Goal Setting and Weight Loss Food Journal

by Steveo

When you are starting your weight loss journey, it should be something well planned. I can see your goose bumps rise the minute you read "well planned". Don't worry, I'm giving you the plan but it's your job to go through the whole process.

You should also set a clear goal to get the most out of your dieting. Without a clear goal, most are not going to make it. You should be reminding yourself daily why you are losing weight. Your goals should clearly state "I want to lose XX weight in YY days". Then clearly state WHY you want to lose weight. Make your clear plan on a piece of paper and put it somewhere you can see it daily. This makes your brain unconsciously think about it. The positive things that see will help you in taking steps towards these goals on autopilot.

Keeping a food journal before starting a diet is a good way to see what you are really eating. However, you must keep a detailed journal – all the small snacks count and nothing must not be left out. You should try to keep your journal for at least 15 – 30 days so you really see what your habits are.

You also should write down when you eat. Most people who are overweight tend to eat at night or the late evening. This is something that should be avoided. An optimum night snack should be something light like vegetable or fresh fruits. You body doesn't have to work on full power to digest these.

When your period of a minimum of 15 days for the food journal is over, you should try to analyze it somehow. What are your weak spots? Do you eat at night? Do you have sugary snacks? Do you buy TV-dinners? Do you spend time cooking your own food? Do you eat out? Think of some of your own and try to think if you eat lots of junk that could easily be left out with a little bit of self discipline.

The food journal should not take more than 5 minutes of your daily time but its benefits are huge because you can spot your problem and act accordingly.

WATER AND WEIGHT LOSS

You're probably aware of the nature of water in weight loss. It's required to be consumed in quantities that are beneficial to your health (2-3 liters per day). Water is mostly collected in your body because it tends to reserve water if it's lacking it.

If you want to benefit from water before lunch, then you should consume water in large quantities about 10 minutes before it. Why? This has two benefits. Researchers have reported that consuming water before eating can reduce the calorie intake of the food. Wouldn't that be great to reduce the calorie intake by simply drinking water?

Do you know the feeling when you are really hungry and standing in the queue waiting for your turn to order? You want to take huge amounts of food because you're so damn hungry. By following the "10 minute before" rule, you can have these both benefits.

Next, we come down to the second benefit. Your feeling of hunger is reduced temporarily when you drink lots of water before going to the lunch restaurant (or where ever you are eating) because the water fills your stomach, giving it the false message (false in a good way) of being full.

This causes you to eat less food (especially if you are eating your lunch in a buffet-restaurant where you can eat as much as you like). It's simple but it works.

Water also detoxifies our bodies and this leads to better health. Hence, always be consuming lots of water on a daily basis.

BODY FAT AND PROCESSED FOOD

Excess body fat leads to a risk of heart failure. Your heart needs more power to pump that blood to every place in your body. This is a stressful situation to your heart. Your breathing becomes more difficult because the fat is pressing against the lungs and makes it harder to work smoothly. In other words, the oxygen is being transported in a more stressful manner to the vessels. It has been also clinically proven that cancer is closely linked with obesity.

Processed food is filled with preservative chemicals and refined sugar. This is a combination that leads to more obesity because of long periods of high blood sugar.

MINDSET & BODY NUTRIENTS

Many people say they want to lead a healthy life but what they eat and do is another story. Many people eat unhealthy and think it's not that dramatic but once 5 years have passed with that same attitude, it might have significant consequences. If you don't watch what you eat, you might end up developing some unattractive disease from which there is no turning back.

Most people also think that eating that junk food gets you all the nutrients you need. Even people who try to eat healthily might think they get all the nutrients and minerals they need from their daily diet. That is not completely true. Eating regular food is just not enough to get all the nutrients and minerals you need. People who take vitamin supplements understand that their body needs more than it can get from regular food.

But there is a difference in people who take regular vitamins and minerals you can get from the grocery store and the high potency vitamins and minerals you get from a shop or retailer who has the true knowledge what is good and what is not.

Many cheap and low-quality products go through your body without it absorbing important nutrients.
Many people also think that regular multivitamin pills take care of the daily vitamin needs. In reality, you need much more than the amount that is the daily suggested dosage. These numbers are significantly lower than that of the high potency pills and this has much to do with the pharmaceutical industry.

If all people took the high potency vitamins, everyone would probably be healthier and not have as many diseases as they do now. The daily suggested dosages for many vitamins are too low and people are being scared by the media to falsely believe that overdosing (meaning taking more than the suggested dosage, which is very low) will cause permanent damage to your health.

High potency vitamins are what you should concentrate on. Forget all those cheap vitamins because their effect on your body is little to none. You should also think about in which form you are taking that supplement. Cheap products are hardly going to digest in your body. It's been advised by the experts that liquid form is the fastest and the most efficient way to get the highest potency out of the product.

A vitamin in pill form needs to be broken down to liquid before it has any effect on your body. So your body must take an extra step to get the pill into a liquid form. That is not a fast process and often the pill only gives 10% TO 20% of its nutrients to your body. Why go through all the trouble when you could get it into your system within minutes? That is where the liquid form of a vitamin supplement comes into play. It evaporates in your body so that your body does not have to do the work in order to get the most of the product itself.