Love your Body

Obesity is now being called an epidemic in the health community. In fact, it will soon be the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, even ahead of cigarette smoking. Obesity leads to type two diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke and even an increased risk of cancer. With all of these health risks, as well as the general improvement in the quality of life that can occur, losing weight is one of the best things that you can do for yourself.

No matter what we would like to believe, there simply isn’t a magic solution to losing weight. The body will shed excess fat when it needs more calories to function through the demands you place on it in a given day than the amount of calories that you feed it. It’s that simple. So, in order to lose weight, you need to decrease the number of calories that you eat as well as increase the amount that you burn.

There is a wide range of options to choose from when looking for a weight loss program. All of them often spend a lot of time explaining what to eat, in what amounts and even at what times or in what combinations. But few of them emphasize the importance of exercise - not just for losing weight, but for your general health and wellbeing. Exercise is vital when trying to lose weight for several reasons:

* First, as you start to eat less, your metabolism will slow down somewhat. Exercising helps to elevate your metabolism back to an efficient level.

* Second, as mentioned, exercise burns more calories so that you can lose weight faster and stay motivated in your efforts.

* Third, exercise actually releases endorphins, chemicals that keep your mood elevated.

Exercise doesn’t have to mean spending hours at the gym or straining through exhausting workouts. In fact, in order for you to stick with it on the long run, exercising should be something that you enjoy. Start by increasing your activity level in an overall way. Take the stairs when you can. Park further from the mall door when you go shopping. Go for a walk in the park or through a neighborhood you love and bring a dog or a friend along for company. Take dance or martial arts lessons.

Once you become more active in general, you’ll find it easier and more natural to move into regular exercise. Which you’ll need to do eventually in order to get regular, noticeable health benefits. You need to raise your heart rate to a fat burning level and keep it there for at least 20 minutes, 3 times or more a week. However, if you don’t want to go to a gym, there are other options. Videos and DVDs are now available in all kinds of exercise types. That way you can change your routine whenever you want so that you don’t get bored with what you’re doing. Try a range of aerobics, kickboxing, yoga, or pretty much any activity you want right in the comfort of your own home.

If you have physical limitations that would keep you off from exercising, you can still find a way to increase your activity level. Water aerobics is a wonderful option for those who have joint problems or limited mobility because it relieves the pressure on your body that your weight provides. But you still get the resistance to challenge your muscles from the water. There are even classes and videos available that let you exercise in a seated position.

Whatever kind of exercise you choose, it’s important to stay motivated and keep it fun. Try gathering a group together to make it a social event. Or get a pedometer, a device that tracks how far you walk, and see how many miles you can walk a week. Make a competition amongst your friends or family members and treat the winner with something special (not food related!). Make the experience of exercising something that you look forward to, and it will soon become a regular part of your healthier lifestyle.

About the Author: Jane Flinders reviews some of the most popular diets and diet aids at http://www.DietsIndex.com where you can find different diet plans, sample menus, food lists, diets classifications, tips and tricks on how to stay on the diet you choose.

There is a perfect diet for you that will give you a consistent weight loss of 1 to 2 lbs a week - the quickest rate you can lose fat healthily. The perfect diet is balanced and has exactly the right nutrients you need. When you eat it you feel great. You’re full of energy. Your skin glows.

The perfect diet has adequate amounts of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, nutrient rich fruit, vegetables, oils and seeds. It provides the full range of minerals, vitamins and other micro nutrients without the need for lots of supplements. And it takes into account your food preferences.

You could visit a nutritionist or a registered dietician today and get a diet tailor made for you or you could choose to follow any number of sensible balanced diet plans out there in books and online.

Good idea?

Not necessarily so! If you have the strength of will and determination to follow the perfect diet it may be worth it. But how good have you been at following diets in the past? Most people are far from perfect when it comes to sticking to a diet regime no matter how much they try. And modern life rarely lends itself to following perfect plans.

Plus it can be demoralising to start out full of hope and determination and find out that your willpower is not that great. In fact trying to be perfect can be one of the fastest ways to fail and give your self-esteem a beating. Maybe you give up altogether or maybe you just say to yourself “I’ll start again on Monday” but whatever you do it’s not the most effective approach.

In fact, I believe the perfect diet is not one which you receive on a few sheets of paper and follow forever more. The perfect diet is one you grow into.

You achieve the perfect diet for your lifestyle when you gradually improve your eating habits, one small step at a time. This way you get a real taste of success to encourage you to continue making improvements until you are eating healthily most of the time yet still enjoying the odd treat and over-indulgence.

The perfect diet feels like something you want to do because it feels natural and that can only come when you give yourself time to change. You lose weight faster in the end simply because it works and the perfect thing about it is that the weight stays off permanently.

About the Author: Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of “The Diet Exit Plan”. Her system promotes permanent healthy and automatic weight loss through making small changes to your everyday habits. Get her FREE 15 page report “How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn’t want you to know” at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!