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I don’t know about you, but I always have this huge to do list for the day, the week or the month. We all have different tasks that take our attention, like jobs, kids, chores, activities, friends, family, meals, school, and so much more. I know that sometimes the last thing on our minds is health and fitness goals. I don’t know about you but there are days that I just throw up my hands and say, “I don’t care about the gym today!”. I’ve been discouraged in the past when I give in to those times and don’t go for that run. I let it become something that stressed me out and I felt like I was a failure.
The biggest thing I have learned through my journey is that exercise and the gym is not the dictator when it comes to weight loss. The largest part of weight loss comes from what we eat. You could run yourself into the ground at the gym and still be gaining weight if you aren’t paying attention to your diet. It’s been proven again and again and yet there are a lot of people like me that fall into the rut. I used to love excusing my diet because I ran three miles. However, there are important things to focus on in your diet. These things will make a much bigger difference to weight loss goals than running yourself into the ground every day.
Calorie Counting
Ugh calories! Do you ever get tired of hearing about calories!? I know I do, but there is no getting around the fact that our caloric intake directly affects our weight. There are calorie calculators on every web search and app out there because this is the most important factor in the whole thing! Part of what makes this so hard is that the world has trained us to eat more in every situation. You want that tiny shake, but it costs $5 and if you pay $.40 more you can get triple the amount of ice cream. What a waste to be paying the same amount for a third of the reward. This makes sense to no one! We go out to eat and one meal at a restaurant takes us over our entire daily calories in one meal!
The only way to succeed is to change the way you think and ignore what the world is saying. Ask yourself, what is the point in eating the extra ice cream? You got the pleasure of tasting it and having that satisfaction so what benefit does it give to just have more. You have the power and control of the situation. You can make the decision to be happy with just a slice and not the whole cake.
At a restaurant change the narrative. Ask for a doggy bag up front and put half of your meal in it before you even take a bite. Take it a step further and switch out your side of mashed potatoes for steamed broccoli. Ask for your broccoli to be steamed in water instead of butter. You can ask for the meal you want to eat to obtain your weight loss goals. You don’t have to accept the high calories that are prevalent in everything on the menu. We should be able to live a normal life, eat out, have cake on our birthdays. The thing is, we definitely can have those things. But we can also do it responsibly and still keep it in an acceptable calorie range.
Use the Right Tools
I say use the right tools. Somebody cannot build a house without wood, tools, nails, etc. so if you want to build your healthy body find the tools to make you the most successful. The right tools to give you the best body you can have. In weight loss one of the next best tools to use in tandem with your diet is supplements. I LOVE my supplements! Supplements give you the ability to support your body in a natural way. When I was on Zoloft for depression it felt like I was medicated, like I was a robot. When I switched to supplements it felt so natural that I wasn’t sure if I was just happier, or if it was the supplements helping. Not taking them for a couple days was proof enough that it was the supplements doing the work. For weight loss one of my favorite options is Exipure.
Other tools would be tracking apps. Such as my fitness pal. I lost the last half of my weight on my fitness pal and lost so much faster than the first half. I didn’t pay anything and just used the free version. It was so easy, and it kept me accountable for my day-to-day food. Even days that I had a cheat meal or just had a bad day and failed miserably. I still recorded everything and could see how far I went over and how to do better going forward. It kept me accountable for everything that I was doing. I can’t tell you how much this app helped me mentally and physically.
Grams and Macros
There are plenty of us that feel we can have whatever we want and as long as we stay under calorie goals, we will be fine. That may be true to some degree or for a little bit of time. However, this could slow down or even change the way we lose weight. Your body might change but still hold on to fat in problem areas. Apps today make it so easy to track how many grams of carbs or protein that we are having. Try to keep your grams of sugar under a specific amount every day. Track what kinds of foods you are eating and eat what is going to give you the greatest chance of success. I use my fitness pal all the time when I was losing weight and to maintain my weight. Half the time I’m not calculating anything! I just scan a barcode and it does calories, grams, and macros. It’s so EASY!
I really did have great weeks where I was at the gym and doing everything I was supposed to. However, there were weeks and weeks sometimes where home, life, work, and all those things that get in the way prevented a lot of exercise. Thing is, I still lost weight and still was able to make progress to my weight loss goals. You don’t have to be the perfect gym rat to be able to accomplish a healthier lifestyle. I would love to be able to work toward becoming a gym rat myself, but in the meantime, I have control of my diet and I eat healthy. Do you have any tips for losing weight without the ability of being at the gym or being incredibly active?
Mel's Health and Fitness 