Wednesday, November 11, 2009

10 EASY WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT

You need food for fuel for energy for life. Starving yourself is ridiculous. Your body is a machine and needs to be treated like one. Here's 10 reasonable tips to help shed those 10 extra pounds.

1. Be Realistic-Experts advise against yo-yo dieting and so do I. It is ridiculous and dangerous to your health to slow down your metabolism or try cleanses or starvation diets to drop the weight. It has taken awhile for you to gain that weight and it will take you time to lose it. You have to give yourself time.

2. Remember food should always be pleasurable-Small indulgences are important even when you're trying to lose weight. If you have a favorite snack..no, you can't eat it everyday but allowing yourself to have a treat once in awhile is healthy and helps you actually stay on track. Opt for whole grains and smaller portions of carbs like pasta and rice. Don't' be too restrictive or you wont stick to your change in diet. Being too stringent leads to binges. Healthy weight loss doesn't mean giving up foods we love. If you love chocolate..have a dark chocolate Hershey's Kiss every day. It satisfies that urge and then you don't feel the need to overdo it.

3. Have Breakfast as soon as you get up-You want to jump-start your metabolism right away-eat within the first hour of waking up. You have to put fuel in your tank. Woman who eat a low-fat morning meal packed with protein and some whole grain carbohydrates lose weight quicker and may keep it off better than those who eat smaller low-carb or low-protein morning meals.

4. Cut back on alcohol-No one is saying you should axe booze during the holidays but after New Year's you may want to consider cutting quite a bit out. Those alcoholic calories can really add up fast. If you can't stop after just one, don't start.

5. Eat two small snacks a day-You are too busy to go hungry. You never want to be so hungry that you get a headache! Sometimes even a few crackers can serve the purpose. Snacking is good..it keeps your metabolism going. If you want to starve yourself and lie in bed all day and just drink Tabasco and lemon water, that's fine but I'm too busy for that and I'm sure you are too. So, in addition to three moderate meals, have one or two healthy snacks. I have a new addiction to a grapefruit topped with Agave nectar and cinnamon! You can sub the Agave for honey but I'm a Vegan so that's why I came up with this combo and it is soooo good. Aside from simply making your life more pleasant, eating low-calorie meals and snacks throughout the day keeps your metabolism running on high so you keep burning calories.

6. Cook at home most days-It's hard to do in party filled holidays but eating at home is a smart weight loss tool year round. Restaurant dishes usually have more calories and fat than what you make yourself. People often say they don't have the time to cook at home, but it can actually take more time to order and go pick up take out than it does to cook. To make things easier and faster during the busy workweek, do most of your chopping and prep on weekends, or whatever your day off is. Cut up your vegetables and put then in Tupperware in the refrigerator so that when you're cooking during the week you don't have to sit and chop onions and peel garlic...they're all ready to go. This way when you come home starving from work, life is much simpler when things are ready to be cooked. There's also a nice physical aspect when you cook...instead of watching TV, waiting for your food to come, you're actually moving around while you're cooking.

7. Use spices-add a lot of spices to your food. You want to feel like you're eating a wonderful meal-not something bland or spartan. Cayenne, ginger, sumac and thyme are my favorites. Texture is also great! Adding sunflower seeds or walnuts to a salad suddenly makes it not a 'salad' anymore...it's something much more wonderful.

8. Go heavy on the veggies-Learn to pile your plate with low-calorie, high volume foods like vegetables, fruits and lentils. The fiber from all of those plant foods takes longer to chew and digest than most processed foods; that extra time allows your stomach to fill up so you feel fuller. fiber also triggers the release of cholecystokinin, a hormone that makes you feel satisfied, so you may end up eating less later on.

9. Go for single-serving sweets-I am a desert person and as far as I'm concerned dinner is not complete until I have something sweet after. Go for a delicious lo-cal ice cream sandwich..I recommend the non-dairy ones. They are low in calories and already pre-packaged so the portion part is already done for you.

10. Exercise, exercise, exercise-think you're too busy to workout? Go for a quick run when you get off work, run up and down some stairs or grab your free weights. Even 30-45 minutes of cardio three to five days a week will help most women drop pounds. Adding a couple of hours a week of sweating is going to help blast fat!

YOUR HOLIDAY FOOD SURVIVAL GUIDE

Get through December without any regrets! Choose what you really crave. At a party buffet or holiday dinner, survey all the offerings before serving yourself. What usually happens is that you just start plopping things on your plate but then you see the things you really wanted so you just add that on too. Pretty soon your plate is piled way too high. Look things over, then have a reasonable portion of the one or two things that really entice you.

Always have a pre-party snack! You may think you want to save the calories for the party but showing up to an event hungry back fires. Have a piece of fruit and a big glass of water before heading to the party to help curve hunger.

Say NO to doggie bags! Everyone needs to learn the words 'no thank you' this time of year. You don't have to try the cookies your coworker made if you don't truly want to and you don't have to take home leftovers. When people take leftovers they feel like they must eat them or it's wasteful. many holiday foods are rich, so if you have them again and again, instead of once at Grandma's house, the calories add up.

Nix the guilt! If you do overindulge, just accept it and move on. It's like that saying 'What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas'. What ever happens at a party stays at a party and doesn't have to turn into a punishing starve the next day.

Make time for exercise! A lot of us don't work out because we're so busy during the holidays but that makes things worse. Exercise relieves stress; if you skip it, what does your outlet become? More food! If you move less you feel sluggish, but this is a time when you want to feel great! Even going for a brisk lunchtime walk three days a week can help. Enjoy your holidays!

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