Susan's Top 5 Weight Loss Tips

Since we've been on a roll with Top 5 lists, I decided to throw another one together - my Top 5 List for losing weight!

1) Keep a food journal. You cannot out train a bad diet. However, you can lose/maintain weight without exercise. If you have limited time on your hands my suggestion is to focus that time on meal planning and preparation.

Keeping up with your food journaling and take adequate time to prepare healthy meals. The effort it takes to eat healthy, nutritious meals now is much less than the effort it will take to burn off a Whopper and fries later on.

2) Strength train. Over the course of any given day, 60 - 70% of the calories we burn is based on our Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). The more lean muscle mass we have, the higher our RMR. If you have limited time to exercise, strength training will provide you with the best bang for your buck.

3) Eat 25 grams or more of fiber each day. Beans, fruit and whole grains are excellent sources of fiber, which helps you to feel satiated longer. If you've been following a diet that has you avoiding these foods, you should consider re-incorporating them back in to your daily calorie intake.

4) Use HIIT training twice per week. HIIT is done by alternating brief periods of high intensity work (85% or more) with a brief recovery period. HIIT is an example of an anaerobic exercise, which means that an inadequate amount of oxygen is being delivered to working muscles during the course of exercise.

When compared to steady-state cardio, HIIT results in significantly more calories burned in a much condensed period of exercise.

5) Get 8 hours of sleep per night. Lack of sleep negatively impacts hormones that help regulate appetite and also interferes with the body's ability to metabolize carbohydrates. Don't take sleep for granted! A solid 8 hours each night will positively impact your weight loss efforts!!

So, there are my Top 5 Weight Loss Tips. How do these compare to yours?

Train hard; stay strong.

Peace.

Susan