Focus on Weight Loss Sacrifices: The Smart Way
weight loss, fitness goals, dieting, time management
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One of the hardest things about losing weight is that it involves sacrifice. If you want to lose weight, you're going to have to give up something.
Whether it's sweets, red meats, TV time, or soft drinks - you're going to say goodbye (or most likely, see ya later) to something you enjoy. What you decide to give up is what usually shapes your entire weight loss gameplan. Most people have several unhealthy habits that could be gotten rid of. In order to lose weight, we usually don't have to give up all of them, so we pick and chose.
Choosing what to sacrifice is key... And the obvious choice might be the wrong one!
I mentioned above how most people have several unhealthy habits, but only need to sacrifice one of them. What does almost everyone do? They focus on the one that is the biggest part of their life. They focus on the unhealthy habit that sticks out the most. A person with a sweet tooth gives up chocolate and a tv-aholic denounces their boob-tube.
Makes sense at a glance right?
If you're trying to create a weight loss plan that you can stick to, it is terribly wrong. Why would you take the one thing you love and can't live without (candy, television, whatever it is) and give it up? Most likely, you will do great the first week, cheat the second, and give up on the third or fourth. Not to mention that you'll probably be miserable after giving up your favorite food or lazy hobby.
Get rid of something you can do without
Generally, to lose weight, you will have to sacrifice types of food or lounge time. Instead of focusing on the most obvious problem, focus on the ones you can afford to sacrifice.
Here's an Example:
Stewie loves soft drinks and absolutely hates diet soda. He drinks soda throughout the day at work. He knows he's consuming a lot of calories throughout the day, but he finds it helps him stay in a better mood while nine-to-fiving (excuse me, ... read entire entry
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on 6/3/2008
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21.3
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The Healthy and Unhealthy Way of Drinking Diet Soda
dieting, diet coke, diet soda
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Diet Soda can be your best friend or your hidden worst enemy. The zero calorie beverage that imitates it's high calorie twin is very popular for those watching their weight. But can drinking diet soda actually be a secret obstacle in achieving your weight loss goals?
I've analyzed the situation and I've realized that there's a right and wrong way of drinking diet soda. Sorry, I can't cite any grandiose double blind study - but they're usually fabricated anyway.
The Right Way of Drinking Diet Soda
Let's start with an example. Your friends are sitting down for dinner and everyone's ordering soda, beers, and you don't like the taste of just water - order a diet coke. The key here is that you're already committed to eating and if you're like most people, you need liquid to go with the food. We're used to mixing food and drinks. If you don't like drinking water, definitely ordering a diet soda is smarter than ordering a calorie containing beverage. Basically, if you are choosing between one or the other - regular soda vs diet soda - choosing diet is utilizing the right way of drinking diet soda. The "right way" is pretty simple.
But What about the Wrong Way of Drinking Diet Soda?
Many people fall victim to the diet soda death trap without even knowing it. Many people start off with good intentions and utilize the right way of drinking diet soda. Why drink something with calories if I could drink something without calories that tastes the same? But then they don't realize the implications of drinking diet soda when the decision isn't between regular soda or diet soda.
Many people get in the habit of drinking diet soda almost constantly. Since it's zero calories, they can drink as much as they like without breaking their diet. But there's other effects of drinking diet soda.
As I mentioned earlier, we're used to mixing food and drinks. When you sit down to drink some diet soda, the drink you're u... read entire entry
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on 5/14/2008
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20
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Halle Berry Burns Pregnancy Fat in 6 Weeks with the 5 Factor Diet
celebrity fitness, dieting
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It has only been six weeks since Halle gave birth to a little berry and she's already slimmed down to her old body. At the age of 41, she's managed to change herself from a Pregnant Bohemith, to a Hot Mom - in just six weeks.
How did Halle slim down?
First off, while she was pregnant, she didn't let herself become a whale. She obviously wasn't going crazy at the gym, but she still managed to keep up with some of her fitness routines. She stayed active with yoga, swimming, and lifting light weights - along with a healthy diet. She had a cool fitness plan too.
The 5-Factor Fitness Plan
The plan was developed by Harley Pasternak and involves both exercise and dieting. Although I don't know all the secrets of the 5-factor fitness plan, I've heard it's a very easy plan to follow - I would have expected Halle to do something more difficult, but whatever. The 5-Factor Fitness Plan involves a 25 minute exercise program that should be performed 5 times a week. That's only a little more thatn 2 hours of exercise a week - but it worked for her.
For dieting, the 5-Factor Fitness Plan involves 5 meals per day (Harley's favorite number must have been 5). One cool thing about the plan is that there's no carb counting, point tracking, or crazy tracking that gets you all flustered. Some people like diets like that, but some don't. This is for someone who doesn't like tracking. Most the meals involve healthy proteins, low glycemic carbs, fiber, and omega 3s.
Recommend the 5-Factor Fitness Plan?
I'm undecided. I haven't tried the plan, so I won't give it my recommendation, but it could work for some people. It's best to read up on tons of fitness and diet plans and find one that you could easily fit into your lifestyle.
If you want to try it out, you can go to 5factordiet.com - It's not a commission link and I don't have any deal with the creator, but I figured it'd be dumb to explain the ... read entire entry
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on 5/1/2008
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36.9
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Mariah Carey’s Diet Works Wonders
celebrity fitness, dieting
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Mariah Carey’s body is back and looking just as good as it did in her prime. How did she do it? She invented her own diet.
There’s nothing magical to the Mariah Carey Diet – it’s actually quite a cinch. All you have to do is eat only a small portion of anything you consume. You can eat whatever you want, to some extent, you just can’t eat a lot of what you want.
How small are these portions we’re talking about?
Pretty freakin small buddy… No more than a forkful of each food. Meaning, your serving of chocolate for the day is the amount of chocolate you can fit on your normal sized fork. No, don’t go stick a fork in both pieces of a twix bar and act like that’s ok – that’s cheating.
So just how well does this diet work?
Well, she lost a whopping 32 lbs. – although she probably exaggerated. My guess is she lost about 25 lbs. in reality. Regardless, have you seen her body lately? She’s amazing (once again).
I give her a lot of credit for coming up with her own little diet plan. Many stars take the easier road and have the most scientific nutritionist come up with a super plan. I like how she figured out something simple that just works for her.
Will this diet work for you?
Maybe not, but I’d recommend giving it a shot. Everyone’s different. Some people can do without certain parts of their edible life, while others would rather just focus on exercise more. Some could do a low carb diet no problem, while others would simply die if they couldn’t eat their mother’s lasagna.
It’s all about finding the right strategy for you. Mariah did it, and wow, look at her now.
Like my writing? Subscribe to my Fitness RSS Feed.
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on 4/28/2008
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37.1
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Fast Food Eater? Here's an Easy Diet for You
fast food, dieting
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When people hear the word "Diet" they immediately start thinking about Atkins. or The Cabbage Soup Diet, or some other crazy diet plan out there. It's not always that complicated. In fact, if you're a fast food eater, I have the perfect "Diet" for you.
This is a simple, beginner diet. It involves one rule - and one rule only.
You're starting to like the sound of this aren't you? An easy, simple, one guideline diet that is GUARANTEED to work. All you have to do is not eat any fast food.
This means never. Not once a week, not once a month. Simply cut it from your diet. The fastest food you can eat is subway - which you should still use caution when eating. In fact, before you eat subway, I recommend reading up on the Subway Myth. But the only solid rule is that you can't eat fast food.
If you are a fast food eater, you're lucky. You have a diet plan that's easy, cheap, and will definitely show results. Try this diet for 2 - 3 months, you'll lose some weight (I promise), and then move on to a diet with level 2 complexity.
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on 4/26/2008
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15.9
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Peanuts and Raisins Can be a Healthy Snack or a Fat Packer
dieting, healthy snacks
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If you have any fitness and health goals, usually part of achieving them is finding healthy snacks. Peanuts and Raisins COULD be a healthy option - but it depends on your goals and activity level.
Nutritional Info for Peanuts and Raisins
Two cups of a peanuts and raisins mixed has about 43 grams of protein, 139 grams of carbohydrates, and 72 grams of fat. Peanuts are very high in protein and relatively high in some fats, while raisins are high in carbohydrates and no protein or fat.
Peanuts and Raisins Can be a great snack for weight lifters
If you have an active lifestyle or are trying to build muscle, this mix of protein, carbohydrates, and fat (can't avoid it) is a good mix. If you've missed out on your usual intake of carbs throughout the day, have some raisins to even it out. In the same way, if you're lacking protein in your diet, eat some peanuts.
Get Fat with Peanuts and Raisins
If you're the couch potato type, I wouldn't recommend eating this mixture. While this can be a healthy option for those who have an active lifestyle, those who are couch potatoes will not fair as well. I'd recommend a healthier snack like celery.
Does this mean that if you're not a weight lifter you can't use peanuts and raisins as a snack? No, but it's important to Know your Fitness Goals before Choosing Snacks for your Diet.
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on 4/24/2008
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30.1
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A High Fat Diet working Medical Wonders
dieting
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High fat diets are rarely recommended in the health and fitness world. Usually, if a diet does have a high fat content, it cuts carbohydrates to a bare minimum. Now, a new high fat diet is recommended for children with Epilepsy.
For those who are unfamiliar with Epilepsy, it is a neurological disorder which can cause random seizures. While there are several drugs on the market geared toward reducing affects of this disorder, there are many who see no improvement.
A test on children suffering from Epilepsy recently showed that 50% of the subjects reduced their seizures by 50% as a result of following this high fat diet.
Most of you (probably all of you) don't suffer from epilepsy, so you're probably un-interested in this diet. But the cool thing to learn from this is how important diets are. If diets are able to heavily reduce epileptic seizures, then they definitely have a huge affect on sleeping habits, how we perform at sports, and obviously - how much we weigh.
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on 4/17/2008
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9.2
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The World is Unfair to Fat People
obesity epidemic, dieting
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We hear the same things over and over. “America is overweight” and “We must stop the obesity epidemic.” There are millions of studies showing how people are generally overweight. But not only does the media want to point this out, but they want to place blame on everything and everyone. Fat people are constantly criticized for their figure, except for the rare times when the media feels like being nice and posts something about how it’s ok to be fat, and often times, they really can’t help it.
Let’s look at some other bodily features that humans have: Height, Skin Color, Eye Color, to name a few. We have little or no control over how tall we grow, what color our skin is, and what color our eyes are. Why? A well-known scientific aspect of life called genetics. We can try to eat the right things or hang upside down to make ourselves taller, but there’s no proof any of that make a difference. If we’re fair skinned, we can tan a lot (unless we burn easily) but skin color changes are only temporary. We can wear contacts to change our eye color, but in most people it’s an obvious fake.
So why, if all other features of our body are chalked up to genetics, do we put so much blame on those who do not have the ideal body type? My argument is, although there are definitely many people out there that could be lighter than they are, many people simply cannot help being overweight.
Oprah, who often goes on streaks of dieting, will always be overweight. She goes through periods of being slimmer, and I give her credit for that, but her genetic makeup will always be what society views as overweight. Just like WeeMan will always be short.
I know people who disagree would argue that people have more control over their weight than height, which I totally agree with. So let’s compare it to skin color. People genetically have a given skin color. Fair, medium, dark, and so on. Someone with fair skin tone, can tan often and acquire a med... read entire entry
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on 2/7/2008
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42.7
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