4 Tips For Getting And Keeping Weight Loss Motivation

Losing weight not only requires commitment and hard work,
but motivation. But it's the motivation that is often the
hardest to come by. For many of us, all it takes is the
drive to keep going to lose weight. But how do we keep the
drive?

Even if we have a strong diet plan and an effective
exercise program, weight loss motivation can be the real
challenge. But for those times when you just want to quit,
or just don't see a reason to keep going, check out these 4
tips for keeping that motivation and running with it.

1.) Lay Out Realistic Objectives

When we set goals or benchmarks for our weight loss
efforts, sometimes we can get too excited. Goals can
quickly become unforgiving landmarks, and if we miss them,
it's all too easy to quit. Saying, "This week I will lose 4
pounds" is a landmark goal. But saying, "This week, I will
stick to my meal plan" is a realistic goal.

The best strategy is to focus on sticking to your weight
loss plan, and then the pounds will come off by themselves.
And if you, for example, eat something outside your meal
plan, just remember: Begin each day anew, and if you really
want to lose weight, your setbacks won't matter.

2.) Don't Go It Alone

Got your exercise plan worked out? Make room for at least
one more. Exercising with a partner who also is trying to
lose weight can be one of the best ways to keep your weight
loss motivation. If you're walking, or running, or going to
the gym with someone else, you've got a friend to talk to,
and someone with whom you can truly share your difficulties
- after all, they're going through the same thing.

And most realistically, they help you get out each day. If
you've got a scheduled time to go meet someone to work out,
you're much less inclined to find a reason not to get some
exercise - because someone relies on you.

3.) Look At The Glass Half Full

While it's easy to say 'be positive', it really is the most
indispensable aspect of maintaining your weight loss
motivation. Instead of focusing on your failures, focus on
your successes. Even if you make a mistake or experience a
setback here and there, you're still doing far better than
you were before you tried losing weight.

At the very least, you're doing something about it, and
while it may take time, weight loss will happen. So think
about how far you've made it, not just about how far you've
still got to go.

4.) Persevere!

The biggest part of all this weight loss stuff is just
staying with it. Weight loss is one of those things that
you can't give up on easily, especially because the final
rewards are so great. Keep your patience, keep up your
program, and your weight loss motivation will come by
itself.

To be honest, it's already commendable that you want to do
something about your weight. These four tips can help you
maintain your weight loss motivation, and keep on the track
to having the body you truly deserve.

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How Minute Quantities Of Selenium May Have A Massive Impact On Your Health

Selenium is one of those micro-nutrients which although
required by the body in only tiny quantities are
nevertheless vitally important for the health and
well-being of the human organism.

There's now compelling evidence of selenium's significance
as an anti-oxidant, in fighting cancer and heart disease,
and as a stimulant for the immune system.

Selenium's importance as an anti-oxidant lies principally
in its necessity for the production of the key anti-oxidant
enzyme, glutathione, which forms one of the body's first
lines of defence against dangerous superoxide free
radicals. The body particularly needs the fat-soluble
glutathione to work with vitamin E to soak up and
neutralise any free radicals attacking the delicate yet
vital fatty structures of cells such as the membranes.

In this way selenium and vitamin E appear to work so
closely together that a deficiency in one may be
compensated for by the other, and selenium is also crucial
as part of the enzyme thioredoxin reductase which is
important in maintaining the anti-oxidant properties of
vitamin C. Moreover, vitamin E cannot itself do its work
in the absence of an adequate supply of active vitamin C;
and vitamin C cannot remain active without the presence of
glutathione.

Selenium therefore forms part of a complex web of
interacting nutrients, each of which is essential to a
successful anti-oxidant rich diet, and whilst the amounts
of selenium required by the body may be tiny, the
Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) being set at just 55
micrograms per day, the effects of any deficiency can be
nevertheless disastrous.

It has to be said that a microgram (mcg) is a very small
quantity indeed – a mere one thousandth of a milligram, so
it might seem highly unlikely that anyone in an affluent
Western society could allow himself to be deficient. And
indeed, a little attention to the daily diet should ensure
that this is the case.

The richest food source of selenium, by far, is brazil
nuts, and amazingly a single nut may provide as much as 100
mcg. A mere one ounce serving of nuts may yield more than
800 mcg, more than double the Food and Nutrition Board's
recommended upper safe limit of 400 mcg. But luckily both
organ meats and seafoods such as shrimps, crabmeat, salmon
or halibut may provide selenium in much more manageable
amounts of up to 40 mcg in a 3 oz serving. Muscle meats
are also a reasonably good source, although pork, the best
of these, will only provide around 33 mcg per 3 oz.

Whole grains such as brown rice or wholemeal bread may
provide 15-20 mcg per serving, but fruits and vegetables
are not particularly useful sources because of the way in
which modern intensive farming procedures continue to strip
soils of their mineral content.

Nevertheless, most healthy individuals seem to have little
difficulty in achieving the RDA. But mere freedom from
deficiency disease is not at all the same thing as optimal
health. So the question must be: is there likely to be any
benefit in supplementing above the 100 mcg level, but below
the 400 mcg upper limit?

The answer appears to be a resounding yes. In addition to
ensuring the maximum possible supply of vital anti-oxidant
enzymes, research strongly suggests that supplementation at
the level of 200 mcg per day may act as a stimulant to the
immune system and may also help in the fight against
cancer, particularly that of the prostate.

Research published in the Journal of the American Medical
Association in 1996, although insisting that further
studies are needed, suggested that selenium supplements at
a level of 200 mcg a day may have a striking effect in
reducing certain common types of cancer, including those of
the prostate by 63%, oesophagus by 67%, colorectal by 58%
and lung by 46%.

Another study of 33,000 men over 5 years demonstrated a
2/3rds reduction in the risk of prostate cancer for men
taking 200 mcg a day (Journal of National Cancer Institute
1998), whilst a further study of 9,000 Japanese/American
men found a 50% reduction in the risk of developing
prostate cancer for those in the highest quartile of
selenium intake compared with those in the lowest quartile.

A useful working hypothesis may be that as cancer is
principally a disease of degeneration, it is the
acknowledged anti-oxidant effect of selenium that is
responsible for its apparent effectiveness in this area.

As always, however, the medical establishment is cautious,
and reluctant to confirm the potential benefits of
nutrition as opposed to more invasive, conventional
therapies. But the indications for selenium in relation to
prostate cancer, in particular, are so promising that a
number of large trials against placebo control are
currently in progress.

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Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in
direct marketing and with a particular interest in health
products. Find out more at
http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/In
formation.htm

High Intensity Cardio Workout – The Best Bet For Weight Loss

When is the last time someone told you that a low intensity
cardio workout was the best way of achieving maximum weight
loss in the shortest time possible? I hear it from clients
everyday. Its about 5 minutes later I go into this little
routine in one form or another.

Now lets see why the leading sports conditioning trainers
and fat loss coaches in the world recommend a quicker
approach to leaning out your midsection.

Could you really have been steered wrong all this time?
Everything you've read over the last ten years has said
that when you want to lose weight fast that slow and low
intensity cardio workouts are the rule.

If you dare to buck the trend and do that new high
intensity interval training all you will do is burn of
carbs and not experience fat loss. Right? Wrong!

If you have come this far I know I have you interested in
the possibility that there must be a better approach. There
is. High Intensity Interval Training may be the next big
thing. I can promise you that if you keep reading you will
never look at a treadmill the same way again!

First, what is "normal" slow, static, weight loss
orientated cardio workout defined as? A low intensity
cardio workout is when you exercise at 60-65% of your max
heart rate.

Your max heart rate can be most easily figured out by
subtracting your age from 220. For a person that is 35 the
equation would look like this. 220-35= 185 max heart rate.
Take the 60-65% fat burning recommendation and you would be
shooting for a sustained heart rate of 120 beats per minute.

If that is a low intensity workout, then what is high
intensity cardio workout?

High intensity cardio is defined as exercise that gets your
heart rate into the 75% and up range. This can be done in a
sustained fashion but not for very long and that is where
the interval training part comes in.

Intervals of high intensity combined with a downshift in
gears to rest for 30 seconds to a minute before ramping it
back up. You go fast then slower to catch your breath a
little.

So how exactly does H.I.I.T. burn more fat then the slow
and low method? Again, another great question! Let me
explain.

Low intensity cardio training burns about 50% fat for
energy while a high intensity workout burns about 40% fat
for energy. So the low intensity method is best right? Just
wait.

Lets take the average walker doing cardio on the treadmill
for 30 minutes. Once they have finished they have racked up
a calorie burn of 160 calories. If 50% of those calories
are fueled by fat then they have burned 80 fat calories

Then over on treadmill number two, you have a mixed martial
arts fighter doing wind sprints in the high intensity
cardio style. He is doing one minute high and 30 seconds at
a jog or a walk. He keeps this up for 20 minutes, is
drenched in sweat and breathing like a freight train. In
those 20 minutes of HIIT he has burned 350 calories.

If you take the lower fat burning percentage of 40%, what
do you have? What you have is 140 fat calories burned and
in less time then the low intensity person. As a matter of
fact, our HIIT person is in the showers as we speak while
the slow cardio workout person is getting bored out of
their mind looking for something to read on the treadmill.

The bottom line is that you almost doubled your fat burning
with the high intensity cardio workout, and less time to
boot.

Now you can see that in the long run you actually burn more
fat calories in total with HIIT then the regular style
while you are doing it. What about the rest of the day?

The fact of the matter is that slow-low cardio workout only
helps weight loss while you do it. Once you get off the
treadmill that's all you get as far as weight loss goes
after a couple of minutes rest.

Here is the clincher on HIIT. It burns calories long after
you stop! It sounds too good to be true but even after you
stop your interval training your body will continue to rev
its metabolism for up to 24 hours depending on how
intensely you did your intervals. This is a great thing for
weight loss wouldn't you say?

The fact of the matter is that even after you hit the
showers and are sitting on the couch, HIIT is still working
towards your weight loss goals for you. Now that's
efficient. Less time spent working and longer lasting
effects.

Small changes like this to your workout make all the
difference when you really want to lose that weight fast. I
hope that helps you out!

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Natural Testosterone: The Biggest “Secret” to Keeping it Up

What's the biggest secret for a man to know in order for
him to keep his testosterone up to maximum levels? We've
no-doubt seen dozens of articles recommending laundry lists
of foods to consume for this purpose as well as those to
eschew. We've been told that good habits (like engaging in
intense bodybuilding workouts) can increase this vital
hormone while bad habits such as excessive alcohol
consumption can diminish it. They tell us to eat broccoli
and oysters and avoid eating licorice and soy. Well, we
were first instructed to eat soy, but now in some corners
this advice is being retracted. We were told to cut dietary
fat back in the 80s and now it's recommended we don't dump
too much of it because it's one of the building blocks of
testosterone.

"Make sure to eat cruciferous veggies and down twelve
ounces of monounsaturated fat each week and you'll be a
raging bull." Are you confused? Is this all there is to it?
Of course not.

The consistent intake of particular foods and the avoidance
of certain others can help put the testosterone equation in
our favor, but only if a more important factor is first
addressed. In fact, this important determinant is so vital
to male hormone health that if you've unwittingly neglected
it, you could possibly double your testosterone level by
simply reversing the situation. What could I be referring
to? It's that ubiquitous signifier of and Achilles' heel of
male middle age. It is abdominal fat; the oversized gut.

Just a few pounds of abdominal fat can cut your
testosterone levels in half (1). That's not good.
Considering that a healthy testosterone level is needed for
everything from energy and assertiveness to a healthy heart
and normal sexual functioning, it seems a lousy tradeoff
for one to allow his "mojo" to be soaked up by an expanding
waistline. I should know; I've allowed it to happen to me
in the past. And the return of virility and vitality after
shedding my nearly 40-inch mid-section surpasses any
fleeting pleasure I'd gotten while inadvertently forgoing
my ability to look down and see my feet.

In order to understand how abdominal fat can hinder one's
testosterone production, you must have a basic
understanding of the 'loop feedback' mechanism by which
natural testosterone is regulated in the male body.
Testosterone is produced by the leydig cells in the testes,
but only after a signal has been sent there by the
hypothalamus in the brain. That signal is sent via
intermediary hormones called LH (luteinizing hormone) and
FSH (follicle stimulating hormone). The LH and FSH are sent
when the hypothalamus gets a reading that testosterone
levels are getting too low. Of course, the hypothalamus
reduces its LH and FSH release when testosterone levels
reach the upper level limit. This loop feedback system
serves the purpose of keeping the body in hormonal
homeostasis.

This all seems simple enough until an antagonist is thrown
in the mix. That antagonist is the female hormone;
estrogen. Yes, men's bodies are designed to require some
estrogen. However, we guys aren't supposed to have a whole
lot of this stuff and it just so happens that we get it
from the conversion of some of our own testosterone (2).
That's right – the simple elimination of a molecule here
and there from the molecular structure of testosterone and
– Surprise… you've got the female stuff. It's okay when the
ratio between 'test' and 'estro' is large. Things go
downhill as the ratio shrinks.

So what do we mean by "downhill"? Well, consider this; when
the hypothalamus takes its reading to find out whether
testosterone is sufficiently high and thus reduce its
output of LH and FSH, it can't always distinguish between
estrogen and testosterone in the receptor sites (3). That
means I could have a subpar testosterone level yet my
hypothalamus might read it as being sufficient or even high
due to estrogen that's occupying the receptor sites in my
body. So my libido and overall health could be in dyer need
of a testosterone boost, but the signal that would make
things happen is being smothered by estrogen. That's not a
pretty sight. (no pun)

And what can cause these high estrogen levels? You guessed
it; body fat. A hormone called aromatase is what does the
conversion and this stuff increases as body fat levels go
up. In addition, testosterone levels tend to be knocked
down even further by high insulin levels which are a
side-effect of the particular type of fat that accumulates
in the abdominal region.(4)

So here's a typical list of things to do that can increase
your natural testosterone production:

•Eat cruciferous vegetables
•Avoid excessive alcohol consumption
•Consume fish oils
•Take a zinc supplement
•Engage in intense exercise (strength training)
•Increase flavenoid intake

Just remember; these steps will probably be extraneous at
best if you've allowed an "estrogen factory" to begin
forming between your ribcage and hips. The biggest key to
higher testosterone is to lose the gut. When your waistline
is slim, these other steps will have a more powerful and
"potent" effect.

References

(1) Longscope, C. et. Al., Diet and Sex Hormone Binding
Globulin. J. Clin Endocrinol Metab 2000 85(1): p.293-6 (2)
Shippen, Eugene. Fryer, William The Testosterone Syndrome.
M. Evans and Company, New York, NY (1998) pg. 47 (3)
Shippen, Eugene. Fryer, William The Testosterone Syndrome.
M. Evans and Company, New York, NY (1998) pg. 49 (4)
Bjorntorp P., Metabolic Difference between visceral and
subcutaneous abdominal fat. Diabetes Metab, 2000. 26(3):
pg. 10-12

----------------------------------------------------
Scott Abbett is a cerified fitness trainer and Master
Practitioner and Trainer of NLP. He also has a
certification in Sports Mental Training. Scott is the
author of HardBody Success: 28 Principles to Create Your
Ultimate Body and Shape Your Mind for Incredible Success.
To see his own transformation, visit
http://www.hardbodysuccess.com