One year ago this week, I started taking my fitness serious. Sure I had bought TurboFire 3 months before but like most, it sat on a shelf getting dusty. But it was just before my 39th Birthday that I realized it wasn't going to get any easier by waiting, and I dove in head first - and LOVE IT. Sure the first few days were tough, maybe even weeks but I began to enjoy the time alone with my DVD player and favorite cross fit sneakers. It was the ME time I needed.
I have lost 50 pounds since starting to focus on my fitness, and I feel great! But there are still some pesky pounds hanging around that I can't seem to shake. That is when I realized it. I was never going to see the abs I was working so hard to build, if I kept covering them with the unhealthy foods I was consuming. So I turned my focus to eating.
Does this sound familiar? Then read on as I share my favorite 10 tips for letting those ABS shine!
1. Reduce your portion size
This one is an easy one. Start with leaving one bite on your plate, then two, then three. Be okay with leaving food behind. Then start to put less on your plate. Use a smaller plate, trick your brain into thinking you have a large portion. Think about each bite you take, chew slowly giving your body time to react, and put your fork down in between bites so that you don't find yourself shoveling it in too fast. Enjoy some dinner time conversation with friends before you go back for your next bite. And stop when 25% of your plate is empty, drink some water, sit back and wait. Are you still HUNGRY... then eat a little more. Stop again at 50% and see if you have had enough. Make sure you stop eating when you are no longer hungry, let your body do it's job and signal you that it has had enough.
2. Eat smaller more frequent meals
Once you have reduced your portion size, you may find you want to eat more often. This is perfect because it means you are starting to eat when you are hungry. Tradition tells us we eat three meals a day is healthy but listen to your body. Think of a preschooler, do they eat just 3 times a day. Three BIG meals spread wide apart? Heck no, they have breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. So why are you any different, you are only a bigger version of them.
3. Drink water all day
When you think you are hungry, sit back and drink a nice tall glass of water. How do you feel? I bet that your body was trying to tell you it was thirsty and not hungry. Did you know that you should drink half your body weight in ounces of water, each day? So if you were 150 lbs that means you should be consuming 75 oz of water. And it's easier to do then you think. Just keep a full bottle with you at all times so that you have some at the ready when you need it. Try to drink 25 ounces before lunch, 25 after and the final 25 between dinner and bed. As an added bonus, drinking all this water will aid in getting out of bed in the morning for your workout!
4. Plan your meals for the day or week
One of the best tips anyone ever gave me was, don't leave your meals to chance! Know what you are going to eat when, otherwise you may find yourself at the vending machine at 3pm looking for a treat. So before you go grocery shopping think about what meals you will need each day, and buy the food you need for them. Then when you get home, put the food in proportioned containers so it's at the ready when you need it. No fumbling for a cookie because you don't have time to count carrots and portion out the hummus!
5. No eating before bed (just like the gremlins...)
Once you have put away dinner and cleaned up the dishes, turn off the light and walk away! The kitchen is CLOSED, sorry Charlie. :) For me, I choose to consume my meals between 7am and 7pm, knowing that I have a good 3 hours to digest my dinner before I go to bed (more on that soon...). You should go to bed slightly hungry, like you could eat but won't. This way you will wake up hungry and with a lighter, flatter tummy too! What a great way to start the day.
6. Write down everything that you are eating
It doesn't matter if you are counting calories, food points or sugar grams - it is an absolute must first step to write down what you are eating. And I mean EVERYTHING, even that bite of your kids mac and cheese or that nibble of cheese that fell out of the sandwich when you were making lunches - all of it. 100 calories here and 100 calories there add up real fast. So write it down so you know what you are putting in your body and where your "mistakes" were. There are great apps out there, I like MyFitnessPal but there is also Spark community too. Or if you have a step tracking device like FitBit you can use their online food and exercise tracking app. And don't use technology as an excuse, if you don't have a smartphone then use a pen and paper. I don't care what you use, just don't forget to write it down!
7. Eliminate processed foods
This one is tough for most people because we live in a world where faster is better. Food has to cook faster and be ready when you want it. Making dinner needs to be faster so you can clean up and get the kids to bed on time. Morning routine of getting lunches and breakfasts ready for school needs to be fast so that we can get to work.. FAST FAST FAST! As a result, the food industry has come up with tons of foods that you can grab and go! Most are cheap and easy. But leading a long healthy life is not cheap, or easy. So I suggest instead you eliminate foods whose harmful ingredients you can't pronounce, and instead replace it with vegetables, fruit and protein, which with proper planning, can be easily ready when you need them! AND as an added bonus, you will find yourself craving food less and you might actually even start eating just when you are hungry - which is crazy right? But so true, the ingredients in processed foods are like a drug - ever wonder why at 3pm everyday you are looking for something sweet or salty, but you are not hungry? HELLO, processed foods doing it's job. Eliminate them from your diet, give yourself a few weeks to "recalibrate" and you will start finding that the cravings are gone, your moodiness is gone and your hunger will come back. Your body is designed to tell you when it's time to eat, so listen to it!
8. Identify bad habits
Speaking of that 3pm cravings.... I bet there are also times during the day when you reach for food without even knowing it. It's likely not happening at the same time every day but you won't have to think hard to know what I am talking about. For me, it happens when I am stressed. I work in the IT world Monday - Friday and we usually have releases in our software on a Friday night into Saturday morning once a month. On that Friday I work from home and we are scrambling to get everything done. It's highly stressful and crazy busy with all the last minute OOPS's we have to fix. On that day, I eat almost all day without even knowing it! I often find myself wandering to the cabinet for a snack at least 3 times between breakfast and lunch! And more between Lunch and Dinner! It's insane, but I know now, that it's something that happens when my stress trigger is hit. So now I tie myself to my chair and find other ways to deal with the stress. One way is to do yoga poses or stretches to give myself the break I need from the computer without reaching for crackers or cookies. What are your bad habits?
9. Workout everyday
I know you know this but let's just review it anyway. When you move more, and eat less, you will lose weight. But I am going to take it one step further and say that by moving for at least 30 minutes a day, it helps you to not ruin all that work when you step into the kitchen. For me I do it first thing in the morning for 2 reasons. One, it just won't happen if I don't start my day with it, but more important if I workout in the morning, it sets my day right. I drink more water, I walk taller, I eat healthier and i exude confidence! Try it, for at least a week. Every day for 30 minutes, first thing in the AM if you can, and record how you feel, how much water you drink and what you eat, and compare that to a day you did not work out - and see the difference! It's amazing!
10. WOW Finally the last one... SLEEP!
First of all, how many hours are you getting of actual sleep every day? I mean real solid sleep? If you are following tips 1 - 9, you will sleep like a baby, promise. But if your diet is off, you are not moving your body and you are eating crap, you will sleep like crap. So this one is hard because you need to sleep, in order to be in the mind set for eating right and working out. But you need to be working out and eating right in order to sleep well. So start by going to bed 1 hour earlier next week. No electronics in bed except maybe a book to help you get to sleep. By the end of the first week your body will start to sleep better which will make it easier to get up and get going in the morning to workout which will fuel your desire to eat right! See how this works?
Ok so for the next 5 days, Eat right, More more, and Sleep better. Promise?
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This one is tough for most people because we live in a world where faster is better. Food has to cook faster and be ready when you want it. Making dinner needs to be faster so you can clean up and get the kids to bed on time. Morning routine of getting lunches and breakfasts ready for school needs to be fast so that we can get to work.. FAST FAST FAST! As a result, the food industry has come up with tons of foods that you can grab and go! Most are cheap and easy. But leading a long healthy life is not cheap, or easy. So I suggest instead you eliminate foods whose harmful ingredients you can't pronounce, and instead replace it with vegetables, fruit and protein, which with proper planning, can be easily ready when you need them! AND as an added bonus, you will find yourself craving food less and you might actually even start eating just when you are hungry - which is crazy right? But so true, the ingredients in processed foods are like a drug - ever wonder why at 3pm everyday you are looking for something sweet or salty, but you are not hungry? HELLO, processed foods doing it's job. Eliminate them from your diet, give yourself a few weeks to "recalibrate" and you will start finding that the cravings are gone, your moodiness is gone and your hunger will come back. Your body is designed to tell you when it's time to eat, so listen to it!
8. Identify bad habits
Speaking of that 3pm cravings.... I bet there are also times during the day when you reach for food without even knowing it. It's likely not happening at the same time every day but you won't have to think hard to know what I am talking about. For me, it happens when I am stressed. I work in the IT world Monday - Friday and we usually have releases in our software on a Friday night into Saturday morning once a month. On that Friday I work from home and we are scrambling to get everything done. It's highly stressful and crazy busy with all the last minute OOPS's we have to fix. On that day, I eat almost all day without even knowing it! I often find myself wandering to the cabinet for a snack at least 3 times between breakfast and lunch! And more between Lunch and Dinner! It's insane, but I know now, that it's something that happens when my stress trigger is hit. So now I tie myself to my chair and find other ways to deal with the stress. One way is to do yoga poses or stretches to give myself the break I need from the computer without reaching for crackers or cookies. What are your bad habits?
9. Workout everyday
I know you know this but let's just review it anyway. When you move more, and eat less, you will lose weight. But I am going to take it one step further and say that by moving for at least 30 minutes a day, it helps you to not ruin all that work when you step into the kitchen. For me I do it first thing in the morning for 2 reasons. One, it just won't happen if I don't start my day with it, but more important if I workout in the morning, it sets my day right. I drink more water, I walk taller, I eat healthier and i exude confidence! Try it, for at least a week. Every day for 30 minutes, first thing in the AM if you can, and record how you feel, how much water you drink and what you eat, and compare that to a day you did not work out - and see the difference! It's amazing!
10. WOW Finally the last one... SLEEP!
First of all, how many hours are you getting of actual sleep every day? I mean real solid sleep? If you are following tips 1 - 9, you will sleep like a baby, promise. But if your diet is off, you are not moving your body and you are eating crap, you will sleep like crap. So this one is hard because you need to sleep, in order to be in the mind set for eating right and working out. But you need to be working out and eating right in order to sleep well. So start by going to bed 1 hour earlier next week. No electronics in bed except maybe a book to help you get to sleep. By the end of the first week your body will start to sleep better which will make it easier to get up and get going in the morning to workout which will fuel your desire to eat right! See how this works?
Ok so for the next 5 days, Eat right, More more, and Sleep better. Promise?
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