Are You Really Hungry?

These days there are so many people who are trying to lose weight! There are many businesses out there too, who claim to be there to help people rid themselves of the unwanted weight.

Some of these businesses are honest and do a good job, but others don't really seem to be trying to help, they just want to keep on selling their services or goods and making money. It seems they just don't care about the person with the weight loss problem. This can become expensive and saddening for people who pay their money but don't get the results they want.

There are cheap ways to lose weight though. One of the first things people need to do is to think about the reasons why they may be overweight. It's a simple maths problem - if you eat more food than you burn off by doing things, your body will store the excess weight as fat on your body. Simple! Don't eat too much and you will lose weigh.

As we all know though, not eating too much can be the hardest thing to do. We feel hungry, so we eat. But often the messages your body is sending you may not be about hunger. Feeling thirsty can be mistaken for feeling hungry. If you think you're hungry, why not try having a drink of water before you eat anything. Leave it for a while, then, if you still feel hungry, eat something. Often, the drink will satisfy your body.

Another reason people eat may eat because they feel sad. Eating may help them to feel happy and loved. This type of  'comfort eating' though, can lead to a person going from feeling happy and loved to feeling sad and unloved. A phone call to a friend may help a person feel happy and loved, without the extra and unneeded food!

Boredom can be another reason some people eat more than they need. If you're feeling bored, try going for a walk instead of getting stuck into the food. Walking, of course, has the extra benefit of using up the food you eat, and also making you feel fitter.

So, next time you think you're hungry, think again. Are you really hungry, or could you be thirsty, sad or bored instead? If you start thinking about these things before you eat, you may surprise yourself, and start losing the weight you don't want!

Pre News Years Eve Resolution

We all mean to do well over the Christmas period. We say or think we'll eat wisely and not have too much, and we'll do some exercises too. Sadly, for many, that doesn't happen.

Not meeting these goals though, doesn't mean all is lost. The best time to get back on track if you're trying to lose weight or get fitter isn't next week, or next month. The best time to get back on track is right now!

Right now, you can decide whether you're truly hungry, or simply bored. Right now you can walk up those steps instead of catching a lift. Right now you can eat a piece of fruit instead of the tasty but fat laden cake you've been thinking about.

The new year means party time for many, and party time often goes with lots of food, fattening food. Arm yourself if you go to a party with some low fat and calorie snacks, such as rice crackers. Either take them with you, or eat a meal before you go out, and stay firm when you tell others you're not hungry.

If it's too difficult to do, stick to the healthiest foods you can see at the party, and have lots of water to drink. The water will help you to feel full, and will be good for your body too.

Christmas time is often holiday time too. Get out, walk around your neighbourhood. You can often find interesting things quite close by if you travel by foot. Driving around means you can sometimes drive past things you would have enjoyed, if you'd been going slowly.

There are many things to do to lose weight that a free or at least cheap. Walking is always a good one, swimming is too. Most biggish towns have a heated indoor pool which is available to the public at a reasonable price.

If you've been a couch potato for many years and think you can't do anything, at least get up and walk a little bit. It doesn't have to be a 20 hike to do you good. Just walking to the letter box and back a couple of times can be a good start. Do it twice one day, then slowly increase the number of times every day. Before you know it, you might be going beyond your letterbox!

These small things can all add up. As you get fitter, you may feel more like getting out and about. Getting fitter isn't just about getting slimmer, it's about becoming more comfortable with your own body too. You may realise your body loves the new fitter you you've become!

New Years Eve Resolutions

It's Christmas time as I write this post, and New Years Eve will follow. Christmas for most means lots of fun, and lots and lots of lovely food.

New Years Eve often means New Years Eve resolutions about losing the excess weight you have, some of it caused by that lovely food. I'm not here to bring you down and tell you not to eat any of that yummy food. I'll leave it up to you to find a way to get through this time in a way that suits you.

I have written an article about these issues though, and you might like to go here to find out some health reasons to help you to do the right thing for your body.

I'm going out for Christmas lunch tomorrow, and I know I'll eat more food than I actually need. I can deal with that later, and I will deal with it, and not ignore it. I intend continuing my current exercise program tomorrow morning, even though it's Christmas.

I have multiple sclerosis MS and I'm doing my best to keep active. Doing my best currently means I get up in the morning and switch on my Wii Fit Plus, and do 30 minutes of exercise. I try to do some of the more difficult exercises, not just the easy ones. I feel as though this is helping me to keep mobile.

I've also know about healthy diet, and I'm working toward eating healthy food as much as I can. Nuts and seeds, fruit and vegetables, some dairy and meat. These are my main sources of food. I'm trying to lose some extra weight, but I'm keeping within my ideal weight range.

I hope my words on this blog and here may be of assistance to you if you're struggling to reach your own ideal weight. I have further help for you here. It may be the thing that kicks off the new and slimmer you!

Really Wanting to Lose Weight

If you really want to lose weight, you have to be prepared to commit to it. There's not a lot of point to saying, 'Gee I'd like to lose weight', and then not making any changes in the way you behave.

The most important thing you need to work on isn't your exercise program, or the food you eat. The most important thing you need to work on is your head, your mind. People gain excess weight in a variety of ways, and for a variety of reasons.

I'm not a psychologist, I can't get inside your head. I'm just a person, and ordinary person, who has lost weight and kept it off. I didn't join a gym, or go on a restrictive diet. I just used the information that is sitting in my head.

I know a bit about nutrition, and I've read lots and lots of diet books. I've read about fruit diets, vegetable diets, carbs, low fat, all of that stuff. The thing that struck me most was that a lot of these diets were not made for real live people, living in a family, with all of the hustle and bustle that involves. I needed to do something different, something I could do for the rest of my life without making myself feel like I was missing out.

I started listening to my body, and realised that I don't get hungry very often. I always used to eat at the designated meal times, and have snacks sometimes, without ever having my tummy tell me 'Hey, I'm hungry!'

That realisation was the most amazing thing. Once I learnt to listen to my stomach, not my head, I was on my path to reaching my ideal weight. It means I wait until I'm hungry before I eat. It means I can eat whatever I want, as long as my tummy is hungry for it.

Of course, I still need to be aware of eating what is healthy for me, fruit, grains and seed, vegetables, small amounts of meat. But it also means I can have chocolate too sometimes, if I really feel like it. And that is great!

Because I know I can eat things like chocolate, I don't have cravings, and I only eat enough to savour it. I don't eat cheap chocolate, I only eat good quality chocolate. And I enjoy it, guilt free.

What's for tea?

If you're a wife and mother, you will have heard those words a million times. I know I have.

Now that I'm more conscious of the importance of diet, I'm more restricted in some ways, with what the answer might be. I know sausages and chips will get a positive response, but I'm careful about too much fat in the diet, and the importance of getting enough fibre, so that is not the best thing for tea very often.

I've had more success with mini pizzas, made with English muffins and topped with whatever is in the fridge that seems suitable. Capsicum, mushrooms, onions, cold meats, BBQ sauce, cheese are usual suspects in our mini pizzas, and we all enjoy them. Fibre from the vegetables (extra if you use wholemeal muffins), vitamins, protein. It's all good.

I'm thinking about home made burgers for tea - we have a bit of mince, and lots of carrots - I'll grate the carrots and mix them up with the mince, an egg, some sweet chilli sauce and whatever takes my attention closer to tea time - probably balsamic vinegar.

I'll have to go and get some hamburger rolls from the shop, and I'll grill the burgers and serve with cheese and lettuce, with BBQ sauce.

Yummalicious!

More about how I lost weight

I realised where I was going wrong. The answer was not the greatest new whizz-bang diet. The answer was to stop looking at diets and to start looking at lifestyle change. Since I made that realisation, I haven’t ‘gone a diet’ again, and I probably never will. Going on a diet leads to going off a diet, and that’s where the trouble starts – You might have been good as gold with your diet, and lose the weight you wanted to, but the diet ends and old habits fill the spot the diet had filled.

After the birth of my son, I stacked the kilograms on, and couldn’t lose any weight no matter what I tried. I’m only 152 cm tall, and at my maximum weight of 65 kg, I was size 14-16 and very uncomfortable.

Now, my dress size is 10, and I’m the slimmest and healthiest feeling I’ve been since I was twelve years old. It’s taken me a while to get to 50kg, but I know I can stay at that weight by using the knowledge I now have. Don’t go on a diet, change your lifestyle! It worked for me, it can work for you, too.

Changing your lifestyle means learning new and good habits to take you to a healthy weight and keep you there for the rest of your life. You and your family will all reap the rewards.

Tried to Lose Weight but failed?

It happens to most of us at times through our lives. The pressure is on to be thin, thin, thin.

And the pressure is on to buy, buy, buy. We buy the food that's being promoted to us daily, and it makes us fat. Then we buy the most recent weight loss method, maybe lose some weight, then go back to our normal life, and the weight goes straight back on.

It isn’t easy to lose weight, as almost everybody knows. Some people go on and off a new diet almost every week without attaining the ideal weight they hope to achieve. I’ve been on just about every diet since my teenage years myself, but hadn’t ever felt satisfied with the results. I did lose some weight, many times, but I always put the weight back on, and often some extra weight as well.

Then I had one of those epiphanies. I realised the problem with going on a diet was that at the end, you go off the diet.

As soon as you go off the diet, old habits come back, and so does the weight. The answer for me was to Change my Lifestyle, Not my Diet.

That was about a year and a half ago. I was unhappy with my weight, feeling fat and frumpy when I realised what the answer might be, and I decided to change my lifestyle. I have attained my ideal weight, and it doesn't look like I will ever be fat and frumpy ever again.

I didn't have an enormous weight loss, because I didn't have an enormous amount of weight to lose. I just knew that my ideal weight was not the 65 kilos I was back in 2007, it was more like 54 kilos. So that was my aim. I would use my knowledge about losing weight and good nutrition, and focus on getting to my target of 54 kilos.

I got there in 2008, and it feels so good to fit into jeans the size I could fit into when I was a twelve year old, and thought I would never fit into again.

Now, in 2009, I weight 50 kilos, and feel completely in control of my body and my life. Losing weight, in the way I did it, has empowered me, and I want to help others to be and remain the weight they know they should be, and they want to be.