Dropping the Pounds, How I've Succeeded

Moderation and exercise are definitely the key aspects  to my weight loss. I want to discuss a few simple changes in my diet and activity that have really accelerated my progress.

Water
Maybe you love sodas, or any drink that isn't water. I assure you I was probably worse than you. I drank about five sodas a day, among other drinks such as tea and Powerade. If you can manage to get in eight glasses of water a day, as opposed to drinking these other drinks, the benefits are substantial.

Regular water consumption will do a few great things for you. The Diet Channel lists all four

• It will help you lose weight. Water will flush out the excess fat breakdown in your system.
• It will lessen your hunger. Drinking water before a meal can satisfy your body's craving for water, thus making you less hungry.

The concept sounds simple. But if you are like I was, it sounds disgusting. To increase my water intake, I only purchased 24 packs of water when I went shopping. Every time I opened my refrigerator I would see nothing but water to drink. This also acted as a reminder of why I needed to drink the water. Over time I came to love the taste of water and now I will hardly drink anything else.

Vegetables
A year ago, you could not get me to touch a vegetable. Now it is the central part of my meals. The benefits are hard to beat. Vegetables are low fat, low in calories, low in sodium, and high in fiber and nutrients. But you may be like I was, and loathe the idea of consuming a single vegetable of any kind.

I started slow. When I would go somewhere like Subway, I would add small amounts of lettuce and peppers to my sandwiches to get used to the taste. Later, I began finding some foods containing vegetables, but the taste of them was overpowered by the main dish.

Eventually I came to enjoy the taste of most vegetables. If their taste still makes me cringe, I cook them in a stir fry with a ton of other vegetables, masking the taste.

Exercise
There is surely some form of physical activity you enjoy. I personally love basketball and tennis. I am able to find people to play these sports with every day if I have the time.

You may not enjoy a sport though. There are all kinds of things you can do though. Walking is a great, simple calorie burner. Even house cleaning has been considered worthwhile exercise. There will be a way for you to get active you just have to decide what it is you enjoy.

I hope this offers at least one of you some support. It may not sound like much, but it makes a world of difference.

I enjoyed hearing from some of you on my last post.I want to ask this question again for those of you who did not comment on my previous blog.

What ways have you found weight loss success?
Do you think you could apply these ideas to your own lives to find success? Why or why not?