So let me ask you.  Have you kept your New Years Resolution to lose weight?  What?  I can’t hear you… I see a lot of smiles and hear a few giggles.  You didn’t, did you?  Not to worry, neither did the millions of Americans or Canadians that kept a New Years Resolution to lose weight.

But can I tell you a secret?  I kept a resolution to lose weight.  You know what else?  I was successful.

Those that have been following my other weight loss site (http://www.lose-weight-n-feel-great.com) know that my family and I moved out to BC several years ago.  At the time, I was a 48-waist and around 280lbs.  I spent some time at home, but over the years the weight crept up and in 6-years time I ended up gaining 30lbs.

Just before 2011 I promised myself that I will lose weight.  But I didn’t make any New Years Resolution, I resolved to myself that I must lose weight.  I didn’t make any promises to anyone — not even my wife or 7-year old (an only child, who loves soccer and expects that I will play with him).

I did it for me.  The side effect was that I had more energy to play with my son and do more around the house.  It was a win-win situation.

Today I am 284.5 lbs – not quite 280, but I can no longer wear my size 54 pants.  In fact even my size 50′s are too loose and I have to get them ALL taken in!  I love it!

When you are wanting to lose weight, you cannot wait (or is that weight) for New Years Resolutions, promises to your wife, son/daughter, significant other or anyone.  You need to lose weight because YOU want to.  Yes you may be doing it for other reasons — and that’s not bad, but you should be doing it primarily for you.

Will you keep making resolutions to lose weight?  Or will you do it for you?

Technorati Tags: dieting, lose weight fast, new years resolutions, Weight Loss

In an article on The Vancouver Sun (click here to read it), researchers have found that the humble, lowly treadmill can actually reverse aging. In mice at least.

Here are some excerpts from that article:

In what could stand as the most powerful evidence yet that exercise prolongs life, a study by McMaster University researchers in Hamilton found that signs of premature aging were halted -and even reversed -in virtually every tissue and organ in the bodies of exercised mice.

The finding, which could be a turning point in anti-aging medicine, suggests the proverbial fountain of youth won’t come from a pill or from an exotic berry from the Amazon, but rather plain old exercise.

Mice genetically altered to age faster were forced to run on treadmills for 45 minutes, three times a week.

Five months later, the mice looked as young, healthy and active as wild-type mice -mice that didn’t have the genetic mutation -while their sedentary and same-aged siblings were balding, greying and shrinking.

Technorati Tags: anti-aging creams, lose weight with a treadmill, treadmills for weight loss, Weight Loss

So I developed a way to put some of these strategies to better use and asked those that I was talking with to try them to see if they made any difference. Of course you want to be able to measure success, but when it comes to weight loss you need to take a lot into account. Cutting down food doesn’t mean you’ve cut down calories, you need to exercise (or do something to burn calories) as well.

Back to indulgence. So I proposed this to the small group I was “coaching”:

Eat your snacks, keeping mind of the label. So if one serving is 1/4 cup – stick to it BUT only indulge if you are having your snack (typically it’s junk food, like chips) if you are also having a healthy meal with it.

That was the only rule.

This meant that if you were watching tv and wanted ice cream, cake cookies, chips or any other junk food you could not. You could have chips if you were having a healthy lunch (I did not define what a healthy lunch is, that’s something each individual had to do for themselves), or a good balanced supper you could add something to indulge yourself. Of course the way to lose weight is to eat less food, eat more often, make healthy choices and exercise – so unless you are doing that this strategy that I am sharing will not help you.

So they tried, and they lost weight – but then, I can’t take credit for that because they are already losing weight and all I did was give them one more strategy to use.

What they did say was this:

“Mohamed, your strategy really helped. I had to make a conscious choice every time I went near the pantry for a snack even if it was for crackers or popcorn. I found that I looked forward to a healthy lunch and dinner because the rules said I could indulge myself during those times.”

…and…

“This trick really helped me out! By the time I am done dinner, because I have forged myself on a soup or salad, I don’t want my side snack or indulgence! Instead I ended up snacking smart, like apples, pears, oranges or other fruits or vegetables. I think that with this strategy I will finally be able to kick my junk food habit for good!”

Will this work for you? I don’t know, but what can you lose (besides weight) if you try?

Technorati Tags: lose weight fast, smart snacking, Weight Loss

The one thing that has helped me maintain my weight loss (just over 100 lbs over the last 7 years) is snacking.  I eat a lot.  All the time.  Morning, afternoon and evening.  But not just anything, I eat nutritious food that keeps my hands and mouth moving.  I have a light breakfast, followed by snacks between breakfast and lunch – usually things like carrots, or some cauliflower or even broccoli.  If I’m not in the mood for veggies, it will be fruit or even snack crackers with cheese, or pickles on the side.  I always try and choose snacks that are not high fat and calorie.  Some items will be so I really need to watch how much of that I eat.  For example, I love cheese and crackers.  When I look for these items at the grocery store I frequently look for low-fat cheese and low-fat/salt crackers.  Salt is bad because you retain water, and it can raise your blood pressure.

I also try and keep to a light lunch because I sit all day.  Lunch might be a turkey salad (processed turkey slices because cooking a whole turkey is out of the question as nobody will eat it at home), or just a plain garden salad or any other type of salad.  One of my favourites is something a friend showed me that has some basic greens, some crumbled goat cheese and a home made dressing of olive oil with vinegar.  Delicious!

There are other things you can toss into a salad, such as cut-up and toasted pita slices.  If you want to spice it up you can add some light butter/margarine and sprinkle spices on top or just have it plain.  If you would rather not have crunchy in the salad, just add pita sliced length-wise.  You get your fresh greens, plus some carbs.

Also look at adding something like smoked salmon to your salad.

With a salad, soup always goes best.  Stick to soups which are “watery” like a vegetable soup as it won’t have a lot of fat in it – but keep in mind that most if not all store bought products will be high in salt; that said some companies like Campbells are moving to low-salt soups.  A friend did teach me that adding potatoes to your soup will lessen the salt – I’ve never tried it, so am not sure how well it works.

Between lunch and the end of the day, I’ll do more snacking.  In the afternoon I’ll avoid any type of carbs only because you’ve got longer to go and if you can’t burn it you’ll get groggy.  I’ll usually stick to fruit and vegetables, or a pudding (again looking for low-fat/calorie options), yoghurt or other snacks along those lines.

Something I had a few weeks ago at a restaurant was smoked salmon on baguette with light butter.  You can skip the butter, and use something like melba toast or another crunchy bread – but this was great!  I’ve never had smoked salmon before, and while I couldn’t have this “all the time” once a week or thereabout gives you some variety.

Other snacks to consider are:

• Nuts – very healthy for you, just don’t go overboard!
• Pretzels
• Popcorn

Some other grab ‘n go snack ideas:

• Fresh fruit or individually packed containers of cut-up fruit.
• Raw vegetables including carrots, peppers, zucchini, cherry or grape tomatoes.
• Baby carrots and whole wheat pita triangles with hummus.
• Pumpernickel bagel with peanut butter and banana.
• Fresh, frozen or canned fruit with low fat yogurt or in a smoothie.
• Sweet red, yellow or green peppers and bread sticks with salad dressing or low fat dip.
• Whole wheat tortilla wrap made with salmon or tuna and salad dressing, onions, celery and green peppers.
• English muffin with melted cheese and apple slices.
• Dry mixed cereal and a container of milk.
• Dark green leafy salad with orange sections and almonds.
• Nuts, pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
• Plain popcorn.
• Popsicles made with 100% fruit juice or yogurt (we do this at home – IT’S GREAT even our 7-year old loves it)
• Water, milk, fortified soy beverage or 100% fruit juice.

Snacks should be high in fibre and protein as this will help you feel fuller, for longer.  I enjoy saltines (minus the salt) with some peanut butter on them as well.

Because dinner tends to be heavier than breakfast and lunch, it’s easy to lose control so by snacking throughout the day I’m pretty full by the time I get home so the temptation to binge (ever so delicately) is just not there.

I find that by snacking, having enough water during the day you keep yourself satisfied so dinner doesn’t become like walking through a land mine.

I welcome you to share your stories, and experiences with your weight loss.  I do moderate all comments, to ensure spam doesn’t get through.

Here are a few more tips for you:

• Keep healthy snacks with you. Make it a habit to stash some fruit, whole-grain crackers, or baby carrots in your backpack or workout bag so you always have some healthy food nearby. Half a cheese sandwich also makes a great snack to have on standby.
• Make it interesting. Healthy snacking doesn’t have to be boring as long as you give yourself a variety of choices. Whole-wheat pretzels with spicy mustard, rice cakes with peanut butter and raisins, or low-fat fruit yogurt are healthy, tasty, and easy.
• Satisfy cravings with healthier approaches. If you’re crazy for chocolate, try a hot chocolate drink instead of a chocolate bar. An 8-ounce mug of hot chocolate has only 140 calories and 3 grams of fat. A chocolate bar, on the other hand, has 230 calories and 13 grams of fat. Substitute nonfat frozen yogurt or sorbet for ice cream. If you’re craving savory munchies, snack on baked tortilla chips instead of regular corn chips and pair them with salsa instead of sour cream. Or satisfy salt cravings with pretzels instead of chips.
• Read serving size information. What looks like a small package of cookies can contain 2 or more servings — which means double or even triple the amounts of fat, calories, and sugar shown on the label.

Some resources I found:

• http://epicself.com/nourish/snacking-rules-if-you-do-it-right/
• http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/nutrition/healthy_snacks.html
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/healthy-diet/HQ01396
• http://articles.cnn.com/2007-08-03/health/cl.snacking_1_extra-calories-snacks-mini-meals?_s=PM:HEALTH
• http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/using-utiliser/snacks-collations-eng.php

Technorati Tags: how to lose weight quickly and easily, smart snacking, snack to lose weight, Weight Loss, weight loss snacking

Don’t feel guilty if you gain some weight back, instead use what you have learned to fine tune your diet and get back on track.

But this post isn’t about how to maintain your weight loss, or how to fine tune your eating it is about the side effects of losing weight.

Your clothes fit, right.

Yes that is a benefit of losing weight, your clothes fit. You do not bulge over or hang out. You begin to have a shape, other than round or square.

Clothes are less expensive.

Another great benefit of weight loss. Over the last few months I have lost another 10 – 15 lbs so went from a 58 waist (and pants in the $100.00+ range) down to a 52. Cost of pants, shirts and other items also fell (in addition to the clothes). Yes I have more to go, but if I can trim my professional clothes budget by 10% every few months it adds up to significant savings over the course of a year.

Health improves, and you have more energy.

At one time, when my 7-year old (slim, fit and healthy) son would want me to race him up the stairs, my mind would think about the huffing and puffing, sweating and my weak and sore joints.

Only 3% of weight loss has allowed me to race him to the top of the stairs. I am still huffing, but no weak or sore joints.

Also I wake up fresh every morning. I am not as tired by 8:00pm and can function at 110% at work even on regular 10 hour days (I am a workaholic).

The only side effect of weight loss that I don’t like? I feel cold more often, but then that has to do with not having to lug around extra weight (and insulation).

As I work towards the last 100lbs, I do not mind feeling cold and quite enjoy wearing the latest styles and designs of clothes, suits and sports jackets. Working in a senior management position where I meet with other senior managers, you need to look good – being overweight just does not cut it. That is not to say there are not overweight executives, but they are much fewer.

Technorati Tags: lose weight, lose weight fast, side effects of weight loss, Weight Loss

I’ve been trying, though not very hard, to shed those 30lbs and bring my weight back down to 270lbs to 280lbs – though this is still far from my ideal weight which the doctors, nutritionist and dietician say is around 180lbs it’s been something that I was comfortable with – I was able to get into slimmer suits and my stomach didn’t bulge out as much as it is doing right now plus I could run up the stairs without huffing and puffing, play with my son without breaking a sweat and could handle warm temperatures without looking like I just got out of the shower!

If you go to my weight loss site, you’ll notice the statement that I made on the front page:

Weight Loss Is By Choice, Not By Chance

This means exactly what I say – weight loss is by choice.  YOU have to make the choice that YOU want to lose weight.  Though we go on diets, and make lifestyle changes for many reasons – it needs to be a reason for us – YOU.  Yes you can make the statement that you want to lose weight for “my spouse”, “my family”, “my son/daughter” or any other reason, but unless you are doing it for you – why would you have any motivation to lose the weight?  Seriously, think about it.  If there is no vested interest for you – why do it?

Enough of the lecture.  So what am I doing?

I had given up keeping a food diary, too much work.  But then I bought an iPod Touch about a year ago and downloaded some great applications (I will review the one that I use in an upcoming post) to track what I eat and when.  I’ve been keeping track of my food intake for several months now and discovered a few things:

• I started eating late at night, again (after about 8:00pm)
• I started consuming more sugary drinks than I normally do (like juice, and soda pop)
• I started consuming MORE artificial sweeteners that I normally do (I love my decaf tea)
• I started eating MORE junk food that I’ve done in the past
• I started eating out more often

As you can see, I started many wrong things instead of right things.

So how to break the cycle?  It’s not easy.  You can’t quit cold turkey (no pun intended).  You need to stop bad habits gradually.  So the first thing I started was cutting down the late night romps to the kitchen.  We ate when we ate, and that was it.  If I was hungry before bedtime, I had a glass of warm milk or some fruit.  It took about one week for the new habit to set it, but now when I’m hungry and head downstairs and open the fridge – I think about how hungry I really am and usually grab the milk jug instead of left overs.

Next was the sugary drinks.  I’m don’t particularly like soda pop so cutting this out was easy, I like juices more – dropping that is hard.  Cutting this out was hard, but we found some juice that is lower in sugar – it’s advertised as 25% less sugar and it’s not sweetened with any artificial sweetener.  I avoid stuff like Tang Orange Juice crystals and even drinks like Kool Aid and will look for juice thats either sweetened with natural fruit sugars or is reduced sugar.  I also limit how much I drink in a day to one or two 8oz glasses. 

Eating out is another habit difficult to break, while I generally won’t go to McDonalds, Burger King or any other fast food place that often — there are times when the french fry or onion ring craving hits.  My solution was to stop.  I just won’t go there anymore.  But the other foods that I enjoy are mediterranean style foods, and there is a great place close to work that I like going to.  My solution was to limit how often I go.  I will go there, but generally once per month.  I was going weekly before.  There is also another place I like to eat, but as it’s about one hour away we generally don’t go more than once every few months.

Junk food is a hard habit to break – I love chips, tacos, nachos etc., giving these up was difficult.  So I didn’t.  I count out 12-15 chips and snack on them instead.  Yes a GREAT amount of willpower is needed – but you know what, when you eat regular meals and good snacks you don’t get the cravings (or not as many and as severe) for junk food.

There are other things you should also know – as a general rule, we don’t eat a lot of processed meats at home.  This is where you’ll find a lot of fat, and salt.  Because we don’t eat pork/bacon/ham – this cuts out a lot of the processed meats that we can eat — which is generally limited to items such as chicken or turkey, and even then because of our dietary requirements (halal) I can’t just stop into my local grocery store and buy what’s out — I need to make the effort to drive to the store and buy it.

We also don’t drink alcohol – so no extra calories from there.

We do eat traditional indian foods – such as biryani, curries, and rice not to mention naan/roti — so I need to exercise greater control.  Because of my needs, my wife will normally cook more North American styled foods for me – such as more chicken and fish.

So how are things going?  So far, so good – my pants are starting to feel a little loose on me again and if I’m able to keep this up I should be down those pesky 30lbs in 3 to 6 months time.

Remember – DIETS DO NOT WORK - but lifestyle changes do work.  Why not Let us know how things are going, and any challenges you’ve faced and how you’ve overcome those challenges.

Here is to your health!

Technorati Tags: lifestyle changes, lose 100lbs, lose 10lbs, lose 20lbs, lose 30lbs, lose 40lbs, lose weight, Weight Loss, why can't I loose weight, why can't I lose weight, why can't I lost weight

That’s great support.

One aspect of weight loss that I stick by, eventhough some may disagree is that you should CUT DOWN not CUT OUT foods that you like.

I love my snack foods, like chips (my favourite) and soda pop.  I’m not a fan of ice cream, chocolate or other types of candies.  But I love my snacking food.  Rather than cut them out, and then face cravings that I end up satisfying by binging on those items I cut down on how much of them I eat and how often.

I tend to buy chips in those small, single serving sizes.  This way I can enjoy the chips but control how much I’ve had.

I know what you’re thinking – but you won’t feel satisfied with just one small bag.  You’re right, and that’s where you have to use will power and exercise control to keep from eating 10 bags.  Weight loss is about cutting back, and getting exercise – but it’s also about controlling your cravings and finding ways that help you control those cravings.  Indeed most of my cravings are as a result of not eating the right foods or at the right time, or starving my self when I know that this will not help me lose weight.

In my never ending quest for good information on weight loss, I found this site – Fooducate.  They offer some excellent information on what food is made up of, which also give you great information on the nutritional value of food.  A few posts that I read most recently:

• Comparing Kellogg’s Fiber Plus Bar to LaraBar [Inside the Label]
• FDA to Take On the “Serving Size” Hoax
• 11 Short Acrylamide Facts (French Fries Foe)
• The Real Reason Schools Are Still Full of Junk Food

Have a look at the posts, all well written and provide some excellent information.

Here is to your health!

Technorati Tags: lose weight without dieting, Weight Loss

How can you be part of the 20% that DOES NOT gain it back?

Getting Started TODAY

You cannot leave weight loss for January 1, New Years Resolutions, after the summer picnic, or any other event.  Weight loss (and waist management) needs to start today.

It is easy.

When I had gone onto lose 100lbs, I ate EVERYTHING – including the forbidden fruit, chips.  But I made use of portion control.  Go for the summer picnic, or the bbq – but control what you’re eating.

In addition to portion control, and avoiding high fat and sugary foods – exercise.  It doesn’t have to be hard.  I didn’t join any gym or workout like crazy.

I started with walking and riding my exercise bicycle.  10 minutes per day, daily.

Soon 10 minutes wasn’t enough.  So I did 20 minutes, then 30 minutes until finally I could do 60 minutes per day without a second thought (and without getting tired).

By starting slowly and building up, you not only make exercise enjoyable but something you turn into a habit – and once you have a good habit that has formed (hopefully) it’s not something that you will break.

As you watch what you eat, and exercise – you will lose weight and as you lose weight you won’t feel like going back to old habits.

Technorati Tags: easy weight loss, lose weight and keep it off, Weight Loss

But I didn’t stop there – I would have snack crackers, but checked the labels to ensure that they were not high in fat or salt.

Other snack ideas are nuts - preferably un-salted, pretzels (in limited quantities – NOT the whole bag).

I also made sure that I drank plenty of water to keep myself hydrated.

Technorati Tags: snacking, Weight Loss

Parents that have to work, naturally will have less time to spend with their kids – as a result those kids may spend more time on the couch instead of outside playing.  In fact when you look at the playground, who do you see?  Generally kids where one parent is at home – not very often will you see kids by themselves.

While that is quite a generalization as there are skinny kids that may not be outside playing, are they necessarily healthy?  Just because you’re skinny doesn’t mean healthy.

I came across an excellent article about Obesity in the US on the CDC website – http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html.  They provide an animated map of the US that shows obesity rates from 1985 to 2008.  The 1985 map is primarily white, with some states in the < 10% or 10% – 14% categories.  Fast forward to 2008 and it’s anywhere from 20% to as high as OVER 30% with only one state in the 15% – 19% range (Colorado).

The article goes on to show the rate of obesity among minorities – white, non Hispanic, Hispanic and black non Hispanic.  It’s clear from the graphs that obesity is in epidemic proportions in many ethnic communities.

The final image that they provide is the prevalance of obesity by county and right below that the number of cases of diabetes.  It becomes clear when you view both of these that there is a high correlation between obesity and diabetes.

The fact is that we need to do more to lose weight – and not just an empty promise to ourselves that we’ll start “tomorrow”.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: obesity in the US, Weight Loss

Kerry Greaves, the mother of 3-year-old Melissa, was so worried that her daughter would be teased because she had a fat mother that she opted for weight loss surgery.

Doctors in York Hospital carried out a gastric band procedure, but complications from the surgery caused liver and kidney failure in Ms Greaves, eventually resulting in her untimely death. Anne Greaves, the mother of the deceased woman, is now urging caution before opting for weight loss surgery.

“She didn’t have this operation through vanity, she did it for her daughter. She had just started nursery and even though Kerry had never been bullied because of her weight at school, she thought other kids might pick on Melissa because her mum was big,” she said. “I tried to warn her about the dangers but she was insistent and told me that everything would be OK. My advice to anybody thinking of this operation would be to have more pride in yourself and don’t do it.”

Weight loss is important, and there are many ways to lose weight – fad diets, strange diets (like the 3-Day Diet, Carrot/Cauliflower/Cabbage Soup Diet), and surgery.  Surgery is probably one of the most effective since it can provide very quick results – in a matter of weeks but there are risks with surgery as you can see from this article.

Regardless of your body type, size or looks you need to have pride in yourself.  When you have that “inner pride/beauty” it will manifest itself on the outside.  True there are people that may deal with weight issues all their life (I am one of those) but I’d rather be living and a good father to my son and husband to my wife than potentially ending up on the coroners table and 6-feet under.

Weight loss is a gradual process.  It is about eating right, getting and remaining active – it is about lifestyle changes.  Diet is DIE with a T tacked onto the end.  Think of it as a diet and you will fail.  Think of it as, and work at it as a lifestyle change and you develop healthy eating habits that stay with you forever.  These are then the same habits that you can pass onto your children.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve (my wife and I) have been stressing the importance of staying active to our 6-year old and he’s picked up on it.  After eating, he won’t sit down in front of the TV or computer or with his WII or DS.  Instead his comments are “I need to stay healthy, right?” or “Dad, I want you to live for a looong time.  Lets take a walk”.

There may be cases where surgery is required, but if you can do it – try things the natural way through a concerted effort and may making lifestyle changes.

What is bariatric surgery?  Find out here http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/weightlosssurgery.html.

Here is to your health!

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: bariatric surgery, Weight Loss, weight loss surgery

Found an interesting article on WebMD entitled “Yoga for Weight Loss?”

It can help you find your bliss, and some say yoga may also help you shed those extra pounds.
By Colette Bouchez

WebMD Weight Loss Clinic-Feature
Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Jennifer Aniston does it. Reports are that Liv Tyler, Halle Berry, Madonna, David Duchovny and supermodel Christy Turlington do it, too. Many professional athletes are said to be doing it in an effort to improve their games.

The “it” is yoga, a sophisticated mind-body exercise many believe can do everything from tighten your buns to change your outlook on life.

But can this no-strain, work-at-your-own-level exercise really help you lose weight?

It’s true most types of yoga don’t have anything near the calorie-burning power of aerobic exercise. A 150-pound person will burn 150 calories in an hour of doing regular yoga, compared to 311 calories for an hour of walking at 3 mph. But it is exercise, after all, and many practitioners believe yoga can indeed help people take off extra pounds.

“Yoga is a phenomenal way to put you in touch with your body the way nothing else can, and yes, it can help you lose weight,” says instructor Dana Edison, director of Radius Yoga in North Redding, Mass., and a certified personal trainer with the American College of Sports Medicine.

Celebrity yoga trainers Ana Brett and Ravi Singh, who have worked with such hotties as Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow, also believe in yoga’s weight-loss powers.

“We have seen it in ourselves, we have seen it in our clients – yoga can give you a real workout even if you are a beginner,” says Brett, who, with Singh, created the best-selling DVD program Fat Free Yoga.

How Does It Work?

In 2005, medical researcher and practicing yogi Alan Kristal, DPH, MPH, set out to do a medical study on the weight-loss effects of yoga.

With funding from the National Cancer Institute, Kristal and colleagues at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle led a trial involving 15,500 healthy, middle-aged men and women. All completed a survey recalling their physical activity (including yoga) and their weight between the ages of 45 and 55. Researchers then analyzed the data, teasing out other factors that could influence weight change – such as diet or other forms of exercise.

The end result: They found yoga could indeed help people shed pounds, or at least keep them from gaining weight.

“Those practicing yoga who were overweight to start with lost about 5 pounds during the same time period those not practicing yoga gained 14 pounds,” says Kristal.

For the study, he says, practicing yoga was defined as at least one 30-minute session per week for four or more years.

Kristal says it’s not clear just how yoga might help people keep off the pounds, at least from a scientific standpoint. His own opinion is that the effects are subtle, and related to yoga’s mind-body aspects.

“The buzzword here is mindfulness — the ability to observe what is happening internally in a non-reactive fashion,” he says. “That is what helps change the relationship of mind to body, and eventually to food and eating.”

Adds Edison: “Yoga makes you more susceptible to influence for change – so if you are thinking you want to change your lifestyle, you want to change the way you think about food, you want to get over destructive eating patterns, yoga will help give you the spiritual connection to your body that can help you make those changes.”

Another idea is that yoga forges a strong mind-body connection that ultimately helps make you more aware of what you eat and how it feels to be full.

“Essentially, in yoga you learn your body is not your enemy, and the conscious awareness of the body that you gain translates into better appetite control,” Edison says.

Power Yoga: The New Attitude

While some say yoga is too tame for extreme weight loss, many devotees of the practice known as “power yoga” disagree.

Power yoga is an Americanized version of traditional Kundalini techniques. Instructors like Singh and Brett believe it can offer all the fat-burning potential – and heart benefits — of an aerobic workout.

While traditional types of yoga are based on breathing techniques paired with static poses, Singh says, power yoga combines meditative breathing with faster, more active movements. The result, he says, is a workout that can be more aerobic than . . . aerobics!

“Aerobic means to exercise in the presence of oxygen, so when you are doing the traditional yoga breathing along with the more active exercises, you’re doing exactly that,” he says. “Our ‘breath of fire’ technique, for example, is one of many we use to help you burn calories while you breathe.”

Edison concedes power yoga may help some people lose weight, but she questions whether it could work for the yoga novice, or the average out-of-shape dieter.

“Can yoga build muscle? Yes. Is a fast-paced, power class aerobic? Sometimes. And can you sweat out water weight in a 105-degree room? Sure. But can the average overweight person effectively shed pounds through a one-size-fits-all physical yoga practice? Not realistically or safely,” Edison tells WebMD.

What about using power yoga to jump-start a weight loss plan? Kristal says even the most forceful power yoga techniques won’t equal the health benefits of a cardiovascular workout — nor will yoga ever burn calories quickly at a significant level.

“It’s just not medically feasible – it’s not going to happen,” he says.

Still, Brett and Singh say they’ve seen firsthand that it can work, even for beginners.

“People come to yoga for many different reasons, but we have seen many success stories in terms of losing weight and learning to control weight,” says Brett. “Active yoga, even for the novice, can change your body and your life.”

Making Yoga Work for You

One thing all our experts agree on is that yoga can be a terrific introduction to the world of fitness.
To help get you started, they offer these tips:

1. Practice in a room without mirrors, and put the emphasis on your internal experience rather than your outer performance.
2. Learn to experience the sensation of movement, down to the tiniest micro movement.
3. Always try to find your “edge” — the place where your body feels challenged, but not overwhelmed. When you achieve this, keep an open, accepting state of mind.
4. Give yourself permission to rest when you’re tired.
5. Combine your yoga session with positive self-talk. Appreciate your efforts and praise your inner goodness.
6. Go to class faithfully. If you work out at home, set a specific day and time for your yoga session and stick to it.
7. Recognize that you are not only working on your body, but are also working to develop qualities like patience, discipline, wisdom, kindness and gratitude.
8. Look for a teacher (in a class or on video) who you feel offers a balance between gentleness and firmness, and who inspires you to practice.
9. Recognize that simply buying a yoga DVD or attending the class is a step toward creating a better you. Use it as momentum to keep going.
10. Realize your efforts are not just inspiring you, but also inspiring others as you become more attuned to who you are, inside and out.

SOURCE URL – http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/features/yoga-for-weight-loss

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I blame my son.  His allergies are holding me back.

Joking.

But I have slacked off, and who would notice but da ‘wif.

So her comment was “are you just going to sit around on the couch again.” and I’m like “no – when do I do that?” and she’s like “all the time.”.  End of discussion.

So I promptly got onto the scale and weighed myself – 299lbs.  SO while I’ve kept my weight down I’m F-A-R from where I want to be.  Ideally by the end of this year (2009, honey not when hell freeze over) I would like to get down to 250lbs.

That’s my long-term goal for 2009 – lose 50lbs within 6 months time.

That’s only 8lbs per month and the ideal weight loss is 1-2 lbs per month.

So how am I going to get there?  By making many smaller goals that I can easily measure.

So my first goal is to lose 4lbs by July 16, 2009.  Yes that’s quite a bit, but I know my body and how I burn calories and know that I can meet that goal.

How will I get there?  By watching what I eat, and doing more exercise.

Breakfast

Bowl of Bran Flakes cereal with 2% milk (can’t stand skim milk), a small piece of home made cake (about 3″ by 2″).

Snack

Cherries.  Lots of them.

Tea.  About 2-cups of tea with 2% milk and no sugar.  Love my tea!

Lunch

Campbells Hearty Noddles soup.

Snack

Cherries.  More cherries.  I like cherries.

Oh… and something deliciously sinful and sweet – a large Butterhorn pastry.  I know I shouldn’t have, but couldn’t resist.  Besides, it was the last one.  Won’t be buying these anytime soon!

Tea.  About 2-cups of tea with 2% milk and no sugar.  Love my tea!

Dinner

Going out to a persian restaurant in North Vancouver.  The food is GREAT and we usually buy the same thing all the time.  Large green salad, rice with kobideh kabab.  Very good, probably more than I should be having but we don’t go out often so this is a small treat for us.

We ended up doing a bbq at home – burgers, some chicken wings (skin removed) and corn.  Lots of salad on the side, water to wash it all down with (I avoided soda pop).  Burgers had cheese on them, some mayo, mustard, ketchup and pickles.

Now you might be thinking that that’s not a lot of food (breakfast + snack + lunch + snack) – well, no it isn’t.  But I sit all day, so really need to watch what I eat otherwise I gain it twice as fast!

I also had a lot of water.  About 3 x 20oz worth of the wet stuff.  I was running to the washroom every hour!!!

I’ll probably have a late snack as well – usually it’s cereal.  I find as I get older, I need to have my fibre.  So normally it’s something like regular Cherrios with a 1/3 cup of a high-fibre cereal and milk.  Seriously though regardless of your age you should be having a lot of fibre.  It makes you feel full, and helps control cholesterol.  Porridge is a great source of fibre – just make it with very little to no sugar or other sweet stuff added to it.

Exercise/Activity

I was on an hour long conference call today, and had my wireless headset on so could pace my office.  I managed to get in about 400 steps.  Not bad, but definately not enough.  Hope to get out tonight and do some walking or playing Wii with my son as he really can’t go out too much due to severe allergies this year.

Did go out for a short walk and managed to get in just over 2,000 steps.  So a step (pun intended) in the right direction.

I don’t go to the gym – too expensive, and I get bored easily.  But I did spend money on a cool iPod Touch and loaded it with tunes from iTunes and from Napster (after they went legit) and will take that with me on my walks.

I’ll weigh myself next Thursday around 6:00am and will share the results with you.

I’ll also work on some side shots so you can see the difference… well, actually I’m not sure if I’m ready to share pictures yet.  We’ll see.

I will share with you what I’m having daily so that you can follow along and see what I’m doing to lose weight.  Chris over at The Second Coming Of Chris said this:

“I deprive myself of nothing, but don’t over-indulge or gorge on anything.”

Exactly.  I eat what I want, and what I like – but I don’t over-indulge nor do I gorge or binge.  I satisfy my cravings, and that is what has made me successful in my weight loss.

Till tomorrow…

Mohamed

Technorati Tags: diet plan, personal weight loss, personal weight loss goals, Weight Loss

California Institute of Technology researchers used MRI to scan the brains of volunteers as they looked at photos of dozens of types of foods and decided which ones they’d like to eat. They found significant differences in the brain activity between people who had self-control in terms of making food choices and those with no self-control.

Previous research has shown that an area of the brain called the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is involved in all value-based decisions. When vmPFC activity decreases, a person will probably reject an item, whereas increased activity means they’ll probably choose it.

The new study found that in people with no self-control, the vmPFC seemed to take into consideration only the taste of a food.

“In the case of good self-controllers, however, another area of the brain — called the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) — becomes active and modulates the basic value signals so that the self-controllers can also incorporate health considerations into their decisions,” principal investigator Antonio Rangel, an associate professor of economics, said in a CalTech news release.

The researchers noted that the vmPFC is active during every decision and that the DLPFC is more active when a person is using self-control.

“This, ultimately, is one reason why self-controllers can make better choices,” Rangel said.

The study appears in the May 1 issue of Science.

Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_83698.html

Technorati Tags: Weight Loss, weight loss articles

• 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

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