Skyler Meine

Are you one of those people who jumps out of bed in the morning just in time to get a shower in before you have to run to work? Then, you are so busy at work that you only have a few minutes to grab a snack. By the end of the work day you realize you are starving, so you pick up something on the way home or go home and eat way too much to make up for your lack of food throughout the day.

If you can relate to this story it is time to make some changes to your eating habits because what you are doing is killing your metabolism! On top of killing your metabolism, if you are exercising you are seriously going to hamper your improvement in the gym.

It’s going to take some effort on your part but eating five to six small meals a day will give you more energy. It will keep your metabolism burning as many calories as possible throughout the entire day. Just three hours after you eat, your body will have used or stored all the energy from that meal. This allows your body to utilize fat as a source of energy so that your energy levels stay up, and your body doesn’t hear the starvation alarm and attack lean muscle mass for fuel.

Eating every three hours will keep your metabolism burning calories non-stop, targeting the fat stores to get those extra calories it needs. Remember, healthy weight loss is all about maintaining lean muscle to keep your metabolism cranked up and burning fat. Make sure that each meal is balanced with protein, carbohydrates and fat. The closer the meals are to each other in number of calories, the better.

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Starting today I will be writing a post each day identifying one thing you need to be doing to improve your weight loss results. I hope you will take the challenge to implement these tips into your daily life. I will only be doing one each day to keep it simple.

Tip #1: Determine Your Weight Loss Goals

If you want to be successful make sure you set multiple goals. Weight isn’t going to be the only thing that determines whether your weight loss program is working.  Tracking your inches, jean size, body fat and energy levels will give you a much clearer picture of what your weight loss program is doing for you. Each measurement should be done on a biweekly or monthly basis.

Example: I had a client come do their measurements and was very upset because they didn’t lose any weight. However, they lost 6 inches and decreased one jeans size. When I pointed out to them the amazing inches lost, their whole perspective changed. They realized that over that two week period, they had lost many pounds of fat and had gained muscle. They even commented on how much better they thought they looked and felt.

Make sure your goals are realistic. The promise of websites and billboards that say you can lose 30 pounds in one month is unrealistic and unhealthy. Healthy weight loss should help you make lifestyle changes that allow you to maintain the weight loss over a long period of time. Consistent effort to improve your fitness level and health will have greater positive benefits than any miracle diet pill.

Weekly and monthly goals that focus on changing behaviors are going to produce greater results than just putting down numbers. That doesn’t mean the numbers aren’t important because they are, and they will be a guide to whether you are addressing the right behaviors. We will be looking at some of the behaviors that you will need to change in order to be successful in future weight loss tips posts.

Take a few minutes and write down your goals now.

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