Weight loss - other useful tips, edited.

Obesity is an ever growing problem that causes heaps of health problems and we should all try to lose weight! OMG! I'm so sick of hearing that! It seems like everytime I read a paper, magazine, turn on the tv, or surf the net, there it is - more info

So many people worry about diets and exercise, weightloss programs, and what the scales have to say about them. There are a few tips that are all too often totally overlooked, that can be used to aid in weight loss or weight control, that won't cost you excess money, won't require a huge amount of effort, and won't require you to make major changes to your life style. Here's some that aren't specifically diet related:

Get your metabolism up before eating. 

Your metabolism is your greatest friend and greatest enemy when trying to loose weight. When you rest and sleep your metabolism drops, when you are active, it goes up. The higher your metabolism, the better you burn off energy and digest food. The slower it is, the more fats and sugars your body will store. There are a lot of ways to increase your metabolism, unfortunately many have some very negative side effects - like illegal drugs. The healthiest, easiest, and cheapest method is simple activity. 

When you wake up in the morning your metabolism is at it's lowest. It also has a minor crash in the early afternoon (some people call it three-thirty-itis). You want to raise your metabolism before you eat so that you burn off what you eat more effectively. The easiest thing to do is hold off having breakfast until you have been awake and active for about half an hour or so. Get up, have a shower, chase after the kids and get their butts ready for school, run around the house like a crazy person for a little while, then have breakfast. Same goes for lunch and tea. 

Sometimes, just the effort of cleaning up and getting the meal ready can be enough to get your metabolism going, though it doesn't hurt to take a short brisk walk before eating. Or better yet, make it fun. Turn on the stereo with some boppy music and dance around the house while you go about your day. When you're washing the dishes, swing those hips side to side at the sink in time to the beat! Your family and friends might think your nuts, but surely it's more interesting and fun than making yourself dizzy walking around your clothesline in circles all day!

Don't be scared to take a quality vitamin supplement.  

It doesn't hurt to take a general all-purpose vitamin supplement once a day. That way, if there is anything lacking in what you are eating, you're not being totally deprived of it. However, be careful to make sure it is low in vitamins A, D and E, as these fat-soluble vitamins can build up in your system if you have too much, and in very high doses they can become toxic and the effects can be as bad as not getting them at all. Be especially careful of vitamin A if you are pregnant - in fact, if pregnant, check out what vitamin supplements are specially designed for pregnancy. You may find that you may feel a little bit more alive, and if you are prone to craving for certain foods that these cravings will lessen a bit once your body gets used to the idea that it is getting a regular supply of a small amount of everything it needs.  

Reward yourself. 

But not with food!!! Each week that you succeed in sticking to any diet or exercise plan you have, or if you have just had a good week, do something nice for yourself. Go out somewhere, buy something nice, or coax your partner or the kids to do something nice for you. Don't punish yourself for caving in and binging on a packet of chips one day, just don't reward yourself at the end of that week. Only give yourself your reward when you have earned it, make it on the same day at the same time each week, and look forward to it. That way, when you are staring at a chocolate muffin, you can rationale with yourself about what is better - the muffin, or the weight loss and weekly reward. That muffin will suddenly become very insignificant.  

If you have one, control your nicotine addiction.

Smoker to smoker - yeah, this is tough. But you will be healthier and more active if you you can at least cut down a bit. If you can give up, excellent! I am not going to say that you must give up however. If you want to do that you will have to do so in your own time, when you are ready. But in the meantime, you can control the addiction, get more active and burn off a few more kilojoules in doing so. 

Start by making your house and vehicle smoke free zones. It's better for everyone, especially your kids if you do anyway. You'll be surprised how much easier it is to resist that ciggy if you have to stop what you are doing and go outside in the weather - or pull over and get out of the vehicle - just to have a nic fix. It's also easier to resist if you don't have that smoke smell around you all the time. 

Then move onto resisting each cigarette until after you have done something constructive, and then expand that time slot. Example: At first, make sure you finish washing the dishes first. Then don't have another one until after the dishes have been dried and put away. Then after you have built up some resiliance, wait until after you have done all the housework before you have that smoke. If you are going out for an hour or two, leave them at home. 

Getting stuff done before having that ciggy you've been longing for helps motivate you into getting more done. It reduces the amount you are smoking, which of course has all the usual health benefits, makes you feel more active, saves you money, and makes what you are eating taste better. Also makes the house and vehicle smell better, and is better for the kids. Of course, giving up is the best choice, but when that's not a priority, you can at least cut down a little.  

Never over-eat. 

Just because it is on your plate, it doesn't mean you have to eat it. If you eat until you feel full, by the time your brain has registered this fact, you will have over-eaten. The best way is to eat until you are simply no longer hungry. Also, you don't have to eat a full meal just because it is lunchtime, but don't skip meals either. If you aren't particularly hungry, just have a smaller lighter meal. If you find yourself feeling famished, don't heap extra food on your plate. Eat a normal sized meal and if you are still hungry a couple of hours later, then have a small snack to "top up".  

Don't weigh yourself at the end of every week. 

Muscle weighs more than fat. If you loose fat and gain muscle at the same ratio, you will put on weight, even though you have improved your health significantly. Also, jumping on the scales too often can make things seem to take longer, as the differences are so small it can seem to make the weight you lose insignificant and frustrating. Lastly, you may at first lose a lot of weight very quickly, but the closer you get to your optimum weight, the harder it will be to lose. The amount you lose each month will slowly decrease, so don't get disheartened if you don't lose as much one month as you did the month before. 

We can put on huge amounts of fat and totally distort our body shape in the process. No matter how hard we try - steroid use excluded - there is a limit as to how much muscle mass we can build up. The best way to determine how much fat you are losing is to measure yourself with a tape measure. Measure your chest, waist, hips, upper arm and thigh before you start any weightloss program, and then do it again and keep a record of it once each month. These are the places where we carry the most fat. This method also has a bonus use. When we buy clothing we don't choose what size we need by weighing ourselves, we go by measurements. So when your clothing starts falling off of you, and you need to buy new stuff, you will know what size you now have to buy.