Archive for the ‘Weight Loss’ Category

Are you looking for the most effective weight loss plan? Well, if you are in such search, you should understand that there is not any weight loss plan that fits all. This means that the best plan for you might not be the best for other people.

To find out the best weight loss plan for you, you can go to Skinnywishes.com. This website shows you how to get skinny safely and effectively. There are plenty resources that can help you loose weight such as weight loss seminar.

Since the seminar will surely be useful for you, you can try to search available seminars in your area. Therefore, you had better visit this website to find out more information about weight loss management.

Energy drinks are liquid soda-style beverages that are boosted by the inclusion of ‘energy boosting’ ingredients including sugar, caffeine and other caffeine-like substances like ephedrine, and guarana. Some energy drinks also have vitamins, “acid stabilizers” or other nutritious-sounding ingredients, too. With all of these ingredients one might well ask whether energy drinks can help you achieve your weight loss goals by giving you the boost you need to exercise consistently.

Red Bull, Jolt, Amp and Hype are four of the more commonly known energy drinks. Energy drinks themselves are classified as “functional beverages” which means that they do not form part of the bigger nutraceutical food or dietary supplement industry. So because energy drinks are not classified as either a food or a dietary supplement, they are not regulated nor monitored by the Food and Drug Administration.

The aim of energy drinks is to boost your energy for physical activity and to improve your ability to concentrate on a specific task. Many believe these drinks can provide the energy they need to perform their exercise routine. But whatever you do, you should not confuse energy drinks with sports drinks. Sports drinks are specially formulated to help provide energy in muscle exercises and to help the body absorb water and glucose (sugar) – energy drinks are not designed to do this.

While sports drinks are at their most beneficial if your workout is going to exceed an hour or so, plain water is generally a preferred option for quenching your thirst and replenishing your body fluid. Energy drinks, on the other hand, dehydrate rather than hydrate so this is why they are not designed for assistance with sports, but rather just to give you that quick energy-based pick me up.

While many people might claim that energy drinks are good for you if you are playing sports, the truth is that they are good for short bursts of activity and mental alertness only. It is vital that if you are consuming energy drinks that you know what you are drinking. Energy drinks are not necessarily bad for you, but they shouldn’t be seen as natural substitutes for health supplements either. Some of the marketing for energy drinks claim that they “improve performance” and can be misleading because essentially all you are doing is over stimulating your body with caffeine.

There is not very much that is currently known about energy drinks and the effects that their consumption can have on a person’s overall health and wellbeing. The creators, manufacturers and marketers of energy drinks will tell you about the numerous health effects of their products. Their messages will tell you that these products can increase your physical endurance, improve your reaction times, boost your mental alertness and concentration, increase your overall wellbeing, stimulate and even speed up your metabolism, improve your stamina and help eliminate waste from your body.

Ideally, energy drinks should not be used by someone exercising for a sustained period of time because the combination of fluid loss from sweating and the diuretic quality of the caffeine can leave the drinker feeling severely dehydrated at a time when their body needs to be replenished with fluids.

So, what is the deal with energy drinks and why are they so popular? Well quite simply, if you manage your consumption at only one or two a day, then energy drinks won’t harm you and in fact can help you improve your day-to-day activities. Their super-concentrated stimulating ingredients will indeed wake you up and help you to improve the way that you conduct and perform simple mental tasks. There is plenty of sugar and caffeine in energy drinks though, so you should be sure that you minimize your consumption to one or two drinks a day at the most. Any more and you could well experience side effects.

Is your waistband tighter than you’d like? Have you finally decided to get down to a healthful weight and keep it there? Then it’s time to swear off fad diets for good.

For decades, most nutrition professionals have told us over and over that weight depends on calories in and calories out. To achieve and maintain a healthful weight, in addition to getting plenty of exercise for fitness and to burn off excess calories, it’s important to eat a wide range of foods to get a balanced assortment of nutrients.

A calorie-smart diet consists of nutrient-dense foods which supply a good number of essential nutrients compared to their calorie counts. Nutrient-dense foods include whole-grain foods; vegetables; fruits; lean meat, poultry, fish and seafood, eggs and cooked dry beans; and skim or low-fat milk foods. For balanced, diet-wise eating, simply choose a whole-grain food, a veggie or two, a fruit, a lean protein source and a low-fat milk food for each meal. Also keep in mind that research has shown that including animal protein foods in a weight-loss diet helps to preserve lean muscle tissue while fat is lost.

Eggs are one of the highest quality protein sources and also supply varying amounts of numerous other nutrients, all for only 75 calories per Large egg. In addition to being quick and easy to prepare, nutrient-dense eggs go very well with the whole-grain foods, veggies and fruits that you need. For example, an Open-Faced Spinach Omelet Sandwich is a flavorful, well-balanced combo that needs only a serving of fruit and low-fat milk to make a hearty, healthful meal any time of day.

Open-Faced Spinach Omelet Sandwich

(4 servings)

Cooking spray

4 cups fresh whole baby spinach leaves or chopped large spinach leaves (about 6 oz.)

1 tablespoon water

4 eggs

1/2 cup low-fat (1%) cottage cheese

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, crushed

1 (8- to 9-inch) plain, tomato or herb-seasoned focaccia bread, split crosswise (about 5 oz.)

4 tomato slices

Evenly coat 10-inch omelet pan or skillet with spray. Add spinach and water. Cover. Cook over medium heat until spinach is wilted, about 1 minute. Pour out liquid, if necessary. In medium bowl, beat together eggs, cheese and seasoning until blended. Pour over spinach mixture. Gently stir to evenly distribute mixture in pan. Cover. Cook over medium heat until egg mixture is almost set, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Let stand, covered, until egg mixture is completely set, about 2 to 3 minutes. With pancake turner or spatula, slide frittata from pan onto bottom half of bread. Top with tomato slices and top half of bread. To serve, cut into wedges.

Nutrition information per serving of 1/4 recipe using baby spinach and plain focaccia bread: 217 calories, 8 gm total fat, 216 mg cholesterol, 448 mg sodium, 121 mg potassium, 23 gm carbohydrate, 15 gm protein and 10% or more of the RDI for vitamins A, B12 and C, riboflavin, calcium, iron, phosphorus, dietary fiber

When I work with my clients, one of the key elements that I incorporate into all of our workouts is INTENSITY.  In my view, intensity is the most critical aspect of any exercise regime and can mean the difference between someone who reaches their goals and someone who doesn’t.  Increasing your workout’s intensity will stimulate your body to burn more calories and induce a greater cardiovascular response.  It will also allow you to have a more time efficient workout.

If you are looking to burn fat and become more toned, then increasing your exercise intensity is critical.  Many people have the misconception that if you workout at a higher intensity you will no longer be burning fat since you will be in your “cardio zone”.  Whereas, if you keep your intensity low for a longer duration you will burn more fat since you will be in your “fat burning zone”.  Let me clarify this for you once and for all.  By training at a low intensity (<70% max) it is true that you use fat as your predominant source of fuel.  While exercising at a higher intensity (>75% max) your main fuel source is carbohydrate but you will ultimately burn more calories.   And since 1 pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 calories, the ultimate goal is to burn as many calories as possible to create a negative energy balance!

One of the best ways to achieve this intensity is through the use of full-body compound circuit training (strength training) in conjunction with interval training (on the cardio equipment).  The benefit of full body compound training is that since it utilizes more muscle in any given movement you burn more calories.  The intensity of the workout also means that each exercise becomes more challenging as your heart rate is sustained at a much higher level.

Here are a couple of benefits to following an exercise program combining circuit training and interval training:

1.    Intervals and circuits vastly reduce boredom.  Traditional steady state cardio training and/or weight lifting can become quite boring.  Interval training and circuit training offer more variety and excitement to your workouts.

2.    Interval training increases post-exercise energy expenditure (calories burned following exercise) more than steady-state exercise, which means that more fat is burned. After intense exercise, the body needs extra calories as it works to repair muscles, replace energy stores (i.e. carbohydrate) and restore the body to its normal state (e.g. reduce heart rate). As this can take many hours, you will keep on burning more calories long after the workout is over. In fact, research shows that metabolic rate is higher for several hours following interval training compared to steady state exercise.

3.    Interval training burns more calories.  As an example, 30 minutes on an Elliptical machine using a steady state program will burn roughly 292 calories, whereas 30 minutes of intervals will burn approximately 584 calories!

Here is a sample workout that will leave you huffing and puffing:

Warm-up
bike, treadmill, elliptical, rower                5-10 min

Circuit (45 seconds for each exercise, with 15 seconds rest between exercises)                                        5-7 min
Lunge walks with lateral raises
Plank (on stability ball)
Squats with medicine ball shoulder press
Push-ups
Side Bridges
Reverse Pull-ups
Burpies

Interval Training (cardio equipment)
20 sec @ 100% : 40 sec @ 70% x 5             5 min

Repeat Circuit and Interval 3 times

Total Workout Time:                    45 – 60 min

If you would like to experience what an intense workout feels like then please inquire about the revolutionary Fitter U MP3 personal training program!  For a fraction of the cost of regular one-on-one training, this proven MP3 program will ensure you get to your fitness goals in less time!

Sometimes when we become so self-conscious about our physical appearance we would do almost anything to eliminate those unwanted pounds of fat. And sometimes we feel there are only a few choices to choose from.

So what do many slightly and really overweight people do?  Many turn to diet drugs without a second thought!  The NAAFA website clearly informs the general public of how dangerous most weight loss drugs can be. For example, Phenylpropanolamine which was marketed under different names such as Dexatrim, Accutrim, Dex-a-Diet, and others, causes insomnia, headaches, anxiety, disorientation, fast heartbeat, hallucinations, vomiting, high blood pressure, heart and kidney damage, psychosis, heart attack, and lastly, sudden death!  The site goes on to state that such drugs rarely ever produce enduring weight loss results.

At present there are more than 50 new weight loss drugs that are ready to be approved for consumer consumption. There is the case of the amphetamine appetite suppressant. In 1999, in France, this drug was removed from the market on account of causing serious cardiovascular side effects.

Because of the serious side effects of weight loss drugs, more and more people are turning to alternative means for helping them win the battle against unwanted fat and obesity.

If I had a choice, I would first consider a natural “weight loss helper” over a diet drug. Why take unnecessary risks with your health. A safe alternative to weight loss drugs is to exercise regularly on a daily basis, 15-20 minutes; such exercise will help to suppress your appetite. Or you can simply try eating a little less each day in a progressive manner in order to prevent your body from experiencing a shocking reaction. Fasting is always a good idea as an effective measure for losing weight as well as for eliminating many toxins from your body.

If that does not work for you, nor excites you to new heights, there’s a number of safe natural appetite suppressants such as Metabo-Speed XXX, or the much talked about African cactus plant called Hoodia Gordonii. By what I have read so far online about this Hoodia from South Africa, sounds very promising. It’s supposed to naturally remove one’s appetite by making your brain believe that you’re full without having eaten.   You can find factual information about this African plant below.

This article gives free tips and advice about how to lose weight. Dieting does not need to be a choir, however many of the weight loss programs that are available make it this way. During the article, I describe an easy to follow diet or weight loss program which has helped me to reach a weight that I am now happy and feel comfortable with.

My background

My name is Steve Hill and I struggled to keep my weight under control for the first twenty-two years of my life. I was often teased at school and found it very hard to meet girls as I believed that there would be no way, that they would want to date somebody as fat as myself.

I was a very negative person and I frequently felt stressed and depressed. I often felt sorry for myself and would feel envious of other people who seemed fit, healthy and happy. During these periods of depression, I would often comfort eat to make myself feel better. I love food and this would temporarily help. The problem I found was that if I ate food for ten minutes, I would feel a sense of guilt for around two hours.

Like many people who are over-weight, I was not happy this way and often looked into different types of weight loss plan or diets. Maybe it is just me, but they seem so unrealistic and for somebody like myself impossible to follow. I needed a simple, easy to follow weight loss program.

The solution to my weight problem

The first thing I had to do was to be honest with myself. I asked myself a series of questions:

Why are you over-weight?

I do not eat the right types of food and I rarely exercise.

How determined are you to lose weight?

Very determined.

Are you willing for this to be a long term project, or are you looking for a quick fix?

The quicker the better, however I realise that crash diets do not work and end up causing more harm than good.

Do you feel you have enough self-discipline to succeed?

I am not sure but I will have to have, to reach my target weight.

The weight loss plan

These are the things I must do:

Eat three healthy meals a day.

Exercise more. This will be achieved by leaving the car at home more often and by walking to certain places, such as my children’s school. I will also take the children to play sports like football and tennis, as often as I can.

Fight the demons in my head who constantly tempt me into eating.

These are the things I must not do:

Snack in between meals.

Eat too many take-aways, I will basically allow myself one a week.

Lie to other people or even myself about what I have eaten.

This sounds so simple and is very easy to follow. I have to admit that it is not that easy to carry off, especially not being able to snack between meals. With determination you can succeed and the sense of happiness and pride you will feel when you reach a weight you are happy with, will make it all worthwhile.

Obesity is the second leading cause of death after smoking. It is associated with an increased mortality rate of all ages including children. Losing weight though commercialized is still to your benefit if you carry more weight than you should.

Obesity and overweight are term often used interchangeably. However, technically they refer to two different states.

Being overweight technically means excess body mass. This includes all the body tissues. Obesity on the other hand refers explicitly to excess body fat e.g. a professional heavy weight body builder is overweight because of excess muscles but is not obese.

Obesity is what should concern you. Losing weight is no longer an issue you can afford to procrastinate, and probably a good health scare is in order.

Reason #1 to lose weight

Diabetes:- It is well known that 80 -90% of type-two-diabetes patients are overweight. Diabetes is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., as well as the leading cause of adult blindness in the world. One of the direct causes of obesity is eating wrong foods. Some of these wrong foods include high glycemic foods. High glycemic foods are energy dense foods that quickly increase the level of blood glucose in your body after been eaten. This results to the body reserving the unnecessarily high glucose/energy into fat. This makes losing weight very difficult.

Releasing a hormone called insulin does this. Type-Two-diabetes occurs because the body cannot produce enough insulin to remove the excess blood glucose and store it as body fat. This will occur after straining insulin production for some time. And that’s how you end up being fat and diabetic.

Reason #2 to lose weight

Stroke:- Obesity is associated with arteriosclerosis, the build up of fatty deposits in the arteries through out your body. This makes them narrow slowing blood flow and among other things increases risk of the blood clotting. Arteries at risk include those supplying blood to the brain. If clotting occurs due to narrowed artery, it blocks blood supply to an area of the brain resulting to stroke. Losing weight reduces this risk.

Reason #3 to lose weight

Cancer:- The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 25% - 33% of cancer world wide are overweight and physical inactivity related. Body fat evidently promotes higher levels of insulin production and excess estoregens, a hormone. Both insulin and estorogens accelerate cell division.

[Probably to create adipose tissue; new fat cells to store fat, in addition to the regular cell division]

As research has indicated, the faster cells duplicate the more they increase chances of a cancerous cell developing. The situation is further complicated as the rapid cell division caused by the excess hormones lead also to rapid cell reproduction of the one cancerous cell, hence cancer starts to develop actively. In addition fat cells tend to keep carcinogenic i.e. cancer-causing agents, trapped in the body which increases chances of developing cancer.

Types of cancers you will be at high risk to get include:-

Breast cancer- affecting the breast possibly in both men and women.

Colorectal cancer- affecting colon and rectum.

Prostrate cancer- affecting the prostrate gland in men.

Endometrial cancer- affecting the uterus.

Esophageal cancer- affecting the esophagus.

Renal cell cancer, the cancer of the kidney, etc.Reason #4 to lose weightRespiratory problems:- Obesity causes lungs to “become smaller” in size and chest wall become heavier to lift in the process of breathing in. The most common respiratory problem is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where by an individual stops breathing for some time while asleep. A soft tissue in the throat collapses around the air way probably due to weight, blocking it. For the severely obese sleep apnea may get more complicated with hypoventilation. Hypoventilation is accumulation of toxic levels of carbon dioxide (the gas we breathe out) in the blood, due to inadequate breathing. Losing weight would be the only permanent safe and healthy solution to sleep apnea.Reason #5 to lose weight

Urinary Incontinence:- This is involuntary release of urine. Being overweight can contribute to urinary incontinence. A heavy abdomen due to body fat deposit may cause valve of urinary bladder to be weakened. The weight also exerts pressure on the urinary bladder, trying to push urine out. This results to leakage of urine when coughing, sneezing or laughing. This is because of a slight relaxation of the bladder valve that normally will not result to leakage. It can even result to bed wetting at night. This particular problem can be a very effective motivator to lose weight.

Reason #6 to lose weight

Varicose veins:- Also known as Venous Stratis Disease. The leg and thigh muscles assist the heart in blood circulation just like most large muscles in the body. They are involved in pumping blood against gravity back to the heart with the help of valves that close to avoid a backward flow. Pressure as a result of a large abdomen may increase the work load on the valves eventually causing damage. Damaged valves then allow for blood to back up, due to gravity, causing high pressure in these veins leading to swelling, thickening of skin and skin ulcers.

Reason #7 to lose weight

High Blood Pressure:- The BMI (Body Mass Index) and age together are the strongest indicator of risk of hypertension or high blood pressure. At least a third of hypertension is related to obesity.

Reason #8 to lose weight

Other Diseases:- Other diseases which MAY occur as a result of being overweight include;

• Gout
• Coronary heart disease
• Lower back pains
• Osteoarthritis
• Rheumatoid Arthritis
• Gall stones
• Pregnancy disorders such as
• Neural tube defect,
• Prenatal mortality,
• Maternal hypertension,
• Gestational diabetes etc.
• Impaired immune response
• Liver disease
• Pancreatitis
• Bad body smell
• Depression

Research shows that even modest weight loss of even 10 pound for the overweight significantly reduces the risk of developing these diseases. Weight loss is in fact a challenge taken by many every year.

Unfortunately many fail in this healthy endeavor. And all because of one thing; they lack proper information on effective weight loss. Effective weight loss is permanent, and a permanent weight loss depends fundamentally on four factors. These four are what we at Health-eMark call the ‘Top 4 Reasons for Weight Loss Failure’.

“This is a guest post written by Rob who reviews many high profile diet and weight loss products such as Fat Burning Furnace and Every Other Day Diet“

The Secret of Negative Calories Food

FAT IS A SILENT KILLER! Can you beat it ?

The answer is:

!! YES!!

The fact is: obesity can cause severe health problems like high blood pressure and diabetes …

We need to take a different approach to loosing weight than we have being doing in the past. Forget old-fashioned diets that don’t really give you the long-lasting results you seek. They are very good reasons why they do not work well.

Some of the calories in the foods you eat are burned off just to digest, so the the net amount of calories is actually less than the amount contained in the food.

This process has several names:
- Diarety-induced thermogenesis
- Specific dynamic actiom of food
- Thermic effect of food
…

You may have heard of the expression, “Negative calories”, this refers to certain foods which have a thermic effect and a low colorie density.

This is almost impossible for these food to be stored as fat because most of these calories are burned off just to be digest them.

The negative calories foods have so few calories that you can burn up more calories in preparing cooking, chewing and digesting them than they impart.

The ingestion of these foods increases the metabolic rate of the body, which, in turn draws excess calories from the body’s fat deposit.

Frequently Asked Questions:Fact:

Foods that actually melt down fat were discovered by nutritionist physicians during their search for healthier foods. When you add these type of foods to your normal diet, you lose weight but you also lower and normalize your cholesterol rate. This always contributes to your health.

Q: How many pounds can you lose per week?

A: If you are less than 20 pounds overweight, you can lose an average of 5-8 pounds in the first week, and 3-4 pounds in the subsequent weeks.If you are more than 20 pounds overweight, you will lose weight even more quickly. Some people with more than 40 pounds to lose have lost up to 12 pounds in the first week.

Q: I have tried bean pod capsules, other methods, other diets, and nothing has helped me lose weight yet. Why will it be different with this?

A: Because you will burn away more calories than you absorb. Everyone who has tried it has lost weight, there is no reason that it would work for everyone else and not for you!

Key Benefits
- No pills to take!
- The weight loss plan you are going to buy, is rapid and efficient at fat burning.
- The secret is that you will burn more calories than you take in.
- Easy to follow instructions and appetizing tips on how you can enjoy fat-controlled meals!