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Category: Weight Control

Develop Supermarket Savvy

Weight Control

A successful weight-control effort begins with smart food purchases. Here’s how to maneuver your way through the supermarket and also stay in control of your weight.

* Plan your low-fat meals and snacks in advance, then, using a list, shop only for what you need.

* Stay away from the aisles where pastries, potato chips, candies, or other potential problem foods are located.

* Shop for food after you’ve eaten, not when you’re hungry. You’ll choose food based on clear thinking, not hunger pangs.

* Choose fresh foods and vegetables over processed foods, which can deliver unwanted calories in the form of sauces and thickeners.

* Don’t try to rationalize buying high-calorie snack foods for others in the household. Having them around may very well undermine your weight-control efforts.

* Beware of high-calorie foods that, although advertised as “specials,” don’t do your diet any special favor.

Selecting Snacks under 100 Calories

Snacking seems to be an integral part of many people’s lifestyles, but when you’re trying to lose weight, your choices need to be prudent. Whether you crave crunchy, salty, fresh, or sweet foods, there’s a variety of food that will satisfy you yet help you lose weight. The table below lists 25 snacks that are all less than 100 calories each!

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Motivation Is The Gateway For Adopting Healthy Changes

Weight Control

* Decide what changes YOU want to achieve, not what someone else wants you to do.

* Remind yourself, daily, why you want to make a health change. Picture the change taking place.

* Post reminders around the house.

* List things you have achieved and are proud of. Use your successes to realize that you can accomplish any goal you set your mind to.

Dos

* Choose salads with low-calorie dressing and limit portions when eating out.

* Keep healthy snacks handy so the healthy choices are the easy choices.

* Be patient. It takes up to 6 weeks to make a new habit.

Don’ts

* Don’t supersize a fast food meal.

* Don’t choose coffee beverages with syrup as a daily habit.

* Don’t let slip-ups keep you from making permanent, healthy changes.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Whittle Your Waist

Weight Control

Hidden belly fat poses silent health threats.

When your waistline gets bigger, you need to buy larger pants and belts. Too large of a waist can also increase your risk for many diseases. These include some types of cancers, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. It’s not the fat under the skin that you can pinch that triggers these problems. It’s the fat you cannot see that is around body organs deep inside your abdomen. This is called visceral fat. It is absorbed into the bloodstream easily making it more likely to clog arteries to the heart.

What is a healthy waist measurement?

Whether you are overweight or not, you may have too much abdominal fat. To find out, place a measuring tape at the top of your hipbone. Then bring it all the way around, level with your naval. Keep the tape parallel to the floor. Make sure it’s not too tight. You have too much fat in your abdomen if your waist measures:

* 35 inches or more if you are a woman

* 40 or more inches if you are a man

Three steps to whittle your waist:

1. Exercise −You can do a thousand sit-ups a day and still have visceral fat. To trim both the fat you can pinch and hidden fat, do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day. If you can’t fit in one 30 minute workout, break it down to three 10-minute sessions.

2. Diet − No diet targets visceral fat alone. But, when you lose weight overall, you lose abdominal fat.

3. Sleep – Get six to seven hours per night.

Action Step

Increase foods with soluble fiber. These include lentils, kidney and other beans, oat bran, oatmeal, and the fleshy parts of apples and carrots.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Don’t Crash Diet

Weight Control

In their great zeal to be thin, many dieters put their health in jeopardy by trying to lose too much weight too fast. Eating too few calories and rapidly shedding pounds can be unsafe. Your body and your frame of mind can be adversely affected by such drastic changes in eating.

For one thing, dropping 5 to 10 pounds in just a couple of weeks doesn’t allow enough time to learn new eating behaviors, so chances are old eating patterns-and the weight-will return. For another, losing weight too rapidly is a strain on your heart and other vital organs, zaps your energy, and increases the risk of nutritional deficiencies. In addition, losing weight rapidly increases muscle loss, which makes it more likely that you will regain the weight.

The following may be signs that you’re losing too much weight too fast.

* Anemia.

* Apathy.

* Depression.

* Hair loss.

* Headaches.

* Irritability.

* Kidney stones.

* Lethargy.

* Listlessness.

* Liver impairment.

If you are uncertain about the calorie content of foods, purchase a calorie guide to make sure your intake does not fall below the levels that physicians say are safe.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Move More. Eat Fewer Calories.

Weight Control

Like interest on a credit card, extra calories turn into body fat which is hard to “pay off.” To tip the scale in your favor, expend more energy and spend less on calories. Here are some action steps to help you.

* Sit less. Spend more time being active.

* Limit TV time. Hours watched per day the start of this month: _____; at the end of this month: _____.

* Exercise while watching TV. (Walk in place. Ride a stationary bike. Lift dumbbells.)

* Walk more throughout the day.

* Use a pedometer to track steps. Set a goal to walk 10,000 steps a day.

* Drink water before meals. Sip water during meals.

* Limit high calorie foods, such as desserts. Start by eating half of what you usually eat.

* Slow down when you eat so you can notice when your body sends your brain signals that it’s full and satisfied.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
The “Write” Way To Healthy Habits

Weight Control

Keep a daily food and activity diary.

How many calories have you consumed today? Your best guess is likely 10 to 25 percent less than you think. To find out how many calories you do have, keep a daily food diary. And, while you are at it, record your physical activity, too. Burning calories might make up for those little mouthfuls that add up.

Set your target.

Health experts say that the average woman should have 1800-2,000 calories per day, and the average man, 2200-2,500. Your needs may vary and depend on whether you need to lose weight, gain weight, or have other diet-related issues. You should discuss your caloric and physical activity needs with your doctor.

Be honest.

Record everything you eat from the time you wake until the time you go to bed. This means what you eat and drink at meals and in between meals. Include coffee drinks, mindless munchies, 20-ounce sodas, and peppermints you pop in your mouth throughout the day.

Get ready for a reality check.

You can find out how many calories are in foods and drinks from:

* Books like Calorie King Fat & Carbohydrate Counter or online atwww.calorieking.com

* SuperTracker atwww.choosemyplate.gov

* Smartphone apps like My Fitness Pal, Calorie Counter, and The Daily Burn.

Enter physical activities you do, too. You may be in for an unpleasant surprise to find out how many calories you take in and how few you expend in energy.

If you had to pay for calories with physical activity:

Food

1 oz. potato chips

Jelly doughnut

Large cinnamon roll

Calorie Cost

150

300

800

Activity Cost

30-minute walk

60-minute walk

160-minute walk

Action Step

Think before you munch. If you are eating just because food is in front of you, walk away. Better yet, take a walk around the block. Then record the activity in your diary.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Don’t Let Appetite Triggers Shoot Down Your Diet

Weight Control

When you eat may be influenced by triggers or cues in the environment. Perhaps you associate eating with events like watching television, talking with friends, or reading. Over time, responding to such frequent cues can lead to weight gain.

The following behavior changes can help to eliminate eating cues that can sabotage your diet.

* To make you more aware of your eating cues, keep a diet diary, noting where you were and what you were doing when you ate.

* Eat in only one room of the house.

* Eat each meal at the same time each day.

* Don’t do anything else while you’re eating,

* When you go to parties, focus your attention on the guests, entertainment, surroundings-anything but food and beverages.

* Turn down the volume or switch channels during food commercials on television to help you tune out eating cues.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Debunking Myths On Exercise And Weight Loss

Weight Control

Exercise is a critical component in any effective weight-control regimen. Unfortunately, some people have misconceptions about weight and exercise. Here are some of the more common popular fallacies.

Myth: Exercise increases your appetite.

Fact: Appetite is actually more manageable after exercise. Furthermore, any slight increase in food intake from physical exercise is more than offset by calories expended by the exercise.

Myth: In order for exercise to be worthwhile, you must work out every day.

Fact: Three times a week for around 20 minutes each time will burn off a significant number of calories. (Of course, if you exercise longer-say, 45 minutes to an hour–you’ll bum even more calories.)

Myth: Exercise must be extremely vigorous to achieve weight loss.

Fact: Moderate exercise like walking, if done on a regular basis, can be effective. Daily 30-minute walks can burn up to 15 pounds a year.

Myth: Only aerobic exercise burns calories.

Fact: Aerobic exercise (cycling, walking, swimming, etc.), speed up your metabolism for 4 to 8 hours after you stop exercising, so calories will be burned when you exercise and after you finish working out. Nonaerobic exercise like weight lifting, burns calories when you exercise and adds lean muscle tissue, which burns more calories than fat. Both types of exercise are important components of fitness.

Myth: The more you sweat, the faster you lose weight.

Fact: There is no benefit to excessive sweating. It can even be dangerous. So don’t overdress for exercise, and don’t wear “sauna suits.”

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Exercise Your Calories Away

Weight Control

Research has shown that dieting alone will not produce permanent weight loss. Any successful weight-loss program should emphasize both what you eat and how you exercise. Don’t just sit around wondering when those extra pounds will come off. Check with your physician first to see if you’re ready for exercise, then get moving with the “moderate” and “vigorous” calorie burners in the following table.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
New Year, New You

Weight Control

Take action now to reach your resolution to lose weight.

* Set an exercise goal you can reach. For example, by the end of this month, I will walk at least 20 minutes a day, five days a week.

* When you reach a goal, give yourself a nonfood reward, such as a new workout video or a new lunch bag.

* Substitute water for sweetened beverages.

* Eat fruits and veggies for snacks instead of candy, chips, and cookies.

Action Step:Chew food slowly to give your body time to send a signal to your brain that you’ve had enough. You’ll enjoy your food more and eat less.

Choose foods that won’t sabotage your goals.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026

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