Neat facts

TOP 10 STRATEGIES
FOR PERMANENT WEIGHT LOSS

1. Exercise - It's nothing new, but exercise is probably the most important predictor of whether you will succeed at long term weight loss and weight loss maintenance.

2. Pump Iron -Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University researcher, showed that a group of women who followed a weight loss diet and did weight training exercises lost 44 percent more fat than those who only followed the diet. The basic equation is this: the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you will burn.

3. Keep a Diary - Keeping a food diary can be a huge asset in successful weight loss.

4. Stay Focused on Healthy, Not Thin - Many people become more successful at long term weight loss when their motive changes from wanting to be thinner to wanting to be healthier.

5. Find Out What's Eating You - All too often overeating is triggered by stress, boredom, loneliness, anger, depression and other emotions.

6. Get Support - A big key in long term weight control comes from receiving encouragement and support from others.

7. Watch Your Portions - With the advent of "supersize" meals and increasingly huge portions at restaurants, our concept of normal serving sizes is a distant memory. Be mindful of the amounts of food you consume at a sitting.

8. Lose Weight Slowly With Small Changes -It is important to realize that the more quickly weight is lost, the more likely the loss is coming from water and muscle, not fat.

9. Slow Down -That's because from the time you begin eating it takes the brain 20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. Fast eaters often eat beyond their true level of fullness before the 20 minute signal has had a chance to set in.

10. Eat Less Fat, But Do It Wisely -To many, the message to limit fats implied an endorsement to eat unlimited amounts of fat-free products. Just to clarify, fat-free foods have calories too. In some cases fat-free foods have as many calories as their fat laden counterparts.

    I do all of the things listed above but pump iron.  I am not sure if my arthritis could take it and to do it effectively I would have to join a gym where they had a trainer to help.  I simply can not afford the gyms.  Wouldn't it be great if there were some low cost gyms around with donated equipment to help offset the obesity epidemic in the states?  I have noticed that the thinnest people are the wealthier people who can afford to have fancy bikes and exercise equipment and they are able to either have a personal trainer or join a gym.  Since I am the sole support in my family Curves is the best I can do.  My water aerobics is $20 for 8, 2 hour sessions.  That is $60.00 a month already and it would take another 40 to join our gym.  I may look into the Y as they are more affordable.  However there are ways to pump iron at home.  Use cans or old milk bottles filled with water. Small weights aren't extremely expensive and my son is thinking of buying a bowflex in which case I will just use his.  It can be done.

This information in full is from, http://www.thedietchannel.com/weightloss.htm

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