Do You Have Unstoppable Motivation For 2008?

My friend Scott Tousignant had sent me an article to give to my readers.  It seems very fitting since January 1st is right around the corner.  Don't let lack of motivaton be your
downfall in 2008.

By 2015, 75% of Adults Will Be Overweight; 41% Will Be [tag]Obese[/tag].  That’s a pretty scary statistic that was just released by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.  In fact they are calling it a public health crisis.  So are you going to accept these statistics as inevitable?  Or even worse, are you going to become a part of that statistic?

I don’t think so!  You’re smarter than that.  You realize that the only reality is this very moment and in this very moment you have a choice to take matters into your own hands and strive for the healthy and vibrant body that you deserve.

Here’s another familiar and depressing statistic; 95% of all people who attempt to lose weight will gain it all back and more.

Most people will look at that and see the odds completely stacked against them.  You on the other hand are beaming with excitement and enthusiasm.  You see that 5% and you are absolutely certain that’s where you belong.

Those people who can’t seem to get their focus off the 95% are afraid to set a fat loss goal because they see the chances of failing are pretty darn high.  There’s no way they’ll ever tell anyone about their dream of fitting into a 2 piece bathing suit, because it would certainly be embarrassing if they don’t accomplish their goal.

I guarantee that if you are afraid of failing to reach your weight loss goal you will fail by default.  The problem lies in basing their dreams on logic, which totally takes the fun out of dreaming.  Do you really want to develop the ‘Unstoppable’ motivation that will drive you towards achieving fat loss success?  Did I hear a ‘YES’?  Sorry what I meant to say was, Do you really, truly, from the bottom of your heart and every ounce of your being want to learn the necessary skills to develop the type of attitudes and beliefs that absolutely nothing in this world or any other will ever get in the way of you and your dream body?

Can I get a Hell Ya?

That’s what I’m talking about!  I am about to share with you some of my top strategies that will ignite that ‘Unstoppable’ mindset within you.  I’m not going to go into detail about goal setting, visualization, and positive thinking right now because I’m sure that you’ve heard a fair amount about that lately.  Those things work, but if you really want that unstoppable attitude like you said you do it’s going to take much more than that.

1.  Passion - This is wear it all starts.  Set your goals from your heart.  Forget about what the statistics say and any of your past failures.  What does your dream body look like?  How bad do you want it?  Why do you want it so bad?  How is your life going to
change once you achieve it?  Think of how much passion will come into your life once you are lean and sexy.

2.  Growth - Achieving your goal does not have to happen over night.  Small changes add up very quickly.  A great strategy is to simply be better today then you were yesterday and better tomorrow than you are today.  After 6 months you will be blown away with the improvements that you’ve made.  18 months from now you could be a fitness model.  It’s true!

3.  Comfort Zone - In order to experience this daily growth there are times when you will have to step outside of your comfort zone.  You will have to increase the intensity of your workouts, prepare food in advance, write down your goals, spend some time
visualizing, pass on the dessert, and other things that have not become a habit for you just yet.  Accept discomfort and expect it.  It’s an opportunity for you to become better than you are today.

4.  Gratitude - It’s easy to be grateful when things are going well, but I find the practice of being grateful for who you are today and for the so called failures and challenges of your past is much more powerful.  Each challenge or failure provides you with the opportunity to grow and improve yourself.  If you want to be happy in your body start today!  Love yourself unconditionally.  Be grateful for all your past experiences because they have contributed to the lean and sexy person that you are about to become.

5.  Become - This could very well be the most powerful word in your vocabulary when you use it properly.  For example; "I have become UNSTOPPABLE!"  "I have become Mary, the lean and sexy women who loves healthy foods and living the active lifestyle."

When you ‘become’ something or someone it is no longer a hope or dream.  It’s a part of who you are.  You now hold these beliefs and attitudes that nothing will get in your way.

I knew that I became ‘Unstoppable’ when the alarm clock would go off at 5:00am so I could go for my morning walk, and it was no longer about fat loss.  I was doing it because I loved it.  It provided me with an opportunity to clear my head, plan out my day,
enjoy the sounds of the birds chirping, listen to an educational audio on my Mp3 player, and more than anything it energized me first thing in the morning when I would typically be tired.

6.  Fun – Research shows that the people who choose activities that they enjoy are more likely to stick to their programs for the long term.  You may read a book that lays out the best fat burning workout routine and nutrition program, but if you don’t enjoy it chances are you will not stick with it.

There are so many different workout programs on the market.   Experiment with them and find the ones that fit best with your lifestyle and the ones that you enjoy the most.  Don’t just stick with one.  You need variety and variety will keep the enjoyment of
activity at a high level.

7.  Role Model – You need new references, which demonstrate that achieving your dream body will happen.  Seek out that 5% of the population and model their behaviors and actions.  If someone tells you that your fat loss goals are unrealistic just show them a
picture of your role models.
 
Join me in making sure that this recent statistic showing “By 2015, 75% of Adults Will Be Overweight; 41% Will Be Obese” never becomes a reality?  After all, you deserve to be living in your dream body.

About the author:

Scott Tousignant, BHK, CFC is the creator of Unstoppable Fat Loss, "Empower Your Mind… And Your Body Will Follow!"

Scott has also authored 2 books that are transforming the bodies of people around the world.  "The Fit Chic" and "The Fit Bastard" not only contain a FULL YEAR of workouts, they provide intense motivation to drive you to fat loss success.

You can grab a free motivational gift and month of workouts at the following site:

The Fit Chic

Exit Here for Healthy Menus When Traveling

by: Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS

Everywhere you go now a days there is a fast food joint on almost every corner in every city. When traveling especially this time of the year you do sometimes only have a fast food location as your only choice for food. 

So what should you choose and where should you go?

Here are some smart healthy choices for you to make to ensure that you stick to your 2008 goals of creating the body of your dreams.

Burger King

* Choose the Tendergrill Chicken Garden Salad with Ken's Fat Free Salad Dressing.
* BK Veggie Burger without mayo.

Subway

* Choose a 6 inch turkey breast sandwich on wheat with plenty of vegetables.
* 4 inch mini subs.  Hold on mayo and other cream based sauces

Wendy's

* Caesar salad
* Grilled Chicken Sandwich

McDonald's

* Caesar Salad with grilled chicken and low fat salad dressing
* Choose water instead of high calorie soft drink

Don't fall for the value meals.  Choose what you should eat and not what the special is because of the extra food and 39 cents you save by choosing the value meal. 

Need a Quick Workout to Burn off those Extra Holiday Calories?

by: Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS

Here is a quick 20 minute workout you can do today to burn off those extra calories you have eaten and drank the past few days.  It will also get you started to pre-burn those food calories with the upcoming new year celebrations.

Burn Fat Fast 20 Minute Workout:

1a: Pushups:  10-20 reps
1b: Bodyweight Squats to Chair: 10-15 reps
1c: Crunches: 15-30 reps

2a: Bodyweight Lunges:  10-15 reps each leg
2b: Squat and Press:  8-12 reps
2c: Jog in place (knees high):  30 seconds

Complete each exercise in circuit 1 right after another until you have completed the 3 exercises 1 time.  Rest 30-60 seconds and repeat this circuit again.  Complete a total of 3 sets.

Move to circuit 2 and do the same sequence as circuit one until you have completed the circuit 3 times. 

You can complete this workout 2-3x a week to burn calories fast and melt body fat. 

Fight Fat with Fat

by: Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS

I have discussed this before and it seems more research is now showing that certain fats will help you from gaining more fat.

University of Georgia researchers added a healthy Omega 3 fat to a culture of cells that had the potential to develop into fat cells.  The DHA (Omega 3 fat) stopped the fat cells in its tracks. 

The fatty acid either killed off the pre-fat cells or stunted it's growth.  This has been shown with other studies and is very encouraging with those looking to lose weight effectively.

For those looking to lose belly fat or burn fat fast add some healthy fats to your diet to potentially increase your metabolism and stop pre-fat cells in your body from turning into permanent fat cells.

I suggest you eat some type of cold water fish 2x a week as well as ingest a high quality fish oil such as Prograde EFA Icon (http://efaicon.professionalgradenutrition.com) 

3 Reasons as to Why Nuts Are Your Weight Loss Cure

by: Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS

A study was recently conducted with 8,865 people about their nut consumption and body weight.  After 28 months they found that those who ate nuts at least two times a week were 30% less likely to have gained 11 pounds or more than those that ate nuts less frequently. 

Why is that?

Nut's for years had received a bad rap because they were believed to be too high in fat and cause people to get fat rather than help them stay slim.  So they were avoided for those looking to lose weight.

Over the years we have found that nuts are actually a fat burning food that helps you lose weight rather than gain weight.

1.  The fat that nuts actually hves is unsaturated fat rather than saturated fats. 

2.  They also contain protein which helps boost your metabolism and burn fat. 

3.  Finally they are a good source of fiber which help you feeling fuller longer. 

Nuts are still high in calories so you can't have endless handfuls of nuts but eating 1 handful of nuts 1x a day will help you stay lean and keep you from eating the wrong foods.

Almonds and walnuts provide a good source of [tag]Omega 3 fats[/tag] more so than other nuts so choose these when possible.  Choose these as an afternoon snack and it will keep you from hitting the vending machines for your afternoon craving.

Have you neglected yourself this holiday season?

With only one day before Christmas many may think that the holidays have gotten away from you and your body is falling apart with the lack of exercise and bad food choices. 

There is still time to save what may be lost and prepare for 2008.

1.  Break your exercise up in to shorter bouts–a 10 minute walk before work, 10 minutes at lunch, and another 10 after the office all add up.  Seems a bit more reasonable than setting aside a 30 minute chunk of time, right?  And waking up 10 minutes earlier each
day is only an issue if you tell yourself it is.

2.  Bring trail mix with you or a bag full of almonds while traveling so that you aren't tempted to eat gas station candy bars or airport junk food.

3.  Eat before you go to the Christmas eve parties with family or friends as well as for New Years parties.  If you eat before hand you won't be tempted to overeat and can just nibble and sample different foods and desserts to keep your calories in check.

4.  This can apply to number 1, but on those days of get togethers where you may be eating more than usual go for a walk in the morning for 10-20 minutes.  Pre-burn some of those calories you will be ingesting shortly.  This will help you maintain an overall state of balance between calories burned and calories consumed.

Most importantly enjoy yourself and start developing your plan for 2008 now so that come January 1st you already have a plan in place to make 2008 the year of creating the body of your dreams.

The Secret of How to Lose Weight Effectively

by: Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS

In learning [tag]how to lose weight effectively[/tag] we have been taught that you need lean protein, fibrous fruits and vegetables and higher fiber starches. 

We do well with the lean proteins and fruits and vegetables, but when it comes to starches we just seem to eat brown rice over and over again. 

Well here are a few more ideas to shake up your starch servings a little bit and add variety back to your meal planning and diet.

One of the keys in how to lose weight effectively is variety.  If you don't have variety you will eventually stray because of boredom.

1.  Barley:  This is great to add to stews or soups which would contain your lean protein and fibrous vegetables.  Barley is available is slow cook method or also a quick cooking variety.

2.  Quinoa:  It is a little lower in fiber, contains protien, iron and B vitamins.  You could eat it like oatmeal in the morning or add it with your vegetables to make a pilaf dish.  It has a nice nutty flavor to it.

3.  Couscous:  This is an easy to make side dish that can be added to your vegetables or also can be used in soups and stews like the barley.  Couscous can be ready in as little as 10 minutes.

There you have it.  3 new foods to add to your arsenal of foods that can help you lose weight effectively.

Enjoy your weekend and try one of these new foods!  Let me know what you think of it after you try it and leave your comments here. 

Here's a quick way in regards to how to reduce belly fat

by: Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS

It was recently released that obesity in the U.S. continues to grow.  31 states last year had an increase in adult obesity and 22 of those states increased for the 2nd straight year.  Even though the government says they are trying to help fight this there has been no drop in obesity levels. 

So this means it is up to you and only you to [tag]reduce your belly fat[/tag].  You have to want to do this.  If you just talk about it then it will never happen.  There was also a study recently released that hanging around other obese friends is "socially contagious".  They found that your risk of obesity goes up 57% if a friend becomes obese. 

Here are 3 quick things you can do to stop that trend and reduce your belly fat and risk of obesity.  Feel free to pass these along to any friends that may be overweight or obese because it only improves your own chances based on the results of the "socially contagious" study.

1.  Don't go out to lunch every day of the week with co-workers.  Instead pack your lunch at least 3 of those days to ensure you are eating within your means.  For the 2 days that you do go out to eat choose the light entrees or healthy choice entress that most restaurants have now.

2.  Instead of leaving work hungry and going to a hangout with your friends for a few drinks and appetizers make sure you eat a snack in the afternoon.  Choose a lean protein, high fiber snack about an hour before you leave from work.  Also, drink plenty of water.  This will ensure that you don't get to your happy hour destination hungry and devour a plateful of nachos.

3.  To [tag]reduce belly fat[/tag] make sure you plan your dinner meals ahead of time.  This way you will come home from work with a plan of action.  You will cook a healthy nutrient rich meal and be able to enjoy it.  The alternative is to come home and sift through the cabinets for a meal in a box or worse yet order out because you are hungry and just want to eat something.  This is definitely not the way to reduce belly fat. 

Follow these 3 tips for yourself and then tell all your friends about them so that the next time a study is conducted on socially contagious obesity they will see that when you lose weight that this is contagious also.

 

What Everybody Ought to Know About How to Lose 10 pounds fast

by: Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS

1.  Make sure you eat frequently.  This can be a problem for some people because they are used to thinking that they have to starve themselves if they want to lose weight.  The fact of the matter is that your metabolism increases the more frequently you eat because it has to digest the food everytime you eat.  This increases your metabolism throughout the day instead of 2 times a day.  The result is more calories burned.

2.  Eat some type of lean protein at every feeding opportunity.  If you are still wondering [tag]how to lose 10 pounds fast[/tag] then pay attention to this tip here.  Eating lean protein at every feeding opportunity increases the thermic effect of food which means it requires your body to burn more calories to digest.  The result is you reduce belly fat, hip fat, leg fat and any other area that requires fat burning.  This is one of the answers to the questions: How to raise your metabolism and [tag]foods that speed up your metabolism[/tag].

The great thing about lean protein is that is fills you up so you don't get the hunger pangs that sometimes derail someones best intentions in controlling their food intake.

3.  Choose high fiber fruits, vegetables and grains for your carbohydrate choices.  Fiber slows down the digestion process which is crucial for fat burning because your goal is to control your blood sugar rise when you eat.  If your blood sugars spike up very fast then you are more likely to store these sugars as fat.  This derails your goal of losing 10 pounds fast and if you body is storing calories as fat then it isn't burning calories for energy which means you aren't raising your metabolism.  Fiber is also a great "make me feel full" nutrient.  It also won't have you going to the fridge in an hour like other non fat burning foods.

4.  Allow yourself a treat.  Most individuals that try to stay super strict with their nutrition end of pigging out and eating the wrong foods.  They also tend to increase the frequency in which they do this so it defeats the entire lose 10 pounds fast goal.  I have found a energy bar that is not only low in calories and tastes like dessert, but also contains disease fighting dark chocolate. 

A single ounce of dark chocolate provides dozens of disease fighting nutrients including flavonoids- a powerful antioxidant that reduces your risk for heart disease and cancer.  Dark chocolate can also raise your good HDL cholesterol and lower total blood cholesterol.  Best of all they contain phenylethamine which is a "feel good" chemical that triggers the release of opiate like endorphins.  This gives you that pleasurable feeling which is important when trying to stick to your goals of losing 10 pounds fast.

So to keep your sanity and improve you success check out Prograde Cravers.

They provide the dark chocolate you need to trigger those "feel good" endorphins and the peanut butter flavor tastes like a peanut butter cup yet is only 180 calories and made of all organic ingredients.  I use these myself to ensure I don't get so fed up with strict dieting that I engulf an entire pizza or eat half a cake. 

 

Here is a Method Helping Women Burn Belly Fat and Reduce Stomach Fat

by: Jayson Hunter RD, CSCS

First you need to stop the calorie counting  if you want to [tag]burn belly fat[/tag].  Calorie counting leads to frustration and failure because it is too time consuming and you won't ever reduce your stomach fat.

Pennsylvania State University researchers divided up 71 obese women into two groups.  Both ate a reduced fat diet, but one group ate predominately fruits, vegetables, and lean meats.  These are foods that are high in water content.  Six months later the group eating the fruits, vegetables and lean meats lost an extra 5 pounds more than then the other group. 

They also ate more food by weight and felt less hungry throughout the day.  These water rich foods allow you to eat good size portions while still providing fewer calories so that you can [tag]reduce stomach fat[/tag].  Eating foods such as lean meats also provide a high thermic effect which helps you burn belly fat faster than eating other foods.

This goes along with what I am constantly preaching on this blog about which is eat lean proteins and high fiber fruits and vegetables as a source of carbohydrates.  You will burn belly belly fat much faster this way. 

To learn more about how to burn your belly fat click on the link below.

Burn belly fat fast and forever reduce stomach fat!

 

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