Diet's Don't Work - 12 Facts Why They Never Do Or Will!

You heard me right! They Never Have! They Never Do! They Never Will! The Diet Industry is a 40 Billion Dollar Industry filled with misinformation. 96% of people who go on diets can't stay on them to reach their desired goal. 98% of people who go on diets gain the weight they lose back + 5 extra pounds. (National Institute of Health) 50% of Americans are on a diet at any given time yet 70% of Americans are overweight and 30% are obese. My Story When I was in my late teens I took up bodybuilding and after a couple of years I began competing. A typical year consisted of me gaining fifty or more pounds in the off season by eating lots of food and then dieting and losing fifty or so pounds over the next few months as I prepared for the competition. After doing this for six years I stopped competing in bodybuilding. Over the following years I continued to gain fifty or so pounds a year and then go on a diet and lose all or most of it over the following months. I became an expert and gaining weight and losing weight. I became an expert dieter. I could lose weight on the Atkins, Stillman, Scarsdale or any other diet. I was master of the low calorie, low fat and low carbohydrate diets. The only problem that once I lost the weight I couldn't keep it off and eventually would gain it all back plus some. I eventually ended up gaining and losing almost a thousand pounds. After giving up on dieting I began researching why people gain weight and why diets don't work. After spending over five years researching why diets don't work and discovering what does work when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off. I began applying the principles I discovered and today I am celebrating over ten years at a body weight that hasn't fluctuated more then five pounds up or down. Why Diets Don't Work Fact #1: Diets are downers. People hate to diet. Have you ever met anyone on a diet that liked it? Does anyone like doing anything with the word DIE in it? When I went on diets I hated it. It made me unhappy and depressed. Fact #2: Dieting slows your metabolism. The longer you diet the slower your metabolism gets causing you to eat less and less until your weight loss stops entirely. Then when you resume normal eating the weight quickly returns + extra pounds due to it taking months for the metabolism to return to normal. Then guess what? You need to go onto another diet. Dieting simply is a way to create an artificial famine. Your body doesn't know that it's a diet. All it knows is that its in a famine. So it slows the metabolism as much as 40%. If you naturally need 2000 calories a day to sustain your current body weight and go on a diet where you are consuming 1000 calories a day your metabolism will get lower and lower to say 40% or 1200 calories below its natural level of 2000 calories. At that point weight lose is minimal and extremely difficult. Then when you return to eating 2000 calories a day which is what the majority of people do you begin adding 800 extra calories daily. That's 800 calories about 1.75 pounds of fat per week. When I was on the dieting roller coaster I'd lose 50 pounds in six months and go off it and gain all the weight back over the next six months. One thing I noticed was that as soon as I'd go off the diet the weight would quickly come back due to my metabolism having slowed due to the dieting. Fact 3: Diets offer a poor temporary fix What's really needed is a lifestyle change. The only people who lose weight and keep it off are the people who change their lifestyle once and for all. Changing your lifestyle is easier then dieting and far more rewarding. I used to go on diets knowing that they were only a quick fix. After losing hundreds of pounds and gaining it back convinced me that dieting could never able me to sustain the weight lose. Dieting was just a superficial way of treating symptoms instead of the cause of my weight gain. Fact 4: Since 96% of people who go on diets gain the weight they've lost back plus some the next time they diet it gets a little harder to lose weight. With each never dieting round the body becomes more resilient to giving up the weight and dieting gets tougher and tougher. With each new diet I went on it became more and more difficult to get the weight off. Finally after years of yo-yo dieting It became almost impossible to get the weight off dieting. Fact 5: Diets fail to deal with the things that cause people to overeat. People overeat due to a number of psychological reasons. Some overeat because they fail to eat consciously. After years of eating on the run, in the front of the television or while stuffing a hot dog into their mouth while driving down the highway; they eat like dogs never stopping to taste, savor and enjoy the food their eating. Another thing that causes people to overeat is previous conditioning that can go back to their childhood. As a child I was told to clean my plate because children were starving in Africa. I was also told that if I didn't clean my plate I couldn't have desert. The experts in my life conditioned me to eat every scrape on my plate even if I was stuffed. They conditioned me to overeat. Something that took me years to understand and change. Fact 6: Dieting Causes Eating Disorders. People who get onto the dieting roller coaster can develop eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia. Dieting serves as a precursor to these illnesses. During my weight gain and dieting cycles I frequently would binge and after the binge think nothing of purging while standing over the toilet. I eventually got pretty good at it and could down five burgers and a dozen Dunken Donuts and drop them in the toilet only to be back eating fifteen minutes later. Fact 7: Dieting Causes Obesity. Dieting slows down the metabolism making it harder and harder to lose weight. Eventually the metabolism slows to a crawl and even a well balanced healthy diet causes the person to gain weight. Have you ever seen an obese person who says, "I don't eat a lot and continue to gain weight." They may be telling the truth. After years of dieting their metabolism is running slow and low making it really easy to keep on adding the pounds. You would think that in America with all the diets, diet pills, and diet centers that we would be the thinnest country on the globe. But instead we are the fattest and getting fatter every year. With all the dieting I was doing and all the expertise on dieting I was gaining I still just kept getting fatter. Fact 8: Diets cause starvation or semi starvation. Starvation occurs at 900 calories or less that's when you start to die. Most diets are in that range. Starvation plays havoc with the systems of the body and brain and if continued will cause permanent damage. When faced with starvation your body will do everything it can to survive. Things like slowing your metabolism to conserve energy and creating intense hunger to drive you to find food. When I was dieting I has hungry all the time. I didn't know it at the time but I was starving. I was putting my body through what people in famines go through. Fact 9: Diets damage your body and cause disease. Studies show that ongoing dieting causes heart disease, osteoporosis, gall stones, high blood pressure, anemia, constipation, kidney stones, dry skin, hair lose, depression, anxiety. When I was on the dieting roller coaster I would frequently get sick. I would get frequent colds, the flu, tonsillitis, sinusitis, and constipation was a daily experience. Over the past ten years I've had two colds. Fact 10: Dieting Causes Malnutrition. Dieting restricts people from getting the necessary macro and micro nutrients. Not getting these nutrients causes damage to our bodies and results in sickness. I didn't know It back when I was dieting that the main reason why I was getting sick so frequently was that I was suffering from malnutrition. I simply wasn't getting the nutrients that me body needed. Fact 11: We don't fail at dieting, diets fail us. Diets simply don't work. Every person who ever quit dieting or gained the weight they lost back did so due to the fact that diets are built upon false premises. If you build a house upon a foundation of straw it will crumble. Diets are built upon a foundation of straw. While on the dieing roller coaster I continuously felt like a failure. I struggled to stick to the diets I would go on and always gained the weight back. I felt like a frustrated failure. I didn't know at the time that I wasn't the failure but that the entire diet industry and everyone of their diets was a failure. Fact 12: Diets Cause Death. The name Diet fits well. Dieting shortens your life span. Diets cause a number of problems that lead to sickness, disease and eventually death. Had I not discovered the truth I likely would have dieted myself to death. I am eternally grateful for discovering the truth. For the truth truly set me free. Why Diets Don't Work 1. Diets treat superficial symptoms instead of causes. 2. Diets cause major deprivation. You deprive yourself of food. Not only food, but food that you like. This drives people crazy. When I used to diet all I did day and night was think about food. When I wasn't dieting I thought about other stuff like the geo-political situations in the world and sex. But while on the diet I just thought about Italian bread, pasta, and cannoli's.

What Makes A Bad Diet Bad?

There are good diets, there are bad diets, and there are very bad diets. There are diets that work, and there are diets that will never work. For the person looking to lose a few pounds in weight, then the weight loss business presents a confusing mixture of what to do and what not to do. However, there are certain pointers that indicate that a particular diet may not live up to its claims, and in fact could be dangerous from a health point of view. Such diets may be termed 'bad diets' not only because of the potential health danger, but also because they fail as weight loss tools. On the other hand, a 'good diet' will retain a wide range of food groups in its plans, together with an emphasis on regular, meaningful exercise. 'Good diets' are those that work and get positive results. Most 'good diets' are recommended and approved by dieticians and the medical profession. The factors that indicate a diet is 'bad' are many, but once a person recognizes these factors then that person knows that these diets should be avoided. Factors to consider: If a diet suggests that exercise is unnecessary, then forget it. All good diets need some level of physical activity - even something as basic as an hour walk. It is impossible to lose weight and keep it off unless regular exercise is included in the way of life. Do not be fooled by a diet that works by causing the loss of fluids. This in itself will cause a reduction in weight during the first few weeks of a diet, but this is only a temporary condition. Once a normal diet resumes the person's weight is regained. It should be pointed out that restricting the body to its needed amount of fluids could be the cause of light-headedness leading to fainting. Remember too that diet programs that require the dieter to buy in selected prepared meals are extremely expensive. The total cost of the program and its duration should be known before starting this type of diet program. Be wary of diets that eliminate particular food groups from being eaten. A selection of all food groups is necessary for optimum health. This maximizes the number and range of vital minerals and vitamins that are needed for good health. Do not be persuaded that missing a meal each day will quickly get the weight down. It will not in the long term, and it may cause medical problems. For this reason, a good diet may suggest the eating of four or five small meals a day instead of the usual three. A diet low in fiber from a limitation of the amount of carbohydrates consumed may lead to constipation. This can be over come by drinking lots of water during the day. A diet rich in fiber content i.e., fresh fruit and vegetables, legumes, and nuts is necessary for sustained weight loss. Be aware that a diet built around a diet pill may be unhealthy and unsafe if the pill has not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. A diet that restricts a dieter to eating a particular food group to the exclusion of other food groups may be difficult to sustain. The monotony of eating the same food day in day out will lead to the dieter going off the diet. A 'good diet' will ensure a dieter has the widest variety of food groups possible. As in life, variety is the spice of life. For a diet to work effectively, the dieter should be at ease in eating the food prescribed. The food should be enjoyable, tasty, as well as being nutritious. If the food does not meet these basic requirements then the dieter will soon get bored and nothing will be achieved. A diet program familiar to the author is the Low GI Diet. This is much more than a diet - it is a program to help a person achieve a healthy life-style including a weight level that suits the person's height and age. All the normal, everyday foods are eaten - but only the low GI varieties. The diet allows for plenty of lean meats, whether it be red meat, poultry, or fish. Fresh fruit and vegetables are staples of the diet as all are low GI products.

Why Does My Diet Not Work ???

In 1990 I decided to become vegetarian. Well to be accurate Pescetarian - I continued to eat some fish and shell fish. My reasons were mostly because I had become more and more uncomfortable about cooking and eating meat and I disliked the whole idea of killing animals. I also had become very active in the new age movement at the time and the environmental cost of meat production simply did not make sense. It wasn't long before even the thought of eating meat was distasteful and I have never been tempted to eat meat since. However I did start to put on weight and I have continued to battle with my weight now for 25 years. When I changed gender and began taking hormone replacement therapy it got worse. I have tried the weight watchers diet, the lemon diet, the grapefruit diet, the 5:2 diet, the Mediterranean diet. the Beverley Hills diet, the cabbage soup diet, an Ayurvedic Diet, the Atkins diet (really challenging if you are vegetarian), the Paul McKenna Diet, the Think Thin diet - and many more I have now forgotten. In that time the one diet that did work was Sure Slim - This is a very complex and also very expensive diet based on metabolic typing, Low Gi, Low Fat, low carb and personal food preferences. The diet involves blood tests, and an in-depth interview followed by regular weekly then bi weekly consultations. Every meal has to be meticulously weighed with ingredients selected from a quite restricted list. I lost about 4 stone in six months - and then put most of it back on in the net six months. Every year since then I have resolved to lose the weight again and every year I give up after a few months and the weight returns. The problem is that I had stick to a complex diet even to maintain my weight and that made it almost impossible to eat out, or tuck into a buffet, or grab something to eat when on the road, or go to a dinner party. I am sure most of you reading this article will have had similar experiences - and the older we get the more difficult it seems to be to lose weight and maintain good health. However I am not giving up and I have recently begun looking in more detail at the Low carb Low Gi diets to see if I can find a way to simplify this process and find a more acceptable longer term diet that will work. There are a few books that have contributed over the past decade to my growing understanding of diet. Rose Elliot's Vegetarian Low Carb Diet is excellent - though you need to enjoy eggs and tofu to follow that diet in the first 14 days. That said she is one of the leading experts on vegetarian food and her explanations of the basis of the diet have really helped me to understand better the principles of the sure slim diet that worked. Chris Woollams The Rainbow Diet is primarily about how to beat cancer by eating more healthily with a version of the Mediterranean Diet. But if you can beat cancer by changing your diet it's the same process and the same diet to beat heart problems and diabetes and put you on the road to Perfect Health. The book has really helped me to understand how nutrition and the body works and what our diet can do to make it go wrong or make to work better. Why my doctor has not read this book I do not know. Finally a book I came across over 20 years ago which is now out of print but available second hand is The Food Addicts Diet by Tish Hayton. In helping her son overcome a huge problem with allergies to many foods, Tish came to the conclusion that many of us are suffering from food addiction and the foods we are addicted to are wheat, potato, milk and sugar. When I first read it I didn't want to believe it even though I knew it made sense. These four foods are the basis of all convenience foods. Between them they account for about 80% of everything we eat. Putting everything I have read from these and many other books together I am beginning to understand why one diet worked, and why I then put all the weight back on. I am beginning to understand how to simplify my diet so that I can lose weight and keep it off. I have not managed to do it yet - but what I am doing is to record all my progress and will be writing further articles about my journey towards achieving perfect health. My problem has been an addiction to foods that encourage my body to store fat. They are the reason why diets fail because as soon as we come off a diet we inevitably return to the foods that encourage us to store fat. The food industry also knows this but they benefit so much from this food addiction that they are not prepared to even try to tackle the problem. Instead we have been conned and lied to for decades. We have been convinced that the villain is Fats. So we are all obsessed with low fat foods and diet drinks which are loaded with sugar substitutes like Aspartame. But it's not the fats in the food that are stored as fat in the body - it is carbohydrates - particularly simple carbohydrates from grains and sugars. It's not just wheat and sugar. Our bodies need glucose for energy which comes from carbohydrates - any excess carbs are converted to fat as a reserve for times when we don't have enough. In the past this was quite often - but now in the west we simply don't get that hungry. No matter how much you cut down on food, if you give the body more carbs than it needs it will store the excess and it will not burn the fat. The only way to get your body to burn fat is to starve it of carbs. Cut grain, sugar and even starchy vegetables. I have been eating a healthy diet of fruit and vegetables for years thinking that would help me lose weight but it doesn't. Many fruit and vegetables are high in carbohydrates. So the first step in losing weight and keeping it off is to tackle the number one villain - SUGAR - wherever that comes from. Sugar, honey, fruit, corn syrup, maple syrup etc. Sugar is sugar - it is quickly separated into glucose. So my first piece of advice in tackling weight gain and making a permanent change to your diet is that you have to lose your sweet tooth. The more you restrict your sugar intake, the less you will crave it until eventually you will find sugar sickly. It is not going to be easy but if you value your health and want to get to a good long term comfortable weight, your enemy will be sugar and it has to go.

The Importance of Choosing the Correct Diet

How important is choosing a diet? Take a look at the vast quantities of diets that you can choose from. You have low calorie diets, no fat diets, low fat diets and many more depending on who is marketing and writing the diet. Most diets today are retreads from previous diets. Now with newer and much better advertising campaigns it is definitively buyer beware. When you decide to go on a diet it is going to be the single hardest thing that you will undertake short of a life threatening situation. Other vices are hard to give up also or change but you have to eat every day. When you make up your mind that it is time for a diet depending on how much weight you need to lose will depend on how serious you need to be. If you have few pounds to lose any diet that you choose will work. But if you are like a good majority you have thirty or more pounds to lose then your choice will go along way to your success. When you begin to look and choose a diet where do you go? Watch TV a friends recommendation or advertising. Most people choose a diet from these sources and although your friends mean well they usually get their information from advertising or from one of their friends. When looking into a diet you must be ready to be on a diet in some form the rest of your life. If you do not think so, do you truly believe that if you lose weight and reach your goal it will stay off when you back to eating they way you are now? Most people on diets fail because they do not take the time to research the diet and have no idea what makes up a good diet. When choosing a diet you need to be aware of what makes a good diet and what does not. All diet will have certain components that will make them better than others. A good diet will have four major components to a diet. It will have a component that will teach you goal setting and how to do it properly. A book that covers this is How to Choose a Diet along with information that will help you choose your next diet. Goal setting is very important in dieting. If you try yo go on a diet after a period of time most of us will lose interest and quit. Look at goals as you road map to success when you start to waver you take out your goals and refresh them and start losing the fat. The next component will have different ways to start teaching you new habits. You have had many years of bad habits from not eating the correct amounts to eating the wrong foods at the wrong time. These habits need to be broken and re-learned. It will take you approximately 1 ½ months to form a habit. Start a habit like a steel cable. Each cable is made up of many strands pulled tightly together to form one large strand. Each time you eat properly you form a strand. After awhile you will choose the correct portion and the correct food at the correct time. This is what a diet needs to teach you and this is important if you want to lose weight and keep it off. The third component is the diet itself and this can have a few different sections to it. It may have a few phases that you will go through and it will have a maintenance phase that you will need when you reach your goals. This part of the diet is also critical. If you choose a diet that takes a lot of prep time and you do not have this time because of your schedule this diet will be doomed. Read about the different diets and look for the types of food and what you need to do to be able to eat. If you have a busy hectic schedule look for a diet that supplies you with the meals or a diet that makes allowances for prepared foods or restaurants. You need a diet that is flexible so that as you change the diet can change with you. Do not be afraid to check out different diets. A book that gives you a breakdown of today's most popular diets is How to Choose a Diet. The last and most forgotten part of dieting is exercise. Most diets will recognize exercise as an important part of dieting but usually fall way short of giving you any guidelines to follow. Exercise is the single most important thing you can do to help you lose weight. Your body was designed to be used and the more exercise your body gets a whole host of good things happen. The biggest thing that you will notice is that you will lose inches and pounds. You will feel and eventually look better. You need to start off slowly and gradually build your workout to a level that will help you both feel and look better. Exercising daily and this does not even have to be a formal workout. Take the steps instead of the elevator, take a walk at lunchtime instead of sitting, these things and many more can help you lose those unwanted pounds. Exercise can and will make up the difference if you cheat occasionally but you need to know what to do and when. When it comes to Choosing a Diet make sure you have all the information when you choose. Make sure the diet is for you, and you did not choose the diet because some commercial on TV or radio says that you can lose the weight without dieting or exercise. That will not happen, as of now there's no magic pill to make you loose weight and inches. You need to study the diets and choose wisely and not be afraid start over if you find a diet that doesn't work. Need to lose weight and can not decide what diet to go on. Learn what are the important factors in a good diet. Learn what supplements work and which ones do not.

What is the Best Weight Loss Diet?

A best weight loss diet shall be able to lose your weight provided it contains plenty of fruits, proteins and vegetables. It should have very less sugar, carbohydrates and fat. The best weight loss diet shall consist of foods which can be obtained without any difficulty. These foods will be easy to prepare and serve. If the details of the diet are difficult, then you might drop your motivation to lose weight. A diet if made at home will be the best weight loss diet. You will be more expected to stick to your diet plan. Chances of its success will be even better if the plan goes fine with your lifestyle and the most significant, your resources. Your chart should be comprised of a mixture of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and lean meat and you may also include any substitute of protein. Prepared food such as white flour, sugar and bread made from white flour shall be removed from your chart. The main supplier to our body's weight is processed foodstuff such as sugar and items made from white flour. All of the nourishing and good part in white flour has been removed during the mechanized method at the mill. These kinds of foods are at once changed to sugar as soon as they go into the body's system. This is because they are previously extremely over processed. During the design stage of your best weight loss diet, it is very important that you take into consideration these two aspects that will make you lose weight: 1. Make certain that each one of the foodstuff in the diet chart is normal and high rated in dietary terms. 2. Find out the quantity of calorie in the foods. In order to maintain your weight a certain amount of calorie eating into the body is required. For a female to reduce her weight and become thin, she should decrease her calorie intake to about 1500 calories per day. For a man to lose his weight, he should lessen his calorie intake to about 2000 calories per day. These things should be taken care of when you are making your own best weight loss diet. The best weight loss diet that you prepare must be helpful, realistically priced and should not be rejected by your family. A great way to make sure of this is to make a healthy diet chart for your whole family. It is very important that you should not disclose the chart to your family. Just say, it is a healthy diet which is necessary to keep each family member healthy and happy. Just say, it is a healthy diet which is necessary to keep each family member healthy and happy. Amna Kamran is a ladies fitness teacher and trainer and has been running a ladies fitness club for the last three years. She shares a lot of tips for the ladies on her website [http://www.stripmyfatfast.com] to lose weight with the help of Strip That Fat guide and its diet generator. She is giving special tips to the ladies on the issues like How to lose weight before wedding and How to lose weight after child birth etc. Would you like to know more? Checkout [http://www.stripmyfatfast.com] site for more information about the above and many more relevant topics. By Amna Kamran

How To Lose Weight With Zone Diet

As one of the newer diets on the market, the Zone Diet is rapidly taking hold as one of the best and most popular. Like many on the market, the Zone Diet is the result of many years of intense study into the way the human body uses the food sources it is given. Through this research, the folks at Zone Diet have managed to find a way to make your body use the food to its fullest advantage and make you lose weight. The Zone Diet is gaining wide spread acceptance as a true form of weight loss and anything but a fad diet. Dr. Sears is the man responsible for the Zone Diet and all of its inner workings. For years he has studied the effects that certain foods have on the bodies fat burning potential. With this research he has found the formula of foods and drinks that actually spur the body into over drive and help it to burn off the unnecessary fat and make you lose weight. The Zone Diet is nothing like the other starvation diets that have come down the pike. In most cases you do not have to give up the foods that you love, but simply make adjustments in the daily regimen. This all speaks to the unique way that the Zone Diet works. Instead of cutting out the meals the Zone Diet adds two additional meals to the daily routine. The Zone Diet works to stabilize and increase the insulin output of the body. With this insulin the body can more readily burn the fat to make certain that you are losing weight. This diet does not work in miracles or days even. There is a standard amount of time that you will need to work to make sure that you have maintained the proper procedures in the diet. This will help to build the bodies natural defenses against weight gain. With this manner you will be training your body to accept and decline certain foods in order to keep the weight that you lose off. The Zone Diet is being actively referred to as the diet of the stars. Many of those in Hollywood and surrounding areas have found that the Zone Diet is vastly superior to the other diets currently on the market and therefore increasing its popularity to new levels.

Dieting By Weight Loss Surgery

Those who are what is considered morbidly obese have few options when it comes to losing weight when time is of the essence. Many have bounced from one diet to the next for the vast majority of their lives only to find failure after failure and a growing sense of hopelessness and helplessness. One common misconception when it comes to the morbidly obese is that they did it to themselves and if they didn’t want to be overweight they wouldn’t be. While this is nice in theory it isn’t always true in practice. There are certain medical conditions that can result in a person being unable to control the weigh they gain. There are also environmental issues that can affect the weight of a person as well. It’s ironic that in many cases alcoholics and drug addicts are treated and viewed with greater compassion than someone who is obese. The surgery itself is major surgery and not an option that should be taken lightly and without a great deal of thought. Most people find that weight loss surgery involves a major change in lifestyle before and after as well as an entirely new way of eating that is a lifelong commitment. Because of the life altering changes that result from this surgery it is recommended that those receiving the surgery have a BMI that is greater than 40. This means that it is recommended for men who are greater than 100 pounds overweight and women who overweight by 80 or more pounds. You should carefully weigh the benefits and the risks of a surgery such as this before deciding that this is the course of action you need to take. The risks are great with this surgery and should not be overlooked in desperation to shed the weight you’ve wanted to shed for so long. Nutritional deficiencies occur in almost 20% of those who have received this sort of surgery as the result of insufficient nutrients. This can lead to osteoporosis and other conditions as you age. Complications can result from the surgery itself. You can have lifelong issues when consuming too much or the wrong sorts of foods, and there are some who achieve their goals only to find that the weight comes back in time. As with anything in life there are no guarantees when it comes to weight loss surgery. In order to determine whether or not this surgery will be beneficial to you, you may want to ask yourself the following questions. Is my weight significantly hampering day-to-day activities? Is my weight causing other secondary conditions that may be harmful to my health? Is my weight something I honestly feel I can take control of on my own? Can I commit to the lifelong consequences and follow up that will be required? The problem with most people who find the need to resort to weight loss surgery is that they cannot take control of their bodies back. The odds of a good candidate for weight loss surgery losing the weight of his or her own design are very slim as he or she has most likely tried and failed every diet in the books. Only you can determine whether or not weight loss surgery is a viable option for your weight loss needs. If you decide that this is something you are interested in learning more about, be sure to discuss the possible consequences thoroughly with your physician.

Can You Build Muscle And Lose Body Fat At The Same Time

One question I am continually asked is, “Is it possible to lose body fat and gain muscle at the same time?” My answer is an emphatic YES! First of all, to build muscle, you must constantly overload the muscles in the gym. Heavy training is of utmost importance. Even when you are on a calorie-deprived diet to lose body fat, you must be mentally tough and continue to train heavily to preserve-and even build-muscle mass. And, as I’ve discussed several times already, back up heavy training by eating high-quality protein on a consistent basis. To lose body fat and still gain muscle, you must really watch your diet closely. Keep your daily caloric intake below your maintenance level. When you reduce your calories, be sure to keep your diet high in quality protein. Most of your calories should come from your carbohydrate consumption. Of course, watch your fat intake. Here is how I suggest you manipulate your carbohydrate consumption: For a couple of days, eat only vegetables for carbohydrates then go back to grains like rice, potatoes, and pasta for a couple of days. Rotate in this manner and see how quickly you start melting the fat. Because carbohydrates give you energy, this may become difficult at times. Nevertheless, it is a very effective strategy.

Dieting To Lose A Few Vanity Pounds

There are those among us who wish to lose a few pounds rather than 20 or more pounds. While many of us would be grateful if that were the case for us, most will find that the smaller the amount of weight needed to lose the more difficult it seems to remove. The good news is that those with little weight to lose generally do not face the painful issues with exercise and physical activity that plague those with far more weight to lose. There are some great products on the market that will assist those with relatively little weight to lose enjoy the weight loss process without feeling deprived. The new market of 100-calorie snacks is an excellent tool for just this situation. You can get the treats you need to get you through the day without exactly packing on the pounds in the process. You can count calories to no end but if you have only a few pounds to reach your goal weight and aren’t delighted with your tight and tone new body, then perhaps it’s best to work on tightening and toning rather than more dieting. The thing that far too many people forget along the way is that dieting can only get you so far when it comes to results. There will come a time when weight training and cardio exercises of some sort are the only thing that is going to get you to the body you so rightly desire. Dieting is good for dropping the pounds, but dieting alone is unlikely to bring you the body of your dreams. You should also keep in mind that exercising and ramping up your fitness routine is a great way to renew your dedication to the process and your enthusiasm. This is particularly true if you have found a fitness routine that is appealing to you. The fitness routines of today are not the tired old aerobics workout of the 1980’s. You have many options ranging from kick boxing, Tae Bo, Yoga, Pilates, and even belly dancing for those that dare. The point is that you are not as limited as you may think when it comes to entertaining options for your workout routine. Find a workout that you can actually be excited about doing and do it. There is a lot of truth to the old Nike commercials that boldly proclaimed: “Just Do It”. Whatever it may be in your fitness routine, it will not do itself. You must be an active participant in your weight loss and fitness endeavors in order to achieve any results that will be favorable. Whether your weight loss and dieting goals are to shed a few pounds or many pounds along the way it is quite likely that you will at some point reach a plateau in which you discover that you need to ramp up either your level of physical activity or calorie burning methods or you will need to ramp up your calorie cutting exercises. Either way, dealing with the setback is almost as important as your decision to lose those pounds in the first place. Get back in the game and renew your efforts. In no time you should have lost those few pounds that you were hoping to lose and established the body you were aiming to create.

Diet And Exercising For Weight Loss

Obesity is now being called an epidemic in the health community. In fact, it will soon be the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, even ahead of cigarette smoking. Obesity leads to type two diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease or stroke and even an increased risk of cancer. With all of these health risks, as well as the general improvement in the quality of life that can occur, losing weight is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. No matter what we would like to believe, there simply isn’t a magic solution to losing weight. The body will shed excess fat when it needs more calories to function through the demands you place on it in a given day than the amount of calories that you feed it. It’s that simple. So, in order to lose weight, you need to decrease the number of calories that you eat as well as increase the amount that you burn. There is a wide range of options to choose from when looking for a weight loss program. All of them often spend a lot of time explaining what to eat, in what amounts and even at what times or in what combinations. But few of them emphasize the importance of exercise – not just for losing weight, but for your general health and wellbeing. Exercise is vital when trying to lose weight for several reasons: First, as you start to eat less, your metabolism will slow down somewhat. Exercising helps to elevate your metabolism back to an efficient level.Second, as mentioned, exercise burns more calories so that you can lose weight faster and stay motivated in your efforts.Third, exercise actually releases endorphins, chemicals that keep your mood elevated. Exercise doesn’t have to mean spending hours at the gym or straining through exhausting workouts. In fact, in order for you to stick with it on the long run, exercising should be something that you enjoy. Start by increasing your activity level in an overall way. Take the stairs when you can. Park further from the mall door when you go shopping. Go for a walk in the park or through a neighborhood you love and bring a dog or a friend along for company. Take dance or martial arts lessons. Once you become more active in general, you’ll find it easier and more natural to move into regular exercise. Which you’ll need to do eventually in order to get regular, noticeable health benefits. You need to raise your heart rate to a fat burning level and keep it there for at least 20 minutes, 3 times or more a week. However, if you don’t want to go to a gym, there are other options. Videos and DVDs are now available in all kinds of exercise types. That way you can change your routine whenever you want so that you don’t get bored with what you’re doing. Try a range of aerobics, kickboxing, yoga, or pretty much any activity you want right in the comfort of your own home. If you have physical limitations that would keep you off from exercising, you can still find a way to increase your activity level. Water aerobics is a wonderful option for those who have joint problems or limited mobility because it relieves the pressure on your body that your weight provides. But you still get the resistance to challenge your muscles from the water. There are even classes and videos available that let you exercise in a seated position. Whatever kind of exercise you choose, it’s important to stay motivated and keep it fun. Try gathering a group together to make it a social event. Or get a pedometer, a device that tracks how far you walk, and see how many miles you can walk a week. Make a competition amongst your friends or family members and treat the winner with something special (not food related!). Make the experience of exercising something that you look forward to, and it will soon become a regular part of your healthier lifestyle.