In our last post, we talked about making small changes that can add up to big weight loss. We found a resource on a US government website that offers some suggestions about making changes that stick:

“Do you want to eat healthier or become more active? Most Americans have tried to eat healthier or be more physically active at some point in their lives. Why,then,do many of us eat high-fat and high-calorie foods and have such a hard time fitting in exercise? You may be wondering: is it even possible to change your habits?

The answer is yes! Change is always possible, and a person is never too out-of-shape, overweight, or old to make healthy changes.

This fact sheet offers strategies to help you improve your eating and physical activity habits. Whether you feel like change is a world away or just around the corner, the information here can help you get started.

One Step at a Time

Old habits die hard. If you want to change your habits, you may find I helpful to make realistic and gradual changes one step at a time and at your own pace. It is important to think about what motivates you, what trips you up, and what you enjoy when it comes to eating and activity habits. There is no such thing as a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach.”

Get the full report here: Changing Your Habits

The report talks about the different stages of change, as well as common obstacles to change in each of the stages. The report also offers some strategies to overcome the obstacles. It is a free report from the National Institutes of Health, and available for download, you don’t even need to leave an email address. The report also includes an extensive  list of resources available free from the National Institutes of Health.

You can use the strategies to help you change any habits, they are not limited to natural  weight loss strategies. (Although the report talks about weight loss specifically, the stages of change, and barriers to change apply to a wide range of changes.)

simplenaturalweightloss.com

At Simple Natural Weight Loss, we are constantly looking for easy, natural weight loss tips to share with our readers. We recently came across an article published on CNN.com about slimming down without dieting, which includes tips from a variety of experts:

“We get it: You want to lose the jiggle but don’t want to blacklist your favorite eats, count every single calorie, or overdose on gym hours. The great news is, you can drop weight without dieting: Experts say making small change-ups to your day is one of the best ways to lose.

We grilled health and fitness pros for the tweaks that will help your shape the most. Road test a few, and you could shed 5 (this week!), 10, or even 20-plus pounds without a whole lot of effort.”

Read the rest of the article here: No Diet Weight Loss

There are a few weight loss tips in the article that will already be familiar to our readers, such as eating slowly, and making sure to exercise every day; but there are some new tips that can help boost your natural weight loss efforts, tips like pouring off the oil from jars of natural peanut butter, or drinking wine  from smaller glasses, or walking backwards and sideways.

Adding a few of these weight loss tips into your life may help you lose weight without ever feeling like you are on a diet. It’s all about making little changes that produce results without starving yourself, or spending hours at a gym or on a treadmill. We suggest that you don’t make too many changes at one time, gradual changes are easier to maintain.

With this year coming to a close, and a new year coming up, many people will be resolving to lose weight. Get a head start by adopting some of these natural weight loss tips now.

simplenaturalweightloss.com

We recently read about a study that was reported in an article on Medical News Today with the title: “Weight Loss Undermined By Mid-Morning Snacks” ; we found the title to be misleading. The article opens with the following paragraph:

“Adult females who are dieting in order to lose weight, may find their pounds come off much more slowly if they have a snack between their breakfast and lunch, researchers from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reported in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. The authors suggest that a dietary weight-loss intervention should carefully consider the effects of timing, frequency, and snack quality on weight loss.”

Even in that first paragraph, they mention snack quality, something which is very important. They included many different types of foods under the term “snack”, in fact they defined a snack as “any food or drink that is eaten or drunk between meals.” This includes sugary, fatty, low-nutrition foods as well as fruits, vegetables, tea, coffee, etc., all of which will affect a weight loss diet differently.

Snacks can help natural weight loss.

The article also quotes one of the researchers: “Snacking could be part of a dieter’s toolkit if they’re eating in response to true hunger. Individuals should determine if they experience long intervals – such as more than five hours – between meals. Adding a snack might help people deal better with hunger and ultimately help them to make more sound choices at their next meal.”

So while the title of the article suggests a blanket condemnation of snacking as part of a natural weight loss program, the researchers did not include that condemnation as part of their findings, but actually suggest that snacking can be a useful part of a natural weight loss plan.

At Simple Natural Weight Loss, we believe that eating nutrient dense snacks are essential to losing weight naturally, and often encourage our readers to eat more than 3 meals daily, to prevent hunger from overcoming their good intentions. If you allow your hunger to develop too strongly, you can trigger binge eating, and eat far more calories than you had planned. It is better to have a healthy snack than to go too long between meals.

simplenaturalweightloss.com