Stop the 3 "S's" for weight loss

Losing Weight is pretty attainable. Eat less and workout more. The unfortunate problem is that maintaining weight loss is not so attainable for many people. I've lost and gained more weight in my life than I'd really like to count. If a person focuses on changing habits and not losing weight quickly, then that person is much much more likely to keep the weight off. Do you remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. The hare in his quickness didn't win the race but the turtle even though he was slower crossed the finish line first. There are many promises of "get thin quick" but choosing healthy habits will bring long term weight loss. One of the best benefits of choosing health is being slim and trim. Stop chasing the benefit and go for a healthy life. Here are 3 "S's" to stop when choosing healthy habits.

STOP:
1. Snacking: We've been taught that to have a mid-morning or afternoon snack, to keep us from over eating at lunch and dinner. This is true if we do two things. One, choose a small portion; and it needs to be real food like a half a piece of fruit or 8 raw almonds. The sad fact is, people underestimate the calories in snacks and they tend to overdo, especially late at night. Snacking can add anywhere to 200 to over a thousand extra calories. That's fine if your are a body builder and you need the extra calories, but if you are trying to lose weight this will blow your plan daily. Your body will adjust to not snacking and then when you've reached your goal weight then you can reevaluate snacking and see if that's something that you want to add.

2. Sugar, refined. The average American consumes about 2-3lbs of sugar a week. Refined sugars like sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar) and high fructose corn syrup are being added to most foods in the American diet, such as ketchup, bread, peanut butter, chips, mayo, spaghetti sauce and a ton of other processed food. You have to make a conscious decision to avoid refined sugars or you will eat them without knowing. Sugar spikes your insulin, so after you eat it, you just get hungry again; which starts a vicious cycle. Spiking your insulin also causes your body to store fat. There are also scary health issues with eating sugar such as aggravated asthma, type 2 diabetes, mood swings, it increases the chance for high blood pressure, heart disease, arthritis, and refined sugar suppresses the immune system.

To clarify, I'm not saying take out all sweeteners in your life but become aware. Honey is a great sweetener full of minerals and nutrients. It still has calories so be careful about portions. Stevia is natural, has fiber and zero calories and best of all tastes great. Xylitol is used around the world to sweeten gum and mints (except the U.S.) and has great health benefits such as fighting tooth decay and it tastes great as well. You don't have to live a sweetless existence but know your sugars. Avoid all chemical sugar free substitutes too. Your body doesn't know what to do with it, so it processes it as toxins which is stored as fat.

3. Seconds. Choose to weigh out portions and then chew slowly when you eat. Going back for seconds can double your calories for that meal. If you eat slowly your stomach will register that it is hungry and you won't overeat. I hate this one because I am a fast eater. I really have had to make a conscious decision to put my fork down between bites and try to chew fifty times. Sometimes I make it to fifty, sometimes I don't, but I do notice that I take longer to eat and feel fuller at the end of the meal. Stop when you're still hungry if you need to. your stomach will catch up and signal to the brain that you've eaten and the hunger will go away after about twenty minutes or so. Enjoy and savor the meal in front of you and drink plenty of water when you are done eating.

It takes a while to develop a habit. There are studies that show that habits are developed somewhere between twenty one days and six months. Don't beat yourself up in the process, just don't give up either. Renew your mindset to live with healthy habits and you can excuse yourself from the yo-yo diet, the starve yourself and gorge lifestyle.