Losing weight and keeping it off is much more than eating right and exercising hard. In order to lose weight and keep it off, especially in today’s stressful society, you must be mentally tough.

Every day we are surround with people and food temptations that will try sabotage your effort to lose weight. This is why losing weight is so difficult and depressing. There are so many diets and exercise programs out there; however, none of them will ever work for you not mentally ready to change your life.

If you have been unable to lose weight, chances are, you were not mentally tough enough. Why believe me? Because, I am a Doctor and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist? That is one good reason. But more importantly, I have been there. I struggled with more own weight issues for years. However, in 2002 I personal lost over 60 pounds and I have been able to keep the weight of for over three years now.

Tony Robbins said,”If you want to succeed in any aspect of life, find someone who has already succeeded in that area, and do what they did to get there.” Here are some mental techniques I used which ultimately helped me to finally lose weight and keep it office. I am confident that is you apply they techniques, you to will succeed in your quest to lose weight.

Write down your goals.

I know you have heard this over and over, and over. But did you every actually do it? If you want to really change your life and lose the weight, this time, write down your goals. In fact, lets take it a litter further. I am sure this is not your first attempt to lose weigh. I am sure you tried some other program or “diet” before and for some reason it did not work. The first thing I want to say is, “good job”. Not good job for failing in the past, good job for trying again. This is a little off the subject, and we will get into this more late. However, anyone who has successful lost weight and kept it off failed on some other program. The difference is, they never gave up. So, good job on continuing your quest to lose weight. I know you can do it.

Now back to your goals. I want you to write down why you failed in your past attempts to lose weight. Did you lack time, motivation, direction, what was it? Now write down all the negative things about your life, which are related to your weight. What will your life be like if you do not lose the weight and keep living the way you are living. Are you missing out truly enjoying life because of your weight? My kids wanted me to play with them in the pool at their year-end little league pool parties. Do you think I wanted all those parents to see big old gut? No way! I let my kids down. They did not care that I was fat. They just wanted to play with their dad in the pool. I let my kids down and missed out on enjoying my kids. What about you? If you keeping living the way you are living, what will you miss out on?

Write down all the bad things that are associated with your weight. Are you missing out on relationships? Are you worried about your health? Are you worried about dying early? Do you want to see your children get married? To be perfectly honest, obesity is currently the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States, just behind smoking.
If you are overweight, you have a very good chance of dying earlier than you should. Write this stuff down. The goal here is to make your self feel bad, real bad.

Do you remember when you were a school kid and the teacher gave you a homework assignment that was due n a week? How many of you ran home and finished the assignment on the first day? Ok, a few of you probably did. However, if you were like me, I waited until the last minute to do the assignment. Why? Why did wait until the last minute? Because I associated more “pain” with the process of doing the assignment than the “pleasure” I would get from knowing I had finished it. That is, until the night (or morning) before it is due. Now, the assignment is due in a few hours and all I can think about is the “pains” that will come if I do not get it done. I will fail, my parents will get mad at me, I will get grounded and not be able to play with my friends. So what do we do? We do the damn homework, every though it causes us pain.

This might sound a little harsh, but the only reason you have not lost weight is because you associate more “pain” with the process of losing weight than the “pleasure” you will get with losing weight. When you eat that dounut you are thing about how good it pleasures your taste but instead of thinking that you just added another 200 extra calories that you did not need which will cause you to gain more weight, which will make fatter, unattractive, more likely to have a cardiovascular disease, which will cause you to die earlier, missing out on so much. Harsh, but true.

Now write down three month goals, six months goals, and one year goals. Be realistic. Think about losing two pounds a week as a goal. Put these goals somewhere you can read on a daily basis.

Visualize your goals.

Everyday, especially when exercising, visualize the body you want and the person you want to be. Picture the new you in your mind. See your new body. Visualize what that person will be like, how will losing all that weight change your life. How will that person act? Now, be that person. Act as if you had already reached your goals. When a situation comes up that might adversely affect your weight loss program, such as blowing off your exercise routine, or that tempting dounut at work, stop. Visualize the person you’re trying to become. Now be that person. What would that person do in this situation, now be that person. “Hold an image of the life you want, and that image will become fact.”
Come up with a motivation phrase.

This is a continuation of above. In addition to visualizing your goals, come up with a phrase that states what you are striving for, and speak it out loud when doing your exercises. Some of the phrases I used when I was losing my weight were, “Everyday I am getting fitter, healthier, stronger.” If you say this over and over, and you are not what you are speaking, your mind will sense a mismatch and then have to adjust to make the connection.

Start the morning moving.

You will more benefit from getting up fifteen minutes earlier and going for a brisk walk or light jog then you would get from sleeping an extra fifteen minutes. When you are doing this visualize you goals, and say your motivational phrase out load. This is a fantastic way to start your day. You will be more awake, more energized, and focused for the rest of the day.

Sign up for an event.

Studies have shown that about 50% of Americans that begin an exercise program eventually quite. However, the study showed that when the subjects had a goal of participating in an event, a 5K run, a triathlon, a charity walk, improved compliance with the exercise program, and only 20% of the subjects dropped out. Having goals help. So, look for an event in your area. A 5K run or a charity walk for breast cancer is great events to train for. Instead of constantly thinking you are exercising just to lose weight, you are training for the event that is a few months away. This is what I did. I signed up for a short triathlon. Since I was not going back out of it after signing up, it motivated me to continue my exercise program. After I completed my first triathlon, I set a new goal. I signed up for another triathlon that was longer. I never got bore and my exercise program never got stale. This was because I always had an event goal. Also, do not think that you have to be in great shape already to participate in the event. As you will see, there are a lot of people simply walking these events. Find a partner, and just do it.

Hire a wellness coach.

You hire a CPA to help you with your taxes. You hire an attorney to help you with legal issues. You hire a real estate agent to help you buy a house. But, what do most people do when they want to lose weight? They buy a book and try to do it by themselves. I already mentioned that obesity is a killer, and you already know how difficult it is to lose weight, so hire a professional. But what is a professional? Sure you can go down to your local gym and hire a personal trainer, but what makes them a professional? Just because someone may have played high school football, does not mean they help you with losing weight.

Obesity is a disease, and you need to treat it as a disease. So hire someone who can order blood test, work with you mentally on changing your habits. Hire someone who can develop an exercise and nutrition program specifically to your needs and abilities. A wellness coach will be with you through the good and the bad.

You are the only person you can count on.

What? I tell you to hire a wellness coach, and then I tell you that YOU are the only person you can count on? Hear me out.

I want to exercise, BUT I have no time. I did not want to eat those potato chips, BUT there was nothing else to eat. People who use a lot of “BUTS” usually have a big one.

The weight loss program I run at my office works. When my patients come to my office, I can tell them what types of exercises I want them to do for today’s session, and I can review their nutrition and give them ideas on how they can do better. However, when they leave my office it is up to them. What is there to stop them from picking up a hamburger on the way home? Nothing. Just themselves. This is why you need to not just follow an exercise program, and not just try to follow the latest fad diet out there. You need to focus on changing the bad habits that caused you to gain weight in the first place and replace them with new ones.

Be honest for a minute. You tried a weight loss program in the past and it did not work, right? Did the program really fail, or did you fail the program? Lets face it. If you develop diabetes or have a heart attack because you are overweight, who are you going to blame? Are you going to blame McDonalds, because they did not tell you that a bacon double cheeseburger might not be good for you? Are you going to blame your trainer, because they did not make you exercise hard enough? Are you going to blame your parents, because “it is in the genes”? Obesity runs in our family. At some point you need to take responsibility for your own health.

If you fail to lose weight it is because, more than likely, you did not do what you were suppose to. However, the opposite is also true. At my office I have seen my patients lose twenty, fifty pounds or more. I have seen first hand how this can totally change their life. I have seen their relationships improve. I have seen them gain more self-confidence. I have seen them do better at work and make more money. I have seen them become a much more happy person. And, they thank me for it. Everyday someone thanks me for helping him or her finally lose weight. I am grateful for the thanks. I tell them, I gave you the path and the knowledge on how to exercise and how to understand nutrition, but you are the reason you lost weight. I helped, but you did it. You are the only true person you can count on.

It’s all about Attitude

If you have been trying unsuccessfully to lose weight for some time, you might need to change your attitude. Take a minute and think back over the past years. How did you approach the weight loss program? Were you reluctant? Were you skeptical? Did you reality think this was the one, the program that would finally work, or did you have doubts and think that you would fail again?

“If you continue to think the way you’ve always thought, then you will continue to get what you always got”.

If you think you will fail you will. If you know you will succeed you will. Charles Swindoll said?

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company?a church?a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past?we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you?we are in charge of our Attitudes”.

That says it all. When I was losing weight, I read this daily. When I did not feel like exercising I would read this. When I weighed myself and thought about giving up because I did not lose any weight, I read this. I now give it to all of my patients on their first visit.

Never Give Up.

Never Give Up, Never, Never Give Up, Never Ever Give Up, Never Give UP! That’s right, the secret key to losing weight is not a new fad diet, it’s not a new medication, it’s not a gimmick supplements, it is A STATE OF MIND!

Lets face it. You tried to lost weight in the past, and you failed. So what! The key is what do you do now. Do you give up, or do you start again. Anyone and everyone who has successfully lost weight and kept it off had failed in the past. However, the reason they were finally able to lose the weight, was because they never gave up.

I know how hard and frustrating it can be, but never give up. If you have a bad day and eat a bunch fatting junk, so what, forget about it. Just do not give up, never.

Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it. Just start a new day and never give up. If you tried to lose weight, and did not work, try something different.
JUST NEVER GIVE UP!

“Have you ever considered the cost of quitting? For real eye opener?ask Thomas Edison…Steve Jobs?Michael Jordan?or Sylvester Stalone. Ask them how much it would have cost them if they had quit. What about you?”

You may not like what I’m about to say, but dieting alone will not help you to lose weight. Watching your diet alone is not going to yield results unless it is coupled with proper exercise. You have to make a conscious effort for this. And the solution for this is a workout routine. Yes there are people that lose weight just from cutting down on their fat intake, carbohydrate intake, protein intake, or calories in general; but have you seen the results under their clothes? It is not a pretty sight! Without exercise (weight training in particular) your body has no way of toning up, and you could be left with near sagging skin with a non attractive shape. Also, losing weight from diets is mostly water weight loss and not fat loss. Do you want to lose water from your body and become dehydrated? Or do you want to lose Fat? The absolute only way to burn a high percentage of body fat is through exercise. The only reason why anyone should choose a diet plan is to see which one can help complement their workout program. The diet plan you choose should be one that you can stick to for the rest of your life, and it should be healthy for your body. Diet is such a short term word, so think of dieting as changing your eating habits for the long term. Your eating habits should provide you with enough protein for your muscles and enough carbohydrates for energy as well as other vital nutrients.

Stay away from diets that focus on losing weight quickly…

Not only are they unhealthy, but most of the weight you lose is water weight. Once again, do you want to lose water or fat? If you want to lose fat, you most definitely will not be losing it quickly unless you know how to burn fat. Being that you are losing mostly water on these quick weight loss diets, you will soon find out that you will gain the weight back just as quick as you lost it (if not faster).

You must eat! If your body thinks you are starving, it will feed on your muscle tissue for energy. It is not enough to just take in enough calories each day for energy, but it is how often you feed your body the calories. In order for your metabolism to function correctly, you must eat at least 5-6 meals per day. The total calories of the 5-6 meals should equal the amount of your daily calorie intake. Eating throughout the day, gives your metabolism fuel to keep burning your stored body fat. That said, you should still cut down on your calorie intake to lose weight, but you also must know how many calories per day is right for your body.

Stay away from diets that say you must eat protein and carbohydrates separately…

Protein and carbohydrates work together within your body; they are team players, not individuals.

Think of it like this:

Mr. Protein needs to take a taxi to get to the muscles cells to help build and condition them. Mr. Insulin is the taxi and Mr. Protein is not capable of calling a taxi, so Mr. Carbohydrate will always call Mr. Insulin to transport Mr. Protein to the muscles. The muscles cells love Mr. Protein, but they also must have Mr. Carbohydrate for energy. Mr. Carbohydrate is very outgoing and there is a lot of him to go around, but too much of him is bad. On the other hand, not enough of him is also bad.

Muscle cells only need enough carbohydrates to fill the glycogen stores. If more carbohydrates are present, it will get stored as fat. Eating protein and carbohydrates will slow down the absorption of carbohydrates which means that your body will have time to burn off the extra carbohydrates before they are stored as fat. So why not just significantly lower your carbohydrate consumption? Because too much protein and very low carbohydrates will cause you to overburden your liver and kidneys; could cause dehydration (most people do not realize that metabolizing protein requires you to drink more water); and your body will not get the right amount of its preferred source of energy-carbohydrates.

So you see, eating these two nutrients together allows your body to function like it should. The key is to know how much carbohydrates and protein is the right amount to satisfy your body’s needs.

Bottom Line when it comes to dieting and weight loss: Losing weight is easy. Losing weight by losing fat the healthy way is more of a challenge. Don’t get caught up into just losing weight. Understand that you need to stay healthy at the same time that you are losing weight by losing fat.

To lose weight and get in shape you must have a good diet and exercise regularly to burn fat. The first thing you must understand about exercise is that just because you are burning calories does not mean you are burning fat. Your main focus when you exercise should be losing body fat, and you can’t lose body fat just from burning calories. When we exercise, our bodies will start burning calories, but the calories that are burned are the calories from carbohydrates in our system. In order to burn calories from your stored fat, your body requires the presence of oxygen. There is a certain amount of oxygen that your body needs in order to start burning fat and the only way for you to measure the amount needed for your own body is to keep up with your target heart rate during exercise. Please understand that if you continue to only burn calories from carbohydrates, you will lose mostly “water weight” which leads to a decrease in your metabolism. Also, think of the calories that are burned from carbohydrates as your energy calories. If you lose too much energy calories then your muscles will not receive enough energy to increase your metabolism which indirectly burn fat. Therefore you must increase your calorie intake when you are on an exercise program to replace your burned energy calories.

Burning Fat Calories during exercise

During aerobic exercise, your body goes through several stages before it reaches the point where you are burning fat. You will hear people say that you are only burning sugar (carbohydrates) not fat during the first 10 minutes of exercise. This is true to a certain extent. I say this because you will continue to burn sugar past the 10 minute mark if you are not working out hard enough for your body to want more oxygen; or you are working out too hard and you can’t supply your body with enough oxygen for fat burning. When you exercise you must move at a steady pace (not too fast, not too slow) so your body will utilize your stored fat (not carbohydrates or sugar) as its energy source. Also remember that just because you reached the fat burning stage does not mean you will stay there. Staying at the fat burning stage once again depends on if you are moving at a pace that is right for your body. Make sure that you are within your target heart rate range.

Burning Fat Calories at rest

The only way for you to continue to burn fat calories hours after you have finished working out is through the anaerobic exercise of weight training. Weight training is the key to burning fat at rest. Weight training is an anaerobic activity that will cause you to burn more calories than aerobic exercise. The calories that you are burning during weight training exercises are mostly calories from carbohydrates (meaning you must eat even more calories per day for energy); but the calories you burn at rest are mostly calories from fat. The reason you are burning fat at rest is because weight training increases your metabolism which uses your stored fat as energy.

To make your body the ultimate fat burning machine you must do aerobic (cardio) and anaerobic (weight training) exercises.

How To Lose Weight and Stay Thin
By Kathy Guidry

Diet is one of the most controversial subjects around. Bring it up at a party and I can guarantee you’ll have everyone’s interest whether they’re talking or not. No matter how much we ignore this fact, food affects us. This world operates on a sowing and reaping system, if you plant watermelon, you harvest watermelon. If you feed watermelon the right nutrients they will grow healthy, sweet, and juicy. The same is with our bodies. If we put in high quality substance, we will reap high quality results. I think we all know this on one level or another. The hard part is choosing the right substance to put in our bodies.
Somehow we crossed over in our eating from sustaining life to pleasure eating. And this pleasure eating has gotten so out of control through advertising that people have lost touch with why we eat in the first place. And in this distortion, through huge money making industries that advertise food with beautiful models, we’ve received mixed messages that say we’re to eat to entertain and enjoy ourselves but maintain a beautiful figure and healthy skin. This is all combined with a fast passed society that doesn’t have time to even think about what to eat next has brought people to the state of obesity, anorexia, bulimia, and just pure obsession over what we eat and how we look.
My hope is to help people become free of the deception that pleasurable foods hold. There is nothing wrong with enjoying food, especially when it has good benefits. The problem is it is far too abused and people are dying because of it. Heart disease and obesity are at an all time high. There is much more to life than food. My goal is to bring one to a place of awareness on how to eat healthy and stay there.
People can debate all day what the best things to eat are, or why they chose not to eat healthy because their Grandma didn’t and she lived to one hundred. The bottom line is, are you willing to make a decision that will enhance the quality of your life and those around you who you affect, by changing the way you eat? Are you willing to change? If you change your diet, I guarantee you your life will change.
You will have more energy, think more clearly, have more confidence, self-esteem, more joy, need to sleep less, have less doctor visits, a better sex life, more creative energy, more sense of purpose, and live longer.
Believe it or not, I think sub-consciously people know this. People become comfortable in what they know, even though they may be dis-satisfied, frustrated, and a lot of time full of self-hatred. People stay miserable because they do not know how to be different.
Food can be like alcohol. It has a numbing effect. It can cover over things we’d rather not look at. One can drown themselves (so to speak) in a bowl of ice cream just as well as one sitting at the bar drowning themselves in their beer.
The question is, are you ready for a change?
It takes courage to change. It’s easier to do what we know and feel in control. It’s harder to be in a place of unfamiliarity. (Like going to a party where you don’t know anyone vs. going somewhere you know everyone). There is a period of time where we are uncomfortable. But this does pass. The secret is in sticking to it long enough to pass through the stage of being uncomfortable until you are somewhat familiar with the new diet.
For generations we have been taught to eat far from what our bodies thrive best on. So most of us are convinced this is way to eat. But if you just look around you in any store or restaurant, you can see the effects of our diet. We truly are what we eat!
When one starts to eat healthy, high quality food, you can see the effects in one’s eyes, they become clear and white, their skin becomes smooth and has a glow, their face thins and takes on life, and they have much more enthusiasm and energy.
The Willing To Change Diet is a diet that is for life. A diet that will brings one’s body to their perfect weight and health. It is not hard, just different than the American diet in some ways. And it takes a willingness to change.
BEING WILLING
In order to get back to eating in a way that does not dominate our lives, we have to relearn how to eat. In some instances, the taste buds have to readjust to a more wholesome way of eating. We’ve basically spoiled them with too much sugar, salt, fat and fiber-less food. Our society runs at such a fast pace, that people are accustomed to getting our food fast, and even eating it fast. To retrain our bodies it is going to take some discipline, desire, and practice.
If you are willing to be willing to change, you have started on your journey towards freedom from food and weight obsession. There is a way to know how to shop, prepare, and make healthy meals that taste good. Exercise does not have to be difficult or painful. There are exercises that are more effective and guaranteed to bring results. The secret is simplifying all the material that we have been bombarded with.
After eating this healthy way for a while, highly processed food will not be so appealing. When you experience the energy levels and over all good feeling of eating this way, you will always come back to it.

WHY FAD DIETS DON’T WORK
Fad diets don’t work because they’re not natural. The body works best when given a stable, consistent simple, whole food plan that one can repeatedly come back to. When you deprive the body, it thinks it needs to slow the system down to survive and store. The result is your metabolism slows down and you burn less fat. When you go off the diet, the body hungers to restore what it had felt deprived from, and sometimes you gain more fat.
When you stay on a foundational diet of whole foods that cleanse and build, eating other things that are not so good for you (occasionally) will be easily processed and thrown out, without any effect on your weight.
Are you ready to apply yourself to living and eating healthy so you can spend the rest of your time pursuing the dreams and desires of your heart?
STARTING
Starting is the biggest step toward a change of eating. Consider that this beginning will have an outstanding effect on your whole life.
When one changes one’s diet, one changes one’s life. The reason I believe this is true is your whole cellular structure is effected by what you put in your body. When you begin to eat food packed with nutrition, the cells can do all that they were designed to do, and operate on a very high level of production. As they work for you to regenerate and rejuvenate your body, you feel better and think more clearly, in turn you become more creative and inspired by life. This will then motivate you to do the things that are in your heart, and you will have the energy and perseverance to do them. The result is one’s whole life changes.
Ruts you weren’t able to get out of before are now little stumbling blocks that can easily be overcome. When one doesn’t feel good, and they don’t know why, it is very hard to do much of anything than what one needs to do to just live. Most people don’t even realize that they could just feel a whole lot better by simply making better choices when they eat.
The Willing To Change Diet is a diet that comes from many years of experience and study of diet and nutrition. I have been to school for nutrition and for the study of body systems i.e. circulatory, skeletal, nervous, and muscular systems. I have a B.S. in Psychology. I have read countless books on diet, health and nutrition, not to mention several fad diets. I have tried most of them to some extent. The only diet that I always come back to is this healthy, foundational diet of grains, vegetables and fruit, with many variations of added whole foods and lean meats. If you eat this way, you will maintain a healthy, perfect weight, never having to gain and lose again. You can “splurge” occasionally here and there, and if you come back to your foundational diet, it will not have a lasting effect on your body.
As you begin to follow the Willing To Change Diet, you will lose weight immediately.
You will begin to feel more energy, think more clearly, have more creative energy, and have more inspiration to live. After two weeks, it will be easier to eat this way, and eventually the benefits will outweigh the effort of preparation. If you put in the time now to care more about what you put in your body, you will spend less time later in the Doctor’s office, or Hospital, or in bed with some kind of cold. Your quality of life will greatly improve. I know this to be true first hand. It all starts with a decision to change the way you eat.
Are you willing to change? This is not difficult; it just takes one decision?the decision to change.
For more information: www.willingtochange.com

You’re always hungry right? The last thing you have time for is to plan meals ahead. Don’t despair, you body was designed to be refueled continually. We are not camels and we are unable to work in tip top condition without the essential nutrients our body requires. Your body was designed for a regular supply fo good quality food throughout the day.

If you are a woman who eats less frequently than three ’square’ meals and an afternoon snack or a man who eats less than the three meals and a mid morning and afternoon snack… you *should* feel hungry! Probably your body is crying out for nutritious food and one of the first signs is lethary, tiredness and dimished concentration.

Exectutives rushing through the day not stopping for lunch? Moms running after small children and surviving on toddler left overs? Women skipping breakfast and then eating a salad or cup of soup for lunch? Any of these situations fit you? If so, then it is likely you can dramatically change your energy levels and sense of vitality through learning a few simple keys about food! It amazing that so few people realise the importance of eating what your body requires.

If you recognise yourself above, it may also be true that you are overweight. Despite the lack of food, you continue to find those unwanted pounds are impossible to budge! Those who have adequate amounts of protein in their diet, however, may find they’ve escaped being part of this alarming trend. That’s because the latest nutritional research indicates that protein has numerous dietary benefits that give a boost to weight loss and weight management efforts. Let/s look at some of the ways you can benefit from a healthy daily protein intake.

One of the principle advantages of protein is that it creates a feeling of fullness and satisfaction in the body that makes overeating much less likely. Besides being filling, protein is a smart addition to any weight loss or weight management programme because of the effect it has on carbohydrate cravings.

As nutritional research has documented, carbohydrates trigger the brain to crave more carbohydrates, leading to a cycle of carbohydrate eating that becomes hard to control. Protein can block that triggering effect in the brain. If you eat protein with a carbohydrate it will reduce the cravings caused by eating the carbohydrate.

So where do you find sources of protein? Protein is found in dairy and meat products. For example, milk, cream, cheese, turkey, chicken, fish, beef, pork and lamb. You will quickly see these may be high in saturated fats so it is best to ensure you choose predominantly white meats such as fish, and the white flesh of turkey and chicken.

Vegetable products are not normally high in complete proteins except for soya beans. If you have never tried soy products or you don’t particularly enjoy tofu or soy milk, don’t despair. There are may exciting and delicious products which can be eaten in a variety of ways. They are often low in cholesterol and low in calories and can make an excellent choice to control your hunger and provide energy that sustains which is particularl useful when trying to lose weight.

When trying to lose weight, you need tools and resources that will support your goal. Weight loss foods that are healthy for you and will fill you up are a great ally in the war against hunger. Perhaps you are on a diet that requires counting calories. You may have never paid much attention to just how many calories you eat each day. If this is the case, you may have quickly realized how hungry you are on the number of calories you are allotted.

To be successful with your weight loss goals, you will want to stick to your calories guidelines, but how do you survive all day while feeling as if you are starving? The simple answer is to choose foods that will give you the biggest bang for their buck; foods that keep your fuller longer will help you eat less throughout the day. Great choices for long lasting fulfillment include foods high in protein, water, or fiber. You can also opt for some healthy fats such as nuts and avocados — in moderation.

Protein - Lean proteins such as hard boiled eggs, turkey jerky, or canned tuna packed in water are great choices to add with meals or have for snacks. Most proteins take longer to digest, thereby taking longer to work their way through your stomach.

Water - It may be hard to imagine foods full of water, but there are plenty of them; celery, apples, and grapes are a few such foods that have the ability to fill you up on small amounts.

Fiber - High fiber foods are an excellent way to fill up because of how the fiber bulks up in your system. Some people will use fiber supplements as a way to stave off hunger, but getting fiber naturally through your diet is equally simple. Choose foods with skins, grains, and other roughage. Apples, once again, are an excellent choice.

Choosing weight loss foods such as the ones listed above will help most people feel fuller longer. You can eat less over the course of your day and slowly reduce your calorie intake as your body gets used to the smaller portions you are eating.

So you are finally ready to do something about the extra tire hanging around your waist, and you begin looking at all the different weight loss diets available. You quickly see how many there are to choose from, get overwhelmed, and either decide on a program that is not right for you or give up altogether. You are not alone. With so many diets out there today, it is hard to know which really work and which are best for your body, individual preferences, and lifestyle.

What is the Cost?

If you are on a budget, you will want to take this into consideration when choosing a diet plan. Many online diets are quite affordable at anywhere from $5-$25 each month. Some, however, will run $40 or more each month, not counting food or any other optional purchases. If you are on a tight budget you will be happy to know there are several free diet websites that will allow you to track your exercise and calories, and even keep an online journal.

Is There a Time Commitment?

Some diet programs will require that you attend meetings each week. For many people, this is a time commitment they look forward to; it greatly aids in their weight loss achievements. Others however, simply do not have the time to sit anywhere for an hour a day. Depending on your schedule or personal preference, you will need to take a look at what is required from you and whether you can commit to it.

Do You Have Any Health Concerns?

Certain individuals should not diet at all, such as pregnant women. Nursing women may be able to go on a sensible diet with the supervision of their doctors. However, if you have conditions such as high cholesterol, diabetes, or heart disease, you will want to avoid certain diets. Diet programs that recommend high portions of meat or fats, a complete reduction of sugar or carbohydrates, or any other such diets should be discussed with your doctor.

Weight loss diets are a very individual choice. Even though your best friend may have lost weight with the latest fad diet, we are all different and your body will not necessarily respond in the same positive manner. Our physiologies are different and you will want to pick a diet plan that works for you, on the outside and on the inside.

How would you like to drop 20 pounds in three weeks…and actually keep those pounds off permanently? My friend, take just 45 seconds out of your busy day to read this quick article and learn more about the top diet of 2009 to get thinner and burn away fat lightning fast!

Do you know why most diet programs are ineffective at providing easy and quick weight loss? Well, most diet programs typically fall into the category of “fad diets”. Those types of diets would be the low calorie, low carb, low-fat types. When you restrict your body from those nutrients (carbs/fats) or if you lower your caloric intake to much, not only will you not lose pounds fast, whatever pounds you have lost, you will end up regaining right back…and maybe more! That happens because those programs SLOW down your metabolism.

Now, the most effective way to lose pounds fast is through BOOSTING your metabolism and focusing on proper nutrition. The best diet program through my research that I have found that is based around those principles is the calorie shifting program from Fat Loss 4 Idiots.

This program is extremely effective at getting accelerated weight loss because of the fact that you will not have to starve yourself with the program, and secondly because the program will show you how to take the foods you eat and shift the calories from those foods so that you can elevate your metabolic rate to its highest point. With your metabolism as high as possible…the quicker you will be able to lose weight and burn off fat!

So, if you’re ready to drop 20 pounds in just three weeks, then I highly recommend for you to tryout the calorie shifting program today.

The sad truth is that as we midlifers get older that little bulge of belly fat gets bigger and more stubborn with every passing year. In your twenties you could dismiss it… a passing thing, you think. With a little more exercise it’ll be gone in a day or two. But now you’re in your forties, fifties, maybe just into your sixties? The Boomer generation stretches across all three… and that “little” bulge is now a BIG bulge. When was the last time you got into those skinny jeans?

I hate exercise. I really do. I’ve got all the equipment, the clothes, the shoes, the music gizmo to keep me entertained… but I still hate exercise and find every excuse to not go to the gym. But here’s a great idea I think will satisfy. Dance it off!

Get yourself to a local class, ballroom, night club or even your living room and dance your self silly. If you don’t have a partner, go on your own. When the room is full of jiving bodies, who knows who you’re dancing with anyway? If you are staying home to dance, just juice up the music and move!!!! Do this at least once or twice a week. Drink lots of water - no alcohol, unfortunately… that just puts the pounds right back on. And enjoy! You’d be surprised how music can shake it up and sweat it off. If you really want to have fun, dress up for the occasion, wear a funny hat, pretend your “Dancing with the Stars” - don’t take yourself too seriously and just have a good time. That belly baby will move and groove to the tunes and melt away. Honest.

Studies have shown that people who keep track of their food intake and daily activity are more successful with losing and maintaining their weight than those who don’t use a journal. Just think back on what you ate today…do you remember everything? When you start to write down everything that you eat, you may become more aware of all the mindless nibbling that you do throughout the day. It is also significant in discovering any foods that may cause an adverse physical reaction. Also, you may discover some patterns of emotional eating when you begin to record your feelings after each meal. You may discover that these “trigger foods” should be avoided altogether. During this journaling time, try to stay focused on staying present while you eat and really pay attention to the food that is nourishing your body. Eat to live rather than live to eat.

Recording your daily activity can be very rewarding when you are starting out on a new fitness routine. It is an excellent tool to review when you are lacking motivation to see how far you have progressed and how much you have improved. It urges you to keep that momentum going no matter how tired you are! You may also discover that you accomplish the best workout first thing in the morning. Or that the stresses of the day melt with an evening workout. Or perhaps your family can start walking as an after dinner tradition.

And speaking of scheduling your workouts…no matter when you decide to workout, schedule it in your datebook as you would any other meeting or commitment with anyone else. In fact, this is the most IMPORTANT appointment you will keep on any given day. It is, after all, an investment in yourself and your overall healthy lifestyle. At the beginning of the week, take a few minutes to review your schedule and determine where you could fit exercise into your day. Could you get up a few minutes before the kids wake up and take the dog for a walk around the block? Could you go for a walk on your lunch hour? Get some exercise in during commercials of your favorite TV show?

No matter when you schedule your workouts, recording your achievements in a journal will make a big difference in your weight loss success. ?