CALM ENERGY
Calm energy is a state of low stress and high controlled energy. Small issues remain small and do not develop into more than what they really are. They therefore do not get in the way of things that are more important. Your physical and mental reserves are at a high level, giving you the serene confidence of an ideal flow state where you feel in continuous control.Your sense of well being and a positive outlook are in place. Due to this positive vantage point, your perception of attaining a successful result is much greater.Everything you do seems to go easily and smoothly. This is by far the energy you need to have on a regular basis.

TENSE ENERGY
Tense energy is the opposite. It can be the result of artificial stimulants such as caffeine, a situational effect of anger, stress or by merely being in a general rush. This type of energy cannot be maintained without a price. It interferes with the optimal neurotransmissions in the brain and in the long run leaves you exhausted; depleted mentally and physically. Continuing on this way will have negative consequences on your overall performance and will also erode your health over time. This type of energy is commonplace in many people’s lives, so much so that it seems normal. It is a sad testament to our current fast-paced culture that this seems to be the case. But this does not have to be. Here are ten steps to a positive, productive flow state that will support your efforts, making your life easier and more fulfilling.

THE TEN STEPS

1) Start with a good nights sleep, eight hours if possible. Without proper rest, it is difficult to maintain any kind of consistent energy level the next day. Be sure your bedroom is as dark as possible. Any light will interfere with your sleep cycle by suppressing the production of melatonin, a hormone released at the end of the day that signals your body that it’s time for sleep. Avoid a heavy meal at the end of the day, the process of digestion forces your body to stay active, not allowing it to settle into a good sleep pattern. Likewise, avoid caffeine or alcohol close to bedtime.

Let go of any worries and frustrations you may have. It may be helpful to come up with an affirmation you can say to yourself as you settle in each night. Something to the effect of: “This day is finished. I release any worries or concerns to my higher power and I am allowing myself to relax into a peaceful, healing sleep”.

2) When you first wake up in the morning, train yourself to think about what you will be looking forward to for the day, not what you are dreading.Focus on thoughts of gratitude for all the good things in your life, feel the warmth of this emotion glowing inside you. Give your day a positive purpose from the start.

3) Stretching is one of the most important things you can do each day. Stretching  energizes the body and makes you feel great. When you first wake up each morning allow yourself a few minutes before rising to slowly and gently arch your back, stretch your arms and legs and turn your head from side to side. When you get up, leave your arms loose at your sides and shake them. Do the same with each leg, first one than the other. For me I like to also lay flat on the floor and stretch my back arms and legs. If you have ever had a back or neck energy stretching as allowed by your physician makes daily movement so much easier.

If you are up to it, drop down and do a few pushups, stand up and do a few kneebends or forward lunges. Then take three to four slow, relaxing breaths. Imagine breathing in energy that instantly courses throughout your entire body, invigorating and strengthening every cell. As you exhale slowly, breathe out all tension, fatigue and negative feelings. Any activity for just a few minutes first thing in the morning triggers your brain to produce signals to release tension and to begin the process of increasing your overall alertness. Try it, it’s amazing how little it takes to jump start your day with these simple movements.

4) Do not skip breakfast, no matter what. It does not have to be anything elaborate. For those of us that have had weight loss surgery the word is protein.  A balanced protein diet as prescribed by our physician keeps us buzzing with energy. Perhaps it will be some cheese, cottage cheese, a protein drink or one of many other protein foods. For the traditional dieter starting each day with a low-fat, high fiber breakfast is critical to continuing to develop the calm energy to carry you through the day. A toasted multi-grain bagel with low-fat cream cheese can provide a quick tasty meal, for example. Another easy to prepare breakfast is muesli. Before you go to bed, put 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats into a bowl and add just enough water to cover them.Cover the bowl and put it in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning, add 1/2 cup of your favorite low fat yogurt and one to two teaspoons of brown sugar or honey. Top it off with pieces of apple, banana or any other fruit that strikes your fancy. This is a delicious, satisfying breakfast that has everything you need to start your day off right.

5) For the traditional dieter eat 5-6 smaller meals throughout the day. If you are a weight loss surgery patient like me, you will find that some physicians also like several smaller meals and others will encourage you to stick with breakfast lunch and dinner. For me, I have found that several smaller meals have kept me best energized as is keeps the body’s energy furnace stoked without overwhelming it with fewer, “larger” meals that leave me sluggish. If you are a gastric bypass patient or lapband surgery patient you know that you need to get your protein first and then we can do like the traditional dieter and include a mix of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats such as those found in fish and nuts. This combination will provide the fuel, maintain your energy and will leave you feeling satisfied. Also be sure to keep yourself well hydrated through the day by drinking plenty of water.

6) Focus for a few moments on your normal breathing pattern. You’ll notice that while you aren’t in an active state, your breathing may be quite shallow. Throughout the day take a couple of minutes to do some concentrated belly breathing to take more oxygen into your system. By doing this you will be assisting the oxidation level of your metabolism. First, sit up straight and face straight ahead. Take a slow, deep breath through your nose, expanding your abdomen first rather than you chest, but don’t force it. Exhale slowly and evenly, try to take twice as long breathing out as breathing in. Again, don’t force it. Repeat this sequence four times.

7) You can change your energy level instantly by ACTING energetic. Quicken your breathing pattern slightly, move more quickly and speak at a faster pace as if you’re really excited about something. Your body will respond with a noticeable surge of energy. Try this, you may be surprised at how well this works. Emotion is indeed directly influenced by motion.

Beware of the energy vampires! These are the people around you that siphon off your energy in several ways. Non-stop talking, continuous complaining and whining, asking an endless series of questions, incessant bragging to gain approval are just a few ways this can happen. Except for young children you may be raising, you are not responsible for anyone’s life or feelings but your own. When you can fully accept this and apply it in your life, you will find it much easier to politely end the conversation or walk away from the circumstance that would otherwise sap your energy.

9) Get into a regular exercise program. Go for a walk,develop a stretching routine, get a cardio exercise DVD suitable for your fitness level and follow along with it. Any exercise is better than none at all. Try for at least 20 minutes of activity three times a week to start.

10) Find ways to serve others and express thanks for all that you have during the day. By openly showing gratitude, you will attract more things into your life that will reinforce this feeling further. Likewise, by being of service to others you will give your self esteem and level of happiness a big boost. Either do a Google search for “volunteer” or contact your local church, school or nursing home for opportunities to serve. By taking action to be of service, you will find that good things will come into your life in unexpected ways almost as if by magic. If you continue on this path, your energy level will take on a life of its own and by supporting it with the previous suggestions, any lack of energy for you will be a thing of the past!

As fat people most of us have heard over and over again that learning self control is the best way to control our weight. This is no doubt true yet many of us still have difficulty controlling our weight by self control alone.

For some people there are medical conditions that make self control alone more difficult. I am a true believer that heredity and the environment we grew up in also plays a very big roll in our ease or difficulty in losing weight. Even with these conditions if we are able to maintain self control and eat less we are going to lose some weight and maintain a lower weight.

We can also lose weight by eating more instead of less. The trick here is eating more of the right foods and less of the wrong foods.  By having a better understanding of what we are putting into our mouth and learning to take control we can certainly do a better job of controlling our weight.

Exercise is another way of controlling our weight. With or without weight loss surgery exercise is one of the most important things we can do to improve our health, lose weight and maintain our weight. We need not work out at the gym for 3 hours a day.  Exercise is easy really, just physically do a few of the things that you would use an exercise machine for. Get a push mower instead of a ride on. Wash your dishes by hand instead of using the dishwasher. Walk to McDonalds for your diet coke and Big Mac instead of using the car. [well just skip the Big Mac and fries] Vacuum the house yourself instead of using a maid service. Use the stairs. If you like to go to the gym stop looking for a parking spot next to the front door and instead warm up by walking from a distant space in the parking lot. Avoid the gym and instead take an evening walk after dinner.

The third easy way to lose weight is to worry and fret about it. No, scrap that, but how about setting realistic goals for yourself that you can easily achieve. Do not use huge unachievable steps but little incremental advances to your goal weight. Do not cut out everything at once but break down your goals into daily and weekly things to do. For instance, how about replacing your snack chocolate for a nice healthy apple and going for a 15 minute walk every morning before breakfast. You are the best person to decide on these things but discipline yourself to do it and carry it through. As you succeed at each goal you will gain more confidence and be more assured of success. That is why it is so important to use small achievable goals. Forget about trying for the impossible.

What ever way you choose, just do it and you will be glad that you did!

Truth or Myth

Body fat is reduced by drastically reducing your calorie intake?

Myth: By drastically reducing your calorie intake you will lose weight but the weight loss is primarily water weight. When you drastically reduce your calories your body goes in search of energy placing it into starvation mode. In the starvation mode the metabolism is slowed and muscle is burnt instead of fat. Once you return to your regular eating pattern the weight is quickly regained.  This is another reason why it is very important for those of us that have had weight loss surgery to exercise, eat lots of protein and take our nutrients and vitamins.

Truth or Myth

Through exercise we can accomplish spot reduction of fat?

Myth:  The info commercials on television and internet can certainly have us believing that we can reduce selective areas of body fat. The truth is that it is impossible to force your body to spot reduce areas of fat regardless of the workout you choose. Doing crunches and leg lifts to reduce belly fat frequently reduces the muscle mass rather than the fat beneath the abdomen. This does not give you an excuse not to exercise but instead of working a single area of your body tone your entire body. Exercise is important to all of us traditional dieter or weight loss patient for it speeds the metabolism and burns fat.

Truth or Myth

Cardio exercise is the best way to lose weight!

Myth: Sorry to disappoint you again but cardio exercise alone is not the best way to lose weight. While a combination of cardio and aerobic exercises will certainly help you lose fat you need to add weight lifting.  Weight lifting promotes fat burning during and following the workout that makes it superior to cardio and aerobic exercise for pure weight loss. For all of us including the weight loss patient and traditional dieter a balanced exercise program is important. To properly keep our body tuned we should follow a balanced routine of cardio, aerobic and weight lifting. By the way, don’t forget that ever so important stretching!

The CDC – Center for Disease Control estimates that about 2/3 of us are overweight, some by a few pounds and others by a hundred pounds are more. If you can’t see your own feet while standing you are obviously overweight. Others might carry that extra weight in their thighs, hips, buttocks or other parts of the body where it may not be so obvious.

If every time you go to the doctor and hear “Terry you need to lose weight” that is a very good sign that you do.

If you hear your lover asks, “Where is it? That is certainly another obvious sign that there is way too much fat down there.

When you can barely breathe after buttoning your pants, need to put a new hole in the belt or get rid of the belt and start wearing suspenders that is an obvious sign you need to lose weight. Your underwear keeps rolling off your waist. Or you are no longer able to button your suit jacket for fear it may split.

There are other signs sometimes more subtle and other times not. Signs such as waiting for a parking space next to the front door of the Dairy Queen! Taking the elevator instead of walking up the stairs at the gym. Ordering a diet coke with your hamburger and fries at McDonalds!  You ask for a table instead of a booth when you go to the local diner.

Now if you are still unsure if you are obese don’t worry, the CDC – Center for Disease Control has decided that for you.  According to the CDC a person is considered obese when his or her weight is 20% or more above normal weight. The body mass index or BMI is the most common measure of obesity.  A person is considered overweight if his or her BMI is between 25 and 29.9; a person is considered obese if his or her BMI is over 30. “Morbid obesity” means that a person is either 50%-100% over normal weight, more than 100 pounds over normal weight, has a BMI of 40 or higher, or is sufficiently overweight to severely interfere with health or normal function.

The above are but a few of the signs that will let you know when you need to lose weight. If still unsure see your family physician. Likely you will be told that you need to take off a few pounds with a bit of exercise and healthy eating. Just don’t jump into the first weight loss fad you see. What you don’t want to do is damage your health or slim your wallet by getting into some unscrupulous quick weight loss program that is full of little more than hype.

The advantage of maintaining a healthy weight through healthy eating far outweighs the advantages of surgery. Now surgery is not wrong, in fact I had gastric bypass surgery a little over one year ago and am glad I did. Believe me when I say that I first tried other methods of weight loss first.  When I was a young Marine it was fairly easy to maintain a healthy weight. Before joining the Marines and later on when I was not getting loads of exercise it became much more difficult to maintain a healthy weight.  Each of us needs to analyze our own lifestyle and determine what is going to work best for us.

Healthy eating requires us to pay good attention to what we eat and this is something we will need to do either with or without surgery. What we eat is often more important than how much we eat. Following surgery you will need to restrict the amount of foods that you eat. Even without surgery you should restrict the amount of food you eat though it is more important to focus on the foods that you do eat.  For instance, if you were to eat fruit instead of chips, you could have more fruit snacks with your meals than you would be able to if you were just to eat junk food.

So how does one go about losing weight through healthy eating? The best place to start is by familiarizing yourself with healthy meals. You can do this by way of standard internet search or by buying a collection of healthy eating recipe books.  To reduce the boredom often associated with healthy eating, especially if you are not use to it, it is important that you “spice,” up your foods and try to not eat the same meals over and over again each week.

Regular exercise is extremely important to a successful weight loss plan. Through exercise you spark that metabolism and burn calories. Exercise and stretching also help with mood and an improved mood greatly increases your weight loss success. If it has been a while since you last exercised take it slow and increase the time spent and level of the exercise as you go along. Remember that you did not put that weight on in a single day and it is not going to come off in a day.
If you don’t currently have an exercise plan or program in place, you may be wondering more about what you can do.  One of the many ways that you can go about finding exercises or workouts to do is by buying a collection of fitness magazines. Many fitness magazines have detailed exercises outlined in them, often accompanied by pictures.  You may also be able to find free instructional workout videos or exercise moves online.  As a reminder, it is important to start out slow or at least start with exercises that would be easy for you to.

Eating healthy and regular exercise are both important components of losing weight, but there are additional tips that you can use to help you lose weight.  One of those tips involves finding a workout partner or a workout buddy. This is a person who can exercise with you, whether your exercise involves visiting a local gym or just going for a walk at a local shopping center.  Having a workout partner may help to keep you motivated and it may help to keep exercising and losing weight fun and exciting for you.

Another way that you can go about successfully achieving your weight loss goal is by “spicing,” up your exercises. As previously mentioned, you can use the internet or fitness magazines to find workouts for you to do at home.  To help reduce the boredom often associated with exercising you will want to change up your exercises, often on a daily basis. For instance, one day you may want to use a treadmill, the next day you may want to lift weights, and the next day you may want to do an exercise DVD, and so forth.

You should also consider making exercise and healthy eating logs or journals for yourself. These items can be used to track your progress. If you have a good week, like one where you completed all of your exercises, you may want to think about rewarding yourself.  Your reward doesn’t have to include food; it can be something as simple as a sticker or treating yourself to a movie.  Journals and logs have been known to help many individuals looking to lose weight and it may be able to do the same for you.

Should you join a gym? Can you do it on your own? What equipment do you need to buy? These are just a few questions that you may have before you begin your fitness routine. Read on to uncover the answers to these questions.

You don’t have to join a gym to get into shape. But if you are the type of person who cannot stay motivated, then it may be a good idea. Start your exercise sessions with a personal trainer from the gym.
Tell the trainer what your goals are and they will develop an exercise plan to help you achieve these goals. The great thing about the gym is that you have a variety of exercise equipment at your disposal. The thought of paying a monthly or annual fee may be the motivating factor that you need to keep you going to the gym on a regular basis.

If you are the type of person who likes to exercise at home, do some research. Decide where your problem areas are and research specific exercises for these areas. Develop your own routine to get into shape at home. You can even get videos that will show what exercises to do. Some cable companies will have channels that broadcast exercise programs every day, with many that you can watch on demand for no extra fees. Find your favorites and tune in or tape them for future use.

For the most part, you don’t need to go out and buy a lot of expensive exercise equipment. A simple exercise mat a few light, hand weights and comfortable clothes is all you really need. If you want to buy equipment, a treadmill would be a good investment. Walking is the best form of exercise and when you have a treadmill, you can walk everyday no matter what the weather is outside. With a treadmill you can also change the speed and incline which will give you a challenging workout.

No matter what type of exercise routine that you decide on, it is very important that you get the okay from your doctor before you start. Start out slow to minimize the chance of injury and soreness.

Always remember to drink plenty of water to help your muscles recover from activity. When you work out your body creates lactic acid, and it is this acid that makes your muscles sore. By drinking plenty of water you dilute the lactic acid in your body and will be less prone to sore muscles.
Change your diet also to include plenty of fruits and vegetables.

If you want to get into shape, the only person holding you back is you. Make the decision to do it today and get started. Your body will thank you for it!

You have probably asked yourself that exact question a million times. The answer to that is NO..,but you need to understand a few things so you can make some adjustments and live a healthy lifestyle in a healthy body. Like all of us, you are concerned with the havoc that being overweight can exact on your body. According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control), obesity increases the risk of many diseases and health conditions. They include

 Hypertension (High blood pressure)

 Coronary Heart Disease

 Stroke

 Sleep apnea and respiratory problems

 Gallbladder disease

 Osteoarthritis ( a degeneration of cartilage and its underlying bone)

 Cancer ( endometrial, breast, and colon)

 Dyslipidemia ( high total cholesterol or high levels of triglycerides)

 Type 2 Diabetes

The last…Type 2 Diabetes is a biggie. It is probably the most insidious disease there is with a multitude of complications and this is directly related to what we eat and what we weigh. Think about this… in the 1900’s the average person consumed about 10 pounds of sugar a year and about 1% of the population had diabetes. Today the average person consumes about 150 pounds of sugar a year and it estimated that 1/3rd of the population will have Type 2 diabetes.

Now granted, not all of that sugar comes from the sugar bowl. Most of it comes from the processed foods we eat, such as candy, soda and junk food. The biggest chunk (28%) comes from a variety of prepared foods like ketchup, canned vegetables and fruits and peanut butter.

Healthy Weight is not a diet, it’s a lifestyle.

Let’s face it… we all know if we keep doing the same thing we are going to get the same results. We diet, loose some weight, lower our metabolism, go back to eating the way we did that put the weight on in the first place, put the lost weight back on and then wonder why. So let’s look at the why…

A pound is 3500 calories. In order to gain a pound we have to eat 3500 calories more that we burn. The reverse is also true. In order to lose a pound we have to eat 3500 calories less that we burn. Please note that I use the term burn. Our metabolism plays an important part in our weight control.

As we age we lose muscle. It is a natural part of aging and only physical exercise can prevent losing muscle. For every pound of muscle we lose we burn 50 calories less a day. For every pound we gain through exercise we burn 50 calories more a day even if we do not exercise that day. Stay with me here…. If you turn 5 pounds of fat into 5 pounds of muscle you will burn 250 more calories a day….Period.

So how do we gain muscle? Exercise is the obvious way, but I can hear you saying….”I am exercising, but not losing weight”. And this brings us to back to what we eat. Muscle is built on the consumption of protein not carbs or fat. In order to get the maximum benefits from your exercise, you need to give your body the proper fuel.

Look at it this way… your body is an exquisite machine. Let’s liken it to a car for a moment. You put fuel in your car, the proper octane for its engine. You also have fuel for your lawn mower. If you put lawn mower fuel in your car it would not run well if at all.

So to get the optimum from your exercise give your body the proper fuel…in other words about 80-100 grams of protein a day if you are serious about building muscle. If you lower your carbs to about 100 grams a day and increase your protein to 80-100 grams a day your metabolism will take notice, your body will burn more calories, and you won’t feel the urge to go back to eating the way you did.

Then—and here’s the good news—you won’t have to spend your life on a diet.

But the truth of the matter is, exercise is still the best choice to achieve healthy weight loss. And fast too! Just like everything in life, there is always the smart way to perform exercises as well as there is the stupid way. The former can start the body’s fat burning process faster and more efficiently whereas the latter will often end up with less than desirable result.

What makes them different is how the exercises are performed. The secret to fast weight loss is that one has to perform exercises in short bursts.

When exercises have been carried out in short bursts, the body will burn more fat during its recovery period. By repeatedly exercising in this manner, one can teach the body that it needs more energy stored in muscle for fast access. It also teaches the body that storing energy as fat is not efficient because the exercises are never carried out long enough to fully utilize the fat that will only be mobilized during prolonged period of exercises.

Basically, any number of exercises can be done in this fashion. The only rule to observe is that all these exercises are to give the heart and the lungs some good amount of challenge. Cycling and swimming are some of the best choices because they are low-impact and don’t incur much risk of sport injury.

It’s really a personal preference as to which form of exercise is chosen because it will all depend on one’s fitness level. The key is to make sure to advance gradually through time.

Here are some helpful tips on getting started:

1. Perform some light warm up and stretch good enough before starting any exercise program.

2. Start with 20 minutes every other day, which averages to about 10 minutes per day.

3. Start nice and easy and progress gradually. Don’t strain too much.

4. Only increase the intensity of each session as endurance improves over time.

5. Break those 20 minutes into even shorter intervals of exercise too if so desired.

6. Apply briefer episodes of gradual intensity increase.

7. Finish every session with light “cool down.” This will help to reduce muscle soreness after exercise and during the recovery period.

To sum up, always start with a comfortable level of exertion and progress into increasing the intensity of the activity rather than the duration when performing more advanced exercises. Following these guidelines will help the body lose fat fast!