Sunday 23 February 2014

101 “Everyday” Tips For Losing 10 Pounds (Lesson 7)



61.
Select an exercise pattern to suit your life style. All f us have different life styles and professions so there is no sense in trying to follow the book strictly. Try and follow an exercise routine that is suitable for you. You have to understand that even more important than the exercise itself is sticking to it. So unless you choose something that can suit your life style, you are not going to stick on to it.
62.
Don’t stand, walk. If you can walk about then do so. Do not stand in a fixed position. Pacing about is a good thing to do. If you are thinking deeply about something, try pacing about, it will aid in your thinking.
63.
Don’t sit, stand. If you can stand, then do not sit. The golden rule is to choose a position that is less comfortable.
64.
Don’t lie down, sit. The rule that we mentioned above rings true here as well.
65.
Do not be a couch potato. It is the easiest thing in the world to become a couch potato. You know what we are talking about don’t you? That shapeless thing that sits or reclines on a shapeless chair in front of the television and stupidly munches away at something fried!
If you are inclined to become a promising old couch potato, break the habit, cut at the very root of the vine. And you want to know what is the best way for that? Take away that favorite chair of yours. In fact, it would be a very good idea if you could keep a chair that isn’t too comfortable in front of the TV.
This will discourage any tendency to become a couch potato.
66.
If you have a sitting job, stand up and stretch yourself every half an hour. Most of the jobs today are indeed sitting jobs that are in one word sedentary. This is especially true for those who sit and punch away at the keyboard or toy with the mouse all day long.
So if you have such a job, make it a point to get up at least every half an hour and stretch your self.
67.
While making telephone calls try walking up and down. I hope you will agree with me that this is an excellent suggestion.
68.
Use the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you can. Elevators are one hell of a convenience particularly if you have to go up or down some twenty floors. But elevators also make us very lazy.
There may be no sense in trudging up some twenty flights of stairs because by the time you get there you will be totally pooped. But while coming down, if you have the time, you can easily come down the stairs instead of using the elevator. Coming down is not at all exhausting. And talking about the time factor, I don’t think that there is much of a difference. Sometimes waiting for an elevator door to open at your floor after you hit the button can take up all of eternity.
69.
Smoking is bad for weight loss. Smoking as such may not contribute to weight loss but smoking leads to other conditions like erratic eating habits and excessive dependence on things like coffee.
70.
If you hate running, remember, you do not have to run a marathon to stay fit. 10 minutes of cardio each day is good enough for most.

Sunday 16 February 2014

101 “Everyday” Tips For Losing 10 Pounds (Lesson 6)



51.
Dry wine is better than sweet wine. Sweet wines naturally contain a lot of sugar. But on the other hand, in dry wines most of this sugar has been fermented away so from the weight point of view dry wines are better than sweet wines.
52.
When you decide it’s time to start working out, start slowly and don’t get discouraged if you don’t achieve your fitness goals after the first week. Many people make this mistake. They feel that if they really push their bodies they can lose more weight in a couple of work outs. This is a very serious thing in fact.
If you try to push your body too much in the first few goes, you are likely to end up with sprained joints, a sore back and even torn ligaments. The rule to be followed here is slow and steady wins the race.
53.
Check your weight before you start the routine and keep checking for changes but do not expect a radical change immediately, it might be one or two weeks before you notice some change. However it is crucial that you continue to monitor your weight. You may bear in mind the fact that even a few pounds loss is a big achievement.
54.
When you do notice a change, reward yourself. When I say reward I do not mean go for some goodies like chocolates or sweets. Maybe you could go for a movie or buy yourself something like a new dress or a trinket. This is something that can keep you going. It is a good idea to save on the money that you wanted to spend on ice creams and chocolates and then treat your self to something more substantial.
55.
You can take a day off from exercise every week. This is not just a very good idea but it is part of the exercise routine. Your body needs a day off from an exercise routine so do not hesitate to take a day off from what ever you have been doing.
56.
Exercise out doors as far as possible. There are two advantages of doing whatever you are doing out side. One advantage is that it gives your body a chance to get a lot of the much needed fresh air and sunshine.
The second advantage is that the surroundings keep you perked up and it is a break form remaining cooped up all day long
57.
Try to collect some information about exercise, there are a lot of things that you can do at home. Extensive research has been done on exercise and plenty of this information is easily available.
You can try browsing the net or getting a book or two on how to exercise at home. This information will be useful to you to know how much you need to work out on each specific exercise in order to burn off the desired number of calories.
58.
Try to get somebody to exercise along with you. But it should be somebody committed or else your interest might dwindle. This is indeed an excellent idea. One of the advantages of getting a committed person t exercise with you is that it keeps you going.
There may be days when you feel just too lazy to crawl out of bed in the mornings. On such days, the knowledge that some body is waiting for you is enough to slide out of bed.
Another advantage is that you can discuss your progress and fears with another person and be a sympathetic listener to the other person as well. This is a fine way of getting motivated your self.
59.
Stop when your body has had enough. There is no sense in pushing it. When you have worked out for a considerable time, your body will start giving you signals.
Heed those signals. This is particularly true in the initial stages. Take one step at a time. Stop when you are out of breath or when a certain part of your body tells you that it has had enough.
60.
If you want to increase your time of exercise or your work out routine, do it gradually and not in sudden steps.
Well easier said than done. Most of us have such hectic schedules that it is quite impossible to fit in tie for exercise right? Wrong. I want to say it once and for all, your body, or anybody’s body for that matter needs proper exercise. If you make up your mind to do it, you just can.

Sunday 9 February 2014

101 “Everyday” Tips For Losing 10 Pounds (Lesson 5)


41.
Watch your fat intake. Each fat gram contains 9 calories so by reading the total calories on a food and knowing the quantity of fat, you can estimate the % of fat, which should in no way exceed 30% of the food.

42.

Go easy on salt, as too much salt is one of the causes of obesity. Make it a point to really cut down on salt. Try to bring down your salt intake to half of what it was last year.

43.

Change from table butter to cholesterol free butter. If you have a choice why not g for it, any way it is healthier for you and tastes just the same. Bear in mind that these small changes can go a long way towards weight reduction.

44.

Instead of frying things try baking them without fat. Baking is by far a healthier method of preparing food than frying. Baking requires lesser oil or fat.

45.

Use a non stick frying pan for your cooking so that you do not have to add oil. The golden rule is to try and avoid as much oil as possible and a non stick pan is the perfect solution to this problem.

46.

Boil your vegetables instead of cooking them, or even better, eat them fresh. However if you do not like eating your vegetables as it is, try steaming them without adding anything at all. This is probably the healthiest way to eat cabbages, cauliflowers and a host of other vegetables.

47.

Carry parsley with you. Parsley is an excellent thing to munch on in between meals. Not just is it good for you in terms of vitamins, but it is also a perfect way of making your breath fresher.

48.

Choose low fat substitutes or no fat substitutes. There are plenty of low fat or even no fat substitutes available in the market so why not choose wisely. It is much better for you heart too. Many people just go for shopping and pick up whatever they can. They do not bother to find out if there are nay substitutes for the thing they are looking for. In the markets of today, you will be astounded at the range of goods that manufactures have to offer. In fact with all the hue and cry that is being made about weight loss, low fat substitutes and no fat substitutes are hitting the stands faster than mushrooms that sprout after the first rains. So the next time you head for the stores instead of picking up what you have always picked up, see if there are better substitutes. Remember that our bodies need nutrients and not just calories. Fats give us nutrients but with more calories than what proteins or carbohydrates do.

49.

Avoid crash diets. They are bad for health and you will gain what you have lost once you take a break. Crash diets are not a solution to weight loss. It might seem as if you have lost few pounds but the moment you give up on the crash diet every thing will bounce back with a vengeance. Take a look at it in this way. Do you think that it is possible for a person to survive on a crash diet for the rest of his or her life? Certainly not! So at some time or the other, you will have to give up the crash diet and then you will see for yourself that a crash diet does more harm than good on the long run.

Crash diets may have a lot to promise, but very rarely do these promises ring true. Crash diets are things people go on in order to wear an old dress or suit for a particular occasion. That’s the only purpose that they serve as far as I can see.

50.

God gave us teeth for a reason...

Therefore we should develop a habit of chewing all food including liquid food and soft foods like sweets, ice creams at least 8 to 12 times. This is essential to add saliva to the food, as it is only in the saliva that sugar is digested. Often we find that whatever goes into our mouth goes down like lightning. We hardly give the saliva any time to act on the food. So does digestion take place like it should? Do we just stuff our tummies with food that doesn’t get digested or in other words that doesn’t yield the benefits that it should?

Sunday 2 February 2014

101 “Everyday” Tips For Losing 10 Pounds (Lesson 4)


31.
50 to 55% of your diet should be carbohydrates. It is a myth that you should try and avoid carbohydrates when you are on a diet. Rather the other way round I should say. Carbohydrates are a ready source of energy and so 50 to 55% of your diet should be carbohydrates.
32.
25 to 30% of your diet should be proteins. Various processes and activities are going on in our bodies. Things are broken down and being built up again. Resistance has to be built up, recovery from disease too is needed and for all this the body needs plenty of proteins so see to it that 25 to 30 % of your diet consists of proteins.
33.
Fats should only be 15 to 20 %. You need only this much of fat in your diet so keep it at that.
34.
Try and adopt a vegetarian diet. A vegetarian diet is undoubtedly better for those of us watching our diet. There are a lot of advantages of keeping to a vegetarian diet but I don’t want to sing an ode to vegetarianism now. What I would suggest is keep to a vegetarian diet as much as you can. Make a nonvegetarian
diet a week end event or something if you find it impossible to
give up eating all those animals.
35.
Choose white meat rather than red. White meat, which includes fish and fowl, is miles better than red meat, which includes beef and pork for those trying to lose weight.
36.
High Fiber multigrain breads are better than white breads. Remember how I told you to increase the fiber content in your food; well this is the answer to that. It is not only better in terms of the fiber content but also in terms of the protein content as well.
37.
Reduce your intake of pork. Pork is not something that can help you to lose weight. So the lesser pork you eat the better chances you have of losing weight. And remember that pork includes the pork products as well, things like bacon, ham and sausages.
38.
Limit your sugar intake. If you can’t have things unsweetened go for sugar substitutes. These things are just as sweetening but are certainly not fattening.
39.
Graze 5 to 6 times a day. Instead of sticking to just three meals a day, try grazing. Grazing means try having 5 or 6 smaller meals instead of three king sized meals. It is an excellent way of having smaller quantities of food.
40.
Go ahead eat cheat food, but only for flavor. There are many things which you have to avoid from your diet but which you may have an undying craving for. Do not avoid them altogether. You could call them cheat foods and  indulge in them once in a while. But take care just to tingle your taste buds, don’t hog on them. Instead of that share them with others. In this way