Am I doing the basics?

Although everyone is different and each weight loss works differently for each individual, there are some basic principles that work for everyone...

First of all, are you doing the basics??? You can't reach the penthouse of achievement without starting on the bottom floor. And believe me, there is no elevator here. Before you climb the stairs, you need to walk and before you walk and need to crawl. In nutrition it is the same.


Here's the CRAWL: Not the watermelon crawl but The nutrition crawl... :D

Are you taking a multivitamin? Your body, especially in weight loss, should be eating less calories than you are spending which means you aren't getting all the vitamins and minerals you need each day. You need these vitamins to keep you strong, keep you energized, and keep your body losing FAT and not muscle. There are more reasons to taking a multivitamin but this is a great first step reason.

Are you drinking enough water? The basics of water is 8 cups of 8 oz. a day. That's 64 oz of water and more if you are sweating a lot. A few tricks... if you drink 8-16oz of water before you eat each meal, your weight loss will come faster... proven true. Water not only keeps you hydrated, it helps with satiety, it also helps curb cravings and helps your body process the food/nutrients to your body more efficiently.

Are you SLEEPING??? That's right... Lack of sleep creates A LOT of problems. First of all, your body doesn't recuperate the way it needs to so you can't create the muscle (remember lean muscle increases your resting metabolism) you are working to create. Also, it doesn't want to let go of the fat because it feels like your body is still in crisis mode*.

*Crisis mode is when the body feels it needs to protect us from ourselves. We are usually doing things to our bodies that our body feels it needs to protect us. Which usually means storing fat, since that has a great shelf life and can sustain us if we need it. It's like our own personal food storage. When we eat bad things, don't sleep enough, don't get enough vitamins, minerals, water. When we don't eat frequently enough or when we overeat. These things freak our body out and the body does what it can to protect itself.. basically, store fat. This is crisis mode.*

The other thing lack of sleep has shown in studies is... creating LOVE HANDLES!!! It's true. And you know, those aren't the easiest things to get rid of. Those little handles were hard for me to get rid of at least. I decided to keep the love and get rid of the handles! :)

Another problem with lack of sleep is.... FOOD!!! Let me explain. Food=Energy. Food is actually fuel that we use to get our bodies to function each minute of the day. So when we are low on fuel, our body sends a signal (((blink, blink))) LOW ON FUEL - NEED FUEL SOON!

When we are tired, our body sends a signal as well. The problem is, we are low on energy when we are tired so we tend to think the signal is (((blink, blink))) LOW ON FUEL - NEED FUEL SOON. When really, when we have lack of sleep, our body is really saying (((blink, blink))) LOW ON ENERGY - RECHARGE BATTERY! When we aren't used to listening to our bodies, or aren't able to sleep at that moment, we think "I'm dragging... I need some food"... at this point, if you are tired, you've got a double edged sword... "I'm low on energy, I need some food FAST, like right NOW! and... I'm tired so I don't want to MAKE something. I'm hungry now!" That's when we usually eat something we shouldn't eat or hit the FAST FOOD. That's why you have to be prepared! --- but that's another post. :) We'll get to that soon enough.

The basic principles for this post are: ARE YOU DOING THE BASICS???
Multivitamin
Hydration
Sleep

Understand why they are important and decide right now "I WILL TAKE CARE OF ME"... Because no one else can.