Skinny Made Easy
Published in Action & Fitness Magazine Jan-Feb 2010 issue
Unless you’re destined to live your life with zero body fat, getting and/or staying skinny is a full-time job and more stressful than your 9-to-5 work schedule. Nobody said it would be easy but nobody said it’s impossible either. Instead of depriving yourself of real food and munching on carrot sticks and celery for lunch, think of weight loss as a lifestyle change. Here are some tips on how to get effortlessly thin without going cross-eyed with those fancy diets.
Get rid of the “diet mentality”
French women eat carbs every day (not to mention gourmet chocolate, cheese, and red wine) but manage to maintain a slim figure. How? Simple: they don’t diet. Mireille Guiliano wrote in her book French Women Don’t Get Fat, that the secret is to eat slowly, chew thoroughly, and savor the flavor and texture of the food. You can indulge in sinful treats like pasta dishes and pastries but in moderate amount and with the discipline to stop when you feel satisfied.
Monitor your weight loss/gain
Fitting and/or not fitting into your skinniest jeans is not a basis for weight loss. Bloating, PMS and other hormonal changes can make you feel fat on certain days. Keep track of your weight and work out a plan on how to achieve and maintain your ideal weight.
Make exercise part of your lifestyle
Spending the whole day at the gym after last night’s buffet dinner is a brilliant idea for suicide. Exercise should be done regularly to get the desired results. Some people may find it hard to incorporate gym time in their work schedule. In this case, taking 15-minute walks each day or doing some stretches on coffee breaks may suffice.
Eat a heavy breakfast
As the word suggests, “breakfast” means “breaking the fast of the night”, which means jump-starting the day’s metabolism pace by sending food into your system. People who don’t each breakfast are most likely to stuff themselves with something heavy for brunch, lunch, dinner and even midnight snack.
Ice cream won’t mend your broken heart
Stop pigging out when you’re bored/heartbroken/lonely/disappointed/insert more reasons here. Two packs of potato chips and a tub of strawberry ice cream won’t solve your problems. Seriously, instead of moping in your room with Big Mac and French Fries, get yourself out there and divert your murderous tendencies into something productive like working on the treadmill or buying yourself a new pair of shoes.
Keep moving (forward)
If you want to lose weight, you have to burn calories, and you can’t do that while sitting on your desk the whole day. Now, we don’t mean you have to scoot to the gym in the middle of the day. Running errands, standing every hour, and even going out for your caffeine fix can help burn more calories compared to sitting all day long.
Get a Life
The best way to lose weight without knowing it is to stay busy. Fill up the blank spaces of your social calendar with fun physical activities like sports, road trips, gym sessions and even shopping with friends. People who stay indoors watching countless reruns of Grey’s Anatomy are most likely to consume bags of chips for rations. Get your butt out there and get moving.
