How Should I Track My Weight Loss?

Take Your Measurements

We have relied on the scale for far too long. You don't have to throw out your scale, just remember it's not your bible.

This is a great option for tracking progress because it doesn't require any fancy equipment and anyone can do it. Taking your measurements at certain areas can give you an idea of where you're losing fat, which is important since we all lose fat in different areas and in a different order. 

Many of us have tried this method and gave up using it, but it's a better tracker than the scale. You know where you carry most of your fat and that's the object anyway. "Lose the fat." And the only way to lose fat is to change what you eat.

Taking your measurements can help reassure you that things are happening--even if you're not losing fat exactly where you want just yet.

Start by wearing tight fitting clothing (or no clothing) and make a note of what you're wearing so you know to wear the same clothes the next time you measure. Here's how to do it:

• Bust: Measure around the chest right at the nipple line, but don't pull the tape too tight.
• Chest: Measure just under your bust.
• Waist: Measure a half-inch above your belly button or at the smallest part of your waist.
• Hips: Place tape measure around the biggest part of your hips.
• Thighs: Measure around the biggest part of each thigh.
• Calves: Measure around the largest part of each calf.
• Upper arm: Measure around the largest part of each arm above the elbow.
• Forearm: Measure around the largest part of the arm below the elbow.

You can use this Progress Chart to record your measurements. Take them again once a week or once a month to see if you're losing inches.

Use Your Clothes

It may seem obvious, but don't overlook one of the simplest ways to track progress--how your clothes fit.

You may want to take a picture of yourself wearing a bathing suit and keep it in your weight loss journal. Each month, take a new picture...you'll be surprised at how many changes you notice in a picture as opposed to just seeing yourself in the mirror.

You can also use your clothes to keep track of your progress. Choose one pair of pants that are a little tight and try them on every 4 weeks to see how they fit.  Make a note of where they feel loose, where they feel tight and how you feel wearing them. 

Whatever the scale says?  Your pants will never lie.

Whichever method you choose to track your progress, by patient with yourself. It takes months for many of us to see significant changes and, even then, you'll probably notice the weight fluctuating as your eating habits and workouts change.

We can't be perfect all the time, so use these numbers as guideposts, not something that decides whether you're a good person or not. If you're not losing weight quick enough, take another look at your diet. You should eat every few hours. Eat only fresh foods with no man-made sauces, gravies, or anything with calories added to your food like cream or butter and don't drink calories.

You can tweet me at #ray0369

I write several blogs, check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.wordpress.com

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com

howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

There are two e-books.  “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. 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, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. 

Changing Your Life

If you’ve already broken a New Year’s resolution or two, take heart. I can let you in on the ultimate secret for successfully making change in your life. If you want to be slim and trim and full of energy you'll have to change your life, there's no shortcut, no easy way. If the truth be known, anyone who loses weight fast has a much large risk of re-gaining the weight just as fast. Losing weight permanently is about losing body fat. Losing body fat will take a lifestyle change. No diets, just eating the right food and avoiding foods that add fat. Yes, you have to count calories at first until you learn what to eat and how much to eat.

A century’s worth of psychological research reveals an interesting paradox in who we are. On the one hand, once we reach adulthood our basic personalities remain unchanged for the rest of our lives. We keep doing the same things—and feeling the same ways—over and over. But, on the other hand, every day we change our behavior drastically in response to different environments. Most of us are one person at work, for example, and another person at home.

The implication of these findings for making (and keeping) New Year’s resolutions is clear:

It is easier to change our environment than to change ourselves. So, if you want to change yourself, change your environment.

Said differently:

Whenever possible, don’t try to fight temptations – avoid them!

The easiest way to make a change in your life is to modify the world around you in ways that will naturally drive you toward making, and maintaining, the change you want. There are many ways to change your environment, but let’s focus on 4 that have stood the test of time:

1. Nature hates a vacuum: In the context of changing your life, this means you can’t just get rid of something that is an important part of your life and leave a big emptiness in its place. This is one of the great secrets of Alcoholics Anonymous: you substitute the location of a bar and the company of fellow drinkers with an AA meeting in the company of people committed to sobriety. If you want to exercise instead of watch TV in the morning, put a treadmill in the spot where your TV once sat. If you eat too much at night because you are lonely and it briefly makes you feel better, do something in the evening where food is not available and eat earlier in the day so you don’t starve.

Did you notice the similarity to the Weight Watchers program. It’s a proven method that works.

2. Make it easy: It is hard enough to change habits or behaviors, so don’t make it any harder. Let’s take me as an example. I’ve been trying for several years to lose weight but always failed due to two problem behaviors: once I start eating a meal I can’t stop myself from eating more than I should; and, although I do pretty well during the day, in the evening I invariably break down and eat more than I should.

So how have I lost 10 pounds recently? By going with these weaknesses and modifying my environment in ways that allow me to succeed in spite of them. Because I can’t regulate what I eat very well once I start, I’ve limited how often I eat – which means fasting for a good portion of the day. Because it isn’t practical to fast at night given a family at home (and my weakness for eating at night), I fast during the day when the environment makes it easy. I’ve changed my environment so that I avoid restaurants at lunch and make sure I keep focused on work during the peak time of my midday hunger. A final note on this strategy: you have to accept a blow to your pride to find ways to work with your weaknesses instead of against them.

3. Skin in the game: Recent studies are suggesting that you can use monetary rewards and punishments to help change problematic behavior. In essence, these strategies require that you change your environment in ways that make it so painful to fail that you are motivated to stick with the change you are attempting. Let’s take dieting/weight loss as an example. Imagine that you’ve set up your environment such that you will have to pay money to something or someone if you fail to reach your goals (some people have found it especially effective for the money to go to a cause they hate). How much money would need to be on the line to motivate you to shed those extra 20 pounds? Would the threat of losing $ 10,000 keep you focused on succeeding?

It sounds like the author has a point, but I would do it differently. I think a better way to motivate would be to weight yourself on time a week, everytime you weight yourself do it on the same day at the same time and with the same amount of clothes. If you gain weight you owe your partner $20. When you get tired of paying $20 a week you’ll start losing weight.

4. Don’t do it alone: Change is infinitely easier if you are surrounded by a group of people who are working toward a similar goal and can understand your challenges. And the opposite is also true: change is much harder if you spend your time with people who encourage, or participate in, the very activities or behaviors you are trying to overcome, like going for ice cream in the afternoon.

The fact that it is easier to change your environment than to change yourself comes with a final bonus. It means that if you are struggling to make the change you want in your life, it is important not to blame yourself, or beat yourself up, but to recognize that you simply have not found the right strategy yet for leveraging the power of the world around you.

It boils down to the same answer everytime. Just because you haven’t had success, just means you haven’t found the way to succeed. Never give up, you will succeed if you keep trying.

I write several blogs, check out some of my other sites.

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com
blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

There’s two ebooks.  “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. 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, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.

The Basics of a Healthy Diet

Eating a healthy balanced diet can help you keep slim and trim and give you lots of energy. You want to eat a diet with the right number of calories, lots of good foods, and a whole lot less of foods that are bad for you.

OK, that seems a little too simplistic. In reality, it takes a bit of work to eat a healthy balanced diet, so I'll walk you through the process. If you're unsure of what your diet says about you & your lifestyle, this quiz is here to help!

How Many Calories Do You Need?

On average, an adult will need somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 to 2,500 calories per day to maintain his or her current weight. The number of calories you need depends on your natural size (that's the size you should be), muscle mass, activity level, age, and gender. There are calorie tables and calculators that will help you estimate your daily calorie need. But keep in mind these really are estimates—since you may have differences in your metabolism, you may need a few more or a few less calories than what the calculators show. Over time, you will know to adjust your overall calorie intake up or down by monitoring your weight. The less you weight, the less calories you need. I think that 2000 to 2500 is okay for an active person that is working out everyday and weighs over 160 pounds. The average person doesn't need 2000 calories a day if they have a small frame and if your trying to lose weight 2000 might be too many calories.

Keep a Food Diary

If you need to lose weight, gain weight, watch your fat, protein, or sodium intake, you'll have an easier time if you use a food diary. You can use a notebook, or you can use a web-based diet program, to keep track of your diet online.

Start by just writing down everything you eat for 3 or 4 days before you start a diet so you can see how many calories you're currently consuming.

Look at how many healthy foods you eat now and how many unhealthy foods you choose as well.

Once you understand your current diet, you will learn which healthy foods you need to eat more of and which ones you need to eat less of. Eating the right foods will help you lose weight.

Choose the Right Foods

Once you know how many calories you need, your next step is to choose foods that will offer lots of good nutrition for the calories you take in. What that means is that for every calorie you consume, look for the nutrition you'll get out of those calories. Avoid calories that aren't giving you any nutrition like sugar. Sometimes you can burn more body fat, not by cutting calories, but by changing the foods you eat. Empty calories won't create any energy and you need energy to burn body fat.

For example, at snack time, you could choose a healthy food such as a cup of blueberries for about 85 calories or a small glazed doughnut for 100 calories. Although there is only 15 calories difference between the two, the blueberries make a much better choice for a healthy diet. The blueberries are packed with vitamins, antioxidants and very low in fat. The glazed doughnut has very little nutritional value and a lot of unhealthy fats and sugars for such a small treat. Eating snacks with protein like a cup of Greek yogurt will create energy for your body to burn body fat. Try and eat some protein at every meal. But only eat meat once a day. 

Here's another example. Think about selecting fish for a meal—either 6 ounces of salmon or 5 fish sticks. Both the salmon and the fish sticks would offer roughly about the same number of calories, but the salmon would be a better choice because it's a great source of protein, B vitamins, and omega-3 essential fatty acids, while the fish sticks contain loads of unhealthy fats and sodium from the breading. Don't get confused, seafood is not meat, and it's a great substitute. Poultry is also a good substitute for meat. The trouble with meat is the animal fat you consume with the meat. You can talk to your doctor about that.

In general healthy foods are foods that are not covered in sauces, not baked into desserts, not deep-fried, heavily refined or processed.

By this I mean:

An apple is healthy; a piece of apple pie is not.
A lean piece of broiled steak is better than a greasy chicken-fried steak.
Turkey or chicken is lower in saturated fats than red meats.
Whole grain bread and cereals offer more fiber than white, refined bread and cereals.
Whole grain plain breakfast cereals are a better choice than sugar frosted breakfast cereals.
Eating a healthy balanced diet also means eating a variety of foods. Choose foods from each of the food groups to make sure you are getting all of the nutrients that you need. And pick healthy foods, not junk foods.

If you're not sure of the nutritional content of any packaged food, be sure to read the Nutrition Facts food labels to understand the nutritional content for the amount of calories per serving.

Dairy and Calcium Sources

Choose two or three servings from the dairy and calcium group each day. If you don’t like, or can't eat dairy products, look for deep green leafy vegetables or calcium-fortified orange juice and other foods.

1 cup of low- or non-fat milk
2 slices of cheese
1 cup of yogurt
1/3 cup of shredded cheese
1 cup cooked spinach
1 cup cooked or fresh broccoli
Whole Grains and Cereals

The United States Department of Agriculture suggests that you eat from six to eleven servings of grains and cereals each day, and at least half of those servings should be from whole grains.

Whole grains and cereals are great ways to get enough fiber in your diet and to add beneficial vitamins and minerals.

1 slice of whole wheat bread.
1/2 cup brown rice.
1/2 cup cooked quinoa.
1 cup of whole grain cereal.
1/2 cup oatmeal.
4 or 5 whole grain crackers.
2 cups air-popped popcorn
More Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables provide lots of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and fiber, and you probably need 2 or 3 cups, or more, of vegetables per day, plus some fruit. It's difficult to imagine being healthy without eating lots of fruits and vegetables. Good fruit and vegetable serving choices include:

1/2 cup of sweet corn
1 piece of fresh fruit such as an apple, a pear or a peach
1/2 cup fruit cocktail
1/2 cup berries like strawberries or raspberries
1/2 half cup of black beans or pinto beans
1 small baked potato
1 cup of green beans
1 cup of broccoli
Healthy Protein Sources

You can easily get all the protein you need from plant sources such as dry beans and nuts, but most people prefer meat, fish and eggs as their main protein sources. You need 2 or 3 servings of protein each day.

3 ounces of cooked lean beefsteak.

3 ounces of lean cooked pork chop.

I cup of non-fat Greek Yogurt

One small baked chicken breast.

6 ounces of cooked oily ocean fish such as salmon or tuna.

1/2 cup of dry beans such as pinto beans or navy beans.

1 ounce of nuts, about 25 almonds, 13 cashews or 9 walnuts.

Healthy Fats and Oils ( plant based )

Olive and canola oil are good fats. So are the omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, and soy.

Trans fats are bad and eating too much saturated fat—like the fat in red meat—isn't recommended. You don’t need to add a lot of extra oil to your diet, just make healthy food and cooking choices, and you'll do just fine. The Mediterranean diet (recommended by most doctors) will only recommend red meat twice a month. Poultry and seafood are the best meat choices. The fats in seafood and poultry aren"t the same as animal fat and your body can process these fats. 

Also, don't drink calories and don't drink anything containing fat. Your dairy should be non-fat and your drinks no-calorie. The best is filtrated water.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

There’s two ebooks. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. 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, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.

The New Years Resolution

This is the one big promise we make to ourselves every year but seldom keep. I can't speak for everyone, but for the ones obsess with losing weight, don't make that resolution about the bathroom scale. If this is the promise you have been making for years, "this is the year I'm going to lose weight", it's time for a change. This year you want to promise your going to "live a healthier life".

Step off the scale now and no one will get hurt. Focusing just on weight loss can lead to cycles of losing and regaining weight, lower self-esteem, and a preoccupation with food and body image.

“You’ll do better if you have goals that have to do not with weight, but with health,” says Carol Landau, Ph.D., clinical professor of psychiatry and medicine at the Alpert Medical School, Brown University. While a New Year’s resolution is a great way to get in touch with what’s important and how you want to change, “Most diets don’t work,” she says.

“A focus on weight loss tends to result in a quick-fix approach to a permanent challenge,” she says. “Instead, focus on finding health results in lifestyle changes that are more likely to last.”

The irony is, if you make your resolutions about wellness, rather than weight, you may get the best of both worlds: You’ll feel better, get healthier and yes, lose weight. By eating the right foods and being more active your body will burn up that excess body fat.

"The reason most people fail to lose weight is that they don't realize that it's their lifestyle that caused them to gain the excess body fat and it's their lifestyle that prevents them from losing their fat." In most all cases when an adult gains weight it's because they're gain body fat.

Good: Resolve to change daily behaviors

“If you’re totally inactive, it may be walking a mile every day". “If you’re already pretty active, it might be training to run a 5k race.” Or it could be a promise to cut out processed foods. Let your goals be achievable and based on things you can actually do, rather than weight-loss results. It could be eating a healthy breakfast every morning, or eating fish twice a week and making sure you sit down when you eat.

You might resolve to eat a fruit or vegetable at every meal of the day. Eating more fruits and vegetables, along with drinking plenty of water and walking daily, has been shown to be a pretty powerful combo when it comes to weight-loss success. But that’s not your concern now. Before you get there, your goal is to create a healthy habit you can sustain. Same goes for exercise: Your goal is to create a habit that will improve the health of your body and mind.

You won’t have to rely on the scale to know if you’ve been successful, either. If you have an orange at breakfast, a salad at lunch and a green vegetable at dinner, you’ve won. Took a 20-minute walk during your lunch break? Pat yourself on the back. Any improvements you can make in your diet or your activity level will improve your health.

That said, The more improvements you make the quicker the results. Yes, any small improvements will help over the long term, but big improvements can show results in a short amount of time.

When I first decided to "get healthy" I stopped eating my normal diet and started to eat a low-fat, low-carb diet of meat and vegetables. Oatmeal for breakfast and a salad for lunch. That it. I didn't skimp on food, I ate a small amount of food every two hours or so. Between my three basic meals I'd eat fruit or a yogurt cup. I was eating 6 times a day in small quantities. I never got hungry. I was eating all fresh foods. That alone will curb your appetite. Fresh food is more sadisfying than manufactured food and yogurt is manufactured, but I stuck to Greek yogurt, it has less sugar and has more protein. Eating protein is important and you should try and eat protein at every meal.

You can tweet me at #ray0369

I write several blogs, Check out some of my other sites.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog

idropped40pounds.wordpress.com

howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonlosingweight.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

There’s two ebooks. “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. 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, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon

Reasons Your Not Losing

The one thing that's so hard about exercise and weight loss is this: It's hard to burn enough calories with exercise to make a serious dent in your weight. In fact, the workouts that are most effective for weight loss are the hardest ones:  High intensity interval training, tabata training or metabolic conditioning. 

If you're a veteran exerciser, you might enjoy torturous workouts on a regular basis. If you're not?  You may find any amount of exercise hard to accomplish. Unfortunately, that may end up hurting your weight loss efforts.

So, how much exercise do you need and how can you fit it in? Use these tips below to make the most out of your exercise time.

Cardio

For weight loss, you'll need to do at least 5 days of cardio at a moderate intensity for at least 30 minutes but, frankly, it usually takes more than that to really burn calories. Your best bet: Interval training 2-3 days a week and more moderate workouts on the other days. By alternating high intensity segments with recovery, you'll burn more calories and build endurance more quickly. You'll also get a great afterburn. You don't have to be an experienced exerciser to try interval training.  Strength Training

Strength training is incredibly important for weight loss, but some people - well, let's just be honest...women - stick with cardio because they like it, it burns more calories in one fell swoop and they don't want to get bulky. But muscle is much more active than fat, so the more you build, the more weight you lose over the long term.

Your best bet with weight training: Circuit Training. By doing an exercise, one after the other, you keep your heart rate up and burn more calories. It also makes the workout a little more exciting so you're not as bored.  If you're a beginner, start with this Basic Cardio and Strength Circuit or try one of these circuit training workouts. Do a couple of circuit workouts along with your cardio and you'll start to see some results.

Note:  Many people don't lift enough weight to really challenge their muscles. If that sounds familiar, check out Weight Training 101 and my Workout Center to learn how to lift weights and get some workout ideas.

2

You're not getting enough sleep

Lack of sleep can contribute to weight gain, though experts aren't exactly sure why. In her article, Sleep More to Lose Weight, Mary Shomon discusses a recent study that found that women who slept 5 hours a night were more likely to gain weight than women who slept 7 hours a night.

The reasons? Some studies have shown that losing sleep could affect metabolism by making you feel hungry, even if you're not. Sleep deprivation may affect the secretion of cortisol, one of the hormones that regulates appetite. There's also a theory that we move around less when we don't get enough sleep, which means we burn less calories.

Getting enough sleep is crucial if you're trying to lose weight, not just because of how it affects you physically, but mentally as well. Sleep deprivation makes you cranky, confused and can even make you feel depressed or angry.

Make sleep a priority by trying to get to bed at the same time each night, shooting for about 8 hours, if you can manage it. Having some bedtime rituals such as a hot bath or some time writing down your worries can help you unwind before bed. You can also try power napping, which can be a great way to reduce stress and increase your productivity.

3

You're too stressed out

Stress and weight gain (or lack of weight loss) go hand in hand. Though you may not be aware of it, being under constant stress can increase production of the hormone cortisol which can cause an increase in appetite as well as extra fat storage around the abdominal region--a big no-no since abdominal fat is linked to diabetes, high cholesterol and other health problems.

Dealing with stress can be as simple as taking a few minutes a day to relax, scheduling a massage as often as you can or cutting down on work hours and increasing play time. The one thing that's so hard about exercise and weight loss is this: It's hard to burn enough calories with exercise to make a serious dent in your weight. In fact, the workouts that are most effective for weight loss are the hardest ones:  High intensity interval training, tabata training or metabolic conditioning. 

If you're a veteran exerciser, you might enjoy torturous workouts on a regular basis. If you're not?  You may find any amount of exercise hard to accomplish. Unfortunately, that may end up hurting your weight loss efforts.

So, how much exercise do you need and how can you fit it in? Use these tips below to make the most out of your exercise time.

4

You're eating too much

This may seem obvious, but unless you're tracking your calories each day, you may be eating more than you think. Portion control is one culprit, especially with restaurants providing enough food in one meal to feed several people.

If you're really serious about losing weight, you need to get serious about your eating. Start by keeping a detailed food journal for one week, without changing any of your eating habits. Be as specific as possible, measuring when you can, looking up your calorie and nutrient content and adding up your calories for each day. You'll be surprised how those calories can sneak in when you're not keeping track. 

Something else to think about is metabolism, which can drop as you get older if you don't preserve your muscle mass. Some estimates show that muscle mass declines about 4% each decade from age 25 to 50. If you're still eating the same number of calories as your metabolism drops, your weight may creep up over time. Start exercising and lifting weights now to keep your metabolism in check.

5

You're not consistent with your exercise and healthy eating

If you find your workouts are hit-or-miss and that you give in to temptation a bit too easily, your weight loss may hit the skids. For exercise to work, you have to do it on a regular basis. Once your body adapts to your program, you then need to change it to keep your body challenged. If you skip too many workouts, it's almost like starting all over every time.

Sticking with exercise starts with finding a program you enjoy and that fits in with your lifestyle, goals and needs. That means being realistic about what you'll really accomplish each week rather than going by what you think you should be doing. Use these resources to learn more about enjoying your workouts and making exercise a priority:

Learn how to Enjoy Exercise
Get Out of Your Rut

6

You blow it on the weekends

Having some treats now and then is fine, but if you find you do very well during the week only to eat yourself silly on the weekends, you may be hurting your weight loss goals.

To lose one pound of fat in one week, you would need to cut 500 calories with diet and exercise for 7 days. If you only follow that for 5 days, then eat way over your limit for two more days, you're taking two steps forward and one step back. The trick is to plan your indulgences so that you can have some fun while staying on track with your weight loss goals. Try these tips for a healthy weekend:

• Avoid a free-for-all weekend. Instead, choose one or two treats to enjoy and continue eating healthy the rest of the time.
• Avoid rewarding yourself with food. If you've been eating healthy all week, it's natural to want to reward yourself with a yummy treat. That kind of thinking can set you back (much like a smoker who rewards himself for staying smoke-free with a cigarette). Instead of food, reward yourself with a calorie-free treat--a trip to the movies, a massage or a new pair of shoes.
• Keep moving. If you like to rest on the weekends, why not make your rests more active? Spend time taking a long walk with your family or tossing a football in the backyard.

7

You haven't given yourself enough time to see results

 The problem comes in when trying to determine how many calories you're burning with exercise. You can use a calorie calcuator, but that's often overestimated. How many calories you burn with exercise often comes down to things we can't measure such as how hard you're working and your fitness level.

Add to that the fact that there are many factors that affect weight loss which, again, can't always be measured or accounted for with the tools we have to track progress. In that sense, your body may be making changes that can't yet be measured with a scale or a tape measure.

Give your body time to respond to what you're doing. It may be weeks or months before you see significant changes so don't freak out if you're not seeing results after only a few weeks. Being patient and taking it one day at a time will allow you to enjoy the journey instead of focusing on the destination.

8

You have a medical condition

Some medical conditions and medications can contribute to weight gain. While not everyone will find this to be true, it's important to explore every avenue if you're genuinely following an exercise program and a clean diet and still not losing weight.

One condition known to affect weight is thyroid disease. A thyroid deficiency can cause a decrease in metabolism and may lead to weight gain. Visit these resources to learn more about the symptoms and treatment:

Thyroid Disease 101

Prescription Medications

There are any number of drugs that may have weight gain as a side effect for some people. Some common ones include hormonal medications for birth control or menopause, oral steroids, some anti-depressants, diabetes medications and anti-psychotic medications. Wrong Diagnosis offers a comprehensive list of other medications that may affect weight.

You should get a diagnosis from a professional in order to determine whether your weight problems are medically-related.

9

You've hit a plateau

Almost everyone reaches a weight loss plateau at some point. As your body adapts to your workouts, it becomes more efficient at it and, therefore, doesn't expend as many calories doing it. You may find that after your initial weight loss, your progress will slow down and eventually stop.

Some common reasons for plateaus include:

• Doing the same workouts over and over. Your body needs to be challenged to progress, so make sure you're changing some part of your program every 4-6 weeks.
• Not eating enough calories. If your body doesn't have enough fuel to sustain your level of activity, you can actually stop losing weight.
• Overtraining. If you exercise too much, the body sometimes responds by decreasing the amount of calories you burn during the rest of your day.

Learn more about whether you've hit a plateau by keeping an exercise calendar and tracking your workouts, how often you change them and whether you're working too hard or need to boost your intensity. Get more tips at Understanding Weight Loss Plateaus.

10

You don't need to lose weight

Despite what you hear on the news or read in popular magazines, not all of us need to lose weight. In fact, many of us have unrealistic ideas of what a healthy weight and body shape is. We all have different shapes and, though we can make changes to our bodies, we can only improve on the bodies we have--not turn them into someone else's body.

I have a challenge for you: Take away all the reasons you want to lose weight that have anything to do with how you look. Now, look at what's left...are there any other reasons that you need to lose weight? Are you at risk for medical conditions such as diabetes or heart disease? Is your BMI in an unhealthy range? Are you within your ideal weight range? If you're at risk, losing weight may be important for staying healthy. But, if you're very close to your goal and can't seem to get rid of those last few pounds, ask yourself if you really need to lose them. Would it be possible to be happy at your current weight?

You can tweet me at #ray0369

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

There’s two ebooks.  “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. 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, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon

It's Christmas, Forget The Diet

It's a very special day for every family. A day of celebration. I hope you can spend some time with your family, even if it's on the phone.

Celebrating has always involved food and drink, it's a tradition that has gone on for thousands of years and I'm sure it will continue on, but we don't have to pig-out.

Yes, you have to taste the important traditional dishes that your friends or relatives have taken hours to prepare, but use a small plate, take small amounts and try and avoid the sugary stuff. Remember you can't work-off a lot of calories.

A one hour workout for an experienced athlete will only burn about 300 calories. For a person with less athletic experience you might only burn 100 calories. On a festive holiday like Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year it's easy to consume 3000 to 4000 calories between all the food, snacks, and drinks for the day. That kind of consumption can increase your weight by 2 or 3 pounds at least.

So if you can hold down your calorie count to say 2000 calories which should only be a few hundred more than normal, you should be able to work off those extra calories in a couple of day.

The problem we all have this time of year is the continual party, one after the other with very little time inbetween to recoup. Than there's the shopping for gifts. We go after work and spend a couple hours trying to find gifts and no time to eat, so we eat in restaurants with friends which involves more celebrating and more calories.

Did you know that the hoiday season is the busiest time of the year for restaurants. It's not unusual for a family to eat out 4 or 5 times a week during the holidays. So if you add up all the meals we eat in restaurants and all the social events we have to attend, it's no wonder that the average adult will gain between 5 and 10 pounds during the holidays.

This is the typical weight gain you have to avoid. It can take months to recoup, if you can recoup. Most of us will try to diet in January. We'll lose some weight but not much, because the winters are cold and in the cold weather we tend to eat more comfort food and that's high-calorie food.

Eating the wrong foods even in small portions will keep you from losing weight. You can't exercise away a bad diet. Once the weather starts to warm up most of us find it easier to cut back on food, but by that time it's hard to break the bad habits we had during the winter. We will trim down a little because we are more active in the spring and summer because the days are longer and we have more time to work outside.

I know all about this life cycle because that is the way my life was. All the weight I would gain during the cold months never quit left me. I always ended up one or two pounds heavier at the end of the year. Of course, we never remember how much we weighed the year before, so we don't realize we keep gaining weight every year. That cycle is call "creeping obesity". The one or two pounds you gain every year and don't even realize it. Then when you get to be 50, you wonder how you gained all that weight. On average, a 50 year old male will weigh between 40 and 60 more than he did on his 21st birthday. The more you weigh when your 21, the more you'll gain over the years. This doesn't hold true in all cases, it's an average over the entire population, some people are very athletic and never gain weight. I weigh the same today as I weighed when I was 17, of course I spent years yo-yoing from 220 pounds down to 160.

Be mindful what you eat. Keeping your body is good condition is your responsibility. It would be better for you and better for your health if you never gained any extra weight. When an adult gains weight they are adding body fat. Not good. The human body is only built to carry a small amount of body fat, like 15% of your weight. It's there in case of emergency. When you can't find food your body will still have fat to survive on. But because of the American diet we are adding too much fat and it only causes health problems.

Controlling your weight and keeping your body in good condition is your responsibility. Your doctor can only relieve your symptons. Give a pills or repair a broken bone. Your body has to heal itself and your have to feed it the nutrition it needs to do that.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebooks at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

There’s two ebooks.  “How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites below and search the title to find my Ebook. 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, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page.

Getting the Skinny, Slim Body You Always Wanted

The best time in your life to get the body you want is when you're in your 20's. When your younger it's easier and your skin will contract easier.

Are you ready to get serious about your body? This might be the first time you’ve had to really think about losing weight or getting in shape. If your out of school now and you started to work this may be the perfect time to get in shape. But there's no need to panic. You can take off the pounds and set up healthy habits to get skinny and keep the weight from coming back. Post this list on your bathroom mirror to serve as a daily reminder of the things you need to do to get in shape so that you not only get fit, but you stay lean and healthy for life. If you can get this right now, your life can be so much better going forward.

Ways to Get Lean and Healthy 

Redefine “skinny.”

We often use the word, “skinny,” but let’s face it, ladies, skin and bones are not sexy. What you really want is a sleek, tight physique. That means muscle. “Contrary to common belief, muscle makes you leaner, smaller and firmer, not bigger and bulkier.” 

Eat more protein. Yes, I know there are cupcakes and pretzels in your office lunchroom, but if you want to get fit and healthy you won’t eat them. Opt for snacks and meals that are full of protein to build muscle and boost your metabolism. Lean protein will also help you feel full so you eat less throughout the day.

Workout harder.

Short, intense workouts are most effective for weight loss. When you’re young, you’re more likely to be healthy enough for vigorous activity. So take advantage of it! Learn how to do interval training to burn more fat in less time.
Ignore magazines. Did you know that women’s magazines contain 10.5 times as many ads promoting weight loss as men’s magazines? Many of the ads promote unrealistic claims and use airbrushed images that can make you feel hopeless. Focus on building the strongest, fittest version of your own body to boost your confidence and keep your commitment in tact.

Skip the fad diets.

Quick weight loss is effective in some circumstances, but many fad diets promote short-term loss that will mess with your metabolism. “If you are young and haven’t done too much yo-yo dieting, your metabolism will respond to pretty much any change you expose it to,” says Hundt. She recommends that you skip the trendy diets and opt for a healthy diet of lean protein and vegetables. It’s often cheaper than processed food, too!

Drink less booze.

Heads up, party girls! Your drinking may be causing more than just a morning headache. The calories you consume from drinking wine, beer or cocktails can add up to pounds on the scale each year. Want to make a single change to slim down? Make a plan to drink less for weight loss and better health. It works!

Build healthy habits.

Now is the time to establish daily activity habits to burn calories. Healthy lifestyle routines will help you slim down in the short run and prevent weight gain in the future. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, stand up while you work at the office, walk to lunch instead of taking the car.

Get organized.

The hardest thing about losing weight in your 20s is trying to eat healthy when you have a crazy social schedule. Let’s face it, you have better things to do than slaving over a hot stove to cook healthy meals every night. So learn a few basic meal-planning strategies to minimize your food prep time and maximize your access to diet-boosting foods will keep you lean even when you’re on the run.

Clean out your closet.

Think of your weight loss plan as a long-term strategy, not a quick fix solution. As you slim down, get rid of the clothes that no longer fit. According to Hundt, when you keep bigger items “you send your brain the message that you will eventually get back to your old weight.” Go all in, girls! Kiss the fat jeans goodbye and don’t let them back in your closet.

Watch your snack habits.

Do you know how many calories should come from snacks each day? Get the answer based on your caloric needs. Then try to be more aware of your snack habits throughout the day. Try to eat less when you watch television and rein in the late night nibbles when you’re out on the town.

The good thing about trying to get skinny in your 20s is that your body is more likely to respond to small changes, says Hundt. So get organized, get serious and get confident to make small adjustments and get a fit, healthy body for life.

Your diet is "key", make Greek Yogurt your go to snack food along with small amounts or nuts, fruits and seeds. Eat natural foods and skip the processed foods.

If you really want to lose your body fat than look for my Ebook at the websites listed below. You'll get information on Healthy eating, exercise, and diet.

“How Bad Do You Want To Lose Weight?” is available at all the online bookstores selling for $1.99. Go to any of the websites and search the title to find my Ebook. 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, B&N.com, iBooks, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, or Gardner Books in the U.K.

My new ebook is available on Smashwords.com, just type “getting to a Healthy Weight” in the search box at the top of the home page. I’ll give you a discount coupon you can use at checkout. (PJ42H) not case-sensitive the price is $1.99 w/coupon