Easy Diet Tricks to Jump Start Weight Loss

July 30, 2010 By Leave a Comment

We all know that losing weight is one of the hardest things to do.  One reason is because people focus more on what they are eating than how they are eating.  Although choosing healthier foods is the best way to lose weight and live a healthier life there are also some small tricks you can do to start shedding a few pounds before you are ready to give up those not so healthy snacks:

1.) Everything in moderation! If you eat something with lots of calories, fat and sugars only eat a few bites just to fulfill that craving.  If you lack the self control than buy those 100 calorie snack packs (although they aren’t the most substantial calories you’ll be much better off than eating an entire bag of chocolate or potato chips!)

2.) Eat small meals throughout the day.  This makes it easier for your body to burn off those calories instead of storing them as fat.  This means that you’ll eat throughout the day–the goal is to never be hungry and never be full–you always want to be satisfied.

3.) Eat a low sugar breakfast (and preferably low sugar all day.) Breakfast will jump start your metabolism early in the day and keep blood sugar levels low throughout the day.  This will help you avoid the feeling of hunger when you crash from your sugar high :)

4.) Try to eat slowly.  It always takes a bit to realize how full you are.

5.) Have dinner be your smallest meal.  If you are sedentary after dinner that means your metabolism is too.  This means that you are much more likely to store your dinner as fat.  If a big dinner is unavoidable, then just make sure you are active afterwards.  This doesn’t mean you have to go on a run, just do the dishes, take your dog on a walk, anything to keep your metabolism going for as long as possible.

6.) What you eat should depend on your activity level afterwards.  If you are being more active than you are allowed to eat carbohydrates (meaning whole wheat, fruit, vegetables, etc.) but if you are going to be more sedentary than eat more protein (chicken, fish, lowfat dairy).

7.) Drink lots of water throughout the day.  This will fill you up and keep your metabolism going all day.

8.) DON’T STARVE YOURSELF!!!  This will just stop your metabolism which defeats the whole purpose…

9.) Find out what your metabolism is! It helps if you know how many calories you should be eating each day… everyone’s metabolism is different there is no magic number of calories for weight loss…

And let us know if we can help!

Increase your metabolism fast!

May 12, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As our meal sizes get larger, more people have started to wonder if they have thyroid issues.  Now there are plenty of people out there with an underactive thyroid and it certainly doesn’t hurt to get it checked.  Unfortunately however, our bodies just don’t need that many calories a day to maintain weight.  In fact the average woman only needs around 1200-1400 calories a day to maintain not even lose weight!  Here are a few tricks to bump up your metabolism:

†    Pack on some muscle—muscle mass requires at least 5 times more calories per day than fat so for your metabolism’s sake pick up some heavy dumbbells!

†    Burn a couple hundred extra calories by throwing high intensity cardio intervals into your workout—these intervals take longer for your body to recover from so you’ll be burning calories even hours after your workout!

†    Get some sleep! The rate of calories your body burns at rest represents 60-75% of your daily calorie burning—don’t skip out on the easiest way to burn calories!!

†    Eat every two or three hours—If you eat frequently your body can use up the calories and not store it for fat—the key is you never want to be hungry, you never want to be full

†    Eat lots of fiber, fruits and vegetables—each is low in calories, high in nutrients and bumps up your metabolism

†    Drink as much water as possible—this will bump up your metabolism and fill you up—remember the human body is 60% water so one cup of water before just isn’t going to cut it!

Five Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

March 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

“Metabolism” is the name of the bodily system that converts food calories to energy needed to perform various tasks, like pumping oxygen to muscles during a long walk. Many variables contribute to your metabolism, including heredity, gender and age. But you can quicken yours; here’s how.

Exercise more. When you walk, run, or lift weights, you increase the energy required of your body, which raises your metabolism then, and for hours afterward.

“It’s not a huge spike, but it makes a difference,” says Gary Miller, PhD, associate professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. [Read more...]