Mind Over Matter
The answer to losing weight and keeping it off lies between your ears. Your relationship to food . . . how you perceive it and how it makes you feel, determines how you eat. How you eat makes a determines your weight. Most people who are overweight are overweight because they eat the wrong types of foods, they eat too much, or they do both.
Look at when you eat, why you eat, what you eat, and most importantly what you're "getting" from the foods you eat . . . and I'm not talking nutritional value here. If you eat when you're stressed out, anxious, depressed, or to comfort yourself, you're eating for the wrong reason. The mood you're in when you eat and the types of food you eat at those times make a huge difference. Chocolate is a mood elevator; it releases endorphins. That's why it makes you feel better, but it's also addictive. I'm sure you've heard the term "chocoholic".
Your thoughts, those things you focus on, create changes in your brain chemistry and you feel those changes in your body. You've experienced this when you recall a past event that makes you smile or one an event that upsets you. Thoughts produce chemicals within your brain. They're called electrochemicals. These electrochemicals create neural connections that are visible using PET, SPECT and MRI scans.
It's been estimated that 95% of human behavior is unconscious. Change the way you think of food. Eat to live.
To lose weight and keep it off, Change your body by changing the way you think: by changing the way you perceive food and by changing the way you perceive yourself.
It's really not hard to do though you might think so. Let me point out to you that you've already got a tremendous record of success. If you don't think you've got a record of success, think again. You've consistently eaten foods that have gotten you to where you are today: overweight and looking for the answer to losing that fat.
Write your weight loss goals down. Approximately 95% of the people who resolve to lose weight don't write their goal down and they seldom succeed in weight loss. Those who do write their goal down usually succeed.
Food and You
The number one sure-fire way to lose weight is actually quite simple. I'm not blowing smoke at you. So, if you found this article because you did a search for weight loss or fat loss, read on to see how I lost the fat without "dieting".
This is my experience. I'm 5' 1 and 3/4" inches (in.); roughly 157 centimeters (cm). In June 2008, when I started losing weight, I weighed 202 pounds (lbs); 92 kilograms (kg) and wore size 20-22 pants. By January 2009, I weighed 138 lbs (about 62.6 kg) and wore size 10 that was loose. My goal was to weigh 135 lbs. but I weigh 120.
First of all, you don't need a calorie counter. You don't need a weight loss clinic and you don't need to join a weight loss "club" that will send you special foods. You don't even have to exercise, but you'll shed that weight faster and have less loose saggy skin if you exercise.
So now that you know what you don't need to do, let's look at what you do need to do.
Want to lose weight beginnning now.
Remember this: Conceive! Believe! Achieve! If you think you can lose weight, and believe you can do it, you will achieve your goal. Stop telling yourself that it's hard to lose weight. Losing weight is easy. Keeping it off is easy.
Make conscious choices. Use positive direct statements. "I want to lose weight" is positive, but not sufficient. Say "I am losing weight".
Mentally see yourself at your desired weight. This is your "Think Thin Life Preserver". Hold that image in your mind. Better still, find a picture of a slender you and put it where you will see it every day. How you perceive yourself is how you achieve your goal. Remember how you felt in the picture of the thin you; how you felt more confident. Re-live those feelings: satisfaction, pride, self-confidence, self-assuredness, etc.
Consider exercising for 15 minutes three times a week. You know it's good for you, but that's your choice. It increases your metabolism and that fat burns up faster. Dance or walk through your home for 15 minutes while listening to your favorite music.
Eat healthy foods: fruits and veggies (preferably fresh, but canned will do) as well as whole grains. If you don't eat veggies, start. If you eat veggies, add new ones or eat an extra serving of veggies, then have a serving of that food that beckons you. Literally pat yourself on the back and say "Good job!" when you eat a healthy meal. Stop and think about how you feel when someone pats you on the back and recognizes a job well done. You are someone!
To Guarantee Success, Act as if it were impossible to fail -- Dorothea Brande
Water and You
Water makes up roughly 2/3 of our body. It's vital to your health. It prevents constipation, reduces kidney stones and improves the function of your gallbladder. It also decreases kidney and bladder infections, and improves brain function.
No, you don't have to drink 8 8-ounce glasses of water per day like Granny used to say, but you should1. We get water content through the foods we eat and the beverages we consume. It's referred to as Total Body Water (TBW)2.
Milk, sodas, coffee, tea, power drinks and alcohol my supply the number of ounces of hydration your body needs, but they don't cleanse your system. In fact, many of these items actually cause dehydration.
BUT keep this in mind: If you wouldn't wash your body with it because it would leave you sticky or otherwise grungy, it won't cleanse. the inside of your body.
Fats
You don't have to eliminate fat from your diet. In fact, you shouldn't eliminate all fat from your diet. Your body needs certain amounts and certain types of fat to keep you healthy.5
Essential fat is stored in your organs, muscles and bone marrow and Central Nervous System (brain, spinal cord and nerves). If your essential fat levels are too low you're prone to circulatory, reproductive (hormone) and immune disorders. Minimum levels are around 5% for men and 12% for women. Women have more fat cells than men. It's a gender thing.4
The problem with fat is that it makes your food taste better, but your body takes longer to burn fat than it takes to burn carbohydrates or proteins. Not only that, but short-term high-fat consumption can actually reduce your energy level and your ability to think clearly.3
Adipose fat is the fat below the skin (subcutaneous). This type of fat leads to heart, kidney and gallbladder disease, impaired heart and immune function, cancer, sleeping problems, diabetes and assorted other ills. This is the fat that you want to get rid of. It's the fat you see around the thighs, hips, abdomen, arms and shoulder blades.
Here's an interesting article by fitness author and fat loss expert Rob Poulus on how to burn fat faster.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates break down into sugars in your body and are stored in your liver and muscles. Your body needs carbohydrates to function. There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex.
Simple carbohydrates are the first ones your body breaks down. You'll find them in foods such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products. They're also found in many refined foods: table sugar, white flour and pastas, white rice, fruit juices. Foods containing naturally-occurring sugar are healthier than foods containing added sugar, so stick to the fruit rather than the fruit juice . . . unless you juice it yourself.
Complex carbohydrates come from whole grains, veggies and legumes (seeds from pod veggies). They have high nutritional value and it takes longer for your body to break them down and you get the dietary fiber you need.
You may have noticed that some grains are labeled as "enriched" or "fortified". When grains are refined, they lose some of the nutrients. Enriched grains have nutrients added back in. Fortified grains have additional nutrients added.6 Your best bet is to stick whole grains.
Resources for Further Information
US Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
http://www.iom.edu/About-IOM/Leadership-Staff/Boards/Food-and-Nutrition-Board.aspx
Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) / Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA)
http://www.iom.edu/Home/Global/News%20Announcements/DRI.aspx
Weight and Obesity: Food and Nutrition Information Center
http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?tax_level=1&info_center=4&tax_subject=271
Sources
1MedLine Plus Medical Encyclopedia - A Service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002471.htm
2http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/DRI/DRI_Water/water_full_report.pdf pp. 93-205
3The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/short/fj.09-139691v1
4Fit & Well: Core Concepts and Labs in Physical Fitness and Wellness, Ch. 6
http://www.umich.edu/~exphysio/mvs.240/Lectures/Ch6.BodyComp.htm
5The Mayo Clinic - Nutrition and Healthy Eating
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fat/NU00262
6Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - Nutrition for Everyone
http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/everyone/basics/carbs.html
Published 30 January 2010
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