Weight Loss Tips
Interval Training is a great way to boost metabolism
Interval training is training using short bursts of high intensity exercise that are separated by recovery periods of low intensity exercise.You will push yourself beyond your comfort level for short bursts of time. For example walk 3 mins then run for 1 min and keep doing that until 45 mins or up. Gradually you'll be able to perform at the higher level for longer periods of time and burn more calories .
Eat smaller, more frequent meals
Instead of eating three large meals a day, try eating smaller, more frequent meals. Reduce portion sizes at your regular meals, and add small snacks in between each meal.Eating small frequent meals help to balance your calorie intake throughout the day and also keeps your blood sugar level balanced. It keeps your metabolism charged and prevents you from getting hungry.
Incorporate Strength Training into your workout
If you are not doing strength training then you're missing a key component in your weight loss plan. Strength training increases metabolism by increasing lean muscle mass which helps in long term weight loss. Muscles burn calories and gives you more leaner look. It increases bone density. Strength training can be accomplished by using dumbbells, weight machines, push ups or squats etc.
Aerobic exercise
Aerobic exercise refers to exercise that involves or improves oxygen consumption by the body. Aerobic exercise burns a lot of calories, so it directly contributes to weight loss. Start a workout routine . Try 30-60 minutes of physical activity a day . Examples of aerobic exercise : walking, jogging, swimming, brisk walking, running, ice skating, biking, aerobics, rowing, basketball, jumping rope, roller skating, dancing. Examples of stationary exercise machines for doing aerobic exercise: elliptical machine, stationary bike, treadmills, stair-steppers and rowing machines .
Eat fruits and vegetables
Increase your intake of fiber rich foods. Fruits and vegetables are high fiber foods and packed with vitamins and antioxidants. They are low in calories but high in fiber. Fiber is very important for your weight loss goals. Fiber is digested slower, keeps us feeling fuller longer and releases its energy slower which keep our blood sugar levels even and helps us avoid cravings. Increase your intake of fiber rich foods.
Virtual weight loss model
There are sites offering free weight loss software where you can create your virtual weight loss model and get a mental picture of yourself at your goal weight. Virtual model can be used for inspiration as you can get a good idea of how you will look after reaching your target weight. You can visualize and mentally compare your before and after weight loss pictures.
Replace white rice, bread, and pasta with brown rice and whole-grain products
These products are less refined than their white counterparts and often have much more fiber in them which is digested slower, keeps us feeling fuller longer and releases its energy slower which keep our blood sugar levels even and helps us avoid cravings.
Drink more water
Water suppresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat. The process of burning calories requires an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently and dehydration slows down the fat burning process.
Increase your protein intake
Protein makes us feel full. It is also important in replacing and building muscle tissue. Remember, more muscles burn more fat. It helps to increase your metabolism - which burns calories.
Do not skip meals
Skipping meals makes you hungry which you tend to compensate by eating a lot later. Avoid that craving by eating small frequent meals which help to balance your calorie intake throughout the day and also keeps your blood sugar level balanced.
Try drinking a glass of water before a meal
Water suppresses the appetite naturally .If you tend to overeat , try drinking a medium to large glass of water 10 to 15 minutes before your meal. It will partially fill your stomach and may reduce your hunger levels.
Eat breakfast everyday
Many people think skipping breakfast is a great way to cut calories, but they usually end up eating more throughout the day. Do not skip breakfast. If you're on a diet, it's not good to miss the most important meal of the day. Skipping breakfast makes you hungry which you tend to compensate by eating a lot later. Avoid that craving by eating a hearty meal in the morning.
It's okay to eat your favorite foods
Everyone has his or her favorite treats. Simply allow yourself a little indulgence, just do it in moderation. If you deny yourself your favorite food, you'll crave it more and eventually eat it more.
Spice up your food
Spices boosts metabolism, suppresses appetite, reduces fat absorption and add taste to your meal. You can replace high calorie condiments like butter or mayonnaise with garlic, chili, mustard, ginger. Saute vegetables and chicken in hot sauce as opposed to oil.
Eat Negative calorie food
Negative calorie foods are foods, which use more calories to digest than the calories the foods actually contain. For example, if you eat 200 calories of a food that requires 250 calories to digest, then you've burnt an additional 50 calories simply by eating that food. Some of the negative calorie foods are : Apples, Broccoli, Cantaloupes, Carrot, Cauliflower, Celery stalk, Celery root
Take the stairs and park your car further away from the shops
It will help increase the number of steps you take in a day and will burn a few more calories .
Eat slowly
It takes around 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that it is full . Chewing your food longer will help prevent you from over eating.
Cut down the sugar intake
Excessive intake of sugar often results in weight gain and hence cutting down the sugar intake can actually work wonders for you. The more refined it comes, the more your body is going to react negatively to it. Try and substitute synthetic sugar with natural sugar sources like fruits or honey. Sugar in fruits are better for you than the sugar in candy bars, cakes and ice creams.
Don't beat yourself up over a bad day
You are going to have moments of weakness and times when you overeat. Don't beat yourself up when you overindulge . Instead put yourself back on track the next day. Give yourself credit for everything you have been doing on other days. Every day is different, do the best you can do now. You can workout a little longer and burn some of those extra calories.
Get plenty of sleep
How much you sleep and the quality of your sleep affects food cravings. Studies have shown that sleep deprivation increases levels of a hunger hormone and decreases levels of a hormone that makes you feel full. Inadequate sleep triggers food cravings which may lead to overeating and weight gain. So get your full eight hours each night to stay healthy and fit .
Don't use the word diet as diets don't work
If you want to lose weight, the word diet should be banned from your dictionary. Most diets focus on weight loss rather than fat loss. Losing weight more rapidly means losing muscle tissue which is body's major fat burning component. Change the way you eat and CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK. Don't ever say "I am dieting" because most diets fail. Diets don't work long term. On most of the diets, you are not eating stuff you will be eating for the rest of your life. You might lose a few pounds but once your diet is over, then you will most likely regain all of your weight again and chances are they'll bring a few pounds extra too.
Visualize yourself thin
Visualise success - Your mind can influence your actions, which can lead to healthy eating and motivate you to exercise and lose weight. Visualize yourself thin. When you continue to visualize yourself as a thin person, your subconscious mind will move you into the right direction and you will exercise to lose weight. Visualization influences your mind and your mind controls your actions. If you want to be thin, picture yourself thin. Think about things you would like to do but can’t do because of your weight. Visualize how you will look when you will lose weight and fit in to your favorite dress.
Cut down or stop any food or drink with high fructose corn syrup
High fructose corn syrup is made from genetically modified corn treated with genetically modified enzymes. High fructose corn syrup is cited by some nutritionists as a leading cause of obesity and is linked to diabetes. High-fructose corn syrup is fueling obesity epidemic.
Keep a positive attitude to maximize your success in weight loss
Negative self talk is our greater enemy than food .To be successful in weight loss, you have to change your attitude. Having the positive attitude is critical if you want to stick to your weight loss plan. Start thinking positive and take care of your mental state. Peace of mind is as important as exercise for weight loss because stress leads to over eating.The stress hormones cause cravings for high sugar and high fat foods.
Portion control
One of the key ways to maintain a healthy weight is to control your portion sizes. Long term weight loss is often achieved through portion control as calories do matter for your weight loss and learning how to control them makes the difference .You have to change the way you eat.
Artificial Sugar - Less Calories, More Side Effects
Google "Aspartame Side Effects"- Artificial sweeteners are just as evil as sugar itself. The best thing to do is to avoid all artificial and chemical sweetener substitutes. Aspartame is the most common form of artificial 'low calorie' sugar. It is found in most diet products and diet sodas. It is also found as a tabletop sweetener for coffee or tea. There is an endless list of side effects that you can get from aspartame. Just google "Aspartame Side Effects" and you will know.
Resolve To Lose Slowly - Set Realistic Goals
Successful weight loss doesn't happen overnight, it takes months and not days. Putting unreasonable pressure on yourself to succeed is not a good idea. When you tell yourself, "I must lose 50 pounds by my sisters wedding" you're setting yourself for weight loss failure. Be sure your goals are realistic.There's no use in trying to reach a 50 lb per month. Resolve to lose slowly. Set short term goals.Healthy weight loss occurs slowly and steadily. Remember, Slow and steady wins the race. Losing weight more rapidly means losing muscle tissue and losing muscle tissue means slow metabolism.
Find good reasons to lose weight
Find out what motivates you. It could be anything- wanting to fit into your favorite dress again , lose weight to feel better and look better or be healthy . Find out what inspires you and why do you want to lose weight? Do it for that reason. Do it for your self.
Reward Yourself
Rewarding yourself for sticking to your weight loss program is a good way to keep yourself motivated. Reward yourself when you accomplish your short term goals, but not with food. You might buy a new book, a new dress or go for a massage. When you reach your target weight reward yourself with something bigger like a vacation or a cruise .
Surround yourself with positive people
Surround yourself with positive people who believe in you, they will support, encourage and motivate you to acheive your target weight.
Weight Loss Tips
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Today's round up
Well, things are slotting into place. Just a few students to get sorted and all will be great. Looks like the Saturday thing is going to work really well, but I am still going to have to do a Tuesday evening. That's not a problem to be honest because the ones that will be on the Tuesday are all in one village quite a distance from me anyway, so flitting back and forth to there during the Saturday could well have taken out quite a chunk of time.
2 days work is much better that 6 though lets face it.
Today's food:
Breakfast was plain low everything Granola - I keep feeling that I have to quantify that because I know that normal commercial granola is really high is sugar and stuff... but this is wholegrain, seeds and nuts, no added sugar and only 50g.
Lunch was pureed mutton stew from my gourmet ready meal selection, then I later had a small slice of home made bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon of fahkes (a Greek lentil dish)
snack - my raw food carob bar, but had to HMS a lot of that back up as I was way too hungry when I ate it. I seem to have to lubricate my pouch before filling i with dryish food.
Dinner will be a pureed chicken stir-fry which Heather made for us. I have added curry powder and now it resembles a Thai red curry. Looking forward to that, but still suffering from the HMS.
That's it really... Feel pretty good about self, and those surrounding me. Had a bit of a wobble earlier in the day when one of the parents of a pupil whom I teach obviously thought I was just trying to get rid of her daughter, when I wasn't, but soon changed her tune when she realised that it was EVERYONE not just her little precious that was having to change slots. She thought that because she had seen a couple of them at school and they had said nothing that they were obviously hiding something and started on about "well you have so many students, that's impossible to do all of them in one day, and what about X, or X and X and what about the X's..." and when I told her the times that they had booked, suddenly she back right down and reality must have dawned that I was indeed not doing this out of spite or something. It made me feel really really shite to be honest because she was like "Well, I am really disappointed that you are giving up" and not in a nice way, but it did end in "Yeah, I can see you have got to sort things out, well I can be flexible on such and such..." I know I should feel OK about that, but its left a nasty taste in my mouth like I was being accused of something.
Other than that I'm cool.
2 days work is much better that 6 though lets face it.
Today's food:
Breakfast was plain low everything Granola - I keep feeling that I have to quantify that because I know that normal commercial granola is really high is sugar and stuff... but this is wholegrain, seeds and nuts, no added sugar and only 50g.
Lunch was pureed mutton stew from my gourmet ready meal selection, then I later had a small slice of home made bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and a tablespoon of fahkes (a Greek lentil dish)
snack - my raw food carob bar, but had to HMS a lot of that back up as I was way too hungry when I ate it. I seem to have to lubricate my pouch before filling i with dryish food.
Dinner will be a pureed chicken stir-fry which Heather made for us. I have added curry powder and now it resembles a Thai red curry. Looking forward to that, but still suffering from the HMS.
That's it really... Feel pretty good about self, and those surrounding me. Had a bit of a wobble earlier in the day when one of the parents of a pupil whom I teach obviously thought I was just trying to get rid of her daughter, when I wasn't, but soon changed her tune when she realised that it was EVERYONE not just her little precious that was having to change slots. She thought that because she had seen a couple of them at school and they had said nothing that they were obviously hiding something and started on about "well you have so many students, that's impossible to do all of them in one day, and what about X, or X and X and what about the X's..." and when I told her the times that they had booked, suddenly she back right down and reality must have dawned that I was indeed not doing this out of spite or something. It made me feel really really shite to be honest because she was like "Well, I am really disappointed that you are giving up" and not in a nice way, but it did end in "Yeah, I can see you have got to sort things out, well I can be flexible on such and such..." I know I should feel OK about that, but its left a nasty taste in my mouth like I was being accused of something.
Other than that I'm cool.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Positive thinking...
My Mantra
It is the aim of my band to restrict my eating - not to give me an eating challenge!
I will henceforth eat little portions until I feel my band and then stop, rather than challenging my gullet to a dietary trench filling contest.
1.) I have lost weight - currently 16 stone 7 pounds. So that is 1 pound off in 10 days (although in actual fact its more because I never tracked the weight going up a little higher than that during that 10 days... hee hee) 21 pounds in total.
2.) I am roughly 1/5th of the way to my target weight.
3.) It is midday and I am eating my breakfast because I haven't been hungry until now
Today's food stuffs...
Breakfast:
50g Granola (the healthy low GI one)
Lunch:
pitta bread, lettuce and hummous
Snack:
Nakd raw food bar
Dinner... Not decided yet. I guess one of my pouch meals or soups. yummy
It is the aim of my band to restrict my eating - not to give me an eating challenge!
I will henceforth eat little portions until I feel my band and then stop, rather than challenging my gullet to a dietary trench filling contest.
1.) I have lost weight - currently 16 stone 7 pounds. So that is 1 pound off in 10 days (although in actual fact its more because I never tracked the weight going up a little higher than that during that 10 days... hee hee) 21 pounds in total.
2.) I am roughly 1/5th of the way to my target weight.
3.) It is midday and I am eating my breakfast because I haven't been hungry until now
Today's food stuffs...
Breakfast:
50g Granola (the healthy low GI one)
Lunch:
pitta bread, lettuce and hummous
Snack:
Nakd raw food bar
Dinner... Not decided yet. I guess one of my pouch meals or soups. yummy
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Blessed restriction
Ok, I am seriously restricted now.
I need to be really careful.
It seems to take me a little while to feel the restriction, in this case just over a week.
Today's food...
Breakfast:
50g Belgian Chocolate Granola - it's low GI and low everything so it sounds nicer than it actually is!! 234 cals
Lunch:
Raw food bar 100 cals
Dinner: Pea soup - 150 cals, but negligible because I threw up every mouthful... I cant seem to take the whole pea husk thing.
Lamb hotpot. still eating (at midnight) but if I do manage it all then another 200 cals.
Pretty damn fine huh!
I realise that I had this band for restriction... so why the hell am I trying to force food down my gullet. its like I am trying to eat the same amount of food, but with a band and wondering why its not working. I am trying a new method of eating and its going really well.
Ok, I had some issues this evening with the pea soup... but I know that was from the pea husk thing.. Its was really husky (LOL). I could feel it in my mouth that it was like dry on the edges after a swallow... So I am gonna avoid it. But this Lamb hotpot is really tasty and I have pureed it too, just in case. I am eating it with a tea spoon and making sure I chew it and resting between each mouthful (mainly because I am typing too!), and its working really well.
I have been drinking copious amounts of green tea in a quest for STRONG flavoured drinks with no calories in. I don't like the stuff, but it has a great bitter twang-smack at the end of a glug, so I am persevering with the muck.
So far, I have managed 6 half teaspoons of pureed lamb hotpot and all's good.
I have decided that I am not going to force this band to eat anything, or do what I did on Saturday that was just plain STUPID. I was in Aki-Teri and I ordered a prawn curry. It was lush, but I couldn't eat it. I got a couple of spoons of sauce down me and a couple of grains of rice and had to stop. I didn't even get to eat a prawn when I had to throw. So after trying and trying and trying to eat the thing, I said "Forget this, I will eat this gorgeous king prawn and then go puke!" I chewed it and loved it and tasted the sweet meaty thing and then hurled it. I just got so sick of not being able to enjoy something. I am not going to go to restaurants any more because they just make me sad. Eating dinner at the dining table with everyone is bad enough, but I can manage it compared to lush restaurant food. I just want to eat too much.
I am going to try and get this band and me on the road.
It is at this juncture that I have to admit I have an eating disorder. I finally chatted it through with someone and without going into too much detail, I sabotage my weight loss because I don't feel worthy of being thin/don't want to be thin for reasons yet unknown, eat because I am happy, binge because I fear the scales saying I have put on, so therefore fulfill the prophecy. I am in a cycle of binge eating/drinking and unhappy that I cant do more.
I discussed this after I started to seriously look into getting my band removed and 'upgrade' to RNY bypass. However, I can see now that its a psychological problem I have not a problem that surgery will fix, because the problem will not go away even if I have another surgery, and I will not see the results I want from that either because of going in to the whole thing with a wrong psychological attitude.
So, I have to love myself, and part of that is getting rid of things that I don't like.
I hate work. Everyone knows it and I just plain loathe it. I looked at my diary and my Sis said to me today that I can obviously survive with half of my students. I balked a bit, but realised she was right. At the end of the month I only ever earn half of what I could have done because of cancelling pupils or whatever because I cant face it or something. So in that case, what is the point in keeping 'teaching' these ones if I hate it. So I am changing my strategies. I am working on Saturday only. If they cant fit in with that then they can do the other thing. This way I think I will actually like my job, because its over with in one day, in normal working hours. I don't have to rush around at 9pm every evening making dinner etc and eating late. I don't feel rubbish about the fact I cancelled lessons and comfort eat and therefore I think its linked to it all as well.
So that's what I am doing. I have worked out that I could in fact give up work completely if I wanted to - which was a big shock to be fair - but realised that is not what I actually want to do. So I am going to continue, but under my own steam. I don't owe them anything, and if they really like their lessons with me, then they will fit it in around me wont they. I have to put my sanity, sons education, home life and health before them. I feel better already about it! Its nice to have that extra bit of cash, and its nice to know I don't really need to, which I never knew before I actually sat down and worked out exactly what comes in and goes out etc. and analyzed all the things like petrol/groceries etc.
Another thing is I am always so tired that I neglect a serious side of me that needs to flourish. I need that 'me time' - I really do. So this will give me some space to enjoy that as well.
So, tomorrow I am going to weigh myself again and see whats going on. We shall see.
I need to be really careful.
It seems to take me a little while to feel the restriction, in this case just over a week.
Today's food...
Breakfast:
50g Belgian Chocolate Granola - it's low GI and low everything so it sounds nicer than it actually is!! 234 cals
Lunch:
Raw food bar 100 cals
Dinner: Pea soup - 150 cals, but negligible because I threw up every mouthful... I cant seem to take the whole pea husk thing.
Lamb hotpot. still eating (at midnight) but if I do manage it all then another 200 cals.
Pretty damn fine huh!
I realise that I had this band for restriction... so why the hell am I trying to force food down my gullet. its like I am trying to eat the same amount of food, but with a band and wondering why its not working. I am trying a new method of eating and its going really well.
Ok, I had some issues this evening with the pea soup... but I know that was from the pea husk thing.. Its was really husky (LOL). I could feel it in my mouth that it was like dry on the edges after a swallow... So I am gonna avoid it. But this Lamb hotpot is really tasty and I have pureed it too, just in case. I am eating it with a tea spoon and making sure I chew it and resting between each mouthful (mainly because I am typing too!), and its working really well.
I have been drinking copious amounts of green tea in a quest for STRONG flavoured drinks with no calories in. I don't like the stuff, but it has a great bitter twang-smack at the end of a glug, so I am persevering with the muck.
So far, I have managed 6 half teaspoons of pureed lamb hotpot and all's good.
I have decided that I am not going to force this band to eat anything, or do what I did on Saturday that was just plain STUPID. I was in Aki-Teri and I ordered a prawn curry. It was lush, but I couldn't eat it. I got a couple of spoons of sauce down me and a couple of grains of rice and had to stop. I didn't even get to eat a prawn when I had to throw. So after trying and trying and trying to eat the thing, I said "Forget this, I will eat this gorgeous king prawn and then go puke!" I chewed it and loved it and tasted the sweet meaty thing and then hurled it. I just got so sick of not being able to enjoy something. I am not going to go to restaurants any more because they just make me sad. Eating dinner at the dining table with everyone is bad enough, but I can manage it compared to lush restaurant food. I just want to eat too much.
I am going to try and get this band and me on the road.
It is at this juncture that I have to admit I have an eating disorder. I finally chatted it through with someone and without going into too much detail, I sabotage my weight loss because I don't feel worthy of being thin/don't want to be thin for reasons yet unknown, eat because I am happy, binge because I fear the scales saying I have put on, so therefore fulfill the prophecy. I am in a cycle of binge eating/drinking and unhappy that I cant do more.
I discussed this after I started to seriously look into getting my band removed and 'upgrade' to RNY bypass. However, I can see now that its a psychological problem I have not a problem that surgery will fix, because the problem will not go away even if I have another surgery, and I will not see the results I want from that either because of going in to the whole thing with a wrong psychological attitude.
So, I have to love myself, and part of that is getting rid of things that I don't like.
I hate work. Everyone knows it and I just plain loathe it. I looked at my diary and my Sis said to me today that I can obviously survive with half of my students. I balked a bit, but realised she was right. At the end of the month I only ever earn half of what I could have done because of cancelling pupils or whatever because I cant face it or something. So in that case, what is the point in keeping 'teaching' these ones if I hate it. So I am changing my strategies. I am working on Saturday only. If they cant fit in with that then they can do the other thing. This way I think I will actually like my job, because its over with in one day, in normal working hours. I don't have to rush around at 9pm every evening making dinner etc and eating late. I don't feel rubbish about the fact I cancelled lessons and comfort eat and therefore I think its linked to it all as well.
So that's what I am doing. I have worked out that I could in fact give up work completely if I wanted to - which was a big shock to be fair - but realised that is not what I actually want to do. So I am going to continue, but under my own steam. I don't owe them anything, and if they really like their lessons with me, then they will fit it in around me wont they. I have to put my sanity, sons education, home life and health before them. I feel better already about it! Its nice to have that extra bit of cash, and its nice to know I don't really need to, which I never knew before I actually sat down and worked out exactly what comes in and goes out etc. and analyzed all the things like petrol/groceries etc.
Another thing is I am always so tired that I neglect a serious side of me that needs to flourish. I need that 'me time' - I really do. So this will give me some space to enjoy that as well.
So, tomorrow I am going to weigh myself again and see whats going on. We shall see.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Food Pushers and 5 Day Pouch Testers
Hello Neighbors!Today's 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin - the free email about the back-to-basics program for weight loss surgery post-ops - gave fair warning for the food pushing season that starts in October with all the Halloween sweets and doesn't end until the ball drops on the first day of 2009. From now through the December we will face food temptations and food pushers around every corner. "
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Shout-Out for Mel's Recovering Fatty Website
Hello Neighbors!One of our good Neighbors here, Melinda, has put together a beautiful website and she is enjoying a growing community over at Recovering Fatty. Like the Neighborhood, her site is a licensed IPB board (so it works just like the Neighborhood), it is secure from spammers and flamers, and it is advertising free. Melinda is a special person with a kind heart and giving spirit. She
Friday, October 10, 2008
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