How to Lose Weight By Reducing Your Calorie Intake

June 11, 2010 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Burning Calories

So you’re trying to lose weight. Well, everyone is dieting too. But does everyone know the best way to do it? Probably not. Most people harp on cutting calories but is that really the best way to lose weight? Low calorie diets definitely aren’t the easiest. Actually, it’s one of the most annoying and unhealthy if you use pre-packaged and processed so-called low calorie foods. Not what you’re really looking for in a diet, right?

Low calories diets are unhealthy if you use those pre-packaged and processed low-calorie foods. They’re so unhealthy because of all the preservatives they need to pump into these foods to make them last. These food companies also pump tons of sugar and other crap into these foods in an effort to make these altered foods taste somewhat good. So not only are these foods low in calorie, they’re also extremely high in sugar and chemicals that not only make your weight loss even more difficult but can negatively affect your overall health.

If you choose to try a low calorie diet without using these kinds of fake foods, then it becomes a hassle, to put it nicely. Who has time to stand there at the grocery store and figure out, counting all the calories in the foods that you’re about to purchase? Most people barely even have the time to even go to the grocery store, let alone stand there for forever!

Okay, say you’re not the grocery store type. Instead, you’re a take-out restaurant or dining-in restaurant type. Now answer honestly, how many restaurants, fast food or dining-in, have you ever seen or been to that will actually list the number of calories in each or even some of their menu offerings? None right? So how do you expect to be able to count those calories? Sure, you might be able to estimate but there are plenty of foods that are easy to estimate incorrectly, which would then throw off your calorie count. Kind of defeats the purpose, don’t you think?

These quick-fix fad diets are useless and a waste of time. They’re mostly based on principles that make sense but somehow they completely distort it and make it into this completely inefficient, time-consuming diet that makes people hate dieting!

The basic principle of a low calorie diet is really that you should burn more calories than you eat. It’s that simple. If you eat a lot of calories in a day, then you will have to find a way to burn them off. These low calorie diets were created to help people who don’t think they have the time to exercise and burn off excess calories. Everyone has time to exercise but that’s another article for another time.

So that’s where the idea that if you don’t exercise and just eat fewer calories was born. Yeah, it kind of makes sense but the reality of it is that it is a completely inefficient way to lose weight. Sure you’re eating less so you have less to burn but are you getting all of the nutrients you’re supposed to get? Also, do you realize that you’re actually contributing to your weight gain? When you’re not exercising, you end up relying on your body’s natural metabolism to do the calorie burning for you. Working out amps up your metabolism to work more effectively and therefore will help you lose weight more quickly. By eating fewer calories, your metabolism gets all messed up and out of balance. Once that happens, once your metabolism isn’t on track anymore, you’re guaranteed to gain weight.

So even if you’re not very concerned about your overall health in terms of nutrients, sticking with a low calorie diet will absolutely cause you to gain weight, which totally defeats the purpose of trying to lose weight. The best and most effective way to lose weight is by making sure you have healthy nutrition through organic, fresh foods and through regular exercise. It’s that simple, no unnecessary calorie counting or other time-wasting task. Eat and exercise! That’s all there is to losing weight!

Electronic and Handheld Calorie Counter

June 2, 2010 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Burning Calories

Keeping track of our health is an aspect that should not be neglected, especially if we take into account the fact that nowadays most people do not have time for healthy activities such as sports, jogging, gymnastics and others. Fortunately for us, nowadays we have at our disposal a variety of devices which are meant to help us control the calories we eat and our health.

Electronic Calorie Counter is a calorie monitoring device which provides a visual output, by comparing the number of calories burned by an individual versus the calorie intake for the individual. This device inputs the calorie intake of the individual. Most calorie counters also have an exercise mode circuit which tells you what activity you should do in order to burn the calories you ate.

Electronic Calorie Counter is a precious tool for weight loss and diets. Handheld Calorie Counter is able to tell you the nutritional value of more than 35,000 foods and this enables dieters to have full knowledge of the food they eat and thus they can control what they eat. Furthermore, the calorie counter can track your daily diet, log your exercise sessions and monitor the number of calories you’ve managed to burn so far. It is a proven fact that keeping a daily diary on food intake and exercise provides people motivation and viewing the reports of a longer period can help you learn more about your body and health.

Handheld Calorie Counter can turn out to be a valuable asset as long as counting calories is a priority for your health problems; this device can count calories anytime and anywhere so don’t ignore it if you want to lose some weight. If you are really serious when it comes to losing weight, the calorie counter can help you with dieting, controlling diabetes, lowering blood pressure and cholesterol levels or just enabling you to have a great health.

Handheld Calorie Counter is great for people who are on a calorie controlled diet, because it will calculate the calorie intake for today, yesterday, last week and so on. The counter will show you how close you are to your goals and what activity you must do in order to burn down some calories. Handheld Calorie Counter is recommended also because you can take it with you wherever you go and you can count the calories you eat whenever you please.

Electronic Calorie Counter is preferred by most people simple because it’s electronic and very easy to use. All they have to do is introduce what they ate and the electronic counter does all the rest. Still, do not get me wrong: most handheld counters are also electronic. So, if you want a device that fits into your pocket but at the same time electronic, you will be pleased to know that there are many such devices on the market.

Electronic Calorie Counter will help you improve the condition of your health as long as you introduce the foods you eat and you follow exactly the activities which are prescribed by the electronic counter. Do not play with your health or your weight, because health is the one thing money can’t buy. If you feel like you need to lose or put on some weight or simply if you want to have a balanced life style, don’t hesitate and purchase a calorie counter. You will see that it will pay off and that it will help you like what you see when you look in the mirror.

What is the Atkins Diet and Can it Help you Prevent Diabetes?

December 13, 2009 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Burning Calories

Low carbohydrate diet invented by Dr. Atkins continues to be possibly one of the most widespread low carb-high protein diets on the market today. Dr. Atkins diet popularity has helped spark several look-a-like diets who make use of the similar values of high protein, low carb diet. In the present day we have many high protein diets to select from.

Medical tests have established that low carbohydrate, high protein eating has a lot of good effects as well as generate noteworthy burning of fat without the need to limit calorie intake. Scores of people who benefit from the low carbohydrate diet have been reporting this. There are studies that show that high protein, low carbohydrate eating enhances triclycerides, cuts down blood sugar for diabetics and people with beginning diabetes and improves useful cholesterol or (HDL). Low-carb, high-protein nutritional regime has been continuously proven to increase insulin sensitivity, decrease blood pressure and lower blood insulin levels. When we balance it up against low-fat diets, high-protein, low-carb dieters also lose not as much of muscle size.

Even if it is not proven by science, there are lots of various positive effects stated by people using low carb diet by Dr.Atkins. These include energy increase, decrease in craving for candys, better attentiveness, better temper and decrease of depression type of symptoms.

Then again there are also a number of benefits exclusive to the high-protein, low-carb diet by Dr.Atkins. If you have tried to lose weight with low fat diets in the past you will enjoy eating all previously forbidden foods that once you could not touch. Cream, steak and butter are a common piece of low carbohydrate, high protein diet invented by Dr. Atkins. You will without a doubt find it very pleasing to once again eat food that you like. People on diet devised by Dr. Atkins are allowed to have as much as they want of rich meats, cheeses and fats and oils.

Diet devised by Dr. Atkins is also easy to make use of if measured up to majority of other low carb, high protein diets that are on the market today. Also there are a number of essential carbohydrate food calculations that you are going to have to learn, but when you do that, you will be allowed to munch a meal of any food you wish from the suitable food lists.

Dr. Atkins also highlighted the significance of finding your own individual carb level. Different people have numerous amount of carbohydrate acceptance. While some people gain pounds with as little as merely 90 grams of carbs per day, other people can eat up to 120 grams of carbohydrates per day. During your ongoing dieting phase and pre-maintenance period of the high-protein, low-carb Dr. Atkins diet, you will find out your personal carb count that will help ascertain your carbohydrate goal for life.

The reputation of low carbohydrate, high protein diet devised by Dr. Atkins can even be a double-edged sword for the anyone trying to lose weight with it. Given that there is a lot of information accessible about the protein high Dr. Atkins diet, all of that makes it easy to get resources and help, but can also confuse you. There have been lots of Atkins books written and in addition there are a lot of sites on the internet that supply you with group support, information and tips. Then again practically everyone has heard of diet devised by Dr. Atkins and most likely has his or her own belief on it. Be aware that there are many mistaken beliefs present regarding the character of the Atkins diet, and you are going to, surely, have to defend your newly discovered eating system from time to time.

Besides that there are also a few of the added problems to using the low carbohydrate, high protein Atkins diet. You must calculate carbs in everything you eat to make sure that you are keeping within your individual carbohydrate limit. Also, there is the matter of Induction, the most intensely contested aspect of the diet by Dr.Atkins. Induction is very often difficult to endure if you have tried a diet that concentrates on sugar and carbs. Moreover, loads of people trying to lose weight try Induction and by mistake believe that this is the manner that the whole diet is going to be. They quit before they even start the actual diet by Dr.Atkins.

Sometimes even if it is not common, some individuals will face a carbohydrate crash usually on the 3rd and up to 5th day of the diet invented by Dr. Atkins. That kind of response is a product of their body entering the ketosis stage or running on fat in place of carbohydrates. The effects are short-lived however many people have quitted on low-carb, high-protein diets utterly because of this minor accident.

Taken as a whole, with the few negligible negative aspects considered, low carbohydrate, high protein diet invented by Dr. Atkins remains to be one of the most popular low-carbohydrate, high-protein diets because of one reason. It works. A lot of individuals have succeeded with the protein high diet invented by Dr. Atkins and the high protein style of eating.

Negative Calorie Diet Food

November 22, 2009 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Dieting and Food

In reality there is no such thing as a negative calorie food because all foods contain calories! According to the theory- Negative calorie foods are foods, which use more calories to digest than the calories the foods actually contain!

This arises because calories from these foods are much harder for the body to breakdown and process. In other words, it takes more effort for the body to burn these foods than it does contain calories

This gives these foods a tremendous natural fat-burning advantage.

For instance a piece of cake consisting of 400 calories may require only 130 calories to be digested by our body, resulting in a net gain of 270 calories which is added to our body fat!

But according to this theory, if you ingested a negative calorie food that has a calorie intake of 200 calories, yet it required 250 calories to digest then you would be burning 50 more calories than you ingested!

This theory is flawed because it assumes that you will have the time to select foods that have negative calorie content and that you will be able to follow this approach for the rest of your life- which is not practical or sound! Your body needs nutrients, these negative calorie foods usually contain lots of fiber but very little protein, fats

and essential nutrients needed by the body!

Another thing that I have against it is that to have seen any visible or noticeable effects, you will need to consume a lot of negative calorie foods, seeing that a pound of fat is 3500 calories; you will need to eat lots of negative calorie foods to get to 3500 calories!

It is just not practical!

Next, there is no mention of exercise, yet a high intensity body building workout combined with a high intensity cardio program could have you burn 700 calories in an hour! Whish is faster than eating negative calorie foods, plus it will add tone and muscle on your body!

The best way to incorporate this negative calorie diet theory to your workout or diet program is to use a high protein / high negative calorie diet!

In other words reduce starchy carbohydrate intake in your diet and replace it with negative calorie foods, this way you will get all the protein and nutrients you need and you might be bale to consume enough negative calorie foods to burn those stubborn pounds away!

Below you will find a list of native calorie foods-that you can use yourself to lose weight:

- asparagus

- beet

- broccol

- green cabbage

- carrot

- cauliflower

- celeri root

- celeri chicory

- chili peppers

- cucumber

- papaya

- endive

- garden cress

- garlic

- gren beans

- zucchini

- apple

- cranberries

- grapefruit

- lemon mango

- orange

- pineapple raspberries

- strawberries

- tangerine

- onion

- lamb’s lettuce

- papaya

- spinach

- radisches

- turnip

Written by Patrick Beaufay

For more info, just come to my blog,

http://burn-fat-fat-blogspot.com

Burn Fat Fast

Patrick Beaufay

How To Do Calorie Counting The Right Way

November 2, 2009 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Burning Calories

Losing fat and staying in great shape is a difficult task since it is so hard to stay motivated and so tempting to cheat. For dieters like us, there is a constant battle between emotion and reason and when hungry, reason is out of the window and emotion just wins. We do not see the immediate effects of our behavior and therefore our brain is fooled into thinking that everything is all right. On the other hand, let’s say you would get very sick when eating more than you need, overeating would stop very quickly.

We need to show this in a factual manner like an immediate visual display of the results of our cheating. This will help us to start to understand why we don’t lose weight and can pinpoint the causes.

First is a chart. In this chart, I would like to see over a period of time the average calories I take per day compared with the average calories that I burn per day. This can determine the intake calories lower than the burned calories and I will lose weight or vice versa I will gain weight. Correlate that with your weight or BMI (Body Mass Index) over time and having the tool that helps regulate my food consumption versus my daily activities.

I can fine tune my meal plans and daily activities if I add my hunger levels before and after the meals. This can sustain my dieting for a long time and it will become my way of life. I have minimized the hunger pain and increase the pleasure of losing weight and feeling more attractive.

Free online food calorie calculators are available anywhere. It just display nutrition facts and are not going to help you lose weight. These are simple little gimmicks that are a waste of your time.

If you seriously track and correlate your calorie intake and calories burned over time, depending on your age, weight, gender, height and individual activity intensity levels can precisely measure your calorie balance. You can also see immediately when you are off track and you can adjust your situation accordingly.

Great health is a complex task. Diet, nutritional facts, meal plans, calorie balance, body reading measurements, supplement and medicine intake, exercise routines, daily activity intensity and costs will make it very difficult for you to see the forest for the trees.

Managing your health, fitness, weight loss, muscle mass gain or any goal you have set can be very easy if there is well designed software that keeps track of all of the above factors and can correlate them.

How to Lose Fat Fast Naturally

October 18, 2009 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Burning Calories




How to Lose Fat Fast Naturally

The first thing you need to know if you want to lose fat is that you need to BURN fat. Burning fat is all about using up more calories than you take in. If you eat more calories than your body uses throughout the day, these additional calories will be stored as body fat.

To prevent a build up of body fat you need to either reduce your calorie intake or increase your daily activity levels – doing both will have the best effect on reducing body fat.

This simply means that the more fat you want to lose then the greater the amount of calories you have to burn off. To help you achieve and speed up your fat loss, here are few things that help.

Speed up your metabolism. Exercise speeds up metabolism. The more active your lifestyle the more likely you are to have a quick metabolism and lose weight.

Metabolism – What is it about?

Metabolism does control weight, this is true. What most people don’t know is that they do in fact have the ability to control and adjust their metabolisms and thereby control their weight. Exercise does speed the metabolism up.

The more active your lifestyle the more likely you are to have a quick metabolism and lose weight. It may not be healthy for all of us to get into a highly active lifestyle all at once but it is possible to get there as quickly as you safely can as an individual.

Eat healthy balanced diet. Be sure to eat a variety of foods, including plenty of vegetables, fruits, and whole grain products. Also include low-fat dairy products, lean meats, poultry, fish, and legumes.

Drink lots of water. and go easy on the salt, sugar, alcohol, and saturated fat. A large part of the battle in fighting fat and a slow metabolic rate is the western world’s view of food as entertainment.

In addition to taking on an active lifestyle you will need to stop looking at food consumption as a means of gratification. This is what causes us to be gluttons. Instead of stopping when our hunger is sated we continue on until we are stuffed to get more enjoyment out of it.

Get plenty of rest and sleep. Sleep and other lifestyle patterns can help or hinder the rate at which we metabolize foods. An active lifestyle should lead eventually to being able to exercise to exhaustion; this in turn should keep your metabolism quick and your fat content low. By extending oneself to ones limits you fully utilize the lungs, heart, and muscles and burn fat most efficiently.

Be strong mentally. Try not to be obsessed by your weight. Everyone has a bad day. Do not punish yourself. Try to lose any guilt feelings towards the mistakes you have done. Instead, just move on, start again and enjoy life as it comes.



Risks Of Diet Pills

September 16, 2009 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Burning Calories

Diet pills give you a strong chance of helping you lose weight. That is why they are so easily packagable worldwide because so many people struggle with weight issues and want to change it without doing the work which is normally involved. Before you take diet pills you must be acknowledged of what the risks are because the false claims companies provide are not enough to fill your mind.

What are the risks?

Diet pills which are prescribed to patients are really strong drugs and they all have a potential of having dangerous side effects. Some of these side effects from taking the prescribe pills which start as minor side effects can become very dangerous.

Some diet pills, mostly the stimulant-based diet pills, are addictive and may become a abused drug by many people. By abusing a drug, you may become dependent on it. Confront your doctor before having a prescribed diet pill intake. Find out if they are addictive and if there are any signals to alert you if you may become addicted soon.

A lot of prescription diet pills will surpress the appetite which changes your want for food. Therefore your calorie intake is far lower for the majority of people. This sounds like the most incredible solution for obesity but if you reduce your caloric intake on a regular basis, your metabolism will slow down at the same time. As your metabolism slows down, the weight that you lose will also slow down. Due to this, a lot of people will lose a set amount of weight from only using diet pills.

You can change your lifestyle and combine it with your diet pill intake. By changing your lifestyle so you exercise regularly, change your eating habits and get regular health checkups with your doctor should increase your weight loss for the better.

So if you are serious about losing weight and plan to use diet pills, take percaution and get informed about the risks of prescription diet pills before you use them.

Over the counter diet pills:

You will find a lot of over the counter diet pills available at your local pharmacy but they are not going to be able to do the job like the prescription diet pills can. A lot of these diet pills which are able to be purchased by anyone are claiming significant weight losses without excercising and other false claims. These are all lies however and are not obsorbed by many people in the obese world. You should target finding a good prescription drug for weight loss rather then a over the counter drug. If not, do your research on the side effects, truth, and other information about the drugs you plan on purchasing “over the counter”.

Some side effects..

The majority of the side effects from diet pills are minor but some may be more serious. This may include a heart problem which has previously been linked to two popular medications (Fenfluramine and Dexfenfluramine) but these are now off the market. Depending on what medication you are taking in and your tolerance for that drug it may vary the side effects it will have on you. Most medication has caused side effects of restlessness, insomnia, dizziness, dry mouth, diarrhea, constipation, and elevated blood pressure. If you continue to treat these side effects they may begin to stop.

Healthy Minestrone Soup Recipe

August 1, 2009 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Burning Calories

What sounds more cozy and satisfying on a chilly day, or when the sun fades and it finally cools down in the evening, than a comforting bowl of flavorful soup? In addition to the warmth and comfort soup can offer, it’s also a “secret weapon” for both improved health AND weight loss!

A study was performed in a laboratory in which twenty-four lean women ate breakfast, lunch and dinner under supervision in the lab on one day a week for a total of four weeks. On three of the four days, these women ate one of three different types of “snacks” seventeen minutes before sitting down to the lunch meal. One type of pre-lunch “snack” was a measured portion of chicken and rice casserole. The second type was the same amount of chicken and rice casserole served with a glass of water. The third type was a bowl of chicken and rice soup, which contained the exact same measured amounts of both the casserole and the water that had previously been served separately.

The average amount of calories these women ate at lunch following the pre-lunch snack of soup was significantly lower than on the other days when either just the casserole or the casserole plus a glass of water was ingested prior to the meal. Also, these women did not compensate for the smaller calorie intake at lunch by eating a larger dinner later in the day.

The result of this study suggests that eating soup can help a person to feel full and satisfied while taking in fewer calories. This is just one reason soup is considered to be an essential component of the Tortoise Diet’s “Daily Seven for Success.” Regularly enjoying broth-based soups filled with colorful vegetables and heart-healthy legumes is an easy way to increase the intake of fiber, phytonutrients, vitamins and low-fat protein- all in one satisfying bowl. In addition, eating a hot liquidy concoction, one spoonful at a time, forces a person to slow down the act of eating. This allows the stomach to get the “I’m full” message sooner, so over-eating is less likely.

You’ll find several excellent recipes for delicious, nutrient-dense soups in my book, The Tortoise Diet. The following is just one of the many “How Low Can You Go?” recipes you’ll find located in Appendix C. All of these recipes are intended not only to be nutritious, but to be quick and easy enough for anyone to be able to regularly whip up in their own kitchen. Making this recipe for Minestrone Soup, for example, requires just a few minutes to gather the ingredients, clean and chop the vegetables, open a few cans, and toss everything into a pot.

Once the soup has simmered for an hour or so, you’ll have a week’s worth of individual servings to place into serving-sized containers and pop into the refrigerator or freezer. Throughout the week, it will be a snap to toss one of these containers into a lunch bag, to take with you when you leave the house. The frozen container will help to keep the contents of your lunch bag chilled until you are ready to pop it into the microwave to heat and eat.

So, for your health and for your weight loss … EAT LOTS OF SOUP!

THE TORTOISE DIET RECIPE FOR MINESTRONE SOUP

Place all of the following ingredients into a large stockpot:

1 can fat-free chicken broth plus 32 ounces of water ( may delete the broth and instead use three chicken, vegetable or beef bullion cubes, if desired) 2 cans stewed tomatoes, including liquid
1 can great northern beans, garbanzo beans, or cannellini beans, including liquid 1 can kidney beans, including liquid
2 cans cut green beans, including liquid
1 can (12 ounces) vegetable juice (like V-8)
2 stalks celery, diced
3 carrots, cut into bite sized pieces
1 small onion, diced
1 whole bay leaf
2 cloves garlic, cut into fourths and placed into the broth 1 teaspoon oregano
1½ teaspoons dried thyme
2 dashes Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper, to taste

Add salt only after the soup has been simmering for 30 minutes or so, after you’ve tasted it, as the liquids already added contain salt.

Simmer for 1 to 2 hours until vegetables are tender.

During the last ½ hour or so of simmering, add 1/4 cup (dry) tiny elbow pasta. During the last 5 minutes of simmering, add 2/3 cup green peas.

Entire recipe = approximately 1,500 calories.

Sprinkle each serving with 2 teaspoons grated Parmesan cheese, if desired (adds 50 calories).

Type 2 Diabetes Weight Loss Tips

June 14, 2009 by Fight that Flab  
Filed under Burning Calories




Diabetes is a disorder that affects men and women nation wide on a daily basis. In both Type 1 and Type 2 versions of the disorder, physical health and weight regulation are important to a sufferers overall well-being.

So what is the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes? Type 1 diabetics are typically diagnosed before the age of 40 with the disease that occurs when the body does not produce insulin. The other form of diabetes, Type 2, is a result of low insulin efficiency. In other words, the insulin is not as effective in removing sugar from the blood and to the person’s cells. With Type 2 Diabetes, weight loss is even more essential.

Begin With A Goal

One of the best places to start to achieve diabetes weight loss is with a realistic goal. Discuss with your doctor your ideal healthy weight and how long he or she anticipates it will take you to get there. Understand that losing weight quickly may seem more satisfying; however, the healthier way to lose is slowly at around two pounds per week.

Portion Control and Calorie Counting

As with other weight loss programs, diabetes weight loss requires you to control calorie intake. It is a good idea to have a strong rule of thumb guide to the portion sizes and the number of calories you are putting in your mouth.

A baseball is the size of one serving of vegetables. A deck of cards is approximately the size of a serving of meat, chicken or fish. A golf ball is about the size of one quarter up of dried fruits or nuts. If eyeballing it doesn’t work for you in your diabetes weight loss plan, consider speaking to a nutritionist and measuring food for a while.

In regards to calories, 3,500 equals approximately one pound of fat. If 3,500 calories are eating that are not used, it seems to reason that a pound can easily be put on. Similarly, if you can burn 3,500 extra calories a week by reducing your calorie intake and increasing your exercise routine, a pound can be taken off in that week.

Maintenance

With Type 2 diabetes, weight loss is incredibly important to maintain. This can be done with the utilization of a balanced diet and an exercise routine. Remember to consult your doctor on a diet plan that is right for you and your diabetes weight loss plan.