The Slim Habit Blog

I’ll admit it. One of the hardest things I have ever done in my life is trying to lose weight. Not because of lack of motivation or commitment, no, I had PLENTY of that. The problem for me was deciding on the ‘how’. It seems as if everywhere you look, there is a new diet out on the market that promises incredible way to help you lose weight and have a perfect body. The before and after weight lose all look fantastic and are enough to sway just about anyone who is desperate to achieve the body they desire. The choices seem endless and all too often, at least for me anyways, I ended up making the wrong choice. So, how does someone know what is the RIGHT weight loss program for them?

Weight loss tip? The first step in any successful weight loss management is and will always be an exercise program which may include weight strength training. Nothing is a substitute for getting up and getting moving. Check with your doctor, make sure you have no health problems that would prevent you from getting physical, and get to it! Jumping rope, jogging, even brisk walking will start the calories burning and get your program off to a great start. In addition, make sure to add some resistance training to your regimen. For those less experience out there, this means weight lifting. Don’t groan, I know what you’re thinking, but here are the facts. Muscle burns fat. The more muscle you have, the more fat you will burn. Even while you are sitting down watching TV, your muscles will be burning fat. Now, don’t think that just because I am talking about lifting some weights you are going to turn into some bulky bodybuilder. That just doesn’t happen. Your physique will become toned, your muscles will start to show, and your clothes will fit better. All the things you want to have happen.

Now, exercise alone may not be all you need. For some of us, quality weight losing programs are what we need in addition to our exercise routines, but back to the original question, how do we know which one to pick?

When choosing a weight loss plan or product, the key thing to keep in mind is, “Is this something that I could do?” Be sure to learn all the parameters of the program or product and ask yourself this question. Try to picture yourself following the guidelines and outlined and be realistic with yourself. Is this something you will really stick to? Does the cost fit into your budget? Are there any special foods or supplements you will need to purchase? Many people begin weight loss program with the best of intentions, but decide later on that they made the wrong choice. Had they done a little more research beforehand, they likely would have had more success.

How to lose weight is an issue for many people all over the world. The health implications alone are certainly a reason to take some action, but it is the results we see as our bodies’ change that really motivates us to continue and hopefully, eventually succeed. If you take your time, do your research, commit to an exercise regimen as well as a program or product that is right for you, then you too can join the thousands of people every year who have success with a weight loss program.

There is only one really sure way of losing weight permanently and that is to change your behavior. How? By learning new eating and lifestyle habits, - slim habits.

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I have come across so many people who are overweight who have given up on diets and weight loss programs because they ‘just don’t work’. They feel that they should just come to terms with the fact that they are always going to be overweight, it’s in the genes or they have a ‘dysfunctional’ metabolism.

In most cases it has very little to do with genes or a ‘dysfunctional’ metabolism. There is absolutely no reason why anybody should resign themselves to being overweight. It is possible for everybody to lose weight.

In simplistic terms, weight is all about calories consumed versus calories burnt. Burn more calories that you consume and you will lose weight. There are ways of burning calories. The first is through normal every day activity and the other is by taking exercise. How effectively you burn calories is again down to how much exercise you take and also to the health of your muscles, both contribute to making your metabolism more effective. Keeping properly hydrated is also important for better metabolic efficiency. If you have been a serial dieter, then your muscle mass may have been seriously depleted. Resistance exercises are needed to build your muscles back up and make your metabolism more effective.

How many calories you consume is very important. If you reduce your calorie intake too much your body will work against you and prevent you losing weight. If you consume too many calories you will put weight on probably whether you take exercise or not.

One common trait amongst those who have ‘given up’ trying to lose weight is that the majority of people fool themselves about the number of calories they consume. In one instance the person concerned was convinced that she was only consuming 1600 calories a day. She was incredibly proud that of her healthy diet. The reality was that her daily calorie intake was 3500 not 1600. The extra 1900 calories she consumed was due to the fact that her portion sizes were too big and that she was economical with the truth when it came to totalling her calorie intake. She was not destined to be overweight. She had it in her power to lose weight and lose weight permanently. A dose of honesty and new eating and lifestyle habits the answer to her problem.

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Getting a good night’s sleep is very important. As your eating habits improve and you continue to work through your exercise program, you may find the thought of an early night increasingly attractive. After a good night’s sleep you’ll feel more alert, better able to deal with the things the coming day will throw at you. Most important of all, it’ll help you in your efforts to lose weight.

How good a sleep do you have? Do you sleep all the way through the night, or do you have an interrupted sleep? It’s important you get a good uninterrupted sleep. Why? Because of the way we sleep. When we go to sleep, we experience five different stages of sleep in what is called a sleep cycle. Each cycle lasts for approximately 1½ hours. In a normal night we will probably go through five cycles. You get most benefit when you can complete five full, uninterrupted cycles. Interrupting a cycle significantly reduces the benefit you get.

Here are some tips to help you have a better sleep.

·        Eat early, not late.

·        Make your evening meal a small one

·        Keep your alcohol consumption low. Alcohol is a stimulant. You might fall asleep easily, but you’ll be wide awake in no time.

·        Don’t have anything to drink that contains caffeine. Caffeine blocks the production of an enzyme that helps to produce the hormone melatonin. Melatonin helps to bring on sleep, and has a positive effect on sleep patterns.

·        Give your brain a rest. Let it stop buzzing before you turn in.  Don’t go straight from the computer screen to the pillow.

·        Try some stretching exercises before you get into bed.

If you want to lose weight permanently and say goodbye to diets, the sleep habit is a very important slim habit to learn. It will help make permanent weight loss a reality.

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When you decide to lose weight there are many other topics that come to mind. You need to think about your behavior and the behaviors that helped you to become overweight in the first place. You need to become aware of all your bad habits and the effect they have on you and those around you.

When you live your life on autopilot, you get out of the habit of noticing. Life passes you by in a blur, and one week fades seamlessly into another. When you stop paying attention to yourself, you put on weight ounce by ounce, pound by pound, until one day you realize your weight is starting to seriously affect your life. By not being aware, you’re unconsciously building up a mass of bad habits. Try to notice your bad habits – particularly in relation to what you eat and your general health. Over the next few days, start to make a ‘bad habit’ list, and take time to study it.

Underline those that you’d most like to do something about.

Learning new habits is all about repetition and practice. You can learn a new habit very easily indeed. It will be of enormous help is you are trying to lose weight permanently

Remember: if you practice your new habit for 10 minutes each day for 21 days, you’ll have completed 3½ hours’ worth of practice! Before you know it, your new habits will become automatic.

Learn new habits that will transform your life and you can say goodbye to diets forever.

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Here’s an alarming fact. We lose between 0.5 and 2% of our muscle mass every year over the age of 40. That means by the time we are 70 we could have lost anything between 15 and 60% of our muscle mass. It’s a pretty amazing statistic.

Can you imagine yourself having lost 60% of your muscle mass? It’s frightening to think how it would be possible to cope with everyday life. Unfortunately, this is what happens to millions of people.

There’s a further problem. Your vanishing muscle mass reduces the effectiveness of your metabolism. Why? Because muscles are very effective at burning calories. Lose muscle and the consequence is weight gain. Couple increased weight with a low muscle mass and you have a recipe for disaster.

Old age for hundreds of millions of people across the world is blighted by being unable to perform some very basic functions without great difficulty. It leads to great unhappiness and puts an enormous strain on health care services. But it needn’t be the case.

Until recently it was thought that it was impossible to reverse the process of age related muscle loss, but recent trials have found that this is not the case. By doing regular resistance exercises you can significantly reduce muscle loss.

There is also an added bonus because it has also been found that having healthy muscles helps to strengthen you bones too. There’s another plus. Healthy, well exercised muscles will keep your metabolism functioning properly and you’ll be able to keep any weight gain in check.

Does this just apply to ‘old’ people? Certainly not, it applies to everybody. It’s essential that we keep our muscles in trim if we are to ‘fire on all six cylinders’, be able to operate to our optimum efficiency look forward to a fun, healthy old age. It’s not difficult, it just takes effort.

If you’re overweight it’s a good idea to tackle this as early as possible. If you carry too much weight with you as you get older, you’ll find it more and more difficult to get rid of it, but get rid of it you must. To lose weight permanently you need to make personal change. The best way to do this is to find a program that will help you to make change by learning new habits – slim habits. Ideally it should also include a personal exercise plan. If you think you need to take action, don’t delay. Look after that body of yours, it’s the only one you’ll ever have!

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What do you imagine Barak Obama’s greatest problem might be when he sits down in the Oval office? Is it going to be the worst financial crisis in 100 years, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel/Palestine, Iran, recession….? The list is long and very, very daunting. It’s difficult to know why he ever wanted the job – he’ll probably ask himself the same question frequently over the next four years.

One of his greatest problems probably won’t even feature on his list, and yet it is one of the most pressing problems the nation faces. It is the obesity crisis. Whether he is aware of it or not he has the weight of the nation on his shoulders.

Why should it be such a problem? Why does he need to give it any attention? Surely personal weight is very much a personal thing? Well, it is and it isn’t. The facts though are scary. With over 64% of the population overweight and a third obese, it is shaping up to be the one thing that is going to literally bring the nation to its knees.

A nation that is overweight and unfit is never going to be able to operate at its optimum and in the coming years we’re going to have to step up to the mark as never before. Are we going to be able to do so? It’s questionable.

The tsunami that is going to hit the health care system in the next few years because of  obesity related diseases hitting unprecedented levels, is going to be devastating for the country. It is going to struggle to cope. The misery that this will cause will be enormous and be a huge sap on the morale of the nation.

What can Barak Obama do about it? Well, while he has the nation’s attention he needs to be brave and say a few things that some folks don’t want to hear. He needs to shock the nation into adopting healthier lifestyles. He needs to talk change in personal behavior.

The real way to cure the obesity problem is for people to change. Permanent weight loss can only be achieved by making personal change. New behaviors can be learnt by adopting new habits – slim habits. It’s not about diets, it’s what Barak Obama fought the election on – it’s about change.

Let’s hope the new President can persuade the nation to change its ways!

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Okay, you need to lose weight and so you decide that you need to cut out sugar. No more sugar in your coffee, no more soft drinks containing sugar, no more ready meals with sugar on the label. You’re on a mission, and sugar has got to go! You start to examine every label you can find to try and eliminate all sugar from your diet. But is it the right thing to do?

Despite what you may think, refined sugar is not a food, it’s a chemical. It’s extracted from plants, which contain no fiber, no minerals, no proteins, no fats and no enzymes. It is made up of empty calories.

What happens when you eat sugar? Your body borrows vital nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize this incomplete food. It raises your insulin level and the signals the brain receives when this happens are often interpreted as hunger signals. Likely as not you’ll reward these signals with more high-calorie food – usually containing sugar.

It would appear that stopping eating sugar is no bad thing. But here’s the question. Are you just going to give it up or are you going to look for a sugar substitute like aspartame or saccharin?  If you are, then you should think again.

One thing that has been puzzling scientists is that despite the growth in the consumption of sugar substitutes, there has been no reduction in levels of obesity, in fact the situation has become considerably worse.

Recent studies have found that far from helping you to lose weight, artificial sweeteners actually help you to put on weight!

Scientists at Perdue University carried out experiments with animals, some of whom were fed food containing natural sweeteners and others with food containing artificial sweeteners. Over the same period those animals fed with artificial sweeteners consumed more calories and gained more weight than those fed with natural sweeteners. Why? Because our bodies have learned to associate sweetness with food loaded with calories. When the calories don’t materialize we continue to eat to make up for the shortfall in expected calorie intake – the result – weight gain. You can’t fool your body!

The message is very simple. If you want to lose weight, start to reduce your sugar intake: stop adding sugar to coffee etc., don’t eat sugary foods. Don’t use artificial sweeteners or buy foods containing sugar substitutes.

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We live in exciting times! Barak Obama’s victory signals that we’re entering a period of change. Actually, people are hungry for change. Don’t all those people standing in line to vote say something? They sure do!

He stood for change and that is probably what he’s going to deliver. Some of the change won’t be particularly pleasant, but let’s hope for the first time we have a president who doesn’t care if he doesn’t get re-elected. Let’s hope he just does what has to be done.

But what about change: have any of us really sat down and thought what it really means? A lot of people are afraid of change. Why? Primarily because they are afraid of the unknown.

Change is not something to be afraid of, it is to be embraced! If you remember that change is just another word for learning it should dispel any fear that you might have.

A world without change is a world where there is no progress. All of us have been stuck in a time-warp, happy to protect the status quo. It’s done us a whole lot of no good too!

When Barak Obama talks about change, he also wants you to change. He doesn’t want to be the only catalyst, he’s expecting you to play your part too.

If change is just another word for learning, shouldn’t we be taking a leaf from his book? If we were to exercise the same amount of self-discipline, determination and effort in our personal lives as he has demonstrated in his bid for the White House, what a huge difference that would make.

Let’s take one part of our lives that far too many of us have seriously neglected: our health, and in particular our weight. If we really made an effort to lose weight – permanently, we would need to change, change our behaviour and learn new habits – new slim habits. What a difference we could make to our lives – and to the health and well-being of the nation. Isn’t this the spirit of what Barak Obama wants us to do? Let’s go for it!

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Isn’t it great to see young talent blossom? Lewis Hamilton is now the youngest ever Formula 1 World Champion at the tender age of 23. Like any talent that is truly remarkable, it sticks out a mile doesn’t it?

What makes a world champion? In nearly every case there are six essential ingredients: self-discipline, self-confidence, determination, dedication effort and practice. There is probably one other quality that sticks out, and that is single-mindedness.

You can be sure that the last thing Lewis Hamilton needs is to do is to lose weight, but his victory serves to illustrate what is needed to achieve success. What lessons does this have for us? Well, no matter what we try and do, if we want to succeed we have to follow his example. True success isn’t easily won.

If we want to lose weight we have to adopt the same disciplines as he did to win the world championship – perhaps not to the same degree, but adopt them we must.  Unfortunately very few of us are prepared to do this.

The weight loss industry has been swamped by diets and weight loss programs that promise the earth in double quick time without making any real effort. No wonder that over 90% of people who go on a diet never achieve permanent weight loss.

If you want to lose weight permanently you have to be prepared to make an effort. You have to have the self-discipline to make it work. You have to be determined that you are going to achieve your goal. If you don’t, you will never succeed.

Don’t be too disheartened! Lewis has had lots of support and guidance and that’s what you need when you start a weight loss program, so be careful which one you choose. Remember, successful weight loss has got to be permanent weight loss. The best way to achieve permanent weight loss is to make personal change. To make successful change you need to learn new habits – slim habits.

So, a weight loss program that is going to really work has got to address habit change and offer you support. There’s one program that will do that for you, it’s called the Slim Habit. If you want to lose weight – permanently, get the habit – the Slim Habit

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What is to become of us? 65% of us are overweight or obese. Are we eventually all going to look like the passengers of the spaceship Axiom in the movie WALL . E? What are we going to do? The obesity epidemic is not getting any better, in fact it is getting worse. If we go on a diet we may lose between 5 and 10% of our body weight, but only for a short while. The weight comes back again as sure as night follows day.

What’s the answer? People are becoming more and more desperate to try and find a solution to the problem. The answer is proving to be very illusive indeed.

Diets have somehow endorsed people’s consciences. They feel that at least they are doing something even although they know that any success they achieve is going to be short lived. The effect of this ’serial dieting’ is not good. Serial dieting causes depression and physical weakness and should be avoided at all costs.

What about drugs? There is no doubt that some acute cases of obesity require drug therapy. There is no other answer because the problem has become a case of life and death. For the majority of obese or overweight people, this is not an option and it never should be!

Weight loss drugs are not the answer. They are for those who are chronically or morbidly obese. For them there is little else that can get the weight loss ball rolling. They are also helpful to those who have diabetes, and heart disease, but they are not for giving out to people who need to slim down.

Proprietary weight loss drugs fall into the category of diets in their long-term effectiveness.  The side effects of weight loss drugs are not pleasant and include headache, back pain, constipation and insomnia, so for those who have to take them, it’s no walk in the park. 

There is a great demand from those who are overweight or obese for a ‘fast’ solution to their problem. This is a little strange as the weight gain was almost certainly not ‘fast’. Unfortunately for those that fall for fast solutions, fast weight loss is usually followed by fast weight gain. The one thing that has to be realized is that there is never any real and lasting effect on weight without change.

Making personal change is the only real way to achieve permanent weight loss. It takes commitment and the will to want to live a slimmer, happier, healthier life. By understanding your behaviors and being aware of the causes of your condition you can make successful change. You can learn new habits – slim habits, which will enable you to achieve permanent weight loss. No pills!

To be able to say goodbye to diets forever is something all dieters dream of – you need to get the habit – the Slim Habit.

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