Positive Health Steps

I bumped into a young lad I know who looked incredible since the last time I saw him. He has lost over 20 kilos and has gone from a 5x shirt size down to a normal large. Fantastic.

Naturally enough he was very proud of his achievement and I invited him to make his own blog here with us, to share his thoughts and tell otheres how he achieved this remarkable result.

He said he would think about it and get back to me, he does run his own nusic website, plays guitar in a band and studies, so is a little pushed for time. He stated that there was no real secret behind his weight loss. He simply put less food into his belly, did not snack out after dinner and stopped eating junk food. No fizzy soda drinks unless it was the no sugar diet variety and tried to get a bit of exercise everyday..

One other recommendation he made was as soon as you feel full, stop eating. Doesn't matter how much is left on the plate, stop and leave it as soon as your belly is satisfied.

Now if a 17 year old lad can do it, you should be able to lose weight also. Let's hope he takes up the offer to make a blog on this site. We could learn a lot from a positive lad such as he is.

Another new week comes around and again I stepped on the scales to positive news. Lost a full kilo or 2.2 pounds, wow that's gratifying.

During the week I didn't go and exercise more or anything like that, just watched those calories that I consumed and made sure there was no blow-out. It seems quite easy now after a month of eating sensibly to continue down the same path. And I haven't even felt like getting stuck into junk food at all.

I am now looking forward to getting under the 90 kilograms mark during this coming month of August. I have made a goal to be 89 point something kilos on the 1st of October. I know I can do it so join me on my weekly weigh in day to watch the progress.

I love walking around the Goose Ponds area, both for exercise and to take photos of the geese, ducks and lake. It's an absolutely beautiful area but have found it certainly is not user friendly. If you go to the park near dusk you are eaten alive by mosquitoes and at other times by sand flies.

I tried walking faster in the hope that the biting bugs might not be as quick as I am, but alas that didn't quite work for me. I bought a can of aerosol spray but that seemed to keep the mossies away but not the sand flies and they bite worse that the mossies.

So I went online and found a few natural remedies to combat mosquito bites and have put up a page about natural remedies to cure mossie bites. Hope they help others as some certainly have worked for me.

We continue to eat healthy and tonight had a delicious dinner of Honey Chicken Kebabs and steamed vegetables with home made garlic and chives finishing sauce. It was only 450 calories all up and really filling. Keeping calories down is great and is now so easy to do being in the 4th week of our weight loss program. I am perfectly on track to reach my goals and have actually set a mini goal of being under 90 kilos by the 1st of October. Thats 2.5 kilos to lose in the next 3 weeks so I know I can reach that goal.

Funny how steamed vegetables taste so good where once I would shudder at the thought of eating them. Most of it was in my mind. What's in yours? Do you like steamed veggies?

On my walk this morning I noticed many young people doing what some of us need to do. These young people don't seem to need to exercise to lose weight, they just seem to be out enjoying the morning sun and being active.

Perhaps they walk for fitness reasons or to make sure they maintain good weight figures, whatever reason it was great to see them out and about, enjoying one anothers company and having a good time.

And it is great to go exercising with somebody else. My usual walking partner didn't make it today as she hurt her knee last week and slightly twisted it again yeasterday. I certainly missed the company and the banter we usually keep up during our walk.

Yet you can enjoy exercising by yourself by noticing things you usually walk past without noticing. Perhaps because we talk so much we miss the finer things such as how much others seem to enjoy their walks. Not only that, little things like the striking colors of flowers, how the wind was blowing in the trees and the sun reflecting off windows, all were striking this morning.

There is certainly more to walking than putting one foot in front of the other.

Are you one of those people who reach for a coffee or "Coke" when you feel thirsty? If you are, you are doing yourself more harm than good and missing something natural and good for you.

The benefits of drinking water are huge, especially if you are overweight. The human body is actually made up of roughly 70% water and we need that water to maintain our blood health, which is amazingly 83% water.

Drinking plenty of water will thin the blood naturally. Thick blood makes the heart work harder so you are more prone to heart attack and stroke. Now there is a benefit in itself and perhaps the main reason to drink more water and less coffee and coke.

But if you really want to lose weight then drinking water has to be high on your must do list. Let's face it, drinking coffe or sugar laden soft drinks just put calories into your body and water contains no calories or other health harming ingredients. Most of the time when we feel hungry, we are actually thirsty, so taking a drink of water usually makes you feel less hungry so you are not inclined to eat.

If you think you need a caffiene boost to stay awake or alert, you are actually dehydrated and your body is crying out for water. Studies have shown that drinking water at these times instead of the caffiene fix will boost your energy levels and make your brain clear. Understandable when you realize your brain is 75% water to start with, so if the level drops it needs replacing to work efficiently.

The benefits of drinking water are immense. It is a natural fluid that most of us can get from turning on a tap. It costs virtually nothing and is essential to life.

Just drink more water for a month instead of the tea, coffe and soda drinks. You will soon know how good it is after that and will always drink plenty from there on in.

Another weigh in day and I only lost .2 of a kilo for the week. Certainly not my best result, but after losing a full kilo last week I suppose it is an acceptable amount. On the positive side, it is still a weight loss, not a gain, so I am still moving in the right direction.

To be totally honest, I didn't exercise as much this last week as I have previously. It rained on my usual golf days, so that didn't occur, and my walks were fewer also. Plus I did go out for dinner twice and a breakfast meeting once where I didn't count calories. What this does prove though is by eating sensibly for most of the time, weight loss is still possible.

Well this week I will be back on track, the weather has cleared and there are no social gatherings on this weeks calendar. Looking forward to the next weigh in day.

Todays Weight = 92.3 kilos or 203.06 pounds
Starting weight was 97.2 kilos
Total weight loss to date = 4.9 kilos or 10.78 pounds

After the initial shock that your body gets from you starting to exercise, (just kidding) you can really start to enjoy the surroundings and the beauty of the area.

It doesn't matter if you are walking around a heavily populated neighborhood or in open space parks and gardens, there is always something different going on that can take your eye.

Where I walk most of the time is along the edge of the ocean and towards a marina. This is the path to the right when I begin the walk. Yes, I feel so lucky to live in such a beautiful area, but sometimes I just walk around the local neighborhood to save the short drive to the coast. The main thing I keep in mind is that I get to walk for at least 30 minutes to do my heart good.

But after awhile, going for a walk in the morning or afternoon doesn't seem such a slog, it becomes enjoyable. Who would ever think that exercise could actually become enjoyable. I pass others doing the same thing and they smile and say hello. Some are walking their dogs, some are with friends or partners and others are alone just enjoying the time in the open air.

All of them have a smile on their faces. They are not only doing their bodies good, they are creating positive healthy minds, and when you do that life becomes so much lovelier.

Yesterday I took my camera along with me and just grabbed a few shots of the area I thought you may like to see. I actually looked a bit closer at a bird and saw something that wasn't that great, poor seagull had a fish hook in it's mouth and it looked to be suffering quite a bit.

Sometimes some things you see when exercising are not all that beautiful, yet it is interesting and a part of everday life, which is such a grand thing to be involved with. Life, be part of it. Get outside and start really living.

I previously mentioned that turning you hobby into exercise would reap results and for me that certainly came true. I was out walking last evening and there was a whale going past the Marina breakwater. Yes, I had my camera with me and got a shot.

The whale was a fair way out and my camera hasn't a large zoom lens so it's not a shot with great detail. After a little zooming in with photoshop, you can see the splash of the whales tail. With the naked eye we could just see the blow as the whale surfaced and a splash, so to get that tail image with a bit of software manipulation was a good result.

Now this sighting of the whale is a particular thrill for me as I actually took a trip south a month or so ago to go whale watching. To have a whale in your backyard so to speak, is very special and I went home after my walk very boyant about the experience.

And right there is the benefit of getting out and being active. You may not see a whale like I did, it may be a child smiling or a bird flying past that will give you a great feeling of satisfaction, but there will be something if we choose to look.

The only things we will see from the couch is the rubbish on television, not the real beauty where we live. Getting out and walking will refresh both your mind and your body. Life is so good you can't afford to waste a moment of it.

I am really getting into the swing of making your hobby into exercise. This morning I awoke early and went to the beach for a photo shoot.

Now before you go and say that going to the beach to take photos is not exercise, try lugging camera bags and tripod along a soft stretch of sand and you will see that it certainly is good exercise. Just being out of bed early and doing something is better than nothing at all.

So there we were this morning down the beach just before the sun came up and ready for the greatest show on earth. There is nothing like the crisp colours of the morning sun and mother nature really put on a show for us this morning.

We got some magnificent shots and as we were packing up we heard an incredible sound on the water. A pod of Humpback whales were going past and tail slapping, then one breached out of the water and it was an amazing sight. Unfortunately I didn't have my zoom lens on the camera and almost panicked when I realized that it was in the car. Yes I got back to the car quickly. Now that's exercise.

Unfortunately by the time I had got the zoom lens, the whales had moved out to sea a little too far for my camera's range. I will have to get a larger lens and be more prepared in future.

You just never know what you will see when you go exercising early in the morning.

I am really looking forward to the next weigh in day as I feel like I have lost a fair bit of weight since last week. I have to pull the belt in another notch to stop my pants from falling down and the pants are looking baggy around my bottom.

Counting calories is really an easy way to lose weight. I really haven't done much different than normal except keep a check on how many calories I have consumed. With a bit of forward planning, thinking about what I eat in advance, it is quite simple to stick to the 1500 calories per day limit that I have set.

Exercise has still been moderate. I am really enjoying making my hobby of photography into an exercise routine and getting great shots while moving the body. You can view some of the photographs here on Flickr. Hopefully the cholesterol levels will benefit from the change in diet and extra exercise also.

The next blog post will be weigh in day tomorrow so I have the fingers crossed for a good result. It's been a great week for me. I have seen whales, the photos are improving in quality and I reckon I have lost a fair bit of weight.

How have you been going?

Another weigh in day rolls around and I was a little disappointed with the result today. I weighed in at 91.0 kilos but felt I had lost more than that. My pants seem very loose and the belt has to be tightened at least a full notch from last week, but it is a loss of 1.3 kilos and a great result nevertheless.

This is a really positive result in the right direction and I am still on track to meet the mini goal of being below 90 kilos by October 1.

Overall since August 9, 2007, I have shed 6.2 kilograms or 11.44 lbs. Pretty good weight loss results for a 5 week period. Let's just recap on what changes I have made to lose those kilos.

Keep calories consumed to around 1500 or under per day.
Do moderate exercise 2 to 3 times per week of at least 30 minutes duration.
Made a hobby of photography that takes me out and about for 2 or 3 photo shoots per week.

Those changes to my lifestyle can't be called drastic changes. What it does do is highlight the need to eat sensibly, stay on track and stick with your resolve to lose weight. Just small changes can bring about a weight loss and over time the weight that comes off becomes very satisfying figures, both in terms of the weight lost and the benefit of a good looking body.

My belly doesn't look like a basketball anymore. It's still like a big pot belly but has lost that blown up bloated look. My clothes are getting loose and I feel so much better and can do things like tying up my shoe laces, washing my feet in the shower and getting up off the ground so much easier already.

I am really excited to think what I will feel like in 6 months from now. I hope you are excited also about your progress on the road to a slimmer, fitter, better looking you.

Eating healthy and losing weight doesn't mean you have to eat food you don't enjoy. In fact it can be a totally enjoyable experience and something to fully share with your friends and family.

Being on a health kick, I have researched foods that are low in calories and high on the goodness scale, so yesterday I decided to give my gorgeous partner the day off from the kitchen and made the evening meal.

Being an entirely new recipe that I invented in my head on the spur of the moment, I did have a little apprehension if it would taste good, but really it was a no brainer, except for the salad dressing. I really didn't know how that would turn out but decided to give it a go anyway.

I called my recipe Healthy Heart Salmon Salad and got to work putting it together. Yeah, I know ladies, you really have to work very hard to spoil a salad so I was taking the easy way out, but I was proud of working out how to make the salad dressing, just hope it actually tastes good.

My biggest consideration when dreaming up this recipe was to keep calories low while trying to add Omega 3 into my diet to combat the high cholesterol problem. Salmon fits the bill perfectly and I enjoy the taste very much. Also using the canned variety made my job so much easier. Total calories are only around 250 per serve. You can see the Healthy Heart Salmon Salad recipe here!

My wife sat down and asked me where I got the recipe for the salad dressing and I kind of think she was expecting it to be a little strange. I was quite relieved when she gave it a taste and put the thumbs up. I asked her later if I should make it again one day and she enthusiastically said I should.

I wonder if it really tasted good or she just wants to get out of cooking?

Anyway, after the success of the Healthy Heart Salmon Salad I have dreamed up some more recipes I will try over the coming weeks. Now I won't do the cooking everynight because I don't want to spoil my partner, but will do one or two a week just so I can have something delicious to eat.

Hmmmm I hope my wife doesn't read this blog, I could be in trouble. :)

Yesterday was a busy yet very rewarding day. So many positives come from keeping busy and so much enjoyment can come from those positives.

Some might consider how my day started as something negative. I had to go for a blood test to check those high cholesterol levels. I find this a real positive as I know where the main danger is to my continuing health. We all know that high cholesterol is the major contributor to heart attacks and strokes, so yes it's a positive to know the danger.

After the blood test, where I will get the results in about a week, I purchased a polarizing filter for my camera and on the way home stopped at a local beach to check if the area would have some good scenes for taking images of a sunrise. It is marvelous what happens when you haven't got your camera with you. While there a group of black cockatoos were feeding on the ground, which is quite rare, but we quickly drove home grabbed the cameras and got some great shots of these beautiful Australian native birds.

Back home I hit the office and did some work for a few hours before my evening exercise. I chose a beach side area about a 10 minute drive from home to take a walk and of course took the cameras to film the sunset. Wow we really got something special from nature and there’s is an image I captured below for you to see.

I had a nice dinner planned with my wife, so on arrival home after cleaning up a little, I cooked the evening meal. Of course it was a low calorie meal to keep in sync with the continuing weight loss program but with a bit of spice to satisfy the raging taste buds.

I threw together a chicken cashew stir fry with sweet chilli soy sauce. Again my partner asked where I got the recipe from, all in the head I answered but didn't tell her that I originally planned a meal that would have seen the chicken braised in the wok and vegetables steamed. Ahhhh, the ease of changing track when you are busy.

All turned out well, the meal was really delicious even if I say so. Afterwards I spent a little time editing photos, uploading a few to Flickr and enjoying the stunning images. At the end of the day I felt I had achieved so much, enjoyed a full day and taken positive steps toward continuing the healthy lifestyle.

I am really starting to like Monday mornings. Monday is the day I step on the scales and see how I have fared with the weight loss for the week. There's something about doing it on a Monday morning as so many people don't like Mondays. Wonder if it is the thought of going back to work or perhaps it's being tired after an enjoyable weekend.

Okay, enough of the small talk, let's get down to what this blog is all about, did I lose weight this week by keeping those calories down around 1500 per day!

Yes, I have another loss of half a kilo or one pound. I am very satisfied with that result and am spot on target to reach my goal of being under 90 kilos by the first of October. Just a half kilo to lose this week and I know I can do that easily. Don't forget to check in this time next week to see if I actually hit my first goal or not. My overall goal is to be 75 kilos by the end of June next year.

Just to recap what I am doing to lose weight again:

Keep total calories consumed per day to around 1500 or less.
Eat at least 2 serves of fish per week for the benefit of Omega 3 fatty acids
Eat plenty of fresh green salads and steamed vegetables
Do not drink sugar filled drinks such as coca-cola
Do not eat biscuits, pastries, chocolate or potato chips

Starting Weight: 97.2 Kilograms - 213.8 lbs
Today’s Weight: 90.5 kilos - 199.10 lbs

Total weight lost 6.7 kilos - 14.74 lbs

Late last week I received high praise from my wife for what I have achieved so far. I was filling the car with petrol and caught her looking me up and down like she used to some 20 years ago. I mentioned that I had sprung her looking and she actually got embarrassed and admitted that, yes, she liked what she was seeing. Now that’s real motivation to continue with the weight loss program. If a few kilos off can turn her on, imagine what another 10 kilos off will do.

It's gets easier everyday to keep eating healthy food. Last night we had steamed chicken and fennel and it tasted delicious. We have never tried fennel before and it certainly has an unusual aromatic taste, yet we enjoyed it because of the fact it was unusual.

Having meals that are under 450 calories in total seems to fill the belly up without that bloated feeling. I certainly can't eat as much as I used to just 5 or 6 weeks ago and you get used to smaller meals very quickly. My clothes are getting baggy and today I tried on a pair of shorts that I haven't worn for a long time and they fit perfectly.

Now that in itself is a great achievement. To go down one clothes size is proof that healthy eating with moderate exercise not only works, it can be a lifestyle change that one can employ for all time. Many fad diets simply don't work because once a person tries to lead a normal life they put on all the weight they lost.

I have lost almost 7 kilos, or a stone, just by thinking about how many calories food that I will eat contains, before I eat it. We still go out for dinner once a week and have fish and chips once a week, but on those days, I make sure whatever else I eat is low in calories. For example when we have fish and chips for lunch, I have a piece of toast and tuna for breakfast and only salad for the evening dinner meal. This way I keep the total calories consumed under control, live a normal life, yet don't feel as if I have cheated my diet.

The end of this week I get the cholesterol results back and today I received all clear results of a bowel cancer test that I was part of, conducted by the government. Eating healthy is sensible and something very positive that you can do for yourself.

I mentioned a young fellow who had lost over 20 kilos a few weeks back and how he not only looks great, his whole outlook is glowing with a renewed self confidence. Well, he is continuing with his self made style of weight loss program and has lost another 5 kilos. Well done.

For him it's not so much as counting calories as I do, it is stopping eating as soon as his belly feels satisfied. Notice I didn't say he stopped when his belly was full, he stops eating as soon as his belly is satisfied, which is a little before the belly is full.

He said that sometimes he craves for those greasy chips or fries but allows himself one take-away meal a week to satisfy the cravings. The main thing that he sticks to is not over eating anytime, be it something he really likes to eat or something that he eats because it's good for him.

I think that losing 25 kilos, which is over 50 pounds on the imperial scale, is a darn great effort and shows us all that if we apply a few simple lifestyle changes, we can do it too.