Mental Health Social Network: Getting In Shape

• Food choices

  I lost about 5 pounds this week, but I'm certain I won't lose that much every week. It's probably because I'm just starting out. Still, I understand that 2 lbs a week is a healthy amount to lose.
  
  I don't want to sound like an advertisement, but Weight Watchers has
  been a relatively easy plan to follow. If I do it right, I don't feel
  hungry and it seems like I'm eating a lot of food. I'm learning to make
  different food choices, like instead of salt, butter and sour cream on
  my baked potato tonight I had Mediterranean Yogurt and a lot of pepper.
  I've also found that eating a piece of fruit about half an hour before a
  meal cuts my appetite.
  
  I thought I knew how to eat healthy, but there's a difference between knowing what to do and actually making a conscious effort to do it. I've learned a lot of little tricks, and how to estimate food portions. I also never really feel hungry, and if I want something chocolatey, I can still have it.
  
  This is getting easier as it goes along, and getting positive feedback from my friends and my scale are a big help.
  

  Posted on 20 February 2012 | 4:56 pm

• I am 19 stone!!!

  Anyone who hasn't followed my diet will think 19stone is huge! But I was 21stone! This for me is great I am storming ahead lately and feel on a real high for the first time ever. My partner even said well done - let me repeat that - my partner said well done 
  OMG this is addictive. 
  
  

  Posted on 18 February 2012 | 9:49 am

• 5 Fad Diets to Avoid

  by: W. Messruther

  
  There are so many fad diets out there these days that attract people with there fast weight loss and celebrity lifestyle image. The fact is that nearly all of these diets only really offer short-term weight loss solutions and can be extremely unhealthy. Iv'e put together a list of 5 popular fad diets - along with reasons NOT to try them!
  
  Detox Diet
  Claims to lose a stone in 10 days, defeat cellulite, give glowing skin and no more bloating. This diet is meant to compliment other detox methods such as massages, colonic irrigation, saunas, fasting etc. Food such as fish, meat, eggs, dairy, wheat, salt, sugar etc are banned, while fruit, veg, beans, seeds, nuts are allowed. This results in a lack of nutrients, lowered immune system, a temporary weight loss, mainly water. It can lead to yo-yo dieting, nausea, sickness and headaches. It is said to causes food cravings, resulting in eventually giving up! It can also cause eating disorders and there is no good evidence of it actually working!
  
  Low Carb / Atkins Die
  The aim of low carb diets is to force the body to use its own fat as its main energy source. This produces something called ketone bodies to fuel body parts that can not use fat as an energy source such as the brain and red blood cells. This puts you in a state of ketosis - resulting in smelly breath and side effects like fatigue and nausea. These diets do produce short term results, which actually come from loss of muscle tissue and water. They are not a long term weight loss solution and are unhealthy if sustained.
  
  Starvation Diet
  Starving yourself is one of the worst diets that you could try. Ok, you may initially lose a lot of weight but the effect this has on your body is drastic! You will be extremely lacking much needed nutrition and this will lead to fatigue, lack of sex drive and hormones, sleep loss, possible hypothermia, poor concentration and judgement, depression, anxiety, personality changes, social withdrawal, your metabolism will dramatically slow down, you will lose organ tissue and muscles, you can get shakes, feel the cold more, and feel very week. Low calorie intakes actually slow down weight loss.
  
  Hollywood Diet
  This is basically a 24 or 48 hour 'Juice Fast' where you eat no food in this time. This diet has the same cons as the starvation diet. You are really just losing excess water in the body with this diet and it does'nt last long, you will soon put that weight back on. It is expensive to buy the juice, around $25! You will get no protein or iron in the body, and will be taking lots of sugar and carbs. Tastes good at first but soon turns very sickly.
  
  Cabbage Soup Diet
  This is a 7 day diet plan which supposedly offers a fast weight loss solution. This is a very short term solution and is not sustainable so is'nt a viable option for long term weight loss. There are a few benefits to this diet which include fast weight loss, a healthy beneficial change from eating junk food, and research has shown that cabbage helps to prevent cancer. However, the drawbacks do outweigh these benefits somewhat significantly. The soup is high in salt, lacking in good overall nutrition - low in protein, calcium, essential fatty acids, high in sodium and MSG, requires much will power as the soup tastes very bland and is extremely repetitive, gives you gas!, and most of all this is not a healthy sustainable solution to long-term weight loss. This diet will most probably make you GAIN weight as it has a very low calorie intake and you can get bloated!
  
  
  There really is no substitute for a healthy diet and regular exercise if you want to lose weight and live an overall healthier and more active lifestyle.
  

  
  If you found this article useful, head on over to www.simpledietreview.com for my personal Reviews on the top online diet programs.

  W. Messruther, Dieting Consultant.

  To find other free health content see e-healtharticles.com

  Posted on 17 February 2012 | 10:46 am

• It is getting easier

  Each week seems to get easier. It's starting to feel more like a gradual slope in the right direction. Tomorrow is my weigh day! Always nervous before it 

  Posted on 17 February 2012 | 10:39 am

• Nighttime is evil

  It seems like after 8 PM I want to eat everything I can find. I suppose it's just another one of those habits I'm going to have to break.
  
  How do you deal with those times when you feel like you need to eat but you're not really hungry?
  

  Posted on 16 February 2012 | 3:56 am