Facts for Weight Loss Newbies!

Your weight affects you in many ways other than your appearance:

Your overall quality of life;
self-esteem;
health risks;
depression;
and physical abilities are also influenced.
Think of all the positive changes you can experience by losing weight.
You will need to see your doctor for a physical if you haven't had one recently and you really should get her approval before starting a weight loss regime.

You should ask yourself these questions as you begin:
Why do you want to lose weight?
Are you truly committed?
Do you have a support system set up?
Can you accept mistakes without giving up altogether?
To lose weight effectively, you will have to permanently change four aspects of your life:
1.) what you eat
2.) how you eat
3.) your behavior and
4.) your activity level.
You shouldn't set your sights too high (...like losing 30 pounds in a month. Those signs advertising weight loss pills are not true!).
Small goals (e.g. 5 pounds; 10 percent of your current weight) are far more attainable and easier to stay focused on.
Healthy Habits

3 Tips for Fitness Fun

Ask the question, "Wanna go for a walk?" to a dog and he'll knock you over getting out the door. Try posing the same question to your spouse. Didn't exactly wag his tail, did he?
We all know that fitness is good for us. It just isn't much fun. Just ask anybody who squeezes into a leotard and spends the next hour sweating to the beat of a size 2 instructor yelling, "Just 10 more leg raises and then we'll do abs!" No wonder reclining on the couch with ice cream watching Sex and the City sounds more appealing.
It's time to rethink exercise, says Susan Butterworth, MD, director of wellness services at Oregon Health Sciences University. The "no pain, no gain" motto is out. Moderation is in. And it's time to ask yourself what's fun and what makes you smile. If you have trouble remembering, go to any park and watch children at play.
"Remember when we used to have fun as kids?" Butterworth asks. "Playing ball, swimming, just plain using our bodies." We weren't thinking about how many calories we just burned by running through the sprinkler. We were just having fun. And you can get that feeling back, she says.

1. Choose Your Fun
We may not always agree with what others think is fun. Spinning Hula Hoops might not be your cup of tea, but an Irish dance class tickles your toes. Skydiving makes your heartbeat just a bit too fast, but a row in the lake floats your boat.
How can you put some fun into your fitness?
Plan a short trip to a beautiful place where you'll be motivated to be more active than usual.
Involve your family and friends in an activity.
Something new.
Something old -- if the last ballet class you had was in the third grade, it's time to try it again.
Jump rope.
Play with your kids.

2. Make a New Tradition
Today, your family tradition may be lifting a spoon rather than lifting weights. Try something different. Make new family traditions around fitness and fun. After all, says Butterworth, children model their behavior after us; a sedentary parent is likely to have a sedentary child. It stands to reason, then, that an active parent will have active children -- although active children don't necessarily mean active parents.
Lead the way. Get out that old game of Twister. The kids may groan at first, but those moans will soon be replaced with laughter. Let's face it, the image of Dad as a giant pretzel is kind of funny!

3. Realize the Rewards
Moving your body feels good when you're having fun. You'll also find that if you're enjoying yourself, you'll have more energy and enthusiasm for other areas in your life.
Kristine Thomas says when she was just beginning to get fit her biggest problem with getting in shape was that she got tired. However, if she can make it out the door, after a few minutes at her chosen sport of running, she's invigorated and feeling good about herself. It feels great to accomplish goals, too. Kristine is following a marathon-training regime. Though she may not actually run the marathon, just the thought that she'll soon be able to do so helps her feel good about herself.

By Nancy BatemanWebMD Weight Loss Clinic - Feature

Daily weighing key to keeping lost pounds off

Losing excess weight is often easier than keeping it off. A new study shows that stepping on a scale every day, and adjusting eating and exercise habits accordingly, can go a long way in helping dieters maintain a weight loss.
"If you want to keep lost pounds off, daily weighing is critical," said Dr. Rena R. Wing in a statement accompanying the study appearing in The New England Journal of Medicine.
"But stepping on a scale isn't enough. You have to use that information to change your behavior, whether than means eating less or walking more. Paying attention to weight -- and taking quick action if it creeps up -- seems to be the secret to success," noted Wing, who is director of the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at The Miriam Hospital and professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown Medical School in Providence.
The finding comes from a study in which Wing and colleagues split 314 successful dieters who'd lost at least 10 percent of their body weight -- averaging nearly 20 percent of their body weight or 42 pounds -- within the last two years, into a control group and two intervention groups.
Women in the control group received newsletters in the mail four times per year on the importance of eating right and exercising.
Women in the intervention groups were taught -- either in face-to-face group meetings or via an online program -- techniques known to prevent weight regain such as advice to eat breakfast, get an hour of physical activity each day and weigh themselves daily.
The women reported their weight weekly and were given a goal of maintaining their weight to within five pounds. Women in the intervention groups were also introduced to a color-based weight-monitoring system. Women who remained within three pounds of their starting weight after the weekly check-in fell into the "green zone," and received encouraging phone messages and green rewards, such as mint gum.
Gaining between three and four pounds landed women in the "yellow zone" and prompted advice to tweak their eating and exercise habits, while gaining five pounds or more landed one in the "red zone," prompting advice and encouragement to restart active weight-loss efforts.
The investigators report that significantly fewer women in the intervention groups regained five or more pounds during the 18-month long study; 72 percent of women in the control group regained five or more pounds, compared with 46 percent in the face-to-face intervention group and 55 percent in the Internet group.
"The Internet intervention worked, but the face-to-face format produced the best outcomes," Wing said.
Daily weighing was key to keeping the weight off, the authors say, noting that women in the intervention groups who stepped on the scale each day were 82 percent less likely to regain lost weight compared to those who did not weigh themselves daily.
However, in the control group, daily weighing had little impact on the amount of weight regained. This suggests, Wing said, that women in the intervention groups used the information from the scale to make constructive changes in their eating and exercise habits.
SOURCE: The New England Journal of Medicine