Each December, the new year approaches and with it is always a long list of hopes and goals for the new year. We promise ourselves that this will be the year that we finally lose weight. We swear off fast food and buy fresh veggies. All is well until a few weeks later when it’s February and the New Year’s resolutions are gradually forgotten as our school and work schedules pick up. It becomes harder to get to the gym every day and we just don’t have time to pack a fresh lunch so we stop by Pal’s for a burger and fries. Before we know it, we’re back into our old routines, our New Year’s resolution to lose weight is a distant memory, a grand idea to be revisited next December when we’re ready to try again.

As a busy college student myself, I know it’s hard to stick to your goals of eating healthy and going to the gym. However, I know it can be done because I did it in 2009. I made the resolution. I lost the weight. A year and 65 pounds later, I was equipped with the healthy knowledge that I am now going to share with you here.

I have 10 tips for healthy eating that I know will help you keep your New Year’s resolution this year. Just by changing your eating habits, you can lose weight even if you don’t have time to make it to the gym every day. I’m not a licensed nutritionist and you should always consult your doctor or a nutritionist to find out what eating plan is best for you. However, these tips are general and it’s up to you to tailor them to your specific dietary needs.

First, figure out how you like to eat vegetables. Do you need to hide them in foods just to get them down? If so, find recipes for ground turkey meatloaf or burgers that you can hide vegetables in. Vegetables are super low calorie and super good for you. Plus, they’re usually full of fiber. Since they’re so low calorie, you can eat more of them to help you feel full longer and the fiber helps with that as well. Try roasting vegetables with spices and some extra virgin olive oil for a crunchier, more flavorful texture. Steaming them is going to give you that soft, moist texture. Find out which you prefer. Stir-frying is also an option.

Second, think about food differently. It’s not the quantity it’s the quality. One 550 calorie Big Mac from McDonald’s could be two chicken breasts plus a baked potato and veggies. Do you really want that 300 calorie Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie when you could have two Fiber One granola bars or two servings of frozen yogurt for that amount of calories?

Third, forget the fad diets. Losing weight is about calories in versus calories out. You maybe should pay attention to fat content also but generally, if you’re eating low calorie the fat content is going to be low as well.

Fourth, learn how to eat out at a restaurant. I cannot stress enough how important it is to do research on the restaurants where you eat. For instance, Chili’s Texas Cheese Fries with Chili & Ranch contains 2,100 calories and have 141 grams of fat. Are they serious? That’s triple the fat you’re supposed to have in one day. Not to mention, I’m only allotted anywhere from 1,300 to 1,600 calories a day so eating one serving of this would be my days worth of calories and then some. All restaurant meals are like this. Restaurants use fatter foods with higher calories and more preservatives. If you make a turkey sandwich with chips at home you’re looking at maybe 600 calories. At a restaurant? Easily over 1,000. Their portions are bigger and the food in general is worse for you. So what do you do? You order off of their “fit” or “healthy” menu or you learn to order things like a petite steak, baked potato with butter on the side and a steamed vegetable. With that kind of meal, you can get out of there under 600 calories and enjoy a complimentary roll.

Fifth, eating healthy is not about denying yourself the foods that you want. It’s about substituting healthier options. Try a baked potato instead of french fries, low calorie butter spray instead of margarine, frozen yogurt instead of ice cream or a turkey or vegetable burger instead of red meat. You can cut hundreds of calories out of your day just by switching to light chocolate syrup on your dessert or light pancake syrup. It tastes the same but is lower in calories. Does it still have bad things like high fructose corn syrup? Yes. But if you’re more interesting in cutting calories and less interested in eating organic or natural, then this is the way to go.

Sixth, say you want to go to McDonald’s and have a Big Mac meal. Go! Use portion control. Take the middle piece of bread out of your burger and share your fries with someone else. You want to go eat hibachi chicken and rice? Eat a third of it and save the other two thirds for later. The portions sizes you are served at restaurants are double to triple what you need so portion it out and bring the rest home for later.

Seventh, the most important diet change you can make is drinking water. Drinking water at all of your meals is important. Even one sip of Coke will have you craving it the next time you’re thirsty. Just by cutting out soda and juice, you can cut thousands of calories and lose weight without any other lifestyle changes. Water is key to weight loss.

Eighth, figure out how to cook healthy meals quickly. Toaster ovens are great for making an individual meal for yourself. Just throw down some aluminum foil and cook chicken, veggies and whatever else you want. Cleanup is super quick because all you have to do is transfer it to a plate and throw the foil away. Ziplock Zip’n’Steam bags are a great way to steam meats, vegetables and seasonings in the microwave. In five minutes you have a full meal and it’s low in calories. It’s easy clean up as well. Just transfer food to a plate and throw the steamer bag away. Learning how to cook quickly and easily is important because if cooking healthy meals becomes too time consuming, you’re going to want to just order a pizza.

Ninth, try keeping a food journal. I’ve tried it many times in the past and it was never for me. Just a few days ago I tried again by using an iPod application to track my meals and daily exercises. I didn’t like writing it down on paper and I didn’t like doing it online but I do like doing it on an iPod. You should try writing down your food and caloric intake for at least the first few weeks just to see how much, what and when you’re eating. Once you see what’s keeping you at a heavier weight, you can adjust it gradually to what’s going to get you to a lower weight.

Tenth, create your own space in your kitchen for your healthy foods. I have a cabinet that is my cabinet. All of my healthy foods go into that cabinet and although I probably will eat some of my boyfriend’s food from the other cabinets, I know that when I’m home alone for lunch and it’s time to make something to eat, I can go to my cabinet and it will have my healthy foods in it. Also, try doing your grocery shopping separate as well. Even if you go with your family and they’re throwing in cheese sticks and buffalo wings, you only put foods in the buggy that are healthy and a part of what of you’re going to be eating that week. Put it all together in a certain spot in the buggy too. Creating these physical boundaries against the “bad” food helps create a mental boundary as well.

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