First, how would you like to lose weight and feel healthy? My thoughts about weight loss and slimming down isn’t really something we want to hear, but it needs to be said. I will talk about how you could lose weight and feel healthy with what I have learned throughout the years. It’s been quite a roller coaster ride, but it can be done successfully.
Before You Begin
Remember, you need to repeat after me, “You Are Not Fat”. You only HAVE fat on your body. Please, don’t be ashamed with self blame. Simply, tell yourself that this is just another task to accomplish, like training for a race. You need to set a dieting goal, just like any other goal. There will be no cheating, so you have to be true to yourself and work hard. As long as you set your milestones and check them off, you will ultimately reach your goal and get to where you want to be.
In order to keep off the weight you lose, you need to make permanent lifestyle changes to the way you eat. It’s really quite alright to indulge once in a while, but if you only cut out calories temporarily, you’ll gain the weight back quicker than before you began your diet.
Lose Weight | Feel Healthy
When I was a child, I used to eat spoonfuls of peanut butter, with home-made bread, and fresh from the dairy farm butter. Today, I can barely eat any kind of bread because of how it affects me. When we age, our body changes, so we need to adjust our diets accordingly.
Seriously, it only makes sense to be very strict the first week or two of starting a weight loss plan. Because, immediate results are motivating. Avoid unrefined carbohydrates and cut out added sugar. Slowly, add small portions of those foods back into your diet. Reincorporate them in a healthy way, such as having only 1 drink instead of 2 or limit pizza to one slice. Allow yourself to have an indulgence and splurge whenever you truly want it.
Move It to Lose It
When you burn calories and fat, it boosts your metabolism by building muscle. Unfortunately, our system is biologically programmed to hold on to extra pounds. This means that when we start exercising, our body senses the shortage and escalates its hunger signals. So, if we are not strict with ourselves, we will eat everything we burn and then some. Most people think that cardio exercise is the best way to lose fat, but strength and interval training give you the best results.
I strength-train two to three days a week, in-between 30 minutes of an outdoor run every other day. Then, every two weeks I ride my road bike about 12 miles. It’s good to change it up and trick the different muscles in your body.
Eating Again?
When I get the urge to eat, I use the HALT method. Ask yourself if you are really hungry and then try the apple test. If you’re truly hungry, you’ll eat the apple and enjoy every bite. If you don’t want the apple and keep searching the cupboards for something else, you don’t need it. Food is NOT the solution, if hunger isn’t the problem. How many times have I heard that one?
Furthermore, you need to take in less calories than your body needs for energy. The kind of food you eat makes all the difference in the world. Processed food that is high in fat and sugar, can cause inflammation that disrupts the hormone signals that tell your brain you’re full. As a result, you eat a lot more. I try not to buy any prepackaged foods. Anything that comes in a box, can’t be healthy for you. Also, you don’t know what or where any of the ingredients came from. On the other hand, anything fresh out of the ground, growing on a bush or hanging from a tree, is mother nature’s way to provide nutrition for us.
Clean Up Your Diet.
Replace bad food for whole, unprocessed foods, including fresh vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats that will fill you up. In a few weeks, as your brain starts receiving regular hunger and fullness signals again, you will notice that you feel less hungry. Naturally, you will start cutting back on the amount you eat.
While you’re at it, start logging each meal to keep a daily food diary (there are tons of apps for this). This leads to significant weight loss because it will make you accountable. One article that I read, noted that people who kept daily food records had about twice as much weight loss as those who didn’t. I found this to be true when I downloaded an app and kept track of everything I ate throughout the day. You just don’t realize the values until you account for everything.
Look & Feel Healthy
Most importantly, we want to look and feel healthy. I have weighed about the same most of my life, until age crept up on me. For the last 10 to 15 years, I have struggled with keeping my shape. It seems that there are portions of my body that resist my constant exercise to stay in shape. I work hard to maintain my weight by riding my road bike and going to the gym (moderately).
It was only until recently that I tried yet another product to help me keep my weight down, and actually lose weight. I call it Magic Coffee. You can add it to hot water as coffee, but I add it to my coffee in the morning, because I like it BOLD. Then, again for lunch, followed by a normal dinner. Let me tell you, I do NOT go anywhere without this stuff! I reached my goal of the most difficult weight to come off.
Not only did this help me lose weight, but I have more focus at work and achieve much more in a day than without it.
Now that I am exactly where I want to be, this special recipe of healthy ingredients, just knows how to maintain the right balance of weight for me. Learn more about my secret Magic Coffee. So, I hope this has been helpful for you to lose weight and stay healthy. Enjoy ~ Char
