Thou shall resolve to eat healthier and make good food choices!

Hello, Friday! Weekend is just around the corner and life is GOOD!

In honor of it being Friday, I thought we might switch up the blog post for today and instead share some great tips that I have gathered about healthy lifestyles/weight loss.

For those of you who have emailed about wanting more “tips,” this one is going out to YOU!

Recently, I was out to dinner with a group of girlfriends and the topic of weight loss came up (doesn’t it always seem to creep into those girl nights???) I started hearing some great tips and some not so great ones too (a hunger strike, while effective, is not a healthy means to multi-task your spiritual and weight loss activities). Before long, I was scribbling furiously, and while my notes were taken on a cocktail napkin, we all agreed that these ten tips were by far the BEST health/weight loss tips imaginable!

1. Resolve never to supersize your food portions—unless you want to supersize your clothes. Portion control...portion control...portion control. Moderation is key. You can eat whatever you want, you just can’t eat as much of it as you want if you want to lose weight. Have a good taste and then remember that no matter how many more tastes you take, it’s never going to get any better than the first one.
2. Add just one fruit or veggie serving daily. Get used to that, then add an extra serving until you reach 8 to 10 a day. Fruits and veggies are generally fiber dense and lower calorie than the fatty alternatives. And they will fill you up. Not to mention what they do for your heart, your skin, etc. Take the time to record how many servings of fruits and veggies you eat today and I can almost guarantee you are not getting 8-10, which is recommended for optimal health AND weight loss. Yes, they are great for weight loss too...after all, you can’t eat a donut if you’re eating broccoli. 
3. Find a picture of you when you were at your optimal weight and post it on the fridge. According to my girlfriends, it’s great inspiration and motivation to shut the door when you would otherwise be mindless eating. Where, or where, is my eight grade yearbook???
4. Eating out? Halve it, and take home the rest. A typical restaurant entree has 1,000 to 2,000 calories, not even counting the bread, appetizer, beverage, and dessert. Drinking alcohol at that meal, add another couple hundred calories usually. Extra tip? Ask to split the entry in the kitchen or do it as soon as it arrives on your table. Research shows that your brain tells your body that it can be satisfied by whatever is on your plate...if it only sees half, half is going to be enough (most of the time). 
5. Instead of whole milk, switch to 1 percent. If you drink one 8-oz glass a day, you’ll lose 5 lb in a year. (And it really does still taste good).
6. Cut back on or cut out caloric drinks such as soda, sweet tea, lemonade, etc. People have lost weight by making just this one change. If you have a 20-oz bottle of Coca-Cola every day, switch to Diet Coke. You should lose 25 lb in a year. 25 pounds, people!!!!
7. Don’t “graze” yourself fat. You can easily munch 600 calories of pretzels or cereal without realizing it. On that note, actually portion out a serving of pretzels or chips or whatever and see what you are eating. I know it’s not fun to do that because then we can’t delude ourselves into believing that the 65 chips we just ate are 1 serving. But do it...it works!
8. Make exercise a nonnegotiable priority. As in, schedule it. Mark it on your calendar and treat is as high priority as your most important business meeting or the need to get your child from school.
9. Try 2 weeks without sweets. It’s amazing how your cravings vanish. (I’m not a “sweets” person so this wouldn’t be hard for me but for my friends who love sweets, I know this is easier said than done). There is solid research that supports this though...worth a try.
10. Drink WATER!  All day, every day. It flushes out toxins and keeps you hydrated and your metabolism going. Also, when you’re exercising, you shouldn’t wait for thirst to strike before you take a drink. By the time you feel thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. Try this: Drink at least 16 ounces of water, sports drinks, or juices two hours before you exercise. Then drink 8 ounces an hour before and another 4 to 8 ounces every 15 to 20 minutes during your workout. Finish with at least 16 ounces after you’re done exercising.

Try these tips and let me know how you feel! Think we missed an important tip? Post it in the comments and I’ll update the blog.

-Good Luck, Claudia