If a picture is worth a thousand words then this one that focuses on weight loss temptations is worth a million!

The eye is on the apple but the mouth points to the lovely chocolate muffin….. these are the weight loss temptations we have to endure! And what can one do to overcome the temptation of all the naughty stuff out there.

Well the practical me will ask “what goodness will that chocolate muffin provide your body” and of course the answer is absolutely none – which can help me to stay focused on my weight loss goals and not eat the muffin.

Sometimes it just doesn’t work and eating is necessary – not any more of course but during my carb addictive days it was like that – and I ate it, forgave myself and promised to be good the next day.

This whole thing is a journey and weight loss temptations wait for me around every corner. I believe there is no need to get it all right from the start – we all slip up and as long as you pick yourself up and get back into healthy eating one chocolate muffin every now and again won’t kill you.

Being a protein metabolic type I am not allowed to eat carbs on their own – my weight loss breakfast always needed to be something that contained plenty of protein, which was a little difficult when I had porridge for breakfast and I LOVE me some porridge!

Well recently I walked into a health food shop and found a packet that contains flaxseed, walnuts, almonds and brazil nuts all milled together that I spread on my porridge to give me some form of protein. I have been using a tiny bit of honey too but recently I don’t have to add that sweetness of honey anymore – I love porridge without it.

So this is my weight loss breakfast that I love and eat most mornings, I am trying to vary it though and get more protein going but some days I just need that porridge loveliness. Usually I eat Tesco Finest Porridge (love it!) but I had run out and went to a local shop to get some run of the mill Quaker Oats

Watch your portion size when it comes to eating porridge. Stick to 30-50g of porridge and use semi skimmed milk.

One of the hard things to get over is eating late at night – I eat late but sometimes I am on my computer until 2am so I don’t believe that eating at 10pm is actually very late for me. This video covers weight loss and late night eatingand is quite funny so thought I would include it.

Contains some great weight loss tips as well

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFVem3Dv49g&feature=channel[/youtube]

How do you avoid late night eating? Well make sure you eat enough during the day and to be honest you may not have to worry about it too much if you are sticking to eating healthy foods. As long as you are balancing out your calories for the day you will manage to lose weight.

Do your best to think about what you are eating if you are about to eat something bad late at night – remember only you can control you as I am not there for you but do what you can to help yourself.

A healthy resting rate should beat at anything from 65-70 beats per minute (bpm) depending on your age

The fitter you are the lower your heart rate becomes and the less work your heart has to do to pump blood around your body, the less work it has to do the more efficient it becomes. We all know a constantly fast beating heart isn’t something you want to walk around with every day of your life because it is just not good for you.

So you can increase the efficiency of your heart by simply exercising and improving your resting heart rate.

What is a good resting heart beat to have?

Well that really depends on your age, other things like whether you are taking medication, suffer from anxiety and your gender.  What follows next is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Please visit your doctor to get an accurate idea of how healthy your heart is based on the number of times it beats per minute.

As a rough guide for you to work towards

For Men aged 36-45 a poor resting heart rate is 83+ and an excellent healthy rate is 57-62 – at this stage you are physically fit

Men aged 36-45 should aim for a resting heart rate of between 55-66 bpm

For Women aged 36-45 a poor resting heart rate is 85+ and an excellent healthy rate is 60-64

Woman aged 36-45 should aim for a resting heart rate of between 62-66 bpm

How do I take my resting heart beat?

You can use your own fingers. The best place to take your heart beat is either on your wrist using the forefinger and middle finger only. Or the easiest place to find your pulse is on your neck just under your chin and towards your ear. Gently place them on your neck – you don’t have to push down – just place them there lightly.

Make sure you are completely rested (which is why first thing in the morning is best), place your fingers on your pulse and then have a clock or stop watch nearby which counts the 60 seconds for you.

If you are looking at taking on exercise your resting heart beat – along with your weight and body measurements – are all great ways to get an idea of the progress you are making and it is quick and easy to take in the morning.

It can also act as a great incentive if after exercising regularly for a couple of weeks you find that your heart rate has improved.

Modern day living puts too much strain and stress on our heart in general and one of the best ways I know to keep our heart healthy is through a balanced nutritious diet and exercise – but you probably knew that already. The question is when will you get started with yours?

A couple of years ago I found a guy called Peter Pure online – he was all about raw food and I have always been interested in raw food but I thought it meant uncooked! We yesterday at an event I met a guy called Iain who put me straight on a few things

Here is how he explained raw food to me

“Raw food is food that still retains enzymes in it - and enzymes are killed at temperatures above 47 degrees C. So if food is heated above this temperature at any stage (when it is being processed, or when we are cooking it at home) then the enzymes are destroyed. We never eat food above 47 degrees because it would burn us, so what need do we have to heat it above this level! We can heat it to just under 47 degrees and we have enjoyable, tasty, warm food in which the enzymes are retained.”

So now I know that I can look into it because the thought of actually eating uncooked veg was enough to put me off totally.

Here’s some info on bread that should scare you! BTW I was one of the big fat people eating bread

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l31iQyNrYXk[/youtube]

This is a great testimonial for raw food and Iain said he learnt what he knows from Peter.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lImTiqB8LLo[/youtube]

I also have a book about acidity in the body and PH Balance that I need to read! I bought it a while ago and never really read it but after talking to Iain I definitely will. The great thing is I am on the right path with what I am eating thanks to the Diet Solution who put me on the right path and am going to continue to limit bread until I can get it out of my life completely.

The evenings are the worse for bread/carb cravings and I need to find something to fill those evening cravings. Any ideas?

I find it difficult sometimes to come up with healthy snacks because I am such a carbs lover and my snacks need to be more protein heavy. An easy one for me is to eat a banana (carbs) with a mixture of almond nuts (protein) and sunflower/pumpkin seeds.

It helps if I chop the banana up and eat it slowly while I am working rather than just eating the whole banana in one go. I have to do all these little tricks to help me get through the hours before I eat again

Apple, banana, coconut and pears are the best fruits for my metabolic type (I took a more comprehensive test using the metabolic typing online website)

Click here for more weight loss food ideas – and if you want to find out more about how the Diet Solution can help you lose weight visit

http://www.onlydietsolution.com

If you want to know how to overcome constipation when you are on a high protein diet I can only tell you what I do to stay “regular”

Being on a high protein weight loss diet means all that meat can turn things  – shall we say – a little solid! Drinking plenty of water definitely does help but not on its own (I find)

I met a health professional years ago who gave me this tip and it is great. You basically buy yourself some Golden Linseed and add water to it then leave it overnight – I have added a photo of my glass soaking nicely!  Then in the morning you drink it down with some extra water. I have been drinking one in the morning this week to give that extra boost because of all that extra protein!

It also contains 3 of the things that the Diet Solution is always talking about as important to eat when following a weight loss program – Omega 3, Fibre and fatty acids

Disclaimer : I am not a medical profession so please seek medical advice for your health.

When you set off on a track to lose weight there are a lot of things to think about, remember and stick to and what helps is if you can develop daily disciplines for weight loss.

If you want an idea of what daily disciplines are, very simply, they are small changes you can make every day to change your life for the better in the future.  Small changes you can make or things you can stick to in order to develop a new (often empowering) habit.

You can click the link to read this very short blog post about Daily Disciplines – it can be anything you are going to do on a regular basis until you reach your goal (in that blog post the author was going to give one thing up for a year)

Jack Canfield said his daily disciplines are all about taking time in the morning to visualise your goals and take some time to set your intention for the day. I guess this would be a great time to focus on having a healthy day where I stick to my new eating plan with ease. He recommends we spend 30-60 seconds on each of our core goals and desires. I usually have a ‘conversation with God’ in the morning and so adding another couple of minutes to do this won’t be difficult.

Jack also recommends you have an attitude of gratitude and take time to notice when something is working because when you acknowledge what works you get more of it.

Click the link to read the daily disciplines from Jack Canfield Daily Disciplines for Effortless Success

Skip Ross has a huge choice of daily disciplines to listen to and you can subscribe to his podcast to receive a daily dose. I subscribed using itunes and will add it to my ipod so I can listen to it on the go. Skip is all about self-talk and using strategies for success.

Click the link to listen to Skip Ross’s Daily Disciplines

When you are following the Diet Solution weight loss program there is a lot of planning you have to do at the beginning once you know what your metabolic type is and it is important you get into the discipline of writing out what you will eat and planning your meals so you always have the right food at home when you need it.  It can be a little bit of a change to what you are used to and getting the discipline to follow the program is essential. You can find out more about it at

http://www.onlydietsolution.com

This is my third week of the diet solution and I am noticing some really big changes in my body – now remember I am no fitness/nutrition expert but I do believe that this is my metabolism picking up. I haven’t felt it working for the last 18 years but I do remember what it felt like from my super fit days.  Here are some of the things I am experiencing :

It is amazing how much more I am eating and how much more I want to eat, my body is burning my food at a much faster rate.

I feel warmer now all the time (you have to know me to understand that I was always cold – wearing 2 jumpers and a coat INSIDE my house!)

I can see that I look thinner even if the scales aren’t saying I am losing masses of weight. What I really need to do is measure my inches.

I told a friend recently how “eroctically charged” I am now. 

I feel more energetic than I have for a long time which is helping me keep up with my fat burning exercises but I do need to pick up on them (missed out Monday) and I might even need to do something every day so I don’t give up.

And all of this in only two weeks of no wheat, very little diary (milk in porridge) and an increase in protein. I am pretty sure that the increase in drinking hot water is helping – although for the last 2 weeks I have been only managing 5-6 glasses instead of the 8 I should be drinking and the 10 I really want to start drinking.

Right now my body is burning calories like a steam train furnace and the more I see results the more help I want to give it to make this happen fast!

For another few days Isabel is offering a 2 week meal plan so it is worth taking a look at because it means for your first 2 weeks everything is laid out for you (I had to do mine myself) and at the end of it you will notice the difference so much that you will want to continue yourself.

http://www.onlydietsolution.com