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You can read all the diet books that exist, and you can try every fad diet and exercise program.  You can join a gym, or a weight loss club, or you can hire a personal trainer.  Those steps are fine, but that’s not the first step.

The first step to weight loss is critical: you must decide that you want to lose weight.

To repeat: you must decide to lose weight.  No-one else can make that decision for you.

Your spouse may want you to lose weight.  Your doctor may want you to start a weight loss program.  Perhaps your friends and family are telling you to lose weight.  That’s great, but except for the calories you may burn by arguing with them, they can’t help you lose weight.

Only you can change what you eat.  Only you can decide not to eat four pieces of cake when you are hungry at midnight.  Only you can decide to get up early in the morning to go to the gym, or to go for a run.  Only you can have the inner motivation to make changes to your life.

So ask yourself this simple question: “Why do I want to lose weight?”  Then write down your answer.  You may want to lose weight due to simple vanity (I want to look better).  It may be a health issue (I don’t want to get diabetes, or have a heart attack).  It may be personal (I want to be able to go for a swim and a bike ride with my children).  Whatever the reason, the reason must come from within.  You must make that decision.

Once you know why you want to lose weight, you can decide to do it.  For yourself.  Not for anyone else.

That’s why the first step to losing weight is to decide you want to lose weight.  It’s up to you to make that decision today.

The average fast food meal contains many hundreds of calories more than a comparable meal that you prepare at home.  In short, fast food meals are generally not healthy.

After a busy day at work, it’s difficult to rush to the store to buy healthy, fresh ingredients, and then rush home and spend 45 minutes in the kitchen preparing a healthy meal.  So we often take the easy way out and buy hamburgers or fried chicken or pizza that may not be the healthiest alternative.

To lose weight, you should avoid fast food and eat at home.  But where do you find the time?  Here’s how:

First, start by planning your meals in advance.  Every weekend pull out your calendar and look at your schedule: what days will you be home early, and on what days will you be working late.  It’s the late days that take the most planning.

Then, on the weekend, when you have time, do your shopping and then pre-prepare as many meals as possible for the week.  You can make a double batch of lasagna (with healthy ingredients) and freeze it or refrigerate it for use later in the week.

Focus on quick and healthy meals.  It’s not hard to barbecue a chicken breast and make a salad.  Pasta can be prepared quickly if you have the ingredients ready.  Plan ahead.

For fresh vegetables, stop by your local grocer on the way home.  If you have your meal plan, you know that today all you need to buy is fresh broccoli, or beans, or lettuce, or whatever you are cooking tonight.  If you know exactly what you want to purchase, it’s a quick trip.

As an added bonus, planning ahead and cooking at home can save you a lot of money, while you reach your weight loss goals.

Here’s a simple weight loss tip: stand up!

Standing burns more calories than sitting, so whenever you can, stand up!

When you are at the office talking on the phone, stand up.  Buy yourself a hands free wireless earpiece for your phone, so you can walk around while talking on the phone.  Standing and walking burns more calories than sitting, and it’s easy.

Stand up when you are having short meetings.

Don’t sit at your desk all day; get up and walk around.

You will be surprised how much weight you can lose by standing up.  Try it!

Thanks to Ben Greenfield of Ben Greenfield Fitness for this tip.  To lose weight, do these two simple things:

First, stop eating two hours before you go to bed.  That means no snacks or meals in the two hours leading up to bed time.  Plan your dinner for perhaps four hours before bed, and then if necessary have a small, healthy snack two hours before bed, and that’s it!  You can drink water, but don’t eat anything in the two hours before bed.  Your food will be fully digested before you go to sleep, so your insulin will be at the right levels, and your body can burn fat during the night, not the food in your stomach.

Second tip: when you wake up in the morning, do 20 to 30 minutes of moderate exercise.  Nothing strenuous.  You don’t need to run 10 miles.  A leisurely walk, or some light cardio, or yoga, would be fine.  Your goal is to get the blood flowing, and since you haven’t eaten, your body will burn fat for energy.

These two tips are very simple and easy, and will help you shed pounds with virtually no extra work!

For more great tips, check out the Ben Greenfield fitness podcast: it’s free!

To lose weight, stop eating; seems simple, right?  Yes, in many instances “fasting”, or not eating, is a way to lose weight.  However, caution is required.

Your body requires nutrients, vitamins and minerals, so if you stop eating, your body is not getting those nutrients.  If you fast for long enough, obviously you would die of starvation, so you need a plan.

To start, your body can go weeks without food, but it can’t even go days without liquid, so if you fast, continue to drink plenty of liquids.  Water is essential.

Next, if you are not fueling your body, you will not have the energy to do strenuous physical exercise, so while fasting avoid heavy exertion.  Fasting and resting go together, so take it easy while fasting.  Walking is fine, but running a marathon while fasting is not a good idea.

Finally, if you fast for an extended period of time, your body will get used to lower food intake.  Then, when you stop fasting, your body will work hard to replenish it’s lost stores of fat and energy.  Your metabolism revs back up, and it’s common once you stop fasting that you regain all of the weight that you lost while fasting.

So what’s the secret to fasting for weight loss?  First, only fast periodically for brief periods, such as a day or two, not a week or two.

Start by preparing.  Tell yourself that your fast starts tomorrow.  Have a plan to drink lots of liquids, to reduce physical activity, and to stick with it.  Eat normal, healthy foods the day before your fast.

Then, while fasting, have non-strenuous activities planned to keep you busy, and to keep your mind from thinking about food.  Read a book, go for a leisurely walk, take a nap, listen to music, but avoid strenuous physical activities.

At the end of your day long fast, break the fast the following morning by drinking two glasses of water with a bit of lemon.  Let the water work through your digestive system to remove any toxins accumulated.  Then, have your normal healthy breakfast.

Fasting once a month can be beneficial, and can help in your weight loss program.

It’s been a while since I posted on this blog, but today I had to share the most obvious tip there is when it comes to weight loss, and the only method known to man to guarantee that you lose weight: eat less.

Yes, I know that is an obvious statement, but think about it.  You can go on a fancy diet, like the Atkins Diet or the South Beach Diet, and you can exercise like crazy, and you will lose weight.  That’s great, but the simpler method is to eat less.

I like to eat pizza.  Every weekend we have pizza.  I like to eat 5 slices of pizza.  How can I lose weight?  Only eat 4 slices of pizza.  Simple.  I’m eating less.

For breakfast I like to have a bowl of cereal and two pieces of toast.  If I have a slightly smaller bowl of cereal and only one piece of toast, I will still feel full, but I’m eating less, so all else being equal I will lose weight.

But wait, you say: If I’m eating less, won’t I be hungry? At the start, yes, you might be hungry.  Your body is used to eating 5 slices of pizza, so if it only gets 4, it may think it’s hungry.  Here’s the amazing part: you will adjust.  Your body will adjust.  It will get used to 4 slices instead of 5, and after a week or two you won’t feel hungry at all.

The best way to quit smoking is to gradually reduce your cigarrette consumption.   If you smoke 20 a day now, drop down to 19 each day for the next week, then 18, and so on.  It works the same with food.  Very gradually reduce your portion sizes, and before long you will be eating less, and you won’t even know it.  Try it, you’ll see.  Eating less really works.

We all have heard the “conventional wisdom” about the importance of exercise: if you engage in moderate exercise, like walking, for 30 minutes a day three or four times per week you can lose weight.  But is that true?

In a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on July 28, 2008 (here’s the link: Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Women) it was discovered that the more you exercise, the more weight you can lose.

In the study, 201 overweight and obese women aged 21 to 45 years old were told to reduce their caloric intake to 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day, and they were split into four groups based on physical activity (from light activity up to vigorous intensity).

They discovered that individuals sustaining a weight loss of 10% or more of initial body weight at 24 months reported performing more physical activity (1835 kcal/wk or 275 min/wk) compared with those sustaining a weight loss of less than 10% of initial body weight.

The study concluded that the addition of about four and a half hours per week of vigorous physical activity, combined with a reduced calorie diet, is very important in allowing overweight women to sustain weight loss. The message is clear: if you want to lose weight, more exercise is better. Don’t just go for a leisurely walk three times a week, go for a brisk walk for 45 minutes to an hour six times a week, or add in other forms of physical activity to enhance weight loss.

People everywhere are constantly searching for the product that will help them to achieve their weight loss goals.  The recently released weight loss pill, alli, with the convenience of being available without a prescription and with the safety and comfort of FDA approval, seems like the answer to everyone’s weight loss dreams.  With the promise of increased weight-loss and the possibility of curing obesity-related diseases, the alli weight loss pill seems too good to be true.

Olistat, the active ingredient in alli has been available by prescription for years by the brand name Xenical.  Alli is a reduced-strength version of this same drug which when taken with meals prevents the body from breaking down and absorbing 25% of the fat in food.  With less fat available for energy, the body must tap into its fat reserves and use up the excesses resulting in weight loss.

Using alli along with a low-calorie, reduced-fat diet and increased exercise could help in losing up to 50% more weight than with traditional dieting alone.  Maximum weight loss is usually achieved within the first six months of using the product.  Unlike some other diet pills, alli acts only in the digestive tract and has no effect on the brain eliminating the addictive qualities that cause other diet pills to be susceptible to abuse.

This all sounds great, however there are some dangers to using alli to lose weight.  Some of the common side effects include increased flatulence and more frequent, difficult-to-control bowel movements.  The alli program suggests that meals include no more than 15 grams of fat to prevent these side effects from worsening; however some people may find it challenging to know exactly how much fat their meal contains.  A multi-vitamin may need to be taken as alli can interfere with the absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K.  Because alli is a relatively new drug, the long-term effects are unknown as of yet.  In clinical trials, when alli stopped being taken, many people gained back the weight they had lost and so the pill may need to be taken indefinitely.

Alli should only be used as a dieting aid for people who need to lose weight for reasons of health and not for already thin people to keep their weight off.   All aspects of the alli weight loss program need to be followed including the recommended dosage, the diet and the exercise.

Considering the complexity of weight loss surgery, surgical weight loss methods are actually relatively easy to understand.  Different methods may be used depending on the patient’s state, including their Body Mass Index and how much weight they need to lose to be healthy.

It is important that a patient have an understanding of the surgery and how it works before it takes place.  It used to be necessary for the surgeon to cut the patient completely open to perform weigh loss surgery. However, they are now able to use cameras inserted in the body to perform most proedures.  This is called laparoscopic surgery, and is less invasive and removes the possibility of wound infection which can cause complications.

Another procedure which may be confused with a surgical weight loss procedure is a tummy tuck.  A tummy tuck is done to remove excess skin from the abdomen after a large amount of weight is lost or after pregnancy.  Some people who have weight loss surgeries may want this eventually if they have a lot of skin left.

Once someone has decided that they would like to have weight loss surgery, they will need to discuss with their doctor which method would be best for them given their current weight, goals and medical history.

By Pete Koerner

Everyone wants to lose weight, it seems; but, based on statistics, nobody seems to know how to do it. Over two-thirds of all Americans are overweight; and over 100-million Americans – one-third of the population – is actually considered, “obese.” The only thing growing faster than America’s waistline seems to be the diet and health industries who are telling us what to do in our “battle of the bulge.” But, if they knew what they were talking about, wouldn’t we be getting fitter instead of fatter?

Weight-loss is really pretty simple; but you have to let-go of some of your old ways of thinking if you want the weight-loss to be permanent. I lost 55-pounds without changing anything but my thoughts about food, fat, and weight. Sure, some of my behaviors changed automatically as my mindset changed; but, for the most part, I didn’t actually “do” anything to make myself lose weight. I simply decided what I wanted to look like and focused on that image as I released any thoughts that didn’t go along with it. Here is a list of Seven-Simple Steps you can take to easily and effortlessly lose weight:

Seven-Simple Steps for Weight-Loss:

1. Recognize the contrast between where you are and where you want to be. Specifically identify the “new” you, or “ideal” you.
2. Eliminate negativity, negative self-talk, fears, worries, doubts, and negative or self-limiting beliefs with EFT, or some other simple, clearing-technique.
3. Think positively and love yourself always. Think positive things about the food you eat. Do not fear food, or believe it will make you fat, and then eat it; or it will.
4. Hydrate yourself properly. Water is one of the great secrets to healthy, rapid, natural, and safe weight-loss. Water gives you a “full” feeling, and helps your body flush out toxins and fat, among other weight-loss benefits. I drink between two and three liters of water each day. Choose water over sugar and caffeine.
5. Breathe deeply, fully, and often. Oxygenate yourself properly; it takes oxygen to burn fuel – even body fat. The more you breathe the more fat you burn! Breathing also massages your abdominal organs and stimulates digestion.
6. Take walks, or do some other activity – outside (sunlight is good for you) – that is physical and you enjoy doing. Don’t be afraid to be tired; do more today than you did yesterday if you want to do more tomorrow than you do today. Move your body and tell it that you are moving it so it can be strong and healthy.
7. Nourish yourself with healthy foods; but, no matter what you eat, love your food – bless it and ask your food for the strength and nourishment to do whatever you must do. Eat well; but eat consciously. And always enjoy your food; if you are feeling guilty, you are experiencing the stress response – and your food is being turned into fat…

Losing weight is simply, but it requires a decision, and continuous awareness in order to stick to that decision and make the best choices for you and your body, health, and life. Following these Seven-Simple Steps will take you to your goal; but, even if you can’t follow them all, think about them all and try to implement as many as you can.If you’re ready to let-go of the baggage you’ve been carrying around, and “get the junk out of your trunk,” get your Free, Illustrated Guide to Emotional Freedom Techniques and start slimming-down now!

*To download your FREE, Illustrated Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Manual, go to: http://www.ExploreExpandEvolve.com/free_download/ It only takes about 10-seconds to get your Free EFT manual and start erasing worries, stress, doubts, guilt, grief, fears, low self-esteem, poor body-image and other limiting beliefs that could be standing between you and your goals and desires!

About the Author:

Pete Koerner is the author of The Belief Formula: The Secret to Unlocking the Power of Prayer. The Belief Formula is a look at how you can use ancient wisdom and modern scientific awareness to learn how to use your mind to reclaim your health and create the life of your dreams.

For a Free Report on Making The Belief Formula Work for You, visit: http://www.TheBeliefFormula.com/