21 MORE LIFESTYLE CHANGES TO HELP YOU BURN FAT AND LOSE THAT BELLY!

Last week we brought you 21 ridiculously easy lifestyle changes to help you burn fat. Thanks for all the feedback, some loved it, some hated it and some said it couldn’t be that easy! Guess what, it actually is! Today I will be concluding our lifestyle change series with part two, 21 more changes are here to help ginger, motivate and push you to achieve your health and fitness goals this year, I promise you, just give it a shot.

Thanks, and do have a wonderful weekend!

1.       USE THE STAIRS. Really? That easy? Yes actually, skip the lift and the escalator as much as possible people. This won’t make or break your fitness, but every extra calorie burnt is a deposit towards it.

2.       EAT LOW ENERGY, DENSE FOODS. These are foods that are high in water and low on calories, such as fruits, vegetables and salads. Studies have shown that including more of these will help you consume less calories overall.

3.       BAKE/ROAST. DON’T FRY. Frying is not only a destructive form of cooking, you also add a lot of unwanted calories from all that oil, the old phrase “if you fry, you die” has never been truer. To avoid unwanted fat as well as heart disease, grilling your meats is your best bet.

4.       IN THE AIRPORT: CARRY YOUR LUGGAGE, DON’T ROLL IT. Again this is not fatal to fat loss but is another hidden way of expending more energy and burning more calories.

5.       EAT OATS. Plain oats will fill you up faster and keep you feeling full longer than any sugar coated cereal. Also one serving carries a lot less calories too.

6.       LAUGH OFTEN.  Studies have shown that people who laugh hard for 10 to 15 minutes each day burned an additional 10 to 40 calories each day, do that every day and those burnt calories start to add up!

7.       SKIP THE SWEETS. Treat cakes; chin chin biscuits etc as an occasional treat not a daily requirement!

8.       DON’T EAT THE LEFTOVERS.  Mommy told us never to waste food, but don’t take that as license to stuff your face, don’t throw away food, save your leftovers for another meal, you will save money as well as calories.

9.       IF YOU HAVE A DOG, TAKE IT FOR A WALK. You will both be the better for it!

10.   USE SMALLER PLATES AND BOWLS. This is an old trick that really works, it gives you less space on the plate to fill up, and it makes a smaller meal look much bigger.

11.   PLEASE AVOID BUFFETS. We all go wild at buffets; you just want to sample everything! There is no need trying to con yourself, you will not control the urge, do as the bible says and flee from sin!!

12.   EAT SLOWER. It takes approximately your stomach about 15 to 20 minutes to know that its full, if you eat too fast, you will consume more than enough to be satisfied.

13.   BUY A PEDOMETER AND ACCUMULATE AT LEAST 10000 STEPS EACH DAY!

14.   DON’T BUY IN BULK. The more you have in store, the more likely you are to eat.

15.   KEEP HEALTHY SNACKS. Like groundnuts and cashew readily available in your car, so that you don’t end up buying unhealthy snacks while in traffic.

16.   TAKE BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES. You will be surprised at the progress you have made, and it will keep you motivated too!

17.   GET MORE ACTIVE FRIENDS. If all your friends are into beer and pepper soup all the time, you need an additional set of fit friends that will motivate you to exercise, research has it that the friends you keep can help or hinder your fitness efforts.

18.   PUT YOURSELF FIRST. Many people put everyone else ahead of themselves and forget to take care of their health.

19.   REMEMBER: IT’S NOT DO OR DIE. There are days that you will fail or fall off the band wagon, do not beat yourself up or go into a funk, start again tomorrow, it’s that simple! What you do not do is allow yourself to continue to fail.

20.   WAKE UP EARLY TO EXERCISE.  You are more likely to achieve your fitness goals if you can exercise in the morning before, rather than after work. I know some people have tight schedules and can only get time in the evenings, but if you can, a morning workout is preferable.

21.   DID I MENTION NUTS?  Eat more nuts, people who eat one ounce of nuts a day in place of sugary processed snacks are less likely to gain weight.