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More Factors That Can Affect Your Weight Loss

Posted on November 13, 2009
Filed Under Weight Loss Information & Tips | Leave a Comment

Not only how much you eat can impact your weight loss efforts but also how you are eating plays a huge role in your ability to lose weight. Are you aware of how you are eating?

Even the speed at which you eat can have an effect. Being aware of how much you eat at a meal and being aware of every bite will decrease the need to top up your plate.

How many times have you sat down to a meal and ate so fast you wondered where the food went? Being aware how you are eating will make the food last longer and seem like more. You will be less likely to get extra portions and will be more satisfied on less.

Remember it takes at least 30 minutes for your brain to register that it is full so give it time. I also mentioned earlier that sometimes we mistake hunger for first, instead of eating more food try having a glass of water instead.

Your Genetics And Your Metabolism

Your genetic makeup may have an effect on your metabolism but only a minor one. Don’t think that because your predisposition to being obese is a death sentence and that you can’t lose weight. You absolutely can, there are several things that are within your power that you can do so don’t think for a second that you are doomed by your genetics because you are not. Because genetics only counts for a small amount when it comes to your weight loss the tools you have at your disposal lies within what you eat and how much you move.

How Much You Move

Let’s face it. If you want to lose weight exercise is an integral part of the process. You simply cannot get around this fact because it is by this process of exercise that you burn fat. It is the only way for your body to shift the rolls of fat or the love handles that were deposited over time.

Exercise can be something as simple as walking. Don’t feel you have to hit the gym to burn the pounds or step onto a mechanical treadmill while being subjected to blaring music. With walking you can enjoy the outdoors, breathe the fresh air, enjoy the view and get real benefits from genuine hill climbing. And best of all it’s free.

Exercising just 30 minutes per day 3 times per week or more has so many benefits that have far reaching consequences long after you’ve done the exercise.

Exercise reinvigorates and energizes you.

Exercise releases your natural feel good chemicals known as endorphins. In fact even the 30 minute walks 3 times per week can greatly lower your stress levels and make you feel euphoric, calmer and relaxed.

With exercise also comes the repairing and building of muscles mass which in turn increases your metabolism. Don’t think that you have to look like The Incredible Hulk muscular to burn fat, even the slightest extra muscle tissue can greatly increase your fat burning efforts. The kind of muscle mass will be the shapely and attractive as the fat burns away. So don’t think for a second when you are building muscle mass that you are building bulk. You are simply creating more lean muscle tissue to burn more fat.

This Time – Dump The Weight For Good

Posted on November 13, 2009
Filed Under Motivation & Mindset For Weight Loss | Leave a Comment

You can dump the weight off permanently by simply starting with your mind.

Through education and sound knowledge on knowing how your body burns and stores fat means that you are in a strong position to finally shed the weight once and for all.

Knowing how to recognize fad diets and how to avoid them means that you are so much more ahead of the game than you were before. You won’t be tempted to fall for these fly by night diets that promise the earth and deliver nothing but disappointment.

You have also learned that it is a lifestyle that you are pursuing and not a quick fix. It was years of habit forming eating that got you here in the first place and it would take more than a week’s worth of dieting to undo it. It can be done, you can do it. The thing that you should be excited about is that now you finally have the answers to really do it this time and not some band aid temporary solution to a lifelong struggle.

As you can see, weight loss is so much more than just the weight itself. It’s more than just looking good or being able to fit into something, although those things have their importance. Weight loss is a holistic thing because it goes deeper than just the issue of the weight itself. It encompasses the drives and motivations as to how we got there in the first place.

So to get rid of the weight once and for all it requires some serious thinking on your part to identify the root cause of the matter and as you have read in previous chapters, it’s more often than not more than just the physical weight itself that is the problem. Once you understand this, the weight will not only come off but it will stay off for good.

Inches or Pounds?

Which is more important? When we start a weight loss program we become obsessed with the scales where we weigh ourselves several times a day to see of that pesky little needle has shifted. Suddenly our entire diet’s success teeters on that one measurement. We weigh ourselves before we eat and after we pee. We weigh ourselves 2 or 3 times a day to see if we have dropped any additional weight throughout the day. Don’t let that scale turn you into a basket case.

Weighing yourself is important as a starting point but what I would do is weigh yourself initially then weigh yourself after every 1 to 2 weeks.

I know, sounds like torture but it will prevent you from becoming a slave to the scale because before you know it, the success of your diet will rely on the number that scale spits out. That’s too much power for a little inanimate device to have over your life. You need to realize that your weight will fluctuate all day every day, that’s a natural thing. Sometimes you hold more fluid on certain days than others and this will reflect itself through the scales. Seeing this fluctuation even after half starving yourself will only make you feel defeated.

The best indication for your weight loss is the way your clothes fit.

You can have 5 different weight fluctuations throughout your day which makes you feel as though you are not succeeding in your diet when in actual fact it couldn’t be further from the truth.

Fat is lighter than muscle. Ever notice when you’re cleaning out a pan filled with fats that it floats to top of the dishwater? That’s because fat is lighter, so then doesn’t it reason to stand that fat will also be the lighter of the two?

So imagine to your horror when you’ve gained 2 pounds on the scale yet you are swimming in your clothes. That’s because you have gained more lean muscle mass, the attractive, toned type not the Arnold Schwarzenegger kind. This is great because the more lean muscle you have the more surface area it covers and the more fat it can grab and burn as energy because that’s really all fat is, unused energy just waiting to be burned.

So just remember when weighing yourself, muscle weighs more. Don’t get worried if you have gained a little especially when you know you are eating right. It just means that your body is changing and reshuffling itself as your body eliminates fat from your body.

My advice, weight yourself once every week or every two weeks, then hide your scale out of sight until the 2 weeks are over. Let your clothing be your indicator as to how much fat you are losing because fat weighs less than muscle yet takes up more space which is why you will notice your clothes getting bigger, or rather you getting smaller.

Detailed Goal Setting For Weight Loss

Posted on November 13, 2009
Filed Under Weight Loss Information & Tips | Leave a Comment

A Ship’s captain and an airline pilot have the same thing in common, before they even leave port they have a destination already set.

Before you embark on your program, you too need to have an end in mind. You need to have a destination, an arrival point. In other words, what weight will you finally arrive at?

Don’t take it as the weight you think you will look good at and just because you may have looked great at that weight as a teenager or when you were younger does not necessarily mean you will now.

The best thing to do when determining your goal weight is find a program that can calculate that for you. It takes several factors into consideration and will arrive at an average weight it feels you should be based upon your age and your height.

So, what weight should you be?

Find out here:

http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm

Take your body measurements so that you can keep track of your progress. You never realize how far you really come until you know where you initially started. Keeping track of your measurements is a rock solid testament to your progress and gives you burning incentive to stick with it.

Here Is What Should Be Included In The Measurement

The Date: _____________________________

Height: _______________________________

Current Weight: ________________________

Bust (women): _________________________

Waist around the belly button: _____________

Hips: _________________________________

Thighs: _______________________________

Right upper arm: ________________________

Left upper arm: _________________________
Make sure that you purchase a notebook to keep tabs of your measurements. Don’t forget to re- measure yourself every month which will encourage you to stay focused on your goal.

As mentioned before, weigh yourself every two weeks, once a week at the very most to avoid becoming discouraged with the natural weight fluctuations as your body begins to change and transform.

The other great thing about goal setting is that not only do you have a real purpose and you are solidifying and materializing those dreams into reality but it also gives you achievable steps to attain it. Think of it as a blueprint to your weight loss.

Which would keep you motivated longer?

I will lose 100 pounds in 12 months of which I will be at my goal weight of 120 pounds.

Or…

By December 31st 2009 I will weigh 120 pounds. My current weight is 220 pounds therefore I need to lose 100 pounds.
To achieve my goal of a 100 pound weight loss I will need to lose at least 2 pounds per week for the next 12 months.

Then create mini weight loss goals which will eventually contribute to the overall weight loss goal of 100 pounds because how do you eat an elephant?, one bite at a time.

How do you achieve such an overwhelming amount of weight loss?, one pound at a time. It is these small, simple, unglamorous steps that add up to the life changing 100 pound goal.

Get very detailed and specific.

So if you started your program on January 1st, by January the 8th you would have lost 2 pounds with your new weight being 218 pounds.

By January the 15th you should weigh 216 pounds

January the 22nd your weight will now be 214 pounds

January the 29th you will now weigh 212 pounds

See what I mean? It’s more realistic to break your overall goal into achievable little bite sizes so that you can see your progress and where you are headed. You appreciate that these little mini achievements add up to a your overall goal.

Doing it this way makes it doable and removes the pressure from having to lose 100 pounds now like most of those fad diets would have you believe.

You set yourself up for failure when you see you’ve only lost 2 pounds in your first week because you have that huge monumental goal in mind, never mind the fact that weight loss is just a collective of little weight loss successes that form the overall bigger picture.

Knowing that massive success with weight loss comes in little steps as you will know that with each pound you lose.

If you half kill yourself with punishing calorie restriction and excess exercise and find yourself losing over 5 pounds per week, just remember that most of that weight will be water and some desperately needed lean muscle tissue. That means that all of it will return almost overnight. So stick with a realistic, healthy, permanent 1 to 2 pound per week weight loss.

Watching What You Eat – Keeping Tabs On Those Calories

What Exactly Is a Calorie?

Before we start what exactly are calories? You hear that word touted around loosely on so many diets but what exactly are calories and why is important that you keep track of them?

All a calorie is is a measure of heat energy. One calorie is the amount of energy being required to raise the temperature of a gram of water by one degree Celsius. Calories are found in fats, proteins, carbohydrates or alcohol so pretty much everything except water.

A gram of carbohydrates contains 3.75 calories
A gram of fat contains 9 calories
A gram of protein contains 4 calories
A gram of alcohol contains 7 calories

You can see from the above figures that it’s easy to gain weight from consuming foods high in fat and drinking too much alcohol as they are laden with more calories than protein or carbohydrates.
Monitoring Your Calories

Up to this point you know how important diet and exercise are with respect to your weight loss. You know that to lose weight you have to eat. Severely restricting your calories to crash diet levels won’t only hinder your weight loss effort but it will damage your body in the process.

You have also learned that when you deprive the body of food it will feed off itself for survival including burning precious muscle tissue which alarmingly also includes the heart. This is why some dieters on extreme calorie restriction diets often die of heart failure because the heart has been broken down and weakened. So please don’t shock your body by starving it.

The approach you should be taking is from a scientific standpoint, don’t worry anyone can do this and you certainly don’t have to be a doctor to understand it.

Make sure you eat from all food groups but eat smaller meals, say 5 to 6 meals per day to keep your energy levels balanced. When we severely restrict calories we jump start our set point to kick in and make us eat. So to avoid that evolutionary mechanism response we need to work in alignment with our body and feed it good food, and frequently. Your body won’t think that it’s being starved or deprived and it will allow you to lose the weight.

So how can we lose weight by eating? By monitoring our caloric intake. Did you know that if you can create a 500 calorie deficit every day from just your diet and exercise that you will be able to lose around a pound of fat per week?

A pound is great, it doesn’t sound like much however remember how I mentioned before that volume for volume fat by far takes up more room than muscle tissue. That means that every pound you lose you are losing bulk and rolls from your body. This is why that even if you lose 3 pounds of fat that you notice your clothes getting looser because even though muscle is heavier than fat, fat actually occupies more space than muscle does. Keep that in mind when you weigh yourself. The scale isn’t always an accurate reflection of your true fat loss.

The Number Of Calories You Consume

Every food you consume has a caloric value associated with it.

To really lose weight you need to create a deficit of calories every day. For example, if you eliminate 250 calories less each day from your diet either by eating a little less or by removing high sugar, high fat foods from your diet and you exercise and burn off 250 extra calories per day you can lose up to 3,500 calories per week which totals one pound of fat lost.

To do that you have to be burning 500 extra calories per day. This is 500 calories over and above what you are eating. If you simply burn off what you eat you are maintaining your weight level. If you are burning over and above what you are consuming then you begin to burn your excess fat stores.

To lose 2 pounds per week you simply double the amount of daily exercise you do and eat more lean, healthy foods.

How Many Calories Should You Consume A Day?
Women should consume no less than 1,200 calories per day to ensure weight loss and that they are receiving the balanced diet they need.

Men on the other hand should consume no less than 1,800 calories per day to lose weight.

To determine accurately the number of calories you should be getting in your daily diet use this handy tool to calculate yours:

http://www.dietblog.com/archives/2005/12/26/how_to_calculate_your_daily_calorie_needs.php

Remember the more lean muscle mass you have the better. If you decide to go below the recommended calorie amount for a balanced diet then you will be losing precious muscle tissue which is instrumental in the burning of fat. Don’t forget that the more lean muscle tissue you have the better your body at losing weight.

You will not experience permanent, sustained weight loss by eating too little but you will also run the risk of slowing your metabolism to the pace of a snail. Anyone who’s been on restrictive calorie diets in the past will know that it is difficult to exercise when you simply don’t have the energy to do so. So the key here is to make sure that you consume enough calories to have lots of energy and to enjoy life while losing weight at the same time. It’s all about balance.

Keeping Tabs Of Your Calories

Posted on November 13, 2009
Filed Under Eating For Weight Loss | Leave a Comment

Know what you are putting into your body. I love knowing that there are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat. Some people can consume that amount each day which is not surprising why some people gain 30 pounds in a year without knowing how.

It’s very easy to do. Think about it, a hamburger, fries and soda (1,200 calories) and there’s most of your daily calorie allocation blown right there, to top if off it won’t keep you full for long either. Eat that every day for a year without much exercise and that adds up to some serous weight gain.

The reason why I love knowing that there are 3,500 calories in a pound is because it puts it all into perspective. I know that to burn that off, I will need to do more than 60 minutes on the cross trainer each day plus a 30 minute walk. So it makes me wiser in my food choices. The place where you wish you never had that extra donut or chocolate shake is right in the middle of your intense work out where you pay in sweat to work it off. Don’t worry if you’re coming to terms with this, the important thing is now you are aware of it you will start to see food in a different light and gain a healthier respect for it and the effect it has on your body.

These days all foods display the amount of calories on their packaging. This way you can know roughly how many calories you will consume and if it meets your daily requirements. This is also a great indicator of foods to avoid especially if they are loaded with empty calories.

Use your knowledge when determining the number of calories a meal has, be a calorie detective by making it a priority to know what’s going into your body.

Once you get good at it, figuring out how many calories a particular food has will become a breeze.

The Food We Eat

Calories aside the actual food we eat plays an important role in how we lose weight.

For example 100 grams of hard boiled candy will have a lot more fat than say 100 grams of lettuce. Even though foods may be of equal weight doesn’t mean that they will be equal in calories. So be aware of any extra fats or calories hidden in foods. Always check your labels.

You don’t have to be a food Nazi and restrict yourself to the point where you’re not enjoying what you eat. It’s important that you have the occasional treat so that you are not feeling deprived. Remember we’re aiming for permanent lifelong change by altering our lifestyle eating choices. You have to treat yourself now and then to avoid any derailing binges that come from feelings of deprivation.

Good Fat vs. Bad Fat

We touched upon this earlier in terms of the types of fats to avoid and the kinds that we should be incorporating more into our daily diet.

Foods High In Fat – What To Watch For

Here are some common fats that are high in saturated fat content:

- Animal fats such as dripping
- Bacon grease
- Crisco
- Margarine
- Coconut oil
- Palm oil
- Hydrogenated Oils
- Partially hydrogenated oils
Both Hydrogenated oils and partially hydrogenated oils are liquid oils that have been solidified by having hydrogen forced into them at high pressures. The process of hydrogenation is to preserve the oil for longer in its solid form but because this process change its form it also alters its chemical properties turning it from healthy unsaturated fat to Trans fat, the dangerous kind.

This is the type of fat that causes arteriosclerosis and blocks the arteries in your heart. Keep these fats to a minimum in your diet. In fact, if you want to lose weight on an ongoing basis you need to limit the amount of fat you consume to a total of 20 grams or less per day.

In a 3 scoop serving of Haagen Dazs Mint Chip Dazzler with hot fudge sauce and whipped cream you would consume around 38 grams of saturated fat (1,300 calories!).

So watch for calories and fat. You can be fooled by small snacks that seem harmless enough like with the ice cream treat, but it’s not until you find out the fat content that you realize how easy it can be to put on weight.

High Fat & High Carb Foods To Avoid

Posted on November 13, 2009
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Foods With High Fat Content
• French Fries
• Animal fats
• Fried bacon
• Potato chips
• Cake
• Cookies
• Candy
• Sausages
• Tartar sauce
• Pizza (you can make your own low fat alternative)
• Donuts
• Whole cream butter
• Cream Cheese
• Sour Cream
• Danishes
• Whole Mayonnaise
• Whole Cheddar cheese
• Nuts and olives
• Avocadoes
There are a couple on that list that probably standout such as the nut, olive and avocadoes. Some healthy foods contain fat but also hold high nutritional value and are beneficial to you. Avocado contains fat but is the kind that is actually good for your heart.
Carbohydrates Or “Carbs”

Foods High In Carbohydrates

We need carbohydrates in our diet. They are source of fuel the body uses for energy once broken down during the process of digestion.

During digestion, carbohydrates are broken down into sugars, providing the body with a steady source of energy. Carbohydrates come in two forms simple (monosaccharides meaning “one”) and complex (polysaccharides meaning “many”)

Once you understand the difference between both simple and complex carbohydrate you will know which offers the best quality fuel for your body.

Simple Carbohydrates

Come in the form of high energy, sugary snack foods which you would typically find in granola bars, candy, chocolate, cakes, cookies, donuts, soda also in fruits and dairy productsetc. These types of carbohydrates are broken down instantly and used for energy by the body. This is why some people experience intense sugar highs after consuming foods high in sugar.

The burst of energy is like a flash in the pan, it only lasts for a short time. Within an hour your energy levels have gone to an extreme high then plummets to a low. Your body then stimulates your appetite to consume more because it needs more energy.

Consuming diets high in refined sugar foods plays havoc with your insulin levels. Because there is such a rush of sugar in one huge amount, the body must accommodate this by releasing enough insulin to counteract it which is why you experience intense highs and lows.

Your body must get rid of that sugar from the blood immediately and any excess sugar that is not burned off as energy must be stored as fat. You have to understand that your body cannot allow any remaining sugar to be floating around in the blood as it effects your body’s normal functions. Once your body becomes unable to effectively remove all sugar from the blood, you become diabetic.

The scary fact is that most children under the age of 10 years are consuming around 70 teaspoons of sugar in a typical day. This is staggering; in fact it is believed that our children today will be among some of the first in their generation to die before their parents.

Examples of simple carbohydrates:
• Cookies
• Honey
• Soda drinks
• Chocolate
• Jam jellies
• Cake
• Oranges
• Plums
• Pears
• Blueberries
• Grapefruit
• Cherries
Complex Carbohydrates

Unlike simple carbohydrates these aren’t easily broken down and absorbed into the bloodstream as quickly.

Because they are complex in structure take longer to break down and are released gradually, not instantly into the bloodstream. This means that they provide a steady, stable source of energy and because they are slow releasing have a chance to be burned off rather than stored as fat.

Examples of complex carbohydrates:

• Vegetables (cellulose)
• Whole grain breads
• Wholegrain cereals
• Whole grain pasta
• Legumes
• Potatoes
• Sweet potatoes
• Brown rice
• Bagels
• Corn
• Beans
• Yams
• Peas
• Jasmine rice
• Lentils
You should incorporate more complex carbs into your diet but that’s not to say that you can’t have the occasional treat.

Just be aware of what you are eating and putting into your body and that any type of carb consumed, simple or complex, in the absence of any kind of exercise will lead to weight gain. Your body is efficient, if the energy you consume is not used it will be stored as fat.

It probably pays to eat to the conditions. What is that I hear you ask? Just like driving to the conditions if you know that it’s going to rain, you of course drive a little more cautiously, you drive to the conditions.

In the case of eating, you eat to the conditions. If you know that you are out to play an intense game of tennis for the evening then you consume extra carbs for energy. If on the other hand you’re going to be sitting in a movie theatre for 2 hours than you consume a little less as you won’t be undertaking any physical activity to burn it off.

Your diet should be higher in complex carbohydrates as it takes your body longer to break them down meaning a slow, steady release of energy. This is the best route to take for weight less as simple carbs tend to release energy too quickly into your bloodstream giving you massive highs and lows. Also the slow release means the less likely you are to contract Type II diabetes at some point in your life. However don’t forget that with any carbohydrate consumption must always be accompanied with exercise.

The Physical Aspect Of Weight Loss

Posted on November 13, 2009
Filed Under Exercise | Leave a Comment

There are approximately 3,500 calories per pound of fat.

That means that you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose one pound of fat.

Makes you think twice before eating a hamburger with the fries doesn’t it?, especially when you put it into perspective with the amount of exercise you have to do to burn it off. That always makes me think twice before reaching for the tub of ice cream because I think how much I’ll have to sweat and burn to get rid of it.

But don’t think for a second that you need to be like those Biggest Loser Guys on television where they lose an unrealistic 10 to 15 pounds per week.

Who has the time to exercise for 6 to 7 hours per day? Not me and I’m pretty sure neither do you. I wouldn’t recommend this method of weight loss; it’s simply not realistic for the general population to follow when you have a fulltime job and family to worry about. Great if you can hole yourself up for 12 weeks with a personal trainer, all of the latest cutting edge technology equipment and with the entire world watching you’re every move, who wouldn’t succeed?

Please don’t think that because you are not losing 5 pounds per week
that you’re failing your program or that it’s not working. Don’t compare your results to these types of shows as the conditions they lose the weight under are extreme.

A recent study revealed that if you give someone a good enough reason to lose weight, they will. 25 overweight participants had pictures taken of them wearing nothing more than their underwear revealing of all their lumps, bumps and jiggly bits.

The challenge for the group was for everyone to lose at least 10 pounds in the next month or run the risk of having their picture published on the front page of the highest publication newspaper. 30 days later, how successful do you think the experiment was?

100% success rate and why wouldn’t it be? If you were faced with humiliation you would do anything to avoid the pain of it. Same thing with the Biggest Loser contestants, not only is money a motivating factor but who wants to look like a failure in front of the world?

Wouldn’t it make you want to work just that little bit harder?, you bet it would.

So please don’t put yourself under unrealistic pressure to match pound for pound what these contestants are losing. I recall once reading a weight loss forum post where a woman was so depressed having only had lost 3 pounds in one week compared to her favorite female contestant who had lost 8 pounds. It derailed her diet because she couldn’t keep up, she thought she wasn’t working hard enough which left her disheartened and feeling like she failed.

A pound of fat is a pound of fat no matter how you look at it; it’s a tiny miraculous achievement that adds up to your bigger goal. Whether you lose 1 pound, 3 pounds or zero pounds in a given week shouldn’t throw you from your overall goal because you need to remember everyone is different and will lose weight at different rates. Even if you don’t lose any weight in one week doesn’t mean you are not making progress. Remember that weight fluctuations will happen and if your weight seems like it’s not budging fast enough, I’m sure your clothes will prove differently.

Any weight loss is great. Just keep with it.

So exercise huh?

The thought makes most people cringe but don’t worry, we aren’t going to ask you to go out and spend hours in the gym working off your weight one mile at a time on the treadmill.

Instead you’re going to get a no nonsense approach to exercise anyone can do despite your current level of fitness.

Exercise in your life

Ok, let’s start the show by busting a myth or two along the way. Contrary to popular belief sneaking in a little housework during commercial breaks doesn’t cut the mustard. It won’t be enough to lose the excess pounds you gained over the years.

For exercise to be of any long term benefit you have to raise your heart rate for at least 30 minutes at a time for at least 3 or more times per week.

Would you believe that some people don’t consider walking around the neighborhood or up stairs as significant exercise? It may be low impact but it is better than doing no exercise at all and whether you realize it or not still burns calories.

When you think of exercise what images do you conjure in your mind?

Is it of sweaty bodies squeezed into a tiny spaces jumping to pounding music? Exercise doesn’t have to be a torture; it can be enjoyable especially if shared with your family of friends. Exercise can be going for a walk, chasing after your children, mowing and raking the lawn.

Anything that gets your heart rate up for an extended period of time is considered exercise.

The Many Benefits Of Exercise

Posted on November 13, 2009
Filed Under Exercise | Leave a Comment

Exercise, why even do it? Whether you like it or not it’s the only way we can burn the excess stores of energy we have accumulated over the years, otherwise known as fat. Our body has stored it but thankfully it can get rid of it too and in order to do that, you’ve got to move. It’s the only way your lean muscle tissue can grab the surrounding fat to burn as energy.

Long after your exercise session whether it be walking, running, swimming, biking, etc, your metabolism continues to burn calories even when you are at rest. The effects of exercise can be experienced long after the actual exercise itself. This is evident in that you sweat a little easier which means your body is behaving like a fat burning furnace, any exercise you do after that point just turbo charges the exercise you’ve already done and burns extra calories.

Exercise has so many benefits:-

Exercise prolongs your life and keeps your heart healthy. Don’t forget that the heart itself is a muscle and needs exercise too. That’s why you should resist taking the easy way by going to those spas that claim you can lose weight by doing nothing or than sweating. Sure you lose inches but they find their way like a magnet back onto your body with the next glass of water you drink. Resist gimmicks, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Exercise, get your heart rate going, it’s the best thing you can do for yourself and your heart will thank you for it.

Exercise also releases your body’s natural feel good chemicals known as endorphins (a combination of the words endogenous and morphine) which naturally relieve stress. Endorphins are thought to be as powerful as morphine yet they are not addictive and are produced naturally within the body. They are also the body’s natural pain relief.

Exercise has so many additional benefits including increased agility and stamina, improved memory and reaction time, increase bone density, keeps your arteries supple and flexible for blood to flow through. Reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke. Stronger immune system and deeper, restful sleep.

Exercise helps you to live longer, people who do 30 to 60 minutes of exercise 3 or more times per week will generally live longer than those who don’t.

I don’t know about you but that builds a pretty strong case in favor of exercise.

Types Of Exercise

Exercise in your home.

Exercise doesn’t have to mean buying expensive gym memberships or exercise equipment.

All you have to think of is what you can do to start burning more calories than you are today.

Here are some daily calorie burning activities you can do along with the value of calories burned associated with it.

Note – before embarking on any exercise program it is highly recommended that you first consult your physician to assess your current physical state.

Note – these are the average figures for a 185 pound individual, results will vary according to weight. If you are a little heavier you will burn more calories than the figures presented below. These figures are based upon 60 minutes of activity.
- Ironing – 189 calories

- Washing dishes – 189 calories

- Cooking – 222 calories

- Carpentry – 300 calories

- Lawn raking – 333 calories

- Mopping – 377 calories

- Housework– 390 calories

- Gardening – 455 calories

- Furniture rearranging – 555
Exercise as you can see comes in many forms not only are there practical and useful applications but you also get the added benefit of it improving your health.

However if you are serious about losing weight you have to step up your efforts a little more, these everyday household activities are great for getting exercise but as you know in order to lose even a pound of fat you need to lose 3,500 calories. It would take a lot of furniture moving and gardening for you to get to that point.

To get to the stage where you will lose weight on a consistent basis you need to add extra exercise to your routine.

Let’s start small because these are activities that can boost your level of fat burning that little bit extra.

These activities aren’t too strenuous but can help the weight come off faster.
Light Exercise

This is achievable for most people no matter what your fitness level and will kick your weight loss up a notch.

Note – these are the average figures for a 185 pound individual, results will vary according to weight. If you are a little heavier you will burn more calories than the figures presented below. These figures are based upon 60 minutes of activity.
- An hour’s worth of Yoga stretching – 350 calories

- A relaxing bike ride for one hour – 350 calories

- Running around with your children – 350 calories

- Lawn mowing – 366 calories

- Basketball (shooting hoops) – 377 calories

- Pilates – 433 calories

- Walking (4 miles per hour) – 433 calories

- Game of golf – 480 calories

- Snow shovelling – 511 calories

- Walking up stairs – 577 calories

- Stationary bike – 588 calories

- Walking on a treadmill or jogging – 588 calories

- Low intensity jump rope – 700 calories
Light exercise is fantastic because it can be easily incorporated into our daily lives and will be the exercise most people, especially when starting off on a weight loss program will be able to do.

Once the weight starts to come off and you gain a little more confidence you no doubt will be able to introduce more rigorous exercise into your regime. When you feel within yourself your fitness level increasing you might want to try some moderate exercise.
Moderate Exercise

Here are some examples of moderate exercise. Again these figures are representative of a 185 pound person. If you weigh more than this your calorie expenditure will be much higher. These figures are based upon 60 minutes of activity.

- Low impact Aerobics – 431 calories

- Hiking – 499 calories

- Swimming (moderate) – 511 calories

- Hiking (medium terrain) – 520 calories

- Jogging – 588 calories

- Step Aerobics – 588 calories

- Basketball officiating – 588 calories

- Jogging – 600 calories

- Rollerblading – 600 calories

- Repelling – 677 calories

- Game of Ice hockey – 700 calories

- Press-ups/sit-ups – 700 calories

- Mountain Biking – 710 calories

- Running (5 miles per hour) – 710 calories

- Ski Machine – 810 calories

- Rowing machine (minimal effort) – 820 calories

- Jump rope (moderate effort) – 860 calories
If you want to take your weight loss to newfound levels you can introduce more intense exercise to your routine known as heavy exercise. Not only will it build more fat stripping lean muscle tissue but it will make your body both inside and out stronger than ever.
Proceed with caution – these are advanced exercises and you should consult your doctor before even attempting them. Do not jump into these activities without first having built up your strength with the low and medium impact exercises above first. Not only can this damage your health but it will hurt your chances of weight loss as a result of any sustained injury.
Heavy Exercise
These exercises are the same as above but with the difference of increased intensity level.

Remember that if you have been sedentary for quite some time, you may want to build up to these activities by trying the lower intensity alternatives first.

Again these figures are representative of a 185 pound person. If you weigh more than this your calorie expenditure will be much higher. These figures are based upon 60 minutes of activity.
- Step Aerobics (high impact) – 888 calories

- Rock Climbing – 921 calories

- Basketball Full Court – 921 calories

- Bikram Yoga – 950 calories

- Elliptical Trainer – 955 calories

- Swimming (butterfly stroke) – 1,000 calories

- Handball – 1,010 calories

- A game of Squash – 1,040 calories

- Canoeing (above 6 mph) – 1,040 calories

- Jumping rope (high impact) – 1,040 calories

- Cross-country skiing (high impact) around 1,400 calories.

- Running (12 miles per hour) – 1,876 calories

Finding The Right Exercise Program For You

Posted on November 13, 2009
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There will only ever be 24 hours in a day and how we use those will have a huge impact on our weight loss success.

I know it’s not easy. With the crazy pace of our lives in the 21st century we are finding ourselves busier than we ever have before at any other time in history and as a result, we may find it difficult to incorporate exercise into our hectic schedules.

The reality will always be that if you want to have any success with your weight loss efforts you have to be able to exercise and make it as part of your new lifestyle.

But just because you will be adding exercise to your daily routine doesn’t mean that you have to join a gym unless you really want to.

Even just watching a little less television and opting instead to go for a brisk walk can contribute to your weight loss. Playing with the kids and exerting yourself a little more will burn extra calories. Finding the balance that’s right for you and the exercises that you can work into your lifestyle without turning your whole life upside down is the key to your success.

If you find it difficult to materialize the time during your day to exercise then simply take the times that you undertake any kind of physical activity and amp it up just a fraction more to burn the extra calories.

Use the time you play with the kids to increase activity levels. Instead of just playing with them why not bike ride with them or throw a ball around at the same time? You still get to spend quality time with the added benefit of ditching extra calories.

Get active, sign up for a sport whether it’s tennis, football, baseball, swimming or aerobics this is a great way to lose weight and have fun at the same time while making new friends (what a great way to get support). Even making the time to do this once per week can contribute to your overall weight loss.

If you work in an office building why not opt to take the stairs? To build up your fitness you may even wish to go past your own level. Not only is this a great way of increasing your fitness level but it’s also fantastic for incorporating into your daily schedule so you in essence made it part of your new lifestyle change without having to make too great a sacrifice. Before know it, it will have become such an integral part of your life that you won’t be able to do without it

Try hiring exercise equipment for home. Why hire? So that you don’t get bored from using the same piece of equipment day in and day out.

When hiring you can advance to more challenging and sophisticated equipment the more your fitness increases and you’re not stuck with the same thing each day.

By hiring you can continually upgrade and take advantage of the latest cutting edge equipment. The beauty of exercise equipment is that you get to exercise anywhere you want and why not take the opportunity to do an hour long workout during your favorite show, that way you get to enjoy the show while doing something beneficial for yourself. Don’t forget though as with anything in life you only get out what you put in. So if you’re going to go to the trouble of hiring a piece of equipment, you have to use it.

Not enough hours in the day? We can’t create extra time however we can use wisely the time that we do have. Why not try jumpstarting your day an hour earlier by doing some exercise? Why not walk the dog? Why not do an hour on the treadmill or an hour of yoga or Pilates? Not only do you kick start your metabolism into action but you will continue to burn calories long throughout your day as a result of your early morning exercise efforts.

Any activities that you do such as housecleaning or vacuuming, sweeping and mowing the lawn, why not put more effort and intensity into it? This can make an impact on your weight loss efforts just by doing a little more.

Any form of exercise is good and the more you do it and increase the intensity level the more fat you will burn. Aim to start with three times per week then increase from there and you will notice the results. Not only will your energy levels increase but you will notice your body changing and your clothes fitting looser on your body.

Remember that exercise is not just for the here and now; it’s a lifestyle change for life. Beyond just wanting to look good you are prolonging your life in the process and the benefits far outweigh sacrificing a little down time. Your health and life are worth it.

Exercise As Part Of Your Weight Loss Plan

Posted on November 13, 2009
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You know that exercise is extremely important and you know that the only way to shift the fat that has accumulated on your body is to burn it through exercise. If you want long lasting success with your weight loss plan and really want to lose fat then you need to do at least 30 minutes of exercise 3 times per week to see results.

More than 3 times per week if you want to see even more significant results and double your weight loss.

Expend more calories than you eat. Double your length of exercise and intensity to lose two pounds per week instead of one.

To really get the full benefit of exercise workout for longer than 15 minutes. This is so that you can give your heart muscle exercise but also because within the first 10 to 15 minutes you are only burning sugar from the muscles. The fat is a little more stubborn and comes after the 30 minute mark, go figure.

Don’t forget that exercise can be anything, it has to be realistically incorporated into your lifestyle because at the end of the day, that is what’s going to ultimately work for you. This can be anything ranging from housework to joining the local tennis club. You have to find what work’s for you.
Here are some tips to get the most out of your exercise:
1. Don’t forget to consult your physician before embarking on any weight loss program. Work your way up gradually to the more physically demanding exercises rather than jumping straight into them.
2. Do something you enjoy, chances are you’ll stick with it longer and it won’t feel like exercise. This could be brisk walking in the park with your dog or a friend while using it as catch up time while getting your daily exercise dose.
Use your time wisely, find other activities you could be doing rather than sitting and watching television and if you have to catch your favorite program why not grab an hour of exercise on the treadmill at the same time? You could even record it or TiVo it.
3. Make exercise a priority, remember this is lifestyle choice and to undo all the negative habits that were formed throughout your life you have to counteract it with positive ones. Exercise is definitely a high priority on that list. Set your exercise goals, re-evaluate them every month then aim to increase your duration and intensity once your fitness level improves.
To achieve your weight loss goal:-

Know your target weight and determine how much you need to lose. Break your goals down to weekly weight loss amounts and work one pound at a time towards it, it may seem pale in comparison to those Biggest Loser contestants but yours is realistic and achievable in the time that you can devote. Don’t think you’re going to lose 100 pounds in one month because it will mostly be water and precious muscle and to shift that kind of mass in such a short time frame will no doubt damage your body in the process.

Slow wins the race, that’s how the weight came on, don’t think you can lose 10 years worth of weight in one month. I promise it will come off quicker than it went on. Stick with it.

Prioritize your weight loss. Sacrifice something you can do without such as watching television or playing video games. It’s important that you make that time for yourself if you want to see results.

Keep track of your calories and how much you’re eating. Buy yourself a little notebook and jot down all of the things you eat in a day. Look at the food packaging and determine how many calories you consumed. Also watch out for how much sugar and sodium you are taking into your body. Unless they are unprocessed and raw, most cereals will have high hidden sugar content in the form of fructose which is fruit sugar to give cereal its sweet taste.

You must be aware of this because this is where hidden calories are coming from. Fructose although a fruit sugar can still be stored as fat if not burned off as energy. Be mindful and aware of what you are eating. And find the things you can do without in your current diet such as food high in fat and sugars. Look for added sugars and added juices on your food packaging.

As soon as you have figured out how many calories you are currently consuming compared to how many calories you are burning you can get started. See where you can start reducing calories from your diet. This can easily be achieved by cutting out extra fatty junk foods and reducing your food portions.

Look at your current schedule and where you can start slotting in some exercise. Are you able to squeeze in an easy walk for at least 30 minutes? Can you go for a bike ride with the kids? It doesn’t matter where your fitness level is currently at, you will only get stronger from this point on.

Be consistent, this is now your lifestyle. It takes a while to replace old habits with new ones and your health will improve and you’ll feel better then you have in a long time. Don’t cheat because the only person you’re cheating is yourself. Stay focused on your goal, remember your reasons for wanting to lose the weight in the first place and you the weight will drop off. (This is why your purpose is so important).

Re-evaluate where you’re at every 30 days. You will gain more energy, more strength as the weight falls off and as you do you will be able to increase your intensity and duration.

The Atkins Diet

Posted on November 13, 2009
Filed Under Popular Diets | Leave a Comment

Who does not desire to have a fit and shaped up body? Perhaps we all do. Overweight is the biggest enemy of our health. But factors such as sedentary work, lack of time to exercise and the availability of delectable fast food have made it extremely difficult to have stabilized weight.

It is not only a person’s appearance that is badly affected by being overweight but also his fitness. Usually obese people keep on confronting one or the other health problem. There are times when excess of weight becomes a mental torture and leads to depression.

It is quite an easy task to gain weight but immensely difficult to reduce it. Though there are various remedies prescribed to shed weight, all can’t to followed or trusted. One old and quite effective way to become light is the use of Atkin’s Diet.

Dr. Robert Atkins (1930-2003) was the father of Atkin’s Diet. In 1972 he popularized the diet in his famous series of books. In practical application also the diet turned out to be quiet successful. Thus it became more and more popular with time.

Dr. Atkin believed that carbohydrate is the primary reason behind gaining weight. This is because carbohydrates are composed of energy providing items such as sugar, starch, cellulose and gums. So if a person reduces the intake of carbohydrates (carbs) he or she can greatly get rid of many pounds. Thus people should avoid potatoes and other starchy vegetables along with sugar, grains, pastas and fruits for these are the major sources of carbs. In the opinion of Dr. Atkins doing this will translate a carbohydrate-burning metabolism to a fat burning one.

Atkin’s diet is critical of carbs related but not of fatty and protein rich stuff. In fact it recommends its users to eat food that provides them fats and proteins. In the case of proteins it particularly emphasizes the consumption of animal protein.

Though atkin’s diet has done wonders in many cases, it has many shortcomings. If this diet is quite popular with one set of people, some others are enormously critical of it. this is because of several reasons.

Firstly Atkins meals are not only low in carbs but contain negligible amount of essential vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients. Secondly atkin’s diet is flourishing with cholesterol boosting fats that can be very troublesome. Thirdly since atkin’s diet promulgates animal protein, vegetarians find it difficult to adopt it. In the fourth place according to the American Heart Association (AHA), a high protein diet is not adequate to lose weight. So diets such as Atkin’s can cause nutritional deficiency and other cholesterol related problems (cardiac arrests) in the long run. Finally critics believe that eating meat and other high protein products can lead to osteoporosis, colon cancer, heart diseases and renal diseases.

However the best way to reduce weight is to avoid excess as well as complete elimination of anything. A person should take a diet rich in essential nutrients (vitamins, minerals, proteins, fibers etc.), stay away from fatty foods as much as possible. Also carbs such as sugar should be consumed in a regulated manner.
How To Do The Atkins Diet The Right Way

Obesity is the main reason for many diseases like cardiovascular problems, diabetes, depression, and sleep apnea. The only way out of this problem is to follow a strict and healthy diet. But that doesn’t mean avoiding food altogether for that it is not at all a good option since it would deprive our body of essential nutrients. Hence a controlled carbohydrate diet is advised for carbohydrate is mostly responsible for increasing one’s body weight.

The low carbohydrate Atkins Diet was first introduced in 1970’s by Dr. Robert Atkins. But it became popular almost 10 years later after the release of his book – ‘Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution’ which went one to become one of the bestsellers of that decade. In no time, millions of people in the United States and abroad began to follow Atkins diet specifications as their first diet choice.

What is Atkins Diet?

Atkins Diet is a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. It promotes using meat, eggs, and cheese while discouraging high carbohydrate-content foods such as bread and rice. If excess carbohydrates are taken in, excess enzymes should be generated to digest it. This may lead to disintegration of pancreatic cells in a long run, which may further lead to diabetes.

According to Robert Atkins, on having a low carbohydrate diet, our body will enter into a state of ketosis, in which, instead of carbohydrates, fat is digested to release energy. This reduces the need for more insulin produced by the pancreatic cells and the fat deposits are subsided. Thus, the body weight is reduced to a considerable amount.

Advantages of Atkins Diet:

1. Considerable amount of body weight is reduced by the burning of fats which is the secondary source of energy.

2. Inter-meal diets could be avoided since you won’t be hungry between meals.

3. Could maintain constant blood sugar level.

4. Since most of the toxins contained in our body are removed along with the burning of fats, overall heath is improved.

Things to Note:

1. It is recommended to consult a doctor or physician before trying out Atkins diet meal plans.

2. Daily exercise is highly recommended along with Atkins diet foods.

3. People with kidney disorders, pregnancy, and diabetes are advised not to follow Atkins diet meal plans.

Phases of Atkins Diet:

1. Induction – In this phase, which includes first 14 days of the diet, it is said that you will lose up to 15 pounds of your body weight. During this time, the amount of carbohydrates consumed per day will be less than 20 grams. The only carbohydrates included in your Atkins diet recipes will be low carbohydrate-content vegetables like tomato.

2. Ongoing Weight Loss – During this second stage, the consumption of carbohydrates is raised up to 5 grams per day.

3. Pre-maintenance – During this stage of Atkins diet meal plans, the rate of fall of body weight will be slower. Also, you can experiment various other foods to see whether they add your body weight or not. If found safe, you could add it to your Atkins diet food products.

4. Maintenance – You enter this phase when you find that you have reduced the body weight to the desired level. Also you could add some more carbohydrates to your diet which do not raise your body weight, like full wheat bread.

Tail Piece: The ultimate result of Atkins diet program (other diet programs as well) depends solely on how well the person follows the recommendations. Hence make sure that you follow it religiously.
More Tips On Atkins…

The Atkins diet can be boring because of the limited choice and some believe it can be dangerous. Get a physical to make sure you can tolerate the diet and inform the doctor about your decision to try the Atkins diet. Make sure you completely understand how the diet works.

You can get all the information, both positive and negative, that you could want online, at the library or the bookstore.

The Atkins diet attempts to get your body to burn fat instead of carbs as fuel. Atkins dieters sometimes experience physical reaction in the early weeks of the diet.

There are things that can be done to alleviate these symptoms. Dizziness and muscular cramps can be experienced by new Atkins dieters. You might have dizziness, cramps or other physical effects caused by the dietary changes you are making. You can take steps to prevent cramps and other symptoms.

Brain fog, dizziness and muscular cramps are common reactions to the dietary changes. Minerals like potassium wash out of your system rather quickly. A banana will not replace all the potassium loss, you need to take a supplement. Your symptoms should improve in about an hour.

Here are some hints to help you stay healthy while on Atkins.

There are ways to help you combat the symptoms of the dietary changes. You need to eat at least 8 calories per pound of body weight. You need to drink enough water to flush toxins from your system.

Some people recommend drinking water equal to half your body weight, that is a lot of water. Water helps the body to rid itself of acidic ketones and also helps in lipolysis , the burning of fat rather than carbs for energy.

Don’t weigh or measure yourself more than once a week, more often will have you obsessing over every 1/4 ounce. You will likely see a decrease in inches after the first week, if not you will surely see it in pounds. Eating the carbs that make you feel your best, still means you need to stay within the limits for the diet stage you are in. You will get more “bang for the buck” if you choose unprocessed, natural nutrient dense carbohydrates.

Sugar is an absolute no-no. Regular exercise is absolutely necessary.

Do not even consider a program that promises you can lose weight without exercise. Exercise helps the body to better utilize the foods you consume. Not doing enough exercise is as bad as doing too much. Ask your doctor’s advice about how often, how much and what type of exercise is right for you. Don’t start off by trying to run a 10k, try a walk around the block and build up tolerance for more.

Be sure to take the nutrient supplements prescribed by your doctor. You should have a journal to record your weight loss and food consumption. If a major event or life change happens, record it and the emotions, since these can affect how you eat. What happens in your life affects what you eat, how much and even how often you eat.

Significant events should also be entered because even good stuff can affect you.

Keep track of exactly what you eat in your food journal if you are diabetic you will be able to see how certain foods positively or negatively affect blood sugar levels. You should record your daily test results in this journal also.

Your journal will teach you to recognize patterns and to realize when your blood sugar levels are changing. Share your journal, or at least the trends you have noticed, with your doctor so that he can determine what needs to be done. Read the labels on every pre-packaged food item, look for white flour and hidden sugars.

You will lose weight faster if you limit your caffeine intake. The Atkins diet, or any other diet, is not going to take off 50 pounds in a week. A weight loss of 2-4 pounds a week may be realistic for one person but not for another. Losing more than this could be dangerous.

If weight loss is very rapid your body will go into starvation mode and try to hold on to what it can, and weight loss will stop cold. Any large weight loss will be regained if you return to your “normal” eating habits. Your prior “normal” eating patterns are what made you overweight to begin with.

A diet that promises phenomenal weight loss in a very short period of time is likely a scam. A really workable diet is one that recommends a balanced diet, exercise and possibly supplements. Be sure that any supplement is safe in general and for you in particular.

Just because a supplement is all natural, doesn’t mean it is safe. Some supplements can interact with certain medication, so be cautious. No medications, vitamins or supplements should be taken without your doctor’s approval.

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