November 22nd, 2008 — diet, goals, moderation, motivation, wellness
Dieting is not for the faint hearted, and it is not easy. If you fail to keep the right perspective during your diet, it is all too easy to give into cravings, to fall off the wagon and simply give up. Before you even think about going on a diet, you're going to need to get your priorities in order and find your perspective.
First, it is important to sit down and list the reasons that you want to lose weight. Put them all down in one column. Now, take a hard look at them and see which ones are directly related to your physical health and which are related to your physical image. Are there any that aren't even related to you, such as how other people perceive you?
Now, split your list up into these three categories, Image, Health and Perception. Cross off everything in the Image and Perception categories and look only at the Health category. The other two are arbitrary and while they may carry some importance, they are not the best reasons for losing weight. It is also too easy to say, "I don't care anymore," and give up your diet when you're focused on the superficial.
However, when you are focused on health goals, it is much easier to keep on track. You can look at the results you get for the other two categories as a bonus, but your main focus needs to be on your health. For example, let's say that one of your health goals is getting your blood pressure down by ten points. As you reach that goal, your physical appearance will change and you will start getting compliments about your weight. Look at this as a nice reminder that while you're focusing on your health, you're also changing your outward appearance, but don't lose that focus.
Now that you have all the reasons why you want to lose weight in that Health category, you can begin to set goals for yourself. Whether you need to lower your blood pressure, or you want to be able to walk up a flight of stairs without being winded, focus on these goals and break them down. By setting reasonable goals, you'll find that it is much easier to see real progress.
It's not about being able to fit into that old pair of jeans again. It is about being healthy enough to enjoy life around you. By finding the right perspective, you are no longer doomed to failure. You have the ability to take your future into your hands and work towards your goals that will help you enjoy it.
One word of caution. It is never healthy to set happiness goals for weight loss. For example, "I'll be happy if I can just lose x amount of pounds." Never assign your happiness to a number, you're selling yourself short. This mode of thinking starts a spiral that is hard to stop. Instead, set a happiness goal that centers around something more tangible. "I'll be happy if I can play with my children without feeling tired."
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June 18th, 2008 — blood sugar, caffeine, carbohydrates, fats, metabolism, proteins
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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