More Great Advise From The Experts

I posted yesterday some great pointers from an health and fitness article that I read on msn.com and I realized that there were more ideas that my readers may find helpful.  Please check out these points and see if you agree.

Practice Patience

"Rome wasn't built in a day"—that’s the mentality that should follow healthy weight loss, says Keri Gans, RD, author of The Small Change Diet. You didn’t gain the weight in a single week, so don’t expect it to fly off in seven days either. Successfully slimming down requires small, gradual changes and developing healthy behaviors that will last a lifetime, notes Gans. “The winner in weight loss is not the person who loses weight the fastest, but rather the person who keeps it off the longest,” she says.

Leave Liquid Calories Behind

Sure, the bubbles make you feel full at first, but sugary sodas and other calorie-laden drinks won’t keep hunger at bay past the time you toss the empty bottle in the recycling bin. Save your calories for food and opt for beverages that contain 5 calories or less, suggests Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson Angela Ginn, RD. She also advises making water your thirst quencher 80% of the time. “Hydration is important to metabolism and giving you an extra boost to burn calories,” she says.

Don’t Make Dieting About Deprivation

“Eat more to lose weight”—it’s exactly the opposite of what you’d expect to hear from a dietician. But eating small meals more frequently and adding healthy foods, like fruits and veggies, to your diet can produce lasting weight loss, says Jason Machowsky, RD, CSCS, owner of JM Wellness. Machowsky prefers to use this strategy with his clients opposed to rattling off a list of what they cannot enjoy.

Snack, Don’t Graze

A well-timed snack can do wonders for appetite control and prevent you from going overboard at your next meal. “The trouble is we've become a nation of grazers, eating all day long so we never really know if we're hungry or not,” says Karen Ansel, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and co-author of The Calendar Diet: A Month by Month Guide to Losing Weight While Living Your Life. Eating every three to four hours is enough to control blood sugar and keep hunger at bay, she says. One to two 150-calorie snacks per day should be all you need.

Focus on Progress, Not Perfection

“Weight loss is a journey and each of us has our own story to tell,” says Heather Mangieri, RD, founder of Nutrition CheckUp, LLC and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Adopting an “all or nothing” attitude, comparing ourselves to others, and focusing on eating a perfect diet are habits that set us up to fail, she says. “Learning to accept our downfalls, and then being able to get back on track is a very important part of the journey.”

WOW!!  Now those are some really great insights on how to lose weight and get healthy that you can take to the bank!   I love the "Focus on Progress, Not Perfection'.  That is exactly what I have been trying to do while on my journey to a new me.  I started my own journey to a new me over fourteen months ago and even though I have hit a road block, I have seen physical results that are very encouraging.  I will tell you about some of them in my next post!