Weight Loss: Burning Calories to Lose Weight

September 22, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

In case you are using the traditional aerobic cardio to lose weight, you must be spending around 30 minutes on the machine to burn certain amount of calories. It is believed that in order to lose 1 pound fat every week, you must lose 500 calories every day or every session.

This is basically a myth that people has been brain washed with. Also, whether this weight loss can be achieved through aerobic cardio is also not clear.

Calorie counting monitor installed on elliptical machines, stairmasters and treadmills is probably one of the worst inventions made ever. You may be one of those persons who have been worried by the slow pace with which the monitor creeps up at your slow cardio-sessions.

Shortcomings in the belief that losing 300-500 calories per session is necessary to lose fat

After the invention of these calorie-counting monitors, people who have been obsessed to lose around 300-500 calories every session needs to understand the loopholes in this approach.

1. Accuracy of calorie counters – Accuracy of calorie counters is something that cannot be commented upon as a CBS news story presented that cardio counters overestimate the calories lost by an individual by around 20%.

2. Slow cardio inefficient for advanced loss of fat – This is because, a study proved that men who depended only on slow cardio for weight loss, has a reduced metabolism. On the other hand, men who combined strength training with slow cardio didn’t face any such problem.

Solution to lose fat
Hence, it is better to burn less calories in less time for exercising by doing interval and strength training with a little intense kind of exercising. The afterburn effect will persist with this kind of exercising. For intervals, you can run for around half a minute, rest for around one minute and repeat this at least 6 times. You can use bike or treadmill if you are acquainted with it.

In these short times of intervals, the metabolic turbulence will cause a lot of calories to be burnt after the exercising so that the body is back to its normal form. Therefore, you will burn more calories and fat after exercising.

You may want to count your calories when consuming your food and it is undoubtedly important as it does make a difference. Consuming junk food would simply nullify your entire workout session of half an hour in a minute.

So, if you do not discipline yourself in terms of nutrition, even these tips would not do any good to you. Hence, interval training and keeping a check on your nutrition habits are the two methods of anti-calorie counting that helps you to reduce fat and thereby get into that perfect shape.

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Keep Moving to Burn Calories and Lose Weight

September 22, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

Are you into the process of weight reduction? Move, Move and Move is the magic mantra for achieving the desired result. The increased movement of your body definitely would lead to the decrease in your weight. Dr. Wharton of Yale University has said that the more vital your exercise schedule, the more advantageous result would be achieved in regard to weight reduction.

The positive recuperating effect of the exercises on your body cannot be disputed. Due significance should be given to the fitness of your body as it solves majority of your health problems also. One has to take refuge in exercises as your companion in reducing weight. Hit the gym and face the grueling sessions of exercises mentioned in the gym for reducing weight. Set time for each activity and spend a considerable amount of time in each one of them.

For example spend about half an hour on fast walk on a walker, 20 minutes or more on aerobics, 30 minutes on route training, nearly an hour on walking alone, and several other exercises in the gym will help you in your operation of weight loss. Biking is a superb activity wherein you can burn calories to a considerable extent.

Spend some time in this activity and accomplish weight loss.

Exercises probably if done without a companion can become quite mind numbing. An acquaintance here would sort out this problem for you. Book a badminton court for playing and invite your companion to join you in the game.

Advise the companion also on the positive effects of playing the game and burning calories. All of us would want to look attractive and your incentives in this regard would definitely encourage your friend to be regular in joining you in the play.

Dancing is such a movement of the body wherein maximum amount of calories disappear from your body.

Take interest in ballroom dance, learn the dance and occasionally dance to the tunes of ballroom dance. If the right company is available with you, you can carry on the programme of weight loss even at night. A dancing session for more than 30 minutes would burn enough calories for the day.

Regular activities at home burns certain amount of calories but you can burn more if you take up activities such as cleaning the entire house, dusting the furniture, painting of the walls. Apart from the consequent weight loss, there is an additional advantage of a clean home that comes with it.

You need not venture outside the house very often for weight reduction. Choose the appropriate activities at home for a certain period of time say 45 minutes or more and that is more than enough to burn those additional calories in your body and to give you a younger and fit appearance.

Choose any one of these activities and do it on a regular basis and then accomplish a healthy and fit body that would enhance your overall personality.

Filed Under Weight Loss Tips Tagged With burn calories, burn calories fast, burning calories, calorie loss, how to burn calories, lose calories

Top 10 Tips to Increasing Your Metabolism

September 22, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

1. Eat breakfast. A lot of people are ignoring the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Surprisingly, the ones who eat breakfast are thinner than the ones who do not. Metabolism can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if one waits until the afternoon to eat.

2. Avoid sugar. Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood-sugar. Additionally, progressive exercise 2-3 times a week should be in order to stabilize blood sugar.

3. Eat spicy foods. Hot cuisine with peppers can increase metabolism.

4. Sleep more. According to research, it is riskier for people who do not get enough sleep to gain weight. Also, muscles are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber.

5. Increase water intake. Water flushes out toxins that are produced whenever the body burns fat. Majority of bodily functions involves water, and lack of water causes the body system’s operations to decrease its speed, and produces unneeded stress as a result.

6. Eat smaller meals. It is advisable to consume 4 to 6 small meals that are timed 2 to 3 hours apart.

7. Never skip meals. People tend to skip meals in order to lose weight, which is a big mistake since it slows down metabolism.

8. Plan meals in detail. Always prepare the right amount of food to be consumed at the designated intervals. Do not commit the mistake of eating meals in sporadic patterns.

9. Ditch the stress! Stress, be it physical or emotional, triggers the release of a steroid called cortisol, which decreases metabolism. Also, people tend to eat excessively when stressed.

10. Guzzle up on green tea. It can be used as a substitute for coffee. Green Tea has the ability to stimulate metabolism, and unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when too much is consumed.

Another good tip to increasing your metabolism is to include more energy foods in your diet, such as fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains.

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Lose Weight? I Don’t Have Time to Lose Weight!

September 18, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

I must get this call and this statement from busy moms, executives, students, all the time “I just don’t have time to eat right and exercise!” No one seems to be able to find the time to lose weight. With all of the responsibilities and events packed into our busy days how are we to keep ourselves healthy and maintain an optimal weight?

When people think weight loss, they think diet and exercise, both of which already sound time consuming. Well after 10 years of seeing clients I will tell you with 100% certainty that if a client follows their nutrition plan without exercise they always lose weight but if they don’t follow their nutrition plan but are consistent with their workouts, there is no weight loss. Anyone who has ever attempted to lose weight without changing to healthier eating alternatives knows this is true. Trust me, I’ll be the first one to tell you all the reasons why exercise is so important but following a healthy eating regimen must be priority number 1!

So if nothing else, the following easy adjustments in your nutrition plan will help to take off, at the very least, an initial 5-10 lbs to get you well on your way to your health and weight loss goals:

1. Only drink water as your beverage (with the occasional unsweetened tea or black coffee). Eliminating all sugar drinks, “diet” drinks and sodas will automatically cause a dramatic weight loss. Studies have shown, when all else is kept constant, people lose up to 10lbs just by giving up diet coke. But it has no calories you say? Equal (Aspartame) and all other artificial sweeteners like Splenda and Sweet and Low are toxins to your body and cause weight gain, even more so than sugar!

Squeeze fresh lemon in your water or make flavored herbal teas and cool them to make ice tea to make water drinking much easier. Always consume ½ of your body weight in ounces of water per day to experience adequate hydration and weight loss (ex. If you weigh 150lbs, you must drink 75 ounces of water each day).

2. Eliminate the 4 white devils : White Flour, Refined Salt, White Sugar, and Dairy. If you just stay away from these 4 things, you will automatically see a drastic drop in weight and will instantly feel more energetic throughout the day. Most people are well aware of the harmful effects of flour, refined salt and sugar but dairy? Doesn’t it do a body good? Definitely not! Dairy is one of the number 1 reasons people have such a hard time losing weight. It causes inflammation in the body, digestive problems, clogged arteries, and weight gain. Get your calcium from leafy greens and avoid dairy at all costs. When moms bring in their children to see me with weight and health problems one of the first things I do is take them off dairy. The results are miraculous! Chronically sick kids are now automatically better. And those who have had such a hard time losing weight experience automatic weight loss without dairy.

3. Know exactly where to find the healthy food! It is honestly just as easy to run in to Kings and get a bag of carrots and some almonds than it is to run into Quick Chek and buy some harmful processed food. You can go absolutely anywhere now and find healthy meal options but you must know what you are looking for. Stay away from most packaged foods as the label indicates more of a science experiment than anything that would be close to food. No one needs all of those toxins in their body. Labels should have 2 – 3 items, at most. And the best foods don’t have labels.

Don’t let time be your excuse. If you stop to eat 2-3 times per day and snack in between it is just as easy to find something healthy as it is to find something harmful. Don’t let your body come to a shrieking halt before you decide to do anything about your weight and your health. You know what will be a huge impediment on your time? If you or a family member becomes ill due to poor nutrition and lifestyle habits. So tackle the problem now before it really does begin to affect your time and your life! You can replace cars, homes and all material items, but you only get one body! Take good care of it.

Learn “The Top 5 Essential Truths You Must Know Before You Go on Any Diet Ever Again” from Isabel De Los Rios at www.thedietsolutionprogram.com. Isabel is a nutrition, exercise and lifestyle coach who has helped hundreds of people lose their unwanted weight and take complete control of their health. She is the author of The Diet Solution Program, a complete and comprehensive nutrition program that is helping people all over the world finally reach their ideal weight. For more information on The Diet Solution Program and how it can help to change your life, visit www.thedietsolutionprogram.com.

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The Idiot Proof Diet – Does it Work?

September 16, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

There is a diet out there that uses calorie shifting as their main way of losing weight and fat. This diet, called Fatloss4idiots, has also been touted as the idiot proof diet. Why?

Well, idiot proof because once you sign up to their website, you can go online and create your diet or your meals for the duration of the diet which is 11 days. You don’t need to count any calories, or read any labels, all you have to do is follow the meal plan as it is laid out for you. Therefore, the “idiot proof diet“.

It’s actually not bad at all because you are able to choose from over 30 different foods that you like and the online diet creator or generator automatically puts these foods you selected into your meal plans. It also separates them in a way to shift the types of calories you are eating.

If you would like to learn more about this diet, please visit: www.officialfatlossforidiots.com

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Lose 9 Pounds in 3 Days with the Hospital Three Day Diet Plan

September 14, 2008 By nymesis7210 1 Comment

I know you aren’t going to believe this but I lost 9 pounds in 3 days, by using the hospital three day diet plan. Not only did I come out of the hospital feeling better, I even looked better. It was safe and fast! You can do the same thing with this amazing little diet and frankly it doesn’t taste that bad. Read on to find out about it.

Have you ever had to spend more than a day in the hospital? If you have, or if you know someone who has, you probably have seen the food they serve. Hospitals have been somewhat notorious for serving “bad” food – i.e., food that tastes yucky, bland, or boring.

Of course, most folks probably think that because the hospital tends to be more interested in serving healthy foods, and they have to produce them en masse. Even still, the meals being served from those little plastic trays are getting tastier and more nutritious all the time. Not only has medical care improved over time, so have nutritional guidelines and food preparation techniques.

The Hospital Three Day Diet is pretty tasty, and it is true that it is a diet you might find in the typical hospital setting, but that doesn’t really automatically mean it is going to taste terrible.

The Hospital Three Day Diet is based on the chemical components in the food, so it is a very strict diet that does not allow you to do any substituting. The idea behind the Hospital Three Day Diet is that the foods work in combination to help you lose weight. You are supposed to follow the exact plan for three days, then stop. It is supposed to be used as a motivational “jump start” to boost your weight loss plan. If you find yourself wanting an additional boost, it is acceptable to follow the hospital three day diet, eat sensibly and reasonably (don’t pig out) for four days, and then follow the plan again.

Here is what you get to eat on the Hospital Three Day Diet:

Breakfasts

First Day: A cup of plain black coffee or tea, ½ of a grapefruit, 1 slice of toast with nothing on it, and a tablespoonful of peanut butter.

Second Day: A cup of plain black coffee or tea, 1 egg, 1 slice of toast with nothing on it, and ½ a banana

Third Day: A cup of plain black coffee or tea, a small apple, 1 ounce of cheddar cheese (sharp or mild doesn’t matter), and 5 regular saltine crackers with nothing on them

Lunches

First Day: A cup of plain black coffee or tea, 1 ounce of cheddar or 1 slice of toast with nothing on it, and ½ cup of tuna (plain, packed in water)

Second Day: A cup of plain black coffee or tea, ½ cup of tuna or 1 cup of low fat cottage cheese, and 5 regular saltines.

Third Day: A cup of plain black coffee or tea, 1 hard-boiled egg, and 1 slice of toast with nothing on it


Dinners

First Day: 3 ounces of lean meat (chicken), 1 cup green beans, 1 cup of carrots, 1 small apple, and – get this now – 1 cup of vanilla ice cream (woohoo!)

Second Day: 2 beef hot dogs (sans buns), 1 cup of broccoli, ½ cup of carrots or turnip greens, ½ banana, and ½ cup vanilla ice cream

Third Day: 1 cup plain tuna again, 1 cup cauliflower or 1 cup kidney beans, 1 cup carrots or beets, 1 cup of watermelon or cantaloupe, and ½ cup vanilla ice cream.

See why it gets its name? Can’t you just picture the hospital orderly handing you these exact things to eat during your brief stay? There must be a reason for that, and trust me, this diet works. In three days, I lost nine pounds, which was just enough to look better in that little black dress I bought on Tuesday for Saturday.

If this is not for you, then try the Calorie Shifting Theory where you can Lose 9 Pounds in 11 Days and you get to pick the foods you want to eat out of a list of 30 different foods.

Calorie Shifting Diet

Calorie Shifting Diet to Lose 9 Pounds

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Teenage Diets: Does Your Teen Think She Is Fat?

August 11, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

Has your teenager stopped eating because they think their overweight? Are they always talking about a teenage diet plan or other ways to lose weight? Be aware! This may not be a passing mood change. It could be heading your teen into some serious health problems. What you find here may help you get a handle on what you need to do to help them.

Many times teenage diet plans can be dangerous to the teen’s health. Due to the danger in teenage diet plans it is important to consult their doctor before beginning any diet. Most doctors will be against putting a teen on a diet plan; as it is unnecessary in most cases. If your teen is in need of a diet plan it’s important to go about it the right way.

Teens are at an age, where peer pressure, has a serious affect on their body and mental image of themself. Many healthy teens will begin to obsess about weight problems that don’t exist. This often makes them take dangerous steps to fit in; such as, starving themselves.

The best type of teenage diet plan is one that incorporates all the nutrients needed to build strong bones and maintain general health. If your teen must be put on a diet plan consult your doctor. They should be able to help you set up a healthy plan.

It is normal for teens to carry a small amount of extra weight. Most teens will lose it as they continue to grow. It is also important to teach your teen that everyone is not supposed to be the same.

Just because your daughters best friend weighs 105 lbs doesn’t mean that it is a healthy or even an attractive weight for your daughter. There are many factors that come into play when it comes to a healthy weight; such as, height, bone size, and family history.

A good teenage diet will consist of very few junk foods or none at all. These foods have no beneficial nutrients. They also carry many empty calories and loads of fat. Eating too much junk food can actually put your teen at risk for weight related diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

One of the essential parts to a good teenage diet plan is plenty of exercise. In many cases exercise is all that is required. If your teen exercises regularly they will build lean muscle which naturally burns calories.

In order for your teen to get the greatest benefit out of their diet plan it is important to make sure it includes plenty of fruits and vegetables. Teach your teen to pack healthy snacks of fruit and vegetables when leaving the house. This will prevent them from picking up fast food or junk food when they get hungry.

A healthy teenage diet contains lean meats. Eating small portions of lean meat can help teens to lose weight as it aids in the digestion process. Keep them away from large amounts of red meat because it is high in fat and is harder to digest. Instead cook them meals with chicken and fish.

All teens should be getting plenty of skim milk as it has less fat then whole and still contains the necessary calcium. They should also replace any juice drinks and soda with water. As you know water is the best method of hydrating your teens body. One way to get them to drink more water is to explain how it will help keep their skin healthy and help reduce the severity of acne. That gets them every time.

Teenage diet plans are not recommended unless necessary. If it is necessary then make sure to consult your teen’s doctor to put together a healthy diet plan.

Filed Under Weight Loss Tips Tagged With teen diet, teen fat, teen fat loss, teen weight loss, teenage diet

What The New “Low-Carb” Study REALLY Says

July 21, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

What The New “Low-Carb” Study REALLY Says

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.OfficialBurnTheFat.com

A news media feeding frenzy erupted recently when a new diet study broke in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Almost all the reporters got it wrong, wrong WRONG! So did most of the gloating low carb forumites and bloggers. Come to think of it, almost everyone interpreted this study wrong. Some valuable insights came out of this study, but almost everyone missed them because they were too busy believing what the news said or defending their own cherished belief systems …

The New England Journal of Medicine

The New England Journal of Medicine

The new study, titled, “Weight Loss With a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet” was published in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) in issue 359, number 3.

I quickly read the full text of the research paper the day it was published. Then, I shook my head in dismay as I scanned the news headlines. I found it amusing that the media turned this into a three ring circus, putting a misleading “low carb versus high carb,” “Atkins vindicated” or “Diet wars” spin on the story. But that’s mainstream journalism for you, right? Gotta sell those papers!

Just look at some of these headlines:

“Study Tips Scales in Atkins Diets Favor: Low Carb Regimen Better Than Low Fat Diet For Weight And Cholesterol, Major Study Shows. “

“Low-Carb and Low-Fat Diets Face Off “ “The Never-Ending Diet Wars” “Low Carb Beats Low Fat in Diet Duel.” “Atkins Diet is Safe and Far More Effective Than a Low-Fat One, Study Says” “Unrestricted Low-Carb Diet Wins Hands Down” Some of these headlines are hilarious! I wonder if any of these reporters actually read the whole study. Geez. Is it too much trouble to read 13 pages before you write a story that will be read by millions of already confused people suffering the pain and frustration of obesity?

Here’s a quick look at the study design.

The low fat restricted calorie diet was based on American Heart Association guidelines. Calorie intake was set at 1500 for women, 1800 a day for men with 30% of calories from fat, and only 10% from saturated fat. Participants were instructed to eat low fat grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes and to limit their consumption of additional fats, sweets and high fat snacks.

The Mediterranean diet group was placed on a moderate fat, restricted calorie program rich in vegetables and low in red meat, with poultry and fish replacing beef and lamb. Energy intake was restricted to 1500 calories per day for women and 1800 calories per day for men with a goal of no more than 35% of calorie from fat. Added fat came mostly from nuts and olive oil.

The low carb diet was a non-restricted calorie plan aimed at providing 20 grams of carbs per day for the 2 month induction phase with a gradual increase to 120 grams per day to maintain the weight loss. Intakes of total calories, protein and fat were not limited. However, the participants were counseled to choose vegetarian sources of protein (more on that bizarre-twist shortly).

The study subjects were mostly male (86%), overweight (BMI 31) and middle age (mean age 52)

Here were the study results:

There were some health improvements in cholesterol, blood pressure and other parameters in the Mediterranean and low carb group that bested the high carb group. That was the focus of many articles and discussions that appeared on the net this week. However, I’d like to focus on the weight loss aspect as I’m not a medical doctor and fat loss is the primary subject matter of this website. All three groups lost weight. The low carb group lost 5.5 kilos, the Mediterranean group lost 4.6 kilos and the low fat group lost 3.3 kilograms…. IN TWO YEARS! Whoopee!

My conclusion would be that the results were similar and that none of the diets worked very well over the long term!

Amanda Gardner of the US News and World Report Health Day was one of the few reporters who got it right:

“Diet plans produce similar results: Study finds Mediterranean and low-carb diets work just as well as low fat ones.”

Tara Parker-Pope of the New York Times also came close with her headline:

“Long term diet study suggests success is hard to come by: In a tightly controlled experiment, obese people lost an average of just 6 to 10 pounds over two years.”

Even this headline wasn’t 100% accurate. The study was HARDLY tightly controlled. Tightly controlled means metabolic ward studies where the researchers actually count and control the calorie intake.

The problem is, you can’t lock people in a hospital or research center ward for two years. So in this study, they used a food frequency questionnaire. Sure, like we believe what people report about their eating habits at restaurants and at home behind closed doors! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

“No! I swear Dr. Schwarzfuchs! I swear I didn’t eat those donuts over the weekend! I stayed on my Mediterranean diet. Honest!”

One of the most firmly established facts in dietetics research is that almost everyone underreports their food intake BADLY, sometimes by as much as 50%. I’m not saying everyone “lies,” they just forget or don’t know. In fact, this underreporting of calorie intake is such a huge problem that it makes obesity research very difficult to do and conclusions difficult to draw from free-living studies. Another blunder in the news reports is that this study didn’t really follow Atkins diet parameters OR even the traditional low fat diet for that matter, so it’s not an “Atkin’s versus Ornish” showdown at all. If you actually take the time to read the full text of the research paper it doesn’t say ANYTHING like, “Atkins is the best after all.” That’s the spin that some of the news media cooked up (and what the Atkins foundation was hoping for). It says, “The diet was based on the Atkins diet.” However, the sentence right before that says, “The participants were counseled to choose vegetarian sources of fat and protein.” Vegetarian Atkins? The chart on page 236 says the low carb diet provided 40% of calories from carbs at 6, 12 and 24 months. If I’m reading that data properly, then the only low carb period was a brief induction phase in the very beginning. Does that sound like Atkins? 40% carb sounds more like the Zone diet or my own Burn The Fat program to me.

The Atkins Foundation, which partially supported this study, told reporters, “We feel vindicated.” HA! They should have paid the reporters and told the researchers they felt ripped off and they wanted a refund for misuse of their research grant!

After carefully reading the full text of this study, there are many interesting findings we could talk about, from the differences in results between men and women to the improvements in health markers. Here’s what the study really says that stood out to me. It’s what I would have talked about if the newspapers or TV stations had called me:

1. “Mediterranean and low carb diets may be effective alternatives to low-fat diets.”

I can agree completely with that statement. All three diets created a calorie deficit. All three groups lost weight. Low carb lost a little more, which is the usual finding because low carb diets often control appetite and calorie intake automatically (you eat less even if you don’t count calories). Also, if body composition is not indicated, there’s an initial water weight loss that makes low carb diets look more effective in the very early stages.

2. “Personal preferences and metabolic considerations might inform individualized tailoring of dietary interventions.”

Absolutely! Nutrition should be individualized based on goals, health status, body type, activity level and numerous other factors. Different people have different phenotypes. Some people are more predisposed to thrive on a low carb approach. Others feel like crap on low carbs and do better with more carbs or a middle of the road approach. Those who dogmatically follow and defend one type of diet or the other are only handcuffing themselves by limiting their options. Iris Shai, a researcher in the study said, “We can’t rely on one diet fits all.” Hmm, far cry from “Atkins wins hands down,” wouldn’t you say?

3. “The rate of adherence to a study diet was 95.4% at 1 year and 84.6% at 2 years.”

THIS was the part of most interest to me. When I read this, immediately I could have cared less about the silly low carb versus high carb wars that the news reporters were jumping on. I wanted to know WHY the subjects were able to stick with it so well. Of course, that’s boring stuff to journalists… adherence? What does that word mean anyway? Yawn – not interesting enough for prime time, I guess. But it was interesting to me, and I hope YOU pay attention to what I found. The authors of the study wrote:

“This trial suggests a model that might be applied more broadly in the workplace. Using the employer as a health coach could be an effective way to improve health. The model of group intervention with the use of dietary group sessions, spousal support, food labels, and monthly weighing in the workplace within the framework of a health promotion campaign might yield weight reduction and long term health benefits.”

Hmmmmm, lets see: * Dietician coaching
* Group meetings
* Motivational phone calls
* Spousal support
* Workplace monitoring (corporate health program)
* Food labels – calorie monitoring
* Weigh-ins (required and monitored)

Wow, everything helpful to long term fat loss that sticks. Can you say, ACCOUNTABILITY? These factors help explain the better adherence.

By the way, the adherence rate for the low carb group was the lowest.

90.4% in low fat group
85.3% in the Mediterranean group
78% in the low carb group

Here’s the bottom line, the way I see it:

First, please, please, please learn how to find and read primary research and take the news media stories with a grain of salt. If you want to know who died, what burned down or what hurricane is coming, tune in to the news – they do a GREAT job at that. If you want to know how to lose weight or improve your health, look up the original research papers instead of taking second hand information at face value.

Second, those who prefer a low carb approach; more power to them. Most studies, this one included, show at the very least that low carb is an option and it’s not necessarily an unhealthy one if done intelligently. I also have no qualms with someone claiming that low carb diets are slightly more effective for weight loss, especially in the short term, free living situations. Is low carb superior for fat loss in the long haul? That’s STILL highly debatable. It’s probably superior for some people, but not for others.

Third, low carb people, listen up! Even if low carb is superior, that doesn’t mean calories don’t count. Deny this at your own peril. In fact, this study shows the reverse. The low carb group was in a larger negative energy balance than the high carb and Mediterranean group (according to the data published in this paper), which easily explains the greater weight loss. Posting the calories contained in foods in the cafeteria may have improved the results and helped with compliance in all groups.

When energy intake is matched calorie for calorie, the advantage of a low carb diet shrinks or disappears. For most people, low carb is a hunger management or calorie control weight loss advantage, not metabolic magic (sorry, no magic folks!)

Fourth, choose the nutrition program that’s most appropriate for your personal preferences, your current health condition, your genetics (or phenotype) and most important of all… the one you can stick with. Then tend your own garden instead of wasting time criticizing how the other guy is eating. Your results will speak for themselves in the end. Take your shirt off and show us.

If I were forced to choose only one approach (and thank god I’m not), I would recommend avoiding the extremes of very low carb or very low fat or very high fat or very high carbs. Balance makes the most sense to me, and the research suggests that this helps produce the highest compliance rate. That’s not rocket science either, it’s common sense. If you have a serious fat loss goal, as when I compete in bodybuilding, then a further reduction in carbs and increase in protein makes perfect sense to me as a peaking diet. If an extremely low or extremely high carb diet worked for you, great. But generalizing your experience to the entire rest of the world makes no sense. Arguing from extremes is the weakest form of argument. The reason I have THREE nutrition plans (three phases) in my own fat loss program is because programs with flexibility and room for individualization beat the others hands down in the long term. In fact, I wrote an entire chapter in my e-book about unique body types, how to determine yours and how to individualize your nutrition – it’s THAT important. If you have more choices, you have more power. The people who are shackled by dogma and narrow thinking are stuck. They also risk missing what’s really important. Things like: Personalization
Adherence
Long-term Maintenance
Accountability
Social Support

and…

CALORIES!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto CSCS, NSCA-CPT
Fat Loss Coach
www.OfficialBurnTheFat.com
PS. If you want to learn more about a balanced, flexible and proven approach, which teaches nutritional individuality and which can produce similar weight loss in one month, month after month, that the subjects of this study produced in TWO YEARS, (if you ADHERE to it!), then visit my fat loss website.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.officialburnthefat.com
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The Best Way to Lose Weight – Make Losing Weight Enjoyable

July 20, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

So many things in life are over-complicated. Why make losing weight one of them? It can be easier than you think. Most of the time you just have to watch what you let into your body and how you use your body. And it helps a lot to think about it in an unusual way.

What you put into your body: You don’t have to do heavy exercise, starve yourself, count or count calories. What your body really needs are teh kinds and amounts of food it was made to eat. You’ll be pretty safe if you avoid processed, high sugar, high fat foods and cut down on your portion sizes. You don’t have to make a science out of it. Thnk moderation – too much dieting doesn’t work any better than too many calories. Play it safe and avoid extremes.

How you use your body: Moderation is just as important for exercise as it is for food. If you feel a calling to be an athlete, then by all means go for it. Physical skills are fun to use, rewarding in their own right. But if you’re trying to burn off calories, remeber that it takes a lot longer to burn calories off through exercise than it does to consume them in the first place. For weight control, you will get most of the benefits from easy to moderate activity together with eating right. Keep your exercise fun and easy-going, unless you are aiming for more than just losing weight.

Easy is really the key idea for the metal side, too. This is where you can get the most from uncomplicating things. Most of us approach things like losing weight as if they were huge, difficult, and hard to succeed at. But how easy is it to gain the weight in the first place! It takes years of sustained effort, and we don’t even notice that w’re doing it. That’s because it is enjoyable (at the time). Why not make losing weight enjoyable too? Make it rewarding in its own right. Make it a new interest or hobby to explore Mediterranean or other cuisines. Enjoy the new skills of being able to glance at a bunch of ingredients and know which ones will be delicious yet healthy. Make a game out of niticing your body changing and your well-being improving. Thoroughly enjoy the process, and also imagine yourself after the diet has already worked, thinking back over how you did it.

So, forget about all the calorie tables and portion calculations, along with the dreadful discipline and deprivation. Make it enjoyable and give yourself something to look forward to. You will thank yourself for it.

If you need some help, there is a diet plan out there that you don’t have to calorie count, you can eat until you feel satisfied, and you can lose weight by following their easy meal plans that you get to generate. It is called the Calorie Shifting Theory and can be found at http://www.calorieshiftingtheory.com

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4 Tips To Fast and Easy Weight Loss

June 29, 2008 By nymesis7210 Leave a Comment

Weight loss is neither too easy nor too hard. In fact, weight loss is what you make it to be. You can follow the ‘easy’ route of quick fix solutions and lose a few pounds in an instant, only to gain them back in the next month or so. Or you can follow the relatively ‘harder’ route of diet and exercise and lose weight permanently. But this is not where the buck stops. There are a few more things you need to do in order to lose weight. In this article I will give you four tips on how to lose weight easily!

1. Reward yourself: Motivation plays a big part when it comes to weight loss. If you aren’t motivated enough to follow your diet program, you won’t follow it. In order to motivate yourself, you need to set milestones and incentives for yourself. Whenever you reach a milestone, reward yourself with an incentive. It has been proven that the human mind reacts positively to any kind of incentive.

So let’s say that after a month’s hard work, you lose eight or ten pounds (the number will vary based on your metabolic rate). You have reached a milestone, and now you can reward yourself. By reward, I don’t mean food. Besides eating, there are a lot of things you can do to please yourself. For example, you may buy a pair of jeans that are a size smaller than your previous set. As you wear those jeans, you will feel proud of your accomplishments with regards to weight loss; this will in turn motivate you to pursue your weight loss goals even further! You may also pamper yourself at a spa!

2. Don’t eat at restaurants: I know it is easier said than done, but if you are really serious about weight loss, you need to do it. The reason I recommend avoiding restaurants is that you never know how many calories are contained in the foods you are consuming. By contrast, if you cook food at your home, you will have much better control over the ingredients. Whenever at restaurant, it is best to satiate yourself with low-calorie salads and lean chicken meat!

3. Keep only healthy foods at home: However much you try, you cannot change your food habits if your refrigerator is stocked with junk foods. You need to remove those junk foods from your home and replace them with healthy foods. Thus there is no chance of you ever ’straying’ from your weight loss vows!

4. Try exercises that you enjoy: Don’t ever make the mistake of doing workouts that you don’t enjoy yourself; otherwise, it would be nothing short of torture. If you don’t enjoy exercising, fine, you can start walking instead! Also, if you enjoy any outdoor sports, do that!

You should also try the calorie shifting diet found at www.calorieshiftingtheory.com. This diet shifts the types of calories you eat each day, but you can eat as much as you want.

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