weight loss and portion control

I was at a restaurant last evening and ordered a veal dish (okay, your doctor was not following his own advice and had a veal parmigiana with pasta). What came out was this huge hunk of veal which could have easily fed three people. I felt compelled to keep eating way past the point of satiation. I finally told myself "Posner, you tell your patients to ask yourself the question: am i still hungry? before eating the next bite. My answer was clearly NO.

Even though most of this was protein, the breading was not and of course, there was some bread brought to the table first and pasta accompanied the veal and I had to try some of that...

The food was great, bountiful and not too over priced....BUT...if I was in a weight losing mode, this would have been a very bad choice of a restaurant.

Choose restaurants that are NOT known for their massive portions. We tend to all like "deals" and places that provide an appetizer, a huge main course, dessert and a side dish for outrageously low prices are very tempting for our stomachs and wallets but not conducive to our weight loss efforts.

Make sure portion control is part of your strategy.

weight loss and nuts

One of the common misconceptions in "healthy" eating is that nuts are a required element.

When I inform patients that the ingestion of nuts derail weight loss efforts I frequently hear "But THEY say that nuts are GOOD for you." My question at that point is : Who are "THEY"? "They" are probably the same people who told you as a child not to go swimming after you eat because you will develop cramps, drown and die. Honestly, does anyone know a kid that ate , went swimming , developed stomach cramps and died?

The bottom line is that small, repetitive eating food sources such as nuts will derail weight loss efforts. Human nature is such that we do not tend to limit these small food sources such as popcorn, nuts etc and when we start eating these things we tend not to stop.

Eliminating nuts from your dietary intake will help, not hinder your weight loss efforts.

weight loss and the movies

One of the fun parts of going to the movie theater is going to that snack area and making decisions as to what to buy to eat while watching the movie. When you approach the counter the first smell that hits your senses is that popcorn. When you look at the available choices, foirst thing you notice is the incredible rip-off prices being charged for these drinks and snacks...but, we still buy them.especially the popcorn.....and now they have the self-dispensing butter topping.

The calorie count of the popcorn as well as the oversized candy boxes is tremendous. Moreover, we put ourselves in the realm of distracting eating....for hours munching on food sources while engrossed in the movie...a recipe for weight gain disaster.

Eat your meal before going to the movies and make a conscious effort to NOT go near that candy stand. You worked very hard the entire week and you do not want to wasted these efforts with a distracted eating at the movies mode!

weight loss and holidays

July 4th weekend coming up..for many it is exit stage left for a long weekend at the beach..for others it is neighorhood barbeques...

No matter what are the plans, inevitably they will include events with high-caloric food sources available including alcohol, desserts etc.

You have/are working very hard to get that weight down and become healthier and happier. It is amazingly how easy it is to take a 3 day weekend and really derail your efforts. Watching fireworks and enjoying the love of your friends and family does not necessitate ingesting lots of calories. Learning how to celebrate an occasion and have fun from the need to ingest high caloric food sources is a necessary component of long term weight loss success.

If you do notice after a weekend that the weight has increased, then have a definitive plan as to how you will work very hard the next weeks to get back on track.. Obviously if you need our help we are here for you.

weight loss and human nature

Last nite at a restaurant in south Florida they had a special before 7PM...$2.95 dollar appetizers if you bought a drink...these appetizers were incredible...little steak sandwhiches, shrimp cocktail, flatbread pizza....all for a minimal amount of money.

I found myself ordering a bunch of appetizers...i wasnt really that hungry but i couldnt resist the "deal"...

Ah..human nature....most of us cannot pass up a deal when it comes to many things including food. If your meal comes with a free dessert, how many of us refuse the dessert even if we are not hungry. If we can upsize a popcorn for a measly 25 cents more, who does not do this?

Companies selling us foods are expert in knowing how to play this part of human nature...we are manipulated all of the time by our human nature desire to get a "deal". When it comes to longterm weight control it is important that we take a step back and evaluate how much of our food intake is based on hunger and how much is based on other factors...including the human nature aspects of our behavioral patterns.

weight loss and maintenance

Yesterday I gave a lecture at a hospital in the Ft Lauderdale area about weight loss, and the speech was for hospital employees. The hospital was having a health education forum.

At the end of my talk many questions were asked about maintenance of weight loss. Actually, it is perceived that the maintenance phase of weight loss is actually more difficult than the weight loss itself. Why?

As much as we tell ourselves there is no "finish line" when it comes to our weight loss efforts, we do tend to perceive an "end" of a "diet". Two major points: for long term success there is no "diet" ..rather, it is a lifestyle change. Secondly, there is no "end"...for longterm success in weight loss there is no end to the planning and lifestyle change.

This should be viewed as reality, not discouragement. Weight loss will make you healthier and happier...sacrificing old lifestyle choices that made you less healthy and less happy should be embraced.

weight loss and planning

We are used to planning lots of things concerning our day....what time we wake up, what we need to get accomplished at work, who is going to bring the kids to their after school events...etc..lots and lots of planning....

Do we have time to "plan" what we are going to do for dinner if we are out on a business meeting? Time to plan what we will do for a snack in the airport? Do we plan how to get 3-4 exercise sessions in per week?

The long term control of weight requires much planning...you must make the time to plan your meals, plan how you will navigate around difficult days, plan how you can avoid reaching for those food sources that caused you to have weight control issues.

It takes time to plan these things...but taking that time is very important.