Countdown to Swimsuit Season:
Tips to Help You Shed the Pounds

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March is almost as big a time for weight loss as January is. We’re starting to think about the upcoming beach and swim season which means putting on a swim suit and feeling food about the skin we’re in. So let’s start with a true-false quiz on diet and weight loss and see how nutrition savvy you are.

Here we go: Diet Myth or Diet Truth?

#1 True or False: You can lose weight if you eat grapefruit or drink/use vinegar?

FALSE: This myth is considered ‘food folklore’--wishful thinking for many of us who have heard this faux promise for years. Unfortunately no food can "burn fat" nor "burn off the calories in a food". If you lose weight because you eat grapefruit, it's because you substitute this low calorie food for one in your diet that is likely much higher in calories and fat. Same for vinegar. It may get used in place of a much higher fat salad dressing for example.

#2 True or False: You must stop eating at 7pm or you won't lose weight?

FALSE: Calories do not count more in the evening. In terms of fat burning, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie, regardless of when it is eaten. Bottom line for weight loss is calories consumed against calories expended. What happens many times is you skip meals or else eat very lightly all day and are ravenous by the time late afternoon or early evening rolls around. At this point, do you notice that you reach for anything you can get your hands on and typically consume much larger portions and way more calories than you normally would? Then you fall asleep and never burn the calories off.

Research from The National Weight Control Registry http://www.nwcr.ws/ shows that people who eat throughout the day have less cravings at night and tend to eat much less after 7 pm.

Don’t forget to follow the 80-20 rule.

Remember, you’ve got to ‘own it’…own a healthy lifestyle. Remember 80% of the time you make healthy selections and then allow yourself 20% for less than healthy choices. This doesn’t mean a free for all in terms of portion size during the 20% time. It means that you get rid of this good food-bad food mentality that drives you nuts and that you allow yourself small indulgences of your choice in reasonable amounts without beating yourself up. It’s a healthier way of looking at food.