Weight Loss Information From Around The Web

Here is some weight loss information gathered from around the web.  I am hoping to make this into a weekly post to bring you relavent news and information about weight loss.  I’ll present each post with a small snippet from the article.

• http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1189956/Why-crash-dieting-DOES-work-Surprise-evidence-suggests-best-way-slim.html“Here’s a sobering thought: beach weather is nearly here, and the diet you’ve been meaning to embark on since January remains in the planning phases.

  You really don’t want to expose those extra pounds to the world, but you do want to put on your swimsuit and feel OK about it. A crash diet seems to be your only option, but aren’t crash diets unhealthy – not to mention ineffective – after the first week? Not if you approach them correctly.

  Despite what many nutritionists have preached for years, low-calorie diets can be healthy if you do them right, and can work wonders on pounds and inches in just a few weeks.”

• http://www.canada.com/health/Weight+loss+lifestyle/1628412/story.html

  “Losing weight is all about choices, whether it’s food choices or lifestyle choices,” says Rick Sgabellone, an Ottawa father of two who has struggled for years to keep his weight under control.

• http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/151985.php

  The twin epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes will continue to fuel an explosion in heart failure, already the world’s most prevalent chronic cardiovascular disease, according to John McMurray, professor of cardiology at the Western Infirmary, Glasgow, and President of the Heart Failure Association. He reported that around one-third of patients with heart failure have evidence of diabetes, and for them the outlook is very serious. For doctors, he added, effective treatment is “very difficult”.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: diet, lose weight, Weight Loss, weight loss articles, weight loss information

Eat Food – Lose Weight!

When I first started dieting – years, and years ago, I thought that the best way to lose weight was to starve yourself.  So I’d skip meals – breakfast, maybe lunch but then would really sabotage myself as dinner would be HUGE and since it was such a large meal, I’d feel tired after eating and rather than exercise I would plop down on the couch and sleep or watch TV.

This went on for years, until I tried some other programs – which succeeded in helping me loose weight – but I promptly put the weight back on after I left the program.

Then FINALLY my doctor said “do or die” and I made complete lifestyle changes.  No diets!

I started eating regular meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner.  And I snacked, and snacked, and snacked until I was so full that I couldn’t eat anymore!  Snacks consisted of crackers and cheese, carrots, cucumber, fruits like strawberries, melons, kiwi, oranges, apples and grapes.  But I didn’t limit myself to the same boring stuff day after day.  I’d try mixing it up and adding stuff like bran buds or yogourt.  I’d also have cereal as a snack.

Variety is what really helped me lose 100lbs in one year.  And now that I am back to a variety of foods, I’ve lost about 15lbs in around 4 months.  Not to shabby!

On top of eating less food, more often I also started drinking a lot more water.  I found the water more refreshing that having a soda pop.  In fact there were times when I would be craving a soda and may give into that craving only to find that I still had that craving.  I drank some water, and found that the craving was not for soda, but for water or rather something cold and refreshing.

The soda pop just slows you down – makes you sluggish; but the water is really refreshing!  Even now, I tend to drink 8-10 glasses of water each day.

Regular meals, that are part of a lifestyle change will do more than any fad diet will ever do.  Although I always hated it, I did count calories.  For example, a donut and coffee for breakfast?  Probably about 600 calories.  How about cereal with milk, fruit and tea?  Probably around the same BUT I’ll feel full longer!

I had three main meals, then would snack between meals.  I found that this was the best way to keep me on track.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: eat and lose weight, eating healthy foods, lose weight, lose weight feel great, snacking, Weight Loss

50 Weight Loss Tips – Tip 5

 

It’s great reading about someone elses weight loss  it helps to inspire and give you something to work towards.

I’m always envious of those front-page stories I see while in the grocery store “Mom of 15 looses 250lbs, drops 10 dress sizes all in one week!” — I am exagerating of course, but still you see the story and wish you could do the same.

You know what, you can.  BUT don’t compare yourself to that person.  When magazines publish these stores, these individuals are the exception to the rule.  For example, my dad does not gain weight.  He’s weighed around 110lbs most of his life.  His body just works that way.

My sons weight is appropriate to his age – he is 6.  He doesn’t gain weight either, and he’s not overly active but does participate in some sports.

Everyones body is different, and everyone will loose weight differently.

The key – keep your goals in sight and work towards them.  Take baby steps – if you expect to lose 15lbs in three days because you must get into a suit or dress, well it is not going to happen, unless of course you do something drastic – and do you want to go that far in trying to lose weight?  Hopefully not!

Another reason why you don’t want to compare yourself – you are setting yourself up for failure because you will become discouraged when you don’t loose the weight as fast as you want and you will quit.

I’ve read that 1 or 2 lbs per week is the ideal amount of weight to loose without harming your body, of course you should check with your doctor before you go on any weight loss program since you may need to take precautions.

When I started an exercise program, my doctor wanted me to take a stress test (for my heart) and EKG to ensure that I would be able to do some exercise.  He gave me some guidelines to follow, but most of all he said “listen to your body” – he’s right.  Your body will know when enough is enough.

If you have something to add to Tip #5 – please do so!  I always enjoy hearing from my readers!

Regards,

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: 50 weight loss tips, lose weight, Weight Loss

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