10 Simple Steps to Jumpstart Your Weightloss

No matter what diet you are on there are 10 easy steps to helping you stick with the plan.  After all, it’s much easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle than it is to switch to a healthy lifestyle.  If you are one of the individuals described above please have the patience to stick with the program – even if you “fail” a time or two.

Here are 10 fail-safe tips to helping you stick to your diet regimen.

1) Balance Your Calorie Intake - Balance the calories you take in each day with the calories that you burn.  Every diet plan is different, but they each have the dieter consumingapproximately the same number of calories: between 1,300 and 1,800 (more if exercising heavily).  And when burning a large number of calories it becomes just as important to balance the calories going out as it is to count the ones coming in.  If you burn more than half of the calories being consumed on a daily basis that can lead to fatigue and body malfunction.  Calories are our source of energy not an enemy.  Calories only add to excess weight when consumed in exorbitant quantities.  Remember to leave some calories in your system after you daily workout for your body to burn as fuel.

2) Drink Plenty of Water – The importance of drinking water is tantamount to more than just weight loss success but to being healthy as well.  Our bodies are comprised of more than 70% water.  Keeping the body nourished can help the body to fight disease, ward off exhaustion, increase energy levels, improve mood and sleep, and many other factors.  Drinking plenty of water can also help to “clean out” the system of toxins and pollutants bydetoxification .  I have heard many dietitians say that if you drink enough water you can eat practically whatever you want (in moderation) and still lose weight.  Drinking water dilutes the fats while in the stomach and prevents many of them from being absorbed into the body during the digestion process.  Drink AT LEAST 8 – 8oz. glasses of water per day (more in the hot summer) but I am still pushing for more.

3) Get Moving – NO diet plan will be successful without exercise.  Of course if you change your eating habits there will be some moderate change, but not the earth shattering results we want when we are working hard to do what is right for out bodies.  So get moving!!  Every little bit counts.  Try taking the stairs at the office rather than the elevator.  Walk during your lunch break.  Put a treadmill or elliptical machine in front of the television.  Whatever it takes.  Try to be active at lease 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week (more if possible), and watch the results of your diet double in no time!!  See our article 20 Minute Beach Body for a great 20 minute workout you can do from home.

4) Maintain Nutrients – Maintaining one’s consumption of nutrients is not as important to weight loss as it is to overall health.  And overall health keeps us healthy and able to stick to a diet and exercise.  Make sure you are getting your recommended daily allowance (RDA) of nutrients such as:

• Calcium (helps with innumerable things, in addition to building strong bones)
• Vitamin D (helps keep you positive, like a natural anti-depressant, and increases your energy.  Studies have shown that it is found in sunlight)
• Fiber (helps keep your digestive system in order and your colon clean and healthy.  The colon is where vitamins and minerals are absorbed into the body).
• Protein (keeps your stamina up during workouts, helps you get a better quality of workout)
• Folate (helps the body absorb and use the protein nicely)
• Vitamin B-12 (keeps the immune system strong)

5) Get the Grains You Need – Unless you are on a low carb diet, grains are very important to health.

6) Practice Portion Control – The detriment of many dieters is not eating the right things, but eating the right portions of the right things.  Too often people eat a large breakfast, get hungry before lunch and head to the vending machine.  The key to not getting hungry mid-meal and ruining your diet is to eat more small meals throughout the day.  Five small meals to be exact.  Each meal should be small enough to fit in your hand with the main ingredient of your meal (usually a meat such as fish, chicken, or steak) able to fit in the palm of your hand (approximately 5 oz.).  If your meals do not fit this criteria you may be eating too much food of you are trying to lose weight and not experience any weight loss.

7) Take a Break – Every once in a while take a break from your diet and enjoy life.  We take a break from work, take a break from the chores, even take a break from our children.  Why not take a break from our diet??  There are some delicious foods out there and this is your time to try them.  Just make sure that your “break” last no longer than 2 days.  I have a friend who had tremendous success on Atkins diet.  He would not consume more than 40 carbs per day on any given weekday.  However, the weekend was his time to let loose.  He ate whatever he wanted, in moderation of course.  And his dieting efforts were stilltremendously successful.  However, if you fail on your diet during the week do not still use the weekend as an excuse to eat what you like.  You may have some catch up work to do.

Learn To Multitask – Learn to get in a portion of your 30 minutes of daily exercise while doing mundane chores around the office or the house.  Practice yoga stretching while on the phone, run in place while using the vacuum cleaner, do lunges while doing yard work.  Whatever it takes.  Get in the habit of doing these activities so they become just that – a habit.

9) Give Your Brain a Break – A healthful, stress-free brain is vital to a healthy lifestyle.  If you are stressed out or running on all 8 cylinders then let your brain rest.  Take a weekend get away without the Blackberry or send the kids to your Mother’s.  Just make sure to take time out of your life for you and your mental health.  You will be much more able to maintain your healthy lifestyle and will e less likely to have a “calorie breakdown”.

10) Treat Yourself – As a follow up to #7 treat yourself occasionally to the spoils of life.  You don’t to look back in a few years and think that you missed out on life by restricting yourself to so few indulgences.  Dieting is not about that, it is about finding a balance while still being able to achieve and maintain your goals.  If you are not reaching your goals there is a reason.  Your eating habits and lifestyle need to be analyzed and tweaked.