Many of us have the same reasons for wanting to exercise and lose weight.....look better, feel better, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, decreased risk of some cancers, lower risk of heart disease, etc.
But did you know that making your waistline thinner will also make your wallet fatter?
It's true! Losing weight will help you earn and save more money. "Studies have consistently shown that obese employees are paid less than normal-weight employees doing similar jobs" (Source: HealthNewsDigest.com - Palo Alto, CA)
A comprehensive study of wages in 1998 found that obese workers earn significantly less than than non-obese employees. How much less? About $3.41 per hour!
This discrepancy was found only in those workers who had employer-sponsored health insurance, perhaps suggesting that the higher costs of insuring obese individuals was being passed on to the employees themselves. (Source: Bundorf and co-author Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the Center for Health Policy/Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research).
So it's possible that losing weight could eventually add substantially to your paycheck! But did you know that losing weight may also lower the amount of money you personally pay out in medical costs?
According to a study published in Health Affairs recently, obese Americans pay $732 more for health care each year than do normal-weight adults. So what would you do with an extra $732? Considering that $732 is more than double the annual cost of a typical membership, it seems that being a gym member pays for itself!
We all have great reasons for wanting to lose that excess weight, and how we have two more: potentially higher wages and lower out-of-pocket medical expenses!
However, we do need to issue one word of warning.....when losing weight you may find that you need to spend some of that 'saved money' on a new wardrobe! After all, you will have to buy some new 'skinny' clothes!
* Copyright 2005 Pick Up The Pace. Permission is not required for the distribution of Pick Up The Pace articles as long as they are used in their entirety, are properly credited to Pick Up The Pace, and are accompanied by our website link:
www.letspickupthepace.com.
* The information in this article and on this site is for general reference purposes only and not intended to address specific medical conditions. This information is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Prior to participating in any exercise program or activity, you should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional.
No information in this article or on
http://www.letspickupthepace.com/ should be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition.
Tracie Johanson is the founder of Pick Up The Pace, a 30-minute exercise studio for women, focusing on fitness, health and nutrition for maximum weight loss. Please visit
http://www.letspickupthepace.com/ for more information.
Most of us know and have heard the phrase, “You are what you eat”. However, is it possible that another phrase also applies?
“You are what you THINK”. Yes, it is very possible that this phrase is also an accurate representation of how our perceptions and expectations affect our body and overall health.
We are just beginning to understand how the mind and our beliefs affect out body and how it responds to illness. However there is currently enough documented evidence to prove that the mind does in fact affect our body.
The key behind all of these studies seems to be perception or expectation. Those individuals with positive perceptions of an event and positive expectations seem to create that reality while the same seems to be true of those with negative perceptions and expectations.
If we allow for this possibility then we must consider what it is we believe about ourselves and how we feel about the life we are leading. If we have a perception of ourselves and our life that is negative then it will tend to manifest itself eventually in one way or another. This often takes place with people who are unhappy with their life but yet afraid to make changes. When they do not take action the body itself seems to create an illness to bring about the change they seemed unable to do for themselves.
Deepak Chopra has spent numerous years studying this aspect of wellness and I highly recommend that anyone wanting to explore this field of research read his books. The book I have found most helpful is “Unconditional Life”. He gives many case studies of individuals who were affected either positively or negatively by their state of mind and the perceptions they had of their illness.
We owe to ourselves to be happy and to be hopeful and to expect the best out of life.
We owe it to ourselves to make the most of the time we are given.
We owe it to ourselves to do the things that we fear and take the steps we are afraid to take.
Life is about expansion and when we cease to expand we become stagnant and stagnation eventually brings about death. This usually happens in the inner life first and then it manifests in the physical life.
For example, someone begins to feel bored, apathetic and depressed about life and this will lead to a withdrawal from contact with other people and then soon thereafter the body itself will begin to manifest symptoms.
You must choose to be happy and to expect the best and to believe in miracles. A favorite quote is the following:
"Happiness is a way of travel - not a destination"--Roy M. Goodman
This is something you should definitely keep in mind not only for the sake of your health but also for your entire experience of life. If you do not like your experience of life then perhaps it is time to change your point of view.
Ray Kelly is an Exercise Scientist with 15 years experience in the health and fitness industry. Sign up for his free 7 Day Weight Loss Course at Symptoms of Heart Attacks and Diabetes.
Every Day One Step Closer to Lasting Weight Loss...
Relax, you have plenty of time. Every day you're one step closer.
We look in the mirror and want to see results now, but usually it's the same old reflection staring right back at us. Sometimes we don't notice changes that are there to see, we're so busy focusing on our flaws and imperfections. Turn and check your profile and that too seems the same.
Nothing appears to be happening, no matter what you ate yesterday or the day before. You may even lose a couple pounds here, and suddenly you notice a new bulge there. Stop seeking what's wrong and look for what's right. Smile at yourself. Stand up taller, put a crown on your head. You are rich in every way when you believe in yourself.
This daily checking for physical evidence of weight loss success can make it easy to throw our hands up saying, "What's the point? This isn't working. I want a doughnut," and whoosh, right back to old habits we go. Your body will make subtle changes which you may not notice at all for several weeks, so while you're wanting proof right now, your body is doing everything it can to create better health and a better appearance too. Use gentle eyes when you look, and give yourself a boost toward lasting weight loss.
See yourself and soften your gaze. Be kind. When people meet you they aren't being so harsh, so why are you? Don't focus on what you do not like, instead find something you appreciate and focus on that.
Use Gentle Eyes When you See YourselfNext time you check your reflection, look at yourself with gentle eyes. Don't search for tiny flaws, instead look for something to admire. Notice your sparkling eyes, your winning smile, your dimples and freckles. Search for what's right, not what's wrong. Maybe it's an eyelash, or the curve of your jaw. Just pick a spot and say, "That's nice. There's something to admire." Be kind.
Realize you won't see big changes from one day to the next and you won't be so disappointed, and if you're really brave (and smart), have a weekly picture taken. When you later see the evidence in sequence, you'll notice the subtle changes you didn't see before.
Commit to One Day at a Time or the One More Bite ApproachCommit to one day at a time you will get where you want to be whether it's better health, a slimmer physique or both. Remember there's always One More Bite -- an hour from now, later today, and tomorrow there will always be another bite. If you remember there is always One More Bite on its way, you'll not have to eat every last bite right now.
Stop fighting yourself by hating your body, instead give it love and kindness. So what if your nose isn't perfect; neither is mine. I am not my nose. I am also not my legs or hips, but my legs carry me around and get me where I want to go. They work hard for me. I should appreciate that about my legs, even if they aren't the loveliest legs on the planet. There is a certain curve here, and bit of a dimple there that you could find to admire, if you look.
Start with one small thing and build from there. The more you befriend your body the more it'll work to please you.
Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, Weight Loss Coach and owner of OneMoreBite-WeightLoss.com is the author of "Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss."
Learn to use Kathryn's One More Bite Approach with The Daily Bites: Mini lessons in using EFT for weight loss
http://www.OneMoreBite-WeightLoss.com/getnews.html
Research has shown that change occurs through a process, through a series of stages.
There is a certain “readiness” to the change process.
Knowing what stage you are in is helpful to create success with any kind of change.
If you attempt to make a change you are not ready for, you are setting yourself up to fail.
If you think about the way you have accomplished change in the past, you don’t just go out and make it happen. You may not be aware of the process, but it is still there.
Here is a brief description of the stages of change (Prochaska, et.al.):
1. Precontemplation – You don’t see that you have a problem. You are in denial. People in this stage have no intention of changing themselves and usually only seek help with strong pressure from others. They resist change and are often demoralized as well because they view the situation as hopeless.
2. Contemplation – You acknowledge that you have a problem and begin to think about solving it, but you feel “stuck”. People with food and weight issues often hang out in this stage. You know you have a problem. You may even know what you need to do to change it, but you are not ready to commit to action.
It is not unusual for people to spend years telling themselves that “someday” they will lose weight.
Fear of failure (or focusing on past failures) can keep you stuck in this stage for a very long time. It can look like searching for the perfect solution and reading lots of diet books, but not actually doing anything about it.
3. Preparation – You are planning to take action within the next month. You start focusing more on the solution than on the problem. You also start thinking more about the future than the past.
You are committed to action, but haven’t necessarily resolved all of the mixed feelings you may have. For instance, losing weight requires letting go of some behaviors that may have provided temporary comfort in the past.
4. Action – You take visible action steps. You may purchase certain foods you plan to eat or remove foods from your home that you plan to avoid. You take the steps you have been preparing for. However, the change process does not end here.
5. Maintenance – You work to maintain the strides you have made in the previous stages. If you don’t have a strong commitment to maintenance and a support structure in place, you can relapse back to a previous stage.
It’s the stage that no one wants to think about for fear of relapsing. If you go on a crash diet, you are ignoring the fact that maintenance is a long, ongoing process.
6. Termination – the ultimate goal. Your former problem behavior is no longer an issue and you have complete confidence that you can cope without fear of relapse.
Successful people often cycle through these stages several times before they finally exit the cycle.
Most people struggle for years to find effective solutions. While it may seem hard to appreciate the process, recycling through the stages gives you opportunities to learn.
If you take action and fail, you are much more likely to succeed the next time around than if you take no action at all.
So if you feel like you have been here before, you are not alone – and you may just be on your way to getting out of the cycle for good!
Carol Solomon, Ph.D. is a psychologist and personal coach who specializes in helping people who want to lose weight and eliminate food and weight issues.
By going from food obsessive to charge neutral (i.e. Did I eat today?), she became dedicated to making it easy for others to step off the vicious cycle and live free of anxiety about food and weight.
She is the author of "Lose Weight Now Stay Slim Forever," a practical "how-to" manual for learning to lose weight without dieting.
Sign up for her free email newsletter, Slim Forever at:
http://www.lose-weight-now-stay-slim-forever.com http://www.LoseWeightWithEFT.com http://www.MoreMoneyWithEFT.com
