3 Simple Habits To Do Everyday To Help You Lose Weight.

Losing weight doesn't feel great when you only focus on restricting your diet and exercising like crazy. It doesn't have to be that hard, though! Incorporating simple changes into your daily life can yield HUGE results. Here are three painless weight-loss strategies you can use to reach your goals.

Add, Don't Subtract

You probably won't lose weight pounding piece after piece of pizza and tubs of ice cream, so you're making a healthy decision by ditching these kinds of foods. A simple mind shift can make all the difference in you being able to stick with limiting those foods and, more importantly, being happy about it. Don't think of all the foods you can't or shouldn't have — discover and rejoice in all the new and healthy foods you can eat.

Think it's impossible to get psyched about veggies? Learning how to make nutritious meals more exciting will be key to this. Skip the boring bowl of lettuce, cucumber, and carrots and make a kale, white bean, and maple-roasted butternut squash salad instead. Take a cooking class or play around with recipes to find healthier versions of the foods you like. For example, lasagne, made with tofu, but you'd never know! And while grocery shopping, choose produce that's in season, because their flavors will inspire you to eat more fruits and veggies.

4 Things To Try To Make Losing Weight Will Feel Much Easier

Whether you have five or 50 pounds to lose doesn't matter — losing weight is hard! But it doesn't have to be. 

Make your weight-loss journey easier and more enjoyable by following these four tips. Heck, you might even lose weight faster!

Drink Up

Keeping a water bottle nearby at all times is an absolute must because drinking a ton of water (it doesn't necessarily have to be a gallon!) fills you up, so you eat less. Drink at least eight ounces first thing in the morning (with a little lemon or grapefruit is great!), drink at least eight ounces every time you sit down to a meal, and also reach for water in between meals when you start feeling hungry for a snack. 

Dehydration symptoms like headaches and low energy can trick you into thinking you're hungry when all you really need is a few huge gulps of water. If you have a hard time remembering to drink throughout the day, set reminders on your phone.


Related: Do Tea and Coffee Count Towards Your Water Intake

New Nordic Diet? What Is It.

You can't turn on the TV or open a magazine these days without being bombarded by the miraculous health benefits of the latest dieting fad. Most of these diets are not only ridiculous (I'm looking at you, Hollywood Cookie Diet), they also aren't sustainable.

 For a new way of eating to truly transform your health, it has to be something you can stick with; something that becomes your new way of life. Nobody can eat cereal or drink chalky shakes for two meals a day for the rest of their life — not happily, anyway.

In my experience as a nutritionist, the diets that actually help people get healthy and stay healthy are those that still allow you to choose from a wide variety of foods and are made up of mostly real, whole foods. There is a relatively new diet making the rounds, called the New Nordic Diet, that fits both of these criteria and looks pretty dang tasty, to boot.

What Is the New Nordic Diet?

5 Foods You Think Are Healthy, But Aren't

             


Check out this video. Let me know what you think about some of these foods?

Golden Rules Of Fat Loss Explained By An Expert.

Never run again — lift more instead! Can getting fit really be that simple?

We asked Sarah Chadwell, NASM certified personal trainer and natural bodybuilder, just how you could skip running and still look like a gym goddess. She said that there are more effective training practices to burn fat and build strength. "You can cardio yourself to death and still have the same flat figure," said Chadwell. "Or you can follow the golden rules of weight loss, never run again, and have a lean, sexy, curvaceous physique."

Here are the golden rules of fat loss that Chadwell lives by:

Counting Macros For Weight Loss.

Are you finding yourself counting calories, sticking to your numbers, and even still not seeing results? The problem might be not about the number of calories, but the kind of calories.

We chatted with certified personal trainer and nutrition coach Carrie McMahon, author of the e-book Why You Should Count Macronutrients, Not Calories.

With a life revolving around calorie counting and uncontrollable cheat days (sound familiar?), McMahon was stuck in a restrict-and-binge cycle that she couldn't seem to escape. She soon realised that in order to make a change in her health, she needed to change her approach to food — so she ditched the calorie counting in favour of a less mainstream concept: macronutrient counting.

Related: What Are Macro? And Should You Count Them For Weight Loss

6 Things That Happen To Your Body On A Ketogenic Diet.

By now, you've probably heard of the ketogenic diet, or a low-carb, high-fat diet. It’s a popular diet trend among athletes and average folk alike. (Who doesn't love the idea of eating more steak and bacon?) But what actually happens to your body when you go on the ketogenic diet?

To understand how the ketogenic diet works, you have to understand ketosis, the process by which your body is starved of glucose for fuel and must look to fat sources instead. Typically, you fuel your body by giving it glucose in the form of carbs, which can be found in flour, grains, vegetables, legumes, dairy products, and fruits.

We usually introduce a steady stream of this type of fuel into our bodies with each meal or snack, explains Pamela Nisevich Bede MS, RD, CSSD, LD. These carbohydrates are usually the body’s first choice when looking for an instant fix.

“When a carb is available, the body will naturally turn to this to make energy instead of dietary fat or stored body fat. However, when we remove carbohydrates from our diet, our bodies begin to break down fat and turn to a fuel source in the form of ketones, which is more efficient but generally underutilized,” explains Bede.

Ketones are a substance produced by the liver when the body breaks down fat for energy, which are then released into the blood. Your body's cells use ketones to power everyday activities. When there’s a buildup of ketones in the blood and you’re switching gears into an ketogenic state, your body changes in some incredible ways.

Related: What Is A Ketogenic Diet