Читать книгу Lose Weight Habits it's Easy! - Sarah. Leneart - Страница 5

I realise this is not always an easy thing to do. Most of us are juggling way too much and going through the day at warp speed, trying to get more and more done. By having a high stress level, not only is it harmful to your health, it‘s harmful to your waistline as well.

When you are constantly under stress, hormone levels, like cortisol and insulin are elevated. The elevation of these 2 hormones can sabotage your weight loss efforts and actually cause weight gain.

Feeling stressed can create a wide variety of physiological changes, such as impairing digestion, excretion of valuable nutrients, decreasing beneficial gut flora populations, decreasing your metabolism, and raising triglycerides, cholesterol, insulin, and cortisol levels.‘ — Mercola.com

So, while you may think you can „handle it“ as far as your stress level goes, we aren‘t meant to be under constant stress and it takes its toll. If you are doing everything right as far as diet and exercise but you‘re under stress everyday, you‘re not going to see or feel the results you want.

This may seem like a strange place to start, but it’s so important because, when we’re tired we tend to make fewer healthy choices throughout the day and reach for the quick-fix energy boost we need, often in the form of sugar-filled options and processed snacks.

Lack of sleep disrupts circadian rhythms and can lead to inefficient body regulation of energy balance, metabolism and appetite. Abnormal leptin and ghrelin levels- hormones that tell your body it’s hungry or full - can go awаy when your body isn’t fully rested.

To get more sleep, set a goal of what time you need to be in bed each night to get the 7-9 hours you need. Try it this week and see what difference you notice, both in how you feel and your appetite.

Cooking meals at home allows you to control the quality, calories and portion sizes, of your food. Do you notice how much food you’re served when you go to a restaurant? Crazy!

When we have more food in front of us, we’ll eat more without realizing it.

Preparing meals at home saves money too. Plan your week out in advance and see which nights you can cook at home. The slow cooker becomes our best friend on busy days. I look at my calendar for the week ahead and whichever days are hectic, those are slow cooker nights- easy breezy!

Exercise actually gives us energy! Think about how you feel after sitting around for hours, versus how you feel when you’re up moving around. You just feel better when you’re active. You don’t have to spend countless hours at the gym to reap significant benefits from exercise.

You can start with something simple like a 20-minute walk if you’re just getting back to an exercise routine. Look at ways you can add more activity into your day - a short walk during lunch, another walk after work perhaps. Maybe two 3.0-minute walks each day would work better for you, than one 20-minute walk.

Find a friend or coworker that has similar goals and figure out something you can do together to help keep each other accountable.

Do you prefer to workout at home? Great! There are endless options of workouts to choose from for every fitness level. Options include exercise DVD’s, online workouts, fitness apps and more. Let me know if you need suggestions.

Join a gym. The gym is nice because your routine is not affected by the weather. If you can invest in a personal trainer to get you started, that can be helpful to boost your confidence and knowledge in how to use the machines as well as making sure you’re using proper form.

It’s common for people to think that when they skip a meal, they are ‘saving’ calories. What happens though is it backfires and by mid afternoon or early evening, they’re starving. Then they feel like they have no ‘will power’. Our body needs fuel in the form of food to function, so when it’s deprived, it screams out for what it needs -food! Willpower is no match and then they end up feeling guilty. Skipping meals sets you up for failure and feeling guilty.

Eat 3 meals a day and healthy snacks when needed. You’ll notice you get through the day with more energy and when you plan your meals out during the day, you can make healthier choices. It’s much easier to make unhealthy choices when you need to eat something now and you just grab the closest thing you can find.

Plan ahead and be sure to not skip meals, especially breakfast, and you’re sure to notice a difference in how you feel and will usually end up eating fewer calories during the day.

Our body needs carbs, but more of the right kind. Refined carbohydrates like white bread, pasta, cereal and processed snacks are lacking in nutrients and leave us hungry again a short time later.

Start adding complex carbohydrates to your plate from foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and legumes contain fiber and nutrients that fuel us and help us feel full for longer.

If you can find it in nature (as opposed to a package with a long list of ingredients), it’s a pretty safe bet it’s a good choice.

Consuming enough protein is another way to improve your energy and stay satiated longer after your meal.

Our bodies require protein for cell renewal, stabilizing our blood sugar, and providing us the energy we need. Many foods contain protein, but some of the best sources include: plant sources such as leafy green vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds lentils and beans as well as animal sources like fish, dairy, meat and eggs.

Take note of your protein consumption and observe how you feel when you have more vs. when you have less to determine what works best for you. Also, be aware that quality matters - choose organic when possible and be aware that grass-fed beef and free- range chicken tend to be healthier protein sources than feed-lot meats.

FACT: Our body needs fat in order to function optimally.

The body utilizes dietary fat for energy, healthy hair, skin and nails, vitamin absorption and normal, everyday bodily functions.

Good fats promote several health benefits such as protection against heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, and depression, as well as reduced blood pressure and lower cholesterol. Choose sources such as nuts, seeds, fish, avocados and extra virgin olive oil. — Institute for Integrative Nutrition

Another good source of healthy fat is coconut oil, which can be used for cooking and baking and it’s also great in smoothies.

The low fat diet craze caused most Americans to fear all sources of dietary fat, even the ones that we need to thrive. During this time, fat was replaced with sugar and other additives to give foods the flavor and consistency they needed. Unfortunately, this period of time was also when the rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease skyrocketed in this country.

A really easy way to improve your health and lose weight is to trade out your soda (regular or diet), flavored coffee drinks or other calorie or artificially sweetened beverage.

For most of us, it’s just a habit we’ve formed. What is the trigger for you? Is it going by the cafeteria, fast food drive-thru or the stash in your fridge or pantry maybe?

Studies show that even diet soda increases our appetite. So, while the drink itself may be zero calories, you end up eating more food to go along with it.

If you’re addicted to the caffeine, you may want to start out cutting your consumption in half for a week or so and see how you do.

Start with 1 or 2 habits at a time then build on those successes by adding 1 or 2 more. Slow and steady really is the way to go so that you incorporate these habits as part of your lifestyle.

You can start with the simplest habit first and go from there if you like. Don’t get overwhelmed - just start with ONE thing. Write it down somewhere as a reminder.

Grab your smart phone, iPad, tablet, journal or pad of paper as we get started. By the way, a great, free smartphone app for tracking your habits is called “Good Habits”. You can enter up to 3 habits and set it up so that you get a daily reminder. Awesome!

Check off the first 1-2 habits you want to start with this week. Imagine if you were to incorporate even i new habit each month for a year - amazing things would happen!