10 Tips for Loosing Weight Without Really Dieting – Perfect for Over 60 or Anyone!

Tweek your Diet!

Are you sick and tired of diets that have you measuring portions, balancing protein with carbs, and counting calories?  Are you disappointed with the lack of results after a few weeks on a torturous diet?  Are you loosing weight or reaching for the ice cream in frustration after working so hard and not really seeing positive results?

Dieting is hard work, especially as we age. Our patience grows thin with all the attention to detail required.  It is so stressful.  And our frustration level seems to rise whenever we head to the scale, as we rarely see substantial results.  But there is a way to lose weight without all that diet fussing about with food.  We can tweek our diet.  I’m not talking about gyrating our hips at the refrigerator nor at the dinning table!  That’s twerking and Miley Cyrus is not coming for dinner!  If we make small general changes here and there, we will slowly see results. Nothing happens quickly, but over time you will lose weight and keep it off.  And all with very little effort after the initial tweeks.

It’s so easy, which is perfect for anyone over 60 who doesn’t have the patience nor the inclination to go on a preparation-intense diet but does want shed some weight. This is especially good for people who are too busy to plan each meal and follow a strict dieting regime each day.  Tweeking our diet means to make small changes in food intake. Once these changes are made, and you get used to them, you probably won’t even realize that you are actually on a diet – a tweeked intake diet.

The tweeks are changes that easily become your normal eating habits. Sure you can think about relaxing them during vacations and special occasions, such as the Christmas-New Years holiday season, weddings, birthdays and other such celebrations that involve dinner parties and food consumption. But remember, the longer to stay on the tweeked diet, the greater the weight loss and the higher probability that the tweeks become your normal way of eating. With the tweeks, your eating are healthier and sustainable. Before you know it the tweeked diet has you loosing weight. And the bonus is that the tweeks are so minor, mostly common sense, they are easy to remember and adopt into your daily eating habits.

Begin to tweek your diet by managing your food intake as follows:

1. Cut out deep fried foods – This is a no-brainer.  The high fat calories in fried foods makes this a simple way to axe high calorie foods from you diet.  There are many other ways to prepare foods that make it just as tasty, such as BBQing, grilling and wok stir-frying that this easy to do.
2. Select non-fat dairy products – By selecting non-fat dairy you are eliminating more high fat calorie intake foods.  Non-fat dairy products taste just as good as those with high fat so you won’t miss out on any taste and you may just enjoy these  more than the higher fat ones.
3. Cut out creamy sauces – Instead of having creamy sauces, select tomato or broth based sauces.  This includes Bolognese sauce for pasta instead of alfredo and other cream based sauces, and mushroom/onion sauce on meats.  This week will also cut a huge number of calories from your diet without you missing out on a good meal.
4. Reduce number of pasta meals – Pasta is high in calories and empty nutrients.  By reducing the number of pasta meals you are making room healthier meal choices.  If you are a pasta-hound and need noodle based meals, consider substituting rice, whole wheat or egg noodles instead of flour based ones.  These have less empty calories and are suitable for a wide range of dishes.
5. Eliminate junk food – chemical laced food with no nutritional value – but oh they are so good – especially when we get a rhythm going with the cheesies or the BBQ chips! substitute junk food for crunchy and colourful veggies – green beans, celery, grape tomatoes, cucumber, carrots – keep a good supply cut up in the frig and when the snack alarm rings take a good selection of veggies in a bowl or small plate – the colour and shapes will satisfy the visual – mix up a teaspoon of chili powder with a little sugar for a tasty dip – sweet and spicy, adjust to your taste buds
6. Limit snacking – depending on your current snacking habits – to once between meals
7. Re-think second helpings (and forget about third ones) – really think about needing that second helping before you take it.  Are you really still hungry?  Wait a bit and see if the first helping finally hits your tummy.  If you need more food, take just a little more, and by all means, forget about third helpings
8. Axe the calorie rich desserts – Do you really need that Chocolate Lava Bomb?  Does that piece of cheesecake really have your name on it?  Are you sure you have to share that Key Lime Pie?  The answer to all these questions is a loud “NO thanks, I’m fine.”  Give it a few minutes and you will forget that you were going to load up with all those calories.
9. Limit desserts to once or twice a week, like for special occasions for a special weekend treat.  If you need a sweet ending to a meal, have some fresh fruit.  Limit canned fruit to sugar free or calorie reduced selections.
10. AND drink lots and lots of water – 8 glasses a day is a reasonable goal to aim for each day. While some say you can substitute other liquids, those with sugar or caffeine can add calories and promote dehydration.  Water fills us up, cleans us out and refreshes our whole body.

Once you identify and tweek your diet it becomes second nature when making eating choices.  Before you know it you’re tweeting without thinking about it, feeling better and losing weight.  The only tweek I really have trouble with is drink the water.  And it’s my own stupidity as I often feel yucky and I know it’s from dehydration.  Water makes headaches go away as they are often caused by dehydration, it gets rid of dizziness, keeps our organs hydrated and working efficiently.  So what if you go to the bathroom a lot!  That is surely better than being dehydrated and feeling like crap!

Go ahead and start tweeking.  If 10 are too many for you, start with 5 tweeks and next week add in the other 5.  You’ll be loosing weight, and feeling and looking better in no time!

How good is that!

Happy Tweeking!