Category: Permanent Weight Loss

Ten Simple Weight Loss Tips that Work

Too Much Weight Loss Information?

 

There’s a lot of information available on how to lose weight. So much that it can be overwhelming!  And, I’ve seen some unhealthy advice, including some that can’t last long term.

Like most people, you are probably too busy to become an expert in health and fitness. And you’d like simple strategies to lose weight and keep it off for good. Good news! I’ve got ten simple weight loss tips that are proven to work and will help you keep the weight off for good!

Ten Weight loss tips that are guaranteed to work!

 

1)  Eat! The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics revealed that people who didn’t blow off their meals lost an average of 8 more pounds per year.

2)  Write it down! As a personal trainer, I witness quite a bit of resistance to keeping food journals. I believe it’s because people think they will be judged or told they have to give something up. This is very normal!

On average, people that keep food journals lose more weight. One study showed that women who kept track of what they ate lost 6 lbs. more on average. Food journals have a proven track record!

If you know you have a resistance to writing down what you eat, keep it private. In the beginning, don’t even share it with anyone else. Think of it as simply collecting data. Then, start to review the journals and see if there is anything you think should be modified to help you with your weight loss goals.

The easiest way to do this is with an online app like loseit.com. After entering all of the data, you will be able to see if you are successfully creating a caloric deficit that will equal weight loss, or not.

3)  Eat the skins! A University of Iowa Study found that a substance in apple peel increases muscle and healthy, calorie-burning brown fat. And, apples are in season right now. Bonus!

4)  Exercise in the morning! Brigham Young researchers found that 45 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise in the morning reduces your motivation for food.

If exercising at a different time works better for your schedule, stick to what works and apply the other tips in this article.

5)  Wear fitted clothes! Fitted clothes are usually more flattering and are a great reminder to make the lower calorie choices during meals. You’re more likely to go for unnecessary seconds in a pair of sweats!

6)  Save family style for special occasions! People that serve their plates from the stove instead of the dining table are shown to eat 10% less.

7)  Like bread when eating out? Dip in olive oil instead of butter. You’ll eat 23 percent less bread and 16 percent fewer calories says The International Journal of Obesity.

8)  Eat three meals plus snacks! Eating every three to four hours helps equip you to say no to the temptations that can sabotage your weight loss goals.

9)  Add some arms! When walking outdoor or on the treadmill, make sure to swing your arms.  Swinging your arms will increase your calorie burn.

10)  Eat breakfast! Eating breakfast releases enzymes in the body that kick start your metabolism for the day. Starting your day off by having breakfast is a secret weapon for successful weight loss!

The tips above are proven to work and easy to apply. Have a weight loss tip you’d like to share or a question for me? Please leave a comment below! I’m looking forward to chatting with you!

Blessings to you and yours!

Jennifer

 

 

How To Avoid Weight Gain When Your Exercise Routine Is Interrupted

Making it Happen

 

It’s no secret that a successful long term exercise routine takes effort and planning.  Planning when and how you will exercise ahead of time increases your chances that you will stick to your routine.

However, if you are human then you know that “stuff” happens. Things like a new job, an injury, a new baby, starting a business, or the illness of a family member can easily put your carefully planned exercise schedule on the back burner. It’s normal and it can happy to anyone!

It’s important to be aware that these interruptions can lead to weight gain.  However, with the right back up plan, you can keep weight gain at bay!

Four Strategies for Dealing with Interruptions in Your Exercise Routine

 

1)  A little goes a long way!  Do your best. Incorporate as much lifestyle activity into your day as you can. Activities like walking to get a meal, or to run an errand; taking the stairs,’ or standing rather than sitting will help you burn extra calories.

If you’re recovering from an injury or illness, find out what exercise your doctor will allow and do as much as you can while waiting to go back to your normal routine.

2)  Don’t be afraid to ask for help! It seems like ‘do it yourself’ has become more and more common these days. If your exercise routine has been interrupted due to additional responsibilities, consider out sourcing daily tasks to free up some of your time. Look for ways you can out source in your personal and/or professional life.

3)  Cut the calories! When your exercise routine gets interrupted, you normally burn fewer calories per day. Unfortunately, the tendency is to increase caloric intake when you should be cutting back. Some of the more common reasons for this include stress, lack of time, and the inability to cook for yourself.

If you are unable to meal plan and cook for yourself, consider having healthy meals delivered. You can use a service like Magic Kitchen or an in-house personal chef who prepares meals in your home.

When eating out, try to check the menus online ahead of time and use sites like healthydiningfinder.com or loseit.com to check the calories in your choices. By planning ahead, you’ll be able to choose the lower calorie options and avoid the weight gain that is caused by eating out often.

Pay attention to emotional eating. If you know that stress triggers you to over eat, avoid buying high calorie snack foods just to have around. Come up with a plan for redirecting the cravings to a different behavior. Activities like taking a short walk, meditating, praying, reading a book, checking email, or listening to music can take your mind off the craving until it disappears.

Boredom can also cause you to snack. Boredom can occur while recovering from an injury or illness, or when caring for a loved one who is recovering. Just like with the emotional eating, find other activities to occupy your time and keep the high calorie snack foods out of reach.

4) Tell guilt to take a hike! Interrupting your exercise routine to take care of important priorities in your life is sometimes necessary. It happens to everyone, so give yourself some grace and move on knowing you’ll start back up with your normal routine as soon as you are able.

Guilt is a potential trigger for binging and can cause additional weight gain. So tell it to leave if it tries to enter your mind!

With today’s fast paced lifestyle, it’s work to juggle all of your priorities. Make sure to include your health and self care as one of them! 🙂

Please let me know if you have any questions by using the comment section below.  I really enjoy hearing from you!

To your long term success!

Jennifer

 

Lose Weight For Good By Creating A Healthy Lifestyle

Have you struggled with losing weight, staying on a diet, or sticking to an exercise program? If the answer is yes, you are not alone. Forty five million Americans diet each year. We spend a whopping $1-2 billion per year on weight loss programs. Yet, Americans are still struggling to lose weight and keep it off for good.

A 95% Failure Rate!

 

So why aren’t these weight loss plans working? The answer is simple. Diets have a 95% failure rate and new research is telling us that exercise without nutritional intervention shows minimal to no weight loss either.

I am not here to discourage you. However, I want you to know the truth because the media tries to sell you a bunch of garbage and hype around health and fitness on a daily basis.

Now for the good news!

 

The way you lose weight and keep it off for good is by creating a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle is created by adopting a healthy habit one step at a time. Once a habit becomes as natural as brushing your teeth, it has become a part of your lifestyle and is very hard to break. It’s simple. However, it does take effort.

The top habits for weight loss and a healthy lifestyle!

 

1) Baby Steps.  It’s important to remember that this is a journey for life and not a sprint. Be conservative when setting weight loss goals.  Under-promise and over-deliver to yourself. One habit will lead to another, which leads to weight loss and management you couldn’t even imagine existed. To learn more about setting successful weight loss goals, read Baby Steps Lead to Permanent Weight Loss.

2) Meal Plan.  If you want to guarantee your success and remove the stress, then plan! In the beginning you may think you just don’t have time. Meal planning will save you time and is a critical part of successful weight loss. Not sure how to meal plan for weight loss? Refer to Meal Planning Helps You Lose Weight for  an easy step by step guide.

3)  Eat Out Smart. I encourage you to eat out and enjoy a great meal. Unfortunately, eating out often can sabotage your weight loss efforts! The average American eats out 4-5 times per week. Eating out this often can add an additional 670 calories to your weekly consumption. That’s an extra 10 lbs per year!

Eating out used to be a treat when I was growing up. However, with today’s fast paced lifestyles and global business market, it has become a major part of our diet. If it’s impossible for you to avoid eating out you, can avoid gaining weight if you follow some simple guidelines.

Start off by using sites like healthydiningfinder.com. Type in your current location and review the nutritional information for restaurants in the area. Or, try an on line app if your restaurant is not listed. Most apps will have general guidelines for restaurant meals. Stick to lower calorie meals and beverages that have little to no calories — unless it’s a special occasion.

4) Ignore the outside chatter! Stick to what works for you. There will always be some new diet or pill, a well-meaning friend, and Lord knows the magazines waiting to tell you that your plan is not ambitious enough. Or, that their way is better. My favorite is the person posing and asking “don’t you want to look like me?”

Now, I’m not saying to be closed-minded on a better way of doing things. I’m saying you should always question if a health or fitness idea fits into your life and values.

5)  Speak Success! Tell your body what you want, not what you don’t want. When you look in the mirror, use phrases like “I am losing weight,” or “I have a flat stomach.”  In the beginning this can be tough. You tend to think “you are lying.” However, you are not. In my favorite success book, The Bible, it says “speak as if it is already.” This is called faith my friend! You are believing you can accomplish your goals!

Negative thoughts will enter your mind. That’s normal. You’re human! Just don’t let them leave your lips. Replace each negative thought with a positive statement. If that’s tough in the beginning, use one of my favorite personal quotes. If you don’t have anything nice to say about yourself, don’t say anything at all. You wouldn’t say something that mean to a friend, so why say it to yourself?

Leave notes around the house as reminders to speak positively about yourself. This will help you build the mental muscles you will need to make success talk a habit.

6)  Don’t Quit! One of the number one reasons people fail is they give up. They don’t see results fast enough so they quit. Consistency is key. Use your “baby steps” to create healthy habits that you are able to maintain long term.

These really are the secrets to my clients‘ and my own personal success with personal weight loss. As you can see, there is nothing exceptional about them. You just have to get started and stick to it. I believe in you and I know you can do it!

Have a question or healthy habit you’d like to share? Please leave a comment below. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!

With love,

Jennifer