Someone passed on a very simple, yet profound, tip to me last night. I’ve been stuck on a weight-loss plateau for a couple of months and have noticed some sloppy eating habits returning. Luckily, my exercise habits are deeply ingrained now, so there’s been no slippage there.
The person I was speaking with gave me a brilliant idea. Use a timer to regulate my environment, which will help regulate my eating. Here’s how it works: Get a timer that’s small and easy to carry with you. Throughout the day, simply have the timer count down an hour all day long. When the timer rings, if it’s only been an hour since you last ate a healthy meal or snack, then drink a glass of purified water. Set the timer and get on with your business. When it rings again, if it’s been 2 hours since you last ate, have a small snack or a scheduled meal. Repeat throughout the day, constantly checking in with yourself as to whether it’s time for water or for a snack/meal.
Another tip was to always have snacks and meals available no matter where you are. Always have something quick to reach for that will nip hunger in the bud–protein shakes and bars, fruits and vegetables, or a balanced meal. For me, that means carrying a cooler with me to ensure I have plenty of healthy choices with me when I’m away from home. Once you develop the habit, it becomes second nature to have that cooler packed and on hand before heading out the door.
Does this require you to be organized and disciplined? Well, yes. Does it require you to think before anything passes your lips? Exactly. Does it insure you never let too much time pass before you either have a drink of water or eat a healthy snack/meal? Yes, and that’s the real secret to success.
Remember, move more, eat less (and well), and drink plenty of water. Those are the keys to weight loss success.
Also, meet your new friends: a cooler and a simple count down timer. They’ll keep you organized and prepared and ultimately on track to meet your weight loss goals.
Blessings,
Cindy
Tags: exercise to lose fat, exercise to lose weight, fat loss, healthy diet, healthy drinks, lose the fat, weight loss, Weight Loss Tips
Even as I speak, it’s snowing here in Northern Colorado. Drats! I was hoping for an exhilerating hike today. I mean, come on, it’s mid-May.
What do you do on day’s where the weather doesn’t cooperate with your preferred exercise routine? Just take a day off? Not me! I can’t afford to let those pounds creep back up. Besides, exercising gives me the energy I need to handle my busy day.
I always have a backup plan available. For me, that means breaking out one of my favorite exercise tapes. I really enjoy my Leslie Sansone walking workouts. I also have yoga, pilates, and TTAPP workouts available. No matter what my mood, there’s a tape I can count on for a great workout and energy infusion.
If you don’t have a backup plan, make one. Don’t let the weather determine whether or not you’ll make your weight loss and exercise goals. Be proactive and have a Plan B!
Blessings,
Cindy
Tags: exercise to lose fat, exercise to lose weight, fat loss, lose the fat, lose weight, weight loss, Weight Loss Tips
Want the quick answer or the thoughtful one?
Quick Answer: All exercise burns calories. Any movement is good movement.
Thoughtful Answer: While all exercise will burn calories, the best exercise is the routine you’ll actually stick to through thick and thin. It must be something that you enjoy in a location that encourages you (or at least doesn’t depress you). That means that the best exercise routine will be different for every single person. We all come into this world with different personality traits. We’ve all had different experiences and have different physical traits and talents.
My idea of a bad time would be to participate in a group sport of any kind. I have zero ability to kick, hit, throw, or catch. But, that might be the perfect scenario for someone who grew up playing sports, has athletic ability, and enjoys team sports.
I prefer to be outdoors whenever possible and especially love hiking–a perfect Colorado activity! This is hard work for me, but the beautiful scenery and weather combine to keep me going and working harder than I would under other circumstances. Burn, baby, burn! I really burn those calories away and love every minute of it.
Now, depending on your interests, talents, and current level of fitness, imagine what type of movement would be most pleasing for you. The sky’s the limit on this one!
Here are some ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
- Turn on some music you love and just dance that weight away.
- Use your favorite exercise video.
- Go for a long walk with someone you love.
- Stroll through the park on a beautiful day.
- Play frisbee with your kids.
- Join a sports team and commit to playing regularly.
- Participate in team bowling.
- Get a gym membership and commit to using it regularly.
- Jump on your home exercise equipment and get a great workout in at the beginning of the day.
- Take a bike ride through your favorite neighborhoods or park.
- March in place to John Philip Sousa music.
- Volunteer to help build homes for Habitat for Humanity.
- Park as far as you can from all the places where you’re running errands.
- Well, I think you get the idea.
Final Analysis: Just move it. Do what you love and what will encourage you to move more. Move more, lose more weight. It really can be that simple.
Tags: exercise to lose fat, exercise to lose weight, fat loss, lose the fat, lose weight, weight loss, Weight Loss Tips
Summer Is Right Around the Corner
In case you hadn’t noticed, summer is right around the corner. In addition to travel you may already be doing for work, vacation time can mean that you have to plan ahead in order to maintain healthy eating habits.
It’s difficult enough these days to maintain a healthy eating plan, let alone keep a healthy diet while traveling.
If your days really have you running around from work, to parties, to picking up kids all over the neighborhood, here are a few strategies that really do work:
1. Make the Trunk Your Refrigerator.
Ok, not literally, but I have known many people (including myself) to keep a small cooler in their trunk at all times. They fill it with healthy goodies at the beginning of the day (raw nuts, fresh fruits and veggies, even hard boiled eggs) along with some ice packs and extra tupperware (just in case) and they’re off for the day. At the end of the day, they empty whatever is left and the ice packs go back in the freezer for the next day. This is also a great way to keep your water bottles nice and cold and not warm from the car heat.
2. Make the Supermarket Your Fast Food Stop.
Instead of a quick trip through the drive thru, run into the local supermarket and pick up an assortment of dried or fresh fruits, healthy trail mixes, fresh veggies and natural peanut or almond butter. Most supermarkets now have wonderful salad bars and prepared foods like grilled chicken and salmon (better than any fast food joint) and healthy sandwich options (be careful with certain condiments like mayo that may be added). Eliminate the fast food joints from your choices of “quick stops” and look for the hot spots in town that offer healthier options.
3. Be the Bearer of Good Food.
When going to a barbecue or social event, always offer to bring something (now I sound like the etiquette police). I always bring something and that something is always healthy. I know, if nothing else, at least I’ve got that to eat (although all of my friends and family know why I do this). Even if you contribute the healthy and lean beef burgers or turkey burgers, this may deter you from the not-so healthy hot dogs and sausages. Or how about a colorful salad or fruit salad?
4. Find the Healthy Places All Over the World.
Before I go on any trip, I go online and find the closest Whole Foods or Health Food Store. If there are none close by, I find a major supermarket. This doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy myself on vacation (like the Key Lime Pie I enjoyed down South) or when visiting family and friends, but I make sure that all healthy principles do NOT go out the window. I keep it healthy and have a great time! (not one or the other)
There are always great ways to maintain your healthy weight loss plans even if your life has you traveling and on the road quite a bit.
To get started on your own Weight loss and Health goals, watch this video.
Tags: fat loss, healthy diet, healthy drinks, lose the fat, lose weight, weight loss, Weight Loss Tips
- Only drink water as your beverage (with the occasional unsweetened tea or black coffee). Eliminating all sugar drinks, “diet” drinks and sodas will automatically cause a dramatic weight loss. Studies have shown, when all else is kept constant, people lose up to 10lbs just by giving up diet coke. But it has no calories you say? Equal (Aspartame) and all other artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Sweet and Low are toxins to your body and cause weight gain, even more so than sugar! Squeeze fresh lemon in your water or make flavored herbal teas and cool them to make ice tea to make water drinking much easier. Always consume ½ of your body weight in ounces of water per day to experience adequate hydration and weight loss (ex. If you weigh 150lbs, you must drink 75 ounces of water each day).
- Eliminate the 4 white devils: White Flour, Refined Salt, White Sugar, and Dairy. If you just stay away from these 4 things, you will automatically see a drastic drop in weight and will instantly feel more energetic throughout the day. Most people are well aware of the harmful effects of flour, refined salt and sugar but dairy? Doesn’t it do a body good? Definitely not! Dairy is one of the number 1 reasons people have such a hard time losing weight. It causes inflammation in the body, digestive problems, clogged arteries, and weight gain. Get your calcium from leafy greens and avoid dairy at all costs. The results are miraculous!
- Know exactly where to find the healthy food! It is honestly just as easy to run in to the local supermarket and get a bag of carrots and some almonds as it is to run into a Quickie-Mart and buy some harmful processed food. You can go absolutely anywhere now and find healthy meal options but you must know what you are looking for. Stay away from most packaged foods as the label indicates more of a science experiment than anything that would be close to food. No one needs all of those toxins in their body. Labels should have 2 – 3 items, at most. And the best foods don’t have labels.
Tags: fat loss, healthy diet, healthy drinks, weight loss, Weight Loss Tips
Gimme My Cup o’ Joe
I admit that I love to have a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. Just one, mind you. But is that morning coffee really an ok option on a healthy eating plan? Is coffee really bad for you, good for you, or a neutral option? It’s smart to take a look at all sides of this issue.
The Ugly Side of Caffeine
The Pretty Side of Caffeine
What Is a Coffee and Tea Drinker to Do?
- Limit your coffee and tea intake to 2 – 8 oz cups per day. No, not 2 of each, 2 total. Any more than that is considered as a heavy addict. (I know. I’ve been there).
- If you are currently dependent on a lot of caffeine each day, replace 1 or 2 cups of coffee with green tea instead. Green tea has much less caffeine than coffee and will help combat the ugly detox symptoms.
- Do not jack up your coffee with sugar, milk, syrup and whip cream (So I guess that means no Starbucks, huh?). Use stevia or xylitol to sweeten and avoid all the empty, harmful calories. A teaspoon of half and half won’t hurt either. Please oh please, do not use any of those flavored creamers. They are closer to someone’s chemistry experiment than they are to real food.
- Make sure to make your food choices healthy. Avoiding other acidic foods like sugar, artificial sweeteners and processed foods will lighten the acid load on the body.
- Make sure the coffee you drink is organic. Conventional coffee is filled with pesticides and chemicals and should be avoided at all costs.
Tags: healthy diet, healthy drinks, weight loss, Weight Loss Tips
When I began exercising again, I kept reminding myself of that old saw that says, “It takes two weeks to establish a new habit.” Two weeks can feel like forever, though, when you’re trying to break a bad habit (not exercising) and establish a new one (exercising regularly). The problems become how to make it consistently through that two weeks until the habit is established, and how to protect that new habit from dying on the vine
I looked at all the resources I had available to me: Me, my son, my husband, my friends, my colleagues. Who would most consistently encourage me and help me establish my new habit? I needed a coach and I needed this person to be persistent yet empathetic.
Before I tell you who I enlisted as an assistant to help me establish my new habit, take a minute to think about who you have available to support you. What qualities does your coach need to possess? How available is the person to provide ongoing prodding and encouragement?
For me, I decided to pick our son as my coach and the person who would help me establish my new exercise habit. One of his major character traits is persistence (which can be annoying in some circumstances but was perfect for this assignment). He is also a very active person, which means I wouldn’t have to motivate him to exercise before he could motivate me. Finally, he has the perfect blend of empathy and sternness that I needed to keep me from slacking off “just this once.” Although I love my husband dearly, I’ve learned over time that his helpful reminders about food and exercise only annoy me (my problem, not his). I decided to keep him out of the whole event.
Did my strategy work? You bet it did. I have a strong habit of working out six days a week, first thing in the morning before anything else interrupts. Now, it’s just like getting up and eating breakfast–I wouldn’t dream of missing it. It’s a great way for me and my son to begin our day. Another great thing is that it makes it easier for our son to concentrate on his school work because he’s gotten some of the willies out first thing in the morning.
Now, I strive to simply protect the habit that I so carefully built up. How? By scheduling it on my planner as the first item each day (ok, I really like checking off the boxes on my planner LOL), by continuing to hear our son say, “Ready to work out mom!”, and by just doing it whether I feel like it or not. Amazingly, once I get started, the workout just flows and before I know it I’m done.
Oh yeah, the best motivation has been that I’ve lost 3 sizes and receive so many compliments. I’ve even been able to motivate people around me to take action on their own health, and I didn’t even know I was motivating them.
I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone. Pick someone to support your effort to establish an exercise habit. Then, just do it!
Blessings,
Cindy
Tags: exercise to lose fat, exercise to lose weight, fat loss, lose the fat, lose weight, Weight Loss Tips
Exercise Is a Vital Component of Losing Weight–
But Where You Do It Matters
We all know that exercise is vital in order to lose weight and drop fat rather than muscle. Yet, we often have trouble fitting it into our daily schedule. Why?
Well, exercise can be challenging when you first get started and it’s quite easy to just give yourself the excuse, “I just don’t have the time.”
What I have figured out for myself and what exercise coaches have found to be true for their clients is that no matter which exercise program is chosen, it must be something the person enjoys doing. Especially when it comes to the setting and location.
For me, I have converted the basement of my house into my “home gym”. The sunlight streams in through the big windows in the early morning, and it’s a great place to start the day.
NO, home gym does not mean I have the most expensive, high tech equipment. To be honest, the only items that make up my home gym are: an exercise ball, some adjustable weights, exercise bands, an exercise mat, and an old treadmill I bought on sale. That’s it! Nothing expensive or high tech about it.
Several times in the past I joined gyms and told myself I was going to go. I’d start out fine, sticking to my workout schedule, but eventually the extra burden of having to go to the gym, change there, and deal with the things I didn’t like there (noise, crowds, tv stations I didn’t like), led to me dropping out. I really liked working out (and the sauna), but I really didn’t like what I didn’t like about the gym itself.
I figured out that I really love my exercise room. Plus, our son can join me and use the treadmill while I do other exercises. He’s not stuck at the gym daycare–an activity he particularly hated. He can also act as my coach and keep me honest about my workout and motivated to complete it. Also, I don’t have to worry about who else needs the equipment or who’s lurking around the gym. I get an hour to focus on myself and it’s a great way to start my day.
I asked myself if this could possibly be what’s stopping many people from exercising. “Is this most people’s problem? Do they not like where they work out so they just don’t want to go?” So it’s really not the actual workout but the environment that they’re in.
Now maybe for you the situation is just the opposite. You don’t like working out in your home and you would much rather get out and be motivated by other healthy people. Whatever the case may be, choose something you enjoy! You will never make a lifestyle change to include exercise on a consistent basis if you don’t enjoy it. Who wants to do something that feels like torture? Not me. I love my morning exercise time and if it felt like torture, I just wouldn’t do it.
My question to you is: What do you have to do to make your workout time enjoyable? Or (heaven forbid) something you actually look forward to? Join an adult sports league? Start your own exercise group? Join a new gym? Set up a home gym? Find a workout partner? The choices are endless.
Try many different options and figure out which activity you would enjoy best and I assure you, exercise never has to be a drag.
Get started on a new healthy nutrition and exercise plan right now. If you need help getting started, I recommend the meal plans and exercise programs in The Diet Solution Program.
Tags: exercise to lose fat, exercise to lose weight, fat loss, lose the fat, lose weight, Weight Loss Tips
Losing the Fat Doesn’t Have to Be Hard
Here Are 3 Simple and Easy Fat Loss Rules:
- Don’t eat anything white. Name every single food that is white and chances are you shouldn’t be eating it: bread, pasta, crackers, most cereals, flour based products, white potatoes, white rice, and pasteurized dairy and cheese are all no-no’s during this time. (Healthy foods like cauliflower, chicken, turkey, fish, white pork are all exceptions to this rule).
- Only drink water, NOTHING else! How about coffee? Just to keep any possible withdrawal headaches at bay, one small cup of organic black coffee. Can you add half and half?…Well is it white? Drink a minimum of 1/2 of your body weight in ounces of water each day. For example: If you weigh 200 lbs, you need to drink 100 ounces to really see the fat fall off.
- Don’t eat anything with the word wheat in the ingredients list. What if it’s whole wheat? Look, if the word starts with W and ends in T and has the letters h e a in between, you can’t eat it. This includes bread, pasta, crackers and cereal. Many packaged snack foods also contain wheat so be sure to read the ingredients list carefully.
Tags: fat loss, lose the fat, lose weight, weight loss, Weight Loss Tips