‘I Made These 3 Changes to My Dinner—and I Finally Started Losing Weight’
When I finally decided that it was time to make some changes, I made these three adjustments to lose the weight I gained from enjoying my free-for-all suppers.
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1. You Eat What You Get
Most of my meals were healthy—the biggest problem was that I couldn’t stop eating them. I’d divvy myself a serving, then 100 percent of the time, I’d go back to the kitchen for more. Then, of course, since I didn’t want food to go to waste, I’d finish off the scraps on my kiddos’ plates. A few extra noodles here and some pizza crust there made for a lot of extra fluff around my waist.
It had to stop. So once dinner was made, I gave myself a properly-portioned serving, and if there were any leftovers, I put them in the fridge. If it was out of sight, it couldn’t tempt me. I started having the kids bring their own plates to the kitchen and pour any extras into the compost bin. This was probably the hardest change of all. But after a week, this new habit felt much easier. And I felt lighter and more energetic, too.
2. Cheese Is Not a Food Group
As a vegetarian, I ate so much dairy. Cheese was a part of every single dinner I made. My go-to meals—like pizza, paninis, homemade mac and cheese, and quesadillas—were not so healthy. So when I gave up dairy, it forced me to make new, healthier options that were veggie-based, like stir-fries, roasted veggies with rice and beans, soups, and amazing salads. It increased the fiber intake of my dinners, so I actually felt more full and satisfied after those meals than I did after a few slices of pizza. No dairy meant eating lower-calorie dinners, and that made a huge difference on the scale.
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3. Dinner and Done
For some reason, I couldn’t stop eating once I started eating dinner. Even after that second helping and devouring my kids’ extra bites, I always sat down to a little dessert. A little bowl of soy ice cream with sliced bananas or some chocolate chips with almonds was my favorite.
I started serving fresh fruit with dinner so after finishing our avocado pasta and tomatoes with sautéed tofu or sweet potato and black bean burritos, we could nosh on some sweet melon, strawberries, or grapes and satisfy that sweet tooth. So once I started putting the leftovers away at dinnertime, the kitchen was closed.