1. Stop Eating at Night
You shouldn't be eating for about 3 hours before going to bed, but it's even better if you stop eating at about 7 every night. This way you will be done digesting by the time you go to sleep. Doing this will cause your body to not gain extra weight while you sleep, making it easier for you to lose weight. And besides, you don't need to fuel up with food to lay down for 8 hours!
2. Drink Tons of Water
Okay, not tons, but a lot. Your body needs water to keep functioning healthfully. Drink water before every meal to fill you up a little and avoid overeating. Plus, it's zero calories without all the chemicals in diet sodas.
3. Set Healthy Goals
Avoid setting crazy weight loss goals. I find it best to set goals in this fashion: I set a goal to lose 12 pounds, but I don't give myself a deadline. Then, on a day to day basis I set a goal on how healthy I want to eat, not how much weight I want to lose by tomorrow. Setting difficult weight goals used to make me feel defeated if I didn't reach them on time, which caused me to use unhealthy tactics and not focus on anything but calories. I lost a lot of weight quickly, and then gained even more back. Ugh. Focusing on being healthy rather than losing weight is much better for your body and piece of mind. If you are consistently heathy, your weight will naturally decrease to what is healthy for you.
4. Think About Portions
You may be shocked to hear your stomach is only the size of your fist! So when you eat a plateful of food, you are expanding your stomach by 2, 3, even 4 times! That's why your stomach hurts so much after Thanksgiving! Just keep this in mind to avoid overeating; don't eat till your full, eat till you aren't hungry anymore!
5. Ask Yourself, "Am I really hungry?"
Do this every time you're about to eat or buy food. If you aren't hungry but just craving something, go for a small portion or split it with a buddy. Eating a lot without being hungry will cause weight gain and develops bad eating habits. Hunger is your best friend when trying to lose weight, it tells you exactly when to eat and how much, as long as you listen to it properly. Also keep in mind its easy to confuse hunger with thirst!
6. Focus on Adding Foods, Not Taking Away
Instead of telling yourself what you can't eat, tell yourself what you can. So instead of saying, "I can't have a pastry for breakfast," tell yourself, "I can have eggs with kale and a piece of fruit for breakfast." Then that pastry you denied yourself won't be all that's on your mind. Get it? Sometimes the most important part of a successful diet is the perspective you have. After all, a healthy mind is part of a healthy body!
7. Be Smart When Dining Out
This can be a tough one. When your dining out (and trying to keep trim) you might have to avoid ordering your normal entree and dessert. Instead of a creamy soup opt for a salad, just go easy on the dressing and avoid creamy ones. A few side dishes can make up a nice entree (think: Grilled chicken, steamed veggies, and whole grain pasta) or you could get a child portion. If you can' bear to part with you favorite entree, take a sensible portion and eat it from a separate plate and ask the waiter to wrap the rest right away. Remember that the portions at restaurants are WAY big, so don't feel like you are being crazy by not eating the entire thing! You're being smart!
8. Avoid Emotional Eating
So you had a bad day. While it makes sense you aren't in the mood to be super-duper healthy, DON'T eat a feast of unhealthy food. Unhealthy foods will turn your mood from bad to worse and make you feel super guilty. Which can trigger you to eat even more to ease your guilt. And the cycle goes on and on. And on. Sound familiar? Instead of eating to comfort your emotions, try reading a book, writing, drawing, doing some yoga, exercising, or even meditating. Making healthy choices will put you in a better mood!
9. Exercise for Positive Reasons
While you might think it's a good idea to exercise to counteract bad eating or to allow yourself to eat more later. But thinking of exercise as a punishment won't make you want to do it. No wonder so many people say the hate exercise! In reality, exercise is so much more! Look at exercise as a way to feel good about yourself, get more energy, sleep better, and promote a healthy, happy lifestyle. You should be proud of yourself when you exercise!
10. Don't Aim For a Hollywood Body
Unless you don't want to live like a normal, healthy person, that it. The media has changed what our idea of a perfect body is. Skinny, long legs and tiny waistlines for women. Giant, bulging biceps and ripped six packs for guys. But how many times do you see a person look like that? Most actor and celebrities have insane diets, they'd probably go insane for eating like that if millions of dollars wasn't their motive. Realize that you don't have to "Hollywood Perfect," because you being healthy is perfect.
We people go to gym, they make their mindset to have a Hollywood kinda body once they come back. In other words, they make their goal so high which is unachievable and they lose hope in the process. They hardly lose any weight. Moreover they get hurt also.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Arnold Brame