5 Simple Tweaks To Make Losing Weight Easier

There’s no need to pretend — for 99 percent of us, the thought of losing weight is absolutely ridiculous. We have all tried and failed dozens of times before. Even when you achieve some semblance of success (yay, you!), the next hurdle appears on the horizon: How are you going to keep the weight off?
I’m just the messenger telling you what you already know. Weight loss can be frustrating. If you want any hope of it sticking, it’s about creating a new lifestyle that is actually attainable — making new habits you can really stick to day after day, without feeling deprived.
The super-secret, super-amazing, super-wonderful weight loss truth no one wants to admit (because it would ruin every fad diet out there) is that weight loss can be easy. It’s all a process of trial and error. You choose the healthy habits that really work for you that you can adopt for the rest of your life.

Yes, these tips are easy — really easy, in fact. But don’t knock ’em until you’ve tried ’em and have successfully lost some weight:

1. Don’t Drink Your Calories

Talk about easy, classic advice! But it is worth saying again and again and again. Renee Porter, R.N., M.S., D.N.P., lifestyle medicine program manager at Children’s Hospital Colorado, asserts that you are what you drink — meaning, you may be sabotaging your health and your weight loss with the extra calories you sip all day long. Porter advocates starting this healthy habit at a young age to avoid early weight gain and stop problems before they start.

She says, “My focus would be on the things we drink (soda, juice, Starbucks, glass of wine, etc.), as they add unnecessary calories, and often this is a simple and easy way to delete these extra calories from our diet. If we eliminate these as a way to improve our health, and let this behavior pour over into our home (husbands and children get the benefit too), we are teaching our children a good healthy habit — go to water! Usually, each of these drinks take up to an hour of exercise to burn off. That is just to burn off these extra calories, not to mention get to a calorie deficit (weight loss).”

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