My Weight Loss Blog

I’ve had some emails from readers saying that the hardest part of dieting is the constant craving for food. Hunger isn’t easily ignored. However, should we actually call it hunger? Most of it is psychological, your body doesn’t actually NEED food, but your mind is telling you that it is after food. Learning to control your mind will be just as important as controlling your body. At first, when people start dieting they are enthusiastic, but after a while their mind starts to wander and thoughts of food will once again pop up. Dieting is largely the effort of resisting the urge to give in to your cravings and eat whatever you want. Preventing yourself from taking that cookie will be vital. You know that once you start eating those lovely small cookies (in fact they contain 70 calories per cookie) you won’t be able to stop easily. Before you know it you have eaten 6 cookies worth almost 450 calories! That’s about 20% of the recommended daily calorie intake for a male!

So concentrate on keeping your mind off food, and hide all those tasty chocolate cookies from sight. Once you are able to control your “virtual hunger feeling” you will be in a much better position to lose weight. There are several protein drinks that are low fat, and low calorie – and calm down your urge to eat calorie-rich food. Do be careful what kind of drink you decide to take. Do some research on the product. Start with small amounts and gradually increase if the product is working and not having any nasty side effects.

It is well known that fibre-rich foods are a great way to prevent yourself from consuming calorie-rich foods. Fibres are an excellent hunger fighter, and they are healthy as well. Fibres have even been mentioned as a good way to restore blood sugar levels.

Do not underestimate the power of the human mind. It has the ability to make you a stronger, and healthier, person if you are able to control its mechanisms. The right mindset makes losing weight a lot easier.

Good news for those of us who can only get rid of some weight. Even modest weight loss will help fight off diabetes. Which is excellent news! It has long been known that excess body fat can increase your chances of developing diabetes. The latest study shows that it’s worth losing even a modest amount of fat. So what is modest weight loss? According to the Australian study we are talking about 6 kilograms. With some dedication that should be doable for the majority of us. The following two sentences are important in my opinion:

“People are spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars each year buying antioxidants and taking fish oils and all sorts of other things which are supposed to have anti-inflammatory action,” she said.

“A little bit of calorie restriction and a modest amount of weight reduction will have a profound benefit.”

So not only can you become healthier by losing only a few kilograms, it will also save you tons of money. A win-win situation, surely? So let’s reduce our calorie intake! You can read the full article at ABC News.

All the best.

George.

I am scared. Christmas and New Year are getting closer and I need to find a way NOT to gain weight again. I’ve actually gained weight every Christmas since I started keeping track of my weight. I usually end up with 4 kilograms of extra weight after Christmas and New Year are over. Since I can’t seem to get myself not to eat so much during this period I have decided to eat less 2 weeks before Christmas starts, this way I lose some extra weight and then during Christmas I can eat without worrying about my weight. So far i’ve lost 3 extra kilograms, another 1 to go

I’ve also increased my exercise time. I am spending about 2.5 hours a week on my exercise bike, and can see some improvement. My wife even mentioned my buttocks are starting to look nicer!

Have a great Christmas.

I am of the opinion that we think about weight loss in a much too complicated way. An average human will gain weight if he/she eats more, or stops exercising for example. Isn’t it really all basically a simple calculation? Expensive weight loss products obviously want to convince you that it’s some sort of mystery. But from what I’ve seen weight loss is pretty much guaranteed if you decrease the intake or start burning more calories.

The problem is psychological for a large part. Often we are convinced we are not eating that much, when in reality we consume large amounts. It’s therefore a good idea to keep track of how many calories you consume per day. The average female requires about 2000 calories, males 2500. Let’s assume you are an average male and you find out that you consume 3500 calories per day. Start decreasing this gradually, the first week 200 calories less per day – then the next week 400 calories, etc. You should start seeing some results after a month.

What you eat is just as important, however, decreasing calorie intake is a good start.

I am not a nutrition expert or weight loss guru. But after a while trying all kinds of dieting programmes I realised that not all is as complicated as it seems.

Oh, and to add : No matter how many expensive weight loss products you buy, if you don’t have the discipline to do something about your weight, then nothing is going to help you. And yes, discipline/dedication is the hardest part.

If you have any tips to share, feel free!

George.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I’ve been extremely busy lately. Actually me and my wife have been busy. We moved to a new house a week ago. It took months of planning. It’s just unbelievable how much stuff we really have. It’s all hidden away until you move. About 20% was donated to various charities, there was just too much we didn’t use anymore – hopefully someone else will be happy with it.

Maybe you have guessed it… but I’ve lost a bit of weight again because of the move. All the carrying stuff around, stressing out over little details – and not much time for snacking – burned off about half a kilogram. My wife looks extremely well now that we have settled in our new home. Time for a holiday to some exotic resort to get a tan and leave all our worries behind us for 2 weeks.