Thin Blog

Posts Tagged ‘Weight Loss’

We receive so many emails from young and old alike wanting to lose weight and then being upset that they do not know how to lose weight.  Since we are trying to help the masses, we must tell you the usual disclaimer that if you want to start a weight loss program you should go visit your doctor before starting any sort of program because there may be some hidden risks or ailments.  Now that we have said the required, let us say what really needs to be said.  If you are tired of being overweight, then do something about it.  Get educated, read books, search the web and for heavens sake, stop blaming the world for your demise!  If a person wants to lose weight they will do what is needed to make it happen.  If a person desires to lose the weight that has taken years to put on, then it must be realized that it will takes quite some time to take that same weight off.  A person needs to make this decision them self and this decision cannot be forced upon them for any reason, unless the individual wants it to happen.

If you are a person that wants to lose weight and have made it to this point, then listen to what we have to say.  Figure out how many pounds you want to lose and then divide it by 1.5.  (ie: 100 pounds divided by 1.5 results with an answer of 66)  So in this example you want to lose 100 pounds and when you divide that by 1.5 pounds a week, you must understand that comes out to 66 weeks of effort….. 66 weeks of effort!!  Let’s repeat that again…….if you want to lose 100 pounds a good goal is that it will take you 66 weeks of effort.  Sure, if you were to be on The Biggest Loseryou would lose it faster, but chances are you are not going to appear on the show.

Realistic weight loss goals are essential to weight loss and 1.5 pounds a week is a fantastic and a realistic goal.  The first week you should lose weight faster, but when the body adjusts to the new lifestyle, 1.5 pounds each week is realistic. 

Now that you have a great goal set, you need to understand that your motivation needs to be there for the long run.  You must understand that all of the choices that you make over the next 66 weeks are your choices.  If you choose to start some silly weight loss fad diet that is not what you can do for the rest of your life, the failure will be all yours.  You will own that failure.  If you decide to start say…the cabbage soup diet, expect failure.  If you decide to do anything but a plan that you can stick to for the rest of your life, then it is an exercise in futility that will only end with a feeling of another weight loss failure.  You need to not start a diet, you need to start a new way of life.  In that life you will be confronted with food and exercise decisions on a daily basis.

If you go to work and eat three donuts from the break room, that is okay.  The reason it is okay is because the choice, the decision and the weight gain are owned by you.  If you can’t keep away from certain foods in an effort to shed weight, then your motivation to lose weight is not as strong as you may think.  We will not and sit and coddle you about past decisions and events in your life that led you to become fat, that is for Jillian Michaelsand Bob Harperto deal with, so read the books they have written.  We are not saying you don’t have an over-riding emotional issue that causes you to eat too much.  We just want you realize and understand that your past weight loss failures are like ice cream on the side walk.  There is nothing you can do about them and if you want to make a change for the future…..you can.  If you try to make that change and keep failing, maybe you do not really want to make that change. Maybe you feel safe being fat.  Maybe this and maybe that….bla bla bla!!!

If you want to lose weight then realize you and only you can make it happen.  Stop the sodas, all of it, diet soda included.  Stop the candy, slow down on the salt, keep track of the calories you eat (FitDay is a great online tool) and for your own sake, get out and do some exercise four or five times a week by joining a health club.  If you slip and slide during your weight loss journey it is alright because you are not in competition with anyone.  If you slip, pick yourself up and keep moving and keep trying.  The past is history and the future has not yet happened.

Whatever you decide to do, the decision will be owned by you.  If you want to be 100 pounds lighter, then in 66 weeks it could be a reality, but only if you put forth the effort and maintain a sense of sustained motivation.

Good Luck!!  You can do it, anybody can!  Your future has not been written yet, but one day soon, your future will be your past and that day is coming whether you want it to or do not want it to.  66 weeks from this moment will occur one way or the other.

Getting motivated to lose weight has never been a problem for me. The problem has always been the lack of ability to sustain that motivation for the time period needed to lose the weight.

All too often I would see the television show “The Biggest Loser” and resolve to lose the weight and eat better. Somewhere along the journey of the season of “The Biggest Loser” I would slack off and soon it would be the season finale. I would be watching the formally obese contestants flaunt all of their weight loss and say to myself that “I need to go back on that diet”. Somewhere along the way I would waiver from the diet plan and be settled into being over weight again.

It was during the shows most recent finale that I decided enough is enough and it was time to get serious about my own personal weight loss. I had read many books and watched infomercials and I have always come up short. It was this time that I realized that what I was missing was self determination to lose 100 pounds. I decided that my past failures were because I have come up short on sustained motivation because of my lack of self discipline.

Sustained motivation because of a lack of self discipline has always been the overwhelming reason behind my failure to lead a healthier lifestyle. This may seem like a simple statement but it is true. All too often our desire is not rooted deep enough in the decision we make to lose the weight. We launch ourselves headlong into the weight loss quest and limit our ability to maintain our motivation because of the lack of knowledge we possess. The one issue I see present in many weight loss “wannabes” is they do not know what needs to be known to make correct food and exercise choices. One of my early questions was what kind of “diet” plan are you going to start? I have learned that if it is not a plan you can live with for ten years then chances are you will ultimately fail.

The entire weight loss journey is similar to putting a jigsaw puzzle together while horseback riding. In your life you are required to keep moving and make your “diet” plan work for you in the real world. Sure you could lose weight skipping carbs, but could you forgo carbs for 10 years?

You need to wrap your mind around your quest to lose weight. By that I mean you need to obtain basic knowledge and then by applying that knowledge into your daily decisions you will increase your motivation through small achievements. As those achievements come to life you begin to groom the growth of your self confidence which will feed your motivation that will help you to be able to sustain your motivation.

Knowledge is power and that statement holds ever so true in weight loss. With this discovery I have been able to lose 20 pounds to date!

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?

While watching The Biggest Loser, Season 7, Bob Harper made a statement that really rang the bell of reality for so many weight loss attempts that people make.  While Bob was speaking to Vicky he stated that Ryan, the winner from Season 1, has gained all of his weight back again.  Ryan, who had lost 122 pounds, which amounted to 36.97% of his body weight, has gained it all back again since the end of that first season.  To go through a life changing event like The Biggest Loser and then gain it all back again is almost mind blowing.  The most interesting thing that Bob Harper said to Vicky is what really drove home the focal point of I Choose Thin.com.  What Bob went on to state was that even though Ryan was on The Biggest Loser Campus, he really learned nothing about healthy eating.  Bob’s words resounded so much that the next few moments of the show were lost in thought.

To hear of a failure on a show that brings out so much of the positive in weight loss possibilities was a showstopper of a statement.  What was said by Bob Harper was a verbal monument as to why so many people in the world today suffer from obesity.  The fact that so many individuals today do not learn from their weight loss mistakes may very well be the reason why so many of us are obese in the first place.

The over-riding theme of The Biggest Loser is that in order to truly achieve weight loss the individual needs to learn how to change their life style.  Sure you can try your hand at different diets and lose weight, but if the end result is not weight loss for life, then true weight loss has not been achieved.  How many diets have you tried in your life and the end result has not proven to have any lasting effects?  Maybe the problem is not the diet, but the thinking of the person who is on the diet.  Maybe you were able to lose weight on a diet but more than likely you were not able to keep the weight off after you stopped eating the way the diet called for you to eat.

Maybe you have tried Chef’s Diet or The Cookie Diet or eDiets or The Diet Solution Program or Warp Sped Fat Loss or FullBar or another other diet that you can think of off the top of your mind.  We actually had to refrain ourselves from listing the few hundred or so diets on this page because the list of diets out there is long and actually overwhelming.  We are not saying the diets do not work because they do work if they are something you are able to live by for the rest of your own personal forever.  The problem is when most people lose weight they end up finding it again.  A great example that almost all hands in the room respond to is those that used the Atkin’s Diet and had good results, until they stopped doing the diet.  The point that Bob Harper was making was that unless you learn to change your lifestyle, it does not matter who you are or how many pounds you lose.  If you do not make changes in your personal life you will just find those pounds again in the not too distant future.

As you sit there gazing into your computer monitor we want you to realize that any diet has the potential to work, as long as you are following the rules of the diet you are using.  The problem is not with the diet, it is with what happens after you stop applying the principle of that diet.  You need to get it into your head that the true path to weight loss starts in your mind and not in your mouth.  Without the mind being in charge of the body, any diet will fail.  Bob Harper spoke to Vicky with some words that all of us should take the time to listen to and then learn from his wisdom.