Tag Archives: Weight Loss

Getting Past Your Plateaus (Making Your Diet Work)

August 19, 2014UncategorizedBuilding, coach, coaching, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, health, lose weight, Low Carb, Motivation, Muscle, N. L. P., NLP, Pounds, psychological, shred, success, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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!

Goal Setting For Weight Loss.

August 5, 2014UncategorizedBuilding, coach, coaching, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, health, healthy eating, inspiration, lose weight, Low Carb, Motivation, N. L. P., NLP, paleo, Pounds, psychological, shred, success, Supplement, take action, Weight, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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.

Shortly in the Future…..

July 23, 2014UncategorizedBuilding, coach, coaching, diet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, lose weight, Low Carb, Motivation, N. L. P., paleo, Supplement, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

Hey all. I don’t really have too much to say in this post. However, I do have a request. Would you please like my new Facebook page because it would mean very much to me and hopes for world domination!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Advanced-Weight-Loss-and-Health-Resources/511946012260911?ref=hl

I also wanted to let you know some of the upcoming projects. Soon we will also have a Twitter account. We will also have a podcast show dedicated to nutrition, exercise, NLP, and weight loss motivation! Also, we are opening a You Tube page. So be on the lookout for these things.

Also, look for my next article in which I will discuss the right exercise for you!

Until then, please like my Facebook page! Thanks.

Secret Carbs (Making Low-Carb Diets Work).

July 18, 2014UncategorizedBuilding, coach, coaching, diet, dieting, exercise, food, health, healthy eating, Low Carb, Motivation, N. L. P., NLP, paleo, Pounds, shred, take action, Weight, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

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.

Free Offer

July 10, 2014UncategorizedBuilding, coaching, diet, exercise, Fitness, free offer, healthy eating, lose weight, Low Carb, Motivation, Muscle, NLP, paleo, Pounds, shred, success, take action, Weight, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

For a limited time, I am offering a free coaching session! Well, I’ts not completely free. All you have to do is share your favorite article from this blog on your favorite social media. That’s right just share your favorite article form my blog on your most used social media and you can receive a free coaching session.

There are several topics you can choose from. You can have a session on motivation where we can talk about how to break food addictions. Or simply get you motivated to take the first steps.

We could also discuss diet. We can talk about what to foods to eat and what foods to avoid. I can tell you precisely what I did to lose 60 pounds.

Or we could talk about exercise. I can tell you what kinds of workouts I recommend and what kind of exercise I think one should avoid.

We can have this session over Skype, or over the phone. If you live near me, you can redeem you free session in person!

Act now because this free offer is only good for a limited time. The only restriction is that you cannot share this article. But you can choose any other article from this blog. Again, just share the article on your favorite social media and redeem your free session!

When you share this on social media use the contact sheet below and let me know the best way to get a hold of you and what article you shared and where you shared it. Then we will scheduled a time that is best for us.

Offer only good within the continental United States. Offer ends on 7-17-14. Coaching session must be redeemed by 8-31-14.

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Thank you for your response. ✨

The Importance of Cheat Day (Why Diets Fail)

July 8, 2014weight losscoaching, diet, exercise, Fitness, food, health, Low Carb, Motivation, NLP, paleo, Pounds, shred, success, take action, Weight Loss, workoutadvancedweightlossresources

How did you spend your Fourth of July? I spent mine eating bagels, donuts, cookies, potatoes, potato chips, corn chips, and ice cream (among other things). But I did not fall off the wagon. Rather I indulged in a well deserved cheat day.

If you do not already know, a cheat day is a day when you can eat all those foods that you do not normally eat. Foods that are “bad for you.” Cheat days are important and you should not skip them. Why are they so important? Here are two reasons.

Psychological

In an earlier post, I talked about one of the reasons why diets fail. And that reason was an un-manageability factor. In other words, any diet that is going to work has to be a diet that you can live with.

How does this concept figure into a cheat day? Well, what if you were on a diet that forbid you to eat any unhealthy food–ever. Could you do this? I know I could not. While I love eating healthy, I also love some unhealthy foods as well. If I were told I could never eat them again, eventually I would break down and go off the diet. And without the regulation one gets form cheat day, I would probably continue to eat unhealthy food and regain weight.

But this is not a problem when you have a scheduled cheat day. I know that all my sacrifice is going to pay off. I know that there is a day coming when I can eat all those pleasure foods I have been avoiding. And the best part is I’m not breaking my diet! Cheat day gives me the psychological advantage to continue to eat healthy between indulgence days. I don’t have to live without those foods forever. All I have to do is weight a little while.

Health Benefits

The other reason to have a cheat day has to do with the health benefits that accompany them. That’s right. Cheat days have health benefits. It is not all just indulgences.

How is cheat day healthy? As many of you know (particularly those of you who follow a low-carb diet), fat loss is a hormonal process. As you lose weight, you also decrease the production of weight-loss hormones. When you have a cheat day, you re-set all your fat burning hormones. This becomes very important when you are trying to continue to lose weight. In fact, not having enough cheat days is one of the reasons why people plateau and stop losing weight.

So enjoy your cheat day. And don’t cheat your self out of it!

One last thing. You may be wondering how often you should have a cheat day. You may also be wondering what and how much you can have on a cheat day. Keep coming back to this blog to find out.

Find Something New to Love (Get Motivated to Lose Weight)

June 30, 2014UncategorizedBuilding, dieting, exercise, Fitness, food, health, healthy eating, Low Carb, Motivation, Muscle, N. L. P., paleo, Weight Lossadvancedweightlossresources

Dieting can be tough. However, if you only think about how tough it is, you are bound to fall off the wagon. This is one of the reasons why diets fail. The dieter focuses on the food they are not allowed to have. This kind of fixation will ultimately result in feelings of despair and want. That is a recipe for failure.

Of course, there are many, many ways to fix this problem. I will, more than likely, address a verity of techniques to overcome negative dwelling patterns. But in this blog, I want to discuss one thing that is bound to put yourself in the right frame of mind so you can stick to you weight-loss program. And that one thing is simply this: Find something to love. What I mean by this is find some new activity or aspect of your new life to throw yourself into. Here are some suggestions:

1. Low-carb Cooking: Some have thrown themselves into low-carb cooking. There is a lot of fun in learning how to cook delicious food without the high-carb ingredients. Challenge yourself in the kitchen. Grab a low-carb cookbook and try a new recipe every night, or at the very least once a week. I am particularly fond of low-carb desserts.

2. Martial Arts: This is a personal favorite of mine. I have been involved in the Martial Arts since I was seven-years-old. Not only will you learn new skills, but you will also dramatically improve your confidence. There is nothing like knowing that you can defend yourself if needed.

3 Weight Lifting: Get your pump on! Lifting weights is one of the quickest ways to see results in your body. This creates an upward spiral. The more positive changes you see, the more you will want to weight lift. The more you weight lift the more positive results you will see. Eventually, you just keep going in a positive direction.

Here are just a few ideas. I’m sure you can come up with some of your own. And in no time at all you will find something new you love even more than bad food.

Make a Declaration

June 26, 2014Uncategorizedexercise, Fitness, Low Carb, Motivation, NLP, paleo, Weight Lossadvancedweightlossresources

A client of mine recently fell of the wagon after only a few weeks on his diet program. Of course, I asked him what happened. He said that his mother invited him over for a Saturday dinner. When he arrived, he found that the meal was spaghetti. There was not a low-carb option. In addition, spaghetti was a personal weakness for him. It is no surprise that he broke down and indulged.

But this leads to the question: How could this situation have been avoided? Here is one thing to keep in mind: Not everyone knows we are on a specialized eating plan. This is particularly true for those who have just started. My client’s mother is not clairvoyant. She could not have known that her son needed to stay away from high-carb foods.

This is less of a problem for those of us who have been eating healthy for some time. For example, most (if not all) of the people in my social circle know that I have specialized dietary needs. They also know that I am committed to this kind of lifestyle. As a result, I’m usually in a situation where there is a low-carb option. But this was not the case when I first started. I had to tell my friends and family that I was on a new weight-loss plan. I had to make a declaration.

Of course some of my friends had seen me fail on diets before. Because of this, friends would invite me to places where there was very few low-carb items on the menu. In other words, they did not think I was serious. However, this happened less and less as time went on. The more my friends saw me make good decisions the less they invited me to places where bad decisions were the only option. But it started with a declaration.

My client’s situation may have been avoided if he declared in advance to his family that he was on a low-carb diet. He could have asked his mother to help him make a healthy decision. Would this have solved the problem. Not necessarily. His mother may have chosen to serve spaghetti anyway. But it would have given his mother the choice to either help or hinder her son’s goals.

When you first start a new weight-loss program, you need to stack the deck in your favor. Making a declaration will at least let people know that you are serious about your health goals. And in fact, staying silent about your dietary needs is really just another way of declaring, “I’m not really committed to make a change.”

Have a Shake for Failure (Why Diets Fail)

June 21, 2014Uncategorizeddiet, dieting, exercise, Fitness, Low Carb, Motivation, NLP, success, Supplement, Weight Lossadvancedweightlossresources

I’m all about getting results. I really do not care what method one decides to use as long as it is working (and its legal). So if you are one of those people who have lost a significant amount of weight and have kept it off though shake-supplements, then please ignore this rant. However, if you among the vast majority of people who who have failed at this kind of diet (like myself), then listen up.

As a side note, when I use the term “shake-supplement,” or “shake-supplement diet,” I am referring to those diets that use a shake or bar to supplement a meal. I am not referring to shakes as a vitamin supplement that one might have in addition to meals. I’m not necessarily endorsing those either, but I am certainly not referring to them in this article.

One of the reasons why diets fail is that people think of them as diets and not lifestyle changes. In other words, people think that they can do something different with their eating habits for a short period of time, get results, and then go back to the way they were eating. But what ends up happening is they just gain the weight back as soon as they revert to their old eating habits. In most cases, dieters also gain a few extra pounds and are worse off then when they started.

This is the mindset for many of those who are on a shake-supplement diet. They are not thinking, “Hey, I’m going to drink a shake for breakfast and/or lunch for the rest of my life.” That is not usually the attitude. Generally, this is something that people do for a short time to drop a few pounds. And guess what? It works! People will often drop 5, 10, 15, even 20 pounds! But they have not made a lifestyle change. As a result, as soon as they revert back to their old eating patterns, those pounds come right back.

Another reason why diets fail has to do with a manageability factor. Any diet that is really going to work has to be a diet that one can live with for the rest of one’s life.

So let us imagine that someone is using these shake diets with a long term goal in mind. I’m sure that is the case for at least some people who try these supplements. However, this kind of diet is simply unmanageable, and cannot it be lived out in the long run. What do I mean by this? Let me explain using some examples that I have gone though personally and have also seen with many people who have tried these diets.

Your alarm clock did not go off, and now you are late for work. You jump out of bed and do not have time to drink that morning shake. Furthermore, in the rush, you forget to pack your afternoon shake. Lunch time comes. What do you do? Don’t eat? Eat something bad for you? Neither option is good. If you eat something bad, then you are not really on the diet and its not going to work. If you decide to go ahead and starve, you will usually overeat as well as make unhealthy choices at dinner.

How often does this happen? What I have seen is that this does not usually happen during the first few weeks. But after that, it happens more than not particularly with those who are not “morning people.” Then, they are off the diet more than they are on the diet. Next, they are off the diet altogether. Why? Because this is simply an impractical way to live.

Or here is another example:

You have packed your shake for lunch and had your morning one as well. Your friend calls you up, and says, “Let’s go out for a bite, my treat.” What do you do? You may decline the offer for the first few of weeks, while your resolve is strong. Or you may go and decide just to enjoy the conversation but refrain from eating. Again, how long can this last? Are you never going to go out for lunch ever again? Or if you do, how long will it be before you break down and decide to eat something unhealthy in addition to the sake you just had? The answer is not long; just a few weeks. Then those pounds come back along will all the feelings of regret and self hatred. Why? Those kinds of diets are unmanageable.

Of course the shake diet is not the only kind of diet that fits into these paradigms. there are many diets that cannot be lived out on a day-by-day basis. If you are on one of those plans, quit!

I am so glad that I am not on a diet but have made a lifestyle change. Because of this, I can go out with friends and eat at almost any restaurant. Most places have a low-carb option. And if there is not a low carb-option I can easily create one. If I miss breakfast for some reason, not to worry (I’m not counting calories), at my next opportunity to eat, I can make healthy choices and not starve. The diet I am on is a diet (lifestyle) I can live with!

My Spare (Bike) Tire

June 20, 2014Uncategorizeddieting, exercise, Fitness, Low Carb, NLP, Weight Lossadvancedweightlossresources

On the very first blog I wrote for this sight, I mentioned that I was not though losing weight. Recently, I was reminded of this fact when I looked in the mirror and noticed my spare tire. This was slightly discouraging. I have been actively living a healthy lifestyle for over a year and a half. While I have seen a dramatic change, I’m not finished losing weight–but I really want to be finished!

However, I was only slightly discouraged. I emphasis “slightly” because while I still have a bit of a spare tier around my gut, it looks more like a bike tier rather than a monster-truck tire. I am closer to my weight-loss goals than ever before, and that is something to be excited about!

But this caused me to ask the question: How much weight should I lose? The answer to this is I don’t know. My goal weight right now is 220. I’m only 6-8 pounds away! But, do I only have 6-8 pounds to lose? I guess I will not know until I get there.

I mention this because 220 was not always my goal weight. Let me explain.

When I started this weight-loss journey, I weighed apx. 286 pounds. And it did not take me long at all to drop 25 of those pounds. When I was at 260, I was really liking the way I looked. But I realized that I needed to lose more weight. I thought if I was at 250 I would be in peak physical condition. When I dropped to 250, I realized I was not in “peek physical condition.” I also thought that every one would notice how much I lost. The truth is very few people said anything about it at all.

It was at this time that I hit a plateau. (I will talk more about what I have done to get off my plateaus in another blog). I pushed though and dropped 8 more pounds. At 242 I hit another plateau. I also realized I was not finished losing weight.

Though a series of activities I lost 12 more pounds! 230! I honestly cannot remember the last time I weighed that much. I have to admit that I was pleased with myself. People who had not mentioned my weight-loss before were finally saying something. It seemed like everyone was talking about it.

I was happy, but not 100 percent happy. I thought I needed to lose another 10 pounds. Well, I have lost 2-4 of those 10 pounds and I still have somewhat of a spare tire. But is that spare tire an 8-6 pound tire? Well, I will let you know when I get there.

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