Eating Behavior for Weight Loss - Do the math

Eating behavior for weight loss is based on simple math, subtraction.  Eat less, weigh less. But since dieting has become a perennial sport, that equation needs further proof. Fewer calories does mean weight loss, but eating less is a short term strategy.  Permanent weight loss requires more complicated mathematical theorems.

Do the math to try to develop your personal eating equation. Look at how you eat and subtract, substitute, and divide your way into new behaviors around food.

To find a starting point, food diaries come in handy. When you see how your calories add up, you can decide which foods you want to eliminate, eat less often or in smaller portions, or substitute for other foods. Make a list and train yourself to choose from it. Use the food pyramid, now choose my plate, to guide your food selections and make sure they are healthy and nutritious.

Obviously there are many programs that have done the math for you. And if you like their foods and philosophies and hate math, you can join the many satisfied customers of these plans. They serve a general audience well. Some plans offer a weigh in, and others let you track your own progress on a bathroom scale. The Biggest Loser Body Fat Bathroom Scale You can feel like you belong to a larger group combating weight loss together.

But, if you are partial to regional cooking, ethnic cooking, have food allergies, or actually like to cook, I recommend personalizing your eating equation for weight loss. Following your own weight loss meal plan is more intuitive than learning the eating behaviors of someone else.  And your family can all eat together.

Better nutrition comes from a behavior change you can make each day, not from radical changes that you make all at once.