Why Can't You Lose Weight?

Losing weight is just as much mental as physical. You have to really want it and be willing to do what it takes. That's the secret, "be willing to do what it takes".

You have to quit buying all those foods you love to eat. You have to walk more. Most people gain weight as they get older because they are less active. When you're less active you burn fewer calories and if you eat the same but burn fewer calories you gain weight. It's not that hard to figure out. It's normal that people gain 3 pounds a year give or take as they get older. Why? you might ask. Because you're slowing down even if you don't realize it. Slowing down is normal and if you're not fighting it, trying to increase activity, then you will gradually gain weight. It will happen to everyone if you're not tracking your food and your activity levels.

It's easy to do with a journal which you can do using paper and pencil or your PC or your smartphone.  I use an APP called "MyFitnessPal", it's free and there are dozens more all free. You pick the one you like. I use to use a spreadsheet but it got too hard to remember everything from the whole day. The App is great for me because I can enter things as I go along.

Tracking what you do and what you eat is a big help. When you have that "I'm not going to quit" attitude a journal will help you find your mistakes and there will be mistakes. The time when you just stop losing and don't know why. The journal is your logbook and when you look through the pages you'll find what you're doing wrong. It's not that hard. When you go off track there are only two answers: You ate the wrong things or ate too much or didn't burn enough calories, usually because you skipped exercise or you cut back on walking.

When you find a plan that's working for you, stay with it, don't make any changes until you have to. When your plan is failing and you are stuck and not making any progress it's because your body got used to the routine. When that happens you won't burn as many calories and your progress will stop. All successful trainers want you to change your routine every few days so your body doesn't get a chance to get used to the routine. As long as you keep the same intensity and work out for the same amount of time you'll continue to burn the same amount of calories.

All you need is about 3 different exercise plans. I do a run, walk routine, a free weight routine and I'll swim a couple days a week. Do some research and find some exercises that are right for you. You want exercise plans that challenge your muscle. Building strength will burn body fat. Losing body fat will make you a happier, healthier person, a stronger person with better balance.

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 Most Important Thing

Being in good physical condition is the most important thing you can do for yourself. It will keep you healthier, more alert, it will keep your mind working quicker and you’ll be more productive.

What you eat is more important to your health than anything else. It has to be a combination of all types of food. You need fruits and vegetables, whole grains and some meat. The mistake we make today is believing all the advertising we see every day. Why do you think manufacturers spend millions on advertising cereals and snack food? The answer is money. They can't make any money sell whole foods like apples, beans, or oats. They concoct something they call a snack or a cereal, they advertise it and you buy it because it sounds sexy. It may be a healthy snack or breakfast cereal but it's nothing but a manufactured wheat flour combination with lots of sugar.

Food: In a world with endless protein bars and gluten-free potato chips, I personally find that the best snacks are simple, whole foods. One favorite of mine is an apple. This snack doesn't have any protein, and that's ok. If you're staying properly hydrated, an apple is a snack that can easily take the edge off your hunger. In fact, apples are rich in antioxidants, and dietary fiber. I like green apples the most.
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is an old Welsh proverb that most of us are familiar with, but what makes this fruit so special? As one of the most cultivated and consumed fruits in the world, apples are continuously being praised as a "miracle food".

In fact, apples were ranked first in Medical News Today's featured article about the top 10 healthy foods.

Apples are extremely rich in important antioxidants, flavonoids, and dietary fiber.

The phytonutrients and antioxidants in apples may help reduce the risk of developing cancer, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease.

Workout:  I decided 3-weeks ago to spend 10-20 minutes every morning stretching and doing light exercise. I've already experienced exceptional results. Consider adding a mobility routine at the beginning, or end of your day (or both)!. I assure you if you do it for one week, you will see benefits.

A quote that is always timely: "Our patience will achieve more than our force."

-Edmund Burke

A few years ago, I would have scoffed at this quote, but now I understand its wisdom. While persistence and perspiration are critical to achieving your potential, patience is a virtue that reigns supreme. Pushing harder may not help you reach your goals any faster. In fact, it may significantly lengthen the amount of time necessary to achieve the goal you desire. Patience helps shift your mindset away from focusing on brute force to planning.

To achieve fitness, you have to "live a healthy lifestyle". It won't be something you can do in a few weeks and then return to your old life. When you live a healthy lifestyle of eating only whole foods and doing regular exercise you will become fit over time. Depending on your condition you can see results in just a few weeks, but it might take much longer to achieve your goals and once you make the commitment to change your life and get healthy you can't go back. This is a permanent change and those that made the change will tell you that was the best decision they ever made.

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. 

 

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 your losing muscle. Your body is continually changing. You build the muscles you use and you lose muscle that you're not using.

This is the main reason you need to work out. Did you ever wonder why most people have lower back problems? I had lower back pain for years. Then I start to exercise to build strength in my core. I did sit-ups, and yoga and now no more backaches. I lost my belly and love-handles and no more pain. Even now 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.

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. 

 

Getting To A Healthy Weight

Getting to a healthy weight is about changing your lifestyle. Changing what you eat and how you eat. It takes planning to make a lifestyle change. You can’t just make small changes. You have to go all in and start from scratch by first designing a menu you can stick to.

You want to eat fresh. Think about that for a minute, fresh veggies, fresh fruit, frozen is o.k., but frozen without any sauce or syrup. You don’t want to buy any frozen foods that are already prepared and ready to heat and eat. When it comes to meat, poultry or fish be careful of the frozen packages. Read the labels to see if there are any added ingredients. Sodium is your enemy when you’re on a diet. Sodium and sugar or fructose (a chemical substitute for sugar) are two ingredients commonly used in frozen foods and both are not good for your diet.

I know it might cost extra but you want to buy any meat or seafood fresh and of the highest quality. I know you're thinking about your budget; Americans overdose on meat, for some reason we think we need to eat meat at every meal. The truth is seafood should only be eaten 3 times a week in small quantities like 4 ounces, poultry 1 time a week in 4 to 6-ounce quantity, and red meat which includes pork 1 or 2 times a month in 4-ounce quantities. That’s all you need. All meats contain animal fat, even if you can’t see the fat like you can on poultry it’s there and it goes straight to your stored fat area.

If you cut back on the meat you’re eating the cost of groceries shouldn’t change, even if you’re spending more on the meat you buy. In fact, eating fresh and only snacking on fruit, nuts, and seeds should be saving money. Also, drink mainly water, you can flavor it with lemon. Hot or ice tea (no sweetener), or black coffee (no sweetener) non-diary creamer is o.k., check the label for the calorie count.

When you get serious about losing weight you want to stop smoking. If you drink alcohol you want to cut back. Personally, I had to stop all beer and wine when I got serious. After you lose the body fat and get to a healthy weight, you can drink alcohol in moderation. Two drinks a day for a man, one drink a day for women. I don’t know why, that’s what all the books say.

Also if you're going to get to a healthy weight you want to "manage your stress." I understand that most of us have no idea how to do that and some of us don’t realize they have any stress. I was in my own business for 30 years and I know I had stress but I loved stress. Dead-lines, dealing with employees and tax management, I could handle it. Men especially like to be busy and until they have more than they can deal with, they don’t realize the stress they have. The reason I mention stress is that most people manage their stress by eating. Being busy causes a person to become hyper. Then when you want to slow-down, you’ll take a break and that’s when most of us will look for something to eat. It happened to me.

I learned to walk, when I stop working and want to think or just take a break, I’d get up and walk. I might walk for 10 minutes or more until I’m calm and have thought through the situation. When I’m working from home, I use a stationary bike for a break from writing. You might think that writing isn’t stressful but anytime you have to produce work in a certain amount of time, that’s stressful. Learning to manage your stress without eating is a big part of living healthy.

Research shows you can improve your health just by losing between 5% to 10% of your weight. Then depending on how much weight you have to lose, You probably will continue. It does get easier. Losing say, that the first 10% will give you more energy and you’ll feel it. That makes the next 10% easier because you’ll feel better and have more energy so your activity level will increase and you’ll burn more calories just by being more active.

Often when a person becomes overweight they lose the will to be active, therefore they burn fewer calories. That’s the downward spiral you can fall into and the slowing-down is so gradual you don’t realize you're slowing down. Have you ever wondered why an overweight person can eat less than a thin person but not lose weight? The thin person burns more calories naturally. They may not even work out, but they still burn more calories than someone overweight.

If you're someone who has been overweight for some time and has tried dieting, dieting restricts the amount of food you're eating and it’s not healthy. Forget those diets and change to a healthy meal plan. It will take some work on your part. You need to do some research and find a meal plan for yourself. The trick is to eat fresh. No processed foods, no already prepared foods, you make the food yourself.

If you don’t know where to start, you might think about "Weight Watchers”. For beginner, they know how to motivate you and keep you on the right track. You don’t have to stay forever, but you want to stay long enough to learn how to lose and how to keep it off. Don’t buy the food plan, you don’t have to and there are no pills involved. It’s a support program. They teach you how? If you're not a self-starter, this might be the way to go.

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. 

 

Want To Live Healthy?

You can stop getting colds twice a year, stop feeling run-down and tired. You can have more energy, lose body fat and be a happier person just by changing your diet. Sounds crazy? It the truth.

The science is clear: Eating the right foods can lead to a longer, healthier life.

Yet some people, as they get older, find it harder to eat right. This can happen for many reasons: Maybe they don’t feel like eating. Maybe they have trouble cooking or eating. Maybe they don’t know what’s healthy.

Maybe they do and they just don’t like the idea of kale.

“You know what? You can live a long, healthy life and never eat a piece of kale,” says Cheryl Rock, a professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

She’s all for finding food that you like -- healthy food -- and building on that.

“If you’re eating foods you like, then you’re more likely to stick with it. You won’t force it down for four days and then go out for a double cheeseburger,” Rock says.

It’s more than just finding the right foods. Michele Bellantoni, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, points out that you need to eat them in the right amounts, too.

“It looks like the optimal calories [for most older adults] will be 1,800 [a day],” she says. “And for successful aging, we think about the entire body, rather than just specific organs.”

Many foods are especially good for certain parts of your body. Bellantoni suggests starting with 1,800 calories, then splitting that up with proteins for your muscles, calcium for your bones, and a basic heart-healthy diet.

That approach can do a lot of things for you:

Make sure you have salmon and other fish like trout and herring. They’re high in omega-3 fatty acids, which help reduce the risk of heart disease and slightly lower blood pressure, among other benefits. Shoot for two servings a week.

You should also know that the fiber in veggies -- also found in whole grains -- helps lower your odds of cardiovascular disease. It also helps digestion and regularity, which often are a problem for older adults.

Remember that no one food is going to help your heart, any more than just one would help your brain or your bones or your muscles or any other part of your anatomy.

You need a complete, healthy diet.

“If you’re eating a lot of fish but, in addition to that, you’re living on ice cream and candy and stuff like that,” Rock says, “it’s not going to save you.”

It Can Help Your Brain

A loss of memory, a big worry among some older adults, has been linked to, among other things, a lack of vitamin B12. You can get that in:

• Meats
• Fish
• Milk products
• Some breakfast cereals

Alzheimer’s disease has been linked to chronic inflammation, which can be caused by foods like white bread, french fries, red meat, sugary beverages, and margarine.

Science is still emerging on the relationship between some foods and brain health. Check with your doctor or dietitian.

“There was some issue with the Food and Drug Administration disallowing food claims for memory loss,” says Adam Drewnowski, the director of the Nutritional Sciences Program at the University of Washington.

“I would not want to identify a specific food that prevents memory loss. I probably would tell someone that if you want to be functioning well, then some fruits and antioxidants will do better for you than another slice of cake.”

Antioxidants, found in many vegetables and in fruits like blueberries, help reduce inflammation. They also help you get rid of damaging stuff created when you convert food into energy.

It’s important to realize that good brain function may be as much about what you don’t eat as what you do.

“Your brain runs on blood flow, just like your heart,” says Rock. “So if you’re eating a lot of saturated fats, it makes it less likely that you’ll have those nice clean arteries to supply that brain tissue with blood.”

Make sure you have tomatoes, blueberries, green leafy veggies like spinach and kale, turmeric, and nuts (especially walnuts).

You should also know that those omega-3 fatty acids, found in salmon and other oily fish, are inflammation fighters.

Okay, you might not know what inflammation really is. You don't have to know. All you need to know is that inflammation is what ages your body and many people right now are walking around with a body that's 20 years older than they really are. In Great Britain doctors tested hundreds of people all age 38 and found that somebody a body older than their real age and some had bodies younger. 

The doctors determined that some of the aging processes is because of DNA but most of the aging process is due to lifestyle. How active you are and how you eat.

Eating the right food can help your muscles

They’re always breaking down and getting built back up again. That’s just the way your body works. As you get older, you need more protein for that rebuilding process.

“So if you don’t eat enough protein, you’ll be breaking down more than you’re rebuilding,” Rock says.

Make sure you have low-fat or fat-free yogurt, cheese, milk, lean meats, fish, other seafood, and beans.

You should also know that eggs are an excellent source of protein and don’t have the saturated fats that meat has. Don’t worry about the cholesterol in your eggs, Rock says. It’s not absorbed well by your body, anyway.

It Can Help Your Bones

Older adults need calcium because it promotes healthy bone growth. Getting enough vitamin D is important, too, because that helps you absorb calcium.

It’s not always easy.

“The risk for low vitamin D in older adults, that’s kind of a challenge, because it’s not like there are lots of foods that are high in vitamin D,” says Stephen Anton, from the Department of Aging and Geriatric Research at the University of Florida.

Calcium is also difficult for many older people to absorb, yet too much can cause constipation. It’s something you need to discuss with your doctor or dietitian.

Make sure you have yogurt, low-fat cheeses, and milk for calcium. Few foods naturally carry vitamin D. Calcium and vitamin D are in fortified foods.

You should also know that in addition to being a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, canned salmon is full of calcium and has some vitamin D.

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. 

 

Slim For Life; Tips For Losing Fat And Keeping It Off

Trying yet again to lose those last 10 pounds? We hear you. In fact, 50 percent of women say that within six months they gain back any weight they've managed to ditch. And more than a quarter have dieted so many times they've lost track of the number. Well, get ready to stop the endless yo-yoing: Science has finally come up with simple, groundbreaking solutions for lasting weight loss. We checked in with the top experts in the field and scoured the latest research to bring you the skinny on everything you need to reach your slim-down goals and stay there.

Make your fat burn fat.

Seriously: Your flab can help you shed pounds. How? Just as there's more than one kind of fat in food, there's more than one type in your body. White fat is the bad stuff you want to zap. But a second kind, brown fat, actually torches calories. "Up to 80 percent of adults have brown fat deposits in their bodies," says Aaron M. Cypess, MD, Ph.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard Medical School. This good fat is powerful because it's packed with mitochondria, the parts of cells that generate heat. When activated, as little as two ounces of brown fat can gobble up as much as 20 percent of your body's calories.

Exercise is one of the best ways to get your brown fat in gear. In a study, scientists at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute discovered that working out releases a hormone called irisin, which converts white fat to brown. Exercise for a half-hour at least five days a week to turn up the burn.

You might be asking yourself; "I do that now, why can't I burn fat." There are a couple different reasons; the most common one is "your diet". When I was exercising to lose fat, I had to go on a low-fat diet. Very low-fat, that way my body was forced into burning body fat instead of the food in every meal. But at the same time, I had to cut my carbs.

Your body has to burn protein, carbs, and fat every day, but it will only burn about 30% fat. If you're eating the wrong foods, your body only has to burn the food your eating and not any of the excesses you have stored.

The second reason can be the exercises your doing. Different exercises affect everyone differently. If you are not getting the results you're looking for, you might want to change or vary the exercise program. You can get some help with that from my ebooks or the internet. You can't do the same exercise time after time and expect results. Your body will get used to that exercise and the results will diminish. Vary the exercise so you work different muscles. For instance do legs Monday, Thursday. Do Abs Tuesday, and Friday, Do upper body on Wednesday and Saturday. Rest on Sunday.

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. 

 

Only Doing Half A Diet Doesn't Work

Quit smoking. Lay off the junk food. Stop being a couch potato. Don’t stay up too late.

Sounds simple enough: If you have a bad habit, break it.

But “simple” doesn’t necessarily mean “easy.” You’ll need a good strategy.

I know with all the ads you hear it sounds easy to lose weight. "Just buy our food and you'll lose weight." It's maybe easy but not that easy. Gaining body fat starts with the bad habits you pick-up over time.

You start a new job and meet new people and you want to be sociable, so you go out to lunch with the crowd, or have a drink after work or lattes at break time. After a few weeks, you're putting on weight. 

Swap Bad for Good

It’s important to add good habits to replace your bad ones. Otherwise, the stuff you want to stop doing will probably come back. For instance, you go to Starbucks in the morning to meet friends, that's not a bad habit, it's what you order that can make it a bad habit. You want to replace the Latte with something that doesn't have calories. Black coffee or tea with non-fat milk. You might not eat breakfast, but Latte's have lots of calories and they're empty calories.

If you smoked, people who quit smoking can replace it with eating too much. Packing healthy snacks can be a good replacement. Bring fruit or nuts with you to work, don't buy junk from the snack machine. 

It might be great that you turn off the computer in time to wind down and fall asleep, but if you replace that with looking at your phone or watching TV, that’s probably not going to help. Instead, try meditating, writing in a journal, or reading something on paper. (Light from a screen can keep you awake.) Use a book or something printed on paper to help you fall asleep.

Make sure you enjoy your new healthy habit. If you hate running on a treadmill, chances are you won’t stick with it. If you don’t like broccoli, there’s no point in loading your plate with it because you won’t enjoy it. When you're looking to replace a bad habit make sure this is something you like.

Change one habit at a time. Trying to do too much at once can be overwhelming. It can make you feel like you don’t know where to start, so you don’t start at all. As you meet each goal, try to add another one.

Don’t rush it. Chances are you didn’t develop the bad habit overnight, so give yourself the time to develop the new one. It can take 2 to 3 months for a habit to really take hold.

Track Your Progress

Keep a daily record of the changes you make. If you haven’t met your goals for the week, think about what went wrong, then adjust. If you’ve met your goals, give yourself a little reward. Seeing things add up -- like your work-outs or the days since you’ve had a cigarette -- can motivate and encourage you.

Forgive Yourself

Setbacks are normal. Don’t beat yourself up. Think back to when you first started, look at your daily record, and remind yourself of how far you’ve come. One slip-up doesn’t wipe all of that out. Pick up where you left off.

Breaking a bad habit is about the journey, not the destination.

I wanted to change what I eat and I changed all at once to a fresh food diet. I wasn't going to buy anything anymore that had a label. Everything fresh. Meat, fruit, and vegetables, I even started to buy bread from a bakery fresh baked.

I found out that it takes a lot of willpower to change everything all at once. For most people, it might be too hard, but it worked for me. After you make the change, you can't look back. I know it might sound easy because there won't be any calories to count or special diets to follow. That's true, but that also means no canned or bottled drinks except for water. You can't drink anything with calories. 

Coffee and tea are fine but don't add calories. Don't make foods with gravies or sauces. Eat fresh means eating the food as close to its natural state as possible. Yes, you can season your food but use spices but no added sugar. 

The part that I found the hardest was "eating out". That can be challenging. For the longest time, I was eating dry salads with vinegar or lemon juice and a glass of water. You have to be careful ordering salads. Don't order a salad with cheese or meat. You can change a 300 calorie salad into an 800 calorie salad real quick. Chef salads and Taco salads are the worst. Some can be more than 1000 calories.

I know it sounds crazy to only eat salads when you're in a restaurant, but meats in restaurants are usually soared in marinates which is bad for your diet and sometimes bad for your health. Restaurant chains will use the marinade to tenderize the meat and add flavor and that's when it becomes a high-calorie dinner. Fish can be a better option if they will serve it without a sauce or any gravy.

I found that eating "fresh" meant a lot of home-cooked meals and that's the hardest part.

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.