Losing the fat within no time

Health

Yes, like many readers, I resolved to lose the extra pounds in 2010. 2009 had been a year of beginning the weight loss journey for me, and after extensive work with my physician, a registered dietitian, and personal trainer, I was able to continue the trend in 2010, losing an additional 35 pounds this year and keeping it off!

What were the strategies for successful weight loss?

Select a Nutritional Plan That Makes Sense

Of course, there is a plethora of books on the subject of diet and weight loss. While some promise rapid results, be sure to select a plan that makes sense for your lifestyle and is truly sustainable. Avoid diet plans that call for total elimination of food groups or those that require you to invest in costly (and often chemical-laden) processed foods. Instead, select a plan that relies on readily available, high quality foods. Some nutrition plan also includes supplements that will help you with your diet. Don’t worry because most of the supplements being included in a quality nutrition plan are trusted and quality as well. For more information, you may check resurge reviews.

Keep a Food Diary

Log what you eat! Better yet, use your food diary to plan meals and snacks in advance. Either way, the accountability of honestly recording your food intake is a critical key to successfully losing weight and keeping it off. Your food diary may be a simple note pad, or you may opt for a web based log such as www.sparkpeople.com ., where your daily intake is analyzed for calories, fat, and carb intake.

Limit Sugar and Refined Carbs

Whatever diet plan you select, you will encounter much greater success if you can corral your body’s dependence on sugar and refined carbohydrates.

Examine labels carefully. If a food has more than 5 grams of sugar listed in the nutrition information, check the ingredients. If a refined sugar shows up in the first five ingredients…put it down. Acceptable sugars include naturally occurring lactose, found in dairy products, and fructose, which occurs naturally in fruits. Simple sugars to avoid include brown sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, glucose, honey, maltose, sucrose, and evaporated cane juice.

Refined carbohydrates include processed foods such as pasta, bread, and rice. While whole grain carbohydrates may offer slightly better nutritional value, my greatest success has been in limiting my carbohydrate intake to the naturally occurring complex carbohydrates found in fruits and vegetables. That’s right – I avoid pasta and rice, and eat bread products only on occasion.

Get Enough Protein

The old advice to “fill up” on salad my hold some merit, but protein rich foods fuel our bodies and satisfy hunger for longer periods of time. Build your meal plans around protein rich selections such as eggs, fish, lean meats, and dairy products. Snacks such as Greek yogurt with sugar free preserves stirred in or a cheese stick rolled in a slice of lean deli meats will carry you through the rough times of day – and your appetite will be more satisfied than with whatever the nearest vending machine holds.

Get Moving

Exercise is an essential part of an effective weight loss program. Forget the recommendation for 30 minutes of “moderate” exercise a few times a week. To lose weight, you need to move! To lose weight, you need to sweat! And you need to do it five or six days a week, consistently!

For non-exercisers, the inertia of inactivity can seem insurmountable. Start slowly, and dare to explore various forms of exercise until you find something that you enjoy enough to stick with. Over time, you will certainly notice improved stamina. You will discover muscles that you hadn’t realized were there. Your progress becomes your motivation!

I find that I exercise at a higher level of intensity and enjoy it more if I participate in an exercise class. Despite my earlier decision never to “waste money” on a gym membership again, I have been delighted with my experience at the gym to which I currently belong, and participate in a variety of classes including water aerobics, Jazzercise, and Zumba. In addition, I have worked with a personal trainer which has pushed me to even higher levels of strength and endurance training.

Stay Hydrated

Often, the cravings that we believe to be hunger are actually signals from our bodies that we are thirsty. Consuming at least 64 ounces of calorie-free, non-caffeinated, non-carbonated beverages per day will assure that our bodies get the fluids that we need. In addition, keeping a beverage nearby will help to satisfy the urge to move “hand to mouth” in a way that is not adding calories to our daily intake.