There are tons of weight loss products on the market and they come in all shapes and sizes…
…pills, drinks, even candy such as chocolate and lollipops! And they all claim to burn fat, suppress your appetite, boost metabolism and a host of other things.
Some weight loss products are not even worth spending your money on while others have proven to produce phenomenal results. Some are safe and others you should avoid like the plague lest you end up with worse problems than excess weight.
But this article is not meant to get into which ones are good and which are bad.
The purpose of this article and what I’d like to convey is that, while I think many of these weight loss products are great and they can provide motivation for you by helping you to lose weight WHILE continuing to eat what you want…
… weight loss products should NOT be used exclusively and
should not be the “end-all-be-all” to your weight management.
What I mean is this…for example, you can take capsules or drink beverages that aid in weight loss BUT… if you do not lay a basic foundation of smart dietary changes and learn new eating habits that will allow you to KEEP that weight off, then the day you decide to no longer take said product(s) or if for some reason the company shuts down or the product gets recalled (hey…stuff happens ALL the time!) then you will gain the weight back. Basically, you’re stuck!
So it is important that even if you start out using such weight loss products with no change in diet or exercise, at some point you begin to investigate and start making minor, gradual changes and learn what types of foods you should consume, what you should not consume, etc.
Here are just a few tips and basic rules of thumb to get you started:
- Drink plenty of water to help flush your system and keep things moving – especially1st thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything else.
- Allow breakfast to be your largest meal of the day in terms of calories BUT…make it as healthy as possible!
- Try to eat every 3-4 hours – something like this: meal, mid-morning HEALTHY snack, meal, mid-day HEALTHY snack, meal – rather than having 3 huge meals, 3 times a day
- Where you can, switch out as many processed, refined items for the opposite (ex: non-bleached-whole wheat flour for bleached, evaporated cane juice or agave nectar for white sugar, real potatoes for boxed mashed potatoes, brown rice for white rice, etc.)
- Drink a glass of water after every meal
- Consume plentiful amounts of fresh fruits and veggies
- Search for and/or create healthier versions of your favorite desserts and other “junkier” foods
- If you have a problem with OVER-eating, drink a glass of water BEFORE you eat anything to help curb your appetite and STOP eating when full…do NOT force yourself to finish your plate for the sake of “not wasting”…but instead, wrap it up for either later or the next day!
Those are just a few basic things you can do to maintain your weight once you’ve reached your weight loss goals and habits you can keep for a lifetime, even if the weight loss PRODUCT you chose to use is no longer a part of your life for one reason or another.
