Healthy Weight Loss Tips

Start your day right! Putting the right fuel in you to rev up your "energy engine" and burn stored fat is KEY. A good breakfast of protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals and the RIGHT carbohydrates will put your best foot forward to maximize your results. Putting fruit or high carbohydrate sugary cereals, breads, etc. into you will only crash your energy mid morning. Click HERE for a great article about the importance of breakfast and lots of tips on how to start your day the right way.

Set a goal. Identify your ideal/healthy weight and set up a plan to start reaching your goal. Quick fixes and restrictive diets are geared toward deprivation and are not a healthy answer, and with SO many things on the market today that make false promises and are dangerous for your body, do not be desperate. Be realistic and optimistic. You didn't put on that additional 30lbs. overnight, it won't come off overnight, but it will come off with the right steps and a healthy, nutritious system* that works for you. {See below for a great way to jump start your wt. loss plan!}

Don't be afraid to ask for and get help. You're not going to lose weight alone. Tell your family and friends your goals. You will have support and may have a few want to join in and be a "loser" right along with you, which is SO great for cross-motivation. Many workplaces have "Biggest Loser" challenges to create a more health conscious team, which is an encouraging event to be a part of.

Showcase "before" photos. Both Julia Ferraro, 37, and her mother, Adelaide, were 5'2" tall and weighed 205 pounds. A family picture brought them to tears. "You can know that you're getting bigger, but it doesn't hit you until you look at a picture of yourself," says Julia. Instead of stashing the photo out of sight, they agreed to display it prominently for weight loss motivation. Since that shot was taken, the two have lost a combined 90 pounds and five dress sizes-and they've added a new, beaming mother/daughter photo to their tabletop gallery. {Tip #50 in this great article by Prevention Magazine}

Appetite control. Is your appetite your nemesis? Cravings and having your workout area next to the kitchen can be a hazard all its own as you begin. Click HERE to learn about an amazingly delicious and nutrient rich product I love that is all about appetite control, so you can focus on the workout and not on the fridge.

Supplements are good for you. The American diet lacks essential vitamins and minerals. Balance your health with good nutrient supplements. And make the best choices in quality for your body. You only have one body - get it healthy!

Walk the Walk. You burn calories when you move and walk, did you know that? ANY additional movement will add to your results, both on the outside and the inside. Adding light weights will provide the development of toned muscles and more muscle burns more fat. Increasing lean protein plus weights/exercise will improve your caloric burning, so be active and balance your healthful eating plan with regular exercise.

Ice water. Water is your best friend when you are removing what you don't want and replenishing what you need do in your body as you work to shed some weight. The need to warm up foods and beverages we take into our system is the body's natural calorie burner. It will work harder to heat up the chilled fluid, therefore burning more calories. Make it iced!

What to eat and when. Studies have shown that the body runs optimally when consistently fueled with the right foods at the right times. If you keep a leveled blood sugar and satiated apestat (internal appetite meter) throughout the day, you will have a higher metabolism and burn calories more efficiently. If you eat meals/snacks few and far between, your body will anticipate the worst, feeling it needs to hold on to the fat stores in your body, as though going into "starvation mode". Six small "meals" is optimum, with the larger meal being at lunch and at that time the inclusion of heavier carbs and starches such as breads, pasta, fruits, potatoes, rice, and such is wiser than later on. Keeping your breakfast and dinner meals focused on a higher protein, fiber, and good cruciferious carb vegetable choices, you will not be loaded down with excess sugar as you begin your day nor as you finish it up. Having both a mid morning and mid afternoon snack of a healthy protein or protein and carb combo (ie. cottage cheese with tomatoes, a Canadian bacon egg cup or a string cheese and roast beef "roll up") will keep you feeling content throughout the day and more alert and focused, rather than grabbing the high sugar energy zapping "quick fixes" between meals.

{Protein rich snack ideas: Hard boiled eggs, turkey roll up with string cheese, green onion and red pepper, Canadian bacon egg cup, meatloaf, shrimp, spinach mini frittatas* with cheese, and chicken and bacon roll ups.}

Do not eat after 7 pm {finish eating 4 hours before bedtime} This is a great rule to follow as when the body is entering into its restful state, it is beginning a process of regeneration and renewal. You are still active until you lie down to get some Zzzz's, so you are keeping the caloric burn going into slumber. If you eat up until you go to bed, it is a huge amount of work for the body to then try to burn it while it is trying to rebuild in other areas, so the process of removing fat is diminished, and unfortunately you will build up fat stores rather than reduce them. You might feel slightly hungry as you go to bed, but that is okay and you will acclimate to it.

Sleep it off. To be an efficient fat-burning machine, your body requires at least eight hours of sleep a night. It is regenerating, reconstructing, renewing and removing stuff all night long, so give your body the needed time to do what it needs to for you.

IGNITE YOUR METABOLISM!
*See HERE to learn about "IGNITE 15" and how YOU can nutritiously ignite your metabolism into full speed ahead to optimize your fat burning potential the healthy way and lose 8 to 15 pounds and amazing inches in the first 15 days alone on this amazing system, nutritionally replacing and replenishing what you need while removing what you don't!

{*See recipe for Spinach Mini Frittatas HERE!}