How to Ditch Holiday Stress

From decking the halls to scouring the mall, for many people, the holidays are so jam-packed with to-dos, they can leave us feeling more stressed than the big guy in red himself.

Since stress is often to blame for our slim-down slip-ups, and this time of year is teeming with sweet treats just waiting for a moment of weakness, it’s important to find healthy ways to cope when the holiday hoopla becomes too much to handle.

Check out these tips for dealing with holiday stress:

Face It

Make a DIY anti-stress face mask: Puree five mashed mint leaves and one piece of peeled cucumber (deseeded) in a blender. Add one beaten egg white and blend until smooth. Apply to face; leave on for 20 minutes before rinsing.

Welcome the Warm and Fuzzies

Crank up some relaxing tunes and take a warm bath, or cozy up to a hot cup of tea while wearing your fuzziest PJs.

Walk Away

Take in the beautiful light displays with a night stroll, or get your feel-good hormones flowing by walking while the sun’s still out. This one works wonders not just in terms of holiday stress, but stress in general.

Embrace the Madness

Listen: It’s the holidays. With family and friends coming and going, and party after party needing to be hosted, there’s pretty much no way you’re not going to be at least a little stressed. But the holidays only come once a year, which means in a month, when you’re stuck in the doldrums of winter, you might actually miss all the madness. So embrace it! Accept that you might be a bit tired or that your house might not fully recover for another week or so. It’s OK. Take in the time you have with loved ones, and worry about the rest later.

The post How to Ditch Holiday Stress appeared first on The Leaf.

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How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Month* with the FreshStart™ Program

If you’re like most people, you would love to know how to lose 10 pounds in a month… or even how to lose more weight than that. What you need to remember is this: Reaching your weight loss goal isn’t a sprint—it’s a steady jog that brings you across the finish line at your own pace. But when you start the journey, you want to know right away that you’re making weight loss progress with your smart choices. Waiting weeks or even months to see a difference can be so discouraging. “Studies have shown that early weight loss is a predictor of long-term success,” says Courtney McCormick, MPH, RDN, LDN, Nutrisystem Corporate Dietitian.

Ready to learn how to lose at least 10 pounds? Click here to get started with FreshStart today!

With the FreshStart weight loss program from Nutrisystem, you move right into the fast lane and begin passing milestones immediately. FreshStart is a quick-start weight loss diet plan designed to help speed up your results from the outset. In a clinical study, subjects lost up to 13 pounds and 7 inches overall in their first month on the FreshStart plan.* This is two times the weight lost by subjects dieting on their own. (Still not sure why DIY diets don’t work? Check out this article on the subject).

The key to the power of FreshStart is the boost you get from your first week on the weight loss program. To help you start strong, you’ll be set up with all of your weight loss meals and snacks during the first week, including:

• 7 days of specially selected breakfasts, lunches and dinners
• 7 FreshStart Shakes, packed with protein and probiotics to support digestive health and help bust belly bloat
• 7 Nutrisystem Snacks that crush hunger with the protein and fiber you need to stay satisfied between meals

Along with the weight loss meals, you get a specially designed Daily Tracker log to help you record and maximize your results. Plus, you get FREE access to NuMi, our helpful, easy-to-use weight loss app (Click here to learn more about NuMi). Along the way, you’ll have a professional support team, with comprehensive counseling options from trained weight loss coaches available seven days a week. So if you want to know how to lose 10 pounds in a month, they’re standing by to help you make it happen.

After completing your first week, you’ll move on to your regular Nutrisystem meal plan, as the weight continues to drop. You could say FreshStart is your perfect pace-setter for winning weight loss, starting you rapidly on the path to your goal and supporting you all the way to success. So if you do decide to try it, don’t be surprised if friends and family members start asking you how to lose 10 pounds in a month!

Note: FreshStart may not be appropriate for all, such as diabetics, but we have plans specifically designed for individuals living with diabetes. Check out our meal plans or call a counselor for more information.

*In a study, average weight loss was 11.6 lbs. and 8 inches.

The post How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Month* with the FreshStart™ Program appeared first on The Leaf.

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Goal Achieved!

35F | 5'4" | SW 183 | CW 143| GW 135

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Follow up to my previous post here

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Well I've done it! I actually did it 3 weeks ago, but I've been in the midst of moving to Curacao for an internship and forgot to post!

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As I said before, I started this journey using MyFitnessPal and CICO, beginning in February of 2018. Though I wasn't working out through most of my weight loss, I was active daily as I live in the NL and bike or walk everywhere. Fitness is the next step! I joined a bouldering gym before I left the NL and had taken the first steps into getting back into a workout routine... I am not trying to lose any more weight, but would like to tone up and build some muscle. While I'm here on a tropical island, swimming and scuba diving will have to suffice (it's too hot for anything else!)

So that's my story! I just want you all to know that you can do it! It won't always be easy, there will be setbacks... sometimes the scale is going to go in the wrong direction. But it's ok. Just keep at it. You'll get there :-)

As promised...

Before and After 1 and 2 ... (having shorts that fit would be nice, but having to make do for the moment!)

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Tuesday, 11 December 2018? Start here!

Today is your Day 1?

Welcome to r/Loseit!

So you aren’t sure of how to start? Don’t worry! “How do I get started?” is our most asked question. r/Loseit has helped our users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds and these are the steps that we’ve found most useful for getting started.

Why you’re overweight

Our bodies are amazing (yes, yours too!). In order to survive before supermarkets, we had to be able to store energy to get us through lean times, we store this energy as adipose fat tissue. If you put more energy into your body than it needs, it stores it, for (potential) later use. When you put in less than it needs, it uses the stored energy. The more energy you have stored, the more overweight you are. The trick is to get your body to use the stored energy, which can only be done if you give it less energy than it needs, consistently.

Before You Start

The very first step is calculating your calorie needs. You can do that HERE. This will give you an approximation of your calorie needs for the day. The next step is to figure how quickly you want to lose the fat. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound of fat per week you will need to consume 500 calories less than your TDEE (daily calorie needs from the link above). 750 calories less will result in 1.5 pounds and 1000 calories is an aggressive 2 pounds per week.

Tracking

Here is where it begins to resemble work. The most efficient way to lose the weight you desire is to track your calorie intake. This has gotten much simpler over the years and today it can be done right from your smartphone or computer. r/loseit recommends an app like MyFitnessPal, Loseit! (unaffiliated), or Cronometer. Create an account and be honest with it about your current stats, activities, and goals. This is your tracker and no one else needs to see it so don’t cheat the numbers. You’ll find large user created databases that make logging and tracking your food and drinks easy with just the tap of the screen or the push of a button. We also highly recommend the use of a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much of what you're eating is more important than what you're eating. Why? This may explain it.

Creating Your Deficit

How do you create a deficit? This is up to you. r/loseit has a few recommendations but ultimately that decision is yours. There is no perfect diet for everyone. There is a perfect diet for you and you can create it. You can eat less of exactly what you eat now. If you like pizza you can have pizza. Have 2 slices instead of 4. You can try lower calorie replacements for calorie dense foods. Some of the communities favorites are cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash in place of their more calorie rich cousins. If it appeals to you an entire dietary change like Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian.

The most important thing to remember is that this selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long term weight management success. If you hate what you’re eating you won’t stick to it.

Exercise

Is NOT mandatory. You can lose fat and create a deficit through diet alone. There is no requirement of exercise to lose weight.

It has it’s own benefits though. You will burn extra calories. Exercise is shown to be beneficial to mental health and creates an endorphin rush as well. It makes people feel awesome and has been linked to higher rates of long term success when physical activity is included in lifestyle changes.

Crawl, Walk, Run

It can seem like one needs to make a 180 degree course correction to find success. That isn’t necessarily true. Many of our users find that creating small initial changes that build a foundation allows them to progress forward in even, sustained, increments.

Acceptance

You will struggle. We have all struggled. This is natural. There is no tip or trick to get through this though. We encourage you to recognize why you are struggling and forgive yourself for whatever reason that may be. If you overindulged at your last meal that is ok. You can resolve to make the next meal better.

Do not let the pursuit of perfect get in the way of progress. We don’t need perfect. We just want better.

Additional resources

Now you’re ready to do this. Here are more details, that may help you refine your plan.

• Quick Start Guide - Build your foundation!
• Loseit Compendium - Frame it out!
• FAQ - Answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions!

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[Challenge] European Accountability Challenge: December 11th

Hi everyone, how are you? Hope everything goes well for you today with your goals. It’s not weight loss related but I’m really happy to see some people doing the compliment goal again this month on here. So I though maybe other people would like to try it- instead of a question of the day, give yourself a compliment today if you fancy it!

 

For anyone new who wants to join today, this is a daily post where you can track your goals, keep yourself accountable, get support and have a chat with friendly people at times that are convenient for European time zones. Check in daily, weekly, or whatever works best for you. Anyone and everyone is welcome! Tell us about yourself and your goals and join us already :) And it's all more fun when you comment on each other's posts, so let's encourage each other too!

And on to the accountability part...how's your day going? Let us know how you're getting on with your goals, if you have any questions, need to vent, have a SV or NSV to share, etc. And feel free to just have a chat about how your day went! We got this :D

 

I’ll start: I’m off to a slower start than planned but will get on top of things soon. Plan for today is online courses, lunch with a friend, then trip to another city for a meetup. I will write my compliment later in the interest of getting this post up sooner! Have a great day everyone!

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I’m noticing a terrible pattern..

I seem to have a 3 year cycle of weight loss vs gain. I spend a year being active and healthy, shed some weight and bottom out around 140lbs. Then I stay there for a few months and after that, over the course of around 18 months, I pile on everything I lost right back on to around 180.. that’s some serious sloth and gluttony. Then I spend the next year going back to being super active and quit drinking and ditch junk food, only to repeat the process again. And now surprise, I’m back at the top of the scale and looking down this horrible ordeal all over again. I have a feeling that part of the reason I do this to myself is I surround myself with people who encourage a lot of bad behavior and at times I find healthy living slightly lonely... sometimes even boring when avoiding indulgences... but this has been going on for over 12 years, and I’m so at a loss for balance in my life I am asking strangers on the internet for help. I know I do my best when I have support, but where does that come from? I used to hire personal trainers for motivation, and that was great and I loved it- but that’s not really part of my budget anymore, nor was it ever really part of a long term budget plan.. How do you guys find support and motivation? I know it’s time to head back to the gym, but it’s tough to get friends to commit to even going once or twice a week and it’s weird to try and meet new people there.. I never really get used to going on my own. Even if I go 5 times a week and take regular classes, I never feel like I belong, and this is a big part of letting things slide when I start to feel like I hit my goal. But I’m getting older now(almost 33) and my body should not be doing this anymore. So, I come to you with all my problems and pray there is some divine r/loseit knowledge lurking just around the corner~ if anyone has any advice or motivation secrets I sure would love to hear them, cause it’s time to ditch this awful cycle and get zen with a new sustainable lifestyle.. lord, do I need help.. does anyone use a reward approach? Like with vacations or wardrobe changes or nice presents for yourself?

Thanks for reading, I know that was super long- I’m really hoping for some sensible direction

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Tantrum Tuesday - The Day to Rant!

I Rant, Therefore I Am

Well bla-de-da-da! What's making your blood boil? What's under your skin? What's making you see red? What's up in your craw? Let's hear your weight loss related rants!
The rant post is a /u/bladedada production.

Please consider saving your next rant for this weekly thread every Tuesday.

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