Walking, Water, and Weight Watchers: The 3 W?s for Weight Loss
I have been seriously working on losing weight for about 2 1/2 months and many people have asked me what I am doing to be so successful. I reply, "The 3 W’s for weight loss!" Of course they don’t know what the 3 W’s of weight loss are so I quickly tell them, "Walking, Water, and Weight Watchers." I know this isn’t a formula that will work for everyone but it sure is working for me! Water is an essential fluid needed by everyone, walking is an excellent form of exercise, and Weight Watchers is a world renowned weight loss organization that has helped millions of people lose weight and keep it off for good.
Walking:
Walking is a feel good calorie burning exercise that most of us have been doing for the majority of our lives. Other than a good pair of walking shoes and comfortable clothing, it doesn’t require any other equipment, so the price it right! But the most impressive thing about walking is the health benefits it provides. Walking is easy on joints and actually eases back pain in some people. It has the ability to lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels, reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease, build muscle and strengthen bones, and of course it leads to weight loss! Try to walk at least 10,000 steps each day!
I have lost 24 1/2 pounds so far but aside from the weight loss, walking daily allows me to mentally unwind and I feel that it lowers my stress levels. The funny thing is that the more I walk, the more my body and mind seem to crave it. Walking has become a very healthy habit for me
Water:
A recent study indicated that after drinking 17oz. of water, both men and women experienced a 30% increase in their metabolic rate that lasted for about 40 minutes.
A few months ago, I quit drinking soda and replaced it with water. I can already feel a difference in my skin tone and of course it is helping with my weight loss efforts because it fills me up and I am less apt to overeat. Drinking water daily is definitely a habit now and I feel much better because of it! Drink 8, 8oz. glasses of water each day to boost your weight loss efforts!
Weight Watchers:
Weight Watchers was founded in the early 1960’s by Jean Nidetch. She started off by hosting small informal gatherings in her home to discuss the topic of weight loss. Those small meetings grew over the years and now Weight Watchers has grown to a worldwide community comprised of millions of people that are dedicated to the task of losing weight.
Weight Watchers is a scientifically based program that promotes weight loss through healthy lifestyle changes to include mental, emotional, and physical health. Weight Watchers meetings are designed to provide weight loss motivation, information about nutrition and exercise, and a comfortable environment where members and leaders offer support and encouragement to each other. There are hundreds of meeting locations worldwide and Weight Watchers is now offered online as well.
My Weight Watchers leader is fantastic and I look forward to going to my meeting each week. She not only is a wonderful role model, having lost 45 pounds herself, but has the natural ability to bring out the best in all of us that faithfully attend her meetings. She arms herself with scientifically based research, her own weight loss story, motivational quotes, exercise advice, and recipes; all which she wraps in a warm sense of humor to provide us with the tools we need for the upcoming week.
If you have been frustrated with past weight loss attempts, give the 3 W’s of weight loss a try. It is the healthy way to lose weight and I am sure you will be pleased with the results!
Contact me at with your success stories at [email protected] (no matter what weight loss method you have used) and I will post them on my site!
Read more weight loss and exercise articles, motivational quotes, and weight loss tips and ideas. If you would like read about how I have lost weight, stop by to read my daily weight loss blog.
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Five Reasons NOT To Lose Weight
We are inundated by exhortations to lose weight – from the media, from our friends, from our family. As the richest, fattest, nation on earth, we idealize the impossibly thin supermodels who smile (or smirk?) at us from every magazine cover. We spend a fortune on trying to lose weight and despair when we don’t.
Enough of the diet gurus, the nutritionists, and the weight loss experts (including me), let’s enjoy ourselves for a while. The diabetes and clogged arteries will overtake us all too quickly. For today, let’s feast freely at the banquet of life.
1.Ordering in a restaurant is incredible fun.
Your dining companions may be limiting their selections, counting carbs and fats and calories but you are free of all that. You can pick the creamiest, juiciest item on the menu without a single twinge of guilt. Go ahead, have the baked potato with extra butter and sour cream. Chew the divine crispy bread with your creamed soup or artichoke dip appetizer. Go exotic with beef Wellington in its flaky crust shell or dive into that impeccably marbled steak. And while your companions sip coffee, order peach pie – a la mode, no less. Now, weren’t you the one who made the most of the evening?
2.Enjoy the company picnic.
Let your coworkers make fools of themselves running three-legged races and playing very bad touch football. They will have sore muscles and bruises for a week. While they are moaning and groaning on Monday morning, you’ll be comfortable and serene, enjoying your memories of being the first, and the last, in line at the buffet table and how much fun it was to graze uninterrupted on those marvelous desserts.
3.Appreciate your daughter’s school play.
All those skinny, active mothers have been working for weeks to get everything prepared. The benefits of obesity became crystal clear when you were not even asked to paint scenery, hang curtains, set up chairs, or walk the neighborhood to solicit contributions. You can limit your involvement to showing up for the performance, fresh and unstressed, gratefully eying the tasty snacks set out for afterwards.
4.Make the amusement park comfortable.
The wheelchairs provided for the disabled and the obese are a heavenly way to see the entire park. Every other adult becomes exhausted as the day wears on, tired of waiting in lines and walking miles to get to the rides the kids want. You are cool and comfortable as they wheel you around. As the others get grumpier, the kids flock to you and lament that their parents don’t maintain your interest and encouragement of everything they want to do. And on the long drive home, when others are too tired to eat, you still have energy left for a burger and fries.
5.Make your vacation complete.
No one even considered suggesting a camping trip or a week at the beach, did they? No, they knew your idea of a treat was a short road trip with stays at deluxe hotels with soft beds, room service, and a concierge at your beck and call. Let the others take a walk around town while you lie down with a good book or television show. When they return and, over dinner, tell you of the sights they’ve seen, you can listen intently while mentally rating the local cuisine based on your vast gastronomic expertise.
Ah, life’s good!
P. S. If you take this seriously, get yourself to a therapist, tout suite.
Virginia Bola is a licensed psychologist and an admitted diet fanatic. She specializes in therapeutic reframing and the effects of attitudes and motivation on individual goals. The author of The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual, and a free ezine, The Worker’s Edge, she recently published a psychologically-based weight control e-workbook, “Diet with an Attitude” which develops mental skills towards the goal of permanent weight control. She can be reached at DietWithAnAttitude.com. She provides support and guidance in use of the workbook through her regular blog, http://dietwithanattitude.blogspot.com
By: admin
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