Losing weight is the topic regardless of whether we’re in the office, in the grocery, and especially at the restaurant. It would seem there is no place safe from the subject. Of course, that is a good thing concerning health. We all want to be healthier and provide a strong presence in the lives of our family and friends. Besides, it takes strength running a household. What we could use are some helpful fitness tips to lend a helping hand.
It also takes time to run a household which cuts into any free time to spend on ourselves. It’s a vicious circle, time to work out – no time for family, time for family – no time for workout. However, it doesn’t really have to be that way, It’s a matter of perspective and making smart decisions during the day. That’s what this article is about. Don’t work harder, get smarter and let the weight control go on autopilot.
Don’t forget breakfast
This is the most common mistake we make in our hurry up world. Taking a moment to eat a healthy breakfast is not an indulgence, but a necessity. While it is true that less calories can reduce weight, the science isn’t convincing that it is a healthier choice. Feeding our bodies the nutrients we need keeps us running smoothly. Without the daily intake of vitamins and other important resources, our bodies will not be able to function properly causing health issues. Plus, eating in the morning gives our metabolism the jumpstart it needs to begin burning calories. Keep in mind that breakfast doesn’t have to be a full-on binge, just something tasty to satisfy your needs in a sensible manner. Here is a list of healthy foods that can be considered.
| Eggs | Bananas | Yogurt |
| Berries | Grapefruit | Coffee |
| Kiwis | Green Tea | Oatmeal |
| Nuts | Avocado | Brown rice |
Drink lots of water
The human body is composed of 60% water. This is why it is imperative that we consume enough water to maintain our health. Daily it takes about 15.5 cups for men and 11.5 cups for women to maintain our bodies (assuming average persons living in a temperate climate). Drinking water cleanses our bodies of waste, suppresses appetite, and helps boost metabolism.
Fitness tips: Drink water before eating. This is a tried and true idea. Putting water into our bodies helps reduce appetite and can lower the calorie count by 75. Doesn’t sound like much, but over the course of a year we are looking at reducing our calorie intake by 27,000!
Fitness tips: Drink water ice cold. When we ingest ice cold water, the body is forced to turn up the metabolism because it has to work harder to warm the water up which means more calories burned.
Choose healthy snacks over junk food
We’re here to lose weight. Absent minded eating is centered on fast and easy comfort foods. Yes, they are fast and easy…at adding calories to our diet. French fries, potato chips, candy are obvious no-goes to lose weight. Here is an excellent way to reduce our calories by simply switching to healthier low calorie foods. We’re talking about nuts, fruit, vegetables, lean meats. Try replacing those high calorie carbohydrates with celery and carrots. Beef, chicken, and turkey jerkies are also another delicious way to maintain blood glucose levels by introducing high protein and low calorie snacks. The key here is to ingest foods that will keep the glucose levels steady and thereby reducing hunger pangs.
Fitness tips: Did you know that eating a handful of walnuts a day leads to improvement of blood vessel wall function and lowered cholesterol levels? Though consisting of 65%fat, research shows that eating walnuts along with a calorie reduction diet leads to faster weight loss.
Eat 5 times a day
No, this doesn’t mean five full meals. We’re talking about three meals with two healthy snacks. Doing this will keep those glucose levels steady as we touched upon in the previous section. If we keep this regimen, then we are providing a steady stream of energy and putting less strain on our digestive system. We’ve all felt what not eating feels like. It sucks. When the hunger pangs hit and dinner is still a couple hours off, the day can become miserable quickly. However, by simply eating a decent portion of healthy meal and snack choices those pangs wither away.
Fitness tip: Choose more proteins (unprocessed meats) for snacks and stay away from carbs. Carbs taste great but destroy glucose levels making hunger return with a vengeance. Proteins, however, keep your glucose levels running smooth.
Exercise
No, there is no getting around this. We all need exercise. It doesn’t mean taking hours out of the day to run marathons or do hours of cardio at the gym. Taking 20 to 30 minutes a day leads to weight loss and a healthier body. If going to a gym is out of the question, try resistance bands at home. Take a few minutes using them for rowing exercises. Don’t have bands? Running in place while cooking or doing the laundry works just as well. Pushups are free and easy as well. The point here is not to make things difficult but find smarter ways to get your daily exercise in.
Fitness tips: Constantly change the way you do exercise. Switch off reps for increased weights or trade off what exercises you do on a daily basis. This keeps the body guessing and forces it to burn more calories in order to adjust.
As we can see, losing weight doesn’t mean changing our lives in a drastic way. All we need to do is make smarter choices with the things we are already doing. Exercise while doing chores, making better snack choices, drinking water instead of sugary drinks (this includes diet sodas), are all ways losing weight becomes more of a reality. The best part of incorporating these ideas is that losing weight can become something we do without even thinking about it. How much easier can losing weight be? Finally, check with your doctor and nutritionist to see what changes make healthy sense for you.
