Speed up Slim Down
The following article is a small excerpt from one of my books. I hope you’ll want to learn more and let me help you to get into the best shape of your life.
After de-junking your diet and starting a new exercise routine, you lose a few pounds almost effortlessly. After a while, the scale stops moving, your motivation wanes, and you’re back to where you started. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. Hitting a weight loss plateau is one of the biggest challenges dieters face. Your body becomes efficient at whatever exercise you’re doing, making you burn fewer calories.
The good news is you don’t have to sit back and wait for the scale to start budging again on its own. With just a few tweaks to your daily routine and by learning which weight loss numbers really matter, you can start losing again.
Sweat Harder
Turn up the calorie burn. At least once a week, either work out longer or go harder, pushing past the point of conversational pace. If you’re upping your intensity, keep it manageable. Cranking it too hard releases hormones that suppress your immune system and may reduce your energy levels and wreck havoc on your mood. Want to go longer but don’t like the extra time on the treadmill? Get outdoors. People often exercise double the amount of time outdoors than they would on a treadmill simply because being in nature makes you feel good.
Seek Solar Energy
Exercising outdoors reduces stress more than indoor workouts. Stress can pack on pounds by shutting off fat-burning, inhibiting new muscle growth, and reducing your energy levels. All of this will make it easier to slip back into more sedentary patterns of activity and old eating habits that caused you to gain in the first place. Try to get outside at least once a day, perhaps even swapping an indoor workout for an outdoor one or getting out for a five-minute walk at lunch.
Eat Small, Frequent Meals
If you’ve always stuck to just breakfast, lunch, and dinner while trying to drop pounds, give that meal plan a makeover and eat five to six small meals a day. Research has shown that if you eat the same amount of calories spread out over five to six meals, you’ll have a healthier body composition than if you ate the same calories in two to three larger meals. Eating more frequently will keep you from becoming so hungry that you gorge uncontrollably at a meal, especially after a long day when you might not have eaten in six to eight hours.
Quit the Trash Talk
Hello there, chunky monkey. Your friends would never say something like that to you, but the little voice inside your head might. Once you start repeating those thoughts regularly, you may begin to believe yourself, which will derail your goals. Identify the negative thoughts that creep into your head most frequently. Any time you catch yourself heading in that self-deprecating direction, repeat a positive personal mantra like, “I might be heavier than I want to be, but I’m working my way to becoming healthier and fitter.”
Add One More Workout a Week
Squeeze in one extra sweat session each week for the next six weeks. If you’ve been exercising three times a week then add a fourth workout of equal intensity and duration, and you’ll burn 33 percent more calories, Six weeks is enough time to create a habit, which means you may not feel like giving up that extra workout.
Make One Small Food Change
Is there one food that’s standing in the way of reaching your goal? Keep it out of your house and your life for the next six weeks. Like adding a workout, eliminating one food can make an enormous difference over time. If you swap a lettuce wrap for the two slices of bread you normally use for your turkey sandwich, you’ll consume 200 fewer calories a day, which adds up to 8,400 calories in six weeks or almost 2.5 pounds lost. After six weeks, you may feel so good about your progress that you won’t want to add this food back to your diet.
Laugh!
Nobody’s saying you shouldn’t be serious about your weight loss efforts. But by taking time to lighten up and have a little fun, you’ll further reduce stress. Laughing also stops you from feeling like something is wrong unless everything is perfect.
I know you want to get in shape and look great. Whatever your fitness goal…to slim down…gain muscle…tone your arms or flatten your tummy…I’m here to help you accomplish your goals and to improve your fitness level. If you have enjoyed this article and the many other free features on my site, and would like some more comprehensive information such as fitness books and CD’s to aid you in achieving your health and fitness goals, please visit my ONLINE STORE where you will find innovative natural health and beauty products to help you become the BEST YOU CAN BE !