There are a lot of really great weight loss, health and fitness blogs on the internet, as well as new bloggers that deserve more visitors and support in achieving their goals as well.

Keeping track of all of them makes my head hurt, my email inbox is over flowing and my RSS reader is about to explode.

I have decided as a service to you my loyal readers that I am going to list all the great sites that I visit and recommend here in this post. (it will be constantly updated starting with the first 15)

If you have a suggestion for a site that isn’t listed, leave a comment and I will have a look at it. I will add it to the list only if it meets “my standards” sorry auto blogs, fake blogs, weight loss product review blogs etc… aren’t going to make the cut so don’t bother suggesting them.

Here is the list, in no particular order: (Get ready to scroll !) Current Blog Count – 17

Weight Loss Weapons – Cheap plug I know

Workout Mommy

Cranky Fitness

A Merry Life

Fat Man Unleashed

Andrew is Fit

John is Fit

MizFit Online

Yum Yucky

Oh She Glows

Fat Fighter TV

Greg’s Weight Loss Blog

Reconstructing Thirty

Roni’s Weigh

The Pasta Queen

Scale Junkie

Mark’s Daily Apple

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Over the last 10 weeks I have done everything perfectly in order to GAIN weight. I’ve consumed way more calories than I’ve burnt, exercise has not been a part of my routine at all and my stress level has shot through the roof. Add all that together and what do you get?……..FAT and lots of it.

I have been receiving comments about how much weight I’ve gained and to top it off I need to buy a new pair of suit pants tomorrow for a wedding, since I can’t even get my old ones done up anymore.

Now this may all sound negative but I don’t see it that way. Sure it’s been frustrating and at times depressing but I look at all of these things as lessons and motivation. For example:

1. Not being able to run/walk until now has made appreciate how enjoyable it is just to take a nice slow walk around the neighborhood with my family.

2. Having to buy new pants, give me an actual physical target goal to strive towards. (Fitting into the old ones again).

Most importantly this whole experience has reinforced the principals of weight loss, that diet and exercise are both equally essential to maintaining and dropping the excess fat. Neglect one and the weight comes back slowly but neglect both and weight gain is very rapid.

So that is basically what I have been dealing with over the spring and first half of the summer. I feel that I’ve regained my focus now and I’m looking forward to big changes in the second half of the summer. Also look for more regular post updates as that is part of the plan.

Finally, I turned 32yrs old last week, great time to re-evaluate my goals!!

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I was telling a co-worker of mine the other day a story about the time when my first daughter was born. I had been sleep deprived for weeks on end and I was practically falling a sleep at the wheel on my drive home from work. Most nights I had to pull over on a side street for a 15 minute power nap.

One night in particular freaked me out but now looking back I can see the importance of it. I got in my car at work like any other night and started to drive. Swiping my security pass was the last thing I remember until I opened the car door in my driveway!

I had driven 50 km and didn’t remember a single red light, left turn, right turn or any other cars on the road.

Your Body’s Auto Pilot System

I’m sure that all of us have had situations like this where you do something that you’ve done a million times before in the past but have no recollection of actually going through the motions.

I think this is your body’s auto pilot system. It engages when there is a problem or when you are out of balance. In the the incident above I was way over tired and my mind just couldn’t devote the energy needed to focus on every little detail of my drive home. In essence it tuned out everything around me.

It Happened Again

What triggered me to tell this story to my friend was something that happened a few weeks ago. It happened again . I was driving home from work but didn’t remember swiping out of the parking lot, just getting into my car and from there the very next thing I knew was that I was handing the debit pin pad back to the lady at the McDonald’s drive through.

I had driven 10 minutes, placed my order (which I always get), pulled out my wallet and entered my pin# for my debit card before coming out of my auto pilot mode. No word of a lie! The next words out of my mouth were WTF (the long version). I didn’t know weather to laugh or cry.

Formed From Habits

I am convinced that this subconscious auto pilot system is formed by our habits and gets triggered when you are doing something that your mind sees as a major problem or threat.

In the first incident I was extremely sleep deprived and since I had driven that same route day in and day out for so many years, my mind and body already knew what was expected of them without me even thinking about it.

The same thing goes for the “McDonald’s situation” as my wife calls it. I had done that drive through run so many times that once triggered my body and mind knew what they were to do. Instead of sleep deprivation this time it was excessive hunger. I had been trying a new way of eating and I was starving!!! Mcdonald’s is apparently my default choice for food.

This is something that I am going to work on changing over the next few months. I know it’s not an easy thing to change and it will take time to make it happen.

What are your thoughts? Please share your stories with me, tell me I’m not alone in this?

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When it comes to losing weight, size does matter. Portion control is essential. Many people underestimate the amount of food that they are eating per serving or even know just how much a serving size should be. Below I have outlined some of the best ways to control the amount of food you’re consuming. As well as some of the more useful items to have in your kitchen that will help accurately measure your food.

1. Stick to the serving sizes on the package. Most manufactures make the serving sizes smaller on purpose in order to keep the overall calorie and fat content as low as possible. It’s a marketing thing, but use it to your advantage.

2. Eat off of smaller plates. It’s a simple and effective trick. If you fill your smaller plate it looks like your are eating more food than normal, but in most cases it’s much less.

3. When eating at home split your dinner into 2 portions. Eat one and put the other in the fridge for lunch the next day.

4. If you absolutely have to eat out at a fast food or other type of restaurant, order the kiddie meal. You’ll usually end up saving a few hundred calories and you get a toy

5. Leave the food on the stove or counter, not at the kitchen table. You’ll be less likely to go for seconds.

6. Never eat your food out of a bag, carton or other container were you can’t see what you are eating. If you can’t see it you don’t know how much you have had or how much is left.

How much is a serving size and how do you measure it?

A serving of beef, poultry or fish is usually 3 oz (85g) or about the size of a deck of cards.

1 cup serving of milk, vegetables or yogurt is roughly the size of your fist.

A serving of cheese should be equal to the size of your thumb.

A medium sized apple or orange is the size of a tennis ball.

Top 3 measuring tools in your kitchen

1. Digital or Mechanical food scale

2. Measuring Spoons

3. Double sided measuring cup for both liquid and dry ingredients.

You can check out more of the weight loss “weapons” at weapons for weight loss

Overall if you are watching your portion sizes on a regular basis, there is no reason that you can’t enjoy your favourite foods while still losing weight.

What are your thoughts?

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McDonald’s became a special treat for me and as I entered my teens I traded my dad and sister for my burger loving friends. McDonald’s became a hangout and a place to meet new people. As a teen with very little money I seemed to naturally gravitate towards my local Mcd’s. (I remember getting 8 hamburgers for .25 each on their anniversary one year)

Enter Adulthood and a Steady Paycheck

As you can see I have always had a fondness for McDonald’s. Good times with family and friends and no adverse effects on my weight or health…….yet.

Once my lifestyle started to change and my activity levels dropped I should have also adjusted my eating habits, like cutting back on the Mcd’s. Unfortunately I didn’t and continued to eat there 2-3 times per week. It seemed that “all of a sudden” that food was sticking to me and I was gaining weight quickly.

I have made many incredible lifestyle changes over my weight loss journey but McDonald’s is the one major habit that I have been unable to break…..until now.

The P90X Restart

From one of my previous posts I let it be know that I have been gaining weight again and I was planning to restart the P90X workout program. That day is today.

So today is day 1 and I am very optimistic for 3 reasons. The first is that I am doing this as part of a group effort with some friends and coworkers. There is a commitment with us all to help support each other and to follow up with our stats as well as our daily workout results. I didn’t have this the first time around.

Reason two is I have the backing of my family. Over this past weekend I let them know of my plans and asked for their full co-operation. A big ask, but they listened and agreed to help however they can. Lately that have been big contributors to my weight gain.

Reason three is that as a part of our commitment to show the seriousness of this, we decided that we had to give up our biggest health vice for the full 90 days, no cheating what so ever. For me that was obviously the twice weekly McDonald’s runs. I don’t think it will be as hard as I think, I’m at that point where I am ready to let it go anyway.

Sell Your McDonald’s Stock

I am predicting that McDonald’s stock will drop over the next 90 days as a direct result of my holdout

As of Thursday October 30th this is the McDonald’s closing stock price. I will be providing updates in the sidebar as the 90 days progress.

New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
MCD:$57.87 up 1.21%

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A quick search on Google shows over 9 million pages related to diet pills either directly or indirectly and using the Seobook’s Keyword suggestion tool it’s estimated that there are more than 2300 searches a day for the keywords diet pills.

For someone that promotes healthy weight loss without using pills, I find this very disturbing. The more I see the ads on TV and the internet the more I ask myself why? Why risk your health? Why waste your money? Why are they so popular?

The Most Popular Diet Pill

By far the most popular diet pill has got to be Alli (AL-EYE). The first over the counter FDA approved “weight loss aid”. With sales of more than half a billion dollars since it was introduced in 2006. It costs $50- $60 a month and claims to block 1/4 of all the fat that you consume in your diet.

I know quite a few people that have tried this pill and actually had some good results. But, was there weight loss a result of the pill or the fact that they started eating better and exercising more often?

I asked 2 of my online friends (Kim and Maria) who took Alli for 3 months a few questions as to their results and why they decided to try it in the first place. Here are their answers.

Question#1

How much did you lose in the 3 months that you were taking the pill?

16 pounds and 25 pounds, mostly upper body (chest) but a good amount from the hips and butt area.

Question#2

What changes did you make to your diet and exercise routines?

Kim – “I didn’t change much other than watching what I eat a little more closely.”
(Note that she was already working out 3 days a week at the gym)

Maria – “A complete change for the first 3 weeks then I went back to a modified version of my former diet. I averaged about 2 days a week of scheduled exercise and I was walking a bit more too”

Question#3″

What made you actually the cross the line and buy the kit?

Kim – “The promise of easy weight loss. I read a lot of testimonials and online blogs saying that people were seeing results. Plus my gym partner didn’t want to do it by herself.”

Maria – “I was just tired of not losing weight. I tried the Zone, Atkins, and South Beach but I couldn’t stick to them. That and Alli was said to be safe other than the side effects. The promises were definitely a factor too”

Question#4

What were the side effects?

Kim – “Burning lots of calories running to the bathroom. That and I would also get stomach cramps every now and then”

Maria – “Yeah, it seemed like I was going to the bathroom all time and the claims about “leakage” are true and gross.”

So Why Are Diet Pills So Popular?

My first conclusion was that people are just lazy and are looking for the easy way out. While that is true to a certain extent, I don’t think that is always the case. Most diet pills are fairly “new” meaning that odds are the generation before you have never tried the same ones that are popular today.

The claims they make are incredibly appealing. They are marketed very well and do deliver some results, which makes them all that more difficult to resist.

The bottom line is that no matter how much you educate people on the risks of taking diet pills there will always be a rather large percentage of them that want those quick results. But they aren’t necessarily lazy; in fact many of them will workout even harder while taking them.

It’s like anything these days, as long as there is a demand in the market for them and money to be made they will be supplied regardless of what you and I say or do.

Long Term Side Effects

When it comes to the issue of long term side effects I’m left with more questions than answers.

Who really knows what kind of long term side effects any diet pill will cause?
What is an appropriate length of time to determine that a product is safe?
Are the potential results really worth the possible risks?

The fact is that we just don’t know the long term effects and that alone should be enough to make you steer clear of diet pills.

Final Note

Both Kim and Maria stopped taking Alli for the same reasons. Which were the cost, the side effects and the fact that their results had slowed dramatically.

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I caught myself doing this the other day while running in my neighborhood. Now, I have a set route that I run. It‘s a standard 5k distance but I can extend it to 7, 9, 10 or 12K by making a few small changes.

I was out for a 7k run and wanted to beat my previous best at that distance. Which was 34 minutes and 35 seconds. As I was half way into the run I starting thinking to myself, “your not in good enough shape to break 34 minutes” and “slow down and take it easy”.

At the 2k mark, I stopped running and started to walk. Thinking that I would feel better, but I actually felt worse. The negative talk just kept coming “Why are you even running?” and “you’re just going to give up on this like you’ve done with everything else”

Just as I was ready to turn and walk back home, I had one of those moments of clarity. Those moments that changes your life and allows you to see where things have gone wrong.

The Turning Point

Why did I stop moving towards my goal? My body felt good and I was making great time. I stopped because I let those negative thoughts take root in my mind. That first seed was planted and instead of squashing it, I fed it by believing it and by giving it more negative thoughts to consume. Eventually it grew so large that I couldn’t move it or get past it.

This was the reason that I have failed so many times in the past. Not only in my attempts to lose weight but in every area of my life. I’ve allowed myself to be talked out of my dreams and to be held back from achieving my goals.

Changing My Thoughts

I decided to keep walking until I got to the 3k mark and run the 7K loop back to my house. As I walked that very long 1k, I kept thinking about the positive changes that I have made in my life. Dropping 40lbs, running my first 5 and 10k races, cleaning up my diet and starting this website from scratch. I started thinking about how good it will feel when I break that personal best time.

When I got to that 3K marker (it’s actually a fire hydrant) I was pumped up and excited to start running. I reset my watch and took off. After 2k I was tired and at almost the exact same point into the run as I was before, but wouldn’t let anything negative enter my mind. I used my positive self talk to keep me pushing forward and focused on the proper things, my time, the distance covered and how well my form was holding up.

My Big Finish

With about half a Kilometer until the end I looked at my watch, did some math and figured that I could beat the 34:35 finish time if I hustled. Boy did I hustle. I hit my driveway, stopped my watch at 34:34. I beat it by one second. I let out a Whoooo, it was 10:30pm and I was completely alone (except for the barking dogs that I set off) covered in sweat, out of breath and I felt incredible.

Now taking one second off might not seem like much but knowing all the mental and physical effort that went into it, made it feel like an hour.

What’s the point?

I don’t want you to get the wrong idea here. I’m not saying that if you think positive thoughts great things will happen. The fact is sometimes things don’t work out no matter how positively we think.

I feel that the voice in your head, that internal dialogue should be sprouting positive thoughts so that the wrong things don’t happen. Things like stopping short of your goal, going on an eating binge or believing that you are not worthy of success.

This is especially true when it comes to changing your diet or starting a new workout program. Thinking that you’re not strong enough to stick with it or that you are just meant to be fat is exactly what is keeping you fat.

So get rid of the negative talk in your head. As soon as you hear it, turn it around. Instead of hearing “you’re not strong enough” change it to “I have all the strength I need”. If you don’t allow them to take hold you’ll drastically improve your chances for success no matter what your goals are.

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It’s midday, lunch is over and done with and there is still an hour or two before dinner. You’re working away at your job, busy with school or with the kids when you start feeling tired and begin to lose focus on what you’re doing. Or maybe you get a headache and the “little things” begin to get on your nerves.

This is what is known as the midday slump and it’s usually caused by a rapid drop in blood sugar. Combine this with a lack of proper rest and you have a recipe for weight gain.

What you do between the hours of 2pm and 4pm can have a dramatic impact on your weight loss efforts. There is a twofold effect that happens:

1.) When the slump hits your first instinct is to eat, eat, eat and your cravings are usually not for some health fruit or vegetables either.

2.) If you’re like me you make poor decisions when you’re hungry and that leads to pizza for dinner or a trip out to your local restaurant.

So how do you stop this from happening?

I usually fight this in 3 ways:

1.) I eat a smaller, more protein dense lunch. This way the drop in blood sugar is not so dramatic.

2.) I bring pre packed snacks so that I am not tempted to grab something really unhealthy. Granola bars, almonds, or 100 calorie snack packs are all good choices as well as at least 1 bottle of water.

3.) I get moving. Take a break from whatever you are doing and walk, stretch, or run. It doesn’t really matter just get your heart rate up and the blood flowing. You’ll be more alert and able to make better decisions.

One last suggestion I can give you is to get your rest at night. 6-8 hours a night at least. Most of us waste way too much time at night watching TV or dare I say on the computer. An extra 30-45 mins of sleep can really make a big difference during your day.

What do you think? What do you do to beat the midday slump?

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My name is Steve and over the past year or so I have finally dropped those 35+ lbs of ugly unwanted fat. I’ve struggled for the past ten years to lose weight and every attempt has failed, until now. I have tried almost every popular diet out there including the South Beach Diet, The Abs Diet as well as following the Weight Watchers Points plan.

So what changed? Why have my efforts paid off this time? The answer was not that there was a problem with the diet plans I followed. They all work and plenty of people have lost weight with them.  The answer for me was information and motivation. I have learned so much about how to lose weight safely, through proper nutrition and a regular exercise program.

I want to share what I have learned and show you how you can lose that extra weight you’ve been carrying on you for years. That is why I created weightlossweapons.com it features a simple way of eating that I follow as well as some great bodyweight exercises, recipes, tools and motivational/ inspiring articles. All built around the theme of the site. I started with the “weapons”  These are some of the most important foods and equipment that I have found for losing the weight and keeping it off.

This blog will serve as a way to share more than just the basics. I’ll cover the latest plans, ideas, motivation, news and pretty much anything else weight loss related.

If you have any questions about weight loss or adjusting to a healthier lifestyle please send me an Email

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