I’m pretty mad at my self for how i ate this weekend after such a great week…..SO,i decided to write this to remind myself of what i already know,yet love to ignore & for you to enjoy! 😉 HAPPY READING!!
TOP 5 FAT LOSS TIPS WE’VE PROBABLY HEARD BUT IGNORE
1.EAT OUT LESS!
We eat out almost twice as often as they did 10-20 years ago, yeah yeah you can try your hardest to make healthy choices when eating out,but let’s be real the temptation is there. A study published online at Public Health Nutrition found that those who cook dinners at home only once a week ate 137 calories a Day more than those who cooked dinner at home 5-7 times a week! By dining at home, you’ll save money and have more control over the ingredients you use and your portion sizes!!!
Click here for a Portion distortion knowledge quiz. Big thanks to the National Heart,Lung & Blood Institute!
DID YOU KNOW?
- Americans are the heaviest of people in developed countries. The U.S surgeon general has called obesity a national epidemic. (YIKES!)
- Consuming an extra 100 calories daily for just 1 year,without using them up can lead to a weight gain of 10lbs OR MORE!
- The number of overweight people in the world — 1.1 billion — now equals the number of undernourished people!
- Every gram of fat= 9 calories
- every gram of carbohydrate or protein= 4 calories
- With each decade as we age we need approx 100 less calories per day (IF we are not changing our activity)
- 10 cals per day (2 hard candies) of UNEXPENDED energy puts on an extra pound per year.
2. EAT BEFORE YOU LEAVE!
A “DIET SIN” i know we have all probably committed…..GOING GROCERY SHOPPING WHILE HUNGRY! Hunger and cravings can effect our better judgement and next thing you know you walk out with a cart-full of junk food or dessert you probably wouldn’t have been tempted to buy if you weren’t hungry! Try eating before you leave the house next time and you will find those choices will be much easier!!
another thing i think i blogged about last year was associating PLACES with food…for example Movie Theater(popcorn/slushy) Parties(alcohol) and BBQ’s (HOT-DOGS lol) now these temptations could be different but just giving an example! Next time you go to leave to one of these events try having a healthy meal or snack beforehand, just to help with temptation 😉 not saying your mouth wont water or you wont be cursing that one friend who can eat ANYTHING while seemingly never having body issues haha BUT it will be easier to resist impulsive choices with a full belly 😉
3.DRINK WATER!
……wait what? WE HEAR THIS EVERY DAY, so much so it goes in one ear out the other even now for me!
So commonly LIQUID CALORIES get put on the back burner or forgotten about all together… that being said you may be as surprised as i was to find out nearly 40 percent of your daily calories can be hiding in things like fruit juice, sports drinks and the worst SODA! Liquid calories are a seemingly easy way to make some real progress in your health and weight loss journey! Cut out all kinds of bad calories from sweeteners and other hidden preservatives by …. wait for it DRINKING WATER INSTEAD! hahah If … like me that just doesn’t cut it sometimes Squirt some Crystal light ,some lemon(my fave!), COLORFUL fruit for extra flava’ and maybe make you smile a little. 😉
4.GET MORE SLEEP
My personal favorite tip 😉 HAHA No but seriously lack of sleep can cause severe damage to our body and our way of thinking! think along the lines of…Increased hunger, Irritable,high stress levels,decreased sex drive and earlier death… idk about you but none of that crap sounds fun to me! haha Studies show that more than 30 percent of adults sleep less than six hours per night. And those same people were the ones with the highest percentage of the above listed problems. As much as we would all like to pull the necessary strings it takes to add more hours to the day we will just need to make sure we catch those ESSENTIAL bed time hours!
5.MAKE A (REASONABLE) GOAL- AND COMMIT TO THAT $H!T !
I have a problem getting started BUT i have a much bigger problem with starting OVER. One day i saw the quote “if you’re tired of starting over,stop giving up”. What a slap in the face? At first i got a little bitter thinking of a million excuses of why i gave up the million times before but they were just that…excuses! Here are 3 SUB tips to help you (and me!) set and achieve those personal goals!
5a.) MOTIVATION! When you set goals for yourself, it is important that they motivate you: this means making sure that they are important to you & making sure that achieving them is something valuable to YOU. If the outcome means nothing to you or is completely irrelevant toward a larger goal or your life in general then well….Chances of you putting in the work to make it happen are slim to none! Motivation is the hidden and forgotten key to achieving (all) goals.
5b.) WRITE IT DOWN! The actual act of writing down a goal makes it REAL! Leaving no excuse for forgetting about it. As you write make sure to use words like “i will” in place of sentences like “i would like to”. How you practice is how you perform so make sure you can see yourself at the finish line!
5c.) Set SMART Goals,I cant remember where i saw the acronym i’m about to share with you and some of you may already know it! But i can tell you once i read it i never forgot it (scatter brain over here! so that’s sayin’ something! lol) & that this should always be the running theme behind setting an attainable goal Fact is that for goals to be powerful, they should always be designed to be SMART:
-Specific. ~ Well defined and precise,nothing vague!
-Measurable. ~ “I want to lose weight” … how much? how will you know when you’ve reached your goal? Without measure you will miss out on celebrations that come with knowing you have actually achieved something! and i know i don’t ever wanna miss a celebration! :p
-Attainable. ~Make sure it’s actually possible to achieve the goals you set. If you set a goal that you have no hope of achieving, you will only set your self up to fail… like we do so many times in our lives whether its a to do list to big or not even TRYING to achieve our goals!…at the same time,make sure you keep in mind we can’t go setting goals that are too easy. Accomplishing a goal that you didn’t have to work hard for can desensitize you to real accomplishments & can also make you fear setting harder goals in the future preventing you from experiencing the glory of GOALS… aka raising the bar bringing out your best self!
-Relevant. ~Goals should be relevant to your life, bigger dreams and YOU! By keeping goals you set aligned with the direction you want your life to go, you will develop the focus you need to get ahead and do what you truly want! When we set scattered,half-hearted and inconsistent goals, and you’ll simply waste your time – and your life – away.
-Time Bound. ~Your goals have to have a deadline. Trying not to repeat my self but again all this means is that you know when you can celebrate success. NOT so that you can procrastinate or stress about a “finish” date, you’re never finished working on a better you! Just know this when you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and achievement and celebration will come that much quicker!
SAVSMILES 