Do you want to lose weight and keep it off? Now you can! In this comprehensive course, you'll discover how to establish a healthy approach to weight loss and weight maintenance. You'll master how to set and achieve weight-loss and weight-maintenance goals that make sense for you.

Naturally, we'll begin with a discussion of the role of food in weight loss and weight maintenance. But we'll talk about far more than calories. From understanding food composition, portion sizes, and preparation methods, to meal composition and meal timing, you'll learn food basics—and beyond! You'll discover how to eat out without jeopardizing your weight loss or disappointing your taste buds. We'll also discuss the basics of planning and preparing meals at home, and uncover tips and tricks for navigating the social elements of eating.

You may already appreciate that exercise is part of successful weight loss and weight maintenance. You may even know the differences between cardiorespiratory exercise, strength training, and lifestyle activity. We'll review these terms, and more important, discuss how to find exercise and activity that's enjoyable and helps you meet your weight-loss and weight-maintenance goals. You'll also discover how to take exercise to the next level and uncover thought patterns that negatively affect exercise and activity. Then we'll identify ways to overcome the challenges to regular exercise and activity.

We'll determine the role of hydration in weight loss and explore how to overcome obstacles to good hydration. You'll see how your thoughts affect your weight and evaluate the role of body image, emotional eating, and more in your own life. We'll examine how important sleep is in weight loss, and you'll learn how to get better sleep and cope effectively with sleeplessness.

We'll also probe the effects of stress on the body relative to weight and how to apply stress management techniques for weight loss and weight maintenance. You'll determine how other factors that affect weight, like genetics, pregnancy, menopause, aging, and cravings may be affecting your weight loss efforts—and learn practical strategies you can use to minimize their effects.

And since you don't want to lose weight only to gain it back again, we'll determine the differences between weight loss and weight maintenance, and see how to master the obstacles to weight maintenance. By the end of this course, you'll know how to set appropriate and effective goals for eating, exercise, and many other elements that affect your weight. You'll have the skills you need to lose weight and keep it off for a lifetime!

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Syllabus:

A new section of each course starts monthly. If enrolling in a series of two or more courses, please be sure to space the start date for each course at least two months apart.

All courses run for six weeks, with a two-week grace period at the end. Two lessons are released each week for the six-week duration of the course. You do not have to be present when lessons are released. You will have access to all lessons until the course ends. However, the interactive discussion area that accompanies each lesson will automatically close two weeks after the lesson is released. As such, we strongly recommend that you complete each lesson within two weeks of its release.

The final exam will be released on the same day as the last lesson. Once the final exam has been released, you will have two weeks to complete all of your course work, including the final exam.

Week One

Wednesday - Lesson 01

You guessed it! This course is going to help you lose weight and keep it off by teaching you healthy, proven techniques for weight loss that you can personalize and begin using immediately. In this first lesson, you'll take a crucial step toward your weight-loss goals by keeping a record of what you eat and drink. We'll explore how easy it is to weigh and measure your food in order to track calories and portion size. You'll also learn to distinguish between low-fat and high-fat food preparation methods (a great skill to have when you're eating out). And you'll discover how to use your hands to guesstimate and manage portion sizes when you just don't have the option to weigh and measure your food.

Friday - Lesson 02

You've established a food record to help you keep tabs on what you're eating and drinking. Now it's time to figure out how what you eat relates to your body. Today you'll discover how body type relates to health and weight management, and you'll use interactive tools to calculate your body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, and personal daily calorie estimation. With all of this information in hand, you'll be ready to develop your own SMART goals for weight loss and weight maintenance—goals that are sensible, measureable, achievable, realistic, and time-oriented.

Week Two

Wednesday - Lesson 03

Now that you've learned how to develop SMART goals, it's time to delve into the finer details of food composition, meal planning, and meal timing. In this lesson, you'll find out what's in the food you're eating and how to use that information to plan meals and snacks that support your weight-loss goals. You'll also learn how to time meals so that you're less hungry between meals—and have more energy!

Friday - Lesson 04

Time to get motivated to move! Today you'll learn the differences between cardiorespiratory exercise, strength training, and lifestyle activity. You'll also find out why and how much of each type of exercise supports weight management. We'll talk about easy ways to make exercise work when you don't have a lot of extra time, and we'll explore the common (but frustrating!) obstacles to exercise. By the end of the lesson, you'll be developing your own SMART exercise goals.

Week Three

Wednesday - Lesson 05

Water plays a role in countless body functions, including weight loss. Increasing water intake can be an inexpensive, easy way to maximize fat metabolism, slow digestion, and discourage your appetite! In this lesson, we'll discuss the role of water in weight management. You'll learn how much water is enough, and discover how to determine how much water you lose during exercise. You'll also uncover tips and tricks for overcoming obstacles to good hydration.

Friday - Lesson 06

Stress has a variety of negative effects on weight management. The hormones your body releases when you feel stressed wreak havoc on your appetite, encourage the storage of abdominal fat, and ramp up the formation of fat. Today we'll unravel the influences of stress on weight, and you'll discover how to use stress management techniques to minimize or even eliminate the effects of stress. Because eating to self-nurture is a challenge for many people, we'll spend some time examining the connection between food and love, and we'll talk about how to self-nurture without sacrificing your weight-management goals.

Week Four

Wednesday - Lesson 07

Are your thoughts getting in the way of reaching your SMART goals? In this lesson, you'll discover how emotional eating and the way you think about your body affect your ability to follow through on healthy choices. We'll talk about 10 cognitive traps to watch out for, and you'll learn 10 cognitive tools you can use to overcome unhelpful thought patterns. As you discover more about motives, you'll see how you can put them to work to reach your weight-management goals.

Friday - Lesson 08

A good night's sleep is a crucial part of your successful weight-management plan. Today you'll learn how sleep deprivation interferes with metabolism, encourages cravings, and increases your appetite. We'll problem-solve for ways to get more sleep, and we'll discuss how you can stay on track with your SMART goals even when you haven't had enough rest.

Week Five

Wednesday - Lesson 09

Eating out can make maintaining or losing weight so much more challenging. But, actually, with preparation and some strategies for making healthy food choices, you'll find that eating out doesn't have to wreak havoc with your SMART goals. In this lesson, you'll begin by learning how to stick with your SMART goals when you're eating out. After that, we'll explore how to make preparing food at home easy, quick, and healthy for you and your family. Then, we'll wrap things up by discussing techniques you can use to keep your SMART goals in focus, even in social situations.

Friday - Lesson 10

Whether you're an exercise newbie or a seasoned athlete, you need to change up your exercise routine from time to time. In this lesson, you'll discover how and why to do just that! You'll see how FITT principles, cross-training, exercise lite, and other techniques can help you develop and improve your workouts. Because your thoughts affect your actions and feelings, too, you'll learn how to become your own cheerleader in ways that make exercise easier, more effective, and fun.

Week Six

Wednesday - Lesson 11

Do you suspect your genes are making it hard for you to lose weight? Have you noticed changes in your body as you've gotten older, had a baby, or entered perimenopause? In this lesson, you'll learn how genetics and life changes can affect weight management, and you'll discover how to successfully manage your weight during these life stages. You'll also discover when and how to satisfy food cravings without abandoning your SMART weight-management goals—and when and how to enjoy the high-calorie foods you really love!

Friday - Lesson 12

In this lesson, we'll discuss methods for determining your personal ideal weight, and we'll explore how to shift from weight loss to weight maintenance once you've achieved it. Maintaining weight can be a lot easier than losing it if you get into the maintenance mindset, so we'll talk about the importance of using self-monitoring and self-motivation tools to stay aware and enthusiastic about the choices you're making that influence your weight. You'll learn how to put your assertive communication tools to work in the social situations you're likely to encounter, and you'll discover how seeing things differently once you're in the maintenance mindset can make it easier to stick with your SMART weight-management goals. And because scientific research is constantly changing, you'll learn the basics of evaluating research. When the next diet craze hits, you'll be able to determine if it's right for you. By the end of this lesson—and this course—you'll have the know-how to help you enjoy weight loss for a lifetime.

This course includes a knowledgeable and caring instructor who will guide you through your lessons, facilitate discussions, and answer your questions. The instructor for this course will be Donna Acosta.

Donna Acosta, RD, is a registered dietitian and nutrition educator. Her clinical expertise is in weight management, diabetes nutrition care, and cardiac rehabilitation management. Donna also has many years' experience teaching cooking classes, which reflects her passion for eating healthfully—and enjoying every bite! She has developed and taught a variety of hospital- and community-based nutrition programs, including such clients as Warner Bros. Studios, Neutrogena and Fluor-Daniel. As the wife of a husband with type 2 diabetes and the mother of three young children, Donna's focus is on helping others discover how feasible and delicious it can be to eat healthfully for a lifetime.

Requirements:

Internet access, e-mail, the Microsoft Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox Web browser, and the Adobe Flash and PDF plug-ins (two free and simple downloads you obtain at http://www.adobe.com/downloads by clicking Get Adobe Flash Player and Get Adobe Reader).

Student Reviews:

Reviews coming soon! Please check back next month.