A PLAN TO LOSE WEIGHT WITHOUT REALLY TRYING
One of my friends from the Army gave me an outline of how to lose weight without really trying. This is her plan, but try it and see if it works for you. Someone once said that "If you aim at nothing you are bound to hit it". Have a go at some or all of the plan for a month or so. Let me know how it works.
This is The Plan: 5 Ways to Improve Your Diet and Lifestyle
If you are going to do 5 things to improve your health, here they are: Do the 1st one for two weeks, then add the second for two weeks then add the third for two weeks and within 6 weeks you will have easily created the 3 habits to sustain a healthy life style. (You will see 4 and 5 will come naturally within week 1)
Drink more water.
This should add up to just about 2L a day. Specifics: 1 glass when you wake up, 1 glass before any meal, 1 glass before any snacks or deserts, 1 glass before you go to bed. This will get you started. Drinking more water helps your body naturally raise its metabolism and drinking it before you eat helps you to feel fuller so you eat less.
Take a multivitamin (females should also take calcium in addition)
Most multivitamin’s want you to take them 3 times a day. Taking vitamins is important because they give your body the nutrients needed to help your body perform at its best. Cravings come from your body not having the nutrients it needs, so you have cravings to eat in hopes to get those nutrients. Usually we crave foods that are not healthy for us so taking vitamins helps control those cravings. Hint: Put some vitamins in a zip lock bag and take them to work and leave them there, or in your back pack/day planner. Then you’ll have some with you incase you forget to bring them that day. You will see that as you start to get used to taking them you will automatically start to eat better which will make step 3 easier.
Eat more often through out the day.
This also helps raise your metabolism. The trick is to eat at least 5 times a day and no more than 6. With that said you need to watch what you eat and I don’t mean watch it while it goes in your mouth.
The best rule of thumb is eat food in as close to it’s natural form as possible. If you are going to eat fruit, eat fresh fruit. If you are going to eat potatoes eat real potatoes and not boxed ones and bread if you don’t like heavy wheat breads, eat a light wheat bread. It’s almost the same as white. All the chemicals and additives from processed foods are not good for your body and they actually slow your body down and you’ll have less energy. Follow the food pyramid as much as you can. Eat as much protein as you would like if it is cooked in a healthy way (you know, not fried) Chicken, Turkey, and Fish are better choices for protein. The trick for me was when I was craving something or for my snacks I started eating a lot more fruit. It is naturally sweet, so that helped me. Of course you can mix it up and put what you like in there of course. Try new things and be open minded when it comes to food. You might find some thing you like that is better for you as a snack or a meal than what you would used to have eaten. You can at times eat desert or eat what you like. Just don’t eat it every day or every meal and eat it in smaller portions. Here is an example of what a day’s intake could look like.
Day:
Breakfast (0800ish): Glass of water & vitamins
Bowl of oat meal (any cereal would do, try not to make too sugary)
1 piece of fruit with cottage cheese or yogurt
Or 1-2 hard boiled eggs (with or without the yoke)
Mid morning snack (1000ish): Glass of water
1 piece of fruit or vegetables
1 granola bar (not one with chocolate chips and such)
Lunch (1200ish): Glass of water & vitamins
Turkey Sand-which (or a chicken breast salad)
1 piece of fruit
Another side dish (chips, potato salad, etc, about 1-1&1/2 cups)
Mid afternoon snack (1430ish): Glass of water
1 cup of pretzels
A few pieces of beef jerky
Dinner (1800ish): Glass of water & vitamins
1 piece of meatloaf (or meat of your choice)
Side salad / vegetables
Evening snack or dinner desert
(no later than 2000): Glass of water
Small bag of popcorn, light on the butter
Or 1 cup frozen yogurt or frozen fruit bar (Popsicle)
Or pudding
Or angel food cake and fruit with no whip cream. Light sugar sprinkled.
Exercise.
I’m not going to elaborate on this because you are already working on this with the army so keep it up! This is definitely important because it also helps raise your metabolism and burn calories.
Take a free day!
This is the best and easiest one, and my personal favorite. Let me elaborate. I got this from the Body for Life program if any of you have ever read that book you will know what I’m talking about. If you are consistent with your diet (meaning food intake cause we are not on a diet, we are changing our life style so we can maintain our weight loss) and exercise, this free day really does work. What you do is you pick and plan a day that you can eat what ever you like and not feel guilty about it because you’ve been doing so good. The key is planning it in advance because otherwise anytime someone brings in a cake to work you’ll say it’s your free day. Which we all know happens all the time, especially as hospital workers. Pick your day because it’s the weekend or because your going to a party or out to dinner and if you want to cause there is nothing special going on just pick one to go to burger king or have some pizza, eat that ice cream and brownies. You get the picture. The idea of allowing yourself a free day once a week is so your goals feel smaller. It now doesn’t seem like you are never going to have any of the things you like for 6-12 weeks you can have them once a week. For many of us, food means pleasure, comfort, or even an addiction. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that you “eat to live not live to eat” well, now you can have both. My grandma once told me, “If you’re going to eat something that you think maybe is not the best for you, you better enjoy it because the stress you will create from worrying about it is worse for you than what ever it is you are eating.” So enjoy that free day and maintain the rest and you can’t loose.
To all those who read this: I am not a dietician and this is not official medical advice. This is just my opinion on what works and how to go about loosing weight the “right way” It worked for me. I lost 25 pounds with this. Tweak it and the foods so it works for you too, with your schedule and what you like to eat. If you work night shift, the night is your day so try to treat it the same way. Routine is the key. One thing I didn’t mention was getting adequate sleep. Your body recovers when it sleeps and you will have more energy to do all those army work outs.
The most important clue is:
Don’t give up on your self. All too often we say, oh well since I ate those cookies (or what ever we ate we felt we shouldn’t have) we say our day is ruined and we might as well eat what ever we want. Don’t do that! Say since I ate those cookies I’ll have a salad for dinner instead or I won’t have desert at the party. Every time you put something to your mouth it’s a choice, not by the day.
If you are going to do 5 things to improve your health, here they are: Do the 1st one for two weeks, then add the second for two weeks then add the third for two weeks and within 6 weeks you will have easily created the 3 habits to sustain a healthy life style. (You will see 4 and 5 will come naturally within week 1)
Drink more water.
This should add up to just about 2L a day. Specifics: 1 glass when you wake up, 1 glass before any meal, 1 glass before any snacks or deserts, 1 glass before you go to bed. This will get you started. Drinking more water helps your body naturally raise its metabolism and drinking it before you eat helps you to feel fuller so you eat less.
Take a multivitamin (females should also take calcium in addition)
Most multivitamin’s want you to take them 3 times a day. Taking vitamins is important because they give your body the nutrients needed to help your body perform at its best. Cravings come from your body not having the nutrients it needs, so you have cravings to eat in hopes to get those nutrients. Usually we crave foods that are not healthy for us so taking vitamins helps control those cravings. Hint: Put some vitamins in a zip lock bag and take them to work and leave them there, or in your back pack/day planner. Then you’ll have some with you incase you forget to bring them that day. You will see that as you start to get used to taking them you will automatically start to eat better which will make step 3 easier.
Eat more often through out the day.
This also helps raise your metabolism. The trick is to eat at least 5 times a day and no more than 6. With that said you need to watch what you eat and I don’t mean watch it while it goes in your mouth.
The best rule of thumb is eat food in as close to it’s natural form as possible. If you are going to eat fruit, eat fresh fruit. If you are going to eat potatoes eat real potatoes and not boxed ones and bread if you don’t like heavy wheat breads, eat a light wheat bread. It’s almost the same as white. All the chemicals and additives from processed foods are not good for your body and they actually slow your body down and you’ll have less energy. Follow the food pyramid as much as you can. Eat as much protein as you would like if it is cooked in a healthy way (you know, not fried) Chicken, Turkey, and Fish are better choices for protein. The trick for me was when I was craving something or for my snacks I started eating a lot more fruit. It is naturally sweet, so that helped me. Of course you can mix it up and put what you like in there of course. Try new things and be open minded when it comes to food. You might find some thing you like that is better for you as a snack or a meal than what you would used to have eaten. You can at times eat desert or eat what you like. Just don’t eat it every day or every meal and eat it in smaller portions. Here is an example of what a day’s intake could look like.
Day:
Breakfast (0800ish): Glass of water & vitamins
Bowl of oat meal (any cereal would do, try not to make too sugary)
1 piece of fruit with cottage cheese or yogurt
Or 1-2 hard boiled eggs (with or without the yoke)
Mid morning snack (1000ish): Glass of water
1 piece of fruit or vegetables
1 granola bar (not one with chocolate chips and such)
Lunch (1200ish): Glass of water & vitamins
Turkey Sand-which (or a chicken breast salad)
1 piece of fruit
Another side dish (chips, potato salad, etc, about 1-1&1/2 cups)
Mid afternoon snack (1430ish): Glass of water
1 cup of pretzels
A few pieces of beef jerky
Dinner (1800ish): Glass of water & vitamins
1 piece of meatloaf (or meat of your choice)
Side salad / vegetables
Evening snack or dinner desert
(no later than 2000): Glass of water
Small bag of popcorn, light on the butter
Or 1 cup frozen yogurt or frozen fruit bar (Popsicle)
Or pudding
Or angel food cake and fruit with no whip cream. Light sugar sprinkled.
Exercise.
I’m not going to elaborate on this because you are already working on this with the army so keep it up! This is definitely important because it also helps raise your metabolism and burn calories.
Take a free day!
This is the best and easiest one, and my personal favorite. Let me elaborate. I got this from the Body for Life program if any of you have ever read that book you will know what I’m talking about. If you are consistent with your diet (meaning food intake cause we are not on a diet, we are changing our life style so we can maintain our weight loss) and exercise, this free day really does work. What you do is you pick and plan a day that you can eat what ever you like and not feel guilty about it because you’ve been doing so good. The key is planning it in advance because otherwise anytime someone brings in a cake to work you’ll say it’s your free day. Which we all know happens all the time, especially as hospital workers. Pick your day because it’s the weekend or because your going to a party or out to dinner and if you want to cause there is nothing special going on just pick one to go to burger king or have some pizza, eat that ice cream and brownies. You get the picture. The idea of allowing yourself a free day once a week is so your goals feel smaller. It now doesn’t seem like you are never going to have any of the things you like for 6-12 weeks you can have them once a week. For many of us, food means pleasure, comfort, or even an addiction. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying that you “eat to live not live to eat” well, now you can have both. My grandma once told me, “If you’re going to eat something that you think maybe is not the best for you, you better enjoy it because the stress you will create from worrying about it is worse for you than what ever it is you are eating.” So enjoy that free day and maintain the rest and you can’t loose.
To all those who read this: I am not a dietician and this is not official medical advice. This is just my opinion on what works and how to go about loosing weight the “right way” It worked for me. I lost 25 pounds with this. Tweak it and the foods so it works for you too, with your schedule and what you like to eat. If you work night shift, the night is your day so try to treat it the same way. Routine is the key. One thing I didn’t mention was getting adequate sleep. Your body recovers when it sleeps and you will have more energy to do all those army work outs.
The most important clue is:
Don’t give up on your self. All too often we say, oh well since I ate those cookies (or what ever we ate we felt we shouldn’t have) we say our day is ruined and we might as well eat what ever we want. Don’t do that! Say since I ate those cookies I’ll have a salad for dinner instead or I won’t have desert at the party. Every time you put something to your mouth it’s a choice, not by the day.
posted by Aussiemon at 3:12 AM
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