Are you earnestly trying to lose weight—eating right, busting a move at the gym, forsaking chocolate cake—yet finding the scale is stubbornly unmoved despite all your steadfast slim-down efforts? There is hope, and fortunately, the answer doesn’t necessarily lie in squeezing another cardio class into your cramped schedule or skipping meals because you overdid it last night.
By making a few subtle changes to your daily eating habits, you can automatically drop pounds. The truth is, many of the seemingly virtuous eating habits we think are helping us lose weight are really just helping us, well, lose hope! For instance, for a long time, I thought that going for a 40-minute jog meant I could have any sweet thing that crossed my path that day, or worse, that by drinking a diet soda, I was “owed” that 150-calorie savings later. But, as with the jogging, I’d often eat back my calorie savings three times, so I’d end up gaining pounds, not losing them. Get wise to the sneaky diet saboteurs below to start changing your weight fate.
1) Stealth Saboteur: You think that avoiding sugar means skipping just the white stuff.
The real skinny: Steering clear of sugar packets, candy and soda is smart, but you may be inadvertently piling on simple sugars from less obvious sources. Women take in an average of 18 teaspoons of added sugar per day, according to the National Cancer Institute, much of it due to sugars in bread, cereal, canned fruit and even bottled sauces and salad dressings. Scan labels or ingredients ending in “ose” (such as dextrose, maltose or high-fructose corn syrup)—they’re all fancy names for sugar, advises Sari Greaves, R.D., spokeswoman in New York City for the American Dietetic Association. Try eating fresh fruit (add berries to your yogurt instead of buying the fruit-flavored kind); make your own vinaigrette instead of buying bottled; and top plain oatmeal with 1 tsp brown sugar rather than buying the flavored kind. Limit yourself to 45 grams of simple sugar a day for a trimmer silhouette.
2) Stealth Saboteur: You’re overzealous with the olive oil.
The real skinny: Yes, it’s a good fat, but it is caloric, containing 120 calories and 14 g fat per tablespoon. To enjoy the oil’s rich flavor and health benefits, mist it on your pan with a spray bottle rather than pouring it on. You’ll keep all the flavor, and ditch the extra calories.
3) Stealth Saboteur: You stick to a one-serving limit.
The real skinny: Stopping at a single serving of starchy foods like mashed potatoes can be an effective way to limit your calories, if that serving is a reasonable size. However, the one-and-done pledge often just prompts you to spoon up a heaping portion on the first pass of the platter, because you know you’re not getting any more. Heap mountains of food on your plate and you’re likely to polish it off, according to Madelyn Fernstrom, Ph.D., director of the Weight Management Center at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. A more body-wise way to approach the buffet or family-style dinner: Tell yourself you can always double-back for more if you’re still hungry—you’ll take less and may find you’re too satisfied for seconds!
4) Stealth Saboteur: You consider fruits and veggies “free” foods.
The real skinny: I hate to upset the apple cart, but produce has calories, too. Yes, fruits and vegetables are among the healthiest foods you can eat, but calories in dried fruit can add up, as can calories in starchy vegetables such as peas, corn and potatoes. If you like the idea of eating with abandon rather than keeping track of servings, choose H20-rich vegetables (spinach and zucchini are great options) and high-fiber fruit (such as apples and berries). Theses bites are naturally light. The best bet: Have 2-4 servings of fruit a day and 3-5 of veggies, for a total of 5-9 servings of produce daily.
5) Stealth Saboteur: You think being a vegetarian excuses other not-so-healthy habits.
The real skinny: Ousting red meat from your diet, or even limiting it, lowers your risk for coronary heart disease, diabetes and colon cancer, say the pros, and vegetarians tend to have a lower body-mass index (calculate yours here) than their carnivorous counterparts. But vegging out isn’t a free pass to ignore other cornerstones of a slim and healthy lifestyle—such as working out. If you eschew exercise or rely heavily on dairy and starchy vegetarian foods, you may find your weight stays static (or even start gaining). Start an exercise plan that works with your schedule and build a stable of quick, go-to vegetarian recipes to get lean while you stay green!
6) Stealth Saboteur: You’re addicted to smoothies.
The real skinny: Smoothies are basically the drink that acts like a meal. With names like “berry blast” and “antioxidant punch,” they seem so innocuous that you may be taken in. After all, how caloric could something slurped through a straw and loaded with fruit possibly be? Very! Some sippers at your favorite juice joint can pack up to nearly 850 calories! To savor blender bevvies without undoing your diet diligence, slurp them instead of—not in addition to—a meal, and whip up your own so you control the ingredients. Try one of these delicious blends—each comes in at just 300 calories!
7) Stealth Saboteur: You count calories with the precision of a C.P.A.
The real skinny: Talk about fuzzy math: Obsessing over your caloric intake may prompt you to choose fat-free foods that are low in fiber, high in sugar and ultimately leave you wanting other nibbles—and more calories! Instead of compulsively crunching the numbers, focus on eating high-quality food with plenty of fiber, protein and nutrients. Make your portions small and don’t wait more than five hours between bites, says Ann Yelmokas McDermott, Ph.D., director at the Center for Obesity Prevention and Education at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Your smart choices will add up to a slimmer you!
Snacking sensibly can help you get svelte—find 30 healthy snack choices that taste as good as they’ll make you look at Self.com.
