How to Help Your Weight Loss Journey When It Plateaus

 In a perfect world, everyone would have the time to exercise and eat healthy every single day. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many people. What happens when you are eating well and exercising regularly but your weight loss journey has plateaued?

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What Is A Plateau?

A plateau is when your weight loss progress stops or slows down. It doesn't mean that you have stopped losing weight, it just means that the scale isn't moving in a positive direction and you're not burning as many calories as before. Plateaus can happen for all sorts of reasons: increased stress levels, lack of sleep, bad eating habits, traveling, lack of exercise, or even hormonal changes.

What you need to do is try and figure out why your weight loss journey has plateaued so that you can start losing weight again.

Surgery

Some people have gone down a surgical route and that may help for a while, but even after weight loss surgery, your weight loss can plateau before you have reached your goal weight. If this is the case, then it is best to see a specialist for a gastric sleeve revision. This surgery will help more than just your weight loss plateau, it can also help with any conditions related to weight including diabetes and sleep apnea. 

Supplements

You can always try a weight loss supplement that will help make your body more efficient at losing weight, but it's important to use only the best ones. If you choose one of these options and still cannot lose weight, then there may be something else going on with your health or hormones.

Exercise

There are plenty of exercise options that you can try for weight loss. Things like high-intensity interval training (HIIT) or boot camp workouts might work well. You don't have to do these alone either, they make great group classes and friends will be happy to help motivate you when the going gets tough during your workout.

Adjusting your lifestyle so that you are more active is another way to help weight loss along. Park a bit further away so you have to walk a bit further, or take the stairs. Little adjustments to your daily life can help break that stagnant weight loss.

Eating Habits

When it comes to eating habits, you need to make sure that you are not falling into bad traps. You can try a high-fat diet for weight loss by limiting carbohydrates and increasing the percentage of your daily calories from healthy fats. The ketogenic diet is a great way to get rid of extra body fat without doing any exercise at all!

Get More Sleep

Your body slows down when you don’t get enough sleep, which means that it won't burn off the food that you eat as quickly. This is why it's important to get around eight hours of sleep per night. During this time, your body will burn off calories and create more energy for the next day so that you can exercise or just generally get stuff done.

Hormones

If none of these options work for you then there may be something wrong with your hormones that needs to be managed by a specialist such as an endocrinologist. Hormonal imbalances can cause many problems including weight gain, fatigue, and even depression.

Cut Back On Alcohol

If you are drinking one or two alcoholic drinks per day, then it might be time to cut back. If you're not sure how many calories are in your drink, try an online calorie counter so that you can see exactly what sort of damage this is doing to your weight loss journey.

Stress Management

High levels of stress can cause your body to store more fat and slow down weight loss. This is why it's important to try and reduce the amount of stress that you're dealing with every day, even if this means taking up a new hobby or spending time with family members.

Check Your Water Intake

If you are not drinking enough water then it means that your body is dehydrated. This decreases the amount of energy being produced so you won't have as much motivation to exercise or burn off calories with physical activity.

While these are all great ways for helping out your weight loss journey when it plateaus, sometimes you just have to try something else. This is where the real work starts because now you need to figure out what worked for other people in your situation and see if their methods can help with yours too.

There are options for helping your weight loss journey when it plateaus so never give up hope and remember that there is always someone who can help. Finally, try not to be discouraged if you hit a plateau because this is an all too common symptom of weight loss!

4 Ways to a Less Stressful Thanksgiving at Your Home

 

Isn't Thanksgiving so great? It's one of the least stressful holidays for me personally. 

Fourth of July finds me worrying about burns and blown-off fingers and how many people are in the swimming pool. 

Christmas finds me frantically wrapping presents for days on end, holed up in the bedroom trying to hide what I'm doing, tossing a ring pop out the door now and then to keep my kids happy for a while. 

Comparatively speaking, Thanksgiving is a walk in the holiday park! Here are some ideas for making it even less stressful that I have learned over the years (since moving into our bigger house where we host a lot of parties!).

BEFORE: Instead of purchasing GladWare, saving up plastic containers (whipped cream, sour cream, lunchmeat, etc.), or loaning out your favorite Tupperware, (hoping it will come back to you someday), ask guests to bring a few small containers of their own to take leftovers home in. If they forget, put out some aluminum foil and paper plates for them. 

HOW THIS HELPS YOU: This puts the leftovers ball in their court and you can relax and enjoy the day while they are getting all packed up.

BEFORE: Put several extra empty trash bags at the bottom of your kitchen trash can.

HOW THIS HELPS YOU:  When a wonderful guest offers to take out the trash for you, they won't have to ask you where more bags are. You're hosting a party and you're busy! Sometimes during a party my kitchen is so full I can't even wade through the people to get to the empty trash bags, so that eliminates that problem as well. (Also, I tend to get distracted easily and forget what I was doing before I was interrupted, so...)

BEFORE: Yes, I know it's bad for the environment and clogs up the landfills. Just buy sturdy and large paper plates, as well as plastic cups and silverware. Don't forget to also purchase small paper plates for desserts. Forget the soda for kids and just get Capri Sun juice pouches (you know they make purses out of the empty pouches, right?).

HOW THIS HELPS YOU: Obviously you won't have to do dishes if they are all in the trash. If you have a compost pile, even better.

BEFORE: Put a cloth or paper tablecloth on the main table.

HOW THIS HELPS YOU: If it's paper, just take it off after everyone leaves and throw it away. If it's cloth, toss it in the washing machine. This saves you time wiping down a very messy table and then probably also having to sweep the floor as well. 

Now it's time to relax for the evening and watch Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Or check out my helpful post about How to Have a Happy Thanksgiving from 2015 :-)

How Breast Cancer Is Diagnosed – 5 Early Warning Signs

 

Breast cancer is far more prevalent than one might think. No one wants to consider that they may have this life-threatening disease, but there are a few things you can do to ensure that you pick up the early warning signs.

Apart from visiting your doctor and having a mammogram, there are a few things you can do to pick up the early warning signs that something may be wrong.

5 Early Warning Signs of Breast Cancer 

Here are five early warning signs of breast cancer that can help with early detection:

1. Finding a hard lump either inside your underarm or feeling a thickening or hard knot inside your breast tissue.
2. A swelling, redness, warmth, or a darkening of the color of your breast.
3. Changes in the size or shape of your breast.
4. The skin on your breast starts to dimple or pucker.
5. You detect a discharge from your nipple.

Should you experience any of these signs, then it is recommended by the FDA that you request a mammogram from your doctor.

Do Not Ignore These Warning Signs

If you experience the five warning signs above together with any unexplained weight loss, fatigue, fever, persistent pain, and signs of jaundice, then it’s best to schedule an appointment as soon as possible. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, more people are living longer after an early cancer diagnosis. The disease is generally easier to treat the earlier you can receive a firm diagnosis and receive treatment.

More research is required on the causes of breast cancer Orange county's City of Hope. is investing billions of dollars to break new ground in its quest to bring new information to light on this potentially devastating disease. Remember, routine screenings will help with an early breast cancer diagnosis.

How To Obtain Services When You're Homeless

 

Image by Q K from Pixabay 

On any given night, over 550,000 individuals in the U.S. experience homelessness. This is due to any number of conditions. No matter what the situation, they require assistance to get their lives back in order. 

Even though many of these people and families feel they're alone, numerous agencies are available to help them. Here are a few options to obtain services when you're homeless.

Basic Tips for Personal Investment in the Stock Market

 

Image by Ahmad Ardity from Pixabay 

Stock market investment is the most unpredictable form of personal investment. Such a high-risk-high-reward environment requires an investor to be on their toes for new financial opportunities. If you have recently acquired your first stocks or you are looking to invest, here are some basic tips to prepare yourself for a successful stock market career.  

Picture Your Investment Goals

You should ask yourself, why do you want to invest in the first place? Your investment aspirations should be attainable and entirely feasible. Do not try to use investing as a get-rich-quick scheme. This intention isn't realistic, and while it is possible to increase your personal wealth by investing in the stock market, it will not happen overnight. Growing your earnings will take a lot of time, dedication, and experience. Raw ambition may prompt you to invest unwisely.

Buy Low But Not Too Low

Buying cheap stocks, also known as penny stocks, may seem like a great idea if you're new to the world of stocks and bonds. You may think that they are a lower risk when compared to pricier stocks, but cheap stocks are actually more unstable because they are not subject to regulation, and you are more likely to lose money. Penny stocks are also inclined to be involved in penny stock scams, and they are harder to sell when you want to get rid of them.

Be Logical About Your Investment Decisions

In January of 2020, well-known entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeted about "using Signal." Investors started pouring money into a company with the word "signal" in its name, drastically inflating its stock prices. Musk later clarified that he was talking about a business that was completely unrelated to the one that had garnered so much attention. He also explained that his tweet was simply stating that people should use its app services more often, not that they should invest in it.

This incident illustrates how important it is to be rational about your investment decisions and not fall prey to hype. Letting emotions and impulsivity dictate one's actions is a common investing mistake to watch out for.

Stay Well Informed

Even if you lead a busy lifestyle, you should always make time to learn more about investing. Consider subscribing to a specialty magazine for personal finance articles or buying books on relevant topics. You can also surf the web for free informative content. Prominent bankers like Julio Herrera Velutini have a plethora of articles on their blogs for investors of all experience levels.

Don't Trade Too Often

Review your portfolio quarterly and keep track of long-term trends in all company stocks. Checking your stocks more often than that may make you feel antsy, especially if a company experiences a hiccup. Such changes are likely to be temporary and selling that stock could end up hurting you.

If the stock's decrease is severe, research the reasons for the downturn before making any permanent decisions.

Investing in the stock market doesn't have to be incredibly complicated, and you do not have to be a billionaire to get started. Following these general guidelines will help you make smart investment decisions.