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Fast Diet fixes
Contents Snack After Exercise.................................................................................................4 Think Success.............................................................................................................. 5 Get A Success Mindset!............................................................................................5 See Yourself Slim…..................................................................................................5 Find Something Better To Do!.................................................................................. 6 Set Realistic Goals....................................................................................................... 7 Take Off The Time Pressure!....................................................................................7 Find The Right Exercise For You................................................................................. 9 Need That Food Fast?................................................................................................11 Think Lifestyle.............................................................................................................13 Ditch Fad Diets........................................................................................................... 15 Low Fat Diets.......................................................................................................... 15 Low Carb Diets........................................................................................................16 Keep It Simple............................................................................................................ 17
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Fast Diet fixes
Avoid The Snack Trap! It’s well known that energy dips at 11am and 3pm are responsible for many diet slipups. Many people prepare healthy meals but then forget to factor in healthy snacks for those hungry moments. The result? Too many of those snacks end up being more calorific than main meals! What can you do to avoid the snack trap? Simple – factor in two healthy snacks each day alongside your three main meals. Healthy snacks include oatcakes with peanut butter, carrot sticks with low-fat hummus or a piece of fruit. You can even have chocolate provided you make sure it is at least 70% cocoa solids. This kind of chocolate has been proven to be heart healthy and will satisfy your craving for something sweet without sending your blood sugar rocketing and then dipping again. Stick to three small snacks a day If you find yourself snacking more than this you need to work out why. Are you simply a typical grazer who likes to pick at food all day rather than sit down to big meals? In this case, try eating 6 small meals a day rather than 3 big ones plus 3 snacks. If, on the other hand you are:
Snacking because you’re stressed or depressed…
Or snacking on the wrong kinds of food all day so you prop your body up with a non-stop sugar rush…
Then it becomes a problem. If you are snacking for emotional reasons such as stress or depression, you need to address these underlying issues first. www.Weightlossreviewonline.net Page |3
Fast Diet fixes
If you don’t and you then fail to lose weight or keep it off, you will only feel worse, thereby setting up a vicious cycle. Similarly, you need to make sure your snacks fuel your energy rather than depleting it. If you find that your energy still dips despite incorporating healthier snacks in your diet, try some stretches or take a brisk walk around the block if at all possible.
Snack After Exercise Snacking after exercise can actually help you lose more weight by boosting your already increased metabolism. Although this is when you really want to reach for those carbs, it is far better to eat some protein now such as a slice of cheese or a handful of nuts to help build lean muscle. Sensible snacking can be a wonderful weight loss aid if used wisely. Eating little and often is a well-known way of raising your metabolism and therefore burning fat. So don’t make snacking a guilty secret but rather your secret to success!
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Fast Diet fixes
Think Success Get A Success Mindset! The right mindset is crucial to gaining and maintaining that perfect weight. You need to learn and practice techniques that will enable you to stay enthusiastic and focused so you stick to your diet.
See Yourself Slim… One of the best techniques you can use to keep you on track is visualization. It works for Olympic athletes and top business people alike – and it will work for you. Visualization works particularly well for fitness as the outcome you desire is so easy to picture. Try it – imagine a slimmer, toned version of yourself. Simply visualizing yourself slimmer several times a day imprints that goal on your mind. Your mind is a very powerful tool and, given a strong picture or vision, it will react as if you had fed a command into a computer. It will then get to work doing everything it can to help you achieve that vision of the new, slender you. You can also find or create images to represent and support your goal. One great way to do this is to make a vision board, finding pictures of slim, healthful people and either physically pasting them on a board or creating a digital version. Another useful trick is to find photos of your slimmer self and put those where you can see them every day. Affirmations are another powerful tool you can use to attain and maintain the right mindset. Affirmations work best when you are clear and specific about your goals. Always state them in the present tense and write them down as well as saying them out loud. www.Weightlossreviewonline.net
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Fast Diet fixes
You can use an affirmation like this: I am now effortlessly losing 10 pounds so I look and feel wonderful! Note that I stated a specific goal there, put it in the present tense and made it seem an exciting goal for me to attain.
Find Something Better To Do! Another great technique is what is known as displacement where you substitute one unhealthy habit with another that is far better for you. You might think that this is easier said than done. After all, what is nicer than tucking into all that fatty junk food or lounging around as a couch potato? Many things, actually! Like being slimmer, more attractive and healthier so you can enjoy life more. The trick to changing habits is to make the new habits far more compelling than the old ones. Try writing two columns: one listing the benefits of staying as you are and the other listing all the benefits of losing weight. Do you see any really compelling reasons to stay overweight? Or, looking at the second column, can you see why it’s a much better idea to make those changes?
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Fast Diet fixes
Set Realistic Goals Many people plan to lose more weight than is realistic in too short a space of time. If you really think that you are going to: Drop 3 dress sizes in a month… Spend 2 hours exercising every day… Or give up chocolate forever… Then you are setting yourself up to fail. Set smaller targets. Have achievable, short-term goals. Be realistic and aim to lose 1 – 2 pounds a week. That might not sound much but that’s a stone every six weeks!
Take Off The Time Pressure! You didn’t put this weight on overnight so don’t expect to lose it that fast either. This is weight you’d like to keep off for a lifetime… So why are you making it tougher for yourself by adding time pressure to your other unrealistic expectations? If you slip up – don’t give up! Maybe you went out for dinner and had those carbs you were craving along with a glass or two of wine… The danger comes when you think: ‘I’ve cheated so I may as well carry on eating!’ Don’t use slip-ups as an excuse! Just move on and resolve to do better next time. A study carried out by the International Journal of Obesity found that people with a flexible approach to eating were more likely to maintain their weight loss than dieters with an all-or-nothing attitude. There are many ways you can set realistic goals. Goals need to have three characteristics in order to work for you. They need to be: www.Weightlossreviewonline.net
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Fast Diet fixes
Measurable Attainable Specific Make weight loss goals short-term. Setting a goal to lose that first 5 or 10 pounds is more attainable than a goal to lose 50 pounds. Even more attainable than weight loss goals are goals that modify your behavior. Put good habits in place and you are far more likely to succeed in losing those extra pounds. Think about setting goals to:
Eat more fruits and vegetables
Exercise regularly, in a way that fits in with your lifestyle
Keep a journal of what you eat
All of these are realistic goals which will boost your motivation as you achieve them. By setting and attaining goals like this, you will inevitably lose weight without placing unrealistic expectations on yourself.
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Fast Diet fixes
Find The Right Exercise For You Remember that hitting the gym isn’t the only way to shape up. Find an activity you enjoy so it’s easier to stick to. Join a local sports team or dance class, or simply fit exercise into your daily routine by vacuuming more vigorously or power walking to work. It is a myth that, in order to burn fat, you need to subject yourself to hours of boring cardio. In fact, strength training combined with interval training produces the best results. The good news about this is that you can achieve a lot in a short space of time. Even better, you start to see results fast which in turn motivates you to keep going. A combination of strength and interval training will force your body to burn carbohydrate to supply it with the necessary energy. Studies have shown that exercising for at least 30 minutes 5 days a week produces the most beneficial results. In fact, you don’t want to exercise hard for much longer than that or you risk raising your cortisol levels and laying down belly fat! The exercise you choose can cover a huge range of activities so long as it gets your heart pumping at a suitable rate and keeps it pumping for most of your exercise period. Try to mix it up - one day alternating fast walking with jogging in the park, another attending a yoga class and so on. One of the simplest exercise routines is also one that is highly effective – just going for a power walk, arms pumping at sufficient pace will provide a low impact way to strip that excess fat from your body. It’s crucial to not to get bored with your exercise routine and to constantly push yourself just that little bit more. For these reasons, it’s a good idea to add in at least one class or new hobby that is both physical and fun. Ideally, you should split your exercise routine into 4 or 5 sessions with a couple devoted to your new hobby or sport and the others mixing up cardio with strength and flexibility training. www.Weightlossreviewonline.net
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Fast Diet fixes
Of course, there are times when this is not possible due to work or family responsibilities, for example, and this is where keeping it simple will also keep you on track. As with diet slip-ups, if you don’t manage to exercise for one session then forgive yourself and move on. There is no need to do extra in your next session to punish yourself – in fact, you could do more harm than good! Be accepting of yourself and realize that we are all human. That way, you are far more likely to stick to your exercise routine as well as your diet. The key is to adapt and be flexible both in your arrangements and your attitude. The right attitude is to think: ‘So, I didn’t fit in my run tonight. I could always fit in a few exercises before bedtime.’ Even a few stretches will keep your body and mind tuned in to the fact that healthy eating and exercise are now simply a non-negotiable part of your life.
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Fast Diet fixes
Need That Food Fast? Too busy to bother with cooking? Too tired at the end of a long day? You’re not the only one but this can be a major diet derailer… When you need your food fast it can be far too tempting to call up for a fat-laden takeout meal. If you know your weakness is for pizza or Chinese food, throw out the menus and delete those numbers from your phone. You’re less likely to eat takeout if it’s not so easy to get hold of! If you really must have that Chinese, opt for healthier alternatives such as chicken Chow Mein rather than sweet and sour pork which is laden with fat and sugar. It can be just as fast – if not faster – to whip up a healthier alternative yourself with ingredients you already have at home. Chopping and stir-frying lean protein and vegetables with soy sauce and noodles takes seconds. And the good news is that you can buy all of this ready prepared from the supermarket. Another healthy alternative is pasta with a sauce made from a can of chopped tomatoes, mushrooms and garlic. Add some herbs and a side salad to make a complete meal but make sure you lay off the cream and cheese to keep this low fat. Here are some more tips to help you choose healthier takeout options: Avoid creamy or cheese sauces – choose tomato or vegetable based ones instead. Opt for steamed rice over fried rice or ditch the starch altogether and order up a side dish of stir-fried vegetables. If you’re having a burger, go for a regular, single-patty hamburger and avoid extra cheese, bacon and high-fat sauces such as mayonnaise. Swap a cheese-stuffed crust pizza for a thin, crispy crust and choose lower fat toppings such as chicken, shrimp and vegetables. www.Weightlossreviewonline.net P a g e | 11
Fast Diet fixes
Don’t supersize – always go for the regular size when ordering a takeout or choosing a convenience meal.
Another great tip for you if you need your food fast is to plan ahead. Taking just 10 minutes to plan your shopping and diet for the week will save you a lot more time than simply shopping and eating on impulse. Stock up your store cupboard with pasta, rice, spices, soy sauce and so on. Then you can quickly and easily make a meal in minutes when you add in some simple, fresh ingredients such as:
Fresh fish
Canned fish in spring water
Lean chicken
Fresh vegetables
Pulses
Beans
All of which can be used in a huge variety of healthy, low-fat meals. To save even more time, plan and buy those fresh ingredients in one, weekly trip to the supermarket. Then you will have everything organised and ready for you to whip up those meals. Learning to plan and shop in this way helps to break the fast food habit as you learn it’s just as quick and easy to make your own food – and much better for your waistline!
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Fast Diet fixes
Think Lifestyle The problem with the word ‘diet’ is that it implies a temporary solution. As you know, anything temporary must come to an end. And when you reach that end, the old habits come flying back along with all the weight you lost. If you tell yourself you are on a diet then you are losing weight for the here and now. If on the other hand you want to lose weight on a more permanent basis then this is really a lifestyle change. Calling it this rather than a diet will not only fix it as permanent in your mind but will take away all the negative connotations of the word ‘diet’. This long term, permanent lifestyle change is what you want to achieve rather than just losing weight for the moment. Because dieting is short term, once we stop we gain back the weight as we fall back into our old eating habits. This leads to “Yo-Yo Dieting” as we go from one diet to the next in the hope that this is the solution to our weight problems we have been searching for. Each diet ends up the same. You start out and experience quick results. Then you hit a plateau, binge and gain back all the weight plus even more. And why do you gain all of the weight back plus even more? Because your body has what we call a set point, like a natural thermostat that regulates your weight. When you first start to lose weight on a new diet, your body goes into shock. This is especially true of highly restrictive diets that strictly control calorie intake. You may initially lose 5 or even 10 pounds but suddenly you hit that plateau and it seems your new diet is no longer working for you. So you cut even more calories in the hopes of kick-starting the weight loss once more but nothing drops off. Because you have restricted your calories, your body goes into self-preservation, survival mode. www.Weightlossreviewonline.net
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Fast Diet fixes
And it’s all thanks to evolution.
In survival mode, your body overrides your desire to lose weight too fast by making you sluggish and lethargic. Your metabolism slows right down. You barely have enough energy to lift your own arm let alone your entire body to continue exercising. If, on the other hand, you adopt steady lifestyle changes your body does not fall into survival mode. Instead, it adapts and adjusts at a pace that means those changes are incorporated as new, long term habits. Remember that it takes on average 30 days to incorporate a new habit into your life so don’t beat yourself up by expecting to achieve it in less time. Educating yourself with new, healthier eating and exercise habits means that you avoid the destructive patterns set up by traditional dieting. After all – don’t you deserve to be the best version of you so you can enjoy every aspect of your life? Adjusting your lifestyle so that it enables you to achieve that is one of the most important gifts you can ever give yourself.
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Ditch Fad Diets You see them all the time: the latest, greatest diet that promises a new way – the only way – to lose weight. Problem is, many of these fad diets are actively bad for you. Not only that – they are unlikely to work in the long term based, as they are, on restricting certain foods rather than incorporating healthier foods into your everyday diet.
Low Fat Diets These diets are very popular because the thinking goes that if you consume less fat, you will inevitably lose fat from your body. Makes sense doesn’t it? After all, fat is very calorie dense. But fat is also essential in our everyday diets. Fat promotes normal brain cell function, regulates hormones and your immune system operation. Fat coats your nerves cells and protects them from deterioration. Fat is also involved in your body’s important biochemical reactions so having some fat in your diet is vital so long as you keep it within healthy, reasonable limits. Not all fats are bad, there are good fats and bad fats. Bad fats include saturated fat and Trans fats. These types of fat lower the amount of healthy cholesterol in your body, throwing your system out of balance by increasing the amount of bad cholesterol present. Good fats are those that, in their basic building block form, are known as monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. They play several important roles in hormone production and help to aid in proper cell function. These types of fats contain Omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 is known to reduce the risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke. www.Weightlossreviewonline.net
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Low Carb Diets Your body will always turn food into sugar. The body needs to convert it to this form so that it can be burned as fuel. When you limit your carb intake, your body does not have enough sugar to burn so instead of burning sugar, it burns fat. You will drop weight initially on a low carb diet but you may not want to live without your favorite foods for the long haul. That is why it is so difficult to stick to these types of diets. Eliminating carbohydrates also restricts the vitamins and minerals you get from good carbs such as:
Brown rice
Whole wheat
Whole grains
Vegetables, etc.
These carbs give a slow release of sugar into the bloodstream which keeps your energy levels stable. Not only are these restrictive diets bad for your health, they lack variety which means you are far more likely to stray. Choose instead a lifestyle based diet which includes a wide choice of foods that boosts your health and energy rather than depleting it. In this way, you are far more likely to lose weight and keep it off in the long term.
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Keep It Simple When it comes to losing weight for good, it boils down to 2 things: What you eat and how much you move. Eat sensibly. That’s not to say that you can’t have the occasional treat from time to time. Just not every day. A lot of high fat, sugary foods were absent from our shelves just 50 short years ago and the weight of the average person reflected this. Clearly, it is how we are eating nowadays that is making us overweight. If you just make simple changes such as reducing high fat, simple carbohydrate foods and move a little more like our ancestors did, you will lose weight. Eat a balanced diet and you’re well on your way to remaining slender and healthy for the rest of your life. These are some things to remember: First off, do not eliminate any of the food groups. Cutting out entire food groups will not only deprive you of vitamins and minerals but will leave you with a very unbalanced and boring diet which is difficult to stick to. Read food labels and find those hidden calories. Being aware of this will not only keep the weight off but will also empower you to make informed decisions about what you are putting into your body. Avoid high fat foods. A treat once in a while is fine and we all should get a certain amount of fats from our foods but be careful you don’t get too much of the wrong kind. Remember anything you eat that isn’t burned off is stored. Be aware of your carbohydrate intake. Make sure you get more of the complex than the simple variety.
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Fast Diet fixes
Slow release, complex carbs will sustain you for longer and won’t leave you feeling tired and lethargic. Drink water. You can also get fluid from coffee, tea, milk, fruits and juices but water is the best drink of all. Your body prefers water because it can be readily absorbed and used. Stick to these simple rules and you will inevitably lose weight. Even better, you will remain at your perfect weight so long as you adopt these lifestyle choices. Remember that it’s your body, your mind… Treat them well and they will reward you with increased energy, sparkling eyes, a positive outlook and a slender, toned physique.
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