Free Weight Loss Tips - Start Burning Fat & Losing Weight Today

Weight Loss Tip #21 - Eat before shopping
Eat a healthy meal before you go grocery shopping. This will provide you will a full stomach of nutritious foods and keep you satisfied when you venture into a store with many temptations. A pre-shopping meal will help you avoid making the bad choices you may choose if you're very hungry and have a hard time avoiding sweet or salty temptations. Another great tip is to take a protein smoothie with you to the grocery store and walk around sipping on this delicious treat. Using a blender, add 2 cups of Carb Countdown milk, 1 scoop of protein powder, 1 cup of your favorite fruit and some ice. This smoothie will cure your sweet tooth and keep you busy while passing all of the tempting aisles of unhealthy foods.

Weight Loss Tip #22 - Shop the outer perimeter
The grocery store is strategically designed to make you purchase items you may not need. Ever wonder why the milk and eggs are positioned way in the back of the store. It’s designed that way to make you walk through the entire store before picking up these core items. While walking past hundreds of other items, most people will see many things they think they need or even worse, they will make impulse buys which include unhealthy items like sweets (candy, cake, donuts) and salty foods (chips, crackers). Try and focus on shopping the outer perimeter of the store. This is the outer corners which include the produce section, meat/poultry/fish areas, and milk/eggs sections. While walking through the grocery store, look around you and consciously think about the way the store is setup and the number of unhealthy food choices available to wreak havoc on your weight loss plan. Once you understand how you're really trying to be "trained" into making bad choices, you will start realizing how you should overcome this and be focused on making healthy food choices for a healthy lifestyle!

Weight Loss Tip #23 - Watch those portions
Portion control is extremely important when it comes to losing weight. With all of the super size portions out there, it’s very hard to really understand what the correct portion size is. A good rule of thumb for your protein needs when eating meat/poultry/fish is to choose a portion size that is equivalent to size of a deck of cards. When eating out, if it looks too large then it probably is. Simply eat a small portion and take the rest home for another meal. By controlling your portion sizes, you will be able to condition your mind and stomach into learning what the correct amount of food is. This is crucial for creating new habits and following a healthy nutritional plan.

Weight Loss Tip #24 - Eat negative calorie foods
Although no food is actually "negative calorie", there are certain foods that have such few calories that the act of digestion in the body will burn more calories than the food itself, creating a negative calorie balance. Typically, a 25 calorie piece of broccoli (100 grams) requires 80 calories to digest it in the body which results in a net loss of 55 calories! Some great foods which are extremely low in calories and require lots of energy for the body to break them down include asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, lettuce and zucchini. These are great foods to include in your weight loss plan.

Weight Loss Tip #25 - Build calorie burning muscle
Muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in your body and it's your "furnace" for burning calories throughout the day. If you can add 1 extra pound of muscle, it will burn about 50 extra calories a day! It’s very important to include some type of strength training routine into your overall fitness plan.

Weight Loss Tip #26 - Set short term goals
Short term goals are important for developing a solid weight loss program. By setting short term goals, you will have the framework to follow so you can make small changes in your daily routine which will develop into healthy habits to last a lifetime. Focus on a weekly goal of losing 1 pound of body fat. This is the healthiest amount of weight loss per week and is the correct level to make sure you're burning body fat. To reach this 1 pound weight loss per week, focus on creating a 500 calorie deficit in your overall calories every day. You can create this 500 calorie deficit through exercise or through your diet. Try to use a combination of both for the best results! At the end of the week, check in to weigh yourself and take your body measurements. You should also take photographs of yourself to document how you look.

Weight Loss Tip #27 - Don’t get discouraged
Remember that it didn't take 2 weeks to pack on those extra 20 pounds, so it definitely will not take only 2 weeks to lose them! Focus on a solid fitness/nutrition plan and adhere to it for at least 8-12 weeks. When you first start out, you should expect your body to really resist change to some degree. Trust your plan and don't be discouraged if you're not losing weight fast enough. Your body will eventually switch into a fat burning mode. Be patient and the results will show!

Weight Loss Tip #28 - The mirror doesn’t lie
Use the mirror to check your progress. Simply get into your underwear or swimsuit and stand in front of the mirror. Look closely at your trouble areas which tend to hold large amounts of body fat like the hips and thighs for women and the abdomen for men. Although the scale may not show any weight loss, you very well may have added lean muscle to your body. The mirror will show you an accurate reflection of a tighter and toned body which is the result of adding muscle mass to your physique.

Weight Loss Tip #29 - Monitor your body fat
You will work very hard exercising and sticking to a healthy diet, so make sure you monitor your body fat levels to be positive that you are truly losing unwanted adipose tissue (body fat) and not hard earned muscle tissue. Have a professional test your body fat with either hydrostatic weighting (underwater) or with bioelectrical impedance (sensors). These will give you a very accurate measure of your current body fat percentage and will provide instant feedback to your overall weight loss plan.

Weight Loss Tip #30 - Keep a diet journal
One of the most important aspects of losing weight is keeping a diet journal. Diet journals allow you to keep a detailed record and track everything you put into your mouth. You will gain an immediate consciousness of your eating habits. Your diet journal will keep track of how many meals you eat everyday, the size of your meals and when each meal is consumed. Are you a late night eater? How about an afternoon binge eater? Your diet journal will provide a wealth of information to learn from.

Along with recording all of the foods you eat, your diet journal should also contain your feelings, thoughts and reactions with each meal. Were you actually hungry when you ate or just bored? Did you eat because you were happy, sad or frustrated? Did you feel anxious or rushed during a meal? Also, make sure to record how you felt after you ate your meal. Did you feel tired and lethargic? These are extremely important points to document when keeping your diet journal. It's amazing how much you will learn by recording these dietary events and using this tool is crucial for permanent weight loss!

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