Setting Your Weight Loss Goals

One of the first things you must do is to make a plan. It is important to write this plan down and read through it every day. This will keep you on track and ensure your success.

1. Write down your weight loss goals. How much do you want to lose? What is the time frame for this? Be realistic! If you set unrealistic goals, you will set yourself up for failure. Smaller goals are more attainable and will encourage you every time you meet a new goal. A good rule of thumb is to lose 1 to 3 pounds per week.

2. Evaluate your current lifestyle habits. Do you sit all day and exercise rarely? Do you eat all day long instead of just eating breakfast, lunch and dinner? Do you drink a sugar laden latte every morning? Are you a night time snacker? You need to evaluate your habits so you can make a plan to change them. This will allow you to make changes that can really add up. List these things in your goals under Lifestyle Changes to Make.

3. Eat 3 meals a day. Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Try to eat your meals at the same time every day. This will keep your metabolism going throughout the day. Sit down and enjoy each meal. Chew slowly and savor every bite. By taking the time to truly enjoy each meal, you will feel more satisfied and help you avoid cravings and snacking in between meals.

4. Water...drink plenty of it. I can't stress this enough. Drinking water flushes out toxins from your body. Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water daily.

5. Motivation. How will you stay motivated to meet your goals? Will you have a friend keep you on track? What will you do if you slip up? How will you get back on track and not give up?

6. Rewards. Think about how you will reward yourself when you meet small goals. It might be a new pair of shoes or a dinner out. Rewards will keep you motivated along the way. Small rewards will keep you encouraged to continue. The most important thing to understand is that you are doing this for yourself. If you slip up along the way, it's ok, just don't give up. Keep going and you will succeed. In the end, you will be happier and healthier.

You have the power to change your life. Don't let anything stand in your way!

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Fast Weight Loss

Losing over 140 pounds became easy over time. In fact, once the calories to lose weight were established, the most exciting part of the experience were the weigh-ins and watching the weight come off! Once you learn how to lose weight, the daily tasks become routine. However, the lessons learned were invaluable and worth sharing with you.

One lesson learned through the experience was that there is no such thing as fast weight loss. Learning how to lose weight takes time. The first step in learning how to lose weight is to unlearn everything that failed you in the past. Fad diets, sweat suits, and very low calorie diets are a few examples of myths that you may need to unlearn. The amount of time it takes to unlearn these myths will depend on the amount of effort and belief you placed in them as potential strategies.

Another lesson learned through the experience was the importance of taking the time to fully understand the process. Allowing time to experience the entire process is contradictory to fast weight loss, but extremely important. The reason you should patiently experience the process is to allow yourself time to adjust to the many changes that will develop. These changes are essential for you to reach and maintain the weight management stage. You see, traditional diet thinking involves short-term results. This is one of the reasons many adults diet 4 to 5 times every year. While you may want to lose weight fast, if you think about it, this habit only leads to yo-yo dieting and weight gain. By focusing on long-term results, your process takes on a new meaning in which you learn how to balance your calories, an important part of keeping your weight off.

The final lesson learned during the experience is that fast is unhealthy. Regardless of the marketing technique of any diet, the 3500-calorie-rule will never change and remains the same regardless of the plan you use. To lose pounds, you must reduce your calories. Simply stated, a reduction of 3500 calories will result in the loss of one pound. If you want to lose more, simply multiply the amount of pounds you want to lose by 3500 to arrive at the total amount of calories you will need to reduce to arrive at your goal. For example, if you want to lose 120 pounds, you will need to eliminate 420,000 calories. Considering the dangers of medically unsupervised very low calorie diets eliminating 420,000 calories to lose 120 pounds will take some time.

These lessons learned demonstrate the importance of avoiding fast weight loss if your goal is weight management. Reducing your calories safely to ensure proper nutrition is achievable through calorie reduction and exercise. While it is normal to lose patience during the weight loss experience, dealing with life's challenges through the process by focusing on weight management rather than fast weight loss will help you achieve your goal faster.

Georgene Dana Collins, PhD, RN is a Health Coach certified in Nutrition, Wellness and Weight Management who educates the public on weight loss and specializes in permanent weight management. With her long-term weight management strategies, Georgene maintains a weight loss of over 140 pounds since 2005. You can learn more about weight loss and weight management strategies at http://www.learnhowtoloseweightnow.org. Check with your doctor before making changes to your health.

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5 More Weight Loss Tips

Weight loss is something more and more people are trying to accomplish. It is not easy to lose weight. There is temptation all around from posters with delicious foods, smells of french fries or donuts wafting through the air and sometimes eating fattening foods is just cheaper and easier. So what are we to do? Here are five weight loss tips to add to your arsenal of health tools.

Do not procrastinate your desire to lose weight. The temptations will always be there. You can take a few months off from eating junk food so you can work on a weight loss plan. Once you have lost the weight, the foods that you desire will still be there. But if you keep eating fattening foods and put off your goals to lose weight, then your excess weight will be there, too.

Break your program down into smaller steps. Do not look at the big picture of not eating "fun foods" for the next three or six months. Instead, get through the week. Subconsciously, you may be better able to deal with the fact that you are dieting for a week rather than three months.

Drink plenty of water, herbal teas or even fresh vegetable or diluted fruit juice. Often we confuse thirst for hunger and instead of drinking water to quench the thirst, we eat food that we really don't need.

Don't get fooled by thinking that drinking a soda will quench your thirst either. The sugar in soda can actually make you thirstier as your body is not being truly hydrated by high fructose corn syrup. And diet sodas are no better; while there may be water in it, it is adulterated by chemical sweeteners. The latest research shows that those who drink diet sodas have about a 70% larger waist line than those who do not. So do not sabotage your weight loss plan, drink water instead.

Eat smaller meals. Often people eat portions that are too large for their bodies to digest all at once. This leads the extra food being stored as excess waste and weight. Eating smaller meals with correct portion sizes helps your body to digest all of it. This leads to faster metabolism and more efficient fat burning by your liver.

Get moving and exercise. No matter what weight loss plan you use, try to incorporate some form of exercise even if it is walking. Stretching, using, and strengthening your body has many benefits. It stimulates metabolism, builds muscle, which burns more calories, helps your liver burn fat and strengthens your immune system. Of course if you are not used to exercise, you should talk to your doctor first.

No matter what the temptations are around you, try to get started on your weight loss plan today. Help your body get stronger, healthier and more fit by using as many weight loss tips as you can and your body will take care of you in return. And as with anything, talk to your health care professional before any diet or exercise change.

Cindy Papp is a Certified Nutritional Counselor; see how a weight loss cleanse or even a colon cleanse might help you today.

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Weight Loss Soups

Weight loss soups can be used as part of a calorie controlled diet. Good nourishment can be obtained from soups that have been made with good low calorie foods such as vegetables in season coupled with small amounts of pasta and protein. Exclude soups that contain cream or thickener and health and weight can be maintained with a good variety of soups. Homemade soups are recommended as you know what has gone into them and you can count the calories. If this is not always possible use tinned or packet soup but always read the labels for any hidden calories, fats etc.

Weight loss soups can be easily made using fresh vegetables i.e. carrots, onions, swede, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes, mushrooms etc and anything that you fancy that is low calorie. Avoid stilton cheese with broccoli however tempting! Pulses can be added in moderation i.e. lentils, beans, chick peas for protein. These soups can aid digestion, ease constipation and are good for your overall well being as well as helping you to consume fewer calories which in turn leads to weight loss.

Weight loss soup eaten before a meal can also curb the appetite as it can distend the stomach and increase the feeling of fullness leading to eating fewer calories for your main meal. You are then less inclined to want that mouth watering dessert.

Weight loss soups are so easy to prepare. You can use leftover vegetables from last night's dinner-just add an onion and some stock then blend! Take some to work for lunch time in a flask or container and heat up -this may curb your appetite enough not to want anything else or just to have some fruit and water. Be careful what you eat with the soup though-not TOO much bread- a couple of crisp breads are ideal. Weight loss soups can also be made very quickly using frozen vegetables again with an onion and stock to taste. Even garlic in soup is tasty! Be careful of excessive use of salt for flavour as this can cause fluid retention and is not good for people suffering with high blood pressure. Chinese soups can be extremely nutritious and low calorie and are ideal for weight loss soups. Recipes can be found on the website. Adding various spices and herbs to soup can add variation and interesting tastes. These include: thyme, parsley, dill, coriander, rosemary, sage, marjoram, tarragon etc.plus cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and any other herbs and spices that you are particular fond of- and are all low or none calorie. Avoid adding cream and cheese or anything which is high in fat.

So for overall good health and well being include lots of nutritious, low calorie soup as part of your daily consumption of food and watch the weight come off!

I hope you found this article interesting. Please read my other articles for more information on weight loss.

Visit my site for a free copy of "The Truth About Weight Loss"

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