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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Instant gratification, the quick fix, get rich quick, instant weight loss…maybe recent events will teach us that there is no money tree growing at the bottom of the garden and that false promises belong in the land of make believe.

It’s time to get real! If we stop to think about our past behavior and expectations, they have been extraordinary – extraordinarily stupid and irresponsible. It has been as if cause and effect didn’t exist and that there was no cost involved. Luckily, life is all about balance. Unfortunately it is only ever achieved when things go wildly out of balance. What follows is a massive correction. Disillusion, confusion and suffering is the result.

On the positive side, corrections tend to make us think. They bring the reality of our past behaviors into sharper focus. Did we think that there would be no bill to pay for our excesses? Did we honestly believe that a diet promising instant weight loss would get rid of weight we had accumulated over years? In a flash our weight would disappear with very little effort required? Unfortunately many of us swallowed the bait. The result? The nation is as overweight as it ever was: the obesity crisis is no better, in fact it’s worse. Diets, like so many things over the past two decades, have delivered only short-term benefit.

There are two fundamental problems with most diets. The first is that they offer very little structure, formulas yes, structure, no.  A formula is not a structure. People who want to lose weight need a program with a very clear and simple structure to follow. The Slim Habit, which is not a diet, has structure.

The second problem is that you can only ever go on a diet for a limited period. Once it’s over, you’re on your own. Little wonder that it’s not long before the weight reappears. The Slim Habit, on the other hand is a program which allows the individual to take control of their weight loss and manage and maintain their weight for as long as they wish. It’s a program which encourages learning and self-responsibility. It’s not about the short-term, it’s about the long-term. It’s a genuine investment in the future with long-lasting benefits.

Would you like to give your weight loss a boost? Click here and get your FREE A-Z Calorie Counter.

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You might think this question is a bit below the belt. Do you think you’re a rational person? Okay, do you think you act in a rational way when it comes to looking after yourself? Fine, so why are you overweight? It’s a fair question, isn’t it?

So, if you are overweight, even obese, it’s probably fair to say that you have not been giving yourself ‘proper attention’. If you had you wouldn’t be the way you are. Giving yourself proper attention is absolutely fundamental to being able to live a happy, disease free life, yet it is amazing how many of us completely ignore our own welfare.

Do you know what proper attention means? In simple terms it’s about self-responsibility. From an early age we are taught not to be selfish, but we need to practice what might be called ‘responsible selfishness’ when it comes to our own welfare. Over time we become the sum of our habits, both good and bad. What many of us fail to do is to notice our bad habits. We become lazy and allow our lives to cruise along on autopilot. The result? We end up being controlled by our habits. If we act in a totally rational way we control our behavior. We don’t allow our habits to take over. In fact we can manage our behavior by managing our habits. This is what you need to do if you want to slim down or lose weight, but what habits?

The Slim Habit program provides the habits that are needed to achieve permanent weight loss. These are habits that are designed to make the process of losing weight simple and straight forward. They give the essential structure a weight loss program needs to ensure that there is a positive – and long-term – outcome. The Slim Habits address eating habits and lifestyle habits and, most importantly, they put the individual in charge. Why is this important? Because the credit for the weight loss goes not to the program, but to the individual. It encourages learning and promotes self-responsibility. Remember this weight loss tip!

Would you like to give your weight loss a boost? Click here and get your FREE A-Z Calorie Counter.

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It’s what we all want -permanent weight loss – is there any other sort that anybody would be interested in? Surely when people want to lose weight they want the weight to be permanent, don’t they? You would have thought so, but maybe it isn’t really the case.

By and large there are two sorts of people who want to lose weight. Those that have become overweight and for the first time they have decided to do something about it. The other sort is the serial dieter. The seasoned campaigner who has suffered everything from low carb to low calorie, from Atkins to GI, from Cabbage to Weight Watchers and glooped all the gloopy potions and popped all the pills, but still the weight persists. Persists in that after every diet it reappears with monotonous regularity. Not fat and muscle, but just plain old fat.

Until now, going on a diet has been the most popular way to try and lose weight. There has been little else available except many, many variations on a theme. In recent years weight loss pills have started to become popular, but many people are unhappy about popping pills and there is some justification for their scepticism.

Do you really feel happy swallowing pills? It is a very brave person who swallows pills without knowing exactly is in them and the effect that they may have – in the short-term and much further down the track. How many times has a medication been found to be harmful years after it has been introduced? Far too many. Weight loss pills appear to work, but you can’t keep taking them forever and when you stop, rather the same as a diet, the weight comes back again.

I the end, permanent weight loss can really only be achieved by changing your habits. We are ruled by our habits, but it’s the bad ones that do all the harm. To make change you have to learn new habits, slim habits. Habits can’t be changed, you have to learn new ones that take the place of the bad habits. New slim habits make permanent weight loss possible.

Would you like to give your weight loss a boost? Click here and get your FREE A-Z Calorie Counter.

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When you are overweight or obese, what is the one thing that you want more than anything else in the world? It’s not just to lose weight, is it? It’s a bit more than that, it’s to lose weight permanently. That’s the dream.

For many people losing weight is a far off dream. It’s something they wish for every single day. To lose weight permanently is seen as being impossible. To feel this trapped is not good. It does self-confidence and self-esteem no good whatsoever.

What is one of the greatest problems about the world obesity crisis – if not the greatest problem? It is that so many people just don’t know what to do. They are utterly, utterly desperate. For years now, the answer to being overweight or obese was to go on a diet. It appeared to work. One of the reasons why this was the case, was because people generally were not that overweight. The problem has now changed markedly and people are considerably overweight. In this situation, diets do not work. There is just too much weight to come off, and most people cannot tolerate a strict diet regime indefinitely.

Diets have another problem because most diet regimes require strict calorie reduction – or some similar form – the body reacts against the diet and the weight comes back again. The diet having removed fat and muscle, what returns is just fat. The dieter has loss muscle mass they can ill afford to lose and life after the diet is more difficult than it was before.

Actually, there is only one sure fire way to lose weight permanently and that is to change. You cannot go on a diet and then just revert to the bad habits that make you fat. It makes no sense whatsoever, but this is what people do. The result is one continuous cycle of diet after diet.

The permanent weight loss secret is to learn new habits, new slim habits and change your eating and lifestyle habits. If you do you will be able to embrace a whole new life: a slim life full of new opportunities. Something to think about!

Would you like to give your weight loss a boost? Click here and get your FREE A-Z Calorie Counter.

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When you decide to go on a diet you are very likely to attract a great deal of comment and advice – sometimes much more than you would like. People are always eager to tell you what to do, but how much of the advice you get should you listen to?

Yet another diet? Which one this time? Will the result be the same? You will be surrounded with people pulling you one way then the other, each one enthusiastically justifying their decision. All the advice is given in good part, but it makes life very difficult.

Stay quiet. Don’t say a word about wanting to lose weight and your life will remain normal and controllable. Mention the fact that you’re going to lose weight and you will be asking for a very pressured life – not what you want when you are going have to jump through several uncomfortable hoops.

So, the first thing to do is to keep things to yourself. Do your own research. Make your own decisions. If you rely too much on the advice of others you will find out the truth the hard way.

Decision time…what to do? Here’s the most important tip you’ll ever get if you want to lose weight and for the weight not to return. Don’t go on a diet!

Diets are the traditional way of losing weight. The diet industry is worth over $61 billion. That’s a lot of money, so presumably diets must work? The fact is that diets deliver short-term weight loss. 95% of people who go on diets never achieve what all dieters want - permanent weight loss.

So what’s the answer? The simple fact is that if you want to lose weight permanently you have to change. You have to get rid of the habits that make you fat. You do this by learning new ones – slim habits.

The process of learning new slim habits is essential if you are going to lose weight permanently. Making change by learning new slim habits that will help you to change your eating and lifestyle habits will ensure that you can lose weight and for it not to return. It doesn’t get any better than that!

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If you want to be successful at losing weight, you need to know about fats.

So much of our food today is processed in some way or other. Much of it is tasty and ‘moreish’. Food manufacturers have been very clever at putting temptation in our way, but this abundance has not gone hand in hand with health. A lot of the processed food we eat is detrimental to our health. Much of this is due to the ingredients added in the manufacturing process. One of the additives you should be most aware of is fats. Consume too many of the wrong fats, and weight loss will be impossible. You’ll also run the risk of raising your cholesterol and developing heart disease. 

Your body needs fat, but not a lot. Fats are essential for energy and promote cell growth. They also help your body absorb some nutrients and produce important hormones. But there are ‘good fats’ and ‘bad fats’. You need to be aware of two ‘bad fats’: saturated fat and trans fat. These are fats which are most commonly included in the processed foods we eat. Saturated fats are found mainly in margarines, cooking fats, sweets, chocolate, biscuits, ready meals, animal produce and dairy produce. Your diet needs to contain no more than 7% saturated fat.

Trans fats are produced when vegetable and fish oils are ‘hydrogenated’. These fats commonly appear in margarine and shortening. Trans fats are ‘bad’ fats and your diet should include only 1% of them because your body can’t digest them properly.

As your food awareness grows, look out for the fats on the labels of the food you buy, and avoid saturated and trans fat products as much as possible.

‘Low fat’ products are fine, but just be careful that extra sugar hasn’t been substituted for fat.

If you want to lose weight permanently here is a useful weight loss tip: know your fats. Permanent weight loss means that you must always be on guard when it come s to fats. Too much of the wrong type of fat and your weight loss program will not be successful.

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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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