Friday, November 28, 2008

How to Lose That Unwanted Weight?

Every day, you here such a lot of advice how to lose weight that you probably feel ashamed, that you are over weight. 

All these so-called "experts" have arguments that sound completely logical. Sometimes they even give you a long list of scientific references to back up their claims. But who are you supposed to believe? You are frustrated, bewildered and confused by all these conflicting information. 

Everyone knows that to lose weight you need to eat responsibly and do some type of exercise. If you do some type of exercise and maintain the same diet and calorie intake you will almost certainly lose weight. Remember, do not exercise to lose weight but rather exercise because you want to have a healthy body. 

People diet for two primary reasons, to lose weight and to improve there health. Many people who diet fails to lose weight and if they do lose that weight fail to maintain the level of weight over the long term. 

How many times have you heard that the only way to lose weight through diet is to eat less? The only way to lose weight and keep it, is by eating properly and exercising on a regular basis. By taking full control of your eating habits you will begin to lose weight the best way possible slowly and steadily. 

Many people who ever tried to lose weight have found it challenging. Getting motivated to lose weight can be hard, especially if you have tried to lose weight in the past. 

Almost every week they bring out the next diet designed to help you "shed the pounds." The problem is that most of these programs are not effective. Some work for a few days, but the weight comes back. 

The key to effective weight loss is a lifestyle of health. Tired of fighting to lose weight only to gain it back, again and again? It is a horrible cycle and it is also depressing. A lifestyle of health is paramount to lose weight. This includes sensible eating and moderate exercise. 

Like any machine, our body needs fuel in order to operate. Unfortunately, the fuel or food that most people use is not what the body needs or desires. In order to operate at peak efficiency, the body needs proper food. 

Building lean muscle, burning additional calories, and improving overall health are just some of the benefits of consistent exercise. This may include walking, jogging, riding a bike, playing with your kids or grandkids, or any other type of activity. Make it something that you will enjoy. 


About The Author 
Willem Steyn is retired, started a home business and to stay productive, motivated and healthy, he takes his dog for walks on a regular basis. He still plays an active part in the local society. For more information, on how to start your own internet home business opportunity and to find out how you can achieve your goals, Visit http://www.profit-online247.com. 

Lose Weight Permanently with the Power Pause

If strict diet and exercise routines are not for you and just make you feel like a failure because you don't seem to be able to keep them up, then why not try a new approach? Start with something you know you can do, which needs no special equipment and which you can do anywhere. This is something which is so powerful, so simple it will serve you all your life. I call it a "Power Pause" because it means using a moment to regain power over your decisions about what and when you eat. 

To make the "Power Pause" part of your life ask yourself just 3 questions before you eat anything 

* Am I physically hungry right now or could I wait? 

* How will I feel after I have eaten this? 

* Is there a better choice? 

The Power Pause is a tool you can use whenever you're faced with food. You can use it before you buy food in a restaurant or shop. And you can use it before you open the fridge or freezer, before you reach into the cupboard for a snack, before you have a second cookie. You can even use it during a meal to help you think about whether you have eaten enough. Use it to remind yourself to stop eating whether or not there is food left on your plate or on the table. It simply helps you avoid eating when you're not hungry. 

We all tend to eat food without thinking. We see food, we eat it. We get offered food, we accept it. We pass a burger bar. We suddenly feel "hungry", go in and order. We anesthetize our minds with food when we're upset. We hardly notice the food going in. 

And eating food without needing it is the primary cause of our weight problems. We eat and eat without thinking whether we're hungry right now or whether that food is the best choice we can make for our bodies and our health. We eat without thinking about our desire to look good on the beach this year, to do something about our threatening health problems, to feel good about ourselves. 

But what does it take to pause for a moment before you make a decision to put food in your mouth, to think twice before you add those calories to your hips? A few seconds at most! Certainly less time than you will spend regretting your bout of over-eating. 

You may not succeed in stopping yourself every time especially at the beginning of using this tool - so don't look for perfection from yourself - look for progress. Keep going because it will eventually become second nature - a habit for the rest of your life - one which will help you stay slim forever. 

About The Author

Copyright 2006, Janice Elizabeth Small 

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach and author of "The Diet Exit Plan". Get her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

How Closely Are Fibre and Weight Loss Connected?

Consumption of Fiber and weight loss are very closely connected. 

The incidences of deseases like obesity, diabetes, colon deseases etc.are minimal in countries where the population has a regular dose of fiber in their diet. 

Fiber is very important to solve the weight loss puzzle. Fiber cannot be digested by the human digestive system and it passes out from the colons taking all the waste material with it. 

Fiber provides bulk and softens the stools therby helping in regular bowel movements and avoiding constipation. In the intestine, fiber produces a gel which binds the bile acids and this leads the lever to convert cholesterol into bile thereby reducing cholesterol levels. 

Fiber makes people feel less hungry on account of its bulk and reduces appetite resulting in weightloss. It also helps the body in controlling blood sugar. 

Ayurveda Medical Science recommends consumption of fibre rich vegetables in large quantities to get rid of all the toxins from your body.Removal of toxins automatically ensures removal of excess fat from your body. 

There are two types of fiber found in foods: 

Insoluble fiber : 

Insoluble fiber doesn't dissolve in water. This fiber increases the bulk of the food and helps in the fast passage of waste materials from the colons avoiding build up of toxins and therby deseases like colon cancer. 

Soluble fiber : 

This type of fiber forms a gel in the intestine and helps in reducing the cholesterol. 

Your body needs a regular dosage of 30-40gms of fiber to keep in good health and lose those excess pounds. 

Consuming the following foods will keep you in great shape and health: 

High fiber foods: 

Oat bran, Corn Bran, rice bran, wheat bran. 

Medium fiber foods : 

Whole grains, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat flour, oatmeal-rolled oats, steel cut oats, wheat-oat flour, corn meal, brown rice. 

Low fiber foods to be avoided: 

Refined foods like white flour(bleached or unbleached), pasta, cream of wheat, oat flour, corn starch, white rice. 

One important aspect of fiber and weight loss is drinking lots of water. 

Water makes the fiber swell and work better. 

However, increase your consumption of fiber very gradually to avoid digestive discomfort. 

Get more cutting edge fat burning secrets in my Free 5day email ecourse delivered directly to your inbox by subscribing to my newsletter at: www.eweightlosstips.com 

About The Author

Rajesh Shetty - Expert in weight loss principles of Ayurveda Medical Science and Author of the Best selling book, "Proven weight loss secrets revealed". 

www.eweightlosstips.com 

article@eweightlosstips.com

Need to Lose Weight? Then Increase Your Metabolism…

If you need to lose weight, one great way to start melting pounds away is to increase your metabolism. By increasing your metabolism, you'll be able to process food faster and therefore will store less fat in the body. In fact, with a better metabolism, you're body will even begin burning away existing fat in order to get the energy it needs to support itself. 

How Metabolism Works 

Your metabolism can either work for you or against you. The main way we all get energy is from glucose, commonly known as our blood sugar. 

When our blood sugar runs low, our metabolism burns the fat in our bodies in order to make more energy. However, when our blood sugar runs high, our metabolism stores fat in our bodies to use later. 

So now let's look at how you can get your metabolism to work for you. 

Go Ahead and Eat 

Many people believe that the key to losing weight is to stop eating. Well, that will actually have a negative effect on your metabolism. Eating less will cause your metabolism to slow down because it will sense that you don't have enough food. 

So when you finally eat, your blood sugar will jump through the roof and your metabolism will store the extra glucose as fat. 

Instead of starving yourself, eat many smaller, healthy meals that are low in calories and fat. Also, consume plenty of water, fruits, and vegetables. 

By eating smaller portions you'll not only curb your appetite, but you'll also trick your body into thinking that it's getting plenty of food. Therefore, your metabolism will kick into a higher gear. Then when it doesn't get the glucose it needs for energy (because you're eating healthy) then it will begin to take that glucose from the stores of fat that are already in your body. 

Get Yourself Moving 

Exercise is a guaranteed way to increase your metabolism. Always check with your doctor for what is the best exercise regime for you. Most of the time, walking as little as twenty minutes a day, will help increase your metabolism. 

Exercise actually helps you lose weight in two ways: 

First, exercise builds muscle and muscle burns calories on its own. 

Secondly, when you exercise your body is forced to come up with enough energy to support your activity. So, it begins burning fat in order to give the energy you need. 

Don't be put off when I say exercise - there is no need to be pounding away furiously on a treadmill for hours a day. 

A simple yet effective mini routine is all that is needed to give your metabolism a boost. 

Some Final Words about Losing Weight 

If you need to lose weight, you're certainly not alone. Millions of people are in the same boat. However, most people don't realize what it takes to first lose the weight and then to keep the weight off. 

If you increase your metabolism, you'll see that over time, your fat will melt off your body and your weight will gradually drop. The two best ways to increase your metabolism are to eat smaller meals more often and to exercise regularly. 



About The Author 
Matt Falconer's latest guide helps you shift pounds, boost metabolism and burn fat without spending hours in the gym sweating away on the treadmill. 
=> http://www.12MinuteWorkoutPlan.Com

4 Sure-Fire Tips For Effective Weight Loss

Are you just plain fed up because you haven't lost weight for a long time now on that latest fad diet, well please stop! Don't even think about trying another diet, because it will only produce the same results as you have already seen before. 

Have a look at the four sure fire tips found below that are based on "Scientific Principles" that have always been around, but are not followed by the majority of weight loss programs you see these days. 

So let’s have a look: 

1. Increasing Your Metabolism 

In order to produce Sustained, Permanent and Long-Term Weight Loss, it's imperative that you boost your metabolism. And the most effective way to raise your metabolism is to have a greater proportion of functional muscle on your body. 

The only way to build this lean muscle so you can raise your metabolism is through "Strength Training". There's no other method that works wonders on the Metabolism like Strength Training. 

By performing Strength Training, you'll effectively increase the amount of functional lean muscle on your body so that your metabolism will elevate. 

After a Strength Training session your body will undergo a significant increase or "Spike" in Metabolism, which will allow you to burn much more fat then you were able to before. 

2. It's All About Lean Muscle 

"The amount of fat the body can burn is directly related to the more lean muscle your body can hold." 

If your muscle system can sustain more energy and use this energy significantly when performing strength training, then it will be able to burn off the calories you eat and the excess fat on your body. 

In other words, if your muscles become stronger and can hold more energy then you should be able to release this energy more efficiently to increase your metabolism, and to burn off excess calories that you have eaten. 

Once we can build more lean muscle through our own strength, then our bodies will become more efficient at burning fat. 

It's also the amount of lean muscle on your body that makes you look good Once you burn off the excess fat from your body, the lean muscle underneath your skin will be exposed making you look healthy, energetic, and well toned. 

3. Decrease Your Daily Calories 

For years now, we have been told to use dieting to rid the excess fat from our bodies. 

The trouble with this concept is that the low calorie restricted diet would throw the body into starvation mode, with the body holding onto the fat and using precious muscle tissue for energy. 

This would then lower the metabolism causing greater muscle loss and when the diet is broken the unwanted fat would not only return but actually increase because to the lowered metabolism. 

The way around this is to cut your daily calorie intake by a small amount of calories only. This will stop any starvation mechanisms from clicking in. You can do this by making up a seven day eating plan and writing down every thing you eat for the week, and then work out the calories you have eaten with a calorie counter. Divide this figure by seven and you have your daily calorie value. 

Decrease daily calorie value by a couple of hundred calories per day and no more. This will generate slow weight loss and the majority will be fat loss only. The daily calories should be consumed during the day with small frequent meals. 

4. Fast Walking Burns Fat 

All you need to do now is incorporate "Fast Walking" into your weight loss program to hasten the burning of excess fat. 

Not only is fast walking better much easier on the hips, but it also produces a greater percentage of fat loss as opposed to jogging or running. 

Here are some of the benefits of Fast Walking. 
Easy to Perform 
Most Conventional 
All Natural Body Movement 
Doesn't Cause Injuries 
Can Be Done Anywhere 
The Best Minimal Effort Exercise for Fat Loss 

"I can't stress enough how Fast Walking is necessary in every weight loss program." 

Your next step? To take what you have just learned and apply them to your weight daily weight loss regime. 

About The Author

Gary Matthews is the author of the popular fitness eBooks Maximum Weight Loss and Maximum Weight Gain. Please visit http://www.maximumfitness.com right now for your 'free' weight loss e-course. 

Natural Weight Loss for Good Health and Well Being

Weight loss is becoming an unhealthy obsession dealing with body images, but in some cases can improve health and fitness. When weight loss is a result of eating healthy, exercising and/or taking natural weight loss supplements in contrast to synthetic prescription drugs with the risk of harmful side effects, weight loss can be effective, rewarding, and greatly improve overall health. 

Extra weight, especially extra fat on a person's body, applies significantly increased stresses on the heart, joints and back. These stresses can be extremely detrimental to one's health. Healthy weight loss can reduce the risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, arthritis and other health problems, as well as generally extending an otherwise average life span. Recently, the scientific root cause or explanation of obesity has been revealed as being part of one's physiology. The internal functions of an obese person are different than those of a healthy person, and cause intense hunger pains and food cravings. 

Natural weight loss supplements can help counteract this constant hunger and lead to healthy weight loss. Unbalanced hormones are a common cause of weight gain, therefore taking natural hormone balancers and herbal supplements would help to create a healthy weight loss regimen. Restoring your health allows you to lose weight naturally, without excess frustration and effort. It's all about losing weight from the inside out. 

Emotional issues always accompany change, especially changes in our bodies e.g. natural weight loss. Weight loss affects our perception body image, our sense of identity i.e. who am I?, and how we feel about ourselves in general. Weight loss also effects our social relationships in that there may be people in our family or social contacts that are emotionally invested in our remaining the same i.e. overweight with all that it symbolizes e.g. friendliness, non-threatening, protective, jovial, helpful, etc. Beyond our physical health, it can be said that "size matters" cognitively and emotionally to ourselves and others. Eating and food have come to symbolize being accepted, being cared for and comfort. Having the support of others in our efforts to naturally lose weight and regain our health is a huge advantage. 

We have been "conditioned" to fear any kind of loss, including weight loss. Especially if what we may lose is something with which we identify i.e. use to tell us who we are. 

The emotions of fear, anger, anxiety and depression effect our weight. We often tend to "stuff our feelings" or numb these emotional feelings or stress by overeating. We may even overeat, thinking that will ease the physical discomfort caused by excess weight e.g. physical pain, lack of sleep, and lack of energy caused by moderate depression. To improve our overall health and support us through the process of natural weight loss and the emotional dynamics around it, we can take advantage of natural sleep aids, natural depression relief and natural pain relief health care products. 

Our weight and health is greatly dependent upon our having a healthy digestive system or metabolism. Our digestive system converts, on a cellular and muscular level, the foods we eat, eliminates toxins, and uses and stores glucose for energy. Natural enzymes trigger hunger signals and facilitate absorption of nutrition. Good digestion with the help of natural enzymes aids in the conversion of fat to muscle. 

Allergy and sensitivity to food, parasites, yeast overgrowth and emotional stress are signals of digestive disruption and inflammation. Natural essential fatty acids work to reduce intestinal inflammation, decrease harmful acids, help the liver process proteins that grow muscle, balance hormones and facilitate the elimination of toxins. Natural essential fatty acids help clear our digestive system of heavy metals, harmful bacteria, pesticides that we are increasingly encountering in our environment. Essential fatty acids along with natural fiber help us clean out the intestinal debris that harm our health and often lead to weight gain. Essential fatty acids also help our brain's neurotransmitters to function properly in order to deal with stress, emotions, and cravings that can lead to overeating and weight gain. 

Natural amino acids are the building blocks that make up proteins. Next to water, protein makes up the greatest part of our body weight. Amino acids help increase metabolism, build muscle, ease moderate depression, and help burn fat. Natural antioxidants help carry more oxygen to cells and muscles to help increase energy, burn fat, build muscle and process the foods we eat. 

Hormone balance is essential for natural weight loss. Our metabolism slows as we get older because of the decrease or imbalance of hormones. This contributes to weight gain. Hormone balance also helps us deal with stress that leads to weight gain. Proper hormone balance helps to decrease cravings and binge eating. There are many natural hormone balancing products available, e.g. natural progesterone, promensil, soy isoflavones, essential fatty acids and hormone balancing formulas. 

Our metabolism's primary task is to nourish our brains. We need healthy neurotransmitters to help us curb craving, ease depression, and deal with stress that lead to weight gain. Balancing our natural brain chemistry has a calming effect and allows us to feel a sens of well being and safety. There are many natural health care products to help balance brain chemistry, e.g. essential fatty acids, natural depression relief products, natural products to increase serotonin, and more. When our brain feels well and safe, it is prone to change our metabolism from calorie saving to calorie burning. 

Our bodies were designed to move and be active. Movement requires muscle activity. Muscle activity uses the glycogen supply found in our muscles. When this glycogen supply stored in our muscles is used, our body is forced to use stored fat as an energy source. Using this stored fat through movement and exercise, results in natural weight loss. There is no reason for us to become athletes to accomplish natural weight loss. Low impact exercise like swimming, walking, etc, can be done slowly and without strain. In order to lose real weight rather than "water weight", it is important to drink extra amounts of water when exercising. Drinking more water will also help our digestive system and metabolism to use and eliminate extra weight. 

Remember, the first objective, accomplished through natural weight loss, is to improve our physical and emotional health. This involves having a healthy digestive system, a healthy emotional system and a healthy nutritional system. We can build these healthy systems with natural vitamins, amino acids, antioxidants, natural digestive aid, pain relief aid, natural sleep aids, natural emotional and mood aids, essential fatty acids and many more helpful natural health care products. We need to concentrate on improving our general health, feeling good, and living well through natural weight loss, rather than constantly comparing ourselves to someone else's idea about appearance from some magazine. Physical and emotional health is primary. Appearance may be important to us, but it is secondary. Through natural weight loss, we can live well and live long. 



About The Author 
Jennifer Kays has over twenty years experience with all natural health care products. 

The provides natural weight loss products through http://sweetmedicineessentials.com/natural-weight-loss-c-3.html

Exercising For Weight Loss

Most people know that exercise is an important part of any weight loss program, but there is considerable confusion over what type of exercise and how much is needed to produce maximum results. Even experts cannot agree as to what the "right" exercise is to produce weight loss, and in part this confusion lies in the fact that many experts rely on only a partial analysis of the available research on exercise physiology, and there is often a tendency to make "one-size-fits-all" recommendations, when the reality is that different people will actually get different results from different approaches. 

Let's begin with what the current research on exercise physiology tells us. It is well-established that it takes approximately 30 minutes of any kind of exercise for the body to burn off its glycogen (stored sugar) reserves and begin burning fat. So, most experts recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise, and generally 60 minutes or more may be recommended to get a good amount of fat burning. Now, if you are going to be exercising for 30 to 60 minutes, or maybe more, what type of exercise would you be able to do for that length of time? It probably would have to be low to medium intensity. In other words, you're probably not going to be able to run full speed or do any other type of high-intensity exercise for 30 to 60 minutes without a rest, unless you happen to be an elite athlete, and even then you'd be struggling. So, by default, the common recommendation for exercise to lose weight has been 30 to 60 minutes of low to medium intensity aerobic exercise. Aerobic translates to "in the presence of oxygen", which in common language means that aerobic exercise is any type of activity that you can do without gasping for breath. 

In recent years, some experts have changed their recommendations to using a more intense anaerobic ("without oxygen") exercise program for weight loss. This would include things like intense weight lifting, and something called "interval training". Interval training involves brief bursts of high intensity activity with periods of rest or low intensity activity in between. For instance, your could sprint at full speed for 30 to 60 seconds and once you were winded, you could walk at an easy pace for a couple of minutes until you could catch your breath, then repeat the cycle several more times.. Because this kind of workout is much more strenuous, it is performed over a much shorter period of total exercise time - about 20 to 40 minutes (at least half of which is rest time), as compared to half an hour to an hour of non-stop exercise as is recommended with low to medium intensity aerobic workouts. The question is, how do the two types of exercise compare in terms of their ability to promote fat burning? 

The aerobic exercise promoters point to the research that was mentioned earlier that has shown that any exercise, no matter how intense requires at least 30 minutes to use up the body's stored glycogen (the body will normally burn glycogen before it will burn fat) before fat burning can begin. So, they say, short periods of even highly intense exercise won't burn much fat and is therefore not a good choice for promoting weight loss. But they are only seeing part of the story. 

It is true that you must exercise for at least 30 minutes to begin to achieve fat burning - but that's at the time you are exercising. Brief bursts of intense anaerobic exercise does something that even quite a lot of low to medium intensity aerobic exercise does not. Intense anaerobic exercise stimulates the production of growth hormone, which is a strong stimulator of fat burning. The thing is, the release of growth hormone triggered by intense anaerobic exercise comes 24 to 48 hours AFTER the exercise, and then it produces considerably more fat burning than is possible with all but extremely long periods of low to medium intensity aerobic exercise. 

Because of this effect, most people will lose weight much more easily by doing shorter periods of more intense exercise. 20 to 40 minutes of heavy weightlifting, interval training (which could be done on foot, on a bicycle, swimming, kickboxing, etc.Any kind of activity in which there are periodic bursts of intense exertion interspersed with rest periods, or periods of low intensity activity is typically preferable in the long run for weight control than even long hours of lower intensity aerobic exercise. 

Now, you'll notice that I said "most people". There is an exception to the rule. People under considerable stress, either emotional or physical, or both, in their daily lives are prone to overworked adrenal glands. The adrenal glands do a lot of things in the body, but with regards to weight loss, they produce two hormones. Cortisol is one of the hormones, and it stimulates fat storage in the lower abdominal area. This is typically a saggy, pendulous fat held below the waistline. The other hormone the adrenals produce is adrenaline (also called epinephrine), which actually promotes fat burning. Since the adrenals produce cortisol which causes fat deposition and adrenaline which promotes fat burning, you might assume that these two hormones cancel each other out. The thing is, cortisol can be produced by the adrenals for a much longer time than adrenaline, which is produced for brief periods, so in the long run, the cortisol effects (fat storage in the lower abdomen) win out when you are under chronic stress. 

The adrenals are influenced by physical stress as well as mental stress, so for someone who is under a lot of stress in general in his or her life, high-intensity exercise will only add to the total stress and will tend to make the adrenals produce a lot of cortisol, and therefore will tend to promote lower abdomen weight gain. Yes, you read that right - excessive exercise for someone under a lot of stress can actually cause that person to deposit MORE fat around the lower belly! This can result in the frustrating situation in which one exercises more and more and harder and harder to try to get rid of that lower abdomen stomach "pooch", but never can seem to get rid of it. Because the intense exercise is stimulating more cortisol production, that person is fighting a losing battle. Because of this effect, it is recommended that people under a lot of stress and/or who have most of their weight held in the lower abdomen stick to relatively low intensity aerobic exercise. This kind of activity is usually helpful for controlling stress and reducing the level of cortisol, thereby making it easier to get rid of the deposition of fat around the lower abdomen. 

Hopefully you now have a better understanding of how to use exercise to maximum benefit for weight loss. 



About The Author 
Dr. George Best has been a holistic healthcare provider for 15 years. For more information on natural weight loss, please visit http://www.TrainYourBrain4WeightLoss.com , or email to DrBest@trainyourbrain4weightloss.com.