To maintain your weight or to lose weight, you must have a routine diet which contains healthy, fiber-rich, low fat/calories food everyday along the week. So, when the weekend comes, you probably want to skip your strict diet for at least 2 days, to enjoy chocolate cake or pizza with your friends or family. Yumm..!
But...wait a minute! How about my diet?', you'll probably ask yourself. Don't worry, you don't have to skip your diet with a guilty feeling as if you've cheated to yourself! Skipping diet won't cause you weight gain if you do it according to these rules...
1st Rule - Are you REALLY hungry? Check whether your hunger is physical or emotional hunger
This might sounds a bit funny to you! Of course you know and feel when you are hungry, but sometimes your brain could 'cheat' you by giving a false 'hungry' signal to your stomach, or often called as emotional hunger.
The following are 5 ways to check whether you have an emotional hunger:
1. Have you had a drink within the last one hour? Have a drink, and wait until 15 minutes later. If you still feel hungry, have something to eat then. It means you're really hungry. Thirst and hunger often have same signal to your body.
2. Hunger signal comes frequently to tell your body that you need to eat. If you suddenly feel very hungry out of your usual meal time, or when you see some tempting foods display, it might be your brain that do the 'talks' or often called as emotional hunger. Try to get busy with some activities, and if in 10 minutes you still feel hungry, it means that's a real hunger.
3. Emotional hunger usually makes you eat more than what your body actually needs. When you have finished your meal, you would realized then how much calories you had taken, that would at the end make you feel guilty. How to overcome it? Take always very light portion of everything you want to eat! That way you have satisfied your brain with the good taste of the food. On the other hand, if you feel you've had had enough after that, it means your hunger is emotional hunger.
4. When you are emotionally hungry, you will feel guilty after finishing your meal. Therefore, before having your meal, ask yourself honestly whether you can feel satisfied after the meal, which is the signal of natural hunger. By thinking logically, your emotion will stay away.
5. If you feel hungry, but feel that only certain food (usually very sweet or salty or full of lat) can satisfy your hunger, you are emotionally hungry. Be careful! It's better to take any healthy food (i usually prepare an apple in small slices on my working desk, which I can eat slowly when I get emotional hunger). Eat fruits or smoothies to replace chocolate ice cream or double cheese burger that you really want!
2nd Rule - Don't skip breakfast!
Start your day by having a healthy breakfast everyday. Eating 3 times a day will help you to control your hunger, thus keep you away from eating too much.
3rd rule - 80/20 Habit
Eating calories-rich burger on weekend ? It's ok, as long as you do the 80/20 Habit. Meaning that you must spend 80% of your life by having healthy foods, doing healthy activities, while at the weekend or holidays take your 20% credits to eat whatever you like. But, here discipline is a must! When the weekend or holiday is over, you must return to your 80!
4th rule - Eat little by little
Always involve your taste when you eat! Never eat too quickly! That way you will just put the foods into your mouth, and stop when you are already too full. Instead, try to enjoy your food slowly. Eat a bite after a bite, and focus your mind to its taste. Enjoy it, let both your brain and mouth be satisfied. After 3 first Bites, you will feel that the food become ordinary. That's the signal that your body has enjoyed the food enough, and now it's time to stop. But, again...only your commitment can prevent you to avoid the guilty feeling and start to eat again!
5th rule - Dining Out
These are rules when you are dining out to a restaurant or a party that will prevent you to eat too much:
- Eat fruit or drink juice or yogurt before leaving for the party. That little snack will keep you from being starving when you are in the party or restaurant, which will make you eat more than what you actually need.
- Dining with friends or colleagues? That's fun, but try to order your dishes before anyone else. People tend to eat more when they are dining out with many people!
- When you have finished your meal while everybody else is still eating, ask the waiter to take your dish right away. This way, your friends cannot 'force' you to eat more!
- If you want to have some dessert, share with somebody else.
- In a standing party which serves many kinds of dessert, keep your commitment to have only 1 dessert, then give your plate away to the waiter.
Now that you have already knew the rules of having fun in the weekend, you stop your diet without failing guilty!
Fanda Amnesiana is an exercise lover, and she invites you to visit her website: http://www.myexercise-for-woman.com, where you can find many fun exercises for woman you can practice at home. If you are in weight loss program, Fanda will guide you to have a successful weight loss exercises on http://www.myexercise-for-woman.com
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