50 Weight Loss Tips – Day 4

Over the years, I’ve used several programs to help me loose weight.  To a certain extent, they were all beneficial and did help me to lose the weight – problem was, once I quit them I gained all the weight I had lost back, and then some.

But one thing that I found when I did attend the programs was the commaradarie that ensued.  Everyone there had the same problem, and when meetings came up we all shared our problems and there was always someone that found a way to (excuse the pun) lick the problem.  Everyone in the group was also willing to share their experiences.

Having a group that you can go to for support was fantastic.  I contribute much of my earlier weight loss success to having those groups.

Todays tip to help you lose weight, is simple – join an online (or offline) support group to share experiences with and strengthen your resolve which will help you to lose weight.

Group dynamics is a funny thing.  Because you’re interacting with a group of people that share a similar goal, and have similar problems the results of one individual will greatly impact the others in the group.  For example, when I was on Weight Watchers there was one person in our group who would consistently loose weight.  Everyone wanted to be like that person, so everyone tried much harder to lose weight for the next week.

Our group leader was a man that lost over 150lbs – everyone tried to emulate his success.

When any of these individuals spoke – we all listened.  While I am sure we wanted to hear the magic secret to loose weight, we all know now that there isn’t one.  Instead we were all encouraged by their success, which helped to fuel our desire to show the group that we CAN do it to.

There are many online, and offline groups out there.  You can find great lists by visiting sites like DMOZ, Google Directory or Yahoo Directory:

• http://www.google.com/Top/Health/Weight_Loss/Support_Groups/
• http://www.dmoz.org/Health/Weight_Loss/Support_Groups/
• http://dir.yahoo.com/Health/Weight_Issues/Weight_Loss/Support_Groups/

Due to the number of groups out there, it was not possible for me to research in time to provide you with a list of free groups.

Now some of the groups listed will be based on subscription, and there will be other free ones.  Don’t get the two confused thinking subscription is better.  If all you need is a place you can go and share your experiences – find a free group and stick with it.

If you want to talk, but also want premium resources then a paid service is for you.

If you currently belong to a weight loss support group, I would welcome you to share your observations with other visitors.  Promote your group and help others with their weight loss goals.

Here is to Your Health,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: diet buddy, online weight loss support group, weight loss support group

50 Weight Loss Tips – Day 3

Overview

• On Day 0, I introduced the topic of 50 Weight Loss Tips
• On Day 1, I introduce the first topic of 50 which was making lifestyle changes to promote weight loss.  The fact is that without lifestyle changes, you will not loose weight.  Loosing weight is more than diets – you need to promote weight loss on a daily basis for the long-term if you want to keep the weight off.  That is where lifestyle changes help you reach that goal.
• On Day 2, I asked you to Break Up With Ronnie, Leave the King And Ditch Those That Are Making Fast Moves On You!  What was it that I was really asking?  Simply to ditch the fast food to start your lifestyle changes, and work your way towards a healthy, maintainable weight.  Fast food contains a lot of calories, in addition there is enough sodium (salt) in one meal to meet your needs for the entire day!  Besides salt, look at the amount of fats contained in most fast food meals and you will see why eliminating this is a must if you want to get your weight down to something that is manageable.

Today is Day 3 of our series, 50 Weight Loss Tips and we will go over effective ways to satisfy your cravings without binging.

Effective Ways to Satisfy Cravings, Without Binging

What is Binge Eating?

I think we’ve all been there.  We get so disappointed with our weight, or the fact that we are not loosing weight that we loose all will power for a brief second… or hour and we eat anything and everything in sight. 

There is binge eating, and something called binge eating disorder.

Binge eating may happen occasionally – however if you find yourself gorging on food regularly, usually in secret you may have bing eating disorder.

According to the Mayo Clinic – when you have binge-eating disorder, you may be deeply embarrassed about gorging and vow to stop.  But you feel such a compulsion that you can’t resist the urges and continue binge eating.

How can you tell if you’re binge-eating versus having a binge-eating disorder?  They are both very similar in nature.  For instance, when most individuals start gorging they will tend to eat 10,000 to 20,000 calories worth of food!  Contrast that to a normal diet consisting of between 1,500 and 3,000 calories in one day.  You can see where the term binge-eating comes from.

Here are some common symptoms of binge-eating:

• Eating even when you’re full
• Eating rapidly during binge episodes
• Feeling that your eating behavior is out of control
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Frequent dieting without weight loss
• Frequently eating alone
• Hoarding food
• Hiding empty food containers
• Feeling depressed, disgusted or upset about your eating

There is some great information at Mayo Clinic on binge-eating disorder, you can view this information at http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/binge-eating-disorder/DS00608.

What has been the extent of your binge-eating?  Mine has typically been a soda pop or two, and perhaps a bag of chips.

Binge-eating, no matter what type is bad for you.

So how do you satisfy those cravings?

First off – understand what is a craving and what is habit.  For example if you’ve grown accustomed to eating a bag of chips 5x per day at set times then stop, chances are at those set times your body will want the food.  This is habit – but will lead to the craving which could lead you to binge-eating.

You don’t want that.

The answer to how to satisfy those cravings is simple.  Eat the food.  In moderation.

I enjoy potatoe chips, nachos etc., but what I did early on was to really control and try to substitute the crunchy, salty snack with something similar.  The result was baked pita.  Add a little light margarine to a pita, some spices and cut it up into bite sized bits then bake.  The result is great!

But pita doesn’t always cut it – so I would buy chips, but count out one serving.  This would be my treat, and it helped me control and restrict binge-eating.

Here are 5 Great Ways to Control Your Cravings:

1. When you feel a craving, try drinking water.  Water is too plain?  Crystal Light is great!
2. Have some soup.
3. Munch on vegetables, green is great but orange works as well (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots etc.,).
4. Fruit is good for your health – apples, bannanas work wonder to control appetite.
5. Pickles!!!  I take 3-5 pickles along with  1/4 cup of mixed veggies (pickled veggies) and some cheddar cheese.  Makes a GREAT snack and cures cravings!

Want more?  How about 10 MORE Ways to Control Your Cravings?  Check them out over at Readers Digest – http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/10-ways-to-control-your-cravings/article27417.html

Here are a few more tips from other readers:

• 50-100mL of 100% pure, not from concentrate, Cranberry juice mixed with 32 ounces of water. Maybe a little bit of lemon juice if you like.
• Peanut Butter and Celery. Saltine crackers, white rice. I remember reading that drinking one glass of water will fill you up because most people don’t realize that they’re actually thirsty vs. hungry.
• A banana and water always does the trick for me. If not a quick a PB sandwhich.
• Distraction is the key for me. When I’m bored I eat. When I’m stimulated and engaged with whatever the task at hand is, I can’t be bothered to eat. Mind you I have found it’s helpful to have some bits and pieces on hand, like nuts, dried fruit or whatever, to stem the low blood-sugar shakes. Given that my doctor (and my wife) keep nagging me about my weight, I guess it says quite a lot about the stimulation levels in my life over the last few years!
• Eat 3-5 smaller meals per day.Chewing gum.

What other tricks have you used to curb your cravings?

If you’re in Canada, you must remember the PARTICIPACTION commercials – well this blog works the same way.  If you get involved and post comments – it entices others to share their experiences which in turn helps everyone else lose weight and learn to keep it off.

I moderate all posts to eliminate the thousands of spam that I get

There are many things that you can do to make a BIG impact to your life.  What have you done?  What will you try to do?  I encourage your participation to help you lose weight and to motivate other readers to do the same!

If you found this post valuable, please consider DIGGing it, STUMBLEing it or promoting it through other social media that you may be using.

Here is to Your Health,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: binge eating disorder, binge-eating, lose weight, Weight Loss

50 Weight Loss Tips – Day 2

Yesterday I mentioned that loosing weight is not about going on lengthy, complicated diets but of making lifestyle changes that in turn promote healthy weight loss.  Long term weight loss, and maintenance are paramount to your success — this can only be accomplished when you make changes changes to the way you eat, and live.

You can’t pretend to make lifestyle changes, if it involves going to fast food 3, 4 or 5 times per week.  You can’t pretent to make lifestyle changes if it does not involve some level or activity.

The math is simple – to lose weight your intake of calories needs to be at an level that will promote weight loss — at the same time, you need to burn those calories as well so that you enhance your weight loss.  Just because you eat less then sit on the couch, in front of the TV or on the computer — the pounds will not come off magically.  There is no magic formula, or pill.

Todays weight loss tip is this…

Break Up With Ronnie, Leave the King And Ditch Those That Are Making Fast Moves On You!

What I’m getting at, of course, is to drop the fast foods.

Lets draw up a breakfast menu from McDonalds.  I have use the Canadian site to obtain nutrition information for their products.  This information is freely available on the Internet through their website.

Breakfast Menu

I selected a small hot chocolate, Bacon & Egg Bagel and one Hashbrown – what may be a typical breakfast for someone on the go.

The total calorie cound is 850 calories, but more startling is the grams of fat in this meal – 39g which represents 60% of your daily intake!  Another stunning number is the mg of cholesterol, the saturated + trans fats (DV) and sodium at 225mg, 53% and 1,720mg respectively.

The amount of saturated fats in this meal is 10g and trans-fats is a modest .5g.

Now just to jog your memory:

• Saturated & Trans Fats – according to the World Health Organization:The relationship between dietary fats and CVD, especially coronary heart disease, has been extensively investigated, with strong and consistent associations emerging from a wide body of evidence accrued from animal experiments, as well as observational studies, clinical trials and metabolic studies conducted in diverse human populations…Saturated fatty acids raise total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol…The most effective replacement for saturated fatty acids in terms of coronary heart disease outcome are polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic acid. This finding is supported by the results of several large randomized clinical trials, in which replacement of saturated and trans fatty acids by polyunsaturated vegetable oils lowered coronary heart disease risk. (World Health Organization, Population nutrient intake goals for preventing diet-related chronic diseases,5.4.4)

Some resources for you from the World Health Organization that talk about Saturated Fats:

• http://www.euro.who.int/HEN/Syntheses/obesity/20060713_10
• http://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/facts/obesity/en/

In short Saturated Fats are BAD FOR YOU!

Some resources on saturated fats, and trans fats:

• http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2003/503_fats.html
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/trans-fat/CL00032
• http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3045792

This is not to say that you would not get saturated fats from other sources, but if these fats are coming through normal cooking you have the ability to control how much is entering your diet – with fast foods you have no control.  Well that’s a lie, you do have control – STOP EATING FAST FOOD.

Now to be fair, McDonalds just announced that their cooking oil will be trans-fat free in the US and Canada – http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN2234307520080523 - this just appeared on the Thomson Reuters website.  Here is a brief excerpt of the story:

OAK BROOK, Illinois (Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp has switched to cooking oils free of trans fats in all of its restaurants in the United States and Canada, Chief Executive Jim Skinner said on Thursday.

 

The restaurants made the switch over the past few months, he said.

 

By the end of the year, McDonald’s pies and other baked goods will also be free of trans fats, Skinner told the company’s annual meeting.

 

Consumption of trans fats — often in the form of partially hydrogenated vegetable oils — increases the risk of coronary heart disease, according to health authorities.

But what about salt (or sodium)?  Sodium is needed by the body, however excessive amounts of sodium will contribute to high blood pressure.

According to the Mayo Clinic, 77% of the salt intake comes from processed and prepared foods.

So how much sodium do you really need?  According to the same story on the Mayo Clinic website:

Various organizations, including the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine, have published recommendations on daily sodium limits. Most recommend not exceeding the range of 1,500 and 2,400 milligrams (mg) a day for healthy adults. Keep in mind that the lower your sodium, the more beneficial effect on blood pressure.

In our sample breakfast menu above, we’ve already consumed 1,720mg of sodium — almost enough for the entire day in one meal!

Here is something else about sodium that I did not know:

Your kidneys regulate the amount of sodium kept in your body. When sodium levels are low, your kidneys conserve sodium. When levels are high, they excrete the excess amount in urine.

If your kidneys can’t eliminate enough sodium, the sodium starts to accumulate in your blood. Because sodium attracts and holds water, your blood volume increases. Increased blood volume, in turn, makes your heart work harder to move more blood through your blood vessels, increasing pressure in your arteries. Certain diseases such as congestive heart failure, cirrhosis and chronic kidney disease can lead to an inability to regulate sodium.

In order to effectively loose weight, and manage that weight loss over the long-term you need to make lifestyle changes — not diet.  Diets are temporary, whereas a lifestyle change is long-term and is an ongoing process.

One change you need to make is to slowly but surely eliminate fast food from your diet.  The only way to elminiate it, is to stop eating it.

Plan your meals in advance and prepare items at home the day or night before.  If you must opt for convenience foods, be aware of the contents of those foods so that you minimze your intake of saturated fats, trans-fats, and sodium.

By better monitoring what you eat, you can manage your lifestyle change for optimal weight loss.

We will be taking a break over the weekend, but will present to you with “50 Weight Loss Tips – Day 3″ on Monday May 26, 2008 where the topic of discussion will be “How To Satisfy Cravings Without Binging“.

There are many things that you can do to make a BIG impact to your life.  What have you done?  What will you try to do?  I encourage your participation to help you lose weight and to motivate other readers to do the same!

If you found this post valuable, please consider DIGGing it, STUMBLEing it or promoting it through other social media that you may be using.

Here is to Your Health,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: diet, eliminate fast food, fast food, Weight Loss

50 Weight Loss Tips – Day 1

50 Weight Loss Tips – Day #1 – Lifestyle Changes to Promote Weight Loss

On Day 1 of 50 Weight Loss Tips we look at what dieting really is.

You’ve probably read Garfield say “Diet is DIE with a T”.  He’s right.  It is.  So why think of it as a diet?  It’s not, really.

It’s more about LIFESTYLE CHANGES.

Consider this – your breakfast consists of fast food at around 1,000 calories.  Lunch is fast food, at minimum 1,200 calories, and dinner is around 2,000 calories.   You snack throughout the day – add atleast 1,000 calories.  For the day you’ve eaten 5,200 calories.

If you weight 300 lbs now, and you want to come down to 200lbs, and assuming that you will add enough exercise to qualify yourself as moderately active this is how many calories you need to eat in order to lose weight:

200 x 16 = 3,200 calories required to be eaten to get down to 200lbs.

Source: http://www.momscape.com/articles/how-many-calories-to-lose-weight.htm

So how will you cut down 2,000 calories?  Dieting?  Nope, because it is not going to work.  You are going to need to make some serious lifestyle changes.

You CAN NOT continue to eat out.  You must learn to cook at home, and make nutritious meals.  Your choices for snacks can’t be cake, cookies, chips or pop.  You need to eat healthy snacks that will promote weight loss.

By making lifestyle changes, you are changing your habits and putting yourself onto a long-term, successful track to lose weight and maintain that weight loss.

Lifestyle changes means making time to eat well, to exercise and to get sleep.

Lack of Sleep Increases Overeating

Researchers from several separate studies ¹ have found a link between sleep and the hormones that influence our eating behavior. Two specific hormones are involved. Ghrelin is responsible for feelings of hunger. Leptin tells the brain when it’s time to stop. When you’re sleep deprived, your ghrelin levels increase at the same time that your leptin levels decrease. The result is an increased craving for food and not feeling full.

Source: http://www.thedietchannel.com/Weight-Loss-and-Sleep.htm

The Dream Diet: Losing Weight While You Sleep

Leptin and ghrelin work in a kind of “checks and balances” system to control feelings of hunger and fullness, explains Michael Breus, PhD, a faculty member of the Atlanta School of Sleep Medicine and director of The Sleep Disorders Centers of Southeastern Lung Care in Atlanta. Ghrelin, which is produced in the gastrointestinal tract, stimulates appetite, while leptin, produced in fat cells, sends a signal to the brain when you are full.

So what’s the connection to sleep? “When you don’t get enough sleep, it drives leptin levels down, which means you don’t feel as satisfied after you eat. Lack of sleep also causes ghrelin levels to rise, which means your appetite is stimulated, so you want more food,” Breus tells WebMD.

Source: http://www.webmd.com/solutions/sc/link-sleep-weight-loss/sleep-to-get-thin

What Other Lifestyle Changes Can You Make?  8 Easy Tips!

1. You need to be aware of what you are eating, and you need to count calories.  I don’t mean go NUTS, but be aware that a BIG bag of chips probably has as many calories in it as breakfast and lunch combined (if not more).  http://www.fda.gov/FDAC/features/2002/102_fat.html
2. Drink plenty of water (and keep coffee, bottled beverages, and alcohol to a minimum level).
3. Eat small meals more frequently. Have healthy snacks readily available so that you don’t get that hungry that you have to buy junk from a vending machine.
4. Sit down and eat properly.  Very important, eating on the run will not make you feel satisfied and sub-consciously you will feel that you have not eaten anything.
5. Eat all food groups in each meal. Remember the food pyramid?
6. Eat vegetables with each meal.  Vegetables are great filler foods, and many contain the all important fibre to keep you regular.  Vegetables also contain many essential vitamins and other valuable nutrients that your body needs.
7. Eat whole grains, your body needs fibre.
8. Get active!  Exercise.  Watercise is great.  Walking is easy and cheap.  Bicycling can also be a lot of fun.  Whatever you decide, just do it and do it regularly.

Lifestyle changes are easy to make.  You look at what you’re doing now, and work on one area at a time.  Start with exercise and getting active, as this is one of the easiest and as you progress and do more and more each day you will not feel like stopping.

Exerise can be the easiest thing to add to your day.  If you work, take a short break to walk a bit and stretch – go to the cooler for water.  Get up and walk to the printer to get a document.  At lunch, go out for a walk – or to even get fresh air.

At home – work around the house; or if that’s not your thing – go outside for a walk.

Start easy – 15-30 minutes daily until you can get to 1 hour per day.

As your activity increases, your hunger will decrease naturally — this is when you start tackling your eating habits.  Again, you can start small – cut back on high calorie lunches, and instead buy a salad for lunch along with a soup and crackers.  For dinner, add vegetables to your meal and cut back on gravies and sauces that add alot of hidden calories and fat to your meal.

For your snacks, slip in some carrots and celery with a light dip to keep things lively.

Alternate between different types of snacks, fruit one day, veggies the next.  Why not try baked PITA?  Simply cut pita bread into bite sized chunks, add some seasoning for taste and bake.  You can even try light margarines that are pre-flavoured.

Try some exotic fruits, or make a fruit salad with exotic fruits like mango, papaya, kiwi and even passion fruit.  There are so many types of fruits out there that you can keep things different from day-to-day.

There are many things that you can do to make a BIG impact to your life.  What have you done?  What will you try to do?  I encourage your participation to help you lose weight and to motivate other readers to do the same!

If you found this post valuable, please consider DIGGing it, STUMBLEing it or promoting it through other social media that you may be using.

Here is to Your Health,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: 50 weight loss tips, Exercise, lifestyle changes, Weight Loss

50 Weight Loss Tips – Tip 0

Loosing weight can be very easy for some, and for others it’s a journey through hell.  I’m somewhere in the middle.  I can do it, I know I can – I have lost 100lbs but the next step is the hardest.  Continuing.

I’ve been working on several projects, most notably my make money online, Internet Business Blog and my personal blog Mohamed Bhimji dot com – the Website of an Aspiring Dot Com Mogul.

But that doesn’t mean I have stopped working here – another pet project I’ve been working on are still a bit of a secret, but something you will definately get a lot out of.

No – that’s not me.  That picture is of Manuel Uribe, perhaps the fattest man in the world.  You can read more about Manuel on his Wiki page – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Uribe - he is actually in the 2008 World Book of Records.

Before he went on a diet, here is what he ate:

Breakfast – 20 eggs, beans, 9 tortillas stuffed with cheese and meat, fizzy drinks, coffee, lard.

Lunch – Half a Chicken, 4 meat and cheese tortillas, salad, fizzy drinks, pasta, bread

Dinner – 3-4 eggs with hamburger, beans, 3-4 cheese and meat tortillas, bread, or pasta, fizzy drinks, coffee, milk

By February 2008, he has lost 570lbs.

One feature project that I am starting tomorrow – hence todays post is Day 0 – is entitled 50 Weight Loss Tips.

I will go over 50 different tips to help you lose weight – but I don’t leave it at that.  I look at each point, and go into detail and where possible I provide additional resources to help you out.  I do my best to NOT give resources that will cost you money but rely on Government and Health websites that are run by non-profit organizations.

This is also YOUR chance to contribute to YOUR WEIGHT LOSS by taking part in the discussion for each point.  If you are truly serious about loosing weight, then I hope you will take part.

Through these posts, if you like what you see I would really appreciate a STUMBLE UPON, DIGG or mention on your blog, FaceBook/MySpace page or other social media you are using.

Here is to Your Health,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: diet, nutrition, Weight Loss, weight loss tips

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