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"Have
You Given Up on Weight Loss?"
copyright 2003 by Greg Landry, M.S.
I receive several email messages every
day from people who have given up on weight
loss. They are at wits end and they don't
know what to do. They've "tried it
all" and they believe it's impossible
for them to lose weight.
Many of them have lost weight and gained
it all back, and more. Some of them have
struggled with losing weight all their lives
and have never been successful with it.
One lady from Alabama wrote to me last spring,
"I have been trying to lose about sixty
pounds for over 23 years. I quit! I'm resolved
to the fact that I will be fat for the rest
of my life"
How saddening that comment is. but I'm
happy to tell you this lady, with a little
guidance, is now 65 pounds lighter than
she was one year ago.. and she has some
muscle tone. Needless to say, she no longer
believes that she'll be fat for the rest
of her life.
I tell you this simply to illustrate the
fact that you don't have to give up on weight
loss. YOU can lose weight, but you have
to be willing to do what it takes.. and
here's what it takes!
If we look at people who have been successful
at weight loss *and* maintaining that loss,
a couple of things are very apparent. These
two factors are present in the lives of
most of them..
1. They do some form of aerobic exercise
5 to 7 days per week. These people aren't
exercise wimps! They know how critically
important this is to their weight loss/
maintenance and they get out and do it!
They average 45 minutes per day with the
range being 30 to 90 minutes per day. This
not only burns lots of calories, but, perhaps
more importantly, it elevates their basal
metabolic rate.
2. They do some type of weight training
2 to 3 days per week. This has a tremendous
affect on basal metabolic rate and muscle
tone. Success at maintaining a weight loss
is much higher in people who have weight
trained while they were losing weight versus
those who haven't.
Now, obviously, healthy eating habits are
also very important. However, most of these
people say that their exercise habits seem
to dictate their eating habits.. meaning
that if they can be consistent with exercise,
their eating habits seem to fall into place.
I've had many clients tell me that their
daily exercise puts them in a "healthy"
frame of mind and helps them to make better
food choices. Bottom line; when they are
exercising consistently, their eating habits
are better.
I firmly believe that a major factor in
most peoples frustration with weight loss
is that they haven't been told the truth
about exercise. You see, twenty minutes,
three days per week isn't going to cut it
for weight loss. If you're serious about
weight loss, then you have to get serious
about exercise.
-It's all about changing your basal metabolism
through exercise. -It's about looking at
exercise as a part of your daily routine,
just like brushing your teeth. -It's about
viewing exercise as something you're doing
to get healthy and feel great!
"If you *vigorously* pursue fitness
and health, weight loss will happen"(tm)
I've seen this work for many people who
had given up on weight loss. It can work
for YOU! Get movin'! :)
Author and exercise physiologist, Greg
Landry, offers FREE weight loss success
stories and his "Fast, Healthy Weight
Loss" newsletter at his site: http://www.Landry.com
copyright 2003 by Greg Landry, M.S.
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