Small Changes To Your Everyday Habits

Small Changes To Your Everyday Habits

It’s amazing how just a handful of small changes to every day habits can add up to big rewards.

When you take a closer look at the foods you routinely eat, and your everyday exercise patterns, it’s amazing how just a few diet changes can add up to big rewards.

Small changes to your everyday habits
Small changes to your everyday habits

Here are some recent changes I worked out with a patient, enough to lead to the loss of 60 pounds in a year.

1. Add 20 extra minutes to daily exercise.

It could be an additional 20 minutes of brisk walking in the morning or a second walk later in the day. The extra 100 calories burned per day could mean 10 pounds lighter at the end of a year.

2. If your usual breakfast five days a week is a coffee drink and a bagel with cream cheese, a switch to a protein shake will shave off about 250 calories a day. That’s enough to drop more than 18 pounds in a year.

3. A healthy habit of eating salad about 7 times a week is a bit counterproductive if the greens are drenched in dressing. Reducing the amount of salad dressing from three tablespoons to one will lead to savings of more than 1000 calories a week—and the loss of about 16 pounds in a year.

4. About three times a week, instead of having a candy bar as an afternoon pick-me-up, have a small protein bar and a cup of tea instead. You could be cutting as much as 600 calories a week—enough to shed nearly 9 pounds in a year.

5. Sandwiches are eaten 5 times a week on average and always include a slice of cheese. Lose the cheese and replace it with veggies and save 500 calories a week. Another 7 pounds could be lost in a year with this one change.

6. Dessert is eaten six times a week—usually cookies or ice cream, to the tune of about 200 calories. Swap for a piece of fruit and cut enough calories to lose another 10 pounds in a year.

These are the kinds of desired losses that can come with simple diet changes.