchers and nutritionists with the HHS National Institutes of Health. No advanced cooking skills are needed. Included are the time estimates to both prepare and cook each dish. University of Michigan Cancer Center Why share a recipe site from a Cancer Center? Why not? Makes sense to me. The recipes provided at this site seem to be easy to prepare and tasty in addition to healthy. The emphasis is on fruits and vegetables like the CDC site. Some of the recipes include a short video demonstration on how to prepare the dish! Recipe Zaar Recipe Zaar has more than 277,000 recipes in over 450+ categories. Wow! That’s the good news. What’s not so good is that you have to steer yourself past all of the delicious-looking high calorie and not so healthy choices to reach the best recipes. There are 25,788 low fat recipes. 13,978 very low carb recipes, and 36,520 vegetarian recipes. You can narrow your search further by picking a category for recipes with 3 or less steps to prepare or ones that call for no more than five ingredients. No matter what kind of recipe you are looking for I would imagine you will have success. You will need to do some sifting and sorting to come up with the real gems—healthy recipes. Just because something is low fat or low carb or vegetarian doesn’t mean it is necessarily low calorie or nutritious and good for you! Nubella At Nubella there are thousands of healthy recipes but you will need to drill down to find the recipes best suited for YOUR health needs. Thankfully there are a variety of ways to search. First click on recipes on the navigation bar of the main page and then choose advanced search from the drop down menu. This will bring you to an option to search by main ingredient, meal type, courses, or by nutritional need. Included are low fat, low calorie, low cholesterol, low sodium, and sugar free recipes. I need to caution you because many of the recipes are NOT low calorie. However, the site has a nice feature with the recipe lists. The calorie and fat content is included right up front so you can avoid clicking on the recipes that will be out of your calorie range. Food and Health Communications This site may not grab you visually but look a little closer. It has a surprising number of healthy low calorie recipes. I’ve tried quite a few in just the past week and I’ve been happy with my selections. I must admit I altered the recipes a bit here and there. Hey, recipes are just a starting point for getting your own creativity going. As long as you think in terms of healthy foods and watch the calorie counts, do modify recipes to suit your tastes and needs! There are lots of simple healthy recipes to explore at Food and Health Communications. Check it out! This list of healthy recipe sites could be a lot longer but I chose to leave out sites that do not include any nutrition information. I don’t have much time to track down calorie and nutrient content and I suspect you don’t either. I also left off sites that aren’t easy to navigate or for which it is too time consuming to find the low calorie healthy choices. If you know of any sites that are similar or better than the ones I’ve shared here, please let me know. Thanks! As always, have a great week, watch those calories, and stay healthy! Maintenance, Reviews, weight losseasy healthy recipes healthy eating recipes low calorie meals healthy low calorie recipes mealsEnjoy this post? Click here to treat Lori to a coffee and say Thanks!

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Nutrition Notes for Mid-February

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Not a week goes by without my coming across thought provoking research studies, articles, and commentaries about weight loss, nutrition, and health. But sorting out what deserves my attention from what doesn’t isn’t easy. Today, I will share with you some news from the past 5-6 weeks that matters. Weight Loss Success Stories: Are you getting the whole story? I like to read the stories of people who are successful in their weight loss efforts. So often there are common themes. But common themes don’t necessarily tell the whole story. I found an interesting article posted on the blog for CalorieLab on January 29 written by Sarah E. White. The title of the article is Weight-loss tips from REAL women (as opposed to celebrities). Sarah shares the highlights of successful “losers” from a variety of recent magazines. The common themes of watching portion size, making healthier choices, and exercise are central to many of the weight loss stories. However, one of the stories focuses on success achieved in a drastic way. This is the story of Ellen Kelley who had many struggles with weight over the years and weighed 535 pounds at her highest. For Ellen, success only came with gastric bypass surgery. There are many reasons why surgery may be a legitimate and necessary choice for some people for sound medical reasons. Unfortunately, I feel surgery is becoming an all too common theme and may at times be portrayed as an easy solution. I don’t believe the reality of the lifestyle changes required after surgery is well known. And there are other drawbacks to taking such drastic measures that are not as well publicized as the success part of the story. I came across a video news clip (also posted on January 29) about a woman whose success with surgery for weight loss was a mixed blessing. Her story is not at all uncommon and it’s one more people would benefit from hearing. If you have minute watch the video and see what you think: What do you cook when you are on a low calorie diet? I’m always on the lookout for healthy low calorie recipes, especially those that are easy-to-make and not too time-consuming to prepare. Sometime soon I hope to share with you a list of great recipe sites that offer a wonderful selection of easy-to-prepare healthy recipes. A potential problem for many recipe sites is that you have to sort through lots of not so healthy recipes to come up with those that are both healthy and low calorie. In the meantime, it is all too easy to get distracted by delicious looking less-than-healthy high calorie dishes. Today I will share one site that has nothing but healthy recipes. This site, developed by the Health and Human Services Department of the U.S. government, provides 100 recipes based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans: A Healthier You What I like about the recipes on this site is that they are categorized by the time needed for BOTH preparation and cooking. You’ll find a selection of recipes that can be prepared and cooked in 30 minutes or less, 60 minutes or less, and 90 minutes or less. Some of the dishes are not what I consider to be low calorie. No problem. Because the dishes are healthy just eat less than the recommended serving size, if necessary, to keep the calorie count down. The recipes include appetizers, soups, breads, beef, poultry, fish, vegetables, pasta, rice, sauces, desserts, vegetarian dishes and more. Included are a selection of kid-friendly recipes and multi-cultural dishes. AND each recipe has nutrition information including grams of saturated fat and milligrams of sodium. This is big help for anyone on a heart healthy diet. Bon appetit! Have a great week, watch your calories, and stay healthy! (Did you have a chance to read my last post on where to find great food databases online for calorie counts?) Health, weight lossweight loss success weight loss diet healthy recipes low-calorie caloriesEnjoy this post? Click here to treat Lori to a coffee and say Thanks!

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Calorie Counts and Nutrients: Best Sites Online

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Just exactly what are the best sites for locating calorie counts and nutrient data? I realized I didn’t know the answer to this question as well as I would have liked. So I set out to do some research and comparisons. What I discovered is that there are clearly better and worse choices depending on what you are looking for. I hope this quick review will help you to save time by locating the best sites for your needs. Some sites have massive food databases but offer little else in the way of services or support. Some provide more detailed nutrition information along with the calorie counts. A few sites give you additional feedback by rating the overall nutritional value of foods. This can help you zero in on the best food choices. A lot of great information is available for free. But some of the best sites require that you sign up first with a free account or become a paid member for access. I’ve included sites for calculating your calorie needs and calories burned with various activities as well as those that provide the calorie and nutrient content of foods. It all matters if you want to lose weight. I am a firm believer that calories count. But nutrients count also if you choose to increase your chances for a successful outcome from your weight loss efforts. Accomplish this with a healthy diet (way of eating) you can continue for the rest of your life. ********** The Daily Plate I think The Daily Plate takes the prize for the largest food database online. They claim to provide calorie and nutrition data for more than 237,000 foods! Amazing! However that said, finding what you are looking for with this massive database does require having a little patience and being specific in choosing the words you use for a search. Also provided for you are a free Food Journal, Calorie Calculator, and a Fitness Log. The food database and a number of other features are provided for free. However, if you want to track your vitamin and mineral intake (as well as calories from fat, protein, and carbs), and receive additional support for weight loss, you will need to purchase a membership. ($29.95 for six months) Calorie-Count Calorie-Count is a service provided by About.com. The food database is huge! They claim to have calorie and nutrient data for more than 74,300 foods. Along with calorie and nutrient data, you are provided with a calorie breakdown by fat, protein, and carbohydrates and tips as to the “good” points for the food in question along with the “bad” points. Another feature I particularly like is the overall rating given to foods. For example do a broad search for something such as macaroni and cheese. A long list of brand name products comes up most with a rating of C, D, or even F. But a few are rated A or B. Really? Now that’s something to follow-up on. Calorie-Count also provides a forum to interact with others, a library of articles, and many recipes. My Food Diary MyFoodDiary is not just about calories and weight loss. It is a site that provides you with all the tools you will need for healthier living with diet and exercise. This is a must for successful weight loss and maintenance. To access the tools and services provided you must pay for membership. At this site you will have a more detailed calorie and nutrient breakdown than any free site I have found. The nutrient and calorie tracking tools can give you excellent feedback as to how well you are doing with your diet and exercise choices based on your specific dietary needs. I am a member of this site and I am clearly biased but I joined because I feel it is worth every penny of the membership fee. If you would like to learn more you can read my review. My Calorie Counter My Calorie Counter has an online diet and exercise journal that is free to access in exchange for creating an account. (You can access many of the calculators and other information without having to sign up but if you want to keep track of calories, carbs, and other nutrients you’ll need to provide your name and email address.) The food database provides calorie and nutrient information on more than 45,000 fast food, brand name, and generic foods. In addition to tracking calories in the foods you eat, you can calculate the calories burned during exercise. Two nice features of this site are the community forums and the option to create your own blog. Something else they provide that is not easy to find online is a body fat calculator (the results provided are a rough estimate of your body fat). My Net Diary MyNetDiary seems to be an attractive and well-designed site that offers a number of helpful tools and services for weight loss assistance. You can take a free test drive to check it out. However, the calorie and nutrient database does not seem to be available without membership. Also, the size of the database is not given. I am intrigued by the claim that MyNetDiary will “remember” your choices as favorite foods so you will not need to access stored information from past entries when recording the same foods you selected on previous days. This membership site costs $9.00 per month ($7.00 per month if you purchase an extended membership.) Food Count FoodCount has an extensive food database you can use to calculate and record the calories you consume each day along with certain key nutrients (protein, carbs, total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, iron, and grams of fiber). The database has more than 30,000 foods. A feature of this site that I have not found elsewhere is that your nutrient profile is compared with the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for your age and gender. AND you have the option to save your diet history so that you might track your eating patterns over time. This site might be especially helpful if you need to follow the TLC diet (Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes to lower cholesterol levels) in addition to watching calories. Registration is not required but it seems that the ads are not shown if you become a member. FitDay FitDay provides a free Diet and Weight Loss Journal to track the foods you have eaten, daily exercise, current weight, and weight loss goals. Detailed calorie and nutrient calculators are provided but I have not been able to determine the size of the database (the home page says there are 1,000’s of foods). The drawback to this site is that you must set up an account to access the services provided. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Often the sites that ask for registration and/or a membership fee are more well-designed, visually attractive, and provide additional services you won’t find at other sites. Calorie King Calorie King provides free access to a large database (50,000) of brand name as well as generic foods. Whenever possible foods are rated for calorie density. This is a nice feature that can help you make better choices at a glance based on the calorie count for different foods. Clicking on a food item pulls up another window with nutrition facts. Calorie King also sells software for a complete food and exercise diary, including a food database, for use on your Palm OS or Pocket PC. The Calorie Control Council The Calorie Control Council is sponsored by contributions from corporations in the beverage and sweeteners industry. Membership in this site costs $25.00 for a six-month plan. With membership you can access a large database of foods (but it is not clear how many) as well as many other services to help you succeed with weight loss. The free calorie database seems to be quite limited. Diet Facts Diet Facts provides calorie and nutrient information on brand name foods. I have found this site to be most helpful for doing research on restaurant food but it doesn’t seem to be updated as well or as frequently as some of the other sites. Global Health and Fitness Global Health and Fitness is the site to go to for everything you might want to know about fitness. It also one of the best places to calculate your calorie needs. There are many sites that offer this service but very few that seem to be accurate. Go to Global Health and Fitness to determine your BMR (basal metabolic rate) and in turn how many calories you need for weight loss and maintenance. You can also determine how many grams of protein, fat, and carbs you need for your calorie intake. You can access the calculators from the navigation bar at the top of any page on this site (Health Tools) and read my review for more information. Nutrition Analysis Tools and System This site has a quick and easy to use energy calculator. If you want to estimate your daily calorie needs based on your age, gender, height, weight, and activity level with just a few easy steps this is the site. The results are not likely to be as accurate as what you might find with the health tools at the Global Health and Fitness site but it seems to be close. (Be honest with your estimates!) Calories per Hour Calories per Hour is a site you will want to visit when you need to calculate calories burned for just about any activity you could imagine. From changing bed linens to standing and talking with someone at church to bobsledding, they should have you covered. You’ll also find a Food Calories and Nutrition Calculator for a nicely organized list of foods in categories ranging from Groceries, Ethnic cuisines, Fast Foods & Restaurants to Brand name foods. An interesting feature is a category for 100-calorie snack foods. The one thing I think could be improved upon at this site is the nutrient breakdown. At the moment it seems to be limited to calories, protein, fat, carbs, fiber, and sodium. Nutrition Data The Nutrition Data site is one you will want to bookmark (or save to favorites) if you have a need to search for foods that are good sources of specific nutrients. This may be especially important if you have specific dietary needs. Say you would like to have a list of breakfast cereals with a high nutrient content for iron, folic acid, and fiber but are low in sugar and sodium. It’s that specific. But I will warn you that you will still have quite a list to plow through and look at more closely to find the best choices. The nutrition information on this site comes from the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference. It is supplemented with data from restaurants and food manufacturers. Although the size of the database is not clear, it must be huge. ********** There are many more weight loss sites that provide calorie and nutrient data such as eDiets and Weight Watchers. But I have chosen to single out the sites that have free access to databases or those that have membership sites but the primary focus is on calculating calorie needs, calorie counts, and nutrient data. I hope you find this information to be helpful. If you do, would you please help me out by spreading the word? Bookmark this article at your favorite bookmarking site. Thank you! calories, Health, Maintenance, Reviews, Weight Loss Programscalorie count calorie counts calories nutrients nutrient data nutrition calories burned exercise exercise caloriesEnjoy this post? Click here to treat Lori to a coffee and say Thanks!

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