Losing Weight The Right Way

10 Tips for Successful Weightloss

2007-04-09T12:03:00.000-08:00

1) Eat Less Fat- Everyone knows that eating less fat helps you lose weight. The only problem is that some people will eat fat-free foods in larger amounts. This is not a good idea. Fat-free foods still have calories, and if you are eating more calories than you are burning off you will not lose weight.

2) Exercise- Exercise is a very important part of losing weight and keeping it off. You can't burn calories if you are sitting on the couch watching T.V. You should try to exercise at least 5 times a week, 30 minutes each time. You could also work out for 10 minutes 3 times a day, and it would be just as affective as a 30 minute session.

3) Eat Slowly- This is a very easy technique for weight loss. It has been proven that it takes the brain about 20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. If you eat to fast, you will end up eating more than you need to to be full. Take smaller bites and just try to take at least 30 minutes to eat your meal.

4) Lift Weights- The reason this will help you lose weight is simple. The more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you will burn. Muscle is active tissue and fat is not. This means that muscle will "burn" a good number of calories a day just for it's own maintenance.

5) Remember To Lose Weight SLOWLY- Losing weight fast is not healthy, and you most likely won't keep the weight off. When you are losing weight too fast, you are most likely losing water and muscle and not fat. This is not good because you need the water and muscle to keep your metabolism level elevated. You want a weight loss of no more than 2-3 pounds a week.

6) Keep a Food Diary- Keeping a food diary can really help in your quest to lose weight. Spend some time every day to record what you have eaten and how much, how hungry you were before you ate, and any emotions existent at that time. Keeping a food diary can provide a large amount of self-awareness. It can help to identify emotions that lead to overeating, make you more aware of your portion sizes, and help you discover your personal food triggers. By studying the diary you will probably notice patterns, then you can make some conscious behavioral changes to fix the problems.

7) Eat Smaller Portions- These days the portions you get from restaurants are huge. Just because someone puts a huge plate of food in front of you doesn't mean you have to eat it all. You should always eat slow, and stop eating when you are full, not when you are stuffed.

8) Focus More on Being Healthy, Not on "Getting Skinny"- Studies have shown that trying to be healthier will end up in healthy weight loss. Trying to get "skinny" will usually end up in unhealthy weight loss that will just come back. Try to focus on picking out healthy foods, not foods you think will make you "skinny". It is suggested that you follow the food pyramid for optimal health.

9) Get Support- A big part of long term weight control comes from receiving encouragement and support from others. Look around your area for any kind of weight loss support groups.

10) Find Your Emotional Connection- Most of the time overeating is caused by some kind of emotion. It could be stress, boredom, loneliness, anger, depression, and the list goes on. You should try to learn about your personal eating triggers and then learn how to react to them without food. If you feel that your emotional connection to food is too strong then you can seek help from a licenced counselor or psychologist in your area.

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2007-03-27T09:34:00.000-08:00

Check out my new renter. The Blue Panther Experience and other things. This is a great blog and I know you will enjoy it.

Mediterranean Diet

2007-03-26T11:25:00.000-08:00

The Mediterranean diet is structured after traditional lifestyle habits of those in the Mediterranean area. This diet is for people who like to cook, enjoy Mediterranean cuisine, and are interested in making a permanent lifestyle change. This diet has few restrictions. People following this diet are allowed to eat all of the things they enjoy, in moderation. This diet focuses on spending time on preparing and enjoying small, tasty meals. Instead of making drastic changes to your lifestyle, this diet teaches people to use low-fat and low-cholesterol foods that are full of flavor and will leave them feeling fulfilled. The Mediterranean diet is designed to improve a persons overall health.

The Mediterranean diet focuses a lot on plant proteins for nourishment. It is considered to be a low-fat, high energy diet. There is a lot of bread in this diet, mostly eaten in the form of pita bread. One major factor that helped to create this diet is that the people of the Mediterranean region have a low rate of chronic disease and illness. In this diet you must eat fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, pasta, rice, and seeds. Olive oil is also a main ingredient in a lot of Mediterranean recipes. Dairy products are consumed in minimal amounts, and usually in the form of cheese and yogurt. You do eat some animal proteins, but not even close to as much as you do plant proteins. As I mentioned before, this plan has very few dietary restrictions. Those who choose to follow this plan are allowed to eat all of the things they enjoy, in small amounts. Physical activity is not required as part of this plan, but it is always a good idea to do some kind of exercising. This diet will cause a steady pace of weight loss, this helps dieters gradually reduce their food intake, while building healthy eating habits that avoid high-calorie and high-carb foods. Studies have shown that this type of diet is better for your health and easier to maintain than some fad diets.

According to the American Heart Association...

2007-03-23T10:11:00.000-08:00

According to the American Heart Association website the best way to lose weight is to have a healthy diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and fat-free or low-fat dairy products, along with regular physical activity. This plan can help most people manage and maintain weight loss for both cardiovascular health and appearance. The American Heart Association urges people to take a safe and proven route to losing and maintaining weight-by following their guidelines for healthy, nutritionally balanced weight loss for a lifetime of good health.

I got this information straight off the American Heart Association website. This is how I was able to lose weight just simply eating a healthier diet and trying to stay active a few times a week. It doesn’t take drastic changes to improve your weight; it just takes dedication to a simple plan. You will be successful if you just stick to your plan and have a clear, realistic goal in mind.

I Need Traffic!!!

2007-03-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

I started this blog because I used to be obese. I was always a heavy girl. I wanted to lose weight and I tried everything, but nothing seemed to work for me. I finally found a diet that worked and I stuck with it and was able to lose a total of 80 pounds. I wanted to share everything I learned and hopefully help some people that have the same problem that I did. The only problem with this is that nobody is finding my blog. I am trying to find people that would be willing to put my link on their website or blog. I would be more than willing to put people's links here as well. I am only getting about 20 visits a day and I want way more people to be able to find my blog. Well anyway if you would like to help me out or if you would like me to put your link up here leave me a comment. Anyway...I will be doing my next post either later today or tomorrow. So bye until then.

The Grapefruit Diet

2007-03-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

Basically the grapefruit diet is eat a grapefruit at every meal, and an enzyme is supposed to burn away body fat. This diet has been around for at least 70 years, and different versions of it are popping up all over the net.

The basics of the diet are as follows; consume grapefruit pulp, juice, or capsules, choose from one of many different grapefruit diet programs online or from a book, combine grapefruit diet with a strict low-calorie or other diet of your choice.

The grapefruit diet has been around since the 1930's. There is nobody who claims to have created this diet, but it is still a very popular diet that tends to get around by word of mouth. People interested in this diet may have a difficult time finding a specific plan because there are a lot of different versions of this diet circulating around the Internet. The most common of these diets is basically that the dieters eat grapefruit, drink grapefruit juice, or swallow grapefruit capsules at or before meal time.

The theory is that grapefruit has a special enzyme that burns fat. No one has been able to explain exactly how it is supposed to work, or if it is also true for other citrus fruits such as oranges and lemons. Most of the grapefruit diet plans out there require a really strict low calorie or other type diet along with the grapefruit plan. Some even require an intense workout. The grapefruit diet is almost like an add on to any other diet where the only difference is that you eat a grapefruit before every meal.

So if you would like to try out the grapefruit diet, I would just add it to whatever diet you are already using, and see if it offers any more results. Just eat a grapefruit before you eat anything. That's basically it.

10 Tips for Cutting Calories

2007-03-16T12:35:00.000-08:00

Losing weight doesn't mean that you have to completely change the way you eat and not eat the foods you love. Here are a few tips for cutting calories without cutting the foods you love. If you follow these tips you will start to lose weight.

1) Carbonated Beverages
Carbonated beverages with a lot of sugar adds hundreds of empty calories to your diet. If you replace these drinks with their sugar free counterparts you will greatly reduce your calorie intake. You will soon start to prefer the diet drinks over the high sugar ones.

2) Salad Dressing
Use low fat or no fat dressings on your salads. Salad dressing naturally have a lot of calories, but there are some out there that naturally don't. Try these salad dressings, or buy the low fat version of the salad dressing you like. This will significantly cut calories.

3) Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise is used in a lot of foods. For instance you can't make a tuna sandwich with out mayonnaise. Mayonnaise adds flavor and moisture to lots of foods. Use the low fat or no fat versions to lower your calorie intake.

4) Bread
Bread is one of the main source of carbs in your diet. Reducing carbs will help you lose weight. Try just using whole grain breads instead of the higher calorie white bread. And try to use just one slice instead of two when you make a sandwich. This will greatly reduce your calorie intake on a daily basis.

5) Spreads
Basically instead of using butter and margarine for your spread try using a jelly or jam. This greatly reduces fat and calories.

6) Baked Potatoes
Instead of using butter and sour cream on your baked potatoes, use butter flavored sprinkles and cooked veggies like broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. Add chives for extra flavor.

7) Fried Foods
Instead of frying your foods, you can use bread crumbs and seasonings to bake your food which can be much more flavorful and a lot more healthy than frying your food.

8) Milk
Try switching to skim milk. Skim milk has a lot less fat and calories than whole milk and even 2% milk. It may take a little adjusting but soon you won't even like whole milk because you will be able to taste the fat.

9) Candy
Make sure you don't eat to much candy, you can treat yourself every once in a while. Try eating the mini bars instead of the full size ones. This will help a lot.

10) Meats
Consider using ground turkey instead of ground beef, there is a lot fewer calories and fat in turkey. You will get a similar taste and texture with significantly less fat and calories.

The Atkins Diet

2007-03-09T10:43:00.000-09:00

The basic concept of the Atkins diet is that having a lifetime of nutritional philosophy which restricts the intake of processed and refined carbohydrates, and encourages the intake of nutrient-rich, unprocessed food, like meat while also using "vita-nutrient" supplements, will result in a healthier and slimmer body.

The Atkins diet is broken up into a series of dietary phases, which most people will go through sequentially. The first two weeks of the Atkins diet is called the "induction phase". During these first two weeks you are supposed to follow the directions as closely as you possibly can, this first stage gets your body ready for the new Atkins lifestyle. The point is to get the body into lipolysis/ketosis, this is done to "switch" your metabolism into only burning fat for energy.

In the second stage of the plan, the diet becomes a little easier, you are allowed to eat more foods and more tasty foods. It mainly increases the allowed amount of vegetables and allowing for a few more carbs. When you start to approach your desired weight, you establish your "critical carbohydrate level" for maintenance, this is basically the highest number of grams of carbs per day you can have without gaining any more weight.

Foods You Can Eat...
When you are on the Atkins diet you can eat, meats, cheeses, eggs, and fats, like butter and oils, without having to count calories.

Foods You Can't Eat...
Carbohydrates are restricted to about 20 grams per day during the "induction phase", after that it goes up about 5 grams per week until you reach your "critical carbohydrate level" for maintenance. In order for this diet to work you must change your diet for a long term basis, if you just lose the weight and then go back to the way you used to eat, the weight will come back. This means that you have to eliminate foods like, cake, potatoes, pasta, pancakes, and pie from your diet permanently. The intake of fruits and dairy are also very limited in this diet.

You don't need to exercise as part of this diet, but it is always a good idea to exercise a few days a week to stay fit. This diet is one of the most popular diets around. Restaurants are now offering low carb or no carb meals because this diet has exploded in popularity. Recent studies have shown that people on the Atkins tend to lose about twice the weight of those on the low-fat, high-carb diets recommended by most health organizations. The studies also seem to show that those on the Atkins Diet lose weight without seeming to drive up their risk of heart disease and that their cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure generally improve. Also, people on the Atkins diet statistically lose more weight then people who actually eat less calories, but more carbs. The Atkins diet is more like a lifestyle change, once you reach your goal weight you still can't eat a lot of carbs, you find the number of carbs you can consume each day without gaining any of your weight back, and that is the most amount of carbs you can eat in any day indefinitely.

If you think that this diet might be for you then I suggest you head over to a used book store or a second hand shop and you will most likely be able to find a copy of the Atkins Diet book for just a couple of dollars. The book will go into more detail about what specifically you can eat, and how the diet works on a scientific level.

The 3-Hour Diet

2007-03-08T13:23:00.000-09:00

This diet is for you if you are looking for a diet where you can eat anything you want. It is a very simple concept, you eat at certain times of the day when your metabolism is most active and you should see the weight drop off. The man behind this diet believes that it is not about low carb diets, it is all about timing. He thinks you should enjoy candy and carbs daily.

The way his diet works is by eating according to this schedule and using a little bit of portion control…(like eating a mini chocolate instead of a whole candy bar). Follow these guidelines and the weight will start to come off…

Eat Breakfast within one hour of getting out of bed.

Eat every three hours after that.

Don’t eat anything three hours before bed.

The creator of this diet believes that eating in this scheduled manner increases BMR or baseline metabolic rate, which is how fast your body burns calories. He also believes that this diet increases energy, and decreases appetite. There have been reports of successful weight loss with this plan, but it isn’t yet agreed upon whether it is a metabolic improvement to spread 3 meals into 5 or 6 smaller meals.

Most Common Least Expensive Method For Losing Weight

2007-03-07T16:31:00.000-09:00

Getting fit without gym membership or exercise equipment is easy. The first thing to remember is to try and eat healthier. That doesn't mean you have to start one of those ridiculous fad diets. It just means to pay more attention to what you are eating. If you are eating something that you know isn't good for you, then eat less of it, drink less soda, eat less sweets. Drink lots of water. The great thing about water is that it keeps you hydrated (which is really important while you are exercising) and it gives your body the illusion that it is full, I used this trick a lot when I was dieting, if you start to get hungry but it is too early to eat again just drink a glass of water. If you don't really like water, they have all kinds of low calorie powders now that you can add to your water to make it juice.
The second thing is to start an exercise routine. You don't need any fancy equipment for this. The only thing you may want to buy is an aerobics dvd of some sort. The only reason for this is that it you need a program that will keep your heart rate elevated for your workout. It doesn't matter what kind of dvd it is as long as it is some kind of aerobic workout. Try to find one you think you might enjoy, this will make it easier for you. You should do this tape at least 3 times a week, 5 times a week if you can handle it, then after your aerobic workout you will want to do some muscle strengthening exercises to keep you toned. You can do sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, squats, and jumping jacks. There are plenty more, that is just to name a few. If you follow this plan for a couple of weeks you will start to see very noticeable results.

Losing Weight The Right Way For You

2007-03-07T15:57:00.000-09:00

Do you wish you could lose weight? Have you tried many fad diets? Do you wish you could find a diet that is right for you? My goal is to give you information on every type of diet that I can find so that hopefully you will be able to Lose Weight Right!!!