Sunday, May 11, 2008

Personal Trainers Insight into Weight Loss

Unfortunately, in todays world, the easiest way is the best way. Today, if you are overweight, there are a million and one diets, training programs and supplements which guarantee you success. Indeed, many of them deliver and customers have excellent success. But more often than not, those who begin a diet or program fail. They either drop out, or the results don't come.

But why? Why is it that the obesity epidemic is sweeping the world with a force, if there are so many easy weight loss methods available? Because current trends are to let others do the thinking for us.

We follow a particular diet. Foods we can eat, cant eat. Train at this time, run for this long. All you are doing is following someone else's rules without actually learning anything yourself. And this is the key to a new lifestyle and weight loss- knowledge. Understanding which you can act on in any situation at any time in your life.

If you understand how the body works, in relation to nutrition and training, if you become familiar enough to recognise and react to your bodies messages and changes, if you understand enough about yourself- its then, and only then, you can live a LIFESTYLE of healthiness which will keep the weight off with no drudge diet, no starving, no 0 carb or 0 fat menu's.

This is the difference between those who lose weight and keep it off and those who are forever struggling. Those who learn not only rules, but the reasoning and the knowledge behind these techniques, who understand bodily processes, how their body works, why it works that way, and how to ensure your lifestyle is optimum for your body, these are the ones who not only will lose the weight, but can simply live a healthy lifestyle armed with this knowledge. Day by day they can live happy and sure, knowing how to treat their body correctly without any crazy diets.

Im not saying that weight loss programs out their are incorrect- they will work in many cases. But your body is a clever thing. It adapts, it resists. Unless you can manipulate your lifestyle for your particular needs, and react to different situations not outlined in a general diet, you wont succeed, or your success will come at a dear price. Who wants to follow a certain menu day in day out? Its bound to fail. Who wants to cut all the carbs out of their diet? The only thing which will happens is your metabolism will slow so much, when you do eat carbs again it will result in weight gain. The cycle begins. It's the knowledge of the science of your body which will allow you to understand EXACTLY why your putting weight on, or why your losing weight, and how to reverse or encourage trends in your everyday life.

In the morning when i wake up, i know if i don't eat within 30 minutes my body will start to tap into my muscle stores and fat stores for glucose. As im trying to gain muscle, this is unacceptable. When my body is overly tired, ill postpone a workout, consume some extra protien and carbs and allow plenty of rest. Its all about understanding your body and meeting its needs. One diet can work for everyone. You need to know your body and know how to treat it in any situation. This is the key to long term weight loss, and a fun, invigorating new lifestyle.

So before your begin your diet or training program, take the time to learn about the science of your body. Research the processes of fat storage, fat breakdown. Research muscle growth, research nutrition. Knowledge. Its worth more than its weight in gold. Aquire it. Understand the world you life in and the body you walk around in. This is your key to success.

Nathan Quigley is a Personal trainer, with a master trainer qualification at the Australian Institute of fitness. He is currently running a weight loss series at http://www.losethefatfast.blogspot.com which seeks to equip overweight people with the knowledge and motivation they need to live a new and amazing lifestyle, all the while seeing the pounds fall away. He also specialises in weight gain for skinny guys, and runs a further weightgain serious at http://www.getbigmucles.blogspot.com

Sugar Is Not Your Friend In Weight Loss

Do you know that the average consumption of sugar is two to three pounds each week? As you read labels, the word "sugar" is diguised in many ways. The ingredients of sucrose, dextrose, and high-fructose corn syrup are other forms of sugar. Sugar is added to all sorts of food you wouldn't suspect contain it. Bread, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, frozen diet foods, and microwave meals. Some restaurants add sugar to their french fry batter. Sugar is used to add and enhance the flavor of food.

In the past 20 years, our sugar consumption has increased to a whopping 26 pounds per person per year! The rate of people with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer have increased as well.

Sugar is an empty-calorie food. It contains zero nutrition. If you want to lose weight, foods containing large amounts of sugar are detrimental to our weight loss, maintenance, and overall health. We are eating less food so it is important to make certain what we eat counts nutritionally to our bodies,

Have you ever noticed that when you eat an item that contains mostly sugar or simple carbohydrates, you want more? You don't feel satisfied. You want more and more. Sugar and simple carbs are not satisfying or allow you to feel full. Eating sugar is a vicious cycle of eating and wanting more resulting in excess calories and weight gain. With you decrease your intake of sugar, you truly lose the taste for it. Lose the habit of sugar for successful weight loss.

The "glycemic index" measures how specific foods affect blood-glucose levels, with food being assigned a numbered rating. The lower the rating, the absorption is slower in the digestive tract process. This slower absorption provides a more gradual, healthier infusion of sugars into our bloodstream. Alternatively, a high rating means blood-glucose levels are injected into our bodies much faster. This "dump" stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin to drop blood-sugar levels. The drop of blood-sugar levels results in rapid fluctuations which are not healthy because of the stress they place on the body.

Sugar has many negative consequences to impact our health. Some of the dramatic ones are:

* Sugar can suppress the immune system.

* Sugar can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.

* Sugar can contribute to hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, concentration difficulties, and crankiness in children.

* Sugar can reduce the important high density cholesterol (HDLs).

* Sugar can promote an elevation of harmful cholesterol (LDLs).

* Sugar can cause kidney damage.

* Sugar can increase the risk of coronary heart disease.

* Sugar interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.

* Sugar can increase fasting levels of blood glucose.

* Sugar can lead to tooth decay and periodontal disease.

* Sugar can speed the aging process.

* Sugar can increase total cholesterol.

* Sugar can contribute to diabetes and osteoporosis.

* Sugar can decrease insulin sensitivity.

* Sugar can dramatically increase the amount of fat in the liver.

* Sugar can cause hypertension.

* Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance.

* Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.

* Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha and theta brain waves, which can alter the mind's ability to think clearly. Sugar may be sweet to consume but the results to our body and health are not so sweet. The ultimate sweetness of all is weight loss success and to enjoy our good health.

Cathy Wilson is a weight loss life coach. Cathy lost 147 pounds six years ago. Her passion is helping clients achieve their weight loss and life goals. Cathy works with clients to create a weight loss life plan that is customized to each client. Cathy is a member of the International Coaching Federation, International Association of Coaches, and Obesity Action Coalition. Visit Cathy's website: http://www.LoseWeightFindLife.com

Metabolism and Weight Loss

Our metabolic rate determines the rate at which we burn up our food, and by increasing this rate, we can lose weight more quickly, easily, and safely.

When we diet, by decreasing our calorie intake too drastically, we cause our metabolism to slow down, making it progressively more difficult for us to lose weight. Most diets fail, yet we continue to try one after another, always hoping that each new regime will provide the magic solution. If this sounds like your problem, there may be a simple answer. Lets look at why most diets fail, and how strength training, combined with a healthy food intake can speed up your metabolism, making it easy for you to lose weight.

By drastically cutting our food intake, our bodys natural instinct is to switch to a starvation response.' The fewer calories we consume, the more our bodies become efficient at using these calories - leading to slower weight loss. This was once a useful mechanism for our ancestors when food supplies were less predictable, but this vicious circle can make life almost impossible for the modern dieter.

When the body is persistently kept short of calories, it breaks down muscle tissue to use as fuel. Our body, using water from our tissue cells, quickly washes this away causing an instant reduction in weight through water loss. However, this weight loss will be short lived, and will quickly be regained when we take in water and the muscle we have lost will slow down our metabolism in the long term.

The reason for this is that each pound of muscle requires a certain number of calories each day just to maintain it. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even when youre doing nothing, even sleeping! If you lose muscle, then your daily calorie requirement becomes less. For example, imagine a dieter loses 10 pounds of muscle (along with maybe 20 lbs. of fat) on a strict diet. Now suppose that each pound of muscle had been burning 50 calories a day. Together, those 10 pounds of muscle had been burning 500 calories a day. With this muscle tissue gone, the dieter must now consume 500 less calories a day in order to maintain that weight-loss!

However, of course people do not stick to their diets for ever and when they return to their old eating habits, the weight that they have lost, invariably comes piling back on. Unfortunately, whilst they lost both muscle and fat during the diet, all the weight they regained was fat. So, even though they may weigh the same as they did when they started, they now have a lot more fat and a lot less muscle than they did before the diet. Therefore, their metabolism is slower and their calorie requirements are less. Even if they return to their pre-diet eating habits, they still require 500 fewer calories a day due to the muscle loss. Thats one reason dieters are prone to regaining all of the lost weight, and conversely sometimes even gain weight afterwards.

A good solution is an active lifestyle that includes aerobic exercise, a good weight-training program, and a healthy diet containing fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain cereals and plenty of lean protein. It is a good idea to eat little and often keeping your metabolism in high gear by eating 4 to 6 small meals a day, rather than one or two larger ones. No food is forbidden, but sweets and high fat junk food are eaten less often, and in smaller quantities. A healthy diet is a realistic and permanent way of eating not a diet that you suffer through for a week or two and then give up!

The goal is to consume as many calories as you can, while still losing body fat and maintaining or adding lean muscle at the same time. If your calories are already below normal, dont restrict them further. Instead, maintain your current amount and instead try to become stronger and more active, so you can gradually increase your calories to a normal healthy level. If your calorie intake is already in a healthy range, decrease it only slightly, if necessary. A small reduction of about 250 calories a day, or 10-15 percent less than usual, is more likely to protect your lean muscle, and less likely to trigger a go-slow in your metabolism.

If you follow this type of routine, its possible to gain about one pound of muscle per week and lose about one pound of fat per week. The end result is that the number on the scale might not move much at all, it may even go up. Your clothes will feel looser, and youll feel great. Yet the numbers on the scale won't move!! It's at this point that a lot of people give up the weight training because they don't understand what's happening.

The truth is that when you're strength training it's possible to get smaller and heavier at the same time, as muscle is a much denser tissue than fat. The fat takes up more space on your body. At this point, it's best to ignore the bathroom scales and rely on the way you look and the way your clothes fit.

The conventional way of dieting can lead to a weak, tired body, exhausted by the constant cycle of starvation and weight gain, unable to enjoy food. However, by following these easy steps above, you can easily reach your goal - the slim, strong, healthy body of a naturally lean person who can enjoy their food without guilt, for life!

Angie Mcilwaine runs http://www.healthidiet.com and has been involved in all areas of diet, health and fitness for more than 15 years. She enjoys helping people healther, fitter and more confident through controlled weight loss and exercise.You can contact Angie via her website - she is only too happy to pass on advice and information. She also has a regular newsletter with original tips and ideas to help you lose weight.

Worst Weight Loss Mistakes

All of us are eager to lose weight one way or another. Many people around the world gain weight because of the lifestyle they are living in. Weight control is a problem for which there are hundreds or thousands of weight losing methods and techniques available in the market nowadays. Many of the people around the world use such methods to lose their weight but sometimes such techniques are useless. You can easily lose weight if you avoid these worst mistakes that people often make in their weight loss methods. Then you will see a profound change in your weight.

One of the worst mistakes that almost every person makes is that their planning is poor. All your methods of losing weight fail if you don't have a good planning. First of all you must create a special list for your diet, exercise and an activity list that you must follow in order to lose extra weight in your body. After making the list you must stick to it, no deviations can be accepted once the list is made. Another mistake is people run from exercise, because they think it is a fatigue of some kind. However, that is not true. To lose weight exercise is very important. You can easily find a number of plans that would help you concentrate on less exercise but in fact you need to exercise daily so that you can burn calories in body. There is no use of a good diet plan unless you put your exercising list in action.

Some people make a mistake about the kind of exercise done. Many potential weight losers use aerobic style of exercise to lose weight. There is no doubt that aerobic exercise would help you but it is not enough in order to lose weight. You need to exercise in a way that your metabolism in the body is increased, quickly. By increasing the muscles, you can increase the rate of metabolism in your body. It is put in a way that more muscles you have in your body faster will be your metabolism rate. The increase in your metabolism rate is directly proportional to your calories burning in the body. Many people who want to lose weight avoid the exercise, which involves weight lifting or provides any type of resistance to your body. The concept is very wrong. You need to practice resistance exercise in order to increase your muscles so that you lose weight quickly.

Most of the people think that by starving themselves they can lose weight very quickly but this idea is wrong too because once you start starving yourself you are helping your body to expand more. They think they can burn more calories like this but in fact the opposite is happening. There are some other problems too like drinking too much alcohol can cause you to gain weight, too much exercise and by comparing your weight with others will not be beneficial as it will cause you to lose a physiological edge over others.

Gary Grewal is the founder of http://www.101weightloss.com; a site featuring many articles on weight loss diets, pills, eating right, exercises etc. Visit his site for many more tips on healthy weight loss.

A List of Foods That Burn Fat Fast: Go Catabolic

It's a basic principle of weight loss.

Every item of food you put in your mouth contains calories. If you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight.

Some foods, like a piece of chocolate cake slathered with chocolate icing, are high in calories, and take a while to burn off. Other foods, like lettuce, are low in calories, and can be burned off faster.

Your body is always burning calories, even if you're sitting still and doing nothing. But being physically active helps you burn calories faster.

So, what are the foods that burn fat fast?

Catabolic foods burn more calories than they contain. For example, an apple contains around 80 or 90 calories. But the energy your body uses to metabolize the apple burns about 180 calories. So, when you eat an apple, your body burns off up to 100 calories more than you consumed.

Sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Here is a list of high catabolic foods.

Apples
Asparagus
Blackberries
Blueberries
Broccoli
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Celery
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Grapefruit
Lemons
Lettuce
Limes
Oranges
Pears
Peppers
Pineapple
Plums
Radishes
Raspberries
Sweet Potatoes
Strawberries
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Zucchini

Now, this doesn't mean you can eat a slice of chocolate cake, and then eat five apples to make up for it. What it does mean is, if you are on a diet, eating certain foods will help you burn calories and lose weight faster. These are also foods you can snack on throughout the day, satisfying your hunger without worrying about ruining your diet.

For more weight loss tips, visit Tips & Things.

Effective And Easy Ways For Weight Loss

People often ignore the wealth available in our kitchen that can do wonders in maintaining the weight. There are many easy to make homemade remedies for weight loss. They are inexpensive and do not put burden on your wallet and above all they have almost no side effect as mostly are herbs and ordinary day to day eatables.

The treasure in kitchen

Try out these easy techniques and see the difference.

Lukewarm water, honey and lime juice are the most effective combination to reduce weight. Take plain warm water after every meal. It works wonders and results are very promising. Every morning take half glass of lukewarm water and put 1 lime juice in it and take it empty stomach. It is a sure shot way to burn out fat. Similarly the same procedure can be done by replacing honey instead of lime juice. These three methods are tried and tested by millions of users worldwide and they are benefiting from it.

Ginger is an excellent herb that helps in maintaining weight. The combination of green tea and ginger tea helps you to remain slim. To get most out of it crush the ginger and then put it in tea and boil it on full flame. Taking it in morning is the best time. Green tea is also known to help in weight management.

Take a bowl of raw tomatoes in breakfast or with any meal for about two months. You can take them in the form of salad or juice. It is advisable to never refrigerate your tomatoes. Buy fresh tomatoes in small quantities and consume them within 24 hours.

Cabbage is another vegetable that keeps your slim and fit. The most appropriate form of cabbage consumption for obese people is Cabbage Soup. It has fat burning properties. The shaolin monks in china who practice Kung-Fu take cabbage as their main diet, which keeps them fit and agile.

Making home made remedies for weight management is very easy and the ingredients needed to make them are easily available.

Visit Weight Loss Tips and Methods for compete information on easy and sustainable weight loss methods.