10 Tips For Keeping Weight Off

Once you've experienced significant weight loss, you will never want to be heavy again. But it can be difficult to maintain weight loss without the proper lifestyle changes and attitudes that are necessary.
Follow these tips to keep the weight off - for good!
1) Wear the correct size - Oversized or baggy clothes can make it easy to put a few pounds back on and not even notice. Choose fitted or form fitting clothes in your proper size to avoid this issue.
2) Continue to Monitor What You Eat - Don't let being thinner be an excuse to overeat or indulge all the time. Allow yourself a treat here or there, but continue to monitor your food intake closely.
3) Continue to Exercise - It will help you to keep the weight off, and is great for your health. Exercise is a great heart disease preventative, as well.
4) Avoid "Trigger" Foods - Trigger foods are those types of foods that you just can't stop eating once you start. Avoid these foods to avoid a binge
5) Pick a Maximum Weight - And stick to it! If you go above the weight that you've set as your maximum weight, then it's time to hit the gym and downsize the portions.
6) Keep Before and After Photos - These provide a visual reminder of how far you've come. Display them proudly.
7) Focus on Feeling Healthy - If you focus on enjoying how well you feel now that you've lost weight, it will be easier for you to make healthy choices on a daily basis.
8) Avoid Food Rewards - When you need to relax or reward yourself for a job well done, avoid doing so with food. Choose a non-food reward such as a bubble bath or new CD instead.
9) Eat at Home - Eating out is an easy way to add extra calories to your diet. By cooking at home, you can control ingredients and portion sizes.
10) Choose Healthy Snacks - Continue to add healthy snacks to your daily routine. These will keep you from getting too hungry and overeating.  http://ezinearticles.com

Allergies and Cosmetics

Introduction

Products such as moisturizers, shampoos, deodorants, make-up, colognes, and other cosmetics have become part of our daily grooming habits. The American Academy of Dermatology reports the average adult uses at least seven different cosmetic products each day. Although cosmetics can help us feel more beautiful, they can cause skin irritation or allergic reactions. Certain ingredients used in cosmetics, such as fragrances and preservatives, can act as antigens, substances that trigger an allergic reaction.

What are the symptoms of a cosmetic reaction?

There are two reactions that might occur following exposure to cosmetics: irritant contact dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis. Contact dermatitis is a condition marked by areas of inflammation (redness, itching and swelling) that form after a substance comes into contact with your skin.
Irritant contact dermatitis: This is more common than allergic contact dermatitis and can occur in anyone. It develops when an irritating or harsh substance actually damages the skin. Irritant contact dermatitis usually begins as patches of itchy, scaly skin or a red rash, but can develop into blisters that ooze, especially if the skin is further irritated from scratching. It generally occurs at the site of contact with the irritating substance. Areas where the outermost layer of skin is thin, such as the eyelids, or where the skin is dry and cracked are more susceptible to irritant contact dermatitis.
Allergic contact dermatitis: This occurs in people who are allergic to a specific ingredient or ingredients in a product. Symptoms include redness, swelling, itching, and hive-like breakouts. In some cases, the skin becomes red and raw. The face, lips, eyes, ears, and neck are the most common sites for cosmetic allergies, although reactions may appear anywhere on the body.
The time it takes for symptoms of irritant contact dermatitis to appear varies. For stronger irritants, such as perfumes, a reaction may occur within minutes or hours of exposure. However, it may take days or weeks of continued exposure to a weaker irritant, such as soap, before symptoms appear. In some cases, a person can develop an allergic sensitivity to a product after years of use.  http://www.medicinenet.com/cosmetic_allergies/article.htm

Obesity

Obesity facts

• Obesity means having excess body fat. For adults 35 and older, having a BMI greater than 30 is considered obese.
• Obesity is not just a cosmetic consideration. It is a chronic medical disease that can lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, gallstones, and other chronic illnesses.
• Obesity is difficult to treat and has a high relapse rate. Greater than 95% of those who lose weight regain the weight within five years.
• Even though medications and diets can help, the treatment of obesity cannot be a short-term "fix" but has to be a life-long commitment to proper diet habits, increased physical activity, and regular exercise.
• The goal of treatment should be to achieve and maintain a "healthier weight," not necessarily an ideal weight.
• Even a modest weight loss of 5%-10% of initial weight and the long-term maintenance of that weight loss can bring significant health benefits by lowering blood pressure and lowering the risks of diabetes and heart disease.
• The chances of long-term successful weight loss are enhanced if the doctor works with a team of professionals, including dietitians, psychologists, and exercise professionals.http://www.medicinenet.com/obesity_weight_loss/article.htm

10 Easy Ways to Lose Weight

1. Stop Drinking Fattening Drinks

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  Skip the whipped cream on your morning Starbucks, eliminate that daily afternoon Coke, and replace your evening beer with a small glass of red wine (85 calories). What you drink counts, and the first (and easiest) way to cut calories out of your daily budget is to keep the drinks light. Instead of a Coke from the machine at work, fill up your water bottle and add a 5-calorie Crystal Light on-the-go sweetener pack. Starbucks offers "skinny lattes" made with fat-free milk (100 calories), and wine has more health benefits and less bloating effects than high-calorie beer.

2. Exercise 30 Minutes Three Times a Week

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  Doctors agree, exercise will boost your endorphins and make you feel more like sticking to a weight loss plan. Try to get moving for 30 minutes, three times a week. This means putting on your sweat pants and breaking a sweat. The easy part about walking or running is that you don't need to join a gym or buy special equipment. You don't have to learn anything new. You already know how to walk and run, and doing either of these three times a week will help you lose weight easily. 
 

3. Ask Your Skinny Friends What They Do

• Most thin people aren't just born lucky, they have learned what works and stick to it. What works is green vegetables; lemon and olive oil on a salad as opposed to high-calorie, high-fat dressings; and watching sodium intake. Talking about healthy choices is an easy way to begin to lose weight.

4. Take the Stairs

• Forget the elevator. Instead, taking the flight of stairs at work will burn extra calories. The Canadian government has even published a website that can show you how healthy it is to take the stairs at your place of employment. You can compute exactly how many calories it takes to go up and down your own set of stairs by following the link at the bottom of the page.

5. Eat More Fruits and Vegetables

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  Eat more fruits and vegetables insread of higher calorie foods. According to the CDC, "It's true that fruits and vegetables are lower in calories than many other foods, but they do contain some calories. If you start eating fruits and vegetables in addition to what you usually eat, you are adding calories and may gain weight. The key is substitution. Eat fruits and vegetables instead of some other higher-calorie food."
  Some examples of snacks with 100 calories or less:
  A medium-size apple (72 calories)
  A medium-size banana (105 calories)
  1 cup steamed green beans (44 calories)
  1 cup blueberries (83 calories)
  1 cup grapes (100 calories)
  1 cup carrots (45 calories), broccoli (30 calories), or bell peppers (30 calories) with 2 tbsp. hummus (46 calories)

6. Start Tracking Your Calorie Intake

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  You can track each piece of food you put in your mouth using a variety of free online calorie tracking programs. Livestrong.com's Daily Plate is an especially concise option. With the Blackberry application, you can add meals on the go and synchronize instantly to your online account.

7. Set a Fitness Goal

• Find a 5K charity walk or run in your area, sign up for it, and then tell all your friends about it. They will help keep you motivated to keep exercising in preparation for your fitness goal. Friends supporting you is another easy way to help with weight loss.

8. Go to Victoria's Secret

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  Just thinking about rolling around in bed with a nice, flat stomach is a powerful motivator for any woman. Just think of what wonderful things the man in your life will do for you when he has his very own Victoria's Secret angel next to him in bed. The battle going on for your body begins with your mind, so get your mind fired up by visiting Victoria's Secret. Pick out an outfit that you will reward yourself with when you reach your weight loss goal.

9. Keep a Journal

• Journaling will get you in touch with why you overeat, and it will also give you something productive to do when you are tempted to eat out of boredom. Try writing each day and documenting your weight loss progress. Keeping goals and deadlines are powerful motivators. Keeping a journal is an easy way to help you lose weight.

10. Just Do It!

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  Stop reading this article and get out there and do it. Put on your sneakers and head to the track. Stop at the grocery store and load up on baby spinach and broccoli slaw for a low-calorie cheese wrap. Explore online low-fat recipes and incorporate them into your daily life. Losing weight can be easy.http://www.ehow.com/way_5495061_easy-ways-lose-weight.html

Top Tips on Stopping Smoking

1. Be Sure You Really Want to Stop

Want to know how to quit smoking cigarettes and have long term success (i.e. to stop and stay stopped)?
There is only one price to pay:
You have to want to do it! Really want to! Stop, stay stopped - QUIT - completely.
Why? Well, just for the moment, forget about willpower, products, aids and programs. If you attempt to do anything half heartedly, the most likely outcome is failure...

2. Find Real Reasons to Give Up

Don't underestimate the value of this important step.
If you can find real reasons to give up smoking that mean something to you and you will be well on your way.
This is so important, because knowing why you are quitting will serve as motivation to help you through withdrawal symptoms and help you develop practical solutions to the issues you will face while quitting such as coping with stress and withdrawal symptoms.

3. Prepare by Planning

Understanding why and when you smoke will help you to identify practical ways to combat many of the issues you will face while quitting such as coping with stress and withdrawal symptoms, social situations and peer pressure.
Following the steps outlined in planning to quit smoking will help you gather an arsenal of tools and information to develop an effective and highly personalised quit smoking action plan.

4. Stress Relief

Many smokers find that as well as through habit, they tend to want to smoke when faced with stressful situations.
Effective stress relief strategies can help you avoid relapse so finding alternatives is a real NEED to do activity and another one really of those really important quit smoking tips.

5. Avoiding Weight Gain

Quit smoking is challenge enough but some smokers dread the idea of gaining weight. If you fall into the latter camp quitting smoking and weight gain will allay some fears and put the situation firmly into perspective.
For example, a little known fact is that many smokers are in fact underweight, due to prolonged appetite suppression and of those who do put on weight, about half increase their weight by less than two kilos.

6. Beating Nicotine Withdrawal Symptoms

The first few days and weeks after you quit can be the hardest.
Cravings tend to be the most problematic nicotine withdrawal symptoms although not every smoker is affected to the same degree.
That said, few smokers seem to be able to stop without getting them. It is the way your body reacts when it stops getting nicotine and all the other chemicals in tobacco smoke.
If you want to succeed you must decide how you plan to get through them. This is probably one our most sought after quit smoking tips.
See: Quitting Smoking Tips for Cravings.

7. Develop Your Action Plan

If you have followed the tips above to this point you are ready to put together your quit smoking action plan.
You should now have five statements, numbered 1 to 5, which form the backbone of the personal action plan you will follow to quit.
You did make notes, didn't you? If not, see the summaries and links above.

8. After You Quit Smoking

Some ex-smokers find quitting smoking relatively easy but many will find that staying stopped is the greater challenge.
http://www.stop-smoking-programs.org/quit-smoking-tips.html

6 fast exercises for a flat stomach

THE INNER STRENGTHENER

These ball roll-outs target your core muscles, with the added bonus of working your shoulders, too.

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1. Start with your forearms resting on the ball, knees on the floor and your elbows under your shoulders.
2. Lift up on to your toes, breathe out and extend your arms to roll the ball away from you, keeping your belly button tucked in.
3. Pause and, as you inhale, bend your arms and roll the ball back to the start position.
Short of time? Here's the one flat tummy move every woman needs

Midriff honer

THE MIDRIFF HONER

Ball jack-knifes not only focus on your core muscles to tighten up your tummy, but also tone your whole body.

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1. Start in the press-up position, with your hands resting on the floor and your shins resting on the ball.
2. Breathe out and pull your knees in towards your chest, rolling the ball towards your torso.
3. Breathe out and extend your legs and the ball back to the start position.
Keep it simple with these easy flat stomach exercises

Waist whittler

THE WAIST WHITTLER

Russian twists target your abs and obliques to shrink that waist.

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1. Sit on the ball. Now walk your feet out until your upper back and shoulders are resting on the ball and your body is in a bridge position. Extend your arms above your head and clasp your hands together.
2. Keep your hips up and breathe out as you rotate your arms to the left.
3. Breathe in as you rotate back to the centre, then repeat to your right.
Too tricky? Try these 6 simple tummy tightening exercises instead

Total tummy toner

THE TOTAL TUMMY TONER

These ball pikes tighten up your core as well as your bum and leg muscles.

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1. Start in the press-up position with your shins resting on the ball and your core muscles engaged.
2. Keeping your legs straight, breathe out while rolling the ball towards your hands and lift up your bottom.
3. As you roll the ball back away from you to the start position, remember to keep your legs as straight as possible.
Got the Swiss ball? Here's 4 more great tone-up moves

Muffin-top buster

THE MUFFIN-TOP BUSTER

These side planks work the muscles at the side of your waist and your abominals.

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1. Lie on your side, propped on your elbow with your legs and hip resting on the floor.
2. Resting your weight on your forearm, lift your hip off the floor, breathing out.
3. Keep your tummy muscles engaged and lower back down. Repeat as many times as possible, then switch to the other side. To advance, hold your top arm straight, with a dumbbell in your hand.
Mix up your flat stomach workout with more core strength exercises here

Belly-bulge beater

THE BELLY-BULGE BEATER

Reverse crunches are great for tackling your lower abs and that hard-to-reach soft area at the bottom of your midriff.

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1.Lie on your back on the floor with your arms at your sides, legs out straight and your feet raised about 30cm off the ground.
2. Breathe in and bring your knees in towards your chest.
3. Extend your legs back out to the start position, breathing out as you do so and keeping your core muscles engaged.http://www.zest.co.uk/at-home/6-fast-exercises-for-a-flat-stomach/546.html

11 Winter Beauty Tips

1. Try a creamy facial cleanser

Cleansers strip away moisture as part of the job of removing makeup, and dry winter air tends to magnify the problem. Gel cleansers can be very drying, but creamy ones like Dove deep moisture creamy facial cleanser and Neutrogena deep clean cream cleanser should help.

2. Mask the problem

Use a moisturizing facial mask to replenish moisture lost throughout the day.

3. Look for a humidifier

If your skin feels dry and tight even when you’re inside your home, there may not be enough moisture in the air for you. Scan the sale pages for a portable humidifier. Make a note to yourself to clean the filter regularly (if they get yucky they breed bacteria).

4. Turn down the heater

It’s a beauty catch 22, but overheating a cold home will worsen dry skin problems, so experiment with different settings on your heater to find the right temperature for both you and your skin.

5. Any device that heats your environment will also steal your moisture

Even electric blankets. If dry skin is driving you crazy, throw another comforter on the bed, and see how you feel after you’ve left the electric blanket unplugged for a couple nights.

6. Moisturize in the shower

Moisturize throughout the day, but try using body lotion even before you’ve left the shower, right after rinsing soap or body wash. It will help lock in some extra moisture. Rinse off and pat dry.

7. Watch the shower temp

Hot showers feel great in winter, but they wreak havoc on dry skin. Try a lukewarm shower instead, then pat your skin dry with a towel. Apply moisturizer (again) as soon as you step out of the shower.

8. Use alcohol responsibly

Avoid skin products and hairstyling products high in alcohol. When alcohol evaporates it feels cool and refreshing, but it’s also stripping away moisture, so look for alcohol-free products when the air is already dry.

9. Don’t blow it

If you’re already dealing with dry, brittle hair, resist the urge to reach for the hair dryer. It’ll only make things worse. Dry and style your hair with a towel, and if you still use a dryer, time yourself and try to use it a little less.

10. Moisturize meh!

Moisturize throughout the day and don’t forget to drink extra water when it’s cold and windy. Your hands, feet, knees and elbows may need a little more help, too. I like rich products containing shea butter, petrolatum, mineral oil, tea tree oil, linoleic acid or glycerin. For intense relief, moisturize hands and feet at night, and then slip on gloves or socks to lock in moisture.

11. Pucker up

Chapped lips can be a big problem in winter. The air dries out my lips, which makes me lick them, which makes them chap even worse! Use a lip balm with at least SPF 15 and preferably one with antiseptic agents to aid in healing. Some lip balm products are made with tea tree oil, which helps heal painful cracks. I also like lip balms with phenol, beeswax, aloe, vitamin E and essential oils. http://www.makeupandbeautyblog.com/skin-care/11-winter-beauty-tips/