The workday grind can be a dieter's worst nightmare. Yet it doesn't have to be that way.by Liz Enbysk for MSN Health & Fitness.
You're wise to avoid donuts, steer clear of vending machines and go easy on the pasta in the company cafeteria. But there's no need to chain yourself to your desk with a mountain of carrot sticks and rice cakes.
Food boredom and there's nothing like carrots and rice cakes to bring that on – is one sure-fire way to kill a diet. Another is isolating yourself to avoid temptation.
Hope Warshaw, dietitian and author of "Eat Out, Eat Right" (Surrey Books, 2004), makes a good case for making your weight-loss efforts mesh with your work and social life.
"Reality of the matter is 'dieting' is not an on/off proposition," Warshaw says. "It's a long-term lifestyle change proposition. The longer that people think of this as temporary, the longer they will be frustrated by weight loss and regain."
Bottom line, she says, is people have to make small and simple changes in their behaviors about food, food choices and the portions they eat.
"If a person goes out to eat as part of their lifestyle, then to have long-term weight loss and control success, they need to figure out how to cope with restaurant meals," Warshaw says. "Perhaps they need to eat out less and bring lunch more, but all in all they shouldn't avoid restaurants. It only leads to pent-up desire and anxiety."
So look at it this way: If joining office mates for a coffee break or meeting friends for lunch at a favorite eatery is something you enjoy doing during the work week when you're not dieting – find ways to do it successfully when you are dieting. You're more apt to stay on track that way.
Make obsession work for you
You're also more likely to succeed with weight control when you stay totally focused on it, according to Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, a behavioral sciences professor at Northwestern University Medical School and author of "The 9 Truths About Weight Loss" (Henry Holt & Co., 2000).
Kirschenbaum says beginning a weight-loss program requires the same healthy obsession an athlete in training exhibits. It's all about focus, momentum and having everything fall into place at the right time.
The difficulty people have, Kirschenbaum says, is their lives interfere with this training model. First there's the donut during your morning coffee break. It's a little slip, sure, but not the end of the world.
"The problem is, one donut leads to a bag of chips at lunch and then a cheeseburger later in the day," he says. He advocates self-monitoring – basically writing down everything you eat – so you're focused on the food you consume and can avoid slippage that stymies weight loss. The idea is, if you write down that donut, later in the day you'll remember you had it and be less likely to make another slip.
Dieters just wanna have fun
So it's Friday noon. You've done a good job all week maintaining that healthy obsession with weight loss—choosing fresh fruit instead of donuts during coffee breaks and eating sensible sack lunches. But now you're itching to get out of the office and join your friends for lunch.
The good news is you've got plenty of options. But you've also got challenges. In the typical sit-down, American-style restaurant, Warshaw says portion size is your biggest challenge, followed by fat – in, on and around food.
"If you can deal with portion control and fats, there are plenty of choices," she says. You can:
Order from appetizers, salads or soups
Split and share items
Take food home
Do a soup and salad or soup and half sandwich combo
Order a vegetable plate ala carte
Make special requests
In her book, Warshaw offers more tips, plus nutrition info on more than 3,500 menu items at 55 restaurant chains.
Still, whether you head to the company cafeteria or the corner deli, Northwestern's Kirschenbaum points out this simple truth: "There's no way to lose weight and keep it off unless you restrict what you eat consistently."
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