7 STEPS FOCUS ON WHEN YOU WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT

I share with you below the 7 changes what I first made in my diet. Of course I need to change more, but these are the most important ones. Really simple rules, easy to remember, easy to follow.

1. Regular meals, 5 times a day. I try to distribute calories evenly among my 5 meals. Between breakfast and lunch I have a 100-120 calories snack (like fruit, yoghurt or a smoothie), so I am not so hungry by lunchtime. After lunch around 3 pm I have another snack (e.g. cheese & vegetable sticks, fruit, oatcakes). Dinner is strictly at 6 pm - it was set up because of the kids, - and after that I can have only a cup of herbal or fruit tea.
2. I watch my fluid intake, it needs to be at least 1.8 litre a day. We very often mistake thirst with hunger, so this helps to avoid overeating. 
3. I buy whole meal products instead of white - like whole meal bread, brown rice, whole meal pasta. I even found whole meal couscous. These products - besides other benefits -help me feel fuller for longer. So weight loss plan does not equal rumbling stomach.
4. A few kind of foods has been limited in my diet, like butter, sugar, cream, fatty cheese and animal fat or fatty meat. I would not say that I do not eat these, but just a very small amount. For instance I have about one tea spoon butter on a week. Instead of butter I use mustard or horseradish in sandwiches, olive or vegetable oil at cooking. The substitute for cream is usually light cream cheese. Cutting down sugar is easy for me as I do not have a sweet teeth. When I need sweet taste I use Stevia. Sweets, cakes and chocolate are also on the limited food's list. When I really need some treat I eat a small piece of good quality dark chocolate. 
5. I cut down on carbohydrates. Not too much but I am really careful on serving sizes. 
6. No fizzy drinks or sugary squash. I am really serious about this. These are sneaky things and can add so many calories to my daily intake unnoticed. So easier to forget them all together. What do I drink then? Mainly plain water but if I want taste I add a slice of lemon and ginger or fresh mint to my water or make an apple tea. Easy to make: dice 1 apple with skin on, add a small piece of ginger sliced, about 2 l water and some cinnamon and boil it for a couple of minutes. Sieve it into a jug. It is so good hot or cold. Like liquid apple pie. By the way both drinks helps the detox process of your body.
7. Fruits and vegetables: 5 (or more)-a-day is really important, but too much starchy veg and or sugary fruit do not support my weight loss plans. So these have been divided into two groups:

• I can have limited amount of fruits and vegetables like these: potato, sweetcorn, beans, banana, mango, dried fruits like dates, raisins etc. So I don not exclude them from my diet, but I careful how much I eat from these.
• I do not need to limit the intake on fruits and veg like green beans, aubergine, courgettes, marrow, pepper, tomato, carrot, apple, pear, grapes, melons, citrus fruits, berries etc.

So when I make a sandwich for lunch I use whole meal bread (rule 3) mustard (rule 4), lean ham (rule 4) and extra amount vegetables like salad leaves, peppers, cucumber (rule 7) and just to make it a bit more exciting and tasty I add some fresh herbs like parsley or chives. Yummy...

And one more example how this looks like in practice. Wednesday dinner: Filo parcels filled with cauliflower and cheese with fresh green salad:

What do you think?