Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Weight Loss Diary 9

Covers days 22 – 28

Four weeks ago I weighed 197 pounds (97.5 kilos) and my aim was to lose weight at the rate of one pound (450 grams) per week until I was down to 180 pounds; without giving up any food that I like. That is a reasonable weight for a man who is a little over 6 feet (1.83m) tall. At my Friday evening weigh-in my weight was 190 pounds (94 kilos) and that puts me three weeks ahead of schedule in only my fourth week.


Health wise I have regained much aerobic fitness and my muscles are firming. I now wish that I had recorded waist, hip and thigh measurements before I started and was able to give news on what I measure. Unfortunately I’m not a scientific person and only work by my waist belt – the news on that is good. At the end of week two I was able to suck everything in and take my belt up by a notch, today that extra notch is very comfortable and maybe just a little slack. My feelings are very positive about deciding to go on this program and it is no trouble to keep up with, as my weight loss to date indicates. In fact I doubt whether the program will run for seventeen weeks because weight is disappearing at the rate of one and three quarter pounds each week rather than the one-pound I targeted at the start.

During the week I received an email from a follower of the program asking me to clarify the method of taking your own pulse when exercising. You will recall that we exercise three times weekly for ten-minutes or until our pulse rate increases by 50%. Here are the rules for taking your own pulse.

- You cannot take your pulse with your thumb; it has to be with a finger.

- Place the back of your left wrist into your right palm and curl right fingers around to the inside of your left wrist. Feel for the pulse.

- When you have located your pulse count how many beats in six-seconds.

- Because six seconds is one-tenth of a minute you just add a zero to the number of beats counted in six seconds and this will give your rate per minute. For instance: If you count seven beats in six seconds your normal pulse rate is 70 per minute.

- To increase your pulse by 50% from 70 per minute you need to increase to 105 beats per minute – which is between 10 and 11 beats per six-seconds. Easy isn’t it?

As you get fitter you will find that it takes more than ten-minutes to raise your pulse rate by 50%; you just keep exercising until you achieve the required increase. In the early days you may find that you only need to exercise for 5-minutes to achieve the required pulse rate. That’s fine, don’t push it, and just stop exercising when you have achieved the 50% increase.

I’m going to make my bacon sandwich now. Like I said I give up nothing that I like for more than one day.

Weight Loss Diary 14

Dotties Weight Loss Zone

Why Take a Walk?

There is no drug in current or prospective use that holds as much promise for sustained health as a lifetime program of physical exercise.


IN 1982, Dr. Walter Bortz II, a university professor of medicine, wrote the above words. Over the past 23 years, numerous health experts and organizations have quoted these words in books, magazines, and Web pages. Evidently, today Dr. Bortz’s advice is just as current as it was in 1982, and it is still widely accepted as sound and relevant. So we do well to ask ourselves, ‘Am I getting enough exercise?’

Some have erroneously concluded that they do not need to exercise because they are not overweight. Obese and overweight people stand to benefit greatly from a regular exercise program, but even if you are not overweight, an increase in physical activity is very likely to improve your overall health and help prevent serious diseases, including certain types of cancer. Also, recent studies show that physical activity can reduce anxiety and may even prevent depression. The fact is, many who are slim suffer from mental and emotional stress, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and other conditions that are aggravated by a lack of enough exercise. Hence, whether you are overweight or not, if you lead a sedentary life, you do well to increase your level of physical activity.

What Is a Sedentary Life-Style?

How do you know if you are active enough? There are various opinions on what constitutes a sedentary life-style. However, most health experts agree on general guidelines that apply to most people. One explanation used by several health organizations is that you are sedentary if you (1) do not exercise or engage in some vigorous activity for at least 30 minutes three times a week, (2) do not move from place to place while engaging in leisure activities, (3) rarely walk more than 100 yards during the course of a day, (4) remain seated most of your waking hours, (5) have a job that requires little physical activity.

Enjoy a Good Walk

Wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing. For warmth, add layers that are easily shed. Use flexible, lightweight shoes with a cushioned low heel and roomy toe box. They should be somewhat larger than your usual dress shoe. If you plan to walk for more than half an hour and there will be no drinking water on your route, you may want to take a light container of water with you. Warm up by walking at an easy pace for the first five minutes. Maintain an upright posture, keeping the elbows and knees slightly bent and hands cupped, not clenched.

After warming up, fall into a natural, brisk stride in which the heel of the foot strikes the ground first, rolling through the step to the toes. Flexible shoes are thus needed. Does all this sound like a lot to remember? Relax—most people walk this way naturally. Your pace should allow you to carry on a full conversation without getting breathless. If you are new at walking, build up your time, distance, and speed gradually. Cool down by slowing your pace near the end of your walk.

Increased heart and breathing rates are normal signs of exertion, as is mild-to-moderate sweating. You may feel some muscle aches and tenderness the first few days. Pay attention to your body's response. If you feel as though you are pushing too hard, slow down or take a short break. However, if you experience such symptoms as tightness or pain in your chest, palpitations, severe shortness of breath, dizziness, or nausea, stop walking and seek immediate care.

Because it is low impact, walking can have a definite advantage over such activities as running and aerobics. As a result, there is less chance of injury to joints and muscles. Indeed, walking is the number one activity recommended by fitness experts. So, for your well-being, take a walk!

Also

Restricting your diet to lots of fruits and green leafy vegetables will help in fighting obesity. Phentermine should be taken along with a regular diet of fruits, juices and other foods with less calorie and fat content. The number of phentermine pills you take won’t have any beneficial effect on your body, unless you stop munching all those high calorie foods.

The best way to help an obese person out will be to tempt him out for an ice-cream in the park. You can always end up with an apple shake instead. Don’t rush him; take one thing at a time. Begin with a 15 minutes walk, then gradually push him and make him walk for at least an hour a day. Without realizing that he is working out, he would actually be taking up the best form of exercise.

Is There Any Hoodia In That Hoodia Weight Loss Product?

Gotten any email spam lately with a 'warning' about buying fake Hoodia products or Hoodia products with a variety of fillers?


Of course, they assure you that THEIR product is 'the original product.' It may be the original product, whatever that might mean, but the chances of it containing Hoodia are pretty close to zero.

Or maybe you're getting the spam about Hoodia 92--, whatever, or one about getting into skinny jeans or having men chase you, or the brickwall last 18 pounds spam with the large "disc0unts". Obviously the spammers see this as a potentially lucrative market. If any of the spam tempts you, you really need to be aware of a few things about Hoodia.

The whole diet area is scam heaven for unscrupulous, dishonest con artists selling products that do nothing and cost a lot. The few legitimate ones can be nearly impossible to identify among the fakes.

Legally, only one company has the license to market Hoodia as a weight loss product. Hoodia gordonii, as a weight loss product, has been patented by CSIR (the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) and patents have been submitted in territories all over the world. Exclusive license for these patents belongs to Phytopharm, a bio-pharmaceutical company.

The main problem is that Hoodia is a slow growing succulent (it looks sort of like a cactus) which grows wild in limited areas in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. While not endangered (yet), it is listed in Appendix II of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). That means there are legal controls on collecting Hoodia and on exporting it.

Hoodia contains a molecule called P57 (catchy name, isn't it?). According to Phytopharm's Dr Richard Dixey, P57 essentially tricks the brain into feeling full. No side effects except a sense of feeling good have yet been identified but clinical trials are still underway to ensure that the Hoodia extract is safe. Unfortunately, while P57 can be artificially made, the process cannot be scaled up to produce commercial quantities at affordable prices.

Phytopharm is, however, in the process of developing extensive Hoodia plantations. This takes time since Hoodia has never been cultivated before and all the problems of pests, plant diseases, correct growing conditions, etc. have to be figured out.

What all this really means is that right now the quantities of real Hoodia available are extremely limited. Some legitimate supplement companies have even been scammed by their suppliers into believing that they were receiving genuine Hoodia when they were getting roots, other succulents, sawdust, etc.

As a consumer, you are likely to get burned buying any weight loss product that is supposed to contain Hoodia unless it has been licensed by Phytopharm. Food supplements (NOT labeled as a weight loss product) may or may not contain Hoodia. Ones that may actually contain Hoodia may not have enough to have any weight loss effect. Some may contain Hoodia, but not the active ingredient (that P57 molecule).

At this point, Phytopharm is planning to bring out various food products containing Hoodia gordonii, hopefully by 2008.

Meanwhile, unless it's a Pytopharm product, if it claims to be Hoodia and to be for weight loss, at the very least the marketing is illegal and infringes on Phytopharm's rights, and, most probably, the product has either none of the necessary product or too little to be effective.

Once real Hoodia products do become more widely available, they could be extremely helpful in weight reduction and appetite control. But now? Over the internet? Scams seem to rule, so be prepared to waste your money. While Hoodia certainly appears to work - and probably is safe, your chances of actually getting Hoodia, unless you are very careful, make focusing on maintaining a workable diet and exercise program a much more certain alternative for losing weight.

Think Outside The Box: 5 Unique Weight Loss Methods

When most people think about losing weight, all they can think of is spending hour after hour on a treadmill. One reason that losing weight can be such a challenge is that conventional weight loss methods are usually extremely boring. However, getting rid of those extra pounds does not have to be an unpleasant tasks. Here are five out of the box techniques for losing weight:

1) Shopping: Yes, this is not a typo. As crazy as it may seem, shopping can help you lose weight. Shopping takes a conventional weight loss method and puts a more enjoyable spin on it. Instead of walking for an hour on a treadmill and staring at the wall, you can walk and burn calories while searching for the perfect new shirt. The next time you head out for a day of shopping, try to minimize the amount of time you spend in the car. Instead of driving from one shopping center to the next, take the time to walk. Doing so will ensure that you will be buying smaller sizes in no time!


2) Rock Climbing Gym: Although actual rock climbing requires a lot of planning and preparation, a rock climbing gym gets rid of all the hassle and provides you with instant access to the benefits of rock climbing. A rock climbing gym can provide you with an exciting full body workout that will help you burn hundreds of calories.

3) Nintendo Wii: Recently, a Wii enthusiast spent thirty minutes a day playing Wii sports games. After six weeks of this “workout routine,” the boy conducting the routine lost ten pounds and two percent of his body fat. For the first time, video games can actually help you lose weight instead of gaining it!

4) Hiking: Nothing is better than exercising while breathing in fresh mountain air. Whether you do it in a group or alone, hiking can help you shed a few pounds while spending some quality time in the great outdoors.

5) Pilates or Yoga Class: Most people think that Pilates and Yoga only improve flexibility, but in fact, they are both great ways to lose some extra weight. Taking a Pilates or Yoga class allows you to get in shape while participating in a social environment.

Weight Loss With Nlp

NLP can be useful for people struggling to lose weight. In fact, wanting to lose weight is a fairly common reason for why people seek NLP, Herts. Whilst NLP is by no means a magic diet pill, it can be very useful in addressing the issues associated with over-eating such as confidence, self-esteem, motivation and negative coping strategies. This article discusses seven NLP tools, which can help you in being slim and healthy.

1. NLP Communication Model – This model underlies any change work in NLP and a good therapist will explain this model to you. It is very important as it tells us how people use language in specific patterns, during thinking. Depending on the nature of the way you talk to yourself when thinking, you could be undermining the efforts you make to eat healthily and be slim. The NLP communication model can help you to begin to be much more aware of the language you use during thinking, in order that you can develop positive thinking habits. Since how you think has a massive effect on how you feel, it also effects how you behave. Change your thinking patterns and you will get different behavioural results. In the case of weight loss, this can be a change in your eating or exercise habits.


2. NLP Presuppositions – These are a set of convenient beliefs which if you subscribe to them, can lead to you feeling much more empowered. For example, one of the presuppositions is that all behaviour has a positive intention. This does not mean that everything a person does it morally good or good for society. It means that each person, only always carry out behaviours that are positive for them in some way, i.e. meet some higher human need. So, if you feel frustrated at yourself for overeating when you feel you really shouldn’t, its time to begin to think about what needs you meet through food. Only, then can you acknowledge that you have been doing the best with the resources available to you at the time and begin to plan how to meet the need met by food in a more positive way.

3. NLP Frame – Cause is greater then effect. NLP frames are frames of reference that guide the individual towards taking responsibility for themselves, how they feel and what happens in their lives. During NLP therapy you will be encouraged to BE at CAUSE. This means that things happen in your life because of you, not too you. NLP does not claim this to always be the case, it asks you to try to live your life guided by the frames. Being at cause means you get the credit for all the great things you achieve, of course, it also means that you have to take responsibility for outcomes that your not so proud of. How does this relate to dieting? Well as a person who used to smoke and who tried to stop for several years before I was successful, I know that I felt much more comfortable about lighting up, if I had a reason (excuse). So, it was the fault of my stressful day, argument with boyfriend, because I’d had a glass of wine, because I needed to relax and not because I was choosing to smoke over other behavioural options. This can be the case, with bingeing or snacking. Once you begin to stop kidding yourself during thinking and actually begin to stop and say, actually I don’t have to eat this, I can act in a different way, I take responsibility, you have taken a big step towards the slimmer you.

4. NLP Formal Change Techniques – There are several formal change techniques, which are useful for helping with weight-loss. The most appropriate technique will depend on your unique problem. Here are a few: 1) The Swish Technique can be used if you wish to replace a highly contextualised problem behaviour with a more positive behaviour. It works to eliminate behaviours that occur in specific situations after specific triggers. 2) Parts Integration is very useful at uncovering the positive intention of your unhelpful eating habits and dealing with incongruent behaviour and feelings. If you’ve had the experience of thinking ‘how have I just eaten that, I’ve been doing so well’, this technique could help you! 3) Like To Dislike – This technique is based on information about how we code memories in our brain. We tend to code things we like in a different way to things we don’t like. So, if you have a particularly problematic food type, its possible to change the memory of the problematic food type into the memory of a food you can’t stand. This technique works really well if you have a food that you really hate! 4) Hypnosis with positive suggestion – many NLP therapists will have studied hypnotic techniques based on the Ericksonian model, during NLP training and will utilise these techniques during therapy sessions.

5. Getting Leverage – NLP therapists are skilled at getting leverage. This basically means helping the client to recognise and experience the impact of the problem behaviour, such as overeating, on themselves and those around them. It will help you find your motivation and will identify those who are not motivated.

6. Setting well formed goals. NLP takes goals setting seriously and has developed criteria for goal setting that results in the goals being much more achievable and likely to be reached. Your therapist can support you in working towards your weight loss goals.

7. Developing positive coping strategies. Acknowledge that your problematic eating has served a purpose in the past, in that it has likely been a method for coping. Now you want to develop positive coping strategies that serve you in the present and future. When would now be the right time to be good to yourself?

These are just a few of the ways that NLP can help you develop new options in thinking and behaviour. I have found these techniques effective during NLP, Herts at my NLP practice, Herts, when supporting clients in losing weight.

Weight Loss And Yoga, Estranged Bed Partners?

When you primarily want to significantly and rapidly lose weight, experts and fitness gurus attest that yoga is not the exercise of fitness regime for you.

But is there any reason why yoga would not be highly recommended for weight loss?


Actually, it is a great and amusing fact that yoga and weight loss are estranged bed partners. It is because yoga also facilitate weight loss. When someone practice or do yoga, expect that there would be a corresponding weight loss that would follow suit.

Yoga truly is not the best and recommended exercise for weight reduction purposes, but it could greatly help. It is not to be compared to the widely popular calorie-burning and cardiovascular exercises.

However, yoga also facilitate for improved agility and strength in the large and core muscle groups of the body.

Doing yoga regularly and properly is said to be equivalent to running, walking, rollerblading, swimming and cycling.

Thus, when regularly done and practiced, yoga can also lead to a significant weight loss, to the advantage of the exerciser.

Here are some yoga exercises that are so simple and are aimed at helping any person eventually lose weight in the long run. Take note that great and proper execution of each of these simple exercises are vital to the success of the weight-losing yoga practice.

FROG STAND

1. Lowly squat. Place the hands on the below ground, resting the triceps on top of the kneecaps. Then, tip forward, and lift the feet from the ground and into position similar to a balanced frog stand. Keep the position for 30 seconds.

2. Extend a leg in back, keeping it diagonally relative to the floor, at the same time elongating the neck to maintain balance.

3. Straighten the elbows, lift the legs, tip forward, then try to press up slowly into a handstand.

These exercise strengthen the whole shoulder girdle. These also help build up core muscles and enhance the body’s overall stamina.

BRIDGE

1. Lie down, faceup on the floor and then put the knees up, then feet flat and grasp ankles using the hand, drawing the heels close to the butt. Inhale, thrust the belly button up. Release the hands. Put palms up, then dig the thumbs into the tailbone and push the lumbar spine further up.

2. Move the hands palms-down near or beside each ear. Press up into a U shape inverted position.

The exercise will improve posture through strengthening the muscles along the spine. This would be very beneficial since people spend more than 90 percent of daily daytime existence in a slight and forward fold.

Do the exercises regularly or whenever you have the time to properly and orderly execute them and see the weigh loss or the difference in only just a span of a few days.

The Easy Side Of Weight Loss

This article was written to answer many of the most frequently asked questions on this topic. I hope you find this information helpful.

There is the familiar story of your teenage years and how active you were playing sports, going out with friends and having a good time. Because of your high activity level and age your metabolism is also high so your weight has not ever been a problem. As a matter of fact, whoever even thinks about it' Over time you develop a taste for fatty junk food and you sure do love those hamburgers, fries and pop. Your metabolism helps burn off most of the excess calories from the junk food and so any extra weight goes unnoticed.


As you move into adulthood priorities change and somehow sports disappears from your life and the focus now becomes more on work and social activities such as parties and drinks. You notice that you have some extra weight but by now you've programmed your lifestyle habits into your subconscious and weight loss is still not something that is thought of. As you get to your 30's and 40's you have now noticed a considerable amount of body fat and you begin to see the health problems associated with your unhealthy lifestyle. Now you are concerned.

What you have done in your life to date is set the cause and effect of your lifestyle choices in motion, accumulating all the little unhealthy lifestyle habits along the way until the weight issue has become bigger year after year, and so have you. Hang on. There is good news.

The good news is that you can turn around the negative cause and effect in such a way as to achieve health and weight loss by making steady improvements to your lifestyle across multiple areas. This will cause your new weight loss to grow and gather speed and lead you back to health. The most important thing to realize is that while you may not see immediate results from the slight changes to your lifestyle, the combination of little improvements across lots of lifestyle areas over time will achieve the weight loss you're looking for.

Here's how to get started:

1. Get Active - To burn off some of the body fat and strengthen your heart you need to do some form of exercise. A starting point might be walking as it is a low impact, low risk activity. Start out with a short walk at first and and then walk farther and for longer each time. The important thing to remember is to choose an exercise you like to do so you will stay with it.

2. Eat Healthy - Little by little, replace high fat and high sugar foods with healthier alternatives. First start with perhaps one meal a day and progress from there. After a while you will be more accustomed to healthy food and will make better food choices. It is true the healtheir you eat, the less you want the the old eating habits back.

3. Eat Smaller Meals - It is better to have frequent smaller meals than three large meals, so try cutting down your portion sizes and have a piece of fruit between meals for snacks.
Eating healthy keeps you fuller longer.

4. Cut Sugar Drinks - Eliminate soda drinks from your diet as they wreak havoc with your blood sugar, add body fat, and interfere with your hormonal system.

5. Reduce Alcohol - Alcohol has the same effects as soda drinks on your body so try to reduce your consumption.

6. Drink a lot of Water - Water helps eliminate all the body's byproducts and is needed to flush the body of the waste associated with weight loss. It also helps give you that full feeling. There is an easy way to drink enough water each day. Just drink three twelve ounce glasses of water with each meal. I chose the one right sized glass for each meal or start with one glass of water with each meal and work up to the three glasses. There, you're done and it's easy.

7. Get Lots of Sleep - A large proportion of the people who get inadequate sleep are overweight. That's because sleep deprivation has an enormous negative effect on the body's hormonal system among other things.

8. Eat Slower - Most people eat way too fast, which leads to poor digestion and overeating. Eat slower and savor your food and you will feel fuller on less food.

There is no quick fix when it comes to weight loss, but if you make gradual improvements in several areas, the combined effect will put the brakes on obesity your weight issues will be a thing of the past.

Thank you for visiting. Go ahead and look around to find additional helpful tips and information.