Achieve Permanent Weight Loss the Easy Way

I was posting articles for my weight loss class when I noticed this site, and I know from personal experience how hard it can be to lose weight successfully and to keep it off! I remember how excited and motivated I used to be when I started a new diet, I would lose weight for a couple of weeks, and then my weight loss would plateau, then I would start losing weight again only to plateau a few weeks after that, it was unbelievably frustrating! This would happen to me time after time after time and on such a regular basis that I became exactly what I didn’t want to become: a yoyo dieter. Even those diets that successfully resulted in the weight loss I wanted, inevitably failed in the long run as there was no real plan to keep the weight off and some of them failed spectacularly as not only did the weight return but it did so with the addition of kilos as well.

Step 1: Such an Amazing Feeling!

It is such an amazing feeling when you can finally fit into that favorite pair of jeans that you haven’t been able to squeeze into for years, but unbelievably frustrating when just a few months later because of your yoyo dieting and piling the weight back on again you can no longer get into them and have to start dieting all over again! All that hard work gone to waste! The feelings of exasperation and frustration when no matter how good you are during the week the scales don’t move, and your weight stays more or less the same, or maybe you have you been let down by ‘miracle’ diets that promise you will lose 30lbs in two weeks and just leave you feeling tired and hungry with no weight loss results at all?

Step 2: I Hated Looking in Mirrors

I had been yoyo dieting for over half my life and I reached the point where enough was enough and something had to give! For years I hated looking in the mirror and would avoid doing so at all cost, then one night I walked out of the bathroom and into my bedroom without my robe and stood there stunned as I stared at myself in the full length mirror. 

With every roll of fat that my eyes glided over, a little piece of me died inside; I kept wondering what had happened to the young woman who didn’t have to worry about the clothes she wore, or what other people thought of her, and who  used to love getting ready for a night out on the town.  With every tear that rolled down my face I felt the anger build inside, angry at myself for who I had become. That night I couldn’t ignore it anymore; I hated myself and something had to change.

Everyone will have their own pivotal moments, after mine I researched weight loss techniques for months and months and months, I tried and tested many different methods and found out what worked and what didn’t, I studied diet, nutrition & exercise and put a plan together  that I call: A Life of Happiness & Health.

Step 3: The Key to SUCCESS!!

For a couple of years now and with great success I have been running weight loss classes using the guidelines, rules and structure that I used to lose 138lbs, the same guidelines, rules and structure that I continue to use has effectively kept the pounds off right up until today and now I want to share some of what I teach.

In my experience if what you try doesn't include the following in any way shape or form you will fail, you must make sure your weight loss attempt has the following, and here are the reasons why:

If YOU don’t have a diet and exercise plan that suits YOU, then YOU won’t stick to the diet and YOU sure as hell won’t stick to the exercise plan, and if YOU don’t have a diet and exercise plan that suits YOUR lifestyle, YOU will be surrounded by tempting foods that YOU shouldn’t be eating and YOU won’t have any time to exercise, and finally, if YOU don’t have a diet and exercise plan that is sustainable and that becomes second nature to YOU, it will be all too easy to slip back into old habits where YOU are eating the wrong foods and YOU will stop exercising completely.

REMEMBER: a diet is not something that lasts for a few months and then stops, when we talk about diet it’s a permanent CHANGE OF DIET, not something temporary.

Step 4: Instructable 1: Keeping the Weight OFF!

Just as you gained weight by eating the wrong foods on a regular basis, losing weight is achieved exactly the same way: by eating the right foods on a regular basis, and the same thing applies to keeping weight off: a lack of regular exercise will result in weight gain, so to keep weight off permanently you have to exercise regularly.

If you want to keep the weight off you have got to keep on keeping the weight off, the minute you stop keeping the weight off, guess what? The weight goes back on again; so here are a few tips from beginners’ class:

1.      Work out your average calorie intake over a week, don’t forget anything, and write it down as you go. For the first four weeks cut out 2-300 calories from your daily intake of food,  (if you are still over the recommended daily intake of calories for male or females- don’t worry, you are still cutting down but not so drastically that it will put you off! We can set new targets in the following weeks) do not go under 1800 calories!

Step 5: Instructable 2: Fuel Your Body Throughout the Day

2.      Plan 4 meals of equal caloric value to be eaten at 4hr intervals, for example: 8am , 12pm , 4pm and 8pm . This means that your body will be fuelled throughout the day, try to eat your last meal at least 2hrs before you go to bed , this will give your body the best chance to burn off digested calories, this will also help your sleep pattern, and cut out any late night snacking!

Step 6: Instructable 3: Find Out Exactly What You Can Eat...

3. Look up online and download the Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load Charts, they will tell you exactly what foods you can eat, how much carbohydrate is in each item and how quickly it is turned into sugar in your blood stream. These charts are very easy to use and they will help you decide what you can eat day to day or sparingly, so you don’t feel like you are missing out on anything.If you suffer from hunger you should eat bulky low carbohydrate foods that will fill you up, such as fish and salads etc. it will also show you how calorific a potato can be, as these charts demonstrate it’s the same as eating spoonfuls of pure sugar!!

Step 7: Instructable 4: 'To Work Up a Healthy Appetite'

4. The saying: ‘to work up a healthy appetite’ is so accurate. The more you exercise the hungrier you will be, so the best kind of exercise for fat burning is low impact Isometric and Isotonic exercises, these are called resistance exercises and are used to strengthen muscles and protect joints. I would recommend using these kinds of exercises because you use less energy, and when you are on a low carbohydrate diet this is important because you won’t feel as tired or hungry as if you were jogging or cycling kilometers.

Isometric exercises are used stereotypically for arthritis sufferers as it strengthens the muscle around the joint without bending it, so if you have bad joints, as many overweight people do, these types of exercises are best for you. If you don’t suffer from aches and pains then use Isotonic exercises to tone muscles, once you have done these for a few weeks add in low impact cardiovascular exercise such as walking and swimming, remember the more lean muscle you have the faster your body will burn fat at rest.

Any doctor will tell you that what you eat directly affects how much weight you lose, and exercising regularly is what keeps the weight off and keeps your internal organs healthy. For example to work off a chocolate chip muffin with the caloric value of 550 calories, it would take over 5hrs on an exercise bike!! Whereas if you want a ‘treat’ on a low carbohydrate diet, you could still eat that muffin, but just work out where you can cut out 550 calories from your food that day. People often think ‘I can eat extra because I will burn it off at the gym’, when in actual fact that is not entirely true; it’s what you eat that directly affects your weight!! The simplest rule to stick too is: don’t eat more calories than your body uses in a day!

Step 8: Instructable 4 (continued): Three Main Benefits of Exercise

The three main benefits to exercise are:

1.      ‘The feel good factor’, when you exercise your body produces endorphins which make you feel great.
2.      ‘Staying Fit and Healthy’, you are keeping your internal organs healthier and lowering the risk of heart disease, lung failure and respiratory disease (amongst many others) by exercising.
3.      ‘Toning’, when you exercise you are toning existing muscles and building muscles you weren´t even aware of, thus tightening your skin, burning fat and getting rid of or reducing things like bingo wings and sagging skin. The leaner your body, the more muscle you have in comparison to fat, the more fat your body will burn.

All 4 of these tips and guidelines are what I would normally give to my weight loss classes on their first day, and they are extracts from the complete weight loss plan.

Step 9: If You Need More Information...

The tips and guidelines interlink to give an all round weight loss plan that suits everybody, no matter how much you weight you want to lose or how busy your life is. So if you are serious about losing weight and want more information then by all means email me your questions and I will do my best to answer them for you. I am currently compiling a new online version of my weight loss classes’ tips and guidelines which I will also be available upon request in the very near future.

You may be asking why would I help absolute strangers; well the answer is very simple:  I went through years of torment and depression due to my weight and with no support from anyone in sight I thought this was my life, but a very special person supported and inspired me to make vital changes in my life, I’m not saying I am inspiring but if I can at least help and support others to do the same as I have done, then I would have paid back the kindness so to speak.  I don’t want anyone else to feel like I did or go through what I had to go through!

It may take me a couple of days to answer emails, but bare with me, as my kids and weight loss classes keep me very busy!! My email is: [e-mail].