Weight Loss

Losing weight and getting in shape is a common resolution that many people want to start. But, it can be challenging to start and stick to a weight loss plan.

Some people said that losing weight is easier said than done. Others easily start a fitness plan but stop in the middle. This is maybe because their motivation is not solid and sags soon.

Motivation plays a big role in your quest to lose weight. It should keep burning from the start till the end. If you think that your motivation starts to wane, consider the tips listed below.

1. Determine your purpose

If you want to succeed in anything that you want to achieve, the first thing to do before you start is to identify your purpose. It will serve as your motivation and reminder so that you’ll be committed to achieving your goals of losing weight. Regardless of your purpose, the key to success is if the motivation is from your heart.

2. Set realistic expectations

To prevent burn out and boost your feelings of achievement, you should set realistic expectations. Keep in mind that losing weight isn’t an overnight task. Health experts recommend that losing at least 1 to 2 pounds a week is a good start (1).

Setting achievable goals can give a feeling of accomplishment once you achieve them, otherwise, you will end up frustrated and give up.

3. Set process goals

To keep you stay motivated, you should not only focus on outcome goals but also set process goals. SMART goals can keep your motivation on track. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based.

4. Choose a diet plan that suits your lifestyle

Choosing a diet plan suitable to your lifestyle and you can use for long-term can help a lot in your weight loss efforts. In the same manner, if you see good results from your diet plan, you’ll be motivated to stick to it for long-term.

As much as possible, you should avoid strict diets or yo-yo dieting because you can’t expect good results from them. You can customize your diet plan by reducing the calorie intake, observe portion sizes, including more vegetables and fruits, and reduce intake of fried food, desserts and snacks.

5. Maintain a weight loss journal

Another thing that can motivate you to lose weight is to maintain a weight loss journal. This way, you can measure and monitor the progress of your effort and at the same time identify the food and other factors that can hinder your weight loss goals.

You can write everything that you eat and the activity that you engage as well as your emotions. Through the journal, you can avoid overeating and find a healthier way to lose weight.

6. Always practice a positive attitude

If you practice positive attitude, you’ll be more motivated to achieve your goals. If you feel that you’re tempted to skip your routine for a day, you should think about the benefits of living a healthier lifestyle.

Keep in mind that it will take time before you can achieve your goals. But, you should keep a positive outlook and focus on your goals.

7. Find support

The support from your family or friend is a great thing to strengthen your motivation towards your weight loss goals.

As you need to modify your lifestyle and eating habit, it can help a lot if there’s someone who will encourage you throughout the process.

8. Pick a role model

Another way to keep you motivated in your weight loss effort is to pick a role model. Someone whom you know is physically fit and has a better body. You can follow his or her fitness plan.

Look at her or his picture so that you’ll be motivated to perform your routine and eventually achieve the body and weight that you dreamed of.

9. Be committed

Even if you’re motivated to lose weight if you’re not committed to it, you can’t realize your goals. Share your goals with your family, friends, or even to the public. This way, you’ll be held accountable and stay motivated to achieve your goals.

10. Seek professional help

“We cannot solve the problems that we have created with the same thinking that created them in the first place. ~ Albert Einstein” We always need someone to solve our problem, even for weight loss.

If it’s your first time to perform weight loss plan, you should not hesitate to seek professional help. This way, you’ll know the right things you need to do.

Bottom Line

There are several factors that affect the intensity of motivation towards losing weight. With all those tips discussed above, you’ll surely find one that will keep you motivated.

However, you should not focus on perfection, but rather allow yourself to be flexible while maintaining the intensity of your motivation. Likewise, celebrate with the improvement achieved on your weight loss efforts.

Mounota

Dietitian with around 3 years of experience in assessing the nutritional needs of patients, counselling individuals, communicating the appropriate nutritional information to other members of the health care team and implementing nutritional care plans by following all the standards.

Yoga is a fantastic way to lose weight with very little risk of injury. The wonderful mental effects it has on us can also make a noticeable difference in our body.

If you dedicate some time to do yoga every day, you will notice that chronic pain is reduced. So, does yoga help lose weight? Nowadays many yoga problems were designed to help people with certain problems and what they also found is people would lose weight.

How Does Yoga Help You Lose Weight

We usually think of weight loss happening through the strict process of eating low-fat foods and doing high-intensity activities that burn calories. While it is recommended to use up more calories than you consume to lose weight, yoga is a gentle assist to help you.

A yoga teacher can attest to the unlimited potential that yoga has to make you healthy inside, out.  It happens in an indirect way which we will discuss.

1. Yoga Supports High-Intensity Exercise

The nice thing about yoga is it also enhances any work out you’re doing as your main means of losing weight. Yoga improves your mobility and flexibility so you can lift heavier weights.

You also learn how to hold your posture the right way to avoid injury during your intense workout. Lastly, yoga works the core in a gentle but acute way which protects your back and holds you in the right position.

2. Yoga Helps You Alter Your Mind

The physiological effects of yoga are subtle but you will notice them when you start practicing daily. Yoga does influence your mind when you do certain poses, this was intentional when the sages developed yoga in India. The poses relax the mind and send messages to the muscles to relax.

As the mind can change the body, the body can also change the mind. The kidneys are where we hold stress. When you stretch out or massage this area, the mind reacts by relaxing. Tension can cause binging so staying mentally in tuned and centered can prevent you from seeking out unhealthy foods to help calm you.

You will find that you are more centered in all parts of your life. When you can allow it to touch the parts of your life that need it, you’ll experience less stress, fewer feelings of isolation, and reduced sadness. Yoga helps you to focus better which means you’re more capable of getting things done in life. This also helps to relieve unwanted stress.

3. Yoga Aids Us in Being Gentle on Ourselves

Weight gain is often attributed to our own thoughts and emotions that back up those thoughts. Yoga allows you to pinpoint the heart of the issue so you can overcome it. Then, there is no emotional eating.

What is probably happening right now is you want to lose weight desperately and are trying everything.

You push past your previous limits quickly and expect that you’ll see a benefit because you’re legitimately suffering. In many cases, it doesn’t work as fast as you expect.

The discomfort you’re experiencing probably doesn’t show the benefits you expect. This can feel pretty discouraging which can easily cause you to beat yourself up. This puts you in jeopardy of emotional eating and risking all your efforts.

If you’ve ever tried to lose weight, you know the wicked cycle that ensues but you may not know that the key is being gentle on yourself.

If you are craving something, you can become skilled at accepting the craving. This can often prevent you from eating whatever you’re craving at the moment.

If you do succumb to temptation, you can accept that and all the guilt with compassion for yourself. You’re not making excuses, you’re simply accepting that it happened and not berating yourself for it.

The way to practice this type of self-kindness is through yoga and the mindfulness limb of it. When you can center yourself through the waves of emotion that happen throughout weight loss, you’re less likely to become undone and binge. It’s a great practice to incorporate when you’re looking to lose some weight.

4. Yoga Promotes Body Health

As your spirit and your mind become more in tune with life, you’ll find that the body will ensue. It will be less likely that you’ll crave empty carbs on a regular basis. When you finish a yoga class, for example, you feel elevated in your spirit. Eating sugar after that will cause you to become unfocused and it will feel awful.

That old reward will begin to feel like a punishment. The mind will change how it feels about the food that doesn’t sit well in your body. Yoga also makes you more aware so you’ll feel the acute stabbing pain from indigestion. You’ll kill your good vibrations because those processed foods and sweets affect your brain chemistry.

The body is going to want natural nutrients like salads, nuts, root vegetables and fruit. When you crave something sweet, you’ll reach out for mango, strawberries, or a banana.

5. Yoga Melts off Belly Fat

Slow poses that you hold for a long time have been shown to melt off belly fat. Restorative yoga doesn’t take a lot of energy to do. It does take patience and the willingness to sit with slight discomfort as you stretch out muscles acutely.

These slow poses also burn fat from the body which is how you get rid of the layer of fat that sits over your belly. It’s challenging to get rid of this fat even if the rest of your body has lost fat.

How does it work? Well, your belly fat is closely connected to the stress you put your body through. We’re not talking about physical stress but the mental anxiety you put yourself through. Fat collects on the body as a manifestation of stress due to high levels of cortisol. If you can create a constant feeling of relaxation in yourself, you’ll collect less fat on the belly.

A regular aerobic workout is going to really burn the belly fat but yoga does its part by preventing a further build-up of belly fat.

Yoga may not burn calories the way other exercises do but it does help you to manage emotions and change brain chemistry. You make better choices and hone the skill of the sacred pause.

Life doesn’t become so overwhelming that you have to use vices to cope. Your mind, body, and soul are harmonious and this helps you maintain a positive, loving attitude towards yourself. This deep, internal work does so much for your weight loss efforts.

Meera Watts

Meera Watts is a yoga teacher, entrepreneur and mom. Her writing on yoga and holistic health has appeared in Elephant Journal, CureJoy, FunTimesGuide, OMtimes and others. She’s also the founder and owner of Siddhi Yoga International, a yoga teacher training school based in Singapore. Siddhi Yoga runs intensive, residential trainings in India (Rishikesh, Goa and Dharamshala), Indonesia (Bali).

www.siddhiyoga.com/

Metformin for weight loss is making a buzz among health professionals. They believe that this drug offers some benefits that can lead to weight loss. But, not all know how it works.

What is Metformin?

Metformin is commonly used as a prescription drug for people suffering from type 2 diabetes. It is available under brand names such as Fortamet and Glucophage either in slow-release or regular tablets. It targets the intestines and liver to reduce the absorption and secretion of glucose in the blood.

This drug stimulates the insulin sensitivity of the body’s tissues and muscles so that they can use glucose readily. Taking this drug is associated to weight loss, but more serious side effects can also be noticed.

How does metformin help in losing weight?

According to the American Diabetes Association, Metformin should be administered only at the onset of type 2 diabetes. This hypoglycemic medication should be taken gradually. It works in different mechanisms including the following:

• It reduces the sugar production of the liver

One of the functions of the liver is to make sugar from other substances. By taking metformin, this function of the liver is inhibited so that less sugar will be released into the blood.

• Increase sugar utilization in the liver and muscles

The muscles serve as the sink where excess sugar is deposited. When metformin flows through your muscles, the amount of sugar in your blood is reduced.

• Prevents lipolysis

Taking this drug prevents lipolysis or breakdown of fats. With this the amount of fatty acids decreases that’s why sugar production is controlled.

How to Take Metformin for Weight Loss

If you’re thinking to try metformin to help in your weight loss effort, the first thing to do is to talk to your doctor first. Generally, it is a safe medication, but some patients complain about experiencing lactic acidosis, slow heart rate, difficulty breathing, dizziness, stomach pain, and weakness.

This drug should be taken with a meal, but fatty and high calorie foods should be avoided. Instead, you should consume more vegetables, fruits, nuts and whole grains. Always monitor your blood sugar levels. Drinking a glass of water along with metformin can reduce your hunger pangs because it makes you feel full.

What is the Dosage for Weight Loss?

Using metformin for weight loss can be effective if done right. As mentioned earlier, it’s essential to consult your doctor before starting so that you’ll know the right dosage appropriate to your needs.

According to experts, the starting dose of this drug is 500mg twice a day or 850mg once a day. After a week, you can increase the dose to 1000mg for the first dose of the day and the second dose should be 500mg. after another week, you can take 1000mg twice a day.  The maximum dosage is 2500mg a day or the equivalent of 850mg three times a day.

Side Effects for Metformin

In spite of the fact that metformin works well to control the blood glucose levels, taking this drug can cause adverse effects. To avoid experiencing the negative effects, you should ask doctor’s advice before taking it. Some of the common side effects apparent when taking metformin include the following:

• Malaise

Patients taking metformin may experience general malaise, occasional pains, and fatigue. Malaise happens if the drug causes adverse effects on the intestines, stomach, kidneys, and liver.

• Digestive effects

Another common effects of taking metformin is gastrointestinal disturbances. It affects the intestines and stomach. This is manifested by vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea or loose bowel movements.

• Organ effects

Taking metformin for long time can negatively impact the kidney or liver. It’s because this medication can vary the function of the liver. The condition may debilitate particularly to patients suffering from liver or kidney problems.

• Vitamin B12 malabsorption

People undergoing metformin treatment may suffer from Vitamin B12 malabsorption. It’s because this drug interferes with the chemical that helps the body to absorb vitamin B12. Deficiency in Vitamin B12 can trigger significant health risks.

Vitamin B12 plays important role in red blood cell production, DNA synthesis, and other biochemical functions of your body. When the bone marrow isn’t manufacturing red blood cells, a person has higher chance of developing megoblastic anemia.

Final words

Losing weight is not an easy task. Although metformin is closely associated to weight loss, but it won’t be effective when taken alone. That’s why if you want to see positive results, you should engage in regular exercise and proper diet.

Reference:

1. https://www.diabetesdaily.com/forum/type-2-diabetes/98672-metformin-weight-loss/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3308305/
3. http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/35/6/1364

Mounota

Dietitian with around 3 years of experience in assessing the nutritional needs of patients, counselling individuals, communicating the appropriate nutritional information to other members of the health care team and implementing nutritional care plans by following all the standards.

There are many ways to lose weight, but no single concept works to all. Some people follow the “more meals, less calories” technique.

Research showed that skipping meals forces your body to burn fat and convert it to energy that would result to weight loss.

Likewise, losing weight is also possible if you won’t eat for a day due to calorie deficit. This technique is known as intermittent fasting.

What is Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting is the latest trend that many people follow to lose weight. It is an eating lifestyle in which the dieter follows scheduled meals. It does not change the foods that you usually eat, but only the schedule of your meals.

The challenge of intermittent fasting is that you’re only allowed to eat eight hours and the remaining 16 hours would be fasting.

16 hours without any food really sound challenging. It would require you to make a planned schedule of your meal. You can enjoy eating four hours before going to bed and four hours in the morning after waking up.

Following intermittent fasting will help you lose weight. If you won’t feed your stomach, most likely your body will use the stored fat within for energy. If you will keep your body moving, fat gets burned thus lose weight.

Likewise, skipping meals put your body may suffer calorie deficiency. Keep in mind that burning more calories than what you consumed may lead to weight loss.

Before starting this technique, you should understand that intermittent fasting will make a drastic change in your eating habit. You can start by missing breakfast and observe how your body will react to it.

If your body can handle that, you can skip breakfast and lunch. But, it does not necessarily mean skipping those meals every day. You can eat the usual meals five days per week and fast the remaining days of the week.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting

Intermittent fasting won’t only help in your weight loss efforts but also beneficial in other health conditions. It improves glucose uptake and insulin sensitivity, decreases blood pressure and fat mass. It also reduces oxidative damage to DNA, protein and lipids.

Risks of Intermittent Fasting

Starving yourself for a whole day also poses bad effects to your body. Aside from getting extremely hungry, you may also feel irritable and uncomfortable. The truth is people who fast for days ended up overeating for the remaining days.

The biggest problem in following this weight loss technique is that you’ll experience uncontrollable hunger.  Likewise, too much calorie deficit can lead you to binge and keep off the track of your weight loss goals.

How Fast Can You Lose Weight Without Eating?

If you’ll follow intermittent fasting to lose weight, make sure to have an exercise plan and weight loss diet.
One of the possibilities to lose fat quickly is when you fast for about 14 to 20 hours daily. This can also be possible if you exercise diligently while fasting.

Your body will be forced to burn more fat while you’re fasting especially when the blood glucose levels are lower as you continue to work out without eating.

As long as you are determined to lose weight quickly, you can easily adhere the strict schedule of fasting.

How Many Pounds You Lose?

The amount of pounds that you can lose without eating greatly depends on your schedule of intermittent fasting. Obviously, if you only eat three or four days a week you’ll lose more pounds.

Some people who have been following this technique testified that fasting strictly helps you to lose about 5 to 10 pounds within a week.

But, you should understand that fasting is different from starving. Make sure to consult first your healthcare provider before starting this technique to ensure your safety.

Final Word

The concept of losing weight without eating is definitely a tough task. Apparently, there are researchers and fitness gurus that recommend intermittent fasting.

The good thing is that in spite of the fact that a dieter may consume more calories than he or she gets, there’s still chance to build muscle mass.

If you want to succeed in this weight loss technique, you must be disciplined enough and determined to implement fasting and at the same time control your hunger.

Resources:

1. http://www.livestrong.com/article/443009-what-would-happen-if-you-skip-a-meal/
2. Impact of reduced meal frequency
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4042085/

Mounota

Dietitian with around 3 years of experience in assessing the nutritional needs of patients, counselling individuals, communicating the appropriate nutritional information to other members of the health care team and implementing nutritional care plans by following all the standards.