12 Mental Tricks to Beat Cravings and Lose Weight

Mind over matter

Using pure willpower to overcome cravings doesn't always work. (If it did, dieting would be easy and we'd all be at our own healthy, feel-great weights.) Guess what? You don't have to tough out an unrelenting yen to house a box of Cheez-Its, you just need to fool yourself into thinking you didn't actually want to eat the junk food in the first place. It's easier than you think; here are tips from experts and recent studies to help you stay on track.

Visualize an internal pause button

The next time you want to reach for a big bowl of Chunky Monkey, picture yourself hitting a pause button in your brain. "If someone were to ask to borrow a lot of money, most people can stop and say, 'I'll think about it,'" says Coral Arvon, PhD, director of behavioral health and wellness at Pritikin Longevity in Miami, FL. But when that chocolate cake or bottle of wine is in front of us at the end of day, the majority of us don't hesitate to indulge. "Think 'pause,' and consider your decision for 10 minutes before making an actual decision," Arvon suggests.

Substitute junk food with healthy foods that resemble junk food

Find a healthy alternative that shares some of the same qualities as the fatty food you've got a craving for, says Jonathan Alpert, a New York City-based psychotherapist and author of Be Fearless: Change Your Life in 28 Days. Craving the crunch and salt of potato chips? Make a batch of satisfyingly crispy kale chips. Eyeing the carton of ice cream in your freezer? Whip up a fruit-packed smoothie bowl instead. "Over time your taste buds and brain will adjust and learn to like these healthier options," says Alpert.

Imagine yourself eating

Thinking about eating a bag of candy makes it more likely you'll eat less of it when you actually start eating it, according to a 2010 study by Carnegie Mellon University researchers. Study participants who visualized eating 30 M&Ms before indulging in a bowl of the candies ate fewer M&Ms than two other groups who imagined eating only three candies or no treats at all. Researchers say the key lies in thinking about eating the food versus merely thinking about or visualizing it.

Tell yourself you can have anything

When you think about going on a diet, hunger pangs, deprivation, and waving goodbye to your favorite foods probably come to mind. Problem is, denying yourself your favorite foods immediately sets you up for failure, says Amy Goodson, RD, sports dietitian for the Dallas Cowboys and co-author of Swim, Bike, Run, Eat: The Complete Guide to Fueling Your Triathlon. "You want to make changes you can do for the rest of your life. The key is to eat what you want, but not everything you want," says Goodson. "You can still enjoy one to two splurges during the week as long as you stay on track the rest of the time."

Why You’re NOT Losing Fat (TRUTH!!)

Flat Stomach + Bigger Butt | Meals & Workout 2017

Weight-Loss Success Story

Weight-Loss Success Story:  She Lost 65 Pounds
"I never thought I would be 120 pounds—ever!"


Although she stands only five feet tall, 27-year-old Krystal Sanders was never petite. Growing up, she subsisted on fast food and "anything you could microwave." A size 14 when she moved to Austin, Texas, in 2005 to work as a revenue services specialist, she continued to hit the drive-through five nights a week. When she began planning her wedding in early 2008, the added stress drove her to eat even more. "I was in denial and avoided scales, cameras, and mirrors," she says. But she couldn't avoid the size-18 tag on her wedding gown.

The Change
When Krystal's wedding photos arrived in October 2008, she didn't want anyone to see them. "I looked at the pictures alone and I cried," she says. "It was a reality punch in the face. I was embarrassed that I'd let myself get that large." She knew something had to be done.

The Lifestyle
Krystal emptied her pantry and fridge, tossing all chips, frozen pizza, and other junk. Instead of eating out, she started cooking healthier versions of her favorite restaurant foods, boosted her veggie intake, and measured portions. "It was an eye-opener to see the difference between what I would normally eat and what the serving size was," she says. When she worked up the courage to step onto a scale, it read 185 pounds. She began jogging on her treadmill for 30 minutes six times a week. Over the next year, she added DVD strength workouts, cut out soda and processed foods...and reached her goal of 130 pounds. But she wasn't finished. She began lifting heavier weights, and in December 2009, the scale flashed 120. "I couldn't believe it. I thought maybe the scale was broken," says Krystal.

The Reward
Now Krystal has the energy to log nine-mile runs and go biking and hiking with her husband. And she is anything but camera shy. "I used to run from cameras, but now I like what I see in photos," she says. "I'm finally at peace with the way I look."
Krystal's Tips
Add iron. "Don't be all cardio all the time—lift weights! Replacing fat with muscle means you can burn more calories without even trying."
Greek out. "I use low-fat Greek yogurt in place of mayo in recipes, and it tastes great. It can also be used as a sour cream substitute."
Be prepared. "Set everything out the night before: clothes, weights, water bottle. Then nothing can get in the way of your workout."

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/healthy-weight-loss-success-stories

10 Ways Music Can Make or Break Your Workout

Killer beats do more than just make you bust out embarrassing dance moves in the middle of the gym floor. Your favorite jams have real performance-boosting effects. There’s a reason many marathons and running races have banned music, especially for pros or anyone hoping to medal. Music can give you a competitive edge and save your sanity during a grueling workout.

Let’s be real: Most of us reach for a good playlist to make exercise more fun and to motivate us. The good news is that the science backs us up. Your favorite tunes can be a powerful way to stay on track and beat your fitness goals. Here are 10 reasons to crank it up — or turn it down — during your next gym sesh.

1. It will get you out the door

Don’t feel like putting on your exercise clothes and leaving the house? It’s time to turn on the music. Music can help motivate you to get moving. One study found that listening to music may help you get started on a run and encourage you to keep going.

2. You’ll work harder without noticing

Feel like your progress is stalling? Try adding some preselected songs to your next gym session. One study found that participants pedaled more ferociously while listening to music, but they didn’t find the extra effort to be more unpleasant than their slower pedaling without music.

Multiple studies have shown that music is especially influential during repetitive, endurance activities. Choosing the music you like best can enhance the performance boost and reduce your perceived exertion. In other words, listening to music can make your workout feel easier or encourage you to work harder without you feeling like you are.

Researchers don’t know precisely why this is true, but many attribute it to the metronome effects a good beat can have. The right song may help you maintain a steady pace, keep your mind off the difficulty of the workout, or both.

3. Jams can amp you up

Music can boost your mood and get you ready to slay. While tempo and volume both affect how the music makes you perform, how the music makes you feel is even more important.

There’s no perfect workout music for everyone. Memories the songs bring up — or even the lyrics you can’t help but belt out — are incredibly powerful and personal. What matters most is how the song or playlist makes you feel.

4. ... or calm you down

Yes, you can be too amped. Slower music, 80 to 115 beats per minute (BPM), can help you slow your heart rate and reduce anxiety before a race, game, or particularly intense workout. While the beats matter, lyrics and how you feel about the music can impact your emotions and help you regain control, according to a review in The Sport Journal. Listening to music may also help you avoid “choking” — hesitating to act when playing sports — and get you out of your head, according to a very small study.

5. Improve coordination

You don’t have to dance to the beat for music to affect the way you move. Regardless of your movement, music encourages you to move rhythmically.

A study found that listening to music you enjoy increases the electrical activity in the regions of the brain that are responsible for coordinating movements. This is why a good beat makes an aerobic or HIIT class easier to follow. Your body naturally wants to move in time with the beat.

6. Push your limits

Nothing will put the brakes on a great workout quite like fatigue. Music can help change your perception of your limits by blocking out some of your fatigue. A study with 12 male participants found that when they listened to music at different tempos while cycling, they worked harder with faster music and enjoyed the music more than slower songs.

The right music can distract you from the extra effort and leave you unaware of your increased exertion. This means that you can work out harder and get a better workout overall without feeling like you are.

However, you can’t completely blow past your body’s limits. Music is much less effective at decreasing your perceived level of exertion when you’re working to your max.

Studies have shown that once your heart rate climbs into the anaerobic zone, music stops being effective. Your body, and your muscles’ desire for oxygen, becomes louder than your tunes. Music is no match for super high-intensity workouts.

7. Make a hard workout more enjoyable

Anyone who’s ever gone to a spin class with heavy beats knows firsthand how much easier a brutal workout is with music. Good jams can help distract you from the intensity of the workout.

One study with 34 participants found that listening to music is even more effective at making a workout more enjoyable than just watching a video without sound.

Why? Because the more you’re able to lose yourself in the music and disconnect from the unpleasant feelings of an activity, the more pleasant it becomes.

Another study found that a good playlist can also help decrease your perceived level of exertion, or how hard you think you’re working, during low- and moderate-intensity exercise. The researchers also found music and video combined was more powerful, and that the effects of this combination increased with time. The longer the participants exercised, the more powerful the music and video was.

So, don’t forget to grab your headphones before a long workout!

8. ... but you might bo too distracted

There’s a fine line between mindlessly cranking it out on a spin bike and tossing around weights while distracted. It’s easy to forget about form or how your body is feeling when you’re grooving to the beat.

Pro tip: Be careful to check in with your body and turn down the music when you need to concentrate on a difficult move to avoid injury.

9. Improve cadence and avoid injury

Runners rejoice! Music at the right tempo can help you increase your cadence and sidestep injury. A high cadence has been tied with lower rates of injury in endurance runners. Those extra small steps help reduce the force of each footfall and keep your body better aligned on impact.

A study with 26 recreational runners found that when they ran to music between 130 and 200 BPM, they sped up or slowed down their footfalls in time with the music. So, shoot for music with 160 to 180 BPM to boost your cadence.

Pro tip: Spotify and Jog.fm both let you choose songs by BPM.

10. You’ll recover faster

Bring your heart rate back down and recover faster post-workout with some slow jams. A study with 60 participants found that slow music lowers blood pressure, slows heart rate, and quickens recovery time. Researchers also noted recovery with slow music was faster than with silence or fast music.

Another study with 12 participants found that while fast music can improve your intensity during a workout, slow music can help you return to your resting heart rate faster.

This means that listening to soothing beats can reduce cardiac stress and speed recovery so you’re ready for your next workout sooner. The right songs can also help you relieve stress. Stress delays recovery and negatively impacts performance.

Bottom line

Don’t worry if you can’t bring along your tunes to every gym class. There are limits to the wonders of music, anyway.

Music can’t magically push you beyond your physical limits. It has little effect on strength, endurance, and perceived effort when at a max heart rate or in an anaerobic zone. Unfortunately, music just can’t make every workout a fun jam session.

Still, music can transform a miserable workout or slogging in the gym into something to look forward to. From better performance to increasing your recovery, the right songs can have real effects on your mind and body. Go ahead and pump it up!

http://www.healthline.com/health/music-can-make-or-break-your-workout#1

The Best Healthy Snacks Of 2017 (So Far)

2017 has been a banner year for healthy foods, with innovations in snacks, oils, desserts, and more. Whether you want chocolate that helps with weight loss or chips that heal your gut, this list of the best of the year so far has you covered.

Eating Evolved Keto Cups

Whether you're dabbling with a keto diet or you just want to embrace healthier dessert options, these cups are a deceptively healthy delight. Eating Evolved is committed to embracing the motto "Chocolate: It's Food, Not Candy," and these cups do just that, with only four simple ingredients (organic cacao, organic coconut butter, MCT oil, and vanilla extract). Keep a stash in your freezer for whenever a chocolate craving strikes, and you'll never reach for the too-sweet stuff again.

The Coconut Cult Coconut Yogurt

The yogurt that's taken Instagram by storm. Each of these dairy-free quarts contains over 800 billion human-strain probiotics. Meant to be consumed more as a supplement than as straight yogurt, it's delightfully tangy (almost effervescently so) and pretty damn addictive. It also completely changed my digestion (read more about that here).

Bonafide Provisions Drinkable Veggies

These bone-broth-spiked beverages provide the perfect antidotes to the sometime cloying sweetness of many bottled juice products, instead embracing the savory side of ingredients like spring peas, butternut squash, beets, red pepper, and more. The collagen in the bone broth will help heal your gut lining, but more, you'll have any midafternoon cravings quelled by the amazing umami flavor. You can consume hot or cold.

Farmhouse Culture Kraut Krisps

If there's a better way to get your probiotics than a savory, crunchy chip, I haven't yet found it. The first ingredient in these chips is dried sauerkraut, which may sound strange but adds just the right amount of tang to each bite. Each gluten-free serving contains 1 billion CFUs of probiotics, and the flavors, which mimic the Farmhouse Culture sauerkraut types, are out of this world. Try the Dill Pickle or the Zesty Garden Veggie—you won't be disappointed.

Vital Proteins Collagen Beauty Water

My obsession with collagen runs deep (I started drinking it to heal my gut, and it's since worked wonders on my hair, skin, and nails), and this new beauty water line is a genius way to incorporate it into any routine. It contains collagen, probiotics, and hyaluronic acid, which helps skin retain moisture. The flavors of the line are fabulously spa-worthy, with Lavender Lemon, Melon Mint, and Cucumber Aloe. They can be added to smoothies or simply dissolved in water and drunk on their own, preferably while you're wrapped in a fluffy robe.

Simple Mills Chocolate Chip Crunchy Cookies

These ready-made chocolate chip cookies have one of the simplest, healthiest ingredient lists around, based around a prebiotic-rich tigernut, coconut, and almond flour blend. There's no refined sugar, no gluten, and no artificial flavor or preservatives (they use only a bit of rosemary extract to keep these cookies fresh). The flavor, though, is pure delight, with a snappy crunch and sweetly childhood-inducing bite.

Bare Chia Coconut Bites

These chia-studded crispy bites are the perfect yogurt or smoothie topper, although they're also amazing to eat on their own when you want a crunchy snack. They're sweet, salty, and crunchy, making them oh-so-satisfying for any craving. The chia adds extra fiber and good fat to the coconut's already solid profile, while the flavors (including vanilla and pineapple) add additional interest.

Siete Nacho Chips

These chips are essentially the healthy Doritos of your dreams, with a satisfying crunch and a powdery, finger-coating cheesy flavor. They're made from high-fiber, gluten-free cassava flour and cooked in high-heat-safe, anti-inflammatory avocado oil, and that cheesiness you taste? That's from B-vitamin-rich, totally vegan nutritional yeast. The only problem with these chips is how addictive they are—once you open a bag, you might not be able to stop yourself.

https://www.mindbodygreen.com/articles/best-healthy-snacks-2017

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15 Super-Effective Stretching Exercises for a Fit and Fabulous Body

Stretching is an important element of any exercise regime that we need to keep ourselves healthy. Whether you’re an athlete or an office worker, everyone can benefit from a stretching routine. It improves your posture, increases your range of motion, and can even prevent injuries and reduce muscle soreness.

We here at Bright Side have put together the following list of 15 super-effective and easy-to-follow stretching exercises that will help you keep fit and healthy. Enjoy your training!

Exercise #1

• How to perform: Straighten your neck as much as you can. Slowly tilt your head to the right, trying to touch your right ear to your right shoulder. Repeat for the other side.
• Benefits: this exercise helps to stretch and strengthen the sternoclavicular, mastoid and upper trapezius muscles.

Exercise #2

• How to perform: keep your back straight, lace your fingers together behind your head and very gently push it downwards with your interlocked hands. Try to touch your chin to your breast bone.
• Benefits: this exercise helps to stretch and strengthen the sternoclavicular, mastoid and upper trapezius muscles.

Exercise #3

• How to perform: stand on one knee and slowly push your right hip forward. Grasp your left foot with your hand behind you and tighten your gluteal muscle.
• Benefits: this pose is great for stretching your knees and strengthening the hamstring muscles.

Exercise #4

• How to perform: stretch your right arm across your body. Use your other arm to pull the arm that’s being stretched toward your body.
• Benefits: this exercise helps to stretch the shoulders and strengthen the neck muscles.

Exercise #5

• How to perform: Bend your right knee and place your right foot flat on the floor on the outer side of the left thigh, as close to the pelvis as possible. Put you right hand behind your back and grasp your right knee with your left hand. Then, alternate the legs.
• Benefits: this pose helps open up the thoracic cage and elongates the muscles of the neck, shoulders, back and hips as well.

Exercise #6

  

• How to perform: start in the plank position, then move your left foot towards your hands. Feel the tension in your hips. Return to plank position and repeat with your right leg.
• Benefits: this exercise is great for strengthening and elongating the muscles of your hips and ankles.

Exercise #7

• How to perform: lie on your back, bend your knees up and move them over to your right side, slowly rotate your torso in the opposite direction.
• Benefits: This exercise improves mobility in your back, elongates your spine and stretches your thighs, chest, shoulders and upper back.

Exercise #8

• How to perform: sit back onto your heels, put your hands behind your back and push your hips up and forward. Be careful not to overtax your lower back. If you have problems with your neck, don’t drop your head back.
• Benefits: the pose will allow you to strengthen your internal and external obliques.

Exercise #9

• How to perform: Lie on your back, with your knees bent and your feet hip-width apart. Slowly and gently lift your back off the floor. Keep your feet and the tops of your shoulders pressed down toward the floor.
• Benefits: the move stretches your chest and neck muscles and elongates your spine. It calms the nervous system and relieves stress as well.

Exercise #10

• How to perform: lie on your side, prop your head up with your hand, bend your right knee and bring it towards your buttocks.
• Benefits: this exercise helps to eliminate pain in your knees.

Exercise #11

• How to perform: begin in a sitting position and slowly pull your leg towards your chest while rotating your hip and keeping your back straight.
• Benefits: the exercise helps you to work your glutes.

Exercise #12

• How to perform: sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you and the muscles in your feet flexed. Lean your torso forward and grasp your feet with your hands. Keep your lower back straight and try to make your belly button reach your thighs.
• Benefits: this pose calms the nervous system, relieves stress, elongates your spine, and works the muscles in your shoulders and the back of the thighs.

Exercise #13

• How to perform: grasp your left ankle with your right hand and try to pull your foot towards your buttocks as close as possible. Keep your back straight.
• Benefits: do this exercise to stretch the muscles in the back of your thighs.

Exercise #14

• How to perform: clasp your hands behind your back and slide them as far up the back as possible, without causing yourself any pain; then lift your hips up and away from your upturned heels. Let your forehead rest on the floor.
• Benefits: perform this exercise to stretch your neck and shoulder muscles. It will help you to reduce headache and drowsiness as well.

Exercise #15

• How to perform: press the heel of one foot into the floor and your toes into the wall. Feel the tension in your feet as your press your toes down. Then, alternate the legs.
• Benefits: this exercise is a great way to stretch the calf muscles.

Remember: overstretching can harm your body. Stop and correct your technique if you feel any sharp pain. Try to do these exercises naturally and carefully without overtaxing your muscles. It is also important to watch your breathing.

https://brightside.me/inspiration-health/15-super-effective-stretching-exercises-for-a-fit-and-fabulous-body-122955/