We have arrived at the holiday weekends now and I’m here with holiday weight loss tips for you!
It’s easy to get caught up in all holiday cheer and indulgent treats, but it’s important to remember that a few days of celebration won’t derail your progress. Amidst all the celebrations this season, it’s important to keep our perspective and not let the scale dictate our happiness or motivation.

It’s true that the scale can be a nasty, lying b!tch, but remember that it doesn’t tell the whole story. Did you know it takes an excess of 3,500 calories to gain one pound of fat?

If your scale is telling you you’re up 5lbs. from the holiday weekend, that means you would have had to eat 17,500 extra calories. That’s not possible. Do yourself a favor, instead of freaking out, which will just make things worse, READ THIS

Holiday foods are sneaky: Many of those delicious holiday treats are high in sodium, causing your body to retain water. So, if your scale is showing a temporary increase, it’s likely due to water weight. Take a deep breath and remind yourself that your hard work is still paying off! Check out my Instagram for holiday recipes and product swaps.

Stay hydrated: Drinking plenty of water can help flush out that excess fluid from your system. It’s a simple but effective way to help your body get back to its normal balance.

Don’t fall into the trap: One of the biggest mistakes people make is reacting to the number on the scale by eating less. This can actually make matters worse by leading to a cycle of restriction and bingeing, which can be detrimental to your overall goals.

Stick to the plan: The best choice you can make after seeing a number on the scale that you’re not happy with is to stay committed to your original weight loss plan. Don’t deprive yourself; instead, remind yourself of the factors mentioned above and trust in your process.

You are doing great! One weekend of indulgence won’t undo all your progress. Holiday weight loss and weight maintenance is totally possible. Remember, weight fluctuates, but your commitment and determination are what truly matter in the long run. 

Keep up the fantastic work, and stay focused on your goals. You’ve got this!

The post Holiday Hazards #1 appeared first on The Real Deal Weight Loss.

October is here and I need to level with you… this is the true start of the holiday weight-gain season.

Don’t be fooled into thinking it starts in late November. It’s now!

The way you start out the Fall sets the tone for the whole holiday season to come.

Start out with practices like I’m suggesting today and build confidence around how you will handle the entire holiday season.

Halloween is just around the corner and I’m sharing my most important Halloween weight loss tips. Make a plan and set the tone!

1. DON’T BUY CANDY EARLY! If it’s not there you won’t have to resist it. Otherwise, you will have to rely on willpower and willpower is bullsh*t! It is fleeting and has a time limit. Arrange your environment so you don’t need willpower. If the candy isn’t there, there is no succumbing to it.

2. DON’T BUY ANYTHING YOU LIKE. I stick with Smarties and Blow Pops and others that don’t “call to me”. A bowl of Snickers and Twizzlers in my house would mean a surefire BINGE! 

3. BUY YOURSELF A FULL-SIZED BAR OF CHOCOLATE INSTEAD. One of my members’ favorite tips is to go buy yourself a full-size whatever your favorite candy bar is. It is so many less calories than mindlessly picking your kids’ candy and not even enjoying it. Eating a full-sized bar allows you to fully enjoy what you choose and feel satisfied.

4. GIVE YOURSELF A NUMBER While it’s not likely reasonable to eat all the candy you’d like, it’s also not reasonable to have none. Choose ahead of time how many, say 3 of your faves, and ENJOY! Or do the full-sized candy like above.

5. THROW OUT ALL LEFTOVERS! It will go to “waste” It will go to “waste” either way. Better in the trash than on your ass! Or belly or thighs!

6. SWITCH WITCH If your kids are young, sell them on the Switch Witch. They put their leftover candy outside and this Witch will replace it with a toy or $.

It’s not the candy you eat on Halloween… It’s the candy you eat in the days and weeks following that causes weight gain.

7. OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND. Once Halloween passes, don’t keep the candy you allowed the kids to keep sitting out. If you do, you’re likely to grab a piece here and there whether or not you’re truly craving sweets. 

8. DECIDE HOW YOU WILL HANDLE YOUR CHILD’S LEFTOVER CANDY. A suggestion is to let your child pick out 10 of their favorites and ration them out over a period of time. Put them in a ziplock and label them with your child’s name. Are you gonna steal candy from a child? If your kids are old enough, tell them to keep it in their room. Check out any Halloween Candy Collection Programs sponsored by local churches, dentists, and other groups. These groups send the candy to troops overseas in care packages.

And lastly, trick-or-treating has traditionally been about candy, but times have changed. There are so many snack pack options out there now that kids love. You can still be in on the trick-or-treating fun without having candy in the house at all.

Here are a few ideas that you can pick up in regular supermarkets:

– Halloween pretzel and popcorn bags

– Juice and YooHoo boxes. (Kids get thirsty going from house to house.)

– Any of the bulk packaged items that kids can use in their lunches during the week, such as fruit roll-ups or fruit snacks.

There is plenty of time to put these tips into action and not let Halloween derail your weight loss efforts.

Start off this holiday season strong! You will be ready for all the holiday celebrations to come!

The post My Top Halloween Weight Loss Tips appeared first on The Real Deal Weight Loss.

BBQ season is upon us and you can enjoy all of your BBQ favorites without packing on the pounds. The key to eating all your favorites is using lower calorie versions of your best-loved products. These lower calorie versions are just as delicious as your regular brands, especially when you load them up. You won’t notice the difference, except in your waistline. 

Check out my Summer BBQ staples:

Let’s start with hot dogs, I make mine in the air fryer or on the outdoor grill and use Applegate Organics Turkey Hot Dogs – 60 calories per hot dog. 

I use 647 hot dog rolls, lightly toasted, for 80 calories per roll. The beauty of these rolls is that they really taste good.

Then I load my dogs up with Trader Joe’s Sauerkraut and Trader Joe’s Dill Pickle Mustard. So delicious!

If you’re more of the burger type, try Laura’s Beef Burgers 92% lean patties. They are 160 calories each. Pop on a slice of Sargento ultra-thin cheese (40 calories) and place it on a 647 roll (80 calories). Add mushrooms, onions, tomato, lettuce, and pickles. Load it up and it’s a burger!

Cold Pasta Salads make great BBQ side dishes. They are so delicious and so low in calories when you use our beloved Fiber Gourmet pasta!

I make this Skinnytaste Lobster Roll Pasta Salad using the Fiber Gourmet Rotini and it brings the calories down from 141 per cup to 105 per cup.

For lunch on the beach, I place 2 cups of pasta salad on a bed of arugula to add volume for just 210 calories! Sooo good!

Let’s talk Watermelon. It is one of the highest volume, lowest calorie foods. Just 136 calories per pound! Look at how much that is.

I love the Skinnytaste Watermelon, Arugula, and Feta Salad. It is UHMAZING!! And it’s MASSIVE! It called for 7 ounces of arugula. I bought a huge cleaned container of arugula thinking it was probably too much and it was only 5 ounces! A serving is 1/4 of this and only 157 calories.

This will be a hit all summer long for the fam or to bring to BBQs.
It’s always a good idea to bring something to these endless summer gatherings so you know you have something on plan to choose from. Salads are a great choice to pair with any of the staple BBQ meats commonly served. Makes staying on track much easier.

Watermelon is delicious right now.

Serve it in a salad or bring it as a dessert this weekend to help balance out your total calorie intake.

Look at all these delicious options! These are my favorite Summer foods for weight loss.

Lean into the season and everything it has to offer.

Accept the invite, host a BBQ, and know you can enjoy and still stay on track.

The post Summer BBQ Staples appeared first on The Real Deal Weight Loss.

Have you been led to believe that you need to give up bread to lose weight?

You DO NOT!

Weight gain is caused from excess calories; it doesn’t matter if those calories come from protein, carbs, or fat.

If you are like me and LOVE bread, trying to restrict it will leave you feeling deprived.

And… 

Deprivation always leads to bingeing.

So eat the bread!

I’ve been doing this for 15 years, and have worked with thousands of people, and in all the success stories you see me post, every one of those women ate carbs at every meal, including bread!

Let’s put an end to the no carb/no bread thinking right now.

I eat carbs at every meal!

As we get into the warmer weather, don’t be afraid to eat sandwiches and lighten up on cooking.

Sandwiches are portable food, great when you are running errands or when you are at the beach. They are so full of fiber, and keep you full. They are a boost to serotonin levels – the ‘make you feel good’, happy hormones. Plus, they are good for the whole family.

Packing a sandwich when you are on the go means you are not at the mercy of whatever crap is available.

Control the meals that are not a moment.

I’m a big fan of the Club sandwich. 

Here’s a quick view of what’s in mine. Look how big it is and it’s only 330 calories!

Click here to download the recipe.

To get you started, here are a few of my favorite low-calorie breads that you can use in a number of ways.

Available in your local supermarkets:

Josephs Lavash and Pita

Schmitt’s 647 bread: bread 40 calories, English muffins 80, hamburgers buns 80 calories

Available online:

Carbonaut, Gluten-Free bread – White, Seeded, and Cinnamon Raisin 40-45 calories each

And our favorite bread, Royo Bread: has 30 calories each slice. 
Royo has big bagels too, that are only 70 calories each. I keep those in my freezer at all times.

So eat more bread to lose weight!

Yeah, I said it.

The post Eat bread to lose weight! appeared first on The Real Deal Weight Loss.

I love a good kitchen gadget. They make preparing your meals easier, faster and can support you in your weight loss goals. 

I am always on the lookout for new gadgets that save me time and effort in the kitchen. I have bought my fair share of gadgets that were flubs. It is so disappointing to buy something you think is going to be great and discover it’s a piece of crap. But the opposite is also true, when you buy a gadget that works, you want to shout about it from the mountain tops.

So today I’m sharing my 3 favorite kitchen gadgets for weight loss. Real Deal tested and approved.

1. We know carbs don’t cause weight gain and enjoy eating them at every meal. We especially love Fiber Gourmet Pasta. Fiber Gourmet Pasta has half the calories of regular pasta, tons of fiber, and all the taste. Fiber keeps you feeling full, longer. (Psst… Real Deal members, check the files in the group for the Fiber Gourmet discount code.) I cook my Fiber Gourmet in one of my favorite gadgets, the Fasta Pasta MICROWAVE Pasta Cooker. It’s the fast, easy, no-mess way of cooking perfect, al dente pasta. No pulling out the big pasta pan, No waiting for the water to boil, No big pan to clean after – the Fasta Pasta is even dishwasher safe!!! And because it’s so fast & easy, you can have pasta anytime! I had it for lunch the other day which I never do because making pasta is usually such a hassle. I will NEVER make pasta on the stove ever again.

2. I always say, “Add more vegetables to your meals.” One of my favorite ways is adding a BAS (Big A$$ Salad) to meals to make them more satisfying and more delicious! I like my salads chopped up small and these salad shears are amazing! They cut through everything – onions, tomatoes, cucumbers – so easily, making the perfect chopped salad. Did you know that all you have to do to make bagged lettuce/salads taste fresher is chop them up a bit? I buy lots of bagged salad because I hate to cook, particularly hating to chop, so these shears are a must. They are also great for making egg salad, chicken salad, ect. Trudeau Toss and Chop Salad Tongs. I bought them on Amazon. They go in and out of stock frequently. Search for the Trudeau brand.

3. And my last favorite gadget addresses one of the biggest problems I see in women trying to lose weight, they have no realization of how much oil they are using and how many calories they are actually eating.  When you give a splash or two of oil you are completely guessing. That is why I love this  Measure ’N Pour Oil Bottle.  Just squeeze up how much oil you need and pour. It makes measuring oil easy and ACCURATE! And no measuring spoons to clean up. On sale on Amazon right now for $7.39. Run and add this to your cart!

Preparing meals is a lifelong task, but with the right kitchen gadgets, you can cut out time, cut down on clean-up, and keep to your weight loss goals.

I use each one of these products regularly to eat pasta, even for lunch, add more vegetables to my meals, and get accurate on the oil I use.

If you want to make losing weight easier, make cooking easier. 

The post My 3 Favorite Kitchen Gadgets for Weight Loss appeared first on The Real Deal Weight Loss.