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Emotional eating is a problem for many people. When you’re feeling down about life, stressed out, anxious, bored or lonely food can be of some comfort to you. Eating perks you up for a little while, until you realise just how much you’ve eaten and you’re left feeling guilty and worried about weight gain. The trouble is that once you get into a habit of eating to make yourself feel better it can be difficult to get out of and if you consume more calories than your body can burn the inevitable result is weight gain. When you’re feeling unhappy with your life it is sometimes because you don’t feel that you have any control of things that are going on around you. You may be unhappy because you don’t like your job or don’t get along with your colleagues; you might be bored with your life and can’t imagine the future being any different; you might be lonely or in a relationship that makes you feel miserable. Food isn’t a solution to any of these problems, but eating it takes your mind off a...

Many things going on in our lives can interfere with our weight loss. A lot of times, we just blame ourselves for not losing weight, when there are many things contributing to our struggles. If we’re aware of how life continues to contribute to our weight issues, we’ll create a better, more positive environment for dealing with them and losing weight. Here are some of the ways that life itself can undermine your commitment to losing weight, and what you can do to change it and finally achieve weight loss success. - We put others before our own needs. We all have life responsibilities, but we often forget about ourselves while tending to them. We may have families, children to raise and careers, but what about the time for us? Sure, those things are extremely important, but we can’t neglect our own happiness. In the mix of life, we need to take sometime out for ourselves, or else we won’t be tending to our own personal needs. Weight loss success involves that we’re aware of our needs, ...

Appetite Control: Controlling your appetite is of paramount importance to those who want to lose weight. Feeling constantly hungry creates cravings that can be difficult to resist. Appetite control can be challenging; however, learning a few tips and techniques not only makes the process much easier but can be very rewarding when the weight starts to drop off. Realise the difference between true and false hunger Feeling hungry can be a true result of needing food or it can be a mind trigger – boredom or stress being common factors. Bear in mind that a little bit of hunger pangs will not hurt you – it means your body requires fuel. It will use stored up sources which results in weight loss. If you feel a sudden desire to eat, stop and try and work out if you are really hungry, mildly hungry and just bored. Full blown hunger will need some sustenance but mild hunger or boredom can can be ignored by turning your mind to something else. Say no to over indulgence When you go for a m...

If you are to have any hope of achieving long-lasting weight loss you have to ensure that you establish realistic weight-loss objectives. You can’t simply hope to lose fifty pounds in a couple of weeks, when the chances of this happening are extremely slim. Even if you go on a crash diet you probably won’t lose that amount, unless you happen to be hundreds of pounds overweight. You need to set your sights somewhat lower and aim for consistent weight loss, rather than to lose weight as quickly as possible. This can be difficult to do when all you want is to see results right away. However, to lose weight rapidly would require you to reduce your calorie intake to a drastically low level which you probably wouldn’t be able to keep to for very long. Consequently, you might lose a significant amount of weight in the first couple of weeks that you’re able to follow the latest fad diet, but as soon as you come off the diet and go back to eating normally there is a good chance you will pile o...

If you want to reach your weight-loss objectives you have to be realistic about how much weight you can lose in a week and how much weight you intend to lose overall. There isn’t much point deciding that you’re going to lose sixty pounds in a month, when there is a good chance you will come nowhere near to reaching this goal. You may not even need to lose that amount of weight, which is why it is worth reassessing your goals as you go along so that you don’t lose too much weight. When you’re trying to lose weight it helps to have some idea of what you’re hoping to achieve, though, as without any kind of goals or objectives your weight-loss plans are likely to flounder. You need to have something to focus on to give you the motivation needed to stick to a healthy eating plan and to keep on getting up early to go for a run or to go to the gym. If you have no idea what you’d like to achieve it becomes easier to give up because you simply tell yourself that you’ve lost a couple of pounds ...

Unless your weight-loss objective is only to lose a few pounds it’s probably going to take you awhile to reach your goal, especially if you decide to lose weight in a sensible way. It is recommended that you lose between one and two pounds a week, so if you have a hundred pounds to lose it is going to take you considerably longer than just a few weeks. However, if you’re carrying quite a lot of extra weight there may be occasions when you lose more weight than you expected to. Most of the time, though, you should be able to achieve a loss of one or two pounds without depriving yourself of the foods you love, which is worth bearing in mind. You might be able to lose weight more quickly by living on soups and salads, but is it really worth it when there is a good chance you won’t be able to stick to such a restrictive diet and will end up regaining the weight you lost? You would probably be better off aiming for gradual weight loss that you can sustain in the long term, rather than reac...

Some people aren’t bothered about their weight at all, but they appear to be in the minority, as most people find that weight is an issue that dominates their lives at some point. You only have to look at rising obesity levels and the huge profits which the weight-loss industry makes to see that many people are not happy with their weight and are prepared to spend a fortune trying to lose a few pounds and finally learn to control something that has often been a long-term problem. If you have a weight problem it doesn’t take much to start obsessing about it. You don’t even have to have a weight problem to be obsessed with your weight, though, as this is a society in which high-profile celebrities are scrutinised in every tabloid newspaper and celebrity magazine. You’re bombarded with images of slim, glamorous celebrities who are all dolled up and, in contrast, overweight, frumpy celebrities who look as though they have got dressed in the dark. It’s not surprising if you come to associa...

For many people, their weight loss successes have continued to be preceded by weight gain. For those that aren’t able to properly gain control over there weight, they’ll continue to be trapped in a “lose and gain” yo-yo cycle. There are many things you can do to assure that your weight loss is permanent and lifelong. Here are the ways to prevent your weight from yo-yoing between extremes. - Don’t be mislead. We often believe the most ridiculous claims when it comes to losing weight. We want to lose it so fast, that we’re willing to go to any extremes to do it. The problem with this, is that most of those “miracles” aren’t sustainable for very long. So, you lost 20 pounds on a liquid diet or by starving yourself, but how long do you think you can keep that up? If I had a way that you’d lose weight without any deprivation or much sacrifice, that helped you lose those twenty pound for good, wouldn’t you much rather try that? We tend to buy into what someone is selling, because if we need...

Obesity tends to run in the family due to a combination of social and genetic factors which leave children with obese parents at greater risk of becoming obese themselves. With an ever-growing number of obese adults it is little wonder that the number of obese children is also increasing, as parents are not only passing on their genetic make-up to their children, but also their bad habits. Parents may not even realise that their child is obese, since if they were 'chubby' themselves as children they are quite prepared to ignore their child's weight problem and put it down to 'puppy fat', even though obese children have a greater chance of becoming obese adults. This is a problem because with obesity comes serious health problems that may not be fully realised while individuals are still young. However, if children carry on down the path of obesity they could become ill due to their weight, suffering from heart problems, diabetes, joint pain, as well as developing s...

Nobody should regard fad diets as the best way to lose weight as they just don't work in the long run. Many people want to believe that by following the latest popular diet they will be able to lose lots of weight quickly, and maybe they will but it won't be good for their health, and they will probably regain all the weight they lost anyway. It is particularly important for teenagers to steer clear of fad diets because fad diets only work by getting you to drastically reduce your calorie intake. Teenagers' bodies are still developing and thus require a substantial number of calories; more than a fully-grown adult, and so if they fail to eat a healthy diet it could affect their overall health and development. It is a real challenge being a teenager as you face pressure to do well at school, decide on a potential career path, and fit in with your peers. During your adolescence you tend to become more conscious of your body, particularly when you start to develop an interest...