5 Tips to Help You Lose Weight

1.  Make a commitment to live a healthy lifestyle.

This must be established from the beginning, especially if you want to see weight loss success. It’s not something you do just one or two times a week. Each day there are choices you can make that will propel you on to a healthier life. Make a commitment to yourself, your family, and most importantly, to the Lord, that from here on out, you will commit to change your bad habits and incorporate new and better lifestyle habits.

2.  Get social support.

As a wellness cheerleader, I am here to support, encourage, motivate, and help you attain your health and fitness goals (and hopefully have FUN doing so). But also involve your family and friends. Find a “success partner” that will hold you accountable to your daily workout and healthy eating habits.

3.  Eat a well-balanced diet.

Forget fad diets! Diets and eating strategies that restrict you from ingesting nutrients that your body needs (such as carbohydrates or healthy fats) are a major roadblock to long term weight loss success. Instead, eat a well-balanced diet with plenty of proteins (white meats, beans, Greek yogurt, egg whites, etc.) good carbohydrates (fruits, whole grain breads & pasta, brown rice, etc.), healthy fats (olive oil, avocados, almonds, etc.), and lots of vegetables (granted there are no dietary restrictions or medical issues).

 4.  Drink plenty of water.

Your body is about 70% water; your muscles are about 75% water; your brain cells are about 85% water; your blood is approximately 82% water; and even your bones are approximately 25% water! (Source: The Seven Pillars of Health, by Dr. Don Colbert) If you’re not drinking enough water every day, your body will become severely dehydrated, you will experience frequent headaches, indigestion, inflammation, and the list goes on and on. To determine how much water you should drink each day, take your body weight and divide it by 2, then drink that amount of water in ounces each day. (Ex. A 160 lb. person should be drinking 80 ounces of water a day.)

5.  Find a balanced exercise program.

You can’t just do cardio and expect to lose weight. Yes, you may initially lose weight, but then your body will plateau, the weight loss will stop, and you will become frustrated. In order to have a balanced exercise program, you must find one that has not only cardio, but also strength training. When you weight train, you charge up an entirely different type of muscle fibers that you’re not firing up when you’re running. Building muscle is essential to weight loss because muscle increases your metabolism, causing your body to burn fat even after your workout. Muscle is the fountain of youth! Muscle burns fat!