Weight Loss Per Week

Posts Tagged ‘Fat Loss’

 I presume because you are reading this article, that you have managed after hard work and commitment to lose some weight, and you want to keep it that way and you don’t want to slip back and gain it back again.

 Congratulations! We both know how much willpower, work and commitment it takes to make it to this point, now the most important thing is to maintain that weight by using a combination of right diet and exercise and good mental attitude.

 Maintaining weight is very important because experience shows that most dieters regain a third of what they lost within the first year and two-thirds of it in the second year.  It’s important to understand what is needed here; it is really a matter of energy balance!  But know also that the hardest part is now over, because maintaining weight is actually easier, not harder, than losing it. 

 At this point it’s important that your lifestyle is balanced and you want to avoid all unnecessary stress that could cause old habits to surface again.  Success in gaining, losing, or maintaining weight is dependent upon a combination of factors; I always used to say that losing, gaining or maintaining weight is a result of the “freedom from the obsession and compulsion to eat,” not the other way around, but there is more to it.  You also need to establish some important new routines in your life, because the main thing is to keep exercising and burn calories each day.  This is your magic formula from now on:”best approach is to ensure that one’s physical activity level is high enough to balance the number of calories consumed”.

 You know those weight charts? I bet you do, where your weight ranges are shown in the chart and people of the same height may have equal amounts of body fat but different amounts of muscle and bone…  Don’t look at them too much now, go after your own gut feeling and your good friend; the mirror! There are also many weight loss groups and organizations if you feel you need support, remember that this is an intimate personal and difficult struggle, but it’s not one that anyone needs to go through alone.  In this modern world weight loss has become an essential objective for several people, but only a few are succeeding in their task.  You have gone through that already, but know that for many, weight gain or regain is embarrassing, and seeking help is delayed.  If you join a group and your situation is monitored weekly, the purpose of this assessment is to provide an evaluation and recommendations for maintaining a healthy weight based on your individual needs.

 We are all different, groups can be helpful but they are not for everyone.

 One of my students recently said; “I’ve struggled with weight issues for most of my life, and aside from the occasional slice of molten chocolate cake, I finally have it under control.  Now I basically follow a group point system and strive to keep my dry carb intake to a minimum”. 

 For her it’s ok to do it alone, but she is using a weight chart every week.

 Health

 I think everybody agrees nowadays that the key to losing weight is to burn more calories than are consumed, either by increasing physical activity or consuming fewer calories – or preferably both.  Health professionals judge a low-calorie sweetener to be of benefit for weight control. 

 What are the dangers at this point when you are in a situation where the main battle is won, but you look for safe and healthy ways to maintain your situation?

 Usually they are psychological issues. How balanced we are emotionally and how we can see ourselves in a new positive light. It’s very important to be aware of the potential purposes of anger, how anger impacts health, and learn assertive methods of dealing with anger.  Health and fitness experts all know this and the most recent research related to emotional and physical health has found that there are pitfalls and the old feelings might come back from time to time. Feelings of unworthiness fear of rejection, bad self image etc.

 These feelings can be triggers – for bad habits again – so it’s very important to stay alert, that is why I always recommend some kind of group or/and family and friend support.

 Now that you have come this far, make it even better! You probably see now that anything is possible, you only need a positive attitude and you are ready to recreate yourself.

 Visit also my blog where I give every week new tips and strategies for all kinds of weight loss situations.

 Good luck and stay fit!

Copyright (c) 2009 Stephen Smith

Losing weight is simple and easy to do. Virtually every diet and weight-loss program can help people shed the excess kilos in a short period of time. The problem is, losing weight and keeping it off long term is actually quite difficult.

The main reason why most diets or weight-loss programs don’t work is simply because they’re not sustainable. Starvation diets, low-carb diets, replacing food with shakes for main meals, the list goes on. None of these strategies offer long term, realistic and sustainable approaches to weight-loss.

Furthermore, the weight that is lost by using these approaches tends to be mainly water, stored carbohydrate and protein (lean body tissue) with some body fat. Our goal should be to maximise the amount of fat that is lost. In order to lose body fat instead of simply body weight, 3 criteria must be met:

1. A mild calorie (energy) deficit must be created.

2. The body must be encouraged to use stored fat as its primary fuel source.

3. Sufficient time must be allowed to pass in order to achieve substantial results.

Let’s look at each of these areas in detail:

1. A mild calorie (energy) deficit must be created. This means the body expends (burns up) more energy each day than is consumed, i.e. ‘energy out’ is greater than ‘energy in’. By creating a calorie (energy) deficit the body must then rely on existing fat stores in order to provide the additional calories it requires.

A mild calorie deficit can be achieved in two ways: eating less or boosting metabolism.

Eating less is the approach most diets use. Even though it is successful in the short term, the body soon adapts to it by slowing the metabolism and increasing appetite.

Boosting metabolism is a far more effective approach to losing weight and burning fat and it can be done through a variety of mechanisms. Increasing meal frequency (eating 5 meals a day instead of 3), eating foods that boost metabolism like chilli and curries, exercising and using supplements that boost metabolism like ‘thermogenics’ all assist fat burning in the body.

2. The body must be encouraged to use stored fat as its primary fuel source. This may be achieved by ensuring the level of insulin in the body is kept as low as possible. Insulin is a storage hormone, which means it increases the uptake of nutrients into cells. Whilst this may be beneficial from an anabolic (muscle building) perspective, insulin also promotes the storage of excess glucose as body fat. Worse still, it stops the mobilisation and utilisation of fat for fuel (fat burning).

There are many way to keep insulin low in the body. Eating small meals, controlling carbohydrate intake and using supplements like, glucose disposal agents (GDAs) all keep insulin low.

Eating large meals promotes greater insulin secretion by the pancreas. Therefore, small meals will keep this down.

Being aware of carbohydrate sources is also important because it is the macronutrient (carbohydrate, protein and fat) that has the greatest impact on insulin secretion. It is not necessary to follow a low carb diet in order to keep insulin low but by simply eating more low density carbs (broccoli, cauliflower, beans, peas, etc) and less high density carbs (bread, pasta, rice, cereals, etc) insulin will stay low.

GDAs assist the body in disposing glucose more effectively by increasing its uptake into the lean tissues of the body (muscles, organs, etc.).

3. Sufficient time must be allowed to pass in order to achieve substantial results. Since it takes time for the body to burn off body fat it is essential to allow sufficient time to pass rather than expecting dramatic results overnight!

If we estimate that a 300-calorie deficit won’t have a major negative impact on our metabolism and if we assume that all of those calories that the body needs are derived from fat stores (which doesn’t occur but for the sake of the argument we will assume that it does), then the body can only lose about 33 grams of fat a day! [1 gram of fat has 9 calories] That works out to be 231 grams of fat a week! This is a far cry from the several kilos of weight that may be lost in a week!

As a result of this, people must be realistic in their expectations. A good example of this is competitive bodybuilders who generally allow themselves 12-14 weeks to get ready for a show. These athletes are usually already lean by population standards but the 12-14-week period allows them to achieve extremely low levels of body fat without sacrificing their precious muscle tissue.

If you are serious about losing body fat, not just body weight, then allow yourself at least 12-14 weeks to achieve your physical goals.

Overall, these strategies are used by all successful weight-loss systems. They provide people with proven techniques and products that can help them lose weight and keep it off without having an impact on their lifestyle. Let’s face it, there’s nothing better than losing weight (which is mainly fat), getting in great shape and still being able to enjoy life!

I am a huge believer in having goals. While some people spend too much time setting goals and not enough time achieving them, most people do not put much thought into goal-setting. When it comes to weight loss, it is especially important to set realistic goals.
By realistic, I do not mean “I want to lose 30 pounds in 30 days.” Oh, I’ve seen those claims many times. I’ve seen the claims of marketers that say their products can do that for you. I’ve also seen the claims of people that have said they can accomplish that feat. Can you lose 30 pounds in 30 days? Sure, but it is not healthy at all and will almost certainly return at some point in the near future. A good portion of this extreme weight loss will be in the form of muscle and that will kill your metabolic rate. For more on this, check my article on “Weight Loss vs. Fat Loss”.
So, what is a realistic amount of fat one can lose in 30 days? I would say, stick to the mantra of 1-2 pounds per week. That would mean about 4-8 pounds per month. Now, that may not sound like much, but let’s put it into a bit of perspective. Say you were to only lose one pound of fat each week. After one year, that would be 52 pounds! What if you had started losing one pound per week a year ago? Now imagine yourself this time next year at 52 pounds lighter. You may not even need to lose that much weight.
The key to weight loss goals is patience, realism, and a constant effort toward achieving them. At two pounds of body fat per week, after 13 weeks (3 months), you will have lost 26 pounds of body fat. That is very significant. It requires a lot of effort over the course of three months, but it is definitely attainable. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, this would be a good goal to start with. Close to 30 pounds in three months is much more realistic that 30 pounds in 30 days.
One note that I should make is concerning detoxification diets. I am actually a big proponent of the detoxification process as long as it is done properly. I will deal with this subject in a future article, but for now you should know that it involves eliminating certain foods from your diet (while sometimes adding certain natural supplements) in order to rid your body of toxins that have been stored over time. The detoxification process can lead to a large drop in excess water weight in a short period of time. This would mean that you may lose an additional 5-10 pounds of weight on top of the 1-2 pounds per week of body fat in the first 2-4 weeks. It is not an easy process, but it is definitely healthy and certainly worth the effort.
Other than that, I would recommend sticking to two pounds per week for a short-term aggressive approach and about 1.5 pounds per week for a longer-term goal. Remember that these pounds add up over time. Don’t check the scale every day as you will get discouraged quickly. Rather, stick to checking every two to four weeks. Also, take some measurement of your body and take note of how your clothes are fitting. Often, these are better indications of how your body is changing. Take pride in these accomplishments and don’t stress over the numbers.
Set goals. Make them aggressive but attainable. Set both short and long term goals and then go take action on them. Most importantly, be consistent because your efforts really will add up all the time. That will make you very happy in the end.

If you are like me, you have probably been through all this before, the family wedding is coming up next month and you can’t seem to fit into that suit or dress because you have put on too much weight. So you must lose at least ten or more pounds quickly.

Losing weight quickly is not advisable as most of the loss will be muscle tissue and water; you put on the weight slowly (usually over years) so normally you should take it off slowly and then you will know that the majority of the loss will be body fat.

But you have a problem here and the clock is ticking so you will have to diet pretty hard to meet your target weight loss. Let’s look at that first, you all know that diets don’t work; they send the body into starvation mode, a survival mechanism from long age when humans faced periods of famine.

Going too low in calories causes the body to lower its metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat. At the same time, hunger signals increase and you quickly start to crave high-energy foods loaded with fats and sugar, the same foods you are trying to do without.

Research shows repeated dieting actually makes it harder to lose weight and easier to put it on because when you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits the drop in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old habits actually represent an excess in calories.

Not only do you regain the fat stores just lost, but also you may even gain an extra bit.

Knowing this, you really don’t want to put yourselves through this rigorous process, but for this special occasion you will. First though, you will have to boost the metabolism that has been lowered by the dieting.

To do this you will have to perform a “Strength Training” workout to generate that initial spike in your metabolism. By increasing the lean muscle on your body by using Strength Training, your metabolism will increase, burning fat along the way.

The strength training technique I use requires just twenty to thirty mins per week. Gone are the days of the five-day a week program with 6 to 12 sets per body part that, method has never worked.

One short intense strength-training workout a week will elevate your metabolism more than you ever thought possible.

While the calories expended doing exercise are important, the increase in metabolism especially after strength training continues long after the exercise is finished, burning calories at the same time.

The two main components of this technique are the intensity of the exercise and the recovery after the exercise.

Infrequent, short, high intensity weight training sessions, followed by the required amount of time to recover and become stronger is what is needed to increase functional lean muscle and lose body fat.

Small frequent meals should be consumed during the day each containing a little protein to maintain muscle mass and energy levels. A high quality broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement should also be taken on a daily basis.

As before get the calories from high quality food but if you can’t, utilize a blender to make concoctions from skim milk with whatever additives you want to use, just as long as you keep count of the calories for your daily total.

Now use these blender mixtures and solid food for your daily feedings. Spread it out over many small meals a day instead of the traditional three meals a day. The way to keep track of weight loss is to buy a calorie counter and record your daily calorie intake for a week.

Now average out how many calories you consume a day with the use of a seven-day eating plan and calorie counter, once you have this figure subtract 1000 calories and this will be the target number of calories you will be aiming for.

Remembering that one-pound of fat contains 3500cals, losing 1000 calories a day will total 7000 for the week, which equals two pounds lost by dietary means alone. Another technique for low calorie eating is to watch your fat intake as this has the most calories.

Incidental activity is also very important if you want to lose this amount of weight in this short period of time, by increasing incidental activity you can burn at least another pound a week The best exercise for the purpose of fat-loss is fast walking either indoors on the treadmill or outdoors.

Walk until you are mildly puffing and hold that rate until the allotted time. If your aerobic activities leave you panting or breathless, your going too hard, your energy is coming from your carbohydrate reserves and not from your fat stores. Try fast walking for one hour a day every day of the week.

Well there you have it, as an experienced trainer I wouldn’t recommend this type of program to my clients. The weight loss is just too quick and the program would be very hard to maintain owing to the very low caloric intake.

I advise my clients to decrease their calories by just 500 per day (and no more) below their maintenance levels and they will be losing 1 – 2 pounds of body fat every week, safely, without craving and without too much disruption to their lifestyle.

In conclusion remember, think long term here and that’s between 30 and 50 pounds of fat lost in six months. Any faster and all you will be losing is water and precious muscle tissue.

Do you want to lose 20 lbs? You can with your own weight loss program.

Weight loss is one of the most prominent things on everybody’s mind, especially at this time of the year. Christmas and New Years is over and everybody feels they have ate and drank to excess and now is when people start thinking and feeling guilty about their weight.

I was in the same position last year. I had put on 40 lbs over the festive season and made all my New Years resolutions that I will lose all the weight and then some. I started to exercise and tried to eat healthier but one thing led to another and I was back on the slippery slope again of everyday life interrupting my weight loss plan.

Does this story sound familiar to you? I am sure everyone can relate to this sort of scenario. What I am going to do is explain to you how I lost 20 lbs in 28 days.

Firstly I started to do a lot of research on the subject on the internet as I was determined that I was going to succeed. What better way to get a weight loss plan than starting it with a solid amount of research. I came across a number of useful sites that taught me different things about diet, exercise and healthy living. I eventually decided on a site and a weight loss program after numerous days researching, you can view this site at the end of this article which I will go into in more detail.

After I had chosen the company and weight loss program that was going to get me my goal I had to work closely with them in order to set out a plan of action. How was I going to work this around my schedule and not fall off the wagon?

My main concern was that I would only be able to eat salad and would not be able to have a social drink, I was very wrong on this score. I was able to eat a lot of good food and be able to drink as well. What I did not understand was that it is all about moderation. You can eat and drink as normal but you have to integrate exercise into your weight loss program.

After 7 days on this program I started to see results. In 7 days I lost 3 lbs. After my first week I was on target to my 20 lbs in 28 days.

The Second week I must admit was the hardest as I was doing everything I asked of myself but there were other outlaying factors that I had not considered. I had a hen night on the second week of my program which completely slipped my mind. I thought I would definitely mess up this week. I spoke to my trainer and we worked out a way around the problem by changing the weight loss plan a bit to allow me to go to the hen night and not to worry.

After 14 days my weight loss was now 9 lbs. After the 2nd week everything was more or less plain sailing. At the end of the 28 days I had lost 21 lbs.

In summary I would recommend that if you are looking to lose 20 lbs or more on a weight loss program then do your research and make sure you have a product that is going to work for you. The one I chose was perfect for me. It will be perfect for a lot of you looking to lose weight but always research and make sure you are comfortable with the company that you are going to be working with because it is a close partnership and you have to feel as if you are getting the most out of it.

Irvingia gabonensis is the newest supplement to hit the weight loss marketplace, saturate the internet with ads and light up the discussion forums. But is it all it’s cracked up to be? In the fat loss marketplace, this may gain the dubious distinction of becoming the next hoodia or acai berry (scam).

Irvingia comes from a West African tree known as the wild mango or bush mango. The trees bear edible fruits, and they’re well known for their dika nuts. Like other nuts and seeds, Irvingia is high in fat (50%), and oil can be extracted from them. Irvingia also contains 14% fiber. Dietary fibers are often recommended to help with weight loss as well as for their health benefits.

Due to its customary use in African cuisine and folk reputation as a health food, a research group from Cameroon (Western Africa) set up a randomized double blind study in 2005 to see if Irvingia gabonensis could help with weight loss. 40 obese subjects were divided into placebo and experimental groups. The experimental group received 1.05 grams of Irvingia seed extract 3 times a day (total 3.15 grams) for 30 days.

Subjects were examined weekly and tested for body weight, body fat and hip/waist circumferences. Blood pressure was measured and blood samples were also collected after an overnight fast and tested for total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, HDL-cholesterol and glucose. The subjects were interviewed about their physical activity and food intake during the trial and were instructed to follow a low fat diet of 1800 calories per day and keep a food record for seven days.

At the end of the 30 day trial, the Irvingia group had lost an average of 5.26 kilos (11.5 lbs) and the placebo group had lost only 1.32 kilos (2.9 lbs). The group receiving Irvingia also experienced a decrease in systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. HDL cholesterol increased.

This was the first study that suggested a weight loss benefit from Irvingia. Why did the Irvingia group lose more weight? It’s not clear, but in studies of free-living subjects, increased weight loss often means that the experimental group ate less, not necessarily from a direct action on metabolism, hormones or physiology.

In March 2008, the same research group published the results of their second study about Irvingia and weight loss. This time, Irvingia was combined with Cissus quadrangularis, a succulent vine native to West Africa and Southeast Asia. 72 subjects were divided into three groups, placebo, Cissus extract only (150 mg 2X/day) and Cissus-Irvingia combination (250 mg combined Cissus-Irvingia 2X/day).

All the same tests and measurements were taken as in the 2005 study. After 10 weeks, improvements were seen in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and fasting blood glucose. The placebo group lost 2.1 kg (4.6 lbs), the cissus group lost 8.82 kg (19.4 lbs) and the Cissus-Irvingia group lost 11.86 kg (26.1 lbs).

Attributing 26 pounds lost in 10 weeks solely to a fiber supplement is highly unlikely if not impossible, so the researchers (Oben and Ngondi) thought there was something else going on. They proposed that PPAR gamma, leptin, adiponectin or glycerol-3 phosphate dehydrogenase could all be potential mechanisms through which Irvingia gabonensis might affect body weight in overweight humans.

They set up another 10 week randomized double blind placebo-controlled study to investigate these possibilities. 120 subjects were divided into two groups; a placebo group and an Irvingia gabonensis group, which received 150 mg of Irvingia gabonensis extract twice a day.

Again, total and LDL cholesterol levels fell more in the Irvingia group than the placebo group (27% vs 4.8%). In the Irvingia gabonensis group, body fat decreased by 6.3% versus 1.9% in the placebo group. Weight decreased by 12.8 kg (28.1) pounds in the Irvingia gabonensis group vs 0.7 kg (1.5 lbs) in the placebo group.

Favorable changes were also seen in Leptin (anti starvation hormone that signals brain & body about fat stores), adiponectin (protein secreted from fat cells; higher levels improve insulin sensitivity), C-reactive protein (marker of inflammation and cardiac risk) and fasting glucose.

To the lay person, this 28-pound weight loss (12.8 kilos) looks incredible. To someone familiar with research methods and weight loss research, these results look IN-credible, meaning NOT credible. To the informed and discriminating, results like these do not send you running to the health food store, they raise red flags, prompt more questions and demand more and better-controlled research.

The subjects were advised not to alter their diet or activity, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t alter it anyways. These were free-living subjects, free to eat whatever they wanted and the only way the researchers knew how much the subjects ate or how active they were was from self-reported food and activity records. That’s another way of saying the study was NOT controlled.

A true tightly-controlled weight loss study means that the subjects stay in a hospital or research center metabolic ward where all their food is prepared and delivered to them, which is the ONLY way to guarantee we actually know how much they ate. It also means that activity and exercise levels are monitored. Alas, none of these controls were used in this study and we have no way of knowing the true caloric intake or caloric expenditure of these subjects.

If these results are questionable, then how do we explain them? I mean, we’re not saying the researchers are frauds, we’re only suggesting that there were some anomalous findings which were parlayed into the latest supplement craze and a thriving business.

The main problem is that self-reporting of food intake is highly inaccurate and makes long term weight loss research very difficult to do. It’s even possible that some subjects may have experienced a sort of “12 week fitness contest” type of effect, whereupon enrolling in the study, they wanted to impress anyone who saw the results. Therefore, they increased their exercise or activity in spite of instructions otherwise. Perhaps some of the subjects got sick and lost lean body mass. Maybe some were bloated and water retentive and simply dropped a lot of water weight. The explanations are endless.

But the story doesn’t end here. There’s another twist! It turns out that one person has done ALL the research to date and the same person owns the product rights.

Am I being overly skeptical? Sure, I’m skeptical of weight loss supplements. That’s because I’m intimately familiar with their sordid history (about 95% don’t work or don’t do what advertisements claim) and because I read the research. In case anyone thinks I’m just trying to pick part this particular research only because I’m a diet pill party pooper and supplement skeptic, then think about the magnitude of the claim for a moment and decide for yourself:

The Dubious claim: “28 pounds of fat loss in 10 weeks with NO CHANGE IN DIET OR EXERCISE.”

Let’s do some math, shall we? 28 pounds of fat loss in 10 weeks = 98,000 calories, or 9,800 calories per week, or 1400 calories per day. So, the researchers and makers of this supplement are claiming that this product will raise metabolic rate by 1400 calories per day.

Is it a more reasonable assumption that an over-the-counter plant extract from an African tree caused astronomical increase in metabolism that not even drugs come close to, or that the research is flawed?

Consumers in the weight loss marketplace have such short memories. Doesn’t anyone remember that last African wonder pill, hoodia? What happened to that one? And why another? How many of these products are already buried in the supplement graveyard? Haven’t we learned our lessons from the past?

With an objective look at the evidence, we can probably conclude that Irvingia is a good source of fiber. Fiber can provide numerous health benefits and play a role in body fat control, but there are cheaper ways to get fiber than expensive African supplements, (starting with your food!) A 30-day supply of Irvingia (60 softgels at 150 mg each) currently retails for $42 to $72.

Future research might show that Irvingia Gabonensis and or an Irvingia and Cissus combination may provide significant health benefits. Existing research already suggests health benefits including cholesterol improvements, glycemic control, antibacterial actions and antioxidant properties. It’s possible that some of the proposed anti-obesity benefits may also be confirmed. But at this time, the evidence is too thin to recommend Irvingia Gabonensis for weight loss beyond what you could get from any fiber product.

Being overweight expose you to a lot oh health risk such as heart diseases and diabetes. Therefore every time when it comes to a New Year, a lot of people will want to lose weight and set it as one of their New Year resolutions.
A lot of people who are excessively overweight tend to think that losing those pounds of stomach fat is not possible for them. But as long as you have a plan to achieve your goals, you will be able to achieve it sooner or later. What is important here is to know what are your long term goals and short term goals. By determining the duration of your goals, you will stand a higher chance to lose those pounds of stomach fat that have been with you for years.
Let me share with you some tips on how you can lose weight with proper planning and goal setting:
1. Setting realistic goals
When it comes to weight loss, most people set goals which are too ambitious. For example, if you are currently weighing 200 pounds and you set a short term plan to shed 100 pounds, this is not a realistic goal.
To lose weight effectively, you need to have a sensible weight loss plan that will guide you step by step to achieve your target weight.
2. Determining your objectives to lose weight
To succeed in doing something, you need to have a very compelling objective or reason so that you will not lose track of your goal. Losing weight just for vanity’s sake is usually less helpful than losing weight to improve health.
Other than just exercising, you need to have a healthy diet so that you will have a better body and more energy to be positive throughout the day.
3. Focus on doing, not how much you are going to lose
By focusing on how many times you are going to exercise per week rather than setting how much pounds you going to lose per week, you will definitely be able to come out with a more effective weight loss plan.
As long as you have the discipline to attend all the exercise session that you have plan out per week, weight loss will come naturally.
4. Losing fat step by step.
Let say if you have set a goal to lose 20 pounds after 1 month, you need to break down to how much pounds you are going to lose per week. Then plan out how many times you are going to exercise per week and what are the foods that you need to take to achieve your 1 week goal. By achieving weekly goals, you will definitely be able to achieve your final goal.
5. Having self-motivation
You need to always encourage yourself to achieve the goals that you have set. Learn to evaluate your efforts fairly and objectively. If you fail to achieve your target for the week, find out why is it so. Is it because you have missed a jogging session? Or you have been eating junk food for one of the days?
After evaluating, look ahead to next week and try your best to stick to your plan.

Trying to lose weight fast and safely can be a difficult task, for many it can be one that they have tried several times without success. Those weight loss TV shows such as the biggest loser, and the before and after photos of unbearably smug weight loss “champions” serve only to show that it can be done, but at the same time underline our failure. This can often lead to endless “diet-hopping” and despair as the weight just doesn’t seem to shift. The following 3 Tips will help you re-focus and start heading in the right direction towards the new, slimmer you:

Tip 1:This may sound obvious, but the first thing is to make the mental commitment to lose weight. Accept the fact that it not going to happen overnight, but that in 1, 3, 6 or 12 months you will look and feel a whole lot better. Keep a mental picture of the new you in your mind and use it to spur yourself on when you need encouragement (or in some circumstances discouragement!). Make sure that the weight loss goals you have set are reasonable and achievable, but accept the fact that there will be good weeks and bad weeks. As long as over time you are moving in the right direction, and you know your destination, you will get there – remember this is a marathon not a sprint.

Tip 2:We can’t all afford a fancy personal trainer, or find enough time to spend hours a day in the gym, but we can start by making small changes, which when combined can have a large impact on our weight loss and fitness. Start by trying to walk a little further every day, perhaps by parking further from work, or walking those extra yards to the next stop before getting on the bus. If you work in an office, don’t spend your lunch hour sat at your desk, even walking once around the block or even around the building is better than nothing. Try to make a conscious effort to try out low fat options instead of your favourite calorie laden snacks – you may well find something you like.

Tip 3Now that you have made the mental commitment, and started to make some small, but valuable changes, select a proven sensible weight loss plan and make sure you stick to the diet and exercise routine. Remember the goal of the “new you” we looked at in Tip 1 and remember that you will get there if you persevere. You will not always experience massive weekly weight loss, your body will have its own say on how much fat it is willing to burn, but don’t let this sway you from your diet, dropping it at the first sign of problems and swapping to the next “best thing”. Always remain focused on your final goal, and whether it is 6 months, a year or more from now, remember how it will be worth it in the end.