FitSugar

10 Eating Tips For Avoiding the Freshman 15

FitSugar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:50:12 -0700

The dorm dining hall can be dangerous - like a giant, all-you-can-eat buffet available all day, every day. It's no wonder most of us gain some weight when going off to college, though the infamous "freshman 15" is really more like 10 pounds.

Whether you're eating in a dining hall or cooking for yourself in your first apartment, a few simple strategies can help you avoid that first-year college weight gain. Here are my tips for eating healthy at the university level.

Don't skip meals, especially breakfast. Starting with a filling breakfast helps steady your metabolism throughout the day. Here are five ideas for quick but healthy starts.
Drink lots of water. At the dining hall, during lectures, throughout cram sessions, whenever! Skip the soda and carry a water bottle that you can refill throughout the day to prevent constipation and bloating.
Include at least three food groups in every meal. When choosing from the endless dining hall bounty, make an effort to get plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, lean protein, and calcium - not just pizza and chicken fingers.

For the rest of my top 10 healthy eating tips, read more.

Control your portions. Just because you can fill your plate every time doesn't mean you should. Familiarize yourself with what proper portions look like and stick to them.
Treat yourself once a day. From sundae bars to fresh baked cookies, desserts abound at the dining hall. Go ahead and indulge, but limit yourself to one treat a day. If you have a cookie after lunch, skip the ice cream after dinner.
Avoid a fourth meal. In my dorm-room days, there were always late-night pizzas being delivered or roommates making mac and cheese at midnight. It's OK to fortify yourself with the occasional snack while studying, but make sure it's actually a snack, not the equivalent of a second dinner or dessert.
Stock healthy snacks. For those late-night study sessions when you do get hungry, keep your dorm room full of healthy snacks, like nuts, pretzels, fruit, popcorn, and nutrition bars.
Pick your liquor carefully. Freshman aren't supposed to drink! But chances are, you will anyway. Remember: alcoholic beverages are full of empty calories, and sugary cocktails are the worst for both calories and hangovers.
Shop smart. If you live in an apartment, learn to shop for one person by choosing healthy foods that won't go bad before you can finish them: frozen vegetables and fruit, yogurt, low-fat string cheese, and healthy frozen meals are all great options.
Exercise! OK, this isn't really a healthy eating tip, but it's an essential part of keeping the pounds off in college. Walk or bike to class, frequent the school gym, or join an intramural team and get moving!

What are your tips for incoming freshmen looking to avoid the traditional weight gain?

6 Whole Grains to Help Control Your Weight

FitSugar — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 08:00:00 -0700

Cheap and healthy are my go-to adjectives these days, and whole grains fit nicely within these requirements. Whole grains are heart healthy, fight belly fat, contain appetite-controlling fiber, and are low-glycemic carbohydrates, which means they can help to control your weight. Keep your hunger at bay and achieve a healthy weight by incorporating more of these carbs into your diet.

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Speak Up: Do You Agree With Meghan McCain About Women's Weight?

FitSugar — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:00:00 -0700

Her dad's presidential bid is over, but blogger and aspiring pundit Meghan McCain is still speaking her mind, and this time, it's got nothing to do with politics. McCain recently wrote a piece for The Daily Beast criticizing the never-ending criticism of women's bodies in the media. She wonders why, after all the progress women have made in the past few decades, is women's weight still a "socially acceptable prejudice"?

McCain, who wears an 8 or a 10, was prompted to write the piece after talk-radio host Laura Ingraham made fun of McCain's "plus-size" body. The senator's daughter used the opportunity to question why women's weight is even part of the political and cultural discussion:

Everyone from Jessica Simpson to Tyra Banks, Oprah Winfrey, and Hillary Clinton has fallen victim to this type of image-oriented bullying. . . . After Kelly Clarkson’s recent appearance on American Idol, the first commentary I read on the Internet was about her weight gain instead of her singing.

What do you think of McCain's point? Do you agree that women's weight is one of the last socially acceptable forms of prejudice? Or do you think she is overreacting? Should we keep healthy weight in the forefront of our dialogue?

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Celebrity BMIs Suggest the Numbers Can Be Misleading

FitSugar — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 09:00:35 -0800

When you're striving to achieve a healthy weight, it's natural to look for guidance about what exactly that means for your body. While the jeans test is telling in terms of your body's changes, your pants can't tell you how many pounds you might need to lose or gain to get to your best weight.

For years, we turned to the body mass index (BMI) formula for a clue about where we fall on the health curve, but the calculation doesn't differentiate between the weight of muscle from fat and therefore isn't as trusted as it used to be.

Health.com recruited its top two nutrition experts to calculate the BMIs of seven celebrities by analyzing their photos. The experts were told each celebrity's height measurements but used weight estimates, so their calculations aren't 100 percent accurate. Still, the results offer some surprising insight about the accuracy of BMIs. To see their approximate BMI calculations for celebs and athletes like Beyonce and Tony Romo, read more.

Celebrity	Height	Estimated Weight (lbs)	Estimated BMI	BMI Verdict
Angelina Jolie	5'8''	118	17.9	Underweight
Arnold Schwarzenegger	6'2''	240	30.8	Obese
Beyonce	5'6''	130	21	Normal
Tom Cruise	5'7''	166	26	Overweight
Tony Romo	6'2''	224	28.8	Significantly overweight
Serena Williams	5'9''	150	22.1	Normal
Jennifer Love Hewitt	5'2''	120	21.9	Normal

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5 Things About: Healthy Weight Loss

FitSugar — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 03:30:00 -0700

I have received many questions recently about healthy ways to lose weight and I would like to preface this list of 5 things by saying fad diets and crazy fasts are not the way to go.

To lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit, meaning you consume fewer calories than you are expending. Think of it like this: Calories in needs to be less than calories going out. It really is pretty simple.
To lose one pound a week you need to be in a caloric deficit of 3500 calories. The best way to do this is to combine eating less calories and burning more calories – that means exercise! Cardio is great for burning calories. See these posts for ideas to freshen up your cardio routine.
You should never eat less than 1200 calories a day. Eating less than 1200 calories slows down your metabolism, since your body thinks a famine is coming. It is not nice to tease your metabolism in this manner. Play nice and eat healthy well-balanced meals loaded with nutrient rich veggies, fruits and grains.
The longer it takes for you to drop the pounds, the better chance you have of keeping them off. Remember: slow and steady wins with race. This is why you should really think of losing weight as making a life style change rather than dieting. Once you lose the weight, you want to maintain all those healthy habits that helped you shed those pounds in the first place.
Losing 1 to 2 pounds a week is considered healthy. Losing more than 2 pounds a week is a serious shock to your body. This also means you are not starving yourself or depriving yourself. Fad diets, or diets that have you cut out an entire food group leave you feeling less satisfied and full which leads you to cheat on your diet and then give-up. Remember it is a life style change you are working towards and having a healthy relationship with all kinds of food.

Looking for more tips and encouragement? Check out these diet tips for they will surely help. Of course, reading FitSugar regularly should help too!

Good luck!

Avoid Crash Diets: Healthy Weight-Loss Tips

FitSugar — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 03:00:55 -0700

I read a very sad and unfortunate tale of an English bride-to-be's death after crash dieting. After eating only 530 calories a day for 11 weeks, the 34-year-old collapsed. Having weighed 244 pounds at the start of the controversial LighterLife diet, Samantha Clowe had lost 42 pounds when she collapsed and died of heart failure. Her family and fiancé are in my thoughts, and in light of this tragedy, I would like to review five rules for healthy and sustainable weight loss.

To lose weight you need to be in a caloric deficit, meaning you consume fewer calories than you are expending. Think of it like this: calories coming in need to be fewer than calories going out. It really is pretty simple.
To lose one pound a week you need to be in a caloric deficit of 3,500 calories. The best way to do this is to combine eating fewer calories and burning more calories - that means exercise! Cardio is great for burning calories. See these posts for ideas to freshen up your cardio routine.

Learn the other three tips when you continue reading.

DrSugar: Tips For Healthy Weight Gain?

DrSugar — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 03:30:00 -0700

DrSugar is in the house and he's answering your health questions.

Dear Dr. Sugar,
I'd like some advice on how to gain weight the healthy way. I'm naturally petite and thin, yet I think adding a few extra pounds to my frame would be beneficial to my health, and I would probably look better too. The problem is I like to do cardio and other more vigorous sports (not to mention I work in a gym!), so it's difficult for me to keep my weight within a healthier BMI. Any suggestions as far as diet and exercise go? It's not as common to want to gain weight, but we skinny women are out there! Thanks.
- Looking to Add Lbs.

Thanks for writing in with your question. Although the majority of questions I receive are from women seeking weight loss advice, you are not alone. To see my advice on this topic, just read more.

Problems with low body weight are very important to address in order to maintain good overall health. Being underweight is defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of less than 18.5. While the BM scale is not a perfect gauge of health, a BMI lower than 18.5 is almost always worrisome. Low body weight can be related to a wide range of medical issues such as eating disorders, serious bowel problems, and other chronic illnesses. It sounds like you are healthy, but are naturally very small. Even petite people should attempt to stay above a BMI of 18.5 for optimal health.

Weight gain can be difficult for very active people like you with a fast metabolism. Weight gain really boils down to a very basic formula: weight gain = calorie intake – calories burnt. This means that you need to eat more calories than you burn over the course of a day to gain weight. Here is an example of a calories per day calculator. You can go to the site and enter your height, weight, age, and activity level and it will estimate your daily caloric needs to maintain an even weight. To gain weight, you will need to eat more calories than that amount. A healthy amount of weight gain per week is about one pound. To gain one pound per week, you need to eat 3,500 more calories than you burned (3,500 calories = one pound).

The healthiest way to gain weight is to eat a well-rounded, protein-rich diet. You should opt for lean protein like fish and poultry. Another way to gain weight is to add strength training to your workout regimen in order to increase muscle mass. Foods to avoid include junks foods, processed foods, and foods that are high in saturated fat and cholesterol. It might also help to increase the number of meals you eat per day to four or five instead of three. For some more helpful tips, check out these tips on healthy weight gain.

Have a question for DrSugar? Send it by private messaging me here, and I will forward it to the good doctor.

DrSugar's posts are for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment recommendations. Click here for more details.

Speak Up: Do You Feel You Are at a Healthy Weight?

FitSugar — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:00:00 -0800

We are in the middle of Healthy Weight Week created by the organization Healthy Weight Network. This group formed in response to the madness of fad diets and the timing of the their awareness week is intentional. Many Americans plunge into "fad" diets on January 1, hoping to change their lives by cutting carbs, or fat, or simply by drinking lemonade with maple syrup for a week. Generally, by the third week of January, the weight loss resolutions have been abandoned often leaving the dieter worse off than before.

While I am not completely against dieting as the Healthy Weight Network is, fad diet and weight loss gimmicks make me fittingly mad. Although many women I know are at a healthy weight, they freely admit to wanting to lose a few extra pounds. I am wondering how you feel about your weight. Do you think you are at healthy weight? If not, how much do you think you should lose. While we're on the subject, how do you feel about dieting? Has it worked for you or failed you? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Padma Cooks at Home to Stay Fit

FitSugar — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0800

Thanks to a full season of Top Chef's indulgent cuisine, the reality hostess admits she's likely to go up a couple dress sizes during filming. Still, Padma Lakshmi doesn't let the extra pounds take a toll on her healthy fitness perspective, and shares with Glamour how a positive attitude and a realistic take on eating help her shed the weight.

For one, Padma reveals that when Top Chef contestants aren't whipping up something decadent for her to taste, she's likely to be cooking something healthy at home. Padma knows that cooking in her own kitchen can be a healthy way to control her caloric intake, and while takeout can seem a more convenient alternative, Padma reminds us that, "it can actually take longer to order delivery or go pick up takeout than it does to cook." In addition, the foodie loves the physicality of cooking, noting that "[instead] of watching TV, waiting for your food to come, you’re actually moving [when you cook]. My aunt had the best arms in the world, and she never stepped inside a gym.”

Check out Glamour to get the rest of Padma's realistic weight loss and healthy eating tips.

8 Ways to Lasting Weight Loss

FitSugar — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 10:15:00 -0700

People are always writing me asking ways they can keep the weight off once they've lost it. I tend to think it is all in how you approach it, rather than what you do. eDiets.com has come up with 8 great tips on ways you can make weight loss last:

Do not drastically cut calories. They are your body’s energy and necessary for it to function efficiently. What you can do is limit the empty calories. These come from foods with little or no nutrients. If some of the leading ingredients are flour, high fructose corn syrup, sugar or partially hydrogenated oils, you can bet the food does not support your health or weight loss.
Keep junk foods out of sight, and out of mind. When ice cream is in the freezer or potato chips are calling to you from the pantry, they are hard to ignore. Keep healthy snacks that satisfy your cravings close by. If you have a sweet tooth, strawberries should do the trick. If you crave crunchy or salty foods, keep carrots or a variety of nuts in stock.

There's 6 more tips on keeping weight off, so read more

Do not drink your calories. Soda, juice, coffee filled with creamer and alcohol can contain a ton of calories. By sticking to tea and water you can cut hundreds of calories each day. By simple cutting out a couple high-calorie beverages daily, you can lose several pounds.
Make fitness a priority. If exercise is something that's done only when you have the time, chances are that it will not happen very often. Make fitness a priority and schedule it on your calendar like you would a lunch date or a doctor’s appointment. Find what works best for you and stick to it. The best time might be first thing in the morning before the kids wake up, or in the afternoon when they nap. You may find that exercising with your child works best. Whatever time of day or type of exercise you choose, it is important to be consistent. Make it a priority and a habit.
Every little bit counts. Getting in shape does not require a daily two-hour commitment at the gym. Something as simple as an afternoon walk around the neighborhood with the stroller, or squatting and lunging as you hold your baby can make a big difference.
Change your mindset. Developing a positive attitude towards weight loss and health is absolutely necessary if you want to be successful. It has been proven over and over again that the mind and body work closely together. When your mind is saying exercise is a miserable chore, that's most likely what it will feel like every time you do. When your thoughts dwell on the excess weight, your body is carrying with it a hopeless attitude that will undoubtedly make the pounds harder to lose. Many people find that positive affirmations help. When you exercise, tell yourself that you are becoming a thinner and healthier person. The more you do this and believe it, the more likely it is to actually be true. As you are eating your balanced diet of whole grains, fruits and vegetables, don't think about the junk food you are missing out on. Instead, think of how fit you are becoming by feeding your body what it needs to become its best.
Find inspiration that works for you. Some may want to lose the weight so they can fit into their pre-pregnancy clothes. Others may want to get healthy to reduce their risk of heart disease and diabetes so they have a better chance of being around longer for their children. Still others may need a role model or visual picture of someone they want to emulate. Motivations for getting in shape are unique. Figure yours out and use it to keep you going.
Get help. Fitness and nutrition can seem overwhelming at times. Using online resources and hiring a fitness coach can be very beneficial. Having a personal trainer who is knowledgeable about postpartum exercise will provide safe and effective workouts, as well as hold you accountable to regular exercise.

To read the full article, visit eDiets.com.