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1. Don’t drink on a fat loss program.
   Although you could certainly drink and “get away with it” if you diligently maintained your calorie deficit as noted above, it certainly does not help your fat loss cause or your nutritional status.
2. Drink in moderation during maintenance.
   For lifelong weight maintenance and a healthy lifestyle, if you drink, do so in moderation and only occasionally, such as on weekends or when you go out to dine in restaurants. Binge drinking and getting drunk has no place in a fitness lifestyle (not to mention hangovers aren’t very conducive to good workouts).
3. Don’t drink daily.
   Moderate drinking, including daily drinking, has been associated with cardiovascular health benefits. However, I don’t recommend daily drinking because behaviors repeated daily become habits. Behaviors repeated multiple times daily become strong habits. Habitual drinking may lead to heavier drinking or full-blown addictions and can be hard to stop if you ever need to cut back.
4. Count the calories.
   If you decide to have a bottle of beer or a glass of wine or two (or whatever moderation is for you), be sure to account for the alcohol in your daily calorie budget.

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\\ tags: Healthy Lifestyle, tips

A typical day at the office: You rush off with no breakfast. By morning tea time you’re onto your third coffee. Since it’s a tea break you go for a large creamy latté and a big muffin.

Lunch rolls around and you grab something quickly without thinking. By afternoon you’re feeling tired and groggy, so you go hit the snack box or vending machine and gulp down a Red Bull…

Welcome to the busy working lifestyle – where the combination of poor nutrition and high stress make for a sick and tired person – and most probably overweight as well.

So what are some easy ways to improve your work diet?

1. Don’t Skip Breakfast
   Sure you’ve heard it all before – but this time you have to make it work for you. If you are not hungry when you wake or simply cannot make the time – why not set up some breakfast food at work? I’ve known many a colleague who will fix themselves some breakfast in the staff/tea room. Most offices will have at least a fridge and a microwave oven. No excuses there.

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You say you won’t become obsessed with the numbers. Pounds, kilograms, body fat percentages or skinfold measurements – they’re just numbers aren’t they? Until one day you take the measurements and discover 8 pounds of fat appeared seemingly overnight.

Is it the end of the world? Of course not – however it is an obvious sign that (depending on your goals) you are taking on too much energy.

So how does it happen? You eat healthy, you exercise regularly, you thought it was all under control.

1. “It’s just a normal-size dinner”
   Many western eating habits include a very large (and carb-heavy) evening meal. It’s very easy to slip back into this mode of eating. No matter where science stands with regard to this issue, I still feel that, anecdotally, it doesn’t make sense to load your fuel tank last thing at night.
2. “I’m eating little and often”
   Many popular diets (Abs diet, 3 hour diet, BFFM, and other bodybuilder-based programs) tell us to eat 5-6 times a day. It’s a great method to manage hunger, and perhaps obtain some benefit from the thermic affect of eating. The only problem is some of those 5-6 ‘mini-meals’ become normal-sized meals. Before you know it, the size of those extra ’snacks’ are simply too much.I’ve seen some people eating this way gain fat. The culprit was all the extra protein shakes!

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A wise man once said that if you want to build something, you need to first sit down and estimate the cost. That principle can be applied to building a better body or better health.

It’s amazing how many people embark on a diet without sparing a single thought as to the practicality aspects. In response to a diet review on Diet-Blog, Crystal made this remark:

Yeah, I tried this diet and lasted about 7 hours. Just like every other diet [...] maybe next diet.

While I am not a huge fan of the concept of “trying a diet” – every time you plan to make changes to your lifestyle (such as nutrition and exercise) – you need to count the cost.

1. Are you prepared to eat differently than your friends at a social situation?
   Eating often accompanies many social gatherings. How do your friends eat? Do they consume foods that you know will not be compatible with your lifestyle? How will you address this?
2. Will you acknowledge the truth about yourself objectively?
   Many people reach their ideal weight, and then let old habits creep back in. However there are a few warning systems in place – one is the waistband in your pants. Will you choose to conveniently ignore it if it gets tighter? Or will you be objective?

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In 1961 Americans consumed 2883 calories per person. By 2000 this had increased to 3817. Combine this with a decrease in physical activity and it’s a no-brainer; in the space of 40 years people got fatter. Not only that – they also got sicker.

What foods made up this 935 calorie increase and what effect might those foods have had on overall health?

Are we eating a lot more animal-based protein? Red meat? Or is it the increase of saturated fats that have made us sicker?

The answers to these questions present a stunning contrast to traditional dietary dogma.

Here’s the base statistics.

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Most vending machines are stocked full of junk food. With a bit of planning it is possible to replace those snacks with foods that will nourish your body.

The challenge is to balance convenience with nutrition.

Here is a pictorial guide to a selection of healthy snacks – and remember – healthy eating is not just about the number of calories*.

Raw AlmondsServing shown: 20 almonds
Calories: 139

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Here is a selection of meals that are in the 300-400 Calorie range. The visual representation gives an idea of portion size.

Breakfast – 290 Calories
1 whole wheat English muffin
2 pats low fat butter
1 hard boiled egg
1/2 cup of fruit
8 oz fruit juice
8 oz water

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\\ tags: Calorie Meals

Top Diet 15 Hacks

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