Tips and Tricks for Maintaining a Healthy Weight

1. Tips and Tricks for Maintaining a Healthy Weight Jessi Saxton WKU Dietetic Intern

2. Breakfast… The most important meal of your day! • Starting your day with breakfast is one of the best choices you can make in the morning. Eating breakfast: • Starts your metabolism for the day so you begin burning calories • Gives you energy to perform at your highest potential

3. Breakfast continued… • Improves concentration • May help you eat less throughout the day • Provides important daily nutrients such as protein, fiber, calcium and carbohydrates

4. Portion Distortion • Measure your portions and never eat straight from a container • Many people have a distorted image of what an actual portion size is of the foods they eat on a daily basis • Consuming larger portion sizes can lead to consuming excess calories and weight gain • Portion sizes have increased dramatically over the past few decades; however, recommended serving sizes have remained the same

6. Serving Sizes

7. Are you actually hungry? • Many times when we feel hungry, we are actually just thirsty. • Drink 8oz. of water when you are feeling hungry, wait 15 minutes and see if that takes away the hunger cue. • Use “The apple test”. When you are craving a certain food, ask yourself if you are hungry enough to eat an apple instead. If the answer is “no”, then you are probably not actually hungry. • Do something to take your mind off the cravingEx. Take a walk, play a game on your cell phone, read a book or magazine

8. Exercise • The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and The American Heart Association (AHA) recommend 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of moderate intensity physical activity (such as brisk walking) per week • Ideally, each cardio session should last at least 10 minutes and be spread throughout the week • 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week is a great guideline

9. Exercise continued… • 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity provides similar health benefits • 1 hour of aerobic exercise per day is recommended for weight loss

10. Use your muscles • The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends strength training for adults to increase lean muscle mass • The ACSM recommends 2-3 moderate intensity strength training sessions per week • Lean muscle mass takes up less space than fat • Lean muscle mass burns more calories than fat

11. Muscle vs. Fat • Muscle tissue has been observed to burn roughly seven to 10 calories per pound per day • Fat burns approximately two to three calories per pound per day • Gaining even 3 to 5 pounds of muscle mass will burn approximately 15 to 30 calories per day -Dr. Cedric X. Bryant - Chief Science Officer for the American Council on Exercise (ACE)

12. That's 450-900 more calories burned per month… • Or, 5,400-10,800 more calories burned in a year • That's about a 3-pound weight loss, simply by building and preserving your muscle mass!

13. Sugar • Reduce sugar sweetened beverage consumption • The average American consumes 22 teaspoons in added sugars per day which contributes to 350 excess calories • Empty calories = excess weight gain. Better options: water, milk, diet sodas, tea • The AHA suggests an added-sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams of sugar) for most women and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for most men.

14. Tips and Tricks • Be goal-oriented. Our brains are motivated by goals so be specific. Set a tangible goal with a firm deadline. Ex: “I will lose 10 pounds by June 1st.” • Keep a food journal. Women who do lose six pounds more on average, according to a 2012 study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. • Never go to the grocery store hungry and always use a list. Shop the perimeter of the grocery for the healthiest food options and avoid the center aisles where most of the processed foods are.

15. Tips and Tricks • Bring your own lunch to work. According to a 2012 study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, dieters who eat out for lunch even once a week lose 5 fewer pounds on average. • Start meals with vegetables to naturally eat more of them, become fuller faster, and ultimately reduce total caloric intake. • For weight maintenance, weighing daily may help to keep you on track. For weight loss, weighing weekly may help monitor progress without becoming obsessive or discouraging. • Eat every three to four hours to keep metabolism running efficiently and to stave off cravings.

16. National Weight Control Registry • Established in 1994 by two physicians as a large scale prospective weight maintenance study • Developed to identify and investigate the characteristics of people who lost weight and were successful at keeping it off • Currently tracking over 1000 people • 80% of persons in the registry are women and 20% are men • The "average" woman is 45 years of age and currently weighs 145 lbs, while the "average" man is 49 years of age and currently weighs 190 lbs

17. NWCR continued… • Registry members have lost an average of 66 lbs and kept it off for 5.5 years • 98% of Registry participants report that they modified their food intake in some way to lose weight • 94% increased their physical activity, with the most frequently reported form of activity being walking.

18. How they kept the weight off… • 78% eat breakfast every day • 75% weigh themselves at least once a week • 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week • 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day

19. Bedtime • Set a time to stop eating at • Stop eating at least 3 hours before bed • "Get six to eight hours of sleep a night. Without it, the appetite hormone ghrelin increases, which could result in weight gain. And schedule at least two three-minute breaks during the day to practice deep-breathing exercises. It will reduce the stress hormone cortisol, which builds fat around your mid-section." —Manuel Villacorta, RD, author of Eating Free