Lose Weight Anytime Of The Year

The weather has changed and winter is here. It's not a good time to go on a diet. But you don't have to quit before you start. Follow a little advice and you can lose weight in any season.

Some people believe "if I just lose a little weight, I can be thinner". Well, I never found it that easy. I guess I learned the hard way. I was always a little heavy. Even back in High School, I was what my family called chubby. After I finished school I worked as a truck driver unloading the truck by hand at every stop I made, usually about 40 stops a day. After about 5 years I changed to a construction worker. I did heavy construction, steel, and concrete for bridges and tunnels, the money was better and I had a family to think about.

Both jobs were hard work and I lost about 10 pounds without trying. I was burning several thousand calories a day. I was 6 feet tall and weighed about 172. After I left construction and bought a small business, I started to gain weight. I was 32 years old and in the next 5 years I gained about 20 pounds, and before I was 40, I weighed about 220 pounds.

Everyone I knew had noticed and I started to feel self-conscious.  I knew I had to lose weight. I had settled into a lifestyle of self-indulgence. Finally, I joined a Health Club. It was a complete gym with machines, a running track, aerobics classes, a separate room for weight lifters, a pool, a jacuzzi, a steam room, and an expansive locker room with towels provided.

I did get a lot of exercises but I didn't lose much weight and after a few years, I stopped going. Like most people, I was pretty discouraged throughout my 40s and then after I sold my business I finally got serious about losing weight.

So the reason I'm writing about myself is that I want you to know that my battle with my weight went on for more than 20 years. But yes I did win the battle because I never quit. I weigh 165 today after more than 30 years of trying to lose weight. I reached my goal now and am just working on maintaining my weight. And even maintaining is a battle, an everyday battle of watching my calories and exercising. I have no regrets, the exercise has made me a healthier person, and staying thin in my senior years lets me be active. I ride a bike, swim, and walk a lot, I do yoga and weight train twice a week.

Being thin can be challenging, but for some people, it comes easy. They're born with the right genes and they can process food without absorbing the fat. Others like me have to work at it. But if I would have taken some advice when I was younger it might have been easier.

I always thought I could do it the easy way. "I'll diet for a few weeks and I'll be thin and ready for the summer." That was a pipe dream, it never happened. Sure, it's easy to drop 5 or 10 pounds, but in a couple weeks it comes right back. I wasn't serious about my weight, oh sure I wanted to lose weight, but doing what was necessary never happened.

I didn't get serious until I started to feel sluggish, I was tired in the afternoon, my joints started to ache, and walking became a chore. My whole adult life I was in denial about my weight and maybe that was because it didn't bother me to be overweight. Then you get older and you start to feel the effects of carrying around the extra pounds, but you're still in denial and think the aches and pains are because you're getting older but it's not, it's from carrying around the extra weight and because you aren't active enough it's getting harder to carry the extra weight and your heart is starting to strain under the extra work it has to do.

I think I wrote about this before, but being a little overweight isn't going to keep you from living a healthy life. You can be just as healthy as a thin person if you do regular exercise. If you're not exercising your heart will wear down from the extra strain. Extra weight causes extra strain on your heart and in the later years of middle age, your heart can start to give you trouble. So actually, if you are an overweight person, exercise is more important.

Carrying extra fat, especially in the waistline is the hardest fat to lose,  and it's the most dangerous to your heart. I don't really understand why, but most of us start to put on the extra pounds in our thirties and forties. Like me though, we don't work at losing it until it starts to cause problems. By that time you can lose the ambition to lose fat and that's probably why you see so many seniors overweight.

If you truly want to be thin, you want to do something about it when you are young enough to have the motivation to make the hard choices and get into the exercise routine before it becomes too hard on your body. It's only recently that studies have shown us that extra inches around your waist will shorten your life. The bigger your waist, the shorter your life. Do something about your weight now, while you still have the motivation.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

My secret for losing body fat

 I recently put on 5 pounds, too much holiday cheer. I can't refuse an invitation. But when I gain 5 pounds I stop there. I know I will gain weight during the holidays, but my limit is 5 pounds. After that, my clothes start to get tight. 

Before I let you in on my secret, I want you to understand that all people will not lose weight the same way. This is a method I have used before and it works for me every time. First, I know that the extra pounds are fat, and it's new fat, not the old stubborn fat. To remove stubborn fat you need to change your diet, cut calories and follow the exercise program that I will explain in the next paragraph. What is stubborn fat; its old fat, the fat you have had for years. 

I walk for exercise almost every day, to give my heart exercise, but when I want to lose fat I walk and jog. I walk about 100 yards and then jog 100 yards and repeat that about 7 or 8 times without resting. The walking part is for resting. When you start the program you want to spend more time walking than jogging. You might be walking slower than you normally walk. Make sure that you're ready for the next 100 yards of jogging. 

This is not a get-results-quick kind of program, If you find that you're not losing inches you need to adjust your diet. You want to stay below 2000 calories a day. If you're counting calories remember to count the calories you drink. Most people don't take the cokes, beer, and wine seriously. Statistics show that overweight people actually consume about 3000 calories a day and half the calories are from drinks. Stop drinking calories is a good way to start a new diet. Too speed up your weight loss, Do this exercise routine more then once a day. Once early in the morning and once after dinner.

Slim is the new healthy. Avoid gaining weight or getting too flabby. You can be overweight without being off the charts. For instants, I weigh 160 lbs. According to the charts that doctors go by, I can weigh between 145 and 180 and not be overweight because of my height. Being too fat is about the amount of fat  on your body compared to your muscle mass. I have about 20% body fat. If I had more than 25% I'd be overweight. I'd like to weigh between 150 and 155. By losing body fat, I have more energy. 

The beautiful part about this program is that all you need is a good part of workout shoes.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

White Fat vs Brown Fat; Which Do You Have

If you are going to lose fat, this article is very important.

Several years ago, researchers discovered that many of us have more than one kind of fat cell in our bodies. White fat cell and the fat they store are the hardest to get rid of. And as it ages it becomes harder to lose. Read this post and think about it. It’s the white fat cells that will cause you trouble later in life.

We’ve known about white fat for years. White fat cells are what we typically refer to as body fat. White fat cells store excess energy or calories. When we eat too much, the excess calories are stored as white fat and we gain weight. White fat is the kind of fat that builds up on our thighs, our bellies and our arms that we often try to reduce.

Brown fat is different. Scientists refer to brown fat cells as brown adipose tissue or BAT. Brown fat cells don’t store energy, they burn it. These smaller, complex fat cells actually create heat to maintain your body temperature when it’s cold. So this type of fat becomes activated when your body is exposed to cold or even freezing temperatures. Brown fat is often found in the upper back and neck region of the body and researchers think it may hold promise in the fight against obesity.

But the good news doesn’t end there. There is a third kind of fat that is relatively new to researchers. It’s called beige fat. Beige fat cells are essentially brown fat cells that reside within white fat tissue.

Brown Fat for Weight Loss: Does It Work?

The news about brown fat and beige fat is exciting, but I wouldn’t move to Alaska, sleep in your refrigerator or attempt other body cooling methods to lose weight just yet. The most significant brown fat results have been established only in mice. Brown fat research in humans is still inconclusive for a number of reasons.

You may not have brown fat. Many years ago, scientists believed that only babies had brown fat. More recent studies have confirmed that some adults have brown fat, but we don’t really know how many people have it or how much they have. One large study found that only 7.5% of women and 3.1% of men had substantial brown fat deposits. Other more limited studies have demonstrated that anywhere from 25% to roughly 80% of people have small brown fat deposits. So how do you know if you have brown fat? Without expensive scanning equipment (a PET scan), you don’t. We do know, however, that brown fat decreases with age and that the fatter we are, the less brown fat we have.

Brown fat may not burn enough calories. Researchers also don’t know exactly how many calories you can burn when and if you are able to activate brown fat. Some studies estimate that you may be able to burn up to 13%-20% of your resting metabolic rate. For some individuals that may add up to 150 calories or more. But other experts say that the total number is probably only 50-100 calories per day, at most.

Scientists advise caution. The most well-respected fat researchers still advise caution when it comes to the use of brown fat for weight loss. While current studies provide insight and promise, we still don’t know how to activate brown fat in a way that is manageable and sustainable in a real world setting. The bottom line is that we simply don’t know if activating brown fat can make a noticeable difference.

If you’re trying to lose weight and you’ve struggled with traditional methods, you might be tempted to activate brown fat in your own body with trendy products like thermal vests or cooling shorts. Try to keep the science in mind as you consider those purchases. The research into brown fat for weight loss is substantial, but it doesn’t prove that any brown fat treatment actually works.

Sources:

Aaron M. Cypess, M.D., Ph.D., M.M.Sc., et al. “Identification and Importance of Brown Adipose Tissue in Adult Humans.” New England Journal of Medicine.Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Can't Lose Weight, Maybe You're Eating The Wrong Foods

Eating too much of the wrong foods gets all of us in trouble, but we love to indulge ourselves. In other posts, I’ve written about the genetic causes of being overweight and the addictive causes, but in this post, I’ll touch on the emotional ways we cause our own weight problems.

Bad eating habits are easy to pick up. We get some of these bad habits at home. When I was growing up in a German household, we eat plenty of good wholesome food but it’s what we add in to give the food the extra flavor that adds the pounds. As families became more prosperous we became more indulgent. Potatoes, for instance, are a good wholesome food with plenty of nutrition but when we add all that butter and maybe some sour cream and bacon bits, well now that nutritious potato is about 800 calories or half of your daily calorie allowance. We usually had broccoli on the table, but everyone liked it with cheddar cheese melted on top. There’s nothing wrong with cheese, but it does add calories. Milk was on the table for every meal. My brother and I would consume one gallon a day. Meats had to be prepared with gravy and we usually had boiled potatoes with butter and white bread.

You can see now how wholesome food can be turned into high-calorie meals served with wine or beer. Today we know better than to eat foods prepared this way, but most of us if we have the chance will eat like it’s Thanksgiving every night. Those are 3000-calorie meals and if you combine those calories with breakfast and lunch even if they’re small you can see how the calories for that day could top 5000 or even 6000. If you're watching your weight, 1500 to 1800 calories would be your daily limit.

Naturally, most of us only have time to eat like that on Sundays. Most of us and this is the normal routine for the working American, will just have coffee or tea in the morning along with a roll or biscuit. That’s not a lot of calories, but there’s no nutritional value in the food, you’ll be hungry again in a couple of hours. So between 9 and 10 in the morning, we take a coffee break. The average office worker has been taking coffee breaks since the 1920s. Today everyone from truck drivers to the Wall Street stockbroker will take a short break at mid-morning. Most of us will have about the same thing as breakfast, coffee or tea or worse yet a soft drink, a roll, or a biscuit. Unknowingly we have already consumed almost 1000 calories and no nutritional food value, which means your body will need some real food by lunch.

Usually, people meet in the lunch room for 30 minutes, they bring something or eat out of the snack machines, or where I work we have 1 hour for lunch so most of us go out to eat. Going out to eat use to be a rare occasion, but today it’s very common. People have more freedom at work and most of us can keep our own hours.

Lunches usually consist of a sandwich, french fries, and coke or other soft drink, the kind of food you can get at a fast food restaurant. That is probably another 800 calories or so and very little nutritional value. We have used up the whole day's calorie allotment and still have very little nutrition to show for it. It’s the nutrition in your food that gives your body the energy to work properly. Your brain uses your body's energy to function, and your organs use energy to work properly. Ask yourself “how often do I get sick?” “Why is that?” O.k., I’ll tell you if you don’t already know, it’s your diet. You eat the wrong foods. I believe many different types of Cancer can be from the foods we eat. Most of the problems we have with our bodies are caused by the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe.

We all have to eat but we need to look carefully at what we put in our bodies. Food manufacturers are in business to make money and as long as their product doesn’t kill you at the time you're eating it or it can’t be proven that it harms you in any way, then they are pretty much free to make any food or drink they want regardless of the long-term effects to your body. You see a person eats all thru the day and is usually eating foods that contain the same things, so it would be hard to pinpoint the cause, of say, stomach cancer or even something less serious like food poisoning to any one food. Diseases like cancer are caused by the chemicals we eat, but one single food has such a small amount it can’t really hurt you, but let's say the lettuce for instance on your hamburger is grown with pesticides and chemicals are absorbed into produce, you can’t wash off pesticides, so every time you eat lettuce on a sandwich or in a salad, your consuming pesticides, and your body can’t process chemical so it stores them and they accumulate. And after years of accumulation, you end up with some disease that maybe science has a cure for or maybe not.

So why do we get fat? We’re eating foods our bodies can’t process. If your body could process all your foods, then the foods would be processed in the small intestines, the body would use what it needed and the rest would pass thru and no fat would accumulate, as long as you didn’t eat too much. But the processed foods we buy today are loaded with things that make the food taste better but things the body can’t process so those things are stored as fat. Storing unprocessed foods as fat is the only way our bodies have to move the excess thru our system. Overindulging will also cause fat storage. The body will only process so much per hour, so if you’re overeating the body will store excess food as fat. Your body can only do so much and it has to make room for the next meal. Your brain tells your stomach that more food is coming and to make room so your body will simply store anything that hasn’t been digested and the only way the body has to store food is to turn it into fat.

Now that might be an oversimplification, but I want you to understand the cycle and there’s actually more to it. When you gain weight and add inches to your waistline, your body has to use energy to keep all your body tissue alive including the fat. This is the part you want to remember, you should remain the same size all thru adulthood which usually begins between the ages of 18 to 22. When you gain weight as an adult your organs are not going to grow any larger to accommodate the larger body. The larger body has more body tissue to keep alive and so your organs have to work much harder to accommodate the bigger size and that includes your heart.

So why do overweight people tire easily? Partly because they have to carry the extra weight, but also because they are spending too much of their energy on keeping body tissue alive. You combine that with a bad diet of mainly fast food that has very little nutrition which your body needs to create energy to keep your body working and you have the perfect storm for early death. Even an overweight person can be healthy into their 80s or even 90s if they have a good amount of nutrition in their diet. And everyone has probably seen examples of overweight seniors.

Today young adults or even those of middle age should be living over 100 years, but with the bad diet that most of us have today I have to wonder if today’s young adults will be living that old and if they are what condition they’ll be in and how many prescription drugs will they be taking.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Your Diet Is The Secret To Good Health

I wrote other posts about changing your life if you want to lose weight. You’ve heard about the French and that the French have a diet that would put weight on any American, but they’re thin. Men and women of all ages in France are thinner than Americans on average.

When medical scientists first looked at their diet they thought that the red wine they drank was the answer. These people eat out as much as we do, they don’t even know what low cal means. So how do they do it?  First of all, they walk more. Urban people don’t use cars that much, They walk everywhere. Also, bike riding is more popular, you see gasoline has always been expensive in Europe and people have learned to conserve.

Conserving food is something that France has done since World War II when food was scarce. So today their meal portions are smaller than ours and combine this with the increased amount of walking the French do and it’s much easier for them to control their weight. Also, the French eat real food, fresh food. Fresh locally grown food with an emphasis on poultry and seafood. During all the time I spent in France I didn’t see any processed foods. No Manufactured food. I’m sure the food scene is a little different today, but not that different. You still buy produce at a produce market, seafood from a fish market, meat from a butcher, and bread from a bakery. And from what I remember, there was a lot of competition. The food was excellent, and I gained 10 pounds that summer. I loved the food, I ate like I never ate food before. Then I came back to the states and back to reality.

When I was in France the exchange rate was 10 francs to 1 dollar, great for Americans but expensive for the French. Food for the locals was expensive, maybe that’s why the portions were smaller than our portions.

We should take a lesson from France, they had the same kind of overweight problem and they beat it. Now it’s our turn as Americans to whip the overweight problem in this country. Our overweight problem has caused Health Insurance to escalate to an unaffordable level, to the point where we now have a Health Insurance crisis.

Being overweight and having bad eating habits are the cause of most of our health problems. This is something we can do something about if we try. I learned while I was in school that "you are what you eat", but I didn't really understand the meaning of those words until I was middle age. 

Exercise is important to stay healthy, but it's the foods you eat that affect your weight. Foods will cause you to gain weight or lose weight. The right foods will health your body burn your body fat by turning it into energy. Eating the wrong foods and drinking calories will only cause you to gain more fat. 

Be select about what you eat this holiday season. It's much easier to gain weight than it is to lose weight.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

You Can Slow Down And Even Reverse The Aging Process

Do you know that things you do every day can cause you to look older than you really are? Pills and beauty creams are not the real answer. It’s all about what you eat and drink that ages you. You probably see people on the street that look really good and have all gray hair. You probably think, “Boy they look good for their age.” Those people might be older than you think.

This Mother, Daughter lead a healthy lifestyle by eating right and being active.

I saw a senior on TV being interviewed about his service in the Army during the Second World War. He was the oldest survivor of the D-Day invasion. I was listening to the interview and thought “this guy looks awfully young to be in a war 70 years ago”. He looks and talks like he’s maybe 75 or 80. He looked good physically, he stood up during the entire interview and talked like a younger man. At the end of the interview, the Host congratulated the man on his Hundredth Birthday last week. That blew my mind. I only hope I can be in that kind of shape when I’m one hundred.

I did a little research and found that the little vices we all have, like smoking or drinking alcohol, and eating some processed foods like canned hams, or other processed foods all contain things that will age your body.

It’s hard to eat fresh and clean all the time, but that’s the only way to avoid chemicals and hormones that can damage the body. We use to think that smoking, drugs, and alcohol were the only way we could harm the organs of our body, but today we know that everything we eat or drink can do damage to us. Eating fresh means that you only eat fresh foods, vegetables, nuts, beans, fresh meat (no preservatives), and fresh fish. Sounds simple right, but add to that “eating clean” and that means your fresh foods should be free of chemicals, pesticides, hormones and any kind of growth stimulates. All these things are used today by commercial farmers to produce faster-growing crops, faster-growing poultry, and faster-growing meat. For instants, I “steer” that is grass-fed (a range cattle) will take 18 months or more to mature and be ready for market, while cattle, keep in a “feedlot” and fed more grain with hormones will be ready for market in about 7 months. Which increases the company's profit per animal, but lowers the quality of the beef. Range cattle that live off the land will have far less body fat but when you’re selling “live cattle” you get paid by the pound, not by the quality of the meat.

That’s why the trend of Organic Products is becoming popular today. Range-free eggs or Organic Eggs, Grass-fed Beef, Range free Poultry, Organic fruits, and vegetables; all these items are in all the grocery stores today, but they are expensive. Why, are they expensive? So people think that if it’s in demand the stores will charge more for it. And some of that might be true, but when a vegetable farmer grows organic he will lose a more significant percentage of the crop. You have to remember he doesn’t use regular fertilizer, no normal type of pest control and he doesn’t use anything to speed up the growth. So as a result he’ll have fewer crops going to market and make less money unless he charges more for his crops.

Let’s get back to aging; So does any occasional drink or meal out going to hurt? Well, not much, but the little thing does add up. For example, a well-known cola company has started importing their cola product from Mexico and the sale of that product is up 30% from a year ago. Why you might ask? In Mexico, soft drink companies are only allowed to use sugar cane in their drinks and not Fructose (a sugar substitute used in North America). This is also true for their alcoholic beverages. No chemical substitutes in their food.

Soft drink companies have lost a large market share of the soft drink market in the past decade and have tried desperately to regain those sales. The juice drinks were very popular for a while and still are, but today the different flavored waters seem to be a big hit. Returning to natural additives may be the answer for the soft drink industry.

Besides things that we eat and drink aging us, also how much you eat can also age your body. Over-eating or under-eating can both cause health problems that will cause the body
to age. We are cutting our lives short by not taking care of our bodies and besides food and drink we need physical activity and when you don’t get enough that will also age your body.

Taking care of yourself will give you many extra healthy years added to your life.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Next Year Promise Yourself You Will Live A Healthier Life

Some of us get wrapped up in the wrong things in life and we don’t make time for ourselves. How does this happen you might ask. We think that we are multi-taskers but in reality, we aren’t very good at it. We try and do more than we can do and become overloaded. This can happen to anyone, but a lot of us don’t realize it’s happening.

You can easily analyze your situation by stepping back for a minute and looking at your life from an outsider's point of view.

Ask yourself the question “why am I overweight?” You will probably get several different answers, but the right answer is that you’re living your life the wrong way. And you can tell it’s wrong because your body has too much fat and that will cause future health problems if it hasn’t already.

Body fat has some good uses but excess body fat will only cause damage to the body.

Are you skipping meals? Do you make time for exercise? How much did you weigh when you got out of High School? How much do you weigh now? Are you eating healthy foods? Are you sleeping 7 hours a night?

Often we can find out for ourselves if we have a health problem if we can be objective. Americans often rush through their day so fast just to get it over with and never slow down to see what they’re doing wrong.

We cause our own health problems by not paying attention to our body's needs. We constantly ignore our health and we ignore the things in our life that are difficult to manage. We rush so fast through our day just to get the work over with so we can do things that we enjoy doing. We have become obsessed with finding more ways to entertain ourselves rather than concentrating on the things that matter. Why is that you might ask? Our lives are stressful and we seek something to release the tension. We often don’t realize how much built-up tension we have. This tension is usually caused by the relationships we have with other people.

It was never like this a couple generations ago. I see this problem that we have in our modern world is that technology has advanced so rapidly that we all have this thirst for knowledge. Thank God that the next generation is trying to pay more attention to their health and their physical condition. We’ll have to see what happens to them as they grow older.

If you are concerned at all with your health and have been reading my posts and other health blogs, you probably know that your body fat is the cause of most health problems. To avoid those problems you should lose body fat and how do you do that? Simply, change the foods you’re eating and increase your activity. It sounds simple but in reality, it will be like starting your life over.

All of us sit too much. It’s not all your fault. Today most Americans work sitting down. Actually, that’s the reason that most people are overweight. One hour at the gym every day can’t make up for 8 hours of sitting. Have you ever noticed that people who have to work standing up are thinner on average than people who work sitting down? For instance, most people who work in retail, like a cashier, on average are thinner than an office workers.

If you spend your work day sitting 90% of the time and going home and sitting more after dinner and then spending 8 hours in bed, how much standing and moving around are you really doing. This might surprise you but the average office worker only spends about 4 hours daily on their feet. That’s 4 hours out of 24 hours.

This is a major change from a few generations ago when our grandparents spent 12 hours a day minimum on their feet. So the results are that we are heavier and have poor circulation and several other health problems that have all sprung up recently because the population is growing fatter.

Overweight people generally blame their weight problems on lack of activity and that's partly correct, but it's really about your diet. The food and drink that you consume every day. Living healthier is about eating healthily. Only consume nutritional food and drinks. Stop eating and drinking those things that caused your weight gain. 

The average North American consumes twice the calories necessary to maintain body functions and that's mostly because we consume things that have no nutritional value. For example, we consume half our calories from drinks. Children need drinks that contain protein like milk, but adults don't. Adults need to drink more water, we don't drink enough water. Dietitians might tell you to consume one-half gallon a day. Trainers might tell you to drink one gallon of water a day. most of us only drink two glasses daily and bottled drinks during the day. Bottled drinks contain high amounts of calories. You can easily consume 1500 calories a day just in liquids.

Most women only need between 1500 to 1800 calories a day, and men slightly more depending on their activity level.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Walking For Exercise, How Do I Start?

I wrote a post on walking some time ago and I got lots of emails from readers who said they couldn’t do a brisk walk and they gave up.

On WebMD, I found an article for beginners and I want to share it with you.

For the next 14 days, it’s time to ratchet up your fitness level. Wherever you are on the fitness spectrum — an off-the-couch beginner, beginner/intermediate, or intermediate — it’s time to lace up those shoes and take some laps. This fitness plan is meant to be a shot in the arm or a quick jump-start.

The plan is simple: For the next 14 days, you need to double down on your steps. This two-week challenge is progressive, simple, and short.

If you have a smartphone you can get a free app, if not you can buy a step counter in a sporting goods store or go online and order one. 

Numbers are the name of the game for this challenge. You have one simple task: Walk more! Your daily goal will be to walk more than you did the day before. If you can find someone to do this with you, that would be an added boost. It’s always easier to have a friend or family member to hold you accountable and cheer you on. I walk with my dog, they need exercise too.

If time, weather, or your job are obstacles that have stood in your way in the past, you might have to use some creativity. Here are some ideas to squeeze into your steps:

Walk laps inside your office building on your lunch break
Use a treadmill
Go to the mall and walk around before the stores open or after 8:30 p.m. when the malls are pretty quiet.
Wear a path in your carpet around your house
Where there is a will, there is always a way. Good luck! If you have a choice, walking outside in the fresh air is always the best.

Off-the-Couch Beginner

So, you have decided you’re going to make some lifestyle changes to improve your health. Great choice. Creating new habits takes time, patience, and a strong will. But guess what? This plan is perfect for you because it’s only two weeks long and simple to follow. I should mention that you need a pedometer. They’re cheap and easy to use and start to use yours before you start the program. Set it and wear it first thing in the morning until bedtime. You want to see how many actual steps you are taking in a normal day. You should do this for a few days to get an average.

This plan assumes you are capable of averaging 1,000–3,000 steps a day before you begin the routine. You’re going to add 500 steps a day — except for the last day — with the goal to hit 10,000 steps (roughly 5 miles) on Day 14. . If you don’t reach 10,000 steps at the end of the 14 days, it’s OK. Just keep moving. The goal is to simply hit 10,000 steps, and then move up to the beginner/intermediate group.

If you’re not yet able to take 3,000 steps, have no fear. Just start from where you’re able, and try your best to walk a little more every day. Once you reach 3,000 steps you can begin the program.

You don’t walk all the steps at one time, even after you reach 10,000 steps, it’s an all-day process. I even have to walk some after dinner to finish my 10,000. And that’s actually good for you. Walking before bed will help you sleep better.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

What's wrong With High-Fructose Corn Syrup

First, I want to mention that most developed countries don’t allow this chemical in food and it is a chemical even if it’s made from corn. In Mexico, for instance, like most other countries the quality of food is regulated by the government, and the only sweetener allowed is “pure cane sugar”. Pure cane sugar is so important to the flavor of Coca-Cola that they import Coca-Cola from Mexico in the original 6-ounce bottles, I’ve seen them in my local grocery store. Yes, coke from Mexico is more expensive but they don't use artificial sweeteners.

Did you know that there are 3 letters on food labels that you MUST avoid, especially if they’re at the beginning of the list of ingredients?

Those letters are OSE. Let me explain.

You see, spotting sugar on food labels isn’t quite as easy as it once was. Yep, now that food manufacturers are aware that consumers of the current day are much more discerning than those of yesteryear, they’re doing everything they can to disguise sugar on their lists of ingredients.

These days, it’s not likely that you’ll see “sugar” at the forefront of an ingredients list, but instead, you’ll see these code names:

fructose
maltose
glucose
sucrose

And the worst of the worst is “high fructose corn syrup”.

If you see any of the above -[ose] words in the first 3 or 4 ingredients on a food label, rest assured that the product is LOADED with artificial sweetener and you should be avoiding it.

Beyond that, I’ll go as far as to say that if a product contains high fructose corn syrup (the worst of the worst man-made sugars) in ANY amount, you should avoid it like the plague. Simply put, the invention of high fructose corn syrup is one of the leading causes of obesity.

Beyond that, another non-sugar [-ose] word not listed above has become extremely popular in the last few years. While it doesn’t carry the sugar content that the above ingredients do, it’s been clinically shown to destroy essential, healthy bacteria in your gut. If you regularly consume products with this “other”[-ose] ingredient, you can really do a number on your immune system and digestive health.

Even worse, this non-sugar [-ose] ingredient is being added to “health foods” left and right, but it’s actually slowly destroying your health every time you consume it.

Two years ago, I made a choice to completely eliminate this ingredient from ever entering my body again. I recommend you do the same. Actually, by reading up on this I found out it's not one ingredient, it’s more of a class of ingredients that aren’t found in any other group.
Reading ingredient labels will definitely be a challenge at first. If you currently have a no-boundaries type of diet, then you have quite a shock waiting for you. There will be ingredients that you can barely pronounce, let alone know what they are. So, what are they? What is it that you are so willingly, yet unknowingly, putting into your body? Is it good? Is it bad? Are there side effects? Or do you even care at all?

I suggest that you start looking up these ingredients and reading up on them. Learn what they are and the effects they have on your health. This may be what finally facilitates you making that move – you know, the one you’ve wanted to do for so long, but keep putting off. The movement towards better health!

As you educate yourself on ingredients and reading labels, never get too comfortable that you believe what you read. What? Now that doesn’t make sense, does it? I’m telling you to read labels, but not to believe what you read. Well, the truth is, labels can be short of the truth. The FDA allows it. They have their guidelines, and if ingredients are in small enough amounts, then the FDA does not require that the ingredient be listed.

Recently I was doing a double take on the ingredients thinking that perhaps I missed something when I noticed “cultured dextrose.” I had no idea what it is. But hell, the packaging says VEGAN, and I know it’s not gluten, so I had never given it a second thought. I decided to look it up and found there’s much controversy as to whether or not it’s vegan, and whether or not it’s a preservative or chemical. Can you believe this? I mean, it’s literally a mystery…how weird is that? 

Do your own research and see if you can get a straight answer and if so, let me know! One article I read responded to the question “What is cultured dextrose” as follows:
This is a tough one, I can say that the name “cultured dextrose” doesn’t really specify what is within. Alcohol could be cultured dextrose, as could penicillin. This is one of those industry vernacular phrases, virtually designed to mask the actual nature of the ingredients.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

The Best Diet Is No Diet

Did you ever wonder how people in some European countries manage to stay thin? When I was in Europe I didn’t see low-calorie food. Restaurants had no diet food or low-calorie meals. But no one was what we call obese. I’ve personally been to more than 15 European countries and normal people are in better shape than Americans.

I read a non-diet book last year “The secret of eating” where the author explains that diets don’t work. Most of us think of a diet as something that's temporary.  This is a weight loss book about how this woman had gained 20 pounds while going to school in the States and then lost the weight when returning to France, her home country. She goes on to say that in France women don’t get fat. In the States when she was going to school the portions of food were too large and foods were too sweet.

When returning to Europe she returned home and returned to eating the way she grew up. In Europe, women eat sensibly. Good food of very high quality and eaten in small portions. Good food does not mean good tasting, it means food of good quality. You can eat anything you like but eat the food of good quality, high in nutritional value. Small portions eaten slowly are better for you, and are satisfying. 

In the States, people eat too fast, and we’re always in a hurry to get somewhere. Eat on the run, I see people eat while driving every day. Women feed their children in the car while driving them somewhere. Drive-thru windows are so crowded they should have a gas pump halfway to the window. Sometimes I spend 20 minutes in line for coffee, and I stopped that. No more drive-thru’s, if I can’t stop and eat or drink at a table or counter then I don’t need to.

You know it wasn’t always this way. Families use to eat together. At school, all the kids eat together in the cafeteria. But at home, we eat individually when we’re hungry. Maybe that’s why families eat out more. It might be the only way to get everyone together.

This plan is for anyone who had trouble sticking to a diet plan. “Don’t Get Fat” is a 3-month plan meant to reset your body for a lifetime of healthy weight through slow, gradual weight loss. She goes on to say that many people will love the plan because there are no fitness classes but instead plenty of daily activity and lots of walking. Lots of walking is what people do in other countries and Americans don’t do.

To jump-start your diet you begin with two days of leek soup. It cleanses the system so you can start out empty. Followed by meat or fish, vegetables, and a piece of fruit. Drink water with meals, and be careful of bottled drinks or any drinks with sugar or sweeteners, those are empty calories. Not good.

In the beginning, keep a food journal. While losing weight you need to evaluate your diet and identify excess calories. You will be able to eat anything after you reach your goal. A big part of reaching that goal is to learn to eat smaller portions. You may want to start by eating 4 or 5 meals a day about 3 hours apart. At night I snack on yogurt, low-fat greek yogurt is filling. You can eat yogurt 2 or 3 times a day, a great snack full of calcium and protein. Almonds are a good snack in the afternoon. Change what you eat and how you eat and you’ll lose weight. If you change what you eat, start to eat healthily, avoid processed foods (those are pre-made foods that are ready-to-eat), and no dairy but you can eat non-fat greek yogurt, no wheat, and no sugar or any artificial sweeteners.

I know what you thinking and yes this is a weight loss diet, but it’s a lifestyle change. You learn a new way to eat, a way that you will stay with from now on.

If you're going to succeed in losing weight and return to a healthy life, you have to forget everything you're doing now. You have to forget about the foods you eat now, and start over. Whatever you’ve been doing to lose weight hasn’t worked and whatever diets you’ve tried only gave you temporary weight loss, so if you really want to change your life and become a thinner version of yourself and a healthier person who will live a longer happier life, you need to start over.

Anything you’ve been eating will only put weight on you. You need to find a new diet with the food you want to eat and that is healthy. You don’t have to starve yourself but anything you eat needs to be beneficial to your body. Your food has to give your body energy, but not the energy spike you get from carbs or sugar but real energy that will stay with you. Processed foods will give you an energy high, but then you’ll crash about an hour or two later and you get more food cravings. This is what leads to over-eating. Eating foods with nutritional value that give you a temporary boost in energy, like a soft drink, and then in a short time, you need more. These foods or drinks actually cause an addiction. Sugar is an example of a food that can cause addiction and now science believes that enriched wheat is another man-made product that causes addiction. It may be as bad for you as sugar.

Things like sugar and wheat have not always caused eating disorders or addictions. We are not eating the same things today that your grandparents did. A few decades ago, manufacturers of raw material foods like wheat, sugar, and white flour to name a few decided to change the way these raw materials were processed. So now when you read a food label wheat, for instance, is now enriched wheat, and the flour you buy says enriched flour. In the process of enriching the grain, they added chemicals to make the grains grow faster, so grains are more resistant to bugs and so they can increase productivity and increase profits. You wonder why a lot of your food comes from other countries. Yes, labor is cheaper in other countries, but using chemicals to enrich foods is not against the law. They can use chemicals in other countries that we have banned in the U.S. For instance, some of our best pesticides in this country were banned because they’re harmful to humans, but most other countries still use those pesticides in food production, and then they sell that food to U.S. Retailers and it’s sold in grocery stores.

But that’s not the whole story, food suppliers to restaurants will buy that food to save money. Those french fries you buy in restaurants aren’t grown in Idaho. Yes, in the grocery stores they have to label the food so you know what country it comes from, but restaurants don’t have to tell you and in most cases, they don’t know.

So if you genuinely want to be a fit, thinner and healthier version of yourself, you’ll have to start over. Do the research and find foods that are good for you and eats you’ll stick with. Your next diet is your diet for life. I picked the Mediterranean diet, it’s not a weight loss diet but you will lose weight and become a healthier person and you can stay with it for life. You can find it on the web. Remember there are no shortcuts, you have to commit and stay with the plan. After 3 months if the plan doesn’t work for you, don’t give up, try another plan.

Weight Watchers is not for everyone but it will work if you follow the plan. They teach you how to eat and give you the support you need.

Whatever plan you decide on and there are dozens, you want one that you can follow for life, remember there are no shortcuts.

Look for my podcast by searching “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight” on the podcast app that you use. You’ll see a piece of my book cover.

If you really want to lose your body fat look for my e-books at the websites listed below. You’ll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet. Instead of spending hours on the internet reading dozens of posts, you can save time by picking up one of my e-books. 

There are two e-books. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $3.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my e-book. This book gives you all you need to lose weight without spending money on gym memberships, diet plans, or meal plans. 

Look for my book. at Amazon.com, bn.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new e-book is available on Smashwords.com and other online bookstores. Just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.