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David Reagan of Atlanta Shares 4 Steps to Make Weight Loss and Healthy Eating More Attainable

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David Reagan

Nearly everyone at some point in their lives has tried to diet. Some enjoy a modest amount of success in the short run, while others struggle to make it past the first week. Worse still, some find themselves tumbling down the rabbit hole of dangerously ineffective fad diets and ‘Get Thin Quick’ scams. These pitfalls are typical within the fitness community, and remedying them requires moving away from diets and towards lifestyles instead. With a lifestyle approach, the goal is less about losing the most amount of fat possible in the shortest period and more about building healthy eating habits that are successful at achieving weight loss milestones and sustainable in the long run. An Atlanta personal trainer, David Reagan, explains four steps for cultivating an effective and enjoyable nutritional lifestyle.

Step #1. Create an Attainable Plan

The first and arguably most crucial step in putting together a solid plan is to include foods that one genuinely likes to eat. For decades, the mainstream health and fitness industry has peddled the same bland and uninspired ‘boiled chicken and broccoli’ style diets that offer little in the way of flavor and next to nothing in the diversity of food options. Thankfully nowadays, the internet is rife with hundreds of delicious, easy-to-make recipes tailored to all sorts of individual health goals and lifestyles. Thousands of affordable, high-quality cookbooks offer a wide array of healthy options to suit everyone’s specific dietary needs (i.e., vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, etc.). Consider taking a few minutes to jot down a list of enjoyable foods and begin looking for ways to incorporate them into your daily meal prep.

Step #2. Eat Low-Calorie Foods

The second step towards creating a sustainable dietary lifestyle involves eating low-calorie foods that are both satiating and packed with essential nutrients. Some notable examples include oats, Greek yogurt, mixed berries, salmon, quinoa, arugula, spinach, and eggs. These foods are satisfying and filled with healthy fats, vitamins, and minerals, including Omega-3, vitamin D, vitamin C, vitamin K, potassium, and calcium. Most fruits, vegetables, and whole-wheat carbohydrates are highly satiating and dense with vital macro and micronutrients. Several safe, low-calorie sweeteners such as stevia, yacon syrup, or good old-fashioned organic honey are also widely available for those with a sweet tooth. The options above are only a handful of several food sources that help keep the body happy, healthy, and satisfied.

Step #3. Track Your Calories

Tracking daily caloric intake is another important method for maintaining a healthy dietary lifestyle and achieving weight loss goals. Historically, the process of calorie counting was, frankly, a pain in the neck. One would often spend a good chunk of time reading undersized nutrition labels on the back of food packages and flipping through several search result pages to get a rough estimate of the number of Kcals consumed. Nowadays, many free and easy-to-use calorie tracking applications exist to help automate the process. Many of these apps contain massive databases filled with thousands of food items/meals, along with their respective macronutrient, mineral, vitamin, and caloric contents. Calorie tracking can allow one to further optimize their meal plans to suit their needs or wants. Counting calories is especially useful during nights out, family dinners, special events, or satisfying those pesky cravings. Simply save or bank calories during earlier meals to be enjoyed later in the day.

Step #4. Be Patient

The final step to transforming short-term diets into sustainable long-term lifestyles is to be patient. Healthy habits take time to nurture before they become second nature. While discipline and consistency are necessary, setbacks often occur. Setbacks are as much a part of the process of developing healthy lifestyles as successes. The issue arises when individuals take these failures to heart, as though they are somehow a sign of a deeper flaw or imperfection. This negative or demeaning self-talk, however, only leads to further disillusionment. Patience and self-compassion are essential during these moments. They help foster a positive mindset and encourage one to push past these fallbacks to continue pursuing their lifestyle goals. Eventually, these goals become actionable lifestyle changes with enough patience, self-care, and effort.

The four tips outlined above serve as a solid starting block for the journey from inconsistent diet windows to meaningful lifestyle gains. It is essential to experiment with these various methods to see which strategies best suit specific targets. Ultimately, regardless of the particular strategy one might employ, the pathway to success involves a hefty serving of hard work, consistency, moderation, and above all, patience.

About David Reagan

David Reagan is a NASM Certified personal trainer from Atlanta, GA, who specializes in weight loss, personalized workout plans, bodybuilding, and nutrition. He caters to high-end clients and executives, helping them achieve their fitness goals by accommodating their busy schedules. The client’s needs come first, and David’s fitness plan will set you up on the path to success.

I cover national business news and lifestyle for Metic Press. Previously, I've written for TIME, Newsweek, the New York Daily News and VICE News. I am also an editor at HuffPost, a small business news room for a young audience.

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Struggling to lose weight? Check out some great health advice from these celebs

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Nicole Kidman

You don’t necessarily need to visit a nutritionist or doctor for any health concerns unless of course, they are more severe and chronic. If you’re just researching ways to lose weight, improve your workout or enhance your diet, then check out some of these nifty tips from the world’s most healthy celebrities.

Jennifer Lopez avoids caffeine

Jennifer Lopez received rave reviews in 2019 for her role as a stripper in the film “Hustlers”. When asked about how she keeps her body in shape, she recommended avoiding caffeine as much as possible. This includes no alcoholic beverages or coffee. On top of this, she doesn’t smoke.

Jennifer Aniston eats her comfort foods with a healthy twist

Jennifer Aniston does a lot of yoga and exercises often. However, she can’t part ways with some of her favourite foods and dishes (many of which aren’t healthy). She likes to swap out pasta sheets for roasted vegetables and uses turkey bacon when cooking her homemade carbonara (turkey bacon has fewer calories than regular bacon).

Halle Berry has four small daily meals

Halle Berry was diagnosed with diabetes at just 19 years of age. While managing her condition, Berry claims she has four “small” meals every day. She includes a lot of vegetables in each meal and drinks plenty of water. She also likes to avoid processed sugars and manufactured foods, like bread.

Nicole Kidman uses the 80:20 rule

One of Australia’s most acclaimed actresses, Kidman is well-known for sticking with the 80:20 rule when dieting. What does this mean? Well, 80% of your diet should be considered “healthy”, as in sticking to recommended fruit, vegetable and protein intake. The other 20% of your diet can be regarded as luxuries or foods you would only eat in moderation.

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Bryn Carden Explains Why You Should Never Sacrifice Sleep

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Bryn Carden

The world is full of sleep-deprived individuals trying to survive and manage life. Scientists suggest that humans need to get at least eight to ten hours of sleep a night, which by that time request, sleep is viewed as a luxury for most. However, the reality of a sleepless society results in declining personal health and wellness.

Bryn Carden, a student, studying Finance with a Real Estate Concentration at Texas Christian University while pursuing an entrepreneurial career, considers self-health a passion and says that sleep is something that people with busy schedules do not have to sacrifice. Sleep is an essential cornerstone to good health, and being adequately rested possesses more benefits for overall well being than skipping a solid night’s rest.

What Happens to Health When Sacrificing Sleep?

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that a third of the human population is sleeping for less than seven hours a night. Besides the common grumpiness and grogginess that comes with lack of sleep, more severe health risks can come with not getting enough shut-eye.

Not getting enough sleep can cause the body to have poor functioning, cognitive and reflex responses. During a clinical trial sleep study, researchers found that individuals getting no more than six hours per night for two weeks had declined in cognitive functions and reflexes just as drastically as people who had received little to no sleep for two consecutive nights.

Lack of quality sleep can also lead to health issues such as weight gain or even a shorter lifespan. When not getting the proper amount of sleep, the body can increase unhealthy cravings or hunger, leading to weight gain and even obesity. When a person reaches their necessary REM (rapid eye movement) cycles, their body can sufficiently serve the peptides and healthily regulate appetite.

The founder of Fatigue Science states that sleep is as essential to the body as food and water. In other words, people should stop sacrificing sleep and aim to productively rest by following these tips to better sleep.

How to Sleep Well

Entrepreneurs, college students, and anyone with a busy schedule are familiar with the importance of time efficiency. Approaching sleep with a time-efficient mindset will set anybody up for better sleep success and health results.

Try sleeping in colder temperatures between sixty and sixty-seven degrees for those who toss and turn in their sleep. Finding warmth under covers and amidst pillows will help settle the body for a good night’s rest.

During the day, avoiding caffeine after noon while fitting in thirty minutes to one hour of sweaty exercise will greatly assist in reaching those REM stages when it is time to sleep. And with the mention of time, scheduling a bedtime that stays the same regardless of the week’s day will establish a regular sleep-wake cycle, leading to fewer all-nighters and more effortless and healthy sleep.

On stressful days, even after establishing a sleep-wake cycle, adding time for a bedtime yoga routine or meditation will relieve tension that negatively affects sleep time.

About Bryn Carden

Bryn Carden is a versatile young entrepreneur with a deep sense of compassion and the desire to help make the world a better place. In 2017, she founded Styles for Smiles – a company selling bracelets to support the Smile Train Organization. The proceeds from selling Bryn’s designs have already helped fund cleft palate repairs for 16 children in developing countries.

 

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Nancy Mello is a psychic/clairvoyant who wants to understand the science behind her abilities

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Nancy Mello

Nancy Mello is a psychic, animal intuitive, and clairvoyant based in Connecticut who believes that both science and spiritualism should coexist. Through her work, Nancy has seen the incredible benefits that being able to connect with “the other side” brings to her clients.

The fact that there is no current scientific explanation for Nancy’s abilities leads many to dismiss her as a liar, something which is very hurtful for the mother of 2. Nancy is always worried that her children will be teased/bullied because of what their mother does for a living.

The truth is Nancy knows her abilities are real and has been able to produce amazing results for the people she’s worked with. While this evidence is all anecdotal, Nancy believes it’s a great starting point for more research to be done to understand her abilities.

Nancy’s end goal is to help fund research into her abilities so that people (herself included) can get a better understanding. She has even flagged she would be willing to undergo CAT scans of her brain to figure out what synapses are firing differently for her than other people.

All of this is reflective of Nancy’s sincerity in what she does. She never seeks to scam or rip people off – she seeks to use her abilities in an honest way to give her clients the answers they are looking for.

Whether she is helping a daughter connect with her deceased father, or helping a family find a lost pet, Nancy gives 110% of herself to the task. Nancy admits that it can sometimes be exhausting doing what she does, but she cleverly spaces out her readings so that she never gets overwhelmed.

Hopefully, one-day science will be able to advance enough that we have full-understanding of the abilities of Nancy and others like her.

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