Weight loss

Choosing Healthy Office Snacks for Weight Loss

A busy work day is never easy to handle, and if you’re trying to lose weight simultaneously, the challenge can seem overwhelming. However, even if you cannot take time out for exercise, there is no reason why you cannot choose healthy office snacks for weight loss, when the late afternoon hunger pangs strike. Give the bowl of candies and your burger meal a miss, and go in for these healthy foods instead.

Fruit

If you want something tasty, healthy, light and filling at the same time, there really is nothing better than some seasonal fruit. Keep two or three different ones handy so that you have variety in taste and nutritive content. Besides, the fruits you take should be easy to carry and munch on. Grapes, apples, bananas, pears and berries are all effective. If your office has a fully functioning pantry and you are in the mood for something more filling, you may also be able to quickly whip up a banana shake or smoothie, with low fat milk and yogurt. Alternatively, you could carry a healthy breakfast cereal and add the fruits to that for a tasty and refreshing light meal.

Nuts

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Just as fruits, nuts are also essential to any weight loss diet. They work as a source of protein, keep untimely hunger pangs away and also contain essential and healthy fats. However, they are rich in calories, so make sure your afternoon portion is no heavier than an ounce. That still gives you roughly 25 almonds! Just make sure that you avoid the salted variety. Have the plain roasted ones instead. Like fruit, nuts can also be added to a healthy low-fat shake or breakfast cereal.

Peanut Butter and Whole Wheat Crackers

The whole wheat and multi-grain wheat crackers are fiber-rich and unrefined, and with your dab of peanut butter, you have a tasty and wholesome snack with adequate protein, that will keep you full for longer. Who says a weight loss diet is at the expense of taste?

Instant Oatmeal

A serving of instant oatmeal is nutritious, light in calories (110 calories) and filling. Besides, all you need to do is heat and eat. If you want to enhance the taste, you could add your own cinnamon, raisins or chopped fruit. Its nutrition, convenience and versatility, makes instant oatmeal one of the best healthy office snacks for weight loss.

Snack Bars

You need to be careful here, if you are looking to lose weight. Avoid he high-calorie bars loaded with artificial sugars. Get one which has a small and natural list of ingredients, has no or little added sugar and falls within 200 calories per serving. The best bars contain whole grain ingredients and nuts and dried fruits.

Naturally, all these items require a bit of planning in advance. If you only start thinking about what to eat when hunger strikes you in the middle of the work day, chances are you will reach for whatever is nearest and most easy to get. That’s why, if you are serious about your attempt to lose weight, you need to keep healthy things close at hand. As you have seen from the list above, once you have bought these things, there is minimal preparation required. With these healthy office snacks for weight loss, you will also feel more energized through your day, and more confident about your ability to stick to your weight loss diet.

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By Health Care on June 20, 2011 | Weight loss | A comment?

Weight Loss With Slimming Patches

Did you know that 1 in 5 women are currently trying to lose weight? Perhaps you are one of them.

Most stick to diet and exercise to reach their goals yet the thought of this can seem unappealing to most. Maybe you have not had the results you were expecting so a little extra help in the form of a slimming patch could help.

In our hectic lifestyles it is hard to find the time to eat healthy foods and exercise regularly. Often our work schedules and the demands of family and friends leave little spare time to look after ourselves.

Food is one of our main pleasures and with many social occasions such as birthdays all revolving around food it is little wonder we all struggle with our weight. Temptation is around every corner and missing these occasions is just not an option.

If you want to lose that excess weight without diet and exercise then you could use a slimming patch such as the Slim Weight Patch.

You wont ever have to buy a salad while out for a meal or spend countless hours pounding away in the gym.

When you use the Slim Weight Patch it will do all the work for you. Its 100% natural ingredients have been designed to travel directly through your skin and into your bloodstream.

There it can help to lower your appetite while at the same time boosting your metabolism. This increase in your metabolism can help to burn fat, reduce your food cravings and lose weight without having to change your lifestyle.

The Slim Weight Patch has no side effects and is extremely simple to use. Just attach one of the patches to your skin daily and it will get to work.

When applied the slimming patch can target the hormones responsible for controlling your metabolism, making your body feel like you are exercising, which in turn can help you to burn calories and fat without breaking a sweat.

Trying to lose weight through diet is difficult due to your constant urge to eat; by using the Slim Weight Patch this problem can be resolved. You can still eat your favourite foods, but with this slimming patch applied you just wont want to eat as much of it. Obviously this will reduce your daily calorie intake.

If you do not wish to struggle with diet and exercise in your effort to lose weight then finding a product that can help is paramount. The Slim Weight Patch is the product you have been looking for.

By Health Care on June 16, 2011 | Weight loss | A comment?

Get Better Sleep for Health and Weight Loss

Sleeping disorders are fast becoming a major problem for the British population. One in twenty of us suffer from excessive daytime drowsiness caused by poor sleep that is believed to be responsible for 1 in 5 motorway accidents. One in 50 British adults are on prescribed medicine to help with sleep, and there are probably as many people self-prescribing over-the-counter remedies. This article will set about trying to explain why we are suffering from a lack of sleep and present some ways to combat sleep deprivation.

The reason we are tired is because we have a sleep debt. Think of your sleep debt as a bank overdraft; if you have a big overdraft you simply have to make monthly payments to meet the minimum requirements, plus pay off the interest, to pay off the debt. Similarly if you have a sleep debt you have to begin paying it off (getting adequate sleep) plus the interest (catch up on what you have missed).

Before the advent of the light bulb, it is safe to say that people got enough sleep. If you have ever been on holiday to a relatively poor country you would have seen this first hand as people rise (wake) and set (sleep) with the sun. Even the advent of fire thousands of years ago would not have produced enough light to interrupt our sleep rhythms and was probably used at night more for warmth and protection.

Our bodies are designed to be in a rhythm with the sun. As the sun rises in the morning, cortisol – an awakening hormone begins to rise. This cortisol rhythm peaks at around midday and begins to drop off in the afternoon. As the sun begins to set, the production of melatonin – a sleep hormone – begins to rise, making us sleepy. During the first few hours of sleep there is an increased production of growth and repair hormones, such as DHEA, testosterone and growth hormone. This fine balance in the hormonal system is what keeps our body in rhythm; however, modern lifestyles upset this finely tuned hormonal rhythm.

Stress is a big problem today, be it emotional, physical, chemical or electromagnetic. Any type of stress causes an increase in you stress hormones – cortisol being the major one. If your cortisol levels are artificially high in the evening when it should be dropping off, it will retard the production of melatonin, and will make getting to sleep a hard job. It will also disrupt the production of your growth and repair hormones which make it hard to recover from the rigours of everyday life, such as recovering from a work-out, a physical day at work or from an injury.

Another tendency today is to sit up till late in a brightly lit room watching television, surfing the net or doing other stimulating activities, then get up early for work the next day and hibernate on the weekends. The pineal gland, which produces melatonin (your sleep hormone) sits just behind the eyes and is very light sensitive. Any type of light stimulation in the evening suppresses melatonin, when it should be rising to make you sleepy, making getting to sleep hard work. This also includes sleeping in a room where there is light pollution from the street or the house.

There are many other factors that can disrupt the fine balance in your hormonal system that can impact on sleep, blood sugar control being one. Cortisol is also an important hormone in regulating blood sugar levels, for example, when your blood sugar is low, cortisol will be released to breakdown stored fats and protein for the liver to convert into sugars. Eating meals too late at night or eating too many simple sugars, such as desserts, sweets, chocolate etc…before bed, will cause blood sugar problems, and affect your sleep. A classic sign that this is happening is if you wake in the night for no apparent reason – the poor blood sugar regulation has caused cortisol to be released into your blood, waking you up. Similarly eating foods with toxins (pesticides, colourings, flavourings etc…) or stimulants (sugar, aspartame or caffeine) can also cause deregulation in the hormonal and immune system, making it hard to sleep.

The brain is an electrochemical organ, generating up to 10 watts of electricity. The brain has 4 categories of brain waves, all with different frequency and amplitude. As we wind down at night then go to sleep we pass down though the different brain waves and end up in delta brainwaves, which are of low frequency and promote sleeping and dreaming. Any type of electromagnetic field (EMF) in the bedroom can disrupt these brainwaves and prevent adequate sleep. Even electrical wiring in the walls gives off an EMF that can be picked up with the right equipment. An EMF detector can be purchased from price-pottenger.org for $20 US and can be used to detect any EMF in your bedroom. Once you know where the EMF’s are, simply move your bed, or change your sleeping position so that your head is far away as possible from any EMF at night.

Any kind of electrical instrument in the bedroom that gives off an EMF could be disrupting your sleep, such as a TV, electric alarm clock, radio, electric blanket, mobile phone etc. and should be unplugged at the very least or removed all together from the bedroom, after all the bedroom is a place for sleep.

10 tips to get adequate sleep

1. Be in bed by 10 and asleep by 10:30pm and get up between 6 and 7 am everyday.

2. Eat well balanced meals throughout the day remove all stimulants, toxins and processed foods from your diet

3. Turn off the TV and computer by 8pm

4. Take a hot bath or do some breathing, meditation or stretches before bed

5. Light candles instead of using bright lights at night

6. Sleep in total darkness

7. Move all electrical items out of the bedroom

8. Don’t exercise past 8pm as it elevates cortisol levels

9. Pay off your sleep debt by getting a few extra hours here and there (weekends, lunch time nap etc…)

10. Try this supplement protocol from Coach Poliquin

• Evening meal take 4 Uber Mag

• Evening snack take 4 Uber Mag

• Right before bed rub 2 pumps of Topical Mag behind each knee

Those with children can also use these tips to help them sleep adequately too. Young children require more sleep than adults so they would need to go to bed earlier than 10pm. You children would need much less magnesium.

By Health Care on December 28, 2010 | Weight loss | A comment?

Putting Healthy Living Into Action

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with the abundance of information on the internet regarding exercise, eating, and healthy living in general? You are in fine company if your answer is yes. Even though my field is health coaching and personal training, I get weary and uninspired by the tidbits of information that are available for free on even highly regarded, well researched, and prominent professional oriented websites.

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This is not to undermine these sites, as I use them quite often as a resource. It is to suggest however, that we need to focus more thoughtfully on what matters most for us as health oriented individuals. Let me explain.

Reading But Not Doing the Work

Here’s what I believe is happening with the wealth of information we have access to on the internet. As consumers, we consistently look for the big breakthrough in losing weight and keeping it off. There’s nothing new about this. With our desire to lose weight, we put our energy into reading material about healthy living and weight loss, but without actually doing the work of cleaning up our eating habits and increasing our energy expenditure with exercise. Why this happens, I can only surmise. One reason that stands prominent in my mind is that we become numb to all the tidbits of information floating in cyberspace, and consequently find it difficult to focus on an actual plan for becoming healthier and leaner. Further, this vast amount of information available to us has the effect of numbing us. This sea of information intended to increase consumer awareness and motivation often times causes the opposite effect. And, it comes at a bad time to the consumer, considering that unhealthy living and obesity are at epidemic proportions.

We Need to Make Sense of Information

As people we are cognitively driven to make sense of the world and so we succeed best when information is integrated systematically into our own lifestyle needs. We have an innate desire to live a healthy life. If you doubt this, ask yourself how many times you have stopped and started exercise and healthy eating programs? We want purpose, meaning, and a sense of systematic planning when it comes to most things that are important to us. Unfortunately, for most people who are aiming to lose weight or become healthier, these small bits of information only serve to distract them from carrying out a more thoughtful strategic plan that is necessary for long lasting behavior change.

What To Do?

What to do is the question. Many of us are good at what we do. We are driven, motivated, and have a system for succeeding at whatever it is we choose. So the question that you may have as a “dieter” is, “Why can’t I succeed at losing weight when I am competent in most other areas of my life?” This is a question worth taking a few minutes to analyze. Think about this – What makes you successful? It does not need to relate to money or fame, but only in what is important to you. If money and fame are important, that is ok of course, but what I am striving to have you analyze is the idea that there is a strong correlation between smartly strategized effort and success. Rarely does anyone succeed if a thoughtful plan is not put into action.

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So Why Can’t I Lose Weight?

These tidbits of information that we have been flooded with for years now is just that- tidbits of information with no plan – no overall strategy – no meaning – and no real life changing purpose! Designed to help us? Of course! But prioritized and individualized for our unique motivations, strengths, weaknesses, and lifestyles – hardly.

We all have areas that we excel in and that comes easy and more natural to us. We still of course have to work strategically hard, but it is work that gives us purpose, energy, and meaning in our lives. In these strength areas of our lives we’ve found value in goal setting, planning, strategizing, implementing, assessing and reassessing. But why haven’t we valued the significance of such thoughtful planning in designing our own healthy lives?

We Stopped Believing

Somewhere in our society’s timeline we stopped believing that smart effort was required for being healthy. Regardless of why or how we came to believe this is really not important. As a health and wellness coach I prefer to look forward to what can be, and only reflect on the past to bring a sensibility to our future aspirations. It is my hope and desire to bring the energy I have in my work, to help you transform the vision you have of a leaner healthier body, and happier life, into the reality you deserve.

By Health Care on December 21, 2010 | Weight loss | A comment?

Diets For Quick Weight Loss

Nearly everybody wants to know for sure which are the most recommended diets for quick weight loss. Though, the answer is not the least bit easy. There’s almost always some sort of potential downside somewhere. If you’re searching for some sort of magical cure I’m going to say this right now, there actually isn’t one. For this reason, it’s extremely important you are aware of precisely what you are getting your self in for while looking at doing any of these diet plans. The following article should, hopefully, provide you with pretty much all the tips you’ll need to help make an informed choice about which diet plans could be most suitable to suit your needs.

You can pretty much rely on the fact that the most desired and well known weight loss programs are going to be good quality. The diet plans that are popular are often like that for a purpose. These weight loss plans that have proven themselves to be frequent high sellers over a period of time can generally be trusted more than the ones which have not. In this instance, newer diets or novelty weight loss plans will be best left alone until they’ve been tested in the marketplace. Most diet plans which are still on the market after a couple of years should be delivering some reasonable results.

Quite a few diets offer good quality free gifts in the way of downloadable ebooks, audio as well as video footage which are usually more than just sales tactics. It’s possible to figure out a great deal relating to the content material within a plan through the quality of the giveaways. Look at the way in which they are produced along with the professionalism and trust exuded within these materials. What is important to understand here shouldn’t be the subject matter within the freebies, it’s more what you foresee the actual paid material to be like. After all, you get what you pay for these days, and absolutely free material is worth each and every nickle!

Some of the fundamental necessities which every quality diet program must offer are; nutritional facts, eating options, tested recipes and an extensive training program. The best weight loss diets also contain some type of metabolic typing procedure or calculation that will help you harness the power of your body’s unique calorie burning properties. Advanced diets for quick weight loss consist of more than only written material and that’s why the web-based diets tend to be the hottest sellers. Downloadable audio along with web-based video are the 2 major reasons why the web based diets out sell and also out do their competition. These weight loss programs include a selection of learning and motivational content which provide for both image and aural learning groups. After all, some people really do not like reading.

Perhaps one of the biggest issues for easily slimming down is getting great support combined with the right information. This is particularly crucial with dieting, seeing that difficulties, excuses and scrumptious temptations may easily side line any weight loss dreams. Quite a few of the leading weight loss plans give email and community forum assistance. Make it a point to choose one of these diets to begin with simply because your chances of actually reducing the extra weight and more importantly not regaining it will most likely be better.

Finally, it must be mentioned that there isn’t one particular weight loss program which is considerably better than any other. I am aware that sounds disheartening, especially when you’re seeking a definitive solution. Nevertheless, regrettably one great weight loss diet for one individual could very well wind up being lousy for the next person. It all relies on what type of eating regimen suits you best. There are a wide range of fantastic diet programs out there that have varying ratios of exercise, diet constraints and speed of weight reduction. It is these 3 factors which are commonly the trade off in every weight loss program. There’s absolutely no such diet that will provide quick weight loss which does not include either a comprehensive exercise routine or highly restrictive eating plan. Equally, weight loss diets that provide liberal eating limits will likely take you more time to get rid of fat. The secret is to be truly frank with yourself and determine exactly what you’re prepared to undertake, or sacrifice, and opt for the diet plan which caters to you the best.

By Health Care on December 18, 2010 | Weight loss | A comment?

Recipes to Lose Weight Fast

Are you looking for good recipes to lose weight fast? If so, you have come to the right place. In today’s society, obesity is becoming an increasing popular problem. The rise in obesity levels is causing our society to see a rise in a wide range of health issues. If you are overweight, do not become a statistic for these problems. Continue reading this article to get the help you need today!

As said previously, the obesity rates around the world are raising a wide range of medical health concerns. Why? Research has shown that being overweight, especially being obese, is associated with a wide variety of health concerns. These include, but are not limited to, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and osteoporosis. If you are overweight you are at a heightened risk of developing these, among many other, serious illnesses.

Not only is obesity associated with a range of health issues, it is also associated with a variety of psychological health issues. Individuals who are overweight are much more likely than those who are not to develop low self esteem and depression. If you are lacking in self esteem or are feeling depressed due to your weight, you may be missing out on happiness! Not only will losing weight provide you with a wide range of health benefits, but it will also make you feel happier and more confident in yourself.

So, where can you get help? The best path to weight loss is through joining an easy to use program that has been proven to be effective. Why not just do it on your own? These programs provide you with knowledge that you may not already have to help you lose weight according to your own personal needs. On top of giving you the knowledge that you need to begin dropping those extra pounds, weight loss programs will also give you the motivation that you need to succeed. As most people know, it is tough to shed a lot or just a few pounds. Loss of motivation is one of the main reasons that many people fail to achieve their weight loss goals. Fortunately, weight loss programs can give you the extra push that you need to achieve your goals and continue with a healthy lifestyle even after you finish the program.

If you are looking for recipes to lose weight fast, begin searching for a good weight loss program. Weight loss programs can help you achieve your goals, on your time! Join a weight loss program today and decrease your chances of developing serious psychological and physical health problems.

By Health Care on November 26, 2010 | Weight loss | A comment?

Lose Leg Fat

For many women the trick to having a fit, toned body is in finding a way to lose leg fat. The legs are a trouble spot. Genetics tend to determine the amount of fat that is stored as well as in which areas of the legs. Some women store large amounts of fat in their thighs while others may have too much fat in the entire length of their legs.

Regardless of how much fat you have on your legs or where it is located, there is no way to spot reduce and lose leg fat only from the areas of concern. As with any type of weight loss, you must take steps to lose body fat in order to lose fat from the problem area.

While some women try to reduce the weight in their legs through diet and exercise, there are some common mistakes many of them make which prevent them from obtaining the desired results. These mistakes include:

• Doing the wrong type of exercises for the area you are trying to slim down. If you have large thighs and do strength training in this area without doing aerobic exercise to burn calories and lose fat, you will only increase the size of the thigh.

• Not exercising at all. Women are usually concerned that exercise will only give them bulky, muscular and masculine legs instead of helping them lose leg fat. While strength training will help tone your legs and build muscle, aerobic exercises will burn fat. The right combination of both types of exercise will help you lose weight and develop nicely toned, well-shaped legs.

• Relying only on exercise. Cutting fat from your diet and reducing your intake of junk food is essential for helping to lose leg fat. No matter how much exercise you do to burn the fat, if you are eating more calories than you are burning, you will never see any progress. You will need to cut calories, reduce your intake of refined carbohydrates, and limit fat intake.

• Doing the same exercise repeatedly. For strength training, you need a variety of exercises which will create an overall toned look once the fat is gone. Fat burning exercises don’t help you lose weight in one particular area. For example, riding a stationary bike for two hours a day isn’t going to be as effective as a well rounded exercise program. In fact, it may just add unnecessary stress to your knees!

• Concentrating only on ways to lose leg fat instead of on overall body fitness. The core muscles of the body, which are mostly those in the torso, are important for supporting the rest of the body’s muscles. They also help you function normally when doing everyday tasks. Instead, create a stronger body with more muscle mass to help you burn more calories for ongoing weight loss. For every pound of muscle you have you burn 30-50 calories per day!

The secret to being successful at creating a pair of lean, toned legs is in taking an overall approach to fitness rather than focusing solely on how to lose leg fat to make your legs appear thinner. Do at least thirty minutes of aerobic exercise five to seven days a week. Choose an activity you enjoy to help make it easier for you to stick with your plan. Do strength training three to five times a week, allowing a rest day between working out any major muscle group to get the most benefit overall.

With a sensible approach to exercise and nutrition, you can lose leg fat and have a healthier body from head to toe!

By Health Care on November 19, 2010 | Weight loss | A comment?

Ways to Supercharge Your Metabolism

Quite simply stated, the key to your ability to burn fat and lose weight lies in your metabolism. While many people think they are stuck with the metabolism they were born with, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Exploring ways to supercharge your metabolism is an important key and is mentioned emphatically in my book.

Metabolic rates can be altered, sometimes drastically by having an appropriate fitness regime, proper diet, adequate rest and a host of other factors. Luckily, almost anything you would do to raise your resting metabolic rate will also contribute to your status as a healthy human being.

In other words, concentrating on your metabolism gives you the double-punch benefits of healthy living and fat loss; it’s just a matter of getting started with basic steps to supercharge your current metabolic rate so you can burn calories with less effort as your body tries to keep up with itself.

  1. Spread out your calories! When you eat, your body’s metabolism speeds up as it uses energy to digest. If you only eat three times a day, your metabolism has a lot of time in between meals to slow down. That is why the “six small meals a day” works so well for so many people trying to lose or maintain weight. Your metabolism is like a motor-it needs to keep running if you want your body to work! It is much, much better to eat small, healthy meals and snacks throughout the day than to eat three large meals that can weigh you down.
  2. Drink water! Again with the water, you say? Yes, but this time, make sure it’s ice cold! When you drink icy water, your body has to work that much harder to warm it up to your natural body temperature. Some studies have shown that your metabolism goes up by as much as 30% after drinking cold water! So, water not only helps you lose weight by boosting your metabolism by the simple act of drinking it, but if you drink it when it’s really cold, it works twice as hard! There-now you have another reason to add to your list of “Why I Really Am Going to Start Drinking More Water.”
  3. Do your workout in the morning! This really makes a huge difference because, after having everything working very slowly during sleep, this will kick-start your metabolism back into high gear and help keep it that way for the rest of the day. Morning workouts are shown to be the most effective for weight loss, and once your metabolism is raised in the morning it stays high the rest of the day, helping you burn more calories. It’s also simple math-you have more time to keep a high metabolism up if you jumpstart it in the morning rather than raising it in the evening and then lowering it by going to bed soon after.
By Health Care on October 30, 2010 | Weight loss | A comment?

Get a Faster Metabolism

In this article we will show you how to get a faster metabolism. Maybe you are looking to lose some weight or keep your weight off, either way the 4 tips we will cover will help you achieve your goal.

~ Get A Faster Metabolism ~

Tip # 1) Always Eat Breakfast – This is a superb way to jump start your metabolic rate each day. Try to eat breakfast within one hour of rising and include some protein, low glycemic carbohydrates and a reasonable amount of good fats. This will also prevent you from snacking on junk food mid morning and gaining weight.

Tip # 2) Eat 5 – 7 x Per Day – Did you know that every time you eat a snack or a meal it boosts your metabolism? Thats why people trying to lose weight who only eat twice a day are doing it all wrong. You need to put good nutrients into your body. Plus if you don’t eat enough protein you’ll lose valuable muscle mass which slows down your metabolism and the weight will go straight back on again.

Eat little and often to get a faster metabolism. Divide the hours per day you are awake by 6 and this is how often you should eat, set your stop watch by it. For convenience at work etc snack on protein shakes/bars and nuts like almonds, soya or cashews.

Tip # 3) Exercise Twice Every Day – This is an amazing technique used by athletes and celebrities to get in shape super fast, it puts your metabolism into turbo overdrive! Try power walking or running in the early morning for 30 minutes then going to the gym for your work out in the evening. If you can’t manage to exercise twice every day then do it on as many days a week as possible as it burns fat like crazy!

Tip # 4) High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Replace long, boring steady state cardio with HIIT sessions. You will only need to do 20 – 30 minutes per session after your warm up for amazing results. Studies show that it boosts your metabolism for up to 18 hours afterwards. Plus studies also claim it can burn fat up to 9 times faster than regular steady state cardio. Use your regular gym equipment or alternatively do HIIT by running, swimming and cycling etc.

These are just 4 simple tips on how to get a faster metabolism, there are certainly a lot more. The key is to continually educate your self and learn all you can about exercise, nutrition and eating plans so you can live a long and healthy lifestyle.

By admin on August 11, 2010 | Weight loss | A comment?
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The Problem With Losing Weight

People are more concerned about their health and fitness than ever before and when asked about their goals, losing weight is typically at or near the top of the list. Since so many people are concerned with their health and actively trying to lose weight, you would think the percentage of overweight people would be decreasing, but the rate of obesity is still as high as ever. There are many reasons for this, but one problem is people generally focus on losing weight, when they should be focused on losing fat.

You may be thinking that losing weight and losing fat are essentially the same thing, but while they are similar, they are definitely not the same. As you probably realize, losing fat means decreasing the amount of stored fat in your body, while losing weight means decreasing the amount of any number of substances in your body (fat, muscle, bone, water, etc.), many of which you don’t want to lose. Even though people primarily use the phrase “losing weight,” they almost always really mean losing fat.

It makes sense to think in terms of losing weight instead of losing fat, because weight loss is easy to keep track of using only a scale, which most people already own. Monitoring your body fat is significantly more difficult and requires additional equipment and testing. Plus, some body fat tests are not very accurate and the ones that are reliable can be expensive, time consuming, and/or require a trained person to administer them.

Another reason people think primarily about losing weight is because the concept of weight loss is simpler than the concept of fat loss. Weight loss involves an increase or decrease in a single number (weight), while fat loss is usually measured in terms of a percentage (body fat), which is not numerically as meaningful to most people. Of course, society plays a large role as well, with almost every media source mentioning the term weight loss more frequently than fat loss.

Using the term losing weight as opposed to losing fat might sound like just a minor difference in vocabulary, but this apparently small variation can have a major impact on your ability to lose fat. The main problem is people understand that losing weight is different than losing fat, yet they still make the assumption that when they lose weight, all or at least most of the lost weight is from fat. As a result, it creates the mindset that weight loss equals fat loss.

This mindset is very problematic, because it causes weight loss to be used as a direct measurement of fat loss. Since the scale is used to measure weight loss, people consider decreases on the scale to mean decreases in fat loss, yet these are often far from the same thing. By having this mindset, true fat loss becomes less and less important and the actual goal becomes trying to lose weight, just to get a lower reading on the scale.

Whenever your primary goal is just to get a lower number on the scale, it usually leads to making decisions that ultimately hurt your fat loss. There are many ways to lose weight and a lot of them result in losing more healthy weight (muscle, bone mass, etc.) than losing actual fat weight, but the scale can’t tell the difference between them. Also, approaches designed to maximize weight loss alone, especially quick weight loss, typically result in losing the highest amounts of the healthy types of weight being lost and have the lowest percentages of fat loss over the long run.

By only being concerned with losing weight, people don’t have to worry about having a well-rounded health and fitness program, which causes them to become overly focused on doing whatever they can to lose weight. This approach has caused many people to follow poorly designed weight loss programs that only result in short-term weight loss or yo-yo dieting, which often actually lead to increases in body fat percentage over time.

Probably the most common example of this problem is when people eat fewer and fewer calories as a way to stimulate weight loss. Everyone knows you have to consume fewer calories than you burn if you want to lose weight, so they assume the fewer calories they eat, the more weight and fat they will lose. If you do not know this already, the previous assumption is completely wrong.

Excessively cutting calories and making other drastic changes to increase weight loss may lead to some significant decreases in weight at first, but much of this weight loss will be from water and it will come back as soon as you start eating more calories. In addition, this type of weight loss causes a decrease in muscle, especially if you do not exercise, which will decrease your metabolism and cause your body to burn fewer calories every day. This will also make it more difficult to lose fat in the future.

If you want to maximize fat loss, your primary goal cannot be just to lose weight. You have to find a balance between cutting calories and maintaining a well-balanced nutritional program including adequate amounts of protein, healthy fats, high-quality carbs, water, and other nutrients. Then you still need to exercise, getting enough rest/sleep, and minimizing your stress level. All of these things are important to keep your body functioning properly and help you maintain good overall health.

Taking this well-balanced approach may not result in as much weight loss as a program designed just to make you lose weight, but this slower approach will result in you losing a higher percentage and probably even a higher total amount of body fat. In addition, since this approach helps you maintain more of your good weight (muscle, etc.), you will be able to maintain your fat loss and continue losing even more fat in the future.

On the other hand, programs that only focus on losing weight generally end up sacrificing elements that are essential to long-term success and general health. Many weight loss programs do not provide enough calories or nutrients to maintain your metabolic rate, daily recovery ability, and immune system function. Eventually your progress will stop and your body will essentially shut down until you switch to healthier eating and exercise habits.

However, once you go off the weight loss program, you will probably gain much or all of the weight back, even if you start eating right and exercising. This is because the previous weight loss was not quality fat loss and these types of weight losses are not able to be maintained under normal circumstances. At the end of the day, the only weight loss that really matters is fat loss and the problem with just trying to lose weight is that it often results in losing the wrong kind of weight, which actually hurts your ability to achieve long-term fat loss.

Burn Fat Fast

Losing weight can really be a challenge for many individuals and it’s easy to get lost in all the fads that continuously pop into the market every now and then. But one thing you do have to keep in mind is that for one to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you intake. If you are asking the question: “how do I burn fat fast”, there are only two answers to that question, eat right and exercise.

Eating Right – The key to eating right is not necessarily eating less, but eating the right type of food at the right amount. Eating the right amount of food is dependent on your size and your height and your daily activities as well. There are many diets out there that contradict each other, so it may be a wise decision to just ignore them. The best thing to do is to just eat lots of nutritious foods and stay away from fatty and oily foods. Make sure you consume plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits. They will help keep you strong and healthy as well as help you lose weight.

You can also take in green food supplements that are readily available in your favorite health food store. It might be a wise choice to take in supplements since it is sometimes difficult to get complete nutrients from eating whole foods since many nutrients are lost while the food is being processed.

You can also consider doing juice fasting since doing this will cleanse your body and your digestive tract which can help you in shedding off the weight faster while promoting a better health.

Exercise – In order to burn fat fast you need to do cardio workouts for at least 30 minutes every other day. You can either jog, brisk walk or run. You can also play a sport like tennis or badminton.

For you to lose weight as fast as possible, you need to combine your cardio workout with strength training. The more you work your muscles, the higher your metabolic rate goes and the more your body burns off calories and fats.

You can join a gym if that will get you motivated to do your exercise plan. The equipments in the gym like bikes, elliptical trainers and the likes can do a world of good for your quest. In order to get the most out of your workout, you need to exercise at an intensity which allows you to keep your heart rate at around 120 to 140 beats per minute.

Some people fail in their goal to lose weight since they lost heart at the middle of their program. You should avoid this and keep yourself motivated in doing the exercises and in eating correctly as well. You need to keep at it, be patient and you will surely reach your goals. How do I burn fat fast? I always eat right and exercise regularly, that’s how.
Are you ready to start shedding the excess pounds?