If you want to lose weight, you are going to need to consume less calories than you burn. The 10 simple rules of the January Shred essentially provides a strategy to do that, without forcing you to count calories. One of the most important pieces of this plan is to avoid consuming calories that aren't beneficial to your goals. We'll call these "empty" calories. Any kind of junk food falls into this category. Start off with this one by not drinking your calories. That means coke, tea, and alcoholic beverages are off limits. They simply add calories that will prevent you from burning more fat. Next, avoid any junk food. This includes but is not limited to: chips, cookies, snack cakes, pop-tarts, most granola bars, ice cream, brownies, and yes even those 100 calorie "healthy" cookies or snack cakes that aren't...am I making you sad yet???
Also, avoid any unnecessary snacking even on non-junk food items. You don't need to eat every few hours just for the heck of it. The myth of having to eat 6 times a day has been sufficiently debunked (Click HERE for more info on that subject). It really is ok if your stomach growls a little in between meals...I promise you won't die.
How you know if you are performing Rule #6 successfully
In order to get credit for completing rule #6, you'll need to avoid drinking calories that come from soda, tea and alcohol. Natural fruit juices and milk are fine, but watch your serving sizes because the calories can certainly add up quickly. Also, the junk food is off limits. If you are going out to get a healthy lunch at Subway or Chick-fil-a, that means no soda/tea/lemonade and no chips/fries. What? Did you think shredding fat was easy? GET YOUR HEADS RIGHT! You can do this for 1 month!
** EXCEPTION: On your weekend cheat meal you are allowed to eat the above prohibited items without losing a point. Keep in mind that while you don't lose a point by the plan, a cheat meal is definitely not helping your overall fat shredding plan. Then why have one? Good question...only do it if you need to keep yourself sane. I would much rather you cheat once per week than quit after the first week.
** EXCEPTION: On your weekend cheat meal you are allowed to eat the above prohibited items without losing a point. Keep in mind that while you don't lose a point by the plan, a cheat meal is definitely not helping your overall fat shredding plan. Then why have one? Good question...only do it if you need to keep yourself sane. I would much rather you cheat once per week than quit after the first week.
Helpful Tip
If you have junk food in the house, either eat it tonight (December 31st) or throw it away. I wouldn't even recommend saving it until February 1st...it will become too tempting sitting on the shelf starring at you each and every day. On low carb days it will basically be begging you to eat it! If I have junk food in the house I'm going to eat it...so tonight, we are trashing the junk! I strongly suggest you do the same!
Scripture for the Day
Proverbs 31:30 "Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised."
Trash the Junk NYE party!
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