Here are some ideas to get you motivated to lose a few pounds. As always, you have to keep up the positive habits to see positive results. Keep up the good work, and please let me know your most powerful tip or trick in the comments below!

  1. Up your Interval Training

It really helps to mix up your routine. If you are a runner, don’t always go the same speed or distance. Make some runs long and slow and others short and quick. Incorporate resistance training into your cardio routine. When you

  1. Consume Olive Oil

You probably already know how much I love EVOO from my post The Many Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. According to this site, consuming 2 tablespoons of olive oil will help “improve your blood pressure, your glucose levels and your good cholesterol.” And when you make it up to 3 tablespoons a day, you will start to see the effect of weight-loss. Use olive oil as part of your salad dressing, and use it in place of butter or margarine in your favorite recipes.

  1. Hydrate with water

Seems a lot of people have trouble getting enough water. We don’t all need the same amount of water. How much we should drink depends on our activity level, the weather if our activity is outside, and how much we weigh. The recommended formula is to take about 60% of your body weight and drink that many ounces of water daily. If you weigh 150 pounds, you’d need 90 ounces. Don’t drink too much, but don’t drink too little. One of the benefits of drinking water is that you fill up more quickly and don’t need to eat as much.

  1. Get enough sleep

Getting enough rest is really important to your body. When we don’t get enough sleep, our body produces higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, that increases our appetite. Allowing your body to rest calmly will naturally allow that belly to trim down. Another tip to reducing body stress is to keep a regular sleep schedule, even on the weekends.

  1. Keep moving

I know, a no brainer, but it is certainly effective. Do small things to start like park at the far end of the parking lot when you go to the grocery store, if you have stairs in your home, walk up and down them 10 times in a day even if you split it up throughout the day. Go for a walk around the block, or more!

  1. Vinegar

Probably by now you’ve seen an ad for the apple cider vinegar diet. The acetic acid of apple cider vinegar lowers your blood sugar levels, decreases insulin levels, improves metabolism, reduces fat storage, burns fat, and suppresses appetite. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/apple-cider-vinegar-weight-loss  Apple cider vinegar isn’t the only vinegar you can use to benefit your health, but it is certainly is a popular one that is easy to find.

  1. Reduce Stress

Basically this is the same issue as not enough sleep, in that high cortisol levels get you off balance. Incorporating meditation, yoga, and light exercise (like walking) into your day can have a massive impact on reducing stress, thus showing up in a slimmer waistline.

  1. Don’t eat after dinner

This works wonders for many people. One great rule of thumb is not to eat after 8 pm. Allow your body to digest your food before you start eating again in the morning. When your body is resting at night, it isn’t able to burn as many calories when you are up and moving, so you give your body a break by not filling it up in the evening before you sleep for 8 hours.

  1. Eat smaller meals more often

It is important to keep a reasonable portion if you want a trimmer mid section. Many people like to eat 5 mini meals a day to keep their metabolism active and their stomach organ a moderate size. By eating more frequently your appetite will be suppressed more often, which helps stabilize your blood sugar, thus providing the slim factor.

  1. Drink green tea

The beneficial components of green tea are its flavonoids and caffeine. These help elevate your metabolic rate and increase fat oxidation (you burn fat quicker than normal). Green tea is also rich with antioxidants that help boost your brain and keep you healthy. Incredibly, studies have shown it also has an impact in helping our bodies fight and prevent cancer. Green tea supplements are also available for those of you who don’t care for the taste of green tea.