Many people tend to associate burning fat and an effective weight loss diet as a long, tedious, sweaty, time-consuming process. It’s no wonder many people (unfortunately) just give up

A positive attitude and change of perspective may be just what the doctor ordered to get you started on an effective weight loss diet.

after a week or two of trying to win the “battle of the bulge”. When it comes to losing weight, perception, in many ways, determines a person’s success rate. Why? Well, I once read a poster that said it all: “A winding road can be your path to success or an obstacle leading to failure”. So what’s the point of the poster? Well sometimes we only focus on the difficulty of a task or the obstacles in our way, and we lose sight of our goals rather than enjoying the journey.

So rather than seeing exercise as “a long, tedious, winding road”, and so on and so forth, change up your attitude and approach toward exercise. Start focusing on the positive, be optimistic, and don’t lose sight of all the wonderful benefits exercise has to offer. To name a few, you will feel more healthy inside and out, increase your metabolism, lose fat, increase lean muscle, increase cardiac output, and drastically improve your overall quality of life.

All that’s holding you back sometimes, is attitude. They’re a saying that success is 10% talent and 90% attitude. That says a lot right there. Keep your goals in mind and remember some of the weight loss tips you have picked up along the way to help maximize your results:

1. Eat in moderation. Balance your diet with the right amounts of whole grains, fresh fruit and veggies, and lean protein.

2. Find an activity you love. If you can’t stand running around the track, why not take up swimming instead? Or maybe dance lessons, spinning, a step class, boxing, martial arts, or any other option that peaks your interest. Today’s gyms are filled with choices.

3. Can’t afford a gym? Take your fitness program outside. Being outdoors creates a pleasurable atmosphere for exercising and is a great change of scenery from the treadmill calorie counter.

4. Bring a buddy. Find a friend with similar goals. Challenge and support eac other along your fitness journey.

5. Make it a family event. Many of you out there ar mother’s and father’s. And in today’s society, childhood obesity and Type 2 Diabetes are becoming epidemic. Help change the statistics starting in your own home. Have the kids and your spouse join you for a family bike ride or rollerblade session for example. It will unite you as a family and promote fitness at the same time.

Remember attitude is half the battle to ensure success in any effective weight loss diet.

Take Charge!

P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.

P.P.S. If you like this post, and think it will help others, please help me help others by clicking on one of these “Share and Enjoy” links below.

For a lot of people-including many of my clients-”the office” is also home. I work with several different types of people, many of which have this convenient-yet “dangerous”-work routine. Now why, do you ask, is working from home dangerous? Well, quite simply put-because it is so comfortable. You have food, your bed, pajamas, a television, maybe even an “X-Box” to keep you entertained-AND-inactive. Now I know that all of you work hard-please don’t get me wrong. What I am refering to is what you are going to do AFTER work? Most of us, including myself, are exhausted and mentally drained after a hard day at work. And sometimes, all you really want to do is relax-and what better place to relax than-you guessed it-home?

Now I’m sure you see where this is going. So how do we avoid becoming overly sedentary and packing on the pounds if we work from home? Maybe it’s easier said than done, but we

It takes hard work and dedication to stick to an effective weight loss diet while working from home. You must take extra precautions in order not to become overly sedentary.

need to FORCE ourselves to be active as part of an effective weight loss diet. For example, we all need to eat during the day, right? Well if you’re working at home and give yourself an hour break, why not split the hour? 30 minutes to eat, and then head outside and take a brisk walk around the block before heading back to the computer.

Speaking of eating-that’s a whole other issue. With the refrigerator just steps from your “workplace” it may be tempting to munch away all day long. Now remember, eating small, frequent meals throughout the day is a great idea and essential to an effective weight loss diet-BUT, you need to know what and when you are eating.

I recommend writing out a meal plan for the week, and leaving healthy, pre-measured snack options in your fridge. Take almonds for example. They are a great source of mono-unsaturated fat (a.k.a. “good fat”), and protein. But, too much of even a good thing is just that-TOO MUCH. By counting out a pre-measured amount of almonds you are less likely to overeat and consume more calories and fat than what you need to reach your fitness goals. Remember that calorie counting is essential to fast weight loss. You need to know how much you are consuming each day.

There are also sme other things you can do to assure that you stick to your fitness plan while working from home:

1. Take small “stretch breaks” throughout the day. Researchers have shown that by moving around and doing some light stretching at least every couple of hours helps circulate blood throughout the body and helps keep you more alert on the job.

2. Keep a full glass of water by your side. The usual recommended 8 to 10 glasses per day is a good guideline. Keep a glass of water nearby to help you remember to drink water throughout the workday. This will help keep you alert, hydrated, and helps prevent over-eating.

3. Team up with neighbors or friends that also work from home and plan to meet immediately after you leave the “office” for some exercise.  By making a promise to someone to be somewhere, you are more likely to actually, well, be there. You wouldn’t want to let your friend down and will enjoy having someone to exercise with.

4. Install a chin-up bar in your home office. This is one of my personal favorites. A chin up bar is a great exercise tool and most models fit into a doorway and can be easily removed at any time. Even for those of you that can’t quite do “real” chin-ups yet, this is a great idea. I use the “assisted chin up” method (where you use a chair for support to pull yourself up) with many of my clients. Throughout the day, you can do a few chin-ups whenever you head in or out of the room. Just having te equipment there reminds you to be active.

5. Keep a food and exercise log in your daily agenda or Palm Pilot. Make note of everything you eat and all the exercise you fit in throughout the day. This will help keep you focused and on track.

6. As soon as you wake up, “get ready for work”. They say that successful people dress the part. Ever heard of “dressing for success”? Well, that applies to those of us that work from

Staying in your pajamas all day long can have a very negative effect on your productivity and ruin your chances of sticking to an effective weight loss diet.

home. DO NOT stay in your pajamas all day. This will cause you to be overly comfortable and maybe even a little bit lazy througout the day. Leave the pajamas for Sunday mornings.  This doesn’t mean you need to put on a suit and tie, but at least ditch the flannel. During the work week, get dressed and have a healthy breakfast before heading off to work.

These are just a few tips for those of you whose daily work commute consists of just a few steps from the master bedroom to the home office. Working from home can actually be beneficial in the sense that you make your own schedule. Just be sure to have a fitness plan and stick to it.

Take Charge!

P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.

P.P.S. If you like this post, and think it will help others, please help me help others by clicking on one of these “Share and Enjoy” links below.

We all have an idea of how to lose weight, right? So why do we find it so hard? Every single diet on the market, no matter how fantastic it is will not work without one vital ingredient: WILL POWER! Unfortunately this is not something we can purchase from the store. Will power is something that we have to supply ourselves, and without it, every single diet that you attempt will fail.

There are some good diets around, and one effective weight loss diet that suits one person will not strictly suit

Will power, healthy eating habits, and exercise are all part of any effective weight loss diet.

another. So you may find that when you and your best friend start a diet together, your friend may be doing great and losing pound after pound, but you, are not. It’s frustrating, but it’s a fact of life that we are all made up differently. Personally I don’t recommend diets as such.

Once you restrict your calories, your body will think that there is a food shortage, and it will go into starvation mode. Once in starvation mode it will slow down your metabolism to conserve calories. You see, our bodies have been programmed from way back when there was not an abundance of food, we had to hunt our food so our meals were not regular. The metabolism regulated the usage of our calories so that in periods of food shortage, we did not waste away and starve.

Now in this day and age there is always food to hand, but our bodies are not aware of this. When you skip a meal your body will go on starvation alert and slow that metabolism right down, which means next time your eat, your body is going to hang right on to those calories and store as much of them as it can as fat. So, what’s the solution? There has been tons of research, and in my opinion, the way to move forward is to keep your metabolism ticking at a regular pace. How do you do this? Well, you need to eat small, regular meals, every 2.5 – 3 hours. Try to include protein in these meals (meat, preferably lean meat i.e. chicken, turkey, tuna) as protein doesn’t shoot your blood sugar right up and plummet it back down as sugary foods would. Keep your daily calories to a guideline level.

The next part is something that many try to escape, but is an essential part of any effective wight loss diet: you need to EXERCISE!! For optimal results, you need both cardio and strength training to be part of your routine exercise regimen. This includes everyone, even women, who are sometimes afraid of “bulking up”. I am not suggesting to go and hit 50-pound weights ladies, just some light to moderate strength training to tone muscles and increase strength. remember, the more lean muscle you have, the more fat you will burn!

BEST OF LUCK!

Take Charge!

P.S. Want to: Learn the “Easy” way to get and stay in shape? Discover the secret to quick fat loss? How to exercise less and get better results? Discover the secret to ripped abs without doing endless crunches? Then be sure to get my “Amazing Fat Burning Formula” HERE.

P.P.S. If you like this post, and think it will help others, please help me help others by clicking on one of these “Share and Enjoy” links below.