Why It's Not Necessary to Diet

The title of this post is short and to the point. I don't think it's mandatory to diet. I think weight loss is very simple. I think there are only a few things you really need in order to reach your fitness goals despite all the great diet programs out there. Don't get me wrong, I think eating healthy is a great thing and I don't frown upon it at all, but it's not  necessary to diet in order to lose weight and here's why.

If You Burn More Calories Than You Eat, You're fine

A lot of people get stressed when they think of dieting. They think "oh no, I can't have potato chips anymore!". Do you think that's going to make them stick to their diet? No! I'm a firm believer in burning more calories than you eat. I'm in no way an expert, but I've never dieted in my life and I've never been overweight. I am simply conscious of how many calories I eat daily and make it a point to burn more calories that day than I've eaten. It does help to know the recommended daily calorie intake for your weight because you'll be better able to focus on the simple factors of eating and weight loss.

Have your chips, go to Burger King with your friends, but be aware that if you're just eating the foods you like on a regular basis and not putting in the effort to remove the calories you're eating, then you're not going to lose the weight you want. That's just a fact.

Your Metabolism Controls Your Weight

Fitness sessions help keep your heart rate up and when this happens and is done on a regular basis (daily) your metabolism improves immensely. This is what burns the fat. As you get older, your metabolism usually slows down unless you've been doing fitness sessions for years and you're in the habit of being healthier than average.

This is why older people usually get the "flabby arms". It's not being disrespectful, but that's just what happens and this is because most people aren't nearly as active as they were when they were younger. This can be avoided and it all comes down to being able to keep your metabolism up with daily fitness sessions and that will help you keep your muscle mass and avoid the "flabby arms" syndrome.

Don't over complicate the process of losing weight. I just wanted to point this out to anyone seeking the "perfect dream diet". The reason diet programs work is because everything is measure out and helps make you aware of how many calories you're consuming on a daily basis. Some diets focus on having less sugar, but the majority of the most successful diet programs simply reduce the amount of calories in the foods you're eating by supplying you with their own product or helping you moderate your eating habits.

This isn't a major science problem. It's simple and it's a lot less of a headache when you can understand how dieting works. If you're up for a diet, great, if not then it's time to put on your cross trainers and have a nice sweaty fitness session.

How A Bad Relationship Affects Your Health

We've all been in that toxic relationship before. Remember how pulled down you felt? It didn't matter if there was a recent argument or not, it was all just negative energy and tears. Did you know that negative relationships can affect your health and actually keep you from reaching your fitness goals? Put on your listening ears because I have a few things to clue you in on if you didn't know them already. I'm going to explain how a bad relationship affects your health.

Eating Too Much

So many people turn to food for comfort, but these comfort foods are often out of stock when there is an argument between you and a significant other. It's called stress eating and it's a terrible thing to do when you're looking to start your fitness journey. You don't care what you eat at these times and the nearest thing you grab, despite the calories and you'll sit their until the other person goes away or you're done with the whole container.


Starvation 

This is the very opposite of eating too much. Let's say you're getting a lecture from your significant other and you hear nothing but negative things being said about you. Instead of reaching for comfort food you get sick to your stomach and you can't seem to keep anything down. It doesn't matter if you haven't eaten all day because you're so upset you aren't even keeping track of the time.

You go to bed, cry yourself to sleep and there goes another 8 hours of not eating. When you wake up the next morning you realize you didn't eat or drink anything at all in the last 24 hours!

Embarrassed

It happens, unfortunately, but sometimes when you're doing your fitness session your significant other starts laughing at you and making fun of you until the point that you become too embarrassed to do your fitness sessions. Most people don't take into account that they can still do their routines when they are alone because they're too focused on the heartbreak.

None of these things are good for your health and it goes farther than just affecting your fitness sessions. This can also cause bad habits such as smoking and use of recreational drugs such as crack and heroin. This isn't something to take lightly. If you're in a relationship that is causing you both physical and mental harm, you need to seek help and get out of that situation as fast as possible.

Remember, abuse is not love. It's time to care for yourself.

Healthy Ways To Fight Fatigue

While detoxing and taking on your fitness goals, you're bound to come face to face with the Fatigue Monster. This is one of the most common challenges that people face and it often makes or breaks success especially if it's been a while since you've had any physical activity in your agenda. Here are some healthy ways to fight fatique

Sip Black Coffee

Yep, you can still enjoy your coffee. The only catch is not to add sugar. Adding sugar to your coffee is not only going to take you two steps backwards if you're detoxing, you're also going to have the sugar crash and if you're working out in the mornings, that's not going to benefit you.

Black coffee gives you that extra push that helps you intensify your workout. It heats your body, raises your heart rate and that equals to burning more calories a lot faster.

The key is also to sip your coffee and not just gulp it down. You don't want to be too wired and restless even before a fitness session and drinking your coffee too fast can make you restless post workout and you're more likely to overdo it by doing more exercises. You don't want to be twice as sore tomorrow, do you?

Drink Herbal Tea

If you're not a coffee drinker, herbal teas are another great option for fighting fatigue. This option is longer lasting than coffee but has the same effect as far as waking you up and getting you ready for the day.

Take Multivitamins

This is something you should be doing anyway since you're active now. You want to make sure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs in order to stay healthy.

Multivitamins are a gradual energy booster. The great thing about this method is that it lasts all day. If you're worried about not being able to sleep at night, it's recommended you take your multivitamins first thing in the morning.

Keep Doing Your Fitness Routine

Believe it or not, after you're done with your fitness session, you're actually more energized and happier. It's the chemicals that are activated in the brain by the physical activity.

This probably explains why you feel terrible after skipping a few days of fitness training.

Keep doing your fitness routine and you're going to feel energized as you progress.

There's no reason you should let fatigue keep you from your fitness goals. You're going to get so much farther with energy than without it and it's going to be harder. This should be a fun time for you, not something you dread.

Water Detoxing For Weight Loss

Today I'm going to be discussing water detoxing. This is not to be confused with water fasting, but just in case it's too late and you're already wondering what the difference is between the two, I'm going to clarify.

What Is A Water Detox?

The act of drinking water throughout the day and even skipping a couple of meals and replacing those meals with water. A water detox uses H2O to cleanse the bad toxins from your body that have been put there by our bad habits such as processed fast foods, nicotine from smoking or chewing tobacco, etc.

What is Water Fasting?

The act of not eating anything all day (or for a few days) and ONLY consuming water. This forces the body's metabolism to go into "sleep" mode and as a result, the body starts to burn excess fat that's being stored in order to make up for the loss of food.

Not to freak you out or anything, but during water fasting the body is being denied food so in a way your body starts to eat itself and it starts with the extra fat cells.

Why Choose A Water Detox?

Along with breaking bad habits, we need to cleanse our bodies of the toxins we've been packing into ourselves for so long. This is a simple and gentle way of cleansing that won't affect any medications an individual may be taking.

Unlike water fasting, an individual doesn't have to give up their meals, they simply choose a healthier meal and drink lots of water before, during and after those meals as H2O helps curb your appetite and can save you from overeating.

Our bodies are made up of 72% water and it only makes sense (especially during the summer months) to refuel as we sweat due to humidity and sweating from our fitness sessions.

Does flavored Water Count?

Yes! Flavored water is a great alternative that is healthy for those who crave flavor. If you're a soda drinker then flavored seltzer water also works when looking to achieve an effective detox. It's a great way to fight off the calories and health risks of drinking too much soda. You'll be pleased to know that even seltzer water doesn't dehydrate you like soft drinks can because there is no sugar.

Can I Use Tap Water?

If you live in an area where your water is generally considered drinkable and you're not constantly seeing news reports about how you need to boil your water, then absolutely. It's recommended to drink only purified or filtered water, but sometimes going shopping for water every day or every week can get a bit expensive.

Another alternative that works well is purchasing a water filter. This way you can still drink tap water but purify it yourself so you're getting the very best out of every glass.

How Much Water Is Enough?

I highly recommend you drink at least 80oz of water daily to properly detox. The regular suggested water intake is 8 full glasses of water per day. A full glass is considered 8oz. Aim higher. Drink as much water as possible within a single day, especially if you don't usually consume ANY water on a daily basis.

I'm sure you drink quite a few glasses of soda on a daily basis. You're going to want to replace those glasses of sugary soda with water. If you know you're going to be eating soon, drink a glass of water 10 minutes before eating.

How Long Should A Water Detox Last?

Most people decide to detox for 7 days but many others decide on 14 days. It's going to depend on your body's condition prior to starting your detox. Some have done a water detox for as long as 30 days. So it's really up to you and how cleansed you want your body to be.

Fitness Inspiration

You're getting ready to get healthy, you've picked your goal weight and now you're looking for some inspiration.

How? By looking online at fitness models that share the same body shape as you.

This is all well and good, but don't confuse inspiration with comparing yourself to others.

If you're going to be staring at this person's picture every single day thinking, "I wish I looked like this person". Then you've fallen into the habit of comparing yourself to others.

How Comparing Yourself To Others Hurt Your Training

If you're comparing yourself to others whether it be online on via the television set, you're going to lower your self esteem. One of the goals of getting healthy should definitely be to boost your self confidence.

Wishing you looked like someone else is hardly the way to go about being happy in your own skin.

How To Properly Inspire Yourself

Stop looking at that picture so much!

It's great to set a goal and pick a role model, but you are only going to want to look at that photo once per month.

A lot can happen in a month and the saying "A watched pot never boils" applies here. This means the more time you spend looking at that picture and practicing wishful thinking, the less time you're spending focusing on your goal.

Sure, take a glance at that role model at the end of the month and tell yourself "I'm almost there". Even if you've still got 100 lbs to lose you're going to feel much better about yourself when you tell yourself something positive instead of telling yourself you aren't good enough.

When you're feeling like giving up or ditching your diet, THAT would be a good time to pull out that photo and look at what you want and remind yourself what you have to do to get there.

One Day At A Time

Don't think about your fitness schedule for the week. People get overwhelmed and think "Oh no, I have to do all this stuff THIS week!". It's not very encouraging!

Take your fitness goals a day at a time. Keep your workout schedule handy just to ensure you are doing the right fitness sessions, but don't stare at the entire calendar every night before bed because you're going to start to dread the week's plans. This is going to make it more likely that you're going to abandon them completely.

If you need to, write out your "to-do" list that includes your general activity and simply add the fitness session for that day only to your list. This way, the project doesn't seem so big.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Pretend You're Already Where You Want To Be

During your fitness sessions, pretend you already have those washboard abs, pretend you've already lost the 50lbs you've been aiming for.

As adults we have slowly abandoned our imaginations! This is inspiring because it makes you feel as if you've already succeeded and there's nothing that provides a self esteem boost and inspiration than a sense of accomplishment.

I wouldn't recommend you go around bragging to your friends how much weight you've lost when you're inspiring yourself, but make this your time and your personal treat to yourself.

You'll feel weird at first, but it becomes addictive and this is a good habit to have especially if you are usually giving yourself negative self talk.

Staying On Track On July 4th

You've started your diet. Unfortunately the temptation of hot dogs and barbeque threaten to to ruin the plans you have to eat healthier.

There are ways to enjoy the day of independence without ruining your diet plans.

Turkey is Your Friend

Turkey has less fat than beef. It's also a white meat, which makes it a lot healthier and more lean and it's also packed with protein.

The great thing about turkey is that it's still got a lot of flavor, minus all the grease.

If you're looking for a tasty frank, you can pick up some turkey dogs (sounds weird, right?) at your local supermarket and keep July 4th yummy without ditching the taste we love during this time of celebration.

Moderation

If you're not on a strict diet, understand that moderation is key. I know that in my post "Breaking Bad Habits"  I mentioned not telling yourself it's okay to just have one, but you'll be surrounded by friends and family that are (hopefully) supportive of your decision to eat healthier. It's going to be hard to eat 3 beef hot dogs without them snatching the plate from you.

It's the power of support and the power of moderation.

Easy on the Condoments

It's tempting to load your meal with all kinds of condoments. It's part of the tradition to add ketchup, sour krout and mayo to your hot dog, that's not even including the cheese.

Use a low fat cheese like swiss or mozerella cheese and don't add an entire bag.

I'm sure you're used to adding so many condoments that you can't see the hot dog at all. You should only add a enough to taste it and only choose 3 condoments at the most. This way you can still enjoy a classic taste without worrying about tipping the scale.

You should only apply a single line of each condoment to ensure you're not applying too much.

Don't Get Full

Don't stuff yourself. When you're done eating, you shouldn't feel like you need to unbutton your pants in order to breathe.

Think of it this way, do you really ENJOY that feeling of being stuffed? Or would you rather eat food and be awake enough to enjoy socializing with friends and family instead of retreating to your room to sink into a food coma?

Focus Less On Food

Remember what July 4th is really about and instead of focusing on the food on the grill (it's going to be one of the many challenges you face when deciding to get healthy) focus on being able to enjoy things that we now have that our country worked to hard to get.

Focus on your friends and family and the awesome fireworks.

Don't Beat Yourself Up

If you're just starting your fitness journey and you find you give in to your temptations, don't beat yourself up over it. It happens, especially in the beginning. Don't give up or ditch your diet plans (if you have any) just because of one slip up.

Forgive youself and start over tomorrow, making sure to remind yourself of your overall goal.

Breaking Bad Habits

It's time to talk about those nasty habits of yours. It's okay, we all have them, and it's important to be able to admit this to yourself so you can focus on the most important part:

GETTING RID OF THEM!

It's a must to be able to reduce our bad habits. I personally am a fan of sweets and fast food, but I'm referring to ANY bad habit you may have whether it be food related or has to do with smoking.

Basically, our goal is going to be to stop the bad habits that are making our bodies unhealthy.

Get Some Help

Don't make the mistake of tryting to conquer your bad habits alone. The mind works in mysterious ways. You can tell yourself over and over again that you're going to stop eating those chocolate cookies with the gooey caramel center, but as soon as you do that, your mind will tell you "Just one won't hurt".

Then you're going to eat two, then three, then four... you get the picture.

Tell family members what you're doing. If you live alone, invite friends over more regularly. This is a great way to socialize and get your mind off whatever habit you're trying to break.

Stay Busy

Don't give yourself enough time to think about your unhealthy cravings. One of the top reasons people even develop unhealthy habits is because they're bored.

People start smoking because they are bored and there's "nothing else to do" and the same goes for those who overeat.

The solution is to find something to do!

Remember that painting to wanted to finish last year but never did? Finish it.

Still never got to cleaning out those clothes that are sitting in the back of the closet that you don't wear anymore? Clean it!

When you really stop to think about the things you'd like to do, you'll be amazed at how many options you have!

Don't ever think there's nothing to do. There is ALWAYS something to do.

Replace Unhealthy Habits

If you're craving something sweet, research some yummy and healthy recipes that are quick and easy to make. There are hundreds, if not hundreds of thousands of them online.

For smoking, replace the butt with a nicotine patch instead.

There is always something healthy to replace an unhealthy habit. It will help you while to work towards your ultimate goal and supress the cravings that often leave us wanting to rip our hair out.

Throw It Out

If you're living alone especially, you probably have your favorite unhealthy products in your cabinets. Throw them out! You're going to remember where you put them when you crave them and you're going to give in.

Save yourself the feeling of failure and get rid of those negative things, no matter how much it hurts in the beginning.

It's not going to do you any good to buy healthy products when the old ones are still around.

I've focused on eating habits and smoking simply because these are the most common unhealthy habits I've heard about. I'm sure there are plenty to and it can even come down to a specific food or activity!

It's going to take a lot of will power but I'm confident you can do it as long as you take the steps you need in order to make succeeding possible.

Deciding To Get Healthy

When it comes to working out, it's a choice someone has to make themselves and not a choice their friends or family can make for them. I like to think of it more in terms of deciding to get healthy simply because that is much more appealing than "working out". Somehow, the mind hears the word "working" and the idea instantly becomes less desirable. This means less people will be interested in the process altogether.

Making the decision

No matter what the risks may be in regards to health, it's a choice you have to make. You have to figure out why you want to become healthy. Some common reasons people decide to get healthy include:

• Increase self esteem
• Health concerns
• Looking for a new challenge
• Having fun
• Losing Weight

These are all great reasons to decide to get healthy. The first thing you want to ask yourself is how much desire do you have to reach these goals?

Mentality

It's so easy to say you're going to go down the path of getting healthy but it's another thing entirely to actually start. Some start, more never start and those that do start have a hard time sticking to it!

This is because it's all about your mentality. Most people have gotten lazy since the invention of cars and the reduction of farm work so waking up in the morning after a day of exercising will make people feel they need to take a rest or a day off because they can barely move.

It's time to talk about having a healthy mentality!

Healthy Mentality: Understanding what your body is going through before you even make the decision to get healthy.

This is going to require some research on your part. Most people that haven't worked out in years aren't going to know what's going on with their body when they are sore the day following an intense fitness session.

They are going to think they've pulled a muscle or that their soreness is just too intense and that they've probably picked the wrong program entirely and that's when they stop.

Having a healthy mentality is going to give you the motivation to keep going even when you think you've done too much. It's the research you're going to do (and I'm going to help you with) that's going to enlighten you with what is happening to your body.

I will say one thing for now on soreness you experience after your first fitness session: That means it's working and your body is getting used to it.

Now, lets discuss the unhealthy mentality.

Unhealthy Mentality: The act of giving up as soon as you're presented with a challenge.

Remember how I stated that one of the reasons people decided to get healthy was because they were looking for a challenge? Surprisingly, it's usually the very same people seeking a challenge that give up when they are given a challenge.

I guess the saying "be careful what you wish for because you just might get it" would apply here.

I think the issue is more common with men since they tend to have their ego to deal with. They want to appear tough for their buddies so they can "lift things up and put them down" and they don't realize how much effort they really need to put into getting healthy in order to reach their goals.

Avoiding the Unhealthy Mindset

Before you even THINK about abandoning your decision to get healthy, I'm going to mention some great ways to keep you motivated and avoid the unhealthy mindset:

• Write down your daily fitness goals, even if it's only 5 push-ups and 10 jumping jacks. Small goals give you a sense of accomplishment.
• Keep your reason for deciding to get healthy written somewhere that you can see it daily. You are going to want to brand your reasons in your mind so you don't get side-tracked.
• Do research! Understand what your body is going to experience when you're getting healthy. This way, you're not freaking out when you're barely able to move and you'll know how to help the symptoms of a body that isn't used to physical activity yet.
• Have fun! Don't view getting healthy as a chore. It's a time that you should cherish and consider a treat to yourself so you're able to feel amazing about yourself. There's nothing more satisfying to the human ego as a sense of accomplishment.

Whatever your reasons for making your decision to get healthy, you're going to face the challenge of wanting to quit. One way to avoid this temptation is to constantly remind yourself why you're doing this.

This is a journey. I think viewing getting healthy as a journey will help you look forward to the daily tasks you do.

Don't view getting healthy as torture! Stop postponing your start date and realize there isn't a better time to get healthy than now.

Don't try to take on too much at once. Stick with one program or do more physical activity every day. Keep doing these activities and programs until your body gets used to it and then move on to something more challenging or find ways to make your current program more challenging.

Too many people try to take on too much at once and getting healthy is not just an exciting journey that should be taken slow for safety reasons, it's also something that should be enjoyed so you're not mentally overwhelmed!

Your Decision is Made

Congratulations! You've decided to get healthy! The trick to being healthy is remembering that it's something that is a way of life. That means once you've reached your goal, you want to either maintain that state of health, or keep going.

It's up to you to decide. It depends on your reasons for getting healthy. Realize that your goals can change as you complete each journey. Your reasons can change as well!

You've made your decision, now hold it dear to you and never lose sight of your ultimate goal.