Stop Cravings for 4 hours and Lose Weight with Berries

Outsmart Snack Attacks for 4 hours and Lose Weight with Berries

Savoring Berries can outsmart snack attacks for 4 hours and help you shed 5% of your body weight in 6 months.

The credit goes to dozens of blood sugar stabilizing antioxidants. Blueberries are so packed with them, just a half cup daily can boost your blood levels by 100%.

More on Berries:

Enjoying 1 cup each day can boost insulin sensitivity by 7%, And that translates into a 42% drop in erratic blood sugar, binge eating and weight concerns, USDA studies suggest. The credit goes to cyanidin, kaempferol and phenolics.

"This phytochemicals activate the brain's satiety center, so you feel full on far less food," says Guttersen.

Quickest Ways to Lose Weight

Here are the Easiest Ways to Lose Weight Fast

1. Two cups of Green Tea a day jump starts the metabolism. So does a morning glass of unsweetened cranberry juice.

2. Drink a Glass of Water before meals to fake a full feeling. And make sure to have a total of at least 2 liters of water throughout the day.

3. Cut-out High-Starch Foods like potatoes.

4. Catch Z's : Getting 8 hours of sleep each night boosts metabolism by cutting down on cortisol production, which causes weight gain.

5. Weight Training: Weight Training 3 times a week for 30-60 minutes will speed a slim-down, since muscle burns fat fast.

6. Walk it Off: Hoof it whenever possible - 30-60 minutes of extra walking each day adds up to around 4 miles ( calories burned: 300).

If you see me dancing...

If you see me dancing on the cross ramp or the elliptical or the StairMaster, please do not call the paddy wagon! In spite of how it might look, I have not gone crazy. I've just figured out how to have fun while doing my cardio (that you all know I hate so much).

I finally feel like I have a handle on my workouts again. I was in a dark place for the last couple of months when it came to exercising, especially the cardio part. I know I have to do it, not just for weight loss but for my heart. Without my heart in good, working order I most likely won't live to a ripe old age. Since I'm already 55, I'd like to get at least a few more years out of this old body.

My tips....

1. BAD ATTITUDE - Lose the bad attitude. It's not going to do you one bit of good to be all grumpy faced about exercising. In fact, if you begrudging exercise day after day, hating every minute of it, one day you will probably say..."to hell with this, I'm not doing it anymore!" I know because recently I was starting to think along those lines. It wasn't that I was hating every minute of it, just the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes of my 30-minute cardio workouts. :)

2.  THE DREADED ASSISTED CARE - A friend asked me earlier this week why I go to the gym so much. Obviously I want to lose weight, but really, eating less is more conducive to weight loss than hours of exercising. I told her I wanted to live a long, healthy life, and I was really looking forward to my retirement.

My friend's response was, "so you die five years earlier, at least you don't have all that pain of exercising".  My response, I don't really mind the dying part so much, it's the not dying. It's the stroke or the heart attack or the diabetes, being in a wheelchair and having someone take care of me. Have you ever been to an assisted home? Those are the real reasons I exercise. Sure, there's no guarantees in this life, those things could still happen to me, but at least I'll know I gave it my best effort to make sure it doesn't happen.

3. MUSIC - You must have great music to get the most out of your workout. This is the one thing that has helped me immensely during the last three years of consistent, regular exercise. I've gone through three iPods in three years (sweat will destroy an iPod, just for the record). Every month I download new songs for my iPod. I personally like top forty stuff, which my husband says is "crap". Well, maybe it is, but if it helps me get my heart rate up to 144 (resting pulse is 49), then I'll do whatever it takes. My current favorite workout tune....Animal by Neon Trees. In fact, here's my current playlist...

4. FUN - Try to have fun. I mean, really have fun with it. Life is short, there's no time to be miserable. Lately I've started sort of dancing on the cardio machines. On the StairMaster I do the stairs to my music. Same with the cross ramp, it's actually easier on the cross ramp. You can really rock out on that thing. Don't worry about what other people think. They'll probably be thinking you're nuts or wonder what on earth you are doing or maybe, they just might think, she looks like she's having fun exercising...yup, she's crazy!

5. SMILE - IT WON'T KILL YOU - If you're at the gym, please do not walk around staring at the floor. I've seen the same people at the gym for three years. I say hello or good morning to everyone, if they bother to make eye contact. I realize some people are shy and perhaps it's their culture to not make eye contact, but honestly, a little hello and a smile never hurt anyone. I'm just sayin', if you act like you're miserable, most likely you're going to be miserable. It's tough enough to get your butt to the gym in the first place, don't make it an unpleasant experience. Try to enjoy it. Who knows, you might actually like it if you stop dreading it so much.

6. THE FIVE-MINUTE RULE - One last tip, one I've used several times the last three years. Sometimes when that alarm goes off at 4:40 a.m. I think to myself, I just can't do this. I'm tired, my knee hurts, my head hurts, I'm freaking old, I shouldn't have to do this. Or, I don't want to do this. When I feel like this I follow my five-minute rule.

The rule is this: get up, get dressed in my workout clothes, get in my car, drive to the gym, get on a piece of cardio equipment, my choice (it's a wildcard day - I give myself this when I feel lousy - my exercise of choice). Five minutes. Just do five minutes of exercise. If I hate it so much that I think I'm really going to die, go home. In three years I've only gone home once. It's the getting there that's the hard part.

#4 is my favorite and something I've really started doing recently. I know I look kind of funny, but it's so much more fun to bounce around and dance to the music.  I love it! Me and Neon Trees. :)

Keep your Metabolism Fast by drinking Green Tea.

To counteract a binge, keep your body's fat-burning furnace running on full blast by drinking Green Tea

Green Tea contains caffeine and the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is proven to boost metabolic rate.

In fact, in a recent 3 month study, participants who took Green Tea extract lost 4.6% of their body weight without changing their diet.

To get the benefit, drink Green Tea at least 3 cups a day.

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Boost Fat-burning Metabolic Rate by 50% by Drinking Coffee

Boost Fat-burning Metabolic Rate by 50% by Drinking Coffee

Drinking coffee before a meal can suppress appetite by 35%, plus boost fat-burning metabolic rate by 50%

That's according to extensive research at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.

A nice cup of coffee or tea can help you get over any snack cravings. Green or herbal teas are a great choice because of the extra health benefits.

The study-proven dose : 250 mg of caffeine daily, taken either in supplement form or by drinking two cups of coffee or 4 cups of tea.

Bonus: Caffeine acts as a diuretic, which means it increases the amount of urine you excrete. This water loss may temporarily decrease your body weight.

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To counteract a binge, keep your body's fat-burning furnace running on full blast by drinking Green Tea

Random Thoughts Wednesday

I've seen other people do this, post their random thoughts. Since my head is constantly full of random thoughts, I thought it would be fun (well, fun for me at least), to jot down some of those thoughts.

1. I can't buy a package of vanilla and strawberry Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and eat just one. I ate six last Sunday night. 840 calories. Hello...my name is Diana, and I am a food addict. By the way, have you ever seen a "skinny" cow?

2. Fitness magazine claims working out can make you hungry, which in turn can make you fat. Really? I already knew that, but exercise isn't optional. Their suggestion is to eat more whole foods, a balance of carbs and proteins, with healthy fats and fiber. Not exactly newsworthy, and I paid $3.50 for the magazine.

3. That $3.50 did buy me some other advice that I've known for years but have chosen to ignore. Until yesterday. The experts say you should eat something small before a workout. That you shouldn't workout on an empty stomach. I actually ate a small piece of fruit BEFORE I worked out yesterday. It did wonders for my workout. I had tons of energy. Or was that just my mind playing tricks on me? The jury is still out.

4. I worked out twice yesterday. Cardio in the morning and weights at lunch. I even added Jumping Jacks in between my sets (50 at a time in 45 seconds), which really burned the calories. The only down side, two sets of dirty workout clothes in one day. I would have worn the morning clothes again at noon (I know, totally gross), but they were still wet with sweat. Ick!

5. I'm still thinking about Alicia's essay that I posted yesterday. I wonder how a 12-year old could be so smart. I'm 55 and have never been that introspective. Her middle name was Angel. That made me smile and cry at the same time. If you missed the post (I posted it late yesterday), you really should go read it. I think it's my best post ever...and I didn't even write it.

6. I made Lyn's cabbage soup yesterday, with a few modifications. I didn't have any cabbage on hand so I used Brussels sprouts (one package chopped), Rotel canned tomatoes (I like a little heat in my soup), one chopped red pepper, six chopped baby Portabellas, 1/4 chopped onion, organic chicken broth and a five-ounce chicken breast. It was delicious! Especially because it was a cold, rainy day (stupid Seattle - it's not suppose to be winter yet!).

7. I worked from home today and wore my pajamas all day. After my workouts, I took a quick shower and put my jamies back on. I let my hair dry naturally (a fuzzy, frizzy, wavy mess), and no makeup. I loved it. Plus it added at least an hour of extra time to my day (hence the extra workout).

8. I know I've said this before but I really detest evening workouts. I feel like a rat in a cage with all those people. I don't do well with groups of people, and when the gym is packed, I'm not a happy girl. Monday night at 6pm was the worst. I need to remember this at 5am when the alarm goes off.

9. I haven't worn nail polish for almost two weeks. At first it felt like freedom, not worrying chipped polish or putting my hands in hot soapy water. Now it just feels like I'm not properly groomed. I've worn polish my entire adult life. My fingers feel naked. I don't feel "girly". I don't like it. A manicure is in my near future.

10. I decided to post a random picture. I have hundreds if not thousands of pictures on my backup hard drive. I picked this one. Randomly. To go with random Wednesday.

October 2008. Almost two years ago. My weight, 170.8. Three pounds less than I weighed this morning. Funny thing. I thought I looked skinny then. In fact, looking at it now, I don't think I look like a fat pig at all. So why do I feel like a fat pig now? I wonder.

Is it Friday yet?

READ ME (only if you want)

I had a ton of things I wanted to blog about today, weight loss and exercise stuff, but that can all wait.

I came across an email today. It was from a co-worker on another team. He's someone I've worked with, and someone I respect. He has a unique sense of humor that makes even difficult IT situations funny. He's often referred to as a really nice guy.

His email was dated March 2009, and the subject was: "That which blindsides you at 4 PM on some random Tuesday". It was a thank you email to the IT division for all their caring emails and cards. He wrote that he'd said goodbye to his Alicia. I vaguely remember this incident from last year. His 12-year daughter, Alicia, was accidentally shot and killed while visiting her grandparents.

I realized I'd never read anything about this little girl. I did a search online and found her obituary. She loved reading and loved to write. They posted the following essay written by Alicia. I'm taking the liberty of posting it here. I found it to be a very moving essay. I hope you enjoy it.

In memory of Alicia Mead.

READ ME (only if you want) Composed by Alicia Mead.
Copyrights are reserved.

"Live everyday like your last" were the words lining the page of a generic book I flipped through. Wow, that seems pretty depressing, I thought, squeezing it back into an empty space on its bookshelf. Who would want to live like they're gonna die the next morning? The author or people who took that advice seriously would probably end up living with extreme anxiety every day of their lives, worrying about death than actually enjoy living.

Whatever. I progressed down into the Manga (Japanese comics) section of the store and scanned their titles, After thumbing through another book, somehow the quote seemed to snag my thoughts. Live every day like your last, there has to be some reason the author spent his time writing it…

Glancing, a clock informed me it was time to leave. Live everyday like your last, and at that moment I realized I would never view things the same way again.

Staring out a window on my drive home, I questioned why this one, petite, microscopic quote would have such a huge impact on my perspective. I mean, it should have already been forgotten three seconds after I declined the book, but somehow the line stood out through my noggin like an eight footed elephant trapped inside a field of angry, raging monkeys. But anyway, I had nothing else to ponder, so I gave thought to this unique sentence and reasons to follow its "advice".

An obvious point to living your days like your last is because you'll always do your best. Expanding, I thought, is to get the most out of the things you do. After all, if it really was my last day, then I'd like to fall asleep knowing I got the most out of my daily activities. Further, I'll take pride in the last things I ever do, knowing I wish to be remembered by the quality that people see. Also, knowing that I've done my best will leave me assured of nothing to regret.

Another reason is because you'll waste less time. If you decide this to be your last day on Earth, then it's only logical to put the smallest time possible to waste. For one thing you'll be more focused on your current actions, in fear of not completing them in what may your last opportunity. Further and for the same reason you'll be less likely to procrastinate. In the end, not procrastinating and better focus will result in accomplishing faster. Thus, wasting less time.

Frowning at the passing scenery and brainstorming harder, you won't take things for granted. Being on the verge of losing everything, you'll take advantage of opportunities more. From that, you'll appreciate the important things in life, family for instance, and possibly stress less about lesser consequential issues. Also, you'll be less likely to spend time with negative emotions, concentrating on the positive things that are of higher importance.

My final reason to this thesis is because you'll savor life more than you did before. Converse to negative feelings, you'll shove in space for positive emotions, enabling you to contain more joy. Also, you'll be more likely to "smell the roses", again helping to appreciate what's important in life. Living everyday like your last will show you to be lucky and thankful for the gift of life, while there are so many people who have difficulty appreciating it.

All in all, just from that one quote, I learned a whole new way of living. I realized the choices I make and the things I do will affect everything in the future, for every action comes a consequence of time. I vowed to see the worth of my actions, and only pursue those that I would value most. I realized my life would never be the same, as I randomly began doodling on my homework paper out of boredom and procrastination.