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As we consider how our lives should be in the future, mental images pop into our heads. We could dream of houses, trips away, and super cars – maybe even performing a role that carries high esteem. It’s probable we’ll view our figure differently – with less body fat and a more toned physique.

All of these changes are focusing on what we want to have in our lives, and they’re a great place to start when planning the goals we want to achieve. If we don’t have an idea of how things will be when we’ve made it, the chances are we’ll never get there.

And yet before we can have the things we want, some changes must be made. “The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect different results.” In the words of Einstein. So, we’ll just keep going round and round in circles not moving on if we keep doing the same as we’ve always done!

To have significantly more, we must change the way we think as well as the way we do things. It’s not rocket science to know that there’s going to be a tad of work to do to achieve the things we want to have. We’re familiar with the elementary truth that to get, we first have to give. But doing the work alone won’t necessarily bring the results we want.

We accomplish success by embracing the thoughts and behaviour of a successful person – assuming the characteristics and values of a winner before we’ve actually become one. If the objective is to drop four dress sizes in twelve months, then for a time we have to prioritise an exercise routine and pay attention to what we eat.

Hanging out with friends comes after the work-out’s been completed. The achiever is happy there’ll be plenty more social time down the road (and more admiring glances!) if they put the effort in first. A healthy attitude to dieting makes the slimming process easier, and brings results much faster.

We don’t succeed because we’re lucky! A robust attitude to our efforts will support us when we experience the knocks.

We can connect with positive achievers by watching films and reading biographies of others who’ve overcome challenges on their path to success. Almost all the stories tell the same tale. The winner visualised being a winner from the beginning and internalised the process. By focusing on becoming who we need to be, we’ll enjoy the exertions we have to do more and receive the things we want to have so much faster.

(C) Scott Edwards. Check out WeightLossDietWar.com for superb advice on the diet and weight loss diets.

It started when I sat down with my wife Katie and we began to search for answers to our weight problems. We first identified what each of us hoped to gain and why being slimmer would give us that. We were surprised to realise that our goals were fairly simple. For Katie, it was all about the kids – being able to get in and play with them. She also wanted to lose the embarrassment she felt being in her bathing suit.

Most of all I hoped to dress well again. I had become completely fed up with ‘fat boy’ clothes! And for health reasons I wanted to be able to run up the stairs at home and not feel sick!

We did our research, and found that as well as considering how we look, we also have to consider how we feel about ourselves. Those of us who are obese tend to have a very low self-image. It’s a popular assumption that reducing weight will make everything in life good again. Katie and I can really relate to this, and thought you might appreciate our take on things.

Over time scientists have discovered that our sub conscious mind stores information, but can’t decipher whether that information is actually ‘real’. It therefore ‘programs’ the conscious element of our brain with anything that occupies it. Process that thought repeatedly, it emerges as its prevailing concept and thus it’s actual truth.

Reflect on that for a little while – have you been sabotaging your hopes of a slimmer self by constantly telling yourself that you are fat? Our subconscious needs to be fed a diet of what we actually want to be real.

If we concentrate on the positive things we’ll enjoy when we’re slimmer, it’s easier to get through the tough times. We started off with all the things we’d like to do or have more of: Things like having fun with the kids, cycling, more confidence, poise, going for long walks, dancing and playing tennis.

Next we conjured up visions of ourselves on vacation, looking fantastic in our new summer gear. Everyone approved of our good looks. Everything was fantastic!

My wife and I went through the process and can vouch for the results. We both have 100 percent more energy and our new lifestyle brings laughter every day.

(C) Scott Edwards. Go to WeightLossDietWar.com for superb diet tips on slimming diet and weight management center.

What Is Your Optimal Diet Program? It is so easy to let dieting programs take over our lives. But being so obsessive usually ends in failure! Therefore it’s vital that we find a program that runs smoothly with the way we live. One that is workable in real life. Too many slimming ads show a false world that nobody really lives in!

We just won’t keep on with diets that are too rigid or limited in scope. If we’re not allowed proper food for several meals we’ll never feel satiated.

There are regimes out there that are a million miles away from that.

We’ve chosen a select few regimes that offer what we’re all looking for. They all contain well reasoned studies of the weight loss phenomena. It becomes easy to see why we haven’t succeeded up until now. In addition, they endorse dietary methods that we CAN make progress with.

They give us more life, not less! They shed the weight for sure, but also rejuvenate our ‘joie de vivre’!

Think how much more fun you can have without those extra pounds that constantly slow you down. Slowing down through an extreme shortage of breathe should become a thing of the past. Your energy will inspire others to do what you’ve done. I’m guessing you’re ready to go as you’ve read this far…

Choose Your Favorite One – Check out the evidence; the people who created these programs can explain it better than we can – They are the ones with the expertise. Look through this exploratory page now to see how one of these plans can change your life.

Addendum – I’m speaking from personal experience here. To date, I’ve shrunk my own weight by a huge 47 lbs by utilizing two of the three recommended regimes. I really feel I’ve been given a second chance, and can’t imagine being so heavy again. By checking out even one of these sites, I know you’ll be excited by the new life that can be yours. Yours Truly, Scott – A changed Man!

(C) Scott Edwards. Look at WeightLossDietWar.com for in-depth diet advice on weight reduction and best diet pills.

Weight Loss Can Be Distressing – You should recognize that in addition to being the problem for millions that it is – it’s also a business. A vast amount of cash is spent on diet related products – and many companies are in a position to dupe would-be slimmers into buying their goods.

In All Honesty, Is It Really That Bad? Maybe you’re not classed as obese, but you’re probably somewhat overweight if you’re reading this. Around seven tenths of people in America can be classed as having weight problems. That’s over two hundred million! What’s more, it’s not a great deal less elsewhere. Yet we don’t wish to win this race…

In Great Britain, it’s estimated that one quarter of the adult population is at least 30-40 pounds overweight. And that’s not the end of it! By 2050 the obesity level could be ninety per cent!

Are those figures REALLY set in concrete? Not one of us wants this situation – either for ourselves or others. Easy to follow information is what’s needed. We shouldn’t have to spend a fortune on diet products.

Health problems increase in obese people. The following illustrate the extent of the problem: Cancer – Heart Disease – Heart Failure – Type Two Diabetes – High Blood Pressure – Liver Disease – High Cholesterol – Osteoarthritis. Obviously with the threat of all these health issues, reducing our weight is a major priority.

It’s not like we have to be SKINNY – we just have to healthy. It’s about feeling comfortable and finding a weight you can maintain.

Our sons and daughters weight is also important. If we’re being responsible parents, we have to show them with our actions. If we don’t change our habits, we’re destined to suffer. And so will the next generation. Do you really want that burden for your offspring?

Of course, reversing the habits of a lifetime will take effort – but it’s easy to educate ourselves on good nutrition. We’re all very influenced by each other, so once you’ve mastered a lifestyle of healthy eating, those around you will take note. Let’s be honest, our children’s children could escape obesity if we put the right habits into the family today.

(C) Scott Edwards. Browse WeightLossDietWar.com for great information on lose fat fast and lose 5 pounds.

Pick up any magazine or newspaper these days, and it seems we can’t escape being criticised about our size. Most of us know we should be doing something about our weight, but life seems to have a way of sabotaging our best intentions. Somehow the right message needs to get across, because you’re not being told the whole story.

You’re Not To Blame For Being Fat! Let’s begin by qualifying that: That doesn’t mean we’re saying you can’t do something about it. What we’re actually claiming is you’ve either been misinformed or uninformed!

We’d like to break that depressing chain of misinformation. We would just like to help you discover a zest for life that you may have thought would never return.

We know there are lots of different explanations for obesity, but in reality most of them are not our fault. But it’s time to stop looking back and start learning how to move on. We don’t have to feel like prisoners any longer.

Look at it like this; can a motor repairer fix a Mercedes with Fiat tools? He’s doomed to failure!

Without the correct tools, he can’t possibly do a good job. Naturally being issued with the right tools is the KEY to success. Even though he’ll know something about how to do the task, the wrong kit will just leave him very stressed out. You may think what we’ve described is simplistic – and yet it absolutely parallels the problem we’re discussing. Hence we’re looking to provide you with specially designed tools for fat prevention.

To be honest, none of us are the same. That’s why life is so intriguing. So we need different solutions for different folks. For best results you must be allowed to choose the ‘tool’ that matches your needs.

Our experiences have probably told us that sometimes we find dieting hard, and sometimes effortless. For many of us, keeping busy at work distracts us from thinking about our diet. It can get more difficult when we’re just watching TV. The routines we’ve developed over the years therefore contribute to our eating patterns. The answer is to be better equipped for the job. You require a professional, purpose written program that will lead you to finding ways to adjust your daily routine and successfully manage your weight.

(C) Scott Edwards. Browse WeightLossDietWar.com for the best advice on losing weight and fat loss.

How are we supposed to know which advice to take about the best way to lose weight? In reality, most pills and slimming products do not work, and most companies are just out to take our money! Here’s what we discovered about weight loss programs when we sorted the wheat from the chaff…

We learnt that we should avoid having to buy on-going ‘diet food’, and instead find authors who’d written real eating programs. Experts that knew what was important to us and understood how to teach us. Good information is everything. We ruled out regimes that required expensive regular purchases. What we were looking for was education.

Our favorite chosen systems provide practical, usable knowledge. What they don’t provide are wonder drugs that ‘melt’ the fat away! (We weren’t that naive!)

The creators of the programs we’re recommending have really got to grips with how it feels to be too heavy. They teach no-nonsense practical solutions on resolving obesity issues for good. As you read through these programs, you’ll start to realise the benefits they’ll give you both now and down the road. Friends will find your weight loss and energy gain hard to believe!

So There Is Light At The End Of The Tunnel? Without doubt – though few have discovered it under the mass of rubbish! Nevertheless, we know for sure that we’ve discovered some real breakthroughs.

Many of us have struggled with one diet or other for most of our adult lives. Our weight reduces when we first start dieting, then it goes up again the minute we eat normally. Figures show that over 93 percent of weight reduction programs don’t work for us – probably because they’re too punishing to maintain over the long term.

It’s a little known fact, but professional sports people attribute a great deal of their performance to their diet program. Optimal, tuned-up fitness may not be something you strive for, but the research benefits more than just sports men and women. Modern do-able eating programs have been developed from the results of the sports research – for regular guys like us.

Naturally, it’s common to procrastinate. In one to two weeks, we could be seeing a reduction. So just make a start… Just make the effort to get going. Then congratulate yourself!

When it comes to weight loss, we can accelerate our plan by combining regular exercise with a healthy diet. Some people don’t like the idea of having to exercise, but even a little exercise done often enough will produce benefits. In addition to weight loss, stronger muscles are built when we exercise regularly.

Metabolically speaking, muscle is more active than fat. Therefore it’s a good idea to build muscle to use up our ‘fuel’. We use up more calories in direct proportion to the amount of muscle we have. Muscle development tones up and defines our overall shape.

It may take time to build up a routine. It’s often easier to get the exercise habit going by being more active in your day to day life. Climb steps rather than taking an elevator whenever possible. If you drive to your job, leave your car at the other end of the parking bay. Get off the bus sooner than you normally do – you’ll quickly get used to the daily mini-hike!

Every week you should be exercising on at least 5 days. Thirty minutes sessions are ideal, and not too time-consuming. You’ll find it much more enjoyable if you select a few different forms of exercise. You’ve more chance of longevity that way.

Getting fit and more toned doesn’t have to be painful. Team up with someone else and make your exercise routine fun. Several times a week, get outdoors and go for a walk. Brisk walking on a regular basis can do much more for us than weight loss alone.

Getting fit means you can reduce your risk of heart problems by fifty percent. Various cancers are less likely also. If we’re fit and active, we’re much less likely to get high blood pressure. A brisk walk each day will protect against depression and anxiety, and help towards a good night’s sleep. So as well as becoming trimmer over time, we’ll also be much fitter.

Choose some easy to wear clothing for walking. It’s best to wear several thin layers that can be taken off if necessary, or all left on for greater warmth. It’s important to try shoes or boots on before you decide to buy. Your toes should be able to move freely around, but the rest of your foot should be held firm.

At the start of each walk, run through a quick check on your posture. Distribute your weight evenly, and tuck your tummy in. Relax and drop your shoulders down. Warm yourself up properly before you start your walk. This can be done with some stretches, rolling of shoulders and squats. Then finish the warm-up by marching on the spot.

Make a conscious effort to have the correct posture throughout your walk – remember the aim is to get fit and redefine your body shape. When you’ve finished your walk, let your muscles ‘warm-down’ with a bit more stretching and squatting. You’re more likely to stick with the program if you start small and build up. Don’t attempt a ten mile hike on day one! It may be advisable to speak to a training instructor before embarking on an exercise program.

Our friendships can have quite an influence on how we live our lives. Apparently, if we’re in the company of a person for any length of time, we start to mimic their habits. This is usually thought to reflect in people’s opinions and attitudes; having a mutual regard for certain things, like the law or education for example.

Today however, research is indicating that if our friends are heavier than the norm – then we will be too! A new report has linked consumption habits and large friends. Researchers in the USA discovered that overweight youngsters ate more food when they were with their overweight friends than when they were with their lighter ones.

Indeed, all the young people studied (aged 9 to 15) ate more when they were with friends than strangers regardless of their size. But it was when the heavier friends teamed up that the most calories were consumed. Clinical nutritionists were interested in this research. The most revealing dynamic it discovered was the influence of friends.

Frankly, having more relaxed habits when with friends is not a big surprise. We all feel more awkward in strange company. With friends, we gain a sort of unspoken permission for our actions. In a subconscious way, we permit them to define tolerable behaviour.

Over 60 kids and teens of all sizes were reviewed for three quarters of an hour. Some were put with a person they knew well, and some with an unfamiliar person. Every couple had things to play with and food to eat.

With each of the pairs, the ones who knew each other before the experiment got through more food than the ones who didn’t. But overweight friends ate the most of all. And the differences were quite significant.

An average of seven hundred and thirty eight calories was eaten by overweight teens who paired with a friend. Yet the larger kid who paired with a regular weight buddy only ate four hundred and forty four calories. Interestingly, regular weight kids averaged approximately five hundred calories no matter what weight their friend was. The larger kids desire to be like their friends is a common notion. We see this also in relation to smoking at an early age.

Back to the eating patterns – and the researchers concluded that the way children eat is very much tied into the habits of their friends. But this can be argued both ways – if a young person is taught sound nutrition and puts it into practice, they could be instrumental in influencing many others. What better reason for more nutritional training in schools?

My weight has gone up and down all my married life. And I figured that as I approached my fifties, things would only get worse. But I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t have to be that way! I’m past fifty now, and no longer need to lose any weight.

It’s all about stabilising your blood-sugar level. Late afternoon used to be my low point. So I ate whatever I could find, which generally was highly calorific! All this did was to add to the fat that was already building around my waist.

Not only that, but in addition fat was amassing in my arteries and elsewhere – quite a scary thought. These days, I hardly ever feel drained or half-starved. My husband would say I’m a little easier to live with – seems my moods are more balanced as well! And joy of joys, I can sleep through the night.

The ‘secret’ is to eat every couple of hours, but just don’t eat much. Before, I’d skip breakfast or maybe lunch quite regularly, claiming I was just too busy to stop and eat. I’d then stuff myself at dinner, and end up uncomfortable all evening.

Blood-sugar is kept stable when we eat less food more often. By the time we’re half-way through the day, we’ve reached the peak of our metabolic rate. That’s why we must focus on a good breakfast and two or three light meals during the day.

Sitting down to have breakfast is now top of my list every morning. I only eat a small amount, which saves me having to tot up the calorific value. (Our stomachs are not massive empty containers – we should be aware not to overstretch them).

My chief meal is taken at lunchtime now – even if I have to make up a packed lunch for work. When the end of the afternoon comes around, a morsel of food is all I require to easily keep me going until my light evening meal. Antioxidant-rich vegetables and salads abound in my diet, as does lean protein of various kinds.

A balanced diet needs fat, but I mainly eat certain ‘healthy’ fats. Olive oil, seeds, fish oil and a few nuts all give us our essential fatty acids.

Finally my weight has gone down because my alcohol consumption has gone down – I now just drink a glass of dry white wine a couple of times a week. Instead of wine and beer I drink iced tea and mineral water, which is very refreshing. Has it been hard, after all these years? It’s been a lot easier than I imagined actually. Not only has my weight dropped a couple of dress sizes, but I’m more energetic than I’ve been for years!

Losing weight can be as difficult psychologically as it is physically. It can become a struggle if we have to make family meals; eating our own meagre diet whilst still having to prepare tempting fare for the others. How can we improve our lot, and continue to please the family?

Whatever we serve up, when we’re aiming to lose weight the first thing we can address is our portion size. Starting a meal with a full plate is very gratifying, so why not buy yourself a smaller plate? Don’t rush to be the first to start eating. Take your time and chew your food well. This will leave you feeling more satiated, and prevent you from always finishing before everyone else.

It should be possible to eat the same dinner as everyone else for several days of the week. Just make sure you eat lots of vegetables, and only serve yourself a small amount of carbohydrate. Also, restrict any side portions of bread and butter! If the family like their puddings, prepare ones that you can have a taste of. Check any tinned fruit you have is in juice, not syrup.

On the other hand, you can make slimmer’s meals for everyone. No-one need suspect they’re eating a low-cal meals with some of the recipes you can use. Use lemon juice, garlic and fresh herbs for a really scrummy pasta dish. Tinned tomatoes are a great base for the sauce, and no oil is needed if you stir in a little low fat creme fraiche before serving.

At the supermarket or store, always choose low fat meat and dairy products. After a while, your family will get used to these healthier products and enjoy them just as much. Breast of chicken or turkey is a good choice, especially if you eat it without the skin. Boil or steam potatoes rather than frying. Maris Piper is one variety that has a good waxy consistency. There’s no need to add high calorie spreads or butter then.

Be careful when you buy cereals as some have a really high sugar content. Again, breakfast bars might look like healthy food, but most are highly sweet and calorific. The sugar content in a lot of drinks is also far too high for dieters. If you love your drinks, stick to sugar free varieties. If you like juice, dilute it with water and add ice!

When socialising, alcohol really increases our calorific intake. Iced tea can make a refreshing change and is a good thirst quencher. Serve your drinks in wine glasses so they still feel more sophisticated.

Naturally, we have to change our habits if we want to shed the pounds. But with a few little tweaks here and there we can seriously cut back on the calories.

For more efficient weight loss, try eating more slowly. Because it’s currently been shown that how fast we eat affects how much we eat. Speedy eaters have a tendency to eat bigger meals than slow eaters, according to recent research. This was proved when diners were asked to eat until they felt satiated.

Have a try yourself – for dinner, speedily eat a carbohydrate based meal. On a different day, enjoy the exact same dinner, but this time spend at least twenty seconds with each forkful in your mouth. The chances are you’ll eat more of the first meal than the second. Overall you’re likely to feel more fulfilled and comfortable after your second dinner, both at the end of the meal and for a good while afterwards.

The reason we overfill ourselves when eating at a pace is we don’t wait for the digestive process. Putting too much food in at one go then makes our stomach feel distended and uncomfortable very soon afterwards.

Furthermore, chewing food is all part of the digestive procedure. Well chewed food assists dieters with weight loss, as the whole digestive process is then optimised.

How much we eat can be strongly influenced by how we actually eat. We really ought to always have our food at a table or breakfast bar, where we can pay attention to what we’re eating. Simply doing that seems to lead to us taking more time. When we think more about what we’re eating, we also seem to judge more accurately how much to eat.

Perhaps also if we’re eating around a table with friends, the meal is part of a social event where it’s natural to take our time. Whatever the reason, it’s far more beneficial than eating slumped in front of the TV.

If it’s been several hours since we last ate, we’re also vulnerable to speed eating! To avoid this eat frequent small meals, which consist of slow release nutritional food. Sugary drinks and chocolates give us a quick burst of energy, but it can be very short-lived. For many of us, eating more meals on weekdays isn’t practical. So plan ahead and take a piece of fruit, some mixed nuts or oatcakes to your workplace and have a snack every couple of hours.

So just to re-cap – the time we take to chew our food now seems to have a direct bearing on the length of time we feel replete. Relishing each mouthful could be a helpful contribution to losing weight.

People who yo-yo with weight loss and weight gain are often those who have a misunderstanding of the fundamentals. Consider the following statement – Most people seem to think that ‘extra’ food at elevenses and mid-afternoon is the quickest way to a midriff bulge. Not everyone believes this to be true.

The purists would have us believe that sticking to three nutritious meals a day is the way to drop the pounds. And yet this thinking is now being turned on its head by some. How can this be?

Our natural inclination would be to think that more mealtimes will equal more calories. Long spaces between meals make us feel as though we’re getting somewhere with our diet. What’s really happening is quite interesting though.

Not eating for many hours will leave us feeling starved. Which means that our appetite is massive when the next meal eventually comes. And we go on to eat more than we really need. An especially vulnerable meal for this is the evening meal. Then we’re in a position where we’re sitting down to relax but we’ve got a gut full of ‘fuel’.

But if we adjusted our day and ate 5 times in our waking hours, there’d never be a starvation factor. Such frequent ingestion is recognised by the body. It starts to trust that it’s getting what it needs when it needs it, and so can allocate the right resources to the right areas.

If it’s not fed on a frequent basis, it has to retain fat in case it needs an energy reserve later on. Hence we can struggle to lose weight despite the fact that we’re starving ourselves.

By eating several meals before the end of the afternoon, our calorific intake is geared towards the earlier part of the day. This allows the body to use food to effectively power our system, and not retain excess supplies of fat. If we start a meal feeling starving, we are also tempted to eat the wrong things.

We are not satisfied with a nice crispy salad. We want stodgy carbo-loading food such as breads and pastas. Which is a nightmare if you are struggling to control your calories! To conclude – for effective weight loss that does not leave you feeling ravenous, stick to small nutritious meal plans and eat several times a day.

Writing notes in a diary is a great way to keep an eye on what you’re eating. For seven days, stick to your usual pattern of eating. Put all the items you eat and drink into your food diary – bar none! When a week has passed, analyse the contents of your diary. Try to identify any patterns where poor food choices are more evident.

Obviously, if there are several take-aways and other high fat foods, cutting those out would be a start. If your diary only shows nutritious food, then perhaps smaller portions would be the answer. Whichever one is closest to your situation, what’s in the diary will reveal a lot.

Write down an Action Plan for the next week. Include an eating plan, and the exercise you will take. If some foods are to be forbidden or limited, write that down. And then write down the food you can eat in generous amounts.

If you can’t imagine going without any beer or wine, then decide which two days you will permit yourself to have a maximum of two small glasses. Forget any drinks with added sugar. You’ll need to commit to a fitness regime, so next write in your diary which days you plan to exercise and how.

Just before you get started, jump on the scales and weigh yourself. Assess your progress each week, and adjust where necessary. Don’t be tempted to weigh yourself too often – once every week at the same time is sufficient.

A plan such as this will allow you to manage your weight loss programme and adjust it to suit yourself. Useful observations jotted in the diary will help to make the following weeks more enjoyable. Tick off each day you successfully complete your exercise plan. A diary is a very simple way to monitor your progress – and a remarkable tool for staying with the program!

Do keep your expectations reasonable though. In the early weeks, it may be difficult to see much change – but the groundwork is all taking place. Patience and perseverance are everything. Motivating yourself over a long period has it’s challenges – but if you concentrate on the prize instead of the price it becomes much easier.

If you do get demoralised with your results, analyse what’s been happening. It could be that you should look at altering your diet. Adding more exercise might be the thing. A brisk walk several times a week can be done at any time of day.

Recognise your successes. Dieting is much more motivating when you quantify your results and reward yourself for your efforts. A lovely new suit should probably wait until your full weight loss is realised. However, you could go to a live concert to celebrate a victorious week or month.

When looking into health issues relating to weight, medics take note of our Body Mass Index. Our reading should come in somewhere in the region of top teens to mid-twenties. Anything above that figure indicates that we’re overweight. What’s more if we take that figure over thirty we’re defined as obese – over forty and the definition is morbidly obese.

Analysing your current number is quite straightforward. First of all measure how tall you are in metres. Then weigh yourself in kilos. Your height should be multiplied by itself, then divide that figure by your weight.

To illustrate: you are 1.65m in height, so take 1.65 x 1.65 and you get 2.72. You weigh 82 kilos, so it’s 82 / 2.72 which is 30.15. In that example, you would be considered obese and therefore should look to changing your eating habits and exercise regime.

We can’t lose weight if we continue to consume foods highly saturated in fats and sugars (save for the odd treat now and again!). We can lose weight by eating more healthily, and eating less. Then the fat that’s previously entered our system will be converted into energy.

Stay away from eating programs that sound too good to be true! They’re usually so restrictive and unsatisfactory that you can’t maintain them for long. Any slimming regime that only allows one and a half thousand calories a day is considered a crash diet. Quick-fix diets can be a vicious cycle of drastic weight loss followed by weight gain.

Long-term weight reduction takes time. If you reduce your calorific intake by a fifth, there’s a good chance you’ll take off up to a couple of pounds a week. Not quick-fix, but much more likely to show a result in a year’s time.

It’s well understood that foods saturated in fat contain the highest calories. So the easiest way to drop the calories is by cutting out fatty food. Instead, eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, and increase the amount of whole grains in your diet. It won’t take long before you notice you’re actually feeling better.

Don’t miss out on meals in an attempt to reduce the amount of calories you eat. By the afternoon, you’ll be so hungry you might be tempted by chocolate or crisps. In point of fact, eating at least 4 small meals every 3 hours or so will prove much more satisfactory. It’s in fact more difficult to lose weight when you starve yourself. Your body can metabolise more productively when it knows it’s receiving small regular intakes of fuel. This allows it to get rid of excess fat more easily.

A stressful lifestyle with not enough sleep is now thought to add another problem – it could be the reason for our weight problems. We find it hard to say no, and so end up rushing around doing far too many tasks – often skimping things instead of taking the time to do them well. There always seem to be so many things to get through – small wonder we become tense and fraught! At this time, our natural inclination is to eat.

As a result, scientists are now looking into why we reach out for calorific food when we feel fraught. Gaining weight because of stress does happen. Here’s the process that creates it: The stress hormone cortisol is secreted when the body undergoes long periods of stress.

As a result, this stimulates the release of insulin in an effort to make our blood-sugar level stable. This insulin release makes us feel hungry- particularly for carbohydrate and fat-rich foods. So we eat carbs and fats, and pretty quickly feel more energised.

Our stress levels stabilise and we feel more at one. But our energy level takes a nose dive a short time later. This is due to the insulin taking the glucose from the blood, and storing it in fatty parts of the body such as the waist and thighs.

Consequently we’d be well advised to de-stress our lifestyle before embarking on a new weight reduction program. In conjunction with this idea is a theory about sleep and weight management. Some years ago, the average night’s sleep was eight hours – now we’re lucky if we manage seven.

Alongside this, is the fact that weight problems have increased. One theory is this is due to hormones. If we’re run-down through lack of sleep, hormonal changes create hunger. Because we’re awake, our bodies are tricked into thinking it must be day-time, and so believe more food is needed.

Clearly the more tired we feel, the greater our desire to re-fuel. Yet again, this leads to a craving for high fat and carbohydrate food. Weight gain problems therefore could be helped by simply taking a full eight hours sleep.

And so to our conclusion. If we aim to reduce the tension in our lives, we might just find it easier to reduce our weight as well. We might try delegating more family and work responsibilities and say no to people’s requests sometimes. And then at the close of the day, instead of grabbing another bite to eat, simply play some relaxing music and snuggle up in bed…

When you decide to change something in your life, setting goals and making a plan is vital. If you’re aiming to lose weight, targets and goals must be incorporated into the plan. Successful people from all walks of life don’t just wake up one morning as high achievers!

Take some time to work out what you want to achieve from losing weight, and put your goals in place. Achievable (if difficult) goals will make all the difference. An end goal, with mini-goals timed along the way will assist you greatly. Always specify your targets clearly.

Compose your own written contract using the following headers – this will help you to get psychologically committed to your cause. You should write your definition of what losing weight will mean – for example great looks, health, fun and so on. Stick pictures on your walls to remind you of what it’s going to be like when you’re slimmer. Make sure to refer to them before every work-out session.

Desire (why you’re doing it). This needs to be something that stirs an emotion within you. For instance is it because you want to gain the approval of another person, have more fun or feel less restricted?

Dedication is a measure of how committed you are to a successful end result… Announce to yourself that you’re dedicated to your exercises by writing up a timetable and sticking with it.

It helps to establish a routine, which in turn helps you to remain committed. Once your timetable has become established, you’ll take pride in your dedication. You’ll exercise all the better for it.

Determination – the will to stick to the plan until completion and see it through. This is your contract to ensure that you won’t let yourself down. Having your goals formally laid out gives you the Discipline to work at them efficiently. It’s also much easier to stay on course with good discipline.

Your contract is a working document designed to assist and strengthen you through the change in your life. Goal planning with realistic targets has proved time and time again to bring more success than any amount of haphazard efforts. The more emotionally involved you get with the results of completing your weight loss, the sooner you’ll get through it.

There are some people who seem to breeze through life, rejoicing from one triumph to the next. And yet there are others who fail at just about anything they have a go at – but can always tell you why it wasn’t their fault. Society is made up of victors and victims, and the difference can very often be boiled down to one key factor – attitude.

To realise your target weight on a diet program, you must assume the attitude of a victor. A piece-meal attempt at dieting without the belief is why the ‘victim’ will never win. And yet for a victor it’s all in the bag from the beginning.

Imagine two tennis players who’re about to play in the finals. We hear the first athlete saying they’re both great players, and may the best man win. Then we hear the second saying they’re both great players, so he will play exceptionally well to win. It’s not difficult to predict who’ll win the tournament.

‘Oar’ can be used to describe a victor who paddles his way to the winning post. O is for ownership, A is for accountability and R is for responsibility. We can define the victim by the word BED (Blame, Excuses and Denial) – a person who stays in bed and gives up.

Not relying on others, but taking ownership of the job is a strong characteristic of a victor. He or she makes sure they are accountable for their activities. He regards the consequences of his actions as his responsibility.

The victim always has a reason for not achieving, and it’s rarely to do with him or herself. Everything is always someone else’s fault – he feels out of control so lays the blame elsewhere. And then he reasons why something didn’t go well – although no-one’s convinced but him! After repeating this cycle of excuses and blame for a while, the victim is in denial. He’s absolutely convinced that there isn’t anything he can do to change things.

Slimmers about to embark on a life-changing fat loss regime should give themselves a mental work-out, to prepare for success. Anyone who’s a fully paid up member of the victim society will have to address their issues before they start, to truly embrace the concept of losing weight.

Both sets of attitudes are just habits, and with constant repetition, habits can be changed. When you’re alone with your thoughts, are you thinking like a victim? If the answer is yes, then take control right away. Achievers are just like the rest of us – except they’ve conquered their demons and taken control.

We’re not victors from the day we’re born – we become a victor by working on our attitude. To achieve the weight and health we want, we must adopt the right frame of mind. Then we become capable of anything!

A glance in any book shop today is bound to reveal a ton of autobiographies. Successful people explaining how they made it in life. From glamour models to empire builders, they all have a different story to tell. But each has a common thread – they overcame adversity by focusing on the positives. This is the only way to achieve anything we’re aiming for. We have to consume ourselves with positive beliefs, and not allow negative a foot-hold!

So if you’re dieting, develop a positive approach to losing the pounds. Tell yourself how good you are at healthy eating. Thinking positively opens up a wealth of solutions to any problem. A pessimistic approach though does the opposite.

We all have an automatic ‘device’ in our brains, known as our reticular activation system. This system is responsible for everything we focus on. Over our lives, we’ve experienced a huge number of things that no longer remain in our conscious thoughts – the bulk of what we’ve learned moves from our conscious mind to our sub-conscious mind, a kind of store cupboard stocked up with all our past knowledge and beliefs.

When we consciously attempt to do anything, our Reticular Activation System (RAS) will search the sub-conscious mind for any relevant information it holds, and bring it to our attention. If we’re walking down a street, we’re only made aware of things that have meaning to us – the rest is just background noise.

Consequently, if we’ve been in the habit of generating positive thoughts and experiences that got fed into our sub conscious mind, those same vibes will be returned. But the sub-conscious can only return what it originally was given. So if it received negative information, it will send negative back.

It appears that we can influence the messages going through to our sub-conscious minds by deliberately programming our RAS, and selecting the exact messages the conscious mind transfers. So as the sub-conscious doesn’t know what’s actually real, the RAS can be a great tool for realising ambitions.

In other words, we need to build a very detailed picture of our goal in our conscious mind. Dutifully, our RAS will then store that image sub consciously, ready to assist us with our objectives. Because when we need to retrieve our old information on losing weight, the message is that it’s a done deal!

A positive mental attitude has long been understood. Abandon negative thinking and keep the focus on hitting the goal. On the other hand, if we set our mind on doubt and failure, we have very little chance of reaching our goals.