The Under Achiever’s Guide to Weight Loss

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I used to think that I could eat the entire family size bag of pretzel M&Ms in one sitting just because I worked out that day. Ten pounds and countless raised eyebrows later, I finally heard the hard truth from my own father.

The honesty hurt, but it was much needed. Daily habits do matter, and the below changes helped me slim down to my original weight in just a few months.

 

1. Stay on an alkaline diet

The benefits of an alkaline diet include greater energy levels and a lower risk of cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, and more. Studies cite the reason of this to be due to the fact that the body is naturally alkaline—meaning that it has a pH level greater than 7– and acidic foods disrupt natural body chemistry. An alkaline diet includes eating soy, tofu, fruits, and veggies; it excludes meats, processed foods, and grains. An easy way to adopt a more pH friendly diet is with a water ionizer; you can see it on YouTube to learn more about how it works. The products are easy to come by, and you can buy it on Amazon.

 

2. Cut out emotional eating

If you tend to reward or comfort yourself with food when “needed” or “deserved,” you are an emotional eater. Don’t worry though; it’s a relatively common behavioral pattern. Moving forward, use other things to reward or comfort yourself as needed; let yourself have an extra hour of TV, take a bubble bath, or treat yourself with that new book or movie just released.

 

3. Multi-task with your work-outs

If you’re lucky enough to have a treadmill or stationary bike in your house, then you already have it figured out. However, not having a home gym still doesn’t exempt you from making the most of your time. Squats, free-hand weights, sit-ups, planks, yoga, and other exercises are easy to do in front of the television.Netflix is the best personal trainer anyone can have. You can make it a game by challenging yourself to do as many crunches/squats/etc. as you can until the end of that scene or within the next five minutes.

 

4. Snack light

Don’t be fooled by the false innocence of small portion sizes for snack packs; cookies, useless carbs, and empty sugar are still not justified. Your afternoon snacks should mean something. Fruits and veggies are perfect mid-afternoon snacks, as well as chips and hummus, Greek yogurt, and protein bars. Beware of hidden sugar in dry fruit, and the fact that ‘organic’ isn’t necessarily synonymous with healthy.If you want to shake up your fruit, try freezing it the night before. The cold crunch of frozen blueberries and raspberries on a hot afternoon will give you the sweet and refreshing pop that you try to find elsewhere. If you have a habit of snacking when you’re not actually hungry, take up chewing gum. It’s okay if you go through the entire pack; if it saves you from consuming extra calories of chocolate and chips, it’s worth it.

 

5. Track your app(etite)

With smart phones these days, there is no need to count calories the old fashioned way—or ignore them all together. Appslike MyFitnessPal allow you to count calories without memorizing. Simply enter the brands or descriptions of foods you’re eating, and MyFitnessPal will find the nutritional information. It’ll tell you how many calories you have left to consume throughout the day, and factor in exercise as well as what your fitness goals are. You can also find fitness gear like sneakers and watches that sync your work-out stats to your phone.

Toni Okeson