SensibleSlimming

How many times have you been on a diet?

 How many times have you actually stuck to your diet and achieved your weight loss goal?

 My guess is that your answer to question 1 will be “many, many times”.

And your answer to question 2 will be “never!”

 I know because those are my answers too and also the answers of thousands and thousands of other people.  Research shows that between 95% and 98% of all diets fail.

Why is this?  Usually because we set ourselves unattainable goals and start our diets with a huge list of forbidden foods which leaves us feeling deprived and frustrated.   So of course we start to crave for the forbidden foods and eventually give in and end up gorging on what we feel we are missing out on.

But, in fact, all foods can be consumed as part of a healthy lifestyle as long as you eat them in moderation and vary your diet to suit your individual needs.

 To lose weight sensibly you need to take these four points into consideration: (more…)

When you are trying to lose weight sensibly and not resort to crash diets that you will not be able to sustain in the long term, there are lots of things you can do to reduce your intake of fat and calories without really noticing.  If you can do just some of these things you will undoubtedly lose weight naturally especially if you incorporate some extra activity into your day as well.

 Try some of these tips:

1. Grate cheese finely instead of coarsely – it will go further so you will use less.
2.  Thicken sauces with cornflour instead of using butter and flour to make a roux.
3.  Use low-fat yoghurt, low-fat fromage frais or reduced-fat mayonnaise as the basis for salad dressings.
4.  Use tomato juice or passata as a basis for a salad dressing.
5.  Use mashed potato to top savoury dishes instead of pastry.
6.  When using oil in a recipe, measure out the oil accurately instead of pouring straight from the bottle and guessing the amount.
7.  Use water from vegetables, stock cubes and herbs to make gravy instead of using the meat juices.
8.  Use leaner cuts of meat and trim off any visible fat before cooking.
9.  Use low-fat alternatives to meat like tofu or Quorn.
10.If making a pie, make one with one crust instead of two and use wholemeal flour and poly/monounsaturated margarine.
11. Grill, poach, microwave, boil or steam food whenever possible.
12. ‘Sweat’ or cook vegetables in a covered pan in their own juices instead of frying or sautéing them.
13. Dry-fry mince and drain off any excess fat before adding other ingredients.
14. When serving cooked vegetables, toss them in lemon juice or fresh herbs instead of dotting them with butter.
15. In sandwiches, spread the bread with low-fat mayonnaise instead of butter or margarine.
16. Use skimmed milk to make sauces, milk puddings, scones, batter etc.
17. Reduce the quantity of sugar in a recipe and replace it with dried apricots or banana.
18. Use dried or fresh fruit purees in place of all or some of the fat in suitable baking recipes.
19. Choose fruit canned in fruit juice instead of in syrup.
20.Baste foods with fruit juice or fat-free marinade when grilling or barbecuing.

 So go on, give it a go, with a bit of thought it is pretty easy to reduce your calorie and fat intake and you will never notice the difference.