Lose Weight Tips

There are many factors that cause us to increase body weight, yet three stand out from the rest.

Our genetic make: Every cell in our body has a central control panel, that is a nucleus that contains our genes and chromosomes. This is the instruction manual for your body and this is inherited from your parents. It is this instruction manual that is largely responsible for how your body, and even your mind, behaves.

The environment in which we live: Our personal environment may also contribute or cue you to adopt poor eating or exercise habits. This is especially true in today’s society, which is dominated by speed and convenience. For example, escalators, elevators and remote-control appliances make us less physically active. Also, greater availability and the constant marketing of foods that are high in calories, fat and added sugars, and larger portion sizes promote unhealthy eating behaviors.

There may also be personal reasons why you are consuming too many kilojoules from food and drinks, or not being physically active enough. For example, when feeling down or bored you may eat more than you need, or if you are feeling depressed it is more difficult to get active.

Knowing the reason why you may be consuming excess kilojoules or not participating in physical activity, is an important first step in changing your lifestyle habits to help you reach a healthy weight. Read the rest of this entry »

Are you a ‘look-and-lose’ dieter? Have you studied every diet ever created, read a zillion diet books, and yet are still unhappy with your weight?

Has your quest for the holy grail of dieting become a substitute for actually making changes required to take the ill health out of your current diet?

If so, you may not realise your thoughts are key to your happiness and success.

Do you look at yourself and say, “I’m fat”, or “My hips are too big”? Many of us look in the mirror and immediately compare ourselves to those ‘perfect’ human specimens we see every single day on TV, in magazines and in the newspapers.

Often we talk to ourself and make excuses, “It’s my genes”, “I’m much too busy to get fit”, “I like myself this”, as a way of protecting yourself from the way we see ourselves now and the way we want to be.

If we were to be truly honest with ourselves most people actually want to lose a few pounds - if we only knew how.

The good news is you CAN achieve your desired body shape with the right thinking about yourself, an understanding of how to get optimal nutrition, healthy eating habits and how to incorporate activity into your lifestyle to keep your muscles toned. Read the rest of this entry »

The humble soybean boasts some extraordinary benefits. This nutritional powerhouse has stayed under wraps for too long. Apart from being the only vegetable protein with all 22 amino acids essential for our health and well being, the humble soybean has many other virtues…including an excellent foundation for fast, safe weight loss program.

According to Dr David Heber in “The LA Shape Diet” women who are on a weight loss program, need about 100 grams of protein per day to fight against hunger and to build their best personal lean muscle shape whilst still losing weight. Without the appropriate level of proteins in a low calorie diet, people and women in particular, risk losing 1 pound of muscle for every 4 pounds of weight lost!

Dr Heber recommends soy-protein shakes or soy-protein fruit smoothies as a safe and healthy way to achieve fast and permanent weight loss. Apart from the wonderful health advantages of soy, this a safe protein source without the unwanted cholesterol and saturated fats that accompany animal protein sources and sabotage low calorie weight loss programs.

Read on to discover some other wonderful benefits of this incredible this food source. Read the rest of this entry »

Trying to LOSE WEIGHT? Here’s a tip… if it’s white, don’t eat it!

Dr. Hagglund’s Healthy Eating Tips

(All wheat products, bananas*, breads, rice, sugar, and potatoes.)

Research has shown that these foods almost triple your blood sugar rise in proportion to how many calories they carry… nobody knows why for sure but it’s clear that foods high in carbohydrates cause your pancreas to increase your insulin production.

The reason we “pack fat” is insulin. Insulin is commonly thought of as “what’s missing” from a person with diabetes. But it’s more than that. Besides controlling the level of blood sugar in your body, it causes you to be hungry!

It sends you searching through your house at night for chocolate and cookies! It turns on the fat storing machine in the fat cells of your body and further, blocks those fat cells from releasing their stored fat.

The result is that as you eat and exercise, your body can’t convert the stored fat to sugar to burn for energy, which is the desired result of both eating and exercise… which makes you want to eat more after the effects of your workout pass. It’s a vicious cycle! Read the rest of this entry »

Swimming is a terrific way to tone the body and get in shape with very little stress on the joints. This makes it the perfect exercise for any age; all you need is a swimsuit and to find a suitable time at the pool, many have designated adult swim times or family sessions. However, sometimes the prospect of getting in the pool, especially if you consider yourself less than accomplished, can be daunting. The following is my response to a question on how to start on a major weight loss target, and highlights my main mantra which is, “keep on showing up”.

“Let me take your points one by one. The first one about not swimming too well. That means you do swim a bit, and a bit is all you need to get this thing rolling. When I came back to swimming after 30 years off, I started easy, I did what I could because I knew that as time passed I’d get a little bit better and a little bit better until I was really getting somewhere. Now when I say easy, I mean easy, like 25 meters and then a rest, then another 25 meters and so on. Never push it past where it’s fun, and don’t put pressure on yourself, just wait, keep showing up at that pool and doing what you can, and soon what you can will be quite a bit. It’s the keeping on that’s the trick. Forget the “burn”, who needs to be in discomfort all the time, just keep on “doing what you can” and the consistency will win the day. It’s like water on stone, the outcome is never in doubt, and the little drip will go right through that stone. Read the rest of this entry »