I know what it's like to be stuck. I lost a little weight and then I stopped. I had about 25-30 lbs. to go and nothing was happening. I was exercising, eating healthy and no more weight loss. Here is how I was able to lose the rest of the weight I wanted to. You can do it too!
1. Rethink your diet.
It is time to stop dieting and cutting calories. Avoid quick fix fad diets. You usually end up gaining more weight when it is over than you weighed when you started. Your goal should be to get healthy. Work towards a lifetime goal of a healthy diet and lifestyle change.
And be careful, some foods, such as soy and skim milk, which are marketed as health and diet foods are unhealthy and/or actually help make you fatter. (For more information see our free ebook at http://enzyme-health.com.)
2. Eat healthy life-giving foods.
Choose healthier organic produce, meats, eggs and milk products. Get plenty of proteins, to help you build muscle and burn fat.
3. Cut out the bad carbs and processed foods.
Avoid the bad carbs-- white sugar and white flour. Stay away from the processed foods as much as possible. It is the bad fats and oils, carbs, preservatives, MSG, and food dyes that keep many people overweight.
4. Try cooking with coconut oil.
Coconut oil is the best oil you can use in your diet. It actually promotes weight loss by burning as fuel for the body instead of storing as fat. It is a harmless saturated fat that has been proven not to cause heart disease, and actually helps fight cardiovascular disease. And you can use it for higher temperature cooking, unlike olive oil.
5. Exercise moderately-- but don't over do it.
People talk a lot about the need to add more exercise, but too much exercise can be almost as bad as too little. Listen to your body. Start slowly and increase your exercising gradually. Vary your exercise routines. Alternate weight training and aerobics exercises on different days.
6. When you still can't lose weight, get some help.
Sometime you just need a little extra help. There are proven herbs and supplements that can that can give you that extra edge you might need to cut your appetite, give your metabolism and energy levels a boost, and help you burn fat and build muscle.
There are also a lot of diet scams out there, so be careful. I did a lot of research, and tried a lot of supplements with empty promises-- but you can learn from me. I found the best fat burning and weight loss supplements, and they are all in one simple patch that you apply daily. I am really excited about this product. It gave me the added push, when I needed it. Maybe it can help you too.
What To Do When You Just Can't Lose Weight
Natural Diet Pills for Weight Loss – How Safe are They?
Many of us have heard horror stories about the ‘diet pills’ that were popular a generation or so ago. These pills, available with a prescription, were basically ‘speed’ – which, in a slightly different form, was sold as a street drug. And yes, these pills did make women lose weight – sometimes a great deal of weight. This weight loss came at a heavy cost, though. A lot of people became addicted to diet pills. Others simply took them for so long, or at such heavy doses, that they ruined their health.
Nowadays, those types of diet pills still exist, but they are not prescribed or used nearly as often as they used to be. In general, people today are more aware of the importance of good health and doing things the natural way. All the same, losing weight is still a going concern, and there are many people looking for an easy way to do it – a ‘shortcut’, so to speak. That’s where natural medicine comes in.
Natural, naturopathic or herbal medicine has been around for literally hundred of years – long before western medicine or modern pharmaceuticals. It has also undergone a bit of a revival of late. People are disenchanted with the mainstream medical system, and looking for answers through an older system of medicine, one that is based on natural substances such as herbs and vitamins.
In fact, you can see how true that statement is just by browsing the shelves of your local drug store. Chances are, there will be almost as many herbal medicines available on your drugstore shelves as there are conventional medicines. Even some doctors are coming to accept the role that herbal medicine and natural medicine has to play. Even if they don’t out and out endorse it, many doctors will concede that natural medicine does no harm, at any rate.
So, when looking for a quick fix to the weight problems that plague so many of us, natural or herbal diet pills might seem very appealing. Actually, they really do have their strong points. Herbal diet pills are not speed – they don’t even resemble the harsh pharmaceutical diet pills of a generation ago, and they work in totally different ways. For example, some natural diet pills work as a ‘glucophage’ – they ‘eat up’ the excess glucose that is circulating in your system after you eat. Glucose, according to some, is precisely what does make you gain weight. It can even lead to other problems, such as diabetes later in life. Glucophage can be a great way of eliminating excess glucose in your system if you happen to eat too much.
Of course, as might be expected, that doesn’t work well for everyone – in fact, it sometimes backfires. You might use it as an excuse to eat even more, in fact, in which case no amount of glucophage can save you! It may also be true that this type of herbal remedy has inconsistent results – it may work much better on some people than on others. That having been said, though, there are people who have used glucophage and had excellent results.
Other types of herbal diet pills act as appetite suppressants. They just make you want to eat less, plain and simple, much as the diet pills of a generation ago did. There the similarity ends, however – herbal diet pills are less effective than pharmaceutical ones, but they are also much less harmful.
Then there are the herbal supplements that you would take in order to cleanse your body of toxins. Some people choose to do this once or twice a year – the early spring, particularly, seems a good time. The herbal supplements that you take during a cleanse are not diet pills per se, but the end result of the cleanse is often weight loss. Furthermore, you might find it a lot easier to lose weight after you’ve done a cleanse. For one thing, you will have gotten out of any bad food habits you might have accumulated!
The diet pills of the seventies were not a great idea, except maybe in extreme cases where weight loss was imperative. Even then, there were probably better ways to do it. Don’t assume that all diet pills are bad, though – and do check out the new types of herbal diet supplements available today.
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DISCLAIMER:
This information is not presented by a medical practitioner and is for educational and informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read. Since natural and/or dietary supplements are not FDA approved they must be accompanied by a two-part disclaimer on the product label: that the statement has not been evaluated by FDA and that the product is not intended to “diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.”
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Losing Weight - The Facts
We all want to lose a few pounds and look great, especially through those summer months but the average person does not succeed in keeping those pounds off, if they lose the weight at all. The reason for this is that many people follow the latest "celebrity" diets which are good for quick weight loss but are not good for your health or for keeping the weight off.
It is scientifically proven that if you follow a diet where you lose to much weight to quickly then you are starving your body of certain nutrients it needs, when you start moving towards eating a normal diet your body will automatically store these nutrients within the body in case this should happen again.
If you want to lose weight there are some golden rules you need to follow
* Eat 3 meals a day
* Eat less
* Eat healthy
* Eat from all the food groups (Protein, Carbohydrates, Fat)
* Exercise
What we want to achieve is to still eat 3 meals a day, just in smaller quantites and with healthier food. Within the 3 meals we still need all the different food groups for our body to function correctly so we still need our protein, carbohydrates and our fats. Another important factor for losing weight is exercise, I don't mean running a marathon, but if you can spare 20 or 30 minutes a day for a walk or a light jog you will certainly feel the benefits.
If you want to lose the weight quickly then it will only last short term, if you set your goals and take your time losing the weight correctly then you will see the benefits for a long time to come. Losig weight is not just about physical looks, it's about mental well being and your future health.
Weight Loss `Clarity` Still Confusing
With all the profound, prolific, often professional and proven facts you can find in this world to clearly help you lose weight, countless individuals still suffer from lack of knowledgeable solutions. It's no small wonder why the saga continues.
Three Challenging Reasons
There are three main reasons why burning fat and getting rid of excess or unwanted pounds remains such a large challenge. Would you like to know what they are?
1. Lack of A "YOU-Centered" Approach in Business.
2. Basic Misunderstanding or Misconception of Human Anatomy and Its "True" Operational Ability and Function...
3. Motivation -- That Is, Having Individual Possession of An Absolutely Compelling Reason To Get It Done, and In The Right Way, Too.
One: You - Centered Approach
Let's look at Number One: Lack of A "YOU-Centered" Approach in Business.
Lack of a "you-centered" approach in business simply means this... within numerous industries (an, diet-exercise-fitness-health-nutrition-weight management isn't much of an exception to the rule), sales primary production focus lies in "features." These are: What the weight loss product or service can do; how it's structured, or why it's supposed to be so great.
Quite often business, industry, and media seem to forget that "people" or "real" customers pay the salaries and make the businesses run. With that in mind, YOU and YOUR ideas, your comments, needs, feelings, circumstances and suggestions need to become first in the forecast of business and corporate venture.
Until this happens, YOU must seek your weight loss outcome with even more persistence, determination, and care.
Two: Formal Anatomy Misconceptions
Now, let's look at Number Two: Basic Misunderstanding or Misconception of Human Anatomy and Its "True" Operational Ability and Function.
In today's society, the hard cold fact is this... unless you've dedicated your life to, and /or spent/invested thousands of dollars into an accredited nationally or internationally recognized and formal program of biomechanics, anatomy, reflexology, physiology, athletic training, or exercise science and dietetics... you are bound to lack the most firm grasp on the "inner workings" of the human body.
In other words, the only way to master a thing is to practice it. Yet, how can you rehearse your routine with correct and clear understanding when you have not broken it down, piece by piece, reassembled it again, and documented your findings and outcomes over and again, plus noted differentiations, subtleties, and idiosyncrasies?
Without such knowledge (either your very own, or the assistance, guidance and availability of a caring and reliable resource person or organization), you may be stuck with antiquated ideas like: 1) weight lifting makes me too bulky, so I won't add the resistance training component to my weight loss workouts; 2) I'm doing my abdominal crunches every day, so why am I still so fat or overweight around the middle?... and 3) I already cut back on my food intake, so why aren't I losing weight?
In a nutshell, gaining genuine comprehension of human anatomy and its true operational ability and function provides answers to all of the above questions, very accurately, AND this solution empowers your command to DEMAND timely and guaranteed weight loss results for your own life.
Three: Compelling Motivation Consequence
Finally, let's consider Number Three: Motivation -- That Is, Having Individual Possession of An Absolutely Compelling Reason To Get It Done, and In The Right Way, Too.
Your motivational trigger can be a pleasant one, or a painful one. Yet, you can turn even a painful experience into a positive weight management cause. For the word "motivation," allow me to offer you the "renewed" and much more highly useful definition...
Motivation centers around being absolutely convinced regarding the consequences of your adequacy or inadequacy at improving your performance. Put simply, you've got to find the strongest reasons that make you stick to at least the minimum daily requirements for weight loss progress. Without necessary motivation, your effort succumbs to the "half-baked" style for getting things done.
More often than not, individuals remain just a few mere points away from reaching their threshold breaking potential on a consistent basis. And, motivation (that is, the kind we just talked about) in such cases gives you the added intellectual "spark" that ignites the flame for more intense activity almost "exactly" when you need it.
Such an advantage can literally make the difference between, let's say, pumping out a 50-minute aerobic sessions at 125 heart beats per minute, or only performing a 25-minute session at only a mere 115 heart beats per minute. That's a gain or loss of about 325 extra calories in your per-day workout.
When adopting the first example above, your "motivated" session style gets you the added advantage of losing about 300 "extra" calories per day. That gives you a total of approximately 500 calories lost on each workout day.
This eventually translates to 22 pounds of extra body fat lost per year!
Thorough aerobic targeted training workouts can offer you up to 10 or more calories per minute of fat burning potential. Yet, the average person usually only reaches 5 or 6 calories per minute during a normal workout.
Therefore, implement motivation to take you farther. Use your intentionally focused and direct weight loss clarity to achieve markedly improved fat-burning results.
In Summary
Are you clear now? There's a lot of information out there. But the hidden secret is to become aware of those "other" factors (like the ones we've mentioned here) that contribute equally, if not more, to the way you approach losing weight through healthy lifestyle changes.
You can see that clarity is about knowledge... wisdom is a process involving awareness, accountability, and action. Make every reasonable attempt to see your way CLEARLY through to weight loss success.
The Best Free Weight Loss programs
The race to fitness is on and a lot of people are getting into the band wagon. Some people do it to achieve a sexy body, some people just do it because they are embarrassed with the body they have now, while others do it simply to remain fit and heatlthy. As such, many fitness programs are out in the internet, in gyms, spas and fitness centers all over. Some are too expensive to afford that one may even lose weight just by trying to work out the money needed to pursue these fitness programs.
One may not have to go to the gym or the spa or any fitness center and spend much just to slim down to obtain that longed for sexy body. There are many books available in the bookstore which offer weight loss programs which are convenient and for free, of course the books are not though. These weight loss programs, or diet plans are gaining immense popularity with so much publicity, testimonials and reviews that one may be confused which exactly to follow. So before choosing which weight loss plan to follow, try reading these summaries about the most popular diet programs out today.
Atkins' New Diet Revolution by Dr. Atkins. This weight loss program encourages high protein diet and a trim down on the carbs. One can feast on vegetables and meat but should fast on bread and pasta. One is also not restricted against fat intake so it is okay to pour in the salad dressing and freely spread on the butter. However, after the diet, one may find himself lacking on fiber and calcium yet high in fat. Intake of grains and fruits are also limited.
Carbohydrate Addict's Diet by Drs. Heller. This diet plan advocates low carbohyrate eating. Approves on eating meats, vegetables and fruits, dairy and grain products. however, warns against taking in too much carb. "Reward" meal can be too high on fats and saturated fats.
Choose to Lose by Dr. Goor. Restrains fat intake. One is given a "fat" budget and he is given the liberty on how to spend it. It does not pressure the individual to watch his carbohydrate intake. Eating meat and poultry as well as low-fat dairy and seafoods is okay. A go signal is also given on eating vegetables, fruits, cereals, bread and pasta. This weight loss plan is fairly healthy, good amounts of fruits and vegetables as well as saturated fats. Watch triglyceride levels though; if high, trim down the carbohydrates and tuck in more of the unsaturated fats.
The DASH Diet. Advocates moderate amounts of fat and protein intake and high on carbs. Primarily designed to lower blood pressure, the diet plan follows the pyramid food guide and encourages high intake of whole wheat grains as well as fruits and vegetables and low-fat dairy. Some dieters think it advocates too much eating to procure significant weight loss.
Eat More, Weigh Less by Dr. Ornish. Primarily vegetarian fare and strictly low-fat. Gives the go signal on the "glow" foods but warns to watch it on non-fat dairy and egg whites. This diet is poor in calcium and retricts consumption of healthy foods like seafoods and lean poultry.
Eat Right for Your Type. Interesting because it is based on the person's blood type. recommends plenty of mest for people with the blood type O. Diet plans for some blood types are nutritionally imbalanced and too low in calories. And for the record, there is even no proof that blood type affects dietary needs.
The Pritkin Principle. Focused on trimming the calorie density in eating by suggesting watery foods that make one feel full. Eating vegetables, fruits, oatmeal, pasta, soups, salads and low-fat dairy is okay. Although limits protein sources to lean meat, pseafood and poultry. Although it is healthy by providing low amounts of saturated fats and rich amounts of vegetables and fruits, it is also low on calcium and limits lean protein sources.
Volumetrics. For low-density calorie eating. Recommends the same foodstuff as Pritkin but restricts fatty or dry foods like popcorn, pretzels and crackers. This plan is reasonably healthy given the high amounts of fruits and vegetables as well as being low in calorie density and saturated fats.
The Zone. Moderately low on the carbs yet moderately high on the proteins. Encourages low-fat protein foods like fish and chicken plus veggies, fruits and grains. It is also healthy but lacking in grains and calcium.
Weight Watchers. High carbohydrates, moderate on fats and proteins. A very healthy diet plan and very flexible too. it allows the dieter to plan his own meal rather than give him a set to follow.
Loosing Weight and Diet Pills
Loosing Weight, nothing easy about it other than the fact that we simply talk about it. Any person who is trying to loose weight would tell you how difficult it is to loose weight and how much more difficult it is to keep the weight loss.
There can be many a reasons for our inability to loose weight effectively or to keep weight loss permanent. A hectic lifestyle, inability to control one’s diet due to the non possibility of being able to control situations pertaining to it. Unable to keep a regular exercise routine etc.. etc.
What does one do? I wouldn’t say that there is a miracle that will make anyone loose weight, but yes there is an answer to the question on how to make loosing weight easier and permanent.
The answer is Diet Pills. In today’s medically advanced world, there are a number of diet pills available in the market. Diet pills today are available cheap and are easily accessible as they can be easily purchased though the Internet.
What diet pills do is decrease our hunger pangs. The math is simple. Hunger pangs need to be satisfied with calories. These calories need to be burned with exercising. Our equation between this hunger satisfaction and burning calories are not proportionate which results in weight gain. If we can curb our hunger at the first level using diet pills our equation with less exercising will then show results.
Today Diet pills are available a plenty but which diet pills should one use has to be decided. It is always best to consult ones’ doctor before starting on a specific diet pill.As diet pills are easily available today, especially because of the Internet. Many a Net pharmacies are giving better discounts and even a physician consultancy. This easily accessibility of information and product surely is a step closer to helping people reach out for the effective support Diet pills gives.
Weight: The Thanksgiving Hangover
The feasting is over. The turkey has disappeared: roasted and hot, microwaved leftovers, then cold sandwiches and eventually croquettes or thrown into soup.
You climb on the scale with trepidation and breathe a long sigh of relief when the dreaded poundage fails to appear. Before you relax and think you got away with it, remember that your sneaky little body is playing its usual tricks. Two or three days of Spartan eating will make you feel virtuous again -until you step on the scale and find you've gained 5 pounds. "Fraud" you shriek. "I've been so good!"
Remember the holiday feast? It has finally caught up with you as you knew, deep down, that it would.
What to do?
We all need brief periods of self-indulgence - it's part of the human condition. Expect a setback on your weight loss goals and let that knowledge mitigate your disappointment. Then continue on your diet with the assurance that a special occasion blip doesn't define your future. Enjoy the memories of a family gathering while carefully planning your next week's intake.
Appreciate what you have accomplished so far and avoid loading yourself down with guilt and self-reproach.
Get back on your program as quickly as possible because (sorry to bring this up now) Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat.
The Most Effective Weight Loss Tips
The most effective method for weight loss is reducing the number of calories you consume - through eating, while increasing the number of calories you burn - through physical activity. As an example, to lose one pound, you will need to undertake physical expenditure of approximately 3,500 calories. You can achieve this either by cutting back on what you eat, changing what you eat, or by increasing physical activity, or ideally, by doing a combination of all three.
Take this situation as an example. If you consume 500 extra calories per day for one week without changing your activity level, you will gain one pound in weight (7 days multiplied by 500 calories equals 3500 calories, or the number of calories resulting in a one-pound weight gain). Conversely, if you eat 500 fewer calories each day for a week or burn 500 calories per day through exercise for one week, then you will lose one pound over the course of that week. Which would you choose?
Perhaps before you start thinking about losing weight you should take a moment to examine what you eat. Sometimes it is not just about reducing your calorie intake, but it is also about changing what you eat – decrease fatty foods and increase your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables.
Examples of some high calorie popular foods and beverages include:
1 slice original-style crust pepperoni pizza – 230 calories
1 glass of dry white wine – 160 calories
1 can of cola – 150 calories
1 quarter-pound hamburger with cheese – 500 calories
1 jumbo banana nut muffin – 580 calories
Are any of these in your regular diet? If so, maybe it's time to make some changes!
When it comes to weight loss, crash diets are never a good idea. Most health and well being experts will agree that a safe, healthy rate of losing weight is usually around one to 1 ½ pounds per week. Anything more than this means that you are more likely to put your weight back on, down the track. By modifying your eating habits and adding in a little regular exercise, you will be embarking upon the most effective way to lose weight in the long term. It is also the ideal way to ensure that the weight stays off.
Starvation diets may result in rapid weight loss and give you immediate results, but this loss of weight is really hard to maintain over a long period of time. When food intake is severely restricted to something below 1200 calories per day, the body begins to think that it is poor nutrition, so it begins to shut down its metabolic rate. This can make it even more difficult to lose weight in the long run. Candidates who crash diet can also experience hunger pangs, bouts of hypoglycemia, headaches, and mood changes from overly stringent dieting which can all result in binge eating and weight gain.
Since a highly restrictive diet is almost impossible to maintain for a long time, people who attempt to starve themselves thin often start to gain weight again when they stop dieting. Hence, the reason for embarking on a gradual, long term program that increases physical fitness and well being, at the same time.
Avoid Holiday Weight Gain
As the holidays approach, a feeling of dread creeps in. Not only is money getting tighter, but your pants are, too. It's the same old story. Colder weather keeps you stuck indoors, while the yummy holiday cooking fattens you up. Not this year. Not me! I refuse to gain those holiday pounds and you can, too. No, you don't have to sign any contracts at an expensive gym. You can get the body you want on a limited budget.
You may not realize it, but workout videos are more fun and exciting than they used to be.
Workout videos are also much less expensive than a gym membership or buying home workout equipment like a treadmill or elliptical trainer.
If the thought of buying workout videos reminds you of leg warmers and striped leotards, you've got some catching up to do. You're not stuck with the boring workout videos of the 80s and 90s anymore. Believe it or not, the same sought-after trainers who get paid the big bucks to train celebrities can be on call to train you in your own home for pennies a day.
Some of the newest fitness trends are available on video.
Ballet:
Have you always envied a ballet dancer's lean and graceful body? Several ballet videos are now available as workout videos. One of the most popular choices right now was created by the famous New York City Ballet. Although you won't learn to be the next prima ballerina training with exercise video at home, you will shape and lengthen your muscles for a graceful body.
Belly Dancing:
Shimmy your way to a great waistline. Whether you want an instructional video to teach you proper belly dancing technique or you just want to exercise with belly dance moves, you'll find a wide variety of videos available.
Exotic Dancing:
You read that right. If you've ever thought it would be fun to learn sexy moves, then this is for you. In the privacy and safety of your own home, you can bump and gyrate to your heart's content. I have also heard that laughter is good for your abs, so you'll have that covered as well, especially if you have a mirror in your workout room.
Yoga or Pilates:
If you're looking for a sleek, lean body, firm core, or more flexibility, then there are hundreds of yoga and Pilates videos to choose from. You'll find yoga for adults as well as yoga for kids. Yes, kids get stressed, too. Yoga is a great way to teach them to relax.
Fitness videos for kids:
Oftentimes kids can be the best motivators. If you put in a Sesame Street dance video and your three year old asks you to dance with Elmo, you can hardly say "no".
Once you've chosen a trend or video you are interested in, set a specific time each day to "meet" with your personal trainer. It's best to rotate at least two different forms of exercise (or videos) to avoid repetitive use strains. You can do different videos each day, or alternate a walk, bike ride or other activity you enjoy on your non-video days. As long as you are moving, you're keeping those spare pounds from firmly attaching to your body.
So, don't sign that costly gym membership agreement just yet. Blow the dust off the exercise videos in your cabinet, get some good walking shoes, or check out the hottest trends at your favorite online store. It's the frugal way to go.
Burn Body Fat And Lose Weight 24 Hrs A Day – Lose Fat Even When Sleeping
Burn body fat 24 hrs a day is simple. Yes, I said simple but I did not say it is easy. That is because you must have a firm commitment and mental discipline to do it. However, it will get easier and easier when you adapt to your new lifestyle and when your lose fat goal is achieved.
So how do you burn fat 24 hrs a day? Here are some simple steps to lose fat 24 hrs a day.
• Build muscles. Muscles are active cells and they are great calorie burners. The more muscles you pack on, the more body fat you will burn because the calories you have eaten will be burned for energy by your muscles.
• Do your cardio exercises in the morning before breakfast. Make sure that your cardio exercises raise your heart rate sufficiently to burn more fat. The exercises must be intensive and will leave you puffing, panting and sweating. This is to make sure that you will continue to burn calories hours after you stopped your cardio exercises.
Do your cardio exercise 5-6 days a week. On top of that, because your carbohydrate store is low in the morning, your body will burn more body fat to fuel your cardio exercises.
• Eat 5-6 times a day with about 3 hrs intervals. Make the meals small consisting protein and complex carbohydrate. Complex carbs are carbs that are more difficult to digest so that they do not spike insulin quickly to be converted into body fat. So instead of eating white rice, eat brown rice. Instead of having white bread, substitute it with brown bread instead. Have plenty of fresh leafy fibrous vegetables.
The frequency of meals will tell your body that there is plenty of food and so your body need not store body fat for emergencies. On top of that, your digestive system will be constantly working to digest the food and so that means burning of calories.
• Do weight training 3 times a week with rest days in between. Do your weight workout in the evenings so that you will continue to burn fat. Workout with compound exercises such as bench presses, squats, lunges, dead lifts etc to activate more muscle fibers and so that these large muscles will carry on burning calories for many more hours into the night.
• Take slow release protein supplement before bed such as casein protein. This is to feed your body throughout the night and help your muscles to recover from the day’s activities and at the same because casein protein is slow to digest so will not turn to fat easily and thus your body will continue burning calories even when you are asleep.
So with a combination of all these activities, you will be burning body fat almost 24 hrs a day. Simple? Great. Let’s start to lose weight by burning body fat round the clock now.
Is Gastric Bypass Weight Loss Surgery Right For You?
Weight loss surgery can be divided into three types:
1. Restrictive procedures to reduce the size of your stomach,
2. Mal-absorptive procedures alter the flow from your stomach to your intestine, and
3. Combination procedures that involve the characteristics of both of the above procedures.
This article will be focusing on the first option.
Gastric bypass surgery is one type of weight loss surgical procedures that can be used, and is actually commonly used, to cause significant weight loss for a patient that is exceedingly obese. Gastric bypass surgery is designed to reduce the body's intake of calories. Calorie reduction through this surgery is accomplished in two main ways:
1. After the surgery, the patient’s stomach is actually smaller than it was. This means that the patient will feel full faster and it will be easier for the candidate to learn to reduce the amount of food that he/she consumes.
2. Part of the patient’s stomach and small intestines are literally bypassed in the food consumption process so that fewer calories are absorbed by the candidate.
Prior to any successful weight loss operation, the patient’s doctor will give the patient a complete medical examination to evaluate the patient’s state of overall health. A psychological evaluation will also be undertaken. If at the conclusion of the consultation and evaluation, the doctor does not feel the patient is ready, then the surgery will not be recommended. Should the doctor recommend the procedure, then the patient will receive extensive nutritional counseling before (and after) the surgery.
Gastric bypass surgery is always performed under anesthesia. There are two basic steps to the surgery:
1. The first step in the surgery makes the patient's stomach smaller. The surgeon divides the stomach into a small upper section and a larger bottom section using staples that are like stitches. The top section of the stomach will hold any digested food.
2. After the stomach has been divided, the surgeon connects a section of the small intestine to the pouch. This ensures that the food bypassed the lower portion of the stomach.
Gastric bypass surgery can be performed using a laparoscope. This technique is actually far less invasive than traditional surgery. The incisions are much smaller and therefore are a little less painful and a lot less noticeable, which lowers the risk of large scars and hernias after the procedure. Once the small incisions are made in the abdomen, then the surgeon passes slender surgical instruments through these narrow openings, as well as, a camera so that he or she can see the maneuvering of the instruments.
If you have gastric bypass surgery, then you will usually need to stay in the hospital for 4 to 5 days after the doctor performs the surgery on you. Your doctor will approve your discharge to go back home once you are able to do the following:
1. Move without too much discomfort,
2. Eat liquid and/or pureed food without vomiting it back up, and
3. No longer requiring pain medication to be administered by injection.
You will remain on liquid or pureed food for several weeks after the surgery. Even after that time, you will feel full very quickly. This is because the new stomach pouch initially only holds a tablespoonful of food. The pouch eventually expands but will generally allow you no more than one cup of food.
Lose Weight: How to Exercise and Burn Fat on a Busy Schedule
In my fitness consulting business, I get the opportunity to talk with people from all walks of life about their health, fitness, and weight loss goals. Whether their goal is to lose weight, gain muscle, stick to a diet plan or program, improve their cardiovascular health, or simply to maintain their current fitness level they all have one common enemy---TIME.
For most of us, the #1 challenge in the quest to stay in shape and/or lose weight is not exercising itself but being able to actually fit an exercise program into our busy schedules.
So how do you do it? How do you balance the demands of family, career, important errands, relationships, organizational responsibilities, and working out? I have found that there are five keys that will help you to be able to fit a consistent workout plan into your already hectic life.
- Commit to a specific schedule
- Utilize the weekend
- Keep your workouts as a high priority
- Enroll others in your goals
- Don't beat yourself up
When you fail to plan you plan to fail. Don't try to haphazardly fit your workouts into your schedule without any rhyme or reason. Don't think you're guilty? If you've ever told yourself "I'll workout as soon as I get some time",
you were in direct violation of this key principle.
In order to set yourself up for success, you will need to take the time to literally write your workouts into your weekly schedule. In order to be effective, you will want to be following your exercise program at least 3 days per week. Anything less would be kidding yourself.
Therefore, right in the midst of all of your appointments, "to-do" lists, etc., should be a written plan for your weekly workout routine, so that
you will never be in the dark as to when you committed to yourself to go.
Take advantage of the fact that it only takes 3-5 days per week to put together an effective, results-producing workout. One trick to help you pull it all off is to workout on the weekends. One of the benefits to this course of action is that your schedule is more flexible and under your control during this time.
What is also means is that when the hectic weekdays roll back around, you will only be responsible for working out 1-3 days during the work week.
One of the biggest mistakes that even many people who have scheduled a workout program into their schedule make is allowing it to be bumped off of their schedule to easily.
Although things will occassionally come up that will cause you to have to reschedule the workout you had planned, you must be vigilant in making sure that only the most important emergencies are allowed to temporarily take you off of your plan.
In the event that one of those important emergencies does happen and you can't make it to your workout, reschedule with yourself to make it up on the next possible day that you are available to do so. If your own health, fitness, and efforts to lose weight are not a priority to you, they certainly won't be so to anyone else.
Don't go at this alone. Let the important people in your life know what you are up to. Your spouse or love interest, parents, children, co-workers, and close friends will often pitch in and help you to meet your fitness or weight loss commitment to yourself if you make them aware and ask for their support.
Leverage these relationships to delegate some of your normal responsibilities
or even allow you to shift appointments that you have with them as you restructure your schedule for your workout. If any of them are into exercise or trying to lose weight themselves, don't hesitate to form a buddy system with them as you move forward with your program.
No matter who you are, there will be times in your workout program that you just aren't able to keep it up as you would like due to outside demands. Don't be too tough on yourself when that happens.
Remember that it is what you do consistently over a long period of time, not what you do in spurts, that truly counts. Just make sure that you get back on the horse full force as soon as you can and continue to press forward, doing your best to avoid slacking off again.
No matter what goals you have for health, fitness, or weight loss, you CAN fit an effective exercise program into that hectic schedule of yours and be amazingly successful at getting the exact results that you want!
To Your Best Body,
Lawrence Cole
Your Lifestyle and Fitness Coach
YourbestbodyNOW.com
Your Weight in Muscle
You probably have heard that muscle weighs more than fat. Many people notice a small weight gain when they begin lifting weights consistently. As a general rule, if you lift weights 2 to 3 times a week, you can gain 1 pound of muscle per month for about 6 months. After that, the rate of increase slows down as you start to reach your genetic potential. For the same reason, you will make a lot of progress on weight progression at the beginning, but the longer you lift; your progression will lessen because you are reaching your genetic potential. Don’t be alarmed at the extra pounds of weight from weight training because it is well worth the effort. For every 3 pounds of muscle you build, research shows you increase your resting metabolic rate by about 7 percent. For example, if your body burns 1,200 calories per day (not counting exercise or any other movement), you would burn an extra 84 calories per day with those 3 extra pounds of muscle. Many women have a difficult time outgrowing 2-3 pound dumbbell weights, because they are afraid that if they increase the weight they will bulk up. If you are happy with the strength and appearance of your muscles, you can do a maintenance program with 5 pound weights. However, if you want more strength, you could progress to 8 or 10 pound weights and still not bulk up. Using heavier weights can increase muscle size, but it’s highly unlikely that you’ll get bulky.
Women don’t naturally have enough of the hormone, testosterone, required to build huge muscles, and even if you could bulk up, you’d have to use significantly heavier weights. Another option to tone muscle is to increase your repetitions instead of increasing weight. A high-repetition/light-weight program will develop muscle tone and increase strength and endurance without significantly increasing muscle size. I like to tell my clients to not just go through the motion when lifting weights. I use the word “squeeze” a lot to describe the contraction of the muscle you should be focusing on. Think about the muscle you are working and squeeze or contract it as you are lifting. You will get a lot more benefit for your efforts if you squeeze the muscle on the lift rather than just raising and lowering the weight without focusing on the muscle. For more information and tips on exercise, go to http://www.easyexercisetips.com
Weight Lifting – What Every Beginner Should Know!
Here are a few things that beginners should know about weight lifting.
First you put good strain on your joints as well as your bones when you lift weights. This strengthens your bones. Strong bones protect our bodies against breakage and osteoporosis.
Another important point about weight lifting is that as your muscles increase in size your body becomes more shapely and firm - more attractive.
Weight lifting also helps you more vigorously perform your aerobic exercise, which in turn will increase your cardiovascular endurance and help your heart. The reason you are able to perform at a higher level is the weight lifting has increased your muscular strength, and therefore your ability to tolerate more intense exercise.
Weight lifting also gives you nice after effects to your metabolism. By adding muscle to your body through weight lifting, you likely will increase your metabolic rate. If you increase your metabolism you increase the amount of fat burning enzymes in your body. This means you’ll burn more body fat even at rest! What a great bonus!
When you lift weights you should find the right weight that allows you to do 8-12 repetitions of the same movement with the same weight. If you are able to repeat it more than 12 times the weight is too light for you. If you can't do at least 8 reps the weight is too heavy.
This 8-12 repetition practice is called a set. A beginning weight lifter should only be doing one or two sets of any weight lifting movement at one time.
Beginners often forget to breathe when they lift weights, which is dangerous because it can elevate your blood pressure. You should concentrate on inhaling on the eccentric or lowering phase of the lift and exhale on the concentric or lifting phase of the lift.
When weight lifting, you should always work your largest muscles first. Smaller muscles get tired faster. If they tire too quickly they can't help you work your large muscles. The first things you are going to work are your chest, back, shoulders and thighs. Then you do weight lifting exercises for your arms, abdominals and calves last. If you’re new to weight lifting, I would suggest picking 6-8 exercises that covers all the major body parts above. Perform these exercises 2-3 times per week making sure you allow at least 48 hours between workout sessions, so your body has time to recover.
Good Luck!
Learn To Gain Weight And Build Muscle
If you want to increase muscle mass and gain weight, remember that in order to effectively bulk up, you will need to be persistent in your efforts. Increasing your caloric intake is an important part of gaining weight and building new muscle tissue. When you feed your body more food than it can burn, you gain weight. Weight training is also an important part of gaining weight and increasing your muscle mass. Weight training stimulates the muscles and promotes growth. The combination of weight training and proper diet is the best, most effective way to gain weight and increase muscle mass.
Failure to eat properly while weight training could result in loss of muscle tissue. Make certain you get plenty of protein, fats, and carbs and in large enough quantities to allow your body to gain weight. Supplements can play a role in building body mass if taken while adjusting your diet and training with weights. Meal replacement bars, powders, and protein drinks can be an excellent way to increase your daily caloric intake. In order to increase muscle mass, you must give your body approximately 500 more calories per day than the number of calories your body uses.
Exercise and diet are the most important things to consider when attempting to gain weight and increase muscle mass. Weight training and the adequate food intake will leave your body with no choice but to gain weight and add mass. Make sure to get enough rest between workouts to give your body time to recuperate and build new muscle tissue.
If you want to get the maximum benefit from your mass building routine, you must avoid the most common reasons that cause people to fail at building muscle and gaining weight. A quality mass building routine combined with proper nutrition and plenty of rest can produce results that you never dreamed possible. Consistency, smart eating habits, the proper weight lifting techniques, and lots of rest are the common elements shared by every successful body builder.
Building muscle is a slow process and it could possibly take several months before you see noticeable results. If you are determined and consistent in your muscle mass building routine and your eating habits, you efforts will pay off in time. Nutrition is also crucial in building muscle mass. The right amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats must be included in your diet in order to give your body the fuel it needs to add muscle tissue. The trick to building muscle is to find the combination of foods that allow you to add new muscle mass. Trial and error combined with sound dietary guidelines will allow you to find just the right nutritional plan for you.
The proper weight lifting techniques are a very important part of a muscle mass building routine. If you don't work your muscles, they won't grow. You will need to find the right amount of weight and the right weight lifting exercises for your body. Determination, trial and error, and a consistent effort will eventually give you the results you want. The most important thing is to stay focused and realize your reward is waiting for you down the line.
How To Gain Weight And Increase Muscle Mass
If you want to increase muscle mass and gain weight, remember that in order to effectively bulk up, you will need to be persistent in your efforts. Increasing your caloric intake is an important part of gaining weight and building new muscle tissue. When you feed your body more food than it can burn, you gain weight. Weight training is also an important part of gaining weight and increasing your muscle mass. Weight training stimulates the muscles and promotes growth. The combination of weight training and proper diet is the best, most effective way to gain weight and increase muscle mass.
Failure to eat properly while weight training could result in loss of muscle tissue. Make certain you get plenty of protein, fats, and carbs and in large enough quantities to allow your body to gain weight. Supplements can play a role in building body mass if taken while adjusting your diet and training with weights. Meal replacement bars, powders, and protein drinks can be an excellent way to increase your daily caloric intake. In order to increase muscle mass, you must give your body approximately 500 more calories per day than the number of calories your body uses.
Exercise and diet are the most important things to consider when attempting to gain weight and increase muscle mass. Weight training and the adequate food intake will leave your body with no choice but to gain weight and add mass. Make sure to get enough rest between workouts to give your body time to recuperate and build new muscle tissue.
If you want to get the maximum benefit from your mass building routine, you must avoid the most common reasons that cause people to fail at building muscle and gaining weight. A quality mass building routine combined with proper nutrition and plenty of rest can produce results that you never dreamed possible. Consistency, smart eating habits, the proper weight lifting techniques, and lots of rest are the common elements shared by every successful body builder.
Building muscle is a slow process and it could possibly take several months before you see noticeable results. If you are determined and consistent in your muscle mass building routine and your eating habits, you efforts will pay off in time. Nutrition is also crucial in building muscle mass. The right amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats must be included in your diet in order to give your body the fuel it needs to add muscle tissue. The trick to building muscle is to find the combination of foods that allow you to add new muscle mass. Trial and error combined with sound dietary guidelines will allow you to find just the right nutritional plan for you.
The proper weight lifting techniques are a very important part of a muscle mass building routine. If you don't work your muscles, they won't grow. You will need to find the right amount of weight and the right weight lifting exercises for your body. Determination, trial and error, and a consistent effort will eventually give you the results you want. The most important thing is to stay focused and realize your reward is waiting for you down the line.
Weight Gain Myths
The vast majority of myths about weight gain are mostly passed down from
"gym talk" and so-called experts who know nothing about the body's workings.
Myths that lead to wasted time, frustration and if are taken blindly as truth, can really set back your progress in the gym. Don't believe everything you hear in the gym when it comes to exercise and weight gain, do the research yourself.
Simple, basic principles apply to all weight and muscle gain such as progressive overload, variable frequency of reps and high intensity workouts. Lets take a look at some of the most common weight gain myths.
High repetitions burn fat while low repetitions build muscle.
Progressive overload is needed to make muscles bigger.
Meaning that you need to perform more reps than you did
for your last workout for that particular exercise.
If you perform the same amount of reps at each workout nothing
will change on you, also if the weight doesn’t changes on the bar nothing
will change on you. You need to become stronger.
Definition has two characteristics, muscle size and a low
incidence of body fat. To reduce body fat you will have to
reduce your calories; the high repetition exercise will burn
some calories, but wouldn't it be better to fast walk to burn these off?
Better still; use the low reps to build muscle, which will
elevate your metabolism and burn more calories (less fat).
Vegetarians can’t build muscle.
Yes they can! Strength training with supplementation of
soy Protein Isolate has shown to increase solid bodyweight.
Studies have shown that athletic performance is not impaired
by following a meat free diet, and people strength training
and consuming only soy protein isolate as a protein source
were able to gain lean muscle mass.
Strength Training will make you look masculine.
If it is not you’re intention to bulk up from strength training
you won’t. Putting on muscle is a long hard slow process.
Your strength-training regime coupled with quality food will
determine how much you will bulk up. To bulk up you also require
more food. Women don't produce enough testosterone to allow
for muscular growth as large as men.
By working out you can eat what ever you want to.
Of course you can eat whatever you want, if you don't care
how you want to look. Working out does not give you an open license
to consume as many calories as you want. Although you will
burn more calories if you workout than someone who doesn't,
you still need to balance your energy intake with you energy
expenditure.
If you take a week off you will lose most of your gains.
Taking one or two weeks off occasionally will not harm your
training. By taking this time off every eight to ten weeks
in between strength training cycles it has the habit of refreshing you and
to heal those small niggling injuries. By having longer layoffs
you do not actually lose muscle fibres, just volume
through not training, any size loss will be quickly re-gained.
By eating more protein I can build bigger muscles.
Building muscle mass involves two things, progressive overload
to stimulate muscles beyond their normal levels of resistance
and eating more calories than you can burn off. With all the
hype about high protein diets lately and because muscle is made
of protein, it’s easy to believe that protein is the best fuel
for building muscle, however muscles work on calories which
should predominately be derived from carbohydrates.
If I'm not sore after a workout, I didn't work out hard enough.
Post workout soreness is not an indication of how good the
exercise or strength training session was for you. The fitter
you are at a certain activity, the less soreness you will
experience after. As soon as you change an exercise, use a
heavier weight or do a few more reps you place extra stress
on that body part and this will cause soreness.
Resistance training doesn't burn fat.
Nothing could not be further from the truth. Muscle is a
metabolically active tissue and has a role in increasing
the metabolism. The faster metabolism we have the quicker
we can burn fat. Cardio exercise enables us to burn
calories whilst exercising but does little else for
fat loss afterwards.
Weight training enables us to burn calories whilst
exercising but also helps us to burn calories whilst
at rest. Weight training encourages muscle growth
and the more lean muscle mass we possess, the more
fat we burn though an increased and elevated metabolism.
No pain no gain.
This is one myth that hangs on and on. Pain is your body
signalling that something is wrong. If you feel real
pain during a workout, stop your workout and rest.
To develop muscle and increase endurance you may need
to have a slight level of discomfort, but that's not
actual pain.
Taking steroids will make me huge.
Not true, strength training and correct nutrition will
grow muscle. Taking steroids without training will not
make you muscular.
Most steroids allow faster muscle growth through greater
recovery, while others help increase strength which
allows for greater stress to be put onto a muscle.
Without food to build the muscle or training to stimulate
it nothing will happen. Most of the weight gain seen
with the use of some steroids is due to water
retention and is not actual muscle.
Strength training won’t work your heart.
Wrong!! Strength training with short rest periods will
increase your heartbeat well over a hundred beats
per minute. For example, performing a set of breathing
squats and you can be guaranteed that your heart will
be working overtime and that your entire cardiovascular
system will be given a great overall body workout.
Any intensive weightlifting routine that lasts for
20 minutes or more is a great workout for your heart
and the muscles involved.
I can gain muscle and lose fat at the same time.
Wrong. Only a few gifted people with superb genetics
can increase muscle size while not putting on body fat.
But for the average hard gainer, they have to increase
their muscle mass to its maximum potential and then cut
down their body fat percentage to achieve the desired shape.
