A couple quick guidelines if you don't want to log calories

One complaint people often bring up when I tell them what I'm doing diet-wise is that they don't want to have to track their calories. It seems too complicated and is too much effort for them. Everyone is different, so while I personally enjoy logging what I eat (it's like a puzzle you get to play with your life!), I understand that some people are different. With that in mind, if I had to distill my current diet down into a couple of easy to follow guidelines, this is what I'd recommend:

1) Don't drink your calories!

Courtesy of KJ, of course. Essentially what we're talking about here is stuff like soda, juices, and even alcohol. You may not want to remove drinking from your weekly activities, especially if you do it in social settings, which is totally fine. Stuff like soda, juices, and even milk has a lot of calories though. Given that you're drinking them, they rarely make you feel full, which can lead to consuming an awful lot of calories without realizing it.

As an example, a 20 oz bottle of Coke has 240 calories. If you went from drinking one of these a day to replacing it with water, you'd lose half a pound a week without making any other changes! Another way to think about those calories is how it compares to other foods - 240 calories is the equivalent of: 8 ounces of chicken breast, 3 apples, or 8 cups of broccoli! Needless to say, if you're trying to lose weight and don't want to be hungry, eating half a pound of chicken will be more filling than a single bottle of coke.

2) Lean proteins and veggies are your best friend!

Essentially you want to be filling up on high satiety low calorie foods. Most lean proteins and veggies tend to fall into this category because of the sheer quantity of food you are able to eat for the calories. Proteins also tend to be digested slower which leaves you feeling fuller for longer.

3) Try to limit your carbs.

Carbs tend to get a bad rap these days, and there's nothing inherently wrong with them. But if you're trying to limit your calories, limiting your carbs can help you do so in a manner that allows you to not feel hungry all day long. Not only do carbs tend to be high in calories, but they also are digested fairly quickly, which means you will be wanting to eat something sooner.

4) Drink water!

The whole 8 cups a day thing is largely unnecessary, but we sometimes mistakes our body's dehydration cues as feeling hungry. Staying hydrated is also important for exercise, of course.

Tomorrow I'll touch on some common myths about food that a lot of us still believe (I did too until recently!).