Weight Loss

Rapid Weight Loss Techniques

2007-01-03T04:29:00.000-08:00

By Dr. Alan Jenks

Other than physical appearance weight affects a person in many ways.
This could be overall quality of life, self-esteem, depression, health risks,
and physical incapabilities. There are a lot of positive changes that happen
once a person experiences weight loss. It is for this reason why a lot of
people are searching for a weight loss technique that will surely trim down
those fats and get a super slim head turner body.

The first thing that an overweight person should do is take some initial
measurements of overall size. Having a place to start is essential, as it allows
you to better prepare for setting goals. You need to also look at what you eat,
how you move and what you think. Identifying how you do these three things
are essential if you are going to change your habits

Here are fast tips that can change an over-weight's life:

First: Fast weight loss composes of a multi-faceted technique that consists of
mindset, exercise, and proper food consumption. Begin by learning
a diet food plan that can easily be accustomed with. Incorporate an exercise
plan that allows even at least fifteen minutes a day like brisk walking,
running, swimming, and dancing.

Second: Set realistic goals. The ability to focus and have a proper
mindset enables someone on a diet to quickly lose those extra pounds. With
discipline and proper mind set, a dieter will never be discouraged and lose focus.

Third: Listen as the body speaks. Each and everyone's body metabolism reacts
differently to different fast weight loss programs and plans. Try substituting
one program for another to compensate the body's reaction. An exercise program must
be suitable to one's body. If walking is all that can be done, then walk. Muscles
burn more calories than fats so it's also best to put on a little muscle and looking good too.

Fourth: Eat more fiber for it makes a person full sooner and stays in the tummy
longer, slowing down the rate of digestion is a great way to encourage fast weight
loss. A single serving of whole grain bread moves fat through the digestive system faster. Grains turn into blood sugar that
spikes the body's insulin level. Thus, making the body more energized and ready to
tell the body when it should stop burning fats or start storing.

Fifth: Keep away from fried foods especially deep-fried as this contain a great amount
of fat. Although fish and chicken appear leaner than beef, this white meat can contain
more fat than when a beef is fried. It is recommended for those on strict diet to opt
for grilled food as this does not have or contain less amount of fat after the food is
cooked.

Sixth: Take in lots of fluid. Drinking at least six to eight glasses of water a day
keeps the body refreshed. Since weight loss depends on how the body eliminates body
wastes, the body must stay hydrated.

All in all, discipline and consistency is still the best practice and the key to
rapid weight loss success. Light dieting, workout, and the right amount of supplementation
applied in a regular way everyday will result in faster weight loss.

Revolutionary H-bath - Natural Weight Loss

2006-12-23T06:17:00.000-08:00

By Andy B Lee

Many years ago, during my Ph.D. program at Osaka University Medical School, I first heard of the half-body-bath (h-bath). My first impression of the idea to “Put the lower half of the body in warm water until the whole body is warm” was that it was hilarious. How could you warm up your body, while your upper half-body is out of the tub?

I had completely forgotten about it until 2 years ago, I was reminded of the h-bath by a friend, did some investigation on it, and then started the h-bath by myself. I read books about the h-bath and watched TV programs produced in Korea and Japan, and then I learned in detail about the h-bath. The h-bath was started by Dr. Yoshiharu Shindo, Japan, and spread into Korea and China over the years.

After I started the h-bath, first I was surprised at the amount of sweat in only in 20 minutes by putting lower body in the tub. Secondly, I felt my whole body was still warm enough even long after the h-bath (it lasted about 2 hours). I then recommended it to my wife who was suffering from “cold hands and feet”. Guess what! She was able to get rid of “cold hands and feet”, and was able to have good night sleep. Now even my 10-year-old daughter is enjoying the h-bath every night.

What other health benefits did we get from the h-bath practice?
I lost 17 lbs in 8 months and also was relieved of shoulder pain I had for more than 15 years. Best of all, is the daily stress management by the h-bath. As mentioned previously, my wife was finally relieved of “cold hands and feet” (Raynaud’s disease), as well as the long-time-suffering of GERD (Gastro Esophageal Reflux Disease), a.k.a. acid reflux. We both gained much more energy than we previously had. Of course, I also did a daily exercise of 30 minutes of walking combined with 30 minutes of the h-bath. I am sure that the h-bath had a synergic effect in my weight loss.

Since I am not an exercise orientated person, like many of you, I knew that both walking and the h-bath were programs I could continue. My daily walking program is not strenuous; rather it is a relaxing slow walk of 30 minutes around the work place or on the treadmill during a lunch break. At night, I did 30 minutes of h-bath everyday. That’s it! I feel much energized now.

I am a scientist, majored in the medical sciences and quite often I couldn’t control the stress from research, discussions, and presentations and so on, until I started the h-bath. I never knew that a bath could be fun. Different from ordinary whole-body-bath, your arms and hands are free, which means you can read a magazine, book etc and fully enjoy the half bath experience.

I want to share the experiences and science of the h-bath with you and recommend the h-bath for healthier you. Best of all, you don’t need to purchase any special equipment for the h-bath, but you should learn proper instructions to start.

What is the half-body-bath (h-bath)?

The main purpose of taking a bath is to sanitize the body. After a bath, we feel relax and relieved of day to day stress. This implies that a bath has a stress relief effect. Fatigue can be relieved when submerging your whole body into the tub-full of hot water. And a bubble bath or few drops of essence oils can also help you to be relaxed. You may have experienced falling asleep while taking a bath, right? Taking a bath is not only good for cleaning purposes, but also for mental health.

The history of submerging-body-bath is older than we think. According to the history records, there was a public bath in Rome, AD 300. The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes shouted “Eureka, eureka!” when he found the principle of buoyancy (Archimedes’ principle), while he was taking a bath. For a long time, taking a bath meant whole-body-bath (w-bath), which is submerging a body up to the neck. In the early 1980’s, Dr. Yoshiharu Shindo, an ENT clinician, established a revolutionary bathing method, the half-body-bath (h-bath). Dr. Shindo mentions this in his first book, [Remedy for all diseases - controlling the thermodynamics of the body];

“I have been suffering from the “cold hands and feet” especially during the winter, so I used to wear long boots and thick cloths. And, finally came across the thought that what if I warm up the lower-half-body in the bath. It was cold winter, but I tried everyday. I thought that winter is the best time to test the effect of the h-bath, since it is the most severe season for the “cold hands and feet”. After many trial and errors, I concluded that maximum effect can be obtained by using warm water (100-104oF = 38-40oC), which is slightly higher than the body temperature. And keep the water level up to the 3-4 inches above the belly button, and then stay in the water for 20-30 minutes.

I even tried that when I got a common cold. After 20-30 minutes for the h-bath, I started to sweat a lot, and experienced a complete cure from fever & cold the next day. I was also relieved of the shoulder and upper arm pains. They were gone after few months of the h-bath. Of course, a common cold is not the problem anymore. I used take a short nap during the day to have enough energy for the rest of the day, but after continuing the h-bath, I realized I could keep up my activity without a nap. After I investigated the relationship between coldness and diseases, I am assured that the unbalance of the thermodynamics of the body is what causes many diseases. By fixing this heat unbalance by the h-bath, many diseases related to thermal unbalance can be cured naturally. This can be confirmed through the observation of my patients. In combination with conventional medical treatments, the h-bath enhances the cure index in the most of respiratory diseases including common cold”.

Dr. Shindo not only found that the h-bath primarily controlled his “cold hands and feet”, the so called ‘Raynaud’s disease’, but he realized that the h-bath helped to restore the human body naturally by equilibrating body heat.

Blood flow is a prime method of distributing heat evenly throughout the body. Poor blood flow can cause a reduction in the temperature of the extremities, and researchers theorized that poor blood circulation can cause cold hands and feet, subsequently causing other problems such as insomnia. Needless to say, the heart is responsible for the delivering of “warm blood” throughout the body. However, for some reason, it does not go flow through to the end of the body, like the hands and feet. If you take thermography of the whole body, you can see that the heat distribution of the body is not even. The upper body has higher temperature (98.6 oF = 37 oC around the heart), however lower body has comparatively low temperature; especially the temperature of the feet which is below 87.8 oF (31 oC).

Japan was built up from volcanic eruptions, and has many naturally formed hot springs all around the country. So over a long period of time, they developed unique bathing culture. Taking a bath is a daily part of a life in Japan. Paradoxically, on average 10,000 people die in the bath every year. The majority of people who die in the bath are elderly, mainly caused by cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction and cerebral hemorrhage etc. If so, is taking a bath deadly for elderly?

The answer is “it depends on the way of bathing”. A traditional w-bath can produce a lot of stress to the heart, mainly caused by water pressure. Since the whole body is warmed up from the w-bath at the same time the heart is experiencing stress, the heart beat rate and blood pressure rapidly increases and sometimes can cause cardiac or vascular problems. Besides, body heat can hardly be equilibrated since 85 - 90% of your body is submerged in the same temperature, and head is the only place to get the extreme blood stream and excess heat.

However, with an h-bath, the blood circulation increases gradually and reasonably with less stress to the heart and also does not provide the added stress of the water pressure. According to scientists, the h-bath does not significantly increase the blood pressure, shown by measuring cardiograph during the h-bath. The h-bath is comparatively safe, and is hugely effective for blood circulation. However, it doesn’t mean that the h-bath is “totally safe” for elderly and cardiovascular disease patients. Consult your doctor prior to start the h-bath.

The h-bath has spread all around Japan, Korea and China in a short time period. Millions of people continue the h-bath everyday and are accumulating their experiences and pre-scientific data. According to the h-bath people’s network, the h-bath is very effective in weight loss, improving skin health, helps to decrease the discomfort during a woman’s menstrual cycle, and lowers the blood pressure by enhancing the blood circulation in general.

There is no need to purchase expensive equipment for the h-bath. A bathtub and warm water are basically enough. A thermometer, reading materials and a rubber ducky are optional. The rest is continuing the h-bath with consistency and making this part of your daily activity.

Andy Lee, Ph.D. in Medical Science

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andy_B_Lee

A New Weight Loss Science

2006-11-09T00:46:00.000-08:00

By Mark Kimathi

For a long time physiology has been the lead science in combating obesity. To achieve weight loss, diets like Low Carb Diets, Glycemic Index Diet and even Very Low Calories Diets (VLCD) are designed to primarily effect physiological results.This includes control of glucose assimilation and reduced calories intake.

Another major and complementing physiological effect sort after is increased weight loss expenditure. Particularly, physical activities and thermogenic agents that target to increase fat metabolism. Both are used to increase calorie expenditure.

Indeed the combination of weight loss diets and exercise regimes designed for weight loss have proven to be superior than either technique alone. But with years of physiology, permanent weight loss is still elusive, many have given up along the way and for the persistent it is a yoyo journey.

Deeper insight into causes of obesity could as well be pointing to a new weight loss science to compliment physiology. As opposed to physiology which is the study of the science of life, psychology is the study of mind, behavior and attitudes. With the redefinition of obesity by World Health Orgnaisation (WHO) as a multi factorial disease; attitude, state of mind and behavioral studies have been making inroads to try and find a lasting solution for the obesity epidemic.

Studies are showing that only 60% of weight lost is maintained in one year. Even in cases of extreme intervention like weight loss surgery, you are easily back to where you came from in about five years.

The most promising solution yet to long term weight loss is change in lifestyle. This then has created quite some room for psychology in dieting.

Already studies that include behavioral treatments have shown promising results. Compared to diets, exercise programs as well as diet-exercise programs, inclusion of a behavioral treatment results to improvement to any of these techniques. This has a simple explanation.

As much as weights loss involves calories reduction, weight maintenance requires a zero-calories balance. With diet and exercising techniques, introduction of negative calories balance or calories reduction has been achieved. But the zero calorie balance to maintain weight has not. This is because particular lifestyle habits need to be changed.

If one is going to go into a weight loss program, lose some weight, then go right back to the same lifestyle that got them overweight in the first place; it does not require a lot of imagination to project that it is just a matter of time before they are back to where they started.

Enter a new problem, how do we effect change of lifestyle?

A lifestyle is a collection of habits. Habits are based on frequent practice of particular decisions. The science of decisions, habits and behaviors is a challenge way off the abilities of physiology, the science of life system.

Already weight loss programs merging both psychological and physiological tactics are in use. One such diet would be a Dr Phil Diet by the celebrity motivational speaker Dr Phil McGraw. With the entry of psychology we look forward to tools, tactics ad techniques to help individual change their lifestyle to result to permanent weight loss.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Kimathi

Weight Loss Motivation

2006-09-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

By Martin Stanwyck

Here’s the scenario: you have two athletes poised at the starting line for a race. Both have trained equal amounts of time and both were born with the same amount of athletic ability. So, who will win the race? Psychologist may answer with this, “the one who wants it most.” In the end, it all boils down to drive and determination. The battle against weight loss is no different. The people who get the most results are often the ones with the most weight loss motivation.

How much weight loss motivation do you have? If you’re like most people who have struggled with weight issues, you might report that you just can’t quite get motivated to lose the weight. Maybe you’ve acknowledged that you have a weight loss problem. You want to change it. Maybe you even forked over the money to join a gym. Maybe you’re one of the people who has bought home exercise product after product that you saw on infomercials only to slide them into the closet. Have you tried fad diet after fad diet only to end up quitting because you don’t have real weight loss motivation?

Many people who lack weight loss motivation start new diets only to become hungry and instantly discouraged. As they give in, eating the food they want, they fervently promise themselves that they’ll go on a diet into tomorrow. Tomorrow may turn into the next day. Sometimes the next day turns into never as weight loss plans get pushed back indefinitely. Why can’t everyone have weight loss motivation?

The bottom line is that some people are more driven than others. If you feel like you don’t have enough weight loss motivation, it’s important not to get down on yourself. You can get in gear to achieve your weight loss goals. You may just need an extra push to help you get started.

Hoodia Gordonii has helped many people achieve weight loss motivation and go on to lose all the weight they’d always dreamed of. If you’re wondering how this can be possible if you don’t have willpower and motivation, it’s because Hoodia Gordonii makes it easy. This cactus-like plant was discovered in the late 1990’s, but it was eaten by Bushmen for centuries to ward off hunger during long journeys through the desert.

When the plant was tested on animals, the animals lost weight! Now, you too can benefit by incorporating this safe and healthy vegetable into your daily diet. You will have the weight loss motivation you need because you won’t be hungry. Hoodia totally diminishes your appetite, reducing it by up to 2,000 calories per day. Do the math. If you cut your calories drastically, you are guaranteed to lose weight. Before long, you can have that spectacular body you’ve always wanted.

It’s time that you stop telling yourself you can’t lose weight. You can achieve the results you’ve always wanted. Now, it’s easier than ever.

Nutrition and weight-loss expert Martin Stanwyck is the author of a multitude of diet articles. Visit http://www.hoodia.info.ms to learn more about his main topic Hoodia Gordonii.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Stanwyck

11 Steps to Successful Weight Loss

2006-08-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

By Donovan Baldwin

Below, you will see a list of 9 things you can do to promote a healthy weight loss program. However, the title says "11 Steps to Successful Weight Loss"! What gives?

You see, I will begin almost any discussion of weight loss with the reminder that the two cornerstones of any healthy weight loss program will be proper nutrition and activity. Notice, I did not say "diet", and the only reason I did not say "exercise" is because the word tends to scare people off. Exercise is huffing and puffing and feeling bad, while "activity" can be a walk in the park - literally and figuratively.

So, the 9 items below are intended to enhance the effects of the two major aspects of a healthy weight loss program - nutrition and exercise...I mean activity, of course.

1. Make a Food Diary and More: You will often see advice to begin a weight loss program by writing down everything you eat for a few days. This means everything related to eating...what, when, where, how you felt, who you were with. As part of your "exercise program", I am going to ask you to pick up that pencil or pen a little more as you will see below.

2. Take Your Time When You Eat: When your body begins to signal that it is hungry, it will take approximately 20 minutes for anything you eat to make that signal go away. This is a fact, but it is also ammunition. If you stuff down a 750 calorie burger in two minutes, you still have to wait about 18 minutes more for the hunger signals to subside. Don't go grab a bag of french fries because you just ate a burger and are "still hungry". Hunger is your body's way of saying that it needs fuel, and you are right to respond to that message, but remember the 20 minutes you have to wait before your body opens the envelope, turns up the light, puts on its glasses and reads the food message you sent.

3. Eat Things You Like: I could write a couple of thousand words on this item alone! However, to keep it simple, just think logically. How long have you, or anyone else, ever stayed on a diet of foods they didn't like? It's bad enough that you psychologically blackmail yourself every time you "go on a diet", and we won't even go into what happens with your cortisol levels. If you are trying to exist and subsist on foods you don't like, and avoiding the ones you do, you won't stay on that diet very long...at least not without great willpower and determination.

4. Eat The Bulk Of Your Calories Early In The Day: Eating a good breakfast and lunch, not to mention a few healthy snacks along the way, can help prevent overeating throughout the day and make it easier to control the intake of excess calories in the evening and before bed. Also, eating more calories earlier in the day helps provide the energy fuel you need for your...ahem...activity.

5. Plan Your Exercise Times And Activities: Hey! I got both words in that one. Okay, let's be real. You need some exercise, but if you leave to chance or "work it in" somewhere, it won't get done. Schedule it, plan it, and modify it if you have to, but make it as important and regular as bathing. This is where you pick up the pencil again. Write it down! Put it in your appointment book. If you don't have an appointment book, go buy one and write down when, where, and how you are going to exercise.

6. Plan To Avoid Temptations: We all have them. Some place, some activity, some foods, some people, something trips some kind of trigger inside and we eat more than we should, or we eat the wrong things. Plan ahead, see these things coming and arrange to avoid them. Pick up the pencil again and write it down. Scan the list occasionally so that you won't get caught off guard. Be proactive, which brings us to the next point.

7. Plan Things To Take Your Mind Off The Desire To Eat: It can be something as simple as some hobby that occupies your hands and brain. Pick up the pencil again, and make a list. You'll be surprised at how easy it is for your mind to go blank when the desire to eat hits. Having a list prepared brings you back to reality and gives you a tool to continue your weight loss program

8. Focus On Health And Fitness: It's always great to have goals, and you need them to help you chart your course to success whether in life, your job, or in your weight loss program. It is also great to have plans and guidelines, but if your goal is to weigh what you weighed in high school, and if your plan is to eat two from column A and one from Column C, except on Tuesdays if you have had a glass of buttermilk, you are going to find the whole mess confusing and impossible to attain. Go back to basics. You know the pie has too much sugar, so eat an apple instead. You know you need to take the walk, so don't sit down and watch TV. Watching TV and the pie CAN be a reward sometimes, but your goal should be to do the things that are geared towards your health and fitness. Do that and you will find that the weight loss program just hums along in the background doing its thing and doing it well.

9. When It Comes To Eating, Get Real: As I hinted above, one piece of pie is NOT going to hurt...not if you are doing the other things you need to do to succeed. However, eating pie every day and in large quantities will hurt, even if you are doing everything else properly. However, there will be times that events will place you in situations where it is nearly impossible to "stay on your diet"...or your sensible, healthy weight loss plan. Do what you can, make adjustments if possible, but just accept the inevitable for a day or two.

For example, if you normally dread Thanksgiving get-togethers because of the temptation to overeat, why not work sensibly and calmly Sunday through Wednesday and enjoy the heck out of that particular Thursday? Your weight loss program is NOT ruined just because you took a day off and ate a kazillion pounds of Mom's turkey and Aunt Grace's stuffing! Go ahead. Take some turkey and stuffing home with you for later...after you've had a couple of days to get back on your program. It can be another reward and a reminder that you don't have to give up everything to get where you want to go.

Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. A graduate of the University Of West Florida (1973) with a BA in accounting, he is a member of Mensa and has held several managerial positions. He has written poetry and essays for his own use, and instructional media in many of the positions he held. After his retirement from the U. S. Army in 1995, he began writing articles on various subjects for websites he owned as well as for use by other webmasters. He has a keen interest in health, fitness, diet, and weight loss. He has a blog on weight loss at http://nodiet4me.blogspot.com, and a web page where he provides brief reviews of products related to weight loss and health.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donovan_Baldwin

Extra Weight Loss Tips

2006-08-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

By Kenny Yong

It's tempting to give up dieting and exercises after weeks of failing to keep with a weight loss program. Or perhaps after several misses on your workouts.

But you see, it is important to keep faith with your goal. It doesn't matter if you have stopped exercising or have kicked off into a large buffet. At least, you haven't quitted yet. And that implies that you still have something to work on to. A few miss hits do not suggest failure. So its best to admit your mistakes and move on and never start from scratch again.

Establish a realistic objective. Although we are tempted to set higher goals (those that we know for sure we cannot accomplish) we must always keep an eye on those that will end up good for us.

One wise act is to never to expect for results in the first few days or weeks. Just think of this: it takes some time for you to gain weight and you won't be able loose all them overnight. If you could only resist the maddening desire to check the weighing scale each time you see it, then you'd be a contented person in your body's constant improvements.

The beginning is normally the hardest part in weight loss. It takes will and substantial effort before you can really pursue weight loss. Yet after the initial efforts, the process will become easier than what you have first thought. You only have to encourage the momentum and it will snowball so long as you give constant pushes to it. Everybody has to atleast pay some tuition. So prepare your guts to give some.

We always find ourselves saying "tomorrow" and put off the plan literally for "tomorrow". But the problem comes with the uncertainty of tomorrow. Any other day can be a tomorrow day so beware that you might not leave off your pursuit for your weight loss goal.

If you plan, make it concrete. Say you'll start at the end of the month, then make it a point to start on that day. And make sure that when you declare the day, you mean it. You should not be delaying your own plans for there might not be a tomorrow that will come to you, you might be too late by then.

There is wisdom in eating slowly. Not only would you taste the food better, you will also take advantage of the timeframe by which the brain and the stomach understand that they are both full. (Note: Both the brain and the stomach experience hunger. It is best to identify which of the two signals the demand to eat.)

On the average, it would take 20 minutes before the stomach signals that it is full. Therefore, stretching the time of eating without adding food on your plate would be a great deal. You can actually lose weight while eating.

Water, the liquid that is necessary in dissolving stored fats during metabolism benefits you in two ways for loosing weight. One, if you drink cold water a minute before meals, it will cause your stomach to shrink. Therefore, lesser foods will be required to fill the space in the organ. Meanwhile, drinking hot water regularly will help hasten the metabolism process. In that alone, you can have the best of both worlds.

There they went, the tips for weight loss while doing nothing physically rigorous.

For more information and tips about weight loss. Visit us at http://www.WeightLossTipz.net

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kenny_Yong

24 Tips for Successful Weight Loss

2006-08-12T04:45:00.000-07:00

By Heather Diodati

Want to look fit and trim for next summer's season or for that wedding? Here are some healthy, handy tips on how to lose weight.

1. Never skip any meals, particularly breakfast. The first meal of the day triggers your metabolism to start the fat burning process.

2. Six mini meals throughout your day helps keep your metabolism from slowing down.

3. Fiber-rich foods such as whole grains, helps fill you up and aids digestion.

4. Learn to eat slowly, even if others around you are fast eaters. It takes a full twenty minutes before your brain receives the signal from your stomach that you’re full.

5. Be sure to keep a food diary. This really helps you adhere to your eating plan. Just knowing that you have to record that piece of chocolate cake in your diary may help prevent you from eating it or at least to eat only half! Nutridiary has an excellent Free food and exercise log.

6. Get into some form-fitting workout clothes for your “before” photo. Take a photo from the front, side and back. A few successful months later, wearing the same clothing, take the same pictures – you’ll be pleased when you see the results and this will also motivate you to continue.

7. Drinking a minimum of eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day helps your metabolism burn fat.

8. Hot and spicy foods have also been shown to “rev up” your metabolism.

9. When invited to a friend’s house for a meal, always mention your special diet so as not to offend anyone when you show up with some of your own food.

10. When dining out, order a salad to eat before your meal. This will fill you up so you’ll eat less of the main meal. But be sure to ask for a low calorie salad dressing and ask for it “on the side” so you can regulate how much dressing to add to your salad. If they do not have anything low calorie, ask for oil and vinegar, again on the side. Be careful with the oil – use a teaspoon or tablespoon to measure it onto your salad.

11. Increase your activity – do activities you enjoy to prevent boredom.

12. Make a list of reasons why you want to lose weight and refer to it often. Tape it up on the fridge to remind you!

13. Pre-package weighed or measured snacks.

14. Going away? Bring your “before” photos with you. Keep them in an easily viewed spot to help motivate you to not lose touch with your eating plan during your vacation.

15. Calculate your BMI or body mass index which measures the proportion of fat in your body. Check your results to see the proper BMI for your health. Use this handy Body Mass Index Chart to find out if you’re carrying around too much fat in relation to your body weight. The fat is measured using the BMI or Body Mass Index.

16. Just because it claims to be low fat or fat free, that doesn’t mean calorie free! Check those labels!

17. Weigh yourself in the morning unclothed, only once a week. Track your progress in your diet log (see #15 above).

18. Eat your meals on a smaller plate to fool your subconscious!

19. Drink plenty of water while eating to fill you up and help with digestion.

20. Keep your before photo on your fridge.

21. Set several mini goals for yourself. Be sure to write them down and keep them handy. Reward yourself with a non-food reward at the end of successful completion of each goal.

22. Get lots of rest. Being tired lowers your resistance.

23. When eating out, cut your meal in half and pour a lot of salt onto this portion to discourage you from finishing off your plate, or ask that it be packaged right away for you in a doggy bag to be taken home after your meal.

24. In the mood for dessert? Try low fat graham crackers. They are whole grain and a couple of them with a hot mug of tea will help curb your craving for sweets.

Want more of Heather Diodati’s articles and how-to’s? Visit http://www.whimsies-online.com/freecontent.htm. By the way, you are free to use these articles on your websites and ezines provided you include the author’s bylines. A courtesy copy or an email mentioning where the article was published would be much appreciated!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Heather_Diodati

The Best Exercise Information for Weight Loss

2006-08-10T07:27:00.000-07:00

By Kenny Yong

Are you determined to lose weight and burn those unwanted fats? During the past days you have started your diet regime. To complement keeping your diet, it is recommended that you start exercising.

There are two types of exercise – aerobic and anaerobic exercises.

Anaerobic exercise is a type of work-out which occurs without using up the molecular oxygen. The goal of this exercise is to develop muscle mass and power. Weightlifting and sprinting are examples of this type of exercise.

Aerobic exercise is a vigorous physical work-out which makes the lungs and heart do its job better than its usual task. This is done to meet the demands as supply of oxygen raises. This type of exercise is commonly done to lose weight.

There are various types of aerobic exercise which will help you on your lose weight pursuit. Some of the common aerobic exercises which you may want to try are the following:

Bicycling

Studies show that bicycling is one great activity to enhance the cardiovascular system. It does not only help you shed some pounds, it can also lessen some medical perils such as heart and chronic diseases.

You need to find a good area in your locality for your biking activity. Make sure to wear protective gears to avoid accidents.

Kickboxing

You will use both your hands and feet for hitting with this type of aerobic exercise.

You can either enroll in a kickboxing class or buy videos and work out at home. Choose a place where you will be likely comfortable. However, it is recommended that you still consult a kickboxing specialist so he can properly guide you with regards to losing weight.

Walking

Most often than not people overlook the value of walking as a way to lose some pounds however studies reveal that if you walk for an hour you are most likely to burn approximately 300 to 500 calories.

Not only walking is beneficial on your weight loss battle, it is also economical. You do not have to dole out extra bucks to perform this exercise.

Swimming

It is believed that swimming is a form of exercise which works out most of our body parts. To lose weight through swimming, it is advised that you improve your swimming performance and mechanical skills. Longer and faster swimming lapses will absolutely make you burn more calories.

Running

This type of aerobic exercise requires all body parts to be utilized. It is believed that through running you will lose about 500 to 1000 calories an hour. Like walking, this is also a cost-effective type of exercise since you do not need to enroll in a work-out program. You just need to hit the road.

To effectively see the results of your work-out, it is best to carry out aerobic exercises for an hour or two for five to six days a week. In addition, before starting any exercise regime, it is recommended that you make it a habit to warm-up. After exercising it is wise to perform cool down exercises to lessen body soreness and the likelihood of getting into injury.

Planning is the first step to shed off some pounds. Next step is materializing your plans. Act and exercise now, before it’s too late.

For more information and tips about weight loss. Visit us at http://www.WeightLossTipz.net.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kenny_Yong

The Best Exercise Information for Weight Loss

2006-08-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

Easy Weight Loss: Four Weeks to Losing Weight

2006-08-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

By Alex Fir

When it comes to losing weight, the best advice is this: take it slow. You should never try to lose the weight too fast. This is especially true if you have a lot of weight to lose. Losing weight quickly carries a huge health risk

As an alternative, you should commit to small changes in your everyday life.

- First week. Add some exercise to your daily regime. Do not worry if you do not have the time to go to the gym – you can still take part. Go for a 15 minute walk every day after dinner. Just 15 minutes, but you must to do it every day. It is not an ambitious plan - anyone can do it.

- Second week. It is time to concentrate on the health of your diet. Start eating fruit for a snack instead of chips or crackers. This is also a small thing, just one modified snack a day. However, if you do it everyday, soon it will start to have an effect.

Here is the trick, though. During your second week, keep doing what you committed to doing the first week. So, during the second week, you are walking every day and eating fruit.

- Third week. Eat a bit less. Here is an easy method to do it. For any food that you would normally eat, take away a quarter of it. Fill your plate and then take off a quarter of the food. Fruits and vegetables are exempt from this method.

During the third week you will start noticing a difference in the way your clothes fit. Weight loss is starting to take effect, and it will only go faster during the coming weeks. Do not weigh yourself, however. Save that for the end, and you will be surprised.

- Fourth week. Stop eating fried foods, if they are something you usually consume. Consider walking instead of taking the elevator, or you can park your car several blocks away from your office and walk the remainder.

The idea is that it all adds up. There is no need to make huge changes in your everyday life. After a while, the little changes will make a big difference.

Do you need to lose weight? Visit Online Diet Center for the latest news and information on weight loss programs. You will also learn about different weight loss plans.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alex_Fir

Are You Losing Body Fat or Water?

2006-08-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

By Meri Raffetto

“I tried that diet and lost 8 pounds in the first week!”

“I’ve gained three pounds in one day! It must have been the cookie I ate
or maybe the mashed potatoes!”

These are comments I hear so often that I decided it would be a good topic for an article to help people have a better understanding of the fluctuating numbers on their scale. It is important to understand, when we step on a scale, it is measuring every part of our physical being at that moment in time, which means it measures our fat, muscles, organs,
tissue and water weight.

Water weight can affect your total weight anywhere from 1-10 pounds and sometimes even more. It is important to understand what kinds of dietary factors can make these fluid shifts happen. To start, many of the high protein, low carbohydrate diets such as Atkins, or the beginning of South Beach can cause a dramatic shift in your water weight. This is because as you significantly cut back carbohydrate intake your body starts breaking down the stored carbohydrates (glycogen) to use as energy, and this breakdown causes the body to excrete large amounts of water. Once the body begins to use stored fat for energy, weight loss slows. This is why most people lose a significant amount of
weight right away on a low carb, high protein diet. Extreme low carb, high protein diets can often lead the body to a state of dehydration because of the significant fluid loss.

What is misleading is when a person following a low carb plan eats a carbohydrate-rich food they can easily gain 1-3 pounds. However, this weight gain is just your body replenishing the fluid it lost and is not gained fat. I have had numerous clients struggle with this and they end up yo-yoing back in forth with fluid weight thinking that it must be the half cup of rice they had the night before that caused them to gain that 2 pounds when in fact eating the rice just allowed them to regain some of the fluid they had lost from following a strict low carb plan. The fact is carbohydrates do not affect your weight quite that simply. Excess refined carbohydrates can strongly stimulate insulin production, which promotes fat deposition and increases appetite. This kind of weight gain will happen gradually, not dramatically overnight.

Sodium is another dietary component that can lead to fluid gain. Sodium can cause the body to retain fluid, which can lead to these frustrating daily weight fluctuations. Some people are more sensitive to sodium than others. Watch your diet and see if your weight gain corresponds with a high sodium meal the day before. For example, eating out in restaurants can often increase your sodium intake significantly.

The best way to tell if you are retaining fluid is to pay attention to your body. If you get indentations on your ankles and lower legs from your socks then you are retaining fluid. If you wear rings and they become tight and leave an imprint in your fingers when you take them off then you also likely retaining fluid. Any kind of puffiness in your skin is a good indication of water weight.

The bottom line is that it takes 3500 calories to gain or lose 1 pound of body fat. This equates to an extra 500 calories a day over 7 days to gain a pound. This means if you gained 3 pounds in one day you can chalk it up to fluid weight otherwise you would have had to consume10,500 extra calories that day which is not likely! True weight gain happens gradually and likewise we lose it gradually. Check your weight weekly instead of daily and look for overall trends. If you are seeing dramatic daily changes in your weight, it is likely the ever-changing shifts of our bodies’ water weight.

Meri Raffetto is a Registered Dietitian and owner of Real Living Nutrition Services. Sign up for her monthly newsletter to learn what's new in nutrition, weight loss success stories, healthy recipes, and more. Go to http://www.reallivingnutrition.com for more details.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meri_Raffetto

Weight Loss Basics

2006-07-22T04:45:00.000-07:00

By Michael Russell

Many people struggle with body image and weight issues at some point in their life. Due to the high number of advertising avenues, fad diets and miracle pills, it is no wonder that most people don't know when or how to approach weight loss. With all of this confusion I think it is time to bring it "back to the basics". The following tips are simple guidelines that you can follow to achieve weight loss and lead a healthier life.

To start any weight loss program you will need to clearly establish and define "realistic" goals. Write down why you want to lose weight, benefits that can result from weight loss and specific changes you are making to your diet. By doing this, you are able to see if the changes you made are contributing towards your weight loss goals. Keep in mind that ½ to 2 pounds of weight loss each week is reasonable.

Before you can reach any goal you have to start somewhere. Start by weighing yourself and creating a food journal for one week. It is important to chart your progress during your weight loss journey. In this food journal keep track of everything you eat and drink as well as how you are feeling at that very moment. This part is crucial because it will reveal eating patterns that may have become habit.

Review your food journal after recording food intake for one week. Look for any patterns in your eating habits and make a commitment to change! For example, you may want to skip the high calorie snacks like brownies or chips and snack on fruits or vegetables instead. If soda is a large contributor to daily caloric intake you may want to switch to diet soda or drink water instead. You should try to drink 6 to 8 cups of water each day; you will find that water is a natural hunger suppressant. The key here is to be consistent and you will see results. Keep in mind that life continually throws obstacles in your way so don't become discouraged if you loose 2 pounds the first week and only 1 pound the second.

Increasing the calories you burn will also aid in weight loss. Start out by taking a walk around the neighborhood and then gradually add intensity. Keep exercise exciting by trying new activities and/or equipment. For example, try swimming as an aerobic exercise instead of walking. Again, you will want to track your exercise activities each day in your weight loss journal.

Setting goals, reducing caloric intake and exercising are the main elements in weight loss. It is also important to eat regularly and not skip meals. When times get tough and you need a little encouragement don't be afraid to ask for support from family and friends. If you need more help or guidance see a dietician or join a weight loss support group. With these tips and a commitment to change you are well on your way to reaching your goals!

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Weight Loss

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Easy Weight Loss Techniques

2006-07-19T02:38:00.000-07:00

By Robert Kokoska

For all too many of us, weight loss is anything but easy. In fact, more people in North America struggle with their weight than with any other problem. Here are some easy weight loss techniques to get you on your way to losing weight - and keeping it off.

The best way to lose weight quickly is to exercise more, while at the same time watching what you eat. Of course, this is easier said than done - most people require more specific tips about how to do this. For example, should you exercise three times a week, or every day? And for how long? And are there any specific foods you should eat more of, or avoid altogether?

The problem is that the answers to most of these questions are specific to the individual. For many of us, it is a good idea to exercise every day, but at a lower intensity. Of course, if you have a passion for a certain sport that you practice once or twice a week, go for it! You can alternate it with less intense workouts on other days. As a rule of thumb, don't drive when you can walk or bike. Again, there are exceptions - if it's raining hard, or you have to get somewhere quickly - but as a general rule, just try to keep moving. This is one of the most effective easy weight loss suggestions.

As for what you should eat, this is different for every person as well. Just as everyone has different tastes in food, everyone has a different metabolism rate. 'One size fits all' dieting doesn't work, and neither does deprivation. For easy weight loss, start with small changes in how you eat. Make a move toward more natural foods - avoid food that comes in boxes, and shop in the outside aisles of the supermarket. Most experts nowadays acknowledge that 'light' products aren't really effective for easy weight loss - most of us just eat more of them, so there's not real calorie loss! Eating natural foods, however, is easy and satisfying. Be sure to eat enough protein, but don't cut out carbohydrates altogether - just make a point of choosing whole grains rather than refined carbs.

Easy weight loss is possible for most people - and what's more, using these techniques, you will keep the weight off. These simple, easy techniques are more effective in the long term than many weight loss programs.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Kokoska

Weight Loss Tips - 2 Tips To Lose Weight Naturally Without Starving Yourself

2006-07-16T00:29:00.000-07:00

By Jean Lam

Being fat and overweight is a major problem in the world. There are millions of people who suffer from excess weight and who would have liked to have a normal body. But the truth is most of these people don't really know the effective ways to lose weight, haven't tried hard enough although using the right methods, get discouraged too easily or don't understand the weight loss process and how the body really works in relation to food, weight, fat, exercises. To lose weight, you need to understand this process first so that you know you're going in the right direction for your weight loss objectives. Food components like fat, carbohydrates, protein contain a specific number of calories. Alcoholic drinks contain calories and water has no calories.

Everytime you eat food or drink alcohol for instance, your body gains calories. If your body gets too many calories than you burn, your body will store the excess calories as fat and you'll naturally gain weight. For example, if you consume 2000 calories per day and you burn 1000 calories per day, the excess 1000 calories will be stored as fat deposits throughout your body.

In order for you to lose weight, you need to burn out more calories than you consume. For example, if you consume 2000 calories per day and you burn 2500 calories per day, you will lose weight. Well you might just say "Why don't I just cut down on my calories intake considerably, hence I don't really have to burn many calories to lose weight?" Well that would be starving yourself and is not a good idea at all. This will make you weaker, hungrier and you will eat quite a lot after. Anyway it does not help. Your body needs food and calories to get energy. You need to eat enough so as not to starve yourself and be able to burn these calories and more after. On the other hand, if you burn out the exact same amount of calories that you take, you will stay the same.

Two simple things to losing weight naturally revolve around proper nutrition and exercises. There is no shortcut to losing weight in a healthy way.

Consider these 2 tips to lose weight naturally:

(1) Eat normally and healthily

Don't cut down on your usual meals. Take your breakfast, lunch and dinner. Skipping your meals is not a good solution for your weight loss goal. The thing is what you eat is what is important to help combat your weight problems. If you eat more fats, you'll have a harder time burning calories because fats contain more calories per gram than carbohydrates and protein. Try changing your eating habits. For instance, instead of eating fried foods, try boiled or steamed foods. But this does not mean you should avoid fatty foods at all cost even taking your favorite snacks which can contain fats. The best thing is to do it moderately.

Here are a few simple and healthy food suggestions. Add tuna in your meals. You have tuna packed in oil or water. Opt for the one in water which has almost no fat as compared to the one in oil with considerably more fat. Tuna is low in calories and has a high nutritional value. You can make a tuna salad with tomatoes, lettuce, onions, olive oil and avoid adding any high-fat condiments like mayonaise. If you want to add mayonaise, just add lightly. Then you can make a tuna sandwich with it. Boiling chicken breasts without the skin is a good choice too. You can also eat it in a sandwich as well. When you eat meat, make sure you trim off the fats first. Adding fish in your meals is recommended. Not only is fish good for health and low in fat and calories, they are good for the heart because they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids mostly oily fish like sardines, salmon, tuna, herring amongst others. It's recommended to eat at least 1 fish dish a week.

(2) Be active and exercise

Being active is one of the most important steps in losing weight. If you are just idle and don't move a lot, you won't progress. You need to exercise. Here are a few activities you can engage in ie weight training, jogging, aerobics, swimming, bicycling, walking amongst others.

As you can see, losing weight doesn't have to be very complicated. But it does require some work from your part. If you adopt the habit of eating normally and healthily, you will get that routine with time and you will get use to it. At the same time, be active and exercise yourself and enjoy the activities that you're doing. You won't see all this as an ordeal but rather as your way of living and it's a healthy one. In the long run, you will be surprised by the results. Just give it time and you will burn the calories, the excess fat and you will lose your excess weight. Good luck in your weight loss goals.

This article can be freely published on a website as long as it's not modified in any way including the author bylines, plus the hyperlink must be made active just like below.

Jean Lam is the webmaster of Weight Loss Resource featuring articles, tips, resources to help you lose weight and get a healthier body and lifestyle.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jean_Lam

12 Tips For Faster Fat Loss Now

2006-07-13T03:59:00.000-07:00

By Gregg Gillies

Let's face it. Burning off fat can be frustrating,
especially those final 5 - 15 pounds. Sometimes, it
seems like no matter what we do, the weight won't
come off.

Let's take a closer look at some of the important
aspects of fat loss that you may already be implementing,
and some that you are most likely not using. These
could make all the difference in burning off those
final pounds and giving you the lean, defined physique
and six pack abs that you've been working so hard to get.

Mental Tips on Getting Started

1. Determine the reality of your current situation.
Be honest with yourself about where you are and how
far you have to go.

2. Figure out the things you are doing now that you
would not have gotten involved with, knowing what you
now know. Examples are smoking, drinking sugar laden
soft drinks, junk food snacking late at night, spending
most of your time on the couch, etc.

3. Do a complete and honest analysis of yourself and your
skills regarding health and fitness. What do you do well?
Where do you need to improve?

4. Determine a measure that you can use to gauge your
progress.

5. Set specific goals for each day, week, and month of what
you need to do to move yourself toward your goals and discipline
yourself to accomplish these small goals that will lead you
to big rewards.

Analyzing Your Lack of Fat Loss Progress

Here’s a short checklist of reasons that your fat
loss progress may be stalling.

1) Too Many Carbohydrates.

This doesn’t mean you have to eliminate carbs from
your nutrition plan. The right carbs are a vital part
of your fat loss efforts, not to mention your health.
However, any additional carbs above and beyond those needed
have a good probability of being stored as body fat. Weight
training does require a higher carb intake. But most
people don’t train intensely enough for the amount of
carbs that they take in.

2) Stack Your Carbs.

Eat most of your good carbs in your morning meals
and in your post-workout meal. This will help
to stabilize your insulin levels and help you
burn body fat for energy later in the day.

Forego the pasta, potato or rice at your evening
meals for lean proteins like fowl or fish, along with
a side dish of veggies. Or enjoy your favorite protein
shake recipe. Okay, maybe not your favorite if your
favorite contains a lot of simple carbs, but you get
the idea.

3) Too Much of the Wrong Type of Cardio.

What happens to the guy or gal who performs 1-2 hours
of cardio a day? (We know you’re out there!)

They send their body into a tailspin, a state where
the "starvation hormones" secreted by the body skyrocket
(it’s your body’s survival mechanism, a response to
too much exercise!) causing fat cells to try to hoard
their energy!

Too much cardio will eat away at muscle tissue, causing
your metabolism to slow down and your body to start
storing fat. In other words, the exact opposite of what
you are trying to accomplish. Substitute shorter duration,
high intensity interval training for the slow, long
duration cardio you've been doing and watch your
metabolism get a boost as you burn more fat in less time.

4) Never "Cheating" on Your Diet.

Once in a while you should let loose and give yourself
a break from the rigors of dieting and scale watching.
In fact, it’s helpful in losing weight.

That’s because continual dieting eventually leads to
roadblocks where the body responds by slowing its metabolic
rate. Strict dieting also takes its toll on you mentally,
and can leave you feeling deprived.

That’s a bad combination! Taking in a couple of high
calorie meals once every 7-10 days not only provides
a mental break from dieting, but helps you side-step
roadblocks by preventing the body from entering a
starvation state where the metabolic rate slows.

Another way to approach this is on a daily basis.

Here's an example. Don't forget the numbers are for
the example only. You'll need to adjust the calorie
number to what's appropriate for you.

Day 1 - 2,600,

Day 2 - 2,500

Day 3 - 2,400

Day 4 - 2,300

Day 5 - 2,200

Day 6 - 2,100

Day 7 - 2,000

Day 8 - 2,500

Day 9 - 2,400

Day 10 - 2,300

Day 11 - 2,200

Day 12 - 2,100

Day 13 - 2,000

Day 14 - 1,900

Day 15 - 2,400

Day 16 - 2,300

Day 17 - 2,200

Day 18 - 2,100

Day 19 - 2,000

Day 20 - 1,900

Day 21 - 1,800

At this point, I will take a look at my progress (using body
fat calipers, the scale and the weight increases on my
exercises) and then devise a new plan for the next three weeks.

The cycling of calories in this manner is good both for
building muscle and losing fat. How high you start and how low
you go depends both on your goals (building muscle or losing
fat) and your individual metabolism. If you are building muscle
you don't want to make your low days too low. You just want to
have some slightly lower calorie days so that you keep fat gain
to a minimum as you add muscle.

For losing fat, you don't want your high days too high (for
obvious reasons) but you also don't want your low days too low,
otherwise you will lose lean muscle and put your body into
starvation mode, which will cause it to slow your metabolism
down and store fat - two big no no's. If the weight stops coming
off, don't always go lower on calories but consider increasing
your cardio training (or just increasing the intensity of the
time that you do your cardio - the more intense it is, the more
calories you burn during the same amount of time).

You still need to be careful with the amount of food
you eat when you do this. After all, it doesn’t take
too much to completely wipe out that week’s progress.

5) Paying Attention to The Scale Only.

The scale is not the "end-all" measurement of progress.
You also monitor a couple of other things, primarily
body composition, energy and strength.

As I’ve said before, don’t go just by the scale. It
can deceive you and frustrate you. Get yourself a
nice pair of electronic skin fold calipers and keep
track of your muscle gains and fat loss.

Skin fold calipers, along with the scale are a much
truer indication of your progress.

6) Eat More Good Fat

Getting enough of the good fats will help you lose fat, build
muscle, and recover faster from your workouts. In addition, it
has myriad health benefits, including being good for your heart.
Good fats include: polyunsaturated ( especially Omega-3's), such
as those from fish and nuts, as well as monosaturated fats, such
as those from peanut butter, olive oil, egg yolks, and fish oil.

Bad fats include saturated fats from things such as animal and
coconut fats. Then there is the worst kind of fat the man made
kind, trans fatty acids which can be found in our typical, of
no redeeming value, junk foods such cookies, chips, fries and
margarine.

Limit, if not stay completely away from, the bad fats and try
to get about 30 - 35% of your calories from the good fats.

"Studies show that higher-fat diets make more sense for fit people
than low-fat diets," says Liz Applegate, Ph.D., author of
Encyclopedia of Sports & Fitness Nutrition. "In one study,
endurance athletes ran up to 24 percent longer before they fatigued
when they ate a diet that was above 30 percent fat compared to
one that was below 20 percent," she says.

More importantly to most readers of this newsletter, researchers
are now beginning to realize the fact that a nutrition plan high
in the good fats helps the body to burn fat. Omega-3 fatty acids
increase the size of your cells' fuel-burning furnaces so your
metabolic rate rises and you burn more calories every minute of
every day.

Omega-3's also help your body's sensitivity to insulin. This
helps your body store less fat. In addition, the fat you do
store is more readily and easily converted into energy and
burned during activity. This keeps your blood sugar levels stable
and keeps you away from those famed sugar crashes and cravings
and irritable mood swings.

7) Don’t Get Frustrated by A So Called Lack of Progress.

I received an email the other day from a man who wanted to
thank me for the quality information I have provided to him.

He’s lost 100 pounds in the past two years and he
didn’t think this was very good progress because
of what he’s seen others do.

Stuff like this drives me nuts. He made phenomenal
progress and should be extremely proud of himself
and what he accomplished. Please people, don’t let
the progress of others (especially those in ads)
cause you to get frustrated with what you’ve
accomplished.

Sure, you can use those outstanding results to
motivate you but don’t let them make you think what
you aren’t doing isn’t special. Don't let it derail
you from your goals.

Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com .
Want to
boost your metabolism, burn more fat with less effort and
lose all the weight you want...fast? Grab his free report
at http://www.fatlosssecretsrevealed.com

Interested in gaining 21 pounds of muscle in only 9 weeks?
Grab his free report at http://www.fastmasstips.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregg_Gillies

Weight Loss Pill - Is There Really Any Need?

2006-07-12T01:25:00.000-07:00

By David McEvoy

For those of you who have tried, unsuccessfully, to lose weight, and believe that diet pills might be the perfect solution, consider this! If there were such a thing as a magic pill to do it all for you, why are there so many people who are still carrying excess weight and struggling to lose it?

The answer to losing weight is startlingly simple. Weight can only be lost by decreasing your intake of calories whilst ideally, at the same time, increasing the number of calories you burn off. You have to eat less than your body uses up in energy, over a period of time. Diet pills are designed to artificially induce this very scenario in one or more of several different ways. However, a word of caution, not only can they cause some very unpleasant side effects, and can in some cases pose a serious threat to your health, there is little or no evidence to suggest that they produce any lasting results whatsoever. Most people who do experience some weight loss whilst taking diet pills, simply put it all straight back on again afterwards, as can be borne out by the number of people who have tried them and yet who are still overweight.

The following are a few of the more common diet pills available, either over the counter or on prescription, and a brief description of what they are trying to do.

Adipex, Bontril, Ionamin or Phentermine, all work by suppressing your appetite so that your brain tricks your body into thinking that it is full. This makes you eat less so reduces the number of calories you consume. Didrex (benzphetamine hydrochloride) stimulates your nervous system so that you burn more calories; it also suppresses your appetite. Phendimetrazine and Tenuate work in a similar way to amphetamines (speed) so basically they boost your metabolism to help to increase the amount of calories you burn up whilst at the same time, decreasing your appetite. Reductil or Sibutramine work by limiting the reuptake of seratonin and noradrenaline in the brain. This will have the effect of making you feel good so you are less likely to comfort eat, and makes you feel full earlier than you normally would. Xenical doesn't suppress your appetite or help you burn more calories; it works by inhibiting the absorption of fats so that fewer calories find their way into your body.

So, there are three main ways in which diet pills bring about a negative calorie intake.

1. They suppress your appetite so that you consume less calories.
2. They boost your metabolism to help you to burn more calories.
3. They prevent the absorption of fats (and also nutrients too) so that fewer calories are retained by the body.

What about the side effects? First, you have to be able to cope with the pressure that the pills put on your body so if you already have high blood pressure or heart problems for example, then diet pills can be exceptionally risky as they can increase your blood pressure and your heart rate. Other side effects that can be produced by diet pills include, but are not restricted to, risk of addiction, dry mouth, nausea, digestive problems (constipation and/or diarrhoea), headache, dizziness, insomnia, drowsiness, nervousness, blurred vision, confusion, agitation, breathlessness, excessive flatulence, stomach cramps and vomiting. They can also interact with some other medications you might be taking to either increase or counteract their effectiveness.

When you consider the associated health risks of diet pills and that they are simply trying to mimic artificially what you are perfectly capable of doing quite naturally yourself, then you must surely wonder if there is any need for them at all. If you want to lose weight, then wouldn't it make more sense to go for the safer and healthier option of eating a good diet and reducing the number of calories you consume? To speed up the process you can combine this with an increase in your activity level by adopting a simple exercise programme, even walking for 30 minutes a day will make a difference. The weight will come off over time and you will feel healthier and more alive, have more energy, and what's more, there are no risks whatsoever.

Copyright 2006 David McEvoy

The Author Dave McEvoy is an award winning personal trainer who uses lifestyle changes to help his clients achieve their weight loss goals. For more weight loss information visit http://www.information73.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_McEvoy

Speed up Metabolism

2006-07-11T01:20:00.000-07:00

By P. Mehta

Metabolism is essentially the speed at which our body's motor is running. The speed at which our body burns calories is called the metabolic rate. It's how fast your "motor" is running when you're still in a reclined position or sleeping. About 60-75% of energy is expended by the body at rest in such activities.

The metabolism is based on the number of calories we burn throughout the day. Our body constantly burns calories to keep us going whether we are eating, sleeping, cleaning etc. People with a lower percentage of body fat (i.e. muscular) have a higher metabolism than others that are less muscular because muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat. Some people have a slower metabolic rate and have a harder time staying slim. Younger persons have higher (faster) metabolism because of the increased activity of cells. A slow metabolism actually causes to store fat. The slower the metabolic rate, the greater the weight gains. How to build muscles to improve metabolism? What type of exercise is ideal that speed up metabolism so that you burn calories even at rest or sleep? There are simple exercises that speed up the metabolism.

Causes for Low Metabolism

Fasting
A low calorie diet
Snacking throughout the day on high sugared foods (candy, colas, cakes, gum).
Eating or drinking too much sugar containing foods.
Lack of physical activity.
Underactive thyroid.

Metabolism Boosters

There are some natural metabolism boosters (natural foods) that improves your metabolism. Do not take over the counter pills containing animal thyroid extract that claim to boost up metabolism. These products may have side effects as diarrhea, increased heart rate, excessive sweating, nervousness, tremors, bulging eyes, etc.

How to Improve (Speed up) Metabolism

Do not skip any meals

Exercise daily

Build your muscles

Avoid alcohol, sugar, and fastings

Drink 8-10 glasses of water daily.

Eat foods with high nutrition values

Speed up Metabolism

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12 Tips For Faster Fat Loss Now

2006-07-10T02:24:00.000-07:00

5 Weight Loss Tips You Can Use Right Now For Six-Pack Abs

2006-07-09T01:19:00.000-07:00

By Gregg Gillies

Are You Ab-sessed? Learn How to Get Ripped Six-Pack Abs

Almost everyone wants to know how to lose weight. With these weight loss tips you can.

Getting lean enough to have six-pack abs isn't easy. If it was, everyone would have a flat stomach and a lean, sexy physique. Take a look around. You know that's not the case. So what can you do to get your own six-pack?

Here are some tips on how to lose weight you might want to consider if your fat loss progress is stalling.

1) Too Many Carbohydrates.

This doesn’t mean you have to eliminate carbs from your nutrition plan. The right carbs are a vital part
of your fat loss efforts, not to mention your health. However, any additional carbs above and beyond those needed have a good probability of being stored as body fat. Weight training does require a higher carb intake. But most people don’t train intensely enough for the amount of carbs that they take in.

2) Stack Your Carbs.

Yes, low-carb diest do work. You can drop a lot of fat with a low-carb diet. But at a certain weight your body sets itself. If you want to really get lean, you'll need another approach. Not to mention, carbs
are an important part of any workout program. Carbs fill your glycogen-stores after a workout so your muscles can get optimal recovery. Muscles boost your metabolism which makes it easier to lose fat and keep it off. Muscles also give your body it's sexy shape once you've taken off the fat. Without
muscles, you'll be what I call skinny fat. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. And it's not sexy.

So, instead of going completely low-carb, try stacking your carbs, getting your good carbs when you need them most, in the morning and immediately after your weigh workout.

Eat most of your good carbs in your morning meals and in your post-workout meal. This will help to stabalize your insulin levels and help you burn body fat for energy later in the day.

Forego the pasta, potato or rice at your evening meals for lean proteins like fowl or fish, along with
a side dish of veggies. Or enjoy your favorite protein shake recipe. Okay, maybe not your favorite if your favorite contains a lot of simple carbs, but you get the idea.

3) Too Much of the Wrong Type of Cardio.

What happens to the guy or gal who performs 1-2 hours of cardio a day? (We know you’re out there!)

They send their body into a tailspin, a state where the "starvation hormones" secreted by the body skyrocket (it’s your body’s survival mechanism, a response to too much exercise!) causing fat cells to try to hoard their energy!

Too much cardio will eat away at muscle tissue, causing your metabolism to slow down and your body to start storing fat. In other words, the exact opposite of what you are trying to accomplish. Substitute shorter duration, high intensity interval training for the slow, long duration cardio you've been doing and watch your metabolism get a boost as you burn more fat in less time. Just check out marathon runners? Is that the body you want? I didn't think so.

Try switching up your cardio to contain more high intensity interval training. It will

1 - Burn more calories by elevating your metabolism so you lose fat faster

2 - Increase your power

3 - Increase your speed

4 - Increase your endurance

No matter what your fitness goals, HIIT is one of the best ways of helping you achieve them. And the variations are endless. You can vary the training parameters (exercise to rest ratio, number of intervals) to make the workouts harder or easier, depending on what you are trying to accomplish.

You can also use any number of exrecises for your training, such as cycling, sprinting, treadmill, elliptical trainers, jump rope, rope climbing, hill sprints, and more.

Don't continue doing endless hours of aerobics that aren't helping you reach your goals anyway. Get more out of your cardio workouts by performing interval training.

Luckily for me, I have a hill just down the road that is perfect for interval training. I jog over to the hill.

This takes about 4 - 5 minutes and serves perfectly as my warm up. Then I sprint up the hill to the top. This takes me about 15 - 20 seconds. I turn around and walk back down, which serves as my rest interval. I then repeat for a certain number of intervals and the jog (or walk) home serves as my cool down.

Another great interval training program is jump rope. You may need to practice a bit on this one. After a brief warm up, I will jump rope as fast as I can for about 10-20 seconds, followed by a slower cadence for about half a minute.

This form of interval training is brutal and will get your heart rate up fast! You won't last long on this program.

Always warm up before starting your intervals. If you're not in the best of shape break into it lightly, starting with more low or moderate intensity cardio. You might also want to check with your doctor. No sense in getting hurt right when you start your interval training.

4) Cycling Your Calories:

I've mentioned cycling your calories in a previous article but here's an example again so you know what I am talking about.

Don't forget the numbers are for the example only. You'll need to adjust the calorie number to what's appropriate for you.

Day 1 - 2,600

Day 2 - 2,500

Day 3 - 2,400

Day 4 - 2,300

Day 5 - 2,200

Day 6 - 2,100

Day 7 - 2,000

Day 8 - 2,500

Day 9 - 2,400

Day 10 - 2,300

Day 11 - 2,200

Day 12 - 2,100

Day 13 - 2,000

Day 14 - 1,900

Day 15 - 2,400

Day 16 - 2,300

Day 17 - 2,200

Day 18 - 2,100

Day 19 - 2,000

Day 20 - 1,900

Day 21 - 1,800

At this point, I will take a look at my progress (using body fat calipers, the scale and the weight increases on my exercises) and then devise a new plan for the next three weeks.

The cycling of calories in this manner is good both for building muscle and losing fat. How high you start and how low you go depends both on your goals (building muscle or losing fat) and your individual metabolism. If you are building muscle you don't want to make your low days too low. You just want to
have some slightly lower calorie days so that you keep fat gain to a minimum as you add muscle.

For losing fat, you don't want your high days too high (for obvious reasons) but you also don't want your low days too low, otherwise you will lose lean muscle and put your body into starvation mode, which will cause it to slow your metabolism down and store fat - two big no no's. If the weight stops coming
off, don't always go lower on calories but consider increasing your cardio training (or just increasing the intensity of the time that you do your cardio - the more intense it is, the more calories you burn during the same amount of time).

You still need to be careful with the amount of food you eat when you do this. After all, it doesn’t take
too much to completely wipe out that week’s progress.

5) Eat Whole Natural Foods

Stay away from all processed foods. And while protein shakes and meal replacements can really help you get the nutritious calories you need (not to mention the convenience) don't go overboard. Get most of your calories from whole natural foods like vegetables, meats, oils, eggs and whole grains.

This is all pretty basic stuff. The problem is that most people think basic won't work so they go searching from one gimmick to the next, never really making any progress. Then they quit out of frustration without giving what really works a chance. How many people do you know that want to know how to lose weight andhave tried all these weight loss tips and stuck with them? I bet not many. If you want to know how to lose weight, go ahead and give these weight loss tips a try and see if you don't lose fat, build muscle and develop a lean sexy body
with six-pack abs in no time.

Gregg Gillies is the founder of http://www.buildleanmuscle.com . Want to boost your metabolism, burn more fat with less effort and lose all the weight you want...fast? Grab his free report at http://www.fatlosssecretsrevealed.com . Interested in gaining 21 pounds of muscle in only 9 weeks? Grab his free report at http://www.fastmasstips.com .

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gregg_Gillies

Tips for Realistically Losing Weight

2006-07-08T00:52:00.000-07:00

By Zach Thompson

Obesity is a life threatening condition and is spreading at an alarming rate throughout Western society. It is particularly prevalent in the USA. However there are some steps you can take to reduce your weight and improve your health and lifestyle.

Reducing calorie intake:

What are calories? A calorie is a unit used to measure energy. It is required by most governments to print the calorie value of foods on the nutrition label of all foods that are sold to consumers. Because if this it is easier to calculate your calorie intake. Reducing calories means not just cutting food intake but being careful of the actual caloric value of the foods you are eating.

Reduction but not eliminating fats and oils: fat and oil is necessary for the body but we often eat foods which are too high in fats thus taking in more fat and oil than we need to. When you cut down fat and oil you will reduce calories and definitely manage to lose those pounds.

Decrease but do not eliminate carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are necessary to the body but we often eat too much of this class of food resulting in the body storing these foods as fat. When you cut down carbohydrates you will reduce your weight.

Increase your protein levels: It is often good to eat foods that are high in proteins as they are not as fattening as other foods. High protein foods are good to eat when you are reducing weight to prevent any muscle loss occurring as you shed those pounds.

Eat more fruits and vegetables: These are good for providing nutrients to the body and are low in calories. They are a good alternative to “junk food” snacks. They will also increase fiber in your diet.

Reduction in sugar and sodium. Sugar is readily broken dawn by the body into energy and excess stored as fat making it a fattening food. Sodium eaten in excess can contribute to water retention by the body and prevent weight loss.

Increasing fiber in your diet: this will help you to curb hunger pangs as fiber rich foods will help you feel full as they take longer to digest. Your digestive system will work better with an increase in fiber.Whole grain foods, unrefined foods, fruits and vegetables will give you more fiber.

Increase your fluid intake: Drink more pure water especially. This will help to improve your health and fill you up.

Increase exercise: Regular exercise will help you reduce weight and build muscle instead of storing fat. You can either work out for about 20 minutes 3 times a week or take a brisk daily walk.

When you use these steps you will reduce your weight. You will not achieve a super figure in one day but when you keep up a healthy diet you will lose weight steadily. Maintaining a healthy diet with regular exercise will ensure that you not only reduce but will keep the weight off. You will feel healthier and have more energy to do the things you really want to do in life.

Zach Thompson is a Glyconutrients Consultant. His clients range from pro athletes and actresses, to cancer patients and children with Learning Disabilities. Learn the truth about nutritional supplements at: http://nutritionalreview.com/79.php.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Zach_Thompson

Bike Riding for Weight Loss: Tips for Beginning A Bicycling Plan

2006-07-06T04:04:00.000-07:00

By Sharyl Calhoun

If you are one of those people who leisurely pedal around the block or over a flat stretch of scenic road, you’ve probably been riding for sheer pleasure. Riding bikes for pleasure is a good form of aerobic exercise. But unless you map out a plan to “push yourself,” you probably won’t lose much weight.

I really get sick of hearing people say, “No pain, no gain!” But the old adage is true when it comes to riding bikes to lose weight. By pushing your cycling distance or speed, you are sure to feel some pain in your leg muscles, your hands, wrists, and your derriere-- even some pain in your throat and lungs as your body tries to accommodate your increased demand for oxygen.

HEALTH TIP: Stretching exercises prior to exercising are helpful in preventing injury!

GETTING YOUR BICYCLE READY...TO ROLL OFF THE WEIGHT

Your first concern will be outfitting your bicycle. If you need an excuse to purchase a new bike, this is an excellent opportunity! I went from a 3-speed bicycle for leisure riding, to a 24-speed bicycle for more committed exercising. Once I learned how the different gears worked, I was very thankful for the extra speeds. They make my ride faster and the hills a lot easier to handle.

We’ve found the guys at the bicycle shop to be very helpful, and concerned for our unique cycling needs. Rather than simply steering us toward the most expensive bicycle available (as I had expected), they asked how much riding we would be doing, whether we were trying for speed or leisure, and whether we would be riding on paved roads or dirt trails. When you honestly share your goals and level of experience, the sales clerks can match you with exactly what you need. They want you to be successful in your biking venture!

Some state laws require bicycle lights. But if you will be riding anytime from dusk to dawn, common sense demands that you have lights on your bicycle. These little accessories are battery-operated and last a long time. There are a variety of lights to choose from. My tail light has different blinking speeds, and is designed to make my bike visible to cars approaching from both the rear and the sides. Check for brightness before you buy one. Install the light where it makes the most sense.

We held off on buying a speedometer and odometer unit for our bikes, but once we got serious about losing weight and getting in shape, this feature became a “must have.” You simply cannot track your progress without knowing how far and how fast you’re riding.

If you already have a bicycle, take it to the bike shop for a safety inspection each season. They should check the gears, tires and brakes to make sure everything is working properly. They can adjust your seat to fit your height and adjust the handlebars to fit your reach, making your ride more comfortable. If you’re lucky, they might even clean and polish your bike!

If you want to save money in the long run, you can find books and videos that teach you how to care for your own bicycle. It’s always a great idea to know how to change your own flat tire and adjust a loose chain.

Another must have is a bicycle pump. Ask your bike dealer how many pounds of air pressure to put in your bicycle tires. Check the tires each time you get ready to ride! We guessed at the air pressure one summer day, and lived to regret it. We rode the bikes to the swimming pool, not realizing that one tire was too full. While we were cooling off in the water, the hot sun was rapidly expanding the air in the tires–one tire blew as it sat in the parking lot. The day in the sun was not so fun, once the pool closed and we had to wait for a truck to haul us home!

HEALTH TIP: Talk with your doctor first, and get his or her blessing before you increase your rate of physical activity!

STAYING COMFORTABLE ON YOUR BIKE

Sitting for long periods of time on a bicycle seat can cause pain, discomfort, and even serious blood circulation problems in avid bicyclists. At your local bike shop, you’ll find a variety of bicycle seats made specifically for your comfort and health. The salespeople at our local bike shop encouraged us to try out new seats on our bikes for a few days. My husband found the split seat to be more comfortable for himself, while I opted to keep my old gel seat. Someone has even invented seats that look more like a bird perch than a bicycle seat!

HEALTH TIP: Get off your bicycle seat and walk around every 25 minutes or so to get the blood flow to important unmentionable parts of your body.

Think about your clothing...you don’t have to have padded biker shorts and special clothing to start riding bikes. There are actually scientifically engineered fabrics designed to pull sweat away from your body in the summer and to keep you from getting hypothermia in the winter. But for now, just wear layers of comfortable sports clothes.

Make sure your clothes aren’t so tight that you are miserable trying to pedal. But they shouldn’t be loose enough to become entangled in the bicycle chain, either! If you become overheated, strip off a layer. If you get cold, add a layer. Wear light or bright colors to allow drivers to see you easily.

It really helps to have a small cargo rack on the back of your bike. Mine looks like a little shelf over the back tire. It has two bungee cords to keep any cargo securely fastened to the bike. I’ve used it to tote a small picnic cooler, a shopping bag or extra clothes.

I had the bike shop attach a water bottle holder to the bike under my seat. I can grab a quick swig as I ride or pour some water over my pulse points to cool off a bit. Take small sips of water when needed during your bike ride, rather than chugging huge gulps.

A helmet is almost a must. Life is filled with hazards–and biking has its share. Be smart. Wear a helmet. You can buy a cool rear-view mirror for your helmet. The mirror helps you see when it’s safe to turn and lets you observe traffic coming up from behind.

I recommend wearing sunglasses–both for the sun and for bugs! At certain times of the year, the air is thick with flying insects. Getting a tiny bug in your eye is a painful event. For contact wearers, carry a contact case and lens cleaner on bike rides for just that reason. Some day you’ll be glad you did!

HEALTH TIP: Shake your hands downward frequently to get the blood flowing and to prevent pain or numbness in your arms and hands.

MAPPING OUT A WEIGHT LOSS PLAN

You will want to keep a record of your daily diet and food intake, your weekly body measurements and weight, as well as your bicycling miles and time.

The WORKOUTWARE Personal Training Workstation software (see the Home Fitness page at www.poshbungalow.com) for your personal computer is an excellent way to track your progress. It is very easy to use–simply type in your information you wish to track. As the only software of its kind, you’ll find it to be a fantastic motivation tool that will print out charts and graphs to show how much progress you’ve made in a few days, a week, or a month!

It keeps track of your food, vitamin, and supplement intake. Thousands of foods have already been analyzed by experts for number of calories, fat, carbs, and protein. You simply select the foods you ate from a pull down feature, and the daily total is tallied for you. Make sure you don’t exercise when you’ve just eaten, or when it’s almost meal time. Both times will slow you down.

No matter how humiliating it is, measure your arms, legs, chest, waist, neck, hips and thighs once a week. The software keeps track of your weight and body measurements. The thrill of seeing those same inches melt away in the coming weeks will be worth the effort. It’s especially impressive seen as a graph!

Consider investing in an instrument that actually measures body fat–there are inexpensive pincer-type instruments that measure fat by pinching you, or buy a set of bathroom scales that cost more but calculate body fat quite painlessly.

Try to ride 4-6 days per week. When you map out your weight loss plan, your short-term goals will change as you change. You’ll quickly develop stamina for longer distance. As fat turns to muscle, your speed will increase. Each week, try to increase either your mileage or your speed.

You know how far you’ve been able to ride, thus far. Start keeping track of the exact route you are taking, the total mileage, and the length of time it took you. Make notes in your records for special circumstances. Did it get dark outside so you were forced to cut your ride short? Did the road crews dump a layer of gravel on your normally paved road?

What was the weather like? Was it dangerously hot? Was it windy? The wind can be your friend or your enemy. When the wind is behind you, your ride is a breeze...but coming from any other direction, be prepared to huff and puff. Accept any length of time as a job well done and simply get the ride accomplished!

Finally, add an upper body workout three times per week. Bicycling works your legs, but to get the rest of your body firm and trim, you’ll need to exercise your upper body, as well. The WORKOUTWARE Personal Training Workstation software, created by a certified personal fitness trainer, has excellent features which allow you to design and track this portion of your fitness program, as well.

Bicycle riding is a fun, inexpensive form of aerobic exercise–it’s good for every part of you. But be warned–you will need to buy a whole new wardrobe for the thinner, more beautifully fit body that emerges!

Sharyl Calhoun

See our Home Fitness page at http://www.poshbungalow.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharyl_Calhoun

Weight Loss - 10 Tips To Fewer Calories

2006-07-05T02:56:00.000-07:00

By Michael Russell

Most all of us look for ways to lose a few extra pounds. The key to weight loss is to keep it simple. Here are 10 tips to help you lose those unwanted pounds.

1. Instead of using butter, try fruit purees. The next time you have mashed potatoes, leave off the butter. Try substituting a fruit puree instead. This will reduce the calories and give your mashed potatoes a nice flavor.

2. Take the fat out of the cheese. We all know that cheese contains lots of calcium and is very good for you. But it also has a lot of fat in it, making weight loss very difficult. An easy was to remove the fat is to put the cheese in your microwave oven for approximately 10-15 seconds. Remove it and immediately drain off the fat. Be sure you don't overcook it or you'll have a big mess on your hands. The other option is to simply buy a low fat cheese at the store.

3. Don't eat your meals in front of the TV. This tip may sound silly, but it's probably one of the biggest reasons for weight gain. It's so easy to overeat while watching the TV. You become so engrossed at the program you're watching that you just continue eating and eating. Weight loss and TV don't work well together.

4. Never try to exercise before eating a meal. When you go out and physically exercise before eating your meal you are going to make yourself even hungrier. You're burning fat and losing weight. But you're also making yourself hungrier. For better weight loss make sure you exercise after eating. Be sure you don't exercise right after eating though, or you will more than likely get sick. Give yourself an hour after eating before exercising.

5. Be sure to eat a good breakfast. The word breakfast means to break your fast. Since you most likely haven't eaten since dinner the night before, you are literally breaking your fast. It is a proven fact that eating breakfast, even if it's a piece of toast, will help you burn more calories and lose weight, then if you skip eating breakfast all together.

6. Use the right milk. Make sure you use skim milk rather than whole milk. Whole milk contains cream and of course, adds calories. Skim milk on the other hand contains no fat and helps contribute to weight loss. Skim milk will still give you all the benefits of milk and has very little taste difference.

7. Remove the trans fatty acids. All trans fatty acids are bad fats. A good example of a trans fat is margarine. Butter on the other hand is not. Be sure to never use margarine or butter when cooking. Use cooking oil instead, preferably olive oil. Always read the labels on food you buy at the store. Avoid hydrogenated oil at all cost, in order to lose weight. It contains loads of trans fatty acids.

8. Fructose is an appetite suppressant. Drink water or fruit juice with fructose and not glucose to help with weight loss. Did you know that drinking a glass of orange juice an hour before you eat a meal will help in suppressing your appetite?

9. Trim the fat from meats before cooking. Most of us love to eat meat and that's fine. But in order to help with weight loss, you need to trim off all the excess fat from meats prior to cooking. This will dramatically reduce your calorie intake from meat. Your other healthy option is to eat more fish and skinless chicken.

10. Four egg yokes or less each week. Eggs are full of the wrong kinds of fat. The whites of an egg is worse than the yolk. In order to help with weight loss, limit the number of eggs you eat to four or fewer every week.

While there are many other tips available to help you lose weight, these ten are a great start. Follow these tips and you'll be on your way to losing these unwanted pounds.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Weight Loss

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Weight Loss - 5 Quick Tips To A Healthier You

2006-07-03T14:06:00.000-07:00

By Michael Russell

Along with being healthy, we all want to look as fit as possible. Sometimes this is can be a challenge. With so many different diet plans and foods available, it can be difficult to figure out what works and what doesn't. Well, there are still some old-fashioned ways to lose weight that have been tried and true for years now. These 5 tips will not only help you to lose those unwanted pounds, but they will also help you have a more healthy body.

1. Eliminate The Junk Food

This tip might not make you smile, but it will help you lose weight faster than any other thing you can do. Cut out the junk foods from your daily diet. These snacks only hurt your health and your body. They are chock full of carbohydrates, fats and calories. Try to replace the junk food with more healthy snacks, or bars.

2. Eat More Fruits And Vegetables

We have been raised as children to eat our fruit and vegetables, so why do we stray away from that the older we get? Eating all kinds of fruits and vegetables are a must on any weight loss plan. They contain essential vitamins and nutrients that your body needs along with fiber that are good for your digestive system.

You can eat as many of these foods as you like without having to worry about putting on weight. Fruits and vegetables contain very few calories.

3. Eliminate The Soda

This is another biggie for most everyone. The amount of soda consumption in the U.S. is growing every year. From what used to be a standard 12-oz can of soda has now become a 48-oz "big gulp". The sugars and carbohydrates soda contains can add several pounds to the average person.

And with soda it's not just the weight increase you need to be concerned about. It creates more cases of Diabetes than any other single factor. Your best bet is to add more water to your daily diet. Water is healthy for your body and it will give you a full feeling, allowing you to eat less.

4. Always Eat Breakfast

Never starve your body. Many people mistakenly believe that skipping breakfast will help you in a weight loss plan. This just isn't true. It will mess up your body and cause you to have cravings. Then, when you can't take it anymore, you'll start eating everything in sight. This just defeats your purpose. In addition, it's simply not good for your body. You should definitely eat 3 meals a day and you may want to consider eating 6. Yes, consider eating 6 small meals a day. The key is to make sure they are small.

5. Exercise

With any weight loss plan you will need to add in at least a little exercise. It helps to burn off those unwanted calories, which in turn lowers your weight. It also gives your body the energy you need and makes you feel good. Even if it's 30 minutes of walking, be sure to get some exercise.

These weight loss tips may be old school, but the bottom line is, they flat out work.

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Weight Loss

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

Simple Weight Loss Tips

2006-07-02T02:38:00.000-07:00

By Audrey Okaneko

As women, as we get older, our bodies change yet again on us. As they change, our bodies do not want or need as many calories as when we were teenagers. Yet we still love cheesecake, cheeseburgers, and milkshakes. So how can we have these foods while still keeping those extra pounds off?

I’ll share some of my own personal tips and secrets.

Living each day for just that day is really important. If yesterday, you overate, you can not undo that. No matter how upset you get, how much you want to change what happened yesterday, we can’t. So, forget about yesterday and think about just today.

I try to be very aware of what I’m eating. It’s so easy to eat food mindlessly, either while watching T.V., or while talking on the phone, or even while reading. When we eat mindlessly, it means that we really are not tasting or enjoying the food. Instead, take a short break and enjoy the food and become conscious of what you are eating.

Cut white breads out of your diet. When I eat bread, I eat either grain or whole wheat bread. I am a white bread lover, so it did take some getting used to, but I actually much prefer 12 grain bread over white bread now.

I am very careful how many “low fat” items I buy. Low fat products almost always have higher sugar content. When you put more sugar into your body, your body naturally craves sugar. The more you reduce the sugar going into your body, the less your body will crave it. Because of my love for chocolate, I could never be sugar free, but again I make very conscious choices. If I have a slice of chocolate cake, I try to stay away from other sugars that day.

Don’t deprive yourself. When we know we “can’t” have something, or know we “shouldn’t” have something, we want it. We think about it. We crave it. Instead of deprivation, instead think of moderation. I love Snickers bars. A trick I learned was to cut one bar into 4 pieces and then freeze it. When I want a Snickers bar, I take one piece out of the freezer and see if that satisfies my craving. Very often it does. When I want ice cream, I never put it in a bowl. Instead I take one of two spoonfuls from the container. Again, almost always I feel satisfied. I also love Starbucks. I go there twice a week. I feel very satisfied and there are some weeks I only go once a week. Again, moderation, not deprivation.

Eat more fruits and vegetables.. I have tons and tons of different salad dressings. This is one area where I do buy both fat free and low fat. I also buy tons of ingredients for the salad, lettuce, tomato, zucchini, cucumber, bell peppers, raisins, olives, broccoli, carrots and more. Oh my gosh, if it’s in the vegetable section, I buy it for salads. I do not eat salad every day, but I do enjoy salad several times a week. We do buy a lot of fruit. I love melons, peaches, grapes and cherries.

Rotate what you eat. Variety is important is not feeling deprived. Plan menus a week in advance. Most weeks, I never have the same thing twice for dinner. When you cook nice meals, you often have leftovers for lunch the next day. This premade lunch is yet another way to lower your calorie intake. A piece of chicken with vegetables is much lower in calories than the lunchmeat sandwich.

My last suggestion is about exercise. I think I’ve only met a handful of people in my entire life that say “I love to exercise”. Most of us would rather do anything other than exercise. So, turn exercise into something fun. Dancing is exercise. Bicycle riding is exercise. Swimming is exercising. Golfing is exercise. Yoga is exercising. Do you have dogs? Walk them, but go a bit longer. Walk with them for 30 minutes. There are just so many ways to turn exercise into something fun. If working out at a gym is not your thing, save your money and try swimming or biking instead. Instead of meeting a friend for lunch, meet for a walk.

Combining all of the above tips helps me be very conscious of what I’m eating and how much exercise I am getting.

Audrey Okaneko can be reached at audreyoka@cox.net or visited at http://www.scrapping-made-simple.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Audrey_Okaneko

Try These Easy Weight Loss Tips

2006-07-01T03:42:00.000-07:00

By Robert Kokoska

Whether you have a little or a lot of weight to lose, it can seem daunting. Nowadays, we are inundated with stories of people who lose weight and gain it back again, or who find it difficult to lose weight at all. Over time, it's easy to become convinced that weight loss just isn't going to happen for you, or that it will require a total change of lifestyle. This just isn't true, as these easy weight loss tips will prove.

Weight loss tip #1: Keeping in mind that society is geared toward large portion size and getting more for your money, simply divide all the portions you've been eating (especially those you eat out) in half. See how it feels to just eat half a restaurant meal, then stop. Have the rest packed up for lunch the next day. Chances are, you won't be hungry after eating half the meal, but if you are, eat another quarter. Then have the rest packed up. You're not depriving yourself - a generation ago, the half- or three-quarter meal you end up eating is more or less the same amount of food as a full meal you would have been served a generation ago. Even cookies and muffins that you buy to go have been supersized - again, eat half.

Weight loss tip #2: Walk as much as possible. Get in the habit. It's great to go to the gym and work out, but in its own way, 'built-in' exercise is even better. It requires no special equipment, you don't have to schedule time for it - you just do it as a matter of course. Remember, until cars became commonplace, walking is how most people got around most of the time. In many European cities, they still do. And people who do this are seldom overweight - go figure!

Weight loss tip #3: Eat real food. In other words, avoid boxes and cans, and eat things that are in their natural form - or as close to it as possible. In the supermarket, shop around the edges - the meat and produce - and avoid the inside aisles. Preparing 'real' food might be a bit more work, but it's very rewarding, and much healthier.

These are not very 'high powered' weight loss tips - you won't lose a pound a day, or whatever the leading programs claim. These are healthy, enjoyable changes that are meant to last a lifetime - and over time, you will lose weight. What's more, your weight loss will be gradual and safe, and you'll keep the weight off permanently.

If you're serious about losing weight, there are 3 things, when combined, can make your battle much, much easier. The first is Hoodia Gordoni. Hoodia reduces your appetite in minutes, causing you to eat less. The second is Weight Loss Patch Pro that boosts your metabolism so that you burn the maximum amount of fat each day. The third important ingredient is Dietrine carb blocker, which blocks most of the fat and carbohydrates in the food you eat from going into your body.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robert_Kokoska

Tips for Realistically Losing Weight

2006-06-27T00:41:00.000-07:00

A Negative Calorie Food List

2006-06-27T00:40:00.000-07:00

By Terje Ellingsen

To make a negative calorie food list, we must be precisely clear on what we mean. There has been some confusion about this phrase. Some have thought that this kind of food contains no calories at all. This can't be right as long as all kinds of food contains at least some energy.

We're going to present you with a list of this kind of food. If you follow it, not necessarly without any other kinds of food, it will increase metabolism naturally, and the result will be weight loss - especially compared with eating a meal where these foods are not included.

Now, it's time for a definition. When we say nagative calorie food, we mean foods which contain so little energy that the body actually uses more energy to digest and absorb the nutrients. So if you subtract calories you'll burn from the calories you eat, the result will be negative. Only by digesting the food you have eaten, there will be a net loss of energy or a negative energy balance. This is what must happen if you want to lose weight but with this food you don't have to do anything but eat it to accomplish that.

You can also eat protein in combination with such food. Good protein will help you control your appetite as well as increase your metabolism because the total amount of calories are not reduced too much.

Here is the list:

Vegetables

Fennel, aubergine, gourd, broccoli, leek, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, marrow, cauliflower, peppers, celery, radish, chicory, spinach, cress, tomato, cucumber, turnip.

Fruits

Apricot, mandarin orange, blackberry, melon canteloupe, blackcurrant, peaches, clementines, plums, damsons, raspberry, grapefruit. rhubarb, guava, strawberry, honeydew melon, tangerine, lemon, watermelon.

Terje Brooks Ellingsen is a writer and internet marketer. He runs the website 11-Weight-Loss.net.
Terje enjoys to help people with negative calorie food diets and workout to increase metabolism naturally.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Terje_Ellingsen

Weight Loss Tip: Don't Eat With Your Emotions

2006-06-26T14:27:00.000-07:00

By Kathy Burns-Millyard

Food is a critical, must-have source of nourishment and energy. Without food we would not be able to perform our daily activities. Our muscles would wither, our nervous system and brains would fail. Whether we like it or not: We all need food.

What you might not know though, is that food has another important role in our lives: Comfort and entertainment. Culturally and instinctively we prepare and serve foods to comfort those who have experienced loss, to celebrate joy, or to show friendship and love. And that's where emotional eating can cause many problems.

What Is Emotional Eating?

Emotional eating is simply the act of eating to feel better emotionally. We, as normal human beings, see food as more than just an energy source for our body. We like to enjoy our food, and there's nothing wrong with that. Science tells us though, that some foods actually promote good feelings by causing certain "feel-good" chemical reactions in our brains. And that's when eating can become a problem: Because some people eat to "feel better"... or because they can't deal with strong emotions such as pain, anxiety, stress, joy, or boredom.

Emotional eaters turn to food as a source of distraction from dealing with feelings. It's often a vicious cycle though: People eat to deal with their bad feelings, then feel bad for having done so, yet turn around and eat again to soothe the guilty feelings caused by the first round of emotional eating. Needless to say, emotional eating can lead to serious eating disorders, weight gain, obesity, and depression.

How Do I Know If I'm An Emotional Eater?

Do you turn to food when you're not hungry, but sad, stressed, or bored? Do you think about food constantly, to the point of feeling obsessed?

Do you regularly try diets and fail - leading to guilt and further over eating? Do you think about or attempt to purge excess food by throwing up or using laxatives? Do you exercise compulsively when you think you've eaten too much?

If you answered yes to any of the above, there's a good chance you're an emotional eater and you could be endangering your health.

How Do I Overcome Emotional Eating?

The first step is recognizing and acknowledging you have the problem. Fixing the problem will take time and persistence, because you effectively need to train yourself out of bad eating habits and into good.

Since emotional eating is caused by using food as a coping strategy for emotional distress, dieting tends to just create more problems, because if you fail to stick to your eating plan you're likely to feel quite guilty. And as an emotional eater, that guilt will only lead you to eat more.

So instead of trying to focus on what you're eating, or how much: You'll need to work at finding other ways to cope with negative emotions. You could try simple things like self talk, chewing gum, or getting busy with work or hobbies when emotions run high and you find yourself digging through the fridge even though you aren't hungry. You could also try self help tapes and books, or find a support buddy to call. You might also consider getting help from a Personal Coach or Psychotherapist who deals with emotional eating.

Sometimes you'll need the help of a professional to make these changes

As you work on replacing comfort food eating with other habits and responses, you'll feel much better about yourself both emotionally and physically. And you'll be well on your way to living a much healthier, slimmer life!

Need more help with your weight loss efforts? Click here for an excellent, safe, and all natural solution.

© 2005, Kathy Burns-Millyard. Kathy is a professional published writer who covers a variety of popular topics such as health, fitness, decorating, and gardening. Find more weight loss articles by Kathy at ScaleTippers.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathy_Burns-Millyard

Negative Calorie Foods & Weight Loss

2006-06-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

By P. Mehta

You gain weight when your calorie intake is more than your
calorie expenditure. But if this calorie equation is reversed,
then it results in "negative calorie" balance in your body. In
this negative calorie case, you expand more calories than you
take in, resulting in a decrease in the stored calories in the form
of body fat, and you experience a weight loss. About 10% of
daily caloric intake is used to process foods in the body. You can
expand more by doing physical activities.

There are certain foods that show negative calorie effect because
the body has to expand more energy to extract calories from these
foods. The negative calorie foods need more calories to break down
the foods and digest than the calories the foods actually contain.
The extra calories are taken up from the stored fat in the body. Thus
the negative calorie foods (may also be called as minus calorie foods
or fat burning foods) are ideal for reducing the body fat and for
losing weight.

Let us take an example. A piece of dessert consisting of 300 calories
may require only 150 calories to be digested by our body, resulting in
a net gain of 150 calories which is added to our body fat! So if you eat
100 calories of a food that requires 150 calories to digest, then you have
burnt an additional 50 calories simply by eating that food. These 50
calories are used up from the stored fat in your body!

These foods are widely available in nature. Some of the foods from the
list of negative calorie foods (about 100 in number) are: asparagus, broccoli,
beets, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, carrot, garlic, papaya,
spinach, turnip, zucchini, apples, oranges, lettuce, grapefruit, pineapples,
strawberries, and raspberries.

It is a great idea to eat these negative calorie food items to your full
satisfaction without counting calories. Include these foods in your daily
diet and plan your diet according to food pyramid. You will be amazed to see
the fast weight loss results. You can follow negative calorie diet plan for
safe and permanent weight loss.

You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or
electronic publication, as long as the piece is used in its entirety
including the resource box, all hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and references and copyright info.

Copyright 2004 P. Mehta, www.fatfreekitchen.com

-------------------------------------------------------

This article has been written by http://www.fatfreekitchen.com.

For more information on negative calorie foods visit the web site
Negative calorie Foods.
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20 Ways to Lose Weight

2006-06-23T08:29:00.000-07:00

By Sheila Dicks

20 WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT

1. Take it one step at a time

Start by paying attention to what you eat. Cut back on fat and sweets and add more fruit and vegetables. After you have that under control, add exercise. If you hate to exercise try it for only 15 minutes a day at first, then a 1/2-hour. Keep in mind that while you are exercising you are burning calories and not eating. Also, it will be easier if you chose an activity that you enjoy.

2. Find a friend

It is always good to have support when you are trying to lose weight. Find a friend who wants to lose weight and compare notes, weigh-in together and maybe even have a contest.

3. Use weights

Working out weights will build muscle and raise your metabolism so you will burn more calories. Also, muscle takes up less space than fat so you will be smaller ( but probably weigh more).

4. Eat fewer carbs

Don't eat as much bread and pasta and you will see a difference.

5. Set a goal

Set a deadline to lose the weight and write it down. For example, ' By Dec 14/04 I will weigh 150 lbs or less'. Put it somewhere you will see it daily.

6. Give up soda

If you drink a soda or 2 a day you are adding empty calories. If you find it hard to stop
completely, cut back at first and drink water instead.

7. Grill or boil

Avoid fried meat, grill and use lots of spices. You will get used to it and probably enjoy it more.

8. Don't buy junk food

When you go shopping, don't go on an empty stomach and you will be less likely to buy junk food. Keep your home 'junk food free' so you won't be tempted to indulge.

9. Eat breakfast

Consume most of your calories early in the day and always eat breakfast. Don't eat after 8pm and
not only will you avoid those added calories but you will sleep better.

10. Give yourself a treat

When you tell yourself that you can't have something you want it more. Give yourself a treat once a day ( ie. half a cookie) and you won't feel you are missing out.

11. Use smaller plates

Trick yourself into believing that you are eating more by using a smaller plate.

12. Drink lots of water

Drink water when you are feeling hungry and you will get that 'full' feeling.

13. Don't eat everything on your plate

Many times we eat just because it's there. Pay attention to when you have had enough.

14. Eat five or six meals a day

Eating more frequently will keep you from getting too hungry.

15. Plan your workout sessions

Write your workout sessions in your journal or planner.

16. Stay away from fad diets

Fad diets don't work. If you lose weight fast chances are that you will gain it back ( and more)
just as fast. It takes time to put it on and time to take it off.

17. Do several workouts a day

While you are watching TV do crunches and leg lifts.

18. Measure your food

If you decide to have junk food for a snack - be sure to measure and control what you eat.

19. Keep pre-cut vegetables

...and ward off those cravings.

20. Create Good Habits

It is a known fact that when we do something twenty-one times it becomes a habit. Create good eating habits.

Sheila Dicks is a wardrobe and image consultant who teaches women
how to look slimmer by dressing to suit their body type. Visit her at
http://www.sheilasfashionsense.com to download a copy of her e-book
Image Makeovers and get How to Build a Wardrobe free.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sheila_Dicks

Weight Loss Tip: Drink More Water

2006-06-22T02:41:00.000-07:00

By Kathy Burns-Millyard

Water plays a vital role in losing weight: It helps you feel full so you don't eat as much, it helps all of the important organs in your body dispose of waste, which in turn allows your body to burn fat better and faster.

Water has no calories, so you can have as much of it as you'd like. It also helps flush toxins out of the body, gives you more energy, and keeps your skin healthy too. Since it also helps you feel fuller, drinking water will prevent you from eating more food than you should. And of course, eating less helps you lose weight.

Some say that drinking cold water also helps boost your metabolism slightly. Theoretically: Your body needs a tiny bit more energy to warm the water, thus it could use a fraction more energy when processing it. I don't know if this is true or not unfortunately, but I personally don't think it hurts.

Here are a couple of easy ways to be sure you're drinking enough water:

First: Start your day with a glass of water. As soon as you wake up, gulp down a glass of cool water. Your body has been without fluids for 6-8 hours, so it's probably dehydrated. Drinking a tall, cool glass of water as soon as you wake up is a wonderful way to start you day. It also helps make you feel full, so you'll eat less for breakfast.

A glass of water also lets out all your digestive juices and jump starts your internal organ functionality, plus it gets your metabolism kicked in. So even if you want coffee or tea first thing in the morning, have that glass of water too. It's a great step towards losing weight.

I personally drink a big cup of water while waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.

Next: Drink a glass of water before you start a meal. Water helps make your stomach feel full, so drinking a glass before eating - or at the very least while eating - will help you eat less food.

Have another glass of water while you're having the meal. Again this is another way of making yourself full so that you can actually rise from the table eating less but feeling full just the same. Instead of drinking it one gulp, take sips after each morsel. It will help the food to settle faster so that you get that feeling that you are full faster.

Last but not least: Use a straw when you're drinking water. It actually helps you drink more without even realizing it.

Need more help with your weight loss efforts? Click here for an excellent, safe, and all natural solution.

© 2005, Kathy Burns-Millyard. Kathy is a professional published writer who covers a variety of popular topics such as health, fitness, decorating, and gardening. Find more articles by Kathy at http://www.electronicperceptions.com/new/category/free-content/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathy_Burns-Millyard

Simple Weight Loss Tips

2006-06-21T05:24:00.000-07:00

Liposuction - A Weight Loss Method

2006-06-20T00:54:00.000-07:00

By Keith George

Liposuction is a cosmetic surgery employed to remove excess fat from body parts. It is also called lipoplasty, suction lipectomy, liposculpture or fat suction.

Generally the fat is removed from thighs, chin, buttocks, love handles (abdomen), breasts and stomach for women and chin, waist, breasts and buttocks for men.

This surgical procedure is not an alternative to exercise and dieting and should be used only to remove the stubborn fat that does not respond to exercises and diet.

Liposuction is not a weight loss method but a method to remove excess fat. 10-15 pounds of fat is removed generally. However, taking out of large amounts of fat can be dangerous at times.

There are many types of liposuction performed today like traditional liposuction, tumescent liposuction, ultrasound liposuction, super wet liposuction. All these methods employ a cannula (a blunt straw like tube) for suction of fat.

Saline water is injected into the space between muscle and fat to separate them. If the amount of saline water is less than the amount of fat to be removed it is called traditional liposuction.

If the saline water is 3 to 4 times the volume of fat to be removed it is called tumescent liposuction. Adding extra water assists the surgeon in moving the cannula back and forth to break up the fat cells. However excess water may affect the homeostasis of the body. In super wet liposuction the amount of saline water is the same as the amount of fat to be removed. This is the most popular surgical method used by surgeons.

In ultrasonic liposuction the fat is initially liquefied by ultrasound before being suctioned out. However, ultrasound methods are not popular as they sometime lead to necrosis (death of skin) and seromas (collection of yellow fluid in pockets).

In all types of liposuction either local anesthesia or general anesthesia is used. The usual anesthetic used is lidocaine. Epinephrine is also used in liposuction to reduce blood loss.

To perform liposuction the patient must be over 18 and in good health with elastic skin. If the skin is not sufficiently elastic the excess skin may have to be removed after liposuction. Generally the excess skin is removed from abdomen called abdominoplasty or tummy tuck. This leaves scar marks on the skin.

Diabetics and patients on antibiotics are advised not to undergo liposuction. Before operation the patient should not have taken any anticoagulants like warfarin, phenindione etc.

If general anesthesia is given the patient has to fast on the night before the operation. If local anesthesia is given there is no requirement of fasting. Smoking and drinking etc should be avoided.

The incisions are usually less than an inch. After operation the excess fluid takes days to weeks to drain out. During that time antibiotics and/or pain killers are prescribed.

Patient recovery varies from days to 2 months. As with all surgeries there are surgical risks in liposuction too. There are minor risk, up to 0.7%, of side effects like internal organs being scraped, seromas, necrosis, excessive bleeding etc.

Liposuction is not a weight loss method and the patient should expect realistic and not dramatic changes in appearance.

Keith George always writes about valuable news & reviews.
A related resource is http://the-liposuction.info/
Further information can be found at http://the-technichal.info/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Keith_George

Desperate for Weight Loss? Feed the Beast!

2006-06-19T01:58:00.000-07:00

By Dr. Leslie Van Romer

“I’ll do anything to lose weight. The beast? What beast? Just tell me where that beast is, and I’ll feed it.”

Hold on, a minute, my friend. Before I introduce you to the beast, I’d like to take a poll.

The question is simple: “What’s the quickest way to lose weight?” Before you read on, what’s the first thing that pops into YOUR head? No peeking now…

Fess up. What just squeaked out of your brain?

If your answer was something like dieting or watching carbs or cutting fat or exercising or positive affirmations hung up on your refrigerator door (or, better yet, bathroom mirror) “I am skinny. I am skinny. I am skinny,” sorry, you are wrong – no, silly, not wrong about being or not being skinny, but wrong about quick weight loss.

Actually, the quickest way to lose weight is to
STARVE yourself. Hey, I didn’t say the best way now, did I? Look back – I said the quickest way.

Well, that sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? Who in the world would starve themselves, on purpose no less, to lose weight?

Lots and lots of people, and YOU just may be one of those people who has done exactly that—starved yourself to drop the fat—and not just once either.

“What? How could that be?” you cry.

Is there any chance that you’ve ever gone on a diet to lose weight? Or maybe even too many diets in your lifetime to count?

I hope you’re sitting down—here’s the shocker. It’s likely that every time you went on a weight loss “diet,” you lost weight because you were actually starving yourself—you restricted TOO many calories.

Or, even if you got enough calories, those calories came from foods that were empty of the right nutrients—another not-so-obvious way of starving.

Sure, your stomach can feel full, but if you don’t get the right nutrients, then you constantly crave more food—your body’s way of pushing you to get life-saving nutrition—not that YOU’VE ever had any of those mind-body-snatching cravings. 

You, with the help of your trusty teammates, Will and Discipline, may be able to beat back those overpowering “feed-me, feed-me” urges and cravings—for a while. You can do it. You can do it, you tell yourself.

Indeed, you can and do “do it.” You lose weight, and the victory of weight loss is ever so sweet. You’re feelin’ pretty darn spunky about yourself.

And then, bam! It happens again, just like every time before—starvation beckons “the beast” for help, and “the beast” rears its ugly head.

So, my friend, it’s time to meet “the beast” up close and very personal. His name: “Hunger.”

Hunger is a mighty beast. Just like Thirst and Sleeping and Breathing—all those powerful instinctive beasts have one common mission—to keep you alive.

You can’t beat back “the beast” forever. Hunger will take you over, in spite of your allies, Will and Discipline, and the result: You will eat—just a bit here and there at first. Then you will eventually fill-up on all those food favorites that you promised yourself to get out of your life—forever. Well, forever didn’t last long at all.

The scale goes up one more time, and your self-esteem plummets down. You feel like a failure once again and that old, familiar feeling creeps back—you just feel crummy about yourself.

You beat your head against the wall trying to figure out why you can’t fight “the beast,” Hunger. You figure you must be lazy or weak or just plain dumb to eat the foods that sabotage your good intentions for weight loss and health gain.

Whew! Be relieved—you are NOT lazy or weak or dumb. You are quite simply—hungry.

You did not fail—the diets failed you. Any food plan that starves you is designed to fail—“the beast” will win—every time.

If you are hungry, you will eat—sooner or later. Your hunger instinct is built into you to keep you alive.

So the next time you get hungry, instead of trying to ignore or deny or fight “the beast,” how about doing the obvious—feed “the beast” and thank it for protecting you and keeping you alive.

Oh, one little point: feed “the beast” the best—foods packed with nutrients and fiber and low on calories, instead of foods and pseudo-foods that are overloaded with fat, cholesterol, animal protein, salt, sugar, white flour, and way too many calories that love to live on your hips, tummy, thighs, and butt.

And, for goodness’ sake, stop feeding “the beast” when it is full and satisfied. Don’t overstuff it!

And what are the premium foods that satisfy “the beast,” fill you up, and sustain weight loss, as well as promote health and fitness, over the long haul of your lifetime?

One, two, three….All together now—“Whole, fresh fruits and vegetables and plant foods!” Ahhh….such music to my ears—you’re good. You are really, really good!

Oh, yeah, one more thing. Now that you KNOW the secret keys (REAL live foods) to permanent weight loss and health gain, why not take that next iddy, biddy step—put your wisdom into practice every day.

You CAN tame “the beast” and have the body you want and deserve.

All you have to do is wash, open mouth, insert, bite down, and chew!

Dr. Leslie Van Romer is a health motivational speaker, writer, and lifestyle coach. Visit http://www.DrLeslieVanRomer.com for more inspiration.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Leslie_Van_Romer

5 Holiday Weight Loss Tips & Their Reality Checks

2006-06-18T06:19:00.000-07:00

By Kathy Burns-Millyard

Do you find it almost impossible to stay conscious and contentious about weight and nutrition during the holidays? Of course you do. More than half of all Americans are overweight: You're not alone.

A new government study might give you a ray of hope though: The study shows that Americans gain only about one pound over the holidays. The study found that people participating were influenced by two main factors over the holidays: The level of their hunger, and the level of their activity. In other words: Those who reported being less active or more hungry during the holidays had the greatest weight gain.

So common sense says: If you can stay focused on dealing with just those two things, you'll probably win your personal holiday weight loss battle. At the very least, you'll win by not adding more weight to what's already waiting to be shed.

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of weight gain," says Dr. Samuel Klein, the Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. "Preventing the increase in weight is a lot easier and better than actually gaining weight and then trying to get it off again."

So the answer seems simple: Eat less and exercise more. The reality of implementation of course, is far more difficult.

The good news is that most of the people overestimate how much weight they'd gained over the holidays. Fewer than 10% gain 5 pounds or more.

The bad news is: The small amount of weight gained is never lost. One pound of weight gain is quite a small amount, but since it's not usually lost again: The weight adds up over time - to obesity.

Now we all know there are tons of tips out and about this time of year, designed to help us keep from putting on that extra pound or two during the holidays. Unfortunately what's usually not talked about is: The reality of day-to-day holiday stress and situations. Let's explore the tips... along with their reality checks... in depth:

Weight Loss Tip 1: Stay active. The best thing you can do is try to stick to your normal schedule and routine.

Holiday Reality Check: It's pretty hard to have any kind of decent routine in the busy months of November and December. Busy people tend to sacrafice yoga classes, long walks, and visits to the gym because they need time for extra things like decorating the house, cooking, cleaning up before the visitors get there, and of course: Shopping.

The Good News: Walking around the shopping mall and stores is great exercise, and so is cleaning the house. In addition to those activities, decorating can be quite intensive too: You're climbing up and down to hang things; lifting, lugging, and dragging boxes out of storage; bending, twisting and turning to get it all looking just right. So don't beat yourself up about not making it to the gym... you're getting plenty of activity and every little bit helps!

Weight Loss Tip 2: Don't let yourself get too hungry. If you go to a party and you're starving, everything will look even more scrumptious than normal. And of course, you'll eat much more because of it. Try starting each day with a good, solid breakfast - particularly something with protein. And when you're at the party, try muching on the veggies to help keep you feeling full. These two things will help your hunger stay under control, and will in turn help you refrain from "gorging" on anything you see just because you're famished.

Holiday Reality Check: We're all very busy during the holidays, and it's not always possible to remember to eat - let alone eat well - particularly in the morning when we may have already overslept and are now running late for everything. And eating healthy at a party isn't always possible either: Not everyone in this country serves vegetable plates, salads, or fruit bowls. Sometimes the only things in site are junk: Chips, candy, and cookies.

Here's a suggestion: Try taking your own veggie plate to a party where you know there won't be one available. A quick and easy way to do this is simply buy a bag or two of pre-cut veggies and some ranch salad dressing. Alternatively, eat a decent meal before you go to the party. Don't overdo things, but don't make it a light snack either. Eating first will help you to just "nibble" a bit on the worst of the holiday treats offered.

Weight Loss Tip 3: Stay away from the food. Literally. Just don't go anywhere near the buffet table, appetizers, or treats... and you'll be fine.

Holiday Reality Check: In most cases, the food is everywhere. And even if it's not right in front of your face, you sure can smell it! Trying to just "stay away from it" is pretty unrealistic - and it can feel like torture for some of us. And for most people: When you can't have something, you want it even more. So trying to stay away from the food will most likely just make you overindulge worse than you would have otherwise.

Try this instead: Allow yourself whatever you'd like. But with a catch. First: Take only half the amount you normally would. And take just one food item. Eat that and enjoy it without guilt. Then, wait a full 20-30 minutes before you get something else. Then repeat the process: One item, half the portion size as you normally would, enjoy it without guilt, then wait before getting something else.

Allowing yourself to eat gets rid of the mentality of "I can't have it (and thus I'm more determined to have it)" It lets you enjoy the good food and the holidays, without beating yourself up. This is healthy and can help tremendously with the way you view food and eating in general. Only taking half of it though, will help you not take in as much calories, fat, sugar or other bad stuff you usually avoid. And then waiting 20-30 minutes before you get something else will help your body realize when it's had enough... or too much. So you're much less likely to overdo things, and feel horrible physically later.

Weight Loss Tip 4: Wear cloths that are slightly tight on you. This should help you feel full faster, and keep you from eating too much food.

Holiday Reality Check: We want to wear looser cloths because we're looking forward to eating all that great food! Yes, wearing something tight might help us not go back for a second helping of potatoes... or it might ruin a favorite outfit.

In the end, how you approach this tip is up to you, and you alone. Make your decision and be happy with it.

Weight Loss Tip 5: Keep your portions small. Try to load up on salad and vegetables, and take just tiny amounts of anything else.

Holiday Reality Check: Taking just a "bite sized" amount of anything is going to put you into the have-not mental state mentioned earlier. You'll feel as if you can't have something, and you'll want it all the more.

Try the tip noted above instead: Take half the size you normally would. Trying to have just a little bite of pie will whet your appetite for more, but having a whole piece is going a bit overboard - particularly if there's 5 different pies for you to sample. So try actual sampling instead: Cut a piece half the normal size. This allows you to have a "whole slice", and more than several little bites. Then wait about 20 minutes before you go and try the next pie. Even if you end up eating a bit of all 5 pies, by having a half-sized slice of each, you've drastically cut the amount of calories, carbs and sugars compared to what you would have had with whole slices. And you'll still feel stuffed and satiated, instead of deprived and resentful.

So there you have it: 5 different, common holiday weight loss and eating tips, followed by the reality check of each, and a suggested compromise that should help you enjoy the holidays to their fullest, without depriving yourself of the great food we all look forward to.

Whatever you decide to do, remember to actually have Happy Holidays!

Need more help with your weight loss efforts? Click here for an excellent, safe, and all natural solution.

© 2005, Kathy Burns-Millyard. Kathy is a professional published writer who covers a variety of popular topics such as health, fitness, decorating, and gardening. Find more articles by Kathy at http://www.electronicperceptions.com/new/category/free-content/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kathy_Burns-Millyard

Easy Weight Loss - Without a Diet!

2006-06-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

By Michael McGrath

There are many different reasons why someone may want to lose weight. You may want to feel healthier, look better, fit into your old clothes or even have been advised by a medical practitioner to get in shape. However, if you are one of those people who battle constantly with your weight then you already know how hard it is to stick to a diet. In the majority of cases they just don't work!

All the current slimming pills and weight-loss fads are of extremely limited effectiveness. When you take into consideration the dangers of surgical procedures and the lack of long-term studies of new-fad diets a safe, reliable alternative is needed.

Although many claim that there are painless ways of losing weight the simple is truth is that weight-loss, like everything else worth achieving in life, requires some effort on your part. However there are techniques and tools to make your transition to health much more enjoyable and easy. A great example is the Paul McKenna famous system which was tested on British television with remarkable results. It didn't even involve hypnosis!

McKenna spent 13 years analyising the behaviours of naturally thin people in order to devise his weight-loss system and found some amazing things.

Every person has an inborn weight control mechanism, a set point that attempts to maintain a particular amount of fat on the body. Based on this premise Paul McKenna formulated his easy to use weight-loss systemwhich as I mentioned earlier had an enormous beneficial affect on the British TV viewing public. He even allowed people to eat what they wanted and they still lost massive amounts of weight!

Normally when we go on a diet we are forcing the body to adjust to a new way of eating. This is in effect resisting the powerful totally natural urges the body has to prevent energy deficit. So appetite suppressants may help to reduce these drives, and forcing a change in eating habits may retrain the body and mind into a new eating regime but the body will still has these urges because they are inherent and totally natural.

In addition many people overeat due to stress or the desire to suppress negative emotions or feelings of discomfort. Everyone knows the classic 'comfort eater'. This is why the use of self hypnosis is so effective for weight-loss because it can retrain the mind to view food, fitness and eating in more healthy ways.

However, McKenna's research shows that, if you follow your own body's natural rhythm and don't force yourself into strict eating habits or deny yourself the food you want most then you will be much more successful at losing weight. By denyng yourself certain things you set up resistance and you will make it much more difficult to stick to your weight-loss plan. The mind is tricky and I am sure you will agree that you always want something more when you know that you can't have it!

The key is to stop denying yourself the foods you really enjoy but to at them in moderation. I know this is easier said than done but McKenna has some simple yet powerful techniques to ensure your success. Basically you can eat what you want!

Stop eating once your full! Many of us, myself included, tend to keep eating after our body has sent the brian the message "right stop eating I'm satisfied". We need to learn to recognise these signs and take heed of them.

Take an extra 15 minutes of exercise a day. Spread it over the day so it is achieved in very small steps and you will be burning up more calories.

All the current slimming pills and weight-loss fads are of extremely limited effectiveness. When you take into consideration the dangers of surgical procedures and the lack of long-term studies of new-fad diets a safe, reliable alternative is needed.

Although many claim that there are painless ways of losing weight the simple is truth is that weight-loss, like everything else worth achieving in life, requires some effort on your part. However there are techniques and tools to make your transition to health much more enjoyable and easy. A great example is the Paul McKenna famous system which was tested on British television with remarkable results. It didn't even involve hypnosis!

McKenna spent 13 years analyising the behaviours of naturally thin people in order to devise his weight-loss system and found some amazing things.

Every person has an inborn weight control mechanism, a set point that attempts to maintain a particular amount of fat on the body. Based on this premise Paul McKenna formulated his easy to use weight-loss system which as I mentioned earlier had an enormous beneficial affect on the British TV viewing public. He even allowed people to eat what they wanted and they still lost massive amounts of weight!

Normally when we go on a diet we are forcing the body to adjust to a new way of eating. This is in effect resisting the powerful totally natural urges the body has to prevent energy deficit. So appetite suppressants may help to reduce these drives, and forcing a change in eating habits may retrain the body and mind into a new eating regime but the body will still has these urges because they are inherent and totally natural.

In addition many people overeat due to stress or the desire to suppress negative emotions or feelings of discomfort. Everyone knows the classic 'comfort eater'. This is why the use of self hypnosis is so effective for weight-loss because it can retrain the mind to view food, fitness and eating in more healthy ways.

However, McKenna's research shows that, if you follow your own body's natural rhythm and don't force yourself into strict eating habits or deny yourself the food you want most then you will be much more successful at losing weight. By denyng yourself certain things you set up resistance and you will make it much more difficult to stick to your weight-loss plan. The mind is tricky and I am sure you will agree that you always want something more when you know that you can't have it!

The key is to stop denying yourself the foods you really enjoy but to at them in moderation. I know this is easier said than done but McKenna has some simple yet powerful techniques to ensure your success. Basically you can eat what you want!

Stop eating once your full! Many of us, myself included, tend to keep eating after our body has sent the brian the message "right stop eating I'm satisfied". We need to learn to recognise these signs and take heed of them.

Take an extra 15 minutes of exercise a day. Spread it over the day so it is achieved in very small steps and you will be burning up more calories.

So to outline:

Naturally thin people eat whatever they want! Now this may lead you to believe that they have a higher metobolism or have been blessed with fat burning genes but the truth is much simplier and applies to everyone. Which leads us to our next point.

Naturally thin people have a different psychological view about food and fitness. This is why they can eat what they want. By changing what food means to you at a deep subconscious level you change your automatic responses to food and exercise.

Naturally thin people don't have uncontrollable food cravings. McKenna teaches that any cravings you have are merely learned behaviour and they can be unlearned. He shows how it is possible to break all cravings and re-programme your mind in just minutes

If you follow these simple steps, as outlined in this article, you are guaranteed success and a new healthy, fit body.

Michael McGrath is the owner of several successful Internet businesses, a university computer graduate and he has over 21 years experience with personal development and self help. More information is avilable at personal development or self hypnosis.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_McGrath

Water, Diet Sodas And Weight Loss

2006-06-16T00:54:00.000-07:00

By Donovan Baldwin

What on earth does water have to do with weight loss? Actually, a lot more than you previously imagined.

Are you aware that some studies have shown that your brain cannot distinguish between hunger and thirst? Sometimes when your body is telling you that you are thirsty, your brain may be hearing that you are hungry. So what do you do? You put food in your mouth when a glass of water might have been sufficient. Most food has calories, most water doesn't. Simple equation. 'Nuff said on that topic.

By the way, ever wake up in the middle of the night and crave a snack? Nine times out of ten, a glass of water will do the trick. I know, I didn't believe it either until I tried it. It really works!

Tissue, muscle, cells, even blood are all comprised to a large per cent of water. When your brain starts getting signals that water is needed...well, remember the confusion factor mentioned above? We eat something instead of giving our body what it really craves and needs! Your entire body works much better, by the way, when the fluid levels are kept up where they need to be.

BUT I DRINK LOTS OF LIQUID AND STILL GAIN WEIGHT!

Sure you do, but what KIND of liquid. I won't even talk about sodas, coffee, or tea sweetened with sugar. I'm going to assume that you already know that sugar is not the way to go if you want to lose weight, but what about the artificially sweetened drinks?

Did you know...

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS CAN CAUSE YOU TO GAIN WEIGHT?

Some studies have shown that using artificial sweeteners can contribute to weight gain in at least two ways.

First, there is the confusion factor. When you use artificial sweeteners, you, and your brain, become confused about the calorie content of the food you eat. You may actually find yourself eating more in an effort to satisfy an internal urge or interpretation, and this urge may be related to the assumed "fact" that the sweet soda you just drank didn't have that many calories, so neither does this cinnamon roll. Actually, before artificial sweeteners, our bodies and brains were pretty good at relating calorie content to food based on the sweetness.

A WORD FOR PARENTS!

Our bodies' understanding of "sweetness" and the development of the internal calorie estimating apparatus mentioned above apparently occurs in childhood. Early use of artificial sweeteners could cause the grown-up years later to ingest more of sweet foods than they should.

The second way in which artificial sweeteners may contribute to weight gain is what could be called...

THE SUGAR TRAP!

Your body is a complicated device which has developed a huge number of inter-related, synergistic, stimulus sensing and automatic response mechanisms. It has learned to begin things happening inside when something sweet is detected. The digestive system is prepared to receive a certain type of fuel...which it welcomes! When you ingest food or drink which has been artificially sweetened, all your little hormones, glands, cells, and systems begin asking, "What's going on?" Like prisoners in an old movie, they start rattling their tin cups and yelling out, "FEED ME!" Oh yeah, that was the plant in "Little Shop Of Horrors", wasn't it?

Anyway, your internal messengers are now not very happy, nor will they be until you send down some calories for them to munch on. See the trap? It reminds me of when I managed a restaurant when people would order a salad and diet drink and then smother the salad in high-calorie, high-fat dressing and have ice cream for dessert. Get the picture.

WAIT! IT MIGHT EVEN BE WORSE!

Artificial sweeteners are much sweeter than ordinary sugar, and that's why you can sweeten a cup of coffee with one little white pill. However, there are some studies which indicate that artificial sweeteners become somewhat addictive. If that isn't bad enough, this brings us to one of the most popular drugs in America...

CAFFEINE

Even though a lot of people who want to lose weight are drinking artificially sweetened drinks, a lot of these drinks - coffee, tea, sodas - contain caffeine. Caffeine is a diuretic. It dehydrates you, causing your body to lose water. Remember, water = good. When you are dehydrated, low on internal liquid, your metabolism slows down. This means your body gets by on fewer calories and stores the rest as fat. Think it through: You get dehydrated, you get thirsty. You just drank a cup of tea, coffee, or soda, so you can't be thirsty, can you? Since your brain can't really tell the difference between hunger and thirst signals, it tells you to eat something when all that's really going on is that you need a drink of water.

SO WHAT CAN YOU DO?

1. Substitute water for most of the other stuff you're drinking.

2. "Buy" your artificially sweetened drinks. My wife came up with this idea, but I have seen it used in other contexts as well. If you drink an artificially sweetened drink and/or one with caffeine, buy it back with at least an equivalent sized drink of water. Eight ounces of coffee? Follow it with eight ounces of water.

3. Is water boring for you? Then try flavoring your water with lemon or something else. Use herbal teas that have their own flavor and might not even need to be sweetened.

4. Include soups and juices in your diet. These are high liquid content. Just be aware that while nutritionally better for you than diet drinks or drinks with caffeine, they DO contain calories.

5. Can't do without sweetened drinks? Try stevia. This is a natural food additive available online and at most health food stores. While it has a sweetening effect, the FDA does not allow it to be called or marketed as a sweetener. Due to its chemical makeup, it does not seem to produce the cravings for more food as do other non-sugar sweeteners. I read that in a book, but I tried Stevia and that's how it worked for me. I was drinking four to eight cups of coffee sweetened with artificial sweeteners a day, and munching tons of snacks as I drank the coffee! I started using stevia, and the desire for constant snacking went away. I will warn you, while technically VERY sweet, it does have an acquired taste. I figure if I could get used to it, anybody could. It's the only sweetener in our house now.

Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. A graduate of the University Of West Florida (1973) with a BA in accounting, he is a member of Mensa and has held several managerial positions. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, he became interested in internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He has blogs on the subjects of weight loss and health, hybrid cars and alternative fuels, and internet marketing and related business topics.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donovan_Baldwin

Successful Weight Loss Program

2006-06-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

By Steve Hill

Are you on the look out for a successful weight loss program or for a diet that works. This article gives free tips on how to lose those excess pounds, I hope you enjoy the read.

My name is Steve Hill and I have had many problems with my weight throughout my life. I must admit that I was basically fat up until a few years ago. I was not happy being over-weight and it certainly affected my confidence and self esteem. I eventually decided that I had had enough and went about finding a way of obtaining a weight that I would be happy and comfortable with.

I was aware that most people would advise me to alter my eating habits, I was the kind of person why enjoyed eating fatty types of foods, especially all forms of fast food, especially pizzas and chips. They would also probably advise me to a join a gym, however I believed that I would not feel comfortable in gyms as they seem to be full of of thin people.

I considered and read about lots of weight loss programs but eventually decided that I needed my own form of diet.

I was not prepared to give up all of my favourite foods and this was my plan:

For breakfast I would eat something which most people would class as healthy food, which would be cerial or toast. I would have a fairly light lunch, such as a sandwich, however for my evening meal I decided that I could eat whatever I wanted. The main thing and most difficult to implement would be the fact that I could no longer eat between meals. The snacks had to go!. I am not trying to say that this was easy to do, however I had a need and was determined to lose the weight.

For exercise I decided to leave the car at home, wherever possible, and walk far more than I ever had done. I also started taking my children to the park at least twice a week. At the park we would play games such as football, cricket and baseball. It is amazing how much weight you can lose by having fun.

Stephen Hill has a number of websites including:

http://www.natural-treatment.co.uk
http://www.dementia-symptom.co.uk
http://www.multiple-sclerosis-symptom.co.uk

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Steve_Hill

Weight Loss, Body Detox and Anti Aging are all Connected

2006-06-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

By Willie Jones

The majority of people that try various diets and exercise to lose weight fail. Why? Because they are missing out on the most important reason that they can’t lose the weight or how to prevent the diet yoyo. The standard line you get is that you need to diet and exercise to get results, and for some people, especially the younger generation, this works. But for a huge number of the population this is just not going to work, try as they may.

The missing factor in a successful weight loss program is the cleansing of your colon. If you are not familiar with colon cleansing then this may sound like an odd statement to make. But, consider this; a backed up colon will not only prevent weight loss, but will also cause a whole host of other symptoms such as:

- Always tired and sluggish

- Interrupted sleep

- Weight gain

- Aches and pains

- Premature wrinkling of the skin

- Unexplained skin rashes

- Constipation or diarrhea

- Bloating and gas

- Menstrual cramping

- Headaches

These are only some of the symptoms of a clogged toxic colon. What does this have to do with weight loss?

In a normally functioning colon, the food we ingest gets broken down, nutrients are absorbed in the small and large intestine, the friendly flora produce b-vitamins and nutrients are sent to the rest of the body where all the cells are fed. This normal function produces the hormones we need and keeps the metabolism high and allows for weight management. The problem with today’s environment is that it is toxic from all the chemicals, pesticides and pollutants we are bombarded with on a constant basis.

Another huge factor is mans craving to change things all the time and that includes food. In the name of profit, the food industry is reinventing food and changing them from their natural wholesome form and adding preservatives, dyes and coloring which dramatically alter the foods we eat. It creates great profit, and the shareholders are happy, but this is at the expense of our health.

All you need to do is look around you at Americans and the answer is there for all to see. We are an obese, tired nation. Foods such as white flour, rice, pastas, dairy products, hormone filled meats and sliced meats full of sodium nitrates and processed food wreak havoc with our digestive system.

The food we eat should be digested and eliminated in 2 to 3 days, but with processed food it can take 5 to 6 days.

Undigested food starts clogging in your large intestine making it difficult for it to absorb the nutrients you need. As you get further backed up this material becomes toxic and hard making it very difficult to eliminate. You could literally have 4 to 20 pounds of old fecal matter and a narrowing of the passage so that future eliminations become difficult and constipation sets in.

When you eat the typical American diet you may feel full but may be starving for real nutrients. If the diet remains poor, the intestines remain clogged and the body becomes desperate to eliminate toxic buildup. It put tremendous stress on the liver and kidneys and can even manifest itself by trying to get rid of toxins through the skin and odd unexplained rashes appear. Premature wrinkling can occur and metabolism slows making it difficult to lose weight.

If you want to lose weight, get healthy, look and feel better, then do a good colon cleanse first. Take care of the toxic build up and you may feel like a million bucks. You’ll then lose weight, and if you eat the right foods, drink a lot of water and exercise; you should be able to reach your goal. (It would not hurt to follow with a liver and kidney cleanse)!

Disclaimer: The above is offered as information only and is not meant to diagnose or treat any disease. Always consult a qualified health care practitioner before attempting any detox program.

Willie Jones is an author/researcher who is dedicated to helping people find the resources, books, news and information on health and wellness.
http://www.cleanbodydetox.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Willie_Jones

Create A Fitness Centre Right in Your Own Home with the Bowflex Home Gym

2006-06-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

By Nazima Golamaully

These days many people don’t have the time to go to a club
to do push-ups and crunches. And many are not ready to pay
the extra bucks for equipment they don’t use. So the trend
is to set up your own home gym, where you not only have the
option of getting only the equipment which is necessary for
you but you can also enjoy your privacy.

Bowflex, with its years of experience and know-how could be
your ideal partner when it comes to setting up your fitness
centre in your home. There have been rumors about Bowflex
being all hype and little substance. Well, they are rumors.
In fact Bowflex is value for money.

What you get is proper toning of your muscles and a figure
to envy. With its benches and bars it reduces the flab in
your body in almost no time and what you get within weeks is
a perfectly shaped body. With such amazing results very few
clients ever shift to any other equipment.

There is also this allegation that Bowflex equipment is
expensive. But such allegations are completely baseless. The
amount you have to dish out for a Power Pro model is all but
$999. What you get in return is over 6o different styles of
exercise. If you plan to make an entire home gym by buying
the pieces of equipment separately, you will run up bills
much more than what you are paying for one Bowflex. So it
cannot be said to be expensive but it could appear so only
because you think that all you are getting is one machine.
But what you are actually getting is over sixty different
types of exercises.

Now you would be wondering if it is really possible to do sixty exercises in one machine. But it is the truth. And
doing those exercises will help you tone up your entire
body, from your arms and legs to your chest and shoulders
and abdominal muscles. And if you want to, you can have
special attachments for your model so that you can make your
exercises even more effective. However, such attachments are
not required initially and the basic Power Pro model
provides you with enough options.

Instead of using weights for resistance, Bowflex uses
composite bars that work on a system of pulleys. The basic
model offers you a resistance of up to 210 lbs that can be
upgraded in higher end models. Don’t be worried if you see
your bars bending cause that is what actually needs to
happen. However you wouldn’t be complaining of them breaking
or cracking. And even if they do break, you always us the
lifetime warranty to fall back on which Bowflex offers you
for your power rods.

One great thing about Bowflex is the little space it
requires. It can easily fit into your apartment and is ideal
for small spaces. Even moving it around is a piece of cake,
as you can fold it and just pull it on its wheels.

For a comprehensive guide to choosing, buying, setting up, using and maintaining your own home gym visit http://www.CompleteHomeGym.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nazima_Golamaully

Long Term Weight Loss - 8 Tips To keep Weight Off Permanently

2006-06-12T04:01:00.000-07:00

By Sacha Tarkovsky

Losing weight is the first part of the battle. The second part is keeping it off permanently.

Many people can knock weight off short term then put it right back on. This article will give you 8 tips to keep the weight off permanently.

Many peoples diets are to strict and they restrict food groups that can be eaten and this lack of choice causes them to give up.

Also, many diets simply don’t make you feel healthy and people give up due to lack of energy, nausea etc

Keeping on track for long term weight loss

Lets say you have lost weight and are waning on a diet, here are 8 tips to help you keep the weight off longer term, which can be incorporated into ANY sensible diet.

1. Eat breakfast.

Breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.

Your body has been deprived of nourishment for up to 8 hours; at breakfast you re fuel your body giving you energy that sets you up for the day and curbs hunger pangs later on.

More than 80% of dieters who achieve long term weight loss eat breakfast, so this is very good advice.

2. Eat greens.

Fruits and vegetables are low in calories high in water and fiber, both of which make you feel full for longer.

Aim for five servings a day, this is not as difficult as it sounds, as there are plenty of foods to choose from.

If you are in a hurry, buy green foods supplement and dilute with fruit juice for a quick nourishing snack.

3. Eat naturally

It really is common sense which foods are good and bad for you.

If you eat as naturally as you can and avoid foods with lots of additives and processing you are on the right track for long term weight loss.

4. Don’t be too hard on yourself

People who keep weight off have learned to treat themselves and not be too hard on themselves.

Eating a Pizza or burger every now and again, is not going to make you suddenly jump hugely in weight.

A treat such as this 2 or 3 times a week will not harm you at all, so long as you are sensible with the rest of your diet.

The reason many people give up dieting is simply it is to demanding in terms of what they can eat, but the reality is it does not have to be in the first place.

Proper long term weight loss and maintance is exactly that, a long term process.

The occasional treat is essential, so forget about all the foods you can never eat again, you can!

5. Have healthy convenience food

It is to easy with our hectic lifestyles to simply grab burgers, fast food, microwave meals when were in a hurry.

Make sure you have quick healthy foods in the cupboard instead.

For example, tinned fish such as salmon, sardines or Tuna are ideal.

Simply add over a baked potato with some vegetables and you have a quick meal in a matter of minutes.

6. Eat 5 times a day

Eat regular and often, five times a day to prevent insulin spikes and hunger cravings. This way you will always feel full and more energetic.

7. Eat protein and carbohydrate together

Always try and eat carbohydrate and protein together at every meal.

Protein stabilizes insulin levels, which leads to steady energy throughout the day. One more benefit, eating protein has been shown to reduce your appetite.

Protein and carbohydrate work together so should be eaten together for long term health.

8. Drink water

Yes, you have heard it numerous times before:

Drink 2 liters of water per day to help with long term weight loss

Many of our hunger pangs are really thirst pangs so reach for the water first. Also water is essential in the fat buring process so make sure you get plenty each day.

Long term weight loss be realistic and sensible

The above is really common sense and allows you flexibility and choice in your eating habits.

To achieve long term weight loss incorporate the above in your diet and you will find it easier to stick with a diet as well as feeling healthy and more energetic.

For more weight loss tips and diet advice

Go to our website for free articles, ezines and newsletters visit:

http://www.net-planet.org/health.html

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sacha_Tarkovsky

Phentermine Weight Loss – 10 Quick Tips

2006-06-10T01:25:00.000-07:00

By Ian Mason

It is well said that health is wealth and to achieve wealth, one has to be slim and trim so that one can perform every task that has been provided with. Here are some of the tips that will help you to achieve your goal to become healthier. These are only guidelines and before working on the provided tips, it is better to have advice from your family doctor. By just thinking on loosing weight, will not work but you have to make up your mind and have to really work hard on the tips provided.

Tip No.1: Setting of a goal to achieve the target.

Chalk out your plan on a piece of paper and place it to such a location where it is always in your sight. First of all, carry out complete physical examination and find out how much weight needs to be reduced. Do not try to shed excess weight in one attempt. Suppose, as per your height, you are 30 kilograms over weight; try to reduce this extra weight in three to four steps. Each step should be of reducing 8 to 10 kilograms. Secondly, fix the time frame for each step. As the process of loosing weight is of a long-term nature, do not get discouraged if you have not achieved the target in the first step. In case you have reduced only five kilograms of weight instead of eight Kilograms, which is fine. Do not stop exercising; carry on the process as per the schedule. You can achieve your set goal in prescribed time frame; some times you may have to work for a longer duration.

Tip No.2: Working with a group

It is always better to carry out exercises in groups so that your friends and other aspirants can help you in your difficulties. Most of the time, working out alone is quite boring, so working out in a team will help you in achieving your set goal. Here, your friends can help you with proper guidance and will encourage you whenever you are not getting positive results.

Tip No.3: Working out schedule

It is not necessary that you carry out exercise for a longer duration. Half an hour of workout every day is sufficient but it should be maintained and do not take long breaks during the exercises. Try to improve upon your endurance, capacity slowly and steadily. Workout with weights will help you build muscles.

Tip No.4: Consume more quantity of Water

More water intake will help you in endurance. By any means, avoid consuming soda and liquor that will harm your health and deviate from your goal.

Tip No.5: Balanced diet

Always strict to balanced food and avoid taking junk food such as bakery products, pastas and fast food. Carbohydrate stuffs need to be eliminated from your list. Your food should contain cereals and wheat products.

Tip No.6: Opt for Boiled Food rather than fried food

Your meals should be boiled properly because that will minimize the fats and will help you in losing your weight. Another best option is to opt for grilled fish.

Tip No.7: Strict to meal timings

Following proper food timing will help you in maintaining your appetite. Avoid taking food during odd hours. Do not change your food timing frequently. Do not work out with empty stomach.

Tip No.8: Stop Over-eating

Eat only that much quantity which is required and do not overeat that will add to your weight. Oily stuffs will always tempt you for overeating but have control on your desires then only you will get success in your set goal.

Tip No.9: Fresh fruits and Vegetables

After taking your food, always have some kind of fresh fruit. These fruits would provide various vitamins required by your body. Vegetables should be a part of every day food. That would provide iron and the vitamins.

Tip No.10: Positive frame of mind

Always think positively and do not get discouraged whenever you fail to achieve the target. Will power is the only key that will lead you to set goal. Everything is possible as it is said that “Where there is a will, there is a way”.

Learn more about Phentermine and how it can be part of your weight loss toolbox at PhenForum.com. This site offers discussion forums, a weight loss support group, weight loss tips, and much more - all for free!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ian_Mason

How to Properly Plan for Successful Weight Los

2006-06-09T01:54:00.000-07:00

By Jim O'Neill

Before taking actions in any problem we encounter, there should always be a plan first. That is, if we want to come up with positive results. You wouldn't want to enter a battle without preparing how to defeat the enemy, would you? Attempting a task without planning is like building a house without a blueprint or playing against a basketball team without planed plays with your teammates. How could you expect a good outcome?

Weight loss is not at all different from the above mentioned plan-necessary situations. It also involves taking actions in proper ways that need to be perfectly planned in order to bring satisfying results. Here are the four key elements you will for making your weight loss plan a success.

Setting a Goal:

Okay, so your weight is somewhere around 20% above the considered normal for your height. You tend to eat more than 5 regular meals a day. You're certain that you're obese or at least overweight. Now, the question is, where do you want your weight to be?
Setting a goal is the first step in planning for weight loss. Know what you want to accomplish. This way, the road you are taking is clear. You can keep track of your journey and whether or not you are going along in the right direction. With a goal in mind, you are always motivated to finish a task, or in some cases, to start doing it.

Be Definite:

Setting a specific goal when planning for weight loss improves your chances of success. You just need to be clear and definite with what you want to happen. Vague aims such as 'I'd like to be healthier' or 'I need to lose a few pounds' tend to produce half-hearted efforts and poor results. Instead, state your goal distinctly: 'I want to lose 1 to 2 pounds this week and every week' or 'I want to trim my waist line from 40" down to 38" by the end of the month'. If you need to, write it down and put it where you will always see and read it. This way, you'll always be reminded of what you want and need to accomplish by the end of the month, the week or even the day.

Be Realistic:

In establishing a definite weight loss goal, make sure that it is possible to accomplish first. How can a goal like 'I'll lose 15 lbs. in just a week' happen if all of the evidence presented by research suggests that you should only burn 1 to 2 lbs in a week? Goals need to be sensible so that they are within reason to be able to obtain. What happens when you set a goal and don't reach it no matter how hard you tried because it wasn't really achievable? You will only get depressed and disappointed which are two of the psychological causes of obesity. And the problem just becomes a vicious cycle with no end to it.

Strategizing:

After carefully defining a goal of what you want to achieve with your weight loss efforts and keeping it in mind, the next step is planning on how to accomplish it. Planning involves proper scheduling of activities to be done throughout the whole day for a certain period of time including exercises, meals, sleeping and waking. It comprises of the time these activities should be done, the duration and in the case of eating meals, the food to be consumed and what amounts. This way, inappropriate spur-of-the-moments decisions can be avoided.

A proper and effective weight loss plan consists of quality time for performing such activities. That is, allow enough time to meet the objectives correctly. For example, sleep should be scheduled to last for around 7 to 8 hours a day so that you'll be able to get enough rest. Lack of sleep may cause improper eating habits the next day.Again, plans should be relatively realistic. Include only time and activities you know for yourself you can accomplish for a given period of time.

Also, as you finish preparing your weight loss plan, you might want to write it down since you can't always remember when you're supposed to do each part of the plan. Post it in a place where you can always see and read it to remind you what your plans are for the day. Try your best not to skip anything in your scheduled plan so as not to ruin the effectivness of it.

Jim O'Neill gives you tons of valuable information on the subjects of weight loss, fitness, and nutrition to make it easy for you to live a healthy lifestyle. Sign up now for his free 7 part mini e-course at: http://www.mrgymfitness.com/minicourse.php

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jim_O'Neill

Quick Weight Loss with Phentermine

2006-06-08T06:03:00.000-07:00

Losing weight is a dream come true for overweight people. I too used to be fatty earlier, but everything changed when my doctor told me about Phentermine. That was a turning point of my life. Now, I too enjoy life to the fullest like others, thanks to Phentermine.

Phentermine is a weight loss drug that helps obese people in losing weight within a small span of time. Phentermine diet pills are also known as “anorectic drugs”. It is difficult to control one’s appetite which is found to be one of the reasons behind weight gain. But this is what phentermine help you in by playing the role of appetite suppressant.

Different weight loss drug work differently. It is available in different colors in tablets as well as capsule form. Phentermine diet pills are available in three strengths namely Phentermine 15mg, Phentermine 30mg as well as Phentermine 37.5mg.

Combine the intake of Phentermine diet pills with healthy nutritious diet and regular exercise to get the best results out of Phentermine diet pills. Just take few minutes out of your daily busy schedule to do some exercise and taking regular dose of Phentermine will work wonders for you, helping you in losing weight quickly.

Phentermine diet pills come in two forms - immediate release pill and time-release capsules. Immediate release pill works by entering into the blood stream as soon as one takes them. While on the other hand, time-release capsules release the medication into one’s body over an extended period of time, which lasts for about 8 to 12 hours.

Consult your doctor before taking Phentermine. Follow the prescription that he tells you otherwise you may have to face its adverse effect. In case you miss a dose, don’t panic, resume the dose as prescribed for the rest of the day, and never take an overdose as it may affect leave negative impacts.

Internet has opened up a new avenue. Now, you can buy phentermine online. More and more pharmacists are going online to give complete convenience to the buyer. Phentermine diet pills seeker now just needs to fill an online form and can get a faster access to their desired amount. Important feature of online pharmacies is that they offer you cheap phentermine diet pill saving your hard earned money. But to get the best one, you need to a bit of hardship. Collect catalogue of different suppliers of phentermine and choose the one that fits your need and budget to the best.

Weight loss may seem impossible to you. But, for quick weight loss phentermine diet pills will work as an effective alternative. Shop around and look for the dealer who can offer you cheap phentermine helping you lose those extra pounds of weight without spending much pounds out of your pocket.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Joseph_Jones

Easy Dieting Tips and Tricks

2006-06-07T01:46:00.000-07:00

What can you do to loose weight? There are some simple ideas to help you. You know what they are but try practicing these simple and effective ideas to lose weight and stay slim.

Eat Breakfast. Skipping this meal may cause you to overeat later in the day. If you do have a piece of toast, skip the butter. You’ll be better off to have preserves on it than high fat butter or margarine.

Don’t let your caloric intake drop below 1200 calories a day. This is a minimal number your body needs to function. When you do this, your metabolism slows and so do you. Your body actually starts to shut down as it thinks you are starving. I use to do this. I was tired all the time. It wasn’t worth it.

Writing a food journal can help you establish if you are eating for hunger or to an emotional or social response. It also helps you trace back to see if any foods have made you ill or you have an adverse reaction to some foods.

High fiber foods are not only good for you, but they give you a full feeling. Try to find foods with at least 2 grams of fiber per serving. Whole grains and bread aren’t the devil. When choosing bread, a high fiber choice may keep you from overindulging.

Trans fats are bad. Check the labels. Watch out for “partially hydrogenated oils.” This also goes for when you eat out. Ask for your salad dressingon the side. A loaded salad can easily have your entire calorie allotment for one day.

Eat Slowly. It takes your stomach 20 minutes to feel full. Don’t drink calories. Instead of soda, order water or unsweetened tea. I know, but after a while, you get used to it. Besides, it’s cheaper to drink water in most restaurants.

I hope these basic tips and ideas will get you back on the path not only to healthy eating, but possible weight loss.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Stuart_Simpson

Bike Riding for Weight Loss: Tips for Beginning A Bicycling Plan

2006-06-06T01:29:00.000-07:00

If you are one of those people who leisurely pedal around the block or over a flat stretch of scenic road, you’ve probably been riding for sheer pleasure. Riding bikes for pleasure is a good form of aerobic exercise. But unless you map out a plan to “push yourself,” you probably won’t lose much weight.

I really get sick of hearing people say, “No pain, no gain!” But the old adage is true when it comes to riding bikes to lose weight. By pushing your cycling distance or speed, you are sure to feel some pain in your leg muscles, your hands, wrists, and your derriere-- even some pain in your throat and lungs as your body tries to accommodate your increased demand for oxygen.

HEALTH TIP: Stretching exercises prior to exercising are helpful in preventing injury!

GETTING YOUR BICYCLE READY...TO ROLL OFF THE WEIGHT

Your first concern will be outfitting your bicycle. If you need an excuse to purchase a new bike, this is an excellent opportunity! I went from a 3-speed bicycle for leisure riding, to a 24-speed bicycle for more committed exercising. Once I learned how the different gears worked, I was very thankful for the extra speeds. They make my ride faster and the hills a lot easier to handle.

We’ve found the guys at the bicycle shop to be very helpful, and concerned for our unique cycling needs. Rather than simply steering us toward the most expensive bicycle available (as I had expected), they asked how much riding we would be doing, whether we were trying for speed or leisure, and whether we would be riding on paved roads or dirt trails. When you honestly share your goals and level of experience, the sales clerks can match you with exactly what you need. They want you to be successful in your biking venture!

Some state laws require bicycle lights. But if you will be riding anytime from dusk to dawn, common sense demands that you have lights on your bicycle. These little accessories are battery-operated and last a long time. There are a variety of lights to choose from. My tail light has different blinking speeds, and is designed to make my bike visible to cars approaching from both the rear and the sides. Check for brightness before you buy one. Install the light where it makes the most sense.

We held off on buying a speedometer and odometer unit for our bikes, but once we got serious about losing weight and getting in shape, this feature became a “must have.” You simply cannot track your progress without knowing how far and how fast you’re riding.

If you already have a bicycle, take it to the bike shop for a safety inspection each season. They should check the gears, tires and brakes to make sure everything is working properly. They can adjust your seat to fit your height and adjust the handlebars to fit your reach, making your ride more comfortable. If you’re lucky, they might even clean and polish your bike!

If you want to save money in the long run, you can find books and videos that teach you how to care for your own bicycle. It’s always a great idea to know how to change your own flat tire and adjust a loose chain.

Another must have is a bicycle pump. Ask your bike dealer how many pounds of air pressure to put in your bicycle tires. Check the tires each time you get ready to ride! We guessed at the air pressure one summer day, and lived to regret it. We rode the bikes to the swimming pool, not realizing that one tire was too full. While we were cooling off in the water, the hot sun was rapidly expanding the air in the tires–one tire blew as it sat in the parking lot. The day in the sun was not so fun, once the pool closed and we had to wait for a truck to haul us home!

HEALTH TIP: Talk with your doctor first, and get his or her blessing before you increase your rate of physical activity!

STAYING COMFORTABLE ON YOUR BIKE

Sitting for long periods of time on a bicycle seat can cause pain, discomfort, and even serious blood circulation problems in avid bicyclists. At your local bike shop, you’ll find a variety of bicycle seats made specifically for your comfort and health. The salespeople at our local bike shop encouraged us to try out new seats on our bikes for a few days. My husband found the split seat to be more comfortable for himself, while I opted to keep my old gel seat. Someone has even invented seats that look more like a bird perch than a bicycle seat!

HEALTH TIP: Get off your bicycle seat and walk around every 25 minutes or so to get the blood flow to important unmentionable parts of your body.

Think about your clothing...you don’t have to have padded biker shorts and special clothing to start riding bikes. There are actually scientifically engineered fabrics designed to pull sweat away from your body in the summer and to keep you from getting hypothermia in the winter. But for now, just wear layers of comfortable sports clothes.

Make sure your clothes aren’t so tight that you are miserable trying to pedal. But they shouldn’t be loose enough to become entangled in the bicycle chain, either! If you become overheated, strip off a layer. If you get cold, add a layer. Wear light or bright colors to allow drivers to see you easily.

It really helps to have a small cargo rack on the back of your bike. Mine looks like a little shelf over the back tire. It has two bungee cords to keep any cargo securely fastened to the bike. I’ve used it to tote a small picnic cooler, a shopping bag or extra clothes.

I had the bike shop attach a water bottle holder to the bike under my seat. I can grab a quick swig as I ride or pour some water over my pulse points to cool off a bit. Take small sips of water when needed during your bike ride, rather than chugging huge gulps.

A helmet is almost a must. Life is filled with hazards–and biking has its share. Be smart. Wear a helmet. You can buy a cool rear-view mirror for your helmet. The mirror helps you see when it’s safe to turn and lets you observe traffic coming up from behind.

I recommend wearing sunglasses–both for the sun and for bugs! At certain times of the year, the air is thick with flying insects. Getting a tiny bug in your eye is a painful event. For contact wearers, carry a contact case and lens cleaner on bike rides for just that reason. Some day you’ll be glad you did!

HEALTH TIP: Shake your hands downward frequently to get the blood flowing and to prevent pain or numbness in your arms and hands.

MAPPING OUT A WEIGHT LOSS PLAN

You will want to keep a record of your daily diet and food intake, your weekly body measurements and weight, as well as your bicycling miles and time.

The WORKOUTWARE Personal Training Workstation software (see the Home Fitness page at www.poshbungalow.com) for your personal computer is an excellent way to track your progress. It is very easy to use–simply type in your information you wish to track. As the only software of its kind, you’ll find it to be a fantastic motivation tool that will print out charts and graphs to show how much progress you’ve made in a few days, a week, or a month!

It keeps track of your food, vitamin, and supplement intake. Thousands of foods have already been analyzed by experts for number of calories, fat, carbs, and protein. You simply select the foods you ate from a pull down feature, and the daily total is tallied for you. Make sure you don’t exercise when you’ve just eaten, or when it’s almost meal time. Both times will slow you down.

No matter how humiliating it is, measure your arms, legs, chest, waist, neck, hips and thighs once a week. The software keeps track of your weight and body measurements. The thrill of seeing those same inches melt away in the coming weeks will be worth the effort. It’s especially impressive seen as a graph!

Consider investing in an instrument that actually measures body fat–there are inexpensive pincer-type instruments that measure fat by pinching you, or buy a set of bathroom scales that cost more but calculate body fat quite painlessly.

Try to ride 4-6 days per week. When you map out your weight loss plan, your short-term goals will change as you change. You’ll quickly develop stamina for longer distance. As fat turns to muscle, your speed will increase. Each week, try to increase either your mileage or your speed.

You know how far you’ve been able to ride, thus far. Start keeping track of the exact route you are taking, the total mileage, and the length of time it took you. Make notes in your records for special circumstances. Did it get dark outside so you were forced to cut your ride short? Did the road crews dump a layer of gravel on your normally paved road?

What was the weather like? Was it dangerously hot? Was it windy? The wind can be your friend or your enemy. When the wind is behind you, your ride is a breeze...but coming from any other direction, be prepared to huff and puff. Accept any length of time as a job well done and simply get the ride accomplished!

Finally, add an upper body workout three times per week. Bicycling works your legs, but to get the rest of your body firm and trim, you’ll need to exercise your upper body, as well. The WORKOUTWARE Personal Training Workstation software, created by a certified personal fitness trainer, has excellent features which allow you to design and track this portion of your fitness program, as well.

Bicycle riding is a fun, inexpensive form of aerobic exercise–it’s good for every part of you. But be warned–you will need to buy a whole new wardrobe for the thinner, more beautifully fit body that emerges!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sharyl_Calhoun

Exercise - A Must For Weight Loss

2006-06-05T00:55:00.000-07:00

Weight loss is essential for people who are overweight, otherwise it would lead to various health hazards. Exercise is a must for people of all age groups in order to stay fit and healthy. Eating a fatless diet does not necessarily cut weight. One must maintain a balance between the intake of food and calories burnt per day. Regular exercise for a few minutes everyday gives better results in the long run, as compared to dieting.

Aerobic Exercise for weight loss.

Aerobic exercise is the best form of exercise for weight loss. This form of exercise drastically reduces weight without the need to compromise on your nutritional food. Aerobics stimulate the metabolic rate and make the body burn fat. Dieting can lead to only loss of muscle and fat, but aerobics cause burning of fat and building of muscle as well. Since muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue, the results from aerobics is long-lasting.

The two types of Aerobic exercises that we see are high impact and low impact aerobics. Alternating between high impact and low impact exercises is advised as it helps in reducing the overuse of muscles and prevention of any kind of injury to them. Walking and aerobic dance are low impact aerobic exercises while some good aerobic activities are rowing, swimming and cycling.

Beginners must start with 15 minutes of low impact aerobics three times a week. Gradually increase to 30 minutes and four times a week. Before exercising, a warm up and after the session a cool down are a must. About 20 -30 minutes of regular workout three times a week is very helpful for your heart. Heart is strengthened and it will be able to pump oxygen-rich blood to the various parts of your body. Life is prolonged and youthful appearance is maintained by regular exercise.

Strength Training for weight loss.

Strength training is an important form of exercise for weight loss. It is good for any age group. Weight lifting and resistance exercises performed twice a week helps in building muscle mass. A combination of aerobics and strength training is the best form of fitness regimen. These exercises help in strengthening the heart and lungs and also increase the muscle mass. Weight loss increases by 56% with weight training and aerobics combination.

Building muscle mass with these exercises helps in fighting body ailments. Lifting weights tones and firms muscles. Using moderate weights dose not result in huge muscle mass, but it increases the body metabolism, firms the body and gives a slim look. Aerobic exercises can enhance your heart beat rate and breathing. This causes the heart to work harder and pump oxygenated blood to the various body parts more efficiently. Thus the danger of cholesterol blocks and blood clots in the arteries of the heart is reduced.

Work Out Methods for weight loss.

According to your interest and physical condition, you can choose from bicycling, aerobics, swimming, brisk walking and steps for weight loss. Alternating between them gives you better results.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Darrell_Stanton

Your Eating Habits Hold The Key To Your Success

2006-06-04T05:49:00.000-07:00

You can help yourself to lose weight, just by making a few changes in the way you eat, how much and when?

· The scales may, if you let them, become your master. Checking your weight everyday for example can be negative.

You may find the scales show the same weight day after day. So you think your dieting is not working and you give up.

What you have to realise, is that you may be losing fat but gaining muscle. And as muscle is heavy, your weight won’t go down.

Your tape-measure used once a week, should give you a more accurate assessment of your weight loss than the lying scales.

· Food you pile on to your plate is important. Even if it is a plate of good, healthy, nourishing food, too much is too much.

Also, eat slowly, chewing every mouthful. It is better for your digestion and definitely for your waistline. Eating slowly kids your body to believe it is full much sooner.

· Avoid fried foods. Steamed vegetables will keep all the vitamins and minerals in them. The idea is to use as little water as possible. This way, you won’t throw the vitamins away when you drain the water off your vegetables.

· Movement as in exercise will help to burn the calories. So, if you are a couch potato, start doing gentle exercises every day. A little is always better than nothing. Your war cry should be – move it and lose it.

· When you go shopping, remember you can only eat that cream cake if you firstly buy it. Don’t tempt yourself.

· Socially, if this means going out and eating meals at restaurants you are not doing yourself any favours. If your friends talk you into bingeing, maybe it’s time to find some new friends.

However, if you still want to keep your friends and eat out, go for grilled meat and salads. Your body will thank you.

· If you are inclined to eat when you are unhappy or lonely, sometimes called comfort eating, you will eat more than you should.

Remember food is for fuel. To keep your body working as it should. Don’t treat food as a friend. It’s just an evil necessity.

· Being bored can also cause you to binge eat. If you are bored because you have nothing to do, maybe doing some voluntary work, will take your mind off your tummy.

· Daydream your way to weight loss. Keep telling yourself you are slim and attractive. Imagine it. See yourself wearing clothes you may not have worn for some time. Your subconscious mind has no mind of its own. It just believes everything the conscious mind tells it.

· Don’t fill your plate with food. Use a smaller plate. Even if you fill the smaller plate, you will soon be losing weight because you are having smaller portions.

Just putting one or two of the above tactics into use, you will notice a difference in your weight loss programme.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eva_Moffat

Weight Loss - 15 Quick Tips

2006-06-03T01:56:00.000-07:00

Most all of us would like to lose weight and become healthier. The good news is that you can! Here are 15 great weight loss tips that will help you get started doing just that.

1. Set a Goal

Have a written goal of how many pounds you desire to lose. By writing out your goal you give it more importance and you can look at it every day to remind yourself of where you want to be. Then take it one day at a time. Weight loss is a long term process. Don't become discouraged after 2 weeks if you haven't lost 25 pounds yet.

2. Have the Help of a Friend

A good friend who is also trying to lose weight can be a great help to you. The two of you can support each other and work together in accomplishing your goals.

3. Exercise

Getting proper exercise doesn't have to take hours of your day. Try exercising 20 minutes every other day. Be sure you are exerting yourself and building up your endurance. Working out with weights can help build muscle and burn even more calories. Keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat. By working out with weights you may notice your body becoming leaner, but your weight may stay the same or actually increase.

4. Drink Less Soda

Soda may taste good, but it sure can be your worst enemy. By simply reducing your intake of soda you can easily begin noticing dramatic weight loss. If you can't stop all at once that's ok. Take it down a little at a time. Try replacing those cans of soda with fresh water.

5. Lower the Carbohydrates

By eating foods that contain fewer carbs you'll notice a difference in your weight very quickly. Try eliminating breads, cereals and pasta that are all high in carbs.

6. Junk Food

I know this one may hurt, but junk food just doesn't mix with weight loss. Try to reduce the temptation of buying junk food by not going to the grocery store on an empty stomach.

7. Grill or Boil Your Food

Fried foods in oil only add to any weight problem. By grilling your food you will eliminate most all of the fat. Grilled fish is one of the best foods you can eat. Not only is it good for losing weight, but it is also very healthy.

8. Drink Water

Drinking water is one of the best things you can do in losing weight. Have a glass of water whenever you feel hungry. It will trick your stomach into thinking you're full.

9. Have breakfast daily

By eating a small breakfast you will avoid the temptation of snacking throughout the morning. It will also keep your body more balanced.

10. Avoid overeating

Most all of us have been raised to eat everything on our plates and to not waste our food. While this may seem like the polite and proper thing to do, it can also work against us. Many times we will continue to eat only because it is there in front of us. A big key to weight loss is to take your time when eating and stop when you begin feeling full.

11. Eat Small Meals Throughout the Day

By eating small meals throughout the day you can avoid getting to hungry or experiencing cravings. Try snacking on fruits and vegetables.

12. Avoid the Latest Weight Loss Diets

Most all of the fad diets simply don't work. Many times you may lose a little weight only to gain it all back, plus some more.

13. Take Notice of Your Food

Pay particular attention to the foods you eat. Be sure to measure out the amounts you're eating. Reduce the number of sweets and fats you are eat. Increase your consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables.

14. Treat Yourself Well

Give yourself a reward once in a while for doing so well. A small snack or something you really love will keep you feeling good about yourself and what you're doing.

15. Good Habits

Create good eating habits by being consistent. Did you know that when we do something twenty-one times it becomes a habit? Practice this with your eating.

By following these quick tips you can be on your way to losing those unwanted pounds. Take it one step at a time and you'll be surprised at how soon you can do it.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Weight Loss

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell

The Real Weight Loss Secret

2006-05-28T00:38:00.000-07:00

Look around and you will see that you are surrounded by weight loss "secrets", diet pills that imply they can do it all for you, drinks that will "help" you lose weight, doctors with "secret weight loss formulas", fad diets that promise all kinds of wonderful weight loss effects...you can't help but wonder who's telling you the truth. Then there's the biggest question of all. Is there such a thing as a weight loss secret?

Something is only a "secret" as long as no one knows about it. The "truth" about weight loss has been known for a long time, so it's not really a secret.

If you take a look at the label of most diet pills, drinks, meal substitutes, diet books, and other weight loss problem, you will begin to notice that they often have one thing in common. Again and again, they have statements that say something to the effect of "...when used with exercise and proper nutrition."

The secret is, that most, if not all of these diet products at best only ASSIST in what nature can do almost perfectly well without their help!

The basic biology and physics of weight gain and weight loss has been known for years! Even if your math wasn't too good in school, this equation is easy. Take in more calories than you burn...you gain weight. Burn more calories than you take in...you lose weight. The problem, and it's not a secret, is that we are human!

SO WHAT'S WRONG WITH BEING HUMAN, BUD!

There is nothing wrong with BEING human. In fact, sometimes I even talk to one. I have a couple of human friends, one lives next door (I think), and I would even let my daughter marry one. The problem is that each human is, as Sister Mary Fides used to drum into our teenage human skulls, unique. This means that if I show you the perfect weight loss program and it works like a charm for you, your next door neighbor might have a problem making that exact program work for her or him.

WHY WOULD A WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM WORK FOR ONE PERSON AND NOT ANOTHER?

As Shakespeare has Cassius say in Julius Caesar, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves...!"

Now, I am NOT saying that it is YOUR FAULT, per se, but the difficulty of making one magic thing, even the perfect weight loss program, lies in the very uniqueness that makes us so human.

One person inherits some genes that tend to make them fatter than others. Another person would have been a lot smaller, but they were raised in a home where a type of cooking or lifestyle was common that encouraged them to grow fatter. Someone else experiences some severe emotional ups and downs that contribute to bad eating habits that cause them to gain weight. Nature designed some chemical changes in our bodies to meet certain needs, and we changed OUR natural surroundings so that these changes now work against us rather than serving us. And if any one of those isn't enough, most people who are overweight actually have more than one of these things going on, and some of them actually increase the affect of other contributing factors!

We have other differences that make it difficult to create a one-size-fits-all weight loss program. Your brother-in-law loves to work out with weights, but that bores you to tears. Your neighbor has a Bowflex and you think it is great, but you travel a lot and can't figure out how to take a Bowflex with you! Your cousin lost a lot of weight on a certain diet, but your metabolism is different, and you didn't really lose any weight when you tried it. In fact, you tried diet after diet and actually GAINED weight! By the way, it is fairly common to gain weight when you try a lot of different diets. It's slightly complicated to go into here, but often when you go on a diet and then come back off of it, your body has learned to get by on fewer calories. Once you go back to eating like you used to, it now has extra calories to store as fat. Remember our equations up above?

There are also many people who want the "lose 30 pounds in 30 days" promise to be true. They have been so upset over their weight for so long that they want to believe that almost any claim is true, no matter how silly it seems, or how dangerous to their health it actually is!

CAN'T I JUST CUT WAY BACK ON CALORIES?

Probably, you (and I) could stand to cut some of the calories out of our daily diet. However, there is a point at which the body resets some internal bells and whistles, and we may actually begin to gain weight. Also, cutting out food means cutting out the nutritional elements our body needs to be healthy.

WELL, I CAN'T JUST SPEND MY DAY EXERCISING FROM DAWN TO DUSK!

That was the other side of the equation, wasn't it? Well, you're absolutely correct, and I would begin to worry about you if you did. You don't have to go to that extreme. There is a solution.

WHAT? YOU'LL SIGN ON AS MY PERSONAL TRAINER?

Nope! I'm too lazy for that, but YOU can sign on as your personal trainer. That is, you can do a little experimentation, find some activities you like and begin doing one or more of them on a regular basis...three or four times a week, let's say. You could garden, ride a bike, play with the kids or grandkids, take a walk, do some yoga, lift weights...the list goes on. You don't have to do all of them every day, and if you find one you really like, you can do it several times a week if you want. One thing to remember, of course, is that you should ease into any program and only increase it once you are sure that you are fine at the level you are at...and then, increase it gradually. I've seen some champion bodybuilders who started out lifting just the barbell with no weights on it at all, and I know of runners who started out by walking to the mailbox and back. In the army, I used to run six miles or more, but when I started running, I barely got a block down the road before I had to drop back to walking.

Start making some small changes to your diet as well. I am using the word "diet" in this case to mean the things you eat, not some particular diet. Start popping a multivitamin every day. You may find that helps make you feel a tiny bit more energetic. Cut out sugar. As much as I don't like artificial sweeteners, they are probably going to be better for you than sugar. If, like me, you worry about the effects of artificial sweeteners, try stevia. My wife and I have been using it for some time. It took a little getting used to, but I have noticed a definite decrease in heartburn and carb cravings.

Educate yourself about nutrition and exercise. You don't have to take a college course. If you are reading this online, you can go to webmd.com or mayoclinic.com/ and get a lot of great health, fitness, and weight loss information.

Read food labels, and start thinking about what you are putting in your mouth. Most of us can look at some foods and realize that they might not be good for us, at least not in large quantities, so cut you portion sizes. Don't know what a portion size is? Look on the label!

Stay away from prepackaged foods, junk food, fast food, or learn enough about them to make intelligent choices.

SET SOME GOALS

This is where I'm supposed to tell you to decide to lose X number of pounds in Y number of days, right? Wrong. This is where I tell you to start setting some performance goals about how you are going to try to live. I say "try" because you WILL slip from time to time, and there will be times you will just have to make do in a situation and eat that Big Mac, darn it! Go ahead, make the sacrifice and eat it, but then get back on the wagon. Don't worry about a Big Mac or a single bowl of ice cream or even a binge after you catch him/her cheating on you. The occasional dietary sin will not send you plunging back into fat hell...unless you let it.

ON THAT NOTE....

Grow up, take charge, and quit looking around for someone or something to blame. Oh, maybe there are a lot of reasons why you got fat, and maybe they are reasons that you had no control over, but the point is that losing weight is going to happen today and tomorrow, and it is going to depend on the future choices you make, not on what the past has done to you. My father, who was a good man otherwise, was an alcoholic. I cannot let that change who I am going to be today or tomorrow, unless I use it as an incentive to be better because of it.

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service, has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He developed an interest in health and fitness in the '70s after reading numerous books, including Dr. Kenneth Cooper's "Aerobics". This has led him to continue his personal research into health and fitness for over 30 years, and to pursue course work on the subjects of health and fitness, including yoga, which he practices regularly. Learn more about vitamins and weight loss.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Donovan_Baldwi n

20 Ways to Lose Weight

2006-05-27T02:10:00.000-07:00

20 WAYS TO LOSE WEIGHT

1. Take it one step at a time

Start by paying attention to what you eat. Cut back on fat and sweets and add more fruit and vegetables. After you have that under control, add exercise. If you hate to exercise try it for only 15 minutes a day at first, then a 1/2-hour. Keep in mind that while you are exercising you are burning calories and not eating. Also, it will be easier if you chose an activity that you enjoy.

2. Find a friend

It is always good to have support when you are trying to lose weight. Find a friend who wants to lose weight and compare notes, weigh-in together and maybe even have a contest.

3. Use weights

Working out weights will build muscle and raise your metabolism so you will burn more calories. Also, muscle takes up less space than fat so you will be smaller ( but probably weigh more).

4. Eat fewer carbs

Don't eat as much bread and pasta and you will see a difference.

5. Set a goal

Set a deadline to lose the weight and write it down. For example, ' By Dec 14/04 I will weigh 150 lbs or less'. Put it somewhere you will see it daily.

6. Give up soda

If you drink a soda or 2 a day you are adding empty calories. If you find it hard to stop
completely, cut back at first and drink water instead.

7. Grill or boil

Avoid fried meat, grill and use lots of spices. You will get used to it and probably enjoy it more.

8. Don't buy junk food

When you go shopping, don't go on an empty stomach and you will be less likely to buy junk food. Keep your home 'junk food free' so you won't be tempted to indulge.

9. Eat breakfast

Consume most of your calories early in the day and always eat breakfast. Don't eat after 8pm and
not only will you avoid those added calories but you will sleep better.

10. Give yourself a treat

When you tell yourself that you can't have something you want it more. Give yourself a treat once a day ( ie. half a cookie) and you won't feel you are missing out.

11. Use smaller plates

Trick yourself into believing that you are eating more by using a smaller plate.

12. Drink lots of water

Drink water when you are feeling hungry and you will get that 'full' feeling.

13. Don't eat everything on your plate

Many times we eat just because it's there. Pay attention to when you have had enough.

14. Eat five or six meals a day

Eating more frequently will keep you from getting too hungry.

15. Plan your workout sessions

Write your workout sessions in your journal or planner.

16. Stay away from fad diets

Fad diets don't work. If you lose weight fast chances are that you will gain it back ( and more)
just as fast. It takes time to put it on and time to take it off.

17. Do several workouts a day

While you are watching TV do crunches and leg lifts.

18. Measure your food

If you decide to have junk food for a snack - be sure to measure and control what you eat.

19. Keep pre-cut vegetables

...and ward off those cravings.

20. Create Good Habits

It is a known fact that when we do something twenty-one times it becomes a habit. Create good eating habits.

Sheila Dicks is a wardrobe and image consultant who teaches women
how to look slimmer by dressing to suit their body type. Visit her at
http://www.sheilasfashionsense.com to download a copy of her e-book
Image Makeovers and get How to Build a Wardrobe free.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sheila_Dicks

The Secret Key to Weight Loss

2006-05-25T23:40:00.000-07:00

Weight-loss is one of those things that most people consider at some time in their life. Trying to find the best diet or the most efficient type of exercise seems to be a never-ending job.

Initially it may seem that the desire to find the ideal weight loss program is all about looking good to others, this may be true but in reality it should be all about your own feelings of self worth and that relates to more than just your appearance.

I am not suggesting that you should not ask yourself how can I lose weight, I am suggesting that you should also ask yourself how can I find a sense of my inner well-being regardless of how my body looks.

If you are already on a diet and trying to lose weight it is probable that the desire for a feeling of self-worth is at the root of your desire to lose weight. If this is the case why not make it of equal importance to the attempt to lose weight, by being prepared to accept yourself as you are you will find it makes it easier to make progress with your diet.

Once you are able to accept yourself for what you are you will find that emotionally you will feel much better about yourself, this will help you to get the dieting and weight loss into perspective with the other parts of your life, so helping you to deal with the root issues underlying your feelings about your body size and shape.

It may be that you should obtain professional help in dealing with any emotional issues that arise while you are considering these matters, alternatively there are several good books and other resources that can help you develop this area.

As you will come to realise both the problem and the solution to the question of weight loss start and end with you. What I mean is the real situation is not how do you lose weight or what diet do you go on, the real problem is in your judgment of yourself.

Try to look at yourself in a new way, try to remove self judgment about your weight and image, relax and allow people to see you for what you are, once you are able to accept yourself you will find it easier to stick with any diet or weight loss program you choose to use.

In fact it may be that you decide you really like the person you are now and decided that you don't need to reduce weight at all!

For exciting new information about all aspects of Weight Loss and Diet visit http://www.weightlossdietexpert.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_Overanout

Weight Loss - 10 Ways To Cut Calories

2006-05-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

1. Use fruit purees instead of butter

2. Eat cheese but get rid of the fat

3. Don’t exercise before meals

4. Eating in front of the TV is bad for you

5. Always have a breakfast

6. Fructose is better than glucose

7. Bad fats are not good for you

8. Use skim milk rather than whole

9. Don’t have more than four egg yolks a week

10. Before cooking, trim all the fat from meat

Substitute Fruit Purees Instead of Butter

If when eating mashed potatoes, adding fruit puree instead of butter, will cut down the calories and give your mashed potatoes a different but pleasant flavour.

Eat Cheese But Discard The Fat

Cheese is good for you; it’s full of calcium. But it is also full of fat.

Get rid of the fat by putting the cheese into the microwave for about 10 seconds, then drain off the fat and grease. (Be careful not to leave it in the microwave too long, unless you want Welsh Rarebit). Or alternatively, you could buy a cheese that has less fat in it.

Don’t Exercise Before Meals

If you exercise before meals you are just making yourself hungrier as you are burning the fat. So to satiate your hunger, you will eat more. A better idea is to exercise after eating. Then your body has to work harder to digest the food. WARNING: Don’t exercise immediately after a meal, or you will make yourself sick. Exercise an hour after eating.

Eating While Watching The TV Is Bad For You

You can so easily overeat. The programme you are watching may be so exciting and you are engrossed in it, you won’t be aware of what you are eating.

Always Eat A Breakfast

Breakfast is the first meal of the day. The word Breakfast = Break Fast. You probably have had nothing to eat since supper the night before. So you are Breaking The Fast.

Your body will burn more calories if you eat breakfast.

Fructose is Better Than Glucose

Drinking Water With Fructose (Fruit Juices) rather than Glucose, will act as an appetite suppressant. Drinking a glass of orange juice an hour before eating will take the edge off your appetite.

Bad Fats Are Not Good For You

Bad fats are Trans Fatty Acids. Many margarines are Trans Fat. Butter is not.

When cooking use cooking oil instead.

Read the labels on the food you buy. If you see the words Hydrogenated Oils run a mile as this means it contains Trans Fatty Acids. As a bonus, running that mile will use up some calories.

Use Skim Milk Rather Than Whole

Drinking Whole Milk means you are drinking the cream and this of course is extra calories. Switching to Skim Milk will still give you all the goodness of milk, without the fat.

Don’t Have More Than Four Egg Yolks A Week

Do you remember the Advert on TV ‘Go To Work On An Egg’ personally I think you’d be more comfortable on the bus, but there is no accounting for taste.

Seriously, the white of an egg (the Albumen) is full of the wrong kinds of fat. So better to have the yellow part of the egg (the Yolk) and then only a maximum of four times a week.

Before Cooking Trim All The Fat From The Meat

If you love your meat, by trimming all the fat off it before cooking will cut down your calories intake dramatically. Or alternatively, eat skinless chicken or fish.

Copyright 2006 Eva Moffat

Eva Moffat has helped many people with their Weight Loss problems over the years. Now it is your turn to be helped. For more of Eva’s practical help, visit Eva’s Weight Loss Site
http://www.weight-loss-4-you.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eva_Moffat

What Are You Eating?

2006-05-21T11:01:00.000-07:00

What are you eating? High fattening foods (even only once a day) can destroy any weight loss that may have occurred during your low fat eating. Fast foods, fried foods, foods and sodas high in sugar are detrimental to weight loss- Avoid them! Even if you only eat these kinds of foods once a day, they can really hinder weight loss efforts. Try to eat well-balanced meals with protein, carbohydrates and a small amount of fats. One good example would be: 1) Protein- a chicken breast or fillet of fish, 2) Carbohydrates/Fat- a small salad with vinegar and olive oil (the oil will be your fat for the meal) 3) Carbohydrates- a small baked potato or a serving of rice (either should be plain- no butter!).Meal Replacement Powders (MRP) such as Met-Rx, MyoPlex, Atkins Shakes, Balance 40-30-30, Ultramet or Complete Protein Diet are excellent fast meals, or snacks, that are effective when added to your eating plan. (All of which are carried by MaxLabs). MRP’s are an excellent way to get a high protein, low calorie meal into your diet once or twice a day. This will keep you from eating fattening foods that hinder weight loss. (Plus these products yield many vitamins and minerals).

I eat low fat foods at the restaurants I visit. Why is this bad? An example of how normal food is bad, bad, bad!

You proceed to your favorite restaurant for: a salad with dressing, no fat pasta with sauce, a cola, and some bread! First, the dressing from the salad is usually 100% fat so there is 15 grams of fat. Second, the pasta is easily stored as fat because it is a starchy carbohydrate. (Starchy carbohydrates are easily stored as fat unless you are on a serious exercise program). Should we mention the sauce that was on the pasta (mostly fat as well- lets store that on the hips!)? The bread well, you guessed it, high-glycemic foods such as this are hard to burn off too! That cola you drank (depending on the size) had anywhere from 40 grams to 100 grams of sugar (which almost always turns to fat if not burned off with exercise). Did you have refills? CONCLUSION: You can see how what most people view as eating low fat, can be detrimental to a diet!

When are you eating? Do you eat more at night or during the day? If you eat at night right before bed, you have a greater tendency to store that food as fat! Try to eat your biggest meal at breakfast, a medium meal at lunch and a light dinner. Drink MRP’s in between meals or as meals by themselves. Try not to eat within 3 hours of the time you go to bed. The metabolic process slows down drastically when we rest. If there is food in our stomach that has not been fully digested by the time we go to bed, there is a strong possibility that food will be stored as fat!This means that all the hard work you did during the day may be negated by storage of fat at night!

Are you skipping meals?If you skip any meals, you have a great chance of storing your next meal as fat. People who do not eat very often, "train" their bodies to believe it will not be eating for a while. Therefore, the body stores everything we give it for its future energy needs. In other words, the body stores much of what we eat as- .you guessed it, FAT! Do not put your body in a "starvation mode"; eat 3-5 very small (almost snacking) meals a day! This will boost your metabolism and allow your body to better burn off the things you eat.

Here is an example:

You get up in the morning get ready for work and rush out the door without eating breakfast. A hectic day leads to a late lunch at 12:30. You eat what you believe is a low fat, well-balanced meal. Now think about this, you have not eaten anything for around 18 hours (since dinner the night before). 18 hours, that’s huge! And, believe me, your body knows this! So when you do eat, even if you do eat low fat, your body is going to store everything you eat, because you have trained it to know that there is a strong possibility it will not be refueled again for another 18 hours.

Another thing to consider is that our bodies can only digest so much food at a time. Consider this: person A is eating 1500 calories a day and person B is also eating 1500 calories a day. Both person A and person B have the approximately the same body structures and chemical make-up. Person A eats 5 meals consisting of 300 calories per meal and person B eats 3 meals at 500 calories per meal. Person B puts a lot of stress on his body because his body has a hard time digesting 500 calories at a time while person A’s body has no problem digesting 300 calories at a time. For this reason, person B can’t lose weight while person A does lose weight by eating the exact same amount of
calories. The reason for this is person B usually stores a little of each meal as fat because his body just can’t handle digesting 500 calories at a time.[500 & 300 calories were just examples used for simplicity]

Are you exercising? This obviously has a great impact on weight loss. The more you exercise, the greater your metabolism is boosted! Also, what type of exercise are you doing? The best is to get 3 days of aerobic-type exercise (30-45 minutes per session) and then to get 3 days of weight lifting. Most women (and some men) do not want to lift weights because they don’t want to look big and bulky. But getting big is very, very tough to do. With exercise, most people will end up just looking lean (this is good). The bottom line is that weight lifting is one of the absolute best ways to boost your metabolism and get your body to burn calories. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE! Plus, the more muscle you add to your body, the more calories you burn just sitting still. This is because one pound of muscle burns more calories than one pound of fat.

Are you drinking lots of water? This aspect of weight loss is often under-looked. Drinking water is very, very important to weight loss. Many people are under the impressions that they "retain water" and this is the reason they are overweight. RUBBISH! Water is a major contributing factor in aiding the weight loss battle. Drinking plenty of water is a vital component for weight loss.

How much weight are you trying to lose? The less weight you are trying to lose, the harder it may be. For example, if you are only trying to lose 5-15 pounds, every little thing you do will matter more to you than to someone who is trying to lose 50-100 pounds. As we get closer and closer to our ‘ideal’ weight, our body tries very hard to hold on to those pounds. Now this doesn't mean we should take it easy if 50-100 pounds is your weight loss goal. It just means that usually the last pounds are harder to bring off than the first ones.

These are just a few of the topics you should look into, and obviously, these things vary from individual to individual. I also recommend for you to get a good multi-vitamin or antioxidant. The healthier your body is, the more efficiently it will get rid of those excess pounds. Also, educate yourself. There are about 10-15 very good health/fitness magazines out there to keep you well informed about fat loss, burning of calories, exercise programs and descriptions of what/when/why to eat.So learn, learn, learn, and as you build your knowledge base you will begin listening to your body and watching for signs that tell you "This works" or "This does not work".

Many people have a hard time losing weight, and this too is natural. It is the natural tendency of your body to hold on to extra calories and fat for future energy use. You have to shock it into losing. Thermogenic products like Max Ten, Max Fifty or Max Sports Fuel help significantly, but sometimes it takes that extra effort (the extra mile, the extra workout, one less soda a day) to get yourself moving in the right direction.

Loren Bailey is the webmaster and content advisor for MaxLabs.com, HighFiberFoods.net and other health related web sites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Loren_Bailey

Are You Jolting Up Your Weight Loss Program?

2006-05-18T22:14:00.000-07:00

Did you know that around 40% of the times it is you who blow up your weight loss program? Don’t you believe it? It surely will sound incredible since you believe that you are taking utmost efforts to reduce weight and lose excess fat. But there are many things we do knowingly that deter us from our desired goal. In the following section we have named 10 common ways by which we ourselves destroy our weight loss campaign (check out where you went wrong). We have also given what needs to be done on these counts.

• Follow a strict dieting schedule:

A strict dieting schedule where individual promises to eat only a particular food group/groups is particularly difficult to stick to. So do not cut out entire food groups or decide intake of only one type of food.

• Emotional eating
The more depressed you are, the more you eat. Are you one such type of person? The disorder you are suffering from is known as emotional eating. Deal with the disorder professionally or else you would continue adding more weight to your body. Also trying to engage in alternative activities will help deflect attention.

• Going it alone:
Dieting is an onerous process, with the individual having to undergo many a rough patches during the period. Unless he has someone to discuss with and support him in his venture, he is susceptible to dither away from his goal, i.e. reduce weight. So have a good support system to ensure that there is someone to counsel you every time.

• Excessive fasting:
It has always been a misconception associated with weight loss- stop eating and you will lose weight. Fasting, unless for a smaller span of time such as 24 hours is no solution to weight. Instead one begins to lose fewer calories as fasting period extends. Human body is programmed to react in such situation by slowing down the metabolism as it perceives the situation as famine.

• Skip the breakfast
This is an extension of the myth discussed in the earlier paragraph. Skip breakfast and you consume lesser calories; so more weight loss. Is it true? No! At supper you eat more voraciously. So, no skipping of breakfast. Breakfast is an important meal of the day and gets metabolism going.

• Keep a food diary:
A food diary is like a common budget. How much are you eating and how many calories do this produce is written on one side. On the other side is the standard written about the amount and food and calories that a normal healthy person is required. This will help get a real grasp of how one is faring in his weight loss program.

• Set realistic goals:
The goals set by the dieter must be realistic. Unrealistic goals like cutting all soda from the present consumption of 2 liters a day is unachievable. They will largely affect the dieters’ motivations to continue with dieting.

• Weight in every day:
Some dieters are so very excited and impatient with their dieting program that they will weigh themselves everyday. Does weight loss program or dieting produce such instant results? No! Moreover, the changes in the person may not always be quantifiable. This is incorrect since it lowers the motivation.

• Exercise regularly but within limits:
Exercise regularly everyday. But do not overdo the exercise. This will not produce muscles in a day. Nevertheless, there are risks of overuse injuries.

• Strictly deny your favorite dishes:
You resolve to cut the consumption of your favorite dish. But your heart fails to forget it. Will you be able to stick to your resolution? No, there will enough frustration. Instead cutting the quantum of the dish gradually will help.

Rome was not built in a day. The same applies to your body. The changes will be perceived and visible with time, not overnight. So patience is the final answer.

Gauri Rajesh has been associated with the health care industry for long. She has a degree in pharmacy. In her leisure time, she writes informative articles on several topics dealing with general health care.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gauri_Rajesh

Metabolism and Weight Loss

2006-05-18T00:42:00.000-07:00

Our metabolic rate determines the rate at which we ‘burn up’ our food, and by increasing this rate, we can lose weight more quickly, easily, and safely.

When we diet, by decreasing our calorie intake too drastically, we cause our metabolism to slow down, making it progressively more difficult for us to lose weight. Most diets fail, yet we continue to try one after another, always hoping that each new regime will provide the ‘magic’ solution. If this sounds like your problem, there may be a simple answer. Let’s look at why most diets fail, and how strength training, combined with a healthy food intake can speed up your metabolism, making it easy for you to lose weight.

By drastically cutting our food intake, our body’s natural instinct is to switch to a ‘starvation response.' The fewer calories we consume, the more our bodies become efficient at using these calories - leading to slower weight loss. This was once a useful mechanism for our ancestors when food supplies were less predictable, but this ’vicious circle’ can make life almost impossible for the modern dieter.

When the body is persistently kept short of calories, it breaks down muscle tissue to use as fuel. Our body, using water from our tissue cells, quickly washes this away causing an instant reduction in weight through water loss. However, this weight loss will be short lived, and will quickly be regained when we take in water and the muscle we have lost will slow down our metabolism in the long term.

The reason for this is that each pound of muscle requires a certain number of calories each day just to maintain it. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even when you’re doing nothing, even sleeping! If you lose muscle, then your daily calorie requirement becomes less. For example, imagine a dieter loses 10 pounds of muscle (along with maybe 20 lbs. of fat) on a strict diet. Now suppose that each pound of muscle had been burning 50 calories a day. Together, those 10 pounds of muscle had been burning 500 calories a day. With this muscle tissue gone, the dieter must now consume 500 less calories a day in order to maintain that weight-loss!

However, of course people do not stick to their diets for ever and when they return to their old eating habits, the weight that they have lost, invariably comes piling back on. Unfortunately, whilst they lost both muscle and fat during the diet, all the weight they regained was fat. So, even though they may weigh the same as they did when they started, they now have a lot more fat and a lot less muscle than they did before the diet. Therefore, their metabolism is slower and their calorie requirements are less. Even if they return to their pre-diet eating habits, they still require 500 fewer calories a day due to the muscle loss. That’s one reason dieters are prone to regaining all of the lost weight, and conversely sometimes even gain weight afterwards.

A good solution is an active lifestyle that includes aerobic exercise, a good weight-training program, and a healthy diet containing fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain cereals and plenty of lean protein. It is a good idea to eat ‘little and often’ – keeping your metabolism in high gear by eating 4 to 6 small meals a day, rather than one or two larger ones. No food is forbidden, but sweets and high fat junk food are eaten less often, and in smaller quantities. A healthy diet is a realistic and permanent way of eating – not a diet that you suffer through for a week or two and then give up!

The goal is to consume as many calories as you can, while still losing body fat and maintaining or adding lean muscle at the same time. If your calories are already below normal, don’t restrict them further. Instead, maintain your current amount and instead try to become stronger and more active, so you can gradually increase your calories to a normal healthy level. If your calorie intake is already in a healthy range, decrease it only slightly, if necessary. A small reduction of about 250 calories a day, or 10-15 percent less than usual, is more likely to protect your lean muscle, and less likely to trigger a go-slow in your metabolism.

If you follow this type of routine, it’s possible to gain about one pound of muscle per week and lose about one pound of fat per week. The end result is that the number on the scale might not move much at all, it may even go up. Your clothes will feel looser, and you’ll feel great. Yet the numbers on the scale won't move!! It's at this point that a lot of people give up the weight training because they don't understand what's happening.

The truth is that when you're strength training it's possible to get smaller and heavier at the same time, as muscle is a much denser tissue than fat. The fat takes up more space on your body. At this point, it's best to ignore the bathroom scales and rely on the way you look and the way your clothes fit.

The conventional way of dieting can lead to a weak, tired body, exhausted by the constant cycle of starvation and weight gain, unable to enjoy food. However, by following these easy steps above, you can easily reach your goal - the slim, strong, healthy body of a naturally lean person who can enjoy their food without guilt, for life!

Angie Mcilwaine runs http://www.healthidiet.com and has been involved in all areas of diet, health and fitness for more than 15 years. She enjoys helping people healther, fitter and more confident through controlled weight loss and exercise.You can contact Angie via her website - she is only too happy to pass on advice and information. She also has a regular newsletter with original tips and ideas to help you lose weight.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Angie_Mcilwaine

Weight Loss Diet Pill

2006-05-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

Diet pills are a very alluring option for someone who has many failed diets under their belt. Moreover, commercials promoting weight loss pills always promise fast and easy weight loss. It is important to know that many diet pills and weight loss aids are counterfeit. Americans spend an obscene amount of money on weight loss products, especially weight loss pills. â€œAccording to Fat -- Exploding the myths, by Lisa Colles, Americans reportedly spend between $30 and 50 billion annually on diets, weight loss programs and products. A whopping $6 billion is spent on weight loss pills and products that are not genuine.

There are many different types of diet pills that can be broadly classified into the following types:

Prescription diet pills: These pills are primarily created for those suffering from debilitating obesity. Weight loss pills are not a mock solution for the problem, nor are they proposed as replacement for the conventional weight loss and management methods such as exercise and diet. When traditional weight loss techniques fail to produce the desired results, most people lose motivation and faith in the process. As a result they turn to quick fix answers like diet pills. The pills that are prescribed are only given for certain conditions and in certain dosages. Furthermore, their side effects have to be closely watched.

Over the counter weight loss pills: The weight loss industry is already cashing in on the average American’s insecurities surrounding body image and a certain definition of beauty based on how skinny you can be. This further fuels the diet industry’s success. They make diet drugs and call them food supplements and these so called "supplements" are largely unregulated. They are not subjected to stringent testing by federal authorities nor are labeling requirements enforced, as in the case of prescription weight loss pills. Moral of the story: if weight loss diet pills are your only recourse, better see a doctor before you take them rather than after.

Weight Loss Diets provides detailed information on Weight Loss Diets, Fast Weight Loss Diets, Weight Loss Diet Pills, Easy Weight Loss Diets and more. Weight Loss Diets is affiliated with Free Weight Loss Programs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Gluckman

Burn Fat Now - How I lost 60 pounds in 5 months!

2006-05-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a way to burn fat? I know,
because I've been there. There is nothing like stepping on that
scale and having a big number stare back at you.

A former athlete, I had never been overweight. I was once (in my
20's) 135 and fit. I could run all day and not get tired; I ate
whatever I wanted and never gained weight. As a child, I was the
skinniest kid in my class, if not the school. I can remember
desperately trying to put on weight (gasp!). To my chagrin, it
never happened.

Aren't you sick and tired of being overweight? Better still,
aren't you sick of trying diet after diet with nothing to show for it?
Tried everything that you know how to burn fat? Well, here are 5
ways to get the weight off. No lies here..just the honest truth
about what works to burn fat:

1. Cut out the sugar. If you are eating lots of sugar, you are
sabotaging yourself. You will never burn fat if you keep eating
sugar. Sugar comes in many forms, and in foods that you would
never even suspect contain sugar. That diet bar/diet
soda/flavored water you're having right now? SUGAR. Stop it.

2. Fried foods. Mom always said they were no good. They still aren't.
Bake, broil, steam your food. Until you get the weight off, fried
foods are a no-no. If you're serious and you want to burn fat,
then stay away from french fries and anything else fried..

3. Exercise. No way around this one. It's not good enough to diet.
Diet alone can only get you so far. To really lose weight and burn
fat, you need to move, and move hard. Sweat. Don't think that
you can just diet, burn fat and look good. You will be skinny and
SOFT. If you're serious about losing weight, you have to exercise.
Sorry, but that's the truth.

4. Water. If you're drinking something, it should be water. Alcohol
dehydrates you. Most other drinks have sugar (a diet no-no).
Water will help your body burn fat. Plus, it makes your skin look
better! (Put down that juice - it's loaded with sugar!)

5. Weight Train. Sorry girls, that's the bad news. It's hard and it
works. It will burn fat more than just aerobics. If you are not
weight training, when you do lose the weight, you will not look
good. Trust me on this. You need at least some muscle on your
body.

So, that's what really works to burn fat. The above methods are
not a magic pill to burn fat. They are not easy. You will not lose
weight overnight, but the weight will come off steadily and you will
look and feel good again. All you have to do is stick with it and find
people that will support you.

Stop wasting time and learn from the experts! Burn fat, lose weight quickly and feel good about yourself. Learn the essential keys to weight loss, get free recipes, tips and articles by visiting our burn fat website.
Marie Borges is a motivational writer, author and healthcare consultant. She spent several years in the healthcare industry helping to educate and motivate people on the importance of successful weight loss and good nutrition to improve overall health and happiness. To change your body for the better, receive free tips, recipes, articles and more, go to http://www.burn-your-fat.com.

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Fad Diets - What Dangers Are Associated With Fad Diets?

2006-05-15T12:02:00.000-07:00

What is a fad diet? Fad diets can be best described as a quick means of weight loss that are often only popular for a brief period of time. Fad diets can range from methodologies as deeply entrenched as Atkins and the Zone diet or as unsustainable as the cabbage soup diet or the Special K Challenge diet.

First of all, it needs to be understood that the weight loss claims made by advocates of these diets are not only fleeting but unhealthy as well. Diets like the cabbage soup diet and the grapefruit diet are going to, in the case of the cabbage soup diet, make you flatulent and, in both cases, have you only regain the weight immediately afterwards.

Fad diets will often overemphasize a single kind of food or type of food. For example, one diet that strikes me as being absurd is the Special K Challenge that advocates replacing two out of your three meals with any flavor of Special K cereal with 2/3 a cup of skim milk, thus typically resulting in a 5 pound weight loss after two weeks. The diet even advocates snacks consisting of Special K snack bars or fruits and vegetables. Astoundingly, there is virtually no decent source of protein included in this diet. While scanning the Special K website, the research used to make such rash assertions as being healthful are vague. They claim that Kellogg’s “nutrition team” worked closely with “leading universities” in order to arrive at their far fetched conclusion. To me, this means little more than a clever marketing ploy led by the Kellogg Corporation. Diets like these don’t take into account that people that are truly committed to weight loss are also working out several days a week, so, there would be a lack of calories needed to properly refuel the body. Basically, nutritional problems arise when a so-called “superfood” becomes the focal point of a diet.

Another diet that falls into the superfood category is the cabbage soup diet. This one along with some other unadorned diets have originated supposedly from hospitals. Diets such as the cabbage soup diet have been allegedly used by patients the week before undergoing heart surgery. By the end of the week, after having only eaten cabbage soup and fruits and vegetables , one is supposed to lose anywhere between 10-17 pounds. Unfortunately, one cannot maintain such a restricted diet for any prolonged period without feeling the ill effects of such a poor diet, such as vitamin deficiencies and the toxic repercussions of cannibalized muscle tissue.

Furthermore, this tremendous weight loss cannot be maintained once normal eating patterns are resumed since water constitutes a large percentage of the weight being lost and, to make matters worse, these diets provide no plan on how to gradually and safely reduce calories without compromising your own health. No matter how great the food is, none should be treated as a panacea. All diets need to be balanced as best as possible so that no ill effects arise.

Learn more about fad diets and find out which is the best diet for your permanent weight loss at PhenForum.com, the place to learn about Phentermine online and healthy weight loss! Join our support group for free and find your own weight loss buddy. Learn how to lose weight and keep it off forever!

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Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss Lesson #47

2006-05-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

I’m always so in awe of the synchronicity of things. When we let things happen as God intended and not try to put our energy on the outcome or how things are “supposed” to show up, we let the Universe do its wonderful job in providing all the things to move us forward with our mission here on earth. We then have signs that illustrate that everything is aligned as it should be.

This past week I attended an Emmanuel Apostolic Church and what an experience I had. For several years now, I had felt a pull towards this church but didn’t know why. I kept thinking I have to visit this church, but then never took the action steps toward attending it.

Let me tell you about my experience. Upon arriving as a new person, I am greeted with such a warmth and love that it filled me with tears. I am then given a program and I notice the picture of the Eagle which is on the program. I asked the pastor’s wife if the Eagle is always on the cover of the program and she said, “No, we change it every week.” I open the program and it illustrates their celebration of Black History Month and the topic for that day was “health.” I said a little prayer to God thanking Him for guiding me here.

What does all this mean?

The Eagle is my guide and has a huge significance for me. I’ve written about the Eagle in my book, Wake Up…Live the Life You Love Finding Personal Freedom. Within the past week I was visiting a friend and there were two Eagles in their nest just outside her house. On the way home, I saw two Eagles flying within a few miles of each other. I then drive up my street and my neighbor had her binoculars out looking at the tree by our respective houses with an Eagle sitting in the nest. Incredible, right?

As I listened to the speakers at the church, there was no doubt in my mind why I was there. The speakers discussed health and the illnesses that plague African Americans disproportionately as compared to other ethnic groups. The statistics they quoted were quite alarming. They mentioned heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. The speakers told the congregation that lifestyle changes are necessary in order to become intentional in creating vibrant health.

You can imagine how I was feeling at this time and why I was there. For years, I’ve visualized me speaking to the masses about health. Here was an opportunity to help this group overcome their adverse statistics and paint a different picture for them.

I like the phrase, “Go BIG, or go home!”

I did meet with the pastor and told him my intent and how I was going to help his congregation. He looked at me in awe when I presented him with this information as he mentioned that prior to our meeting he spoke with three of his parishioners expressing the need for better nutrition and health. Synchronicity? Absolutely!

Do I know all the details of how this is going to be accomplished? No, I don’t. I just know that I’m supposed to do it and the resources and the people will show up. I know it!

What does this mean for you?

You have a mission to complete on this earth. When you are out of balance with your health, you’re so focused on not feeling good that it distracts you from your God-given assignment. You must become intentional about your health.

I remember what I wrote down years ago after reading Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield’s book, Dare to Win. In this book, you are asked to write down your objective in life and here’s what I wrote:

My purpose in life is to empower all people to teach them about health issues to realize they are responsible for their own well-being.

I wrote this down after I had gotten myself well from an illness where I was bedridden. I went through that experience so I would understand what it feels like to have poor health and then to align myself with everything that was going to help me get well. Then years later I gained weight and lost it using all the components of my weight loss program, including the products from Isagenix.

Poor health and being overweight is not where God intends us to be. Let me help guide you to better health. It is possible to feel enthusiasm for life.

Think of me as your sign that is showing up for you. What would it feel like to have support to help you and to know you’re not alone?

Remember what Oprah says, “We don’t do anything by ourselves. We must have support in order to succeed.”

Love and hugs,

Helping you fall in love...with yourself

Tami Close

Weight Loss Consultant

2916 N.W. Bucklin Hill Rd. #291

Silverdale, WA 98383

360-792-2209

http://www.tamiclose.com

Tami Close helps people fall in love…with themselves. She is a weight loss consultant and uses an integrative method, including cleansing and nutritional products from Isagenix, in her weight balancing program. She is certified in healing modalities (Rapid Eye Technology and Emotional Freedom Techniques) to assist people in releasing their negative emotions to help them change their behavior. Tami is a recipient of a grant from the Sumasil Grant Foundation in her work with RET and EFT. She is a master trainer and has a B.S. in Training and Development. She is a #1 best selling co-author with Mark Victor Hansen, Wayne Dyer and Deepak Chopra, Wake Up...Live the Life You Love Finding Personal Freedom. She has also written an e-book, Close Kept Secrets to Weight Loss, along with other e-books.

http://www.tamiclose.com

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How To Lose Weight Naturally

2006-05-15T11:34:00.000-07:00

Losing weight and managing to keep off the pounds has become an unreachable dream for most people. No matter what weight loss control program they go into, losing weight seems to be next to impossible.

For weight watchers who have been into a merry go round of various weight loss programs, losing weight is already a lost battle. They have done anything and everything to keep of the pounds without success that winning such battle would already be considered a miracle.

The present lifestyle as well as busy schedules of most people has forced them to eat anything that can be heated in the microwave for ten minutes, fried in succulent oil in five minutes or those foods that can be eaten immediately out of the can.

This lifestyle and food preferences has caused the rise in obesity cases all over the world. Along with obesity come the inevitable ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes, high uric acid and heart ailments, Added to that are the feelings of insecurity, inadequacy and depression due to being called a fatso.

The battle against fat has become so widespread and difficult that most people would ask if there is a way to keep weight gain and obesity from destroying their lives. There are people who have resorted to liposuction and non surgical ways of keeping the pounds off. Others have their usual doses of slimming pills and shakes.

If you are one of those who want to win over the battle of the bulge, then you may just find the solution with natural weight loss programs. Natural weight loss programs are called as such because they do not rely on artificial slimming pills, food or surgery to keep the fat off. Being on a natural weight loss program means taking advantage of what nature has to remain fit and not fat.

Other people go on diet by eating foods that are low in fat and high in calories. Rice-eating people prefer going on a low carbohydrate diet. Others stick to a high fiber diet or a no-eating after six in the evening diet. These diets may be natural but it only helps the dieter for a month or two and then the pounds keep coming back. This is because most diets allow a temporary weight loss that only targets the loss of water, body tissues and even muscles. Losing muscle is not the right thing because it lowers a person's metabolic rate or capacity to burn calories. When a person's metabolism drops, weight gain will surely follow.

Most people binge on food when they are depressed or in the middle of a stressful negotiation or occurrence in their lives. To avoid binging on food and gaining weight in the process, you must solve your problem and find ways to get over your depression. A person's self control can sometimes be the key to weight loss.

A natural way to keep the fats out of your belly is to eat more food. However, the foods you should eat should come from a certain category of food which they call non-caloric food. The name is really a misnomer because all foods have caloric, vitamins or mineral contents. However, such food groups are known as zero-caloric foods because the calories required to burn them is more than the caloric content of such food.

Among these zero-caloric foods are broccoli, asparagus, cucumber, pineapple, cabbage, apples, zucchini, lettuce and carrots. By eating more of these foods you satiate yourself and do not deprive your eating urges. However, the result is that you burn more calories as these foods require more calories to burn.

For advanced fat burning techniques, please visit http://www.lose-weight-naturally.info/

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Tough Love Tips if You Have 10 Pounds to Lose

2006-05-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

My sales manager used to tell me “You must learn to walk before you can run.”

At first I was offended by his statement. After all, I was 22 years old and I was smart! However, over the years those wise words have helped me be successful in many endeavors in life, both big and small.

Apply this philosophy if you have 10 pounds to lose. Even if you could stand to lose 50 pounds, think of the weight loss in 10-pound increments. Beginning with a baby step weight loss program will increase your chances to lose more weight.

Tell yourself “I have 10 pounds to lose” and set you goal at that number. Since the first 10 pounds are often mostly made up of water, you should be able to achieve the goal of “10 pounds to lose” in a short time. Doing so will give you a great sense of accomplishment and joy and this will help propel you to on your journey of another 10 pounds to lose.

Eating Habits

Start your weight loss program by thinking about your eating habits. How many meals do you eat every day? Many nutritionists recommend that you eat MORE meals. The theory here is that to lose weight you need to increase your metabolism. If you consume one or two meals per day you will actually slow down your metabolism. Eat four to six small meals a day instead.

Eliminate the desire for junk food

I love taco chips. I also love myself. One has to go. Get rid of junk food from your diet. I find that when I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and do some exercise my craving for junk food usually disappears. My vegetarian friends tell me they have no craving for meat any more. I quit smoking three years ago and that terrible craving went away after a month. Get the picture?

Get your metabolism into gear!

The equation goes like this:

Increased metabolism = fat loss

It’s not easy to lose fat from your body if your metabolism is always low. You need to find out ways to increase that metabolism. Get that lazy body moving! Work up a bit of sweat. I recommend that you try lifting weights. Sound awful? Just try it. I promise the experience will not be as painful as you first imagined. It could actually turn into a pleasurable and fat-losing experience for you! Lifting weights will increase your cardio and this, in turn, will burn off ugly fat. If you cannot lift weights, try Yoga. Yoga has a side benefit: peace of mind. You get two goals with one effort. Walking is a great pastime but it is not especially good exercise in a weight loss regime. My friend told me he get into a walking program of a fast three miles a day. After a month of that he gained three pounds. Ugh! I have similar experience with walking. It might be a very pleasurable and worthy experience, but I did not lose weight that way. The problem is, I think, that it is difficult to get the cardio effect.

I work on my computer all day long. This is a terrific way to gain a lot of weight. My metabolism is always low when I am sitting down. I can FEEL it. To counteract this I will get up and walk a couple of hundred yards every half hour. Baby steps to a greater goal.

Drink enough water

Drink at least 64 ounces of water each day. Your body must get rid of water before it loses fat. If we are dehydrated we hold back releasing water from our system. Dehydration increases the chance of losing muscle tone. This also decreases your metabolism and puts a dent in your weight loss desire. Having said that, drinking too much water is proven to be inefficient or even dangerous. Stick with 64 ounces in addition to your normal fluids intake unless you do a lot of sweat-producing exercise.

Greg Cryns is the founder of http://www.weightlossquest.info Weight Loss Quest.

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