Sunday, December 28, 2008

Beautiful Me...beautiful You...in No Time At All

By Ferda Shinsky

Imagine a healthier you, fast, and without investing very much time in your day. It's possible with just a few small changes to your life. All you have to do is truly decide to reshape your body, and this article will give you some information as to how to do it. The first step is to start gaining good habits.

Many people eat without thinking about it when they are bored. Eating just for fun makes you gain a lot of weight, and it makes you eat things that you would not decide to eat in large amounts. The habit of eating when you are bored also trains your body to feel hungry when you're really just bored, and if you sit idle, all you do is sit and store fat from the foods that you eat, which is a huge cause of obesity. Diabetes, heart conditions, cholesterol problems, and breathing problems are signs from your body that it is time to make a change in your life.

Lets get started with an important part of a healthier YOU. The BRAIN! Yes the brain. In order to become healthier, you have to overcome the obstacle that you see before you, and that is the rather large entity that has grown over the years. In becoming a different person you need to develop healthy thinking on top of your new habits. You need to keep up your self esteem, for a healthy self esteem will keep that inner self burning to reach your ultimate goal. You need to give yourself a pat on the back and good comments on a job well done. Treat yourself to a new pair of pants or a new top when you have reached a goal. Healthy living has its benefits in the endaextending your life!

The first change you need to make to find a healthier you is to reduce your consumption of high calorie food, and replace them low-calorie, nutrient dense foods. If you were going to have a cheeseburger and fries, you can skip the fries and have a garden salad with low-calorie dressing instead. If you like chicken nuggets with creamy pasta, try having chicken breast with vegetables and a high-fiber bread, or replace that creamy pasta with a low-fat marinara sauce. Instead of take out pizza, try some oven baked fish with rice and a small salad instead.

Another great change is to exercise when you are bored instead of eating. Go outside; plan some physical activity instead of sitting in front of the computer. If you're a total hermit, get a stationary bike and pedal while you watch your soap operas. You can take a walk with a friend, go swimming, explore your local mall, or pace around the house; any kind of moving is better than sitting.

Write down everything you eat so you are sure of what's going in. Lots of people gain weight by noshing in front of the television with a big bucket of chicken. Portion your food and write it down. Because it's a lot easier to keep track of how many calories you are taking in if your food is portioned. It's time to get out of denial about how much food you really eat. Lots of overweight people claim they don't really eat much food, but sometimes they eat a lot without knowing it.

It's also a good idea to keep a log of your activities so you can be aware of your progress in getting more active. There are many books available to help you log your activity, and there are also many websites that will help you log your activities and count the calories you expend in your activities.

Never fear failure; expect it. You will probably fail multiple times before you reach your goal; that's just the way it is. Those failures are the loss of small battles in an overall war for your longevity and health. You must stay the course on your path to health in order to win the war. We all have bad days. If your boyfriend yells at you, and you get angry and plop down in front of the TV and eat too much chocolate or slurp down a whole gallon of ice cream, it is absolutely not a reason to beat yourself up about it and quit. Slipping up is just a signal that you aren't there yet. Throw out the rest of the gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough and pick yourself up and right get back on track, instead of making excuses and falling back into the pattern that got you sick in the first place. - 16752

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