Work Life Tips

Set Realistic Goals and Reward Yourself – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

If you are trying to lose weight, it is important to set realistic goals. When you reach a goal, reward yourself. If you set realistic goals, you will be more likely to stick with them and be successful. This in turn increases your motivation to lose more weight or improve your health. Instead of trying to lose 60 pounds in three months, shoot for one pound per week or four pounds per month. It can also help to have broader goals like running a 10k or bike seven miles without stopping.

Give yourself an incentive to reach your goals by rewarding yourself. Dieting can be exhausting, but resist the temptation to reward your new healthy habits with a calorie-laden meal or dessert. This will just put you on track for another treadmill workout. Instead, put away money for every pound you burn so that when you reach your weight goal you can buy yourself something. You could also go get a manicure or pedicure, massage, see a movie or go to the beach and enjoy a good book in the sunshine. A reward will serve as a reminder for all the hard work you put into reaching your goal. It is an opportunity to throw out the calorie chart for a day, relax and enjoy your success.

Don’t Think of it as a Diet – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

You’ve been on a diet since you were 14. You’ve tried the grapefruit diet, the low-carb diet, the no-carb diet, the starve-myself-until-dinner-and-then-binge diet and perhaps even the popcorn diet. Throw all the fad diets out the window and re-think the way you lose weight. Diets have been proven to cause compulsive eating and give you a sense that food is forbidden or dangerous. If you deprive yourself of something as natural as eating, you will only want to rebel and eat more.

When you yo-yo diet you put your metabolism through a loop, making it impossible to keep weight off. Change the way you look at your nutrition and rely on your natural hunger to do its job. Eat (healthy) food when you are hungry and stop eating when you are full. Trade the ice cream, fries and candy for fruits and vegetables, and all you will have to reach for in the refrigerator are healthy things. If you change the concept of the way you exercise, lose weight and feel about yourself to focusing on what you can do and can eat, you will no doubt be more successful at your weight loss goals.

Calculating Body Fat with Fat Loss Scales – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

There are a few things you should consider when using the dreaded scale as a method of determining your weight loss.

* As you exercise, you will be adding more muscle, which can weigh significantly more than fat.
* As you continue to work out, your bone density will increase. While this might mean that you will see a few extra pounds on the scale, the added bone density has an important benefit: It may protect you from developing osteoarthritis.

When you want to measure your progress in a fitness and weight loss program, your best bet is to keep track of your body fat percentage. Body fat is lost through diet and aerobic exercise. Losing body fat will not only improve your appearance: It can protect you from health issues such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Here are the most common methods of measuring body fat.

Body Fat Scales: Some companies, such as the Tanita, manufacture a body fat scale for home use. These scales make use of a method known as bioelectrical impedance to measure your body fat percentage. This method involves a low-level electrical current is passed through your body. Then, the “impedance”, or opposition to this current is measured. The result is calculated in conjunction with your weight, height and age to determine your body fat percentage. While this may sound like the easiest way to calculate body fat, there are some caveats. For example, the amount of water in your body, your skin temperature and recent physical activity might influence the results. To ensure accuracy, do not eat or drink for four hours before taking the test, and avoid exercise or 12 hours prior to the test.

Vary Your Veggies – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

OK, vegetables may not top your list of fun or exciting foods. But if you make an effort to buy and eat a variety of veggies, you’ll probably end up eating more of them as part of your diet. Many women’s weight loss successes can be maintained with some dietary changes.

Think of going to a salad bar; you wouldn’t just load up your plate with one thing when there is so much variety. Make variety your mantra when you are shopping for vegetables. Don’t just buy broccoli and force yourself to eat a huge plate of it. Instead, choose broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower, cut them into small pieces and dip in a light vinaigrette dressing.

Add Mileage, Lose Weight – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

Looking for the best workout for weight loss? Tie on a pair of running shoes. Running burns more calories per hour than almost any other aerobic activity.

Depending on your gender, size and body type, running burns anywhere from 500 to 1,300 calories per hour; this outpaces most other forms of exercise. If you’re a regular runner and weight loss is your goal, gradually increase your weekly mileage by adding a mile or two to your runs a few times a week. For example, if you might normally run three miles (or for half an hour) one day, add a mile (or another five to 10 minutes). But remember: If you increase your mileage one day, drop it back the next day. If you build up too quickly, you’ll increase your risk of injury.

If you are new to running, start by alternating running with walking and gradually build up the time spent running vs. walking.

Don’t Fall For Fat Burning Gimmicks To Lose Those Final Pounds – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

The best way to burn fat is to exercise with a combination of cardio and strength training. But many women get frustrated when they hit a weight loss plateau. You lose weight, and then the scale seems to stick at that last five to 10 pounds.

Don’t abandon your fitness routine and turn to magic bullets or quickie fad diets to burn fat. Instead, revisit your calories. The bottom line in weight loss is that you need to burn more calories than you consume, but if you reduce your intake too drastically, your body goes into starvation mode. If you have only a few more pounds to lose, your body may be fighting to hang on to every ounce.

You may actually need to eat a little more to jumpstart your metabolism and burn fat. Just stick to healthy food, not junk foods. And reassess your goal. If you are within a few pounds, you may be at the healthy weight you want, and if you stick with your fitness plan, your body may move off the plateau with a little more time.

Body Fat Measurements with a Skin Fold Caliber – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

Using a skin fold caliber to measure body fat can be effective, if, and only if it is done correctly. For an accurate reading, you must be sure to measure in the exact same spot each time. Otherwise, if you have been following an effective weight loss program, you will be rewarded with the instant gratification of experiencing “less pinch for the inch. Remember: to lose fat, you need to burn fat.

Some of the common sites to perform a skin fold body fat test are:

* Measure at a point that is midway between the shoulder and the elbow. Keep your arm relaxed, with the palm facing downwards. The triceps tend to be one of the areas of the body that accumulates fat. Make sure that you are supplementing your weight loss program with strength training, which will tone the muscle and speed up your metabolic rate.
* The Abdominal Area: In order to lose weight around the abdominal area, you need to burn fat through aerobic exercise. Fat around the abdominal area is, in some cases, an indication that you might be eating too many high fat foods. However, if you have been following a healthy fitness and weight loss plan, you will like what you see when you use your skin fold caliber to measure body fat in this area. Measure about 15cm. from your belly button.
* Your skin fold caliber will come with an instruction manual, which will explain the other sites to test for body fat. For best results, follow the instructions as carefully as possible.

Thyroid and Weight Loss in Women – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

Most of us know a woman who eats a healthy diet, exercises regularly, but still seems to be carrying a few excess pounds. What is the reason for this? Is she secretly eating high fat or high calorie foods? Probably not. The more likely explanation is that she is suffering from hypothyroidism, which, according to studies, is one of the most frequently missed diagnoses in modern medicine. Since this disease affects women eight times more frequently than men, it can often be the the culprit responsible for stalling the progress of even the best women’s weight loss program.

Symptoms of Hypothyroid

* Unexpected and unexplained weight gain
* Depression
* Low Energy
* Memory Loss
* Cold Hands

Although doctors are unsure of why there seems to be a sudden epidemic of women suffering from hypothyroidism, there are some theories. It is quite possible that products such as aspartame, found in diet sodas, and soy, which is often suggested as a low-fat alternative to dairy products might contain compounds that suppress normal thyroid functioning. Although a test at the doctors office is you best bet for diagnosing hypothyroidism, there is a simple home test you can try. When you wake up each morning, take you underarm temperature. If it is consistently lower than 97.8, and you are experiencing symptoms, consult your physician.

What Can be Done?

* Get 30 minutes of sunshine on a daily basis. Sunlight is said to improve thyroid function.
* Get enough iodine by eating dark green, leafy vegetables
* Ask you doctor to prescribe a thyroid medication

Lifestyle Changes for Weight Loss – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

What is the best workout for weight loss? This is perhaps the most common question presented to fitness and weight loss professionals. The simplest answer is: the one that you enjoy the most. It sounds like a no-brainer, but consider this: How likely are you to adhere to a program that you simply don’t enjoy? Let’s take this one step further. When it comes to exercise adherence, studies have shown a direct correlation between convenience and compliance. In other words, if you’re your fitness center is an hour’s drive from your home, how likely is it that you will go on a daily basis?

So now that we’ve answered that question, are you interested in learning about the most effective weight loss program? It’s called lifestyle change. Here are some simple things you can do to enhance your weight loss program. No equipment or gym membership is required:

* Walk it off: If you can walk to work, great. If not, consider parking further away from your office. Go for a walk after meals. The Europeans have known about this for years.
* Take the Necessary Steps to Burn Fat: In other words, get out of the elevator and on to the staircase. Walking steps also builds beautiful butts!
* Go Ride a Bike: It saves on gas, burns fat and is eco-friendly.
* Lose the Remote Control: Yes, we’re only talking about a few calories here. But lying on the couch with the remote leads to a generally lazy attitude.
* Fidget: Don’t laugh! The mayo clinic has found that people who engage in “non-exercise activity thermogenesis” such as fidgeting and postural changes burn more calories throughout the day than folks who remain immobile.

Weight Loss and Body Fat Distribution in Women – Women’s Weight Loss Tips

You don’t need to read Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus to realize that men and women have different patterns of body fat distribution. In general, men tend to accumulate fat around their abdomen, giving them an apple or “android shape, whereas women accumulates body fat around their hips, thighs and buttocks, which results in a pear or “gynoid” shape. This fat can either be subcutaneous, which is fat placed under the skin, or visceral, which is fat that is close to the internal organs. Since abdominal fat is usually visceral fat, it can pose health risks such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and respiratory diseases. In contrast, the subcutaneous fat that accumulates around the hips thighs and buttocks can make a woman susceptible to biomechanical injuries of the lower body.

You have probably noticed that even the best women’s weight loss program may not get rid of as much lower body fat as she would like. However, there is a reason for this. Certain female hormonal functions, such as childrearing, require a basic amount of essential fat.

Although this may sound discouraging, the news is not all grim. Even though it may be harder to lose weight around your lower body, losing body fat around the abdominal area is relatively easy, provided that you follow a healthy weight loss and diet plan. In the mean time, be sure to read the chapter on strength training! Developing your upper body will make your lower body appear slimmer. It will also rev up your metabolic rate, which will accelerate the results of your weight loss program.