18 December 2017

6 Things You Need To Know Before Losing Weight

Health

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 Why is weight loss such a stressful thing for so many of us? 

weight loss

We find ourselves stuck in a situation where we’ve gained a certain amount of unwanted weight, without even realizing it. Life begins to get busy and we’re caught up in the stress of ‘everything’.

Though we know better, we slowly drift towards our unhealthy habits just because they mentally make us feel good. We sneak back into our comfort zone and unfortunately, it leads us back to feeling overweight and gross.

I have unfortunately fallen into this oh so popular pattern one too many times and now, have been able to realize what exactly I need to do in order for it to not happen again.  

We’ve all read those blogs where they give you the usual tips that we’ve heard so many times.  ‘Drink more water’…Get more sleep‘… ‘Don’t drink pop/soda‘… yada..yada..yada.

Truth is, we know these things. Most of us, know exactly what to and not to do but we just can’t get ourselves out of those bad habits. Maybe it’s because something mentally is driving us to need and crave those unhealthy habits we can’t seem to rid ourselves of. 

 

So, here are some tips and tricks that you probably haven’t heard of that should help you finally get to where you need to be – healthy and losing excess weight. 

Start with a Cleanse.

The first and most important part of weight loss is getting your mind straight. You need to be thinking positive about losing weight and need to feel good about your body – regardless of your shape and size. Positive mindset and a positive attitude is vital for weight loss.

The best way to start off your weight loss journey is by doing a cleanse. A cleanse is always my favorite method of getting healthy. It helps my body feel good and especially my mind. 

A whole body cleanse is the best way to go and will help you feel more energized and positive. A cleanse helps you start your journey off on the right foot. I recommend doing a one-to-three day fast to help eliminate toxins and bodily wastes. One of my favorite cleansing methods is by drinking my Cleansing Detox Soup for two straight days. It is the most amazing recipe I’ve ever tried.
This soup is perfect for the Candida Cleanse, which I talk more in depth about in my post. 

 

While doing this, make sure to increase your dietary fiber as most people hold an extreme amount of toxins in their colon which, can cause depression, foggy mind, and tiredness (especially during weight loss). 

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Cut down on fruit and increase vegetable intake.

Though it is a popular belief that fruit is good for you and should be consumed daily, there are some negative side effects when concerning weight loss. Especially for those who have a hard time digesting sugars. It can sometimes enable a person to cheat during their diet, or it can give some people gastrointestinal reactions. Also, fructose in fruit can be the demon here and prevent some people from cutting down on those few extra pounds.

weight lossDon’t get me wrong, fruit is healthy and should never be fully eliminated out of your diet for longer than two weeks. Berries are filled with antioxidants, fiber, it helps with heart disease etc.. But, for the vast majority of people trying to lose weight, cutting out fruit for a couple weeks can be extremely beneficial for weight loss and amongst other things. 

For many people, fruit fuels their sugar cravings. They consume a piece of fruit and the already naturally sugar-filled fruit kick-starts their cravings for more sugar. Any form of sugar, whether it’s natural or not, tends to drive people to ‘cheat’ while dieting.

For this group of people, cutting out sugar completely is possibly the best way to fully eliminate further sugar cravings and eat healthier in the long run.

Yet, for many people, fruits just happen to be that one thing that helps them continue their journey and prevent them from ‘cheating‘. If this is you, consider lowering the amount of fruit consumed in a day. Try to eat fruit during times where your cravings are highest (morning, afternoon or evening). 

The problem is that people try to substitute adding additional vegetables in their diet with adding additional fruit. 50% of your meals should be vegetable, if not more. The focus here is on lowering your fruit intake and adding a lot more vegetables to your diet.

Don’t aim for a quick weight loss.

Let’s get a little deeper into this one… First off, everyone loses weight at a different pace. Some people can easily lose 3-5 pounds a week and it feels effortless to them. Others struggle to lose a pound a week. It depends on your body type, metabolism, eating habits etc..weightloss

This being said, the focus should be on your eating habits and the positive factors enabling your weight loss. Not, losing X amount of pounds in X amount of weeks. Being realistic during your weight loss journey is essential. It helps you stay positive and motivated. See how much weight has been lost in the first month of your diety, then work from there to see what rate your body is losing fat. Then calculate a goal based on the amount of weight you have been losing. 

Cut out Caffeine, Sugar, Dairy, and Alcohol. 

This is where most people go wrong. In truth, this is probably the hardest part of losing weight. If you’re already cutting down on alcohol, you rely on some form of sugar to help you get through. And, if you’re cutting out dairy, you want coffee to help you get through – it is a vicious cycle. 

So, if you want to lose weight, cutting out these four things will help you do so easily. Yet, It is much easier said than done.

On a more positive note caffeine, sugar, dairy, and alcohol actually cause a lot of bloating and can seriously irritate your digestive system. So, when cutting these out of your diet your digestive system will secretly be thanking you (and so will your complexion!). Read here for some of my best anti-bloating tricks and remedies.


coffee

Now on a negative note, cutting out coffee and sugar leads to negative side effects. These side effects are actually just withdrawal and like every withdrawal, the negative comes before the positive. Some of these include migraines, sleepiness, irritability, muscle pain, lack of concentration, constipation etc.. It is not an easy thing to cut out of our diets as it is something our body feeds off of. 

Why cut out dairy?

dairyGrowing up, all we’ve ever heard is that milk is good for you and your bones and must be consumed daily. Unfortunately, I don’t believe this and I have found that cutting dairy out of my diet has been the best thing I have ever done. Not only is dairy high in sugar but it really doesn’t contain that much calcium. Things like salmon actually contain more than double the calcium than milk.

The majority of people who have cut out dairy from their diets have lost weight at a much greater rate. They also felt healthier, more energized and their skin looked and felt more clear. 

Equally, cutting out alcohol helps improve your overall health. I hope it isn’t of too much surprise that alcohol should be completely cut out during your diet. Alcohol is extremely high in sugar. Not only this but alcohol interferes with the way your body burns fat. Instead of using fat for energy, your body begins to use the calories from the alcohol. This can cause a buildup of fatty acids in the body and thus, inhibit fat loss.

Meal Prep is a priority

meal prepThe most stressful part of a diet and losing weight is constantly preparing the food. For all the full-time workers out there, this seems practically impossible. Setting aside an hour (or more) of every single day just to make food is just not practical. This is why meal prepping should be a PRIORITY during dieting.

You take an hour on your Sunday and cook everything that needs to be eaten for the week. You set out your containers and your portions then store in the fridge. This leaves you with little worry at 6 am in the morning when you are racing to get ready on time for work. 

 

If you’re really wanting to get serious about meal prepping, I HIGHLY recommend getting yourself good quality containers that you’re able to store easily. You can buy them at Target, Wallmart of any kitchen shop.

These are the ones I use and I love them, you can put them in the dishwasher/freezer etc… and they are BPA FREE! YayEnther Meal Prep Containers [20 Pack] Single 1 Compartment with Lids, Food Storage Bento Box | BPA Free | Stackable | Reusable Lunch Boxes, Microwave/Dishwasher/Freezer Safe,Portion Control (28 oz) 

 

Meditate.

Believe it or not, this is one of the key ingredients to weight loss. Meditation can directly reduce the levels of stress hormones in your body. For example, cortisol. Suffering from high levels of cortisol actually sends signals to our bodies to store fat. Thus, it becomes harder to lose weight even if you’ve completely changed your diet for the better.weight loss

Meditation has been proven to reduce stress levels, help with anxiety, reduce depression and overall increase happiness. Taking 15-20 minutes every single day to meditate will drastically improve your overall health and help stimulate weight loss.

In my post Everything You Need To Know About Meditation, I go more in-depth about the benefits and the most important aspects of meditation. 

Taking these steps and actions will help improve your health as well help you begin an incredible weight loss journey. These are some of the things people really forget to focus on when trying to lose weight. Though things like cutting out sugar aren’t permanent, they can drastically help you mentally and physically start feeling healthier. 

 

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