Weight Loss Journal

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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Out of all the diet books we have ever seen, this one simply has the best cover. Nothing gets the point of the title across better than a pie-eyed dog staring at you over a bowl of what looks like very unappetizing cereal. The author of this book is the renowned Bradley Trevor Greive, who is a very big person in the gift book industry. It turns out that Greive is also a pretty big person in real life and he decided to write a book about his journey from 280 pounds to fit.

The sense of humor Greive has makes this one of the most entertaining books on the market. His chronicles of dieting and what he learned along the way will keep you enthralled and most likely, laughing quite a bit. His main premise is that dieting is pretty insane, especially when you're hungry, and he feels that he has found why so many diets just don't work - simply put - they're too mentally difficult to stick to.

As Greive found out, the best way to lose weight, and keep it off, is through an entire lifestyle change. It's not going to happen overnight, but if you keep at it, you will be successful. Our favorite piece of advice though was his best method of dieting - keep your mouth shut. As he put it, that's one of the best ways to reduce your caloric intake - even if it's not always going to work.

The tone of the book is very light but don't let that fool you. There is some really useful advice in here and it is definitely well worth the read. Through his engaging prose, Greive tries to open the reader's eyes to the fact that all of the diet fads and difficult diets in the world aren't going to help you until you make that step to get healthy first, and then lose weight.

Although technically there really was nothing new in this book - we all know how important it is to eat right and exercise - but the author managed to put all of these things into a fresh new perspective. He is a great motivator and we believe that this book has what it takes to actually change lives instead of offering false hope and a hefty cover price. Through Greive's mistakes and his humor, you may just find the inspiration you need to put his advice to good use.

Overall, we found this to be a fantastic read that was well worth our time. Entertaining books are just more fun to read and we were happy to report that we were indeed sad when it ended. This is the measure of a great book, and Greive hit all the right notes. If you're trying to lose weight or if you just want to get a bit healthier, we highly recommend this engaging book.

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When you first start a diet, it's easy to get all excited about the amount of weight you're losing and how great you look. Unfortunately, most of us reach our goals and then go off of our diets. Within a few months, we may be back where we started, or in many cases, worse off. If you want to lose weight over the long term, you're going to have to make some total lifestyle changes that will ensure that you not only lose weight, but manage to keep it off for years to come. Here are some helpful tips to help you lose that weight and keep it off.

1. Identify your danger foods.

These are the foods that will consistently cause you to go off your diet. The foods that you simply cannot eat one of. In essence, these foods hold a sort of control over you and their siren call is simply too much to resist once you take that first bite. You're going to need to figure out what your danger foods are and then you're going to have to completely remove them from your life. This isn't easy and there may be times when you slip. However, if you can successfully stop eating these target foods, you're going to see a huge difference in your weight loss. You may never be able to eat them again, but then again, what is really more important? A few minutes of food bliss or a lifetime of looking great?

2. Start making healthy substitutions.

You don't have to eat like a rabbit for the rest of your life to lose weight, but you do need to start making healthy substitutions to keep your weight off over the long term. This may take some time since your palate is probably used to the food's you like. However, food substitution doesn't have to be painful. For example, if you can't live without pizza, try it without cheese or use a cheese substitute. It will take a little getting used to, but over time, you'll develop a taste for that food and you'll find that those old favorites are pretty disgusting if you try to go back to them.

3. Make an exercise plan that you can stick with.

The key to healthy weight loss and a healthy lifestyle is getting plenty of exercise. Don't pick something that you can't stand, it will be all too easy to give up. Even if it is something as simple as walking a few miles every day, you need to get out there and get active. The longer you do, the easier it will be to keep going. You won't need to exercise at the same level for the rest of your life, but you will need to get active if you want to stay slim and healthy.

Lifestyle changes do take time and it won't happen overnight. However, these tips will help get you on the road to health and you'll be able to enjoy the process once you get there.

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Out of all of the diets, by far the one that has received more than a fair share of adherents is the South Beach Diet. While there are plenty of those that may criticize this diet plan, for many others it does work and quite well. However, many feel that the diet is not strong enough and want to see quicker results. In this vein, the South Beach Diet Supercharged by Dr. Agatston should address these concerns and show how to turn this diet into a powerhouse.

It is best to state first off that this diet is a new version of the South Beach Diet and some changes have been made. It's interesting that the author chose to keep that name even though many things are fundamentally different. It's highly probable that the name itself is more profitable and it certainly is easier to promote a diet based on this very popular diet plan that millions of people have tried. The author does break down the diet into three phases, much like the original South Beach Diet and it does draw heavily from this plan. However, it does branch out and provide new ways to adapt a healthy lifestyle.

The best parts of this book are the ones that focus truly on building a healthy new lifestyle and not just losing weight. The author did a very good job of stressing how important it is to make those changes, particularly if you are looking for success over the long term. Too many diet books focus on fads and fail to provide readers with solid information that they can keep with them for the rest of their lives. In this vein, the book is well worth the cover price.

The problem I have with this book is mainly with the types of food that were recommended. It's heavy on advice for using sugar substitutes without regards to what these are made of, many of these contain unhealthy chemicals and since this book is about not only losing weight but getting healthy, this is a bit at cross purpose. However, since the jury is still out on the safety of alternative sweeteners, it is difficult to judge this point too harshly.  Personally, I recommend Agave Nectar has a sugar substitute.

The bottom line - this is a good book, but like many in the industry, you can't read just this one and expect to get the whole picture. For those who are already on the South Beach Diet, it's a great resource, but it is certainly not a stand alone book.

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One of the biggest problems for many people on diets is that the food simply doesn't taste good. It's very hard to stay motivated on your diet when you feel like you're eating cardboard and bad cardboard at that. After years of indulging in your favorite fatty foods, your palate and taste buds have been trained that these tastes are good and non-fat foods are bad. However, you can change this around with a little persistence and it will become a lot easier to start eating healthy. In fact, the vast majority of those who retrain their taste buds find that if they cheat with one of their old favorites, it suddenly tastes pretty awful.

Here's how to get started on the path towards training those taste buds to like good for you food instead of just food that tastes good. You'll need to start small, and take your cues from the foods you already like. There are a few techniques that you can employ to gradually start replacing fatty foods with good foods and still enjoy the process.  As a bonus all of these tips are both low fat AND low carb.

Let's start with the simple stalk of celery. On its own, bleh - it's pretty tasteless. It's real hard to get jazzed about eating yet another stalk of the stuff. Blow the lid off of your taste buds by adding a low fat flavor to them. For example, one great technique is to fill that stalk with some great low-fat salsa. This really packs a punch and you won't even notice the lack of flavor from the celery. You can also add low fat peanut butter, at least in moderation. Soon, your taste buds will begin associating celery with these wonderful flavors and it will be a lot easier to eat it.

Next, let's move onto the grilled chicken breast. Once again, on it's own - yuck. With the right seasoning? Your taste buds will be hollering for more. Try to play around with different spices. They'll add lots of flavor without any calories. For example, you can add a bit of lemon zest to make that chicken stand out, or if you're feeling spicy, try some white pepper or curry powder. That will give that bland meat a real personality and you'll even start craving it if you like it.

Another food that is pretty hard to stomach on its own is lettuce. Not many people enjoy lettuce by itself, which is why we fall into the trap of drenching it with high calorie and high fat dressings. Instead of this, try to experiment with some tasty vinaigrettes. They're very low fat and low calorie and there are so many varieties out there that you can really make humble lettuce taste very good. You can also try some other techniques, like adding a fruit salsa to your lettuce. This gives it a very unique taste that your taste buds will want to try again.

These are just a few suggestions - open up your cabinets and see what you can do!

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The Martha's Vineyard Diet rocketed to success and the author, Dr. Roni Deluz is already well known for her other diet book, 21 Pounds in 21 Days. This book is an extension (more of a second edition) of the first book (the title is even very similar). While the book is well written and contains some helpful information, I was a bit disappointed that a holistic nutrionist didn't go into more detail about making those changes that are necessary towards keeping weight off.

While it's great to lose 20 pounds in three weeks, it's really not that healthy. How much of that is just water weight that will come back as soon as you start eating the same foods you were before you started the diet? The answer is usually more than half. The main problem with this diet is simply that it is not well balanced, it doesn't address future concerns and it's a little too much like a fad diet to be a book that we could recommend.

This diet requires a lot of intensive food preparation that will throw off a lot of people that are busy. You'll basically be living on soup, but you'll have to make everything yourself. While this is great if you've got a lot of time on your hands, this isn't a diet that's going to translate well for someone that needs to stay on their game for work.

In reality, this is a detox diet that aims to quickly flush everything out of your system. While the author claims that the soup is satisfying, most people get pretty sick of it after three days. The key to a successful diet is finding ways to blast apart the usual excuses, such as I'm too busy, I'm starving, I feel deprived. This diet accomplishes none of these things. It's very hard to recommend a book that is simply not going to be useful to anyone over the long term.

That's not to say that detoxing isn't important. With the majority of diets in the United States, it's a given that we all need to eat healthier and stop ingesting so many chemicals. Detoxing is a good way to lose temporary weight, but if you want to keep that weight off, you're going to have to make some lifestyle changes.

This book is great if you just want to carve off a few pounds or see really quick results. The bad thing is that those results are going to be pretty short lived. It feels like the book is simply trying to capitalize on a trend and doesn't really address the issues that cause weight gain in the first place. Fast results are great, but the depression that sets in once that water weight comes back, is going to be a lot to handle for some people.

Overall, this is not a book that I could recommend to any dieter. There simply isn't enough solid advice or good information that you can take away from reading it.

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By far, the most common reason that diets fail is due to the fact that people simply feel too deprived and they lose sight of their goals. While we all want to lose weight and feel better, the siren call of our favorite foods can be so powerful that we abandon these dreams and cave to our cravings. However, there are a few techniques that you can use to ensure that you'll be able to resist these calls and keep your diet on track.

The first key is to select a diet that contains the right balance of fats, proteins and carbs. Your body needs to have fuel to live and if you're depriving it of this necessary balance you're not only going to feel awful, but your body is going to start issuing some pretty strong demands. For example, if you attempt to completely cut sugar out of your life, your body, which has grown accustomed to this balance over the years is going to rebel.

This means that after a few days you may be so overwhelmed with cravings for sugar that you simply cannot help yourself. You can learn a very good lesson from a phenomenon that occurs when people adapt strict eating plans, such as fruitarianism. This is a type of vegetarianism where only fruit can be consumed. Over the first few weeks, most people who adopt this diet go through a period where they become so depleted and their bodies get so insistent that they binge without even realizing it.

The second key is to learn from these mistakes and adopt a natural regimen that will slowly train your body to accept your new food choices. Rome wasn't built in a day and you're not going to be able to suddenly start eating healthy and expect everything to go smoothly. You've got to take that time to retrain your body so that you can avoid falling off the wagon.

Let's use the example of giving up sugar soda entirely. This is a very easy way to instantly carve off ten pounds or more (or 300+ calories for 12oz if you dislike hyperbole), but it is very difficult to do. Instead of going cold turkey, start a gradual reduction. Cut back by one soda a day for the first week, then two sodas a day, until you get to the point where you are no longer drinking it. By slowing modifying your intake, your body has time to adjust and your cravings will not be so intense.

A commitment to weight loss requires more than just a week or too. It may take months or even years to achieve your goals. By taking it slow and listening to what your body needs, you can be assured that six months from now, you'll still be on track for your weight loss goals instead of being back where you started.

Losing weight is not easy, but you don't need to make it harder on yourself. Take the time that it takes and set realistic goals.

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One of the major reasons that people have difficulty keeping on their diets is the urge to snack. For many of us, it's hard to get through the day without having at least one snack. However, that one snack can easily turn into ten and before you know it you're grazing all day long, adding useless calories to your daily intake. While snacking can be important, you're going to need to be smart about it to make sure that you can stick to your diet.

When we need a little snack fix, most of us reach for a bag of chips or a candy bar. It's a quick fix and provides you with that burst of sugar that will make you feel pretty good right away, but not so good later on. The key to snacking without ruining your diet is picking the right kind of snacks. It may take a little while at first to get used to eating healthier snacks, but before long, you'll be able to prefer it.

Start by figuring out how many calories you want to eat per day. Add up your three main meals and then figure out how many calories you have left over. This can be used as a guide to help you pick the snacks that will keep you on your diet. You'll also need to figure out the times when you are most likely to snack and target some changes in your regular meals to help you get through the day.

A great snack will contain enough protein to give you the energy you need to make it to your next meal without feeling deprived. Over the long term it is much more effective than carbs at keeping your body fueled right. For example, instead of that can of soda and a serving of chips, which can equal more than 300 calories, have one serving of low fat cottage cheese. This contains only about 80 calories and can actually be quite satisfying. Nuts, nuts, nuts... Almonds are particularly good for you, but almost any kind of nut is a great source of energy and in appropriate amounts nuts will fit into any diet. (5 almounds is equal to 1 protien serving on my diet. I get 14 protien a day.) Even a small block of cheese, a serving of tuna or some other small treat can be a great low calorie high protein alternative. A really great healthy snack that I just picked up at the local Costco (seriously tastes great) is dry roasted and lightly salted edamame aka soybean. 70% Less fat and 40% more protein than peanuts... one serving is 14 grams of soy protein and 2 net carbs.

Figure out what kind of protein snacks you like to eat. If you are one that absolutely needs to feed your sweet tooth, look for special protein bars that are low in calories and carbs while high in protein. These can provide a great boost of energy and keep you balanced all day.

Earlier, we mentioned that it is also important to figure out what times of the day you are most likely to snack. This is usually a sign that you are not eating a balanced enough meal before hand. For example, if you have a lot of carbs for breakfast, that sugar is going to wear off well before lunch, leaving you feeling hungry. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but is should contain enough protein to give you the fuel you need to make it to lunch.

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Few names are as well known in the fashion world as Karl Lagerfeld, but unbeknownst to many people, Karl has had a problem with his weight for many years. He finally sought help for his issue and once he successfully lost the weight, he decided to develop a new diet plan based on his regimen. Although the fashion industry is synonymous with unhealthy weight loss and body issues, this diet is actually quite refreshing and grounded in good principles that address several facets of losing weight.

While those interested in nutrition may have room to quibble, the book delves heavily into the mental reasons why some people have an addiction to food. It's always nice to see a book that addresses this problem and helps people overcome the reasons that they are overweight. All the best nutrition information in the world isn't going to do you any good if you are not addressing the reasons why you are overweight. This book was really a breath of fresh air and quite unexpected.

The main premise of the diet is to simply lower the amount of calories you're taking in and exercise more. That's really the magic formula when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off and although the book may not offer any groundbreaking techniques it is grounded in good diet principles that really do work. More than 100 recipes are provided in the book and all were selected on the basis of taste and the fact that they were very low calorie.

We were pleased with the selection since many of the foods were actually quite good. Too many diets focus on deprivation and food that is rather unappetizing and this makes it even harder to stick to a diet and lose weight. The Karl Lagerfeld diet aims for foods that are delicious as well as being good for you and dieters should have no problem sticking to this regimen.

The results take a little longer than most diets, but again, this is due to the fact that it is a very sensible diet that focuses on the long term and getting mentally fit as well as physically fit. If you're looking for a quick fix fad diet, this one isn't for you, but if you truly want to make that lifestyle change and get healthy over the long term, this is the perfect diet.

We highly recommend this book due to the fact that it is incredibly comprehensive. In addition to great diet tips it also contains information on skin care and how to stop smoking. This really helps you feel better about yourself and shifts the focus away from unhealthy weight loss methods. Lagerfeld has been able to keep the weight off and his diet is incredibly useful for anyone looking to lose weight, whether it's ten pounds or more than one hundred. It's an easy and fast paced read that will leave you wanting more and energized to start on your road to a new you.

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All of us know that we need to start eating healthier and get more fruits and vegetables into our diets. The hard part is actually doing it. For many people, it's just hard to get past the taste. However, there are ways that you can easily add more servings of fruit or vegetables to your diet with little effort. We'll show you ways to cheat and still enjoy your food.

1. Start with salsa substitution.

If you eat a lot of dips, you're adding a whole bunch of useless calories into your daily rotation. Put away that dip and bring out the salsa. It contains numerous vegetables and fruit and the taste is terrific. Better yet, it's fat free and extremely low calorie. You can use salsa on just about anything to make it taste better and you're getting the benefit of adding more servings of these important foods to your diet with little effort.

You can use it with chips, or tortillas, on eggs or pretty much anything. If salsa is not really your thing, try experimenting with a couple of different brands or you can even try to make your own with vegetables you like. Fruit salsa is surprisingly good when combined with cottage cheese or other low fat dairy products. This is probably the easiest way to get more fruit and vegetables into your diet with little effort.

2. Add one more serving of vegetables or fruits with every meal.

At breakfast, have some low sodium tomato juice or a sliced apple. At lunch, you can add in some delicious corn or a pear. With dinner, try experimenting with a tossed salad with low fat dressing. This makes it easy to get at least three more servings of fruits or vegetables into your diet without any effort at all. What's more, these servings will help you fill up faster and avoid overeating other foods that are less healthy.

3. Retrain your palate.

Some of us simply just don't like fresh fruits or vegetables. The key here is to retrain your palate and make your brain think that you actually enjoy them. Start small and add low fat sauces or little things to make the vegetables taste better. For example, you can spread a little bit of peanut butter inside a stalk of celery. Suddenly, that tasteless stalk actually tastes good and you're getting the added benefit of more protein. This makes a great afternoon snack. Just don't overdo it on the peanut butter or you won't be getting any benefit.

Simple things can make vegetables and fruits a lot better. However, you can also try experimenting a little. Just because you don't like one fruit or vegetable doesn't mean you may not love another. Get creative and go outside your usual routine with new vegetables you've never tasted before. You can actually have a lot of fun by trying out all sorts of new foods and seeing which ones you enjoy.

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