Thin Blog

Posts Tagged ‘how to lose 20 pounds’

Losing weight has been one of the hardest battles I have ever attempted to win. There are some days that go great and then there are those days that just make me want to give up and accept that I am going to remain a fat person. What I have learned in the frontlines of the weight loss battle that it is a life long endeavor. I have learned that a person needs more than just a spark of motivation. A person needs to have sustained motivation.

All too often when a person attempts to lose 20 pounds or 100 pounds there comes a point where you wonder if you are ever going to reach the finish line. The problem all too often is that we equate losing weight to starting a “diet”. The fallacy of that premise is that a “diet” is not what it takes to lose the weight and achieve a healthy life style and therein lies the problem. All too often people get it backwards. They start a “diet” so the will be able to lose weight and become healthy. What a person does not realize is that if it is a “diet” there is a start date and an end date. The start date becomes the day you decide to “diet” and the end date is when you achieve that magical weight. The flaw to this theory is that which happens when (and if) you lose the weight. Is your “diet” over? Do you then go back to your old habits?

The correct and the more sustainable method to lose weight is by starting a healthy lifestyle which will set the weight loss into motion. Once you start eating healthier foods and exercising and sleeping better hours your weight will kind of just go away. By starting a healthy lifestyle there is no end date just a new healthy you that will be thinner.

So the simplest advice is that you skip the diet and start a “live-it”. By not starting a diet and simply eating better foods you will have changed your diet and that change alone will lead you into a new and healthier and thinner you to enjoy the rest of your own personnel forever.

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When you are trying to lose weight you must realize that not everyday is going to be a day of weight loss. Some days you will think you are doing it all right and the next trip to the scale you are shocked to realize you gained weight. There will be days you will see results and you will tend to get discouraged. The point I want to make clear here is that losing weight is not and you should not let it all be scale based.

Even if you go through a period of minimal pounds on the scale being lost you need not despair. If you are truly doing what needs to be done you will be losing inches off of your waistline. As you progress in your attempt to lose weight you will become healthier and that health improvement is what weight loss really needs to be about. If you are trying to lose 20 pounds do not give up when the scale seems to be fighting back. The whole point about weight loss should be perceived as a health gain and not about pounds being lost. If you choose to be healthy the weight will get lower and your health will improve.

Do not get discouraged when the time comes that you are having a hard time to lose some weight. If you just keep plugging it will all happen for you one day in the not too distant future. By not giving up on yourself you are bound to succeed once you realize your only competition is yourself. If you need some encouragement for the final push, eDiets is a great place to go. Whatever you do just give yourself a break and chill. Just keep plugging away and do not give up.

The big question about Alli, the fairly new diet pill on the market, is whether or not it works.  As you sit there you are hoping for some wonder drug that will help you drop 20 pounds, or even more.  As you ask yourself, Alli , does it work? The answer is a simple “yes”, but then when you hear the complete explanation the answer is “no.”  You may wonder why we say this, but the explanation is worth taking some time to read and learn before you put some pill into your body.

If your goal is to lose weight in the short term then by all means you can take Alliand you will lose weight as long as you follow the simple and easy to follow directions.   If your goal is to lose weight for the rest of your life then it is suggested that you skip Alli and start an actual plan to not only lose weight but be able to keep that weight off.  Here are the simple truths of the matter.  Alli is a revolutionary weight loss pill that prevents your body from absorbing about 25% of the fat you eat.  Because the fat can’t be absorbed you will poop out alot of the stuff that adds to your weight.  It can be argued that the Alli diet plan includes a wealth of support through guides and videos that are available.  You can even have a meal plan that you can design for yourself.  There are sources out there, available from Alli that are resources to aid you in your short term, or fast weight loss goals.

As with all weight loss pills the problem is not actually related to taking the pill.  The problem is when you stop taking the pill and your body recovers.  After you stop taking the pill your body will spring back and you will gain not only the weight you lost but also a few pounds will be added on.  The biggest concern you need to be aware of when you use Alli is that you really need to be careful to not eat foods that are high in fat.  The Alli program refers to the sudden bowel movement as “treatment effects” but the truth is you run the risk of pooping all over yourself when the directions are not followed closely.  The way to prevent this from happening is to eat less than 15 grams of fat at mealtime.  The sudden bowel movements have been reported to be sudden, swift and unstoppable at a moments notice.  If you plan to try Alli it is suggested that you try it at home for at least two days with the intention of staying home.  This way if there are “treatment effects” you will be able to avoid any public embarrassment.

If your plan is to lose weight for the short term then by all means try Alli but watch the fat content of the foods you eat while on the pill.  If your plan is to lose weight for the long term then skip the diet and start a live-it.  As with all weight loss pills the price is not cheap and the results are glorious at first but when you stop taking them the weight gain becomes evident all too soon.  If you need some short term and fast weight loss options then Alli will work.  If you need to get ready for that cruise in a month Alli offers promise.  If you need to get ready for that upcoming wedding Alli will work.  If you are trying to be healthy for the rest of your life then Alli will not work.  Alli is a short term solution to a long term and an ongoing problem.  In the long term Alli may even compound that weight problem.

It all comes down to the choices we make, what do you choose?

Everyday is a day to make choices when it comes to losing weight and fitness. For most people getting out to do the cardiovascular exercise on a daily basis can be most of the battle. You may have a great weight loss morning and afternoon, in your food choices, and then blow the whole day that same night. All too often people get motivated to “get healthy” and start a program and get positive results for awhile but then wander into failure. If you are, or have been in this situation then you by no means alone.

All too often individuals get discouraged or distressed and then wander into a repetitive situation that breeds failure and then more discouragement. What is meant by this is that all too often a person is dieting to  lose weight and then one day has a candy bar. Up until that point there was an imaginary barrier and that candy bar was on the other side. After the candy bar is eaten there is a feeling of failure and dejection. If not “checked” this emotion will result in more candy bars and less exercise and then total abandonment of the weight loss / fitness goals. This is, more often than not, the continuation of a perceived cycle of dieting failures because this was just one of many attempts to lose weight that resulted in failure.

A simple cure for this is to skip the “diet” and change the lifestyle. What is meant by this is that if you just try to exercise for the fitness aspect, losing weight becomes part of the equation without the ups and downs of perceived diet failures. If you can start an exercise routine you will be able to “blow” your “diet” on a Friday night every now and then. This is because if you try to get your body healthy through exercise you will not only change your body but you will also change your thinking. If you get into a routine and stick with it for awhile you will actually enjoy performing the exercise.  After it becomes a habit (14 days) your mindset starts to change and eating right is less of an issue.  It is less of an issue because the focus of your attention isn’t to just lose weight, it is to become healthier.  This will begin to manifest itself in eating less bread sticks or not loading up the baked potato.  The choices you make to eat will not be limited to diet foods but will expand to any foods.  You will just learn, and desire, to to be smarter about your food choices because you want to be able to exercise better because you want to be healthy.  When you start to eat right you will be able to stray every once in awhile because ultimately you will be back at the gym on Monday.

By starting an exercise regiment before starting a “diet” you will allow your mind to adjust to the fact that you are doing good things to your body. After awhile the food choices will become easier to decide in the direction of being healthier.  By trying to be healthy you will not have to diet because you will make better choices in not only diet, but also in quality and quantity.

When a person is trying to lose weight they more often than not have failed at a few previous attempts. All too often they have tried fad diets such as Atkins, L.A. Weight Loss,Slim Fast and an entire host of other diets. A person will be able to lose weight on many of the “fad diets” but that is not where the problem for most people rests.

The end result for people using a fad diet is that over the long term any weight that is lost will return and when it does your body will pack on a few extra pounds when it is all said and done. What your body really needs is for you to stop trying to lose weight by eating some special foods from some fad diet. You will run into problems because one day you will want to “regular” food again and that will conflict a “fad” diet. Actually when you deviate from a fad diet it causes the diet to virtually implode. What you need to do is change your lifestyle. Believe it or not this is not nearly as hard to start as you would think.

What you first need to do is to get up and start moving your body. This does not mean you have to train for the Olympics but you can make subtle changes in the everyday things you do. Stop taking the elevator or walk a few floors then take the lift. Park farther from the store or walk to the store if practical. If you can,join a gym. Too shy to join a gym, then Bow Flex has great products.


Whatever it is you do you just have to get started. You can read all the stories you want and gather all the knowledge but what is going to make the difference is that you just get up and do something. I am pleading with you that losing weight is something that you should do for your spouse, your children…your whoever. When you see you can lose 5 pounds you will want to lose more. What you need to do is to resolve yourself to the fact that by eating better and moving, your body will lose weight. Now just get up and do it because you are worth it and it is not impossible unless you make it impossible!!!!! You are the master of your life and nobody will do for you.

So what are you waiting for ????