Fast Weight Loss Diet

By Gary Grewal

Finding time for ourselves is getting very difficult these days. This is mainly due to our hectic routine and thus we try to get maximum things done in the limited free time we get. Personal fitness is one of the things that we often neglect and don’t pay much attention to. Some people simply don’t find enough “intervals” to indulge themselves in some form of exercise so that they can stay in good and healthy shape. If you somehow manage to take out even 30 minutes from your routine and dedicate it to exercising you will see a major change in yourself.

Walking is the best exercise you can do. It helps you in doing low to medium intensity exercise at your pace and if you combine both these levels of intensities then you can maximize your weight loss result even further. You can do a one minute interval of fast walking or even slow running during your walking session so you get your desired result. Start with normal speed and maintain it for a few minutes or until you are comfortable with your pace. Then considerably increase your speed for one minute so much so that you feel “winded up”. Then again slow down to your normal speed. Repeat this process throughout your exercising session and you will see drastic changes in you after just few days.

Here are some benefits of these intervals:

1. The first benefit that intervals offer you during the exercise is the large amount of weight loss that you have always wished to achieve.
2. These intervals help you in pushing yourself to the limits. Through these you can easily cross from anaerobic threshold to anaerobic metabolism. This will also help you in getting better at more intense exercises.
3. Once you feel physically fit you will find it much easier to do much intense exercises. Thus you will be able to burn even more calories once you start doing higher intensity level exercises.
4. Your better physical condition will make you feel less fatigued and you will feel fresher throughout your day. You will also notice another major change where you will find it easier to perform tough tasks.
5. Intervals in exercise will help you in increasing the metabolism of the body. This way you will be able to burn even more calories throughout the day.
6. Intervals make your body burn calories even after the exercise is done and while you sleep.
7. Intervals help you tone the muscles.
8. Intervals do not let you get bored during the exercise.
9. Intervals give you energy to do tough and more number of sets and let you have quick weight loss.

Short intervals during exercises are much more effective than normal exercising methods. You will not only experience quicker weight loss but also feel much energetic throughout the day. Another advantage to intervals in exercises is that they will add spice to your exercising routine and as a result you will not get bored.

About the Author: Gary Grewal is the founder of http://www.101weightloss.com/; a site featuring over 100 articles on weight loss diets, pills, eating right, exercises etc. Visit his site for many more tips on quick weight loss.

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=248531&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet

Labels: interval, Weight Loss

By Amy Nutt

The last thing that a patient wants to hear is that one of the drugs they have been prescribed will make them gain weight. That is a fear that many have to face because when a medication is needed, that particular side effect cannot be removed from the drug. Some people do not even know that weight gain is a symptom when they are prescribed a drug, but they do realize when they notice they are gaining weight without any other explanation.

Some of the drugs that are responsible for weight gain are drugs for depression, anti-seizure medication, medications for diabetes, hypertension, and migraines. Birth control, hormones, and steroids are also well-known for causing weight gain in patients.

What drugs cause weight gain?

There is no exact list that names the drugs that cause weight gain. A drug may cause weight gain in one person but not cause it in the next. That means there may be certain physiological elements in play. However, there are approximately 50 medications that are suggested to cause weight gain in those who take them. Some of these drugs include:

• Steroids such as prednisone
• Antidepressants that include Lexapro, Zoloft, Tofranil, Paxil, and Elavil
• Antipsychotics that include such drugs as Zyprexa
• Diabetes drugs such as Diabeta and Diabinese
• Hypertension medications such as Cardura and Inderol
• Beta Blockers such as Zebeta
• Even heartburn treatments such as Prevacid have been suggested to promote weight gain.

Other factors

Sometimes the medicine doesn’t act alone when it comes to weight gain. When a person is depressed and they begin to feel better, they may find that they eat more. To make things more confusing, heartburn treatments have been known to help people lose weight, but people have also been known to gain weight. This weight gain could be associated with eating more because of an improvement in the condition.

There could also be underlying health issues that, in addition to the drug, cause weight gain to occur. There have been plenty of people who have seen a pattern in beginning a drug and weight gain. They may not have changed their eating habits and all, but noticed some water retention. Steroids are certainly a culprit in this because the person appears to have swelled up.

There are also patients who were not taking a drug for a long period of time. The treatment was a short-term treatment that caused weight gain, but when the treatment was over they found themselves returning to their regular weight. These are instances in which it is quite obvious that a drug has caused weight gain.

What to do

Although nothing can be done about the effect that the drug has on the body to gain weight, the patient can take matters into their own hands to an extent. They can watch how they eat, exercise regularly if possible, and drink plenty of liquids. This can actually offset some of the effects of the drug on weight. It may seem like a battle that never ends, but when a drug is needed to control a particular health issue, there really isn’t much that can be done about it. Sometimes there are alternatives to a drug that the doctor can prescribe, but that option is not always available. However, it doesn’t hurt to ask.

But what one must remember is that gaining a little extra weight might be minimal compared to the benefits that the drug provides. So if a person can deal with a 10 to 15 pound weight gain, it may be worth staying on the drug.

About the Author: Understand if you maintain a healthy body weight by using a BMI calculator. Learn what your daily calorie intake should be by using a BMR calculator .

Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=245487&ca=Wellness%2C+Fitness+and+Diet

Labels: weight gain

What is the Flat Belly Diet?
By Gary Holdon

With the ever increasing number of people trying to lose weight, it is a welcome relief for many to find a new diet that does not make you feel deprived. This new diet even allows you to eat your favourite foods including chocolate. Dubbed as the "Flat Belly Diet," this eating plan was invented by the editors of Prevention Magazine.

It's called the "Flat Belly Diet," and it really works. Prevention Magazine actually invented the diet, and it works on the principle of including good quality fats in your diet, also called mono-unsaturated fatty acids. These are also called MUFAs (pronounced "MOO-fahs") by nutritionists, and they're proving an effective way to lose weight without feeling deprived, and finally keeping the weight off for good. The diet is simple and easy to follow, and you won't feel deprived at all when you're on it.

Mono-unsaturated fatty acids are found in foods like olive oil, peanut butter, almonds, and other types of nuts, as well as avocados. There are lots of foods that contain monounsaturated fatty acids, and this diet works because unlike some other deprivation diets, you need to include them in modest amounts. In fact, you need to have some at every meal.

How successful is it? In fact, one 46-year-old participant lost 12 pounds and 11 inches in just over a month. How's that for success?

Here's why it works. Mono-unsaturated fatty acids actually help you lose weight when you eat them in moderation, especially in regard to helping you get rid of that spare tire you've got around your middle. Several studies have shown that if you eat a diet rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids, you lower your LDL or bad cholesterol, and raise your HDL or good cholesterol. And a significant benefit besides that is that you lower your risk of heart disease and improve insulin function.

Even better, when you eat mono-unsaturated fatty acids with every meal, you feel satisfied instead of hungry and deprived. And it's easy to include MUFAs with every meal. You can drizzle a little olive oil-based salad dressing on your greens, nosh a chocolate chip cookie for dessert (yes, you can have dessert as well, with the chocolate chips providing the MUFAs in this case), or grab a handful of nuts to munch on before dinner.

To start the diet, you do what's called a "four-day anti-bloat jumpstart," along with a few other diet-specific tricks, and then embark on eating plan that includes three 400 calorie meals a day, a 400 calorie snack, and optionally include exercise as well.

The diet centers around five foods that anyone can find and that most find satisfying and delicious. These are avocados, olives, nuts and seeds, chocolate, and oils. You eat one serving from this group of foods at each meal.

And best of all, you will have more energy than you know what to do with, and the diet itself is about 1600 calories; this is more than enough to keep you energetic and satisfied without either depriving or over stuffing you.

There is more than one effective way of dieting; the question is which diet is the right one for you? To learn more about how to choose the right weight loss diet program check out these articles about weight loss plans in particular how to get fit through sustainable, but fast weight loss plans.

Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/?What-is-the-Flat-Belly-Diet?&id=1099260

Labels: diet, food

How to Overcome Weight Loss Plateau
By George Tohme

In addition to being a pharmacist with several sub-specialties in diabetes and cholesterol management, smoking cessation a personal trainer and certified nutrition guide, I was obese the first 17 years of my life and for the following 3 decades I struggled with keeping the weight and often hit plateaux, peeks and troughs that seem to last indefinitely no matter what I do. I just was not able to find balance, peace of mind and I lived with guilt through out that entire period. Even the professional advice I sought did not seem convincing and did not produce results.

So I went on a quest for answers, and that's the main reason I specialized in those fields, until I found the answers for permanent weight loss, permanent weight control and breaking beyond all plateaux without dieting and while enjoying a great emotional, physical and balanced lifestyle. I have included the results of my long quest in my book titled " Lifestyle Makeover for Diabetics" in Action Step 4 which takes up half of my book. From Action Step 4 till the end of the book the information provided applies to all people and not just diabetics. But I have specifically addressed the issue of overcoming plateaux on Pages 232, 233 and 234 In Action Step 4 of my book.

There are several factors that contribute to this problem:

1) With this first scenario I address those who are uninformed or misinformed.

When people go on a "diet", skip meals or take OTC or RX Diet pills they lose weight due water loss, some fat but a good chunk of precious muscle mass. They feel good for losing that weight the first month or so but what they are doing is setting themselves up for a vicious trap. When they lose this precious muscle, which weighs more than fat, they cause a drop in the Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR). The body burns lots of energy to keep muscle cells alive. When a good chunk of muscle is lost for good than the body burns less energy and stores the balance as fat. So that's a main reason why people stop losing.

Moreover, most "dieters" want to lose weight by food restrictions without increasing their level of activity (I don't use the word exercise). We CAN NEVER maintain any weight lost without activity. More Often than not people overestimate their level of daily activity. One more reason people feel that they stopped losing.

One has also to look at the quality and quantity of food consumed. People way underestimate the density of food consumed because they are mis or uninformed. People don't have a clue about making balanced food choices, about the importance of incorporating 30 to 35 grams of fiber daily which includes a wealth of benefits on weight loss and health in general, don't read food labels and expect to lose weight. " Oh I just had a small piece of lemon cake"! Well have they read the nutrition label of "that small piece of Cake" they would have realized that it included a total of 400 calories, some 50 grams of sugar and 25 grams of fat. I challenge all readers of this article to read the Nutrition Labels of some of these cookies, muffins, cakes, chips and see how heart and artery blowing they can be. If people are not reading Nutrition Labels of the food they eat (which is the overwhelming majority of our population) then they will not only gain weight but their lives are in real and imminent danger.

The second scenario is when people are informed and have been trying to lose weight by making favorable food and activity choices. After 2 or 3 months into their quest and periodically thereafter they might hit a plateau.

A great plateau buster is to include a variety to the activity they are doing. After a while our brains track our patterns and in order to find balance, technically known as "Homeostasis", the brain adapts the energy burnt just enough to accommodate the energy demand from the activity performed. Consequently, we can enter into a plateau. So increasing the intensity or duration of the activity is not always the answer because we to take into consideration our limited time.

The answer is "variety" of activity. Through out the day we need to aim at walking about 12 to 15 thousand steps gauged by a pedometer (cheaply bought at discount stores, pharmacies and fitness institutions for $7 to 10). Three times a week people need to schedule a sustained bout of a "Variety" of activity for 30 to 45 minutes. One day do walking, the next do cycling on bicycle or a stationary one, the following time walking including hilly terrain, next swimming, the following time walk on a treadmill. Use brisk pace which is faster than normal pace. Do not forget wearing rubber walking padded shoes to avoid overuse injury.

During those bouts a crucial and simple factor can be added for beginners and advanced alike which is to use "Interval Cycle Training" which is Bouts of varying bouts of fast and slower movement. All these variety factors keep the brain confused and not adapt to a specific routine. Hence continued results. More details are found in the Activity section in Action Step 4 of "Lifestyle Makeover for Diabetics"

Here is also a quick plateau buster checklist:

-" Am I eating enough fiber?"

-"Have I been skipping meals or snacks?"

- "What have I been eating for snacks?"

-" Have my portion sizes gradually become bigger?"

- "Have I gone back to drinking soft drinks?"

- "Have I been accounting for all sugary or salty snacks and beverages consumed daily?"

A more extensive checklist and all these issues are covered much more extensively in simple format in my book mentioned below.

My Credentials:

George F Tohme, Pharmacist, graduated from The University of Pittsburgh, Pa in 1987 and currently practicing in Texas. I am certified in Diabetes (Univ. of Texas at Austin) and Cholesterol Management (American Pharmacists Association), Smoking Cessation ( Univ. Of Pittsburgh), Nutrition Guidance (Cooper institute) and a Personal Trainer (ACE).

Author of: "Lifestyle Makeover for Diabetics".

Read Excerpts: http://www.lifestyle-makeover.com/

Future Release: "Lifestyle Makeover for Smokers"
AskGeorgeAboutDiabetes.com (It's free to ask)

George Tohme R.Ph.
Lifestyle Makeover
2911 Turtle Creek Blvd.
Suite 300
Dallas, Tx 75219
Tel: 214 523 9008
Fax: 214 523 9001
Cel: 214 674 0183
email: mail@lifestyle-makeover.com
Website: http://www.lifestyle-makeover.com/
AskGeorgeAboutDiabetes.com

Article Source:

http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Overcome-Weight-Loss-Plateau&id=1088250

Labels: plateau, Weight Loss