Comments on: How to Lose Weight

on 2/10/2006 I enjoy having wine with dinner, but I found that indulging too frequently means piling on the pounds. Not only is it full of empty calories, for most of us it acts as as appetite stimulant. Since I've reduced it to an occasional treat, it's been much easier to eat less in the evenings.

on 2/6/2006 Here are some methods that helped me:

Exercise shouldn't be torture, it should be a fun activity that encourages us to look forward to moving our bodies in the way nature intended. Find something you love to do. For me, I love dancing with my hula hoop (there are many adult classes available these days) and it gives a great ab workout. I am also learning to fire dance by exercising with practice poi. I also just love dancing to a variety of belly dancing videos and strip-tease videos. Yoga makes your whole body and mind feel great! Also, I only allow myself to watch a mindless television show if I am working out on my stair stepper at the same time. This is a great tip, you get caught up in the TV story and forget how hard you're working. If you get in a comfortable breathing pattern while exercising, it makes it much easier to exercise and burns more calories! There are many alternative exercises that aren't in the mainstream yet. Learn something fun to add to your bag of tricks while getting a great workout!

A very important tip is to think of exercise as any other grooming/upkeep that is important to do everyday. You wouldn't go a day without brushing your teeth, would you? Why would you go a day without exercise, which rids your body of toxins and is the best disease preventative money can't buy?

Sugar is highly addictive, kills your natural energy, makes you gain weight more quickly than anything else and lowers your immune response, it is POISON, get rid of it from your diet! Think of sugar as arsenic, you wouldn't put arsenic in your tea, would you? Sugar has no nutrients and is the source of many toxicities and degenerative diseases, our culture will understand this eventually. Be ahead of the pack, be healthier and do it now! After a couple of weeks, your taste buds will adapt and change, you won't crave sugar as much anymore. We can retrain our taste buds to crave healthy food! Organic local honey is a much better substitute for sugar than Splenda (which is chlorinated sugar derivative) or equal (which turns into formaldehyde in your body) or sweet and low (which is carcinogenic and causes cancer). Honey has 60 calories per tablespoon, so don't overdo it!

Carbonated sodas (even the diet ones) leech precious calcium from your bones! How scary is that? Treat your body with natural solutions, not chemicals or processed foods, your body will thank you for it!

Replacing a food addiction with a caffeine addiction to curb your hunger is no solution. For a non-addictive energy drink, try Yerba Mate tea and sweeten it with local honey and soy milk or low fat hazelnut or almond milk. I buy the teabags, put it in a cup of water, microwave it for 2 minutes, let it steep for 1-2 more minutes and squeeze out the teabag into the cup, (this is easier and more convenient than boiling water and waiting 10 minutes). It is delicious, makes you feel euphoric and raises your energy levels without highly addictive caffeine. In case you didn't know, caffeine raises your blood pressure, makes many people anxious and angry (road rage comes to mind) and has awful withdrawal symptoms. It is only healthy in very small doses (no more than 4 ounces of coffee a day).

Buy organic fruits and vegetables. They have more nutrients and taste better than conventional (pesticide-ridden) produce. Some people think they don't like certain foods (like tomatoes) but it's only because they've never had a properly grown and ripened one! Buy only what you will eat, not what you think you should eat (if you absolutely hate grapes, for goodness sake, don't buy grapes). Eat things that are in season (peaches in December are gross). Sometimes healthy grocery stores are overpriced, shop around for a place you can get reasonably priced food so you are encouraged to do it more. Most towns have one. If not, remember than processed, packaged foods are much more expensive and it's worth the price of organic fruits/veggies to prevent disease and keep you at your peak.

Eat food you love, only eat smaller portions. You'll feel more satisfied. Low-fat foods often have lots of added sugar to compensate for the lack of fat and they don't tastes nearly as good as the real thing. A friend of mine who has a figure I covet once told me "I sometimes leave a meal still a little hungry. I eat only what I know I need, until I'm sated, not full". This works wonders.

Don't waste your money or time on diet pills. They mess up your natural energy flow and are addictive and expensive. Trust your inner wisdom to know what your body needs. The only pill you need is a daily multi-vitamin. I also love the detox power of odorless garlic pills, they are a blood-cleanser, anti-fungal, heart-health helper and immune-boosting superstar! Garlic Factors is the best pill I've ever found, but eat it with food on your stomach.

Drop the guilt. Guilt makes you eat more. Forget how much you weigh, what you weighed in the past or what you think you should weigh in the future. Treat yourself well now, don't wait until you get fit. You deserve good things now! Find pleasure in things other than food. Take a long bath with candles, just for you. Set aside an hour to read or take a walk and really absorb nature. Find some new hobbies that excite you. What have you always wanted to do? Work at it! Don't distract yourself with food. Cultivate your mind, something you can focus on and get excited about and spend your time on. If you find self-respect and fulfillment in many activities, your focus won't be on food or your body image as much.

Get 8-10 hours of sleep each night. Many people who have weight issues only have them because they are sleep-deprived, and therefore energy-deprived. Their bodies try to compensate for the loss of sleep by getting the extra energy they need from food. Plus, it makes you look and feel better. Do it, it's important to make the time!

Surround yourself with healthy, loving people. Treat and move your physical body gently with respect, "no pain, no gain" is just not true. De-clutter your physical space, this will de-clutter your mind and help you focus on your weight-loss. A cluttered environment causes stress, and eating is often a response to mishandled stress management. There are many books written about how to organize, get one if you need help. With a neat, peaceful place to live, there is more time and energy to focus on our health. Trust me, this works for me firsthand.

Don't smoke! Smoking cigarettes makes run out of stream and renders you unable to exercise as long as you need to. Smoking pot makes you binge-eat and not focus on your goals (plus, it's illegal in most of the world).

Breathe 10 deep breaths 3-4 times throughout day. In through the nose, out through the nose. Breathing deeply gives your body oxygen, which gives your body energy and a metabolism boost! Two deep breathes before a meal helps you eat less.

A healthy lifestyle is not isolated to your eating and exercise habits. A healthy lifestyle is about the marriage of all aspects of your life- your body, your spirit, your mind, your relationships, your environment and your world at large. You are the master of your destiny and you have all the power. Own the events of your life and be the best version of yourself you can be. You are a work of art in progress. Remember, it's about progress, not perfection. If you do a little better today than the day before, you are doing great! Be your own best friend and love yourself unconditionally. Focus on the things that nurture you and give you energy, get rid of the things that don't!

on 2/6/2006 I skip with a skipping rope 5 days a week. I started skipping about 200 jumps then gradually increased it. I can now skip up to 1500 a day. This is cheap and can be done without having to pay a gym membership. I eat 3 times a day, which is very important, just a healthy balanced diet.

on 1/25/2006 Best advice for a diet is to go slowly, eat all the stuff your mother made you eat and you hated, know what you are eating and why, learn when you are really satisfied with the amount of food, set really simple goals. Never, ever keep a scale in the house and never use one. Measure your waist,your chest and maybe your thighs, but don't write them results down. Never keep a diary, it is torture and won't do much good. If you are intelligent enough to know what you are eating, and how much, why remind yourself of some impending failure. Be happy with yourself. You already know you are going to be slimmer and in better shape and are actively in the process. Never discuss your diet with anyone. They will be bored or jealous and then you have listen to their woeful tales. What a drag! Go to the grocery store and buy good, fresh, healthy food that you know won't make you gain weight. Don't ever go on fad diets, some of them are deadly. Actually, just get a grip, use your brains, start eating and exercising right, don't get strange on yourself, know that your diet is no one's business but yours, and go on and have a happy life. You will get there in good time. No excuses.

on 1/24/2006 Eat only until your body is no longer hungry. It is easy to eat till we are full, but the difference in calories between eating until we are satisfied, and eating until we are full make all of the difference.

on 1/23/2006 Walk briskly for 1 hour per day, and if need be, break it into two 30 minute sessions.
Eat white meat, fish and vegetables, enough so that you are content.
Drink plenty of water each day.
When you crave a sugar fix, have a diet cola.
I lost 37 pounds (over 3 months) and am now in a healthy weight range. I have kept it off since losing it (one year). I don't restrict myself with foods, but I don't overeat and I try to make sensible choices, and I exercise regularly.

on 1/18/2006 Do yoga. The Hello to Sun and the thigh thinner. It works. Don't forget to listen to music through the session.
Not only does yoga help you meditate and relax, but you also realize your thighs get thinner and your arms and belly get slim really fast!

on 1/18/2006 You will lose more weight if you eat very small amounts and keep moving all day long. If you starve yourself you will have no energy and your metabolism will slow down, so that even if you eat very little, you will not lose weight. It takes energy to burn energy!

Focus more on being active rather than obsessing about severely restricting everything you eat. Move around, fidget, pace, shift your weight, do housework, rearrange furniture, carry groceries, do laundry, take out the garbage, anything to keep moving!

If you are craving something, have just one bite of it. That way you won't feel deprived and the point is that you crave a taste of it, you don't need to eat a huge serving of it!

If you feel like pigging out, sometimes it's just to reduce stress and the type of food isn't as important as the act of chewing. So eat a huge bowl of celery sticks or crunch on ice.

Most importantly, never give up! Even if you eat something bad, stop before you binge, forgive yourself and plan an activity to burn off the extra calories.

on 12/19/2005 The trick to losing weight is doing cardiovascular exercises. Walking has limited effects, running will build up muscle, but you tire too quickly to burn fat, you only burn carbs. Fat is burnt when working at 0-60% of your maximum. Any more will not result in fat burning. Activities such as power lifting will have the same effects as you are actually working too hard. Also, eat sensibly, but don't starve yourself or you will get depressed.

on 1/13/2006 When you're craving chocolate, drink hot chocolate. It has very little fat and sugar and it fills you up.
When you're craving candy, eat a handful of raisins.

on 1/13/2006 If you find you do not have time to work out, buy some 10 pound wrist and ankle weights. While doing daily chores, even walking around the house, you will be exercising. Plus the constant weight on your arms or legs reminds you to move more. If you can afford it, invest in a weight vest, 20 pounds or so, they are expandable usually to 40 pounds. This helps too. Do not think about losing weight, it will severely hinder your efforts. So stop obsessing! Do not eat at least 5 hours prior to bedtime. Also do not start a diet on a set day. It only gives you an excuse to pig out before time and the diet will usually fail. It is all in the mind. If you are serious about losing, then do it right now. Change the next meal you eat to be healthier. Add more water to your daily lifestyle.

I found my biggest problem was time to prepare a good meal. Take an empty day (weekend) prepare a week of food and freeze it. Then each day just defrost and reheat. This is also helpful for snacks. Put some veggies into some Ziploc bags. When you want a snack pull out a bag. Good for on the go too. Use low fat or non fat dressing (1 tablespoon) as a dip. A cup of yogurt and a handful of pretzels make a great snack too. They kill the sweet and crunchy, salt cravings. Just a few tips that helped me lose 50 pounds.

on 1/5/2006 Get it out of your head! There are no right or wrong foods. You can eat anything you want. Just count everything that goes in and stop when you get to your daily allowance. If you want a huge piece of chocolate cake then have it, but count the calories.
Of course if you like to eat, then choosing healthier foods you'll be able to eat more.
I've learned that once you tell yourself you're on a diet and you can't eat junk food anymore; then you crave it like crazy. Tell yourself as long as you count everything that you eat, and stop when you get to your daily allowance, you are safe.

on 1/5/2006 I'm pretty self confident about my legs and my stomach. Earlier this year, my best friend and I would go running and walking two or three miles, twice a week, and it helped my legs and my stomach stay at an average proportion.

on 4/19/2008 Pack your lunch for work, school, shopping, etc. You can control the portion sizes and contents and will be less likely to splurge on unhealthier food. Especially for shopping, pack a lunch. Or eat right before you leave home. You can save money you would have spent on food and use it to buy new clothes (which you'll be able to fit into)!

on 1/9/2008 1. Throw away the scale.
2. Avoid junk foods.
3. Drink lots of water and steer clear of carbonated and alcoholic drinks.
4. Indulge in a few of your favorite foods.
5. Eat more vegetables and fruits, and reduce the amount of meat you eat.
6. Exercise. Lift weights, aerobics, yoga, Pilates or something that you enjoy doing.