Diet Pills That Work

Are you realistic about your weight-loss goal? Remember, losing as little as 10 to 20 pounds can improve your health if you’re overweight or obese. Ask your doctor how much weight you can safely lose.

Here’s a guide to understanding and dealing with childhood obesity. If you’re overweight or obese, you are not alone – you’re among nearly 130 million other U.S. adults. Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death and is closely linked to conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis, gout, asthma, and gum disease. WebMD has created a weight loss clinic to addresses this public health epidemic.

Vegetarian Food

Natural weight loss with a vegetarian diet or raw food diet is healthy weight loss. Natural appetite suppressants like hoodia weight loss or green tea weight loss are the best weight loss supplements. There are no weight loss vitamins, only natural appetite suppressant.

Eat Balanced Meal

To lose weight safely and effectively, a well balanced diet from the Food Guide Pyramid consuming enough high carbohydrate (low and moderate glycemic index) foods for energy and lowering fat consumption to reduce calories is recommended rather than following a very low calorie diet. It is also important not to eliminate all fat from the diet. The body needs some fats for normal operation. The best fats are monounsaturated (canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil, almonds, pecans, peanuts, walnuts, and avocados).

Diet and Exercise

Diet and exercise are vital strategies for losing and maintaining weight. A study by the National Weight Control Registry found that nearly all of 784 study participants who had lost at least 30 pounds, and had maintained that loss for one year or longer, used diet and exercise to not only lose the weight, but also to maintain the weight loss.

The Result

Once the desired weight has been reached, the gradual addition of about 200 calories of healthy, low-fat food to daily intake may be attempted for one week to see if weight loss continues. If weight loss does continue, additional calories of healthy foods may be added to the daily diet until the right balance of calories to maintain the desired weight has been determined. It may take some time and record keeping to determine how adjusting food intake and exercise levels affect weight.

Healthy weight loss at young age prevents the onset of many lifestyle related diseases. Although many Americans have tried to lose weight, only a few have actually lost weight and kept it off. For this, a plenty of reasons are sited here. Sometimes, obese people try to loose too much weight in quick time. They think that this may work for them and it is simple to do so. In reality, it is not that easy to lose weight in a healthy way, without knowing how to keep it off. In fact, it requires a completely new way of thought.

Long Term Weight Loss Goals:

A main goal is to lose few pounds and then, keep it off for a long time. Below mentioned are some important tips to achieve goals:-

* Do a self check on what to eat and when to eat. Maintain an honest food record until a week. Note down everything that you drink or eat. Take the help of these things to set new food goals. These small changes can easily help to change the existing food habits.

* Never look for a magic bullet diet. They never exist. It’s better to base the eating habits on whatever a person finds out in his/her self-check food records. Also, check personal snacking habits.

* Always remain ready to change the food habits. It is time to say goodbye to some of the unhealthy food choices and food habits.

* Give importance to daily physical activity. The main thing is to remain active throughout the day.

Below are some tips that can give a start to daily lifestyle changes:-

* Learn how to eat to stay healthy.

* Get hints on how to make healthy eating possible.

* Clear the pantry and refrigerator of any tempting item. It is simple to say no, when these items are out of the house.

* Stock the house with plenty of healthy and natural foods. Keep the refrigerator stored with fresh fruits and vegetables. Always keep sweets and fatty foods to a minimum.

* Use raw vegetables, salads, fruit and soups to fill up. To eat few calories does not mean to face an empty plate. It is important to have a feeling of a full stomach. This may discourage any need to eat those items that help to sustain and increase weight.

* Think about how to handle common food problems. Never put them on hold. There are certain occasions, when a fast food meal becomes inevitable. So, stress on the most satisfying and healthiest options.

Weight loss Benefits:

Weight loss has a plenty of benefits. Some of them improve the health. Some others help a person to feel better. Before getting ready to lose weight, prepare a list as to how losing a few pounds can benefit an individual. Put up the list on either the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator.

Follow the tips mentioned below:-

* Breathe easier and move around easier.

* Play more with children or grandchildren.

* Improve blood fats in case they are not within a healthy range.

* Take some time off for meditation and yoga.

To embark on a quick weight loss, it is important to set realistic and short term goals. For instance, think about losing 10, 15 or even 5 pounds.

Depression and weight gain are closely related, because very often people want to relieve the stress and bad feeling by eating. Being on a weight loss program during a depression period can be very demanding, but if successful, can be a tremendous boost to self confidence and help with depression also. On the other hand, being over weighted can contribute to depression because we easily lose our self confidence and have a bad self image, which can trigger depressive and negative thoughts and feelings.

What is depression really?

The word depression stems from two words; “de” and “pressure”. We feel like we’re pressed down by a force bigger than our willpower, like a big cloud hanging over us. Eventually this depressed feeling takes over so much, it’s hard to get up from bed sometimes. We lose our zeal for life, nothing inspires us and our life force seems to be totally gone. Sometimes a person can suffer from depression without anybody noticing it. Nobody sees inside of you, not your family, your friends nor workmates. In these situations one feels helpless and alone.

These are the symptoms but what are the reasons? Why do people suffer from depression? Can and should depression be treated medically?

Depression occurs when our life force is weakened and this can have several causes.  We all have different ability to handle difficult situations and when for a long period of time things seem to go wrong, this can be enough to trigger depression. Depression is emotional, but negative thoughts make it worse.  Life force is what keeps our spirits up and gets us going. This life force is mostly in our spine, but we feel it in our body as vigor, strength and inspiration. Being depressed means we have somehow lost our natural life force and fallen into a psychological well.

Medication can help relieve some pain and remove some symptoms temporally, but it is never a long term solution.  It is very important to understand that depression has its roots inside us, it is not coming from outside. Best treatment is positive thinking, different hobbies and support from friends and family.

As I said earlier, depression and weight loss are closely related.  Many people feel that one reason they are depressed is because they are over weighted.  If you feel this is so, you are most probably right. The weight problem is one reason that makes the life situation worse.  But how can one lose weight when all the energy goes to just live from day to day?

Actually what is needed in these situations is action. If we just wait for depression to go away, it might take a much longer time. A healthy diet program that checks our condition frequently is very good and can help boost our confidence and generate a forward going feeling in life. This feeling will eventually remove the depressed emotions and our life force will be free to flow again.

Depression is enemy and we need to face our enemy and conquer it. It is done by taking action and losing weight is a good action to take, but we must not be too strict and hard to ourselves. Allow one feast meal per week, don’s skip meals and eat healthy foods. If it gets unbearable, call someone, talk about it, share it – take action. This will help you take the all important first step.  Do things you like that in the past have given you enjoyment. Start something new and move yourself. Life is movement, death is motionless, and depression makes you feel you are dead inside, so the best treatment is to move on like there never was any depression – and soon your system will follow and you have won one very important battle. 

There are many people that are dieting and not finding the long term success they are looking for. They are on fad diets that they have to will themselves to stay on them. They often begin to yo-yo because they try these fad diets a number of times; they lose weight and then rebound. When a person rebounds from starving themselves, they will often gain back more weight than they lost. This is extremely frustrating.

There are two things that people must realize when they are on fad diets and that is that there is another way and there is a better way. The key to true weight loss is not a fad diet, rather it is a lifestyle change. A lifestyle change is usually small but it is significant in order to lose weight permanently.

There are different stages or pillars that people must accomplish in order to alter their lifestyle in increments to manifest the body they always wanted and be able to keep it. The first of these pillars is meal frequency.

The traditional meal pattern is three square meals a day. There is also a saying that “square meals make round people.” The first thing a person does on a fad type diet is decrease their calorie intake. They do this by reducing their food intake to once a day. This type of extreme diet can cause hormonal changes and force the body into starvation mode. Once the person is off the fad diet, they not only gain the weight that they lost, but they will eat everything in sight and gain even more weight.

To some people it may not make sense that increasing the number of meals you have to five or six would make logical sense. This is the key to beginning to not only losing weight, but to making a lifestyle change you can keep up with.

There is research that shows that eating more frequently can help you lose weight. Eating more frequent, smaller meals increases what’s called the thermic effect of food, or basically, the energy it takes your body to digest food. This is a slower way to lose weight, but has longer lasting effects. It does not cause the hormonal changes that fad diets can.

Eating more frequent meals is a nutritional plan that you can stick to for the rest of your life. It can take getting used to. Many people complain early on that they just do not have the time to eat more frequently. If they give it a chance for a few weeks, it will form a new long lasting habit. It takes some patience and work, but the payoff is amazing.

To begin this lifestyle change, take the amount of food that you would normally eat over three meals, and for the next two weeks, make it four or maybe five meals. You will just be spreading the same amount of food over a greater period of time. You will be burning slightly more calories just by spreading your meals out and being consistent about it.

Make increased meal frequency part of your lifestyle, and once it becomes a routine you can move on and add another pillar of nutrition.

In your pursuit of a leaner body, you know doubt utilized a bathroom scale to chronicle your progress. However, you may have been doing yourself a grave disservice. As you know, a scale measures how much weight you have lost, but it will never tell you where this weight was lost from. This is where the problem lies. When dieting, your combined weight loss could potentially come from fat loss, water loss, or muscle loss. Obviously, the former is what we all want to achieve, and the latter two are what we need to try and avoid whenever dieting. Unfortunately, many of the fad diets claiming rapid weight loss are often achieving this at the expense of water loss and/or muscle loss. Generally speaking, if you are losing greater than two pounds per week you are likely losing muscle as well.
The best way to monitor your progress when embarking on a new diet is to measure your body fat percentage and your lean body mass. Lean body mass is your weight excluding fat. Lean body mass includes bone, muscle, and other fat free tissues with the majority of this being muscle. By measuring these two items, you will be able to determine how much fat you are losing and whether or not you are losing any muscle. The simplest way to measure your body fat percentage is through skinfold testing. If you know a personal trainer or other fitness professional in your area, they will likely be able to take these measurements for you. However, self skinfold testing is available with the use of the “Accu-Mesure”, which can by found easily online.
Once you have determined your body fat percentage, you are ready to calculate your fat weight and lean body mass. To calculate your fat weight, multiply your total weight by your body fat percentage. Remember to convert your body fat percentage to decimal form before multiplying. I.e. 11% body fat would be converted to .11 Once you have calculated your pounds of fat, subtract your pounds of fat from your total weight in pounds, which will give you your lean body mass.
Armed with these simple equations, you will be able to track your weight loss much more accurately than by simply using a scale alone. You will know exactly where your weight loss is coming from, so you can quickly make adjustments to your caloric intake to maximize your results. For example, if your lean body mass decreases and your body fat decreases, this should tell you there is to much of a calorie deficit and you should increase your daily calorie intake slightly to prevent the loss in lean body mass. Whenever you’re on a calorie restricted diet, some loss in lean body mass and therefore muscle is hard to avoid. However, this loss in lean body mass should be limited to a few tenths of a pound per week. Initially, when first starting a diet program, you will likely notice a larger drop in lean body mass due to water loss. Don’t get alarmed by this. An obvious downward trend in your lean body mass over time is definitely a concern.
It is beyond the scope of this article to discuss proper nutrition and how to calculate daily caloric needs for weight loss; however, I will mention a simple formula that can be utilized to get you in the ballpark if you have average or better body fat percentages. To calculate your total daily calories needed for fat loss, multiply your total weight by 12-13. This will give you a good starting point. I will also mention that spreading your calories out over 5-6 meals per day with each meal consisting of approximately 55% complex carbohydrate, 30% lean protein, and 15% fat will give you the best chance of permanent fat loss. Obviously, these percentages may not work for everyone, but they are a great place to start. If you want to maintain your hard earned muscle, it is also imperative you maintain a weight lifting routine, while dieting.
I hope this information will help you achieve all your weight loss goals and help you understand exactly how your nutrition and diet program is affecting your body. There is certainly still a place for the bathroom scale, but unless you’re also measuring the items above, you will never fully realize the affect of your diet program and reaching your full potential may be difficult. I wish you the best of luck.

Your weightloss goal must be long term in order to have lasting success. Think about this, if you only lost a pound a week that would be 52 pounds a year and that is a lot of weight loss. This may be a surprise to you, but there are certain mental factors at work in successful weight loss. One needs to have a clear goal in mind to be successful in weight loss endeavors. One needs to have clearly defined goals for achieveing the desired weightloss. You can enhance your weight loss program by learning successful ways to take control of your life as well as your thoughts and feelings. You didn’t end up with extra weight overnight, and you cannot possibly experience significant or long lasting weight loss overnight either.

When you put together quality nutrition with the right fitness program, you have a killer recipe for losing weight. A person can increase your caloric and fat loss by increasing the pace and rhythm of your walks. When it comes to fat loss exercise, a great many folks turn to aerobics. Using “high intensity interval training” to boost fat loss and burn more calories is also greatly beneficial. It burns a vast amount of calories which helps with weight loss. The equation goes something like this: Increasing the metabolism will cause fat loss so increasing metabolism is a must.

Consistent exercise is one of the keys to targeting fat loss. Fat will never turn into muscle, but you can cause fat to burn quicker when you use a muscle workout as an aid for fat loss. You can’t possibly achieve sustained weight loss success without a daily fitness program. Your workout, as part of your fat loss program and combined with a healthy diet, will cause you to burn that extra weight and you’ll notice the results within a short period of time. The single biggest hurdle with most fat loss or exercise programs is that they are no fun! You’re more likely to persevere in your efforts if you enjoy yourself. Swimming can be a great weight loss exercise, because it is easy on the joints.

Healthy weight loss can be achieved by proper diet and regular exercise. The best fat loss program doesn’t focus on just weight loss but on real fat loss. Focusing on fat loss means getting rid of simple refined carbohydrates from your diet. For those wanting sustained weight loss, low Glycemic index foods naturally releases energy into the bloodstream at a slower rate, which can result in fewer feelings of hunger, and consequently help to control the appetite. In the high-carbohydrate diets, lowering the glycemic load doubled the amount of fat lost. Consuming more high protein and low glycemic foods will help you drop those pounds. You will be amazed to learn that eating the right carbohydrates will help you achieve desired fat loss. Carbohydrate foods with high glycemic index have been linked to increase in both diabetes, increase of weight and heart disease while foods with low glycemic index has been shown to help with type two diabetes. If you are not familiar with the low glycemic diet, just do a Google search on it.

For anyone seriously trying to lose weight, I know it can be a daunting task. If you are unable to be dedicated, follow your plan and invest the time and effort, I can tell you it will not be worth your time to even commence. Losing weight has to be a lifestyle change. It’s not going on a diet eating pre-packaged or frozen food and then losing several pounds then returning to your normal eating habit after you have lost some weight..That certainly will not do it. That is what is called yo yo dieting. It does you no good. There is no quick fix for losing weight, Weight loss can be easy if planned properly.

There is no magic wand to get the weight off you have to work at it consistently and eventually it will become a part of your daily routine. If you are willing to do what is required you will be surprised at yourself and you could even surprise everyone around you at the beautiful, confident person you can become. Weight loss can change your entire perspective on life. You will become a different person who is willing to take on any other challenges that comes your way. You would be surprised how one change in your life can cause you to become a person who is ready to take on a whole different outlook on your entire life, whether it be financial, educational or emotional.

Before you begin your weight loss program check with your doctor to make sure you are fit enough to embark on this new lifestyle you will be taking on.

Firstly you will need to know your Body Mass Index (BMI), this can be very helpful in determining how much weight you need to lose based on your height.

Secondly, try incorporating a healthy, clean eating habit, eat as much fruits and vegetable per day that will make you comfortable and each week you can add additional fruits and or vegetable until your body starts to enjoy eating this type of food. Do not force yourself to eat too much initially, this will turn you off and make you not want to eat it.

Try to cut back on the fast food as much as possible, have less soda gradually until eventually you do not have the desire for this type of food. Fast food and soda does not provide you with necessary nutrients that your body needs. Also try to control your portion size, yes, this is very important when trying to lose weight.

Incorporate some exercise into your weight loss regime. You can start of with simply walking a block or two initially, then gradually add a little more each week until yo have gotten to a point where you are able to walk say, 3 miles per day for 3 or 4 days per week. Eventually you can take it to the next level. If you have a baby you can put the baby in the stroller and push along while walking. This can be very convenient for anyone with a young child who does not have child care support all the time.

The above is a very simple technique that can be used by anyone wanting to lose weight in an inexpensive manner and very doable. This is how I lost some weight after many many frustrating attempts. I decided to sit down and make a note of all the steps I had taken that eventually worked for me however the key is consistency. Good luck on your weight loss journey.

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!

Irvingia gabonensis is the newest supplement to hit the weight loss marketplace, saturate the internet with ads and light up the discussion forums. But is it all it’s cracked up to be? In the fat loss marketplace, this may gain the dubious distinction of becoming the next hoodia or acai berry (scam).

Irvingia comes from a West African tree known as the wild mango or bush mango. The trees bear edible fruits, and they’re well known for their dika nuts. Like other nuts and seeds, Irvingia is high in fat (50%), and oil can be extracted from them. Irvingia also contains 14% fiber. Dietary fibers are often recommended to help with weight loss as well as for their health benefits.

Due to its customary use in African cuisine and folk reputation as a health food, a research group from Cameroon (Western Africa) set up a randomized double blind study in 2005 to see if Irvingia gabonensis could help with weight loss. 40 obese subjects were divided into placebo and experimental groups. The experimental group received 1.05 grams of Irvingia seed extract 3 times a day (total 3.15 grams) for 30 days.

Subjects were examined weekly and tested for body weight, body fat and hip/waist circumferences. Blood pressure was measured and blood samples were also collected after an overnight fast and tested for total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, HDL-cholesterol and glucose. The subjects were interviewed about their physical activity and food intake during the trial and were instructed to follow a low fat diet of 1800 calories per day and keep a food record for seven days.

At the end of the 30 day trial, the Irvingia group had lost an average of 5.26 kilos (11.5 lbs) and the placebo group had lost only 1.32 kilos (2.9 lbs). The group receiving Irvingia also experienced a decrease in systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL cholesterol. HDL cholesterol increased.

This was the first study that suggested a weight loss benefit from Irvingia. Why did the Irvingia group lose more weight? It’s not clear, but in studies of free-living subjects, increased weight loss often means that the experimental group ate less, not necessarily from a direct action on metabolism, hormones or physiology.

In March 2008, the same research group published the results of their second study about Irvingia and weight loss. This time, Irvingia was combined with Cissus quadrangularis, a succulent vine native to West Africa and Southeast Asia. 72 subjects were divided into three groups, placebo, Cissus extract only (150 mg 2X/day) and Cissus-Irvingia combination (250 mg combined Cissus-Irvingia 2X/day).

All the same tests and measurements were taken as in the 2005 study. After 10 weeks, improvements were seen in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and fasting blood glucose. The placebo group lost 2.1 kg (4.6 lbs), the cissus group lost 8.82 kg (19.4 lbs) and the Cissus-Irvingia group lost 11.86 kg (26.1 lbs).

Attributing 26 pounds lost in 10 weeks solely to a fiber supplement is highly unlikely if not impossible, so the researchers (Oben and Ngondi) thought there was something else going on. They proposed that PPAR gamma, leptin, adiponectin or glycerol-3 phosphate dehydrogenase could all be potential mechanisms through which Irvingia gabonensis might affect body weight in overweight humans.

They set up another 10 week randomized double blind placebo-controlled study to investigate these possibilities. 120 subjects were divided into two groups; a placebo group and an Irvingia gabonensis group, which received 150 mg of Irvingia gabonensis extract twice a day.

Again, total and LDL cholesterol levels fell more in the Irvingia group than the placebo group (27% vs 4.8%). In the Irvingia gabonensis group, body fat decreased by 6.3% versus 1.9% in the placebo group. Weight decreased by 12.8 kg (28.1) pounds in the Irvingia gabonensis group vs 0.7 kg (1.5 lbs) in the placebo group.

Favorable changes were also seen in Leptin (anti starvation hormone that signals brain & body about fat stores), adiponectin (protein secreted from fat cells; higher levels improve insulin sensitivity), C-reactive protein (marker of inflammation and cardiac risk) and fasting glucose.

To the lay person, this 28-pound weight loss (12.8 kilos) looks incredible. To someone familiar with research methods and weight loss research, these results look IN-credible, meaning NOT credible. To the informed and discriminating, results like these do not send you running to the health food store, they raise red flags, prompt more questions and demand more and better-controlled research.

The subjects were advised not to alter their diet or activity, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t alter it anyways. These were free-living subjects, free to eat whatever they wanted and the only way the researchers knew how much the subjects ate or how active they were was from self-reported food and activity records. That’s another way of saying the study was NOT controlled.

A true tightly-controlled weight loss study means that the subjects stay in a hospital or research center metabolic ward where all their food is prepared and delivered to them, which is the ONLY way to guarantee we actually know how much they ate. It also means that activity and exercise levels are monitored. Alas, none of these controls were used in this study and we have no way of knowing the true caloric intake or caloric expenditure of these subjects.

If these results are questionable, then how do we explain them? I mean, we’re not saying the researchers are frauds, we’re only suggesting that there were some anomalous findings which were parlayed into the latest supplement craze and a thriving business.

The main problem is that self-reporting of food intake is highly inaccurate and makes long term weight loss research very difficult to do. It’s even possible that some subjects may have experienced a sort of “12 week fitness contest” type of effect, whereupon enrolling in the study, they wanted to impress anyone who saw the results. Therefore, they increased their exercise or activity in spite of instructions otherwise. Perhaps some of the subjects got sick and lost lean body mass. Maybe some were bloated and water retentive and simply dropped a lot of water weight. The explanations are endless.

But the story doesn’t end here. There’s another twist! It turns out that one person has done ALL the research to date and the same person owns the product rights.

Am I being overly skeptical? Sure, I’m skeptical of weight loss supplements. That’s because I’m intimately familiar with their sordid history (about 95% don’t work or don’t do what advertisements claim) and because I read the research. In case anyone thinks I’m just trying to pick part this particular research only because I’m a diet pill party pooper and supplement skeptic, then think about the magnitude of the claim for a moment and decide for yourself:

The Dubious claim: “28 pounds of fat loss in 10 weeks with NO CHANGE IN DIET OR EXERCISE.”

Let’s do some math, shall we? 28 pounds of fat loss in 10 weeks = 98,000 calories, or 9,800 calories per week, or 1400 calories per day. So, the researchers and makers of this supplement are claiming that this product will raise metabolic rate by 1400 calories per day.

Is it a more reasonable assumption that an over-the-counter plant extract from an African tree caused astronomical increase in metabolism that not even drugs come close to, or that the research is flawed?

Consumers in the weight loss marketplace have such short memories. Doesn’t anyone remember that last African wonder pill, hoodia? What happened to that one? And why another? How many of these products are already buried in the supplement graveyard? Haven’t we learned our lessons from the past?

With an objective look at the evidence, we can probably conclude that Irvingia is a good source of fiber. Fiber can provide numerous health benefits and play a role in body fat control, but there are cheaper ways to get fiber than expensive African supplements, (starting with your food!) A 30-day supply of Irvingia (60 softgels at 150 mg each) currently retails for $42 to $72.

Future research might show that Irvingia Gabonensis and or an Irvingia and Cissus combination may provide significant health benefits. Existing research already suggests health benefits including cholesterol improvements, glycemic control, antibacterial actions and antioxidant properties. It’s possible that some of the proposed anti-obesity benefits may also be confirmed. But at this time, the evidence is too thin to recommend Irvingia Gabonensis for weight loss beyond what you could get from any fiber product.