I’ve been running this blog for more than 3 years now and I have learned a lot about losing weight and keeping it off. Yes, I’ve had my share of ups and downs as well as a few injuries along the way, but overall I’ve managed to shed most of my excess fat.

It all started when I lost my first 30 lbs over a 2 month period. The weight came off quickly because I was doing what I knew would work. It wasn’t glamorous and didn’t have a catchy diet name like “The South Beach Diet” or anything like that.

There are 7 important things that I understood which helped me lose the weight quickly. I call these the 7 Pillars To Weight Loss Success and I’ve written an ebook about them. This isn’t a novel and is only about 25 pages cover to cover, but I think it’s filled with quality information that you’ll be able to use right away.

This is available for Kindle and Kindle for PC.

7 Pillars of Weight Loss Success

I want to help people lose weight and that’s it. I know what it’s like to be overweight and it sucks. I also know how great it feels to be successful at losing weight and what a difference it can make to your life.

Once you’re finished it leave a comment and let me know what you think
Steve

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According to countless testimonials and reviews, they can. So, I decided to give it a try. And guess what? It worked! The apps helped me keep track of what I was eating and how to exercise. It was like having my own personal trainer. I lost 5 pounds in 3 weeks. And, as an added bonus, all of the apps I used were free.
This probably sounds like an infomercial, but, here is a summary of the free iPhone applications I would recommend using to lose weight.

First, I needed a basic iphone weight loss application that would help me keep track of calories in vs. calorie burned.

Lose It! (Rated: 4 stars)

Lose It! is similar to other diet tracking apps. It has a vast database of nutritional information and a large food bank that allows you to find your food item for purposes of determining caloric intake. But, what I liked about Lose It! was its “Friends” feature. This feature allowed me to connect with my friends and view their goals and accomplishments. We were able to encourage each other to stick to our diets and reach our goals. I really liked this personal touch.

Next, to help me insure that I lost weight in a healthy way, and not through starvation, I needed an application to help me workout.

Six Pack App (Rated: 3.5 stars)

The Six Pack App has exercises to work out my abs, chest, back, arms, shoulders, and legs. I liked the fact that the app had pictures of all exercises so that I could have a visual of what the exercise should entail. This iphone weight loss app gives general information, steps, tips, specific rules and muscle location for each exercise. My favorite part of this app is that I could incorporate a customized workout, including stretches and yoga.

Finally, I needed medical advice from time to time regarding the aches and pains I was feeling as I began working out.

WebMD Mobile (Rated: 3.5 stars)

WebMD is a unique app that allows those, like me, who are often worried about their health to save a trip to the doctor’s office. You can check your symptoms, access drug & treatment information, get first aid tips, and even check local health listings. For the symptom checker, you don’t even need to know what your symptom is called- there is a visual of a human body that you can use to locate your symptoms. The app provides warnings, uses, side effects, precautions, overdose information, and images for drugs and treatments so you can learn more about your prescriptions. In case you have a medical emergency, you can use this app to find local health listings.

If you want to lose weight, try these apps. And if they aren’t a good fit, there are many other weight loss apps available for your iPhone.
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Author Bio: Drake MacDonald is an educator. He is currently on staff at Online Schools, where he researches areas of higher learning, how to pick schools online, and education. In his spare time, he enjoys staying fit, watching football, and spending time in the outdoors.
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You know when it comes to losing weight, eating healthy or doing exercise sometimes it feels like I am 2 different people. There is morning Steve, always tired but very motivated and hopeful for having a good healthy day, no junk foods, lots of walking breaks at work, drinking lots of water and looking forward to working out at night/evening etc.. I like this Steve.

Then there is night Steve or more specifically after the kids are in bed Steve. He craves the junk food and does whatever he can to get it. Night Steve is also tired but only when it comes to exercise or meal planning or making lunches/snacks for the next day. For all other activities like working on the computer until 1am, watching movies or driving to the store to get junk food he has boundless energy.

Obviously these 2 personalities clash and for some reason at night after the kids are in bed and it’s Mommy and Daddy time I forget about all the good intentions I had started the day with.

So Simple it Seems Stupid

What I do is this, in the morning before I leave for work is I write myself a note, nothing too elaborate usually just a sentence or a word.

For example yesterday’s note said this “Before turning on the computer run for 30 minutes on the treadmill, you’ll feel great” . I left this on my computer monitor, sure enough last night I came down stairs ready to hop on the computer as usual. I saw the note and immediately it brought me back to when I wrote it that morning.

45 minutes later I had run for 35 minutes and burnt 365 calories. Best of all I did feel great afterwards and I was able to work on the computer guilt free.

The key for me was not to think too much about what else I had to do that night or what else I could have done. Basically not talking myself out of it. I was listening to my motivated self and did what I knew I really wanted to do.

I Don’t Have Short Term Memory Loss

Maybe “forgetting” is the wrong word for my not following through with my good intentions, as I do not have short term memory loss. It’s more like wilful ignorance and I know I’m not alone on this.

My wife thinks it’s funny that I do this and has posted notes around the house with things like “unload the dishwasher” and “change the laundry” mocking me it seems. (Doesn’t work like that honey )

Before you just blow this off as silly or stupid, give it a try first. When you’re motivated in the morning (or anytime you’re feeling motivated) write to yourself and leave the notes somewhere you’ll be most likely to read it or need to read it. (on your fridge,TV, bathroom mirror, in your car etc…). Hopefully this will help you stay motivated or at least remind you of what you really want to do, when your motivated that is.

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One key to losing weight is to boost your metabolism.

People search for ways to boost their metabolism and some of them are rather unnatural or undesired, so it’s important to focus on the healthiest ways to do so. In order to boost your metabolism, you need to focus on a few important factors.

1. Weight Training: We all know that exercise is an important way to lose weight. However if you are looking to boost your metabolism for a longer term method to lose weight, you need to focus on weight training. Lifting weights helps to boost your muscle mass and this in turn burns more calories. The more muscle that you product, the higher your metabolism will get and the more weight you can drop. It’s that simple!

2. Eat More Protein: Yet again we see how focusing on building up your lean muscle helps to increase your metabolism. This time it has everything to do with eating the right foods, this time in the form of lean proteins. Eating protein will help your body to burn calories faster, keep you full longer, and ultimately increase your metabolism overall.

3. Drinking Lots of Ice Cold Water: As your body temperature tries to accommodate the ice cold water, it is burning calories in the process. This helps to burn calories and ultimately will increase your metabolism. Not only is water good for your health and your weight loss efforts, but it can play an important role in boosting your metabolism.

4. Fluctuate Your Calorie Intake: Rather than sticking with a set or limited number of calories each and every day, fluctuate the levels a bit. If you eat more calories one day and less the next, your body has to work to adjust. You don’t want to go for dramatic differences, but this minor modification can help to boost your metabolism.

5. Eat More Often: Rather than sitting down to three square meals a day, space out your eating. Eating smaller meals more frequently helps to boost your metabolism in the most natural way possible. This also keeps your blood sugar level up and helps your body to operate more efficiently.

6. Eating After a Workout: Your body is still working and burning calories even after you finish a grueling workout. This means that your metabolism is rather high and therefore makes an excellent time to eat. This means that your body will still be burning calories and help to boost your metabolism, even as you eat.

7. Eat a Well Balanced Diet: Try not to ignore any one food group as a well balanced diet will help to boost your metabolism. It’s important to include food choices from each food group such as lean protein, low fat dairy, whole grains, and fruits and vegetables to properly boost your metabolism.

Boosting your metabolism is one of the most effective ways to lose weight. By doing that in a healthy way—ways that are relatively painless, as the above all are—you also set the stage for not only increased metabolism and higher rates of calorie burn, but also for a lasting, well-managed diet and nutrition routine that will continue to do you good.

Mary Ward writes about various health care career topics, including how to choose among surgical technician courses.

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NOTE: This was originally posted in March 2008, the funny thing is that I have changed my mind a little on this I now believe that Diet is a bit more effective. Live and learn right?

When making the change to a healthy lifestyle it can all seem overwhelming. Many of us have been inactive for years and the thought of heavy sweating, muscle soreness and the time commitments associated with working out can be enough to turn anyone away from doing it.

On the diet side of the equation it doesn’t look any easier. You’ll need to stop eating the high fat, high sugar foods that have become a daily part of your life. Then replace them with fruit and veggies and lean cuts of meat. Blah.

The combination of the two will undoubtedly change your body and drastically improve your overall health. But that is not easy to do all at once. I think that it’s easier to concentrate on just one part in the beginning.

So which one is more effective?

Almost all the advice I’ve read or received on this say diet is the most important. Changing your diet can be amazingly effective but I’d have to say that focusing on exercise is the way to go.

Exercise is easier to start and stick with hands down. When you finish a workout you get a real sense of accomplishment and pride. Can you say that about finishing a salad?

The most amazing thing about setting up an exercise program first is that it will almost force you to want to eat healthier food. Your body will begin to crave water instead of sugary drinks and fruit instead of chips and chocolate. It sounds crazy but I’ve seen it happen to even the most hardened junk food addict.

On top of this you will notice changes in your energy levels good and bad which is a great motivator. If you’re not eating properly you’ll notice that your workouts will suffer and you’ll feel tired, all day. That will ultimately lead to you looking for ways to fuel yourself instead of just filling yourself.

I’ve found that healthy eating doesn’t necessarily encourage or motivate you to exercise.

Final Thought

To sum it up when you feel like a complete lifestyle change is too much to handle all at once, choose exercise first and add the diet after.

Let me know what you think. Which do you think is more effective?

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I have been a calorie counter off and on for a while and it has always lead me to short term success. By that I mean I keep track of everything I eat religiously, From Breakfast to Bed every calorie is recorded and logged in my spreadsheet. The success comes by way of 5 to 10 pounds in about a month to 6 weeks or so.

That might sound Ideal but it comes at a cost. Counting calories is such a tedious task that I soon begin to resesnt it and stop it all together. Those 5 to 10 pounds come back quickly and I usually find myself in the same place I was in before.

Be Calorie Conscious

For the past few weeks now I have stopped counting calories or at least stopped recording them anyway. The approach I am taking is to be more calorie conscious with the foods I eat rather than worrying about writing down everything I eat.

Being calorie conscious is really nothing more than being informed about how many calories are in a number of given foods and then making the healthier choice.

Calorie Counting vs. Calorie Consciousness

It might sound a little confusing as to what the difference is between the 2 methods, the best I can describe it is in the example below.

When I was counting calories I would eat what I wanted and record every bite. Most times I would weigh my portions to get the most accurate number of calories.

The key was eating whatever I wanted. Yes I did make some healthier choices but for the most part I was still eating full fat versions of my favorite foods. That might sound nice but those calories add up quickly and soon I had reached my calorie limit for the day. Sometimes by 4 in the afternoon.

To me that was calorie counting.

Now that I am calorie conscious I am eating better, more healthier foods that are naturally lower in calories. I still enjoy my favorite foods but in smaller qtys and portions, I do a lot of substituing of ingredients in recipes and I’m cutting out the extras (i.e sauces).

Being aware of what adds extra unneeded calories and finding ways to reduce or replace them I think is a much more effective long term approach to weight loss than strictly counting calories.

A Calorie Conscious Choice

While counting calories I would eat something like this:

A Quarter Pounder Sandwich from McDonald’s
Calories:420
Fat:20 grams

Now I would change that to a just a regular cheeseburger
Calories:300
Fat: 12 grams

Or even better, this recipe from the biggest loser cookbook called the Almost Fast Food Burger

Anyway, I have officially stopped counting calories for good. I am finding that is it much easier and I’m not as stressed about what I am eating. The pounds are coming off at about the same rate as before, but I am in a position now where I will be able to maintain the losses. That is will be the the real measure of success.

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Here are the top 3 topics or phrases that have the highest number of people spending the least amount of time on that post.

Biggest Loser Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

This is one that really confuses me as their is only 1 recipe in the biggest loser cookbook for sweet potato fries. Here are five phrases that people have used to find my post.

biggest loser baked sweet potatoe fries
biggest loser cookbook sweet potato
biggest loser sweet potato fries
devin alexander sweet potato fries
baked sweet potato fries, recipe

All of them are pretty relevant to what the post was about. Parmesan-pepper sweet potato fries from the Biggest loser cookbook.

Here is the recipe read it, make it and enjoy.
Biggest Loser Sweet Potato Fries Recipe

How many times a week to exercise

This is a very subjective question and you might get a few different opinions on this depending on who you ask.

Here are five phrases that people have used to find my post on this.

how many day per week should you workout?
how many days a week can you work out
how many days a week must you exercise
how many days a week should i work out
how many days a week should you exercise?

Again all of these are relevant to the topic of the post and yet according to analytics no one stayed to read it.

How Many Days Should You Exercise per Week

Was it too long to read?

P90X

This one is all over the map. There are so many different aspects to this program, that people are finding my site through a wide variety of phrases. I have only talked about p90X a few times but I’m getting a lot of people looking for info on it.

Here are some of the recurring questions which I will attempt to answer here.

Can you buy p90x at Walmart?

No you can get it through Beachbody.com, or at an As seen on TV store.

Can you do p90x if you are out of shape or overweight?

Yes you can. P90X is intense and intended to take fit people and make them extremely fit. But if you are overweight and have 30 – 40 pounds to lose you can still do P90X. Just take the fit test and see if you meet the minimum fitness requirements to start: P90X fit test

How much weight can you lose on P90X?

This all depends on how much weight you have to lose to begin with but 10 to 30 pounds in 90 days is not uncommon. I’ve seen a few people lose 40. Keep in mind that you are going to be hopefully adding muscle so your total “weight loss” might not be the best indicator of success.

Take a look at those articles and let me know what you think. Do you have any suggestions or improvements that can be made to them?

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Ah breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Some of the most common tips that dieters are given while trying to lose weight is to never skip a meal and start your day with a healthy breakfast.

I have always eaten breakfast except when I’m extremely rushed. Most of my breakfast meals consist of either cereal, bagels, toast, oatmeal or eggs on occasion. These foods have always left me feeling full enough but I’d find myself feeling hungry again an hour later.

I thought that is was just my body’s increased metabolism firing on all cylinders early in the morning. While I’m sure that is part of the answer it never completely explained why I was so hungry again so quickly.

High Protein Breakfast Foods

The missing link to the breakfast dilemma was protein. All of my previous breakfasts were very high in carbohydrates (even the complex kind) and drastically low in protein.

The solution was to introduce more protein and cut back on the amount of carbs I was eating. Here are a few sources for getting more protein at breakfast time.

- Cottage Cheese
- Turkey Bacon
- Egg Whites
- Peanut Butter
- Soynut Butter
- Low Fat Cheese’s
- Almond Butter
- Chicken Bacon
- Turkey Sausage
- Quinoa
- Protein Shakes

Those are just a few higher protein breakfast items. There are many more I’m sure. Leave a comment to suggest a something I’ve missed.

Breakfast Alternatives

Have you ever had breakfast for dinner? I know I have. Sometimes it was pancakes or a bowl of cereal. I’ve even had bacon and eggs for dinner a few times.

So why not flip it and have things you would normally have at lunch or dinner for breakfast? Below is a list of some of my favorite “Dinner for breakfast meals”

- Tuna Sandwich
- Steak and sweet potatoes
- Chile
- Homemade Pizza
- Salmon
- Chicken Salad
- Veggie Lasagna

To be honest most of these meals are leftovers from the night before. I usually make a lot of extra food as part of being organized for weight loss. I divide a large meal into it up into smaller portions so that I can make my food dollars stretch and it prevents me from eating out too often.

I will be posting some of my favorite high protein breakfast recipes over the next few weeks. So subscribe to my RSS feed so that you don’t miss them.

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It all depends on how you look at them and what you are trying to accomplish. A diet is nothing more than a plan or program that either changes how you eat, how much you eat or how you workout. I am not talking about diet pills here as you can read how I feel about them at: Why diet pills are so popular. Unfortunately people look at diets as the solution to their weight issue and think that it will help them keep the fat off for good (this time).

Why Do Diets Work?

There are basically 2 types of diets one that restricts your food intake or one that makes you increase your exercise to either build muscle or burn extra calories.

The diets themselves do work when followed as designed. If people weren’t seeing results they would not be as popular as they are. Think about that for a minute. Do you know someone that has lost weight on Atkins or the South Beach Diet? I know many people that have followed these plans with great success. Many of them have gained their weight back once they went off the program, but that doesn’t mean that the diet didn’t do what it was intended to do. That is, make you lose weight.

When Diets Are Not The Answer

If you are looking to make a lifestyle change and not just lose weight that is when you should avoid diets. Making a change of that magnitude covers many areas of your life. Including how you view food (as fuel more than a comfort) and your notions of exercise as a useful tool to improve all aspects of your health.

This is what I like to promote as long term it is by far the most effective. It’s sad that there are no infomercials created to promote it though.

Popular Diets Plans

Here are some of the more popular diet plans and programs that are currently out there. Plug these into Google and You come up with 1,000,000 plus pages about them. If you do decide to follow one of these please use caution and do your research.

- Atkins
- The South Beach Diet
- The Abs Diet
- The Zone Diet
- Weight Watchers
- La Weight Loss
- Calorie Shifting

Change Your Expectations

Don’t expect a diet to be the solution. Even though it might work short term in most cases if you return to your old eating and exercise habits the weight will come back. People who experience this again and again are known as yo-yo dieters and that is not what you want to be. (hopefully)

If you change your expectations of what a diet means to you and what you hope to achieve by following it then you can save yourself the disappointment if it doesn’t deliver on it’s promises.

Hopefully you will realize that a lifestyle change is what you really need and you’ll take the necessary steps towards getting the healthy life that you want.

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The same thing happened when I took up running road races. I was more aware of running in advertisements (billboards,TV and newspaper/flyers), more runners on the streets and more races announced in the papers.

The latest incident happened 2 days ago when I went to a local Tim Hortons for lunch. I was waiting in line ready to order my chicken club. There were 2 ladies behind me talking about going to the gym and other random stuff.

Then one of the women said something that caught attention (yes I was listening in on their conversation, you can only read the menu so many times before you get bored). She said “I’m off fruit, it adds too much sugar to your diet. I can lose more weight without the stuff anyway” interesting view I thought. The other women with her thought so as well, as she called the “no fruit lady” crazy and said she couldn’t live without bananas and some other kinds of fruit that I can’t remember right now.

I ordered my food and waited off to the side. The no fruit lady came up after me and ordered the chili meal deal. Which includes a bowl of chili, a donut and a drink. Her donut was a chocolate dip and her drink was a medium double double (the official beverage of Canada ) which is basically coffee with 2 milk packs and 2 sugar packs.

I stood there thinking to myself are you kidding me?

I really don’t like to pass judgment on others as I know I am no where close to being perfect myself. But when someone makes a statement like “I’m off fruit, it adds too much sugar to your diet” and then order a super sugary donut and coffee I have to question their intelligence.

Fruit is good for you, period.

Yes fruit has sugar in it, that is a given. A typical medium apple has about 14 to 16 grams of sugar in it. That is roughly the same amount as the coffee and donut mentioned above. So based strictly on sugar content fruit is not that great.

Forget The Sugar

Fruit has so much more to offer including vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Most fruit is low fat, low calorie and is full antioxidants that may protect you from certain cancers and other diseases.

As far as taste goes you can’t beat the fresh crisp taste of an apple, the sweetness of a pineapple or the juiciness of a fully ripened orange. That is just the tip of the iceberg there are literally hundreds of different varieties of fruit for you to try.

Fruit is a great snack in between meals, as a side dish or even as a dessert.

Don’t Be Fooled

Yes I understand that sugar is important to watch while trying to lose weight. Natural sugar is just as bad as the refined stuff, gram for gram they are the same (4 calories).

What I am saying is that by cutting out fruit completely you are robbing yourself of valuable nutrition and can actually hurt your weight loss efforts. While changing my body I have continued to eat plenty of fruit daily (2-3 servings at least).

Too often we get caught up in seeing the numbers on the scale move that we forget that one of the reasons for losing weight in the first place is to be healthier. Why give up the benefits of fruit for a small change on the scale? Remember that just because you weigh a little less doesn’t mean you are necessarily healthier.

Here is a couple of really good sites on the benefits of fruit as well as recipes and proper storage and selection guides.

Center For Disease Control (CDC) – Some good recipes and facts on fruit.

Fruit Storage Guide – Good guide on storing fruit and veggies. (scroll down)

Fruit Selection Guide – Some good tips on selecting fruit.

The Benefits of Fruit

What are your thoughts? Are you a no fruit guy or lady?

Are there any other sites that you recommend related to fruit?

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