Consider enlisting your family in your weight loss program

Most of us are a bit overweight. If you need to lose a few pounds the odds are so does your significant other. Dieting together can be more successful than dieting alone, but don't turn it into a competition. Men naturally lose weight faster than women because their body composition has a higher proportion of muscle to fat than women's. Muscle burns more calories than fat which means they lose weight faster. Instead of looking at your weight loss goals as pounds look at it as a percentage of your body weight loss. Or establish your weight goal and mark each target as a percentage of your total weight loss goal.

If others in your family are at their perfect weight or just don't see the need to lose weight, they may not understand the need for less food, less fat, or streamlined meals. Prepare your meal and add an extra dish or two for them, that you don't particularly care for. Another alternative is to prepare a regular meal and you eat half of what you usually would eat. It's very possible that if you don't tell your family they're eating low fat low calorie they won't notice. You can always say you're preparing healthier food for them which is true.

Snacks and junk food can be a dieter's downfall. Buy your family their favorite can't-live-without-snacks. Keep those snacks in their rooms, laundry room, or their closets. Out of your sight is out of your mouth. Make it clear when those snacks are gone there won't be anymore until the next shopping trip.

Children can be the dieter's best friend or worse enemy. Tell your children you want to lose weight and you need their help. No more fast food, no more unhealthy snacks. Most children will co-operate, some a little too well, when they tell you you to stop eating that ice cream and stay on your diet in front of the other parents.

Adjust your plate size

Adjust your plate size. The tendency is to fill our plates full, so trick yourself and use a smaller plate. Use a salad plate for your dinner plate and you'll automatically eat less. Use a small bowl instead of a soup bowl and you'll cut calories. You can also reverse it. Use the dinner plate and fill it full of salad greens – just be careful with the salad dressing. To cut down on the amount of dressing consumed, place the dressing in a small bowl. Dip your fork in the dressing before you spear your salad. While your salad is on the dinner plate, use the salad plate for your entrée.

Know what a serving really is.

Know what a serving really is. Portions these days have become gigantic. You might think that a serving of cooked pasta is a big bowl full but look on the package. You'll be surprised to see that a serving is considered just an 8 ounce cupful of cooked pasta. And the serving of pasta sauce? Well that's just ¼ cup or 2 ounces. A serving of chicken, or meat, is 4 ounces, that's a chicken thigh or drumstick. In the case of meat, a serving is about the size of a deck of playing cards. A serving of vegetables is ½ cup, a serving of fruit is ½ cup, or one whole fruit such as an apple. Of course with fruits and vegetables

Sugar free and low fat doesn't necessarily mean low calorie

Sugar free and low fat doesn't necessarily mean low calorie. Many of the sugar free snacks contain as many, if not more, calories than their counterparts. Low fat might mean sugar and starches have been added to make up for the lost flavor and creaminess from the fat. Read the labels to make sure you're getting what you think you're getting. Sometimes it's better to use a lesser amount of the original food than the usual amount of the low fat or sugar free substitute.

Always put food on a plate

Always put food on a plate, a real plate, not a paper plate, and eat at the table. You'll be amazed at how much food you consume away from meal times or on the run. It's easy to down a bag of potato chips eating in front of the TV. Or you're hungry so you grab a leftover chicken leg and eat it over the sink. You're late for work so you reach for a donut to have with your latte as you drive.

Don't eat unless you're sitting down at the table with a plate in front of you. You'll feel silly putting chips and dip on a lunch plate, so silly you probably won't do it. Putting all the food on plates and eating at the table makes you aware of how much you're eating and when. Seeing all the dirty plates in the sink can motivate you not to eat.

What you drink counts in your calories for the day

It's easy to forget that fruit juice, sodas, sweetened ice tea, and café mocha, all add up. Water is always your best bet as a refreshing drink. Add a slice of lemon or lime for flavor. Or a crushed strawberry, a few raspberries or a peach slice. You can keep a pitcher of ice water on your desk, or kitchen counter and it will remind you to drink more. Keep single serving bottles in the freezer to grab on your way out. Put the bottled water in front of the juice, milk, and sodas and you'll be tempted to drink the water instead of the other liquids. Just cutting out two sodas a day can significantly drop your calorie count.

Plan for your snacks

Plan for your snacks so you won't be hitting the vending machines or the cookie jar. There are lots of prepackaged alternatives at the grocery store that offer low fat, low calorie, but tasty snacks. Prepackaged costs more than the big bags but you get portion control in return. You can also package up your own snacks. Keep the calorie count to about 100. Fresh fruit and veggies are a given, but you can also have popcorn without the butter, saltine crackers with low fat cheese, a cup of soup, a handful of nuts, or pretzel sticks. Put your selected snacks in a zip lock bag and place in the fridge, when you feel the urge, they'll be ready and waiting.

Sensible Eating Habits

Have breakfast. Skipping breakfast leads to low blood sugar mid morning which results in cravings for sugary foods to pump the blood sugar back up. A vicious cycle results and continues throughout the day. Your breakfast should consist of whole grains, a protein source and fruit. It doesn't have to be fancy. A slice of whole wheat toast spread with a tablespoon of low fat peanut butter and an apple will do just fine. Or you could mix ½ cup of nonfat cottage cheese with chopped fresh peaches and a couple of whole wheat crackers. Another possibility is a scrambled egg served on an English muffin with a glass of orange juice.

If you work outside the home, brown bag your lunch. It's tempting to run out to the nearest fast food joint for a high fat, high carb lunch. If you pack your lunch you have control of what you eat and won't be tempted by a burger and fries. If you have a fridge and microwave at your office, and who doesn't these days, you can serve up a delicious salad and soup lunch. As an added benefit you will save money. The average fast food lunch these days costs around $7.00. And you can use the time you save to run errands, relax or take a walk around the block

Burn the Fat

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle is the perfect book for those that want to follow a healthy eating plan and who really want to understand the science of weight loss and muscle building. It combines a specific exercise plan to compliment the healthy eating and to help you lose more weight.

Of course, everyone knows that you should eat healthy food, but this book makes you actually want to.

What's most interesting about this book, I believe, is that it also offers suggestions of what you can do if the plan isn't working for you. Other diets assume that if you are not losing weight on their plan, you are doing something wrong. Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle actually helps you to figure out what needs to be better and how to tweak it.

The goal setting section of the book also makes it particularly motivating. Venuto offers specific suggestions as to how to incorporate goal planning into your life...and not just goal planning for weight loss.

While some people may be initially put off by the cost of the ebook, it's important to point out that this book is much more comprehensive than most other diet books. And many other diet and fitness programs actually come with a higher price tag, though it's split up into lower monthly payments.

If you're serious about not just losing weight, but about eating healthy and maintaining an active lifestyle, then Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle is the right plan for you.

However, there's nothing particularly bad about this style of eating. If following the Blood Type Diet is a reasonable way for you to begin a healthy eating program, then this is the right diet for you.

Is the Atkins Diet For You?

The Atkins Diet is the grand daddy of the quick weight loss diets. It's based on severely limiting carbohydrates. Carbs are processed by the body to become sugar or glucose. Glucose is used by the body for energy. If the carbs consumed for the day aren't enough, the body transforms the fat it has stored back into glucose for energy. Carbs also cause the blood sugar to spike which signals the body to produce insulin to remove the sugar from the bloodstream. This causes the blood sugar to drop which results in a craving for more carbs to raise it back up. That's the basis of the Atkin's Diet. Severely limit carbohydrates in the daily diet and the body has to fall back on its fat storage for energy.

The initial two week kick start program only allows 20 grams of carbs per day. The carbs from fiber are netted – subtracted from the total carb count. So for example, while ¼ cup of blueberries has a total carb count of 5.1 grams, only 4.1 grams are counted because 1 gram is from fiber.

Protein such as fish, chicken, beef, and pork contains 0 grams. The diet allows cheese and eggs. Seafood is tricky, some, like shrimp, have 0 grams and others like oysters, pack a walloping 12.5 grams per 6 oz. You can have limited amounts of green vegetables such as spinach, kale, broccoli, asparagus, and cabbage. Fruit is not allowed. To give you examples of carb counts, an apple has a net 16 grams of carbs, a slice of wheat bread has 12 carbs. Alcohol in any form is not allowed during the kickoff stage. An exercise period of 30 minutes per day is mandatory.

After the initial two weeks, carbs are gradually and slowly added back to the diet, fruits and vegetables first. Some vegetables like sweet potatoes (19) and corn (14 per 1/3 cup) contain too many carbs to ever become a regular part of the diet. The maximum level of carbs at this stage should be between 30 to 35. The objective is to continue losing weight but at a lesser rate than the initial two week period. If the weight loss stops the number of carbs being consumed has to decrease again.

The maintenance diet is at a level of carbs where you've stopped losing weight and don't gain weight. It maxes out at about 40 grams of carbs per day. A turkey sandwich with mayo and sliced tomatoes is about 30 grams of carbs. A medium pear has 21 and one cup of 2% milk has 11.

Sugar, processed foods, flour and starches, such as potatoes and rice are pretty much off limits forever on the Atkins Diet. Most fruits have to be eaten in moderation if at all and certain vegetables as well.

The South Beach Diet: Is It the Diet For You?

The South Beach Diet is similar to the Atkins Diet in that it has an initial two week phase I period that drastically reduces carbs. The difference between Atkins and South Beach is that there are good carbs and bad carbs. The glycemic index of a food is what counts. The glycemic index is how much a food increases blood sugar compared to the amount that same quantity of white bread would increase blood sugar.

A spike in the blood sugar or glucose, signals the pancreas to make more insulin. The insulin's job is to get the sugar out of the blood stream into the organs for energy or into storage. The body stores glucose as fat. Keeping the blood sugar from spiking means less insulin is produced which means the sugars are absorbed slowly resulting in a steady level of decreasing sugar levels rather than a rush. Low blood sugar leads to cravings for sugary foods and over eating. And the cycle starts again.

Bad carbs spike the blood sugar. Good carbs don't. Good carbs are those from foods which contain a lot of fiber, such as whole grains or contain fiber and water such as fruit. The body takes longer to digest the good carbs so they enter the blood stream more slowly.

The longer food takes to digest the better. For example a piece of raw broccoli is better than cooked because your body has to work harder to digest the raw broccoli. The faster carbohydrates are digested, the more quickly they're turned into sugar – glucose, and the more likely they will be turned to stored fat.

Fiber, protein and fats slow down the digestive system which means the blood sugar rises slowly and falls slowly. The tendency to over eat is diminished and the onset of hunger delayed.

The South Beach Diet limits fats and oils and encourages the consumption of lean cuts of meat and low fat cheeses. Vegetables and fruits are allowed after the initial phase I - two week period. Whole grains can be added back including whole grain bread. White breads, cookies, cakes, rice, potatoes, and sugar are off limits except for special occasions.

The South Beach Diet is a change in eating patterns for life, but other than the forbidden processed foods, white flour, and sugar, the diet is reasonably manageable. It allows a broader selection of foods than the Atkins diet.

Walk Off the Weight

Exercise combined with a few changes in your diet can melt off the pounds in no time. But if you think exercise means hours sweating in the gym, think again. As with any new exercise program check with your doctor before proceeding.

Studies have shown that walking at a brisk pace has the same benefits to your heart as jogging, with less stress to your joints. Walkers are less prone to injuries than joggers. A brisk pace means that you can talk while you’re walking without gasping for air. If you can sing a tune you’re going too slow. You should be able to keep up the pace for 30 to 60 minutes without a lot of stress.

If your goal is to lose a pound a week you have to either increase your exercise to burn up 3500 calories or decrease your food intake by 3500 calories. On a daily basis that means a change of 500 calories. Walking a mile takes the average person 15 minutes and burns up 100 calories. So you’d have to walk about five miles a day, or spend an hour and fifteen minutes walking to lose a pound a week.

You don’t need a lot of expensive equipment to start walking. A good pair of walking shoes is essential, but other than you don’t need much of anything else. Wear loose clothing of natural fibers so if you sweat, the moisture will be wicked away from your body and evaporate. Wear sun block and a hat.

You can walk at any time of day (or night for that matter). Some people prefer the morning because it gives them a boost of energy for the day. Others prefer at the end of the day so they can unwind.

Start your walking program with a 15 minute walk for a few days in a row. Then gradually increase the time by five minutes. By the end of two weeks you should be up to 30 to 45 minutes a day. You’re burning 200 to 350 calories without any changes in your diet. After six months you’ll have lost from 12 – 20 pounds. If you want to accelerate the weight loss, walk faster, cover more ground in the same amount of time.

If you decrease the amount of food you eat by 200 calories a day you double the weight loss. 200 calories isn’t really that much of a sacrifice. For example regular salad dressing has about 100 calories per tablespoon; a serving size is two tablespoons, so substituting nonfat salad dressing would save 200 calories. A 3.5 inch bagel with two tablespoons of cream cheese is about 400 calories. Eat half of the bagel instead of the whole one, and you’ve saved your 200 calories. A glass of whole milk is 150 calories, skim milk is 90, if you drink 3 glasses of milk a day you save 180 calories by switching to skim.

There you have it: an easy way to lose weight, increase your fitness level and strengthen your cardiovascular system and all you did was take a walk.

Lose Weight: Join a Fitness Center

Joining a fitness center can motivate you to stick with your weight loss program. But there are so many to choose from, how can you narrow down the field?

Determine what your goals are for your fitness program.

Do you want to lose weight, get in shape for an athletic event, improve your chosen sport or establish a life long fitness routine? Knowing what you want from a center will help you choose the right center. Take a few minutes and think about your goals.

Friendly or firm -- philosophy counts

Do you want a congenial atmosphere where the trainers are your friends and gently motivate you towards a fitter and firmer body? Or do you need the no nonsense 'let's get going' approach? Or perhaps you prefer the camaraderie of your peer group pushing you to greater fitness. The atmosphere of the center will influence your enjoyment of the program and if you enjoy the program you'll be consistent in your attendance.

Visiting the center's website will give you some insight into the center's philosophy. Better yet visit the center itself. While you're there take a moment and look at the members and the interaction between the members and the instructors.

Location, location, location

It's important in real estate and it's important for your fitness center. Choose a center that offers what you want and what you need, but also consider its location. If you have to travel out of your way, the odds are you won't do it when you need it the most. Pick a center that is either close to home or close to work. That way you can work in your work out without spending as much time traveling to it as you spend using it.

You gotta have it

If racquet ball is your favorite sport, then your fitness center has got to have racquet ball courts. If your heart is set on circuit training then the right equipment and instructors have got to be available. If swimming is your preferred method of getting fit, make sure your center has a lap pool. You might think it doesn't matter, but in the long run, it will. You will be more likely to make excuses not to go, if the center doesn't offer what you need.

Amenities

Spa, massage, swimming pool, sauna, and Jacuzzi are all wonderful amenities but will you use them? And will they be available when you want to use them? While the appeal of having the day's tensions and stress massaged away sounds wonderful, will you actually the service? Or would onsite day care be more useful to you? Most centers have busy time periods before the work day and after work, will the amenities you want to use be too busy? If your idea of the ideal workout includes a steam and sauna followed by a quick refreshing dip in the pool, make sure your center has them.

Show me the money

Memberships fees can range from a few dollars a visit to thousands per year. Make sure the center you choose fits within your budget.

Think Your Way Thin

Can you really lose weight just by thinking about it? Well studies have shown that athletes can improve their game through the technique of visualizing the correct sequence of muscle movements. During the process of visualization it seems that even though the muscles don’t move, the brain sends electrical impulses that mimic the impulses sent when the action is physically carried through. Practicing by thinking about it.

People who want to lose weight are often their own worst enemy. Looking in the mirror they chide themselves for their flabby thighs or stomach over hanging the belt. They don’t see that they’ve lost weight, they just see how much more weight they should lose. This mind set just re-enforces their poor self image. Then when a cookie beckons, they figure why not, they’re fat and flabby anyway.

Want to know a better thought process? Think of your body the way you want it to be. If you have a picture of your former thinner self, use it as a guideline. That’s the real you. Whenever you’re tempted by a double chocolate brownie think of the thin you.

You can use your mind to control your eating habits. If you’re tempted to eat, just delay gratification for 15 minutes. In most cases when the time has passed, so has the craving.

Visualization can be used as a substitute for eating. Think of a place where you feel safe and happy. Perhaps it’s the beach with the waves rhythmically pounding the shore, the sand underfoot, and the sun glistening off the water. Smell the salt air and feel the cool breeze ruffling your hair. When you feel an eating binge coming on, close your eyes and picture your safe place. You are turning your attention away from the momentary satisfaction of eating to the longer term satisfaction of losing weight by focusing on a pleasant memory.

Remind yourself you are in control of your food, not the other way around. Give yourself permission to have whatever you want. Deprivation as a diet doesn’t work. It’s like when someone says DON’T think of a pink elephant, the first thing you think of is -- the pink elephant. If you tell yourself: I can’t have pizza, I can’t have pizza, I can’t have pizza, the more you’ll want the pizza. Give yourself permission to have the pizza, but just a small taste. Thank about what you like best about the pizza. Savor the crispy crust, the tang of the tomato sauce and the flavor of the cheese, then stop eating. You’ve had the taste of pizza, you don’t have to eat the entire portion.