Overcome Dieting Pitfalls

Americans have unrealistic goals when it comes to shedding pounds. That is what Parade magazine found in this year's survey, "What America Eats."

In part two of the HealthWatch series on America's eating habits, The Early Show focuses on dieting. And registered dietician Elisa Zied tells co-anchor Hannah Storm that although people want to diet, they are sabotaging their ability to lose weight.

The survey revealed that 25 percent of people want to lose 46 lbs., which Zied says is about the size of a kindergartner or first grade student.

People who take on unrealistic weight loss goals may be setting themselves up for failure, she says. "Many things they do when dieting can be sabotaging like snacking or skipping meals, especially skipping breakfast and lunch, which is very popular among people's habits."

In fact, the survey results say that seven in 10 people skip breakfast, 70 percent. Four in 10 people skip lunch, which is a bad idea if you want to lose weight.

"It's bad because you're losing opportunities to get healthy foods in," Zied says. "But it's also slowing down your metabolism. And when you're dieting, you really want to keep your metabolism revved up. You do that by eating consistently and regularly and not skipping meals. It's really important for people who want to manage weight or lose weight to eat often and regularly."

There is an additional problem with skipping meals, Zied says. "If you skip a meal, it's setting you up for failure at the next meal. People will be so hungry they will probably take in more."

So what ever happened to snacking? The survey results show 56 percent of adults and 47 percent of teens snack after dinner. About 77 percent snack while watching television.

"It's not surprising that people snack at night in front of the TV," Zied says. "The danger is they're usually eating high calorie food — chips, popcorn, not the low fat but high fat, high oil popcorn, things like that. This is what people are consuming in front of the television, not really paying attention to how many calories they're eating and they are not really hungry."

Her advice then is to "save snacks for when you're really hungry. If you have something sweet after dinner, make it 50 to 100 calories, which are one or two cookies, but not a big bowl of ice cream because you're not hungry for it. Replace those calories with something healthy throughout the day."

Snacking is also not all together bad. She says is it can be a useful way to incorporate smaller portion sizes in an organized diet plan. And the good news is that the survey showed that fruit is the No. 1 snack for adults.

"Fruit is loaded with fiber and has low energy density (meaning it's filled with water). That means it fills you up with relatively few calories," Zied says. "Americans are eating more vegetables, which is also great news. Popcorn is a popular and not a bad snacking choice because it's a whole grain and low calorie choices are available."

So if you are really serious about losing weight, Zied says the best way to do it is to personalize your diet.

"USDA Dietary Guidelines can help you find the foods that are enjoyable to fit it into your life," she says. "You don't have give up pizza, just eat smaller portions and make substitutions to save calories. Make your choices enjoyable because if you change too dramatically you're more prone to failure. Tweak your diet to save calories, and don't forget to exercise to burn calories."

With Thanksgiving coming up, 34 percent of Americans say when it comes to the big feast they want to have it catered or dine out.

"It's all about convenience and good taste," she says. "If you always make every meal a special meal by going out, chances are you'll take in too many calories. Just fill one plate and keep it at that."