Forget about diets and start living a healthy life style!
Forget about diets: they don't work!
Are you overweight? Then please forget about diets Unless you don't want to lose some extra pounds of course. Lots of people want to be fit and slim! And like many of those people they tried each and every diet with poor result...
Are you one of them? Then maybe I have good news for you.
In case you didn't know yet: Diets don't work! It's as simple as that! Diets are a struggle, it is suffering. You start with the best intentions. In the beginning you might even have some succes. But soon you're confronted with the hardest part: not to gain weight after losing it. That is the biggest challenge people face when they are on a diet. Reason? You can't stay on a diet for the rest of your life. Unless you make permanent life style changes the results you worked so hard for won't last forever!
But here is the good news: Weightloss and sticking to your ideal weight is possible. But it must become a daily way of life. A healthy weight has eveything to do with a healthy life style. Unless you have a medical condition that causes your overweight there are plenty of ways to reach your perfect weight and most of all keep it like that. No sweat, no hard efforts, only a few easy to do changes in your life style are a great starting point towards a happy and healthy you! So please forget about diets and try out my 10 ways to lose weight and feel great!
Photo Credits: Drsharma
Poll: What about you and diets?
How many diets have you tried so far?
1: Your eating habbits: Think smaller - Take more time!
A great alternative on your way to a perfect weight is to make a few small adjustments when it comes to to your eating habbits. You can start today, you will lose weight and save money as wel ;-)
It starts with eating smaller amounts of food. Use a smaller plate. You will still enjoy a full plate, but with less food on it than when you use a big plate. You fool your mind, your mind thinks: i ate a full plate, i'm satisfied... When you're eating these smaller portions of food take more time! Chew longer on every bite you take, taste the food and enjoy it to the fullest! Your body will feel more satisfied.
Instead of eating only 2-3 times a day use 5-6 meals. Don't skip your breakfast, because breakfast is the most important meal of the day! People who skip breakfast become fat! Have 2-3 larger meals and 3 smaller ones (piece of fruit, cherry tomatoe, carrots for example) in between. This way you will never be hungry!
2: Lose weight with homemade meals!
Lots of people, especially when you have a busy job, eat lots of fastfood. A killer if you want to gain a healthy weight! It is bad for your health and you will keep on gaining weight too, so avoid it. Start cooking yourself everyday. You will love it I promise! There are many recipes that are healthy and don't take much time to prepare. Believe me, in 30-45 minutes you prepare a complete healthy meal including desert for yourself and/or your entire family!
Home cooking is fun, easy and above all it is healthy!
While cooking the fine smell of homemade food fills your house. Your family will absolutely love it when they arrive home and smell your cooking art coming from the kitchen! Why not let your children help you with preparing dinner? They absolutely love that! Big fun I guarantee!
Use a lot of vegetables in your meals, that is healthy and you can eat as much veggies as you like. Maybe you need to get used to eating more fresh vegetables, but soon you will love it. And your body too! Bake and grill your meat. Avoid fried food. Use healthy oils to bake your meat in.
To avoid eating fastfood why not take your lunch to work/school etc. Same goes for the drinks. You safe money and it so much better for you!
Photo Credits: Motherscircle
3: Eat (homemade) soup more often!
Eating fresh homemade soup more often is very easy and healthy plus it helps you with your healthy weight. There are so many great home made soup recipes available, very cheap and very yum yum, serve with a salad and your stomac will be full and satisfied!
Tips:
-Don't make creamy soups, they contain more calories!
-Use a lot of vegetables and make sure it is colorful: green, red, yellow, white....
-Instead of beef why not use chicken? Chicken is lower in fat!
-Use lots of spices! Especially Turmeric and black pepper support your metabolism! Garlic ads a great taste to your soup! Onions are perfect too!
-Don't use too much salt!
-Don't use noodles in your soup, instead of noodles use full grain rice!
My favorite homemade soup recipe
Cooking time: approximately 1,5 hours
For 6 persons you need the following ingredients:
-300 grams of chicken (without the skin)
-1 big chopped onion
-2 big chopped carrots
-200 grams of Broccoli chopped into pieces
-A small piece of fresh ginger
-Two cups of fresh lentils
-Parsley (as much as you like)
-Celery (as much as you like)
-2 fresh cinamon sticks
-2 tea spoons of Turmeric
-1 Chopped red Paprika
-1 tea spoon of cumin seeds
-1 Big spoon of fresh lemon juice
-Fresh Cilantro
-1 can of tomato paste
- cups of full grain rice
-2-4 fresh chopped garlic cloves (use what tastes good for you, this differs from person to person)
-Broth (chose your favorite, I'd go for vegetable broth)
-Salt and pepper
-3 Liters of water
How to prepare:
1: Cut the chicken, chop the onions and the ginger
2: Cook water with broth, chicken, onion and ginger you just cutted and chopped
3: Ad the rest of the ingredients except for the rice, the lemon juice, the tomato paste and Cilantro
4: Boil this together for 1 hour
5: After 1 hour ad the lemon juice and full grain rice and let the soup boil for another 15 minutes
6: After 15 minutes ad the Cilantro and tomato paste
7: Turn of the gas and let the lovely flavors come together
8: Before serving remove the cinamon sticks!
Serve this yummie soup together with a fresh tomato-cucumber salad and some full grain bread (not too much). And let me know if you liked it as much as I do!
More homemade soup recipes
4: Full grain products and lots of fibres
Using whole grain bread, pasta, rice etc. Is perfect way to lose weight fast, especially if you don't eat these products already. Whole grain products contain a lot of fibres, which is good for your metabolism. Fruits and veggies are also full of them.
Photo Credits: webmd.boots.com
5: Sleep an extra hour!
Did you realize that sleeping an extra hour burns an average of 6% more calories? It is true! Fact is for sure that you won't eat snacks while you are sleeping. People who don't sleep enough feel hungrier then people who had a good night sleep!
Also make it a habbit to not eat anymore after 8 PM, your body needs rest, so does your metabolism. And those snacks during the evening are big no no's of course, so eat before 8 pm. No snacks of course, but a healthy meal. Go to bed an hour earlier and sleep more, be less hungry = losing weight!
Photo Credits: Artflakes
6: Free ways to exercise!
A great way to stay fit, have strong muscles and a perfect health is simply exercising more! And it can be done for free: go jogging in the park, walk the stairs instead of the elevator and take the bike to work/school instead of your car/the bus. Weight lifting is perfect too: use those fully loaded soda bottles to lift them instead of drinking what's inside ;-) Play fun music while doing it, it helps! Smile! Weight lifting helps you build stronger muscles and you burn calories as well!
Yoga is also perfect and can be free. You already have an internet connection. Go search on channels like You Tube for yoga exercises. Practize yoga everyday! People who practize yoga weigh less, that is a proven fact. Yoga reduces stress, it relaxes your body and mind and that my friend is a brilliant fat killer! Stress causes over eating. Reducing your stress level will make you feel happier and less hungry, your metabolism might even benefit from it.
Fun fact
Over eating due to stress is caused by an old instinct: in the days people had to hunt, had no modern stuff like we have right now their only worry was if there would be enough food. We still carry this instinct without knowing it. That is why you want to eat stressful feelings away!
Photo Credits: healthxwellness.com
Free Yoga!
10 minutes of relaxation! Good for beginners, really simple, enjoy!
Sugar junky?
Are you addicted to sugar?
7: Reduce sugar
Why diet sodas makes you fat!
No need to explain this, sugars contain way too much calories and are not healthy for you. Too much sugar can cause diabetes and extreme overweight. So find alternatives: drink water with mint, frozen lemon, lime, strawberries, cranberries, grapefruit, oranges, or other yummie fruits you love, a drop of honey makes it even taste better. Or drink ice tea. Make ice tea yourself: cook tea, let it cool down and put it in the fridge! Simple, cheap, low calory and tasty! Avoid all soda's, also diet soda, you don't need it, it is bad for you, expensive etc.
Diet Soda makes you want to eat more!
Your brains are fooled by the sweet taste the diet soda has. So your body starts making insuline. Insuline lowers your blood sugar. And because your blood sugar lowers you want to eat!
Green tea healthy and yummie!
8: Less or no alcohol
Avoid drinking alcohol if you are serious about losing weight. And if you can't live without your glass of wine then use small thin glasses, you will drink less and still enjoy it.
9 Self Esteem and motivation
Write down your goals: how much weight do you want to lose and why, in what time period do you want to reach your goals? Be realistic, don't be harsh on yourself. Motivate yourself by stating out that you can do it, that you are worth it and above all that you love yourself enough to change your unhealthy relationship with food. Don't forget the fun, changing your life style is fun! You will feel better. Give yourself compliments for every succes you make, how small or big it is doesn't matter. Wow, you can do it!
Use a journal to express your feelings and emotions, if you have a hard time or lack of discipline write it down, it helps you feel better and stay on track.
Find support: good friends, family, or maybe even a local support group are essentiel tools to make your healthy body reality. They will motivate you, encourage you, be there for you and applaud you when it is going better and better.
10: Reward yourself!
Did you manage 1 day, 1 week, 1 month etc. to stick to your goals? Don't forget to reward yourself with small presents, a pampering, something you love (but no bad food rewards of course). This will also keep you motivated and it's great for your selfesteem!
Your Feedback
Were my tips helpful to you?
Let me know about your weight issues, ask questions, share what you think, your succeses, your struggles, your doubts? I would love to hear from you! Also share your tips and tricks as long as they are free of course ;-)
