After you have done the work of finding out how much you eat
per day and how much calories are contained therein, you can start making
substitutions or cutting out certain things on a daily basis. If you love
pancakes, for instance, you can substitute with frozen pancakes. For 3, you use
up just 240 calories. That is half of what was contained in the IHOP pancakes.
If you absolutely can't forsake the IHOP pancakes, eat less of them. Instead of
3 pancakes, eat 1 or 2 and save the third for another day. Your goal for the
week is to cut out 3,500 calories from your diet. The best way to do that is to
try to eat 500 calories less each day. 500 times 7 is 3500. A 500 calorie
deficit wont be so shocking to your system. It's better to take a little off
everyday and maintain the loss, instead of taking a lot off, starving and then
binging once your will power is broken or once your body has had enough and
screams FEED ME!!
The biggest job here is to get an idea of the calories
contained in the foods you love to eat. Then you just need to habitually cut
out little things here and there. You'll be surprised to find out how much you
are eating, how easy it is to cut down, and how quickly the weight comes off.
Programs like Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers are powerful.
They count the calories for you, and if you follow them correctly, weight loss
is assured. But if you want to empower yourself, save money and gain a skill
that you can pass on to friends and family members, try the method listed
above. Learn the amount of calories contained in the foods you eat, reduce
those calories and then reap the benefits of that knowledge. Weight loss is
easy when you do the math.