Lost weight,body building and aerobic

Weight Loss Recipe: Apricot Chicken

2007-05-28T23:39:00.002-07:00

Weight Loss Recipe: Apricot Chicken
by: Kim Beardsmore
Just because you are watching your weight, doesn't mean the whole family can't enjoy your health enhancing meals! The kids will love "Apricot Chicken" and you will love it because it is so low in calories and fat!

Long term weight loss isn't about hunger, misery and crash dieting. It's a whole new way of learning to prepare nutritious food that your body needs and enjoys. "Apricot Chicken" is one of a range of hunger fighting, low fat recipes to assist you keep your weight under control. This irresistible, no-hassle meal will help you reach your weight-loss goals - while making mealtime a real treat.

Variety is an essential element of any successful health program. If you get bored with foods, you're much more likely to abandon your program altogether. Each main meal should be accompanied by an exciting range of colorful vegetables.

Apricot Chicken (serves 4)

Ingredients

2 cups (460g) solid pack canned apricots (or canned puree apricots)

4 skinless chicken breasts

1 large onion, chopped coarsely

ground black pepper, to taste

2 sage leaves, finely chopped or ½ teaspoon dried sage

1 sprig thyme, chopped

1 tablespoon fruit chutney

1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)

2 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives or mint for garnish

Directions

1. Reserve four apricot halves for garnish. Puree remaining apricots in a food processor or blender or press through a sieve.

2. Arrange chicken fillets in a single layer in a casserole. Sprinkle over onion, pepper and herbs.

3. Combine chutney and apricot puree and pour over the chicken.
Bake in a preheated 180C (350F) oven for 30 minutes.

4. Mix the cornflour and water to a smooth paste.

5. Remove casserole from oven. Use a slotted spoon to lift out chicken breasts; cover and keep warm.

6. Drain the sauce form the casserole into a saucepan. Add the cornflour paste to the sauce and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Cook a further two minutes.

7. Arrange a chicken breast on each plate and spoon sauce over each one. Garnish with apricot halves and chopped chives and serve.

Nutrition per serve

192 calories, carbohydrate 11g, protein 26g, fat 5g

About the Author

http://leanmachine.org/?refid=aprctchckn-33190

Weight Loss Recipe: Tuna Patties With Dill Sauce

2007-05-28T23:39:00.001-07:00

Weight Loss Recipe: Tuna Patties With Dill Sauce
by: Kim Beardsmore
Lean protein is your diet is essential to weight loss and weight maintenance. Tuna fish is an excellent source of lean protein as it is lower in fat than red meats.

Losing weight isn't about hunger, misery and crash dieting! By learning to make, delicious, easy-to-prepare, nutritious food your body needs and will enjoy – losing weight becomes exciting and energizing.

Instead of high calorie, fatty sources - use spices to provide flavorsome, exciting meals your whole family will enjoy. "Tuna Patties With Lemon Dill Sauce" is another recipe in a range of hunger-fighting, low fat recipes to assist you keep your weight under control. This irresistible, no-hassle meal will help you reach your weight-loss goals - while making mealtime a real treat.

Variety is an essential element of any successful health program. If you get bored with foods, you're much more likely to abandon your program altogether. Experiment with spices to find exciting alternatives, try new recipes and build your repertoire of quick home cooked meals to replace take outs, frozen dinners and snacks. Your body will love you and your family will be delighted.

These tuna fish patties are delicious hot or cold. They are great for the lunchbox - just hold back the sauce.

Ingredients:

1 (12 ounce) (350g) can white tuna packed in water, drained and finely flaked

3/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1/4 cup minced green onion

1 egg

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

Lemon Dill Sauce:

1/4 cup nonfat chicken broth

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon dried dill

Directions:

In large bowl, combine tuna, breadcrumbs, green onion, egg, milk, and lemon peel.
With lightly floured hands, form mixture into patties.
Spray a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat.
Cook patties, until golden brown on both sides, about 3 minutes per side.

Sauce: combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until warm.
Add a small amount of flour and mix with a whisk to thicken sauce.
Spoon sauce over tuna patties and serve.

Makes 4-6 Servings

Approximate Nutrients per serving:

Calories: 190

Total fat: 1

Saturated fat: 0 grams

Cholesterol: 72 mg

Sodium: 34 mg

Carbohydrate: 18 grams

Protein: 29 grams

Dietary fiber: less than 1 gram

About the Author

Kim Beardsmore is a weight loss consultant whose business operates across 60 countries. This world renowned, medically approved program will give you results you'll love and all the support you need! Estimate your healthy body weight, tons of recipes, articles, free newsletter and more at http://weight-loss-health.com.au

Weight Loss Recipe: Veal Mango

2007-05-28T23:37:00.002-07:00

Weight Loss Recipe: Veal Mango
by: Kim Beardsmore
Just because you are watching your weight does not mean you can't prepare fantastic meals for company. "Veal Mango" is one of range of hunger fighting, low fat recipes that will assist you manage your weight. Your guest will never know you are on a diet, and your family will love you for this great recipe!

Variety is an essential element of any successful health program. If you get bored with foods, you're much more likely to abandon your program altogether. Each main meal should be accompanied by an exciting range of colorful vegetables.

Veal Mango (serves four)

Ingredients

2 small or 1 large mango or tinned mango

1 cup (250ml) dry white wine

3 tablespoons mango chutney

4 tablespoons chopped spring onions

4 lean veal schnitzels

a little plain flour

1 teaspoon oil

2 tablespoons water

4 spring onions for garnish

Directions

1. Peel the mangoes. Cut away and roughly slice the flesh.

2. Place the mango flesh in a saucepan. Add the white wine and chutney. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer until the sauce has reduced by half, about 15 minutes.

3. Add the chopped spring onions. Return to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for a further two to three minutes.

4. Dust the veal schnitzels with the plain flour. While the sauce is simmering, brush or spray a large frying pan with oil and heat over medium-high heat.

5. Fry the schnitzels, turning occasionally, for approximately 10 minutes until browned on both sides.

6. Remove the cooked schnitzels from the pan. Add the 2 tablespoons of water to the pan, as well as the sauce. Heat, stirring constantly, for about three minutes.

7. Arrange the schnitzels on individual dinner plates. Spoon the sauce over the schnitzels and garnish with the whole spring onions.

About the Author

Kim Beardsmore is a weight loss consultant whose business operates across 60 countries. This world renowned, medically approved program will give you results you'll love and all the support you need! Estimate your body fat percentage and register for our weight loss ezine and further recipes at http://leanmachine.org/?refid=vlmngo-33192

Weight Loss Starts in the Head

2007-05-28T23:37:00.001-07:00

Weight Loss Starts in the Head
by: Kim Beardsmore

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.

But most important of all, you need a regular mental workout to keep your self-image in shape.

Self-image is closely connected to the success or failure of any goal you choose to seek after, but none more so that the goal to get yourself fit and healthy.

So how do you go about strengthening your self-image? Well fortunately your self-image, just like your muscles, will respond well to a regular work out. You can actually strengthen your self-image with a few daily exercises.

Exercise One - Self Examination

Start by compiling a list of all those negative thoughts your have about yourself...I'm undisciplined, I can't manage my time, I let people down, I can't succeed, I don't exercise enough. You will need to decide before you start this process that you won't get discouraged....these are things that you will admit to yourself but they most certainly don't have to control your life.

Next, compile a second list including everything you LIKE about yourself. Keep going until this list is LONGER than the first list you compiled. You might include things such as, I am a good cook, I can make people laugh, I contribute to the soccer club, my daughter loves the way I decorate her room.

Then, take your ‘negatives' list and turn it into your ‘potentials' list. You do this by creating a positive self-image to every ‘negative' you listed. Instead of “I can't succeed", write a counter belief, “I will succeed".

Ceremonially throw out the ‘negatives' list - you are saying goodbye forever! Burn them, trash them, destroy them....they are no longer going to be a part of your thinking about yourself.

Now, keep your list of potentials in a prominent place. On your refrigerator door, in your daily journal, or in a picture frame on your desk. Make sure you have them in front on your every single day so that you are reading them constantly and reprogramming your daily thoughts.

Exercise Two: You Can Be What You Want to Be

Now that you have your list of potentials... run your own visualisation stories so that you can ‘see' yourself in a new light. For example, if your list of potential includes “I eat just the right portions", visualise yourself with a moderate portion on your plate, and feeling completely satisfied at the conclusion of your meal.

Read through your list of potentials every day taking a few moments of personal quiet time to reflect strongly on your visualisations. Try starting your day first thing in the morning and finishing as the last thing at night with visualising yourself being the person on your list, and doing the things you want to do.

Exercise Three: Keep a Journal of Your Daily Successes

Keep a record of all the positive changes in thoughts you have about yourself. We all have triumphs and ‘failures'. You must record and remind yourself of the positive changes because our human nature will replay the negatives - sometimes blowing them out of proportion. It's important to nurture and celebrate the small steps you make every day.

Exercise Four: Go Easy On Yourself - You Are Beautiful Work In Progress

Don't listen to the criticism...not your own nor that of others! Remember you are the designer of your self-esteem, do not hand this over to other people. You are way too important to give this away. Protect your role as creator of your own self-image and do not, take on board negative criticisms. We all make mistakes, and mistakes can be used to help us learn. Do not criticise yourself for being human and making a mistake. The only last mistake in the one from which we never learn to grow.

Exercise Five: Forget About The Past

The only moment you can live is the current one. You can't live in the future and you most certainly shouldn't live in the past....the challenge is to take charge of our thinking so that we think in the same time zone in which we live!

For example we may be tempted to think about yesterday's failures..."If only I hadn't eaten second helpings", “If only I didn't reach for the chocolate cookies". If we concentrate on the mistakes of yesterday this will our brains to replay our failures and reinforce them to us.

Yesterday is over, today is where you live....make sure that today you do NOT replay yesterday's failures and make your resolve to change TODAY.

Exercise Six: Resolve to Change Today

Just as you shouldn't live in the past, you can't live in the future. You can only live or change today. The oldest cliché in the world is perhaps one of the greatest truisms of all...'tomorrow NEVER comes!'

There is no better time than now. So, no matter what excuses you may have to wait to take those healthy steps you know you should take, none of them are valid. Do it now, do it today. Resolve to make a different in your own life before you go to sleep tonight.

Exercise Seven: Write a Plan For your Life

This is your success plan. If you have not already done so it is time for you to create direction and purpose in your plans for yourself. Review your list of potentials and record next to each potential when you want to achieve this by.

Exercise Eight: Carry Affirmation Cards About Yourself

This is one of the fastest tools for your success. You are what you think. Strengthen your self-image every day by reviewing your thoughts. One of the easiest ways to do this is to carry affirmation cards in your wallet and review regularly. Affirmation cards are short bursts of words in business card that prompt and remind your self-image of your intentions. An example might be:
I can achieve anything that I put my mind to.
I will be satisfied with single helpings.

Try it, you have absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Exercise Nine: Change Your Eating Habits

Now that you have set the groundwork in place, you are now ready to change your physical habits. You are ready to add a balanced nutritious diet, healthy eating habits, regular exercise and relaxation.

By using these nine exercises daily to change your thinking habits, you will be strengthening your self esteem and unlocking your internal power to make a change in your life. Before you can change lifelong eating habits, you must first change life long thinking habits. We are what we think. We can't be something other than what we believe we can be!

So, do yourself a favour, liberate your self-image and then, see how much more effective your healthy living plan becomes!

Kim Beardsmore, B.Sc, MBA is a successful weight loss consultant. To see what you can do today to take control of your weight, visit her website at http://leanmachine.org/?refid=selfesteem-12867

Weight Loss tips

2007-05-28T23:36:00.001-07:00

Weight Loss tips
by: Paul Marsland

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated.

Weight Loss tips

All throughout my childhood and teenage years I watched helplessly as my mother tried every fad diet under the sun. I recall one time she ate boiled cabbage and nothing else for a whole week. I felt my mothers’ frustration and misery but I could not understand why it was so difficult for her to lose weight and keep it off – until that is I became a weight loss coach.

For the past two years I have been assisting people to achieve their ideal weight and in this time I have experienced what contributes to a successful weight loss story.

Get serious
It all starts with you and how serious you are. The key to successful weight loss is dependent on your level of commitment. How would you rate your seriousness on a scale of 1 – 10 (10 being deadly serious)?

Staying motivated
Always keep the end in mind! Write down all of the reasons why you are motivated to lose weight now. Record these reasons on a piece of card that can be kept in your wallet or purse. Each morning and before going to bed remind yourself by reading aloud why you are motivated to lose weight.

Facing challenges
Every day you are likely to face challenges which can disrupt your focus and get in the way of your weight loss goals. Write down all of the challenges that you know have made losing weight hard for you in the past because this will help you to develop a better strategy this time. Three common challenges are lack of results, boredom and lack of support from spouse, family and friends.

Safe and effective
When choosing a weight control program I would recommend looking for the following:
Balanced nutritious
Provides you with balanced nutritious meals
Teaches you about better eating habits
Choose a weight control program that teaches you how to maintain your weighr t once you have reached your goal.

Paul Marsland and his wife Annette have been working as wellness coaches for the last 3 years. Using scientifically proven, balanced nutritious programmes they help people lose weight and improve their health, energy and vitality safely and effectively. For more information visit:
http://slim-n-trim.org/?refid=arthub-30562

Weight Loss Tips After the Birth Of Your Baby

2007-05-28T23:35:00.002-07:00

Weight Loss Tips After the Birth Of Your Baby
by: Richard Wassell
http://www.livinghealthysite.com

The tips listed below will help you to get back to you ideal weight after the birth of your child.

1) Remember that the best approach to weight loss combines healthy eating and regular exercise. It is important you stay focussed on both these areas.

2) Eat slowly and chew your food well. Put your cutlery down between bites and don't pick them up until you have finished chewing.

3) Instead of putting the food on the table and letting everyone help themselves, serve the food on the plate. Allocate the appropriate amount for each food group.

4) If you feel like snacking, try going for a walk instead. Before you go, have a good drink of water. Hunger is often disguising thirst.

5) If you have a problem with junk food and can't resist the temptation at home, stop the problem at the source. Don't buy any junk food! Or at least limit the amount you buy to one item per week.

6) Eat smaller meals, but more often. A healthy meal will be a lot more satisfying than a packet of chips or a drink.

7) Drink fresh juices instead of soft drinks. This will cut down on your sugar intake, and is a far better alternative than the artificial sweeteners in those diet soft drinks.

8) Set yourself a weight goal and stick to it. Chart your progress and stick it on the fridge. It will be a helpful reminder every time you go in the kitchen.

9) If you do have to go for junk food, try the healthiest option. For example try to get the burger with the most salad on it, or get some salads to accompany the meal.

10) Increase your motivation levels, and stay on track. If your motivation drops, you will find it hard to focus on your goal weight.

About the Author

http://www.livinghealthysite.com is the Baby Names, Pregnancy, Birth and Babies Complete Resource

Weight Loss Tips and Tricks

2007-05-28T23:35:00.001-07:00

Weight Loss Tips and Tricks
by: Mary Howard RN

You hear so many tips and trick about weight loss that it may leave you wondering which tips are the best and which tricks are really tricks?
You hear so many tips and trick about weight loss that it may leave you wondering which tips are the best and which tricks are really tricks? Let's look at how food and exercise affect metabolism and weight loss to help us understand why some of these tips and tricks work or don't work.

Lately you may have heard a lot about low carbohydrate diets and claims that they are working and that people are getting healthier without paying attention to the amount of fat they are eating. You may have even heard that the USDA is looking at changing the food pyramid.

There is a major flaw in the low fat diet plan and scientist are finally having to admit to it. Very little of your bodies Cholesterol comes from diet. Your body manufactures most of your Cholesterol from Carbohydrates. The culprit of turning these carbohydrates into fat is Insulin.

Insulin is vital to life because it regulates blood sugar, controls the storage of fat, regulates the liver’s production of cholesterol, functions as a growth hormone, is important in appetite control, drives the kidneys to retain fluid and much more. It is absolutely essential to life, but too much of a good thing can sometimes cause problems. Too much insulin can cause fat storage, cholesterol production and is caustic to the blood vessels. Insulin, by activating or inhibiting various metabolic pathways, can make us sleepy, hungry, satisfied, dizzy, lightheaded or bloated.

As you age your insulin receptors become less sensitive to insulin so your body overproduces insulin to meet what it thinks is it’s need. By carefully monitoring the types and amount of carbohydrates we eat we can clean up our insulin receptors. Decreased insulin receptor site sensitivity is frequently the problem that Type II Diabetics (Adult Onset Diabetics) have.

Not mixing certain food types is a dietary concept out there now that actually makes some sense. For example it is a fact that if you eat only a fat and a protein together the fat goes right through you. Dietary fat by itself is not the culprit but when you add a carbohydrate to the mix the body will turn the dietary fat into body fat. If you eat a little protein and carbohydrate (Low Fat Diet) together your body will make fat to either store or use for energy depending on your activity level at the time. But why? You didn't eat any fat?!

As an example: After that fat free ice cream cone, your body produced more insulin than it needed because of your plugged insulin receptors. The insulin does what it is supposed to; it lowers your blood sugar level but then there is extra insulin circulating around so it goes to work and turns some fat into cholesterol and stores some fat somewhere else incase you decide to skip supper tonight.

By decreasing your intake of concentrated sweets, like sugar sweetened food and not overeating starches like breads, pasta and potatoes you may keep your body from the overproduction of insulin. Carbohydrates actually have a metabolic affect that make any fat you eat worse for you. Carbohydrates affect the hormone balance in your body to add to depression, lack of energy and mood swings.

Exercise really is the key for healthy weight loss. By increasing the strength and mass of your muscles you are better able to burn calories. Exercise makes the rest of your everyday activities easier therefore burning up more calories not only from the exercise but from having more energy to complete your daily activities. Having that energy is more likely to keep you busy so you think about eating less often.

Not eating 3 hours before bedtime is something you may have heard that will help you loose weight. There is much truth in this too, for more than one reason. We know that if you go to bed shortly after a big meal you don't sleep as well and you also don't have a chance to “work off” your meal but their is also another big factor.

Human Growth Hormone (hgh) is produced at night to help our body build and repair muscle. If you eat a carbohydrate within 2 to 3 hours of sleep time your body will not produce near as much of this hormone.

Exercise first thing in the morning now makes some sense too. If you have not eaten after your evening meal your body in the morning is fasting. If you exercise before breakfast it forces your body to burn fat. It looks like if you followed that exercise with a protein breakfast it would keep you in the “fat burning” (glycogen dominant) phase a little longer.

Quality protein sources like that found in meat, eggs, fish, and nuts is the best and quickest way to build lean body mass when you are part of an exercise program. Lean body mass (muscle) will help you burn calories. Because carbohydrates are what turns dietary fat into body fat it is healthier to avoid the carbohydrates than to avoid the fat because frequently by avoiding naturally occurring fats you also avoiding good quality protein sources.

Protein requirements are figured based on lean body mass so it is difficult to state the requirements. An average sized adult female (about 140 lbs) requirements are 50 grams protein a day but may need to be as high as 75 grams when very active during an exercise program. For an average adult male (about 175-180lbs) is 65 grams and could be as high as 90 grams a day during an exercise program.

Tip on foods to eat and foods to avoid:

Avoid:

All sugar sweetened foods if you are serious about a weight loss program.

As often as possible foods that are all or almost all starch content like potatoes, white bread, and pasta.

Processed foods often have unhealthy fat sources and chemical additives that drag your system down.

Eat:

All vegetables especially green vegetables raw vegetables and salads.

Meat, eggs, nuts, fish, tofu and beans. Whole grain cereals, pasta and breads.

The carbohydrates you do eat make them from whole foods in their natural state fresh fruit with the skins because the extra fiber will help with the carbohydrate digestion.

Fresh fruits to get your vitamins needed to make you feel good while exercising and taking care of your health.

The looks like it would be a great tool to count the grams of protein and carbohydrates eaten each day.

With this we have come back to the basics again. Eating whole foods in their natural state is always your best bet. Now we can see why our grandparents could eat bacon and eggs for breakfast and still be in great health. By eating certain foods at certain times and with some moderation in what we eat we can eat well and feel great doing it. We can improve our health and emotional well-being while improving our physical body.

About the Author

Mary Howard is Registered Nurse, mother of two, and enjoys natural gardening. More or her articles are posted on the Homegrown web site. Feel Free to contact her at: gardenrn@sendfree.com

Weight Loss Tips from a Trainer's Viewpoint

2007-05-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

Weight Loss Tips from a Trainer's Viewpoint
by: Shawn LeBrun

Here are 10 simple tips you can use for weight loss and fitness
1. Two quick and easy ways to cut extra calories from your diet yet still satisfy your sweet tooth: Drink Diet soda or Crytal Light and eat Sugar-Free Jello gelatin. These are two small changes you can make that will reduce calories but will not make you feel deprived.

2. To quote John Beecher, "Strength is a matter of the made-up mind." Is your mind made up that you are going to start and stick with a weight loss plan or is this going to be like other attempts where you give up at the first sign of failure?

3. Make changes in your diet gradually. The body doesn't like quick, shocking changes in anything. It's like going from a freezing room to a very hot room. We need time to gradually acclimate.

The same is true with changing our eating habits. First, if you eat junk food all the time, try to reduce it to a couple days, then to just one day. Gradual reductions are more long lasting.

4. One reason people overeat is because they are overstressed. Getting rid of tension in a positive way will help keep you from eating because of increased tension and stress.

Take a walk, participate in a yoga class, hit the punching bag, lift some weights. Find a way to relieve some tension and you may find you also relieve your appetite.

5. Stay away from products or services that sound too good to be true. The health and fitness industry is a 40 billion dollar a year industry and many companies that are selling bogus products are thriving.

They target people's emotions by luring them into believe that by taking their products, there will be magical results. Just think, if something was truly that good, wouldn't everyone already know about it and be taking it?

6. You must have the desire to change your body from where it is now. Without desire, you are setting yourself up for failure. You must want your goal bad enough that you are willing to endure some short-term pain to receive these goals.

Link pleasure to working out and pain to missing workouts. You must condition your mind. Stop talking yourself out of going to the gym and start talking yourself into it.

7. During the first couple weeks of an exercise program, you will notice that your scale weight either doesn't change or it may go up a bit. Throw the scale out the window, it doesn't distinguish between fat and muscle, so when you initially gain a bit of muscle at the start, the scale weight will go up. That's a good thing. Over time the scale weight WILL go down.

8. Most people do not like to calorie count, me included. But in order to properly lose body fat, you need to determine your daily energy expenditure or caloric maintenance level.

You then need to reduce your energy consumption to be below your energy output. It's difficult to place a number on how much below your consumption you should go, because everyone is different. A good place to start would be 150-200 calories below your maintenance levels.

Then continue to observe the effects in the mirror to determine if this number needs to be changed.

If you continue to see no results, try reducing your energy consumption to 300 calories below your energy output.

9. Alcoholic beverages are high in calories and low in nutrients. Alcohol increases the body's need for Vitamin B, which is used to metabolize it. At the same time, it impairs the body's ability to use these and other nutrients.

One or two standard-size drinks once in a while will cause no harm in normal, healthy, non-pregnant adults. However, those looking for ways to cut out additional calories to help in their weight loss efforts will be better off reducing their alcohol intake even further.

10. Whatever challenges you face, focus on the future rather than on the past. Instead of worrying about what you failed to accomplish last year, focus on where you want to be and what you want to do. Get a clear mental image of your ideal successful future, and then take whatever action you can to begin moving in that direction. Get your mind, your thoughts, and your mental images on the future.

About the Author

Shawn LeBrun is one of the internet's most publised fitness and weight loss coaches. Visit his site to see how he can make this the year you achieve your best body ever!

Will Your Plan Lead To Permanent Weight Loss? How To Tell

2007-05-28T23:31:00.002-07:00

Will Your Plan Lead To Permanent Weight Loss? How To Tell
by: Dr. David Nganele

This article summarizes what a plan must have to be able to result in long-term weight loss. If a plan fails in any one of these, any weight loss will be short-term and the individual will experience "yo-yo dieting".
Several years ago, a colleague who had tried several weight loss plans, asked me to help her figure out why she wasn’t able to achieve permanent weight loss. After extensive research on how the body regulates weight and studying individuals who had succeeded in attaining long-term weigh loss, I concluded that there are four characteristics that a plan must have to result in long-term weight loss. If a plan fails in any one, it might create short-term weight loss but the pounds will come back and you will find yourself trying something else. At first glance, these factors might look straightforward and simple but I will present the science behind them and why they must be taken into account for you to succeed.

The four characteristics are:

1. The plan must avoid cravings 2. The plan must avoid hunger 3. The plan must call for increasing your activity level 4. It must be a plan you can live with for a long time

What are cravings? A craving is when your body pushes you to want a particular food ingredient. This can occur even when you are not hungry. When you finally give in and get the food, you almost always binge, that is, eat more than you would have if you did not have cravings for it.

What causes cravings? Your body needs 6 essential food ingredients to function properly. They are carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals, vitamins and water. If you deprive your body of any of this, it will create the sensation that will drive you to get it. The most easily identified example is when you deprive your body of water. You develop thirst. Thirst is the body craving for water.

Weight loss plans that tell you to cut out particular foods will always lead to cravings. It is this battle in your body to give it what it needs that creates conditions of discomfort and lead to most individuals ending the programs. There is an area of the brain that controls what and how much you eat and is responsible for creating cravings as a way for you to provide the body what it needs.

So, how do you avoid cravings? By eating all the required food ingredients. The key is that in all the food groups, there are “good” types and “not so good” types. You need to know the good types and eat only those. For example, with carbohydrates, the good types are the ones with low glycemic index (GI). GI is a measure of how fast a food increases the production of insulin. Insulin causes fat buildup. Simple sugars, potatoes and white bread are examples of high GI foods, while whole grains and vegetables have low GIs and therefore good for weight loss.

By understanding the concept of eating all the essential foods and dividing them into “good” and “not so good” foods, you will avoid cravings and overeating.

Next time we will discuss hunger and how successful plans avoid hunger.

About the Author

Dr. David Nganele empowers individuals with the knowledge to take help them take control of their health. His latest book is "How to choose a weight loss plan that will work for you". Learn more at http://aboutdietplans.com.

Your Simple Plan for Weight Loss

2007-05-28T23:31:00.001-07:00

Your Simple Plan for Weight Loss
by: Paul Buckley

The math is pretty simple. One pound of fat equals 3500 calories. Want to lose a pound a week? Then you need to consume 3500 calories less per week than you use. That's about 500 calories a day. By cutting out 500 calories a day from your normal daily diet, while keeping your activity level the same, you can lose approximately one pound a week.

All right - that doesn't sound like much, especially if you're more than 25 pounds overweight. Study after study has shown, though, that those people who lose weight gradually - at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week -are far more likely to keep the weight off and maintain a normal weight for a lifetime.

So how much exactly IS 500 calories? If you're going to reduce your daily intake by 500 calories, it helps to know what you need to cut out, right? Here's how easy it is to lose 500 calories a day:

Use milk instead of cream in your coffee. Savings? 50 calories per cup.

Skip the butter on your baked potato. Savings? 100 calories

Drink fruit-flavored water instead of a 16 ounce soda. Savings? 200 calories

Skip the Big Mac and have a salad instead. A Big Mac weighs in at a whopping 460 calories. A fresh salad with a light dressing? Less than 100! Savings? 360 calories

Pass by the bag of potato chips. An average snack size bag of chips has over 300 calories. Savings? 300 calories

Eat your corn on the ear. A 1 cup serving of canned corn has 165 calories. An ear of corn has 85. Savings? 80 calories.

Switch to low-fat cream cheese on your bagel. Savings? 90 calories per ounce.

Love those fries and can't give them up? Swap the skinny fries out for thick steak-cut ones. Thin French fries absorb more oil than the thicker, meatier ones. Savings? 50 calories per 4 ounce serving

If you'd rather look at losing weight from an exercise perspective, you can also lose one pound a week by upping your activity level by 500 calories a day. How easy is that to do? Take a look:

Take a half-hour walk around the park. Aim for a pace that's a little faster than a stroll, but not fast enough to be breathless. Burn: 160 calories.

Get out your bike and take a ride. Tackle a few moderate hills and aim for about five miles total. Burn: 250 calories

Go dancing - and really DANCE. The longer you're out on the floor instead of at the table drinking up high-calorie drinks, the more you'll get out of it. Dancing that makes you breathless and warms up your body will net you a nice calorie savings. Burn: 400 calories for one hour

Swimming is great for you, and a lot of fun, too. The water resistance means you burn more calories, and you avoid the stress impact on joints from aerobics, dancing or walking. Do a few laps at a slow crawl - if you can get up to an hour you'll be doing great! Burn: 510 calories

Get out into your garden. An hour of gardening tasks that includes bending and stretching can burn up to as many calories as a brisk walk. Burn: 250 calories.

Play a game of tennis. Hook up with a friend for a weekly tennis game and you'll be amazed at the difference. One hour of vigorous tennis is one of the best calorie burners around. Burn: 800 calories

It’s important to keep in mind that all exercise/calorie numbers are based on a woman weighing 130 pounds. If you weigh more, you'll burn more. Want an added bonus to burning calories through exercise? When you exercise, you build muscle by converting it from fat. Three guesses which kind of body tissue burns more calories - even when you're not exercising. You got it - your body uses more energy to maintain and feed muscle than it does fat.

For best results, mix and match food savings with exercises that burn calories. Do keep in mind that eating less than 1000 calories a day for more than a few days will convince your body that it's starving and slow your metabolism. Keep calorie ranges reasonable, and consult a doctor if you want a quicker, more drastic weight loss.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Buckley-for much more weight loss information visit The Healthy Diet Zone at http://www.healthydietzone.com

Your Weight Loss Problem

2007-05-28T23:25:00.001-07:00

Your Weight Loss Problem: How-To Cure It By Watching Movies
by: Beth Scott
Is it possible that you could actually lose weight while watching your favorite shows or reading your favorite books? YES, it is! Read this article to find out how...

I don’t know anything about you but if you’re anything like me then you struggle with a weight loss problem. Your weight loss problem consists of you struggling to keep your weight down, or struggling to make your weight go down.

Most people who see me wouldn’t believe that I have a weight loss problem, but I do. I’ve battled bulimia and constant gains and losses in weight, of ten pounds each time. Thats what I call a big weight loss problem.

A lot of women and men with the same or a similar weight loss problem would sympathize with me I’m sure. I want to look good (who doesn’t?) so that always motivates me to go on a diet.

But after sticking to a diet for a week and dropping the unwanted weight my love for good tasting food overpowers my need to feel attractive and the weight piles back on pound by pound.

There is always exercise to help with a weight loss problem, I remind myself as I lie lazily on the couch chomping down on one of my non-diet treats. “Sure!” I groan “I don’t feel like wearing my butt out without seeing any results for weeks at a time.”

Whenever I start a workout regimen I only stick to it for a few weeks (usually less) and then I get bored and drop it. So my weight loss problem continues.

How many other women I wondered (or men, for that matter) get bored while exercising? I thought about that for awhile then I set about to find a solution to help all those poor people (and myself too, of course) with this weight loss problem.

First I asked myself: What did I like to do? What did I find Interesting?
“Hmmmm, well” I thought “I like dancing, but long periods of it are exhausting. I like to read, to listen to music, and I really dislike being on my feet for over long periods of time.

What could possibly combine all or most of these to make my exercising interesting and help solve my weight loss problem?

The solution to my weight loss problem was amazingly simple!

I own an old stationary bike, and I do mean OLD, but the important thing is that it operates. You can do this with any form of stationary bike, whether it’s a twenty year old model or an up to date model.

It doesn’t matter whether you own the stationary bike or use a gym’s or your local YMCA’s or YWCA’s facilities.

My weight loss problem solution is this:

Find something engrossing to read. It could be a novel or your favorite magazine. Or listen to music that you enjoy, you could even use audio books or any different CD’s or things you could listen to.

I suppose if your bike was somewhere around a television or computer with a DVD player, you could even watch your favorite movie.

The next step is to mount your stationary bide and start biking while reading or doing any of the above listed activities, and not to get off for at least 45 to 60 minutes, except for an occasional rest every quarter of an hour.

I usually just keep biking away the whole time and sometimes I bike longer because I’m so engrossed in what I’m reading, and I won’t allow myself to read it once I’m off the stationary bike.

After a week of this, without change in my eating habits, or any dieting, I’m maintaining a healthy weight. Best of all I’m not putting on any new pounds, and my legs look visibly slimmer.

So I've kissed my weight loss problem goodbye, and I'm saying hello to slim jeans and size 6 dresses, and you can too.

For the first time in a long while I actually look forward to putting on a bikini.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

If this method isn’t appealing to you or just doesn’t work, you should try visiting Brad Callen’s website at: http://snipurl.com/98g1
He gives excellent weight loss advice for those seeking it.

You're Being Lied to About Weight Loss

2007-05-28T23:22:00.000-07:00

You're Being Lied to About Weight Loss
by: Shawn LeBrun

Here are some of the blatant weight loss lies being thrown at unsuspecting consumers.
Well, here it is, late night TV and I'm flipping through the channels trying to find something good to watch.

As I'm surfing the tube, I notice a huge amount of weight loss infomercials.

And you know what, most of them literally make me sick to my stomach.

Not because I despise TV, but because I can't stand it when companies blatantly lie to unsuspecting consumers and make MILLIONS in the process doing it.

But as I continue to promote the truth about weight loss with my personal training business and my fitness website, the truth is muddled in the sea of confusion that's created by companies throwing weight loss solutions at consumers 24/7.

The companies pushing these bogus products will continue to make millions as I continue to fight an uphill battle, trying to shed some light for people as to what it really takes to lose weight and get in shape.

Am I bitter that these companies are making millions?

Nope.

Am I bitter that they're doing it at the expense of people who really are unsure of the best way to go about losing weight and getting their health back?

Absolutely.

I know firsthand what it really takes to lose a lot of weight and get in great shape.

And not once was it from an "Ab Stimulator Belt" you wear at work or from a "Fat-Loss Patch" you place on your arm.

Nor was it from a "Magic Juice Drink" you sip for 2 days straight while not eating another morsel of food.

And now that I think about it, it also wasn't from Coral Calcium or Metabo-Super-Fat-Burning-and-Crime-Fighting Pills.

It sure wasn't from an "Ab-Crunch-Whatever-You-Call-It", you know, the torture machine you use for 3 minutes while watching TV and are supposed to lose 20 pounds in a week.

But as I continue to watch these commercials like a deer caught in the headlights, I almost fall for the best marketing money can buy--the "pictures-never-lie" testimonials.

You know, the old "before and after" photos (as hard as I looked, I couldn't see the airbrushing).

Hey, if it's in a picture, its gotta be true!

And right before I catch myself reaching for the phone to order (chuckle, chuckle) I ask myself "Why is it these types of commercials clutter the TV mostly at night or on Saturday morning?"

Is that when the most gullible tend to watch a lot of these blatant lies and scam products being peddled to them?

Who knows, but Letterman is on and I need to change the channel before I get any sicker to my stomach.

About the Author

Shawn LeBrun is one of the internet's most publised fitness and weight loss coaches. Visit his site to see how he can make this the year you achieve your best body ever!