If you are a boredom eater or tend to binge or eat large portion sizes at one time, body fat loss can be a quite hard.
So today I want to discuss a few ways to help you think about food and develop good eating habits.
1. Embrace the power of distraction
The first thing I suggest is to find different ways to distract yourself.. and of course these activities should not be food related! The more you are engaged in another activity the more likely you will forget about eating. For example: read a book, go for a walk, head to the beach, watch a movie or tv series, call a friend - basically just get yourself out of the house.
These small tactics should take away the urge to eat out of boredom. Time will fly and before you know it your stomach will be prompting you that it’s the best time of the day – FOOD TIME haha.
2. Pick a couple of extra meals a week that will sit outside your normal routine
The second thing I would suggest is to pick a couple meals throughout the week that you can class as an extra meal on top of your normal eating routine.
These could be foods that are higher in calories, or slightly larger portion size then normal, or basically things that you usually shouldn't be eating at that time of the day to promote body fat loss. That way you feel like you can eat what you want... but it is not a regular occurrence. If you can, having these meals before or after exercise is even better! Your body is more likely to use those extra calories as fuel rather than be stored as fat.
This does NOT mean, however, that you need to go crazy with the portion size. For example, don’t go for an entree, main and dessert if you're eating out. Pick one thing – do you prefer the main meal or dessert? For me, it is always the dessert! I happily would have steak and vegies or chicken and salad and enjoy a sweet treat after. But again, I would try and 'portion control' this... pick a chocolate bar over a whole block of chocolate.
I think the biggest tip I can give here is to only buy what you want to consume in that one sitting, don’t buy things that will be left over and can tempt you later on. But then in saying that, if you have come to a point in life that every time you have something sweet or savoury that is higher in calories and you binge eat, maybe it's time to look at food in a different way.
How so?
This exercise is all about teaching you how to control your temptations. If you don't feel restricted from eating a certain food then the likelihood of bingeing later on is significantly less.
So what should you do?
Pick one food that you love... ice cream, chocolate, chips, biscuits etc and have one thing you like every day.
So it could be one tim tam a day, 1-2 scoops of low fat ice cream, a tablespoon of Nutella, 45g packet of chips etc. Still a small portion size, but have one every day. I find most people can't control themselves when it comes to foods they love, and will continually head back to the cupboard to search for more. I know I do it at times, so I am sure there are many others out there that do as well.
I think you will find if you eat a little of it every day, you will get to a point that you decide, “oh, I don’t actually feel like it today”, and the packet will stay in the cupboard or fridge until the day you do want it.
Don’t be afraid of food or feel guilty about eating something...
... that you feel you shouldn’t have or isn’t ‘clean’ or ‘healthy’. The problem is actually when the portion size is significantly more that it should be that's when body fat gain occurs.
You will put on more body fat if you binge 1-2 times a week, then if you were to have something small each day over the week.
If you don’t believe me, try it. Or even look at your past experiences of weight gain? What have you noticed?
If you need help breaking these bad habits, or guidance on what you should be including in your diet to see body fat loss, please contact me on 0413 684 215, email me at amiestargetnutrition@gmail.com
HAPPY EATING EVERYONE!
If you want to know more about myself and where I have come from, go over and check out The Real Life Challenge, I wrote a blog about my life over the last few years and how I came to the decisions I have made with Target Nutrition!
https://thereallifechallenge.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/getyourinspohere-22-business-owner-qualified-dietitian/
