So you want to lose weight to look better and feel better. You are not alone. You have the same desire and need as millions of others out there want to look better, feel better, live longer and in general have a better lifestyle once you take off the extra weight.
That said, if you are one of those who have lost weight, then put it back on, perhaps a more important question is how to you keep the weight off once you’ve lost it.
You’ve tried all the different diets. You’ve read all the books about losing 10 pounds before the big graduation, wedding or other big event coming up this weekend. If you’ve been through that insanity before, isn’t it time for a change of your lifestyle rather than another stretch of suffering through another diet and feeling worse than you did when you started?
So, what are the keys to losing weight?
There are four main elements to losing weight and keeping it off.
1. Following an exercise program
2. Increasing your metabolism
3. Changing your eating habits
4. Changing your lifestyle
1. Following an exercise program.
Starting a good exercise program is a great idea and one of the best ways to start changing your health and the way you look. You will gain three benefits from exercise.
1. You will burn calories during your work out.
2. You will increase your metabolism to burn more calories even when you are not working out.
3. You will build muscle that will make you look taller, leaner and healthier.
4. You will build muscles that will burn more calories than fat.
Your very first step should be to talk to your doctor about your health and your goals. It might save your life. Your next step should be to find a partner who will help you be more responsible to show up for a work out and to complete the work out. A work out partner should also make the work out more enjoyable. If you are not able to find a partner and do not feel you have the discipline to work out regularly, you may want to start your exercise program by paying a person personal coach for training and discipline. Most people need 21 days to make working out a habit, so hire them for at least the first 21 days. Check with your local YMCA or other gym for partners and coaches.
However, if you cannot afford to join a gym, don’t let that slow you down. You can still walk or run outside, or workout inside using video tapes or walk on a treadmill. If you don’t have money for work out tapes, you can rent them from the library. The bottom line is if you want to work out, you will find a way.
Finally, once you have your workout schedule working for you, offer to help someone else become disciplined to work out.
Helping others always helps you feel better as well. Give it a try!
2. Increasing your metabolism.
Plain and simple, exercising will increase your metabolism and will help you lose weight at all hours of the day, even at night when you are sleeping! Your metabolism is the amount of calories you burn during the day. Conversely, your body also has a built in system for self-survival in case of famine. If you don’t eat enough food, you can also reduce your metabolism
and make it harder to lose weight. We will talk more about that in just a moment.
3. Changing your eating habits.
You’re doing better now, but working out and increasing your metabolism is only a part of the solution. You still must change your eating habits. Have you found yourself doing this crazy? Are you eating a Granola bar for breakfast, a salad for lunch and then eating chocolate shakes and hamburgers from the drive through late at night on the way home from the gym? That won’t work! You are starving yourself and lowering your metabolism in the long run, and eating food late at night that will not get burned off and only makes you feel more miserable the next day when you look in the mirror or step on the scale.
Do you know that you are setting up yourself for failure? Your body is smart so smart that it knows if you are not giving it enough food, that there may be a problem, and you start to burn fewer calories. That will not help you look or feel better in the long run, so don’t try it in the short run.
4. Changing your lifestyle and your mindset.
The final way to change your body and the way you look and feel is to become more active. Walk the stairs to your office instead of taking the elevator. Park your car way from the rest of the cars at the mall so you walk a few extra steps. Go for a walk when you get home from school or work instead of turning on the TV or the computer. Ask your friends to join you for a game of horse in basketball. If that is not an option, take your basketball to a local park, be brave and ask someone to play a game of one on one there. They might have been feeling just like you and will be thankful to have the opportunity to exercise and perhaps make a new friend.
It’s all about changing your attitude one-step and one day at a time. Just remember you did not gain the weight in one day and you cannot take it off in one day. It is a series of steps that will lead to success. Another analogy is that it would be nice to make one large jump over a mountain, but in reality it takes many steps to get over the mountain, and it is possible. Most importantly, you just have to take that first step, starting right now, by reading this article again and then deciding to “Just do it!”
Article submitted by: Talking Health
Weight Loss Programs Reviews
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May 28 2008 | weightlossprograms.servicesite9.com | No Comments »
Nowadays, there are many weight loss programs catering to both men and women, and each has a slightly different approach. There is a general recognition of the fact that weight problems are both physical and psychological in nature. Because of the dual nature of weight problems, the solution is seldom as simple as just eating less. For example, Weight Watchers and several other well-known weight loss programs require you to come in for a weigh-in, often public, and receive various types of counseling. That is in addition to tracking what you eat during the day and adding it up according to a special system.
Other weight loss programs take a pro-active, behavioralist approach by asking you to identify your eating habits and patterns. Under what circumstances do you tend to overeat? Which foods do you eat when you are overeating? By answering these questions, you can identify and anticipate your own weak points and problem areas, and a specialized system is designed for you, taking these into account. This type of weight loss program is particularly successful because it is realistic, aknowledging that not everyone is alike, and that a ‘one size fits all’ program may fail to help a certain percentage of the clientele. Also, because a program like this teaches you to avoid pitfalls, it is infomation that can be used throughout your life, not just when you are ‘on a diet’ or actively following the program.
Not all weight loss programs incorporate exercise, but they all should. Exercise is probably the single most important factor in weight loss - more important than how much, or how little, you eat. Exercise boosts your body’s metabolism rate, so that you burn more of the calories you ingest. Exercise also builds muscle, which continues to burn fat and calories even after you have finished exercising. Finally, exercise just makes you feel better about yourself and the world.
Happy people may eat heartily at times, but they are less likely to binge eat or to eat out of boredom. In short, exercise can help accelerate your weight loss in many different ways. It doesn’t really matter what type of exercise you do, as long as you to it regularly. Studies vary regarding this particular subject - some recommend intense exercise a few times a week, while others say just the opposite - that you should exercise every day, but at a lower intensity. The bottom line is that you should do what feels good to you, and what fits into your schedule.
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If you’re serious about losing weight, there are 3 things, when combined, can make your battle much, much easier. The first is Hoodia Gordoni. Hoodia reduces your appetite in minutes, causing you to eat less. The second is Weight Loss Patch Pro that boosts your metabolism so that you burn the maximum amount of fat each day. The third important ingredient is Dietrine carb blocker, which blocks most of the fat and carbohydrates in the food you eat from going into your body.
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May 27 2008 | weightlossprograms.servicesite9.com | No Comments »
In this age being ignorant is like committing a crime. With so much of knowledge around you, following a trend blindly doesn’t confirm the fact that you are intelligent. But the catch here is, GO BY RIGHT KNOWLEDGE. No doubt, internet is flooded with the wrong knowledge and myths that leads you nowhere, but it isn’t hard enough to figure out the pearl in the ocean. Every now and then, we see some supplements or pills making tall claims which they down the line do not seem to validate. We will soon establish as we go on reading this article that there is absolutely no substitute for eating healthy and sweating out.
In US, where weight loss has been a part of national consciousness for three decades, several studies have been done to evaluate the effectiveness of various weight loss aids. The major reason why most of these aids escape regulation is because they are branded as “food supplements” to escape the Drugs and Cosmetics Act that regulates the sale of medicine. Here are some findings:-
1) Diet or Slimming Patches: Considered one of the most popular way to lose weight, it claims to speed up your metabolism by wearing a slimming patch on your skin. It then breaks down the fatty tissues. Studies says these patches are neither effective NOR SAFE. The US Food and Drug Administration(FDA) eventually seized millions of these products from manufacture last year because they had terrible side effects.
2) Green Tea Extracts: You have pills under this category which contain polyphenols. Polyphenols are extracted from green tea and are thought to be strong antioxidants. These pills failed to prove their effectiveness too. It is advisable to consult your doctor if you are taking aspirin or blood thinning medications and you plan to take some green tea extracts because they may interfere with blood clotting.
3) Diet Pills with Ephedra: These pills have been banned in US but they are still available on internet. These pills are central nervous system stimulant that suppresses appetite. Generally, manufactures mix ephedra and caffeine which further increases the risk of high blood pressure.
4) Diet Pills with PPA: PPA stands for phenylpropanolamine. These pills suppress appetite. They come along with diet plan. Manufactures of drugs and supplements containing PPA voluntarily withdrew their products from market after it was found that these products were associated with strokes.
5) Fat Blockers: Another popular form of weight loss aids which bit the dust is fat blockers. It also made tall claims that it will absorb fats from the food you eat and flush it out. A university of California study found that chitosan (the fat-binding component of fat blockers) has absolutely no ability to absorb fats from the food.
—> To learn more about other fake weight loss programs and pills and how to differentiate between genuine weight loss programs and fake weight loss programs, visit http://www.weightloss-health.com/Fake%20Weight%20Loss.htm
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Tags: Loose weight, Lose Weight, weight loss, Weight Loss Article, Weight Loss Programs, Weight Loss TipsLoose weight, Lose Weight, weight loss, Weight Loss Article, Weight Loss Programs, Weight Loss TipsShare This
May 26 2008 | weightlossprograms.servicesite9.com | No Comments »