Diet and Exercise Myths Keeping You From Losing Weight and Feeling Great

When it comes to diet and fitness, there are enough rumors and myths out there that it’s a miracle that anyone has a clue what they are doing.

Unfortunately many people accept these myths as facts, and their diet and fitness goals suffer as a result. Here is the truth behind 5 common myths.

  1. I can eat whatever I want as long as I exercise.If only this were
    You can't out-exercise a lousy diet

    You can't out-exercise a lousy diet

    true! I hear this all the time and it always amazes me because the people saying it also complain that they are overweight and feel lousy. You cannot out-eat your exercise program. You need do understand how many calories you are eating each day vs how many you need to maintain your weight. If you don’t know those things you are taking a crap shoot with your weight.

  2. Eating fat makes me fat. Possibly, but it’s not that simple because there are good fats, which your body needs, and bad fats, which can contribute to you putting on pounds, heart disease, and various other health problems. Oils from fish, nuts, and olives are healthy, oils from french fries, red meat, and donuts is not healthy and should be avoided.
  3. Drinking lots of water will help me lose weight. Drinking water alone will not help you lose weight unless you are also controlling your calories and exercising.  Some studies claim that drinking cold water can help burn calories, but again it’s not going to make a noticeable difference unless you are controlling calories and exercising.
  4. Everyone gains weight after they turn 40. This must be a joke. So you go to bed the night before you turn 40 and wake up the next morning and start putting on weight?  Not so. You can maintain a healthy weight at any age by controlling what you eat and exercising. This myth is just plain stupid!
  5. Eating packaged foods that say “low fat” of “healthy” means I’m eating healthy. If you think this is true, I challenge you to turn one of those boxes around and read the nutrition label. You will discover that there are tons of added salt, sugar and fat (or combinations or all 3). The only way for food manufacturers to make low fat or healthy foods taste good is to pour sugar, salt or fat into them, and that’s absolutely not healthy. As a rule of thumb, any food that comes in a box or is processed or has an expiration date years into the future is going to be unhealthy. Once you leave the produce section of the grocery store you are in likely in unhealthy territory.
The diet and fitness industry is mostly driven by money, and they make money by appealing to your desire for a quick fix (diet in a bottle) and your desire to look like the models on the covers of the magazines.
There are hundreds of myths about diet and fitness, but we’ll start with the 5 I’ve listed above. In the end, the basics always work:
  • If you want to lose weight, burn more calories in a day than you eat.
  • Eat plenty of unprocessed foods.
  • Exercise, even if it’s only a walk after dinner.
  • Get enough rest in the form of sleep and activities that you find pleasurable.
Fads will come and go, but the basics will always get you the results you are looking for!
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1 Word That Will Transform Your Diet and Exercise Habits

Like most of us, you are too busy to count calories or grams of salt or fat. You’re too busy to get to the gym on a regular basis. Many days you collapse into bed at night barely able to remember where the day went.

Being busy is an excuse (although a good one) for not taking care of yourself. For many people it takes a health scare or other life event before they wake up and start taking care of their body. But that doesn’t have to be you!

The word that will transform your diet and exercise habits is:

SIMPLIFY

In my 20 years of experience I’ve come to believe that simplicity is the only way to live healthy when you are really busy.

Sounds simple, right?  It may be simple, but most people don’t get it. Here are strategies I use to take control of my time and to simplify as many aspects of my life as possible.

Simplify your approach to exercise and eating

Simplicity Rules!

  • Simplify my eating. Forget being overly concerned with counting calories or measuring portion sizes, instead I think of my diet in terms of color, variety, and freshness.  I focus on finding foods I love and easy recipes that incorporate a few fresh ingredients. I own several great cookbooks that contain recipes using 5 ingredients or less.
    • In conjunction with simplifying my eating, I also learned to simplify my grocery shopping. Each week I plan out 7 days worth of meals. From that plan I write up my grocery list. I arrange my grocery list so that all the items I need are in order based on the path I take around the store. I bring a pen to the store and check off each item as I go. This saves me time since I don’t have to back track in the store to get forgotten items, it saves me money since I don’t buy things I don’t need, and it reduces the chances I’ll buy junk food (since it’s not on my list). I’m in and out of the grocery store quickly and I have everything I need for the week, which also saves me time not having to back to the store for forgotten items.
  • Simplify my workouts. Before I get to the gym I know exactly what exercises, sets, and reps I will be doing that night. I keep my gym bag packed with my membership card, weight belt and other accessories, my journal, and my iPod in my car so I never forget it. In the gym I don’t waste time talking to other people or watching TV or texting. I’m focused and keep distractions to a minimum. If someone is taking too long on a piece of equipment I need, I simply ask (politely), if I can work in with them. I don’t sit and wait forever for a piece of equipment to become available. My workouts last an hour or less, no exceptions.
  • Simplify my cardio. For me, simplifying cardio means getting it in any way possible. It might mean taking the stairs all day at work, walking the parking lot at lunch time, going for a bike ride with the kids, or whatever else I can fit in. It’s rare that I can get to the gym for cardio, so I do what I can when I can. Many nights it’s just a walk or run around my block (several times) before dinner. I don’t need a treadmill or elliptical machine to get a good cardio workout.
  • Simplify my time. I use Google Calendar and an old fashioned paper calendar to keep track of everything. They are my time bible. I schedule appointments, tasks, projects, and reminders for anything I need to do. I’ve trained myself to enter things in my calendar as soon as I become aware of them. This simple system saves me a ton of time by keeping my day organized, but it also saves time by not missing things and having to make them up later. I get a lot of satisfaction from crossing things off my to do list every day.
  • Simplify my activities. I spent many years believing I could do everything I wanted, but ultimately finding that I could do many things poorly, or a few things well. I’ve defined what is most important to me (my kids, my health, my career) and I base all my decisions around that. Having a clear understanding of my priorities makes other decisions simple. For example, if I’m supposed to work out tonight but my daughter has a lacrosse game, I reschedule my workout because family is my number one priority. The choice is very easy and adjusting my schedule is fairly painless. Simplifying may mean giving up a few round of golf or a late night at the office, but once you define what’s most important to you, those decisions become much easier.
  • General simplicity. I’m always looking for ways to simplify things I encounter. I like to combine activities like vacuuming while the kids are waiting for the bus or cleaning the house while the football game is on in the background. Most recently I’ve begun getting rid of things in my house and environment that create clutter. It’s amazing how many items take up cupboard or shelf space yet are never touched or used.

Finding simplicity is mostly about looking for opportunities and being open to new ways of doing things. It’s easy to say ‘I’m too busy’ and plop yourself down on the couch to watch another episode of American Idol, but if you look around and really ask yourself where you can save some time, you begin to see where small changes can add up and you can ultimately find time to fit healthy living into your life.

How have you simplified your life?  What eats up most of your time? What do you wish you had more time for in your life? Please share you thoughts in the comment section below.

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How to Stick With Your New Year’s Resolutions

With the approach of the new year, these kinds of headlines are everywhere as fitness marketers try to take advantage of your fascination with new year’s resolutions.

For many years I was obsessed with new year’s resolutions going so far as writing them down in detail complete with schedules, milestones and goals to help me reach each one. Like most people I never met any resolution I made despite all my planning and all my good intentions.

So I stopped making resolutions!

It’s much easier to stick with your resolutions when you don’t make them in the first place!

New Year's Resolutions

Resolutions Don't Work!

But seriously, my outlook changed a lot once I stopped making resolutions every January 1 and here’s why:

  • Resolutions are stressful. For whatever reason we all seem to feel pressure to come up with a resolution (or 2 or 3) every year. How many times have you been asked what your new year’s resolutions are? When you hear other people’s you begin to feel like you need to come up with something, especially if their resolution is something big.
  • Deep down we all know resolutions don’t work. How many people do you know who have kept their resolution?  It’s like believing that our elected officials will lower our taxes. We want to believe, but deep down we know it’s not happening.
  • Life changes – frequently. Many times we make a resolution that makes perfect sense on January 1, but absolutely no sense on June 1. Things change, people change, situations change. We need to be open to change or else we are simply pounding a round peg in a square hole.
  • Change is hard. Any change is hard, let alone some big crazy change that we think up on January 1. Personally, the bigger the change the less likely I am to succeed. For me changes come one day at a time, putting one foot in front of the other and plugging away at my goals.
  • Failure breeds failure. You make a resolution, you get a great start, then things slip. Before you know it you start feeling like a failure because you know you are failing to meet your resolutions and before long you are down on yourself for no reason at all. The resolution that was conceived to improve your life has dragged you into the mud and made things worse.

A few years ago I finally saw the light and called an end to the cycle of mindless resolutions. Instead I keep an open mind and I try to be on the lookout for opportunities to make myself better as I go.

What does this look like?

  • If I see someone I can help – I try to help right then and there. Helping someone always feels good!
  • I try to make good choices with my health. If I have a chance to take a walk at lunch time, I take it. If I have a choice between a burger or chicken, I have the chicken.
  • If I have a chance to shut the TV off and play a game with my kids, I shut the TV off.

My new approach involves doing lots of little things that support my bigger goal of living healthy, helping people, and making the most of the time I have with my kids. Because life changes so often, I’ve decided to leave things open and let opportunities come as they will. I’ve discovered that there are always opportunities to do beneficial and healthy things if you just have your eyes open to them.

Now, instead of feeling like a failure and beating myself up for not achieving my resolutions, I feel good each day knowing that I’m open to the possibilities and that I’m getting better at recognizing them as they appear.

It’s often said that doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results is crazy. For me, making resolutions every January never produced any positive results, so it was time to change my approach. That’s where my more mindful daily mentality arose.

So far I’m pretty happy with the results. Knowing that I want to live healthy, help people, and spend time with my kids makes many of my decisions easier. I don’t have to debate with myself about watching a football game vs going sledding with my kids nor do I have to think too hard about going for a bike ride vs sleeping until noon.

I’ve tried to boil it down to asking myself if the choice I’m making supports my goals. If it does, great, if not, then I need to make sure it’s something I want to be doing.

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So You Don’t Feel Like Exercising

Yesterday I work up in a complete funk. I didn’t want to get out of bed, I didn’t want to eat breakfast, and I certainly didn’t want to go to the gym. Were it not for Frank being there waiting for me, I would have rolled back over and pulled the sheets over my head.

Ever have one of those mornings?

We all do, especially when it comes to exercise. How many times have you said:

  • “I’ll go later”
  • “It’s too hot (or too cold)”
  • “I’m sore”
  • “I’m tired”
  • “It’s raining (or snowing)”
  • “What if the zombies attack”

Ok, maybe not the last one, but we’ve all had one or more of those thoughts cross our mind when contemplating exercise. In 20 years of working out I’ve noticed that most people who get on the slippery slope of making excuses not to exercise quickly slide all the way down that slope into a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle.

So what did I do? I dragged myself out of bed, ate something, and left for the gym. During the 15 minute drive I kept telling myself that I would just get through it, nothing more. Lighter weights, maybe fewer sets, but at least I would go and do something.

Once I got there and saw the weights and smelled the smells and heard those familiar sounds something stirred inside me and I knew that I really wanted to be there and to give it my all. By the time it was over we had one of the best leg workouts in recent memory.

It’s easy to exercise when you’re feeling good and have lots of energy, but it’s most important to exercise when you’re not so energetic and not in the mood. Those are the times when it’s easiest to slip back into bad habits and to undo many of the gains you’ve worked so hard for.

You don’t feel like exercising?  So what!

So You Don't Feel Like Exercising

Get up and do something!

In my experience the number one cure for that problem is to get up and do something. Even if you don’t want to do a normal workout, do something. Once you get up and get moving you will likely feel like doing more and quite possibly you will forget that you didn’t want to exercise. Some of the best workouts I’ve ever had started with me thinking I was only going to walk through the front door and stand there.

Besides forcing yourself to do something, here are a couple other suggestions that have worked well for me over the years:

  • Have a training or accountability partner. I would have skipped the gym many times if Frank wasn’t expecting to meet me there.
  • Reward yourself. Promise yourself a little treat if you get up and exercise. Rewards are a powerful motivator.
  • Try something new or different. Maybe you’re in a rut. Go for a bike ride instead of a run. Jump into a kettle bell class instead of your normal aerobics class. There are an infinite number of ways to get exercise, don’t become too rigid or locked in on a few.

A word of caution.

If you are feeling tired, worn out, listless, or otherwise blah, it’s possible you are over trained. Over training is a serious problem that results from doing too much physical activity without enough time for rest and recovery. I’ve experienced it more times than I care to share, but it was my fault for letting things get that bad.

If you suspect you are over trained, you need rest, then you need to change up your exercise routine.

Remember, we all have bad days, how we chose to handle them makes all the difference. 

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5 Dumb Things I Saw in the Gym This Week

While I try to mind my own business in the gym, it’s impossible not to notice some of the silly things other people are doing that range from funny to outright dangerous. For whatever reason I’ve noticed several oddities in the gym this past week and I though it would be a good time to share them as well as the lessons they can teach us.

Keep those thumbs around the bar

Keep those thumbs around the bar

  • Not putting your thumb around the bar when bench pressing.  I’ve seen this a million times and it never ceases to amaze me. 1 slip and the bar is headed straight to your neck or chest. If it hits your neck you will likely die or suffer a horrible injury. If you’re lucky and it hits your chest you will likely only suffer some broken ribs. Keep your thumbs around the bar – there is no proven benefit to doing it the other way and the risks are potentially fatal.
  • Swinging the bar while doing barbell (biceps) curls. The sure sign that you are clueless or using too much weight. Swinging the weight is a total waste of time and not working your biceps much, if at all. Keep your elbows in, bring the weight up and contract the biceps hard, then lower the weight slowly using the biceps. Leave the swinging for the monkeys!
  • Talking on your cell phone on the treadmill. If you can carry on a conversation, your’re not working very hard and you are very likely annoying people around you. Do everyone a favor and leave your phone in your locker. Focus hard, get your workout in, then leave and get back on the phone.
  • Not wiping your sweat off the machine you just used. I don’t care how beautiful you are, you still stink and it’s gross. Find a towel and wipe the equipment off.
  • Not doing any leg exercises.  Tonight I saw the classic case of a guy with a decent upper body which was fairly well developed on top of chicken legs. I would bet he didn’t even know that there was leg equipment in the gym. All kidding aside, your legs are important and having strong knees, hips and calves will contribute greatly to your overall health. You don’t have to squat 1,000 pounds, but working your legs should be part of your exercise routine.

So there are 5 dumb things I saw in the gym this week. Unfortunately I see them and many others almost every week in some form or another. Learning how to exercise properly, how to act properly in the gym, and how to train your entire body will go a long way towards living a healthy lifestyle.

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Your Doctor Can be Your Best Friend

Getting Ready for My Sleep Study

Talk about bling!

When I went for my physical a couple months ago I told my doctor that I felt great except for 1 thing: I was exhausted all the time. I’d been falling asleep at work and spent most of every day thinking about how much I wanted to go back to bed. I mentioned that it didn’t seem to matter whether I was in bed for 5 hours or 9 hours, I still felt the same every day and it was really affecting the quality of my life.

After several questions, the good doctor surmised that I may have a sleep disorder, such as insomnia or sleep apnea and he referred me to a local sleep center for an evaluation.

To make a long story short, I spent a night at the sleep clinic (not a very pleasant night) and was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome. Thankfully I escaped needing to wear a CPAP mask, but they did give me some medication to try and calm my legs at night. According to the study I was only sleeping 5 hours or less per night and my restless legs were constantly waking me up.

I put my skepticism aside and started taking the pills each night, and almost immediately I felt dramatically better. I felt like I was sleeping well at night and most importantly I felt awake and refreshed during the day. In the 2 weeks since I started the medication I haven’t fallen asleep at my desk and I’ve been in a much better mood and able to focus on other things besides wanting to go back to bed.

My point here is very simple: your doctor can be your best friend. While there is certainly tons of medical information on the internet, nothing beats a quick conversation with your doctor. In a matter of minutes he evaluated my symptoms, referred me to a professional, and I was on the way to a solution.

In retrospect, I had been suffering needlessly for a long time, dragging myself out of bed every day and struggling to drink enough Mountain Dew and 5 Hour Energy to keep me going until bed time. What a waste!

The past 2 weeks have served to remind me of the importance of my relationship with my doctor. Had I gone to see him earlier, I could have been evaluated and helped much sooner.

Learn from my mistake. If you haven’t seen your doctor in a while, make an appointment for a physical. If you’ve noticed a change in how you feel, tell your doctor and let them help you decide if it’s something needs to be looked at.

Your doctor can’t help you if you don’t talk to him or her open and honestly. Do it today, you will be glad you did!

Safety Isn’t Always First

This past week the world of motor racing was floored when NASCAR’s biggest star, Dale Earnhardt Jr. revealed that he voluntarily sought medical attention after having headaches and ‘not feeling right’ after 2 hard crashes in 5 weeks.

As it turns out, Dale Jr suffered concussions in both accidents and as a result has been removed from his car for at least 2 races. Athletes (both professional and arm-chair) are notorious for ignoring or minimizing injuries for a variety of reasons and ‘playing through the pain’. Anything less violates the imaginary man-code of toughness that athletes and men in particular buy into.

It wasn’t surprising that Dale Jr had 2 concussions, it was very surprising that he sought medical attention, particularly when he knew the potential outcome. Being forced out of the car is every driver’s worst nightmare and most will resist with everything they have, but Dale Jr felt sufficiently concerned about his health and future to take this extraordinary step.

If you exercise or workout at all, there’s a good chance you have suffered some kind of injury from time to time ranging from a simple muscle strain to a pulled hamstring or worse. When it happens we most commonly hear something like:

  • “It’s no big deal – I’ll just put some ice on it”
  • “I’ll run it off”
  • “The pain’s not that bad”

Of course more often than not we don’t hear anything at all as people prefer to suffer in silence and not admit any kind of weakness or injury.

I’m using Dale Jr’s situation as an example here because pain is bad. Granted, the typical weekend warrior isn’t likely to get a concussion, but strains, pulls, and tears are very common and should not be taken lightly.

If you feel pain, it’s your body’s signal to you that something is wrong. The wise thing to do is to stop immediately and try to figure out what your body is trying to tell you. Most often the pain that starts small is a warning of more trouble to come and ‘pushing through it’ is likely to cause a much bigger problem.

Obviously we can’t all go running to the doctor every time we feel a little twinge or strain, but it’s essential that we learn how our bodies react to things and to listen when something changes or doesn’t feel right.

In Dale Jr’s press conference he mentioned that he didn’t feel right after his first accident 5 weeks ago, and then felt like something was still wrong after the second accident last weekend. In the case of concussions, the most important factor for diagnosing the problem is the individual’s own feelings and descriptions.

Learn your body. Know when something feels wrong to stop and assess the situation. If it feels bad enough, don’t be afraid to call the doctor and get checked out. There are too many times when a relatively minor situation got out of hand because someone refused to get help when the problem was small and easily treatable. Don’t let a small fixable situation turn into something that sidelines you for extended periods of time.

3 Habits of People Who Live Healthy

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.  -Aristotle

People who succeed at almost anything have learned and developed habits that lead to their success and living healthy is no exception. Most people struggle with various parts of a healthy lifestyle, but the one’s who manage to work through it are the ones who have developed healthy habits that have become part of their everyday life.

I’ve compiled 3 habits that I have observed in people who live healthy (some of which have even worked for me!). 

  1. People who live healthy are organized. I firmly believe this is the number one habit you can develop. From planning your time to exercise to making sure you are eating healthy, keeping organized greatly improves the odds that you will accomplish everything you set out to do. Personally, I rely heavily on a calendar system that sends me email or text reminders as things are about to happen. I also use it as a task list. I used to be a very unorganized person and I struggled constantly remembering when to eat, missing exercise times, and forgetting to do numerous other things. If you don’t develop any other habit, getting organized will give you the most band for the buck by far.
  2. People who live healthy are persistent. Some mornings I get up feeling lousy and some nights I feel like eating a quart of ice cream. Over the years I’ve had my ups and downs, but I’ve always stuck with it. I never let a set back or injury or an unexpected event derail all my success. 1 bad day doesn’t need to lead to a bad month. 1 injury doesn’t need to end your exercise routine for years. People who live healthy keep finding ways to eat right, exercise, and to keep going no matter what road blocks they face. Develop a habit and a mindset of not giving in or giving up every time you suffer a setback. The more times you overcome an obstacle, the easier it becomes the next time.
  3. People who are living healthy learn to adjust. Suffered a knee injury?  Then find other exercises to do while it heals. Traveling on business for a week?  Find the hotel fitness center and pack healthy foods for the trip. Life is change and developing the habit of adapting to those changes will serve you well. Many things have changed for me over the years from my job to my kids to my house, and I’m always looking for ways to adjust. When I got a job further from the gym, I adjusted my schedule to include 1 weekend day in the gym. When my kids were very young I did most of my exercising at home before they got up or after they went to bed. Learn to adapt, adjust, and overcome whatever life throws at you.

Research shows that it takes about 21 days for a new habit to become permanent. 21 days doesn’t seem like a long time, but in my experience it can be a lifetime, especially if you are trying to develop a new habit related to your eating patterns. Several years ago I decided to stop eating butter of any kind. I didn’t necessarily love butter, but I was raised putting it on everything and cooking with it, so it was really just a habit, but boy was it a hard habit to break. At first I didn’t even realize I was doing it, but after a few weeks and a lot of set backs I finally stopped using any butter all, and that habit has stuck with me for several years to the point where I don’t even think about it anymore.

Building a new habit takes time and patience. Be gentle and forgiving with yourself. You will have setbacks, but don’t get discouraged. If you can make your habit stick for 21 days, you are in great shape.

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4 Proven Ways to Succeed at Living Healthy

Have you tried to eat right and exercise only to find yourself spending more time on the couch and buying bigger pants?

Are you always looking for the next pill or miracle diet that will transform you into a sexy beast?

 

4 Proven Ways to Achieve Success

4 Proven Ways to Achieve Success

Unfortunately there aren’t any magic pills or miracle programs what will transform your body overnight, but studies have shown us 4 important ways that successful people achieve results and where most other people fail. Consider these 4 characteristics and how they may or may not apply in your life.

  1. Successful people are open to new ideas and feedback from other people. Don’t ever be afraid to hire a personal trainer or nutritionist or to ask your doctor for advice. Healthy living is a seemingly endless field and no one person can be an expert on everything. Develop relationships with people who can help you and solicit their feedback often. You may not always want to hear what they have to say, but sometimes you need to hear something unpleasant if you are going to make positive progress.
  2. Successful people embrace change. If you are not eating properly you will not be getting the results you want. It will take a willingness on your part to learn how to eat properly and then to implement the necessary changes. Unsuccessful people stick with the same tired routines and habits because they fear change. It is often said that continuing to do the same thing over and over while expecting different results is insane. That sums it up pretty well. To be successful at almost anything you need to be open to change, plain and simple.
  3. Successful people don’t put things off as much as less successful people. You simply can’t sit there and think the fat off, or think muscles on. Being healthy is all about taking many small actions every day. These small actions become habits, and the habits form the basis of your healthy lifestyle. Studies show that action is one of the biggest differences between successful and unsuccessful people. Thinking, planning and setting goals are all important steps, but the most important is actually doing something. If this sounds like you, get up right now and do something. Take a walk, go to the gym, ride your bike, or whatever it takes. Each action leads to more action and before you know it you are achieving your goals.
  4. Successful people have higher expectations than unsuccessful people.  There’s absolutely no reason you can’t feel great and have the body you want. The only thing holding you back is you and the standard you hold yourself to. Forget the “I could never look like that” or “I’ll never have the energy to play with my kids” talk.  The human spirit and mind are sources of limitless energy capable of propelling us to any height we can imagine. You can transform yourself from sedentary and obese to active and fit. You can gain the skills you need to leave a dull, boring job to the job of your dreams. The only roadblocks are the ones you create in your mind. Dream big and go for it!

Successful people aren’t any smarter or better looking or well off than anyone else, but they have developed habits and mindsets that destroy the mental and emotional roadblocks that hold them back.

Don’t be a victim. Don’t settle for less than you are capable of. Don’t let anyone else define you or your dreams!

 

4 Proven Weight Loss Techniques for the Fall

Fall is my favorite time of year as the weather cools down, football heats up, and we begin to turn our attention to the holidays and the start of a new year. Although fall and winter are traditionally thought of as times when people gain weight (thanks to holiday parties and heavy winter clothes), fall can be a great time of year to drop a few pounds.

Here are 4 simple and proven ways to lose weight in the fall.

  1. TV. You read that right – TV. Fall is when your favorite TV shows start their new seasons, your favorite football team starts playing, and when baseball crowns a World Series champion. Grab your shorts and headphones and get to the gym. You’d be amazed at how quickly time passes on the treadmill while you are watching your favorite show or game. I’ve used this trick a million times and it never ceases to amaze me how the time seems to fly by.
  2. More/Better Sleep.  As the days get shorter there are more dark hours starting earlier in the evening. This means you can get to bed earlier and possibly sleep better in a dark environment than you normally do in the summer. In addition,  there’s something comfy about crawling under the covers on a cold dark night that’s conducive to good sleep. Getting enough quality sleep every night is essential to good health.
  3. A Change of Wardrobe. The fall always brings out the sweatshirts and jeans leaving behind the bathing suits and revealing tops. Trying to lose weight by watching a scale is the worst possible way to go. I’ve always advocated people using a pair of pants (jeans) as a reliable guide to their progress (or lack thereof). Scales are useless, evil machines that only torment their users. Using your jeans to measure your progress will provide you with much less mental and emotional stress compared to watching numbers go up and down every day. Besides not watching the scale, wearing heavier clothes also takes the pressure off that you normally feel in the summer when you are reminded every day of how far you have to go. Use the change of wardrobe to take a mental break. Stop beating yourself up and focus that energy on learning to eat and exercise correctly.
  4. A Change in Eating Habits. The colder months typically bring a change towards heavier comfort foods, but that doesn’t have to mean piling on more pounds. Fall is a great time to learn to use your crock pot to cook healthy chicken or turkey recipes and soups. There are many healthy comfort food recipes available on the internet that are quick, easy, tasty, and perfect for a cold evening.

There’s no excuse to gain weight during the colder months. While our ancestors may have needed extra fat to survive the winter months, we certainly have no need for such adaptations. Fall is a great time to get into some healthy habits from getting quality sleep to learning some new healthy recipes.

Don’t use the change of seasons as an excuse to let yourself go!

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