Diet can be a scary and disheartening word. To most people struggling with weight loss it just means hard work and letting go of all of the things you love.
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How do I lose Weight
Dieting usually means having to keep yourself on a strict schedule of specific things for an extending period of time. Most who diet do well for a while but either fall off when they do not see the desired results or binge when times get tough, canceling out the dieting that they had done all week. Ditch the Diet and start making some positive changes in your life that will help you stay healthy and lose weight.
Eating Healthy
Learn to make simple changes to all of your daily routines that will improve the way you eat and the way you live. You can start slowly by making small changes to your grocery shopping list.
- Wheat bread instead of white bread
- Wheat noodles instead of whole noodles
- Skim milk instead of 2%milk
- Turkey bacon instead of bacon
- Ground turkey meat instead of ground beef
- No Fatty Snacks!
A lot of shoppers, especially Moms, load up on cookies, chips, brownies, soda and ice cream “for the family“. These items will only get you in trouble. It will be worth it to give the kids a dollar or two to buy a snack from school so that you don’t have temptation staring at you from the cupboards. Purchase healthy snacks for home, like fruits and yogurts and purchase Sherbet as a healthier alternative for ice cream.
Hidden Fats and sugars
Caffeinated beverages are a most loved enemy. A lot of people rely on their coffee to wake them up in the morning or for a little “pick me up” through out the day. Plain black coffee is the best way to go but unfortunately, not many choose to drink it that way. Lattes and Frappucinos can pack a lot of extra calories and sugars into your day without you even realizing it. Whip cream alone can add over 200 calories to your favorite drink. Start slow by asking for your drink without whip cream, then gradually ask for a light version of your drink with no whip cream. You may not like the taste as much, but you will feel much better about ordering it and eventually you will get used to the taste.
Here are a few food items to watch out for.
Peanut butter is loaded with protein but also with fat.
Granola bars may be low calorie but most have a lot of extra fat and sugars that you do not need. They also provide little nutrition.
Salads are a great healthy lunch or side item, but sometimes adding toppings and salad dressing can add enough fat and calories to turn your salad into a cheeseburger. Make sure to keep the dressing and croutons to a minimum.
You don’t have to Count Calories…
Just know your food groups and know when is best to eat them. Protein is great to pack into every meal. Fish, eggs, chicken and steaks can be prepared in a variety of different ways and eaten daily without feeling like you are eating the same thing over and over. Carbohydrates like pastas and breads can be a great source of energy when eaten in the beginning or middle of the day but should not be eaten right before bed when the carbs will just sit and turn to fat. Even fruits and yogurts can have a lot of sugar in them and are best to eat earlier in the day.
- Healthy Snack Ideas
- Soy nuts
- Pretzels
- Grapes
- Pears
- Cottage cheese and peaches
- Wheat thins and hummus
- Vegetables and hummus
- Hard boiled eggs
- Health choice vanilla ice cream with 0 calorie Rootbeer floats
Portion Control
Once you have changed your shopping habits and started introducing healthier alternative foods to your home, focus on are your portions. Sometimes when people eat healthier foods, they will eat twice as much because they don’t feel as full. A great challenge can be changing restaurant mentality.
Just because it is there or it comes free with your meal, or it has free refills, doesn’t mean you have to eat it. When you are at a restaurant, it is easy to binge and “treat yourself” to a little more, but make sure that you don’t forget about your newly made healthy changes just because you are not at home.
Ask for a to go box and separate your food into two portions. Save the second portion for the next night and you have just gotten two meals for the price of one plus stayed on track with your healthy eating. Pace yourself while you eat, eating slower will give your body time to realize that it is getting full. Once you get in the habit of it, you wont even realize that you are doing it.
Lose weight fast
There are no healthy miracle cure weight loss remedies that will shed pounds off of you in two days. Rapid weight loss is usually the result of dehydration, deprivation or other unhealthy weight loss techniques. Losing weight in a healthy manner, takes time.
A healthy weight loss goal should be about two or three pounds per week. Your weight will fluctuate throughout the day so weighing yourself daily can be discouraging. Pick one day a week to track your weight loss and try to make sure that you weigh yourself around the same time of day. Two or three pounds a week may not sound like much at first, but it means that you will be about 10 pounds lighter at the end of the month which is a great goal to achieve.
Making healthy lifestyle changes is an easy way to get healthy and lose weight at a steady pace without all the pressures and limitations of a diet.
You will feel a sense of pride from knowing that you have made these great healthy changes to your life for you and your family. Combining your new habits with some fun healthy activities and like swimming, dancing or taking fun classes like zumba® or kick boxing will increase your success and help you to feel even greater about the new healthy you.
