You can generally have your body fat tested at fitness centers and most gyms so ask about having it done. It's better to know you have 30% body fat and work to reduce it to 29, than not to know and only think in terms of body weight. Most people who think only of how much they weigh tend to do everything to reduce that weight, and it's usually at expense of losing more valuable muscle.

The best way to increase muscle and decrease fat is through a consistent exercise program. Start at whatever is your beginning, but do start.

Begin with an overall body conditioning type exercise program, doing whatever you enjoy, whether it be a sport, gardening, weight lifting, biking, hiking, or any other activity. Any physical movement you do regularly counts as exercise even if it is doing laundry or taking out trash. Get as much as you can out of every chore you do, and stop thinking of it as a chore but instead as an opportunity to move your body.

In early 1900s a washing machine was a new invention. People used to wash their clothes by hand, and hang them outside to dry. Being a housewife was actually a pretty strenuous job. It's no wonder women were thankful for modern conveniences like automatic washers and dryers, but now we've come to where our daily activities are not taking our bodies at all, so unless we want to get fatter and fatter we must do something about it.

Get Fit and Belly Fat Disappears

It doesn't make sense to drive around and around in parking lot looking for closest space when you're on your way to run or walk on treadmill. Why take elevator five flights every day at work and then pay a monthly fee to do StairMaster after work? What if we all started to notice that our world is full of exercise equipment. We could become so much more fit if we'd just start to notice all opportunities for physical movement we miss in name of convenience. Look around and see if you can spot some exercise opportunities, and then get busy and get fit.

~~ Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP, EFT coach and author of Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss lost 80 pounds over 17 years ago. Learn how she lost the weight and maintains that weight loss at http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Rate your hunger level on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being starving, and 10 being so full you'd explode if you ate another bite (most people should never experience either 1's or 10's). On this scale a 5 would be comfortable, 6 slightly above comfortable (maybe could have stopped sooner), 7 you over ate, and an 8 is starting to be a bit ridiculous, especially if you supposedly want to lose weight. A 9 or 10 is flat out crazy.

A 3 could mean you're hungry. Not starving, not going to come unglued if you don't eat, but hungry. A two is waiting a bit longer than you probably should, and a 1 doesn't occur except when you're simply tied up and cannot stop to eat or you've gotten yourself stuck in a situation where there simply is no food long past when you've gotten hungry. You should rarely feel hunger of a 1 or fullness of a 9 or 10.

You must decide levels for yourself, but I'd suggest making an effort to wait until you are a 3 or lower to eat and making an effort to stop at or near a 5 or 6. Sometimes you may notice sensation of hunger, note your hunger level, and then choose to wait. Don't worry about it whether you eat or not for now. The purpose this week is to make a chart and get used to keeping track of something besides your weight.

Every day you successfully write down what time and your hunger level, you get a gold star, or a smiley face, or some other "fun" reward. Rewards should not be food. Instead make them be nourishing to your soul. Some people like stickers, some like to reward themselves later with a massage, new outfit, whatever you like is a-okay with me. I like to reward myself with a massage once a month (I'd rather get one every day like Bob Hope, but that's another goal).

Your goal is to achieve 5 or more "rewards" for week. If you only manage two is that bad? Heck, no. It's fantastic because it's an improvement over week before. Next week make an effort to at least achieve what you did week before and possibly exceed it. Slowly you'll develop a new habit, until you're achieving 5 or more days every week of waiting for real hunger, and stopping at satisfaction. When you learn to understand your body's various hunger signals, you'll start losing pounds and inches, I guarantee it.

Inches lost, is what matters. I couldn't care less how much I weigh. What if my body was solid gold? It would weigh a lot wouldn't it, and would I care? No, I'd feel pretty darn good about it actually. I'm worth my weight in gold, and so are you.

Putting Hunger In Perspective

I recently read a book by only man to have survived alone on a raft at sea for more than a month - Steven Callahan. In Adrift, Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea, Callahan recounted how while slowly starving he dreamt of food, "My body knows what it needs. For hours on end fantasies of sweet ice cream, starchy baked bread, and vitamin-rich fruits and vegetables water mouth in my mind." Reading an account of one man's survival in face of sure death was inspiring. My husband is making arrangements to build a boat designed by Callahan, a 22-foot sailboat so he too can take off on a singlehanded sailing adventure across seas. He believes he could survive as Callahan did, while I'm telling myself I'll die of starvation if I don't eat in next half an hour. Adrift sort of puts things in better perspective, I'd say.

Oh how to break pull of small metal contraption that lies in wait, to tell me my day's fate?

~~ Kathryn Martyn, M.NLP, EFT coach and author of Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss lost 80 pounds over 17 years ago. Learn how she lost the weight and maintains that weight loss at http://www.OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com