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There are millions of people looking to skinny down before loading up on all the goodies to be had at this time of year. You know, there are more weight loss programs, pills and advice available than you could possibly try in a lifetime. Weight loss forums get real busy this time of year. After the holidays, you’re back to bemoan the fact that the weight’s back and now what?? Everybody has their two cents to contribute.

Apparently, with all the tools that you can find online to assist you in your endeavor to lose weight, there is one that many forget to take advantage of for extra support. In fact, before the Internet was wide spread, many people used friends and local support groups for the extra push you needed to succeed. Some of the more institution-like websites that deal with weight loss information are a bit stodgy and dry. This information, while for the most part credible, is plenteous, to the point where you begin to feel like digesting it all might take months.

But today, you can find that same type of support through weight loss forums that you can find all over the Internet. The best part is that they are there all of the time, and that you can remain anonymous if that is what you want to do. Unless you can and want to spend a few months figuring out your own custom weight loss program, this type of weight loss information may not be news you can use right now. Credible, but maybe TMI for your immediate needs.

You can find more weight loss forums that you can join no matter what type of diet you are doing. These are full of people who are just starting out just like you may be, and there are also those that have gone through and have maintained their success for a number of months or even years. These weight loss forums are also full of those halfway there, or almost to their goal weight.

Actually, There’s no shortage of weight loss information books, from chic and trendy programs to scholastic tomes. The academic books, written by people with degrees in nutrition, contain accurate information. What if you’re not one of those people? You might even have tried one of these in the past and found it did not work, even though your neighbor lost 20 pounds with that method. This type of weight loss information carries its own caveat, that being that it might not work, although the theory and science is credible.

You should know that there are some so-called ‘miracle’ diets and pills. Some are plain snake oil remedies, which don’t work for anyone. Like any others employ herbs like ephedra or hoodia, which, while they work, can be super dangerous to your health, used improperly. Ephedra is a powerful stimulant and is best avoided, except in very narrow circumstances and under strict medical supervision. Hoodia is a plant native to the Australian outback. The aboriginal tribes make use of it when making long treks through the desert, in search of food. It suppresses the appetite, for sure, but is not a recommended lifestyle. Any qualified herbalist will tell you that both herbs should be used with caution, if at all.

There is one great thing about weight loss forums is that you don’t have to wait for a weekly meeting to find out the answer to any question that you may have. You can post it any time of the day or night, and soon you will get the answer within a few hours if not within a few minutes. You can also go back through the older posts that you can find in forums for weight loss to see if someone else has already asked your question and if there are any good answers. You may even find information on questions you have not yet had.

Unfortunately, it is important for someone to have the will to continue when it comes to dieting, and motivation. What’s not often mentioned in any of these venues is that losing weight has a largely psychological component. The bottom line is your motivation and counting calories. That’s all there is to it. Weigh yourself and exercise will naturally enhance reaching your objective. Be hard on yourself and stick with the program. Fewer calories equals weight loss. This is the common sense approach to weight loss information that works for you. These folks often stick around to help you because there were others that did the same for them, and that may have been one of the major keys to their success.

“Tell me what you want… and I’ll show you how to get it.”

Typical reply from client:

“I want to lose 20 pounds fast.”

My reply:

“Are you SURE that’s what you want? …If I can show you how to lose 20 pounds REALLY fast, will that make you happy?”

They nodded their head affirmatively as their eyes lit up in anticipation of the secrets I was about to reveal…

Their face went white when I – with a totally straight face – pulled out a hacksaw and started walking towards them…. menacingly

Partly laughing, but partly in real terror they said,

“What the heck are you doing?”

“You said you wanted to lose 20 pounds fast. This is the easiest, surest, most effective way I know to take 20 pounds off you FAST! In fact, I figure that right leg of yours might even weigh 25 pounds!”

I kept walking closer and started to get into sawing position, wielding my fast, effective and guaranteed weight loss tool…

“Bear with me because this IS quick, but sometimes it takes a few minutes for me to cut through the bone..”

By this time, my client (and I) are either completely cracking up, or I have seriously scared the living you know what out of them, or they just think I’m a complete lunatic… (it depends on whether I was able to keep a totally straight face or not)

Finally, the light bulb goes on, and my client would see where I was going with this:

“Okay, smart alec,” I get it… I don’t want to lose WEIGHT, I want to lose FAT.”

Sometimes I would be having so much fun, I would just keep on playin’…

“But why not? This is easy, fast and guaranteed – just what everyone wants these days… it’s even better than taking a pill! Come on… let me hack it off! You’ll be my next testimonial: ‘I lost 20 pounds in 5 minutes!’ Imagine what that will do for my business!”

“Very funny. I told you, I get it, I get it! I want to lose FAT, not muscles and bones. I need my leg!

Naturally, of course, I don’t always have to pull out my trusty blade. Every once in a while… about as often as a total solar eclipse… a client answers my question like this:

“What do I want? Tom, I want to lose 20 pounds of body fat in the next 12 weeks. I want to do it slowly, safely and healthfully and then keep it off permanently. I want all the fat around my hips and thighs completely gone and I want a firm flat stomach. I want muscle all over my body while still looking feminine. I’d like to see myself at about 16% body fat and maintain all my muscle or gain a few pounds of lean mass if I can, especially in my arms. This is important to me because I want to set a good example for my kids, I want to be healthy and live to at least 90 and I want my husband to look at me and say, “I love your body, honey,” and I want to be able to *honestly* say back to him, “me too!”

It is on these rare occasions that I know there is still intelligent life on this planet.

If you could answer the question, “What do you want” just like this woman did, I don’t think you would ever have any difficulty reaching your health and fitness goals… or any other goal in your life, for that matter.

This answer is what you call a very “well-formed” goal, backed up with lots of emotional motivation-inducing “reasons why.”

“I want to lose weight” is a poorly-formed goal.

“Weight” is not the same as “fat.” Weight includes muscle, bone, internal organs as well as lots and lots of water.

If you only learn ONE thing from all my newsletters, articles and books, PLEASE learn this:

WHAT YOU REALLY WANT IS TO BURN THE FAT, WHILE KEEPING THE MUSCLE!!!!

FAT LOSS is what you want, not weight loss.

If your body was 100% rock-solid muscle, with absolutely nothing that jiggled (unless it was supposed to), would you care how much you weighed?

I bet you wouldn’t!

STOP WORSHIPPING THE SCALE AND START MEASURING YOUR BODY COMPOSITION

By measuring your body fat, you take the guesswork out of your health and fitness plan and you get an accurate picture of what’s really happening in your body as a result of your diet and exercise program.

Instead of worrying about whether you are losing muscle, or wondering if you are losing fat, you can measure it and KNOW for sure. (I always get a good chuckle when someone tells me they’re worried about losing muscle when they don’t even measure how much muscle they have!)

Instead of being confused by all the “opinions” from weight loss and exercise “experts” who are all telling you something different, you can MEASURE your body composition and based on the results, you can KNOW for sure whether your program is working.

A very wise man once said,

“A single measurement is worth a thousand opinions.”

So, how do you measure body fat?

There are many ways. Thanks to technology, there are some methods today that are so accurate, they can tell you whether your left pinky has more fat than your right pinky!

Unfortunately, many of them are either too expensive or they are inaccessible, being found only in hospitals or research facilities

If you want to learn a LOT about various body fat testing methods, refer to chapter 3 in my e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle at www.burnthefat.com

Instead of re-hashing it all, let me give you three quick and easy, practical suggestions:

Suggestion 1: Have a trainer or fitness professional measure you, if this service is available at your local health club. Sometimes, there’s a charge – usually $15 – $25, although some clubs offer the service for free to all their members (we do at our club)

Suggestion 2: Purchase an Accu-measure skinfold caliper. Do a google or yahoo search to find a reseller, or just visit www.accumeasurefitness.com.

The Accumeasure was designed to allow you to measure your own body fat in the privacy of your own home (you don’t need someone else to measure you)

Some people wonder if this is really accurate. Truth is, it’s not quite as accurate as a multi site skinfold test from an experienced tester, but it’s better than nothing. Besides, what’s most important is not the “accuracy” per se, but the reliablity and consistency of your measurements so you can track your progress. Skinfold calipers in general are not accurate or inaccurate, it’s the person doing the test that is accurate or inaccurate.

Here’s the page where you can download a study about the accuracy of the Accu-Measure (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, December 1998):

http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/study.pdf

Suggestion 3: If you have a spouse, roomate, or friend who can measure your body fat, you can purchase a Slim Guide body fat caliper from Creative Health Products: www.chponline.com

The Slimguide is the best inexpensive caliper available (About $20), but it wasn’t designed for you to measure your own body fat. You’ll need someone to measure you with this caliper. Other models of body fat calipers (if you want to splurge), range from $150 to $450. (At our health clubs, I use the electronic “SKYNDEX” caliper with the 4-site “Durnin formula.”)

The calipers come with instructions, or you can use these formulas, which I have used and found to be very accurate:

4 Site formula for men (abdomen, suprailiac, thigh, tricep)

% fat = .29288(sum of 4 skinfolds) – 0.0005(sum of four skinfolds squared) + 0.15845(age) – 5.76377

4-Site Formula for women (abdomen, suprailiac, thigh, tricep)

% Fat = (.29669)(sum of 4 skinfolds) – (.00043)(Sum of four skinfolds squared) + .02963(age) + 1.4072

Source: Jackson A S, Pollock, M (1985) Practical assessment of body composition. Physician Sport Med. 13: 76-90.

Body fat percentages vary based on age and gender, but 20-25% body fat is average for women (15-19% is ideal), while 15-20% is average for men (10-14% is ideal). I have detailed charts for body fat charts in my e-book if you’re interested.

Once you know your body fat percentage, then weigh yourself and record your weight and body fat on a progress chart such as the one found in my Burn The Fat Feed The Muscle Program (a fat loss program, not a weight loss program). This chart is how you will track your progress and “keep score.”

You can calculate your lean body mass (muscle and other fat free tissue) very easily just by crunching some numbers:

For example, if you weigh 200 pounds and you have 10% body fat then you have 20 pounds of fat (10% of 200 = 20). That means you have a lean body mass (LBM) of 180 pounds.

Now we’re talking! With this data, you can get a really clear picture of how your exercise and nutrition program are affecting your physique.

Losing weight is very easy. Losing fat – and keeping it off without losing muscle – is a much bigger challenge. If you simply wanted to lose weight, we could just chop off your leg.

Or… (slightly less painful)… I could show you how to drop 10 – 15 pounds over the weekend just by dehydrating yourself and using natural herbal diuretics. Bodybuilders and wrestlers do it all the time to make a weight class.

But what good would that do if it’s almost all water and you’re just going to gain it all back within days?

You don’t have to “throw away your scale” like many “experts” tell you to. By all means, keep using the scale, the tape measure and even photographs and the mirror – the more feedback the better, but body fat is where it’s at.

By the way, I recently bought a chain saw and a shiny new axe from Home Depot, and I’ve been practicing my “American Psycho” and Jack Nicholson, “The Shining” impersonations… so if you want to come to my office any time soon for personal consultation, you’d better have the right answer to my question, “What do you want?”

One last thing – If you found this information useful, then you’ll want to know that I wrote an entire new e-book on body fat testing, called “How to Measure Your Body Fat In the Privacy Of Your Own Home.” Normally the retail price is $19.95, but I’m offering it for FREE at www.burnthefat.com with the purchase of my fat loss ebook, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle. (Note: BFFM is a FAT LOSS program, not a WEIGHT LOSS program!)

Almost everyone trying to lose weight will consider dieting at some point. Unfortunately most dieters rarely achieve long-term success. This is because it can be difficult or impossible to stick to a diet and keep up with a weight loss program. However, there are other options for people who want to lose weight.

Unlike a diet, hypnotherapy for weight loss will help motivate you to naturally eat healthier and get more exercise. Here, I will discuss some popular diet plans, the keys to losing weight, and how you can lose weight using hypnosis.

The high numbers of online searches for free diet programs and diet plans indicate that many of us are looking to lose weight. Some popular diet plans are:

The Atkins diet, which is a popular low carbohydrate diet, is centered around the limited intake of “refined carbohydrate” foods such as sugar and white bread. By limiting carbohydrate consumption, this program is supposed to help the body switch from burning carbohydrates for energy to burning fat (a process called ketosis).

The Ornish diet is a very low fat, vegetarian diet, is a totally vegetarian diet, and when observed correctly, a mere 10% of total calorie intake will be from fat. The Ornish diet also strongly encourages exercise and stress-management, and has successfully helped to reverse heart disease in many dieters.

The Suddenly Slim diet program involves taking diet pills and meal replacement shakes with the goal of stimulating the body’s metabolism to use up more calories. The products include many herbal ingredients typically found in diet pills. The Suddenly Slim program is supposed to function without increasing exercise or making other major lifestyle changes, although exercise and healthier eating will increase results.

The Zone diet balances carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake, with 30% of calories coming from fat, 40% from carbohydrates, and 30% from protein. Like the Atkins diet, this diet is often categorized as “low carb.” The Zone diet monitors calorie intake and physical exercise to deliver results.

The Cabbage soup diet can be found in numerous free online diet plans and is largely regarded as a fad diet. It consists of eating only cabbage soup for a week. Following this program will usually lead to a few pounds of weight loss, but when you resume normal eating habits, the weight will come back. In addition, continuing this unbalanced diet for longer than seven days may lead to poor nutrition and poor health.

There are hundreds of diet programs all promising fast results, but what many of these popular diets claim is not what they actually offer. They focus around meal plans that are unbalanced, unsustainable over a long-term period, or downright unhealthy. In truth, permanent weight loss is rarely achieved through a short, one-time diet session.

Successful dieters will tell you that the keys to weight loss are not in fad diets or even diet programs, but in portion control, selecting healthy, filling foods, and exercising regularly. This sounds quite simple to do, but it can be difficult to stay motivated to keep healthy habits and undo a lifetime of bad dietary choices.

We often lose our motivation to exercise and eat healthy. Hypnosis can be used to reverse our bad habits and lack of motivation. Hypnosis weight loss programs work by utilizing the power of the unconscious mind to motivate you to exercise and improve your physical health.

Even the best diet plans fail if they are not followed through. Research reveals that most diets fail because dieters just cannot stick to them. After years of consuming oversized portions, many of us are driven to overeat and our appetites are out of control. This is where hypnosis for weight loss is especially effective. Hypnosis weight loss programs are highly effective in helping to control food cravings and control the appetite.

For many of us, another component to weight loss is stress management. Many people are emotional eaters. We eat in response to our emotions, such as when we are sad or bored. This emotional attachment to food can make it easy to pack on pounds. We can use hypnotism for weight loss to create alternative strategies for managing our stress and to quit associating food with our feelings.

It is easy to learn hypnosis by yourself with a good self-hypnosis program. There are weight loss self-hypnosis programs specifically developed to help you achieve your goal of permanently losing weight. With simple techniques from hypnotherapy CD programs, you can stop struggling to lose weight and become naturally motivated to shed pounds.

We all need motivation to make changes in our lives. But some motivations can have short-term effects whilst other motivations can have long-lasting, life changing effects. This article takes a very quick look at how we can cut to the core of making the long-lasting, life changing decisions easier.

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Why do you want to lose weight? Do you want to make someone else happy? Your kids, your husband? The only way to lose weight in the long-term is to lose weight for you.

While some or most of this article might sound like pointless new-age psycho-babble, at its core are valid, solid ways of changing your life. Do not give in, it may well be a life changing experience.

Whilst these are all valid reasons for losing weight they may actually be the reasons why so many people fail to lose weight or lose weight but then put it all back on with a little extra just for desert. In order to understand long term weight loss we need to look at the nitty-gritty at how the mind works and how we become, and remain motivated, to do something.

When we want to change something about ourselves we need to look deep. Not just “Because the doc said I need to lose a few pounds” deep or “I want to look nice when I lie by the pool” deep. We need to look at where we are now, where we want to be and the difference between the two. That is where the deepness lies.

Ok, let’s take any weight measurements out of the equation and look at body size and shape. We might imagine ourselves to look a long way from the way we want to look. But how does that make us feel? Pretty miserable right. But that’s where your change begins – connect with the feelings caused by the difference between the two you’s. The discrepancy between the you now and the person you want to be is the reality and sometimes the reality hurts! The difference between where we are and where we need to get to needs to be bridged.

You need to imagine what it would feel like to be the person you want to be. Stop for a second and think about it. Close your eyes. Really think about it. Think about the person you want to change for. Because this is only a short article I will give you the answer you need to come up with.

The only person you want to change for is you. There are just so many reasons you could have come up with for changing. Kids, husbands, wives, parents, friends, pets, teams – the list is endless.

The only person you need to change for is you. If this sounds too selfish and self-centred for you then I’m sorry. However, the chance of you changing long-term for anybody other than yourself are minimal. If you think about it another way, what would make the person you are changing for happy? Would they be happier to see YOU happy or would they be happier watching you trying to make THEM happy? So if we want to change we have to look at ourselves and see ourselves as we really are. We need to look to the person we want to be. From then on the person you want to be is going to be the person you are.

If you want to lose weight you need to do it for yourself, no-one else. Not only do you get to be the person you want to be but everybody else gets the benefit of basking in the glow of your happiness and success.

Are you interested in formulating an exercise plan that will assist you to remain trim and help you to get thin? Studies regularly show that there are two basic types of exercise that are both extremely efficient and successful. Of course, it stands to reason that you must be motivated in the first place, and that is why therapeutic hypnosis can help solve your problems.

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If you’re like most people, you are interested in creating an exercise system that will assist you to remain healthy and slim. It may shock you to find out that research studies usually demonstrate that only two core kinds of exercise are useful — which suggests that you can’t just choose any type of exercise to become trim.

Due to the fact that so many people have trouble with the motivation to exercise, performing the most efficient kinds of exercise is imperative, since the less time you spend exercising – and the less time you waste on low efficiency exercise – the more likely it is that you will persist in your exercise routine and therefore achieve your personal weight and strength target.

Our first type of exercise which has been regularly proven to aid people to lose weight and get trim is progressive resistance. In brief, progressive resistance is one type of strength training. It functions by progressively ramping up the pounds lifted, the number of sets, and number of repetitions performed. As a result, your muscles are never strained or subjected to damage – instead, they slowly and steadily strengthen without any setbacks.

Our second type of exercise that has been scientifically studied is cardiovascular training. This is any type of exercise that gets the heart rate up to 60 – 85 percent of its maximum rate. Some kinds of cardio training may involve jogging, jumping rope, aerobics, or treadmill, among other types of exercise, but it is your choice.

Although progressive resistance and cardio training by themselves have been found to be very efficient forms of exercise, scientists now know that performing both of these types of exercise is the best bet for success. If you combine both progressive resistance and cardio training, you will increase the strength of your muscle groups and increase overall endurance. According to a recent scientific study, exercisers who used both cardio and progressive resistance during a two month time period lost 45 percent more weight than exercisers who did cardio training or progressive resistance alone.

Just as important as the type of exercise you perform is, the way in which you exercise is also important. It probably will be unsurprising that being consistent is the name of the game. Exercising inconsistently may strain your muscles and will probably not aid you to build strength and endurance. In addition, it is unlikely to improve your whole-body health. According to most scientists, the best regime is to exercise for forty minutes to an hour three to five times per week.

Unfortunately, it turns out that for a significantly sized subset of the population, getting sufficient exercise is not as easy as attending the health club a few times every week or listening to what scientists claim. For this group of people, the motivation to exercise is the primary issue – this group of people simply doesn’t have the motivation to go to the gym. Actually, they might resist any and all exercise, to the point of severe anxiety.

Nobody knows what percentage of the population suffers from problems with the motivation to exercise, but scientists say that up to 20 to 40 percent of people claim that they “hate” or “dread” exercise. An even larger percentage of people might have more mild problems with the motivation to exercise, finding that even though it is simple enough to commit themselves to an exercise regime for a week or two, motivation eventually degrades, leaving them where they were initially – unhealthy and heavy.

If you are one of these people who struggles with the motivation to exercise, the good news is that there are some easy strategies to deal with the struggle. In a recent research study, volunteers who needed to start an exercise program were provided with a brief learning program that aided them to decide on the right kinds of exercise, were provided with a therapist who specialized in exercise motivation, and were given a brief course in hypnosis. After six months, they were asked to evaluate their progress. It turns out that over 85 percent of the participants had adhered to an exercise program throughout the whole six months. Even better, they generally lost an average of fifteen more pounds than the control group.

If you have an interest in this study, it might make sense to look into locating a motivational therapist, habit control therapist, or therapist who deals with hypnotherapy. These therapists are provided with special training in helping people to transcend anxieties, build the motivation to exercise, and reinforce the creation of good habits. One more choice for exercise motivation is self-hypnosis – which is a simple and inexpensive process that often helps people take control of their own inborn abilities to be motivated.

Hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis are risk-free ways of increasing motivation that have been proven to provide success in the case of exercise motivation. Hypnosis works by using hypnotic relaxation to enhance the powers of the unconscious mind to influence the modification of behavior and habit development. Hypnotherapy is a good choice for the exercise adverse because it can help increase the drive to get trim and lose weight easily and effectively.

Are you tired of the yo yo effect? These simple 5 steps can help you KEEP the weight off once you do lose it

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Why do some dieters suffer the endless frustration of losing and then gaining weight again and again, while others lose weight and keep it off forever?

And we know you don’t want to be the latter group?

Here are 5 very simple tips successful dieters implement – and you can easily adapt these good habits yourself.

1.) You know that old conventional wisdom that goes “The scale doesn’t matter when you’re dieting”? For a long time experts scorned the idea of frequent weigh ins, pointing out that the scale can be inaccurate because of fluctuations caused by water weight. Remember, muscle weighs more than fat. So if you’re exercising you may be gaining muscle and that will throw the scale off.

However, it turns out that weighing yourself every day is actually an excellent motivator for dieters. A study in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that dieters who weighed themselves every day lost the most weight, and kept it off more successfully, compared to a group of dieters who did not weigh themselves regularly.

2.) Keep a log of everything you eat. When you log everything you eat you will feel MUCH more guilty when you cheat because you have to see it and read it.

3.) Do at least 1 15 minute activity everyday. ANYTHING. Walk your dog, go jogging, do tae bo. Most of us work at desks and sit at home all day – then do it at least three times a week. You will lose weight quicker and this is one of the big contributors of keeping the weight off.

4.) Plan ahead. If you are going out to dinner with friends or to a holiday office party or even to the movies, what are you going to do when hunger pangs hit? Eat something before you go and decide BEFORE you get to the party or movies.

5.) Schedule the occasional indulgence. Most weight loss experts suggest and encourage a cheating day. When you get to eat some pizza, brownie or some ice cream at some time in the week your chances of ditching your plan is much less likely. This can also be a day when you throw in some more activity.

For those of you out there who believe that you can only lose weight through fasting, you cannot be more wrong! Facts have shown that it is not how much you eat but actually what you eat that results in weight gain in most people. If you decide to eat correctly, you will surely be eating your way to weight loss naturally.

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In the developed world today, a whole lot of people seem to be struggling with a particular challenge common to them all and that is the issue of how to lose weight so as to live a healthier life. In the same vein, a good number of the people concerned tend to believe that the only way to lose that excess fat is by starving themselves or fasting. Nothing can be further than the truth in this case. It has been proven by the experts that one can achieve weight loss naturally through correct dieting.

In order to lose weight naturally, the main thing one has to keep in mind and practice is to eat wisely, take enough water and do some regular exercise. This combination of actions will surely help you get rid of that unwanted fat as well as give you a fitter and sexier physique.

It is pertinent at this stage to note that when I talk of losing weight naturally through correct dieting, I am not talking about some very strict diet but simple ones that can be found in some cook books such as the Metabolic Cooking. I am also not talking about a particular diet for the whole day but an intelligent mix of recommended diets that will end up giving you a healthier body through weight loss.

I suppose that at this stage some of you out will want to know exactly how to eat wise and reap the benefits of losing weight naturally in the shortest possible time. It is not rocket science but simply doing what is right as already suggested. For an example, the diet experts claim that our ability to shed fats is eighty percent correct dieting and twenty percent how much exercise we give to our body. This also means that you need to steer clear of that attractive and sweet junk foodstuff you have been destroying your system with only to go back to the gym to try to burn the fat you got from wrong dieting practice.

Another important aspect of correct dieting is the issue of the water intake level. It is a fact that taking a good amount of water on a daily basis helps in ensuring a clean body system. As a matter of fact, the experts have made it abundantly clear that in order to keep our body system in a clean condition we need to take as much as sixty ounces of water daily. This is much better than the sugary drinks that many people use to replace water in their diet. It is recommended by medical experts that every adult should drink at least eight glasses of water in order to enjoy a healthier life devoid of obesity.

In summary therefore, anyone who wishes to enjoy the benefits weight loss simply needs to combine a correct diet with a good water intake and do some exercise. That also means such a person needs to as well avoid taking junk food and replace that with the consumption of lots of fruit and vegetables. When fruits are added to your meals, it is easier for you to ward off the cravings for sweet since you are ingesting natural sugar instead of the artificial one. You are advised to take fruits such as oranges and or apples in between your meals as a means of eating your way to weight loss and good health.

You can begin to lose weight by reducing your stress level. Here’s how!

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There may be many reasons why you engage in the behavior of overeating. Overeating helps some people gain a sense of control over their lives. Other people overeat when they are stressed or upset. Think about the times that you have had a binge eating session? What was the motivation behind it? Do you turn to food when you are upset or have a stressful day? Do you find a sense of comfort in the food that you eat? If stress is a major factor in your eating habits, finding ways to help reduce stress can help you lose weight.

1. Find a Support System

Having people that you can rely on is a great way to start reducing stress. Call on your friends or family when you are in a stressful situation. They can be a great source of advice or just a shoulder to cry on. Sometimes going out with work friends after a long stressful day can work wonders to melt the stress that you feel. We all need to rely on our friends and family at some point. Being able to talk about your stress is a health alternative to overeating.

2. Post Positive Mantras

Think about the negative comments you make about yourself when you are feeling stressed. Most people struggle with negative self-talk at sometime in their lives. Begin to challenge your old ways of thinking. Replace those old thoughts with positive thoughts that will help you push through stressful times. If a long stressful day at work leaves you thinking that you are “no good at my job”, change your thoughts. Think about how hard you worked today. You put in your all and achieved a goal you had set. Whatever your new thoughts are going to be, post them around your house. This will help you stay focused on them even when you are headed for a stress out moment. Thinking positively can help curb overeating.

3. Find Time to Relax

It is important that you take a few minutes everyday for relaxtion. There are many different things you can do in order to relax. If you had a busy day at work and spent the evening running errands, take a long soak in a tub. If you find yourself working late one night, close your office door and read a chapter in a book. On the weekends, go for a walk around a nature trail. The activity can last five minutes or five hours; the important thing is to take some time to relax.

4. Meditate or Journal

Another great way to reduce stress is to be alone with your thoughts. This can help you sort out what is going on in your life in a healthy way. One way to do this is to meditate. Another way is to write in a journal. Writing in a journal is a great way to begin organizing your thoughts about the stresses in your life. Dealing with your stress in this productive way makes it less likely that you will overeat.

5. Listen to Your Body

Stop beating yourself up for overeating. Move forward into a new way of thinking about eating and food. By listening to your body, you will learn when your body is telling you it is full or hungry. Know the signals that your body gives off in order to begin recognizing the difference between hunger and emotional eating. You can pull through this struggle and be on your way towards a natural weight loss.