Want to Lose Weight? Do These 5 Things!

As a nutrition coach, I get asked this all the time, "What do I need to do to lose weight?"

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This can seem like such a daunting topic for most people who are stuck looking at someone in the mirror that they no longer recognize. It can feel exhausting and frustrating to try to decide on what steps you should take to finally start seeing the pounds fall off and your favorite jeans fitting once again!

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I've got good news for you! The answers you're looking for are simple, but they do require consistency to yield results! A favorite quote of mine says, "It's better to be 80-90% consistent 100% of the time, than it is to be 100% consistent only half the time." So if consistency is what we're aiming for, what are we actually going to be focussing on staying consistent with? I'm so glad you asked, let's check it out! 

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1. Make a daily step/movement goal for yourself. If you have a wearable step tracking device, for starters I recommend finding your baseline and adding 1-2k steps per day. This could look like adding in an intentional 10-20 minute walk each day. That's it! Once you master this, make it your aim to hit between 8-10k steps per day. This will ensure that you are moving throughout your day, which means that your body is burning more calories.
2. Make a daily protein goal. A suggested starting point is 1g of protein per pound of ideal body weight. So if your ideal body weight for your frame is 130 lbs., you need to aim to hit this in grams of protein per day. Hitting this goal is going to do a few things for you: 1)This will help you to feel full and satiated, decreasing temptations for mindless snacking. 2) This will help you to build lean, calorie burning muscle tissue! 3) This will ensure that you are burning more calories in digestion as the thermic effect of protein in digestion is higher than carbs or fats! 
3. Add in strength training 3 times a week. For starters, this simply means that you need to pick up heavy things and lift them, 3 times/week! The heavier, the better! Aim for 30 minutes each session. The key to building new muscle tissue and gaining that trimmed and toned physique you are looking for requires you to gain new muscle on your frame. Muscle not only helps you to form that toned look, but it also ensures that your metabolism is healthy and burning calories around the clock for you! 
4. Sleep 7 solid hours each night! High amounts of stress and little sleep really takes a toll on the body. It causes the body to be less insulin sensitive, which means that you will store fat more readily. Sleep is the time when the body heals, repairs and burns fat. So if you are wanting to burn fat and gain muscle, you have got to sleep! This is truly when the magic happens! 
5. Drink half your body weight in water a day! Did you know that every time you drink at least 17oz. of water, the metabolism increases by 33% over the next hour and a half? Nuts, right? Cash in on these benefits of not only helping your body to burn more calories, but also helping your body to detox itself! Drink, drink, drink! 

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I hope that you've found these tips helpful! I recommend picking one of them, focussing on it, and not moving to the next one until the first habit has become easy to complete each day with little effort! If you're looking for a nutrition coach in Lakeland, FL or beyond (yes, I offer my services virtually), then click this link! I'd love to book an intro with you and help you map out a plan to get you to the results you're looking for in the shortest time possible! So reach out if you'd like to chat!