But don’t let these excuses get to you, and whatever you do, don’t give up and go couch-potato commando. With a few simple tips you can get and keep yourself motivated, even during the toughest times.

What is your “Why?” – Have you changed your lifestyle to watch your children grow up? Or perhaps you made the change so that you could meet someone special. Either way, reminding yourself why you made the lifestyle change you did will keep your weight loss diet looking like your best friend instead of your worst enemy. Picturing your child graduating from high school can be a great motivator. If you’re having trouble picturing it, cut out a picture of a high school graduate and put it on your vision board or take a picture of your little one in a graduation cap to remind you where you’re going on this journey.

Use your vision board to motivate and inspire yourself. Where do you see yourself in the coming week? Month? Years? Do you see yourself in a new, active lifestyle? With a new career or soulmate? Do you see yourself in a new, healthy, beautiful body? Inspire yourself!

Where is your goal? You need to know where you are at in terms of your ultimate goal every day. Keep your vision board on the refrigerator if you need to or keep it on the inside of your front door – somewhere you will see it every day and maybe even twice a day. Keeping track of where you are and where you’re going will help you stay motivated and feel good about the progress you’ve made.

The list almost doubled in size in the four months following the first FDA warning. The list of tainted diet pills includes weight loss diet products that could pose a great risk to public health because they contain undeclared ingredients and, in some cases, contain prescription drugs in amounts that greatly exceed maximum recommended dosages. Many of the products in the FDA warning are marketed as “natural” or “herbal” products.

The FDA’s continuously growing list illustrates how weight loss pills often hide ingredients from regulators and why consulting a physician is so important in any weight loss program. A physician knows what weight loss pills have established track records and ingredient lists to make sure a weight loss program will be safe and effective. As the FDA’s list grows with no end in sight consulting a physician is the best way to avoid accidentally taking weight loss pills that become the target of the FDA’s warning list.

The key to visualizing for success is to be reasonable about what you visualize. Remember, this is a visualization and not a fantasy; while it is fun to imagine that you could wake up 50 pounds lighter tomorrow, that is a fantasy and will result in you being disappointed at the lack of reality around this dream.

When you practice healthy visualization, you will have a goal in mind of losing a gradual amount of weight as a result of diet and exercise. You may imagine yourself six months into the future as reasonably lighter, more toned, more comfortable in your body, and able to move easier and take part in more group activities. Once you’ve created this picture and you know it can be done, it’ll be easier than ever to stay on your diet and exercise plan.

When you consume fats from foods like carbohydrates, and you aren’t doing anything strenuous that requires their use, your body will store them as triglycerides. Once converted to triglycerides, they will go into your fat cells and stay there until they are needed. When you have too many stored triglycerides, you could be on the road to diabetes mellitus (type 2 diabetes), pancreatitis, and heart disease.

Keeping your exercise levels and eating in check can help you prevent having high triglycerides. When you eat fewer foods that need to be stored and you use more energy to get rid of stored fat, you can reduce your triglyceride levels.

The first line of defense for keeping your triglycerides in check is to manage your nutrition and your weight.  The lifestyle you adopt to sustain weight loss will almost always result in an improvement of the triglyceride levels in your blood.

In some cases, if your triglyceride levels are very high, your primary care physician may recommend a medication for lowering triglycerides. Even when on a medication, you must continue to eat right and exercise in order to help your triglyceride level normalize and reduce your risk of heart disease.

When you have high blood pressure, it means that your arteries are constricted and the heart has to work harder to get blood through them. This puts an inordinate amount of stress on your system. For many people, there is no known cause for the constricted arteries. For others, salt, artery narrowing and kidney disorders may be causing the high blood pressure.

Because high blood pressure can cause a heart attack or stroke it is a potentially dangerous problem. Those with high blood pressure are advised to avoid caffeine, which can further constrict arteries. They are also given medication to help reduce their blood pressure. Blood pressure monitoring through the use of a home testing machine is also advised in order to identify problems.

Walk over and check out the action at the Extreme Skate Park if anyone is there, or wander down the scenic walking path. Centennial Park really is a perfect spot to take in the sights. Bring a camera with you and practice your photographic skills, or take a sketch pad and draw for a bit when you need a break from walking. The key to making this type of outing fun is to not overdo things. Mix fun with a bit of exercise and see how motivating it can be to combine the two. Add a dose of nature on top of that and before long you will look forward to visiting the park on a regular basis.

Getting children to try new foods can be a challenge, and this is especially true when it comes to vegetables. Serving these foods on their own may not be the best way to introduce veggies to little ones. Instead, why not try blending vegetables in with other recipes so that children have the chance to get used to the taste a little bit at a time? One great way to do this is with soup. Whether you are making it from scratch or just opening a can, there are usually some veggies involved–but in smaller amounts.

Another terrific way to introduce vegetables is through ethnic cooking. Serve up a burrito dinner and include black beans inside as a nutritious addition. You can also substitute veggies in some dishes without being obvious. Try making an eggplant lasagna or spinach lasagna with skim milk mozzarella and see how it goes over. The trick is not to overdo it with the vegetables. You want to introduce tastes and flavors a little bit at a time without putting kids off.

Once you have had the chance to expose children to a variety of different vegetables you’ll have a better idea of what they gravitate toward. This can help you prepare meals where the veggies are less “hidden”; but it doesn’t mean you have to abandon your new recipes. Adding extra vegetables to your regular cooking routine can help give a healthy boost to your meals as well.

Shabbona State Park is also a little drive from Aurora–but worth the trip. Although Shabbona Lake is man-made, the scenery here is nature at its best, featuring grasslands, marsh, ponds and streams. You can see the lake for much of this hike, and it provides some nice inspiration. The trail is 4.9 miles, but don’t feel as though you need to do the entire loop. Pace yourself and do a little bit at a time. You may want to invest in a pedometer and gradually set increased step goals for yourself each weekend instead of trying to push through a large portion all at one time. That way you can track your progress and feel good about your accomplishments as you gain strength and endurance.

But what about all the diets that tell you to count fat, carbs or sugars instead of calories? And how much exercise does it take to burn the extra calories most people eat in a day? Is there such a thing as eating too few calories?

Facts About Calories

• “Bad carbs” have more calories than “good carbs”, which is why you lose weight when you cut out bad, or refined, carbs like sugar and white flour.
• A McDonald’s double cheeseburger contains 460 calories. The average 150 pound person would need to exercise for a full hour to burn off 460 calories.
• Research suggests that eating too many calories may make your body burn fewer calories during exercise. The more you overeat, the harder it becomes to work off the extra food.
• The average weight loss plan suggests a diet of 1,500-1,700 calories a day. The exact number recommended for an individual will vary based on metabolism, which is calculated using weight and amount of daily activity.
• Not consuming enough calories can actually prevent you from losing weight. Your body can go into “starvation mode”, where it reduces the amount of calories it’s using on a regular basis because it thinks you’re starving.

If you’re serious about losing or maintaining your weight, you should talk to your doctor to help figure out the safest and most effective daily calorie count for your body.

Article Index

How many calories do you need to burn to lose weight?
To lose one pound, you need an expenditure of about 3,500 calories. That means that you can consume 3,500 fewer calories, burn 3,500 more calories, or do some combination of the two. If you cut out 500 calories a day from your diet every day for a full week, you should have a 3,500 calorie deficit at the end of the week and a weight loss of one pound. How much food makes up 500 calories?

• One slice original-style crust pepperoni pizza is 230 calories.
• One glass dry white wine is 160 calories.
• One can cola is 150 calories.
• One quarter-pound hamburger with cheese is 500 calories.
• One jumbo banana nut muffin is 580 calories.

The most effective way to lose weight is to modify your caloric intake and your fitness habits simultaneously.

How fast should you expect to lose weight?
A safe, healthy rate of weight loss is usually between one to two pounds per week. While starvation diets may cause you to lose weight more quickly, this type of weight loss is extremely difficult to maintain over a long period of time and may cause health complications.