This post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click and make a purchase, I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I use and love, or that I would recommend to my mom or best friend. Please see the disclosure statement for additional information.
Busy women don’t have time for tons of exercise or fad diets. Instead, learn how to make better food choices in favor of a balanced, lower-calorie diet is a sustainable way to maintain your weight.
I slipped through the backroom door, allowing it to swing shut behind me. leaning on a nearby shelf, I closed my exhausted, sore eyes. I could still hear them. On the other side of the door, the rabid black Friday shoppers sounded more like a cattle auction than patrons of a trendy teen apparel store.
I exhaled. I didn’t have time to stand there doing nothing. I’d be wrangling retail deal seekers well beyond midnight, and I needed to use my 1-hour lunch break to finish a paper for one of my grad school classes.
My jeans pinched my waist as I bent over to grab my laptop and a bag of sweetened dried fruit. A flash of hesitation fluttered up to my chest as I gripped the bag. I shouldn’t be eating this, I thought. But there just wasn’t time to go get something else. There was never time.
20 pounds later, I wished I’d made the time.
Don’t have time to read the entire post? Scroll to the conclusion at the bottom for a summary!
Eating Healthy Pays Off
I’ve always been a pretty healthy eater, and I’ve never had a problem maintaining my weight. But full-time grad school plus a full-time job threw me for a loop. I would work 10 hours, drive 45 minutes to campus, and sit in class for 4 hours, 5 days a week. Not to mention getting assignments done, keeping my house clean, and having some semblance of a social life.
I let my busy lifestyle become an excuse for eating poorly, and I saw a 20% increase in my weight (Plus 2 jean sizes) as a result. I carried those extra 20 pounds around for 5 years, until I was finally able to shed them in 2012. I’ve kept those 20 pounds off and maintained my weight since then through a commitment to (mostly) healthy eating, and I’m going to share my strategy with you today.
What This Post Isn’t (and Is) About
This post isn’t about fad diets, organic foods, or swearing off sugar/fat/meat, or counting calories. It’s about how to make better food choices to maintain weight and health.
I’m not a dietician, fitness expert, or clean-eating goddess. I’m a busy woman working 60 hours per week in a demanding public sector job, while pursuing hobbies, keeping her house clean, and maintaining some semblance of a social life. I have no time for fad diets. Instead, I’ve found that it’s better to learn to make healthy choices and eat a well-balanced diet long-term.
This is a mindset shift that worked for me, and I hope it works for you.
By the way – if you’re looking to stay slim and de-stress during the holidays (twice as difficult!), check out my post on how to stay healthy and maintain your weight during the holidays!
How to Make Better Food Choices: The Long Haul
Truth bomb: This isn’t going to be easy.
Making healthy choices that stick is a lifestyle. It involves trades and sacrifices. And yes, sometimes it requires you to love yourself enough to deprive yourself of something that tastes good right now, in favor of looking and feeling good later.
BUT. If you’ll stick with it, do the work, and change your habits, you CAN maintain weight permanently. I’m living proof.
Are you ready to do the work, friend? Ok, let’s get to it!
The Easiest Way to Stay on Track
Like I said earlier, I’m not going to tell you to count calories. I’ve tried it. It’s tiring, annoying, and time-consuming. I’m also not going to tell you to chastise yourself at weekly weigh-ins. Instead, use this 1 simple rule to keep your weight on track:
Don’t eat yourself out of your pants.
You know that favorite pair of pants or jeans? The ones that fit perfectly, look good, and make you feel amazing? Try them on once a week.
If they start feeling too tight, you know you’ve ventured off course. Think back about the foods you’ve been eating recently, and get yourself refocused on how to make better food choices. Then, eat your way back into those jeans.
I love this approach because it takes the focus off of numbers – the number of calories consumed, the number of pounds on the scale. Instead, it puts the focus on how we look and feel as women. And feeling great about the way you look is way more important than the number on the scale.
[clickToTweet tweet=”A simple rule for maintaining a healthy diet: Don’t eat yourself out of your pants.” quote=”A simple rule for maintaining a healthy diet: Don’t eat yourself out of your pants.”]
Understand What You’re Giving Up
It’s rough when a big, moist slice of chocolate cake is staring you in the face. Or a bag of cool ranch Doritos is calling your name from the supermarket shelf.
But those high-calorie foods? They’re usually the equivalent of a credit card shopping spree you can’t really afford. They provide a few moments of fleeting satisfaction that’ll take a lot more time to pay off.
When you say no to poor food choices, you’re giving up a moment’s satisfaction in favor of long-term health and successful weight management. You simply have to decide that it’s worth it and live that decision as often as possible.
[clickToTweet tweet=”When you say no to poor food choices, you’re giving up a moment’s satisfaction in favor of long-term health and successful weight management.” quote=”When you say no to poor food choices, you’re giving up a moment’s satisfaction in favor of long-term health and successful weight management.”]
Avoid Foods That Contain Added Sugar and Fat
The next step in how to make better food choices is to develop a healthy suspicion of processed foods.
Many processed foods often have added sugar and fat, which naturally increases the calories they contain. Opt for fresh or frozen fruits and veggies instead. As a result, you’ll be in control of how much extra fat or sugar gets added.
If you need to buy canned or frozen fruits or vegetables, check the labels first. Look for products that contain no added sugar, are labeled as unsweetened, or are packed in water (As opposed to oil or syrup). Steer clear of vegetables that include a sauce, which are typically much higher in fat or calories.
By the way, I’m not saying that I don’t eat processed foods. I do, but I try to keep them to a minimum.
Reduce Portion Sizes
Another important step in how to make better food choices? Reduce portion sizes all around. According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, restaurant portion sizes more than doubled in the U.S. between 1993 and 2013. No wonder we have trouble maintaining our weight!
At Restaurants
There are several easy ways to reduce the huge portion sizes offered at restaurants.
- Eat less by filling up on water before your entrée arrives
- Get a half-order of a salad, or a cup of soup instead of a bowl
- Request the lunch-size portion of an entrée
- Request that half of your entrée be placed in a to-go box before it is served, and eat the boxed portion for lunch or dinner the next day
- Split an entrée with a friend or family member
- Request steamed vegetables instead of fries or mashed potatoes
- Offer part of your entrée to those you’re dining with
- Share dessert with others, and only have a bite or 2
At Home
These suggestions will sound weird at first, but they work great for me.
- Use a small salad-size plate or an extra-small bowl for meals. Doing so helps control portions, and makes you feel like you’re eating more. It also mitigates the aftermath of going back for seconds 🙂
- Don’t eat snacks right out of the package. Before you know it, that entire bag of chips will be gone! Instead, place a single serving in a small bowl (4 or 5 ounces, like these bowls on Amazon, or my snack bowl pictured below), and put the rest away.
Look for Healthy Versions of Your Favorite Foods
As you learn how to make better food choices, don’t think that you have to abandon your favorite foods. Instead, look for recipes that are healthier versions of your favorite foods. You can also try lightening up recipes yourself.
For example, I’m a little obsessed with alfredo sauce. It’s full of cheese and heavy cream though, and it’s not good for my waistline… or the chronic digestive disease I have. Instead, I created my own recipe for skinny alfredo sauce. It hits the spot every time, and it’s ridiculously low in calories. I like to have a bowl of my skinny tomato soup as an appetizer before enjoying my alfredo sauce over pasta.
Try searching Pinterest for “healthy tacos,” “healthy lasagna,” or whatever your favorite food is. You’re bound to find an irresistibly healthy recipe!
Redefine Dessert
I have dessert after dinner several nights a week, but it’s probably not what you think.
I have a bit of a sweet tooth. But there’s no way I can enjoy traditional desserts regularly and maintain my weight. Instead, I redefined what dessert meant to me, and it’s worked like a charm.
The truth is, dessert doesn’t have to be decadent to be satisfying. Flip your expectations away from things like chocolate cake in favor of a little something sweet, albeit unconventional. Here are a few of my favorites:
- 1/2 cup Honey Nut Cheerios with skim milk or unsweetened almond milk
- 1 pint of blueberries, strawberries, or other fruit tossed in 1-2 teaspoons of honey
- A 100-calorie pack of cookies (My favorite is Aldi’s chocolate chip variety)
These little snacks are still sweet, but they only contain a fraction of the fat and calories of traditional desserts. Plus, they’re pretty darn healthy. I buy whole-grain Cheerios, and blueberries are packed with antioxidants.
Give yourself time to get used to having a small, healthy, sweet snack for dessert. As a result, you’ll crave things like cake and ice cream less and less. After all, why eat junk when you can satisfy those sweet cravings with superfoods?
[clickToTweet tweet=”Dessert doesn’t have to be decadent to be satisfying.” quote=”Dessert doesn’t have to be decadent to be satisfying.”]
Budget for Calorie Splurges
When planning how to make better food choices, it’s important to allow yourself a little indulgence every now and then… such as that piece of chocolate cake! And it doesn’t have to ruin your healthy eating commitment. The key is to anticipate special meals or treats, and adjust your other meals accordingly.
For example, if you have dinner with friends on Friday and you want to indulge, eat smaller dinners on Wednesday and Thursday to “budget” some extra calories for your special dinner. Again, this is all ballpark estimates, so don’t stress over figuring out exactly how much extra you can eat.
If you end up splurging unexpectedly (It happens…), have smaller meals for the next day or 2. This will help you recover the calories you splurged on.
Just Say No… to Free Food
When learning how to make better food choices, offers for free (Unhealthy) food are a pitfall to avoid. Sometimes you know about these in advance, and you can plan to splurge if needed. But other times, unhealthy food shows up in your face, and you find your willpower waning.
Try these tips to avoid going off the free donut deep end and support a strong personal policy against junk food:
- Keep healthy snacks in your desk at work. Part of being prepared for anything at work is anticipating cravings and planning accordingly. My basket of healthy snacks has saved me from the pitfalls of office snacks countless times. I keep it stocked with healthy fruit and cereal bars, 100-calorie packs of cookies, and 100-calorie packs of mixed nuts. Whenever my stomach growls, I reach for a healthy snack. Problem solved.
- Eat a snack before you leave home – whether it’s to a party, a friend’s house, or just running errands. That way, you can confidently say you’re not hungry if you’re offered a snack that’s on the naughty list.
Look, I know refusing free food is tough. But just because it’s free, doesn’t mean you should accept it. Say “no, thank you” and move on.
I get offered food all the time at work. It’s usually baked goods that are undoubtedly delicious-tasting, but that won’t do my body any favors. Whenever someone keeps pressing after I politely decline the first time, I tell them with a smile that if I accepted everything that was ever offered to me for free, I’d be sick, dead, or in jail. That usually gets them to back off. 😀
[clickToTweet tweet=”If I accepted everything that was ever offered to me for free, I’d be sick, dead, or in jail.” quote=”If I accepted everything that was ever offered to me for free, I’d be sick, dead, or in jail.”]
Keep Junk Food Out of Your House
In addition to reducing portion sizes, barring junk food from your home is a great step forward in how to make better food choices.
Don’t let junk food in your house, period. Instead, stock up on healthy foods. Think fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables, baked snacks, unsweetened dried or canned fruits, and single-serving snacks. As a result of extending your personal policy against junk food to your entire household, you’ll have nothing but healthy options when you need a snack.
Don’t Feel Like You Have to Eat It All
I grew up eating everything on my plate, whether it was a meal, a dessert, or just a snack. I felt terrible about wasting food – and sometimes I still do! But eating all of something purely out of guilt isn’t healthy. Stop feeling like you have to eat it all. These tips will help you learn how to make better food choices, without feeling guilty.
- Do a drive-by indulgence. Craving a cupcake? Savor a bite and throw the rest away. Wasteful? Maybe. But there’s no sense in eating the whole cupcake (Or whatever) and throwing your healthy eating into a tailspin just so it doesn’t “go to waste.” You can also try pawning the remaining food off on a nearby friend or family member – I do this all the time.
- Eat meals slowly, and stop eating once you’re full. Refrigerate leftovers to eat for later.
[clickToTweet tweet=”Drive-by indulgence: Craving something sinfully sweet? Savor a single bite, then give or throw the rest away. Is it wasteful? Maybe. But there’s no sense in eating more than you need or want simply to avoid ‘wasting’ food.” quote=”Drive-by indulgence: Craving something sinfully sweet? Savor a single bite, then give or throw the rest away. Is it wasteful? Maybe. But there’s no sense in eating more than you need or want simply to avoid ‘wasting’ food.”]
Be Prepared for Questions and Critiques
When you start eating healthy, people in your life may notice. Maybe they’ll ask why. They might tell you that you don’t need or have to eat healthy foods. And you might find yourself on the receiving end of some unsolicited advice.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told that I “don’t need to diet,” (Which is what some people call eating healthy), or that I “can afford to have a (insert random unhealthy food here) just this once.” But I don’t make my food choices based on what other people want me to do, or what they think I should do. At the end of the day, it’s my body, my health, and my jeans we’re talking about, darn it! And the same is true for you.
Once you’ve started learning how to make better food choices, don’t let pressure or questions from others sway you from your goal. Instead, simply explain that you eat what you want (Graciously leaving out the part about not wanting to eat unhealthy foods), or that you’re committed to a healthy lifestyle, or that you’re eating to stay in your favorite jeans. That last one is my personal favorite 😉
How to Make Better Food Choices: Conclusion
Okay, that was a lot, right? Let’s recap the list:
- Making healthy choices that stick is a lifestyle that requires trades, sacrifices, and a mindset shift
- Rather than counting calories or stepping on the scale every 5 minutes, live by this simple rule: Don’t eat yourself out of your pants
- Remember that when you say no to unhealthy food choices, you’re giving up a moment’s satisfaction in favor or long-term health and contentedness
- Avoid foods that contain added sugar and fat, as they tend to be higher in calories
- Reduce portion sizes when eating at restaurants and at home
- Dessert doesn’t have to be decadent to be satisfying – enjoy a bowl of fruit, cereal, or 100-calorie pack of cookies after dinner
- Budget for calorie splurges by eating smaller meals in the days before or after special events
- Avoid giving in to offers of free food by keeping healthy snacks at work, and having a healthy snack before leaving home
- Keep junk food out of your house; instead, buy plenty of healthy foods so you’ll have lots of options when you need a snack
- Don’t feel like you have to eat all of something; do a drive-by indulgence by enjoying a single bite of something, then throwing the rest away
- Eat meals slowly, and stop eating once you’re full
- Be prepared for others to notice the changes in your diet; don’t let their comments or questions affect your healthy choices
I hope these tips will help you learn how to make better food choices. They’ve helped me maintain my weight for most of my adult life. Do you have any tips for eating healthy? Share them in the comments below!