10 Reasons Why It Is Hard To Lose Weight

Do you believe it’s simple to lose weight? If you listen to the weight loss industry, you’ve been told over and over how easy it is…just take this pill, follow that diet or buy this piece of equipment and everything will melt away in a flash. In fact, we spend over billions each year on weight loss products and services and yet we’re still overweight. In light of this, is weight loss really that simple?

Complex Problems, Simple Solutions

The idea behind weight loss is simple–burn more calories than you eat. This can be accomplished by replacing a couple of sodas with water and adding 20 minutes of walking each day. Sounds simple…and it is. If it’s that simple, why can’t we seem to do it?

There are a number of factors that contribute to our weight gain that you already know. But it’s not just about finding time to exercise or choosing the salad over the burger–it’s about genuine commitment to make healthy decisions every day….REGARDLESS of what’s happening in your life. If you’re not ready to make some changes, losing weight will be hard. Below are 10 things you’ll need to look at in order to get yourself on a healthy track.

1. Your Attitude. If you’re only on a health kick to lose weight or look a certain way, it will be hard to lose weight permanently. Why? Because, what happens if you don’t see results quickly enough? You give up. Weight loss is a great goal, but unless you have something else to motivate you, what’s to keep you going if the scale doesn’t budge? It takes time to lose weight–how will you motivate yourself in the meantime? Find more reasons to be healthy–having more energy, dealing with health problems or wanting to live longer to be around for your kids. Those are some darned good reasons, if you ask me.

2. Your Workouts. If you don’t workout consistently enough, it’s hard to lose weight. Yes, it’s possible to lose weight through diet alone, but you’ll likely hit a plateau. You don’t need to spend hours in the gym, you only need to set up a reasonable workout schedule that you can follow each week. It’s not about killing yourself with workouts–it’s about finding something you like and that you’ll continue with for the rest of your life. You have to be willing to be more active on a regular basis–not just for a week here and there.

3. Your Eating. Changing the way you eat is another thing you’re going to have to do for long-lasting weight loss. You need to be willing to replace unhealthy foods with healthier choices–every single day. This might mean:

• Keeping a food journal
• Spending more time in the grocery store reading food labels
• Spending more time preparing meals
• Saying no to extra portions
• Making conscious choices about what you put in your mouth.

For permanent weight loss, you need to pay attention to what you eat and make good choices more often than not. Maybe a structured diet eventually ends, but healthy eating never stops…there will never be a time when you’re done eating healthy. You might feel you’re sacrificing the good stuff (pizza, fast food, etc.) and your life won’t be fun if you can’t have those foods. Guess what? You can still have them…just not whenever you want. Are you ready to make these changes? Are you ready to stop giving your body the most convenient thing available (and often the most fatty) and, instead, spend time planning what and when you’ll eat? Because that’s what it takes to get healthy…permanently.

4. Your Lifestyle. If you want a healthy life, you have to be willing to change how you live. It doesn’t mean changing everything overnight, but simply being open to new ways of doing things. Some things you might need to change for a healthy life are:

• Daily Routines. You may need to get up earlier to prepare your lunch or squeeze in a workout, use your lunch hour for exercise or go for a walk after work instead of watching TV. Are you willing to do this?
• Limits. You might need to set new rules for yourself limiting how much TV you watch or how long you sit at the computer. You’ll need to pay attention to how you spend your time and where you’re out of balance so you can add more movement.
• Your Pantry. I’m the kind of person who will eat an entire bag of Doritoes if they’re in the house. That means I don’t keep them in the house and if someone (ahem…husband) brings them home, he must immediately re-locate them elsewhere. If you want to be healthy, you may need to get rid of those foods you just can’t resist.
• Your Schedule. If you’re not willing to sit down and change the way you live each day to include exercise, time to prepare meals and time to nurture yourself with sleep, it’s hard to lose weight. People use busy schedules as an excuse not to be healthy…are you one of them? If you’re not ready to take responsibility for the schedule you’ve created, it will be hard to lose weight.

5. Your Surroundings. Sometimes, you can’t control the things around you. At work, you may be surrounded by temptations–donuts, vending machines and the like. That’s just one thing you have to deal with…but what about your home? Surround yourself with things that will support you in your efforts to get healthy. That might mean spending some money on home workout equipment, setting up a corner of the house for your gear or commandeering the TV a few nights a week to do an exercise video. Set up an environment that encourages those healthy choices and reminds you of them–just walking into my kitchen and seeing that bowl of fresh fruit is often enough to remind me of all the healthy choices I’ll need to make that day.

6. Your Support System. While getting healthy may be something you’re doing on your own, it’s a big help to have a support system. At the very least, family members who understand what you’re doing and are either willing to participate or help. If you have a spouse who wants to continue eating the kinds of foods that tempt you, you need a plan to deal with that so you can still reach your goals and keep your relationship together. Try to surround yourself with people who support what you’re doing and avoid those people (like that co-worker who always offers you a donut even though you refuse on a daily basis) who don’t. A workout buddy is also an excellent idea for support.

7. Your Spiritual and Mental Health. If you have other reasons for being overweight–past hurts that you’ve used food to deal with, depression or other problems, it’s hard to lose weight. For many of us, food is a comfort and something we’ve relied on all of our lives to help us deal with emotional problems. If that’s the case for you, pinpointing those behaviors and what drives them is important for becoming aware of what you’re doing and why. A counselor can help you with this or take some time to read about emotional eating. Be willing to learn why you make the choices you make and to confront them.

8. Your Goals. If you’ve set impossible goals, you are guaranteed to fail. Weight loss becomes hard to achieve if you feel like a constant failure…who wants to feel like that? If that’s how your weight loss experience is, it’s no wonder you keep quitting. The key is to set reasonable goals. So what is reasonable? That’s going to be different for each person depending on your genetics, eating habits, exercise, and metabolism to name a few. You’re better off setting a long-term goal (whether it’s to lose weight or compete in a race) and then focusing your attention on daily or weekly goals. Your weekly goal might be to get in 3 cardio workouts, minimum. Pick things you KNOW you’ll achieve so you’re always successful. It can be as small as you like, as long as it’s reachable.

9. Your Flexibility. You hear a lot about lifestyle changes, but it’s daily choices that really test you. What happens if you have to work late and you can’t get to the gym? Or what if you get stuck in traffic and miss your fitness class? Any number of things can happen in a day that may throw you off track. The trick is to be flexible. It helps if you’re always prepared–keep some workout shoes in the car so you can stop off at the park for a quick walk. Keep some food handy so if you get stuck in traffic, you get a snack in before your workout. Often people skip workouts because something comes up and they simply aren’t ready for it or they aren’t willing to give themselves other options–can’t do 45 minutes? Why not just do 10? Something is always better than nothing.

10. Your Willingness to Fail. You will not be perfect every day. As a perfectionist, I have to say that is a frustrating concept for me but, the truth is, everyone (even perfectionists) has good days and bad days. On the good days, you’ll eat all your fruits and veggies, say no to that pizza and do your workout even though you’re tired. On the bad days, you’ll wake up late, forget to bring your lunch, have an extra piece of cake at your friend’s birthday party and skip your workout. The bad days will happen if you’re a human being. The trick is to never give up, even when you mess up. You’re not a loser just because you make some mistakes…you’re simply a person trying his or her best to make good decisions

Why you should focus on your Metabolism!!!

Metabolism is a combination of physical and chemical processes called anabolism and catabolism. Anabolism is the constructive phase of metabolism in which body cells synthesize protoplasm for growth and repair. Catabolism is the destructive phase of metabolism in which complex substances are broken down into simpler compounds producing energy which is essential for the proper functioning of body cells. Together, these processes distribute nutrients which are absorbed into the blood after digestion.

Three factors determine your metabolic rate.

1. Amount of calories your body uses every day (aka: basal metabolic rate [BMR]).
2. The rate you burn energy during physical activity
3. The rate you use energy during digestion of food are the two other factors involved in your total metabolic rate.

To improve your metabolic efficiency you need minor alterations to your daily eating and exercise program to experience a difference in how you look and feel.

The best way to jump-start your metabolism is to exercise. Exercise will reduce body fat and increase lean muscle mass. By increasing lean muscle mass your metabolism will increase and aid in the weight-loss process. Muscle burns significantly more calories than fat tissue because it has a higher metabolic rate. Aerobic exercise, like walking, swimming or cycling, has the added bonus of speeding up your metabolism for 4 to 8 hours after you stop exercising. Additional calories will be burned long after you stop exercising.

If you want to reap the benefits of a faster metabolism throughout the day, exercise in the morning, or exercise in short 10 or 15-minute bursts every couple of hours to keep your metabolism pumping.  By exercising just a little more than usual you can speed up your metabolism and use up stored fat in the process.

Eat breakfast!
Breakfast is essential. Your body has been deprived of food throughout the night; therefore your metabolism has slowed. Think of your body as a train and this train hasn�t had any coal for the last 8 hours. Time for some coal! If the cells do not receive sufficient nutrients they will begin to function less efficiently on smaller amounts, and they will actually store more fat to use during these times of nutritional deprivation. You are starving your body by only feeding it a couple times a day, so it goes into survival mode and starts to store as much as it can from the meals it does get. Eat 6-10 small meals a day to keep your body�s fuel supply consistent and keep your metabolism revved up. Consistency is important because your body metabolism adapts to your current weight. If you have been dieting or skipping meals your body�s metabolism slows down to compensate for the lack of nutrients. When lean people overeat their metabolism speeds up and when obese people diet their metabolism slows down. The key is a balance of exercise and diet.

Best Foods to Increase your metabolism:

• Fish
• Oatmeal
• Dark Green Leafy Vegetables
• Tomatoes
• Blueberries and many other fruits
• Whole Grains (increase your dietary Fiber w/ grains, fruit and veggies)
• At Least 8 glasses of water a day.

Stay away from:

• High-fat/calorie foods
• Sugary Food (Substitute Sugar for Agave or Stevia [Google it])
• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Do not Smoke

You can jump-start a sluggish metabolism through exercise and proper diet! Proper nutrition is the very most important piece to your fitness puzzle. The truth is 85% of your results can be seen by developing a healthy, everyday diet!!! Only about 15% will be seen by exercise alone!!!� Get the Idea!!!

So… Do i just write 1/29/10 or do I have to put 2010 now eveytime??  haha, anyway so here was my day.

Been waking up a little earlier than usual, roughly 5:30 am every week day, roll out of bed, jump in the shower, and then off to my first meeting for the day, got a good workout in later this evening, and here are the details:

Meals: 5:30 am – 11:00 pm

-High Fiber Oatmeal (one packet) and cup of coffee for the car

-Bowl of canned ravioli

-Steamed tv dinner

-fiber one snack bar

-Roast beef sandwich with cheese and chips

Workout

-Protein shake (30 grams)

-bowl of cereal

Workout Details: Chest Day

-Regular Bench Press 3 Sets 10 reps 155 lbs

-Incline Bench Press 3 sets 8 reps 135 lbs

-Incline cable fly 3 sets 10 reps 40 lbs each side (80 total lbs)

-regular cable fly 3 sets 8 reps 50 lbs each side

-Body weight dips 3 sets 10 reps

-Kickbacks 3 sets 10 reps 10 lbs

-Hanging leg lifts 2 sets to failure

-Finished with 8 min cardio consisting of 4 min incline walk and short jog to finish out.

Notes:  Pretty successful workout, pushed it hard, went super slow and concentrated on form instead of strength.  Small amount of downtime in between every set.  Overall very happy with today’s eating and workout, will see results if continue path in this manor.

Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.  Thanks!

Well welcome back world!  With some well needed time off, we are about to endure on a 90 day fitness regiment to go from current weight of 155 lbs to 175 lbs of lean and powerful muscle.  I will be trying out for the Minnesota Vikings in the spring and will show you every step of my complete diet, nutrition, supplements, and detailed training program every day for the next 90 days!  Please feel free to ask any questions you may have!   I will be up loading pictures of day one and then show you current picks at the end of every week.  If you like the results, then simply go back through my blogs and you will be able to see exactly what I ate and how I trained to get the results you desire!  This site is not intended for any sale of products, although we do advertise suppliers that we believe have products worth buying, we are not selling anything!  So let us begin!

Current State:

Weight: 155lbs

Height: 5’10″

Body fat: 8%

Hey world!   Sorry about the delay in the posts for the last couple of entries.. so I am on vacation down in Ft lauderdale with my friend, it has been kinda crazy and have been eating like a king!  For sure not helping me with my fitness goals, but its vacation and you need to spoil your self every once in a while!  I will post some pics here soon, for an idea, last night we took the Bentley GTC out to dinner and then came back to take the Ferrarri F430 out for a rip down A1A to fly around town.. for the record neither of these cars are mine, I wish, but no.. hahaha.  My friend has a killer house down here on the ocean and has been kind enough to share the experience with me for a couple of weeks.  I will get some new entries up here asap, and try not to rub it in too much      oh and I just bought myself an early christmas present and birthday, so I can fit in with the class down here, got the SEIKO Chronograph 200M dive watch, with yellow face.. super nice, but got it on sale!

So was super tired last night and didn’t get a chance to work on my blog until now.   But here was my day for 12/09/09:

Woke up around 8am and went down town to Minneapolis with my brother to go do some long procrastinated paperwork.   After that I needed to head home so I could have enough time to get a workout in before going car shopping with one of my best friends.  Car shopping took forever, and if you know anything about what the weather has been like here in Minnesota for the last couple of days you will know why.  A normal 20 min drive took us and hour and fifteen minutes cause of traffic and accidents from all the snow we have received.  Anyway here is my meal and workout information for yesterday 12/09/09!

Meal Details:

-Bowl of Lucky Charms

-Roast beef peperjack cheese wrap

-Snack bar and Diet coke

Workout

-Protein Shake (30 grams)

-Turky Sandwhich and chips from gas station

-Beef Roast TV dinner

-Bowl of Lucky Charms

Notes:   Not a bad meal day, glad to have finally gotten back in the gym!   Also I started doing some research on natural supplements to take, and read about “Glinko Biloba” and decided to pick some of it up.  It supposedly provides your brain with the fuel it needs to supply a higher level of productivity throughout your day, pretty much like brain food.  Anyway I thought I would try it out and will let you know what I think.  Also at that time I picked up some Complex B vitamins that help convert food into energy.  I just have been feeling like I haven’t had the energy I usually do, and want to stay away from the energy drinks as much as possible, since for a while I was drinking like 2-3 Blue Monsters every day!    

Workout Details:  Have to Run but will update this.. quick note is it was a Leg day for me!

Many positive health claims have been made over the years for high-fiber diets. Most recently two articles in The Lancet medical journal give credence to the long-held idea that such a diet protects against colon cancer. The articles described two long-term studies, one done in England, the other in the US.

One reason for the difficulty of proving such claims for fiber is that the substance is complex — there are many types of fiber, not all of which act in the same manner. Some, in other words, may be more effective as a preventive agent than others — it is important to isolate which specific high-fiber types matter most.

Fiber, as you know, is plentiful in vegetables, fruits, and whole grains. For some reasons not certain, Europeans eat more of it than we do in the U.S.; their residents ate 22 grams a day to our (American) 16 grams a day. According to the latest studies just mentioned, neither the Euros nor the Americans are eating enough — at least 30 grams daily seem essential for protection against colon cancer.

Any idea how many grams of fiber there are in popular foods? Here are a few with fiber content noted:

·        Slice of whole meal bread-2 grams.

·        Banana-3 grams.

·        Apple-3.5 grams.

·        Cup of brown rice-3.5 grams.

·        Half a cup of high fiber breakfast cereal-14 grams.

In the American study (consisting of 3,600 people) reported in The Lancet, people who ate the most fiber (36 grams daily) had a 27 percent lower risk of pre-cancerous growths than those who ate the least. In the English study, those who ate the most fiber (about 35 grams a day) had about a 40 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer.

All of which leads me to conclude that everyone would be wise to pay a lot more attention to fiber than is the norm! One way to do so, besides counting fiber intake daily, is to be as alert to what happens to your food after you eat it as to the foods you select to eat. Consider this fact: America leads the world in the incidence not only of colorectal cancer, but also of digestive tract disorders, such as diverticulosis and diverticulitis. You’ve surely heard about “irritable bowel syndrome,” haven’t you? Well, these conditions, largely influenced by poor food choices and lack of exercise, can be anticipated long before the disease state occurs IF YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ATE. Am I making myself clearer?

Compared with some third-world countries, where the populations enjoy high-fiber diets, Americans are not doing well in the OUTPUT side of nutrition, if you get my drift. This is seen in three ways contrasting their PRODUCTION with ours in terms of volume, transit time and consistency.

Let’s deal with volume first. People in some other countries produce, on average, a pound and a half to two pounds daily; Americans — just seven ounces. This isn’t to suggest that all citizens of these selected third-world societies are quite so productive or that all Americans are under-performers but that, on average, we’re being out-pooped! My fellow flag-waving patriots, if you want America to be #1, the REAL superpower of the universe, you will have to do your part — by exercising and eating more fiber. Consider it your patriotic duty.

The second measure of adequacy of production is transit time. From input (consumption) to output (waste disposal), the third-world folks require 24 hours or less. Americans retain their meals for two to three days! This means that many of us are giving new meaning to the euphemistic state of constipation. The truth is we have masses of humanoids functioning in society who are, basically, living, breathing and perambulating toxic waste dumps.

Finally, there is the matter of consistency or consideration of the behavior of the fecal matter. This is something you can check out at a glance, which is not illegal, sinful, disgusting or otherwise inappropriate. The rule is simple: Fluffy floaters are better than slinky sinkers.

In addition to enjoying vigorous daily exercise (and sufficient moments of a fulfilling nature, a bit of relaxation, maintaining a good attitude and an interest in the meaning of life), you, too, can produce whopper-sized winners by choosing meals high in bulk and fiber. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, for example, and be conscious of fat intake. Try for a gram of fiber for every 100 calories you consume. If you are packing in, say, 3000 calories daily, that means you need 30 grams of fiber. Why not go for the high standard of 35 from that English study for even more protection against colorectal cancer?

So, a main focus of your fitness routine should be to eat more fiber and, with it, drink plenty of water.  Excellent fiber sources are just about any fruit or vegetable and beans, prunes, figs, raisins, oatmeal, pears, nuts and popcorn, in particular.  Next time you buy food take a look at the grams of Fiber and see if you are getting around 30grams a day.  Chances are that you never even thought about how much fiber is in you diet because we tend to be more fat and sugar conscious these days. Getting enough daily fiber can lead to a much healthier you.  The proper consumption of fiber along with good intakes of protein and working out on a regular can get you well on your way to reaching your fitness goals! 

Hey, so today is Monday.. usually a day that I push it my hardest in the gym, but if you have ready my blog on the last two days you may understand why I didn’t even make it to the GYM today!  Woke up today feeling like crap again, and I seriously think I am still hung over from Saturday night, on top that probably the residual effects from the crap I ate yesterday.  I am Beginning to realize that with the better shape I get, It is actually more important than ever to give my body the healthy diet it requires and all the vitamins.  It is kinda like bringing your Ferrari to the gas station and getting the crappiest gas money can buy… it will not preform at all, unless you are supplying it with the premium fuel.   Anyway, laid around the house all day and watched movies and snacked.  In hopes that tomorrow will be a better day and I will actually make it into the gym.  At this point I am seeing the benefits more than ever in staying away from alcohol. 

Meal Details:

-Oat Meal

-TV Dinner

-Ravioli and green beans

-Another TV Steamed Dinner

-bowl of lucky charms

Notes:  Today i didn’t eat much, didn’t really have an appetite, probably due to the fact I didn’t  use any energy yesterday and today I was just super lazy.  Tomorrow I am going to force myself to hit the gym, probably going to work on chest and triceps.

Woke up today and was ready to get started, had a decent amount of energy from the second I crawled out of bed.  Here is my meals and workout for today:

Meals:

-Oat meal

-banana, turkey sandwhich with cheese and diet coke

-snack bar

-diet coke and ravioli

Workout

-30 gram protein shake

-healthier chicken pasta frozen tv dinner

- 2 pieces of  pizza

Notes: Was in a huge rush all day and didnt get to eat everytime I was hungry but spaced out my meals farly well.  Also kinda ate like a fatty today, with giving in to all the pizza and tv dinner things that sounded good at the moment.

Workout:

-Military press: 35 lbs 3 sets of 10 reps

-Sideways Flys: 15 lbs 3 sets of 10 reps

-Front Flys: 15 lbs 3 sets of 10 reps

-Reverse Flys: 130 lbs 3 sets of 10 reps

-Bent over Row (one arm): 55 lbs 3 sets of 10 reps

-Lat Pull down: 120 lbs 3 sets of 10 reps

-Regular sit ups 3 sets of 10 super slow

-hanging leg lifts 3 sets of 10 reps

-10 min of cardio on the tread climber

Workout Details: 

This was by no means my best workout, felt kinda short, but could really feel it in my shoulders.  I am probably going to take the next two days off and get some rest.  I will update the meals though.

Once Again I start my day about 158 lbs and about 8.5% body fat.

Meals: 8:30am-11:15pm (separations are for time between meals)

-Egg Turkey sausage and cheese breakfast sandwich on whole wheat bread

-Small breakfast burrito and low carb energy drink

-Turkey Bacon and cheese sandwhich with banana and diet coke

-entire bag of Goldfish.. haha seriously

-High Fiber pop tarts

Workout

-Protein Shake (30g of protein)

-Steamed TV dinner thing.. Really good(17g protein, 5g fiber, 230 cal)

-Breakfast sandwich (Turkey Sausage, cheese, egg and whole wheat buns)

Notes: An alright day on the whole eating thing, nothing special would say your average day, no major set backs to my goal.

Workout Details:Worked on Back and Biceps.  I would say it was pretty good workout, pushed it really hard but for some reason never broke a sweat… pretty weird.. but I am not a huge sweater haha, usually will perspire a bit.  anyway I did the following routine in this order:

-4 sets of 10 reps @ 35lbs on one arm preachers.

-1 set of 10 reps @ 65lbs barbell preacher.

-3 sets of 8 with 25lbs in hammer curls.

-3 sets of 10 reps Non-assisted pull-ups.

-3 sets 10 reps @120 lbs seated row.

-3 sets 10 reps@ 120 lbs lat pull downs.

-3 sets of 10 reps @ 55 lbs one arm bent over row.

-3 sets of reps until couldn’t bear the burn on abbs, both with yoga ball and regular.

-finished with 5 minutes on the tredclimber 4mph at max incline