November 18th, 2008 — Weight Loss Journal, healthy eating, motivation, weight loss
It is common knowledge that making lifestyle changes can have a big impact on how much weight you lose and your chances of keeping it off over the long term. What isn’t as clear is how to effect those changes, especially if you are trying to lose weight on your own. Lifestyle changes are vital, but if you don’t know where to start, they can be a little difficult to accomplish. However, by learning how to make small lifestyle changes now, you can get that foundation you need to start working towards permanent weight loss. Let’s look at just a few ways that you can make lifestyle changes, starting today.
First, you’ll need to figure out where you want to start. Whether it’s eating healthy, getting more exercise, or quitting bad habits, pick one area to focus on first. This will help you avoid getting overwhelmed and you can always add new lifestyle changes in once you master the first one. For many of us, it’s that first step that is the hardest, so pick a lifestyle change that you can easily stick to.
Once you have this decided, figure out how you are going to implement it. It sounds a bit analytical, but if you break everything down into easy to follow steps, those changes will not be as difficult to make. For example, let’s say that your first lifestyle change is to cut processed foods from your diet. You can start small, so that you don’t find yourself missing these meals, and gradually increase the amount of foods that you are cutting from your diet.
Stop eating out once a week, or put away that can of green beans and make some that are fresh. Each day, try to find new ways to cut that processed food out of your life and before you know it, you’ll be completely free. It doesn’t take very long to get to this point, once you get past that first step. Other examples would include walking around the block once a night, then gradually increasing that to twice, and before you know it, you’ll be doing ten laps in no time at all.
Lifestyle changes sound hard and they sound complicated. But, if you can change that mindset and find a way to make little changes, they will add up to big changes later on. Don’t let the specter of changing your entire way of life weigh you down and keep you from taking that first step. Find a way to start small and build up your efforts. This is probably the easiest way that you can start making changes right now – and keep making changes as you progress.
The key to lifestyle changes is knowing what you need to do, finding a way to implement that and sticking to it. By starting small, you’ll be much more likely to be able to stick to your plans and implementing them will be much less stressful.
Photo Credit: 1
Related Articles
Related Stores
November 8th, 2008 — carnivals
Welcome to the November 8, 2008 edition of carnival of weight loss and a new American President: Barack Obama.
fitnchic presents 4 Effective Ways to Avoid Weight Gain During The Holidays :: FitNChic.com - Get in Shape Fashionably :: posted at FitNChic.com - Get in Shape, Fashionably!.
Big Cajun Man presents Debt is like Fat posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, "Just like losing weight is a journey and a lifestyle change, so is getting out of debt"
john - on the journey from fat to fit presents Hiding the Oreos posted at John Is Fit, saying, "Avoiding the junk food is easy if you live by yourself - just don't buy it. But when you live in a household of kids you need to take a different approach. Hide those Oreos, kids!"
Kathy Hester (GeekyPoet) presents Recipe - Vegan Slow Cooker Hot and Sour Soup « Geek, Poet, Housewife Wannabe posted at Geek, Poet, Housewife Wannabe.
CJ presents What to do When You Don't Feel Like You're Doing Your Best posted at 143 Pounds.
Lazy Man and Money presents Getting Back in the Swing of the Gym posted at Lazy Man and Health.
Mike Salara presents 5 Easy Steps to Get Fit posted at Mike Salara.
3rdchancefitnesss presents Fitness Failure posted at 3rd Chance Fitness Blog.
Vic presents Health Benefits of Yogurt posted at Yogurt Maker Central, saying, "Are you looking for a healthy snack for your yourself and your family? This article has a look at some of the reasons why eating yogurt is good for you. Yogurt has all of the health benefits of milk, plus it contains probiotic bacteria and has had most of the lactose removed, making yogurt a great healthy snack."
michael bennett presents Safety Tips for Cycling in the Rain | My Cycling Advice posted at My Cycling Advice, saying, "Safety tips for cycling in the rain."
Aparna presents Beauty and Personal Grooming: Cucumber for beauty and health posted at Beauty and Personality Grooming.
Harmonics in Cairns, Australia presents Upper Back Stretch: A common need among Cairns? residents posted at Harmonics in Cairns: Real Lifestyle Change.
Patricia Turner presents The Ultimate Medical Privacy Guide: 100 Tools and Resources to Secure Your Health Records posted at Online Nursing Degree Guide.
Joshua Seth presents How Hypnosis for Weight Loss Works To Help You Lose Weight posted at Joshua Seth Blog, saying, "What does hypnosis have to do with weight loss? A great deal actually.
In this video you’ll discover:
• the secret of how hypnosis for weight loss works
• how hypnotic advertising can sabotage your success
• quick and easy tips to help you lose weight naturally"
Fiona King presents 100+ Essential Online Resources for Midwives posted at U.S. PharmD.
Nancy Miller presents The Positive Effects of Faith posted at Radiology Technician Schools.
The Push Up Coach presents Common Push-Up Mistakes posted at The 1000 Push Ups Club, saying, "Some common mistakes to avoid while doing your pushups"
asithi presents Shopping and Vanity Sizing posted at Small Steps to Health.
Fiona King presents 100 Must-Have Sites for Vegans, Vegetarians and Locavores posted at Culinary School Guide.
Erika Collin presents 100 Sites and Support Resources for Hospice Workers and Nurses posted at Nursing Assistant Central.
Khan presents Getting Back Your Pre-Pregnancy Body posted at Higher Education and Career Blog, saying, "For many women, pregnancy means nine months of no dieting or exercising."
lightsmile presents 28 healthy eating tips to lose weight posted at Easy money attraction, saying, "a compiled list of 28 healthy habits"
pnreddy presents How To Integrate Fitness In Your Life The Easy Way? posted at Fitness Health Zone.com.
pnreddy presents 4 Simple Dietary Tips To Stay Healthy While Traveling posted at Health Watch Center.
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of weight loss using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags: carnival of weight loss, blog carnival.
Related Articles
Related Stores
November 5th, 2008 — Meals, Weight Loss Journal, alternative ideas, food, goals, healthy eating, wellness
For many dieters, the biggest problem they face isn’t necessarily their own lifestyle change, but rather the fact that the people around them refuse to go along with the idea. It can be nearly impossible to focus on eating the right way when you eat out or are sitting across from other people that are relishing the food you can’t have. This is a frustrating issue that kills many diets, but it doesn’t have to. Here are some great tips to stay the course even when your own family won’t help you.
First, you may want to consider eating in another room.
It sounds horribly anti social, but if sitting in the living room will keep you from going off your diet, it is worth it. This works in two ways. First, you are giving yourself the help you need to keep eating the food you need to be eating. Second, by depriving your family of your companionship at meals, they’ll start to question their decision to eat the foods you can’t.
This kind of psychological ploy can actually work quite well, but it may take a week or two to have the full effect. When your family sees that you are committed enough to your diet to avoid them, they may start to question their own food choices. As a result, they may even decide to join you in the diet.
Next, you can try running through a list of the nasty diseases and problems that can occur by eating that food and keeping them at the forefront of your mind.
It’s a lot harder to drool over a cheeseburger when you’re thinking about what that cheese can do to your arteries. This technique will be most effective if you are truly committed to losing weight for the sake of your health, not just your appearance.
It may be impossible to get your family to switch their eating habits at first, but with time, if you can stick with it, you’ll be benefiting everyone. They’ll notice your increased energy and how good you look, and they may start to think twice about what they are putting into their own bodies. Again, it takes time, but you should start to see them get a little more interested in healthy food, a little bit at a time.
One word of caution. No one likes a food nazi!
If you are eating right, and your family isn’t there is no need to lord it over them. Simply state your case, stick to your diet and let your actions, your state of mind and your improved health do the talking. Everyone needs to find their own lifestyle changes on their own, and beating them up for food choices may backfire.
It’s not easy when you are trying to go it alone, but there are steps you can take to make sure that you do stick to your diet. Try to find at least one friend that supports you to make your journey easier.
Photo Credits: 1
Related Articles
Related Stores
September 26th, 2008 — Book Review, Weight Loss Journal, nutrition, recipe
Wouldn’t it be great if there were special foods out there that didn’t contain any calories, or better yet, helped your body burn other calories more efficiently? That’s the main premise of the book Foods That Help You Lose Weight – that there are foods out there that are actually “negative calorie.” Any dieter would be tickled to find this information, but is it legitimate? Let’s find out!
Considering that this is a pretty simple concept, we were surprised that it took nearly 70 pages to go over it. To be honest, a lot of it felt like filler and fluff. The simple statement that there are foods that can help your body function more efficiently pretty much sums this section up. However, that doesn’t make much of a book, so we cut the author a little slack. Barnard is an MD, but we were disappointed that he didn’t include more scientific and actual medical evidence to support his theory in this section. For those that are not well versed in nutrition, there is a lot lacking here.
The next chapter is a step-by-step plan for implementing the main concept of the book. Again, it’s a little long considering that the information is pretty simple. It’s not all that hard to replace bad foods with empty calories with good foods that will actually burn more calories.
Another failing of the book was that it didn’t go much into exercise and fitness, which could enhance the abilities of negative calorie foods even more. No diet is complete without a lifestyle change and while it is vital to change what you’re eating, that often is not enough, especially if you need to lose a significant amount of weight.
That said, any diet book that recommends French toast is okay in our book! Seriously however, the last part of the book is the best. That’s where you’ll find a ton of recipes and meal ideas that contain the healthy foods you need to be eating as well as ways to make foods like French toast good for you. We would have been happy if this was a cookbook, and honestly, it probably should have been, unless the author could come up with more hard facts. As a diet book, it’s so-so, but as a cookbook it shines.
Overall, while the concept is sound, it was tough to give the book a wholehearted recommendation. Without the addition of hard facts, the content suffered quite a bit. That said, you can still get some pretty good recipes here and some great tips on foods that are good for you in many different ways. Given that the book is pretty bargain priced, we feel that it is well worth the purchase, at least for the recipes and food suggestions. You can take the rest with a grain of salt, and focus on what’s important here – there are good foods out there that will definitely help your diet.
Related Articles
Related Stores
August 15th, 2008 — Book Review, calories, diet, exercise, fad diets, healthy eating, motivation, nutrition
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.
Related Articles
Related Stores
August 7th, 2008 — diet, goals, healthy eating
When we need to lose weight, it's really common to get swept up into the mindset that we need to make radical changes. While this may be true, it may not be healthy to make such a drastic change in the way you eat. In fact, you may be increasing your odds of failure by picking a diet that is simply too hard to maintain. While we all want to lose weight as fast as we can, it's best to stick with 2 pounds a week, and never more than 4. (Doctor supervision not withstanding.)
This is frustrating - and it will take a little longer to see results. However, by making easy diet changes and gradually pumping up the pressure, you're going to be more apt to lose that weight and keep it off. There is no point in starting a diet, if you're simply going to undo all of your hard work in a few months. You need to commit to making a lifestyle change that will last you for many years to come.
That is really the key towards getting healthy and hitting your target weight. By understanding what parts of your lifestyle are making you unhealthy, you can begin to diet the natural way. Let's start out with something that is really easy to cut out of your diet - soda. This is the worst, empty calorie, horrible food that is responsible for many of us being overweight and we really don't even know it. A simple serving of soda can have as much as 150 calories. A bottle or can will have a lot more.
Completely cut this one thing from your diet for two weeks but don't change anything else. Try not to substitute with sugary drinks. If you need caffeine, go with black coffee or sweeten it with Splenda. In two weeks, you should lose significant weight, depending on how much soda you normally drink. See how easy that was? One little easy change and you're already losing a lot of weight.
Now, you'll need to step it up. Find another food that is bad for you, the food that you simply love. Cut this out from your diet completely and you'll notice the same thing happening. Once again, you may need to find a healthier alternative to keep from feeling deprived, but the general premise is the same.
By making these really easy and simple changes, you can get on the road to healthy weight loss and still see real results. You're getting rid of the foods that are making you unhealthy and you're making those lifestyle changes that will stay with you for the rest of your life. Try it for two weeks and see the difference you feel. You may feel a bit cranky for the first few days, but ride it out and stick with it. You will get results.
By gradually getting rid of the items in your diet that are not good, you're making a it a lot easier on yourself and you're losing weight at the same time.
Photo Credits: 1
Related Articles
Related Stores
