Hi my name is Brian and I am the Weight Loss Path resident trainer for at least the next three months. This is a new experience for me as I am used to working with whoever I am training in person, which makes it much easier for me to assess their fitness and ability levels. Today I am going to cover some of the serious problems that can occur if you don’t follow any sort of fitness program.

 When I ask the people I train what are the most important things that keep us healthy, I usually get very similar answers and mostly in the same order. Top of the list are nearly always diet and exercise, but not always in that order. Keeping your alcohol consumption to a minimum often comes next, followed closely by not smoking, but with all the information available today, not smoking is a no brainer. When you thing it’s only about fifty years ago that doctors recommended a cigarette to relieve stress, these days it’s only the tobacco companies who think it’s good for you, but I wonder if they actually still smoke themselves. Sorry getting a bit off track, but smoking is one of my biggest hates, I have seen quite a few lives destroyed because of it. OK back on track, one subject that virtually never crops up when talking about our health, is one of the most important, and that is sleep.

 The following information is probably going to surprise a lot of you, but 20% of people living in the United States suffer from sleep disorders, and here in the UK the figure is even higher according to the NHS, it’s nearer 30%. These are frightening figures especially as you get older, as it can lead to a lot of serious problems. In the United States survey of 2012, they found that the leading causes of sleep disorders where, lack of any exercise, poor diets, and irregular meals. Although here in the UK the causes of the sleep disorders were not printed, there is no reason not to assume they are not similar to the United States.

 One interesting fact that the American survey showed, was that women had a higher risk of insomnia than men. According to a separate report, up to 65% of Americans have a problem getting to sleep at night, although they don’t classify as sleep disorders, 40% of the 65% are women. Records show that in America, women who don’t get a proper night’s sleep, are more prone to, high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, obesity, and it can also affect the menstrual cycle, and there is no reason why the pattern isn’t similar here in the UK.

 I don’t believe in using scare tactics to get someone to want to start training, I believe when dealing with adults, you should make the facts available, and then you can make up your own mind. So what do you need to do now, as I said earlier this is difficult for me as I don’t know your individual fitness levels, so we will start with very basic training.

 You need to get out walking for 30 minutes every day, if you can’t walk for 30 minutes do two 15 minute sessions, or even one 20 minute session, but if you start on 20 minutes try to add one extra minute every day until you are up to 30 minutes. This walking fitness is not an amble round your local park, this is walking with a purpose, and you need to push yourself to improve your fitness level. The easiest way to improve is walk normally for 4 minutes, then as hard as you can for 1 minute, but don’t strain yourself but you do need to get your heart rate up. Repeat this six times for your 30 minutes, and for those doing different time adjust accordingly, but after a week you should find you can do the 1 minute easily, increase it to 2 minutes, and recover in the 3 minutes, and again repeat it six times.

 Two things before I go, the weather is getting warmer, so don’t go walking without at least a 500ml bottle of water, and make sure you always have comfortable foot ware, as there is nothing going to stop you faster than sore feet. If you follow this program, you will lose weight, your fitness level will rise really quickly, and you will find that you get a good night’s sleep, even if you weren’t before, and if you are having real sleep problems, try walking in the evening as late as is practical, that should help. Until next time get out there and enjoy yourself, it’s doing you good. If you have any questions you can contact me at theweightlosspath@gmail.com and just mark the subject line Ask Brian, and I will get back to you as quickly as possible. Until next time take care.

When it comes to a weight loss program, far too often we take those first steps towards weight loss bliss for what we later determine are all the wrong reasons. Ultimately however, if your reason works for you there is no truly wrong reason to diet. The trick is in finding the reason that will actually work for you.

I’ve seen all kinds of excellent motivators when it comes to dieting and taking your dieting seriously. One of the more common reasons is to lose weight. This is as good of a reason as any. Some want to get back into the size 5 jeans they wore in high school while others would simply like to be able to look in the mirror once again without feeling guilt. For some this is a simple matter of vanity and for others it is finally managing to deal with what has become a lifelong problem. If you find the inspiration you need to be successful with your dieting this time as opposed to others, then that is the perfectly plausible and acceptable reason for you to diet.

Other reasons for dieting include a desire to be more physically fit. Some of us have a deep and abiding desire to live as long as possible and firmly believe that the best possible method for accomplishing this goal is to live the healthiest life possible. This is another excellent reason for losing weight and getting into shape. If it works for you that is. The thing to remember is that every person is going to have to find their very own motivation deep within.

Yet another great reason is to have the energy you need to keep up with your little ones. This is one of the most heartbreaking side effects for most when it comes to obesity. There is simply no energy left over at the end of the day to enjoy doing things with your precious little ones who are young for such a very short amount of time. You desperately want to be able to build those precious memories with them but absolutely have no energy with which to do so. If that isn’t bad enough you probably (if you are considered morbidly obese) have noticed that many of the simplest activities with your children often bring you physical pain that is the direct result of your weight.

Revenge is a dish that is best served cold and another excellent motivator for some when it comes to dieting and taking off those pesky pounds. Losing a great deal of weight takes time in many cases so you must be able to maintain your motivation even when things are going rough along the way. The path to a new body is not an easy path. This is for those who have some serious emotional healing to do and the best revenge for old slights and wounds is to come back more beautiful than ever before. If this motivation is what it takes for you to take off the pounds then this is the motivation to which you should cling.

Religion is another common weight loss motivation. Some people believe the body should be treated as a temple. There is nothing wrong with this philosophy at all, though it takes some us longer to find our way to that line of thinking than others. Religion and faith are powerful motivators, as they have been known to bring healing to those in need by the power of their faith or their prayers. If your faith can give you the will power and strength you need in order to reach your dieting and weight loss goals then by all means lean on your faith and hold it close.

No matter what motivation you have for a weight loss program if you find it is no longer working for you, then you need to find another motivator quickly. Without proper motivation it is quite unlikely that you will ever meet your weight loss goals.