Empowering Resolutions: Weight Loss Tips
This month we will be keeping tabs on your New Year’s Resolutions, in order to empower you, help you to stay on track and give you some great tips for keeping your promise to yourself.
Empowering Resolutions: Weight Loss Tips
The key to losing weight effectively is:
1. Calories
Taking in fewer calories than you can burn results in weight loss.
Taking in more calories than you can burn results in weight gain!
-Women should restrict their calorie intake to 1200 a day
-Men should restrict their calorie intake to 1500 a day
Be Aware Of Your Calorie Intake : If you are unsure about the calories in your meal, I feel it is essential to learn this amazing tool for effective weight loss. Record in your ledger or journal the calories of everything you but in your mouth for one week. Be in tune to the total calories you consume daily, and make an effort to replace high-fat foods with low-calorie ones like vegetables and fruits.
2. Discipline
I cannot stress enough how discipline is the second most important aspect in losing weight or achieving any kind of success in your life! It is the secret to the most effective, efficient and well strategize plan you can give yourself! Being successful, losing weight, maintaining relationships are not tasks that come easy for most people. They are all things we must work hard on creating, keeping and maintaining! (Why do you think diet plans have *Results not typical with an asterisks? Because most people have a lack of discipline). You probably already have some forms of discipline in your life. You pay your bills by a certain time, you show up for work every day, often plan your finances, your meals or walk your dog. These are all disciplines in your life already. Some of us need a little more in our lives than others.
This is where you can gain great help and insight, by: a). Creating a plan to lose weight. b). Shop ahead for your food. c). Map out your food plan. d). Eat 5 times a day e). Plan out your days of exercise and what you will do f). Drink your water, cleansing smoothies and juice g). Incorporate the mental wellness techniques in our guide h). Use the body beautiful techniques in our guide i). Use the meal plan provided as a reminder for your day j). Check off or write out what you have for each meal k). If you want to map calories, do it for the first 30 days.
The whole idea with these suggestions is to show you just how much you are eating, how many calories you are consuming and to get you into a pattern, which will set you up for great success!
3. Portion Control
This was a hard lesson for me to learn. As a dancer and someone who always worked out, I felt I had my portioning under control. I eventually learned why I would get that bloated and discomfort feeling after eating. It was my portion size. Sure I was active and exercising but as I aged and my metabolism slowed, my portions were not changing with the rest of me! Once I understood the discipline behind this, it changed my life! An easy way to understand portion control is to look on the back of any Nutritional label.
Eat portions to satisfy hunger, not to clean the plate. By dinner, if you have complex carbs (potatoes, yams, brown rice…) with your meal; it should be no more than a cup full. Half of your plate should be vegetables. The meat, fish, chicken portion should be the size of your fist. Portion control is the secret to a healthy weight!
4. Exercise is another key element in successful weight loss.
As we age, our body’s composition gradually shifts as the proportion of muscle decreases and the proportion of fat increases. This shift slows our metabolism, making it much easier to gain weight. Many people become less active as they get older, increasing the risk of weight gain. Weight gain can be prevented by choosing a lifestyle that includes good eating habits and daily exercise.
You have got to move! A walk around the block is just not going to cut it. You have invested time in creating a plan, you have gone shopping and you are eating your proper proportions, but exercise is what your body needs to really keep you healthy, fit and strong. Not only does it help burn excess calories, but also by increasing your physical activity you can modify the way your brain regulates hunger, hormones and stress, making you less susceptible to food cravings. If you are currently on an exercise plan and you are not losing the weight you want, you need to step it up! Change your routine. Change the exercises you are doing. Mix it up. You should do both cardiovascular movement as well as weight baring exercises. If you are currently not working out, it is time to start. Talk to your doctor about a physical exercise program. A doctor will tell you if you are ok to exercise. Most doctors will not tell you that you are not able to exercise. Then, find a knowledgeable trainer; join a gym, exercise plan or community group, such as yoga, tai chi, pilates or a running group. The most important thing to do is find fitness you feel great about doing! It may take time, but the basics are essential and that is aerobic exercise (cardiovascular) and anaerobic exercise (weight baring). You must schedule exercise into your day, as you schedule everything else.
5. Drink your water
Whatever the current controversy is about water; 8 glasses or not 8 glasses; the bottles the water comes in (leaching toxins?), the key to water is that it is essential to life! Most people do not drink enough water. By the way, if you look on the bottom of your water bottle (or any bottles you buy water in) they should have a number 1 on them. This plastic does not leach toxins into the water. The plastic water jugs you purchase to carry water or fluids in may have the number 7 on the bottom of the bottle. If it does, throw it out! (These bottles have currently been shown to leak toxins into the water from the plastic). Water is also an important component in weight management. It nourishes the body and fills you up. Carry this bottle of water with you everywhere and enjoy its contents. Drink plenty of water daily. Not only will you loss water as you exercise, drinking water makes you feel full, therefore, not as much room for food.
6. Be prepared
Having the right food around is imperative. Because when you get hungry, you are likely to eat anything you get your hands on. Plan your meals, do your food shopping and have a variety of heart health, fiber-filling foods you love at your disposal. Ready to be eaten when it is meal or snack time.
7. Think Lifestyle
Remove the word diet from your vocabulary. You will be making changes that will have a profound effect on your way of thinking, how you eat and most of all, your lifestyle. Once you make these changes, they become habit. Good habits. Good habits become a healthy lifestyle.
8. The Glycemic Index
The glycemic index describes the difference by ranking carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. Low GI carbs produce only small fluctuations in our blood glucose and insulin levels and this is the secret to long-term health reducing your risk of heart disease and diabetes and is the key to sustainable weight loss. You must try to eat low on the glycemic (sugar) index, in order to avoid highs and lows in your blood sugar that can lead to increased insulin production and conversion of calories to fat.
9. Alcohol is fattening
Since it can’t be stored by the body and burns up right away, it increases the likelihood that the food you eat while you’re drinking will turn into fat.
10. Eat Right, More Times
Eating the right carbs, proteins and fats should be consumed in small portions more times throughout the day. This keeps craving and blood sugar levels in check. Water, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats are the basic building blocks of a good diet. By choosing the healthiest forms of each of these nutrients, and eating them in the proper balance, you enable your body to function at its optimal level.
11. Vitamin Therapy
This is a good way to help your body regulate what you may not be getting through your diet. A good daily multivitamin is the best start.
12. Limit Animal-based Foods
Foods such as meat and dairy products, which are loaded with saturated fat and cholesterol. Use olive oil or canola oil instead of butter or margarine to reduce your intake of saturated fat and hydrogenated fat (trans fat). Moderate your consumption of fried, salted and smoked foods.
13. Believe
Your belief system has everything to do with the mental and spiritual aspects of weight control. Fight anxiety with relaxation exercises rather than food. Utilize meditation, yoga, stretching. By creating healthy eating habits and regular exercise, you are sure to lose weight without depriving yourself of nourishing food. And if you continue those good habits after you reach your goal, you will have an excellent chance of maintaining your desired weight and see it more as maintaining a lifestyle as opposed to a diet. Learning to have a more structured and disciplined lifestyle can make all the difference in your progress. You deserve it!
14. Sleep Well
Good quality sleep is important, especially when you are trying to loss weight. I think it is most mportant to go to sleep with a “Quiet Mind”. Sleep rejuvenates, detoxes and regulates the body. Sleep allows our body to rejuvenate and repair!
15. Overcome Fear
Fear can be an underlining problem in many cases. There are many ways to quiet the mind. Doing 15 to 30 minutes of meditation or yoga can be very helpful. You must allow yourself to be distracted or get into your meditation or yoga and “let go” of the days thoughts…see Meditation.
16. Don’t Smoke
Besides the fact that it can cause lung cancer and is the second leading cause of death for both men and women, nicotine is a stimulant and complicates weight control.
17. Life to Go
Everyone has a busy lifestyle. You plan your day’s meetings, schedule your kid’s soccer game or know when to pick up the dry cleaning. Do the same with your meals and snacks. Prepare food ahead. Make goodie bags with cut veggies, apples, grapes, pears, and bananas. Have some nutrition bars on hand or cook/pack your lunch the night before. Mix a salad or make a large pot of soup or hearty chili.
18. Shop Ahead
Go natural, go organic or simply go to your local food store, which seems to have fresh produce. The products you choose should be low in sodium and contain wholesome ingredients, and they should be trans-fat free. Plan meal ideas and shop ahead for them. This way, it gives you less of an opportunity to end up at a fast food restaurant.
19. Weigh In
At the start of your program, weigh yourself. Note the weight in your journal and note your goal. What is your goal? Is it 5,10,20,30 pounds or more? Keep it realistic. Achieve goals in small increments, then reassess your goals, once you achieve that level you decided on. NOW give yourself sometime. Do not step back on the scale for another two weeks. Your weight will move up and down, may change due to your water intake and output or fluctuate with hormone levels. If you give yourself a two week window and you have remained firm to your discipline, you will be amazed at your progress after two weeks.
20. Body Mass Index BMI
According to The Cleveland Clinic, A BMI (Body Mass Index) of 40 or more indicates morbid obesity, which increases a person’s risk of death from any cause by 50% to 150%. BMI is an indirect measure of your body fat, which is a quick way to see if you are overweight. BMI uses a person’s weight and height to gauge total body fat.
A BMI of 18.5-24.9 is ideal. A BMI of 25 to 29.9 is overweight. A BMI of 30 or more indicates obesity. A BMI of 40 or more indicates morbid obesity, which increases a person’s risk of death.
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Andrew Pacholyk, MS, L.Ac learn more Therapies for healing mind, body, spirit at: http://peacefulmind.com/
