Easy tips to remember for your weight loss plan

There are a lot of pitfalls you should be aware of when it before starting your weight loss plan.

Below are some of the main areas to look out for:

Devour healthy breakfasts

Eating a muffin/croissant or bacon and egg McMuffin is not a good way to start your day. These fast food breakfasts contain high-GI carbs that spike your blood sugars which make you want more fairly quickly after eating them.

Ensure you have a healthy breakfast that contains a combination of low-GI carbs and protein (like eggs or dairy), to keep you feeling fuller for longer.

If you have exercised before breakfast you must have a good breakfast to stop excessive snacking mid-morning.

Ditch the lemon water

Health experts try  to make out that lemon water is a wonder drink – but research says otherwise. Supposedly it helps detox the body. The body detoxes itself. Lemon water or supplements are not necessary.  The acidity is not good for your teeth either and it does not help you lose weight.

Drink and hydrate – 6 reasons for drinking it

Water accounts for 60 percent of your body and is essential to every cell.  It is recommended that you drink 2 – 3 litres of water a day. This can help in alleviating the hunger pangs too.

6 other reasons you need to stay hydrated:

1. Water helps prevent dry mouth.

Water keeps your throat and lips moist and prevents your mouth from feeling dry. Dry mouth can cause bad breath and/or an unpleasant taste–and can even promote cavities.

2. Water promotes cardiovascular health.

Dehydration lowers your blood volume, so your heart must work harder to pump the reduced amount of blood and get enough oxygen to your cells, which makes everyday activities like walking up stairs–as well as exercise–more difficult.

3. Water keeps your body cool.

Your body releases heat by expanding blood vessels close to the skin’s surface (this is why your face gets red during exercise), resulting in more blood flow and more heat dissipated into the air. When you’re dehydrated, however, it takes a higher environmental temperature to trigger blood vessels to widen, so you stay hotter.

4. Water helps muscles and joints work better.

When you’re well hydrated, the water inside and outside the cells of contracting muscles provides adequate nutrients and removes waste efficiently so you perform better. Water is also important for lubricating joints. Muscle cramps do not appear to be related to dehydration but it is thought they are caused by muscle fatigue.

5. Water keeps skin supple.

When a person is severely dehydrated, skin is less elastic. This is different than dry skin, which is usually the result of soap, hot water and exposure to dry air.

6. Water helps cleanse your body — inside and out.

Your kidneys need water to filter waste from the blood and excrete it in urine.. If you are severely dehydrated, your kidneys may stop working, causing toxins to build up in your body.

Dump the supplements

Save your money!  You do not need supplements to be healthy or to help you lose weight.

Protein shakes and trendy detox teas might help you lose weight quickly (as they suppress your appetite) but the weight loss is not sustainable and will go on.  Some of the detox teas dehydrate you so you are in effect only losing water. 60% of adults are lactose intolerant so the pre-made protein meal replacements may not be the best choice either.

Concentrate on forming new eating and exercise habits that become your new lifestyle of choice.  It is 80% diet and 20% exercise that will reshape your body.  At the best the fat burners will do nothing but at the worst they increase your metabolism to a level that gives you bad jitters and leaves you feeling cold and sweaty. (I talk from experience on this one).

Diet drinks still contain sugar and that it is the arch enemy for weight loss.

Daily weigh-ins

Weighing yourself is not a bad idea but it is unnecessary although my Personal Trainer is probably fed up with the regular updates I send. If it works for you, then so be it. Weighing yourself every morning can become an obsessive habit and you should not focus on the number on the scales but focus on other good attributes the change in diet and exercise has done e.g. better sleep, more energy.  Also bear in mind that weighing on a daily basis does highlight the fluctuations of weight which can vary up to 4lbs.  Again, I talk from experience, I am actually attempting to gain weight and some days my weight drops down for no apparent reason but rebounds the following day and in reverse this could happen for those losing weight.

Daily Exercise

Exercise is *really* good for you in many ways.

When it comes to weight loss, not only can exercise help you burn energy, but it’ll also help to build muscle, which speeds up your metabolism. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn.

Regular exercise reduces your risk of conditions like heart disease and stroke, helps to strengthen your bones and is essential for mental health. Your aim should be 30 minutes a day.

Daily sleep

You need to get enough sleep to lose weight – so it’s important that you prioritise starting your day with a solid seven to nine hours of shut eye.  You may ask why?

When you haven’t slept enough, your hormones go haywire. Ghrelin and leptin the two hormones that control your appetite and hence your ability to lose weight. Ghrelin tells your brain you’re hungry and will increase when you’re sleep deprived whilst leptin, which tells your brain that you’re full, drops. Consequently, the day following a bad night’s sleep you can be tempted to overeat.