8 mistakes I made while trying to lose weight

I went on my first diet around five years ago. Over the past four and a half years my weight went up and down as I tried every diet and exercise program under the sun. Nothing seemed to work for me. Until six months ago I enrolled in a weight workshop which taught me that I need to change the way I look at food. It was then that I realized that I had made many mistakes in my quest to lose weight.

In this article I’m going to share with you eight  mistakes I made on my quest to lose weight. I hope by sharing my experiences with others throughout the world via the internet I might be able to help people avoid the mistakes I made. So, here are the eight mistakes I made while trying to lose weight.

1. I started to skip breakfast
Most people trying to lose weight believe simply eating less and skipping meals helps shed that fat. And breakfast is a real easy meal to skip. This is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when on a weight loss diet. If you leave the house in the morning on an empty stomach you’re much more tempted to eat more at morning tea and lunch times. And, calories you eat at breakfast time are easily burnt throughout the day.

2. I would eat one day and not the next
I would literally eat about 2000+ calories one day, feel guilty, and end up eating about 700 calories the following day. If you “starve” yourself throughout the day you’re much more likely to eat more in the evenings, which is not going to help you lose weight. You should consume most of your calories in the morning.

3. I bought diet food
When I went shopping I always looked for the foods marked diet, low-fat, healthy etc. This is a good practice to get into, but I was buying these foods for the wrong reason. I bought these foods because in my mind it meant I could more. I would totally disregard portion size. If you eat diet foods in large portions you’re not doing yourself any favors.

4. I thought I’d always be fat
This is mindset that you must break if you want to lose some serious weight. Sometimes it feels like you’re doing the right things and not making any progress, this is totally natural. You need to focus on being happy and healthy and achieving your goals. Try not to get caught up in “the big picture”.

5. I started eating salads as main meals
Eating salad is a good way of keeping your calorie intake down right? Yes, meal of salad has much less calories that a pizza but does it have the satisfaction? When you eat you mind needs to get some satisfaction from what you have just eaten. I found that when I ate salads for meals a few hours later I was back I the cupboard looking for more food. I learnt that I was better off eating a balanced meal with slightly more calories than simply eating a salad and snacking afterwards.

6. I started my new diets on Mondays
When I found a new diet that I decided I was going to try I always started it on a Monday. This meant I would eat all weekend like I was never going to eat again. Doing this I was just setting myself up for failure.

7. I was to embarrassed to go to the gym
Taking the plunge and joining a gym was one of the hardest things I ever did. I was always worried that people in the gym would be staring at me and talking about me. I really thought I was too fat to join. My advice is to join a gym! You’ll be glad you did. I look forward to going to the gym now.

8. I set my goals to high
Setting long term goals is great, but these goals always seem to far off. You need to set smaller, more reachable goals that you can regularly meet to keep your motivation high. Set yourself weekly, monthly and three monthly goals. Once you meet one short term goal set a new one for next week.

So there you have it, those are the mistakes I made. I now look at weight loss from a totally different perspective and it has paid off. I now help others with weight loss and keeping healthy.

Boost Metabolism And Lose Weight By Eating Well

We've all known for some time that breakfast is an integral part of the day. Now research has shown that, regardless of physical activity, eating high fibre cereal in the morning at least three times a week leads to having a lower body mass index. This study followed 2,300 teenage girls over ten years, and was conducted by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in the US.

One reason people skip breakfast is because they are trying to reduce their overall calorie intake. Whilst its important not to eat too many excess calories, having breakfast, even if its a simple smoothie, or a couple of pieces of fruit, will reduce the urge to snack on chocolate or other unhealthy options, as well as improving your performance at work and reducing fatigue. Sometimes its not just the overall calorie intake, but the types of foods we eat as well. Grab a couple of carrots instead of some toast - not only will you be getting fiber, but the phytochemicals such as carotene and other vitamins will help you get the most out of your body and your day. And if you're a bit disorganized with buying fruit and vegetables, visit the local fruit street vendor on the way to your local coffee shop before work. It beats a muffin nutritionally.

And for the final word on going overboard with calorie restriction, recent research found that even though mice will live up to 50% longer by eating less, humans don't. The most having a low calorie diet over your life would do is extend your time span on this earth by 7%.

Physiologically, having breakfast will in fact boost your metabolism. And its certainly a cheaper way to do that than investing in a bottle of diet pills.

A couple of weight loss tips for parents and expecting mothers. Early research has suggested that those mothers who eat excessively (think Britney Spears) have children who are more prone to being overweight by the time they are toddlers. This sets up food difficulties from a young age. And beware of  teenagers or children who develop poor eating habits, combined with sedentary activities like playing playstation or xbox games too much, and watching television at the expense of even non-athletic activities like having a job or joining school clubs. These kids will have a greater tendency of growing into overweight or obese adults.

One key to integrating changes in your diet, whether with the goal of losing weight, or simply being more healthy, is to add variety. Its easy to get into a food rut, stuck for something tasty to eat that is also going to support our goals. Planning ahead, and doing a little research, can be one way of mitigating those moments when the urge to grab something unhealthy is driven by both hunger and unappetizing dishes.

Following are three breakfast recipes that will add a little variety to that all important meal, as well as supplying essential vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber.


<b>Delicious Tropical Muesli</b>
Serves 2 to 4. Preparation time - 10 minutes.

Ingredients
<ul><li>Muesli - 100gm
<li>Wheat flakes- 50gm
<li>Apple - peeled and grated - 1no
<li>Low Fat or Skim Fruit Yogurt- 500gm
<li>Mango - peeled and cut into strips - 1no
<li>Passion fruit - pulp of 2
<li>Flaked almonds, toasted - 11/2 tsp</ul>

Preparation
Mix together muesli, wheat, apple and half the yogurt in a bowl and refrigerate covered overnight. Divide it into four serving bowls.  Top evenly with remaining yogurt, mango, passion fruit pulp and flaked almonds and serve.

Choose plain low-fat yogurt for the fewest calories. Fruit and flavored products have extra calories. Nonfat yogurt sweetened with artificial sweetener is an option for dieters. Plain yogurt is the best choice for cooking.


<b>Terrific Mango</b>
Serves 2. Preparation time - 10 minutes.

Ingredients
<ul><li>Mango- peeled and chopped -125 gram
<li>Chopped pineapple - 1 no
<li>Papaya- peeled and chopped- 125 gram
<li>Kiwi fruits - chopped- 2 no
<li>Tropical fruit juice - 150 ml
<li>Honey- 2 tablespoon</ul>

Preparation

Mix all the fruit pieces together and pour the fruit juice and honey on top. This is an excellent dish to start your day.



<b>Summer Special Salad</b>
Serves 4. Preparation time - 20 minutes.

Ingredients
<ul><li>Water melon - 1 no (medium size)
<li>Tomato - ½ kg
<li>Celery - 20 gram
<li>Orange -4 no
<li>Grapes -100 gram
<li>Pineapple (chopped) - 1 cup
<li>Raisins - 12 no
<li>Salt and pepper - to taste</ul>

Salad Dressing
<ul><li>Salad oil - 6 tsp
<li>Mustard -2tsp
<li>Chopped onion - 2 no
<li>Pepper - 2tsp
<li>Sugar -1 tsp</ul>

Blend all the ingredients for the salad dressing in a mixer.

Preparation
Chop all the fruits and vegetables. Take the pulp out of the watermelon and put all the chopped fruits and tomatoes into the outer covering of the watermelon. Pour the salad dressing on top. Garnish with raisins.
Serve chilled.

Eating fruit and vegetables raw gives you many of their vitamins undiminished by cooking processes. It also means you get enzymes which are great for helping the digestive process. Watermelon is rich in vitamin C and is also one of the few sources of lycopene, others being tomatoes, red grapefruit and guava. Lycopene is a particularly effective antioxidant.

Weight Loss: Setting Reasonable Long Term Goals

We see a lot of people struggling with weight issues and their body image. With the available resources and materials for weight loss spilled all over the place, those, who are over weight, are a bit confused about which method to follow to shed those extra lbs. Although the basics of weight loss do not change, they depend on setting realistic goals, cutting the calorie intake and exercising a little bit. Many presume that a weight loss program is all about a restricted diet, or fad diets, or diet pills and involving strenuous physical exercises. But, actually the basics of weight loss program are rational, flexible and healthy to which any one can adhere to while they work well on the person aiming to lose weight.

The first basic step towards weight loss is to set a reachable goal. When setting a goal to reduce weight, it is good to know the reason for doing so, benefits you may get at the end of the weight reduction program and the changes you are willing to make in your diet. This kind of analysis of the self helps understand the problem the better way and helps in setting realistic goals for weight loss. The weight loss efforts should be a reasonable one and should be gradual.

Once the goal is set to reduce say two pounds a week, then comes the step of creating a food journal to analyze and monitor what you eat for the particular week. This food journal helps keep track of what you eat, or drink. Sometimes the feeling towards the food you eat is also jotted down. This is very important as it throws light on the food pattern and habits of the person. The weight loss is also recorded. By reviewing the food pattern, the foods that needed to be avoided can be seen clearly and can be substituted with healthy foods. The secret is to be very consistent with this surely you will see positive results. Water is a very good natural hunger suppressant and can be taken in good quantities, if you note that you are drinking less amounts of water. It too can contribute to the weight loss efforts.

When the diet is combined with good exercise say walking or swimming or aerobics, it too aids in burning calories. The exercise should be in such a way that when it is done, it should be enjoyable, choose the kind of activity which interests you a lot than slogging. Exercise too needs to be tracked in the journal to see its effects with your own eyes.