Losing weight is in vogue right now. What with celebrities and teen stars all losing pounds, it is not surprising that the vast majority of teeners in America are also obsessed with weight loss programs. Everyone wants to stay slim as the models that they see strutting in the catwalks.

Everyone wants to be able to dress like their idols Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Hillary Duff.
Weight loss programs, however, can be really expensive. And no amount of saving your monthly allowance will be able to make you afford one. Unless of course you have a trust fund like that of the Hilton sisters!

Losing weight however need not be expensive. In fact, you can lose those additional weight and pounds without even having to shell out a lot of money. This is especially true if you do not really need to lose much. You can actually do it for free. You don’t believe me? Read on below and find some tips on how to achieve weight loss for free.

Determine how much to lose

The process of losing weight is different for different people. This is because people need to lose different amounts of weight. A weight loss program that has worked for someone who needs to lose a little over 20 pounds may not work for someone who needs to lose more than 50 pounds. The same goes with people who have the time to work out in a gym and those who opt for home exercise.

Before you determine the right program for losing weight, you have to first know just how much pounds you have to lose. To do this, consult the body mass index to know the ideal weight for your age and your height. After doing this, you will be able to plan your own weight program.

Combine diet and exercise

One of the most costly mistakes both financially and health-wise that teenagers make is to concentrate on just one aspect of dieting. This may not be good for the dieter as concentrating on just one will not balance out the weight loss.

If you diet too much, your body may suffer from the loss of nutrients and exercising too much may lead to muscle pains and body aches. It is important that you combine both of these things to achieve maximum weight loss. What is more, when both of these are combined, weight loss is more permanent and more lasting.

Slowly but surely

Crash diets often do not work in the long run. Oh, it can make you lose weight fast but because of what your body has gone through, you will gain the lost pounds just as fast. In addition, crash diets will only put your body and health in jeopardy. It is important that you give yourself enough time to lose those unwanted pounds slowly but surely. This way, you can be sure that your weigh loss will be for keeps.

Check your commitment meter

One important ingredient in a weight loss program is the hunger for weight loss. You can enroll in the most expensive weight loss program but without the determination to lose weight, your money will just go down the drain. If you have full commitment in the program, even if it is something that you have only planned yourself, you can succeed.

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Carbohydrate cravings are difficult to deal with, especially when you are trying to maintain a low carbohydrate way of life. However, carbohydrate cravings are not just a matter of will power.

As Dr. Atkins points out in his book, carbohydrates produce a flood of insulin and a rise in blood sugar. There is indeed a physical trigger for carbohydrate cravings, and it is one of the reasons that it is so easy to develop a high-carbohydrate, low protein way of eating.

There are many signs of physical carbohydrate cravings. You will experience a compelling hunger for carbohydrate rich foods. Overtime, you will develop a growing need for starches, snack foods and sweets. Additionally, you may experience cravings and weight gain after using some of the carbohydrate act-a-likes such as sugar substitutes and alcohol.

High carbohydrate foods are everywhere, which makes the cravings even harder to overcome. Eating the high-sugar, refined starch foods will feed your cravings and create more, much like a drug habit. In fact, high levels of carbohydrates produce high levels of the brain chemical seratonin, which is the chemical found in Prozac and other anti-depressants. So eating high levels of carbohydrates is self-medicating. People with low levels of seratonin are prone to using carbohydrates like a drug.

Tension and stress can also lead to overeating carbohydrate-laden foods. When we are tense, the adrenal gland creates more cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone that stimulates production of a brain chemical that causes carbohydrate cravings. It also stimulates insulin, which leads to blood sugar dips and more fat storage.

Considering all of these factors, it may seem impossible to live on a low-carbohydrate diet. However, following the Atkins plan is one of the best ways to break the cycle of carbohydrate addiction and take back your life and your health. The Atkins plan helps you take control of your cravings and rid yourself of years of damage caused by eating too many carbohydrates.

While on the Atkins diet, you may experience some carbohydrate cravings from time to time, especially during the initial phases of the diet. However, these will lessen as your body becomes more used to eating a protein-centered diet. In order to keep your cravings in check, eat small meals or snacks that contain protein every few hours. This will keep your blood sugars stable and avoid the crash you feel when you go hungry. Skipping meals will cause drops in blood sugar and leave you craving sweets.

Protein and fat, which are the focus of the Atkins plan, will give your body extended energy. Make sure you are getting enough levels of the essential fats. Sometimes an Omega 3 fish oil supplement will help stave off carbohydrate cravings.

Cravings for foods can sometimes be caused by dehydration. It’s a good rule of thumb to drink a glass of water before reaching for any type of snack. Sometimes thirst can mask itself as hunger. When your body is properly hydrated, it will run more efficiently and you will see a decrease in cravings.
Recognize that there is a physical addiction to carbohydrates that will need to be broken. Don’t worry if you feel overwhelmed with cravings for carbs after the first few days on the plan. This is normal.

Your body is used to running on a diet full of sugar and carbohydrates. It will take some time to adjust to this new way of eating. Normally, these feelings don’t last more than the two-week induction period. Stay committed to this new way of eating and you will see the benefits quickly.

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Sandra found her weight ballooning 60 pounds after her separation from her husband. While part of the weight gain was apparently tied to the medication she was taking, the rest appeared to be the result of what can be described as emotional eating.

In recent years, greater attention has been focused on the problem of emotional eating for both women and men. In fact, some experts have gone so far as to claim that most weight gain can be blamed on emotional eating. According to Women Today magazine, it has been estimated that as much as 75 percent of overeating is attributed to the emotions.

For a number of people, overeating stems from anxiety. For instance, if you find yourself consuming an entire bag of potato chips, its possible that anxiety is the cause. While many people realize that alcohol and illegal drugs are not an antidote to anxiety, they may not understand that indulging in comfort food in order to combat anxiety can be dangerous as well.

In other cases, overeating may be the result of depression. If you feel tired, hopeless, and have lost interest in your normal activities, you may be suffering from a depressive episode. In order to deal with these uncomfortable feelings, people may turn to food in an effort to cheer up. The problem is that the food can lead to weight gain, which can lead to further depression.

At times, overeating may be a symptom of boredom. An individual may figure that he or she has nothing better to do than overeat. This can be particularly true when one is watching television or surfing the Internet. Rather than trying to determine a cause for the boredom, an individual may just try to fix it by indulging in high-fat, high-calorie food.

How do you know if you are an emotional eater? Ask yourself some key questions: Do I tend to eat when I’m worried? Scared? Sad? Do I find that eating lifts my spirits? Am I spending more time eating than engaging in other activities I enjoy? Do my binges come after I’ve suffered disappointment?

Am I turning to food in order to deal with the death of a loved one divorceor the defeat of my favorite team? If the answers to any of these questions is yes, you may be overeating purely for emotional reasons.

After you’ve identified yourself as an emotional eater, you’ll need to take steps to correct your behavior. Perhaps the most effective technique is diversion. In other words, if you find yourself reaching for the cookie jar, find another activity to engage in. The answer could be taking a walk, kickboxing, or dancing.

Or it could be something less physically demanding, such as needlepoint or crochet. The idea is to get your handsand perhaps the rest of your body moving. In time, you might find the urge to overeat subsides as you become involved with other activities.

Another effective step you can take is to identify the triggers for your emotional eating. Do you tend to binge in mid-morning, mid-afternoon, or right before bedtime? Are you snacking while watching television, while at the computer, or when you’re sitting in your favorite chair?

By asking yourself these questions, you can identify the time of day when you overeat, as well as the location for your binging. With this information, you can learn to re-direct your behavior to less fattening pursuits.

Yet another helpful technique is to develop a support network to help you combat overeating. The members of your support team could include your spouse, children, parents, friends, or other over-eaters. You may even consider joining a support group which specializes in helping those who engage in binge eating. If you feel the need to overeat, contact a member of your support team. Talking through your emotions could provide you with the emotional release you need, making overeating unnecessary.

If your anxiety or depression persists, consider seeing a psychotherapist. He or she can help you develop more effective coping mechanisms. If you find it difficult to talk to friends or family about your overeating, a psychotherapist can provide you with the talk therapy you need to overcome your problem.

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When it comes to dieting you will find all kinds of crazy and faddish diets on the market today. In addition to the many diets there seems to be every kind of diet aid you can imagine.

From shakes the diet industry has evolved to include everything from candy bars and pudding to pills and patches. Each item makes the claim that it can help you drop those unwanted pounds quickly and easily. Well I can tell you for a fact there is very little easy for must of us about dropping a few pounds.

If you would like a few tips that should make your weight loss goals a little easier to achieve then perhaps the following tips will help you out.

Drink Plenty of Water

There really isn’t enough that can be said about the importance of drinking water in an effort to reach your fitness goals. Water hydrates the body first and foremost but water is also an important way of tricking your body into believing it is full. Other drinks do not work nearly as well as water in this endeavor and many drinks, even fruit juices, contain empty calories that you can ill afford when dieting.

Another great thing about drinking a lot of water while dieting is that it helps your skin retain its elasticity so you can avoid some of the ‘loose skin’ look that often accompanies massive weight loss. As an added bonus drinking plenty of water will have your skin looking radiant and beautiful as well.

Set Goals

Having goals is one of the most important things you can do when working to loose weight. Try to make sure that your goals are aggressive but can be achieved. If you are frustrated early in the dieting process by unrealistic goals you are much more likely to give up. However, challenges are always going to inspire us to achieve greater things in life. If you can find a ‘weight loss partner’ in order to have a little friendly competition for the weight loss totals for a week or a month then you are going to be far more likely to accomplish your goals than if you keep them quietly to yourself.

Eat More

Did you read that twice? Yes, eat more healthy foods that are high in fiber. Eat more vegetables and fruits-fill up on these foods that are good for you and you will not be inclined to binge on calorie laden junk food.

Move!

While this seems a little too simply stated for most, getting up and moving is one of, if not the absolute best way to burn calories. The simple truth is that you are not going to lose weight unless you use more calories than you consume. The more activities you enjoy that burn calories, the more likely you are to shed those unwanted pounds and meet your weight loss goals.

Some great activities that actually burn calories include the following: gardening, golf, dancing, playing volleyball, walking, jumping rope, playing hop scotch with your little ones, and playing tennis. I mention these activities because you can trick yourself into believing that you aren’t really exercising while burning calories. Even cleaning house requires movement and energy and if you dance around a little to some good music in the process you might burn a few extra calories.

Dieting, when successful can help restore self image and self-esteem in people who are otherwise beautiful people inside and out. The steps above are not the only things that are involved in the dieting process but they can help you reach your weight loss goals particularly when combined with a diet plan that you feel confident you can follow. Be sure that on those days when will power is non-existent that you do not derail your diet efforts all together by giving up. The most important thing you can do when dieting is to go back to dieting once you’ve strayed.

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So many people view dieting as some sort of cosmic punishment for not having the perfect body. They believe that enjoying food is somehow bad for them, which couldn’t be further from the truth. If you want to be completely honest with yourself, when it comes to dieting, it isn’t about giving up food or flavor; it’s about discovering new foods and flavors. At least that is what it is for those who truly love food as well as adventure.

There are many spices out there that can make even the blandest of foods a little exciting. Fish and chicken are popular diet foods because they are lean meats. However, adding a little blackening seasoning is a great way to put a little punch in your meal that will make it taste great without packing on the calories of dressing marinades or soaking in butter before broiling. You do not have to stop there. Italian seasoning can also add a little flavor to your kitchen without adding the extra calories that you are working so hard to avoid.

There are all kinds of seasonings that will work well in this instance. Many great seasonings for chicken also make great additions to chicken that will be included in salads for healthier lunches or salad wraps. Grains are good for you when you concentrate on whole grains. They are quite often the primary source of fiber in a diet and you need fiber almost as much as you need water. At any rate, simple things that spice up the same old lunch can have a huge impact on your enjoyment of food.

You can even enjoy the occasional treat when dieting as long as you do so sparingly. The key when dieting is to learn about proper portions and moderate indulgence.

You can find all kinds of low sugar or low carb desserts on the market that you can enjoy sparingly. You can even find sugar free or low calorie candy in some cases though you should keep in mind that calories, particularly when it comes to candy you eat unconsciously add up quickly and you must pay close attention to those things you put into your mouth.

My point in all this though is that you do not have to sacrifice flavor in order to diet. You can live without butter; there are many substitutions on the market that are quite remarkable.

But seasonings are a great way to add a lot of flavor for a tiny bit of effort on your part. Desserts are also great and you can find many dips and sauces that can be made with fat free or low fat mayonnaise or sour cream in order to cut a few more calories during your dieting process.

These dips and sauces can often make a great substitution, when paired with vegetables, for those chips and dips we love so much and often miss when dieting. Cucumbers, green, red, and yellow peppers, broccoli, and carrot sticks all have a nice little crunch to them that when combined with a good low fat dip can help cure the crave beast for greasy chips that often rears its head when dieting.

If you watch your calories carefully during meals you should be delighted to know that there are many little snack treats that are prepackaged in 100 calorie packs for your enjoyment. This means that you can indulge on occasion in those treats that you love most without sacrificing all your dieting efforts in the process. These snack packs have become one of the best marketing ploys since the invention of diet colas.

We all want the benefits of losing weight and will readily admit that if it were a simple process we’d all be thin. However, having something like these hundred calorie snack packs to carry you through the worst of your cravings can mean the difference between dieting success and failure. They are definitely the difference in the old way of dieting and the new way of dieting without sacrificing flavor.

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you are more than likely sick of hearing about what will not work. You have heard all the reports on how fad diets will never help you lose weight. The problem then is what can you do to lose weight? Here are a few tips that will make it easier for you to lose weight and then keep off the fat.

Television

Unless you are following an aerobics instructor on the set, it is time to turn it off! Americans spend vast amounts of time sitting in front of their television sets. Research suggests that this act actually burns fewer calories than sleeping if you can imagine that! Turn off the TV and go for a short walk after dinner you will feel much better about the use of your time and burn some extra calories in the process.

Sleep

Sleeping is a key ingredient in weight loss. People who do not get a proper amount of rest are at a much higher risk for obesity. Several things contribute to this fact. Exhaustion makes you think you are hungry more often, plus you can become irritable and depressed which further aggravates the situation. The recommended amount of sleep you should get is at least eight hours.

Set a nightly routine to help you get in the swing of things. A scheduled time to go to bed results in your body naturally becoming sleepy around the same time each night.

Never Go Shopping Hungry

Have you ever gone to the grocery store when you were starving? Chances are you went home with everything you can imagine and a few things you can’t. You probably snacked on the way home as well. This is why you should never go shopping hungry, the tendency is to buy everything that looks good, and it all looks good when you are hungry. Instead make a shopping list and then fill it right after you have had a solid meal.

Make a Menu

When you eat on the spur of the moment, you are not truly focused on weight loss so much as fixing your hunger. Set aside time to plan your menu including snacks, this way you are prepared and have already considered the health impact of your food.

Take it Slow

It is not healthy or advisable to lose massive amounts of weight very quickly. If you drop more than a few pounds per week, you are putting your health at risk. A healthy goal is two to three pounds of weight loss per week. This is not only healthy it is sustainable for the long haul.

Forgive Yourself

For someone who has tried many fat loss diets and failed it can be hard to look at yourself in the mirror. The first thing you must do is forgive yourself for what you see as failures and realize that most of what you were being sold was doomed to fail in from the start. Liking yourself is the key to success in any venture be it weight loss or life in general.

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Well, I would imagine that people are waiting with baited breath for the answer to that question. To begin, you must look at what does not work. When you have eliminated all the rubbish, you will arrive at the best possible answers for fat loss.

Food Diet

The internet and television are full of particular food diets. The green tea diet, grapefruit diet, acai berry and thousands more. You have celebrities and talk show hosts singing the praises of these wonderful new diets. However there seems to be a problem, they are impossible to stick with and they are dangerous to boot.

To get to where the rubber meets the road let us speak frankly. Who in their right mind wants to spend the rest of their life eating the same thing? My guess is no one! You may be thinking that is true but you do not have to remain on the diet for life. Okay but then what happens when you go back to eating the way you were before the diet? You gain all the fat back and it usually brings along a few friends.

The other end of this spectrum involves cutting out only one or two food groups. This may be a little easier to swallow, but it still has a problem. The human body requires certain types of foods to be healthy. When you take one of them completely away, you reduce the body’s efficiency or worse.

Your body needs carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals in order to function the way it was designed to. Therefore, all the above diets should be thrown in the garbage where they belong.

Diet Pills

Eat whatever you want and still lose fat, have you seen this commercial? Have you ever asked yourself what that kind of diet pill must be doing in your system to achieve that?

Diet pills work in one of several ways:

1)Decrease your appetite so you eat less
2)Increase your metabolism so you burn more calories
3)Relieve your body of fluids so you weigh less (at least temporarily)
4)Clean out your colon so you weigh less (again temporary)

Bottom line is this there is little a pill can do in your body to help you lose fat that is good for you or long lasting. Appetite suppressants are often little more than fiber that makes you feel full. Metabolism boosters can increase your heart rate in order to burn more calories and the last two’s fat loss will only last until you rehydrate and eat again.

Good Fat Loss

Sorry folks but the best fat loss plan in the world is to eat healthier and exercise more. Fill your body with good foods from all the major food groups then get out and move your body. There is no magic diet pill that will accomplish that for you. A good start would be to keep a food journal for two weeks. This will allow you to see what is keeping you from your fat loss goals. It could be the three Cokes that you drink every day or the twice a week stop for fast food. You need to identify your trouble spots to develop a healthy eating plan. Then go for a walk, even a little walk will do your body good.

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Gaining weight again and getting frustrated? That’s understandable but you’re forgetting something. Losing weight is not a matter of just hoping. You’ve got to take action and part of your action plan should be your state of mind. You’ve simply got to commit to losing weight and in order to succeed, you’ve got to be single minded. If you do this, you will lose weight, guaranteed!

Right now, you’re feeling frustration and a sense of failure, right? Ok, that just puts you in a good position to take advantage of this instance of failure. Try this. Change your outlook about what you’re calling failure. It’s not really a failure at all. In fact, it’s a success. “What?” you ask? That’s right. You now know what will NOT work. This time, try it again and don’t do the same thing.

You know why your diet failed this time. Be honest with yourself. No one else is inside your head so be honest. Why did your diet fail? Most likely because you failed to commit to it. You broke off somewhere and either ate something you weren’t supposed to eat or you quit exercising the way you know you need to. It’s one of those things and each involves commitment.

Ok, this time you need to get all those negative thoughts out of your head. Start over with a clean slate and keep a daily diary of your weight loss efforts. What did you do today that involves your commitment to losing weight? Write it down. What did you fail to do or what did you do that you know you shouldn’t have? Write it down. Now ask yourself this after you read it tomorrow: does this look like commitment or just a move in the right direction that is going to produce nothing?

You now have a clear picture of what you need to do. You can see where you went wrong or what you did right. Now, just follow the right course. Do this every day like clockwork.

A daily weight loss diary will show you the way. Just be honest with yourself and commit (there’s that word again) to correcting any wrongs or emphasizing any rights.

The thing is, you’ve got to put forth excessive effort and commitment when you are doing something that is totally against your normal nature. You’ve got to be consciously aware of the fact that you are weak in some areas and make an all-out effort to concentrate on addressing those particular weaknesses.

This is the secret to why some people are able to lose weight and make it look effortless. They are able to concentrate on the task at hand, which is ignoring the cravings and forcing their psyche to find another source of attention.

If you start to feel the urge to eat a weight gaining food, stop what you’re doing and immediately focus your attention on another action. For instance, let’s say you are watching TV and a commercial comes on about ice cream. You start to get a strong urge to eat some ice cream.

Immediately get up and walk away from the TV and do something else like get on your computer and go to your personal social networking page or walk outside and talk to a neighbor. If you’re a musician, go get your instrument and start playing something difficult to play. In just a few minutes, the ice cream will simply be a memory fading.

Some may say that this is not easy to do. I’m sorry but yes it is! It is easy to do if you’ll just do it. You’re not going to be thinking about the ice cream if your mind is diverted. You’ve just got to find an effective way to divert it. It’s your mind, your weight and your life. No one else can do this for you.

Quit making excuses and instead make a true commitment to your life, your health and your heart and you will find that these suggestions honestly do help you make a difference.

Gary Vaughn is a Master RN with many valuable years of experience. Marketing health care and dieting products is one of his specialties. His website is located at http://repairmyweightloss.com/EffortInWtLoss.html