Weight Loss Tips |

You and I know that losing fat and staying in great shape is a difficult task because it is so hard to stay motivated and it is so tempting to cheat, especially when you can hide the cheating. We dieters have all been in a starving situation when dieting and our mind reasons very quickly why that extra piece of pie is not going to hurt us. We take it, forget about it and then wonder next day why we didn’t lose weight.

For most of us dieting is a constant battle between emotion and reason and when hungry, reason is out of the window and emotion just wins. We do not see the immediate effects of our behavior and therefore our brain is fooled into thinking that everything is all right. On the other hand, let’s say you would get very sick when eating more than you need, overeating would stop very quickly.

Getting sick after a little bit of overeating does normally not happen therefore we need to find a different way to show the consequences of our behavior. We need to show this in a factual manner, an immediate visual display of the results of our cheating. It is not punishment right away, but over time our brain will be conditioned such that taking an extra piece of pie will give negative weight loss results. Then we will start to understand why we don’t lose weight and can pinpoint the causes.

What should this visual display look like? First I like charts, they are very easy to understand and can show trends and correlations between variables. In this chart I would like to see over a period of time, the average calories that I take in per day compared with the average calories that I burn per day. If the chart shows that the intake calories are lower than the burned calories, I will lose weight and vice versa I will gain weight. Correlate that with a chart that shows your weight or BMI (Body Mass Index) over time and I have the tool that helps me regulate my food consumption versus my daily activities.

If I add my hunger levels before and after the meals, I can fine tune my meal plans and daily activities. In this way I can sustain my dieting for a long time and preferably it will become my way of life. I have minimized the hunger pain and increase the pleasure of losing weight and feeling more attractive.

There is abundance of free online food calorie calculators. These calorie counters just display nutrition facts and are not going to help you lose weight. Nor is a simple calorie calculator that tries to calculate your calories burned solely based on your weight and average activity level. These are simple little gimmicks that are a waste of your time.

Only when you seriously can track and correlate your calorie intake and calories burned over time, depending on your age, weight, gender, height and individual activity intensity levels can you precisely measure your calorie balance. Seeing visually that your weight loss program works is a big motivator to stay on track. Also you can see immediately when you are off track and you can adjust your situation accordingly.

Acquiring great health is a complex task. Interrelating factors like diet, nutritional facts, meal plans, calorie balance, body reading measurements, supplement and medicine intake, exercise routines, daily activity intensity and costs will make it very difficult for you to see the forest for the trees.

Well designed software that keeps track of all of the above factors and can correlate them will make it very easy to manage your health, fitness, weight loss, muscle mass gain or any goal you have set…

In 2005 the USDA released a new food pyramid guideline to help people eat properly and control their weight. But honestly, it didn’t impress me and it was very confusing. There really are only 4 nutrition rules for weight loss. And here they are…

1. Eat a lot of fibrous fruits and vegetables

There are very, very few North Americans that eat enough fruits and vegetables. So if you do, you will be well on your way to fat loss. In fact, if you want to lose weight, its important to eat more than the recommended 5 servings per day. Aim for the top end of fruits and vegetables recommendations, and replace all your processed carbohydrates with healthier fruits and vegetables. In addition to being healthier, fruits and vegetables will also fill you up faster and longer.

2. Eat quality protein

Protein helps control your appetite. You should aim to eat small amounts of protein spread over the course of the day. This will help your mental energy levels as well and prevent you from getting tired and hungry. Good protein sources include whey protein, fish (salmon, tuna), beef, chicken, and alternative meats such as bison and ostrich.

3. Eliminate all added sugar from your diet

There is almost no redeeming quality to sugar. It can drain your mental energy, prevent you from losing body fat, and of course, give you cavities. There is no room in a weight loss program for added sugar. If you cut it out, you’ll cut the fat.

4. Consuming only low-glycemic carbohydrates

Avoid all foods from a bag or box, including all processed carbohydrates. So forget the obvious (chips, candy) and even the supposedly healthy (pretzels, instant oatmeal). You’ll be less tired if you stick to yams and vegetables for your carbohydrate intake.

That’s it. Eat whole, natural foods. Don’t eat it if God didn’t make it himself!

If you are reading this article, you are probably tired of carrying extra weight. It is discouraging to find your clothes getting tight, and to feel like shunning your image in the mirror. Carrying extra weight is also a major health risk. If you are overweight, you probably have excess fats in your blood. This builds up in the arteries of your heart, which is forced to pump blood through all the extra arteries your body grows to feed your fat deposits.

Furthermore, if you are suffering from diabetes, high triglycerides, or high blood pressure, you cannot afford to be even moderately overweight. A portly frame can result in hypertension, cardiovascular disease, gallbladder disease, diabetes, and some types of cancers. Obesity can kill you. But losing weight can reduce and ultimately eliminate that potential.

So, how to lose weight? Diet plan and weight loss program? In fact, Americans are just plain diet crazy. And yet, most diet plans and weight loss programs do not work. Believe it or not, over one-third of American women and a quarter of a million American men are dieting everyday. Yet, more than 90 percent of these diet plans weight loss program will be unsuccessful.

Actually, he best weight loss method is to find an exercise and loss weight diet solution you can live with – not just for a few days or weeks, but indefinitely – is the key to successfully losing weight and gaining health. By now, most of us have probably tried a number of different weight loss methods before figuring out what works. Some of those methods are ridiculous (like food-of-the-day diet, juicy-only diet, grapefruit diet, or milkshake diet), and others is poor fits for our preferences and lifestyles (like an aerobics class for a person who feels clumsy and self-conscious even when standing still, or an early-morning hour at the gym for a night owl with a full-time job and a child to get ready for school). What did you achieve? Chances are, you ended up with a thicker waistline and wider hips than you had before.

Also, starvation diets do not work because you need nourishment just to stay alive. The energy from food – calories – provides your body with the energy it needs to breathe, to keep your blood pumping, and to carry on other important life functions. On other diets, you probably spent hours calculating the calories in your food. According to the theory, calories are the basic unit of energy that food can provide. The higher the calories in a particular food, the more energy it contains. This energy can fuel your body’s basic functions. But, if calories are not burned off, they can accumulate as unwanted fat.

The increase in knowledge concerning cardiac disease, stroke and hypertension indicates that people understand the ramifications of poor diet, but fail to practice sensible dietary choices.

Weight loss and weight gain is simple; when you work off more calories than you take on board, weight loss results. Lets make it even simpler. Count the calories in the food that you eat.

Then, count the calories that you expend in exercise and general activity. If your calorie activity outstrips your caloric food intake, you lose weight. In this article we will discuss the mathematical simplicity of weight loss and weight gain. Negative calorie weight loss is a sound method of weight loss. There are however, factors that can frustrate caloric weight loss.

Health issues, pregnancy, emotional eating, and eating disorders, are but a few of the factors that impact your ability to maintain a negative calorie weight loss program. Weight loss is challenging to many. Some have even tried to find that magic pill.

Others have used surgery. Still others have tried to use food itself. For instance, there is a school of thought that believes certain foods have a negative impact on calories. The belief is that it takes more calories to convert the calories in the food into energy. In other words, these conversion calories amount to more calories than is stored in the food eaten.

Negative calorie foods are asparagus, broccoli, beets, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, carrot, garlic, papaya, spinach, turnip, zucchini, apples, oranges, lettuce, grapefruit, pineapples, strawberries and raspberries.

It is a known fact that these foods supply much needed nutrients. But you will burn more calories getting the energy and nutrients than they have, thereby dipping into your fat stores just to digest food.

If you desire to lose 1 pound, you must have a calorie deficit totaling 3500 calories. As much as you may struggle to lose weight, you will not lose 3500 calories in one day. Lets do the math.

On a regular day you eat 1800 calories. You want to drop that to 1500. In addition, you increase your exercise regimen to four days a week instead of three. This workout now assures that you will lose approximately 350 calories on your workout days.

At this rate, you will lose approximately 1 pound per week, or 3500 calories. Weight loss is not rocket science, you can easily figure out what you have to do to lose a certain amount of pounds.

It is not possible for you to gain two or 3 pounds everyday. What you may be experiencing is a water weight gain. It is the body conserving water on a cellular level. Stress can bring it on, or it can even happen during a womans monthly cycle. Did you know that you can lose the water by drinking more water?

Despite the rise in pertinent information, obesity is still increasing. Sugar, fat and processed foods continue to do a number on people worldwide. There is hope, and that hope may rest heavily in exercise. Research indicates that whenever an exercise program is part and parcel of your overall weight loss strategy, the weight comes off and stays off.

TrimSpa found itself being investigated by the FTC after its popular advertising campaign claimed that the late Anna Nicole Smith had lost 69 pounds after using TrimSpa’s signature product, TrimSpa X32. During its investigation, the FTC found that the ads didn’t explain that Anna Nicole was paid — and more importantly, the TrimSpa claims were not backed up by any scientific research.

The FTC ultimately brought a case against TrimSpa and it was announced in January of 2007 that TrimSpa settled with the FTC for $1.5 million. In addition, TrimSpa was banned from making any further claims about the “health benefits, performance, efficacy, safety or side effects” of Trimspa’s supposed miracle ingredient, hoodia gordonii, unless it came up with some evidence.

Although hoodia is extremely popular today, very few people actually know much about it. As a result, there are many companies out there who are taking advantage of this and are marketing hoodia gordonii as some kind of miracle weight loss pill. Despite all the hype, all hoodia gordonii does is suppress appetite. It does not burn fat, increase metabolism, or “magically” melt the fat away.

All these claims being thrown around have really got the FTC’s attention, as shown by the TrimSpa case. The TrimSpa case is sure to be just the beginning of more cases to come. The hoodia industry is in complete disarray right now. Most companies are exaggerating what hoodia gordonii can do. Certainly, TrimSpa is not the only one. Even more disturbing than all these exaggerated claims is the authenticity of the hoodia diet pills that are sold today.

A consumer advocacy group did a study in 2006 where 17 of the most popular hoodia brands were tested for authenticity. Only six brands were shown to have authentic hoodia gordonii! That’s a shocking statistic when you consider the failure rate was slightly higher than 60%.

So just what does all this mean to the hoodia weight loss industry?

It means there could be a dramatic change in the landscape of the hoodia industry if the TrimSpa case is any indication. Currently, almost every company that sells and markets hoodia diet pills exaggerates to some extent what hoodia gordonii can actually do. Furthermore, the majority of the hoodia diet pills on the market today contain very little, if any, hoodia gordonii.

The crackdown by the FTC on such prominent companies as TrimSpa is good news for the consumer. With future cases that are certain to be brought about by the FTC, companies will have no choice but to straighten up their act or face stiff fines or possibly be forced to quit selling their hoodia products all together.

The only companies left standing will be those who are honest about what hoodia gordonii can do and who sell authentic hoodia gordonii. We may be surprised to find only a few left standing given the current state of the hoodia weight loss industry!

Today obesity and its related diseases are spreading like wild fire. Gastric bypass surgery or Bariatric surgery has become a solution for this hard-core problem. It is operated to treat morbid obesity. This operation removes the excess weight from the body. Obesity is the root of many severe life-shortening diseases. The operation is a great relief for those people who are suffering from obesity. Many people perform various types of physical exercises, also do dieting to lose weight, but it hardly affects them, and at last, they need to undergo the surgery. The operation is performed in some major hospitals in India. With its upcoming, the patient need not have to panic on the issue.

Obesity is a growing epidemic around the world. They operate it on those people who fail to reduce weight. An obese person suffers from hypertension, insomnia, gallbladder disease, liver disease, degenerative disc disease, heart disease, infertility, arthritis in weight bearing joints and gastroesophageal reflux disease. A gastric bypass surgery first divides the stomach into a small upper pouch and a much larger, lower “remnant” pouch and then re-arranges the small intestine to allow both pouches to stay connected to it. Gastric bypass surgery comes in many forms. Of these, laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery is more effective. The benefit of this surgery is smaller scars, lower risk of hernias, and faster recovery compared to traditional large incision gastric bypass surgery.

Drs. Mason and Ito originally pioneered bariatric surgery in the 1960’s. From then, the surgery had undergone various changes. Today, gastric bypass with roux-en-y is the most commonly performed weight loss procedure and approximately 65% effective in losing target weight. Records show that those patients who had undergone the surgery fail to survive long. It is seen that the major cause of death in the weight loss patients is heart failure. The patient also suffers from depression. The change in their food habit is the major cause of depression. They face difficulty in climbing stairs or lifting heavy objects, and increased fatigue following simple physical tasks. In the past, serious obesity was interpreted to mean weighing at least 100 pounds (45 kg) more than the “ideal body weight”. This criterion failed for persons of short stature.

A gastric bypass patient needs to be very careful about their diet. They require consulting a registered dietician always. If a proper diet is strictly followed, it would be very helpful for the patient. A person is not permitted to eat everything directly after the operation. There are numerous restrictions that the patients need to follow to recover soon. Liquid foods like juice, milk, cooked cereal should be taken and soft foods like fresh fruits, cooked vegetables are most preferable. They can also intake-pureed food. In an obese person the doctor need to operate complications like anastomotic leakage, anastomotic stricture, dumping syndrome etc. Today, an obese person can lead a normal life like others if he or she undergoes the gastric bypass surgery.

So many people are talking about hoodia now; newspapers, television reports, even Hollywood stars. Hoodia is the new dietary supplement for weight loss made from a South African Cactus. It’s all-natural, with no added stimulants and makes your body feel like its full. Hoodia comes in pill form, but now it’s becoming increasing available in hoodia spray form as well. What makes hoodia spray so much better than the pill form in this new diet trend?

What is Hoodia Spray?


Hoodia spray is the actual liquid extract of the plant; therefore no digestion is required. It’s in a pure, easy form and quickly absorbed into the body. Hoodia spray delivery time to the body is faster and about ten times more effective than the pill form. The liquid form of the diet pill, just like other liquid medicines, provides a more potent dosage and often, provides increased results.

Hoodia spray is more convenient to use than the pills. It also gives fast acting energy boost to the body because the supplement doesn’t need to be digested. Manufactures state that the hoodia spray can be used alone, or as supplement to other diet products, for the tough diet days everyone goes thru.

How Hoodia Spray Used?


Hoodia spray is incredibly easy to use. Two quick squirts under the tongue, right before each meal, are all that a user needs to take the product. Many manufacturers online are offering the hoodia spray in flavors, including peppermint, to make taking dosages tasty. The spray, like the pill, doesn’t contain any stimulants, like caffeine.

Instead, it is made with organic alcohol or pure water, which help to create a stable and strong product. Hoodia spray provides the same great benefits as the pill form, like no side effects and a healthy energetic feeling. It is also rich in antioxidants and fiber, both of which are valuable to maintain healthy body function.

Hoodia spray could very well be the future of dieting. It is safe to use and will have no unpleasant side effects. It fools the body into believing that it is not hungry and provides many essential minerals and vitamins to the body. It is also fast acting, because it’s in form that needs no digesting and is in a convenient form for people to use.

A Review of Hoodia Tea


The Hoodia Gordonii is a truly amazing plant, as it is an all natural appetite suppressant which is able to help people lose a dramatic amount of weight, quickly and easily and with no side effects. It is a plant that comes from the Kalahari Desert, and which has actually been used for centuries by the Xhomani Sans Bushmen of southern Africa’s Kalahari Desert to suppress their appetites during long hunting trips.

However Hoodia really only became discovered in the Western world quite recently, and today it is one of the most popular forms of weight loss assistance in the world. It works because the Hoodia plant includes an active ingredient that is similar to glucose, and which tricks the brain into believing that the body is full when it really is not.

Hoodia Tea


There are many different variations of Hoodia products that you can get, but one of the most popular by far is the Hoodia tea option. One of the most favored features of the Hoodia tea is that it tastes just like regular tea, and yet by consuming it you are suppressing your appetite and also delaying the time that you will feel hunger next, thus resulting in you being less hungry and eating less.

Hoodia tea will curb your appetite almost immediately after you drink it, and so it really gives you full control over your appetite, and is in fact considered as being the most effective natural appetite suppressant ever to be found. It is also a natural mood enhancer and so not only will it help you lose weight but it will also lighten your mood and make you feel happier and more energetic overall.

Hoodia tea is so safe that it is classified as being a dietary supplement, and it is incredibly convenient because you can drink it during or in between meals, and you can even bring it with you on the go. As well, unlike pills and tablets, you can be completely discreet with the tea and no one has to know that you are taking something for your weight.

It is natural to compare the results and safety
of herbal weight loss supplements to their pharmaceutical
counter parts. One could reasonably assume that
the herbal supplements are at least safer and have
fewer side effects. Of course, if we were to assume that,
we would be wrong.

Yes, in general, herbs are safer than medicine. If we take
a moment to examine the evolution of medicine, we may
get a clearer picture.

The oldest, original medicine in history is the use of herbs
and plants to treat all manner of ailments. It is important
to remember, however, that when people used herbs, they
used the whole herb, root or plant. It was either ground
down, cooked or used as a tea. In China, the second oldest
civilization, and the oldest surviving medical system, using
herbal tea as a cure was developed into a very sophisticated
system. It is not uncommon for the Chinese doctors to use
a variety of eight different herbs in one tea.

What I am trying to get at is that the Chinese physicians used
herbs as a very subtle method to have the body reestablish
balance or harmony. Herbs, the way they were used in ancient
times, did not product any great shock to the system. Therefore,
there were no serious or harmful side effects.

On the other hand, modern pharmacueticals use the active ingredients
in plants and from other sources. Modern medicine is much more
concentrated and in many instances produce both harmful and serious
side effects. Just watch any television commercial about a drug
product. The commercial always ends with, “…may include the following
side effects”. Often, the list that follows is frightening.

This brings us to herbal weight loss supplements. These products
are in the middle of herbs and modern drugs. These products use
a concentrated form of the herbs, not the whole plant. Being more
concentrated, they are not as mild as drinking an herbal tea.
However, in most instances, they are still more mild than modern
drugs. But not always.

Ephedrine is a natural supplement that can have severe side effects.
The point of all this is that you have to do your research before
using any diet supplement, whether it is herbal or medical in nature.

It is important to remember that most herbal supplements are safe
and effective. Just do your homework first. Also, it is true that
some of them are effective weight loss agents all by themselves. It
is even more effective to combine their use with a change of diet
and exercise.

A gastric bypass surgery, also known as bariatric surgery, helps you lose weight. This surgery is also known as the Roux en-Y surgery and it is a surgical procedure that reduces the size of your stomach. After the surgery, you will end up eating less and even if you have eaten a small portion, you will feel that your stomach is full.

The surgeon will surgically divide the stomach into two parts using surgical staples — a small upper one and a much larger remnant one. That is why the procedure is also called stomach stapling. The small upper pouch of your stomach is the one that actually holds the food you eat. The surgeon will end up stitching your stomach in such a way that the small intestine and the stomach pouch are connected directly.

So, what can you expect from a gastric bypass surgery? The reduction in the stomach size ends up reducing your food intake. While it can help you reduce weight, you have to be very careful about what you eat and how much you eat. There have been cases of people regurgitating their food as the stomach is unable to hold the volume of food. Remember, invariably it is the stringent liquid diet that you are put on after the surgery that actually makes you lose weight and not the stapling of the stomach. Of course, the quantity you eat reduces but there is also the danger of suffering from malnutrition as most people will not get enough vitamins and minerals from their regular food.

However, what people need to question is whether gastric bypass surgery is meant for any and everyone who wants to lose weight. The doctor may call it a personal choice but it is really you who has to decide how important it is for you. Do not forget that every surgery has its side effects like surgical incision marks, complications and recovery time. If you are too obese and cannot even walk or exercise, then bariatric surgery may be right option for you. However, if you have an option to try a non surgical method to reduce weight, then you should always opt for it.

Everyday, it seems, we hear of some new truths, which may contradict what we have always accepted about a certain element of health and fitness. This can be related to the amount of minerals or vitamins you should or should not consume, the amount of exercise, particularly aerobic exercise, you should have and so on.

What is Aerobic Exercise?

Some popular examples of aerobic exercise include walking, cycling, aerobic dancing and swimming. The exercises should include leg muscles, hips, and arm muscles along with large volumes of inhalation and exhalation.

Advantages of Aerobic Exercise

There is a whole range of benefits that come from doing aerobic exercises including better blood circulation and respiration. Other benefits are enhanced muscle shape and tone plus a feeling of good overall health. But the most significant benefit of aerobic exercise is its effect on weight loss.

A Common Truth Disproved

Until recently is was generally assumed that if you exercised with medium intensity for prolonged periods of time this would be the most effective means to burn off fat. However, several studies and findings from fitness experts have shown that continuous hours of aerobic exercise such as jogging is not as successful in burning off fat as it was once thought to be. Many people report that even after long periods of jogging they still had excessive fat on their bodies.

Best Fat Burning Method

Instead of these long periods of exercise it was found that high-intensity exercise for shorter periods was not only less time consuming but also it proved more effective for fat loss. The reasoning is that the metabolism is kept at a higher level for a longer period of time, which resulted in more calories burned. Some examples of these high-intensity exercises are weight training and aerobic intervals exercise.

Another great exercise is spinning on a stationary bike. This should be done for a period of not less than 20 minutes along with sprints of 30 to 60 seconds duration. This is an easy routine to do and won’t impact your joints like jogging on a hard surface. If you enjoy running and you aren’t bothered with joint pain you’re better off on a surface such as grass, dirt, or a running track. Try to avoid running on hard surfaces as much as possible to prevent developing joint and spinal injuries.

Aerobic Exercise and Your Heart

In addition to weight loss your cardiovascular system stands to benefit tremendously from your aerobic exercises. Your heart, of course, is a muscle and is capable of working for many decades. Your heart does not have to be trained like other muscles in your body unless you participate in endurance events. It may be necessary to train the heart to withstand severe emotional and physical stress. High intensity exercises will help your heart to endure many challenging situations.