By Blake Dykes

As the weekend approaches, I want to give you a few things to think about when choosing meals and eating.

1. Savor your food. Often times I will scarf down my food in a matter of two minutes and don’t even taste what I just ate. By taking time to eat slower you will consume less food, because it provides time for your brain to register when you are full and you are less likely to overeat. This method of savoring food also can leave you feeling much more satisfied.

2. Use a smaller plate. Ever since a young age we’ve been told, “Eat everything on your plate.” That rule eventually expires once you’re old enough to determine when you’re full or not. People often times are caught up in the illusion that they haven’t gotten enough to eat they finish off every last crumb. If you start using smaller plates, opposed to plates the size of your placemat, you will consume less than half the calories, while still obeying the old rule of eating all the food on your plate.

3. Drink a glass of water before each meal. Drinking water before every time you eat can help fill you up, resulting in less of an appetite, which equals less calories consumed. This is especially helpful in the sense that often times we trick ourselves into thinking we are hungry when surprisingly we are dehydrated. Make sure you drink, drink, drink.

4. Measure your portions. I know I’ve said this before, but I can’t stress enough how important it is to know your portion sizes. With technology becoming such a big part of our lives, it’s easy to get out a bag of pretzels and scroll on Twitter, eating, tweeting, eating, and eating some more. Before you know it, you look at the clock and realize you’ve been on Twitter for an hour and unknowingly consumed an entire bag of Snyder’s.

5. Get the good fats. Often times people pick up a foot they thought was healthy, read the label,see the fat content, and instantly put the product back on the shelf. News flash, just because peanut butter has more fat than those  “low fat” barbecue chips does not make them a better choice. Our bodies need fat to survive, but it’ all about finding the healthy fats, such as peanut butter, almond butter, low fat cheeses, beans, nuts, guacamole. So don’t let those “low-fat” Oreo’s your feasting on fool you.

With this being said, time for a good workout to kick off to your weekend.

Toned arm workout

• 15 push ups

• 25 bench dips (can use a chair)

• 15 bicep curls (each arm)

• 25 wide- arm push ups

• 50 alternating shoulder touches (in a pushup position, alternate touching your arm to the opposite shoulder)

• 10 Hersey Kiss push ups (your index fingers and thumbs should be touching, resembling a Hershey Kiss)

Keep in my mind you don’t want to lift weights too heavy for you, they will hurt your back.

Weekend Challenge: Get three meals a day. Often times people think fasting will help them lose weight, when in reality skipping meals leads to bingeing on the next meal, supporting weight gain.