The Power of Three Checklist to Weight Loss

          You almost have to be a Super Hero to make more than 3 changes in your life at any one time.

       Over the years many people have asked me how they could eat better, snack less, avoid eating seconds at dinner time, not binge so much at receptions, lose their sweet tooth and so forth.  One thing I discovered is that even if a person is given perfectly stylized, guaranteed solutions,  even the most dedicated person has problems making over 3 changes in their life at one time.   

      That is why the Power of Three works. The Power of Three is finding three small changes you think would be helpful and easy for you to make to eat better.

         The important thing to do is to focus at defusing your diet danger zone, whether it be dinners, snacks, parties, restaurants, or work. All you need to do is to choose no more than three small (100 calorie or so) changes in your daily food routine that you would like to make.  

       Why only three?  Most diets fail because they ask us to do too much.  Three small changes is more reasonable.  If we make these three small changes, by the end of the year we will be as much as 30 pounds lighter than we would be if we did not make them.  You start by first identifying your Dietary Danger Zone.

      There are five Dietary Danger Zones that trip up most people (meal stuffing, snack grazing, desktop/dashboard dining, party binging, etc.).  Most of us are guilty of all of them.  However, at this specific moment, there is one of them that is most troublesome in your life.  

       The divide and conquer idea here is to only focus on this one specific area this month.  Next, you choose three small changes you could make in that one area for 30 days.  After that point, you tackle the next Dietary Danger Zone that is most problematic for you.  It might be the same one or it might be a different one.  You find three small changes to make, you keep them for a month, and after a month you can either stop doing them, or continue.

       For instance, say that you suspect that meal stuffing is the biggest problem you have.  Simply decide on 3 little changes you could make at meal time that you think could help you eat just a little big less.  That is, changes that might help you serve less, or help you not go back for seconds, or eat a little better.  

      For instance, you might say to yourself that you're going to use smaller (9 to 11-in) plates, pre-plate your food before sitting down at the table, and use the Half-Plate Rule. You do each of these each night for dinner for a month.  After a month, you go to the next most troublesome Dietary Danger Zone.  You don't have to do any one thing for more than a 30 days unless you want to.

      If you've decided which Dietary Danger Zone you want to tackle this month, you'll find lots of ideas on this website.  Here's starting points for your home, your workplace, when you're shopping, and eating out.  If you need more, Mindless Eating and Slim by Design have even lots and lots more.  You might want to start your first month off by taking three daily changes off of our 10-point Kitchen Scorecard below.

    It does not matter what changes you choose, just do not get over ambitious and choose more than three.  The more you try to tackle right away, the more difficult it will be to keep track of them.  The whole key is to keep this mindless.

      Good luck.  I look forward to hearing how it goes.

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