When people look for ways to loose weight, most want the secret to shedding pounds fast. Losing too much weight too quickly is very unhealthy, but seeking to lose 10 pounds in just a few days will not hurt. Follow the techniques below to drop those first few pounds and set up methods for long term weight loss as well!
Keep a log of everything you eat or drink each day for one week. Include the portion size. At the end of the week, reflect on your recordings. Writing down what you are consuming will make you realize all the unhealthy foods you take in daily.
Cut your intake of fats in half. Start using half the amount of mayo on your sandwich, half the amount of butter on your toast, and half of the vegetable oil each time you cook. This tiny reductions will add up in the long run!
Significantly limit the amount of sugar you eat and drink. Cut back by allowing yourself one dessert and one sugary beverage daily, and continue to reduce until you are only eating them once a week.
Choose sources of protein that are low in fat, such as chicken, fish, and beans. Reduce your egg, nuts, and red meat consumption to every other day at the most.
Plan meatless meals one to two days each week. Prepare things such as whole grains, green vegetables, and beans to boost your fiber intake while reducing fat.
Start consuming dairy products with a lower fat content. Whole milk is the worst for you, while skim milk is the best. Many people cannot handle the taste of skim milk, so 2% is a good settling point for milk and cheese.
Increase your daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. Start with a goal of 2 fruits and 3 vegetables, and include each goal by 1 once you have gotten into the habit of eating such foods.
Increase your daily water intake, if you are not already getting 6-8 glasses each day. Drinking water rather than sodas promotes weight loss and a healthy urinary tract.
Plan your meals in advance. Create a weekly meal plan that includes three main courses and a couple of snacks. Never go to the supermarket without a list, and stick to the list!
Eat slowly. It takes 15 to 20 minutes for your stomach to realize you are eating, so chowing down can lead to overeating quickly. Allow 30 seconds for each bite, and take your time!
As you can see, there are many small ways you can cut back on an unhealthy eating lifestyle, and promote fast weight loss. Incorporate these tips to boost your weight loss plan, or to simply lose a few unwanted pounds.
What a crazy, hectic 48 hours it’s been. I almost feel exhausted by all of the Apple iPad news, analysis, polls and commentary that have flooded my system. If I had to peg the overall sentiment about Apple’s new product, I’d guess it to be two to one with the majority of folks disappointed. I can understand that due to the belief that Apple would exceed expectations. Honestly, I think they mostly met expectations — my basic predictions mainly came true. I never expected Apple to reinvent the Tablet PC and handwriting recognition on a slate, so perhaps that’s why I didn’t feel let down. Clearly, however, folks wanted more.
But if you step back from those “wants” and simply look at the device and the use case scenario, one could argue that Apple just introduced one of the first commercially available smartbooks to the masses. Did Cupertino just pull a fast one and corner the smartbook market before anyone else could get that market off the ground?
Let’s look at the loose definition of a smartbook for a second. Granted, this isn’t defined in stone, but I think most folks will agree with these characteristics. And for clarification, I’m taking much of list directly from Qualcomm’s Smartbook site, since they coined the term.
- Instant-on access – smartbooks should wake up instantly and be ready to go.
- 3G connectivity — mobile broadband allows for smartbook usage in places outside of the home and Wi-Fi hotspots.
- Ultra-portable design — Qualcomm defines this as less than 20mm thick and under two pounds in weight.
- All-day battery life — 8 to 10 hours on a charge with standby times of at least a week.
- Built-in GPS — location is important and desirable for LBS.
- Customizable interface — “intuitive, one-touch navigation to your favorite applications,” says Qualcomm.
So that’s how Qualcomm defines a smartbook. Of course, they make ARM processors which power smartphones today and smartbooks are essentially mobile devices that use the guts of a smartphone but on a bigger display. Having said all that, which attributes would you say don’t apply to the Apple iPad? I don’t see a single one — all of these smartbook characteristics are attributable by Apple’s newest mobile device.
My personal take on the device — after digesting the information over the past two days — is that the iPad is evolutionary and not revolutionary. Apple essentially evolved their iPhone ecosystem beyond handsets and into smartbooks. I’d even go out on a limb and say that every company with thoughts of entering the smartbook market is already fighting an uphill battle for three reasons.
- Most consumers don’t yet know what a smartbook is. And yet Apple is ready to provide them one without even using the new device class name. In one fell swoop, they “reinvented” a market that was waiting to get started. One could even argue that the term “smartbook” won’t even take off if the iPad becomes a runaway success.
- All of the smartbooks I’ve seen use very similar guts to power the device, but they all use different operating systems. And by different, I mean “unfamiliar” to your average mainstream audience. The iPad uses the easy recognizable iPhone operating system which tens of millions of consumers already recognize and use. Back in June, I said this of operating systems on smartbooks: “Linux is definitely capable for this type of device, but for your average consumer to use it on a device, it needs to be slick, intuitive and have a familiar feel to it.” Aside from the Linux reference, my statement applies fairly well to the iPhone OS, no?
- Any smartbooks to hit the market now will be compared to the iPad. And if they don’t offer seamless media sync, intuitive interfaces that people understand and a wide array of software applications out of the box, they won’t compete well.
Summing up all three of those reasons indicates the challenges that smartbooks were — and still are — expected to face. Yet Apple has just leap-frogged right over those challenges and turned them into the strengths of their latest creation. For the first time that I can remember, Apple hasn’t waited for others to create a market with marginal products and then jump in with latest iWhatever that improves upon the failures of others. Instead, Cupertino leveraged a familiar mobile operating system, created their own silicon to power it and took it upon themselves to lead a market — all while others have futzed about for over a year trying to determine if such a market would even take shape. And here’s the ultimate irony — 12 months ago when I saw an early smartbook prototype, it was actually a tablet form factor; a convertible tablet, yes, but still a tablet.
I’ve said in the past that I’m actually an ideal candidate for a smartbook because I mainly need a decent web browser to use to consume information. All the apps that I’m already using on my iPhone are just the icing on the smartbook cake. When I look at the iPad in that light, it actually becomes appealing to me. But if you’re one of those that has already condemned the iPad, that’s OK. However, I think you’ll have to condemn the entire smartbook market by proxy too at this point.
Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on January 30, 2010
The moment after The Kids Are All Right bursts open with a feverish soundtrack, it is easy to see that this movie has great energy. And energy alone can make a movie survivable. It’s a good sign to have it all up front. But the sign of a movie that is truly worth your time is one that can maintain that energy, convince you that its characters are worth caring about and perhaps move you in some way emotionally. This isn’t anything new — in fact, it’s been the focus of many of my reviews from this year’s Sundance Film Festival. There have been more than a few films that have been on one side of the energy spectrum or the other. Lisa Cholodenko’s modern alt-family comedy has this energy from the start, and it carries it throughout.
The film follows a Nic and Jules (Annette Benning and Julianne Moore), a middle-aged couple trying to raise their two teenage children Joni and Laser (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) in suburban Los Angeles. And everything seems to be going just fine until the moment Joni turns 18 and is convinced by her brother to reach out to their biological father. Hesitating at first, Joni eventually puts in a call to the sperm bank, who puts her in touch with Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a restaurant owner and all around “cool dude” who seems willing to meet the kids he never knew he had.
As Paul comes into their lives, the entire family is thrown into disarray. The kids take to Paul in different ways, as to Nic and Jules, all creating a very sticky situation that threatens the otherwise normal existence of their family.
If there’s one thing to be gleaned from this film right off the bat, it is the quality of chemistry between Annette Benning and Julianne Moore. They are a very believable, charming couple of middle age lesbians who have clearly had a good, long relationship and are focused on raising their kids. This situation also benefits from having two great actresses in these roles. Both Benning and Moore are dynamic actresses, and this feels like a perfect showcase for their talent.
Also on the plus side are the performances from the kids, who are in fact all right (excuse my pun, it was there). Mia Wasikowska is not only delightful, but full of depth. As her character connects and disconnects with Paul, she carries the weight of a teen coming of age, trying to find her exact place (socially, sexually and within her own family) before departing for college. Josh Hutcherson is also quite good, continuing his development as an actor. Though, this is yet another angsty role for him, something that has become a trend (though for now, it works). The final piece to the puzzle is Ruffalo, who is as good as ever.
The Kids Are All Right is a sweet film that plays relatively fast and loose with sexuality, but never loses focus on it’s core story. It is a richly drawn portrait of a very modern family that is grounded, imperfect and told with a very keen eye from Cholodenko, who was last at Sundance in 2003 with Laurel Canyon. Her ability to keep the story moving as she unwraps the vulnerable nature of each character, all while delivering a lot of great little comedic moments (especially driven by great back and forth between Ruffalo and Benning) makes the film a very easy, enjoyable experience.
The only problem to be found is that the film stumbles around a bit as it comes to a sweet close. But its a sweet, moving close either way. Driven by a tight, well-rounded story and performances that drive comedy and tension, The Kids Are All Right is yet another smooth winner of this year’s Sundance Film Festival. It is also certainly one of those movies that should find success beyond the fest circuit, as it is as accessible as a story about two lesbians trying to raise their teenage children can be.
Read more articles by Neil Miller