Here's the Skinny... (at least mine)

(Nor Cal Mommy)

So after the calorie counting madness, I decided to not do something that would just discourage me in the end (although people assured me that calorie counting would get easier as I learned each food’s calorie content!? No thanks!). I’m smart enough to know that vegetables are good and cake is not. So I began implementing little tricks I had picked up along the way:

1) Make your dinner plate 2/3 vegetables and then split the other 1/3 between lean meat and complex carbs.

2) Eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day (for me, I still had breakfast, lunch, and dinner, just smaller portions because I added balanced snacks between meals).

3) If you took too much, you DON’T have to eat it all! (This one was hard for me because growing up I was always told, “Take what you want, but eat what you take.” I just package the leftovers for the next day.)

4) Smaller plates. This one is everywhere and at first I thought…I am not going to buy smaller plates or eat off of a cake plate! But I use this concept when having a treat after dinner like Chocolate Cheerios or frozen yogurt by using a coffee mug instead of a big bowl.

In addition to these small (but helpful) tricks, I committed myself to more exercise! I am up to 25 mins of hard stair stepper cardio and 25 mins of stretching, yoga ball ab exercises, and resistance band upper body toning 4 times a week! This was hard at first, but now I look at it as my time to de-stress and have a moment of solitude while doing something good for myself. What little tricks have worked for you?