The other day I was sitting in my apartment after work and all I could think about was getting a Blizzard from Dairy Queen. I wasn’t hungry, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about giving into my craving. I tried to do different things to take my mind off of it; I did some laundry, ran errands, watched TV, and I went for a run outside. But no matter what I did, I could not get my mind to stop thinking about getting a Butterfinger Blizzard. Finally at about 9:30 at night, I caved into my temptation. Fifteen minutes after I finished eating, I was overcome by this sudden feeling of guilt. I know that eating a Blizzard is not healthy for me, I know eating lots of junk food was the reason that I weighed over 300 pounds a couple of years ago. I have worked so hard to lose the weight and get my body into shape, yet I find myself unable to overcome this one little temptation. All of a sudden I started thinking to myself, “Can compulsive eating be classified as an addiction?” Is compulsive eating any different from the “typical” addictions such as gambling, alcohol, drugs or nicotine?

The American Heritage Science Dictionary defines addiction as “A physical or psychological need for a habit-forming substance, Read the rest of this entry »

Eating right and exercising in the beginning of a weight loss program will typically cause you to lose a pound or two each week.  This positive feedback will motivate you to keep up the hard work because of the immediate results seen on a weekly basis.  But as you continue to get closer to your personal goal weight, it will become harder and harder to lose those last couple of pounds.  This typically frustrates individuals who are trying to lose weight because they are putting in the same amount of effort, but they are not seeing the same results.  Why does this happen?  As you continue to lose weight, your body will burn fewer calories.  Essentially the amount of calories you burn each day is almost the same as the amount of calories you are taking in.  This means that you have less fat to lose, which should ultimately be viewed as a good thing. 

So how can you overcome the weight loss plateau?  You need to make changes.  Changes in the way you eat and the way you exercise.  Start adding more weight training to your weekly routine.  Studies have shown that weight lifting can increase your metabolism from 5% to 10%; this increase in metabolism could be just enough to help you lose those last five pounds.  Drink plenty of water; water helps control hunger as well as aid your body in burning fat.  Eat more protein and less carbohydrates; protein helps your body build muscle, which will cause your body to burn more calories each day.  Click on the link below to read the top 10 ways to break through the weight loss plateau.  Make sure you read reason #10, I think it is the best advice given in the article. 

http://www.womenfitness.net/top10_breaking_training_plateaus.htm

There are three factors that determine how many calories you will burn:

1. Your Bodyweight
2. How Long you Exercise
3. How Hard you Exercise

Body weight is the biggest factor in determining how many calories you burn when exercising; the more you weigh, the more calories you will burn when exercising. The reason for this is simply because a heavier person has to use more energy (burn more calories) to move themselves around.

A 300lb person will lose weight at a quicker rate than a 150lb person. For example, if a 300lb and 150lb person both played basketball for 30min the 300lb person would burn about 560 calories while the 150lb person would only burn 280 calories.

What would the 150lb person have to do to burn the same amount of calories as the 300lb person did dancing in 30 minutes? That 150lb person would simply have to exercise longer or exercise harder.

One way for the 150lb person to burn the same amount of calories as the 300lb person did playing basketball is to play longer. If the 150lb person plays for 30min, they will burn 280 calories, but if they play for 60min they would burn 560 calories.
Read the rest of this entry »

Drinking sufficient amounts of water is one of the best ways to help you lose weight.  You should drink at least 64 ounces of water each day.  If you are trying to lose weight, increase your water intake by 8 ounces each day for every 25 pounds you are overweight.  Drinking water has multiple benefits from suppressing your appetite to reducing headaches to lowering blood pressure.  For more benefits of drinking water, click on the link below.

http://www.dietinfo.us/Water1/water1.html

Having a large Beer Belly in your middle ages can lead to dementia when you get older.  A recent study that involved over 6,000 people revealed that people with excessive abdominal fat in their early 40’s were approximately three times as likely to develop dementia in their 70’s as compared to people with the least amount of abdominal fat.  This is yet another negative side effect from being overweight.  I don’t know about you, but the more I read about the health risks of being overweight, the more I exercise to prevent myself from becoming part of those negative statistics.  Click on the following link to read the entire article. 

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/17036876.html