Weight Loss
Running for weight loss
Jul 2nd
Every weight loss program depends expanding more energy through intentional exercise than you obtain from the food you eat. Walking and running are both excellent forms of exercise. Neither requires any special equipment aside from a pair of shoes that provide adequate support. While both running and walking provide huge benefits, there are some things that you may want to consider before embarking on a running program.
First and always most important, consult your doctor. Depending on how much weight you need to lose, extra pounds mean extra pressure on knee and hip joints. If you end up with an injury from your running program, you may be discouraged from continuing.
Secondly, start slowly. The folks at eHow have a check list that can be very helpful for beginners. The web page provides information on everything from shoes to proper breathing, all issues that can be very helpful for beginning runners.
Mar 29th
Small Weight-Loss Goals
Five simple ways to shed pounds
For those of us who’d like to be a bit slimmer, stepping on the scale can be truly disheartening. You do the mental calculation of how much you weigh minus how much you want to lose, only to think: How am I ever going to accomplish that? But perhaps that’s the wrong way to think of weight loss: Setting smaller goals may make it more likely you’ll succeed in a big way.
Even small goals have their benefits: If you’re overweight, shedding just 5% to 10% of your body weight can have significant effects on health. “Any of the major risk factors — blood sugar [for diabetes], blood pressure, cholesterol — are also weight-associated,” says Molly Kimball, R.D., sports and lifestyle nutritionist at the Ochsner Clinic’s Elmwood Fitness Center in New Orleans. “So losing weight will improve numbers, and it’ll help with conditions like sleep apnea and chronic acid reflux.”
Setting a series of smaller objectives may also make it more likely you’ll break the common cycle of dropping pounds only to gain them back. “This is true of everything, not just weight loss,” says Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., a former personal trainer and the author of The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: The Surprising Unbiased Truth About What Treatments Work and Why (Fair Winds Press, 2008). “It doesn’t matter what your goal is, you have to cut back on things in a manageable way.” Here, a handful of doable goals to jump-start your weight-loss efforts.
Mar 15th
To Eat Right, Use the Buddy System
A partner can help you stay on track.
Sound familiar? You come home starving from an exhausting workout to find your family eating pepperoni pizza in front of the television. Suddenly, your plan to grill fish and steam veggies is, well, losing steam. Next time, summon the help of your personal support system. Your chance of success soars if you’ve got friends urging you on.
Who and where should you recruit?
At Work
Best Buddy: A health-minded peer or supervisor who eats lunch around the same time you do.
Why: Make her a healthful-eating role model.
How Your Buddy Can Help: She can eat lunch with you once or twice a week to help you stick with your food plan. She can also take lunchtime walks with you and dissuade others from plying you with bagels and birthday cake.
At Home
Best Buddy: A friend who lives nearby.
Why: You might think it’s okay to lean on your family — but the experts warn against it. Focusing kids on dieting can lead to eating disorders. And having your spouse restrict your diet can lead to resentment.
How Your Buddy Can Help: She can take evening walks with you and exchange low–fat recipes. She can also go grocery shopping with you and help you make healthy choices.
At Parties
Best Buddy: A chatty and social pal who’s also invited to the fete.
Why: You’ll spend more time socializing and less time grazing at the buffet table.
How Your Buddy Can Help: Meet before the get–together for a pre–party snack of something low–cal but filling, such as fruit. When you arrive, stay hydrated and away from temptation by sipping a glass of water. When you do approach the goodies, have your friend accompany you.
Dining Out
Best Buddy: A pal with a good track record of restraining herself at restaurants.
Why: She’ll help you refuse other friends’ urgings to try “just one bite” of their fettuccine Alfredo.
How Your Buddy Can Help: Ask your buddy to split a salad or another healthful appetizer with you as well as a sensible main course if neither one of you is starved. If others order alcohol, ask her to abstain with you. For dessert, share a fruit sorbet — or just chat over tea.
Feb 28th
The Hunger Scale
By Bob Greene, bestselling author of The Best Life Diet.
When you’re hungry, you need a strategy in place to help you handle your appetite. That’s why I recommend the hunger scale. This tool for gauging how hungry you feel is going to help you set some limits and avoid eating mindlessly. When you use it properly, the scale allows you to get feedback from your body so that you know when to stop eating.
The hunger scale is a 10-point scale based on the different stages of physical fullness (or emptiness.) The beauty of the scale is that it gives you guidelines and lets you see that hunger isn’t just hunger — there are times when you do need to eat and times when you can get by without eating.
More than anything, the scale will help you avoid the peaks and valleys of hunger; you’re not going to feel stuffed, and you’re not going to be ravenous. That, in turn, is going to lead to smarter, more mindful eating, and as a result less body fat. It may feel awkward to use the scale at first, but after a while you’re not even going to have to think about it; cutting off your eating at the appropriate time will just come naturally.
The scale below helps you answer two questions: ”Do I need to eat?“ and, when you’re already eating, ”Should I eat more?“
10 Stuffed: You are so full, you feel nauseous.
9 Very uncomfortably full: You need to loosen your clothes.
8 Uncomfortably full: You feel bloated.
7 Full: You feel a bit uncomfortable.
6 Perfectly comfortable: You feel satisfied.
5 Comfortable: You’re more or less satisfied but could eat a little more.
4 Slightly uncomfortable: You’re just beginning to feel signs of hunger.
3 Uncomfortable: Your stomach is rumbling.
2 Very uncomfortable: You feel irritable and unable to concentrate.
1 Weak and light-headed: Your stomach acid is churning.
When you begin eating, your hunger level should be at 3 or 4. But keep in mind, don’t skip meals if you’re not at 3; it’s important to adhere to the three-meals-a-day guideline.
What you don’t want to do at any time of the day is fall below a 3 or 4, because that means you’ve waited too long to eat, making you vulnerable to overeating. When you’re feeling starved, you want to eat anything and everything in sight.
You should stop eating when you get to 5 on the hunger scale. That’s the point at which you can be confident that you are eating a little less than what your body is burning. You’re not really hungry, but you’re not really full either, an indication that you are just slightly undereating.
You don’t ever want to hit the point where you feel even a tiny bit uncomfortable: satisfied, yes; uncomfortable, no.
The great thing about the hunger scale is that after you’ve used it for a while, knowing when to stop eating is going to become almost like second nature. It will still be a conscious act, but not one you have to think much about.
Low-carb? Low-fat? Study finds calories count more
Feb 26th
By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science Writer
AP – Debbie Mayer, who was part of the clinical trial, poses at her home in Brockton, Mass.
LOS ANGELES – Low-fat, low-carb or high-protein? The kind of diet doesn’t matter, scientists say. All that really counts is cutting calories and sticking with it, according to a federal study that followed people for two years. However, participants had trouble staying with a single approach that long and the weight loss was modest for most.
As the world grapples with rising obesity, millions have turned to popular diets like Atkins, Zone and Ornish that tout the benefits of one nutrient over another.
Want To Lose Weight? Relax
Feb 18th
By Martha Edwards
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Meditation and yoga may not burn as many calories as a tough session on the treadmill, but they might be the most effective activity you can do if you want to lose weight, according to recent studies. Experts believe that relaxing might be the key to successfully battling the bulge because it can help eliminate your cravings for fatty and sugary foods.
The reason why is pretty simple: “By learning and practising relaxation techniques as part of a wider lifestyle change programme, women have effective tools to manage stress and emotions without resorting to unhealthy eating,” says Dr. Caroline Horwath of the University of Otago in New Zealand. And, according to the findings, weight loss achieved through relaxation was maintained in the long run — which is not true of most dieting approaches.
So relax! Of course, by that, we mean take some time to yourself to do something healthy. Relaxing in front of the TV with a jumbo-sized bag of chips doesn’t count.
Want to lose weight? Don't count on pills
Jan 24th
CHICAGO, Jan 22 (Reuters) – Users of Alli, the first weight-loss drug approved for sale over-the-counter in the United States, are finding what they likely suspected all along: pills are no magic substitute for diet and exercise.
Yet as Americans engage in the New Year’s tradition of resolving to shed pounds, the market for diet aids is expected to remain firm, even as the economy is mired in recession.
Americans spend $30 billion a year on weight-loss products and services, and two-thirds of the population is overweight or obese.
GlaxoSmithKline’s Alli, a lower-strength version of Roche’s prescription-only Xenical, created’ a stir when it was approved 18 months ago. More >
Worst Foods in America, 2009
Jan 15th
Can an appetizer with the caloric equivalent of 13 Krispy Kreme doughnuts be justified? No. The 2,710-calorie Awesome Blossom has been purged from Chili’s menu–maybe the fat-drenched appetizer couldn’t withstand the scrutiny of being named to the Eat This, Not That! list of the Worst Foods in America last year. No matter the reason, we applaud this waist-expanding starter’s retirement.
The deep-fried onion wasn’t the only thing to withdraw from last year’s race–more than 10 other items from 2008’s lineup have been removed from menus (or mysteriously had their calorie counts lowered). That’s a step in the right direction, and it’s good news for your waistline.
The bad news? There are plenty of frightening foods still at large across the country. After another year of menu investigation, we’ve come up with this year’s list of the most calorie-laden, fat-riddled, sodium-swaddled, sugar-spiked dishes in America. Eat at your own risk. More >
Weight Loss Fast Tips
Jan 5th
If you want to experience weight loss fast, tips like these for dieting will help you achieve your goal:
1. Eat only until you are satisfied at every meal. Never eat until you are full. Be able to walk away from a meal. It’s all about self-control.
2. Incorporate 5 servings of fruits or vegetables into your diet every day.
3. Consume a minimum of 25 grams of fiber a day if you are a female or 35 grams of fiber a day if you are a male.
4. Drink 10 glasses of water daily.
5. Don’t eat within 3 hours of going to bed.
6. Avoid sugary foods. Opt for sugar-free foods instead.
7. Satisfy your sweet tooth with fruits.
8. Satisfy your craving for salty foods with nuts.
9. Avoid calorie-laden drinks such as regular sodas or fruit juices. Opt for caffeine-free, diet, zero-calorie drink alternatives instead.
10. Space your meals out by at least 2.5 to 3 hours in between each, and avoid mindless snacking.
In addition to the above, if you want to accelerate your weight loss fast, tips like these for weight training and exercise are equally important:
1. Engage at least 30 minutes of aerobic activity every day.
2. Do some amount of strength training at least 2 to 3 times per week.
3. If you are unable to make it to the gym or you are not a generally athletic person, at least go for walks, and take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator whenever possible. The key is to be active in order to burn calories.
These tips may seem very simple but they are extremely effective rules if you need to experience weight loss fast. Tips like these are all you really need.
Safe Fat Burners
Jan 5th
Unwanted fat is something that every one of us wants to get rid of. There are several methods to burn calories. But the million-dollar question is how it can be flushed out safely. Proper food selection is the safest way for weight loss.
Following is the list of the foods that are capable of burning calories, fast and quick.
Soybeans:
Soybeans contain lecithin that acts as a fat emulsifier. It also breaks down fat deposits in the body. Consumption of soybeans at least thrice a week prevents collection of fat to a large extent.
Fruits:
-Fruits such as, apple, fig, blackberries, pear, banana are packed with fibers. These fill up stomach quickly making you fill full earlier. So these prevent more eating.
-Fruits such as, lemon, lime, grapefruit, guava are rich in vitamin C. Vitamin C is capable of diluting fat. Thus intake of these fruits makes it easier to flush out calories from the body.
Chillies:
Red chillies contain capsaicin that helps in speeding up metabolic rate. Thus chillies are considered to be an important weight loss food.
Dairy products:
Calcium present in some diary products such as, milk, yogurt, and cheese is very good for losing weight.
Water:
It is recommended to drink lots of water for the purpose of weight loss, as body can’t work properly without being hydrated.
Green tea:
Green tea is considered as an excellent supplement for weight loss.
There is no need of any fancy methods to lose weight. Just with some simple physical activities like running, swimming, jogging etc. and proper food selection, you can achieve your desired figure.