How To Stop Worrying And Go To Sleep At Night

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My Top Secrets to Maintaining a 36-Pound Weight Loss

During the last year, I dropped a lot of weight by following Whole30, an elimination diet that is designed to help me figure out how my body reacts to certain foods. I eliminated grains, white flour, wheat flour, alcohol, legumes, beans, sugar—everything but fats, proteins, fruits, and vegetables, really—for 30 days. Then you slowly add back foods to see you your body reacts. It worked like a charm for me, but learning how to maintain my losses was the true breakthrough. Check out the ultimate Whole30 shopping list.

After three complete rounds of Whole30, I found myself 36 pounds lighter than where I started. I felt good inside, but I went through a serious issue with trying to accept my new body. And, on top of that, my fulltime job requires a lot of travel and eating—so how would I be able to maintain my weight loss?

Thinking about this sent me into a complete tailspin. How could I enjoy my life when I believed that eating anything other than Whole30-approved food would bring the weight back? I agonized over this as I left for business trips or when I had to meet with clients over meals. Find out how Whole30 became a lifestyle and not just a diet for me.

But now, more than a year later, I weigh the same as I did. In fact, I haven’t done a round of Whole30 since my last one, which ended on Christmas Eve 2017. And I have been able to let go the fear of regaining. Here’s how:

Finding and accepting my “balance”

Almost everyone who has lived their life on a diet knows about balance—think of it as the amount of time during the week that you’re following the plan balanced against the time you allow yourself time to indulge. Sometimes that balance is eating well during the week and enjoying the weekends. I realized that in order to maintain my weight, my balance had to be 90/10—meaning I have to be on my best food behavior 90 percent of the time.

On previous eating plans, if I knew I was going to have a decadent dinner or a sweet treat, I would let myself eat whatever I wanted all day. Now, I follow Whole30 for every meal and only allow myself to indulge on special occasions—date night, birthdays, vacations, etc.

Once I found my balance, I also found it easier to maintain than I thought. Although it was a lifestyle change, I knew that I would feel better about myself staying trim than regaining. Here’s why you shouldn’t feel bad about cheat meals.

Listening to my body

Finding your balance is important, but listening to your body is even more important. That is something I had to learn how to do without going over the top. Sometimes I get really intense cravings for things that are not Whole30 approved. But, I am also an emotional eater and know that about myself, so I stop to consider if this is an emotional trigger instead of a hunger trigger.

To prevent myself from going rogue, I have learned to sit on the craving for one day. If I wake up the next day and tacos are not on my mind, then it was probably just an emotional thing. But if I wake up and it’s all I can think about, I will allow myself to enjoy it. Why? Because there may be something in those tacos that my body is actually craving. After I have it, I’m satisfied and can move on with my life.

Being accountable

Stepping on the scale has been crucial to my success. It holds me accountable for everything I eat—even when I haven’t held myself accountable in the moment of eating. I get on the scale every morning, when I get home from every business trip, and after every big eating event. No exceptions.

But here’s the thing: I don’t let the number make me crazy. I simply use it as a tool to allow myself to adjust back to my normal weight. I drink more water for the next few days. I eat more whole foods, salads, and things that I know will help with bloat. I make sure not to skip my workouts that week. Not only do I look better, but I feel better, too, and that’s what it’s really all about.

Next, learn more about everything you can—and can’t—eat on Whole30.

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30 Healthy Snacks That Can Help You Lose Weight

The science is clear:

Eating small amounts of healthy foods throughout the day is the best way to curb cravings, limit hunger, and avoid overeating come meal time. There’s no perfect formula, but many experts are now saying that in addition to three healthy meals, each of us should enjoy the best healthy snacks for weight loss, one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon. After dinner, either a small dessert or late-evening snack also makes sense to round out the day’s menu. The goal is to never go three waking hours without having a small bite to eat. The key rule: Keep each snack to 125 calories or less. As you’ll see, we’re not banning chocolate or potato chips. But you’ll find that the healthier the food, the more you can eat. For example, an entire cucumber is a mere 45 calories. It takes just five potato chips to get you to that threshold! After asking the food experts and doing some research on our own, we came up with the 30 best healthy snacks that are yummy, easily available, and deliver just the right number of calories (125 or under) and nutrients to keep hunger away until your next meal.

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How to Lose 10 Pounds (and More!) from People Who Did It

Seek out others with similar goals

Newsroom editor Kate McGinty, 33, of Cincinnati, OH, found success in dropping weight—74 pounds, to be exact—by participating in a private accountability group on Facebook. Group members all started the same workout program—21-Day Fix, which they could do in their living rooms for just 30 minutes a day—and committed to checking in with each other on the platform every day. “The accountability was a huge help. I wasn’t alone. Having the support group means having people to celebrate with you, cheer you, relate to you, and hold you accountable,” she says. Follow McGinty’s journey on Instagram @kjmcginty. Try these 11 bizarre weight loss tricks that actually work.

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12 Little Weight-Loss Tricks Only Nutritionists Know

There’s no single trick that works for everyone

“I wish the diet industry would stop touting that weight loss is simply the result of eating less and exercising more, says New York City-based clinical nutritionist Jennifer Cassetta. “For some people that do eat way more than their bodies need, then yes, this strategy can often lead to weight loss,” she says. “However, that is not always the case.” In other words, there isn’t one perfect solution—and the thing that might work for you may not even be on your radar yet.

To help you make strides toward your goals, we asked top dietitians and nutritionists for the strategies that actually get results. And make sure you avoid the worst diet tips nutritionists have ever heard.

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5 Tips That Can Help You Choose A Good Family Doctor

Choosing a good family doctor is not easy. You need to see a doctor who can perform the right diagnosis based on the symptoms of the patient. So, we suggest that you take your time while doing research before choosing a doctor. Given below are 5 tips that may help you make the best choice.

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15 of the Best Atkins Diet Foods for Your Shopping List

What is the Atkins diet?

Perhaps the original low-carb eating plan, it emphasizes protein and fats while restricting carbohydrates, particularly those from refined, processed, or starchy sources such as bread, pasta, and baked goods. Plenty of fresh vegetables provide fiber, and in lieu of counting calories, followers track their net carbs (the number you get when you subtract dietary fiber content from total carbohydrates on the nutrition label). The tactic is said to slash weight and keep it off by balancing blood sugar levels, reducing hunger, and decreasing fat storage. Developed in the 1960s by cardiologist Robert Adkins, MD, its popularity has remained steady ever since, especially with the recent surge in adopting a ketogenic diet, which forces the body to burn fat instead of carbs. Dana Cohen, MD, an integrative medicine physician in New York City and author of Quench, worked with Dr. Atkins and shares her favorite Atkins diet foods. Find out what it’s really like to follow a low-carb diet.

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7 Foods Men Should Eat More of—and 5 That Should Be Avoided

Eat more: fatty fish

No matter how old you get, how long you can run, how much iron you pump, or how many expert tips you follow for your heart, the old ticker is always going to need a little extra TLC, according to registered dietitian Cara Walsh. You want to make sure that your circulation is strong so you can keep moving at whatever pace you set for yourself. Fatty fish—like salmon, tuna, trout, and sardines—are good additions to your meal plan, she says. “The healthy omega-3 fatty acids found in fish are a good source of Vitamin D, which is especially low in men’s diets should be eaten at least twice a week,” she notes. These are the superfoods that every healthy man needs in his diet.

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50 Things You Can Do Today to Lose Weight

Get a little ~fancy~ with yourself

Ditch the leggings or sweats and put on an outfit that makes you feel fantastic. Not only will you look sharper but well-fitted clothing can help you lose weight, says JJ Virgin, CNS, CHFS, author of the Sugar Impact Diet. “Elastic waistbands, baggy sweaters, and other loose clothing practically invite you to overeat,” she says. Wearing skinny jeans will remind you of your goals and when you look hot, you feel hot, so you’ll think twice before getting seconds at dinner.

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17 Tiny Weight-Loss Resolutions You Can Actually Keep

Take a real lunch break, even if it’s short

Eating at your desk or in front of the TV is distracting, and because your brain doesn’t fully realize what you’re eating, you could end up unsatisfied, even with big portions, says Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, CDN, CSCS, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “People look down after their meal and have no memory of what was on their plate,” she says. “They don’t feel satisfied and are hungry again in an hour.” Ideally, you should spend the full 20 or 30 minutes it takes to eat focusing on your meal. If it’s unrealistic to leave your desk that long during lunch, take at least the first five to ten minutes chowing down without distractions, she says. Here are the 14 things healthy, happy people do on their lunch breaks.

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9 Ways to Blast Belly Fat in a Single Day

Lose belly fat by cutting out sugar

Eating sugar, especially refined sugars added to sweeten food and beverages, is a leading contributing factor to visceral fat. The glucose and fructose that come from sugar are simple carbohydrates that get quickly absorbed into the bloodstream and metabolized to release energy. When there’s excess intake, they get converted to glycogen to be stored in fat tissue. Eating a lot of sugar also spikes your blood sugar, which triggers insulin to be released in large amounts, potentially leading to a condition called insulin resistance that’s associated with metabolic syndrome. Cutting out all sweetened foods and drinks, including fruit juices, is one of the best things you can do today to lose belly fat fast. Learn to enjoy small amounts of natural sweeteners such as fresh fruit, raw honey, dates, and coconut crystals. Don’t be tempted by these other 15 of the worst foods for your belly.

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This Very Common Condition Triggers 4 Percent of All Cancers Worldwide

If you’ve been thinking about trying to drop some pounds, you may have a better incentive than just squeezing into a pair of jeans or impressing your co-workers: According to a new study published in CA, the American Cancer Society’s journal, excess body weight is responsible for almost 4 percent of cancers around the world.

“The causal link of excess body weight to cancer risk is supported by evidence from numerous epidemiological studies,” write the study authors of an international review done in conjunction with investigators from the American Cancer Society (ACS), Imperial College London, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The researchers analyzed cancer deaths and body weights worldwide and discovered that being overweight or obese can raise a person’s risk for more than 13 different cancers, including breast cancer, stomach cancer, thyroid cancer, colon cancer, and ovarian cancer, among others.

“Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain how body fatness affects cancer risk,” write the authors. One such mechanism describes how excess body fat induces insulin resistance, which suppresses production of insulin‐like growth factor (IGF)‐binding proteins, which in turn triggers intracellular signaling cascades that favor tumor development. “Genetically predicted higher fasting insulin levels have been associated with elevated risks for certain cancers,” the researchers note.

“The rapid increase in both the prevalence of excess body weight and the associated cancer burden highlights the need for a rejuvenated focus on identifying, implementing, and evaluating interventions to prevent and control excess body weight,” the researchers report.

While the researchers found that weight is currently associated with 3.9 percent of cancers worldwide, they predict that number will rise as the population continues to grow more obese. In 2016, approximately 40 percent of adults and 18 percent of children (ages 5-19 years) were carrying excess body weight.

Additionally, the risk varies based on location, the study showed. For example: The risk of cancer from excess weight is less than 1 percent in low-income countries, but it is as high as 7 to 8 percent in some high-income Western countries, in the Middle East, and in some Northern African countries.

In order to lower the risk, the ACS urges everyone to find their body mass index (BMI)—you can find it here. If you fall in—or are nearing—the overweight or obese category, it’s time to make some changes.

Here’s how one doctor is curing insulin resistance, and even diabetes, and helping patients shed hundreds of pounds in the process.

There’s added benefit to changing your lifestyle, the ACS experts say: Overweight or obese people who intentionally lose weight reduce their levels of hormones are related to cancer risk, such as insulin, estrogens, and androgens.

Don’t miss the 28 things you think cause cancer but don’t.

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Sneaking In These 60-Second Exercises Can Transform Your Body

Burpees

Burpees: Maybe you love them, maybe you hate them, but are you even doing them correctly? For a quick workout, burpees target the legs, butt, chest, and shoulders, all while accelerating the heart rate for maximum calorie burn, says Adam Rosante, certified CFT and specialist in fitness nutrition and CrossFit Level 1 Trainer. To properly perform a burpee, stand with feet hip-width apart. Crouch down and place your hands on the floor directly under your shoulders, then jump your feet back to land in a push-up, or plank, position. Be sure to lower your entire body to the floor, then press back up to the starting push-up position and hop the feet forward, returning to the original crouched position. “Explosively jump straight up, clapping the hands overhead,” Rosante says. “Land softly and repeat.” To modify this powerful move, step your feet back, one at a time, into the plank position. Drop your knees to the floor before lowering your body and then step the feet forward, one at a time, to return to the crouched position. Stand straight up and rise onto the balls of your feet, then clap your hands overhead to complete the first movement. Be sure to steer clear of these fitness moves that work against you.

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The Inspiring Secrets of People Who Lost 50+ Pounds—and Kept It Off

Eat like a caveman

Kyle Kranz is a 29-year-old former athlete who lost 85 pounds after gaining weight steadily after suffering a bad injury because of a car accident in middle school. “I was unable to play football and soccer like I previously had,” he says. Then a friend of his, who was starting to focus on his health a bit more, invited Kranz to join him during his freshmen year of high school. While in high school, he credits his weight loss to 75 percent dietary changes and 25 percent working out, which for him, consisted of mostly lifting weights, since the accident didn’t allow him to run. But the greatest difference for Kranz came from curbing what he puts in his mouth every single day. “You lose weight quickly when your diet changes from fast food, soda, and chips to meat and vegetables. I was the high schooler eating pre-portioned and pre-prepared—thanks for the help, Mom!—chicken breast and veggies for lunch. I also found out I actually enjoyed lifting weights, and put together a fairly respectable home gym in a spare bedroom,” he says. Though he eventually recovered and was able to become an endurance athlete, doing everything from swimming to cycling to running, Kranz maintains a caveman-like attitude toward nutrition. “My favorite health advice is something I read from Michael Pollan, when he said, ‘Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants.’ Eating real food and not processed junk was the biggest game changer for me,” he says. Follow these 40 fast, easy tips to lose weight.

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10 Positive Things That Happen to Your Body After Just One Workout

General goodness for your body

People who work out everyday get crazy benefits—good for them. But what about that very first workout, or just one session? “Overall there are several physical and mental benefits related to any type of exercise,” says Murphy Grant, MS, ATC, PES, executive chair of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association, Intercollegiate Council for Sports Medicine (ICSM), and associate athletic director for sports medicine at the University of Kansas. “Depending on the type of workout you’re doing, there can be lots of beneficial changes, including improved cardiovascular efficiency, increased bone density, higher metabolic efficiency, increased lean muscle mass and of course decreased body fat.” And most people would be surprised to know how much of that good stuff can start in just one exercise session, Grant adds.

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25 Weight Loss Myths You Need to Stop Believing STAT

Eating after 6 p.m. leads to weight gain

While late-night eating has been linked to weight gain, putting a cut-off time on eating doesn’t ensure diet success. In reality, putting restrictions on when you cannot eat doesn’t align with modern lifestyles, as many people don’t get home from work early enough to follow time restrictions, explains Susan Kraus, clinical dietitian at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey. “The problem lies in what and how much you eat,” says Kraus. “After a tough day at work, people tend to reward themselves with food or they may have not eaten well during the day and feel they have to make up for it.” The best strategy for eating at the end of the day is to plan ahead and be aware of how much you are eating in the evening. Having a healthy snack later in the day can help curb your appetite and prevent overeating at dinner, while eating small, nutrient-rich meals rather than large mixed meals before bed has been shown to be beneficial, helping with morning metabolism and satiety.

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Three Questions To Answer If You Are Thinking About Varicose Vein Surgery

If you are one of the many who suffer from the varicose curse, you are not alone. Fortunately, there are now more ways to find treatment for your ailment. Technology and medical expertise has come a long way towards specializing in vascular treatment. However, as treatments become more common and more centers open up, you have to make decisions and choose from the best options. This is especially important if you are going to have surgery. Here are three questions to answer if you are thinking about varicose vein surgery.

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The 5 Simple Tricks That Helped Me Lose 300 Pounds

Lexi Reed was fed up with the life she was living. It was January 1, 2016, and 26-year-old Reed, who lives in Terre Haute, Indiana, weighed 485 pounds. “I knew that if I didn’t get my health under control, I might not live to see my 30th birthday,” she says. Reed made a New Year’s resolution to start shedding pounds, and she set up an Instagram titled @fatgirlfedup to track her progress and help keep herself accountable. Two years later, Reed has shed 312 pounds and counting. Here are the five secrets to her success.

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How Well Do You Know, Your SELF?

Many of us, suffer, from choosing to try, to be, like everyone else, rather than, trying to become, merely, the best, we can possibly be! In order to do so, it's essential to begin, with a commitment, and a willingness, to be, as introspective, and objective, as possible, so we aim, to satisfy our personal needs, rather than focusing on pleasing others, and/ or, fitting - in, with the pack! In other words.

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13 Subtle Signs Your Holiday Eating Could Be a Problem

You go back for seconds when you’re not hungry

If you’re so stuffed after your office’s holiday lunch that you feel like you can barely breathe, you’ve overeaten. There’s a difference between feeling satisfied and feeling stuffed. “A lot of us mindlessly eat in social situations, sometimes because we’re distracted by conversation or we’re eating a lot of little appetizers without paying attention to our hunger and satiety cues,” says Abbey Sharp, RD, a blogger at Abbey’s Kitchen and author of The Mindful Glow Cookbook. Avoid this from happening by not immediately going back for seconds. “It takes time for our body to recognize that we’re satisfied,” she says. “After your first plate, give yourself a few minutes. Maybe enjoy a glass of water or some good conversation. Then re-evaluate if you’re still actually hungry.”

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