Weight Loss Library

The Singular Success Method

2006-04-17T13:19:00.000Z

If you have tried those weight loss programs where you have to keep to a strict eating plan and follow a particular exercise regime you may have found it a bit of a struggle to keep going.

Chances are you gave up after a few weeks or even a few days. When we start out full of enthusiasm it's difficult to see the sheer effort that it will take to keep going when the novelty has worn off, it's a wet Tuesday In February and we're just plain tired of it all.

Some people do manage to makeover their lives overnight. It's fantastic if you have the willpower and determination to achieve this but most of us can't handle that much disruption to our lives all at once. We are already struggling to keep up with all we have to do each day.

So what do you do if you know your willpower is likely to give up on you when the going gets tough?

Try the Singular Success Method!

This involves changing your life one habit at a time. You decide which habits you want to adopt and you work on them one by one, integrating them into your life until they feel quite natural.

Once you're happy that you can take on something else, you add that into the mix and you keep adding new habits only at the rate you can handle them. In this way you can transform your life over the course of a few weeks or months without the hugely stressful sudden overhaul in your lifestyle.

You may find you're happy to tackle two habits at once - one where you concentrate on your intake of food or drink and another where you concentrate on moving a bit more and that will make the process faster. You just have to make sure you take on only what you can handle at any one time - given all you have going on in your life.

And the best thing of all about this method? You achieve success after success and that brings its own momentum - you're not constantly left feeling like a failure for not keeping up an impossibly ambitious change in your lifestyle.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Are you SAD about Winter Weight Gain?

2006-03-16T11:19:00.000Z

As spring arrives many of us are left with a legacy from the short days and long nights of winter - a whole heap of extra pounds we could do without. And it's not all due to overeating during the festive season. It seems that whether we have lots of parties to attend or not, we are all programmed to eat more in winter.

It's all to do with our brain chemistry and especially the feel-good hormone we produce called serotonin. This hormone helps us feel calm, balanced and in control of our emotions and without it we start to feel down and depressed. But levels of this hormone drop in the population as a whole in winter and as the nights draw in and the amount of daylight we all receive diminishes, we are increasingly attracted to eat sweet and starchy food in an attempt to raise serotonin levels.

Of course, a sudden intake of sweet or starchy food causes blood sugar and then insulin levels to peak and we actually experience a rapid drop in blood sugar as insulin does its work and reduces the glucose level in the blood. As a result, we crave sweet and starchy food even more!

Whereas all of us experience this drop in serotonin levels to some degree, some 5 to 10% of the population - those who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (or SAD) - have an acute form of this problem and may gain anything up to 30lbs in weight each winter. It's also thought that some 25% of the population suffer a milder form of the disorder. SAD affects not only your eating patterns but leaves you feeling depressed, lethargic and sleepy - none of which contribute to anyone maintaining their summer shape.

It's all very well, knowing why we gain weight each winter, but what can you do about it?

During winter it's important to maintain a balanced diet, keeping blood sugar on an even keel, even if you find you need to eat a bit more than in the rest of the year. If you choose your carbohydrates in the form of whole grains and vegetables and always eat some lean protein with every meal or snack you will take yourself out of the high-low blood sugar trap and will gain less weight.

You will probably also find that with the arrival of spring, the pounds drop off more easily because you will be less attracted to heavy winter foods and are happier to eat salads, fresh vegetables and lean proteins so the start of spring is a great time to lose weight for summer.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth Small is a health and wellness writer and slimming coach. She became interested in seasonal affective disorder after seeing the effects of winter on herself and her clients. For more information about Seasonal Affective Disorder symptoms, causes and treatment see her site at http://www.allaboutSAD.com

How Yoga Works for Weight Loss

2006-02-09T11:29:00.000Z

Yoga is probably not an obvious choice of activity when it comes to weight loss but despite the speed of the movements it is deceptively effective and here's why.

1. Yoga strengthens and streamlines your muscles

During yoga practise you work your whole body, stretching and toning your muscles, streamlining and firming them. This gives you a lean firm body shape as opposed to the bulkier, short muscles you might get from weight training. With yoga you build strong lean muscle tissue which burn calories even while you are at rest.

2. Yoga calms you and clears your mind

If you are someone who eats due to stress and tension, then yoga will help you reduce comfort eating. The slow stretching movements and deep breathing in every yoga movement calm and relax you. The balance postures in particular necessitate that you clear your mind of all your every day cares and worries and use all your powers of concentration and focus. With regular yoga practise you will find that you become naturally more relaxed and able to cope with everyday problems.

3. Yoga normalises sluggish glands

The toning movements in yoga work not only on the muscles but also on the internal organs of the body stimulating them and normalising their function. Twisting poses, forward and backward bends and inversions are used to stimulate the endocrine system and postures like the shoulder stand and the fish help regulate the mechanism of the thyroid gland in the neck, all of which help boost your metabolism.

4. Yoga gives you energy and increases flexibility

By calming you and gently working on your muscles and increasing the levels of oxygen in your blood and to your brain, you finish a yoga practise (once you are used to the movements) feeling more energetic than when you began. This means that you tend to put more energy and movement into your day rather than sitting around feeling exhausted. And you build flexibility in your muscles and joints so that you enjoy a full range of movement your whole life. Witness the difference between the movements of a young girl and a stiff 80 year old woman. The young girl is bound to move so much more because muscles and joints are less restricted.

5. Yoga uses calories

This is where people believe that yoga is not helpful when it comes to weight loss and it's true that aerobic exercise may very well burn more calories. However you will still use about 240 calories in an average 1 hour classic hatha yoga class and burn many more (about 400) with some highly physical forms such as astanga yoga. And you can practise yoga every day without over-exercising your muscles which is not the case for many forms of aerobic exercise

6. Yoga offers psychological benefits

Through yoga practise you tend to retune into your body and increase your self-acceptance and self-esteem. You build positive body confidence and help quiet any negative messages that may arise in your mind. Yoga teaches us to respect our bodies and this helps us when choosing our food and avoiding junk food and alcohol.

7. Yoga is for everyone

Most people can take up yoga even if they have been inactive for a while although you should always get your doctor's approval before beginning an exercise program if there is any doubt about your health. While jogging and working out at the gym might seem too much to contemplate you can start wherever you are with a yoga class and make steady progress.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Are You Thinking Right for Weight Loss?

2006-02-08T10:39:00.000Z

Everyone knows that you lose weight if you eat fewer calories than you need each day. But if it were that simple there would not be such a problem with obesity in the Western world - we'd all have the key to weight loss. The problem is that so much to do with succeeding at weight loss rests in our heads and not our bodies. To succeed we need to get our heads working for us and not against us.

Ask yourself these ten questions to see if you are thinking in the right way to lose weight.

1. Have you decided to succeed?

Until you make a definite decision there will be no change to your actions. If you just dabble with "losing a few pounds" you're unlikely to get anywhere. Make a definite decision and stick to it.

2. Have you set a realistic target?

You need to know where you're going or you'll never know when you've arrived. What is your target weight and when do you plan to reach it? Plan on losing no more than a pound or two a week. If you set an impossibly high target you'll get discouraged as soon as it looks like you won't make it.

3. Do you believe your will succeed?

If you keep telling yourself you'll never do it, you won't. Look for reasons why this time will be different. Decide to do things differently to make it so!

4. Can you picture yourself at your new weight?

If you can see yourself in your mind's eye with your new slim figure, your subconscious will feel more comfortable with the changes you are making and you'll feel less like creeping back into your comfort zone.

5. Are you clear about your reasons for losing weight?

If you don't know why you're doing this, what will keep you going when the going gets tough? Make a list of all the benefits you will get from losing that weight and review it often.

6. Are you open to change?

The only sure thing is that if you keep on doing what you've always done you'll keep on getting what you've always got. So think about what you are prepared to change and change at a rate you are comfortable with.

7. Are you a friend to yourself?

Sometimes we are our own worst enemy by offering an endless stream of criticism rather than encouragement. Give yourself a pat on the back for everything you do well and accept any set-backs - just make sure you learn from your mistakes.

8. Are you patient with yourself?

Weight loss rarely happens on a straight path. You may find you lose a lot at the beginning as you often shed excess water then. You may hit one or more times where you lose hardly anything at all despite your best efforts. Nothing that was worth achieving was arrived at overnight. Just keep on keeping on.

9. Have you put your life on hold because of your size?

You only have one life so don't wait to get slim before you enjoy it. Whatever you want, go for it now, and let being slim be the icing on the cake. Goals don't suddenly become reality because you reach your target weight. Why wait? Make eating out of boredom a thing of the past.

10. Do you value yourself enough?

You are unique and very special whatever your size. You are not perfect and neither is anyone one else but you are perfectly human. Value your personality, your life, your ambitions, your skills and, yes, even your body that does so much for you despite all the abuse you give it with junk food and no exercise. Learn to respect yourself and your body and give yourself the care you so richly deserve.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

How to Improve Your Life Exponentially

2006-02-01T13:55:00.000Z

With the amount of excellent material available in books, courses and on the internet these days, it's unlikely that you are short of ideas about how to improve your life.

But how many great ideas have you read and then forgotten? Probably a fair few, even most of them, if you're honest with yourself. And somehow it's all too easy for life to go on, despite your interest in making things great, just getting more of the same old results you were always getting.

Why not try making the very most of your life by putting this simple system in place to gather and implement the changes and ideas which capture your imagination?

1. Record your ideas

Keep a special notebook where you jot down all your ideas and notes about improving your life as you come across them, noting down only those ideas you definitely want to try out. Ideas can be as simple as drinking 8 glasses of water a day or as complex as following the whole process in the latest self-development book you have been reading.

2. One-off actions

Every week select an action, small group of actions or next stage in a process you want to implement. Have a set day and time to make your selection each week so you don't forget and then make sure that you complete the action before it's time to choose again. Result : 52 one-off actions or steps towards implementing a program completed every year for the rest of your life.

3. Habits to encourage

In addition, select a great new habit every week. And spend the week focusing on that habit and making it happen. View this as an experiment to see if it does anything for you. If it works you can keep it. If it doesn't show any signs of being of benefit, you can discard it. Monitor your current set of habits daily until each one becomes so automatic it's simply part of your routine. Make a game of seeing how well you can do each day in keeping up your new habits. Result : potentially 52 great new habits a year, realistically 30 to 40, building your success week by week for the rest of your life.

4. Projects Big and Small

You can even tackle a big project to lose weight or get a new job in this way by breaking it down into one-off action steps and habits. For example, action steps you might jot down in your goal to lose weight might be to buy a healthy cookbook, join a gym and get a chosen weight loss program checked out by your doctor. Habits you can implement step by step might be to take a walk each lunchtime, replace sugary soda drinks one by one with water and include 7 portions of fruit and vegetables in your diet each day to add bulk and nutrients without too many calories.

5. Focus for Visible and Motivating Progress

If you focus on specific areas of your life for 4 to 6 weeks at a time, you will find that you make huge leaps forward in a short time. For example, 6 weeks on health and you will have taken 6 action steps towards a healthier you and added 6 new healthy habits which you can consoldate while you focus on another area, such as your home or your relationships.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

The Magic Diet Book

2006-01-30T10:33:00.000Z

A glut of new diet books hit the shelves every year and we buy them in our millions.

Every book is full of promises that this will be the only diet book you'll ever need, the answer to your prayers. But there you are again, just a few weeks or months later buying another diet book, hoping that this one has the true magic formula that will help you lose weight and stay slim forever.

But actually there is no magic formula in any of those books, there never will be. You are the only one that has the magic formula - the desire, the determination and the ability to take action.

Many of those diet books would work if you could bring yourself to follow the "easy" food plans in them. Many of the exercise programs would tone and slim your body if you could drag yourself to the gym to do the routines or even get yourself out of bed in the morning early enough for a toning session at home.

But that is so very hard to do. They ask too much, too suddenly for ordinary mortals. We know in our heart of hearts that those diets work, and that it is we who do not. But we continue to buy the books because we are buying not just a book but hope when we hand over our cash.

Instead of pretending that you have a will of iron and are likely to turn your life upside down this time (despite evidence to the contrary from the past goodness-know-how-many attempts) why not just select any of the books you already have from your shelves and work out what you can do to make a start towards implementing the plan.

Success does not have to happen in a day. But making small changes one after the other brings about huge success. It gives you the chance to adapt bit by bit to a healthier lifestyle.

On the other hand, if the lifestyles in the books do not appeal as a way of living forever then that's another story. Diet books generally offer a quick fix rather than an attractive way of life (quick fixes are what give us the hope and sell the book after all).

In that case, why not design your own healthier lifestyle - one you're prepared to live with forever and put that in place step by step? Create your very own magic diet and exercise plan that will work for you for life and keep you slim permanently.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Dieters : When you feel like Quitting

2006-01-26T12:54:00.000Z

As the saying goes "Quitters never win and winners never quit!" but sometimes it's hard to keep going when you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel and you know there's a long road ahead.

If you're wavering in your latest weight loss goal, ask yourself these questions before you throw in the towel. If you are able to step back and understand what is going on, it will help you to adapt your approach a little, and then get back on track with renewed enthusiasm.

So ask yourself:-

Why do I want to lose weight? What will achieving my aims give me?
How will I feel if I quit?
Am I always quitting before I reach my goal? Why?
How will I feel if I succeed?
What is making this so hard?
What have I been doing (or not doing) to make this more difficult or less successful?
What's working ok?
What do I need to change?
What do I need to learn?
What strategies could I use to get back on track?
How can I adapt this to make it work for me?
How could I get more support?
What will help me keep going?
What will I achieve by quitting?
What would I do then?

The fact is you can achieve anything you want if you keep going. So if you want to lose weight, just don't quit - adapt whatever you're doing, try a new plan, just don't quit and you'll get there. You can do this! You really can!

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Now is the Right Time to Lose Weight

2006-01-24T17:19:00.000Z

There are good and bad times to start a diet - that much is true.

It's no good starting to eat to a special regime when you have a big week of socialising coming up and you need to eat no more than 30 grams of carbohydrate a day or 10 fat grams. Or you're doing any one of those plans where you have to weigh or count everything or follow a fixed set of menu suggestions. And you know you'll never find time for all the exercise you're supposed to do.

It isn't going to work is it? When you're busy, you are not going to be able to stick to a plan which dictates what you eat so rigidly and uses up so much of your time at the gym.

And that's exactly why diets don't work in the long term.

They don't fit in with real life. You can't be forever calculating and fretting about whether something is allowed or not. Or being told what to eat every day.

So you live in a situation where you're either on a diet or you're not.

And when you reach your goal weight chances are you give up all semblance of healthy eating and start gaining weight again until you're back where you started.

But any time is a good time to get on the path to losing weight and keeping it off forever.

Here's why.

So-called naturally slim people simply have slim habits which are part of their behaviour all year round - yes, even when everyone else is growing rounder than ever during the festive season, even when they are away on business and eating out a lot and even when they are on an all-inclusive all-you-can-eat cruise around the Caribbean.

They eat when they are hungry. They eat what they really want to eat and not everything that's in front of them. They move about a bit more during the course of the day even if they are not big on exercise. They enjoy a big meal now and again but only on special occasions and even then they don't stuff themselves silly. They stop eating when they've had enough. They know there'll always be another opportunity to eat.

You can't change from a person with overweight habits to one with slim habits overnight. That's the short sharp shock diet approach which we are so poor at sticking to.

But you can start with two or three habits right now (or even a single one) and just follow those habits for 21 days until they are part of you and you've put another brick (or two or three) in the wall of staying slim forever.

And you can do this at any time. Adding another "brick" when you can until you've built a new lifestyle to match your new body.

Now doesn't that sound a bit more feasible as we come into this period of constant social whirl and activity?

Start a slim habit today and you'll be on the right track to losing weight and keeping it off for good.

And when someone recommends the next fad diet you can just smile and carry on building your habits instead of struggling with a ridiculous regime again.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Prepare to Succeed at Losing Weight

2006-01-20T09:07:00.000Z

"Right, that's it, I'm starting a diet on Monday!"

How often have you said that to yourself? And how many times have you decided that this year will be the one you finally lose weight?

Do you know what goes wrong when you start a new regime full of enthusiasm only to ditch it within a few days or weeks?

One reason might be that you aren't mentally and physically prepared to make it happen. You have the best possible chance to succeed only by preparing yourself properly.

Good preparation means:-

1. Knowing your target

What do you actually want to achieve? How much weight do you want to lose and by when? Check that your target is realistic by aiming for no more than 1 to 2lbs a week on average.

2. Choosing a strategy

How will you lose that weight? A vague notion of eating less will not get you there. Choose a system to follow that fits in with your lifestyle and preferences or plan your own system from the knowledge and experience you have of what works best for you.

3. Making Plans

Decide what actions you need to take to be ready to follow your chosen system on day one. What do you need to buy? What do you need to find out? Who do you need to talk to to get support?

Write your plans down so that you can check the actions off as you complete them and then start taking those actions. If you need to look for recipes or shop for special foods, do that now. If you have decided to join a gym, visit and join and have your introductory session. If you need walking shoes or a tennis racquet get it now.

4. Building your Personal Motivational tools

Taking action to prepare yourself will put you in the right frame of mind to start your weight loss program when you intend to. Of course, it gets harder as you go along. Motivation dwindles for many people very quickly without regular input.

While your motivation is still high, write down a list of all the reasons you have for wanting to lose weight - a list you can refer to again and again if the going gets tough later on.

Also spend some time thinking about how you will look and feel and how your life will be when you succeed. Write down a full description as a second motivational booster for when you need it.

5. Committing to make it happen

By going through the planning stage you will become aware of the effort involved in losing weight. Are you prepared to commit to the changes you will need to make and the actions you'll need to take? Are you willing to do what it takes to achieve the benefits?

Many people start a weight loss program or diet without thinking this through.

If you're not prepared to follow your chosen strategy there's no point in starting. You're setting yourself up for failure and another blow to your self-esteem.

But if you know what you are planning to do, you're fully aware of what's involved and you're willing to give it time and energy and to make it a priority in your life you WILL succeed. So think it all through, consider the pros and cons and decide whether you're prepared to make those changes before you begin.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

10 Healthy Ways to Give your Energy Levels a Boost

2006-01-19T10:08:00.000Z

1. Feeling overwhelmed and got to keep going? Drink a glass of water and go for a 10 minute walk. You'll feel 100 times more refreshed on your return.

2. Instead of drinking coffee to get a caffeine-induced high try sipping ginger tea to pep you up. Add a little honey if you like.

3. Give the chocolate bar a miss and eat a banana. The chocolate bar will give you a sugar-high but you'll come quickly crashing down to earth - the banana releases its energy more slowly and will keep you going for longer.

4. Sprinkle a cotton handkerchief with a few drops of peppermint oil. Sniff it whenever you need a quick lift.

5. Try some yoga stretches or even just stretching your arms high above your head for an instant lift.

6. If you generally feel tired in the afternoon, have more lean protein at lunchtime and include protein with your afternoon snack to keep your energy levels steady.

7. Take a warm (not hot) power shower to feel clean, fresh and re-energised.

8. Reduce your social commitments so that you can catch up with sleep and get an early night a few times a week.

9. Anything hanging over you? If you have a task which you've been putting off for too long, make the effort and do it. You'll feel so much better once you do.

10. Other people often have either a boosting or draining effect on us. Think about who has an effect on your energy levels and make plans to see less of any friends or family who drain your energy and more of those who give you a lift.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

How to Lose Weight even if you have No Willpower

2006-01-17T11:00:00.000Z

If you have tried those weight loss programs where you have to keep to a strict eating plan and follow a particular exercise regime you may have found it a bit of a struggle to keep going.

Chances are you gave up after a few weeks or even a few days. When we start out full of enthusiasm it's difficult to see the sheer effort that it will take to keep going when the novelty has worn off, it's a wet Tuesday in February and we're just plain tired of it all.

Some people do manage to makeover their lives overnight. It's fantastic if you have the willpower and determination to achieve this but most of us can't handle that much disruption to our lives all at once. We are already struggling to keep up with all we have to do each day.

So what do you do if you know your willpower is likely to give up on you when the going gets tough?

Try the Singular Success Method!

This involves changing your life one habit at a time. You decide which habits you want to adopt and you work on them one by one, integrating them into your life until they feel quite natural.

Once you're happy that you can take on something else, you add that into the mix and you keep adding new habits only at the rate you can handle them. In this way you can transform your life and your shape over the course of a few weeks or months without the hugely stressful sudden overhaul in your lifestyle.

You may find you're happy to tackle two habits at once - one where you concentrate on your intake of food or drink and another where you concentrate on moving a bit more and that will make the process faster. You just have to make sure you take on only what you can handle at any one time - given all you have going on in your life.

And the best thing of all about this method? You achieve success after success and that brings its own momentum - you're not constantly left feeling like a failure for not keeping up an impossibly ambitious change in your lifestyle.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Top 10 Tips to Stay Motivated on your Exercise Program

2006-01-16T10:25:00.000Z

1. Know your Reasons

Think about why you want to exercise and write down every reason you can think of. Explain in full detail what working out is going to do for your life and your health. And reread your list whenever your motivation needs a boost.

2. Set Daily and Weekly Goals

Although it's good to think big, don't just set yourself a long-term goal because it can seem too distant from where you are now. If you have a daily or weekly challenge then you have something to achieve and motivate you right here, right now. Make sure your goals are just a little bit stretching - doing too much too soon is a prime cause of injury and exercise drop-out.

3. Track Your Progress

Keep a log of all your workouts. It's amazing how quickly your fitness will improve and seeing your progress in black and white will help spur you on to keep going. Even in the early days when the going is tough and you might not have noticed any changes in your body and fitness levels an activity log gives you something to be proud of.

4. Plan to Succeed

You have to set aside time for working out and schedule it as if it's an appointment that can't be missed. Block out the time in your calendar and treat it like a doctor's appointment. Your health depends on it just as much.

5. Do Something Daily

Once you've got an exercise program going it helps if you do something active every day just so that you keep your mind focused on your goals. You probably don't have time to fit in a workout every day but any activity is fine - walking, dancing, housework, gardening - just something that keeps your mind and body in exercise mode.

6. Have a Plan B

The path towards fitness doesn't always run smoothly. Be flexible if muscle strain or extra work pressure prevents you from doing your usual routine. Try going to the gym before work or plan a different activity which does not affect your injured muscle to keep going when life gets in the way.

7. Don't Ask Whether Ask When

Consider working out as an important element of your life and make it part of your routine. Don't even get into a conversation with yourself about whether you'll exercise today, just make plans and do it. No matter how much you don't feel like working out, you'll be amazed how good you'll feel once you get going.

8. Find a Workout Buddy

Look for a workout partner with similar goals and level of fitness to make exercise more enjoyable and add a little healthy competition. Plus, you'll find it's harder to skip a workout if someone is relying on you. If you don't have a friend who wants to get fit, consider investing in a personal trainer to keep you motivated.

9. Make it Fun

Prevent boredom by trying new activities and using a variety of ways of working out. Just because it's fun doesn't mean you won't get fit. How about trying salsa-dancing, scuba-diving, skiing or roller-blading? Even something as simple a adding intervals to your usual routine can give you a new level of interest.

10. Believe You Can

You'll be healthier, fitter and change your whole body shape if you stick at your exercise program. Change is possible for you just as it has been for so many others before you who have transformed themselves with exercise. Acknowledge that you can experience those results for yourself just by keeping going with your fitness program. You can do it, you really can!

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Lose Weight Permanently with the Power Pause

2006-01-14T08:19:00.000Z

If strict diet and exercise routines are not for you and just make you feel like a failure because you don't seem to be able to keep them up, then why not try a new approach? Start with something you know you can do, which needs no special equipment and which you can do anywhere. This is something which is so powerful, so simple it will serve you all your life. I call it a "Power Pause" because it means using a moment to regain power over your decisions about what and when you eat.

To make the "Power Pause" part of your life ask yourself just 3 questions before you eat anything

* Am I physically hungry right now or could I wait?

* How will I feel after I have eaten this?

* Is there a better choice?

The Power Pause is a tool you can use whenever you're faced with food. You can use it before you buy food in a restaurant or shop. And you can use it before you open the fridge or freezer, before you reach into the cupboard for a snack, before you have a second cookie. You can even use it during a meal to help you think about whether you have eaten enough. Use it to remind yourself to stop eating whether or not there is food left on your plate or on the table. It simply helps you avoid eating when you're not hungry.

We all tend to eat food without thinking. We see food, we eat it. We get offered food, we accept it. We pass a burger bar. We suddenly feel "hungry", go in and order. We anesthetize our minds with food when we're upset. We hardly notice the food going in.

And eating food without needing it is the primary cause of our weight problems. We eat and eat without thinking whether we're hungry right now or whether that food is the best choice we can make for our bodies and our health. We eat without thinking about our desire to look good on the beach this year, to do something about our threatening health problems, to feel good about ourselves.

But what does it take to pause for a moment before you make a decision to put food in your mouth, to think twice before you add those calories to your hips? A few seconds at most! Certainly less time than you will spend regretting your bout of over-eating.

You may not succeed in stopping yourself every time especially at the beginning of using this tool - so don't look for perfection from yourself - look for progress. Keep going because it will eventually become second nature - a habit for the rest of your life - one which will help you stay slim forever.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Weight Loss Tip : Five Minutes is Better than No Minutes

2006-01-13T10:29:00.000Z

Starting an exercise routine for weight loss can be daunting. Many exercise programs expect you to put everything aside to follow some kind of physical activity for an hour, five times a week. How will you ever fit that in? How will you ever have the strength and energy to keep going that long when the most you've ever done before is a brisk walk between the sofa and the fridge?

But you don't have to start with a full-blown exercise routine. If an hour seems impossible, set aside half an hour. If that looks too much, just start with 10 minutes or even 5.

Any exercise is better than no exercise at all when it comes to weight loss!

Obviously check with your doctor before you start with any kind of exercise or weight loss program, but most people can manage to walk at a moderate pace for 5 minutes. Maybe once you're up and doing it, you'll feel like more. Maybe not. You never know until you try. Pat yourself on the back for the 5 minutes you've done.

After a few days of walking for 5 minutes, see if you can manage 10. Feeling the benefit of 5 minutes, you'll probably find that you want to do this. And let's face it most of us can find that amount of time each day to improve our health. If you truly can't fit that in, then you have real problems and not just with your weight!

Continue to add in as much time as you can. And once you've really no time to do more, increase your speed little by little. Enjoy the level you can achieve, whatever that is. Feel good about yourself again, rather than berating yourself for not being able to do an hour a day.

Exercise on your own terms. You know your body and its capabilities, your life style and what you can manage, more than any of the diet and exercise gurus out there.

Just don't use the impossibility of a full-blown exercise routine as an excuse not to bother with any at all. You owe it to yourself to do the best you can for your weight loss efforts and if that starts with 5 minutes that's great - you're on your way to a fitter, slimmer lifestyle.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Dieters : When Moderation doesn't Work

2006-01-12T09:08:00.000Z

If there's one habit which will make you lose weight more than any other it's reducing the amount you eat by eating only when you are hungry and stopping when you are satisfied rather than stuffed.

You can usually lose weight with this habit no matter what type of foods you eat - because we are generally eating far too much of everything these days.

The temptation to eat too much is everywhere. Standard portion sizes have grown out of all proportion to our needs so that the mini muffins of today were the standard size of a few years ago. A "tall" coffee is the smallest size you can get. Snack foods come in multi-packs and jumbo bars. We get mounds of food served up to us in restaurants and we are generally serving bigger portions at home too. You simply get used to indulging in an amount of food you can do without.

Most people can pick up on the portion size idea and reduce their normal intake when they want to lose weight. They relish being able to eat the foods they like, even if they are not eating so much of it. They use a bowl, take a handful of tortilla chips out of the bag and put the rest away. They leave half a muffin on the plate (better in the trash than on their hips) and they reduce the pile of food on their plate. They order less in restaurants and leave what they don't need without a qualm.

This is great to avoid a feeling of deprivation that dieting so often brings about. Reduce portion sizes by just a third and you drop 500 calories or more from your daily intake losing about a pound of fat (3500 calories worth) a week without making any other changes. Although this is not the best way to eat healthily - for that you'd be better switching foods to include more nutrient-rich items, it does bring results without having to change too much at once.

While this is all very well for many people, there are some who struggle with this whole way of losing weight. That's the group who crave a particular item or food group.

In this group, eating just small amount of the food they crave leads to eating a packetful no matter how much they want to eat in moderation. It may be the case with chocolate or other high-sugar foods and sometimes with salty snack type foods.

In this case it's better to stay away from the food entirely for a short time while you learn to control portion sizes using other foods. Then, when you have a sense that you can control how much you eat with other foods, you're losing weight and feeling good, reintroduce a small portion of the food you used to crave and see how you get on.

It can be a case of trial and error to get this right for your circumstances. We are all different and have different emotional and physical reactions to food. It takes longer for some than for others to be able to cope with a particular craving. Experiment with reintroducing the food after 3 or 4 weeks to start with - that's generally enough to have seen good results from portion control with the rest of your meals and snacks. If it leads to eating too much then leave it for double that time before retrying. Some people have given up eating chocolate or ice cream forever because it's almost like an addiction but this is unnecessary for most people once they get the moderation habit.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Weight Loss Magic

2006-01-09T19:34:00.000Z

Even if I could wave my weight loss coach's little magic wand and make you instantly slimmer I would not do it - no matter how much you begged or pleaded. It's not because I want to keep you overweight and make you unhappy but because I want to see you succeed - permanently.

A magic wand would simply do you no good at all! You would just be back for another wave of the wand in a month or two when you had eaten yourself overweight again. You would be there with your tail between your legs, feeling like a failure, asking "How could I let myself get into this state again?". But without a change in lifestyle and attitude, it's natural that you would get right back to where you were before.

In any case, I don't have a magic wand to offer you - no one does. There is no safe and effective magic pill, potion or patch out there, no matter what the ads say, so quit putting your faith in these things and spending your hard earned cash on every so-called miracle solution.

If you want to find weight loss magic, you already have all you need inside your own brain. You can decide right this minute that you will transform your life, your health and your body. If you take that decision, and mean it, you will get there.

And you don't have to magically transform your life overnight. Unless you have iron willpower, drastic changes to your regime rarely last.

But there is magic in changing your life one or two steps at a time. Start with changes that are relatively painless. Eat less junk, replace it with delicious nourishing food. Move a bit more every day. Eat enough to satisfy your appetite, don't gorge on all the good things on offer.

Feel the power of small successes and use the motivation and momentum they create to help you become slimmer and healthier. You will not have a magic wand but you will see the magic of creating a healthy lifestyle bit by bit in melting away unwanted fat permanently.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

How to Become the Type of Dieter who Succeeds

2006-01-09T10:24:00.000Z

Are you the kind of dieter who starts full of enthusiasm embracing a new plan on day one yet falling by the wayside a few weeks or months later?

Or are you a dabbler - someone who tries a bit of this plan a bit of that and never really gets anywhere?

Or are you someone who gets to your target weight, more or less keeping to your diet, and then ditches it with glee only to put all the weight back on again?

It doesn't matter what type of dieter you have been in the past, you can be successful from now on, but you will need a change in approach. After all, if the ways you've tried to lose weight and keep it off in previous attempts haven't worked for you, chances are they never will.

How do the people who succeed at losing weight actually do it?

Among my coaching clients I have established four factors that make a huge difference (and you don't even need a coach to put them in place). You become the type of dieter who loses weight permanently by:-

making your mind up to succeed no matter what
being ready to change your habits for the long term not just to meet your target weight
having a simple plan to follow that fits in with your lifestyle and preferences
arranging support by having the right routines and structure in place and having someone who you know will be there for you when the going gets tough

With these four elements in place the effort of losing weight is easier than you might imagine. For example, if you are absolutely determined to succeed you don't find it so difficult to choose healthy food options and to fit more movement into your life even if you don't want to take formal exercise. If you are happy to change your habits for life, you avoid the problem of losing weight and then putting it all straight back on when you go back to eating what made you overweight in the first place. If you have a simple plan, you don't get bored with counting and calculating, measuring and weighing food - you make changes which are easier to maintain. And getting support - from family, from friends, from the routines and structure you put in place, simply makes things go more easily, whatever system you're following.

Think about which of these elements are missing in the way you are going about losing weight. What do you need to change to become the type of dieter who reaches and maintains his or her target weight and stays there? Increase your chances of success by making sure these elements are present in your next weight loss program whatever way you choose to lose weight.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Want to Lose Weight? Plan for Pleasure

2006-01-05T14:53:00.000Z

Inclined to head for the fridge when you're feeling low? You're not alone. There's no doubt about it, food makes us feel good, at least for a while.

But it's a false friend when you want to lose weight because you end up eating when you're not hungry and those unneeded calories end up right where you don't want them - on your hips. The momentary pleasure of eating and forgetting your troubles soon passes and you're left with regret and even more weight to lose.

Do your best to get out of the habit of cheering yourself up with food. Ice cream or chocolate won't really help. Ideally you would face up to what is wrong and make a plan to do something about it, rather than trying to squash your feelings. But sometimes you just won't want to go there and need to find other ways to cheer yourself up.

Rather than waiting until you're feeling low to think of something to help, put together a Personal Pleasure List now. Think of all the things you love to do (other than eat!) and write them down ready to remind yourself when you need a lift. Make sure you include as many as possible for all different situations because not everything on your list will appeal or be available to you at every moment. Here are a few things on my list to start you off.

10 quiet minutes on the sofa with a good novel
Listening to uplifting music (create a collection of tracks just for this purpose)
Watching a comedy video
Cuddling my family
Window shopping
Giving myself a manicure and pedicure
Having a nap in the middle of the day
Planning my ideal day for the future
Calling a friend
Having a bubble bath
Reading an inspirational or self-help book
Going for a walk in a local beauty spot
Stroking a pet
Doing a puzzle
Looking at old holiday photographs
Clearing out a drawer
Planting some flowers or sowing some seeds in my garden
Having a facial or massage
Buying a glossy magazine
Planning a trip
Thinking about all the good things in my life
Dancing (at home)
Going to the movies (nothing too heavy)
Remembering the good times

As well as using your Personal Pleasure List when you're feeling down why not plan some of these actvities more often into your everyday life to keep your spirits high? Positively look for ways to make yourself feel great, think about all the great things you have going for you and make comfort eating a thing of the past.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Weight Loss Tip : Don't Let them Profit from You!

2006-01-04T15:28:00.000Z

Food can be wonderful or plain awful. At its best, it nourishes us, gives us energy and delights our taste buds. At its worst it clogs up our arteries, fills our bodies with unwanted toxins and makes us fat.

The secret of losing weight is to choose the delicious natural healthy kind and to eat just enough of it so you feel great.

But with so much awful food on offer out there, it's easier said than done.

No one is paying huge sums to advertise fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds and organic lean meat.

Instead we have major food manufacturers with big budgets pushing snacks we can do without and products loaded with thickeners, sweeteners, salt, corn syrup, mechanically recovered meat, preservatives and every other semi-edible chemical known to man.

Sure, the food tastes Ok - after all it's full of sugars (or artificial sweeteners) and salt for that very reason. Food manufacturers aim to bring you palatable food otherwise you wouldn't buy it. But it has to turn in a huge profit too so they pile in preservatives to give it a long shelf life and use the cheapest ingredients they can get away with, padding them out with fillers. But is that really how you want to nourish your body?

If you buy cakes and cookies, snacks and processed foods without thinking about what you are really putting into your body, you are doing your health a huge disservice and playing right into the hands of the food manufacturers. You are paying good money for food which has no value to your health and questionable ingredients which you really don't want to feed anyone you care about (including you!)

Now there are some good processed foods out there - but you do have to seek them out - they are not the major profit producers of the big advertisers. Most of the advertising money goes into persuading us to purchase vast quantities of worthless soft drinks, chocolate bars and salty snacks.

Read the label on any product you're considering buying to check that the ingredients include only those items you would use if you were making the product at home. If there's anything that sounds like it belongs in a chemical laboratory leave it on the shelf and choose something else.

And whatever you choose make sure that you accompany it with ample fresh vegetables or salad - very few processed foods will contain adequate amounts of these. After your meal, if you need anything else, swap sugar and sweetener-laden profit-making desserts and cakes for fresh fruit.

Even better than being highly selective in the processed food you buy, get a good cook book full of healthy delicious recipes and learn to make fantastic food for you and your family. Enjoy the whole process of nourishing yourself and the ones you love from fresh basic good quality ingredients. Taste the difference and you'll never look back.

Our health is precious. Be super critical about what you put into your body and don't let the food manufacturers profit from feeding you and your family junk food.

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Losing Weight and Loving it

2006-01-02T14:53:00.000Z

Would you love to lose weight but hate to go on diets? Would you love to be fit but hate exercise? Then you're in good company.

The majority of us would love to find a magic wand which would take all the effort out of losing weight and getting in shape. Yet it's unlikely that there will ever be a pill, potion or patch in our lifetime that is healthy, safe and delivers on hyped-up promises of effortless weight loss.

It seems that there's a simple choice here - learn to love your shape as it is now (and continue loving it as you get bigger) or learn to love a new healthy lifestyle.

But that's not the whole story.

Most weight loss programs expect you to embrace huge lifestyle changes almost overnight. But it's pretty hard to learn to love a complete lifestyle overhaul so quickly. It's just like deciding to get married on a first date.

You'd have to be lucky to be a good match. It's more likely that eventually the cracks will show, you'll regret your decision and you'll agree to part ways.

And so it is with a new weight loss program. You join a gym, try a new tough regime and abandon it with a sense of failure in a couple of weeks. You start a new meal plan, can't cope with the hunger, miss your normal foods and give up on that too.

The problem is that we want instant success (ironically so that we can go back to the lifestyle that made us fat in the first place!)

But let me make a plea for permanent weight loss rather than speed. Get to know the new lifestyle, diet or exercise program you're considering before you decide if it's for you. Try out the diet, sample the activities and decide which parts you can live with and which you can't. Try out different approaches, different foods, different ways of fitting exercise into your life and gradually adopt the ones which feel good.

The more gradually you build new healthy habits into your life and the more you choose the ones which suit your preferences, the more they will feel comfortable and have a chance of becoming a permanent part of your lifestyle. Build up those new habits one by one, add more and more healthy delicious meals into your repertoire and add a little more activity week by week to your schedule until you have gradually transformed your way of life into a healthier version.

As you adopt the new healthier habits you will be delighted with the changes in how you look and how you feel and this will motivate you like nothing else to make further improvements. That is the easy way to fall in love with losing weight.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Weight Loss : It's Routine

2005-12-31T16:48:00.000Z

Losing weight is a battle, a struggle, a pain, right? That's most people's experience whatever diet they follow.

And nearly everyone finds keeping the weight off is even harder.

There's no doubt about it, the majority of diet and fitness regimes are hardly a bed of roses. And those pills, patches and potions, which are supposed to make it easy, are either dangerous or don't do what they promise.

So how CAN you make this easier?

The answer lies in your routines.

What you habitually do shapes you - quite literally. If you habitually go without breakfast and stuff your face at 11am with cookies because you're starving, you'll end up with one kind of body. If you habitually have a yogurt and fruit on waking and take an apple to eat at 11am (when you'll still be starving) you end up with another kind.

If you habitually walk everywhere your shape is likely to be different than if you jump in the car to go a mile down the road.

Routines are just patterns of behaviour. Things we feel comfortable doing once we get used to them. We don't even have to think about them. They're easy for us - automatic.

The answer to easier weight loss AND KEEPING IT OFF then , is in adopting the right routines and habits so that we don't even have to think - we just do whatever is good for our shape - automatically.

The skill is in moving from one set of routines (the kind that keep you overweight) to another - the kind that will result in weight loss and then weight maintenance for the rest of your life.

An all-out drastic lifestyle change rarely works, but if you gently change your habits and build them gradually, taking on changes that you are happy to live with for life, then you WILL find a permanent automatic solution to your weight problems.

What routines are you following today? What small changes could you make which would be your first steps to permanent natural weight loss?

Now it's time to take action and change your habits step by step to lose that weight!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Weight Loss : Are you Determined Enough to Succeed?

2005-12-30T20:56:00.000Z

Determination separates the winners from the also-rans in almost every field. Without the strength of will to succeed, it's difficult to make the effort when you just don't feel like it.

And with the pace of modern life there are generally a lot of times when our energy is flagging and it's easier just to sit on the sofa in front of the TV and order take-away than do anything like cooking a delicious healthy meal or going out for a walk after dinner.

If you think back, you'll probably see that whenever you succeeded at anything, you were determined to achieve whatever it was you set out to do. You decided to do whatever it took and you did it.

This may even have applied to times when you lost weight in the past. You lost weight by being determined to do so, but the problem is you just put it all straight back on again unless you were equally as determined not to gain weight.

So how do you increase your determination? Or is it just something you are born with and can't change?

Your level of determination is not fixed at birth, but it does have to come from you. No one else can be determined to lose weight and keep it off on your behalf. But there ARE ways in which you can increase it.

Be absolutely crystal clear about what you will gain from losing weight and staying slim. Why do you want this? Think about all the reasons you want it for you and not just for others. Write down your list of reasons and review it morning, noon and night.
Whenever you have a spare moment visualise how you will look when you lose weight and imagine how you will move, what you will wear and, above all, how good you will feel.
Strengthen your belief in your ability to succeed by telling yourself often that you CAN do this. Success is up to you and you can do it. It doesn't matter what has happened in the past - you can succeed this time.

Reinforce your determination in these ways several times a day. It takes very little time and effort for something that makes so much difference.

But the real trick comes with what you do next and this is a missing step in many self-help/success type processes.

Straight after you run through these little exercises to strengthen your determination, take some kind of action towards your goal. It needn't be a huge step or take much time at all.

You can look for and plan healthy meals, go shopping for healthy food, get your gym kit ready, get changed into your running gear, do a few tummy squeezes, climb a flight of stairs or whatever. Just seize the moment.

This then generates momentum all of it's own. Reinforcing your determination and belief leads to successful action which leads to being more motivated and having even more belief in your success. A happy "unvicious" circle!

Try it and you'll see your determination (and with it your chances of success) soar.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Easy Ways to Lose 10lbs

2005-12-29T15:02:00.000Z

Each pound of fat is made up of about 3,500 calories. Eating just 50 calories less than you need each day and you'll lose 5lb in a year without really trying. And if you move just a little bit more each day (50 calories worth of exercise is not hard for anyone to fit in) another 5lbs will disappear.

Each of the following will save or use at least 50 calories (and often a lot more)! Of course if your weight is slowly creeping up with your current habits these changes may just stop the weight gain in its tracks - but they will still mean that you weigh 10lbs less than you would have done had you made no changes. Remember and check with your doctor before you start any diet or exercise program.

10 easy ways to eat less

Stop putting butter, margarine or mayonnaise on your sandwiches.
Measure just one tablespoon of dressing on your salad and toss instead of pouring on liberally.
Choose the child's meal when you eat fast food.
Drink water or herbal tea instead of alcohol, sugary drinks or juice.
Get used to no-fat skimmed milk in your coffee and on your cereal.
Trim the fat from all meat and avoid eating the skin on poultry.
Have a slice of pizza with salad instead of the whole pizza.
Have a single chocolate after dinner instead of dessert.
Give up baking and buying pastry, cakes and cookies.
Reduce your portion sizes by just 10% - you won't even notice and it will save a whopping amount of calories.

10 easy ways to move more

Walk for 10 extra minutes a day.
Go window shopping in your lunch hour.
Climb stairs (or use a step) for just 7 minutes - you don't even have to do it all at once.
Clean and tidy your home for 15 minutes every day.
Do 15 minutes stretching or yoga every morning.
Have a swim.
Play a ball game with your kids for 10 minutes.
Get a dog.
Go dancing.
Do some strength-building exercises during the commercial breaks on TV.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

The Best Fat-Burning Exercise for Couch Potatoes

2005-12-29T12:30:00.000Z

If you're a committed couch potato, it's no good pretending you are going to get yourself to the gym five days a week starting from Monday.

As much as I would like to give you a whole gym routine to perform - a balanced blend of cardio, strength training and stretches - I know that this is too much for most people to cope with in one fell swoop.

The amount of effort involved may be so alien and overwhelming that you would not begin at all or you might very well follow the routine this week or this month then quit defeated and retire to your couch vowing never to exercise again. To go from couch potato to regular gym-goer overnight takes a will of iron (or a personal trainer on hand to keep you hard at work for every session).

Instead, I advise baby steps for couch potatoes - literally - because the very best fat burning exercise for beginners is to put one foot in front of the other - it's walking.

You can start at any level. You can walk anywhere (even around your home). You can walk with anyone - take your dog, your partner, your kids or go it alone (as long as you keep to safe places). You need no special equipment other than your normal clothes and a comfortable pair of shoes. You don't have to get to the gym, get changed and showered afterwards. You can fit it into your day easily even during your lunch break. Check with your doctor if there's any doubt about your health but there are very few who would not benefit from walking.

Start with as little as 10 minutes (or even 5) a day. It doesn't matter - everyone has to start somewhere. Make it easy for yourself to get the walking habit by starting gently then very gradually increase your distance and your speed. You'll feel the benefit in your fitness levels very quickly as you do so.

Right from the start you'll be burning additional calories every minute you walk and you'll gradually reach the optimum level of exercise for fat burning too - it only takes walking at a moderate to brisk pace for 25 to 30 minutes or so to be in the right range for burning fat.

You'll be amazed at how good a few minutes walking makes you feel about yourself if you don't usually exercise. And it's a very simple way to get the exercise bug. Who knows - before long you may be hankering to try the gym too!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Feeling Down about Having to Lose Weight?

2005-12-28T14:12:00.000Z

Do you have that sinking feeling about needing to lose weight and being forced to go hungry and eat nothing but dull diet food?

There's no need to be gloomy - you can eat deliciously and have more than enough food to stop you from being hungry all the time and still lose weight.

1. Divert your Food Budget

Whatever money you save by not eating out, buying take-aways or splurging on chocolate and snacks, spend on special healthy foods from the delicatessen such as exotic fruits, smoked meats or lobster. Delight your taste buds with the finest foods instead of bombarding them with sweet or salty fattening snacks and meals.

2. Try New Recipes

Avoid boredom by eating a variety of foods and not going for the same old safe diet options. Try new foods and recipes. Actively seek out light dishes you'd like to try and experiment a bit. Look for new ways to serve everyday foods you like and you'll end up eating more delicious meals than you ever did before.

Vary your lunches as well as dinners. Replaces the boring old sandwiches you usually buy at the local shop with home-made healthy mixed salads including lean protein and whole grains.

3. Choose Filling Food

It's important that you don't get too hungry while you lose weight. Raging hunger and no healthy food on hand is a situation guaranteed to have you reaching for the nearest fattening snack. Make sure your meals are filling enough to last until your next meal or snack without overloading on calories.

Typical dietary advice is to fill up with vegetables or salad but that's difficult if you're not a fan. If you don't like vegetables, get a healthy filling quota anyway by adding them to soups and stews (in pureed form if they're really not for you).

Also eat the whole grain varieties of carbohydrate foods so that you get the advantage of a slower release of energy along with the bulk they add to your diet. For snacks choose fruit and a little lean protein to provide a balanced slow-release of energy to keep you going to your next meal.

4. Make every Meal an Occasion

When you're trying to lose weight it helps to focus on the food you're eating, to eat it slowly and enjoy every mouthful. You have to register that you are eating. We often fail to do that when we mindlessly pop food into our mouths standing at the fridge - we feel unfed and still hungry in our minds.

Always sit down to eat and avoid distractions like reading, TV and answering your email during your meal. Set the table every evening, use your prettiest china and glassware and make your meals something to look forward to - an occasion rather than just an opportunity to wolf down whatever is available and quieten hunger pangs as fast as you possibly can.

5. Plan to Succeed

Before you go food shopping plan ahead for the next few days so that you know exactly what you need to buy. Don't let yourself get diverted from your list. It's a lot easier to avoid the temptations of buy-one-get-one-free pizza if you have a range of delicious, nourishing and filling foods to look forward to by sticking to your list.

Include at least one emergency meal on your list for those occasions when you find you get home unexpectedly late and are too tired to cook the one you'd planned. If you always keep eggs in your fridge and whole meal bread in your freezer you can whip up an omelette on toast. Or choose some of the better ready-made meals that keeps well in the fridge or freezer such as the quality chilled soups or pasta sauces now available in the shops.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

"Kaizen" for Weight Loss

2005-12-22T15:25:00.000Z

The Kaizen method was developed in Japan as an effective way of achieving huge improvements in business. In it's simplest form, it just means implementing small improvements one after the other. Each tiny step in the right direction builds to a significant improvement over time but without the business having to handle the chaos of a massive transformation.

The method works, because businesses are run by people and it is in the nature of people, in general, to feel uncomfortable with sudden massive change.

And what works for the transformation of a business works for the transformation of a person too!

Diets fail, exercise programs fail for most people - we know that. They fail because they demand you take huge steps to transform your life.

Nevertheless you give it your best shot, because you want the end result. You go from eating fast food and fries with everything to wall-to-wall lettuce and cucumber. You give up spending your evenings on the couch in front of the TV and work out on the equipment at the gym 5 nights a week instead.

You're highly motivated when you start. But soon your enthusiasm wanes and you slide back to how things were. Making huge changes overnight is just too difficult.

The "kaizen" way of losing weight, on the other hand, means making a single small change at a time. You just keep going with it until it feels quite natural. Then you add another and another and another. Don't you think it would be easier to transform your body and your life permanently like that?

If the "make-sudden-mega-changes-in-your-lifestyle" diet and exercise programs you've tried in the past have never actually worked for you on a permanent basis, then why not try a different approach?

This time write down a whole list of all the changes you want to make. Break those changes down into tiny achievable pieces then put them in place one step at a time - the "kaizen" way. It just has to be the easiest way of achieving a new shape.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Dieters: Are you Feeding your Inner Rebel?

2005-12-21T04:37:00.000Z

Many diets and weight loss programs impose strict rules about what you can eat and what you must avoid at all costs. They tell you when to eat and how much. They say fat (or carbohydrate) is the enemy of a slim body, and that it must be counted and limited. They tell you to avoid snacking or to eat every 2 or 3 hours, without fail. They specify cabbage soup every day for a week or allow you virtually nothing but grapefruit or eggs. And they want you to exercise 5 times a week when you haven't moved a muscle in a decade.

But you know that rules are meant to be broken. The very fact that they are rules imposed by an outside weight loss "authority" means that they will be.

Rules bring out the small child in you who wants to touch the forbidden ornaments on your aunt's hall table and stay up when its bedtime. You become the rebellious teenager who wants to party when there's homework to do.

During your weight loss program, nothing makes you want food more than forbidding it. "Can't have chocolate cake. Can't have fries" leads you to think of nothing else. Enforced salad or soup means that these are the last things you actually want to eat.

And when you do succumb, as you inevitably will, to the chocolate cake, you feel guilty rebellious pleasure in breaking the rules you feel have been unfairly imposed on you. "Why me?" you ask yourself "It's not fair. Why do I have to follow these rules? Everyone else gets to eat cake."

So forget the rules!

"Forget the rules?" you cry "I'll go mad and shovel in everything in sight. I'll be fatter than ever."

Somehow it doesn't work like that if you treat yourself as the adult you are.

Take responsibility for learning about healthy food and nutrition. And once you have the information you need, make your choices from the huge range of delicious food out there. Don't label any food good or bad. Just select from all that's available with a mindset of being good to you, good to your body and how you want to feel.

And yes, sometimes you will select the chocolate cake. But once you treat yourself as a responsible adult rather than a child to be kept in line and punished, you will find you enjoy the cake and go on to make healthier choices at your next meal, happy in the knowledge that nothing is banned, that there will always be more cake if you want it in the future.

Feed the adult in you and not the rebel child!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Weight Loss : 7 keys to success

2005-12-20T13:54:00.000Z

Successful weight loss is about much more than buying the latest diet and exercise program. You have to have the right mindset to make any weight loss program work. Without the right attitude you will have an uphill battle to succeed - but if you get your head together before you begin, and keep yourself in the right frame of mind throughout your program, you multiply your chances of losing weight successfully.

So what is the right attitude to ensure you succeed? Ideally you need all of the following:-

1. Absolute desire

You have to want a new slim figure and better health more than that piece of chocolate cake. Work out why you want to lose weight and remind yourself every day (every meal time if necessary) why you are doing this.

2. Willingness to change

You have to want to lose weight so much you're prepared to change your attitudes and your lifestyle little by little until you're living the life that keeps you slim and healthy forever.

3. Commitment to do this for once and for all

Make a firm decision to achieve your target, put it in writing and re-read it every day. Constantly renew your commitment to yourself.

4. Knowledge of yourself

No matter what your circumstances, you need to accept that you are responsible for your current weight. Only you can say what passes your lips and what doesn't. Only you decide how much or how little you move every day. You need to understand the reasons why you put on weight in the first place so that you can undo those habits. You need to know your weak spots and look for the best ways to work around them, knowing what you know about you and your lifestyle.

5. Self-belief

You must know in your heart of hearts that you can do this, that you can rely on yourself to follow through your commitment and not let yourself down. Everyone can lose weight, but you must believe it too.

6. Self confidence

You need self-confidence to keep your commitments in the face of pressure from others, self-confidence to do new things, to try new forms of exercise, to join a gym or a new class. Surprisingly you also need to have self-confidence to face the world as a slimmer person because you will attract attention and admiring glances that you're not used to.

7. Determination and perseverance

When the going gets difficult the successful just keep going. If you choose the right weight loss program, one that is balanced, and fits your life your level of fitness and circumstances and just keep going with it, you'll succeed. So don't give up.

The great thing is that you can choose to have these personal qualities and attitudes today, simply by changing the way you speak to yourself, being more positive and acting as if you have these characteristics already. You can choose to change your attitude for weight loss success or you can choose to carry on as you are. It really is up to you (and your mind) to make your weight loss program a success!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

The 5 Beliefs about Food that keep you Fat

2005-12-19T10:00:00.000Z

1. Food should not be wasted

We have learnt not to leave food even though we don't really want it. If we cooked it, bought it, served it up on a plate or ordered it in a restaurant it has to be eaten because "it's a sin to throw away good food". So we use our bodies as a kind of human waste disposal unit and pile unwanted pounds onto our hips.

We learnt to clean our plates when we were kids, mostly from well-meaning parents who wanted to make sure we got enough nourishment and tried to make us feel guilty about all the starving people in the world. We learnt to eat stuff we didn't really want or need to please our parents and sometimes we got more food as a reward ("Eat your dinner or you won't get dessert").

Now you're an adult you can take a different approach. Buy less, cook less, serve up less and order less but if it's still more food than you need, throw it out rather than down your throat. It's a greater waste to over feed your body than it is to throw out excess food.

2. Food equals love

We learn from birth to link love and comfort from our mother with being fed and that feeling is reinforced throughout childhood. We equate food with being cared for. So it's often the first thing we turn to when we want to experience those feelings of love and comfort again.

But food is not love. A double-chocolate chip cookie or plateful of fries will never love you back. Only people can do that.

If you need love, you need contact with other living breathing humans. Call up a friend and talk, don't eat.

3. Slim people can eat as much food as they like

This one is actually true but not in the way we often believe it. Slim people eat as much as they like but they don't live for food. They like to eat as much as they need and they do. Sometimes they overeat. That's when you see them eating chocolate cake and pizza and you think they have it made. But other times (more likely when you're not seeing them on an evening out) they're satisfied with soup and a salad. It's a balance thing. If slim people ate too much all the time they would be overweight too!

Even so, you may find that your friend can eat more than you and not get fat. You may put it down to the luck of a fast metabolism but actually the slight variances you find in metabolism make very little difference. Naturally slim people simply move around more during the course of the day even if they don't take regular exercise. They're forever on the go. They're up and down more. And they fidget more. Studies have shown that they use up more calories than others in that way.

If you eat and move like your slim friends you will have little to envy.

4. Healthy food doesn't make you fat

You can get fat eating anything - although, granted, it would be difficult to overeat lettuce. But some natural foods are high in calories - in particular nuts and seeds - so you can easily take in too many calories with these. And fruit juices, smoothies and shakes can really pile on the pounds. Too many complex carbohydrates, whole grain though they are, will go straight to your hips too. Healthy foods are great but they still have to be eaten in moderation.

Having said that, true healthy natural real foods are not generally the real problem. The main culprit here are those foods which are branded as healthy by food manufacturers - the foods that are "full of goodness" or low in fat or carbs or whatever. They offer so-called healthy options for cookies, cakes and pies that you could do well without eating. They just tempt you to eat more because you think they are healthy or low in calories. Check the labels and give them a miss.

5. Only unhealthy food tastes good

You may have spent years assaulting your taste-buds with fat and sugar confectionary, salty snacks and fried foods and that is what they have learnt to know and love. But actually many foods that you eat have sugar and salt added to give them appeal they wouldn't otherwise have. Once you start tasting quality natural foods and delicious healthy recipes you will never look back. Become a true gourmet and learn to love good natural food in moderation. Take the time to prepare and enjoy it properly and you will find your taste buds dancing with delight.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Top 10 Christmas Day strategies when you want to Lose Weight

2005-12-16T10:30:00.000Z

1. Decide to have a lighter Christmas this year

You have a choice between stuffing yourself silly and enjoying the delights of Christmas more modestly. Eating too much will leave you feeling uncomfortable and remorseful. Eating just enough will leave you feeling great. It's up to you to decide how you want to feel at the end of the day.

2. Eat what you really want

So much of the food on Christmas Day is eaten "because it's there" even though you don't really want it. Eat when you're hungry, choose what you really want and eat just enough to satisfy.

Don't feel you have to fill up on nutritious food before you get to the chocolate gateau you hanker after. Save room for dessert if that's what you really want. You'll not suffer from vitamin deficiency by not eating properly for a single day! Don't pile your plate with anything and especially not with food you do not care about.

3. Don't let boredom set in

The other reason we eat food we don't really need is because it passes the time. Cooped up in a roomful of relatives, gradually losing the will to live, can have you nibbling away before you know it at whatever's on offer.

Instead of sitting around, get active. Help with the preparations. Concentrate on trying to make a meaningful conversation with your old aunt. Suggest a walk after lunch or a game of charades. Keep busy even if you land with the washing up!

4. If you are the cook

Look for some lighter foods to serve and offer these as an option, for example strawberry pavlova or fresh fruit salad as an alternative to Christmas pudding. And choose a light salad based starter too. Look online for hints and tips about reducing the fat content in a typical Christmas lunch. You can reduce the calories by half and still serve up a delicious meal. At the very least remove the skin from turkey and any visible fat from meat and make the gravy ahead of time so that you can skim the fat from the surface when it cools.

5. Go easy on the alcohol

Alcohol is not only full of calories but it also lowers your inhibitions about eating everything in sight, and, lets face it, there will be a lot of temptation around. Sip your drink slowly and drink plenty of water so you don't end up drinking a lot just because you're thirsty.

6. Shrug off hurtful comments

Families are not always the most tactful bunch and whether you're overweight or not and whether or not they mean any harm, their comments and probing questions can sometimes hurt. They won't change just because it's Christmas, no matter how many messages of "Peace and Goodwill" they send out on cards.

When the barbed comments hit their mark, avoid drowning your sorrows in drink or a faceful of cake. You are only hurting yourself more. Remind yourself before the event of the likely comments you'll get - they may be the same from year to year - and think about how you'll deal with them. At least have some positive things you can say to yourself when someone gets you down. And smile to yourself whenever someone comes up with one of the things you thought they might say. So predictable!

7. Forget Perfection

Your Christmas like my Christmas and everyone else's Christmas will not be perfect. We have real families who, apart from making comments, will have their own idiosyncrasies. They might very well annoy you, fall asleep after lunch, argue and make boring conversation. That's families for you! Decide how you want Christmas to be and do all you can to make it as you want, but just enjoy it for what it is, in the end, for it will never be perfect.

8. Looking good

Wear your best clothes and do your make-up and hair so that you feel at your very best. A beautiful fragrance and good grooming will make you feel special, help lift the day out of the ordinary and make you feel that it really is worth watching what you eat, even just a little.

9. Wrap it Up

Sometimes we spend ages choosing and wrapping special gifts for others only to be disappointed when we open our own parcels. Make sure there's something you really want under the Christmas tree this year by buying yourself a gift and wrapping it beautifully. Show yourself you deserve the very best - because you do!

10. And the Day After?

Whatever you ate or didn't eat on Christmas Day is immaterial. What's done is done. Get rid of the leftovers (throw them out or give them away) and get right back on track by eating normally again. Don't starve yourself to make up for eating too much, you'll only set yourself up for a binge. But it won't help you either if you decide that you might as well wait until January to work off the excess pounds you've gained over Christmas. Another week of overeating will simply add to the pounds you have to lose. Unless you still have wall-to-wall parties to cope with, the day after Christmas is a great time to start planning your new trim figure for next year and making an early start on your weight loss goals.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and slimming club owner with a no diet approach to permanent weight loss. Subscribe to her FREE weekly "No More Diets" ezine full of tips and recipes and receive a 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds". Subscribe at http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas TODAY!

Weight Loss Tip : A Glass of Wine

2005-12-14T10:52:00.000Z

It's amazing how one little innocent glass of Chardonnay or Shiraz can do so much damage to your waistline but it can if you don't take care. A small 125ml glass of wine contains around 100 calories - the equivalent of over 10 pounds of pure body fat being added to your body if you have one every day for a year.

Wine won't fill you up and it may even increase your appetite and lower your inhibitions so that you end up eating more than is good for you. Many people find that after a glass or two all caution goes to the wind.

If you do like a glass of wine with dinner then you need to make sure that you only have one and that you eat less or (preferably) exercise more to make up for those extra calories. When you find out you have to jog for an extra 12 -15 minutes a day to make up for each glass you might think twice.

As a compromise you may like to

have half a glass to enjoy the taste without all the calories
turn your wine into a spritzer to reduce the overall calories
save your wine drinking for weekends or special occasions

This is a time to use a quality not quantity principle. Why not treat yourself to better quality wines and sip your glass slowly to get the full enjoyment?

And if you have friends round to share the bottle, remember champagne is no more calories than other wines, yet it's hard to feel that you're deprived and "on a diet" when you have a glass.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Weight Loss Tip : Treat yourself like a Child

2005-12-13T12:43:00.000Z

Whenever you feel your motivation slipping give yourself a boost by treating yourself like a precious child.

1. Talk to yourself kindly

You encourage your children to do their best and to have another go when they fail. You don't say "Might as well give up then, you're useless at this. You'll never succeed". If they're learning something new, you encourage them to keep practising until it becomes second nature. Give yourself the same wise words when you're trying to lose weight! You can do this! You really can!

2. Nourish yourself

Would you let a child stand at the fridge wolfing down a whole tub of cookie dough ice cream? Would you let them ask for a chocolate biscuit and then eat the packet empty? Why not? You know what's good for them, that's why not!

Parents who care for their children don't feed them a lot of junk food, coffee, wine and cigarettes. Aside from the legalities of it all, they want their children to grow up healthy, fit and strong. Why would you want any less for your own health?

Give yourself the very best nourishment you can. Eat lean meat, fish, healthy carbs and vegetables and allow yourself the odd treat. Don't spoil your appetite for healthy meals by eating unhealthy snacks all day - give junk food the thumbs down.

3. Play

Children's bodies cry out for physical activity so we take our children out and give them lots of active play. But what are we doing for ourselves while we are running around chauffeuring them from one thing to the next? Are we just complaining we haven't got time to exercise? Carve some time out of your schedule every day to do something active, even if it's just a 10-minute walk at lunchtime. No child deserves to be cooped up all day and neither do you. You can't expect to perform at your peak if you only ever move between your desk and the coffee machine or the sofa and the fridge.

4. Stick with It long term

When you have a child, you're in it for the long haul. You're not here one day and gone the next. You commit to taking responsibility for the child's welfare at least until they grow up and probably for long after that. So why should it be any different where your own health and welfare is concerned? You deserve long term care, not a two-week crash diet "that's all I'm giving it" before going back to abusing your body. Make a commitment to care for your health forever.

5. Be Consistent

You care for a precious child day in day out. You don't give the child lots of love and care on Monday only to neglect him or her by Friday. That's exactly how you treat yourself when you start a new diet every other week. You need to be consistent in treating yourself well to get great results.

6. Make it routine

Children thrive on routine. Despite their protests they love the security of knowing the rules of the house and someone caring whether they keep to them or not. They like order and certainty about how things are done.

Adults are no different. Everyone is a creature of habit to some extent.

When we have good habits we eat healthily and move our bodies without thinking about it. And we reach our weight loss and fitness goals as a result of following our habits - almost automatically.

If you don't have a good routine, like any child you need some discipline to keep to the habits which are for your benefit in the long term. But after a while you will find you settle into your new routines without a fuss - after all they feel so natural and they're doing you good.

It takes just 21 days of consistent practise to form a new habit. So start today and create a slim, healthy and fit new you one habit at a time.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

How to Have a Happy Christmas

2005-12-12T11:29:00.000Z

1. Forget Perfect

Don't tie yourself in knots trying to have a Christmas like you see on the pages of a magazine. These are stage managed by a team of people and shot in August. You have a real house and a real family living in it, not a stage set full of models who only have to look good for a photograph. Real families argue and burn the gravy - so don't try and live up to a media image you have in your mind.

2. Live in the Moment

Sometimes there's so much to do that you spend the whole time feeling anxious and planning ahead. Take time to enjoy the delights of the festive season otherwise there's no point. If you don't make space to enjoy the company, the food, the decorations and the carols you lose the chance of sharing the magic which makes Christmas special.

3. Avoid overwhelm

Make a list of all you have to do and cross off anything which does not make you smile (or which others would not miss). That should get rid of a lot from your list. If you have too much to do then ask for help. No one says you have to do it all. Do a little each day of whatever you have left on your list to avoid getting in a panic at the last minute.

4. Budget Wisely

Everyone spends more than usual at Christmas but make sure you stick to what you can afford. If you will have to spend the next 6 months paying for the extras, then you are better off without them. Do the best you can with the money you have.

5. Halve the Cost, Double the Fun

Christmas has become very commercial in some respects but it doesn't have to be. You can cook great food without spending a fortune. You can have fun with your family too playing old-fashioned games such as charades or cards. You can bake or make decorations together to get in the spirit of the season and enjoy all the old family movies they put on at this time of year.

Presents can be a problem if you're low on cash. Suggest a Secret Santa present swap where everyone draws lots and buys for only one adult or agree a very low spending limit for gifts so that you buy each other something fun rather than a costly item.

6. Find the Meaning

Christmas is about togetherness, having a good time, peace and goodwill to everyone, being loving and joyful. It's not about spending so much you go into debt, eating so much you put on 5lbs or decorating your house with more lights than everyone else in your area. Decide what Christmas means to you and don't lose sight of that when you're immersed in the pressure to buy and eat!

7. Show the Kids

Today most kids over 6 think Christmas means getting stuff. They have lists of toys and games and designer gear they want - and yet they are also open to enjoying other aspects of Christmas. Help them experience the true meaning by sharing special moments. Bake cookies with them. Decorate the tree together. Sing carols and collect money for charity. Let them parcel up their outgrown toys (or buy some items together) for the needy.

8. Give Yourself

Give in ways other than buying presents to experience the magic of Christmas. Offer to baby sit so parents can go and buy gifts for their offspring. Take an old lady shopping at the supermarket in your car so she can stock up for her family coming instead of struggling on the bus. Be kind to those serving in shops - it's a busy time for them and they often receive the brunt of others' stress and bad temper. You'll get back as much joy as you give.

9. Consider Yourself

When buying gifts for everyone else, buy a few things for yourself. Wrap them up and share the fun on Christmas Day. Make sure that you take your wishes into consideration about how you would like to spend Christmas too. If you don't want to spend the whole time travelling between relatives, plan to stay at home next year. If you want to make something other than traditional food, make it! No one creates a rule that says Christmas has to be this way or that.

10. Communicate

If you decide to change things let everyone know ahead of time. You don't want any sulking on the day. You may not know how important a particular tradition feels to someone until you try and change it. Ask what everyone likes about Christmas and try and accommodate as many wishes as possible without compromising your own happiness. You may find you can drop some old traditions without a qualm and you may start to feel great about others once you know how much they are appreciated.

Copyright 2005. Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", the system that promotes permanent healthy and AUTOMATIC weight loss through making small changes to your everyday habits. Visit http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas today to get the Simply Slimming FREE ezine full of tips and recipes and a 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds".

Dieters: What gift will you give yourself?

2005-12-09T10:59:00.000Z

What kind of December will you give yourself this year?

You choose!

You can drop all pretense of trying to lose weight and let yourself go for the whole month, making the most of every opportunity to wolf down more calories. Or you can carry on eating when you're hungry, stopping when you're full, making the best of the food choices available to you - even at parties. And you can eat extra healthily on the days when there's really nothing special happening.

You can give up exercise for the month and slump down on the sofa every night watching your waistline expand. Or you can keep active (even if you don't have time for your usual routine) by putting lots of energy into your preparations, keeping moving as you go about your day and fitting in 10 minutes of exercise (a walk, a stair climb, a few stretches) here and there.

You can get completely frazzled leaving everything until the last minute and set yourself up for a huge amount of stress and comfort eating. Or you can spend just a few minutes each day on preparations and cut out last minute panics.

You can make yourself sad and depressed by comparing your family party with the ones portrayed in the media or you can just decide to enjoy it, knowing that the media parties are the figment of the producer's and the designer's imagination (and the pictures were shot in August in a studio).

You can spend all your energy and time finding great gifts for everyone else and set yourself up for disappointment by just hoping something nice comes your way. Or you can make sure that you have something you really want this year, by dropping hints, asking directly (some people would love to know - it takes the pressure off!) or even just buying whatever it is you want and wrapping up the perfect gift just for yourself.

So you choose what kind of December to have. You can come out of it frazzled, overweight and disappointed or happy that you've enjoyed the break and haven't done too much damage to your waistline.

Which will it be this year?

Choose wisely, give yourself the gift of a great December and have a fantastic time.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and slimming club owner with a no diet approach to permanent weight loss. Subscribe to her FREE weekly "No More Diets" ezine full of tips and recipes and receive a 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds". Subscribe at http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas TODAY!

How to Lose Weight Permanently - in 3 Steps

2005-12-08T10:36:00.000Z

For many people losing weight is not so much the problem as keeping it off. You may find that you have the willpower to stick with your diet and reach your target weight. But although you feel great having achieved your goal, somehow the weight always creeps back on.

The fact is to lose weight permanently you need to make permanent changes to your lifestyle. After all your lifestyle made you overweight - so if you don't change that lifestyle you'll get right back to your overweight state no matter how much weight you lose.

1. Set your standards

Decide right now to stop putting up with the standards you've set for yourself so far. Is how you treat your body and how you spend your time really how you want to live your life? Are you satisfied with how you are looking after your health? with the food you eat? with your energy levels?

You don't have to put up with a flabby out-of-condition body, junk food and lack of physical activity. You can have a life where you eat delicious nourishing food all the time, where you have plenty of energy, a sparkle in your eye and a spring in your step and where you are toned, fit and healthy.

Decide right now to raise your standards and play in a new league.

2. Squash your limiting beliefs

You may want to change your lifestyle but you'll never succeed unless you believe you can. Failed diets and abandoned exercise regimes (and maybe you've had many of those) can destroy your confidence in being able to make changes. But actually all you need is the right strategy and anyone can succeed at making quite far-reaching changes without backsliding.

If you've not succeeded before you just haven't found a way to make changes which is right for you. It doesn't mean you can't ever succeed.

Start by imagining yourself living to your new standards. How will you look, how will you move and how will you feel? Become comfortable with these images so that they will feel less and less foreign to you. The more you use your imagination the more you start to accept in your subconscious mind that this could be a realistic future for you and it will give you the motivation you need to make changes.

3. Make changes stick

We all have a comfort zone which consists of everything that we are used to in our lives. To make permanent changes that you are happy to stick with forever you have to expand the things you are comfortable with.

The problem with standard diet and exercise regimes is that they ask you to make huge changes all at once - they have you stepping miles away from your zone of comfort.

If you are happy making drastic changes - go ahead. If you can stick with it you'll lose weight quickly and permanently.

But chances are you've tried this - probably many times - and although you start out with great intentions you just can't keep those changes up. It's no wonder - because they work right against human nature.

The secret of making changes permanent is to expand your comfort zone gently. Make one or two small changes and get used to them before you try and change anything else.

Only you will know the scale of the changes you're happy to make and how long you'll need before those changes feel like part of you. Research suggests it needs about 21 days to form a new habit.

If you create new healthier habits one after the other in this way, the weight loss will follow automatically. And because you have become comfortable with each change you will lose that weight permanently too.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Keep up your Weight Loss Motivation in December

2005-12-07T13:37:00.000Z

Wanting to lose weight in December is the pits, isn't it? While you may struggle the rest of the year with not eating too much and choosing healthy foods it's that bit more difficult when all around you are wolfing down goodies of every kind with seemingly total abandon.

Everyone you visit offers you tempting treats and no doubt you have more than enough food at home to sink a battleship for the visitors you get. And the food doesn't always stay "just for guests" once it calls your name from the cupboard.

But if you want to avoid regret with even more pounds to lose by January then you need to be stronger than ever.

1. Daily reminder

Every day remind yourself of your reasons for losing weight. Why do you you want this? Why is that important to you? Ask yourself whether any temporary pleasure from food is worth the regret you will feel at going backwards in your plan.

2. Set an intention

Before every meal set an intention that you will enjoy it and have what you want but that you will eat just enough to satisfy your hunger and no more.

3. Enjoy the special foods

Don't deny yourself your favourites but have just a little of those things which you know are full of calories. Enjoy a little as much as a lot by eating the food slowly and really tasting it.

4. Stock up

Treat yourself to some healthy foods that you might not normally buy, such as smoked lean meats and fish, exotic fruits and vegetables, caviar. Make food special without the calories so that you don't feel deprived at all.

5. Quality not quantity

Buy the very best of everything you can afford and savour it. If you're going to buy chocolate get a small box of handmade exquisite Belgian chocolates and not a multi-pack of cheap chocolate bars. That way you really feel you are celebrating in style but you won't go too overboard.

6. Make a Game of "No"

If you tend to eat just because food is offered without even thinking about it, now is a great time to practise saying "No thanks not just now" or even "Thanks - I'll take a piece for later" because food will be offered everywhere you go! Look at this like a game you are playing and keep your score. How many times can you say "no" in December?

7. Deal with lapses

If you over-indulge at any time, don't abandon all hope and give up until the party season is over. One meal won't do much damage - after all you have to eat an additional 3500 calories to gain a pound. It's when you do this day in day out for the whole period that you start piling on the pounds. So just get right back on track and start again at the very next meal - eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full.

8. Keep up your exercise

Even if you're too busy to go to the gym, do a little every day at home. Even 10 minutes walking or stair-stepping a day will help remind you that you are taking active steps towards your goal and will help you avoid thoughts of giving up for the month. If you can fit in several sessions through the day so much the better. When you keep as active as possible as you go about your day you will be gently reminding yourself that you care about your shape and your health and it will be easier to keep things in check.

9. Looking good

Wear your nicest clothes throughout the period. Make the effort with your hair, nails and makeup and show yourself that you deserve the very best. Instead of giving yourself food as a reward or when you you need cheering up, give yourself the best possible care and attention.

10. Gift of health

If you have a tradition of giving presents in December (or even if you don't) ask for or treat yourself to a few gifts that will help motivate you. An exercise video, a voucher for a personal trainer or a piece of home gym equipment ( such as a rebounder, step or balance ball) are great to help kick start a new exercise plan.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and slimming club owner with a no diet approach to permanent weight loss. Subscribe to her FREE weekly "No More Diets" ezine full of tips and recipes and receive a 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds". Subscribe at http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas TODAY!

Is your workplace a hazard for your diet?

2005-12-05T14:07:00.000Z

It can be easy to overeat at work. Your colleagues bring in treats every day because it's always someone's birthday or leaving party. There's a culture that people eat muffins or doughnuts every Friday or even every day. The staff restaurant is full of fried food or mayonnaise laden salads and the nearest place outside work serves nothing but fast food.

Here are 8 tips to immunise yourself against unwanted workplace calories.

1. Bring your own healthy lunch and snacks

You know it makes sense. If you have something healthy and delicious to eat you'll be less tempted by all the other unhealthy stuff around. It takes a bit of planning when you do your weekly shop but you'll reap the rewards. Choose food which is easy to prepare and get as much as you can ready the night before to avoid last-minute panics in the morning.

2. Say "No" nicely

You can get a lot of pressure from others to sample the snacks they bring in so this one may take some practise but it does get easier after a while. Just say "No thanks not just now" or "No thanks, I'm just about to have an apple" or "No thanks I've just eaten" or simply "No thanks" - no need to explain or apologise.

Saying you're on a diet seems to make some people try and persuade you more forcefully. ("One won't hurt", "Surely you don't need to lose any more weight you'll fade away" etc). Before you know it you're giving in. If you really can't stand the pressure say "Thanks I'll save it for later", take it home and throw it out.

3. Keep your desk clear of food

It's asking for trouble to keep food on your desk. Put the lunch and snacks you brought out of sight so that you have to go and get something from the kitchen or locker room when you're hungry. On the other hand, if the kitchen at your place of work tends to be loaded with treats people have left for sharing, you may be better keeping your food at your desk. But at least keep it out of sight in a cupboard or drawer.

4. Stop to eat

Don't nibble food unconsciously at your desk - it's the easiest way to overeat. Pause in whatever you are doing whenever you decide to eat and take time to really taste the food. If there's somewhere you can go away from your desk to eat then do that, otherwise just stop working on your report or reading your emails for 5 minutes and be fully aware of the food you are eating.

5. Stay away from vending machines

Vending machines tend to be full of unhealthy calorie-laden food. Having your own snacks should help you resist the temptation to treat yourself. But, in any case, keep away from the room with the machines and if you really can't resist, stop bringing any change to work - it's the only way!

6. When you need a break

Don't eat just because you need a break. Instead, take a quick walk or have a glass of water or herbal tea - even coffee is better than eating food you don't need. If you find that there are times you just have to nibble on something make sure you always have plenty of healthy snacks with you. You can nibble quite a bit on carrots sticks, cucumber and celery without doing any damage to your waistline.

7. Team up

If you have a colleague who is also trying to lose weight, join forces and help each other stay on track. It's great to have someone to go for a walk with at lunchtime or to commiserate with when everyone else is wolfing down cakes someone has brought in.

8. Choose wisely

You don't have to turn down social invitations from colleagues to be able to succeed at losing weight so go ahead and join in. But you do have to select what you have to eat and drink carefully when you eat out on a regular basis. Choose the smallest portions you can and get to know the menus at the local restaurants so that you can plan what to eat ahead of time. Even fast food places now have healthier options but remember it's often the extras which are the most fattening - condiments, dressings and sugary or milky drinks can more than double the calories in a meal.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Automatic Weight Loss

2005-12-02T11:24:00.000Z

Losing weight can seem like an uphill struggle at times. You battle with foods you can eat and foods you can't. You resist your cravings for chocolate and cake and cookies all day only to give in while you watch TV in the evening. You huff and puff at the gym for two weeks or two months until finally you just can't drag yourself there any more.

Sometimes you lose a load of weight with a lot of hard effort only to hit a plateau. And then you can't seem to shift any more.

Finally you give up on whatever plan you're on, relax for a bit and all the weight comes straight back on. All that effort for nothing.

Life should be easier than this. Why does losing weight have to be so hard?

The answer is that we make it hard on ourselves!

We want to lose weight and we want it now and we think we're willing to do whatever it takes.

But we quickly change our minds when the rubber meets the road and we actually have to follow that diet regime we signed up for.

You could make the whole process much easier by taking the automatic route.

The secret to losing weight automatically is not by making big changes to your diet or exercise routines. These routines never stick in the long run because they are way out of your comfort zone.

Yes, you may very well suffer them for a week or two while your motivation to lose weight is high but it takes iron willpower to stick with them until you lose all the weight you want.

And let's face it unless you stick with them forever that weight all comes straight back on doesn't it?

Because you go right back to the habits you had before you went on your weight loss program. The ones that caused you to put all that weight on in the first place.

No, the secret to losing weight automatically is to make small changes to your routines. Ones which will be barely detectable to others - only you will really know the difference. You make changes like taking time to enjoy your food more, moving a little bit more as you go about your day, learning how to deal with pressures from others to eat, stopping eating whenever you're satisfied. And before you know it you are losing weight. Not only that but you have habits which you can stick to for life and which you'll never need (or want) to change.

What small changes could you make today which would mean that you eat a little bit less and move a little bit more? Could you live with those changes for life? Then start right now to make them a habit.

Habits are built by repetition and like having a shower or brushing your teeth become an automatic part of you without having to think about it. To be slimmer forever you simply need slimmer habits - habits which keep your metabolism high enough to deal with the amount you eat over a period of time. That doesn't mean that you can never over-indulge - it just means that in your normal day to day life you are using your slim habits and as a result the odd huge meal or chocolate bar really doesn't make any difference.

Why make it hard on yourself when this can be so much easier?

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Beat the Bloat to look Great at Christmas

2005-12-02T11:21:00.000Z

If you want to look good in your Christmas party dress the last thing you need is a swollen tummy. Plan ahead with these tips so that you look the best you can on the night

1. Avoid salt

Salty food causes you to retain water which often concentrates around your mid-section. If you want your tummy to be as flat as possible avoid salty snacks and meals for a few days before the event. Chinese food is especially heavy in sodium (the key ingredient in salt which causes you to swell) so avoid that if you want to look your best. Look out too for processed foods and ready meals which tend to be high in salt (to make up for the lack of taste). Stay well away from fast food, family restaurants and pizza places too which salt food like it was going out of fashion. Eliminate salt completely on the day of the party for best results.

2. Choose low GI foods with some protein

Starchy foods like bread and pasta tend to puff you up because they cause you to produce excess insulin. Eat only small quantities of carbohydrate foods and choose those which release energy more slowly into the body, the so-called low GI foods. These tend to be whole grains rather than white processed products. Eat some protein with each meal to keep your insulin levels steady.

3. Don't swallow air

Drinking through a straw and chewing gum introduce a lot of air into your system which ends up in your tummy causing you to bloat up. So leave them well alone. And avoid foods which you know cause you to feel "gassy".

4. Drink Water

All fizzy drinks, even diet soda will cause you to swell up due to the amount of sodium and air they contain. Instead, drink lots of water to help flush out your system - about 8 glasses a day.

5. Eat fresh Fruit and Vegetables

Fresh foods (which contain a lot of fibre) will help sweep your system clean ready for your big night out. They tend to be high in potassium too which helps regulate water balance in the body.

6. Keep your digestion healthy

Ensure you are digesting your food properly by eating your food slowly and chewing it well. Don't eat too much at one meal - smaller more regular meals are easier to digest. Also avoid drinking with your meals - drink water half an hour before or an hour afterwards. Peppermint tea may help your digestion if you have problems.

7. Help from your wardrobe

Once you've done everything you can from the inside, get all the help you can from your clothes. You can get great tummy controlling undies these days and they don't have to look like something your granny would wear. Also make sure your clothes fit your properly and skim rather than cling if you have more curves than you would like.

8. It's a wrap

If you want to look your very best, you could try a body wrap treatment at your local spa or beauty salon. They can work magic. Unfortunately these treatments are expensive and the results are only temporary. So save this one for a really special night out.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and slimming club owner with a no diet approach to permanent weight loss. Subscribe to her FREE weekly "No More Diets" ezine full of tips and recipes and receive a 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds". Subscribe at http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas TODAY!

How to Stop Eating Too Much at Christmas

2005-12-01T06:53:00.000Z

With all the tempting food available in December, it's difficult to resist eating too much - yet if you don't you'll regret it later. One or two bouts of over-indulgence won't make much difference but if you throw in the towel for the whole month you'll end up quite a few pounds heavier in January.

But how do you resist when there is so much on offer? And without feeling that you're missing out? Here are 10 tips to guide you through the holidays.

1. Have what you really want

When you're faced with wall-to-wall goodies, don't feel that you have to get your nutrition before you indulge. You'll only end up with more calories than your body needs. In other words, if you know you're going to have the apple pie, don't fill up on meat and potatoes and then have it! One occasion is not going to make you malnourished.

2. Take three bites

If the chocolate cake looks good but you know 800 calories is not going to look great on your hips, have a tiny piece. Have three bites, eat them as slowly as you can and really taste what you're eating. Satisfy your taste buds without wolfing down a huge portion.

3. Quality counts

Instead of buying cheap fattening treats at Christmas indulge yourself and your family with the best delicacies you can afford. Buy the best and treat yourself that way rather than picking your way through a mountain of unmemorable junk.

4. If you lapse

If you do over-indulge, don't give up all semblance of watching what you eat for the whole festive period. It's only one meal, one snack and you're unlikely to have done much damage. Just go right back to eating when you're hungry and stopping when you're full - right from your next meal.

5. Pace yourself

If you're going to a party or dinner later don't starve yourself or you'll fall ravenously on the buffet table or bread basket. Do, however, eat moderately during the day with lower calorie but filling foods. Have soup and bread or salad and a baked potato for lunch and have a small snack such as an apple or some toast later in the afternoon so that you don't arrive too hungry at the party.

6. Stay away

Whatever you do don't position yourself near the buffet table - you'll nibble all night. Put one or two things on a plate and get away from there - you can always go back if you're still hungry. By the same token don't leave snack foods lying around at home. Put them out of sight as much as you can.

7. Keep busy

The more you do the less time you'll have to sit around eating, so get busy around the house (you can make it spick and span for Santa). Get all your preparations done early so that you're less stressed and less likely to turn to food to soothe your frazzled state.

8. Plan ahead

No matter how much you have to do, make sure you take a few minutes out of your schedule to plan your meals each day. It would be even better if you could organise yourself to do this on a weekly basis. If you don't plan your meals you'll end up eating out or calling for take-away more than is good for you. Also if you know you've got big meals or parties on particular days plan some lighter meals (but not starvation rations) on the days before and after to help balance out the amount you are eating.

9. Low calorie options

If you are in charge of cooking use all the tricks you know to reduce the calories of the food you provide without reducing the flavour. Look up some low-calorie versions of the dishes you normally cook online and use these. Or try some new lighter recipes. They may be an improvement on what you usually cook. Your family and guests will think that you are serving them something special rather than something low-calorie. In any case provide alternatives for any particularly fattening dishes - fruit salad as well as Christmas pudding for example. Your health conscious guests will thank you.

10. Be Mindful

We put so much in our mouths without thinking about it, without even noticing it or enjoying it. This is easy to do with so much food available and lying out on display. Make sure that whatever you eat, you serve it properly. Put it on a plate or in a bowl, sit down and enjoy it. Even if you intend to do this, you'll catch yourself nibbling from packets, standing up in the kitchen or whatever - but awareness is half the battle - just notice how much you do this so that you can gradually start to change this habit.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and slimming club owner with a no diet approach to permanent weight loss. Subscribe to her FREE weekly "No More Diets" ezine full of tips and recipes and receive a 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds". Subscribe at http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas TODAY!

Exercise at Christmas Without the Gym

2005-11-28T17:02:00.000Z

Gyms get pretty deserted around Christmas time. Everyone is so busy with preparations, parties and people visiting that it's hard to fit in getting there, getting changed and going through a routine as regularly as you might the rest of the year.

But don't give up on exercise completely - you'll find it far harder to get back in the swing of things if you do. Make exercise part of the fun and keep yourself ticking over until it's time to get back to the gym in January. Maybe you'll enjoy the alternatives so much you'll never go back!

1. Do less

Just do ten minutes if that's all you can manage. Ten minutes of anything - walking around the house or stair stepping or skipping or rebounding - anything that fits your level of fitness and the equipment you have available at home. You can do it in the morning before your shower and it will energise you for everything you have to get done. If you can fit in 10 minutes later on too, so much the better. You'll keep up your fitness levels and use a few calories which you can probably do with at this time of year.

2. Do a class at home

Fitness videos are great if you don't have much time. There's no getting to the gym - you have everything you need right at home. You can pick them up for next to nothing from charity shops or treat yourself to one or two for Christmas. And it doesn't matter if you don't know the moves or have the latest fitness gear - nobody's watching!

3. Clear Up

No doubt you have to get your home ready for friends and family visiting anyway so make the clear up a workout. Put lots of energy into it! Clear out all that clutter then clean, vacuum and polish everything until it gleams. You'll be ready for guests, keep up your fitness levels and use some calories all at the same time.

4. Active fun

If you have a lot of guests and can't get your usual exercise fix organise some active fun for everyone! You could all go bowling or skating. Or try a game of charades or Twister. If it snows, you can go sledging or organise a snowman building competition. At the very least get them all out for a walk every day whatever the weather. There are sure to be some lights to go and see or a local carol service to attend.

5. Dance the Night Away

Don't be a wallflower. Take every opportunity to dance at parties (it will keep you away from the buffet table too) or just invite your partner to go dancing over the holidays. You'll have fun, get closer and it'll be great exercise. Dancing uses up between 270 and 540 calories an hour depending on the speed.

6. Offer a helping hand

Get active by volunteering your services in your community. You can help serve lunch at a homeless shelter or old people's home. Or just help your neighbours with running errands and snow clearing. You'll get a warm glow from lending a hand as well as from the exercise and feel much better than you do after sitting around all afternoon watching the re-runs of "White Christmas".

7. Escape

And if all else fails, next year book a skiing holiday for your Christmas break instead of staying at home. There's a whole year to save up (and to dodge the rows when you tell your family you're going away next year!) Skiing is fantastic exercise and you'll come back fit, invigorated and without those extra few pounds so many seem to acquire over Christmas.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and slimming club owner with a no diet approach to permanent weight loss. Subscribe to her FREE weekly "No More Diets" ezine full of tips and recipes and receive a 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds". Get your subscription at http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas TODAY!

Lose the Excuses to Lose that Weight

2005-11-26T14:58:00.000Z

The opportunities to overeat are everywhere these days. Someone is always bringing cakes into work to celebrate their birthday, their promotion or their escape. Then there are all the family parties and other social occasions you enjoy (or have to attend). And these days even if you're not in company there's food to tempt you everywhere you go. Fast food places are sprouting up on every corner and supermarkets greet you with the smell of baking as you walk in the door. So it's undeniable that it's harder than ever to avoid tempting food.

Yet we find excuses to eat too much all too readily, saying "I really shouldn't" all the while grabbing the piece of chocolate cake on offer.

If you've ever been on a diet and not reached your target weight, you probably had excuse-making down to a fine art. After all there's a ready-made excuse for eating in any set of circumstances if you want to use it.

* Everyone else was having some
* It was there
* It looked so inviting
* It smelt so appetising
* I was fed up
* I needed a break
* I was bored
* I had a really bad day
* I need something with a cup of tea
* I always have popcorn at the movies
* It's Thanksgiving
* It's Easter
* I had candy left over from Halloween
* I'm on vacation
* It's Christmas
* It's my birthday
* It's your birthday

There are as many reasons to eat too much as there are calories in a double cheeseburger. The question is do you put your energy into finding excuses why you ate too much? Or do you concentrate all your efforts on losing weight?

It's really your decision.

There's no rule that's says you have to eat too much on ANY occasion. You can always choose to do something else: to eat just enough to satisfy and no more. You can decide to change your habits one day at a time until you no longer have the same psychological triggers to eat. And you can do this without being miserable and denying yourself everything.

It all comes down to how determined you are to reach your goal. If you're not really focused on achieving your target weight, the excuses will win out time after time.

But if you are ready this time to lose those pounds and keep them off, you'll find ways to get round the excuses most of the time rather than using them every time.

The difference between those people who lose weight and those who don't is simply how many excuses they make.

Are you ready to lose the excuses and lose the weight?

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Want to lose Weight? Be a good owner!

2005-11-25T13:23:00.000Z

If you had a dog and didn't treat it well - you starved it on some days, overfed it on others, gave it far too many doggie treats and not enough doggie nourishment or water, kept it indoors in front of the TV and gave it no exercise, berated it for being lazy and fat - how would you feel about yourself as a dog owner?

Would you say you were negligent? Would you expect the animal welfare people to be keeping an eye on you?

You'd feel bad about that, right?

But when it comes to you, how do you treat yourself? Are you like the bad doggie owner?

Do you give yourself the right food and exercise?
Do you give yourself enough fresh air and water?
Do you get all the vitamins you need?
Do you give yourself enough gentle encouragement and pats on the back?

Would you say your health and well-being are worth as much as any dog's?

Of course they are!

Somehow, because we are responsible for our own health we think it's Ok to be neglect ourselves. At least we think it's Ok until something goes wrong - until we get to the stage where we hate our shape, we have heart problems, we can't get around so easily or whatever.

And then we struggle with changing our diet and our way of life because those old ways have become a comfortable habit.

But you CAN switch to being a "good owner" if you think your body and your health are worth it.

And not just for a few weeks or months while you get in shape but permanently so that you never have to think about it again.

Like a dog, you can't just retrain yourself overnight by switching your routine - you have to relearn new habits so that the whole process becomes automatic and as comfortable as your old way of living. But they can be learnt without too much effort. It takes just 21 days to learn a new habit.

And the rewards are huge - the difference between a happy dog, full of energy with a wagging tail and an overweight snarling miserable dog lying in its basket all day is really just a few new habits away.

Which habits will you start to change today?

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

The Perfect Diet to Lose Weight Fast

2005-11-24T12:10:00.000Z

There is a perfect diet for you that will give you a consistent weight loss of 1 to 2 lbs a week - the quickest rate you can lose fat healthily. The perfect diet is balanced and has exactly the right nutrients you need. When you eat it you feel great. You're full of energy. Your skin glows.

The perfect diet has adequate amounts of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, nutrient rich fruit, vegetables, oils and seeds. It provides the full range of minerals, vitamins and other micro nutrients without the need for lots of supplements. And it takes into account your food preferences.

You could visit a nutritionist or a registered dietician today and get a diet tailor made for you or you could choose to follow any number of sensible balanced diet plans out there in books and online.

Good idea?

Not necessarily so! If you have the strength of will and determination to follow the perfect diet it may be worth it. But how good have you been at following diets in the past? Most people are far from perfect when it comes to sticking to a diet regime no matter how much they try. And modern life rarely lends itself to following perfect plans.

Plus it can be demoralising to start out full of hope and determination and find out that your willpower is not that great. In fact trying to be perfect can be one of the fastest ways to fail and give your self-esteem a beating. Maybe you give up altogether or maybe you just say to yourself "I'll start again on Monday" but whatever you do it's not the most effective approach.

In fact, I believe the perfect diet is not one which you receive on a few sheets of paper and follow forever more. The perfect diet is one you grow into.

You achieve the perfect diet for your lifestyle when you gradually improve your eating habits, one small step at a time. This way you get a real taste of success to encourage you to continue making improvements until you are eating healthily most of the time yet still enjoying the odd treat and over-indulgence.

The perfect diet feels like something you want to do because it feels natural and that can only come when you give yourself time to change. You lose weight faster in the end simply because it works and the perfect thing about it is that the weight stays off permanently.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan". Her system promotes permanent healthy and automatic weight loss through making small changes to your everyday habits. Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Lose Weight with Three Bites

2005-11-23T14:34:00.000Z

Sometimes life is just too short to say "No"!

When you're eating out or having a special meal and you really want to have dessert, it's not always sensible to deny yourself and feel deprived. You'll only rebel later and make up for those feelings of deprivation with a feast.

On the other hand, when you know that a slice of cake or creamy dessert will be 700 calories or more, which you can definitely do without, you are left with a "should I / shouldn't I" dilemma.

As a compromise, ask for the smallest portion of whatever you really want - at a restaurant you can ask a friend to share. And then take only three bites.

Eat your treat as slowly as you possibly can, linger over it and enjoy the taste in your mouth. Make the very most of those three bites and then cover the rest with your napkin.

You can't do much damage with three bites if you simply have to have something and it means you can enjoy your treat without the guilt.

And far from being a waste of money, it doesn't matter whether bites four to fifteen land in the trash or on your hips - you are spending the same amount.

You can try this with other highly fattening foods too - allowing yourself three bites of anything will mean that no food is forbidden and somehow you don't crave it quite so much when it's on the "allowed list".

Just remember to save this strategy for when you really need it, when the desserts are so delicious you just can't resist or when you really need a treat, because if you do it all the time those bites do add up!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small
anice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Comfort Food for Weight Loss

2005-11-22T10:39:00.000Z

When you need comfort what do you reach for? Do you have a particular food you always go for?

Of course it's better to take comfort in something other than food. If you can phone a friend or cuddle your dog or your partner that's great, but chances are you'll often still turn to food for comfort.

Maybe you love the taste and texture of ice cream or chocolate as it melts in your mouth. Maybe you choose pizza because it fills you up and makes you feel warm inside. Maybe there's a food that reminds you of the good times in your life or one which always makes you feel better when you're fed up.

Food can and does evoke lots of great feelings.

But what if your favourite comfort food also

Uses up half a day's calorie allowance?
Pads out your hips and stomach with fat you don't want?
Clogs your arteries?
Gives you a huge hit of sugar which creates a craving for more sugary/starchy food?
Makes you feel full of regret rather than comfort when you've eaten it?

Is it such a friend to you then? Pretty false friend I would say!

If that's the case how about getting attached to a new comfort food?

Don't worry - it doesn't have to be boring like carrots and celery – no one was ever comforted by a carrot! Choose something absolutely delicious that you can make and keep in your freezer or have available to cook at a moments notice ready to cheer you up when you feel nothing but food will do the trick.

How about keeping some hearty warming soup in your freezer and eating it with crusty bread from ready-to-bake rolls? Or serving up childhood treats like boiled egg and toast or milky puddings made with low-fat milk? How about cooking some potato wedges with very little oil - and enjoying a mini feast without the calories of French Fries. No matter what you like there will be something healthy which works for you.

So forget pizza, ice cream and chocolate. They will always be false friends, making you feel worse after any close encounter.

Choose a new real comfort food that you can get ready at a moment's notice and enjoy something which is better for your waistline as well as your soul.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan". Her system promotes permanent healthy and AUTOMATIC weight loss through making small changes to your everyday habits. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Dieters: How to Avoid Loose Skin Problems

2005-11-20T15:12:00.000Z

We lose weight to look great and feel good about our bodies. And yet even when we lose a lot of weight and look great in our clothes we can still feel unhappy at how our bodies look undressed.

The problem?

Unwanted loose sagging skin left as a reminder of our former shape. Here are the 5 keys to prevent loose sagging skin when you undergo a weight loss program.

1. Lose weight slowly

Skin has remarkable powers of elasticity and yet it does not snap back instantly into shape if you lose a lot of weight quickly - anyone who has ever had a baby will tell you that one for free!

The more gradually you lose weight the easier it is for your skin to keep pace with your new shape. You certainly didn't put on all those pounds overnight - your skin had time to adapt so don't try to get rid of them all at once either if you want your skin to stay looking good.

Change your habits gradually so that you lose your weight bit by bit and you're far less likely to have problems than someone going on a crash diet and congratulating themselves on losing 100lbs in 6 months.

2. Eat nutrient rich foods

If your meals and snacks consist of junk food (even if you eat it in smaller quantities than before) then you're unlikely to nourish your skin properly and build up its strength.

Choose foods which are high in vitamins and minerals and low in sugar, saturated fat and additives. Include foods high in essential fatty acids such as avocados, olives, oily fish, nuts and seeds and oils made from these and also ensure that you have an adequate supply of lean protein.

3. Preserve your muscle tone

When you lose weight you may find that the skin becomes loose because you have lost some of the underlying muscle which supports it. If you lose more than a pound or two of weight a week then it is very likely you're losing muscle tissue as well as fat and without specific intense exercises to replace that muscle your skin will sag.

In any case, no matter how fast you lose weight (and even just to prevent age-related sagging) it is always helpful to do some toning exercises for all parts of your body including your face to keep skin firm if you care about looking good.

4. Keep skin hydrated

Drink plenty of water to keep skin healthy. If you drink wall to wall fizzy drinks, coffee and tea skin suffers because these drinks cause you to be more dehydrated than ever. And diet drinks full of additives do not help your skin no matter how few calories they contain. Only water and pure herbal teas will do the trick.

You can add lemon or orange slices to your water and you can have it at any temperature you like but drink enough - about 2 litres a day. That's about 8 glasses. If it helps try the rubber band trick and put 8 bands on your wrist or around a pot or bottle on your desk and remove one each drink of water you have.

5. Lose weight sooner rather than later

Don't keep putting off your weight loss program. The older you are and the longer you have been overweight the less elastic and resilient your skin becomes and the more you need to stick stringently to the other guidelines here to prevent skin becoming too loose.

Also don't get too complacent about being able to eat all you want and then lose weight later before you get hugely overweight The constant yo-yo dieting stretching and then loosening the skin will harm your skin's elasticity too.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan". Her system promotes permanent healthy and AUTOMATIC weight loss through making small changes to your everyday habits. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Top 10 tips to Look Great at Christmas Parties whatever your Size

2005-11-16T14:35:00.000Z

1. Fake it until you make it

If your flesh is looking pale and pasty, get a fake tan to look great for the party season. Somehow golden brown looks slimmer than pale and uninteresting.

2. Have a make-over

Treat yourself to a make-up lesson so your party face looks glamorous and up-to-date, especially if you've been wearing the same tired old make-up for years. The right make-up can take inches off your face and draw all attention to your eyes rather than your size.

3. Beat the bloat

For a few days before any big event avoid alcohol and caffeine, and drink lots of water to flush out toxins. Eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and eat only small quantities of other carbohydrate foods, keeping to wholegrain rather than white varieties of bread, rice or pasta. If you can afford it, try a body wrap treatment before a special occasion - although the results won't last for long.

4. Get the size right

Whatever you wear make sure it fits. There's nothing more unsightly than a body trying to bulge out of an uncomfortably tight dress. If you can't easily do up a garment then go for a larger size. Better to have a simple outfit of black trousers or long skirt and an evening top than a designer creation that looks less than beautiful on you.

5. Simply does it

Avoid clingy and shiny fabrics, loud prints and bulky details such as gathering, ruffles, puff sleeves and fluffy trimmings which tend to draw unwanted attention to your size.

6. On a budget?
If you can't afford to treat yourself to a new outfit, update last year's little number with some new fun jewelry or an evening bag. Or you could look around the second-hand clothing stores and pick up a bargain. If you have a really big occasion think about hiring a dress, especially if you're in the middle of a weight loss program.

7. Wrap it up

If the tops of your arms are a bit flabby, drape a velvet or satin stole lightly around them for a glam look. You'll feel chique and elegant. Or choose a dress with long sheer sleeves.

8. Under cover

Remember to wear the right undies so that they support you properly and don't show horribly under your outfit. Get fitted for a new bra (especially if you've lost or gained weight recently). Most large department stores have specialist fitters. And look out for the Bridget Jones type magic knickers that keep your tummy and thighs firmly in check. Wear dark sheer pantyhose or stockings rather than lighter shades and avoid chunky shoes which make legs look heavier.

9. Shady lady

Stay away from light colours which tend to add pounds and choose dark shades. If traditional black doesn't suit you try navy or some of the beautiful plummy tones around.

10. Be You

Make the effort to look the best you can for your party, but don't forget that it's your smile, your posture, your confidence and your whole personality that will be remembered, not your dress or your party shoes. So walk tall, smile and go enjoy the party.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and author of "The Diet Exit Plan". Get her FREE ezine "No More Diets" and 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas TODAY!

Weigh yourself Daily in December

2005-11-15T14:10:00.000Z

Nearly every diet advises you not to weigh yourself too often and there's a good reason behind that. Weight fluctuates (sometimes by as much as a pound or two) during the course of a day or from one day to the next and this often has nothing to do with how much fat you've gained or lost.

You may find you weigh less in the morning than you do at night - this doesn't usually mean that your body has been releasing pounds of fat while you slept but that you have lost a fair amount of water! Weight gained or lost from one day to the next is generally due to retaining or releasing water too - either due to monthly hormone fluctuations or because you've been eating (or not eating) foods which are high in sodium.

If you take too much notice of the figure on the scales you can get unduly depressed by a high reading or overly confident by a low one. But you're just registering the differences caused by the amount of water in your body and not fat.

Yet I like to weigh myself daily and here's why.

I know that my weight will fluctuate by a pound or two so I don't let small amounts of weight gain or loss bother me. I just carry on weighing myself every morning before I have my shower.
I have a magic figure in my head over which I will not let myself get without doing something about it. This is fixed at 2lbs over my ideal weight (2lbs gives those minor fluctuations a chance to balance themselves out).
I never have to do much to get back to my ideal weight. I just become a little more selective in my food choices, move a bit more for a week or two and that's it. Losing a pound or two is never as much effort as losing twenty!
It has worked for me for the last seven years.....

But what if you have a long way to go to your ideal weight. How can daily weighing help you then?

Well, it's a great strategy whatever your weight to avoid a backslide. And given that the Christmas season is coming up it's ideal to avoid piling on the pounds in December.

Typically people put on between 5 and 10lbs during the party season. You don't have to be one of them!

Just note your weight at the start of the month and don't let yourself get more than 2lbs over it! If your weight slips over the 2lb mark, cut back on treats and drinks and make a determined effort to eat healthily and keep up your exercise every day until you're back to where you were.

Daily weighing not only gives you a reality check when you've started to indulge a bit too much, it also reminds you every day of your weight loss goals and gives you a reason to stay sensible during the season of festive feasting.

And how lovely to wake up in January ready to go forward rather than bitterly regretting how much you let yourself go.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", the system that promotes permanent healthy and AUTOMATIC weight loss through making small changes to your everyday habits. Visit http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas today to get the Simply Slimming FREE ezine full of tips and recipes and a 24 page special report "How to have a Great Christmas without piling on the pounds".

5 tips to avoid a 10lb Christmas weight gain

2005-11-14T12:14:00.000Z

The average person puts on between five and ten pounds between November and January and it's pretty easy to put on more if you let yourself feast on all the delights of the season. But who wants to be miserable and diet through Christmas? Follow these tips to have fun without piling on the pounds.

1. Have the right attitude

If you go into Christmas with the idea that you'll just eat everything you possibly can and worry about it in January then you will bitterly regret it when Christmas is over. Decide to enjoy the festive season without going plain silly over all the goodies on offer. Choose the things you particularly like and say no to anything which you're really not bothered about.

2. Eat how much you need

At every meal aim for a comfortable feeling of satisfaction rather than getting to the stage where you need to loosen your waistband. Decide to enjoy your meal AND feel great afterwards. This tip alone will save you hundreds of calories every meal. If you want to try all the courses, have small portions of everything you really want.

3. Keep up your exercise

Don't give up your usual exercise routine over the holidays because it will be hard to get back into it later. If you really can't get to the gym, do a few exercises at home or go out walking. It will not just use up some calories, it will keep you in touch with your desire to stay slim and healthy. Also keep as active as possible as you go about your day - don't sit about watching the TV specials, nibbling nuts and chocolate.

4. Put it away

If you have lots of extra treats at home "for guests", get them out when people come and put them away when they go home. Out of sight, out of mind will help a little but if those treats do start calling out to you from the cupboard, put a few on a plate and put the rest away so that you are not constantly nibbling from the packet.

5. Peace and goodwill

Try and keep calm over Christmas. As stress levels rise, so does our tendency to eat for comfort. Just remember that you don't have to make Christmas perfect for everyone else while running yourself into the ground. Do the best you can with the time available and then just decide to enjoy it however much you've done. If others have expectations of how Christmas should be then get them involved in making it so! Have some (non-food) treats up your sleeve to enjoy when it all gets a bit too much. It doesn't cost a lot to tuck away a sachet of perfumed bubble bath, a glossy magazine or a novel you've been dying to read. If all else fails call an old friend for a chat rather than eating the fridge empty.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and slimming club owner
with a no diet approach to permanent weight loss. Subscribe to
her FREE weekly "No More Diets" ezine full of tips and recipes
and receive a 24 page special report "How to have a
Great Christmas without piling on the pounds".

Subscribe at http://www.SimplySlimming.com/Christmas
TODAY!

Weight loss problem : Portion Distortion

2005-11-10T11:40:00.000Z

Have you noticed that the amount of food considered a normal portion has crept up over the last few years?

Everything comes in ever larger size packs and marketing offers tempt us to buy (and eat) even more with "30% extra free" or "two for the price of one". We are served far more in restaurants than we need and we are continually encouraged to "supersize" our meals or work our way through "all you can eat".

A standard bagel from 20 years ago was 3 inches in diameter and 140 calories. The norm has now crept up to 6 inches and a button-popping 350 calories. (And when did you ever eat half a bagel and save the rest for later?) To use up those extra calories you'd have to jog for over 20 minutes. If you consider all the extra calories you now consume in a day through bigger servings, you would never be able to fit in enough activity to use them all up.

The result? You may be eating more than you think you are and struggling to lose weight simply because of the size of your portions.

So what can you do to avoid falling prey to Portion Distortion?

1. Measure your food

Weigh and measure everything for a while to get an idea of how much you're eating. While calorie counting long term is a bore, it's good to get a general understanding of just how many calories there are in your normal portions. You'll be horrified just how many there are in that chunk of cheese you might think of as "just a snack"! Where it's not feasible to weigh food (for instance when you're eating out) learn to judge a normal portion size. For example a serving of pasta, rice, cereal and potato should be about the size of a small fist and a normal portion of meat, chicken or fish is about the size of a deck of cards.

2. Buy smaller portions

Buy the smallest portion sizes you can get. Nothing is good value if it ends up in your mouth and on your hips. Only exception? Fruit and vegetables – make the most of any offers on these. If you must eat in a fast food restaurant try the children's meals (just the one!). Buy the smallest skinny latte at the coffee shop etc. Share with a companion wherever you can. Consider ordering two starters rather than a starter and main course in a restaurant and don't feel you have to finish everything you ordered if you don't need it. Better in the trash or in the dog than adding to your weight.

3. Read the labels

Read nutritional panels on food packets and look for the correct serving size. This is rarely the whole container (or even half of it) so beware!

4. Out of sight

Practise portion control at home by serving up the food in the kitchen and putting away any leftovers before you sit down. If you decide to have a TV snack, put a small portion on a plate and take it to the room where you watch TV. Taking the whole packet is fatal!

5. Go for Quality not Quantity

Buy the highest-quality in small quantities rather than a mega-pack deal on cheap food. And remember the quality of a meal is not just about what you eat. Present the food well. Set the table and sit down to eat. Take the time to enjoy your food and any company you have.

6. Use your inbuilt hunger meter

Eat slowly enough to notice when you have satisfied your hunger and just stop at that point, no matter how much you have left on your plate or how much is left in the pan or the packet.

From today start to be aware of how much you are eating as well as what you are eating. Notice how food manufacturers and restaurants subtly persuade you to eat more and decide not to let them get in the way of your weight loss efforts. Think about how much less you could eat and still be satisfied. This may be all you have to do to lose the weight you want!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan". Her system promotes permanent healthy and AUTOMATIC weight loss through making small changes to your everyday habits. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

5 Ways to Cheat without Wrecking your Weight Loss Program

2005-11-09T10:35:00.000Z

Healthy eating day after day can get a bit much when everyone around you is enjoying cheesecake and chips.

You know it's worth it in the long run but sometimes you just want a treat.

Instead of gritting your teeth and feeling deprived when the chocolate cake or pizza calls you name, follow these guidelines to have your cake and eat it too.

1. Budget for it

If you're counting calories, allow 100 - 200 calories from your total daily calorie allowance for treats. Try not to use them everyday and "save up" for a special treat once a week.

2. Need dessert?

If you really want a dessert, balance your indulgence with a light main course. Eat something like a large bowl of vegetable soup or a chicken salad so that you're not too over the top on calories.

3. Portion control

Now and again, have whatever you like but just a tiny portion so you get to taste it without a huge calorie consumption. Eat your treat very slowly and enjoy every bit. For example, a single small scoop of chocolate chip ice cream eaten with the tip of a teaspoon will give you every bit as much enjoyment as a whole plateful gobbled down at lightening speed.

4. Work it off

If you really must have something, work out how many calories it is and how much exercise you'll need to do to work it off - then do that exercise and earn your treat. You can do your chosen exercise afterwards but this one normally works best if you make yourself burn the calories first. You may be amazed how much effort it is for a piece of cake and it will put you off cheating in future!

5. Plan it

Once a month allow yourself a day off. Choose whatever you like to eat but don't stuff yourself silly. If you have been on a program which promotes healthy eating (rather than diet deprivation) you may be surprised at how much your tastes change so that after a month you don't even enjoy the junk or want it as much as you thought you would.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

How to Lose Weight without Exercise

2005-11-08T12:34:00.000Z

Most weight loss programs advise some kind of exercise alongside modifying your diet. And without doubt, exercise does make a difference if you can keep it up.

The trouble is that most of us start out fully committed to an hour long gym program three times a week and then find it's all too much. Either we don't have the time or we don't have the energy or we just can't be bothered with the getting there, getting changed, getting going - not with all the other things going on in our life. It's simply one big effort too far when we're tired and overloaded.

If it's one of those days when you just can't see your way to a full-blown exercise session (and even if every day is one of those days) make yourself feel better and use up some calories with mini-activities. This can be as little as

a walk around the block
taking a single flight of stairs instead of the lift
spending 5 or 10 minutes tidying your home
walking over to chat to someone in your office instead of emailing
kicking a ball with your children in the garden before tea
making alternate circles with your feet while talking on the phone
holding your tummy in when you're stuck in traffic
getting up to switch over the channel instead of using the remote

Every time you do something, anything at all, you're adding to your fitness bank and burning calories. Try to do something whenever you think about it during the day. And give yourself a pat on the back each time you do it.

Some recent research has shown that slimmer people actually use up to 350 calories more a day than overweight people just in everyday activity - even if they don't do any formal exercise and sit down all day at work. The calories are used up just by moving around a bit more in the course of the day. That's enough calories used to make (or lose) a pound of fat every ten days!

So if you can't or don't want to get to the gym, just remember every little counts and have an active day every day anyway!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Put your Kitchen on a Diet

2005-11-02T16:26:00.000Z

Picture this: a beautiful clean and tidy kitchen.

Every surface is uncluttered, every appliance gleaming. You open the fridge. It's full of delicious fresh vegetables and salad ingredients. The freezer has a selection of homemade soups and casseroles ready to defrost at a moments notice when you're too busy to cook from scratch. And you'll find a variety of frozen vegetables and sliced wholemeal bread in there.

Your cupboards are neatly stocked with nutritious foods – wholegrain rice, wholemeal pasta, healthy cereals, pulses and condiments plus a few tins of chopped tomatoes, and packets of seeds and nuts and an olive oil spray.

There are fresh herbs growing in little pots on the windowsill, ready to add flavour to your meals; some basil for your tomato salad and parsley to chop and enhance your soups and vegetables.

All the equipment and recipes you need are at hand ready to whip up a nutritious home-cooked meal for you and your family, just as you planned when you did the weekly shop.

Now switch to another kitchen.

This one has a fridge full of butter, full fat cheese and yogurt. There's a wilted lettuce, some shrivelled mushrooms and a few squashy tomatoes that no one wants to eat. Oh, and then there's the chocolate spread, and gloopy mayonnaise lurking there.

How about the cupboards? Oops! They are full of white rice and pasta, cookies, candy and potato chips. And the freezer is full of oven fries, stuff covered in breadcrumbs and ready meals from the store. No shortage either of burgers, ice cream and fattening desserts.

The surfaces are covered in junk mail and crumbs from breakfast. The sink is full of dirty dishes.

I's too depressing to cook in a kitchen like this and anyway you've no idea what's for dinner - quick - better send out for pizza!

Which kitchen best describes yours? Do you need to put your kitchen on a diet?

It's time to clear out your cupboards, fridge and freezer. That means throw it out or give it away not eat everything until it's gone. Give everything a good general clean too so it feels good to be there, even if you just do 10 extra minutes a day until it's just how you want it to look. Then make a decision to keep it that way. Start to plan your meals every week too and buy those fresh ingredients you need to feed your body well. Make your time in the kitchen a pleasure. Keep it ready for action and it will pay dividends.

Once your kitchen has been on a diet you'll be much more likely to be able to follow yours. Try it and see what a difference it makes.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Dieters : There are No second helpings in Life

2005-10-28T13:06:00.000Z

It's so easy to put your life on hold until you lose weight. It's easy to say "I'll do that once I've lost a few pounds" or "I couldn't do that I'm too fat".

But you only have one life - there are no second helpings. So you owe it to yourself to live your life in the present and to live it to the full.

Going for whatever you want now, rather than waiting until you are slim, can actually help you lose weight.

How so?

1. It distracts you from eating

If you're busy working to achieve something, it keeps your mind occupied with activities other than food.

Have you ever been engaged in an activity where you were so absorbed you forgot to eat? People who live their lives following their passions and going for their goals have a lot more of those moments. It's called "being in the flow state" and in flow your thoughts are on anything but food!

You know how it is when you're trying to lose weight - you feel hungry just because you're thinking about food all the time - what you can and can't eat, what you should and shouldn't have eaten at your last mealtime. If you have other things to keep your mind occupied, things you're 100% involved in, you'll be able to stick to your weight loss program more easily.

2. It prevents self-sabotage

If you're just a tiny bit scared that you're not cut out to achieve what you want to achieve in life, you may be using your weight as a form of protection. And you'll sabotage your weight loss efforts at every turn to keep those pounds so that you don't put yourself in the position of trying and failing. Your weight is an excuse to keep yourself within your comfort zone. It helps you justify sticking with what you know and are used to.

If you recognise this in yourself, take just tiny steps towards your goal every day, tiny steps that don't seem difficult at all. You'll build your success little by little and gradually lose your fear and your weight.

Start going for your goals and what could be more satisfying? You'll be losing weight and having a great time too. Life is not all about the number on the scales and your attempts to shift that dial don't have to be all consuming.

You only have one life, so go for whatever it is you want!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Avoid the Thirties Fat Traps

2005-10-26T15:34:00.000Z

It's amazing how excess weight creeps up on you in your thirties without you becoming aware of it. Suddenly you catch sight of yourself in a shop window or you see a picture taken at your friends wedding and you can't believe how much larger you've become. How did that happen? It feels like pounds of fat appeared overnight.

The bad news is that your metabolism (the rate at which you burn calories) does drop quite naturally from your thirties onwards. So you will start to put on weight more easily. But before you get too depressed be aware that the effect is so marginal that piling on the pounds does not have to be inevitable. It's more likely that you have been getting into bad habits and eating more or moving less than you were before.

If you want to avoid the extra 10lb that the average woman gains in weight between thirty and forty take care not to fall into the following lifestyle traps.

Lifestyle Trap 1 : Too much going on

With partner, kids and/or career all taking your attention, life in your thirties suddenly becomes much more complex than it was before and the time you have for yourself seems to disappear somewhere between school runs, getting the report finished and keeping the house one step above chaos. Almost inevitably you end up taking less exercise and eating out more or using take-aways to cope with getting meals on the table. Try and give yourself and your health a higher priority by asking for help, reducing your commitments and letting less important things slide.

Lifestyle Trap 2 : Matching portions

There's a time of danger when you move in with a partner, which often takes place in your thirties. You start cooking for him and eating the same meals and often the same portion sizes. Whereas you might have made do with something on toast or soup some evenings it's now full dinners with dessert. While your man can probably take the calories - all that excess lands just where you don't want it - on your tummy and thighs. Take care to eat only what YOU need and don't try and match your partner meal for meal.

Lifestyle Trap 3 : Eating for two

For many thirty-year-olds weight problems coincide with having children. Although you need just 300 calories more a day after the first 3 months of pregnancy, it's easy to use having a baby as an excuse to eat and eat. And that excess weight can be hard to lose afterwards. Often the problem is compounded by a second pregnancy before you've lost the weight from the first. To avoid excess weight gain keep exercising as long as it's safe to do so throughout your pregnancy and continue to walk the weight off afterwards - something you can do with kids in tow! And keep eating sensibly and healthily throughout. Pregnancy is a great time to get in the habit of eating well.

Lifestyle Trap 4 : Losing Muscle

If we don't do anything about it, we start losing some strength and muscle each year from our thirties onwards. As each pound of muscle burns about 50 calories a day even when you are at rest, it's important to gain that strength back through resistance or weight training. You should also avoid any diet which advises losing more than a pound or two of weight a week. More than that and you are likely to lose muscle as well as fat. And if you end up putting weight back on, as many people do, it's all fat. This is a major reason for avoiding the yo-yo diet syndrome - you end up fatter (literally) than ever.

Lifestyle Trap 5 : Complacency

In your thirties you're unlikely to see the symptoms of the poor health choices you're making. It's probable that heart disease, diabetes and other nasties have yet to show their face but these silent killers are loitering in the background. Don't take your health for granted. You'll regret it very quickly in the years to come which will be here soon enough. Give your health a top priority and do something about your health and your weight while you still have plenty of time.

Of course you can still look great in your thirties, forties and beyond. There's no real danger in hitting the big-30 (or any other birthday for that matter). The danger always comes with a change in lifestyle. And that's something that you choose - so it's all up to you whether you want to be fat or fabulous by the time you reach 40.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

15 Simple Metabolism Boosting Secrets

2005-10-25T16:13:00.000Z

Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories. The faster you burn calories the more weight you can lose even if you eat the same amount, so it makes sense to do everything you can to boost your metabolic rate if you're trying to lose a few pounds.

You use about 60% of the calories you need each day just by being alive. That's your basal (or resting) metabolism. About 30% of the calories are accounted for by how much you move (your activity metabolism). The remaining 10% are used up by the process of digesting food (your thermic metabolism).

By making some simple changes you can fire up all three types of metabolism and become leaner faster.

1 Eat little and often

Small and regular meals throughout the day will keep your metabolism high. If you eat the same amount of food in just one or two large meals as you do in five or six mini-meals and snacks you will burn fewer calories. This is because your metabolism slows down between meals. Never skip meals to save calories. Having a low-calorie snack will work much better and will also stop you falling ravenously on the nearest chocolate bar later in the day.

2. Eat breakfast

Your metabolism slows down overnight. When you have been through a period of more than eight hours without eating you need food to get your metabolism going again. So have breakfast as soon as you can after you wake up. If you're not a breakfast person take something healthy with you when you leave the house and have it is soon as you can face it. It's not great for your weight loss plans to have to boost your metabolism with a mid morning cookie or cake.

3. Eat enough

If you eat too few calories, your metabolic rate will automatically drop. This is a self preservation mechanism, which kicks in when your body thinks you are starving. The safest bet is to eat about 250 calories less than you need at the sedentary level and to take 250 - 500 calories of exercise each day to give a steady weight loss of between one and two pounds a week.

4. Eat Lean Protein

It takes more energy for the body to digest protein than carbohydrate or fat. Studies have shown that people who eat a high-protein diet burn more than twice as many calories in the hours following their meal as those eating a high carbohydrate diet. While the safety of high-protein diets can be disputed, it does make sense to include some lean protein as part of each meal.

5. Eat Fibre

Food with lots of fibre also gives your thermic metabolism a boost. High-fibre foods like beans, fruit, vegetables and whole grains simply take longer to digest and therefore help burn more calories.

6. Spice up your food

Spicy foods (especially chilli) raise the metabolism by as much as twenty-five per cent for a few hours after eating. So eat hot and spicy food a bit more regularly and see if this helps you. Just go easy on the refried beans and guacamole if you decide to go Mexican!

7. Drink Coffee

Caffeine speeds up your heart rate and the faster your heart rate the more calories you burn. Not great if you have heart problems or difficulty getting to sleep however!

8. Drink Green Tea

The phytochemicals in green tea are supposed to raise metabolism slightly by causing your brain and nervous system to run more quickly. Although not many sizable and conclusive studies have been done on this to date, drinking green tea rather than milky coffee or other calorie-laden beverages will definitely help you lose weight!

9. Get active

Aerobic exercise for more than thirty minutes not only burns calories but also keeps your metabolism high for several hours afterwards. The best time for exercise is in the morning as it will help kick start your metabolism for the day. If you can do 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic exercise almost every day your metabolism will soar. Interval training would help even more.

10. Walk it off

If you prefer to take light exercise, try going for a walk after lunch or dinner. This boosts the rise in metabolism you get after eating. No strenuous exercising on a full stomach though.

11. Build those muscles

Muscles burn calories even when you're resting. For every pound of muscle you add, you burn about 50 extra calories a day without taking any more exercise. So it's a great idea to include some resistance or weight training in your exercise regime. Twenty minutes three times a week is enough to make a big difference in your metabolic rate as well as the shape of your body.

12. Go hot or cold

Any extremes of temperature you experience will help raise your metabolism by up to 20 percent as the body attempts to cool you down or raise your temperature. Make sure it's safe for you to go in the sauna or on the arctic expedition though before you try this one. You could have a go at keeping your home a few degrees cooler than is comfortable for sitting around in winter and restrict the air conditioning to the very hottest days in summer. In the winter it will help you get up and get moving and in summer encourage you to go to the pool to cool off!

13. Drink Iced Water

Another trick is to drink a glass of iced water a few times a day. You'll raise your metabolism just by having to bring the water up to body temperature. Drinking water is required anyway, of course, to keep your bodily functions working smoothly (including your metabolism).

14. Watch the alcohol

On top of the empty calories that alcohol contains, it also has a dehydrating effect, which slows down your thermic metabolism. Alcohol tends to inhibit the process of metabolizing fat too, which can lower your basal metabolism. And there's not much chance of you wanting to exercise after all that booze so it'll have an effect on your activity metabolism too. Bad news all round!

15. Take up yoga

The chemical processes which comprise your metabolism are regulated by the endocrine system, especially the thyroid. Yoga has many postures which have a powerful twisting and compressing effect on the endocrine organs, strengthening and stimulating them and this can help to regulate and boost your metabolism.

If you boost your metabolism with these tips, you'll be improving your general health as well as your capacity to burn calories. You'll not only find that you lose weight more quickly but also that you will have more energy, greater strength and you'll be able to get through everything you have to do in a day more easily.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

7 Days to a Slim New You

2005-10-19T07:15:00.000Z

I've lost count of the number of articles I've seen with those tempting titles "Lose 10 lbs in 4 days", "Firm the flab fast", "Get a bikini body in just 10 days". They're so seductive aren't they? Yet I want to shout "Liar, Liar pants on fire!" because any weight loss of more than 1 to 2 lbs a week is not fat loss. It's just water that you'll put straight back on - or even worse, pure solid muscle - the stuff that burns calories!

But what can you do in 7 days then?

You can kick start your weight loss program by starting to eat a healthier diet so that you lose those 1 or 2 lbs of fat this week
You can begin a fitness program which will take you to a leaner, stronger, fitter body in a few short months
You can set some realistic goals and think about why you want to lose weight so you can keep your motivation strong when the going gets tough
You can turf all the fattening stuff out of your fridge, freezer and kitchen cupboards
You can get rid of all your unflattering fat clothes, keeping just a few good things and clear out space for a fantastic new slim wardrobe
You can look out some new healthy recipes
You can explain your plans to your family and friends and ask for their support so they don't offer you tempting treats or drag you out for pizza (or at least understand when you say "No, not tonight")
You can buy some running or walking shoes and sports gear and get ready for action
You can start to become more aware of everything you eat and how you feel before and after so that you can work out why you overeat.
You can start to eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are just satisfied rather than stuffed.

Oh yes! You can do a whole lot in 7 days - not in physical weight loss - although every pound or two counts, but in getting yourself ready to make the changes leading to the body of your dreams. This week you can begin the habits of a lifetime which will have you looking and feeling like a new person. Why not start today?

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Poor Weight Loss Advice : 10 Red Flags

2005-10-18T15:36:00.000Z

There's a huge amount of weight loss advice and information out there. Much of it is of questionable value and some of it is quite misleading. This can even be the case for reports from seemingly legitimate scientific studies. So how do you sort out the wheat from the chaff when it comes to deciding who and what to believe?

1. Beware of the quick fix

Putting on weight is easy compared to losing it. As you did not put weight on overnight, do you really think you can lose it that quickly?

Many products and programs will lead you to believe that you can lose a huge amount of weight in a short time.

It's true that you can lose quite a few pounds in the early weeks on a weight loss program. If you are very overweight, you will probably lose a lot of weight at the start. But it's mainly water rather than fat. And that rate is not sustainable over the long term. So if you're told you can lose more than a pound or two a week on a particular weight loss program don't believe anything else they say either.

2. Too good to be true

If anything promises you can lose weight without changing what you eat or how much you move, then it's either dangerous or pulling the wool over your eyes. HEALTHY weight loss is always the result of eating fewer calories (and usually better quality food) or taking more exercise or both.

3. A biased study

If a study supported by chocolate manufacturers emphasises the value of chocolate and downplays the downsides then don't be surprised! Many "studies" are designed to show a product in a good light rather than to increase our knowledge of what works and what doesn't.

4. Drawing simple conclusions

Weight loss is a complex issue and huge amounts of data will come out of any study using a sizable group of people. It's difficult to isolate individual factors in a study because we all have different lifestyles, eating styles and exercise styles. If it were easy for us to keep to whatever regime was being studied, we wouldn't have problems losing weight in the first place. People are difficult to regulate! If any study tries to draw simple "black and white" conclusions, it is likely to be trying to sway you (unscientifically) in a particular direction.

5. A tiny sample

If only a few people have been studied then it's unlikely that the results can be sensibly extrapolated into the population as a whole. Thousands of people are needed in a study before a true pattern emerges.

6. Missing Evidence

Some ads quote doctors, whose medical school records or qualifications you can't find any trace of or studies you can't read about in any reputable scientific journals. Take these with a large pinch of salt especially if claims are made about miracle solutions you have to pay for. Do a little research before you buy.

7. Statements are refuted

With a little research online you can also often find leading scientists and scientific journals refuting some of the more dramatic claims from studies published in the media. Seek out the truth before you blindly follow advice in the popular press.

8. Animal testing

Just because something happens in mice, it does not follow it will happen in the same way for you. Also if a product has been tested with animals it's unlikely to hit the general public for some years (if it ever does) due to the stringent testing new (legal) products need to receive. So do not hold your breath waiting for a solution in that way.

9. No control group

Any study carried out should have a parallel study with a similar group who are not practising the behaviour or using the product being studied. This is so that they can measure the differences in the two groups. The gap has to be statistically significant to point to any meaningful result. Otherwise a group being studied may show a result just because the members of the group are being monitored and assessed.

10. Dramatic statements

Studies sometimes show that particular foods are good for you or cause this or that disease and these are often reported with dramatic headlines in the newspapers. In truth all foods in moderation are probably OK so read between the lines and see how much of a particular food you would have to eat to have a problem, or to gain the benefit they are describing. These statements are often made to grab your attention in the headlines rather than to give you useful information.

So where should you go to get weight loss advice?

If you want good sound advice about losing weight, you can do a lot worse than follow the latest government guidelines about healthy eating and exercise. While they may not be perfect, there would not be a huge obesity problem in the Western world, if we all followed them.

The fact is we don't even follow the simplest most straight forward advice, although most of us are already familiar with it. Advice about eating less fat, sugar and salt, increasing our intake of fruit and vegetables and taking 30 minutes exercise three times a week is ignored by most people.

So why oh why do we try and follow every mad study that comes along in the hope that it will have an answer? Follow the simplest advice first to see the most dramatic changes and then you won't ever have to wonder if you are being told a weight loss fairy story.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

The Enemy of Weight Loss

2005-10-17T10:36:00.000Z

Going out for a meal used to be something which happened only on special occasions but these days it's often a several-times-a week occurrence simply because we are too tired to cook.

If eating out is a regular event for you, avoid the temptation to treat it like an invitation to over-indulge. This is part of your regular eating pattern so you need to treat it as such. Eat only as much as you need and no more.

Occasional overeating does no harm but any level of regular overeating is bound to result in you piling on the pounds.

Having said that, you CAN eat healthily in restaurants, so if you eat out a lot, don't despair. Just plan your trip with care and set a firm intention to eat healthily before you go.

Bear in mind that the cheapest restaurant options are normally the most unhealthy. Fast food and lower end restaurants are not noted for their use of low-fat or low-calorie cooking methods or foods. So choose your restaurant with care, somewhere that you know offers a selection of healthier dishes or will prepare foods specially for you on request.

If you have to wait for your meal at the bar, avoid alcoholic drinks which can increase your appetite and lower your resolve, not to mention the empty calories they contain. Avoid fizzy drinks with your meal and ask for water instead. If you drink wine with dinner, a small glass when you go out shouldn't do too much harm in terms of calories.

Restaurants often serve huge amounts and if you know you have a tendency to clean your plate no matter how much is on it, order a small portion or a starter in place of a main course. You can even share a dish with your dinner companion. If you're in the US you can request a doggie bag - but don't try this one in Europe unless you want some very strange looks.

Avoid fried foods and those which are served in creamy or buttery sauces. Wherever possible go for plain grilled (broiled) chicken or fish and ask for any sauce to be served on the side. The same goes for salad where the dressing can turn a healthy dish into a dieter's nightmare.

Forget dessert too if you are trying to lose weight. You just don't need 300 or more extra calories on top of everything you've already eaten.

If you choose an ethnic restaurant take the time before your visit to understand the various cooking methods and ingredients in typical dishes and if you're in doubt about a particular item on the menu ask the waiter for information.

Above all, don't use eating out all the time as an excuse for not losing weight. You are the one ordering the food and no one is forcing you to eat it.

If you really can't resist when you go out, then take the time to plan, prepare and cook food at home so that you don't rely so much on restaurants. Arrange to meet friends for coffee, a sandwich or a movie rather than dinner or organise a more active outing such as a walk, shopping trip or bowling party. You are only limited by your imagination. On business trips, you can use local stores to buy healthy foods to eat in your room for at least part of your stay. The size of your expense account does not have to show up in the size of your waistline.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Is your TV making you fat?

2005-10-12T15:50:00.000Z

How much time do you spend watching TV? Do you watch for at least two hours a day?

A recent study of more than 68,000 American women over a 6 year period showed that regularly watching just two hours of TV a day increased the risk of developing obesity by 23 per cent and type 2 diabetes by 14 per cent.

Now, it has to be said that merely watching TV cannot make you fat. It's what else you are doing or not doing because you're watching TV that makes the difference.

When you're watching TV you're not pottering around the house tidying up. When you're slumped on your sofa in front of "Desperate Housewives", you're not weeding your garden or going for a walk or a bike ride. When you watch TV you're using up only about 70 calories an hour, while playing with your kids or cooking a meal from scratch uses about four times as much. Just half an hour watching TV instead of being active and you're talking the equivalent of over 38,000 calories or more than 10lbs of fat a year unless you eat less to make up for it.

What's more, TV steals time right from under your nose.

Do you watch TV for two hours a night but say you don't have time to exercise? Do you watch TV and eat ready meals because you think you don't have time to make a healthy dinner? If you are not finding the time to care properly for yourself, yet finding an hour or more for the latest episode of those shows you "just can't miss", then TV is stealing time from you!

And TV encourages poor eating habits. When you view you are fair game for the junk food ads that come on constantly and persuade you that you need something to eat. And lets face it a stick of celery just doesn't fit the bill. So you get out the tortilla chips, popcorn or nuts and mindlessly eat through the whole bag - a recipe for piling on the pounds.

Now, you may see the sense in all this, but still not want to give up your beloved TV. Do you really need to do that to lose weight?

No, not at all!

But you do need to think about what TV is costing you and treat it with caution.

If you limit your viewing to only those shows you really like, (and a maximum of 1 or 2 a day) you'll still have plenty of time for taking care of yourself. Plan your viewing and switch off when your show is over. Deliberately get up and do something else.

To avoid snacking all evening, don't eat in front of the TV at all. But if you really must have a snack, put a small portion in a bowl or on a plate rather than eating from the bag. You're less likely to eat the whole packet empty then!

And if you're really keen to combat TV weight gain, you could try being active while you view. Do your ironing or a few exercises in front of the TV. It will stop you nibbling snacks and use some calories. Maybe it's even time to dust off that exercise bike and retrieve it from the basement or attic. Just think, you could cycle half way round the world while your TV provides all the entertainment you need!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for permanent natural weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Have you Lost Touch with your Hunger Signals?

2005-10-11T12:22:00.000Z

Every human being is born with the ability to eat only when hungry and stop eating when satisfied. After all every baby and toddler will show you exactly when they've had enough.

But somehow along the way you may have lost that ability. Maybe years of being told to "clean your plate" have conditioned you to do just that no matter how much food is on it. Or maybe you've just got used to huge portions of food and have stopped listening to your body's signals.

Whatever the reason, the "knowing when to stop" skill is one that you need to redevelop if you want to lose weight and keep it off permanently.

So how can you learn to listen to those signals again?

1. Eat slowly

If you shovel in food like it's going out of fashion you'll be well past the point of being satisfied before you notice you've had enough. Pause before each bite and think about whether you've really had enough.

2. Eat more often

If you are absolutely ravenous when you sit down to eat chances are that you will eat too much. Little and often will acclimatise your stomach to smaller amounts of food.

3. Serve smaller portions

If something is on your plate, chances are you will eat it whether or not you need it. So serve less to start with. Having to go and get another portion gives you the chance to stop and think about whether you really need more. As a guide serve no more than two fistfuls of food as a main meal plus maybe some extra salad or vegetables. You really don't need more than that if you're eating regularly.

4. Leave extra food off the table

Don't make it too easy to fill up your plate with second helpings.

5. Single-portion snacks

Never eat from the bag. Always serve yourself a portion on a plate and put the rest (far) away. Make every decision to eat more food a conscious decision.

6. Wear tighter clothing

Stretchy clothes are comfortable but a nice snug fitting waistband is a good reminder to go easy on the amount you're eating.

7. Eat at home

Avoid eating out where you have little control over portion sizes. If you have no choice, choose the smallest portion of food. For example you can order the kid's meal at a hamburger place or order a starter portion as a main course in a restaurant.

8. Make it satisfying

If you still feel hungry even though you are physically full it may be that the meal was lacking in something you were looking for. Was there a balance of carbohydrate, protein and healthy fat? Was it packed full of vitamins and minerals? Did you serve the kind of food you wanted (sweet, crunchy, creamy or whatever)? Food needs to be balanced and worthwhile to be truly satisfying.

9. Eat when you're hungry

Don't feel you have to eat just because it's time for lunch or dinner. Wait until you are ready for food. Every diet book advises you to eat breakfast but if you're not hungry you can wait. The trick there however is to take your healthy breakfast to wherever you're going rather than to start devouring cakes and cookies once you get hungry later on.

10. Follow your own signals

So much of our eating is triggered by the food we see or smell or get offered by others. Start becoming aware of how much this affects you. Once you recognise that you are choosing to eat solely in response to an ad or an offer of food it will be easier to say "No, I'm not hungry, thanks".

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small
Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for permanent natural weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Do You Have this Essential Weight loss skill?

2005-10-10T18:47:00.000Z

There is one practical skill which you need above all others when you want to lose weight. That skill will give you the ability to enjoy your food while you're trying to lose weight as much as when you're not. It's a skill that unfortunately is getting less common these days as we lead busier and busier lives.

What's that skill?

The ability to cook!

If you can't even boil an egg then you are stuck with eating unimaginative ready meals and TV dinners or greasy take-aways and fast food. And you will no doubt eat out in restaurants more than is good for you. With such a combination you are unlikely to get all the vitamins and minerals you need to stay healthy and you will be getting far too much food full of fat, salt and sugar and too many calories to lose weight.

With a rudimentary knowledge of cooking, however, you can whip up the most delicious low-calorie healthy meals, eat as much as you need (as long as you don't stuff yourself) and enjoy everything you eat without doing any damage to your waistline.

Of course, you need to know what to cook but there are any number of helpful low-calorie and low-fat cookery books out there as well as specialist magazines and websites. You can plan a whole raft of delicious meals each week for you and your family and they won't even know they are eating healthily to keep you company!

If you really don't have a clue where to start it's worth joining a beginners class or buying a basic "Learn to cook" book to get the fundamental skills. After that the whole world of delicious cuisine is your oyster.

You may even find that your attempts to lose weight may result in you gaining a whole new exciting relationship with food rather than fearing it as the enemy.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for permanent natural weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Natural Weight Loss is Not a Diet Pill

2005-10-06T13:06:00.000Z

It's ironic, isn't it, that when you search for "natural weight loss" online you see a load of ads for pharmaceutical products. Since when did natural come in pill form?

Real natural weight loss starts in your head when you decide that you'll do whatever it takes to lose weight by changing the quality and quantity of food you eat and the amount of exercise you take.

You naturally lose weight when you do what is good for you most of the time and gain it just as naturally when you don't.

Now that's easy to say and not so easy to do when you want to lose weight and your normal inclination and habit is to do what you know you shouldn't.

You can use all the willpower you like in your weight loss program but, if you are forcing yourself too far out of your comfort zone, you'll be going against the grain and making life exceedingly tough for yourself.

Most people give up on any weight loss regime that forces them to make huge changes to their lifestyle and routine well before they've reached their target weight - if they even get past the first two weeks.

Instead of pills and punishing diets and workouts, you need a weight loss program which takes into account the natural human tendency to resist change. And this means taking things one step at a time, building up good habits until they feel part of your normal routine. It means gradually switching to moderate quantities of healthy natural foods. It means starting to move a little more than you do just now and building that up each day.

Natural weight loss occurs when you have built up the habits that support it. It feels great to lose weight that way and what's more the changes you make to your habits stay with you - they are permanent and you never need to think about clicking on those natural weight loss diet pill ads ever again!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

The easiest weight loss program for you

2005-10-05T10:19:00.000Z

Although there's no easy "one size fits all" weight loss program, there is such a thing as a weight loss program which makes it easier for you personally to lose weight than others.

This is the program which fits your lifestyle so well that you are happy to adopt it and live with it permanently.

1. Decide which foods to include in your diet.

Which healthy foods do you like? Which ones do you tolerate? And which do you hate?

Build your meals around those healthy foods which you enjoy. After all there is no point in eating a meal and hating it.

The exception?

If you hate a whole food group, and your diet would be unhealthy without it. In that case, adapt your diet to include the elements you need in a palatable way. For example, if you hate vegetables serve them in a way that you can't taste them. Puree them and include them in soups, stews or pasta sauces. If you hate or have an allergy to dairy products, choose other foods to give you alternative rich sources of calcium and protein.

2. Decide which junk foods you'll dump

Which poor food choices can you easily live without?

Dump the junk that doesn't matter to you. Maybe eating some junk foods has just become a habit and you can easily wean yourself away from them. Others are ones you love and would miss a lot so include small amounts in an otherwise balanced healthy diet. In this way you reduce the junk without feeling deprived.

3. Replace the gap left by the junk food you don't care about with healthy food you do like

Best of all replace the junk with healthy food which has a touch of luxury. For example, you dump peanuts and potato snacks and replace them with blinis, low fat cream cheese and caviar or dump donuts for crispbread and smoked salmon or lean prime roast beef.

4. Upgrade the junk food you love

Replace your junk food choices with something even better. For example, instead of treating yourself to your usual cheap chocolate bar, feel like a million dollars by buying yourself a couple of exquisite handmade chocolates. This means you can really indulge yourself now and again without piling on the pounds.

5. Create weekly meal plans around the foods you have decided to include in your diet

Pre-set meal plans in diet books and weight loss programs make life easy but they're unlikely to give you the most satisfaction and enjoyment per calorie. They are not based on the foods you particularly like and many have an aim of allocating foods in particular proportions of fat, carbs and proteins, which makes for some weird meals and combinations.

Forget being too rigid if you want to find a healthy balance you can live with for life.

Also give those meal replacement bars and shakes a wide berth. Who wants to live on those for a week never mind a life time?

Instead, choose a good variety of different healthy foods each day and also vary your choices throughout the week. If planning your own healthy meals sounds like too much hard work, use a ready-made meal plan but substitute some of the things you like least with similar foods you like better.

6. Don't get too hungry

Living with hunger is hard and totally unnecessary to lose weight. The easiest weight loss program matches your individual hunger patterns. Such a ready-made program may not exist, so why not devise your own?

Eat enough at each main meal to satisfy your hunger but not feel stuffed. And eat often enough so that you're not ravenous when it's time for lunch or dinner. Most people need a small snack mid-morning and in the afternoon. As a guideline eat no more than about the size of your two clenched fists for any main meal and, if you feel you need more, fill up on salad or vegetables.

Your aim should be to feel hungry when it's time for a meal but not all the time.

7. Add some easy exercise

If exercise doesn't fit into your life easily you won't do it (at least, not for long). Choose an activity which feels like fun, even if it means trying a few things first to see what you like. Or build your fitness by simply doing more as you go about your day - moving more at work, being more active around the house and garden, choosing to walk instead of taking the car on short journeys etc. Build your level of activity gradually so that you ease into fitness - you don't have to tie yourself to the gym every night - but if you love that, that's ok too!

8. Think about what motivates you

As with the other elements of a weight loss program we are all individuals when it comes to motivation. Why do you want to lose weight? What reason is strong enough to make you stick to your plan? You will have your own combination of reasons and they are the key to your success. Remind yourself daily why you are doing this so that you feel more motivated to change your habits.

9. Celebrate in style

Choose how you will celebrate your success and make it something that drives you to meet your goal. Plan your celebration to reward yourself with whatever means most to you personally and not with what you or others think you should want.

10.It's all about you

We are all different and so there's no one weight loss plan or program that will work best for everyone. Choose your own elements like a pick and mix selection. Go at your own pace and you'll finally find just the right combination that works for you - the easiest possible weight loss program.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Pride and Prejudice : Why Elizabeth Bennett never got fat

2005-10-04T08:29:00.000Z

In Jane Austen's day young women were not usually overweight even though it was unfashionable to be too thin. Food (for people in society) was plentiful and served in large quantities. (Just think of all those formal meals and banquets). But habits and customs were different.

What can we learn from those times which will help us today?

1. Real food

All the food available was the real thing. There were no fast foods and fizzy drinks full of hidden fat and chemicals in Elizabeth Bennett's day. The foods eaten were mainly local and seasonal and meat would be organic (from animals which were not pumped full of hormones or fed artificially). The only additives would be herbs and spices. Pizza and chocolate bars had no place in Elizabeth's life!

2. Focus on food

For the middle classes at least, food was served formally. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were eaten at a proper dining table and food and conversation were the only focus. Elizabeth Bennett did not mindlessly shovel forkfuls of food into her mouth while being glued to the latest soap.

3. No snacking

Food was only available at set times and so Elizabeth never got into the habit of munching 500 calories worth of snacks on a boring afternoon (although she certainly had a few of those!)

4. Manners maketh woman

It just wasn't seemly to grab and gobble large quantities of food. Ladies would eat modestly, slowly and daintily making it unlikely that they could shift vast amounts of calories at any meal.

5. No adverts

Elizabeth (lucky girl!) was not exposed to the 10,000 advertising messages a day we are said to get thrown at us these days. So she would not be getting continual bombardment from the media with "Eat me" messages. Turn those commercials off whenever you can!

6. A calmer pace of life

The girls in the Bennett household did not have to hold down a full time job, get the kids to school and dinner on the table. They had servants to take much of the load. If you turn to food when you're stressed, have a look at delegating some of your workload and reducing your commitments. With no TV to keep them up the Bennetts would get plenty of sleep too!

7. Short journeys on foot

Elizabeth would walk miles to wherever she needed to go. Only long distances would call for a horse, carriage or coach. She would burn up lots of calories in this way. What about you? Do you pop in the car to go a mile down the road?

8. Active pursuits

Elizabeth and her sisters would also walk for pleasure - and of course they all loved dancing - fantastic exercise without going to the gym. How about trying salsa dancing, ballet or line-dancing for a fun way to exercise?

9. Nowhere to hide

The fashion of the day was pretty revealing with flimsy material and an Empire line. This is a pretty look if you're slender. But you could expect your dance card to stay unmarked if you looked like a beached whale in a lace curtain.

10. Love helps

Of course a bit of love interest in the shape of tall, dark, proud Mr Darcy helps a girl go off her food a bit too. Now all you need is a dark proud hero of your own!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

10 Easy ways to Cut Calories

2005-09-29T12:32:00.000Z

1. Read labels before you buy

You'll be astounded at how many calories some foods contain. Don't just check out the amount per 1oz or per 100g but the amount the whole package contains and think about how much of it you would normally eat. Then decide whether to leave it on the shelves or take it home to add to your waistline.

2. Use low fat dairy foods

Choosing low fat does not always reduce calories. Many foods are pumped with sugar or thickeners to make up for the lack of fat. However, low fat dairy products do usually offer substantial calorie reduction over their full-fat counterparts and, with most, there is little difference in taste or texture. This was not always the case. If it's a while since you tried low fat cheese for example you'll find it much improved!

3. Eat more vegetables

Instead of making meat the main event in your meal pile your plate high with veggies or salad. In general you should be looking to fill at least half your plate with these. Add vegetables to soups and stews to increase bulk without adding much to the calorie count. Stir fries and curries are also great for making a little meat and a lot of vegetables into a delicious meal.

4. Watch your portion sizes

Take note of the serving size on packaging and follow the guidelines by measuring out your food. Take care especially with snack foods and baked goods. Take a serving size out of the packet and put the rest away. For home cooked meals, a piece of meat should be about the size of a standard deck of cards not half an ox and a meal (excluding any separate servings of vegetables or salad) should be about the size of two clenched fists. You can always have more veggies if that doesn't fill you up.

5. Eat at home

Restaurants and fast food places make it their business to get you to eat more food than you really need. That's how they make their money after all. Instead, eat fast simple food at home. You can control what you serve. You can control how you prepare it. You can control your portion sizes. When you eat at home you choose exactly what and how much you eat.

6. When you do go out

Choose restaurants which serve healthy food and choose the healthiest dishes you can find on the menu or ask for something healthy to be prepared for you. You can request a smaller portion or a kid's size or eat a couple of starters instead of a massive main course. Choose dishes prepared under the grill and with tomato-based rather than cream-based sauces. If you must have something sweet after your meal have coffee and a chocolate or two in place of dessert.

7. Cut down on alcohol

There are a huge number empty calories in alcoholic drinks. If you drink a lot it can really pile on the pounds. And then as often as not you'll end up snacking on peanuts or other high calorie nibbles along with your drink. A huge added danger with alcohol is that it lowers your inhibitions, mysteriously dissolving your willpower and making healthy eating the last thing on your mind.

8. Choose your snacks with care

It makes sense to eat something about every three hours so that you don't get too hungry and make poor food choices at meals, grabbing a hamburger and fries because you let yourself go too long without eating. But choose your snacks wisely because those calories can mount up. It's best to snack on fruit or chopped vegetables if you can or maybe a cracker or two and not overload on calories with potato snacks and chocolate.

9. Cooking not baking

There's nothing like a baking session for piling on the pounds is there? Because you never bake just for others or eat just one serving do you? Turn your culinary talents to serving up delicious healthy main meals instead. Take pride in your fantastic lunches and dinners and not in your double-choc chip cookie recipe.

10. Plan your food

Use low-calorie and healthy cookbooks to plan your food with care each week before you go shopping. You'll be less tempted by food you don't need in the shops if you have a list and as you'll know exactly what's for dinner each evening, you won't ever have to send out for pizza!

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Top Ten Excuse-busters for taking Exercise

2005-09-28T12:54:00.000Z

1. Exercise is boring

Not all exercise is created equal. You don't have to get fit by spending hours on soul-less machines down at the gym. Somewhere out there is an activity you'll love and it's just a case of looking around until you find it. Is there something you loved to do as a child which you've stopped doing now you're an adult? Take it up again! Is there something you'd love to do but just haven't got around to? Try it out! How about taking up tennis or golf, salsa-dancing or skiing? Find something that sparks your enthusiasm and you'll never look back.

2. I don't have time

This is the excuse people give most of all for not exercising. Yet everyone has the same number of hours in the day. We just choose to spend them differently. What are you giving a higher priority to than your health? Chatting on the phone? Watching TV? Working too many hours? Even if your time is largely tied up in caring for others, how much good will you be to them without your health? And can you really not squeeze in three 20 minute sessions a week? What are you doing that is so important?

3. I don't have the energy

Your energy may be low because you are mentally rather than physically tired and in that case exercise will actually give you a boost. You'll usually find if you just get up and get moving you'll feel more energetic than ever. So, provided you're not tired after a hard physical day of work, just get moving to start to feel more lively. In any case, with regular exercise you'll find your general energy levels will soar and you'll be able to do far more without feeling tired.

4. I feel too embarrassed

If you're embarrassed about being seen exercising or wearing exercise gear then try walking. It's the ultimate non-exercise exercise. You can do it anywhere and you don't need to wear any special clothes other than normal comfortable shoes. Alternatively get some exercise videos and exercise in the comfort of your own home.

5. I'm too fat

Now there's a difference between being embarrassed about your size and being physically incapable of moving. If you really are unable to take normal exercise because of your size and associated problems then speak to your doctor about getting some help to find exercises you CAN do. Also there is some information around to help. Look up the organisation called Active at any Size on the web. They promote fitness for everyone. Anything you can do will help you and as you lose weight you'll gradually find you're able to do more.

6. I've got two left feet

I swear some aerobics classes are designed to put people off exercise for life. You just get used to one part of the routine after spending your time bumping into people when the movement changes to something else equally as complicated and you find you've gone left when you should go right again. It does get better if you keep going to the same class but if you hate that feeling of always getting it wrong why not find an activity for the less choreographically challenged. How about the easy-to-learn repetitive movements of rebounding, swimming or cycling?

7. There's nowhere near here to exercise

Sometimes that trip to the gym or swimming pool is a journey too far. It just eats up too much time from your day. If this puts you off getting fit, you can look for somewhere to exercise that's more convenient for your home or workplace. Or follow the advice for the embarrassed exercisers above and take up walking or exercising with videos or equipment at home. Jogging might suit you too.

8. Exercise doesn't work

Exercise is proven to help prevent heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. It burns calories, increases your energy levels and makes you feel good about yourself. It really depends what you expect. It won't turn you into a slim sylph-like figure overnight but it will help you lose weight. It won't give you a super-toned body after one session in the gym but you will firm and shape up over a few months. It's not an instant cure for a lifetime of overeating and neglecting your body but it does give you enormous benefits. These will only come if you do it regularly.

9. I've no one to go with

You might be surprised at who would be a willing exercise buddy if you asked. But if you don't think there's anyone, don't let it put you off. There's really nothing to be afraid of in turning up to an activity on your own. Most instructors are good at making you feel welcome. Even joining a gym on your own is not so bad. Once you have had your orientation session you'll feel a lot more confident that you know what to do and can just get on and do it without being distracted by anyone else.

10. Exercise hurts

Exercise should NEVER hurt if you go at the right pace for you. If an activity or movement doesn't feel good, then don't do it. Slow down and listen to your body. If it's too much for you, choose another activity or another class. Injuries can result if you do too much too soon. You have to work up to fitness gently to get the most benefit.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Getting started with exercise when you really don't want to

2005-09-27T09:13:00.000Z

Want to get fit but can't quite bring yourself to get moving? That's the situation with many people. We'd all like to be fit but sometimes the very thought of all that effort means we constantly put it off for another day.

And then there are those of us who start off enthusiastically with a new "three times a week at the gym" routine only to throw in the towel after a few weeks. You either injure yourself by going too fast too soon or find it takes up too large a chunk of the little free time you have or it just feels too much like hard work.

For reluctant exercisers the way to get fit without a fuss is by starting slowly and building up to a level you are comfortable with. If you challenge yourself just a little each time you do anything and never go too far beyond your comfort zone you can get a surprisingly long way fast.

This way of working up to exercise may seem a bit feeble to the fitness enthusiasts out there. But you have to remember they are already enjoying the huge benefits of working out. And it works a treat for those of us who have a horror of getting sweaty and uncomfortable and who don't yet have experience of how much better it feels to be fit.

To get going with a routine you can stick to:-

1. Start with something simple

Walking is a great way to ease gently into exercise. You can fit it into your day without getting changed into any special clothes. Put on a comfortable pair of shoes and you're ready. And it's something most people can do. You can take the dog and the kids if you need to. They'll benefit too. Or even just walk around your home if you can't get out.

2. Start with a tiny amount

If lack of time is putting you off, start with just 10 minutes exercise. Everyone can find 10 minutes somewhere in the day. You'll be amazed at how much better you'll feel with just 10 minutes every day if you don't do anything at all at the moment. Even better, find 2 or 3 ten minute periods when you can go for a walk. It's great to fit a walk in at lunchtime and after dinner and maybe you can make it part of your journey to or from work or taking your kids to school. This will meet the guidelines for a healthy lifestyle - but in any case 10 minutes a day is great to get you started. So don't let the guidelines put you off if you can't spare more time.

3. Never go too far too fast

If you're unused to exercise check with your doctor before you begin. Once you get going, build up your strength gradually, gently challenging yourself each day to go a little further, a little faster or a little longer. Straining yourself too much leads to injuries and if it gets to be too much too fast you'll end up giving up.

4. Make it fun

Get some company for your walks or listen to an MP3 or CD player or a portable radio. Choose a safe place to walk in your neighbourhood and if you can, somewhere with great scenery too. It may be worth driving a little to find a good place to walk.

5. Remind yourself of the benefits

Remind yourself each day, as you think about taking your exercise, how much you are doing for your health and well-being - cutting down your risk of heart attack, stroke and diabetes, burning calories and keeping your weight down, helping to protect against loss of muscle as you age and protecting yourself against osteoporosis too. And then there are the intangible benefits like improving your self-esteem and mood because you're doing something positive for yourself.

6. Be consistent

With a gentle exercise like walking be consistent and keep it up every day. It's too easy to let a day off extend into a week and then it's hard to get going again. If you do end up taking a break just go right back where you were. Don't try and make up for a day off by doubling your efforts the next day. Also if you do a lot on one day and feel the painful effects of some new activity, still try and do your walk the next day, even if you have to go a bit slower than normal. It helps you turn exercise into a habit.

7. Monitor yourself

A pedometer is a great tool for keeping a check on your progress. You can count the paces you take on your regular walk or even the paces you take all day. A pedometer encourages you to build up your level of activity and makes it easy to challenge yourself to build up your fitness bit by bit. If you monitor your whole day's activity, the paces soon add up if you follow those age-old weight loss tips about parking in the furthest space and using the stairs instead of the elevator. They say you should aim for 10,000 steps a day but you can build this up gradually 100 at a time.

8. Choose an alternative

If walking doesn't fill you with enthusiasm why not choose an activity you would like to do - something which doesn't feel like exercise. How about dancing or skating, skiing or horse-riding? Anything which gets you out and about and moving will help improve your fitness - you don't have to be restricted in the activities you choose provided your general health is OK. Think about the things you loved as a child and try taking them up again.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

The best free weight loss program for natural weight loss

2005-09-21T08:23:00.000Z

The best things in life are free and that is truly the case when it comes to planning your weight loss program.

Whatever you do, don't waste your money on diet patches, pills and potions - they may harm you and they will certainly harm your wallet. Stand well clear of anything which is supposed to help you lose weight that hasn't been prescribed by your doctor.

After all you already own everything you need to lose weight. You don't need the latest diet program. You don't need more fitness equipment gathering dust in a corner. You don't need a gym membership. You don't need diet foods. How much have you paid in the past for all the diet books and paraphernalia that were meant to help you but had no lasting effect on your weight?

To start a successful natural weight loss program you just need the following basic plan:-

Eat good healthy home cooked food

Healthy in this case means low in fat, sugar and salt and with plenty of fruit and vegetables, natural whole grains and lean proteins. There are a ton of fantastic healthy and delicious recipes out there that you can use. You'll find them on the internet, in your own cookbooks or you can borrow recipe books from the library. Select the best meals you can and create a weekly meal plan. Enjoy your food more on your weight loss program than ever before! Plan your meals on a weekly basis and keep to it. Your shopping list becomes your best ally in your weight loss plan.

Eating out is often the downfall in any weight loss program. If you can't avoid it, and especially if you eat out a lot, choose your restaurants with care and select the healthiest dishes from the menu. You could also ask them to prepare something healthy - most good restaurants would be able to provide plain fish or chicken for you with a salad (dressing on the side!)
Don't eat unless you are physically hungry and stop eating as soon as you are satisfied

If you are overweight, you can be sure that you have eaten more food than your body needs in terms of calories. Chances are you've done that both through your choices of food - high in fat and sugar - which bulks up your body without filling you up and also through eating larger portion sizes than you really need of everything.

If you've forgotten what a normal portion is, it's best to think of a meal as being about the size of your two clenched fists. Put that much on your plate to start with and see how it feels to eat that much. About right? Stop there. Too little? Have a spoonful more or fill up on salad or vegetables - you can't do much harm with them!
Add as much movement into your day as you can.

Most weight loss programs have an exercise element. Great though this is in theory, it's where many people give up. It's just too demoralizing when you go red in the face, sweating and heart pounding after a couple of minutes when you're supposed to do twenty! Twenty minutes! You're lucky if you can do five. Why put yourself through this when you're clearly not ready?

The best way to add more movement into your day is by walking. Walk everywhere! It's free! If you can afford it, get a pedometer and measure how much you're doing each day. Aim for 10,000 steps every day when you're trying to lose weight - it's also great to stay at that level once you reach your target - it will help you stay slim.

If you're not fit, check with your doctor and start with a few hundred steps, adding to your total every day. If you don't have a pedometer, keep a note of your progress by counting the number of minutes you walk and get a rough idea of the distance you've covered (for example, one block and two lamp-posts), gradually increasing both as you get fitter.

You can walk whatever the weather if you have the right clothes and footwear or you can just walk around your home or the shops - it really doesn't matter as long as you move!

Of course there are more things you can do to lose weight, but these three offer the best start to any weight loss plan. There would be far fewer overweight people in the world if everyone followed these simple and natural steps. Weight loss programs make things complicated because they need to differentiate themselves from each other. They are not just going to tell you the obvious - they have to wrap it up in ratios and percentages, points and calories, rules and regulations until you can't live a normal life and follow them.

Free yourself from the latest diet fad and just start by following these steps. Weight loss, though still not as easy as falling off the proverbial log - we know that is just a fantasy - will happen more easily than ever before and in a completely natural way which gives lasting results.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Get back in shape after the birth of your baby - a gentle 10 point plan

2005-09-08T10:00:00.000Z

Be especially kind to yourself in the first weeks after your baby is born. Your body has gone through huge changes and it's unrealistic to expect that you can snap back into your old shape straight away. Unrealistic expectations sets you up for failure and disappointment, but you CAN get your figure back if you are patient and take it one step at a time.
Forget drastic dieting and treat your body to healthy nourishing food and gentle exercise to get back in shape. You will naturally lose some weight during the first few weeks as your uterus shrinks. Breast feeding alone will allow you to lose weight at 1lb a week if you eat normally and healthily as it uses up 500 calories a day, but you do need to eat enough so that your milk does not dry up. Plan on losing the remainder at a gentle pace.
Your tummy will look very sad after the birth, flabby and saggy. Don't worry you can soon get things looking good again. Do all the post-natal exercises and gentle exercise recommended by your health-care professionals during the first 6 weeks to get your tummy back in shape. After that check with them that it is Ok if you want to embark on a more strenuous exercise routine. Once your doctor says its OK to exercise, one of the best ways to retighten your muscles is a simple yoga move. Stand with your feet apart, hands on thighs. Breathe out fully and then pull your tummy muscles in and up as hard as you can, holding for a count of 10. If you do this a few times a day before breakfast you'll soon see results. Don't do this during pregnancy.
The first few weeks with your baby are precious and not the time to start injuring yourself by doing too much too soon. Whatever you decide to do, don't go mad in the first week you're allowed to exercise normally. Build up gradually as if you'd not exercised before.
If you are not able to get back to the gym or to do whatever activity you used to do now that you have a baby to care for, investigate home-exercise programs and videos you can do while your baby sleeps or organise your partner or friend to watch your baby for a short time while you exercise. You will need to be a bit more resourceful and determined to fit in your exercise but you can find a way if you really want to.
Walking with your baby is always great – you both get fresh air and out of the house and you get fitter while your baby is soothed by the movement of the pram. You could also use a baby carrier to keep your baby close to you while you walk. This is especially soothing for a restless baby. Aim to walk for 30 minutes to an hour each day.
You may find yourself tempted to snack more if you are alone at home with your baby especially if you are used to being out and about at work every day. Make sure you have lots of healthy snacks around such as fruit and avoid buying unhealthy snacks so you are not tempted. You may be better to plan 5 or 6 mini-meals rather than snacking all day AND having your usual lunch and dinner.
Take the time to plan simple meals for the next few days before you go shopping. This will help you avoid the "What's for dinner"/"Oh no, I haven't defrosted it?" / "Better send out for pizza again" Syndrome. This is not the time to plan elaborate recipes but try and avoid too much processed junk food because you do have time for a simple omelette, pasta sauce, baked potato or salad
If you start a plan to get in shape and it all feels like too much, simply restart it when you feel up to it – there's no need to beat yourself up over anything. Most women feel a bit tired and stressed with a new baby so don't put more pressure on yourself. All in good time. If you feel really down remember and seek help - post-natal depression is very real and quite common.
Reward yourself. You've been through a lot – your body has changed, your hormones are in disarray. Whatever you do that helps towards getting back in shape (a walk, a healthy snack, your tummy exercises or whatever) give yourself a pat on the back. A few moments to yourself can be a great reward if you have someone who will care for your little one for a while.
Bonus tip: Above all relax into your new life with your baby. You'll achieve nothing by worrying about your shape. Take time to rest and pamper yourself as much as possible. Sometimes you can feel quite neglected because your baby makes so many demands and this in itself can lead you to eat for comfort. Take care of your own needs. Ask for support from your partner. If you look after yourself by eating healthily and keeping up some gentle exercise you'll be fine and your weight will naturally rebalance itself over time.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Working at home? How to avoid piling on the pounds!

2005-09-07T10:18:00.000Z

It's so tempting isn't it? Work is not going well. Or you have a deadline looming. Or you've got to update your accounts. Much easier to make endless trips to the fridge to fill up on snacks!

But when you start working at home, it can be alarming how quickly the pounds creep up, just because food is so available. And you bitterly regret all those snacks next time you get on the scales or try to do up something you haven't worn for a while.

Now, a normal office is not always the easiest place to control overeating either - everyone brings cakes and candy to share for the most minor celebration, and you have more opportunity for social type eating and drinking at lunch and after work. But a full fridge is a bigger threat - after all no one is watching you like they would be if you had three pieces of the cake at work!

Keeping out of the kitchen altogether would be one solution. You could pack your lunch and healthy snacks before you start the day, have a supply of cool drinks and set up tea and coffee making facilities in your home office - pretend you don't have a kitchen. But most of us won't do that. We like being at home because we have access to all the facilities that home offers. Sometimes it's great to be able to start dinner early or do a couple of chores while we take a breather from our other tasks.

But there are a few things you CAN do without making the kitchen and the fridge a "no-go" area.

Make your lunch before you begin work - or at least know exactly what you are going to have. This way you are less likely to dive for the nearest fattening snack because you suddenly noticed you worked way past the point when you should have eaten and you are ravenous.
Also prepare some healthy snacks so that you can grab them from the fridge and go. Sticks of carrot, cucumber, celery and the like make great nibbles when you haven't time to stop for a full meal. Put a tablespoonful of low-calorie dip into a small bowl if you don't like them just as they are.
If you know you are going to be grazing all day - plan for 5 or 6 mini-meals throughout the day, rather than grazing AND eating a whole lunch. While this might be impractical in an office, at home you can do exactly as you like - make the most of it. A typical day might be
- A bowl of fruit for breakfast.
- A couple of crackers with sugar-free peanut butter half way through the morning.
- Vegetable soup or salad for lunch.
- A yogurt with chopped up apple in the afternoon.
- 10 or so pretzel sticks to keep you going until dinner.
If you can, try and take a break away from your work area while you eat so that you have time to focus on the food. It's too easy to wolf down a whole snack or meal and not even notice you've eaten it. If you don't have that focus it's harder to feel satisfied by the food you've had and you're more likely to want more straight away and overeat as a result. And of course you avoid those problems with keyboards getting sticky and work getting spoiled with bits of food.
If you're working at home, you may find you have to keep some foods out of the house because they are just too dangerous to have around all day. My downfall is chocolate. So, if I buy chocolate biscuits for my kids I choose the kind that I don' t like that much and they do. But you may have to decide not to buy chocolate and junk snack foods at all if you really can't resist. It will do everyone else good too. And you can only eat what is there.
As for exercise, at least make sure you move around throughout the day if your job is desk based. It's a huge bonus that no one can see you pacing around when you are on the phone, or doing exercises to avoid getting too tense such as rolling your neck, circling your shoulders or arms or doing leg extensions. If you make it a habit to move around just a couple of minutes every half an hour - the kind of break you need to be taking anyway - you will have taken over 30 minutes exercise in an 8-hour day! I find that when things get on top of me and I haven't had time for an early-morning aerobics session, 10 minutes vigorous housework once an hour works for me. I get some exercise, go back to my huge work task list feeling ready to tackle it AND I don't worry that my home is falling apart while I stay attached to my computer.
Look like you mean business. I know it's great to be able to slob around all day in sweat pants and a t-shirt but it will do your self-image no good and you won't feel that waistband expanding half so much as you do when you wear normal smart casual clothes. Wear something comfortable but smart. You have to show yourself that it's worth looking good just for you so you get the message when you eat too.
Keep regular hours. Although there may be a crisis or two where you absolutely have to work through the night and fortify yourself with pizza or ice-cream, you can't make this a regular habit for the sake of your weight, your health or your sanity.
By the same token, get plenty of rest. There have been studies showing that a lack of sleep causes us to eat more during the following day.

Working at home IS fantastic. You are in control of your own time and your own choices much more than you ever were working for someone else. Design your working life to suit YOU and how you want to live. Want to be healthy and slim? Then DESIGN your day to meet your goals. You are the one who calls the shots now.

Copyright 2005, Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Dieters : Put MORE focus on food

2005-08-26T10:16:00.000Z

If you're always on a diet you probably spend half your life thinking about food – what you can eat and what you can't, what you'd like to eat if only it was allowed, what you'll have for your next meal, what you shouldn't have eaten at the last one...

The last thing you think you need is to spend more time thinking about the seductive addictive substance that lies at the root cause of your weight problems...

But I'd like to offer an alternative viewpoint.

What if you focused on the quality of your food as well as the quantity? What if you decided that you would only eat the very finest, most delicious and nutritious food available – food that was good for your body as well as your taste buds? And enough of it at every meal to feel pleasantly satisfied. Wouldn't dieting get a lot easier to stomach then?

Now you may doubt that such food exists but you only have to look at the myriad of available low-fat low-calorie recipe books to see that delicious and nutritious real food is available to anyone who is willing to make the effort to seek it out and cook it.

The secret of losing weight without losing heart after a week is to look for those recipes that you will personally enjoy. Build up your own collection of winners that you can enjoy for the rest of your life.

Of course you can overeat on healthy delicious food as well as you can on junk but it's a lot easier to stick with modest portions when you cook and serve yourself just the right amount - you don't have to fill your plate like they do in a restaurant. And because you know you can cook the same delicious dish again at any time and that you have planned something just as delightful for your very next meal, it's hard to feel deprived by stopping at the point where you are satisfied rather than stuffed.

My own personal collection of recipes has stood me in good stead over the years and I am forever experimenting and looking for new ones to make meals even more exciting. Does your food match up? Why not add a few recipes to your repertoire this week and for the next few weeks. Keep it simple if you're not used to cooking. Some of the best recipes I have take just 10 minutes – faster than you can order in a pizza.

Weight loss has never tasted so good.

Janice Elizabeth

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Why did I do that? How to deal with a lapse in your weight loss efforts.

2005-08-26T09:53:00.000Z

If you've had a bad day on your diet (or a bad binge or even a bad week) don't despair.

I know it's all too easy to beat yourself up over it. You feel guilty for breaking your promises to yourself and sabotaging your diet and more than a little angry and depressed at your lack of control.

But before you get too gloomy and reach for the Ben and Jerry's which somehow escaped you last night, stop and think for a moment.

A bad day or even a bad week is not enough to "break your diet" unless you let it get you down. It's what you eat over the long run that counts. It's eating more calories than you need day after day after day that makes you fat not a one-off over-indulgence.

But what can you do if you really did go mad last night? What can you do today to get back on track after you've come off the rails?

Whatever you do don't weigh yourself unless you love being miserable. Chances are you had a load of sugar and/or salt last night and you'll be retaining more water than a camel embarking on a trek across the Sahara. Consequently, you'll have gained more pounds than you possibly could from the extra calories you ate. So don't even think about stepping on the scales for 2 days.
Every day, but especially today you should aim for eating modest portions of healthy foods whenever you are hungry, stopping when you are satisfied rather than stuffed. More than ever today you need to feel in control. So no starvation rations or you'll only set yourself up for a hunger-induced "clear out the cupboard" binge later on.
Normally it's best not to skip breakfast but if you are still full from the previous day, it can wait. Just make sure you have a healthy snack ready for when hunger does strike.
Take time to enjoy your food today. Sometimes we hardly taste the food when we are eating too much, we eat it so quickly, trying to stop ourselves thinking too much as we shovel it in. Actually taste everything which passes your lips today and put yourself back in control.
Spend a few moments thinking about why you temporarily blew your weight loss plans. What thoughts were running through your head? What situation had you put yourself in? What can you learn from that? How will you deal with those thoughts, those situations next time because as sure as eggs are eggs they, or something similar, will happen again. Be prepared.
Stay positive. Relax a little. Tell yourself "Yes, I broke my diet but that's OK. I'm human. I'm not meant to be perfect. I'm going to treat myself well, eating healthily as much as I can. If I have the odd lapse it doesn't change my determination to keep going." Build yourself up. Give yourself a little (non-food) present. You deserve the best and you can do whatever you set your mind to.

The best way to get over a lapse is to treat it like the insignificant blip it is and just get right back on track!

Janice Elizabeth

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Dieters : Questions you must ask yourself when you want to lose weight

2005-08-26T09:02:00.000Z

Now I know you're always asking yourself questions. You know the ones like "Why can't I lose weight?" and "Why does everything that's bad for you taste good?". But those questions won't get you anywhere – except maybe helping you feel sorry for yourself and setting you up for a spot of comfort eating.

A more empowering set of questions, on the other hand, will get you off to a good start if you're about to begin a weight loss program (or keep you on track if you're in the middle of a diet).

Here are the questions to ask when you want to give your weight loss efforts a real kick start.

Why do you want to lose weight?

Make sure your reasons for losing weight are clear. Do you want to look good? Do you want to feel healthier? Has your doctor given you a health warning? Do you just want to be able to run around the park with your kids? Maybe all these reasons apply. The more reasons you have for losing weight and the more you are aware of them the easier it will be to remind yourself to keep to your weight loss program when the going gets tough. Even better, spend some time imagining how you will FEEL when you succeed. This will do more than anything to increase your motivation.

How much weight do you want to lose?

Set yourself a target. This gives you something to aim for and you will be able to see how much closer you are getting each week. You can never succeed if you don't know what the end point is. "I want to lose weight" is not a measurable goal – you have succeeded (of sorts) after you lose an ounce. Make your goal specific with a target to aim for.

What will you do to lose weight?

Nothing is going to change unless you do. So what changes are you going to make? Will you follow a particular plan or just cut down in general? How will you know if you're succeeding? What exercise will you take (if any)? How will you make sure that you follow your plan? What will you do about the things that might get in the way? Vague ideas about losing weight need to translate via a concrete plan into action. Ask yourself the questions and decide what you will do.

Who will support you?

Some people will actively encourage you and help your efforts while others will get in the way of your plans. Do you know who your supporters will be? And who you will need to avoid or find some way to deal with? Ask for the support you need from those you think are most likely to give it or join a club of people who are also trying to lose weight. These are available online or offline. If you can afford it think about getting a coach – all that focus on your success will work wonders. As for those who are less than enthusiastic about your plans, think about ways of handling them. Of course you'll need a different strategy for close friends and relatives than you need for the guy who brings cakes into the office and insists you eat one!

And the final question?

When will you start?

There's no time like TODAY. No eating the pantry empty before you begin. Dump the junk food and get started right now!

Janice Elizabeth

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

Weight Loss : Keep it Simple

2005-08-17T10:03:00.000Z

An increasing trend over the last few years has been for diet books to make things complex.

I expect it's because each one vies with the other to come out with some brand new theory or other about why we gain weight and why their diet plan is the only one to help us lose it. And the low fat, low calorie stuff has already been covered!

My problem with this new trend is that the diets all involve more counting and while basic maths was never a problem at school I don't want to use it at the dinner table to know what I can eat. And while counting calories is one thing (most of us are probably walking encyclopaedias by now with how many calories our usual choices contain) the new diets are so much more complex.

With the new diets we need to know carbohydrate counts and fat grams, GI index and all sorts. And sometimes it's not enough to have a straight count we have to work out our percentage of carbohydrates, proteins and fat (yes, follow one particular diet and you have to balance these at EVERY meal).

Somehow I think food was not meant to be eaten like this. It was meant to be enjoyed. Most of us know what is healthy and what is not. Most of us know we'd be better with an apple than a cream cake. Most of us know we need a good variety of all types of food to feel great.

The new diets will not last. More complex stuff will come along and it's sad because we could all lose weight with a few SIMPLE changes.

Make healthy choices for most of the food you eat
Vary your choices
Occasionally enjoy a small portion of whatever it is you love even if it's high in fat or sugar or whatever
Eat only when you're physically hungry
Stop when you're just satisfied, not stuffed
Fill half your plate at lunch and dinner with vegetables or salad, quarter carbs and a quarter protein.

If everyone who wanted to lose weight just followed these simple guidelines there would be many more successful dieters around and a lot less hassle in losing weight.

Why not try it starting today?

Janice Elizabeth Small

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

The truth about weight loss

2005-08-16T15:28:00.000Z

There are so many articles around about losing weight, so much help and information you'd think it would be easier to lose weight.

Every year there's another diet coming out and receiving rave reviews. And people follow in droves - from Atkins to South Beach to GI. But are we getting any slimmer?

The exact opposite is true - the Western world is gaining weight at an astonishing pace.

The fact is that dieting doesn't work.

All we know for sure is that if we eat too much and move too little we gain weight - and this part is easy. Yet when we try to do the opposite by eating less and moving more it's incredibly difficult!

And it's nothing to do with knowing how to do that in a practical sense - we have so much information about nutrition and exercise at our fingertips. We have the theory drummed into us. It's putting it into practise that we're not so good at.

It's all boils down to how comfortable we feel about the changes we are making and whether our desire to change is big enough to get over any uncomfortable feelings we have of moving out of our familiar rut.

The foods we eat and the amount of exercise we take are so locked into our daily routines past and present, our family culture, our habits that we can only make permanent changes by creating new habits and becoming equally comfortable with them.

Diets and extreme exercise regimes don't work because their requirements are so onerous and restrictive that it would be extremely difficult for them to become part of our everyday habits.

Instead we need to learn new ways of relating to food and exercise by gradually making healthy changes in our habits so that we automatically make better choices for life.

Janice Elizabeth

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for natural permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!