weight loss Archives - Curves Cardio And Cupcakes

June 9, 2019 by cardioandcupcakes

30 Positive Affirmations For Self Esteem And Confidence For Women

Using daily affirmations to increase your self esteem and confidence can be life changing for women. The key to making positive affirmations work for you is to do them regularly. I’ve put together this list of positive affirmations for self esteem and confidence for women to get you started on the path to a wonderful life that will surprise and delight you.

You can write these positive affirmations in a notebook every day or just say them to yourself to boost your self respect and self worth.

If you really want to step it up and make these daily affirmations even more effective, try saying them to yourself in the mirror as if you’re talking to yourself. It may feel really weird and uncomfortable at first, but you’ll get used to it quickly. Saying these positive affirmations as if you’re talking to yourself, will make them much more believable to you. Choose a couple each day and say them every time you pass a mirror. It will change your life!

30 Positive Affirmations For Self Esteem and Confidence For Women

I am finding comfort in my own skin.
I am finding the solutions to what worries me.
I trust the journey.
I am good enough.
My challenges help me grow.
I forgive myself for my mistakes.
I believe in my goals and dreams.
I can do anything I set my mind to.
Today I choose to think positive.
Everything will be ok.
I deserve to be loved.
I deserve to be healthy.
I deserve to be happy.
Today I choose to be confident.
I have the power to make my dreams come true.
I believe in myself.
Good things are coming to me.
Things are always working out for me.
Today is a fresh start.
I can do anything.
It is enough to do my best.
I accept and love myself just as I am.
I am deserving of my dreams.
Challenges are opportunities.
I am thinner every day.
I am grateful to have a body capable of exercising.
I am in charge of how I look and feel.
I have a super fast metabolism.
I am worthy of a healthy, slim body.
I love myself.

How To Eat Less and Not Be Hungry

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure.

It seems the older I get the less likely I am to make sacrifices to lose weight. I used to try all of these crazy diets where I was starving all day when I was younger, but I have no interest in following any diet where I feel hungry anymore. However, I also feel like the older I get, the more cravings I have and the harder it is to lose the extra weight. I set out on a mission to figure out how to eat less and not be hungry because I needed to drop some pounds, but I didn’t want to have to suffer through it.

How To Eat Less and Not Be Hungry

Follow a diet that makes you happy is the most important thing. I always like to think about the long term instead of how quick can I get these pounds off with some crazy unreasonable diet.

I tend to lean toward ways of eating that do not limit the amount of food I can have. I feel like the keto diet is a great plan in this way because you have to limit carbs, but you can eat until you’re not hungry. And if you’re thinking “I’ve tried keto and it didn’t work for me” you should check out this keto plan. It’s so much more in depth with helping you figure out the reasons you aren’t losing (if that happens to you) and eliminating the foods that could be causing you problems. With this diet you don’t necessarily have to eat less to lose weight. So you can avoid being hungry entirely.

My Story Of Trying To Eat Less and Not Be Hungry (and Lose Weight)

I’ve struggled my whole life with my weight, but once I hit 30 years old, it was like my metabolism went on a permanent vacation. I tried to eat less and not be hungry, but nothing seemed to work and to be honest I was always hungry and craving things. Even when I worked out like a maniac, I wasn’t losing any weight. I came across this product that has been life changing for me! It’s called Mighty Maca Plus.

I love it because the first day I took it, I felt my belly go down and feel flatter! Within a couple of days I noticed I was eating less and not hungry and my cravings were going away. I always crave sugar. So this was pretty impressive to me.

I started thinking this stuff must be some sort of miracle and then something even better happened that I wasn’t even expecting… my libido improved drastically within a few days of starting it. I’ve had my hormones checked and was told that everything was normal, but now I’m really wondering how accurate those test results were and makes me wonder if this was why I was struggling with my weight so much.

Don’t be scared off that it’s a supplement that has greens in it. I had tried some greens supplements before that didn’t mix into the water at all and were so gritty and disgusting that I could barely choke it down. This stuff mixes right in and it tastes really good with no grit. It has a bit of a citrus flavor. It’s hard to explain, but it tastes very mild and good. It can even be mixed in a smoothie and you won’t even know it’s in there.

I really love that Mighty Maca was created by a female gynecologist who struggled with her own weight problems, cravings and hormone issues. I feel like she understands what we go through as women as we age and has addressed those problems with this product. She also has a free ebook that really helped me get the answers I needed about why I wasn’t losing weight.

The best part is you can get a free trial to try it before you buy a canister! I definitely got in on this deal because I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on supplements that I didn’t end up liking and wasted my money, but I knew right away after taking it that I was getting the full size canister. Their shipping is also really fast and the customer service is amazing!

Let Me Know If Mighty Maca Helps Curb Your Hunger!

I would love to hear if you try Mighty Maca how you like it! And if you try it while doing this keto diet, it’s a double whammy for your metabolism and will definitely help you eat less and not be hungry. Let me know if you try it!

P.S. If you really want to increase your libido and improve your hormonal symptoms, I also recommend getting a free trial of Julva too! You’ll absolutely love how it makes you feel!

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How To Lose Weight With Hypothyroidism Naturally

Losing weight with a thyroid problem can be truly difficult and seem impossible if you don’t know the right steps to take. I have struggled with hypothyroidism for over 10 years and battled to keep my weight down. Today I want to share some simple tips for how to lose weight with hypothyroidism naturally. These aren’t magic pills because there is no magic pill when it comes to weight loss with an underactive thyroid. These are simple to follow steps that can help your own body heal itself and start losing weight. A healthy body=weight loss. I grew up thinking that weight loss would lead to a healthy body when in fact it is quite the opposite. Help your body heal and you will achieve the weight loss you desire.

How To Lose Weight With Hypothyroidism Naturally

This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure here.

Get plenty of sleep to help with thyroid problems. Many of us with hypothyroidism don’t sleep enough. Our circadian rhythm is meant to help us sleep through the night and get good REM sleep and have energy and feel amazing throughout the day. However, if you have a thyroid disorder, your circadian rhythm may be out of whack and causing you to lose sleep which is when your body repairs and the weight loss magic can happen. You should be getting to bed by 10pm and waking up when the sun rises. Be sure to do your workouts and any activities before 2pm to allow your body time to unwind before bed time. Going to the gym after work gets your body ramped up too late and messes up your sleep cycle.
Low impact workouts help with with hypothyroid weight loss. We’ve all been told to workout harder to get results, but this isn’t necessarily true for the hypothyroid sufferer. In a lot of cases if you have hypothyroidism, you may also have adrenal fatigue. Exercise is a stress to your body and can cause worse problems with these conditions if not done correctly. Everyone needs to exercise and move their body, but if you have hypothyroidism, you should keep your heart rate down by doing resistance training at a slow pace or walking at a slow pace. This will keep the stress response down and help you lose weight with hypothyroidism.
Cut back on carbs and increase dietary fat to help your body heal from hypothyroidism. Dietary fat helps the body heal itself which makes following a keto diet the easiest and for some the only way to lose weight with hypothyroidism. Sugar and carbs cause stress responses in your body and cause the adrenals to overwork which affects your thyroid. So higher fat and lower carbs is the way to correct this. However, you want to follow the right keto diet that takes your body and needs into consideration. Also, anyone who suffers with hypothyroidism should cut carbs back slowly over a month to not put stress on the body. Going into a strict keto diet all at once will send your body the distress signal and make it hard to lose weight. The best keto diet is one created for women to help heal their hormones including the thyroid. This program is so thorough in helping you heal your body. There are 2 parts to it. The first explains everything you need to know about following a keto diet to lose weight. The second part explains all about healing your body, getting your thyroid and other hormones in check and so much more. I felt better within days of starting this keto diet and I have been suffering with thyroid problems for over 10 years. My body feels lighter, my bloated belly has gone down drastically, my pants are looser, and my aches and pains are gone. The other thing to keep in mind with a keto diet is that it is going to help your body repair, but it will take a little time. You can’t possibly lose weight when your body isn’t functioning correctly. Give it a little while to help your body heal before starting to watch the scale.
Vitamin and mineral supplements to support your thyroid and body. Many people suffering with hypothyroidism are lacking essential nutrients. Your keto diet will help with this, but a few common deficiencies are vitamin D, B vitamins, and iodine. Getting out in the sun to get your vitamin D is best. Sit outside with your skin exposed for at least a few minutes each day. We spend all day inside working in front of a computer and don’t get enough sun even if we live somewhere sunny. I live in New Mexico where it’s sunny most days and I am vitamin D deficient. I’ve been making an effort to get outside more. A kelp supplement will help your body get iodine and then it can use selenium more efficiently which the thyroid needs. If you have a sensitivity to B vitamin supplements, you should give this one a try. I’m very sensitive to B vitamins and I do so well with these. I was skeptical because I had tried so many that gave me a bad reaction, but I have so much more energy when I take them and no bad side effects. These are even safe for people with interstitial cystitis who usually react to vitamin B6. These will not cause bladder burning! I can attest to that as an IC sufferer myself.
Help your stomach digest food to help your thyroid. It is common to have low stomach acid if you have hypothyroidism. If you find that your food just sits in your stomach too long or you’re burping or bloated after meals, you may want to try Betaine HCl supplements. There’s no way you can lose weight properly if you aren’t digesting your food so your body can use it.
Cut out caffeine to calm your adrenals and support your thyroid function. I know no one wants to hear this, but caffeine stresses the adrenal glands and causes everything to go crazy in your body. If you drink caffeine every day, I would recommend taking a week or two to wean yourself off to avoid stressing your body by quitting all at once.
Reduce your toxic load to reduce stress on your liver and thyroid. We are exposed to tons of toxins every day. Our livers have to work and work to filter this stuff out. These chemicals we’re exposed to create stress in our bodies. Try to reduce some of the chemicals in your life that you have control over like your laundry detergent, soap, deodorant, lotion, cleaning products, etc. Once I did this, my body started feeling better and my skin problems calmed down. You can also drink lemon in warm water in the morning to help your liver out.

So now you know how to help your body deal with hypothyroidism and get it losing those extra pounds. As I said before, the body needs to heal first and then it will naturally start losing the extra body fat. Eliminate as much stress on the body as possible. Be patient. I hope you’ll join me on this keto journey to healing our bodies and being the best versions of ourselves!

Don’t forget to grab your free weight loss tracker!

How To Lose Weight With Adrenal Fatigue

Are you an “all or nothing” type of person?

Do you set your goals and crush them no matter what?

Do you go go go until you’re about to drop?

If this is your personality type, you could be stressing your adrenals and hindering your weight loss. Even if that’s not your personality type, a lot of environmental factors could be putting stress on your adrenal glands and causing a weight loss plateau or even weight gain.

We always think that motivation is the key to losing weight. We have to get motivated, stay motivated, stick to our diet, and get in those intense workouts and then we’ll lose weight, right? WRONG! We have so much stress in our lives due to technology and every day life and then we add all these stressful things associated with losing weight, totally setting ourselves up for failure. So the things you think are helping are actually causing adrenal fatigue and stalling your weight loss progress!

Below I’ll share some signs that you might have adrenal fatigue and some ways you can reduce stress on your body and help your adrenal glands heal.

How do you know if you have adrenal fatigue?

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Here are some symptoms. However, adrenal fatigue can show up in so many forms because the adrenals affect many areas of our bodies.

Thyroid problems
Decreased sex drive
You can’t lose weight no matter what you do
Difficulty recovering from workouts or physical activity
Muscular weakness
Tired in the morning
Foggy thinking/tiredness in the afternoon with burst of energy in the evening
Trouble sleeping
Can’t handle stress
Mild depression
Lack of energy/tired all the time
Food cravings
Increased symptoms of PMS or menopause
Lightheaded or dizzy when standing up from a seated or lying position
You “need” caffeine to get through your day
Inflammation in the body/autoimmune disease

So what can you do to help your body heal and lose weight with adrenal fatigue?

Get on a keto diet program that will help your body heal. This is the #1 most important step. The response to sugar and carbohydrates not only stresses your adrenals, but your whole body including your liver, pancreas and gut. Following a keto plan keeps your blood sugar in check and eliminates the stress response that a flood of sugar gives. A ketogenic diet plays a huge role in healing your body if you have inflammation, thyroid problems and adrenal fatigue. Fats are the building blocks to heal your body, especially hormones, which are produced by the adrenal glands. Any old keto diet isn’t going to do the trick though. It needs to be a keto diet that helps your body heal so you can get your hormones regulated and your body working how it should be while still enjoying life. Since I started this ketogenic program, my health has completely turned around! I used to feel tired all the time, I had aches and pains in my muscles and joints, my belly was bloated, and I had no self-confidence. After only a few days I started to feel so much better. After a few weeks my energy level skyrocketed, my aches and pains began to go away and my belly bloat started to go down. All around I feel like a new woman! Be sure to keep a food journal in the beginning so you can identify any foods that you might be having an allergy or reaction to. If you’re suffering with adrenal fatigue or any other health problems, you should cut your carbs down little by little over a month to avoid further stress to the body with a drastic diet change. This video is an awesome explanation of how adrenal fatigue affects your body and how you can heal.
Go to bed early. You have to go to bed by 10pm for your circadian rhythm to be regulated. People with adrenal fatigue will most likely have trouble sleeping. Your cortisol should be higher early in the day and then go lower in the evening when melatonin increases. In a person with adrenal fatigue, the opposite happens. Your cortisol is low in the morning and spikes in the evening suppressing melatonin and causing sleeplessness. So regulating your circadian rhythm is crucial to healing the adrenals.
Get up at sunrise and get some sun exposure. This is also part of regulating the circadian rhythm and getting vitamin D which many people are deficient in, especially if you have thyroid problems. Many of us don’t absorb vitamin D supplements and it becomes toxic to the liver. So sunshine is the best way to get it.
Eat a breakfast including fat before you do pretty much anything. If you start going without giving your body any fuel, your body gets stressed and so do your adrenals. As I mentioned above, a keto diet is best and you will be having healthy fat at every meal so you’ll have this one covered. You want to eat breakfast no later than 20 minutes after you get up for the best results. If your adrenals are stressed, intermittent fasting is not good. It adds an additional stress to your already taxed adrenal glands.
After breakfast get a low intensity workout in. If you’re struggling with adrenal fatigue, you will want to keep your workouts calm. No running, no HIIT, no high intensity. The goal is to not get your heart rate up too much because this will create a stress response in the body. Yoga, pilates, walking at a leisurely pace, and time under tension weight training (very slow movements with lighter weights) are all acceptable ways to workout with adrenal fatigue. I know this may go against everything you believe about exercise, but if you want your adrenals to get better, you have to keep from having the stress response.
Don’t have any caffeine. Caffeine stresses the adrenals and gives you a false sense of energy by forcing your body to do something it doesn’t have the energy to do naturally. You may feel like you need it, but as your adrenals begin to heal, that will stop.
Take vitamins, minerals, and herbs to help. Adaptogenic herbs like ashwaganda help the adrenals heal. Also you may have vitamin and mineral deficiencies. For me, taking a methylated vitamin B complex helped me drastically. I don’t tolerate a lot of vitamin supplements very well, but my body loves this particular one. If you have thyroid problems, a kelp supplement will help you get iodine and selenium that thyroid sufferers are deficient in. Magnesium is hugely important in healing the adrenals and is a calming mineral. Vitamin C is also important if you have a deficiency.
Avoid toxins as much as possible. We are surrounded by toxins and they stress the body and adrenals. If you really stop and think about how many toxins you come in contact with each day, it’s astounding. Just a few examples are the pesticides on our foods, the pollution from cars, our soaps and laundry detergents, perfume, processed food chemicals, cleaning products, body products like lotions, and the list goes on and on. I changed many of my toxic products to natural solutions and it really reduced the inflammation in my body. Cutting as many of the toxins out that you can will take a ton of stress off of your body and allow it to heal.
Avoid as much stress as possible. Try to disconnect from stress. I am a reactive person when it comes to stress. Learning to walk away and not react to stressful situations will help your health and adrenals. Take a minute to just think about it and realize that having a stress response doesn’t help the situation. Take some deep breaths and calm yourself.
Deep breathing from your diaphragm. Start your day and end your day by taking a couple of minutes to take some deep breaths. This gets more oxygen into the body which it needs and helps to calm you. I do this first thing in the morning to get my mind right and while I’m laying in bed before I fall asleep at night to calm me and I usually fall right to sleep when I finish. It doesn’t take long and will make you feel amazing. Take 25 to 30 deep breaths. If you want, you can repeat it a few times.
Wear blue light blocking glasses at night. The blue light and EMFs from our devices stresses the adrenals. Wearing these glasses will block the harmful blue light and keep the stress response down. It will help get your circadian rhythm regulated and allow you to sleep better.
Relax before you go to bed. Turn off all technology. This would be a great time to take a bath with epsom salt to relax and get your magnesium in or to spend a little time meditating and deep breathing. Give yourself about 30 minutes before you go to bed. The goal is to get into a deep sleep where you enter REM sleep and remember your dreams. During the first half of your sleep your body is repairing and during the second half of your sleep cycle your mind is repairing. So you can see why sleep is a very important factor in healing your adrenals and your body as a whole.

If you start following these steps, you are going to be on the right track to feeling better. Remember to be patient. This damage to your body didn’t happen over night and it won’t heal in the blink of an eye. This is a result of years of stress from many different things. You have to be consistent with all of these things.

Also, you may not lose weight at first when you are trying to lose weight with adrenal fatigue. Your body will have to repair first and then it will be able to drop the extra pounds. So stay off the scale because that’s going to cause you more stress and prolong your healing. If you’re following a keto diet that targets healing the body, just stick with it and give your body time to heal and the pounds will come off.

The Fastest Way For Women To Lose Weight

If you’re anything like me, you don’t want to wait forever for those extra pounds to come off. Some diet plans can feel like it takes forever to lose weight. I’m going to share the fastest way for women to lose weight by following this tips and hacks that will make it simple to shed that extra fat and get into your favorite skinny jeans as soon as possible!

The Fastest Way For Women To Lose Weight

This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure here.

Cut out the chemicals–Eating processed foods that contain chemicals causes inflammation in the body. Inflammation makes it very hard for your body to lose fat and causes water retention. Opt for natural foods that support your body and your health and ditch the processed junk.
Stop drinking alcohol–If you drink alcohol daily or binge drink on the weekends, it’s probably keeping you from losing weight. Alcoholic drinks usually have a lot of calories. Also alcohol is not good for your liver and your liver plays a huge part in fat loss. If you want to lose weight fast, take a break from alcohol at least until you get the extra pounds off. Then you can add it back in moderation.
Cut out carbs–If you’re looking for the fastest way to lose weight, cutting out breads, pastas, rice and sugar will definitely help you drop those pesky pounds fast! Many people lose 10 pounds or more in their first week of a low carb diet! That’s enough to drop a size! If you don’t know where to begin with a low carb diet, this one was created just for women and gives you step-by-step meal plans to make it super simple and easy to follow and gets fast weight loss results.
Get moving–You don’t have to do any formal exercise, but at least get walking. Walking can make a huge difference in your weight loss! Aim to get 10,000-15,000 steps per day. I track my steps with my Fitbit and I love how easy it is to use. It’s amazing how good a walk can make you feel! I start my day with a walk each morning. It helps me clear my head and get focused for the day plus I burn extra calories right from the start.
Get plenty of sleep–Try to get at least 7 or 8 hours of sleep because when you’re sleeping is when the fat loss magic happens from all your hard work during the day.
Detox–All of those processed foods and chemicals we are exposed to every day can take a toll on the body, especially the liver. Try a supplement to detox all the gunk out of your body and get your body’s own detox system working better so you can burn fat faster. This is one of the most important steps of the fastest way for women to lose weight.

If you follow all of these tips, I know you’ll see the fastest weight loss you’ve ever experienced. It can be hard for us women to shed those extra pounds especially the older we get. Treat your body right to lose weight fast and get into those skinny jeans!

How To Lose Your Muffin Top & Belly Fat

Are you so sick and tired of getting dressed and not liking what you see in the mirror? You put on your favorite pair of jeans just to have your muffin top spilling over and making you feel discouraged? I’m going to share with you how you can lose your muffin top and start loving what you see in the mirror and gain back your confidence and health.

Your muffin top is caused by excess belly fat. Extra belly fat is associated with health issues like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and some cancers. So not only does it make us unhappy with how we look, it can also cause us to be unhealthy. That’s why it’s so important to get rid of your muffin top by losing that extra belly fat.

How To Lose Your Muffin Top & Belly Fat

This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure here.

The most important way to get rid of your muffin top and the extra belly fat is through proper diet. It’s really important to follow a healthy diet that you can stick to. Yo yo dieting usually leads to more weight gain and belly fat in the long run. Choose a sensible balanced diet that will set you up for success. Depriving yourself and crash dieting will only lead to failure and not be a lasting solution to losing your muffin top. Lose the weight. Keep it off.
Start moving to melt off your muffin top. If you’re not doing some sort of exercise, you should try adding some. There are some really fun activities you can do to burn extra calories. Exercise doesn’t have to be boring or something you dread. The simplest form of exercise you can do and nearly everyone can do is walking. Grab yourself a Fitbit and start tracking your steps and calories burned. Aim for 10,000 to 15,000 steps a day in addition to a healthy diet to lose your muffin top.
Be sure you’re getting enough vitamins. Your body uses vitamins and minerals in every cell and function including fat loss. Take a good multivitamin to keep everything working correctly and maximize your belly fat loss.
Cut out the alcohol. Alcohol can really defeat your fat loss efforts. It has lots of extra calories and works against losing your muffin top.
Get enough sleep. Did you know that most of your body’s fat burning takes place while you sleep? Now if that’s not a reason to get more sleep, I don’t know what is! Make sure you get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. If you have trouble sleeping like I do, try this melatonin! It works like a charm! It dissolves in your mouth and starts working right away so you get to sleep faster.
Stop stressing. I know it’s hard to avoid stress. At least take a few minutes of quiet time each day to just be still, relax and reflect on the good things in life and what you want from your future. Stress really makes it difficult to lose weight because it causes your hormones to get all out of whack. So chill out for at least a few minutes each day to help get rid of your muffin top.

If you’re looking for an easy to follow, simple to stick to diet that will help you lose your muffin top fast, check out this diet by the Mayo Clinic. Lose up to 6 to 10 pounds in 2 weeks in a safe and healthy way. It’s the most sensible way to get rid of belly fat without gaining it back.

Meal Planning For Weight Loss–Free Printable Meal Planner

Meal Planning For Weight Loss

If you’re having trouble sticking to your weight loss plan, it may be because you aren’t planning your meals and snacks. If you find yourself grabbing foods that aren’t on your diet or going out to eat because you don’t want to have to figure out what’s for dinner, you’re going to want to get my free printable meal planner for weight loss and keep reading so I can show you how simple it is to plan your weekly meals and snacks so you don’t find yourself cheating on your diet.

You might think that meal planning for the week sounds like a lot of work, but it’s so simple you’re not even going to believe it! The other great things are that it will save you time and money too. It keeps you from throwing a bunch of random stuff in your cart at the grocery store. Plus the printable grocery list will help keep you organized at the grocery store so you can grab everything from each section and not have to run back because you forgot something.

4 Easy Steps To Meal Planning For Weight Loss

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Figure out what healthy meals and snacks you want to eat for the week. I usually find a lot of healthy recipes on Pinterest that I add to my meal plan for the week. You can check out my Healthy Recipes Pinterest Board for some ideas. Don’t forget to consider what you want for lunch and snacks. If you’re not into searching for your own recipes or this whole meal planning thing, $5 Meal Plan is the coolest meal planning service EVER! I wrote all about how it works here. They have vegetarian and Paleo plans available and their recipes are freaking delicious and easy to make. They send you a complete meal plan with recipes and a grocery list for $5 a month! These keto meal plans are done for you and sent to your email every week to take the guesswork and stress out of eating healthy.
Once you have your recipes picked out, write them on your printable meal planner. Be sure to write in any days you are going to have leftovers. I usually plan 3 or 4 meals a week and we eat leftovers the other days. Slow cooker meals and casseroles are great for leftover nights.
Keep it simple in the beginning. You don’t have to make recipes with tons of ingredients. Meal planning is about staying organized and making your life easier so you can stick to your diet and lose weight as well as save time and money. You can look online for recipes with 3 ingredients to keep it really simple. Also, be sure to include any meals that you plan to go out to eat.
Now that you have your meals written on your meal planner, add the ingredients you need to your grocery list. Be sure to write down any seasonings you need that you don’t already have. When you go grocery shopping, try to stick to your list so you don’t buy things that are not going to help with your weight loss efforts and cause you to spend more money. Check each item off of your list as you go through the store.

That’s it! You’ve created your own meal plan for weight loss! I told you it was going to be simple. Don’t forget to grab your free printable meal planner for weight loss so you can do this every week and keep reaching your goals.

Bonus Tip: You can put your meal planner in a dollar store picture frame and use a dry erase marker to write your meals in each week to save paper and ink. Hang it on the wall and it will always be handy so you can see what you have planned for the week.

Resources From This Post

10 Easy Weight Loss Plateau Buster Tips

If you've reached a weight loss stall, you don't want to miss these tips and tricks to break the plateau. Whether you exercise or not, these ideas are healthy ways you can get the motivation to take control and use a plateau breaker. Oh no! If you’re reading this it’s probably because you were going along just great with your diet. You were losing weight and feeling awesome about yourself and everything you were doing and then BAM! You hit a weight loss plateau! We’ve all been there at some point and it is super frustrating. Sometimes it can take weeks to break through the plateau and start losing weight again. Keep reading for some of the easiest weight loss plateau busters that you can try immediately to get back to losing weight and feeling amazing.

The Easiest Weight Loss Plateau Busters

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Pay attention to what you’re really eating. If necessary, you could start a journal or use a an app like My Fitness Pal to track your food for a little while to be sure you aren’t eating more than you think you are. I’m not usually an advocate for calorie counting, but if you reach a plateau, you may need to do it for a short time for the sake of finding the issue that’s causing your weight loss plateau.
Try having a cheat meal. I know this sounds like the opposite of what you need, but sometimes your body needs a sign that there’s abundant food still. This can give you a jolt that will kick you out of that weight loss plateau. This worked great for me when I followed a keto program and would get stuck. Every so often I would have a carb filled meal and it would get my weight loss back in gear.
Try adding some healthy fat. If you’re following a low calorie or low fat diet, adding a little coconut oil, olive oil, avocado, or nuts could be just the thing that your body needs to get going.
Change up how you eat your meals. If you have been eating 3 large meals and a couple of smaller snacks, try eating 5 or 6 small meals instead. If you’ve been eating 5 or 6 small meals, switch it up and eat 3 larger meals and a small snack or two. A simple change as small as meal size and timing could be the weight loss plateau buster you’re needing.
Drink more water. This has always been a challenge for me, but keeping hydrated will make sure your weight loss continues to go along smoothly and you don’t hit a plateau. Increasing the amount you drink even by one glass could help you bust through your plateau. Add a little lemon for even more health benefits and plateau busting ability. If you need to use lotion on your skin, you’re likely not getting enough water to keep you hydrated.
Start working out. If you haven’t been doing any kind of exercise, add some! Even just a short walk can burn those extra calories and get your metabolism revved up. If you live somewhere that weather doesn’t permit you to walk outdoors, you can try these videos for walking indoors.. They make it fun and they only take a few minutes. Here’s a list of fun workouts that won’t feel like you’re exercising.
Get more sleep. If you aren’t getting at least 8 hours of sleep, this could be thing thing that is causing your weight loss to stall. Sleep is when our bodies recover and when all the magic of weight loss happens. Make an effort to get more and better sleep.
Eat probiotic foods. Sometimes being unable to lose weight can be caused by a gut imbalance. Eat more fermented and cultured foods to increase the good healthy bacteria in your gut. I was absolutely unable to lose any weight until I began getting my gut healthy.
Add triphala powder to your diet. It is good for overall health, but the main reason I love it is because it has been shown to help people lose weight. It helps cleanse toxins from your body and could be the key to getting past your weight loss plateau.
Stop focusing on the scale. Please also remember to always go by how you feel. Sometimes the scale is a liar. How do your clothes feel? Are they getting looser? Don’t get hung up on a number on the scale. I’ve actually put my scale away and am completely going by how I feel and how my clothes are fitting and I’m so much happier not being a slave to that silly scale. I’m not saying to not track your progress. We need to know if something is working, but sometimes the scale doesn’t reflect what is happening in our bodies.

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What Snack Foods Are Low In Carbs And Keto Approved?

This post contains affiliate links. See my disclosure here.

If you’re new to the low carb keto diet and are wondering “What snack foods are low in carbs and keto approved?”, you’re in the right place. Most of these low carb snacks are grab and go and take very little prep to make your keto diet experience as simple as possible.

What Snack Foods Are Low In Carbs?

Here are 10 of my top picks for keto approved snack foods.

Beef Jerky-Be sure to choose low or no carb. Some of the flavors have added sugar and lots of artificial ingrediats. So make sure you check the label!

Bacon-You can cook a whole package and put it in a baggie in the refrigerator for a grab and go snack or something quick when hunger strikes. Be sure to store it in a sealed baggie so it doesn’t get soggy from moisture.

Hard Boiled Eggs-This is another super easy snack idea that you can make several ahead of time and keep them in the fridge. You can even peel them ahead of time and store them in a baggie for a super quick snack.

Avocado-I love avocados! Slice a half of an avocado up for a snack. I like mine with a little sea salt. They’re also really good paired with bacon!

String Cheese or Cheese Cubes-The great thing about string cheese besides the fact that it’s cheese (one of my favorite foods in the world) is that it comes packaged individually. So it’s really easy to just grab one on your way out the door. You can buy cheese already cubed or save some money by buying a block of cheese and cube it yourself so it’s ready for snacking.

Nuts-Nuts make a great snack. Just be careful which ones you choose. Some have a higher carb count like peanuts, pistachios, and cashews. Macadamia nuts are my favorite and are higher fat and lower carb.

Veggies & Dip-Veggies are so good for you and it’s really important to get a variety of colors in your diet for all the different vitamins they provide. Cut up the different colored bell peppers, cauliflower, and broccoli. You can make a simple dip made from sour cream and ranch dip mix. I just put the dip mix right into my sour cream container, mix it in and stick it in the refrigerator so it’s ready to go. Super simple and really delicious! Bonus tip: I buy cultured sour cream so I get the added benefits of good bacteria for my gut.

Olives-Olives are an easy to store snack. The last a long time in your pantry so you can stock up for an easy quick snack.

Fermented Vegetables-Ok if you’re like I used to be, this sounded so gross to me, but I’ve learned the importance of a healthy gut and I actually love fermented vegetables now that I’ve tried them. I lost my sugar cravings and belly bloat by balancing my gut.

Portobello Pizza-Use a portobello mushroom as your pizza crust and fill it with a little pizza sauce, veggies and top with mozzarella and bake for about 10 minutes. It’s so yummy!

If you are following a keto diet or low carb diet and want to make your life so much easier with meal plans and recipes that are simple and amazing, I found this program that makes following keto a breeze and it’s inexpensive. It takes all the guesswork out and it is created for women and our needs!

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Don’t forget to grab your free weight loss tracker!

May 23, 2018 by cardioandcupcakes

Why Can’t I Stick To My Diet And Have Willpower?

Why can’t I stick to my diet?

Willpower.

I know you’ve heard this term and probably used it yourself in regard to dieting. Well I’ll be the one to tell you that it’s all a crock!

We start out on a diet where we have all of these restrictions, can’t eat any of the things we love and frankly, I’ve gotten quite depressed on some diets because of this. I mean who really wants to live every day denying themselves of things that bring them joy in life?

When we fail at our diet which wasn’t designed for us to be successful anyway, we feel guilty and ashamed that we couldn’t have enough willpower to stick to it. We feel like such a failure.

Why is it so hard to stick to a diet?

Your diet is too restrictive. I think the most important part of sticking to a diet is listening to your body. I did a low carb diet in my 20s. I lost 90 pounds, felt great and got in the best shape of my life. My body was loving that diet at that time. I tried a low carb diet again in my late 30s and I felt completely horrible. I felt like I couldn’t digest the food properly and I didn’t lose anything. In fact, I gained a few pounds! I now listen to my body and what it needs to do its job. If I try a way of eating that doesn’t feel good, I don’t continue with it.
You have uncontrollable sugar cravings. It is impossible to stick with a diet if you can’t stop thinking about all the sugary goodness that you can’t have. I know. I’ve been there. It isn’t pretty! My sugar cravings would haunt me until I just ate whatever I was craving. I couldn’t get them out of my head no matter what I did. I would read online to just have some water or go for a walk and they would subside. Are you kidding?! That doesn’t work! So I would give in to the sugar monster and eat that sweet goodness. And then of course, I would have the feelings of guilt and shame for failing myself. You can read here how I’ve kicked my sugar cravings for good.
You’re dieting only to lose weight. I know we all want to lose weight and that’s usually the main goal of going on a diet. But what if you changed the way you look at dieting? Stop focusing on the scale and focus on how you feel. If you’re eating healthy food and listening to what your body needs, you should be feeling great and the weight loss will come with that. The more we stress about the scale and pressure ourselves to lose the pounds, the more a diet sucks. Are you eating in a way that you can live with for the rest of your life? If not, search for the diet that makes your body happy and your mind happy. I’ve put my scale away and am focusing on what makes my body feel good and I’m so much happier! And I know I’m losing weight because my clothes are getting loose. Who cares what that scale says?! Wouldn’t you rather see your pants size go down than a number on the scale?
You’re deficient in vitamins and minerals. A lack of essential nutrients can cause all sorts of problems in our bodies. I was deficient in several nutrients including vitamin D and the b vitamins. It took me a long time to figure it out, but a gut bacteria imbalance was causing my nutrient deficiencies. These bad gut bacteria were using up all of my vitamins and leaving none for my body to use which caused all kinds of crazy symptoms in my body that I would never have thought would be related to my gut or vitamins. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause cravings that make you fail at your diet. This is how I got my gut balanced so my body can use the nutrients I put into it.

How To Have More Willpower

The most important things you can do to overcome your lack of “willpower” are to listen to your body and talk to yourself positively every day. Negative thoughts about yourself just bring more negativity. Instead of beating yourself up, take the time to try to figure out why you can’t stick to your diet. Maybe you have one of the issues above.

Trust in yourself and put in the time to try to understand what is happening and why so you can correct it. In the medical world, doctors seem to look for a quick fix band-aid rather than finding the root cause of a problem. As a society, we all want instant gratification. I fully believe in finding out what is causing your problem so you can fix it permanently rather than just masking the symptoms. If you’re having cravings, there’s a reason. If you’re body doesn’t respond well to a certain diet, there’s a reason. Your lack of willpower is your body trying to tell you something. Listen to it.

30 Positive Affirmations For Self Esteem and Confidence For Women

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