Sunday, October 28, 2018

14 Foods with Way More Sugar than You Realize

Yogurt

Eat a carton of flavored yogurt and you might as well eat a candy bar. “Despite the small carton size and association as a healthy food, a typical low-fat strawberry yogurt can contain 26 grams of sugar per serving,” says Jennifer Jackson, MD, of Ascension Via Christi Health. Opt for plain yogurt, which has zero added sugar—or Greek yogurt, with nearly twice the amount of protein—and add your own fresh fruit, plus a hanful of nuts for healthy fats and staying power. Follow these simple tips to eat less sugar (without really trying).

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Friday, October 26, 2018

11 Natural Appetite Suppressants That Really Work

Spice it up

Chili-peppersAn appetite for spicy food may say certain things about your personality—but more importantly, spicy foods can act as natural appetite suppressants. “The active ingredient in many spicy foods is capsaicin, a compound that acts as a natural appetite suppressant,” adds Dr. Josh Axe, DNM, CNS, DC, founder of DrAxe.com, bestselling author of Eat Dirt, and co-founder of Ancient Nutrition. Not only that, he says, but capsaicin also boosts metabolism so your body burns more calories throughout the day. “Except for bell pepper, all pepper varieties contain a good amount of capsaicin and can be easily added to everything from salsa to soups and sauces,” he says. Cayenne peppers have other health benefits too. As a bonus, “adding a few dashes of the spicy stuff will slow down your eating,” which could lead to your eating less overall, says New York City-based nutritionist Joy L. Bauer, MS, RD, CDN, the founder of Nourish Snacks, the health and nutrition expert on The Today Show, and author of several books including From Junk Food to Joy Food.

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10 Key Things You Need to Know About the Vegetarian Keto Diet

Going ketotarian

Gnocchi and broccolini serve up plates eating food concept The diet of the moment is the ketogenic plan—people turn to it to lose weight, to manage chronic illness, or to find a healthier lifestyle. This high-protein plan focuses on meat, however. The goal is to eliminate carbs, jack up the protein, and force the body to burn fat for fuel (instead of its preferred source: carbohydrates). This phenomenon is called ketosis—but the meat focus prevents vegetarians from experimenting with the plan. Now there’s a vegetarian keto diet—dubbed ketotarian—that draws on nonmeat sources of protein. Here’s what you need to know about the vegetarian keto diet. Read the 13 things people get wrong about the keto diet.

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25 Weight-Loss Tricks That Take Only 5 Minutes or Less

Walk for five minutes each day

Legs of pretty woman in the sneakers walking downstairs. Horizontal outdoors shot. If getting to the gym on a regular basis feels daunting, try carving out time each day for a five-minute walk instead. “People simply do not move enough,” says Erica Suter, MS, a certified strength-and-conditioning coach. “The smallest actionable steps can go a long way in long-term weight loss” if you do them consistently. Check out 50 more easy ways to lose weight naturally.

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12 Ways Your Fridge Can Help You Lose Weight

Do a clean sweep

RefrigeratorTake an inventory of what’s in your refrigerator, and start your assessment with tossing expired items. “Throw outdated sauces, dressings, and condiments,” advises Anne Mathews, PhD, RDN, assistant professor in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. She also suggests getting your fridge in order. “A cluttered fridge can be overwhelming and an impediment to seeing and pulling out healthy foods. Arrange your fridge as it is intended and then consider what’s inside.” Use these tips for more healthy eating ideas.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2018

15 Weight-Loss Mistakes Nearly Everyone Makes

Cruising on the elliptical machine

Sporty man at jogging trackCountless studies show that cardio alone won’t make the pounds melt away. “People don’t need to be doing cardio for an hour as their only workout,” says Erica Suter, MS, a certified strength and conditioning coach. That said, cardio isn’t all bad; in a survey of 700 people, a mixture of aerobic exercise and weightlifting was found to be the best exercise routine for weight loss. Suter recommends carving out two or three days a week for resistance training, with steady-state or high-intensity cardio workouts in between. Check out 50 easy ways to lose weight naturally.

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18 Weight Loss Secrets from Around the World That Are Totally Worth Stealing

Thailand: Spice it up

Thai food is among the spiciest in the world. Hot peppers raise your metabolism, but the real benefit of food with a little zing is that it slows your eating, says James Hill, PhD, past president of the American Society for Nutrition. “Americans eat too fast,” he says. “By the time your body signals that it’s full, you’ve overeaten. Eating slower is a good weight-loss strategy, and making food spicier is an easy way to do it.” Need major weight-loss motivation? Here are 42 fast and easy tips to try.

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10 Things That Happen to Your Body When You Start Eating More Fiber

There are two types of fiber

FiberAccording to U.S. dietary guidelines, adults should consume anywhere between 25 and 30 grams of dietary fiber from food (not supplements) daily, but most are only getting about 15 grams, about half the recommended amount. There are two types of fiber, soluble and insoluble, and both play important roles in helping us to maintain healthy digestion and fight off diseases. “Soluble fiber dissolves in water and forms a gel, acting like a sponge in binding cholesterol-rich bile acids, which are then eliminated as waste,” says Melissa Majumdar, RD, senior bariatric dietitian at Brigham and Women’s Center for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics spokesperson. This cholesterol-lowering type of fiber is found in oats, peas, beans, apples, citrus, carrots, barley, and fiber supplements that use psyllium husk, she explains. Insoluble fiber, which is found in wheat bran, whole-wheat flour, nuts, beans, potatoes, and vegetables such as cauliflower and green beans, adds bulk to our stool and helps move food through the digestive tract. “Insoluble fiber aids in digestion by acting like a broom and cleaning out our intestinal track,” says dietitian Angel Planells, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Here are 30 ways to get more fiber.

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48 Best Keto-Approved Foods to Buy at Costco

Good Foods Tableside Chunky Guacamole

Good Foods Tableside Chunky Guacamole, 2.5 oz, 12 ct“I live for homemade guacamole, and most packaged ones just can’t compete and have a slightly off flavor,” says Carolyn Land Williams, PhD, RD, a culinary nutrition expert. “This is the one exception, and the fact that Costco sells individually packaged servings is what solidifies my decision to renew my Costco membership every year, because it’s the only place that I’ve ever been able to find the single servings.” For the keto eater, the 2.5-ounce individual servings are great for keeping on hand for a quick snack, topping fried eggs, or smearing over grilled chicken breasts.

Total estimated savings: $4-$7.

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Tuesday, October 23, 2018

11 Bizarre Weight Loss Tricks That Work

Sniff a banana, apple, or peppermint

AppleYou might feel silly, but it works. When Alan R. Hirsch, MD, of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago tried this with 3,000 volunteers, he found that the more frequently people sniffed, the less hungry they were and the more weight they lost—an average of 30 pounds each. One theory is that sniffing the food tricks the brain into thinking you’re actually eating it. For more weight loss tricks, try these other foods that can keep you from overeating if you smell them.

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Thursday, October 18, 2018

13 Weight-Loss Products Nutritionists Never Buy—and Neither Should You

Raspberry ketones

Natural Medicines Texture.One of the hottest supplements on the market right now, raspberry ketones claim to help put your body in “ketosis” and burn fat faster. Some even claim to “block” absorption of carbs. This is all bogus and shows a misunderstanding of the science, says Scarlett Full, registered dietitian at Growing Naturals. One study found the synthetic ketones provided some protection against weight gain and fatty liver disease… in mice. Moreover, they didn’t help the rodents lose weight or fat, she explains, adding that the dosage in the study was incredibly high, much higher than what anyone would get with a supplement. “There is zero current evidence that raspberry ketones work for weight loss in humans,” she says. Want the real scoop on effective weight loss? Check out these 37 weight-loss secrets nutritionists won’t tell you for free.

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Ate Too Much Sugar? 9 Tricks to Help Reverse the Binge

Step 1: Realize what’s going on

One moment you’re wired; the next, you’re making a beeline to the couch. What gives? Your body goes on a physical and emotional roller coaster after too many sweets. “The minute you put a sweet in your mouth, you get a surge of dopamine, a feel-good hormone with addictive properties,” says Amanda Bontempo, RD, a nutritionist at NYU Langone’s Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Cancer Center. As sugar floods your bloodstream, the pancreas releases insulin to control blood glucose levels. This suppresses the “fullness” hormone leptin, which makes your brain give you the green light to grab more candy. Glucose is rapidly digested, and your spiked dopamine and blood sugar levels fall quickly. “The crash depends on the person. It can be 15 minutes to a couple of hours after eating,” says Bontempo. “Your instinct is to eat more sugar to get another jolt of energy, but it’s really important to resist. Once your willpower bank is tapped, it becomes increasingly challenging to make healthy choices.” These foods have way more sugar than you realized.

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15 No-Effort Ways to Burn 100 Calories

Go roller-skating

In just 12 minutes you burn off 100 calories. Speed up the burn with these 15 workouts that burn the most calories.

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I Tried Intermittent Fasting—Here’s What It’s Really Like

Fasting

I’ve been doing intermittent fasting—cycling between periods of fasting and eating—long before I knew that my pattern of eating had a name. It started because I observed a few things: I work out the very first thing in the morning on an empty stomach; I am mentally sharpest when my stomach isn’t full (note that doesn’t mean hungry), and I have a very hard time stopping eating after I start, especially when it comes to sweets (it’s a lot easier for me to not start at all). These realizations got me to a point where, usually, two to three days a week, I lightly snack throughout the day (think apple slices, carrot sticks, dried fruit), and don’t sit down to have a full meal until I’m ready for dinner. Another two or three days a week, I don’t eat anything until dinner. Weekends, I always work out in the morning on an empty stomach, shower, and head straight to brunch. I try to avoid snacking till dinner.

While working out in the morning on an empty stomach and eating just one big meal at night is hugely counterintuitive to everything we have been taught, it works for me. It helps keep me at my ideal weight and very healthy (I have fasted blood work done yearly). “When you work out on an empty stomach, your glycogen stores are empty, so your body is forced to burn stored fat as fuel,” says Tanya Zuckerbrot MS, RD, and author, and founder of The F-Factor Diet. “On the flip side, when you eat something first, your body uses the energy from the food.” Here’s more about how intermittent fasting can help you lose weight without counting calories.

In addition to limiting the amount of unhealthy foods I eat, intermittent fasting also has long-term health benefits. The medical community backs me up on this: “When done consistently, intermittent fasting can decrease risk of heart disease, control glycemic levels, and even offer neuroprotection against diseases, like Alzheimer’s,” says neuroscientist and holistic wellness expert Leigh Winters. Fasting every three days has led to reduced symptoms of autoimmune conditions, like MS and lupus. Dr. Frank Lipman, bestselling author of Be Well and founder of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York City adds that he sees patients using intermittent fasting both as a preventive tool against diseases of modern civilization as well as a way manage and mitigate diseases like type 2 diabetes and obesity. Check out these other 30 tiny diet changes that can help you lose weight.

However, it’s important to add that timing isn’t the only important factor; the quality of what you’re eating has a huge effect. If you’re eating entire bars of chocolate, it doesn’t matter whether you do so at 7 a.m. or 7 p.m., your waistline will expand, which is why I have found intermittent fasting to work for me. If I start eating something sweet in the morning, I’m more likely to eat more sugary things throughout the day and at night. Better I start at night and don’t give myself the chance to crave the sugar again. I also recognize that experiencing a specific food craving is different than being hungry. Here are my two top secrets to making intermittent fasting work for me without ever feeling hungry:

1. I choose foods that combine fiber with protein and keep the overall net carbs in my diet low. Because I work out at a very high intensity almost every morning, I aim to cut net carbs (Carbs-Fiber=Net Carbs), meaning I try to eat carbs with high fiber content, which helps to keep me full for so many hours and offers loads of other health benefits. Fiber is the indigestible part of a carbohydrate that adds bulk to food, meaning it fills you up and then basically gets flushed out of your system—assuming you’re drinking enough water. Don’t miss these 50 weight-loss breakthroughs your doctor wishes you knew.

2. I drink a 1.5 liter bottle of water between finishing my morning workout and the 30 minutes or so it takes me to get home (for a total of two to three liters a day). I make sure to eat a lot of water-rich foods (think fruits and veggies), so that my body never feels clogged.

Note that breast-feeding or pregnant women should pass on intermittent fasting and Winters cautions that if you have adrenal fatigue or circadian rhythm issues, you should start out slowly. As with any new dietary regimen, especially if you have health issues, it’s always best to speak with your doctor first. Learn more about 7 proven benefits of intermittent fasting.

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Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Ways to Lose Weight: 42 Fast, Easy Tips

Write down what you eat for one week, and you will lose weight

human hand holding pencil prepare to writing on blank notebook.Studies found that people who keep food diaries wind up eating about 15 percent less food than those who don’t. Watch out for weekends: A University of North Carolina study found people tend to consume an extra 115 calories per weekend day, primarily from alcohol and fat.  Then cut out or down calories from spreads, dressings, sauces, condiments, drinks, and snacks; they could make the difference between weight gain and loss. Here are 50 easy ways to lose weight naturally.

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Monday, October 8, 2018

This Woman Only Weighed Herself Twice and Lost Over 100 Pounds

sandra elia before

Most people feel like losing weight is pointless unless you can mark your progress with daily or weekly weigh-ins. But when Sandra Elia was 29, she realized she had a very dysfunctional relationship going with her scale: “It had the power to ruin my day. It told me if I was good or bad, it dictated whether I would have a good day or a bad day. If I should eat or not eat that day.” And it wasn’t until she ended that abusive relationship that Elia was able to improve her life.

sandra elia before

“I was on a path of self-destruction,” she says. “I was morbidly obese, completely out of control, experiencing paralyzing depression.” Elia ate to soothe her stress, loneliness, and sadness. Food addiction was ruining her life, and at 262 pounds something had to change, starting with getting rid of her bathroom scale. “The scale didn’t take into consideration who I was as a person, what I’d accomplished, how I was contributing to the world.”

Elia threw her scale in the trash and went from compulsively eating to eating for sanity—starting by eliminating all refined sugar and refined flour from her diet. She lost about 75 pounds in the first year and another 25 during her second year of avoiding unhealthy food and not weighing herself. The only way she knows this is thanks to her yearly doctor appointments when she had to get on a scale. Learn the 30 little diet changes that can help you lose weight.

sandra elia after

 

“Numbers make me crazy, all kinds of numbers. Measuring tapes, calories, weight—I stay away from them all,” Elia says. “I had to find other goals to achieve and feel proud of.” Those goals included running a half-marathon, sitting comfortably in a plane seat, wearing beautiful clothes, riding down playground slides with her daughter, and feeling comfortable in her own skin.

 

Sandra elia after

Like any weight loss journey, there were bumps in the road. “When I experienced a setback, I would practice mirror work. I would look into my eyes, tell myself that I was loved and everything would be fine. This way the guilt or remorse would wash away. Loving thoughts are energizing, thoughts of judgment or self-condemnation always drained me of energy.” What really led to Elia’s long-term weight-loss success—now 13 years and counting—was an internal transformation. “The real work has been an ongoing, daily commitment to spirituality, appreciating that my thoughts are powerful, and cultivating a loving connection with myself and the universe.” The true prize will never be a number on a scale for Elia. “The prize is how I’m feeding my body, how I’m moving my body in fun ways, and how I’m living my life. The prize is how great I feel!”

Next, check out the 50 things your doctor wishes you knew about losing weight.

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Here’s Exactly How Long You Need to Diet to Lose Weight—and Keep It Off

Measuring tape on a fork and knife - dieting concept image

As anyone who has tried to lose weight knows, strict diets often don’t work as promised. But the secret to success might be simpler than you think. Just try sticking it out for a year, according to a recent study published in the International Journal of Obesity.

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen spent nearly two years studying the ways that weight loss affects our bodies. The trouble with most restrictive diets, they say, is that they usually lead to a surge in hunger-causing hormones. “It’s a perfectly natural method to preserve life—if we don’t eat, we die,” Signe Sorensen Torekov, PhD, associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of Copenhagen, told BBC Radio 4. “That’s why this hunger sensation is so strong.” If you’re starting a fitness program, be sure to follow these 12 workout rules for beginners.

But when those hunger hormones tempt you into bad eating habits, they can also cause the most well-intentioned weight-loss plans to backfire. Could there be a trick to keeping the pounds off for good? To find out, the researchers assigned 20 obese people to a strict, low-calorie diet for eight weeks, followed by a 12-month weight-maintenance program. During that period, participants regularly met with a clinical dietitian and discussed tips on lifestyle changes and diet-calendar tracking. Read about 50 weight-loss breakthroughs your doctor wishes you knew.

The research team collected blood samples from the participants three times during the process: before they started to lose weight, after the eight weeks of dieting, and one last time after the 12 months on the weight-maintenance program. Overall, the participants lost 13 percent of their body weight on average. But here is the best part: By the end of the 12 months, blood samples showed that their bodies were producing less of the hunger-causing hormone ghrelin and more of a hormone called GLP-1, which suppresses appetite. Try these 42 fast, simple weight-loss tips.

“Most studies show when you lose a lot of weight, then your body fights fiercely against it,” Torekov told Radio 4. “But we actually found if you are able to keep your weight down for this longer period, then it seems to adapt to this new set point.” In other words, dieting for one year allows your body to get used to its new weight, which stops your cravings and helps you maintain the weight loss.

For the best weight-loss results, experts recommend finding a healthy, balanced lifestyle that you can follow for the long term. Get started by trying these 50 ways to lose weight without a lick of exercise.

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Thursday, October 4, 2018

10 Ways the Keto Diet Can Backfire

Trouble sleeping

Girl sleeps in a white bed at home. Young woman sleeping in sleepwear on the white linen in bed at home, top view.A keto diet (or ketogenic diet) is drastically low in carbohydrates and very high in fat—typically 75 percent of calories come from fat, 20 percent from protein, and just 5 percent from carbohydrates. That’s extreme even by other strict diets’ standards. (Paleo, for example, typically allows you to get 20 to 40 percent of your calories from carbs.)

Slashing carbs to this degree forces the body into ketosis, a metabolic state in which your body starts to rapidly break down fat for fuel. That sounds better than it feels. During the first few days—sometimes weeks—of ketosis, people often feel tired, irritable, and dizzy and have difficulty sleeping. This carbohydrate withdrawal is often called the “keto flu,” explains registered nutritionist and certified dietitian Dana Notte, MS, director of nutrition at Green Mountain at Fox Run, a healthy-weight retreat known for helping women “detox” from fad dieting. Check out the 13 things everyone gets wrong about the keto diet.

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Monday, October 1, 2018

12 Foods That Will Turn Your Meals into Calorie Burners

Chili peppers


Chili peppers do a lot more than spice up your food. They contain a component called capsaicin, which has been linked to increased energy expenditure and fat oxidization. “Capsinoid consumption has been found to have the ability to ‘turn on’ certain processes in the body that cause our body to work harder (increase energy expenditure) and use fat for energy (oxidizing fat),” explains Meg Hagar, MS, RD. “Chili peppers can be added to salsa and then eaten with eggs, eaten with hummus and even added to soups for a spicy kick.”

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Here’s How This Mom Lost 80 Pounds After Each Pregnancy

Jessica Diaz

The first five pounds of Jessica Diaz’s pregnancy in 2007 came on seemingly overnight.

“Then I just started eating,” Jessica calls. “I wish I could say it was genetic, but I really took eating for two literally.”

At 31, Jessica worked in advertising in Boston, Massachusetts; attended barre classes three or four times a week; and, at five feet five inches tall, weighed about 125 pounds. She made sure she ate healthily for her baby, but she gave in to cravings for ice cream and cake every day. By the time Jessica was about five months pregnant, she had stopped exercising. When her daughter, Chloe, was born in 2008, Jessica tipped the scales at 196 pounds. Learn the number one diet rule that helped these people lose more than 20 pounds.

Friends told her that it was baby weight and it would come right off. Jessica was breastfeeding and lost about five to ten pounds initially. But when Chloe reached six months, Jessica still had about 60 pounds to lose. The movement that used to bring her joy now made her tired.

Jessica decided to do something but wasn’t sure at first how to go about it. When she was younger, she would try crash diets to lose ten pounds quickly for a vacation, then gain it all back when she went back to how she normally ate. She realized that part of the reason fad diets didn’t work for her was that she didn’t like the rigidity. Rules like requiring you to eat egg whites for breakfast, or prohibiting some fruits, or not allowing you to eat after 7 p.m., didn’t fit her life. Avoid these 50 sneaky things that can make you gain weight.

So Jessica took a hard look at her eating patterns. If she obeyed the rule to eat dinner by 7 p.m., for example, she would often find herself starving at 10 p.m. and devouring a bowl of ice cream. But she thought about how people around the world eat at all different times, and many don’t have issues with their weight. With a recommendation from her nurse practitioner that she aim for about 2,000 calories per day, Jessica came up with her own plan to suit her lifestyle. Check out the best diet books that helped these women lose at least 20 pounds.

Typically not hungry first thing in the morning, she started the day with hot water and lemon and sometimes an apple. For breakfast at 9 a.m., she would often eat oatmeal with berries. Then, for lunch, she had found that neither salads nor sandwiches sustained her. Jessica’s husband’s family is French, and she picked up on their custom of having a small dinner for lunch, grilling up chicken breast or eating fish with greens. A light afternoon snack of apple slices with almond butter kept her satisfied until later. Then she would enjoy dinner at 8:30 or 9 p.m., which kept her from eating the bowl of ice cream at 10 p.m.

Jessica also knew that she wanted to get moving again. She went back to barre classes in Boston, but they were taught by ex-ballerinas, and she felt out of place in the classes she had once enjoyed. Find out how many calories you really burn at your exercise class.

“My body didn’t feel good, and I was struggling to keep up and look like everyone else,” she says. “It wasn’t working for my body.”

So Jessica took her knowledge of barre and created her own program at home with modifications that supported her lower back. Her experience of feeling uncomfortable post-pregnancy in barre class eventually led her to pursue her own certification. She also started taking Zumba classes.

“It’s about finding something that makes you feel good, that’s not overtaxing your body, at a time when you’re probably sleep-deprived and don’t have a lot of energy,” Jessica says.

Slowly but surely, she got back down to her goal weight of 125 pounds. More importantly, she’d developed an eating plan for life. Check out these 13 secrets experts won’t tell you about weight loss.

Jessica Diaza fter

By the time she got pregnant again with her son about two years later, Jessica wasn’t worried about taking the weight off again. She ended up gaining almost as much—78 pounds—as she had with her first pregnancy. But she got back to her eating plan three months after Chase was born.

With two little kids, though, finding time to exercise was even more challenging. Jessica started teaching baby-barre classes, taking her son along. She huffed and puffed up and down the hills of her town, Charlestown, Massachusetts, pushing the double stroller. And when she didn’t want to waste an hour away from her kids going to and from the gym, she popped in a DVD and worked out at home. Try these 14 easy ways to jump-start your metabolism.

With the eating and exercise plan she’d already established, Jessica was able to get back into shape about four months sooner than she had after her first pregnancy—right around Chase’s first birthday.

Now Jessica feels healthier than she’s ever been. At 41, she teaches barre classes six or seven days a week. And when she gets that craving for a piece of chocolate cake? She’ll satisfy it with a little bit of dark chocolate and a handful of almonds instead.

Here are some of Jessica’s tips:

  1. Develop your own plan. Be mindful of calorie counts, but take the time to think about what and when you like to eat and formulate your plan from there.
  2. Don’t go overboard on healthy fats. Jessica was going through a bottle of olive oil a week. Instead of using four tablespoons of olive oil to sauté vegetables, she dialed back to a teaspoon of olive oil and water. Be careful with your portions of avocados and almond butter, too.
  3. You don’t have to ditch foods you love. Jessica loves white rice, bread, and sweet potatoes. She just makes sure to limit her portions and stick with one starch per day.
  4. Order your groceries online. Avoid temptation and order from Amazon or Instacart. “Those $5 delivery charges are worth keeping me from adding in the pretzels, chips, ice cream, and brownie mix,” she says.
  5. Find a mantra. To promote a healthier relationship with food, before she ate anything, Jessica would say to herself, “Food is fueling my body for health and energy to be the best mom I can.”

For more inspiration, check out these before-and-after weight-loss photos.

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