Archive for New Habits for a Healthy You
Recovering From a Relapse
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Have you ever started a weight loss program and progressed with great results until that one day arrives when everything just seems to fall apart? Somewhere along the way you probably experienced small deviations………little slip-ups or mistakes. When enough of those small lapses have occurred you will find an old problem returning, yes, you are heading for a relapse!
A relapse can occur at any time during weight loss, stabilization or maintenance. Life changes such as moving, getting an injury or starting school can trigger a relapse. This behavior change can occur to anyone at any time and I’m here to tell you that a relapse is inevitable.
Now that we know what a relapse is……..how can we stop it from occurring?
- Firstly, make sure that you have a good support system in place. Family and group involvement will give you social interaction and a sense of them being involved in your efforts.
- Learn to recover or just avoid that first slip. Most people cannot handle “just one”. I have known some people to carry an index card around with them that states their reason for commitment as a constant reminder. This index card can also contain emergency contact information (that is, people that you can call when you need support) and actions to take in order to avoid a slip.
- Learn to be assertive. Be straight forward with your thoughts, feelings and beliefs.
- Take on responsibility for your own behaviors, schedules and priorities.
- It is really important to identify and prepare for high-risk situations. If you recognize the situation, mentally prepare ahead of time.
- Use specific skills or techniques for coping with difficult situations such as positive self-talk, exercise, meditation and relaxation.
- How many of us run into the problem of tunnel vision—–you know——–where we focus all our attention on the temptation at hand? Try not to focus on such things as eating, drinking and not exercising. Focus instead on the things to be gained from losing weight and the personal costs for not losing weight.
If with all of your best efforts you still find yourself relapsing, here are a few suggestions to help you get started again:
- Re-visit your weight loss goals and renew your weight management commitment.
- Review your exercise program.
- Journal! One of the most powerful tools for changing eating behavior is to write down what you eat and the circumstances that lead to the eating.
- Finally, find that support person that you respect and trust.
Important Tips to Remember When Walking Alone
Posted by: | CommentsWalking is terrific exercise and can be a significant factor in your weight loss regimen. Walking is relatively low impact, increases your heart rate and burns fat. And while walking with a partner or in a group is the safest choice, it may not always be convenient to fit others into your regular routine. Here are a few things to think about in preparation for your next solo walk:
- The weather. Before heading out, check today’s forecast to ensure that you’re ready for the conditions. Will the chill require you to dress in layers, or will the summer sun call for putting on sunscreen? In extreme weather—whether it’s very hot, very cold or potentially stormy—you may want to opt for an indoor exercise for that day instead.
- The time of day. This can go hand-in-hand with the weather of course; certain conditions could be worse at different times of day. But it also pertains to the danger that exists when it is dark out or when traffic is heavy. If you walk at night or early morning, make sure street lights are present along your path.
- The location. Take the area you walk through into account. Is there a high occurrence of crime? Does it require you to cross busy roads? If you are unfamiliar with an area, it may be preferable to avoid while walking alone.
- The things you carry. Equipping yourself for a stroll doesn’t stop at comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate clothes. It is also a good idea to carry a water bottle to avoid dehydration and to keep a cell phone on hand in case of emergencies.
Don’t go it alone all the time. If you’d like to find out more about patient support with CMHVA, click here.
10 Reasons to Walk Alone
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What’s so bad about walking alone? Here are reasons I sometimes enjoy walking alone.
1. Pace: It’s impossible to really go your own pace when walking with somebody else. Larry Longlegs or Suzy Shortlegs can be a pain to try to match pace with.
2. Getting together: It is hard to find a partner who is ready to walk when you are. Maybe I prefer mornings or after work or lunchtime, but any willing partner has an opposite preference. It gets expensive posting classified ads looking not for love but for a walking partner.
3. Early, late, or never: So you make a date to walk with a partner — and he shows up late, or doesn’t show up. Your schedule gets blown and you don’t get in the walking you planned to do. Sally Stressedout always arrives 15 minutes late with some heartbreaking excuse, expecting sympathy, while you’ve been getting in your walking pacing the floor.
4. The need for speed: I want to build speed, but my walking partners don’t want to racewalk. Or it may be a downer day and my walking partners have turned into racehorses. Ruthie Roadrunner or Sam Slug leave you in the dust or hold you back.
5. Tough enough: I want to do some hills but my walking partner whines the whole way up or down, dreads the next hill, etc. Or maybe it’s me doing the whining because my planned easy walk has turned into an Everest expedition. Wind, rain, sun, bugs, hills, dust, gravel, traffic are part of the walking experience — get over it.
6. Going the distance: I want to build distance to prepare for a long event, but my partners never want to do more than 10K. Not a problem — unless you’ve carpooled to where you plan to walk. Or the look they give you when you say you need to go another 5K and will do it alone.
7. Event choices: I want to enter a charity walk but my partner thinks it is too expensive or too crowded. There is a great walking event held an hour away, but my walking partner has chores to do and just wants to walk the neighborhood….again.
8. Chatter: Maybe I don’t feel like talking, or like listening. It gets embarrassing if you “zone out” and then realize they are asking you for an opinion or advice on the tale you weren’t really listening to. When doing a faster walk or hills, I usually don’t feel like talking, I feel like breathing.
9. Misery doesn’t always love company: On long distance events or speed events, I don’t want company, I am concentrating on my own form, my own endurance, my own needs. I don’t need anybody else’s misery intruding on my own.
10. Eat, drink, and restroom: With a partner, deciding when and where to take a restroom break, drink, eat a snack or stop for a celebration meal on the way home becomes a matter of negotiation.
For more of this article on walking alone, click here.
If you’d like more information on the various programs offered at Center for Metabolic Health come visit us at our website. We understand your commitment to meeting your weight loss goals and we’re here to help.
SAFETY TIPS FOR WALKING ON YOUR OWN
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Most of you already know the benefits of walking and strap on your pedometer so that you can count your steps and see how many miles you have accumulated. Here at CMH we strongly believe in walking and using your pedometer. However, we want you to be safe when taking your daily stroll. So, here are a few safety tips for those of you that walk alone:
- Always try to walk with a partner when you can.
- Stick to familiar neighborhoods with plenty of activity.
- Know your route. While traveling, check with the hotel desk for safe walking routes.
- Let a friend know your route and estimated walking time. If there is no one to tell, leave a note inside your home in a visible place.
- Varying your route prevents boredom and promotes safety. Never let your route become predictable to others.
- Try to walk in the daylight. Remember, the darkness before sunrise can harbor the same dangers in the dark, choose a well-lit path and wear reflective clothing so you are visible to motorists.
- If you feel that you are being followed by a motor vehicle, turn around and walk the other way, remaining on the same side of the road.
- Walk in the middle of sidewalks rather than close to alleyways, buildings or parked cars.
- Never wear expensive jewelry or carry valuables when walking.
- Observe your environment without distractions. Keep your I-pod on low volume or on one ear only.
- Trust your instinct when it tells you something feels unsafe. Turn around, cross the street, or go for help.
- Stay alert, aware and in control. Radiate confidence and purpose.
- Finally, always carry identification and some money in case of emergencies.
Remember that there are 2,000 steps to a mile and it is recommended that we work up to 10,000 steps each week. That is equivalent to 5 miles. So, get out there and walk. Build up your steps gradually, and most importantly, stay safe.
Nutrition Secrets for Successful Weight Loss
Posted by: | CommentsThere has been a bit of debate amongst diet experts regarding meal frequency; some say that eating three regular meals a day is more beneficial for weight loss, while others say it is better to have six smaller meals throughout the day. The truth is that some studies have shown eating six smaller meals has helped some people lose weight, yet other studies have been inconclusive. With this kind of confusion going on, where does that leave you when it comes time to decide on your eating habits? Here are a few things to remember:
- You should set your food plans to meet your lifestyle. For some, three regular sized meals with a small snack works fine and will not hinder their weight loss efforts. Others may find that six small meals are a better fit. The key thing to remember is that you do not want to get so hungry during the day that you overeat at one of your meals.
- For those who have diabetes (type 1 or 2), it may be preferable to eat smaller meals in order to better manage insulin and blood sugar levels.
- Whatever eating habits you adopt, make sure you abide by them from day to day so that your body can become accustomed to it.
- They call breakfast the most important meal for a reason. Make sure you eat breakfast every morning in order to start off your metabolism properly.
- Don’t eat simply because food is present or has been offered to you, unless it is time for one of your scheduled meals or snacks.
- Beware of the junk-food-for-energy cycle. If we are tired, our bodies can make us feel as if we are hungry, even if we are not. This can cause us to eat junk food with lots of sugars and carbohydrates in order to feel energized. This energy boost is only temporary, however, and leads to a “crash” which leaves us feeling tired again. Sticking to your food plans, getting proper sleep and exercising regularly can help avoid the tired feeling to begin with.
As always, be careful with the kinds of food you choose, regardless of how frequently you eat throughout the day
Fitness Nutrition Secret: “Meal Frequency”
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Meal frequency/timing is also the most effective nutrition strategy that you can use to speed up your metabolism with minimum investment of your time and effort!
And it is something that you simply must implement in your program if you want to create permanent fat loss, and then maintain it for life!
The reason for this is simple: When you create a meal taking into account your daily maintenance level calorie intake, the optimum nutrient ratio for your body type, and in addition to this you create an average size meal that your body can completely digest, process and utilize, there will be no calorie surplus left to be converted to unwanted body fat!
By eating frequent, average size meals, that have the perfect combination of healthy food sources, you will provide your organism with all of the macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins and minerals it needs to function properly, and use cardio training to directly burn unwanted body fat from your fat cells, permanent fat loss will follow!
Properly using this fitness nutrition secret of meal frequency/timing means that you should eat four average size meals, approximately every four walking hours! You should also eat your breakfast as soon as possible after waking up. The only exception is if you are using the morning fasted cardio approach, in which case you should eat breakfast after your cardio session!
This meal frequency/timing technique is also one of the best ways to maintain and eventually build additional muscle, which will raise your metabolism, and you will burn even more calories on a daily basis.
Building additional muscle will require weight training of course, but when you consume four average size meals, every four hours with the right amount of nutrients, you will not only have the necessary energy for your workouts, but also will provide your body with the perfect amount of amino acids to build this new muscle.
Full story can be read at weightlosstipsandsecrets.com
Secrets of Meal Frequency
Posted by: | CommentsDid you know that the timing of your meals is one of the most important nutrition secrets for successful weight loss and
maintenance? Unfortunately with our hectic lifestyles and schedules it can be very difficult to sticking with 3 meals a day never mind 6 small meals or 3 meals with several snacks interspersed! Once I explain why researchers have found eating more often improves weight loss – you may decide to make an extra effort to eat more often. Now, eating more often doesn’t mean increasing the amount that you eat, it means taking the calories that you would normally consume in a day and spreading them out throughout the day.
- It is believed that by spacing 3 large meals in one day, you allow your body to enter the starvation mode. When this happens your body tries to conserve as much energy as it can until the next meal because it assumes that the meal may not come. In the starvation mode your body reduces metabolism and conserves as much fat as possible to increase your chance of survival. The solution is to eat more often by dividing 3 large meals into 6 smaller ones. Many of us do this by having 3 main meals and several small snacks in between.
- By spreading your calories throughout the day you will prevent low energy and mood, and ward off hunger pangs because you will be supplying your body with enough fuel to function throughout the day. Meal frequency regulates blood sugar levels and that eases hunger. You will also be less likely to overeat at the next meal and that will help to prevent weight gain.
- By eating more often throughout the day your metabolic rate will also be faster since your body’s digestive functions are more active. Each time you eat your body’s temperature is raised slightly which, in turn, raises your metabolism. We call that “TEF” or the “thermal effect of food.” With your metabolism staying higher you will be in a state of burning fat throughout the day.
- Protein from the food you consume has nitrogen and nitrogen maintains your muscle. To maintain positive nitrogen balance throughout the day you need to consume some protein every 3-4 hours. If we lose muscle we will burn fewer calories during the day and I know that is what we are all trying to avoid.
The ability to lose weight is under YOUR control and I hope that I have inspired some of you to eat something every few hours so please don’t skip meals –especially breakfast!
Self-esteem and Weight Loss
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Most people wouldn’t think so but good self-esteem leads to more success with weight loss.
Judgments that people make about their worth is what is called “self-esteem.”
Characteristics of High and Low Self-esteem
People with high self-esteem believe they are worthwhile regardless of anything else including their looks and their actions. They accept themselves unconditionally as they are – understanding that they are fallible humans. While they may judge their behaviors, their worth as people does not change based on their behaviors, achievements, or lack thereof. For example, someone may be disappointed in her performance on a test but not go so far as judgingherself as inadequate based on this performance. They may wish they were more attractive in some way but not judge themselves as worthless because of it.
On the other hand, people with low self-esteem continually base their self-worth on the external such as how they look, what they do, how much money they have, or what they weigh. People with low self-esteem do not feel good about themselves unless they perceive themselves as having earned something such as having gotten to a desired weight or size. As one might imagine, the person with low self-esteem rides a roller coaster of self-worth – going up and down continually based on their judgment of their behavior.
How Self-esteem Can Interfere with or Facilitate Weight Loss
With respect to weight loss and fitness, self-esteem can mean the difference between success and failure. Why would the way a person judges himself interfere with successful weight management? Here are some reasons:
Read full Article at Suite101.com.
Self-Discovery and Self-Acceptance
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Painful emotions can prevent us from being successful with our weight loss attempts. Understanding those emotions and working through them can transform our lives in many ways but we have to be willing to learn and improve ourselves. A gentleman called Jim Rohn stated, “I used to say, ‘I sure hope things will change’. Then I learned that the only way things are going to change for me is when I change”. We should all think of ourselves as a work in progress. If whatever you are doing isn’t working for you then you must be flexible enough to change your plan of action.
Christopher Westera has written a wonderful article called “The Eight Emotional Transformation Recipe”. He suggests that by following his 8 steps you will have greater clarity and an increase in consciousness that will help you to let go of painful emotions and give you the spirit of openness and acceptance:
- Accept full responsibility for the emotion even if you don’t fully believe it right now you need to tell yourself, “I create my reality, and I am creating this emotion right now”.
- Name the emotion by positively identifying feelings such as disappointment, shame, anxiety etc. This will increase your awareness, clarity and consciousness.
- Let go of the story – The story is whatever is outside yourself that caused the emotion.
- Bless the emotion by accepting it as a necessary learning step in order to move on to the next step.
- Feel the emotion physically in your body without judging or resistance. Christopher Westera states that what you resist persists and that you need to become a kind of observer of your own processes.
- Ask for clarity - In order to grow you need to ask yourself, “What do I need to learn from this emotion” and “What effective belief do I own that created this emotion?”
- Identify the belief – At the root of nearly every painful emotion there is an ineffective belief. For example, you may believe that you must make everyone happy, or that you can’t be loved if you are not perfect or you believe that you are simply not worth it.
- Replace the belief – Replace the belief with a more effective belief by telling yourself that you choose to reject the ineffective belief and that you are replacing it with an empowering belief.
By following theses 8 steps, changes will occur that will lead you to self-acceptance and in turn greater success in your weight loss efforts.
George Eliot has a wonderful quote that states, “It is never too late to be what you might have been”.
How to Set Weight Loss Goals
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Setting realistic goals – including weight, exercise, food and psychological goals – before you begin a weight loss plan is essential to a successful program.
Step1
Begin by setting some small daily goals. Your weight goal might be to lose 1 pound per week. If you hardly exercised in the past, you might want to walk around your neighborhood for 20 minutes every day. (If you like, split it into a 10-minute walk in the morning and another in the evening.) Your nutritional goal may be to reduce your fat intake. Your psychological goal may be to write in a journal every day.
Step2
Establish intermediate goals that are a little more ambitious than your original goals. For instance, two weeks after you begin to meet your daily 20-minute walk goal, extend your goal to a daily 1-hour walk; start eating smaller portions at every meal; and seek counseling for any self-esteem issues you might have.
Step3
Determine big-picture goals; this includes the total amount of weight you’d like to lose by the end of your program. Make a commitment to jog or run every day to maintain your weight and health; learn how you can shop, cook and eat as nutritiously as possible; and take up an activity that you think you have a knack for – this can keep up your self-esteem.
Step4
Set time frames for your daily, intermediate and big-picture goals. As you progress from one to the next, reward yourself. Go shopping, get a facial, take a weekend trip. You deserve it!
Full Story at eHow.com
