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Archive of posts filed under the Weight loss tips category.

Weight Loss Budget

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 15 October 2009, 5:20 am

Finances make me smile. Not always my own, but the IDEA of finances brings me joy. I am not normal so you do not have to mention this concept. My weird concepts are well documented and I accept the fact that I am peculiar.

The other day I was writing about weight loss and I thought about how the idea behind weigh loss is the exact opposite of developing a budget but at the same time it is very similar. I think that if you follow the simple steps for developing a budget then the weight loss will pour off rather easily.

Weight Loss Budget Steps

    1. Write down everything that you eat for one full week. This includes even the “bites” of food or pieces of candy. Every single morsel that goes in your mouth must be documented. For a weight loss budget it is best to break the amounts apart by day.

    2. Write down all of the exercise that you get each day. Skip the “walked to the car” entries and focus on the sustained exercise like “thirty minutes playing soccer with the kids” or “twenty minutes fast walk.” Keep these separated by day as well.

    3. Figure out how many calories you have been consuming. With the weight loss budget you will not have to count the calories but you will need to know the beginning amounts so that you can begin to understand why your “account” is out of balance. There are a number of different websites that will help you with these totals.

    4. Figure out how many calories you have been burning. Your body naturally burns calories even if you are just sitting around all day. This is to help figure out how many calories you are burning in addition to those.

    5. Look at the number of calories that you are bringing in and the number of calories that you are putting out and start making your adjustments.

It is only at the last step that the weight loss budget really differs from the financial budget. A weight loss budget wants to put out more than it brings in. A financial budget wants to bring in more than it puts out. The weight loss budget requires that you cut the intake or increase the outflow in order to achieve the desired result which is permanent weight loss.

Filed under Christian weight loss, Weight loss tips. Tagged , ,
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Easy Weight Loss in Simple Steps

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 12 October 2009, 6:41 am

Weight loss and diets have been a struggle for most of my life. There was a time when I thought I had defeated the weight loss and diets. The end of college had me ballroom dancing and had my body in the best shape it had ever been (walking around in three inch heels for ten hours a day has a way of sculpting your legs).

Pregnancy brought the weight struggles back with a vengeance. The diets came back as well and I spent a small fortune on exercise videos. It was only after I discovered a Christian weight loss program that I managed a breakthrough in my weight situation.

It was another pregnancy that again brought back the weight loss struggles. The Christian weight loss plan that I used previously was no longer available. My struggle was going to be personal.

6 Tips to Simple Tips for Weight Loss

    1. Avoid the television. Skip eating in front of the television and take a few moments to sit down at the table and enjoy the meal.

    2. Enjoy each bite of food. Take the time to savor each bite by chewing the bite completely and drinking a sip in between to clean the palate. Pick out the best bites of the meal as well so that you can enjoy the best on the plate.

    3. Get some support. Accountability can not be over emphasized when you are taking on any new endeavor. The best way to manage this support is to get a group together once a week.

    4. Make a plan to move. The only way to lose weight is a similar process to balancing a budget (only the exact opposite). You have to burn more calories than you bring in each day. Getting up and moving each day – even for a few minutes – will help that process.

    5. Follow the scripture. There are more diet plans in the scripture than you might imagine. Daniel ate fresh fruits and vegetables. Paul ate the meals dedicated to other gods. John ate honey and locusts (now is that not the ONE diet you know you want to try). In the end the key to the different Christian diet plans is to be in a personal relationship with God and allowing HIM to guide you to the how, the when and the what to eat.

    6. Defeat sin. The Christian weight loss process is not about eating special foods, controlling the calories or even following a specific weight loss plan. The ultimate key to permanent Christian weight loss is to defeat the sin of gluttony.

Christian weight loss is possible without the aid of traditional diets. My lifetime struggles with weight loss were defeated over 2000 years ago. It is time that I dropped the chains that I have already been freed from and lived a life that has been promised to me.

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Christian Weight Loss Diets – Keys to Recognizing Satisfaction

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 28 September 2009, 5:35 am

Christian weight loss (and any permanent weight loss) settles around the heart. Changing the heart and understanding how I arrived where I am plays and essential roll in getting to where I want to be.

So much stuff crowds my life. Stuff surrounds me every where I turn and it can become overwhelming. Recognizing when I have had enough can be just as overwhelming. The “too much” feeling has been a part of my life for so long that just enough becomes foreign.

Christian Weight Loss Revelations

    1. Weight loss comes from eating when hungry. True hunger comes with an empty or hollow sensation in the region about six inches or so above your belly button. Christian weight loss occurs when you eat at this hunger moment and all other cravings are curbed by feeding the heart.

    2. Satisfaction aids in weight loss. Finding a place of satisfaction may require using a few cheats in the beginning. Eat half as much as you put on your plate. Use smaller plates. Eat slower and enjoy the company and the atmosphere while you eat. Chew each bite so that you can taste each bite. Satisfaction comes the moment you are no longer HUNGRY!

    3. Weight loss appears when fear is released. There are times when I eat more than I need (or want) because I “love” that particular meal and I worry that I will not have a chance to have it again. The good news is that I CAN get more later and I will enjoy it more if I only eat until I am satisfied.

    4. Keep it simple. Finding satisfaction and hunger to aid in weight loss does not have to be a challenge. Choose to wait to eat until the feeling in your stomach seems unbearable (and then wait another hour). Only eat a few bites and then walk away from the food. That hunger sensation will soon come again.

    5. Weight loss naturally occurs when you bring in fewer calories. Eating at hunger and stopping at just enough will help make that weight loss happen.

The biggest difference between Christian weight loss and other weight loss diets is that prayer assists in the understanding of why food has become so important. Once food is taken down off the pedestal then the weight loss can begin in earnest. Finding hunger and satisfaction is one step in the Christian weight loss process.

Filed under Christian weight loss, Weight loss tips. Tagged , ,
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Make the Kids Lose Your Weight

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 22 September 2009, 10:12 am

My kids are going to lose my weight for me. The diets haven’t worked. The exercise videos still sit calmly in their wrappers. Desperate times call for desperate measures. It’s time to make my kids take some action.

It’s not as bad as it sounds. I’ll be doing the hard work; they’ll just be riding around and singing. Think of it as a very slow hay ride – minus the hay. This new regimen will have two focus points. It will get me past the hump of the day (about 4 pm when I start to wear down), and it will give me and my children some fun time.

Every day, I will take by big garden wagon (which I’m pretty sure weighs a ton) and load my kids in it (which definitely makes it weigh a ton). Then I will haul that wagon and kids around the yard (I measured and it and it is one half of a mile) two times. Eventually, I will work my way up to a mile. Then after the long haul, and before I collapse from exhaustion, I’ll spend some time with them on the playground – kicking the ball, swinging, or just throwing the Frisbee.

The secret to my weight loss with be movement. Instead of calling it a day and spending the evening propped on the couch, I’ll bring in the twilight of the day with some old fashioned fun. A huge added bonus is that the kids will go to sleep much easier than before – as will mommy.

Not working out is not an option. I have found that if I don’t get up and prepare for the workout, then my “gym” comes to me and asks if its time to go for a ride. How do you say no to those sweet little faces? Guilt makes me get up and get going when motivation has long taken the day off. Before long, I’m having more fun than the kids are having and the weight is running for the hills.

I knew I wanted to get moving again, and I thought I would break down and join a gym. Instead of spending money and taking time away from my family, I’m getting creative. The long haul is not only great cardio, but its strength training as well.

Weight loss is about burning more calories than you take into your body. I’m not counting calories, but I know that by eating only when I’m hunger, stopping before I’m full, and running with my children until we are all ready to collapse will not only make me healthier, but it will make me a better mom to boot.

Filed under Easy exercise tips, Weight loss tips. Tagged , , ,
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Simple Steps to Lasting Weight Loss

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 22 September 2009, 5:22 am

Weight has been an issue for me for the last 25 years. Only in the last five I’ve started to understand how to deal with the problem. For most people, losing weight is not a medical condition (although there are exceptions to this). The keys to losing weight are simple.

Simple Tips to Help Weight Loss

    1. Chew less. When I first read this statement, I was thinking about the “chew your bite 40 times” that I had heard in grammar school. The truth is that when I sit down to eat, I simply eat too much. Chew less means don’t eat so much.

    2. Eat off smaller plates (or bowls). This will force you to eat smaller portions and will also trick your brain into thinking it’s getting more food.

    3. Take your time. Eat smaller bites and take time in between each bite. It usually takes the “full” message from your stomach about twenty minutes to reach your brain. (I wonder if this is because all the blood and energy is being used to digest).

    4. Make meal time an experience. Put out the nice linen. Light a candle. Play some mood music. Enjoy each and every meal instead of shoving anything into your mouth and calling it done.

    5. Stop before you are full. I call it “first date” eating. Only consume as much as you would on a first date – or an amount about the size of your palm.

    6. Get moving. You have to burn more calories than you take in, and movement is the way to do that. Make it your goal to walk just 10,000 steps per day.

    7. Build muscle. Muscle will burn more energy than fat. The stronger you get, the more weight you can burn off with less effort.

    8. Don’t ever give up. If you slip, start again.

    9. Start now. If you wait until tomorrow then you will continue to wait until tomorrow.

    10. Treat yourself. If you complete deprive yourself of chocolate then you won’t be able to think of anything BUT chocolate. When you are hungry, enjoy a small amount of your favorite food, but don’t go overboard.

Losing weight doesn’t have to require lots of charts and graphs. With just a little common sense, some self control and some get up and go you can work and live your way to a thin and healthy life without diets. The steps to losing weight are simple – now if they were only easy, too.

Filed under Weight Freedom, Weight loss tips. Tagged ,
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Weight Freedom – Day One

Posted by Kathryn Lang on 21 September 2009, 12:41 pm

My weight has gotten out of control and it is time for me to get things back in order. I refuse to allow something as small as a bite of food to hinder my purpose any longer. Today is the day that my life comes back to order.

    • Step One – I weighed today for the first time in almost two months. The numbers were NOT pretty but they were also not the motivation for my decision. I simply weighed to give myself a mark. I will feel the change from my challenge by my clothes. I will not allow my weight to define me.

    • Step Two – I printed out some charts to help me get back to consistency with my eating and my activities. There are only two ways to lose weight. Take in fewer calories or burn off more calories.

    • Step Three – I cleaned out some space in the bedroom so that I can do my yoga and stretching in a place that is quiet and relaxing. Just rearranging the furniture helped get me moving because of the activity.

    • Step Four – I am now baring my heart to anyone willing to follow along. Telling others about my endeavor will give me accountability. Being held accountable makes it tougher for me to give into the excuses.

      Choosing to wait will only hinder my progress. I am starting right now – this minute. It does not matter if it is the middle of the day, the middle of the week or the middle of the month. Join me in this challenge to change and release the burden of weight in your life.

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