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Tag Archives: Pounds
Between You and Your Weight Loss Goals
Standing between you and your weight loss goals is one thing–the story you tell yourself about why you cannot reach them. If you change the story, you change your out come.
The Stores We Tell Ourselves
Back when I was struggling with my weight, I would tell myself things like, “You are never going to make it. You have tried so many times before and failed.” And, “I simply have a weakness for bad food. I cannot help myself.”
I have heard the same story from others along with things such as, “I’m genetically deposed to be fat.” And, “I have a slow metabolism.”
As long as people have these kinds stories running though their minds, they will never lose weight.
Write a New Story
Overcoming the stories we tell ourselves is not difficult. In fact, it is as simple as writing a new story.
One of new stories that I tell myself is, “The past does not equal the future.” This helped me tremendously. I had failed to lose wight over and over again in my life. Two years ago, when I had finally had enough, when I finally decided to get rid of my excess fat, the nagging voice in my head was saying, “This is just going to be another failure. After all, you have always failed before.”
But I decided not to listen to that story and instead tell myself, “The past does not equal the future.” It did not matter how many times I had failed in the past, I did not have to fail in the future. Now that I have re-written my story, my future looks brighter than ever.
Another story I use to tell myself is,”I am too weak to say no to bad food.” For example, I would start a diet and in just a few days a friend would call me and want to take me to lunch. This would lead to failure as I would often chose to indulge in a high-carbohydrate item. Of course afterwards I would feel guilty and say to myself, “I am too weak to say no to bad food.”
Now I tell myself, “I am in charge of what I put in my mouth.” When I go out with friends these days, I always chose the low-carb option unless I have special plans.
Of course there are many other negative stories that I use to tell myself that have now been replaced with positive ones. But what about you? What negative stories are you telling yourself now? And what stories will you have to tell yourself to make a positive change? Let us know in the comment section.
Old Ideas
It’s interesting how many old ideas about losing weight and working out are still floating around. Of course I’m not here to talk about every one of them. That task could fill book after book. However, I did hear one recently that I thought I would address here.
I had an unexpected cheat meal. It happens and I could have avoided it, but it was with a friend and I did not want to miss this particular get together, and I also wanted to eat the food that was being served.
The good news is I knew about the meal a few hours a head of time. So what did I do? I worked out like crazy! I seriously punished myself before I went to eat. As a result, I felt good about the meal and it did not affect my weight at all.
A few days later I was addressing another group of friends and telling them the story I just told you. One of my friends tuned and said to me, “You should have worked out after so you could burn off the meal.”
“Working off” a meal is just a bad way to look at it. It’s outdated. It is one of those things that sound logical but does not stand up under the latest in scientific scrutiny.
When you work out before a bad meal (particularly resistance training), your muscles need glucose to repair themselves. This means when you eat a high-carb meal, your muscle cells are competing with your fat cells for the sugar in your blood. If you work your muscles hard enough, they will win the contest. This is why you want to work out before you have a cheat meal.
That said, working out after a bad meal is not going to hurt anything and it is better than not working out at all. However, working out after is an attempt to correct damage that has already happened. You are trying to mobilize fat storage which is much more difficult than preventing the problem. Preventing the problem is what happens when you work out before a bad meal. Your muscles soaks up the glucose before your fat cells can take them.
There are many other old and bad ideas that people still believe. Let’s here some that you have heard in the comment section.
Update
Hey everyone. I just wanted to let you know what has been going on lately. Here is the scoop. As many of you can tell, we have updated the site. We upgraded this sight from a free blog to an actual web sight. My hope is that this will bring more of a professional look to this new business.
Also, I (Ean) am working on a small booklet which will cover the first six weeks of the diet/lifestyle we promote here at Advanced Weight Loss. This will be a digital download that will be available for a very low price.
In addition, I will be starting a pod-cast shortly called: A Mind For Fitness. My hope is that the pod-cast will be up and running within the month.
Finally, I want to thank everyone for following this blog. It really means a lot to us here.
It is glorious cheat day!
Hey all. Just a quick word to let you know that it is my cheat day and remind you of the importance of such a day. Remember, having regularly scheduled cheat days re-sparks your fat burning hormones. They also make your health program psychologically more manageable. To learn more about these two benefits, read my previous articles on cheat day.
That said, I must admit that I really do like my cheat days. We had a pot-luck supper at our Church. I indulged myself in all kinds of sweets as well as a whole lot of Mexican food!
So how do you like to cheat? Let everyone know in the comment section.
Getting Past Your Plateaus (Making Your Diet Work)
In a past article, I mentioned that I have hit many Plateaus during my weight loss journey. I would like to take the time and share with you precisely what I did in order to beat everyone of those plateaus. I do this in the hopes that this will help you get past your weight-loss plateau as well.
First off I must admit that this is extremely autobiographical. In other words, these are the things I did. This is to say that these things may or may not work for you.
I started my weight-loss journey at around 286 pounds. I probably weighed more but I cannot be sure. The first wall I hit was 250 pounds. Honestly, I was still feeling pretty good at this time, but I noticed that the weight was not coming off like it was when I first started. However, because I was still feeling good, I did not quit my diet nor my workout scheduled. And that is the first thing I did to get past my weight-loss wall. I kept going!
After this, I lost 8 more pounds. Now I was down to 242ish and I hit another wall. This one was severe. My weight loss did not just slow down, it stopped altogether! I was very upset. I was still dieting and working out, but the scale was not moving at all! What I had done to lose weight so far was now no longer working for me. I do not remember how long this phase lasted, but I’m going to guess that it was a few mounts.
So what did I do to get past this wall? Well, basically I increased my workouts. I did not do this on purpose. What happened is I was hired on to a second job. Both my jobs at that time required that I was on me feet all day. But my new job was much more labor intensive. In addition to this, I was still doing my regular workouts and I stuck to my diet plan. Within just a few weeks, I lost another 10 pounds.
So I was at 232 and I hit another wall. It was just as bad as the last one. The scale was not moving even though I was exercising like crazy and maintaining a low-carbohydrate diet.
It was at this point I started learning more about dieting and exercise. I started learning about how and why the belly fat is so hard to lose. I learned that belly fat is more like an organ, and one thing it does is store toxins.
One of the people who I look up to recommended that people who are having a hard time getting rid of those last few pounds switch from regular Diet Coke to Diet Coke with splenda. The sweetener in regular Diet Coke is a toxin, and I was ingesting that toxin by the gallons. So I switched. And guess what? It worked! I got down to about 225-227. That is a total loss of 60 pounds off my original weight.
In closing, I have one more way way of getting past this very last wall that I have hit. However, I will share that with you when I reach my goal weight of 220!
Don’t Let One Failure Become a Habit (Why Diets Fail)
One of the reason why diets fail has to do with mental attitude. Of course there are many mental attitudes that can either help or hinder your weight-loss experience. In this post, I would like to cover one of those attitudes. I call it the “Letting One Failure Turn into a Habit” attitude.
So what is this mindset? Perhaps you can relate. It goes something like this. You failed to keep you diet program. For one reason or another you simply fell off the wagon. Your cravings got the better of you, and you indulged in high-carbohydrate foods. But instead of stopping at that one feeding, you say to your self something like, “I already blew it for this meal. I might as well just make a day out of it.” Now the whole day is ruined instead of just one feeding.
Often this one day extends to several. Let’s say you had your slip up on Thursday. Then you say something like, “Well it’s Thursday and I have already messed up. Tomorrow is Friday and that is doughnut day at work, and Monday is a holiday, and I was already planning to make compromises.” This process can repeat itself so often that one is more off their diet than on it.
In the recent past, I had to correct this problem in my own behavior. It was one of those weeks where I was working very hard. My wife and I were out for brunch, and I was craving carbs like crazy. I had an inner dialogue with myself over whether or not my cravings were emotional or my body really needed the carbs. I eventually decided to order some high-carbohydrate food. Whether or not I cheated or my body simply needed the carbs I cannot tell. But the smells in that restaurant and the look of all those high-carb foods being taken to other tables was just too much.
Going off the wagon for that meal was not my biggest problem. That came later in the day. I noticed another inner dialogue starting up. While visions of pizza and ice cream flashed through my mind, I said to myself, “Hey, I already had a high-carb meal today. I might as well just make a day out of it.”
When I realized what was happening, I had to make a choice. I chose not to let one failure turn into a habit. First, I let myself off he hook for cheating earlier. Next, I told myself to not to ruin the day over one meal. I reminded myself of how far I had come. And that I only had a very few more pounds to lose before I reached my goal weight and falling into this trap would be a major set back in my progress. That pizza and ice-cream was not worth it and it never will be.
In closing please remember that you will have failures. You are not perfect. Don’t beat yourself up for falling off the wagon. Just get right back on it and keep heading toward your goals.
Goal Setting For Weight Loss.
One of the things that I have found enormously helpful for myself and my clients is setting goals. In fact setting goals is a requirement for those who secure Advanced Weight-loss Resources as a training or coaching agency. What follows are a few simple steps that will help you set goals and in turn help you lose weight.
Step one is be specific. Too often I hear people say something like, “I need to lose a few pounds.” But what is a few pounds? Is it ten or one hundred? The reason you need to be specific is so you have an objective criterion in which to measure your success. Without an objective standard, it is easier let up on your weight-loss program sooner than you should. So, if you would like to lose fifty pounds write down fifty pounds.
Step two is give yourself a dead line. Deadlines create motivation. If you know you have to lose twenty pounds by the end of the month, then you know you have to get working on your goals right away.
Finally, put your goals in a place where you can see them every day preferably put them in a place where you can see them every morning. This will set a positive mental attitude at the beginning of each day.
If you want to go the extra mile, you can read your goals out loud at least once a day. This also gives you psychological inspiration for keeping you on track.
Keep Moving Forward
If you do not hit your desired goals, do not panic. I would almost guarantee that if you followed the steps above you will be much closer to your goals than if you hadn’t. Don’t be afraid to adjust and re-adjust as necessary. The important part is to keep moving toward you weight-loss goals!
A Personal Request
If you enjoy the information that is on this blog, please consider re-posting it or sharing it on your favorite social media. It would mean a lot to me. Thanks.
The Right Workout.
Working out is a great way to accelerate your weight loss goals. For most who want to lose weight, working out is not an option–it is a requirement. But that leads to a very important question: What workout is right for you?
Answering the above question is a bit tricky. There are many theories by many experts talking about what kind of work out one should and should not do. And, like I have mentioned in previous posts, I am not an expert. I can only tell you what I have done to lose weight myself, and what I have recommended to my clients.
First off, I am of the opinion that (most) any exercise is better than nothing. This is particularly true for beginners. Generally speaking, for people who just starting, a low-carb diet along with most any workout will accelerate fat mobilization. In other words, I am not one of those coaches that say, “Don’t do cardio,” or, “Only do cardio.” If you are a beginner, just get moving!
There is also a psychological advantage in doing a workout that you enjoy. And that is simply this: if you enjoy it, you are more likely to do it! So pick something you like and go for it!
However, I do have to say that this kind of philosophy on working out is only good for a short period of time. The reason is your body adjusts and it becomes more resistant to fat mobilization. This is particularly true of cardio. The better you get at cardio, the longer you have to do it in order to get the same effects.
A good example of this is jogging. At the beginning, person may struggle to jog a block. But at the end of a month, he can jog a block with no problem. In order for the same person to receive the same benefits, he has to now run further which will takes more time. People can continue to lose wight doing cardio as long as the workouts continue to intensify and the duration increases.
This leads me to one of my favorite kinds of workouts and that is strength training. One of the best ways I have found to accelerate weight loss is lifting weights. This kind of workout does not suffer from the same problem as cardio. What do I mean by this? Well it is true that your body can adjust and as a result stop mobilizing fat as readily. However, in order to fix this problem you do not have to increase the duration of your workout. All you have to do is increase the weights.
This does not mean that lifting does not have its setbacks. For example, you can adjust to strength training and there does come a point when adding weight no longer helps. This situation does take much longer to reach with strength training rather than cardio, but you will still get there.
The other problem is that of too much bulk. Leaning out and buffing up is great. But, there are not too many people out there that desire to look like a professional weight lifter. In fact, for most, that kind of look is simply unattractive.
With that in mind, it is important to note that for a great majority of people bulking up like a professional will never be a problem. This is partly due to the fact that in order to look like a professional body builder you have to take supplements (some legal some not so legal) that increase growth hormone in addition to working out. But some people with some body types can bulk up with like a professional without the supplements.
I know that I have to watch out for this personally. I have a naturally thick build, and if I do too much strength training, it is easy for me to get too bulkie.
There should be something said about Yoga and HIIT. However, this article is getting too long already so we will have to save these subjects for another time.
So what kind of workout do I recommend? At first, I suggest that you pick a workout you like and do that two to three days a week. But do not do it every day because of the reasons listed above. Break these workouts up with other workouts. Here is an example of what I have done and have recommended:
Day 1: Strength training (pick only two or three muscle groups).
Day 2: Strength training (make these different from the muscle groups form day one).
Day 3: Cardio (your choice. Just make it intense).
Day 4: Strength training (Mix it up).
Day 5: Yoga.
Day 6: Cardio or Hiit.
Day 7: Rest.
I will keep this kind of workout up for about three weeks. Then I change to this:
Day 1: Cardio (usually Martial Arts).
Day 2: Strength training (two or three muscle groups).
Day 3: Cardio.
Day 4: Yoga.
Day 5: Weights.
Day 6: Cardio (maybe a HIIT workout).
Day 7: Rest.
I usually keep this second set of days going for a two weeks. Then I go back to the first set of days for another three weeks.
Conclusion
If you are a beginner, just get moving. Pick a workout you like, but don’t do it everyday. And remember, success is the ultimate test of whether or not something is working. If it is not getting you closer to the goals, DO SOMETHING ELSE.
Secret Carbs (Making Low-Carb Diets Work).
Have you plateaued on your low-carb diet. If so why? The answer could be that you are getting more carbs in your diet than you are aware of.
How does this happen? It happens by neglect. People neglect to check labels or look up foods online to find out how many carbs they are eating. As a result, they plateau quickly, get discouraged, and resume unhealthy eating.
What’s in Your Salad?
Eating uncounted carbs happens all the time in salads. And I’m not just taking about the croutons. Most people who are on a low carbohydrate diet are savvy to avoiding them. However, even in a salad without croutons, there are still many uncounted carbs.
My eyes were opened to this when on one occasion, I had a salad with some craisins in it. At the time, I did not think anything of it. However, later on in the evening I decided to check the carbohydrate count just to see. I was surprised. I always expect the carb count to be higher on fruit, but I was not expecting this. There are about 22 carbs in 1/4 of a cup! After, this I started counting carbohydrates in many of my questionable favorites.
Another Common Oversight
Here is another common oversight that I have committed myself and have also seen regularly in other people’s choices. This oversight is sauces. For example, many cheese sauces have flour in them. Often lowcarbers will not think of this because cheese is often OK on many low carbohydrate diets. And when we make this sauce at home we usually use cheese and heavy cream. But the pre-packaged kind will mostly use flour. This should make any good low-carber reconsider ordering the broccoli, cheese soup.
A popular sauce that often has more carbs that expected is tomato sauce. Almost all the canned tomato sauces have sugar added. Check the label before you make that spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce.
It’s Just the Broth
Another culprit is broth. I have seen many people order chicken noodle soup and ask the server for just the broth. However, much of the starch of the noodles can leach out into the broth. This creates a much higher carb count than expected.
The Fix
There is an easy way to fix this and it is to simply check the labels. If it’s a kind of food without a label, look it up on line. If you are out at a restaurant, ask questions. Doing these simple things will help keep you on the weight-loss path.
Advanced Weight Loss Resources 