After years of dieting and being dedicated to the gym, I know first-hand how hard it is to get started, stay motivated and be excited about what foods to eat, workouts to try and weight loss guidance to pursue.
Being a recovering dieter and gym fanatic, I changed my outlook on my body, working out and the way I chose to eat.
These tips and tricks are results oriented and easy to follow. They are tried and true and I have the education, body and life to prove it!
Best Tips and Tricks To Help You Stay Motivated to Lose Weight
- Mindset: It’s all about your mindset. Every choice you make needs to be aligned with your personal and weight loss goals. Your thought process should be a “Want To” over a “Have To” mentality. If your view of eating healthy and being active is in a “Have To” mindset then you are bound to yo-yo diet and any pounds lost will resurface. Create a plan that makes you feel good and is on your terms, meaning pick activities you enjoy. If you don’t like running, why are you on the treadmill? If you hate the foods your eating, how are you supposed to want to eat them 5 years from now?
- Skinny water/Detox water: 1st thing in the morning have warm water with fresh squeezed lemon. The water and lemon will boost your immune system, cleanse your liver, detoxify by causing your 1st bowel movement, leaving your body cleansed and ready to start the day taking in all of the nutrients and protein from your breakfast. Throughout the day you should drink 3-4 liters of water with fresh lemon juice to detoxify, hydrate and help speed your metabolism.
- Clean eating: This is a process of eating foods closer to their natural state, meaning foods that do not have a shelf life. Nothing processed or covered in sauces or fried. Clean eating will not only cause you to lose weight but you will feel energized, sleep more soundly, have clearer skin and restore your body to it’s natural rhythms and craving. You will lose weight without feeling deprived.
- It’s all about pleasure: Flirting, standing in your feminine, pampering yourself – these are what we need when we as women are craving food to fuel what is missing in our lives. Dance, laugh, call a friend, flirt, pamper yourself! That’s what your body is craving! Listen to it! You’re worth it and it will make you feel better than any piece of cake…that’s a promise!
- Spice it up: Add spice to your food. It’s a proven all-natural fat burner. Capsaicin is a chemical compound found in chilies, which boost your metabolism and helps you burn a minimum of 50 extra calories per day after consumption.
- Sexy is the new slim: Fake it until you make it and own what you’ve got! Play up your assets and get workout clothes and clothes in your closet that make you FEEL beautiful and sexy. Maybe your body isn’t where you want it to be, but you will get there, in the meantime, there is no reason for you to waste another day feeling anything less than amazing. No more crying while getting dressed for work or not wanting to go to the gym because you don’t like the way you look in your workout clothes. Buy a few pieces for the time being. You’re worth it!
- Short and sweet: Workouts do not need to take several hours. It’s proven that what matters most is the intensity of the workout not the length of time. If you only have 30 minutes, do fat burning cardio and push yourself. Best 3 workout methods to get you tight and toned and out of the gym fast:
HIIT Training – Do short bouts of intense cardio coupled with longer lower intensity sets. Ex: Sprint for 1 minute/Jog for 3 minutes
Compound Movements – Ex: Squat with an overhead press. Doing movements that combine strength training with cardio keep your heart rate up while maximizing your calorie burn. Your recruiting multiple muscle groups which means overall toning while boosting your metabolism
Circuit Training – Continually move through a circuit-training workout – optimal to do 3 or more circuits with little rest in between.
- Power up with protein: The majority of women don’t eat enough lean protein. Protein is a powerful weight loss and weigh maintenance agent because it keeps you feeling fuller longer, builds lean muscle and your body works harder to breakdown and digest protein, which means your body is burning more calories after protein consumption. Eat 85-100 percent (depending on if you are weight training) of your body weight in grams of protein per day to help lean, tone and shape your body.
- Squat it up: Squats are the number one lower body exercise for women to tighten and tone their lower halves. Best part about them, you can do them anywhere at any time, no equipment necessary. I do 50 squats when brushing my teeth (my electric toothbrush has a 2 minute timer – that’s called multitasking;)
- Sleeping beauty: Sleep is essential to weight loss, staying motivated and having a positive mindset. It’s proven that we eat more at night than any other time of day and that food intake is directly related to weight gain and poor sleep patterns. Our bodies need to restore and rejuvenate. Our digestive systems need downtime. Disconnect, dim the lights and prepare for a beautiful night of undisturbed sleep! Your mind and body will thank you.
- Being present: When you sit down for a meal or head out for a workout – Be Present! That’s your time. Enjoy it, pay attention to your body and how the food tastes or how your workout feels, how your muscles feel, listen to your heart pumping. This is your life, experience the journey to weight loss, to having and maintaining and life and body you love. Why lose the moment texting or watching TV, why go to the gym if you are not giving it your all? You deserve the best, so show up for yourself, make it count!
- Superwoman: Women seem to fear weight training and only go for cardio equipment. Weights, free weights, machines, all of these are necessary for shaping and toning your body. Cardio alone will not get you your desired results. Strength training is essential for overall weight loss as there is no such thing as spot reducing. Cardio alone will create a calorie deficit but lifting will result in an all-day calorie burn – meaning you don’t have to be doing anything. It revs your metabolism and makes you a calorie-burning machine. Not only does it shape, tone and torch calories, it builds muscles and healthy bones.
- Self-love: Be kind to your body and have positive thoughts. We as women run on overdrive, giving to everyone and putting our needs last. We are so hard on ourselves and in particular about the way we look. If you slip up and overeat at one meal or for a few days, it’s ok. Be forgiving and pick yourself right back up! Remind yourself you are always in control – in control of every action you take, every meal you eat, how you spend your time, and how you choose to think. It’s your body and your life. You are in the drivers seat!
- Green Please: Drink Green Tea – Sip 2-3 cups per day – It’s proven to help shed fat and speed your metabolism, while giving you energy and high amounts of antioxidant.
- Portion Power: Be mindful of what you are putting into your body. Rule of thumb – protein should be the size of your palm, veggies should be two hands cupped together and complex carbs should be one hand cupped
- Gum – sugar alcohols – the truth: Chewing gum, even one piece, will cause your stomach to bloat and will ignite your body into thinking it is eating a dessert or something sweet. Gum not only causes gas but makes your belly look extremely bloated. It takes 2-3 days to de-bloat from chewing gum, so if a bikini or little black dress are in the near future, table the gum and opt for mint tea instead. It will cut any cravings, de-bloat and aid in digestions. A win-win!
- Bedtime: Make sure to finish your dinner 2-3 hours before bed to allow for proper digestion and not to disrupt your sleep. You will know if you finished your last meal at a good time because you will wake up hungry.
- Have a plan: Success comes from consistency, commitment and accountability. You cannot have these things if you do not have a plan to take you from point A to point B. Plan your workouts in your calendar they way you do your meetings. Schedule your meals and prep in advance so you are prepared and have healthy options on hand.
- Pin It: Ask yourself how much you want to lose this weight? What would it feel like? What would your life look like? Now – how willing are you to make that happen? Think about this and if the answer is I’m ready, let’s do this – rip this paper out and post it and remind yourself of everything you wrote down and your goal daily!
- ACT AS IF: “ACT AS IF” you’ve already reached you’re goals. Act as if you have you’ve lost this weight and are done with dieting! “Act As If” today! This is about taking action; it’s not about talking about doing. When we begin to feel differently, we act differently and vice versa. This thought process will help you create new patterns around yourself, your body – especially around weight loss and your life.
- Celebrate: Celebrate every positive action you take, every time you go to bed earlier or choose a healthier option or make your workout or push an extra set…celebrate! Celebrate you!
- Know your strengths play up your weaknesses: If you know that you have more energy in the morning, then that is a strength and when you should schedule your workouts. If dessert or eating late night is a weakness for you, then create an alternate plan for yourself, for example create a list of projects you’ve been wanting to get done around the house or a new book to start or friend you’ve been wanting to speak with. Knowing your weakness is not a weakness that, in and of itself is strength because you know yourself and are in-touch with who you are.
- Connect Within: By being mindful, you are listening to your body and should be naturally eating less and downsizing your portions once you tune in and pay attention to when you are full.
- Sugar and Spice: Our bodies are only able to process 20 grams of sugar per day, the rest is stored and whatever is not used is then stored as fat. Aim to have no more than 24 grams per day. This is not an easy feat once you start to read your food labels and recognize the amount of hidden sugar in every day supposed “health” foods. Sugar not only causes weight gain and creates fat but also is the leading contributor to inflammation in the body, which is the primary cause of most internal disease. If you want to lose weight and have tons of energy then this is the first thing that needs to go!
Yes, I just gave you a lot of tips, so make sure to only pick 3 and apply them for the next 30 days!
Most importantly, keep it simple and set yourself up for success by only picking 3!
Have a fabulous weekend!
Radiantly Yours,
Melissa