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Losin It For GOOD!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Massachusetts
Posts: 1,131
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Plateau Busters and Other Great Tips
This is circulating on email, with no one to give credit too, but has some GREAT tips and advice for busting plateaus-
Lose Those Last 10 Pounds!
Nutritionists and weight-loss doctors know that you can lose weight even when your body is reluctant. It can be done. Whether you need a jump-start or want to slim down for a special event, the following tips will show you how to boost your metabolism, revamp your eating and exercise habits and cope while taking off your body's most stubborn fat.
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Lose 10 Pounds Snacking All Day!
Get over your diet plateau by grazing on five to eight small meals instead of three larger ones. Why? Mini-meals eaten about every three to four hours will help keep your body fueled and your metabolism geared up all day. The result? You'll burn more calories more efficiently.
Here's 10 Mini-Meal Strategies
1. Mix it up. If you think snacking all day means high-fat foods or empty-calorie treats, think again. It's about targeting healthy food groups so you get about six grains, two fruits, three vegetables, two dairy products and two to three protein foods daily.
2. Plan ahead. Don't grab a mini-meal without thinking first. If you have a plan, you'll eat healthful mini-meals (such as a hearty sandwich and a bowl of soup) rather than a spur-of-the-moment fast-food binge.
3. Portion, portion, portion. Eating frequent mini-meals doesn't mean goodbye to portion control Extra helpings add up to extra calories. Opt for foods that are already portioned into individual servings (for example, a cup of yogurt, an orange and a slice of whole wheat bread). It will help you get a single serving and stay in control.
4. Avoid temptation. If you know that you can't eat just one bran muffin, for example, pull only one out of the freezer. Out of sight means out of mind. Choose mini-meals that you know won't tempt you to crave second helpings.
5. Forget the fat-free fix. Fat-free foods are not as satisfying, and they have just as many or more calories as "regular" food and many contain a lot more sugar. Eating a bunch of nonfat cookies instead of one real cookie will sabotage your efforts to lose weight.
6. Take time-out for your meals. Once you study your schedule, you'll be able to figure out how eating mini-meals can work for you, your schedule and your body.
7. Split them up. You can cut your meals in two. If you eat a bowl of cereal for breakfast, for instance, save 1/2 a cup of skim milk to pair with a muffin at 10:00 A.M. If you normally order a turkey salad for lunch, eat half and enjoy the rest a few hours later. Not only is the two-for-one method time and cost effective, but it will also keep you on the mini-meal track.
8. Stock up. Keep single servings of foods that you can use for convenient mini-meals. In your car, for example, non-perishable items (such as a 6 oz. can of unsweetened grapefruit juice and a single-serving box of raisins) will help you keep on the every three to four hour mini-meal eating plan.
9. Break the rules. Forget boring diet foods. Consider grabbing a slice of vegetarian pizza (whole wheat crust, light on the cheese, heavy on the veggies) and half a glass of skim milk for your afternoon mini-meal. You can be both creative and calorie-conscious.
10. Dice it up. Keep a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables on hand. Then get busy and slice them up. This way, you can add healthful produce to a variety of mini-meals, from yogurt to cereal, pasta to salad.
Reach For More Fat-Burning Foods
Frustrated dieters don't have to diet anymore. If your weight won't budge no matter how hard you diet, simply change what you eat.
Fill up on more carbohydrates: If you want to bust your diet plateau, do what athletes do and rev up your carbohydrate intake. Carbohydrates are efficiently burned as energy. They help energize you so you'll stay more active and burn more calories and fat. Your best choices are beans, bread, rice, cereals, fruit, vegetables and pasta.
Say yes to more nutrient-rich foods: End your diet plateau by digging into nutritious meals and snacks. When your body is getting all the nutrients it needs, you tend to have fewer cravings for foods filled with empty calories. So you'll be less likely to go off your diet. A regular nutrient-rich diet evens out peaks and valleys in your blood-sugar level, preventing overeating and saving your diet.
Eat more negative-calorie foods: Want to really put your diet back into pound-paring motion? Eat more low-calorie, high-fiber foods that require more energy to digest. Your body needs 25 calories to digest one cup of celery. There are only 10 calories in the celery itself, so you've burned up 15 calories.
Opt for more fat-burning foods: Filling your plate with fat-burning foods that create thermal energy (or help the body produce heat and burn more calories than other foods), can help rev up your metabolism, too, and help you actually burn calories while you eat! Fresh fruits, vegetables and other low-fat, high-fiber foods are common fat burners and can help your body melt stubborn fat away. Foods such as apples, mushrooms and salad greens are all low in calories and fat, so when you fill up on these - eat fewer calories than your body needs - your body will burn its own fat stores. Some of these fat-burning foods are water-dense, so you'll feel full for fewer calories. Others are high in fiber, so they help push food through your digestive system, lowering your body's absorption of fat and calories.
The Best Fat-Burning Foods
apricots grapes
artichokes oranges
asparagus pears
bananas radishes
blackberries snow peas
broccoli spinach
carrots squash
cantaloupe sweet peas
cherries tomatoes
Build Muscle, Burn Calories
Building muscle, helps burn fat faster. Indeed, teaming your fat-burning diet with a little strength-training will speed up your metabolism and burn as much as 200 more calories a day! Research shows that people who follow a weight-lifting program can drop pounds of fat - without ever changing their diet. You, too, can share similar results if you go back to the basics. Do these classic exercises and you'll burn calories and fat. Before you begin, warm up (walk for 10 minutes). Cool down (walk or stretch) after each workout. Try 1 set (10-12 repetitions of each exercise) and then work up to 3 sets. Try to do strength-training exercise (which burns about 150 calories per 30 minutes) two to three times a week. For the most effective fat-burning, muscle-building exercises try the following:
#1 Bicep Curls - Hold a 3 to 5 pound weight in each out-stretched hand (palms facing toward the ceiling). Then, slowly lift your hands toward your shoulders simultaneously or in alternating repetitions.
#2 Squats - Stand with palms flat against a wall and toes forward, legs shoulder-width apart. Squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor (don't go below). You'll look like you're sitting on a chair. Make sure that your knees don't extend over the toes. Come up slowly, repeat.
#3 Push Ups - Lean against the wall with your palms flat. Bring your chest toward the wall, slowly bending your elbows. Push away and repeat.
#4 Scissor Kick - Lie on your back and raise both legs 6 inches off the floor and hold. Raise both legs another 4 inches. Lift one leg higher, then the other, simulating a scissor movement.
Burn Fat Faster
If you boost the intensity of your workout (walk faster, add an incline to the treadmill), you can burn fat even faster and reach your weight-loss goal. Aim for 20 to 30 minutes of daily aerobic activity (it takes at least 20 minutes to elevate your heart rate to a fat-burning level). Fitness experts will tell you, however, for busting weight plateaus, you must increase your aerobic-type exercise to 45-60 minutes five days a week.
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I just need to figure out good foods to graze on! 
