Why Can't I Lose Weight?
If you're reading this article you must have asked yourself that question many times: 'Why can't I lose weight?' Well I hope this article gives you the answer's you're seeking and also motivates you do never give up until you've achieved what you want to achieve. Before we begin I want you to forget about everything you've read or done in the past about losing weight. Treat this as a new beginning.
Let me tell you a bit about myself. My name is Adam and I'm 26 years old. For the early years of my life into my teenage years I struggled to keep my weight under control. This made my years at school and college a living hell and my self-esteem dropped to zero. As for my social life it was non-existent and I became a recluse and only left the house if I had no other choice.
The lifestyle I was leading made the problem worse and now looking back it was a never-ending cycle. I would feel low and depressed so I would comfort eat which made me feel better for a bit and then when I felt low I would eat again and so on and so forth it continued.
Like many people who are not happy with their weight, I looked at all the different types of weight loss diets, pills and extreme measure's like surgery. But to be honest I couldn't see myself doing any of them, whether it was because I knew I wouldn't be able to stick to a diet or was scared of taking pills and surgery I don't know. I needed something easy that didn't seem like a chore and maybe even something I would enjoy doing.
Now, that's enough about my background. I want to talk about how I turned my life totally around from a lonely and fun less life to waking up every morning and looking forward to the day ahead.
The first thing I had to do was reprogram my mind. The power of the mind is totally amazing and you need to harness that power if you are ever to achieve your goals. In order to reprogram your mind you need to clear a few things up first.
1: You need to understand life is too short to care about how others perceive you. This way you won't try to lose weight in order to impress people and their irrelevant remarks won't dampen your spirits.
2. You need to find some motivation for losing weight. Having a goal always helps i.e. Do you want to participate in an event e.g. charity run, marathon etc, do you want to get ready for someone's wedding or just feel and look good.
3. I want you to close your eyes and imagine what you want yourself to look like. Imagine yourself walking down the street or in town on a beautiful sunny day as the new person you WILL become. Look how confident you are and how people are attracted to you. While doing this visualisation just take nice deep breaths. This little exercise, which only takes a minute or two worked absolutely brilliant for me and has to be tried to be appreciated. Best time to do this is in bed just before going to sleep.
Now those 3 steps above are the crucial building blocks for our success, you can say the foundations of this amazing journey.
Now that your mind is ready you need to decide on how to tackle the next issue which is what routines are not helping you at this moment and what we need to incorporate to improve the situation. To do this you have to ask yourself some important questions and above all be honest.
First obvious question is 'why are you over weight?' this could be some kind of emotional issue, lack off exercise, bad diet or lifestyle etc. It is important that you pinpoint the exact cause, it may even be more than one thing. You need to write these down on a piece of paper, as they will need to be addressed one by one. To discuss emotional issues is a very sensitive subject and one that is unique to an individual. As I have no experience or training in that area it's one topic that I won't discuss in this article. The best advice I can give is that the issue will need to be resolved especially if it's a barrier between you and your goals and I would therefore encourage you to seek advice from trained professionals. My personal weight loss problem was due to a lack of exercise and bad diet that equals a very bad lifestyle. These issues are a lot easier to resolve. This leads me on to the next question.
Are you willing to change your lifestyle and how determined are you? I want you to imagine yourself continuing on the path you're on at the moment and imagine where you will be in one years time from now if you continue this way. What do you see? Are you happy with yourself? If not what are you going to do about it? You need to seriously as yourself these questions, write them down on a piece of paper and answer them honestly. This step alone will help you enormously.
Ok, by now you have reprogrammed your mind and removed all the past notions about weight loss. You have decided on a motivation for why you want to lose weight that will always encourage you to never give up. You have imagined how you want to look like and that's what you need to aim for in everything you do. Now let's look at what you need to do on a daily basis in terms of the physical aspects. My weight loss plan had 4 core essentials that I did everyday which were easy and can be followed by anyone. If all you do is just copy these 4 steps I can guarantee that in a couple off weeks you will see an enormous difference in yourself. Bear in mind the healthiest way to lose weight is by a few pounds (2-3) a week gradually.
Firstly, cut out all snacks. The major reason we put on weight is because all the snacks we eat between or as replacements for meals contain so many calories that we can't burn them off and so they turn to fat. This step is a lot easier than you think.
Secondly, have three healthy meals a day. Have a breakfast, lunch and dinner. If you feel hungry in between these meals try eating some fruit or cereal. This step will not only help you lose weight but you will notice that you will have so much energy unlike before.
Thirdly, Exercise. When I say exercise I don't mean you have to go to the gym everyday or spend hours jogging. What you need
to do is find at least half an hour each day when you can go for a brisk walk. This could be on your way to work or coming home from work. During your lunch break. Everyone can find half an hour a day for a walk if they really want to. Try walking at a pace that you can feel your heart beating this is the zone you need to be in. This will make you feel so fit and healthy after only a couple off weeks and you'll love and look forward to your walks.
Fourthly, most people won't tell you about this one. Make sure you don't eat before going to bed. The latest you want to eat is 2 hours before going to bed. If you could increase that time even more that would be better for you. The reason is that your body clock slows down near bedtime and any food you eat will not be broken down as much as during the day. This food is also not burnt off and just turns to fat. If you could have a walk after your last meal that would be even better for you.
There you go, that's how I turned my life around. Following the steps both mental and physical you will transform the way you look and feel in the weeks and months ahead.
As a final note always set yourself a weekly target and write it down. Try to improve on it week on week i.e. how many pounds do you want to lose this week, how far or how long do you want to walk etc. This will keep you focussed and ensure that you don't get bored and you will also be able to monitor your progress, which will give you encouragement. But above all NEVER give up, because you can achieve your dreams and goals and don't let anyone tell you that you can't.
For my report on 'How I Lost 28 Pounds & 3 Pants Sizes in ONLY 3 WEEKS' please visit my site www.Free-Weight-Loss.net.
The Rebirth of Carbs
As a registered dietitian, and someone who specializes in sports nutrition, I was appalled when the low carbohydrate fad came into popularity. However, I also predicted that in a couple of years people would become better educated and ready to really pay attention to how to eat for health.
Yes, people lost weight, but mostly because they eliminated many of the high fat, high calorie snack foods and meals they were previously eating. Unfortunately, the foods that promote health were also eliminated as all carbohydrates came under attack. Gone were the chips but also gone were the fruits and vegetables so high in health-promoting nutrients. Even worst of all was the increase in animal fats that are known to promote disease and inflammation.
Let's first address why the low carb diets bothered me. Carbohydrates are one of the three major nutrients in our diet, known as macronutrients. Protein and fat are the other two. These three nutrients supply most of our calories, with alcohol being the fourth. All foods break down into glucose, which is our primary fuel and the only fuel for the brain. No matter what, the brain needs glucose to survive. Even some of fat breaks down into glucose. During the low carb diets, people were instructed to avoid all obvious carbohydrate foods, and in some diets were even encouraged to check their levels of ketones in their urine. Ketones are a byproduct of impartial fat metabolism for people who are not getting enough carbohydrate in their diets or, for medical reasons, are not utilizing the carbohydrates they are eating.
However, carbohydrates are the primary fuel for breaking down body fat during exercise. So, here we have people who want to lose weight trying to also exercise, but because they are not eating the primary fuel for that exercise, their exercise intensity suffers. As a consequence, they burn fewer calories during exercise and cannot burn as much body fat. Not only does science support this, but I would see this happen with my own clients. I also used myself to experiment on. One of my clients challenged me to try the Atkins diet. Never mind the effect of cutting out all my fiber in my diet (constipation), but by the third day I felt like I had lead feet when I tried to do my usual workout! I had no fuel in my body at all. By day #5, I felt I was doing my system more harm than good and went back to my fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Ahhh. Also, I had not consciously realized just how high my diet was in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and how low it was in animal products, particularly animal fats.
This brings up the other problem I had with these diets. More research than I can mention has shown the advantages of a diet high in fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Because of the phytochemicals in these foods, it has been shown that people who eat high amounts of these foods not only weigh less but their health benefits from the high intake of antioxidants and vitamins. Studies looking at cancer and heart disease continually conclude that high intakes of these foods benefit health. My own experience with clients has also shown this. Most people already eat too few servings of fruits and vegetables. Once they increase them, however, they find themselves filling up on fewer total calories. Not only do they start to feel better but they start to lose weight!
Starches still have a bad rap, but once people realize the difference between one starch and another, we may actually see more people eating diets consisting of whole, unrefined foods. So, I guess the benefit of the high protein, low carb diets may be the new awareness that people have in the value of eating unprocessed, whole foods, and that all foods really DO fit into our diet.
Marjorie Geiser helps people overcome their confusion and distress they may feel when trying to add healthy eating and fitness into their busy lives through a successful e-coaching program. She offers a free, monthly newsletter on various topics of health. Margie is a Registered Dietitian, Personal Trainer and Life Coach. To learn more about her services, go to her website at www.megfit.com or email her at margie@megfit.com.
Amino Acids II
Amino acids, the building blocks o proteins, can have pronounced drug-like effects when taken singly, and should be taken with as much caution as drugs. Some of these effects are beneficial, but amino acids aren't entirely benign substances.
In a placebo-controlled study of 31 men with untreated coronary artery disease, a stress test was given The stress test was then repeated after intravenous injection of either the amino acid carnitine (In the form of L-propionylcarnitine) or a placebo. The group that got the carnitine had fewer changes in their EKG, and their hearts pumped more efficiently.
Another trial of heart attack patients compared 79 subjects who took conventional medication with 81 subjects who also took carnitine. The carnitine group's heart rates improved, and they had fewer anginal attacks and lower death rate (1.2% vs. 12.5% in the control group).
Another amino acid, tryptophan, had been used for depression and insomnia, but it's no longer sold in the US because a batch contaminated with an unknown substance caused about 1500 cases of a debilitating condition called eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome, and about 40 deaths. There's some evidence that, in combination with other treatments, tryptophan may help depression, but a review of tryptophan may help depression, but a review of tryptophan trials found that it's unsuccessful as a treatment by itself.
Lysine is often used to treat or prevent herpes infections, but there are fewer positive trials than negative ones, and the negative ones are better. There's actually a sound physiological basis for lysine to work, but when it's studied in a controlled manner, it doesn't seem to.
Douglas Adams is the owner of All Wellbeing.com , a website dedicated to increasing knowledge of health related issues.
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