Anyway, we wanted to answer the question that many of our readers seem to be wondering and that’s if the cold weather makes it harder to lose weight. On the face of it, it does.

According to medical research, it is suggested that the colder weather reduces calories burned although this would seem somewhat contradictory to studies of survival which take place in areas of extreme cold which suggest that your body needs more calories in order to survive the cold. At present, the science is pretty sketchy as the actual effects of the cold weather on weight loss.

One thing that is clear however is the fact that protein breakdown is heightened in the cold weather so anyone looking to convert fat into muscle mass had better warm up before lifting weights or doing toning exercises.

I think it is pretty clear that the cold weather makes people eat more and do less. They spend time inside eating comfort foods and watching movies (avoiding walking to the gym or perhaps even avoiding the gym altogether) and making themselves feel warm inside with a massively unhealthy but comforting dish.

The best way to keep your weight loss programme on track is to watch what you eat and try to stay as active as possible. Enjoy the snow; even if you can’t get your car out, if you can, walk to work. Play in the snow with your children (pulling a sledge is a superb way to burn calories and tone arms and shoulders, not to mention have a good time!).

Experts say that you shouldn’t blame yourself for this yo-yo effect but rather look at the method for weight loss you are using.

We understand that it can feel extremely frustrating to watch yourself regain weight having just got down to that ideal waist size but you shouldn’t feel disappointed with yourself. The most common reason for regaining weight is because the weight loss method used simply wasn’t sustainable in the long term. Things like fad diets and the diet pills we mentioned earlier very much fall into this category.

These quick fixes send all the wrong signals to your mind and your body. Once you’ve lost the weight you set out to, it is all too easy to fall back into your old ways and begin to eat the foods you were avoiding and generally treating yourself for losing all that weight – only to wake up in a matter of weeks and realise you are back where you started.

This can sometimes trigger even more severe weight gain as the psychological impact of the weight gain takes effect – we start to believe that we are destined to be fat or that try as we might the pounds just won’t stay off so we may as well enjoy all the food we want.

Steady weight loss strategy

The NHS recommend a weight loss strategy that encourages steady but constant weight loss until an optimum weight is achieved before entering into the maintenance stage of ensuring you keep the weight off. They say that a safe rate of weight loss is around 1lb-2lb per week – anything more and in most cases this could be considered a crash diet which may well not be sustainable long term.

Dr Andrew Brewster, an expert in obesity and weight management, said “A combination of diet changes and changes to the level of physical activity is the best method [for weight loss]. The key is making small changes that you can keep for life, rather than drastic changes that you only stick to for a few weeks.”

So essentially you should be looking for small ways that can achieve sustainable results over a longer period of time ensuring that you not only lose weight but you also keep the weight off. Dr Brewster recommends making lifestyle adjustments like swapping one high calorie snack a day with something healthier, take up/get back into a sport you enjoy but for whatever reason don’t do and incorporate more movement into your day like taking a walk at lunch rather than watching those hilarious YouTube videos.

Once you have small changes in place you should begin to notice results and once these results have been achieved it is a case of keeping them up through sticking to what it was you changed about your life – remember that slipping into your old ways will result in weight gain all over again.

If you find that the small changes aren’t enough to get you down to your perfect body weight then simply look to incorporate and embed another set of small changes. These incremental lifestyle tweaks will ensure your weight loss programme doesn’t become too punishing and you can continue to make small changes to the way you live as and when you feel it necessary until you are so used to being this super-fit, super-healthy individual that neither your body nor your mind can remember any differently.

OK so we haven’t quite reached Christmas just yet but  understanding why the January dieters fail is crucial if you want to lose weight in the New Year.

What’s the reason? Most January dieter’s ambitions falter because they just weren’t realistic with their weight loss goals. They expected too much of themselves and their new plans in such a short space of time that they were simply destined to fail – and fail they do which is why so many of them quit.

To a certain extent it isn’t their fault because many are lulled into taking out gym memberships and buying weight loss supplements by the promises of ultra-fast results and their claims are usually backed up by a hunk in his trunks or a slender lady in her swimming costume. People want results and they want them fast which is exactly why marketers for gyms and weight loss products promise these kinds of results but for the average human being, this just isn’t possible.

They go into their January diet with all the wrong ideas – thinking it will be easy to hit the gym 5 times a week when they’ve never been before or that cutting their favourite ‘naughty’ food out of the picture entirely is going to be a piece of cake. These kinds of major lifestyle upheavals simply don’t wash after the initial excitement and burst of enthusiasm wear off.

Here at WeightLossTopic.com, we are big fans of lifestyle tweaks. We all have routines that we are used to and trying to make major changes in an instant is like shovelling snow whilst its still snowing – utterly pointless. If you are more realistic and understand that if you want real results over a sustained period of time then you are going to have to commit to your weight loss plan for longer. The only way you are going to be able to keep this up is if it fits with your lifestyle.

If you commute 5 days a week to your tiring job, have a partner and a daughter who goes to ballet twice a week then trying to fit 6 gym sessions a week into your schedule is only going to be sustainable for at most a few weeks (hence why most people have given up by February!).

Make yourself aware that real results take time and that even if you have only lost a few pounds after a month than this is OK because you are still making progress. If you want to make positive changes to your lifestyle which will last you a lifetime rather than short-term gains that start you down the yo-yo diet path then little tweaks to how you live your life are the key.

Going into your weight loss programme with clear outcomes and an idea when you want to achieve certain goals by is essential. There is nothing wrong with having weight loss ambitions or making big changes to your lifestyle, diet or exercise regime but you have to be prepared for the consequences. Having the motivation to hit the gym daily is no mean feat. Have a realistic plan in place and monitor your progress, remember that when you hit those key milestones, you’ve achieved a little step towards your ultimate aim so you should be proud of yourself for that.

In reality the best way to lose weight in the longer term is by creating a healthy overall lifestyle so you need to take a holistic view of your day to day life and look at all areas from the amount of sleep you get, the stresses and strains you face, the diet you eat and the exercise you do. All of this has an impact on your weight and your overall health and believe it or not, sleep is one of the key areas to focus on because without the right amount of sleep, your muscles don’t have a chance to repair, your mind doesn’t have the time to recharge and amazingly your body actually consumes and uses calories whilst you sleep – so don’t forget that as a key area to focus on.

What we really wanted to do with this resource is to give you a selection of the best ways we have covered to lose weight so that you can easily explore our advice from our archive so you can easily find the best way for YOU to lose weight.

Understand weight loss

Reasons why people fail at weight loss

3 diet mistakes people will make

Signs that you need to lose weight

Natural Weight Loss

5 ways to lose weight naturally

Green tea as a weight loss aid

Supplements

Weight loss products – how to spot a scam

Our review of alli weight loss pills

How to choose the right weight loss pills

Extreme Weight Loss

Gastric bypasses

The dangers of rapid weight loss

Getting started with aerobics can be a little daunting, because even though your local gym/health club might have regular classes these can often be full of more advanced exercisers who seem so energetic even after 50 star-jumps. Avoid getting into the mindset that you are too unfit to go to a class; remember that you are just starting out and they will likely have been in your position at some point in their life. You don’t have to start out with the more advanced aerobics right away – start small and aim for progress rather than ‘killing’ yourself right away.

Beginner aerobic exercises can mean any number of things but essentially they are movements designed to get your blood flowing and your heart beating just above your standstill rate; things like walking on the spot and moving your arms or legs with vigour to get yourself ready for more advanced exercises. You can then gradually build yourself up to doing more movements and by doing them faster.

Start building on your exercises by doing as many jumping jacks as you can manage or if you have an exercise step at home you can try to do as many step ups as possible – all of these seemingly small exercises will help improve your fitness level, tone up your body and prepare you for serious aerobics where you can really begin to see results.

The big thing about aerobics is that it is supposed to be good fun as well which is why often music is played at classes to provide a bit of motivation and to evoke the feeling of dancing – something which most people enjoy, making aerobics feel less like exercise and more like a leisure activity.

It is easy to gain a few extra pounds or let your exercise plan slip but with the height of the summer just around the corner, there really are no excuses for you to not reign yourself in and start working hard to reach your body goals and be the envy of others when you start flashing the skin.

We wanted to prepare a few quick weight loss tips that can help you get back into shape easily and in time for summer.

1. Cut down on calories

Obvious but essential. Start taking account for your daily intake and cut down wherever possible. Keep a food diary and identify where you are going wrong so that you can make slight lifestyle tweaks without facing a massive uphill struggle. You will be surprised at how easy the initial stages of weight loss are if you embark on a sensible calorie controlled diet.

2. Exercise, exercise, exercise

Sorry but there really are no shortcuts to getting that beach ready body so you will have to incorporate exercise back into your routine. The easiest way to ensure you keep up with your fitness plan is to find a buddy to workout with, that way you have a commitment to eachother and a stronger reason not to give up. You should also try to find exercise that you find enjoyable as this increases the chance that you will keep it up and you can even incorporate exercise into your daily routine, why not walk those last few stops on the bus instead of getting dropped off right on your street?!

3. Eat little and often

Try to avoid over-indulging and feasting on 3 meals a day but rather provide yourself with a smaller portion and eat frequently throughout the day. This will ensure you have a balanced supply of calories through the day, it will prevent you from feeling lethargic and will ensure you have the energy levels to exercise and cope with your busy lifestyle without feeling the urge to hit up the vending machine in the latter part of a Wednesday afternoon.

4. Always eat breakfast

There is a common misconception that skipping breakfast will help you to lose weight, it won’t. You need to eat breakfast because it not only provides your body with some much needed energy after it has had no food for at least 8 hours but it also kickstarts your metabolism helping you to burn off what you eat later in the day. Eating breakfast will also ensure that you don’t feel the need to snack at 11am and crack open the chocolate bar or sugar ladened biscuits.

Regular exercise is a very important part of any effective weight loss program or regime. It also can help to prevent the onset of various diseases and generally improve your overall health. It does not actually matter what type of physical activity you perform such as sports, aerobic exercise, household chores, or even work related tasks are all beneficial.

Studies have shown that even the most inactive people can gain significant health benefits if they partake in at least 30 minutes or more of physical activity per day. Research consistently shows that regular physical activity, combined with healthy eating habits, is the most efficient and healthy way to control your weight. Whether you are trying to lose weight or simply maintain it, you should always understand the important role of physical activity and include it in your general lifestyle.

Balancing the calories used through physical activity with those that you eat will help you to achieve your desired weight. When you eat more calories than you need to perform your daily activities your body will store those extra calories and you will gain weight, but if you eat fewer calories than you use, your body uses the stored calories and you will lose weight, so if you eat the same amount of calories as your body uses, your weight will stay the same.

Exercise is basically divided into two categories. Aerobic exercise, also called cardiovascular exercise or simply cardio, causes you to breathe harder and therefore increases your heart rate. Performed on a regular basis, activities such as running and swimming both improve your respiratory capacity, which is your lungs, and your circulatory system which is your heart and blood vessels. The other category is strength building, which is also also called resistance training. This increases the proportion of muscle on your body by doing activities such as weight lifting with free weights and using a machine with variable resistance. As muscle is a metabolically active tissue, the more muscular you are the higher your metabolism will be. This means that you will burn more calories even when resting.

You can challenge your body to improve by exercising just a little outside your “comfort zone.” each time, so that when what you’re doing is no longer a challenge, you can do a little more or do it a little harder, faster or longer.

When you work your muscles, you may feel a little soreness the next day. This is called “delayed-onset muscle soreness” and it is especially common when you first begin exercising. Stressing your muscles causes microscopic tears to their fibres, which is the cause of the soreness, but the positive aspect  is that as your muscles heal they actually become stronger.

If you experience any other type of pain, stop immediately and see a doctor. Our bodies will always tell us when we are abusing them too much

One of many things that you need to think about when looking to buy weight loss capsules is that of cost . Weight loss supplements are sold within a fairly wide range of different costs.  It is quite normal to find weight loss supplements that sell for as low as £10 and others that can even sell for hundreds of pounds. It is very important to spend time checking out the various options, but don’t stretch yourself financially, because if you cannot afford the diet pills  stress can cause you to eat more if you are having problems affording the pills !

The manufacturer of the weight loss pill in question is an important factor that you should take into consideration .   You should be able to find information on the company’s history and success or failure stories from other users by doing a web search and not relying on testimonials on the manufacturers website or sales literature. Any company that regularly has a bad reputation for selling weight loss tablets that do not work, means there is a good possibility that you should stay away from that manufacturer and all of their products.  Although weight loss pills can often be associated with poor results, it is also important to remember that taking the wrong weight loss tablets may also put your health at risk.

In conjunction with examining the reputation or history of the weight loss pill manufacturer in question, you are also advised to examine the history of the weight loss capsules that you are thinking of trying. In order to save yourself time and money, you will want to try and find the weight loss tablets that have been proven the most successful .  One of the best ways to do this is by visiting online weight loss internet websites or message boards, reading product reviews, or by consulting with a healthcare professional.

Check the composition of the dieting supplements, and then again research any ingredients that you don’t know anything about.  Most importantly, it is vital to determine whether or not you are allergic to any of the ingredients.  It is also important to see if any of the ingredients in your preferred weight loss pill are dangerous or if they have been recalled .  The best way to find out this information is by consulting with a healthcare professional or by performing an internet search, and it is advisable  to perform an on line search with the name of each individual ingredient.

You should also consider the pros and cons about where to buy your diet tablets from. Web based stores can be cheaper although you might be able to get better information from a pharmacist or specialist . Irrespective of whether you are shopping on-line or on the high street it is important to make sure that you are doing business with a reputable and trustworthy supplier.

Your first step to finding the right exercise video is to find one you are going to actually want to do. Irrespective of how aerobic or fat busting your new exercise video is, it won’t be any good if it sits on the shelf and doesn’t interest or motivate you.

When you are comparing aerobics videos, you should consider the workout’s intended impact level.  Low impact is best for beginners and is considered the safest level of impact with the lowest injury risk. The main difference is that high and mixed impact videos may also include jumping or hopping with both feet off the ground during some movements, which may be too much in the beginning.

After taking the impact into consideration, consider what style and type of exercise the video teaches. Some examples of popular aerobics videos are step, which involves stepping up and down on a plastic step, sports or dance-based  such as disco dancing with exercise movements incorporated or even Jazzercise. Many aerobics fans prefer videos that include cross-training, which involves  several different types of exercise.

If you are particularly interested in improving your muscle tone, you may also want to consider investing in a toning video, but you may feel more comfortable with working towards toning after you have lost some weight with your initial aerobic workout.

Some aerobics videos do incorporate toning into their workout, while other videos are devoted to toning entirely. You can also find videos that use free weights such as small lightweight dumbbells which should be appropriate for exercise beginners. If the video describes doing a fair amount of floor work, you may want to invest in an exercise mat for extra comfort and to help reduce any potential injury.

It is also well worth considering the background music on the video and the personality of the instructor. Whilst these points are less significant compared to the exercise itself, they do matter as to whether or not you continue to use the video.

If the music is something like you would hear in a lift or supermarket, it is a good chance that it is not going to help your motivation levels. If you find the instructor’s personality or style of commentary to be annoying, you will not want to encounter that person every time you exercise so you should find an instructor or even personality that you like  so that you can stay motivated and stick with it.

As there is such a wide variety of videos available, finding the right one for you can take a lot of trial and error and can also prove costly if you are purchasing your videos outright, so you might want to consider renting from your local library or maybe picking up a bargain in a car boot, perhaps looking at the profile of the seller to see how good the video might be !

A lot of people like to see results quickly in order to remain on track and indeed most people will want to see a measurable benefit as a reward for any perceived sacrifice that they are making. The key is to redefine those measures of how you feel as well as look, so your mood, food and activity diaries are essential to success.

Once you have shown yourself to be able to stick to a new regime you should feel more confident and in control which is in itself rewarding and a very positive step. A sense of routine can also help to manage your stress levels and helps to eliminate the potential virtuous-guilt cycle when it comes to your relationship with food and exercise.

It is important that you avoid weighing or measuring yourself every day as significant changes are unlikely to occur in such a short space of time and this easily throw you off track, instead look to check your progress every week..

Tell your family, friends or even colleagues about your plans and your goals. Their support will be invaluable, and help you to cope when you are having an off day.

If you have a child or a partner who is a fussy eater, get them involved in the choice of recipes, shopping and cooking. They will be far more likely to try a new dish that they have picked and cooked than one just presented to them, and you will all benefit from healthier menu.

If you see a buy one get one free deal on healthy foods such as fruit or vegetables, then make use of the good value by using half and maybe freezing the rest for when you need it, but remember to buy only what you need and don’t be tempted by offers on unhealthy snacks such as biscuits and crisps.

Find activities that you enjoy and try to partake in a range of different ones, which include both aerobic and muscle toning to maintain or improve your fitness, mobility and strength. As your body ages, the importance of regular activity to keep joints and muscles supple becomes even clearer. Keep your goals realistic and if you are not used to regular activity you need to build up your routine gradually rather than trying to run a marathon after just a few weeks.