My Goddess Of Beauty

Weight loss and getting thin is what eight out of ten women desire. Maybe it’s second only to having unlimited credit on your credit card…And, unlimited funds to pay it off.

Joking aside, obesity has become what some people believe as an epidemic disease in modern times. In fact, it is not a disease at all; it is caused by our own lifestyle and priorities, with health often not being one of them. The top thirty countries for obesity are almost all western, developed countries.

Years ago, we had a life that included activities like walking, playing sports and we had enough safety to jog in a park.

Today we have more workload, student responsibilities, and family affairs, all competing for our time. This produces an entire generation that does not have time to exercise or eat properly and “suddenly” we notice…we became FAT.

Now, there’s a difficult one.

Losing weight ‘healthily’ is a process that demands time, determination and planning, and the change of lifestyle habits is the most important – and difficult – to achieve.

To reduce weight healthily, one has to THINK differently, as it is not just ‘weight’ you need to lose; it is ‘body fat’. Many people are fixated with losing ‘weight’ and the figure on the scales rather than ‘body fat’…there is a big difference.

-Stop eating automatically and plan your meal. If you cannot plan, observe, and pay attention to choose foods that help in your goals, not prevent them.

-Having five or six meals a day, in smaller portions, even if you have little time is better than two or three larger meals. If you really want, you will MAKE time.

-Learn about healthy foods and get the right portions. Yes, some self-service restaurants have dishes the size of a tray! Don’t fall into this plot!

As always, it is easier said than done. You know what to do but at the very moment of execution, you procrastinate to next week.

It is important to first find the MOTIVATION and then the RIGHT ORIENTATION to start an ‘effective’ and healthy weight loss program.

Motivation comes first because it gives you the strength to say NO to some destructive habits, which can also be dangerous habits in the long term and this can hinder your diet program.

Orientation will be the difference between another failed ‘fad’ diet and permanent weight loss. It is good to find a good nutritionist.

Motivation can be internal or external.

Internal motivation is your perception of a heavier body, increased chances to have metabolic and heart diseases, and the desire of wearing a bikini without feeling uneasy. This is the most difficult but the most powerful one. Look around and notice: Everybody that loses weight and keeps it off permanently HAD to find internal motivation. They HAD TO FIND this strength inside them. If you hear something different, about some miracle remedy, it is marketing lies…do not be fooled.

External motivation is also well known. All the humiliation and prejudice that obese people suffer, from getting a job to finding a significant other, is reflected in today’s society. Everybody seems to think that overweight people are lazy and self-indulgent. They have increased chances of diseases and may be a problem in the future, if hired.

Unfortunately, the same society that produces obesity, demands you to be HEALTHY AND THIN.

It is up to you, to start a ‘healthy’ diet and weight loss program or keep “trying” all the fad diets on the Internet.

The first thing you have to do in any weight loss program is know what your metabolic rate is. You need to know this in order to calculate how much you can take in and how much to reduce to lose weight.

Many people try to start a weight loss program with their basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is the amount of energy (calories) your body uses in a resting state, at the bottom. What you have to do is to increase your BMR so that you are burning more calories throughout the day, every day. It is quite simple actually, increase the amount of calories you burn, and you will increase the amount of fat you lose. The best way to increase your BMR is through adding muscle tissue. The more muscle mass you have the faster will your metabolism be. Women are sometimes afraid at the idea of adding muscle due to their fear of becoming “bulky.” Relax; it’s a little harder to add that kind of muscle mass than you think. I was in bodybuilding for years and used to crack me up how people thought if you just lifted weights a little you would get big muscles. That takes intense heavy specific workouts. Besides, a little muscle mass goes a long way toward achieving a leaner body. And this is what you want, right?

Not just any exercise program will do for weight loss. Just burning calories is not good enough. The program must be planned to draw out specific hormonal responses that are conducive to weight loss. The key is NOT hours and hours of cardio. You must do exercise at an intensity that raises your heart rate and keeps it there for at least twenty minutes at a time and go from there.

Consistency is the next important part of an effective weight loss program. This one pretty much speaks for itself. Have you ever accomplished anything great with an inconsistent effort? Unless failure is considered a great achievement, you probably haven’t. You must exercise consistently to get the results you want! It blows my mind how many people don’t even try to be consistent with their diet and exercise programs and complain about not seeing results. Even the best programs are ineffectual if they are not followed on a consistent basis.

A proper diet is the last and maybe most important of the basic elements I am covering in this article. You can’t expect to get a leaner body by continuing the typical unhealthy eating habits. I am not saying that you should drop everything in your diet immediately and exchange it for “healthy” food. This would simply be a quick fix that may only last a couple of weeks and then you revert back to your old habits within a month. Instead, practice moderation and don’t overindulge. A good rule of thumb is to not eat more than you can place in your hand at one sitting. Our culture with the garbage can lid plates that would feed four people doesn’t help! Also, work on phasing out certain unhealthy foods out of your diet while introducing healthier foods. This will make the transition smoother and a lot easier to maintain.

On top of every new mother’s list is to shed any excess weight gained during pregnancy.  While you may have lost some 15 pounds during childbirth, you may still feel disappointed to see yourself unable to squeeze yourself in your pre-pregnancy clothes.  Don’t despair.  I have easy tips for losing those unwanted pounds safely.Weight-loss Tip 1.  Let your legs do the walking.  Most doctors allow some form of exercise immediately after childbirth.  But because your body has gone through a lot of trauma during labor and delivery, you’ll have to lay off the high impact and weight-lifting exercises for now.  You’ll be happy to note that health professionals do not subscribe to the “no pain, no gain” mantra of heavy exercisers.  Walking regularly, whether at a leisurely or brisk pace, has been recommended as an effective way to keep your body’s ligaments, tendons and spine moving.  Get into the habit by walking a short distance and then by gradually increasing the area covered.  A minimum of ten minutes a day will already yield results and the ideal time spent walking is 30 minutes daily.  Avoid walking on steep areas until your O.B.–Gyn gives you the go-signal to engage in it.  Weight-loss Tip 2.  Practice Kegel muscle control.  All women of child-bearing age can benefit from Kegel exercises.  Kegel exercises are highly effective for restoring strength and tightness of your pelvic muscles. These exercises can enhance physical intimacy with your partner.  In case you didn’t know yet, a good amount of calories are burned during sexual intercourse.  Weight-loss Tip 3.  Try a mother-and-baby routine.  Simple stretching and yoga routines are great for bonding with your baby.  You can sign up for mother-and-baby fitness classes or follow a video guide right at home.  There are books on baby yoga that are easy to follow and effective for making baby less colicky or fussy. Exercising with baby also prevents guilt feelings that normally arise from leaving a baby behind.  Weight-loss Tip 4.  Incorporate cardio vascular exercises.  Any weight-loss plan should have some cardio vascular activity in order to see visible results.  Examples are cycling, aerobic dancing, jogging and walking.  At least 45 minutes of cardio vascular activity daily, whether at home or at the gym, is necessary for losing weight and for keeping them off. Weight-loss Tip 5.  Crunch your abs.  Pregnancy took its toll on your abdominal muscles.  Most new moms find the area where the baby bump used to be, loose and somewhat flabby.  A non invasive and relatively painless way of firming your midsection is through abdominal crunches.  All it takes is ten to twenty crunches a day to make your tummy firm again.  If you’re used to it, the bicycle crunch is a good exercise for toning not only your upper and lower abdomen, but the sides of your abdomen as well.  A realistic goal is to lose some weight gradually and safely.  Most mothers will tell you that shedding off all of the pregnancy weight is almost impossible as there will always be that last 5 pounds that won’t come off.   You’ll also want to start an exercise routine right now since studies have shown that the longer a woman’s body has been carrying excess weight, the harder it will be for her to lose it.

We are obsessed as a society with having everything on demand. If we decide we want a new car, we have to have it now, women freak out if they cannot get pregnant the very minute they’ve decided they want to have a child and if we think about weight loss, then it must surely be fast weight loss. We can’t settle for anything less!

Fortunately it’s been already proved that fast weight loss pills don’t work. You may shed a few pounds at first, but in the end you will gain twice as much back. Fewer and fewer people are duped by false claims and pretenses of dishonest marketers. It’s been said that they prey on human insecurities. I don’t think so! They prey on our obsession with having everything right here, right now and without any effort on our part – if we are willing to pay the price.

And because the wonder pills don’t work, people have turned to exercise. Marketers who advertise fast weight loss exercise programs or devices prey on the same here and now urgency. And they have given exercising a bad name too.

These are reviews I have found on a web site specialized in exposing infomercial scams:

“The [...] is actually a decent product, but it has major flaws. The way that the pulley system works is that the pulleys are attached to the frame with a free rotating bracket. This causes an excessive amount of wobbling when trying to use any of the exercises. Using the bench press is nearly impossible at higher weights due to the wobbling. Don’t waste your $400+ for the [...].”

“I purchased the [...] through [...] Network. I was very unhappy with the whole motion of the machine; it was uncomfortable and unnatural not to mention very shoddy craftsmanship. I called [...] to return it. They said I was past the 1 month return.”

“Unfortunately, I got sucked into the infomercial, thinking “this is it”. I ordered the worthless thing and did not see any results. It was a bunch of plastic. Have returned the item a week before Christmas 2006, and have yet to get a refund. They keep telling me that they have not received the item. Don’t waste your money!!!!”

So the info should be clear by now for everyone to see: fast weight loss doesn’t work.

Exercise is the best way to lose weight.

Try to remember that “losing 15 pounds in two weeks” is nothing to celebrate. It is important to realize that the more quickly weight is lost, the more likely the loss is coming from water and muscle, not fat.

Since muscle tissue is critical in keeping our metabolism elevated, losing it actually leads to a decrease in the amount of calories we can each day without gaining weight. Fat loss is best achieved when weight is lost slowly. Strive for a weight loss of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. One pound of weight is equivalent to 3500 calories. By making small changes like eliminating 250 calories a day from food and expending 250 calories a day from exercise, you can lose one pound (of mostly fat) per week.

Exercise for weight loss and for your general health, but do it all with good measure. Rome wasn’t built in a day either.

A safe and healthy weight loss program is the key for losing weight fast. However, it is all about thumping the life’s race progressively in a healthy manner. Fast weight loss in a healthy way is achievable with the perfect blend of healthy dieting and workouts.

Hence, whatever you include in your diet needs to be healthy enough to balance your weight loss efforts. If you are already on a weight loss diet, then it is necessary for you to make certain alterations in your current diet for converting it into a healthy fast weight loss diet.

Below mentioned are certain tips, which will help you to pick a healthy and fast weight loss diet. These tips will also help you to make any possible changes to your current diet to make it effective.

Tips for Losing Weight Quickly:

Restrict and balance the intake of calories. On a daily basis for fast weight loss, the ideal calorie intake for women is 1200 calories and 1400 for men. Therefore, try to control calorie intake within the safe range.

Have protein rich diets, since they will not only help to lose weight quickly, but will also help in minimization of additional fats in your body. Next, try to have ample number of vegetables and fruits.

Fruits offer huge quantities of nutrients and fibers, and are thus, a great diet source for quick weight loss. The fiber present in fruit helps the body to assimilate food appropriately to maintain a healthy digestive system.

One more vital tip for losing weight fast is, to avoid sodium and sugar from your diet as much as possible. Sugar is present mainly in junk and processed foodstuffs. You may replace sugar with other organic foods, since they will greatly help you to avoid junk and unhealthy foodstuffs.

Rye bread, fruit juices, fruits, and vegetables are certain organic foods. In addition, drink at least eight glasses of water daily. Next, do not avoid your meals or try to starve yourself, as it will only give you unfavourable results.

For losing weight quickly, another crucial tip is to intake a proportionate amount of food. You may have pizzas, hot dogs, and hamburgers, but it is necessary to have a look at the proportion of these foodstuffs in your diet.

Other Effective Tips:

Next vital tip is to pump up your physical workouts, if you cannot jog then walk as much as you can on a daily basis. Along with fresh vegetables and fruits, have whole-grains and low-fat dairy products in your diet.

Good and rigorous workouts also help to you lose weight quickly. You can burn your calories much faster with regular workouts, but do not over do it.

Aerobic exercises are also a good way to loose weight quickly, as aerobic exercises help to boost lean muscles, which ultimately burns additional fats present in the body.

Finally, the most crucial of all is your enthusiasm towards your faster and healthier weight loss diet regimen. After all this, you will not only lose weight quickly, but will also feel better.