From Ted Talks, Martin Seligman: Why is Psychology Good?
I quite enjoyed Seligman’s talk here, and I’ve been very excited about the new road that conventional psychology is taking (finally), so I thought I’d share this video here. Enjoy.
Radovan Karadžic Has Been Arrested.
Ok, I’ve officially taken a break from this blog (until August 1), but I had to comment on this. This evening Radovan Karadžic was finally arrested. This is certainly good news. War criminals like Karadžic need to be brought to justice, and I wish it wouldn’t take as long as it usually does.
Just wanted to get that in - the fact that I’m happy about this. I’ll write a longer post the day George W. Bush gets handcuffed and thrown in the back of a police van. Hopefully, we won’t wait thirteen years for it like we had to with this guy.
Launching VikingBodybuilding.Com
Okay, so it’s a happy day for me today. Ron Jonassen (Ron The Viking - who happens to be the other principal member of the Viking Bodybuilding Team) and yours truly finally launched our Viking Bodybuilding site - years after it was first planned. For now it’s going to be a simple blog, but if everything goes according to schedule it will grow into much more within the next six months. Hopefully, bodybuilding enthusiasts of all kinds will find something of value there. Twenty years + of hardcore passion for the subject goes into that blog, and after some time I think it will be a resource cabinet to count on.
Anyway, that’s all I’m going to say about that site now, because I’m dead tired after a long day of lotsofstuff. The site is not really finished yet with regards to design etc (for the time being I’m using the same template as I’m using on this site), and it only has an introductory post on it (I mean, it’s about two hours old), but feel free to check it out anyway.
www.vikingbodybuilding.com
There Will Be Some Changes Made to This Blog
Ok, so I just wanted to get this quick note up to tell you that I’m making some changes to this blog, not so much in concept, I suppose, but in name and, I guess, feel. Why? Well, there’s a couple of reasons. First of all, Corner 77 was originally a business blog, specifically a make money online and from home type of blog. However, as I realised that having a lot of different blogs was just completely unmanagable, I decided to also do my personal development and health blogging here. That didn’t really feel right, though - there’s something about the name of this blog that doesn’t fit well with how this blog is meant to be at this point in time, and all the different types of material that I want to cover here doesn’t really gel. I therefore decided to make some changes. I’m taking a short break from this blog because of the holidays, and then I’m re-starting it in a few weeks under a new name and, as I said, with a slightly different feel.
Thanks for your patience.
Can’t Lose Weight Loss Tips
If you’ve ever struggled to lose weight you’re not alone. The obesity epidemic is ravaging our collective health and diminishing our collective quality of life. For that reason, I decided to do a big Can’t Lose Weight Loss Tips series here at Corner 77. Here’s part one, with 25 simple weight loss tips that almost anyone can use to make, well, less of themselves. Next week we’ll list even more tips and get into some of the more obscure and unknown reasons why we have this destructive epidemic going on. For now, I hope any weight loss minded individual will find this helpful:
- Set clear, reachable goals that really fire you up. Every time I hear someone say that you should only set realistic weight loss goals I cringe. Obviously, be realistic with regards to time and the methods you’ll use to get where you want. Just make sure it’s where you want and not 20 pounds above it. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t allow ourselves to be at our ideal weight and not just at a more ideal weight.
- Make a list of everything you’ll enjoy and do in life once you reach your ideal weight. This could be things such as more energy, great health, better self confidence etc, better looks and being more attractive. Also, see yourself living your new life as a slim, healthy person. Perhaps you want to go on a vacation somewhere tropical and enjoy the beach? Visualise that, write it down and keep the list somewhere it will not get lost. You need to remind yourself of these things when the going gets tough.
- Forget about the short cuts. Don’t starve yourself, don’t ingest dangerous chemicals or do anything else silly to lose the weight. Short cuts, if they work at all, usually only work short term. And then they come back and bite you in your rear end. Forget about them, they will not help you. You can lose weight effectively by replacing all the short cuts with smart methods. Some of them you’ll find on this list.
- The most important key to dietary change: Add, don’t subtract. Make a big list of all the foods you can eat that will help you lose weight. Then focus on those foods and not on what you can not eat. Transition into a healthy diet by adding more and more good foods, and you’ll most likely find that a lot of the bad foods fall away by themselves.
- Eat from smaller plates. Studies have shown that when overweight individuals start eating from small plates they eat less than they do when they serve themselves with bigger plates.
- If you’re going to eat junk, eat something good first.Even though you’ve changed your habits and happily find yourself eating healthier, it’s likely that you’ll at least occasionally eat something that just isn’t in concordance with your weight loss goals. Such is life as a human. However, you don’t have to go all out and eat quite as much pizza as you used to. Start off the meal with something good like a salad, and you’ll find yourself eating less pizza because you’ve filled your stomach up with some of the good stuff.
- Exercise. Don’t try and lose weight by just dieting alone. You’ll stand the risk of losing as much muscle as fat and cheat yourself out of attaining the toned look you deserve. As they say, don’t just starve the fat - burn it. Besides, if you’re not exercising - at any weight - you’re doing yourself a grave disservice. The human body was meant to move. Daily. There is no alternative if you want to live your life to the fullest.
- Adopt a new lifestyle, not just a new diet. This is crucial. Take on the identity of a healthy, slim and fit person. Trust me: it’ll suit you.
- Drink coffee…. or not. I used to recommend coffee as part of a weight loss regiment, since it may offer some benefits like decreased appetite and increased metabolization of stored body fat. However, in recent years research have shown that coffee might cause insulin resistance - something that is definitely not a good thing for anyone, let alone someone wanting to lose weight. Therefore, I am now quite wary of recommending that people use coffee as a weight loss aid, despite the positive results I’ve seen people have with it in the past. If you’re on a low carb diet it mightbe ok to drink a little coffee. Otherwise, I think you should forget about it. The jury is still out on this one, though, seeing as some studies imply that coffee might reduce the risk of getting type two diabetes. I’m looking forward to more research being done on this.
- Learn about glycemic index and how it affects not only your weight but your health. You’ll have an opportunity to do so on this blog as I’m going to do a few pieces on it here. Considering what people are consuming nowadays, I think it’s crucial for everyone to learn about GI.
- Plan your meals in advance. Don’t get caught off guard by being busy. You’ll reach for something very bad. If you plan what you’re going to be eating in advance you’ll find it much easier to stick to your new way of eating.
- Eat home cooked meals. Obviously, I don’t need to tell you that the alternatives tend to be very bad for you. You already know that. This is just a reminder.
- Try the Raw Lifestyle. In my opinion, there’s one thing that beats cooking your own food and that’s not eating any cooked food at all. As of the time of writing my diet consists of roughly 80 percent raw foods and I’ve never felt better in my whole life. My health is truly spectacular compared to what it was when I was eating mostly cooked foods. The Raw Lifestyle also helped my burn off some excess weight, and it was easy. I’m hardly the only one to say that as the Raw Lifestyle has been the salvation for many overweight individuals. One of them is Angela Stokes, who now works full time to teach people the benefits of not tampering with foods. Check out her amazing story at www.rawreform.com.
- Don’t just exercise. Start leading a more active lifestyle. Just moving more will help you burn more calories ever hour. Also, sometimes when we just sit around we grab something to eat for no reason. Sit down and make a list of all the activities you and your friends or family can do together that do not involve eating. You can play sports, hike, join a community service or whatever you want. Just move more - that’s about as complicated as it needs to be.
- Fall in love. Studies have shown that people who fall in love tend to lose weight. There are probably numerous reasons for this, some of which may be an improved hormonal balance, decreased appetite and a sudden surge in motivation to look great!
- Learn the difference between being thirsty and being hungry. Sometimes we think we’re hungry when all we’re really lusting for is something to drink. Have some water and quench that thirst.
- Get a bike. Moving around on a bicycle is great, and especially so if you want to lose weight. Does walking or even running bore you to tears? Well, then this might be the solution for you. If you haven’t owned a bicycle before you’ll be surprised how quickly you can get around on it (provided you live in an area that is bike friendly), and it’s a great way to improve both your fitness levels and your weight. Choosing the bike instead of your car whenever you can will do you a world of good - and you’ll do good for the world as well by polluting less. If you need yet another reason: current gas prices.
- Get enough sleep. Too little sleep is going to interfere with your hormone levels and make losing weight harder. It’ll also have an impact on your general energy levels, and if your energy levels are low it’s going to be hard to do all the things that you should be doing to lose weight, like exercise.
- Lose weight gradually. Sure, it’s fun to lose weight rapidly, but it’s not very useful. It’ll come back and bite you in the butt. Why? You’ll likely lose more muscle than fat, your metabolism will slow down, you’ll lose motivation once the weight starts coming off at a slower pace and you start realizing that it’s not going to be as easy as you think, and you’ll likely end up giving up because what it took to lose weight that quickly can’t be maintained. You’ll hit your head against the wall sooner than you think. How quickly should you lose weight? A pound or two a week is ideal for most people.
- Get support from others. Have a friend that you think would benefit from losing some weight? Ask them to join you. Ask five, ten or twenty friends if you want. Just remember to be, um, tactful when you bring forth the idea and the reasons for it.
- Never, ever beat yourself up or put yourself down.It doesn’t work. If you miss a work out or find yourself bingeing on pizza or other junk, love yourself and recognize the room for improvement. Beating yourself up is never a good thing to do. So don’t do it. In fact, the more you let go of beating yourself up and replacing the silly behaviour with giving yourself approval, the easier it’ll get to reach your weight loss goals. You can never love yourself too much.
- Get a little note book that you can carry with you. Use it as a diary and jot down things like what you’ve been eating, how well you’re doing (it is good to pat yourself on the back now and then) as well as stuff like the triggers that hinder your weight loss goals.
- Lift weights. Yes, you should lift weight to lose weight. Weight lifting has numerous benefits for weight loss minded individuals, such as increased insulin functioning and increased basal metabolic rate. Start out with a whole body program two or three times per week. Make sure you know what you’re doing, though, so either get a qualified coach to work with you or educate yourself.
- Consider using a high protein, quality meal replacement product. Pretty much the only type of processed food I’ll ever eat is protein powders and meal replacement drinks. I certainly don’t use them a lot nowadays, but they can be very useful for an active, exercising individual. Also, one study showed that high protein meal replacement powders can be quite effective for weight loss. And it sure beats grabbing a burger with fries because you’re busy.
- Print out this list and refer to it daily until you’ve implemented some of the lifestyle changes that you’ve decided upon. Like I said, we all need reminders sometimes.
Want more? Come back next week for Part 2, where we’ll discuss some more advanced weight loss tips and facts - some of which may truly surprise you. For instance, did you know that getting a healthy amount of sunshine can help you lose weight? It can, and I’ll explain why in the next installment of this series. Also, we’ll talk about artificial sweeteners, drugs and other evils that may be standing between you and having the body you deserve.