Tag: stress

Diet Help From The Green Box

Watch this article as a video here, if you prefer, or else read it below.

Maintenance

Losing weight is hard enough, sometimes. And when you get to your desired weight, you think, “I am NEVER going to put it back on again!” But lo and behold, a few weeks later, the weight may already be starting to increase, as the pounds pile on. There are several reasons for this and it is NOT THE FAULT of the diet you chose. If you lost weight on that diet and you are healthy as well as a lower weight or at your desired weight, then congratulations! Your diet worked for you and you worked your diet to achieve your target.

After you lose weight, you need a maintenance plan in place to remain at your desired weight. There are several plans you can use, such as 5:2, 16:8, The Mediterranean diet, The Paleo diet, etc and which one you choose depends on you and the kind of food you and your family like to eat most of the time.

Problems

But there can be other problems, nothing to do with the maintenance diet you choose. Once you have lost the weight and are on your chosen maintenance plan, you also have to watch out for these monsters! (Not just the cookie monster.)

Monsters

  1. The Boredom monster: This monster is ALWAYS looking for something to do with your mouth and it usually ends up with eating what you shouldn’t. Once you have finished your weightloss diet, this monster thinks that it’s time to play and play means moving that mouth. Moving it may mean you are eating what you shouldn’t.
  2. How to Beat the Boredom Monster: Drink water, chew sugar free gum, or raid the green box (see below).
  3. The Hunger Monster: This monster tells you that you are always hungry. It kept quiet while you were dieting but now it’s finished, it wants to get you straight back to where it was – yes, into fatland and the only way it can do that is to tell you that you are hungry and get you to eat what you shouldn’t.
  4. How to Beat The Hunger Monster: Use your green box (see below), take plenty of hot drinks, these help you feel full. Eat more protein, take a protein drink. Keep hard boiled eggs in the fridge and eat one or two at a meal, they will keep you fuller longer. You could try a teaspoonful of coconut oil with a hot drink (coconut oil coffee is delicious!). The fat will make you feel full and it is a healthy fat.
  5. The Stress Monster: This monster appears when you are feeling low and stressed. It tells you that it will disappear if you eat comfort foods. It’s lying.
  6. How To Beat The Stress Monster: Use the green box, drink protein shakes. Give yourself a break and don’t beat yourself up over it. Try and heal the stress.

The Green Box

Keep a small box in the fridge with green vegetables in it, ready for eating. I like to keep cut up celery and some lettuce hearts. Boredom and Hunger Monsters both want food as soon as possible and they can be kept quiet with a snack from the green box. I also like cucumber but I cut a chunk off fresh when I want it. I also have frozen spinach and I cook about 6 rounds of that at a time and keep it in a saucepan on the stove and again, something quick to eat will keep at least 2 of the monsters at bay.

Hip Flexor Pain Treatment

Dormant Butt Syndrome or Old-Guy Butt Syndrome

No matter how fit you are, you may be suffering from dormant butt syndrome, especially if your job entails a lot of sitting. Also called Old-Guy Butt syndrome, it refers to tight hip flexors (in your hip) and possibly weak gluteal muscles (your butt) which can cause pain and weakness in the hips and knees. This can happen even in runners and others you wouldn’t think have left ANY muscle in their body untrained! This can lead to hamstring injuries, back pain, hip pain and knee injuries that could lead to surgery. It can also happen in women after childbirth.

What Does It Have To Do With Diet?

I know this site is about dieting and weight loss but there are two major reasons this article is here. First of all, if your hips are painful, it’s difficult even to walk, never mind run and the loss of that ability to move can lead to weight gain. Removing the pain in the hips and knees caused by tight hip flexors could make moving around an awful lot easier and help you keep your weight in check. Secondly, there is a muscle (psoas) that is close to the hip flexors and that is kept under constant tension when the hip flexors are tight. This muscle is normally tightened only when you are under threat – the fight or flight syndrome – but if the hip flexors are tight, the muscular imbalance in your body keeps it under constant tension, causing stress. Stress releases a hormone – cortisol – that contributes to weight gain. So, two reasons for this article being on this site and two ways of helping your body remove that excess weight dragging you down.

Unlock Your Hip Flexors

You can learn to unlock your hip flexors with a specific series of movements that are not normally part of a normal training routine. If you think you may have tight hip flexors, you can click here to find out how to unlock them, along with improved health, release from pain and even weight loss.