Weight Loss Secrets for Women

Women often struggle with losing weight and keeping it off. As women age, metabolism naturally slows and muscle mass is more difficult to maintain. Both of these factors make weight loss and maintenance more difficult. There are several strategies that can be followed to lose weight and keep it off.

Diet

• Everything you eat makes up your diet, so technically everyone is on a diet all of the time. Many women have problems losing weight and keeping it off because they try to go "on" a diet for a period of time then go back to their old eating habits. This causes problems on several levels. It causes women to obsess over the foods they eat, and it causes a rebound of weight gain once they go off a diet. Their metabolism fluctuates depending upon the current diet, which can result in disappointment when the metabolism adjusts to restricted calories. Learning to have a healthful diet all of the time is important.

  Protein takes longer to digest and helps build lean muscle, which burns more calories, so try to have some lean protein with each meal. Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day, which is 2 liters. Simply by drinking this much water every day you will burn an extra 70 to 80 calories in addition to staying hydrated. Another simple calorie burner is green tea; taking a supplement or drinking six to eight glasses a day burns roughly 60 calories due to the metabolic boost it creates.

  Many women make the mistake of drastically cutting calories, which always backfires. When you cut your calories to 1,200 or less a day, your body slows metabolism to hang onto resources. It acts as if it is starving and tries to protect you by lowering your energy needs. Then when you go back to a normal calorie range, it takes a while for the body to adjust back to a normal metabolism. This causes whatever weight you lost to come back quickly, possibly with some extra pounds as well.

  In addition to diet, exercise is the best way to lose weight. By adding moderate cardiovascular exercise, such as walking or running, and weight or resistance training, you'll lose weight faster and be more likely to keep it off.

Journaling

• Women who keep a food journal are more likely to stick with healthful food choices. For instance, if you are totally honest with yourself and write down everything you eat, you will see many empty calories that you probably didn't realize you were eating. Also, a journal can identify times of the day that you are more likely to binge or make poor choices.
  By pinpointing these difficult times you can see if there are reasons why you made bad choices. Stress and low blood sugar can both cause hunger that is difficult to ignore. Make strategies to ensure you won't eat a candy bar or chips during these moments of weakness.

Healthful Snacks

• One of the ways that you can avoid munching on junk food is by having healthful snacks on hand. You can slip a small sandwich bag into your purse or gym bag or carry pre-packaged protein snacks to work with you or to keep in the car.
  Fresh fruit or sliced vegetables are great choices. Trail mix or a protein bar are good choices too, but be aware of the calorie content in these items. Some protein bars have more than 20 or more grams of sugar, which make them a better choice for a post-workout snack than a mid-day snack. Snacking between meals can keep you from getting hungry and overeating at the next meal. Just be sure that you don't eat more than 200 to 300 calories per snack.