My Personal Tips for Weight Loss and Maintenance!!

I have been getting a LOT of requests for tips and food ideas, so I'm going to list some here.

Please take these and apply them to your life.  They are tried and true and really do make all the difference in your lifestyle!

 If you have not yet done it, CLEAN OUT ALL THE JUNK DRINKS AND FOOD IN YOUR HOUSE.  Donate it to a food drive or food bank or give it to someone else if you don’t want to throw it away!

Be sure to drink HALF of your body weight in ounces!  For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, you should drink 100 ounces of water PER DAY.  Try to drink a large glass or bottle of water BEFORE your meals, that way you are more satisfied and less likely to overeat. 

Eat your meals slowly!  Take your time so that your brain has time to react to the message your stomach is sending it when it is getting full.  Remember, you want to eat until you are SATISFIED/STARTING TO GET FULL- NOT over-full or stuffed and miserable.  You want to train your body to be satisfied with NORMAL portions.  This is a process, but over time, you will become satisfied with less and less food as your stomach shrinks to normal size!

If possible, try to get some form of exercise in 4-5 days a week, at least 30 minutes.  It is perfectly fine to break it up into 10 minutes intervals, 3 times a day if you can’t physically handle it, or your schedule doesn’t allow 30 consecutive minutes.  The key is you are doing SOMETHING, and the more you can do, the better. 
There really is almost no excuse why anyone can’t at least walk for 10 minutes, 3 times a day or SOMETHING! 
Your goal needs to be to work up to a MINIMUM of 45-1 hr per day on most days.


Some recommended condiments I have tried and like: (this is all we buy for our household!)
-Hidden Valley Brand LIGHT Ranch dressing
-Kraft Brand LITE Ranch dressing
-Any brand of Fat Free Italian dressing
-Country Crock LIGHT butter
-Blue Bonnet LIGHT butter (also in sticks)
-Jif Natural Peanut Butter
-Pam non-stick cooking spray, butter flavored and olive oil flavored, store brand will work fine.  (COOK EVERYTHING IN THESE SPRAYS!  ALL VEGGIES, CHICKEN, PORK CHOPS, EVEN EGGS!  They give a great flavor without adding extra calories to your food!  Just coat it on heavy.)
-Dill relish instead of sweet relish when possible.
-Use seasonings to spice up flavor in your food without adding calories.  Be careful not to overdo the seasonings because some tend to have a high sodium content.  Mrs. Dash has some seasonings that are sodium-free.  I love just regular lemon-peeper seasoning sprinkled on my chicken, then grilled in the Pam butter flavored cooking spray.  It’s
delicious!! 
-2% cheese (sliced or shredded)  Kraft makes the best sliced cheese, and store brand 2% shredded cheese is great!
-LIGHT or fat-free sour cream.  Daisy makes the best!
-Always use 1% or 2% milk.
-Stevia is the best sweetener.  the best thing is it's all natural...it comes from Stevia plant and does not contain the brain-cell destroying chemicals saccharin and aspartame!

This is all that comes to mind right now.  If you have any specific questions or requests, email or text me!

Breaking the Cycle

Ya know how you hear people say, "Well, I struggle with my weight because it runs in my family.  We have fat genes, so I can't lose weight!"  ????

Ummm.....WRONG!  This is what I want to address today.  Because the fact is, you can do anything you really want to do, and you CAN lose weight!

How do I know this?  Because I am one of those people who has the "fat genes" in my family.  One who can simply look at food and it goes straight to my hips!  Yep, that's me.  And you know what?  I lost all my weight, because I really wanted to.

I understand first hand how frustrating it can be that some of your friends can eat whatever they want, and literally never gain an ounce!!!  I have those friends, too.  In fact, my husband is one of those people.  Imagine how irritating it must be for me!  But the fact is, that shouldn't stop you from achieving your goals.

If you have the family fat gene, you are just gonna have to BREAK THE CYCLE.  If you're ever going to change anything, you're going to have to start with yourself.  I had to start with myself.  Just about everyone in my family has weight problems, and not just a few extra pounds.  More like 50-100+ extra pounds.
I have the potential to easily be 50-100+ pounds overweight, and I was that much overweight until I made up my mind to break the cycle.  I realized that I could live a much more fulfilling, happy and enjoyable life if I changed it.  I also realize even more so now than ever, that because I broke that cycle, that my kids will most likely not struggle with weight, because I am teaching them from an early age and instilling in them good, healthy habits.

I believe that a major reason we see so much adult obesity is because it started in their families as children. 
Parents are allowing children to eat whatever they want, not giving limits on fats, junk food, and sugar.  Not knocking any parents at all, but I just think they are not really aware that they are setting their kids of for life-long weight struggles, and not just that, bad health problems! 

Do you know that more than one-third of U.S. adults (35.7%) are obese?
And that obesity-related conditions include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer, some of the leading causes of preventable death.

We can put a stop to this.  One thing I have heard pretty often is this:  It costs too much to eat healthy, junk is so much cheaper.  So you're telling me that your life and family's life is of that little importance to you?

In 2008, medical costs associated with obesity were estimated at $147 billion; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.  So is it really that much more expensive to eat healthy?  No, it's not.  In fact, it's much cheaper, in many ways.  You either pay with your life or pay with your money.

I KNOW that losing weight is hard, but it is SO worth it.  When you look better, you feel better, and when you feel better, you perform better....in everything in your life!  You enjoy life better!

In this blog, you can find the tools to help you lose weight and keep it off for life. 

Remember you have to do it for yourself.  No one else can do it for you! 

So get off here and get busy changing some habits in your life and get on the road to a healthier and happier you!!!

You can also join my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/AdvocareTeamElite
for meal ideas, tips and encouragement for your weight loss and maintenance journey!

Remember to feel free to contact me if you have any questions, need direction, or if you think I can help you in any way to become a healthier and happier YOU!