Looking For New Weight Loss Tips?

The problem with a quick, easy solution to losing weight is that it usually leads to quick, easy weight gain shortly thereafter. There are hundreds of weight loss tips out there, and you may be tired of hearing the same advice repeated over and over. The truth is, there are no new weight loss tips. The same honest truth of yesterday is the truth today. Losing weight requires that you change your eating habits, exercise more, and live a generally healthy lifestyle. A particular weight loss program can help you lose the initial pounds you need to shed, and give you advice on how to keep them off, but the rest is up to you. Going straight back to your old habits is not going to help you stay in shape, or stay healthy.

Before you choose a weight loss program, let's go through those tips one more time. This time, put them into practice - lose the weight, and keep it off.

1. Lose weight for the right reasons

Before you even look at a diet plan or exercise schedule, look at why you want to lose weight. If you want to improve your health, look and feel better - great! If you want to be able to play with your kids more, that's super. Trying to get your ex back, look better than the next door neighbour, or because your partner says you should - not so good. The best motivation to lose weight is to do it for yourself - nobody else. Health reasons should be foremost, because being overweight can cause health issues that will be with you for the rest of your life.

2. Choose a weight loss program carefully

You must be realistic when you choose how you are going to go about losing weight. Your lifestyle may not suit every type of program or diet, and choosing one that you cannot adjust to or cope with is setting yourself up for failure. Look at your current eating habits, level of physical activity, work schedule, family and social life.

Think realistically about how much change each of those areas can withstand. For example, if you do no exercise at all, you're going to struggle with a weight loss program that requires intense exercise from the get-go. If you eat out regularly, you'll need a diet that allows you a wider choice of food types to accommodate that. Counting calories can be time consuming, so if you have a busy schedule, you may want a diet that either lays it all out for you, or gives you more flexibility. Try not to be sucked in by the promise of losing a certain number of pounds in a specific time period - everyone loses weight at a different rate, and the only way to guarantee you will lose any weight is by following instructions to the letter.

3. Set realistic goals

This cannot be repeated enough. Setting goals that are nigh impossible to reach just sets you up for failure, disappointment and misery. Break your goal up into smaller, more achievable steps. Monthly or weekly goals are easier to achieve. Make sure that your goals represent a healthy weight loss - which most often means gradual weight loss leading to a healthy weight for your age, gender, height and body type.

4. Write it all down

Whether you call it a food diary or a success journal (personally I prefer the latter), get into the habit of recording your eating habits - and preferably start doing this before you go on a weight loss program. Record what you eat, when you eat - and why you eat. Why you eat will help you identify what triggers the unhealthy eating habits that may have led to your weight gain. Boredom, loneliness, anger, frustration and stress can often lead us to unhealthy snacks and comfort food, even though we know it's not good for us. Use your diary or journal to record your goals, and your progress.

5. Program for success, but expect some bad days

Forget about all the diets you've been on in the past! Program yourself for success on this one, but accept that there will be bad days - and even bad weeks. Nobody is perfect, and you will have a day or two where it just gets too much for you. You may skip a workout, or find yourself unable to resist the donuts your colleague brought to work. It's okay to slip up! It is NOT okay to give up. One bad day, one poor decision, or even a string of them, does not mean you have failed. It just means you had a bad day. Tomorrow does not have to be the same, so just get started right away.

6. Get support

Whether it's friends, family or an online group, make sure you have people to support and encourage you - especially on those bad days. There are thousands of people in online groups who share their experiences with different diets and weight loss programs, have been through the same difficulties you may be facing, and many who have succeeded. Read their stories, chat to them, and learn from their mistakes.

7. Exercise

Whether you like it or not, some form of physical activity must be included in a healthy lifestyle. Not only does it help you lose weight, but it will help you maintain the weight loss. Of course, the health benefits are a big factor - even if you're thin, exercise is good for you. You will find that the usual recommendation is between 30 and 45 minutes of exercise three times a week. Recent research indicates that those thirty minutes can be broken up into three 10 minutes sessions, with the same results. 10 minutes is often easier to fit into a busy schedule, and the exercise you do will keep your metabolism boosted throughout the day. Your exercise program should involve activities that you enjoy doing. If you don't enjoy it, you're going to find any excuse not to do it, or be miserable when you are. One of the three factors most likely to lead to successful weight loss is having home exercise equipment, so that may be an avenue to investigate too.

8. Eating

Whether you are following a specific diet plan, counting calories, or just cutting down on the 'bad' food, there are a couple of things that can help you.

Eat slowly. It takes 20 minutes from the time you start eating, for your brain to register feelings of fullness. If you gulp your food down in less time, you won't know you're too full until it's too late. Stop eating when you feel satisfied - not full.

Watch those portions - especially when you are eating out. Eat half the meal and take the rest home in a take out box. At home, use smaller plates - a great way to make sure you don't serve too much, but your plate will still look nice and full.

Go easy on the salt, limit high fat foods, replace red meat with lean poultry and fish, and drink lots of water. Don't skip meals, especially breakfast, as that's the meal that wakes up your metabolism and gets it going for the rest of the day.

9. Chart your progress

Keeping track of your progress, including any slow or stalled loss periods, will let you see what helps you to succeed, what causes problems, and when to celebrate. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, even if they are following the exact same plan as you. Everyone loses weight at a different rate, due to metabolism, muscle tone and body type differences.

If your progress has stalled, particularly towards the end of your diet, you may have hit a plateau. The best way to overcome this is to change something. Exercise in the mornings instead of the evenings, swop carbs for proteins and vice versa in a few meals, or even take a few days break altogether. A plateau means your body has settled into a routine, and often all it needs is a little jolt to get it working at losing weight again.

10. Maintain, maintain, maintain!

It is common sense that once you've lost weight, going back to your old habits will bring the weight back on, but so many fall into that trap. Either their diet was so radical it is impossible to continue in real life, or the weight loss program failed to explain how the dietary changes made to lose weight can be adapted to maintain your new weight. After your 'diet' is finished, you should have a better idea of what to eat, when to eat, and how to eat it. You should be feeling the benefits of regular exercise, and in fact be able to do more exercise because you are now fitter and stronger. Adapting your weight loss program to a weight loss maintenance program and a new healthy lifestyle should be a priority.

Although these tips may seem like common sense, old hat or just another repetition, that doesn't mean you'll take heed. Most of us know when we're eating the wrong food or not exercising enough, but that isn't always enough. You have to take action in order to change your life, and there is no shortcut. A weight loss program can help you get the weight off, but you have to keep it off. It is not easy to lose weight, and no-one takes kindly to change, but if you want to improve your health and well-being, you are going to have to put some effort into becoming healthy. The results will, however, definitely be worth it.

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Over 40 and Want to Lose Weight? 2 Simple Steps

Have you reached that age when it becomes harder to lose weight? Has your weight yo-yoed for years, or do you just want to maintain your ideal shape for life?

 Whether you are very overweight, or just overweight, none of us started this way, most of us become like this through years of unbalanced eating, so now it's time to do things differently as let's face it everything we have tried in the past has not worked, at least not in the long run. Those of us who are over 40 and want to lose weight aren't usually after a short term solution; we want to stay slim for years to come in order to be healthier and fitter and let's face it... to look nicer and younger; In order to lose weight when we're over 40 and stay slim and healthy, we need to change the way we eat and the way we think.

Step 1. Change your Mindset 

Find a photo of yourself taken at your fattest. Think back and you will probably recall that the diet you undertook back then to lose weight was very strict, which led to feelings of deprivation which in turn set you on an emotional roller coaster when it came to food. Consequently any diet you undertook after that time would have been governed by these earlier feelings, which probably led to a cycle of initial weight loss, followed by an almost inevitable gain. It is therefore essential that you stop thinking in terms of "diet" and start thinking about eating healthily for life.

Many of us think that if we can control our hunger we can also control our eating. Rather than eat when we feel hungry we try and resist temptation till our next scheduled meal thus resulting in our sugar levels crashing so low that we are more likely to make the wrong choices when we finally eat. We should instead try and see food as the fuel our body needs, and eating as refuelling instead of potential diet failure.

Many of us turn to comfort eating when we experience negative emotions, such as loneliness, boredom, frustration and stress; this is especially relevant to us over 40's when life's changes, including hormone unbalances occur and leads us to indulge in foods such as chocolate, instead of dealing directly with the situation. When faced with these situations try and address the problem differently - instead of reaching out for that bar of chocolate go for a walk, it will help you forget about it and the fresh air will make you feel better; pick up the phone and talk to a friend, drink a cup of camomile tea, take up a hobby you enjoy to ease boredom and low self-esteem; do whatever it takes. Some of us might have overweight parents and have been overweight ourselves for as long as we can remember; this might have something to do with the fact that our parents always gave us extra large portions and we grew up thinking this was quite normal; It's about time we changed all this.

Step 2. Change your Lifetime Eating Habits

To effectively manage hunger, the key is to combine the three food groups ( carbohydrates, protein and fibre)at each meal; If what you eat satisfies more than just hunger, you are less likely to overeat. Try eating different textures of food together and aim to eat a variety of foods, in this way you will feel more satisfied. Try dividing a small sized dinner plate into three sections and putting one third protein, one third carbohydrates and one third fibre except for the evening meal when you should have half protein and the other half fruit or vegetable as you don't need so much carbohydrate for energy; In order to avoid low sugar levels, you should eat every three hours and ideally the same sort of amount every time; little and often is the new rule when you are over 40 and want to lose weight, rather than three large meals a day.

It is not a good idea to forbid yourself any foods because as soon as something is forbidden it becomes a must have! Allow yourself anything in moderation, just try to minimise sugar intake as this converts to glucose very rapidly and leads to hunger and cravings so try and avoid it as much as possible and you will greatly minimise any sweet cravings you might have; try brushing your teeth and the craving should go away; the other thing to be careful about is alcohol which is full of empty calories, so try and limit your intake to special occasions or week-ends.

Above all don't beat yourself up, there is no good or bad, you should know by now that the most valuable reward is losing weight and staying slim and healthy for life!

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Top Drinks For Weight Loss

Are you planning to lose weight the natural way? You might have been flooded with advice on the foods that you need to eat and avoid to get closer to your goals. You might find yourself spending too much time on the internet to check out some weight-reducing and tasty dishes to add to your diet everyday. Why should you focus only on your solid foods? Here is a list of some refreshing drinks that are not only tasty and healthy, but also help you burn your fats and get slimmer quickly.

1. Water

Water is the elixir of life! Needless to say, it is the first drink that you need to consume in ample amounts daily to flush out the toxins from your body. Drink adequate water before every meal, so that your appetite comes down to a great extent. Drink ice-cold water at least twice or thrice a day as it will help your body to burn fat to bring this water to body temperature.

2. Honey & Cinnamon

Mix one glass of honey and about half a spoon of cinnamon powder in a glass of normal water. Drink this daily in the morning before breakfast to enable quick weight loss. Never mix this drink in hot water as you will lose the goodness of honey and cinnamon when you do that. If you want to make this drink tastier, you can add half a spoon of lemon juice as well.

3. Green Tea

Green Tea is rich in antioxidants, and it helps to quicken your metabolism rate to a great extent. Make it a point to drink at least 3 to 5 cups of green tea per day so that toxins are flushed out from your body, and you lose weight naturally.

4. Black Coffee

If you cannot skip your daily dose of coffee, make it black instead. Black coffee is loaded with thermogenesis, an element that is great for your metabolism rate. Ensure that you don't add sugar in this, for best results.

5. Fresh juices of vegetables

How many times do you drink juices at shops that claim to make pure varieties? In reality, all stalls use a lot of sugars and processed ingredients to make their juices and crushes. You can easily prepare fresh and pure juices at home if you want to lose weight naturally. Make a juice of few tomatoes and carrots and add dashes of any of your preferences (lime, ginger, mint, etc.). This tasty drink will give you enough nutrients to be sustained throughout the day.

6. Dates and Banana

If you want to reduce your appetite to a great extent so that you can eat very little food, you should make yourself a drink of dates and banana in the morning. Blend a few dates, ripe banana, some almond milk and a spoon of cinnamon powder to make a tasty juice and have it after breakfast. This will increase your metabolism rate considerably and will keep you energetic & free from hunger throughout the day.

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Exercise Vs Diet For Weight Loss

 When it comes to fat burning, the first thing that we think of is which route to take, do we exercise, or do we go on a diet, or do we do a combination of them both. The traditional advice to burning fat is to eat less and to move more.

There is a ton of things to do to burn fat however we are constrained by our finite resources such as time and money. Weight gain and loss revolve around caloric expenditure and consumption.

Diet Only Route

This is the easiest route because we are going to be eating anyway so we might as well cut out the calories in our meal. For most people cutting out calories is easier than burning them off but what we really want is burn fat and not to lose muscle. When we take the diet only route that is exactly what happens, not only do we burn fat but we also lose muscle as well.

When most people hear the word "diet" they think of grilled chicken and salad only, however this is an extreme diet that you probably won't have to commit yourself to. You might want to try a more balanced diet that includes high fibre and a variety of colours.

The diets with the fastest results are the low carb diets which make them the most popular, but they are difficult to sustain. Unfortunately though, most people on a diet only program tend to gain the lost weight back within two years.

Exercise Only Route

Exercise is an important part of weight loss, without it, part of the weight loss would involve muscle loss and not just fat loss. The problem with an exercise only plan is that you could possibly end up eating more and thus gaining extra unwanted weight. However those who do exercise regularly tend to keep the weight off for longer than those who don't exercise.

Exercising for just twenty minutes can boost your mood for up to 12 hours and can even help treating people with depression. Exercise has many benefits like reduced stress and better sleep at night. The most important benefit of exercise is that it increases the rate at which your body burns fat.

Muscle tends to take up less space than fat so even though you'll gain muscle weight you will defiantly look and feel better.

A Combination of both Exercising and Dieting

This is probably the best route to take.

The great thing about this approach is that dieting and exercising help to complement each other. The general rule is that weight loss should be 75% diet and 25% exercise. The important thing to remember is that dieting initially helps the process of weight loss but exercising helps keep the weight off.

Remember that you can't out exercise a bad diet!

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Diet Vs Exercise -Which Is More Important?

What’s better for weight loss: Diet or Exercise?

You want what millions of other people ‘do’ to lose weight. Whether you want to trim off extra pounds so you’ll feel better, look better, or be better prepared to tackle whatever demands come your way, you probably want to find the most efficient way to do it.

Well, with this information, you can figure out if you should put your emphasis on diet or exercise to get the results you want.

Best Way to Lose Weight Quickly

                                     

While fad diets have tried their best to malign the fine name of dieting, proper diet continues to be a vital way to lose weight.

                                Food for Weight Loss

In fact, research has shown that if you’re only going to do one thing in your journey to weight loss, it should be dieting. What does dieting mean exactly?

It means taking very careful note of every bite you put in your mouth. But you can’t stop there. Because paying attention to what you eat isn’t going to make you lose an ounce of weight. You’ve got to take note of it and then reduce the number of calories you consume. If you want to lose even more faster, you’ll even want to make sure your calories are good calories. In other words, you can’t eat just You’ll want to go with fresh fruits and vegetables, lean protein sources, and lots and lots of water.

Exercise hasn’t lost its place in the race for weight loss. Why? Because savvy people realize you’ve got to hit the gym if you’re going to maximize your weight loss. The best technique for weight loss is to burn more calories than you take in, and exercise is your golden ticket for shredding calories.

                                     Exercises for Weight Loss

There are other reasons exercise rocks in the world of weight loss. It is the best way to ensure your weight you drop is fat and not muscle. Also, when you exercise, your muscles tone up and grow stronger.

Who Wins the Battle?

Food and Exercises for Weight Loss

More than likely, you read this hoping that exercise alone would help you lose weight because you hate the idea of watching what you eat. Or maybe you’re just the opposite, and you prefer to watch your diet but absolutely loathe exercise.

If you’re not willing to eat right and exercise, the success you see today will be gone tomorrow. Try as you might, one of these ingredients alone is not enough to help you lose weight, keep it off, and have an overall healthy lifestyle.

So stop pitting diet against exercise and do both. Your good health and more fit self await.

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3 Easy Steps to Fast and Lasting Weight Loss

3 Steps To Lose Weight That Will Last

When it comes to losing weight there are no magic pills or secret diets that can help you reach your weight loss goals. But you can achieve your goals with these 3 steps to help lose weight.

Like most things in life losing weight (a lot of weight) boils down to conscious effort, discipline, determination and perseverance.

Losing 10, 20, 50 or 100 pounds or more all comes back to what you do on a daily basis. If you do what you're supposed to do (eat right + exercise) day in a day out you will eventually lose all the weight you want.

However, if you throw caution to the wind and don't do what you're supposed to do then you may never see your weight loss dreams come true. This my friend is the saddest scenario there is.

If you're bored of being fat, if your tired of being overweight, if your ready to start your new life today then hold on because I am about to give you the simple yet extremely effective weight loss plan you've been waiting for.

Are you ready? I am going to tell you in no uncertain terms what you have to do to lose all the weight you want in 3 easy to do steps. However, in order for this to work you must maintain your focus and discipline everyday to keep doing the steps until you reach your desired results.

Even if you falter and veer off your weight loss track, it's OK. If you are able to quickly get back on track you will overtime, reap the benefits of dramatic weight loss and improved health.

And now, without further adieu here are your 3 basic steps to weight loss...

1. EAT LESS

2. EAT BETTER

3. EXERCISE

There they are. What do you think? A little anti-climatic, huh? Maybe you were expecting more... Well, let me tell you if you are able to grasp and implement this powerfully safe and effective weight loss plan is you will never again have to spend another unnecessary dime on weight loss products that don't work.

You see, your body is a fine tuned weight loss management machine. If you follow the right plan and give your body only what it needs to survive it will do all the hard work for you.

Given enough time and following the 3 steps above you can lose tens and even hundreds of pounds without starving yourself or resorting to bogus weight loss pills or dangerous body sculpting surgeries.

Now, this is not to say that the road to significant weight loss will be easy or that you will not have to suffer a bit to reach your desired results. There will be days when you feel like throwing in the towel and giving up.

On those days you might just cave into your undeniable cravings and go crazy at your local all you can eat artery clogging buffet. But hey,that's OK. You're human. Sometimes you have to go a little nuts to get back on track.

However, if you are truly committed to reaching even your most seemingly unattainable weight loss goals you can and will do it by following the plan above. Now, for your benefit let's go a little deeper into each step of the plan.

1. EAT LESS

There is really no doubt about it. If you want to lose weight you have to start eating less. You have to create a calorie

deficiency in order for you body to start shedding pounds.

If you do not begin to limit how much food you take in no amount of exercise will help you reach your goals. Eating less of your favorite greasy, fat filled foods will be the quickest way to dramatic weight loss.

It really doesn't matter how much weight you have to lose. Unless you take control of both your conscious and unconscious eating habits you'll be hard pressed to lose even one pound.

No, you have to start cutting back on the amount of food you are used to eating. I've heard of stories where people would go to Mc Donald's and pack away two Super Sized Big Mac Meals.

Obviously, this is way too much. In this situation even cutting down to one Super Size meal would be an improvement. But, as we will see in our next step, a better plan would be to do away with the Super Size meal all-together and start eating better.

2. EAT BETTER

As the saying goes, "We are what we eat." If we eat crap, guess what? However, if we learn to eat well then not only will our waistline thank us for it but we'll also feel better about ourselves to boot.

One of the quickest changes you can make to your diet when trying to lose weight is to ditch all the junk food you may be used to eating (chips, sodas, pizzas, donuts, cookies, etc) and start eating more vegetables.

Now, I know what you might be thinking. You may still be traumatized by your mother not letting you get up from the dinner table until you finished all your broccoli but let me tell you, your mother was right.

If you can fill half your plate at every meal with high fiber and nutrient packed vegetables you are well on your way to significant and long lasting weight loss. This is probably one of the simplest things you can do to really kickstart your weight loss journey.

While it might not be easy to start eating vegetables at every meal the sooner you begin the better off you'll be and the quicker the weight will start to melt off your body.

3. EXERCISE

In order to kick your weight loss adventure into high gear you have to get your body moving. I don't care if you call it working out, exercising, aerobics or whatever the point is you have to do something to get your heart rate up and your sweat glands working overtime.

Exercise is the key to sustainable, long lasting and real weight loss. For every pound you lose by eating right and exercising that is one more pound that will never come back to haunt you.

Why? Because you now know the "secret" to safe and effective weight loss. If you ever feel yourself creeping back up on the dreaded scale o' fat all you have to do is put these 3 steps into action and watch as you stabilize and contradict any unwanted weight gain.

By exercising on a regular basis you are giving your body the energy boost it needs to ramp up your metabolism rate to start efficiently and effectively losing weight on a daily basis. I don't about you but that sounds pretty darn good to me.

The more you push yourself physically the faster you will see change in your body occur. You may not have to work out with a personal trainer everyday but you do need to do something.

Be it going for a walk, running, swimming, biking, hiking, or any other physical activity you like to do start doing it now. Don't spend another night on the couch watching the latest re-runs. Get your body moving and start losing weight today.

CONCLUSION

Losing weight (even a lot of weight) is not rocket science. So rest assured that anyone can do it, even you. However, it will require all the patience, discipline, determination and perseverance you can muster.

Start slow. Take it one day at a time. You may not reach your ideal weight in one week, one month or even one year but stick with it and reach it you will. By following the 3 steps above you too can become a success story like so many other before you.

So go forth and start losing all that unwanted weight that years of undisciplined living have left behind. Take control of your life starting today. Soon you'll be glad you did. When that day comes there will be no looking back.

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