Keep Losing Weight – 4 Tips To Keep You On The Straight And Narrow!

It’s not easy to lose weight. Look at all the things you must battle: hunger, genetics, lifestyle . . . and sometimes, the shame of your gut hanging out when you’re at the gym with all those hardbodies. Given all these obstacles, isn’t it true that the idea of giving up suddenly becomes reasonable? Don’t give in, though – check out these tips and keep your motivation pumped!

See Yourself as You Soon Will Be!

Lots of us were in great shape when we were younger – in high school, say, or in college. Is that your case? If that describes you, excellent! Find some old pictures of yourself and use them for inspiration. You’ll remember how it felt to have a fit, well-toned body, and how you were able to do so much with that body.

Those of us who weren’t really all that fit when we were younger can still see our new bodies. Your new body is going to take some time to make, so now, take a few minutes and really visualize it thoroughly. Don’t set unrealistic deadlines and goals. For instance, five pounds a week might be too much, but one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half pounds a week is reasonable and attainable.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

You’ll feel the depth of your commitment a little more if you have some “skin in the game.” Get yourself something new, some piece of clothing in the size you’re aiming for – something that’ll really highlight your new weight and make you look really good – and hang it where you’ll see it all the time, like in your bedroom. Nobody enjoys wasting money, and so these pants, or whatever they are, will be a constant reminder to you of your goal. Many people get a lot of mileage out of this particular motivational tip.

If You Want Something Done Right, Sometimes You Need To Get A Little Help . . .

Frankly, there are many tasks we need to do that if we’re left alone to do them, often won’t get done. Working out is one of them. If you have a buddy you regularly work out with, though, who depends on you for support the way you depend on him, it’s not nearly so easy to skip the workout, is it? It’s easier to live up to things like doing your workouts when there are others depending on you.

An accountability friend is another option. It’s a technique successful salespeople use in developing good habits. This is a technique that will make you feel very judged, especially at first. Every single day, before brushing your teeth, send your accountability friend a brief email, listing everything you ate that day. You need to be honest! Temptation can be resisted, but this is a simple and effective way to reinforce your willpower.

This is one of the most powerful weight-loss motivation tips you’ll ever run across.

Recognize Accomplishment – and then Get Back to Work!

Perhaps you regret that you’ve gotten so out of shape. I understand. A weight loss plan takes time, and for many it’s frequently unpleasant at times. There’s no reason it has to be constantly oppressive, though. If you’ve had a successful week with your weight loss program, give yourself a little treat in recognition of a job well done! You can have a special dessert to mark the occasion.

We grow up equating food with all sorts of good things – if you cut yourself off from the little rewards and treats, you’ll feel like you’re cutting yourself off from all the good things in life as well. Even worse, you might deliberately sabotage yourself. Letting an oppressive weight loss program make you miserable can be the worst thing that can happen to you, yet you can avoid it by permitting yourself a little indulgence once a week or so.

Many people have followed these motivating tips to help accomplish their weight loss goals. Keep in mind, though, that if you drop the ball, you can’t let yourself be consumed by guilt. Nobody’s perfect, and plenty of good people have messed up on a weight loss program. Just get over it and get back to work!

How to Lose 20 Pounds in a Month?

Many people are of the opinion that weight loss is a very simple and easy process and that also it takes up a lot of time. These are mere myths and the fact is that it is not a hard and lengthy procedure and one can lose 20 pounds in a month. It depends on the individual how he or she maintains the weight loss so that it is permanent and does not come back again.Here we will discuss a way which will help one to successfully lose weight and that also in a healthy way. As per the American College of Sports and Medicines one should not lose more than 2-3 pounds per week because this is the best level that the body can handle without any side effects. It is easy to achieve weight loss but it not healthy as one can lose the muscle mass and this implies the water content of the body reduces.The first step to lose weight is to follow an effective diet chart. One should consult a dietitian before making the chart as these people are qualified to advise as per the needs and the structure of the body. The best alternative to fat is protein. Protein is good as it does not add any weight to the body and helps in building the strength.

Day 145

Thoughts: What is health? Is it feeling good? Looking good? Just being alive? Who defines health?

We do…the mass population have come to an “agreement” that healthy means being skinny, trim, fit, energetic, eating ‘good’…. really its down to interpretation.

The way I can describe it is that I experience lightness, I feel graceful and at ease with my body and my self, comfortable, peaceful, love for myself and my body, I feel clean, pure, and ALIVE.

If you look at the what’s so of a person with cancer…the what’s so is that a person has a dis-ease in the body. To me health is the absence of dis-ease. Do you experience dis-ease?

So what’s a healthy diet? Well I’ve played with many different diets/lifetsyles like the one ‘I will never eat chocolate or lollies again’ hehe, I’ve tried the ‘On Sunday I can eat anything and as much as I want’ haha, the ‘I will start being really healthy on Monday’ and the ‘I will eat everything in moderation’ haha I have a retarded mind ;) . The thing with these lifestyles/diets is that they are to ones interpretations so I can alter my whats ‘moderation’ at anytime. It becomes thwarted. It wasn’t until the Earth Diet that I actually experienced health as I described above.

Some interesting Diets I researched…

The Earth Diet!
Hehe yes the one I created, eating only foods naturally provided from the Earth! So all fruits, vegetables, nuts, meats, AND you can eat as much as you want! How fun :)

The Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet is widely believed to be one of the most healthful ways to eat, yet much of what we know about it is based on studies of people living on the island of Crete in the 1950s, who in many respects lived lives very different from our own. Yes, they ate lots of olive oil and little meat. But they also did more physical labor. They fasted regularly. They ate a lot of wild greens — weeds. And, perhaps most important, they consumed far fewer total calories than we do.

Vegetarian
There are various types of vegetarian – Lacto vegetarian, Fruitarian vegetarian, Lacto-ovo-vegetarian, Living food diet vegetarian, Ovo-vegetarian, Pescovegetarian, and Semi-vegetarian. The majority of vegetarians are lacto-ovovegetarians, in other words, they do not eat animal-based foods, except for eggs, dairy, and honey. Several studies over the last few years have shown that vegetarians have a lower body weight, suffer less from diseases, and generally have a longer life expectancy than people who eat meat. Similarly, much of what we know about the health benefits of a vegetarian diet is based on studies of Seventh Day Adventists, who muddy the nutritional picture by drinking absolutely no alcohol and never smoking. These extraneous but unavoidable factors are called, aptly, “confounders.”

Weight Watchers
Weight Watchers is an international company that offers various dieting products and services to assist weight loss and maintenance. Founded in 1963 by Brooklyn homemaker Jean Nidetch, it now operates in about 30 countries around the world, generally under names that are local translations of “Weight Watchers”.The term weight-watcher, in the same sense, had circulated publicly for several years before the company was formed.Weight Watchers encourages members to select a goal weight that results in a body mass index generally accepted as healthy (18 to 24.9), although a member may also establish a goal weight outside of that range after providing a doctor’s note to that effect. In the United States, in order to join Weight Watchers, one must weigh at least 5 pounds (2.3 kg) more than the minimum weight for his or her height.

Vegan
Veganism is more of a way of life and a philosophy than a diet. A vegan does not eat anything that is animal based, including eggs, dairy, and honey. Vegans do not generally adopt veganism just for health reasons, but also for environmental and ethical/compassionate reasons. Vegans believe that modern intensive farming methods are bad for our environment and unsustainable in the long term. If all our food were plant based our environment would benefit, animals would suffer less, more food would be produced, and people would generally enjoy better physical and mental health, vegans say.

Raw Food
The Raw Food Diet, or Raw Foodism, involves consuming foods and drinks which are not processed, are completely plant-based, and ideally organic. Raw Foodists generally say that at least three-quarters of your food intake should consist of uncooked food. A significant number of raw foodists are also vegans – they do not eat or drink anything which is animal based. There are four main types of raw foodists: 1. Raw vegetarians. 2. Raw vegans. 3. Raw omnivores. 4. Raw carnivores.

The Atkins Diet
The Atkins diet, officially called the Atkins Nutritional Approach, is a low-carbohydrate diet created by Dr Robert Atkins. The Atkins Diet is a departure from the previously prevailing metabolic theories. Atkins said that there are important unrecognized factors in Western eating habits leading to obesity. Primarily, he believed that the main cause of obesity is eating refined carbohydrates, particularly sugar, flour, and high-fructose corn syrups. The Atkins Diet involves restriction of carbohydrates to more frequently switch the body’s metabolism from burning glucose as fuel to burning stored body fat. This process, called ketosis, begins when insulin levels are low; in normal humans, insulin is lowest when blood glucose levels are low (mostly before eating). Ketosis lipolysis occurs when some of the lipid stores in fat cells are transferred to the blood and are thereby used for energy. On the other hand, caloric carbohydrates (e.g., glucose or starch, the latter made of chains of glucose) impact the body by increasing blood sugar after consumption. [In the treatment of diabetes, blood sugar levels are used to determine a patient's daily insulin requirements.] Lastly, because of fiber’s low digestibility, it provides little or no food energy and does not significantly impact glucose and insulin levels.

The South Beach Diet
The South Beach Diet is relatively simple in principle. It replaces “bad carbs” and “bad fats” with “good carbs” and “good fats.” “Good carbs” vs “bad carbs”
According to Agatston, hunger cycles are triggered not by carbohydrates in general, but by carbohydrate-rich foods that the body digests quickly, creating a spike in blood sugar. Such foods include the heavily refined sugars and grains that make up a large part of the typical Western diet. The South Beach Diet eliminates these carbohydrate sources in favor of relatively unprocessed foods such as vegetables, beans, and whole grains.”Good fats” vs “bad fats” Given that South Beach Diet was designed by a cardiologist, it should be no surprise that it eliminates trans-fats and discourages saturated fats. Although foods rich in these “bad fats” do not contribute to the hunger cycle, they do contribute to LDL cholesterol and heart disease. The South Beach Diet replaces them with foods rich in unsaturated fats and omega-3 fatty acid which contribute to HDL cholesterol and provide other health benefits. Specifically, the diet excludes the fatty portions of red meat and poultry, replacing them with lean meats, nuts, and oily fish.

The Zone
The Zone Diet aims for a nutritional balance of 40% carbohydrates, 30% fats, and 30% protein each time we eat. The focus is also on controlling insulin levels, which result in more successful weight loss and body weight control. The Zone Diet encourages the consumption of good quality carbohydrates – unrefined carbohydrates, and fats, such as olive oil, avocado, and nuts.

Supplements
One last example: People who take supplements are healthier than the population at large, but their health probably has nothing whatsoever to do with the supplements they take — which recent studies have suggested are worthless. Supplement-takers are better-educated, more-affluent people who, almost by definition, take a greater-than-normal interest in personal health — confounding factors that probably account for their superior health.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_Watchers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atkins_diet

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/5847.php

www.nytimes.com

Challenges: There are so many diets/lifestyle out there it can be overwhelming, frustrating and confusing. Each person will find something that works for them. What works for me is eating everything and anything that nature provides. The low carb diet wouldn’t work as I love to eat potatoes and they are naturally provided by the Earth. And we are human beings who love to experience a HUGE variety of everything, places, people, food, emotions, experiences, music, lifestyles, and I believe the danger with sticking to one particular “diet” would be borrrring and be restricting.