Are Rapid Weight Loss Diets Safe?

Rapid weight loss diets are quite popular nowadays. If you're like most women who are trying to lose weight, then you probably want to have a slimmer figure as soon as possible. This is why these crash diets can be very tempting. However, are rapid weight loss diets really safe or is it better for you to stick to more gradual methods of shedding extra pounds? Read on to learn the various risks of rapid weight loss diets.

Protein Deficiency
When you undergo a diet for rapid weight loss, chances are you will be required to eat a very restricted diet. Unfortunately, most crash diets are only designed to make you lose pounds as fast as possible, without taking nutrition into consideration. This is why these diets are often lacking in essential nutrients such as protein. Some of the main functions of protein in the body include boosting your immune system and helping your cells grow.
When you are eating a diet that is lacking in protein, your body begins to look for other ways to get this nutrient. One of these ways is by digesting your muscle cells. Not only is this harmful to your body, but it also affects your appearance. Instead of a toned and slim figure, you end up with what's called a "skinny fat" body.
Protein deficiency also causes your hair to lose its strength. Therefore, your hair eventually becomes brittle and may even fall out.

Bone Damage
Most rapid weight loss diets are also deficient in certain vitamins and minerals that are essential to bone health, such as vitamin D and calcium. This is why crash diets can automatically increase your chance of developing osteoporosis. When you develop osteoporosis, your bones lose their strength and become susceptible to damages like fractures. Unfortunately, osteoporosis shows very little symptoms until the disease is at an advanced stage. In fact, the only way you can detect if you have the disease is by taking a bone density test. So if you regularly engage in rapid weight loss diets, then chances are you are also losing bone density while shedding pounds.

Heart Stress
Crash diets promise to make you lose weight in as little as a couple of weeks, but they don't tell you about how such weight loss can stress out your heart. As you know, your heart is a muscle that's responsible for pumping blood and supplying oxygen to the rest of your body. When you lose weight rapidly, your heart naturally has to make sudden adjustments with the blood and oxygen that it supplies. This adjustment can put plenty of stress on your heart, resulting in a higher blood pressure which can even result to heart failure.

Weight Gain
Even though some rapid weight loss diets can succeed in making you lose pounds in very little time, chances are you will gain the weight back after you have resumed your normal diet and lifestyle. This might be due to the fact that the pounds you lost are mostly from water weight instead of fats.


http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/weight-loss/are-rapid-weight-loss-diets-safe.html#b

5 Weight Loss Motivation Tips That Work

Stay Focused on Getting Slimmer and Staying that Way

“I’m going to be a fat blob on my wedding day!” The voice on the other end of the phone was desperate. “Can you help me?”

So Karen came to see me. “It’s always the same,” she told me. “I’m motivated for a few days and lose weight, then something happens. I gain everything – and more – back again! My wedding’s in three months! That should be motivation enough, but lately my weight’s been even more all over the place!”

Karen was right. Weight loss motivation is easy…at first. Rapid progress, compliments, wearing outfits you really want to, feeling more attractive, having more energy. All this positive feedback is motivating, captivating. Yet this weight loss ‘honeymoon period’ inevitably wanes. And then it can get tough.

Slim people do it! How?

Living as a slim person is a way of life. A healthy weight won’t be sustainable long-term if it requires constant positive feedback and the excitement of feeling newly slimmer.

“What do you mean: ‘Something happens’?” I asked Karen.

“Well, I might have a problem at work, or my kids wind me up, or I start worrying about being fat at my wedding!”

Ah, so Karen, like millions of people who struggle with their weight, was using food for emotional support as well as simply nutrition.

We had a simple goal, then. Karen needed to start thinking and behaving like a slim person long-term, up to and beyond her wedding. What follows are some of the approaches we used; you can ‘make them your own’ so they really work for you.

Tip 1: Think slim

This tip is about that all-important moment: What do you experience just before you eat something? Do you tussle with yourself? “I really shouldn’t… but I want to!” Do you imagine how the food will taste, even feel in the mouth? Or do you focus on the real consequences, rather than the temporary satisfactions of eating?

People who are overweight tend to imagine how food is going to taste and feel as they eat. In contrast, people who naturally ‘eat slim’ tend to imagine how that pie or cake will feel heavy in their stomachs for so long after they’ve eaten it. Jumping from a great height might feel fun whilst it lasts, but the consequences that come after we hit the ground are what we consider when deciding not to do it.

So when you’re tempted to eat something you don’t need, practice imagining how your stomach is going to feel ten minutes or an hour after you’ve consumed that weight-increasing food. Keep it up until this becomes a natural habit for you.

Tip 2: Surround yourself with slim people

No, I’m not suggesting you dump all your less-than-slender friends. But research has shown that the average body type of the people with whom you hang out affects your weight and size (1). Start hanging around with slimmer, fitter types (perhaps at the gym) and your subconscious mind will pick up a new template for what is ‘normal’. Karen started hanging out and socializing with slim types at a jogging club.

Tip 3: Be fair to yourself

Imagine someone walks up a hundred steps but feels a bit tired, so they stop and step back down one step. They tell you bitterly: “Now I may as well forget this whole idea of reaching the top! I’ve totally blown it!”

What?! You’d think that was crazy, right? Acting as if all that progress, the 99 steps they did climb, never happened – because they had one slip! But people do this all the time when it comes to weight loss.

You lose weight, maybe four or five pounds, maybe much more. But you slip, have a bad day or a ‘weak moment’, and eat something you shouldn’t have. And what do you tell yourself? “I’ve completely blown it! Now I might as well really binge!”

Beware the perfectionism trap. Aim to eat sensibly and healthily most of the time, not all the time. We all consume more than we should of the wrong kind of food or drink now and then.

Everyone’s weight fluctuates a bit and you should prepare for this (once you’ve reached a healthy weight). Have a ‘sliding scale’ in your mind of a couple of pounds on either side of your target weight. No one can live for long under a self-imposed, too harsh dictatorship.

Tip 4: Weight loss is not a cure-all 

Sure, being healthier, fitter, and so on will have positive and maybe unexpected ripple effects. However, even as a slimmer person you’ll still have a bad day in the office, moments of self-doubt, or times when you feel undervalued.

Many people feel let down when they become slimmer and then find that being slim doesn’t solve all their problems in one go. They then revert to eating poorly again. Don’t fall into this trap.

You have lots of different needs which need to be fulfilled in life. Being slimmer, healthier, and fitter is just one of them.

Tip 5: Eat when you’re hungry

I know this sounds obvious, but eating sugary foods causes a subsequent crash in energy, leaving you wanting more sweetness. On the other hand, eating for slow energy release is a sustainable way to keep your weight loss motivation firing on all cylinders without you having to consciously think about it. For slow-release energy, eat protein with every meal alongside ‘good carbs’ such as whole grains, vegetables, fruits, and beans. This avoids the ‘crash and burn’ of sugar overdosing.

Karen walked down the aisle over six years ago. I still see her at my gym sometimes. She tells me that the happiest day of her life was so happy because she felt so healthy. The fact that she was slim was (and is) just a happy outer reflection of the changes she’s experienced in the ways she feels and thinks about food.

 Having an obese friend dramatically increases the risk of becoming similarly fat, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Obesity is ‘socially contagious’, spreading from person to person in a social network, researchers said. The study found that if one person becomes obese, those closely connected to them have a greater chance of becoming obese themselves. Surprisingly, the greatest effect was seen not among people sharing the same genes or household, but among friends.

 

http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/5-weight-loss-motivation-tips-that-work/

Make Your Skin Healthy and Looking Great after Losing Weight

Two affects that can come after a tight diet plan and losing weights are loose and wobbly skin which will make you look flabby. The reason for the flabby affect can be caused if the weight loss process is too drastic like from a fad diet plan (a temporary fast diet like the dukan diet and carbo diet plan).

We must know that skin has multiple fat layers on it. When there is a drastic loss of weight in a fast duration the body isn't getting enough time to synchronize to the new body form. Having a flabby slim and tight body isn’t a nice thing to see. But if you don’t want any of this to happen then you must know several things before you start a tight diet plan.

1. Start it at a young age

If you have an overweight problem since the age 20 years old then you must consider having a diet plan when you are still at a young age. With the increase of your age the skin will have more difficulty to synchronize with your body because the decrease of the elastic levels. Make sure you have a diet plan because of a “healthy” reason and not because a “fashion and looks” reason. This way you’ll be motivated to have a healthy body diet plan.

2. Lose your weight slowly

Short-term diet plans are more to burn the muscles than the fats. The impact is the metabolism disorder and could make your body weak in the long term. Don’t do a lose weight diet plan in a hurry. Do it in a slow and routine manner. Add some weightlifting in your workout sheet because it will make your skin tighter and build your muscles.

3. Combine it with massage

A perfect and targeted massage would help tighten the skin and muscles. Do routine massage once every 2 weeks. Make sure the massage is done by trained experts and massage staff so it would make an effective result.

4. Drink lots and lots of water

Water is known for the capability to retain and improve the skins elastic level. Drink a minimum 2 liters of water in a day. Water is also good to help you lose your weight and makes your stomach full without calories.

5. Be aware of your food nutrition

High protein foods like low-fat milk and fish are rich for collagen that has been known to retain the skins elastic levels. Fruits and vegetables are also good to help the weight loss process and tighten up the skin.

6. Avoid the Yoyo Diet Plan

One thing you must realize is the “wrong diet plan and an over tight diet plan could ruin your skins elastic levels”. These kinds of diet plans also reduce the skins capability to get back to what it was. So remember to avoid the yoyo diet plan, keep up the food nutrition and have a routine workout.

http://smartgirltips.com/tips-to-make-your-skin-healthy-and-ideals-after-losing-weights.html

Benefits of Healthy Living on Your Longevity

We all want to live longer, well most of us. While there is no guaranteed way to live to 100 there are habits you can choose to do to make your chances higher! Choose the path of a centenarian and adopt these healthy lifestyle changes. Learn the benefits of healthy living on your longevity.

Healthy living benefits are not just limited to a sizzling bikini body. The benefits of a healthy lifestyle include helping you live longer. Learn more on how simple healthy lifestyle changes can benefit your life span.

What Smoking Does To Your Life Span

Ditch the smoke to live longer. People who smoke take at least 10 years off their life expectancy, a new study has found. On the other hand, those who kick the habit before age 40 reduce the excess risk of death associated with continued smoking by about 90%, according to the study in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine. “Smoking is the No. 1 preventable cause of death in the U.S.,” says Tim McAfee, a co-author of the study. “We need to do more to educate the American people about these findings,” adds McAfee, director of the Office on Smoking and Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Every Hour of Exercise Is More Hours To Your Life Span

Regular, moderate physical activity such as brisk walking can increase life expectancy by several years, even for people who are overweight, a new large study shows. While higher levels of activity were linked to even longer life expectancy's, moderate activity was beneficial, according to the study of people ages 40 and older. The benefit of exercise was seen regardless of people’s weight, age, sex and health conditions such as heart disease and cancer. 

Weight and Life Span

Benefits of healthy living include a lower weight and therefore a longer potential life span. ”Excess weight shortens human life span,” study researcher Gary Whitlock of the Clinical Trial Service Unit at the University of Oxford says in a written statement for WebMD’s weight loss and diet plans. “In countries like Britain and America, weighing a third more than the optimum shortens life span by about three years. For most people, a third more than the optimum means carrying 20 to 30 kilograms (or 50 to 60 pounds) of excess weight. If you are becoming overweight or obese, avoiding further weight gain could well add years to your life.”

Healthy Diet and Longevity

The benefits of healthy living when paired with a healthy diet can promote longevity. In order for you to increase your longevity, you first have to accept the challenge of healthy eating. You need to realize the importance of putting the right things in your body. Healthy eating is your all-in-one-pharmacy, on a plate. This is because you can effectively fight, and prevent, diseases if you eat healthy foods. It is a known fact that most diseases today are caused by an unhealthy diet. Also, I’m sure that you know that healthy eating habits are the key to losing weight. Another major benefit of healthy eating habits is increased energy levels. You can become more productive, and socially active, if you will only stick to healthy foods. You can also invest in an antioxidant rich supplement to fill in any nutrition gaps.

http://healthylivinglifestyles.org/2013/09/03/benefits-of-healthy-living-on-your-longevity/

Motivation For Weightloss

Meditation is a centuries-old method for clearing the mind and calming the body. A few decades ago, it was known only as an Eastern religious practice or as mysteriously bohemian (The Beatles, for example, were avid meditators). Now, meditation has gone mainstream. Recommended as a stress-reducing technique by hospitals and doctors across the country, its myriad benefits include reduced blood pressure, healthier arteries and an enhanced sense of well-being. With all these benefits going for it, meditation is an ideal tool for relaxation and self-discovery on the way to your weight goal. 

Breathing Your Way to Peace and Thinner Thighs?
"The very core place to start is the breath," says Alison Shore Gaines, a holistic counselor at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, Massachusetts. In her "Conscious Eating for Sacred Nourishment" workshops, Gaines teaches students to take five deep breaths before eating. "A lot of times when we eat habitually, we get poised for action we lean in and the tummy gets tight and we get ready to shovel," she says. Taking five breaths relaxes the body and clears the emotional palate. "This way people enjoy their food, they really taste it, they really see it and they eat less because they're enjoying more and going slower," adds Gaines.

Before you get too excited, though, remember: Meditation is not a quick fix. "You can't just magically sit down and meditate and tomorrow have no weight on your body," says DeDe Lahman, a certified yoga instructor and body image lecturer in New York City.

A Practice of Presence
Of course, a meditation practice involves more than a few deep breaths. But it is simple not easy, but simple. "Meditation is about stopping and being present, that is all," writes Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., in Wherever You Go, There You Are; Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life (Hyperion, 1994). He adds, "Mostly we run around doing. Are you able to come to a stop in your life, even for one moment? Could it be this moment? What would happen if you did?"

What happens on the physical level is what Dr. Herbert Benson, M.D., the Harvard doctor who initiated meditation studies in the 1970s, calls the "Relaxation Response." He discovered that during meditation, brain waves shift into a state similar to and sometimes more relaxed than sleep. This level of relaxation lowers the amount of stress hormones that cause pain and illness.

Meditation can also clear a foundation for healthier thinking and feeling. "When you meditate, all the junk comes up, all the clutter," says Lahman. "The negative body images come up, the desires for certain foods come up and the emotions that are attached to those desires come up. The more they surface, the more you can put them in your mental recycle bin and start with a clean slate," she adds.

http://www.diettalk.com/forums/showthread.php/30448-Motivation-for-weightloss

Sauna Suit Weight Loss – Do They Really Help?

For many years sauna suits have been a quick solution in weight loss. The sauna suit has been successful because its ability to help rid the body of water trapped at cellular level. Those of us who have used these suits before have noticed results in no time.

The Reason they work so well is because it gives you the same effect as you would have if you were in a sauna. We all know when using these garments we sweat a great deal. The good thing is, when we perspire we detox our bodies and that maintains are immune system. We will go through a couple solid benefits of sauna suits below in this article.

Here’s A Couple of Sauna Suit Benefits

Fat Loss - When working out in a sauna suit it adds intensity to your workouts. The reason for this is it raises core temperature making you work twice as hard. When core temperature is raised due to these suits, it allows calories to be burned at a greater rate which in turns meaning more fat being burned.

Increased Metabolism – We know that the sauna suit increases core temperature, but as it increases core temperature it in return promotes blood flow. When blood flow is increased, the transport of nutrients throughout the body is at a greater pace. One of the top sauna suit benefits is that it increases your metabolism.

Detoxification Process – When wearing a sauna suit one of the benefits that we gain from these garments is the cleansing of the body that it provides. As our temperature rises during exercise we start to perspire. When we sweat the pores of our skin open and the release of toxins in our body are carried away. So wearing a sauna suit benefits you by aiding in the detoxification of the body.

Increases Blood Flow – By using sauna suits during exercise or just wearing them in general, it has a significant effect on blood circulation. One benefit that increased blood flow has is it transports nutrients in the body and injuries are healed faster. This happens because oxygenated fresh blood is carried to muscles. So sauna suits benefits you by aiding in the process of healing as well.

The Cure For Fluid Retention – Fluid retention know as (edema) is when fluid is not removed from the body and is stored at cellular level. These fluids come from a high sodium intake and for women it occurs during menstrual cycles. Complications cause swelling of several different body parts such as the hands, feet and ankles. Wearing a sauna suit benefits you in the process of eliminating fluid retention held by the cells and the skin.

Conclusion of Sauna Suit Benefits

As discussed above there are numerous sauna suit benefits but if not used correctly they can cause serious health conditions as well. If it is not used properly they can cause dehydration, cramps, vomiting and in serious cases death. So remember always stay hydrated and before using them, always consult with your physician.

http://exxtremeathletics.com/sauna-suit-benefits-do-they-really-help/

6 Real Weight Loss Motivation Tips to Help You Make the Most of Your Weight Loss Program

When you are beginning a new weight loss program (or trying to make your current weight loss program work for you) it can be a big help to have some handy tips to help you along. A weight loss program is almost always a huge undertaking for a lot of people and as such breaking down your program is going to break down your work and it’s going to make sticking to your weight loss program a lot easier for you to stick to, and thus a lot more effective!

Weight Loss Motivation Tip #1: Get Real! This is the first weight loss tip you’re going to see in any article claiming weight loss tips. It’s because setting unrealistic goals in your weight loss program is the most common error that deters a lot of people from really sticking with it. While it’s good to have an ultimate goal, you want to set smaller goals for you to meet along the way. Setting smaller goals allows you to achieve them and get ever closer to your ultimate goal. Baby steps is the key to any weight loss program. You have to learn to crawl before you can walk right?

Weight Loss Motivation Tip #2: Preparation! Preparation! Preparation! This is the most painful part at the start of any weight loss program, but it’s one of the best things to do to get you started on your path to weight loss. It’s time to get rid of your potato chips, your Coke, your hidden treasure trove of chocolate, and anything else you might have stashed away. Having this stuff around makes it way too easy for you to cheat while on your weight loss program, and unless you are a self-control machine then there’s no way you’re going to meet the goals you’ve set for yourself unless you take the precautionary steps to remove temptation. Make a list of the healthy foods you need and stock them in mass quantities. If you’re worried about healthy food not tasting as good, look up some health food recipes because there is good stuff out there!

Weight Loss Motivation Tip #3: A Rewarding Weight Loss Program is a Successful Weight Loss Program. It’s something you’ll learn in any first year psychology class, human beings naturally excel at tasks when there is tangible or periodic reward. You want to buy that new CD that just came out? Well if you meet your next goal then treat yourself to your favourite music. Beware with rewards though, don’t reward yourself with junk food, you’ve gotta stick to that weight loss program!

Weight Loss Motivation Tip #4: The Most Important Meal of The Day! You’ve heard the saying so many times about Breakfast being the most important meal of the day, but why do people say that all the time anyway? It’s because it’s true. Your breakfast provides you with the energy to keep going through the day, and eating a healthy breakfast will actually help you with your weight loss. When you don’t eat breakfast it actually tricks your body in to believing that it could be starving and so it goes in to a mode which not only will hinder your self control around junk food, but it will also try and guard against the burning of precious fats and calories in your body (because you need that stuff to survive if you happen to be starving!) Always make sure to eat a complete breakfast! It really is the most important meal of the day!

Weight Loss Motivation Tip #5: Don’t Just Eat Healthy, ACT Healthy! Hopefully your weight loss program already includes something about getting plenty of exercise. It’s important to complement your weight loss program with a healthy dose of exercise. In fact, it’s one of the big factors that can make or break your weight loss program. The fact is that if you can stick to a weight loss program which involves a proper diet and exercise, no matter what program it is, you WILL lose weight! It’s what your body needs!

Weight Loss Motivation Tip # 6: So You Like To Sleep? That’s Good! 7-8 Hours of Sleep per night. That’s what the average adult needs each and every day. It keeps your body working in perfect order, it repairs all parts of your body and mind intact and you need to keep both of those at your best in any weight loss program! If you can follow these six simple tips, I have no doubt that you’re going to see some results in trying to lose weight! The power to lose weight is in your hands though, you’ve got to be the one that makes you stick to both these tips and your own personal weight loss program, if you can do that then you’re going to lose weight! Good Luck!

http://www.weightlossecretstore.com/weight-loss-program/6-real-weight-loss-tips-to-help-you-make-the-most-of-your-weight-loss-program/

Speed Counts in Losing Post-Pregnancy Weight

If you do not return to pre-pregnancy weight in six months, chances are you will keep those pounds, explains Dr. Judith Reichman

Q: I’m pregnant with my first child, and I’m worried that pregnancy will permanently — and badly — affect my body and how much I weigh. Can you tell me what it will do?

A: One of the biggest worries of my pregnant patients — after their concern about the well-being of their baby and the potential trauma of delivery — is post-pregnancy weight.

If you gain more than the recommended 20 to 25 pounds during pregnancy, or if you don’t lose the extra weight within six months of delivery, you are statistically likely to carry an extra 20 pounds, 10 years later. If you are overweight to begin with, that number is even higher. The six-month window for losing pregnancy weight seems to be critical.

During pregnancy, placental hormones increase your appetite and foster fat accumulation. This fat provides calories for the developing baby and later for the production of breast milk, which is 50 percent fat.

Once the baby is born, you must stop eating for two and start exercising. Most women can safely exercise — even swim — within four to six weeks. Obviously, if you have had an episiotomy, wait to get on a bicycle seat or exercise equipment that applies too much pressure until it has healed, usually within six weeks.

Breastfeeding expends about 500 calories a day (and is the healthiest way to nourish the baby for the first year). So breastfeeding will give you a weight advantage over bottle-feeding.

Breasts: That brings up another big concern — breast firmness. In general, firmness does diminish postpartum.

If you are breastfeeding, it is hard to assess what your breasts will look like when you stop. They will almost certainly become smaller. It is unclear whether breastfeeding — in addition to pregnancy — changes the contour of the breast or promotes droopiness.

Tummy: Then there is abdominal laxity (looseness). This depends on several factors — the size of the baby, how much weight you gained, whether you are prone to abdominal obesity.

This is another reason to lose weight in that six-month postpartum period. If you don’t, fat will stay in the abdominal area, possibly increasing your future risk for insulin resistance, diabetes and coronary disease.

The loss of abdominal elasticity and the presence of stretch marks depend on the degree of abdominal distention during the pregnancy. A big baby or multiple babies will take a greater toll.

As for that “poochy” abdominal roll that makes you look pregnant despite the fact that you now have a baby, it should go away with appropriate diet and exercise. For women who still retain belly fat after a year, liposuction or abdominoplasty are options — but only for those who don't want to bear more children.

Stretch marks: There is also a genetic component to stretch marks. They can arise from hormonal changes that occur fairly early in the pregnancy. If your mother or sister developed stretch marks, you are also likely to. Unfortunately, creams and moisturizers don’t prevent these marks. Postpartum stretch marks are usually permanent, though some data suggests that retinoids, or Vitamin-A-derivative creams or gels, soften their appearance. Laser treatments can also help.

Other effects: There are also other temporary bodily changes that accompany pregnancy. Increased pigmentation down the center of the abdomen creates a darkened “linea nigra.” It will fade.

Some women get varicose veins, caused by a combination of pregnancy hormones and pressure from the enlarged uterus and baby in the pelvis. The severity of these varicosities will decrease after the hormones and pressure are gone, but some degree of venous expansion usually remains. If this remains bothersome and you won't be having more children, you can consult a dermatologist or vein specialist about possible laser treatments or “collapsing” vein injections.

Women often notice hair loss within two to six months after giving birth. Handfuls of hair come out in their comb or brush as their hair follicles adapt to the fall in hormones. The hair will grow back.

Dr. Reichman’s Bottom Line: Re-establishing good eating and exercise habits in the six months after delivery is critical for your ultimate weight and health. There are some residual bodily changes from pregnancy, but these come with the territory and are definitely worth it.

http://www.today.com/id/6114200/ns/today-today_health/t/speed-counts-losing-post-pregnancy-weight/#.UiZBGTZwqSo

A Slimming Programme that Works for You

Getting Started

To start, keep a food diary based on what you usually eat and simply record every single mouthful that passes your lips for a week. It might sound tedious, but it will make you realise just how much you’re eating and help to identify any areas where you can make little changes to shift those pounds.

You may also find it helpful to keep a note of how you felt before eating. Was it because you were hungry? Was it to satisfy boredom, tiredness, unhappiness or another emotion? Or did you simply eat out of habit?

Identifying those times when you eat when you’re not really hungry will give you the opportunity to find other ways to deal with these situations rather than reaching for food. For example, if your food diary helps you realise that you eat when you’re bored, you can work towards beating boredom without using food, such as having a bath, going for a walk or phoning a friend for a gossip. Similarly, if your food diary reveals that you often eat out of habit, for example, by going straight to the fridge when you get home from work, you can look at ways to break or change those habits, for example, by heading straight for the fruit bowl!

Keeping on track

The key to continuing to lose weight is to keep your slimming and exercise programme fresh. If you eat the same foods day in and day out and only ever do the same activities, boredom will quickly set in with the result that you’ll be tempted to give up. When it comes to food, this might mean investing in a recipe book to try some new dishes or experimenting with different foods. For example, you could make it your weekly mission to buy a fruit or vegetable you’ve never tried before, or cook vegetables in different ways, such as roasting carrots with a little spray oil rather than steaming them, or adding fresh coriander, chopped peppers and spring onions to your usual salad of lettuce, tomato and cucumber! There are lots of different ways to keep meals interesting – it’s simply a case of experimenting.

The same goes for exercise. It’s natural that you’ll get bored if you only ever do the same activities – and on top of this, you’re unlikely to get the most out of your workout. Your body needs to be continuously pushed in order to burn fat and tone muscle so it’s important that you keep pushing yourself. This might mean trying some different cardiovascular machines if you go to the gym, or increasing the intensity of your workout, such as walking for a longer distance in the same amount of time. Keep an eye out for new activities too, such as dance classes at your local community centre or a new aqua aerobics class at the swimming pool.

It’s also essential to keep yourself motivated. In the early stages of your plan, friends and family will probably keep telling you how well you’re doing and how great you look, but compliments may gradually start to slow down, especially as people get used to seeing a slimmer you. That’s why it’s essential for you to keep reminding yourself of your slimming successes to date – that might mean trying on an old item of clothing that’s now too big for you, comparing pictures of yourself when you were bigger with ones of yourself now or simply totting up how many pounds and inches you’ve lost in total. You may also find it helpful to give yourself non-food treats such as a new haircut, a nail varnish or a massage, every time you reach a new goal.

Reaching a plateau

It’s also important to avoid getting disheartened if you reach a plateau where your weight seems to stick for a couple of weeks at a time, despite all your best efforts. This is common, but the good news is it’s usually only a temporary problem. In the meantime, there are several things you can do to help get those pounds shifting again. Start by checking your portion sizes. After weeks of following a slimming programme, many of us feel confident enough to ditch the kitchen scales and start putting cereal into a bowl rather than weighing it, or pouring dressing onto salad straight from the bottle rather than measuring out 1tbsp. Simply going back to weighing out servings of foods like cereals, rice, pasta, meat, poultry and fish may be all that it takes to get those pounds shifting again.

You may also find it helpful to keep a notebook with you for a week detailing every single mouthful you eat each day. In the same way that portions can increase over time, you might find you’ve allowed more treats to creep into your programme which you’ve been forgetting to add to your food diary, such as having the odd cake in the office, treating yourself to a bar of chocolate once a week, nibbling on sweets while you’re driving or pouring yourself a larger drink than normal.

So now you’re armed with all the information you need, what are you waiting for? All you have to lose is those extra pounds – for the very last time!

https://www.weightlossresources.co.uk/slimming/programme.htm

The Benefits of Trampolining

As well as great fun for children, adults too will get hours of enjoyment and a good general full body workout from trampolines. We are sure that you will get endless hours of use year after year. Studies by NASA scientists show that rebounding on a trampoline is 68% more effective than jogging and yet requires less effort! You can also develop both upper and lower body strength just as effectively as weight lifting without the strain or threat of pulled or torn muscles. Rebounding on a trampoline has been shown to outperform swimming as an all round exercise.

The benefits of trampolining are:
Exercise through Play – it’s great fun and your body is benefiting!
Balance - trying to bounce in one place on a trampoline means you have to develop a keen sense of balance and awareness of how your body's balance can be adjusted (or compromised) by small movements at the body's extremities.
Co-ordination - closely related to balance is the need to coordinate arm and leg actions, as well as many fast-twitch muscle groups, necessary to form the different shapes and perform the various somersaults and twists.
Muscular strength and endurance - not only the lower body muscles but also the upper body muscles and your core muscles are worked when trampolining
Improved lung and cardiovascular efficiency - bouncing on a trampoline increases the pulse rate and strengthens muscle groups essential for a healthy cardiovascular system.
Bilateral motor skills - the action of bouncing whilst trying to maintain balance and coordinate bodily extremities calls on both sides of the body and, indeed, the brain to become engaged which is quite different to many ground based sports where one side can often be favoured (most notably in football for example).
Rhythm - again closely related but distinct is the need to bounce in tune with the trampoline to achieve optimum height for least effort.
Self-confidence - even those least confident with sports will find it possible to make some progress on the relatively forgiving surface of a trampoline and this progress will help boost confidence.
Improved lymphatic circulation - probably not quite as good as detoxing entirely but the short periods of weightlessness between periods of higher than average G forces that occur whilst bouncing actually helps the body get rid of toxins; physical activity and gravity effects are essential to the lymphatic system achieving this and both are more actively engaged when trampolining than with almost any other sport.
Low impact - although bouncing is an impact sport the period of acceleration and deceleration is much longer than with activities such as jogging where the surface used has no give at all.

Trampolining is extremely easy and fun. Besides the obvious fitness benefits of trampolines, it works many major muscles, increases your heart rate and flexibility, and improves your reflexes. It develops your body balance and physical fitness, strengthens the body muscles, ligaments, tendons and improves body movement. Most importantly trampolining can eradicate obesity and promotes good health, which can also reduce the risk of arthritis.

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Weight Loss Guide and Waist Size

Many doctors now believe that when it comes to your health, your waist measurement is important.

While knowing your body mass index (BMI) is a good way to decide if you're overweight, it doesn't tell the whole story.

BMI is a measure of how healthy your weight is for your height.

If you have a high BMI, you're likely to be carrying extra fat. But your health could be at greater risk depending on where you store that fat.

Having a large amount of tummy fat (compared to fat around your bottom or thighs) makes you more likely to develop diabetes and heart problems.

A healthy waist circumference for men is less than 94cm (37 inches), and for women it’s less than 80cm (32 inches).

Losing weight and keeping it off isn’t easy, but it has many benefits. You may only need to make small changes to your lifestyle to maintain a healthy weight.

Why lose weight?

Obesity causes 9,000 premature deaths in England every year and reduces life expectancy by an average of nine years.

It's also linked to serious health problems and increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancers of the breast, colon and prostate.

Most people who are overweight can blame their excess weight on eating more calories than they burn.

That means there are two main options if you want to lose weight: eat less or do more physical activity. The best way to lose weight is a combination of the two.

Weight loss tips

You can reduce your risk of obesity-related health problems by losing weight through eating more healthily and doing more physical activity.

There are many articles to help you attain a healthy weight.

You can cut down on calories by making healthy food swaps in your everyday diet.

It’s not just small changes to your eating habits that can make a big difference. Getting more physical activity also helps you shed the pounds. You can do it simply in just 3 activity bursts each day.

Even if you're well on the way to your target weight, there'll be plenty of temptation to overindulge.

One excuse for choosing a quick, fat-laden supper is that healthy eating is expensive. Learning how to eat well on the cheap will help you save the pennies as well as calories.

Two-thirds of dieters regain all the weight they've lost within four years.

http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/men1839/Pages/weight-loss-tips.aspx