One of the important weight control tips to keep in mind is to avoid the 'value' or 'combo' meals offered at fast food restaurants. Instead, choose your dining options individually. A new study asked consumers who normally chose fast food restaurants at least once per month to look at fast food menus and the cost of their choices and to place imaginary orders based on the food items available[1]. The findings reported by the researchers were almost startling. For example: Consumers were more likely to choose smaller portions when ordering a la carte compared to when ordering a combo meal even when there was no cost savings with the combo meal. The perceived value of the combo meals caused 26% of study subjects to increase the size of their combo meal, which typically added at least another 100 calories to the meal. 15% of the consumers who did not order fries when choosing their food items individually chose medium fries when ordering a combo. This resulted in a 380-calorie difference between the a la carte order and the bundled meal. This study suggests that we end up eating a lot more calories when we buy a combo meal than when we buy the food items separately. Because of the perceived value of these combo meals and the ease of ordering, we generally choose them even if there is no actual cost savings. It seems to me that avoiding combo meals when eating at fast food restaurants is one of the easier weight control tips we can develop. Quite often, the a la carte items on fast food menus are healthier than what is offered in the combo meals. Choosing side items like apple slices, orange slices, side salads, etc. are better weight control tips than ordering a combo meal that comes with fries and the opportunity to 'super size'. While the combo meal is more convenient, we generally end up eating excess calories and hurting our efforts to control our weight. Weight control tips like this are an important part of both losing weight and maintaining a healthy body weight. Keep this and other weight control tips in mind when planning your meals or when dining out; they will become second nature over time as you develop healthier eating habits.
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Weight control can mean different things to different people. For some, it means losing weight. For others, it means keeping the weight off that we struggled so hard to lose. No matter how you define weight control, it can be helpful to develop weight control tips that work for you and are easy to remember.
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