Entries Tagged 'Weight Loss Motivation' ↓

I’ve always thought that Italians are the people who are least to get obese because of their habit of eating teeny weeny portions of food. I’ve always wondered how they can resist just munching on those small portions of pasta and other sumptuous Italian cuisine. Until…

Chubby residents of the picturesque Alpine town of Varallo Sesia, Italy, have been offered a cash incentive to cut their waistlines.

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Life seems to get tougher and tougher while it becomes more and more fast-paced each day. You’re busy and that means you’re exerting effort. But is this truly a valid excuse to stay off the treadmill? Is busyness equal to not needing any exercise anymore?

Experts disagree. Researchers from Brown University discovered that people who walked an average of one hour a day had more chances of losing weight than others. The director of University of Pittsburgh’s Physical Activity and Weight Management Research Center John Jakicic also said that people who could keep and steadily increase their respective weight loss programs can look forward to retaining their average weight loss rate. Lastly, there’s University of South Carolina’s exercise science professor Russell Pate who says that people who diet and exercise have more chances of enjoying long-term weight loss rather than those who diet only.

Of course, committing to a regular workout is easier said than done. Nevertheless, regular exercise is necessary, and there are several ways that you can ensure you’re not too busy for some exercises whether for weight loss purposes or for any other health requirements.

Firstly, do what you love to do. If you’re into dancing, make that as your daily exercise. The same goes for any physically vigorous sport, hobby, or activity. Try it with friends and family or with your spouse. When exercise becomes fun, it becomes easier for you to fit it in your hectic schedule. There’s no better motivation to exercise than to love the kind of exercise you’re doing.

If that doesn’t work, do what’s convenient, practical, or useful. You can walk to and fro school or home. Although walking’s reportedly not good enough exercise for anyone, it can get you started. You can also consider climbing up and down several flights of stairs each day or giving your house a daily thorough cleaning (not necessarily fun but it’s VERY practical). When exercise becomes a multi-purpose activity, you also find it easier to include in your daily routine since you know you’re killing two or three birds with one stone.

There’s no excuse to keeping control of your weight. There’s no excuse to keeping yourself healthy. There’s no excuse to get some exercise.

Got any other ways to motivate someone who hates exercise?

[image from stubailey]

Tags: exercise motivation, fun exercise

In a press release about studies about Americans weight loss patterns, Hispanic or Mexican-Americans were reported, (although not yet thoroughly confirmed) to be more prone to become obese than non-Hispanics.

And just why is that?

Putting pounds back on was more common in those who lost a greater percentage of weight. “One possible explanation is that those who lost larger percentages of their maximum weight may have had to make greater lifestyle changes that are difficult to incorporate and sustain,” the researchers suggest.

Hispanics are not used to eating the foods offered in diet programs that’s why they easily go back to their eating habits that cause their weight problems.

The solution to this cultural aspect that affects Hispanics’ weight management?

Hispanic dieters are more successful with a culturally attuned program that allows for larger meals midday and incorporates familiar food, Schroeder said. He added, “What we’ve found is a high desire to lose weight.”

Read full press release.

Tags: Hispanics weight loss, diet program, weight regain

Stress has been blamed for causing people to suffer from anxiety, heart attack, and a lot more physical, mental, and emotional problems, but could it also be the culprit behind weight loss difficulties?

Stress is an upsetting and energy-depleting condition that you don’t want to be in anytime. If you’re worried about your weight, be aware that stress can prevent you from losing weight effectively in different ways.

When you’re stressed, your body produces an excessive amount of cortisol and which would consequently slow down your metabolism. Because of this, your body maintains more fats than usual.

When you’re stressed, you’re more prone to succumbing to eating for comfort. You ignore the dictates of common sense and healthy eating and simply gorge on whatever food you crave and could temporarily calm your nerves.

When you’re stressed, you don’t want to be bothered with mere mundane tasks of cooking healthy food. You want to eat, and you want to eat now, and that’s why you end up eating unhealthy fast food meals.

Eliminating stress is, nevertheless, thankfully almost as simple as allowing yourself to experience stress. If you don’t want stress to interfere with your weight loss goals, you should do your best to exercise daily – even a minimum of ten minutes would do. Do your best to maintain a healthy diet. Sleep the required number of hours. And lastly, devote a specific portion of the day entirely to relaxation – everyone needs and deserves to relax and no one’s an exception to the rule no matter how tough your life may seem.

[image from Velvet G]

Tags: stress, weight loss anxiety

Dieting is only one way to lose weight, but some people rely on it entirely for their weight loss problems. This is understandable, given that people have less and less time to tend to their bodies, and more and more sources of low-self-esteem inducing images. Dieting, however, is not easy to carry on for a long time, and people tend to either break their diets, or move on and pick another diet. What causes such diet hopping?

First, some people may be impatient with the current weight loss they are experiencing. Some diet programs promise a certain amount of lost pounds within a certain time, but not all these diets work with all kinds of people. There are many factors to consider in a diet, such as a person’s medical background, his or her insulin levels, and his or her speed of metabolism. Plunging headlong into a diet does not necessarily ensure a person of success.

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Motivation is one of the sustaining bases which spell one’s success and doom in sticking to your diet or exercise regimen.

Getting on with the goal of losing weight is just as challenging as hoarding up the motivation to do it. Here are a few things to consider to help in motivating oneself to lose weight. I understand that in this, visualization, together with open-mindedness plays a big role.

Celebrate small victories. This entails setting realistic goals. Also, changing the frequency of the meals instead of totally depriving one’s self for long periods of time may prove to be helpful. Studies made on French women, who are perceived to be the world’s thinnest women, reveal that they eat small but frequent meals. They do not deprive themselves of sweet treats, but they control the amount and frequency with which they take them. Definitely, smaller, frequent bites will win you more confidence that is worthy of a celebration than eating nauseatingly large meals. Continue reading →