You have a goal of losing fat and fitting into a smaller size dress/jeans and yet you haven’t seen much change or maybe you’re only a pound or two down. You are wondering why because you’ve been exercising and mostly eating well. 
What is most likely going on is that you are still eating too much food or the wrong kinds of food.
I often hear women say “I really don’t eat that much. I think it’s my hormones.” Well, this could be true for some people, but not for the majority. Most people are just eating too much of the wrong foods too often.
The Entire Week Matters, Not Just The Day
Look at your food intake for the week, not just the day. That apple pie sitting on your counter may only have 300 calories per slice, but by the time the entire pie is gone, you’ve consumed an extra 2400 calories in one week.
Be honest with yourself: how much and what types of food are you eating? You can’t exercise away poor eating habits – ever
ACTION STEPS:
1. Instead of saying to yourself “this one little bite won’t hurt” ask yourself the following questions before you delve into that cookie jar:
- Can I stop at one cookie?
- How will it make me feel right now?
- How will it make me feel in 20 minutes from now?
- How will it help me reach my ultimate goal?
2. Start logging your food into a journal. There are apps for your phone, free on-line sites to journal your food intake and good old fashioned pen and paper. Journal your food and drink intake for 7 days and look for patterns and things you can change. You may not even realize that you eat 5 tablespoons of peanut butter a day. You won’t really know until you do it and look at it.
3. Find an accountability partner. A good, non-judgmental friend or professional that will be honest with you and also be there for support. Just knowing someone else has certain expectations for you can keep you on track.
4. Fill your kitchen with healthy, supportive and nutritious food. Trash the trashy foods. Stop tempting yourself. Knowing that bag of cookies or sugar-filled faux health snack fruit-roll up is in your pantry makes staying on track too hard. Get lots of vegetables and some fruit that is washed/cleaned and ready to grab and eat.
