Spark's 9 Simple Tricks to Eat Less and Me

SparkPeople is one of the many sites that I visit to look for tips and tricks.  I recently read an article entitled  9 Simple Tricks to Eat Less. And much like the title implies it is a listing of 9 tips to eat less food. I have provided the overall list below along with some of my thoughts on each.

Spark's 9 Simple Tricks to Eat Less
1. Enjoy every bite.

This is one that I always have trouble with. When I am eating, I just do not take my time. The main reason I rush is my wife and I have 2 small children (both under 2) and sometimes with them around you just have to eat fast. That being said, we have taken steps to try to eat slower. We eat dinner at the dining room table every night and the TV is always turned off.

2. Use smaller plates, cups and bowls.

This is one that I really want to try. I have talked to my wife about it a couple of times, but we have not yet taken the plunge to use our smaller plates.

3. Pre-portion your foods.

This is a terrific idea. I plan on starting to implement this one, mostly with my snacking. I am known to just sit with a bag a chips and eat them until there are none left. If I would take out a serving size before sitting down, I would be more inclined not to eat the whole bag.

4. Know your pitfalls.

This one is an easy one. Know the foods that hurt you, the ones that you have to eat and avoid them at all costs. This is one that I have been actively doing. Potato chips are my basic downfall, so what I have been doing is to just not buy bags of chips at the food store.

5. Keep a food journal.

It is pretty obvious that I agree with this one. My blog is my food journal. I don't keep track of calories for the most part, but I am at least aware of what I am eating on a day to day basis.

6. Use the proper plate method.

Here they are suggesting to fill your plate more wisely. This is filling up on veggies to make sure you are getting your daily amount and not filling up on just meat. This is one that I have a problem with, but that is mainly because I am not a big fan of vegetables and I love meat!

7. Pack in the protein.

This tip is basically saying fill up on filling food. Foods high in protien are more filling and will keep you sustained longer.

8. Doggy bag it.

This is one of the few items on the list that I don't completely agree with. This may have to do more with my lifestyle though. This item basically says that when eating out, you should have half your meal wrapped to go, before even starting to eat. While I agree with the concept, I probably will never do this one. The main reason is that my wife and I do not go out to eat all that often, usually about once a week. When we go out, we like to enjoy ourselves and suspend the diet.

ouch ... back pain

I mentioned this yesterday,

Now for the bad news, I feel like I may have pulled something in my back. I noticed my lower back was sore at the end of the workout, and it has been sore ever since (about 3 hours now).

And the news is no better today. I am still having some pain in my back, so I have decided to skip my work out today.

what did i eat yesterday?

Surprise, oatmeal for breakfast again and a salad for lunch.
A nice banana for a snack. Is this starting to sound a little familiar?

For dinner the wife and I had what we call sausage stuff. It is a mixture of sausage, California vegetables, broth, cream of celery and some other stuff. I will look for it and post the recipe if I can.

Then I had some baked Cheetos and swiss cheese and crackers as a snack.

My snacking was not as bad as it has been the past couple of days, so I am happy about that.

leg and lower body workout

Again my workout today was the reverse of what I did on Tuesday. I was very happy with how my workout went today. I was able to complete everything I set out to do. The lunges are still one of the hardest things for me to do. I need to work on them more often.

Now for the bad news, I feel like I may have pulled something in my back. I noticed my lower back was sore at the end of the workout, and it has been sore ever since (about 3 hours now).

Anyway, here is today's workout:

Exercise	Reps	Weight Lifted
Dumbbell Sqaut	x12	15
	x10	20
	x8	25
	x6	30
	x12	15
Leg Extensions	x12	60
Dumbbell Lunges	x12	15
	x10	20
	x8	25
	x6	30
	x12	15
Lying Leg Curls	x12	60
Seated Calf Raises	x12	35
	x10	40
	x8	45
	x6	50
	x12	35
Standing Heel Raises	x12	50
Oblique Ball Crunches	x12
	x12
	x12
	x12
	x12
Reverse Crunches	x12

I finished off with a mile run, in 10 minutes, and some stretching.

diet eating log 9/9/09

As always, I started with oatmeal for breakfast and a salad for lunch.
I had a delicious banana for a snack.

For dinner, the wife and I split a frozen pizza.

I did a fair amount of snacking again, including chips and swiss cheese and crackers.

aerobic work out summary

Today is an aerobic day. My plan was to do 40 minutes on the elliptical at level 17. About 20 minutes into it, I started to feel sick and light headed, so I stopped.

I took a couple of minutes to catch my breath and decided to hit the stationary bike for 15 minutes.

(Forgot to post this yesterday)

eating log from 9/8/2009

Diet restarts today, started off with oatmeal again today.

Moved on to a garden salad for lunch with light Italian dressing and followed that up with banana for a snack.

When I got home, the wife had meatloaf ready for me. Meatloaf is one of my favorite meals. I had some potato and corn with it. 

And then it went down hill again ... I had 3 chocolate chip cookies after dinner, then some sour cream and onion chips and then some cheese and crackers.

Chips truly are my down fall. They are the food that I will just eat and eat and eat and eat. The past couple of weeks the plan has been not to buy chips, which makes it much harder for me to eat them. This week we just happened to have some left over from weekend BBQs, so of course I ate them.