body mess index

10 Weight Loss Tips

1. Stretch your meals to, at least, 20 minutes or longer. Your stomach, mouth and brain are all connected and it takes 20 minutes of chewing before your stomach signals your brain that you are full. To feel full and successfully lose weight on any weight loss program, you need to eat slowly for 20 minutes or longer.

2. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day is important to your health, your normal diet and to help lose weight. Water is necessary for the metabolism of your stored fat. Weight loss cannot occur without an active metabolism which requires large quantities of water. Another way to use water to lose weight is to drink a large glass of ice water just before meals. The cold causes your stomach to shrink slightly which will make you feel full faster.

3. The more positive your self-esteem, the better you feel about yourself, the faster and easier it will be for you to lose weight. When you are self-confident, you are better able to take charge of your life. It also means that after you lose weight, it will stay gone permanently.

4. When you go fat free or low fat, you also cut out much of the taste of the foods you eat. Add the flavor back with herbs and spices. Strong flavors such as vinegar, garlic, chili powder, cayenne, curry powder, rosemary and tarragon can be used to doctor up any food you are eating. For your low fat and fat free diets, experiment with different herbs and spices until you find some you like. Staying on your fat free or low fat diet will be easier and your weight loss will be speeded up.

5. Increase your metabolism by as much as 40% by using hot and spicey foods such as hot peppers of all varieties and mustards. Research shows these foods all increase your metabolism. For double duty, give up fat filled mayonnaise for mustard and add hot peppers to your food for greater flavor and increased metabolism.

6. Negative emotions will also interfere with your weight loss program. It's difficult to stay motivated to lose weight when you feel bad. Overeating often accompanies negative emotions such as depression, anxiety, fear, guilt and anger. If this is true for you, begin a stress management program including some exercise and relaxation exercises.

7. To lose weight faster, reduce your intake of caffeine. Caffeine leads to an increase of insulin in your body which retards the burning of your stored fat.This is a simple chemical reaction in your body that you can change. Reduce your caffeine intake by 50% and see what happens. Here is a rough guide to use when looking at the amount of caffeine you currently take in: Brewed coffee (6 oz. cup) - 100mg; Instant coffee (6 oz.) - 70mg; Tea (6 oz.) - 50mg; Soft drinks (12oz.) - (Coke, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew) - 50mg; Dark chocolate (1 oz.) - 20mg and Milk chocolate (1 oz.) - 6mg.

8. Incease your intake of fiber rich foods. They will help fill you up faster and will help all the food you eat pass through your digestive system more easily.

9. Exercise is probably the most important key to increasing your metabolism and burning off excess fat. Research shows that you burn more stored fat for energy when you do aerobic exercises on an empty stomach than on a full stomach. Research also shows that you burn more stored fat when you exercise late in the day rather than in the morning. Put together, the best time to exercise to lose weight by burning your stored fat is in the late afternoon/early evening before dinner. Second best is in the morning before breakfast. Our metabolism naturally starts to slow down about 8 hours after we wake up. Thirty minutes of aerobic exercises in the evening, before dinner, will not only burn off stored fat but it increases your metabolism for about two to three more hours just when it was starting to slow down. This produces a significant increase in fat burned off, even after the exercise is over.

10. To lose weight quickly, never skip a meal. Your first meal after waking starts your metabolism. Your metabolism then speeds up for about eight hours and then starts slowing down until you go to sleep when it goes to low until you wake and eat and start the cycle again. Skip breakfast and your metabolism doesn't get started until lunch time. You've just missed three or four hours of fat burning time. When you skip meals during the day, your metabolism also slows down. Weight loss through the burning of stored fat is all about eating enough of the right kinds of foods so you stay full and your metabolism stays as high as possible. Remember, if you feel hungry, your metabolism slows down. Stay full with healthy, nonfattening foods and your metabolism will continue to burn your stored fat as fast as your body will allow.

Quick - Fast Weight Loss Diet (1300 Calorie)

When selecting a low fat diet plan, make sure you are consuming a balanced and complete diet. Your assignment is to set realistic and attainable weight loss and diet goals. Start by following the simple guidelines below.

Nutritional and Low Fat Diet Guidelines

1. Commit to consuming 4 - 6 small meals and snacks everyday.
   
2. To succeed, you must plan ahead by packing your foods the night before. Thus, you should always have fresh and low-fat foods around.
   
3. Keep it simple. Don't get too caught up on the specifics or your diet. Start by simply just counting calories.
   
4. Eat your foods slower.
   
5. Make healthier food selections like fruits, vegetables, whole grain cereals, and beans, low-fat or nonfat dairy products, low fat meats, fish and skinless poultry.
   
6. Avoid foods that are high in fat and calories.
   
7. Avoid foods that are high in sugars such as pastries, candy bars, pies and candy.
   
8. Use a variety of fruits and vegetables in your nutrition plan. Start by trying to eat 5 total vegetable and fruit servings every single day.

Here is a sample low fat diet plan (1300 calories).

Breakfast
	Amount	Item	Protein	Carbs	Fats	Calories
	12 ounces	coffee-w/caffeine	0.40	1.40	0.00	8.00
	1 each	Bagel-plain, Lenders Bake Shop	8.00	42.00	2.00	210.00
	2 tbsp	Peanut butter- creamy	8.60	5.70	16.40	190.00
	1 tbsp	Cream, fluid, half and half	0.44	0.65	1.73	19.55
	Total:		17.44	49.74	20.12	427.55
AM Snack
	1 each	apple-medium with peel	0.30	21.10	0.0	81.00
	Total:		0.30	21.10	0.0	81.00
Lunch
	3 ounces	chicken breast/ white meat	26.40	0.00	3.00	140.25
	12 ounces	Coca cola- diet w/ caffeine	0.00	0.40	0.00	0.00
	.25 cup	Croutons-plain	9.00	5.50	0.50	30.50
	1 large	Salad-lrg. Garden w/tomato and onion	2.60	19.00	0.80	98.00
	4 tbps	Thousand island-reduced cal. Kraft	0.00	12.00	4.00	80.00
	Total:		38.00	36.90	8.30	348.75
PM Snack
	1 each	apple-medium with peel	0.30	21.10	0.0	81.00
	Total:		0.30	21.10	0.0	81.00
Dinner
	3 ounces	chicken breast/ white meat	26.40	0.00	3.00	140.25
	1 cup	pasta, corn cooked	3.68	39.07	1.07	176.40
	1 small	salad-sm. Garden w/tomato, onion	1.30	9.50	0.40	49.00
	2 tbps	thousand island- reduced cal. Kraft	0.00	6.00	2.00	40.00
	Total:		31.38	54.57	6.42	405.65
	Grand Total:		87.43	183.42	34.85	1343.95

Grocery List

Food	Quantity
Apple - medium with peel	14 each
Bagel - plain	7 each
Chicken Breast / White Meat	42 ounces
Coca Cola - diet	84 ounces
Cream, fluid, half and half	7 tablespoons
Croutons - plain	2 cups
Pasta, corn, cooked	7 cups
Peanut butter - creamy	14 table spoons
Salad - large garden	7 large
Salad - small garden	7 small
Thousand island - reduced cal.	42 table spoons