Super size your diet.

We live in a world where people want things bigger. They want a bigger house; they want a bigger pay check; they want a bigger car. People are encouraged to achieve great things and often success is seen in what people possess and the type of job they do.

But for people who have issues with their weight suddenly they are told to down size. Cut down your eating, cut down on sitting around, cut down on your sugary drinks, cut down you cholesterol. Everything about dieting goes against the norm in society today.

You only have to go to a fast food restaurant and you are asked if you want to super size your meal. The fries become larger and so does the drink. Many people think I have to super size my meal because it is a good bargain. Look how little it is costing me for so much extra. You see for many people they see the small amount of money it costs but forget the greater cost they are incurring with their health and even their life.

I was amazed when I went to the States to see how large everything had become. It was the norm to see people obese and it didn’t take long to work out why. We ate in restaurants and I looked at the menu and thought, what can I eat? I can’t eat all of that, steaks far bigger than I would normally eat. One thing you do have in the States is being able to take home any of your meal which you haven’t eaten. But still is the extra size really worth the cost to your health?

The other thing which amazed me was the size of the cups. People were walking around with huge plastic cups filled with soda. I am not sure how much they held but I can guarantee the amount of calories consumed through drinking soda is enormous. It would be better if the person was to fill this with water and drink that each day.

The biggest problem in the States is when people who are obese are seen as the norm then it is easy to ignore your own obesity. It is easy to say well I’m not that heavy because I am not as heavy as some I see on TV or going down the street. The bottom line is that is just and excuse and time to get rid of them.

In the Far East it is interesting to see that one fast food company has downsized their meals. Its fries and drink are the size you get with a kids meal. You are never asked to super size your meals if you want bigger fries and drink then you have to ask.

But today I want you to start to think about ways your can super size your diet. There are many parts of people’s diet that really could do with being super sized and from today I want you to work on that area.
Remember this is not a diet but a lifestyle change. You and I know diets don’t work. You also know that you can lose weight but keeping it off is another story. One of the reasons people gain weight is they haven’t learnt about lifestyle changes. They read the latest diet and follow it without a thought about what they will do long term.

Many will lose a huge amount of weight, but then go back into their old habit of eating and no exercise and the weight is soon back on. It piles on far quicker than the weight was lost.

If you are serious about your weight then you need to make a lifestyle change.

Things to super size:

Instead of soda go for diet soda and also make sure you get plenty of water.

Increase the amount of fruit and vegetables you are eating. That doesn’t mean to cook everything in lots of fat. Try a stir fry or steaming your veggies. If you want pizza, go ahead but have one piece and a large salad. Learn about portion control. That is one way you can know when you are eating out how much to eat.

There is a restaurant in the UK which I love to visit. Some of their meals are high calories but for a treat that is OK. You can make adjustments during the day or even the next day. But the thing I love is their salad cart. It is eat all you like, go and visit as many times as you like. And most of the salad comes without dressing. They have a range of dressings which you can add yourself. Sometimes when we eat out I like to have dessert, because it is something I don’t do at home on a regular basis. There it is great because you can order a dessert and two spoons.

We find that we ignore the starters there and go straight for the salad bar. With the main course you can have fries but you can also have jacket potato which is plain. You can add butter or sour cream if you want but as I don’t like sour cream it isn’t a problem. Nothing to do with diet it is something I would never chose.

Time to make choices as to things you are going to super size in your diet. Only you can make the lifestyle changes that will affect you for the rest of your life. If you don’t make them then you will still be dieting in 20 years time trying to lose the next 10 lbs, being depressed as you gain weight, elated as you lose weight, and so the cycle continues.