Want Motivation While on Your Diet - Throw Out The Scale!

People who are on a diet continually look for ways to stay motivated.  One of the most common and self–destructive ways that is used both for accountability and motivation is to get on the scale daily or every other day.  Although it seems like a good way to measure progress, it couldn’t be farther from the truth, this is what this article will be focusing on.  But, first here is a leading question.

Do you want to be successful?

 Do you want to have a stress free experience with weight loss or are you into frustration and obsessing over every fluctuation in your weight? Your weight can change day to day based upon many variables, the smallest of which being your weight. The scale literally creates the opportunity for you to become demoralized and sabotage your weight loss efforts each and every day. Each and every day you step on a scale you create the anxiety surrounding success or failure based upon the numbers. Just so you know, stress creates cortisol and cortisol is a hormone that increases the amount of fat in your belly…so how does getting stressed every time you approach the scale help? It doesn't, it helps you gain weight!

The scale also has you evaluating your health, self-image, how you look and feel, based solely on what the scale says. In the blink of an eye you can go from looking at yourself in the mirror, thinking “wow, I am really looking leaner, I am wearing clothes that I have not been able to get into for years. I feel good and even a little sexy….let’s go see what that scale says” POW you're two pounds heavier and now you feel like crap!  In a second your thoughts shift to, "What’s the point, I give up?"  Where is your motivation now?

Here is another example of how the scale doesn’t create a clear picture of your body composition.  Do you know that every year as you get older you lose 1 pound of muscle and gain 1 pound of fat?

As a result, many people look at the scale each year and inaccurately feel that because their weight has not changed, that their health and body has not changed either.  Yet they are weaker and fatter every year.

The scale is toxic for people who are trying to lose weight if you obsess on the daily fluctuations that the scale tells you. The problem is that the scale doesn’t take into consideration muscle increases, water retention, menstrual cycles, body fat changes, etc.   A simple evening meal that has more salt in it could change the scale 2-3 pounds the following morning due to water weight and destroy your motivation in the process.  Weighing yourself first thing in the morning can be off as much as 5-7 pounds compared to the rest of the day.

The Scale is NOT your friend!

You love it when it tells you what you want to hear and hate it when it tells you otherwise.  A number should not dictate your self-esteem or effect your motivation. If you are to be successful in weight loss, you must remove things that would create a negative emotional response that could lead to binge eating or self-sabotage! How you look, how you feel, your diminishing waistline, your level of cardiovascular fitness, your body fat measurement, your resting heart rate, blood pressure, a full blood panel and how your clothes fit; these are indicators for health and weight loss..   The scale should only be used in conjunction with evaluating all these other indicators.

So, throw out your scale or at least put it away! Do yourself a favor, if you must weigh yourself do it only once or twice a month.   You have a better chance for success, if you always create a weight loss environment that promotes positive feedback and makes it easy to stay motivated.

About:  Michael Mountain is a transformational author on health, weight loss & personal growth and is featured on Amazon.com. He is the author of the Ultimate Fat Loss Solution Diet which is available presently free of charge at http://www.michael-mountain.com/.   He is also the author of Mindset for Weight Loss transformational program - a revolutionary step-by-step program designed to provide the “inner-strength strategies” to take any diet and make it effective for

Diet and Weight Loss – Confused Yet!?

Don’t you get tired of all of the conflicting information out there about diet and weight loss? 

Some people recommend a low fat diet, some recommend low carb, some high protein, some high fiber, some cabbage soup and the folks that like to make things easy - boil it down to a simple formula; calories in vs. calories out i.e. eating less than your body burns each day.  Then, there is the question of when to eat; eat every 2-3 hours, eat the normal 3 times a day, fast during the day and eat one big dinner….I mean there are a never ending number of options.  Then there are the quick fix solutions like all the diet pills that are available or the option of lap bands, liposuction and other surgical procedures. 

It would appear that it would be easy for someone to get caught up in over- analysis paralysis…..or said differently, getting so confused with conflicting information that you end up doing nothing.  But, here is the reality from a different perspective: they are all right and they are all wrong. You can lose weight on any of these approaches and of course some are healthier than others, but what should also be pointed out is that they are all missing very important information.  None of these options address the entire problem and are therefore an incomplete solution.

Wouldn’t you agree that the problem is in part, knowing what food is healthy for your body, and the other part is knowing how to make and follow through with the healthy choice!
The problem in reality, is our own internal struggle with sticking with and following through with healthy choices, eating the right foods in the right amounts, for life.  We struggle with our own feelings, habits, desires, motivations and will power to not stray from the healthy food choices each and every time! 
The weight and health you have now is a result of all those struggles. If you don’t like what you see and you truly want to lose the weight permanently then you need more information, you must make some internal changes.

Unfortunately, all of the options listed above only address an option for physical change – diet, pills or surgery.  They might change how you look and feel temporarily but, none of these options will change you!
This is the number one reason that 95% of all people on a diet, taking a pill or after surgery fail to keep the weight off!  You haven’t changed on the inside. 

The only way for a fat loss and diet solution to truly be just that…a solution, is for that program to address all aspects.  Diet, nutrition and exercise information is the beginning, but most importantly that information must include; how to stay motivated, committed and focused on achieving your goal.   A true solution must show you how to break free of your negative beliefs, emotional relationships and unhealthy habits surrounding food!

A complete weight loss solution will self-empower you by providing not just the nutritional and dietary information you need but also the inner-strength strategies that lead to certain permanent weight loss! 

About:  Michael Mountain is a transformational author on health, weight loss & personal growth and is featured on Amazon.com. He is the author of the Ultimate Fat Loss Solution Diet which is available presently free of charge at http://www.michael-mountain.com/.   He is also the author of Mindset for Weight Loss transformational program - a revolutionary step-by-step program designed to provide the “inner-strength strategies” to take any diet and make it effective for permanent weight loss.  This program allowed him to end his own personal 20 year struggle with weight and poor health! 

What You Must Know before You Switch to Veganism - as seen on Oprah!

I watched the Oprah Show some time back.  The guest was the wife of a personal friend of Oprahs’ who was preaching the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.  I say preaching because vegans certainly do take a hard lined, almost evangelical stance to their diet.  I knew that I needed to comment because people commonly don’t question or judge the message; they only judge the messenger.

When Oprah endorses anything, it carries some serious weight; the fact that the guest was a thin “Barbie” blonde would only add fuel to the fire.  People would inaccurately think that if they eat like her then they will look like her, people would think that this is the next dietary breakthrough.  

This guest says that she chose this lifestyle because she feels that it is healthier for her body and that it is a personal choice, she feels that it is inhumane to kill and eat animals.  

They had a representative of the meat industry there to show that the production of animal based protein is being carried out in it’s most humane way.  This representative was from Cargill one of the biggest manufacturers of meat and hamburgers in the United States.   All other meat manufacturers declined to be on the show, obvious to the fact that it would be bad for business and that they would be racked over the coals.

The video inside Cargill’s plant, showed livestock being fed high amounts of slop made up of corn, protein, fillers and anti-biotics to fatten them up..while they stand fairly stationary on a pile of dirt and manure.  It appeared not very healthy and certainly not very appetizing.  Whether you think that it is humane or not will be a personal choice for you. 

This is a good reason to try to buy your meat from organic grass-fed livestock from small farms.  

The question is really, is eating a vegan lifestyle a healthier choice.

The guest recommended that we should eat a diet of cereal and whole grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits and getting the majority of your protein from soy based products.  That’s right all protein sources were soy protein sources…things like; tofu, soy sausages, soy hamburgers, soy yogurt, soy everything.   That brings me to my 3 points.

1. A recent study looked at the effects of eating soy products on the fertility in men.  Here is what they found.  Eating just ½ a serving of soy products in a day decreases a man’s sperm count up to 50%!  That’s only eating ½ serving.  This gal wants you to eat much more than that.  If any of your children are boys or if you are a man and are planning on having kids, or if you are planning on having kids with your husband – stay away from the soy! 

2. Another recent review study looked back at 18 previous studies to look at the connection between soy products, increased estrogen and breast cancer.  13 were conclusive that dietary soy products increase estrogen and the risk of developing breast cancer.  5 tried to prove that eating soy products actually prevented breast cancer.  3 of those failed to prove their hypothesis and the other 2 showed that Asian woman who began eating high amounts of soy product in their adolescents did seem to prevent incidence of breast cancer.  But this was seen only in Asian women.  The overwhelming majority of research proves that high intake of soy products is not healthy.  Ladies, it is important to realize that anything that increases your estrogen can make you estrogen dominant.  This can mess up your progesterone levels, it can affect your mood, energy, sex drive, cycle and even heart rhythm.  

Side Note:  I have met many women whose health and cycle were in a bad way due to a vegan lifestyle.  The second we took them off of the soy products and back onto animal based protein, their cycle became regular and their health returned.

3. Animal based sources of protein are our very best or only source for a huge number of vital nutrients; including creatine, carnitine, B-vitamines especially B12, Zinc.  Animal proteins are our only source of extremely important amino-acids including Taurine, and our only source for Omega-2 fish oils of which DHA and EPA are crucial to our health.

Side note: This was a pro-vegan diet show…why was Cargill there…just to be abused.  The representative stayed positive and took a stance that we are doing our job the best and most humane way possible.  But, still I couldn’t help but scratch my head…why did this company not do what all the other meat companies that were contacted had done and just be unavailable.  To bring a camera into a slaughter house/meat packing company was asking to lose business.  But, my skepticism was rewarded…Cargill is also the biggest manufacturer of soy products in our nation.   They are also notorious for putting more fillers and junk into their products than almost all the other companies.

So, there you have it just a few things to consider before you jump into the vegan lifestyle.  Remember we have evolved eating meat over the last 2.4 million years…it is what our physiology responds best too and when mixed with vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, a small amount of tubors and whole grains represents our ideal diet.  Not some fake, created meat like substitute that messes up our bodies and robs us of our health.

About:  Michael Mountain is a transformational author on health, weight loss & personal growth and is featured on Amazon.com. He is the author of the Ultimate Fat Loss Solution Diet which is available presently free of charge at http://www.michael-mountain.com/.   He is also the author of Mindset for Weight Loss transformational program - a revolutionary step-by-step program designed to provide the “inner-strength strategies” to take any diet and make it effective for permanent weight loss.  This program allowed him to end his own personal 20 year struggle with weight and poor health!