WEIGHT LOSE

WEIGHT LOSE Top 10 Tips for Starting a Weight Loss Plan Starting a new weight loss plan can be daunting, even if you’ve done it before. If you are thinking of starting a new weight loss plan, you’ll find the top ten tips listed in this article invaluable and give you the best possible chance for long term success in achieving your weight loss goals. Tip 1 – Cut out all soft drinks and energy drinks,and drink plenty of water instead Soft Drinks, Energy Drinks and Cordials are the major source of added sugar in our daily diet. If you are serious about looking after yourself and losing weight, you have to tackle this problem immediately. It will be difficult to start with as you might be addicted to the sugar and energy hit, but break the addiction and you will feel much better. Ideally you should substitute all of these drinks with water and/or herbal teas, but you might need to do this gradually. Start by substituting one sugary drink per day with a healthier alternative and build up from there until you not drinking very few or no soft drinks at all. Our bodies need water to absorb nutrients from food, transport them around the body and flush away our waste products. In a mild climate an average person needs to drink about 1.5 litres of water each day. In hotter climates you will need more to prevent dehydration. Tip 2 – Control your portion sizes Start now! Halve the amount of food on your plate; you really don’t need all that food. Take your time eating. Put down your fork after each mouthful. Savouring each bite is one of the best ways to ensure you take your time to eat your meals. It takes 10 to 20 minutes for your stomach begins to tell your brain that you are full. If you stuff too much food in before that amount of time elapses, you will end up with that dreaded “I’ve eaten too much too quickly”feeling. You are not a vacuum, don’t suck your food down – CHEW. Tip 3 – Have a great breakfast When it comes to eating a healthy diet, if you start your day off well, chances are high that the rest of the day will follow suit. Try to have a breakfast that includes protein, calcium and vitamins. Poached eggs, or egg whites,served on toast with baked beans andgrilled tomatoes are a perfect choice. If you don’t have time for this, a wholegrain cereal with low fat milk and yoghurt will keep you going until lunch. Freshly squeeze your orange juice and mix it up each day – variety is the spice of life and is the best way to ensure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs. Finally, try pre-preparing some Bircher muesli, this will last a few days in the fridge and you can eat it on the hop. Tip 4 – Eat the widest possible variety of foods Expand your palette. Try cuisines from other countries, venture out of your comfort zone. Many cultures have a fresher and healthierdiet than westerners. The more variety of foods we get into body’s the wider variety ofnutritionitabsorbs. Most European and Middle Eastern cultures have great salads and vegetablesdishes with a variety of meats that taste great; we can all learn different ways of adding spices and flavours to food by studying the diets of different cultures. Asians food is particularly great for fast and fresh stir fry’s and noodles.The more interesting you can make food taste, the more likely it will be that you will continue to eat it. Healthyfood doesn’t have to be as boring as cardboard. Tip 5 – Start cooking Get into the kitchen and cook. Don’t rely on takeaway foods or pre-packaged meals. We need to start incorporating fresher foods into our lifestyle. One of the ways to do this is to start cooking yourself. Start with what you like to eat. If you like Chinese, a stir fry takes little time to prepare and cook, and is very nutritious. Don’t be scared. We all make mistakes in the kitchen – some with good results, and some not so good, but how are you going to learn if you don’t try. Many take away meals are unhealthy. You can make these meals at home which taste just as good, if not better, and you’ll know exactly what has gone into the Tip 6 – Be active everyday Moving our bodies burns fat. The amount you burn will depend on how often and how long you are active. Set a plan to do some form of activity each day, even just 30 minutes. Do something you enjoy, or can at least tolerate, as you will be more likely to stick with it. If you can’t do too much else, just walk, walk, and walk some more. At the end of the day, small amounts of activity is much better than sitting around. Tip 7 –Snacking A common downfall of people who are trying to lose weight is unhealthy snacking – we all do it. Not having potato chips or chocolate in the cupboards is a start to not being tempted. Don’t put them in the trolley when shopping. If you are REALLY desperate to have chocolate, you will walk to the shop and walk of the KJ intake. The key is removing the immediate temptation and habit of having these on hand. If you are addicted to the taste of chocolate, then Milo or Hot Chocolate is a great alternative. Tip 8 – Set Mini Goals We all need to feel like we are achieving something each week. Set yourself a mini goal for the week. The mini goal can be an elimination of a food or an introduction of a food. After a while the habits formed from setting and achieving these mini goals will become our norm. Tip 9 –Get Support It is important

Nutritional Counseling

Nutritional Counseling Nutritional Counseling Nutritional counseling is a type of assessment made which analyzes various health needs in regard to diet and exercise. A nutritional counselor helps people to set achievable health goals and teaches various ways of maintaining these goals throughout their lifetime. Nutrition is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Without proper nutrition, one does not have enough energy to make it through the day. Also, health declines without proper nutrition, making one more susceptible to illness and disease. Nutritional counseling is sometimes offered at eating disorder treatment clinics for patients in need of anorexia treatment, bulimia help or binge eating assistance. Such an assessment is beneficial to a wide variety of people and can help those with numerous disorders. During this assessment, the counselor provides information based on a person’s current status, helping to improve overall health. Many nutritional counselors recommend fitness programs and nutritional supplements. By seeing a nutritional counselor instead of looking and testing out various products, time is saved. Through nutritional counseling, basic health needs are met and specialized information is given to fit each person’s everyday lifestyle. Who Can Benefit From Nutritional Counseling? A variety of people benefit from nutritional counseling. This type of counseling assists all ages, ranging from pregnant women, to vegetarians, to the elderly and people with different medical complications. Those who may benefit include those with: Diabetes Osteoporosis Poor nutrition and eating patterns Eating disorders (some of which may require eating disorder treatment) Digestive complications HIV Cancer Hypertension Nausea Nutritional questions Allergies Organ problems Obesity Hypoglycemia Menopause Fitness goals Heart diseases For many people with eating disorders, this type of advice is very beneficial. In fact, many California eating disorder centers as well as other eating disorder residential programs across the country offer nutritional counseling. Benefits of Nutritional Counseling Various benefits of nutritional counseling include: Increase in energy Healthier lifestyle and food choices Better quality sleep Reduced symptoms of disease Less drastic range of emotions Happiness Possible increase in longevity Strengthened immune system Lesser chance of disorders and disease appearing Better ability to concentrate Good luck with your Nutritional Counseling and thanks for visiting www.nspfitness.com.

Exercise

Exercise Beginning to Exercise – A Ten Point Plan Beginning exercise for the first time, or for the first time in a long time, can be very daunting. If you’re planning to start exercising, or making a comeback to exercise after a long break, consider following this ten point plan which will not only help you get started, but hopefully help you. Point One – Get a Medical Check Anyone planning to start a new exercise program should consult with their doctor first, particularly if they’ve never really exercised before, haven’t exercised for an extended period, or have known pre-existing medical conditions. If you visit a doctor who is familiar with your medical history, they will be able to provide some guidance, and hopefully reassurance and encouragement if you tell them what you’re planning to do, how often and why. What most doctors will be most concerned about is your heart health. Doctors know that exercise is good for your heart, but they’ll want to be sure that you don’t put too much stress on your heart initially, and will likely want to take your blood pressure and your pulse, listen to your heart beat and lungs functioning, and ask you about your family medical history with regards to heart disease, etc. Point Two – Set Goals Setting goals for yourself is important when it comes to exercise. Goals help you plan your exercise, track your progress and motivate you when you don’t feel like exercising. It’s also useful to set both short and long term goals. If you only set a short term goal, once you’ve reached it there’s nothing else to work towards. If you only set a long term goal, you’ll miss the sense of achievement so crucial to achieving your long term goal and you may lose interest because your objective is too far in the future. Common exercise related goals are: Participate in an organised Participate in an organised fun run, walk or bike ride Walk, jog or bike ride a certain distance Get stronger and leaner Increase body measurements in some areas and decrease them in others Tone up muscles Increase general fitness Feel healthier and have more energy Lose weight Point Three – Find Something Easy When you first start exercising it doesn’t really matter what you do, all that matters is that you do something and that exercising becomes a habit. If you do something that’s too hard, chances are you won’t stick with it. It’s better to start with an exercise that’s not too taxing which will encourage you to do it often. Great examples of exercise that is relatively easy to do are: Walking Cycling Water Aerobics Weight training with light weights Golf Pilates The great thing about all these types of exercise is that you can vary the intensity and duration of the exercise very easily. For example, if you can only walk slowly for a few hundred metres initially, that’s fine, just do that and build up to longer distances from there. Point Four – Find Something You Enjoy Once you’ve gotten into the habit of exercising and built up a base level of fitness, you can start experimenting with different types of exercise to find things you really enjoy doing. If you want to make exercise a part of your daily routine for the rest of your life, it’s important that you enjoy exercising. One way to increase your enjoyment of exercise is to combine it with other things you enjoy, like listening to music on your iPod, watching TV (while exercising on a treadmill, stepper, exercise bike, etc), catching up with friends and even eating. This last example may seem odd, but there’s nothing more enjoyable than rewarding yourself with a tasty, but healthy snack or meal after you’ve had a challenging workout. Point Five – Start Off Easy One of the most important things to do when starting a new exercise program is to start off easy. Exercising inside your comfort zone for an extended period after starting an exercise program will minimise the risk of injury, will increase your level of enjoyment, and will increase the likelihood that you will continue to exercise. Point Six – Progress Slowly When you begin a new exercise program, plan to progress slowly. Sometimes it’s useful to use the FITT Principle to help you plan and regulate your exercise progress. FITT stands for: Frequency of exercise Intensity of exercise Time spent exercising Type of exercise By varying these factors, you can ensure that your progress to ‘fit and fabulous’ is slow and controlled, which provides the best long term results. As a general guide, it is often recommended that you don’t increase any of the top three factors above by any more than 10% at a time. For example, it’s not considered a good idea to increase your workout time from 30 minutes to 60 minutes overnight. Rather, increase it in 5 minute increments per week until you achieve 60 minutes. Point Seven – Be Patient Most people that start exercising and don’t stick with it do so because they lack patience. They typically want results yesterday and with very little effort. I’m sorry to say it, but unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. The key to being patient is to set longer term goals and plan a slow steady progression as discussed above. hen it comes to exercising for health and weight loss, remember the story of the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. Point Eight – Stretch When you first start doing any exercise, it’s going to be a little bit of a shock to your body, especially your muscles. In response to exercise, muscles can tighten up causing imbalances across muscle groups which if not addressed can cause muscle injury. One of the best ways to avoid this, in addition to starting off easy and progressing slowly, is to do some light stretching before and after your exercise. And remember