At lunch, my friend told me she gave up snacks for lent. As an welcome result, she lost seven pounds. When I was in a weight loss contest with my colleagues, I swapped my lunchtime bag of pita chips (about 120 calories) for snap peas (40 calories). An 80 calorie per day difference. That adds up to two pounds over four months!
Sometimes little changes, changes that we hardly notice, can lead to big results over time. A Chicago Tribune article, Lose a little, gives thirteen tips for cutting 100 calories a day through diet or exercise. That’s over 10 pounds a year for just little changes.
How do we make those little changes?
Get a substitute. I substituted snap peas for pita chips. In Dr. Oz’s 28 day National Soda Challenge, each week participants substitute the soda they used to drink with a different substitute.
Make the substitute something you like. When decided to eliminate the bagel chips with lunch, I needed something crunchy. Snap peas are crunchy, and I like them. So it didn’t seem like that much of a sacrifice. As an added bonus, I reduced my salt intake.
Keep it Small. Little changes, not big ones. And do only one change at a time.
Keep at it. Experts say it takes 21-28 days for a new habit to form. The first few days might seem difficult, but you body adjusts fairly rapidly to the change. Pickthebrain.com, Tips for Breaking Bad Habits and Developing Good Habits, talks about 30, 90, 365 day challenges. At 30 days, you’ve overcome most of the adjustment problems, but may still run into problems. By 90 days, keeping up with the change is as easy as not. After a year the change has become part of your lifestyle.
Share with us - What simple change can you make in your life to be more healthy?
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