Losing Weight - 5 Things You Should Know

Day 3, Gang! We're in it to win it! And for those of you who are interested in shedding some ell-bees (read that again if you have to...) during this cleanse, here are some things to consider.

1.) The first week of cleansing is a time of withdrawal, both physical and emotional. And during that time it's easy to eat a little more than usual – that’s where things can get a little tricky. It's easy to substitute quantity for what you used to consider quality – you might eat more because you feel like you're depriving yourself of your old favorites.

2.) Turning to non-meat sources of protein isn't as cut and dried as eating chicken or fish. Black beans are a tremendous source of protein but they're high in carbs. Same with quinoa. And it's those damned carbs that keep us fleshier than we'd prefer to be. The simplest trick to getting lean is to cut back on the carbs. Fitness buffs eat lots of chicken, fish and vegetables to strip off the fat. We can do the same thing - we just need to make sure we're getting at least some of our protein from tofu or tempeh and protein powder - they're packed with protein and low in carbs.

3.) The foods that become comfort foods while cleansing (brown rice, quinoa, gluten-free breads, pastas and gluten-free crackers) are loaded with carbs. So be cognizant of how much of these types of foods you're eating each day. (Here's a post that will explain how carbs affect weight gain.) 

4.) Calorie intake is the Holy Grail of weight loss. You've got to burn more calories than you're taking in each day to lose weight. And that's where a website called Livestrong can really help. Check out the My Plate feature, where you can enter each item of food you eat in a day and calculate the number of calories you’ve consumed. You can also enter any exercise you’ve done and it will add that into the mix. And you can enter your current weight and your weight loss goal (i.e., lose 1 pound per week) and it will calculate the number of calories it takes to achieve it. If you're honest and enter your intake every day it can really help you shed some of that insulation.

5.) Adding exercise to your mix will accelerate the process, so get up and move! Whatever you can do will not only help you burn calories, it will serve the essence of that body of yours! It was designed for activity – give it what it craves!

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Veggies are the best for keeping you full while keeping the calorie count low. Fruits are great too, but keep an eye on the sugars they contain. If you've got to nibble on something, look to veggies first.

Water is great for curbing hunger. We often mistake thirst for hunger so any time you feel like to you want nibble on something, swig down 8 ounces of water first. Then see if you're really hungry.

And if you haven't already tried it, psyllium is a great jump-start for your digestive system. It can help clean out the pipes, which will help improve your current digestion.

Here's a link to an article I wrote called The Three C's of Weight Loss: Three Little Words that Can Help You Lose Weight for this weeks edition of UrbanThief. Consider it one more weapon in your weight loss arsenal.

I hope this helps those of you who would like to shrink a bit during the course of this cleanse. Here's to getting healthy – and great results!

Have a great day!