Staying on Track: Restaurant Minefield

We love to do it, but eating out can be one of the biggest challenges for someone seeking to impact their weight. Truly, a restaurant's mission has everything to do with making a profit by pleasing your taste buds without regard for YOUR goals, health or weight issues. Determining what to order can feel like walking through a mine field trying to dodge calories, sodium, and fat when eating out.

Here are 10 ways you can make better choices as you find yourself in front of a menu.

1. KISS. Keep it Simple Silly. Uncombined foods will give you a better chance of knowing what you are eating and it's impact.
2. Check the restaurant nutritional statement before you leave home. It will surprise you. Most people underestimate their calories by 60%.
3. Plan what you will eat before you see and smell the orders around you. One successful technique is to have an index card with your pre-planned choices to help you not yield to impulse.
4. Don't be shy about asking for modification like "dressing on the side" or "may I switch out that side dish", "no Mayonnaise, please"
5. Try not to drink your calories. Eating oranges provide fiber along with the calories of the juice. Sweetened tea, alcoholic beverages and sodas provide no nutrients, make water your main beverage.
6. Focus on the vegetables, make the meats and grains secondary. This may require splitting an entree and adding a salad.
7. Fried= Fat. Order grilled or baked. French Fries are inconsistent with your goal of weight management
8. Is pre-meal bread mandatory? It adds hundreds of calories even without the butter or oil. You can remove 70-100 calories by avoiding one bun on your burgers and sandwiches
9. Even if you are careful, eating out often will hamper your efforts. Try to eat out only one or two times a week.
10. Portion control is critical! No matter what, you do not want to supersize the order-Your best move is to get a to- go box when they bring your order and remove it before you get started.
    

Your best strategy is to make eating out an infrequent adventure until you have a firm grasp on these guidelines.

Bon appetite!

This is part 5 of a 10 part series regarding Staying on Track: Long Term Weight Management Success Strategies!

When is Fat Good for You?

When is eating fat good for you?
Is this a trick question?
Holding fat at your midsection has beenproven to be a dangerous precurser to Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), diabetes and other chronic health issues that threaten our lives and longevity.

I ran across an excellent article on www.Prevention.com that you will surely want to check out.

5 Flat Belly Diet Foods- prevention.com
http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/meet-the-5-flat-belly-foods/bea4682e373c6110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/weight.loss/flat.belly.diet/flat.belly.diet!.food

"These ingredients hold the power to truly transform your body, not to mention lengthen your life. The secret is their magical "MUFA" (Aka good fat!)"

What is MUFA? .....MonoUnsaturated Fatty Acids !

The authors of prevention state: "These good-for-you fats that protect you from chronic disease and, according to new research, can help you lose fat, specifically around your middle."

Check out the article and see if you don't agree this is earth shattering news for those watching their waistline!

Staying on Track: Water and Fiber

Everyone desiring to lose weight wants it off yesterday. Well, unfortunately the magic wand is broken looks like we will have to do it the mortal way.

Instead of talking about what needs to be removed, let's go over two things to ADD to your life that will propel your weight loss.

Surprise! The first is simply water! You should drink 64-96 ounces each day. It's one of your body's most essential, yet forgotten, elements. The human body is composed of about 60% water and it's critical to weight management for two important reasons.

• The first is satiety: you don't want to feel hungry. Many times people confuse the body's request for water for it's need for food. When you feel hungry, try drinking a glass of water first. Drinking water will fill your stomach and calm the feeling of hunger so you will make better choices. If you regularly drink water throughout the day you will find fewer times that you FEEL hungry.



• The second reason is to help your body do what it does best. One of the main functions of your liver is fat metabolism. If you are dehydrated, your kidneys need help purging toxins and asks the liver to help out, so fat metabolism takes a lower priority.

1. Tips to get more water in your life:
   First thing in the morning- brush your teeth and drink a full 8 ounces before breakfast.


2. Drink water with ever meal before you have the tea, coffee or diet soda.


3. Drink at least one full bottle of water as you workout

Your second secret weapon is fiber, another simple but highly effective startegy. The American Heart Association reports that the average American should have 25-30 grams of fiber each day, by adding fiber-rich food, you get four advantages:

• B-complex vitamins add energy to your life


• Fiber helps lower cholestrol and your risk of heart disease


• You encourage your digestive system to move food through more quickly. You'll be constipated less which means less toxic build up


• You will feel fuller on fewer calories.

Tips to increase your fiber:

1. Start your day with fiber rich Breakfast cereals or oatmeal
2. Look for whole grain breads and carbohydrates instead of white processed carbs.


3. Increase intake of fruits and vegetables especially with skins


4. Infuse your meals with Dry beans like navy, pinto, red, pink, black, garbanzo

These are two simple ways to jumpstart your wieght management. See your Health Coach professional to find other ways to change up your food choices and propel your weight management and start living healthy lives.

Drink up! Stay Motivated and move toward healthy living.

This is part 3 of this 10 part series Staying On Track: Weight Management Success Strategies

Heart Disease? ME?

Heart Disease?

Not Me!



We all believe we are invincible but the truth is that a half million people die every year from heart disease. Why do you think it could NOT happen to you?


Well, ok, in theory, that COULD happen to me, but heart disease is for old people, not me. ah, yes, This is a denial that self adjusts every year we age. Let's look at the facts, not the wishful thinking of heart disease.

• As early as 45 a man's risk of heart attack increases, a woman at age 55.


• 50% of men and 64% of women have no symptoms other than sudden death.


• Two thirds of teens have one or more risk factor.

Some risk factors you can control, some you cannot, but those you can you should be proactive in reducing. Research shows that each risk factor added to your list increases your chance of developing heart disease, but the more pronounced that factor, it also increases your probability. The longer your list, the more they "gang up" and increase your risk exponentially- like being overweight and having high blood pressure.

So what are the risk factors?

• Age


• Family History


• High Blood Pressure+


• High Cholesterol+


• Obesity+


• Cigarette Smoking+


• Physical Inactivity+


• Diabetes+

+ Lifestyle related factor you have control over.

Yikes! What can I do to reduce my risks?

1. Monitor your risk factors: blood pressure, blood sugar, & cholesterol


2. Become physically active


3. Eat a healthy diet


4. Get your body mass index under 25 BMI is ratio of weight to height


5. Stop smoking

Great news! Our passion at Daily Weighloss Motivation is to create a lifestyle that gives your body a fighting chance for disease prevention.

Do you need help? As your Email Health Coach I can

1. Help you sort out the BS from straight talk about weight loss


2. Help you sort out issues keeping you from losing weight


3. Based on your life, goals and situation, create a relevant weight management strategy.


4. Based on your motivation, likes and medical constraints, create an eating plan


5. Based on your exercise/medical history and your goals, create a progressive exercise program


6. Walk along side of you by email to make sure you stay on task

Since my website is being worked on, Please email me and we can begin to dialogue about your needs and situation. dailyweightlossmotivation at Yahoo.com

Staying on Track: Know Where You Are Now.

Do You Know Where You Are Now?


Everyone moans when they come into a fitness assessment and some won't look or even refuse to be measured. "I already know its bad" they avow.

The initial measurements and periodic check ups are critical to your success for several reasons:

• You cannot know how far you've traveled if you never mark the first step. There is tremendous joy in being able to say I lost 2 inches or 5 pounds, my blood pressure is down 10 points, whichever indicator of success you are most proud of.



• You MUST face the music to be successful. Some people are not ready to change. They want the result without changing their life habits. You grasp the realization you HAVE to change when the pain gets to a certain point. I heard a tv interview where a man who easily qualified as morbidly obese say, "I'm not THAT overweight!" He was not ready to change anything and so minimized his health risk. Keep in mind, they call it "morbid" for a reason.



• Knowing where you are through the initial assessment process is critical for your health coach to address the issues correctly and build a program to get you on track to your goal. But whether the plan needs adjustment is determined in the feedback checkups: are you getting results? Is it that you are not following the plan or is the plan needing adjustment, is it not working with your real-life?

Think beyond the scale. Periodically take stock of how many fruits/ vegetables you eat, how much water you drink, how much sleep you you get. Are you as focused on cardio or have you been slacking lately.

Wake up call! time to get re-focused.

For ways to know you are making progress, check out my post: "How do you spell SUCCESS?"
This is part 2 of this 10 part series Staying on Track: Weight Management Success Strategies

Staying On Track: Know What You Are Training

A frequent question in a fitness facility is "What body part do I need to train to lose weight?" If you answer any particular muscle group you are not completely correct.

In weight management, the part of your body that you must train is..... YOUR BRAIN!

After all it is your brain that tells you that you are hungry when you are really just bored. It's your brain that tells you to GET UP! rather than roll over so you can get your workout in. And your brain tells you that you LOVE those vegetables, right?

For you to stay on track in this weight management adventure, above all else you must keep your brain engaged in the goal!

1. Feed your head with healthy reading, especially this blog! :-)



2. Put your goals on index cards or post-its and keep them where you will see them and repeat them often



3. Use your logical side and schedule your workouts like doctor appointments



4. Think through and plan your eating for the week, make that grocery list



5. Process the feeling side by journalling your feelings beside your eating entries



6. Close your eyes and imagine yourself at your goal. Think through how you will feel when you are free of what hinders you now and confidently,effortlessly following the plan
   

It's the same technique as you train anything else. By repeatedly doing and re-doing these exercises you reinforce and refocus your thoughts until it is easier to do it than to not do the behavior.

So train your brain!

Stay motivated and live a healthy life.

This is part 2 of this 10 part series Staying on Track: Weight Management Success Strategies

How do you spell SUCCESS?

Don't get discouraged!


Success can be measured on a number of levels. The most important measures of success are long-term not short term.



Weight loss is only one of many criteria and frankly, the ones that are far more important involve decreases in medical issues, injuries, and other health risks which give you an improved quality of life.



Short and medium-term changes can also be measured regularly during your program, where we are most interested in assessing changes in health-related behaviors. When it comes to weight management, a scale is not the best measure of success. Here are some to consider when you are needing some reassurance that your hard work is paying off:

• Do your clothes fit better?


• Lower percentage fat to lean body tissue


• Are you losing inches


• Consistency in physical activity


• Improvements in performance


• Improvements in energy


• Improvements in self- esteem


• Improvements in health risk factors (blood pressure, cholestrol)


• Improvements in quality of life and enjoyment


• Decreased reliance on medications


• Increased range of motion


• Healthier eating habits


• Your adding fiber and water to your menus


• Are your reading labels at the grocery store?


• Increased flexibility


• Increased stamina/ endurance


• Increased strength


• Reduced blood pressure


• Don't you feel better?


• Don't you look better?

So have your cholestrol, blood pressure or measurements checked regularly. Give yourself every excuse to celebrate the results you are achieving with your dilegent efforts.

Stay motivated, move toward healthy living!

Lose weight, Are you Kidding?

Don't laugh, Most people who say they want to lose weight don't really want to BE thin. If I could make you thin in an instant, how long would you remain thin?


Here's the dare: Name someone, same sex, approximately the same age as yourself who looks now like you want to look like. Watch that person for a day or two. What is their life like? What do they eat? Look in their refrigerator/ cabinets. What do they order in restaurants? Then compare it to your own.


Chances are they have made exercise a non-negotiable. They exercise nearly every day and with high intensity some of that time. They probably don't sit for long periods of time. They look at food differently. They also have discovered that they must be wise in food selection which means limiting some very delicious but unnecessary foods. They eat vegetables! I'd also wager they don't eat out as often as the average person. They are probably sicker less often, and have more daily energy. More likely than not they have good self esteem.


Most people who want to lose weight are kidding- themselves. We all want the attractive appearance, but until we are ready to adopt the behaviors that will both help us achieve thinner and maintain that healthy bodyweight- we are only ready for the annual January resolution frustration year after year.


Change is very hard. Look at what is different about your experience and the people who live a "thin/healthy lifestyle" And you can forget the "21 days to form a habit mantra". It takes at least a year of consistent pattern to form a lifestyle. That is the point you kick the new years resolution pattern forever.


So are you ready to be thin?


Most people need help adjusting their ways of life and eating. Palmetto Fitness Focus is uniquely poised not just to work you out, but to coach you to living a better, stronger healthier life, 24/7. Check in with us today. www.daily-weightloss-motivation.com is in process.

Staying on Track: I'm Hungry!

Letting your self get hungry can set back your weight reduction plan. It's not weakness, it's a hormone thing called Grehlin. Once grehlin is secreted in the stomach, inner strength alone will not prevent you from stuffing food in to your mouth. Grehlin is stronger than your powers of reasoning and high levels of motivation and commitment.

So the trick is to NEVER GET HUNGRY. say what? how do you lose weight then?
1. Know when hunger normally kicks in and beat it to the punch. If you find 4 pm hard to stay on track, then eat something healthy and in correct portion at 3:30PM.
2. Are you seriously hungry or just on autopilot? My mother smoked. When the phone rang, she instinctively grabbed her cigarettes, as she went to the phone. Make sure your reaching for food is not a similar reflex. If you are used to late night snacking- go to bed early until you break that cycle.
3. Drink some water or zero calorie fluid- sometimes your body mistakes being hungry for being thirsty. Drink a glass and give it 10 mintues, 80% of the time you were thirsty (assuming you have been eating on your 5/ day schedule)
4. Even if you don't feel hungry, stay on your plan of eating 5 small to moderate meals throughout the day rather than 3 big ones. This keeps your blood sugar at an even level. You'll be less hungry and more active all day.
5. Have healthy power-up meals (instead of snacks) that have components that fuel you: Protein, fiber and small amounts of healthy fat will stick with you longer than sugar filled things- and that includes some fruits. Eat fruits with some protein to slow the uptake of sugar in your system.

Choices We Make

Choices!
Not only do we all make choices, we demand the right to make them. What if we make poor choices? I believe we live so much in the moment that we don’t really understand the impact of many of our choices.


Some choices, like “red shirt or blue shirt” are not earth shattering and regardless of which you chose your life remains virtually the same.
“Do you want fries with that?” on the surface would seem equally mundane and yet your answer might significantly’ impact your future.


Heart disease is considered a “lifestyle” disease. How we live, what we eat, the stress we are under, comprise 90% of the determination of whether we become part of that statistic in America.


Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America.Will a single order of fries kill you? No. What will is that Fast food as a way of life has permeated our daily pattern of living. It’s quick, it’s cheap, it’s convenient,… at least until the ambulance arrives a few years down the road. Believe me, rehab is not cheap, not convenient, and life-altering.


Chose foods that fuel a powerful life: Whole grains, fruits and vegetables, lean, high quality proteins.


“Just Say No” works on more than teenage sex.
“No fries, thank you”
“What other sides are available with that lunch?”
“Please substitute a carrot raison salad or side salad”
“I’ll take it plain, thank you.”


Say these phrases and we'll give you a gold star, you got a fighting chance to avoid a future hospital stay, or worse.



Stay Motivated, move toward healthy living!

Motivation Resource!

I love the inspiration I get from Jason Garcia at www.Motivation123.com

I'm passing information on his most recent motivational reading material.

Visit this address for more information on all his offerings! http://kickfit44.jmgracia.hop.clickbank.net/

Kat



THE SECRET TO CHANGING YOUR LIFE

• Have you ever struggled with personal change?


• Have you started to improve your ways only to find yourself falling back to your negative behavior?


• Do you have a goal that you would love to achieve, but are afraid to go for it, afraid to take the risk and do what it takes to succeed?

If either of these situations describes your life, you owe it to yourself to learn about The Motivated Mind. Jason Garcia's latest resource is a complete, step-by-step guide to creating rapid and lasting change in every area of your life.



You can't simply think your way to change; you must take very specific steps in a very specific order. And The Motivated Mind provides you with both of these necessities.



- Dispel the single greatest myth about motivation that will change the way you look at personal and professional change forever. Just reading it will give you a sense of control and confidence you never before had. Chapter 1.



- There are only four things you must do to change your behavior in minutes and have it last a lifetime. Not only will you learn what they are but also exactly how to use them with your own personal goals and dreams. Chapter 5.



- Would you like to feel more confident? You'll unlock undeniable proof that you can, in fact, get what you want no matter how big or small your goals may be. Chapter 6.



- The right attitude is the difference between happiness and failure. But it's not a positive attitude that you want! Which is the right choice? Chapter 8.



- You know you have to make a change but you can't seem to get moving - no longer a problem. Learn the three groups of myths that keep people from moving forward and never again let them hold you back. Chapters 12-14.



Controlling motivation is what stands between you and the things you want. Finally there is a guide that can show you exactly how to get and stay motivated to change anything in your life and achieve all of your goals and ambitions.



If you want to change anything about your life or get motivated to overcome your fears and strive for your dreams, The Motivated Mind will show you the way to success. Now is your chance to stop wishing for a better life and instead make it a reality.

Visit this address for more information: http://kickfit44.jmgracia.hop.clickbank.net/

Your First HUG

Everyone needs a HUG in this world. A physical one is always welcomed.
Today I'm introducing you to another indespensible HUG-

H- Healthy Eating!
U- Undergirding (Reinforcement)
G- Get Moving!

This is one HUG with huge benefits for any of us wanting to have a healthy, active life.
Stick with me as you and I build www.daily-weightloss-motivation.com website.

In my Daily H.U.G. I will be posting tips and clips, winks and links. Strategy, and support for healthy weight management. Your feedback along the way is critical.

Beside you all the way!