Program To Make Music

Many people want to know the quickest ways to remove a certain amount of pounds from the body frame. This process will not be an easy or quick one - the weight was not put on overnight and will not come off that quickly. Dropping weight will take persistence and patience, but it can definitely be done. It took me ten months, working out with my DVD six days a week and learning how to eat better every day, to reach my goal weight. Believe me, there were days that I told myself that it wasn't worth all this. There were days I fell victim to my sweet tooth and ate a piece of cake and ice cream or enjoyed a Krispy Kreme doughnut. However, on the days that I ate better and worked out, I know that I possessed more energy, slept better, and felt changes happening inside of my body before actually seeing changes on the outside.

So, how do you drop the pounds safely?

1) Figure out how much weight you want to remove and write it down. Make sure that you write down specific numbers. If you can lose at least 10% of your body weight, you will reduce your risk of many diseases like heart disease and diabetes, and lessen the chances that you will have a stroke or heart attack. Take your weight and divide it by 10 to find out how much weight this is for you. Write this number down somewhere that you can see it every day. One of my friends wrote his weight loss goal number on a white board in his workout area in the garage. Another lady took things to the next level and placed her number on her refrigerator, bathroom mirror, bedroom mirror, and on the door leading out to her car in the garage.

2) Set a weekly goal of 1 - 2 pounds weight loss. To lose one pound in a week, you will have to remove 3500 calories either by working out or by eating less. That's 500 calories at the least you would have to remove each day between your workouts and your nutrition. You can sweat those calories off by walking during your day, doing your fitness program that you purchased, swimming in the pool, playing kickball or frisbee outside with the family, using weights or resistance bands to define your muscles, setting a timer for 2 - 5 minutes and doing pushups, squats, lunges, or jumping jacks, riding a bike around the block or in the park, dancing around the house to some upbeat music...the possibilities are endless. You can also cut back on calories by decreasing your intake of fried foods, white flour/white sugar/white pasta products, and processed meals, increasing your intake of high density, lower calorie foods like vegetables and fruits, and healthy whole grains like oatmeal, brown rice, quinoa, and whole wheat breads/pastas, and drinking water instead of sugary sodas or sweet tea.

3) Use online resources to keep yourself on track. There are some excellent resources available to you online, both free and paid. An important thing to remember is to find a resource where you can enter your fitness goals and daily progress, enter your nutrition goals and count daily calories, and to share your activities and your emotions with other like-minded people. Keep a folder in your browser favorites with fitness and nutrition tips and tools, favorite weight loss blogs or forums, and inspirational articles to motivate you to stay focused on your fitness and nutrition goals. For many people, having this information is critical in assisting them drop the pounds.

4) Do NOT weigh yourself more than once a week! Weight fluctuates up and down during the week, so weighing every day can cause you to become discouraged if you have gained several ounces or you have lost nothing at all. Once a week in the mornings is a great time to weigh in. I usually weigh in on Mondays after my shower and before I have breakfast. If you get this done first thing, then you will not have to worry about being too busy to check. Some fitness programs have you weigh in once a month to see your progress every 30 days and this can really motivate you to continue. Take the goal number that you wrote down in #1 and scratch a line through it, then subtract what you have lost from that number and write down this new goal number for yourself. Each week, you will reduce your goal number and soon you will be at 0!!

5) Never give up on yourself! Everyone's body is different and it is not effective to get frustrated when results do not come as fast as someone else. It took me ten months to do it. Person X may have reached their goal weight in three months, and person Y may have taken over a year and a half to drop the pounds. It's okay - REALLY! If I (or person Y) had gotten upset that we did not lose our weight as quick as person X, then we would not see any type of results. Neither of us would be successful. Honestly thinking about it, I probably would be worse - on multiple medications that I could not afford and tiring out after simple tasks. You have to think about YOUR GOAL, focus on YOUR ACTIONS, celebrate YOUR RESULTS, and then challenge yourself all over again! Also, please don't beat yourself up over mistakes or days when you don't get a chance to work out or eat healthy foods. If God blesses you with another day, then you can start fresh on your goals.

Will you do me a favor? Take 15 minutes and think about where you may end up if you do not lose the pounds. Think about how it will affect you, your family members, your finances, and that secret "bucket list" in your journal (yes, I know you have one - I have one too!). I really want you to feel the pain that you could possibly experience if you DON'T achieve your goal.

Now, does the pain of NOT doing it help you realize how important your goal is to you and to those who love you? If so, what are you waiting for?

Take action on the tips above - starting today - and CHOOSE TO LIVE HEALTHY!