Diet Habits to Drop Now

Start your New Year off right! You might think some of these habits are helping you shed pounds, but could actually be sabotaging your weight loss and hurting your health. If you can drop these harmful habits, you might just become a healthy eater for life.

Skipping breakfast. Breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day — especially for people who want to lose weight. It helps jump start your metabolism and gets your body started for the day.

Going on a juice cleanse. Long-term juice cleanses are one of the worst things you can do to your body if you want to shed pounds for good. The reason? While long-term cleanses will make you lose weight, it’s mostly water weight that you will gain back once you resume your normal eating habits. And it could trigger other health problems, as well, including an out-of-whack metabolism and irritability.

Filling up on diet soda drinks. If you’re turning to diet soda drinks for your fix, then you could actually be sabotaging your weight loss.
Drinking diet soda and other artificially sweetened beverages could be linked to weight gain, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and high blood pressure. The reason? Your body might be confused by artificial sweeteners. Instead of diet drinks, try plain sparkling water for that fizzy full feeling.

Completely cutting out entire food groups. There is no magic bullet to weight loss, but for some people, elimination diets seem like a quick and easy way to feel in control of their bodies. Use the saying, everything in moderation. That way you won’t feel deprived or think you are “missing out” on any foods you want.

Opting for low-fat versions. The fat you eat isn’t really linked to weight gain and disease, instead, it’s the total amount of calories eaten, as well as “bad” fats like trans and saturated fats found in meat and processed foods, that seem to be linked to health problems. Not only is fat good for you in moderation, but labels like “low-fat” and “nonfat” actually trick people into eating more. Instead of assuming that low-fat or nonfat foods are automatically better for you, read the nutritional labels first. You might just find that low-fat or nonfat versions actually have more sugar or calories than the normal-fat foods.

Going hungry. For people who want to lose weight fast, dropping too many calories could actually be hurting you and confusing your body. If you want to lose weight and keep it off forever, you need a modest calorie restriction that you simply continue and never stop. There are many apps that you can put in your goals, weight and height that will calculate how many calories you need.

Thinking about it as a “diet” in the first place. People who prioritize and make lifestyle changes over diet, are the ones who keep it off long term. By making small, realistic and sustainable changes that you can carry on for the rest your life, as opposed to adopting dramatic, short-term diets can ultimately result in an unhealthy cycle of losing and gaining weight.

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Kick Start Your Diet and Exercise with These Tips

Ever felt that everyone you know seems to be losing weight, but when you try their dieting tricks, you don’t have the same success? You may not be doing anything wrong. It could be that those strategies just aren’t a good match for you. Achieving your goals is all about finding the specific lifestyle fixes that work for you — not for your neighbor. Try out some of these tactics. You have nothing but weight to lose!

Start with Tennis Shoes
Everyone knows it takes a combination of diet and exercise to lose body fat, but researchers now believe that it’s best to tackle exercise first. Once you invest time in a daily workout, you’ll be motivated to make the more difficult dietary changes.

Make Ambitious Exercise Goals
Instead of saying “I will exercise three days a week,” plan to exercise every day, even if you know you won’t make it. Most of us accomplish only 60 percent of our weekly fitness goals, so if you plan to work out for an hour every day, you’ll probably make it to three or four workouts a week.

Find a Groove
Blocking out an hour or two for a sweaty workout takes dedication. A recent study found that people who listened to music while walking lost twice as much weight as those who didn’t. The music-listeners exercised more often each week and ate healthier.

Overestimate Your Calories
Keeping an accurate journal allows you to objectively analyze what you’re eating and why. In addition, keeping a record helps you to stay committed to your goal. Journaling is so easy now with technology so use tools that are easiest for you and that you will utilize.

Target Weekend Calories
On the weekends, Americans tend to eat more per day than on the weekdays, most calories coming from fat and alcohol. Weekends are usually a time to let it all go; but losing weight is a precise numbers game, so you can’t really afford to loosen the reins too much. Skip the extra margarita and find other ways to relax.

Order First
When you’re dining out, be the first to place your order. You can be influenced by other people’s food decisions. If everyone is ordering the burger and fries, for example, you’ll be more apt to go with the flow. Set a healthier tone by ordering a salad and the grilled fish.

Troubleshoot
When you overindulge (and you will, because you’re human), don’t beat yourself up, but don’t blow it off either. Instead, consider what led you to overeat, and think of ways to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Taking a problem-solving approach reinforces your sense of accountability, a key factor in losing weight. Once you think you’ve nailed the cause, formulate a plan for what you’ll do differently the next time you encounter the same situation.

Weigh In
Daily or weekly weighing is a winning weight-loss strategy. It’s essential to know where you are and where you’re going, up or down, pound-wise. Minor weight gain (up to five pounds) is acceptable if you’re trying to maintain, because it could be traced to monthly water retention. If you’re actively trying to lose weight, gaining more than that over a week is a red flag that your calorie intake or exercise plan needs some tweaking.

Make a Connection
A good support system may help you make better healthy eating and exercise decisions by boosting accountability. Consider getting your own coach (like myself) to help you stay motivated and accountable to reaching your goals. If you know you have someone there to help and push you, you are more likely to be successful.

Take Eight (Hours)
Shortchanging yourself on sleep lowers the level of the hormone leptin — this can increase your desire to eat and decrease your ability to burn calories. To lose or maintain weight, there’s an ideal sleep zone of about eight hours a night.

Limit Tempting High-Fat Foods
Most people trying to lose weight can’t give themselves permission to eat trigger foods for fear they can’t stop. Temptation just creates difficulties. Limit your exposure to these foods by not bringing them into the house. Also eat other things that are lower in calories and fat but comparable in taste. Choose replacements such as chocolate sorbet instead of saturated-fat-packed chocolate ice cream.

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