The Health Gazette

The people we are closest to, and spend the most time with, influence who we are; that should come as no surprise. But your friends may have much more of an impact on your health than you realized. If you struggle to lose weight, or want to gain insight into your health, start by taking a look at your closest friends.

We tend to get along best with people that we agree with on things - this includes how much we believe we should exercise, how much and what we should eat, and what a normal body size is. And all of these factors influence how much we weigh.

Recently, researchers looked deeper into the connection between social circles and people's weight. What they found is that your best friend's weight will likely determine whether you will gain or lose weight over the years. Some even say that you will likely weigh within ten pounds of the person you are closest to.

When researchers looked at the long-term data from the Framingham heart study, they found that the strongest patterns of weight gain or weight loss was between friends. In fact, a person's chance of becoming obese increased by 57 percent if that person's close friend became obese.

The good news about these studies is that the influence of your friends' weight is just as strong for losing and keeping it off as it is for gaining it. When one person loses weight, it motivates others around them to lose weight as well. And, having a workout buddy motivates you to continue exercising.

Having friends who are overweight should not be a reason for you to blame them for your own weight gain. Everyone has to take responsibility for the choices they make, and the lifestyle they life. If you and your close friend are both overweight, use it as an opportunity to set goals together that you can both work toward.

It's hard to imagine being in a conversation with someone for any amount of time where the subject of weight loss does not come up. For the most part, many people seem to constantly complain about the extra weight they are carrying around with them. Most of the time this is not their fault, TV and magazines help to play a role in how we see ourselves in the mirror everyday. It is a fact that we all know someone or are dealing with an obesity problem ourselves What does not help is most peoples desire to look like those in hollywood or in your favorite magazine. In addition, there are a lot of us who could do without the extra weight we carry. The problem with this is that it can be quite difficult to go it alone. That is why many individuals join weight loss programs in order to help them.

There are many weight loss programs out on the market that have gained notoriety. Most of these systems not only teach you how to lose weight, they also have support centers and food to aid in your efforts. The top programs out right now include Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. These programs have been around for many a moon and have substantially aided in the loss of weight for many individuals. Of course, all of us are individuals and these particular weight loss programs might not be exactly what we're looking for.

There are also weight loss programs that come in the form of a book. Some of the more popular diets include Atkins or South Beach. In line with the programs listed above, the books offer various products to be used while following their particular systems. These types of diets have also been responsible for significant weight loss of many individuals. The difficult part is keeping that weight off as these diets do not necessarily offer a type of eating that can be sustained throughout your lifetime.

On a side note, many people have lost a lot of weight with programs geared towards people with certain diseases. For instance, a diet that is geared towards diabetics has helped many lose and keep weight off for an extended period of time. What is remarkable about these diets is that they are set up for a lifestyle change and therefore work for the rest of your life.

With the various weight loss programs available today it's just a matter of deciding which best fits your needs. What you need to do is some research on various programs and try and get passed the clever marketing. You need to seek out a program that will offer you a permanent solution and not just a quick fix. As you find one that works best for you, be sure to stick it out and make it a new lifestyle so you can finally keep the weight off. Check out my bio below for my number one recommended weight loss program for starters.

Your weight loss efforts can be a real drag...but they don’t have to be.

It isn’t only struggle with not being able to eat everything you want to and having to exercise when you don’t want to that makes it so difficult; it’s what goes on in your mind that causes the biggest struggle. People who are happy with the weight loss process are much likelier to succeed than those who struggle with it.

Your weight loss efforts can be a happy process or a miserable drudgery, depending on what goes on in your mind.

**The Great Mind-Over-Fatter Principle**

Okay, what is the mind-over-fatter principle? The mind-over-fatter principle is simply:

“Those who keep their mind in a happy state will enjoy life more and will succeed at weight loss.”

Well, actually, this principle applies to all walks of life. Why be miserable when you can be happy by doing something as simple as changing your mind.

**The Great Flower Garden Principle**

Another principle? No, actually this principle is the same as the “Mind-Over-Fatter” principle, only it tells you how to keep your mind in a happy state, even when things aren’t going your way.

Here it is:

“Don’t stick your head in the garbage can and expect for life to smell like roses. If you want your life to smell like roses, hang out in the rose garden.”

Get the picture? Life will always have garbage situations. This is true for everyone. There is always the garbage can part of life where things just stink. But there is also always a garden part of every person’s life where there is sunshine and roses.

The question is: Where do you want to hang out? It’s your choice.

You can live with your head in the garbage can (negative thinking, grumbling) part of your life and sit around and wonder why life stinks. Or you can refuse to stick your head in the garbage can and live with your head among the roses of life (positive and fun things).

Here’s how it works:

Whenever you can’t eat the fat-producing food you want, be glad you can eat what’s going to have you looking slimmer and trimmer. Hey, this food is better for your health too.

And when it’s time to take a brisk walk and you really don’t want to, don’t think about how much you don’t want to walk, think about how good you are going to look and how much better you are going to feel at this time next year if you faithfully take your walks.

When you look into the mirror, don’t think about how fat you are; think about how good you are going to look in six months. When you weigh yourself and see that you have lost 5 pounds, don’t think about how much more fat you have to lose, think about how much fat is in a 5-pound can of Crisco and say, “Wow, thank God I got rid of that...in six months 50 pounds of that stuff will be gone...Yippee!”

Get the idea? It may be difficult at first, if you are used to thinking negatively, but the results you experience will be well worth the effort.

Try it... you’ll like it! And, believe me, this better way of thinking will pay off with a much happier life, many lost pounds, and a slimmer body.

There are a large number of people who would do almost anything to increase their metabolism. Having a high metabolic rate enables one to maintain fat burn and lose weight rapidly with the minimum amount of physical exercise. Metabolism is the process by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories in order that the body can function.

There are several factors that affect the metabolism of a person, such as the percentage of muscle tissue, the timing of the meals one consumes, genetics, stress levels, personal diet and levels of exercise. Metabolic rate slows down due to the following: loss of muscle lack of physical exercise, the tendency of the body to absorb its own tissue as a result of not enough food energy to sustain it, and the decrease of exercise that comes naturally with old age.

Here are several ways to boost one's metabolism:

1. Build up a lean, mean body mass. It is inevitable that metabolism decreases as we get older, but it is possible to counter the effects. The percentage of muscle tissue that a person has is a prime determinant in their ability to burn calories and burn fat. So it is obvious that building muscle is essential. Strength and resistance should be built up by working out at least twice a week, preferably with weights. Do light exercises in between the full workouts. Light exercise such as walking the dog and using the stairs in place of the elevator can contribute to taking off calories. The secret is to match the input of calories to the amount of calories that you burn off.

Here are some guidelines in getting the right exercise:

For strength training -Gradually increase the amount of repetitions of a particular exercise. -Add to the level of resistance -Develop advance exercise techniques if this is possible. You may need to consult a professional trainer

For cardiovascular exercise -Insert intervals between exercises -Perform cross-training and combine the exercises - Raise resistance and speed

2. Eat breakfast. Many people are missing breakfast even though it is the most important meal of the day. Surprisingly, studies reveal that those people who eat a meal at the start of the day are thinner than the ones who do not. The bodies metabolism can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if one waits until the afternoon to eat.

3. Eat less sugar. Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood-sugar. Additionally, progressive exercise 2-3 times a week should be able to stabilize the body's level of blood sugar.

4. Never skip meals. Although it would appear to be self evident that skipping a meal will help you lose weight, but this is not true. The effect of skipping a meal is that it slows down your metabolism. In addition, missing a meal will make you more likely to snack between meals.

5. Eat spicy foods. It may be surprising that eating can be good for you and help lower your weight! Any hot cuisine with peppers can increase metabolism. Higher metabolism means that the body can burn fat faster.

6. Sleep more. According to research, people who miss out on their sleep are at the greatest risk of gaining weight. Also, muscle tissues are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber.

7. Increase water intake. Toxins are produced whenever the body burns fat. Water flushes out these toxins that are produced. is a fact that, a majority of the bodily functions involves water, and lack of water results in an imbalance of the body's functions, and produces unneeded stress as a result.

8. Reduce the size of meals. It is advisable to consume 4 to 6 small meals that are timed 2 to 3 hours apart. Eating less food is a major factor in reducing your calorie intake.

9. Eat Energy Foods. Include more high energy foods in your daily diet. These energy foods include such items as fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains.

10. Plan meals in detail. Always get ready the right amount of food to be consumed at the designated intervals. Always stick to your scheduled meal times, and don't snack in between.

11. Ditch the stress! Stress, whether it is physical or emotional stress, triggers the release of a steroid called cortisol, which decreases metabolism. Chilling out will reduce the amount of cortisol in your body and so keep up your metabolic rate. Also, people tend to eat excessively when stressed.

12. Drink green tea. Green tea can be drunk instead of coffee. Green tea has the ability to stimulate your metabolism, and unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when too much is consumed.

Losing the desired amount of weight is never impossible if you have the determination and patience required to stabilize your metabolic level, which is so important in weight loss. If you can stabalise your metabolism then you can lose weight. The real key to successful weight loss is not just eating right and exercising, but changing your way of life.

A lot of people get suckered into flawed quick weight loss diets; they fail miserably in the end because of lack of motivation and other external factors. Quick weight loss diets will only be effective if you have created the plan yourself.

Your input during the planning phase is very critical. While planning, you will need to create your own schedule and types of food you will eat, which will solely be based on your preferences.

To help you in planning your quick weight loss diet program, here are a few tips you may want to consider.

Eliminate Junk Foods

Junk foods are, as the name says, JUNK. This should be the first thing you should consider when planning for your quick weight loss diet.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to totally remove this from your daily diet since you might have gotten used to it already. Eliminating it all at once will also make you feel that you have been deprived of the good things in life, which is not good since it will only make you yearn for it more.

The secret here is to eliminate junk foods gradually. In the beginning, set a small attainable goal. Let’s say you have planned to eat junk food 3 times a week. After you have reached this goal, set another goal say, you will only eat junk foods 2 times a week. Continue on doing this until such time you have totally removed junk foods from your diet.

Choose Your Own Food

While planning your quick weight loss diets, it is important that you choose the food that you eat. Just because people say a certain food is good for weight loss doesn’t mean you should include it in your plan right away. If you do not like the food, then don’t choose it.

Of course, it is very important that you choose healthy foods. Choosing unhealthy ones is not an option here. The point in letting you choose your own food is that by the time that you really would have to follow your quick weight loss diets, it will be much easier to eat the foods that you have picked since it was you who chose them in the first place.

Another important thing that you should remember is that, if certain types of food just do not seem to work for your diet, then try to choose other healthy goodies.

Don’t Get Discouraged

There are times that you just won’t be able to follow what you have planned. If this happens, it is very important that you do not get discouraged.

A common scene with people is when they over indulge themselves with something that they shouldn’t have, the usual behavior is to continue doing it – anyway, I have already strayed away from my quick weight loss diet plans.

This should not be the case. It is very important to always make room for mistakes. And if you do commit mistakes, it does not mean that you have to give up. It does not mean that it is already the end of your quick weight loss diets. Simply get back on track and you’ll be fitter in no time.