Editor’s Note: This sponsored health and fitness column is written by Virginia Wright, founder of BbG Fitness, which offers group fitness classes around Arlington. Sign up for a free class today.
Raise your hand if you’re happy with your current body weight. Stamp your feet if you spend way too much time and energy thinking about food and how to lose weight!
You’ve probably tried all kinds of diets — maybe you lost weight initially but then gained it all back. It’s hard to know what to eat especially with so many authors and food manufactures telling us their way will make us thin. Their ways are obviously not working since according to the Center For Disease Control and Prevention almost 70% of us are overweight or obese.
Want to know the secret of successful weight loss? Would you like to learn how to remove unwanted pounds once and for all? I can be honest with you because I don’t stand to make millions of dollars selling the latest and greatest magic cure. The best reward for me would be you reaching your optimal body weight and your improved health!
Are you ready for it? Here it is: The only diet that works is the one you can actually follow and stick with for the rest of your life. That means it can’t include exotic or hard to find ingredients. The successful diet can’t be so strict that you get frustrated and quit. The best diet will allow and encourage you to make gradual sustainable changes.
Okay, that sounds great but what should we eat to help us achieve our weight loss goals? The answer is simple and straight forward: EAT REAL, WHOLE FOODS. Sound too good to be true? Here’s another secret: Eating well should not be mysterious. But the very first thing you have to do is decide that you are going to change your ways. Decide that you are worth it.
Then make a plan. The plan should be specific: “I’m going to lose two pounds a week starting Monday. I will eliminate processed foods from my diet. Starting Monday my diet will consist of mostly lean animal and plant proteins, three to four cups of vegetables every day, 2-4 servings of fruit. I’ll limit my whole grains and nuts and I’ll drink at least 50 ounces of water every day.
Most of the thin, healthy looking people you see walking around eat real food. These folks take the time to shop for and prepare their own meals made with real food! They don’t dine out every night of the week and they don’t eat Lean Cuisine, cheeseburgers, fries, pizza, chips, muffins, bagels with cream cheese or donuts. The thin, healthy people don’t wait in line at McDonald’s for breakfast sandwiches or order lunch at Subway — no, Subway is not a healthy choice regardless of what Jared says!
Thin, healthy people eat foods from the earth. They might have oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. They probably enjoy a mid morning snack of about 15 almonds and an orange. Lots of healthy folks bring their lunch to work but if they dine out they order a nice big leafy green salad with some kind of protein like chicken, tuna (not tuna salad), beans or tofu. They use small amounts of balsamic vinaigrette instead of high calorie creamy dressing.
Instead of pretzels, candy or Starbucks frappuccino for an afternoon pick-me-up they might have a sliced apple with a few tablespoons of hummus. They don’t crave sugar because they don’t eat much sugar to begin with. They drink lots of water and they don’t drink soda.
The more real food you eat the better you’ll feel. Pretty soon you’ll start to notice that you have more energy and your body will be functioning the way it was meant to. Our bodies have no idea what to do with all the junk food we eat… so it just stores it as fat!
Eat healthy real food, don’t drink your calories, exercise daily and get some good sleep. Why not give it a try? You have nothing to lose but a few pounds.
For ideas on what to eat click here. Try our Clean It Up 21 Day Challenge! If you’d like a chance to win one of my Good Food Recipe Books, write and tell me your weight loss goals and I’ll enter your name for a drawing on 9/20.
Happy Healthy Eating!
The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.