Tag Archives: goals

Empty Calories Comic: Resolution Incentive

See more Empty Calories right here in the blog each week, or receive one each month when you subscribe to our free newsletter. (more…)

Mark Zuckerberg’s Three Simplistic Principles for Success

Most of us are familiar with Facebook. With 800 million users, 70 percent of which are outside of the United States, Facebook is not just a sweeping fad that has dominated cyber space, it is a significant tool to share, market and connect with people all over the world.

I felt very inspired hearing Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, and Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s CEO, fire off answers to some very poignant questions about Zuckerberg’s conversations with Steve Jobs, his views on privacy in social media, and whether or not he was ever going to sell his billion dollar company. However, what stood out the most for me was Zuckerberg’s simplistic approach and philosophy on success.

The following are Zuckerberg’s simplistic principles for success. Whether you’re trying to be an Internet mogul, or simply trying to meet a weight loss goal, use them as a guideline to attain any goal you set out to accomplish. (more…)

Weight Watchers Lifetime Membership Rewards Successful Dieters for Reaching Their Weight Loss Goals

Weight Watchers is a tried and true weight loss program that has been around for over 40 years. It was recently named the number one commercial diet by U.S. News for 2024. You can’t watch TV, flip through a magazine or drive past a few billboards without seeing an ad for the program.

For those that have successfully reached their weight loss goals with Weight Watchers, there is the opportunity to earn a Lifetime Membership to the program. Although Weight Watchers offers membership options through physical meetings or online, the Lifetime Membership is only available for members that attended Weight Watchers Meetings.

The first step of earning a Lifetime Membership is to achieve a goal weight within the Weight Watchers healthy weight ranges that is at least five pounds less than your initial weight recorded from your first meeting. For your healthy weight range, you can also use a weight that is determined by your doctor. After you have maintained this weight within two pounds for six continual paid meeting weeks, you are awarded a Lifetime Membership.

You must also weigh in at least two times between your goal weigh in and your final maintenance weigh in. You will also need to be within two pounds of your goal weight at your final maintenance weigh in.

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Positive Daily Affirmations for Healthier and Happier Moments

By Jill Lawson from Jill Lawson Yoga

Many of us believe the power of thought can greatly affect the course of a day, if not our feelings and attitudes that shape the opinions we have of ourselves. As quoted by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Sow a thought and you reap an action; sow an action and you reap a habit; sow a habit and you reap a character; sow a character and you reap a destiny,” thoughts can promote positive or negative experiences for us.

The following daily affirmations work to cement positive thoughts in our subconscious mind, allowing us to practice healthier habits and lead us to more fulfilling and much happier moments. They are helpful when we are having a bad day, but equally as effective when we are feeling good already. The more we can put a positive thought toward something, the closer we are to actually bringing that thought into our reality.

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One Ah Ha Moment Leads to a New Healthy Lifestyle

Anda T. writes about her weight loss struggles, victories and every day life at www.leavingfatville.com. She also runs www.greatclothingexchange.com in her spare time when not chasing a toddler, cooking, cleaning, working and trying to take over the world.

Most people have an ah-ha moment when they’re ready to lose weight. It can be a small, private moment- something that clicks in their mind and says it’s time to do something. Or it can be something big, something that shocks you into action.

I was not alone with my ah-ha moment. I watched mine on my television, surrounded by friends and family.

We had settled down to watch some movies from my son’s baby days on our big television. Halfway through, my son (in his first walker) careened across the screen. Gleefully shrieking, he got to the front door and stopped. He was grunting for a kick-start and I saw myself cross the screen. My entire backside took up the television. My. Entire. Backside. As I grabbed his walker and brought him back to a clear spot on the movie, I turned and asked my husband what the rasping noise was in the background. He was as gentle as possible, but the sentence struck so completely that I will never forget it. “Honey, that’s you. You’re breathing.”

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Visualization May be Keeping You From Achieving Your Goals

Common self-help suggestions seem to not be standing up to research. Two years ago, I wrote about the Dangers of Positive Thinking. When you try to convince yourself of positive statements, it can actually damage self-esteem. Now research is suggesting that visualizing yourself achieving your goals may make it more difficult to actually obtain those goals.

Visualizing yourself happy, successful, and in great shape is supposed to convince you that it can be true and inspire you to make it happen. However, visualizing yourself happy, successful, and in great shape seems to be so rewarding that we are no longer motivated to work for it. Visualizing it may be enough for us.

The study at Science Direct included four different experiments. What the researchers found was that positive visualizations were “de-energizing”, leading to the relaxation that comes after a goal has been achieved. In one of the experiments, “a positive fantasy about the coming week led participants to feel less energised, and when surveyed a week later, they’d achieved fewer of their week’s goals, than had control participants who’d originally been asked to day-dream freely about the coming week.”

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I’ve Reached My Weight Loss Goal. Now What?

On Diets in Review, we talk a lot about weight loss. But what happens when you’ve reached your weight loss goal? Sure, you’re happy and proud of yourself and your new body, but chances are, you probably feel a little lost as to what to do and what to eat now that you don’t have that goal weight to focus on, right? Well, no worries. We have your five step guide to keeping you at your healthy weight and totally motivated!

5 Tips to Keep the Weight Off — And You Motivated

1. Splurge a little more (but be mindful). Now that you’re at your goal weight, you can be a little more lax with your diet, but remember that extra calories add up quickly (and that it’s a lot easier to eat calories than it is to burn them off). A good rule of thumb is to eat a diet that is 80/20, meaning that 80 percent of what you eat is nutritious and healthy, and 20 percent is the other maybe not-so-healthy food that you’re craving. If you ever start to put the pounds back on (and you should know if you do — see tip No. 5), switch your eating to 90/10 until you’re back at your happy weight. Also remember to keep portion sizes down and to savor every bite, being totally mindful of what you’re eating!

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5 Running Lessons from a Boston Marathon Finisher

Marathoning has taught me so much. I’ve learned about the sport. I’ve learned about the human body. I’ve learned about human spirit. And, I’ve learned a lot about myself.

My marathon career began in 2024. My journey began as a slow and uninformed runner. Today I am proud to be a a two time Boston Marathon finisher. My journey may be unique, but I believe the lessons I’ve learned along the way could be of value to any runner or hopeful Boston Qualifier.

1. Respect the Distance
Every race distance must be respected. However, many gifted runners can water down the training for shorter distances. But not the marathon. The marathon is a beast that will eat you up and spit you out if you don’t properly train. The distance is tough enough, do not add insult to injury by not sticking to proper training. If the week day plan says to run 10 miles, a slap of the snooze button and a 5 miler will cost you. If the plan says your long run this weekend is to be 20 miles, 16 IS NOT 20. That choice could equal you pleading with your maker at mile 21 of the race to just “make it all go away!”
Bottom line. Keep the beast happy and train properly.

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Nancy’s Steady Weight Loss Proves There is No Magic Pill

This guest post comes from Paige Corley, a Program Director at the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.

A co-worker of mine, Nancy, was telling me about her success with fitness and weight loss recently. She has lost 7 pounds in 15 weeks, improved her fitness, gained strength and lost inches. She looks great – not just in her body – but in her smile and eyes. She is more energetic, her clothes have become more fun, and she is excited about her new body and new healthy focus.

When Nancy posted her success on her Facebook page she was surprised to see responses like, “What is your secret?” or “What did you do differently?” Some of these responses were even from former guests at The Resort.

Nancy has no secret, and she has no magic pill: she simply increased her calorie burn and decreased her caloric intake. This is what we teach here at Fitness Ridge: calories in vs. calories out, healthy, balanced eating and drinking, and increased cardiovascular and strength training. This is what works.

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3 Things to Help You Set Realistic Weight Loss Expectations

This guest post comes from Paige Corley, a Program Director at the Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge.

Spring is a great time to either begin or renew your quest for a healthy lifestyle. Part of this quest is often weight loss. Unfortunately many of us make the common error of setting unrealistic expectations of weight loss then find ourselves disappointed or disillusioned with this process then we end up frustrated and give up. To stop this pattern we must become educated so that we can set realistic expectations, meet them and find ourselves successful in our journey.

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Jillian Michaels’ New Book Unlimited Offers a Break from Her Norm

by Descygna Webb

Jillian Michaels is arguably the biggest name in the diet and fitness industry. She has made a name for herself by being a tough personal trainer featured on shows like Biggest Loser and Jillian Michaels’ Losing It. Jillian has helped countless people reach their fitness goals and transform their bodies. With that kind of success, she has also been able to branch into her own line of fitness DVDs, diet products, dietary supplements and she has written several books. It’s obvious that Jillian knows fitness. Her latest book, however, titled Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life, is taking a different approach than all of her other books. Unlimited offers readers advice and directions on how to build an exceptional life through many different avenues.

Jillian delves into the steps it takes to achieve your goals and she deals more with the emotional aspect of the process. This book is all about making over any area of your life that you are currently unhappy with. You can apply the advice given in Unlimited to several areas and make things happen that you previously may have thought weren’t possible. In this book, Jillian teaches you to get out of your own way and stop holding yourself back. Whether you are trying to leave an abusive relationship, go back to school, lose weight or achieve any other goal, she outlines the steps necessary to reach it.

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