Why the Weightwatchers diet is a sham – Part 1
August 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Burning Calories
“Diets Don’t Work” is Weight Watchers latest slogan. Actually they can and do if you follow them and don’t cheat. Weight Watchers is the only “program” that’s actually worked successfully for me. Why are people saying it’s a sham?
Healthy eating and exercise are actually the two main ingredients for any diet recipe. No one wants to hear this though. We all seem to want some magic solution to weight loss where we can eat whatever we want, not exercise and somehow lose weight.
Weight Watchers “allows” you to eat the foods you want but in very limited quantities. It used to be points. Whatever you call it, the bottom line (no pun intended) is portion control. If you can’t get through a day without chocolate for example, then you have to figure it in to your daily intake. You CAN eat it but you can’t eat that extra taco or mocha. As long as you consume so many points and don’t go over, you will lose weight. If you want to eat nothing but cookies one day, you can. But you have to figure out how many points they’re worth and not go over.
This is not healthy, however. The more vegetables, fruits and grains – healthier foods you eat, the more you can eat. They are usually fewer calories and more filling than a stack of OREOS.
Cut out trans fats, sugar, bleached flour. Eat whole grains, unprocessed foods. Drink lots of water. These are the basics. Weight Watchers knows this but they’re dealing with voracious eaters who want to rationalize their excessive food intake.
Really, whatever you call them – points, portions, helpings, it all comes down to this:
You have to eat fewer calories than you burn. Merely being alive burns some calories. Any movement does too. So the more you move, the more you burn.
It’s been years since I did Weight Watchers but their point system made sense and worked for me. Points might be a concept that psychologically works and it’s really about caloric intake.
Whatever you call it the bottom line is that output must equal intake to maintain weight and output must exceed intake to lose weight. Weight Watchers teaches this in a more kind and gentle manner. I don’t think it is a sham!
Determining the safety of the Atkins diet – Part 5
August 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Burning Calories
Since its introduction to the public in 1992, the Atkins Diet provided a new albeit controversial approach to weight loss that challenged historical thinking and mainstream wisdom. Although two key components of traditional weight loss philosophy (namely, dietary modification and exercise) remained integral to the Atkins approach, its paradigm regarding food choices and quantities were anything but status quo. Consequently, Dr. Atkin’s alimentary recommendations were oftentimes met with severe criticism and misinformation regarding supposed side effects. Despite these initial, negative receptions by various opponents, the Atkins Diet grew in popularity due to the rapid results that were observed among those who adhered to its guidelines. To date, no study has been shown to support allegations that the Atkins Diet is constitutionally detrimental when applied to a healthy population. However, there are a few short term side effects that require mentioning.
Like almost any restrictive diet, one of the first side effects that one may expect to experience on the Atkins Diet is hunger. Frequently, this hunger progresses into cravings for foods rich in carbohydrates – especially sugars. One benefit of the Atkins system is that it allows you to eat enough to be satisfied. Therefore, true sensations of hunger (not cravings) may be alleviated by a protein rich snack. Conversely, cravings represent an addiction your body has developed to refined carbohydrates which led to your weight problem initially. Satisfying these cravings would be detrimental to the plan and need to be ignored. Drinking cold water, performing moderate exercise, or participating in a favorite hobby are some of the ways that these cravings can be dealt with.
An important, yet frequently misunderstood, concept of the Atkins program is ketosis. Ketosis is a metabolic state in which your body is burning fat stores for energy. This metabolic state is a new one for those who are implementing the diet for the first time, and it is often accompanied by two minor side effects: breath changes and mild nervousness.
As previously stated, ketosis is the end result of fat burning. Compounds called ketones are released into the bloodstream and utilized for the body’s energy requirements. Excess ketones are excreted predominantly in the urine, but to a smaller degree in our breath. One property of ketone molecules is that they have a remarkably fruity smell, and this smell may become
Best diet pills for weight loss and management
August 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Dieting and Food
Have you ever tried dieting or sticking to an exercise program and no matter what you do, you never lose any weight? Have you ever wished that you could just take a magic pill and make all that extra weight just “melt” away? Consider trying Alli, one of the newest pills supposed to help you do just that. On the Alli Program website, it says, “If you could lose 10 pounds with dieting, you could lose 15 pounds with Alli.”
Alli is the only FDA approved, over-the-counter weight loss product to help you lose 50 percent more weight than with dieting alone. After purchasing your set of Alli capsules, you get a free membership that will grant you special access that includes:
*A Personalized Homepage
*Many Different Interactive Tools
*Your Own Online Journal
*Important Lessons From Clinical Weight Loss Experts
*Healthy Recipes and Much Much More!
So do you think you may want to take the plunge, so to speak, and start participating in the Alli Program? Before taking this step, there are some guidelines that you need to be able to follow, according the Alli Program Website.
You need to be able to:
“Commit to a reduced-calorie, low-fat diet before taking Alli capsules.”
“Limit your daily fat intake.”
“Plan Healthy Meals.”
“Use MyAlliPlan for customized guidance.”
“Get More Physical Activity.”
Remember, just because you start taking diet pills, doesn’t mean that you will automatically start losing weight. Even with the Alli program, it will still take some time to lose weight the healthy way. (Gradually by eating less fatty foods and exercising more.) Always remember that you should check out all of the possible side effects and risks involved by consulting your primary care physician before starting any regiment of diet pills or physical fitness program. Happy Dieting!
Cardio Necessary for Effective Fat Loss?
August 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Exercise and Weight Loss
There is a common belief in the mainstream, that for maximum (or even effective fat loss) you need to do some form of regular cardio to lose fat. This is simply wrong of course because many people have just dieted to lose fat, without any form of excercise. Of course this is a bodybuilding site, therefore dieting only is not ideal, since it doesn’t preserve muscle that well.
The next decision when going on a cutting phase, is whether or not cardio is even necessary? Weight training is actually more effective than low intensity cardio. Then there is HIIT cardio, which is much tougher to do, but isextremely moreeffective for bothfat loss and muscle preservation. You would still have to do weight training for either form of cardio, to help preserve lean muscle preservation and strength.
So who should do cardio and when?
Most bodybuilders would agree that cardio is a pain. It is a nuisance and most would just rather stick to weight training only for their excercise. It is perfectly O.K no matter if you’re a newbie, or a veteran to start your cutting phase without any cardio. When you first start dieting, the act of restricting calories will be enough to start causing fat loss, even without cardio.
Eventually everyone will hit a fat loss plateau, which is when cardio will be a necessity. You can only restrict your calories so much, before you cause your metabolism to crawl to a halt. The cardio will allow a phenomenon called energy flux. Basically what that means is, you will lose fat more effectively if you eat more, but also burn more calories simulatenously. In other words, it is better for fat loss if you eat more calories and burn more, than to eat less calories and burn less simulatenously.
If you don’t want to do cardio while cutting, your fat loss will be slower. But bodybuilders often don’t want to hassle with the time and effort cardio takes and wouldn’t mind, even if the cutting phase took a little longer. You shouldn’t increase weight training to overcompensate for lack of cardio, that would cause more harm than good. You would wind up overtaxing the body putting you into overtraining state.
The Stubborn Fat Protocol is a cardio routine developed by Lyle McDonald, a respected author of multiple excercise and diet books. The routine is innovative, but it is based on scientific research.
You will break up your cardio into 2 separate sessions. The first session will be high intensity interval training, or HIIT, cardio for 10 minutes. The purpose of this first session is to manipulate the adrenaline / noradrenaline levels to mobilize the fat out of your fat cells. You then take a 5 minute rest after the first session.
Next you do 45 minutes of low intensity cardio. Afterwards you wait one hour before having a protein only meal. Then 2 or 3 hours later you can go back to normal diet, with carbs and fat included in the meals.
The reason why Lyle McDonald says it has to be done this way is because the HIIT portion gets the fat out of the cells, but there is a reduced burning effect at the muscle. It is then that you do the low intensity to finally be able to burn the mobilized fat in the muscle. Mcdonald recommends this workout 3 times a week.
Who should do the stubborn fat protocol?
The routine will be highly catabolic (muscle wasting). Ideally it should be for those who are at a plateau and low bodyfat percent trying to get that last bit of fat off. Overweight people should just stick to traditional routines as they are easier to stick to, require less time, and work well anyways. Only when you start to plateau, will a more aggressive cardio plan make sense.
Women: Health benefits of lifting weights
August 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Burning Calories
Starting a excerise program can be a wise choice whatever the reasons might be and has numerous benifits for the woman’s health today. Strength training options helps lose weight,helps your body to be strong.Checking with your doctor before starting any excercise program is advisable especially if you have a medical condition, injuries,or illnesses.
Getting started~
First of all, let’s talk and explain some things about the human body.There are three main body types.Endomorph,ectomorph,and mesomorph.Each person has their own body type.
1~ ENOMORPH- is a person that has a body type that is considered to be carring around too much fat and tends to have trouble losing weight.
2~ECTOMORPH- is a person that has a body type that does not have enough muscle and fat and has a tough time building muscles or gaining weight.
3~ Mesmorph- is a body type with well-formed body and can lose or gain weight fairly easy.
Understanding your body weight or type is real important because you can set the right program or goals to be accomplished that is right for you.Maybe considering hiring a trainer if you need info to get you started.
Understand the lingo!
Getting started you might hear words like “reps and sets”.What is this? These are the basic words that will be used in your training.For example, doing one pull=1rep.SO, doing consecutive reps without rest forms a set.
Ten reps of pull-ups=”one set”
Eating healthy~
While getting started and all through your training, eat healthy to help achieve your goals.Eating protein, carbohydrates and esstential fatty acids will keep energy levels.Limit junk foods such as sugar, alcohol, and fast foods.
Get plenty of rest~
Muscles repair themselves and grow when you rest.
Why would I want to do this exercise program?
This is good programs for everyone even cariovascular patients. Working muscles as well as your heart and lungs can improve your health.Aeorbic excerise may burn a few hundred extra calories but for every pound of muscle you gain your body burns 50 extra calories every day of the week. Don’t overdo.
Research has shown that regular training can increase basal metabolic rates up to 15%.Strong muscles after aging reduces the risk of injury.Ligaments and muscles are much more capable of withstanding stress and improves the strength to resist back pain.
This program helps with preventing ostroporosis,resting metabolism, blood pressure, body fat, that linkes to diabetes, heart disease,
Diet Food Doesn’t Have To Be Boring!
August 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Dieting and Food
Not too long ago, my mother and I were talking about food and diets. “Your grandmother used to feed you pasta five nights a week,” my mother insisted.
“She did not!” I exclaimed, stung. After all, I remembered my grandmother as a wonderfully varied cook who could make anything taste wonderful. She served all sorts of meals, not just pasta! There was spaghetti, of course – she was Italian, after all. But she also made Ziti with vegetables. And Linguine. And tuna casserole with. ..elbow macaroni. By the time I’d finished naming off a typical week’s worth of menus, I had to concede my mother’s point – but I made mine as well. “But… it didn’t FEEL like we were eating pasta every night!”
There’s a point to this story, I promise, and here it comes:
One of the biggest reasons that people slip off their diets and eating plans is BOREDOM.
It’s very easy to look at the foods allowed on your diet and see it as restrictive and boring. Chicken four nights a week. Fish three times a week. Green leafy vegetables till they’re coming out of your ears. Who wouldn’t get bored?
The answer is – anyone with a good set of cookbooks and a healthy imagination. Perk up your cabinet with spices and fill your refrigerator with fresh fruits and vegetables, then look for novel ways to combine them.
Here are a handful of tips for non-boring, healthy, low-cal eating
1. Spice it up!
Spices are one of the quickest ways out of the diet doldrums. Rosemary and fennel with chicken, mint rubbed into pork, pepper and lemon mint on fresh fish – the ‘blander’ the food, the higher the effect of the spices.
2. Dress it up.
Fruit vinaigrette dressings make wonderful marinades for meats and dressings for warm or cold vegetables. Try broccoli drizzled with raspberry vinaigrette or cabbage spiced up with apple vinegar and pepper.
2. Herb-infused olive oils – tarragon, ginger, fennel and more.
3. My brother the chef gave me a set of three oils for Christmas one year and it completely changed the way I’ll cook forever!
4. Low sodium soy sauce is a great way to flavor up just about anything.
5. Fruit
The bitterness of dark leafy greens like spinach were practically designed to be eaten with mandarin oranges, raspberries or chunks of pineapple.
Still need some help? Here is a list of the absolute best cookbooks on the market to help you fight those diet boredom blues!
The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook
This cookbook features polenta, couscous and more!
Laurie’s Low-Carb Cookbook
This everyday chef shares recipes that are so easy to do!
Low Carb Meals In Minutes
Use this book and get six weeks worth of complete menus that include shopping lists.
Dr. Atkins New Diet Cookbook
This one’s from the creator of the Atkins Diet
The South Beach Diet Cookbook
This book is packed with more than 200 recipes for delicious low-fat foods
Moosewood Restaurant Low Fat Favorites
If meat isn’t your thing, this cookbook shares recipes from one of the most famous vegetarian restaurants in America
American Heart Association Low-Fat Low-Cholesterol Cookbook
Are you trying to lower your cholesterol or take care of your heart? This book has great tasting recipes that are good for you—and your heart!
American Heart Association Meals in Minutes
If you’re constantly eating fast foods because you simply don’t have the time to create great tasting healthy meals, check out this book!
Joslin Diabetes Center’s Vegetarian Diabetic Cookbook Meatless and vegan recipes that are low fat, high fiber, and delicious
The Guilt-Free Gourmet Famous cruise ship chef Sam Miles put together this wonderful cookbook from his six years traveling on ships as a cook.
So, now you’ve got some ideas and some resources—there should be no reason that you have to live with boring foods—even if you are on a diet!
Good diets for losing over 40 pounds
August 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Burning Calories
The most important thing to remember is that losing any substantial amount of weight will take a while. A healthy rate of weight loss is around 1/2 a pound a week (except for the first couple of weeks when it is typically quicker).
The second thing to remember is that fast, drastic weightloss tends not to be permanent. If you starve yourself slim you are likely to gain all the weight back, and quickly. Do it slowly, with a balanced, healthy diet and the weight is more likely to stay off.
Although there are many good options out there, I have always found the weightwatchers diet to work very well. Granted, I end up putting the weight back on, but it tends to stay off longer. I believe this partly due to the slower rate of weight loss and partly due to the important lessons you learn whilst following the diet. It is simply a great way to discover all those foods you didn’t know were so bad for you!
Finally, remember that excercise is essential. Even just a little bit will help!
Best exercises for bad knees
August 31, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Exercise and Weight Loss
Bad knees may result from a lot of causes. It may be due to a chronic deficiency of minerals like calcium and phosphate from your diet, lack of excercise, chronic or acute injury, stress and anxiety or genetic factors.
However, under any or all of these conditions, immobility can worsen the situation. It will lead the muscles around the knees to weaken and the bones to lose their density. Bad knees can often lead to a vicious cycle of inactivity that further deteriorates the health of the patella (which is the round plate-like covering on top of the knees), the synovial fluid (which is a bag of aqueous tissue fluid that surrounds the knee joint to make the movements smooth) and the tendons and ligaments surrounding this vital joint.
Thus it is imperative that inspite of moderate pain, a person with bad knees, continue to maintain a strict excercise regimen. This will pay off in the long run and help in the sustainance of mobility as the aging process takes its toll on the knees.One of the key points to keep in mind though, is to not over-exert yourself in any form of excercise that you may choose towards this end.
Yoga, done correctly and under the supervision of an able instructor, is a great help to people with bad knees, for whom very rigorous excercise is counter-productive. However, even in this mild form of excercise, a person with bad knees must not push himself/herself into a difficult pose or asana too soon. Yoga is not about stretching your body to impossible degrees or tying yourself up in a knot. Yoga is about moderation and working with your body in a gradual manner that yields sustainable benefits.
Pilates is also a form of excercise that can be targetted to a particular area of the body, keeping the focus on the central core of the body. The support of elastic bands and excercise balls, commonly used in pilates, aid the ailing knees during any particular excercise routine.
Swimming is a low impact excercise, well suited to people with bad knees. A combination of different swimming routines like the freestyle, the breaststroke and the butterfly will serve to excercise various muscle groups without creating undue stress on weak knee joints. Even walking in water is a very good excercise for bad knees for the buoyancy of the water dissipates pressure points at all joints.
Physiotherapists often suggest a very simple excercise to patients who seek their services for ailing knees. A patient is asked to sit comfortably on level ground with their legs outstretched. Then he/she is asked to alternatively clench and release the knee joint. This is a very good excercise for the knee joint and muscles, without creating undue tension.
If you are a busy professional with a desk job and find it impossible to find extra time for excercise during your busy day, just try lifting your lower legs straight ahead every now and then, even while you are seated at your desk. Do not sit or stand constantly for prolonged periods. When you find yourself at your desk for a long time, make it a point to just walk to the water cooler to get a sip. That will release the stuck feeling in your knees and keep you mobile.
How To Burn Fat The Easy Way..The Only Way?
August 30, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Burning Calories
You have heard enough about losing weight with various means like dieting,calorie restriction and diet supplements.
But,I have a question for you.
Do you have a bath every day?
If you answered yes..then I have another question for you..
Why?
I know your answer is “to clean my body of all the external toxins and impurities”.Right?
Ok.Now tell me what do you do to clean your body internally?Better still, what about cleaning your own mind of negative toxins everyday?
Have you ever thought about it?
You may be thinking what have these questions got to do with burning fat.Let me explain….
You eat every day and you breath every moment.These life giving acts of yours produce toxins and waste products every moment you live on this planet.
Breathing produces carbon dioxide and eating produces lots of noxious gases and sludge(waste matter).
90% of these toxins are expelled through the breath 8% are expelled through the excretory organs and 2%are expelled through the skin etc.
But the reality is…most of the population uses only 30% of their lung capacity and the colons of most of them is clogged with wastage and toxins!
This means that the toxins that are produced every moment of your exstence are getting piled up inside your own body because of lack of cleaning and internal house keeping of your body.
In other words..you only clean your body from the outside ignoring the inside where all the wastage is stored.
Your mind is another store house of all the negative emotions(mental toxins) that you experience in the course of everyday life.
These toxins are the No.1 cause of fat deposit in your body.Toxins stored around cells make fat burning almost impossible.Without getting rid of these toxins all your efforts to lose weight by dieting will go waste.
Because,
“Shifting to a healthier diet plan without getting rid of the toxins in the body is just like putting a freshly prepared cake in a bin full of garbage! The cake also becomes garbage in a short while”.
This is the reason why 98%people fail on a diet.
So the only solution for burning fat effectively is by getting rid of toxins first from your body and mind.
Create Your Own Diet Gout Recipe Book
August 29, 2009 by Fight that Flab
Filed under Burning Calories
Most who suffer from gout will be told by their doctor that they will feel better and suffer from much less pain if they learn to eat foods that are low in purines. It is easy to give a list of foods, and many will not have any problems fashioning their own menu with great tasting dishes that help them feel better and to avoid the build up of uric acid in their bodies. For those who aren’t that creative, or don’t have the time to experiment, eating the same safe foods can get boring. When this happens, they should make up their very own diet gout recipe collection so that they have new and exciting dishes to try all of the time.
For starters, anyone looking for low purines food ideas can go to most book stores on and offline and find already created collections of ideas in published diet gout recipe books they can take home and use. These should have many great suggestions for meals, and the instructions on how to make each dish. Not only are these types of books found in the book stores, they can be found in many places online as well. Look for entire meal plans as well as specialty books for main dishes, light fare, or desserts that are great for keeping higher purine foods out of the diet.
The Internet is full of great recipes for all types of eating plans. If you are on a low carbohydrate diet, you can find many amazing recipes that you may not have thought up on your own. The same can be said for someone looking for low purine dishes. Most sites full of recipes have special diet recipes for all types of medical conditions or for those looking to cut fat, calories, or carbs. There are great gout diet recipes out there as well, and are easily found. Once someone finds something they are interested in trying, they simply have to print them out and save them.
Those who want to print out only the recipes they are interested in trying should take a few steps to protect and save those recipes. This means buying something to save and organize their recipes. They can be kept in a file folder, but it’s probably easier to get a binder and keep them in one place for easy viewing.
All that is needed is a three ring binder, a three hole punch, and in some cases, a laminating machine. The recipes can be stored in the binder. Lamination is a great idea, because spills happen while cooking, and the lamination will protect the paper from those and any grease splatter that may happen during food preparation.
After you’ve been following low purine diets for a awhile you’ll probably learn enough about the foods you are eating to come up with your own recipes. These can be typed, printed, and added to your recipe collection for future use. Even better, your diet gout recipe book may be helpful to others. It’s never easy eating a restricted diet, but great recipes to keep things interesting up can really make a difference.
A great place to get started is with Jodi Schneiter’s Gout Haters Cookbook series. Jodi has written three Gout Haters cookbook and they are available from amazon by clicking on the link below:
Gout Haters Cookbooks
