Do not slouch in your chair but try to maintain an erect posture with your tummy tucked in.

Slouching is a very bad habit. Not only is it bad for your back but it also gives you a very flabby figure. It is your way of saying yes to a comfortable, weight-gaining pose.

Make it a point to always sit as erect as you can. It is also a terrific way to ward off back problems.

Weight Loss Programs

Psst. I would like to let you in on a secret.

I understand that most of us tend to put on weight particularly in the mid section. It is the tummy that seems to have a mind of its own.

Well I will tell you a sure shot method to reduce the flab around the waist line. Mind you this doesn’t hold true for post pregnancy tummies.

This is what you have to do.

Breathe in air as strongly as you can and as you do so, tuck in your tummy as much as you can. Hold it like this for a few seconds and then slowly release your breath taking care not to let out your tummy. Try to keep breathing like this at least fifty or sixty times in a day.

In fact, breathe like this whenever you can remember to do so.

After the first day, you should feel the muscles of your stomach tightening each time you do this. Then you know that you are on the right track.

If you practice this without fail for 20 days, at the end of the twentieth day, you will have lost at least an inch.

Undress and stare at yourself in front of your mirror. If what you see displeases you, then you have all the more reason to work out.

Try tucking in the extra fat in all those wide areas, this will give you an idea of which part you need to be working on.

Turn to you side and get a very good view of your side profile. This is an excellent way of checking whether you have a tummy that is starting to bulge or has bulged already.

Try pulling in air and then take a look at your tummy, if it has gone in even a little bit, there is hope for you. If you start now, you can control it where it is now and may be if you really set your mind to it, you can lose a couple of inches in a just a few weeks.

Weighing yourself on your bathroom scales is a good idea but personally I would recommend this mirror viewing. To be very frank, a few pounds gain may shock you but does not really disgust you. But a flabby figure and extra fat certainly will.

While traveling in an elevator instead of just standing there and staring stupidly at the numbers going up or down, try raising yourself onto your toes and then back on your feet again. Do this several times. Try flexing your buttock muscles as well, particularly good for you if you play golf.

In fact there are many muscles in our body that we can twitch and flex without inviting the attention of others.

Even if others do notice you, its no big deal provided you are flexing a muscle in a decent part of the body. (Most of the other parts do not have muscles any way.)

Others might brand you as a health freak, but it is miles better to be known as a heath freak than as a sack of potatoes.

Do not carry your mobile phone around but leave it a place where you can hear it ringing. In this way you make sure that you at least get up and walk towards it. This might sound silly but I really mean it. You need a reason to keep yourself going.

Life today has become so easy that we have every thing at our fingertips. All we have to do is push a button here and push a button there. The only things that get any exercise at all are our fingers. Years ago Charles Darwin put forward a theory of use and disuse.

According to this theory, a certain part of the body that is put to constant use develops a lot and a certain part of the body that has no use at all becomes smaller and smaller and gradually ceases to exist.

Certain examples that he quoted were the long neck of the giraffe, which appeared to become longer and longer when the giraffe stretched higher and higher to reach the leaves at the treetops. He quoted the example of the absence of a tail in human beings to illustrate the example of the theory of disuse.

Now if Darwin’s theory were to prove true, as the years go by man is likely to end up with just a huge head, a few fingers and maybe some other parts of the body that are also put to use.

That is why I made it a point to say that you have to drive your self to move about. A cell phone may be convenient, but the same thing can turn out to simplify life just a little too bit. There are other arguments against the use of cell phones but that is beside our topic.

What I would suggest is that at home or in your office, leave the cell phone lying about so that you can hear it ring, but can’t just reach into your pocket and answer it. See to it that you have to actually stand up and walk a few steps before you can pick it up.

Join a dance class.

Dancing is a wonderful way to burn off those extra calories. It is true. When you dance you are in fact burning away a lot of calories.

I don’t mean the slow ballroom kind of dances in which one person actually leans on the other one for support. I’m talking about fast dances.

The best way to do it is by joining a dance class because they will really work you out.

But I would suggest that you wait for a couple more pounds to vanish before you think of becoming a ballet dancer.

If you have a dog, take it for a run and let the dog lead you on. You’ll be surprised how much exercise a dog can give you.

Animals are sensible enough to know that they need a lot of exercise, so let your animal lead you on.

Take your pet dog out for as walk and before you know what hit you, it will turn out to be a run.

If you can’t think of any thing else to do try punching your pillow.

Now here’s another one of those weird ideas but believe me it works. Not too many of us have punching bags at home and if you have really fluffy pillow giving it a good punching routine is just as good as anything else.

This is also a nice way of letting off steam so go for it. After all something is better than nothing.

I would suggest that you don’t hit it too violently or else the stuffing might come out. Don’t bother too much about the force with which you hit the pillow. It is number of hits that are important. Try to get at least fifty punches in one bout.

Try massaging your partner. This is a fun way to lose weight.

It is something that can give your partner a lot of pleasure and at the same time can give you a lot of exertion thereby leading to weight loss.

The attitude over here should of course be you scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. It should not be a one sided effort or else the interest will soon dwindle.

In fact it is a good idea if a couple take up weight loss routines together. They can keep watch over each other, help control those urges to eat and motivate each other to stick to the routine.

There are a lot of things that couples can do together that can help them to keep physically active.

Try breathing exercises.

You might be surprised to know that breathing exercises too can lead to weight loss. If you are doing the breathing exercises properly, you will find that you can exert a lot of pressure on the muscles around the mid section.

You can feel a tightening of these muscles each time you breathe in or breathe out. So go ahead and breathe properly, it is good for you.

Tuck in your tummy whenever you walk.

Get that proper gait. The best way to do that is to tuck in your tummy and inflate your chest.

Don’t let your tummy hang over your belt line like some unruly layer of flesh. Bring it under the belt.

Each time you tuck in your tummy, you will feel the pressure on the muscles of your stomach.

This tightening and loosening of these muscles is even better than stomach crunches.

When nobody is watching try doing pelvic gyrations. If you take a moment to observe it you will see that it is the mid section of our body that gets the least bit of exercise and that is probably why the signs of weight gain are mostly seen there.

It is the same reason why we find it very difficult to lose weight in that section. So the best thing that you can do is consciously try to give that part a little bit of exercise.

Stomach crunches might be too strenuous an exercise to start off with but gyrations are relatively mild. Pelvic gyrations make you thrust your midsection towards all directions and this is the best way of tightening every muscle in that mid section and that is of course what weight loss is all about.

Stop using remote controls. Remote controls are the bane of a prospective weight loser. They may be remarkable gadgets by themselves but from the weight loss point of view, they just aren’t very helpful.

They really encourage us to take a laid back kind of attitude towards life itself. In fact if remote controls were not there, the television would not have become so popular. It is because of remote controls that people can remain where they are and switch from one channel to the other. And they only have to twitch a finger muscle to achieve this.

Now, I have nothing against multi channel television sets but what I strongly advocate is that you get up from where you are and change the channel of the TV each time you want to do so.

The same thing holds true for other remote controls as well. As it is we have remote controlled TVs, DVD players, A/Cs, garage doors, gateways and what not. The next thing we know is that we will have remote controlled people as well.

If you hate running, remember, you do not have to run a marathon to stay fit. 10 minutes of cardio each day is good enough for most.

If you can’t run, try walking. 15 minutes of brisk walking a day is enough to keep most people fit.

Any distance is walkable if you have the time, so consider walking to places that you would normally drive (such as work or the market if they’re not too far away). It may take you longer, but the health benefits will last you a lifetime.

Use the stairs instead of the elevator whenever you can. Elevators are one hell of a convenience particularly if you have to go up or down some twenty floors. But elevators also make us very lazy.

There may be no sense in trudging up some twenty flights of stairs because by the time you get there you will be totally pooped. But while coming down, if you have the time, you can easily come down the stairs instead of using the elevator. Coming down is not at all exhausting.

And talking about the time factor, I don’t think that there is much of a difference. Sometimes waiting for an elevator door to open at your floor after you hit the button can take up all of eternity.

If you have a sitting job, stand up and stretch yourself every half an hour. Most of the jobs today are indeed sitting jobs that are in one word sedentary.

This is especially true for those who sit and punch away at a keyboard or toy with a mouse all day long.

So if you have such a job, make it a point to get up at least every half an hour and stretch your self.

It is the easiest thing in the world to become a couch potato. You know what we are talking about don’t you? That shapeless thing that sits or reclines on a shapeless chair in front of the television and stupidly munches away at something fried!

If you are inclined to become a promising old couch potato, break the habit, cut at the very root of the vine.

Do you want to know what is the best way for that? Take away that favorite chair of yours. In fact, it would be a very good idea if you could keep a chair that isn’t too comfortable in front of the TV.

The cabbage soup diet is one of the most well known of all the fad diets. Many people have tried it over the years, but just remember that it is fad and weight loss is rarely permanent with quick weight loss diets. Sometimes fad diets can even have a adverse effects on your health. So keep the disclaimer in mind while reading, that this is not a permanent way of eating, and if you want to lose weight you should discuss it with your doctor and get his advice.

If you want to try to lose weight in a seven day period,
the Cabbage Soup Diet may be just the diet for you. This diet is intended to be used for a seven day period following the instructions, ingredients and proportions exactly. If after one week, you still feel that you must lose additional weight, wait two weeks eating normally during that period, then repeat the Cabbage Soup Diet for one more week. The Cabbage Soup Diet doesn’t provide you with all the nutrients needed for a permanent way of eating, but it’s a great “shock” diet to get you started on your weight loss program.

The Cabbage Soup Diet consists of 6 green onions; 2 green peppers; 1-2 cans tomatoes; 3 carrots, 10-oz mushrooms; one bunch of celery; half head of cabbage, a package of dry soup mix; 2 bouillon cubes; 48 oz of V-8 juice and seasoning to taste. The ingredients are brought to the boil and simmered for two hours. The amount of soup desired can be heated and eaten as required. You may eat as much of the soup as you like throughout the seven days.

The daily plan in addition to bottomless soup is as follows:

• Day One: – all the fresh fruit desired except bananas
• Day Two – unlimited raw or cooked vegetables and one baked potato with butter if you wish
• Day Three – Unlimited fruits except bananas and unlimited vegetables but no potato
• Day Four – Up to eight bananas and as much skim milk as you want
• Day Five — Six tomatoes and up to 20 ounces of beef, skinless chicken or broiled fish
• Day Six — Unlimited vegetables and up to 20 ounces of beef or skinless chicken. Broiled fish can be substituted for beef on one of the days only
• Day Seven – unlimited quantities of brown rice, unsweetened fruit juice and vegetables

Again, this is not a diet for extended periods. If you experience symptoms such as nausea, lightheadedness and weakness, stop the program. You should visit a health care professional if the side effects continue once you’ve returned to “normal” eating. Most people tolerate the bloated gassy feeling because they know it’s only for seven days and the expectation that they can lose up to ten pounds in one week with no chance of hunger pangs makes it worth while.