The Secret to Losing Weight – Control Your Appetite!

It is very difficult to resist the rich unhealthy foods especially when the aroma in the air attacks you with the smell of that wonderful Bar-BQ. (Yes-that is what I struggle with!)  Yet in the simplest form, the key to losing weight is learning to control your appetite.  Learn to control what you put in your body!

 Let’s do the math. Consider that every 3500 calories equals one pound of fat. If you just eat an extra 50 calories each day, you will gain approximately 5 pounds by the end of the year. Over the course of 5-10 years, this small increase can lead to significant weight gain. Learning healthy eating habits can most certainly lead to controlling your appetite. Here are some basic steps to begin to learn how to control your appetite.

1. Document what you are eating.

The best way to begin to control your appetite is by documenting what you are eating and when you are eating. Do not cheat, write it all down. After you document what you are eating, start to write down the ingredients in the foods you are eating.

Why?

Because you will soon begin to see that the food you are eating is manufactured in laboratories. It is not healthy. It is designed for shelf life. It is not necessarily designed for top nutrition. So why does that matter?

Our bodies do not thrive on these types of foods – they are empty calories and toxic. These calories do not contain the essential vitamins, minerals and fibers that our bodies require and they are bad for your metabolism and weight. Our bodies want and need more. When we do not feed it real foods, we find ourselves craving more.

2. Plan your meals by preparing real food.

Plan what you eat and plan out way in advance as best as you can. I can say that most people do not eat properly because they do plan what they are going to eat. It is no wonder so many people are overweight – they simply do not plan their meals out in advance. There is too much running to McDonalds and Burger King for lunch and dinner.

Don’t just plan the meal, plan to eat real food. What is real food?

• · Whole vegetables and not canned.
• · Fish – specifically wild caught as opposed to farmed fish.
• · Whole fruit as opposed to canned fruit.
• · Whole grains – not processed wheat!
• · Nuts, seeds and legumes or beans, or fried or salted.

What is not real food?

• · Avoid sugar! Be careful because sugar is found in foods such as breakfast cereals, breads and meats.
• · High Fructose Corn Syrup – which is a form of ‘Super Sugar.’ Watch for this in foods such as cookies, soda, and canned foods.

Bottom line, real foods provide the nutrients that your body needs and craves. The rest of these only add to your waist but do not control your appetite.

3. Eat Often and do not skip meals.

You probably have heard about Sumu wrestlers? The way that they gain so much weight is by eating one gigantic meal every day. I do not think anyone wants the physique (or health) of a Sumu wrestler, but our eating patterns tell us differently.

You may skip breakfast and then at lunch time say “I am starving since I did not eat any breakfast!” You feel like you should be rewarded for missing that meal by making up for it at lunch or even dinner. This is a very bad idea.

Instead, I always recommend settling into a routine of eating. This means eating better foods more often throughout the day.

If you eat your meals in a regular pattern every day at roughly the same time, you will eat less and burn more fat. To do this you need to eat more frequently than you are used to so that you do not feel hungry. Smaller, healthier meals and snacks, consumed more frequently throughout the day will actually work to control your appetite AND help you burn fat! Your metabolism kicks and burns the fuel.

Grazing vs. gorging is the key. Get rid of the junky foods and eat real food! You will begin to control your appetite AND lose weight – the healthy way.