#squatadvice

Wouldn’t it be great to find foods with so few calories that you could eat as much or as many as you want without worrying about calories? Or what about​ negative calorie ​ foods, foods that use more calories during their digestion process than the amount of calories these foods possess? Are there really no cal, low cal or negative calorie foods out there? Remember that saying “if it sounds too good to be true…” it may apply here, BUT, ​yes, there really are foods, especially vegetables that come close to the negative calorie dream​. Adding these fruits and vegetables to your diet will help you feel full sooner, feel full longer, add bulk (fiber) to your diet and most definitely help you avoid those calorie bombs like chips, fries and sodas. Start with raw cauliflower, carrot or celery sticks.​ Celery sticks are mostly water, average about 10 calories each and can use up to 12 calories to digest. That’s negative 2 calories for a snack that can fill you up and provide some healthy fiber. ​The problem:​ you dip them in ranch dressing and ruin any progress you would have made with the veggie sticks! Make your own healthy dip with plain Greek yogurt, chives, onions and spices. Salads!​ Green leafy vegetables, especially lettuce, kale, raw spinach and swiss chard all have minimal calories and lots of bulk and fiber to fill you stomach and lean toward that negative digestion balance. ​The problem:​ you add salad dressing, one of the most fattening, fatty and unhealthy “foods” on the grocer’s shelf. Learn to make your own with a small amount of olive oil and vinegar and spices, then dip your fork in the dressing rather than pouring the dressing on the salad. Cucumbers, radishes and similar veggies.​ Cukes are similar to celery sticks, more water than calories and more calories to digest than they contain. Add as many fresh raw vegetables to your salads or your plate as you can. ​The problem:​ avoid avocados and coconut, both have some very healthy benefits including omega 3 fatty acids, but both are loaded with calories and don’t belong on this list! Spices and spicy foods.​ Think about the dishes that make you sweat, what are the spices and peppers that make these dishes hot? Those spices, peppers and powders literally raise your body temperature and speed your metabolism to burn more calories (and body fat). Add these “hot” ingredients to your meals to increase flavor and spice things up. The problem: If you use any pre-packaged hot sauces or salsas, etc. check for natural ingredients, avoid artificial flavors and colors.

You’re doing everything right.​ You workout 3-5 days a week, you watch what you eat and try to avoid the junk, but you just can’t seem to lose weight. Frustrating, isn’t it? Makes you want to give up. But a better solution would be to identify the problem(s) and make the necessary adjustments to overcome those problems. Here are five reasons why you may not be making progress: 1. Are you eating more calories than you’re burning in the gym? ​Weight loss requires a ​calorie deficit ​ . The number of calories you eat MUST be less than the number you burn every day through your metabolism and exercise. To lose one pound of fat you must burn 3500 extra calories. To accomplish this, you can either eat 3500 fewer calories, burn an extra 3500 or the best approach is a combination of the two, but this negative calorie math will never change. Start by eliminating the high-calorie junk food, sweets and sodas. 2. Are you burning fewer calories than you eat? ​Sounds like #1 above, but this is the same math but from a different angle. You may already be eating a healthy, more natural diet, you’ve cut out the calorie bombs like pizza, potato chips and sodas but you still can’t seem to lose weight. Take a closer look at your exercise program, you either need a new approach to exercise or you need to step it up and increase the frequency and intensity of your workouts to burn more calories. If you currently train 30 minutes 2 or 3 times each week, you need to increase your training to 60 minutes 5 days a week. Your Yoga class may be relaxing and enjoyable, but if you don’t see any fat loss results, add cardio sessions and resistance training before or after class or on alternating days. 3. Are you eating too many snacks? ​The whipped, blended mocha frappuccino you had on the way to work this morning has more calories than a large healthy meal (300-500). If you snack between meals, stay away from the prepackaged calorie dense snacks like chips, candy or colas. These type of snacks are all calories with no nutritional value. Use a simple 99 cent spiral notebook as a food journal to identify problem areas, situations, scenarios and times of day that cause you to crave junk and eat more calories. 4. Are you practicing portion control and eating 5-6 small meals each day? ​No more traditional 2-3 meals each day, you should not go longer than 3-4 hours between meals. Eating 5 or 6 small meals and snacks will avoid spikes, peaks and valleys in your blood sugar, insulin and cortisol, the hormones responsible for burning or storing fat. Don’t skip meals, your body senses this interruption in your food intake and senses a famine. Your brain begins to prepare for a long periods of no food by storing body fat for emergency fuel. You are working hard to lose fat, but your body is working harder to preserve body fat.