Whenever you start a new diet, cravings are pretty much inevitable. It can get to the point where you feel as though you'll literally stop existing unless you cave in. Countless diets are broken due to cravings, but there are a few techniques that you can use to retrain your cravings and keep your diet on track.

First, before you even start your diet, you'll need to figure out what your trigger foods are, the ones that you simply cannot do without, the ones that always derail your diet. By looking at this process logically, you can skip a lot of the problems that can happen when you first start your diet.

Whatever diet you pick, you'll most likely find that you'll have to give up these trigger foods. You're brain is convinced their necessary and it will start sending out the signals that start the craving process when it doesn't get them.

In order to retrain your cravings, you're going to need to start gradually. As an example, let's use sugar soda to illustrate this process. If you currently drink 3-4 sodas a day, you're dealing with two major triggers, caffeine and sugar. Cutting out soda is a great way to lose weight, but it can also be very difficult.

Personally, I like diet soda which has caffeine but not sugar and there are some varieties without caffeine. First try switching to diet soda from sugar soda. The taste will grow on you. Then you can move on to caffeine free diet soda. However, if you simply cannot diet soda. Then here is another technique you can try...

Let's concentrate first on dealing with the craving for caffeine. Soda does pack quite a punch in this department, but not as much as tea or coffee. Instead of reaching immediately for a sugar soda, try a cup of tea (no cream or sugar) or a plain cup of coffee. You're getting the same amount of caffeine you're used to, without any of the calories in soda.

Now, let's move on to handling the sugar problem. Since there are literally at least ten teaspoons of sugar in the average can of soda, your body is used to quite a bit of sugar at this point. Sugar cravings are some of the hardest to face, and your best bet is to avoid going completely cold turkey.

You can start by cutting back on one soda a day (replacing it with a cup of coffee or tea) and then gradually keep cutting back until you're completely off it. This gradual method helps your brain and your body retrain from relying on this burst of sugar. You'll get more time to adjust and it will be much easier to completely get it out of your life with this technique. You can also try substituting with something that has a little sugar but fewer calories.

The key to retraining your cravings is to take it slow and avoid going cold turkey. Sugar and caffeine are quite a bit like serious drugs or even cigarettes. They can be addicting and without help, it can be very hard to simply stop. Weaning is by far the easiest method to try and it will help reduce your risk of failure.

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How was everybody's 4^th of July? Did you enjoy your fireworks, BBQs, and family time? Better still did you all keep on your diets and stay focused on your health goals during the celebration?

Check out my Guest Post at MizFit: Food Glorious Food

From the Fitness Health Network this week were quite a few good articles in my opinion. Check them out:

• Did you know that One Pound of Fat = 3500 Calories? Journal of Healthy Living explains calorie deficits in relation to weight loss goals.
• Lazy Man and Health is looking into Hotel Friendly Food and not hotel food so much as food you can take on the road with you.
• FatManUnleashed is having a little contest this week. If you like Smoothie King you have until Wednesday the 9th of July to respond with a comment about the Smoothie King Chain or products.
• Walking 45 Minutes - The Ups And Downs by NCN is an interesting look at the mental state of a fellow blogger. Do you feel this way when exercising? How about in other areas of your life- like going to work?
• Drinking Water Only: A Month-Long Experiment in Self-Discipline by Get Fit Slowly is about habit breaking. Can you kick the sugar, caffeine, and alcohol addiction?

Now for the rest of blogosphere:

• Nutrition Fitness Life presents Yoga Revisisted. Are you looking for a change of pace from the high intensity exercises? Yoga might just be for you.
• MizFitOnline brings us a great interview with Tues Tip: Rocco style; from the personal trainer Rocco Castellano.
• How do you fight cravings? In Break Me off a Piece… at Weight Down, Money Up explores options such as moderation and learning to just say no. Who knew that simple phrase could do more than protect you from drugs?
• Andrew posts this week on Lessons learned: Exercise is not a dirty word. It really isn't, but if you don't believe me this is an excellent post to read.
• After my own scare with dehydration it's imperative to remember to Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate! Sheamus informs readers that being 2% short on the fluids your body needs can result in a 10-20% loss in your body's performance for exercise.
• Deflabbify brings us the killer hidden cost of weight-loss programs this week and for those who are looking to join a program might just think twice.
• As it is summer I thought this post from Fit36 was a great read: The Challenges of Living Healthy While on Vacation. What do you and your family do?
• Thinking to Thin brings us Baked Beef Ziti in Recipe Thursday and more... for only 5pts.
• In June Recap Laura from Pursuit of Healthyness examines her routine and life style changes for healthier living. Can you give her any tips?

On the hundred pushup front... I was unable to complete the 3rd day of the 3rd week... I sputtered out at 22 on the final set that was supposed to be 27+. Why you ask? I am still working why... I think it was a combination of sore muscles from exercise and a vigorous massage I received on vacation? I was concentrating on the form and I could tell that I was have a harder time with the day's pushups... So I will be repeating week 3 next week.

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If you want to jump start your weight loss efforts, you're going to need to focus on your metabolism. For most of us, our metabolisms have either been slowed by yo-yo dieting or even genetics and it can be hard to get them back again. However, it is not impossible to kick start your metabolism once again. You just need to make sure you are using the right techniques.

Many people fall on the theory that caffeine is the easiest method you can use to increase your metabolism. While this is true in the short term, the drawbacks are numerous and it's not good for your body or your heart to take too much caffeine. You can actually end up with caffeine intoxication if you have more than 500mg of caffeine in a day. That's the equivalent of two large cups of coffee from Starbucks to put that into perspective.

Instead of relying on external ways to increase your metabolism, it's time to look inward. First, let's talk about blood sugar. If your blood sugar is out of whack, your metabolism is too. Your body is spending too much time processing the wrong kind of foods and your metabolism suffers for it. If you're constantly throwing your body through feast and famine when it comes to sugar, chances are your levels are far out of whack.

To fix this, you need to make sure that you are getting the right balance of proteins, carbs and fats. This gives your body the chance to actually start burning fat instead of working on handling all the sugar that you've thrown at it. Keep in mind however, that you do need some sugar in your diet to keep functioning properly.

Next, you're going to want to build lean muscle mass. It simply is more effective at raising your metabolism than anything else. You can start doing this by adding in some mild weight lifting into your exercise routine. Even women can benefit from lifting small amounts. As you build muscle mass, don't panic if the numbers on the scale go up a bit. This is perfectly normal since muscle weighs more than fat. It is only temporary and if you keep burning fat, those numbers will come back down.

You can look at it as though you are restructuring your body. You are removing fat, which slows down your metabolism, which lean muscle mass that will raise it. Over the long term, you're retraining your metabolism and getting it to speed up.

By learning how to manage your blood sugar properly and by building more lean muscle mass, you have the perfect recipe for increasing your metabolism. It won't happen overnight, but if you stick with it, you'll be able to burn fat quickly and more efficiently. Don't rely on supplements that make crazy promises and endanger your health. They may work in the short term, but unless you address the issues that caused the slowdown of your metabolism in the first place, you're not fixing the problem.

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