Bad habits! Bad habits always lead to consequences and such consequences can only be avoided if and only if those bad habits are abandoned. As for this case, the bad habits that make you fat are:

1. Skipping meals
2. Eating too quickly
3. Distracting yourself while you eat
4. Lack of sleep
5. Sitting all day
6. Drinking beer or alcohol

...And the consequences of these bad habits are listed below:

- You develop fat on your belly, thighs, arms and so on.
- You become fat and overweight
- You may become obese and have obesity-related issues

Hence, let's move on to check why they are bad habits and how to curb these habits.

1. Skipping meals
I know some of us will begin to argue right now that skipping meals will make you look fit and lose fat and weight very fast but actually there's no place for argument.
Many studies show that people who skip meals are more likely to become obese than those who do not skip any meal.
The truth, which almost everyone already knows, is that skipping meals, such as breakfasts, slows down your metabolism and makes you eat too much food later in the day as a result of hunger. Your body needs food! You have to fuel it. You can't use a car without any fuel, can you?
The same thing applies to your body.
You need to give it food and the food, just like fuel, will provide your body with energy needed to do work.

How to curb it: Eat three square meals per day. The meals should mostly contain fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats and protein.

Useful Resource for you:
7 Nourishing Foods That Make Up A Healthy Diet

What Foods Should I Avoid To Speed Up Weight Loss

2. Eating too quickly
Eating too quickly is a very bad habit because it makes you overeat and your food may not be digested properly.
Your stomach takes about 20 minutes to send signals to the brain that you're full but before that time, you probably would have overloaded your stomach with food which causes indigestion and bloating of the stomach.

How to curb it: Eat very slowly but not slower than a snail.
Take the food in your mouth, and chew it slowly before swallowing. This will make you spend more time on eating and feel full quickly. It will also aid proper digestion of foods which further makes your body to obtain more nutrients from the food.

3. Distracting yourself while you eat
While eating, many distractions may be present. Distraction makes it hard for us to concentrate on the food we eat.
Common sources of these distractions are TV and Phones. Watching TV, playing games or chatting on Facebook and Whatsapp while you eat will make you forget that you're eating food. You'll begin to eat and eat until the food is finished. You may serve yourself a second round and even a third. This distraction is actually one of the causes of overeating which further causes weight gain or fat.

How to curb it: Turn off the TV and put away your phone before you eat.

4. Lack of sleep
Having inadequate sleep every night affects the secretion of a hormone, called cortisol, that affects your appetite.
This increases your cravings for foods thereby making you eat 300-400 more calories the following day. Lack of sleep also makes your body store more fat.

How to curb it: Get at least 6 hours sleep every night. This will improve your health and help you relieve stress.

5. Sitting all day
Sitting all day without any physical activity like exercise or sport is bad.
It's called a sedentary lifestyle. You need to move your body every hour. If all you can do is to walk up
 or down the stairs, it's good, even at your workplace.
Studies show that there's always a decrease in the enzymes that burn fat when you do no physical activity. That's why you need to be physically active to burn fat and calories.

How to curb it: Do some exercises like 50 mins walking, 20 mins jogging or sit-ups at home or at work 3-5 times per week. Through this, you'll grow stronger and stay fit!

Useful Resources for you:
4 Easy Morning Exercises You should Start Doing Now

6. Drinking beer or alcohol
This is also a common bad habit that makes you have belly fat. Basically, when you drink beer or alcohol, you're taking in lots of sugar. Even the most bitter beer still contains sugar!
They also contain high amounts of calories in liquid form and unused excess calories gets stored as fat - that's what causes belly fat.

How to curb it: Reduce the quantity you drink and gradually stop drinking alcohol and beer while replacing them with fruit juice.

I hereby encourage you to drop those bad habits that make you fat:

1. Skipping meals
2. Eating too quickly
3. Distracting yourself while you eat
4. Lack of sleep
5. Sitting all day
6. Drinking beer or alcohol

Then, inculcate these good habits:

• Eating three square meals per day
• Eating your foods slowly and mindfully
• Avoiding distractions while eating
• Having a good sleep every night
• Exercising and indulging in sports
• Avoiding alcoholic drinks

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Some of us trying to lose weight often ask this question:
What foods should I avoid to lose weight fast?
This is a very good question to ask when trying to lose weight.
Before I proceed, I promise that at the end of reading this article:
you will know which foods you eat that have been secretly providing you with surplus weight.
you will know what these foods contain that causes weight gain.
how to avoid these foods.
So let me begin to fulfill my promise to you by providing you with the list of foods you need to stay away from.

• Processed Foods
• Fried Foods
• Sugary beverages and drinks
• Ice creams
• Cookies and Cakes sold at Stores
• Candy
• Beer

Now let's know what these foods contain that is causing weight gain and making it hard for you to lose weight.

Processed foods

Foods that are industrially processed, such as canned foods, processed pounded-yams, processed meats, and packaged snack, contain sugar and fat. And not only that, but also artificial preservatives and colours which are not necessary for you.
Hence, avoid any food that is processed. If you're used to eating processed foods, you should start avoiding them by following these simple steps:

• Try to make your foods yourself
• Eat processed foods twice a week
• After some weeks, begin to eat processed only once a week until you stop eating them eventually.
• Finally, congratulate yourself.

Fried foods

Nutritionally, fried foods like fried chicken, are not a good source of protein and they are high in fat because of the oil used to fry them, which increases risk for obesity.
Other than obesity, consuming fried foods every time also increases the risk for type 2 diabetes, cancer and stroke.
Instead of frying, choose low fat cooking fat methods such as boiling, roasting and grilling.

Sugary beverages and drinks

Sugary beverages and drinks like soda and carbonated soft drinks contain sugar and high amounts of liquid calories that bring about weight gain and type 2 diabetes.
They do not make you feel full quickly and this makes you consume them in excess.
If you want fast weight loss, cut off sugary drinks from your diet and replace them with fruit juice - fruit juice made by you.

Ice creams

Ice creams contain lots of sugar and fat which result in craving for more of it or other foods, making you overeat. It's just a high-calorie junk with little or no nutrient.
Avoid this sweet junk as soon as possible to speed up weight loss.

Cookies and cakes sold at stores

Most cookies and cakes, if not all, that are sold at stores are full of added sugar, trans fat and refined flour which contributes to weight gain.
Instead of eating these junks, just grab an apple to eat. Fruits are healthy for the body. So, buy fruits like apples, oranges, lemons or almonds to keep yourself full when you're hungry rather than eating cookies, cakes or pies that will make you hungry again immediately you finish eating them.

Candy

The contents of a candy are refined flour, preservatives, sugar, fat and oils. They offer you a nice gift of calories to help you gain weight...but you can refuse the gift by avoiding them completely. Don't buy candies. Stay 5 miles away from them!

Beer

If you want to stay fit, have a healthy weight and a flat belly, you'll need to stay away from taking alcoholic drinks - like beer - because they are full of calories and sugar. Though some beers may taste bitter, they all contain sugar.
Therefore, avoid any alcoholic drink for you to live a healthy and happy life and to speed up weight loss.

Eventually, I fulfilled my promise to you.
Now what you need to do is to stay away from these foods to have a quick and successful weight loss. Apart from avoiding these foods, you also need to eat smaller portions of foods and get involved in some exercises to burn off excess calories that cause weight gain.
Amanda Jayne, a nutritionist and dietary & lifestyle consultant, says,

‘Here are a couple of things to focus on that will help you loose weight:

- Weight loss is about consuming less calories than your body uses in one day. Find out your daily energy expenditure requirements first (Google EER calculator). To loose weight, eat less than that amount. NOTE: If you work out, calorie expenditure is greater so you can eat more. You would need to calculate how many calories that exercise equates to.
- Eat as close to nature intended. If it come from a plant, grew naturally or is a from an animal, go for it! If it came from a factory, avoid it!
- Drink a big glass of water with lemon juice 15min before eating. We often over eat because we are actually thirsty & the lemon helps to prepare the stomach for food and better digest it by secreting digestive enzymes.
- Watch you portion sizes! Most people eat way more than they need to. I eat off a small plate for example as it tricks the brain to thinking you’ve eaten a lot because  the plate looks full. I recommend serving yourself less and to eat very slowly (you can always have seconds!). This allows your food to reach your stomach and feel full without overeating.
Example: Protein, size and thickness!of your palm. Vegetable 2 handfuls. Complex carbohydrates 1 handful.’

Hence, you have too avoid foods that give you high amounts of calories, eat small portions of foods, and exercise your body to increase calorie expenditure which speeds up weight loss.

Remember, the list of foods you should avoid to speed up weight loss are:

• Processed Foods
• Fried Foods
• Sugary beverages and drinks
• Ice creams
• Cookies and Cakes sold at Stores
• Candy
• Beer

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Staying fit and healthy should be one of our top priorities if we want to live long.
As we get older, some parts of our bodies may begin to change behaviourally or functionally. For example,

• softening of bones and decrease in bone mass  during old age which, sometimes, leads to osteoporosis and risks of falls,
• wrinkling of the skin
• dementia

Next, let's see how we can prevent such from happening to us and how we can maintain our health and fitness as we grow older.

1. Eat a Healthy Diet Always
2. Stay Physically Active
3. Stay Socially Active
4. Stay Away from Alcohol
5. Go for Check ups Regularly

Let's get the full details.

1. Eat a Healthy Diet Always

Eating a healthy diet means eating lots of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, protein-foods and little or no processed foods.
Your diet should also be rich in fibre but low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

Moreover, consuming a healthy diet everyday lowers your blood pressure, lowers LDL cholesterol [ popularly known as the "bad cholesterol" ], prevents obesity-related issues, and reduces the risks of many diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and stroke.

You can know more about the foods that make up a healthy diet here.

2. Stay Physically Active

Staying active, physically, is a must if you still want to be as active as you were when you were 16.
There are many ways to stay physically active but none can defeat Exercise.

Exercising for 30 minutes, five times per week, helps in burning off a huge amount of calories that may be stored as fat on your body. The expenditure of these calories promotes the maintenance of a healthy weight.
Besides, exercises make your muscles and bones get stronger and flexible.
If you need help in finding out some exercises to start with,  I would highly recommend you check out my article 4 Easy Morning Exercises you've not been doing.

3. Stay Socially Active

Social interaction relieves stress and makes your mind renewed as you gain more knowledge and ideas from other people.
You can be socially active by participating in group activities and speaking with friends and families or even watching comedies with them.

4. Stay Away from Alcohol

If you've been taking alcohol or beer, you need to seriously stop for you to live a long and holy life and for you not to develop pot-belly.
If you've not been taking alcohol, then don't start.

5. Go for Check ups Regularly

Visiting a qualified medical doctor regularly for check ups is compulsory for every human so as to know your health condition and get solutions for any health issue found [ if any ] before it gets worse.
This important step, if taken, keeps your mind at rest and not only that, but also makes you know more about your body and health.

You need to put all of these into action now so you can be as young and active as you were when you were 16 😉

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You said you want to lose fat. You want a flat tommy. You don't like to be overweight. You want to stay fit.... These simple exercises can turn your dreams into reality and achieve your fitness goals quickly.

 Do you know that morning exercises can improve your sleep better at night than an afternoon or evening exercise?

There are easy exercises you can do in the morning to help you feel good throughout the day and also help you burn calories.

Without much ado, I present to you, 4 Easy Morning Exercises you must start doing now.

1. Walking or Jogging or Running
2. Squats
3. Jumping Jacks
4. Push ups

What's in this article?

• A list of morning exercises you can do.

• How to perform each exercise.

• The warnings to note when performing each exercise.

Let's dive in!


1. Walking or Jogging or Running

Walking, jogging and running are almost the same. The difference among these three is this:

Jogging is faster than walking.
And running is faster than Jogging.

Running is an aerobic exercise. It strengthens the heart, improves endurance and keeps your body in good shape.
Moreover, it helps to burn off calories quickly. Generally, you burn about 100 calories when you run a mile. About 200 calories when you run two miles and about 300 when you run four... As you can see this workout is ideal for weight loss.

Performing the Exercise

As a beginner, you should start by doing the following:

• Walk for 3 - 5 minutes every morning. You can decide to brisk walk to a nearby store or filling station in your location or even walk to the bustop before you get into a bus while going to work.

• Jog and count up to 50. Sounds easy? Yes. Do this every morning and gradually work up to 100 counts and 200 counts.

• Run for 5 minutes. You should run slowly when starting this exercise to prevent fatigue from setting in too early. Most of us, especially beginners, try to run too fast thinking that running a distance with high speed will make us burn calories faster. Yes it may be true but you can achieve the same result by running that same distance with moderate speed. The only difference is that you'll spend more time to finish running.

Like an old adage says, 'To be forewarned is to be forearmed'.
So allow me to give you a forewarning concerning these exercises.

Forewarning

• Always do stretching first and walk for at least 1 minute before you run. This will warm you up.
• Running too fast is the number 1 cause for injuries. When starting to run, do not run fast. Instead, focus on the distance you need to cover.
• If you're a beginner, don't run for more than 30 minutes.

2. Jumping Jack

Doing Jumping Jacks will help build muscle strength, reduce obesity, increase heart rate, prevent stroke and osteoporosis (loss of bone) and burn a lot of fats on your body.

Moreover, it improves your cardiovascular system and reduce the amount of fat you have on your legs and shapes the legs. You want beautiful legs, don't you?

Performing the Exercise

Follow the following steps to do this exercise:

• Step 1 - Stand straight with your feet together, hands by your sides and your stomach tucked in.
• Step 2 - Jump up with your legs spread wide and both hands above your head (as if you want to clap).
• Step 3 - Then return to a position with the feet together and arms at your sides.
• Step 4 - Perform 20 Jumping Jacks after reading this article. And see how you'll feel after the exercise.

As you may have noticed, this exercise is what most people have done as play during their elementary or primary school, including me. So, it will be fun as this exercise will remind you of your old school memories.

Forewarning

• Overdoing jumping jacks aggressively can cause injury in your knee or sprain in your ankle if you're new to exercise or have weaker weaker joints.
• This exercise is not safe for women during pregnancy due to the stress it places on the joints and ligaments.

3. Squats

Squats are low impact exercises that are easy to do anywhere, anytime and any place. You can do it in your place of work or at school inasmuch there's a small space for you to do it.

Squats require no special equipments. So, there is no need to open your wallet right now.

Other than that, squats improve your muscle building, flexibility, strength and even body posture. It is a more effective way to burn those calories and fat on your body.

Furthermore, it tones your abs, legs and booty and make your bones and joints healthier.

Let's see how we can perform this exercise.

Performing the Exercise

• Step 1 - Stand with your feet slightly wider, your head and toes facing forward.
• Step 2 - Keep your chest upright.
• Step 3 - Stretch your hands forward. (You can clasp your fingers too!).
• Step 4 - Think of yourself sitting on a chair.
• Step 5 - Then, bend your knees and sit back until your thighs are parallel with the floor with your weight centered on your heels.
• Step 6 - Stay still for at least 5 seconds.
• Step 7 - Rise up, pushing through the heels until you bring yourself back to the starting position.
• Step 8 - Repeat 10 times.

Forewarning

• Squatting with poor technique makes you experience pain in your  lower back and knees.
• Always stand on your heels because if your heels come off the ground, you may lose balance.
• Monitor your body. If you feel exhausted while performing squats, take a break.

4. Push-ups

Push-ups are particularly good for strength training at all age levels. They makes your muscles stronger no matter what age you are, thereby making it a very great exercise to do everyday.

There are various types of push-ups like Full push-ups, Knee push-ups, Planche push-ups, Diamond push ups, Backhanded push-ups, Knuckle push-ups, Hindu push-ups, Spiderman push-ups,... but for the purpose of making it simple for us - the beginners, I will emphasize on the Basic push-ups and Knee Push-ups only.

Performing the Exercise

The Basic Push-up

• Step 1 - Lie on your stomach with your your palms flat on the floor (directly under your shoulders) and supporting yourself with the balls of your feet.
• Step 2 - Ensure that your body maintains a straight line from head to toe.
• Step 3 - Begin to lift your body off the floor, supporting yourself on your palms and toes.
• Step 4 - Lower your body (with your chest touching the floor).
• Step 5 - Repeat 5 times for now.

The Knee Push-up

• Step 1 - Place a mat on the floor.
• Step 2 - Kneel on the mat.
• Step 3 - Push your upper body forward and place your palms flat on the floor.
• Step 4 - Begin to press your hips towards the floor while sliding your knees back.
• Step 5 - Repeat 5 times.

Forewarning

• Don't do push-ups without consulting your doctor first if you're suffering from shoulder injury.
• Know when to stop. Whenever you feel tired while doing push ups, try to rest for some seconds before you continue. 
• Overdoing it will damage your muscles and make you weak.

With these simple morning exercises, you are sure to stay healthy and fit with a nice-looking skin. 

Don't wait till next week. Start now and you'll thank yourself later.
You should do some, if not all, of these exercises 3 times per week. You can select the days you'll do these morning exercises like, Mon, Wed and Fri. Just make sure you do these workouts at least 3 times per week.

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