The 5 Best Ways To Lose Weight

Losing weight is a hard process.  Especially when you have busy work schedules, school, children, etc etc.  So I’m going to share with you the best ways that I find to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.

1. Drink Plenty of Water

So many of us don’t drink enough water and a lot of the time when we think we’re hungry we actually just need to fill our stomachs with more water.  It is recommended that we drink 8-12 glasses of water a day depending on our height.  My tip is to drink a glass of water before each meal as well as during.  This way you will get full up quicker and not eat as much.  Then just keep drinking water throughout the day.  A good way of doing this is to carry a water bottle around with you.  Another good tip is to drink a glass of ice cold water first thing in the morning.  This will kick start your metabolism meaning you will burn off food quicker throughout the day.

2. Cut Out the Refined Carbs

By this I mean white rice, white bread, milk, sugar, honey etc.  This is easier to do than you think.  You just have to find an alternative replacement.  These days you can find lots of whole wheat alternatives such as whole wheat pasta, bread, rice etc.  Or even better replace the rice or pasta with veggie carbs.  These are a different type of carb called complex which the body finds a lot easier to break down and use as energy.  Plus vegetables are going to give you a lot more vitamins and minerals at the same time.  These will help you stay fuller for longer too.  As for milk you can get soya or almond milk versions which are dairy free.

3. Don’t Just Do Cardio

I know you may think doing 50 aerobics classes a week or running on a treadmill for 2 hours a day is going to make you lose lots of weight and turn you into Abbey Clancy but trust me it isn’t.  I have made this mistake so many times and now I have finally found a workout regime that works for.  You need to mix it up and incorporate weights else your body is going to get too use to the same thing and after a while it won’t work anymore.  Each week I now do a 90 minute yoga class, 60 minute pilates, 60 minutes step aerobics incorpating weights, 60 minute body conditioning incorporating weights, 60 minute street dance class and 30 lengths of the swimming pool.  This way I have got a good variety of cardio, stretching and toning all of which is going to help in weight loss and maintain that healthy weight.  Variety is the spice of life remember!  Plus, with pilates and weight lifting your body continues to burn calories after the workout where with cardio once you’re done, you’re done.

4. Don’t Eat Fruit After 2pm

It’s been drummed into us that we should eat lots of fruit and get our 5 a day because fruit is really good for us and it is BUT it also contains a tonne of sugar which is not so good.  Many athletes won’t eat fruit at all when training because of this reason.  However, I don’t think we should cut fruit out of our diets altogether but I think we need a curfew haha.  So I won’t eat any fruit after 2pm.  This way, anything I have eaten before this still has a chance to be burnt off before I go to bed.  Otherwise, the sugar we are eating will turn into fat if it is not used up in energy and we all know where the fat goes!  So to get my five a day I may have a piece of fruit with breakfast, another piece with lunch and then 3 portions of vegetables with my dinner.

5. Keep a Food Diary

My last tip and probably the most important is to keep a food diary.  I know this seems time consuming but you can actually get little apps on the phone now that help with this.  I like to use My Fitness Pal and it even includes all the calories and fat content in the food you have consumed.  You can also input your exercises so you know how many calories you have burned off.  This is good because it stops you from going overboard and exceeding your calorie limit for the day because sometimes we can forget what we’ve eaten, especially if it’s been a long day.  You might not think it but all those little snacks add up.  The key here is to be honest.  Fitness is like marriage, if you cheat on it it’s not going to work.  Record absolutely everything and even how it made you feel so you can go back on it to see what worked for you and what didn’t.

I hope you found this post helpful.  These are just things that work for me in maintaining a healthy weight and staying slim and toned.  Everyone does things differently and everyone’s bodies work differently so if you’ve found a way that works for you then stick with that.

Lauren xx

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