If you’re on the chubby side, you’re likely to have mixed feelings about the endless round of partying that characterizes the holiday season. While you enjoy the food and the company, the thought of all the extra pounds you’re putting on is almost enough to make you lose your appetite. The most you can do is promise yourself to go on a diet as one of your New Year’s resolutions. Well, here’s one diet that is easy to follow.
Here’s the first step: Make a list of the food you normally eat on a regular basis, including weekends. Be honest – if you have ice cream every day, put it in there. The list should be what you typically eat. Get a food calculator or log on to a website that can give you the calorie content of practically every kind of food, and add up the calories. Seeing in black and white the quantity and quality of what you have been feeding yourself, you’ll get a clear picture of why you have been packing the pounds. You have to face up to the fact that you will only gain more and more weight if you continue eating the way you do.
Next, get rid of all fatty and sugary foods you have in the house – chocolates, junk foods, etc. Why leave yourself open to temptation? You may have to ask your spouse or significant other to cooperate by not bringing such kinds of food into the house.
The point has been belabored enough: you gain weight when you consume more calories than you burn. But even more important than reducing food intake is eating the right kinds of food. Your new diet should consist mainly of fresh fruits and vegetables, starchy foods, and just a little fat. Natural simple carbohydrates, also called sugars, are the best carbs to include in the diet if you’re trying to lose weight. These are found mainly in fruits: apples, oranges, grapefruit, melon, peach, kiwi, blackberries, etc. You can eat as much fruits and veggies as you like because they are low in calories. Stick to a basic salad of fresh greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, or some other veggies drizzled with a little olive oil.
Starches, also called complex carbohydrates, take the body longer to break down. This results in a slower and more sustained release of energy. Taken in their natural form, complex carbs contribute to appetite control and long-term good health.
Plain oatmeal with skimmed milk is an excellent choice for breakfast. If you find that bland or unappetizing, flavor it with some cinnamon. Boiled or poached egg is good too. No more bacon, ham, sausage, and other fatty and processed meat products. Instead, opt for healthy sources of protein: fish, yogurt, beans, lentils, chicken or turkey, etc. As for fast foods, they’re an absolute no-no. You should also give up your coffee habit. This could be quite a tall order, so do it gradually. And if you’d been adding sugar and creamer, skip those extra calories by drinking coffee black.
The good news is that with this diet plan, exercise is optional; you’ll still lose weight with this plan. Of course, you’ll lose weight faster if you exercise. Just follow the diet plan and walk for 30 minutes a day. The results will amaze you!
Hassle-free Way To Quick Weight Loss
Get Slim With Atkins Diet Plan
The Atkins’ diet has been a craze for a couple of decades. Here’s how you can gain from it.
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All of you who are reading this article right now have definitely been on a diet at some point or the other of your lives. The battle of the bulge is an ongoing problem and we are always on the lookout for various means to win this war.
Along with exercise, our diet and nutrition also plays an important role in reducing our weight. Hence, this obsession persists in all of us to undertake some form of dieting. But going on a diet is definitely not an easy thing. What to eat and what to stay away from is always a perennial problem.
One of my friends told me that she ate the normal menu which she cooked for the family, but her weight loss recipe is “portion control.” This is a really simple diet plan. In this plan, you cut down on the portion of food you consume. For example, if you usually have two pieces of toast for breakfast, you should eat only one piece. If you normally eat two cups of rice for lunch, cut it down to one cup. In this way, you are automatically reducing your calorie intake by half.
Another popular method of dieting is to stop all intake of fatty foods and sugar. In this diet, you cut down on your oil, butter and ghee intake which automatically reduces your fat deposits.
While I was leafing through a magazine, I read about one of our Hollywood celebrities following the Atkins’ diet. This immediately aroused my curiosity about the diet. Though I have heard about the diet many times, I had no inside knowledge about it. So, I immediately set to work on it and found out certain basic facts’ about the Atkins diet which I want to share with my readers.
The Atkins’ diet made its first appearance in 1972 and was invented by its namesake, Dr Atkins. According to him, this method enables us to lose weight by inducing a change in metabolism. Our body burns both fat and carbohydrates to provide energy. If we reduce the intake of carbohydrates significantly, our body starts burning only fat to provide energy. This method is called “lipolysis”, which in turn induces ketosis. In ketosis, our body burns fat as fuel. Atkins also felt that ketosis will affect insulin production which will result in less fat being formed. And, once your body enters ketosis, your cravings for carbohydrates will reduce significantly which, in turn, will reduce your body weight.
The major difference between Atkins’ diet and other types of diet is that, while most diets restrict calorie, intake, the Atkins’ plan encourages us to eat more. While most of the diets recommend low fat, high carbohydrate intake, Atkins’ does just the opposite. Instead of carbohydrate and sugar, this diet wants us to consume plenty of fat and protein.
The core principle of the Atkins’ diet is that, by limiting carbohydrates, our body is forced to burn its stored fat, rather than carbs for fuel.
The Atkins’ diet has a four carbohydrates stage plan induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. With the help of these four stages, you can reduce as well as maintain your weight throughout your life.
Induction – phase 1: This phase lasts for two weeks, by the end of which you can obtain significant results. Another point is that, in this diet plan you can begin at any of the phase. But it is recommended to start with induction. As you cut back on your carbohydrates significantly in this phase, you will jump start your weight loss programme. In this phase, only 20 gm of carbohydrates are allowed and hence your weight loss is significant. As you drastically cut down on carbohydrates your body shifts into high gear and starts burning fat. This takes about 48 hours to occur and you may feel hungry and irritated for the first three-four days. But don’t worry, as soon as your fat starts getting converted to fuel, you will feel fit as a fiddle. Induction will strengthen your immune system and also improve our long-term health.
Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL) phase 2: In this phase, the weight loss pace slows down as you add nutrient-rich carbohydrates to your diet. During this period, you will boost your body’s ability to burn fats as well as understand your body better. You will find the right amount of carbohydrates which you can consume and still lose weight. Your body will also prepare itself for permanent weight management. The amount of carbohydrates which you can eat is increased to 25 gm per day for the first week and increased in five gm instalment for the next few weeks. If your weight loss is significant, you can increase your carbohydrate intake. A person has to be on OWL till he or she is within three-five kg of their goal weight.
Pre-maintenance – (phase 3): Pre-maintenance is a practice run for lifetime maintenance. In this phase, you are fast approaching your target. As long as you continue to lose weight, you can increase your weekly allotment of carbohydrates by another 10 gm. You will be in this phase till you reach your goal and stay on it for one month. The ultimate goal here is to achieve a state of balance called Atkins’ Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE). The ACE is your individual level of carbohydrate intake wherein you neither gain nor lose weight.
Lifetime maintenance phase 4: In this phase, you have to focus on your individual ACE and strive to stay within two kg of your ideal weight for the rest of your life. By following a sensible eating plan, you gain energy, better health and confidence in yourself.
By following these four phases, you not only achieve your dream weight but are also able to maintain it throughout your life. You can learn more about this diet by reading the book, Dr Atkins’ New Diet Revolution. But, as with any other diet, this plan also has its pros and cons. The good point is that this diet recommends exercise as a vital part of the weight loss programme. Another point to be noted is that you cannot start on carbohydrates after you lose weight as this will result in your gaining back all that you have lost.
Medical experts advise that people who have gout, kidney problems, diabetes or are pregnant women should not follow this diet plan. As this diet is very stringent, do consult your doctor/dietician for proper advice.
Your dietician will provide you with a proper menu chart as to what should be eaten, in what quantities, etc, based on your eating habits and general lifestyle.
Happy dieting and hoping to see slimmer and fitter readers.
Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss Lesson #8
Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss
Lesson #8
Life is extraordinary filled with wonderful people to show up to teach us things. Mitzi, a special friend from high school, sent me a book, The Game of Life and How to Play It, when I was struggling with a sickness years ago. The author speaks about the law of attraction, which I have written about previously. In addition, she writes, “No man is your enemy, no man is your friend, every man is your teacher.” When you look at life this way, it becomes so simple. Rather than be offended by what a person is saying to you, think a new thought. What is this person teaching me? What can I learn from this person? This book changed my life as it showed me how I could change my thoughts. I had always functioned from a foundation of worry and fear. Worry and fear are lower vibrational energies and then I attracted lower energies. Today, I see things entirely different as a result of changing my thoughts, and am so grateful for this transformation. I am now attracting higher vibrational energies and am amazed who is showing up for me!
What I would like you to do is write down the top five people in your life. Don’t try and analyze this—just write down those people that first pop into your mind. Now, write down the lessons they are teaching you. This might be a challenge if there is conflict with any of them. I once read that your true soul mates are the people who challenge you to be better.
You have been given many great gifts. You are to share your talents with the world. By remaining stuck in your weight issues, you are ripping off the world of what you came to this earth to do. Recently, I worked with a personal coach who said these exact words to me….that if I wasn’t sharing my talents, I was ripping off the world of all that God intended for me. This really made a powerful impact. Everything you are today is because of your thoughts and your decisions that you have made as a result of those thoughts. In the book, If You Think You Can, the word decision comes from the Latin root meaning “to cut off from.” “There comes a time in every person’s life when making a decision is truly necessary. A decision where you thought so deeply in what you want that there is no option for turning back.”
Make the decision today to gain your power back and lose the weight. The answers are within you. Keep focused on your goal. Surround yourself with people who will support your decision and release those who won’t. Give up the lifestyle that supported your weight gain. See the weight as a gift to you so that you will be conscious in becoming all you can be. We all get off track and the weight becomes a reminder that you want something different, something more meaningful. Again, it’s very simple. To quote Wayne Dyer, “Surround yourself with the conditions you want to produce.”
Who are the people you are going to surround yourself?
Who are the people you are going to have limited contact?
Who are the people you are going to let go?
Just to let you know what is coming up in January. I’ll be offering a teleconference call to help you outline your goals for 2005. The only cost to you is the price of the phone call. I’m so excited to be able to talk to you—I’m shakin’ my booty right now in anticipation.
Remember that you are already whole and complete just as God created you. You’re peeling back the layers to discover the beauty that already exists—you only need to see it. Quick, grab a mirror or go stand in front of the mirror and repeat after me. Put energy into these words and smile while you’re saying them.
I am the most beautiful person on this earth!
I am a wonderful child of God!
I am powerful!
I am God’s gift to the world!
I am my ideal weight!
I love myself!
Thank you for being you!
Love and hugs,