Getting the Best Weight Loss Tips

Losing weight has been the dilemma of most people for many years now. Well, we all want to look fit and sexy all the time. Hence, we strive hard just to get the body that we want. However, with the lifestyle and eating habits that we were brought up with, it is almost impossible to stay slim and so easy to gain weight, especially in the summer

What with all the calories that we take in everyday, with all the junk and fast foods that we eat as well as the caffeinated beverages that we drink. And in our desperation to trim down excess fats, we are always seeking for weight loss tips and different means to loss weight.

There are lots of tips available for you when it comes to losing weight. Books and magazines about weight loss as well as other essential things in losing weight are now within your reach. Visit your favorite bookstores and magazine shops and you’ll surely find them.

Do-It-Yourself Weight Loss Tips

As there are a lot of tips on how to trim down excess fats and shed extra pounds that have been published, you can now easily find a set of procedures fitted for you and you lifestyle. However, the best procedures to losing extra pounds are those which you can do even when you’re all by yourself; those which don’t require you to go and consult a clinic or a weight loss expert.

Here are some weight loss tips that you can do yourself;
• Trim down your calories consumption
– we need calories for our day to day activities, but we need to trim down unnecessary percentage of calories. Mostly, you may need to avoid soft drinks and alcoholic drinks. Gourmet coffee also contains too much calories and you may want to reduce consumption of this or totally avoid intake.

• Exercise is still a best way to shed extra pounds
– yes, this is still among the best practices that you can do at home to trim down extra pounds. You can start off by moving more often. Like instead of driving to a nearby supermarket, you can walk. Avoid riding if it is just a walking distance. You can also walk your dog every morning. Cleaning the house also makes your body move more often. You see, you don’t need trainers and equipments just to exercise.

 • Feast on 5 small meals everyday
– instead of eating 3 heavy meals, you can eat several small meals throughout the day. This way, you can divide your daily calorie intake without having to undergo fasting or skipping meals.

• Always eat breakfast
– it is not a good idea to skip on breakfast just to lose weight. You will only tend to eat more later in the day.

• Water therapy
– water may not be considered as something which can burn fat, but drinking the right amount of water everyday can help with bodily functions such as proper digestion. It also makes you feel full so you won’t feel like eating and eating.

If you haven’t noticed, the tips above mostly involved self discipline. This is because discipline is the fundamental of all the weight loss procedures out there. You have to know your limitations if you are serious about trimming down those unwanted fats. No weight loss tips are as effective as they promise if you, as the person who wants to lose weight, won’t have even a bit of self discipline.

Summer Time and time to procrastinate

Procrastination pervades every aspect of our lives.  And we’ve mastered it to perfection having learned a subtle form of it when we were babies.   


We delayed falling asleep because our mothers wouldn’t cradle us in her arms.  We’ve procrastinated in performing our duties at home, in school, in the work place, and in our most fragile human relationships.  We shudder to think what the final tally of lost hours will be because we procrastinated habitually.


But as one writer said, not procrastinating will make us appreciate the life we have now.  And as we build on the small steps, we’d be amazed at how much we can accomplish over the years.


As we spend these hazy days of summer relaxing perhaps we should ask ourself, “In what ways do I procrastinate?”  Sit down with pen and paper.  Writing them will help you focus and identify them more clearly.  Here are some ways where people procrastinate:

• paying bills
• not discussing the complaints you’ve received about a member of your team for fear of hurting his/her feelings
• repeatedly postponing a dental appointment because you’ve got better things to do
• not returning the call of your son’s teacher because you know what the problem is and you’re fed up
• not discussing your resentment about your husband/wife/significant other spending too much time at work or with his or her buddies
• not getting that hair cut, that dress dry-cleaned, that donation mailed
• not visiting a sick relative in the hospital
• not telling your significant other you no longer love her/him
• not calling your doctor about that persistent numbness in your right arm or not fixing a colonoscopy exam date
• not having the car’s squeaking brakes checked
• not going to confession because you never know what the priest’s schedule is
• not sending that overdue thank you note or making that overdue call to your mother-in-law

Once in awhile you’ll deviate from your intentions.  You’re a human being with limitations, or else life, without warning, takes a detour, and we get derailed. 

Let’s take a lesson from our brothers and sisters in the east who live by mantras that they recite to themselves every day. 

Here’s one you can recite in the morning as you wake up:  “I will not procrastinate today.  It is unproductive.  I have tasks to do, and I will write them down so I can decide which of them need to be done by 12 noon.  My goal is to finish at least 2 big tasks and 2 small ones or I can sit and relax in the sun.

Retirement Guide (also a life plan)

I was talking to a friend about retiring. He couldn’t wait to get out of the day-to-day work grind. Okay, I have to admit that I find the concept hard—I have retired once, went back to work and then quit and returned to work. I am now in the process of retiring again—I hope I make it.

 
My friend is not alone, many of the people I work with talk about retirement and project fondly about what they would do when they retire. However, once the reality of retirement sets in, they may have to rethink their options and think again, if they have not planned properly.  

It is important to consider the following when planning retirement. As a person who has worked with people involved in transitions from school to work, from work to self-employment I know the following to be true for many. Work provides money in the form of income you can count on, time management in the form of a framework for your life, and purpose in the form of getting you out of bed in the morning for something that brings meaning to your life.

As you design what's next for you, make sure you provide each of these for yourself.   Many of my friends are fortunate in that they have a good retirement plan that will provide income, what they have to is create an infrastructure that will support them in thriving, not merely surviving, this next stage of life. In retirement along with a money plan, you should have both a time and a sense of purpose plan.

You may have a well defined financial plan but do you have a plan for how you wish to live the next twenty or thirty years of your life? Do you really want to leave your retirement life to chance and hope that you won’t be disappointed?

The “one size fits all” retirement mentality no longer fits. Whether five years away from retiring or five years into retirement, begin now exploring and choosing how you wish to live your second life.

Be as clear and detailed as possible. Your plan will be a work in progress. Reconnect with dreams you put aside for more practical considerations, or perhaps dream about what you want in your life for the first time ever.

Evelyn, who spent almost 35 years as a bookkeeper was practical minded, she had not ever allowed herself to dream about her heart’s desire. That is, until she had a new grandchild born with special needs. Seeing there was a gap in educational and supportive services for parents of children having special needs, Evelyn went back to school.

She now works in a community program that brings education and support to families. The families she serves love the special attention and guidance Evelyn gives. She loves the satisfaction her work brings and has no intention of retiring. So, take the lid off and get in touch with your passion and desire! Where would be your ideal place to live? What would make it ideal?

The following ideas can be used to generate a life plan, and this is dedicated to the people like myself who love work and cannot imagine retirement. As  you begin this journey, I think it is important to first put yourself into a mindset where you will listen to hearts says, not what your mind tells you.

1. Create a plan; a roadmap for what you want your life to be.

• How much time would you like to spend traveling? Where have you
• always wished to visit? How would you like to travel?
• Ideally, what amount of time will be spent with family? How will you
• spend that time?
• What are your top leisure activities? Ideally, how much of your time
• will you devote to leisure?
• What would you do if you knew you could not fail? Come on; dust off
• that dream… Don’t be shy!
• What does living a satisfying life mean to you? What are the essential
• elements, your specific “must haves”?

2. Find affordable health insurance

• Balance investment need for safety and continued growth

4. Decide where to live. Once you are no longer tied to a job, you can live anywhere that suits your tastes and budget

• Where would be your ideal place to live? What would make it ideal?

5.  Decide if you want to keep working. A part-time job is increasingly becoming common in the retirement years.

6,  Figure out what you will do with your time. 

• What organization, human issue, community project or problem speaks to your heart?
• Given your talents and skills and time, what type of commitment

  would be a great fit?
• How would doing this support your vision for your life and your world?

Retirement isn't only about quitting your job. It's an opportunity to have complete control over how you spend your time. Some ouf us may miss the sense of purpose and friends that their job provided for them, while others finally have the time for hobbies and projects they have been waiting years to tackle.

Yes, I know one of the lures of retirement is not having to have a schedule. Beware, though, for therein lies one of the biggest traps of retirement. Without a framework for your days, weeks, months and years, you can slip into a deadening non-routine. I had a cousin who when he retired, told everyone that he was going to use his time to do nothing. He claimed he had worked hard all of his life and in retirement he was going to have the luxury of doing nothing. He did that and within three years he had died.

He did not die of boredom, but he did not have a purpose and he did not keep his brain functioning,  even though his wife, brothers and kids begged him to get active, he refused, he was diagnosed with dementia within a year, and dead two years later. He not only did not have a time management plan, he had lost his sense of purpose.

As a now retired Career Practitioner I understand that for many of us our career, gives us a sense of purpose.  We identify with what we do; our jobs give us a reason to get out of bed each day; a place to be where people are counting on us; a focus for our skills, abilities, and energy. When planning for your retirement make it a priority to find a purpose for this next stage of your life, one that ignites your passion and literally pulls you out of bed in the morning.

• How happy are you with your life right now? On a scale of 1 to 10,with one being not at all happy and 10 being very happy, how does your life measure up? What belief, habit, or situation stands in your way of living in happiness and peace?
• What is a 1st step you could take to start creating a happier, more

  peaceful life?
• What are you putting off accomplishing that you know is important and

  would increase your peace of mind and overall well-being?

The write stuff --Digital Natives

“Digital natives are no longer those youngsters who fit in the bracket of a Harvard return professional, glued to their PC all day,” says Nishant Shah, director of research, Centre for Internet and Society, a Bengaluru-based organisation. For Nishant, and many youngsters across the globe, digital natives are not any of those secluded geeks who spend hours on the Internet. “I am a homemaker, yet I am a digital native,” says Nilofer Ansher, a community manager who manages members from across three continents.

A housewife, a young college graduate, a freelance writer, an NGO professional and many other individuals are behind the Internet activist flurry. Digital Natives, Fair Observer, PC Tech Magazine are just a few of the newsletters and forums that are connecting youngsters from across the globe and are mobilising them to do something beyond information gathering.

Youth-related discussions, inventions in make-shift laboratories from the backyards of homes in Nigeria and action against corruption across the globe; these are just some of the activities that these netizens are involved in. “The idea was to build a network of people from across the globe who are passionate about what they do. We are not talking countries, it is all to do with people with similar interests,” says Shah, who collaborated with Hivos to create the online platform called Digital Natives, used to write about issues of concern. One of the web sites set up is called Digital Natives with a cause.

The members collaborate online to write about various issues. But these online movements can have serious repercussions, “In fact, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, one of Egypt’s most vocal activists and bloggers, has been detained. He is our team member. We are now running a campaign supporting his early release,” says Ansher who doubles up as a co-editor of one of these newsletters. Various discussions have led to solutions. “My first challenge was to create a communication system for illiterate farmers. But I wanted a definite solution. So another member from mobile active community sent a message and it worked and we are following the same system,” says Ajay Kumar, manager, ICT operation