Enjoy Favorite Foods

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/blogs/eat-run/articles/2016-02-26/moving-toward-saner-more-sensible-diets?int=a3d208

Be someone new. To reach your goals, you can't be your old self trying to engage in new behaviors. You have to become someone new. That means ditching everything you know about how you did things before and being willing to experiment with a new definition of yourself, according to Blatner.

Develop visual wisdom. Decide what you want to eat and then get ratios right on your plate: half vegetables, one-fourth whole grains and one-fourth protein for around 400 calories total. Her plan isn't about strict calorie counting, but teaching you how to visually achieve a better balance. The general guide: 2 cups vegetables, 1/2 cup cooked grain, 1/2 cup protein, and 1 to 2 tablespoons oil or dressing or 2 to 3 tablespoons nuts, seeds or guacamole.

Focus on your food. Every time you eat, you need three things: a table, a plate and a chair. That means no eating while standing with the refrigerator door open, driving in the car or lounging on the couch. When you eat from a plate while seated at a table, you naturally eat less and enjoy it more.


Schedule your activity. Find workouts you enjoy, and plot them out each day on a monthly calendar. Blatner says that while about 80 percent of weight loss happens in the kitchen, the right exercise program is an important way to keep weight off and will help you feel youthful, strong and confident.

"If you're not having fun, you're doing something wrong," Blatner says. So true.