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Pictured recipe:Superfood Chopped Salad with Salmon & Creamy Garlic Dressing
The good news? There are lots (and lots!) of other ways to cut calories that are way more intuitive and conducive to getting those extra pounds off- than counting. Take a look, and make this the year you win at weight loss.
Focus on quality over quantity
More:8 Best Foods to Eat for Weight Loss
Put down your phone
Try it:Mindful Eating: The Key to Eating What You Want and Fully Enjoying It
Linger over your meal
People who eat slowly are 42 percent less likely to be categorized as having obesity than those who speed-eat, according to a 2018 study in theBMJ Openjournal. Similar to eating while distracted, “When you eat more quickly, you’re not allowing time for the gut hormones to signal the brain that you’re full,” says Dunn. Some tips to help you decelerate: put your fork down between bites; chew and swallow your food before digging in for more; and share a chatty meal with friends or family. Still having trouble slowing down? “At least wait 20 minutes from the start of your meal before considering seconds,” says Dunn.
Get more sleep
You probably know that skimping on sleep can make you hungrier-but 385 calories hungrier? That’s the word from a report in theEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which compared the eating habits of sleep-deprived folks to those who got adequate shut-eye. And those extra calories were not in kale-salad form. The sleepy subjects ate more high-fat, low-protein foods. The reason: “Falling short on sleep increases levels of ghrelin, a hormone that ignites hunger, and decreases leptin, the satiety hormone,” says Dunn. “If you’re sleep deprived, your body will take that quick energy (remember, calories equal energy) from food.” And studies show that just one night of inadequate rest can mess with your brain’s hunger cues. For most adults, the sleep sweet-spot is 7 hours nightly.
More:9 Foods to Help You Sleep
Track what you eat this way
Studies show food diaries are a super-effective weight-loss tool. But instead of using one to log calories, just try tracking your hunger, suggests Gardner. Write down what you eat and when. Later, look back at your day and how long it took for you to feel hungry between meals and snacks. “Say you had oatmeal at 6:00 a.m. If at 8:00 you’re already ravenous again, try a different breakfast the next day, like a veggie omelet topped with salsa, and see if that keeps you full until lunch,” he says. It’s all about cracking the satiety code and recognizing how satisfying or unsatisfying certain foods can be so you naturally eat less and wind up making better choices.
Another bonus of using this strategy: “Often, the thought of having to record junk can be enough to stop you from eating it,” says Dunn. And that’s a good thing, since noshing items like red and processed meats, potato chips, fries and sugar-sweetened beverages (all high-calorie foods, natch) is associated with the greatest long-term weight gain, according to a study in theNew England Journal of Medicine.
See if you’re hungry in the first place
Next time you’re standing in front of the open fridge, pause and ask yourself: Am I actually hungry? Or am I reaching for something because I’m bored, or the food is just there? Eating only when you’re honest-to-goodness hungry is linked to having lower body mass index, according to a report in the journalPublic Health Nutrition.Body mass index(BMI) is a measure that’s often used in healthcare to determine a person’s body weight category such as overweight or obese, and therefore, chronic disease risk. However, it has limitations and does not account for individual factors that influence one’s health status, such as body composition, ethnicity, race, sex and age. This is why it shouldn’t be used as a comprehensive measure of someone’s health andcan be a source of body size stigma and bias.
Zero in on “I’m full” cues
Concentrating on calories can trick you into nibbling when you’ve actually had enough. “You might find yourself thinking things like, ‘I’m allotted 200 calories for this snack, but I’ve only had 100, so I can have more,’ even if your hunger has already been satisfied,” says Dunn. “Essentially, you start to ignore what your body is telling you.” The point is to eat because you need nourishment, not simply because you can.
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