Weight Loss Tips

1) Calculate how many calories you body needs to consume to maintain your existing weight. This is called you maintenance calories.(Search google with “calorie needs” and you will find a few different calculators to help you with this)

2) Initially deduct 10%(to a maximum of 500Kcal)off the total maintenance calories. Drastically reducing your calories will result in muscle and water loss - not fat loss.

3)Divide you calories over 5 or 6 meals rather then 2 or 3. You should aim to eat every 3-4 hours.

4)Cut out all simple carbohydrates (except straight after exercise, eat whole grain, high fibre foods.)

5) Exercise at least 3 times a week, doing 30 minutes of cardio to a reasonable level of intensity. This will help to create the calorie defecit and encourage your body to lose fat.

6)Make simple replacements in your diet, Sweetner in place of sugar, diet drinks in place of full sugar drinks, use leaner cuts of meat etc. At first these changes may be difficult but you will get used to them and make vital calorie savings every day.

7) Drink plenty of water - at least 2 litres of water every day - if you are dehydrated you body will be less efficient and will make fat loss more difficult.

Try to eat low carb(complex only!), low fat and moderate protein. From my experience the South Beach Diet is excellent.

9)Keep a food diary to monitor how many calories you are consuming - it is very easy to over eat.

10) Supplementing you diet can make fat loss easier. A diet high in protein can help preserve muscle (more muscle means an increase in metabolism). There are also some fat loss supplements available which help boost your metabolism, this is useful as your metabolism may slow during extended periods of dieting.

This article is written from my own experiences. I have lost 20lbs of fat and gained 20lbs of muscle. My body fat is 11%. Please consult a doctor for proper medical advice

I am a fitness enthusiast and write about my experience of fat loss and exercise. I have recently opened my own supplement website. http://www.thesupplementsite.co.uk

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Are you thinking that some diet program you heard about or read about might help you with your weight loss problem? Do you wonder if that diet program is good for your health? You know that weight loss is generally believed to affect health positively, but does the diet program you’re looking at accomplish weight loss in a healthy manner?

Let’s take a look at some basic facts about diet programs, their health affects, and their effectiveness on weight loss.

1. DIETS ARE NOT FUN! Is this important? Well, as soon as you “go on a diet”, you feel as if you are being punished. You begin to think about the pleasures you are going to have to forego, and the difficulties you will have to put up with. You think about the lack of support from others around you, and the possiblity of failure. Your future begins to look a little grim…not deadly, but not fun either. How long will you be able to sustain your commitment feeling this way? A healthy eating plan for weight loss should include some elements of fun, pleasure, and rewards. That would be a little more encouraging.

2. DIETS CAN BE BORING! Again, how long are you going to be able to remain on a boring diet program? Many diets, in addition to limiting portion sizes and amounts, also call for foods that may be bland or unappetizing. Eating in much the same pattern day after day can become boring.

3. DIETS CAN GO BEYOND JUST BORING! Some make it all the way to disgusting, either in the foods you are allowed to eat (want to eat cabbage soup all day long), or simply by the fact that you DO have to eat the same thing day after day. Ice cream can become loathsome if it is all you ever get to eat.

4. DIETS CAN BE COMPLICATED! Eat this for lunch, that for dinner. Count carbohydrates, don’t count carbohydrates. Eat protein, don’t eat protein. What are the calories and nutrients in this food and that one? Which one is the best one? You almost need a full time dietician working with you to accomplish your weight loss goals on some diet programs.

5. DIETS INTERFERE WITH THE JOY OF LIVING! Well, are we surprised? They’re not fun, they’re boring and complicated. What else can we say about them? Well, could you see yourself not going on a trip, or missing a family gathering because you’re on a diet? If you go, you will possibly give in to the desire to savor the moment and enjoy the experience, but you will possibly feel guilty and weak before, during, and after the event. If you go, but stick doggedly to your diet while everyone else is sipping champagne or eating turkey and dressing, how much joy are you going to get out of it? Not only that, how are you going to treat everyone around you? Are you going to be snappish to your family because you are hungry all the time and miserable because you’re “on a diet”?

6. DIETS ARE TEMPORARY FIXES TO A PERMANENT PROBLEM! You will need to learn a whole new style of eating and living for weight loss to become permanent. Simply cutting down on calories for a while is not the real answer. You must change the way you live your life. This may be scary, but it doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Is it bad to look in the mirror and like the person you see? Is it bad to become healthier and more alive?

7. DIETS CAN BE BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH! Isn’t weight loss good for your health? Well, of course it is, but the diet itself may be bad for you. Your body requires a broad range of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, protein, carbohydrates, and yes, even fat, in order to remain healthy. It can be difficult to get the entire range of nutrients needed even in a normal diet, not to mention getting them in the amounts and combinations which are most effective. If your diet restricts foods, types of foods, and amounts, you may seriously injure your health.

8. DIET FAILURE MECHANISM NUMBER ONE! Diets are self defeating, even if we ignore the problems we have already mentioned. Your metabolism is the rate at which calories are used. This varies from person to person and even within the person based on life style, age, environment, inherited characteristics, etc. As we get older, our metabolism tends to slow down, for example. That’s why most people tend to put on weight as they age. There are ways to increase the metabolism, the most common being exercise. The body, whatever its normal state, called homeostasis, tries to maintain that state. If you decrease the flow of calories that the body is accustomed to receiving, it will, after a while, learn to establish a new homeostasis based on the lower amount of calories. In other words, although you may lose weight at first, you will probably eventually level out long before you reach your weight loss goal. Even worse, if you go off the diet after the body has learned to sustain itself on fewer calories, you may actually gain back the weight you have lost AND MORE!

9. DIET FAILURE MECHANISM NUMBER TWO! Remember that metabolism thing above? If you gain muscle mass, you will burn more calories, If you lose muscle mass, you will burn fewer calories. One common effect of exercise is an increase of muscle mass (no ladies, you are not likely to look like the new governor of California if you exercise…even if you lift weights. In fact you may look more like Miss America if you exercise…most Miss Americas do). Additionally, not only can you burn more calories during exercise, by exercising regularly, you can lift your body to a higher metabolic rate as it goes about its day to day activities…including sleeping. Unfortunately, on a diet, your body tends to rob your muscle mass since you are cheating it out of the nutrition it believes it needs. This will also tend to depress your metabolic rate as in diet failure mechanism number one, increasing the affects. Again, if you stop your diet, the loss of muscle mass may increase the weight gain.

10. DIETS DON’T LET YOU SNACK! Is that a biggie? Well, to me and a few other people it is. Those stretches from breakfast to lunch, lunch to supper, supper to bedtime. Do you really get thru them without a snack…even if you ate a big meal? Probably not. You want that little treat. You want to stop that little hint of hunger until it is time for a meal. You want to live normally, and for most of us, snacks are normal!

There you have it. Ten reasons why diets don’t work and may even be unhealthy. So what can you do about it? There’s a lot you can do.

You can substitute healthier items or remove unhealthy ones. Drink a diet drink instead of one with sugar. Put less on your plate the first time around, and eat more slowly. By the time you finish, your hunger may have begun to ease, you will have satisfied head, heart, and stomach…and everybody else will be getting up from the table.

Change your activities to help your body burn off a few more calories. You don’t have to start by running a marathon, just get out and walk a little more. Spend less time in front of the TV. Instead of a piece of pie, go have sex. That burns a lot of calories.

Find an organization or weight loss program which can make the foods more appealing, that can plan the food choices for you, that can help you snack and still lose weight. In addition to these, many weight loss programs such as NutriSystem, Jenny Craig, TOPS International, or Weight Watchers can also provide a key element….SUPPORT!

The author is retired from the Army after 21 years of service, has worked as an accountant, optical lab manager, restaurant manager, and instructor. He has been a member of Mensa for several years, and has written and published poetry, essays, and articles on various subjects for the last 40 years. He developed an interest in health and fitness in the ’70s after reading numerous books, including Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s “Aerobics”. This has led him to continue his personal research into health and fitness for over 30 years, and to pursue course work on health and fitness. He now has an online health supplement store at http://eherbsstore.com. Find more weight loss tips at http://nodiet4me.com.

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Reason #1: You don’t make a decision to start. You can have hundreds of excuses, but it comes down to how big is your want to? If you want results you have to start. Why wait ’til tomorrow what you can start today?? DECIDE!

Reason #2: You don’t know what you want. Where are you on a scale of 1-10, 10 being as serious as a heart attack, about reaching your fitness goals? If your number is anything but a 9 or a 10, I will not work with you. Why, because you are not COMMITTED to doing whatever it takes to reach your goals. If you say you are a 1-8 that means you get it right eighty percent or less of the time. That means that you will eat when and what you want and not stick to a program. That is like a rocket scientist at NASA being sixty percent sure the left engine works on the spaceship we are sending to the moon. COMMIT!

Reason #3: You don’t make it a priority. Everyone’s biggest excuse is TIME. My question to you is what do you value? Do you value your health? Do you value productive energy when spending time with your family and/or kids? I would say that you cannot afford not to make time. By making exercise a priority in your daily planner you will not only have a sense of accomplishment by sticking to a regular routine, but feel more energized and less stressed when dealing with the daily ebb and flow of life. SCHEDULE!

Reason #4: You have no one hold you accountable. When beginning an exercise program, I highly recommend working out with a friend or considering a personal trainer because on the days you do not feel like going that person will encourage you to remember why you’re doing this. Having a training partner also keeps your workouts fresh and fun. ACCOUNTABILITY!

Reason #5: You focus more on the scale (weight) instead of the tape measure (inches). Muscle is more dense than fat. Therefore, focus on the inches. Some of the fittest people look like they way twenty pounds less than they actually do because muscle can be deceiving. Also, you will probably gain one or two pounds when you begin to exercise because strength training promotes this. If the only thing you did was add one pound of muscle, you will ultimately lose five pounds of body fat within six months because muscle burns calories (fat) at rest and fat does not. FOCUS ON INCHES!

Reason #6: You start exercising but you don’t change your eating habits. Eating and nutrition comprise about 70% of the results you will obtain when it comes to changing the shape of your body. What you eat and when you eat it are equally important. American culture in general would have you believing that this is a difficult concept when in reality it is not difficult at all. CHANGE EATING HABITS!

Reason #7: You follow the newest, latest, greatest technique due to media hype. Almost everything you see on TV is a waste of your time, money, and effort. If it sounds too good to be trueit probably is. If a supermodel is advertising the product, you will NOT look like him or her by “just using this product 8 minutes a day”!!! DON’T GET SUCKED INTO INFOMERCIALS!

Reason #8: You quit right before you are going to see results. In order to see measurable results, you need to stick with your new found exercise routine for 90-120 days if you want to truly make LIFESTYLE changes and maintain your results for more than a couple of months. The human body completely regenerates itself about every 90-120 days. COMMIT TO A 90-DAY PLAN!

Reason #9: You don’t eat breakfast. You’ve heard it since you were old enough to listen: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. In fact, a study done at the University of Massachusetts with 500 participants concluded startling statistics. You are 150% more likely to be obese by eating breakfast away from home, and you are an astonishing 450% more likely to be obese by not eating breakfast at all. Breakfast is a simple thing that can dramatically improve your fitness results and your lifestyle. EAT BREAKFAST!

Reason #10: You don’t drink water or you don’t drink enough water. Water has many benefits. Your muscle tissue is about 75% water based. If you are dehydrated (and most people are), you will have more aches and pains than you really should have. When most people feel hungry, their body is usually telling them they are thirsty. Water also fights off hunger pains or will not allow you to eat as much food if you are drinking it diligently. DRINK WATER!

Reason#11: You set your expectations too high. Let’s face it, society places a major emphasis on results. However, what you just did to your body for the last 5, 10, maybe 20 years can’t be corrected within 24 hours, a week or a month. Lifestyle changes take time to progress and become habits in your life. Be patient through the process and know that you are only going to have to go through the process once because you won’t be on the latest roller-coaster diet. SET REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS!

Reason #12: You don’t switch your routine enough. Your body will hit a plateau because it will adapt to what you are doing. Therefore you will need to switch your routine around in order to continue to get the results you are looking for. This doesn’t mean that you will always have to do MORE but rather work smarter so you are in control of your results. CHANGE UP YOUR ROUTINE!

Reason #13: You’ve read too many ‘diet’ books and are misled on the topic of nutrition. “Dieting” is the most misused word when it comes to the world of exercise, fitness and health. With the United States leading the charge in the category of most ‘unhealthy’ nation, we are bombarded with the latest ‘do it in the next 24 hours fad diet that will help you lose 25 lbs in the next 2 days’ program. Don’t overcomplicate what “they” would like you to think it really takes in order to change some habits. Using the word “diet” truly means “what you are going to eat” vs. ‘what you are going to avoid.’ AVOID THE NEWEST “DIET”!

Reason#14: You consume yourself with your program and you forget to have fun. Some of you get so wrapped in keeping an exercise journal, a food journal, and buying new workout clothes that you forget to be realistic about your approach to your new found “self.” Just remember that if you become too fanatical too quick you will more likely be on to the next best thing sooner than you think. You do not want your exercise routine to become a ‘chore’. HAVE FUN!

Reason #15: You overcomplicate your routine. You have so many goals that you want to accomplish that you do too many things and spread yourself so thin that you don’t see any concrete results. New found lifestyle habits are found through simple routinessomething that you can implement and stick to without too much deviation from your current flow of life. SIMPLIFY ROUTINE!

Reason #16: You don’t believe you can reach your ‘ideal’ goals. Believe you can get there. Write out EXACTLY what you want and the keyWHEN you want it. Then break down your goals in weekly training goals and check them with a professional to see if they are realistic. You can get back to the shape you were in prior to kids, back as a high school athlete, or back as a high school cheerleader if you set your mind to it. Wherever the mind goes, the body will follow. BELIEVE!

Reason #17: You don’t seek guidance. Your new-found journey can be very intimidating. Set yourself up to win by talking to a professional that can help you set realistic goals but probably more importantly help you stay accountable. If you are not ready to be held accountable then you are probably not ready to truly go after your goals. SEEK PROFESSIONAL GUIDANCE!

Reason #18: You rely on some piece of equipment or a trainer to get you results. It is up to you and ONLY YOU to be responsible and accountable for achieving the results you are looking for. The equipment or trainers that help are there to guide, direct, and encourage you through the process. You are the only person who knows deep down if you are ready for this journey. ONLY YOU CAN ACHIEVE THE RESULTS YOU ARE LOOKING FOR!

Reason #19: You don’t do any strength training, just cardio. You will not get the results you are looking for if you leave out any components of a successful fitness plan. Strength training has many benefits including burning fat. If all you did was add ONE pound of lean muscle you would burn FIVE pounds of fat over the next 6 months without changing anything else. Strength training will also boost your immune system, strengthen bones, and increase your self-confidence. STRENGTH TRAINING IS THE TICKET!

Brad Nelson is a Minneapolis/St. Paul based certified Level II kettlebell instructor and strength and conditioning coach (CSCS). Brad is unwavering about getting you results through private or team training and workshops. For additional information or to witness a demonstration on how and why kettlebells are the single most effective tool for increasing strength, burning fat, general conditioning and teaching movement visit http://www.mtxeconditioning.com or contact brad@mtxeconditioning.com.

© Copyright 2005 Brad Nelson — http://www.mtxeconditioning.com

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