Weight loss is a universal problem faced by many around the world. People go to great lengths choosing from myriad diet plans and exercise regimes in order to shed fat and stay trim.

Interestingly, specific parts of our brain have been identified by scientists including the RAS or Reticular Activating System that help to a great extent in bringing our attention in a conscious manner to specific important goals. This is done by working with visual areas of our brain and anything unimportant is filtered out retaining only goals that have to be focused upon.

Based on this theory, it is possible to actually program our sub-conscious minds in thinking positively about weight loss for excellent results. Positive thinking and goal setting in fact are accepted as powerful scientific methods by which change can be brought about.

The trick is to create a thought pattern using visualization techniques. For instance, you can remain positive and motivated with your weight loss efforts by visualizing yourself after you have reached your goal.

Start the process of positive mental reprogramming by writing down your goals. Go through the visualization process in a relaxed and comfortable frame of mind every day. By repeating these methods and thinking positively about weight loss in a consistent manner, it is possible to get back to shape and retain it.

1. Consume at least 5 servings of fresh fruits
Fresh fruits and vegetables are loaded with essential vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which help you stay healthy and maintain weight. If you eat lots of fruits, you feel fuller and tend to consume less food and keep your calorie count low.

2. Avoid skipping meals
Never go hungry in your attempt to lose weight. Rather, you should eat small meals frequently so that you can balance your calorie intake and control your blood sugar too. Start having 5-6 mini meals in place of 3 huge-sized meals.

3. Opt for wholesome foodsPackaged foods, though offer lots of convenience, but they contain unwanted calories. They have high sodium and fat content, and contain lesser nutrients as compared to fresh foods. If you start carrying home-made food to your workplace, you will find it easier to lose weight.

4. Treat yourself for your small victories
Who doesn’t like occasional feasts? You too can celebrate your weight loss success by indulging in your favorite icecream or pastry once in a while. Won’t that make it worthwhile and rewarding to lose weight?

5. Read food labels carefully
While shopping for your grocery, remember to read the labels to check the authenticity of the nutrition label. A product, which claims to be low in sugar or carbohydrates need not be low in fat or calories, so be careful!

In the end, remember, it is important to lead an active life, so find some time to indulge in your favorite sport or activity. This will also help you manage your weight.

Cooking methods to cut calories
Steaming: When you steam your food, you do not need to use oil, as you cook the food by surrounding it with steam. The steam cooks the food, and there is no fat in steamed foods. Therefore, resulting in less calorie intake, and more weight loss.

Boiling: Boiling is a simple technique, though it is a bit inferior to steaming, as boiling drains away quite a lot of nutrients from the food, whereas steaming preserves them.

Roasting: You can roast your food with the help of a hot air oven. Roasting will not only cut on calorie intake, but also make your food more delicious. You can use roasting to cook potatoes, chicken, tomatoes, cereals etc.

Sautéing: This process makes use of fat, but only in very small amount. Generally vegetables are cooked this way. Commonly, capsicum, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, noodles, and finely sliced meats are sautéed.

Stewing: In stewing, you cook in a closed pan, so that the steam helps to tenderize the food. It also uses fat, but in minimal amounts, thus reducing the calorie intake.

These are some of the famous techniques of cooking to cut back on those calories. Some of the other techniques that you can use for weight loss are grilling, poaching, braising, and marinating. You can use any of these techniques according to your taste.

Staying healthy and fit needs slow changes in terms of food and exercises. Crash diets and aggressive exercises are not healthy and initially, you may find weight loss but once you stop with crash diet or aggressive exercising your body tend to regain the lost weight. You should lose excess weight in your body in a healthy way without affecting your normal health conditions. Dieting is essential but at the same time you should not starve in the name of dieting. The body needs food for energy and any excess energy generated by the food is stored as fat. So by eating right quantity of balanced diet at the right time helps you in staying healthy. Have a check on the amount of calorie you take everyday and at the same time increase the level of activities you do everyday.

Self-control plays a major role in health and fitness. It is not enough if you eat a balanced diet and do routine exercises. You should be free form diseases. Human body is prone to many varieties of diseases; so proper functioning of all systems ensures healthy life. You should give attention to the needs of your body. Take good care of the body, which is regularly exposed to many stresses in day-to-day life. Staying healthy and having a fit body helps you prolong your life too. Healthy and fit body is the secret behind happy and stress free life. It gives you positive attitude about things and makes you move away from negativity in life.

Workout is one of the healthiest ways to lose weight. Physical fitness is vital to stay healthy. Normal human body needs 30 minutes of exercise everyday. Exercise helps you to get rid of stress and tension. Everyday exercise like cycling, walking, jogging, dancing, and swimming help you to maintain good health and fight against stress and depression. Everyday diet should have all the essential ingredients in a balanced way to stay healthy. Having lots of fresh fruits and vegetables is good for your body as they are the natural suppliers of vitamin, carbohydrates, protein, and fiber.

Weightlifting done routinely will result in bigger muscles and this is one of the main reasons why women tend to think of doing it. The women believe that the brawn is a feature of the men folk. Beyond this reasoning, it is also thought that such routine is meant for building the body to participate in competition. However, for those who had been doing such exercise on a regular basis and not joined any competition, has resulted in good health and strength. These are two main reasons for which an individual does such exercises.

By lifting weights one will be able to reduce fats. The cardio workout will also have the same effect but complementing with light weight lifting will not have a chance of regaining weight. By working out with dumbbells and barbells, it will hasten the metabolism of the individual. This will enable a woman to replace the flab with muscles and will make it appear toned instead of looking skinny. Women must prefer light weight lifting along with cardio to build stronger bones and avoid osteoporosis. The women can strengthen their bone structure by taking calcium or food supplement or by drinking sufficient milk. Medical research has shown than in few months, it will heighten the density of spinal bone significantly.

If a woman does this routine it can reinforce the muscles and also lessen the chances of injuries. Even when the women grow old, they will be able to maintain a stronger body. It also relieves stress due to work or personal matters and will enhance their energy levels. Women, who have been doing such exercises on a regular basis, feel rejuvenated after their workout. It has also been found that women doing weight lifting are more confident and feel more stable. It will also give the women more positive outlook and make them fight depression than those who do not do the workout.

• Endurance exercise:
When you age, you may lose your aerobic fitness. Engaging in some endurance activities like running, biking, brisk walking for at least thirty minutes a day can be really helpful to overcome this difficulty.

• Stretching:
Some useful stretching exercises for seniors include yoga and Pilates. Stretching improves the flexibility of muscles and reduces the risk of injury. You can try stretching in the morning, so that your body can get ready for other activities.

• Strength training:
Strength training exercise for seniors, including weight lifting, hiking, running etc can be effective in decreasing bodyweight and reducing blood pressure. It also increases the metabolic rate and keeps your energy level high.

• Balance exercise:
You can use a balance ball for doing some core exercises. These exercises can help you to stay independently and to avoid the disabilities that would result from falling.

• Meditation:
You can reduce the stress and frustrations with Yoga and other meditation techniques. This can surely help to enhance the quality of your life.

If you are new to exercising, it is worth to create a systematic plan to
improve your stamina and stability. You need to remember too much exercising is as harmful as lack of exercising. You can allot a special time to do some workouts daily. You can go through the online resources to get to know about useful exercises for seniors. If you feel muscle soreness or muscular pain, you need to take some steps to get rid of aches first. You can use ice therapy to reduce the pain and then get ready for the next day workout. You need to drink more water. Dehydration is a serious problem for seniors and you need to avoid it.

1) Start your day with a power question
Stop leading a mechanical life. Rather, start your day with a creative yet powerful thought. Spend at least 10-15 minutes with yourself before starting your day. Ask yourself a power question everyday, such as:

• What is the happiest aspect in my life?
• What is the most exciting thing in my life?

When you answer these questions, you will find yourself in the right frame of mind. Your mood will suddenly improve and you will be ready to embrace the new day with a new hope.

2. Have lunch at a different place
Change routine and enjoy your meal at a different place. How about having lunch at a nearby park or at a new restaurant? Even if you do it for 2 times a week, you will notice a difference in your attitude and thinking.

3) Praise yourself often!
If you achieve a difficult goal or perform a tedious task, you must learn to appreciate your efforts! Praise and pat yourself on the back for all your good deeds. This will help you change your perspective and relieve you from unnecessary stress.

4) Develop the habit of reading
Reading is a fruitful habit that not only helps you educate yourself, but also ensures personal and professional growth. In fact, it is a great way to relieve stress. Wondering how to find time for reading? Well, you can read during lunch time, in the evening, or just before going to bed. Get all your favorite books from book shop and read them one by one.

5) Smile often
Whenever you meet a new person, smile! Try to smile even during tough situations! Smile helps you feel good about yourself and reflects the ease of your nature. If you smile more, people will find it easier to interact with you and confide in you.

Lastly, think positive and keep yourself as busy as possible. Find time to meet new people, develop friendships, maintaining old friendships and practicing your hobbies. Soon, you will emerge as a changed personality, who is blessed with pure hope, health and peaceful life!

A home gym can help to save lot of time as well. You need not wait for the bench or the squat rack or in the shower. You can even save on the time that you need to spend to drive to and fro the gym. Naturally, you may feel comfortable at your home gym because you can focus your time on doing better workouts. If you are too busy and do not find time to keep yourself fit, home gym is the most practical way to do some workouts at your convenient timings.

In the commercial gym, you need to share the equipment with other people. Some people are rude and difficult to handle. They use the equipment, as if it was their own and someone is always required to clean up the mess created by them. This is the most common reason why many people prefer a home gym to a public gym.

If you want to set up your home gym, you can select the equipment as per your requirement and level of endurance. If you find that a weight bench is more suitable for you, you can invest on that alone. Once you gain enough experience in workouts, you can buy new equipment. If you do not want to use any type of equipment, you can always sell it.

Performing workouts in the home gym with your family members can help you have more fun. It is then easy to make your children do some workout regularly. In the home gym, you can do what you want to do, without worrying about other people trying to talk to you or playing bad music. You can enjoy privacy in the home gym. You can wear what you want.

Muscle is important for a lean and healthy body. It can also help you to burn fat, even when you are asleep. Calorie is the basic unit of energy and you can burn calories while walking, playing, working or even digesting food rich in fiber. Digestion burns up to 10% of calories. Muscles are also important to burn more calories.

Taking protein shakes and slabs of meat is one of the ways to build muscles. However, this would increase your body weight too. Nevertheless, there are some other muscle building ways. If you are an average dieter, you can take sufficient amounts of protein and do weight lifting two or three times a week. This can help you to build muscles. In addition, you need some aerobic exercises to build muscles efficiently and to lose weight. You can take fresh vegetables that have rich fiber content. You can also consume lots of whole grain foods such as oats, pasta, and breads.

You can do cardio few times a week after your muscle building exercises. This can help to burn fat. You need solid nutrition to build muscle. You need to choose the diet that contains all the essential nutrients. You can take meat, poultry, fish, and eggs. Consume fruits with every meal. Drink plenty of water everyday. This can help lose weight and build muscles at the same time.

You need to determine the amount of protein needed by your body. You can use the basic formula to find out the protein amount. Weight (in pounds) divided by 2.2 is equal to weight in kilograms. Weight in kilograms multiplied by 0.8 and subtracted by 1.8 gram per kg is equal to the protein. You need to keep this formula in mind, while selecting the foods rich in protein.

I have listed 5 top foods that help you control your weight gain:

1. Eggs – Eggs provide a good amount of protein, and are lean too. Eating eggs helps you control hunger pangs, so including eggs is a must-to-have food if you want to lose weight.

2. Olive Oil – Olive oil contains fat, but our body needs this fat to run certain body functions. Moreover, fat cannot be completely removed from your diet. Olive oil contains lots of antioxidants, which help you develop immunity against various diseases and control aging.

3. Grapefruit – Eat grapefruit to lose fat from your belly fat. This is because grapefruit contains good amount of fiber and Vitamin C, which helps you feel full as well as energetic.

4. Salmon – Salmon provides you Omega – 3 essential fatty acids and plenty of proteins. If you want to tone up your muscles, Salmon is an excellent food.

5. Tomatoes – Tomatoes contain Vitamins C and Vitamin A. They also contain iron, potassium, and lots of antioxidants. Many studies indicate
that eating tomatoes reduces the risk of developing certain types of cancers. Therefore, include this super-food in your diet to gain essential health benefits.

By adding these top 5 foods in your daily diet, you will feel and look much younger and healthier. Apart from helping you in weight loss, these foods also provide you the required nutrition.