Tips!

A friend of mine emailed and told me she wanted to start losing weight and asked for any tips I had.  At first I thought I might not be able to help because my eating habits are so different from the norm... but I realized that my lifestyle now can be adapted to anyone who is wanting to lose weight.  My family eats like I do and we're all doing good! 

With that said.... here are my tips.  (This isn't' a complete list of everything I do, but it's a good start!)

1) Stop drinking soda and juices that are full of sugar. This will really help with the calorie and sugar intake... both of which will make it hard to lose weight.

2) Cut out caffeine. A cup of coffee or a Diet drink won't kill you... but only once in a while.

3) No more fried foods. I know.... you love your fryer, but these fat filled foods are a killer. If you want to make fries, bake them. I know... they aren't as good... but they're so much better for you.

4) Choose healthier versions of the foods you already love. Learn to read labels. This is really important to me. There are a lot of foods that you can get in "low fat" versions or low calorie versions. Choose that. For example, when buying cheese I always get the low fat kind. When buying pasta for spaghetti, I get the whole wheat or the kind with added protein. Choose sugar free too. They often have very little taste difference and are easy to incorporate into your normal cooking. Non fat milk is another example as well as getting the leanest beef you can find or just using ground turkey instead. Turkey is so much leaner than fat and tastes the same with seasonings on it... sometimes better than beef.

5) Protein, protein, protein. Make sure you eat lean protein everyday. Starting your day with a protein will really help your metabolism for the rest of the day. A scrambled egg or greek yogurt are great options in the AM. Also, choose the leanest cuts of meat you can get. Bake it or pan cook it with cooking spray. But make sure you get protein everyday.

6) Fat in foods is not your friend. Avoid it as much as you can. Yes... some fat is good for you... and you really do need some everyday.... but try to avoid high fat foods. This doesn't' mean you still can't have the foods you enjoy... you just have to prepare them a little bit differently. For example, if something calls for pan frying, then use a non-fat cooking spray to coat the pan first. Also, read the labels of things and choose the ones with the least fat content . This will really help.

7) Exercise. Now for me... exercise doesn't mean getting on the bike 5 times a week. This just means being more active in general. For example, a couple days ago we walked to Emily's school and played on the playground for an hour then walked home. It was a great workout. If you want to get on the treadmill or bike everyday, that's good too. But I think that there are other ways to get exercise in. 30 minutes 3-5 times a week is what's suggested.

8) Invest in some healthy cooking books. This has been a huge help for me and Dave. We look looking thru cook books and finding new recipes. Last night Dave made stuffed cabbage and it was really yummy!!! Cook books FOR THE WIN! haha