5 Tips to Lose Weight Fast!

Now that I've put out some propaganda let's see how many fall for the trap!

Don't tell me you haven't seen this set up before. I mean we see the woman in her sports bra parading some ROCK HARD ABS and the 15 secrets on how to lose 20 pounds in a month are hidden inside the magazine. It is intriguing when you spent time walking through the grocery store feeling guilty for spending a little more time in the chip aisle than the produce section.

I mean who wouldn't want ROCK HARD ABS?!?  The truth is there is no real secret to getting rock hard abs. We all know how to get them, we just have to do the work to have it.

There are these words called persistence and patience that we as a society seem to have forgotten about.  We want results and we want them now. But we didn't get unhealthy or overweight immediately... did we?

We forget that we have control over our choices. Here is a quote which applies to nutrition because nutrition isn't just facts about foods. Nutrition is interactions, emotions, histories, fears, desires, perceptions and practices.

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”

- Mahatma Ghandi

How you see yourself determines how you treat yourself and that can become a vicious cycle if not reflected upon.

Here are my 5 tips to lose weight fast!
1.) Set a better goal than just to lose weight.
   - You can lose weight by cutting your hair or peeing before you get on the scale.

     - Buy less potato chips, learn one new recipe a week, be outside more

-Learn to ice skate, play with your kids

2.) Stop judging yourself
   -  It is okay to eat food you like.

3.) Be honest with yourself.
   - It's time to talk turkey.

4.) Make a change you don't think is big, then be consistent.
   - This can and should be repeated.

5.) Like yourself, you're pretty stinky sweet.
   - If you don't like yourself now you won't like yourself when you're "skinny"


Let me know what you think!

- Eat Wise

What's Up With Fad?

You asked for it and you got it!

Fad Diets

What are they, where are they, who are they, why are they, and do they work?

By definition they are diets that are "cool," and "hip," and "in." Historically they have been diets that focus on short term weight loss without regard to long term health effects.
 
A good way to spot a fad diet are by using this criteria:

1. You are asked to cut out a major food group (carbohydrates, fats, or proteins)
2. A particular food or food group is exaggerated and/or purported to cure specific diseases.
3. Foods are eliminated from an individual’s diet because they are viewed as harmful.
4. An emphasis is placed on eating certain foods to express a particular lifestyle.
5. The diet is based on drastically cutting back calories.  
6. You are using meal replacement shakes, bars, or pills.

Let's get down to it. First, what are some examples of a fad diet? The cabbage soup diet, chicken soup diet, lemonade diet/master cleanse diet, the "pasta, popcorn, chocolate diet," the Hollywood diet.

I will let you know why these work. There is this thing called a calorie that is what is used by the body as energy. If you eat a 2000 calories and use the 2000 calories/energy you stay the same weight. If you eat more than you use you gain. If you eat less than you use you lose. This is simple and mostly common knowledge. So looking at a fad diet you are vastly restricting your calories using the same amount so you lose.

This is why fad diets work, because you lower the amount of calories you are eating AND you are limited in your food choices. If you have to eat one food all day everyday you will eventually get tired of it and not want to eat it anymore.
If you continue this pathway, where you are eating vastly below what your body needs to function, your body enters starvation mode. That means your body starts using less energy (calories). This happens because your body doesn't want to waste away so it makes some changes to help you live (nice isn't it). So when your body limits the energy it is using, because it limits the energy it is getting you don't lose weight anymore. I am sure many of us have experienced this and been frustrated because we are not eating so we can lose weight, but we are not losing weight.... So why are we not eating?!?!?!?!?! Then we get frustrated and give up until the next time we are fed up with ourselves.

So fad diets lead to "yo-yo dieting." You get one on and get off and look into new tricks and things that have never been used before. The trick to living healthy is being healthy. Take a step in the right direction and when you feel good and like the direction of that step, take another.

What good is losing 50 pounds in a month if you gain 60 back the next month? Don't look for tricks, just trying something simple. If you want to take a step to be healthier, go on a walk after dinner. Setting goals that apply to you affect you.

If you must have dessert with your dinner look up a healthier version of your favorite treat. If you love chocolate try enjoying the chocolate melting in your mouth rather than chewing it. If you must have your soda with you meals limit your liquids to water between meals.

Let me know what you think!

- Eat Wise

Judging the Book

I have seen a couple of things lately that bother me. I am not sure what to do about it but wanted to voice some thoughts.

Some of you may have seen this before but for those who haven't it is worth it to watch. This is a company I am interested in because of their approach to alter the stigma around mental and physical impairments.

Not the normal beauty

On a different note. More related to nutrition and health perceptions. The media is a force to be reckoned with. Girls, you are beautiful. Regardless of what you look like. When you understand that thought you don't hate the people that say it.  I know sometimes the world gets crazy and encroaches in your lives and what you think about yourself. But just because someone looks a certain way doesn't make them more effective at what they do. The feeling that you get when watching that video, that's beauty. I don't know the man making those manikins but I know he is good looking.

To my nutritional point of this blog.

Being thin doesn't necessarily make you healthy. Some people have a higher basal metabolic rate (metabolism) and they burn energy while doing nothing. Not fair, true.  Most of you can increase your basal metabolic rate by increasing lean muscle mass (because muscle burns more energy).  Something I have a problem with is someone who complains but doesn't take action.  If you have the energy to complain about something use that energy to do something about it.

I wanted to also say that there is a fault to loving yourself too much. Sometimes in love we hide things we think may hurt the others feelings. But really, that never works. You need to be honest with yourself. If you are "skinny" and not healthy you need to be honest with yourself. If you are "heavy" and not healthy you need to be honest with yourself. If you are "skinny/heavy" and healthy you need to be honest with yourself.

Where do you draw the line between being obsessed with a goal (losing weight, having more muscle, getting a new job) and where you currently are?


Get honest! Share your thoughts!

- Eat Wise