Think you have to do something really radical and punishing to lose weight and keep it off? Just the opposite is true! It's actually the small, simple changes you make that have the most dramatic and lasting results. I know this firsthand, having tried every diet on earth and yo-yoed for years before discovering that weight loss doesn't have to be grueling, depressing or discouraging. It can be easy, fun, painless and permanent.
To lose 1 pound, you have to create a deficit of 3,500 calories. By incorporating easy ways to cut or avoid 250-500 calories a day, you can lose 1/2-1 pound a week, or 26-52 pounds a year.
Following are 15 tips for losing 3-80 pounds a year by making one small change in your diet. We've also included five tips for blasting those 3-6 holiday pounds in eight weeks before they become permanent, plus four scrumptious "batch" recipes (three from world-famous chefs) that supply several tasty, lowfat meals each. Whip them up on weekends for a week's worth of healthy, hassle-free eating.
Remember that the more consistently you follow these tips, the more weight you'll lose, even when other eating and exercise habits stay the same. See the "Weight-Loss Payoff" logo (WP) for a range of how many pounds you can lose in a year. The range reflects the variation in how often you incorporate tips into your regular diet.
For best results, choose tips that make sense for you and that you can easily slip into your lifestyle and enjoy. (The Diet Simple book offers 139 more nutrition and lifestyle tips as well as 22 additional batch recipes. Or enroll in an interactive weight-loss program based on Diet Simple by going to barnesandnobleuniversity.com starting in January.)
Lose 3-10 (or more) pounds in a year!
You can lose about 1 pound every two months by achieving a caloric deficit of only 60-100 calories a day. Here are four really simple, fun and delicious changes in habit that will get you there easier.
1. Beware the burger blast. Make your own burgers at home with a cut of beef called round or a round steak (the butcher can grind it into hamburger for you). The best part? It's as lowcal as skinless chicken. Or use lean ground beef (95 percent lean or better) for a skinny burger with 400 instead of about 500 calories for standard ground beef.
2. Add the whipped cream. Instead of ice cream (350-500 calories per cup), combine a cup of fresh or frozen sweet pitted cherries with 1/4 cup canned whipped cream for a sweet, creamy dessert with just 140 calories.
3. Eat more pizza. Instead of ordering takeout pizza (two slices of Pizza Hut's Stuffed Crust Pepperoni Pizza pack 720 calories, 32 grams of fat and 2,240 milligrams of sodium!), fill your freezer with healthful frozen pizzas containing no more than 600 calories and 10-15 grams of fat per pie (e.g., Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice brands).
4. Drink up. Have a glass of water with lunch or dinner every other day instead of a soda or an alcoholic drink and you can lose 7-15 pounds a year. To stay full, eat plenty of foods high in water, including fresh fruits, vegetables and healthful (lowfat, low-sodium) soups.
Lose 11-20 pounds (or more) in a year!
This will take a caloric deficit of about 100-200 a day. You can live with that! Try these three tips.
5. Fish for health. Instead of a 6-ounce steak (550 calories), enjoy tuna (250-300 calories) or salmon (350 calories). If you eat fish instead of red meat four times a week, you'll save 200-300 calories each time, or up to 1,200 calories a week. Besides being lower in fat, seafood is also high in omega-3 fatty acids, which lower cholesterol and reduce risk for heart disease. Choose grilled, broiled or steamed fish and avoid fried or blackened versions, which pack in extra fat.
6. Snack more for fewer calories. People who snack all day find it easier to lose weight because they actually take in fewer calories. Enjoy healthful snacks like apple slices spread with 1 tablespoon peanut butter (about 160 calories) or 1 ounce lowfat cheese with a piece of fresh fruit (about 130 calories.) Both snacks provide natural sugars to satisfy your sweet tooth plus fiber and protein to keep you full. Opting for healthful, filling snacks that keep you away from vending-machine versions packing 250-500 empty calories each will save you thousands of calories a month.
7. Mine sweep for calorie bombs. Losing weight is not about discipline or willpower, it's about taking charge of your environment. So get rid of all that high-fat, high-calorie junk in your kitchen and replace it with healthful, lowfat fare.
Lose 21-30 (or more) pounds in a year!
Create a 200- to 300-calorie deficit per day using these five tips and watch the pounds melt off!
8. Cook with nonstick pans and spray. Make every meal in a nonstick pan, and you'll automatically save 100 calories every time by eliminating the butter, margarine or oil used to grease the pan. When sauteing or frying, simply coat nonstick pans with a spritz of vegetable oil cooking spray (0 calories). Always use fresh, full-flavored ingredients, and you wont need fattening butter or oil to add flavor. Talk about a painless way to lose weight!
9. Savor each bite. Eat more slowly to let satiety register -- it takes your stomach 20 minutes to send "full" signals to the brain. You'll save 100 calories each time you stop eating when you're almost full instead of eating until you're stuffed (about 200 calories a day).
10. Eat by the clock. Believe it or not, the biggest cause of Believe it bingeing is undereating. Your body gets hungry every three to five hours, so you need to eat five to six healthful, lowfat mini meals daily to stay full and curb cravings. Cut nighttime snacks and say adios to 15 pounds a year; have a fruit snack instead of a vending-machine snack and subtract 20 pounds; plan meals ahead and knock off 22-30. (For a complete guide on grazing via mini meals, including yummy recipes, see next month's issue.)
11. Use the dilution solution. Love regular soft drinks but hate the pounds the sugar packs on? (A 32-ounce soda has about 400 calories!) Do as my friend Linda does and cram your cup with ice every time you have a soda, and you'll drink at least half as much. For Linda, that meant consuming about 200 fewer calories every other day. After a period of time her taste buds adapted. so all she really wanted was sparkling water. By making this one simple shift from soda to sparkling water, she cut 400 calories a day.
12. Defrost the freezer. Forget all the nasty things you've heard about frozen dinners! Supermarkets stock hundreds of lowfat and delicious frozen meals -- from meatloaf and mashed potatoes to Thai and Indian cuisine. Just add vegetables and fruit to boost nutrients. You'll save 300-500 calories every time you prepare a frozen dinner instead of ordering fast food or cooking a high-fat meal. Enjoy four frozen dinners a week and lose a minimum of 18-30 pounds a year.
Lose 31-40 (or more) pounds in a year!
With these three easy tips, you'll have no trouble reaching even a big weight-loss goal in 12 months.
13. Shop by the book. Make weekly shopping a habit by setting a specific day and time when you can always go. Without healthful foods on hand, you may be tempted to improvise by hitting fast-food and convenience stores, where nearly everything is high-fat and high-calorie. Good grocery-shopping skills are the flip side of good meal-management skills. One of my clients saved at least 400 calories per meal by incorporating just this one change and lost 30 pounds in less than a year!
14. Keep "happy hour" at home. Spend a few hours at a bar on Friday night, and you could easily consume 3,000 calories in drinks (300 calories per mixed drink) and snacks (an order of nachos has 2,100 calories). For a healthy happy hour at home that has just 750 calories (you'll save 2,250 calories a week), stock up on sparkling water or wine and create a lowfat feast. Chef Patrick O'Connell's Charcoal-Grilled Salmon in a Mustard Crust (see next page) can be turned into hors d'oeuvres.
15. Satisfy your sweet tooth. Deny your sweet tooth and bingeing is sure to follow. Satisfy your cravings with a low-calorie treat -- a bout 120 calories -- that you can enjoy every single day. My faves are Starbucks' frozen Mocha or Java Fudge Frappuccino Blended Coffee Bars. Limit rich desserts (most have about 500 calories) to once a week, and you'll save about 380 calories a day for six days, or 2,280 calories a week.
recipes
Adapted from Diet Simple: 154 Mental Tricks, Substitutions, Habits & Inspirations, by Katherine Tallmadge, M.A., R.D. (LifeLine Press, 2002). (Recipes here were adapted and analyzed by Robin Vitetta-Miller, M.S.)
The following "batch recipes" provide a week's worth of delicious, lowfat fare. Make them once, then refrigerate or freeze in meal-size containers for meals on command minus the hassle.
Katherine Tallmadge's White Beans With Garlic and Basil
These beans taste deceptively rich, and are versatile and easy to make.
Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
1 tablesppon olive oil
1 1/2 yellow onions, chopped
4-8 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
to taste
12 ounces canned chopped
tomatoes, drained
Salt to taste
24 ounces canned cooked
cannelloni beans, rinsed (buy 2
15-ounce cans, rinse and drain)
2 cups fat-free chicken broth
(such as College Inn)
1 large handful fresh basil (about
10 leaves)
Juice from 1 lemon (1/4 cup)
Freshly ground pepper
Heat oil in a large, heavy soup pot. Saute onion and garlic
over low to medium heat until soft, about 10-15 minutes. Add tomatoes
and salt, and simmer about 10 minutes; add the beans and broth. Simmer
5-10 minutes more. Just before serving, add basil, lemon juice and
pepper, and stir well to combine. Enjoy immediately, or let flavors
blend at room temperature overnight.
Storage tip: Refrigerate, covered, for up to a week or freeze for up to 6 months.
Nutrition Score per serving (1 heaping cup): 270 calories, 13 percent fat (4 g; <1 g saturated), 64 percent carbs (43 g), 23 percent protein (16 g), 11 g fiber, 147 mg calcium, 241 mg sodium.
Chef Patrick O'Connell's Charcoal-Grilled Salmon in a Mustard Crust With
Asparagus Spears and Brown Rice
Chef and owner of the award-winning five-star Inn at Little Washington
in Washington, Va., O'Connell is often called "The Pope of American
Cuisine."
Serves 6
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10-20 minutes
1 pound salmon fillet
Salt and freshly ground pepper
to taste
1/2 cup dried mustard seeds
1/2 bunch fresh dill, lightly chopped
(1/2 cup)
1/2 medium sweet white onion, thinly
sliced (1/3 cup)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
24 asparagus spears
3 cups cooked instant brown rice,
prepared according to package
directions
Preheat broiler. Place salmon on a broiling pan, flesh side
up. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Coat with mustard seeds, pressing
into the flesh so they stick. Cover with chopped dill and onions and
drizzle with olive oil. Arrange asparagus alongside salmon. Broil for 10
minutes; check for doneness. If salmon is not done to your liking, turn
heat off and leave in oven 5-10 minutes more, or until the flesh is
opaque and cooked through. Meanwhile, prepare rice according to package
directions. Transfer fish and asparagus carefully onto a platter (the
skin will stick to the broiling pan). Serve with rice.
Storage tip: Refrigerate, covered, for up to 3 days.
Nutrition Score per serving (3 ounces salmon, 1/2 cup rice and 4 asparagus spears): 322 calories, 32 percent fat (11 g; 1 g saturated), 37 percent carbs (30 g), 31 percent protein (25 g), 5 g fiber, 96 mg calcium, 40 mg sodium.
Kaz Sushi Bistro's Asian Vegetable Noodles
Kazuhiro ("Kaz") Okochi is a Washington, D.C., chef whose bistro has
garnered many awards.
Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
12 cups water
1/2 pound vermicelli noodles
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/2 red onion, julienne
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
5 large, fresh shiitake mushrooms
(or any kind of fresh mushroom)
1/2 red bell pepper, julienne
1/2 carrot, shredded
1 bunch (about 5) scallions, julienne
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Bring water to a boil. Add noodles and boil for 5 minutes. Drain and toss with 1 tablespoon sesame oil. Set aside.
Saute onion, ginger and garlic in vegetable oil in a small pan for 10 minutes or until soft. Add next 6 ingredients and saute 5-10 minutes more. Add noodles to pan, toss with vegetables, add remaining sesame oil and black pepper, and heat through, about 2 minutes.
Storage tip: Refrigerate, covered, for up to 5 days.
Nutrition Score per serving (1 1/2 cups): 378 calories, 29 percent fat (12 g; 1.6 g saturated), 63 percent carbs (59 g), 8 percent protein (8 g), 4 g fiber, 35 mg calcium, 533 mg sodium.
Michel Richard's Chicken, Mushroom and Barley Soup
Michel Richard is an award-winning French chef and restaurant owner.
Serves 4
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 small yellow onions, peeled
and diced
1 pound mushrooms,
ends trimmed and thinly sliced
2 quarts defatted unsalted
chicken stock
1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
6 tablespoons pearl barley,
uncooked
4 gloves garlic, peeled and minced
Salt and freshly gound black
peper to taste
4 4-ounce chicked breasts, boned,
skinned and sliced into bite-size
pieces
Heat oil in a heavy, medium-size saucepan over medium-low
heat. Add onion, cover and cook until translucent, stirring
occasionally. Add mushrooms, increase heat to medium-high, and cook
uncovered until mushrooms are lightly browned, stirring occasionally.
Add stock, soy sauce, barley and garlic. Simmer for 45 minutes. Season
with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, add chicken, reduce heat and
simmer until chicken becomes opaque, about 2-3 minutes.
Storage tip: Refrigerate leftovers, covered, for up to three days. Or freeze for up to six months.
Nutrition Score per serving (3 cups): 335 calories, 28 percent fat (10 g; 2 g saturated), 30 percent carbs (25 g), 42 percent protein (35 g), 5 g fiber, 37 mg calcium, 1,216mg sodium.
Research at the National Institutes of Health shows that people of average weight gain 1-3 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year's compared to 5 pounds for overweight people. Studies also show that if you don't shake the weight by March, you might as well get used to it! Here are five ways to lose 3-6 holiday pounds in eight weeks before the excess become permanent.
1. Only eat the best. Instead of wasting valuable stomach space on foods you don't really like, eat those you love. So you adore ravioli but can live without garlic bread? Splurge on the first, skip the latter and save 300 calories each time, Follow this tip five times a week and save 1,500 calories. Lose 3 pounds in 8 weeks or 22 pounds a year.
2. Avoid muffin madness. An ordinary supersize muffin can pack 600 calories. Switch to a lowfat muffin (about 400 calories) every morning and save 200 calories? Lose 3 pounds in 8 weeks, or 21 pounds a year.
3. Eat your office supplies. Save 300-plus calories by bringing a healthful brown-bag lunch to work and 150 calories by packing your own afternoon snack. (Try our batch recipes?) In a week, you'll cut 2,250 calories. Lose 5 pounds in 8 weeks, or 11-33 pounds a year.
4. Eat a brownie every Friday. Rather than depriving yourself of treats, which can trigger bingeing, enjoy them once a week. Lose 5 pounds in 8 weeks, or 30 pounds a year.
5. Don't cook on weekdays. To save time, energy and at least 400 calories per night, make batch recipes (see opposite page) on weekends and regrigerate or freeze into meal-size containers for a week or more of lowfat, healthful, no-hassle meals. Lose 6 pounds in 8 weeks, or 42 pounds a year.
Katherine Tallmadge, M.A., R.D., is a nutritionist and weight-loss counselor based in Washington, D.C., and a spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association. She also has been a regular contributor to the Food Network, Fox News, CNN, ESPN and National Public Radio. Her work has been featured in The Washington Post, USA Today and Good Housekeeping. Visit her at DietSimple.info.
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