Kenny Rogers has a line in one of his songs that goes,”If you’re going to play the game, you’ve got to learn to play it right.”

Learning the rules of weight loss, or of life for that matter, will help you keep your sense of humor.  And the first rule is: Life and everything in it is a game.  Of course, it upsets most people to hear that losing weight is a game.  It didn’t seem like a game when they got up this morning and tried to squeeze into their clothes.  But the fact is, this is a game we’re playing. Read the full story

You don’t have to eat just because it’s a certain time of the day. Meal times are set up arbitrarily. People in different parts of the world eat at different times of the day, and there’s nothing sacred or particularly natural about breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

It might be interesting if just for a week you ate only when you were hungry, as if breakfast, lunch, and dinner didn’t exist. When do you suppose you would be hungry? It would probably be different for you than it would be for another person. People get hungry at different times and in different ways. There’s such a thing as the cocktail hour, but you already know that you don’t have to have a drink every evening at 6:00.

Eating by the clock is a good way to fall back into unconscious eating. The clock says noon, so you start putting food into your mouth just because the hands on the clock are pointing up. You don’t think about whether you’re hungry, or even about what you want to eat. You just move automatically toward food.
Eating because it’s time to eat doesn’t even have to center around breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You may have a friend with whom you always take your morning coffee break. Each day the two of you go down to the cafeteria or the deli and grab a bite to eat. You do it as a ritual, more out of a habit and companionship than out of hunger. Ask yourself whether you want to continue doing that. You can still take breaks with your friend, but you can change the ritual. You might want to take a walk together than eat. The important thing is that you don’t have to continue doing something just because at one point it became a habit.

Another way you can use time to fool yourself into eating more than you want is by saying, “If I don’t eat now, I’ll be starving by the time dinner comes.” Maybe you will and maybe you won’t. Eat what you want now, and let later take care of itself. Your eating habits and patterns will be changing. You might not get hungry at the same times. Let your body develop its own patterns. Avoid preventive eating. Carry an apple around with you if it makes you feel more secure.

And who said you have to wait till dinner to eat, anyway? You can eat anytime you’re hungry, even in the middle of the afternoon. You and your body are in charge not the clock.

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Fat and Happy? You must think I’m kidding. Who could be fat and happy? The two don’t go together. Let’s take a look.

Given everything that you’ve done so far to lose weight and everything you’re willing to do (or not willing to do) from now on, the truth may actually be that you are never going to get thin. If that’s the case, then wouldn’t the most practical thing be to accept yourself the way you are and get on with your life? If deep in your heart you know you really aren’t willing to do what’s necessary to be thin, then the most sensible, practical , and loving thing you can do for yourself is to accept yourself the way you are. Quit all this beating yourself up about your weight, and use that energy to start living the way you want to.

Think of all the things you could do if you just gave up and enjoyed being the way you are. You’d never again have to worry about dieting. You could buy clothes that were comfortable, rather than buying them one size too small to try to look smaller than you are. You could eat whatever you wanted and enjoy it. You could lean back and laugh when people bought diet books. You could stop putting your life on hold until after you were thin and start living it fully right now.

The very act of getting off your own back about losing weight will actually allow you to lose weight. When you accept yourself exactly the way you are, things will naturally start to turn around. Part of it is that if you start caring enough about yourself to get off your own back, you eliminate many of your reasons for overeating. Since there was no more battle on dieting, eating will become rather dull.

It will take a lot of courage in choosing to be fat and happy. It goes against everything written or spoken in our culture on the subject of weight. But you can end weight as a problem in your life forever in one instant by choosing to be fat and happy.

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You get up in the morning and step onto the scale. One of three things has happened: you’ve gained weight, you’ve lost weight, or you’ve stayed the same.

If you’ve lost weight, you’re ahead of the game and can afford to cheat a little. If you’ve gained weight, you may feel angry or depressed. If you’ve stayed the same, it looks as if what you’re doing is for nothing. And what’s the likely response to any of those three situations? To eat, of course. The scale can actually prompt you to eat. Read the full story

As the air starts losing the cold bite of winter, you are happy in anticipation of the summer. You start planning holidays to sea resorts with friends and family. Until that fateful moment when you realize you have been too lax with your body and you are not in shape for the summer activities and swimming trunks or bathing suits cannot accommodate your body any more!

Still don’t despair! Summer weight loss is still possible. Remember that losing weight is influenced to the extent of 70% to 80% by what and how you eat and the balance by the physical activities and exercises. Cut down intake of excess calories which increase fat in the body and exercise the body which will help in to burn body fat and to lose weight.

The following simple natural weight loss suggestions if implemented can help you with summer weight loss and shape up your body to face summer with confidence in a matter of three to four weeks.

Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water per day.

Water plays very important role in our body functions. Body fat and bones account for 20% of water each, lean muscle tissues are 75% water and over 80% of our blood is water. Water helps kidneys remove toxins allowing liver to metabolize more fat. It works as a natural suppressant of appetite;

Put alcohol on highly restricted list if you are serious on losing weight. Alcohol helps body in storing fat by slowing down metabolism;

Main culprits causing excess weight are saturated fats. Saturated fats and sugar are strictly no-no for weight watchers. Avoid desserts, ice creams, etc;

Include low fat milk products such as yogurt, skimmed milk, cottage cheese in diet; they contain “good proteins” which help suppress cravings for food. They are essential in building muscles;

Vegetables, beans, whole grains and fruits contain “good” carbohydrates which are moderate on calories and fats, they are consumed slowly by the body and thus they help suppress hunger naturally;

Omega 3 fatty acids increase metabolism and energy levels of the body. Eat fish such as Mackerel, Salmon, Sardines and Herrings; they are rich Omega 3 fatty acids which help prevent blood clotting, regulate blood pressure, and lower risk of heart failure. They are helpful in weight loss;.

Eat four or five meals of smaller portions instead of the normal three meals. Smaller meals at shorter intervals help metabolism and burn fat; it helps to lose weight;

Eat adequate fiber food. Fiber food is more filling and it suppresses hunger. It takes longer in digestion and passing through the body it attaches to some fats and proteins in our food and thus keeps them from being digested. Whole grains, brown rice, figs, Apples, broccoli, peas, lentils, beans, fresh vegetables and fruits and nuts are high on fiber content;

Spices such as ginger, mustard, pepper, cinnamon, clove, bay leaf, etc decrease sugar cravings and are helpful in weight loss;

Avoid late night meals within the two to three hours before going to bed. Allow time for digestion of the meal before going to bed.

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