Weight Loss Info Center

One area that a lot of people have trouble with, including myself, is staying motivated while we’re losing weight.  It’s easier when we’re first getting started.  It’s actually exciting to start a new program or a new way of life.  But after a couple of weeks, the excitement starts to wan and all of this focus on food and losing weight and exercise gets to be a little….well, old, doesn’t it?

I was speaking to a friend the other day that lost 11 lbs. last month on a program that is manufactured by my company.  She said she loved the fact that she lost weight, but that it was actual work to think about and watch her portion size, exercise every day, and to stay focused on her long-term goal.  How true!  It IS work to a certain extent.

So what keeps you motivated?  I will share my strategies on staying motivated:

1.  Take a day off.  That’s right!  One day a week, just take a day off from the crazy weight loss world.  Do something fun and that you enjoy and forget about portion control and calorie counts and wondering if you’re ever going to lose this weight!

2.  When you hit one of your smaller goals, reward yourself.  Buy your favorite book or magazine and start reading it.  Watch a movie you have been wanting to see.  Do something for you and only you!

3.  Remind yourself that losing weight, maintaining your loss, and living a healthy lifestyle are long-term, a lifestyle change, and that it is NOT going to happen overnight.  You didn’t gain the weight overnight, so once you realize that it’s going to take time, you won’t fret that you’re not losing weight quickly enough.  This will take some of the “pressure” off of you.

Most of all - just relax.  The weight will come off!  There’s no way that it won’t if you’re eating healthy and getting in some exercise (burning more calories than you’re taking in).

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Did you know that fish oil helps with weight loss?  An Australian study has found that fatty acids, which are found in fish and Omega-3 supplements, helped with weight loss when combined with moderate exercise.  The study results showed that those who exercised 45-minutes/3 days per week and took daily doses of fish oil lost more weight compared to those who performed the same type and duration of exercise.  The omege-3 found in fish oil increases fat burning ability.

Fish oil also has many other benefits, including:  reducing pain, promotes normal brain development, nervous system function, and good eyesight, lowers LDL (bad) cholesterol, stops buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries, increases HDL (good) cholesterol levels, reduces inflammation in the blood, and also has been used to treat depression, eczema, IBD, macular degeneration, and arthritis.

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There’s quite a buzz these days surrounding green tea and its many health benefits, including weight loss. From books to magazines to the “Oprah,” show, everyone is talking about green tea. So what exactly is green tea and what is so special about it?

Green tea is derived from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant and is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is a powerful antioxidant. Although green, oolong, and black teas all come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, green tea leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG from being oxidized. Black and oolong tea leaves are fermented, which means the EGCG is converted into other compounds that are not nearly as effective in fighting and preventing various diseases.

For approximately 4,000 years, green tea has been used by the Chinese as a medicine to treat everything from headaches to depression. Today, scientific research is providing hard scientific evidence for the health benefits of drinking green tea. A study published in 1994 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute indicated that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in both Chinese men and women by almost 60 percent. More recently, in 2004, Harvard Medical School researchers found that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth and reproduction of cancer cells associated with Barrett’s esophagus (a condition caused by stomach acid rising up into the esophagus causing the cells lining the esophagus to change, raising the risk of esophageal cancer by 30 to 40 times). Also, research indicates that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good cholesterol (HDL) to bad cholesterol (LDL). A few other medical conditions in which drinking green tea is said to be helpful is cancer prevention, cardiovascular disease, decreased risk of stroke, rheumatoid arthritis, infection, impaired immune function, fighting cavities, and slowing down potentially harmful blood clotting.

There is also scientific evidence showing that green tea also promotes weight loss. In the November 1999 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

There are a variety of green tea flavors, including apricot, cocomint, mandarin, ginseng, and many others. Green tea is also available in decaf, so no need to worry about caffeine, although regular green tea has less caffeine than coffee, with a 6-oz cup of coffee having 100 mg of caffeine compared to a 6-oz cup of green tea having only 30 mg. Also, you get the same benefits from the green tea no matter if it is hot or iced. You can even cook with green tea.

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After making the decision to lose unwanted pounds, the next question is what weight loss program is right for you.  With a multitude of health and fitness information at our fingertips and hundreds of weight loss plans to choose from, it’s easy to see why it is so difficult to choose a weight loss program.  You know the basics to weight loss are eat healthy and exercise, but if you need structure in your eating plan and help with putting meal plans together, here are some tips for choosing the right weight loss plan for you:

1.  If you have narrowed your choice of eating plans down to a few programs of interest, a good way to help determine which is right for you is to get more information - the good and the bad.  Start with the website that contains all of the specifics of the plan.  Next, perform a search to find out what others are saying about that specific plan.  This way, you will gain an understanding of what will be required and also the pros and cons of the program.

2.  Ask yourself if the specific weight loss program you’re considering fits into your lifestyle.  If you are always on the go and find yourself making quick meals or not cooking at all, you probably do not want a program that requires a lot of time in the kitchen.  Also, ask yourself if the program fits into your budget.  Yes, you want to lose weight, but you don’t want to break the bank doing so.

3.  Consider whether or not the plan you want to try is healthy.  Look at the food plan and the allowable caloric intake.  You don’t want to be faced with a menu plan that consists of food that doesn’t sound in any way desirable to you.  If the caloric intake is too low, you may lose a lot of water and muscle at first, but then your body will go into starvation mode, completely defeating your weight loss efforts.  Also, you may start feeling deprived, making it less likely that you will stick with the plan.

Once you have decided on one weight loss plan that you feel will fit your needs and desires, the next step is to give it a try.  Give the program at least a month to give your mind and body time to adjust.  If the program seems like a perfect fit and you’re seeing results, obviously you want to stick with it.  If, on the other hand, you’re not getting any results, you’re feeling deprived or you don’t feel like you can stick with the plan any further, start the evaluation process again to pick another plan.  Sometimes it takes trying more than one plan before you pick a winner.

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