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!

Maintaining Weight Loss

I live in Australia, where we are heading into winter. This has been a danger time for me in the past.

With winter comes staying inside, the need for comfort food and weight gain. Not anymore though.

I will remain in touch with me body, eat only when I am hungry and try to fit exercise into my daily life. There are many good and healthy things to eat that can be comforting without the calories.

I love making mini muffins for putting in the freezer so there is a snack for me whenever I feel the need for one. And the muffins I make are always low in fat and high in taste.

Fruit in muffins is great, muesli in place of some of the flour adds the the textural interest as well as taste.

Whenever I have bananas that are getting too brown, I pop them in the freezer for my next batch of muffins - Super Yummy, Super Tasty, Super Easy!

These sorts of recipes can help you to say no to the fatty things that tempt you to make bad food choices. Because muffins are so nice, your whole family will learn to pop a muffin in the microwave when they want something to munch.

If you know you have lots of muffins in the freezer for snacking on, it's easy to not buy snacks at the supermarket. Those chip packets may satisfy you snacking urge, but they offer no good things nutritionally.

Your muffins, on the other hand, are yummy and healthy too.

Shocking News about Australian Obesity

I've just read a new article that truly shocked me. I know there are lots of people who are bigger than they'd like to be or should be. This article though, from ABC News is shocking!

I'm sure I'm not the only Australian who has comforted themselves by saying, at least we're not as bad as the Americans. Now, it seems, we are at least as bad as the good folk in the USA or even worse!

Are you shocked? Are you worried? What can you do about not being one of the Aussie fatties?

Well, it's not difficult, but it will take you time. If you're overweight or obese, it probably took you years to get there. You have to realise it may take you years to get down to the healthy weight you want to attain.

It doesn't require lots of money, it doesn't require hard work, it doesn't require starvation. Your lifestyle is probably the main reason why you've become overweight, and simple changes to your lifestyle can help you lose weight. Weight loss at its most simple, if you're overweight, comes from eating less food and doing more work than you currently do.

Our western culture is squarely aimed at turning us into couch potatoes. Sitting in front of the TV and mindlessly scoffing fatty food that is advertised on the screen in front of you can numb you to the damage you're doing.

If you want to get to the shape your body needs to be you have to become more mindful about what you do and what you eat. Learn about nutrition, learn about exercise and you will learn what you need to know. It certainly won't happen overnight, but the rubbish ads you see on TV won't actually make you healthy. They quite often lead people to greater weight, not less.

The health benefits that go with a lower weight will make it all worthwhile. And turning the TV off and doing things with your family can lead to an even better relationship for you all.

Fat Parent - Fat Child

Fat parent have fat kids, and lazy parents have fat lazy kids. It's a crazy combination of nature and nurture perhaps.

There may be a genetic predisposition toward being fat, but you don't have to be that fat person, if you're clever and eat and exercise, you can beat that predisposition, in spite of your genes.
I think part of the whole problem these days may be unresolved guilt feelings.

A lot of parents are doing too many things, and not giving their children enough time, so they pander to their child's every want, so the child is 'happy'. The thing most children want most from their parents is love and attention.

If you begin as you hope to continue, you should be OK. I have to admit though, that I found it difficult when my son was small, and underweight, I fed him whatever I could get into him because I was terrified he was starving. I was breastfeeding him, visiting the baby nurse, and slowly going mad from post natal depression (without realising it). I’m over it now, and all is well, but it took a while.

Now, sixteen years later, my son is short for his age, compared to a lot of other students in his year level. But I'm short, my husband is not tall, my parents and his are/were all short. I think that, back when he was a baby, if the nurse had really thought about genetics, we could have all realised this baby was never going to be big, and we could have relaxed and enjoyed it all so much more.

I feed my son and my husband and myself good nutritional food, with the occasional yummy treat. We exercise a little (far too little on my part) and we are all working at getting to our healthiest state we can. It won’t happen overnight, but, with focus and work, it will happen.

I’ll get off my hobby horse and go back to the stable. Thanks for your attention.

It's swimwear weather!

It's that dreaded time of the year for some of us. The time when we have to get out the old togs and stretch the lycra over our lumps and bumps.

As the weather warms up, the soft drinks go down, adding to the problem. But with a little bit of knowledge and some healthy ideas, you mmight finish off summer this year slimmer and happier than ever.

I know the swimming costume I currently own is the smallest and sexiest I've ever had, and it's all down to, no not a diet or exercise program, it's down to sensible lifestyle changes. I don't like exercise much, but I love being a size ten. I got down to my ideal weight with help from my basic knowledge on healthy nutrition. Eat less fats, eat more fibre, and just don't eat too much of anything.

Eating only when hungry and ignoring most of the dictates of society helped me. I say most of the dictates, not all. Breakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day. It sets your metabolism up and it sets you up as well. If you starve yourslef, your body goes into calorie hoarding mode, and keeps those fat molecules. If you're well fed, your body is relaxed about it and uses up the excess calories, as long as you do a little work to keep it all going.

A Way to Lose Weight, Save money too!

When you are trying to lose weight, sometimes it feels like the whole world is against you. Jealous friends may be hoping you fail, jealous spouses may want you to stay the way you are, and stay with them.

Every time you look at the TV or read the newspaper you see ads for the foods that caused your weight explosion. Exercise classes and diet 'experts' are can be too expensive and don't teach you real life ways to lose your weight and keep it off. They only show you how to do it if you stick with them.

I have found a person who knows how you feel, she knows the road you are trying to travel, because she has travelled the same road, and reached the goal. Successful weight loss can be yours. You will learn the tricks and tips that helped another to achieve their ideal weight, and they will be as close as your computer keyboard, helping you along your way.

If you are interested in giving this service a try, you will get ten percent discount if you quote "carolyn" when you put your order in.

I have gone down this road too, but I did it alone, struggling with myself, my friends and family, people who knew me and disapproved of what I was doing. Now, at my idea weight, I have so much more self-confidence and so much more self esteem I know I am a winner because I won the weight loss course. You can too, with just a little help from your new friend at When you are trying to lose weight, sometimes it feels like the whole world is against you. Jealous friends may be hoping you fail, jealous spouses may want you to stay the way you are, and stay with them.

When you know you have control over your weight, and you know you have that control because you have learned the secrets that you can take with you all through life, then you will know you are a winner too!