Weight Loss for Life
Lose Weight And Keep It Off For Good
The Strategies That Really Work!
Beginner’s Fitness Programs
Introduction To Weight Loss Revelations
AA Approach to Healthy Diet
I’m Not Ready for a Change
I’m Thinking About Making a Change…Later
I’m Ready to Get Started
I’m Changing My Diet and I’m Committed
I’ve Made Changes…And I’m Sticking To Them!
I Was Doing So Well…What Happened?
Making Changes That Last
Today Is the First Step to Your Better Life
Why do you want to lose weight?
Seven Amazing Benefits of Losing Weight
Listen To Your Body
Food For Fuel
The Food Pyramid
Your Power Foods
Moderation Is The Key
Power Weight Loss Tips
Quick Exercise Strategies
Walk More
Television Workouts
Office Workouts
Maintaining Your Weight
Twelve Strategies to Weight Loss
Weight Loss Strategy #1 Embracing a Positive Mindset
Weight Loss Strategy #2 Goal Setting
Weight Loss Strategy #3 Making Weight Loss Fun
Weight Loss Strategy #4 Tasting the World
Weight Loss Strategy # 5 Aerobic Exercise
Weight Loss Strategy # 6 Weight Bearing Exercise & Flexibility
Weight Loss Strategy # 7 Healthy Meals
Weight Loss Strategy # 8 Supportive Environment
Weight Loss Strategy # 9 Technology Delivers
Weight Loss Strategy # 10 Preparedness
Weight Loss Strategy # 11Celebrating Your Successes and Accepting Your Setbacks
Weight Loss Strategy # 12 Meditation/Journaling
Conclusion
Appendix: Fast Food — The Addiction
The Health Hazards of Fast Food Addiction: What Your Body Is Going Through.
Break The Addiction: Tips On Recovering From Eating Excessive Fast Foods
This info-media is prepared by Beginner’s Fitness Programs which provides useful information to people who want to start healthy life style.
Weight Loss for Life
Introduction To Weight Loss Revelations
We tried to lose weight for many years unsuccessfully. We can’t even count how many diets we tried,
and all of them failed for one reason or another.
That’s not to say we didn’t lose weight. There were a few programs that actually helped us to shed a few pounds, but because of how complicated and restricted the programs were, we always fell off the weight
loss wagon, and gained all of my weight back – plus some.
I’m sure you’ve been there, trying your hardest to lose weight and willing to do just about anything to
reach your goals only to struggle to either lose the weight or come all that way, only to struggle to keep it off.
The majority of diet plans make it hard on us, because unless we have the self-discipline to closely follow and monitor a specific routine, we will ultimately lose our way, out of frustration, confusion or simply being overwhelmed.
And if we had the discipline needed, we wouldn’t be overweight in the first place!
Throughout the years, we have tried most of the popular weight loss programs on the market, including:
The Atkins Diet – I got tired of meat very quickly.
The low fat diet – I actually gained weight with this one!
The low calorie diet – I was always hungry, and tired.
The cabbage soup diet – I got bored quickly.
The negative calorie diet – Very difficult to follow and maintain.
The grapefruit diet – Impossible to stay on track!
Weight Watchers – Frustrating counting points!
Jenny Craig – Too costly, and complicated.
Slim Fast – I was always hungry and tired.
NutriSystem – While I lost some weight, it was expensive to maintain.
There were countless other programs that we suffered through, desperately hoping that one would work.
Just one… One magic system.
But nothing gave me a long term system that we could stick to, and we was close to giving up, resolving
to the idea that we would always be overweight and that there was little we could do about it.
Sure, some of these programs would point us in the right direction, but we always ended up so confused
with counting calories, or worrying about the “right” foods to eat that we would get so overwhelmed that the EASY thing to do was just give up. And we did. Many, many times.
But we were wrong in the way that we were approaching our weight loss goal and in many cases, we
were making things harder than they really had to be.
We CAN make changes that WILL produce results, and we CAN follow a system that WILL be easy to
stick to, and best of all, we can still lose weight despite our lifestyles, or how busy our daily lives are.
What would you say if I told you that you could start losing weight without restricting yourself to bland foods that you absolutely dislike, or without having to spend more than 20 minutes a day working out and being active?
It’s true! By simplifying our weight loss plan down to the basic elements of what really works in terms of losing and maintaining a healthy weight, we can eliminate any chance of sabotaging ourselves or ending
up confused and frustrated.
After all, the main reason why we give up on diets or weight loss systems is because they are usually so incredibly time consuming that we can’t possibly find time in our daily lives to fit it all in.
Or worse, the diet plans or foods that we are allowed to eat are so limiting and restricted, that we
eventually give up, go on a binge caving into the cravings.
We love food. We love the taste, the texture and the many different kinds available. We should be able to enjoy our meals without worrying that we will make a mistake, or that we will destroy our chances of
keeping the weight off, once we achieve our goals.
In all honesty, we do NOT have to worry about all of that.
Just by making small changes to our daily lives, our routines and the way that we eat (as well as how
much we eat), we can start losing weight without having to sweat the small stuff.
If we want a treat, we have it on our “Cheat Day”. If we are craving ice cream or chocolate, we reward
ourselves once a week.
A healthy and reasonable weight loss plan involves moderation, not restriction, because we all know that if we’re restricted in any way, we ARE going to fail.
We need the freedom to make mistakes without feeling guilty, to learn as we go, and ultimately, to learn how to live healthier, happier lives by being conscious about the decisions we make and understanding
how to make better ones.
The primary goals of this plan are to:
Increase your metabolism.
Help you lose weight without being hungry.
Teach you how to eat for the rest of your life.
We need to boost up your metabolism so you will lose weight faster, even while eating plenty of food.
We need to keep you happy and motivated so you can stay on track, even during “rough patches” (and
there will be a few along the way) and most importantly, we need to understand how to keep the weight
off so we don’t ever return to this place in our lives again.
So say goodbye to diet plans.. From today forward, we are making a long-term commitment to living a
healthier life without restrictions or limits!
AA Approach to Healthy Diet
When you’re working on improving your diet, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by how to get started.
Even if you’re a seasoned dieter, you may wonder how you can get to the next step or how to make your
diet a part of your lifestyle.
You need to determine where you are in order to know what you need to do next. Whether you’re
thinking about dieting for the first time in your life or you’re trying to make your new changes something permanent, there are specific things you can do to take your diet to the next level.
I’m Not Ready for a Change
You may have some health problems or feel a like you’d like to be a smaller clothing size, but you’re not really that interested in dieting yet. If that’s the case, you’re in the “pre-contemplation” stage of dieting.
That simply means that you’re not interested in making any kind of changes in your eating right now.
At this point you may be sick of having people in your life talking about dieting. You may be completely disinterested in changing anything about yourself or your routine. However, you may be having that
nagging feeling that even though you’re not interested in a change, it may be something good for you.
Getting to the Next Step
If you’re not doing anything toward starting a new eating plan, there are some steps you can take to get you closer to that goal. Here are a few ideas:
Make a visit to your healthcare provider and talk about your overall health, including your diet. Ask for suggestions.
Check out a few books about nutrition from your local library. Skim through them to see if there are any tips that might work well with your lifestyle.
Take a personal inventory. What choices are you making that seem like they might not be good for your
body. What are you doing right?
At this point one of the worst things you can do is jump right in. You need to get your mind used to the idea of making a change. You also don’t want to dive into something for which you aren’t prepared.
Instead, a few days or even weeks to educate yourself and find out what you think will work best for you.
I’m Thinking About Making a Change…Later
If you’ve been spending time thinking about dieting, but you haven’t made any real changes yet, you’re in the “contemplation” stage of dieting. That means you’re seriously thinking about it, you know you need
to do it, but you haven’t put a plan into action. In fact, you probably don’t have a plan.
When you’re in this stage, you’re really interested in making a change, but you may not know how to do
it.
Getting to the Next Step
Here are a few tips for going from thinking about your diet to making a definitive plan.
Gather as much information as you can about nutrition. If you’re having any type of health problems
related to diet, make it a special point to research what you can do.
Make an appointment with a nutritionist or another health professional to discuss your diet.
Talk with a friend who has a healthy diet and ask for suggestions.
Set a goal for yourself that is measurable. For example, “For the next two weeks I will eat 4 servings of vegetables each day.”
Identify some of the barriers to starting a diet. Write them down and for each obstacle list a solution.
I’m Ready to Get Started
If you’ve been thinking about making a change to your diet for a long time, you may be ready to get
going! This stage is known as “preparation” for your diet. You’ve already learned what you need to
know to make changes. Now you’re interested and you’re ready to begin.
Getting to the Next Step
When you’re preparing for dieting, these steps may help you take your plan to the next level.
Write down a detailed plan for what you’ll do to make your diet changes.
Head to the grocery store to make sure you have all the supplies you’ll need before you begin.
Determine how you’ll reward yourself for making changes.
Double-check to make sure your goals are measurable and realistic. Don’t try to overhaul everything all at once. Focus on a few small, but powerful changes.
Enlist the help of important people in your life for support.
I’m Changing My Diet and I’m Committed
You may have spent months leading up to this moment – the beginning of a change in your diet. Now
you’re taking all the plans you’ve made and turning them into reality. This is the “action” stage of
dieting.
You’re working hard at your plan, but you haven’t been doing it for very long. At this point you may feel really good about your changes, but you’re not ready to say you’ve made permanent changes. Things are
a still a little new.
Getting to the Next Step
You may wonder, how can there be a next step when I’m already doing it? But the truth is that in the
beginning of your diet there’s still another level. Ultimately you want to make changes that will be
lifelong to give you health that will last for years to come.
Catalog your successes. Celebrate them!
Seek the advice of a health professional to help you iron out any problems you may be having.
Sometimes a little tweaking of your plan is necessary.
Don’t be too hard on yourself. Many people fail at making long-term changes because they give up after
a bad day. Just keep going.
Pay attention to how you’re feeling. Do you have more energy? Are your clothes a little looser? Are
your health problems improving? Make sure you take time to recognize the benefits of the changes
you’re making.
Try new things. If you’re getting bored with what you’re eating, try to incorporate a new dinner meal
each week.
Use your support system. You don’t have to do this alone! Sometimes friends and family can make
changing easier.
I’ve Made Changes…And I’m Sticking To Them!
When you’ve changed your diet successfully for more than 6 months, you’re in the “maintenance” phase
of your diet. You’ve already educated yourself, made a plan, prepared for changes, and what’s best –
you’ve made them!
After six months of dieting, you’ve created habits that are likely to last a lifetime. But you need to stand guard. While you have great habits now, there are still times that you’ll feel discouraged. Here are some ideas for building on your success.
Feel free to make changes. Your plan may work for you, but it’s always a good idea to take a look at
your plan every few weeks and see how it’s working for you. Are you still getting the benefits you
desire? Are you happy with how things are going?
Visiting with a nutritionist or healthcare provider from time to time can be a way to see how your health is benefiting from your program and how you can make small, effective improvements. There ’s always
room to grow.
Continue to learn more. You can always get some more information about healthful eating and even just
adding some new recipes can help to keep you motivated.
Set goals for yourself. Even if you’re at the ideal weight, you can continue to set goals for your behavior that help you to track and monitor your progress.
I Was Doing So Well…What Happened?
You’ve been plugging along for months making sure that you give your body everything it needs. But
suddenly you find that you’re changes are out the window and you feel like you’re back where you
started.
There are many things that can trigger a relapse into your unhealthy eating. For example:
Divorce
Holidays
Pregnancy and a new baby
Death of friend or family member
Changes in job
Stress
Health problems
The above list is just a few of the things that may make it difficult to stay on your plan. For many people, getting off of a diet program can lead to the “what the hel ” effect. In other words, “I’ve already messed up a little, so just forget the whole thing.”
But everyone is entitled to stray from time to time. The most important thing you can do is learn from
what happened and get back on your program. Here are some tips for getting back on your diet:
Identify the event or life change that began getting you off-track.
Come up with some solutions for keeping the problem from happening again.
Go back to your original goals and renew them.
Talk with a nutritionist or healthcare provider about getting back on track. They can have invaluable
suggestions to help you.
Don’t dwell on your mistakes. Realize that it’s normal to make them. The only real problem occurs
when you don’t recognize them and don’t work to get back to a healthy plan.
Give yourself some credit for the changes you have made. Change is difficult! If you’ve done it once,
you can do it again.
Making Changes That Last
Making changes to your diet is difficult. You should congratulate yourself for any little improvement.
No matter what stage of your diet you’re in, there’s always a way to get to the next step.
Instead of trying to rush into something that will overwhelm you and set you up for failure, figure out
where you are right now. Then make it a goal to get to the next phase. As you gradually make small
changes in your day-to-day routine, you’ll find that your lifestyle becomes healthier.
Ultimately you want to be healthier, more fit, and happier. When you allow yourself the time and
patience that major changes require, you’ll have more success. You’ll be making changes that last.
Today Is the First Step to Your Better Life
Why do you want to lose weight?
For many people it is as simple as wanting to look better or to look like they used to. Other people want to lose weight because their doctor told them to. Maybe you want to lose weight because you simply think
you should.
Before you begin a weight loss program it’s important to consider why you’re starting it.
Do you want to look better?
Do you want to feel better?
Do you think you should lose weight?
Did someone tell you to lose weight?
Analyze your reasons. They’re important because reasons can become obstacles. Over the course of the
next twenty pages you’re going to take a look at 12 steps to lose weight and keep it off for good. These are lifestyle changes. You’re going to be developing habits.
The only thing that’s standing in your way of success is you. If you want to lose weight for reasons that aren’t really motivating then it’s going to be a struggle. In fact, the very first thing we’re going to discuss is mindset. Your approach to your weight loss is extremely important. If you’re losing weight for
someone else or because you think you should, then the process can be difficult.
So before we jump into the first step, let’s take a look at all you have to gain personally when you lose weight.
Seven Amazing Benefits of Losing Weight
#1 You’re going to look great. This is important too and it’s okay to use this reason as a motivator. It’s human nature to want to be proud of your body and your appearance. When you lose weight you will look
better. You’ll be able to wear those clothes you want to wear. And you’ll wear them with pride.
#2 You’re going to have more energy! Remember those days when you felt great all day long? You were able to accomplish everything on your to do list with ease. When you lose weight you will have more
energy.
#3 You’re going to feel better too. Overweight people tend to have poorer health. Simple things like breathing and joint aches and pains improve with just a little bit of weight loss. A diet that causes obesity also causes inflammation in the body. Inflammation is the cause for many illnesses and conditions. Lose
the weight, lose the inflammation. You’re taking a huge step toward feeling better from head to toe.
#4 You’re improving your health. You don’t need to be told that obesity and weight gain are significant contributors to some really serious diseases. We’re talking about:
High blood pressure
High cholesterol
Diabetes
Stroke
Gallbladder gall stones
Cancer including breast cancer
Ovarian and reproductive problems like fibroids
Liver cirrhosis
Enlarged heart
Arthritis
Heart disease
When you lose weight you lessen your chance of getting all of these conditions. If you already have an
illness then weight loss helps you recover and manage the disease effectively. In short, you’re going to live longer and have a better quality of life.
#5 You’re improving the life of those around you. You have a responsibility to yourself and to others to stay healthy and live a long life. You have people who depend on you. People whose life you’ve changed.
You matter. Taking good care of yourself helps you honor your relationship with those around you.
#6 You’re going to sleep better. Ah, there’s nothing better than a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, many overweight and obese people really suffer when it come to sleeping. Snoring, sleep apnea, and just
general discomfort prevents good sleep. When you lose weight, you’re going to sleep better. Imagine how
you’re going to feel when you’re able to get a good night’s sleep consistently.
#7 You’re going to see life in a whole new way. Sometimes it’s the little things that make a big
difference. When you lose weight, for example, you’re going to sweat less. You’ll be more comfortable in warm environments. You’ll also be able to move your body how you want to move it – you’ll have better
mobility. Aching feet, varicose veins, and even your digestion will improve.
You have so much to gain when you commit to losing weight and getting healthy!
It’s very exciting and we want you to succeed. We want you to live the life you desire.
Listen To Your Body
One of the biggest problems that we face when struggling to lose weight is that we
rarely listen to our bodies, and what it is trying to tell us.
Over the years, through self-indulgence and not paying attention to what we are putting
INTO our bodies and how it actually affects us, we lose our internal ability to judge what
we really need to be eating. Thankfully, It’s very easy to train yourself to listen to your
body, it just takes a little bit of practice.
One of the best things about listening to your body is that you won’t have to feel
deprived or hungry. When you eat what your body is craving, you naturally eat less, or
you eat more, but healthier foods that nourish your bod y and give you the energy and
mental clarity that you need.
You see, when you’re eating all of that junk food that is nutritionally lacking, your body
needs to continue to signal to you that you’re hungry so you will eat more and more. If
it never gets enough of the nutrients it needs, it will keep you perpetually hungry!
Once you start listening to your body and giving it what it needs, you’ll find yourself
naturally losing weight. Your body won’t hold on to that extra fat anymore, because it
won’t think it’s starving.
And you won’t feel deprived because you’ll still be able to eat many of the foods you
love!
Your body is a remarkable instrument. It is precisely calibrated to work at maximum
efficiency naturally. If you take care of it properly, it will continue to run at peak
efficiency. However, if you abuse it and neglect it, it will begin to wear down quickly.
Since most of us grow up eating a lot of junk foods like candy, cookies, cake, pizza, and
potato chips, our bodies are never given eno ugh of the different nutrients it needs.
Those foods are empty calories that cause us to gain weight, but don’t actually provide
us with any vitamins or minerals.
Since our bodies don’t get enough nutrients, they continually crave more and more
food. Our bodies keep telling us to consume more, because we think we are starving!
Surely we must not be taking in enough food if we aren’t getting those nutrients, right?
In the wild that would rarely happen except in times of famine. Animals instinctively
know what types of foods they should consume, how much, and when. They don’t
overeat, because they get the right nutrients.
The only time animals in the wild have trouble getting enough of the right nutrients is
during times of famine, when their food supp ly is threatened.
During times of famine, a body’s normal reaction is to conserve energy. This is done by
putting on weight.
The body stores fat to be converted to energy later when there is no food available.
Additionally, the metabolism slows down in order to keep that weight on as long as
possible, so it lasts as long as necessary to keep the body alive during the duration of
the famine. This is a natural part of life.
Humans have evolved to eat foods that aren’t nutritionally adequate. There are very
few nutrients in French fries or a chocolate bar. Even the “healthy” foods we eat are
often cooked until most of the vitamins have been destroyed.
In order to learn to listen to your body again, you have to start paying very close
attention to the foods you are craving. Usually the body has cravings for certain foods
based on nutrients it isn’t getting enough of.
For example, a human living in the wild in the wintertime would be without many
nutrients for several months. All of the fruits and vegetables would either be long
stored-away by animals or buried under snow.
During this time, their primary food source would probably be animals. They would
probably have to eat mostly fish until the plants began to produce again.
After a while, that human would very likely begin to crave fish, long after there was a
good supply of vegetables or fruits. This is because the body builds a preference for
the vitamins and minerals found in specific foods, and once your body has experienced
the extra energy and vitality that comes from eating healthier foods, your brain and
overall system continues to crave those nutrients and proteins.
By breaking down whatever you’re craving, you can learn to figure out what it is your
body is really looking for. This is the key to finally losing weight!
There is one important thing you should know about cravings. They aren’t ALWAYS
indicative of your body needing something.
Cravings can also be triggered by:
• Hormonal changes (pregnancy, premenstrual syndrome)
• MSG (monosodium glutamate)
• Food addiction
• Depression
These are just a few of the issues that can cause cravings. It can be difficult to tell
whether a craving is legitimate or not, but if you substitute something similar and you’re
still experiencing the craving, odds are the craving was not a legitimate health craving.
MSG is one notable cause of cravings. It has been proven to be very addictive, and
food manufacturers and restaurants will often put it in their food to make people crave it.
You should avoid eating foods that contain this addictive substance whenever possible.
Eating food that contains MSG will only make you crave more of it, and this perpetuates
obesity.
MSG has many harmful effects. It has been linked with:
• Diabetes – It causes the pancreas to produce three times more insulin than
normal!
• Autism
• ADD and ADHD
• Alzheimer’s Disease
• Migraines and General Headaches
• Brain Lesions
• Obesity
• Other Degenerative Diseases Like ALS and Parkinson’s
MSG and aspartame (the artificial sweetener) belong to a dangerous group of
substances known as excitotoxins. These toxins are believed to be responsible for
contributing to many of the above conditions and problems.
If you aren’t going to avoid MSG and aspartame, your cravings are going to be more
difficult to identify properly. You will probably have a lot of “false positives” and you’ll
likely be craving things your body isn’t physically craving.
Food For Fuel
Once you’ve discovered how to listen to what your body wants, it’s time to interpret these cravings and
give your body what it wants.
If you’re craving pizza, it’s probably the tomato sauce your body is asking for. In this case, you could try having some healthy tomato soup, some tomato juice, or a nice, fresh tomato salad.
If you are craving something healthy like watermelon or broccoli, by all means indulge! But of course
most people tend to crave things that they really love to eat. Maybe watermelon is your favorite food, and if so, that’s great. But most people have less healthy favorites like pizza and French fries as their
favorites.
Remember, MSG can cause you to crave foods that your body doesn’t need.
You have to break away from the addictive cycle, so you should at least cut down on MSG if you don’t
eliminate it entirely.
I find I crave cheesecake a lot. For a long time I thought maybe I was craving the calcium, but then I
realized I don’t just crave cheesecake, I crave strawberry cheesecake!
Once I started eating fresh strawberries once a cheesecake craving hit, I rarely craved it anymore.
Sometimes I would still want cheesecake after I ate strawberries, which signaled that I just wanted the
flavor of cheesecake. I knew that wasn’t a real craving, so I had to make the decision to either ignore the craving, or give in and indulge.
The thing is, you CAN give in and indulge from time to time. You just can’t go overboard if you want to lose weight. I would have a very small slice of cheesecake, eating slowly and savoring each bite for the longest time possible.
If I was still craving it after that slice, I would wait at least two hours before giving in again, for another very small slice. And each time I had to decide whether to indulge or not. The strength of the craving was the major deciding factor in whether I would indulge.
Life is short. It’s too short to deny yourself entirely. Once I realized that, it was easier for me to lose weight. You see, sticking with a diet is really tough when you never get to eat anything you enjoy!
But when you allow yourself treats and indulgences from time to time, it’s a lot easier to keep going.
You have more of a reason to keep it up.
You remember the four food groups, right? Unless you’re relatively young, you were probably taught
about the four food groups in school. Supposedly those were the foods we needed to make up a healthy
diet.
These days, it’s al about the “food pyramid”. The USDA has devised a new way of teaching people
about the right foods to eat, dividing foods up even further. It contains 6 groups of foods instead of four.
Well, this food pyramid is actually a lot smarter than the original four food groups, because it actually distinguishes fats, oils, and sweets from healthier foods.
Additionally, fruits and vegetables are in two different groups.
The Food Pyramid
As you can see, the largest group is the base of the pyramid. This group contains breads, grains, and other starches (like corn and potatoes). This is the group the USDA believes you should eat the most of.
These grains and starches help give you energy, but they can be loaded with carbohydrates that can raise your blood sugar. It’s best to stick with whole grains, and go easy on the really starchy foods like
potatoes.
The USDA recommends that adults consume around 6 to 11 servings of grains and starches per day. Be
careful to monitor your portion sizes carefully!
A single slice of bread is one serving, but a slice of thick-sliced bread is TWO servings, and a standard 6-inch sub sandwich roll is THREE servings!
The next level of the pyramid contains fruits and vegetables.
Originally fruits and vegetables were in the same food group when it came to the “four food groups”, but a distinction needed to be made. You need to eat both fruits AND vegetables in order to have the
healthiest possible diet, so the USDA decided to draw a separation between the two.
Ideally, you want to have at least 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruit each day. A typical serving of vegetables is 1 cup raw or 1 cup cooked. A typical fruit serving is 1 small fresh fruit or 1 cup canned fruit.
The next level of the pyramid shows dairy and protein. The dairy section is smaller than the meat section, because you don’t need as much milk per day as you do protein.
You should be getting at least 2-3 servings of dairy per day, preferably low-fat or non-fat. This could include things like milk, yogurt, or even low-fat ice cream.
Proteins include meats and seafood, dried beans, eggs, cheese, and peanut butter. Yes, cheese is included in protein rather than dairy.
You want to get 4-6 ounces of protein daily, ideally from low-fat varieties such as most seafoods, egg
whites, low-fat cottage cheese, and skinless poultry. Tofu is also a good choice if you like it.
The final group includes fats, sweets, and alcohol. You should keep these to a minimum. Remember,
you do need some fat in your diet, but excessive fat can lead to obesity, especially when consumed with
excessive amounts of carbohydrates.
You should have a maximum of 1-2 servings from this group per day, especially when trying to lose
weight.
It’s not easy keeping track of all of these things, so I don’t actually worry too much about counting each and every serving and adding it all up during the day.
What I do is I develop menus for the week, and I plan each meal in a specific way. That way I don’t have to worry about adding things up, because it all happens quite naturally.
Here’s an example of my weekly meal plan:
BREAKFAST
3 servings grains
1 serving fruit
1 serving protein
1 serving dairy
LUNCH
4 servings grains
1 serving fruit
2 servings vegetables
1 serving protein
1 serving dairy
1 serving fat (if not at dinner)
DINNER
2 servings grains
1 serving vegetables
2 servings protein
1 serving fat (if not at lunch)
SNACK
1 serving fruit
SNACK
1 serving vegetables
That’s 3 meals and two snacks per day, which might seem like a lot of food when you’re dieting, but it’s not. You MUST keep eating regularly to keep your metabolism high. If you don’t, your weight loss is
going to be much slower than you’d like.
As you can see, this gives me each day:
9 servings grains
3 servings fruit
5 servings vegetables
4 servings protein
2 servings dairy
1 serving of fat
This is a good balance. It’s right in the middle of the grains, on the low end of protein and dairy, and on the high end of fruits and vegetables. That’s what really got me the best weight loss, because fruits and vegetables are obviously lower in fat and calories than meat and dairy, and I stayed right in the middle for grains to give me enough energy without overeating.
This is what a typical menu would look like:
BREAKFAST
3 servings oatmeal (small bowl)
1 serving applesauce (in the oatmeal)
1-ounce bacon or ham
1 cup non-fat milk (half over the oatmeal)
LUNCH
2 sandwiches with:
2 slices whole grain bread each
lettuce and tomato
3 ounce low-fat turkey on each
1 tbsp. mayonnaise (half on each)
1 apple
1 cup non-fat milk
DINNER
Noodle Stir-Fry with:
2 servings whole wheat pasta
1 cup steamed broccoli
2 ounces grilled chicken
Herbs and 0 calorie seasonings to taste
SNACK (between breakfast and lunch or lunch and dinner)
1 cup cantaloupe cubes
SNACK (between lunch and dinner or after dinner)
1 cup salad with fat-free dressing
As you can see, this keeps you eating all day long, and you get a considerable amount of food each time.
If you’re hungry, eat! Just be sure you’re really hungry.
It can be quite difficult to tell if you’re actually hungry or if you are just bored or depressed and want to eat.
Before you eat anything, try to listen to your stomach, not your head. If your stomach is growling or
pinching, you’re really hungry. If it isn’t, then you just want to eat.
Remember, you can indulge sometimes, too. If you’re craving corn chips, go for it! But grab out a
handful and put it into a bowl, do NOT eat straight from the bag!
It’s very important to learn portion control. You can’t eat unlimited amounts of almost any food without gaining weight. Yes, you can eat to your heart’s content on cucumbers or lettuce, but most foods need to be limited.
In the next chapter, I’m going to make a list of foods you can eat whenever you’re hungry, including
foods that you can have in practically unlimited quantities.
We’ll also look at some food substitutions you can use to satisfy cravings for higher-fat foods. While this won’t always work, sometimes it does.
Whenever you can cut calories with substitutions, it’s a great thing!
Your Power Foods
This chapter is all about telling you what you can safely eat. We’re going to talk about foods you should eat whenever you’re having a craving for something fattening, stuff you can substitute for the bad stuff.
The main thing is to keep your fridge and cabinets stocked with plenty of foods you can eat in unlimited or substantial quantities.
First, let’s talk about some things you can eat in unlimited quantities. These are foods that, if you eat them until you feel like you’re going to puke, you still shouldn’t fear gaining any weight!
These are also foods that contain vitamins, minerals, and other essential elements.
They are foods you can feel good about eating, and you don’t have to feel guilty, even if you overeat
them. They are also rich in antioxidants and perhaps other important elements that scientists ha ven’t even discovered, yet!
Foods to you could eat in large quantities:
Apples
Asparagus
Beets
Blueberries
Cabbage
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Cauliflower
Celery
Cranberries
Cucumbers
Fresh Herbs or Dried
Garlic
Grapefruit
Green Beans
Greens (All Types)
Honeydew Melons
Lemons and Limes
Lettuce
Mangoes
Mushrooms
Onions
Papayas
Peaches
Peppers (All Kinds)
Pineapple
Radishes
Raspberries
Spinach
Strawberries
Tangerines
Tomatoes
Turnips
Watermelon
Zucchini
You can combine these ingredients into delicious recipes that taste great, too. This will help keep you motivated. The better tasting the food is that you’re eating; the more likely it is you will stick to the system.
These ingredients can work very well together. For example, you could take some of the vegetable s like tomatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, zucchini, celery, and green beans and make a very nice soup.
You could also use unlimited fresh herbs or dried herbs to flavor it.
You could make a nice fruit salad using various fruits, flavorings, and herbs.
Mint and cilantro both go very well with many different types of fruits, and lemon or lime juice with a
touch of salt can make a sweet fruit salad a bit more savory.
Lemon juice can also be used on its own with herbs, or blended with fruit to make a dressing for salads.
A salad of spinach and sliced mushrooms tastes amazing with a vinaigrette of raspberries, cranberries, or strawberries with lemon juice, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Experiment with using these ingredients to make various recipes. You can also add small amounts of
foods that aren’t on the list, comprising a recipe mostly of these items and using other foods as flavorings.
For example, you could make a soup using these vegetables and using a small amount of boneless,
skinless chicken breast to flavor it and add protein. Or you could make a delicious salsa with tomatoes, onions, jalapeño peppers, cilantro, and lime juice, and then serve it over lettuce with a 1 cup of black beans.
The combinations are practically endless, especially when you start using foods that you can’t have in
unlimited quantities to bring flavors together.
Now you need to know some flavorings you can use in unlimited quantities. Some condiments are high
in sugar or fat, and you should avoid these for the most part. You can enjoy small quantities of them, but it’s best to limit them.
Flavorings to enjoy in unlimited quantities:
Mustard
Vinegar (All Types)
Spices (No Sugar, No or Low Sodium)
Herbs
Lemon Juice
Lime Juice
Make sure the flavorings you buy do not contain MSG. There are many seasonings on the market that do.
The salt replacement Accent, in fact, IS monosodium glutamate; so avoid this one at all costs! Look for flavorings that contain as little sodium as possible, but you don’t have to avoid it completely.
Next, let’s look at some various types of proteins you can add to the unlimited foods to bring a meal
together and make it more filling.
You should limit these foods to smaller servings, but you should make sure to use some of these e very
day.
Proteins to enjoy in smaller quantities:
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
Turkey Breast
Most Types of Fish
Lean Beef
Beans (All Types)
Other Lean Meats
Tofu
Nuts
Lean meats, beans, nuts, and tofu are filling. They also provide nutrients like iron that are essential for a healthy body. They should be used more as a flavoring for other foods than a major part of the meal,
especially when trying to lose weight.
CLICK THE IMAGE OR LINK FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THIS PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
Vegetarians can obviously leave meat out entirely, opting for vegetable-based protein sources. There is a lot of controversy about whether soy-based products like tofu are good for you or not, but I personally use it in small quantities.
Flavorings to enjoy in smaller quantities:
Salt
Ketchup (Preferably Sugar-Free)
Olive Oil (Limit Carefully)
Agaves Nectar (Liquid Sweetener, Natural, Won’t Spike Blood Sugar)
Soy Sauce (High In Sodium, So Limit)
You shouldn’t eliminate salt from your diet completely, as your body does need a bit of salt to run
properly. But these should be limited as much as possible.
Olive oil is one of the healthiest oils you can use. Studies have shown that people who consume around
two tablespoons of olive oil daily for one week show less oxidation of LDL cholesterol, as well as higher levels of antioxidants in their blood.
Olive oil can help protect against ulcers and gastritis. It may help prevent colon cancer. It contains
vitamin # and phenols. In short, it is probably the best fat you can possibly consume.
As with nearly anything, it should be consumed in limited quantities. It is still very high in calories, and of course, is pure fat. Eating enough of it will cause you to gain weight, but it should still be used in small amounts because of its protective benefits.
Agave nectar is a natural sweetener that comes from a type of cactus.
It tastes very sweet, but it won’t spike your blood sugar like process sugar, honey, syrup, and other
sweeteners. It’s also considered much safer than aspartame and other chemical sweeteners.
Moderation Is The Key
Now that we’ve talked about the foods you should eat, let’s talk about the foods you should avoid
whenever possible.
These are foods that can really mess up your weight loss efforts, and it’s best to avoid most of them
completely, or carefully restrict them.
For the most part, you should feel free to enjoy the foods you love, just in lesser quantities.
Unfortunately, many of the foods you love will contain these “forbidden foods”.
Because I believe in indulging on occasion in order to keep yourself happily sticking to your weight loss plan, I don’t exactly advocate cutting these foods out completely.
What I do suggest is that you limit these foods very carefully, indulging in them only when you are
having a desperate craving for them and you feel like you might go overboard and binge if you don’t have them at that moment.
Sugar
Sugar, specifically white sugar, is a very bad substance. I highly recommend avoiding it as much as
possible.
While it’s unrealistic to expect you to never eat anything that contains white sugar again, you should try to avoid it whenever possible.
Sugar is believed to be a major instigator of diabetes. It causes blood sugar levels to rise rapidly, and then they can cause an over-production of insulin.
When you have too much insulin in your body, it can cause your cells to hold on to fat. It can also cause your liver to create extra fat from the calories you consume.
Excess insulin can cause blood clots that lead to stroke and heart attack, raise LDL (bad) cholesterol
levels, and can cause plaque to form in the arteries. It can also raise your blood pressure by causing your kidneys to retain salt.
If your body continuously produces too much insulin, it can lead to a condition known as insulin
resistance. Insulin resistance can lead to severe obesity, and it can make it extremely difficult to lose weight.
Sugar is one of the worst substances you can eat, and I highly recommend avoiding it.
Remember, sugar isn’t found only in cookies, cakes, and sodas. It can be found hiding in places you
wouldn’t expect it. Sugar is often found in salad dressings, gravies, sauces, condiments, cereal, and even bread and breaded meats!
White Flour
White flour is another substance that causes blood sugar levels to rise very rapidly. White flour is used in most baked products, as well as various types of breading, and even as a thickener in many sauces.
Like sugar, it is a substance that causes very severe blood sugar spikes, which can then lead to crashes.
White flour is one of the worst culprits, so I highly recommend avoiding it as much as possible.
White flour is found in so many different things, it will be difficult to avoid them all. If you’re a huge fan of baked goods, it will be almost impossible to avoid it altogether.
If you aren’t going to cut out white flour completely, I urge you to cut down sharply on your consumption of it. White flour is one of the worst things you can consume, and second only to sugar, in my opinion.
Switch to whole grain products whenever possible. Limit white flour products, and only indulge in them
on rare occasions. I like to have cake on birthdays, but for the most part I try to avoid white flour
completely.
Potatoes
I know potatoes are delicious. In fact, they are one of my favorite foods. But they spike blood sugar.
Potatoes are very high in carbohydrates, and they are “bad carbs” – the kind that raise blood sugar very quickly.
Sweet potatoes, on the other hand, don’t raise blood sugar so quickly. Even though they are technically
“sweet”, they just don’t have quite such an extreme effect on blood sugar levels.
If you’re going to eat potatoes, I do suggest eating sweet potatoes rather than other types of potatoes. Not only will they not spike your blood sugar, but sweet potatoes are also very high in vitamins, while white potatoes have very little nutritional value.
White Rice
White rice is another major cause of blood sugar spikes. It is consumed around the world, and people
believe that because Asian people eat a lot of white rice and seem to be so thin and healthy, that white rice must be healthy.
The problem is, they aren’t looking at the other factors involved in the health of so many Asians. Asians tend to get a lot more exercise than Western people.
They eat far less meat and junk food. They consume a lot more fresh fruits and vegetables. And they eat a lot of healthy seafood.
Because white rice causes these extreme blood sugar spikes, you should substitute brown rice for white
whenever possible. The blood sugar spikes are mitigated by the fiber, which is left intact on the outside of the grains in brown rice.
In most cases, high-fiber ingredients won’t cause the type of blood sugar spikes seen in their refined
counterparts.
There aren’t a whole lot of foods that I would suggest avoiding completely. Basically, if a food has little or no nutritional value, it’s not worth eating and should be avoided.
You can indulge in these foods on occasion, but I would keep it to no more often than once per week.
That doesn’t mean you can have white rice once per week, potatoes once per week, sugar once per week,
and white flour once per week! It means you should have ONE item per week that contains one or more
of these items.
And remember to control your portion. Just because you can have these items only once per week does
not mean you should eat an entire cake at one sitting!
Power Weight Loss Tips
You should eat when you’re hungry. It’s that simple. The trick is in learning how to know when you’re
actually hungry, and when you want to eat because you are tired, bored, stressed out, or just craving food.
This is actually harder than it sounds for many people. After years, perhaps decades of eating for the
wrong reasons, you may have to train your body to recognize hunger again.
Hunger usually involves stomach pinches, pains, or growling. If your stomach isn’t growling, you’re
probably not really hungry. But this isn’t always indicative of hunger.
Sometimes you may feel food moving around in your stomach from your last meal, and this may mimic
very closely the feeling you have when you’re hungry.
Before you rush to eat after your stomach starts growling, wait just a little while to see if the growling subsides. If it doesn’t go away in 10-15 minutes, or if you feel weak or jittery, it’s probably true hunger.
If the growling goes away, it might have been the feeling of food being digested.
I suggest eating several smaller meals per day rather than 3 large ones. When you eat smaller meals, you can help boost your metabolism. The more often your body is consuming food, the faster your
metabolism will become.
You see, your body will digest food slowly to make the energy it gets from food and the full feeling last as long as possible if it thinks it isn’t getting enough food.
When you’re consuming a lot of food regularly, it realizes that there is an abundance of food, and it will respond by digesting food quickly and giving you plenty of energy.
I don’t recommend waiting a certain amount of time between meals. Ideally you’ll be eating every 2-4
hours, just small amounts, but you may need to eat an hour after a meal, of you may not feel hungry for 4-5 hours. Just learn to listen to your body’s own hunger signals.
You should aim for eating smaller, almost snack-sized meals about 4-6 times per day. Eating three meals per day will mean you’re eating more at each meal.
This can spike your blood sugar and cause you to crash, leading to cravings when you’re not actually
hungry.
Eating a lot at one meal can also cause you to experience something commonly known as “food coma”.
This is mostly caused by eating a large amount of food at one time, especially foods that are high in
refined carbohydrates.
It takes a lot of energy to digest food. It can be especially taxing when your blood sugar spikes and
crashes. This causes energy to be diverted from other systemic functions, causing your brain to feel
“foggy”, and the rest of your body to feel weak and tired.
While the tryptophan in turkey can indeed cause sleepiness, it is probably mostly the “food coma” effect that causes you to feel so tired and sluggish after a holiday meal. Thanksgiving and other holiday meals are usually very high in carbohydrates and sugar, and people tend to overeat at these meals.
The same thing can happen to you anytime you eat a large meal, especially one that is high in refined
carbohydrates.
When you eat smaller, lighter meals, you will feel energized after eating, rather than tired and run-down.
Remember, the primary goal of eating smaller meals throughout the day is to keep your metabolism
charged up. The higher your metabolism, the faster the weight will melt off.
Quick Exercise Strategies
Getting exercise is very important in order to increase your metabolism and help you burn fat.
You don’t have to bench press 250 pounds or run the Boston Marathon to get exercise. There are some
very simple, easy, and fun ways to get exercise!
And don’t tell me you don’t have enough time to exercise! There are opportunities to get exercise all
around you. All you have to do is take them!
We’re going to look at some ways you can work exercise into your day, no matter how busy you are.
Let’s face it, almost everyone is busy.
We all have things like school, work, and children to deal with. Most of us don’t have nearly as much
time as we’d like to complete our daily tasks, must less to exercise and get any entertainment! But there are ways to work exercise into your normal day!
In additional to pursuing activities you may really enjoy such as bowling, tennis, swimming, hiking, and other physical activities that might be enjoyable, you can use these tips to make sure you get more
exercise every day.
Walk More
Take the stairs whenever you can. Elevators are helpful if you have many flights to ascend, or if you’re carrying packages, or if you have small children with you, or if you’re already extremely exhausted or
injured. But you should take the stairs whenever it is feasible.
Start looking for ways to get more walking into your day. It has been said that it takes at least 20-30
minutes of aerobic exercise at a time to have a benefit, but recent studies have shown that may not be true.
One study revealed that people who exercised a total of 20-30 minutes each day in increments of just a
few minutes at a time still experienced the same cardiac benefit as those who exercised for 20-30 minutes at one time.
Plus, it doesn’t make a difference to how many calories are burned whether you break it up or do it all at once. You will also benefit from increased muscle, and muscle tissue burns a lot more energy than fat
tissue!
Television Workouts
Most people watch a lot of television. The average American watches 28 hours of television per week,
about 4 hours every day! That’s a lot of time wasted in front of the tube!
You can put that time to good use by exercising while you are watching television. There are plenty of
exercises you can do in front of the TV.
Walking on a treadmill
Riding an exercise bike
Sit-ups and crunches
Lifting weights
Pushups
Leg lifts
Walking in place
Using a stair stepper
These are all fun, healthy, and not very disruptive of your television watching. You can do many of these exercises while reading a book or magazine, catching up on the local news in the newspaper, or listening to music, too.
Office Workouts
There are plenty of things you can do at your desk while you’re at work or school, too. Students and
office workers often find that they don’t get enough exercise, because they spend most of their day sitting down. They may have to walk from class to class or run errands, but for the most part, they are very
sedentary all day.
CLICK THE IMAGE OR LINK FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT THIS PRODUCTS OR SERVICES
This is where it comes in handy to perform exercises that can be done while sitting at a desk. While it won’t exactly be aerobic exercise, it will help you tone your muscles. Not only will you look better, but remember, muscle burns more calories than fat!
Stomach crunches will help you get your stomach muscles toned. Simply suck in and hold your stomach
muscles tight and taught for several seconds, then release. Perform this action continually throughout the day whenever you think about it.
You can also walk around doing this during the day. You’ll be toning and building your abdominal
muscles while also sucking in and making your belly look flatter!
You can pull your toes upwards and stretch your calf muscles. Just point your toes up toward your knees as far as you can without it becoming painful, hold for a few seconds, and release. Repeat this several times. This can also help prevent blood clots, which are more common in sedentary individuals.
Your bottom may also be somewhat flabby. If so, you can clench your gluteus maximus muscles tightly
while sitting in your desk. Hold briefly, and then release. This will help build and tighten your buttocks.
These types of exercises will also work for other parts of your body, including your back, biceps, triceps, forearms, and thighs. Just clench your muscles, hold briefly, and release.
Remember to be careful not to injure yourself. Too much of a good thing is not good. Don’t stretch your muscles until they are painful. A slight discomfort is completely normal, but pain is not. Never work out until you feel pain!
I hope you can see how easy it is to get exercise. You can find time here and there, whenever and
wherever you can. Any exercise is better than no exercise at all!
Maintaining Your Weight
Once you’ve lost the weight, you need to learn how to keep it off. Most people do gain the weight back
after they lose it, because they go right back to their old habits.
As you get closer to your goal weight, you will need to start easing into the lifestyle that you will continue for the rest of your life.
You will need to remember to keep cutting out the biggest sources of blood sugar spikes, including sugar, white flour, white rice, and potatoes. You will need to continue consuming plenty of fresh fruits and
vegetables, healthy seafood, and other lean proteins. And you will need to continue getting some
exercise.
Always remember that if you don’t continue the lifestyle, you are doomed to repeat everything you’ve
just been through.
You’ll have to deal with the pain of being overweight, the embarrassment you feel when you go out in
public, the difficulty losing the weight, the aches, pains, and discomfort of being overweight, and all of those other issues.
That’s something you don’t ever want to have to go through again, right?
Never let go of the things you’re feeling right now. Never forget the struggle. Never forget the pain.
Never, ever forget.
Once you let go, once you get past it and you move on, you cannot forget. If you allow yourself to forget what it was like, you’ll be back on that road to obesity before you know it.
It’s a good idea to keep a lot of photos of yourself before you lost the weight. Keep a journal of how
difficult your dieting is. Write notes in it about how horrible you feel, how embarrassed you are, how
your life is miserable. Keep all of this together and look at it regularly.
Yes, it will be painful to dredge up those memories of when you were so unhealthy, but it will help you
stay healthy.
The emotional pain you feel will be nothing compared to what your friends and family would feel if they
lost you because you had a heart attack or stroke due to obesity, or the pain you would feel if you gained all of the weight back.
Keep eating healthily. Keep exercising. Keep living the healthiest life possible.
Never, ever forget.
Twelve Strategies to Weight Loss
Losing weight and keeping it off isn’t about dieting. It’s not about deprivation and torture either. In fact, if you want to keep the weight off after you lose it, and then you’re not going to take drastic steps.
Instead, you’re going to create habits. Over the course of this report you’re going to read about 12
strategies to lose weight and keep it off for life.
Each strategy is a habit. Because there are twelve of them it makes sense to focus on developing one habit each month. Experts say that it takes three to four weeks to create and embrace a new habit. That’s
perfect!
It’s recommended that you read through this report from beginning to end. Then, go back to the first
strategy and create a plan to embrace that habit in your life. You don’t have to create the habits in the order they’re presented in this report.
There is one exception. The first habit to focus on should be mindset. The first strategy discussed in this report.
After that, choose the habits that make the most sense to you. You can absolutely go in order and they are designed to be approached systematically. However, you know your body, mind and lifestyle best. If it
makes sense to you to change the order of the habits then by all means do so.
You’re in control here!
Ultimately the goal is the same. Your goal is lose weight and keep it off for life.
Weight Loss Strategy #1 Embracing a Positive Mindset
How do you feel about your body?
Close your mind for a few minutes and let your thoughts wander to how you feel about your body. Do
you often say things like, “I hate my___”? Do you feel as if weight loss is a battle and you’re fighting your body?
This is common. Unfortunately, it’s also not productive. When you’re fighting your body and hating it, it creates resentment. Instead of embracing your body you’re rejecting it. Think about this, are you more
likely to take care of something you love or something you hate?
So what’s the answer?
Love your body now. Appreciate all that it is and all that it does for you. If you dislike your body, hate your body or are fighting your body then losing weight and keeping it off is going to be difficult. It’ll be a long and painful process - a fight.
However if you love your body and are losing weight to take care of yourself then you’re going to have a much better time of it. You’ll enjoy the process, learn more along the way and you’ll be more successful at both losing weight and keeping it off.
When you love your body it’s much easier to make healthy decisions for it. It’s much easier to take care of it – because you want to take care of it.
Mindset will come in handy.
When you can embrace a positive and loving mindset, you’ll believe in yourself and you’ll have more
willpower. You’ll be more motivated. And you’ll forgive yourself for the occasional mistakes.
Mindset is about more than just loving yourself. You’ll want to adopt a positive and motivated attitude
too. Here are three tools you can use to embrace a positive mindset. We’re going to discuss them as they related to weight loss but you can use them for any goals and challenges in your life.
Affirmations
Affirmations are positive sayings that help you eliminate negative thoughts. For example, if you find that you’re often saying or thinking, “I hate my stomach” you can replace that thought with “I love my
stomach. My body takes great care of me.”
Creating and using affirmations is a three step process.
Step One: Be Conscious Of Your Thoughts
In order to create affirmations that have great power you want them to support your biggest challenges.
First, however, you need to recognize what these challenges are. This is accomplished by paying attention to your thoughts, your negative thoughts specifically. When you find yourself thinking something
negative about your weight or your body write it down. You can then use this thought to create a powerful affirmation.
For example, “I’m so fat.” Negative thought
“I love my body. It nourishes me and keeps me safe.” Positive affirmation.
Step Two: Post Your Affirmation
Write your affirmation down and post it in obvious places. For example, write it on a sticky note and stick it to your bathroom mirror. Whenever you see your affirmation, repeat it aloud. Post it on your planner so that you’re reminded to repeat your affirmation every hour.
Make it part of your life. The more you repeat your affirmation, the more you’ll begin to believe it and embrace it.
Step Three: Be Conscious Of Your Thoughts
Yes, this is step one and you’ve come full circle. Now, whenever you think a negative thought about your body you can recognize it. Stop yourself from saying or thinking it and replace it with your positive
affirmation.
Affirmations work wonders. Find one that fits you, your personality and your positive body image
challenges and begin using it today.
Visualization
Visualization is a powerful tool and we use it often without realizing it. When you use visualization
you’re essentially visualizing success. Athletes use visualization all the time to great ends. It helps us accomplish our goals. The great thing about visualization is that it can be used for both large and small goals.
For example, you can visualize what your life is like when you’ve achieved your weight loss goal. You
can also visualize yourself exercising or saying no to a huge piece of cake and feeling proud.
Visualization helps you not only feel success in your mind and body, it can help motivate you. Use
visualization each morning when you wake. Visualize yourself at the weight you want to be. You’ll begin
to think of yourself at that weight and the pounds will fall off.
Use visualization when you’re facing a particularly difficult challenge. For example, if you’ve had a
difficult day at work. You may be considering a drive thru dinner or happy hour with the gang. Visualize yourself driving past the fast food restaurant and feeling good about it.
Visualize yourself at the happy hour drinking sparkling water and eating a healthy menu item. You can
make good decisions for yourself when you take time to remember and visualize what you want.
Gratitude
Finally, the other element that can help you embrace and love your body is gratitude. Gratitude
completely changes your perspective about life. The practice of gratitude will help you think of your body in a positive manner. Use gratitude in two ways.
#1 Develop a gratitude habit. When you get up in the morning or at night before you go to bed, write
down the things you’re grateful for. For example, I’m grateful for:
Lungs that help me breathe and provide oxygen to my brain – boy did I need my brain for that argument
at work today!
A heart pumps around the clock and keeps the blood coursing through my veins
My beautiful neck and shoulders – I love the way they look in v-neck shirts.
Sometimes you may have to really dig deep to find something to be grateful for. Don’t stop until you do –
there’s always something.
#2 Use gratitude when you’re being challenged. During particularly difficult times gratitude can help you move through them. When you’re having a bad day or a bad moment, instead of focusing on the negative,
take a few minutes to consider what you have to be grateful for.
Affirmations, gratitude and visualization will all help you develop a positive mindset. When you can
embrace your body with love and appreciation taking care of it becomes second nature. It’ll be much
easier to adopt the remaining eleven habits into your lifestyle with grace and ease.
Before you move onto the next strategy, spend some time thinking about how you feel about your body.
What negative thoughts can you replace with positive ones? How can you embrace your body and love it
exactly the way it is right now?
Weight Loss Strategy #2 Goal Setting
One of the biggest reasons people don’t succeed with their weight loss goals is because they’ve set the
wrong goals. They’ve taken the wrong approach to goal setting and weight loss.
The key to proper goal setting is twofold:
#1 Create an ideal goal. For example, “I want to lose fifty pounds.”
#2 Create smaller, achievable goals, to support that ideal goal. For example, I want to lose one pound a week. By the end of the year I will have lost 50 pound.
Now, losing one pound a week is much easier to manage and control. You can easily make changes to
your lifestyle that support this smaller goal. Additionally, there’s a little wiggle room with this goal because there are 52 weeks in a year. That means there are two weeks where you don’t have to lose
anything. And the weeks where you lose more than one pound will be bonus weeks.
The key to proper goal setting is to create smaller goals that you know you can achieve. This
accomplishes several important things:
It makes your goal more manageable
It helps you plan ahead
It helps you create a pattern of success.
If you lose one pound a week for five weeks you’re going to be feeling pretty awesome. You’re going to
feel motivated and successful. This will help you stay motivated. It’s a powerful feeling.
Lifestyle Goals
The weight loss goal is an easy goal. It’s a common one and it’s what most people think of when they’re
creating a goal. However, as you move through the other habits/strategies in this report you’re going to want to set other goals.
For example, when you’re looking at your dietary habits you may want to stop drinking your calories. So
your goal may be to eliminate soda from your diet. You can go cold turkey and quit drinking soda.
However, many people find that the cravings and the habit is too engrained and the elimination is
difficult.
Instead, you could create smaller goals to support success. For example, your ideal goal would be to stop drinking soda completely in four weeks. If you normally drink three sodas a day you might first cut back to drinking one soda a day for the first week. The second week you drink half a soda a day. The third
week you drink half a soda every other day. The fourth week you drink half a soda a week. By the end of
the fourth week you’re done with soda and the process was relatively painless.
You can also create goals to support exercise. For example, if you want to exercise for an hour a day five days a week. The first week you may exercise for ten minutes a day five days a week. The second week
you may double that and workout for twenty minutes a day and so on.
Or you may workout for fifteen minutes one day and then add two minutes to your workout until you
reach an hour.
Smaller, achievable goals help you create a pattern of success!
Before you move onto the next strategy think about your ideal goal. How can you break that goal apart
into smaller, manageable goals you know you can achieve?
Weight Loss Strategy #3 Making Weight Loss Fun
This habit and strategy is easy to embrace. You’re going to look at ways to make your life more fun.
Why?
Because if you’re out and enjoying your life, having fun, you’re going to be:
Active – this supports weight loss
Not thinking about food
The plain truth is that if something isn’t fun or pleasurable then you’re not likely to do it, at least not consistently. And we’ll take a look at “fun” when we discuss exercise and also dietary habits. But this
month the focus is simple. Have more fun.
What’s fun?
Make a list of things that are fun to you or might be fun. Do you like dancing? Do you enjoy shopping or hanging out with friends? Do you enjoy football or photography?
Try to come up with ten to twenty things that you think are fun. Once you have your list, take a look at it.
How can you make each fun thing healthy?
For example, if you love photography then you could take a weekly photography walk. If it’s nature
photography you’re interested then take a nature walk. If you enjoy photographing urban elements then
walk through the city with your camera. You’re taking something that’s fun and making it part of your
healthy lifestyle.
If you love shopping then go shopping once a week. Hit your favorite shopping mall or city center and
walk for thirty minutes before you enter a store.
If you love baking then bake for charity or for someone you love. Give away your baked goods. Giving is
fun!
Why Focus on Fun?
In order to make your weight loss goals a success and in order to keep the weight off you’re going to want to be doing things and eating things you enjoy. If you hate it and it’s painful you’re not going to stick with it.
Now, it should be noted that if you’re cutting back on sugar you’re going to need to give your taste buds time to adapt.
Additionally if you’re going to start running, the first few runs are going to be painful. You may chant 100 times over the course of that first mile that you hate this and you’re not going to do it anymore.
This is where mindset comes in handy. You’ve learned skills to focus on the positive aspects. To
appreciate the good things and to shift your thoughts from negative, “I hate this.” To “I am so happy I’m doing this for my body.”
When you’re having fun you won’t even think about what you’re missing.
Weight Loss Strategy #4 Tasting the World
Chances are there are thousands of foods you’ve never tasted. One of the keys to overall health and
longevity is to eat a wide variety of foods. Unfortunately, one of the reasons many people are overweight is because they eat a very limited selection of food. And those foods aren’t necessarily good for them.
Your habit/strategy this month is to introduce yourself to new foods. Broaden your food horizons. This
will help you change your diet to include not only variety but more healthy choices.
For example, if you try a new vegetable each week you can try different preparations. Bok Choy is a
vegetable that’s common in many Asian recipes. You can eat it steamed, sautéed, and raw. If you’ve
never had Bok Choy, pick a few up at the super market and try a few recipes that use Bok Choy as
primary ingredient.
Note: It takes 3-7 tastes before most people can decide if they like a flavor. Give your taste buds a chance to adapt. If you’ve been eating processed, sugary and fatty foods then it may take some time to adapt to a new and healthy flavor. Give your taste buds a chance.
Other food groups to consider:
Try a new vegetable each week. For example, beets, zucchini, jicima, eggplant, arugula, and brussel
sprouts
Try a new fruit each week. For example, star fruit, kiwi, and mango.
Try a new grain each week. For example, quinoa, barley, steel cut oats.
Try a new protein each week. For example lentils, soy, buffalo, and egg whites.
Weight Loss Strategy # 5 Aerobic Exercise
Here’s a little secret that we’re going to share and it may affect your weight loss plans and goals
significantly.
The truth about losing weight is simple. You don’t have to exercise to lose weight. As long as you
consume fewer calories than you burn you’ll lose weight.
Let’s take a look at the math.
A pound is 3500 calories.
If you reduce your caloric intake by 500 calories a day you’ll lose a pound a week.
That sounds pretty good, right? It shouldn’t be too hard to reduce your caloric intake.
Unfortunately, most people:
Like food and enjoy eating
Don’t really know how much they consume in calories each day which makes cutting back pretty darn
tricky. If you like food and want to eat more than celery sticks and egg whites then you’re going to want to add exercise into your life.
Additionally, exercise adds a ton of benefits to both your overall health and to your weight loss goals.
Exercising helps you burn calories. When you burn calories you have more wiggle room to eat more. You
can also lose weight more quickly. In fact, exercise often boosts your metabolism and balances your
blood sugar. This means you won’t have those diet busting cravings and losing weight will be easier.
Again, let’s just look at some basic math.
The average sedentary person burns around 2000 calories a day just by being alive. If you want to lose a modest pound a week then the calories need to be cut back to 1500 a day. That means three meals of 500
calories. A simple turkey burger with a bun and ketchup is around 400 calories. Add a salad to that with dressing and you’re at 500 calories. Not too bad, right? So three healthy meals a day, no snacks, drinks with calories or desserts, and you can maintain a 1500 calorie diet.
However, what if you want cream in your coffee? What if you want a snack? What if you want to have a
piece of pie?
Without adding exercise to your lifestyle, you can’t.
However, if you add thirty minutes of walking to your day you now have 150 extra calories to work with.
Walking for thirty minutes burns 150 calories. You can now consider that cream in your coffee or that
cookie for a snack.
And if you want to lose more than a pound a week, you’re most certainly going to want to add exercise to your day.
There are some important benefits of exercise to consider besides simply burning more calories…
Exercise improves your mood. It releases endorphins – feel good hormones. It can even boost your
confidence and help prevent depression.
Exercise combats chronic diseases – regular exercise improves blood flow, boosts organ efficiency and
helps your body optimize all processes for better health.
Exercise boosts your energy level - Physical activity delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues. When your heart and lungs work more efficiently, you'll have more energy to do the things you enjoy. You’ll
also sleep better and that means more energy too!
Exercise boosts your immunity. You’ll get sick less often.
Exercise improves your skin. Exercise improves circulation. This means your body is better able to get rid of toxins. Fewer toxins, better skin and hair. Exercise also boosts the production of collagen which
improves skin and it increases blood flow for a bright, healthy complexion.
Exercise helps your body manage stress. It reduces the amount of stress hormone in your body. It also
helps your body better manage stress so when it does enter your life you don’t notice stress as much.
Exercise makes you smarter. Increased blood flow and oxygen to the brain helps your brain work more
effectively and efficiently.
Okay, so you know the benefits of exercise and you’re convinced. But maybe you’re still not 100% on
board. After all, exercise hurts, right? It’s uncomfortable. It’s a chore.
Only if you make it that way!
Exercise really can be fun. Remember when we mentioned that it’s important to make weight loss fun and
you took a look at things you enjoy doing? It’s time to embrace that attitude again. Hopefully, you’ve
begun to be more active and you’re doing things that are fun. Now it’s time to use that same approach to a regular exercise program. Ideally, you will do some type of aerobic exercise at least three times a week.
Possibilities include but are not limited to:
Tennis
Dancing
Jump rope
Swimming
Jogging/running
Walking
Roller skating/blading
Cross country skiing
Rowing
Bicycling
It’s important to remember that you can exercise indoors and outdoors – whichever is more fun,
convenient and whichever you’re more likely to do. If you enjoy going to the gym and watching your
favorite show while you’re on the elliptical, then have fun! If you enjoy walking with friends every
morning then have fun!
Choose aerobic activities that you enjoy.
Note: Some activities aren’t instantly enjoyable. They may be uncomfortable or difficult to learn. For
example, if you decide that you’re going to start running. Please give yourself time to embrace the new
activity. Ease into it slowly. Rotate walking and running when you go out until you’re comfortable
running the full time. Listen to music to help make the outing more fun. Run with friends.
Before you move onto the next step, create an ideal aerobic fitness goal and smaller goals to support your success. Embrace aerobic exercise this month and have fun doing it!
Weight Loss Strategy # 6 Weight Bearing Exercise & Flexibility
Okay, we’ve talked about aerobic exercise. There are two other forms of exercise to adapt into your
lifestyle. The first is weight bearing exercise and the second is flexibility.
Weight bearing exercise makes your bones stronger. It also builds muscle and in case you haven’t heard,
muscle burns calories faster than fat. The more muscle you build the faster your metabolism will be – the more calories you’ll burn all day long.
Add two days of weight bearing exercise to your lifestyle. You can incorporate strength training and
aerobic training into a single workout if you prefer to have off days. However, it may be easier to create a habit of exercising every day than exercising just three or four days a week.
Again, strength training and weight bearing exercise should be fun. Here are some possibilities to
consider:
Rock climbing
Yoga
Lifting weights
Stair steppers
Hiking
Push-ups/pull-ups
Low impact dancing, walking or jogging are also weight bearing exercises.
You can do a number of weight bearing exercises right in your home. You can grab an exercise ball and
do squats, lunges and pushups. Create a routine that you can do in the morning, at your desk, at the gym or at home in the evenings. Make weight bearing fitness a part of your life.
Another important element of fitness is flexibility. When you take time to stretch before and after a
workout you’re improving your body’s overall health and ability to perform.
Weight Loss Strategy # 7 Healthy Meals
Okay, we’ve now come to the “diet” part of your weight loss program. Only instead of dieting which
brings to mind restriction, cravings, and deprivation you’re going to focus on eating healthy meals and
moderation.
It goes right back to creating smaller goals to support your larger goal. You are hopefully eating more
new vegetables, grains, fruits and proteins. It’s now time to take a look at each meal you eat.
It’s also time to eat more frequently.
Yep, instead of three square meals a day you’re going to eat five or six smaller meals each day. This
approach will eliminate any cravings. It’ll also help balance your blood sugar for more energy all day
long.
Each meal/snack should contain:
Whole grains
Lean protein
Vegetables and/or fruit
Take a look at what you normally eat each day. In fact, consider simply tracking what you eat for a week.
Then take a look at how you can modify your diet to achieve your weight loss goals.
For example, if you normally don’t eat breakfast and have a muffin and coffee around ten o’clock then
you’re setting yourself up for disaster. It’s a high calorie, high blood sugar approach and the end result will be sugar cravings and an energy plummet.
Instead, you might have a smoothie for breakfast with fruit and low fat yogurt.
Then for a snack you could have nuts or a protein bar.
Calorie Content
We’ve already mentioned that a pound is 3500 calories and in order to lose weight you have to burn more
than you eat. That means tracking how many calories you eat and planning accordingly.
If you’re on an 1800 calorie diet (that’s 1500 calories and 300 calories from exercise) then you know you can eat 6 meals/snacks of 300 calories each. A handful of nuts for a snack are approximately 100 calories.
An egg white omelet with piece of whole grain toast is approximately 200 calories.
At this point you’re not being asked to track everything but to simply be aware of what you’re eating and to start planning how you eat each day. It’s about creating an awareness of the food you put into your
body.
It’s about modifying your eating habits to support health and weight loss.
Start reducing and eliminating the items in your diet and lifestyle that don’t support your success. We’re talking about:
Sugary foods
Starchy foods
Foods that are high in saturated fat and calories
Sugary drinks/high calorie drinks
Don’t – Eliminate your favorite foods from your life. Restriction and deprivation create resistance, anger and frustration.
Do – Reduce your intake of your favorite foods and find new favorite foods that are healthy for you. For example, do you love chocolate? Great. Instead of eating a candy bar each day reward yourself at the end of the day with a dark chocolate covered strawberry or two.
Weight loss for life is about creating new habits. It’s about finding new foods to love, loving your body and changing how you look at food. When you choose foods that support your health you’re choosing to
love your body and to treat it with respect and gratitude. You’re also choosing to lose weight and keep it off for life.
Weight Loss Strategy # 8 Supportive Environment
When your environment supports you to succeed, you’ll have a much easier time adopting these new
healthy lifestyle habits. The transition may actually seem almost effortless.
There are two elements to a supportive environment. There is the environment you create for yourself and there are the people around you.
The Environment You Create for Yourself
It’s very easy to inadvertently make things harder for yourself. For example, if you’re trying to reduce sugary snacks from your diet the last thing you want to do is have them in your pantry. Yet that’s exactly what many people do.
You’re going to want to take a look around your home, office and even your car and eliminate the things
that can hinder your success.
Sometimes it is as simple as throwing away those Oreos and not buying them anymore. Other times it’s
more strategic. For example, changing the way you drive to work so you don’t pass the McDonalds where
you used to get breakfast. Modify your environment to support your success.
The Environment Others Create for You
The people you surround yourself with can also have an impact on your success. Your friends, family and
loved ones are going to fall into two categories:
Supporters
Distracters
The supporters are those who are 100% behind your efforts to lose weight and improve your health. They
may make changes with you or they may simply be a supportive shoulder to lean on. These are good
people to have around you!
Distracters are a bit more of a challenge. They may oppose your weight loss goals outright or they may
simply be unsupportive.
Distracters need to be dealt with. However, how you deal with them is up to you. You can reduce your
contact with these people. You can communicate your desire for their support and hope that they are
receptive. You can ignore them.
How you deal with the person depends on their proximity and importance in your life. For example , if a
coworker is always brining doughnuts and offering you one to be a pain then you can ignore them.
However, if you live with someone who is filling your home with doughnuts and behaving in an
unsupportive manner you may have to take different actions.
Communication is essential here. Your loved ones need to know that you need their support. There are
some cases where your loved ones may fear your weight loss. This is normal. It means change for them.
They may feel insecure about their own weight and relationship with you. Counseling may be required if
you find yourself in this situation and your loved one is unwilling to support you or join you in your quest for better health.
Weight Loss Strategy # 9 Technology Delivers
Throughout this report we’ve discussed a few things that technology can actually make a whole lot easier.
And there are some truly remarkable technologies you can adopt into your new healthy lifestyle.
They fall under a three primary categories:
Motivation
Tracking
Exercise
Motivation
Technology has come a long way. You can now find technology that helps you get and stay motivated to
exercise and lose weight. For example, there are social networking sites and applications that enable you to embrace the support of likeminded individuals. You can post your exercise success, weight loss
success and your challenges and struggles.
For example:
Traineo.com
Weightlossbuddy.com
IntroPLAY.com
PeerTrainer.com
dailymile.com
There are also wonderful gadgets you can use for motivation. The iPod has an application that not only
tracks your effort level and distance but also chimes in to offer motivating messages as you work out.
You can use these gadgets and social networking applications and sites to get motivated and push toward
your weight loss success.
Tracking
Tracking your habits and information may seem a bit obsessive to some. However, it’s very difficult to
know when you’ve achieved success if you’re not tracking at least some information. For example, if you
want to lose a pound a week how are you going to know if you’re successful unless you get on the scale,
weigh yourself and write down the results?
Additionally, tracking information can help you plan appropriately. It can also help motivate you.
For example, take a basic calorie counting application for your mobile device. You can track the number
of calories you consume and burn. This helps you make educated decisions about what you eat that day.
You can take a look at the remaining calories you have for the day and know if it’s okay to eat the whole piece of cake or just take a bite.
Many calorie tracking applications also graph your success. You can watch your weight loss success and
sneak a peek at your success any time you want.
Now there are many different types of tracking devices and applications. We mentioned the calorie
counter application for mobile devices like the iPod. You can also track your success online with tools
like FitDay.com. many of these sites and services are free.
Additionally, there are gadgets that you can wear that track your fitness. For example a simple pedometer can help you achieve the recommended 10,000 steps a day. A gadget like the FitBit can help you track
steps and calories burned.
Tracking your calories consumed and burned has proven to be an effective means of losing weight and
achieving a healthy lifestyle. It may take a few weeks for the habit of tracking your information to
become ingrained but its well worth the effort. You’re going to be amazed at how your life changes once
you know the nitty gritty about how much you really eat and how much you really burn each day.
Exercise
Finally, technology has made exercising easier than ever. From the fun exercising games you can now
play at home to exercise programs online and via podcast there’s just no reason to not exercise. You can log onto a yoga, aerobic or dance website and exercise from your laptop. You can download a Podrunner
podcast and have motivational music to work out to that matches your target heart rate. You can challenge your friend or family member to a Wii fit duel and see who burns the most calories.
Technology is amazing. Take a look at the technology available to you and embrace it in your new fit
lifestyle. Use technology to help achieve your fitness and weight loss goals.
Weight Loss Strategy # 10 Preparedness
It’s assumed that there are going to be days that challenge your new lifestyle and habits. Extremely
stressful days for example will challenge you to not fall back into your old ways of drive thru food or
sugary snacks. A meeting that goes over and leaves you feeling extremely hungry will challenge you to
skip the easy solution – the vending machine right around the corner, and instead make healthy choices.
This is where being prepared can make all the difference. Your definition of being prepared depends on
your personality. Some people will decide to plan all of their meals in advance, shop according to a list and be extremely strict about their meal choices.
Preparation to someone else may mean purchasing a box of healthy meal bars for those unexpected food
emergencies and keeping bars in their car, in their desk and in their briefcase or purse.
Preparation to someone may mean buying a treadmill for their home so if workout plans fall through they
can still get a workout when they get home.
Someone else may simply modify their diet that day to account for the fewer calories burned.
You’ll need to define how you want to be prepared for life’s little surprises. How are you going to meet those challenges and still stay on track to achieve your weight loss goals?
Weight Loss Strategy # 11Celebrating Your Successes and Accepting Your
Setbacks
One of the best ways to get and stay motivated is to reward yourself. It’s best if these rewards are not food related. Food related goals set up a mindset of deprivation. Instead, eat the foods you want in moderation and create other rewards for your success.
Here are some reward ideas to consider:
New clothes for your new body
Night out with a friend or loved one
A bubble bath
A massage
A trip somewhere fun
Jewelry
Attending a sporting event
A new technology or gadget
Of course there will also be some days that just aren’t as successful, especially in the beginning. How are you going to handle these? If you’ve established a positive mindset then you’ll handle the setbacks with love and patience. You’ll acknowledge the mistake, assess why you made it and make adjustments to
your plan and approach so they don’t happen again.
If you’re struggling with mindset then you’ll likely beat yourself up. This causes you to feel even worse about yourself and destructive habits will return. When you experience setbacks take note of them and
move forward positively and with love.
Weight Loss Strategy # 12 Meditation/Journaling
We’ve reached the last weight loss for life strategy and habit. Mediation and journaling both help you stay centered focused on your goals and positive. Meditation can be difficult for many people to embrace.
If you don’t like the idea of sitting still and listening to your breath for five minutes or more then consider walking meditation or guided meditation. Both are a bit more active and forgiving.
Journaling can go hand in hand with your gratitude practice. Journal about your successes and struggles
for the day. Simply expressing yourself can help you stay motivated and positive. It can also help you
gain insight about your health habits and struggles. And journaling can help you get some things off your chest and off your mind without having to experience conflict with others.
It’s a good stress reliever! When you’re able to freely express yourself without judgment or reservation you’re able to tap into those emotions that may sometimes cause you to turn to food. You’re able to gain insight and control over your life in a very healthy and positive way.
Conclusion
Over the course of the past nineteen pages we’ve discussed twelve strategies to losing weight and keeping it off for life. You may have found many of these strategies or habits a bit surprising. However, rest
assured that each and every one supports you to live your best and healthiest life.
We want you to succeed! Losing weight can be accomplished by exercising four hours a day and eating
only celery and iceberg lettuce. However, the weight won’t stay off and the process will be excruciating.
We want you to be healthy from head to toe and to stay healthy and that means lifestyle changes. It means new habits. Love yourself, adopt these habits with a whole heart but take it slow. One habit a month is a good goal. As you incorporate each new healthy habit you’ll further enhance your weight loss. Best of al , it’ll stay off!
Please Visit Beginner’s Fitness Programs which provides useful information to people who want to start healthy life style.
Appendix: Fast Food — The Addiction
While researching this very interesting topic at length, one of the first things that jumped out at me and almost literally took my breath away was when I read the following words: fast food is as addictive as
heroin and that studies have actually proven that.
As I read on I discovered that scientists have already proven that there are links between drug and fast food addictions and that now there is even more research indicating that junk food is wiring our brains for such cravings.
One such study that was published in Nature Neuroscience likened the affects of high fat and
high calorie foods (if you can really call that food!) to those of heroin or even cocaine at least in
animals thus far. Ok so for now at least I can take a deep breath and not worry that if I all of a
sudden crave a Burger King cheeseburger that I am at most certainly at risk of becoming a
hard-core drug addict!
The researchers showed that the pleasure center in a rat's brain had become very over
stimulated by the fast food that is in fact similar to a cocaine addict's binge. As time went by,
their pleasure centers became so overloaded that that these rats required more and more food
to feel "normal" according to Paul H. Kenny, who is an associate professor of molecular
therapeutics at the Scripps Research Institute. I had to stop to ponder just for a moment what
exactly constitutes a rat's feeling of "normalcy"?!
Throughout the study, Kenny and his co-author studied three groups of lab rats for a total of
forty days. The first group ate nothing but healthy food. The second group ate a small amount
of junk food while the third group was given free rein to gorge upon both high fat and high
caloric foods and not surprisingly, this last group of rats became obese. The brains of the
obese rats had actually changed. The problem is that the body is remarkably adaptable to
change. Kenny said in a press release that "when the animal over stimulates its brain pleasure
centers with highly palatable food, the systems adapt by decreasing their activity.
However, now the animal needs constant stimulation from palatable food to prevent a persistent
state of negative reward." During the study, the rats had completely lost control over the ability to regulate whether they were indeed hungry and often even ate despite the electric shocks that
were administered to them. When these obese rats were put onto a regular and healthy diet,
they refused to eat and ended up starving themselves for two weeks (anorexic rats?!)
In yet a different study, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in NYC, New York
discovered that feeding rats a diet that is high in calories, saturated fat and sugar (which is
basically what you will find in most typical fast food items), actually lowered the rats' ability to
respond to leptin. Leptin is a hormone that helps monitor eating behavior by controlling how full
one feels. As the rats grew fatter and fatter, the leptin levels in their bodies increased which
signaled that they were very dangerously close to starvation. They continued in their cycle of
overeating and gaining weight.
Those who have gone through or are going through the yo-yo diet syndrome face very similar
problems as those who are literally going through withdrawals do, as some researchers from
Boston University proved recently. According to Pietro Cottone, an assistant professor in the
Laboratory of Addictive Disorders at Boston University, those people who diet tend to seek out
those foods that help them avoid the negative feelings that they experience when they are
deprived of their favorite comfort foods. According to Kenny, "These findings confirm what we
and many others have suspected, that over-consumption of highly pleasurable food triggers
addiction-like neuroadaptive responses in brain reward circuitries, driving the development of
compulsive eating." Drug addiction and obesity seem to have mechanisms in common.
In line with theories that explain both obesity and addiction, the dopamine receptors or D2 levels
in the brains were drastically reduced within the animals that had become obese, which is quite
similar to reports made that have shown what takes place within a human drug addict.
This addictive behavior began nearly from the minute that they reduced the dopamine receptors
and the day after the animals were given access to palatable food, "their brains changed into a
state that was consistent with an animal that had been overeating for several weeks. The
animals also became compulsive in their eating behaviors almost immediately." To date, this
data gives strong support to the theory that over indulging in palatable food does at times
develop into a habit of doing so in much the same way an addict abuses drugs.
The Scripps Research Institute is one of the world's largest non-profit, independent biomedical
research organizations at the forefront of basic biomedical science, which seeks to fully,
understand the fundamental processes of life. Scripps Research is internationally known and
recognized for its discoveries in immunology, chemistry, cellular and molecular biology,
neurosciences, autoimmune cardiovascular and infectious diseases and synthetic vaccine
development.
Established in 1961 it employs approximately 3,000 administrative and technical support
personnel, doctoral degree graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and scientists. Scripps
Research is located in La Jolla, California and include Scripps, Florida whose researchers focus
on biomedical basic science, technology development and drug discovery. Scripps Florida is
located in Jupiter, Florida.
The Health Hazards of Fast Food Addiction: What Your Body Is Going
Through.
There are so many serious health risks associated with eating at fast food restaurants (and
obviously the risks increase by what you eat there and how often) that it is hard to know exactly
where to start. This is quite a serious topic and one that should not skipped over; not even just
one important piece of knowledge that can help save not only yourself from diseases but also
your children if you have any, or even children of your friends, family members etc. Eating at
McDonalds for one example did not start for most of us at the age of 25 or 30. This bad habit
probably started more at about the age of 5 years old or thereabouts. I would dare say there is
probably not one child at that age or older who would not know what a "happy meal" is, where
they can order one from and which toy is hot that week!
Out of all the horrors of the epidemic of obesity, childhood obesity is at an all-time high and is
extremely terrifying. Almost one out of every three children in America is now either obese or at
least fits the overweight category and unfortunately will deal with those consequences for the
rest of their lives if they continue to eat the way they are now. Some of these children are more
likely to remain heavy into their adulthood and develop serious complications of diseases that
are diet-related from early on in life.
I would have to make an educated guess that the pattern will continue more so if a.) their
parents eat just as badly and allow their kids to eat the same horrible food choices or b.) their
friends have poor eating choices. Peer pressure and influence in childhood and youth is not
strictly wrapped up in drugs and alcohol as most of us have been taught to believe, but also in
the way their friends choose to eat with unhealthy food choices and in the amounts of those
poor choices as well.
Some people can probably get away with the occasional trip to a fast food restaurant say once a
month or maybe even once a week, depending of course on what they order and how much.
Sometimes I can't help but wonder if I am the only one who has the common sense and will
power to drive through a Burger King for one example and only order something as simple as a
cheeseburger. It seems that many people I know feel almost compelled to think that they "must"
order a sandwich, fries and/or onion rings, a sugary fountain drink and perhaps even a dessert!
Some of the blame for this could be the intriguing sense of saving money on the so-called value
meals or even worse, the super-sized value meals. I honestly cannot remember the last time I
visited a fast food restaurant and ordered their drinks or desserts or even their entire package
deal. That could be one way to allow for some fast food on rare occasions without eating an
entire day's worth of calories in just one meal (sandwich, fries, drink and maybe even a
dessert). It is very easy for me to just order a sandwich and drive away happy! It could also be
that I am not a fan of fountain drinks and am picky about the side food orders they have
available to choose from.
So let's get back to the health risks associated with a steady supply of fast foods. Diet-related
diseases are occurring in children at younger and younger ages now more than ever before.
Back in the 70s it was quite unusual to see a child with type 2 diabetes; it was called adult-onset
diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control is predicting that one out of every three children born
in the year 2000 is at risk of developing diabetes. Fatty liver disease is also becoming more and
more common in adolescents as is the thickening of the arteries, which is usually seen in adults
in their 40s. Young kids are also developing kidney stones from the massive amounts of salt
that come with fast foods in particular.
Heart disease is not to be overlooked nor taken lightly as it is one of the deadliest and most
common diseases from obesity that can be blamed greatly on fast food, primarily from the high
levels of bad cholesterol and low levels of good cholesterol found in such bad foods.
Polycystic ovary syndrome is a main cause in female infertility and women who are obese have
a much greater chance of developing this disorder. This disease can also result in excessive
growth of hair and irregular menstrual periods. Sleep apnea, which can cause you to stop
breathing while sleeping, disrupts normal sleep cycles and can keep you from adequate sleep
and result in fatigue in the daytime. Those who are overweight or obese are at greater risk from
suffering from sleep apnea.
The list of serious risks continues with arthritis-even in children. This is a condition that results
from strains on the joints for extended periods of time. Extra or excessive weight definitely
causes the strain and can be one of the culprits for why even younger people are suffering from
this as well as adults. Respiratory problems can also develop in obese people. The excessive
weight basically forces your lungs to work much harder in order for them to get the oxygen that
is required in a timely fashion. Asthma is also more common in obese humans.
Do This 60 Seconds Dental Trick Before
Going to Bed Tonight To Rebuild Your Teeth
and Gums And Get Rid of Tooth Decay
Obesity also gives way for liver damage since it's difficult for the body to live with obesity
especially from fast foods because these foods often don't get appropriately distributed. When
that happens fat can then build up around the liver, resulting in inflammation, scarring and
permanent damage. Lastly, one of the most serious diseases that can develop is a stroke.
When arteries get blocked from carrying blood to the brain, a stroke is likely to occur. These
blockages are much more likely to happen in obese people as they usually have both high blood
pressure and high cholesterol, which contributes to these blockages.
The real key in most everything in life is moderation. Some people can eat fast food in
moderation and are fine; however if you or your children are not able to stick to moderation and
feel the need to eat fast foods numerous times a week-seek help before it is too late. Your body
will thank you for it!
Break The Addiction: Tips On Recovering From Eating Excessive Fast
Foods
I am fairly certain that the majority of people realize the dangers in eating fast foods and that the
more often they are consumed, the worse those dangers become. I certainly do not know the
exact percentages of people who eat at fast food restaurants once per month, once per week, a
few times per week or even daily. I have read about people that consume such unhealthy foods
roughly three to four times a week.
In fact, I know someone personally who is in great shape now but used to weigh over 300
pounds. Of course my first question was something along the lines of "how did you end up
reaching that amount of weight?" Not surprisingly it was basically all wrapped up in one
extremely bad and dangerous habit and that was eating fast foods three to four (or more) times
a week (and I believe his preference was McDonalds.)
He would eat not just a sandwich but threw in the fries-probably supersized-and the largest
sized sugary fountain drink they have available. There may have been more food added in that
mix but that is all that he confessed to eating. All this knowledge just makes me that much more
glad that I don't even really like McDonalds very well!
Whether someone is technically addicted to such horrible eating patterns, is just accustomed to
unhealthy routines in which driving by fast food places has now become a habit that one gives
in to, or is simply a cop-out for just being "too busy" to eat right, everyone has the ability to stop and make changes if they really want to.
Let's say that hypothetically you have a day where you will literally be driving the entire day, and
the only stops will be for overpriced gasoline and eating fast foods. Is that your only choice for
your meals? I beg to differ. There are many healthy foods and snacks that you can plan ahead
to bring with you on your long drive such as carrots, some nuts, healthy granola bars and
certain fruits for starters.
Even better yet, why not grab your cooler and fill it with ice or those frozen ice packs and then
fill it with healthy choices for meals. Some healthy sandwiches will last a long time especially in
a tightly enclosed cold cooler. Use your imagination and think of healthy foods to eat that will
not spoil. Now, is McDonalds really your "only choice" for a meal? If that was ever the case (say you had no food to pack from home), think ahead as to what the healthiest choices are at
McDonalds or whichever fast food places you might drive by.
Be prepared by going online to a few of your favorite places and picking out low calorie, high
fiber and high protein choices while disregarding the fatty, fried and greasy ones. Ask for their
written information if available that will show you clearly the better choices to make.
Besides just the above situation you might very rarely find yourself in, there is something you
can do to start making healthier choices and it is quite simple-start slowly cutting back on your
fast food restaurant visits.
To rid yourself of a possible addiction to fast food, start by determining exactly how many times
you are honestly going there each week. One easy way to do this is by keeping a food journal
for at least two weeks straight and write down how many meals you are consuming at fast food
restaurants. Once you have a good idea of how often you are eating out, cut back by one or
two visits each week. On those days you are cutting back, as alluded to above, pack quick and
healthy alternatives.
It can be as simple as just a handful of nuts (read up on which ones are better for you than
others) and a tasty piece of fruit-personally I think McIntosh apples are a very juicy and sweet
fruit that is barely known to my taste buds as healthy, but they most certainly are. Continue to
cut back on your fast food restaurant visits by one or two times per week until you have broken
the fast food habit.
Allow for some substitutions. A different approach used in breaking fast food addictions is to
bring a healthy item from home that can substitute for an unhealthy fast food item. For example
if you usually order a cheeseburger with fries on a daily basis, bring along a container of fruit or
even a salad to eat instead of those greasy fries that have no nutritional value to them
whatsoever.
That way you will still be able to enjoy your cheeseburger but will be eating healthier and
weaning yourself off of those disgusting, greasy and fatty French fries, not to mention just think
of how many excess calories you just saved your body from ingesting. You could quite possibly
even begin to feel better within just a week of making this small and doable change.
Think outside the box. This is a pretty easy change to make to help break your addiction to fast
food while still almost tricking yourself into believing you are still getting something tasty and
fast! Many grocery stores have prepared foods that are definitely healthier than many choices
at fast food places. Some even have a fresh soup and salad bar option that are quick and
sometimes even inexpensive.
However, although soup and salad sounds oh so healthy, keep a keen eye on which salad
dressing you pick out. If you pick one that is loaded with calories, sugar and fat you have
basically just defeated the whole purpose of this change in eating habits. A few really bad ones
to avoid are blue cheese, thousand island and any of one the ones labeled "creamy" to name
but a few.
The bottom line here is this: how important is it to you to start now - today - to become a
healthier individual who by making some necessary changes now can perhaps not only allow
you to live a longer and healthier life, but also to avoid some very serious and dangerous health
risks?
Fast Food and Healthy Alternative
Fast Food
Alternative Choice
Burger
Multi-grain Sandwich with low fat cheese/baked
chicken/baked fish with mustard or other none
oil-based source
Doughnuts
Whole grain muffins, bagels, English muffins
French Fries
Baked fires (white potato, sweet potato/yam)
Fried Chicken
Grilled or baked boneless chicken breast
Regular Soda
None-sugared none-caffeinated drink (such as
Crystal light pure (c))
Ice Cream
None-fat frozen yogurt (sugarless)
pizza
Thin crust pizza with low fat goat cheese and
vegetables
Please Visit Beginner’s Fitness Programs which provides useful information to people who want to start healthy life style
Copyrights Issue:- I am not the original writer of this knowledge base, original writers holds the copyright of these contents on my blogs or digital media, I am not taking any rights from its original writers ,as i have bought this information's from their selling pages and for the profit of readers or patients am herewith providing knowledge to them...all the credits goes to original writers of this content....
0 Comments