Weight Loss Made Easy

If you’re one of the lucky ones, your employer has a gym for you to use at your place of employment. The question then becomes, when do you work out?

If you work out in the beginning of the day then you need to shower and dress, do your hair, makeup and all that right there at work, instead of at home in the morning. If you do it after work then you’re getting home from work late in the evening.

Maybe they even let you work out during lunch. Then what do you do. Will you have time to shower, again? Or do you lather on the deodorant and go back to work?

I would love to hear from some of you who have gyms at work as to what you think is the best way to handle working out at work or before, during or after work?

I sit and sit all day long at my computer. I want to get up, move around and get some exercise. What can I do?

I would love to hear from some of you about how you handle exercise if you work at a desk all day. When do you find time?

I can park far away and walk to my office. I can take the steps whenever I need to go anywhere. I can go biking on the weekends. What else can I do?

Also, what kinds of healthy snacks do you bring to work with you that are office friendly.

Have you ever heard of a runner’s high? It’s a real life phenomenon, I get it from cycling, but it’s the same thing.

You know the short term high you get while you’re eating a huge piece of chocolate cake with fudge icing on the top and in the middle. Imagine having that feeling last a lot longer, but not feel guilty about it later.

That’s what the runner’s high feels like. You can get a runner’s high from just about anything, not just running. It just has to be something your really enjoy. Like riding your bike, walking, hula hooping, hiking.

Instead of eating cake, go get a runner’s high, and feel good about it instead of guilty.

Stevia is a sugar substitute that you can use in your beverages and recipes in place of sugar. Unlike other sugar substitutes, Stevia is neither made from sugar nor made from chemicals.

Stevia is made from a plant called the Stevia bush. Be careful though. Some Stevia products do add chemicals to their product, other’s don’t add any chemicals .  If you want a pure Stevia product look for sweeteners that only contain Stevia.

Since there are no calories in Stevia, and it’s an all natural product, you can use it in your food without having to worry about side effects.  Stevia has been used in South America for hundred of years. It’s now grown in many countries, in warm climates.

My mom first told me about Stevia many years ago while she was living in Florida. She was visiting a farm where they grew Stevia and was allowed to tasted the leaves right off the bush. She was stunned at how good they tasted. I started searching for it then, but is was hard to find.

Now it’s no longer hard to find and you can use it to stay healthy and help you lose weight.

Eating 30 grams of fiber a day can help you stay thin and healthy. Fiber helps you feel fuller longer. It also helps pull the fat through your system and helps you digest your food.

Here’s a list of high fiber foods that can  help you get 30 grams of fiber a day:

•  Raspberries, 8g per cup
• Artichoke, 10g medium
• Peas, 9g per cup
• Split peas, 16g per cup
• Lentils, 16g per cup
• Black beans, 15g per cup
• Lima beans, 13g per cup
• Baked beans, 10g per cup
• Brocolli, 5g per cup
• Turnip greens, 5g per cup
• Sweet corn, 5g per cup
• Pear, 5g
• Apple, 5g
• Oat bran muffin, 5g
• Bran flakes, 5g
• Brussel Sprouts, 4g per cup
• Potato, 4g medium with skin
• Sunflower seeds, 4g per 1/4 cup
• Oatmeal, 4g per cup
• Popcorn, 4g per 3 cups
• Brown rice, 4g per cup
• Figs dried, 4g per 2
• Blueberries, 4g per cup
• Strawberries, 3g per cup
• Banana, 3g
• Orange, 3g
• Almonds, 3g per oz
• Pistachio nuts, 3g per oz
• Pecans, 3g per oz
• Tomato paste, 3g per 1/4 cup
• Carrot, 2g medium
• Bread (rye, whole wheat or multi grain), 2g per slice
• Raisins, 2g per 1-1/2oz box

Tingly toes can mean many things, some of those things can relate to what you eat, or more to the point, what you don’t eat. The best way to find out what’s causing your tingly toes is to see your doctor and have him run some tests.

Here are some things to rule out that can cause tingly toes. First, make sure your shoes fit right and you’re wearing the right kind of shoes for the activity you’re doing. If you’re not sure, go to the kind of shoe store that measures your foot for you and ask. They may be able to help with your tingly toes problem.

Second, make sure you eat fruits and veggies. Also make sure you get enough foods that contain vitamin D and iron. Both of these things, if you don’t eat enough, can cause tingly toes.

I’m not a doctor, but I have had tingly toes, and tingly fingers. After much testing it turnes out, I have a vitamin deficiancy. Could a vitamin deficiancy be causing your tingly toes too?

Now we’re going to figure out your body fat percentage calculation. Your body fat percentage calculation is based on many things including your gender, height, weight and some measurements.

You probably already know your gender, height and weight. So to get your body fat percentage calculation get out a tape measure to get your measurements. These are the measurements you’ll need:

• waist at narrowest point
• waist at belly button
• hips at widest point
• neck at narrowest point

Now try one of these body fat percentage calculators:

• Health Status 
• Linear
• Cholesterol Network
• Self Calculation

How many calories in body fat is a question that all people trying to lose weight want to know.  The simple answer is that there are 3500 calories in body fat. What this means is that in order to lose one pound of fat off your body you need to burn 3500 calories.

If your body needs 2000 calories per day to maintain it’s body weight, and you only eat 1500 calories per day, you’ll burn off 500 calories in body fat per day. At this rate it will take you one week to lose one pound of body fat.

If you also exercise every day and burn an extra 500 calories in body fat per day. You’ll lose 2 pounds per week.

The food you eat every day will decide whether you lose weight or not. Keep track of food as you eat it so you don’t forget a single morsel. You need to keep track of food because it has ways of getting forgotten.

People forget about 20% of the food they eat. They only way to get rid of this problem is to keep track of food as you eat it. Write down everything. If you licked the bowl after making a cake, that counts too. If you only had one bite of the cake, that counts too.

Keep track of food all day every day. Then at the end of the day or end of the week, figure out how many calories you eat each day. Then figure out how many calories you should be eating each day.

Keep track of food, then lessen the amount you eat so you’ll get off the plateau and start loosing weight.

If you think about using food for fuel instead of for pleasure, you run a better chance of losing weight and, more importantly, staying healthy. Think of food for fuel every time you decide to eat. Everything you decide to eat will either give you part time energy, or real sustained long term energy.

Foods such as candy will only give you short term energy, and then you’ll crash and  then be tired afterwards. If, however you think of food for fuel and you eat something with vitamins, protein and carbs, you’ll have energy that will last longer, without the crash.

If you use food for fuel instead of pleasure you’ll notice that you have more energy, which means you’ll be able to get a lot more done. It’ll feel like you have more time in your day. You’ll have to cut out most of the junk food, but it’ll be worth it. Give using food for fuel a try and see how you feel.

Keeping a food diary is one of the key ways you can lose weight. For those who are having a tough time losing weight or have hit a plateau keeping a food diary is especially important. A lot of food gets forgotten about during your day, keeping a food diary of everything you eat is the best way to not forget a bite.

Every day you eat, sometimes you just nibble, every single bite or nibble has calories in it. If you’re one of those people who’s weight just won’t come off, try keeping a food diary. In your food diary you’ll need to write down every nibble, every crumb you eat.

Once you get used to keeping a food diary and writing everything in it, you’ll realize just how much you really do eat. The other thing keeping a food diary will do for you is stop you from eating too much. It does this because when you go to write something down, you’ll realize that you don’t really need that food. You  may put the food away instead of eating it.

There are several ways you can avoid overeating. Overeating is a problem when you’re dieting. If you want to lose weight, you need to learn how you can avoid overeating so you don’t pack on more pounds.

1. Snack - If you have a small snack one to two hours before your meal, you can avoid overeating because you won’t be starving when you eat.
2.  Fruit - If you’re still hungry after dinner you can avoid overeating by  eating fruit for dessert instead of that ice cream sunday.
3. Vinegar - Sprinkle your food with vinegar to help ward off spikes in your blood sugar.. (source )
4. Walking - Go for a walk instead of having seconds. Not only will you avoid overeating, you’ll burn some calories too.
5. Breakfast - People who eat breakfast usually have an easier time losing weight than people who don’t. Avoid overeating by giving your body what it needs.

Exercising outdoors adds extra benefits that exercising indoors doesn’t have. Fresh air and sunshine are just a couple of the benefits of exercising outdoors, and something your body needs.

If you stay cooped up all day you may not get enough Vitamin D , which is a vitiamin your body absorbs from the sun. Also, indoor air pollution is a big problem. Exercising outdoors gives you a chance to dimish both problems at once.

The other benefit to exercising outdoors is that going uphill on a real hill works more muscles than just adjusting the settings on your stationary bike or treadmill.

I know this because my son is a cyclist. After exercising indoors all winter on the  stationary bikes, they exercise outdoors in the spring. They really feel the difference.

So you’ve stopped losing weight and now you need to break a weight loss plateau. It can be done, but to break a weight loss plateau you’re going to need a little focus.

First, are you keeping a food diary? If not, start. Keeping a food diary can help you  break a weight loss plateau by showing you what foods you eat each day, that you forget you ate.

Second, the fastest way to break a weight loss plateau is to add more cardio to your exercise routine. Adding exercises like running, hula hoop, step dance, karate or dancing to your day will help your heart and also help you  break a weight loss plateau.

Third, add weights. Muscle uses more calories, therefore you’ll burn more calories by building muscle hence helping you break a weight loss plateau. The more muscle you build, the more calories you burn every minute of every day.

Should we be banning fast food from our diet completely? Banning fast food is a good idea if you absolutely can’t control yourself when you go to a fast food restaurant, but if you can order healthy alternatives instead of the greasy stuff then there’s really not need to completely start banning fast food.

Believe it or not there are healthy alternatives at fast food restaurants,  therefore banning fast food altogether in not necessary. The salads at fast food restaurants are quite good, just leave out the crutons and try a low fat dressing.

If salad’s not your thing, try a grilled chicken sandwich instead. Eat it without the sauce to save caloried and without the bun to save even more calories. Banning fast food can be fun if you do it right.

You may think bikes are just for kids, but they’re not. Millions of adults ride bikes every day. Some ride bikes for transportation, some ride bikes to race, some ride bikes for fun and others ride bikes for fitness.

Biking can help you lose weight. If you used to love riding your bike,why not get it out of cobwebs and fix it up, or buy a new one. Start riding your bike again to help you lose weight.

If you don’t want to ride alone look for a local cycling club to ride with. Not only will biking help you lose weight, it’ll help you make new friends too.

“How many calories do I need per day?” is a question that everyone wants to know the answer to, but very few people actually know the answer to.

For women the answer to the question,  “How many calories do I need per day?”, is that you need approximately 10 calories  for every pound of weight, per day, to maintain your current body weight.

Here’s the calculation for 160 pound woman:

(160 x 10) + 160 = 1760

Here’s the calculation for a 250 pound man:

(250 x 10) + (250 x 2) =  3000

Remember, this calculation is if you want to maintain your current weight.

If you want to lose weight, you want to eat less, a lot less. One pound  = 3500 calories. This means that if you want to lose one pound of fat, you need to deprive yourself of 3500 calories, or do 3500 extra calories of exercise.

No wonder it’s so hard to lose weight. Keep trying, you’ll get there.

Get the support for weight loss that you need. If you’re serious about losing weight you’ll need to get some support for weight loss. This support for weight loss can come from a friend, spouse, your children, or even from an electronic fitness device such as the Wii Fit .

Support for weight loss often comes when you pair up with a weight loss partner .  This is someone who you are going to lose weight with. It could be someone on your block that also wants to lose weight, so you agree to meet on certain days of the week to offer each other support for weight loss.

It’s very important that you get support for weight loss. Without it a lot of people fail and go back to their old ways. Go out today and try to find support for weight loss, you’ll thank yourself for the effort.

When you get kids cooking you have the opportunity to teach them to eat properly and cook healthy foods. Since eating habits are mostly learned from our parents you can teach a lot about health when you get kids cooking for themselves.

Gather some healthy recipes, using healthy ingredients, and get kids cooking their own meals and meals for the family. Make them happy when you let them make treats.

If you need to entice them to cook you can get kids cooking by telling them if they do a good job they’ll get to make cut out cookies next time. For most kids it won’t take much to get kids cooking, just the chance to do something fun with their parents is usually enough.

Your mom’s diet could be affecting the way you eat and diet yourself.  Children learn to eat based on their mom’s diet from the time they’re toddlers. If you don’t learn some new habits somewhere fast, mom’s diet could affect your life and your own diet.

Think about trying to get away from your mom’s diet habits and start forming your own. The best way to do this is to write out a new diet for yourself. Think about the things you’ve been doing that don’t work, the things that were always a part of mom’s diet, and write them out.

Make your shopping list from your written diet. Post your new diet on the wall and stick to it. Don’t ever go back to mom’s diet again.

It’s true, if you visit France you’ll notice that French women don’t get fat the way women in the US do. Why do you think it is that French women don’t get fat? After all, in France they eat cheese with every meal, meat is just as popular as it is in the US.  So why is it that French women don’t get fat?

Here are 5 simple reasons that French women don’t get fat:

1. French women eat less at each meal.
2. French women don’t skip meals.
3. French women take time to savor and enjoy their meals.
4. French women don’t eat processed foods, as much.
5. French women eat less junk food, and take the time to enjoy the junk food they do eat.

The Wii fitness board, along with the Wii fitness software it a wonderful tool for weight loss. Starting out all you need is a flat surface and a Wii system and your Wii fitness board will start you on your way to getting in shape and losing weight.

The Wii fitness board takes a little getting used to in the beginning. You have to learn how to bend and lean to get the games and exercises to do what you want, but once you get the feel of the Wii fitness board you’ll get hooked.

On the first day with my Wii fitness board I spent a good 2 hours just going through the basic level games and exercises and learning how to use my new Wii fitness board. I’m already hooked. I can’t wait to use the Wii fitness board again tomorrow.

Even the running game that comes with the Wii fitness board is fun. You follow another Wii person down a path with beautiful scenery on either side of you. You don’t actually use the Wii fitness board for the running game, but it’s still a lot of fun.

Your Wii fitness board will come with balance games you can play, yoga poses, strength training exercises and even aerobics. After my workout I felt that I had really done something for myself. The Wii fitness board gave me a good workout and kept track of everything I did along the way.

Gluten free cooking can sometimes help you lose weight, if your weight gain is caused by a condition called Celiac Disease . In this case Gluten free cooking may be just what you need to lose those unwanted pounds.

Wholesome gluten free cooking will help your body eat only foods that are easy for it to digest. The foods you  will eat when you use gluten free cooking ideas will be healthy, and your body will thank you for it.

In the first week I started gluten free cooking I lost 5 pounds right off. I don’t know if gluten free cooking is good for everyone, but it’s definitly good for people with Celiac Disease.

Take all your favorite recipes and modify them. Today you’re going to learn to reduce calories to lose weight. You need to reduce calories to lose weight, plain and simple.

One of the easiest ways to reduce calories to lose weight is to modify the recipes you eat the most. Here are some modification techniques you can use to reduce calories to lose weight.

First you’ll see the food you probably normally use, then you’ll see the substitution.

•  Hamburger - Ground turkey
• Chicken with skin - Chicken without skin
• Apple cobbler - Baked apples with cinnamon
• Salad dressing - Fat free dressing
• Stir fried veggies - Steamed veggies
• French fries - Baked fries
• Chocolate cake with chocolate icing - Angel food cake
• Pasta - Whole grain pasta
• Cheese - Low fat cheese
• Sugar - Splenda or other sugar substitute
• Breadcrumbs - Whole grain bread crumbs
• Vegetable oil - Applesauce, pureed pumpkin, or other pureed fruits

Give yourself a goal and you’ll go further with your weight loss. Giving yourself a goal, besides weight loss, to achieve will help you on your way. It’s hard to lose weight just for the sake of losing weight, so let’s find another goal.

Train for a 5K run . Once you accomplish your goal you’re going to feel great about yourself. Just think about how much differently people are going to look at you when you finish a 5K run. You don’t have to run a 5K run the whole way the first time. Just finish.

Training for the 5K run will automatically help you lose weight without thinking about losing weight. So stop thinking about losing weight and start training for that 5K run.

Stop cravings that happen because you’re eating when bored. Stop cravings that happen because you’re eating when tired. You can stop cravings in their track, but first you have to learn to recognize them.

What are your biggest triggers for cravings? In order to stop cravings you’ll first have to relize why you eat when you’re not hungry. Do you eat because you have nothing better to do, stop cravings by finding something else to do instead. Take up a hobby or go for a walk.

Do you eat because you’re tired and you don’t think you should be sleeping in the middle of the day. Surprise. Stop cravings by getting more sleep. Your body may be telling you that you didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Stop cravings by taking a power nap in the middle of the day. Then start getting more sleep at night.

You already know how to use the Internet so start your search for local hiking trails near you. They may be disguised as biking trails, cycling trails or walking trails. As you do your Internet search make sure to try these terms and add the name of your town.

If you can’t find any hiking trails that way you can try searching for local nature preserves, game preserves, state parks, state game lands or even just your local community park. Some local community parks have a place for bikes to ride but also has a walking trail and a wooded area with paths through it.

Find something like this and go for a walk. If you prefer you can go for a bike ride, a hike, or go roller blading, whatever you prefer. Take a friend, kids or a dog with you if you want. Just get out there and get  moving.

 Mix together all the ingredients, except the romaine lettuce, ahead of time, at least one hour before eating. Stir the ingredients together again before adding in the lettuce. Then eat. Makes it’s own dressing as it sits so you save on calories.

• 1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1 large cucumber, sliced
• 1 cup radishes, sliced
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 1 carrot,sliced
• 1/2 Cup kidney beans
• 1/2 Cup garbanzo beans
• 1 Cup green onion, sliced

Makes 4 servings at about 330 calories per serving. 10g fat, 50g carbs, 18g fiber, 15g protein, 70mg sodium.
http://caloriecount.about.com

A recent study has shown that brown fat doesn’t go away after infancy and may, if harnessed, be able to help people lose weight. Brown fat is the fat that keeps babies warm and keeps animals warm in winter. It’s like a heat generating system.

Scientists think that brown fat may play a part in keeping thin people thin by creating more heat in their bodies hence burning more calories. Overweight people may be overweight because they don’t have enough brown fat cells in their body to create enough heat to burn enough calories.

If they can figure out a way to create more brown fat cells, maybe they can create a way to help people lose weight. Until then, you’ll have to create your own body heat .

To do something and do it well you often need a partner. Whether you hire a personal trainer to push you and call you when you don’t show up for appointments or your just get a neighbor to lose weight with you, you’ll lose weight faster with a weight loss partner.

It’s true. Studies have shown that people who have support have better success at losing weight. Think about this. You ask a friend or neighbor to lose weight with you. Maybe you are supposed to push and call here on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and she’s supposed to call and push you on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Every day’s covered.

Or maybe you’re both supposed to meet every day for a walk at the same time in the same place. No phone calls. You’d be pretty mad if she didn’t show up, and visa versa, so you’d both show up, every day. It’s just expected.

Better yet. Start a walking group in your neighborhood. Pass out flyers and see who shows up. Who knows, maybe you’ll make some lasting relationships.

Every calorie counts. I’ll tell you why. Let’s say you make a peanut butter sandwich for your son and you lick the peanut butter off the knife. 30 calories. Then you bake a cake and lick the beaters after making the frosting. 50 calories. Then you’re making a pizza and eat some mozzarella while shredding it. 100 calories. Then you finished off the Hawaiian Punch your son left in his cup. 20 calories.

You’ve just ate 200 calories that you didn’t even include in your diet. 200 calories that just snuck up on you and sabotaged your otherwise good day.

You’ve been watching what you eat, counting the calories and wondering why you can’t lose weight. This is why. It’s all those extra calories you’re not counting.

Being a downer will only bring you down. Think up and you’ll be up. Think yourself thin is not just a cliche. If you have a positive attitude and think positively about your weight loss, you’ll have a better chance at losing weight.

Instead of thinking, “oh poor me”, whenever you can’t have something you like, think about how the food you are about to eat is going to give you more energy and how it’s going to burn the fat right off your body. Think about the power it’s going to give you.

When you start thinking about healthy foods in a positive way, they become a positive influence in your life. Soon you’ll be eating, and thinking yourself thin.

If you have a dog it’s time to make your dog part of your exercise routine. This will make your dog really happy and make your waistline smaller at the same time.

Do you notice your thin neighbor out there everyday walking or running with their dog? Now it’s your turn to join the thin revolution and do what the thin people do. One of those things is, take your dog for a walk every day.

It’s true, whether it’s raining or not thin people put their dog first, and themselves, and go for a walk every day. I don’t know if they’re doing it for them or for their dog, fact it, they’re thin. If you want to be thin too, do as the thin people do and take your do for a walk every day.

The 5 day migraine has makes it tough to exercise, as I’m sure do any chronic condition. That’s 5 days without any exercise, without being able to focus on what I’m eating. Of course I didn’t feel like eating fatty foods during those 5 days, I think that may have helped.

What to do now. I’m still taking it easy today. Still weak, still tired, afraid the migraine will come back at an moment. I was supposed to go to an Autism walk with my kids this morning, can’t go.

Tomorrow though, I will be back to normal. After an illness you have to start anew. Start just as though nothing happened. Exercise, watch what you eat and become the person you know you can be.

Your weight is only one indicator of your overall health, not the only one. When trying to lose body mass, weight is also not the only indicator, and often a poor one. As a matter of fact, if you’re using exercise to help you get in shape, you may even gain a little weight while you slim down.

The reason for this is that muscle weighs more that fat. As you work out and tone your body you’re gaining muscle, this means your putting on weight, this is a good thing, don’t worry about this weight. The more muscle you put on, the more calories you’ll burn. Muscle needs more calories to maintain. This means the more muscle you have the less fat you’ll have.

Add more muscle so you’ll burn more fat. Soon you’ll start seeing the scale move down as the fat starts to burn away.