3 Tools I Use to Lose Weight

I tend to gain weight all over my body. So, it is hard to tell how much weight I've gained. This is an okay fact of life for me, although I wish the reverse were true. I wish that I could lose weight effortlessly the same way. Actually, I can lose weight now when I want to but it is very gradual.

In this post, I give a short list of valuable tools I use for losing weight.


 

Types of Fasting

Fasting can be defined as the withdrawal of food and/or drink from the body. Many people may think that fasting is an unhealthy act of starving oneself by withholding food and drink. On the contrary, if done correctly and with care, fasting can be great for your body's digestive system, nervous system and for your mind.

A good fasting routine can improve your sleep, keep your weight down, reduce stress and anxiety and make your body more efficient.

In this post, I will go over the different types of fasting that you can use to promote good health and digestion.

How to overcome overeating

(I want to give you some quick tips that will show you how to overcome overeating.)




This past weekend, I overate.  On Friday, it started when I had two sandwiches at a work function.  They were delicious but the bread was a little too heavy for me and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to digest it well but off I went anyway.

On Saturday, Daytona 500 and opening Olympics weekend, my husband and I celebrated by having franks on buns with sauerkraut; shrimp egg foo young, general tso chicken and beef with broccoli.  Not to mention, the smoothie and ice cream shake we split from Jack and the Box!  Whew!  Let’s just say that by Monday morning, I felt utterly sick from the amount and the mixture of food I had. 

Have you ever had a rough weekend of eating that took you 2-3 days during the week to recover from only to notice that you recover right in time for the next weekend to mess up your system once again.  The trick is to digest the weekend food as soon as possible (speed up your digestion) and get back on track with healthier eating habits as soon as possible.

So, what do you do when you overeat?  How do you make a quick recovery to overcome overeating?

Let me talk about several keys ingredients to overcome overeating.

Fast or eat lightly for the next meal

Some folks, when they overeat, will actually starve themselves by not eating at all.  This will only make you more ravenously hungry only to end up overeating again.  Probably, worse than the first time. 

I have to say that fasting is a good idea but not from the standpoint of starving.  Fasting is a great tool that has been used by ancient societies (ex. Chinese, Indian) to promote detoxification and better digestion.   Please note that there are many forms of fasting that run from no food-no drink to light eating-drink.  Take a look at my article on the Types of Fasting.

Drink water

Drinking water can keep food moving in your digestive systems.  Often times, when we overeat, food gets packed up in our intestinal tract and there is not enough food to keep the texture soft so that the food keeps moving.  I find that sipping all day from room temperature, purified water is a helpful remedy to a back up digestive system.  I have it in the morning right after getting up and right before I exercise.

I’m not a fan of drinking many glasses of water a day as it makes me feel like a fountain.  Sipping on water all day is helpful to overall digestion.  It’s important not to drink too much water with meals because it weakens your digestive enzymes.  If you are eating vegetables and minimizing the amount of dense, starchy foods, then there is plenty of water.

Exercise

By far, the cheapest and easiest exercise to do is walking.  I have a treadmill but you could just walk around the block or even walk around your house.  I walk on the treadmill first thing in the morning after a small cup of room temperature filtered water.  This 1-2 morning routine usually gets my bowels moving quickly to eliminate the evening’s meal.  My second bowel movement comes shortly after I eat breakfast that consists of brown rice, veggie sausage or tofu and vegetables.   See my Recipe: Brown Rice Stir-Fry Breakfast.