Eat more to lose weight, not less.

Since I was 18 I have battled with portion control. When I was younger I could eat, and eat, and eat, and eat and eat, but it never affected me at all. By the time I was my biggest I thought eating less would do the trick, but I was wrong. I thought not eating certain foods would work and it did, but not without consequences. Losing muscle along with fat will make you smaller, but not healthy. There are a million fad diets or diet pills( I never used ), but there are really only two options I see that are correct; eating more often (healthy foods) and eating more often and exercising. When a diet tells you YOU CAN EAT ANYTHING YOU WANT it generally means it's ok to have a burger or pizza even ice cream, but not everyday. Portion control, when I implement it correctly, has been the one thing I've done that has shown the quickest results.

A couple months ago, on and off, I began a protein shake regiment with the girls, Christine and Kat. I would wake up in the morning and drink a shake within 30 minutes of getting out of bed, I got that from Christine, and it worked wonders on my energy level and my overall mood. I would then eat every 2-3 hours whether it be scrambled eggs and salsa or a handful of cranberries and nuts, but I would limit my servings to never exceed a measuring cup worth of food. It also helped a lot to jot down every time I ate and at what time. That motivated me to not only eat more, but better. Don't get me wrong I still ate cream cheese and mashed potatoes, but because I was being more personally responsible with my diet it was easier to limit heavy foods, or junk. I also made a huge effort to not eat carbs with dinner, which can be hard with Ty and the Baby, but they didn't notice much and that made me happy.

 There are two things that really make eating throughout the day easier for me and it's Greek yogurt and Cottage cheese. I buy the 0% yogurts by Chobani that come in really awesome flavors like "Black Cherry" and "Blood Orange." Mixing things into cottage cheese can make it easier to eat for some people, I'm not one of those, but I put chopped tomatoes and pepper or even mix a little with one of my bean salads if I have one already made. While you want to watch fat, and sugar intake, you really just need to pay attention to the other benefits of certain foods. Both Cottage cheese and the yogurt have protein. Greek yogurt is also a great probiotic and can be used inplace of things like Mayo or Sour cream. I was reading not to long ago that not consuming enough protein is what forces some of us to snack on certain things that we definitely don't need. I found a calculation to help figure out what your daily amount of protein should be:



The DRI (Dietary Reference Intake) is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, or 0.36 grams per pound 
(found on  http://authoritynutrition.com/how-much-protein-per-day/ )

The protein shake I drink equals about half of my daily requirement for protein, so why don't I just drink two? Well because what I'm trying to do is not about eating less, it's about eating healthy. I have researched liquid diets in length, and they are not necessarily advocated by doctors, dieticians, or health experts. Yes, you will lose tons of weight by drinking your meals, but we have teeth for a reason and there is a lot necessary function to the act of chewing your food. Chewing is the first step in proper digestion and is what tells the body to start producing digestive enzymes so you can efficiently break down food and absorb all the benefits. If your body isn't absorbing the vital substances from your food than you are missing out and that is what experts say happens in a largely liquid diet.

I have found with this eating habit I eat anywhere from 5-8 times a day starting within 30 minutes of getting out of bed and stopping by 7p.m. Drinking more water than normal has shown, in my experience, to be really helpful when drinking protein shakes. The protein powder can have a tendency to absorb a lot of liquids from your system upsetting any "regularity" balance in place. This is to be interpreted as a choice on my behalf, I am not an advocate for any particular diet I have just found a healthy way to start controlling an out of control habit of overeating. I have more energy and a better attitude which is funny to be able to attribute eating "more" to that conclusion.

Here in the link below WebMD has an article that maybe interesting for you to read if you are torn between the 3 square meals or 6. Keep in mind they are discussing what is better for weight loss, while my approach encompasses both health and the average of 4 lb.s a week I have lost in a one month trial. Again, I have found something that works for me, but we are all different! The worst thing you can do is find out something doesn't work for you and move on:)

http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/3-hour-diet-or-3-meals-a-day

*Remember to always educate yourself on any extreme diet change.