Do You Want To Be Thin?

Some people believe "if I just lose a little weight, I can be thin too". 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 the jobs were hard work and I lost about 10 pounds without trying. I was just burning several thousand calories a day. I was 6 foot 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 the next 5 years following I gained about 30 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, running track, aerobics classes, a separate room for weight lifters, a pool, jacuzzi, steam room and expansive locker room with towels provided.

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

So the reason I'm writing about myself is because I want you to know that my battle with my weight went on for more than 20 years. But I did win the battle because I never quit. I weight 165 today after more than 30 years of trying to lose weight. I reached my goal now and just work 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, walk a lot, I do yoga and weight train twice a week.

Being thin can be challenging, 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 your 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 at the later years of middle age your heart can start to give you trouble. So actually, if you're 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're 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.

I know I wrote mostly about exercise today but the mistake I made was my diet. I thought exercise was all I had to do. If you don't eat the foods to lose weight, you can exercise half a day every day and nothing will happen. You can't exercise away a bad diet. It took several years for me to realize the mistakes I made.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Use It Or Lose It

It's an old proverb that most of us never paid much attention to. But it's  just as true today as ever before. Your body works in real time and if you're not building muscle you're losing muscle. Your body is continually changing. You build the muscles you use and you lose muscle that you're not using.

Most of us think that when we lose weight we lose fat. Not so, you're actually losing a small percentage of fat. You're mostly losing flabby muscle and only about 30% fat. This is the main reason that weight counselors want you to workout to lose weight. By working out you can increase the amount of fat loss and reduce the amount of muscle mass that's lost.
Your body has hundreds of thousands of muscles and we only use a few dozen muscle which means that thousands of your muscles are shrinking and turning to flab and if you don't work-out those muscles you aren't using will shrink and as they get smaller you are gaining flab.

Did you ever wonder why most people have lower back problems? I had lower back pain for years.
I start to exercise to build strength in my core. I did sit-ups, and yoga and now no more back aches. I lost my belly and love-handles and no more pain. Even know I'm a senior, I can play ball with my grandsons, ride my bike and even jog. Exercising will give you your life back. I do some exercise every day. I can't start my day without some exercise. I'll exercise about an hour 3 times a week with lite days in-between. You have to give your muscles 48 hours or so to recover from a hard workout. The other day I do more yoga to stay limber, maybe 20 minutes in the morning while I watch the morning show.

I learned most of this on the internet. There's so much free information I can change my routine every week. As long as you workout with the same intensity, it doesn't matter what you do. Some days I swim, some days I ride a bike, some days I lift weights and some days I do yoga. If you change your routine you actually get better results.

Don't forget to eat better foods and never eat a lot at one time. I nibble all day long, and never eat a regular meal, and I'm never hungry. If I eat a regular meal I get sluggish and tired. I stopped doing that and now I'm more active. I'm back in size 34 pants after about 40 years, I weigh the same as I did in High School and I feel like I'm 35 again.

I'm never going back to that overweight guy who didn't know how to eat real food, snacked every night after dinner, stayed up too late and never wanted to get out of bed.  After I lost that body fat I was a different people and I like this guy.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

 

Finding The Right Weight Loss Program

Advertisers bombard you with weight loss advertising. It's a huge industry that's looking
for a piece of your money. Don't swallow everything you hear or read, most of it is just
Hype. Most weight loss plans give you quick results but when 100 dieters were
interviewed one year later, almost 90% had put the weight back on.
Finding a reliable weight loss program is important. More than a third of people in the U.S.
are considered obese. And it's not just adults. The CDC says 1 in 6 kids are dealing with
the condition, too. Weighing too much puts you at risk for many serious health problems,
including diabetes and heart disease. Read what the pros say.

"Eat less and exercise more" has always been the golden rule for dropping pounds. But how do you really accomplish that? Here are the five must-haves in a weight loss program, according to the researchers at Johns Hopkins.

1) Plenty of interaction and support. You want ongoing contact with the program's support team. Researchers recommend at least 14 sessions over 6 months. This might be in person or by phone or email. "Support is so critical in helping people through the weight loss process," Gudzune says.

2) Diet changes that are backed by science. "Things like the Paleo diet are very hot right now but haven't been studied with their effects on weight loss," Gudzune says. You want an approach that has solid evidence to support it works. This might be a low-calorie eating plan or meal replacements, or a well-studied diet for weight loss, like Atkins, she says.

3) Exercise encouragement. Opt for a program with some type of plan to get you moving more. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines recommend 150 minutes of moderate activity (like walking) each week. You can divvy that up however you like. Keep in mind that exercise is key if you want to stay at your lighter weight once you've dropped pounds, but doctors say it's hard to lose weight with just exercise alone.

4) Behavior strategies. Your program should encourage things like weighing yourself, meal planning, or tracking your food or exercise.

5) Approved meds only. Steer clear of programs that push fat burners or other supplements that aren't FDA-approved for weight loss. The FDA offers a list of dangerous weight loss products. You can sign up for email alerts, too. 

Weight loss is about changing what you eat and less about how much you eat. If you eat fresh, healthy food I think you can eat all you want. Fresh, healthy food  is not processed, it's fresh, not frozen vegetables, fruit, lean meat, mostly fish,  brown rice, and drink mostly water, tea or coffee. Don't add anything with calories and avoid dairy.  

Follow a diet like this and don't go back to your old ways. Never cheat, no cheat days allowed and increase the walking and you will lose fat. The more you walk the faster you'll lose fat. I believe the more a person walks the longer they will live.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.
gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Sample Meals For A 1200 Calorie Diet

This post first appeared on WebMD and is real life proof that 1200 calories a day can be done. We constantly complain about the foods we have to eat on a diet, but the truth be known, you can eat a lot of food on a low-calorie diet. You'll eat 5 times a day and these are healthy suggestions, it's not the only things you can eat. Read what this expert says.

By Shereen Lehman, MS

James Baigrie/The Image Bank/Getty Images

Are you in a hurry to lose some extra pounds? It's possible to lose weight quickly by following a low-calorie diet, as this 1,200 calorie-per-day diet, but you have to do it right to be sure you're getting all of the essential nutrients you need.

Following a low-calorie diet isn't difficult if you include lots of nutrient-dense foods. In fact, it's a necessity because there's no room for foods that aren't totally nutritious.

So what do you do? Choose plenty of low-calorie, high fiber fruits and vegetables, whole grains and low-fat protein sources.  Here are two 1,200 calorie-per-day menus to get you started:

1,215 Calorie Menu With No Non-Nutritive Sweeteners

Breakfast

• One cup oatmeal
• One-half cup non-fat milk
• One tablespoon honey
• One-half cup blueberries
• One cup plain coffee or tea as a beverage

Lunch

• Two slices 100-percent whole grain bread, deli sliced turkey breast, tomato slice, lettuce and one tablespoon mustard
• One-half cup sliced carrots
• Water as a beverage

Dinner

• Three ounces baked salmon
• One cup green beans
• Salad with one cup raw spinach, five cherry tomatoes and one-half cup broccoli florets with lemon juice as a dressing
• Water with a slice of lemon as a beverage

Snacks

• One apple with 12 almonds
• Several glasses of water
• One cup non-fat milk
• One-half cup plain yogurt with one tablespoon honey
• One cup strawberries.

Nutrition Information

• Total Calories - 1,215
• Total Fat - 17.7 percent (25 grams)
• Total Protein - 23 percent (72 grams)
• Total Carbohydrates - 59.3 percent (185 grams)
• Sodium - 1,402 milligrams
• Sugar - 107 grams
• Cholesterol - 94 milligrams
• Saturated Fat - 5.0 grams
• Fiber - 28 grams

1,218 Calorie Menu With Non-Nutritive Sweeteners

Breakfast

• One cup whole-grain corn cereal
• One packet Sucralose
• One-half cup non-fat milk
• One cup 100-percent orange juice as a beverage

Lunch

• Salad made with two cups field greens, two ounces albacore tuna (packed in water), one-half cup cherry tomatoes with two tablespoons balsamic vinegar as a dressing.
• Diet soda as a beverage

Dinner

• One three-ounce pork chop
• One baked sweet potato
• One cup steamed asparagus
• One tablespoon olive oil
• One small glass of white wine

Snacks

• One small pita bread with two tablespoons hummus
• One pear
• One serving low-fat, sugar-free fruit-flavored yogurt
• One cup blueberries
• Two-thirds cup baby carrots with one ounce fat-free vegetable dip
• Several glasses of water with slices of lemon or lime

Nutrition Information

• Total Calories - 1,218
• Total Fat - 14.6 percent (20 grams)
• Total Protein - 22.6 percent (70 grams)
• Total Carbohydrates - 56.8 percent (176 grams)
• Sodium - 1,615 milligrams
• Sugar - 86 grams
• Cholesterol - 116 milligrams
• Saturated Fat - 5.0 grams
• Fiber - 24 grams

Portion and serving sizes are key to dieting success, so you'll need a good set of measuring cups and measuring spoons, plus a kitchen scale until you get used to estimating your serving sizes.

If these meal plans don't fit your calorie needs, we also have menus for 1,500 calorie-per-day and 1,700 calorie-per-day diets.

I'll write more about these diets in my next post.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on Smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Diet vs. Exercise, 80% of Weight Lose Is Diet

You can spend half a day every day at the gym. You can spend thousand on gym equipment, but if you don't fix your diet you won't lose the fat. Read the post from VeryWell.com and get the truth from the experts.

Why Nutrition Is Key to Losing Body Fat

By Darla Leal  

You've heard the phrase "you can't out-exercise a bad diet," and this is the bottom line when it comes to maintaining a healthy body. Nutrition and exercise are both important parts to losing fat and gaining strength. Nutritional habits will have a far greater impact on your body composition and physique goals than any other fitness component. When a combination of exercise and healthy nutrition are implemented is when successful body change happens.

Apply a Nutritional Strategy

Sarah Reid/Stocksy United

A person can change their body composition through diet alone without exercise. However, it's the combination of both that provides a complete healthy package. Applying the 80 percent nutrition to 20 percent fitness rule is simply a statement of the importance of nutrition in the equation.

Exercise would not be a complete waste of time without eating healthy, but it would be like swimming upstream not making any headway to changing your body composition. We have all seen the regulars at the gym doing the same thing day-in and day-out for several months or even years without seeing results in fat loss.

The puzzlement can be answered simply in that a low in nutrition diet is holding them back from reaching their fitness goals.

Common Questions

Common questions heard in the fitness industry and addressing fitness goals are “what percentage of my goals will be a result of exercise, and what percentage will be a result of my diet?”

Usual answers would be “they are both important, but percentages can’t really be assigned,” or the well-known “100 percent training and 100 percent diet.” Vague answers like this don't address the big picture, especially to novice trainees starting their fitness journey to physique improvement.

The best answer would be that nutrition has the largest impact on body changes than exercise and tossing all percentages aside.

Nutrition and Exercise Logic

Let’s take percentages out of the equation for now and apply some logic to exercise and nutrition. The norm exerciser may perform three to four weight training sessions and three to four cardio workouts per week, totaling eight sessions per week.

This gives eight opportunities to make a positive change in your body through exercise. That same person eats three healthy meals per day. If knowledgeable in the value of meal spacing, they may eat five to six times per day.

Quick math shows 21 to 35 chances per week to directly and positively impact fat burning and muscle building goals through nutrition.

You Are What You Eat

Utilizing the above example, nutrition is clearly the winner in physique improvement opportunities. In fact at 21 to 35 chances per week to improve body composition through nutrition, the percentage does come in around 80 percent.

This leaves 20 percent of physique enhancement resulting from exercise. The assessment of nutrition versus exercise is pretty accurate given the numbers.

It also indicates if you want to look good, applying 80 percent of your focus to eating right is a necessary component. There is something to “you are what you eat” and how it relates to making positive body changes.

Apply the 80:20 Rule for Results

Have you read success stories of dramatic weight loss? At the forefront of their accomplishments are improved nutritional programs and diets. Some have shared application of drastic food changes and also healthier methods of cooking and eating before starting an exercise program.

This began the journey of their success and adding in the workouts was the bonus that made it all come together. It was important to master a healthy nutrition plan. They also understood it as the largest role in being able to reach fitness goals.

It may be nice to think positive body changes can be made simply by exercising, but that's far from the truth. Applying the 80:20 rule creates the difference and understanding food will be the major player in how you look.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.
My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.
  

Why I Lost Weight

I was listening to a radio talk show the other day and a caller was talking about a fast food chain. He was criticizing a hamburger chain and said after he stopped eating their food he started to feel better. He started to lose weight, and he said he wasn’t so depressed all day.

So, I started to think about how I felt when I was heavy and it did feel depressing. I didn’t like the way my clothes fit, I felt self-conscious. I felt like people were staring.  I didn’t like eating with others. I had this lonely feeling. That was then and this is now. Today most people are overweight so a person can have that sense of well-being because their friends are the same as they are. Being overweight has become the new normal.

So, what’s wrong with that? Well, the problem is your health. When you’re a young adult, carrying around extra weight doesn’t bother you. You can still be active and in most cases you still have control of your blood pressure, blood sugars, cholesterol and other vitals, so you’re not worried about your weight. But as you get older and see the doctor more often, that’s when you find out what effects the extra pounds have had on your body.

Extra pounds, especially belly fat, will age your body and your organs beyond your real age. You end up being a middle age person in a body that’s 10 years older than you. You will actually shorten your life, the more extra pounds you have, the shorter your life. The extra weight that you put on throughout your adult life is extra strain on your joints and organs. Your organs don’t keep growing just because you gain weight when you reach your adult size, usually age 18 to 22, that’s as big as your joints and organs will ever be and the extra weight will just wear them out.

Monitor your weight  regularly and see a doctor if your overweight. Being overweight will also cause diseases like cancer or diabetes just to name a few. And it's not just about your weight; having too much belly fat is dangerous to your health. You don't have to be overweight to have too much belly fat. More important than your weight, is the size of your waistline. The distance around your waist should be half your height. I'm 70 inches tall, my waist should measure 35 inches, no more. Every extra inch you add to your waist will shorten your life.
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If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.
gettingtoahealthyweight.blog
idropped40pounds.wordpress.com
howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.
My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

  

The Flaws Of Dieting

We make several mistakes when we try to diet. In general, when a person decides to go on a diet they only have the one goal in mind. "Lose some weight so I can get into my clothes, or maybe because your doctor wants you to lose weight. Those people usually starve themselves to lose and then a few months later gain it all back and sometimes even more.

The other flaw in dieting is that we usually never make any permanent changes. We don’t actually intend on making permanent change or even if we do we pick these diet plans that are impossible to do for the long term because the sacrifice is too much. For Instance, and this one is the most common. We start to skip meals because we know we have to cut calories and this seems to be the easiest way. Big mistake, you have to eat every few hours and you can’t skip eating. The secret is to eat food that will help you lose fat.

Normally, we eat food that puts on fat. Even if you think your eating healthy, you add sauces, gravies, or dressing that create a calories nightmare. Even drinks like a regular soda with your meal will alter your metabolism and you end up storing more sugar and carbs from the food you're eating.

The only way to successfully slim down and stay slim is to totally change everything you’re doing now.
You want to eat small meals every 3 hours ( 5 per day) starring with breakfast the first hour you’re out of bed and every 3 hours after that. You can never skip a meal and you should eat about the same calories every time (300 to 350 calories). Do not drink your calories, do not eat processed or manufactured food. Salted nuts are not really manufactured but some people do buy raw nuts. Salted nuts are not very good for weight loss because you’re getting too much salt. Keep your portions small (a small hand full).
Do not buy frozen food, do not buy canned foods.

Do eat seafood and white meat poultry. Eat no animal meat except for lean steak (3 oz.) about twice a month. No dairy except non-fat Greek yogurt. I know this sounds very strict. The food pyramid above shows you all your choice. After you're getting used to the size of your 5 meals you can stop counting calories. Remember to drink the water especially with meals. I’ll say this again, Don’t drink calories. Most dieters are drinking half of their daily calories. This is the big reason that most of us underestimate their calorie intake.

Losing weight is about the food you're eating. Some foods will cause you to gain weight and some will help you lose weight. If you follow the recommended foods on the food pyramid and avoid the other foods, you will lose weight. But this is not a temporary change in the way you eat. This will be your new meal plan for many years to come.

If you decide to return to prepared foods and bottled or can drinks the weight will return and you’ll start to feel sluggish and the fat will start to accumulate around your waist. Remember you can buy the best foods but it’s about the way you prepare your food that causes you to store body fat.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. Read some of my other blog posts.

gettingtoahealthyweight.blog

 idropped40pounds.wordpress.com

howbaddoyouwanttoloseweight.blogspot.com

blogonweight.blogspot.com

E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want.

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon.com, BN.com, iBook, Kobo.com, Scribd.com, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smashwords.com. If you use the Smashwords' promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (TL96R). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.