Defrazzle Your Weight Loss

“The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for
the steak to cook”

Julia Child

I hate dieting. It doesn’t matter what diet I follow, I gain
weight. It’s so frustrating! If I do find one that works, I
usually find that right about the time I’m getting used to the
diet, my life ends up creating situations where I need to be
eating out a lot, or spending time with friends and food. ARGH!

I’ve stopped dieting now. I’m just working on healthy lifestyle
habits that I can work with anywhere, at any time and that allow
for “life” to happen, so I don’t need to panic.

Now, believe me, I’m no expert, so check with your doctor before
you follow ANY of my advice – I’m just a fellow mom, trying to
get back into pre-baby clothes! I have found some things to be
consistent in the myriad of ever-changing diet/health rules, and
I’d like to share them with you here. So ladies, if you want to
lose those extra 10 pounds (or more) that just refuse to
disappear, here are some tips that are finally working for me:

Pick Your Time Weight loss involves very personal issues
for most people, and is closely related to their self esteem. It
is crucial that you attempt to lose 10 pounds at the appropriate
time – at a time where you otherwise feel good and satisfied
with your life. If you try and lose 10 pounds during a period of
time in your life where you have a lot of stress or other
distracting things going on, you drastically increase your
chances of failure, which will only make things worse.

Do It With Friends A great and fun way to help you stick
with your plan is to undertake your project of losing 10 pounds
with a friend. Not only will you be able to provide support for
each other and track each other’s progress, but you’ll be able
to engage in fun exercise activities together.

Make Your Plan Realistic It’s important that you set
achievable goals for yourself. For example, with just some basic
changes in your lifestyle and eating habits, you can lose 1
pound a week. There’s no need to be in a huge rush to lose
weight, and trying to lose weight quickly often requires a
regimen that is difficult to keep up. For most people, it is
healthier to lose weight slowly than with drastic dietary
changes.

Exercise in the morning on an empty stomach There are two
main reasons why you can more easily lose 10 pounds by
exercising in the morning. The first has to do with the fact
that it is much easier to build into your daily routine. One of
the keys to losing weight by exercise is to do it regularly,
which many people find difficult: it’s always hard to find time.
So a great reason for exercising in the morning is that you’ll
have very little distraction. In many ways, you are literally
“making time” for the exercise by starting your day earlier. The
second reason is that if you exercise in the morning on an empty
stomach, you’re burning energy at a time when your body’s
carbohydrate levels are the lowest, and therefore more fat will
be burned with the same amount of exercise. There have been
studies that suggest over 250% more fat is burned when you
exercise in this state.

Balance Your Diet Try as much as possible to balance your
diet. This doesn’t mean that you have to starve yourself –
rather make a point of getting no more the 30% of your calories
from fat. Eat more fruits and vegetables and try to add as much
variety to your diet as possible. Try new things, and new meal
ideas. A great rule of thumb is to take a 9″ plate and divide it
into quarters. One quarter is starch/carbohydrate (potatoes,
pasta, rice), one quarter is protein (meat, beans, tofu) and
half is vegetables.

Keep Track Of Your Progress The problem with dieting for
many people, especially in the early stages, is that even if the
diet is working they can’t see any results. It’s hard to really
notice if you lose 1 pound. For this reason it’s important that
your track your progress, so you can have a good sense of the
accomplishments you’ve made. Don’t just track pounds, make sure
you are also tracking inches by keeping track of the
measurements of the main body areas: bust, waist, hips, thighs,
calves, and even your upper arm.

Incorporate exercise into your daily routine Another good
idea is to try and get some exercise while you’re at work. Think
how often you end up staying in your office on your lunch break.
Instead, why not take a walk? It may not seem like much, but if
you did that every day, you’d be walking 5 hours a week, which
is a pretty great start towards getting some more exercise. On
the weekends and in the evenings, take up a sport or an active
hobby like hiking. The key is to find ways that you can get
exercise while also doing things you enjoy.

You can lose 10 pounds fairly quickly by starting a serious
exercise regimen, of course, but that’s not necessarily the best
way to do it. If you make your exercise like work, it’ll start
to feel like work, and it will become tempting to put it off and
avoid it. If you incorporate exercise into your daily routine,
however, it won’t seem like work at all – it will be fun. And
the best part of all is that the more you exercise the more
energy you’ll have: instead of being tired when you come home
from work, you’ll feel like doing something active. Before you
know it that 10 pounds you lost might become 20.

So, there you have it! Try implementing one tip a week and
making a habit out of it. You’ll drop those pounds in no time!

Tipping the scales in your favour!

Darlene Hull www.mom-defrazzler.com

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