Part 1
Their emotions don't ruled them. Successful people stay motivated because they do a little each day to accomplish their goal despite how they feel. There is no magic solution for increasing motivation. You must accomplish a little each day, even on days when you don't feel good or motivated. Like the old Nike saying goes "Just Do it"
Losing weight is not just a goal but a discipline. Like anything else in life, losing weight takes effort. No diet pill or herbal formula will make you lose weight. To lose weight, you must burn more calories than you take in. This is accomplished by sticking to a sensible diet plan. Regular exercise helps to.
So how do you stay on a sensible diet plan to lose weight? Take it one day at a time. First, you need a plan. Write down foods you like to eat and create a diet menu of foods that form a sensible diet plan.
Control your portion size and be sure to eat 3 to 5 times daily. Never skip breakfast and prepare some of your meals in advance. You can place lunch and snacks in a plastic container when you travel. Losing weight doesn't happen automatically, it takes planning.
Follow a sensible diet plan each day and don't beat yourself when you overeat. Tomorrow is another day and get right back on your plan. Remember, you can accomplish anything in life when you have a plan and take action on a daily basis.
Feeling healthy and feeling good about yourself is not a luxury - it's an absolute necessity. Nothing tastes as good as being healthy and full of energy feels. The secret of success is having the courage to begin in the first place.
TOP 10 TIPS FOR WEIGHT LOSS
Part 2
20 TIPS TO BURN 100 CALORIES
Some days we are very motivated to accomplish goals and other days we're not. Life would be wonderful if we felt motivated enough on a daily basis to accomplish our dreams and goals but there will be many days when we feel frustrated and defeated. If your goal is to lose 20 pounds by following a sensible diet, there will be days when you don't feel like following your plan. So how do motivated people stay motivated?
Creating a healthy body takes work. Some days you’ll congratulate yourself for eating well; other days you’ll slam yourself for downing a pint of ice cream instead of toughing out 20 reps. Staying motivated is the key to overcoming inevitable rough patches. To reach your diet and fitness goals, you must remain passionate about the end result – and look for ways to renew your determination. Here are the 10 motivational tips that readers of LifeScript’s Diet & Fitness newsletter voted most useful in their search for health…
Under each photo, write positive comments about what you see or feel, such as “My stomach looks flatter” or “I feel more confident.” Focus on how you feel physically and emotionally at each stage. Later, you can compare both the photos and the notes. Achieving a healthy lifestyle is a process, and the photos will remind you that only continuous work will make you look and feel better.
2. Don’t Wait Until Tomorrow
Despite good intentions, few people actually stick with their resolve. And those who do dive into a diet and fitness regimen on Monday and eat less to make up for Sunday’s indulgences end up starving, which only slows their metabolism. When you respect your body, you don’t overeat one day and starve the next. (See related article: 7 Secrets to Revving Up Your Metabolism)
3. Stop Trying to Be Perfect
Instead of struggling to be perfect, learn to accept your imperfections. Maybe you compare yourself to glossy photos of supermodels. Guess what? The photos are airbrushed so that the models will look perfect. But models have imperfections and bad hair days just like everyone else. Nobody’s perfect… and that’s the beauty of it.
4. Hang with Supporters
5. Harness Your Frustration
6. Enact Your Weight-Loss Dreams
7. Thinking Negative Thoughts? Oops!
Such nasty opinions of yourself can unravel your best intentions. They erode your self-confidence and motivation to succeed. You must get past those thoughts to experience true, lasting results. How? One of my clients developed what I now call the “oops technique.” Whenever you find yourself thinking something bad about yourself just say “oops” out loud. It may sound silly, but it’s a great reminder to stop negative thoughts in their tracks and return to positive thinking.
Let the Sun Shine
Deep-Six the Excuses
Another frequent excuse is “I’m too fat to exercise.” This lie is what led me to become a fitness coach and weight-loss author. Although certain types of exercise may not be the best for your body, plenty of aerobic and training exercises are. Build your fitness slowly. Don’t try to do more than your body can handle.
Believe to Achieve
Sometimes when we're working long hoursor jammed with extra responsibilities, we tend to forgo our workouts until things calm down. Instead of bailing on your exercise plan, I recommend following Einstein's suggestion -- use some imagination.
I'm providing 20 easy and surefire ways to burn 100 calories. You might want to add one per day or a few per week. Try not to look at it as, "this isn't enough." Instead, focus on the cumulative effect. Meaning, if you perform even just one of these activities per day, that's 700 calories burned in a week and 2,800 burned in a month. That will make a difference.
1. Vacuuming -- 25 minutes of vacuuming around your home will burn just about 100 calories.
2. Gardening -- Like to garden? It's the digging and raking that will reap the most fitness benefits. These are the bigger calorie burners when it comes to gardening. In fact, you can burn up to 100 in just 15 minutes with these movements.
4. Jogging in place -- Need a quick pick me up before work? Jog in place for 12 minutes and burn a little more than 100 calories.
5. Dancing -- 20 minutes of dancing at a moderate pace will burn 100 calories. C'mon, you know you love to do it, so have some fun with it.
6. Ironing clothes -- If you have to do it for the whole family you might as well know the calories you're burning. Just a bit more than 100 calories in 25 minutes.
7. Badminton -- A casual, noncompetitive, 20-minute game of badminton will get you to the mark, and it's a lot of fun.
8. Housework -- Vigorous housework for 20 minutes will burn a little more than 100 calories. You have to do it, so why not make it count?
9. Volleyball -- Twelve minutes of volleyball is all it takes to reach our magic number. Not a bad way to burn some calories while on the beach
10. Biking -- How about a light bike ride? A light intensity of approximately 10 mph will burn more than 100 calories in just 40 minutes.
11. Golfing -- Just 20 minutes of golf will burn 100 calories.
12. Swimming -- I'm not referring to swimming laps or training for the Olympics. Just a 15-minute leisurely swim will get us to our goal.
13. High-impact aerobics -- You might wonder why I would include this. It's not like you're going to aerobic class for 10 minutes. However, if you're pressed for time or working long hours, invest in a fun aerobic videotape and use it for 10 minutes (after a warm-up) each day. That's close to 120 calories in just 10 minutes.
14. Car waxing -- Forget the car wash. Do it yourself on a nice day. Just 20 minutes of waxing your car will burn more than 100 calories.
15. Frisbee -- A fun 30-minute Frisbee toss with your kids or a friend will burn up our needed calories, and it's a bit more pleasurable than a boring jaunt on the treadmill.
16. Take the stairs -- If you work in an office building, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Approximately 20 minutes will burn about 100 calories. You don't have to do it all at one time. Just make sure to spread it out during the day.
17. Pushing baby stroller -- Pushing a stroller burns approximately 60 calories in 20 minutes. No problem, two nice and easy 20-minute strolls per day will get the job done without even breaking a sweat.
18. Mowing the lawn (self-propelled mower) -- 25 minutes and you've burned about 100 calories. Just like cleaning, it needs to be done so put a little oomph into it.
19. Painting -- Need to paint a room in your home or apartment? You can burn approximately 100 calories with 20 minutes of painting. Plus, you get a better-looking room at the same time.
20. Weight training -- 15 minutes of vigorous weight training will burn approximately 100 calories. You don't have to workout forever. Just three 15 to 20 minute sessions per week will keep your bones strong, muscles tight -- and you'll keep burning calories after your workout. '
Now go burn some calories, but check with your doctor before starting this or any exercise program.
*NOTE: All counts are based on a 150-pound individual.
A drug-free competitive bodybuilder and winner of the prestigious WNBF (World Natural Bodybuilding Federation) Pro Card, Raphael Calzadilla is a veteran of the health-and-fitness industry. He specializes in a holistic approach to body transformation, nutrition programs and personal training. He earned his B.A. in communications from Southern Connecticut State University and is certified as a personal trainer with ACE and APEX. In addition, he successfully completed the RTS1 program based on biomechanics.
1. Take an “Almost There” Photo
Many people who want to lose weight take a “before" picture to compare with an “after” photo once they drop those extra pounds. But getting from “before” to “after” can take weeks or months, and frustration or despair may derail you. So take a "midway" photo to reinforce your drive. The progress you see will help keep you on track.
Postponing pesky workouts and indulging in diet-busting goodies are temptations we all can relate to. And there are always endless excuses – from “I’ll start my diet on Monday” to “I can overeat today and eat less tomorrow” – to help us put off healthy lifestyle changes. Waiting until tomorrow to skip the donut and pick up a dumbbell is a dangerous tactic because there’s always “tomorrow.”
With the pressure to have a good job, a swinging social life and a perfect body, it’s no wonder we get burned out. Sure, doing things well is a good goal. But some people take this ambition too far. Seeking perfection is not only unrealistic, but also a burden. Perfectionists want to better themselves, but they can turn into control freaks quickly. When something minor goes wrong, they see disaster, creating enough stress to drive anyone batty.
Socializing with happy, successful people who share your interests will also help you achieve your diet and fitness goals. For example, let’s say you go out to dinner with a fit, healthy friend. When she orders a grilled vegetable plate instead of vegetable tempura, you may be inspired to order a healthy meal, too. But if you go out to dinner with a friend who orders a creamy alcoholic drink, fried chicken and spuds, you’ll be tempted to do the same. This is not to say you shouldn’t spend time with friends whose habits you don’t admire; you can still choose to do activities with those friends that don’t involve an opportunity for temptation.
Frustration can create a powerful desire to change. In fact, it’s one of the most valuable motivational tools. Think about what being unfit has cost you in your career or relationships. How many activities have you skipped because you didn’t feel fit enough to join in? How often have you stayed home because you felt embarrassed about your body? Explore how inactivity and overeating have held you back. Write your frustrations in a journal and when you start to question whether you really need to work out, read some entries. Reminding yourself of past frustrations can get you back on track.
Visualize yourself one year from now as you would like to be. See yourself accomplishing the goals you’ve set by focusing on what’s most important to you. Now take the first steps toward achieving those goals. Go to your local bookstore or library to research fitness and diet regimens and choose one that suits you. Plan the nutritious meals it suggests, listing the groceries you’ll need. Now put the plans into practice. Combining vision and preparation can shift dreams into reality.
Why are you trying to lose weight or get in shape? Is it because you hate a certain body part or even your entire reflection in the mirror? As difficult a lesson this is to learn, you must first accept your body – with all of its quirks and inconveniences – before you can change your body. Take a moment to reflect upon your feelings about your body. Often when I ask my clients to do this, a whole slew of negative thoughts crosses their minds.
Most of us wake to a screeching alarm and start out the day feeling rattled. Instead, let the sun be your alarm clock. If you stop pulling your shades down when you go to bed at night, your room will become gradually lighter as the sun rises, slowly arousing your body. Sunlight governs our natural sleep-wake cycles. Artificial lighting disturbs the cycle, making us feel alert at night, although natural darkness would signal our brains to feel sleepy. Artificially darkened rooms also throw off this cycle, making us feel tired in the morning when natural sunlight would wake us up. Follow this advice, and your body will reestablish more natural rhythms. Before long, you’ll be awake even before your alarm clock squawks.
You can blame genes for a lot but not for being out of shape. Clients say “I’m genetically meant to be overweight and will never be skinny.” Although genetics play a role in how you store and burn fat, blaming your genes won’t do you any good. Some people do carry what scientists call a “thrifty gene,” which makes their bodies resist burning fat. But even a resistant body will never stop burning fat. You can still lose weight; you’ll just have to work harder than someone without the gene in order to drop the pounds and keep them off for good.
Believing that you will attain your dream body is critical to success. You know you’re smart enough to get that promotion, to fix the kitchen sink, to choose healthy foods. Getting in shape requires the same confidence… you need to believe that you can reach your fitness goals.
Write down at least four “positive references” or affirmations that will propel you toward your goals, such as “I am good at finishing what I start” or “I am a good role model for my kids.” Pay no attention to naysayers; you don’t need negative people in your life anyway. Focus on the belief that you can (and will) get lean.
