Diet
Diet is the key to all weight loss. You can exercise several hours a day, but if you are making poor food choices, you will never have the level of success you want. You need to ask yourself is there is more you can do with your diet to really enhance your weight loss. Understand that your body needs proteins, fats, fiber, sugar, vitamins, and minerals every meal to feel satisfied with what it is being given. Ideally, every time you sit down to eat, your plate will have some protein, some fat, and some fiber if you want to call it a filling, healthy meal.
This takes a lot of planning on our part. We need to make sure that we have the right kinds of foods in the house, and that we aren't going to reach for a bag of chips every time we want a snack. Something along the lines of a piece of fruit and some yogurt is a much better idea, but we need to plan ahead to make it work.
Also, use a bit of common sense in your choices. Something like broccoli or carrots are usually eaten raw, so feel free to enjoy them that way. Potatoes or eggplant, on the other hand, are normally cooked. Some plants are cooked because they can be potentially toxic is consumed raw, so make sure you use common sense and make smart choices.
Here are three good tips for making sure you are eating a healthy diet.
1. Try and eat a variety of different colored foods
You need to remember that different fruits and vegetables have different nutritional value. Some have antioxidants, some have minerals, some have vitamin C, and you need them all. So, just pick a variety. Get some strawberries, blueberries, oranges, pineapples, and bananas and you will see what a color variety you have. Do the same with vegetables, and you are well on your way to healthier eating.
2. Eat food from all food groups
The problem with diets nowadays is that they want to eliminate a food group. This is usually a very bad idea since you are potentially eliminating key nutrition from you diet. Generally speaking, you need to make fruit and vegetables the bulk of what you eat, but you need to make sure you are getting some carbs, some protein, and a touch of fat as well. Variety is the key.
3. When you need a snack, find something healthy
Just because you want to lose weight does not mean you can't have a snack. You just need to be smart about it. You know what you like and what you don't like to eat, so just make sure that when you want a snack, you reach for a piece of fruit instead of a bag of chips.
Exercise
There is really nothing new to say about exercise. We have known for quite a long time that it is good for us, we just don't want to get off our butts and do it. Exercise offers a number of health benefits aside from weight loss, and you should work out just to make sure that you don't end up with issues with your joints, heart, or kidneys. Aside from those benefits, exercise also can help you to lose weight. Now, diet is still king, and without a proper, healthy diet, weight loss will be almost impossible, but exercise can help to accelerate the results.
It is recommended that you work out for at least 30 minutes a day five times a week. And, yes, these are the minimums. However, recent research shows that working out for ten minutes at a time, three times a day can be just as good as 30 minutes all at once. Aerobic activity is great for weight loss, but don't neglect weight training. Muscle burns fat, so if you build up more muscle, you will end up burning more fat as well. So, it is recommended that you do both to achieve maximum weight loss.
The main thing to remember in any weight loss attempt is to focus on health, not thin. Too many people just want to get thin, and they sacrifice their health as a result. Don't get caught up with fad dieting, or magic pills. You just need to work at it, and you will see results. Start making diet and exercise a habit, and you will be able to achieve your goals, and even more. Good luck!
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