When people think about losing weight they assume that they have to eat less. This isn’t always the case. People nearly fall out of their seat at the gym when I tell them that they must eat more in order to lose weight. The initial response is always negative. We have been conditioned to think that eating less is the way to lose weight. I am not going to generalize and say that people don’t overeat. A tremendous amount of people over eat, however, if they rearranged their foods, then they could eat more frequently to boost their metabolism.
As a teen, you could eat less food and have immediate satisfaction by losing weight fast. However, when you were younger, you also had a much faster metabolism. Therefore, eating less with a fast metabolism worked. Now that you have aged, you have probably cut your meals down to 1-2 meals per day. Over time, this slowed your metabolism down. As the years went on the slower it got. Now you are dealing with a sluggish metabolism and loss of muscle mass due to aging and decreased calories. SO what do you do??? YOU EAT MORE MEALS!
Any trainer will tell you, that in order to increase your metabolism you must eat MORE meals (low calories) MORE frequently through out the day. This increases your metabolism. Every time you eat your metabolism turns back on and your begin to burn calories. If you only eat 1-2 times per day then your body thinks it is starving. Then it holds on to all of those calories.
How EAT TO LOSE works:
* Each snack should range from 200-300 calories (2 snacks per day)
* Each large meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) should contain 400-500 calories. Of course this will depend on the person.
* You should be eating every 3-4 hours. Going over 4 hours causes a drop in your blood sugar level, which can lead to body fat storage and dips in energy levels.
* Try to put protein into every meal (including snacks)
Sounds simple right??? IT IS! Now all you have to do is make sure you are prepared. Go to the store EVERY week to ensure that you don’t run out of healthy foods to eat. Plan out your day and schedual in your times to eat. Sounds rediculous>? It’s not….. making time for yourself to eat means you will have more energy to get through the day and be productive.
Not sure what to eat? Then visit my article on “Are Carbs Evil?” This article gives a sample meal plan.
Happy Holidays,
Adria Ali
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