Losing weight for good is a big topic. There will also not be much said about some fairly obvious health issues. If you smoke or have a problem with alcohol or drugs, you probably realize that this isn’t good for you. The same with overeating. Some of the methods here can help you with these issues, but I am not going to go into any detail about subjects that are so extensively covered all over the mainstream media and internet. The same with the advice to exercise. I do refer to exercise in the breathing chapter, but I don’t spell out “get x number of hours of exercise per week.” Exercise is important, but it should be tailored to you as an individual. I don’t want to imply that what I haven’t written about in detail is not important. It just isn’t the focus of this report.

What I am doing here is presenting a solid foundation upon which you can build. If you do have specific health challenges, need to lose a lot of weight, get into better shape, everything here will definitely be a good base upon which to add anything else you may need.

One final note about the focus of this report. I try, as much as possible, to give positive rather than negative advice. What I mean by that is, except where it is absolutely necessary (as with the chapter on junk foods!), I try to keep the focus on the positive –what is good for you rather than on what to avoid. Read the rest of this entry »

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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.

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Are you looking for natural weight loss secrets? This is a good approach to losing weight. “Natural” means without the help of potentially dangerous diet pills, fad diets or surgery. Natural weight loss is a way to move towards your ideal weight while keeping your health in mind. After all, what’s the point of losing weight if you have to sacrifice your health? You want to look and feel your best, now and in the long run!

Here are 7 tips that will help you in your quest to lose weight naturally:

Drink plenty of pure water. This is good for keeping the body hydrated and keeping your metabolism working smoothly. However, it’s also a good “trick” to drink water instead of other, less healthy beverages. Water is especially important when exercising, but you should drink it throughout the day whether working, playing or resting. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: karate, plant-based beverage, surgery, Swimming, Tai Chi, Tennis

Joining a fitness club can be a bit intimidating for some people. Before you join, be sure you know what to look for. First and foremost, the location should be convenient to your home, so you will stay motivated to go on a regular basis.

Also, look at the cleanliness of the place as well as the friendliness of the staff. Think about your personal fitness goals, and see if the club has the facilities you want in order to achieve those goals. Here are four reasons why you should join a fitness club:

Motivation: Going to a fitness club every day should help to motivate you to achieve your goals. Working out by yourself is not half as fun as working out with other people there to encourage you and inspire you. It gives people a reason to keep going, and can also spark a little bit of healthy competition. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Massage, massage therapist, sauna, Swimming

Are you a woman who is very desperate to lose weight fast? Then I am sure you have fallen for those bold weight loss ads which get published in women’s magazines one time or other. Truth to be told, if ever there was any truth in the saying “tall hype and minuscule result”, it would surely apply to those magazine ads. These ads make you believe that you would lose weight in just a week or two with the recommended diet programs. Fact is, you would lose only your time and money instead of weight.

These ads are very well-tuned to a certain demographic: educated women belonging to middle and upper classes who want to lose weight fast with the least effort on their part. There are many women, young and old, who are very desperate to lose all the extra pounds as fast as they could.

Naturally, any diet program which claims to fulfill their desire would attract them. What they don’t know is that such diets are good only for a few days; in other words, you would be losing weight rapidly for the first few days after which, it would be an upward trend (read weight gain). Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: basketball, food, food intake, Swimming, Tennis

Workouts are something hated not only by kids but also adults. Now, if you hate workouts as much as your kid then this article would benefit both of you. Believe it or not, a well-balanced workout regimen could single-handedly keep you fit and healthy throughout your whole life. And of course, no one said you need to do boring cardios for hours or spend 24 hours in your local gym. Simple activities could help you and your kids keep the pounds away.

One reason behind the ever-increasing level of childhood obesity is the increasing addiction of children to video games, PSPs, etc. If they sit and watch video games all day, when would they find time for workouts? The only way to break this habit is to take them regularly for a walk along the park. At the beginning, kids may hesitate to move beyond the world of video games.

Good news is that I have a remedy for this too. Ask yourself first: are YOU an active parent? If not, set a daily schedule for morning walks and then when you come back home tell your kid how much you loved and enjoyed the walk as well as how much your body benefitted from it. The more interesting you make it to him, the more he would be willing to walk.

Slowly you could scale it over to the next level which includes jogging, running, swimming, etc. – activities which would help your kid burn even more calories than he would by walking.

But like I said, they won’t make the first move unless you do, and to be honest, you should move your body too as obesity is harming you as much as your kids. When they see that you prefer to walk, run and jog instead of sitting at home and watching movies, they would soon emulate you and do the same.

Also, if there is any sport that you are passionate about or used to indulge in during your youth, you should start participating in that sport again. It could be anything which makes your body move and sweat, such as cricket, basketball, tennis, etc. Note that by ’sport’ I don’t mean chess or other board games; they are as bad as video games.

Like anything else in life, neither you nor your kid would find time for such activities unless you set a schedule for them. You should prioritize your health over even your most important tasks; once you do that, you would automatically find time to do the activities which would keep you away from fat belly and flabby arms.

Of course, the same applies to your kid too.

Tags: basketball, chess, cricket, obesity, Swimming, Tennis

Knee exercise is vital if you are suffering from the painful condition of arthritis in the knee joints. The right kind of exercise can help to maintain or possibly even increase your range of motion, which helps to prevent the knee from causing sudden acute pain or giving way. Exercise helps to maintain healthy cartilage. It is also important to build strength in the muscles and tendons that support the knee, so that you avoid putting unnecessary stress on the joint itself when you walk, climb stairs etc.

Exercise To Strengthen The Knee

Choose a chair the right height so that you can sit on it with your feet flat on the floor and thighs horizontal. Consciously tighten the muscles in the right thigh (it can be helpful to put your hand on your thigh at first to feel the muscles tighten). You should see your kneecap move a little.

Then push out with your heel, point your toes and move your toes around in a slow circle. Continue for up to 30 seconds, then repeat with the other leg.

Do not let your knee fall away to either side. It must stay in a straight line with your leg. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: arthritis, chair, pain, Swimming, Tennis, volleyball

It is said that America tops the obese adult population in the world, which is of course true. However, one seems to overlook the fact that America is also home to the highest population of obese children. If WHO (World Health Organization) is to be believed, our world contains more than twenty million obese kids, most of whom are in the age group of five-eight.

WHO also says that childhood obesity has reached the level of an epidemic in America, so much so that in the past three decades the number of obese American kids has more than tripled. Isn’t your child one of them too? It is time to take control of your kid’s life and help him lead the kind of comfortable and healthy life we would want him to lead. And this is only possible by helping him get rid of the extra pounds.

In fact, if America tops the number of obese kids, even third world countries are not far behind. You would think that an economically backward continent like Africa would have skinny kids because most of their parents are too poor to feed them properly, let alone overfeed them. However, very often our beliefs don’t coincide with reality. Just recently a special task force sent to Africa to gauge the health stats of the people living there encountered more obese kids than malnourished children.

You maybe thinking: why all this hullabaloo about childhood obesity? What is wrong if the belly of your kid if a tad fatter than his peers? The answer is: just like overweight adults, fat kids are also likely to suffer from harmful diseases such as high blood pressure, type 1 diabetes, hypertension, fatigue, heart diseases, and in some cases, even early death.

Believe it or not, the root cause of childhood obesity has little to do with genetics and more with poor lifestyle habits. Often people add two and two and jump to the conclusion that the kid is fat because of his parents. But that is not true at all. Kids emulate the unhealthy habits of their parents and naturally become fat like them. If you and your kids follow healthy lifestyle habits, both of you would be able to get rid of fat very quickly.

Truth to be told, the onus of the rising levels of childhood obesity lies on parents to a great extent. We parents prefer our kids to have junk foods since they can be easily procured from outside and help save the time we would have spent on cooking. A diet rich in fat and sugar could only make your child fatter and fatter. There is really nothing new to be said about it. Unless you are willing to spend a little time and energy in cooking healthy foods at home, don’t expect your kids to become any slimmer.

Apart from making them eat healthy foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, it is also important that you try to reduce their intake of soda and fizzy drinks.

Controlling the food habits of your kids is only half the battle won, the other half being that of encouraging them to become more active. If you are concerned about your child’s future and wish to offer him a healthy life, you would need to take him away from Xbox and PSPs to outdoor sports such as cricket, basketball, tennis, etc. Encouraging them to indulge in cardiovascular activities such as swimming, dancing, rope jumping, etc., would also help them burn fat and lose weight.

Tags: Africa, America, basketball, cricket, diabetes, energy, fatigue, food habits, heart diseases, high blood pressure, hypertension, obesity, outdoor sports, Swimming, Tennis, World Health Organization

You know and I know it too, that exercising is one of the best ways for your kids to remain fit and healthy. Unfortunately, it is not easy to convince little kids about the benefits of exercises. You can do everything possible in your budget: buy home-exercise machines, exercise videos, etc., but your kids would rather play with video games or surf the internet sitting on a chair, than get up and do some workouts. When they see that their parents are sitting on the couch for hours watching television, it makes matters worse.

Here are some steps to make your kids exercise the easy way:

1. Do what you teach them: If you teach your kids that exercise is good for their health, the same set of advice applies to you too. Don’t sit at home for hours; instead, walk the talk by going out to your local gym and spending a couple of hours on the workouts. It will not only keep you fit and healthy, but you would also become a role model for your kids. Kids are in the habit of emulating others. As soon as they see you exercising regularly, they too will emulate it and begin exercising, if for nothing else, then simply out of curiosity.

2. Intensive workouts are not for kids: Don’t let your kids do intensive workouts; they will soon feel tired and bored with them and would start hating exercises altogether. Don’t buy your kids things like exercise equipments and weights as your kids can suffer from bone and muscles injuries. Instead, let your kids do some lighter bodyweight exercises.

3. Engage your kids in other activities: In order to make sure that your kids lead an active and healthy lifestyle, it is important to teach them about a variety of activities instead of letting them stick to a few workouts. Take them out for a swimming or dancing session. Buy them cycles and let them cycle around the neighborhood. Sometimes, let them jog, run, play sports such as tennis and basketball, etc. Sometimes you can even take them to adventurous holidays and let them engage in surfing.

Engaging your kids in a variety of activities will make sure that they lead an active and healthy lifestyle in future instead of being mute spectators to the activities and sports of others. And as you already know, the more active your kids are, the fitter they will be.

Making your kids exercise is not as hard as you think. Just don’t use force, ever. Follow the three simple tips above and you will soon stop worrying about your kids’ health.

Tags: basketball, chair, internet sitting, play sports, role model for your kids, surfing, Swimming, Tennis

When it comes to flabby arms or fatty thighs, people often tend to put the blame squarely on their genes and parents. It is true that genes do affect our body weight to an extent, but they cannot make you so fat as to give your thigh an ugly and bulky look!

If you have fatty thighs, it just means that you have eaten too much of fatty foods (fatty foods = fatty thighs, makes sense eh?) and led a sedentary life. However, if you are willing to do the needful, it is possible to get rid of those fatty thighs in no time! Ready? Okay let me tell you what you need to do for this purpose.

1. Be patient: While I am not trying to be a sexist here, I have found that when it comes to weight loss, women usually tend to become more impatient than men. The fact remains that just as you didn’t gain weight overnight, you also shouldn’t expect to lose the same within twenty-four hours!

Even if you don’t see the scales dropping after a week of rigorous workout and dieting, don’t give up yet and don’t panic! Weight loss takes time and it is possible that you won’t see any positive results in the first few weeks. However if you stay on track and keep doing the things others have done to lose weight successfully, you are sure to reach your goal at some point of time!

It is wrong on your part to assume that losing weight is too hard, and it is equally wrong to believe that obesity is a family curse which you have to bear throughout your entire life. Remember that you have the freedom to choose the way you want to lead your life, and if you wish to become slimmer by getting rid of the extra pounds, you CAN!

two. Don’t shy away from workouts: Women often shy away from workouts, partly because they are strenuous and boring, and partly because they are afraid of acquiring muscular bodies like those of the WWF wrestlers and losing their femininity. That is not true at all!

There are usually two types of weight loss workouts: one which helps you lose weight by burning your fat deposits and the other which makes you strong by build strong lean muscle mass for you. However, neither would be able to provide you a bodybuilder’s body, firstly because a female body lacks the amount of testererone needed to build that kind of body and secondly, it takes more than just workouts to become a bodybuilder (think supplements and pills).

In my opinion, working out is probably one of the best and quickest ways to get rid of fatty thighs! However I don’t recommend doing long boring cardios. Cardios are good for sure, but they alone cannot help you achieve the kind of slim figure you want within a very short time.

For best results, you should combine cardios with intense workouts. Weight lifting is one of the best intense workouts for quick thigh fat loss. As for cardios, walking is simple, easy and effective. Besides walking, rope jumping, running, dancing, swimming, playing outdoor sports such as basketball or tennis, etc., are all equally effective in helping you acquire slimmer and sexier thighs!

Now that you know how to get rid of fatty thighs, what are you waiting for? Get started right now, and five or six months from now you would be able to show off your slim legs proudly to your friends!

Tags: basketball, obesity, outdoor sports, Swimming, Tennis

Over the years I have seen a lot of flimsy ideas of how to get a set of six pack abs. The most common scams are special machines that will do it and sometimes some kind of drink. I remember at one point Slim Fast seemed to be showing chubby people suddenly spawning a set of six pack abs.

Anyway I wanted to put this notion to rest that there is some magic to getting a six pack. Sure there is some genetics involved in sculpting perfect abs but the two most important factors are diet and exercise.

What? Did you think there was a shortcut?

Six Pack Abs Diet

The diet part is fairly simple; you need to drop any extra fat. You have probably heard this before but there is no such thing as spot reduction when you are losing weight. You will lose weight proportionately, generally, as you lose weight. What you may find is that you have a large stomach and if that is the case of course you will lose that fat faster than you lose the fat on your legs but that is just because that is where the fat deposits will be easiest for your body to use.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: abdominal exercises, atkins diet, chair, getting a six pack, lose weight, losing weight, rowing, six pack abs, spot reduction, Swimming