(Photo: Alan Cleaver/Flickr/CC-BY)

There are so many books and videos to help you in your efforts to lose weight. But for those of us who have not conquered the battle and are still carrying around excessive weight, we just can’t settle on the first try. We are still reading and wanting to learn new ways and find out what others have tried and how it has worked for them. To succeed in weight loss, you must continue searching for the right method that works for you.

Some basic weight loss tips

Some of the basic weight loss tips that have proven helpful, if closely followed, can really make a difference in your overall weight and in the general progress of good health, as well. Some suggestions you might have heard of are eating the right kind of food at the right time, consuming the right amount and including exercise at least three times a week for a half an hour. It can even be just walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes around your neighborhood. It does not have to be extensive and hard.

Plenty of vegetables, fruits and food with good sources of protein will keep you satisfied, and seeing the scale numbers drop will motivate you even more. If you are a regular alcohol consume, cut back on drinking. It is worth it, and you don’t have to stop drinking for good, either. Once you have reached your goal weight, you can have it again in moderation.

The effects of being overweight

Being overweight has many effects. It can cause heart attacks, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, to name a few. Learning how to eat better foods and exercising regularly can significantly diminish its risks and likelihood. You can also find some good teas that aid in weight loss, and almost all herbal teas have other health benefits, as well. If you feel you need to attend weight-loss classes or obtain a gym membership but do not have the cash needed upfront, it may be worth looking into instant payday loans or a small loan until payday.

Do not eat big meals after 7  p.m., and try to refrain from snacks in the evenings. Take note of what sabotages your own diet. Make a list of what foods trigger certain reactions or cravings and avoid those. You may not like the things you are replacing them with, but in time you will learn to love them even more than the ones you used to crave. When you eat healthier and begin to see happy results, you will think healthier, too.

The Flat Belly Diet isn't just rabbit food. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Dieting has become a new national pastime.  Many fad diets have come about, such as the South Beach Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Gullible Enough To Buy This Stuff Diet and now the Flat Belly Diet. A miracle way to make yourself Hollywood skinny has been sought for years, just like the Northwest Passage, and the Flat Belly Diet likely isn’t it either. That said, it uses some real common sense.  It won’t send you running for installment loans for bulk orders of frozen dinners that taste like cardboard, either.

Flat Belly Diet uses Mediterranean Diet

Because doctors are experts on the human body, to doctors you should go to consult about dieting and weight loss, and WebMD has reviewed the Flat Belly Diet.  The diet proclaims to burn up to 15 pounds in 32 days.  The first part consists of a four-day 1,200 to 1,400 calories per day initiation period, wherein dieters ingest foods targeted to reduce bloating and mentally adjust to eating healthier. During this four-day initial phase, they also are supposed to drink two liters per day of Sassy Water, a healthy and refreshing concoction.

Monounsaturated fats: the linchpin

As fate would have it, Cynthia Sass, inventor of Sassy Water, is a co-author of the Flat Belly Diet book, along with Liz Vaccariello.  The key to the 1,600 calories a day Flat Belly Diet is a compound called Monounsaturated Fat. MUFAs, as they’re called, are known to help reduce levels of low density lipoproteins (that’s the bad cholesterol) and potentially boost High Density Lipoprotein (the good kind).

Lots of healthy goodness

The diet itself has an eating plan, a cookbook, you name it. You eat four portion-controlled, small meals per day, each of which includes a MUFA ingredient. The idea is to stick to healthy foods like more fruits and veggies, whole grains, beans, lean protein and so forth.  Exercise is encouraged to complement the diet.

What the doctors said

The WebMD review was mixed. The review said that there were very good things about the Flat Belly Diet, but some misleading things.  First of all, they state the weight lost is likely to be water weight and that to burn 15 pounds of true fat a person would have to burn more than 1,600 calories a day, which isn’t likely.  The best weight loss results are slow and steady — a couple of pounds a week — and to remember SED – Strength training, Exercise (meaning cardio), and a healthy Diet.   There may be no Northwest Passage to weight loss.

What's your Happy New Year greeting message? Is it to use payday loans only when you need them?

Many of you are no doubt looking forward to New Year’s Day. You have your New Year’s resolutions and are looking forward to a Happy New Year in 2010. And why wouldn’t you? Whether the glass if half full or half empty, why not enjoy the substance of your refreshing liquid beverage? Have fun – you only get one shot at this life, so far as scientific proof is concerned.

As his own form of Happy New Year greeting message, the ubiquitous (or is it u-Oprah-tous?) Dr. Oz writes for the Huffington Post that we should indeed make merry with our New Year’s resolutions in 2010. “It’s a new year and time for a clean slate,” he writes. While I would argue that any day is a good day for honest, constructive self-reflection, the Doctor of Oz views the act of New Year’s resolution as something sacred to the inner being. And while your lists of New Year’s Day resolutions may have their share of misses over the years, the only real failure is not trying.

You Know, Payday Loans May Do You Better Than Psychobabble…

OK, let’s get this out of the way. I’m a pessimistic optimist. How’s that for a contradiction? While Dr. Oz may couch his message in feel-good palaver, the central triad of his argument – that we need “food, sex and sleep” – is absolutely, positively vital. Combine all three and that’s a Happy New Year greeting message I’ll wear out the rewind button on.

Dr. Oz does advise that we keep the Grhelin under control. That’s the hormone that makes your stomach growl. Keep it under control with light snacking (nuts, apples, sensible stuff without a “Mc” in front of it) and you’ll be well on your way to a weight loss goal. Just don’t diet; it’s unnatural.

Get Enough Sleep, You Idiots!

Please, don’t be offended, because I’m an idiot, too. If I could consistently get seven hours of sleep each night, I’d be a happier person with more to give everyone. Yet I deprive myself, as so many others do. Dr. Oz says this is also a no-no. “I want you to stop seeing sleep as a luxury where you can cut corners. It’s all in how you see it – so see it differently and put it on your resolution list!”

Be True to Yourself, But Also Forgive Yourself

Human beings are works in progress. Sometimes we hit on all cylinders, other times we make mistakes. Budget wise, we sometimes underestimate what we’ll need, but payday loans can help in the short term. But I digress in the interests of my corporate masters. Mr. Steve’s Happy New Year Greeting Message to you is to remain true to yourself and realize that you can achieve reasonable goals with your New Year’s resolutions in 2010. If you miss the mark, that’s OK. Try again! Hypnotize yourself to condition your mind if you like.

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