Weight Loss Archives - Page 4 of 7

Diet Myths You Need to Let Go Of

December 14, 2011 by admin 1 Comment

One of the common themes I have seen in my practice is the notion that when you lose weight your problems go away and your dreams get fulfilled. I wonder if that is part of the reason people regain the weight they lose. What they thought would happen by losing weight does not happen so they lose the motivation to delay immediate gratification, the pleasure they get from certain foods and the discipline it takes to eat right and exercise daily.

To lose weight successfully means you keep it off involves the ability to be able to weight short term actions, against longer term goals. Although the current thinking is that 85 to 95% of people who lose weight regain it, The National Weight Control Registry has been keeping track of people who do keep it off. Their site has some interesting findings.

The bottom line is simple: you have to change the way you eat, exercise daily and make this your lifestyle because you place more importance on your health than eating the treat.

Here are some other things people who lose weight and keep it off do:

78% eat breakfast every day.
75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day.

So what about those other dreams you have that you think losing weight will achieve? You don’t give up when it does not happen that way. You get focused on how to change another aspect of your life just like you did with your weight. If you think by losing weight you will find the love relationship that has eluded you, that is false thinking. There is something else going on that keeps you from finding that love.

The best way to really lose weight is to make the actions you took to lose the weight permanent. This requires the creation of an awareness practice which can then be used for any change you then want to make, such as attracting a better relationship. I developed what I call the Pausing Technique to help to build the habit of awareness. I suggest you start with that. Then I recommend you strengthen it with a meditation practice which builds the mental muscles of focus. Everything you want to achieve in life begins with a dream, actions and the ability to stay focused and never give up. Let losing weight successfully be your first dream come true. You can also order the Nirvana Diet™ Home Study Program to get you started.

Start Your New Year’s Resolution Now…10 Tips to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

December 6, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Losing weight is always the number 1 New Year’s resolution. The problem is that each year the holiday weight that is gained sets people back and does not go away.

In a recent study conducted by the NIH (National Institute of Health), it was concluded that while the amount of weight gained during the holidays will vary from person to person, and is probably less than the popular belief of an added five to ten pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. The problem is that the cumulative effects of yearly weight gain during the fall and winter months are likely to contribute to the substantial increase in body weight that frequently occurs during adulthood.

In a study conducted with 165 volunteers, the extra weight gained during the holidays was not lost during the year, and each ended the year heavier than they were the year before.

The study further concludes “promotion of weight stability during the fall and winter months may prove useful as a strategy to prevent age-related weight gain in the United States.”

“Because losing weight is so difficult, it is important to learn when and why people gain weight so that effective strategies to prevent obesity can be developed”, says Dr. Susan Yanovski, Executive Director, National Task Force on the Treatment of Obesity.

Here are some tips I hope will help:

1. Plan Ahead It is best not to go to a party if you are hungry. I recommend that people know their habits and their bodies. Usually if you eat three meals a day spaced over three to four hours that should be when you are hungry. This assumes you eat the right food, because it is a known fact that eating foods with a high glycemic index will cause a quicker return of hunger. So that’s why you have to plan. Don’t go to a party starving. It will be easier to lose control and eat mindlessly. If it is hors d’oeuvres that are being served try to make it into a small meal.

2. Be aware and avoid mindless eating. During the holidays it seems that food is everywhere. Be aware before put anything into your mouth if you are really hungry if not it is mindless eating.

3.Bring your own healthy snack. The best snack is a portioned controlled amount of nuts, with a small fruit or vegetables ideally with some protein such as a hummus dip. I personally also really like the Think Thin bars.

4. Limit Your Alcohol. Alcoholic drinks can lower your guard and are basically like empty calories that are loaded with sugar. In one study, people who drank an alcoholic beverage consumed about 200 more calories in the 24 hours afterward than those who did not. Most importantly, alcohol inhibits your ability to burn fat for 48 hours by lowering your metabolic rate and can also interrupt sleep patterns.

5. Drink lots of water. Drink water, especially if you are drinking alcohol. One extra glass of water is needed for each glass of wine. Water not only helps you feel full, but it keeps you from becoming dehydrated. Dehydration can be confused with hunger. Plus, water boosts metabolism, helps you to detox and avoid becoming constipated. Plain or sparkling water is a “win/win”! Try drinking sparkling water with a twist or a splash of cranberry juice as a healthy party drink, and as an alternative to alcohol.

7. Make salad and greens your main course. Most people do not realize that salad and vegetables are carbohydrates. This is consistent with the post I made about Dr Fuhrman’s eating concept. They are the best carbohydrates because they also contain fiber and protein. This is the ideal way to eat…balancing the nutrients. To this add your portioned controlled protein and you have the ideal way to eat.

8. Keep up the exercise so you can have your cake and enjoy it, Stay committed to your exercise routine. Exercise not only keeps the pounds off, it reduces stress and gives you more energy. If you can’t find time to exercise, walk fast and far. Mentally missing a workout permanently breaks the habit of exercising, so do your best to commit to a routine and stick to it.

8. Remember how uncomfortable it feels to wear tight clothes. If you do overeat or drink, the dress will let you know. What better reminder than a zipper that won’t zip? Ouch.

9. Eat for the right reason. Most people who have a weight problem also have some issues with how to deal with their feelings. The holidays and also make life more stressful so learning how to deal with your feelings and neutralize stress by planning your time better is critical. See the post I made on how to neutralize stress.

I also recommend the MP3 hypnosis downloads I created that deal with many of these issues. Try Ending Emotional Eating, or Motivation to exercise. Whatever your issue is you will find one to suit your needs and give you an extra boost. If you want to permanently change how you deal with stress, I recommend you start a meditation practice. It is like putting money in the bank.

REMEMBER HOLIDAY WEIGHT GAIN MAY LAST A LIFETIME

Myth Buster: 21 Days to Make a Habit Change? Think again

November 29, 2011 by admin 4 Comments

We all know how difficult it can be to break a habit and create a new one. If you do a Google search on how long it takes to create a new habit you will get somewhere between 21 and 28 days. No one has really proven that to be the case. The ‘21 day myth’ may well come from a book published in 1960 by a plastic surgeon. Dr. Maxwell Maltz, who wrote a classic book called Psychocybernetics. He noticed that amputees took, on average, 21 days to adjust to the loss of a limb and he theorized that people take 21 days to adjust to any major life changes. The problem is that it really is not relevant to building a new habit.

Psychological research on how habits are formed was recently published in the European Journal of Social Psychology by Phillippa Lally and his colleagues from University College London. The question was asked after how long did it take for running 15 minutes a day to become automatic? The answer was, after about sixty six days, it seemed to become a habit. So it seems as if the 21 day rule of thumb is unrealistic and we need to think more in terms of 3 months with repetition being the key. I would add to that it is best not attempting something too big so that you do not set yourself up to fail.

The research also suggested that:

Missing a one day did not reduce the chance of forming a habit.
Some people took much longer than the others to form their habits, perhaps suggesting some people are ‘habit-resistant’.
Other types of habits may well take much longer…like those that involve addictive substances.

So how do you get less ‘habit resistant’? It comes down to willpower. Something you should know about willpower is, research that conducted by two professors at Stanford including, Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford, is the author of “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”confirmed that your willpower is limited by what you think about it. When you succeed and resist temptation, you feel strong, if you feel or think you are weak, you will be that way too. Their conclusion and I might add my experience has been that “willpower is in your head.” You are what you think and believe.

I have found the key to changing how you think is a mindfulness practice I developed I call the pausing technique. In between the action and your thought to act is a space. Your willpower lies in what you do with that space. To learn more read the blog I wrote on this. This why I use hypnosis as well, it helps to increase your will to change. Check out the home study program downloads in the shop area for one that matches what you want to change.

What Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD Says We MUST Follow to Be Healthy

November 27, 2011 by admin 6 Comments

Guess what happens when you focus on eating healthy?

The other night I was watching Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD and you written the Eat to Live on a PBS special. His new program “Three Steps to Healthy Eating” was very easy to follow and right on. In the past I have tried to follow Dr. Fuhrman’s eating approach which is essentially a plant-based eating approach that includes seeds and beans as an everyday staple. The deterrent to me was the absence of animal protein which for creates satiety and keeps me from feeling hungry too soon after I eat.

I loved his simple new approach he calls GOMBS which stands for: greens, onions, mushrooms, bean/berries and seeds. It is that simple. Make the greens the mainstay of your meal, use onions and mushrooms daily because they are super foods, use the beans for protein and a dash of seeds.

What is remarkable was that Dr. Fuhrman’s and my experience is very similar. We are a food addicted nation partly because we have been fed the wrong information. It is not about eating less, exercising more, and having more willpower. I have written extensively about how food is our biggest addiction. It is also not about calories in and out. It is about the quality of the calorie and eating foods that are nutrient rich.

Guess what happens when you do that? You get more energy, you feel less hungry, you enjoy the food more, you lose weight but most importantly your ailments and propensity for disease goes away. I loved the comment he made about how addicted we are to using pills to solve our problem when eating the right food is the best medicine. He said it’s like hitting yourself over the head with a hammer everyday then going to the doctor to get a pill to make is stop hurting.

When are we going to wake up? We have been sold a bill of bad goods not only on the information we receive, but the food we are encouraged to eat that then addicts us and makes us sick. 80% of the illnesses we have are lifestyle induced. That means it’s up to you. If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything.

The first step is to get informed then take a look at The Nirvana Diet™. It teaches you how to have the mind control to change your habits. Feels like an abrupt ending. How can I find out more? What’s the first step I should take with the Nirvana Diet™? Maybe a free consult? That’s only a phone call away.

Make Your Exercise Count: What you Eat is only a part of your plan for success

November 22, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

There is something magical that happens when you start tracking or counting your exercise. It gives you motivation to exceed what you have done and more aware of what you are doing. Many of my clients use loseit.com and now they are synched up with a new product that is only $99 that can help you keep track of how much you are exercising. It is called FITBIT.

What I love about FITBIT is that you can count steps, calories burned; miles walked or run and even keep track of calories you are burning when you are not exercising. There are a few ways to get in your daily exercise to be what I call in the weight loss zone. They are: walk 10,000 steps a day or five miles or burn 400 to 500 calories.

You’ll be amazed once you start to keep track, you have a benchmark against which you can improve. You will want to do more and more to make your goal. If you think being healthy and losing weight is just about the food you eat think again. It is also not just about being a maniac about exercise without the food piece. They are two pieces in to puzzle and you don’t get the results without the other.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the Harvard School of Public Affairs, whose research I respect, determined that after the age of 50 you need to exercise for one hour a day to prevent weight gain. This works out to be a little less than what you have to do to lose weight depending on how hard you are working out. It is not about working out hard, as much as doing something every day you enjoy. If you are looking for a motivational hypnosis for exercise I have one that really works. Here is the link to download it. Once you get hypnotized you fill find you start to enjoy exercise. That is now hypnotism works, it is designed to help you have the thoughts about exercise you want, not the ones that keep you stuck.

Personally, I walk every day in nature. I could not live without that. I also enjoy hiking on weekends and a great yoga class (link to past post on yoga if you have one). I have also found that the yogic breathing I teach which is available in my meditation download is great exercise for the lungs. I am never out of breath. Tel l me what you enjoy doing?