How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Week (3 page)

Also, when you continue to eat out of emotion, you’ll never be able to resolve your weight issue. You’re essentially putting a bandage (food) over something that’s bothering you (the real reason you eat) so you don’t have to look at it when you should focus on doing what is necessary to get it to heal properly (do something that
actually
resolves the issue).

Ending the Cycle

With a little strength and determination, you can close the door on emotional eating. Next time you’re tempted to eat out of emotion versus physical need, try taking these steps:

Step #1: Decipher your triggers

When you find yourself about to eat, try to decipher what emotion has triggered you to want to take that action. Did something just happen or were you thinking about something distressing?

The most important part of this step is to
do it prior to allowing yourself to eat
. If you wait until after you’ve satisfied your urge, it will be more difficult to figure out what it was.

Step #2: Give your emotion a name

Now that you know what sent you to the kitchen, you have to understand why. Specifically, what emotion did you feel the urge to soothe or distract yourself from?

If you’ve been eating emotionally for quite some time then you may find this particular step hard to do. You’re probably pretty effective at pushing your emotions down.

But, with time, insight and continued effort, you’ll be able to pinpoint one or two feelings that are at the heart of your eating. You may find that it is sadness, disappointment, anxiety or boredom that get you every time.

Step #3: Create a plan

Now that you’ve figured out what feeling is causing you discomfort, you can create a plan to deal with it. For instance, if you know that anxiety makes you want to eat, then come up with a list of things you can do when you’re feeling anxious. Maybe you’ll decide to go for a walk or write in a journal instead.

Sometimes when you’re sad or depressed it’s best to talk to a professional. They can give you ideas on what helps or even prescribe medications if necessary. It’s okay to ask for help if you need it. It’s actually a sign of strength not weakness to admit when something is over your head.

If you truly want to combat emotional eating once and for all, you have to develop a way to deal with life that doesn’t involve food. Think about it, the only thing that food can resolve is true physical hunger.

Chapter 6:
Why Water is Fundamental to Weight Loss

When it comes to weight loss, drinking water helps to melt the fat!

The Advantages of Water

Your life would cease to exist if your water supply was cut off, so your body gets defensive when it doesn’t get the amount it needs. We covered that briefly when we talked about bloating, which is when your body retains water if it feels dehydrated.

That’s why it’s important to consume more water if you feel like you’re retaining it. Once your body gets the amount it needs, it will be comfortable enough to let the excess go. The result is a lower weight and smaller waist.

How do you know if you’re bloated? When you make a fist, does your skin get tight? Can you clearly see where your rings are worn? If you answered yes, then you probably need to drink more water.

Water also helps the vitamins and minerals that you consume get to the cells via your blood stream. So, if you’re not drinking enough, they don’t move as easily throughout your body, thereby causing you to not be as healthy as you can be.

Lastly, water is necessary for all your vital organs to work as intended. For example, your kidneys need water to flush out the toxins. If they don’t get enough water to do so, they rely on the liver for help. Since the liver is so busy filling in for the kidneys, it can’t do its main job, which is metabolize fat.

You see, when your body runs efficiently and effectively, you will burn fat at a higher rate. Put simply, drink water and drop pounds!

What’s an Appropriate Water Intake?

The best thing you can do for your body is drink at least eight 8 ounce glasses of water, or one ounce for every two pounds you weigh. So, for example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you would want 75 ounces of water a day. And, if you sweat a lot or have a health condition like diabetes, you’ll likely need even more.

Chapter 7:
Herbs, Vitamins & Other Supplements

There are many products on the market that claim to burn fat. Some do it through raising your body temperature, which ultimately raises the amount of calories you burn, even while at rest. Others boost your liver function, resulting in greater amounts of fat being metabolized. And yet others raise your heart rate which burns higher rates of calories.

The problem is knowing which ones are okay and which ones may hurt you. While no single pill is the answer to weight issues, there are some supplements that have been shown to help you in the process.

Natural Supplements to Consider

Three of the best natural weight loss supplements you should consider are:

• Guggul
  – Originally used for medicinal reasons, this plant can help you drop
  six times
  more weight, as that is the result of research when some participants took guggal and others took a placebo.
  
• Green tea
  – Because its caffeine speeds up your body and makes you less hungry, green tea is great for weight loss. Additionally, it contains phytonutrients which, according to The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, can help you get rid of
  double
  the weight of non-tea drinkers.
  
• Dandelion
  – This natural substance helps promote liver function which increases your body’s ability to metabolize fat. Additionally, it also helps your body to release excess water.
  

Of course, there are many other options as well, but they’re not as well researched. According to
WebMD
, they are:

• Chitosan
  – A sugar found in the hard layer on the outside of shellfish such as lobster, crab and shrimp and is said to stop absorption of cholesterol and fat.
  
• Chromium Picolinate
  – A mineral that boosts insulin activity which ultimately raises your metabolism.
  

• Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA)
  – Chemical components found in linoleic acid that are thought to get rid of fat and reduce hunger.
  
• Glucomannan
  – A derivative of the konjac plant that allegedly prohibits fat absorption
  

Please understand that just taking these herbs and not changing your food intake or exercise level isn’t going to help. They act as a
supplement
to healthy behaviors.

And, even products found in nature can be harmful. So, if you’re considering taking
anything
in an attempt to assist your weight loss, make sure you
talk to your doctor first
.

Chapter 8:
Time for Bathroom Talk

Some people have concern that their full bowels may be to blame for some excess weight. While certainly that may be part of it, there are healthy ways to deal with that issue (such as drink more water and eat more fiber) and other not-so-healthy alternatives, regardless of the fact that they promote quick weight loss.

Manufacturers and marketers of colon cleansers and laxatives (they’re both the same thing) want you to think that your colon isn’t capable of doing its job, but they’re wrong. It’s very capable; as long as you give it the water and fiber it needs to do it.

In actuality, when you use products like those, you’ll likely get the opposite effect of a weight gain instead of a loss. That’s because they dehydrate your body so it starts to retain water. Also, if you take laxatives regularly, your colon will begin to rely on them. It will become lazy and won’t function as intended.

That’s why it’s better to just leave your colon alone and let it do its job. Only use products like these when you need them, not as a catalyst to losing weight.

Chapter 9:
Get Physically Active

The more you move, the more calories you burn. Yes, maybe you do work a desk job or perhaps you can’t afford great exercise equipment to help you in your quest to lose weight. Things like this can certainly make the process harder.

Here’s the thing – you have two choices in life:
make excuses
or
make changes.
As long as you keep coming up with all the reasons why you
can’t
do something, you’ll never do what’s necessary to make your goal a reality.

Exercise is Your Friend Not Enemy

One of the main reasons people hate to exercise is because they focus on the negatives. So, if you view it as something that takes up your time, causes you pain and strains your budget, of course you’re not going to like it!

If you want to turn enemy into your friend, you have to look at all that it does
for
you. Focus on the fact that it makes you look better in your clothes, feel better physically and reduce the stress you feel. Pay attention to the way it improves your mood and puts some energy in your step.

Fun Exercise is Sustainable Exercise

If you want to stick to an exercise program for any length of time, you need to enjoy it. So, the key to a solid exercise regimen is to have fun. Here are some calorie burning workouts that may keep a smile on your face:

• Group sports
  – If you’re social, group sports are the way to go. Start a baseball game, join a soccer league or play some basketball at the gym.
  
• Swimming
  – If you’d rather work out alone, swimming a few laps can be a great alternative to the treadmill or elliptical. You can also use the water as resistance to work your muscles for additional calorie burning benefits.
  
• Playing with your kids
  – Take your baby for a walk in a stroller or engage in a game of tag with your young child. Take the time to build a bond while building your health in the process.
  
• Gardening
  – When you do lawn work of any kind, you have the opportunity to burn some major calories. Weed your flowers, plant your seeds or mow your grass and you’ll not only have beautiful landscape but you’ll also have a rock solid body!
  
• Walk the dog
  – Not only will your dog enjoy some different scenery, but you’ll stay motivated to keep going when he or she is pulling at the leash. If you don’t have your own dog, borrow a neighbor’s or volunteer to walk shelter dogs.
  
• Volunteer for an active
  charity
  – Donate your time to an organization that needs someone to perform physical labor, such as building a house or sorting donations. You can also participate in walks and fundraise for local charities and burn calories while you’re helping others.
  

Chapter 10:
Increase Muscle, Decrease Fat

If you want to kick your calorie burn into overdrive, the best way to do that is to increase your muscle mass. You see, muscle burns more calories than fat. So, even if you’re not doing anything physical, such as sleeping or watching television, you’ll burn more calories at rest simply because you have more muscle.

Calculate Your Body Fat

To know how much fat you have, or your
body fat percentage
, you can do a couple of things:

• Use
  online guides
  and just answer a few quick questions
  
• Step on a scale that calculates body fat
  
• Get measured by a fitness trainer or doctor
  

If you’re a woman, you want a body fat percentage somewhere between 14-35%. Any less than that and you’ll fall into unhealthy ranges. (Remember that your body needs some fat to function efficiently.) Men, you’ll want to keep your fat in the range of 6-25%.

It’s important to realize that
body fat
and
body weight
are two different things. You can have a ‘normal’ weight and still have too much fat. Or, you can have a higher weight and also have lower body fat (which is common with bodybuilders). That’s why it’s important to know your body fat percentage.

How do you increase your muscle mass? The best way is to perform exercises that focus on strength training.

Strength Training Basics

When you use weights or your own body weight for resistance in exercising, you are building your muscles. The way it works is that the resistance creates tiny tears in your muscles that get bigger when they heal. It’s like when you add fibers to a strand of rope. It becomes thicker and stronger over time.

You have a few options when it comes to strength training. You can join a gym and use all their fancy equipment, buy your own weights at home or use your body as resistance to help you build muscle. They’re all effective options to increasing your muscle mass.

The main thing to remember is that you have to perform strength training exercises on a regular basis to get results. The more you work your muscles, the stronger they’ll become and the more fat you’ll burn!

Strength Training Exercises

If you want a great strength training routine, just use the same exercises that schools and the military use. Here are some to consider: