Can I Change?

This is a question that I believe we have all asked ourselves at one point or another in life.  The only difference is what we want to change.  The changes could involve: relationships, financial, career, business, weight, knowledge or even hair color.  Some changes are easier to make.  We all have different starting points.  However what we all have in common is a desire to change. 

Funny or ironic as it maybe the changes we desire the most on the ones that aren’t so easy to change.  Losing weight isn’t an easy change.  Losing weight is a life changing experience.  Losing weight takes a consistent focus.  Losing weight takes heart.  Losing weight takes a willingness to revamp all aspects of ones life.

When one carries a few extra pounds there are tendencies to make an effort not to draw attention to ones self.  To choose activities that don’t put our physical body in a position to get attention, to be judged. When weight loss occurs one is still tied to old habits and often unprepared socially for the new found attention.  This new found attention can often times lead one into a tail spin.

The path to weight loss is often a journey to get to know ones self.  Face the demons of the past and personal growth.  We must be willing to accept and understand our past behaviors. We also must be willing to learn to love ourselves.

Many times our current actions are a coping mechanism to avoid having to deal with the fact of weight loss.  What is important to understand at this point is why we change.  Change occurs for two reasons: its an effort to avoid pain or to seek pleasure.   If you are trying to lose weight and are constantly finding excuses not to make better eating choices or exercise this could be construed as an effort to avoid the perceived pain of exercise or eating foods you are not particularly fond of.  Instead you turn to the pleasure of eating chocolate for instance. 

This is why it is important to find your ‘WHY’.  The ‘WHY’ is an emotional connection to a specific reason for weight loss.  It is a reason that is more painful than doing what is required to lose the weight.  For instance: if your day at work was rough, say the boss yelled at you, you got a call from the school that you child did something boneheaded and then to top if off on the drive your car breaks down.  You may think to yourself, “man I think I’ll just skip my workout and order a pizza”.   Your reason and emotion connection need to be strong enough for you to think, say and then act upon.  You need to think of a means to keep on track nutritionally, tell yourself that you can find a way and then act upon, go get the workout in and eat healthy.

There is no magic to losing weight.  There is only a strong enough emotional reason attached to why you want to lose weight that will help drive you during your journey.  Making the right choices when it feels like the rest of the world is against you.   I believe that you can.  Can you change?

Breakfast In A Pinch

A common trait among those who are successful losing fat is eating breakfast.  Yes, I have heard the excuses; I don’t have time, it makes me feel yucky, I’m not hungry in the morning. Those are simply excuses. 

 

 

Breakfast is important and an absolute must for anyone seeking to lose fat.  Breakfast should include lean proteins and fibrous carbohydrates.  Two of my favorite breakfast meals can be prepared in 15-20 minutes and can squeezed in during your current morning routine.
 

Here are my two favorite breakfast meals:

·       Scrambled eggs with spinach (1 Tbsp of olive oil,  ½-1 cup fresh spinach, 3-4 whole eggs*)

·       Scrambled eggs with a Green Pepper ( 1 Tbsp of olive oil, 3-4 whole eggs*, 1 green pepper)

*If you prefer you can use egg whites only, just some an additional egg white.

 

 

By nature I am a morning person: I know I am in the minority but I have to be true to who I am. I am up and ready to go when the alarm goes off.  Being ready so quickly has its up’s and down’s.  The up is I am ready to go after a quick brush of the teeth, wash of the face and hands, insertion of contacts, brush of the hair and dressed. The downside, I will strive to get every minute of sleep I can.  So in order to squeeze in breakfast I have to do some multi-tasking.

 

 

Let me walk you through a typical morning and how I squeeze in a cooked breakfast.  I will wake up put the skillet on the stove (set to medium) with one tablespoon of olive oil.  Go brush my teeth.  After brushing my teeth I will add 1 cup of spinach to sauté while I wash my hands and face and insert contacts.  I add the eggs.  While the eggs are cooking I will prepare a cup of black or green tea and get dressed.  Check on the eggs; scramble as needed.  Put on my shoes and prep my bag for work (on colder mornings I will start the car to allow it to warm up).  Presto, breakfast is done.  Breakfast takes 5-10 minutes to eat and I am on my way.  

 

 

For mornings that I am on a tighter schedule, I scramble the eggs and eat the green pepper whole.

 

 

Ideally I would encourage you to have your meals prepped and ready to go, but that is not always the case.  Sometimes you have to make the most of the time you have.  When it comes to losing fat just as in life, it is about finding a reason to be successful; not an excuse to fail.

Motivation For Fat Loss

 

Finding the motivation to lose fat should be easy.  Nearly 2/3 of Americans are considered overweight or obese.  The side effects of carrying extra fat have been well documented: side effects such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, etc.  Let us not forget about the psychological effects that can be associated with being overweight or obese. Such as low self esteem, decrease sex appeal and decreased libido. So how does one find the motivation to lose fat?  It starts with two choices.  1. A choice to commit to making healthier choices.  2. A choice to be consistent. 

 

Let me be more specific.  It starts with YOU making the two choices.  Understand nobody else can make the choice for YOU. 

 

Here are 5 tips to help you find motivation:

 

1. Action is Power

 

The idea behind losing fat isn’t complicated.  In fact I am sure if I asked, you could easily name 5 or more methods of losing fat. So it is not a lack of knowledge that is holding anyone back.  So, what is holding them back?  Fear!  I believe most people are afraid to take control and make changes in their personal lives.  They have become accustomed to how things are.  When it comes to making changes goals must be set.  The goals need to be realistic.  Start the journey towards losing fat by setting up realistic goals.  And take action.  Take that first step.  Start with the easiest goal and proceed.

 

2. Reward the Day to Day Successes

 

Eating healthy should be one of the goals. But what is eating healthy?  Sure, there is a ton of information about eating organic foods, cutting out processed foods, avoiding sugar and increasing intake of lean proteins, but what are your current eating habits?  Current eating habits will dictate how successful you will be in changing future eating behaviors.  Here is what I mean: if you food eat 3 jelly glazed donuts for breakfast, a candy bar for a mid morning snack, a hamburger, fries and coke for lunch, another candy bar for a mid afternoon snack, then fried chicken, mashed potatoes and corn on cob for dinner, followed by 4 brownies before bedtime, the likelihood of you switching over to organic foods, cutting out process foods, avoiding sugar and increasing you intake of leans proteins at a moments notice is unlikely.  Sadly, this is how many try to change their eating behaviors.  But it is not realistic and leads to failure.   The goal should be to make small changes.  Using the above example if you cut down to one jelly glazed donut and one brownie you will have eliminated over a 1,000 calories from the diet. This is something worth celebrating!  That change is the equivalent of a 2 pound weight loss after one week.  Okay so you didn’t eat any vegetables (and NO I’m not counting fries as a vegetable).  Once able to sustain the reduction in donuts and brownies a new norm will be established.  Next, make another healthy change perhaps instead of the jelly glazed donut for breakfast you switch to oat meal. Recognize the small changes as a series of successes.

 

3. Don’t focus on the end result

 

Don’t get me wrong the end result is important.  However, it can be quite a distance from the starting point.  This can lead to feelings of despair and hopelessness.  Make sure you have set a series of short terms goals, sometimes referred to as mile markers, and focus on the positives.  We already discussed the impact of small realistic changes to your diet, but what about exercise?  If you are a couch potato now, a short realistic goal might be to walk in a 1k walk.  This could be something you would be ready to do in just a week.  In 30 days you could be ready to do a 5k.  Focusing on the positive short term success is part of the journey towards achieving the end result.

 

4. Seek Out Supporters

 

People who share their goals and associate with like minded individuals are more successful at losing fat.  Seek out people whom you trust and share a common interest or goal.  Sharing your goals with someone you trust makes the goal real and creates a sense of accountability.  For this reason it is important to confide in someone you trust.  It is also important to understand hanging around family and friends who don’t share common goals will dramatically decrease your chances of success.  I know this can be scary but if they are true friends they will understand.  It is about putting yourself in a position to be successful.  This is an action step and often times a difficult step.

 

5. Plan for Success

 

When it comes to fat loss success planning ahead is vital.  When we fail to plan, we plan to fail.  This could not be any truer than when it comes to fat loss. If you plan what to eat on any given day you are much more likely to be successful.  If you don’t plan you will eat what ever is most convenient.  Planning ahead is a choice and takes a commitment.  It is not always easy and comes with a sacrifice.

 

Motivation will vary from day to day.  There will be days motivation is greater than others. Such is life.  However, hold to the 5 tips provided and excel on the days motivation is high and preserver through the days motivation is low.

6 Great Tips for Fat Loss

Exercise alone will not lead to fat loss.  Exercise must be accompanied by sound nutrition.  The success of any fat loss program is dependent not on the number of workouts you get per week, but the quality of food you eat.  Support your fat loss efforts by incorporation the follow 6 Great Tips for Fat Loss.

1. Eat every 2-3 waking hours

It is important to focus on fueling the body for the results you want.  In the case of fat loss you will be looking to fuel the body every 2-3 waking hours.  Use hunger as your guide. If your start the day off with a healthy breakfast you will find with in 2-3 hours you will be hungry again.  This pattern will repeat through out the day as long as you are eating healthy foods.  If you find yourself feeling hungry sooner then increase the protein intake for each meal.  Don’t confuse hunger with boredom.  Often people with nothing to do will hunt through the kitchen in search of something to eat.  Don’t fall into this trap. Two tips to prevent you from falling into the trap: 1. find something to do, 2. drink water.

2. Don’t count calories

Counting calories isn’t fun.  I do recommend food journaling as a means of keeping you accountable and knowledgeable about what you are eating, but it is not necessary to count the calories.  The key is to adjust your mindset when it comes to portion sizes.  Use visualization to help you determine portion sizes.

 

3. Don’t drink you calories

Don’t forget to account for the calories in drinks.  Juices, coffees, teas and alcohol contain additional calories.  If your goal is to lose fat; you need to be accountable for these hidden calories.  The extra calories consumed in most beverages come from sweeteners.  Sweeteners will impede the body’s ability to burn fat.

4. Start the day with breakfast

Eating a healthy breakfast to start the day will start the day off on the right track.  It gets the fat burning engine running.  Skipping breakfast to save calories is a flawed strategy.  People who skip breakfast, in an effort to save calories, are more likely to be famished by lunch time. Therefore, consuming more calories at lunch than they would have if they eaten breakfast.

5. Cheat once a week

Eating healthy is good for our bodies, but sometimes we need a mental break.  It is okay to give into a craving from time to time.  Give yourself permission to cheat on one meal per week.  This concept allows you to post pone bad eating choices through out the week.  So go ahead and choose one meal to indulge in your favorite foods.

6. Focus on single ingredient foods

Look at it this way: avoid processed foods. Nature has served man well for thousands of years.  There is no need to venture far from the life giving foods that are naturally provided for us.  Processed foods do more harm that good.  Make a concerted effort to avoid them whenever possible.

Here are two examples of processed foods (comment below if you know what they are):

Item 1: Whole grain oats, modified corn starch, sugar, salt, tripotassium phosphate, wheat starch, vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) added to preserve freshness.

Item 2: mechanically separated turkey, turkey, water, sugar, salt, potassium lactate, natural smoke flavor (canola oil, natural smoke, natural flavoring), sodium diacetate, sodium phosphate, natural flavoring, sodium erythorbate, sodium nitrite.

Integrate these six tips into your fat loss regimen and you will be well on your way to a leaner sexier you.

How to Journal for Fat Loss Success

Failing to journal leads to failure.  When it comes to fat loss; being accountable is the best determining factor of success.  If you looking to lose fat you need to be honest about the types and amounts of foods you are consuming.  Journaling has proven time and time again to be the best method for being held accountable. 

We don’t have a clue. If someone were to ask you what you ate today, you would do your best to remember everything you ate.  You would list what you had for breakfast, lunch and dinner. However, you will leave out either several items or underestimate the quantities. This could be intentional or unintentional.  In either case studiesshow normal weight people underestimate their caloric intake by 20%, whileoverweight people by 40%*.  Simply put we need to know what we are consuming.

There is a great deal of power that goes into putting pen to paper. When it comes to losing fat writing down what you eat will have a great impact on current and future food selections.  Once you understand what you are putting into your body you can take ownership. If you know one serving (2 cookies) of the Girl Scout Cookies Samoas’ contains 140 calories: just for the record if you consume the entire box that would be 1050 calories (15 per box).  Writing down what you eat puts you face to face with the truth. Does this mean you can’t have the cookies? No. What it means is that you should limit how many you should have in any one day.

When journaling the foods eaten you will gain an understanding of how much you are actually consuming. This will allow you to practice moderation.  Moderation doesn’t mean you have to give it up favorite foods.  It means that you need to limit their consumption. So instead of sitting down in front of the TV and eating the entire box of cookies, eat one serving and walk away.  It is the awareness of what we consume that can foster an environment of change.

Accountability begins with being honest.  Facing the truth can be very difficult.  In theory I think it is easy to realize we are not perfect, but when there is documentation to confirm the theory we are frightened. We go into denial. We hide. We joke. We justify. Let the truth set you free.  By being honest with yourself you can set goals and create change.  You can lose the fat.  You have nothing to hide from, nothing to justify.  You are ready to make a change.

Start keeping a journal today.  Here are 2 simple suggestions to start journaling food intake:

1. Use your smart phone to take a picture of everything you eat.
2. After lunch and before bed write down what you ate.  Referring to the pictures of course and reference when and where.  This can be written in a small spiral note book or logged into any digital option.