Everyone wants to look their best and, usually, weight gain leaves you feeling not as confident about the way you look. While there are some women who don’t mind gaining weight because they get to enjoy having curves, for other individuals weight gain is a real problem. Clearly, when you pile on the pounds it makes it difficult to fit into your old clothes and so you may have to buy new ones in a larger size, which is always rather distressing! You may tell yourself you intend to lose weight, but if you don’t bother to you are left feeling that you’re going to be ‘fat’ forever.
Of course, how much of a negative impact weight gain has on your confidence depends on how slim you were to begin with, how much weight you have put on, and how noticeable this weight gain is. If you put on a pound or two after a couple of weeks’ overindulgence at Christmas you won’t feel as bad as if you gain four pounds after a week of avoiding exercise and eating lots. The trouble is once you put on a few pounds it becomes all too easy to put on a few more pounds, as it’s easier not to have to worry about the consequences of eating large quantities of tasty food.
However, while you may enjoy eating whatever you want, the chances are you won’t enjoy the extra weight you end up having to carry, especially when other people start to notice. Most people you know will probably be considerate enough not to mention it, but there will always be one who feels the need to, which will leave you feeling even more conscious of your weight gain. You might go on a crash diet in a desperate attempt to lose weight, even though you generally end up regaining the weight as quickly as you lost it.
If you take this kind of approach to managing your weight, your confidence is likely to plummet further, as you feel elated when you step on the scales and have lost a few pounds, but the complete opposite when the weight makes a return. It is more important to eat healthily and exercise regularly than to lose any weight you’ve gained as fast as humanly possible, since this is a much more effective way to manage your weight.
It is more important to look after your health than to shed lots of weight quickly and will also help bolster your confidence, so that you don’t have to experience the emotional highs and lows of weight loss and gain
Showing posts with label Weight Loss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weight Loss. Show all posts
Why people struggle to stick to a diet
Labels:
Fitness,
Health,
Weight Loss
There is more to dieting than losing weight. Successful dieting is losing weight and keeping it off. The only way to keep the weight off is to not go back to our old way of eating. This is where the struggle comes in. Change is hard – even good change.
Serial Dieters
Most people diet until they lose a desired amount of weight and then go back to eating the way they always have. Then they gain the weight back, and then they diet and lose it again, and then they regain it, and so on. Most dieters are yo-yo dieters. Eat, diet, eat, diet, eat.
Change
Dieting involves a complete change in the way you eat. If you want to lose weight and stay slim forever, you can’t eat super-sized portions of butter-dripping, carbohydrate stuffed, high-calorie food. The mathematics of dieting will not add up the way you want them to.
Diet Math 101:
It takes 3,500 calories less in your diet to lose a pound. If you want to lose a pound a week, eliminate 500 calories per day from your diet. If you do this for seven days in a row, you will end up being one pound lighter. The longer you do this, the more pounds you will lose. Do this and limit your fat grams to 30 or under, and you will see a gradual decrease in your weight. Simple? Yes.
If it sounds so simple, then why do most dieters give up long before they reach their weight-loss goal?
Let’s Go Back to the Concept of Change
While dieting, you have to change the way you look at food. Food is not for anxiety or heartbreak or for comfort after a bad day at work. Food is for energy. It takes a long time for this “energy” concept to sink in. Don’t worry, though. It’s not your fault.
My grandma (and probably everyone’s grandma) firmly believed that food could solve every problem – a failed job interview, a romantic break-up, a bad day at the office, losing money in the Stock Exchange. Food was the cure. “Here, Honey. Eat this and you’ll feel better, and be sure to have seconds.”
We were taught that food is therapeutic – which is actually true. It makes us feel better in the short-run. But when we’ve gained weight from eating so much, we feel crummy, so the first thing we have to do is find new ways of comforting ourselves. This, alone, is one of the hardest elements of dieting.
Here are a few “non-food” ways to comfort yourself:
Exercise – This causes the brain to release endorphins, the brain chemical responsible for our sense of wellbeing;
Take a leisurely walk – Walking is de-stressing and helps us to find perspective;
Play a musical instrument – Immersing yourself in making music is a calming activity;
Listen to your favorite fast song and dance along with the music. Again, endorphins are released;
Paint, crochet, do needlepoint, knit, draw, or engage in some other creative venture;
Do something for someone else – Altruism causes us to focus on someone other than ourselves;
Call a sympathetic friend and vent.
Losing weight is 90% in the mind and 10% in the stomach. Diet one day at a time, and you will see good results. Begin to change your attitude towards food, and find non-food ways to comfort yourself. Soon you will feel better, look slimmer, and become a whole new you!
Serial Dieters
Most people diet until they lose a desired amount of weight and then go back to eating the way they always have. Then they gain the weight back, and then they diet and lose it again, and then they regain it, and so on. Most dieters are yo-yo dieters. Eat, diet, eat, diet, eat.
Change
Dieting involves a complete change in the way you eat. If you want to lose weight and stay slim forever, you can’t eat super-sized portions of butter-dripping, carbohydrate stuffed, high-calorie food. The mathematics of dieting will not add up the way you want them to.
Diet Math 101:
It takes 3,500 calories less in your diet to lose a pound. If you want to lose a pound a week, eliminate 500 calories per day from your diet. If you do this for seven days in a row, you will end up being one pound lighter. The longer you do this, the more pounds you will lose. Do this and limit your fat grams to 30 or under, and you will see a gradual decrease in your weight. Simple? Yes.
If it sounds so simple, then why do most dieters give up long before they reach their weight-loss goal?
Let’s Go Back to the Concept of Change
While dieting, you have to change the way you look at food. Food is not for anxiety or heartbreak or for comfort after a bad day at work. Food is for energy. It takes a long time for this “energy” concept to sink in. Don’t worry, though. It’s not your fault.
My grandma (and probably everyone’s grandma) firmly believed that food could solve every problem – a failed job interview, a romantic break-up, a bad day at the office, losing money in the Stock Exchange. Food was the cure. “Here, Honey. Eat this and you’ll feel better, and be sure to have seconds.”
We were taught that food is therapeutic – which is actually true. It makes us feel better in the short-run. But when we’ve gained weight from eating so much, we feel crummy, so the first thing we have to do is find new ways of comforting ourselves. This, alone, is one of the hardest elements of dieting.
Here are a few “non-food” ways to comfort yourself:
Exercise – This causes the brain to release endorphins, the brain chemical responsible for our sense of wellbeing;
Take a leisurely walk – Walking is de-stressing and helps us to find perspective;
Play a musical instrument – Immersing yourself in making music is a calming activity;
Listen to your favorite fast song and dance along with the music. Again, endorphins are released;
Paint, crochet, do needlepoint, knit, draw, or engage in some other creative venture;
Do something for someone else – Altruism causes us to focus on someone other than ourselves;
Call a sympathetic friend and vent.
Losing weight is 90% in the mind and 10% in the stomach. Diet one day at a time, and you will see good results. Begin to change your attitude towards food, and find non-food ways to comfort yourself. Soon you will feel better, look slimmer, and become a whole new you!
Why weighing yourself can be stressful
Labels:
Fitness,
Health,
Weight Loss
Weighing yourself can be stressful, particularly if you have avoided stepping on the scales for a long time and have no idea how much you weigh or you are trying to lose weight and need some way of monitoring your progress. There are some people for whom stepping on the scales is no big deal, but if you’ve long had a weight problem then you’ve no doubt had to contend with humiliating occasions when you’ve been forced to weigh yourself, often as a child. It is these kinds of experiences which can leave you reluctant to be weighed and make you stressed out just thinking about it.
You don’t always need to step on the scales to know you’re overweight. Unless you’re only a couple of pounds overweight and it doesn’t show you usually have some idea when your weight is a problem. Indeed, you’re probably avoiding the scales precisely because you know that your weight is an issue, but aren’t yet in position to want to do something to change it. If you don’t know how much you weigh then you don’t have to face up to how serious a problem it is becoming and actually start to tackle it.
However, as soon as you go to the doctor with any health complaint the issue of your weight will no doubt be raised, and you may be ushered towards a set of scales, bringing back the horror of being weighed in front of your classmates or by your parents and being told that you need to lose a few pounds. If you feel stressed out it is hardly surprising as you simply assume that you are being judged negatively for being overweight and you don’t even want to look down at the numbers, although curiosity often gets the better of you.
Once you’ve seen how much you weigh, though, you can’t erase the figures from your mind and so you feel obliged to go on a diet. You then have to deal with stepping on the scales each week at home or at your slimming club in order to see if any of the changes you’ve made to your diet have actually had an effect on your weight. If you’ve lost a few pounds you’re probably ecstatic and all the hard work seems worth it, but if you haven’t lost anything or even gained a pound or two you feel that it is all a waste of time and that you may as well give up.
Since weighing yourself can be extremely stressful it is hardly surprising that so many people choose to avoid the scales altogether
You don’t always need to step on the scales to know you’re overweight. Unless you’re only a couple of pounds overweight and it doesn’t show you usually have some idea when your weight is a problem. Indeed, you’re probably avoiding the scales precisely because you know that your weight is an issue, but aren’t yet in position to want to do something to change it. If you don’t know how much you weigh then you don’t have to face up to how serious a problem it is becoming and actually start to tackle it.
However, as soon as you go to the doctor with any health complaint the issue of your weight will no doubt be raised, and you may be ushered towards a set of scales, bringing back the horror of being weighed in front of your classmates or by your parents and being told that you need to lose a few pounds. If you feel stressed out it is hardly surprising as you simply assume that you are being judged negatively for being overweight and you don’t even want to look down at the numbers, although curiosity often gets the better of you.
Once you’ve seen how much you weigh, though, you can’t erase the figures from your mind and so you feel obliged to go on a diet. You then have to deal with stepping on the scales each week at home or at your slimming club in order to see if any of the changes you’ve made to your diet have actually had an effect on your weight. If you’ve lost a few pounds you’re probably ecstatic and all the hard work seems worth it, but if you haven’t lost anything or even gained a pound or two you feel that it is all a waste of time and that you may as well give up.
Since weighing yourself can be extremely stressful it is hardly surprising that so many people choose to avoid the scales altogether
Why obesity can have a negative impact on your confidence
Labels:
Health,
Weight Loss
If you pay any attention to the news then you will know that there is currently an obesity epidemic which is leading to serious health problems and placing a significant amount of strain on health services and the economy. Of course, when you’re the one carrying too much weight you don’t necessarily give much consideration to the implications for wider society, as you’re far more worried about your own situation. You don’t need to hear that obesity is bad for you, since you can already tell this when you find it difficult to socialise with other people because of the likelihood that you will be judged for your size.
Of course, there are other downsides to being obese, particularly the health issues associated with having a weight problem, but it is usually other people’s response to you that is immediate. Being obese may put you at greater risk of having a heart attack, but that can seem some way off, whereas when someone tells you to your face that you’re fat you can’t exactly ignore it. You may want to bury your head in the sand, but even if you laugh off any criticism or ignore it, somewhere in the back of your mind all these nasty comments remain, which you dig out whenever you’re feeling particularly bad about yourself.
Being obese can have a detrimental impact on your confidence because everyone wants to be healthy and also to be normal. When you’re obese you are substantially heavier than the recommended weight for someone of your height and although you probably don’t shout from the rooftops how much you weigh, you can’t really disguise your size either. When you’re obese it can be difficult to find clothes, let alone clothes that flatter your figure. You can be left wearing clothes that don’t really suit you or reflect the kind of image you’d like to project just because they were all you could find in your size.
When you don’t really like the way you look you can find yourself trying to blend into the background and you will generally do anything you can to avoid standing out in any way. You can find yourself sticking with people you know and feel most comfortable with, as you don’t want to be in the company of people who you don’t know and who may have a negative opinion of you just because of your size.
You therefore make choices based on how you feel about your weight, which can therefore leave you very much cut off from wider society. This only serves to make you feel worse about being obese and so it is important not to let your weight dominate your life, whether this means losing weight or learning to embrace the person you are.
Of course, there are other downsides to being obese, particularly the health issues associated with having a weight problem, but it is usually other people’s response to you that is immediate. Being obese may put you at greater risk of having a heart attack, but that can seem some way off, whereas when someone tells you to your face that you’re fat you can’t exactly ignore it. You may want to bury your head in the sand, but even if you laugh off any criticism or ignore it, somewhere in the back of your mind all these nasty comments remain, which you dig out whenever you’re feeling particularly bad about yourself.
Being obese can have a detrimental impact on your confidence because everyone wants to be healthy and also to be normal. When you’re obese you are substantially heavier than the recommended weight for someone of your height and although you probably don’t shout from the rooftops how much you weigh, you can’t really disguise your size either. When you’re obese it can be difficult to find clothes, let alone clothes that flatter your figure. You can be left wearing clothes that don’t really suit you or reflect the kind of image you’d like to project just because they were all you could find in your size.
When you don’t really like the way you look you can find yourself trying to blend into the background and you will generally do anything you can to avoid standing out in any way. You can find yourself sticking with people you know and feel most comfortable with, as you don’t want to be in the company of people who you don’t know and who may have a negative opinion of you just because of your size.
You therefore make choices based on how you feel about your weight, which can therefore leave you very much cut off from wider society. This only serves to make you feel worse about being obese and so it is important not to let your weight dominate your life, whether this means losing weight or learning to embrace the person you are.
Lifestyle changes needed for weight loss
Labels:
Fitness,
Health,
Weight Loss
There are literally hundreds of diet plans, programs, groups, pills and organizations that all promise significant weight loss. They use celebrities or spokespeople to advertise their products, all in the hope of luring desperate and unsuspecting people to whatever it is that they have to offer. The reality is that permanent and long lasting weight loss will not come from a pill or a fancy diet or diet program, or from some special food that you get delivered to your house however often. Permanent and lasting weight loss and maintenance comes from changing the way you live and learning to develop new habits and patterns of thinking.
Permanent weight loss that leads to the improvement or eradication of health problems is something that must involve an overall lifestyle change. Rather than thinking of a "diet" as a way to lose weight, a wiser approach would be one in which the lifestyle change is seen as a way to live a healthier life. Here is a look at some of the things that will need to change in order to lose weight and keep it off.
*The importance of what you eat -
In the past, people believed that diets could be successful by nothing more than counting calories. We now realize that the types of food one eats are also important. Complex carbohydrates are full of vitamins and minerals, but they are also excellent sources of fiber. Complex carbohydrates consist of most vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes. Fiber gives the body the feeling of fullness that can be helpful in preventing overeating.
Getting adequate protein is also essential. Without adequate protein, our brains don't function properly and our bodies lack energy. We are unable to do the things we need to do to stay healthy and fit. Lean meats, skinless poultry and fish are ideal sources of protein, as are beans, cheese (in moderation,) eggs (egg whites are the real protein source in eggs,) and tofu and other soy based products.
*What you drink -
It's easy to grab a coffee or a soda to quench your thirst. A single can of regular soda has 150 calories and 10 tablespoons of sugar in it. What people don't realize is that the surge of energy you get from that soda will wear off quickly, leaving you hungry and cranky. If you're at work, you may head for the vending machine where the choices are most likely junk foods. If you're at home, there's no telling what you'll eat.
Plain coffee has no calories, and is fine in moderation. Soda has no nutritional value and amounts to nothing more than wasted
calories. Sugar free sodas are a bit better in the calorie department, but studies have found that people who drink large amounts of diet sodas tend to be heavier because the soda encourages them to eat more. Juice drinks are full of sugar and very little real ingredients so they amount to empty calories as well.
Tea is said to be a good source of antioxidants. If you can drink tea without adding sugar or sweetener, it can be a good choice when you want a change from plain old water. Sports drinks and flavored waters aren't calorie free and the diet ones are made with the very artificial sweeteners that are used in diet sodas. Unsweetened flavored waters can be a good choice if it encourages you to drink more water because water will fill you up and help encourage you to eat less.
*Exercise -
Exercise is an essential part of the lifestyle changes that are needed for weight loss. Regular exercise helps to stabilize the metabolism, is known to be helpful for preventing over eating, and the most obvious benefit of burning calories. It isn't possible to lose weight without reducing the amount of calories you consume or being sufficiently active that you can burn off calories that aren't needed for essential bodily functions. It is also known that exercise can improve the quality of sleep, and when people sleep well, they are more inclined to be physically active.
*Adequate sleep -
Researchers are determining that people who don't get adequate rest tend to have more health problems, be more overweight, less likely to heat a healthy diet or get proper exercise. It is thought that one of the reasons that this might be true is because people who are exhausted don't have the energy to exercise, so they lead a more sedentary lifestyle, and lack of activity is very likely to cause or contribute to weight gain.
The lifestyle changes that are necessary for weight loss may seem difficult to incorporate into daily life at first. As you get more used to paying attention to what it is that you eat, how much you eat, when you eat and what you drink, you'll develop habits that will make it possible for you to continue to eat in a healthy matter without so much thought. Simple things like doing the bulk of your grocery shopping in the outer or peripheral aisles as opposed to the center isles, not shopping when you're hungry, tired or bogged down with kids will help you make more sensible food purchases.
When you do your grocery shopping, make sure that you've planned meals ahead and made a list to include all of the ingredients you'll need to prepare those meals. Make an effort to confine your grocery shopping to one trip a week. Those additional trips inevitably result in additional purchases, and they usually aren't healthy or low calorie foods.
Changing a lifestyle of bad habits won't happen overnight, and it will require patience and perseverance. You must be committed to making the changes and to sticking with the program you've embarked on, but that commitment will make the process easier and as you see results, you'll be more inspired to continue doing what you've been doing to achieve those results.
Permanent weight loss that leads to the improvement or eradication of health problems is something that must involve an overall lifestyle change. Rather than thinking of a "diet" as a way to lose weight, a wiser approach would be one in which the lifestyle change is seen as a way to live a healthier life. Here is a look at some of the things that will need to change in order to lose weight and keep it off.
*The importance of what you eat -
In the past, people believed that diets could be successful by nothing more than counting calories. We now realize that the types of food one eats are also important. Complex carbohydrates are full of vitamins and minerals, but they are also excellent sources of fiber. Complex carbohydrates consist of most vegetables, fruits, grains and legumes. Fiber gives the body the feeling of fullness that can be helpful in preventing overeating.
Getting adequate protein is also essential. Without adequate protein, our brains don't function properly and our bodies lack energy. We are unable to do the things we need to do to stay healthy and fit. Lean meats, skinless poultry and fish are ideal sources of protein, as are beans, cheese (in moderation,) eggs (egg whites are the real protein source in eggs,) and tofu and other soy based products.
*What you drink -
It's easy to grab a coffee or a soda to quench your thirst. A single can of regular soda has 150 calories and 10 tablespoons of sugar in it. What people don't realize is that the surge of energy you get from that soda will wear off quickly, leaving you hungry and cranky. If you're at work, you may head for the vending machine where the choices are most likely junk foods. If you're at home, there's no telling what you'll eat.
Plain coffee has no calories, and is fine in moderation. Soda has no nutritional value and amounts to nothing more than wasted
calories. Sugar free sodas are a bit better in the calorie department, but studies have found that people who drink large amounts of diet sodas tend to be heavier because the soda encourages them to eat more. Juice drinks are full of sugar and very little real ingredients so they amount to empty calories as well.
Tea is said to be a good source of antioxidants. If you can drink tea without adding sugar or sweetener, it can be a good choice when you want a change from plain old water. Sports drinks and flavored waters aren't calorie free and the diet ones are made with the very artificial sweeteners that are used in diet sodas. Unsweetened flavored waters can be a good choice if it encourages you to drink more water because water will fill you up and help encourage you to eat less.
*Exercise -
Exercise is an essential part of the lifestyle changes that are needed for weight loss. Regular exercise helps to stabilize the metabolism, is known to be helpful for preventing over eating, and the most obvious benefit of burning calories. It isn't possible to lose weight without reducing the amount of calories you consume or being sufficiently active that you can burn off calories that aren't needed for essential bodily functions. It is also known that exercise can improve the quality of sleep, and when people sleep well, they are more inclined to be physically active.
*Adequate sleep -
Researchers are determining that people who don't get adequate rest tend to have more health problems, be more overweight, less likely to heat a healthy diet or get proper exercise. It is thought that one of the reasons that this might be true is because people who are exhausted don't have the energy to exercise, so they lead a more sedentary lifestyle, and lack of activity is very likely to cause or contribute to weight gain.
The lifestyle changes that are necessary for weight loss may seem difficult to incorporate into daily life at first. As you get more used to paying attention to what it is that you eat, how much you eat, when you eat and what you drink, you'll develop habits that will make it possible for you to continue to eat in a healthy matter without so much thought. Simple things like doing the bulk of your grocery shopping in the outer or peripheral aisles as opposed to the center isles, not shopping when you're hungry, tired or bogged down with kids will help you make more sensible food purchases.
When you do your grocery shopping, make sure that you've planned meals ahead and made a list to include all of the ingredients you'll need to prepare those meals. Make an effort to confine your grocery shopping to one trip a week. Those additional trips inevitably result in additional purchases, and they usually aren't healthy or low calorie foods.
Changing a lifestyle of bad habits won't happen overnight, and it will require patience and perseverance. You must be committed to making the changes and to sticking with the program you've embarked on, but that commitment will make the process easier and as you see results, you'll be more inspired to continue doing what you've been doing to achieve those results.
Why you are sometimes unable to control your weight
Labels:
Fitness,
Health,
Weight Loss
It is very easy for politicians to preach to us about how we are being overrun by an obesity epidemic and that society is doomed if we don’t do something to control our weight. However, it isn’t always that easy to control your weight. Few people actually enjoy being obese, yet derive great pleasure out of eating the food they love and watching television. It is this battle between wanting to be slim and wanting to get the most out of life which most people face. For many individuals, the thought of staying slim requires you to deprive yourself and exercise religiously, which seems like too much hassle.
Remaining slim doesn’t have to be all about deprivation and self-denial, although this surely must help! There are people in the Western world who remain slim but still treat themselves now and again to the foods they love. Most probably don’t spend all their time in the gym, either, though they may make an effort to stay physically active. However, if you’re used to doing things your own way, it can be hard to change. Even though you’re confronted with public health campaigns telling you that carrying too much weight is bad for you, this isn’t always enough to motivate you to lose weight.
Sometimes, you do have the determination to lose weight, but life seems to conspire against you. If you encounter tough times, losing your job or ending a relationship, your priorities may change. Suddenly, your weight is no longer your biggest worry, and it may even be food you turn to in your time of need. Although you’re feeling down, eating can cheer you up a bit and thus you keep eating until you’re satisfied. Ultimately, this won’t help you control your weight, as you’re likely to find yourself gaining weight rather than losing it.
There are other occasions when your lack of weight control can come about as the result of ill health or some medication you’re taking. No matter what steps you take, there are some illnesses and prescription medications which will lead to weight gain. The trouble is if you’re going to gain weight anyway, you may find yourself overindulging since you see no reason not to. This can obviously exacerbate the situation and leave you with more weight to lose in future.
The decision to lose weight is up to the individual, as no matter what you are told by health professionals and politicians, you are the one who has to put the effort in. Sometimes, you can feel helpless to control your weight, but you just need to remember that you don’t have to watch your weight going up and down, as long as you’re prepared to make a few adjustments to your diet and exercise regularly.
Remaining slim doesn’t have to be all about deprivation and self-denial, although this surely must help! There are people in the Western world who remain slim but still treat themselves now and again to the foods they love. Most probably don’t spend all their time in the gym, either, though they may make an effort to stay physically active. However, if you’re used to doing things your own way, it can be hard to change. Even though you’re confronted with public health campaigns telling you that carrying too much weight is bad for you, this isn’t always enough to motivate you to lose weight.
Sometimes, you do have the determination to lose weight, but life seems to conspire against you. If you encounter tough times, losing your job or ending a relationship, your priorities may change. Suddenly, your weight is no longer your biggest worry, and it may even be food you turn to in your time of need. Although you’re feeling down, eating can cheer you up a bit and thus you keep eating until you’re satisfied. Ultimately, this won’t help you control your weight, as you’re likely to find yourself gaining weight rather than losing it.
There are other occasions when your lack of weight control can come about as the result of ill health or some medication you’re taking. No matter what steps you take, there are some illnesses and prescription medications which will lead to weight gain. The trouble is if you’re going to gain weight anyway, you may find yourself overindulging since you see no reason not to. This can obviously exacerbate the situation and leave you with more weight to lose in future.
The decision to lose weight is up to the individual, as no matter what you are told by health professionals and politicians, you are the one who has to put the effort in. Sometimes, you can feel helpless to control your weight, but you just need to remember that you don’t have to watch your weight going up and down, as long as you’re prepared to make a few adjustments to your diet and exercise regularly.
Why your friends can make it difficult for you to lose weight
Labels:
Health,
Weight Loss
Losing weight is an individual task – you’re the only one who can do it – yet it would be nice to think that you could rely on your friends and family for support. This isn’t always the case, though, and sometimes you find that instead of supporting you your friends can be more of a hindrance than a help. It may be inadvertent, but there are times when it seems as though your friends are actually trying to sabotage your weight-loss efforts, thus adding another layer of difficulty to your weight-loss attempts and increasing the likelihood that you’ll give up trying to lose weight altogether.
In order to stick to a reduced-calorie diet it obviously helps to have a certain amount of willpower, as you can’t simply expect everyone to eat only the foods you’re eating just so you can avoid dealing with temptation. You therefore can’t expect your friends to eat salads and avoid drinking alcohol when you go out with them because they’re free to do exactly what they want, though this doesn’t make restricting yourself in order to lose weight any easier.
However, your friends should at least make an effort to be supportive of your attempts to lose weight, rather than teasing you for going on another diet. You need positive reinforcement; not to be told that you’re going to fail before you’ve even started. Also, your friends may be free to eat whatever they want, but they don’t have to rub your face in it, making a point of waving their cheesecake under your nose. It would also be helpful if they didn’t buy you drinks all the time. It might be generous, but it makes controlling your calorie intake harder, as you don’t want to be rude and say ‘no, thanks’.
Losing weight not only requires you to consume fewer calories, as you also have to get burning more as well. It can be difficult to motivate yourself to exercise, especially if your friends seem to be able to eat whatever they want without gaining a pound, but it’s something you have to do. Your friends may enjoy eating at restaurants and going to night clubs with you, but they may be less inclined to go to the gym, even though this could really help you with your weight-loss aims. It is obviously up to you to do more exercise, but it would make things easier if the activities you chose to do with your friends didn’t always revolve around eating and drinking.
When you’re trying to lose weight it can really help to have your friends’ support, but there are occasions when they seem to make the whole process even harder than usual, though you can’t really do much about this unless you choose to avoid their company altogether!
In order to stick to a reduced-calorie diet it obviously helps to have a certain amount of willpower, as you can’t simply expect everyone to eat only the foods you’re eating just so you can avoid dealing with temptation. You therefore can’t expect your friends to eat salads and avoid drinking alcohol when you go out with them because they’re free to do exactly what they want, though this doesn’t make restricting yourself in order to lose weight any easier.
However, your friends should at least make an effort to be supportive of your attempts to lose weight, rather than teasing you for going on another diet. You need positive reinforcement; not to be told that you’re going to fail before you’ve even started. Also, your friends may be free to eat whatever they want, but they don’t have to rub your face in it, making a point of waving their cheesecake under your nose. It would also be helpful if they didn’t buy you drinks all the time. It might be generous, but it makes controlling your calorie intake harder, as you don’t want to be rude and say ‘no, thanks’.
Losing weight not only requires you to consume fewer calories, as you also have to get burning more as well. It can be difficult to motivate yourself to exercise, especially if your friends seem to be able to eat whatever they want without gaining a pound, but it’s something you have to do. Your friends may enjoy eating at restaurants and going to night clubs with you, but they may be less inclined to go to the gym, even though this could really help you with your weight-loss aims. It is obviously up to you to do more exercise, but it would make things easier if the activities you chose to do with your friends didn’t always revolve around eating and drinking.
When you’re trying to lose weight it can really help to have your friends’ support, but there are occasions when they seem to make the whole process even harder than usual, though you can’t really do much about this unless you choose to avoid their company altogether!
Macrobiotic Foods to Help Lose Weight - Macrobiotic Weight -Loss
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Health,
Weight Loss
The macrobiotic weight-loss diet for those needing to shift excess pounds, involves eating small amounts (5%) of concentrated protein and 40% vegetables.
While for most people, simply switching from eating standard foods to the modern multicultural macrobiotic approach to eating will certainly help reduce excess weight, some body types (mainly endomorphs) may benefit from following the macrobiotic weight-loss diet. However, as with all diets, losing weight should also include getting plenty of daily exercise, to help tone up and get healthy.
Lose Weight with Macrobiotic Foods
A healthy weight is identified as being between body mass index (BMI) 20-25, with those in the BMI 25-30 category classed as being overweight and those from BMI 30 being labelled as obese. Due to the massive amount of strain placed on the heart through being either obese or overweight, if in this danger category, it is well worth considering following a macrobiotic diet, not only to lose excess weight, but also to improve physical health.
In Macrobiotics For Dummies, Varona (2009), highlights key aspects associated with the macrobiotic weight-loss approach, to include the following:
Macrobiotic Lifestyle and Weight Loss Tips
While for most people, simply switching from eating standard foods to the modern multicultural macrobiotic approach to eating will certainly help reduce excess weight, some body types (mainly endomorphs) may benefit from following the macrobiotic weight-loss diet. However, as with all diets, losing weight should also include getting plenty of daily exercise, to help tone up and get healthy.
Lose Weight with Macrobiotic Foods
A healthy weight is identified as being between body mass index (BMI) 20-25, with those in the BMI 25-30 category classed as being overweight and those from BMI 30 being labelled as obese. Due to the massive amount of strain placed on the heart through being either obese or overweight, if in this danger category, it is well worth considering following a macrobiotic diet, not only to lose excess weight, but also to improve physical health.
In Macrobiotics For Dummies, Varona (2009), highlights key aspects associated with the macrobiotic weight-loss approach, to include the following:
- eat a large percentage (around 40%) of vegetables
- reduce grain consumption
- cut out all flour products (if possible)
- eat plenty of onions, leeks, chives, radishes - diuretic effect, reduces fact accumulations
- consume small protein sources twice daily - protein has slight diuretic effect
- light usage of sea salt - just as sprinkle of soy sauce on vegetables
Macrobiotic Lifestyle and Weight Loss Tips
The macrobiotic approach to life is about more than the foods chosen to form part of a healthy, balanced dietary intake. What you drink is also an important aspect, with alcohol best replaced with alcohol-free beer and fizzy drinks ideally switched for water or a fruit spritzer. Even fizzy drinks which claim to be caffeine-free and sugar-free are not helpful for those needing to lose weight. This is because the artificial sweeteners used in sugar-free drinks can often set the body up to crave sugar.