Weight Loss: You Can Be Successful

Does everyone really want to lose weight?

Weight Loss Made Easy

 We All Want to Lose Weight – Right?

No, not everyone is willing to do what it takes to lose a substantial amount of weight.  Weight Loss Made Easy will help you slowly over a period of time lose unwanted fat; rid your body of excess water weight while rejuvenating your energy levels.  That’s right, all this is possible and much more once you become willing to take the necessary steps to weight loss. 

Plain or Fruit Infused Water
Way to GO!!

Start your process by drinking plenty of water at least half your body weight in ounces of water daily.  To accomplish this goal I suggest downloading the Water Log app to your cell phone.  This will allow you to keep an accurate account of how much water you drink per day.  Once you have downloaded the app, go to the setup section, and set a goal for yourself based on your current weight.  You can also register your app by creating a password and include your email address which allows you access over the internet.  However, this step is optional it’s your choice.  While you may drink other beverages during the course of the day, please do not include their intake on your waterlog.  This will only defeat the purpose.  Drinking more water is your main goal.  I also suggest cutting back on your intake sugar-laden drinks that add extra calories and fat to the equation.  You’re off to a great start.

Let’s examine our sugar intake.  

The Sugar Addict
would fall off the wagon here.

Choose Fruit

The goal here is to reduce or completely eliminate sugar consumption.  Removing sugar in all its forms will greatly improve your weight loss efforts and maximize fat burning.  One of the worst food substances we can consume is high fructose corn syrup; this should be avoided at all costs.  Reading the labels of each product you plan to purchase is widely recommended.  By the time you get your purchases home reading the label will do very little in terms of preventing you from eating an unhealthy food choice. And if you do read the label it’s almost certain that you’re going to eat it anyway.  Getting to know your food will provide a better understanding; help you make an informed decision which ultimately may change your mind about its consumption.  As dangerous as high fructose corn syrup is, it is not the only sugar trap we face.  Bread, pasta, wheat, rice, and numerous other food-like substances contain that sticky little sweet treat – sugar.  Because so many are addicted to sugar-laden processed foods and by-products, I would suggest backing off slowly.  Take note of the reaction your body has to certain foods.  How does it feel to eat or not eat them?   You know when food affects you adversely.  What are the effects: weight gain, gassiness, swollen feet, ingestion, and heartburn?  See how you feel after cutting back.  Do those reactions still plague you? 

Treat yourself
to a night out.

What else are you eating that may be causing the same or similar conditions?  Also note whether or not you feel satiated not full, but rather satisfied with your meal.  If not, your body is missing some much need nutrients you haven’t acquired from your recent meals or food choices.  If you’re feeling full but not satisfied you will soon be reaching for something else.  This is the major cause of weight gain – not getting proper nourishment from our food sources which leads to overeating.  Your body is starving and instead of feeding it nourishing and healthy foods, we gorge on unhealthy food-like substances that provide very little nutrition.  The worst part is that most of it are jam-packed with sugar. 

How about those mystery meats?  

Ever wonder what ingredients are
in sausage? 

When it comes right down to it we should avoid processed meats. Processed meats are full of salt and preservatives, waste by-products, and other unwanted leftovers that would be otherwise be trashed, are combined to make a tasty hot dog, lunch meat, and so on.  Buyers beware these food-like substances, although they taste delicious all packed in a bun, they are deadly.   It is crucial that our consumption of foods jam-packed with salt be limited to much smaller amounts than we consider safe.  All those crunchy, salty treats are somewhat difficult to cut out of our diet.  However, they lead to mindless eating where we consume far more than we intended to eat.  I have personally experienced this while watching TV.  After several attempts to put that bag of chips down during the commercial break, I realized the bag was almost empty.  Needless to say, it didn’t feel good. 

Did you read the label?

I recognize that chips are not the problem.  There are enough salty, crunchy foods and I can play the blame game for years.  That would be a tragedy.  What needs to happen is to make better choices when shopping for food.  That is where it starts, in the market before bringing it home.  As stated previously taking much need time to read the labels will prevent poor food choices from ended up in the cart.  This can be a difficult and painstaking process.  We have developed a lifetime of poor eating habits over the years that we have become accustomed too. 

Create new healthy eating habits that will allow longer, healthier, happier, leaner lives over time.  Moving away from predictable old bad habits that routinely show up can be done through effort and determination. What are the options?  We can start by eating healthy fats like extra cold-pressed olive oil, extra virgin coconut oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, and real butter.  Stop eating unhealthy fats like corn oil, peanut oil, safflower oil, canola oil, vegetable oil, and the list goes on.   Often we are inundated with bad advice about eating low-fat foods. Did you know your body actually needs the healthy fat source to survive and without good healthy fats you will gain weight?  Read “Eat Fat Get Thin by Dr. Hyman” you will be surprised what you find out.  Words of warring eat nuts and seeds in moderation because of their high caloric count. Let’s not down an entire bag of nuts without considering that.  Also avoid bagged nuts that contain added salt, sugar, honey, and other substances to make them taste “BETTER?”  Nuts are fine in their natural state. Try a handful of raw nuts, plain dry roasted or pop them right out of the shell.  It’s just that simple.

Home cooking is not a guessing game.

God created Adam and Eve, they were hunter-gathers.  They did not have microwaves, stoves, dishwashers, or any of the comforts of home as we experience today.  They have to work hard for every bite.  Things have become just too easy in today’s society.  Everything has to be done in a hurry and sometimes that’s not fast enough.  Imagine living in the time of the hunter-gathers where if you couldn’t catch it, dig it up or knot it out of the air you just didn’t eat.  Oh but wait, let’s not forget about those tasty little grub worms and other bugs used as food.  Would you be able to survive?  Maybe not, however, you wouldn’t be struggling with a weight problem either.  The point I am making here is that modern technology has afforded a life of ease, which in some ways is a curse.  Comfort and ease will lead to unhealthy circumstances if you are not health conscious.  Mindless eating, lack of exercise, poor food selections, and stationary lifestyles has created most of our health complications. 

What can be done?  

• Begin by preparing most meals at home, that way you know exactly what ingredients are in the food. 
• Walk more; movement is a key element of obtaining and staying healthy.  Start off by walking a little more each day, you don’t need a gym membership.  
• Don’t overdo it, you can hurt yourself, moreover, walking for long distances can be boring to someone who’s not used to doing it.  To prevent stopping your program before you have a set routine in place, start slowly, and be deliberate in all your attempts.  
• Examine your sleep patterns; sleep has an awful lot to do with weight gain.  If you are not getting proper rest your body will retain fat, water, toxic, and eventual become sick. 
• Manage your stress level, stress causes a host of problems and weight gain is just one of the symptoms of a stressful lifestyle.  
• Practice meditation; meditation is good for your overall health.  Once you have established a regimen of meditation practices you will most certainly notice the difference.  Do everything in moderation; developing healthy habits take time, therefore, take a balanced approach.  
• Don’t beat yourself up if you fall back into old habits, just start over right then and there.  Reassess your goals, examine how you are feeling, and move forward.  “Adrienne Vanterpool”

The Strength to be Honest

Developing the strength you need to be honest with yourself will change your life.

Be open to Honesty

When is the last time you lied to yourself?  Think hard and long before answering this question.  Most people when asked responded that they very seldom lie to themselves.  But is that true?  What does lying to one’s self really involve?  These among other very perplexing and difficult to answer questions come up often.  I recall smiling through a discussion that I would have rather not had, yet I sat there with this imitation smile pretending to be interested even concerned.  When the truth of the matter was I had something more pressing on my mind and didn’t have to heart to tell the person that I really didn’t want to hear what they were talking about.  Is that a method of lying?  Of course, it is.  Did it cause harm to the individual?  No, people have a right to change their minds and it has absolutely nothing to do with anything or anyone outside of ourselves.   However, we must develop the courage to get honest about what’s actually taking place with us.  You may have promised a friend a listening ear.  However, when your circumstances change and you’re no longer able or willing, get honest.  People and their needs change.  There's absolutely nothing wrong with having the ability to change and be honest with you first, especially if the need arises. 

Strength Journal 

That is just one scenario, there are countless others that may require an amazing amount of courage, strength, and determination, however, there’s no turning back if we want to get better.  Surprisingly our family and friends will develop the strength to get honest as time goes on.  It is beneficial for all involved to strengthen our capacity of being honest.  Someone said, “If you don’t develop the strength to get honest, you will become brutally honest when circumstances get out of control.”  Honesty isn’t easy and takes an enormous amount of courage, however, once you start practicing honesty it will become our standard for living, the difficulty will be a thing of the past.   “Adrienne Vanterpool”

Maurice Montgomery: Rising Star

Hydration

There are many reasons for reaching and sustaining healthy hydration.

The benefits of being properly hydrated are far-reaching.  Many people are unaware of being dehydrated on most days.   Selecting to drink sugary soft drinks as a form of hydration is one of the worse things we can do for our health.  There are no real benefits in drinking Gatorade, Vitamin Water or any of the other so-called boosts your hydration products.   It’s actually detrimental for your health and much more harmful than you can imagine.  

Proper hydration does wonders for the body when done in the right manner particularly the effects water has on supporting weight loss.  Yes, you got it water is the most favorable drink on the market for appropriate hydration.  There are no side effects and the benefits are astronomical.  First recognize that our bodies are 70 percent water, which means the other 30 percent are organs, tissues, and bones.  The food we consume is converted into nutrients that nourish our total body.  What we do not use is stored or removed from the body as waste.  

Water aids in our ability to wash/cleanse the waste products left behind after foods have been digested.   Not all fluids are the same nor do they have the same cleansing effect as water in the body.  Because we are 70 percent water that percentage must be constantly replenished regularly.  Drinking soft drinks and other sugary substances are not treated as water and do not have the same hydrating effect.  You become dehydrated even though your body is retaining fluid.  This build of unwanted liquid in the body is toxic and harmful to every organ.  Our body begins to struggle to try desperately to absorb water from everything we ingest.  Is it any wonder that you’re putting on weight?  

It is suggested that we drink at least half our body’s weight in ounces of water daily.  This does not include other drinks.   Help yourself to other drinks as long as you have accomplished the desired goal of drinking half your body weight in water.  Truthfully once you have done so you will not be thirsty or hungry for that matter.  Often times we are consuming food unaware that what our body really needs and wants is water.  I found a very interesting article that will help you better understand the process our bodies go through in relation to water and its many benefits.  “Adrienne Vanterpool”

Click to read the article:

The Shocking Reality of Death

Unpleasant as it feels death is a reality

While it generally comes as a surprise to us, it shouldn’t.  We are all going to die.  Some of us will die sooner than later, it’s just a fact of life, what counts is how we are living our day to day lives.   We each have a specific purpose in God’s great creation.  Our life is a celebration of God’s greatness.  Just waking up this morning is positive proof that God is in control.  No amount of wealth can ensure you’ll see another day.  It’s only through His grace and mercy that we live a celebratory life. Each time our eyes open, each time our lungs consume another breath, each time we feel pain, joy, happiness, sorrow, love, peace – you got it.  There is cause to celebrate; the person that does not have died.  We often forget or simply do not understand that when this life is over we will give an account to our creator.  What we have done with our gifts, time and talent each deed will be accounted for.  I was shocked to hear of the passing of someone many of us know, love and respect.  RIP brother, you will be missed especially by those who knew you best.  Grief One Day at a Time: Meditation

Life is an incredible gift.  What we do with this gift is up to us.  Let us not take it for granted, we may not see tomorrow.  A songwriter once wrote a song, “Live like you’re dying”.  True fact – you are.  When does the fact that life is a gift become a reality – after death?  Don’t let this gift slip away without acknowledging the beauty and pleasure that has unfolded in your life.  Recognize God’s bountiful mercy and unlimited grace.  Strive to understand your God-given purpose, walk in your celebratory truth giving praise to God each day you live.  Share your heart, mind, and love of life in some meaningful way with everyone you encounter – start today.  “Adrienne Vanterpool” 

Morning Meditation

Begin Your Day with Prayer, Praise and Worship  

Prayer is talking to God.  Bring all your trouble to God, tell Him all about it.  Phrases I've frequently heard over the years.  Talking to God is often used as a means of complaining about our situation.  Let's try something a little different this morning.  Begin your conversation by acknowledging His many gifts, each strong and present in your life right now.  This is where praise comes in, you can't help but praise God after realizing you woke up this morning not on your own accord but by His grace and mercy.  Your eyes opened to behold another day.  You took a deep breath, eased out of bed, walked to the kitchen, sat in your favorite chair.  What wonders to behold.  You are alive, seeing this new day in the comfort of your home, filled with your stuff or somebody else's stuff, it really doesn't matter you are here experiencing each and every moment by His grace and mercy.  Allow your tears to flow as you worship the Creator in spirit and in truth.  You are the recipient of gifts only He could provide.  He alone is the bestower of life don't take it for granted.  Allow your gratitude to blossom you'll be amazed at what God does in your life.  It can't get any better than another day with new possibilities for growth in every dimensions.  Be blessed. "Adrienne Vanterpool" 

Choose Meditation Over Distraction

Meditation vs Distraction

Distractions lead to the
destruction of life

Meditation will ease
trouble mind

Moving through life distracted and never really taking a moment to think about the consequences of poor lifestyle decisions, character defeats and other diseased thinking often cause many to miss out on living a more fulfilling life.  You’ve heard the saying, “we miss the forest for the trees.”  Trees of opposition, ignorance, intolerance, fear, and all the other stuff that causes distraction will lead us astray.  There’s a much bigger picture and time is running out. Take some much needed time to meditate; allow God to open your mind to new possibilities and take you to new heights. It’s a matter of surrender. Sounds easy, well it isn’t. Surrender is never easy to come by and is often achieved after a strenuous battle with selfishness and self-will.  It can, however, be accomplished through constant unfailing prayer and meditation. Before beginning each day, take a few moments to cultivate the gift of gratitude.  Be encouraged and grateful to God despite any pain that may be coursing through your body; disappointment in others; bills that need your immediate attention – paid or not; dismiss it all – good and bad.  Focus your attention on being grateful you are alive.  Slow your mind, take several deep cleansing breaths and relax.  Your day is just getting started.  How would you like it to begin?  Remember you are in charge; you can begin with praise and gratitude or those same old weary complaints.  It’s entirely up to you.  Don’t allow the distractions of life to pull you off course.  God’s plan for you is much bigger than you can imagine. Meditation helps settle your mind preventing those distracted moments of unproductive thinking and unpredictable actions which cause greater harm than good.  “Adrienne Vanterpool”

Love Is A Privilege - Don't Take It For Granted

We Love, We Care, We Take For  Granted...

Do you take loved ones, family members, and friends for granted in hope that they will always be with you?  We sometimes feel that we can make up for lost time.  However, those things we didn't do or say may never get done.  As much as we would love to have them in our lives forever, we know there will come a time when we all will answer destiny’s call.  That call will not be put off, canceled or forgotten like so many of our other missed appointments; that call will be answered – ready or not.  I encourage you to enjoy the privilege of love and the ability to share and care for others while it is still today.  It’s really not all that difficult.  Learn to accept people for who

and what they are.  Show your love by the things you do, it's not just something to say.  Learn the art of forgiveness while understanding those whom you have forgiven may soon hurt you again; allow their love and yours to grow in spite of the fear.  None of us perfectly practice the principles of love in our lives.  We are, however, perfectly human every day; and in being so, we understand that there is a growing curve we must master in order to get through to the other side of self.  If we see in others what we see in ourselves; that we are just as fallible as they; our acceptance will strengthen and grow.  Find it hard to forgive, try.  Find it hard to show love, try.  Try, try and try again and again to be the best person you can be.  Our families, friends and loved ones will feel our effort and we will not be taken for granted.  Do all that you can while considering how you want to be treated.  "Adrienne Vanterpool"

Rainy Day Blues

Ever wake of up feeling like you’ve got the rainy day blues? 

Have you considered that rain comes to bring life and in each life, some rain must fall?  Just as rain cleanses the earth, spiritual waters that stream from heaven cleanses the soul.  We are nourishes, washed and made whole.  Consequently, the washing away of unwanted toxic developmental patterns can do nothing but good, however, it doesn’t feel good.  In order to feel joy, you must first know, feel and understand pain.  In order to recognize undesirable behavior traits, you must experience the end result of that annoying characteristic.  A storm is brewing and you better get ready, somethings are about to surface that needs washing away.  Some have the tendency of going through life feeling entitled to cause harm.  Remember the check is in the mail.  What goes around comes around and those rainy day blues has just begun.  The approaching blizzard that is coming will cleanse your heart, mind, and soul; help you recognize self-defeating learned behaviors and show you just how much harm you’ve caused, in addition to others.   Yes, you've harmed yourself most of all.  Are the windows of your soul foggy?   Can you feel the life-giving rainwaters crashing against your heart while flowing briskly through your mind?  Those droplets of healing cleansing water pass through with fervent and fierce momentum offering restoration to all who surrender.  “Adrienne Vanterpool”

Living Life with no Regrets

Regrets:

I have no regrets about the things I did not accomplish yesterday while the opportunity still lies in today.   Living life with no regrets is often just as frightening as it is empowering.   How does one live with absolutely no regrets?  It’s not as difficult as you may think it all begins with praise and submission, which means surrender.   Surrender your will and life over to the care of God.  In all things give thanks, God’s got your back, His store is bursting over, all phrases we heard for many years.  Some we’ve grabbed a firm hold of while others we just dismiss.   Well, it’s time to get a grip, hold on with all the strength you can muster and don’t let go. Consider that all things come from God, wealth, abundance, sickness, pain, joy, hope.  You got the picture.  It’s all yours for the asking just have faith.  Think before you ask, everything is not worth having and somethings you will want to give back.  Take considerable time when praying and asking for what you want.  First figure out is it really what you want. Understand this too, your life has been fueled with doubt and fear.  How many times have you hesitated to ask feeling unworthy?  It is God’s good pleasure to bless us.  Now we all know God isn’t going to bless on the mess, be careful. He blesses in abundance those who walk upright before Him.  That doesn’t mean that you are perfect or have never sinned or will never sin again. It means you are doing your best to be the best person you know how to be and that you are willing to learn to be even better day by day.  It’s about the journey and the process of growth along the way.  "Adrienne Vanterpool"

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