Steal the Creative Tricks This Woman Used to Lose More Than 100 Pounds

Our fave: Dancing in the kitchen while you cook

by: THE EDITORS OF WOMEN'S HEALTH 

Before: 270 lbs

After: 133 lbs

In high school, Katie Hug, 33, was trim, despite typical (read: awful) teenage snack habits. Even a prescription for anxiety and depression, which can cause weight gain, didn't seem to affect her size. In college, though, a junk-heavy diet plus a snowballing list of 12 mood meds caught up with her—and her waistline. By age 29, the 5'4" woman reached 270 pounds. At a checkup in 2012, Katie's physician said she was morbidly obese and pleaded with Katie to at least try exercising. At the end of her rope with fatigue—and fearing she'd creep up to a size 30 from her snug 28s—Katie gave it a shot.

Her first step was enlisting a psychiatrist to help her taper off her meds, and with the new clarity, she walked around her block each morning and tracked her calories with an app. "I had no idea I was eating around 5,000 a day. I cut that in half," she says. By swapping pasta and refined grains for chicken, turkey, fish, and veggies, Katie dropped 40 pounds in a year. Eventually, she started jogging and got a trainer. By June 2015, she weighed 133 pounds—less than half her starting weight—and fit into a size 4. Even better: Her body-fat percentage plummeted from 45 to 18 percent.

Here's how Katie kicked ass and conquered her weight-loss goals:

Test your strength. "Instead of using machines at the gym, I flip tires and pull weighted sleds. It's the most motivating part."

Upgrade breakfast. "I always ate sugary cereals until I tried Greek yogurt in flavors like strawberry cheesecake. It's filling, and it keeps my sweet tooth under control."

Party while you prep. "Weeknights are busy, so I make sure to prep on Sundays: I wake up early, buy groceries, and dance in the kitchen as I cook."

The Biggest Mistake People Make When It Comes To Weight Loss

by Chris Freytag

As a certified fitness trainer and health coach, I work with people all the time who want to lose weight. Some are depressed about how much they weigh. Others are frustrated because they drop a few pounds, only to put them right back on. Some want my help because they feel defeated or their weight loss has plateaued.

Many women tell me they don't feel like their outside matches how they feel inside. Some used to be athletes, or at their ideal weight and are now struggling to find that person once again.

I get it.

I live in the weight loss space and know how exasperating it can be for people who want more than anything to take off the extra weight. However, I meet too many women who put their lives on hold until they reach some ideal number on the scale. It's as if life begins when three specific digits appear on the scale. Or they won't smile again until they lose weight. I don't care what weight you're at—don't put your life on pause as you embark on your weight loss journey.

Here's a little secret: You are completely worthy of love (your own love too!) right now. You don't have to wait for your weight to be a certain number to love yourself, deserve love from others or live your life.

I'm all about change from a positive place.

If you're beating yourself up, thinking defeating thoughts, and feeling unworthy of love because of your size, you're going to have a difficult time losing that weight. Change is more likely to happen if you can start from a positive place. This way, you're in the control seat and you believe change is possible. You tell yourself positive things like Yes, you can or I've got this. When you are a positive person, positive things happen.

Wherever you are in your journey, don't let extra weight prevent you from having a full life right now. Go to the gym, go on a date, buy the dress, attend the party, pose for the photograph, jet off on vacation ... Do all the things you want to do, regardless of the number you see on the scale. Live fully and you'll build the confidence you need to make positive change. Plus, we should all accept ourselves and our flaws. Life is about learning, right? Perfect is a title nobody gets.

How do you do this? A few ways:

Practice loving yourself and not tying your emotional state to those three numbers on the scale.

You can set a goal weight, but keep it in perspective. Your mood shouldn't soar up or down based on that number on the scale. Be kind to yourself.

Realize the story you tell yourself about yourself is powerful.

How you see yourself will match your actions. Who do you think would have more success on their weight loss journey ... someone who is enjoying life as they work to lose weight, or someone who stays at home waiting for the day when the scale hits a certain number? Elevate your self-perception and make the story you tell about you a positive one, and watch how can accelerate your weight loss results this year!

Decide to love your body this year! Know that you can be on a journey of self-improvement and love yourself through it—ups, downs, flaws, setbacks, triumphs and all! This is your one life after all. Don't you want to live it?

Yoga Is Not For Weight Loss. Yoga Is For Self Worth

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Since starting a daily yoga practice, I’ve probably lost about 20 pounds, but I’d never say this is what yoga is for.


However, if you do a quick Google search for “yoga for weight loss” you’ll find more than 55 million results with over 100,000 videos on YouTube. It’s overwhelming and if you ask me, enough is enough.


I get it. The weight loss industry is massive and has targeted over 100 million dieters (84% of whom women) to subscribe to the idea that skinny is in.


Last year, the industry was estimated to have reached over $60 billion in annual revenue.


But there's something severely wrong with the premise of this business.


Selling "yoga for weight loss” insinuates that there's something wrong with you, but guess what!?


You are Divine, just the way you are.


So what if you might be a little thicker than the skinny yoginis on magazine covers?


So am I.


And that’s OK. As a matter of fact, most women have curves. It’s natural.


Granted, obesity is a problem in our country with over one-third of U.S. adults considered to be overweight. But if overweight individuals are going to practice yoga, they might notice other beneficial results before they lose a single pound.


Yoga is for cultivating an awareness of the breath and calming the fluctuations of the mind. Yoga is for appreciating your body and being grateful for it’s incredible abilities. Yoga is also about creating consciousness regarding your body, how you move it, what you put into it, and how it affects your energy.


If you lose weight as a result of these practices, well then, I guess you get to buy yourself a new pair of yoga pants. But that’s not what yoga is for.


My weight loss came from decreasing the stress and anxiety in my life, while increasing my core strength and food consciousness. And, it didn’t happen overnight.


The change was a shift in my overall lifestyle to become happier and healthier. That’s what yoga is for. Yoga is a conscious lifestyle and a union between your physical, mental and spiritual self.


So don’t do yoga to lose weight. Do yoga for you! Do yoga to relax your mind. Do yoga to strengthen your body. And do yoga to maximize every breath!


Why? Because you deserve to be happy. You deserve to be healthy. You deserve to feel calm. Most importantly, you deserve to love your body, no matter what shape or size.And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Resetting Your Hormones Will Make You Lose Belly Fat

It’s not important how strict your diet is. One cheat meal and there’s that belly fat again.  Everything you do is effective. Keep working out. Hold on to your diet.

Some women experience difficulties in losing fat. They just can’t remove it.  Especially that belly area where the fat is stored like cement.

You need to hit harder to reduce it.

My advice for you is to be patient and keep doing what you do. Every goal is achievable if you give some effort.

Or… do changes.

Yes, sometimes changes react better than doing the same thing all over again.


That’s why I decided to show you what hormones do.


You probably heard some people say they can’t lose weight because of this or that.


What can I do when my hormones are not allowing me to lose weight

Well, they are not far from the truth.

Luckily, or not so much, for them is that you can reset your hormones and lose belly fat.

Sorry for making you run out of excuses, but this will help you.

There is solution for everything. You just need to dig deeper and put some effort to it.

Don’t worry. I already did the digging part for you.


Your job is now is to put effort to it.

Before I start telling you ways and foods to reset your hormones, let’s see who are they.

What are the hormones that trigger belly fat?

• High insulin
• High estrogen
• High cortisol
• Low DHEA
• Low Growth Hormone

Now, right after I’ve introduced all of this to them it’s better for me to tell you how to control your body.

It’s not that hard. You just need to import more of the foods you’ll see in your diet.

The benefits of these healthy foods are enormous. You will start feeling the difference right away.
Controlling Insulin Levels

Insulin is the sugar processor. It carries it to cells where your body uses it as fuel or stores it as fat.

High insulin level does damage. It helps the development of belly fat and you could get several cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes.

I won’t get into sugary foods. You already know them.

But, let me tell you this. Eating sugary foods are not the only source of insulin.

It can be triggered by lack of exercise, too much alcohol, stress, family history of diabetes, excess body fat and high blood pressure.

So, you have work to do if you want to maintain low insulin levels.

That work needs to be done in the kitchen. Yes, increasing certain types of food will help you battle high insulin levels.

And kick belly fat out of your system, of course.

A study conducted in 2002 says protein rich diet helps reduce belly fat.

The researches conducted a research comparing high-protein vs. low protein diet.

Women on a high protein diet had noticed that their abdominal fat mass has been reduced.

Here are some protein rich foods you can include in your diet:


www.timesmartpt.com

Check how much protein you need to include in your diet with the workout routine you do.

Add dark green veggies and fiber rich foods. Avoid consuming alcohol and foods with trans fats and added sugar.
Controlling Estrogen Levels


www.natural-hormones.net

Those are the main symptoms. Obesity, fat accumulating in the belly, fibrocystic breasts and ovaries, headaches, menstrual irregularity and breast cancer.

Premenopausal women with high estrogen levels will develop PMS and too much fat around the hips.

On top of that, it will be hard for them to lose weight.

Don’t worry. There are foods that can help you!

There is something magical in plant foods that control the estrogen levels in your body.

I’m talking about the natural chemicals phytochemicals and phytonutrients.

These chemicals protect the plants from threats. The same thing goes for your body.

They protect it from estrogen-like activity.

So, search for foods that contain these natural chemical varies. You can start with nuts, seeds, legumes and flaxseed.


The Flaxseed is known as the richest food with phytoestrogen content.

You can also find it and enrich your diet with sesame seeds, berries, oats, barley, lentils, rice, alfalfa, dried beans, apples, carrots, rice bran, fennel, wheat germ, pomegranates, anise, etc.
Controlling Cortisol

We know how stressful we can get. Under stress, our body releases cortisol.

When in small doses, cortisol is not harmful for your health.

However, under chronic stress the cortisol levels jump through the roof.

The side effects are big. You will sleep less, have mood changes, memory problems and sometimes even experience abdominal obesity.

It’s time to take a food sword and fight back.


beyondgoodhealthclinics.com
Controlling DHEA Levels

DHEA or the youth hormone works well for you.

It’s a hormone naturally released by your body. It has big influence on losing fat and gaining muscles.

However, sometimes these levels are low. They decrease as you age.

If this is the first time you meet with DHEA it:

• Strengthens immune system
• Improves memory
• Helps with erectile dysfunction
• Boosts sex drive
• Provides more energy
• Glowing skin
• Aids weight loss
• Helps maintaining cardiovascular health
• Increases HDL
• Promotes sleep
• Boosts mood
• Glowing skin
• Reduces Stress and Fear
• Blocks carcinogenic activities

Yeah. Your body does that.

So what are the next step when you have low DHEA?

Yes, you guessed it right. Food. You eat certain types of food.

Soybeans and yams help the body to produce more DHEA, if needed.

Wait, what if needed means?

Your body is an advanced machine. It won’t produce more supplements if it has enough DHEA.

It’s not important if you eat more of these DHEA boosters. The safety mechanism is controlled by the brain and adrenal gland.

Eating certain omega-3 fatty acid rich foods like flax seed, olive oil and salmon helps the natural produced DHEA.
Controlling Growth Hormone

This hormone affects every single cell in your body. It impacts our feelings, appearance and actions.

The growth hormone is largely increased while we exercise and deep sleep.

It’s great for repairing tissues, bone density, muscle building and for improving the overall health of your body.

This hormone declines with age.

People often use supplements to slow down this process.

As I usually say – natural is always the best, here is a list of foods that could help.

• Pineapple
• Fava Beans
• Goji Berries
• Coconut Oil
• Grassfed Beef
• Greek Yogurt
• Raw Chocolate/Cacao
• Algae
• Eggs
• Watermelon
• Parmesan
• Nuts
• Risings
• Beets
• Lemons
• Water

Consuming these foods will give you noticeable improvements.