This is a way you can make losing weight and portion control more fun!
Most of you never saw me before I came back from studying out of state and abroad. I lost 13lbs while living in Los Angeles. To do it, I exercised, but also ate using my bento. I found that I was more excited about portion control when I used a pretty bento. Also, when I came in from my internship and classes, I was less likely to reach for everything in sight when I knew I had an already-prepared bento in the fridge. So, here is my version of the "bento diet" (Disclaimer: This is NOT traditional, but an example of what worked for me.)
First, I always used 2-tier bento boxes like this:
http://www.dailycuteness.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/extreme-cute-japanese-bento-lunch-boxes2.jpg
Or ones like this:
This automatically controlled my portions as I knew I had to fit everything in these spaces. Technically, I ate quite the variety of food. I had everything from Tuna Helper to Kraft Mac & Cheese to home-cooked meals like Yakisoumen to hamburgers to staples like rice and bread. The only rule was that I must have one of two tiers full of carbs (that usually contained some lean meat) and the other tier would have a fruit, a vegetable, and perhaps a little something to satisfy my sweet tooth or either, when I used the one-level, carbs with a bit of meat would take up half and the other side was half fruit and half veggie. Sometimes one of the sections would have a soup instead. When I made hamburger helper or any of the other quick foods, a serving was all that naturally fit making it easy to watch what I ate. And I always felt comfortable afterwards. (It also helped that I was trying to save money, so eating 2 servings was never an option...)
An example of my day based on a 1,200 - 1,400 calorie diet (NEVER EVER ANY LESS! Also, measure out what YOUR SPECIFIC body needs. There are calculators on the internet to help you avoid starvation mode. I typically tried to stay toward the 1,400):
Note: I didn't ever measure my calories out, just calculated them based on the labels. I was never super picky about it. That is just how things ended up when I ate til I was comfortable. EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT. I almost always drank strictly water with the exception of fat-free milk. (I didn't drink fat free milk because I wanted to lose weight, I just don't like 2% or whole milk. To me, it tastes thick...)
Breakfast (200 calories)(Around 8 am): Instant oatmeal or cereal/milk (Usually oatmeal)
Snack (around 10:00am) (150 - 200 calories): Honey nut Cheerios or Trix (Mostly cheerios, though. I got hopelessly addicted to them...)
Lunch (Around noon) (300-350 calories): A bento
Snack (Around 2:30pm) (150 - 200 calories): Cereal, fruit, a veggie, whatever
Dinner (Around 6:00pm) (300 - 350 calories): A bento
I had one steadfast rule: No food after 7pm. 6:30pm if I could help it. If I got really hungry late, I'd have some Honey Nut Cheerios or Trix.
And I did make things like giant cinnamon rolls (that were as big as a dinner plate and my roommates ate it in 2 days... so heavy...), cinnamon cake, giant hamburgers, and 3-foot long sub sandwiches (bread made from scratch) while I was there. I just did it sparingly.
And I exercised. For me, I ran to the gym 3-5 days a week (took 10 min or so) alternated each day eliptical and bike (30 min) and walked leisurely back, usually while talking on the phone (20 min). Then, some days I would do a few strength exercises when I got home that I'd picked up from The Bar Method Designer Sculpting dvd and The Six Week Bikini Makeover book. I also walked to school each day which was about a mile each way.
(And one more thing: I do know that a lot of the foods I mentioned are loaded in sodium... I was a college student...)
Bye bye 13 lbs!
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