Article by Salena Newport

Why am I always trying to lose weight?

Why do you want to lose weight?

I think that if we’re all brutally honest, unless there is some medical condition, about which I’ve got no place commenting, there is only one reason that you, me or the person sat beside you at ‘Fat-Fighters’ is fat. That, my friends’, is simply because we eat too much. That means, to get slightly more technical, that we consume more energy than we use up in the daily doings of our lives.

You see, in the olden days, before cars, phones, computers, washing machines, combine harvesters, drive through fast fooderies, desk bound jobs and sugar, chocolate, alcohol and lard all being available to us on tap, we had to get off our botties and toil the soil for what we put in our mouths. In the olden days, the number of people who needed to lose weight was nothing by today’s standards!

That is no longer the case. We don’t have to take the washing down to the river and bang it on a rock. We don’t have to walk 10 miles to fill the kettle or grind up grains of wheat to make enough flour to feed our 16 children. We simply open the freezer, find something that was ‘buy one get one free’ at the supermarket last week, so we might as well cook them both; and chuck it in the microwave. Oh, and don’t forget the ice cream; it’s always on offer somewhere if you know where to look! It’s no wonder we are so overweight.

So the simple answer as to why we’re always trying to lose weight is that we don’t want to be this way. Our logical brains are screaming at us to close the lid on our flip top heads when the cake trolley is rattling past when it’s the MD’s birthday, but we can’t-just a small one then, because it would be rude not to join in. Ok then, so we can all be hogs at the trough together! Yay!

In the environment that we live in, that is pretty much a toxic one, where we are surrounded by too much food and not enough opportunity to use up the energy it provides, it seems that not only do we gain some sense of social belonging from taking advantage of any opportunity to have a good nosh-up, we also crave the social aspect of all having a problem, sharing it, and then trying to lose weight together.

Of course, we’re not all like that. Some people would rather gouge out their eyes with a spoon than sit in a semi circle discussing 101 things to do with a diet yogurt, but people are generally a fairly sociable crowd and take comfort from doing things together.

When I wanted to lose weight, I was always an all or nothing kinda gal. I’ve always been a bit of an obsessive character, so I was always 100% on it or 100% off it. Trouble is, I didn’t get to be the size I was by being on the wagon as often as I was off, so the pounds just went on, then I’d lose some, then put on even more. The battle to lose weight was something that was always a part of my life. I joined all the clubs, bought all the books, tried all the pills, lotions and potions and filled up the shed with a wonderful collection of gym equipment, (after all, we only need so many places to dry wet coats, so out to the shed they went!)

I always knew that the fat me wasn’t the real me. Some people seem to be ok with being overweight and that’s fine. I’m not one of those people like the reformed smokers, you know, now that I’ve managed to lose weight, I have to go round making others feel bad because their not trying to. I just always knew that one day, I would come across the thing that would work. The time would be right and I could be the real me.

Sometimes, I think that partly why I was always trying to lose weight was that it gave me a purpose. I was a stay at home mum, and I can blame it all on eating the children’s leftovers, or not having the time to look after myself, or depression and boredom; and to a certain extent all those things are true. What I really lacked was a direction just for me. I didn’t want to not be a wife and mum, but I had nothing that was just mine, so I guess I took on the constant battle of trying to lose weight, and who knows, maybe by never letting myself succeed, it meant I would always have something to work at; and let me tell you, I worked at it!

When I reached 23st 7lb, I felt dreadful and trying to lose weight was the last thing on my mind, despite the fact that it should have been the one thing I couldn’t afford not to do. Every waking minute was obsessed with either what I could eat next and when I wasn’t eating I was just concentrating on getting through the day with enough energy to be able to haul myself up the stairs to fall into bed, exhausted.

That was the time when I hit rock bottom. I felt so awful that I was so fat, but just as bad for not being able to lose weight when it was supposed to be the thing that would make it all better. I can now see that I really needed to feel so crap that I had nowhere else to go but to find the solution that was right for me.

The things that were going on in my head were all just so mixed up and dis-ordered. That’s not unique to me. I’ve talked to a lot of people about weight issues, and it seems that we’re all a little mixed up in the brain department!

When I was trying to lose weight, I did need support, but I didn’t need the pressure of going to a weekly group. I always joined them, to get the books and try to gain the focus I needed to hit the ground running. I always knew that after the first couple of weeks when that initial drop of half a stone had passed, and the loses would reduce to a more normal rate, I would get fed up and pig out on something or other. I would then not be able to go to the class and promise myself that I’d lose a bit more and then go back. I just never did. One bad day would lead to two, then three and then oh well, I’ll start again on Monday. You know what I’m saying!

Even now, when from the outside it may appear to others that I’ve won the battle to lose weight, it is something that I live with everyday. Food will always be an issue to me. Unlike people that give up smoking, or drinking or playing too much bingo by never going near a pub, or bingo hall or buying cigarettes; a person can’t just say, right, that’s it, I’m not going to buy food anymore! It’s a tricky one alright, and as long as there is nice food on the shelves in the shops, the battle to lose weight will continue…

More Chocolate 101 Articles

Article by Liam Taylor

If you’re bored with hearing the same old advice on how to lose weight – eat less, exercise more – here are 5 very different tips that really do work.

1. Eat moreUnder-eating stimulates an army of fat-storing mechanisms that have evolved to help us survive in times of famine. If we skip meals, fast, crash diet or under-eat in any way, we actually stimulate the body to release hormones that slow the metabolism and increase our cravings for high calorie foods, ultimately leading to binge eating and rebound weight gain. Regular, repetitive eating of well portioned meals does the exact opposite by stimulating our metabolism, suppressing our appetite and convincing our body it’s safe to burn off its fat stores. Eat more, binge less, lose weight.

2) Exercise lessThere’s one simple truth when it comes to exercise for weight loss- you just need to be warm and slightly out of breath. You don’t need to kill yourself, you don’t need to be in pain, and you don’t need to do 60 minutes every day. Keep it realistic and sustainable. Try 10 minutes of brisk walking a day, then build up by 2 minutes each week until you’re up to 20 minutes. It’s simple, 20 minutes of exercise a day for life is better than 60 minutes every day for one week, feeling burnt out, giving up and never doing it again! Treat your workouts like vitamin pills – for best results take one a day.

3) Progress not perfectionEating regular meals and exercising daily is challenging, especially if you lead a hectic lifestyle. Put your perfectionism to one side and accept that your nutrition will never be perfect and you won’t always get a chance to exercise. The key is ‘progress not perfection’, not giving up just because you skipped one workout or had one blowout. As long as you’re eating more regularly and exercising more than usual, the odd bad day isn’t going to be a problem. Enjoy it, never feel guilty for slipping off it, but get straight back to the plan the following day… not the following Monday!

4) Weigh yourself lessFact – obsessively weighing yourself increases your calorie intake. Here’s how… You step on the scales on Monday and see your weight is up. Your response, “this isn’t working… I might as well eat chocolate!” You step on the scales on Tuesday and see your weight is down. Your response “wow, this is really working… I might as well eat chocolate!” In short, whether your weight goes up or down, a direct result of weighing yourself too often is eating more junk, which slows down your weight loss! Just weigh yourself once a week and be prepared to see lots of fluctuations, they’re perfectly natural.

5) Be an expert at failureWhether you’re looking to lose 10 stone or 10 pounds, it’s inevitably going to go wrong along the way. Illness, injury, holidays, birthdays, social events, stress at work – there are 101 events that are going to throw you off track during your weight loss plan. The winners in the weight loss game learn how to get back on track after falling off it. The losers see a few pounds on after a bad weekend and then give up at the first hurdle. Accepting that it will go wrong, preparing for failure and planning how to get back on it is the key to long term weight loss success.

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Article by Kenjackson

Tips on how to gain weight quickly are priceless to skinny people who struggle to put on some extra pounds. The world we live in is a contradictory one. There are folks who put on weight rather effortlessly and yearn to lose their weight and fats through unhealthy diets. Yet on the other end of the spectrum, thin people find it tremendously challenging to gain that extra few pounds to enhance their physical appearance and regain some masculine appeal in the case of men. Skinny ladies also dream of fitting nicely into beautiful clothes that look so fabulous on those svelte and voluptuous models. But do not envy those who put on weight too easily, especially those through unhealthy diets. It is better to understand the fundamentals behind healthy weight gain. This is where you can learn more on how to gain weight quickly and healthily.

Before we tackle the issue of how to gain weight quickly, let us look at the reasons why scrawny and thin people fail in gaining weight successfully no matter how hard they try. Survey statistics discovered the following as the top reasons why they are not putting on weight:

1. Poor Diet

Skinny people are not eating right and enough. By that, it means that they are not eating foods that would help them to gain weight. Protein is critical in adding extra weight but many folks do not get enough protein intake. This is where things go awry. So how can they expect to gain weight quickly or for that matter, any significant weight improvement at all? It is important to load more on protein, and less on simple carbs. Read on for specific weight-gain diet foods.

2. Proper Work-out

Eating is not sufficient. We all need to engage in some kinds of physical activities to convert our food intake to healthy mass. This conversion can take place only with proper exercises. People who truly understand how to gain weight quickly do so in a healthy manner with proportionate muscle mass gain.

3. Poor Motivation

Weight gaining or slimming works in a similar manner. Medical practitioners have come to understand that the motivation behind the individual wanting to gain weight is vital to his/her success. Our generation is often called the “instant noodles” generation where everyone desires instant results. Weight gaining is not an overnight mission, but a long-term goal. Failing to understand this is a sure ingredient for weight gain failure.

Once we are able to acknowledge and work around the common grounds for failure, we are well on our way to successful quick weight gain. Are you ready for some easy-to-follow tips on how to gain weight quickly?

1. Weight Gain Diet Foods 101

I mentioned earlier that eating the right foods and eating enough of them is the key to weight gain. Foods such as fast food, chocolates and other junk food like chips won’t do you any good. Any weight gain from such foods would do your health more harm than good.

Cultivate a habit of eating more than your daily energy and calorie needs. First, find out what is your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) which equates your daily calorie need/count to maintain your weight at its current level. Next, start planning your weekly dietary plans to increase your weekly intake by 3500 calories to achieve a weight gain of 1-2 pounds within a week. This translates to an additional 500 calories in your daily calorie intake.

Eat more protein-based food stuff such as beef and chicken. Drink more milk for it is a rich source of protein. Balance your meals with vegetables and nuts as well. Eat 5 or 6 small meals rather than 3 big meals to balance the calorie intake.

2. Weight Gain and Muscle Mass Building Routine

You need to tone up the extra weight you are adding to your bodies so that you don’t end up obese. Depending on your preference for physical activities, the 2 kinds of activities recommended here would be useful in complementing with your weight gain diet.

Engage in moderate activities such as brisk walking, jogging or playing a sport for at least 30 minutes for 3-4 times per week. Try to inject some fun into your physical activity so that you would feel encouraged and motivated to cultivate this as a habit and eventually as part of your lifestyle.

Work out in the gym on some resistance training for at least 3 times per week. But before you do so, speak to a qualified physical training instructor who can advise on what exercise routine is suitable for you. If not, go to the library to read up on what are the work-out routines that are ideal for a person of your build and weight.

Knowing these simple tips on how to gain weight quickly should give you better knowledge than most people in the basic building blocks of gaining weight healthily. For more details about the ideal natural weight gain diet foods and more tips on how to gain weight and muscle mass simultaneously, visit my blog for further reading.

This article may be freely reprinted or distributed in its entirety in any ezine, newsletter, blog or website. The author’s name, bio and website links must remain intact and be included with every reproduction.

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Article by Holly Peterson

When practically anyone starts to think about weight lose programs, the very first port of call that they often resort to is the most famous one: Dieting.

In reality, all that dieting really involves is cutting down on your food intake. Or at least, that is the simple view of it. Truth be told, there’s more to effective dieting than simply cutting down on food, or worse, starving yourself, and if you want the best results you’re going to need the best weight loss product.

Otherwise, you may or may not lose weight, and chances are, you’ll end up facing a slew of other health problems too.

For quick and healthy weight loss, you need to remember that your body requires food to survive for two main purposes, both of which are of crucial importance and neither of which can be ignored:

1. Energy from food is required by the body to go about its daily routine2. Nutrients from food are required by the body for various other purposes and bodily functions

Should you cut down on your food intake and not gain sufficient energy, you’ll find yourself feeling lethargic. And should you not get enough nutrients, you’ll also have various other problems with your health – some of which could even be very serious.

So in order to lose weight healthily, you don’t just want to cut back entirely on your food. Instead, you want to choose exactly what types of food you should cut back on, and what types you don’t.

For example, you can safely cut out chocolate sundaes from your daily diet, but you shouldn’t cut out any leafy, green, vegetables.

While you’re doing this, you’ll also find that you’re able to really start losing weight more effectively too. By differentiating between what you ‘can’ and ‘can’t’ cut down on, you should be eliminating the more unhealthy parts of your diet, i.e. the ones with the most calories.

Once you do cut down on your calorie intake itself, your body will then automatically start to work through its ‘stores’ of energy, i.e. fat, and thus you’ll be able to lose weight convincingly while still eating healthily.

Truth is that eating a balanced and healthy diet is really the best thing that you could do when it comes to weight loss, so be sure to look up all the different nutrients and be certain that you’re getting enough of them.

Then, try to keep your calorie count to a minimum, while still maintaining your nutrient intake.

Frankly, this is the key to healthy weight loss – limiting your calories, but not risking your body’s health while you do so. Of course, you can further enhance your results through other methods, such as exercise, but this healthy diet should always be at the core of your efforts.

Trust us, if you follow this method of weight loss, you should end up not only losing weight, but feeling better and healthier all round too!