Mindless Eaters

Here it is, the trick to long-term weight loss for anyone. I've been listening to the book on tape Mindless Eating by Dr. Brian Wansink. I've only made it through the first half of the book but I would highly recommend it. Summarizing all the statistics, facts, research, numbers, and experiments Dr. Wansink explained the ultimate "trick" to weight loss is no more diets. This concept, of course, is not a new one. Many many times I have gained clients who would be okay living off lettuce for a month just to see the scale move in their favor. No I do not allow this as you might be thinking, "what kind of trainer is she?" Rather I work feverishly to illustrate the importance of small changes over a long period of time. Thus making a...deep breath..lifestyle change. Maybe you know this from personal experience but the more we deprive ourselves of something we like, the more we think about it and the more we completely pig out on that very item once our "diet" is terminated. Dr. Wansink explains that if we can un-noticeably decrease our intake of bad foods(processed) and increase good foods (veggies) weight loss over a period of time will un-noticeably be achieved. He notes that our bodies will not recognize a 20% decrease in portion size because it's too small of a change. We can do this by simply eating off smaller plates (research shows that eating off bigger plates increases food consumption).

3500 calories = 1 pound of fat

This means that increasing 10 calories per day (either eating more or burning off less) in one year will add 1 pound of fat to your body.

Adversely, eating 100 less calories per day would equal a weight loss of 10 pounds per year. Something to think about as you look at where your weight is in comparison to 1998.

A goal: this week work on un-noticeably eating less. Maybe that means not cleaning your plate as usual.