Celebrate all year and still lose weight
Losing weight is beastly hard work but it doesn't have to mean missing out on the fun of holidays and celebrations.
Consider this: You probably know that to lose one pound you must reduce your calorie intake or increase your calorie output by 3,500 calories. If you're not ready to commit to exercise, you can make small, occasional food choices that add up to big reductions in your calorie intake.
Best of all, you can still celebrate every holiday, party and get-together without denying yourself old favorites. Here's how to be a smart, slimmer cookie all year long:
1. Make a New Year's resolution to replace one regular (12 oz.) soda with a diet soda or water everyday.
That saves 150 calories daily and adds up to a whopping 15.5 pounds by the end of the year. Toss in a lime or lemon slice to make it festive and give yourself a small boost of Vitamin C too.
2. Brush away the winter blahs - share dessert with a friend.
Almost everyone these days wants to lose a little weight, so enlist a friend to share dessert after dinner. One 5 oz. piece of cheesecake averages 430 calories. Half that and you've saved yourself 215 calories. If you eat out with the same friend once a month for a year and repeat the sharing, that's 2,580 calories, or nearly three quarters of a pound, for the year.
3. Ask your sweetie to bring you flowers for Valentine's Day rather than chocolate.
Not eating that 7.75 oz. box of mixed milk chocolates is a savings of 1,111 calories or a third of a pound off your hips. Plus, you'll have a lovely flower arrangement on your table.
4. Fool your taste buds on April Fool's Day.
Substitute a 4 oz. bag of BBQ chips (558 calories) for 2 oz. of dry roasted almonds (339 calories) and you'll not only save 219 calories, you'll also gain fiber and protein. Do this two days a week for a year and you'll eliminate 22,776 calories or 6.5 pounds.
5. May flowers bloom along with worries about swimsuit season, so replace your fries with a dinner salad.
Almost all the big chain fast food places now offer salads. Using McDonald's® as an example, if you substitute a side salad with ranch dressing for the 6 oz. large fries, you could save 333 calories. Do this once a week for a year and you'll shave 17,316 calories or 5 pounds.
6. Celebrate the fruits of summer by snacking on fruit rather than candy.
Splurge on the yummy melons that appear in grocery stores during summer. It's the perfect time to ditch your 1.69 ounce bag of plain M&M® and eat one quarter of a honeydew melon instead. You'll consume 70 calories rather than 240, and rack up two servings of fruit. That's a savings of 170 calories per snack.
7. Take your summer date to the ice cream parlor.
That's right, you can have ice cream. Trade in your Rocky Road for orange sherbet and save 130 calories. Get your sherbet in a cup rather than a chocolate dipped waffle cone and you've nixed another 320 calories. Figure three stops for ice-cold treats during June, July and August and you've reduced calories by more than a third of a pound.
8. Halloween is a toughie.
It's hard to resist a big bowl of Halloween candy. Depending on what you buy and how much you have left over, there's no telling how many calories you can consume! To save yourself from calorie overload, try buying candy that you absolutely detest. If you like all candy, hand out boxes of raisins instead. You won't be the most popular house on the street, but you won't feel bad about undoing the good you've done all year!
9. Thanksgiving means green bean casserole.
Make a lighter version of the traditional green bean casserole by using reduced fat cream of mushroom soup, low-fat cheese and crumbled rice cakes (rather than the fried onions). Depending on your old recipe and your new ingredients, you can eliminate 100 to 200 calories per serving.
10. December can be fun - really.
On party days save your treat for later by skipping the donuts and eating a healthy breakfast that includes protein. It's much easier to enjoy just two or three cookies, or limit your sample of little sausages swimming in sauce, if you've started the day with a good breakfast. Like Halloween, you probably won't save any calories, but you may not gain any weight either, and that's a great way to end the year.
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