Can't get any traction on your weight loss journey? That's typical of most people who diet, especially yo-yo dieters who lose weight only to gain it back with a few extra pounds in tow.
First of all I will warn you that if lack of willpower is your problem, don't even try to get started on the Atkins, Keto, White or any other diet that limits you to a certain kind of food because 90% of you will fail in the long run. This is because most weight is an accumulation of a lifetime of poor eating choices that will not resolve themselves just because you decided to start a diet.
Your best course of action for significant long term weight loss is an all inclusive diet that allows for one cheat day a week which won't happen on a Keto diet. because either you are refusing carbs or you're not, so if you introduce them back into your diet you are back to square one. Weight Watchers is a great diet but it's expensive and not without its drawbacks. My dad had this friend who was on Weight Watchers for a year and couldn't lose a pound even though she was paying $300 a month for the food delivery service. I asked why she thought she hadn't lost andy weight and she confided in me that the meals were so small and not enough food so she ate them two at a time, used them as a side to her meal and as snacks! The Dr Phil 202/20 diet is better because it allows for a variety of food choices promises that you will never go hungry But your best case scenario is to simply bite the bullet and for 3 solid weeks eating whatever you normally eat but only HALF of your normal portions. This will not work if you are dishonest with yourself and it does require some sacrifice and some hunger pains but if you keep the end game in sight, it's a great way to reform and overhaul your eating habits and consequently your weight. In fact it's your best bet for keeping off the weight once you've worked so hard to lose it. But first you must get back to basics. You need to analyze what you are eating and drinking and start to eliminate useless and worthless calories, and the first place to start is to eliminate soda from your diet as well as almost all other sugary drinks filled with useless calories such as sweet tea which has an incredible amount of sugar in it. You will even need to cut back on milk and juices. Notice I didn't say stop, I said reduce. 8 ounces means 8 ounces, not 10 or 12 or 16. Just because they are in an 'individual size' serving container does NOT mean it contains only one serving. Read your labels. Most food packages contain more than one serving and it's easy to figure out which ones if you Read Your Labels on everything. No more pretending not to know. It's your job to know. Also just because it says diet soda does not mean it's good or helpful to your diet. Shockingly studies have found that diet sodas aren't much better than non diet sodas, I don't know the reason why but I do know they can actually prevent weight loss so tread lightly so they should be drunk sparingly. 1st hack: A better choice is squeezing lemon, lime or orange into water if you're sick of water and are craving flavored treats.
Prepare flavored bottles of water ahead of time by adding slices into your water bottles and chill overnight. Avoid purchasing prepared waters because they are costly and often have sugar in them Best is to keep pitchers of water with fruit slices in the fridge to provide instant gratification. But since soda is an addiction for many here's a less painful way to step down. 2nd hack: Buy mini cans of soda instead of the regular size which contains two servings as to only one serving in the mini can. You also get the satisfaction of finishing the entire drink with less guilt. 3rd hack: Slowly step down from a soda addiction much like a cigarette addiction by replacing a bad habit with a good one. If you typically consume 6 sodas a day, start week 1 by replacing every other can with a bottle of water. The second week do the same and the third. By the 4th week you won't even miss the sodas and you sure won't miss the calories.
So you've decided you don't want to give up your favorite foods and are willing to cut your food intake in half. Bravo, this is a gutsy decision that will not put a bandaid on your weight problem but will help resolve some of the underlying causes. If you're like me, you're too lazy to weigh all your food so here is
4th hack: Start using a plate or bowl half the size of your normal one and serve accordingly. Do not stack food twice as high to get more or you'll defeat the purpose. Be honest with yourself because that's who you are doing this for. 5th hack: Count your food. Count your fries, your BAKED chicken strips, your pretzels, EVERYTHING you put in your mouth. Keep that count in your head. If you're eating a bowl of gumbo, count the spoonfuls. 6th hack: Eat SLOWLY. Savor each bite. One of the reasons we gain weight is that we gobble down food and don't give our stomachs enough time to send a message to the brain that our stomachs are actually full. Give it time. If you finish your meal, do not dive in for a second helping. Get up from the table, walk around for 5 minutes and then if you are still hungry, add ONE more chicken strip or ONE small ladle of gumbo. Better still, eat carrot sticks or celery, or other fresh veggies in between bites of the main meal. 7th hack: ALWAYS eat at the dining room table. If you don't have one, eat at the kitchen table. Make each meal an event and celebrate it as the special treat that it is. Savor the meal in front of you whatever it is.
8th hack: NEVER walk around with food or eat in front of the tv. Break those habits now. They will kill any attempts you make at dieting. Always be conscious of the food you are presenting yourself and stop mindless habitual eating.
9th hack: Develop an exercise habit that can accommodate your health level and do it every day. That doesn't mean go easy on yourself. What it means is that you select a routine that is possible to accomplish and push yourself to and beyond those limits, and then establish new limits. Unless you are a quadraplegic, there is always something you can do. Plan your day around exercise and do not plan your exercise around your day because you will always find an excuse not to do it. Then if you really do have an emergency and truly can't do it that day, that's your day off instead of a preplanned one. Join a gym if you can and start every day in the gym. You can go to Planet Fitness for only $10 a month and you'll save that much money already by giving up soda. But if you can't do that, there are plenty of things you can do: buy a second stationary bike and put it in front of the tv, run up and down the steps, once, twice, 3 times, 10 times a day, jog, get a yoga or zumba DVD, DVR exercise programs already on tv and do it every day. Dance to the radio for a 1/2 hour every day, get gym equipment and do it at home. If you are really in a bad way you can buy bicycle pedals you can use while sitting on the sofa or a kitchen chair. There are also 100s of exercises that you can do while sitting in a chair or standing against a wall. There's always something you can do. And finally
10th hack: Remove the word can't from your vocabulary, because ultimately it's not whether you can or can't lose weight, it's whether or not you truly want to.
#lifehacks #weighloss #weightlosshacks #diets #dietcoke #planetfitness #fitforlife
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