How to survive one week at Disney without gaining weight

22 Mar

Here is a simple tip on how we spent one week at Walt Disney World without gaining weight, even indulging in some ice cream and chocolate muffins.

Sharing. That’s it.

For every meal, we ordered one plate for the two of us. We did the same for the kids.

Do not get me wrong, the food is very good, they offer several healthy options but the portions are just way too big. By sharing every meal, we were satisfied and we had room for the occasional indulgences through the day.

We also brought in some snacks such as oatmeal cookies and granola / yogurt bars.

For one week, we did not care much about our ‘diet’. Since we were walking and standing from 8 AM to 8 PM, if not later, we ended the week off without gaining weight.

In fact this was our second visit at Disney. Last year, we followed the same plan and I ended up losing 5 pounds in a week. It should be noted that back then, I was already on my way from average to fit, while this year my weight is steady.

Breaking the snacking habit

20 Mar

Here are my best tips for breaking the habit of snacking.

Delay – hold on for a while by creating a diversion

At first, when I felt the urge to snack, I would get down and do 10 push-ups. Not being in top shape, this was demanding enough to fend off the snack urge for a while.

Going for a walk also works very well for me.

Drink – drink water to fill your stomach. Black coffee and tea also do the trick.

Eat better – This one sounds general but I will explain. When you make better food choices, eat more fiber and whole foods, digestion takes longer and you feel satisfied for longer.

Mind power – This can be the most difficult tip to implement. Understand that most of the time, the urge to snack comes from habit more than from actual hunger. You have this image of cookies with coffee or tea. If you can convince yourself that you are not really hungry, then good for you. However I can tell that this does not work very well with me.

Instead, the best way I found to avoid snacks was to not get them into the house in the first place. Same holds true for the workplace.

How small eating changes led to significant weight loss

18 Mar

We all know that our eating habits are related to our weight. What most people do not realize is just how important nutrition is a contributor to body weight. You can exercise for 2 hours every day but if you do not pay attention to what you are eating you will not get far towards your weight loss goal.

You need to monitor the quantity and the quality of your food as well.

I will show you how I changed my eating habits for the best. These are not general ideas, these are actual facts which allowed me to go from average Joe to fit in a matter of months.

One more fact before beginning: My new eating habits have been holding on for 18 months now and I do not feel hungry.

My typical day before:

BREAKFAST

  • one bowl of popular adult cereal such as Raisin Bran, Special K or Just Right, with 2% milk and one heaping spoonful of white sugar
  • croissant with strawberry jam or chocolate croissant
  • double cappuccino
  • one tall glass of orange juice, from concentrate
  • banana

MORNING SNACK

  • one chocolate chip cookie or occasional boxed chocolates
  • black coffee (make it two to go through the morning)

LUNCH

  • bagel, with peanut butter spread and one slice of processed cheese
  • one handful of crackers, either Wheat Thins or Golden Fishes
  • fruit juice, passion fruit or grape
  • yogurt cup, fruit at the bottom, 4% fat
  • 3 chocolate chip cookies, store bought

AFTERNOON SNACK

  • black tea
  • fundraising chocolate bar
  • apple

DINNER

  • complete dinner, home cooked, either meat, pasta or fish
  • occasional wine glass
  • dessert, either home made or store bought, could be nanaimo bar, cake, …
  • one glass of milk
  • occasional coffee, black or cappuccino

LATE NIGHT SNACK

  • half a pack of Premium Plus crakers
  • one tall glass of apple juice OR
  • occasional drink, hard liquor, with fruit juice – especially if I had more than 5 cups of coffee that day

My typical day NOW:

BREAKFAST

  • within 20 minutes of waking up, ice cold chocolate protein shake, 30g protein, 160 calories
  • one bowl of select cereal, rich in fiber and proteins such as Nature’s Path Optimum Power, General Mills Oatmeal Crisp Triple Berry or Kellogg’s Mini-Wheats centres, with 2% milk
  • two tablespoons of milled flax seeds on top of any of the above cereals, kept in the freezer

MORNING SNACK

  • one cup of black coffee

MORNING SNACK, closer to lunchtime

  • a handful of roasted almonds, plain (about 20)

MORNING SNACK, at typical lunchtime

  • banana

AFTERNOON SNACK

  • select crackers, rich in fiber and proteins, for 90 to 120 calories
  • vegetable juice, one shot, such as V8

AFTERNOON SNACK, 30 to 60 minutes after previous snack

  • pistachios, sunflower seeds, soy seeds
  • green tea

AFTERNOON SNACK, mid afternoon

  • fat free, 35 calories fruit yogurt
  • one home made cookie, either flax seed or chocolate coconut, about 100 calories
  • probiotic drinkable yogurt, such as DanActive
  • one apple

DINNER

  • complete dinner, home cooked, either meat, pasta or fish
  • on rare occasions, a glass of wine
  • about 5 pieces of chocolate covered coffee beans
  • one day out of 2 or 3, home made dessert, fruit / wheat flour based

LATE NIGHT SNACK, right before bed

  • generous portion of fat free, vanilla Greek yogurt with berries, fresh and frozen, plus one golden kiwi

Although it was not indicated in the above list, I also drink water all through the day. A little less before, more now.

This was a long post, but I wanted to give you a detailed breakdown of my eating habits so that you can see how you can make similar changes to your own habits.

Why start another blog?

17 Mar

Why start a new blog about fitness, weight loss and nutrition? Isn’t there already enough information on this topic on the web?

I found that no matter how we define our search terms, almost every page we find on the web on these topics is an advertisement for a miracle diet or a lure to buy something.

The intent of this blog is to share with you only the relevant information I found, what worked for me and hopefully to help you do the same. I have nothing to sell, only tips, recipes, exercise routines and results to share. I am still tinkering on the best format to use for this goal – expect some adjustments.