From time to time, we all look for someone to bail us out of difficult situations.  When it comes to weight loss, far too many people are relying on others to do the work for them.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you may not even realize that you are looking to be bailed out.  You may think I’m crazy to even mention it.  But let’s take a look at a typical situation.

Most people who are looking to lose weight are looking for the easiest way to drop some pounds.  As a result, they try a bunch of different hyped methods.  They try different diets, different workouts, different pills, different machines and devices, etc.

What do all of these things have in common?

They were all created by somebody else.

Therefore, if you try any of these solutions cooked up by somebody claiming that you will lose weight easy with them, then you were looking for someone to bail you out.  You were looking for someone to hold your hand and show you how to lose weight.  You were looking for the diet to lose the weight for you.  You were looking for the easy workout to do the work for you.  You were looking for the machine, the pill, the whatever to do the work for you.

You were looking for the magic bullet, the magical bail out.

But it never turned out the way you wanted.

You never lost the weight you wanted, or at least you were never able to maintain your weight loss.

Why?

Because you covered up your problems with temporary “solutions”.

It’s like taking a Tylenol for a bad back.  Unless you treat the underlying problems, the symptoms will keep coming back.

In the case of weight loss, unless you make some positive changes to your lifestyle, you will never be able to maintain any kind of significant progress in a healthy manner.

This topic deserves some more exploration, so I’ll post a part two tomorrow.

What time is it? The time is now!

Sounds stupid, I know, but think about it. The only time you will ever live in is right now. The past is done. You lived in the past when the past was the present and at that point it was “now”. But it is done.

The future has not come yet. The future will never come. Tomorrow will always be tomorrow. Tomorrow will never be today. Think about it.

The only time there is, is right now. That’s not to say we shouldn’t learn things from the past. We absolutely should learn something from all our successes and failures. However, we cannot change the past.

We also cannot change the future. We cannot change the future because it will always be out of reach. That’s not to say that we cannot set ourselves up for days to come. I am a huge believer in setting long-term goals. Rather, we must realize that putting important things off for the future does absolutely nothing for us NOW! Furthermore, the only way to shape the future is through a series of “nows”.

Too many people live in the past.

Too many people live in hopes that the future will be better.

Too few people live in the NOW. And now is the only time when anything actually gets done.

So ask yourself, “What can I do now that will help me get to my goals?” Ask yourself this every time your face a decision of any kind. Do not stress over past actions or decisions. Do not worry about things you cannot control. Do not wait for the time to be “just right” to do something that will improve your life.

Do something positive NOW!

You are living now, so act like it. Have some fun and have a great day. Have a great life. Have a great NOW!

I’m bad.  I do not follow my own advice well.  I don’t practice what I preach.  I don’t do what I say I just say what to do.

You get the picture.

It has been almost 2 weeks since my last blog post.  My goal was to post at least once each day.  I wanted to make this blog a priority for myself so that it would grow and people would want to read it on a regular basis.

I started out strong and then stepped off the path.  This goes against everything that I have taught about discipline and consistency.  This just goes to show how hard those two things really are.

But they are there for a reason.  The difficulties are there to create high barriers so that only the strongest and those with mental toughness can make it to the top.

There is a reason Tiger Woods is on top of the golf world.  He has to hit the same ball in the same hole with the same clubs and the same weather conditions as the other golfers, but he stands at the top because he has been disciplined and consistent in his approach since a very young age.  Sure he is naturally gifted, but aren’t we all in some way?

We all have what it takes to succeed.  When it comes to weight loss, you don’t even have to be the best.  But you do have to be better than most.  Do not fall into the trap of being like the majority.  If the majority jumped off a bridge, would you?

Then why are you doing what the majority is doing to lose weight?

The majority is overweight!  The majority is unhealthy!

But you don’t have to be.

Be consistent.  Start some disciplines and follow them.  Then watch how amazingly successful you become.

And I will do the same.  I promise.

Just want to give you a little heads up about what the School of Weight Loss is going to be all about.  I want to create a place where I can teach a great number of people how to lose weight the right way.  I want to create an environment that makes the learning process simple and fun.  I plan on it being a place where we can all help each other grow to new levels.

There is going to be a ton of content over at the School.  I plan on teaching everything I know.  I would also like to bring in others to teach what I don’t know.  It’s going to be a lot of fun and I can’t wait to kick things off.

To get a taste of what some of the content is going to be like, I’m starting a huge weight loss guide over at HubPages.  Right now, all I have is the main page with a general overview of weight loss strategies.  I plan on creating many more hubs that go into further detail.  To see this for yourself, check out this link:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Weight-Loss—The-Ultimate-Guide 

I will post more info on the School of Weight Loss as I get closer to opening the doors.

Over at HubPages.com I recently created a Hub entitled 5 Steps to Start Your Weight Loss Journey.  In the article, I discuss steps that you need to take before you get started that will put you in position to achieve great weight loss success.  Simply click the link to check it out.

Here’s a quick weight loss tip that is so ridiculously simple it can’t possibly be effective…or can it?

Ready?  Here it comes.

Move!

That’s it.  Get up and move.  Our bodies were not meant to sit around all day.  We are supposed to move.  Our bodies want to move.  So move!

Don’t wait for your butt to get numb or your back to get stiff.  Get up and move around regularly.  And have some fun with it.

Go ahead and take a little walk.  Play with the kids.  Play with the pets.  Take up a sport.  Go out dancing.  Put some music on and dance in the house (don’t worry if you look crazy).

Moving can be something simple like moving a few boxes in the basement or something challenging like going rock climbing.  Do whatever you want to do but make sure you do something.  Kick that sedentary lifestyle to the curb.

One quick thing to add, however, is that these simple things do not replace regular exercise.  You still need to do that, too.  This quick tip just makes your overall weight loss program that much more effective.

Now, go on and have some fun!

This article may be a little sensitive to those of you who believe that the best way to lose weight is to do lots of cardio, but you need to read it anyway. I’m not going to sugarcoat things for you. Unless you are focusing your weight loss program around sound nutrition principles and high intensity exercise (i.e. weight training and intervals), then you are wasting your time with cardio.

Aerobic cardio exercise is useful only as a supplemental part of your weight loss program AFTER high intensity work has been performed. In fact, most people probably need little, if any, traditional cardio to lose weight effectively.

The whole notion that aerobic cardio is the most effective form of exercise for weight loss is based on two major myths. The first is the myth of the “fat burning zone”. The second is the myth of the maximal caloric burn. These myths are closely related and together have caused what I call Treadmill-Elliptical Hopping Syndrome (or TEHS). This is when people spend the majority, or even all, of their workouts jumping from the treadmill to the elliptical and/or vice-versa.

Let’s first take a look at the myth of the “fat burning zone”. This is based on the idea that one burns more calories from fat at a certain intensity (approx. 30% of max heart rate). This is a huge misconception. The truth of the matter is that at this point lies the greatest percentage of calories burned from fat. In other words, when working out at approximately 30% of your maximum heart rate you will burn the greatest possible percentage of your calories from fat (as opposed to carbohydrates or protein). The problem is that you will NOT be burning the greatest TOTAL amount of calories from fat at this intensity. This brings up the question: would you rather burn 100% of 100 calories or 50% of 500 calories from fat? For those of your who don’t like math, this is a difference between 100 and 250 calories respectively. There for, even though you burn less of a percentage of calories from fat at a high intensity, you will burn more total calories from fat overall. This shoots down the myth of the “fat burning zone”.

Myth #2 is related, but goes a bit deeper. It is based on the notion that you burn the most calories from long-duration, steady-state aerobic exercise than higher intensity exercise like weight training and intervals. This, actually, happens to be true most of the time. You likely will end up burning more calories on the treadmill working at a decent pace than you would following a routine of higher intensity weight training.

The problem is that our bodies do not stop functioning when we leave the gym. The calories you burn after a workout count just as much as the calories you burn during a workout. This is where high intensity exercise shines. After a bout of weight training or high intensity interval training, your body must work hard to return to resting levels. There are a lot of processes that continue to work above normal rates for hours after a good workout. This means that your body will be expending a lot of energy over the course of the day. This is a good thing because that energy expenditure can also be called caloric burn. Over a 24-hour period, it has been shown time and time again that high intensity weight and interval training burns more calories than the long duration, steady-state aerobic cardio that most people focus their weight loss programs around.

I strongly advise you to get off the treadmill and start hitting the weights if you want to lose weight. Of course, make sure you consult with your physician to ensure that you are prepared to handle high intensity exercise.

There is a lot of misinformation going around surrounding weight loss. A lot of it has been ingrained in our minds. It’s not your fault for being convinced that cardio is the way to go to lose weight. I know a lot of very smart people who thought this as well. Now, they know better because I showed them where the misconceptions stemmed from. I’ve just done the same for you, so you do not have this excuse anymore. I hope you lift some weights and/or do some intervals in your next workout. Just go out and do it.

This may seem too simple.  It may seem insignificant.  Heck, it may seem like a boring tip and a waste of your time to think about.  But, the truth of the matter is, the failure to comply with the terms of this tip are killing most weight loss efforts.

Drink water!  Ditch the juice, don’t even think about soda (not even diet soda), get rid of the iced tea, and avoid that milk.  Your drinks should have no calories, no sugar, no caffeine, and no chemicals.  That’s right, nothing!

For you coffee and tea drinkers, caffeine is a diuretic.  This means, it makes your body get rid of water.  Dehydration is not a good thing.  It makes you feel lousy and can be a cause for health problems, minor and serious alike.

Staying hydrated with water is one step you can take to keeping your health at optimal levels.  If you do drink coffee or tea, make sure you don’t go too long without water.

Back to losing weight, the simple switch to water can cause you to cut back on a substantial amount of daily calories and sugar consumption.  Thus, the switch is invaluable to weight loss success.  Do it and see the fat starting to drop off immediately.

Hi,

This is Matt Maresca.  I’m a fitness professional specializing in helping people reach their fat loss goals.  I started this blog because there is an incredible amount of misinformation that the public takes in every day.  The internet and other forms of media that we have today make it easy for this misinformation to spread and become common “knowledge”.

I guess that is why the people of the world (particularly industrialized nations) are in such bad physical condition these days.  But I like to look at the flip side of the coin.  If it is easy to spread misinformation then it should also be easy to spread good quality information.  That is the reason for this blog.

I want to spread the word on good weight loss practices.  I want people to learn how to lose weight in a healthy manner and keep it off for the long term.  I hope to teach you to separate the hope from the hype and the real from the ridiculous.  It isn’t easy, but given some schooling, you can become a real expert.  Most people have so many misconceptions about weight loss that just clearing up one or two a week can make a world of a difference.

I plan to do better than that.  I plan to attack lies and propaganda every single day.  I plan to teach and inspire with my daily (sometimes twice daily) posts.  That is my mission and I have already chosen to accept it.

I want you to come back often so you don’t miss a thing.  Subscribe to the feed, subscribe to my newsletter, visit my website, and e-mail me to keep pushing ahead of the curve.  Then, tell your friends, tell strangers, click the digg button, click the other buttons, link to this page on your forum or message board posts, and just flat out spread the word.  I cannot do this alone.  I need your help.

But first, I need you to help yourself.