The secret of long lasting weight loss There is no easy and straightforward way to lose weight. There are too many diets that can help you out but they all have a common pitfall. They concentrate on how to help you lose weight but they do not give enough attention to teach you what to do after the diet is finished, when a few pounds have been lost. This may sound cynical and disappointing but dieting and weight loss is a big market, and if the diet industry were to tell you exactly how to lose weight and keep it off they would be putting themselves out of any further business. This is where the free information provided on weight loss topics can help you understand the real truth about weight loss. You certainly do not need the lemonade diet, you also don’t need the detox cleanse diet, and you for sure don’t need any magic weight loss pills. In fact if you want to lose weight permanently and in a way that will last and be healthy you do not need any of the above. What you need to do is change your lifestyle and eating habits. You need to understand that the secret of weight loss is not in well advertised products but it is in the way you approach your life, in the way you approach your food and in the way you approach exercise and physical activity. You need to appreciate the benefits of eating wholesome food and really understand the benefits you will gain for your health from exercise. There is no trick to it and no hidden steps to follow. The problem is that most people do not want to put the effort and hard work that the so-called weight loss process requires, they want to lose weight the ‘easy’ way, while they sit on their sofas, watching TV and doing literally nothing. What you need to do for healthy weight loss is well known. You have to follow a healthy diet and at the same time you need to increase your levels of physical activity either through ‘formal’ exercise i.e. gym, aerobics or through sports and movement. For example you may decide to walk more and do more manual work at home. You can start cleaning the house, doing your garden, washing your car. All these activities will keep your muscles moving and this movement will help you start losing weight. If you have the time and can afford it you can start going to the gym for at least 3 times a week and you will see more immediate and fast results. Exercise is also the key for losing the weight and keeping it off. If you only follow a careful diet you will manage to lose a few pounds but for long lasting results you also need to exercise. This will change your metabolism and will help your body burn fat easily and this process will make the results last longer. Forget about the magic ways to lose weight. If you really want to find out how to lose weight permanently and efficiently you need to follow the tips given above, everything that promises quick and miraculous results are simple fake and unrealistic. Keep away from them and you will not only save your money but also your precious time.
Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category
Rapid Weight loss for everyone
If you made the decision that you need to adopt rapid weight loss in order to get in your best dress or just for a special occasion you should strictly follow a few weight loss tricks. You should also give time for yourself to find out the cause of your weight problem. You should check your family history and find out if there are cases of people with obesity in your family. Another popular reason that causes obesity is inefficient lifestyle. If this is the case you should follow three important tips:
1. Exercise: Try to perform moderate exercises (three times a week) using a treadmill, an elliptic trainer, going at gym, running or just making abdomens in your own home.
2. The second thing to do is to drink enough water. In order to calculate the amount of water your body needs you need to take your weight, divide it in half and the number youíll get is the ounces of water you have to drink a day.
3. You must definitely avoid junk and fast food. Your meals should include fresh food like fruits, veggies and grains. You may also include low-fat aliments like fish and sugar free ones.
These are the three most important tips for rapid weight loss. They will help you get rid of the extra pounds from your abdomen, tights or arms. Another way for rapid weight loss is keeping a severe diet. You may ask what does this mean. Well, a severe diet implies not eating for at least 12 hours and the only thing you can do is drink water. This is of not of course the most efficient way for losing weight because after eating again the fat cells will rapidly be regenerated and you will gain the pounds that you just lost. But this is a good method if you have only two days to lose some pounds.
As a last resort, liposuction is also among the methods for rapid weight loss but in order to qualify for it you must not have heart diseases or blood pressure problems. You also must have not smoked for the last two months because it creates problems with the oxygen circulation in your body. The recovery from this surgery may take up to 2 weeks and it may include pain, swelling and bruising.
Diet pills and drugs may take you longer to lose weight but they may prove efficient for longer periods. Most of them decrease the appetite and makes you eat less, and thus, losing weight. Some drugs will block your organism from fat absorption and this will help you maintain your weight. Other pills reduce the volume of your stomach which will make you have a less need for food.
If you want something to keep you fit and to make you lose weight and keep it off for a long time, a proper lifestyle is the answer. Following the tips above will help you lose weight rapidly and it doesnít require any severe diets, or painful surgeries and not even taking any drugs.
Weight Loss Blog: Why You Should Start One
Pic: DeaPeaJay
If you are struggling for motivation, and a way to dedicate yourself to your weight loss cause, why not start a blog? Fellow blogger John, started his so he could get the support and guidance of people out there experiencing the same thing. There are lots of weight loss blogs popping up now, you can track your weight loss, discuss problems and general receive some extra support from right around the globe. Check out his article on 4 Reasons You Should Be Writing a Weight Loss Blog.
Fat Burning Zone Goes Bust
Don’t get me wrong, I see the logic, you want to lose fat, you gotta burn it. However it really does amaze me that this myth is still ripe in the fitness industry. It scares me is that there is a lot of trainers who are still peddling this line to their clients.
Scientifically, it’s correct. There is a zone where you burn more fat. Here’s why. At a lower intensity, your body requires less quick energy (which comes from carbohydrate), and it can utilize slower burning energy (which comes from fats). The problem lies in the fact that weight loss is simply one thing. Energy in is less than Energy out. You have to expend more energy than you put in your body to lose weight. It’s an equation, and quite a simple one. Sure you will burn a higher percentage of fat if you work at a lower intensity, but you will burn a lot less calories than you would if you were working out at a higher intensity. If weight loss is your goal, total amount of fat lost will be lower with a low intensity workout. You have to exercise for a long time in your ‘fat burning zone’ to reach the same amount of calorie expenditure as a short high intensity session.
But how does my fat get burnt?
It is a little hard to understand, it seems so simple, want to lose fat, then you want to burn more of it. Try and think of it this way…your fat stores will be broken down and transformed into carbohydrates when your body needs fuel anyway, so it is irrelevant which type of calorie you are burning. Your fat calories will still get used. The key is to expend more calories. Working at a higher intensity will only cause you to use a lower percentage of fat; percentage is the key word here, what we are after it total. Because you are burning more energy in total, you will still use more fat calories. The bottom line is, if you have a limited time frame, a short high intensity workout will give you more benefits. Save some time and get better results.
If you are looking at getting a fashion item that will last forever then look no further than a ladies leather jacket.
Lack of Sleep Making You Fat?
image: Roca Zhang
Are you hitting roadblocks in your weight loss and you don’t know why? Doing all the hard work and not getting the results?
A recent study in the American Journal of Endocrinology has determined that women who get less than 7 hours of sleep a night are more inclined to gain weight than other.
The Study
In 1986 (Yes this study was a long one) 68,183 women aged 39–65 years participating in the Nurses’ Health Study responded to a question about sleep duration. At the time of response they were free from disease. Originally they were asked to indicate the total hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. They were sent questionnaires every two years. The most recent questionnaire was in 2002, and the journal article was published late last year.
The Results
From the beginning of the study a clear relationship existed between sleep duration and weight gain. Those sleeping 5 hours or less weight 2.47kg more on average than those sleeping 7 hours. Those sleeping 6 hours were 1.24kg heavier. Remember, this is at the start of the study before any follow up had been done. Not only was there this difference at the start, but the study showed women sleeping less were more inclined to put on weight faster.
Over the 16 years of the study, 10.5% of women experienced a 15kg weight gain. Those sleeping 7-8 hours per night had the lowest risk. Women sleeping 6 hours were 12% more likely to have a 15kg weight gain, and those sleeping 5 hours or less were 32% more likely. It should be noted that calorie intake and activity levels were taken into account in this study and did not affect the percentages.
Why Does Sleep Deprivation Cause Weight Gain?
There are several reasons why a lack of sleep can lead to you gaining unnecessary pounds.
- Hypothalamic- pituitary functions (a place where your hormones originate from) are strongly linked to circadian rhythms and sleep regulatory processes. These include hormones that influence eating, energy balance and metabolism. So basically a lack of sleep can mess around with some pretty important hormones for maintaining weight.
- Short term sleep restriction lowers your level of the satiety producing hormone, leptin, which basically makes you feel full. A double whammy to that is that sleep restriction increases levels of the appetite producing hormone, ghrelin. Which makes you basically want to eat more.
- A side effect of lack of sleep is fatigue. If you are tired you are less inclined to exercise and may reduce physical activity and energy expenditure. Therefore predisposing you to weight gain.
- It has been suggested lack of sleep can affect your metabolic rate, but further research is needed to confirm this.
So… hit the sack and help your cause, and ask yourself, Are You Sleeping Enough?
Britney Spears’ Digital Diet
OK so it’s a little off topic but I couldn’t resist. I stumbled across this when I was signing out of my hotmail account on ninemsn. Britney is a celebrity who is well known to have body image issues, and in the last few years we have watched her fluctuate up and down, along with the turbulence in her life. In her latest video, Piece of Me, there have been reports that she was ‘digitally slimmed-down’. She appears a lot skinnier in the video than she did in paparazzi reports earlier in the month. It would be nice if weight loss were that easy eh. Read the full article here.
Gatorade: Do you need it?
pic: Gatorade.ca
Gatorade and other Sports Drinks are pretty popular these days. Its not uncommon to see people at the gym guzzling the stuff down. I’m going to pose a question to you sports drink drinkers…
Do You Really Need It?
Are you wanting to lose weight? Run as faster 10km? Gain some muscle? Firstly, let me make it clear that as an athlete, Sports Drinks are an essential part of my games and trainings, I definitely need them. They replace what I lose in electrolytes and really do help my body uptake fluid more efficiently. However, the average person needs to think twice before fueling up during their workout. You need to ask yourself if a Sports Drink will help you reach where you want to be.
The most common goal I hear when working with people is weight loss. The way to lose weight is to push the energy balance into negative. Energy out is greater than energy in. Now, for the average gym goer who does cardio a few times a week and lifts a bit, Gatorade is simply not helping your energy balance. Water should be enough to replace your fluid losses. It should be noted that Gatorade and Sports Drinks are specially formulated to give athletes a boost of blood sugar, some ready made energy, and a means by which to rehydrate much faster and hence, perform better. But if you ask most people who have set weight loss as their goal, they don’t really care about their performance. Remember: different goals call for different strategies.
Have a look at the following food label:
Pic from dietfacts.com
If you consume one bottle of Gatorade you are pumping in 125 calories. No it’s not much in the grand scheme of things, but if all your are doing is going for a light jog on the treadmill, you will be lucky to burn that off, and the fluid you lose from this type of training can easily be replaced with water.
Conclusion
Assess where you are at (Yes I know, boring answer and not very definitive, but that is basically the fitness industry…individuality). If you are in training for a fun run you want to do and are training frequently, then a Sports Drink would be a perfect way to supplement your training, getting fluids back faster and more efficiently, speeding your recovery and hopefully allowing you to train harder and enhance your performance.
If your sole goal is weight loss, then I wouldn’t recommend drinking a sports drink. It’s calories that you simply don’t need. Water will do fine for most situations regarding weight loss. However, if you find you are training extremely hard, and are often fatigued and aren’t bouncing back from your training, then a sports drink could be for you, and will probably help you in your quest. As I mentioned above, different goals call for different strategies. You need to be informed. If your goal is weight loss, it may be working against you.