If you want to lose weight in the new year, here are some of my top tips:
- Find a weight loss plan that emphasizes a lifestyle of eating healthy over quick weight loss. There are NO quick weight loss gimmicks that create long term results. It takes work and discipline.
- Eat real food and sparingly eat pre-packaged food. There are so many chemicals in packaged food that actually can derail your weight loss progress. Labels like natural, organic, low-fat and sugar-free do not mean they are healthy! Most packaged foods are nutrient poor.
- Exercise to build strength, tone muscles, prevent disease and increase flexibility NOT for weight loss. Exercise is only about 10-20% of weight loss, and this depends on how consistent you are and how much time you exercise daily.
- Load up on veggies at lunch and dinner (and throw some in at breakfast with your eggs or smoothie). Veggies are low-calorie, contain fiber, and have phytochemicals that provide many benefits to your body.
- Decrease the amount of added sugar you eat (10% or less of your daily calorie intake per day) and don’t be afraid to eat healthy fats. Sugar is not needed by the body, but the body does use healthy fats. Sugar is the biggest contributor for diet related diseases.
- Find a community of people that encourage you in your healthy lifestyle. There is public-policy research that being connected to even one other person wanting to eat healthy will increase the likelihood of success. With social media, there are many positive online fitness communities both worldwide and local that you can connect with easily.
- Drink lots of water! I love carbonated beverages, but they are not an equal substitute for water. Carbonated beverages are very acidic even if they contain no artificial sweeteners or sugar. They are also bad for your teeth, if you consume them regularly. Water is used in the metabolic process in the body, and in it’s basic form, it is the easiest for the body to break down and use. This means more readily available for the metabolism. Also, it helps keep sodium saturations in the cells from slowing down the metabolic process.
- Plan out your week and meal prep snacks and lunches. It makes a huge difference! When you don’t make eating healthy easy, you are more likely to make bad choices. An hour on the weekend really can set your week up for success. Meal prep will change your life! 🙂
If this is overwhelming, choose 1-2 new habits to change for 30 days. Then move on to the next 1-2 new habits. Keep track of your progress. If you don’t track what you are doing, it’s easy to forget if you really have stayed on track. There are so many great apps for tracking.
Don’t let the opportunity a new year provides to start on a new healthy journey or to reset if you have gotten off track.
You won’t regret it!
Xoxo, Liz
Fit Busy Lizzie 