Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Top Twenty Weight Loss Tips, Tricks, and Solutions

Roy has come up with some great advice on how to lose weight. I should call him the weight loss guru instead.

I looked at these tips, and found out I only do five of them on a regular basis. How about you??

J


Top Twenty Weight Loss Tips, Tricks, and Solutions
By Roy Barker

Here are some everyday, helpful hints to get you started, keep you going, and help you stick to your diet.

1. Never leave home "starving." Always have a light snack before eating dinner in a restaurant, such as a piece of fruit, a glass of juice or a carrot.

2. Don't go food shopping on an empty stomach! You'll be tempted to buy everything in sight.

3. Don't be tempted by treats. Store them out of view, off counter-tops and as out-of-reach as possible.

4. Don't eat in front of the TV. Watching the boob tube -- instead of watching your plate -- lulls you into overeating. Also avoid being tempted by food and snack commercials.

5. Make it a rule in your house to confine your meals to the dining room or kitchen table! Never eat standing up! This leads to mindless snacking.

6. Think before you drink. Alcohol adds lots of calories, but no nutrients. Also, it weakens your willpower to avoid the wrong food choices. Hangovers can cause wicked cravings for fatty or high carbohydrate foods that can sabotage any attempt at weight loss.

7. Fill up on soup first. Begin every meal with non-cream hot soup; it forces you to eat slowly and fills you up so you won't overeat.

8. Take time to taste your food. Don't gobble food down! Rushing through your meals doesn't give your brain the time that it needs to signal your body that you are full.

9. When dining out, request sauces and low-calorie dressings on the side.

10. There is no law that requires you to finish everything on your plate.

11. Prepare a shopping list (with menu ideas in mind) and stick to the list. Avoid being tempted by bargains that grocery stores place on the outer aisles and at the back and the front of the store. The healthiest foods are usually in the long narrow aisles.

12. Use non-stick pans to reduce the need for cooking with fat.

13. If you must use oil, try a flavorful one like olive or sesame oil. Now remember, a little goes a long way! Make just a spritz of oil go even further by buying a Misto. A Misto is an aerosol can that you can fill with a good fat such as olive or canola oil.

14. A pinch of grated cheese or blue cheese will provide a flavorful kick without adding a lot of calories to a salad or grain dish.

15. If you cook in large quantities for your family, store leftovers in individual serving size containers. This is a way to practice portion control for yourself so you don't eat too much at one sitting.

16. Nibbling off someone else's plate may seem harmless -- but those calories do add up!

17. Drink six to eight glasses of water a day. A beverage before mealtime will also help you feel full faster and longer. Water also helps your body digest food, which is especially important now that you're eating a fiber rich diet.

18. Store really tempting treats in opaque containers or silver foil -- and stick them in the back of the refrigerator. Out of sight out of mind!

19. Are you stuffing yourself? If you have to loosen your belt a few notches after meals you're definitely eating too much!

20. Mashed bananas, prunes and apple sauce are great baking substitutes for fat, especially in bread, brownie and cake mixes.

Publisher & Author: Roy Barker. More detail and recommended guides are at http://www.weightmanagement-weightloss-resource.com/ where you'll see easy weight loss assistance is at hand.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Natural Weight Loss is Not a Diet Pill

When one starts trying to lose weight, its very tempting to think about taking pills. After all, this is an easy way to lose weight. But do these pills work? Do they actually help you lose weight permanently? I'm not so sure.

This great article by Janice Small talks about what really causes weight loss. Read it and think.

Natural Weight Loss is Not a Diet Pill
By Janice Elizabeth Small

It's ironic, isn't it, that when you search for "natural weight loss" online you see a load of ads for pharmaceutical products. Since when did natural come in pill form?

Real natural weight loss starts in your head when you decide that you'll do whatever it takes to lose weight by changing the quality and quantity of food you eat and the amount of exercise you take.

You naturally lose weight when you do what is good for you most of the time and gain it just as naturally when you don't.

Now that's easy to say and not so easy to do when you want to lose weight and your normal inclination and habit is to do what you know you shouldn't.

You can use all the willpower you like in your weight loss program but, if you are forcing yourself too far out of your comfort zone, you'll be going against the grain and making life exceedingly tough for yourself.

Most people give up on any weight loss regime that forces them to make huge changes to their lifestyle and routine well before they've reached their target weight - if they even get past the first two weeks.

Instead of pills and punishing diets and workouts, you need a weight loss program which takes into account the natural human tendency to resist change. And this means taking things one step at a time, building up good habits until they feel part of your normal routine. It means gradually switching to moderate quantities of healthy natural foods. It means starting to move a little more than you do just now and building that up each day.

Natural weight loss occurs when you have built up the habits that support it. It feels great to lose weight that way and what's more the changes you make to your habits stay with you - they are permanent and you never need to think about clicking on those natural weight loss diet pill ads ever again!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Food Addiciton!

Look at this article! It explains exactly what I've been going through.

I really like to eat, and it seems that Dorothy does too.

Enjoy. I think you'll find it as useful as I did.

Food Addiciton!
By Dorothy Lafrinere

"Hi, I have had a weight problem all my life. But I think it is more of a pleasure problem It is also a self esteem of issue. Food was always a reward or "to keep me happy" kind of thing. Food is a happy gathering kind of thing... holidays.. going out to eat..sweet cakes on my birthday. Even as a baby I am sure that I was given food when I wasn't given personal attention.

Diet's are a form of restrictions.

When a person is on a "diet" it is like a statement to everyone around them that they are trying to lose weight. They are telling the people around them they can only eat a certain foods... That food is the food that is on the diet. It is a form of restriction on a loved one. They now have to show their love by helping me stay on a diet. With a "diet" it seems easier for a person to watch me sweat and work out harder to obtain that new weight that I have set for myself.

I seem to think that being one of the reasons for me being fat. As a baby, a child is given a bottle to drink to make them happy and stop crying. Even I give myself pleasure with food. I have learned to have pleasure from food.

Now diet, is a plan of food a person eats for life to keep a certain weight. OK.. the rules change, and now my self esteem is up and I am worth surviving. Yes, it is a survival issue. Eating too much can kill me.

Of course the story of being fat isn't that easily answered or talked about. There are many other factors on the way I think about this issue. There is much more to it. Much, much more.

And this wonderful web site and you wonderful gals are helping me. Women need more self esteem on many issues. Women can and deserve to be happy."

- Peggy (WSE member)

Thank You Peggy for allowing me to share your post in my blog.
For people with an emotional addiction for food, losing their extra weight is a lot harder than eating less food and getting on the treadmill. Many people are over weight because they are suffering with an inner issue. They will use food as an emotional void filler. The only reason they are hungry is because they are sad. They have confused hunger with sadness. They use food as their drug to feel calmness. They will eat and space out as an addict does after a fix.

They will also fall into the roller coaster of self-loathing. Loathing the fact that they once again fell into the unnecessary need for food. People that are obese and actually have lost weight, are of two minds. They feel like they are someone else when they are thinner and live a life where they fear that they could fall into that food addiction at any second. The other mind is the one that is consumed with self-disgust and a weakness for the addiction of food. People with eating addictions love and hate food. Again being of two minds. They try to justify themselves, by criticizing people without food addictions. They will drive by fast food restaurants and debate within themselves, only to increase the need for food, which only causes them to devour even more than usual. They are in a constant battle with, should I or shouldn't I. I know I shouldn't but I so want to. It's a viscous circle for them.

One of the hardest things for obese people to deal with is the
whispers and snickers from other people as they pass by them. They know well enough that they disgust people just by watching their reactions, yet is is not enough to make them stop eating. Obese people are ridiculed in public all the time and they loose out on many relationships because the other person cannot understand their addiction for food. Food addicts will even ignore that they are literally killing themselves with every bite that they do not need.

They choose to not think about it, as any addict does. Some will say that solving food addiction is as easy as just telling people to stop being lazy, to exercise and to stop over eating. For them, food means so many things besides fueling their bodies with nutrients. Their addiction will totally over rule their nature to protect themselves, health wise or society`s concerns about appearance.

Depression, low self-esteem, history of abuse, poverty, family obesity and emotionally troubled childhood upbringings are a few of the greatest causes that trigger off food addiction. As I said earlier in this article, people are desperate to fill an emptiness. Food is the easiest route to reaching that full feeling they desire. Emotional emptiness is the monster that creates the addiction in obese people.

You would think that with all the methods that have proven to help people with their weight issues, there would not be a single overweight person, but the numbers are growing faster every day. Obesity is one of the only health issues the we know how to battle and prevent, yet we fail to do so.

Why is that? Is it because FAT is one of those HUSH words? Do we ignore the overweight issues of others, so not to hurt their
feelings? Are we doing them any favours by pretending it is OK to be dangerously overweight? Do we feel that if they like themselves like that, who are we to judge them? Do we think to ourselves, better them than me?

People that are addicted to the food drug are just as mprisoned as any other addict. There is only one way to get off the drug, and that is to seek help. Also they must want to get off this drug, for themselves. They must want to feel good about themselves. To be able to get to that point, they must build their self-esteem and address the skeletons in their closets. This is why I created womensselfesteem.com. This is one road to an addiction-free place in your mind.

As you read in Peggy`s post, she has finally begun her climb up the mountain to a better feeling person. She wanted to share this with other women that are behind those bars of food addiction. It is beatable. You just have to want to begin the battle.

Again HUGGZZZZ Peggy.

Dorothy Lafrinere

Owner/Operator

Website- http://www.womensselfesteem.com
Weblog- http://www.justblogme.com/Dorothy
Forum- http://womenselfesteem.proboards29.com
email- dorothy@womensselfesteem.com

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Hi, welcome to my blog!`

Hi Friends,

This is my new blog about weight loss. I am on a diet and am scouring the net for new tips on weight loss and dieting.

So, when I find a great article, or piece of info, I am going to share it with you.

Bye for now,

J