WEIGHT LOSS TIPS

A Virtual Model for Weight Loss

I've just added this virtual model to my sidebar. It's based on your body mass index (BMI) which is a function of your height and weight. Given your height, what you see at different weights is what you might look like at different body mass index (BMI) ranges. It's fun to see and quite motivating.

To see how overweight I was and how I could look if I ever reached my goal weight, scroll over the 'start' and 'goal' buttons' you see on the right.

Celebrity Makeovers have just released this virtual model and I'm guessing it could be a popular weight loss tool for people to add to their personal sites.

It's harder to eat less when the food you eat leaves you nutritionally starved or even somewhat deficient.

This is a key premise of a new book, The Sardine Diet. Here we learn that sardines are one of the richest sources of Omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Most people are not eating enough Omega-3 and this type of fat is far more important in fighting obesity and even depression than many people realize.

We are getting depressed and fat partly because the Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acid ratio in our diet is so out of whack. The typical person consumes thirty units of Omega 6 for every one unit of Omega 3. But the healthy ratio is four to one.

Many people know that the highest sources of Omega 3 are in salmon and flaxseed. But sardines actually have almost twice as much omega 3 as salmon per ounce. And they can be a lot cheaper and easier to eat on a regular basis.

My cupboard is stocked with sardine tins. Now I just have to get into the habit of eating them.

Julia Harvey (pictured here) used to be a 290 pound single mother. She went on to lose 130 pounds and has kept the weight off for over ten years.

She's just published her second book, The Vice-Busting Diet: A 12-Week Plan to Break Your Worst Food Habits and Change Your Life Foreverand it promises to be an interesting read.

Instead of prescribing a rigid diet with only certain foods, she discusses how it's more effective in losing weight in the long run to examine our vices and let go of these. For example, a very common vice for people is soda or soft drinks. Some people drink three or more liters a day. It is quite easy to lose weight if one can only drop a vice such as this. Other common 'vices' are fast food and television.

Her book focuses on a 12-week plan for eradicating your vices. It also includes an exercise plan and a nutritious recipes section.

The world's fattest man weighs 1,210 pounds. Manuel Uribe, 40, says, "People think that I can eat a whole cow, but it's not just overeating, it's also a hormonal problem."

Uribe is scheduled to have weight-loss surgery in Italy soon. He's been bedridden for the past five years. The english version of his website is at Manuel Uribe. He updates it with his laptop while lying in his iron bed.

Here's some visual motivation to help me stick to my fitness and weight loss goals over this Labor Day long weekend:-).

The photo is titled "Material Girl" and was taken by Ryagalesie.