Weight joke

A bloke steps onto one of those machines that speak your weight and tell your fortune.

“Listen to this”, he tells his wife. “It says I’m energetic, bright, resourceful and a great lover.”

“Yes,” his wife nods, “And it’s got your weight wrong too.”

Steady burn

Have you ever been around a campfire? You've got to keep it going so it's ready to cook over at certain times don't you.

So what do you have to do to keep it going so it's a steady fire?

Feed it, right?

Can you achieve this by feeding the fire once or twice per day?

No you can't, because you'll have a raging blaze after stoking it up and then it dies down more and more until you stoke it up again.

Your metabolism is like this. It works best if it's fairly steady.

Once your metabolism is back up where it should be, it takes continued "stoking" of the metabolic furnace to keep it there. If you starve it of fuel (crash diet), it dies down. So once you get your metabolic fire burning, you've got to keep feeding it fuel or the fire will die down. This means frequent small meals rather than a couple of big feeds a day.

And what you feed it too is important. You can't throw some crumpled newspaper on the fire, it's too quickly burning. For your body this is akin to eating the high GI foods.

You have to keep putting small amounts of wood (the right type of fuel) on the fire at regular intervals or the fire burns out. For your body this means quality nutritious food.

To get your metabolism burning hot and keep it burning cannot be achieved by sporadic, infrequent training, missing workouts or missing meals.

Consistency is the key

If you keep starting and stopping with your exercise program, or skip meals and workouts often, you won’t even get off the ground to increasing your metabolism.

Nothing will undermine the re-building of your metabolism like inconsistency in applying the proper nutrition and training principles every day.

What are those principles?

1. Meal Frequency: eat 5-6 small meals per day. To do this you’ll need to eat about every 3 hours.

2. Adequate Calorie Intake: maintain a small calorie deficit and avoid starvation-level diets (suggested safe levels for fat loss: 2100-2500 calories per day for men, 1400-1800 calories per day for women) Have a substantial breakfast, a substantial meal after workouts and reduce the meal sizes as the day progresses.

3. Weight Training: Basic exercises that include the largest muscle groups such as squats, dead-lifts, overhead presses, and all kinds of rows and core-activation exercises will have a much greater metabolism stimulating effect than isolation exercises like curls, shrugs and, calf raises, etc.

4. Cardio Training: Get the intensity up if you really want to get a metabolic boost. Walking and low intensity cardio is fine, but higher intensity, particularly interval training, is more metabolism-stimulating.

5. Food Types: Select natural, unprocessed foods with high thermic effect (lean proteins like chicken, turkey, egg whites and fish are highly thermic, as are all green vegetables, salad vegetables and other fibrous carbs). Ensure you have protein with every meal.Maximize the low GI and complex carbohydrates and minimize the refined foods.Get plenty of water and stick to low fat (NOT no fat) foods.

Consistency means making it a habit. Before long weight control will be much easier.

The spice of life

Today I have a treat for you...

Some words from my wife, sent to me when I fell into an emotional black hole...

All we have to remember is that we are always being looked after and that we are never being abandoned... what happens to us is for our own growth and benefit whether we think so or not. We are here for soul and unless you have spot on communication with yours I don't think you know just what soul is meant to experience this time around. All I know is that one has to face their challenges head on with the utmost faith that everything is in order. Don't forget that attitude has everything to do with it. It's what gets us through one way or another.

Believe that everything will work out for the best.... which it does when you look back on difficult times.

We are where we are meant to be. It's up to you how you see it - challenges are the spice of life... without them life would be boring.

Yeah... Who wants a boring life eh?

Get focused movie

Since I'm always on about being focused I thought you might like to get the message in a motivational movie format.

This one's courtesy of my friends at nomoresabotage.com and it's all about you so I hope you enjoy it.

Please have a look now.

Weights build muscle and metabolism

Weight training is really important in repairing a suppressed metabolism. Lifting weights is the stimulus to keep the muscle you have. Progressively overloading your muscles is the stimulus to begin rebuilding new muscle tissue, and muscle tissue is the heart of your metabolic furnace.

Men generally have no problem with weight training, but many women say they don't want to lift weights as part of their fat loss programs. The fact is, if you don’t lift weights you can expect a very, very long metabolism building journey.

Once you start exercising, especially if you do both high intensity cardio and weights, you’ll get an almost immediate boost in metabolic rate but the results are not going to be overnight.

So in addition to exercising your muscle you must also exercise your patience.

Crash diets crash the metabolism

Most diet programs claiming to help you quickly drop excess weight, only end up making it harder for you in the long run because they use harsh metabolism-decreasing diets. Furthermore they rarely advise enough exercise and almost never any weight training.

The result of following starvation diets or dropping weight too rapidly in is metabolic damage; in other words your metabolism slows right down. This makes it very difficult, after the initial impact of the crash diet, to achieve any further fat loss at all.

The bottom line is: you can’t starve the fat off with crash diets.

The good news is, any damage to the metabolism can be repaired. You just need the right combination of metabolism stimulating exercise and metabolism stimulating nutrition.

Applied consistently over time anyone can increase their metabolism.

It may take a bit longer if you've lost a lot of lean body mass from severe starvation dieting in the past, but it is not hopeless.

Truth about food documentary

In a documentary shown on BBC2 in the UK they did a study on metabolism to see if some overweight people really do have a slow metabolism. The results were startling!

The documentary called “The truth about food” found 2 women who were best friends but had very different body types. One of the chosen women Becky, was very slim and even a little underweight. The other lady named Jo was shorter in height and 22 pounds overweight.

They had known each other for years and they both believed that Becky, who seemed to eat much more than Jo, was slim because she had a faster metabolism. Jo, who had tried to lose weight on numerous occasions in the past, believed she was overweight because she had a slow metabolism.

Both fasted for 24 hours before having their metabolic rate accurately measured in the lab using a ventilation hood. They also drank a bottle of special water which has a non-radioactive isotope marker added to it. This water is well known in science and can accurately measure the total amount of calories someone consumes as well as the total number of calories burned off over the following week. The scientists didn’t reveal the truth about the water because they didn’t want the women to be influenced and adjust their normal food intake in any way. This made it much more accurate in relation to their normal everyday food consumption.

While both had very similar activity levels, the study showed Jo actually had a higher metabolic rate than the slimmer Becky!

Jo’s higher metabolism was basically due to the extra weight which she was carrying. This is logical because moving more weight requires more effort. However, it shows that Jo’s weight problem wasn’t caused by a slow metabolism.
The study also revealed that Jo was in fact consuming about 50 percent more calories than Becky!

Becky was underweight simply because she was consuming fewer calories than she needed.

The documentary concluded that a slow metabolism is NOT to blame for excess weight gain. It was also suggested that overweight people tend to have a higher metabolism than those who are slim and underweight.

I maintain that while metabolism is NOT to blame for excess weight gain the faster your metabolism, fat or thin, the better off you are.

They also implied that people will for the most part gain weight because in some way they have eaten more energy than their body requires.

It seems the fact remains; if we consume more calories than our body requires then we will put weight on. The trick is to find new ways to eat so you consume fewer total calories than your body requires.

To learn more about this documentary then visit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/humanbody/truthaboutfood/slim/

How can some eat lots and never gain weight?

If a slim person eats little and often, maybe it gives an impression to others that they always seem to be eating, thus gives the illusion that they must be consuming lots of calories?

If the snacks a slim person eats are generally low in calories, the total intake might not amount to excess energy intake.

Another possibility that could be at work here is to do with activity levels. Slimmer people could be more energetic because they are lighter and require less effort to move around. This could be helping them to move about enough during an average day to maintain or cause a negative energy balance.

In comparison to a slim person, a heavier individual has the potential to burn more calories during exercise, due to the extra effort to more the weight, but the high effort may be slightly uncomfortable for some and generally they may not move around as much as a thinner person. This would result in a heavier person expending less total energy so they could end up struggling to lose weight.

The portion size of food can mask the real intake of food. Some overweight people could be thinking they don’t eat much because they only have 2 or 3 meals each day, but if portion size is large enough then total energy consumed can rise dramatically. Just one Chinese take-away meal for example, can be as high as 1500 calories; nearly the total energy intake for an average woman!

Remember the most basic simple fact...

If energy in exceeds energy out, it will end up as stored fat.

Top 7 exercises for the non athletic

How are you going with your exercises?

What??

You haven't started??

Well maybe there's hope for you yet if you engage in these activities...

Exercise	Calories/hr
Throwing your weight around	50-300
(depending on your weight)
Climbing the ladder of success	750
Making mountains out of moelhills	500
Falling in love	500
Running around in circles	350
Picking up the pieces	350
Wading through paperwork	300

Have fun!

Celebrations

With Mother's day just gone I wonder if you 'celebrated' by over indulging in some food that wasn't good for you.

It happens all the time around me. With birthdays, anniversaries, occasional wins and achievements, plus all the other special days there are, there's no shortage of reasons to have a celebration feast..

The excuser is: "It's only for today. I'll get back into eating right tomorrow."

It's fine to celebrate and even have a little bit of cake or pavlova or whatever, but most people overdo it. Then there’s the problem of the bit that's left. Can't waste it can you so you finish it off over the next couple of days.

With habits like these people are setting themselves up for failure when it comes to health and a trim body shape. I hope you're not one of them.

Church noticeboard

Announcement on a church noticeboard:

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 pm.Please use the large double door at the side entrance.

Now there's a message to knock the self esteem of an overweight person.

Not only are they not good enough to use the front door but they need reminding they need large doorways! And this is broadcast to every passerby.

Now I'm sure there was no intent to hurt or put down, but it shows how words could be misconstrued. Fat people don't need any more assaults on their self esteem, even if they are intended.

The best way to toughen yourself against insensitivities such as this though is, apart from losing weight, to become more resilient. That is build your self esteem. You are worth it.

Buff Up Your Brain Healing Power

There is a very interesting article in the March 2007 issue of Readers Digest, titled "Tap Your Brain's Healing Power."

Here's an excerpt from page 123 in the section titled: "Buff Up Your Brain."

"Studies like Glaser's and Dr. Tracey's have
'given credibility to mind/body approaches, which
had been rejected and ignored by the scientific
and medical communities,' says Esther Sternberg,
MD director of the Integrative Neural Immune
Program at the National Institute of Mental
Health.

Now scientists and doctors have begun taking the
next step, harnessing the immense powers of the
human brain to help people heal themselves.

For example, using special fMRO scanners and
software that allowed patients to see their own
brain activity, scientists at Stanford University
and Omneuron, a biotech company, trained
participants to reduce chronic pain by just
visualizing it and learning to control it.

Some were able to decrease it by more than 40
percent, says pain expert Sean Mackey, MD, one of
the study leaders.

Dr. Mackey foresees a day when doctors might use
such imaging to train us to ease depression, battle
addiction or overcome phobias.

And years from now, he says, we may head to a
real-time brain-imaging center the way we go to
fitness centers today, and buff up parts of our
brain that improve performance, memory and even
intelligence. Now, that will be a real no-brainer."

Discomfort zone

If you want more out of your life, you must move beyond your comfort zone and into the zone outside. Your comfort zone is a small space around you. Outside that is your "discomfort zone."

The "discomfort zone" can be identified as the part of your life that is somewhat unfamiliar or uncomfortable, and even disturbing for you.

The good news is however, the longer you stay in the "discomfort zone" the more comfortable you become.

Here's the challenge...

Left to your own choice, you will never get out of your comfort zone.

Why?

Because it is unfamiliar, scary, and... uncomfortable. In short you won’t feel safe out there. And we all like to feel safe don’t we?

People have all kinds of reasons and excuses for not moving out of their comfort zone. For not taking a chance at the newest opportunity.

What it really comes down to is: "Do you want it or not?"

There will always be those who tell you "it can't be done." There is a great Chinese proverb that says, "The person who says it can't be done should not interrupt the person doing it."

Too much focus can hinder progress

People often try to get rid of excess flab from their middle section by focusing on exercises for the abs. While that is good for the abs, it won't do much to solve the problem.

Improvement in one area helps—and depends on—the others. Spot reducing for instance doesn’t really work. You can develop specific muscles but if you focus exclusively on one muscle group your body will become unbalanced. This can lead to joint pains and muscle strains due to an opposing muscle being smaller and weaker than its counterpart.

So limiting your focus too much can actually hinder your progress. In the short term, it may seem effective, but in the long run it can also be harmful. Losing sleep, eating poorly and living with stress are common mistakes people make when they're obsessed with a goal. Results could reach new heights in the long term if these important needs aren't neglected and you keep your life balanced.

To reach your full potential in anything, you can't neglect all to zero-in on one.

Perfectionism

We are taught as we grow that excellence is a good thing. We are also taught that working as hard as possible to achieve your goals is a good thing. Unfortunately in our efforts to create our dream and perform to the best of our abilities we fall into the trap of trying to be perfect.

What you may not realize though is that trying to be perfect can actually hinder your chances of being excellent.

There is an ugly flip side that comes with the pursuit of perfection: a fear of failure, or fear of making a mistake. These fears keep a lot of people from trying something different or learning a new skill. They often don't even get started because they want everything perfectly ready in order to start.

Then even if they could start, they'd rather not try than go through the anguish of not doing it perfectly. The perfectionist likes to stick with things he (or she) knows that he can do.

To succeed at anything new you have to get out of your comfort zone. You need to learn, and expand your world by growing in knowledge, skills and personal attributes. Perfectionism limits your growth, and takes away your chances of finding your success, and erases your opportunities for even testing the water.

That's why your physical foundation is so critical. It gives you the confidence and support you need to take those chances, to recover from mistakes, and test the limits of possibility. You don't have to be anywhere near perfect at any time. Just get something going that is leading to your dreams and work at it from the increasing excellence angle. Excellence comes with practice and perseverance and a lot of imperfect mistakes and failures along the way.

Just get going and aim for excellent improvement.

Build your discipline by eating chips!

D'you like potato crisps? Most people do. What happens when you open a packet? Eat the lot right? Even when you know they're nearly totally fat and have virtually no value as food.

Here's an idea you can try as a discipline building exercise (because it takes self-discipline to avoid foods that aren't good for you).

Get a tin of pringles or those chips they sell in a canister - not a packet where they are all broken up and different sizes.

To start with, only do this exercise AFTER you've had a meal.

Shortly after your meal open the tube and allow yourself only ONE chip then close the canister and put it away out of sight.

Each time you do this affirm you can easily choose to stop after one chip and feel good that you were able to resist eating more. Also occasionally practice choosing NOT to eat the chip and congratulate yourself for your discipline.

Gradually increase the length of time after the meal that you open the canister. Also increase the times you choose to not actually eat the chip. Take your time as you must be successful at resisting another chip or eating one at all each time you take the lid off the container.

The idea is to build your confidence in yourself to be able to exercise self-discipline over food when you choose.

Not all calories are equal

While the number of calories in compared to the number of calories out is important, so to is the source of those calories and their ratios.

It is also important to consider what proportion of the calories you ingest come from protein, carbohydrates and fats.

The quality of the food is also a consideration. There can be plenty of calories but a serious deficiency in quality nutrients.

There's no hard and fast 'these-figures-fit-all' answer when it comes to calories. Basically though the best way to lose weight is to increase activity rather than constrict calories. The calories consumed from fats could easily be cut and replaced by calories from better sources.

Find out how many calories you need for your ideal weight and lifestyle and that's your benchmark. If you want to reduce simply exercise more. If you want to build up, exercise more (with weights) and increase your quality calories.

That's about as simple as I can make it, though when you go into it in depth it can be quite complex.

The Low Calorie Follies

Another things to consider when it comes to counting the calories you ingest in order to lost weight is the Input-Output ratio of your energy. By this I mean your calorie intake should be based on your calorie output rather than RDA suggestions. If you want to lose weight you've simply got to burn more energy (through activity) than you consume.

Remember that calorie starvation is counter-productive.

Low calorie diets put the body into starvation mode. The metabolism slows down. To lose weight you need it to speed up (as it does through exercise) and preferably stay elevated. Restricting calories has the opposite effect. What's worse, the body catabolizes its own muscle tissue in its natural response to starvation. This means it cannibalizes muscle tissue while keeping the fat till last, making the low metabolism problem even worse.

Then when you quit the low calorie diet because you lost a bit of weight (probably mostly water and lean tissue rather than fat), or just plain gave up, with a low metabolism the fat gets stored at an even faster rate.

This is why yo-yo dieters just get fatter and fatter. So while it's important to consume slightly less than you expend as energy it's doublely important NOT to starve yourself.

Body composition

When it comes to counting the calories you ingest in order to lose weight there are a number of things to consider.

The first is body composition. Basing calorie intake purely on body weight is wrong. Your body composition, lean muscle tissue to fat ratio, is far more important.

The more lean muscle tissue you have the more energy (i.e. calories a.k.a. food intake) you use up just to maintain that tissue.

I believe the bodybuilding lifestyle is ideal for attaining ideal weight and health. Resistance training will actually build muscle (provided you get sufficient protein and nutrients) so that your body burns more calories even while resting.

So if you’ve got some scales you also need a set of body calipers to get an assessment of your body fat percentage. These can be very expensive but you can get a very simple set for about $20 which are pretty good. They are the Accu-Measure body fat calipers. Simple to use on yourself and with easy to understand instructions.

Is this your excuse?

One morning I saw a young mum with 3 children, two little girls about 4 and 5 years of age, and a baby. She had the baby in one of those trike prams as she was running along behind it. The two little girls were shooting along beside her on their scooters.

I thought that was great. Many people would use three little kids as an excuse not to exercise. This woman solved her problem in such a way that she was sharing her exercise time with her children and providing an excellent role model for healthy living as well.

Accustomed taste

Y'know how crisps and creamy and fatty things always taste so good... well they're tastes we get used to the more we eat them.

Just like I got used to having very sweet tea. Then tea without sugar became not worth drinking because it wasn’t sweet enough for me.

The fats add much of the taste to those foods. Unfortunately, as you know, we acquire a taste for such food and the result is our body stores away the fat and a weight problem ensues.

The good news is, all those 'healthy' foods that seem so bland and tasteless, actually do have flavor. As you let go your craving for the fats and eat fewer of those foods, your taste sensitivities will change.

The healthy food becomes more tasteful as you grow accustomed to eating it.

Eventually you enjoy the flavors. You might still enjoy eating a little of the not-so-good-for-you food and that's fine. But the more you enjoy the good food the more you'll want to eat it and the less you'll feel like the other stuff. Use technology in this amazing tool to easily install the power of motivation to help you achieve your health goals.

Start cutting back now.

Are you serious?

How is the weight? Are you tapping on your issues that may be underlying why you're overweight? What exercises are you doing? What are you eating? Are the calories in fewer than the calories out?

Be truthful now. Too much excess weight is a serious problem when you consider the effects on other health aspects, life enjoyment and longevity. To solve it requires a serious approach.

Most people really don’t get serious. They think they’re serious and they say they are but they’re not really. They also don’t want to hear that or admit to it. Admitting to not being serious puts the responsibility back on the individual. Then we can’t blame anyone else.

Answer those questions above really honestly and you’ll see how serious you are. I know it takes a lot of effort and you’re tired of the lack of progress but you’ve got to get serious and stick at it if you want to succeed in anything.

Where is your focus? Is it consistently on the goals you want? Or are you more consistently focusing on what you don’t want? i.e., talking about how hard it is and complaining about it.

How about your goals… are you regularly reviewing them? Do you spend any time visualizing them? Have you made up your dream board to look at every day?

Get serious with your focus and what you have to do. Just do it. You can.