The Truth about Successful Weight Loss

by Lisa Lynn, Fitness Expert and Weight Loss Specialist

The best way to create a healthy weight loss plan is start a food diary to keep track of what you are eating. Before you begin your diet, write down every single thing you’re consuming each day over a period of two or three weeks.

Then you can look back at what you really do. Be honest; journal the truth. You will start to see patterns: for example, when you eat, what you eat.

Your goal is to be able to change those habits by replacing the bad ones with more healthy ones.

For example, if you crave something really sugary in the afternoon, replace that cookie or candy bar with an apple.

Fruits and Vegetables Are Key to Diet Success

The most important thing to focus on when you create a healthy weight loss plan is to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Try to consume between eight and ten different vegetables per day.

If you’re focusing all of your attention on doing that you’re not going to have time think about those other foods that you can’t eat anymore.

Focus on what I like to call “green and beige.” Fruits and vegetables and lean proteins.

Eat fruits and vegetables and lean proteins and then let your weight loss progress from there.

Be honest about who you are and keep it really simple and make it do-able for yourself.

Foods to Avoid to Achieve Lasting Weight Loss

The first foods I always tell people to avoid to achieve lasting weight loss are usually the ones that people come to me asking, “Can I still eat these things?”

Most of the time those are the foods people cannot portion control, or that they are addicted to, and the best thing you can do is avoid them for awhile.

Clean out your system first, get those foods out of your body, start eating healthier and then decide later whether you should put those things back in your diet.

The other foods to avoid are junk food. Anything that doesn’t come out of the produce aisle you want to steer clear of, but remember there’s no such thing as perfection.

Perfection in this weight loss world is eighty percent, so try to eat clean 80% of the time: lean proteins, vegetables.

Twenty percent of the time it’s okay to have the things you love, but you’ve got to really qualify it, think it through and make sure you’re being honest with yourself.

Usually people do it the other way around! So remember: 80% good and healthy food, the remaining 20% the foods and snacks you love. If you do that, you’ll be fine for the rest of your life!

Why You Should Avoid Junk Food

Clearly you should avoid eating junk food because it’s not going to make you feel good and lead you to becoming unhealthy, but you should also avoid eating junk food because it’s going to take you away from eating healthier foods.

Try to go for an apple instead of the junk food. Junk food is not only bad for your physical health. We all know it makes us unhealthy and raises our cholesterol and blood pressure. Melatonin for weight loss is also worth trying.

But it’s also really bad for your mental health, because it starts to control your life and you’re just not going to feel good mentally. How can you live a happy life under those circumstances?

How to Deal with Cravings for Sugary and Salty Foods

Many of us are craving sugar and salty foods all the time. If you’re craving salty foods and you’re hungry, it tells me you’ve really had a stressful day – and the last thing you want do is eat when you’re craving a certain food!

To resist those cravings, take some deep breaths, drink a bottle of water and just try to pause and get a hold of yourself. I call it, “change a thought, move a muscle.”

For example, go listen to your i-pod while you walk on the treadmill. Afterward, if you still really want to eat something you can go ahead and eat it.

The other reason we crave salty foods and sweets is usually because we are undernourished. We haven’t been eating the right things.

Try having a LynFIT protein shake that gets rid of your sweet tooth and also gives you all the nutrients your body needs so that you’re not going to have those cravings so strongly that you can’t control them.

How to Stop Eating Junk Food at Night

The first thing you can do to stop eating junk food at night is simply to look at the clock and say after 8 p.m., “I’m done eating!”

Then brush your teeth and go to bed! Most of the time we eat junk food when we are exhausted from a very stressful day and that’s the last time you want to eat anything.

Is Junk Food Really Cheaper than Healthy Food?

First of all, there’s really nothing in junk food except for straight sugar and refined flour, and it’s very expensive in the end when you add up all the consequences.

People think it’s so expensive to eat healthy – run the numbers and see how much your junk food addiction is costing you. When you figure in the added visits to the doctor, the missed days of work, the obesity, the medications and etc., the truth is that it’s actually a lot cheaper to eat healthy!

(published June 24, 2013)

Lisa Lynn is a fitness expert and a specialist in weight loss and metabolic disorders. Lisa’s approach to weight loss is based on personal experience, and her dedicated study of the metabolic effects of food, specific exercises and the smart use of supplements. Lisa is always available to help you become the fittest, healthiest person you can be, as well as for lectures and training. Visit Lisa’s website, lynfit.com, for information about her LynFIT Program, her great fitness and nutrition products, and much more.

Summary

Reviewer

Wellness Team

Review Date

2013-06-24

Reviewed Item

Successful Weight Loss

Author Rating

5