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A Big List Of “Top 5″ Health Articles May 12, 2007

The Problogger “Top 5″ Group Writing Project is now over, with literally hundreds of entries submitted. It took a while, but I’ve gone through them all and pulled out all the ones relating to dieting, weight loss and fitness. Enjoy!

And, of course, my own entry:

How To Lose 20 lbs Of Fat In 30 Days May 1, 2007

Tim Ferriss has been popping up all over the place lately, mostly in relation to his new book The 4-Hour Workweek.

Of more interest to us here, though, he recently posted an article on How To Lose 20 lbs Of Fat In 30 Days.

His basic strategy is a “slow carb” diet with four simple rules:

  1. Avoid white carbohydrates (bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta)
  2. Eat the same few meals over and over again (concentrating on proteins, legumes and vegetables)
  3. Don’t drink calories (lots of water, no juice, milk, or soft drinks)
  4. Take one day off per week (keeps the metabolic rate up - my favourite rule!)

I’m going to try this out for the next month (doing one of my 30-day trials!). I probably won’t be too strict about it, since I have to fit in with other people’s eating habits, but I’ll stick to it as much as I can. I’ve found in the past that controlling my ‘default’ diet (i.e. what I typically eat day in, day out, when nothing special is happening) is the key to permanent weight loss.

I’ve already changed my lunch from a cheese sandwich to canned tuna and beans, which seems to fill me up better as well. I’ve cut milk from my coffee again, and am drinking heaps of water. When I am served white carbohydrates, I’m only eating half as much of them as I used to and loading up on the vegies.

I’ve been doing this for about 4 days now, and my daily weight measurements have dropped 1.5 kg in that time. Time will tell whether it’s a trend or a glitch!

Julie Bonner is also trying out this diet. Good luck, Julie!

Health And Fitness “How To” Articles September 26, 2006

Darren Rowse over at Problogger.net hosted a group writing project last week. He managed to get 343 people to write articles on the topic of “How To…”.

Quite a few of the articles were health and fitness related, so I’ve collected links to them below. Makes for some interesting reading!

Besides the interesting articles, the group writing project is also a great way to find out about other blogs on the topics you’re interested in. I spent way too much time surfing around just the sites listed above!

Blog: Working Toward Health May 16, 2006

I just discovered, through the Biggest Losers list at PhysicsDiet.com, a brand new blog by user quotidianlight - Working Toward Health.

She’s only been using PhysicsDiet.com for a couple of days, and the blog only has one post on it so far (One Fat Vegetarian), but it’s a great one. It sounds like quotidianlight has had the exact same self-realisation I had back in December - nothing is going to change unless I take charge.

She describes a pattern of steady weight gain over a period of time, with several false starts and failed ‘diet kicks’ that just never seemed to stick for more than a short time. I had a very similar experience, and never seemed to be able to fit exercise and proper eating into my normal routine. Then one day I just woke up and decided that enough was enough. I could make all the excuses in the world, but the fact was that I was unfit, overweight, and not enjoying life to the full. If I didn’t make a change, who would?

So I started walking in the mornings. It was only something small, but it was progress in the right direction. Walking beats doing nothing. Gradually over the next few months, I started making other small changes to my lifestyle - cutting sugar out of my coffee, cutting snacks and biscuits, eating smaller meals, making healthier food choices, taking my children for walks, and I even graduated from walking to jogging.

Each of these changes I made using the 30 day trial technique. Although I only committed to each for 30 days at a time, I made sure I was making changes that could be incorporated into my lifestyle without major disruption. For example, something like visiting the local gym several times a week wasn’t going to work for me - it would turn my home life upside down. Getting up half an hour early to go for a walk was doable, though. Over time, each of these changes just became a part of my normal routine, so I’m able to stick with them for the longer term. I wasn’t on a ‘health kick’, I was slowly and gradually forming healthier daily habits.

I really resonate with quotidianlight:

I had done this several times but there was a huge difference, this time… I wasn’t punishing myself. Weight loss would not be punishment for bad behavior that I enforce on myself only to fail. This time weight loss would be one prong of several changes to modify my life and bring me in balance.

And the future is looking great, because now we’re in control of our own destiny:

I look forward to becoming a strong swimmer. I look forward to learning to run again. Somehow I will learn to balance exercise, eating and life.