15 Crucial Steps to Losing Weight After Christmas

Worried about putting on the pounds after Christmas festivities? Don't be, here are 15 steps you can take that will ensure you will keep the weight off while helping you succeed in completing your New Year's resolution to lose weight in January and continue on into the spring and summer where you'll be in tip-top shape.

1. Food Gifts:

If you have food left over Christmas and feel bad throwing it away, why not give it away to your local homeless charity or make some turkey sandwiches for some homeless people in your town or just give them to your maid or security guard.

You can also freeze what you're afraid you might binge on and that includes chocolate and some candy.

2. Drink water regularly:

If you're feeling a food craving coming on, have a glass of water to fill you up which will stop you eating so much as you snack.

Don't wait till you feel dehydrated also, be sure to drink if you're male at least 3 liters a day or 2.2 if you're a woman - that's 13 cups for men, 9 for women.

3. Eat more often:

Eating light frequent meals is how most people keep their weight off for years as firstly this helps protect you from immediate weight gain when you come off the diet - as so often happens when people try to follow an extreme weight loss plan - plus, eating small dishes regularly helps you curb your appetite, increase your energy and metabolism and improve both digestion and mood.

4. Swap Mayo for Salsa:

Mayonnaise is packed with calories, so whether it's a burger or salad, exchange the mayo for some healthy low fat salsa for more flavor and less unhealthy fats.

5. Set achievable goals:

1 to 2 pounds a week is more than doable and the right way to go, where some more conservative dieting methods advocate that after the first 2 and half months, you stop trying to lose weight for up to 6 months but sustain your current weight measurement, then continue again to lose a couple of pounds a week.

6. Go easy on the sauce:

Alcoholic drinks are packed with calories, especially the creamier type, but even a pint of beer averages 150 calories.

If you want to lose weight you should be looking at bringing your calorie intake down to around 1200 - 1500 a day for women and 1500-2000 for men.

Obviously it depends on whether you have a workout plan or not, but if you don't, these are the advised means.

7. Eat lots of fruit and vegetables by being creative:

Some people are a bit particular when it comes to eating fruit and veg as peeling a tonne of Satsuma's can be tiresome or a plate of broccoli may not be so appealing.

Instead however be creative and mix it up.

Shakes and smoothies can be fun to make and you can pack out the anti-oxidants and vitamins in one tall glass.

Wild blue berry shakes and strawberry and banana smoothies are tremendously nutritional, and extra servings can be stored in the fridge.

For vegetable dishes look for recipes from other cultures.

Take "pad pak reum" for example; a delicious vegetable Thai dish that includes broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, legumes and more with chilli peppers if your bold all sautéed in oyster sauce.

Or "tom yum kung", with mushrooms tomatoes and boiled shrimp which you could exchange with diced salmon to beef up on the omega-3's, plus serve it with wild or brown rice - much less starchy but incredibly more nutritional than white rice.

8. Exercise daily:

This might sound extreme but is necessary if you are serious about losing weight after Christmas.

If it's dark, dreary and wet outside when you get home from a long days work the last thing you're up for is an evening's jog or cycle, plus it may not be safe in your area to go out alone at night.

Instead, if you can invest in an exercise bike, treadmill or running machine, just by exercising 30 minutes a day for a month, you should lose at least 3-4lbs so if you watch what you eat there's no reason why you can't lose 12-15lbs by the end of January.

9. Drink lots of green tea:

Green tea contains catechins that flush and rid the intestine, kidney and liver of toxins and green tea can also help strengthen the joints and aid inflammatory diseases.

Like consuming water regularly, it will make you bloated thus curb your cravings.

10. Eat high protein lean meat for lunch and supper:

Grilled chicken, salmon and white roasted turkey meat are low in carbs and high in protein and provide sustained energy meaning you avoid the peaks and troughs that you experience when you've just had a Big Mac.

11. It's 4.00pm - Have a high protein fix:

Generally at around 4pm, an individuals energy tends to keel which is why many opt for a coffee or tea and few biscuits.

Instead, in order to keep you satiated through to dinner time have a high protein snack such as lite cheesy dip with celery or a low carb yogurt.

12. Get 8 hours sleep a night:

Plenty of sleep will keep fatigue at bay, as fatigue often triggers snacking in an effort to gain energy, so by maintaining a disciplined sleeping pattern, this will help regulate your eating.

13. Start a yoga class:

A great way to tackle a New Year's diet plan is to take up a new hobby, ideally something physically healthy and yoga is a key way to help you focus directly on your body's health.

To start off gently, Hatha yoga is perfect for beginners.

To move it up a notch Iyengar yoga focuses on your bodies alignment and involves holding positions for longer periods of time, however Vinyasa yoga is more flowing and slightly vigorous on the body if you're out of shape but extremely beneficial.

Finally Ashtanga includes more demanding moves and poses which always follow in the same order.

14. Hang out with dieters:

If you have any diet groups near you where you can meet up once a week and trade stories which may teach you some invaluable diet tricks, this will help keep you motivated.

Meetup.com is a good place to start if you're unaware of local weight loss groups.

Plus there are plenty of online forum communities that are free where you can mingle and ask for advice and this is also a good way to keep you on the dieting track.

15. Consider taking a dietary supplement:

There are lots terrible weight loss supplements on the internet and those which are sold solely online on one page spreads are often a clear indication that they are not kosher.

Plus, there is always a lot of hype in this industry as weight gain and obesity is a global pandemic with Mexico recently overtaking the U.S as the fattest nation on the planet, so it's a multi-million dollar market flooded with supplements making it very difficult to decipher which are actually beneficial.

Of those however which are sold OTC (over the counter) in the U.S and Europe and online globally is Phen375 which is an appetite suppressant and a fat burner.

It's manufactured by RDK who just released Adiphene on the market and is currently the most popular fat burner in the U.S.

Alli which is a fat blocker manufactured by Glaxo Smith Kline is also sold OTC, but whose popularity has just been surpassed by Phen375.

All 3 of these have been approved by the FDA (Food Drugs Administration).

Should you be serious about losing weight after Christmas then either of these supplements will help you lose accumulated fat stores at a faster rate.

Here's a list of 2013's most popular dietary supplements: 10 Best Supplements

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_R_Michaels

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