Archive for September, 2010

One of the things that turns off many people about following a diet is knowing they will have to count calories. Who wants to sit there with a little book all day, figuring out the caloric content of everything they eat? It’s not only time consuming, it’s boring.

Calorie counting isn’t always necessary; there are plenty of alternative ways to be sure you are eating the right amount of food:

- Measure portions

Rather than counting calories, start developing a feel for how much a portion of each food group should be. For example, one serving of fruit … read more

Losing weight can be challenging for many reasons, one of which is that you feel out of sorts when you try to change long-standing habits. You know basically what to eat and how much to eat, but you don’t quite know what to do with yourself when old temptations rear their ugly heads.

Below is a list of helpful dieting tools that can help with your weight loss motivation:

#1 – Journals

Blank journals can come in very handy for dieters, and there are several different ways you can use them. First, you may want to … read more

Dieting is hard enough, but it’s even harder when the people closest to you refuse to support your weight loss goals. Below are some simple tips for turning that around and creating a solid support network of family and friends:

- Open communication

It’s important to verbalize your needs to your loved ones, rather than just assuming they know your expectations. Make it clear that you want to be open with them, and then ask for their support. If you want them to stop making “fat jokes” in your presence, then say so. If you want … read more

When you were a child, did your parents make you join the “clean your plate club”? Were you required to eat every bit of food that was served to you . . . or else? The repercussions for disobeying this rule may have ranged from no dessert to no television to being grounded for a day or two (depending how strict your parents were).

Although your parents probably had the best of intentions with this rule, it may have set you up with persistent habits of overeating that you have trouble changing today. Below are … read more

Have you ever heard that your outer surroundings are a direct reflection of what’s going on inside of you? In many ways this is true – when you feel overwhelmed, stressed and confused, you may not devote the same amount of effort to keeping your home and work space clean and orderly. You may not devote much time and attention to taking good care of yourself, either.

It can also work the other way. Disorganized, chaotic surroundings make you feel weighed down, fatigued and unmotivated.

Taking the time to organize, clean and harmonize your surroundings can … read more

Overeating during meals is one of the major challenges that keeps people from reaching their weight loss goals. Is this a struggle for you too? If so, read on because we’re going to share some simple strategies that will show you how to eat less and lose weight more easily.

Take Smaller Servings

One of the easiest ways to avoid overeating is to start by taking smaller portions of food onto your plate. Start with one small spoonful instead of a heaping pile. If possible, also make sure that you keep serving dishes OFF the table where … read more

There are so many diet plans available these days, it can be hard to know for sure which ones are most effective – and which ones are safest. When you look back over the past 40 or 50 years, you have to roll your eyes at some of the ridiculous diets that have come on the scene promising miraculous weight loss (like the vinegar diet and cigarette diet, for example).

The truth is that most of us are willing to try almost anything if it will help get us to our goal of being slim and sexy. … read more

We all know how challenging it can be to create healthier habits and break those pesky old, unhealthy habits. One way to ease this process for yourself is to start right away creating daily “patterns” that you will stick to from now on.

Examples:

- Eat at the same time each day

Rather than allowing your eating to be sporadic throughout the day, be sure to eat most of your meals and snacks at the same time every day. This is important because your body will get used to eating at those specific times, and you’ll be less likely … read more

It’s happened to all of us at one point or another – we’re going along great on our healthy weight loss plan, when all of a sudden we careen out of control and eat something we really shouldn’t have. While this is a common experience that all dieters share, it does not have to mean disaster if you keep your senses and take action to minimize the damage.

The first thing to do after cheating on your diet is to forgive yourself. After all, you’re only human! Remind yourself that you are trying to change … read more

Losing weight can often be overwhelming and frustrating, but there are things you can do to give yourself an edge. The following weight loss success tips will help keep you feeling inspired and empowered:

Weight Loss Success Tip #1 – Tell Others Your Goal

Do you usually try to keep your weight loss goals quiet? Maybe you’re afraid to “fail” publicly, so you don’t tell anyone until you’ve already lost some weight. Maybe you worry that people in your life will put you down if they see you “cheating” on your diet. Regardless of the … read more

We all know that one of the major causes of being overweight is simply eating too much. Whether you are eating too much over the entire course of a day, or eating too much at one or two meals, the result is the same: too many calories in, not enough calories out, so fat accumulates.

But exactly HOW to stop overeating is the challenge. Eating more than your body needs is usually a deeply ingrained habit that is hard to break. You may not even realize you are doing it until you start paying closer attention to your … read more

Losing weight when your body is youthful and resilient can be challenging enough, but weight loss during menopause can take the challenge to a whole new level! Not only are you battling a naturally slower metabolism, you’ve also got hormonal hurdles to overcome if you want to avoid gaining weight or continue losing weight.

Menopause is well known for contributing to a bit of weight gain in the belly area, but it doesn’t mean that you are sentenced to being overweight for the rest of your life.

Below are some things you can do to encourage weight loss … read more

Reasons Why You Cannot Lose Weight

When you reach a point where you cannot lose weight no matter what you do, you may feel like throwing in the towel and giving up for good. Don’t! There are likely some very simple explanations why you cannot lose weight, and once you resolve them the weight should start coming off.

- You Are Eating Too Much

Sometimes you don’t realize just how many calories a food or drink has, so you ingest WAY MORE calories than you intend to. Make a list of everything you typically eat … read more

Do you often feel hungry during the day and evening? Does this hunger persist so much that it seems like you can never eat enough to feel truly satisfied? You’ll be glad to know that you do not have to starve all day in order to lose weight. Below you will find three helpful tips on how to suppress your appetite – naturally, without drugs.

- Avoid sugar and simple carbs

Appetite suppression begins with stable blood sugar levels. When you eat simple carbohydrates like sugar and starch, it elevates your blood sugar … read more

What is the Mediterranean Diet? The Mediterranean diet refers to the cooking and eating style of countries that border the Mediterranean Sea; Greece and Italy in particular. The Mediterranean diet includes many delicious, heart-healthy foods that it seems like you’re not following a “diet” at all.

The biggest part of the diet is composed of plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and whole grains. Also included are several servings of lean poultry and fish each … read more

Winter weight gain happens to almost all of us, and there are actually biological reasons for it – but it doesn’t have to ruin your weight loss goals if you know how to “trick” your body out of fat-storage mode.

Why do we gain weight before winter?

Remember that many centuries ago, we didn’t have the modern conveniences we do today. We didn’t have pre-packaged foods, grocery stores, and microwaves. Instead, we needed to hunt and gather our food, and store some of it away for winter when food would be scarce. We also didn’t live … read more

Motivation to Lose Weight: 10 Powerful Reasons to Start Now

Do you often think that you need to lose weight but you can’t seem to summon the motivation to actually do it? Developing the motivation to lose weight can be challenging because unless you have an overwhelming desire or reason to want to lose the weight, you’ll just keep putting it off.

The following 10 powerful reasons should provide plenty of motivation to lose weight:

#1 – Reduce your risk of heart disease

Being overweight makes you much more likely to develop heart disease. Simple … read more

For the majority of people who start a weight loss plan, they discover that it’s harder than they expected it to be. But is it possible to make losing weight EASY, instead of hard? Yes, and you may be surprised to learn that the difficulty or ease of a diet has nothing to do with the diet itself. Instead, it’s all about your attitude.

Have you ever had to perform a chore or obligation that you really didn’t want to do? If so, you probably remember moaning and groaning about it the whole time. You … read more

What causes belly fat? Is it just eating too many calories? Not exercising enough? These are definitely contributors, but there are also causes that you may not be aware of.

Below are three major causes of belly fat, along with helpful tips for eliminating them from your life:

Belly Fat Cause #1 – Processed, Refined, Fast Food

Do most of the foods you eat come ready-to-eat in a package? If so, you are likely ingesting many more calories, fat, carbohydrates and sodium than you realize. All of these things have a bloating effect … read more