Hey there! How was your long weekend? The extra day was definitely needed this week and we took full advantage of it.  We took a road trip to London to train with some friends, followed by a massive sushi meal of course. Sunday and Monday were used for the typical weekend tasks – cleaning, cooking, training, and even a little relaxing.

The dogs got dragged out for some walks in the mornings before it got too hot, and we made an exciting trip to the mall. My cell phone contract is done next week so I had no choice but to deal with it.  I hate shopping for three things: computers, cars, and cell phones. I don’t enjoy it at all. I feel like they can always give a better deal than they’re telling you, they talk about things that make no sense to me, and it always ends up being a fair amount of money. I just want to keep my connection to the world… and the same phone number would be ideal. Anyhow, it’s done and it wasn’t too painful – good for another two years. What did I get?

I’ve been an iPhone user for a couple of years now, and just really don’t care enough to learn something different. I had no complaints with my last phone, so why mess with a good thing?? The gold is pretty, too.

I’ve been approached a lot lately for weight loss help, which is great.  I thought I would do a quick post today about my top tips for weight loss which usually blow people away.

1. Eat more (of the right foods)! Without fail, when you go on a “diet”, you cut your calories either by making super small portions. If you focus on eating healthy food, you’ll be surprised by how much food you get in a reasonable amount of calories.  2000 calories of healthy food is a lot more food than 2000 calories of junk! Plus, it’ll do much better things for your body in the way of vitamins and nutrients.
   

   Without a doubt, this is the biggest mistake people make when trying to lose weight – eating too little. Or nothing.

2. Eat frequently. Again, the common response when people try to lose weight is that they go really long periods of time without eating, thinking they’re doing a good job by reducing their calories. All this does is slows your metabolism down. Your body is built to do whatever it needs to survive.  If it thinks you won’t feed it, it’ll hold onto everything it can and store it as fat for energy. Regain it’s trust by eating frequently throughout the day (three balanced meals and two or three snacks) and it’ll trust you enough to use the food instead of storing it.
3. Eat within an hour of waking up. Overnight you’ve already gone a solid 7 – 8 hours without eating, so be sure to wake your metabolism up in the morning with good fuel. And no, just coffee is NOT breakfast.  For more info on this, check it out here.
4. Sleep! Your body needs time to recover and re-balance itself and that happens when you sleep. Sleep also helps your hormone levels balance out – especially those which regulate hunger. Getting enough sleep will also give you the energy you need to be active. Do yourself a favor and get your beauty rest!
5. Be active. Nutrition is by far the most important aspect in weight loss, being active is an added bonus and will only help speed things up.  Plus, it’s good for general health in terms of cardiovascular health, functional strength, and even bone density. Find what you love and sweat once a day!

My secret – you get to do both!

There you have it – no real “secrets” unfortunately.  Some pretty basic things to think about on a daily basis which are easy enough to do, but might go against what you think you need to do when trying to lose weight.

Any questions – use the comment box below!  I’m happy to answer!