Some people find it hard to stick to diets and consistently fail to lose weight. They try nearly every kind of new dieting idea that comes along hoping that one of them would finally work, but the miracle never happens. Naturally, these people tend to overlook their own mistakes and fail to understand what prevents them from losing weight. The human brain displays a remarkable ability of ignoring the things it does not want to face, so it’s not hard to understand why some people eat all manner of things and still claim they haven’t touched anything but salad for a whole week.
Key Points
But there are ways of working around these problems and if you don’t want to become one of these people, then you should stick to these pointers. Their purpose is to make eating a conscious act in order to avoid giving in to compulsions and temptations. The easiest thing to do is to carry around a notebook and a pen and to write down everything you eat. And I mean every little thing.
Have you finished that half a slice of pizza that your partner couldn’t eat anymore? Write it down. At the end of the day look over the list and you’ll be surprised at how many things you actually eat on a regular basis.
Since eating and drinking are, for the most part, acts that bypass rational thinking you should try to bring them out of the twilight zone. So every time you reach out for a drink or some food, stop and ask yourself “Why am I doing this?”. You may be thirsty, hungry, bored, lonely, depressed, tired or stressed, but out of this list of reasons only thirst and hunger are legitimate.
Put the bottle down if you’re not thirsty. Put the food back on the shelf or on the table if you’re not hungry. Do you crave sweets because you’re tired? Get some sleep instead. Do you feel the need to eat because you’re lonely and depressed? Go to the cinema or visit a friend. Read a book, watch a movie or listen to some music. There are options.
Never starve yourself. This is one of the big mistakes in dieting. Unless you have enough willpower to qualify for Nietzsche’s Overman status you will break down sooner or later and eat the first thing that you can get your hands on. Such as snacks or fast food. Starvation also makes the body go into power save mode by limiting your energy levels and hanging on to the existing fat. The body makes no difference between dieting and actual starvation and will behave as if in danger. Therefore you must eat three meals a day, plus snacks consisting of fruit and vegetables. This is the best way to lose weight.
Don’t try to banish your favorite foods completely because you will only sap your own willingness to stick to a diet. The key to dieting is moderation, not denial. Do you like ice cream? Well, have a couple of spoonfuls of ice cream every Sunday. Take a break from whatever it is you’re doing and enjoy this special treat. Don’t feel like you’re cheating on the diet and keep any guilt pangs away. You’re just dieting, not preparing for admission to a convent or monastery. So have a bit of forbidden food every five days or so and enjoy the moment.
And, of course, you must exercise. If you’re not used to exercising and are a bit scared of all the effort and sweating, then start small. There’s no need to rush into hour-long training sessions. Five minutes per day will do for starters. Get a treadmill and a pair of dumbbells and make your own schedule.
Two minutes and a half of running and two minutes and half of curls. Every week increase the time spent exercising by another five minutes and add new exercises. Your goal should be to spend at least 30 minutes every day working out your body. Sixty minutes is even better, but it will come in time. It’s OK to start small.
Healthy Trans Fats vs. Unhealthy
I’m going to talk about something today that most of you have probably never heard…that there is a distinction between good trans fats and bad trans fats. There is some evidence that the good trans can help you with fat loss, muscle building, and even cancer prevention, while the bad trans fats have been shown to cause heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and the general blubbering of your body.
I’m sure most of you have heard all of the ruckus in the news over the last few years about just how bad man-made trans fats are for your health. If you’ve been a reader of my newsletter and my “Truth about Six Pack Abs” e-book program, then you definitely know my opinion that these substances are some of the most evil food additives of all and are found in the vast majority of all processed foods and fast foods on the market today. In my opinion, man-made trans fats are right up there with smoking in terms of their degree of danger to your health. After all, they are one of THE MAIN factors for the explosion of heart disease since approximately the 1950’s.
As you may have heard recently, the FDA has mandated that food manufacturers include the grams of trans fat on all nutrition labels starting back at the beginning of this year. This means that as inventory is replaced in the grocery stores, you should start to see grams of trans listed on all packages from now on, providing you with an easier way to avoid them.
With all of the talk about trans fats in the news these days, I wanted to clarify some things, particularly regarding bad trans fats vs. good trans fats. If you’ve never heard of good trans fats before, let me explain in a bit.
The Bad Trans Fats
First, the bad trans fats I’m referring to are the man-made kind. These are represented by any artificially hydrogenated oils. The main culprits are margarine, shortening, and partially hydrogenated oils that are in most processed foods, junk foods, and deep fried foods. These hydrogenated oils are highly processed using harsh chemical solvents like hexane (a component of gasoline), high heat, pressure, have a metal catalyst added, and are then deodorized and bleached. A small % of the solvent is allowed to remain in the finished oil. This has now become more of an industrial oil rather than a food oil, but somehow the FDA still allows the food manufacturers to put this crap in our food at huge quantities, even with the well documented health dangers.
These hydrogenated oils cause inflammation inside of your body, which signals the deposition of cholesterol as a healing agent on artery walls. Hence, hydrogenated oil = inflammation = clogged arteries. You can see why heart disease has exploded since this crap has been loaded into our food supply over the last 5 to 6 decades. As time goes on, and science continues to unveil how deadly these oils really are, I feel that eventually they will be illegal and banned from use. The labeling laws were just the first step. In fact, certain countries around the world have already banned the use of hydrogenated oils in food manufacturing or at least set dates to phase them out for good.
However, keep in mind that as companies are starting to phase out the use of hydrogenated oils in processed foods, they are replacing them, in most instances, with highly refined polyunsaturated oils. These are still heavily processed oils using high heat, solvents, deodorizers, and bleaching agents. Even refined oils are known to produce inflammation in your body…a far cry from natural sources of healthy fats. Once again, for the best results, your best bet is avoiding highly processed foods altogether and choose whole, natural, minimally processed foods. Your body will thank you!
The Good Trans Fats
Ok, after having trash talked the man-made trans fats, let me clearly state that there IS such a thing as healthy natural trans fats. Natural trans fats are created in the stomachs of ruminant animals like cattle, sheep, goats, etc. and make their way into the fat stores of the animals. Therefore, the milk fat and the fat within the meat of these animals can provide natural healthy trans fats.
Natural trans fats in your diet have been thought to have some potential benefit to aid in both muscle building and fat loss efforts. However, keep in mind that the quantity of healthy trans fats in the meat and dairy of ruminant animals is greatly reduced by mass-production methods of farming and their grain and soy heavy diets. Meat and dairy from grass-fed, free-range animals always have much higher quantities of these beneficial fats.
One such natural trans fat that you may have heard of is called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and has been marketed by many weight loss companies. Keep in mind that these man-made CLA pills you see in the stores may not be the best way to get CLA in your diet. They are artificially made from plant oils, instead of the natural process that happens in ruminant animals. Once again, man-made just doesn’t compare to the benefits of natural sources.
Now that all of your labels should be listing grams of trans fat, keep in mind that if a quantity of trans fat is listed on a meat or dairy product, it is most likely the natural good trans fats that we’ve discussed here. Otherwise, if the quantity of trans is listed on any processed foods, it is most likely the dangerous unhealthy crap from artificially hydrogenated oils, so stay away!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this interesting look at good trans fat vs. bad trans fat and use the info to arm yourself with more healthful food choices for a better body.
Raw Food Diet Help Loss Weight
While raw foods are not new, the focus on eating plans that focus on them are and this trend in healthy eating appears to be gaining strength across the country. The focus of the diet is on eating uncooked, highly nutritious foods – fruits and vegetables. Of course, these foods are low in calories and extremely good for you, but eating them raw or uncooked is favored as it is believed that they lose nutritional value when cooked.
Those who subscribe to the raw food diet eat fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes. They drink unpasteurized milk, water, juice, and tea. It is a revolutionary way to eat, but also a natural way and many of those who follow this way of eating say it keeps them thin and healthy.
However, while the raw food diet is rich in some nutrients, it lacks others. Although fruits and vegetables do have some protein and calcium, this diet may be lacking in these things. Experts are torn on whether it is healthy as a long term way of eating.
Another thing to consider when taking up a raw food diet is that most of the fruits and vegetables that you see in your supermarket are loaded with pesticides. Therefore, it might be best to consume only organic raw food.
If you decide a raw food diet is for you, you might consider supplements to compensate for the nutrients this diet is lacking. Some supplements to consider include vitamin B12, copper, zinc, and chromium. Also, proteins from plants do not the same amino acids as animal protein so you’ll have to consume a variety of different type sof raw foods in order to remain healthy.
Some medical experts see great benefits in the raw food diet. In addition to enabling weight loss, the diet can ostensibly increase one’s metabolism, making calorie burning easier. Some medical experts have also suggested that a raw food diet is a good antidote to eating disorders. In addition, it can help make your immune system stronger, and help the body rid itself of harmful toxins. Some supporters even claim that eating raw foods improves the look of their skin.
A raw food diet is not recommended for children, women who are pregnant, people suffering from osteoporosis, and those who are anemic. If you try a raw food diet, you should to plan your meals in advance to insure that you are receiving the maximum amount of nutrients. Also, it can be time consuming to prepare all the foods you need so make sure that you set aside the time to chop, blend and puree for each meal every day.
Stick To Your Decision To Lose Weight
So, you’ve decided to lose weight. You’re changing your eating habits, you began to exercise… But do you know what the most difficult part is?
It’s ability to stay on track. Here are few tips that will help you to stay on track:
Remind yourself about your reasons.
Write down all the benefits of loosing weight and review it on a daily basis. It doesn’t take long, and it will keep you motivated through the day.
Use affirmations
Repeat the positive phrase to yourself whenever you have chance to or if you need inspiration.
Use visualization
Visualize yourself being slim. Imagine how you feel. Imagine what your friends will say. Use the power of your imagination to stay on track.
Form a success habit.
First, ask yourself what habits it will take to lose weight. Exercising on a daily basis? Cooking healthy food?
It is the fact that in 30 days you can turn almost anything into a habit. ALL of our habits are formed the same way. By doing something over and over again until it becomes second nature. So all you have to do to form a new habit is to repeat the same action over and over again every day during 30 days. After 30 days it will become a habit.
But here is a catch: you can’t afford to skip a single day. If you do you’ll have to start over again. During first thirty days, if you miss even a single day of practice reset your 30-day clock to Day One and start from the beginning.
Find more time for cooking and exercising
If you think you don’t have time for loosing weight, think again. Do you have time for watching TV? Reading newspapers or magazines? Chatting with friends? Well, if “yes” than you definitely have time for weight loss.
You don’t have to eliminate all your activities; you can just cut back on them. Just trim by 10% the amount of time you spend on each of your daily activities. And invest the extra time in loosing weight.
Fight the temptation.
It is really very easy. All you have to do is prioritize. For example, if you see a pack of delicious cookies in the store and suddenly start craving one, ask yourself: “What do I want more: to eat this cookie or to have a beautiful slim body?” Listen to yourself. Is this cookie really so important to you?
If you’re still craving it use the 10 minute rule. Take your mind off food for the next 10 minutes. If you’re in a grocery store go to the book section and pick a very interesting book instead. Most of the time your craving will stop.
If not, you can take one serving and give the rest of the cookies to your neighbor. Or put them somewhere where it would be a problem for you to get them.
Reach Your Ideal Weight
There are many books and internet articles written about weight control. However, if you already know the stuff you should be doing, you might want to skip past the next section of this article. For those of you who are starting at the beginning, here’s some useful information:
Energy is measured in units called calories or kilojoules. If you want to lose weight, then the total calories that your body absorbs through eating and drinking must be less than the calories that your body expends throughout the day. And of course, if you wish to gain weight, the opposite is true.
You can also help your weight control along by participating in regular daily exercise, because this helps your body burn more calories. It does this not only during the exercise session, but also for hours later, by
raising your body’s metabolic rate. When you exercise, you produce feel good chemicals in the brain which are called endorphins, and these often help to stop you from reaching for those high calorie snacks such as cakes, donuts and chocolate. Also, exercise changes the fat and muscle ratio in your body. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so make sure you enlist all the help you can get by exercising!
So if we have all this information at our fingertips, then why do so many people have such difficulty reaching their ideal weight? Well, I must tell you that a lot of it has to do with your subconscious belief systems. Do you know all the basics, but still find yourself unable to stick to a healthy eating and exercise regimen? You’re definitely not alone.
At this point, I would like to say that if you want to lose weight, then I strongly suggest that you reframe the notion of “losing weight”. So instead of saying you want to lose weight, I would like you to think of your goal in terms of “gaining control of your weight”, or, as the title of my article suggests, “reaching your ideal weight”.
The reason for this, is because your subconscious mind can be a fickle beast, and when you “lose” something, what do you automatically (and subconsciously) want to do?
You want to find it again!
So it’s really important to focus your mind towards what you want, instead of what you want to lose, and this is because your subconscious mind works best with positive language. And speaking of which, how is your body image? Do you continuously criticize yourself , or berate yourself for indulging in that triple choc milkshake? If so, STOP right now. If you want to reach and maintain your desired weight goals then you need to make permanent but manageable lifestyle changes, while at the same time allowing yourself the odd indulgence…without feeling guilty!
So, be realistic and work at a steady pace towards reaching and maintaining a body shape that is achievable for you. If you’ve always had a pear shaped body, then you will not be able to slim down to a straight-up-and down shape, even if you starve yourself! Don’t fall into the trap of unhealthy eating habits; depriving your body of
essential nutrients is every bit as damaging as overeating.
Begin by working WITH your natural body shape, not against it. Send your subconscious mind the message that you love and respect your body. One of the ways you can help yourself along is by using daily affirmations. Start today; write down any negative beliefs you have about your body, and then replace these negative statements with positive ones. Remember:
You can achieve anything if you enlist the help of your subconscious.
