Читать книгу How to Lose Weight Without Dieting: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Slim, Sexy and Healthy Body - Tammy Inc. Thomas - Страница 6

Our minds and our bodies are connected so when one is not feeling good, the other one will also not be performing as well as it could be.

Reversely, when one feels good so does the other one. In order to have a healthy body you must also have a healthy mind and a positive mindset.

You have picked up this book because you have a hectic lifestyle and want to lose weight and be healthier but you have not got a lot of time.

When our lives are hectic and frantic, it causes stress.

Stress is a factor in weight gain, which is probably something that you were not aware of.

Weight loss or gain is not always as simple as calorie intake and calorie burning, other things can factor in, such as certain lifestyle habits, genetics and stress.

When we feel stressed, our bodies respond by releasing hormones into our system that prepares us to handle the stressful situation by releasing the same things into our bodies that would be released into our systems if we were in a dangerous situation.

To our bodies, being in danger and stress are the same thing. When in danger, the hormones released are meant to bring about short term changes to our bodies that will help us survive.

The changes are not meant to be there for any longer than necessary, but when we are stressed but the changes are not short term, they stay with us. This is why chronic stress is so dangerous to our health in many ways, one of which is weight gain.

Stress causes our bodies to release cortisol, a hormone, which can slow down your metabolism in large amounts.

With prolonged stress, your body will continue to produce this hormone, which makes losing weight even more of a challenge.

This is a hormone, which is meant to be released short-term but stress causes the continual production of cortisol.

Stress will also have adverse effects on your blood sugar levels and contributes to the storage of abdominal fat, which is the fat that has the highest risk fat.

Stress will cause high blood pressure, which can lead to heart problems that can lead to strokes, heart attacks, or even death.

In order to be healthy, you will first have to manage your stress.

As you can see, stress puts a tremendous toll on the body because our body’s reaction to stress is only designed for short-term and the effect that it has over a long-term period is far from healthy.

In addition to the above, stress can also trigger bouts of emotional eating and/or cravings.

The hormones released into our bodies while we are stressed trigger cravings for foods that are sugary, salty, and fatty.

When under stress, we crave those things and so we are more apt to hit up a drive through, grab a few donuts or some pre-packed snacks, all of which are full of processed foods, artificial ingredients, calories, and full of fat.

Emotional eating is often an outlet of stress simply because we are not sure what to do, and we translate that stressed feeling into hunger, even though we usually are not.

We eat to burn off the excess energy that stress causes our bodies to build up.

Getting a handle on your stress will not only make you feel better, but it will help your day go by smoother.

When you can handle stress in a healthy way, you are better equipped to deal with life, either at home or at work.

Things are not as hectic and you do not feel as rushed or as anxious. You will even find that you have time for yourself.

Not only will your days be easier, but also you will boost your weight gain factor by learning to manage your stress as well as reducing your risk for stress related diseases.

Stress is not something that can be avoided, there are deadlines to meet, your child might have gotten hurt, or a car accident could have happened, these are things that you cannot control but you can learn to control your reaction to them.

Simple breathing exercises are the best way to give yourself a break from stress.

If you feel your emotions going high, feel flustered, anxious, or overwhelmed you can take a few minutes to just do some basic deep breathing exercises, which will help boost your oxygen intake, and will help you feel not only refreshed and rejuvenated, but more relaxed as well.

These are a great way to boost your energy if you feel like you are starting to lose your energy during the day, instead of reaching for a candy bar, have some fruit and do about five minutes of deep breathing to make you feel more awake and energized.

Either standing straight up, or sitting up straight in a chair, take a slow, deep breath, filling up with air from your lower belly first so that your chest expands last.

Hold this for a few heartbeats and then very slowly exhale until you have slowly let go of all of the air and as you exhale let all of your muscles relax and go loose.

Imagine as you inhale that you are sucking air in through a straw, so that you are filling with air from the bottom first, then your chest and then very slowly exhale, feeling your chest empty first, then the rest of you.

With each exhale, feel yourself go more and more relaxed. Continue doing this until you feel relaxed and calmer.

Exercise can help you burn off that energy that you store when feeling stressed. So take a walk or take a class in Yoga, Pilates or Tai chi, these are low impact classes that not only help you tone muscles but they help manage stress by incorporating breathing exercises at the same time.

Meditation is a great way to help calm your mind and find your center so that you can go about your day without feeling like stress is weighing on you like a ton of bricks.

Meditation can be traditional, you sitting a room and doing some basic breathing and mind calming techniques or it can be in a more familiar way.

You have probably gone into a meditative state before without realizing it, anytime you find yourself doing something and then realizing that you had tuned out or gone to autopilot, which is a type of meditation.

When you are fully engaged in a hobby and your find yourself so focused on what you are doing that you find that your worries and anxieties have just slipped away, that is meditation.

Pick up the daily crossword, jog, garden, or spend some time daily working on a hobby that you enjoy.

Trust us, the time will be well spent so find time for yourself and for what you enjoy.

You can try meditation with visualization as well. This is when you are meditating and you visualize yourself being someplace peaceful and serene.

The goal is to make the visualization so real, that you respond as if you were, letting the stress melt away.

You are forcing your mind to stop focusing on the things that are causing you stress at the moment and to focus on something pleasant instead.

Several guided visualizations also include PMR or progressive muscle relaxation, which is a guided visualization to relax.

Stress makes us tense up our muscles involuntarily so by using a progressive muscle relaxation guided meditation, you will be walked through guided imagery to relax each and every part of your body.

You can buy CD’s to listen to or you can find clips online, youtube.com has a variety of guided meditations with or without PMR to help you.

Try pampering yourself occasionally. Anybody who has ever had a massage can tell you that they feel wonderful afterwards so get a 15-minute massage on your lunch break every now and then to help un-knot up tensed muscles and to help promote a feeling of wellbeing.

When things get stressed and situations often escalate quickly and you have no choice but to deal with it, do not panic.

You will never solve a problem by worrying yourself to the point of nearly having an anxiety attack.

Before you lose your cool, take a five-minute time out. If you find yourself in a situation where you are not making progress and it frustrates you, this could be a project that you are momentarily stuck on or even an argument with a co-worker, walk away for five minutes.

Walk around the building, sit outside for a moment and do your breathing exercises, or go grab cold water.

The point is to take a break so that you can re-focus your mind onto something positive. Take a look at the flowers outside; find a butterfly to watch, just get away from the stressful situation, and find something that makes you smile.

Pull out a picture of your spouse, your kids, or even your pets. Close your eyes, pull up a happy memory, and just re-live that memory for a few minutes until you are feeling calmer.

Think of stress like a pressure cooker, the longer it stays closed, the more pressure it puts on you but if you find ways to release the steam inside – the stress – then the pressure never gets to the point of putting you in danger.

You will still have some stress, we all do, but it will not be to the point of being unmanageable if you learn to keep it tolerable.

You have heard of the phrase “letting off steam,” consider it as a great analogy to lowering your stress, you are letting off steam to avoid a buildup off stress.

If you know that you are a stress eater and tend to snack when the stress levels rise, the best way to handle this is by already having snacks on hand, healthy snacks that is.

Avoid hitting up the office vending machines or dipping into the kid’s snacks if you are at home.

You can find a variety of easy to carry foods to keep on hand. Sunflower seeds are a great solution, as long as they are in the shell.

Eat them one at a time and you will end up feeling as if you are eating a lot when you are in fact, not.

Do not get the flavored kind, those are high in sodium and you do not need that nor do you need the extra calories. Bring raw veggies and either keep them in a cooler or store in the office fridge.

Reach for some carrots sticks and ranch instead of that candy bar. Gum is a handy solution for some, as long as you do not pop it or blow bubbles, this is especially not acceptable when you are at work! Sugar free gum will give you a way to chew off that nervous energy without adding calories to your day.

At the end of the day, it is tempting to change into sweats and flop in front of the TV for hours, but that is not really giving you time for you.

Try recording your favorite shows and watch them later, with no commercials or you can watch something with your spouse or even your kids.

Call and catch up with family and friends instead of just sitting in front of the TV. Grab your favorite beverage and a good book and head to the porch or patio, or even just to your favorite chair and get lost in the story.

If you have a dog, take your dog to the park or have a play session in the yard, if you have a cat, spend some time petting the cat, grooming the cat or playing with the cat.

The idea is to do something that is meaningful and fun for you instead of just tuning out and watching a TV show simply because it was on and you were tired and bored.