Cut the Calories, Bring Out the Bikini
Summer’s almost here and you want to get into the swim of things,
but the B word – bikini – has been blindsided once again by that
C word – calories.
What can you do to get in shape at the last minute?
Adam Shafran, co-author of the new book “You Can’t Lose Weight
Alone The Partner Power Weight Loss Program,” says it’s never too
late to start losing weight. Aside from diet and exercise,
Shafran says it is important to have a partner or buddy who can
be there for you through your thick and thin days and nights.
“Find someone – a friend, a partner, a husband, who you can be
accountable to,” he says. “Someone you can walk with, someone who
won’t let you down, someone who will be there to exercise with
you and get you to exercise and someone who will weigh in with
you every week.”
Successful weight loss, he says, doesn’t mean that you have to
deprive yourself; it simply means that you have to watch
yourself.
Shafran, a Georgia chiropractor who along with co-author Lee
Kantor owns a personal fitness center, offers these non-fattening
bite-size bits of advice for fitting into that itsy-bitsy bikini:
* Instead of drinking calories, eat them. Cut out sugar-based
drinks like soda and juices and substitute water or dilute them
with a shot of seltzer. Sodas have 200 to 400 calories, and
Shafran says that if you can reduce your weekly calories by
3,500, you can lose a pound of fat. If you add exercise, it
will be easy to meet the 3,500 goal because even if you only
walk for 30 minutes a day, you burn about 300 calories or
2,100 per week. Add to that the 1,400 to 2,800 you’ll save by
drinking water, and you’re on your way to slimness.
* Replace calorically dense foods with ones that aren’t dense.
Those breakfast bars may taste great and they may only be 200
calories, but you’re hungry again almost before you eat the
last bite. Salads, fruits and soups are better choices because
they fill you up. And make your salad a meal, not a snack. Add
hearts of palm, walnuts, chickpeas, olives, tuna, corn, peas
and even shredded cheese to the lettuce and tomatoes so it’s
tasty and healthy. Juices are OK, but they won’t give you the
fiber to make you feel filled. “They won’t help you cut
calories,” he says.
* Go light on salad dressings, which are calorically dense. Make
your own with olive oil or canola oil. Measure them; don’t pour
them on.
* Take more time to eat, and you will feel filled. “Hunger goes
away over time,” Shafran says. “If you feel hungry, you may
only be dehydrated. Wait five or 10 minutes and the hunger
will go away.”
* Eat several small meals spaced throughout the day instead of
one big meal at night. “If you are hungry and don’t eat, you
will become ravenous and start eating everything in sight,”
Shafran says. “When you’re at work, set a timer or an alarm
on your watch that will beep every three to four hours to
remind you to eat a snack. And make it fruit or nuts.”
* It’s easier to exercise at a gym than it is to work out at
home. Gyms offer visual distractions – you can watch TV, you
can watch people. “There’s energy in gyms, there’s music,
there are things to take your mind off the boredom of
exercising,” Shafran says.
To order the book “You Can’t Lose Weight Alone The Partner Power
Weight Loss Program” by Adam Shafran and Lee Kantor, call up
http://www.neighborhoodfitness.com.
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