Saturday, January 27, 2007

Free Fast Weight Loss Program

There are a lot of programs out there that promise you that you will lose x amount of weight in x amount of time. Anyone who has tried many of these programs quickly realize how skewed they really are. Weight loss, weight management and healthy living should be a life choice, not just a one time deal. I believe that getting to a certain body weight and fitness level is the easy part. Maintaining it is the tough part. For example you could go on a reduced calorie diet for a few days and lose a few pounds, but once you start getting eating like you normally do, the weight loss goes out the window.

The older we get, it seems the more reasons we come up with for wanting to lose weight. How many of you have heard someone or yourself say “I want to lose weight to fit into …” or I want to lose weight before my next class reunion.” These are some motivational reasons to get us going, but really it should be a life choice. Once it becomes a life decision to eat healthy, think healthy and live healthy, then we have already “won.”

There are a lot of things you could do to kick start the weight loss. You could seek out a personal trainer, nutritionist, buy a gym membership, join a cardio kickboxing class, etc. I, on the other hand like to take baby steps. The following is my gift to you. A short program you can start that incorporates daily activities in your weight loss success.

1.) Starting in the morning, if you live close enough to work or school you can either bike or walk. If you are one of those people that have to commute, then I would suggest not choosing the closest parking stall. You know these people, they drive around forever and a day just so the can get the closest parking stall. If you park in a lot, park as far away as possible and walk. If you park in a parking garage, then park at a higher level and take the stairs.

2.) Stop taking the elevator. You will be quite surprised how quickly you can build your endurance by taking the stairs. It works a lot of your leg muscles (quads, hamstrings, calves). And burns a ton of extra calories.

3.) Take a 20 minute walk on your lunch break. Most breaks are for an hour, so there should be no excuse that you could not take some time out to go for a walk. Also, most companies allow you a 15 minute break in the morning and then another in the afternoon. This could be extra time you could squeeze in walking around your building, office or area you work in. If you did that 5 days a week, that would be around 1,500 calories. (This example is for a 150 lb person walking at a slow to brisk pace) That’s a ton of calories just for a little bit of extra walking.

4.) Start eating more frequent meals, not only does this speed up your metabolism, but it also keeps you feeling satiated throughout the day and not hitting the roller coaster spikes of hunger.

5.) Cut back on caffeine, soda and snacks. Cutting back on sugary drinks that carry extra calories is a plus. Stick with water, its good and good for you.

6.) Replace TV time with some form of physical activity that you enjoy. For instance if you like skipping rope, you could do that for a 10 minutes or if you enjoy basketball you could dribble the ball for 15 minutes. It’s all about being creative.

Sometimes we use the excuse of age for our weight gain. Stop making excuses and get started today! You are never too old. How fast you want to lose weight is up to you. If you have read any of my articles you know that I like to plug in motivational sayings, and this one will be no different. Make Healthy living a life choice and remember that “Your attitude will determine your altitude.”