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Best Way to Lose Weight: Finally!!! The Whole Truth About Weight Loss

You can’t go one day without hearing about some new “top secret” Hollywood diet that’s guaranteed to shed pounds from your frame with minimal effort. Whether it’s our favorite celebrity “spilling the beans” about their miraculous post pregnancy weight loss, some lady with a dieting success story on the Today Show, or just plain old hearsay among girlfriends – there’s always a new way to lose weight that everyone’s trying. But ask yourself this: “Is it a good thing to be jumping from one horse to the next in the middle of a race? Does a best way to lose weight even exist? The short answer is yes; there is one “best” way to work the fat off, but there are a million ways to lose weight. It all depends on your current weight and health status, your weight loss goals, your time frame, and your preferences. However, there is another phase of dieting that no one ever seems to talk about: Keeping off the weight you’ve lost.To keep the weight off, after you’ve hit your goal, you have to maintain a steady, healthy lifestyle of eating right and exercising regularly. Now, that might sound pretty easy, and it can be, but if you’re just coming off a crazy fad diet that only allowed you to eat cabbage soup, grapefruit, or that neglected one large part of a balanced diet like carbs, then maintaining your ideal weight may be a hard nut to crack.Let’s face it – even the best diet in the world that makes you lose all the weight you want is not sustainable over the long term. Are you going to follow the Atkins Diet, and never eat carbs again? Are you going to pay Nutrisystem to prepare every meal you eat for the rest of your life? Are you going to keep the full Weight Watchers points list in your handbag until you’re 85 years old?When it all comes down to it, the best way to lose weight is comprised of two elements: A Healthy Diet.Do you want to drop the excess weight? Then eat less. For the maintenance phase, eat more until you stop losing weight; stop when you start gaining weight because that’s your maintenance level. But the most important thing is that you eat HEALTHY. Eat natural foods close to its source (a fresh baked potato is healthier than a soggy Lay’s potato chip, and a slice of tomato is much healthier than ketchup). Exercise.There is no way to get around this one. Regular exercise keeps your body in good shape, helps your system process food more easily, and keeps you stronger and healthier in your old age. Paired with dieting, regular exercise is going to help you shed pounds and tone your body.Sounds boring, doesn’t it? This weight loss plan doesn’t have a catchy name, and it isn’t on the cover of any women’s health magazine. It’s just plain common sense. Just what it takes to get you down to your goal weight.

Top Ten Ways to Loose Weight

Whilst it is important to ensure that you’re not overweight and equally important to lead a healthy lifestyle, you certainly don’t want to get into bad weight loss habits, so deciphering the good advice from the bad is important.
The first thing you should do before starting any form of weight loss programme is to consult your doctor about the method of weight loss you are interested in. Your doctor can give you helpful advice and also perhaps give you a medical check to ensure that any programme you do start doesn’t have a negative impact on your health.
The following top-ten methods listed in this article are not suggested methods, instead this article aims to provide you with the information at hand to decide which methods are right for you and which method you should avoid. Weight is a very personal subject and some of the techniques listed in this article are for those people who are classed as morbidly obese and are not necessarily suitable for those who are just a little overweight. Again, getting a professional medical assessment is critical to your long term health and weight loss success.
Discover our top ten ways to loose weight:
1) Start to Exercise More
When you think about how you can loose weight, you generally think of two methods, the first is dieting and the second is exercising. Starting an exercise regime can be daunting for anyone who hasn’t been interested in doing sport much. When you’re overweight it can be even harder to motivate yourself to start.
Joining a gym can be a good method to motivate you to train, as the cost of the gym membership going out of your bank account on a monthly basis can hurt the wallet if you are simply wasting the money! This can be motivation enough to pack your gym bag. Another reason to join a gym is that they are a good place to get professional advice on exercising. Most mainstream gyms have Personal Trainers who can help and advice you and also design a fitness programme that meets your needs. Generally these fitness programmes are then assessed every few months to check on your progress.
The trick to keeping up any exercise routine is to set yourself realistic goals or challenges so that you will always having something to work towards, also it is important to keep the exercise fun. When training and fitness becomes a chore it is very easy for your subconscious to come up with any number of reasons not to exercise. As soon as you start skipping exercise sessions it becomes much easier not to stick to your plan.
2) Weight Loss Medication
The thought that you can take a pill to help you loose weight sounds fantastic in principle seemingly providing you with a ‘magical’ solution to your weight problems. However for many people who decide to use weight loss medication the risks and potential side effects can outweigh the benefits.
Without discussing the merits or disadvantages of particular brands it is important to consider that there could be side effects from taking these medications so doing so should only be carried out once medical advice is sort. Although this form of medication is freely available to buy from the Internet it is advisable to only take these medicines if they have been specifically prescribed by a doctor to treat your obesity condition as not only could you waste money on unnecessary medication you could be seriously risking your health.
3) Go on a Diet
The thought of going on a diet horrifies some people, but there normally comes a point when a person decides enough is enough they have to loose weight, therefore they must go on a diet! The question then becomes what diet to choose? There are hundreds if not thousands of different diet plans out on the market some much healthier than others, and some down right dangerous to your health.
No matter what diet you choose to go on there are some fundamental principles that you could consider when trying to loose weight by dieting. Firstly, calories in is offset by calories out. What this means is the fundamental thing controlling your weight is the number of calories that you consume though eating and the number of calories you use by either exercising or going about your daily life.
Typically a woman should consume 2,000 calories a day and a man 2,500 (although these are average figures). By reducing your calorie intake below these figures should, in theory allow you to loose weight. However, there is a something else to consider and that is your metabolism. Basically if you drastically reduce your calorie intake then your body can go into something called ’starvation mode’ which effectively slows down weight loss as your body tries to ‘hold on’ to its fat stores. For someone who is trying to loose weight this obviously defeats to purpose. So the solution is to only reduce your calorie intake enough so that you loose a little weight, for example 1 pound per week is a sensible target which is achievable without starving yourself and more importantly is allows you to subtly change your diet to compensate for this, making it much easier in the long term to maintain the weight loss.
Nutrition is also an important thing to consider when picking a diet. You should aim to eat a healthy, nutritious diet which ultimately is well balanced. A well balanced diet is basically a diet that includes food from the five main food groups (but reducing Fat and Sugar), which are:
? Meat, Fish and Alternatives (Eggs, Beans, Pulses)
? Bread, Cereals and Potatoes
? Fruit and Vegetables
? Milk and Diary Produce
? Fat and Sugar
Any diet that is rich in fruit or vegetables is likely to be a healthy one. You don’t have to skip eating foods with fat and sugar totally. However you should be looking to reduce your intake in this area as we generally eat way too much from this particular food group.
4) Gastric Bands
A gastric band is a bariatric surgical procedure where a band is placed around the top of the stomach making it smaller in size so that the stomach fills up with food quicker than it would under normal circumstances. Gastric band (or Lap Band) surgery is a fairly drastic procedure best suited to those who are classed as obese on the BMI scale. Whilst there are potential complications and risks associated to any surgery the benefits can include a great deal of weight loss in some situations a person can loose up to 60% of their body weight.
For those who are obese and have constantly struggled with their weight loss then gastric band surgery can help. As bariatric surgery is not necessarily the preferred method for all individuals this method should be fully discussed with a professional to get a firm understanding of both the benefits and risks of undertaking gastric band surgery.
5) Gastric Balloons
A gastric balloon is a silicone balloon that is placed inside a person’s stomach and filled with saline. This balloon then makes a person feel as though they are full up, making them less inclined to eat, forcing a person to eat smaller portions.
The gastric balloon is inserted into a person’s stomach using a fairly simple procedure- basically passing the balloon through the mouth, down the throat and into the stomach. The balloon is then filled and left to float freely in the stomach.
6) Eat Less & Drink More Water
Probably the simplest way to loose weight is to just eat less then you normally eat. Perhaps this means reducing portion size or making slight changes to your diet, such as not having second helpings of your favourite desert, but eating less on a regular basis will help you loose weight.
Substituting certain foods with other foods can help reduce calories and help you to loose weight. For example if you have a ham sandwich with full fat mayonnaise for lunch, substituting the ham for turkey, and full fat mayonnaise for low-fat mayonnaise can save you a lot of calories, whilst not really compromising the taste of your lunch!
7) Go for a walk
If you hate dieting and also hate the thought of having to go to the gym then you could consider going for a walk on a regular basis. Depending how much you weight and how fast you walk, you could burn off around 100 calories per mile that you walk. This may not sound like much but an hour a days walking could help you burn an additional 700 calories a week or the equivalent of a normal sized meal! 8) Hypnosis
Hypnosis is a state of concentration and relaxation where a patient enters an enhanced state of awareness allowing a hypnotherapist to suggest ideas and lifestyle changes to the patient. Basically hypnosis aims to re-programme patterns of behaviour within the mind.
Basically hypnosis can help you loose weight by allowing you to develop a new self image whilst also teaching you to be more relaxed about your weight loss (stress can lead to comfort eating).
You can find a hypnotherapist who can treat you directly or you can even find hypnotherapy CD’s and programmes online that are much cheaper than visiting a consultant.
9) Psychological Triggers
As fully committed to a diet or exercise plan that you are, sometimes your ‘mind’ can get the better of you. It’s natural to think that when you’re on a ‘diet’ you are somehow depriving yourself and making a sacrifice. These psychological ’sacrifices’ can be difficult to maintain on a constant basis. Perhaps you’ve had a bad day and your will power is wavering. Therefore it is a good idea to implement some psychological techniques to help you make positive diet and exercise choices. There following tips can help you loose weight whilst bolstering your weight loss intentions:
? Use smaller plates- putting your food onto a smaller plate tricks your brain into thinking you’re eating a bigger portion
? Don’t feeling like exercising? Tell yourself to change into your gym clothes first and then decided. Sometimes once you’re changed you feel much more ready to exercise.
? Don’t cut out everything you love from your diet. Love chocolate? Try eating a couple of pieces once or twice a week as a treat instead of a bar a night! You’ll soon come to appreciate the smaller piece more and you’ll feel better if you start to loose some weight!
Remember there are many ways you can loose weight and by using psychological techniques this gives you another method to employ from your weight-loss arsenal.
10) Get a Tummy Tuck
For some people it can be almost impossible to loose excess weight in certain areas. For those who have already lost a great deal or weight or have had a baby it is possible to have a lot of loose skin around the abdomen area. This loose skin can be difficult to shift through traditional dieting or exercising. In these instances the cosmetic surgery procedure called abdominoplasty or tummy tuck could be used.
A tummy tuck is a cosmetic surgery procedure that is implemented to help make the abdomen area much firmer. When excess skin and fat from the abdomen area is removed this tightens the muscle of the abdominal wall.
As with all cosmetic surgery treatments a consultation with a profession is the best way of understanding what the procedure involves, what the risks are and how the surgery can benefit you.

The Anti Toxin Diet – Drink Juice and Lose Weight

This diet is the best if you want to get rid of the extra toxins in your body. The juice diet not only detoxifies your body, but also does magic to your facial and physical appearance. Not only will you be shedding off pounds your face would glow. Your typical day should include a glass of low fat or skim milk In the morning as breakfast.

After a couple of hours you should have a cucumber juice with lemon. Make sure you do not drink half glasses, try having a big glass of these juices have a lot of water in between. for lunch have a big glass of orange juice with two boiled eggs. For your mid evening snack have a glass of banana, carrot, kiwi, grapefruit, orange, apple, mango, juice you can make a juice out of these fruits and veggies, or you can make a smoothie. The smoothie should be made in low fat yogurt and no extra sugar should be added.

Let’s say you are a veggie hater and only resort to eating meats and eggs. so you can stick to drinking fruit juices rather than vegetable juices. Try drinking the broccoli and mint juice. Not only will your system be purified, you will get all the required nutrients in your body. You can also drink tomato juice, as long as you do not have uric acid. But do not have a lot of tomato juice since the sugar in tomato can be problematic with the weight loss. a lot of people follow the orange juice diet, but a variety of juices made with fresh veggies and fruits can be healthier.

Make sure you check with your doctor before doing the juice diet. Once you have lost all the desired weight on the juice diet. Adding solid food should be done slowly and you should only introduce the easily digested foods first. For instance yogurt, cereal, salads etc. do not start your solid food diet until you have fully lost your desired weight. Drink a lot of water while doing the diet.

An Easy Method To Lose Weight And Improve Your Life

Over the next few pages I will help you to understand a few pointers that will hopefully promote your efforts to shed pounds in a nutritious and effectual manner.
The first thing I’d like to see you do is to assess the amount of food that you are eating on an average day right now. Start out when you wake up in the morning and just follow through with your day without changing anything. You should make a strong attempt to eat the same foods as you would ordinarily be eating on any other day, and keep track of precisely what you are consuming plus the exact quantities that you consume. Most people agree that this activity calls for a high amount of seriousness on the part of the dieter. It is very important that you remind yourself that you have decided to lose weight the healthy way, and to abide by a sensible weight loss system.
This will end up being a great deal better for you over the long term than the newest crash diet program or weight loss pill. In all honestly, the entire activity will take no longer than a few minutes total, for the powerful long-term advantages that it will extend. While you are getting ready to go to sleep that evening, you will want to count up the actual number of carbs, protein, fat, and calories that you managed to eat during an average day. You need to be as precise as possible so that you will have an accurate perception of where you are at presently and what details of your present diet would likely be the most advantageous areas to get to work on.
There are same basic, simple, natural maneuvers that you should follow that will help you to drop the amount of food-energy that you are taking in in an ordinary day so that you can start losing weight.
The thing you’ll do can be to actually increase the quantity of protein that you consume in an average day. Medical research has proven that increasing your daily protein consumption without changing anything else will often cause significant fat loss, due to the fact that protein-rich foods are quite a bit more satisfying than anything else you could eat. As you start eating more protein, you should work on gently minimizing the amount of sugar and carbohydrates you are eating. Clinical studies have demonstrated that starch makes you feel less satisfied. This is why you will find that you usually eat a bigger portion of food for lunch if you have a glass of soda together with your lunch.
In addition to making these changes in your diet, you can dramatically improve your ability to burn calories by increasing your total muscle mass. The best way to do this is by lifting weights. Weight training can be extremely enjoyable since you don’t have to do it more than a couple times a week and the benefits can be seen and felt pretty quickly. The best way to do weight training is to do nice, slow exercises just a few times until your muscles are unable to continue. Drink a strong protein shake before and after each workout to speed up the rate at which your body builds muscle.
Doing cardio is simply not an effective way to lose weight. The reason for this is that you are not actually burning as many calories as you would expect to burn doing these exercises. Also, this type of exercise mostly burns off the sugars in your blood, quickly increasing your appetite and thus causing you to consume more calories after your workout. For this reason, doing cardio is not recommended unless you just really happen to enjoy it.
After one week of following this simple plan, you will likely be pleased to find that you have lost a pound or two. This is a nice easy pace to lose weight at, and it is good to keep this in mind so you will not get caught in the trap of crash dieting. The latest fad diet would probably take the pounds off more quickly, but you would likely damage your health and regain all the weight after a short period of time. If you continue to lose weight at this rate of just a pound or two per week, you will soon find that a year has gone by and you have lost a huge amount of weight–more than 50 pounds–by barely even trying.

An Enlightened Program For Losing Weight

Over the course of this article I hope to introduce you to some ideas that may increase your ability to reach your target weight in a salubrious and effectual manner.
An excellent way to start is to measure the amount of calories that you are eating in a single day. Begin when you wake up in the morning and just live out your day without making any special considerations. I want you to make a real effort to eat exactly the same as you would normally eat on any other ordinary day without changing anything, and take down a record of precisely what you put in your mouth plus the quantities that you consume. You’ll agree that this assignment requires a lot of seriousness on the part of the dieter. It is extremely important that you remind yourself of your decision to improve your health while losing weight, and to follow a level-headed weight loss system.
This type of system will end up being a lot more beneficial as time goes by than some new instant-gratification diet program or weight loss supplement. The fact is, the entire exercise will take no longer than 10-15 minutes out of your day, even for the many long-lasting benefits that it will extend. When it is time to hit the hay, take a moment to count up the total amount of calories, carbohydrate, protein, and fat that you consumed as the day went on. It is necessary to as precise as it is possible for you to be so that you will have a reliable picture of where you are starting out from and which characteristics of your present eating habits will end up being the most useful targets to work on.
Next, there are a few natural, easy actions that you need to follow if you are to diminish the number of calories that you are putting into yourself in an average day in order to initiate weight loss.
The tactic you can employ will be to actually raise the number of grams of protein that you consume in an average day. Scientific studies have demonstrated that increasing your daily protein levels in your diet without changing anything else frequently results in significant weight loss, due to the fact that proteins are a lot more filling than other foods. As you increase the amount of protein you are eating, try slowly lessening the amount of other carbohydrates that you are eating. Clinical studies have demonstrated that sugar can actually increase your appetite. It is a common experience that you usually eat a larger serving of food if you have a glass of soda pop along with your lunch.
In addition to making these changes in your diet, you will also want to increase your body’s ability to burn fat by gaining new lean muscle mass. This is done through weight training. Weight training can be extremely enjoyable due to the fact that you don’t have to do it every day and the benefits can be seen and felt pretty quickly. The best weight training technique is to do nice, slow exercises just a few times until your muscles are unable to continue. Load up on protein, and especially glutamine immediately after you finish working out to get the best recovery times.
Cardiovascular exercises have not been shown to be effective in promoting weight loss. The reason for this is that you are not actually burning as many calories as you would expect to burn doing these exercises. Additionally, cardio tends to reduce your blood sugar levels, quickly increasing your appetite and making you likely to eat more food than you otherwise would have. Because of this, doing cardio is not recommended unless you just really happen to enjoy it.
after just 7 days of following this plan, you will typically have lost a couple of pounds! This is a nice easy pace to lose weight at, and it is good to keep this in mind so you will not get caught in the trap of crash dieting. Of course you can lose weight more quickly using less sound methods, but you would likely damage your health and most likely stop losing weight very quickly. As you continue to steadily lose just one to two pounds per week by following this plan, you will soon find that a year has gone by and you have lost more than fifty pounds with very little effort!

Food Additives Slow the Metabolism & Cause Weight Gain

Copyright (c) 2009 Nathan Gurley
When will the diet hype ever end? This book says to count carbs, that system says count calories, basal metabolic rate, grams, sodium, on and on. Wanting to lose weight may make you lose your mind!
Most weight loss gurus come in two sizes.
1.Those who are thin as a rail and have never had so much as an oz. of fat on their bones.
2.) Those that lost it once and are chubby again.
First off, you have to wonder if they really know what they’re doing. It stands to reason that if someone had a cure for weight loss, everyone would be thin.
Truth be told, “The Biggest Loser” won’t have a shortage of contestants anytime soon! They couldn’t pay me enough to let my fat be exploited on national TV for ratings, but if it helps people lose weight, I guess it’s a good thing. I’ll never know or go that route.
Secondly, if you are like me and need to lose weight, do you really want some perpetually thin person explaining to you how to do it? I think that’s part of the reason Oprah does so well when she plugs weight loss stuff; she’s got some meat on her bones! And she struggles with it just like the rest of us in the same boat.
Why do dieters lose weight and ultimately gain back more than they lost?
Some say it’s not what you eat; it’s what’s in what you eat.
An increasing number of nutritionist and doctors are arriving at the conclusion that food additive and processing techniques are contributing to weight gain as the number of overweight and obese people continue to escalate regardless of the numerous diet plans available. Flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate better known as MSG and man-made sugars are of particular concern with regard to slowing down metabolic rate. As a general rule, anything ending in “ose” should be avoided including, dextrose, sucrose and high fructose corn syrup. Diet sodas, while low in calories, may contain aspartame or sucrolos which may also slow down the metabolism and cause weight gain.
Today we have more diet drinks, diet plans, pills, lotions, potions, systems, books, CDs, and anything else you can think of, yet many people continue to remain overweight or get heavier. Heavier may be too P.C. so let’s face it head on and call it what it is; people jump from diet to diet and keep getting fatter!
Maybe it’s the chemicals they are putting in our food to either preserve it or get us addicted to it that is keeping us overweight. Growth hormones and antibiotics are injected into cattle and poultry. Insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides, are sprayed on fruits and vegetables. These chemicals may also have a negative effect. Trans-fats (omnipresent in fast food restaurants) such as hydrogenated oils should also be avoided to prevent weight gain.
The majority of people concur that drinking lots of water and walking everyday will help with weight loss, but if the foods we eat contain chemicals that slow the metabolism we are fighting an uphill battle and will lose it. At this point our best bet is to consume organic whole foods as much as possible and stay away from the fast food restaurants!

Stop the Confusion;12 Straight Forward, No Nonsense Steps to Losing Weight and Getting Fit

Are you tired of trying to figure out the perfect combination to lose weight? Overwhelmed and confused by conflicting information and the never-ending parade of fad diets and magic pills that are going to help you lose 10 pounds in 3 days? With all the information out there, it is nearly impossible to sort through it all and figure out what actually works.

That’s where I come in. I am going to give you 12 straightforward tips that will help you lose weight and get rid of that extra fat. I will simplify all the information that took me over a decade to learn, so that you can make your goals a reality for once and for all.

However, before you even start this journey, you have to WANT it! I am a personal trainer and in my business I have heard every feasible excuse as to why my client CAN’T lose weight. They can’t figure out what they’re doing wrong which usually comes under the heading “making excuses”. I’ve heard every one ranging from “it was the weekend” to “I can’t control myself in the late afternoon” to “I HAVE to have a snack before bed”. I’ve heard them all and the bottom line is you are either committed to losing fat and getting fit or not! Let’s face it—every week there is a weekend and if you blow it during the weekend, that is HALF of your week. Do you realize that? Still wondering why you can’t lose weight? I know this sounds harsh, but the truth is anyone can find a reason NOT to do something and somehow, justify it. You must come to terms with the fact that the only effective way to lose body fat is to put in the effort, nothing else.

That being said, I am going to give you no nonsense, realistic tips on how to do this.

1. Set realistic goals

First and foremost, you need to set realistic, attainable goals. I’m not talking about planning to lose 20 pounds for the wedding in three weeks. That’s not going to happen, atleast not in a healthy capacity that will result in true weight loss. You need to set specific goals with a set time frame and continue to change them as you accomplish each one. For example, plan to lose 1-2 pounds a week for the next month. That means by the end of the month you should have accomplished a weight loss of approximately 8 pounds. Make that your goal and then next month modify it or just continue on that path.

Whatever your goal is, the most important thing is that your goal is attainable so you don’t set yourself up for failure right from the start.

2. Gradual Changes get BIG results

I believe making changes over time is the key to achieving your weight loss goals. If you decide one day you’re going to change everything, you will fail! You may be motivated for a little while, but within a short time, you will feel miserable and deprived and eventually give up. This is the problem with going on a “diet”. It is short lived and whatever you lost, you will ultimately gain back.

It is about a lifestyle change that can be accomplished by making small changes over time. These small changes will bring on big results, as well as become a way of life.

For example:

Week 1: Try cutting out anything “white”, meaning white flour product, white rice and white sugar. Replace white flour products with whole-wheat flour products. Include whole grains and lots of vegetables with meals.

Week 2: Modify your behavior at one specific time, that is particularly difficult for you. For example, if you know you always blow it at dinner, make some changes. I know when I’m sitting at the table with my family, I often grab for seconds just simply because the food is there. So what I try to do now is measure out what I’m going to eat and stop when my plate is empty. I even go as far as clearing my plate from the table. Believe me, it’s difficult to eat when I don’t have a plate or silverware (although my 10 year old son might disagree!). My point is, identify your biggest challenge and make a change that will enable you to gain control over it.  

Week 3: Cut out all sugary/high caloric beverages. These are empty calories that add up. Try water, green tea, etc.

Get the picture? This way by the end of a couple weeks you’ve cut out 10 things without even realizing it. Now you are on your way to eating healthier and losing weight with out feeling deprived because nothing was drastic.

3. DON’T Starve Yourself

The worst thing you could do is decide you want to lose weight and stop eating. You cannot starve yourself and expect to melt the pounds away. I don’t care what common sense says, it does not work! Your body adapts to circumstances and the bottom line is if you suddenly reduce calories, your body goes into starvation mode and hoards the excess calories you’ve already stored in your fat cells. It also slows down your metabolism, which means that when you go off the diet, you will likely gain back all the weight, plus excess weight you wouldn’t have gained had you not gone on the diet in the first place.

4. Eat More to Weigh Less

How can eating more help you lose weight? It’s simple. Our bodies perform much better on a more frequent feeding schedule. Instead of spreading your daily intake over three meals, I am going to tell you to eat 4-6 small meals a day, every 3-4 1/2 hours, which will keep your metabolism charged and help you burn off more calories. The key being SMALL meals. I often hesitate telling people to eat this often, because if you don’t understand portions, eating this often can backfire when you’re trying to lose weight.

A good gauge of how much a portion is, is as follows:

 

The easiest way I know to follow the 4-6 meals a day plan is to eat a healthy breakfast, lunch and dinner and then have a mid morning snack and mid afternoon snack. The meals should be small and packed with high quality, nutrient dense food, including lean protein, fruits and vegetables. I don’t suggest eating before you go to bed, but if you must, try to keep it healthy and try to have it at least two hours before you go to bed.

5. Never Skip Breakfast

The biggest consequence to skipping breakfast or any meal is your metabolism slows down. Your body needs calories to function efficiently and it functions best when it is refueled first thing in the morning. If you don’t, your body will downshift and your metabolism will slow down, as previously mentioned. So, if you are trying to lose weight or even maintain, the last thing you want is a slower metabolism!

6. Write Down EVERYTHING You Eat

At some point in time, I have told most, if not all of my clients, to write down EVERYTHING they put in their mouth. Many of them tried it for a little while, while some couldn’t be bothered. I am now here to tell you, in the struggle to lose weight, picking up a pen might be just as useful as putting down the fork. In fact, a recent study was done showing that people who kept daily food diaries lost twice as much weight or more as those who didn’t keep a tally of their meals.

The reasons for the success are as follows:

 

A free website, I highly recommend, is FitDay.com. I find it extremely user friendly and very eye opening. Each day you must enter exactly what you eat and it actually determines calories, as well as percentage of protein, carbs and fat you’ve consumed during the day. It is not only very interesting to see what you ACTUALLY eat in a day, but also very educational. I think it gives people a real understanding of how they eat, as opposed to how they think they eat. It makes it easy to see where changes need to be made in order to get results.

7. Eat Enough Quality Protein

What I mean by quality protein, is lean protein; chicken breast, turkey breast, fish, eggs, egg whites, etc. Not only does it burn more calories digesting it than carbs or fat, but it also creates satiety so your hunger is satisfied longer.

In addition, protein is a building block for maintaining and building lean muscle and it is important to understand that the more lean muscle you carry, the more calories you burn even while you sleep.

8. Consume Fiber

It is important to consume fiber, as there are numerous benefits, which include lower cholesterol, reduced risk of heart disease and improved absorption of minerals and other nutrients. In addition, fiber also slows down the digestion process, which helps you control your appetite and cravings, as well as it helps you feel more full delaying hunger from one meal to the next.

9. Cut out processed foods

You need to get rid of processed or junk foods, period. In a nutshell, processed food lacks nutrients, causes fat gain and cellulite, weakens the immune system, weakens organ function, raises your risk of cancer, etc. Need I say more?

Be weary of the foods that are labeled, “diet”, “healthy”, “low-fat”, or “fat-free.” If you look at the ingredients you will likely find many that you can’t even pronounce, not to mention, in order to make all those foods “low-fat” or “fat-free”, they must replace the fat with something. That something is SUGAR! The truth is, you’re better of eating some fat, as opposed to all the chemicals and sugar in processed low-fat or fat-free food.

Sugar is poison! Aside from it depressing your immune system, contributing to hyperactivity, depression and anxiety, reducing HDL’s (good cholesterol) and elevating LDL’s (bad cholesterol), as well as numerous other problems, it also contributes to weight gain and obesity. So, if you’re going to do anything today, focus on cutting out sugar. Start paying attention to labels and steer clear of the “fat-free” processed foods.

10. Drink Water

Water is the most important element to total health and fitness. After all, your body is 65-70% water and your muscles are over 70% water. But the best thing about water when it comes to weight loss is its ability to curb your appetite and hunger. I suggest 6-8 8 oz. glasses for the average person, but if you’re trying to lose fat and maximize body leanness, I would consider doubling that. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty, to drink. It means you’ve waited too long.

11. Exercise: Cardio

I can’t stress enough how important it is to get some form of cardio in. If you are currently sedentary or have not exercised in some time, it is important to start off slow. Talk to your doctor and figure out a program that will work for you and try to perform it 3-5 days a week. Walking is a great way to get yourself up and moving so you can start seeing results.

However, if you are already in some sort of exercise routine, I suggest “interval training” which is the most effective way to burn calories and lose fat. Interval training is defined as short, high intensity exercise periods alternated with periods of rest.

An example on a treadmill (individual in good shape) would be as follows:

 

The total workout should be 15-20 minutes in duration. Keep in mind, the key to burning fat is intensity! So based on your individual fitness level, push yourself on the “high” intervals to a subjective 8-9 out of a level of 10 and on the “low” intervals a level of 3-4 out of 10.

12. Exercise: Strength Training

Incorporating some form of resistance training is not only an extremely important factor for weight loss, it has numerous other benefits which include: reduced blood pressure, lower cholesterol, strengthening of bones, as well as it increases calories burned which promotes weight loss. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn. Even while you sleep, muscles are responsible for more than 25% of one’s calorie use. So, in short, an increase in muscle tissue will in turn increase your metabolic rate.

I hope these tips were helpful. If you would like additional information on “interval training” or “resistance training” check out my website at www.NewBeginnings-PersonalTraining.com

Feel free to contact me anytime if you would like further suggestions or workout ideas. Good luck and keep in mind that I am always here to help!

5 Crucial Steps to Lose Body Fat and Achieve Permanant Weight Loss

March 31st, 2010 Diet-PillsThatWork No comments

In the past, weight loss has been over-emphasized, and body fat has been under-emphasized. Since muscle weighs more than fat, is possible to lose fat and not weight if you’re following a diet program that involves exercise. Losing weight may not  be the most urgent problem. You might just need to remodel your body by gaining muscle and losing fat.

With high protein shakes, daily exercise and fruits & vegetables, my body fat decreased from 25 to 16 percent, and my waist changed from a 40 to a 34. I lost 70 pounds but what’s most important is that my shape changed as I lost weight around the middle and gained muscle in my arms. I did not lose that much weight, but my health improved out of proportion to where I lost my weight.

Shapes can be deceiving, but for your personal shape there is a best weight based on the lean-to-fat ratio. You can categorize shapes into two types: The shape you can change, and the shape you can not change. It is important to know the difference.

If you don’t like your shape, you can’t change it by taking a magic pill or buying an exercise machine you see for sale on tv. There are probably several things wrong with your diet and lifestyle at the very same time. You need a personalized plan specifically tailored for you.

Apple shaped people have upper-body fat. The fat cells in the upper-body are there to help both men and women withstand periods of starvation. Too much of this fat can cause inflammation in various tissues, including the heart. You can’t lose these special fat cells just by dieting. You have to change your lifestyle and exercise to build some lean muscle.

Lower-body fat cells are resistant to exercise and diet, and make a body shaped like a pear. If women have low metabolism, they won’t be able to lose weight even when they cut calories. You have to take special steps to get enough protein to control your cravings and maintain or build muscle to get the shape you want.

 Here are 5 steps to change your shape so it will be easier for you to lose weight and keep it off for good.

Step #1: Proper NutritionHigh protein meal replacement shakes taken twice a day, made with fruit in a blender, will not only provide you with all the nutrition you need on a daily basis, but you’ll begin to notice how your lifestyle will change as your body heals itself. It will satisfy your hunger and help you gain control of your food choices during the day. You’ll lose weight and water and will feel better right away.

Step 2: Personalize Your PlanFigure out what your trigger foods are. Simply put, which foods make you want to eat and eat and eat until the bag is empty? For me, it’s any kind of cracker. Write down these kinds of obstacles. You don’t have to give them up completely, but when you do eat them, give yourself a smaller portion so you don’t over-indulge and ruin your progress.

Step 3: Be ready For RoadblocksIf you know there will be times when you are out shopping, dining out, traveling or at a holiday party, think in advance about what you will do to limit yourself to bad foods. One place you know you can always eat right is at home, so eat something before you venture out. It will curb your cravings and temptations for bad foods.

Step 4: Target Your ExerciseDid you know that long periods of slow exercise burns fat, but short bursts of energy burns carbohydrates? When you don’t eat enough, your body uses protein from your muscles for fuel! Determine what your diet consists mostly of (fats or carbohydrates) and plan your exercise routine according to how you will use fuel most efficiently.

Step 5: Increase your confidence from personal success stories of people who have achieved the success you are striving for. Visualizing your own personal success is just as important as eating and exercising correctly. Be realistic. You may have to work a lot harder than someone else, so don’t beat yourself up if it takes longer than you think.

Follow these steps and you will soon be on your way to changing your body shape. No matter what supplement program you decide to use to help you get proper nutrition, make sure it comes with a personal coach to help you along the way as well as a money back guarantee. That is how I was able to lose weight and keep it off for good, and you can do it too.

10 Secrets of Lasting Weight Loss for Any One and Any Plan

March 30th, 2010 Diet-PillsThatWork No comments

So many people gave us the set-up secrets and plans of weight loss, from avoiding carbs to avoiding fats, and from increasing fats to increasing proteins.They might succeeded with some people and failed with others, but nobody told us the core concepts behind what really works for weight loss lasting for life.

This article peels the hype , and presents the scientifically proved core concepts behind the real secrets of the lasting weight loss. They compile with the the literal meaning of the word “Diet”, which comes from the Greek word “diaita” which means ” a manner of living”.

These are the 10 secrets to lasting weight loss:

1- Count Calories before you count any thing else:

It is calories that adds fat to your body. The body needs 3500 Calories to make 1 pound of fats, no matter what the calorie source is. In the Lancet, it is how much you restrict your calorie intake and how long you stay on a diet are the only factors that determine weight loss.

Low carb diets ensures a rapid onset of weight loss through ketosis, yet it is the calorie intake that that determines whether you gain weight back or not. Shave 500 Calories from your daily intake , and you lose a pound a week.

2- Keep away from time schedules:

Do not be enticed by the quick new look – unless you prepare for a beauty contest- and have the mindset of getting involved into a process that will take you into a new way of life. Delve into weight loss gradually, and this will not come unless you drop time schedules.

3- Do not Starve your body:

Starving your body leads it to waste muscles to compensate for the lost energy. Muscles stokes your metabolism, and losing muscles means you burn fewer calories on the long run.

4- Focus on food over exercise:

Before the sport contests, the coaches recommend diets for the “overweight”athletes! This means that even people that have exercise as their major activity can get overweight, if they eat more than they are burning off. Moreover, the amounts of calories lost by our tolerable exercise are tiny amounts compared to the supposedly lost amounts of calories ( for every 20 minutes of aerobic exercise you do, you burn 100 Calories, which you can wipe out with a granula bar).The strenuous type of exercise needs optimal health, time, coach, and a “diet plan”. As this is said,do not cancel your gym membership, and do a little exercise every day.

5- Inflate your meal volume:

Fruits and vegetables, rich in water and fibers are bulkier but less caloric. Recent studies revealed that women who ate foods with higher water and fiber content lost 40 percent more weight than women who simply limited protein size and cut back on fats.Fight the hunger feeling . Start your meals with a big bowl of broth-based soup or a large green salad portion with or without toppings.

6- Spend more calories on eating:

Digestion process consumes roughly 10 percent of your calorie intake.Many nutrition experts recommend eating 6 small meals during the day instead of 3 big meals. Yet the predetermined size meals won’t necessarily work for every one, since the hungrier you are, the more opportunity you find for unscheduled feedings.You can increase heat production and feeling more satisfied by eating protein snacks (like a hard boiled egg) through the specific dynamic action of protein. You can also increase fiber intake as discussed in secret # 4.

7- Do not get distracted while eating:

If you think of your body weight , you should give up some privileges of modern time. We eat too much when you are watching TV, listening to a tape, or reading. Just eat and give your body the chance to digest the swallowed foods before you decide to eat more.

9- Meal replacement:

Meal replacements like shakes, bars , and frozen dinners with their preset portions and controlled number of calories, are good tools for long lasting weight loss. It is not that you will take them 7 days a week, rather you should substitute wisely as atop gap or before rushing into a scheduled task.

10- Live a new life style:

The big obstacle that prevent people to maintain their acquired new weight is that they do not have the correct mindset before and after beginning their weight loss plan. They start it as a scheduled task leading them to have their dreams about their bodies.You should keep in mind that your body does not have to work hard to gain weight again.You should have the mindset of starting a new a new style of life that suits more your new body.

Eat less, exercise more, and be a friend to mother nature and its relatives, fruits and vegetables.

Top 10 Natural and Easy Ways to Reduce Weight

March 28th, 2010 Diet-PillsThatWork No comments

We all know that exercise alone is not enough to get rid of fat in our body. We have to match it with discipline to ensure that we reap all the benefits we are putting in our daily routines.

First of all, we have to lay down the basic rules. You should take in fewer calories than you burn so that you can accelerate your progress. If you are staying on your weight long enough then you are probably taking in too much or just enough to negate the calories you burned from your exercise.

Secondly, you have to think positive. Many people give up before they even get there. If you believe that you will lose weight, then you can. What the mind can think, the body can achieve.

Moving forward, the following are not a strict measure on how you can reduce weight naturally but you can use this as a guideline to perfect your losing weight routines.

Now that you already know these 10 natural ways to reduce weight, you have to form a habit to do all these. While many behavioral experts claim that it takes 21 days to build a habit, the ultimate factor if you will be successful in reducing weight depends on your commitment. Start now.