Should You Have a Cheat Day? - Cheating Yourself or Cheating the System?

Cheat days? Any thoughts?

24 Hour Mini Fasts? Are There Any Benefits?

From re-energizing your weight loss progress to giving your immune system a much-needed boost, a well-timed mini-fast can do wonders for your dieting efforts. And in the Bone Broth Diet, a twice-a-week mini-fast (in which you consume 500 calories-worth of bone broth) makes the difference when it comes to losing serious weight and inches off your waistline. 

Here's the primary thing to understand about fasting: It works because it stresses your body. (This is similar to making your muscles stronger by stressing them during a workout.) Now, you may think of stress as a bad thing—and that’s true for chronic stress. But a quick dose of stress is like Mother Nature's energy drink. It revs up your cells' defenses and healing mechanisms, and it sends your body's fat-burning machinery into overdrive. 

Here's what happens when you do a mini-fast, whether you're on the Bone Broth Diet, or not:

1.Your insulin levels plummet. 

Insulin puts on pounds. In fact, insulin is the biggest driver of excess weight. The bottom line is, excess insulin lays down fat. When your insulin levels are chronically high, your cells react by becoming insulin resistant. This means that when insulin knocks on the door of a cell and asks to escort glucose in, the cell is likely to slam the door in its face. This forces your body to reroute that glucose to your liver, where it gets transformed into fat. When your insulin levels drop on your mini-fasting days, your cells will rapidly start becoming more sensitive to insulin. Rather than barring the door to it, they'll welcome it in, along with its package of glucose—so that glucose will get burned as fuel rather than wind up on your waistline.

2. You burn more existing body fat.

To get rid of fat, you need to break fatty acids out of your fat stores and get them into your bloodstream. This is called lipolysis, and it depends on glucagon—a hormone whose job is the opposite of insulin's. While insulin escorts glucose out of the bloodstream, glucagon ushers it back in. When you fast, here's what happens: Within hours, your glucose levels start to drop, and your body realizes that it needs to mobilize its fuel reserves. In response, it churns out large amounts of glucagon. Rising levels of glucagon cause your body to start releasing fatty acids into your bloodstream so they can be transported to your cells for burning. The result: Fat, and in particular belly fat (which is easily mobilized), melts away.

3. You clean up your cells.

 When you fast, you trigger a process called autophagy. Think of this as "taking out the trash." It means that your body is cleaning out old, worn-out cells. Ramping up autophagy is one of the fastest ways to slim down and de-age your body. By breaking down old, damaged cells, autophagy speeds up your metabolism at the same time it reduces your risk of cancer and other diseases of aging. And by recycling the usable parts of old cells and using them to build new, healthy cells, it rejuvenates you from head to toe. In fact, research shows that fasting even makes your brain younger by increasing neuronal autophagy.

4. You lower inflammation.

 
Anything that increases inflammation puts on weight and makes you look older, and anything that reduces inflammation takes off weight and makes you look younger. And fasting fights inflammation at its roots. Recently, researchers at Yale reported that fasting makes your body release a compound called beta-hydroxybutyrate, or BHB. BHB inhibits one part of a set of proteins called the inflammasome—and when you inhibit the inflammasome, you knock out inflammation. That translates into easier weight loss, as well as a healthier body and even healthier skin. 

5. You beef up your levels of BDNF. 

Intermittent fasting increases your levels of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This protein improves your insulin sensitivity, accelerating weight loss—and as a bonus, it helps you think more clearly and brightens your mood.

6. Your levels of human growth hormone (HGH) surge.

 During a 24-hour fast, HGH increases an average of 1,300 percent in women and nearly 2,000 percent in men. This hormone helps you burn fat faster and sculpts lean muscle. It also promotes healthy skin, thus reducing wrinkles.

7. You even increase your life span! 

Studies show that fasting animals live longer. They're also less prone to cancer, heart disease, and other age-linked diseases. How powerful an anti-aging effect can fasting have? In a 2015 study, 26 researchers tested the effects of a "fast-mimicking diet" designed to create the same changes as fasting (for instance, low glucose levels and high levels of ketone bodies—which also occur on my diet). They asked their study subjects to follow the diet for 5 days a month for 3 months. The result: Compared with people who ate a standard diet, the people on the fast-mimicking diet showed reductions in risk factors linked to diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and aging. Improvements included weight loss, reduced markers of inflammation, and lower blood glucose. That's pretty amazing for just a few days of fasting each month!

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Adapted from Dr. Kellyann's Bone Broth Diet

6 Hormones Essential For Fat Loss

Ask anyone if they know a hormone that causes weight loss. Most people will mention the thyroid hormone. That's true, but did you know there are actually six hormones that impact fat loss?

This is the group I refer to as "the fat-loss six": thyroid hormones, adrenaline, glucagon, adiponectin, the androgenic hormones (DHEA and testosterone) and the growth and rejuvenation hormones (growth hormone and acetylcholine). These super-performers help us get lean and strong in two key ways: They directly stimulate metabolism, or the breakdown of body-fat stores for energy, and they stimulate fat loss by supporting the growth of metabolically active muscle. 

Here's how: 

Thyroid Hormones (TSH, Free T3 and Free T4)

The masters of your metabolism, these hormones drive every single cell in your body. It all starts with TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone). TSH, in turn, stimulates thyroxine (free T4), which is then converted to triiodothyronine (free T3). When all three are functioning properly and produced in the correct amounts, your metabolism is a fat-burning machine. And that's what we're aiming for!

Adrenaline

Also known as epinephrine, adrenaline is responsible for revving you up (think fight-or-flight response and all the physical effects it has on your body). This handy hormone allows the body to free up the fats and sugars it's stored so that we have that burst of energy we need when we really need it. 

Glucagon

Think of glucagon as insulin's helpful opposite: Rather than lowering blood sugar by transporting glucose from the bloodstream (and into liver, muscle and fat cells) for storage as glycogen or fat, glucagon raises blood sugar by breaking down the fat and glycogen that were stored. We can tap into this awesome hormone through exercising, consuming protein, or experiencing a dip in blood sugar.

Adiponectin

Adiponectin isn't nearly as well known as the previous three hormones—and that's really too bad. This fantastic hormone is produced in and sent out from your fat cells, but it's also got a direct and reciprocal relationship with them, which means that although it's produced by your fat cells, it actually helps burn up fat! Even better, the higher your adiponectin levels, the higher your energy and caloric expenditure. And because it increases insulin sensitivity, it also improves glucose tolerance and inhibits inflammation.

The Androgenic Hormones (DHEA and Testosterone)

Let's talk about sex, baby! And by that I mean sex hormones. DHEA (dehydroepiandrosterone—yes, that's a real word, and a really important hormone) comes from the adrenal glands and leads the charge for estrogen and testosterone. A DHEA boost is definitely part of your hormonal powering up because of its ability to support metabolically active muscle growth.

Muscle growth is key to fat loss, so attending to DHEA is part of this program. DHEA will support your immune system, improve tissue repair and sleep and neutralize the impact of cortisol (the stress hormone), among a host of other benefits.

And testosterone? It's almost impossible to build muscle mass without enough of this hormone—for both men and women—and testosterone is also connected to improvements in libido, bone density, strength, motivation, memory, fat burning and skin tone. Boosting this dynamic duo is a huge part of realizing your health and vitality goals.

The Growth and Rejuvenation Hormones (Growth Hormone and Acetylcholine)

It's impossible to discuss fat loss and muscle growth without touching on growth hormone and acetylcholine. Released during deep sleep, growth hormone is almost magical in its ability to repair tissue and build muscle. Its regenerative powers can make a huge difference in your fat-loss and muscle-growth goals.

And when it comes to communicating with muscles to encourage their movement, coordination and tone, you need the right amounts of acetylcholine. Because we use up this hormone when we exercise, boosting its levels is imperative for maintaining strong, healthy and metabolically-active muscle

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Adapted from The Hormone Boost

Lose Weight By Making Your Hormones Work For You.

You watch what you eat and exercise, so why can't you lose weight? Many scientists believe that hormonal imbalance could be to blame for your weight gain and inability to shed the pounds. Here are five hormones associated with weight gain – and how you can make them work for you.

1.Insulin

How much insulin you produce affects how much glucose your body uses from carbohydrates, and how much is stored away as fat.

When you eat sugar or starch (found in sweets, bread, potatoes, rice or pasta), the starch and sugars are digested down into glucose, which is then absorbed into the bloodstream, causing your blood-sugar levels to rise.

In response, the pancreas produces a hormone called insulin which is released into the bloodstream. When insulin is working well it sends most of the glucose to the cells in your muscles to use as fuel, some to your liver, and little or none to your fat stores.

Several things can mess with the proper functioning of your insulin levels – and potentially make you insulin resistant (a condition in which cells become less responsive to the hormone, which can lead to diabetes). When that happens, insulin begins to send less glucose to the liver and muscles, raising the concentration of glucose in your bloodstream and ultimately storing the glucose as fat.

Make it work for you: To prevent spikes in blood sugar, it's best to cut back on sugars and starch. However, as fitness expert Jorge Cruise (speaking in the video) explains, cutting back on carbs means our serotonin levels drop – which leaves us feeling miserable. His suggestion is to eat a low-carb diet for two days, and then reintroduce carbs for two days on an on-going cycle.

You can also control the amount of insulin your body produces by swapping processed, refined carbs like white pasta and bread for whole-grain versions, which contain fibre to slow the absorption of sugar into the bloodstream. As well as keeping your insulin levels steady, fibre has the advantage of keeping you feeling fuller for longer.

Eating little and often (choosing protein rather than carb-based meals) is another way to maintain consistent levels of glucose and insulin throughout the day.

2. Ghrelin

Ghrelin is the hunger hormone – go without eating, and your ghrelin levels rise and make you hungry, making it hard to resist food. Ghrelin is highest in the morning after you've gone without eating all night, so you really need to eat first thing to keep it in check.  When you're mildly hungry it's easy to choose a healthy option – wait until you're ravenous and you're more likely to grab a fattening snack.

Make it work for you: Eating a high protein meal lowers ghrelin levels significantly more than meals high in fat and carbohydrates, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Science. For this reason, it's a good idea to opt for a protein-based breakfast, such as eggs. Aim to eat 20 grams of protein at every meal to help keep ghrelin levels in check.

3.Leptin

Leptin is an appetite suppressor that tells you when to stop eating. Unfortunately, the hormone works less efficiently as we get older – so it's even more important to keep an eye on your portion sizes over the age of 50.

Make it work for you: Eating a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids and Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) has been shown to stimulate the production of leptin. Aim to eat more salmon (no more than twice a week), mackerel, and sardines. Sleep deprivation lowers leptin and increases ghrelin, which makes you crave calorie-rich foods. Getting eight hours of sleep each night can help keep your hormones and appetite under control.

4. Cortisol

The more stressed you are, the more likely you are to carry excess weight around your middle. When stressed, the body releases a hormone called cortisol, which encourages excess visceral fat on the belly. At the same time, you're more likely to crave sweet and carb foods, as these release serotonin, making you feel good.

Make it work for you: Caffeine encourages your adrenal glands to release cortisol, so avoid drinking coffee when you're stressed. Drinking two and a half to three cups of coffee while under mild stress can make your cortisol levels jump by 25% and stay elevated for three hours, say researchers at the University of Oklahoma.

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This Is NOT NATURAL

Guess you can't believe all the marketing in products.

15 Minute After Dinner Ritual That Can Help You Drop Pounds.

When it comes to shedding extra weight, you may want to take a cue from the Italians. That's right: The country Americans associate with spaghetti and meatballs could hold the secret to staying slim for life.

It's called the passeggiata, meaning a short walk taken purely for pleasure, and many Italians do it multiple times a day, typically after meals. You won't find anyone wearing a pedometer or spandex during these strolls, though. Instead, you'll see them enjoying the sunlight, catching up with neighbors, or reconnecting as a family after a long day. 

And when it comes to weight loss, it's genius. 

According to Prevention's new book The Fat Cell Solution—a cutting-edge new plan that naturally retrains your fat cells to release extra calories—getting into the habit of a a passeggiata sets the stage for weight loss. A study in the journal Diabetes Care involving older adults at risk for diabetes found that three 15-minute walks after meals improved their ability to regulate blood sugar for the following 24 hours. These several short walks were at least as effective as one long 45-minute walk taken during the day. The habit of taking multiple walks also gets you up and away from your desk or couch, and may lower stress levels.

If you take your passeggiata after dinner, you can reap even more benefits: The gentle physical activity and the fading light before nightfall can recalibrate your body clock, helping you sleep better. It's a simple way to aid digestion, dampen the postmeal surge in insulin, and stimulate metabolism—without it ever feeling like "exercise." 

How to get started: Instead of turning on the television right after dinner, go for a 15-minute walk. After a few weeks, add another walk in the morning, after lunch, or sometime in the afternoon. If you already work out, fantastic! Use your outdoor passeggiata as a supplement to your normal routine. Even if you're already fit, the passeggiata can reintroduce you to movement as an easy, stress-relieving activity—not a chore to be sweated out and endured.

For the best results, pair your passeggiata with the Prevention diet plan in The Fat Cell Solution to help you lose weight, increase your energy levels, lower your blood pressure, clear your head, and allow for deeper sleep. 



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5 Morning Habits That May Affect Your Weight Loss

We’ve all been there—you commit to shedding a few pounds, but they seem just as committed to sticking to you. You’ve done away with the obvious culprits—out-of-control portion sizes, fast food, happy hour—so what’s the prob?

"The biggest mistake people make when they’re trying to lose weight is getting their day off on the wrong foot," says Susan Peirce Thompson, Ph.D., president of the Institute for Sustainable Weight Loss. Those first waking moments lay the foundation for the choices you will make the rest of the day—and every day after—so it’s vital to establish good habits that you can fall back on when you’re still foggy-headed and bleary-eyed.

Here, we've got the common mistakes that can ruin more than just your morning, and how to adjust them.

1. You Oversleep

We've all heard that a lack of shut-eye may cause weight gain, thanks to elevated levels of the appetite-stimulating hormone cortisol in the body. But turns out the opposite—getting too much sleep—might not be much better for you. One study in the journal PLOS One found that sleeping more than 10 hours a night also upped the risk of having a higher BMI compared to those who got seven to nine hours a night. So, hit that sleep sweet spot of seven to nine hours on the reg, and you'll be in good shape.   

2. You Get Ready in the Dark

If you keep the blinds closed after you wake up, you could be missing out on the weight-loss benefits of the sun, according to another study published in the journal PLOS One.

The study authors suggest that people who got some sun in the early morning had significantly lower BMIs than those who didn't, regardless of how much they ate. According to the study, just 20 to 30 minutes of daylight is enough to affect BMI, even when it’s overcast. That's because your body syncs up your internal clock—including your calorie-torching metabolism—using the blue light waves from the early morning sun as a guide.

3. You Don't Make Your Bed

A National Sleep Foundation survey found that bed-makers were 19 percent more likely to report getting a good night's sleep compared to those who didn't make their beds. And since sleeping soundly has been liked to a lower BMI, why wouldn't you pick this habit back up? This may sound silly, but Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, writes in his book that putting your bed back together in the morning can spawn other good behaviors, like packing a healthy lunch, perhaps. At the same time, Duhigg also writes that those who make their beds regularly are better at sticking to budgets—a demonstration of willpower that may carry over to keeping your calorie count in check.

4. You Skip the Scale

When Cornell University researchers tracked 162 overweight women and men for two years, they found that those who weighed themselves every day were more successful when it came to losing weight and keeping it off. And the best time to step to it is first thing in the a.m., when your weight is at its lowest, says Lisa Jones, R.D., spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Not only will the measurement be more accurate (after a night of metabolizing, you'll be carrying less water weight), you’ll be able to make adjustments if the number’s a bit higher than you expect.

5. You Skimp at Breakfast  

Researchers from Tel Aviv University found that low-cal dieters who ate a balanced breakfast that contained 600 calories of lean protein, carbohydrates, and a little something sweet reported less hunger and fewer cravings the rest of the day compared to those that ate a low-carb 300-calorie breakfast. They were also better at sticking to their calorie limits. What’s more, they had lower levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin after their meals. The researchers suggest that it's possible that satisfying your cravings first thing in the morning may help keep you from feeling deprived and going hog-wild later in the day. 

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Tips To Improve Your Sleep And Boost Your Weight Loss!

Getting a better night’s sleep is one of the easiest ways to lose weight. And, impressively, it’s one of the most effective. Case in point: In one Annals of Internal Medicine study, dieters who got 8.5 hours of sleep per night lost twice as much fat as those who scraped by on 5.5 hours—even though they all cut the same number of calories each day.

As you might have guessed, how you get ready for bed has a huge impact on whether or not your sleep results in weight loss. And no, we aren’t going to tell you to shut off your cell phone or reserve your bed for “sleep and sex.” We're sure you already follow those rules of good sleep hygiene, right? (Wink, wink.)

Add these six habits to your bedtime routine, and you’ll make your weight-loss journey sooo much easier:

A glass of milk, cup of Greek yogurt, or even a protein smoothie before bed can do more than fight the pre-bedtime belly growls. They also help you build more muscle while you sleep. That’s because dairy is chock-full of casein, a slow-to-digest form of protein that keeps exercisers’ muscles fueled with amino acids, so they can build lean mass all night long, according to research published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Just a refresher: Building muscle is the No. 1 way to increase your metabolic rate and burn more calories every damn day.

Fine-tuning the thermostat a couple of hours before bed can make drifting off to dreamland (and actually staying in it) way easier. “We need our body temperature to drop in order to sleep through the night,” says Rebecca Scott, Ph.D., research assistant professor of neurology at the NYU Langone Comprehensive Epilepsy Center—Sleep Center.

Plus, research published in Diabetes shows that when people sleep in rooms set to 66.2 degrees, they convert some of their calorie-storing white fat into calorie-burning brown fat. Why? Because brown fat’s in charge of heating your body, says board-certified family and bariatric physician Spencer Nadolsky, a doctor of osteopathic medicine.

“Winding down before bed can seem like a waste of time when most of us are rushing to get everything done right up until we get in bed,” says Scott. But it's actually better to take the 30 minutes before hitting the hay for yourself—even if that means going to sleep a little later, she says.

Do a relaxing activity that you truly enjoy, like reading. This helps protect your sleep and energy, he says. 

Even without a bedtime gadget habit, bright lights coming through your bedroom windows can cut down on your body’s production of sleepy-time melatonin, interfering with sleep quality, says Nadolsky.

That explains why, in one 2014 University of Oxford study, women who slept in the darkest rooms were 21 percent less likely to be obese than women who slept in the lightest rooms. But if you want to get the biggest benefit from “lights out,” you need to dim your indoor lights along with the setting sun. Think about it: If you spend your evening hours in a brightly lit living room, you’re missing out on a ton of melatonin that boosts your sleep, he says.

While intense exercise scheduled too close to bed can backfire by energizing you, performing some light stretching or yoga before (or even in) bed helps the body relax, says Nadolsky.

For even more relaxation, incorporate deep, diaphragmatic breathing into your moves. Here's how to do that: Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth, focusing on taking slow, complete breaths that raise and lower your belly, rather than your chest. Doing so activates your “rest and digest” parasympathetic nervous system to reduce tension and help you fall asleep, he says.

It might help you drift off (errr, pass out?), but it won’t help you stay that way. “Alcohol consumed too close to bedtime can interfere with sleep quality in the second part of the night,” says Scott. That's because metabolizing the sugar in alcoholic beverages doesn't let your body actually rest, he says. That results in longer light sleep stages, decreased dream sleep, and more fragmented dream sleep. In one 2015 University of Melbourne study, researchers said that the disruptions in a sleeping brain’s wave patterns after a night of drinking are similar to those induced by mild electric shocks. Sounds like fun, right?

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How Much Sleep Do You Actually Need?

Enough Sleep? Who gets the chance? Here's the science. What do you think?

Ways To Lose Weight Even If You Don't Get Enough Sleep.

Getting seven to nine hours of sleep every night is clutch for weight loss. It regulates your hormones, keeps your from going into Cookie Monster mode when you spot treats in the break room, squashes stress hormones, and fuels your trips to the gym. But, TBH, getting a full eight hours is not always an option if you're clocking long hours at work. 

That doesn't mean your weight-loss goals are totally doomed though! You just need to make a few adjustments to your life to boost your energy and diminish the effects of a sucky sleep schedule. 

Try these tweaks and start losing weight no matter how little sleep you're getting. 

You know that high-intensity interval training burns serious calories, but they can backfire if you haven't been hitting the sack. These workouts can actually hinder fat loss because they increase the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your already stressed-out, sleep-deprived bod, says Erica Suter, C.S.C.S. What's more, since you need lots of energy to get through a HIIT workout, you'll get less out of it.

Instead, stick to less-taxing strength workouts, lifting moderate-to-heavy weight and taking breaks. Though you're not working as intensely, focusing on multi-join movements, like squats, deadlifts, pullups, pushups, dips, rows, and lunges will help you boost your metabolism and burn more calories, says Albert Matheny, R.D., C.S.C.S., co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab and Promix Nutrition advisor.

Let's be clear: If you swear by p.m. workouts, but caffeine keeps you up at night, skip this tip. But otherwise, a little caffeine before exercising gives you stamina, say Matheny. "It's also been shown to help make exercise feel easier, so you'll work out longer and harder," agrees Karen Ansel, R.D., author of Healing Superfoods for Anti-Aging: Stay Younger, Live Longer.

 A 12-ounce cup of strong coffee delivers all the caffeine you need for a pre-workout boost; tea—whether green or black—doesn't have enough caffeine to make a difference. Skip the added sweeteners and milky espresso drinks, which can add back as many calories as you'll burn. Try experimenting on the timing to see what works best for you, says Ansel. You can start by sipping your coffee 30 minutes before your workout and work your way to five minutes before you work out to find your perfect timing.

Though some experts say that skipping exercise altogether while trying to lose weight can be okay, Alex Caspero, R.D encourages her clients to get at least 10 minutes of light to moderate activity (meaning you can speak a few sentences to a few words while working out). A short period of walking, jogging, or doing some light yoga can help you burn calories, improve your mood, and self-confidence. "Plus, you usually end up working out longer because it feels good," she says. "You can easily commit to 10 minutes."

Home cooking gives you control over what's going into each bite. And if you strategically stock your pantry, making your own meals isn't as exhausting as it sounds. Fill your kitchen with healthy, non-perishable staples like canned soup, frozen vegetables, frozen meat, and easy-to-cook whole grains, like brown rice and quinoa, says Caspero. You can easily turn those ingredients into a stir-fry or warm grain bowl in under 30 minutes, she says.

Research has shown that when we're tired we're much more likely to overeat, so choosing foods that keep you full between meals is key. So when you've got the munchies, grab a mix of high-quality protein, fat, and fiber, which slow digestion and give you a sustained energy boost, she says. Think almonds, walnuts, hardboiled eggs, and veggies dipped in hummus, says Isabel Smith, R.D.

Got to have something sweet? Reach for a whole piece of fruit. "The fiber from the fruit slows down the release of its sugars," says Ansel.

Spacing out your meals and snacks every two to four hours keeps your appetite and calories in check, says Ansel. "If you don't eat often enough, you're bound to get overly hungry and eat too much at your next meal," she says. "But if you're nibbling too frequently, it's hard to control calories."

Dehydration saps your mood and energy, making your feel tired and more prone to reach for comfort foods for a pick-me-up, says Ansel. What's more, downing a couple of glasses before a meal has been shown to help people eat less. Aim to drink at least 72 ounces of water every day, and another eight ounces for every 30 minutes you workout, she says.

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Weight Loss Tips For Shift Workers

Many people work overnight shifts. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 15 million Americans work full-time on evening shifts, night shifts, rotating shifts, or other irregular schedules. Unfortunately, shift work can make it harder to lose weight. But by taking steps to accommodate your erratic schedule, you can slim down successfully.

Shift work disrupts your circadian rhythms, which are the physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle (think of it as a clock) within your body. Circadian rhythms are directed by environmental cues such as sunlight, darkness, and temperature. People who work night shifts often experience disruption of their circadian rhythms, which affects their sleeping and eating patterns. Because of circadian rhythm disorders, people who do shift work can have higher rates of heart disease and mental health conditions such as depression. Shift workers are also more likely than 9-5 workers to be overweight or obese.

Maintaining a healthy weight is a bit harder for shift workers for several reasons. Shift working requires you to sleep during the day and work during the night, forcing you to go against your body's natural rhythm. As a result, your metabolism can slow down, which reduces your body's calorie and fat burning potential. Shift workers may also eat more because their mealtimes get mixed up. And if they don't get enough sleep, exhaustion may negatively impact the action of their hunger and satiety hormones. It can also be more difficult for shift workers to get the exercise they need, and it may be harder for them to schedule stress-relief techniques into their daily life. If you're a shift worker, you can optimize your weight-loss success by taking these steps.

Watch your food intake

It's tempting to snack on sweets, chips, and other junk food, especially when you're up in the middle of the night working while most of the rest of the world is fast asleep. Try really hard to resist those temptations and stick with diet-approved meals and snacks. Pack meals and snacks at home, and take them to work in a cooler so you're not a prisoner of your environment, getting stuck trying to make healthy meals out of vending machine fare.

Schedule your meals

Eat breakfast within an hour of waking and eat dinner at least 3 hours before bed. An overnight worker may have breakfast at 2 p.m., lunch at 7 p.m., and dinner at 2 a.m., with snacks spread out in-between. Figure out the meal schedule that works best for you and stick to it every day, even if you're not working. And resist the urge to grab a big greasy breakfast after work! Not only will it pile on hundreds of excess calories, but it will also interfere with your sleep and slow down your metabolism.

Schedule your sleep

Do your best to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep at the same time every day. This can help minimize the impact of circadian rhythm disorder. Experts recommend sleeping during the day even on your days off in order to stick to a sleep schedule. This can be hard, because you end up missing social events and other things that go on during the day. But do your best to sleep at the same time each day and to get enough sleep, which is key.

Make a plan for exercise

The good news is that gyms tend to be less crowded during the day, when you're home from work. Try to exercise at about the same time each day, and for your best chance of serene, deep sleep, get the workout in at least a couple of hours before bed. Remember, exercise raises endorphin levels so it's likely that a workout will pump you up, interfering with a restful sleep experience.

Schedule relaxation

Whether you enjoy meditating, doing yoga, or engaging in other relaxation techniques, be sure to fit some kind of relaxation into each day.

Seek help if you need it

If you are having trouble sleeping or dealing with mood swings or have any other health problems related to your shift work, by all means, please see your doctor.

Adapted from Lose Your Final 15

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