Get In Shape For The Festive Season. What you have to do right now.
Soon, it will be that time of the year. Thanksgiving through Christmas Season. The time of family gatherings, followed by major partying, is coming faster than you think.
Don't you just hate it when in front of everyone at a party, aunt goes up to you and loudly congratulates you for finally getting pregnant.. when you are not.
Wouldn't it better instead if she had commented that she could barely recognize you as you have lost so much weight.
That tummy sticking out can be a major cause of embarassment. So can the extra pounds that insidiously creep up on you as you layer on warmer clothing. You know how the cold can make you hungrier.
Just because you can cover up, doesn't mean you should neglect your weight.
Hide the tummy with a control girdle and the butt sticks out. Just imagine that situation during the festive season, when you try to squeeze into your beautiful cocktail dress. Only to look like a big fat sausage.
Imagine on the other hand, slipping into that favourite cocktail dress, to find it fits perfectly, no unsightly bulges. Walking into the mall, picking the gown you love off the mannequin and it fits you perfectly. Imagine the look on your guy's face when he sees that you in that stunning gown.
Which reality you eventually face is up to you. You have to start quickly. Start working on your figure right away. Watch what you eat, and get the exercise you need.
Start off with a food diary.
As it gets colder, you tend to get hungrier. You might take small snacks, low fat, low calorie maybe, yet lots of small snacks add up to a lot of calories. Maybe, you get those 100 calorie snack size packs, and munch on those. Finish one pack, feel like munching something, get another pack. Over and over again. By the end of the day, you could have taken 10 snack packs without realizing it. Those 100 calorie snacks added up to 1000 calories, and that is not even counting your regular meals.
Then there are the drinks you take. Alcohol is terrible. Your body treats it like fat. Think about the beer belly.
Then the sodas you consume, the cans of coke and other soft drinks, the sugar you put into your tea and coffee, the calories in every drink you consume.
With your food diary, record down everything you eat or drink each day. Calculate the calories found in each item and total up how much you consumed in a day.
That will be quite an eye opener. Pay attention to what you find in there. Reduce your calories by switching to water instead of sodas. If water is to bland for your taste, put a slice of lemon into the water to flavor it.
Next comes the exercise bit.
Pick a workout that would target your problem areas. If your tummy, hips and the backs of your thighs could use some improvement, go for the Transfirmer system. It whittles down these areas beautifully.
Pick a workout that you can stick to. If you have been sedentary all along, try walking. Power walking. Better yet, go for Leslie Sansone's walk away the pounds and just walk it all off.

The writer is the new webmaster of http://www.aerobictotalbodyfitness.com/ aerobic total body fitness. A resource to help you get in shape through aerobic exercise.


A Healthy Diet Check Up...From The Neck Up
If you have tried every so-called healthy diet plan on the planet and every exercise program from the latest fitness guru and repeatedly failed to achieve your weight loss goals, you probably need a "healthy diet check up...from the neck up."
There's no such thing as a healthy, fast, weight loss diet plan. Successful weight loss doesn't just happen. It took more than a few days to reach the point where you are at right now. Give yourself a break and expect it to take awhile before you see measurable results. Take a leap of faith and follow some basic principles in your diet plan.
Begin with your "self talk." This is the conversation that runs through your brain continuously. What kind of conversation do you have with your self talk? What type of negative self talk has kept you from reaching your weight loss goals in the past?
If you had a chance to do it over again, would you change the dialogue? That's a no-brainer isn't it? Well, the good news is that you can turn the tide of negative self talk beginning right now. It's never too late to begin and you start by reprogramming your self talk and beginning a whole new weight loss diet plan.
A good starting point is to begin with positive affirmations. Positive affirmations, spoken aloud with authority and belief, positively affect your attitude, focuses your thinking and lead to a course of action that will help you become the person you want to be and have the things that you want to have.
Begin by writing your weight loss affirmations on paper. You can begin with something like, "I want to lose 25 pounds before Christmas." That's a worthy goal and attainable, but we need to put some work into structuring the affirmation.
First of all, "I want" gives the impression that what you desire is always in the future. In order to re-program your self talk, you need to trick your mind into believing that you have already achieved weight loss success. This is how your subconscious mind functions.
Your subconscious mind has no capacity for understanding the concept of time. Everything is in the moment. . .here and now. When you tell your subconscious mind that you "want", that is exactly what you will get. . .want. . .without ever achieving fulfillment. Unless you change your mental tape recorder, you will achieve exactly what you are telling your subconscious, that you "want to lose 25 pounds." You will "want to lose 25 pounds" for the rest of your days unless you change your self talk.
If your weight is 150 pounds and you desire is to weight 125 pounds, then you need to "be" 125 pounds from the moment you make the decision to change your self talk. What if you write your affirmation to read something like this: "I am healthy and fit, weighing 125 pounds."
It is extremely important that your affirmation is crystal clear because what you affirm is exactly what your subconscious mind will bring you.
You needn't limit yourself to one affirmation either. Write another one that reflects your new exercise program. "I enjoy my healthy new diet plan," or, "I love the healthy foods I eat."
Write and rewrite until you are absolutely certain that you have written your weight loss goals "in the here and now" AND represent precisely what you desire. Only then do you begin to speak it aloud and do so several times a day.
Remember to use the present tense. "I acknowledge achievement in all my weight loss goals." "I have the skill and talent to exercise every day." "I am a winner." "I am grateful for all of my accomplishments no matter how small."
At first you will feel awkward and uncomfortable and you may not feel or believe what you are saying. It doesn't matter, continue to speak them aloud with as much conviction as you can muster. It's taken a long time to train your subconscious to use negative self talk. If you will persevere with speaking your affirmations aloud, firmly and confidently, you will be amazed at how quickly you can turn your thoughts around.
You didn't hop on a bicycle the first time and just take off down the street. It took practice to train your body to balance on those two wheels. This will take some practice as well. Continue to repeat your affirmations aloud, several times a day for the next 30 days and you will be amazed at how much you change your thinking and attitude.
Above all, take action. Do nothing and nothing gets done. Do something and many things are placed in motion.
Regardless of what you are doing in life, you need to take action. Do something every day to put your plan into motion.

About The Author:
Jill Miller is the Founder of the Fit4Life Club.
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Is shiatsu massage the ultimate stress relief treatment?
My first shiatsu massage
I opened my eyes suddenly. He was smiling at me. Then I realised I must have fallen asleep. It was a strange feeling. Energised, refreshed and relaxed, all at the same time. And it was so enjoyable. If that is a full body shaitsu massage, I want another.
Shiatsu massage is done fully clothed, but nothing restrictive must be worn, I was told. I lay on a futon on the floor. He started by placing his hands on my stomach and closed his eyes, just sensing my energy. Then he started to work his way around my body using all sorts of massage techniques combined with stretching and pulling of my arms and legs.
But the best bit was when he worked around my head and neck. That felt so good. And when he moved down my spine with his hands chopping and kneading. My whole body tingled and I felt a rush of energy. I think it was about then that I must have drifted off to sleep.
What is a full body massage?
The session starts with some questions. General health, problems, pain, tension spots and any existing medical conditions. This builds a case history. If you have a number of regular treatments your case history is kept current with the results of each session.
Lying on your back, the giver kneels down beside you and places a hand on your abdomen. This is a 'hara' diagnosis. The Japanese word 'hara' means your centre and it reveals much about your energy system to a sensitive shaitsu practitioner. The shiatsu massage technique involves stimulating or relaxing the acupuncture points or meridians of your body.
The word 'shiatsu' means 'finger pressure'. The purpose of these massage techniques is to release and balance the flow of 'ki' or energy, at points where it has become blocked or overstimulated.
A full body session will include work on your abdomen, chest, shoulders, arms, hands, head, neck, legs, feet and back. You get your arms and legs pushed and pulled. You are kneaded and chopped with hands and static finger pressure is applied at specific points on your body.
Why do you feel both energised and relaxed?
Your body has a network of energy channels or 'meridians' in which your 'ki' flows. This unseen network follows similar pathways to the nervous system and provides a constant supply of life-giving energy.
And just like a busy freeway, blockages in the flow can occur. But unlike a freeway these constrictions often do not clear naturally, causing local pain, tension, irritation or even illness. And because the meridians connect all the organs together, it can cause problems in other parts of your body too.
Shiatsu clears these blockages, freeing your energy, so you feel energised. Clearing blocked energy releases tension. The massaging techniques and the power of 'human touch' has a tremendous relaxing effect on your whole body. This is why you can fall asleep. Releasing all your tension you instantly relax into much deeper levels of mind which border on sleep.
Where does this form of massage originate from?
Shiatsu massage started in the 6th Century in Japan. The modern-day founder of shiatsu as a therapy is Tokujiro Namikoshi and the Institute for Shiatsu therapy which he opened in 1925 on the Island of Hokkaido. After 20,000 graduates, shiatsu is widely practiced in Japan. It is also practiced in China but is called acupressure.
The study of shaitsu involves a lot more than just finger pressure and massage techniques. Students study anatomy, physiology, the meridians and energy 'circuits' of the body, pressure points, case studies and 'hara' diagnosis.
They must have many hours of practice on volunteers and they must be fit and strong. A practitioner must be comfortable sitting, kneeling and squatting on the floor. Something we are not use to doing in the west.
Why shiatsu is the ultimate stress relief
We all lead busy lives balancing work, homes, relationships and many other triggers for stress and tension. These triggers build slowly but surely, especially if your life is 'full-on' with little rest and relaxation. You will notice the signs: inability to relax, irritability or you may suffer from insomnia. These are just a few of the symptoms.
This stress causes body and muscle tension and many inbalances in the way your body works. In turn, the vital energy that flows around your body becomes constricted and blocked causing pain and discomfort. We all know the therapeutic value of massage for releasing tension but Shiatsu combines tension release with energy unblocking, all in one session.
A Shiatsu massage melts away all your accumulated stress and tension and gives you an energy boost all at the same time. There are not many therapies that can do this and be so enjoyable too.

Terry Dunn writes regular articles on how to use alternative therapies to improve your health. From aromatherapy to yoga, discover what it's like, how it works and how you can benefit. To read more articles, visit his website, http://www.holistichealthtalk.com