When trying to lose weight, it is very common to have some weeks where the weight seems to come off quickly and some weeks where you feel like you’ve done everything right, but it doesn’t show up on the scale. If you have one or two weeks where the scale doesn’t show the work you’ve done, stay calm. Sometimes our body seems to need to adjust to a new weight before you continue to lose. However, if several weeks pass and the scale doesn’t budge then you may have hit a plateau. When this happens, try the following tips:
1.) Keep food journals. Writing everything down can help maintain awareness of what you are consuming to ensure you are at an appropriate calorie level.
2.) Measure food for a few days. Just naturally, portions tend to grow over time. What you thought was a cup of cereal, may end up being closer to 1 ½ cups. These gradual increases in portions can really add up over time.
3.) Adjust calorie levels. When we lose weight, our calorie needs decrease. This is because it doesn’t require as much energy to do your daily activities at 150 pounds as it does when you weigh 175 pounds. So you may need to make some slight modifications to your calorie goals. Try cutting back 50-100 calories a day and see if that makes the difference.
4.) Make sure you are eating enough. If we don’t eat enough calories, we can end up slowing down our metabolism. This makes continued weight loss more difficult. For women, I usually recommend staying at or above 1,200 calories to keep the metabolism running efficiently. Men will want to stay above 1,600 calories per day. If you are active, you will need more calories than this.
5.) Mix up your workout routine. Our muscles adapt quickly to exercise and become very efficient. Try a different exercise routine or even doing your exercises in a different order. (For example, if you usually do cardio and then strength training, try lifting weights first instead. If you lift weights, do your typical workout in reverse order.)
6.) Start strength training, if your not doing it already. Lifting weights strengthens muscles, which ends up increasing your metabolism. FYI- Increasing muscle mass is the ONLY way to increase metabolism.
7.) Move more. Try to walk or move more throughout the day or add an extra work out each week.
8.) Try eating more frequently. If you eat three meals a day, try breaking up your eating into 5 or 6 small meals a day. We burn calories by digesting food. Therefore, eating regularly throughout the day helps to keep the metabolism up. Remember that Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
9.) Drink more water. Aim for around 8 8-oz glasses a day.
10.) Include low-fat dairy products. Studies have found that the calcium, a nutrient found in dairy, plays an important role in metabolism.
11.) Get some sleep. Getting too little sleep can promote the storage of fat in the abdominal region and make weight loss more difficult. Aim for a minimum of 7 hours. For most people, 8 hours is even more ideal.
Today, I’m following up with last week’s post to provide a list of some of the better options at fast food restaurants. See the chart below for some meal ideas that are about 550 calories or less (The Do’s Column). Also listed are some meals to watch out for that are loaded with fat and calories (The Don’ts Column).
Breakfast Sample Menus
Do’s
|
Don’ts
|
| Egg McMuffin with a fruit and yogurt parfait and apple juice box
(540 calories and 13gm fat) |
Sausage, Egg and Cheese on a Biscuit with hashbrowns and a large OJ
(900 calories and 40 gm fat) |
| English Muffin with jelly, 2 scrambled eggs and 1% low fat milk
(465 calories and 15.5 gm fat) |
Hotcakes and Sausage with large coffee with cream and sugar
(830 calories and 36 gm fat) |
Lunch and Dinner: Sample Menus
Do’s
|
Don’ts
|
| Grilled Chicken Sandwich (no mayo), side salad with low fat vinaigrette and a small reduced fat ice cream cone
(505 calories and 13.5gm fat) |
Crispy Chicken Sandwich, large fries, and a small triple thick shake
(1460 calories and 58 gm fat) |
| Mandarin Chicken Salad with 1 pkt almonds and 1 pkt low fat honey mustard (no crispy noodles) and a diet coke.
(410 calories and 16 gm fat) |
Chicken Strip Salad with 1 pkt ranch dressing and a large coke.
(980 calories and 45 gm fat) |
| Baked potato with a small chili and a diet soda
(490 calories, 6 gm fat) |
Baked potato with bacon and cheese and a medium soda
(787 calories, 25 gm fat)
|
| Jr. Hamburger with a fresh fruit cup, a side salad with fat free dressing and water
(475 calories, 9 gm fat) |
Quarter Pound (Classic) Cheeseburger with large fries and a large soda
(1,300 calories, 49 gm fat) |
| 6” Turkey, Ham or Roast Beef Sub with veggies/mustard, baked chips and a diet soda.
(430 calories, 7 gm fat) |
6” Tuna Salad Sub, chips and a medium soda
(890 calories, 41 gm fat) |
| Chicken Burrito Supreme “Fresco Style” with Mexican Rice and a diet soda
(560 calories, 27 gm fat) |
Grilled Stuffed Chicken Burrito with nachos and a soda
(1,312 calories, 45 gm fat) |
Move over Jared, it looks like Christine has taken the spotlight away from the Subway and has put it on Taco Bell. With the heavy advertising done by Taco Bell over the past two weeks, I’ve already started to get several questions about the “Drive-Thru-Diet”.
For those who have not seen the commercials yet…Christine, the spokesperson for “The Drive-Thru-Diet”, lost 54 pounds over the course of two years by switching her fast food choices to the Fresco items on the Drive-Thru Diet menu at Taco bell. If you read her story, you will also find that she consumed 1,250 calories per day. This was a reduction of about 500 calories per day compared to what she was eating before.
So what made her lose the weight?
a.) The Taco Bell Menu items
b.) The reduction in the number of calories she consumed daily
If you answered B, you are correct! Weight loss comes down to calories consumed versus calories burned, and it does not matter where those calories come from. By creating a calorie deficit of about 500 calories a day, you expect to lose about 1 pound per week. This is exactly what Christine did.
The 7 Fresco items on Taco Bell’s Drive-Thru Diet menu are lower in calories than many fast food items. All of them have less than 350 calories and <8 grams of fat. Therefore, they can be some of the better choices if you are going to be eating fast food.
However, would I recommend eating these items regularly to lose weight? No, I wouldn’t. While they may be better choices than many items on a fast food menu, they are not great. Many of the items are very high in sodium. For example, the Fresco Burrito Supreme has a whooping 1,410 mg of Sodium, which is over half of the recommended level for the entire day! The Chicken soft taco and Steak soft taco only has 2 grams of fiber. When meals are low in fiber they often leave people feeling hungry shortly after eating and can make it difficult to meet the recommended 25-30 grams per day. Not to mention, all of the vitamins and minerals that are lacking.
If you are short on time, frozen entrees would often be a better choice. They are still processed and high in sodium, but the sodium is often less than what you would find in fast foods (~500-600 mg). Many of them also include a serving of vegetables. Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, Kashi and Smart Ones are some of the better options that are calorie controlled. Have yogurt or a piece of fruit along with it to add some nutrition value.
Bottom line, if you need to stop at a fast food restaurant. The items on the Drive-Thru-Diet at Taco bell are going to be some of the better choices. All fast food restaurants now offer some healthy options. Reading the nutrition facts before ordering can help to make better choices. Click here for some tips on making good choices when eating at fast food restaurants. Check back next week for more fast food menu items that are less than 500 calories.