11. Say goodbye to soda: your average 12 ounce can of soda has 30-40 (depending on the beverage) grams of sugar in it. This is anywhere from 8-10 sugar packets that you’re adding to 12 ounces of liquid. And who only drinks 12 ounces? Most mediums these days are around 21 ounces – nearly two cans. One of the quickest ways to lose weight a lot faster is to eliminate soda and drink more water. Looking for a great way to kick-start this process? Tone and Tighten’s “Drink Your Water Challenge” is an excellent place!!
12. 5 Meals a day: According to the most current research in the diet and nutrition world, most people advocate getting away from three square meals a day and eating 5 much smaller meals at more regular intervals. This curves the “between meal nightmare” of the munchies and snack attacks. Granted it does take a little more planning to do it right, but keeping your diet goals in mind is going to keep your eye on the prize and help make it a reality.
13. Just MOVE! If you look for… I mean actively positively seek out and find… ways to be active throughout your day you will lose weight. Go for a walk on your lunch break. Park as far away as you can from the grocery store. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Knock out a set of 20 push ups and 30 sit ups during the commercial breaks. If you look for ways to be active I guarantee you will find them! But if you need a little more help … I’ve come up with 50 Ways To Increase Your Physical Activity to give you the boost you need.
14. Home-cookin is the best cookin: Know exactly what you’re putting in to your body by cutting the fast-food and restaurants out of your diet. Home-cooked meals can be nutritious and delicious with a little planning and preparation. Looking for some amazing healthy recipes? I know this website that has a few… check them out here.
15. Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day: So don’t skip it! Most people who skip breakfast end up eating those calories and more throughout the day. You set yourself up to be hungry early and typically eat those calories in a food that’s much worse for you. So what if you’re short on time? My all-time favorite, go-to, wonder-of-wonders in the breakfast world are our “Healthy Frozen Breakfast Burritos“. I literally have 4 in my freezer right now. Start hot and healthy and watch what it does to your days!
16. Love your veggies: Increasing vegetable intake is a great way to supplement your diet (feeling fuller because you can eat more of them) and it actually suppresses a hormone that encourages your body to store fat. Find some great new recipes and have fun making them delicious. Here are some of my favorite veggie recipes.
17. Walk more, drive less: This is a great way to simply get more activity throughout your day. Consider taking public transportation. Chances are you may have to leave a little earlier and walk 1-2 blocks to get to your destination, but it will be well worth it. The key here is to not look at it as “more time added to my commute” but instead as “a little time to get some exercise before I get to my destination”.
18. Healthy snacking: put down the chocolate and ice cream and start reaching for ______ . Now you’ll noticed a left a blank there on purpose because there is a vital key element to “healthy snacking”. That is YOU HAVE TO LIKE THE SNACK!!! I get discouraged when I read about how raisins are such a phenomenal healthy snack. Simply put – I do not like raisins. If I were to buy a bag of them because they are healthy it would absolutely be the very last thing I reach for in my cupboard and I would end up going out and buying something else before eating them. The key to healthy snacking is finding something that you can actually get excited about snacking on and then reaching for it in the cupboard. Here are a TON of my favorite healthy snack options.
19. Get more sleep: The amount of sleep we get directly affects everything from hormone levels to wakefulness to even how our body uses energy (food) we consume. Getting more sleep puts our body in a state of more relaxation where it can slow itself down and function normally. If you’ve stalled out in your fitness goals try going to bed a little earlier to see how it affects you.
20. FOLLOW TONE AND TIGHTEN!!! See the black bar at the top of your screen? That’s a place that you can sign up for my email list. I continually strive to make Tone-and-Tighten.com a true one-stop website for everything health and fitness related. You’ll find amazing healthy recipes, workouts, motivation, tips and advice to take your results to the next level and start to lose fat FASTER!
Hope you found these tips useful! As always, I love to hear from my readers. Feel free to leave me a comment below or email me at ToneandTightenFitness{at}gmail.com.
Make it happen,
Jared
By Jared Beckstrand