You decide it’s time to lose weight. And now, like everything else in life, you want it to happen right NOW. We live in a society that thrives on immediate gratification. There is fast food, fast cars, fast service and buying everything on the Internet so you don’t have to stand in line. We want our weight loss the same way – fast.

But there are some basic tenets of weight loss that must be observed, even when you want to lose the weight fast. You have to forget about dieting and learn to concentrate on healthy eating habits. Cutting back on calories alone doesn’t give your body the nutrition it needs to maintain a fast metabolism and keep your energy high.

On the other hand, by eating food dense in nutrition and low in calories you aren’t hungry, you give your body the vitamins and minerals it needs and you have the energy to walk past the donut table in the middle of the afternoon. And finding these foods isn’t as difficult as you might believe. Did you know you can eat as much raw fruits and vegetables as you want without fear?

Exercise is another important factor in losing weight, getting healthy and having more energy. As much as you may think you hate exercise it doesn’t have to be the workout you dread. Remember that you aren’t aiming to compete in the Olympics. Instead you are just trying to increase your metabolism and burn a few extra calories.

There is no denying the benefits of exercise. Exercise will increase your energy, improve your muscle tone, increase your metabolism and increase the number of calories you burn each day, even when you are at rest! Cardiovascular and weight workouts are best to meet these goals. Change up the exercises you do each month. Don’t do weight workouts more than 3 times a week and allow 48 hours between workouts with weights to allow the muscles to repair and become stronger.

And remember to rest! Many of us are busy from the time we get up until the moment we go to bed. Sometimes finding the time to eat or exercise can be a challenge. But cutting back on sleep will only sabotage your efforts to lose weight.

Shoot for 7-8 hours a night. Some people believe they can make do on less and although you’ll be awake studies have shown that you’ll grab more snacks in an effort to jump start your brain and keep yourself awake. Lack of sleep also adds to your stress level which releases hormones known to pack on the pounds. It is nature’s way of protecting the body.

The first natural weight loss drink is apple cider vinegar! It is true that it tastes awful, but Apple Cider Vinegar is one of the most powerful, natural appetite suppressants available. When you are trying to lose weight, hunger is your biggest enemy. In order to defeat this enemy, you need to take the help of some sort of appetite suppressants. Instead of relying on prescription drugs that come with harmful side effects, why not try out Apple Cider Vinegar? It is 100% natural and safe to take!

Just add three tablespoonfuls of Apple Cider Vinegar juice with eight ounces of water, and drink the juice just before having your meal. Apple Cider Vinegar will also boost your metabolic rate and keep you energetic throughout the day!

The second drink that now comes in gum form is Green Tea. You might have already heard about the great health benefits of green tea, especially with regards to weight loss. It is no wonder that most of the weight loss supplements available out there contain green tea. Green tea helps you burn fat by accelerating your metabolic rate. You can drink green tea on its own or mixed with lemon juice and honey.

When weak bones break
• 1.5 million Americans suffer fractures due to weak bones
• Half of all women over age 50 will have an osteoporosis-related fracture
• Medical expenses from osteoporosis-related bone fractures costs $18 billion annually

• The most common breaks in weak bones are in the: Wrist, Spine and Hip
• The cost of a hip fracture can be more than $81,000 during their lifetime
• One in five elderly people die within a year of the hip fracture
• One in four become disabled
• One in five must move to a nursing home within a year
• Are you at risk for Osteoporosis?

Obesity is a problem that affects more and more people today. Because the Standard Western Diet stresses foods that are high in fat, calories and sugar; and because people often have less time in their day for extended exercise (more than 10 minutes), weight gain is a common problem.

New research has suggested that including calcium in the diet, in the form of dairy products, has a positive effect on weight loss. In fact, the dairy industry has produced an entire advertising campaign around calcium and weight loss.

Many studies that the American Dairy Association (ADA) relies on in their advertising have found a link between the amount of calcium and weight loss of the body. The link appears to be in the amount of calcium stores and the current weight of the subject.

In the advertising the ADA states that the research showed a relationship between eating 3-4 servings of low fat dairy products each day and a decrease in the amount of fat stores in the body. The research has pointed to a suggestion that calcium will increase the amount of fat the body converts to energy by increasing the body’s core temperature causing it to burn calories at a faster rate.

The studies also suggest that people with the lowest amount of calcium stores in their body also have the highest amount of stored fat.

Conversely popular diets that promise quick weight loss are often low in dairy products, the highest foods containing calcium, which also affects the potential for bone loss and osteoporosis. Women who control the amount of eating they do each day can be at risk for a number of deficiencies because they miss vital vitamins and minerals.

The list of foods that are high in calcium include milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, baked beans, dried figs, broccoli, and most dark green leafy vegetables.

Dr. Reed Mangels, from the Vegetarian Resource Group, also comments on the influence that high amounts of animal protein have on our bodies. Quoting a study published in the Journal of Nutrition in 2003 he states that “Some studies show that diets that are high in protein, especially animal protein, do cause increased losses of calcium in the urine…” Which means that the amount of calcium Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of calcium may fluctuate for individuals based on the amount of animal protein they regularly consume.

The current RDA for calcium is 800-1000 mg per day while most Americans usually consume between 500-700 mg. Unless a diet is high in foods that contain calcium, calcium supplements may be necessary to avoid the increased risk of bone loss and osteoporosis and take advantage of the potential for calcium and weight loss.

It might be convenient to believe that increasing the amount of calcium included in your diet would increase your weight loss but there have also been studies published in the same time frame that do not point to an increased calcium and weight loss from altered body fat mass in young healthy women. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2005, carried reports of research that are contradictory to the reported weight loss that other studies showed.

The conclusion? Before starting any weight loss program you should consult your doctor, especially if you are under 18, pregnant, nursing or have a health problem. Your original calcium intake, as well as the intake of other vital vitamins and minerals, should be established. And then a specific diet, that meets the caloric as well as the nutritional needs of your body, should be established. This can be done with the assistance of an educated Registered Dietician. The results of the current studies linking calcium and weight loss are not conclusive and more research is required before a judgment can be drawn.

Plateau: A comparatively stable level in something that varies; Reach a stable level; level off

Everyone reaches a plateau when they are trying to achieve a goal. It doesn’t matter if the goal is to learn how to crotchet, graduate from college or lose weight. At some point the level of success plateaus and the individual must find the motivation to push through and break this level.

In the beginning of a weight loss journey the weight seems to fall off without too much effort. The new diet program appears to be working well. But unfortunately most weight loss programs are designed to give the dieter instant gratification. This means that the dieter will achieve early loss that may be temporary without more permanent changes to the individuals eating and exercising habits.

Once the body adjusts to the changes in eating habits the individual will suddenly discover that the scale isn’t showing smaller and smaller numbers any more. This is the situation that is commonly called a weight loss plateau. But, like all other plateaus – business, education or dieting – it can be broken and you can achieve consistent weight loss over time.

Here are a couple of tips and tricks to breaking the weight loss plateau and moving forward to achieve your goals:

1. If you aren’t exercising then start! Exercise will help to jump start your metabolism and keep the calorie burn going for hours later. No need to train for the Olympics – instead include 30 minutes of walking, swimming or playing games with your children each day into your routine.

2. If you’ve been exercising you’re probably using the same exercise with every workout. The problem with this is that the body soon accommodates to the exercise and it requires less energy to do the same amount of work. The trick is to change up what you’re doing. In other words if you are walking include hills or jog for a block occasionally. If you are using machines get off the one you’re using and use another one several times a week. Change the pace and tempo you are exercising at.

3. Incorporate strength workouts in your routine. Building muscle will accomplish a greater calorie burn during the exercise and for the rest of the day since muscle burns more calories than fat.

4. Stop counting those calories. Calories aren’t your friend or your enemy. It’s time to stop thinking of them in either of those ways. We eat so that we can live. Period. We don’t live so we can eat. Calories are important to give our bodies the fuel they need in order to work and burn more calories. While burning more than eating will result in weight loss too little calories will also result in no weight loss as the body accommodates to the change in calorie intake. Instead find a way to eat enough calories while decreasing the amount of fat and processed foods that you eat each day.

5. Stop thinking about this as a ‘diet’ or you are doomed to failure. A diet is a time when you deprive yourself of the things you love. Instead you are changing your eating habits to achieve better overall health or to cure a specific illness or condition. Obesity is a condition that is cured by healthy nutritional intake and a decent amount of exercise on a daily basis. It isn’t cured by starvation which results in more eating later and more weight gain. It isn’t cured by Olympian exercise efforts which results in injury and sore muscles.

Be prepared to attack the plateau in weight loss where you find yourself after beginning a new regimen. Instead of being discouraged be encouraged that your body is losing weight and that you now only have to make a few tweaks and you’ll be on the road again!

1. Make a Decision NOW to Start (Re-fresh, Re-new, Re-Start) your daily fitness commitment. Have you achieved your 2009 Fitness goals? If not, today is the perfect time to spring into action.

2. Keep It Simple. Don’t wait and don’t complicate. Simple lifestyle changes will quickly add up to a healthier life. Commit to increasing your daily metabolism with more activity. Make exercise a daily routine. If you have time to watch any hour of TV, commit to being more active during every commercial. Voila, 15-17 minutes of activity by the end of your show.

3. Assess yourself. Be Honest and Realistic. What is the biggest benefit you will receive from committing to a regular fitness lifestyle? What resources do you already possess that will support your goals? Taking time to have this self-talk will guide your next steps.

4. Consult with your doctor before starting a new fitness plan. Especially if you are severely overweight, obese, diabetic, suffer from asthma, heart or lung related illness. Call your doctor’s office today and set an appointment!

5. Start Slow and gradually build up will prevent soreness, burnout and injury. Remember this is a lifestyle change. 10 minutes every day is healthier than any once a week marathon session. The point is to do something every day and build up to longer sessions.

6. Write down your goals for immediate (today, this week), short term 30-60-90 days, and long term 1 year from now. Post these goals. I put them on the inside cabinet with my coffee filter. So every morning, they are the first thing I read.

7. Schedule your exercise on your calendar. I have weekly recurrences on my calendar, so I don’t schedule conflicts. My fitness plan is part of my routine. Set yourself up for success, not failure. Look at each day of the week and schedule the appropriate activity. Do you have more concentrated blocks during the weekend, like to balance your busy Monday with a cardio session, need a yoga session for mid-week.

8. Start a daily log, journal or make notations on your calendar. My gym sends me a monthly progress report. It provides a reality check. When I reviewed my progress report for the month of January, I discovered I had plenty of cardio, yet I hadn’t lifted a single weight. So, I re-introduced myself to the machines in February – 3,000 lbs and created a habit by March – 35,000 lbs during 12 evenly sessions.

9. Select Activities to do at Home; with Buddies; and with Groups. A couple of years ago, I decided to replace many of my “food-centric visits” with my friends with “activity visits”. Since then, I have met friends at parks, done several charity walks (Race for Cure, etc), visited with my dog walking friends and viewed new scenery.

10. Identify the biggest obstacle to exercising. If you are short on time or money, then think creatively. You can fill a water bottle with sand and you don’t need a gym to do pushups. If you can’t afford a personal trainer, read #12. I watch and listen to the trainers with their paid customers and put in to practice their tips.

11. Identify three ways to raise your metabolism while doing daily activities. My computer is on a higher shelf, so I can stand, not sit most of the time. Can you do squats while brushing your teeth? How can you not be a couch potato? Arm exercises during TV time?

12. Locate online support. Make a list of websites that you can visit weekly for tips and information. You Tube has informative videos from trainers about proper forms and exercise routines. Many gyms and yoga studios post their schedule online.

13. Investigate one new activity. Schedule a session with a personal trainer to fine-tune your routine, sign up for a new fitness class, visit a new gym.

14. Select one (or more) exercise buddies – canine or human. I work from home and enjoy the camaraderie and variety of my gym friends. One of my best friends rescued a dog specifically to be her walking companion. (She successfully lost over 100 pounds).

15. Hydrate during the day. You need to drink more water. Find ways to add water to your morning and afternoon.
16. Designate one day a week as Weigh-In Day, then forget about the scale the other six days. Put your weigh in day on your calendar.

17. Choose 3 different activities that you enjoy. What do you enjoy? Variety will prevent boredom and burnout. Also, it is good to have a fall back exercise for days when weather, work, or will power prevent your normal activity.

18. Entertain and Distract Yourself! Load a new playlist, check your voicemail, plug in your earplugs for the treadmill. What will make the time more enjoyable and pass quickly. I read romance novels from the library while I am on the gym bicycle. Many people walk the dog, watch CNN or decorating shows. The point is if you are able to combine exercising with something you enjoy, then you will want to repeat the experience often. (Note- The opposite is also true, don’t combine activities you dislike, you won’t want to repeat the experience.)

19. Gather your gear. Locate your gym bag yoga mat, running/walking shoes and socks, sports bra, exercise videos etc… Give your gear a home. Make it easy to get active.

20. Assemble Your Support Team – Identify those who support your efforts and Minimize time (or at least conversation) with fitness Saboteurs who demean your efforts!

21. Congratulate yourself for your commitment; look at how much progress you have made. Seriously, look in the mirror and tell yourself out loud – CONGRATULATIONS TO ME!!! Don’t beat yourself up for anything not checked off. This is not a competition or race; it is your long term commitment to your health and lifestyle. Your healthy lifestyle is not about perfection, it is about progress.

Obesity is a barrier that stands between the individual and the world in almost 50% of the North American population. Shedding those extra pounds will not only improve self-esteem but also improve your overall health and energy levels. The decision to lose weight is one that is made by countless people every day and is one that should be applauded.

Obesity is a condition that leads to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and peripheral vascular disease. And, if ignored for a long time can prove to be fatal.

In this day of education and media coverage most people have figured out that the only way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you take in. But the calorie deficit shouldn’t be caused from crash diets, skipped meals or sudden intense exercise. These are unhealthy ways of losing weight and shouldn’t be followed because they all end up at the same destination.

Failure.

Instead of crash diets or starving your body consider changing your eating habits and improving your nutrition so that you are feeding the cells of your body the vitamins and minerals necessary to be healthy. A healthy body, that receives the right nutrition, will naturally lose weight.

The pounds that come off the scale when you crash diet or starve are only temporary and will come back bigger than before when you finally give in and eat the foods you did before. In reality you are losing lean muscle when you starve and not the stored fat. And when you lose muscle the weight is going to come back.

Weight loss is achieved by simply eating the right foods and moderately increasing your physical activity level. The right foods means raw fruits, vegetables, raw nuts and seeds with lots of pure water. Eating raw fruits and vegetables means that you can eat as much as you want, whenever you want. You are never hungry.

That means never hungry.

You have to get rid of the rice, white flour, processed foods, chips, soft drinks, alcohol and sugars. These are foods that will sabotage your efforts to lose weight because they are metabolized differently than raw foods and because they are calorie dense instead of nutrient dense. This means that there are more calories in each bit of these foods than there is in raw food and there are less nutrients.

As for exercise, while it’s an important part of being healthy and losing weight you have to remember that you aren’t training for the Olympics. If you’ve been sedentary just going for a 20 minute walk every morning will be enough to start out and you’ll see some great benefits in just a couple of weeks.

But if you’ve had a bit of exercise then other outdoor activities can be fun, help you lose weight and not get boring. Things like badminton, table tennis and volleyball can be played at parties and with friends. Running, swimming, walking and rowing are exercises that can be done alone to help you lose those unwanted pounds.

And with exercise it’s important to remember that you should change up the things that you are doing so your muscles don’t get used to exercising in a specific pattern. This only cuts back on the calories that are burned with each workout.

Using these simple factors weight loss isn’t as restrictive or strict as some programs make it. It is a simple equation that requires some dietary changes and persistence. Using the right tools of nutrition and exercise you can lose weight.

Remember too that losing weight with the support of friends and family will help keep you on track with your new dietary habits and exercise. Weight loss can’t be about boosting your self-image, although it is a nice side benefit. Instead, it is about being healthy, living longer and having more energy.

Weight loss is all about metabolism and calories. Take in less calories, burn more calories, boost your metabolism to burn more calories doing the same amount of work. The sooner that you learn these truths the faster you’ll be on your way to losing weight.

If you are still struggling with why metabolism is so important consider these questions:

Why do doctors tell you to eat raw fruits and vegetables? Because they speed up your metabolism – and they’re low in calories!

Why do you exercise? To accelerate your metabolic rate by building strong muscles and burn more calories!

Why do you use diet supplements? Because they accelerate your metabolism!

You see, almost everything you do in order to lose weight is geared towards one aim – even if you don’t realize it – and that aim is to increase your metabolic rate. Why so? Because the higher your metabolic rate is, the faster you will burn fat and lose weight. Here are four tips to help boost your metabolic rate and increase the weight loss you are experiencing.

1. Small meals are the way to go: We’re often so busy that we don’t even have that time to focus on eating. But if you are serious about weight loss, all that needs to be changed. The ultra-busy people finish off with just two meals per day, while the not-so-busy people usually have three meals. But if you want to burn fat, you should eat six small meals per day.

You may find it difficult to schedule six different meals into your day, and you aren’t really increasing the amount of food you’re eating. Istead, you just need to eat more frequently. You can split the three meals you eat into six small meals, and eat each meal every two or three hours.

The theory behind this method is to keep your body digesting food and full at all times. When your body begins to get hungry the metabolism has already started to slow down to accommodate to the decreased fuel supply. Provide your body with food on a continuous basis and it will not only jumpstart your metabolism, but also keep it high at all times.

2. Sleep please: People spend far less time on sleeping than is really necessary. If you want to get healthy, sleeping for at least 7-8 hours is a must. If you don’t sleep well, your appetite will be low and so will be your metabolism. Plus lack of sleep can cause other health complications. We all have lots of work to do but if we want to become healthy, we need to find some quality time that we can spend on bed.

People who lack in quality sleep have difficulty not only with their metabolism but it also negatively impacts cardiac health and neurological systems. People who are sleep deprived may actually eat more to stay awake which doesn’t jump start the metabolism because they are eating well over the allotted calories. They also find it difficult to be productive and it takes them longer to accomplish the same task as if they have had enough sleep.

3. Drink cold water: Did you know the cold water, especially icy cold water, can boost your metabolic rate? Make sure that the first thing you do in the morning is drink one glass of icy cold water. It will skyrocket your metabolism to a level you might have never imagined!

Of course, throughout the day, you should drink plain, cold water. Water, as a matter of fact, not only accelerates your metabolic rate, but also cleans your body of all the toxins. In fact you will lose weight just by getting yourself rid of all the toxins that are stored in your body!

Measure the amount of water you need by the color of your urine. Normally you’ll need 8 glasses of 8 ounces every day to cleanse your body and keep it hydrated. However, if you are sweating profusely or start by being dehydrated you should watch the color of your urine to estimate the amount of water you drink. Urine should be clear, not dark yellow, with very little odor. The darker the urine with odor the more dehydrated your body is.

4. Don’t hate exercises: Exercises are what will help you build lean muscles, and lean muscles in turn will help you burn fat. Here is how: lean muscles demand a lot of calories from your body, which it gets by burning more calories.

Exercise has many other health benefits as well. On the days you exercise your metabolism stays boosted for several hours burning more calories that day than you would on any other day. Exercise will also decrease your risk of cardiac problems, diabetes, immune problems, joint problems and improve your overall health and sense of well being.

Interval training is the best exercise to do if you want to increase your muscle mass and therefore your metabolism. Weight lifting and resistance training are others you can do to accelerate the weight loss process.

As much as you may want to be convinced by unscrupulous manufacturers and weight loss programs, quick weight loss of more than 2 pounds just isn’t possible. While you may be able to lose 10 pounds in one month the methods you use will likely be so extreme that you’ll gain that much back and more the next month. Just like you didn’t gain the weight in one week, or one month, you won’t be able to lose the same amount in that time frame. In fact, taking the weight off is more time consuming than putting it on.

It is important to note two things right now. Weight loss is very possible for those who are motivated to shed those pounds and weight gain often happens because you were leading an unhealthy lifestyle. I should then be obvious that in order to lose the pounds you have to learn to live a healthy lifestyle.

This is such a simple concept that it should be easy to understand. BUT, and it’s a big but, people are creatures of habit and have specific reactions to stress. In other words, when the habit is to grab the donut in the morning, skip lunch and eat a big dinner where vegetables make their appearance as the red coloring in the tomato sauce it’s no wonder that fad diets, starvation and intense exercise programs are doomed to failure.

The second point is that people will also react to stress. And with stress comes hunger pangs, nervous hands and an intense desire to chew. All of these things lead to a sabotaged weight loss program and probably weight gain.

When people are encouraged to exercise in their weight loss programs it is no different there either. If an overweight man or woman is told to workout regularly in order to lose weight they often hit the gym daily for a month or two. Then as quickly as their motivation bloomed it dies on the vine. They get fed up with slow results and quit going all together.

In both cases of dietary changes and exercise habits people may feel that their weight loss results are too slow to warrant them continuing to work at better health.

And when people stop doing the things that are necessary to move them toward a healthier lifestyle then their weight loss stops, energy levels decrease and health risk levels increase. These individuals believe that weight loss is impossible for them. They can’t maintain a fad, starvation diet nor are they willing to workout at the gym for 3 hours a day.

There are four important things that can be done to make your weight loss efforts successful:

1 Develop a weight loss program that fits your lifestyle and that incorporate factors of good health.

2 Commit to stick to the weight loss program.

3 Understand that weight loss doesn’t happen overnight. Instead plan on an average of one pound of loss per week and understand that you aren’t working toward weight loss but rather a healthier lifestyle that will result in a trimmer you.

4 Find support! People who find and use the support of friends, relatives or groups are more likely to stick to their program and lose the weight they desire – and they are more likely to keep it off.

Remember that just as Rome wasn’t built in a day neither did you gain that weight overnight. Weight loss is commitment that goes on for years – not weeks and not months. You aren’t dieting but instead are changing the way that you see and feel about food.

Exercise will help you lose weight, get a trim body, increase your energy level and boost your overall feelings of well-being. But let’s face it – many of us don’t enjoy exercising. We may find the routines boring or just don’t want to make time in our day to sweat.

Fortunately there are so many different types of exercise that with enough searching and trial most people will find something they enjoy enough to stick with for long periods of time. For the most part these exercises are generally cardiovascular in nature. This means that they get your heart rate up but don’t require that you work your muscles against weight resistance.

Exercises such as running, rowing, volleyball, tennis, walking, jogging, horseback riding or cardio machines all fit into this category. There is nothing wrong with cardiovascular workouts – except that you have to do them for long periods of time to see results.

But if the goal is to workout less and see greater fat burning, what is a person to do? It may feel like working out at a cardio activity for longer periods of time will only burn more and more calories but in fact the opposite is actually true. Recent research has found that muscles and your metabolism will accommodate to the consistent workload that you impose each time you get on the treadmill for 30 mintues.

Instead researchers recommend that you confuse your muscles. Confused?

Basically they are advocating the same routines that high school and college coaches have been teaching for years – except they called it interval training.

Using interval training the body alternates between moderate and intense, long and short cardio workouts rather than indulging in one long cardiovascular session. And you’ll find that interval training is actually more fun than doing the same routine, at the same pace, for the same amount of time on the same days of the week, week in and week out.

You can change the actual routine that you use or you can incorporate weight work a couple of days a week to confuse your muscles even more. This muscle confusion leads to more weight loss, greater calorie burn and more toned muscles. Using interval training you’ll also find that your body continues to burn calories for another 24 hours after you’ve completed the workout. And for ultra-busy people that added benefit means that you can workout 3 times a week instead of five and receive the same benefits.

Another important factor, especially for women is that intensive workouts like weight lifting is not just for men; even women can do them. You think that you will have a body like Arnold Schwarzenegger if you do weight lifting? The opposite is really true. Building that kind of body requires more than intense workouts and different hormone levels than are usually present in a woman’s body.

Don’t complicate this! Keep it simple and basic and you will see how fast you burn fat and get your fat belly replaced with a flat belly!

Weight Loss Motivation

Obesity and weight loss are a common problem among people and our daily news only confirm this trend.  Today’s nutrition includes too much fat, too much sugar, and too many processed foods.  Weight loss motivation often starts out in high gear and quickly goes down hill.  Many people are motivated many times in their lives to lose weight but keeping the motivation seems to be the problem.

People who successfully lose weight find that motivation remains high only with positive feedback and a support mechanism.  After the initial fast weight loss people are often left tired, hungry and either at a plateau of weight loss or losing minimal amounts of weight.  This decreases the level of motivation and the client is left high and dry.

Weight loss is much more successful when the individual receives positive feedback and has a support system to bolster them when the going gets tough.  This positive feedback is self-fulfilling when it comes from positive movement toward your goal.  Individuals also find that a support person can be a motivating force to keep them on track and help to keep their weight loss motivation high.

Another force that impacts motivation while trying to lose weight is that failure is bound to happen.  Too many times people diet using a definition to deprive themselves of specific foods they believe will keep them from losing weight.  The feelings of deprivation will only lead to certain failure.  Diets are also associated with hunger, fatigue and deprivation.

Instead those who wish to diet and do it successfully by keeping their motivation high should also realize that we are all human.  But admitting that perfection is out of reach they can also realize that the occasional slice of chocolate cake or missed work out doesn’t spell complete failure.  It spells a bump in the road that is surmountable and easily tamed.

Stop the cycle and fix the problem by first understanding that you are changing your eating habits for life and not developing a quick start diet.  This is not a ‘diet”.  You are learning how to put your body into a burning mode as opposed to a starvation mode.

When your body feels deprived and starved your metabolism slows considerably and weight loss is close to impossible.  This decreases your motivation and your positive feedback.  You end up going back to eating the way you did before the ‘diet’ and your body will put on more weight than you had before the diet.

Learn what good eating habits are.  Portions are really smaller than you might think.  The amount of meat that is one portion is considerably smaller than the normal portions at a restaurant or fast food place.  By learning good eating habits and improving your rate of success you will also keep your weight loss motivation high.

Weight loss success depends greatly on motivation and your ability to maintain a high level to achieve the dietary changes necessary.  It is up to you to focus on ways to improve your positive feedback and find a support mechanism that works for your lifestyle and personality.

Okay now is the time to start your 90 Day Weight loss Plan.  I know I did at the beginning of March.  You know the plan.   When you realized you will not be able to hide inside your winter coat next month.  Oh yeah, it is time for the 09 Plan to begin. Weight loss is a common topic of conversation.  The standard Western diet has introduced high amounts of fat, oils, sugar and processed foods that have led to a weight problem that affects most countries.  Fitness weight loss is an option that is more palatable than only decreasing calorie intake.

Adding fitness to your weight loss program can take many forms.  The objective is to keep moving for at least 10 minutes working up to 60 minutes as your schedule allows.  These programs can include, but are not limited to, walking, running, swimming, rowing, tennis, and golf.

Continued movement will give you the health benefits that include fitness, weight loss, increased energy, decreased cholesterol and blood pressure, decreased risk of stroke and heart attack and decreased risk of breast cancer and colon cancer, as well as improving your core muscle strength.

You should always check with your doctor before beginning.  Your physician will consider your current medical conditions, medications and your present physical condition.  The potential for more harm than good comes when you approach a fitness program without consideration for your current conditions when another fitness option may be better for you.

There are specific muscles that should be strengthened in a program and the core muscles should always be included.  Most programs focus on the muscles that are important to the particular exercise but ignoring core muscle strength can cause long term back problems.

Hard abdominal muscles are not only sexy but they serve a specific function to your health.  These muscles are located between your pelvis and your ribs and are in charge of giving you full range of movement to your upper body and to keep your internal organs in place and protected.  With weak abdominal muscles you are set up for injury and make it less likely that you will achieve your goals.

A study from the American University of St Louis found that although diet and exercise help with weight loss, people who do not exercise also lose muscle.  Fitness programs included in your weight loss plan is likely choice to keep your health, muscles and lose that weight.

Fitness programs are more successful when the client has the support of the people around them.  Recent studies have also shown that people who diet or exercise with a partner or a group will tend to be more successful at fitness weight loss and in keeping it off than those who try to go it alone.

Research backs up the current popular standard that fitness weight loss is the most successful way to lose weight, keep it off and improve your health.  There are an amazing number of fitness weight loss programs that you can work through.  The choice is really yours.  You chose health!