Lose Weight For The Summer

Being overweight in the summer heat is no fun. And exposing a fat stomach or fat thighs isn’t exactly pleasant when everyone else around you is wearing gnat-sized beachwear and drizzling oil onto wasp-like abdomens. In fact, for people carrying excess weight, summer can be an unpleasant trial involving countless opportunities for embarassment and discomfort. So let’s take a look at how you can reduce some of your fat and make next summer a happier experience. But first, a warning.

Summer Weight Loss Trap

One guaranteed way to fail is to look for a “short cut” weight loss method or diet. You know what I mean: the type of program that promises “a fast effortless way to reduce weight”. In my experience, none of these diets or pills actually work, and the medical evidence is quite clear: the maximum rate of sustainable fat loss is between 1 and 2 pounds per week, perhaps a little more if you are obese. Besides, if a brilliant scientist did manage to concoct a formula for rapid effortless weight reduction, overnight he would be more famous than Einstein. He certainly wouldn’t be peddling his program in 30-second TV infommercials or mail-order advertisements. So for the sake of your sanity as well as your financial health, don’t waste time on weight loss methods that make extravagant claims. If you don’t believe this, think of any of your overweight friends who favor the short-term “lose 20 pounds in two weeks” type of approach, and ask yourself why they are still overweight.

Three Month Summer Diet Plan

You can’t lose much weight in a week or two. You need about three months to make a significant impact on your body shape. Remember, the human body is interested in survival, not cosmetic appearances, and since rapid weight loss is a prima facie symptom of disease not good health, the only guaranteed way to improve your body shape is to adopt a gradual approach of healthy eating and increased exercise. In three months, you can lose about 26 pounds – more than enough for most overweight people to experience noticeable health improvements as well as a much leaner body. And by reducing your weight gradually in this manner, you have far less chance of weight regain, so if necessary you can continue losing more with less danger of incurring a weight loss plateau or other obstacle.

You Need A Motive

No one likes to change their habits. So if you want to change your eating and exercise habits, you need a strong motive – something to keep you dieting and exercising when boredom sets in. Whatever motive you choose, it must be something more powerful than the urge to eat tasty high calorie foods in front of the TV!

A Good Motive For Summer Weight Loss

Anything that commits you in advance to achieving your weight loss goal, makes a great motive. So be bold. Book an expensive beach holiday, or buy some gorgeous clothes to fit the body you want to have at the end of your diet program. Both these actions require you to succeed, and therefore provide constant motivation along the way.

Men And Celebrities Have Better Motivation

In my experience, both with private clients as well as dieters who belong to my weight loss forum, men and celebrities exhibit the strongest motivation. Men, I suspect, because typically they have a narrower range of daily tasks and responsibilities than women. Celebrities, because typically they have a powerful commercial motivation to maintain their physical appearance. I offer weight loss help to a number of celebrity figures, some of whom are regulars on my forum, and I am always impressed with their ability to make short-term sacrifices to further their longer term goals. I guess that’s why they achieve so much.

Be Positive About Short Term Sacrifices

Whether you’re trying to lose weight for the summer, save money or pass exams, an important piece of the motivational jigsaw is your ability to be positive about making short term sacrifices. The choice is fairly simple: you can focus on the “deprivation” involved in giving up certain foods, or you can focus on the benefits you will get by not eating these foods. Sadly, many dieters focus on feeling deprived. After a while they see their diet as a burden, a bore, an evil necessity. This is why so many of them quit. They can’t “see” the benefits that weight loss will bring them. If you want to improve your body shape for the summer, you must avoid this trap and appreciate the longer term benefits you will receive by making short-term adjustments to your lifestyle.

The Good News About Improving Your Diet

Many of our tastes, food cravings, and general attitudes to food are strongly influenced by what we eat and drink. I know countless mothers with families who have reported astonishing changes in their personal and family eating habits after less than three weeks of improved eating. Point is, the average modern diet is loaded with sugar, fat and sodium, all of which condition us to want more of these items. But if you can break out of this dependence on junk-ingredients for even 2-3 weeks, you’ll notice a huge difference in your tastes. Which brings me to healthy eating.

Think Healthy Eating Not Weight Loss

In my experience, one of the most effective weight loss strategies is to focus on healthy eating. I’m not saying you shouldn’t stand on your weighing scales, just don’t measure progress exclusively by what the scales say. Be aware that it’s just as important to enjoy your food and feel good about your change of eating habits. And any diet you hate is guaranteed to fail, no matter how much weight you lose, because as soon as you achieve your goal, you will revert to your old eating habits and regain every pound lost.

The Top 10 Healthy Eating Habits

In a nutshell, a healthy diet involves (1) More home-cooked food, less eating out. (2) More fresh fruit as snacks. (3) More fresh vegetables as snacks and with meals. (4) More beans as sides or in stews. (5) More dense chewy bread, less refined white breads and bread snacks. (6) More fish, skinless chicken/turkey, less red meat. (7) Smaller servings of red meat, larger servings of vegetables. (8) Eating low fat dairy foods. (9) Adding less fat in the form of butter, mayo, sour cream, to the food on your plate. This is a huge source of excessive calories. (10) Stocking up with healthy snack foods to keep hunger at bay. If you fill up with healthy nutritious calories, you won’t want the junk foods that hunger makes you eat. As far as weight management goes, hunger remains Public Enemy Number One.

Exercise Provides Wonderful Indirect Benefits

Exercise does burn extra calories and therefore does help to widen your calorie deficit. But it’s direct effect on weight loss is typically quite small. In fact, it’s not uncommon to gain weight when you start exercising. The real weight reduction benefits of exercise are indirect ones. It raises our metabolic rate, helping us to burn calories at a slightly faster rate, and improves our mood, which typically reduces our need for comfort-eating. However, don’t overdo your exercise workouts. I’ve lost count of the number of dieters who started exercising too vigorously and burnt out within 3 weeks. Ideally, start with 45 minutes/day of any physical activity you can easily manage, and very gradually increase the duration and intensity. Listen to your body at all times, and be sure to loosen up beforehand and wind down afterwards.

See Yourself As You Want To Be

If your goal is a waistline you can proudly display in the sun, then don’t wait until it happens to “see” it. Visualize it from the moment you start dieting. Visualize yourself walking along a beach, or lying next to the pool with a perfectly flat stomach. Whatever your ambition for your weight or body, get used to visualizing it in the greatest possible detail. Because “seeing it” is the first step to making it come true. As they say, one picture is worth a thousand words.

Very Overweight? Just Visualize The Benefits!

If you have a lot of weight to lose (100 pounds+), you may not think that losing 26 pounds in three months is particularly worthwhile. If so, ask yourself this question. What’s the alternative? No matter what method you choose, you won’t lose weight any faster, so it’s only a question of when you start and how long it’s going to take. I can answer the last question right now. Losing 100 pounds takes about a year – typically a little longer to allow for disasters along the way. Fifteen months would be a more realistic time span to reduce weight by this amount. This is nothing. Just visualize yourself walking down the street 100 pounds lighter, and tell me that eating healthily for 15 months is too high a price to pay for such a wonderful prospect.

Your First Priority – Get Support

If you really want to lose weight for the summer, your first priority is to find support. Join a diet-group at work, or a fitness class, or go to weight loss meetings. Or join an online forum. Losing weight on your own is perfectly possible, providing things go well and your scales keep saying nice things. But when difficulties arise, as they surely will, having the support of real people can make all the difference between success and failure. If you experience difficulty finding support, try my own weight loss forum. It’s great fun and very inspirational.

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Lose Weight Or Lose 13 Years!

We hear it all the timelose weight for your health. Few people however, realize the extent to which this is critical to their physical well-being and ultimately their life expectancy.

In January 2003, the Journal of the American Medical Association featured a study finding that obesity appears to lessen life expectancy, especially among young adults. The study showed an obese 20-year-old white male, (5’10″)178cm and weighing (288 pounds) 130kg was estimated to lose 13 years of his life as a result of obesity.

It is now well research that a Western diet that leads to obesity may actually act to stimulate the growth of cancer cells. It is never too late to improve your health through healthful eating and adopting a more health-giving lifestyle. Here are simple steps to follow which can make an immediate improvement to your health and vitality.

1. Check to see if you are overweight or obese.

To find out your BMI you need to divide your weight (measured in kilos) by your height (measured in metres) squared. If the result is greater than 25, your health may be improved by losing weight.

2. Match your diet to your bodys requirements.

If you eat and drink more calories than your body requires you will put on weight. Learn to control calories and portion sizes, make recipes leaner, and eat infrequently from fast food restaurants. Also learn how to snack with healthful choices.

3. Colour your diet with a large variety of colorful, cancer-fighting fruit and vegetables.

There are seven different color ranges of both fruit and vegetables and by choosing between 5 to 9 daily serves from a wide range of fruit and vegetables, we are extending our consumption of cancer (and other disease) fighting nutrients.

4. Eat lean protein with every meal.

Protein provides a powerful signal to the brain providing a longer sense of fullness. The right source of protein is essential to controlling your hunger with fewer calories and necessary to maintain your lean muscle mass. Choices of protein should be flavored soy shakes with fruit; the white meat of chicken and turkey, seafood such as shrimps, prawns scallops and lobster and ocean fish or vegetarians may prefer soy based meat substitutes.

5. Rev up your metabolism with activity.

If you want to enjoy a lifetime of well being, exercise is a key ingredient. Thirty minutes activity each day that takes as much effort as a brisk walk is recommended for adults. Children should be active for an hour each day.

6. Get support to ensure you develop a healthful eating plan and reach your goal weight.

A study, Effects of Internet Behavioral Counseling on Weight Loss in Adults at Risk of Type 2 Diabetes shows that participants who had the support of weight loss coaching lost more weight than those who didnt. The study concluded that the support of a weight loss coach can significantly improve weight loss results.

Being overweight or obese has been identified next to smoking, as the most preventable major risk to developing cancer. Even small weight losses have been shown to have beneficial health effects. So its never to late to start and you can never be too young or too old to be concerned about your health and do something about achieving a more healthy weight.

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Losing Weight – The Facts

We all want to lose a few pounds and look great, especially through those summer months but the average person does not succeed in keeping those pounds off, if they lose the weight at all. The reason for this is that many people follow the latest “celebrity” diets which are good for quick weight loss but are not good for your health or for keeping the weight off.

It is scientifically proven that if you follow a diet where you lose to much weight to quickly then you are starving your body of certain nutrients it needs, when you start moving towards eating a normal diet your body will automatically store these nutrients within the body in case this should happen again.

If you want to lose weight there are some golden rules you need to follow

* Eat 3 meals a day

* Eat less

* Eat healthy

* Eat from all the food groups (Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat)

* Exercise

What we want to achieve is to still eat 3 meals a day, just in smaller quantites and with healthier food. Within the 3 meals we still need all the different food groups for our body to function correctly so we still need our protein, carbohydrates and our fats. Another important factor for losing weight is exercise, I don’t mean running a marathon, but if you can spare 20 or 30 minutes a day for a walk or a light jog you will certainly feel the benefits.

If you want to lose the weight quickly then it will only last short term, if you set your goals and take your time losing the weight correctly then you will see the benefits for a long time to come. Losig weight is not just about physical looks, it’s about mental well being and your future health.

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Losing weight is all about what you gain

Many people have thought about losing weight over the years, but often seem to fall short of an actual attempt to do it. The reason why so many people think about it so much is because deep down, they know that having that extra poundage is not at all good for them. The problem is, just knowing that being overweight is bad is not enough to really push many people to do something about it. Much like wanting to quit smoking, knowing it is bad for you dont induce people to quit doing it. However, if you were to find some really good reasons to quit smoking, like your doctor told you if you dont quit, you will lose a lung next year, that might make you act and just do it.

Well, losing weight is just like quitting smoking, the more good reasons you have to do it, the more likely you are to act on it and make it happen. If you have something driving your motivation aside from just knowing it is bad for you, you are also more likely to maintain your weight loss goal once you reach it.

First and foremost, losing weight means getting healthier. When you lose those extra pounds you greatly reduce the risk or heart disease, stroke, cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and joint stress, all conditions associated with being overweight. When you reduce these risks, it means you can have a much better chance of being around to see your children grow up and being around to enjoy your grandchildren. That alone is reason enough to get that weight down.

Another reason you might want to consider for losing weight is that you will feel better. As you begin to lose some of those extra pounds, you will start to notice your energy levels increasing. Being overweight by 20 pounds is like putting a 20 pound sack of potatoes on your shoulders all day. Extra body fat is nothing more than an extra burden to carry around with you everyday, so the extra weight drains your energy. For this reason, overweight people tend to be less active and this promotes more fat to collect up on them. As this continues, they become even less active and so this becomes a vicious cycle leading to obesity.

As a nice little side benefit, losing weight will make you look better, and who doesnt want to look better? Each and every one of us has a vision of what we want to look like. Most people are not completely satisfied with the way they look. They will always find something they dont like about themselves and wish they could change and for people who are overweight; this can be a great motivator to lose weight. A recent study done concluded that as early as age 5, girls who had higher body weights had lower self esteem than girls with normal body weight.

When a person loses weight, what are almost always the responses of other people who know that person? You hear things like; you look good; youve lost weight havent you? And think about how you would feel when youve lost enough weight to be able to fit into that dress or that pair of pants you wore back in high school. Now keep in mind, looking better is a great reason to lose weight but it should not be the only one.

When you have at least a few good, valid reasons to want to lose weight, it will be a lot easier to motivate yourself to get started and stay with it. Lets face it, your health, well being and self esteem are very good reasons to get rid of those extra pounds and keep them off for good.

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Losing Weight Is As Easy As 1,2,3,4 with Dr. Fitness

Losing Weight Is As Easy As 1,2,3,4 with Dr. Fitness and the Fat Guy

This week’s four tips include suggestions in each of the four elements you need to work on in order to achieve your health, fitness, wellness and weight loss goals: (eating right, exercise, support and accountability).

1. Good Eating Tip

Next time you order pizza for yourself or your kids ask for half the cheese. Youll barely notice any taste loss. But what you will lose is tons of calories and a whole lot of grams of saturated fats. Pizzas doesnt have to be left off weekly menu anymore.

2. Making Exercise Safe and Fun

In order to lose weight you have to become more active. Most people do anything to avoid moving their bodies. And society is an accomplice. You can pick up food, a prescription, your clothes and your kid without leaving your car. In President Bushs new Healthier US initiative (http://www.healthierus.gov) he suggests walking for 30 minutes each day. Even if you have to break it up into 10-15 minute chunks. Not only will you burn 200-300 calories, you can walk with your family and increase your quality time as well. Move family time away from the TV and onto the street.

3. Maintaining Your Support System

If youre the type of person who feels guilty about things, great news. You can use that emotion to help you lose weight. Heres how. Exercise with a partner. But before you start make a pact that you will not let the other person down and you will pick them up should they start losing interest. Its much easier to let yourself down then another person. You wont do it, because youll feel guilty if you do.

4. Accountability Tools

A food diary is a great way to keep track of what you eating and when. Keep track of what you consume on an hourly basis throughout the day. If you do this for 2 weeks you will see exactly where those extra calories (and thereby those extra pounds) are coming from. Also, dont forget to keep track of what youre drinking.

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Losing Weight One Pound at a Time!

Over two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese. Thats quite a high percentage of adults who have a need to shed a little or a lot of fat! The only way to do this is one pound at a time!

Many overweight individuals wish and hope for a quick cure to their weight problems. Theyll try anything that promises instant results! Unfortunately, these miracle weight loss products are scams! They may help a person shed some water weight, initially. But, the fat isnt going anywhere without a little effort on that persons part!

For those of you who have tried weight loss diets or are thinking about trying one, consider all the dieters who have tried the same diets and failed. The number one reason for permanent weight loss failure is the inability to stick with the diet!

Many individuals become yo-yo dieters. They try one diet for awhile, lose a few pounds, quit the diet, gain back the weight (and then some), and move on to another diet. The process is repeated. With each new attempt, there is often more weight to lose than there was initially!

Successful Weight Loss Strategies

If you want to lose weight successfully, you must realize, first, that there are no miracle diets or products that will blast away the fat! You didnt gain the weight overnight! You arent going to lose it overnight, either! You will have to put forth effort to lose the fat, one pound at a time! Even after youve shed those extra pounds, you will have to continue to work at controlling your weight, if you wish to keep the fat off!

In an article on Consumer Reports.org which rates various popular diets, Cathy Nonas, R.D., M.S., (an obesity researcher at North General Hospital in New York) states, The best diet is the one you can stay on. Consumer Reports goes on to say that adherence is importantTo maintain lost weight, dieters must permanently reduce their calorie intake, because they will need fewer calories to fuel their now-smaller body.

Fad diets typically fail in the end. From my own personal experience, I have found that eating sensibly works best! If you want to lose weight (one pound at a time), keep it off, and feel good, too, why not try cutting down on the empty calories found in most American diets? Eat more raw vegetables and fruits and whole grains. Go easy on the fats and processed sugary or salty snacks. Limit yourself to smaller portions and avoid having second helpings. This type of diet is one that you CAN stick with and live with for the rest of your life!

Yes, youll have to make a few lifestyle changes, and youll have to work on being more disciplined in your eating habits. But, in the end, it will be worth it! Youll look better! Youll feel better! Your confidence will return, and youll believe that there isnt anything that you cannot do!

Wouldnt it be worth giving up that 44-ounce Coke and that huge order of greasy French fries for a healthier, happier you? If you simply cant do without a few French fries and a Coke now and then, go ahead and treat yourself to a small serving. Cut back on calories somewhere else that day. Occasionally, its okay to indulge. But, if you seriously want to shed the extra fat and keep it off, be conscious about everything you put into your mouth. Youll lose that weight, a pound at a time!

Note: Before beginning any weight loss program, be sure to check with your medical professional.

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Losing Weight the Healthy Way is the Best Way

Almost 108 million Americans were overweight or obese in 1999. Until now, obesity continues to be a serious problem and is predicted to reach epidemic levels by the year 2020.

One way to prevent this scenario is to make people aware of the risks of being overweight or obese.

Here are some diseases that you are putting yourself in risk of if you are carrying a lot of extra pounds:

1. heart disease

2. stroke

3. diabetes

4. cancer

5. arthritis

6. hypertension

Losing weight helps to prevent and control these diseases.

The quick weight loss methods which have spread like fire these days do not provide lasting results. More often than not, dieting methods which involve dietary drinks, foods and supplement or pills do not work. If they do, the results are just temporary.

It is better to rely on a healthy weight loss option which will provide lifetime results. You have to set realistic goals and not expect to lose a lot of pounds in a short span of time.

Here are some tips on how you can lose those unwanted pounds the healthy way:

1. Do not starve your self.

The key to a healthier way of losing weight is: Do not diet.

You may seem happy and feel that you are losing those unwanted flabs on your belly and thighs by skipping meals. But remember that this would not last long. Your body cannot tolerate having insufficient food to fuel the energy that you use up everyday.

If you get used to skipping one or two meals a day, your stored calories will be used up instead of the energy that should have been provided by your meals. So if you just eat one huge sandwich in one day, it will end up straight to your problem area (i.e. highs, buttocks, hips).

2. Start your day right.

Mothers always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Have a healthy meal in the morning to jump-start your metabolism.

Your food intake after you wake up will be used to burn fat all day long.

3. Eat small, healthy meals frequently.

Five small-serving snacks per day is better than three hearty meals. Eating more frequently, and in small servings, can prevent over-eating. This will also increase your metabolism and make calories burn faster.

4. Decide on how much weight you want to lose.

Keep your goals realistic. In the long run, it is virtually impossible for you to lose 40 pounds in 2 weeks. Have a mindset that you want to eat healthy to stay healthy for the rest of your life.

Once you have decided on a weight loss plan or program, stick to it and make sure that you follow your own set of dieting rules.

5. Drink lots of water.

Your body needs sufficient water to burn fat and keep your cells hydrated and healthy.

6. Avoid too much sugar.

Plan your meals around lots of fruits and vegetables, some bread, rice or pasta for that carbo fix that you need, plus lean meat and protein rich-foods. Sweets, sodas and pastries should be once-in-a-while indulgences only.

7. Watch your fat intake.

Fat is not the culprit to being overweight. You need this to keep your weight at the proper level.

There is such a thing as healthy fats. Olive, peanuts and canola oil have them. Tuna, salmon and mackerel have omega-3 fats which is good for the heart.

8. Exercise.

Leave your car if you are only going a few blocks from home, take the stairs instead of the elevator, jog, cycle or skate. Use these activites and other home chores if you are too lazy to go to the gym and take exercise classes. Make sure that you do this regularly and you will not even notice that you are already shedding pounds with these mundane activities.

It does not matter how much weight you plan or need to lose. What is important is that you set realistic goals for yourself.

Go slow. If you have already lost 5 or 6 pounds, give yourself a break then try to lose the next 5 pounds.

Eat healthy, drink lots of water, have enough sleep and exercise. This will give you a higher chance of losing weight and improving your health, which would result to a new, healthier you.

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