Best Weight Loss Questions and Reviews

USA Today had a great article on dieting on Monday, March 1, with a lot of great tips for older dieters when they “hit that brick wall”. They say that after losing 10 or so pounds, that it gets increasingly difficult to continue losing. They give personal examples of 2 women and one man (50’s-60’s). All 3 said that it was much harder at this age than it had been earlier in life and I agree.

The article states that according to obesity research, people commonly lose 5-10% of the weight in the first 3-6 months of a diet program (10-20 pounds). In order to go beyond that to ultimate success, some serious lifestyle changes need to happen. Some things that need to be taken into account:

• Loss of muscle mass
• lower overall levels of physical activity as aging occurs
• poor eating habits
• hormonal changes as a result of menopause or andropause
• genes

Strength training is important because as people age, they lose muscle mass slowly. Some people have decided that they do not want to move because of aches and pains. The strength training helps tone the muscles and minimize the loss, also making them more efficient at burning calories. Not mentioned is that movement actually helps minimize the aches and pains. This is especially important to do while dieting or the diet can also remove muscle which makes it much easier to gain the weight once the ‘dieting’ cycle is completed. Physical activity also makes the weight come off faster.

This is an important point they made that I think many overlook or just are unaware of…Women tested after menopause showed an average of 100-150 calories less burned per day still doing their normal schedule and some were also physically less active, accounting for as much as 200 calories per day less. The lack of estrogen is also being blamed for an increased appetite for specific foods containing carbohydrates and fats which is something to be careful with.

Another challenge they linked to a weight loss plateau appears to be a general pattern of unhealthy eating in their overall lifestyle. If there is only one unhealthy habit to change, like drinking high-calorie drinks, it’s a little easier than having to change lots of things. The pattern of success involves making weight loss a priority with lifestyle changes. The women who were most successful did make it a priority by:

• adding 45 minutes of aerobic exercise 5 days a week
• eliminating unhealthy habits/foods and substituting healthy ones
• limiting calories to 1200-1800 a day
• writing down what they ate
• weighing and measuring what they ate
• preparing the food at home instead of eating out
• making themselves a priority, even with all their commitments
• taking a short break if necessary and maintain, then go back at it again

It was a great article and I would just like to add something that might be missing for some people – support. A non-profit weight loss support group like TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) can make a huge difference. Sometimes we may need even more individual help. In those cases:

• getting a personal trainer to help with strength training
• getting a life coach for the mental re-training, strategizing, accountability, encouragement, and support

See You Lighter!!
Jacqui Biernat

Life Coach, personal trainer for the mind – You can sign up for ‘30 Days of Loving (Yourself)’ – enough to follow through on what you want to accomplish. http:www.light-r-u.com/30days

Here are a few free and easy ways to lose weight designed to shed those extra pounds without adding to the national debt. Simply making a few changes to your diet and lifestyle can make a great difference in your weight loss program

Portion control. We have all been guilty of heaping our plate, until even healthy meal contains more calories that we should be consuming. Try eating smaller portions. Little and often is the best rule for effective weight loss

Jump start your metabolism every morning with a warm glass of water. Drink at least eight glasses of water per day. Great for flushing toxins from the system

Ditch tea or coffee in the morning. Replace them with a glass of boiled water infused with grated ginger and lemon to cleanse and refresh your digestive system and assist fat burning throughout the day

Control your appetite: Soup is a great appetite suppressant. It’s a good source of protein, fibre and essential nutrients. You will find local supermarkets offer a quite a selection of low fat soups, free from additives, artificial colouring and flavouring.

Essential fats: For snacks between meals try some crunchy vegetable sticks or a couple of handfuls of mixed nuts. This also helps to suppress your appetite and you will eat less. Essential fats also have health giving properties, fat burning qualities

Switch to protein-based meals that contain fish, chicken and meat with steamed vegetables will keep your satisfied for longer

Don’t skip meals, especially breakfast. Instead swap breakfast cereal for a grapefruit. In a recent study, it was reported that people who eat just grapefruit in the morning lost around 10lb over the same amount of weeks without making and other diet or lifestyle changes

On the subject of fruit. Make sure you add fresh fruit to your weight loss diet program. Another recent study found that overweight women who ate three small pears a day lost more weight on a low-calorie weight loss plan than woman who didn’t eat any fruit to their diet

Keep Cool: If you’re too warm your metabolic rate slows. If you are cooler the body burns more calories by keeping warm from the inside by adding herbs to your meals that stimulate ‘thermogenesis’ in the body, speeds up the metabolism, and suppress the appetite, assist in any weight loss. Program,

Last but not least, increase some activity along with any change of diet. This doesn’t have to be heavy duty workouts. Choose an exercise and diet program that you can easily fit into your current lifestyle, either at work or at home. Persistence is the key. You will eventually achieve your ideal weight target. It doesn’t matter if progress is slow. It’s still progress

These are just a few free and easy ways to help you lose weight. Keep a positive attitude. When tempted with all that comfort food ask yourself, “Do I want to look and feel good?” It’s not just a diet. It’s a whole new lifestyle

Information contained in this article is not meant to replace professional advice. Always check with your health care adviser or physician before starting any exercise, diet or weight loss program

Does it seem like an eternity for you to find the most effective and fastest weight loss diet? Okay my friend, read this article here and I will show you exactly how to find that perfect diet is just minutes!

The first thing you should know is that not all diets are going to produce results. The programs I highly suggest for you to stay away from are any type of “fad diet”. A fad diet is basically those “low-fat”, “low-carb”, “low-calorie”, etc. types of diets. They are only going to reduce your metabolism and cause you to RETAIN body fat, REGAIN lost weight, and you will lose energy (especially with the low carb diets)!

Alright, now that we have the diets that don’t work out the way, let’s find out what is going to work.

Here is an easy step-by-step checklist to determine which program is going to work effectively:

Step 1 – Make sure that the program is based on getting 100% proper nutrition. You must be eating all types of nutrients and you should not be restricting calories. Also, the diet should be based on eating more frequently through out the day (4 – 5 meals).

Step 2 – The diet must boost your metabolic rate. If the program is based on naturally increasing your fat burning hormones, then this type of plan most certainly will work.

Step 3 – The program must be very easy to follow. It should be as if the diet is based simply around changing your eating pattern around instead of doing something dramatic such as severely lowering your calorie intake to let’s say only 700 calories a day, or doing anything else that is dangerous or complicated!

So, if you have been trying to find that perfect program, use those steps above in searching for a proven diet and you’ll find one that is sure to get you great results extremely fast, easy, and permanently.

Many people are overweight and would like to lose weight but they can’t quite get to the point of committing to a proper diet and sticking with it. There is often a kind of apathy that creeps in when you start a diet but then give up, thinking, “what’s the point? Why should I bother?” It does not have to be like that. If you are overweight, it really is important to shed that excess weight.

Research suggests that the longer you remain obese, the greater the risk to your health. The sooner you lose excess weight the longer you are likely to live – really.

There is not only longevity to consider, but also the quality of one’s life. Nobody would want to endure in their middle or later life, the misery of potentially crippling conditions like heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or gall bladder disease.

If you can lose excess weight and get to a weight that is right for your height and age you have a chance of a much better day to day life. You will be able to move about and do the things you want. The more activity you do, the more you can expect to do, since exercise helps keep the body supple, the heart active, and the bones strong.

You do not need to be consigned to an armchair when you get old. If you exercise and keep active, you will have a more satisfying old age and achieve much more. There is no reason why a person can’t climb a flight of stairs just because they are in their seventies. Many people retire to a bungalow in their old age but you should make climbing the stairs part of your daily fitness routine. Life is more fun if you can move about freely, and you are more likely to be able to do that if you are not overweight and you do some exercise.

Not many people talk about this but observation would support the contention that people who are noticeably overweight are treated somewhat less favourably in general. If two ladies apply for the same job as a receptionist and one is overweight, is it likely that she would get the job? People do not like sitting next to an overweight person in a cinema or on a bus because they simply take up more than their share of space.

If you are overweight think how much better it would be if any attention you get would be positive rather than negative, and how this could be the case provided you make a determined effort to shed those excess pounds. Self-confidence is partly about how you look. You want to look good and you can!

Losing weight simply doesn’t address the long term reasons why we gain weight. Losing weight is easy; burn more calories then you eat. But with great guides on how its done correct, it is very easy. Weight Loss starts by understanding the amount of energy you expend versus what you take in.

Losing weight starts by realizing how much energy you use up, versus what you eat. but with great guides on how its done correct, its easy. Eating has made you fat, so eating can also make you slim when you know how to do it right. Eating unprocessed foods, fruits, veggies and whole grains is best for your metabolism and will help aid in weight lost.

There are many, who has to deal with controlling their weight, and a great weight loss program would be the perfect tool for the job. Just because there won’t be any guess work involve when it comes down on you doing the right thing to lose your weight fast, safe, easy and effectively. Weight loss has become a necessary objective to be accomplished by people, as it affects the overall personality of an individual.

Shedding pounds definitely requires a strong mind, just because it is not just a walk in the park, especially if you are going about losing your weight on your own. Just because losing weight takes great guidance. Losing weight could remain just a dream that never come to reality, if you don’t have an excellent weight loss plan.

Losing weight is not just being able to fit in all the pretty clothes but also it is the ideal way to remain fit and healthy. Many of us have been running north and south in hunt of weight loss secrets, and here I reveal the healthy way of losing weight.

Firstly you should have an idea on your caloric intake. Maintain a notepad to make a list of the food you consume each day. Reducing your intake of high-fat, high-calorie foods is the key weight loss secret..

You could plan ahead your menu, keeping in find the calories intake. This would control the portion of meal you take and also keeps a check of the total calorie intake. You could choose healthy snacks like nuts, baby carrots, dried apricots, rice cakes etc.

Fibre and water intake are very important if you are looking for a weight loss secret. Fibre helps in making the digestive system work efficiently. Water if not taken sufficiently will block water in different parts of your body which ultimately results in giving an unappealing appearance besides the dehydration.

Exercise is not a weight loss secret I am sure. It is the most common way of losing weight by burning calories. Healthy way of losing weight is exercising regularly and decreasing your caloric intake. Activities like brisk walking, swimming and using aerobic machines benefit your heart besides encouraging weight loss.

The most important aspect in any weight loss secret is to have a healthy mental state.Do not expect to lose weight overnight. You should set yourself realistic goals; else you will be extremely upset in being unsuccessful. You should have strong determination which would encourage you to go on with your new food plan and exercise regimes Being confident of yourself and the ability to fight temptations is very important.

Keep away from weight loss supplements. They may dig a hole in your pocket, not give you required results but may cause health hazards. Unless medically you require, do not go for surgeries that claim to shape you up is also not advisable. Anything under knife comes with its own side effects and infections and highly expensive. Last but not to least, keep away from crash diets. You may lose some weight at the cost of being tired and exhausted which you put on back once you stop the diet. Crash diets are not a healthy system as they do not provide your body with the required nutrition.