As a fitness lover, I have no problem exercising and burning fat. I don’t track my calorie count to stay in shape.

Whenever I add weight, I feel it. It shows on my face because my chin will drop. My boobs and hips will slightly increase. My clothes get tighter. Sometimes, I start feeling lazy and sleep more.

The changes in my body tell me when I have added some weight, and if I hit the scale, the extra fat is usually between 10 to 20 pounds.

Once I confirm that I have added some weight, I activate my weight loss secret weapon.

My strategy is pretty simple. I have a slimming green tea I always keep handy, which I replace with coffee.

Every morning, I will drink the green tea first before hitting the gym. And in the evening, I will drink it before going to bed.

I incorporate intense workouts and switch my diets to strictly vegan. I eat mostly seafood, vegetables, and fruit for at least two weeks.

No cheats! And it has worked for me ever since I lost 40 pounds. This is why I don’t worry myself whenever I add weight.

When I have achieved my goal, I switch back to eating regular food.

I don’t follow keto strictly since I like my weight between 152lbs and 157lbs. I eat everything except for sugary desserts.

But last Christmas, I broke my rules. I munched and devoured everything and anything that was brought to the table.

After ten years, it was my first Christmas with my family, and I wanted to leave no stone unturned. I didn’t want to be picky with my food and make the people around me uncomfortable or anxious to eat whatever they wanted.

Well, that good heart caused me to add an extra 12 pounds, which wasn’t pretty considering the fact that I had signed a modeling contract that would begin in March.

I was confident about my weight loss strategy, so I got careless on purpose.

But, boy! It wasn’t easy getting rid of that twelve pounds. I struggled every day to keep my diet consistent. Plus, the workout routines I chose made it much harder to see results.

What my routine was like

At first, I started with drinking my usual green tea, Kegel, and breathing exercises, eating two main meals a day. Although, I cut out saturated fat diets completely.

Six days in my journey, I didn’t even lose up to 2 pounds, but I did not add any extra fat either.

I was a bit disappointed. I get easily overwhelmed when I set a deadline for my goal. So in order to meet my target goal, I added one aerobatic and one anaerobic exercise — running and squatting to my routine.

I also changed my diet and started eating one keto food as my main meal in the afternoon. For breakfast and dinner, I would eat fruits or vegetable salad.

After brushing my teeth, the first thing I did was brew my green tea, prepare my salad, and then check my emails while waiting for my tea to boil and cool.

After drinking my tea, I go for a twenty-minute run in my neighborhood. Sometimes I use my treadmill if I’m feeling lazy.

When I return from my run, I do a 15 lateral squat and 15 plies squat. Followed by a 10-minute Kegel exercise, then I round up my workout session with a 5-minute breathing exercise.

Once I’m done with my workout, I eat my salad which is already sitting in the refrigerator, and I take a shower afterward.

I kept my morning workouts to one hour in the morning and 45-minutes in the evening every single day for the last four weeks.

My evening workout routine is slightly different. I run on treadmills for ten minutes, do 30 squats, then 10 minutes Kegel.

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My take away

Guess what! I haven’t felt the kind of energy I’ve felt for the past four weeks. I wake up early at 4 a.m. I check my trades and send out newsletters to my blog subscribers before I start my training.

I wrote 35 blog posts for the first time, of which 32 were published on Medium, the other 3 were for my other blogs. I prefer to hire freelancers to write content for my blogs.

I have been more active in my business than I have been since November last year. I feel happy all the time. I did not experience any burnout, so I guess my body adjusted pretty fine.

I’m thinking of sticking to this routine for a while, but I will go easy on my diet.

If you plan on following my routine, be sure to check in with your physician if you have any health problems. Also, limit your exercises to what you can handle.

I spent my holiday with my family in Philadelphia. It was the best Christmas I’ve had in a decade.

I usually spend my Christmas alone or traveling with friends on the road.

But this time, I wanted to be with my family. It was a memorable celebration. One I won’t forget in a hurry. I ate foods I normally don’t eat regularly.

Snacking up, drinking alcohol, and sugary drinks like soda and lemonade as if I was on a death wish.

I was too lazy to exercise throughout the six weeks I stayed in Philadelphia. As soon as the temperatures start dropping and there’s less daylight in the day, I will lock myself in.

I hardly left the house unless to pick up groceries. Netflix and snacks were my only entertainment as I sat glued to the couch.

My poor eating and daily habits helped slow down my body’s metabolism. My normal weight used to be around 157 pounds, so 12 pounds is too much to make me worried.

Christmas was about enjoying my time with my family, and I did not want to restrict myself to anything.

Now I’m back at my house. I have set my goals to shed the excess body weight. For the next four weeks, I’m working on regaining my mental and physical health.

My target goal is to build up my metabolism, boost my immune system and lose 12 pounds. I do not plan on doing any heavy lifting or extreme exercise.

My activities are more of relaxation exercises and eating right.

If you are yet to lose those few pounds you gained over Christmas, the last thing you want is to add a few extra pounds while exposing yourself to the many holiday treats that are likely to tempt you.

It’s time to get serious about shedding those unwanted pounds and start a healthy eating program now to make sure you’re staying fit.

Below are the three things I did to lose 12 pounds in the next four weeks.

1. Eating more anti oxide food

Christmas is a time when you are more likely to eat less nutritious foods and your meal planning can be more random.

Along with less sleep and a busy work or family schedule, your immune system is under pressure to protect you from illness.

Your immune system depends on a number of vitamins and minerals, ideally obtained through food. If you want to improve your ability to protect against disease, you must increase your intake of nutrients.

Eating foods rich in antioxidants helps fight free radicals produced by stress and, in turn, makes your body able to fight germs.

2. Replaced coffee with genmaicha green tea

My friend introduced me to genmaicha green tea after he lost over 30 pounds. Since then, I have been using it to supplement my coffee consumption.

You will be shocked to know that your daily coffee drink contains up to around 350 calories per cup.

Those unnecessary calories will sabotage your efforts to maintain a healthy routine, and since they are loaded with refined sugar, they will also encourage cravings for more sugar.

3. Do Kegel exercise every morning and evening

I’m more concerned about my tummy and bum fat. Doing high-intensity exercises can make me lose more than I intend to.

But with Kegel, I can direct the strength to my core and pelvic floor muscles without feeling burned out.

The pelvic floor benefits greatly from diaphragmatic breathing, also known as belly breathing.

I am a huge fan of breathing exercises as a form of healing. It works wonders for your mood, relieves tension in your body, reduces stress and anxiety.

So I have incorporated some of my favorite breathing exercises into my Kegel routine.

It’s going to be an awesome year, and I plan to make the most of it. I’ve set my weight loss plan for four weeks, expect my progress report at the end of my challenge.

If you are trying to lose weight but are too lazy to hit the gym or go on a strict diet plan, you may want to stick around to the end.

While the gym may be the perfect environment to work on your body, it’s certainly not the only option to get in shape.

Instead of going to the gym to improve your fitness, try to change your lifestyle and be more active whenever you can.

Increasing your physical activity every day can have a huge impact on your fitness.

Get more sleep

Your phone can be very distracting if you want to sleep. As much as you might try to wake up early and workout, having that phone in your hand till late at night is dangerous to your health.

The blue light emitted by the cellphones restrains the production of melatonin, the hormone that controls your sleep cycle. This makes it difficult for you to sleep and wake up the next day.

And a lack of sleep can cause hormonal imbalances, making you feel hungry even when you don’t need to eat.

Read: 5 Self-Care Rituals This A-List Trainer Swears By for Strength and Flexibility

Don’t set unrealistic goals

Setting healthy, non-weight-fitness goals begins with finding the types of physical activity that serve you and bring you pleasure.

When you set high, unattainable goals, it demotivates you. Start small and progress as each session becomes easier for you.

Motivation is a result of small victories that slowly fuel your success. It is not a requirement for success itself. It only comes when you start noticing success in small ways.

Take selfies seriously

These photographs of fitness selfies give you a better idea of your fitness journey than taking a measurement of yourself with a tape to see how much weight or inches you have lost or how you look after your workout.

Seeing these photos or even videos helps you stay more committed to your workouts than Netflixing.

Read: How To Look Pretty In A Summer Photo

Change your lifestyle

Notice how changing one thing can have multiple benefits. You may have noticed that your 15 minutes of workout have reduced your stress level, fatigue, and migraine pain is gone.

Maybe you stopped eating saturated fat desserts, and now you’ve stopped craving fried food, bloating in your belly is smaller, and your digestion is faster.

You fit into your jeans now because you have reduced some of the body fat, and you feel more energized and happier than ever.

Read: 30 Cute Fashion Outfit Ideas to Wear For a Casual Winter Date

Drink green tea instead of coffee

Drinking green tea has really changed my fitness routine for the best.

Several studies have shown that the huge amount of antioxidants in green tea helps burn fat and increase metabolism. Also, it contains fewer calories.

Right after breakfast and lunch are a good time to drink it as your metabolism is at its peak. Green tea makes you lose weight faster because it helps you digest better.

Watch fitness videos

Make sure you watch many fitness videos every day or save the ones you really like to a playlist either on Instagram or on Youtube.

Sometimes when I watch a fitness video before I go to bed, I get very excited to jump out of my bed and head straight to complete my workout first thing in the morning.

Read: Cardio Exercises at Home: 10 Moves for Every Fitness Level

Listen to music

Music is amazing. It distracts you from any kind of pain, and it elevates your mood. It increases your endurance and your efficiency to maximize performance.

Studies have shown that listening to music with specific beats increases the electrical activities in the region of your brain that is responsible for promoting movement.

Drink more water

When you are dehydrated, your body produces more cortisone, the stress hormone. This affects your motivation to exercise, how you cook at home, and even how you make food choices.

Sometimes when you are hungry, your first impulse is to find food. Thirst can also be mistaken for hunger in your brain. You can decrease your appetite by drinking more water.

Have fun dancing

Yes, you can have fun and lose weight at the same time. If you spend your Friday nights dancing with your friends, don’t stop.

Besides burning a lot of calories, dancing can also increase muscle strength. Building lean muscle mass can help you burn fat and tone your muscles.

And when you enjoy doing something, you’re more likely to keep doing it. This is why dancing can be a great way to lose weight without getting bored of exercising.

Read: How to Look Classy and Sophisticated on a Low Budget

Cut sugar intake

You have to be careful when it comes to sugar. Trust me; this is literally the fastest way to lose weight.

The first realization is that 90% of everything you eat contains sugar which increases your sugar intake and that little monster silently contributes to your weight gain.

Eating sugar in its natural form is still okay as opposed to refined sugar, which is downright bad for your health.

Parting words

Your fitness and well-being are not just about your weight. Rather, it is about your mindset.

How you think can improve your mental health, your physical flexibility and strength, plus you develop more endurance.

Michelle Neale nurtures her mind and body from the inside out every day.

People want to lose weight for various reasons. Some want to feel better about their appearance and boost their self-esteem, while others want to stop using food as a mechanism to cope with emotional struggles.

No matter what reasons you have for shedding a few pounds or wherever you are on your journey, you can learn some tips from those who have.

About five years ago, Michelle Neale spent most of her young-adult life in a pattern of losing weight on various diets and then gaining it all back. In January 2019, she hit 325 pounds—her second heaviest weight—and decided to seek treatment from a mental health professional to address her unhealthy eating habits.

Read: 3 Weight Loss Tips That’ll Help You Slim Down

Michelle Neale made a choice that would change her life: She decided to get fit and healthy.

“After watching thousands of workout videos and seeing people naturally transform their bodies over time through fitness and nutrition, I thought to myself ‘If they did it, I certainly can too’.”

What happened next was unexpected, though. Michelle didn’t just get fit—she fell in love with the fitness world.

When Michelle started seeing results, she also wanted to help others achieve their health and fitness goals. “I took a leap of faith to become a certified personal trainer,” she says. Allowing clients to make positive changes and see their transformations is what Michelle loves most about her work.

“I can help others achieve goals they thought were not possible. The greatest reward is seeing others thrive, “she says.

Today, Michelle is a committed fitness instructor offering personalized meals and exercise plans through her company, inspired by her success in weight loss. But running a business can make work-life balance much more elusive, which is why she makes her “me-time” mandatory.

“Self-care involves having my priorities in order and deliberately cultivating them every day,” says Michelle. “I prioritize what’s important: exercising regularly, hanging out with my family, eating healthy, sleeping well, and meditation.”

Below, Michelle Neale shares five essentials that keep her mind and body strong and agile.

Protein supplement

When Michelle is done working out, she loves refueling with a protein supplement in which she blends collagen. When consumed after exercise, protein can help rebuild muscles and repair connective tissue damage.

Collagen plays an important role in the health of connective tissue, skin, and bones. As we age, collagen levels can decrease by about 1% each year, potentially contributing to stiff joints, weaker cartilage, and decreased muscle mass. To counter this loss, Michelle uses a tablet of Fast Burn Extreme after each workout session.

Read: How to Exfoliate Your Body for Smooth, Glowing Skin

Melatonin before bedtime

Every night at 10pm, Michelle shifts gears, turns off all notifications on her phone and gets ready for bed. “Right now, I can turn my attention inward by reading a book or spending time with family. This helps me be more productive and prepare for the day ahead, ”she says.

Knowing that she might need a little extra help napping, she grabs a capsule of her sleep activator, NuviaLab Relax, one hour before bed. NuviaLab Relax contains melatonin, which can help people with sleep disorders fall asleep faster, as well as L-theanine, an amino acid that can help manage stress and anxiety levels.

“I noticed that my mood also seems a lot calmer before sleepiness starts,” Neale says. “I can really feel myself falling into a deep state of mental calm before I reach true physical rest.”

Weight training with bands

It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of the home gym options, but Michelle says weight bands are a good idea.

“They’re super useful on those days when you can’t go to the gym but still want to get an effective and efficient workout,” she says.

The fitness coach likes to use weight bands during lunges, squats, and pushups. “These moves are effective exercises that work all major muscles in the body and can be done almost anywhere,” she says.

Read: How To Look Younger And Polished At 50

Vitamin C

Training coaches every day and long hour drive to work can take their toll on my body, from muscle pain to possible dehydration. A clever way to feel fresh and healthy again is to shake up a vitamin C smoothie and send it through the hatch.

NuviaLab Relax is my favorite vitamin C supplement. It restores the melatonin and vitamin C I lose during the day. I like to take NuviaLab Relax for its ease and convenience to travel with. Taking vitamin C helps me absorb iron better. Since Vitamin C helps increase collagen production, I think my skin is healthier.

Eat healthy fiber

I eat something sweet every day and don’t take any food off the table. I just eat what I want as long as I can fit it into my daily macros. I have never felt like I’m on a diet and I have never felt truly deprived.

The diet that works for my body has more whole food and fewer restrictions! It involves eating more vegetables, high-quality protein, healthy fats, fiber, and drinking plenty of water. I try to eat more fruits and vegetables but still aim for less sugar and preservatives or unknown ingredients. Fast Burn Extreme supplies other macronutrients to ensure I reach my maximum mental and physical recharge.

“It can be difficult to stay consistent with supplements. I always recommend starting slow and finding a routine that works best for your schedule,” says Michelle.

I don’t believe one diet plan works for all, and I stopped thinking of food as “good” or “bad”. A healthy diet can include all foods, so I have found balance in moderation in my food choices.

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