7 Tips To Keep Your Weight Loss On Track This Winter.

When you’re trying to lose weight, winter can be a tricky time of year to stay on track. With the cold weather peer pressuring us to spend more time indoors, eat more, and move less, it’s no surprise that this time of year is famous for tipping the scale in the wrong direction.

Just last year, researchers from Cornell University found that our weight starts to climb in October, and peaks roughly 10 days after Christmas.

It’s not so much the amount of weight gained that’s the problem (on average, a 1.3-pound increase during the season), but how long it can take to lose, say the study's researchers. While half of the weight gained by study participants came off soon after the holidays were over, the other half took more than five months to lose. 

But don’t go shopping for elastic waistbands quite yet. Just because winter weight gain can happen, it doesn’t mean it has to happen to you. By making a few savvy seasonal adjustments, you can keep your weight-loss goals on track without depriving yourself of your favorite wintry treats.

Here, seven expert-backed strategies to help you fend off cold-weather weight gain like a champ.


Related: 6 Tips To Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

USE THE FRIGID TEMPS TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

When the temperature drops, so does our motivation to exercise. Sure, snow squalls have a way of adding drama to even the simplest of errands, but they can also do your body good—activities like shoveling snow, scraping ice off your windshield, power-walking down a poorly-plowed street, or having a snowball fight with your friends or significant other can burn major calories, not to mention rev up your metabolism and promote insulin sensitivity (which can help quash sugar cravings), says Florida-based registered dietitian Alyssa Cohen, R.D.

What If You Only Ate Meat?

      

Thought I'd add this video for a bit of scientific fun if you thinking about a High Protein Diet.

Let me know what you think?

Intermittent Fasting - 6 Benefits To Be Aware Of.

If you're not familiar with intermittent fasting, it's not a diet but rather a pattern of eating. You choose a part of the day to refrain from eating, called your fasting window, and the other part of the day to eat, which is your eating window. The most common type of IF is known as the 16:8 plan, where you fast for 16 hours and you eat from noon until 8 p.m.

Intermittent fasting (IF) is gaining popularity, most notably because it can help people lose weight. That's not the only positive effect, though! Here are six common health benefits you'll experience from intermittent fasting.

Related: 5 Types of Intermittent Fasting

Weight Loss

Many people who've failed at other diets or workout programs find success with intermittent fasting. Stephanie Ferrari, a registered dietitian with Fresh Communications, said, "The formula for weight loss is actually very simple. When the number of calories you eat is less than the number of calories you burn, you will lose weight." Since you're not eating for long periods of time, there are fewer opportunities to consume calories, which is why IF helps people eat fewer calories effortlessly. Stephanie also shared a meta-analysis from 2014, which "shows that when using an IF eating pattern, people reduced bodyweight by three to eight percent over three to 24 weeks."

Both Stephanie and Dr. Luiza Petre, a weight-loss specialist and board-certified cardiologist, also note that intermittent fasting raises growth hormone levels and lowers insulin levels, both of which help burn more fat. Stephanie added, "Insulin decreases when you fast, and lower levels of insulin results in burning more fat."

"The most important benefit of fasting is increasing insulin sensitivity," Dr. Petre said. "That means that cells are able to metabolise the carbohydrates better and the doors to the fat deposits are open vs. being locked as in insulin resistance syndrome." She added that your metabolic rate increases by four to 14 percent. "Intermittent fasting will reset your body from burning sugar as fuel to burning fat."

5 Weight Loss Dinner Strategies To Keep You On Track.

No matter how dedicated you are to your weight-loss plan, dinner always seems to be the meal that throws people off, and the culprit isn’t always whatyou’re eating. Sure, you might have planned or cooked a healthy meal, but you’ve also got to consider when you’re eating, what you’re drinking, and what the rest of your day has looked like leading up to your evening meal.

 “I hear a lot of complaints from friends or new clients saying that they are ‘so good’ during the day but blow it when it is finally dinnertime,” says Brigitte Zeitlin, R.D., owner of BZNutrition. “But I ask what happened during the day they were ‘so good,’ it usually boils down to skipping breakfast, or eating too little during the day.”

Think about it—dinner comes with a few extra choices and options that can throw you off your weight-loss game. For example, you likely eat breakfast shortly after waking up, so there’s no question of timing, and at lunch, you probably don’t have alcohol (at least not on weekdays). But when it comes time for dinner, these extra variables can complicate what you thought was just your third meal of the day.

That might seem like a lot to consider for just one meal, but if you implement just a few simple strategies, you won’t have to worry about your meal affecting your waistline, and eventually, they’ll likely turn into lasting healthy habits.

AVOID EATING DINNER LATE AT NIGHT

“Late” can mean different things depending on your schedule, but the point here is to not wait so long to eat that you’re so ravenous and will scarf down way more than you actually wanted or needed for dinner, says Keri Gans, R.D., author of The Small Change Diet.

Happy New Year

Have An Fabulous 2018 and May You Achieve All Your Goals That You Have Set For The New Year. 

Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas. 

Guess I am gonna have to worry about the Xmas binge tomorrow. 

Always Remember This One Piece of Advice When It Comes To Your Weight Loss.

Making major lifestyle changes is always a tough feat to accomplish. Whether you're adopting a brand new diet, trying to get eight hours of sleep a night, or giving up alcohol for the first time, shifting to a brand new habit is far from easy. The same goes for losing weight. When you're trying to shed excess pounds, it often all boils down to a culmination of everyday choices we make. And we all know that those daily habits are the hardest ones to keep.

My weight has fluctuated over the years, but 2017 was finally the year when my weight-loss efforts stuck. I'm sure it was due to a combination of smart choices, like eating a plant-based diet and strength training more often, but much of my success can be attributed to one piece of weight-loss advice that made it so much easier to reach my goals: ignore everyone.

 Related: 8 Ways To Motivate Yourself To tart To Lose Weight

This may sound unconventional and perhaps a little wacky, but trust me, when implemented in a smart way, this instruction will give you all the tools you need to reach your own goals. Here are three reasons why this advice has helped me so much in the past.

People Will Always Comment on Your Weight-Loss Efforts