Saturday, May 27, 2006

20 Ways to Lose Weight

20 WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT

1. Take it one step at a time

Start by paying attention to what you eat. Cut back on fat and sweets and add more fruit and vegetables. After you have that under control, add exercise. If you hate to exercise try it for only 15 minutes a day at first, then a 1/2-hour. Keep in mind that while you are exercising you are burning calories and not eating. Also, it will be easier if you chose an activity that you enjoy.

2. Find a friend

It is always good to have support when you are trying to lose weight. Find a friend who wants to lose weight and compare notes, weigh-in together and maybe even have a contest.

3. Use weights

Working out weights will build muscle and raise your metabolism so you will burn more calories. Also, muscle takes up less space than fat so you will be smaller ( but probably weigh more).

4. Eat fewer carbs

Don't eat as much bread and pasta and you will see a difference.

5. Set a goal

Set a deadline to lose the weight and write it down. For example, ' By Dec 14/04 I will weigh 150 lbs or less'. Put it somewhere you will see it daily.

6. Give up soda

If you drink a soda or 2 a day you are adding empty calories. If you find it hard to stop
completely, cut back at first and drink water instead.

7. Grill or boil

Avoid fried meat, grill and use lots of spices. You will get used to it and probably enjoy it more.

8. Don't buy junk food

When you go shopping, don't go on an empty stomach and you will be less likely to buy junk food. Keep your home 'junk food free' so you won't be tempted to indulge.

9. Eat breakfast

Consume most of your calories early in the day and always eat breakfast. Don't eat after 8pm and
not only will you avoid those added calories but you will sleep better.

10. Give yourself a treat

When you tell yourself that you can't have something you want it more. Give yourself a treat once a day ( ie. half a cookie) and you won't feel you are missing out.

11. Use smaller plates

Trick yourself into believing that you are eating more by using a smaller plate.

12. Drink lots of water

Drink water when you are feeling hungry and you will get that 'full' feeling.

13. Don't eat everything on your plate

Many times we eat just because it's there. Pay attention to when you have had enough.

14. Eat five or six meals a day

Eating more frequently will keep you from getting too hungry.

15. Plan your workout sessions

Write your workout sessions in your journal or planner.

16. Stay away from fad diets

Fad diets don't work. If you lose weight fast chances are that you will gain it back ( and more)
just as fast. It takes time to put it on and time to take it off.

17. Do several workouts a day

While you are watching TV do crunches and leg lifts.

18. Measure your food

If you decide to have junk food for a snack - be sure to measure and control what you eat.

19. Keep pre-cut vegetables

...and ward off those cravings.

20. Create Good Habits

It is a known fact that when we do something twenty-one times it becomes a habit. Create good eating habits.

Sheila Dicks is a wardrobe and image consultant who teaches women
how to look slimmer by dressing to suit their body type. Visit her at
http://www.sheilasfashionsense.com to download a copy of her e-book
Image Makeovers and get How to Build a Wardrobe free.

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Thursday, May 25, 2006

The Secret Key to Weight Loss

Weight-loss is one of those things that most people consider at some time in their life. Trying to find the best diet or the most efficient type of exercise seems to be a never-ending job.

Initially it may seem that the desire to find the ideal weight loss program is all about looking good to others, this may be true but in reality it should be all about your own feelings of self worth and that relates to more than just your appearance.

I am not suggesting that you should not ask yourself how can I lose weight, I am suggesting that you should also ask yourself how can I find a sense of my inner well-being regardless of how my body looks.

If you are already on a diet and trying to lose weight it is probable that the desire for a feeling of self-worth is at the root of your desire to lose weight. If this is the case why not make it of equal importance to the attempt to lose weight, by being prepared to accept yourself as you are you will find it makes it easier to make progress with your diet.

Once you are able to accept yourself for what you are you will find that emotionally you will feel much better about yourself, this will help you to get the dieting and weight loss into perspective with the other parts of your life, so helping you to deal with the root issues underlying your feelings about your body size and shape.

It may be that you should obtain professional help in dealing with any emotional issues that arise while you are considering these matters, alternatively there are several good books and other resources that can help you develop this area.

As you will come to realise both the problem and the solution to the question of weight loss start and end with you. What I mean is the real situation is not how do you lose weight or what diet do you go on, the real problem is in your judgment of yourself.

Try to look at yourself in a new way, try to remove self judgment about your weight and image, relax and allow people to see you for what you are, once you are able to accept yourself you will find it easier to stick with any diet or weight loss program you choose to use.

In fact it may be that you decide you really like the person you are now and decided that you don't need to reduce weight at all!

For exciting new information about all aspects of Weight Loss and Diet visit http://www.weightlossdietexpert.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_Overanout

Weight Loss - 10 Ways To Cut Calories

1. Use fruit purees instead of butter

2. Eat cheese but get rid of the fat

3. Don’t exercise before meals

4. Eating in front of the TV is bad for you

5. Always have a breakfast

6. Fructose is better than glucose

7. Bad fats are not good for you

8. Use skim milk rather than whole

9. Don’t have more than four egg yolks a week

10. Before cooking, trim all the fat from meat

Substitute Fruit Purees Instead of Butter

If when eating mashed potatoes, adding fruit puree instead of butter, will cut down the calories and give your mashed potatoes a different but pleasant flavour.

Eat Cheese But Discard The Fat

Cheese is good for you; it’s full of calcium. But it is also full of fat.

Get rid of the fat by putting the cheese into the microwave for about 10 seconds, then drain off the fat and grease. (Be careful not to leave it in the microwave too long, unless you want Welsh Rarebit). Or alternatively, you could buy a cheese that has less fat in it.

Don’t Exercise Before Meals

If you exercise before meals you are just making yourself hungrier as you are burning the fat. So to satiate your hunger, you will eat more. A better idea is to exercise after eating. Then your body has to work harder to digest the food. WARNING: Don’t exercise immediately after a meal, or you will make yourself sick. Exercise an hour after eating.

Eating While Watching The TV Is Bad For You

You can so easily overeat. The programme you are watching may be so exciting and you are engrossed in it, you won’t be aware of what you are eating.

Always Eat A Breakfast

Breakfast is the first meal of the day. The word Breakfast = Break Fast. You probably have had nothing to eat since supper the night before. So you are Breaking The Fast.

Your body will burn more calories if you eat breakfast.

Fructose is Better Than Glucose

Drinking Water With Fructose (Fruit Juices) rather than Glucose, will act as an appetite suppressant. Drinking a glass of orange juice an hour before eating will take the edge off your appetite.

Bad Fats Are Not Good For You

Bad fats are Trans Fatty Acids. Many margarines are Trans Fat. Butter is not.

When cooking use cooking oil instead.

Read the labels on the food you buy. If you see the words Hydrogenated Oils run a mile as this means it contains Trans Fatty Acids. As a bonus, running that mile will use up some calories.

Use Skim Milk Rather Than Whole

Drinking Whole Milk means you are drinking the cream and this of course is extra calories. Switching to Skim Milk will still give you all the goodness of milk, without the fat.

Don’t Have More Than Four Egg Yolks A Week

Do you remember the Advert on TV ‘Go To Work On An Egg’ personally I think you’d be more comfortable on the bus, but there is no accounting for taste.

Seriously, the white of an egg (the Albumen) is full of the wrong kinds of fat. So better to have the yellow part of the egg (the Yolk) and then only a maximum of four times a week.

Before Cooking Trim All The Fat From The Meat

If you love your meat, by trimming all the fat off it before cooking will cut down your calories intake dramatically. Or alternatively, eat skinless chicken or fish.

Copyright 2006 Eva Moffat

Eva Moffat has helped many people with their Weight Loss problems over the years. Now it is your turn to be helped. For more of Eva’s practical help, visit Eva’s Weight Loss Site
http://www.weight-loss-4-you.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eva_Moffat

Sunday, May 21, 2006

What Are You Eating?

What are you eating? High fattening foods (even only once a day) can destroy any weight loss that may have occurred during your low fat eating. Fast foods, fried foods, foods and sodas high in sugar are detrimental to weight loss- Avoid them! Even if you only eat these kinds of foods once a day, they can really hinder weight loss efforts. Try to eat well-balanced meals with protein, carbohydrates and a small amount of fats. One good example would be: 1) Protein- a chicken breast or fillet of fish, 2) Carbohydrates/Fat- a small salad with vinegar and olive oil (the oil will be your fat for the meal) 3) Carbohydrates- a small baked potato or a serving of rice (either should be plain- no butter!).Meal Replacement Powders (MRP) such as Met-Rx, MyoPlex, Atkins Shakes, Balance 40-30-30, Ultramet or Complete Protein Diet are excellent fast meals, or snacks, that are effective when added to your eating plan. (All of which are carried by MaxLabs). MRP’s are an excellent way to get a high protein, low calorie meal into your diet once or twice a day. This will keep you from eating fattening foods that hinder weight loss. (Plus these products yield many vitamins and minerals).

I eat low fat foods at the restaurants I visit. Why is this bad? An example of how normal food is bad, bad, bad!

You proceed to your favorite restaurant for: a salad with dressing, no fat pasta with sauce, a cola, and some bread! First, the dressing from the salad is usually 100% fat so there is 15 grams of fat. Second, the pasta is easily stored as fat because it is a starchy carbohydrate. (Starchy carbohydrates are easily stored as fat unless you are on a serious exercise program). Should we mention the sauce that was on the pasta (mostly fat as well- lets store that on the hips!)? The bread well, you guessed it, high-glycemic foods such as this are hard to burn off too! That cola you drank (depending on the size) had anywhere from 40 grams to 100 grams of sugar (which almost always turns to fat if not burned off with exercise). Did you have refills? CONCLUSION: You can see how what most people view as eating low fat, can be detrimental to a diet!

When are you eating? Do you eat more at night or during the day? If you eat at night right before bed, you have a greater tendency to store that food as fat! Try to eat your biggest meal at breakfast, a medium meal at lunch and a light dinner. Drink MRP’s in between meals or as meals by themselves. Try not to eat within 3 hours of the time you go to bed. The metabolic process slows down drastically when we rest. If there is food in our stomach that has not been fully digested by the time we go to bed, there is a strong possibility that food will be stored as fat!This means that all the hard work you did during the day may be negated by storage of fat at night!

Are you skipping meals?If you skip any meals, you have a great chance of storing your next meal as fat. People who do not eat very often, "train" their bodies to believe it will not be eating for a while. Therefore, the body stores everything we give it for its future energy needs. In other words, the body stores much of what we eat as- .you guessed it, FAT! Do not put your body in a "starvation mode"; eat 3-5 very small (almost snacking) meals a day! This will boost your metabolism and allow your body to better burn off the things you eat.

Here is an example:

You get up in the morning get ready for work and rush out the door without eating breakfast. A hectic day leads to a late lunch at 12:30. You eat what you believe is a low fat, well-balanced meal. Now think about this, you have not eaten anything for around 18 hours (since dinner the night before). 18 hours, that’s huge! And, believe me, your body knows this! So when you do eat, even if you do eat low fat, your body is going to store everything you eat, because you have trained it to know that there is a strong possibility it will not be refueled again for another 18 hours.

Another thing to consider is that our bodies can only digest so much food at a time. Consider this: person A is eating 1500 calories a day and person B is also eating 1500 calories a day. Both person A and person B have the approximately the same body structures and chemical make-up. Person A eats 5 meals consisting of 300 calories per meal and person B eats 3 meals at 500 calories per meal. Person B puts a lot of stress on his body because his body has a hard time digesting 500 calories at a time while person A’s body has no problem digesting 300 calories at a time. For this reason, person B can’t lose weight while person A does lose weight by eating the exact same amount of
calories. The reason for this is person B usually stores a little of each meal as fat because his body just can’t handle digesting 500 calories at a time.[500 & 300 calories were just examples used for simplicity]

Are you exercising? This obviously has a great impact on weight loss. The more you exercise, the greater your metabolism is boosted! Also, what type of exercise are you doing? The best is to get 3 days of aerobic-type exercise (30-45 minutes per session) and then to get 3 days of weight lifting. Most women (and some men) do not want to lift weights because they don’t want to look big and bulky. But getting big is very, very tough to do. With exercise, most people will end up just looking lean (this is good). The bottom line is that weight lifting is one of the absolute best ways to boost your metabolism and get your body to burn calories. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE! Plus, the more muscle you add to your body, the more calories you burn just sitting still. This is because one pound of muscle burns more calories than one pound of fat.

Are you drinking lots of water? This aspect of weight loss is often under-looked. Drinking water is very, very important to weight loss. Many people are under the impressions that they "retain water" and this is the reason they are overweight. RUBBISH! Water is a major contributing factor in aiding the weight loss battle. Drinking plenty of water is a vital component for weight loss.

How much weight are you trying to lose? The less weight you are trying to lose, the harder it may be. For example, if you are only trying to lose 5-15 pounds, every little thing you do will matter more to you than to someone who is trying to lose 50-100 pounds. As we get closer and closer to our ‘ideal’ weight, our body tries very hard to hold on to those pounds. Now this doesn't mean we should take it easy if 50-100 pounds is your weight loss goal. It just means that usually the last pounds are harder to bring off than the first ones.

These are just a few of the topics you should look into, and obviously, these things vary from individual to individual. I also recommend for you to get a good multi-vitamin or antioxidant. The healthier your body is, the more efficiently it will get rid of those excess pounds. Also, educate yourself. There are about 10-15 very good health/fitness magazines out there to keep you well informed about fat loss, burning of calories, exercise programs and descriptions of what/when/why to eat.So learn, learn, learn, and as you build your knowledge base you will begin listening to your body and watching for signs that tell you "This works" or "This does not work".

Many people have a hard time losing weight, and this too is natural. It is the natural tendency of your body to hold on to extra calories and fat for future energy use. You have to shock it into losing. Thermogenic products like Max Ten, Max Fifty or Max Sports Fuel help significantly, but sometimes it takes that extra effort (the extra mile, the extra workout, one less soda a day) to get yourself moving in the right direction.

Loren Bailey is the webmaster and content advisor for MaxLabs.com, HighFiberFoods.net and other health related web sites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Loren_Bailey