SET REALISTIC GOALS
- Focus on lifestyle changes and not necessarily weight loss. Simply stopping weight gain is a major accomplishment.
- Be realistic about losing weight. You didn’t gain it in a year – you are not going to lose it in a year, at least not and be healthy.
- Stop thinking about DIETS. It’s about LIFESTYLE CHANGES, and that doesn’t happen overnight or quickly.
- It’s OK to reward yourself occasionally with something you really like, just don’t make it a daily, ongoing occurrence.
DAILY SUPPLEMENTS AND CLEANSES
- Add probiotics to your daily intake. This is a major improvement you cannot skip. The balance of bacteria in your gut can make all the difference in your cravings and desires to eat unhealthy.
- Add a daily nutritional supplement to your diet.
- Start a daily colon cleanse by adding a small amount of psyllium husks to your daily intake.
- Do occasional cleanses – there are many on the market that do not upset your body’s balance.
CHANGE WHAT YOU DRINK
- Limit sugary drinks to only once a day – or even better, once every 3-4 days.
- Drink hot lemon water and teas to lower your body’s acidity level and decrease your hunger.
- Drink warm liquids with your meal – not ice cold ones. Hot tea is much more healthy than iced tea, and aids in food digestion.
- Limit coffee to about 3-4 cups a day at most, and if you add sugar, use less and less sugar, until any you only add enough to take off the bitter edge.
- Do not use artificial sweeteners – especially in soft drinks. Avoid high fructose corn syrup when you can.
- Limit your dairy (milk) intake. Many people’s health increases dramatically by not drinking milk at all.
- Do not drink large amounts of most fruit juices. You are taking in more natural sugars than would be the case if you were eating the fruit.
CHANGE WHAT YOU EAT – SLOWLY EAT HEALTHIER
- Eat less food – start with eating on smaller plates – only one plate of food – skip the seconds.
- Eat healthier food. More vegetables and less starches. Add a small amount of fruit – not fruit juices to your meal.
- If you are going to have a desert, limit it to a very small portion.
- Limit foods high in starches – eat more rice and less wheat based starches and potatoes.
- Avoid high fructose corn syrup when you can.
- Use honey instead of sugar most of the time for a sweetener.
- Severely limit fried foods and fast foods to only occasionally.
- If you crave chocolate, then generally eat at least 70% bittersweet – not milk chocolate.
- Eat less and less processed foods. The closer the food is to it’s natural state, the healthier it is for you. Generally frozen vegetables are OK as an alternative to fresh.
- Start reading labels on what you eat. You will be shocked at what food companies unnecessarily put in processed foods.
EXERCISE – INCREASE YOUR METABOLISM
- Become physically active by going to the gym each day, or every other day. At the gym, you will receive more encouragement than going solo on your own.
- At a minimum, go for a walk each day. Start out with 15 minutes and slowly work it up to one hour, while slowly increasing the speed of your walk.
By committing to realistic lifestyle changes, you will not only start to feel better and have more energy, your body will start to balance itself properly and weight loss will naturally occur over time.