Kick Starting your metabolism!

 Permanent weight loss is due to several life style changes not just one!  

You need to:

• move more, 
• change how many times you eat during the day, 
• the quality of the food you eat, 
• build up your self esteem.  

Today we will be looking at kick starting and maintaining your metabolism.  If you have your metabolism burning at a higher rate it will help you to lose weight & keep it off.  (Don't forget that your metabolism is the process in your body that converts food into either energy for muscle use now or energy stores for later)

Forget about skipping breakfast or other meals because you are too busy or you ate too much on a previous meal.  Make time - plan ahead... 

If you skip meals this will actually SLOW your metabolism which will result in your body not burning it up as it normally does - it will simply store it as fat.  It is a primitive response by the body for survival- when it does not receive regular meals it thinks that we will not be eating for a while and so stores the food as reserves in the body instead of burning it and using it.

 We don't want the body to do this...so eat at least every 3 hours during the day. I know this sounds like a lot but after some practice you will get used to it and you will feel like eating.   

• Ok, start by reducing the size of your breakfast, lunch & dinner serves- try to have a plate in the following proportions try this:1/2 your plate as water vegetables (salad,spinach,broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot, asparagus, onion, carrot), 1/4 your plate as meat & 1/4 as carbohydrate (bread, rice, potato).  eat as many water vegetables as you can at these meals - as these fill you up and keep you from feeling hungry.
• Eat fruit, yogurt, vegetables, crackers, nuts, or milk at morning tea, afternoon tea & supper. 
• Choose the best exercise program for you...or as i like to think about it...MOVE MORE!!!  Have you started moving yet? Did you move more today than you did yesterday. Good on you!! 
• Is there any sort of exercise that appeals to you- as exercise works hand in hand with boosting your metabolism - try walking, water aerobics, pilates, yoga, running club, riding a bike, take the stairs instead of the lift, park further away from the mall door, whatever gets you to move more than you did yesterday!

 If you decide that you would like to help your metabolism burn faster, you may like to look at the products below.  They work for some people and not others, either way these are a short term solution to help with a long term problem.  Whether you use diet pills or metabolism boosters or other weight loss pills - you will need to change your lifestyle to keep any slimming benefits you get with these tablets.

   

5 Key Elements to Successful Weight Loss

This is the secret to successful weight loss.....You must eat less calories than your body uses!  It’s as simple as that….but this is not easy or instant!!



I have found that there must be 5 key elements in any weight loss plan, whether you use supplements, gyms, pills or diet:

1. Drink water
2. Activity
3. Food
4. Mind set
5. Support

1. Drink water


You must always drink water- now in the beginning of my weight loss journey I found this the most difficult thing to do as water is not my favorite drink.  Especially when you are advised to drink 8 glasses a day - I was struggling with that amount of water, however i have been drinking that now for 9 months and now i find it easy and in fact my body tells me i'm thirsty.  I now find water very refreshing and energy providing.  
The way i did this was to trick myself in the beginning and only drink 4 glasses of water a day (but the glasses i used where twice the size).  It is so much easier to drink 4 glasses a day- i mean you break it down to 2 in the morning and 2 at night.
2. Activity- or "move more" as i call it, this simply means move more than you did yesterday.  If you are a gym junkie- good on you.  
But if you are not, try it simple at first- don't worry you will eventually want to exercise - you will feel better about yourself and it will be easier.  But at the beginning this is difficult if you are not used to exercising.
(I was always a person that said that “I was allergic to exercise” – as a joke of course.  But at the end of tiring day at work, attending to the family, children, spouse- there really was little to no interest in exercising.) 
So to start why not try to just walk or take the dog for a walk, or maybe invest in the zumba fitness craze, or maybe check out your local gym to see if they have something that interests you.  
One of your new goals should be to move everyday,  get yourself a pedometer and make sure you know how many steps (or miles you are walking a day)



 * I will post about 
3. Food, 
4. Mind set &
5. Support tomorrow.

Until then, have a great time with your Family & Friends and enjoy yourself!

Need to have a positive mindset and believe in yourself!

Which Diet / Weight Loss Program Should you choose?

There are soooo many diet solutions and weight loss promises out there.  Some work, but sadly many do not.  To get the best results will involve you trialling a few different methods and plans before you are successful.  

One thing I know...if it says it is instant weight loss or big weight loss- you don't want to do these products.  Even if they work, do you really want to look like those people on the biggest loser?? Sure they lost a lot of weight and good on them- the only problem is that they now have heaps of excess skin that they will have to have surgically removed.

Most of the well known weight loss programs such as weight watchers, jenny craig and oprah say that losing about 
2 pounds a week is a healthy weight loss.  This sort of weight loss can also be permanent- whereas if you lose more weight than that you run the risk of excess skin, heart problems, other health problems and putting the weight back on.



The most simple diet secret….You must eat less calories than your body uses!  It’s as simple as that….


This does not mean that you have to eat less food- maybe it means you need to exercise more.  It really depends on you and what you are doing right now.


The weight loss plan you choose must be easy for you, you must be able to fit it into your everyday life, you must not give up, you need to look to the future.  Find a photo of yourself looking great and stick up on the fridge or somewhere where you will see it all the time - to help motivate you!

I don't think that anyone can recommend any one program as the best - i think it depends on your body and your mindset. 


I think that the best weight loss program for you is the one that works for you- for instance: alli weight loss pills worked really well for my friend Star, but not for me.  My friend Katrina was able to use acai berry & supplements to lose weight.  Again this did not work for me.  After many combinations I have been successful with a combination of products.  But have found that plenty of water and moving more than i did yesterday is working well, I think it will take me another 6 months to lose all the weight i want to but i am motivated now and am looking forward to looking and feeling great again.


Talk soon, until then:

• have a great day, 
• drink 4 x 16oz glasses of water,
• move more today than you did yesterday
• get a good night's sleep