Cutting Calories

Cutting calories, as we all know, is no easy task. Dieting is something that most patients suffering from excess weight have tried throughout their entire lives. Unfortunately, diets usually do not work in the long-term. The basic problem with the diet is the lack of sustainability and moderation. We usually overdo it in our weight loss efforts, hoping to lose a significant amount of weight in a short period of time. We deprive ourselves of all of the calorie rich items that we enjoy, consume far too little and eventually are not able to sustain both the strictly limited diet and the concurrent weight loss. The result is that we start to gain weight back and sometimes even end up at a higher weight than when we started.

This vicious cycle is not only bad for us physically, but it can also cause psychological issues including depression.

Cutting calories needs to become second nature – meaning that we don’t even think about it. For example, instead of eating an entire slice of cake at dessert we can start to eat half a portion. We are essentially training ourselves to eat less of the bad, not necessarily cut it out completely, right away.

During the meal, if we are able to fill ourselves up with lean proteins and vegetables then the high sugar fruits and desserts that are laid out in front of us will seem less appealing. And cutting calories does not only happen at dessert time – many of the drinks we so enjoy are full of sugar and can be very detrimental to our weight loss program. Eliminating empty calories and sugars by limiting sodas from our daily diet for example can certainly help, but if we find that impossible, then just drinking half of our usual will cut a significant number of calories over the course of a week. Similarly, eliminating one or two glasses of cow’s milk every week and replacing it with soy, flax or rice milk can significantly cut the amount of fat, sugar and calories that we consume.

Ultimately, the key to consistent long term weight loss is to eliminate the very worst offenders and moderate everything else. Moderation in our diets and exercise regimens will be our very good friend and will allow us to lose weight effectively and safely, bariatric surgery or not.

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