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March 2010 Newsletter
Please feel free to
forward this email to anyone who may be interested
Forget about
starvation, fad diets, expensive injection and diet pills as they
are all only short term solutions and once you stop them, the weight
will slowly creep back again as you return to your old habits.
If you are looking at
losing weight, the best way to do it is both the easiest and the
hardest:
Change your lifestyle! I can almost hear some of you
going, “yeah right – that isn’t easy at all!” Hypnosis can help
shift the mental and emotional blocks while the easy steps below can
get you ready for a smart and healthy life plan:
Basically none of us
should be going on a weight-loss program; we should be developing
healthy eating habits. If you change your lifestyle and how you
approach food, then you're starting to look at a long-term plan for
health and weight-management.
And in the end; it all
comes down to calories! If you eat 100 more food calories than your
body needs each day, you'll gain about 500g a month. If you eat
fewer calories than your body burns, you slowly but surely will lose
weight.
Let’s look at the maths of
losing body fat. Half a kilogram (500g) of body fat contains about
3,500 calories. If you burn 500 calories a day more than you eat
every day for a week, you will lose 500g of fat per week.
So, Step one is
figuring how many calories you should be taking in to maintain your
current weight or to lose weight. The numbers can range from 1,300
calories a day for a sedentary woman to 3,000 calories a day for an
active young man. A dietician can help you here if you are unsure,
else the following website can give you a good indication:
http://www.standupandeat.org/index.aspx?id=tools [Remember,
please consult your doctor or specialist before radically
changing your eating and exercise, especially if you have any
special health needs]
Next,
increase your physical activity to match or out burn the calories
you take in every day. Any movement burns calories, even a simple
thing like getting up to change the channel on the TV rather than
using the remote!
Also,
plan your diet carefully to maximize nutrition while minimizing
calories.
Finally,
begin your life style plan by carefully re-examining your life and
recognizing some of the habits that can block weight loss and
healthy living. These may include:
·
Skipping meals.
Are you eating small, frequent meals throughout the day, or are you
skipping meals and having long gaps between meals? This only makes
you hungrier, and you may tend to overeat at your next meal.
·
Eating out without
thought.
Do you dine out a great deal and use this as an excuse not to make
healthy choices? Even when you're dining out, you can make healthier
choices. Order grilled food, not fried. Order sauces on the side.
Say no to chips! And say no to desserts like rich puddings and
cakes. Have a bowl of fruit salad instead. Learn how many calories
are in your favourite cocktails or coolers and start making wiser
choices.
·
Spring clean your
cupboards!
Willpower is overrated!
Arrange your environment so you can be successful with minimal
“willpower.”
As part of a smart life style program,
clear out all the junk food and make sure you have a wealth of
healthy options available for snacking and dining. Keep a selection
of fruit, vegetables, low-fat dairy, whole grains and proteins. If
you don’t have time to cook; look for healthy ready-made meals and
salads that will save you time, else bulk make meals and keep them
in the freezer. (Rather than a book evening - cook bulk meals with
friends and exchange meals.) Even simply limiting some foods, such
as soft drinks, that are high in sugars may help you significantly
reduce calories.
·
Keep your portions
small.
One quick way to control weight is to cut back on the size of your
portions. Many people put on weight simply because they dish up huge
portions and then feel compelled to clean their plates. Serve
yourself a smaller portion, eat mindfully and slowly (chewing your
food too!) and you may be surprised to find that you don’t even want
another serving.
·
Drink water
when you feel hungry.
Thirst is often confused with
hunger and dehydration is common during the summer. Try drinking a
glass of water, wait for a while and see if you are still hungry.
You may find that a glass of water will be what your body wanted.
·
Make smarter food
choices
Believe it or not, we
train ourselves to like certain types of foods and we can retrain
ourselves to eat healthily and never feel deprived.
Your food choices can
determine the success of your weight-loss programs. Healthy and
nutritious eating will include:
·
Fruits and vegetables.
Low in calories and rich in nutrients, fruits and vegetables can
build your meal and help fill you up. Orange and dark-green
vegetables are filled with some of the best nutrition. Be
adventurous – the worst thing that may happen is you don’t like the
taste of something - and then you can always spit it out!
·
Whole grains.
At least half the grains you eat should be whole. They contain loads
of fibre and will help you feel full.
·
Lean meats, legumes,
poultry, and fish.
Everyone needs protein, which satisfies hunger like no other food
group. So choose lean meats, legumes, poultry, and fish and prepare
them by baking, broiling, or grilling — no frying.
Kind regards
Last but not least,
remember that lifestyle-based weight loss will occur more slowly
than with fad or starvation diets.
Think long
term about your weight.
We live in a world of
immediate gratification. People often decide they want to lose
weight and want to “lose 5 kilograms this week”. We think losing
5-10kgs/wk is easy; after all we see it on TV and in magazines all
the time. Truly, if you can average 500g of fat per week over a long
period of time, you are really doing well; pat yourself on the back,
because by changing the way you eat through life-style changes,
you'll be glad to hear that those kilograms are far more likely to
stay off!
Lesley Wood
021-4182843
082 3 782 782
www.weight-masters.com
I love receiving your questions,
comments or queries! Email me at
info@weight-masters.com. I will endeavour to return your mail
within 48hours.
Success
means having the courage, the determination, and the will to become
the person you believe you were meant to be.
George
Sheehan 1918-1993 Physician and Author
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