Weight Loss Secrets

• Walk everywhere. Pace when you're on the phone, visit your co-workers instead of emailing them or use a pedometer and see how many steps you can get in each day.


• When at the mall, make three laps around the mall before you can buy anything.


• When you park the car, make a complete circuit around the parking lot before entering the building.

• When carrying groceries, bring the bags in one bag at a time.

• If you're stuck sitting for long periods of time, change position, shift in your seat or even do some isometric exercises - squeeze your hands together, contract your abs or squeeze your glutes.

• Hide the remote control and get up to change the channel.

• Sit on an exercise ball and roll around while you watch TV or work at the computer.

Overweight teens bear a heavy burden. They must cope with the teasing, social isolation, verbal abuse, and emotional torture that often result from being overweight, as well as their own negative self-images. Wes Gilbert, son of registered dietitian Anne Fletcher and one of the teens who is profiled in Fletcher’s book Weight Loss Confidential, describes his anxiety and guilt about being overweight.

I worried about whether clothes made me look fat, what others thought of me, and especially when old friends gave me the look when they noticed how much weight I’d put on," he says.  When Wes finally lost weight, he says, "a huge metaphorical burden was lifted."

Weight loss fad diets are everywhere! They’re in our magazines, on the television, on in internet and sometimes even on your radio.

A typical weight loss fad diet is often promoted by any or all of the above and others even add to the programs with their own self-made supplements and food ala’ Weight Watchers, LA Weight Loss and more.

What you need to watch out for is that some of these weight loss fad diets don’t have even the faintest medical or scientific backing.

Many experts that have tested and reviewed weight loss fad diet varieties often report that these diets can be unhealthy. Since they are termed -fad-, chances are, they are only good for a certain period of time and the limitations can lead people to binge eat when they’ve had enough.

• Also if a person jumps from one weight loss fad diet to another it can be unhealthy the body as you may face nutrition deficiencies and general stress from the yo-yo dieting.

  There are 3 categories where a weight loss fad diet can be identified. These categories determine what kind of dieting is being promoted:

  1. Certain foods are omitted from your diet
  2. There is an emphasis on eating one very specific area of food
  3. The benefits of certain foods and food groups are purported and exaggerated for curing particular diseases.

  4 GREAT WEIGHT LOSS secrets are :

• Mark your success in stages

  Lose 10 percent of your weight initially, maintain that level for one to three months, then start on the next 10 percent. "It's daunting to attempt to lose 40 or 50 pounds," health psychologist Patricia Esperon says. "That's why we suggest dropping them in stages." If you weigh 160 pounds, shoot for losing 16 over the course of about four months. Then wait a few months before working on the next 10 percent, and so on.

• Stop Eating Before You're Stuffed

• Mark your success in stages

  Lose 10 percent of your weight initially, maintain that level for one to three months, then start on the next 10 percent. "It's daunting to attempt to lose 40 or 50 pounds," health psychologist Patricia Esperon says. "That's why we suggest dropping them in stages." If you weigh 160 pounds, shoot for losing 16 over the course of about four months. Then wait a few months before working on the next 10 percent, and so on.

• Stop Eating Before You're Stuffed

Don't avoid food until you're "starving" -- it sets you up for overeating. "Many people who struggle with their weight walk around with a low-level hunger that keeps them focused on food all day," says Marsha Hudnall, nutrition director. "Then, when they finally indulge, they eat a lot, quickly, and often make the wrong choices." To break this habit, Green Mountain encourages clients to eat every three to five hours; between meals, they're served light snacks such as fruit-and-yogurt sundaes, celery sticks with peanut butter or unshelled peanuts. Before a meal, they rate their hunger on a scale (with one being "starving," six being "full" and eight being "so full, you're distended"). And they practice recognizing the signs that indicate they're satisfied. "We'll serve a delicious turkey wrap with yogurt spread, apples, pecans and shredded lettuce for lunch," Hudnall says. "When we're done, I ask clients to sit and think about how they feel. If, after five minutes, they're still hungry, they can eat a small piece of bread or fruit." The goal is to learn to eat only when you feel a grumbling in your stomach and to stop once you're comfortably full and the food stops tasting delicious. 

• Get Off Temptation Island

Eat three healthy meals per day -- at the same time each day -- and cut out snacks. "Regular snacking can 'program' you to feel hunger at certain times," warns clinical director Lee Kern. Have breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the same hour every day, and you'll lose weight, he says. But if you usually munch on candy or chips at 3 p.m., you've trained yourself to feel a mid-afternoon craving -- and snacking may get out of hand. Still have cravings? You may be feeling psychological hunger -- for comfort, entertainment, or stress relief, rather than for nourishment.

• Make Low-Fat Luscious

Turn low-calorie food into appealing fare by adding colors and focusing on the taste, says Michel Stroot, longtime executive chef. Because meat and fish cooked with minimal fat can dry out, serve them with a moist condiment, such as grilled onions on burgers or, for salmon, a yogurt-dill sauce

If you're a texture lover, fend off your potato-chip cravings by baking crunchy tortilla chips: Lightly spray cut-up 6-inch whole wheat or corn tortillas with vegetable oil; toast for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F until golden. Sixty calories per serving of 6 chips.