*Make good choices when you cook. Choose meats high in protein. Steam, roast, and use parchment and good
seasonings. Substitute lower calorie
things in your recipes instead of the full thing. Using skim milk for cream or fat free sour
cream instead of regular sour cream goes a long way in a recipe and cuts many
calories. You can bring a lot of flavor
to food without adding fat.
*When cooking, avoid mindless eating such as tasting. Keep healthy snacks on hand to deter your
temptation to taste. Many little bites
eventually add up to a full course meal.
*Use herbs, spices, and vinegars to season your food when
cooking. You can bring a lot of flavor
to food without adding a lot of fat.
Some herbs have even been proven to rev up your metabolism.
*Find someone that inspires you to stick with your goals
like eating right and working out.
*Work in some low impact exercise to protect your
joints. It is good to have a variety of
high impact and low impact. High impact
to strengthen muscles and your heart and low impact to stretch, build muscle,
and protect your joints.
*Take an exercise class like zumba, spinning/cycling, step,
yoga etc…. The group atmosphere will
build motivation and make time fly by.
Before you know it, you have done a full workout and had fun doing it!
*Remember to treat yourself once in a while. Not every day or every week, but treat
yourself every once in a while. It is important to do so you don’t feel like
you are completely depriving yourself and it can be a great motivator to stick
with exercise goals too.
*Have a workout buddy to help lend support. You can also push each other and will meet
your goals much sooner than you would have had you gone it alone. Be sure to find one with similar goals as
yours, that way, when you are just not feeling it, they know how you feel and
can motivate you in the right way.
*Be careful when you exercise to not convince yourself that
you deserve a reward of food. Many
people will exercise really hard but then will tell themselves they deserve a
really large and heavy meal because they worked out. However; many times the meal puts in a lot
more calories than you just burned off.
*Eat a variety of foods.
Eating too much and not enough of something will only lead to problems
later. Eating only protein is not a
healthy option. You have to train
yourself to have portion control and mix up your plate. You should enjoy a variety of carbs,
proteins, and fats but in healthy portions.
*Keep safety first by asking a professional before starting
any exercise routine. If you hurt
yourself, you will only set yourself back in your goals of fitness.
*Most importantly:
Have fun! If it isn’t fun then it
won’t work. I enjoy cooking so finding
new healthy recipes and trying them is fun for me! Changing my old recipes and substituting
lower fat items for full fat ones is also fun!
I also love being someone else’s inspiration because it helps hold me
accountable! I love to help people meet
their goals and that alone keeps it fun for me.
Turn weight loss and fitness into something you can enjoy.
Have a wonderful week you all! Remember, you can do this. Your will power got you this far, it can see you to the end. Remember to set small goals so you can meet them and feel success. Good luck!
