The Slim Habit Blog

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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It’s important to keep up-to-date with what is going on. When such institutions such as the Harvard School of Public Health and UCLA publish studies into anything to do with diets or weight loss, it makes good sense to take note of what they are saying. One of the most recent studies into diets has just been published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study looked into a whole range of diets from low carb to protein to low fat and found that regardless of the type of diet, the results were very much the same. The weight loss that was achieved was moderate and, as with every diet, the weight came back again – surprise, surprise! The fact that the dieters couldn’t keep the weight off bothered the experts involved in the study, as well it might.

It is a fact that diets are not the answer to the obesity crisis. They don’t deliver long-term weight loss. They provide limited short-term weight loss.

The dieters on the study had some interesting comments chief amongst them was the lack of a support structure in diet plans. Where support was given, the weight reduction was much greater.

At the beginning of the study most of the dieters were totally unaware of the amount of calories they were eating and paid little or no attention to portion control.

One other interesting point was that diets could only be tolerated for a limited time. Very little, if anything, could be carried forward to life beyond the diet to help maintain weight loss.

So, what to make of all this? The fact that diets don’t deliver permanent weight loss is well known, but this is yet further evidence. The fact that the lack of structure and support is very interesting and emphasises the importance of choosing a program that can deliver both. Does such a program exist? Actually it does.

The Slim Habit is such a program. It provides both structure and support and teaches you how to take control of what you eat and your lifestyle too.

The only way to achieve permanent weight loss is to make change. For successful change to take place you need both structure and support, and that is what the Slim Habit provides. Change comes about by learning new habits, slim habits. By learning these new eating and lifestyle habits you can make and maintain the necessary changes in your life that will lead to permanent weight loss. It’s the best weight loss tip.

So what’s so special about the Slim Habit? It is the application of common sense and represents a new way forward in the battle against obesity.

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

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Do you know that one of the most common complaints about modern day diets is that they are formulaic and lack any structure. What does that mean? The formulaic criticism comes from the fact that it’s a ‘one size fits all’ approach and that it is a ‘follow this’ rather than a ‘learn this’ approach. Once the diet is over the job is done – apparently. Unfortunately that is not the case as the weight loss is only temporary. There is no ‘lasting’ effect.

The lack of structure is to do with content and support – or lack of. Structure could be another word for a roadmap, a means by which the dieter can measure their progress and feel that they have a very simple means of keeping on track. Without this many dieters become directionless and lose motivation. Why? Because a significant number of people who want to lose weight are not in a particularly good place. They probably don’t like themselves very much and lack self-confidence. Faced with a formulaic, restrictive diet regime with no support, they often feel isolated. They need a clear and simple structure to help them regain their self-confidence. Most diets don’t provide that.

On the other hand the Slim Habit program is very different. It provides a very clear structure which is designed to help people to take control of their weight loss and learn at the same time. This way it becomes an on-going process that you control. You make change. The change is driven by you – which makes all the more powerful. Change, after all, is just another word for learning!

The 10 Slim Habits, which cover both eating and lifestyle habits, become part of your life so, unlike a diet, you are able to continue the process and achieve and maintain permanent weight loss.

Always remember that successful weight loss has to be about making change. Unless you recognize the habits that make you fat and learn new eating and lifestyle habits, slim habits, it will always be very difficult to achieve permanent weight loss. The Slim Habit provides a new and effective means of making permanent weight loss a reality by providing the structure and the means to achieve permanent weight loss. How to lose weight? Get the Slim Habit

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

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Let’s say you have an injury to your hand, do you put on a Band-Aid or do you go and get expert treatment? If you’ve got any sense, you get the best treatment you can find because you want a positive outcome. So why is it when we need to lose weight, the first thing we do is to go for the weight loss equivalent of a Band-Aid…a diet? It makes very little sense.

It’s a well known fact that diets deliver short-term weight loss. Like a Band-Aid they provide a temporary fix, but do they deliver healthy weight loss? It would be unfair to say that they were unhealthy, but are they good for you?

They deliver a temporary fix and the weight comes back again, people who are overweight have very little alternative, but to go on a series of diets. This is the point where diets start to have an impact on health. Serial dieters are very likely to suffer from both the physical and mental effects of dieting. This manifests itself in many ways, but here are a few examples. Excessive loss of muscle mass and a compromised metabolism: loss of self-confidence and self-esteem.

Is the Slim Habit different? The Slim Habit is certainly no Band-Aid. It gets to the very heart of what successful i.e. permanent weight loss, is all about – change. It is designed to empower, to allow people to take control of their weight rather that their weight controlling them. It has a positive effect on health not a negative one.

The key to permanent weight loss is making successful change. By identifying bad habits and learning new ones, new slim habits, it is possible to change behavior. It is in effect an empowering process of learning. This gives it both structure and long-term effectiveness, key elements in losing weight and managing and maintaining weight loss – in an entirely healthy way. The Slim Habit is the key to healthy weight loss.

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

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In case you haven’t noticed the current obesity epidemic shows no sign of ending. In fact, if anything, it’s getting worse. So, with more and more diets being sold, why hasn’t there been some improvement? $61 billion dollars later and the world is still as overweight as it was. Surely there must be something wrong? It’s not as if millions of people are not trying to lose weight. Clearly something is not right, but what is it? What is the best way to lose weight?

Is there something wrong with diets? Are we all being sold a pup? Is it all one big con? The short answer is ‘no’. What is wrong is that that a diet is not the right tool to use. Diets do help you to lose weight, but the weight loss is not long-term or permanent, it’s short-term weight loss. The weight will eventually come back. What is needed is a program that will enable people to make change: a program where they can take control of their weight loss and have the ability to manage and maintain that weight loss.

A fundamental weaknesses of diets is that they cannot be continued for ever. They’re not designed that way. They are tools that do a limited job. They are not learning programs. They are not ‘enabling’ in any way. They are not the right tool to use to cure an obesity epidemic

There is only way the current obesity epidemic can be tackled successfully is to give people the means to make change. Unless they make change and get rid of the bad habits that make them fat, and learn new habits, slim habits, they will always have a weight problem, no matter how many diets they go on.

Where the Slim Habit scores is that it is everything that a diet isn’t. It is an empowering program that provides a simple and very easy to follow structure. It is designed to help people to make change and to learn. It provides a road map which can be used to maintain weight loss. It puts people in charge of their destiny. The weight loss that happens is real weight loss. It’s permanent weight loss. That’s powerful – and it’s just what’s needed!

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

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Some simple weight loss tips

1. Cut Out Sodas! Let’s review some the basic ingredients of sodas: BONE DEMINERALIZER (carbonated water), SUGAR, SPEED (caffeine). Sodas are now the #1 cause of osteoporosis. People do not realize the amount of calories and carbohydrates in sodas. You might as well eat a piece of cake every time you drink a soda because you’re getting the same amount of empty calories. It has been shown that if you drink 1 cola a day, you will gain 10 POUNDS in one year. DRINK MORE WATER!

2. Reduce Caffeine Intake! The problem with caffeine is that it is an energy substitute. Instead of your body using its own resources for energy, like fat, your body uses caffeine first. You body is set up to make the least amount of effort, so why should it burn fat when you give it free energy in caffeine. DRINK MORE WATER!

3. Reduce carbohydrate intake! When you break down a carbohydrate it becomes a simple sugar for energy. If you eat more carbohydrates than your body needs, then your body stores it as fat. The problem with low fat foods is they increase the sugar amount so that it will still taste good. REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF BREAD, TORTILLAS, CHIPS, POTATOES, SPAGHETTI, AND WHITE RICE IN YOUR DIET.

4. Stop Going To Buffets! Usually your determination not to overeat is overridden by the desire to get your money’s worth. Temptation can be very difficult to deal with, so the less you have the better. Treat yourself to a better quality meal with smaller portions. Next time you are at the buffet just look around and see who’s eating there. It’s mostly fat people! EAT SMALLER PORTIONS!

5. Start Walking! One of the easiest ways to exercise is walk 30 minutes every morning. If you walk before you have your breakfast, your body will burn more fat. Walk 15 minutes in one direction away from your house and then turn around and walk home. There are TREMENDOUS benefits to exercise. WALK DAILY!

6. Stop eating at least 3 Hours Before You Go To Bed. This is a major key to the weight loss products that you drink at night before you go to sleep. When sleeping, your body wants to rest and repair, not digest. Plus, you are not active, so you not burning many calories.

7. Change Your Life! Basically what you are going to have to do is break old habits and create new ones. Being thin is a way of life!

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

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Although celebrities are rich and famous and seem to have whatever they want at the snap of a finger, they are people just like you and I. Many of them deal with the same problems as the rest of us. Celebrities deal with slow metabolism, weight gain, food issues, and health problems too. To combat these problems they hire professionals to help them plan out a proper diet and nutritional program designed for fast weight loss. Here are a few of their weight loss tips

Celebrity Diet Tips

Angelina Jolie
Angelina follows a very strict protein-rich diet. Her meals may consist of lean meat, fish, and plenty of water. Incorporating more high quality proteins is a top priority for this celebrity and a diet tip that we should all include.

Janet Jackson
Back in 2006, Janet Jackson captured everyone’s attention with her incredible new look. She drank 2-3 custom made liquid meals each day. Each drink contained all the vitamins and nutrients she needed for the day. Over time she introduced a variety of vegetables, berries and frozen fruit. Her exercise routines may change but her diet basically remains the same.

Christie Brinkley
Christie has one strict rule she faithfully follows, absolutely no junk food in the house! When she wants a snack she reaches for sweet potatoes!

Reese Witherspoon
Reese is a kid at heart. In fact, she counts her calories by eating jars of baby food! Baby food is packed with vitamins and nutrients, and makes a convenient snack when she is on the go.

Marcia Cross
Marcia Cross seems to agree with Reese. Instead of eating salty snacks or candy, she would rather grab a spoon and reach for the strawberry-banana puree.

Ashley Judd
Ashley has cut dairy completely out of her diet and prefers soy milk in her cereal. She would rather start her day with a cup of hot water and lemon.

Claudia Schiffer
Claudia has a strict rule she follows every day, the only thing she eats before noon is fruit. For dinner she eats light. Claudia will have a salad and steamed vegetables. For snack she will have tomato juice, black grapes and herbal tea. She always eats 3 meals a day in order to maintain a healthy metabolism.

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

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Everyone knows that you lose weight if you eat fewer calories than you need each day. But if it were that simple there would not be such a problem with obesity in the Western world – we’d all have the key to weight loss. The problem is that so much to do with succeeding at weight loss rests in our heads and not our bodies. To succeed we need to get our heads working for us and not against us.

Ask yourself these ten questions to see if you are thinking in the right way to lose weight.

1. Have you decided to succeed?

Until you make a definite decision there will be no change to your actions. If you just dabble with "losing a few pounds" you’re unlikely to get anywhere. Make a definite decision and stick to it.

2. Have you set a realistic target?

You need to know where you’re going or you’ll never know when you’ve arrived. What is your target weight and when do you plan to reach it? Plan on losing no more than a pound or two a week. If you set an impossibly high target you’ll get discouraged as soon as it looks like you won’t make it.

3. Do you believe your will succeed?

If you keep telling yourself you’ll never do it, you won’t. Look for reasons why this time will be different. Decide to do things differently to make it so!

4. Can you picture yourself at your new weight?

If you can see yourself in your mind’s eye with your new slim figure, your subconscious will feel more comfortable with the changes you are making and you’ll feel less like creeping back into your comfort zone.

5. Are you clear about your reasons for losing weight?

If you don’t know why you’re doing this, what will keep you going when the going gets tough? Make a list of all the benefits you will get from losing that weight and review it often.

6. Are you open to change?

The only sure thing is that if you keep on doing what you’ve always done you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got. So think about what you are prepared to change and change at a rate you are comfortable with.

7. Are you a friend to yourself?

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy by offering an endless stream of criticism rather than encouragement. Give yourself a pat on the back for everything you do well and accept any set-backs – just make sure you learn from your mistakes.

8. Are you patient with yourself?

Weight loss rarely happens on a straight path. You may find you lose a lot at the beginning as you often shed excess water then. You may hit one or more times where you lose hardly anything at all despite your best efforts. Nothing that was worth achieving was arrived at overnight. Just keep on keeping on.

9. Have you put your life on hold because of your size?

You only have one life so don’t wait to get slim before you enjoy it. Whatever you want, go for it now, and let being slim be the icing on the cake. Goals don’t suddenly become reality because you reach your target weight. Why wait? Make eating out of boredom a thing of the past.

10. Do you value yourself enough?

You are unique and very special whatever your size. You are not perfect and neither is anyone one else but you are perfectly human. Value your personality, your life, your ambitions, your skills and, yes, even your body that does so much for you despite all the abuse you give it with junk food and no exercise. Learn to respect yourself and your body and give yourself the care you so richly deserve.

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

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Can walking to lose weight really work? If you want to lose weight quickly, the thought of walking to get rid of that extra weight might seem improbable. After all, walking is just walking, right? Isn’t weight loss supposed to be difficult?

The truth is, the effectiveness of walking to lose weight is relative to where you are in terms of your overall health and fitness levels. When your lifestyle is sedentary, consisting of sitting behind your desk at the office and slouching on the couch in front of the TV at home, any form of exercise will cause an improvement in your health and fitness!

No matter how you twist and turn, weight loss is mainly about burning more calories than you take in. And if walking helps to increase your metabolism, then you will very likely lose some weight! However, there are various ways to walk that will help you lose weight faster.

Why start your weight loss program by walking? Our bodies respond well to activity but need to adjust to working with unused muscles so avoiding pain or strain; and then to increase that same activity to lose weight! So when you are first starting off on a weight loss program, walking is a very good way to start burning fat and create the momentum for more physical activities later on in your life.

Start by walking for 15 minutes, or whatever time you are comfortable with. Slowly build it up to a full one hour walk without increasing your speed. Start by walking a couple of times around the block, then increase the distance of your walks after you feel an increase in stamina. Walking to lose weight is healthy, no doubt. But it’s also a terrific way to get around the neighborhood, meet neighbors, and see things you probably miss while driving around everywhere you go.

Walking to lose weight is one of the best exercises to control weight and burn excess calories. Walking at a constant speed enhances your energy by maintaining a certain level of aerobic activity in your body. Walking to lose weight is the simplest but most effective cardiovascular exercise there is. Walking for a whole mile at a steady medium pace burns up as much calories as jogging for 15 minutes – minus the strain on the knees and ankles too.

Increase the intensity and accelerate your weight loss by doing this. Start out by running for 30 seconds every 10 minutes of the walk. Gradually increase this to a one minute run every five minutes, which would work like this. Make sure when you jog you get your heart rate up and you are exerting your self.

You can also use the treadmill at your local gym, or better yet, if you have one at home. Remember to start your program slowly especially if you are just getting onto a weight loss program for the first time. Eventually, however, you’ll need to increase the intensity of your treadmill walking workouts for maximum weight loss results.

Muscles, especially on the legs will be toned. Muscle weighs far more than fat, so though you might be healthier and in better shape, you might actually gain weight over the first few months! Ditch the scales in favor of a measuring tape if you want to chart your progress. Muscle stretching before your treadmill workouts is very important. Stretching exercises will help you become more flexible and will help prevent injuries as you start to increase the intensity of your workouts.

Walking to lose weight is agreat weight loss tip.  A daily exercise designed to do what comes naturally. Walking to Lose Weight is also about fitness and when the excess weight is gone it is still going to be an important part of your life.

When you combine walking to lose weight with a healthy and nutritious diet, you are not only going to lose weight, but keep it off in the long run. A healthy lifestyle will do you more good than short bursts of activity.

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

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The challenges of losing weight do not have to get us down. If we stay positive and keep our mind focused on what we have to do, we will find that getting in shape and losing weight does not have to be so hard. Getting our bodies in shape and looking great is the best incentive that anyone can have to drop those unwanted pounds.

Weight Loss Tip: Run or walk every day

Running at night or in the morning is a good way to stay in shape. You can drop extra pounds or earn extra muscle on your body when you go for the gold. Do a few laps around the block or take an evening run around the community. This is a great way to get your heart pumping and your body in shape.

Weight Loss Tip: Drink plenty of water

Drinking water is a good way to get in shape. Most everyone needs to drink a few glasses of water everyday. This is what keeps our bodies hydrated and looking good. We need water to keep our internal organs in shape and to let our body function properly. We have to make sure that are maintaining our water drinking habits to lose weight and keep our body in good working condition.

Weight Loss Tip: Eat breakfast

Eating breakfast is always a good idea. If you want to lose weight and get in shape, you should make sure that you eat a good breakfast. This is the most important meal of the day. If you eat a well-balanced breakfast, you will not be as hungry in between breakfast and lunch. You will find that you are snacking less and eating healthier foods that count.

Weight Loss Tip: Seek support

Get your friends in on the fun of losing weight together. This is a good way to get in shape and have some help along the way. It is difficult to lose weight on your own and when you have support to help you, it will go a lot better. Have a competition to see who can lose the most weight the fastest. This is a great way to stay in shape.

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

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