Often times, we hear those two words being used interchangeably. I was talking with a client last week, and she kept confusing portion sizes with serving sizes. Occasionally, portion sizes and serving sizes mean the same thing, but in most cases, they have completely different meanings. In addition, it’s hard to tell if the portion sizes we are eating are the right serving sizes for our fitness goals and our bodies’ nutritional needs. Check out the similarities and differences between portion and serving sizes, and learn an easy system that helps you control how much food you portion onto your plate.

Do you know how much food you’re REALLY eating???

Over the years, portion sizes in America (and around the world) have drastically increased, which can be linked to an increased rate of weight gain and obesity. Understanding healthy portions can be hard, because there’s no universal measurement as to what a portion means. We all know that a healthy dinner includes 1–2 servings of lean protein as well as 2 to 3 servings of vegetables, But what exactly do those serving sizes look like?

First, let’s clear the confusion. What exactly is a portion and what exactly is serving size? According to the National Institute of Health, a portion refers to how much food you choose to eat at one time, whether you’re eating at home or dining in a restaurant. We are 100% in control of our portion sizes. In fact, many of the portions that we choose today actually contain multiple servings. Don’t stress though — choosing the correct portion sizes can be easy! Check out this post on Instagram to help you learn how to easily portion out your meals without needing measuring cups or a food scale.

Now that we understand what a portion size looks like, let’s tackle a serving size. The size of one serving is found on a food nutrition facts label. Serving sizes are created by food manufacturers, and they serve as a guide for how much nutrients, protein, fat, sugar, and carbs are found in the foods we eat. Because they are created by food manufacturers, serving sizes are not in our control.

We can definitely use serving sizes as a guide to portion out our meals, but what happens when we make a recipe that doesn’t come with a nutrition fact label? Or, what happens when we go out to eat at a restaurant? At most restaurants I’ve visited in the past, there are no serving sizes on the menu. Without serving sizes, mixed with the large portions that are served in restaurants, it comes as no surprise that most people eat portions that are too large while dining out, which prevents them from losing weight.

So, what’s the solution? How can we better portion out our meals to reflect our nutritional needs, as well as our fitness goals (like weight loss or gaining lean muscle)?

The only tool you need to measure out proper portion sizes for your body and your health and fitness goals is your hand! Using your hand is an easy way to measure portions because the shape and size of our hand is relative to the size of our body. Plus, our hands are with us everywhere we go. There’s no need to use a food scale, measuring cups, calorie counting, or to even know the exact serving size of a meal when we can use our hands to create proper portion sizes. Check out the ways that your hand best reflects portion sizes:

• Protein — When measuring a serving of protein, use the palm of your hand as a guide. If your goal is to lose weight, be sure to include 1–2 palm-sized servings of protein with each meal.
• Vegetables and Fruits — When measuring a serving of vegetables or fruits, use the size of your fist as a guide. Regardless of your health and fitness goals, try to include at least 4–5 fist-sized servings of fruits and vegetables every day.
• Whole Grains — When measuring a serving of whole grains (quinoa, 100% whole wheat, sweet potatoes), use a cupped hand as a serving size. If you’re trying to lose weight, include ½ to 1 cupped hand serving of complex carbohydrates with each meal.
• Healthy Fats — When measuring a serving of healthy (unsaturated) fats, use your thumb to measure the portion size. If you’re trying to lose weight, include ½ to 1 thumb-sized serving of healthy fats at every meal.

If you’re ready to use portion sizes in an easy way and finally lose that weight you’ve been carrying around for too long, I’m happy to share my weight loss guide with you. This guide will help you create a game plan to implement to help you kickstart your weight loss.

Although often used interchangeably, there are some real differences between serving sizes and portion sizes. Servings sizes can help guide us in choosing the portions of food we eat, but serving sizes aren’t in our control — they are set by food distributors and are found on the nutrition facts labels of most foods. On the flip, we are 100% in control over the portion sizes we choose to eat. If you use your hand to measure out your portion sizes, you’ll prevent yourself from overeating, and you’ll know that you’re on the right track to eating the proper amount of food (and nutrients) for your body, mind, and goals. Most importantly, you’ll be able to eat more of what you love if you understand how to control your portions!

The Two Words You NEED to Understand if You’re Hoping to Lose Weight. was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I’ve always admired and had respect for distance runners, but I’ve never been one of those women who love running. I always found it boring, and could never get into it. This past summer, I decided to challenge myself to train and complete my first 10K race. I finished with a time of 55 minutes on the dot. After my first race, I challenged myself to complete another 10K. For my second race, I set a personal goal to beat my first time. It wasn’t always easy, but I finished my second race with a time of 50 minutes and 15 seconds. While working to shave 5 minutes off of my finish time, I learned some important lessons between my first and second race. After reaching my goal, I realized that the lessons I learned were the exact same ones my weight loss coaching clients were applying to their everyday life… And were the reasons they were losing weight!

1. It’s all about your mindset.

I’m sure you’re familiar with the quote, “It’s mind over matter.” I’ve heard it 100 times, but to be honest, I never really believed it. I thought that no matter how hard I worked, I could achieve anything I wanted. Little did I know I was missing out on a HUGE part of the puzzle.

For my second race, I visualized myself running a faster, more efficient race. I knew I could physically run 6.2 miles… After all, I had completed that distance during my first race. But this time around, I actually spent time focusing and imagining myself running a faster race.

Physically, I didn’t train for my second race ANY differently than I did my first race. For both races, I ran anywhere from 2–4 miles 2 mornings a week, and spent one morning on the weekends running 4–5 miles. Mentally, I had imagined running faster during my second race SO many times I knew it would happen. It was a done deal — I was 1,000 times more prepared for my second race mentally.

I can’t begin to describe how important it is to have the right mindset when it comes to reaching ANY goal you may have, especially if you’re trying to lose weight. Truly envision yourself eating healthy, enjoying exercise, and losing weight, and you’ll be surprised how quickly and easily your visualizations become reality.

2. Goals require serious commitment and dedication

I wish it were as easy as laying down and simply envisioning yourself reaching your goals… Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Goals don’t just happen overnight. They take commitment, dedication, hours of planning, and hard work. If your end goal seems too large or overwhelming to reach, break down your end goal into smaller goals. For example, losing 20 pounds doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes many weeks, sometimes even months, of eating nutritious meals and exercising to lose 20 pounds.

While training for my race, I couldn’t just go from sitting on the couch to running over 6 miles overnight. I began by only running 1 mile at a time, and strategically planned for my runs to gradually get longer, so I felt prepared to tackle 6.2 miles on race day. I remember the first time I ran 3 miles while training for my first race. I thought to myself, “That was SO hard, there’s no way I can ever run 4 miles. How will I ever be able to complete 6.2 miles?” With commitment and dedication, I was able to easily up my mileage from 3 miles, to 3.5 miles, and then to 4 miles. Before I knew it, I had built up the strength, stamina, and endurance to complete the 6.2 miles.

3. It wasn’t always easy but it was ALWAYS worth it

While training for my race, it wasn’t always easy. There were definitely mornings when I DIDN’T feel like running or cross training. The weather didn’t always cooperate when I needed to run. It was extremely hot and humid some days, and I ran threw light rain on other days. Some longer runs felt easy, and other short runs felt nearly impossible to finish. But it all came back to my mindset. I KNEW I had the strength to complete this race feeling strong. The pride I felt when I reached the finish line in both of my races is truly indescribable. It was completely worth all of hours of training I had completed.

4. Keep your eye on the prize

Any time I found myself losing motivation (which definitely happened), I focused on race day. I definitely would have given up on my goal if I didn’t continue to focus on race day. During those runs where it was lightly raining and I felt like giving up, I knew that finishing this run wasn’t an option, and that it would help me finish on race day.

If you’re trying to lose weight, always remember how you’ll look AND feel when you reach your target goal. This will help you stay inspired when you begin to lose weight. Don’t get distracted by quick-fix diets and exercise programs. Focus on creating healthy nutrition and exercise habits, and the results will come.

5. Chart Your Progress.

While training for my race, I tracked my progress on my iWatch, and began to pay attention to some of my workout patterns. I observed that my best (and fastest) runs were in the morning after I woke up, but before I ate breakfast. On the flip, my hardest (and slowest) runs were usually in the afternoon or evening time, when I struggled to find energy to run. I noticed that no matter what time of day I ran, I struggled when I ran within 2–3 hours of eating a meal.

If you’re trying to lose weight, I strongly suggest you keep track of your progress. I have created a free weight loss guide to help you get started in your journey. If you’d like a free copy, click here.

Whether your goal is to complete a race or lose weight, it’s easy to see others’ achieve their goals and forget that they put in hours of dedication to achieve that goal. Remember that it takes inspiration, motivation, hard work, and the right mindset to achieve your goals. If you always keep your eyes on your goals and keep track of your progress, you’ll be surprised at how quickly and easily you can achieve your goals.

Five Lessons I Learned about Crushing My Personal Goals that Will Help You to Lose Weight. was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

It probably comes as no surprise that many of us set a New Year’s resolution to lose weight. What happens when you’re trying everything under the sun to lose weight and become healthy, yet the scale doesn’t budge? Do you tend to lose motivation and give up? Do you try a new approach?

Newsflash — there’s more ways to measure your progress than just the scale!

“This is the first time I’ve actually felt full in years!”

I had been working with my client Michelle, for three short days when she sent me that sentence in a message.

Before we started working together, she gave me her food journal to check out. It was full of low calorie, low-fat, pre-portioned and packaged meals. All of these meals were heavy on the carbs and chemicals, and lacked real food and flavor. Recently, Michelle had been supplementing with prepackaged 100 calorie snacks, and found herself getting nowhere on the scale… except hungrier and more frustrated.

We agreed on the following plan: three times a week she would eat a fresh salad using The Perfect Meal Planner that I provided her. She often chose to use grilled chicken or salmon, avocado, fresh veggies, and olive oil in her salads. Protein. Fat. Veggies. Real food.

After eating the salad, I received this report back: “This is the first time I’ve actually felt full in years!”

Boom!

This was MAJOR progress for Michelle, even though she had yet to lose a single pound.

As many of us experienced health coaches know, the bathroom scale rarely marks the milestones along the path to a healthier, more fit body.

Our bodies are NOT machines. They are complex and can change in many ways. These changes are often subtle — we feel, look, and function differently, but we can’t always explain why.

Before we can lose any weight, we must make small signs of progress. And most importantly, we have to notice and celebrate our progress so we can keep moving towards the point where the scale actually starts to move! Check out these 5 ways to know you’re making progress without even stepping on the scale:

1. You feel satisfied after eating a meal

Have you ever eaten at a fast food joint, only to find yourself hungry an hour or two later? It’s definitely happened to me before! This is because junk food is full of processed ingredients, which are high in fat and salt, while lacking important nutrients that our bodies need and want. For many of us, the processed foods never run out, so you’re always left eating and eating and eating without feeling full, while lacking serious nutrients.

What progress looks like:

With your new nutrition plan, you’re eating slower and choosing fresh, real foods. This leaves less room in your diet for the processed junk food. Fresh fruits, vegetables, complex carbohydrates, and protein help to give you nutrients, and most importantly, actually help you feel satisfied. They send signals from your stomach to your brain telling you that you are safe, comfortable, well fed, and can stop eating now. I use The Perfect Meal Planner with my clients to take the stress out of meal planning. It shows my clients exactly how to cook healthy meals perfectly portioned for their bodies and goals.

2. You have more energy

Can you remember the last time where you didn’t feel exhausted or feel like you were lacking sleep? Have you ever thought that maybe your diet is contributing to your tiredness? If you’re currently eating too many processed foods and sugar, you’re not getting enough vitamins, minerals, and other necessary nutrients. This can leave you feeling drained and foggy.

What progress looks like:

One morning you may wake up a few minutes before your alarm and actually feel happy and well rested. At 3 PM you find yourself alert and focused, as opposed to falling asleep in your boring, afternoon meeting. A good nutrition plan gives you energy all day, rather than a cycle of buzzes and crashes. If you start to eat real, nutrient-dense food, you’ll find yourself having more energy before the scale even budges.

3. Your clothes fit just a little bit looser

We all have that one article of clothing in the back of our closet… you know which one I’m talking about. The one that almost never fits unless you’re massively dehydrated, holding your breath, or wearing the dreaded Spanx. You happen to slip it on a few weeks after starting your new nutrition plan and WOW, it actually fits! No pulling fabric, no muffin tops or bulges. More important than looks, you actually FEEL better wearing it (because let’s be honest, isn’t the point of life to always feel good, even if the scale isn’t showing major changes?)

What progress looks like:

Muscles and bones are denser than body fat. This means that as we build lean muscle mass through exercise and good nutrition, the number on the scale may actually increase, but your body mass shrinks. Most importantly, your percentage of body fat decreases, which helps your old clothes to fit, and can also lower your risk of some nasty cancers and heart disease. [https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/diet-physical-activity/body-weight-and-cancer-risk/effects.html]

4. You’re stronger and have more endurance

Around the time you begin your new nutrition plan, workouts might feel grueling. You feel weak, uncoordinated, slow, and find yourself picking up the smallest weights your gym offers, only to be deadly sore the next day. The good news — we all have to start somewhere! Over time, you find yourself less sore (thank goodness — you no longer dread going to the bathroom because you can actually feel your quads again!). Suddenly, a heavier set of weights doesn’t seem so intimidating anymore.

What progress looks like:

You’re using the same set of weights with an increased range of motion. I remember the first time I ever did an overhead shoulder press with weights. I could barely lift both of my hands over the top of my head. As I got stronger, I was able to straighten my arms all the way with the weights! Your muscles are sore, and you actually recover better. Do you know that when you’re sore from exercise, it’s actually caused by tiny tears within your muscle fibers that we must rebuild? This process of repair is actually good. It helps us become stronger, more fit, and more muscular. [https://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/musclesgrowLK.html] As you become stronger and give your body proper nutrients, this repair process actually speeds up.

5. It feels more like a lifestyle than a “diet”

Have you ever met anyone who actually enjoys the diet they’ve been on? Yeah, me neither. Diets are like chores. They’re too strict, and they’re not realistic to maintain over the course of your life. I mean, are you really supposed to stay true to your diet while at a fun summer BBQ or on a European vacation?

What progress looks like:

You don’t label foods as “good” and “bad.” You naturally gravitate towards real, whole, less processed foods. It becomes natural to pick the salmon over the hot dog. You know how to strategically plan and prepare your meals so that you stay on top of your game, without wandering mindlessly around the cupboard. You’ve used The Perfect Meal Planner so many times that including proteins, veggies, smart carbs, and healthy fats into every single meal becomes a regular part of your routine.

Let me be crystal clear about something — you still enjoy the birthday cake and the Christmas cookies and the ice cream cones, but you DON’T consider this “bad” or “guilty” anymore. They’re just an occasional part of enjoying your life. You savor and enjoy them, and then go back to eating mostly fresh, whole foods like you always do. No big deal.

If you’re hoping to move closer to your health and fitness goals, without relying on the bathroom scale but while looking and feeling your best, I’m happy to give you a free copy of my weight loss guide. You can download it here.

Even when the scale doesn’t budge and you feel like giving up, celebrate your wins, no matter how small. If you make each day a little better than the one before, you will make progress and the scale will eventually budge. Remember, your self-worth, value, and worth is NEVER attached to the number on the scale.

5 Ways to Measure Progress When You’re Trying to Lose Weight and the Scale won’t Budge. was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

We’ve all been in those ruts before… you know what I’m talking about — no matter how hard you try, you just can’t get your butt to get off of the couch to work out!

Better yet, the thought of cooking a healthy meal is just too daunting — the fast food down the street is a quicker and easier option for dinner, especially with the mental and emotional energy required to just live our lives!

Believe me, it happens to everyone! As a personal trainer and health coach, even I’m guilty of going through periods with no motivation to exercise or eat healthy… And it’s basically my job! However, finding the motivation to take care of yourself doesn’t mean spending hours in the gym or spending your entire Sunday prepping healthy meals. So, how can you make this easier? Check out these ways that you could stay motivated to work out, even when everything else fails!

1. Give yourself a REAL reward

Sorry, I’m not talking about eating an entire pint of ice cream in one sitting after you go for a quick jog. I’m talking about a reward that’s going to actually help you get closer to your goals. After a hard workout, allow yourself to indulge in an episode of your favorite TV show, because your muscles need time to recover. Or, if you’ve consistently exercised for one or two weeks, reward yourself with a 30 minute or hour long massage. After eating a healthy dinner, reward yourself with a hot bath or at-home spa treatment. Remember that no matter how hard you work out, you can never out exercise a bad diet, so try to steer clear of rewards that revolve around junk food.

Motivating yourself with an external reward is extremely powerful because your brain can actually latch onto the idea that you are going to get something immediately in return for your hard work. As exercise becomes a habit over time, your motivation will gradually switch from external rewards to internal gratification. You’ll notice how good your body feels after a healthy meal, and you’ll actually look forward to that feel-good endorphin high that comes at the end of a great workout… But in the meantime you get a reward!

2. Sign a commitment contract

We can make promises to ourselves all day long, but research shows we are much more likely to exercise and eat healthy when we make commitments to our family and friends. For example, create a contract with your loved ones that states you will cook at least 3 healthy dinners per week. Or, you will exercise at least 3 times a week for 30 minutes each time.

You can even up the ante by paying your family or friends $1 for each time you break the contract. For each time you stay committed to your exercise/health contract, put that $1 in a jar and either use it for your rewards, or donate it to your favorite charity.

3. Make your workouts social!

In today’s world where social media usage is booming, use that to your advantage and share your healthy meals and workouts with your social network. Post on your Facebook page, “I’m running 3 miles tomorrow morning. Does anyone want to join me?” Or, share one of your favorite healthy recipes, and ask your social network to post a copy of their favorite healthy recipe! Better yet, try writing a status post like this:

“Want to help me with my health and fitness journey? Tomorrow morning, I plan on completing 1 squat for every ‘like’ this post gets, and 2 squats for any other reaction! Please help make me work hard!”

You’ll be surprised by how many people jump at the chance to help you out!

By engaging your social network, you’re subconsciously committing to yourself AND to others to actually workout and eat healthy. Plus, you’re looking for a buddies to help hold you accountable. And let’s be honest, being healthy is just more fun when you do it with friends!

4. Always bring your workouts back to WHY.

During the first few weeks of working with my clients, we complete an activity together called the WHY game. Let’a quickly play a round right now!

Ask yourself, “Why do I want to exercise and eat healthy?”

Are you trying to lose weight? Are you hoping to stay active so that you can play with your children? Are you hoping to run a half or full marathon later this year?

Once you have your answer, ask yourself WHY four more times. For example, why do you want to lose weight? Why is it important to you to play with your kids? Or, why do you want to run a full or half marathon?

Each answer should get a little deeper towards your inner drive and motivation. Once you have your last answer (your fifth answer to the question why), THAT is your motivation to workout and eat healthy. This deep, intrinsic driving factor will keep you motivated when everything else fails.

Every time you feel like sitting on the couch instead of working out, or every time you’d rather order pizza than cook a healthy meal, come back to THIS answer. Remind yourself that your goals will be unattainable unless you workout and eat healthy.

Eating healthy, nutritious meals SHOULDN’T revolve around spending hours grocery shopping and meal prepping. Start simple — choose a source of lean protein and pair it with some whole grains, fruits, and veggies.

In a similar way, being active DOESN’T mean spending hours in the gym. In terms of exercising, it doesn’t matter what you do, just move! Find something active that you enjoy, and go with it!

Remember it’s normal for motivation to come and go for all of us! If you’re in one of those periods where you feel stuck without any motivation, remember WHY (the deep meaning… not the quick and easy answer) you want to workout and be healthy. Consider signing a commitment contract with others, and allow the people who know and love you to help hold you accountable. Lastly, don’t be afraid to reward yourself and give yourself some credit! Remember results don’t happen overnight, but staying motivated long-term is the key to reaching your goals as safely and quickly as possible!

If you’re looking for some help in starting a weight loss or healthy journey, I invite you to download a free copy of my Weight Loss guide HERE!

4 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Exercise and Eat Healthy was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

A few months ago, I received an email from a woman named Catherine. Her wedding is in the beginning of April, and with her first dress fitting quickly approaching, she panicked about how she would look in her dress. She shared that she is hoping to lose weight and tone up before her big day. After a couple of emails back-and- forth, it became clear to me that Catherine wasn’t up for talking about her food intake, no matter what I suggested. She was certain that she only wanted personal training sessions, despite my recommendations.

Catherine and I started working together back in November, and met once a week for a personal training session. Every week, I would help her come up with an exercise schedule so she stayed active on the days we didn’t meet for a session. Catherine consistently stuck to her exercise schedule, but after 8 weeks of sessions, the scale hadn’t budged. Even though her workouts had doubled or tripled in intensity, why wasn’t she losing weight?!

In the beginning of January, I approached Catherine about discussing her eating habits. Since she wasn’t seeing the results she hoped for, she reluctantly agreed to let me help her with her nutrition, even though she was convinced she was eating healthy.

After checking her food journal, I noticed that Catherine had some good habits started, but there were definitely places for her to improve! She was eating fiber but almost no protein, while drinking very little water. We began changing her eating habits, one at a time, and guess what happened…

After just two weeks, she began to steadily lose weight. And the best part — it was not at all close to what she was initially avoiding (strict diets and feeling hungry all the time.)

Now I’m not saying that exercise isn’t important. However, women often believe that exercise alone will be the “quick fix” to their weight loss problems. I am here to tell you that your $100/hour personal training session WON’T help you lose weight if you don’t make some changes to your eating habits! And this is coming from someone who IS a $100/hour personal trainer!

It would be easy for you to dismiss these changes as “too easy,” or unimportant, but here’s the truth: you don’t need to give up carbs or spend hours making a Paleo meal to actually see the results you want!

1. Drink enough water.

Did you know that about 70% of our body is composed of water? Not only does water help your organs to function properly (your brain alone is at least 75% water), but water also helps your body flush out toxins and clear your skin. Simply drinking more water can actually help you lose weight by allowing your body to burn extra calories while suppressing your appetite. I’m sure we’ve all experienced a time we thought we were hungry, and then drank a glass of water, and realized we were actually thirsty. I know I have!

When it comes to losing weight, try to drink at least 80–100 ounces (minimum) every day! Yes, you’ll be running to the bathroom every 30 minutes until your body adapts, but notice how you feel when you’re properly hydrated. Not only will your skin look better, but also your digestive system will function even more efficiently, resulting in weight loss.

2. Eat lean protein at every meal.

This is one of the habits that Catherine struggled with at first, but it ended up being a game changer when it came to her weight loss; She noticed that when she began adding protein to every meal, she had more energy and stayed full for a longer period of time.

Every time you sit down to a meal, be sure there is some lean protein on your plate. Even though chicken and turkey were the first ones that came to Catherine’s mind, she used the Perfect Meal Planner I gave her to discover countless options of lean protein to add variety to her meals! Other options can include lean beef, pork, duck, shrimp, scallops, eggs, egg whites, cottage cheese, or Greek yogurt, to name a few. Of course, other foods have protein too; these are just the protein superstars.

If you’re struggling to add protein to a certain meal, start small. For example, if the idea of eating a chicken breast for breakfast grosses you out (because I’ll be honest, chicken breast does not sound appetizing to me for breakfast!), try to add Greek yogurt or natural nut butter to your breakfast.

3. Eat five servings of fruits and vegetables every day.

It’s interesting, Catherine thought she was eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, but once she did the math, we realized she was only eating about 2 to 3 servings a day of both fruits and veggies. The Perfect Meal Planner I gave Catherine contained over 15 vegetables to choose from, so she had countless options to add variety to her meals! Plus, it included exactly how to prepare the veggies so they taste great!

Not only do fruits and veggies contain vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, which are awesome nutrients your body needs that are only found in plants, but fruits and veggies help to bulk up your diet, so you stay fuller for a longer period of time.

An easy way to add fruit and veggies to your diet is to start every morning with a breakfast smoothie. Add ice, soy or almond milk, your favorite fruit, protein powder, and some leafy greens for a tasty, healthy way to kick start your day!

4. Don’t wait until you’re already full to stop eating.

Once Catherine and I dove into her feelings before and after meals, we immediately noticed that she used to eat lunch at work really quickly. Because she was stressed and running from meeting to meeting all day, she would end up overeating and felt stuffed (and ready for an afternoon nap) right after lunch.

Once Catherine started slowing down while eating, she was able to cue into how she felt as she ate. Because it can take your body 15 to 20 minutes to start digesting your food, I recommended to Catherine that she stopped eating when she felt about 80% full.

Once Catherine implemented this habit, she immediately noticed that she no longer felt an afternoon slump at work. She was able to manage her stress more effectively because she allowed herself a short break to enjoy eating her lunch. Plus, she was just more comfortable in the afternoons because she wasn’t overstuffed.

If you’re looking to slim down for good, start to pay attention to how you feel during and after your meals. If you can relate to Catherine, and you often feel over-stuffed and ready for a nap after eating, try to eat slower, and a little bit less food at each meal. It’s amazing when you let your food digest and actually understand what feeling FULL is… not still hungry, and not overstuffed, but satisfied.

5. Watch your alcohol intake.

When initially talking to Catherine about her alcohol intake, she mentioned that she enjoyed 1 to 3 drinks per week. However, once we sat down and looked at her food journal, we noticed that she actually ended up drinking about 7 to 8 drinks each week. She enjoyed having a nice glass of wine most evenings at the end of a long workday… She went out with her friends on Friday night and sipped a stiff cocktail… Saturday night was pizza and beer with her fiancé… You get the idea. She never had more than one or two drinks each night, but all of those calories add up.

When it comes to alcohol’s effect on your health and weight loss, the picture can be pretty confusing. I mean, haven’t you heard that drinking a glass of red wine every day can lower your risk for diabetes and coronary heart disease?!

Newsflash — there is no solid, concrete evidence that any amount alcohol is good for your health!

Don’t worry; I’m not here to tell you never to drink again! Most of the research on alcohol’s potential health benefits includes large studies that are done over many years. This type of research never actually proves anything. Rather than showing that one thing causes another, this type of research simply shows a correlation between the two.

When Catherine and I added up the calories she had consumed within one week, strictly from her alcohol intake, it was over 2000 calories!!! That’s more than one day’s worth of food in calories!

More importantly, we noticed that some of her drinking had an emotional attachment to it. She drank a couple nights during the week because she had a rough day at work. The cocktails she had with girlfriends on Friday night helped her take the edge off because she was feeling stressed about her upcoming wedding. When Catherine and I came up with another healthy way for her to deal with these emotions, she immediately began to drink less. Again, I’m not saying don’t ever drink! Just drink because you genuinely enjoy it, as opposed of a way to deal with your emotions.

As you can see, all of the changes that Catherine implemented in her nutrition plan were small and manageable, yet led to MASSIVE results. She didn’t have to starve herself, or count out her exact grams of protein, or exercise three hours a day to begin shedding the weight. If you find yourself spending too much time and money in the gym without seeing the results you desire, click here to grab a free copy of my Weight Loss Guide that I used with Catherine. It’s amazing how quickly small, healthy habits can help you reach your goals!

Why Your $100/hour Personal Training Session Won’t Help You Lose Weight was originally published in Thrive Global on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.