New Year's is a refreshing time for us all. It's a chance to start over with a new 'you'. I like the concept of New Year's. It's a chance for redemption and a mental restart. A lot of people across America make their New Year's resolution to lose weight. Many do well, but some do not. If weight loss will be part of your journey and a new you in 2013 I have 3 tips that I really think will help you. They definitely helped me.
1.) Gradually go into your weight loss progress.
If you start all in and completely change everything that you have been doing with exercise and food, you are sure to fail. You will experience more hunger and bad mood swings. That brings a pessimistic outlook on losing weight, thus people say "forget it". Here is an idea: I allowed myself a cheat day when I first started my weight loss journey, because I felt like it gave me something to look forward too - a reward. I would be at the gym and think "OK, I can do this extra mile! In 3 days I can have that yummy pizza I have been craving" or "I am not going to complain about eating my grilled meat and vegetables because it will make my ice-cream treat that much sweeter". Trick your mind. A LOT of a weight loss journey is mental. Mentally keep stimulating and challenging yourself with rewards. It makes the journey a lot easier.
My recommendation of a "cheat day" is to split this up and not indulge into one entire day of eating what you want. I would recommend 2-3 cheat meals a week, instead of one full day. I would go 2 1/2 days with my clean eating and exercise then have a dinner of my choice on the evening of the third day. Then go another 2 days with clean eating and exercise and have a breakfast of my choice. It can be anything type of food meals you want. I suggest 2 cheat meals per week, but if you need 3 just starting out then do it. It's better to do that for a month or so then completely deprive yourself and want to quit trying. Additionally, the reward doesn't have to be food! Treat yourself with a massage, manicure, or something you enjoy. I love getting massages so I would set a goal for myself, "If I can lose 2 pounds this week then I am booking myself a hot stone massage".
2.) Pickles. Yes, my next tip is pickles.
I work all day long 8 to 5, then do my work out in the evenings right after I finish at the office. I get home most evenings close to 7 PM and I am starving. Most of the time I have a protein shake when I finish training, but still when I get home I am ready to eat. My appetite feels huge! And I think this is a big problem for a lot of people - night time binging. During the day most of us are very busy and have things constantly to do so the food cravings are not as bad. I for one have always had problems with evening cravings. So one night when I was preparing dinner, I was so hungry that I just wanted to order a huge cheesy pizza and be done with it. But I didn't, I randomly decided to snack on dill pickle chips. It was a break through for me. A small plate of these pickles completely cut my cravings and satisfied me until dinner was ready and throughout the rest of the night. I think the biggest reason is because for pickles to be so good for you to eat, they are not boring. It's crunchy, it's sour, and packed with flavor. If you find yourself having a bad craving, try snacking on some of those. If you don't care for dill pickles, try sweet or cutting cucumbers in slices and dipping them in balsamic vinegar.3.) Document your progress.
The time that I had the biggest success in my weight loss is when I kept a journal of my journey. I would write my meals, caloric intake, work outs, my weight, and problems, frustrations, and obstacles I had or wanted to overcome. Being able to go back and view my progress on paper was very exciting and motivating. I looked forward to weighing myself one a week (I can't stress only weighing yourself once a week enough) because seeing the number gradually go down was invigorating! I would actually looking forward to writing in my journal. I noticed that over time I shaved off time in running a mile, upped my resistance on the Elliptical, lifted heavier weights with the same amount of repetitions - seeing all of your progress each day and week is very motivating for a person. If you need an example of a outline, you can check out mine here
0 comments:
Post a Comment