How to Lose Weight With Healthy Choice Food Boxes
The most important factor in losing weight is consuming fewer calories than you burn. Some scientists even question the importance of exercise in weight loss, as the hormones released after a workout can cause people to feel hungrier. People who exercise are also more likely to feel as if they have "earned" a treat. Therefore, the first step to losing weight is watching what you eat. Eating Healthy Choice dinners, which are low-fat and low-calorie, will help you achieve your weight-loss goal.
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Instructions
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Determine how many calories a day you need to consume in order to maintain your weight. There are many free online calculators for this purpose (see Resources). Based on your age, gender, height, weight and lifestyle, these calculators will determine your current base metabolic rate. This base metabolic rate is necessary to help you determine your customized weigh-loss calorie goal.
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Decide how many calories per day you need to consume for weight loss. One pound of fat is equal to 3,500 calories, so if you want to lose one pound per week, subtract 500 calories from the maintenance-level daily caloric intake. For example, if you currently need to eat 1,800 calories per day to maintain your weight and you wish to lose one pound per week, your goal is to consume 1,300 calories each day. Healthy Choice meals and desserts clearly mark the number of calories in each box, so you will be able to track your caloric intake easily.
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Research the meal options made by Healthy Choice. If you have decided that your diet will consist of only Healthy Choice boxed foods, you will need to make sure the ones you stock up on will meet all of your nutritional needs. Look for Healthy Choice meals that are lower in sodium and high in essential vitamins. The nutrition label on each meal shows its vitamin content. The boxes are also labeled with what categories it fulfills on the food pyramid to help you track how many servings of fruits and vegetables you eat every day.
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Make a rough meal plan for a week of eating Healthy Choice foods. Use the Healthy Choice website to determine the number of calories in each meal you plan to eat (see Resources). All Healthy Choice meals have fewer than 400 calories, allowing them to be categorized as low-calorie foods by the FDA. Aim to get the total combined calories for each day to equal just fewer than the number of calories you set as your weight-loss goal.
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Go shopping for exactly the Healthy Choice meals on your plan, plus your pre-determined breakfast items (see Tips). Exercising discipline at the grocery store will make it easier to stick to your plan. Buying only what you planned to buy will limit temptations normally caused by browsing.
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Consider taking a multivitamin or supplement to ensure you meet all of your body's required nutritional needs. If you want to double-check your intake of essential vitamins and minerals, make an account with MyPyramid Tracker, the FDA's food pyramid website, and input your weekly meal plan for an analysis of your diet (see Resources).
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Tips & Warnings
Because the Healthy Choice boxed food line does not include any breakfast-specific items, eat something healthy in the morning such as fresh fruit, oatmeal or a nutrition bar. Skipping breakfast can lower your metabolism.
Leave a little bit of room in your calorie calculation for beverages throughout the week. Water is a healthy alternative to sugar-laden drinks and will not add any calories to your diet.
References
Resources
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