Voy a comprometerme con mi rutina de entrenamiento

Cuando comienzas por primera vez una rutina para la pérdida de peso, probablemente estarás muy motivado para alcanzar tus objetivos. Un mes o dos después probablemente hayas perdido esa motivación lo que hará que entre en conflicto con tus resultados deseados. Aquí tienes 10 tips para que te mantengas motivado en tu camino de la pérdida de peso.

1. Hazlo por las razones correctas

Asegúrate que tienes razones extremadamente importantes por las que deseas perder peso. Verte mejor siempre es agradable, pero cuando lo ves desde el punto de vista de que es una necesidad de salud o incluso como algo que te permitirá pasar más tiempo con tu familia y amigos (durante todo el camino), puede que haga que sea mucho más fácil tener en mente tus objetivos. Darte cuenta de todas las formas positivas en que tu pérdida de peso puede mejorar tu vida es crucial para poder lograr tus objetivos.

2. Hazlo público

Hacerlo público es una forma fantástica que te ayudará a ser responsable cuando intentas perder peso. Una muy buena manera de hacerlo es usando una plataforma como Challenge.com donde puedes ingresar todas tus actividades diarias y esencialmente tener un diario en línea que otros miles que también intentan perder peso pueden ver. Otra muy buena forma es notificar a tus amigos y familiares de lo que estás tratando de lograr. Si no quieres “publicarlo”, cuéntale a algunos amigos cuáles son tus objetivos y lleva un diario personal de lo que estás haciendo todos los días para acercarte a tus objetivos. Cuando estás luchando contigo mismo puedes leer esto y te darás cuenta de que si un día no es tan fácil como otros, has llegado muy lejos y puedes continuar en este camino.

3. Visualiza lo que has logrado en tu pérdida de peso

Verte con una mejor forma y más saludable en general puede ser una herramienta muy poderosa. Será la fuerza que te mantenga en el camino todos los días. La clave es hacer que esta visualización sea lo más realista posible. Como a todos nos encanta tener una forma “perfecta”, a veces eso no es realista.  Vete a ti mismo como lo que quieres ser y lo que en realidad puedes ser.

4. Crea un Plan de Acción

La pérdida de peso no sucede sólo por ir al gym unos días durante una semana o sólo por tratar de comer mejor. Necesitas un plan de acción paso a paso si lo estás tomando en serio. Esto podría implicar identificar 4-5 días a la semana en los que vas a hacer ejercicio, pero llévalo al siguiente nivel – identifica qué ejercicios harás en el gimnasio. En cuanto a la nutrición, identifica exactamente lo que comerás todos los días. Cuando tienes planeado lo que comerás el siguiente día o semana, es más fácil no desviarte del camino.

5. Celebra las pequeñas victorias

Digamos que tu objetivo para la pérdida de peso es perder 30 libras durante los siguientes 4 ó 5 meses. Como esto es un objetivo noble y toma un periodo largo de tiempo, celebra todas las pequeñas victorias que logras en el camino. Celebra cada 5 libra que pierdas y cada tamaño de pantalón que reduces – hay un sin límite de victorias pequeñas que puedes celebrar.

6. Haz ajustes en el camino

Tratar de ceñirte a un plan de acción durante el curso de un par de meses puede ser difícil y puede que te des cuenta que algunas cosas que pensaste inicialmente que necesitabas hacer no son necesarias en un cierto punto. Esto puede implicar agregar días adicionales de gimnasio, agregar/quitar ciertos ejercicios en los que te estás concentrando o ajustar tu dieta a necesidades específicas. Por ejemplo, si sientes que un Vi-Shake en el almuerzo no es suficiente alimento para ti y terminas comiendo alimentos no saludables adicionales en ese momento, cambia la dieta. Quizá puedas usar un licuado para el desayuno o comerte un snack nutritivo, como una Nutra-Cookie, con tu licuado en el almuerzo. Tu plan de acción no tiene que ser tan rígido, las cosas suceden en la vida y necesitas poder adaptarte y cambiar durante el camino de la pérdida de peso.

7. Evalúa tu Plan de Acción

Como lo mencionamos anteriormente, existen cambios constantes que suceden en la vida de las personas mientras que intentan perder peso. Cada semana mira tu plan de acción para identificar qué puedes hacer mejor y quizá algo que necesites bajar un poco. Las acciones como éstas pueden ayudarte a estar concentrado y en realidad incrementarás tus puntos débiles que no dejan que alcances tu objetivo.

8. Un día a la vez

La pérdida de peso se parece más a una maratón que a una carrera. No veas esto como que debes hacer todo en un solo día. Cada día que sigues tu plan de acción, estás un días más cerca de tu objetivo. Aprende de tus experiencias todos los días y haz que el siguiente día sea mejor. Se trata de progresar todos los días.

9. Utiliza tu sistema de ayuda

Tus amigos y familiares están allí para ti en todos los eventos que suceden en tu vida, entonces porqué no estarían allí cuando tratas de perder peso? Muchas veces la gente cree que tienen que hacer esto solos, pero en realidad, la gente que más éxito tiene a menudo lo atribuye a su increíble sistema de ayuda. Cuando tienes un mal día no temas contarle a tus amigos y familiares lo que estás pasando y pedirles que te sugieran cómo puedes mejorar estos problemas.

10. Concéntrate en más que cambios físicos

Mientras que la pérdida de peso es un objetivo donde verás una diferencia física, no olvides los cambios mentales que conllevan a esto. La gente que pierde peso generalmente se siente mejor. Puede mejorar la autoestima o puede que te des cuenta de que ahora eres más sociable. Las mejoras mentales pueden satisfacerte igual que las mejoras físicas – no lo olvides!

The post 10 Tips para Estar Concentrado en tus Objetivos de Pérdida de Peso appeared first on The Challenge.

Sometimes we get into a stage of our life where we are comfortable in our skin, relationship, and even our growing waistline. Now this stage is different for everyone.  Some people hit this stage when they are overweight but their day-to-day life has not been affected by this weight.  While others can be there in the middle of their journey when they have lost a good bit of weight and look great, constantly getting compliments.  At this stage you probably have more to lose but have stalled working out and feel ok with “cheating” here and there because you want to lose but at the same time want to splurge.

This is completely different than a plateau. A plateau is when you are doing everything right and there is no change, while a comfort spot is where you just really stop trying or only try half the time.

So how do you recognize a comfort zone?

-Your weight fluctuates up and down by 5-8 lbs. and you think nothing of it

-You become ok with having sugary drinks when you used to say no

-You eat out more or give in to junk food

-You slack off in your workouts

-You begin to spend more time on the couch and computer than up and doing things

* The pants that used to be loose are now harder to button or feel snug

* Procrastination has settled in on not just fitness but also work, job and food

* Loss of energy

Sound familiar? If so, don’t be alarmed there are some tips or getting back in action.

1) Revisit your why!  When you first started your journey why were you trying to lose weight? Was it to get healthy, a vacation, wedding, or just self-esteem?  This goes for people that have not started yet too!  Why do you need to get going?

2) Set Goals! These goals need to be not just about weight, but also about your life, job, emotions, and personal life. Figure out how each one can affect the others.

3) Create a live list!  That’s right not a bucket list but a LIVE list!  Young or old you need to know what you crave, what you desire to do in the next 60 days, 1 year, or 5 years down the road.

4) Evaluate your Values- think about those emotions you want to feel everyday. Freedom, confidence, beauty, life, strength, health, passion, love, and the list goes on and on but you should be able to nail down at least 7 that would be key for you to feel like you had a fulfilled day.

5) Take those values and question whether you are living that right now. If not, what is standing in your way of that?  Sometimes it’s your job, your family, or it may even be your weight.

Don’t be afraid to dig deep on these topics.  Take notes and just write down everything that comes to mind. Walk away for 20 minutes and then come back and look at it.  These questions should make you uncomfortable- maybe even sad or make you cry.  If it does not, you’re not digging deep enough.

It all starts with getting uncomfortable with being comfortable! 

The post 5 Tips to Get Uncomfortable with Being Comfortable appeared first on The Challenge.

When it comes to losing weight, being hungry is not a requirement. Check out these quick and easy ways to ease your hunger pangs.

• HYDRATE. It’s easy to mistake dehydration for hunger. So keep a big glass or bottle of water with you at all times and drink up! For variety, jazz it up with lemons, oranges, cucumbers or mint

• BRUSH UP. Brushing your teeth after meals is not only good for oral hygiene, but it rids your mouth of nagging food particles that say, “keep eating.” Brushing provides closure to your meal and a nice clean mouth

• MAKE A PLAN. Organize your daily meals and snacks, and enjoy (in moderation) in 3–4 hour increments. Using a Challenge Kit takes the guesswork out of planning out your meals. Pack what you need for work to avoid temptation at the vending machines

• USE VI-TRIM. ViSalus Vi-Trim® is a patent pending drink mix that helps calm hunger between meals to help take some of the stress out of dieting. It works well for between meal support, mixed into a beverage or Vi-Shape® shake or blended in other foods like cottage cheese

• EAT NATURALLY. Avoid processed foods and stick to fruit, veggies, nuts, lean meat, fish and eggs. Your body will gradually accept this as the status quo and stop craving sweets and greasy stuff

The post Curb Cravings Now appeared first on The Challenge.

Burn fat, shape your lean body and keep weight loss off for good with consistent daily habits. The main flaw with quick weight loss programs is that you can’t continue those programs for very long. So, you will likely regain the weight.

Here are 10 habits for you to keep so that you’ll never have to worry about weight regain:

1. A positive attitude. Everything goes better for you when you are optimistic each day. A positive attitude does wonders for your health. Make your best days even better and make your bad days better by adjusting your attitude.

2. Get a healthy, managed meal plan and comply with it at least 90% of the time. If you are trying to burn fat and lose weight, nutrition is critical. Eat mainly whole, natural foods that have one ingredient–the food itself. For example, fruits and vegetables have one ingredient.

I don’t ever encourage any diet that significantly omits one of the macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, proteins). Your body’s metabolism needs all 3 macronutrients to operate properly. So, diets that are very low in carbohydrates or fats will not help your body in the long-term.

Also, what you eat plays an important role in brain function.

3. Unless your daily nutrition is perfect, you need to take dietary supplements. Multivitamins, fish oil and vitamin D3 are examples of common supplements that people take. Consult with your doctor before taking dietary supplements.

Spend your hard-earned money to buy whole, natural foods for your meal plan.

4. Drink plenty of water. This will help you limit sugary drinks that pack on belly fat. Your body is about two-thirds water. Drink water and unsweetened drinks (like tea) most of the time. It will help you eat less and help your body function better.

Drink about half your weight in water every day. So, if you weigh 140 pounds, drink 70 ounces of water each day.

Remember, certain foods contain large amounts of water. This counts toward your water intake. For instance watermelon is about 90% water and lettuce has about 95% water. Some meats contain as much as 70% water.

Water also helps your body flex muscles, remove wastes, cushion joints, carry nutrients and oxygen to your cells and helps convert food into energy (although water doesn’t provide energy).

You may be experiencing dehydration if you have dry lips/mouth, dizziness, headache, nausea or muscle cramps. When you exercise, drink about a cup of water every 15 minutes.

5. Regular exercise is critical. Physical exercise helps you burn fat, manage body weight, regulate stress and is necessary for maintaining good blood circulation to the body and brain. It also can significantly reduce the risk diseases such as heart attack, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

I recommend weight training 3 days a week and short, interval cardio sessions 2-3 days a week.

6. Staying active as much as possible is very underrated. It helps relieve stress, improves blood flow and improves breathing. Sedentary lifestyles are a huge problem in society. We’ve gone from being physically active laborers (such as farmers) to having sit-down jobs. So, if you have a “sit-down” job, I would recommend that you move more. When you sit, your fat-burning enzymes basically shut down.

Try to stand as much as you can during the day and take walking breaks to activate your fat-burning enzymes. Any activity is good to go along with your regular workouts. All movement burns calories.

7. Learn something every day to help you live a balanced life. I love fitness. But, there are experts in health, business, medicine, and other life disciplines who help me in other parts of my life. Read books, go to a seminar, listen in on webinars/teleconferences, follow experts on Twitter and Facebook, etc. There is really no excuse for not helping yourself improve.

8. Limit prolonged stress in your life. A certain amount of stress is good for us to live efficiently. Too much stress…well, you know the answer. In a Mayo Clinic article, “Stress Basics,” it states:

“When your brain perceives a threat, it signals your body to release a burst of hormones to fuel your capacity for a response. This has been labeled the “fight-or-flight” response.

Once the threat is gone, your body is meant to return to a normal relaxed state. Unfortunately, the nonstop stress of modern life means that your alarm system rarely shuts off. Without stress management, all too often your body is always on high alert. Over time, high levels of stress lead to serious health problems.”

My recommendations for helping control stress:

–Regular exercise

–Laugh often and don’t take yourself too seriously

–Learn to relax by using tools such as music, deep breathing, walking, massage, meditation, etc.

–Have a grateful attitude

–Focus on positives and not negatives

–Disassociate yourself from negative energy vampires in your life

 9. Get enough sleep–every night if possible. Lack of sleep affects memory, concentration and health. Your metabolism won’t work properly if you don’t sleep enough. Your workouts will also suffer. In a Medical News Today article, “Getting A Good Night’s Sleep,” the World Association of Sleep Medicine (WASM), reports that sleep problems add up to a global epidemic that affects 45% of the world’s population.

“Insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), restless legs syndrome (RLS), and sleep deprivation significantly impact physical, mental and emotional health, in addition to affecting work performance and personal relationships,” WASM said.

10. Get professional advice if needed. When was the last time you had a full physical exam? If you can’t remember, it’s been too long. Are your fat loss and weight loss efforts failing again and again? You may need a personal trainer to help you visualize success and individualize your fat loss and nutrition program.

It’s hard to change your body all by your yourself. Research proves that you have a better chance to succeed if you have social support. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, which could come in the form of a trainer, spouse or friend.

The post 10 Tips to Burn Fat and Prevent Weight Regain appeared first on The Challenge.

These days everyone is looking to cut a few calories here and there. Below are 10 simple ways to cut 100 calories without making much of a sacrifice.

1. Select nonfat or 1% milk instead of whole milk

2. Use a nonstick skillet and cooking spray in place of butter or margarine to prepare your eggs

3. Instead of adding olive oil to your broccoli, simply use some Parmesan cheese to add flavor

4. Choose water packed tuna instead of tuna packed in oil

5. Consume 1% cottage cheese in place of regular cottage cheese

6.  Remove the skin from chicken before eating

7. Swap regular soda for sparkling water with a bit of lemon or orange     

8. Add a little 100% fruit juice to sweeten fresh brewed iced tea in place of sugar

9. Try baked chips in place of the regular variety

10. When eating out, request that the breadbasket be removed

And there you have it! None of these are life-altering changes, but each can assist you in reaching your weight loss goals.

What are your favorite ways of cutting a few calories out of your daily diet?

The post 10 Simple Ways to Cut 100 Calories appeared first on The Challenge.

While Americans seem more health-conscious than ever, our eating and exercise habits still leave a lot of room for improvement. According to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), only one in seven American adults get regular physical activity and consume five servings of fruits and vegetables every day. The New England Journal of Medicine reported in a 2011 study that weight loss and exercise combined greater improvement in physical function than weight loss or exercise alone. Another study led by Dr. Anne McTiernan of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle found that a healthy diet and regular exercise done together are more effective at helping women lose weight than diet or exercise alone.

Start Slow and Increase Gradually

“This study shows that you get the biggest bang for your buck by combining a healthy weight-loss diet – which in this case meant reducing calories by cutting fat intake and boosting the consumption of low-calorie foods– with regular, moderate-intensity aerobic exercise,” McTiernan says. “You don’t need to be an athlete; walking, biking or gym cardio machines all work well. Start slowly and gradually increase to 45 minutes of activity a day, more if you are able.”

It’s obvious that a healthy diet and exercise is the ideal combination for weight loss, physical fitness and lower risk of chronic diseases. But because so few of us incorporate both into our lifestyles, America is encountering a major health crisis. Rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other health problems are at an all-time high.

While some people can lose weight by only restricting caloric intake, the results are unlikely to last without physical activity. And to keep a body healthy and able to exercise, a healthy diet is necessary. The two factors of healthy eating and exercise are vital components of reaching and maintaining a healthy weight and a healthy body, and of lowering risks for disease and other health complications.

For adults, the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, a publication by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recommends aerobic as well as muscle-strengthening activity regularly.  For example, combine two-and-a-half hours of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (such as vigorous walking) every week with muscle-strengthening activities two days a week. The CDC offers more suggestions on physical activity at www.cdc.gov. According to the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, regular exercise can not only control weight and fight disease; it can also improve your mood, boost energy, promote better sleep and enhance your sex life. And the Journal of the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry reports that exercise can improve mental health by reducing anxiety, depression and negative moods by improving self-esteem and cognitive function. With a myriad of physical activities to choose from, you can pick one that’s best for you. Better yet, choose several, such as jogging, swimming and Zumba, for example, and rotate to prevent boredom and burnout. Experts recommend switching up your routine every 12 weeks, making sure you vary exercise type, frequency and intensity.

Just don’t forget the other part of the equation. Exercising without a healthy diet is futile. To benefit the most from exercising, you need to feed your body everything it needs to respond in the best way to physical activity. In order to build muscle, you need protein and amino acids. You also need complex carbohydrates to have enough energy to exercise. According to the CDC, adults should consume whole grains, poultry, fish, beans, eggs and nuts in addition to five daily servings of fruits and vegetables. You should also consume a diet that is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, sodium and added sugars. At the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s www.choosemyplate.com, you can get a personalized eating plan that will work best for your age, gender, body type and amount of physical activity.

Reducing food intake alone may provide short-term weight-loss results. Exercising without supporting your body with a healthy diet can lead to health problems. For a winning combination, incorporate a healthy diet with regular physical activity. Make these two vital components a permanent part of your lifestyle and watch every aspect of your life improve!

Source: The Challenge Magazine by Deana Nall

The post A Winning Combination: Proper Nutrition & Exercise appeared first on The Challenge.

Making small changes to your diet and daily routine can make a big difference at the end of the day. If you are striving to lose 10 pounds as a part of Project 10 or just looking to lose a few pounds for better health, there are many simple ways to accomplish this without making any life-altering changes. By cutting 500 calories each day you will be able to lose an additional pound per week!

Eat Slowly

According to a study at the University of Rhode Island, eating slowly and thoroughly chewing your food can reduce around 70-100 calories per meal. Participants in the study who chewed their food at least 20 times before swallowing found that they were able to cut the most calories in the study. The main reason for pacing yourself while eating is that it often takes your body 20-30 minutes to fully register that you are full. If you eat extremely quickly you are likely to not identify that you are full and are prone to over eating. If you are able to pace yourself when eating snacks in addition to meals, you will easily be able to cut close to 500 calories per day. Doesn’t get much easier than that!

Downsize your Plate

According to Jacob Reitelbaum, MD and author of Beat Sugar Addiction Now! “If you shrink the size of your dishes by a quarter, such as going from a 12-inch plate to a 9-inch plate, you’ll cut 500 calories without feeling deprived.” This statement was made based off of a study done by The American Journal of Preventative Medicine where two groups ate ice cream- one in a large bowl and one in a slightly smaller bowl. The study found that the people who ate out of the larger bowl ate 31% more than the people eating from smaller bowls- while both groups reported feeling full. By simply downsizing your plate/bowl size you will be able to cut 500 calories per day without even noticing it!

Stand Up

If you are someone that finds themselves getting restless while sitting at your desk, consider utilizing a standing desk. By standing rather than sitting, you will easily be able to burn an extra 500 calories per day. If standing all day doesn’t sound appealing, try standing while taking calls. Think of your daily routine and identify times where you can conveniently stand instead of sitting and you will be well on your way to dropping a few pounds.

Alter your Alcohol Intake

Everyone knows that consuming too much alcohol is an easy way to pack on the pounds. What many people don’t think about is that the things you mix your alcohol with often have more calories than the alcohol itself. Syrups, sour mixes, creamy additions and sugary fruit juices are commonly found in cocktails and all will add significant calories to your drink. Consider having cocktails that contain club soda, cranberry juice or even tonic water instead and you can easily cut over 600 calories- per drink!

Have the Dressing on the Side

When people are looking to lose weight, salads often become healthy meal options. However a salad can go from healthy to calorie-packed quickly. Restaurants often overload salads with heavy dressings and toppings such as bacon bits or even calorie-heavy croutons. A simple way to cut calories is to ask for your dressing on the side and apply half, or even a third, of the given amount to your salad. Instead of having croutons and bacon bits, look to add fresh vegetables to your salad. By laying off the heavy dressings and adding vegetables to your salad you can cut the calories and add nutritional value without losing any flavor. An even healthier alternative is to add something such as lemon juice to your salad instead of a traditional dressing.

Take a look at your daily diet and see if you can apply any of these tips to help cut down on the calories- it’s much easier than you think!

Sources: Health.com, FitBottomedGirls.com, StudyHealth.com

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When you first start a weight loss routine you will likely be highly motivated to achieve your goals. A month or two down the line you may have lost some of that motivation which can set you back in achieving your desired results. Here are 10 tips to help you stay focused and motivated on your weight loss journey.

1. Do it for the Right Reasons

Make sure that you have extremely important reasons as to why you want to lose weight. Looking better is always nice, but when you look at it in the viewpoint of being a major health necessity or even as something that will enable to spend more time with your family and friends (in the long run) it can make it much easier to sick with your goals. Realizing all the positive ways your weight loss can improve your life is crucial to being able to accomplishing your goals.

2. Go Public

Going public is a fantastic way to help keep yourself accountable when striving to lose weight. A great way to do that is by using a platform such as Challenge.com where you can log your day-to-day activities and essentially keep an online diary that thousands of other weight loss seekers can look at. Another great way is just to notify your friends and family of what you are trying to achieve. If you don’t want to go ‘too public’ with it, tell a few friends what your goals are and then keep a personal diary of what you are doing each day to get closer to those goals. When you are struggling you can look back at this and realize that just because one day isn’t as easy as the others, you have made it this far and can continue on this path.

3. Visualize your Weight Loss Success

Seeing yourself in better shape and healthier in general can be a very powerful tool. It will be the driving force that is able to keep you going day in and day out. The key is to make this visualization as realistic as possible. While we’d all love to be in ‘perfect’ shape, often times that isn’t realistic. See yourself as what you want to become and what you realistically can become.

4. Create a Plan of Action

Weight loss doesn’t just happen by going to the gym a few days a week or just trying to eat better. You need a step by step plan of action if you’re really taking this seriously. This could mean identifying 4-5 days a week that you’re going to work out, but take it to the next level- identify what exercises you will do at the gym. As for nutrition, identify as close to exactly what you will eat on a daily basis. When you’ve already mapped out what you’re going to eat over the next day or week it makes it much easier to not slip up.

5. Celebrate the Small Victories

Let’s say your weight loss goal is to lose 30 pounds over the next 4 or 5 months. Since that is a lofty goal and takes a long period of time, celebrate all the small victories that come along the way. Celebrate every 5 pounds that you lose or every pant size that you go down- there are limitless small victories that you can celebrate.

6. Make Adjustments Along the Way

Trying to stick with a plan of action over the course of a couple months can be difficult and you may even realize that some things you initially thought you needed to do aren’t necessary at a certain point. This can mean adding additional days in the gym, adding/subtracting certain exercises that you’re focusing on or tweaking your diet to your specific needs. For example, if you find that having a Vi-Shake for lunch isn’t enough food for you and you end up eating additional unhealthy foods at that time switch up that schedule. Maybe you have a shake for breakfast instead or also have a nutritional snack, such as a Nutra-Cookie, with your shake at lunch. Your plan of action doesn’t have to be set in stone, things happen in life and you need to be able to adapt and change throughout your weight loss journey.

7. Assess your Action Plan Throughout

As mentioned earlier, there are constant changes that are going on in a person’s life while they work to lose weight. Each week look at your action plan to identify what you can do better and maybe even something you need to scale back a little bit. Actions such as these can help you stay focused and will actually increase your odds of successfully completing your goal.

8. Take it Day by Day

Weight loss is more like a marathon than a sprint. Don’t look at it as though you need to get everything done in one day. Each day you follow your action plan you are one day closer to your goal. Learn from your experiences each day and make the next day a better one. It’s all about progressing each day.

9. Utilize your Support System

Your friends and family are there for you through all sorts of events that happen in your life, so why wouldn’t they be there for you when trying to lose weight? Many times people think they have to do this on their own, but in actuality, people that have the greatest success often attribute it to their amazing support system. When you’re having a bad day don’t be afraid to talk to you friends and family about what you’re going through and asking for suggestions on how you can improve your issues.

10. Focus on More than the Physical Changes

While weight loss is ultimately a goal where you will see a physical difference, don’t forget about the mental changes that come along with it. People that lose weight often feel better in general. It could be improved self-esteem or you may even see yourself become more sociable. Mental improvements can be just as satisfying as physical improvements- don’t ever forget that!

The post 10 Tips to Stay Focused on Your Weight Loss Goals appeared first on The Challenge.

Sometimes cravings strike at the least opportune time, when you’re weak and feel like you need food and can’t say no.  Emotional eating is common especially during times of stress, tragedy and even happy times.

The problem is that emotional eating can sabotage your weight loss and make you pack on more pounds than you’re losing. Anyone can be prone to emotional eating, some more than others depending on how long it’s been a habit and if they continually give in to it.  On a brighter note, there is a solution!  Being prepared and aware of emotional eating and how you are affected can help you handle these situations without eating or scarfing down every sugary, salty, or fatty treat in your vicinity.

Emotional eating can be triggered by many items and is usually used to suppress negative emotions, boredom or just habit.  So what are some of these triggers?

• Tragedy
• Work pressure
• Relationship conflicts
• Heath issues
• Boredom
• Financial stress
• Unemployment

These stressors can lead to an unhealthy cycle as some reach for food to distract them from the reality of their situation.  They then feel guilty about what they ate and beat themselves up over falling off their weight loss track.  This then leads to reaching for more food and refueling the emotional eating cycle.

So how do you break the cycle?

1. Admit you have the problem!

2. Distract yourself with another activity.  Find something to take your mind off of eating.

3. Don’t be afraid to talk to someone.

4. Take away the temptation. If it’s in your house you’re probably going to eat it. Just throw it out or do not buy it, then it won’t be there when cravings strike.

5. Don’t deprive yourself.  You’ll find that having just a little bit of your favorite food every now and then gives you a healthier relationship with that food item and you will be less likely to binge on it.

6.  Get to know your cravings. Learning the difference can save a lot of unwanted calories. When in the moment ask yourself, ‘Are you hungry, emotional, stressed, etc.?’ Identifying whether you are truly hungry or dealing with an emotionally charged craving is crucial to successfully dealing with these types of situations.

Finally, don’t let setbacks get in your way and cause more stress.  Learn from your mistakes and get to know yourself.  Emotional eating can take over and seriously inhibit your weight loss journey. Alternatively, you can take control and have a healthy relationship with food. The choice is yours and all it takes is following some of these steps and incorporating them into your daily life.

How do you stay on track and keep emotions from taking over your diet?

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1.       Wake Up Right

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Those who skip breakfast tend to snack more and overindulge later on. The Vi-Shape shake is a fantastic source of 23 vitamins and minerals your body needs.

2.       More ZZZ’s could mean fewer LB’s

Research shows that people who get an insufficient amount of sleep tend to eat more and crave carbs and high-calorie foods.

3.       Drink 8 glasses of water per day

74% of people are dehydrated which can slow metabolism, keeping the pounds on. Plus, 37% of people can confuse thirst for hunger.

4.       Eat clean

Outside of you Vi-Shape shake, eat clean food. Steer clear from fast food or anything processed, only choosing foods that are whole, healthy and fresh.

5.       Put 10% less food on your lunch and dinner plate

Little tricks like simply using a smaller plate can help you keep portions under control, and help you lose weight.

6.       Exercise 10 more minutes per day

Extending your daily exercise routine by just 10 minutes can help you get through a weight loss plateau and increase your body’s natural fat burning ability.

7.       Use web and mobile apps for support

Studies show that people who use an app to support their weight loss can lose an average of over 10 pounds and keep off the weight for over a year. Challenge.com has all the resources you need to track your daily progress on your road to success.

8.       Don’t do it alone

Studies show if you enroll in a weight-loss (health & fitness) program with three friends or colleagues you already know, the odds of maintaining your weight loss 10 months later goes up to 66%… versus 24% if you enroll in a program alone. That’s why ViSalus rewards people who take The Challenge with others with the 3 for FREE program.

9.       Take your vitamins

Supplement your diet with quality vitamins like the ViSalus Vi-pak or vitamin-rich products like Nutra-Cookie.

10.   Don’t forget fiber

Since fiber increases feelings of fullness or satiety, adding 10 grams of fiber a week can decrease overall calorie intake and help you lose weight.

Source: The Challenge Magazine: Volume 2- Issue 1

The post 10 Tips to Lose the First 10 Pounds appeared first on The Challenge.