Losing weight naturally can seem stressful in and of itself, so it’s very important to be mindful of how you’re responding to stress, and more importantly, you want to do what you can to avoid and eliminate it from your life to help achieve your weight loss goals. In addition, stress can be a primary factor in why people have a hard time losing weight, so this is another reason why it’s very important to be mindful of stress and how it impacts us on a daily basis. This is why my blogs and articles this week are going to focus on stress and natural weight loss to ensure your can identify stress triggers, put tools in place to help you avoid stress, and tips to snap out of stress if you find that you’ve crossed that line into a stressful environment and/or life.

There are three key areas that I will focus on as it relates to stress and natural weight loss this week.

Recognize stress triggers. First, it’s important to be aware of what triggers stress for you. Often, the list is similar for many individuals. For example, being overwhelmed at work, putting too much pressure on yourself to be ‘super-human’ and accomplish too much, fighting or arguing constantly with coworkers and family members, and financial challenges can all be triggers for stress in an individual’s life.

Put steps in place to avoid stress. Once you’ve identified what triggers stress for you, you can start putting steps in place to avoid it. For example, if you find you’re often stretched for time, you can start putting good time management skills and programs into place to help eliminate time issues and thus, eliminate stress related to time management, which means more time to focus and put positive energy towards your weight loss goals. 

Develop tools to snap out of it once you’re in a stressful situation. We’re all human, so it’s not uncommon to find ourselves in stressful situations. What’s important is that we are aware and identify this quickly and do what we can to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. There are some techniques, such as breathing exercises and visualization techniques that can help you calm down and get out of the stressful situation or moment quickly. I will discuss this in Blog 2 this week, “Natural Weight Loss & Snapping out of Stressful Situations Quickly”.

Being mindful and aware of stress and what triggers it for you is important to stay grounded and focused on your weight loss goals. Not to mention, it will make the process more enjoyable for you, so check back later this week for more info!

So you’ve finally started an exercise routine as part of your natural weight loss program. Good for you! And if you’re like many, you’re really hoping you can stay focused and on track with it.

The good news is there are some things you can do, like tracking your exercise output, to help you stay focused to keep up with the exercise routine to ensure you lose weight as efficiently as possible. By keeping a journal to capture all of your exercise, you’ll have a good picture of what you’re really doing on a regular basis to help those pounds roll off of your hips, thighs, and anywhere else you’d like to shed some inches from natural weight loss.

And you may have chosen an unconditional type of exercise, such as dancing regularly, or parking a mile from work every day to get some extra strides in, but whatever it is, be sure to track it. My point here is to track all the exercise you do to burn calories outside of normal daily activity.

As I mentioned in my blog, ‘Are Food Diaries Important For Natural Weight Loss?’, by keeping records of what you’re doing to lose weight, it will help you stay focused to meet your weight loss goals.

And, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as to how much it truly can help you stay focused to achieve your goals. For one thing, it will be obvious to you when you’re not meeting your goals, and awareness is key. Sometimes, in our busy lives, we tend to allow ourselves to take breaks from exercising, and before we know it, a day turns into two, turns into a week, and as you know, this does not help us lose weight!

When tracking your exercise program, you should include the following in your exercise journal:

• Date
• Type of exercise
• Duration or time spent
• Calories burnt
• Positive affirmation to keep you motivated

By keeping a journal and staying focused on achieving your exercise goals, you’ll be setting yourself up to achieve your weight loss goals in no time, and you know that’s a great feeling!

Yes! Yes it is!

You’re on your way to losing weight the natural way, so you’ve probably heard the following statements:

• Drink water to stay healthy.
• Drink water to hydrate.
• Drink water when dieting to aid in weight loss.
• Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink water.

And you’ve heard all of this for good reason! Our bodies are composed largely of water, so it should be no surprise that it requires adequate water intake to function properly.

By taking in adequate amounts of water, studies have shown that it helps our bodies burn fat and lose weight! In addition, taking in the right amount of hydration can help assist with building muscle mass, which aids in fat burning and weight loss, as well. Other benefits of water include healthier looking skin, cleansing of toxins from the system and organs, and it also helps your digestive system stay functioning properly.

Some tips to ensure you’re getting enough water on a daily basis when attempting to lose weight naturally include:

• Be sure to take in at least 64 ounces of water a day. If you’re overweight, increase your intake to help in the weight loss process.
• Start you day with 8-16 ounces of water to initialize flushing of your system and to get a jump start on your water intake for the day.
• Drink water with every meal, especially before eating, as this can help you feel fuller and eat less for weight loss.
• Grab water in place of juice or sodas.
• Drink good quality water vs. water that’s chlorinated or has added chemicals that could be harmful for the body.
• Be sure to track your water intake in a diet or weight loss journal to ensure you’re taking in what you need.

Water is key to helping you lose weight naturally and keep it off, in addition to helping our bodies function as efficiently as possible, so be sure to get enough water on a daily basis as part of your natural weight loss program by following these tips and pointers. Drink up my friends! 

Hey there! Sorry I have not posted anything in a few days.  Just crazy busy with family and life.  I am sure you can relate. I hope all’s going well for you on your fabulous journey of natural weight loss! We all deserve to be healthy and happy, so I’m excited that you’re checking out my site and blog for tips and pointers to help you shift your mindset to achieve all of your weight loss goals.

This week I’m going to focus on the importance of keeping a food diary, an exercise diary and the importance of water intake to help you lose weight naturally and keep it off.

The focus of this blog—keeping a food diary to stay on track for natural weight loss.

Why is keeping a food diary so important? Because, how often have you thought, “Oh, I can nibble a little bit on this and it won’t hurt my diet?” or “I’m the cook, so I need to try the food!” Well, you may be surprised when you truly start capturing all of these little ‘slips’ to find that it really puts a dent in your overall food allowance for the day or week.

By keeping a food diary, you’ll be sure to capture all that you intake throughout your day and week to get a true picture of the foods that you’re eating. And I mean capture everything, because it all adds up! In addition, it will help you stay focused on your weight loss goals and achievements!

And though this idea of keeping a detailed account of your food intake might seem tedious to start out with, it will truly help bring awareness to what you’re really putting into your body each day, which in turn will help ensure that you’re staying on track to meet your weight loss goals.

Your diary should include the following:

• The item you’re eating.
• Calorie count of item, as well as total for the day.
• Nutritional information for fat, carbs and protein.
• Your daily goals.
• Your weight loss goals in big print on the top of each page.
• Anything that might inspire you to stay focused, like positive affirmations, on each page!

By keeping a food diary, you’ll definitely be a step ahead of your goals by adding focus and true awareness around your daily habits and routine as far as food and diet are concerned for natural weight loss! Happy writing!  Happy tracking!

To lose weight naturally, as I’ve shared over the last few days, requires the proper nutrition and diet to achieve successful weight loss that will stick, and part of that is knowing your metabolic type. Over the last two days, I’ve shared information about the Protein type as well as the Carbohydrate type, and today, we’ll review information and helpful tips for the Combination Metabolic type.

To some extent, if you are a Combination type, you’re fortunate, as you have a greater selection of food choices for your meals. At the same time, balance is key, so the Combination type will want to be familiar with both the Protein and Carbohydrate types, as this metabolic type requires a balance of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats in the diet to maintain health and lose weight when needed.

Tips for Combination types:

Familiarize yourself with both the Protein type and the Carbohydrate type. As mentioned above, know both of these types to identify the requirements of each and ensure you’re balancing your diet between the meal suggestions and nutritional intake for both.

Avoid too many sugars and starches for weight loss. By eating too many carbs, the Combination type may find a lot of swings in hunger and blood sugar, so again, a balance of healthy carbs with protein and good fats is important.

Avoid too many foods high in fats. Again, balance is key, and your diet may change from day to day (and should) as a Combination type, but it’s never healthy for anyone to eat too many foods high in fats, especially saturated, unhealthy fats. You want to choose low-fat, natural protein and carbohydrates for your diet and nutritional intake.

By following these tips as a Combination type, you’ll be well on your way to healthy weight loss!!!

So this sums up our review around metabolic types and natural weight loss. I hope you now see why understanding the metabolic types is so important and critical as you set out to lose weight naturally for the new and healthy you!