4 Components of Weight Loss

            It is never too early or late to lose weight if you are overweight or obese. Even if you became obese at a young age, you can change habits now and lose weight! It takes determination, discipline and hard work, but the rewards are countless! One of the biggest benefits of weight loss is having less pain, including back pain. Moreover, it is easier to prevent obesity than to treat it. So if you have found yourself 10 or 20 lbs overweight, start working to reverse the trend. Otherwise that could turn to 50 or 100 excess pounds that you never expected to have.

4 Components of Weight Loss  

1. Change in mindset. Admit that food controls you and recognize why you overeat. Until you know what your problem is, you cannot fix it. 

2. Change in activity level. You must increase your daily amount of activity and exercise in order to lose weight. No pill or diet by itself can replace the benefits of regular exercise. 

3. Change in eating habits. You cannot eat the same amount or kinds of foods that you have been eating and lose weight. Look at your eating habits and start to modify them. 

4. Perseverance over time. There is no easy way to lose a lot of weight, no matter what the ads may say. It takes time and hard work. Do not give up! Keep working at it and you will succeed. Find the help you need, whether it is an exercise partner, a weight loss group, a gym membership or an appointment with a nutritionist or dietitian. 

Most importantly, do not leave out any of these four components or you are less likely to get the weight off and keep it off.  Do not forget to consult your physician about your weight, in case it is related to a medical problem.

Additional reading on WEIGHT LOSS:

http://thinklikeapt.blogspot.com/2012/04/weight-loss-perseverance.html

Making Weight Loss A Priority

What are the priorities in your life? If you want to seriously lose weight, it will not happen unless it becomes one of your top priorities every single day. Look at those who are very successful in a sport, hobby or activity. They have prioritized practicing and training in that area in order to reap the benefits. Michael Jordan did not become great by practicing 30 minutes per day. 

Prioritizing weight loss means sacrificing other things. Consider how you use your time outside of work. Write it down! How much time do you actually sit on the couch every night? As much as you like your favorite TV shows, they do not care about you or your health. You also must sacrifice some or all of your favorite foods. Every time you choose the better food alternative, you are saving calories! And every time you choose exercise or activity, you are burning more calories.

Do you know anyone who is obsessed with exercise? They may be extreme, but at least they understand the endless benefits of fitness. It is not hard to become an exercise addict; it just takes consistency for several weeks. Once you go to the gym every weekday for 4 weeks, it becomes a habit. One of the greatest benefits of exercise is that it motivates you to eat better. Why work out so hard if you are going to eat McDonald's for supper and negate all the exercise you just did?

There is a breaking point that must be reached in your weight battle: you finally take responsibility for your weight and choose to do whatever it takes to win. When people ask me about weight loss, I can immediately tell how serious they are by their response to this question. "What are you doing to lose weight?"

Response 1: "Well... I am trying to eat better." (I guarantee you are not that serious)

Response 2: "I joined the gym, so I go when I can." (not serious)

Response 3: "Weight loss pills." (not serious--sorry)

Response 4: "I am trying Atkins this time around." (somewhat serious but likely yo-yo dieting)

Response 5: "I am doing Weight Watchers and I go to the gym 6x/week for 1 hour." (very serious)

Response 6: "I do cardio every day for 45-60 minutes, I do strength training 5x/week, I work with a personal trainer and I am on a 2000 calorie/day diet for the next 3 months." (best answer)

What things are keeping you from achieving your weight loss goals? How can you overcome them?!!!

Weight Loss Struggles

As you get on board the weight loss train, give yourself a break sometimes. It is not easy to stick to a healthy diet and exercise routine! I am not overweight, but I struggle with snacking, as I suspect most of you do also. When I am home and the kids are asleep, it is so easy to find something to munch on even though I truly have no reason to eat. I'm not hungry, and it's not time for my mid-afternoon snack; I just feel like going to the pantry and finding something sweet to snack on. Chips don't tempt me at all. I could have 3 bags of potato chips in my pantry for years and I would not open them. But put some Oreos or Snickers in my pantry, and they will disappear in hours or days. Or put turtle tracks ice cream in my freezer, and it will be gone by midnight.

All this is to say that everyone struggles with healthy choices. Exercise is something I love, so it is not hard for me to go to the gym. Actually, it's harder for me to stay home instead of working out (I'm a little hyperactive). But maybe exercising is the part of your diet that you have struggled to maintain. Or maybe you struggle with an active lifestyle because all your hobbies involve sitting. You sit at work and you love movies and video games. Whatever your problem area is, you can overcome it! You might need a friend to help or a support group. But don't keep your feelings inside. Probably there are people all around you that struggle with the same thing. See if you can find someone who has the same difficulty so that you can help each other.

Some things are struggles in the mind; you want to eat but your mind says not to. Often, food wins because you do not even go to battle with it. You are not willing to fight against your cravings; you simply give in to them as soon as they appear. Next time you are tempted to eat when/what you shouldn't, see how long you can fight. If it is 1 minute, that is better than yesterday. If it is 5 minutes, it is better than ever before. And if you go all day without it, you have learned the secret of self-control.

What is your biggest weight loss struggle? Post in comments below!

The Difference Between A Diet And A Healthy Lifestyle

Most diets work (at least temporarily) if you stick to them. But why don't they work in the long run? Because they are unrealistic! Eating no carbs or no sugar or counting every calorie is not something most of us can do for a lifetime. It is tempting to do a crash diet because the results are faster. You may actually lose 10 lbs in 1 week. But years from now, which weight loss technique will put you at your target weight and keep you there?

A healthy lifestyle "diet" is the best way to lose weight and to maintain the weight loss. It is not really a diet at all but a modification of your eating, exercising, activity levels and thinking.

Eating is obviously the first thing that changes with a healthier lifestyle. My recommendation is to eat 6 small meals per day. Breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch, mid-afternoon snack, supper, evening snack. This is realistic because you probably enjoy snacking and do not want to feel hungry all the time. It is easy to divide up your larger meal in order to save some of it for your next snack. For example, instead of having a sandwich, apple, and yogurt for lunch, just eat the sandwich for lunch and save the apple/yogurt for a few hours later. Other areas to modify are eliminating sodas and sugary drinks, decreasing portion sizes, drinking more water, decreasing fried foods, and the list goes on.

Exercising must be added to your life in order to have a healthier lifestyle and to lose weight. Start with 20-30 minutes per day of cardio in order to start a new habit of daily exercise! It will become a habit if you do it regularly for several weeks. Pretty soon you will add in more strenuous cardio workouts and strength training. Both cardio and strength training are key to losing weight and boosting your metabolism.

Your general activity levels must increase if you want to lose weight and keep it off. So take a look at your daily routine and see how much sitting you do. If you sit most of the day, then your lifestyle is too sedentary, and you need to add in more standing/walking activities. The sky is the limit on what you can do standing up. Almost anything you do seated can be done standing. So see what you can modify in order to be up on your feet more throughout every day!

Lastly, your thinking must change in order to improve your eating, exercising and activity levels. What has your attitude toward these been? Do you eat because you are hungry or just because it is there? Do you eat too much because you are lonely or upset? Do you watch too much TV when you know there are other things that are better for you? Why do you make excuses for not exercising? Take control of each of these areas in order to have control over your own weight!


"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"  -Philippians 4:13 (NKJV)

12 Ways To LOSE WEIGHT

1. Drink more water! It is calorie-free and actually burns calories.
2. Eat more fruits/vegetables. Try to eat 5 servings every day.
3. Eat less red meat. Replace it with white meat, fish and/or legumes (pinto beans, kidney beans, lentils, etc).
4. Exercise more! Start a habit of exercise in your daily life. If you presently do not exercise, think of ways to exercise at least 1-2x/week. If you exercise 1-2x/week, work up to 4x/week. If you exercise 4x/week, work up to 6x! Try to do at least 30 minutes of exercise each time.
5. Eat less processed foods. They are full of preservatives and sodium.
6. Squat more! This will build up your leg strength and save your back! Squat whenever you reach down to the floor. Keep your back straight when you do.
7. Stand up straight. It will make you look taller!
8. Start off your morning with a healthy breakfast. Eat it soon after you wake up.
9. Take the stairs.
10. Park in the first parking place you see.
11. Don't lie down if you can sit. Don't sit if you can stand. Don't stand if you can walk. Don't walk if you can run. Some people are paralyzed and wish they could run. So don't take it for granted.
12. Find someone to work out with. You can motivate each other!

Healthier Dessert Options

Keeping your weight down is one of the best ways to prevent pain in your future! It helps to decrease wear and tear on your back and joints. So here are some ideas for tasty desserts that are a little healthier than usual.

1. Serve your favorite berries with some low-fat whipped topping and a graham cracker on the side.
2. Bake your cake mix using applesauce instead of oil. Instead of frosting, mix low-fat whipped topping with pudding mix (pistachio is my flavor of choice) and crushed pineapple. Be sure to fold in the whipped topping last.
3. Oatmeal raisin cookies made with margarine instead of butter.
4. Hot chocolate made with skim milk.
5. Make a parfait with fresh fruit and low-fat yogurt.
6. Top a few animal crackers with peanut butter and some sprinkles.
7. Pudding made with low-fat milk.
8. Cut out some calories from your pies by not eating the crust (I don't like pastry crust much anyways).
9. Make a fruit dip by mixing low-fat cream cheese with a little powdered sugar.
10. Homemade trail mix with dried fruit, granola, nuts, cereal, and/or a few chocolate chips.