8 Things You Can Do To Cut The Calories

Since I have changed my lifestyle to replacing junk food with mostly nutrients and have had success with dropping weight at a good rate, I can officially give some health advice!  With that being said, I will tell you all right now that I'm not the type of person to deprive myself!  If I can find a healthy alternative to the things I absolutely love to eat, I will do it.  Granted, there are sacrifices that I had and will have to continue to make for the rest of my life -- maybe some of those things that I consider sacrifices now will be things that I can eventually adapt too.

But anyway, lets get to it!

Go out to eat less, cook at home more -- It takes 1000 sit up's just to burn off the calories in a small fry.  That's no burger, no soda.  Make healthier choices when you do go out to eat.  I love Subway!  I've been staying away from a lot of bread, but their salads are just as delicious!  Cooking at home is more time consuming.  In most cases, it can be very time consuming, especially when you're first starting out.  However, if you care about yourself enough, you will find the time.  Just like everything else you find time for in your life, you can find time for this as well.  If you want it bad enough, you will find a way.  I promise.  It gets easier the more you do it.  I promise that as well.

Discover healthy alternatives -- Like I mentioned before, I'm not the type of person to deprive myself.  Personally, if I feel like I'm restricted, I'm more likely to give up.  So, I discover new alternatives to the things I absolutely love to eat and guess what?  Those alternatives are completely guilt free!  You might be sacrificing a bit of taste, but remember, you're replacing all those "bad" things with good!

Drink plenty of water --You should at least try to drink 8 cups of water a day.  This is my biggest challenge right now because I absolutely hate the fact that doing so makes me have to pee very often!  Think of it this way;  When you pee, you are flushing out calories and bad toxins!  Also, drinking two cups of water a day alone boosts your metabolism by 30%.  Oh yeah, and most people mistake being thirsty for hungry.  Water keeps you feeling full.  To prevent over eating, consider drinking a cup of water before you eat.  Does that motivate you yet?

Count your calories -- You wouldn't believe how much you will realize that you are over eating by a lot.  To be honest, I realized that I use to eat 3 days worth of calories in one day.  How embarrassing is that?  It's really not that difficult to do.  It may seem like a pain to do, but again, once you're a week or two in, it gets much easier.

Stay out of the isles at the grocery store -- Okay.  So I don't completely do this.  However, I have cut back how much time I spend in the isles by almost 90%.  Almost everything in the isles of the grocery store is bad for you.  Think about it.  On the outer perimeter of the isles, you have meats, seafood, dairy, veggies, and fruit.  I go into the isles for my 100 calorie popcorn bags w/ light butter, Special K brownies, water (because my faucet water tastes dingy), Zevia (Stevia made diet soda), Arctic Zero (ice cream), PB2 (peanut butter), seasonings, vinegar, frozen vegetables, frozen fruit, and low carb tortilla wraps.  Light Progresso soups are okay, too.  Canned vegetables are okay if there is no salt added to them.  Believe it or not, I've also reduced the amount of time that I have spent in the grocery store all together and saved money as well!

Get up off your butt and exercise -- This seems like a rather daunting task.  Just because you are required to "walk" at your job, doesn't compensate for proper exercise.  In order to really burn calories, you have to burn more than you consume.  Even if you only start out with slow pace cardio, 30 minutes a day.  A little consistent movement is better than nothing.

No eating 4 hours before you go to bed -- That's right!  No more late night snacking!  Your body slows down the more it gets to the time that you go to bed because you are not engaging in as much physical activity before you go to bed.  I stop eating after 8 p.m.  You can still drink water though!

Get adequate sleep --  Did you know that you burn calories when you sleep?  That's right!  Someone my weight will burn 800 something calories while sleeping, assuming that is 8 hours of deep sleep.  The less you weigh, the less calories you will burn while sleeping.

For every year that you sit back and regret what you didn't do, saying things like, "Would have, should have, could have..." , you would be that much closer to your goals.  It shouldn't just be about losing weight, it should be about being healthy.  When you change your mindset to making it about being healthy, losing weight comes naturally.

If you have any questions for me, leave them down below!  I look forward to hearing from you!