The struggle to stay fit is the decades old battle. Driven to find solutions, people have put their bodies through all sorts of strange contortions, trying one new fangled diet after another, most of which ends in failure because we’re unable to do the simplest thing of all – take small steps!

Simply put we all may need to loose a pant-size and even tighten our belts when it comes to our own health. There are some easy solutions that we all can implement everyday to not only loose weight and keep it off, but overall improve our health.

Ten small steps towards becoming healthier and loosing that extra baggage…

1) Expect failure, but keep trying – when it comes to an exercise routine or a diet many of us are just too busy. We do not have time to really commit a few hours a week to exercise. That’s ok though, the more we try the more our success rates!

2) Don’t deny yourself - You can still eat the foods you love, just in moderation. If you make small steps towards eating healthier such as switching your white bread for a whole wheat or white potatoes for a more complex carbohydrate such as sweet potato, or simply adding more vegetables to your diet, eventually you won’t even feel as though your denying yourself those got-to-have pizza days! But sometimes you can’t escape these complex carbohydrates and that is why a white kidney bean extract supplement might be what you need for those emergencies. Studies have show that the extract of the white kidney bean block dietary starch from being absorbed by partially disabling the alpha amylase enzyme which is responsible for breaking down starches into sugars.

3) Weigh yourself often but don’t beat yourself up – The more you track your weight, the more you’ll see your progress! And if the weight is up, don’t beat yourself up, just learn to accept it and work towards losing it. People so often get depressed because they gain 1-2 pounds, when its just the body retaining water or creating body mass.

4) Find ways to add little bits of physical activity into your daily routine – You can start with parking your car farther away from the building you need to enter. Those extra steps can add up and help to shed extra weight! Also if your office policy allows it, use a Yoga ball as a desk chair. By using a Yoga ball, you are maintaining balance, it will help you improve your posture, and it will works your core muscles. At All Vitamins Plus, half the staff use Yoga Balls as their desk chairs!!!

7) Don’t Skip Breakfast – As most of you have heard time and time again, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. You wouldn’t hear it so much if there wasn’t some validity to it. This meal is so important because it jump starts your metabolism and can give you the energy that you’ll need throughout the remainder of the day.

Take a Multivitamin – A multivitamin is quite simply a pill with many vitamins in one. What vitamins and minerals are in it and what percent of the daily value it contains will depend on the brand and type of multivitamin you buy. Although many people believe they eat well, in fact they are missing out on the daily recommended vitamins and minerals needed to sustain a healthy and longer lasting life.

9) Sleep it off – You can improve the look of your skin and feel more energized by implementing this one step into a daily routine. The average adult should get about 7 hours of sleep per a night. If you’re having trouble, there are supplements or sleep aid such as melatonin that can help you get the amount of shut eye you need.

10) Laugh it off – did you know that happier people typically weigh less? When you laugh not only do you burn calories, but you produce serotonin and endorphins. Serotonin is a mood enhancer that your brain makes and sends signals to the rest of your body, and endorphins produce those “feel-good” vibes. When your mood is stable so is your life and everything in it! Did you know studies have shown that stress will make you gain fat in the middle core of your body, so laugh you fat away!