55 Tips to Lose Weight for Good

The secret to permanent weight loss can be found in your daily decisions. It's about switching from diets and quick fix solutions to permanent lifestyle change. We all know someone (maybe it's you?) who wants to lose weight but quit after two to four weeks. Results didn't happen fast enough. Or it wasn't any fun. For whatever reason, you gave up. If you want to finally lose weight and keep it off for good, you have to master consistency and small doable changes. Sound cliché? Something you've heard before? Well, then why do so many people have trouble losing weight? I'm not belittling anyone who has headed down this path before. Your journey isn't about being perfect, it's about making progress. My goal is to empower you and let you know, it's going to take some time. It's all about decisions you make day in and day out. Weight loss is about feeling in control of your decisions, allowing a little leeway here and there and staying focused on your long-term goal. It's about patience and positivity.

Tweak your lifestyle little by little until you are loving how you live and loving how you look and feel. Come on now, I'm here for you! Here are 55 tips to move you in the right direction.

Weight Loss Motivation

1. Set a small, specific goal. Stick it on the fridge or your bathroom mirror.

2. Use your scale as a gauge to track your progress and not as a body-shaming device

3. Take before and after pictures. You won't believe how much real proof motivates.

4. Buy a new outfit that you want to rock. Hang it where you can see it daily for a visual reminder to stick to your goals. Or reward your small wins with new workout gear!

5. Focus only on losing the next two pounds. Whether you want to lose 10 pounds or 100 pounds, focusing on micro-goals can keep you from feeling overwhelmed. Think two pounds at a time.

6. Try on your jeans once a week to gauge how you are doing.

7. Surround yourself with support. Support can be friends, family, inspirational images, a fitness app, or all of the above.

8. Make a list of what works for you and keep doing those things. Now you have your own little success list.

9. Visualize the way you want to look.

10. Cancel negative thoughts and replace with positive thoughts. Practice the positive and build it up over time like a muscle.

11. Find someone to be your accountability partner.

12. Celebrate your small wins and share your progress with a Facebook post, Tweet or Instagram pic.

13. Practice self-compassion. Stop beating yourself up for missing a workout. Stop regretting what you ate. Practice kindness and understanding with yourself and simply make a better choice next time. Guess what? You are human and that's okay.

Exercise

14. Vary up your workouts. Don't Groundhog Day your workouts. Avoid having each day look the same.

15. Incorporate strength training and focus on specific muscle groups. Avoid exercising the same muscle groups two days in a row.

16. Track your exercise. You can use an app like MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper, or you can go old school and write it down on a calendar. Logging your workouts gives you an immediate sense of accomplishment.

17. Warm up. You will accomplish more and stay injury-free.

18. Have a workout DVD ready to go for those days when it's dark, rainy, snowy or cold and you don't want to venture out or to the gym. Now you've got your Plan B in place.

19. Download a new fitness app. Try my free e-book about my eight favorite apps.

20. Aspire to sweat from exercise at least three times a week.

21. Don't overtrain. Signs of over-training include irritability, tension, restless sleep, aches and pains and a decline in athletic performance.

22. Do some bodyweight exercises weekly.

23. Stretch after your workout when your body is warm.

24. Sign up to your first 5K to jog or walk and catch the motivation of a crowd.

25. Try my plank challenge.

26. Master the micro-workout. Even if you only have 10 minutes, use those 10 minutes wisely.

27. Use hand weights and resistance bands at home for some bonus strength-training.

28. Breathe deeply during your workouts. Your muscles and body need oxygen to work effectively.

29. Schedule exercise like an appointment.

30. Do something active with your family at least once a week.

31. Add intensity to your workouts: Add time, speed or effort to your regular workout to take it up a notch.

32. Put your treadmill on an incline and vigorously move your arms while you walk.

33. Join a group fitness class.

Nutrition

34. Eat fiber-rich foods like green beans, broccoli, avocado, bananas, spinach, pears, Brussels sprouts, oranges, apples, beets, almonds, beans, brown rice, flax seeds, bok choy, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower and raspberries.

35. Calories are the holy grail of weight loss. Keep your eye on your portions.

36. Keep a food journal. Tracking keeps you more aware of your choices all day long.

37. Eat clean. Stop eating foods that come in a package and try to eat more foods that come from the earth.

38. Set it and forget it. Make slow cooker meals to eat healthy and keep your life easy breezy. (Well, at least your dinner.)

39. Give up soda and diet soda.

40. Eat healthy fats like olive oil, nuts, avocado and seeds.

41. Schedule planned indulgences. You can enjoy your favorites without any guilt nonsense.

42. Shop the perimeter of your grocery store. Try and reduce the amount of packaged and boxed items in your grocery cart.

43. Have a prep day. Cut up veggies and have them ready to go in the fridge. Make up a batch of brown rice or cut up a rotisserie chicken for salads or a snack. Make some healthy grab and go snacks. Make eating healthy easier for you to do.

44. Add more protein to your diet: lentils, beans, quinoa, eggs, fish and lean meats.

45. Create a fail-safe environment. Make a list of your trigger foods (those you can't stop eating if they are in the house) and don't buy them. Why make it harder for yourself?

46. Try healthier dessert recipes.

47. Drink water all day. Start your day with a tall glass of lemon water. Squeeze about a half of a lemon into your room temperature water. So simple, and yet so good for your body. Read more about lemon water and how it benefits your body.

Lifestyle

48. Love your music playlist. Music motivates. Music YOU love motivates YOU More.

49. Sleep seven to eight hours each night.

50. Stand up more than you sit down. If your job doesn't allow for that, stand up once an hour and try to sit less when you aren't at work.

51. Quiet your mind. Use blocks of your time to unplug, enjoy the silence, recharge and organize your thoughts.

52. Switch from diets to lifestyle change. Diets are temporary and something you are on or off, lifestyle is permanent.

53. Get regular health screenings for blood pressure and cholesterol. If your numbers are good you will want to keep doing what you're doing. If they aren't so good, your numbers will motivate you to change some habits.

54. Spend time in nature to clear space for your mind and stay focused on your goals.

55. Follow some fitness enthusiasts on social media. Are we connected on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram? I'm here for you.

Are you ready to lose weight and not find it again? I'd love to hear from you and your journey in the comments below.

By Chris Freytag.

Original Post Found Here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-freytag/55-ways-to-lose-weight-fo_b_6367012.html

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7 Foods That Help Fight Headaches

When your head’s pounding, try these soothing eats. (Photo: Getty Images) 

The pain from a really bad headache can stop in you in your tracks. But it doesn’t have to. Thankfully, there are a few foods you can add to your diet that have a soothing effect. So we asked our nutrition director, Jaclyn London, MS, RD, CDN, for her favorite headache-busting eats.

Related: 10 Foods That Protect Against Diabetes

1. Low-Fat Milk
One of the biggest triggers of headaches is dehydration, so skipping alcohol and foods high in sodium are key to staying hydrated and preventing headaches. And not only is milk a hydrating liquid, but it’s also full of important minerals like calcium and potassium that offset the effects of high sodium diets. Plus, research has found that low intake of dairy is associated with more frequent migraines per week. On top of that, getting your recommended three daily servings of dairy can improve your blood pressure and reduce your risk for diabetes and obesity.

2. Fatty Fish

Foods rich in B vitamins like B6, B12, and folic acid may help reduce the amount of headaches, which is why salmon and tuna are great diet additions for beating pain. Salmon alone has more than 250% of our recommended daily intake of B12 in a three ounce serving, meaning adding a bit of smoked salmon to your meal can make your stomach and head feel better. Fatty fish are also full of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids, meaning adding fish to your diet is doubly important for helping cure headaches.

3. Cantaloupe
Because fruit is high in both water and potassium, it can counterbalance headaches caused by high sodium and dehydration. Cantaloupe also offers 66 milligrams of magnesium per one medium melon, which is about 16% of our daily recommended intake. Some studies have shown that it can also help stabilize insulin levels in non-diabetic patients. And since low blood sugar is a big headache trigger, more magnesium could help regulate your blood sugar levels and alleviate any future headaches.

Related: 7 Bad Foods That Are Actually Good for You

4. Navy Beans
On the subject of magnesium, one cup of navy beans has more than 25% of your daily value of the vitamin, which is considered a headache-helper due to its role in muscle contraction — including those pesky blood vessels that cause headaches. Other magnesium rich foods to consider are bananas, almonds, avocados, spinach, and apricots.

5. Potatoes
Like melons, potatoes are chock-full of potassium, which can help treat headaches if you’re dehydrated. One potato with the skin packs 25% of our daily recommended intake, plus it’s full of good for you vitamins A, C, and B6. (If you’re skipping starch, try a banana, which has 422 milligrams and lots of vitamin B6, too.)

6. Cherries
Eating any fruit can help with headaches since it’s one way to get more water into your body. However, cherries specifically contain compounds that convert to nitric oxide in the blood, which can protect against headaches. Another option is beetroot or beetroot juice.

Related: 10 Brain-Boosting Foods You Should BeEating

7. Water
Okay, so it’s not actually a food, but staying hydrated is the one of the most important things you can do to prevent and treat headaches. And skipping meals can pose big problems, too. “Especially if you’re someone who is sensitive to dips in blood sugar, don’t go longer than three or four hours without eating,” suggests London.

By Amanda Hawkins 

 Original Post Found Here:

https://www.yahoo.com/health/7-foods-that-help-fight-headaches-105541693768.html

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10 Things Your Doctor Won’t Tell You About Nutrition

(Photo: Getty Images)

How much nutrition advice did your doctor dole out at your last checkup? Chances are, none. Most appointments last less than 15 minutes, which doesn’t  leave time for a thorough diet assessment, but that doesn’t mean that physicians shouldn’t broach the subject at all.

Here are 10 things your doctor may not tell you about nutrition, and what you need to know if they don’t.

1. Nutrition is important. 

Eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight are two of the most effective ways to prevent the most common chronic diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers, and good nutrition can also optimize treatment and reduce complications in people who already have these conditions. Yet, most doctors spend little to no time addressing these issues with patients. Although doctors need to prioritize their time during frustratingly brief office visits, spending just one to two minutes emphasizing nutrition and physical activity is feasible and much-deserved, given food’s broad impact on health.

2. I didn’t receive professional training in nutrition.

According to a 2010 survey, medical schools dedicate on average about 20 hours of student’s 4-year training to nutrition education, and much of that instruction focuses on biochemical pathways (shockingly, memorizing the steps in glucose metabolism isn’t all that useful when it comes time to counsel patients on foods that can lower cholesterol). Groups of dedicated physicians are now (finally) championing the issue of comprehensive nutrition education as part of doctors’ medical training, but these changes are happening way too slowly. Doctors must get up to speed on basic nutrition science and guidelines in order to offer the best care possible.

3. Calories aren’t the only thing that matter.

In the interest of efficiency, many physicians address nutrition and weight control using the simple mantra, “calories in, calories out.” Energy balance is indeed essential, but the quality of calories is just as important as quantity. Choosing nutrient-dense, whole foods, including vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains will help you meet your micronutrient needs, improve digestive health, and feel full on fewer calories, among other benefits.

4. There is no “best” diet. 

Some physicians advocate one particular diet because it has performed well in research studies or worked well for other patients (or even for themselves), and they can be pretty rigid in their beliefs. However, research shows that a multitude of different eating styles can be healthful, and the one-size-fits-all-approach often backfires. Nutrition counseling should be individualized in order to make lifestyle changes sustainable.

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5. Losing weight isn’t easy, and I understand that.

Behavior change, whether losing weight, modifying eating habits, or incorporating a fitness routine, takes tremendous effort and discipline. There is no simple solution, despite how matter-of-fact your physician’s advice may be, and a little empathy from your doc can go a long way towards building rapport and trust. Doctors who recognize the challenges associated with healthy living and encourage and troubleshoot rather than scold are more likely to break through to patients.

6. We need to set some nutrition goals. 

Your doctor may generically encourage you to “eat more fruits and vegetables” or “eat less red meat”, but blanket statements like that are easily forgotten. A better approach is to work together to set one to two specific health goals to conquer before your next visit, like eating 3 cups of vegetables a day or swapping your afternoon snack for a heart-friendly handful of nuts.

7. Eating better can improve your mental and emotional health. 

Doctors tend to focus on the physiological benefits of a healthier diet, like lowering blood pressure or blood sugar, but the psychological rewards can be just as powerful. Making smart food choices can boost mood, energy, and mental focus.

Related: Nutrition by the Dollar: 7 Superfoods You Can Afford

8. You’re wasting your money on that multivitamin.

Most physicians breeze over the topic of supplements, but some may suggest taking a multivitamin as a way to fill in nutritional gaps. However, if you are a generally healthy person who eats a relatively varied diet, a multivitamin is unlikely to provide any benefit. A growing body of research shows that that a “prophylactic multivitamin” doesn’t reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, cognitive decline, or other chronic disease in the general population.

9. Your diet is low in X — you should eat more Y.

Your doctor may tell you to eat more foods high in calcium, folate, iron, or fiber to help with a particular health condition, but many (understandably) don’t know which foods actually contain these nutrients in the highest amounts. You’ll want to consult a reputable source or work with a registered dietitian to identify specific foods to increase in your diet.

Related: 6 Foods Nutrition Experts Won’t Eat

10. You’re not drinking enough water. 

In serious and critical settings, doctors are laser-focused on patients’ hydration status, but they rarely ask about it during routine visits. Chronic, low-grade dehydration can cause fatigue, headaches, and constipation and contribute to more serious problems like kidney stones and kidney disease, so make sure you’re sipping enough water and other low-cal liquids to produce pale, straw-colored urine.

By Johannah Sakimura

Original Post Found here: 

https://www.yahoo.com/health/10-things-your-doctor-wont-tell-you-about-105375729683.html

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