Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Tools For Diet & Weight Loss Success

by Anne Barton

The most important tools for losing weight naturally and effectively.

The first, most important thing involved in planning for a successful diet and exercise plan for weight loss is to want it. If you do not have motivation, you simply will not succeed. If you feel like you are being forced to exercise, or that your diet plan is pure torture, you simply will not be able to stick to it long enough to see the results that matter. However, motivation is only half the battle. There are many other preparations that must be made, in order to ensure that you employ an effective eating and exercising regimen that will create healthy results. All of the following things are necessary parts of your "diet and exercise tool kit".

Accurate Measurements: How do you plan to measure your progress? Some people simply turn to the scale, judging all of their hard earned work based on their weight. Others pay attention to their measurements, body fat percentage, body mass index or their fitness scores in various tests. However you decide to measure your personal progress, make sure that your measuring tools are accurate. An inaccurate scale may mislead you, an ineffective measuring tape may confuse you, and if you do not know how to use those body fat calipers, there really is no point in trying.

Keeping Track: Another way to gauge your personal progress during a diet and exercise plan is simply to keep track. Purchase or create a weight loss log to track your eating and exercise habits, or fill out a journal to track your feelings and energy level every day. If you use walking as a main source of cardio, you may consider investing in a pedometer which will keep track of every step you take. If you track your progress every day, it becomes easier to identify problems, change the pace or try something new if you can look back to analyze the progress you have already made.

An Empty Kitchen: Stashing cookies and chips in the back of the pantry and pushing the ice cream back behind the frozen chicken may work in accordance with the "out of sight, out of mind" adage, but will you really forget that those things are there? Before you begin your new diet and exercise plan, give or throw away any food that you will not be eating. If it isn't there, you do not have to worry about being tempted and falling into the ice cream and cookies trap. With all the space you clear, you can pack in all kinds of new healthy foods, which will be there waiting for you when you have a craving.

The Right Workout Tools: If you plan on formulating an exercise regimen, it is important to make sure that you have the right tools. Do not opt for the cheap version of anything just to save money, because your health is worth the extra cost. Make sure that you have enough equipment for exercise that you will not get bored. It can become easy to get bored of a single aerobic video, a specific walking trail, or your favorite piece of gym equipment. If you surround yourself with options, ranging from free weights to the bicycle, swimming pool, track, hiking trail, treadmill, aerobic videos, yoga, and so on, there is very little chance you will get too burned out on everything and stop working. No matter what exercise you choose, make sure that you are prepared. If your feet are involved, purchase shoes that feel comfortable and will last long. Walking shoes destroy easily with the amount of wear they receive, so choose a more expensive pair that is better built if you want your favorite sneakers to stick around for a while.

The Secret to a Healthy Weight

by Wil Dieck

Gaining a healthy weight is more than dieting and exercising. A Healthy weight takes a change our self image. Hypnosis can not only help a person gain a healthy weight but keep that weight for a lifetime!

According to a recent article in Remedy Magazine, being a little overweight is not okay. After a ten-year study of more than 527,000 Americans between the ages of 50 and 71 scientists from the National Cancer Institute concluded that that overweight people (defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 29) at age 50 can increase a person’s mortality rate by 20 to 40 percent. An obese person (defined as having a BMI over 30 percent) boosted that risk between 200 and 300 percent!

The article went on to cite another study from Korea that looked at 1.2 million people between the ages of 30 and 91. In a twelve-year period overweight non-smokers were between 10 to 50 percent more likely to die from heart disease or cancer than normal weight non-smokers.

What these and other studies show is that when you are overweight you increase your risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, and other illnesses. Achieving your desired weight through a healthy life style reduces your risk.

So how do you achieve your healthy weight? The answer, as we all know is to eat less calories than you burn, but this answer is much too simplistic. It’s too simplistic because dieting doesn’t work. Diets tell us to eliminate foods from what we eat regularly, for example fats. The problem with low fat diets is that our bodies require fat. Fat stores fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Fat also helps the body produce testosterone, which is the hormone that contributes to muscle growth and the burning of body fat. In fact studies have shown that men with higher levels of testosterone were 75 percent less likely to be obese than men with lower levels. This is primarily due to the body’s tendency to store fat when it has low levels of testosterone.

Some diets tell us to eliminate animal protein. While eating fatty cuts of red meat definitely is not good for you, eating lean cuts of animal protein actually helps your body burn more calories than eating protein from soy products.

Other diets tell us to restrict carbohydrates. There while there are many studies that have shown lowering our carbohydrate intake can help us control our weight, eliminating them is absolutely suicidal. Carbohydrates are essential to good health. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans help protect us against cancer and other diseases. So, as you can see, dieting doesn’t work.

Dieting in general doesn’t work because it revolves around restricting what we eat. Weight management is a long-term project. Most people who lose weight quickly by crash dieting or by some other extreme measure usually gain back all or more - of the pounds they lost. Why? Because in order to permanently lose weight and keep it off a person has to change their eating and exercise habits. You see, the best weight management strategies are those that you can maintain for a lifetime. So a better question is how can you change your habits?

We have all tried to lose weight through willpower, cutting down on the calories and/or increasing the exercise. Some of us lose weight by eating almost nothing while working out like crazy. Others lose weight using “crash” diets. The problem is these methods never work and can also be dangerous.

Now why doesn’t this work? It’s because our subconscious image overcomes our conscious goals. Since our subconscious sees us as an overweight person as we begin to “lose weight” our subconscious starts the process of bringing us back to our “correct” image, undermining our conscious efforts.

To really change we first have to change our mindset about “losing weight.” Nobody likes to think of themselves as a loser. To gain a healthy weight you need to stop trying to lose weight and focus on a goal that is positive rather than negative. That goal is to be healthier, look better, and have more self esteem and confidence. In other words you want to have a better image of yourself.

How can you create this better image? A great method is through visualization, reprogramming your mind’s image of your body. One of the best ways to use visualization is through hypnosis, either self-hypnosis, or using a professional hypnotist.

How does hypnosis help? In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, 109 people were divided into two groups for a nine-week study. The first group was offered changes in their diet and more exercises without the addition of hypnosis. The second group was given the same diet and exercise program and also given hypnosis for reinforcement. After nine weeks both groups lost weight. But an interesting phenomenon happened between the eight month and two year follow ups. The group that didn't have the aid of hypnosis did not lose any more weight, and in most cases actually gained most of their original weight back. The hypnosis group continued to lose weight during both intervals and many actually met their long-term weight goals.

As mentioned before your body image is controlled by your subconscious. The key to helping you become healthier is to align your subconscious image with your conscious goals. That is how hypnosis can help because it goes directly to the subconscious and modifies it, aligning it with your positive conscious goals and making them possible.

Hypnosis teaches your subconscious the skills you need to help you control your appetite, while substituting your old diet for healthier foods and drinking water. It also motivates you to exercise. By visualizing your ideal body image you can anchor your eating and exercise habits toward achieving your imaged goal.

So that’s the secret. It isn’t magic, only good healthy habits adapted for a long healthy lifetime. Healthy eating habits coupled with a moderate exercise program anchored in your subconscious. So why not try hypnosis to change to a new, better image of yourself? It works!

Today's Fat Loss Rule

by Craig Ballantyne

To lose weight, you need to boost your metabolism with interval cardio exercise and strength training. That is the fastest way to burn fat and keep your calorie burning going all day. Strength and interval workouts are the best thing going today.

To lose weight, you need to boost your metabolism with interval cardio exercise and strength training. That is the fastest way to burn fat and keep your calorie burning going all day. Strength and interval workouts are the best thing going today.

What are strength and interval workouts?

I call these workouts Turbulence Training. That's my method of doing strength training and interval training in one workout, so that you get in and out of the gym whether it's your home gym or whether it's a commercial gym. You get your workout done in 45 minutes.

Why not slow cardio? First, who has time? Second, research shows that interval training works better for cardio. And you can't build lean arms and sculpted abs with only cardio. You need some strength training. So that's why strength and intervals are best - you get more results in less time.

We start with a 5-minute bodyweight warm up and then we do strength training for 20 minutes, whether it's bodyweight training or dumbbells. Sometimes we use barbells but most people that I work with train at home so we just use dumbbells and bodyweight exercises - no fancy equipment needed.

Then we finish with 20 minutes of interval training. We are using the most efficient and effective training methods. The stuff that gets you the most results in the least amount of time. So we are not doing long, slow cardio sessions and we're not doing 5 or 6 day per week bodybuilding training programs.

It's like the old business principle - 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts - so why do endless amounts of cardio and redundant strength training exercises?

Do only what you need to do and then get out of the gym.

Don't live in the gym.

You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long as the piece is used in its entirety including the resource box, all hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and references and copyright info.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

4 Easy Ways To Get Rid Of Love Handles

by George Spence

We've all heard the jokes way too many times now: "I need a spare tire. Can I borrow the one from around your tummy?" If this type of joke makes you start to suck your gut in, then maybe it's about time you started to do something about your love handles.

We’ve all heard the jokes way too many times now: “I need a spare tire. Can I borrow the one from around your tummy?” If this type of joke makes you start to suck your gut in, then maybe it’s about time you started to do something about your love handles. There saint much to love about that fat deposit and why on earth would we want to love them? In most cases, being called fatso, pot belly, lardy and big boy does nothing for our self esteem. Make the commitment to do something about those love handles. It’s easier than you think…

1) Change your lifestyle.
Do some research and find out the best way to eat. Cut down on the fat, sugar and all high calorie foods. You don’t have to go on a starvation diet, just be aware of what you’re eating. Love handles are made of fat. Excess calories in your body turn into to fat. See where I am going with this? Cut down on the fast foods and try to eat incorporate more fruit and vegetables into your daily diet. There are many ways to do this. Like I said, do some research and find an eating plan you can live with.

2) Work those abs.
Yes, you may have a super solid six pack already but you’d never know. Why? Because it is hidden under the layers of gut fat!. Along with a good eating plan, sit ups and other strength training exercises will help by building muscle to replace that fat you’ll lose by eating right. Muscles themselves help to burn calories. Just keep that in mind.

3) Get sweaty.
Pull on some loose clothing and go for a 30 minute brisk walk. Or if you’re fitter, go for a run. And if that is not your thing, try cycling, swimming, football or any activity which will raise the heart rate and get you sweating for 30 minutes 3 – 4 times every week. And if you can do more, even better. Just don’t kill yourself.

4) Drink water
The easy one, but not many people drink enough water on a daily basis. Even if you don’t like the taste, get used to it. By drinking at least 8 glasses of water every single day, will help to reduce bloating and water retention. This will help reduce the bulges and quell hunger. It’s only water, but it will help shift those handles.

Diet Fitness Program - The Best Fitness Program To Help You Achieve Your Dream Weight

by Josh Neumann
Are you tired of being overweight? Have you tried going on an exercise program in the past, but failed miserably? Here are some powerful tips to ensure that you achieve your fitness goals, however lofty they may be.

Never before have there been as many overweight people as there are today. No matter how much most people try, they can’t seem to keep those nagging pounds off. Below are some important things to avoid doing when you first start losing weight, and then some great tips to help you achieve your fitness goals.

First of all, dieting is not the answer. In fact, dieting normally does more harm than good. When you go on a diet, you generally give up most if not all of the foods you enjoy.

What happens as a result? You begin getting intense cravings for your favorite foods a couple days into the diet, and end up binge eating, gaining even ore weight than before.

Even if you are somehow able to keep the weight off with a diet, forbidding your body the nutrients it needs (as is the case with most diets) is never the answer. What’s the one way to make absolutely sure you keep those pounds off? Steady and consistent exercise. Many people attempt to begin working out, but most end up quitting just days or weeks into it. Here are some tips to ensure that you keep up your exercise routine and achieve your fitness goals.

The most important thing to remember, when embarking on an exercise program, is to start slowly. If you aren’t in shape and haven’t exercised in quite some time, trying to run a marathon right off the bat (or anything beyond what your body can handle) can be devastating to your attempt to get fit.

Attempting to start too fast is why so many people make New Year’s resolutions to get in shape, and fail to follow through on it. They dread every minute of their exercise program.

For instance, you might decide to walk or jog for one-tenth of a mile one day, then two-tenths the next, and so on. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but consider this: if you keep up this pace, in a little more than a month you’ll be up to five miles. The key is steady and consistent exercise; if you make your workout routines easy and enjoyable, you will look forward to exercising and find your overall fitness level getting better every single day.

Once you’ve got the walking or jogging down, you are ready to move onto the next step: calisthenics. Start off with crunches. Crunches are great exercises to help you lose weight and reduce fat. Start out lying on the floor, lock your legs straight, and raise your feet and upper body simultaneously while bending at the waste.

Again, start with a small number of repetitions, and gradually increase them each day. You might start with 5 a day, and keep increasing it by 5 each and every day. By the time you hit 100, you won’t even be breaking a sweat.

There are many more exercises you can do for your diet fitness program. Start with these simple yet very effective workouts, and work your way up. If you simply take action, you will be amazed at how rapidly you are able to lose weight, and you will begin feeling better about yourself and more confident. Your productivity will skyrocket, and your overall quality of life will improve dramatically.

Advanced Weight Loss Secrets of a Top Fitness Professional

by Craig Ballantyne
Are there really any fat loss secrets? Well, of course! After all, if everyone knew these secrets, we wouldn't have any fat people, would we? And if you knew them all, then you'd be able to boost your metabolism and fat burning and get rid of that last bit of fat around your belly. So take a look at these tips to burn your belly fat and lose weight fast.
Are there really any fat loss secrets? Well, of course! After all, if everyone knew these secrets, we wouldn't have any fat people, would we? And if you knew them all, then you'd be able to boost your metabolism and fat burning and get rid of that last bit of fat around your belly. So take a look at these tips to burn your belly fat and lose weight fast.

An interviewer recently asked me, "What are your top 5 fat loss tips"?

Well, here's my answer on my fat loss secrets.

Starting with the top 5 beginner tips...

1) No liquid calories (with the exception of milk - as long as it fits your daily nutrition plan). So get rid of all the juices, the sodas, and the sports drinks. Liquid sugar is the last thing you need when you are trying to lose fat. And say goodbye to booze - not only will it lead to excess calories in, but it can also reduce the quality of your sleep - and that just leads to a whole other list of problems.

2) No fast food. Do not eat at fast food restaurants. Even if you choose what you think is healthy, remember this: Fast food restaurants are all about profit. And in order to profit while giving you cheap, quick, and easy to prepare foods, the quality of the food ingredients will be poor - especially the protein.

Now you might have read that you can still make healthy choices at fast food restaurants. But you know what, that's just politically-correct nonsense. If it's fast food, it's poor food. You do realize it's no coincidence that fast food chicken breasts are the exact same shape and size, right?

Walking into a burger joint and grabbing a pre-formed chicken breast on a white bread bun with a piece of old lettuce and a half-green, half-pink tomato is not healthy eating.

The politically-incorrect truth is that it's going to take time and effort to eat properly. You will have to plan, shop, and prepare healthy meals. You will have to spend time cleaning, cutting, and cooking your food. That's the truth.

But believe me, it will taste so much better than fast food, and healthy eating will make you more alert. Eating fast food will make you feel terrible, and will make you want to have an afternoon nap at your desk.

Do the best you can to improve on your nutrition everyday.

3) Eat more fruits and vegetables. If you are eating 2 servings per day, then go up to 4 servings per day by the end of the week. And even if you think you are doing great by having 5 servings per day, you still need to double that (take 2-3 weeks to work your way up to 10 servings per day). Stick with fiber-rich fruits and vegetables. And go organic whenever possible.

4) Eat 1oz of almonds or walnuts per day (1/2 oz in the AM, and the other half in the afternoon). Most nuts are roasted in hydrogenated oils (trans fats), so stick to non-roasted nuts.

5) Be consistent with your workouts, and make sure the workouts are efficient and effective. To make it easy for you to follow, stick with the strength and interval workout system.

It doesn't matter if you train in the morning before or after breakfast, or at night before or after dinner, or at 1pm on days when the moon is in line with Saturn...don't worry about the details, just train consistently.

6) BONUS TIP: Go for a walk after lunch or dinner (or anytime you eat a big meal). Research shows this will help you control your cholesterol and triglycerides, plus any movement is better than sitting around watching the TV and snacking.

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

You're Not 125 Pounds - So Friggin What!

by Lisa Irby
Ladies, we've got to stop obsessing over our bodies. It's OK to want to be fit, but too many women are taking extreme measures just to live up to society's ridiculous standards.

We live in a society that is completely weight obsessed, and it's really getting out of hand. When I created my fitness site, I had no idea it would generate such a large amount of e-mails from teens and young women who are literally obsessed with their weight.

I'm not talking about the people who are indeed overweight and need to lose weight for health reasons. I'm talking about young ladies who are a healthy weight, but obsess over their bodies because they feel they aren't good enough.

It's one thing to want to be fit and healthy, but it's another thing to obsess over it and tie your self worth to how much you weigh.

What really made me realize how pathetic this world has become was when former supermodel, Tyra Banks was called "fat" because of her 20 pound weight gain. C'mon folks. If Tyra is being called fat by the media (when she's hardly not!), what are people who are bigger than Tyra supposed to think about themselves? And more importantly, what kind of message are we sending to young girls about what's acceptable?

We are in a crisis.

TV shows and magazines are teaching young women the standard on weight, and if they don't have role models to teach them otherwise, these messages become ingrained into their heads and it affects their self esteem.

I love what Tyra Banks is doing with her "So What" Movement. It's teaching women to admit they have things they don't like about their bodies, but at the same time, don't obsess over it. Sure, you can workout to tone your body and lose weight, but you aren't unlovable or less beautiful just because you have some extra tummy flab or bigger thighs.

Ladies, we have to be the ones that step up and learn to love ourselves for who we are. Because if you can't accept yourself, how do you expect other people to? It's OK to want to be in shape, take care of your body, etc. but it's not OK to compare yourself to someone else and think you are less of a person because of how much you weigh.

Burn Off Body Fat Fast

by Maxwell Whitson
While I was searching through the most popular fitness - fat-loss e-books out there I ran into a book by the name of Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle.

While I was searching through the most popular fitness/fat-loss e-books out there I ran into a book by the name of Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle. This book seemed to be getting a lot of reviews from others as the best fitness book available, a book by a natural bodybuilder named Tom Venuto.

Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle is an E-book created by a bodybuilding champion by the name of Tom Venuto. This book attempts to teach people all the aspects of losing weight, whilst gaining muscle. This program shows you how to burn of body fat. Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle has been called the greatest fitness book ever. With this kind of serious hype, I decided to look into it.

I wanted to see if it really did live up to its great reputation. I have been bodybuilding for many years now as well as being a fitness freak, so I wanted to see what real information was in this book. As it turned out this program/ebook really does show you how to burn off body fat fast.

Not only does this program work. It shows you how to burn body fat fast. Believe me when I mean fast it is certainly fast. It also shows you how to feed your muscle. By the end of this program you will not only loose all of your body fat fast you will also feed your muscles and be stronger than ever before.

If you want to have some weight fitness and be successful health wise I would highly recommend this wonderful ebook. So if you want to burn off body fat you should defiantly check this ebook out. This Book really did amaze me.

How Important Is Diet Food For Weight Loss?

by Thomas Webb
The weight of a person usually depends on the type and amount of food one eats. The most essential part of any weight loss program is to find the right diet food to help lose weight. There are many elements to be taken into account in considering diet food.

The weight of a person usually depends on the type and amount of food one eats. The most essential part of any weight loss program is to find the right diet food to help lose weight. There are many elements to be taken into account in considering diet food.


Nutritional Value
Amount Control
Calorie Density
Balanced Food

There are many diet programs that have created their own diet food products that are high in nutritional value and can be bought at grocery stores and nutritional centers. In case the dieter is confused in deciding which diet food to buy at the grocery store, these products offer an easy alternative method for them to continue to follow their diet.

Good diet foods include fruits, vegetables, fish, legumes, nuts, olive oil and grains. You can follow this diet for lifetime since they encourage healthy eating habits that can become a lifestyle for healthy weight loss. This also involves the burning of calories for effective weight loss.

Ensure that while you are on diet food, you eat the right balance of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in every meal which will help you to achieve the best hormonal balance which would in turn help you to lose weight, revitalize yourself, avoid energy lag and achieve many more significant health benefits.

For diet foods that replace sugar with lower substitutes of calories, there is a controversy based on the possibility that the sugar substitutes that are used to replace sugar are themselves harmful. In many fat free and low fat foods, the fat is replaced with sugar, flour and other complete calorie ingredients and the reduction in calorific value is small.

A low carbohydrate diet is based on limiting the intake of carbohydrate. It is a long-term weight loss and maintenance program. It is found that many dieters limit their carbohydrate intake and find it very difficult to stick with the programs and end up quitting since the variety of diet foods is very restricted with the constraint on carbohydrates.