lose weight at a buffet

Cook: How many pieces of roasted chicken do you want?
Me: How many do you give per person?

It was almost like a party every afternoon, a big hall, world continental buffet, appetizer and desert, how a company would feed its staffs this much and still make profit eludes me.  It was a 2weeks temporary job I took and every lunch hour was a feast, I would see food had only eaten in my dreams, lovely meals with names that the alphabet can’t spell, a dream come true. My first day at lunch hall went like this…

“Let me have the Spanish casserole, with the minced meat sauce and Chinese rice...ok no! Please replace it with that red thing, duck chili sauce? Yes and errmm…is that afang soup? You know what, just give me a little of everything…Thank you"

All these things spell “CALORIES!!!” but mehn, I had lost all the power and will to resist, na once is a life time o and the menu changes every day. No wonder when I first stepped in, I thought I had fallen into Giant Island, everyone looked so big! Except I wanted to change my week wardrobe within a week I either had to stay away from this hall or find a way around it.  I can’t tell you hold your breath every time you go for lunch, but I can give couple of “been there, done that” that works if you are fortunate/unfortunate to work with companies that feeding is their primary objective

Eat Breakfast: people that skip breakfast are often more vulnerable when faced with a mountain of food. Eating breakfast may reduce your hunger later in the day, which may make it easier to avoid swallowing the buffet table. Also choose a healthy breakfast.

Eat desert first: like the company I worked for, fruits or yogurts are usually in the mix, try eating your apples, yogurts first, it would fill up this space in your stomach and make you feel less hungry

Avoid fried: anything that has fried as a preface is a “no no”

Target the vegetable: if there is a vegetable option, go for it, it will help you fill up easily

Portion/plate size: a smaller plate will make you think you are eating more, a larger plate will make your plate look empty, so if you have an option use a smaller plate, remember it’s not about what you eat, it about the size of what you eat. Eat just a little, remember, there is always a tomorrow

Water Water Water! Try to take loads of water, the less inclined you’ll feel to eat more

Indulge once in a while: pick a day that you’ll allow yourself to eat without the guilt; it will give you a day to look forward to

Make healthy choices: do you have roasted potato and bread roll on the menu?, pick potato, fried or roasted fish, roasted is better, subtle changes can go a long way

Avoid a buffet if you can, but instance when you have no choice the least we can do is be smart about it. So go forth and eat and remember, all you can eat does not translate to all you SHOULD eat.

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Skimmed Milk or Full Cream?

“@weightloss9ja, skimmed milk doesn’t work, I have been taking it since last year and I have still not lost any weight, why?……Whao! back up! Who said skimmed milk will help you lose weight?

Theres is a lot of debate as to which milk is better “skimmed” or “whole”, some researchers have argued that whole milk is better than the skimmed version based on some scientific “abracadabra”. But I do know that skimmed milk helped a lot in the initial stage of my weightloss.  In all honesty, Skimmed milk doesn’t have any ingredient that directly contributes to weight loss but il take it over whole milk when it comes to dieting.  I swapped all my full cream powdered milk for marvel skimmed milk and my cornflakes for kspecial and weetabix, and I watched the number on my weight scale go down.

 Skimmed milk has less calories and almost no fat as compared to full cream milk and it contains more protein which makes sense when you are trying to cut down calories. if you consume less calories than you should, you will lose weight, Cutting your calories intake gradually will lead to weightloss and subtle changes like this will go way and you won’t even know you are on a diet.

The only problem I had with it was its taste, but there are different brands with different taste, even dano now has its skimmed powered version or you could go for the liquid fresh skimmed milk. my new favourite is the "Emborg"

fresh skimmed milk in the picture, you could try out different brand and find one you are comfortable with

More importantly is what you take with it, you can’t pour a cup of skimmed milk into a bowl of double coated frosties and expect to lose weight, and you also have to make subtle cereal changes. Im a kspecial fan, you could go for whole wheat cereal if you like, just eat healthy

Did make sense? Tell me what you think

9 Secrets to a Flat Tummy

Following my last post, these are your first steps to getting a flat tummy

     

1) Try not to eat until you tummy is pushing out: we can already the food, Eating till we can see the shape of the food is outlined in your stomach is definitely not the way. Have you noticed your belly is usually flat when you get out of bed in the mornings or when you havent eaten all day. if you try to maintain a belly shape, its only a matter of time before your belly actually assumes the shape.

2)   Replace "WHITE" with "BROWN": this is the first time in a world of racial discrimination that it is generally accepted that "Brown" is better than "white". Here in 9ja, most of our food is full of carbs hence our large and proud bellys. White bread, white rice, flour spaghetti, garri, yam e.t.c are all major culprit in belly fat. While it is almost difficult to eliminate entirely the consumption of these food type, i advice you reduce it, replace it with the healthier version and sometimes alternate. Thankfully we now have brown rice, whole grain spaghetti, whole grain bread, and wheat swallow in Nigeria

3)    Say no to Gas: all gassy/frizzy drinks(coke, fanta, lacasera, etc) contain carbonated water which is directly linked with bloated stomach. Instead, drink water flavored with lemon, lime, or cucumber. Or just reduce the number of fizzy drinks you consume each day and watch your belly deflate.

4)    A little less salt: Salt will not stop weight loss, but it can stall it. Sodium makes your body retain water. When you eat too much salt, you may see the scale go up a few pounds. Conversely, when you significantly reduce salt intake, you'll lose a few pounds as your body expels the water it was retaining. The weight you lose, however, is regained once you resume eating foods with salt. 
  salt really has no direct link to fat loss, however, the water retention in the body making you look bloated. with a consistent consumption of salt, you will eventually be bloated

5)     No alcohol: Drinking too much alcohol can cause your body to burn off 36 percent less fat, lead your body to store more fat from food, and inhibit hormones that help your body burn fat and create muscle. Another vice that contributes to belly fat is smoking. With each extra cigarette you smoke, you are at increased risk of storing abdominal fat as opposed to thigh or hip fat

6)  Eat More Protein. Protein has a higher thermic effect than other foods: your body burns more energy processing proteins than it does processing carbs and fat. That's why high protein diets work great at burning your belly fat.

7)    Eat Healthy: if you eat junk food all day, you won't lose your belly fat. Try eating healthy. Example of healthy food

Proteins. Meat, poultry, fish, eggs, turkey, chicken, milk, beans …

Veggies. Spinach, broccoli, salad, cabbage, pumpkin leaf, garlic, onion, carrot…

Fruits. Banana, orange, apple, pineapple, peers, berries, mango, ...

Fats. Olive oil, fish oil, nuts(groundut, almonds, kolanuts etc)…

Carbs. Brown rice, oats, whole grain pasta, whole …

8)    Exercise: first understand that you cant spot reduce, meaning you cant target a particular spot on your body to lose fat, you can only target to build muscles. So, to lose that layer of belly fat, you have to exercise your entire body. A simple brisk walking, or jogging or skipping will do the trick. I know it is hard to exercise in our 9ja centric environment, but I have found a way to sneak exercise in.......click to find out how

9)    Suck it in: This is perhaps the easiest and most looked over secret. The surest way to get that flat tummy sharp sharp! You can even try this now

     Always stand straight, Suck in your stomach so your belly button is drawn towards your spine. While your stomach is sucked in, do not hold your breath just keep breathing normally. You will know that you are doing this properly when you begin to feel a minor burning sensation in the deep stomach

Do this as often as you walk; it is the way I got my belly flat. So get busy guys!

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"Sit up" is not the Way!

 It was a long time ago the big tummies was a sign of good living, now, its just a sign of gluttony and lack of exercise and while the first reaction to reduce belly fat is usually to sit on a mat and start the forceful and almost impossible act of pulling yourself up to a sitting position, hoping that in a couple of months you will be showing your abs...wash!  not gon happen. Its like trying to cure a headache with an anti-fungal cream...

Before you jump on your mat, and ask Tolu to hold your legs please understand that Sit ups or crunches DONT burn fat, they only define your muscles. So whats the point of having a defined muscle tone if there will be a layer of fat covering it? you have to first lose the fat covering your stomach muscle before you begin to see any results for the exercise you do and especially since after we do the 200sit ups, we celebrate with 3packs on noodles and wonder why the flat tummy is playing hide and seek.

flat belly is the "in" thing and to me, it makes sense because no matter your size, your stomach size is a major determining factor of how good you look in what you wear. if you have a clearly defend waistline, regardless of how big you are, you are definitely hot! Besides, i have come to realize that the size of your stomach is directly related to the amount of folds you have on your back which is the thin line between "fab" and "flabby". Everyone knows this, the problem however is how to get the elusive abs.

while i am not  condemning all abdominal exercises(sit-ups, Crunches, reverse crunches, bicycles etc), it shouldnt be your first step, especially if you have a large blanket of fat covering your stomach. Your first step is to get rid of that blanket! So I am going to let you in on some secrets to getting your belly flat....click here!!!

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