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THE PEOPLE WHO DRANK WATER BEFORE ALLTHREE MEALS LOST MORE THAN FIVE POUNDS TOTAL IN THE THREEMONTH STUDY PERIOD.
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HEADFOR THE WATER
Obese participants instructed to drinktwo cups ofwater beforemeals for12weeks lost almost three more pounds than did those in a control group, in a2015studypublished in the journal Obesity. One (pretty obvious) reason? “Waterfillsyour stomachand seemsto increase satiety, which appears to leadyou to eat less atyour mainmeals,” says Helen Parretti, Ph.D., the lead study author and a lecturer at the University of Birmingham, in England.
No. 11
REMEMBER— IT’S A SCENIC WALK
Whether you think of that run as drudgery or a break from the drudgery might affect how likely you are to pig out afterward. People who were prompted to think of breaking a sweat as fun (that is, a “scenic walk” instead of an “exercise walk”) ate less or made healthier choices later on, according to a study published in the journal Marketing Letters.
Reframe your workout to focus on its most rewarding aspects, like “listening to your favorite music while running, or chatting with a friend during a brisk walk,” suggests Carolina O. C. Werle, Ph.D., the study author and an associate professor of marketing at Grenoble Ecole de Management, in France.
No. 12
EMPLOYTHE LIST OF10
Write down 10 ways to make yourself feel good without calories. “Make it a great list. Remember— each item has to feel even better than food!” says Bunyard. “List one item you can do at home, one you can do at work, one you can do in five minutes, and one that will take the whole afternoon.”
Some ideas: Watching a favorite TV show, reading a magazine, calling a friend, walking around outside, taking a bath, listening to a favorite song, window-shopping, or sipping a cup of hot tea. And since “your plan is already in writing, you just have to pull out your list,” she says.
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USE LAZINESS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
“Studies show that if there are candies right byyour hand,you’ll eat a bunch,” says Mann. “Ifyou make it so thatyou just have to straightenyour arm,you’ll eat much less.You’ll eat even less ifyou have towalk across the room.” In fact, womenwho kept breakfast cereal and soda on their countersweighed at least 20 pounds more than did their neighborswho didn’t, according to a recent Cornell Food and Brand Lab study.And thosewho had fruit nearby weighed about 13 pounds less.
“Useyour laziness toyour advantage,” says Mann. Some simpleways: Put tempting foods in higher cabinets, so you’ll need a chair or a stool to reach them; serveyourself a reasonable portion of dinner, then store the leftovers in the refrigerator beforeyou sit down to eat; and cover sweetswith foil instead of plasticwrap soyouwon’t see them every timeyou’re in the kitchen. No. 14
COOK JUST ONE MORE MEAL AT HOME
For each restaurant meal that you replace with a home-cooked meal, you can save 200 calories (and more than 400 milligrams of sodium). So plan ahead and have ingredients on hand at the beginning of the week. And as you get used to cooking a dish, you’ll become more efficient and can add it to your weekly repertoire, says Hensrud. (He suggests some beans, a whole-wheat tortilla, a little cheese, and fresh peppers with salsa for a basic, healthy burrito.)
Are you looking for somewhere to get started? Real Simple’s sister brand, Cooking Light, has an updated healthy-meal-planning tool, called the Cooking Light Diet, with customized menus based on your weight-loss goals and the foods that you like to eat.
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PREP AHEAD
Vegetables often require cleaning, chopping, and/or cooking.But when all you wantisto dive into a bag of chips, you’renot as likely to clean, chop, or cook.So keep healthy foods in ready-to-eat portions. “When you’re looking to grab them, they’re grab-able,” says Mann.
How to live witha messy person and not go insane
TOM:
“There’s an easy way to achieve that dream: by committing a crime and goingto live in a jailcell.” RECENTLY IWAS RUNNING to answer the phone in my bedroom, but I never made it.Why? Because I tripped on the giant clothes mound my husband had deposited by the side of our bed like a termite nest.As Iwas going down (clipping a teetering pile of books on his nightstand),Iwasatleastgratefulthat the mound held aweek’sworth of castoffs, because it broke my fall. But my rage built as I struggled to extricate myselfwhile the phone rang and rang.
I’mneat.Correction:fanaticallytidy. My husband,Tom, is a human typhoon who leaves a trail of debris in hiswake. If itwere up to me, I’d live in a pristine, minimalist dwelling.Tom’s reply is—
oh, I’ll let him tellyou.
ahem, or a neat freak
Tom claims he thrives in mess and finds comfort in his piles of periodicals and papers. He drops his clothes on thefloorwhereverhehappenstotake them off.
Meanwhile, I get physically uncomfortable if our small Brooklyn apartmentistheleastbitoutoforder.I’m the sort of twitchy personwho leaps up before dinner is overto start cleaning. I also can’t fall asleep until I feel that thehouseis perfect.
Our dynamicwas never ideal, but whenwewere first married and I commuted to an office, itwas doable. Now we bothwork from home (we’rewriters) and have a child. Our squabbles about mess have intensified, threatening to become battles. Not the sort of thingwewant our six-year-old daughtertowitness.
Afew weeksago, when Real Simple called and asked me to delve into our struggle for a story, I eagerly agreed.
TOM:
“That’sa temporary storage solution.”
TOM:
“I have a pretty low bar for the house being ‘perfect’:
The carbon monoxide alarm is quiet, there’s nothing scurrying or making me itch,and the ice cream isn’t left out.”
TOM:
“I less eagerly agreed.”
Written by
Jancee Dunn
Illustrations by
Shout
