If you are considering a weight loss program, you need to make sure that you lose fat not muscle. Some people focus exclusively on the scale, paying no attention to anything else, but this is a short sighted approach to losing weight.

There are two main reasons that people want to lose weight. One is to look better, which means having a more trim body shape. If you lose muscle instead of fat, your body will look flabby and you will not achieve your aim. The other main reason that people want to lose weight is to be healthy and reduce their risk of fatal or chronic diseases such as diabetes or heart disease. For this it is important to include some kind of fitness program so again you want to be sure that you do not lose the muscle that you have.

But there is another reason for retaining and preferably increasing your muscular mass. This is that muscle burns energy, i.e. calories. Muscle even burns calories when resting, so the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even while you are watching TV. This does not mean you have to turn into a Sylvester Stallone iron-pumping giant. Unless you want to build your body, the key is to make sure that you do not lose the muscle you already have. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

Except for perhaps Weight Watchers, the Adkins Diet may be the most popular diet of our time. Even if you haven’t personally tried it yet, you undoubtedly know someone who has used it. Of course, popular doesn’t always mean good.

Is the Adkins Diet the revolutionary way of life that will slash your risk of high cholesterol and have you fitting back into those jeans from high school or is it the dangerous, unbalanced way of eating that some claim it is?

One of the undisputed benefits of the Adkins Diets is simply that it works. It works quite quickly and effectively for pretty much anyone who employs the diet in its entirety. Even while eating enjoyable foods that might have previously been considered “off limits” by dieters, this diet produces results.

The secret is in the science of low carb dieting. The body has two types of fuel. The primary type of fuel the body uses is glucose, which is obtained from carbohydrates. The other type, considered the “back up plan” of the body, is ketones, which are obtained from the body’s own fat store.

When carbs are strictly limited, the body must resort to pulling fuel for energy from the body’s fat store. This built-in self-preservation system works beautifully, but is it healthy to put the body into such an altered state of functioning?

One negative to consider is the possibility of inducing what is known as “toxic overload”. This occurs when the body burns through fat too quickly. Toxins in the body are frequently stored in the fat cells, and as the fat cells are used up to fuel the body, these toxins may be released into the bloodstream.

Despite this concern, the Adkins Diet is often touted as a sound and healthy dietary regimen. While it is true that the body requires nutrients from various sources, particularly the plant sources that may be restricted by the diet, the Adkins Diet is proven to reduce both blood pressure and cholesterol. Diabetes may even be positively impacted by adherence to the Adkins Diet.

Many diets set dieters up for failure with their overly restrictive nature. Diets based on calorie reduction, in particular, cause dieters to suffer through periods of intense and uncomfortable hunger. A benefit of the Adkins Diet is its generous allowance of larger amounts of food as well as foods high in satiation, like meats.

While satisfaction with the foods a dieter is allowed to eat certainly contributes the dieter’s ability to stick with a dietary program, it is certainly not the only aspect of a diet that may impact the dieter’s quality of life. Many adherents to the Adkins Diet complain of extreme fatigue and lethargy due to the dramatic change in metabolic function.

Like most diets, the Adkins Diet provides excellent weight loss results. The real question is whether the dieter finds the results to be worth the lifestyle changes.

With so many fantastic diet claims out there, it can be difficult to determine which diets work and which ones are just a waste of time and money. Which diet is right for you?

Weight Watchers is one of the most popular and well-known weight loss programs. Dieters can expect to be able to choose which items they would like to eat, “budgeting” their consumption. Weight, along with a few other factors, determine the adherent’s food allowance. Foods are assigned a point value based on fat, fiber, and calorie content.

Meat lovers may enjoy the Protein Power Diet, one of many low carb, high protein diets on the market. The Protein Power diet has broad allowances for such indulgences as eggs, steak, and cheese. Carbohydrate consumption is limited to 30 grams or less, spread throughout the day. This diet also encourages high water consumption as well as the addition of healthy fats and 25 daily grams of fiber.

Popularized by celebrities, The Zone diet is a high protein, low carb diet that offers the convenience of pre-packaged, prepared meals. The Zone is encourages the consumption of lean proteins and restricts whole grains. In addition to carefully planned meals and snacks, The Zone diet also encourages consumption of proprietary dietary supplements.

Relatively obscure, the Volumetrics diet is designed to complement the dieter’s natural urge to consume large portions. Shunning typical feelings of diet deprivation, the Volumetrics diet provides meal and snack ideas comprised of low calorie foods that can be consumed in large portions. Emphasis is placed on foods that have high water content.

Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, is an eating program designed to lower the dieter’s blood pressure by 8 to 14 points. While no food groups are excluded, the DASH diet restricts saturated fat, total fat, cholesterol, and sodium. This diet includes large portions of food that may, for some, inhibit weight loss. The goal of this diet is primarily health-related.

Many dieters find using a weight loss product gives them increased results. Slimirex is an all-natural weight loss product that claims to increase metabolism and energy while reducing appetite. Slimirex users are encouraged to employ exercise and dietary changes to receive maximum results. Despite its being a natural product, some users may be uncomfortable with the high level of caffeine present in the product.

The Atkins diet, one of the most popular of the low carb diets, is high protein and low carb. Due to its popularity, many food products and meal ideas catering to this diet are available. While many dieters have experienced great success with this diet, potential Atkins dieters should know that this diet may be high in unhealthy fat and low in fiber.

Choosing a new diet or weight loss product can be overwhelming and expensive. Key considerations when determining which diet to use include the health benefits and how well the diet reflects your personal goals.

If you’re like me, you’ve looked high and low for the weight loss secret that will help you melt the pounds away for good. Does that hidden dieting trick exist? Could a high protein, low fat diet give me the edge I need to stay slim for life?

As I considered the high protein, low fat dieting approach I was surprised to learn how popular it is. Many brand name companies even produce packed meals and snacks tailored to the high protein, low fat dieter’s needs.

Of course, ease and availability are only a small piece of the bigger picture. What I wanted to know is, does it really work? Could adding more lean proteins like lean beef and fish and limiting processed, high fat foods give me the results I wanted?

Surprisingly, studies comparing the results of a high protein, low fat diet and a high carbohydrate, low fat diet have shown both yield similar weight loss, but the protein-focused diet reduces more actual fat mass. This is great news because, when it really comes down to it, I want to lose fat, not just “weight”.

I was also pleased with the reported health benefits of a high protein, low fat diet. Some of the health benefits I discovered that are associated with this diet include reduction in glucose and insulin levels, and a reduction in cholesterol. I also found that Folate and vitamin B-6 levels were increased by the diet.

High protein diets have often been criticized for potentially causing damage to the kidneys. I was happy to learn that many studies have refuted this claim. The official recommendation is no more than 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.

Low-fat sources of protein-rich food are easy to locate and, fortunately, pretty tasty too. Beans, eggs, lean meats, and even tofu are excellent sources of protein. Some high protein, low fat dieters add protein supplements to their diet as well.

Even after reading studies that demonstrated that a low fat, protein-focused diet really does work, I was still curious about how and why more protein and less fat produced such great results. As I learned, the magic is in the complex way in which our bodies handle protein.

The first way protein helps with weight loss is by creating a more “full” and satisfied feeling. The real trick, however, comes in digestion. Proteins contain the chemical nitrogen, which the body likes to retain because of its usefulness in producing antibodies.

Because of this, the body would rather turn protein into carbs (for later fuel) instead of fat. It’s the complex process the body uses to digest and store protein that uses up extra energy, also known as burning calories.

Protein is also essential for rebuilding muscle mass, and those new muscles are calorie burning machines too. It seems higher protein and lower fat is exactly what the body wants for high performance.

We all want to lose weight, gain muscle and be healthier, but the trouble is that these things never seem to come to us. There is a reason for this and it is simply that we do not make small changes in our mindset to bring about the big changes.

For instance let’s say that you want to lose weight. You try every diet for a few weeks only to fall off and fall into your old habits. Even the people on the Biggest Loser tend to gain their weight back and do you know why this is? The mind is not changed. You need to change your mind before the outward changes are going to manifest for you.

The best way to change you mind is not to one day say “I want to be thin” actually the best way to say this in your mind would be “I am thin” since your mind will accept the now but does not really understand the furute and the past when making change.

The next thing that you need to do to make those changes in your life is to do the small things. To lose weight of course ytou need to clean out your cupboards but that is not going to help you at the grocery store, instead you have to change your mind on what you like and do not like for food. No one that I know of really likes rice cackes but they will always eat them to lose weight. What would be the point of eating rice cakes at home and then eating lots of cake when you go out for dinner? Read the rest of this entry »

I find that many people are interested in the power of herbal remedies and I have been able to find a book that allows you to experiment with some herbal remeides for different health problems that may be stubborn to regular medicine.

The herbal remedies book itself is fantastic and can not be bought in stores. The book has information such as how to build a herb garden, how to harvest and store herbs, the actual use of over 60 different herbs and the ailments that they will help. You can imagine how some of this information will change your life.

The book itself is free. All you need to do is signup for my 21 days of fitness program (this is of course free) and on the first day, which would be today you will be able to download and read the book.

Sign up now:

Sign up now. You will have to confirm by email and then you can download this book with your introductory email to the free fitness program.  Sign up now and get the book today!

Do you find your local gym membership fee too expensive? That is no longer a problem. I will tell you how to get the same type of workout with the help of free weights such as dumbells. Believe it or not, you can get the benefits of your gym using such free weights. Most people keep paying the exorbitant gym membership fees because they don’t know the right way to use dumbells to their advantage. However, if you read this article from start to finish, you won’t be in that group.

A lot of people simply cannot afford to buy the expensive machines available at the local gym or workout club. If you fall in that group, that is completely alright. In fact you don’t need to jostle with crowds for the purpose of working out. You can get rid of fat as well as have your entire body toned up with the help of free weights like dumbells. But more than saving you cash, dumbells also come with a lot of flexibility, in that you can workout with them in any way and at any place you want.

Most people suffer from a misconception that dumbells are the only free weights available to them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Have you heard of barbells? Well, barbells fall in the same category as dumbells, and together they would offer you the same fitness, strength and energy that you expect to get from your local gym, all without paying hundreds of dollars every month. Some ignorant fitness gurus claim that dumbells and barbells are different things but that is just B.S.. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone seems to be shouting these days that in order to lose weight and get fit you need to workout, workout and workout. At least, that seems to be the general refrain amongst today’s fitness experts. However, rarely, if ever, does one care to offer a step by step workout plan that even newbies can understand well. You see, just like everything else in life, there is a certain formula you need to follow when doing workouts. In this article I will tell you about the five parts of a workout plan.

a) Warm up: A warm up exercise would do exactly what its name implies – it would warm up your body for the hard core workouts that are about to come. Make sure that you don’t use a hardcore workout for a warm up as that would only make you tired even before you have started your actual workouts.

In my experience, elliptical trainers are best suitable for warm up exercises. Why? It not only involves your entire body in the workout but also lets you exercise at a low intensity level. Ideally a warm up session must not last for more than 5-10 minutes.

b) Stretch: Now, before doing stretches, you must drink at least one glass of water. Now start the stretching workout. Stretching fills up your body with adequate oxygen so that you don’t suffer from fatigue during the actual workout session. Ideally you should not spend more than five minutes on this, or at most, ten minutes. Once you have done stretching, drink another glass of water. In the next step the actual weight workout session would start.

c) Weight workout: A weight workout session must not be either too long or too short. If it is too long then you would not only get badly tired at the end of it but also have a difficult time in recovering from the strain of the workout; on the other hand, if it is too short then you won’t be able to work on your muscles hard enough to produce the desired results.

In my opinion, you should spend no less than 45 minutes and no more than one hour on this workout. You should also take breaks of about 2 minuets between each set of workout, and during these break periods be sure to drink adequate water.

d) Stretch: Once you are done with the weight workout, start stretching again. Stretching makes your body relaxed. When your body is in a relaxed state, it would be able to recover from the strain of the weight workout quickly. Stretching also helps regulate your blood flow and prevents cramping that may occur as a side effect of heavy exercise.

e) Replenish your body with carbohydrates and protein: By the time you have finished your workout session, your body would have little energy left for doing anything else. To replenish your body for the lost energy, you should consume an adequate amount of carbohydrates. I have found that sugar drink is the best choice for this purpose as your body is able to get loads of carbs quickly that way. After an hour, you should take a large sized, protein-rich meal.

Do you miss out on your workouts? In all purposes it might not have been your intention to skip those workouts but somehow it just “happened”, right? Is there any way to make sure that such a thing never “happens” again?

Well there is. But first let me tell you the story behind my discovery. To be honest, there was a time when even I couldn’t maintain a regular workout routine. With time I was forced to miss my scheduled workouts because of the ever-increasing work pressure.

Now, I am not one of those people who would be happy to skip workouts; in fact, if I skip workout for even one day, it affects my bodily functions very negatively; my appetite is lost, my sleep is hampered and my mood generally tends to be on the negative side. I tend to become irritated even with the most trivial stuff.

But why and how did I miss on those workouts? Well, sometimes it would be some urgent meetings, while at other times it would be because I had to go on an errand. Once I had to attend an urgent meeting at such a time that it clashed with my workout schedule. Even then I attended it because it was supposed to be over within an hour.

However, to my utter surprise the meeting went on for hours, so much so that by the time I came out of the meeting room, I was completely exhausted, with no more energy left to help me even move a muscle, let alone exercise. That was the day I missed my workout for the first time.

Over time I brainstormed and found a cool way to deal with this issue. I am going to discuss the tip in this article, and I sincerely hope it would make it impossible for you to miss your workouts, just as it did for me.

Be flexible in your workout schedules. Flexibility is the only thing that would help you maintain the level of fitness you want. Let’s say that you usually workout four days per week – weight training on Monday and Wednesday, and cardios on Tuesday and Friday.

Now what if you couldn’t do your scheduled workout on Friday? Should you be waiting for another Friday to come? No you shouldn’t. After all, you really cannot guarantee that you won’t miss out on your workouts the next Friday, just like it happened the previous Friday. The only remedy is to adjust your workout routine for that week. If you missed your Friday workout, you should do it on the weekends instead of waiting for the next Friday. Keep in mind that you must regard workouts as highly as your most important tasks.

Here is another example of flexibility. Say you usually workout for two long hours, the first hour being the hour of low intensity workouts and the second hour set for the high intensity exercises. Now on one day it so happens that you have got to attend some urgent meeting because of which you cannot afford to spend two full hours on workouts.

However, you should not use it as an excuse for abandoning your workouts altogether for the day. So what if you couldn’t spend two full hours on your workout session, even one hour of workout is better than no workout at all. Make the most of the time available to you, no matter how limited it is.

That said, don’t make it a habit to cut your workout sessions short. The abovementioned formula should be used only in case of rare emergencies; if you develop this into a permanent habit then you are sure to suffer in the long run.

Here is yet another example of how you could adjust your workout routine as and when appropriate. For example, let’s say that there are days of the week when you have a lot of spare time for workouts. Usually these days happen to be weekends. Why not fit in a few of next week’s workouts in those weekends? That way, you would have little to regret in the event of a missed workout.

If you are on a diet and yet struggling to lose weight, it is pretty clear that you need to get rid of your poor food choices. Most importantly, you need to bid goodbye to your junk food buddies and embrace the organic and REAL foods in their place.

Nevertheless, no matter how much we monitor our food consumption habits, one or two bad foods almost always manage to sneak past our sharp eyes. One such food is the innocuous rice cake.

Yep, rice cake is one food which is usually eaten by wannabe weight loss strugglers, especially those who are dieting. They believe rice cakes are low on calories. Funny enough, they seem to be ignorant of the fact that this “low-calorie” food is preventing them from losing weight fast. Read the rest of this entry »