With Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years on its way, it would be nice to lose some weight and look great for all those festivities, along with the many photos that are taken! If maintaining your weight is important these can help with that also.
As was mentioned on greenglancy yesterday, here are 10 Ways to Shed those Extra Pounds by Christmas:
1. Start with a healthy breakfast! Don’t skip breakfast; thinking it will help you loose weight because it actually does the opposite. It takes calories to digest calories, so eating in the morning fires up your metabolism. Breakfast options: Whole grain cereal, two pieces of whole wheat toast with two tablespoons of peanut butter and add a banana or an apple.
2. Snack Healthy 2-3 times a day. If your place of business doesn’t offer healthy choices for snacks, then you have to start bringing your own snacks. Plan ahead and try to have snacks on hand. Healthy snacks: An ounce of nuts, pretzels, or string cheese; a medium piece of fruit; six graham cracker squares; or six cups of low-fat microwave popcorn.
3. Cut your alcohol consumption in half. I know it’s hard, especially at this time of year but alcohol can really pack on the pounds. Check out this article 5 Ways to beat the beer belly.
4. Switch to drinking green tea. Drink two cups of organic green tea a day. With each sip of green tea, you get health-promoting substances: two potent flavonoids — anthocyanin and proanthocyanidin — and a healthy dose of catechin. It also is a proven, natural metabolism booster.
5. Drink lots of water. Even if all you did was start drinking more water you would likely lose weight. That’s because the body needs to be fully hydrated in order to maintain a healthy metabolism.
6. Start a weight-training regimen. You’ve heard that muscle weighs more than fat, but did you know that muscle burns more calories? Building lean muscle through weight training causes the body to burn more calories throughout the day. When combined with regular aerobic exercise, weight training can help you lose more weight.
7.Don’t eat after 8pm. This gives your body a break from digesting while you sleep.
8. Go for lighter choices. If you drink 2% milk, switch to 1% or non-fat. If you use butter, switch to low fat margarine. In any area that you can go low fat try the switch.
9. Share! When eating out start sharing meals. This stops you from eating too much and lets you leave without that awful full feeling.
10. Last but not least, don’t be too hard on yourself. Give yourself rewards every now and then to keep you on your diet. Indulge in conservative amounts of your favorite foods once a week. But remember a serving should be the size of an average apple.