You've Reached Your Weight Loss Goal

Now that you've reached your goal

If you've recently set a weight-loss goal and achieved it, congratulations! But here's the bad news: the hard part isn't over yet. Now you have to maintain your new weight.

Given that you need to cut more calories from your diet to lose weight than you do to maintain your body weight, you'd think from here on out you'd be cruising. But studies have shown that even if you successfully lose weight, your chances of keeping it off are, well, slim.

So why is weight maintenance so hard?

There are a few factors at play. For starters, at your new, lower weight, your body needs fewer calories to fuel itself, which means you need to consume fewer calories than before you lost weight just to stay the same. If you lost weight through diet alone, rather than diet and exercise, chances are, you also lost muscle - which also affects the rate at which your body burns calories.

And that's just the physical stuff. There are some emotional factors, too, some of which have to do with how you viewed your diet in the first place.

Many people view dieting as a means to an end, rather than as a permanent change. That means that all the good habits they picked up along the way - from exercising to making good meal choices to regularly weighing themselves - fall to the wayside as soon as they've reached their goal. But if your old eating and exercise habits are what made you overweight to begin with, it makes sense that resuming those ways will cause the pounds to creep back on.

Even if you are fairly committed to maintaining your new habits, motivation can be a problem. Back when you were dieting, the regularly-declining numbers on your scale probably went a long way towards helping you stay on track. But it's just not as exciting when the goal is just to keep the number the same, week in and week out.

With all those obstacles in the way, it's a wonder anyone ever manages to keep the weight off. But maintaining your new weight is as important to your health as losing it was in the first place. Did you know that the cycle of losing weight and then gaining it, sometimes referred to as "yo-yo dieting," can actually cause health problems?

One study that was published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association suggests that yo-yo dieting may weaken the immune system. There is also some evidence that yo-yo dieting may increase your risk of developing high blood pressure and gallstones. But while many experts say the risks associated with this type of dieting shouldn't stop you from trying to lose weight if you are overweight, they do underscore the importance of finding a weight-loss plan that will help you not only lose the fat, but keep it off as well.

Written and reviewed by the MediResource Clinical Team

As found at  http://www.medbroadcast.com/   

Presented By Larry Guzda

NOTE!!! I will probably make money from purchases from recommended sites on this blog, assume that I will profit from recommendations. Information on this page is provided for informational purposes only. It is not meant to be a substitute for medical advise. Contact your physician for diagnoses of all health related problems as soon as possible.Dietary supplements HAVE NOT be evaluated by The Food And Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose,treat,cure or prevent any disease. This article may be copied but not changed in any way.

BLG Health - Keeping The Weight Off

Keeping the weight off

After all your hard work, the last thing you want is for the weight you lost to come creeping back on. So here are some strategies to make sure those pounds stay gone for good:

• Keep exercising. At your new lower weight, your body needs fewer calories to stay fueled. But you can compensate for that decrease by burning extra calories through regular exercise. Increasing your lean muscle mass through weight training can also give your metabolism a boost.
• Weigh yourself regularly. While you don't need to step on the scale every day, regular weigh-ins, for example, once a week or every couple of weeks, can help to identify small changes in your weight before they become a big problem.
• Be ready to handle setbacks. The unwanted 5-pound souvenir you brought home from your vacation doesn't have to be a permanent fixture. Be prepared to act as soon as you recognize slip-ups by having a plan in place that involves the same weight loss strategies that helped you in the first place.
• Keep a food journal. You don't need to do it all the time, as you may have done when you were dieting. But writing down what you eat over the course of a few days, as well as measuring out your portions can make sure you aren't easing back into the habit of eating more than you think.
• Find new motivators. If the ever-declining number on the scale helped bolster your willpower when it came to losing weight, you may need to find some new motivators to stay on track. Think about the things about your new body that make you happy - whether it's the fact that you're not too embarrassed to wear a swimsuit in public or that you can run a mile without feeling like you are going to collapse.

Written and reviewed by the MediResource Clinical Team
As found at http://www.medbroadcast.com/ 

Presented By Larry Guzda

NOTE!!! I will probably make money from purchases from recommended sites on this blog, assume that I will profit from recommendations. Information on this page is provided for informational purposes only. It is not meant to be a substitute for medical advise. Contact your physician for diagnoses of all health related problems as soon as possible.Dietary supplements HAVE NOT be evaluated by The Food And Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose,treat,cure or prevent any disease. This article may be copied but not changed in any way.

BLG Health - Workplace Diet Makeover

Workplace diet makeover

How long has it been since you made (or at least thought about making) that determination to lose some weight and get healthier? Between the stress of a big project, the Tim Horton's timbits and double-cream coffee breakfasts, the 10-hour workday with your butt glued to your chair, and the homemade cookies and pies and chocolate truffles brought in by coworkers who moonlight as chefs and bakers, your chances of losing the weight and keeping healthy on the job may be, well, quite slim.

What you feed your body can have a big impact on how you feel, think, and move on the job and hours after you've left the office. And when you are super busy with work, one of the first things you compromise is your health and diet.

Not everyone can do a total diet makeover, but adding little health twists into your workplace diet is a good start. Here are some tips on how to get started.

Do the breakfast thing. Studies show that your metabolism works best in the morning, and by skipping breakfast you are signaling your body to go into starvation mode, causing it to slow down your metabolism. But eating breakfast doesn't mean 2 doughnuts and a chocolate éclair, which only provides lots of unhealthy fat and empty calories. Learn more about a balanced breakfast from Canada's Food Guide.

Balance a packed lunch with eating out. If you are eating out Mondays to Fridays, try to cut back and designate a few days during the week where you bring your lunch instead. That way, you can better control what you eat and ensure that you are balancing fast food or restaurant food with healthier homemade meals.

And if you get takeout at the deli, they usually have a fresh fruit basket you can add to your meal.

Keep your snack stash away from your desk. Put your snacks in a cabinet or in the communal office fridge. Avoid having your snacks lying around on your desk so that you are not tempted to reach for it absentmindedly while you are focused on your work. On the same note, avoid eating your lunch at your desk while you work. Enjoy your lunch and give yourself a mental break.

Do frozen wisely. This is one of the easiest and most economic solutions during a busy workday - popping a frozen meal into the microwave. If this is your routine, take extra time at the supermarket to scan the nutrition labels and select healthier frozen options that are lower in fat and salt and smaller in portion. As tempting as it may be to pick up that no-name frozen chicken or beef pot pie for $1.99 sans nutrition label, it's not worth it!

Add a fresh fruit to fill up your stomach if you still have room.


Hydrate with water. Water helps regulate your body temperature, keeps your skin moisturized, and helps your body flush out waste. Many people do not drink enough water while they are at work, and this would mean they do not drink much water at all during the waking hours. Being dehydrated can lead to fatigue and more snacking. More often than not, you see people toting a can of pop or a cup of coffee rather than a glass of water around the office. These other beverages may have high sugar content and empty calories that can affect your productivity at work. Caffeine-containing drinks such as coffee and tea in small amounts can increase your alertness and ability to concentrate, but in larger quantities it can cause headaches, irritability, and nervousness. Keep a large bottle of water by your desk and make sure you get up to refill it at least once a day.

Get moving. While your company may have rules about how many 15-minute breaks you get and how long your lunch time should be, there are ways that you can make healthy use of that time. Keep a pair of walking shoes by your workspace and partner up with a colleague to go for a walk during your lunch hour - getting some fresh air can also help release some of the pent-up stress of a hectic work day. Take the stairs instead of the elevator if this is an option for you, and opt to park your car further from the building entrance. Another easy thing to do is to get up and walk over to talk to your coworker rather than email when he or she is just down the hall.

Joanne Lee

As found  at  http://www.medbroadcast.com/

Presented by Larry Guzda

NOTE!!! I will probably make money from purchases from recommended sites on this blog, assume that I will profit from recommendations. Information on this page is provided for informational purposes only. It is not meant to be a substitute for medical advise. Contact your physician for diagnoses of all health related problems as soon as possible.Dietary supplements HAVE NOT be evaluated by The Food And Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose,treat,cure or prevent any disease. This article may be copied but not changed in any way.

BLG Health- Emotional Eating

Mind over matter: emotional eating

Does this scenario sound familiar: You had a bad day at work, got into an argument with your partner over the phone, and then got stuck in traffic on the way home? And now that you're finally home, you can hardly wait to put on your sweats and dig into that carton of double chocolate chip ice cream or that bag of chips in your cupboard?

Or how about this one: You're sitting at home with nothing particular to do, and so you go rooting around your kitchen cupboards, just to see what's there. Before you know it, you find yourself sitting at the kitchen table with an empty bag of cookies in front of you.

Quick! Before you take that bite, have you thought about why you are eating? There are a whole host of reasons aside from hunger that prompt people to eat - boredom, sadness, nervousness, anxiety, stress, even happiness. But if you look at what these things all have in common, it's that they are emotions, and not signals of your body's need for nourishment.

While we are programmed to eat as a result of feeling hungry, many people also feel an urge to eat certain foods when they experience certain emotions, or when they find themselves in certain settings. Often, the foods of choice in these cases are "forbidden foods" - the same fat- and calorie-laden foods you try to resist while on a diet.

The first step to overcoming so-called emotional eating is to learn the difference between emotional and physical hunger cues.

Here are some clues that can help you tell the difference:

• Are you craving something specific? If you really are hungry, you'll likely find a host of foods to be satisfying. But if it's a craving, only specific foods will fill the void.
• Does the craving pass? Hunger doesn't go away until you've had something to eat, while cravings sometimes (but not always) pass.
• How hungry are you really? It may seem obvious, but next time you are tempted to chow down, stop and rate your hunger on a scale of 1 to 10. By forcing yourself to think about how hungry you actually are, you can learn to identify instances where you are eating for reasons other than hunger.
• When was the last time you ate? If it's been hours, you may truly be hungry. But if you just finished dinner, it may be a case of emotional eating.

Keeping a food journal and jotting down your mood every time you eat can help you learn to identify situations where you're eating for emotional reasons and not because you're hungry.

But now that you've learned to identify your emotional eating triggers, what can you do when you're faced with a situation that makes you want to eat for all the wrong reasons?

• Exercise. OK, working out may be the last thing you want to do, but exercise can be a 2-front attack against emotional eating: firstly, exercise has been shown to have positive effects on stress and depression. Secondly, if you've just had a tough workout, you may be less likely to want to undo that hard work with a fattening treat.
• Indulge, but in moderation. Sometimes, nothing else but a piece of chocolate or another treat will do. Instead of suffering through the craving or eating a bunch of different healthy snacks that just don't do the trick, treat yourself - but savour a small portion rather than pigging out.
• Make a list of feel-good alternatives. If you often turn to food to bring yourself up when you're down, make a list of pick-me-ups that aren't related to food. Some suggestions: calling a friend, getting a manicure, or reading a magazine.
• Wait it out. Sometimes cravings pass. Hunger won't. So if you're tempted, wait 20 minutes and see if you're still in the mood to indulge.

Written and reviewed by the MediResource Clinical Team

As found @  http://www.medbroadcast.com/

Presented by Larry Guzda

NOTE!!! I will probably make money from purchases from recommended sites on this blog, assume that I will profit from recommendations. Information on this page is provided for informational purposes only. It is not meant to be a substitute for medical advise. Contact your physician for diagnoses of all health related problems as soon as possible.Dietary supplements HAVE NOT be evaluated by The Food And Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose,treat,cure or prevent any disease. This article may be copied but not changed in any way.