Are there any rules you can follow to help and inspire you to lose weight? Of course there is and here are some of them.
Yes you have heard them all before, but for me it is worth just going over them one more time, or in fact on a regular basis to keep us going. If you are serious about losing weight have a look at these easy rules to consider.
Before we start I’m sorry to stress that any weight loss programme must be done with a balanced healthy diet. I say this because it is important to lose weight properly and don’t go rushing into it and stop eating, that is the worse thing you can do and it is counter-productive, and you will probably end up putting more weight on if you do. Remember also that you need to maintain a good level of exercise, though that doesn’t mean you have to do physical exercise, such as running or going to the gym, see my article, how to lose weight without exercising for more details.
Drink Water
The average body needs to take in about 2.5 litres of water a day.
Often we get this through drinking coffee, and through our food.
What we could do to help us lose weight is substitute some of the
coffee for water. Here’s the rule, drink a glass of water before your
meal, and better if you can make it as cold as possible. Drinking water before
a meal helps in a few ways. Firstly it fills you up a bit, and makes
you more inclined to eat less, also it helps you digest your food
more easily. Drink the water cold, freezing cold water has to be
warmed up to your body’s temperature, and your body burns up
calories doing it. Drinking lots of water instead of other drinks
makes your skin look and feel nice too.
Lots of smaller portions
You’ve heard it before I know, but eating regular but smaller
portions is much better for losing weight and is more healthy. Doing
this enables your body to burn off your food as it goes along,
instead of storing it for later. The problem we have is that we tend
to eat at set times, and we often eat large meals at those times
too. Eating smaller portions more often is a little less easy as it
is a bit of a lifestyle change. Give it a try for one week and see
how it goes, you’ll be surprised that you do not feel hungry
throughout the day and you’ll definitely lose some weight.
Small plates
Why is it that we serve our meals up on huge plates? It’s to enable
us to eat big meals of course, which is just the opposite to what we
should be doing. Try this for both you and your family. They’ll moan
at the start, but if you eat off smaller plates and only eat what is
put on the plate and no more you will be amazed at how well it goes.
Also consider the colour of the plates you use. Feng Shui says that
Black or Blue plates reduce your appetite for eating food, give it a
try, go out and buy yourself a dark blue plate and see what it does.
Keep a daily log
Sorry I know this is probably the hardest thing on this easy list,
but perhaps this one thing could be worth all the rest. I know you
will be less inclined to do a log, but set yourself a goal to record
everything you eat for two weeks. Do this as a starting point, for
just 14 days. Produce a table on a piece of paper and make sure you
have it handy and write down eat piece of food you eat. You know if
you are having to write it all down it brings it home exactly what
you are eating, how much and how often. Doing this one thing will
focus your mind on controlling your weight loss better than anything
else, because you will be constantly thinking about it all the time.
Be good to yourself
Remember weight loss doesn’t have to be hard on you, and you don’t
have to lose lots of weight all at once, in fact that is the wrong
thing to do completely. Constantly remind yourself how well you are
doing and think of how much better you will feel when you have lost
the weight.
Remove sugary snacks
You can do yourself and your family the world of good by making sure
you don’t have any sugary snacks in the house. If you don’t have
them around you are less likely to put one up and much on it when
you shouldn’t. Also and I know this is tough, but skip puddings
after your meals. We are all guilty of this, but by skipping
puddings you will be helping you weight and keeping your cholesterol
down.
I guess these rules sound easy when reading them but are another thing when put into practice, but if you keep it up for 20 days, they will become a habit and change you forever.
Good luck.