#losebelly

After losing 76 lbs., Jennifer Riveira became a hands-on mom, a full-time health and wellness coach and an avid yogi.

At nearly 200 lbs., California native Jennifer Riveira says she was unhappy, unhealthy and unable to be.

“My marriage was at an all-time low,” the mom of two, 45, tells PEOPLE. “My husband and I weren’t getting along because frankly, I made it really hard to love me because I stopped loving myself.”

When her now 13-year-old son Brandon asked her to play outside or ride bikes, Riveira had to say no because she simply didn’t have the energy. “I was overweight and I was tired,” she recalls. “My son said I yelled from the time I got up in the morning until the time I went to bed at night.”

Riveira made excuses for her poor health and weight gain, eventually scheduling a doctor’s appointment in March 2017 because she was convinced something was medically wrong with her. Expecting a thyroid-related diagnosis, what she got instead was a major wake up call: “My doctor said, ‘Your tests all came back fine. But what we really need to look at is what are you eating.’ ”

Not ready to confront the root of the problem, Riveira continued telling herself that her busy schedule, which consisted of shuffling Brandon to and from sports practices and tournaments, didn’t allow for healthy eating.

I have always struggled with my weight my highest recorded weight was over 360 lbs, my husband, over 420 lbs!! He had already lost about 100 lbs in that first picture! He has now lost 200 lbs and I have lost 140 lbs!! I am no longer embarrassed to post these full-length pics! I am learning to love all my flaws the extra skin on my legs and arms is just my reminder that I lost an extreme amount of weight!

Whether you’re coming back from vacation, or notice that your jeans are a little tighter than normal, you may be searching for a fast fix to lose those extra few pounds. While it’s easy to be swayed by fad diets, quick promises, and cleanses, it is actually possible to lose 5 pounds in two weeks through healthy eating and exercise.

Most weight loss plans will recommend getting 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day, which is generally a good range to aim for whether you plan on losing 5, 15, or 50 pounds. I’m more liberal on calorie amounts or exercise recommendations. To lose 5 pounds, it’s more about cleaning up the diet than making a drastic overhaul. For example, you can forgo the “things you won’t miss” for weight loss without sacrifice: a cheeseburger sans cheese, or a burrito bowl minus the sour cream. Since losing 5 pounds doesn’t require sweeping changes, you can still enjoy your favorite foods with a few small tweaks.

In the meal plan below, you’ll find general recommendations that can be modified depending on your schedule. If your time frame is two weeks, then stick to the meal plan and forgo the treat options. For a more casual approach, even if you include the extra snacks and desserts, you can expect to drop 5 pounds in three weeks.

Lastly, keep up the exercise. Not only does this help with weight loss, but it also helps preserve muscle mass that is essential for a higher resting metabolic weight. For those of you who are new to exercise, try for a caloric burn of roughly 1,500 calories a week, or 215 calories a day. This can be achieved in a number of ways, so find a plan that works for you: walking, jogging, weightlifting, yoga, and even gardening all burn calories. For this stage, it’s more important to do what you love than acutely focus on calorie burn.

How to Lose 5 Pounds in 2 Weeks!

Whether you’re coming back from vacation, or notice that your jeans are a little tighter than normal, you may be searching for a fast fix to lose those extra few pounds. While it’s easy to be swayed by fad diets, quick promises, and cleanses, it is actually possible to lose 5 pounds in two weeks through healthy eating and exercise.

Most weight loss plans will recommend getting 1,200 to 1,500 calories a day, which is generally a good range to aim for whether you plan on losing 5, 15, or 50 pounds. I’m more liberal on calorie amounts or exercise recommendations. To lose 5 pounds, it’s more about cleaning up the diet than making a drastic overhaul. For example, you can forgo the “things you won’t miss” for weight loss without sacrifice: a cheeseburger sans cheese, or a burrito bowl minus the sour cream. Since losing 5 pounds doesn’t require sweeping changes, you can still enjoy your favorite foods with a few small tweaks.

In the meal plan below, you’ll find general recommendations that can be modified depending on your schedule. If your time frame is two weeks, then stick to the meal plan and forgo the treat options. For a more casual approach, even if you include the extra snacks and desserts, you can expect to drop 5 pounds in three weeks.

Lastly, keep up the exercise. Not only does this help with weight loss, but it also helps preserve muscle mass that is essential for a higher resting metabolic weight. For those of you who are new to exercise, try for a caloric burn of roughly 1,500 calories a week, or 215 calories a day. This can be achieved in a number of ways, so find a plan that works for you: walking, jogging, weightlifting, yoga, and even gardening all burn calories. For this stage, it’s more important to do what you love than acutely focus on calorie burn.

Intermittent Fasting Weight Loss (The Ultimate Weight Loss Hack)

Intermittent fasting weight loss is a type of diet that’s rapidly growing in popularity and becoming the way to lose weight. Scientists and nutrition experts like it, too. New books and articles on the topic are being published daily. Intermittent fasting is also popular with followers of the Paleo diet since our ancestors appear to have eaten this way for thousands of years.

I’ve been following this type of diet myself for 2 years. Doing so helped me lose and keep off 70 pounds without ever having to count calories, limit carbohydrates, or eat 6 to 7 meals a day.

This article teaches you all about intermittent fasting weight loss and details why it is one of the best weight loss diet hacks around. Once you finish, you will be able to implement into your diet and experience the benefits it offers almost immediately.

What Is Intermittent Fasting

As you may have figured from its name, intermittent fasting weight loss is a diet plan where you set fasting periods during the day. This is usually between 16-20 consecutive hours, but it can be as little as 12 hours or as much as 24 hours (or even 36 hours).

Getting Started With Intermittent Fasting

Following this diet plan is super simple. All you have to do is choose a period of time during the day that you will fast. This should be between 16-20 hours.

The longer you fast each day, the better. Don’t worry about calorie restriction or measuring carbohydrates. Just focus on going about your day until it’s time to eat.

It’s best to choose a set period of time to conduct your fast. I like to fast from 8 PM to 4 PM the following afternoon. I’ll then have my first meal of the day and a snack or two a few hours later. Once 8 o’clock rolls around, it’s back to fasting.

My experience with intermittent fasting is that it’s best to start with a 16 hour fast (i.e. 8PM one evening to 12PM the next day) for the first 1-2 weeks. Once you are comfortable with this schedule, you can increase the amount of time you spend fasting. Do this by adding 30 minutes to each fast until you get to where you are fasting for 20 hours at a time...

You don’t have to fast every day in the beginning either. You may be more comfortable breaking in slowly with 2 or 3 days per week, or trying alternate day fasting. Add additional days of intermittent fasting as you become more comfortable with this style of eating..