April 4 thru April 9.
On Friday I weighed in at 183 pounds (90.5 kilo’s) and that is slightly up on last week. It is not a problem because last week was a distorted figure due to being unwell and not eating very much anyway.
One of the things I have learned during this weight control period is never to become upset if the scales seem to indicate a poor week. The reason for this is that when you go into a weight loss program you have to take the mindset that “I am what I measure, not what I weigh.” With my waist belt two notches slimmer than when I started there are no complaints.
During the past week I concentrated on diet and ate no bread or pastry products on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Bread is my greatest weakness; having a local baker who produces the most magnificent bread doesn’t help the weight loss program. Hence the reason for dropping bread for three days; it reaffirmed my commitment in my own mind.
Those that have followed this series of articles from the start will know that I only diet on the condition that I give up no food that I like. This includes bacon sandwiches, desserts, ice cream and just about anything else. What I do is give up one thing each day and leave a space on my plate where that item would normally be. This removes one of the biggest problems that all dieters face – the temptation to go off of a rigid diet due to the temptation of foods that they love. There isn’t a single person I know of that can’t give something up for a day when they know they can return to it next day.
In the western world most inhabitants eat far too much. The average adult body requires 2,000 calories each day to function normally; we tend to eat around 3,500 calories each day. This translates to an excess intake of 10,500 calories each week. One pound of body weight is equal to 3,500 calories so that excess eating amounts to three pounds each week weight gain. It is true that you can exercise the excess calories away and if you work in a heavy laboring role in an iron smelter you probably will. But do you spend eight hours each day in that type of environment?
By having a space on each plate you soon learn serving size discipline and that is what causes most weight problems – eating too much per serving. Remember it takes about twenty minutes for the your stomach to get the message to your brain that you’ve eaten enough. It is what we continue to consume during this critical twenty-minute period that is our enemy. Maybe serving smaller portions taking a twenty minute break between courses will help you.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
How To Maintain Your Weight Loss!
Once you have started losing weight, it is crucial to think of how to maintain that weight loss in the days ahead.
It may seem hard to believe, but taking the weight off is the easy part. Maintaining weight loss for good is where the real challenge lies. If you are like me, you have tried countless diets only to gain the weight back. People lose lots of weight on diets everyday, but 95% of them gain it back because they have focused only on the weight loss. They follow the diet until they get to a particular number on the scale and then shortly after, they go back to the old lifestyle that made them overweight in the first place. Of course, over time the weight comes right back.
The truth is, almost everyone can lose weight but only 5% keep it off. These are the Weight Loss Registry's figures, not mine. The WLR followed highly successful dieters and came up with seven reasons why people were able to keep the weight off.
Here are the seven reasons the dieters were successful.
1. The dieters accepted failure and kept on trying.
2. The dieters did not deny themselves--they indulged from time to time.
3. They weighed themselves often.
4. They exercised one hour a day.
5. They added little bits of activity into their daily life.
6. They followed a high carb and low fat diet.
7. They ate 5 meals a day.
When I compare my own weight loss success to the list above, I would say I learned how to maintain weight loss due to the following: I do the best I can with what I have available. Sometimes I am not always in a perfect situation with the healthiest choices, but I make do with what is there and I stick to the plan. If I make a not so healthy choice, I don't beat myself up for it.
I eat YUMMY and whole foods. Using the finest ingredients makes the most delicious meals and has helped me stick to Living Well. If I wanted to indulge, I would make it from scratch using the healthiest ingredients possible. To me, indulging does not mean eating junk.
I use a tape measure to keep tabs on my weight and occasionally weigh myself.
I really struggle with exercising regularly and I have NEVER exercised for one hour a day consistently. I will do heavy housework and other activities around the house to get my heart rate up and I try different forms of exercise all the time because I get bored easily.
I think it is vital to get moving every day, somehow, and it doesn't always mean you have to be in an aerobics class or on some sort of machine to get your heart rate up.
I eat organic whole foods and healthy oils. I am not sold on the idea that low fat and high carb is the way to go. High fat is not the answer either, but healthy oils are not the enemy. The rights oils will actually speed up the metabolism.
I eat only 3 meals a day and rarely snack. I do better when I don't snack or graze on food all day. BUT, you may be different. You have to do what works best for you and your unique body.
This is the MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL I think of the health I have now and my future health EVERYDAY. I really want to enjoy my older years and I want to be healthy. I don't want to sit in a rocking chair, talking about all my symptoms and the things that ail me when I am in my golden years.
The Weight Loss Registry tips and my maintenance tips are not the only path for everyone, but instead are some ideas you can use to come up with your own way to keep the weight off once you have lost it.
Ultimately, I think it is crucial to focus on your health when changing over to a healthy lifestyle. So many people are in a hurry to lose weight. They spend their entire lives putting on the weight, losing the weight temporarily on diets and just want to get rid of it as fast as possible not taking in consideration their state of health. I know you have heard this many times before but if you don't have your health, you don't have much. Being thin will mean nothing to you if you compromise your health along the way.
Even if you are losing weight slowly, good for you! The idea here is to take off the weight and keep it off for good. Even just a couple of pounds a month adds up over the course of a year. And for those that were doing everything they could and continuing to gain weight, just stopping that weight gain is a measure of success.
With these tips, you now know how to maintain weight loss. Give yourself time to adjust to a new and healthy lifestyle and enjoy yourself along the way. A year from now your body will be thanking you for it!
It may seem hard to believe, but taking the weight off is the easy part. Maintaining weight loss for good is where the real challenge lies. If you are like me, you have tried countless diets only to gain the weight back. People lose lots of weight on diets everyday, but 95% of them gain it back because they have focused only on the weight loss. They follow the diet until they get to a particular number on the scale and then shortly after, they go back to the old lifestyle that made them overweight in the first place. Of course, over time the weight comes right back.
The truth is, almost everyone can lose weight but only 5% keep it off. These are the Weight Loss Registry's figures, not mine. The WLR followed highly successful dieters and came up with seven reasons why people were able to keep the weight off.
Here are the seven reasons the dieters were successful.
1. The dieters accepted failure and kept on trying.
2. The dieters did not deny themselves--they indulged from time to time.
3. They weighed themselves often.
4. They exercised one hour a day.
5. They added little bits of activity into their daily life.
6. They followed a high carb and low fat diet.
7. They ate 5 meals a day.
When I compare my own weight loss success to the list above, I would say I learned how to maintain weight loss due to the following: I do the best I can with what I have available. Sometimes I am not always in a perfect situation with the healthiest choices, but I make do with what is there and I stick to the plan. If I make a not so healthy choice, I don't beat myself up for it.
I eat YUMMY and whole foods. Using the finest ingredients makes the most delicious meals and has helped me stick to Living Well. If I wanted to indulge, I would make it from scratch using the healthiest ingredients possible. To me, indulging does not mean eating junk.
I use a tape measure to keep tabs on my weight and occasionally weigh myself.
I really struggle with exercising regularly and I have NEVER exercised for one hour a day consistently. I will do heavy housework and other activities around the house to get my heart rate up and I try different forms of exercise all the time because I get bored easily.
I think it is vital to get moving every day, somehow, and it doesn't always mean you have to be in an aerobics class or on some sort of machine to get your heart rate up.
I eat organic whole foods and healthy oils. I am not sold on the idea that low fat and high carb is the way to go. High fat is not the answer either, but healthy oils are not the enemy. The rights oils will actually speed up the metabolism.
I eat only 3 meals a day and rarely snack. I do better when I don't snack or graze on food all day. BUT, you may be different. You have to do what works best for you and your unique body.
This is the MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL I think of the health I have now and my future health EVERYDAY. I really want to enjoy my older years and I want to be healthy. I don't want to sit in a rocking chair, talking about all my symptoms and the things that ail me when I am in my golden years.
The Weight Loss Registry tips and my maintenance tips are not the only path for everyone, but instead are some ideas you can use to come up with your own way to keep the weight off once you have lost it.
Ultimately, I think it is crucial to focus on your health when changing over to a healthy lifestyle. So many people are in a hurry to lose weight. They spend their entire lives putting on the weight, losing the weight temporarily on diets and just want to get rid of it as fast as possible not taking in consideration their state of health. I know you have heard this many times before but if you don't have your health, you don't have much. Being thin will mean nothing to you if you compromise your health along the way.
Even if you are losing weight slowly, good for you! The idea here is to take off the weight and keep it off for good. Even just a couple of pounds a month adds up over the course of a year. And for those that were doing everything they could and continuing to gain weight, just stopping that weight gain is a measure of success.
With these tips, you now know how to maintain weight loss. Give yourself time to adjust to a new and healthy lifestyle and enjoy yourself along the way. A year from now your body will be thanking you for it!
Tips On Fast Weight Loss For Special Occasions
If you are like me, you have probably been through all this before, the family wedding is coming up next month and you can't seem to fit into that suit or dress because you have put on too much weight. So you must lose at least ten or more pounds quickly.
Losing weight quickly is not advisable as most of the loss will be muscle tissue and water; you put on the weight slowly (usually over years) so normally you should take it off slowly and then you will know that the majority of the loss will be body fat.
But you have a problem here and the clock is ticking so you will have to diet pretty hard to meet your target weight loss. Let's look at that first, you all know that diets don't work; they send the body into starvation mode, a survival mechanism from long age when humans faced periods of famine.
Going too low in calories causes the body to lower its metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat. At the same time, hunger signals increase and you quickly start to crave high-energy foods loaded with fats and sugar, the same foods you are trying to do without.
Research shows repeated dieting actually makes it harder to lose weight and easier to put it on because when you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits the drop in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old habits actually represent an excess in calories.
Not only do you regain the fat stores just lost, but also you may even gain an extra bit.
Knowing this, you really don't want to put yourselves through this rigorous process, but for this special occasion you will. First though, you will have to boost the metabolism that has been lowered by the dieting.
To do this you will have to perform a "Strength Training" workout to generate that initial spike in your metabolism. By increasing the lean muscle on your body by using Strength Training, your metabolism will increase, burning fat along the way.
The strength training technique I use requires just twenty to thirty mins per week. Gone are the days of the five-day a week program with 6 to 12 sets per body part that, method has never worked.
One short intense strength-training workout a week will elevate your metabolism more than you ever thought possible.
While the calories expended doing exercise are important, the increase in metabolism especially after strength training continues long after the exercise is finished, burning calories at the same time.
The two main components of this technique are the intensity of the exercise and the recovery after the exercise.
Infrequent, short, high intensity weight training sessions, followed by the required amount of time to recover and become stronger is what is needed to increase functional lean muscle and lose body fat.
Small frequent meals should be consumed during the day each containing a little protein to maintain muscle mass and energy levels. A high quality broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement should also be taken on a daily basis.
As before get the calories from high quality food but if you can't, utilize a blender to make concoctions from skim milk with whatever additives you want to use, just as long as you keep count of the calories for your daily total.
Now use these blender mixtures and solid food for your daily feedings. Spread it out over many small meals a day instead of the traditional three meals a day. The way to keep track of weight loss is to buy a calorie counter and record your daily calorie intake for a week.
Now average out how many calories you consume a day with the use of a seven-day eating plan and calorie counter, once you have this figure subtract 1000 calories and this will be the target number of calories you will be aiming for.
Remembering that one-pound of fat contains 3500cals, losing 1000 calories a day will total 7000 for the week, which equals two pounds lost by dietary means alone. Another technique for low calorie eating is to watch your fat intake as this has the most calories.
Incidental activity is also very important if you want to lose this amount of weight in this short period of time, by increasing incidental activity you can burn at least another pound a week The best exercise for the purpose of fat-loss is fast walking either indoors on the treadmill or outdoors.
Walk until you are mildly puffing and hold that rate until the allotted time. If your aerobic activities leave you panting or breathless, your going too hard, your energy is coming from your carbohydrate reserves and not from your fat stores. Try fast walking for one hour a day every day of the week.
Well there you have it, as an experienced trainer I wouldn't recommend this type of program to my clients. The weight loss is just too quick and the program would be very hard to maintain owing to the very low caloric intake.
I advise my clients to decrease their calories by just 500 per day (and no more) below their maintenance levels and they will be losing 1 - 2 pounds of body fat every week, safely, without craving and without too much disruption to their lifestyle.
In conclusion remember, think long term here and that's between 30 and 50 pounds of fat lost in six months. Any faster and all you will be losing is water and precious muscle tissue.
Losing weight quickly is not advisable as most of the loss will be muscle tissue and water; you put on the weight slowly (usually over years) so normally you should take it off slowly and then you will know that the majority of the loss will be body fat.
But you have a problem here and the clock is ticking so you will have to diet pretty hard to meet your target weight loss. Let's look at that first, you all know that diets don't work; they send the body into starvation mode, a survival mechanism from long age when humans faced periods of famine.
Going too low in calories causes the body to lower its metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat. At the same time, hunger signals increase and you quickly start to crave high-energy foods loaded with fats and sugar, the same foods you are trying to do without.
Research shows repeated dieting actually makes it harder to lose weight and easier to put it on because when you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits the drop in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old habits actually represent an excess in calories.
Not only do you regain the fat stores just lost, but also you may even gain an extra bit.
Knowing this, you really don't want to put yourselves through this rigorous process, but for this special occasion you will. First though, you will have to boost the metabolism that has been lowered by the dieting.
To do this you will have to perform a "Strength Training" workout to generate that initial spike in your metabolism. By increasing the lean muscle on your body by using Strength Training, your metabolism will increase, burning fat along the way.
The strength training technique I use requires just twenty to thirty mins per week. Gone are the days of the five-day a week program with 6 to 12 sets per body part that, method has never worked.
One short intense strength-training workout a week will elevate your metabolism more than you ever thought possible.
While the calories expended doing exercise are important, the increase in metabolism especially after strength training continues long after the exercise is finished, burning calories at the same time.
The two main components of this technique are the intensity of the exercise and the recovery after the exercise.
Infrequent, short, high intensity weight training sessions, followed by the required amount of time to recover and become stronger is what is needed to increase functional lean muscle and lose body fat.
Small frequent meals should be consumed during the day each containing a little protein to maintain muscle mass and energy levels. A high quality broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement should also be taken on a daily basis.
As before get the calories from high quality food but if you can't, utilize a blender to make concoctions from skim milk with whatever additives you want to use, just as long as you keep count of the calories for your daily total.
Now use these blender mixtures and solid food for your daily feedings. Spread it out over many small meals a day instead of the traditional three meals a day. The way to keep track of weight loss is to buy a calorie counter and record your daily calorie intake for a week.
Now average out how many calories you consume a day with the use of a seven-day eating plan and calorie counter, once you have this figure subtract 1000 calories and this will be the target number of calories you will be aiming for.
Remembering that one-pound of fat contains 3500cals, losing 1000 calories a day will total 7000 for the week, which equals two pounds lost by dietary means alone. Another technique for low calorie eating is to watch your fat intake as this has the most calories.
Incidental activity is also very important if you want to lose this amount of weight in this short period of time, by increasing incidental activity you can burn at least another pound a week The best exercise for the purpose of fat-loss is fast walking either indoors on the treadmill or outdoors.
Walk until you are mildly puffing and hold that rate until the allotted time. If your aerobic activities leave you panting or breathless, your going too hard, your energy is coming from your carbohydrate reserves and not from your fat stores. Try fast walking for one hour a day every day of the week.
Well there you have it, as an experienced trainer I wouldn't recommend this type of program to my clients. The weight loss is just too quick and the program would be very hard to maintain owing to the very low caloric intake.
I advise my clients to decrease their calories by just 500 per day (and no more) below their maintenance levels and they will be losing 1 - 2 pounds of body fat every week, safely, without craving and without too much disruption to their lifestyle.
In conclusion remember, think long term here and that's between 30 and 50 pounds of fat lost in six months. Any faster and all you will be losing is water and precious muscle tissue.
Green Tea’s Weight Loss Magic – It’s Not The Caffeine
In recent years there has been a significant amount of attention given to green tea and its health benefits. Green tea has been shown to prevent cancer, heart disease, and reduce the signs of aging. And, more recently, studies have shown that it can be helpful in weight loss.
Green tea is a potent source of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are important to our bodies because they fight the free radicals created as a by-product of digestion. These free radicals damage our cells and DNA, causing aging and disease. Therefore, a regular dose of anti-oxidants is beneficial to our health.
Many plant products contain anti-oxidants, including fruits and vegetables, cocoa, coffee, and tea. All forms of tea are good sources of anti-oxidants, but green tea is the most potent source, because the tea leaves are not fermented during the processing of green tea as they are during the production of black tea. This natural, unfermented tea leaf ensures that the important anti-oxidants, called catechins, are left in tact.
It is believed that these anti-oxidants are also an important contributor to green tea’s ability to help you lose weight. It has long been reported that green tea’s caffeine helps speed up metabolism, and may help you to lose weight.
However, what today’s research is showing is that it is not just the caffeine in green tea that helps with weight loss. Green tea’s anti-oxidants are also part of the equation. This helps explain why green tea is more beneficial to weight loss than other caffeinated beverages.
Several research studies have shown that green tea can do more than just speed up the metabolism. Green tea has also been shown to create thermogenesis, the fat burning process. In addition, in some studies, it has also been shown to inhibit the absorption of dietary fat. This means that less of the fat you eat may turn into body fat.
One article of particular interest, reported on by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, discussed how green tea has the ability to increase the metabolism and boost daily energy expenditure in a greater fashion than just the caffeine content would suggest.
Two studies are discussed in this article. In the first study, healthy male subjects were fed either green tea or a dose of caffeine equal to the caffeine in green tea. The subjects who drank the green tea showed an increase in energy expenditure (number of calories burned) and an increase in fat oxidation.
However, the subjects who consumed caffeine only showed no increase in energy expenditure or fat oxidation.* This leads to the conclusion that it is not the caffeine in tea that has the effect on the body’s ability to lose weight. Or, at the very least, the caffeine needs to be in combination with the anti-oxidants in order to have an effect.
In the other study cited in this article, the subjects were rats. These rats were injected with EGCG, the most potent anti-oxidant found in green tea. The rats showed a weight loss within 2-7 days of beginning the injections.
The rats showed two effects from the tea injections. The first was that their metabolism appeared to speed up. However, they also began to eat less. On average, the rats ate about 15% less when given the green tea injections.
In addition, very lean rats showed a propensity to stay lean when receiving the injections of EGCG, even when their diet increased in calories. All of the results from this study were found to be completely reversible; when the rats stopped receiving the EGCG injections, they regained the weight.
This study is important for several reasons. First of all, it suggests that EGCG is the anti-oxidant, or at least one of them, responsible for green tea’s ability to affect weight loss. Secondly, the study suggests that green tea may decrease the appetite, which may explain part of why it helps you lose weight.
Another interesting tidbit reported in this study is that the lean rats needed an increase in EGCG over time to continue to stay lean when their calories were increased. This may suggest that over time our bodies may adjust to the effects of the EGCG and we may require more in order to lose or maintain weight.
Keep in mind that this second study was conducted on rats, which means that its results may not directly correlate in humans. However, there is certainly enough positive information between the two studies to give a strong indication that green tea is helpful in weight loss.
Healthy diets combined with a reasonable exercise plan are still the two most important components of weight management. However, it does appear that adding green tea to this healthy diet can provide some help in losing weight or keeping it within a normal range. Most interestingly, it seems clear that green tea will help you more than other caffeinated beverages.
And, the really good news about using green tea to help you lose weight is that it is completely safe and has no side effects. In fact, even if you didn’t lose weight, you would likely find yourself to be healthier overall because of your green tea consumption.
Since green tea has also been shown to reduce your risk of many diseases, including heart disease and cancer, there is no downside to adding it to your diet.
To be certain, more research is needed to pinpoint exactly how green tea can help us with weight management. However, there’s certainly enough evidence available today to suggest that green tea is worth trying. You just might find that your weight loss efforts suddenly become easier and more successful.
Green tea is a potent source of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are important to our bodies because they fight the free radicals created as a by-product of digestion. These free radicals damage our cells and DNA, causing aging and disease. Therefore, a regular dose of anti-oxidants is beneficial to our health.
Many plant products contain anti-oxidants, including fruits and vegetables, cocoa, coffee, and tea. All forms of tea are good sources of anti-oxidants, but green tea is the most potent source, because the tea leaves are not fermented during the processing of green tea as they are during the production of black tea. This natural, unfermented tea leaf ensures that the important anti-oxidants, called catechins, are left in tact.
It is believed that these anti-oxidants are also an important contributor to green tea’s ability to help you lose weight. It has long been reported that green tea’s caffeine helps speed up metabolism, and may help you to lose weight.
However, what today’s research is showing is that it is not just the caffeine in green tea that helps with weight loss. Green tea’s anti-oxidants are also part of the equation. This helps explain why green tea is more beneficial to weight loss than other caffeinated beverages.
Several research studies have shown that green tea can do more than just speed up the metabolism. Green tea has also been shown to create thermogenesis, the fat burning process. In addition, in some studies, it has also been shown to inhibit the absorption of dietary fat. This means that less of the fat you eat may turn into body fat.
One article of particular interest, reported on by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, discussed how green tea has the ability to increase the metabolism and boost daily energy expenditure in a greater fashion than just the caffeine content would suggest.
Two studies are discussed in this article. In the first study, healthy male subjects were fed either green tea or a dose of caffeine equal to the caffeine in green tea. The subjects who drank the green tea showed an increase in energy expenditure (number of calories burned) and an increase in fat oxidation.
However, the subjects who consumed caffeine only showed no increase in energy expenditure or fat oxidation.* This leads to the conclusion that it is not the caffeine in tea that has the effect on the body’s ability to lose weight. Or, at the very least, the caffeine needs to be in combination with the anti-oxidants in order to have an effect.
In the other study cited in this article, the subjects were rats. These rats were injected with EGCG, the most potent anti-oxidant found in green tea. The rats showed a weight loss within 2-7 days of beginning the injections.
The rats showed two effects from the tea injections. The first was that their metabolism appeared to speed up. However, they also began to eat less. On average, the rats ate about 15% less when given the green tea injections.
In addition, very lean rats showed a propensity to stay lean when receiving the injections of EGCG, even when their diet increased in calories. All of the results from this study were found to be completely reversible; when the rats stopped receiving the EGCG injections, they regained the weight.
This study is important for several reasons. First of all, it suggests that EGCG is the anti-oxidant, or at least one of them, responsible for green tea’s ability to affect weight loss. Secondly, the study suggests that green tea may decrease the appetite, which may explain part of why it helps you lose weight.
Another interesting tidbit reported in this study is that the lean rats needed an increase in EGCG over time to continue to stay lean when their calories were increased. This may suggest that over time our bodies may adjust to the effects of the EGCG and we may require more in order to lose or maintain weight.
Keep in mind that this second study was conducted on rats, which means that its results may not directly correlate in humans. However, there is certainly enough positive information between the two studies to give a strong indication that green tea is helpful in weight loss.
Healthy diets combined with a reasonable exercise plan are still the two most important components of weight management. However, it does appear that adding green tea to this healthy diet can provide some help in losing weight or keeping it within a normal range. Most interestingly, it seems clear that green tea will help you more than other caffeinated beverages.
And, the really good news about using green tea to help you lose weight is that it is completely safe and has no side effects. In fact, even if you didn’t lose weight, you would likely find yourself to be healthier overall because of your green tea consumption.
Since green tea has also been shown to reduce your risk of many diseases, including heart disease and cancer, there is no downside to adding it to your diet.
To be certain, more research is needed to pinpoint exactly how green tea can help us with weight management. However, there’s certainly enough evidence available today to suggest that green tea is worth trying. You just might find that your weight loss efforts suddenly become easier and more successful.
SOME TIPS FOR HEALTHY -- AND PERMANENT -- WEIGHT LOSS
Your weight reflects your total calorie consumption, how much you exercise, and your metabolic rate, but the composition of the food you eat is also important. Here are some tips.
Reduce carbs. We have found that it's almost impossible to lose weight and keep it off without eating substantially fewer carbohydrates, particularly those with a high glycemic load (GL). As we discussed in "Carbohydrates and the Glycemic Load," consumption of high-GL carbohydrates leads to a desire for more carbohydrates. Eating a low-carbohydrate, low-GL diet will help you control your appetite and decrease cravings. You'll feel full sooner, you'll find it far easier to stop eating once you're satisfied, and you'll find yourself less hungry between meals. If you are trying to lose weight, we recommend you keep total carbohydrates under one-sixth of your calories and eliminate all high-GL carbohydrates such as sugary foods, pastas, and breads.
Reduce fats. Reducing fat in the diet aids weight loss because high-fat foods are more calorically dense -- 9 calories per gram versus 4 for carbohydrates and protein.
Go for veggies. Emphasize foods that are low in caloric density (that is, low in calories but high in weight). The ideal category: low-starch vegetables, which have a low glycemic index and are rich in valuable nutrients of all kinds, high in fiber, and filling.
Eat fiber. Consume at least 25 grams per day, including at least 10 grams of insoluble fiber.
Don't switch foods radically. While you are losing weight, we strongly recommend against diets that involve eating in a significantly different way from how you intend to eat when not "dieting." People count the days until they are released from this type of gastronomic prison. They do not associate the benefit of weight loss with learning proper eating habits -- changing tastes, desires, and attitudes -- but rather with the artificial eating patterns that they are anxious to leave.
Make health, not weight loss, your goal. If you set a healthy lifestyle as your goal, you are more likely to succeed in both improving your health and attaining permanent weight loss. Don't be too anxious to drop pounds right away. Enjoying the experience is crucial. You want to associate the experience of reaching a healthy weight with that of healthy eating. It may take a few months longer, but it will ensure that you'll never have to lose weight again.
A major reason people get discouraged and drop out of weight-loss programs is weight plateaus. Gained muscle mass and blood-vessel expansion due to exercise may temporarily halt weight loss or cause a small gain, but these are actually very desirable phenomena. Since muscle weighs more than fat, you can lose body fat and inches without dropping pounds if you are building muscles at the same time. Changes in medication, menstruation, constipation, water retention, and other factors may also cause weight loss to slow down or even reverse. Remember that your goal is to lose body fat. None of these factors causes an increase in body fat, so do not be discouraged by minor shifts of weight in the wrong direction. Be patient.
Don't rush weight reduction. One of the most important issues in weight loss is recidivism. Most people who lose weight end up gaining it back. Preliminary research on the ghrelin hormone, which is secreted in the stomach, may explain part of this troublesome problem. Ghrelin stimulates appetite at the same time that it slows down metabolism. Both of these effects contribute to increased fat storage. Levels of this hormone spike before each meal and drop after you're full. People given injections of ghrelin become extremely hungry, and studies show they eat much more when unlimited food is available, such as at a buffet.
A recent study at the University of Washington showed that ghrelin levels increase substantially after a period of rapid weight loss. Dr. David E. Cummings, the lead scientist on the study, thinks this was an evolutionary adaptation to encourage the body to regain the lost fat as protection from possible future famine. This genetic program no longer applies to our modern situation. Research is currently under way to develop medications that block ghrelin and its stimulation of appetite and storage of body fat.
Slow, gradual weight loss does not appear to cause the same spike in ghrelin levels, however. This is another important reason to approach your ideal weight gradually. Setting your daily caloric level to match your target weight's maintenance level is the best way to lose weight once and to keep it off.
Get exercise. Physical activity is very important for burning calories, lowering your "set point" (the weight your body gravitates toward), and increasing your metabolic level (rate of burning calories), even while you are not exercising. We recommend burning at least 300 calories daily through exercise.
Raise your metabolic rate. A primary factor in determining your metabolic rate -- the rate at which you burn calories -- is the number of mitochondria in cells. Mitochondria are tiny energy factories that fuel every cell. The more you have, the more energy you will burn, which will keep you leaner. Unfortunately, we cannot simply take a mitochondria supplement. However, fat cells have very few mitochondria because fat cells store energy rather than burn it, whereas muscle cells have many because they need energy to perform their job. So as you build muscle cells from a regular exercise program, you increase your mitochondria, thereby permanently raising your metabolic rate, even when you are not exercising.
CALORIC RESTRICTION
Closely related to maintaining a lean body weight is the practice of caloric restriction, or CR. There is now extensive evidence across a wide range of animal species that restricting calories slows down aging and can extend both life and youthfulness. These experiments have not run long enough to demonstrate actual life extension in humans, but studies of humans practicing caloric restriction show the same reduction in disease and aging markers (changes associated with increasing age) that we see in animal populations.
APPLYING CR TO HUMANS
There have been a number of human population studies that illustrate the potential of caloric restriction for humans. For example, the people living in the Okinawa region of Japan have 40 times the number of centenarians (People age 100 or older) than the northeastern prefectures, and they have very little serious disease before age 60. Okinawans remain active much longer than their peers in other regions of Japan. The primary difference in their diet appears to be a lower caloric intake.
The benefits of caloric restriction also extend to your remaining life expectancy. If you are 40 and thus have a remaining life expectancy of about 40 years, you will be extending only that remaining period. So the earlier you start CR the greater the benefits. However, regardless of when you start, you'll quickly realize the benefits of maintaining a lower weight.
GUIDELINES FOR CALORIC RESTRICTION
One result of restricting calories is, of course, losing weight. People who follow strict caloric restriction guidelines end up being very thin to the point of looking gaunt, which we don't recommend. From the recent Joslin study that we cited above, it is clear that at least some of the benefits of CR come from the resultant low level of body fat. Our recommendation, therefore, is to practice a moderate form of CR, not as austere as the 35 percent reduction used in the animal experiments.
We suggest the following guidelines:
Eat a minimum of 12 calories per pound of your optimal weight. For example, a man with an optimal weight of 150 pounds should eat a minimum of about 1,800 calories per day; a woman with optimal weight of 125 pounds should eat at least 1,500 calories per day. Depending on your activity level, these figures are 10 percent to 33 percent lower than recommended in the above tables of maintenance calories.
Set your minimum weight at 95 percent of your optimal weight. For example, if your optimal weight is 200, your minimum weight would be 190 (200 times 0.95). If your weight falls below this minimum number, increase your calorie consumption.
Select foods low in caloric density. The best way to reduce calories is to eat low-starch vegetables such as broccoli and summer squash, which are filling and have relatively few calories, instead of potatoes and rice.
Focus on fiber. Another choice is foods rich in fiber, which provides bulk and texture with no digestible calories. Fiber also has health benefits by lowering cholesterol levels, improving regularity, and reducing the risks of colon cancer. Most vegetables are, of course, high in fiber. There are also many foods designed to be carbohydrate substitutes that use fiber (as well as vegetable protein) to replace the bulk and texture of starch, such as low-carbohydrate cereals and breads (see Fantastic-Voyage.net for recommendations of specific products).
Reduce carbs. We have found that it's almost impossible to lose weight and keep it off without eating substantially fewer carbohydrates, particularly those with a high glycemic load (GL). As we discussed in "Carbohydrates and the Glycemic Load," consumption of high-GL carbohydrates leads to a desire for more carbohydrates. Eating a low-carbohydrate, low-GL diet will help you control your appetite and decrease cravings. You'll feel full sooner, you'll find it far easier to stop eating once you're satisfied, and you'll find yourself less hungry between meals. If you are trying to lose weight, we recommend you keep total carbohydrates under one-sixth of your calories and eliminate all high-GL carbohydrates such as sugary foods, pastas, and breads.
Reduce fats. Reducing fat in the diet aids weight loss because high-fat foods are more calorically dense -- 9 calories per gram versus 4 for carbohydrates and protein.
Go for veggies. Emphasize foods that are low in caloric density (that is, low in calories but high in weight). The ideal category: low-starch vegetables, which have a low glycemic index and are rich in valuable nutrients of all kinds, high in fiber, and filling.
Eat fiber. Consume at least 25 grams per day, including at least 10 grams of insoluble fiber.
Don't switch foods radically. While you are losing weight, we strongly recommend against diets that involve eating in a significantly different way from how you intend to eat when not "dieting." People count the days until they are released from this type of gastronomic prison. They do not associate the benefit of weight loss with learning proper eating habits -- changing tastes, desires, and attitudes -- but rather with the artificial eating patterns that they are anxious to leave.
Make health, not weight loss, your goal. If you set a healthy lifestyle as your goal, you are more likely to succeed in both improving your health and attaining permanent weight loss. Don't be too anxious to drop pounds right away. Enjoying the experience is crucial. You want to associate the experience of reaching a healthy weight with that of healthy eating. It may take a few months longer, but it will ensure that you'll never have to lose weight again.
A major reason people get discouraged and drop out of weight-loss programs is weight plateaus. Gained muscle mass and blood-vessel expansion due to exercise may temporarily halt weight loss or cause a small gain, but these are actually very desirable phenomena. Since muscle weighs more than fat, you can lose body fat and inches without dropping pounds if you are building muscles at the same time. Changes in medication, menstruation, constipation, water retention, and other factors may also cause weight loss to slow down or even reverse. Remember that your goal is to lose body fat. None of these factors causes an increase in body fat, so do not be discouraged by minor shifts of weight in the wrong direction. Be patient.
Don't rush weight reduction. One of the most important issues in weight loss is recidivism. Most people who lose weight end up gaining it back. Preliminary research on the ghrelin hormone, which is secreted in the stomach, may explain part of this troublesome problem. Ghrelin stimulates appetite at the same time that it slows down metabolism. Both of these effects contribute to increased fat storage. Levels of this hormone spike before each meal and drop after you're full. People given injections of ghrelin become extremely hungry, and studies show they eat much more when unlimited food is available, such as at a buffet.
A recent study at the University of Washington showed that ghrelin levels increase substantially after a period of rapid weight loss. Dr. David E. Cummings, the lead scientist on the study, thinks this was an evolutionary adaptation to encourage the body to regain the lost fat as protection from possible future famine. This genetic program no longer applies to our modern situation. Research is currently under way to develop medications that block ghrelin and its stimulation of appetite and storage of body fat.
Slow, gradual weight loss does not appear to cause the same spike in ghrelin levels, however. This is another important reason to approach your ideal weight gradually. Setting your daily caloric level to match your target weight's maintenance level is the best way to lose weight once and to keep it off.
Get exercise. Physical activity is very important for burning calories, lowering your "set point" (the weight your body gravitates toward), and increasing your metabolic level (rate of burning calories), even while you are not exercising. We recommend burning at least 300 calories daily through exercise.
Raise your metabolic rate. A primary factor in determining your metabolic rate -- the rate at which you burn calories -- is the number of mitochondria in cells. Mitochondria are tiny energy factories that fuel every cell. The more you have, the more energy you will burn, which will keep you leaner. Unfortunately, we cannot simply take a mitochondria supplement. However, fat cells have very few mitochondria because fat cells store energy rather than burn it, whereas muscle cells have many because they need energy to perform their job. So as you build muscle cells from a regular exercise program, you increase your mitochondria, thereby permanently raising your metabolic rate, even when you are not exercising.
CALORIC RESTRICTION
Closely related to maintaining a lean body weight is the practice of caloric restriction, or CR. There is now extensive evidence across a wide range of animal species that restricting calories slows down aging and can extend both life and youthfulness. These experiments have not run long enough to demonstrate actual life extension in humans, but studies of humans practicing caloric restriction show the same reduction in disease and aging markers (changes associated with increasing age) that we see in animal populations.
APPLYING CR TO HUMANS
There have been a number of human population studies that illustrate the potential of caloric restriction for humans. For example, the people living in the Okinawa region of Japan have 40 times the number of centenarians (People age 100 or older) than the northeastern prefectures, and they have very little serious disease before age 60. Okinawans remain active much longer than their peers in other regions of Japan. The primary difference in their diet appears to be a lower caloric intake.
The benefits of caloric restriction also extend to your remaining life expectancy. If you are 40 and thus have a remaining life expectancy of about 40 years, you will be extending only that remaining period. So the earlier you start CR the greater the benefits. However, regardless of when you start, you'll quickly realize the benefits of maintaining a lower weight.
GUIDELINES FOR CALORIC RESTRICTION
One result of restricting calories is, of course, losing weight. People who follow strict caloric restriction guidelines end up being very thin to the point of looking gaunt, which we don't recommend. From the recent Joslin study that we cited above, it is clear that at least some of the benefits of CR come from the resultant low level of body fat. Our recommendation, therefore, is to practice a moderate form of CR, not as austere as the 35 percent reduction used in the animal experiments.
We suggest the following guidelines:
Eat a minimum of 12 calories per pound of your optimal weight. For example, a man with an optimal weight of 150 pounds should eat a minimum of about 1,800 calories per day; a woman with optimal weight of 125 pounds should eat at least 1,500 calories per day. Depending on your activity level, these figures are 10 percent to 33 percent lower than recommended in the above tables of maintenance calories.
Set your minimum weight at 95 percent of your optimal weight. For example, if your optimal weight is 200, your minimum weight would be 190 (200 times 0.95). If your weight falls below this minimum number, increase your calorie consumption.
Select foods low in caloric density. The best way to reduce calories is to eat low-starch vegetables such as broccoli and summer squash, which are filling and have relatively few calories, instead of potatoes and rice.
Focus on fiber. Another choice is foods rich in fiber, which provides bulk and texture with no digestible calories. Fiber also has health benefits by lowering cholesterol levels, improving regularity, and reducing the risks of colon cancer. Most vegetables are, of course, high in fiber. There are also many foods designed to be carbohydrate substitutes that use fiber (as well as vegetable protein) to replace the bulk and texture of starch, such as low-carbohydrate cereals and breads (see Fantastic-Voyage.net for recommendations of specific products).
Weight Loss For Newbies
There are a lot of different ways that you can lose weight. If you are hard willing you may prefer to exercise while some just diet. The best method however is a mix of both. If you keep eating the way you should on a normal caloric intake day, you are looking at needing to burn approximately 3500 calories or more to lose one pound. This is how it works…
• Calculate your basal metabolic rate. Your BMR is what is needed foor you to carry out normal bodily functions such as breathing, digestion, and etc.
• Calculate your activity level
• Track how many calories you eat in the day. A good way of doing this is using a food diary and tallying it all up after the day is over or using a calorie counter website to help you. Hint: If you eat less calories then you burn you lose weight, more then you burn you gain weight, same as you burn you keep the same weight.
For example…if you are a female and weigh about 140 lbs:
Here is what you could save!
Substitute a Coke at supper for a glass of water (Saves approx. 97 calories)
Eat a whole wheat bagel with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter instead of a Egg McMuffin (Saves approx. 185 calories)
While on your break at work, walk up and down a flight of stairs for 10 minutes instead of having a snack and sitting in your office (Burns approx. 100 calories)
Get up 10 minutes earlier then you normally do and go for a walk instead of sleeping in (Burns approx. 100 calories)
Do yoga for 10 minutes after you get home instead of watching television (Burns approx. 50 calories)
Weight loss is all about combining a healthy nutritional diet and daily exercise so you can only see a change if you make a change. Eat healthier foods, go up the stairs instead of the elevator, it all adds up in the end.
If you are serious about losing weight then you should be willing to change your diet for the better, because it's not just about losing weight but having a healthy lifestyle. Which is a combination of eating right and excercising. It doesn't matter if you go to the gym or not but don't be lazy. Go for a walk after supper to burn some of the calories that your body would normally digest and keep attached or park far away in the mall parking lot just to walk farther. Walk around the mall a few times before buying something or leaving. All these little things help out in the end.
For a lot of people it means going to the gym for a half hour before or after work. Doing a lot of cardio can help you lose weight fairly fast. Bring a mp3 player with you to keep you focused, or even read a book. It isn't that hard for you to take a hour out of your day to keep in shape and healthy, so just do it!
• Calculate your basal metabolic rate. Your BMR is what is needed foor you to carry out normal bodily functions such as breathing, digestion, and etc.
• Calculate your activity level
• Track how many calories you eat in the day. A good way of doing this is using a food diary and tallying it all up after the day is over or using a calorie counter website to help you. Hint: If you eat less calories then you burn you lose weight, more then you burn you gain weight, same as you burn you keep the same weight.
For example…if you are a female and weigh about 140 lbs:
Here is what you could save!
Substitute a Coke at supper for a glass of water (Saves approx. 97 calories)
Eat a whole wheat bagel with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter instead of a Egg McMuffin (Saves approx. 185 calories)
While on your break at work, walk up and down a flight of stairs for 10 minutes instead of having a snack and sitting in your office (Burns approx. 100 calories)
Get up 10 minutes earlier then you normally do and go for a walk instead of sleeping in (Burns approx. 100 calories)
Do yoga for 10 minutes after you get home instead of watching television (Burns approx. 50 calories)
Weight loss is all about combining a healthy nutritional diet and daily exercise so you can only see a change if you make a change. Eat healthier foods, go up the stairs instead of the elevator, it all adds up in the end.
If you are serious about losing weight then you should be willing to change your diet for the better, because it's not just about losing weight but having a healthy lifestyle. Which is a combination of eating right and excercising. It doesn't matter if you go to the gym or not but don't be lazy. Go for a walk after supper to burn some of the calories that your body would normally digest and keep attached or park far away in the mall parking lot just to walk farther. Walk around the mall a few times before buying something or leaving. All these little things help out in the end.
For a lot of people it means going to the gym for a half hour before or after work. Doing a lot of cardio can help you lose weight fairly fast. Bring a mp3 player with you to keep you focused, or even read a book. It isn't that hard for you to take a hour out of your day to keep in shape and healthy, so just do it!
A Weight Loss Program That Works
I am one of the millions of people who find it very difficult to control their weight. I have tried many weight loss programs and am always actively searching for more. This was until a couple of years ago when I stumbled across something quite unique, a weight loss program which does actually work. I am finally, after all of those depressive years, able to walk down the street feeling confident about the way I look. In this article, I am going to write about this successful weight loss program in the hope that it can inspire other people to also reach their dream weight.
I used to hate being obese, yes that is correct I was not just fat, I was obese. I saw it as one vicious circle, I would feel sorry for myself and would then turn to food as a way of comfort. I have spent many a night sitting in front of the television eating from a huge tub of ice-cream. I would only plan to eat perhaps a quarter of the contents but would always end up eating the lot. This of course would only lead to an increase in weight and boy did I feel guilty the next morning. I was forever beating myself up.
I could not continue to live my life in this way and was quite fortunate to receive some quality advice via a good friend. He told me about the way in which he had managed to lose his excess weight.
This was his plan, I needed to write down everything that I ate. I was allowed to have five treats in the week and had to be disciplined not to go over this level.
I also had to exercise for an hour a day, this to me seemed to be the flaw as I am not one for exercising.
I could not believe how much food I was eating and by writing it all down taught me a huge lesson. The exercise was actually quite enjoyable and an hour is not exactly that long.
After around six months my hard work and determination had certainly paid off and I was a whole new man.
I used to hate being obese, yes that is correct I was not just fat, I was obese. I saw it as one vicious circle, I would feel sorry for myself and would then turn to food as a way of comfort. I have spent many a night sitting in front of the television eating from a huge tub of ice-cream. I would only plan to eat perhaps a quarter of the contents but would always end up eating the lot. This of course would only lead to an increase in weight and boy did I feel guilty the next morning. I was forever beating myself up.
I could not continue to live my life in this way and was quite fortunate to receive some quality advice via a good friend. He told me about the way in which he had managed to lose his excess weight.
This was his plan, I needed to write down everything that I ate. I was allowed to have five treats in the week and had to be disciplined not to go over this level.
I also had to exercise for an hour a day, this to me seemed to be the flaw as I am not one for exercising.
I could not believe how much food I was eating and by writing it all down taught me a huge lesson. The exercise was actually quite enjoyable and an hour is not exactly that long.
After around six months my hard work and determination had certainly paid off and I was a whole new man.
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