Losing Weight With Calorie Shaving

If you’re trying to shift the pounds, you might find that your diary is always filling up with social events- and with social events there’s often food and drink involved! It’s so easy to wait until social events are over before you start that diet on Monday. But if you keep doing that you run the risk of never losing weight. One way of keeping yourself on track is adopting the ‘middle way’, or ‘smart eating’– this means not being on a strict diet, nor completely indulging, but being a bit vigilant each day. For gradual weight loss, calorie ‘shaving’ is a great approach. This can help you to reduce your calorie intake in ways that don’t seem too restrictive. It means you can be losing weight whilst still enjoying the foods you like, but just cutting down on the amount you’re eating.

Examples Of Calorie ShavingLosing Weight With Calorie Shaving   By calorie shaving here and there you’ll be surprised how easily you can reduce your calorie consumption-over days, weeks and months, this can really add up. Examples of calorie shaving include eating 1-2 daily snacks instead of 3 or more snacks, or leaving some food on your plate. Many of us find it hard to leave food on our plate, and this often stems from childhood, where our parents told us to empty the plate. If you really find leaving food on your plate difficult, then a good way round this is serving yourself less food in the first place. Many of us eat from 12 inch plates these days, but you can do yourself a lot of favours by swapping them for the more traditional size 10 inch plate. Many of us tend to fill whatever bowls or plates we’re eating from, so crockery downsizing can be a good way to calorie shave. Other examples of simple calorie shaving that you can adopt for losing weight or maintaining your current weight include eating one biscuit instead of two, reducing and sticking to a fixed number of spoonfuls of a particular food that you eat (such as breakfast cereal, rice, coleslaw or houmous), sharing a dessert, having one or two courses in a restaurant instead of three, not having your usual second helping at dinner time, using a smaller glass for your wine or drinking less milky coffee (such as having regular white coffee instead of cappuccino or latte). For some people, losing weight can be achievable by simply cutting down on just a couple of foods or drinks that they might be consuming every day.

Recording Your Calorie Shaving Whilst Losing Weight

A calorie shaving diary can be useful as it’s a great feedback tool, a way to look back on the extent of your calorie shaving- if you find that you’re losing weight as a result of calorie shaving, it will give you some idea of how much it’s helping you, and which calorie shaving behaviours might be particularly effective. You should be aiming for gradual weight loss over time, not rapid results, and calorie shaving can help you to do this, as it doesn’t mean severely restricting calorie intake- this approach is also much more sustainable than strict dieting. Each day you might like to try writing down 2-5 ways in which you’ve calorie shaved- some days you will naturally calorie shave more than others. Don’t underestimate shaving off a few calories here and there- you’ll be surprised just how much the calories not eaten add up over a day, week and month.

Personalising Calorie Shaving For Your Own Particular Needs

Losing weight requires a personalised approach, as we all have different challenges when it comes to food and drink, so think about your own particular eating and drinking habits and identify what you can specifically target. Perhaps it’s your portion sizes at mealtimes, the number of snacks you eat, the size and frequency of sugary or alcoholic drinks, the number of coffees you drink or the amount of sweet foods you eat such as desserts, sweets and chocolate bars.

Combining Calorie Shaving With More Healthy Food Choices

Calorie shaving is a very simple concept, but it can be extremely effective. It’s something that people don’t always consider when they’re trying to lose weight. It’s easy to focus on the type of foods you’re eating, which is very important, but in an attempt to lose weight many people try to eat a perfect diet and deny themselves a whole range of foods, but this isn’t realistic. We all like to eat the occasional treats, and working with clients, I emphasise the importance of being realistic and practical, explaining that we can’t eat perfectly all of the time. No particular food is ‘bad’, it’s about how much we eat of it and how often.  Nevertheless, alongside calorie shaving it’s a good idea to start thinking about substituting some of your current foods with healthier alternatives, which may contain fewer calories and also provide you with more nutrients. Ultimately, it’s about balance.

It’s very easy to overeat, especially in today’s society where we’re confronted with such a range of delicious and enticing foods. Calorie shaving is good for helping you stay in control by making you more aware of how much you’re eating- it’s an invaluable tool as a means to either losing weight or maintaining your current weight long-term. It just requires some mindful eating. Give it a try!

If you feel you could benefit from my Mindful Eating service, give me a call (Emma Randall) on 07961 423120, or email me: info@mindfuleating.org.uk. I’m based in Lightwater, Surrey. I also offer Skype sessions.

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