Tools for Weight Loss – To Speed Your Weight Loss Success

8 Terrific Tools For Weight Loss

No doubt you have heard about how important it is to pick “The right tool for the job!” Well the same theory applies to your weight loss and fitness success.  Yes, just like anything else, you need to have the right tools for weight loss if you want to be successful!

There are a fortune of tools out there to help you achieve your goals, and you should take advantage of any and all of them to help you. Here are 8 of my favorite tools for wellness. Believe me they will help you get the job done!!

1. Write it Down!
One weight loss tool that is very helpful is to start to with is a nutrition journal. Get a book or a diary and start writing down what you eat. You will be surprised and delighted at how mindful you will become of your nutrition once you start writing it down. What journaling does is it keeps you “honest.” We are all guilty of finishing the Cheerios that our kids leave on the high chair, or popping that last chicken nugget or french fry in our mouths before tossing the wrapper into the trash. I see you smiling at that, there isn’t a mom who has not done that! I call that “sneaky” eating because you end up sneaking in 100 extra calories a day, 3,000 a month, and that’s a pound of fat each month. 12 months, 12 pounds, 2 years, 24 pounds. Where did it come from? Those extra 100 mindless calories every day!

2. For the Tech Minded:
If you have an iPhone there are a bunch of apps designed just for nutrition for the iPhone. You can find a list of the best iPhone apps for nutrition and download the ones you like. There are free apps and paid ones. One great FREE iPhone app is called My Fitness Pal You can set your daily calorie goals and track your food and exercise to see if you are staying within your daily fitness and nutrition “budget.”  You can track everything you eat and also create your own “foot database” of the things that you commonly have.  What’s also nice is that you can also get support and help from others that are going through a similar journey as you are!

3. Measuring Your Fat Loss Progress:
Another great one of the tools for wellness that will help you get the job done is a tape measure! Ditch the scale for a while and start to MEASURE your body parts. When you start working out, you will be building muscle and losing fat. The best way to chart this is to visually see how much smaller your body is getting. Sometimes the scale can be too frustrating because the changes on the scale may seem very insignificant to you when you are losing maybe a pound a week. But the tape measure will really show you where you are you at.

If you want to learn about measuring yourself, and where to measure, here is a free goodie I made for you that you can download now.  It my body measurement chart and it will help you keep track of your shrinking self!

4. Scientific Tools for Body Fat Calculation:
It’s also a great idea to know your body fat percentage. Body fat calculators are also great tools to have. I use a handheld OMRON body fat calculator, and it’s really easy to use.  OR you can buy a simple and inexpensive Skinfold Caliper. With a few calculations, you can easily learn how to calculate your own body fat percentage.

5. Heart Rate Monitor:
Get a heart rate monitor so that you can watch yourself exercise within your heart rate zone. It is really important to know where you are at, and it keeps you mindful of your workouts. If you are not working in the heart rate zone to burn fat, then you are wasting your precious time!  A FitBit or Apple Watch works to take your heart rate monitor nicely off your wrist.  But if you’re not looking to spend over $150 for a heart rate monitor, then here is a link to my health and fitness gifts page.  Here you will find my favorites that I have recommended to loads of my boot camp clients.

6. Exercise Music:
This is probably the most fun of all the tools for wellness to have in your arsenal. Load up your iPod with your favorite music. It is nearly impossible to put on your headset and listen to your favorite songs and not move! Music helps to get you going, it motivates you, and it makes you just plain happier. Look for playlist ideas to get you started. Here are some of my favorite songs on my exercise music playlist!

7. Weight Scales:
I put weight scales here as one of the tools for wellness, but I have to say it’s my least favorite ONLY because I think women go nuts with the scale. So I am imploring you to use the scale judiciously! Do not become a slave to your scale and start weighing yourself every day. It is one of the biggest mistakes women make because you weight just naturally fluctuates every day anyway. It’s okay to weigh yourself once you are starting your weight loss regimen, but to keep yourself from going crazy, use your tape measure and body fat calculator as your main weight loss tools, and keep your scale hopping to once a week or once every two weeks, NOT daily.

8. A Good Blender and Juicer:

Getting enough produce into your diet is one of the single most important things you can do to speed weight loss and have tons of energy.  Blending and/or Juicing is something you should be doing every single day.  Get a good blender (Vitamix if you can) and a good Juicer and start adding more produce into your life in the form of green smoothies and juices.  You will be amazed at how great you feel and how you can control cravings!

So there you have it, 8 terrific tools for weight loss!  But there are so many others, so check out my Health and Fitness Gift Ideas.  Here are the things that I personally use and recommend to my clients, friends, family, everyone!

Love Laura.