Start Strong or Stick With It?

By Kari Baxter on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 | View Comments

I found this in my Success magazine and it really hit home. As a lifetime dieter, I’ve started many diets. While getting started is important, it’s more important to keep going, especially when you’ve decided to make lifetime, healthy changes.

Don’t Flare Out!

Here is what Darren Hardy, the editor of Success, says in his article “Accomplish More by Doing Less”.

“I used to get frustrated when starting a new venture and then seeing the competition leap out in front and get off to a fast and successful start. Then I found the single discipline that gave me the advantage to beat anybody at almost anything–consistency.

A lot of people get gung-ho about new goals or achievements and charge out of the gate in an explosion of activity that eventually flares out. If you make a commitment to consistency, you’ll not only catch your competitors, but you’ll usually leave them in the dust every time. (emphasis added) I do what I have found most people cannot–stay consistent.”

“Great Stealer of Dreams”

“Lack of consistency is the subtle but great stealer of dreams and desires. The stop-and-start process is what kills progress in any pursuit. (from Kari: ESPECIALLY DIETING!) It is probably one of the greatest reasons people don’t ultimately achieve their goals and end up living lives of discontent, frustration and disappointment.”

What Can You Maintain?

So, in order to be successful with changing your exercise and eating habits, pick small goals, things you can maintain, and be consistent with for the rest of your life, no matter what you’re doing.

This is a concept I incorporated into my weight loss program, Weight Loss University. With weekly coaching sessions, you learn a new concept, a new part of being healthy, each week. Then you have a week to practice the new concept (like eating more protein and finding healthy protein sources), learn about it, and ask me questions. This is a great way to gradually incorporate real, long-term habits into your life that you will be able to maintain and stay consistent with forever, not just a season.

If you’re interested in finding out more, and getting a free 2-week trial to my weight loss program, visit my site, Free-Weight-Loss-CD.com.

How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds, Part 4: Be Flexible

By Kari Baxter on Monday, September 14th, 2009 | View Comments

In this ongoing series about How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds, this week we’re going to talk about staying flexible. If you haven’t read the first 3 parts of this post, the links are at the end of this post.

Be Flexible

When you’re first starting out, keep your plans fairly flexible. See what can be realistically achieved with your workouts or your meals. If you are preparing meals for your family, you cannot isolate yourself from what everyone is eating. Stay flexible. Try to stick to your schedule and try to have as many healthy meals as you can.

For the best results, gradually switch your family over to healthier options, like whole wheat bread and pasta and more vegetables. At times, other work takes priority or your family eating needs come first. Do not let that get you down – get back to your schedule or your diet at the earliest available opportunity.

Remember these are changes for life–not just a couple weeks.

Keep It Simple

If your commitments do not allow you to make major changes in your eating pattern or take up longer workouts, start with simple plans. Do not take the car if you are just heading to the local grocery store or dropping kids to school – walk when you can.

Similarly, start with small changes to your diet. Instead of white bread, try whole wheat bread. By just switching from drinking soda at mealtimes to water you can lose up to 5 pounds in a week! You have made a change that you can continue with no matter where you are and with whom you are having your meals.

Stay Focused

Your most important reason for losing weight should be the assurance of good health that it brings and not merely for fitting into a ten year old swimsuit or for making your neighbors jealous. You should be following a fitness plan for the benefits that it brings you. By losing weight, you are improving your health.

With the help of a good healthy diet, you are reducing your risk for major diseases. Only when you work on a fitness plan for yourself, can you be motivated enough to lose weight and stay motivated enough to lose even those last ten pounds.

It’s not always easy to stay on a fitness plan especially when it takes time and efforts to lose even a little weight. However, I am hoping that through this blog and my weight loss program, I will be able to guide you to healthy and effective ways of losing even those stubborn, last 10 pounds.

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Read More “How To Lose The Last 10 Pounds”!

Part 1: Getting Started *

Part 2: Knowing Why Before How *

Part 3: Overcoming Obstacles

Weight and Diabetes: What is the Relation?

By Kari Baxter on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | View Comments

Obesity is an epidemic in the world today. Diabetes is also on the rise. Is there a correlation between the two? The experts say that there is and that you need to know about it.

There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 and Type 2. Diabetes is a condition of the body where insulin production is affected in some way. Insulin production may be non-existent or in limited quantities, or the body may be resistant to using the insulin that is produced.

Let’s go back a step. Insulin is produced in the pancreas in response to blood sugar levels. Insulin directs the sugar in the blood to different sites in the body where it is used for fuel. Depending on the amount of sugar in the blood, more insulin is produced to deal with the issue.

With Type 2 diabetes, the body has developed a resistance to the insulin it produces. When the blood sugar levels remain high, the body produces more insulin to deal with it. Even with the overabundance of insulin being produced, the amount that overcomes the resistance may still not be enough to deal with the blood sugar levels. This is called non-insulin dependent diabetes and it affects mainly adults above the age of 45.

Type 2 diabetes can be brought on by environmental factors. It develops late in life for most people. Researchers have found connections between obese people and the rise in diabetes cases. Being obese increases the likelihood that certain diseases will occur. People who carry excess weight are at greater risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke and joint problems.

Why are we obese?

It is not just eating too much but also the types of foods we eat. Eating an overabundance of vegetables is not the root problem. Processed foods, sugary snacks, soft drinks and fatty foods increase the levels of glucose in the blood. More and more insulin is needed to deal with it.

The body’s metabolic system is out of whack. With the increased risk of so many conditions, the body is more prone to developing insulin-resistant diabetes. Once you develop diabetes, other things come into play such as the slower rate of wound healing and the need to manage your blood sugar.

There is hope, though. Type 2 diabetes can be managed and sometimes reversed with weight management. Losing just ten percent of your body weight can stop the medication use to manage certain conditions. (This is huge!) Insulin resistance can decrease or disappear when an obese person returns to a weight in the range for the acceptable BMI.

Being obese carries the risk of Type 2 diabetes. Losing weight reduces that risk or eliminates it altogether, as well as the risk of some other serious diseases.

Can You Help Others By Losing Weight?

By Kari Baxter on Friday, September 4th, 2009 | View Comments

Could you possibly help other people in your life by losing weight? Sometimes losing weight seems selfish. We spend time working out. We spend more money buying different foods. We spend time learning how to cook new things, finding new snacks to feed ourselves and our families. We have to spend time and money learning about being healthy. If you’re nodding your head, this is for you! Before you buy into that way of thinking, read this short post.

I found a really interesting quote today. I think it applies to our health as much as every other part of our lives. You might have to read it a couple times to let it sink in.

You can help others more by making the most of yourself than in any other way.

from The Science Of Getting Rich

It’s from a book about making money, and I first related it to personal development. But the more I thought about it, the more I related it to health, our families, the people around us, and all the other activities we’re involved in.

If you’re overweight, unhealthy and eat junk food, you’re body will feel it. You’ll have less energy and feel sluggish. You’ll be sick and spend time at the doctor’s office trying to figure out what it is, getting medications, and dealing with the many side effects of medications. You won’t sleep as well. You’ll be more tired. You’ll have less time because you’re tired and slow, physically and mentally. You’ll have to try harder to be happy, to be in a good mood.

Your relationships with people close to you will suffer. You’ll have less time for them. You’ll be less efficient and work and take more sick time. You won’t have as much energy for helping others. So many things suffer if you neglect your health.

Conversely, if you’re healthy, eating good foods and at a healthy weight, you have more energy. You sleep better. You’re sick less. You won’t waste time at the doctor’s office. You’re more fertile! You’re happier and less depressed. You’re more self-confident. You’ll be in a better mood overall.

All those things are critical to raising a healthy, energetic family, whether you’re raising kids, grandkids, or helping your aging parents. You’ll be a better employee. You’ll be a better volunteer worker. You’ll have better relationships with people in your life. So many things benefit when you take care of yourself, your health and your body.

You will help others more by taking care of yourself than in any other way.

If you’re one of those people that thinks they don’t have time for exercise, don’t have time to cook healthy meals, can’t afford vegetables or that vitamins aren’t worth the money, I hope you’ll remember that the best way to serve others is to take care of yourself and to better yourself.

We’re all worth it. We all deserve to feel GREAT everyday, to have energy to live our lives to the fullest and enjoy every minute of it.

If you need help losing weight or learning how to become healthy, check out my free cd, 7 Secrets To Look Sexy In Your Sevens. It’s a free cd (just cover S&H) with an hour of my 7 best secrets for losing weight, having more energy, looking great, and keeping it off for good. No gimmics, no fads, just healthy sound advice. You’ll love it!

Are We Fat?

By Kari Baxter on Wednesday, August 26th, 2009 | View Comments

Are Americans Fat?

The National Center For Health Statistics has tracked obesity in America over the last 40 years. In 1962, 13% of Americans were obese. The number gradually increased over 4 decades and in 2000, 31% of Americans were obese. The average woman now weighs 163 pounds, up 13 pounds (152 pounds average) from a decade earlier. What if our average weight continues to increase 10 pounds every decade?

Weighty Epidemic

The surgeon general has declared obesity an epidemic. Over 300,000 people die every year due to obesity. 63% of Americans have a BMI over 25 and are therefore overweight. It is estimated that 3.8 million Americans weigh over 300 pounds and that 400,000 people (mostly men) weigh over 400 pounds. (These obesity statistics have also been duplicated and verified by independent studies, such as the IHRSA/ASD Obesity/Weight Control Trend Report.)

Teen & Childhood Obesity

Adults can make choices about their diets, but what about teens and children? Adolescent and child obesity has tripled over the last 20 years. Many children today get from 500 to 1,000 calories a day from drinks alone! (American Heart Association). That’s more calories than some kids should eat all day, but you know kids aren’t drinking 1000 calories and not eating anything.

Americans vs. Japanese

Are just Americans fat? What about the rest of the world? We definitely aren’t alone. Mexicans aren’t far behind us with 24% of their population being obese. The other countries with rising obese populations include the UK, Canada, and Greece.

There are still countries however with very low obesity rates–even lower than ours was in 1962. In Japan only 3.2% of their population is obese. It’s the same in Korea. Switzerland, Norway, and Italy are also on the low end.

What’s The Difference?

What’s the difference between countries where ONE THIRD of the population is obese and those where it’s under 5%? This is just my opinion, but I imagine our diets are drastically different–rice and fish vs. hamburgers and french fries. Just a guess.

In future posts, I’ll explore the scientific reasons Americans (and UKers, Australians, Mexicans, and Canadians) are obese, how it affects our lives and our health, and what we can do about it! If you’d like to get started losing weight now, watch my free video about how I lost 35 pounds and kept it off for 15 years.

How To Overcome Emotional Eating

By Kari Baxter on Monday, August 24th, 2009 | View Comments

Unfortunately, We All Have To Eat

When people decide to quit smoking or drinking or give up other habits, they can completely eliminate the vice from their lives. They can stay away from cigarettes and alcohol. Unfortunately, with food, you can’t completely eliminate it from your life. You still have to eat every day. If you’re an emotional eater or you need to lose weight, you have to find a way to change the types of foods you eat. In some ways, losing weight is harder than quitting smoking.

Eating to Live or Living to Eat?

Eating is a part of life. Your body gets its nutrients from food. We should enjoy eating, but sometimes we can go overboard with our eating habits and it can result in gaining weight. One issue with food is emotional eating.

The problem of emotional eating may end with the scale but it begins in the mind. Stress takes its toll on your life. When your defenses are compromised your health takes a hit and so do your emotions.

Everyone has good days and bad days. How we deal with the bad ones brings emotional eating into play. You look for comfort for your hurts. People who turn to food for comfort find a coping mechanism that won’t judge them, hurt them or tell them “no.” To complicate the issue, eating pleasurable foods can stimulate the release of endorphins just like exercise. So, after you eat, you feel better.

Emotional eaters use food to relieve stress. They hide behind the food instead of seeking solutions to the problems. This is not uncommon when the stressor is something horrible such as physical abuse or a death, but is becoming more common in our hectic, stressful everyday lives.

Are You An Emotional Eater?

But, how do you know you are using food in this way? The first sign is obvious. You will gain weight if you eat too much. In light of the weight gain, examine other areas of your life:

* Have you been under stress lately at work or at home?
* Has anything traumatic happened in the last year?
* Are you dealing with a problem but haven’t found a solution?

Answering “yes” to any of these questions could mean that you are an emotional eater. You eat but you are not necessarily hungry at the time. The foods that you choose are what we term “comfort foods”:

* High fat foods like French fries, fried foods
* High carb foods like macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes
* Sugary foods like ice cream, donuts, cookies, cake

Help For Emotional Eaters

There is help for emotional eaters. The first step is recognizing that you have a problem. You’ll experience feelings of helplessness and guilt. The guilt is over potentially ruining your health and the helplessness lies in the fact that you don’t see a way out.

Secondly, seek counseling. There are many types of counselors out there that can meet your need. Emotional eating has nothing to do with dieting or changing your eating habits but gaining control over your emotions.

A counselor might suggest things like visualization, practicing problem solving skills, relaxation techniques and family support. Visualization helps you to see your problems in a realistic way and not blown out of proportion. You will also learn to see food as nutrition for the body and not an emotional crutch.

Thirdly, your family can learn your triggers for stress and be on the lookout for changes in your eating habits. They can help you be aware of the foods you are eating, assist you in making healthy food choices and exercise along with you. Proper diet and exercise increases immunity, blood flow and positive thinking. Yoga enhances the mind/body connection so you don’t eat when you aren’t hungry.

New Ways To Deal With Stress

Finding new ways to solve your problems and deal with stress will push food out of the equation. You’ll feel good about finding solutions which will replace the dependence on food. It may sound overwhelming or hard, but start slowly. Take baby steps and just do what you can. Don’t give up! You can do it! Start learning how to change your eating habits.

How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds, Part 3: Obstacles

By Kari Baxter on Friday, August 21st, 2009 | View Comments

Invariably you will have obstacles, challenges, and questions when beginning a weight loss program. It’s smart if you address these before they come up.

When you know your challenges, it’s not as discouraging when they come up. You’re prepared. You’ll be mentally and physically ready to deal with the challenge and move past it–quickly!

Constraints At Work

The most often quoted excuse is after working all day in the office or at work, where will I find the energy or time to devote to a weight loss program?

It doesn’t really matter whether you have a hotshot career that keeps you on your toes all day long or have a job where you spend every day counting the minutes till closing hour; you are spending most of your time at work.

You may even have a job that involves constant physical work and you may be under the impression that this is an excellent way of making sure the calories never add up. It may surprise you to find that this is an illusion and true weight control or weight loss requires a proper diet and regular workouts.

Let’s see how your work can affect your fitness plans. No matter how much you love or hate your job, many people spend most of the day or night–or both– working on it. More time is lost in getting ready for work, commuting to and from work, maybe taking some work home.

Further, have you ever thought of how much time you spend thinking about work even if you’re not actually in the office? You may be thinking of upcoming presentations and deadlines or worrying about your new boss. Some people try to relieve themselves of work-related stress by turning to food or alcohol, all contributing to more weight gain.

For most people, work is a major factor that prevents them from sticking to a regular workout routine and from having well-balanced meals three times a day. In fact work may even make matters worse with stress causing weight gain in many.

Despite this, it is still possible to schedule workout plans and find recipes for nutritious meals that one can manage in whatever little time is available.

Constraints At Home

If you live alone, your time is entirely yours! You have great flexibility in deciding how you would like to spend your free time. You can decide what you would like to eat, when you would like to eat and when you would like to workout. With few constraints, you can devise an ideal weight control plan and make full use of your freedom!

On the other hand, for those with families and especially with little children, your time is seldom yours. You need to give consideration to everyone in the family. For example, forget about skipping a meal if you are not feeling hungry – almost everyone else will be ravenously hungry.

If you are all stepping out for dinner, no one is in the mood to go to a health bar. And you will have a tougher time taking some time out for yourself if you have kids.

In fact, most parents try to get up early, have more intense workouts and then get to work. The result is that they are short of sleep and the combined effect of less calories and more intense workouts leaves them very tired and with not enough energy to go through the day. This kind of schedule will certainly not lead to any true fitness and there are more chances that their health will suffer.

With these kinds of constraints it is never easy to stick to a regular schedule, be it for workouts or for planning meals. However, do not despair – there are some simple and straightforward solutions to the above dilemma.

In my next post, we’ll review some ways to deal with the above time/family/food issues to keep you on the right track.

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To Read Previous:

How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds, Part 1: Getting Started *

How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds, Part 2: Knowing Why Before How

Losing Those Last 10 Pounds, Part 2: Why Before How

By Kari Baxter on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 | View Comments

Knowing Why Before the How

Many people go through their weight-loss programs with great determination. They work on their diet and make sure they are eating the right foods and the right quantities. They diligently stick to their workout routines. And to their great happiness, they watch the pounds simply melting away. Then all of a sudden, the scale stops responding. They do not know what they did wrong. Their diet is the same and their workouts are the same but they seem unable to lose any more weight. And they are just 10 pounds away from that tantalizing goal they had set for themselves.

Many people give up at this point, thinking that they will never be able to lose those stubborn last pounds. However, the truth of the matter is that the last ten pounds are certainly more difficult to shed than say the first thirty.

Diet experts will explain that as you become slimmer, you will be burning lesser calories even while sticking with the same diet and exercises as before. In fact they claim that every time you lose a pound, your metabolism slows down and burns 20 calories less. That makes it difficult to burn away the remaining pounds by following the same diet and workouts. The good news is that you do not need to do anything drastic! All that is required is a slight tweaking of the weight loss program that you are already following and very soon you will be past your final weight loss goal.

It is however, very important that you be motivated enough to want to stick to your plan and follow it until the final goal is reached. And you can only stay motivated if you are doing this for the right reasons.

Many people quit their weight loss program halfway through or sometimes do not even get started because of sheer lack of self-confidence. They are not sure if they can manage with the kind of diet they will be expected to eat or have the time to spend in intense workout sessions.

Stay tuned for my next blog post and some typical reasons why many people don’t get started on their fitness plans or quit when they reach a plateau. Don’t let this be you! I’ll also give you some great solutions to blast past all your excuses.

What’s Your Excuse for Not Losing Weight?

By Kari Baxter on Monday, August 17th, 2009 | View Comments

What’s Your Excuse?

We all have excuses for not losing weight, eating healthier and exercising. We all cry, “Not enough time.” Some people use, “Not enough money.” Sometimes it’s the cookies your grandma baked and you have to eat them. The point is that there is and always will be some excuse. You have to learn to throw the excuses in the garbage and commit to your health.

The Today show has a segment called “The Joy Fit Club.” Nutritionist Joy Bauer features people who have lost over 100 pounds and kept it off through eating and exercise, and not surgery. They are very inspiring stories!

Today they had on Jennifer who lost over 142 pounds. At her heaviest she was 312 pounds and wore a size 30. She said she was treated like a disease, that people wouldn’t look her in the eyes, say hello, or hold a door open for her. She felt like people were always looking at her and thinking about how big she was.

Jennifer’s Excuses

She also said she had a sore knee and she used it as her excuse for everything–why she couldn’t run after her kids or exercise. Her friends and family told her she was “just big boned” and that being overweight was “in her genes,” even though she was the only overweight person in her family.

An AH-HA Moment

There are some common themes among all the Joy Fit Club stories. All the people say they felt “out of control”. They also all mention having a “turning point” or an “ah-ha moment”. Jennifer’s turning point was seeing an old friend walking down the street and turning around and hiding because she didn’t want that person to see how much weight she had gained and how she looked. She also said when she saw her reflection in a mall window, she realized that obese person was her. Another Joy Fit Club member mentioned seeing herself on a video and finally realizing how big she was.

Anyone who has struggled with weight loss has felt “out of control”. We all have excuses we use for not eating better or exercising. It’s important to realize that’s all they are–excuses! You can make excuses or you can lose weight, but you can’t do both.

What will your AH-HA moment be? When will you get fed up with feeling out of control and take control of your health?

Jennifer started going to TOPS–Taking Off Pounds Sensibly. One important thing she learned there was self worth. She said she learned that, “I was worth being healthy and fit.” At one point, she had lost 80 pounds. She went into full cardiac arrest–had a heart attack. She was 32 years old and the youngest person in the cardiac ward. If she hadn’t already lost those 80 pounds, she would not have survived.

Don’t Wait to Lose Weight!

Please don’t wait to lose weight. Find an ah-ha moment, throw your excuses OUT, decide you’re worth it and start changing your life RIGHT NOW.

This is how Jennifer describes her life now–”wonderful”, “fabulous”, and “amazing”. Does she miss the doughnuts, cheesy fries with bacon and ranch, or big burgers with onion rings? She said, “Nope. I actually crave salads, chicken and healthy foods.” Even if the transition is hard at first, you will get used to it, your body will thank you and it is totally worth the effort!

You are worth it and you can do it! No excuses!

Kari

P.S. Free video reveals my #1 secret to fitting into your jeans, having more energy than your kids, and staying out of the doctor’s office!

How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds: Getting Started

By Kari Baxter on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 | View Comments

This is the first in an ongoing series about “How To Lose Those Last 10 Pounds”. I’m going to cover getting started, if “the last 10 pounds” are a myth, how to overcome obstacles and make this work for your lifestyle, setting goals, exercise, eating, and more! Please subscribe to my RSS feed, so you don’t miss a post!

Know What You Want

When a local fitness club invited a diet expert to speak to members about weight loss programs, the question most people wanted answered was not about specific exercise routines or diet programs. It was, ‘Why is it so hard to lose the last 10 pounds?’

Why Is It So Hard to Lose The Last 10 Pounds?

You could consider this the most famous dieting complaint ever recorded. Many people can lose tens of pounds when they first start dieting but find it difficult when it comes to losing the last ten. Before you dismiss this as a myth, let us assure you it is not. There are practical reasons why it is indeed difficult to lose the last 10 pounds.

When you first start on a diet, you have many pounds to lose. Your body burns calories depending on your weight – the less the weight, the less the calories being burnt. In order to make sure that your body does lose those final 10 pounds, you need to make sure that you are consistently burning more calories. The best way of doing this is to reduce the number of calories from your diet and increase the intensity of your workouts.

Take Jill who weighs 200 pounds. With her workouts, she is able to burn up to 750 calories every hour. Take Jane who weighs only 140 pounds. With the same workout, Jane can only burn about 300 calories every hour. All this means is that while you will certainly lose weight by continuing with your weight-loss exercises, you will not lose it at the same rate as when you first started.

You now start to get the picture. At some point in your weight loss program, you will find that you are losing weight at a slower rate than before. This will mean making adjustments to both your diet and to your workout routines. For example, you may have to workout for longer periods or exercise more intensely. Anything that helps you burn more calories at that point.

If you were starting off when you were 300 pounds, by limiting yourself to around 1200 calories every day and exercising regularly, you could easily lose 5 pounds every week. After a few successful weeks of eating right and working out, you are down to 120 pounds. You will slowly notice that by continuing with the same kind of diet and workouts, you are not losing much weight at all. You then try to reduce your intake of calories. You keep reducing till you find some change in weight. However, you will be shocked to see that even if you are eating only 600-800 calories everyday you still do not manage to lose more than one pound per week. The other danger is that it is strongly recommended by medical experts that you do not eat less than 1200 calories every day.

Is it possible to cut calories and still get all the nutrition you need? Absolutely. My favorite way to do this is with protein shakes. I have one for breakfast and one for lunch and then a healthy, colorful dinner. I use soy milk, juice, or water, protein powder, and frozen fruit, like strawberries, bananas, and blueberries. I whip them up in my Magic Bullet. They are SO good! With vitamins, herbs, and minerals, and ranging from 180 – 250 calories a piece, they can’t be beat.

It therefore essentially comes down to this – when you have very little body weight there is not much weight to lose and this makes losing the last 10 pounds difficult. But remember, we said difficult – not impossible!

With the right combination of a proper, well-balanced diet and more intense workouts, you should still be able to lose those last 10 pounds and we are here to tell you exactly how!

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