Realistic Weight Loss Work Sheet – Keep what you love, substitute and add where you can, and remove the unimportant

Quick summary: When it comes to weight loss the tortoise wins and the rabbit ends up going the wrong way. Unrealistic eating plans get in the way of your weight loss goals (some even make things worse). If you are using too much personal restraint you may be setting yourself up to fail. This questionnaire will help you to create a reasonable plan to achieve an eating pattern that can be maintained for a lifetime. Moderation, Balance, and realistic expectations will help you find hope and wellness.
 
Complete these questions and bring them to a Nutritionist. (Complete the questions 10 times for each of the two categories = twenty total food dishes with all relevant components and sides.)
Favorite Food – Highly desired immensely Satisfying food (name the food that would require all of your will power to restrain yourself from eating). __________________.

• Name all the individual components of the dish (ex. mayonnaise, cheddar, sourdough role, pepperoni, bacon etc.) ______________, ________________, ____________________, _______________, _________________, _______________,
• Name all the sides that must accompany the dish to satisfy your desire (ex. Cole slaw, French fries, Ice tea, Pepsi etc.)_________________, ______________, _______________, ______________,
• What is the benefit of eating this food to you? (delicious, family memories, emotional comfort, makes me feel good, cultural, tradition etc)

 
Moderate to low desire/satisfaction Food – The food that is not particularly good for you that you don’t have an unyielding desire for. (Name the unhealthy food that you eat which would not take much restraint to avoid.)

• Name all the individual components of the dish (ex. mayonnaise, cheddar, sourdough role, pepperoni, bacon etc.) ______________, ________________, ____________________, _______________, _________________, _______________,
• Name all the sides that generally accompany the dish (ex. Cole slaw, French fries, Ice tea, Pepsi etc.)
• What is the benefit of eating this food to you? (convenient, quick, cultural, all there is, easy to make etc)

 
Fill this form out 10 times for Favorite Foods and 10 times for Moderate to low desire/satisfaction Foods.
 
Rank all of your Sides and components on a scale of 1 – 10 (10 being very important = no substitution is a reasonable option, and 1 being not important = you could use a healthy alternative or remove it all together).
 
Name all the healthy foods that you already enjoy.
 
Take your answers to a nutritionist and ask for guidance on how to create a reasonable eating plan. (Meaning the plan will be sustainable without requiring excessive personal restraint.)
 

• You now have a list of important and not so important foods. It is reasonable to assume that your degree of self-control surrounding food will be related to this list.

 

• Foods that have significant emotional importance to a person can be looked at with a therapist. This topic will be in a future blog.

 

• Have your nutritionist suggest healthier alternatives or replacements to every component and side of the food that you listed above (ex. beef burger to turkey burger, White bread to wheat bread, pepperoni to Canadian bacon, three slices of cheese to one slice of cheese etc).

 

• Go through the list with your nutritionist and mark down the replacements that you know will work for you, you know will not work for you, and those that you are willing to try.

 

• Set yourself up for success… Success is based on being realistic with yourself… often when a person fails at one part of their diet they will give up all together… if substituting ground beef with ground turkey will require immense restraint then avoid setting yourself up for failure.

 

• For your favorite foods your number one goal is portion size control… if changing an ingredient dramatically impacts your satisfaction then do not change that ingredient.

 

• Ask you nutritionist to help you create a reasonable eating schedule that will encourage a healthy metabolism.

 

• Ask your nutritionist for tips on how to avoid overeating unhealthy favorite foods (ex. waiting ten minutes after you have finished half of your meal, drinking a pint of water before you begin eating, eating your salad or a fruit before you have your meal etc)

 

• Finally have your nutritionist offer ways of including necessary healthy foods into your daily diet. Talk openly about which suggestion feel realistic to you. Encourage her to use as many of the foods that you already enjoy as possible.

 

• Important – you must be honest with your nutritionist… if you think that a suggestion is too difficult consult with her on other options.

 

• Allow yourself to be continually supported by the nutritionist… success often necessitates continuous involvement from a supportive professional in most situation in which the goal is fundamental change.

 
Note – Eating smaller portion more often is generally ideal and some research is suggesting that eating your ‘vice’ favorite food earlier in the day will help you to avoid overeating that food later in the day.

• This is based on restraint theory research which suggests that the more you restrain yourself from something the more you desire that something and therefore the more likely you are to overindulge when your self-restraint eventually fails.

 
For realistic nutrition tips visit www.justalittlechocolate.com
 
You can do this in a way that doesn’t feel constantly painful.
 
Live and be healthy – these were never mutually exclusive
 
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