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Breaking the Diet
Cycle 

Do you often find
yourself going through the following cycle:

So often people
want to lose weight in the quickest possible way, without too much effort, so
the easiest option is to us a diet that has ‘proven’ results. The diet often
means giving your eating habits a complete makeover. This drastic change is a
big shock to your body and you might be able to maintain it for a couple of
weeks, or even a couple of months, but eventually you will start to feel
deprived. The longer you deprive yourself of the foods you like eating, the more
likely you are to overeat on them when you do have them (this is often after
overeating on everything else to try and avoid eating that ‘forbidden’ food).
After this binge you feel guilty and decide to diet again, but this time you
will be stricter. Eventually deprivation sets in again, and so the cycle
continues…  

The only way to
break this cycle is to STOP DIETING. When
you go on a diet, besides it being an unnatural way of eating for you, you are
also putting the responsibility of weight-loss onto something outside of
yourself. Only you have the power to change your eating. When you decide to
harness this power you will realize you can control your weight without dieting.
We all know what is healthy and what isn’t, so its about eating these healthy
foods 80% of the time and allowing yourself the odd indulgence in moderation.
Once you know you are allowed to eat something if you want to, you’ll be less
inclined to overeat on it. Each day that you gain more control of your eating,
your self-esteem gets stronger. You’ll then be less likely to binge because you
will have more respect and love for your body and yourself. If you do have the
odd day that you overeat, let it go. You are not a failure as a result. Tomorrow
will be better.  

How do you gain
control of your eating? You need to be honest with yourself and take a good look
at the underlying reasons for your overeating. Do you overeat when you feel sad,
unloved or when you feel you need to be rewarded? How did your battle with food
and dieting start? Were you given food to ‘make you feel better’ when you were a
child? Its not always easy to take a look inside, but you will never gain
control of your eating until you do. It takes longer for you to lose weight this
way, but the results will be lasting. You may be tempted to cover up the deeper
issues with another diet, but, like any infected wound, it will never completely
heal until you clean it out.

Once you’ve had a
good look inside and have become conscious of why you overeat or eat badly, you
can start to make little changes. When you change one element of your eating at
a time there is more chance of you sticking to it. Once you feel comfortable
with that change, then you can make the next one. The most important thing to
learn is to know when you are hungry and when you are full. When you have been
dieting over a long period of time, you may not be tuned into these basic
senses. Before eating anything ask yourself: ‘Am I really hungry?’ and when
eating a meal, stop when you are full (this is usually when the food stops
tasting as good as it did when you first started eating).  

It’s very
important that you do not weigh yourself during this recovery process.
Weight-loss is not the focus, improving your self-esteem is. The weight will
come off eventually, but for now the focus is YOU.  

The best way to
track your eating habits and your reasons for eating is by recording a food
diary.  

(By Bronwen de
Klerk)

Losing weight can be hard work and there are common traps that we’ve all fallen into along the way. But with a bit of awareness you can overcome them, get those pounds off and keep them off. Here are some classic diet mistakes you’ll probably recognise.. and the easy ways to avoid making them.

Too tired to diet

The problem:
Feeling exhausted can be a trigger to reach for food as your body tries to compensate for lack of energy.

The solution:
Choose foods that will fill you up and give you slow release energy without lots of calories. Good options for meals are porridge, pasta, chicken or fish sandwiches made with grainy bread, or vegetable soup. Snack on nuts, dried or fresh fruit and low fat yogurts. A moderate caffeine hit at lunch time (a cup or two of coffee) will help you through that afternoon dip, but don’t overdo it.

Getting emotional

The problem:
You’ve just had a blazing row with your partner so you reach for the biscuit tin.

The solution:
Occasional comfort eating isn’t a major problem if you get back on track and don’t beat yourself up about what’s happened. But you can’t solve a serious emotional eating problem unless you tackle what’s causing the unhappiness in the first place. You may need help from a dietitian who specialises in emotional eating disorders.

Feeling guilty

The problem:
Many of us feel so hung up about eating ‘naughty’ food (like chocolate or cake) that we eat large amounts quickly, and guiltily, without really enjoying the experience.

The solution:
Start loving food again by noticing which foods genuinely please and satisfy you, and which make you feel sick or uncomfortable. The welcome outcome is that you’ll learn to stop eating food when it stops tasting good, or when you’re full. Remember no one food is ‘bad’, it’s your overall diet that counts.

By Angela Dowden, nutritionist

source

What’s healthy?

We all aware of the dangers of being too fat or thin, but what should we weigh?
There are so many different opinions on what healthy is and what it is not –
where do you start? Look no further we at Weight Loss Research will answer this
for you. We get asked questions like this over and over again and so we decided
to put together a quick guide to show you the best ways of assessing your weight
and taking control of your weight in a health way.

Good health is dependent on many factors not just your weight;
genetics, what types of food you eat, whether you drink, whether you smoke, how
active you are, the list goes on, therefore making it very difficult to
determine how healthy you are.

Recent studies show most people today have a distorted view of what actually
constitutes a healthy weight. This is mainly due to the media that surrounds us
reflecting images of the “gorgeous” and “sexy” size nothing – It is important to
remember that this is not healthy or realistic.

When assessing whether you are a healthy weight it is important that you
asses yourself in an objective manner, not by looking in the mirror or comparing
yourself to somebody else – we are all different shapes and sizes and contrary
to popular is how it should be!

There are however scientific and medical calculations that can help to
indicate ideal weight. The most popular and accurate calculation is known as the
BMI calculation, this stands for Body Mass Index. Doctors use the BMI
calculation to estimate a person’s healthy body mass. Research shows that people
who are in the healthy BMI range tend to enjoy a much healthier life. You can
check whether you have a healthy BMI by using the weight loss research BMI
calculator below. Use the table provided to see which category you fit into.

BMI calculator - click here!

Source

This article has come courtesy of Liam at..

www.theslimcompany.com

Here are a range of home exercises for a
firmer, more toned body.  You will need some light dumbbells (1 or 2 kgs), but
if you don’t have any then some tins or bottles will do!  You should warm up
before staring each workout.  All you need to do is about 30 - 60 seconds of
marching on the spot just to mobilise the joints and get the heart rate up.  If
you find any of the exercises too challenging then just do half of the
movement. 

Bum, Hip & Thigh
Workout

Chest, Arm &
Shoulder Workout

Back, Arm &
Shoulder Workout

Each of the three workouts can be done
daily, so if you want you can do all 9 exercises in one workout with about 20
seconds rest between each exercise.  However, if you’re a beginner then you can
spilt them up and do the Bum, Hips and Thighs on a Monday, the Chest, Arms and
Shoulders on a Wednesday and the Back, Arms and Shoulders on a Friday.

If you can start with just 10 of each
exercise (30 per workout) and build up by 2 reps each week, until you can do 20
of each (60 in total).  Note that on the Lunges and Glute Rasies, 10 of each
means 5 each leg, 20 of each means 10 each leg.

There’s not much point in doing more than 20
reps, so once you can comfortably do 20 of each exercise then you need to get
hold of some slightly heavier weights to keep challenging and firming up your
muscles! 

Even doing 20 reps of all 9 exercises will
take no longer than 10 - 15mins, so it really doesn’t take long!

Once again, any questions just drop me an
email…

Good luck!

This Guide was prepared for one of our forum
members after a post asking for some advice from a Fitness instructor,

thank you very much, for preparing this,
Liam from..

www.theslimcompany.com

For More Help and
Support, log onto our forum now..
www.fat2slimforum.co.uk

This article has come courtesy of Liam at..

www.theslimcompany.com

Below you’ll find three very good core
exercises. The important thing is to start of lightly and build up your
strength over time:

Ideally you should do these daily. If you
can start with just 10 of each exercise (30 in total) and build up by 2 reps
each week, until you can do 20 of each (60 in total). Even doing 60 in total
will take no longer than 5 mins, so it really doesn’t take long!

The best thing is to do them either first
thing in the morning or last thing at night, and make it a part of your daily
routine! Honestly, in a week or two you’ll really start to notice a difference!

Just to prepare you, your tummy muscles
might feel a little sore for a day or two after first trying these exercises…
it’s nothing to worry about and it will go once your strength improves!

Good luck!

This Guide was prepared for one of our forum
members after a post asking for some advice from a Fitness instructor,

thank you very much, for preparing this,
Liam from..

www.theslimcompany.com

For More Help and
Support, log onto our forum now..
www.fat2slimforum.co.uk

 Ok, for you to read an extra fast weight loss guide, you are probably looking to dropping a few pounds in a few days. You are probably already on a diet and still looking for other ways to kill the extra calories in whatever time you have. So here are some food and exercise tips to supplement your ongoing diet.
 
 As seen from many diets, drinking lots of water is crucial to extra fast weight loss. For example, you can consume cold water to cut the calories. This is because your body tries to keep itself at a constantly warm temperature so will expend calories to warm your body up. (However, if you are a believer in traditional Chinese medicine and since the latter does not advocate drinking iced drinks, you may want to tick this suggestion off your list) Secondly, when you get hungry, try having a glass of water before reaching for a bite since our body sometimes mistake thirst for hunger. Wait 5 minutes before deciding you really need that snack. Most of the time, you do not!
 
 Now to your food, if like me, you must have a sugar fix almost every few hours in a day, extra fast weight loss for you is simply by not indulging in this harmful habit! It is easy to say but how exactly to go about doing it? Studies have shown that people crave sweets and starches to increase the ‘feel-good’ hormone serotonin. So find out why you crave such foods instead of just blindly giving into your cravings. Another way is to clear your home of junk, having to travel to get a snack is sure to put your dent in your appetite.
 
 Lastly, exercise is a no brainer solution when it comes to extra fast weight loss! That is probably the only sure fire way to burn up your calories quickly without having to resort to surviving on soups for every meal. Exercise jumpstarts your metabolism so that it burns more calories during and even after your exercise! Why, exercise builds muscles and these have to be maintained right? To feed your muscles, fat is metabolized. Since each pound of fat stores 3500calories, more muscle mass results in less calories! Hurray!
 
 Everyone knows crash dieting and excessive exercising when you do not usually keep in shape is definitely not beneficial to health.
 Weight loss is best when done gradually and maintained over a period of time.
 
 Extra Help & Support Is Available HERE 
 

Weight loss and exercise. Yes, these share a positive relationship but exercise
helps you to lose your love handles in more ways than one. Exercises can be
divided into aerobic and anaerobic exercises. I shall expound on both so that
you can be enlightened so that you can make informed choices on which exercises
to embark to best aid your weight loss.

What are aerobic exercises?

The latter hinges on you breaking into a sweat as you work
at moderate intensity over a period of half to one hour. This works your heart
and lungs, taking in more oxygen for you to cope with the exercise. The energy
expended will come from your body fat and the fat burning process will continue
a few hours after your workout. Thus, to some it up, weight loss and exercise is
true because aerobic exercises burn fat directly. Suitable exercises are
jogging, swimming or singles tennis. Team sports are not very ideal aerobic
exercises since you inadvertently get periods of rest, allowing your heart rate
to drop.

What are Anaerobic
exercises?

Anaerobic exercises on the other hand, allow you to take breaks in between due
to the high amount of effort needed. You also may or may not break into a sweat.
Think of doing repetitions in an air-conditioned gym and the time lapsed and the
few minutes rest required between each set. For anaerobic exercises, you do not
take need to take in as much oxygen. As a result, it is carbohydrates (not fat)
that is burnt, but is also essential in any weight loss program. (This process
requires a lengthy biological explanation which I will not elaborate on.) This
may not seem in line with your equation of weight loss and exercise. However,
you are burning fat, but indirectly. Due to the explosive nature of anaerobic
exercises, it builds up your muscles, revving up your metabolic rate and burning
fat even after your exercise!

Knowing this, one should not run to the gym and start training like a ferocious
animal. A improvement in fitness should be attained gradually to prevent injury.
Slow and steady is the way to go for weight loss and exercise.

www.fat2slimforum.co.uk

Losing weight could be quite a task. And because it is never easy to lose weight, a lot of people fail every time they try. Some people seem successful, only to go back to their previous weight after just a few weeks or months of having a beautiful body. Losing weight could really be frustrating at times. This is the reason why getting help with weight loss programs is important.  
  
Not all people know that there are a number of people that can help them lose weight. You never have to lose weight alone. With all the experts and their support groups willing to help with weight loss programs, losing weight should be a lot easier that it used to.
  
Here are the people who can help with weight loss programs:
  
1. Nutritionists and dieticians
Nutritionists are health experts whose expertise lies on food intake, nutrient manipulation, and the body’s responses to nutrients and its deficiency. These are the people you should go to if you need a diet plan created just for you. They should be able to give you suggestions on which to eat so you can achieve your ideal weight through the nutrients you get from the food you eat. 
  
2. Weight loss doctors and surgeons
There are several physicians nowadays that focuses their expertise on helping patients deal with obesity and other weight-related concerns. These are the types of doctors you should seek a consultation with as they can help with weight loss programs.  Try to find out these which doctors who specialize on obesity and weight loss programs are practicing near you. 
  
3. Professional fitness trainers
Right now, there’s a certification program for fitness trainers. Make sure that you work on your routines with only certified trainers. This would ensure you of a totally safe exercise routine all the time. But more importantly, they can readily answer your questions and directly help with weight loss concerns that you may have. Certified fitness trainers are not only well experienced. They are well trained to handle both beginners and professional. 
  
4. Body builders and dieters.
You might have a friend or two that adapts bodybuilding as a hobby. They are good sources of information when it comes to losing weight. Their own stories of how they attained the ideal weight and the perfect body could help with weight loss programs you personally created. They could also motivate you and convince you that losing weight is very possible.
  
  
  
 And don’t forget, Fat2Slim Forum is always there for extra friendly weight loss support.
 www.fat2slimforum.co.uk

You’ve been exercising for two or three months and things are going great. You’re consistent, working up a sweat and using muscles you forgot you had. Your body fat is dropping and your energy is increasing. People are starting to comment on your changes, and you’re not even worried about those occasional decadent moments when you go off your diet. You’re so active, it just doesn’t matter. Life is good.

Then, boom! You miss a day of exercise because something “comes up.” You miss another day because something else “comes up.” You experience a string of these days and then finally return to your exercise program. However, your resolve only lasts a day or two, and soon you’re not looking forward to your workouts with the same enthusiasm. In fact, your workouts seem like a monumental struggle.

Workouts become a thing of the past, you’re eating more junk food and clothes start to fit tighter - ughhh!

I have news for you: everyone experiences a plateau. For some it may be two months, some six months or longer. It doesn’t matter - everyone experiences it.

Before you throw in the towel, know there is a solution to this dreaded dilemma. In fact, there are numerous solutions. The key is your plan of attack to counter it.

I’ve constructed 10 sure-fire methods to help you break an exercise plateau. You don’t have to use every one of them; just pick a few and run with them. The mind responds best when it’s not inundated, so select the few that “feel” right.

1. Get a workout partner. Find someone who has similar goals and try to work out with this person at least twice per week. If you know you have to meet someone at a specific time, you’re bound to be accountable.

2. Hire a personal trainer. For five to 10 sessions, hire a personal trainer and make sure he/she trains you once or twice per week. You’ll get the benefit of a structured workout programme, as well as someone to monitor your progress and motivate you to achieve a more fit body. If you can’t afford it, convince a friend to join you and pay for joint sessions with the trainer - this will lower the price tag.

3. Plan a holiday to a warm climate. Like a destination where you can have fun and snorkel, swim, bike ride or go hiking. Also, write down a few goals related to what you want your body fat, scale weight, and measurements to be when you go on the trip. Planning for your holiday will be a constant source of motivation.

4. Join a club. There are many cycling, runners and walkers clubs, charity walk events, etc. Find one that appeals to you. The camaraderie and scheduled activities will be something you look forward to.

5. Exercise 10 minutes per day. One unorthodox routine I’ve given to several clients is 10 continuous minutes of exercise each day Monday to Friday. The exercises are purely calisthenics, so all you need is your own body. For example, on Monday perform a set of bent knee pushups followed by a set of abdominal crunches. There’s no waiting between sets; you simply perform one exercise followed by the other for 10 consecutive minutes (make sure you warm up briefly before starting). On Tuesday, perform lunges and curls with dumbbells or cans. Wednesday, jump rope or walk briskly for 10 minutes. Thursday, repeat Monday’s routine. Friday, perform all the exercises from Monday to Thursday in succession.

6. Work out in the morning. I know it may be inconvenient and you have to get up earlier, but if you can manage three morning workouts per week you’ll accomplish several things. You’ll stimulate your metabolism for the rest of the day, decrease your appetite and, most importantly, start your day with success.

7. Consider getting some equipment for your home. You don’t need a fully operational gym - just some dumbbells, a skipping rope and maybe a workout tape for when you can’t get to the gym. Remember, we’re looking for every opportunity to keep you on the right track.

8. Scale back on workouts. If you find yourself slipping into an exercise funk, cut back on your workout time. For example, if you’ve been consistently exercising for an hour three to four days per week, cut back to 20-25 minutes and less days. This simple technique will keep you consistent and won’t be mentally intimidating.

9. Plan your meals for the week. Try to cook healthy foods in advance. This sets the stage for nutritional success and is a deterrent to the “I’ll just pick up a burger and chips” mentality. Allowing yourself some liberties on the weekends - but planning your meals for the week - will further guarantee success without suffering.

10. Pick one activity you want to get good at and focus on it. Something like improving your time on the treadmill, making your abs stronger, improving flexibility, being able to use heavier dumbbells. One goal can sometimes keep us focused and motivated.

You have the tips you need, so now put them to work. Don’t let an exercise plateau beat you at its game. Fight back and win!

Please consult with your doctor prior to starting any exercise programme.

 taken from here