Un-Diet Your Way to a Healthier Weight

By Karen Collins, M.S., R.D., C.D.N

(AICR) It's no surprise to many people that they're overweight, and it's not that they don't care. It's just that "psyching up" to go on a diet seems too hard, especially when it's one more diet in a long chain of diet failures. One approach that may be more successful than most is to look for small changes in food choices or portions that will add up to a shift in balance between the amount of calories consumed versus those burned up.

Everyone's metabolism runs a bit differently, but each pound of fat generally represents 3,500 calories. That means cutting 500 calories a day should lead to a loss of about a pound a week. Even a 250-calorie cut each day will get rid of about half a pound each week. More easily than you think, you could slowly but painlessly lose weight by first making small changes in eating that drop your daily calorie total by 150 to 300 calories, and then burning an extra 100 to 200 calories each day. Guidelines for lower cancer risk from the American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR) can serve as a guide to a healthier weight as well as better health. For example, most Americans still don't reach the goal of five to ten servings of vegetables and fruits a day. Those foods do more than help fight cancer and heart disease. Most are about half the calories of an equal portion of other foods. Instead of a two-cup serving of pasta or potatoes, limit those foods to one cup and add one cup of a vegetable like green beans or broccoli, which will you save about 140 calories.

Healthy eating does not mean avoiding all fat, but too much fat is unhealthy and adds too many unneeded calories. Each time you cut back by a tablespoon on your salad dressing, or add one less pat of margarine, you save about 50 calories. Order your fast- food chicken sandwich without mayonnaise and you'll cut 140 to 200 calories.

AICR's approach to eating, called "The New American Plate," recognizes that health and weight are affected not only by what we eat, but also by how much we eat. If you eat the same foods you do now, but stop overeating, the calorie savings will add up. Stop before you finish the last quarter-cup of a serving and you'll cut 40 or more calories. Pass on seconds when you're not really that hungry and you'll save 100 to several hundred calories. If you typically eat three slices of pizza but realize you're actually satisfied after just two, skip the third slice and you'll save about 150 calories.

Rethinking drink choices can also help cut calories. Each regular soft drink you pass up or substitute with a no-calorie diet soda saves about 150 calories. Cut out one alcohol drink and save 110 to 170 calories. Switch from a big, 12-ounce glass of juice to a more average six-ounce serving and cut out about 85 calories.

In studies of weight loss and maintenance, a consistent finding is that people who lose weight and keep it off exercise regularly. For someone weighing 150 pounds, a brisk 30-minute walk or 20 minutes on a stationary bike can burn 100 calories. But even 10-minute sessions scattered through the day are helpful.

You don't need to make all the changes suggested. Just identify a few changes to make and try them out. Look for those you can continue long-term, so you not only lose weight, but keep it off as well.