If I Can Lose One Pound I Can Lose Two

By Jim Muckle

A couple of years ago I realized that my weight kept gradually going up.

I didn’t really know what to do about it. All I knew was I didn’t want it to keep going up.

It alarmed me.

I thought about what I would like to weigh. What was my ideal weight? I wasn’t sure, and I’m still not, but I remembered thinking that I wanted to weigh what it said on my driver’s license. Though it wasn’t my true weight, it was what I wished I weighed!

Like you, I had heard of different diets, what you should eat, what you shouldn’t eat, the ultimate exercise programs, etc.

It was very confusing.

But then I had a thought.

I thought, what is one thing I can do today, just today, to lose one pound of weight.

I mean, anybody could lose one pound of weight, right?

And the answer came to me immediately.

Give up sugar. Give up the chocolate chip cookies, anything with sugar in it.

I emptied the cookie jar into the trash.

Okay, that was good, so what was one more thing I could do to lose just one pound of weight.

Exercise. I’ll burn off some energy.

So I went for a walk.

And that was the way it went for the next 6-8 weeks.

Each day I thought of just one more thing I could do to lose weight.

It was gradual.

But each day it would be a new thing.

For example, I started increasing my exercise. Instead of just mowing the lawns, and working on apartments, I would also go for a bike ride and exercise at the local park on their free outdoor equipment, and after that I would think, okay, what’s one more thing I can do to lose just one more pound of weight? So I would ride down to the high school and run and walk around the track four times.

At home I would ask myself the same question. For a few days I got onto the meat only diet, but I didn’t like it because it felt unnatural. But I did start reducing the size of each meal. I’d make my hamburger smaller, or make half a burger. I’d order the child’s size Whopper when I was at the mall with my youngest daughter.

It was gradual, but ongoing. The exercise kept intensifying. I kept adding one more thing. Riding the bike, doing the exercises at the park, going to the high school, then stopping at the middle school track to do just two more laps, and ten more push-ups and twenty more sit-ups. I did more and more, and I ate less and less.

And gradually, not everyday, the weight began to disappear, pound by pound. Some days I would get discouraged because I hadn’t lost what I expected to, because by now I was exercising three times a day, and reducing the sizes of my portions more and more.

But then a couple days later I’d be pleased to see that I was down two pounds.

The fact that it was working kept me going, and I had a target weight I wanted to achieve.

Gradually my pants started not fitting.

Tenants began making comments like, “Are you losing weight? You look so thin.”

It wasn’t easy because I love chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, so I decided somewhere along the way that I wouldn’t give anything up completely, but I wouldn’t have so much of it, and I wouldn’t bring it into the house. If I were going to have a cookie I’d have to go out to the bakery and get it.

I stopped eating fast foods all together unless there was absolutely no other option, and then, like I mentioned before I would have a small portion.

It worked.

It wasn’t easy, but the one idea at a time method paid off because I kept looking for ways to cut back on food, and exercise more.

I achieved the weight on my license. I was thirty pounds lighter, and it took between six to eight weeks.

Okay, I had arrived.

Now what?

I wanted more. I wanted to lose another ten pounds.

But it didn’t work. I didn’t have the motivation, the real motivation. I tried, but it wasn’t there.

Not only that but I started gaining weight back!

I rewarded myself for achieving my goal by eating and taking it easy.

Unfortunately I learned it doesn’t work that way. You have to keep eating the smaller portions and exercising to maintain your ideal weight.

Bummer!

So now I try to regulate myself by watching the scale and keeping up the exercise. If I start to get over my ideal license weight by a couple of pounds it’s because I haven’t mowed a lawn, or trimmed a hedge, or gone to the park and done my routine of exercises.

I’m sliding.

It’s easy to do.

Also I find that doing work I enjoy keeps me involved and active.

I’m less likely to get bored and keep looking in the refrigerator. Some days I’ll be working on an apartment, painting, repairing, etc., and forget all about eating. I’m enjoying what I’m doing, enjoying the sense of accomplishment, so I just forget about food.

Other times when I’m starting to put on a few pounds I’ll actively look for some hard work like mowing, or trimming oleander and taking the branches to the dumpster to keep me moving, and if that’s not enough I jump on the bicycle and head for the park or market.

I try to build exercise into my routines and eat less. I believe that’s the key to it all.

From Cutting Back @ Booklets From Jim Muckle @ hometown.aol.com/jimmuckle/myhomepage/business.html

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_Muckle

               

4 Tips for High Blood Pressure Diet - Food to Eat and to Avoid

By Tanya Turner

When you discover that you have hypertension or pre-hypertension, the first thing doctors do, they prescribe medication. However, the right diet can dramatically reduce your blood pressure as well, sometimes so much that you will not need any drugs. Find out what a high blood pressure diet is and how you can easily incorporate it into your lifestyle.

An ideal diet for high blood pressure will be:

* Low in sodium (salt)

* Low in saturated fats and cholesterol

* High in antioxidants and vitamins

* High in potassium and magnesium

In other words, a diet generally associated with healthy living and a high blood pressure diet has a lot in common. Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t mean at all that all you will have to eat from now on is steamed broccoli. For example, the best thing for high blood pressure diet is to go for a baked potato rather than French fries or a chicken sandwich not a hamburger. The most important thing is to limit foods that lead to increasing blood pressure.

Tip 1: Eat more home cooked meals

The easiest way to maintain a diet that will help with high blood pressure control is to prepare meals yourself from fresh products rather than eat prepackaged food. Almost all precooked meals are high in sodium, saturated fat and cholesterol, while low in other important nutrients. Home cooking takes more time of course, but there are plenty of healthy and incredibly tasty recopies that take only 15-20 minutes to cook.

The recommended sodium intake for people with hypertension is less than 3000 mg a day, and an average American consumes 7000 to 9000 mg… A good way to cut down on salt is to stay away from packaged condiments. Would you believe that just one serving of ordinary tomato sauce usually contains about 250 mg of sodium? That will be additional 250 mg, to a meal that already contains salt. The same can be said about most salad dressings. Using a spoon of olive oil instead of bottled salad dressing on your salad will make a great difference.

Tip 2: Select foods high in potassium and magnesium

Now when you know what foods to avoid, let’s talk about what foods are beneficial. Most fruits and vegetables are good because they are low in fat, cholesterol and sodium (that is unless you add salt to them, of course). But the most beneficial veggies and fruits are the ones that are high in magnesium and potassium. Both minerals have been proved to reduce blood pressure.

Best foods for potassium are:

* Apricots

* Sultanas and Raisins

* All Bran

* Figs

* Dried mixed fruit

* Most Seeds and nuts average (unsalted)

* Potatoes

* Tomatoes

* Avocados

* Bananas

For magnesium look at:

* Black Beans

* Broccoli

* Peanuts

* Oysters

* Scallops

* Soy milk

* Spinach

* Whole grain cereal

* Whole wheat bread

Tip 3: Consult a physician for best high blood pressure diet

Everybody should follow general food recommendations to lower you blood pressure. However, there might be specific foods that you in particular should avoid or add to your diet. The reason is that as most people, you may have not only high blood pressure, but other health problems and your diet should address them all.

Also if you are overweight, that can greatly affect your blood pressure. The first thing you doctor will suggest is to choose a diet that will help you lose weight. While if your weight is normal, your diet will be different.

Tip 4: Choose diet to prevent high blood pressure

As they say, to prevent is always better than to cure, so even if you don’t have any problems with blood pressure, it is a good idea to follow high blood pressure diet. Many studies have shown that hypertension is hereditary, so you should be particularly careful if your parents suffer from high blood pressure.

Tanya Turner is a publisher of High Blood Pressure 101 where you can find information in plain English about high blood pressure diets and other ways to prevent and control hypertension

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Tanya_Turner

               

What If Your Doctor Said You’re Obese?

By Bentley Thompson

If you were told by your doctor that you are significantly overweight, would it have been surprizing to you? Most certainly not; you already would (or should) have known. You have been ignoring reality all this time.

In fact, if I am obese and my doctor said otherwise I would have known he/she was telling me a fat lie.

So, by now you would have been noticing the gradual inflation of your health every time you go to your wardrobe or to the department store to choose your clothes. Your mirror would have been screaming at you for months or years, but you always kept on doing what you’re doing.

Well now, if you are obese, overweight, or are on the road to becoming, consider this simple argument…

What does it mean to be obese?

It means…

* You’re carrying around too much load, and you are not getting any younger.
* You need a bigger, stronger heart since you have now significantly increased the workload for your heart. You can only increase the power of your heart by exercising - which you (most likely) have not been doing.
* Your body mass index (BMI) is 30+
* Maybe your belly jiggles when you laugh. But this is no laughing matter! Why?
* You are three times more likely to suffer from heart disease,
* You are four times more likely to suffer from hypertension (high blood pressure)
* You are also five times more likely to develop diabetes, and
* You have increased risk of developing cancer.

Obesity shortens your life. Scientists have estimated that for every extra pound you put on you tend to shorten your lifespan by one month. So if you are 30 lbs over weight, there goes 2½ glorious years!

What can you do?

Don’t think you have to do anything big. Just think long-term.

That’s right. You might be hearing sounds like, “lose 30 lbs in as many days!” Hey, how long did it take you to put on that much weight? Much longer.

Take it easy. Do it right. Do it for the right reasons. Do it for the health of it. Do it the healthy way. What is that?

Change all the unhealthy practices to healthy ones - like

* increasing the rate at which you burn calories. Regular exercise. This also builds and strengthens muscles, which means increased calorie-burning capacity.
* Eat more fruits, nuts, grains, and vegetables and less of the fatty, sugary foods.
* Don’t skip breakfast, and do not snack

Those are just a few of the very important and surefire ways to have a normal body weight.

That’s not any where nearly as difficult or costly as gastric bypass or liposuction. And it works.

REFERENCES:
Wyatt S.B., Winters K.P., Dubbert P.M., Overweight and obesity: Prevalence, Consequences, and Causes of a Growing Public Health Problem; American J. Med Sci. 2006 Apr; 331(4):166-174. Luddington, A., Diehl, H., Health Power, 2002

Copyright © 2006 by Bentley Thompson

Bentley writes about lifestyle-related conditions such as diabetes, obesity, high cholesterol, and cardiovascular diseases. He advocates the anti-diabetes diet which he describes on his website. You may visit his website and blog using the following URLs: www.anti-diabetes-diet-supplements.com/ and choosehealthtoday.blogspot.com

Article Source: EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bentley_Thompson

               

Weight-loss reality show holds local casting call

My wife emailed me this little blurb in today’s paper … I wonder if she’s trying to tell me something? Hmmm

Fri Feb 16 2007

THE producers of a weight-loss reality-TV show are holding an open casting call in Winnipeg this month.
X-Weighted, a reality/documentary series that follows subjects as they try to reach their weight-loss goals with the help of expert coaches, will hold auditions for its third season on Feb. 24 and 25 at the Holiday Inn South.

The show’s producers are looking for overweight subjects who will commit to being filmed for six months while following a diet and exercise program, whose families and friends are also willing to be recorded, and who have a meaningful and reality-TV-worthy goal they’re looking to achieve with their weight-loss effort.

The series will be broadcast on the Slice network (the new name for Life network starting next month) in 2008.

SOURCE: Winnipeg Free Press (Subscriber)