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Weight Loss Articles, Tips and Information

Comfort Food for Weight Loss

When you need comfort what do you reach for? Do you have a particular food you always go for?

Of course it's better to take comfort in something other than food. If you can phone a friend or cuddle your dog or your partner that's great, but chances are you'll often still turn to food for comfort. Maybe you love the taste and texture of ice cream or chocolate as it melts in your mouth. Maybe you choose pizza because it fills you up and makes you feel warm inside. Maybe there's a food that reminds you of the good times in your life or one which always makes you feel better when you're fed up. Food can and does evoke lots of great feelings.

Don't worry - it doesn't have to be boring like carrots and celery - no one was ever comforted by a carrot!

But what if your favourite comfort food also

* Uses up half a day's calorie allowance?

* Pads out your hips and stomach with fat you don't want?

* Clogs your arteries?

* Gives you a huge hit of sugar which creates a craving for more sugary/starchy food?

* Makes you feel full of regret rather than comfort when you've eaten it?

Is it such a friend to you then? Pretty false friend I would say!

 

If that's the case how about getting attached to a new comfort food?

Choose something absolutely delicious that you can make and keep in your freezer or have available to cook at a moments notice ready to cheer you up when you feel nothing but food will do the trick.

 

How about keeping some hearty warming soup in your freezer and eating it with crusty bread from ready-to-bake rolls? Or serving up childhood treats like boiled egg and toast or milky puddings made with low-fat milk? How about cooking some potato wedges with very little oil - and enjoying a mini feast without the calories of French Fries. No matter what you like there will be something healthy which works for you.

 

So forget pizza, ice cream and chocolate. They will always be false friends, making you feel worse after any close encounter. Choose a new real comfort food that you can get ready at a moment's notice and enjoy something which is better for your waistline as well as your soul.

 

Janice Elizabeth is a weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan". Her system promotes permanent healthy and AUTOMATIC weight loss through making small changes to your everyday habits. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

 

 

We really do care about your health and happiness and are thrilled you are interested in our articles, but please always check with your doctor before trying something new!

 

Weight Loss for Brides - Drop at Least One Dress Size before Your Wedding

 

The stress and anxiety that most brides experience as their wedding day approaches can be overwhelming for them. The amount of preparation involved and the countless number of details needing attention can make it very difficult to eat sensibly and maintain even a modest level of good nutrition. I can recall countless conversations with brides who are so stressed out in the month or so before their wedding that they abandon all good eating habits and either starve themselves or binge on junk food to handle the stress. Many are genuinely terrified that they'll be overweight and unattractive on their wedding day or even worse won't be able to fit into their dream wedding gown.

 

1. Water, Water and more Water. Hydration is critical. While the benefits are countless this is one of the hardest things to implement into your daily routine. Whenever I would neglect this item my trainer would recite how water lowers body fat, flushes cellulite, improves digestion, gets rid of dark circles under the eyes, and makes you feel full. These are just a few of the benefits of drinking the required 2.5 litres of water per day.

 

This may seem like a lot but I found the easiest way to get into the habit is to break the amounts down into manageable amounts:

 

* Keep a bottle of water beside your bed. Before you go to sleep drink 1/2 the bottle and as soon as you wake up (before your feet touch the floor) drink the remaining 1/2 bottle

* Before each meal drink a half a bottle of water

* Carry water with you and sip it throughout the day

I can't overemphasize how important this step is.

 

2. Go for a 10 minute Walk Every Day. Start with this...you can always increase later after it becomes routine. It's enough to gently boost your metabolism and keep you active.

 

3. Eat Often but Only in Small Portions. Before I started this method of eating I would starve myself for a couple of days whenever I wanted to lose weight. It seemed logical to me at the time. When I started personal training I had to modify many of my bad eating habits. I had to start eating 6 meals a day. Don't panic, it's easier than it sounds. Every 3-4 hours from the time you wake up eat a little something. Your digestive system is far more efficient at handling a series of small meals than it is at tackling one large meal. I usually eat at 7am, 10 am, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm and 10 pm Your meal portions (meat, veggies, carbs) should be no larger than the palm of your hand and no thicker than the palm of your hand.

 

4. Eat Healthy. I could spend days offering suggestions on meal variations but there are many excellent books that have been written to give you ideas. I will share my recommendations in another upcoming article. So to make it simple a typical meal should be a protein, a carbohydrate and a vegetable or fruit. Here is a sample daily meal plan that I eat to get you started: Meal one: Protein shake with 1% milk (I like whey protein drinks such as IsoPro) Meal two: 1/2 an apple and cottage cheese or yogurt Meal three: Piece of chicken (no skin) and a small salad Meal four: Cheese and the balance of the apple Meal five: Piece of lean meat, rice or potatoes, vegetables Meal six: Low fat chocolate pudding mixed with protein powder 5. The Best Part - Reward Yourself. Choose one day a week as your reward day and eat whatever you want and as much as you want. Whether you like pasta, cookies, ice cream or my personal favorite chocolate. Enjoy!

 

Don't worry, you won't gain fat if you do this because for the past six days your body has been used to eating what I term 'clean' food. On the seventh day your body thinks you are going to do the same and when you don't it gets fooled and eliminates the effects of the 'junk' food. In essence you are tricking your body that day but you must eat cleanly on the following day. I have told many upcoming brides about this method of eating and almost all of them have emailed me back to let me know how thrilled they were at reaching their target goal of weight loss. I hope it works for you too. As a final note of encouragement, my daughter used this method of eating and in 1 year she went from a size 18 to a size 2.

 

This was four years ago and she has still maintained her weight to this day. These simple techniques will not only help you quickly, safely and effectively lose at least one dress size but they will also help you feel more energetic, vibrant and healthy. Not to mention the positive effect it will have on your skin texture and overall appearance. Stay on track and you'll be amazed at your results. Eat well, drink plenty of water and as you progress, simply imagine your groom seeing you for the first time in your wedding gown and watching his jaw drop in speechless silence.

 

Gail Young is a co-founder of The Bridal Chalet, an online bridal boutique selling designer style couture and traditional wedding gowns and bridal accessories. She has extensive background in fitness and nutrition as a former amateur body sculptor and combines this with her knowledge and passion for designing bridal fashion.

Visit her website at: www.bridalchalet.com

 

The Truth About Weight Loss Myths

Lets face it every regime has its own supply of useless folklore and half-truths that get passed on down the line from person to person. But I'd put weight loss up against any of them for what has to be the most time wasting and even the most dangerous myths out there. There is a ton of free advice seen in the media these days and if it is taken seriously, can really set you back on your weight loss endeavours. This can lead to the kind of frustration that makes people think they are "destined to remain fat for the rest of their life". This in not true, Have a look at the Weight loss myths below and draw your own conclusions.

 

I have been working with a personal trainer for the past 10 years who continually reminds me how just a few simple changes to your daily routine can make a huge difference. The four basic principles I outline below really do work. I've had personal success using these strategies and continue to follow them on a daily basis. Many of my clients who have requested my help and followed this advice have had remarkable results. Start this program at least 3-4 weeks before your wedding day and see for yourself.

 

Exercise on an empty stomach and burn more fat.

Effective weight loss is the total amount of calories burned during the day, not how or why they were burned. It doesn't matter if it is night or morning, so exercise early in the day has no advantage to exercise later in the day. Studies show that increased metabolism induced by anaerobic exercise is actually less after a large meal. Which probably means that more energy is being used for digestion than what is being used to repair muscle.

 

More exercise is better.

Every exercise session is beneficial to each individual, however more is not always better. It depends on what is trying to be achieved. There is a level and frequency required to achieve results. After this level is reached, additional exercise can have the opposite effect, not allowing the body to recuperate and adapt to the stress induced by the exercise, which can be detrimental to your results. After stopping exercise muscle will turn to fat. This in not possible, Muscle and fat are two different types of tissues in the body and you cannot convert one into the other. This is like trying to turn water into oil.

 

If you stop training, the muscles will shrink in size but they will not disappear. The more calories taken in that are not burned off will be deposited as fat. If you're not sweating, you're not working hard enough. Sweating is the body's way of cooling itself down. Many factors contribute to body temperature, including room temperature, types of exercise done, body-fat levels, clothing, and exercise intensity. The intensity for exercise can't be judged by the amount you sweat. A well-trained person will often sweat a lot because their body can more efficiently regulate heat.

 

Taking sugar before exercise raises energy levels. Ingestion of sugar will lead to a rapid rise in blood sugar levels. This rapid rise stimulates a release of insulin, which quickly removes the excess sugar from the blood system, often causing your blood sugar levels to drop, sometimes below the level that it started at, leading to faster exhaustion.

 

Gaining weight is just a part of getting older.

Getting older is not an excuse for gaining weight! As we age and begin a more sedentary lifestyle we start to lose muscle mass. The efficiency of your metabolism is directly linked to how much muscle you have on your body. The most efficient way of maintaining your body's muscle mass and keeping your metabolism from dropping is by doing a high intensity strength- training workout once a week.

 

If it's fat free I can have as much as I want. Unfortunately fat free doesn't mean calorie free. The word fat free is misleading because if you overeat on anything, even fat free foods and you don't burn off those calories; your body will store the excess as fat. Don't drink water when you exercise or you will get cramps. By drinking litres of icy cold water in one go while exercising you will probably suffer from cramps. This is why it is important to drink water continuously before, during and after exercising to replace the fluid you've lost and avoid any discomfort. By not having a personal trainer I wont make gains.

 

Hiring a personal trainer is one way you can use to reach your goals, but you are an adult capable of making decisions and setting your own goals once you have the knowledge of how to go about it. Following a good exercise program and eating plan does not require someone standing over you and telling you how to do it. By exercising my abs I will lose my potbelly. Exercising your abdominals will help to tone and firm the abdominal region, but it will not reduce fat deposits that are responsible for a potbelly. Fat reduction comes from burning more calories than you take in. Fat is reduced uniformly throughout the body there is no such thing as spot reduction.

 

Your next step?

To take what you have just learned and the next time you hear a weight loss myth evaluate it scientifically.

 

Gary Matthews is the author of the popular fitness eBooks Maximum Weight Loss and Maximum Weight Gain. Please visit www.maximumfitness.com right now for your 'free' weight loss e-course.

Weight loss

When we discover that we are heavier than we want to be, we have a natural inclination to eat less food. We may skip lunch or eat only a tiny amount of our dinner in the hope that if we eat less our body will burn off some of its fat. But that is not necessarily true. Eating less actually makes it more difficult to lose weight. Keep in mind that the human body took shape millions of years ago, and at that time there were diets. The only low-calorie event in people's lives was starvation.

 

Those who could cope with a temporary lack of food were the ones who survived. Our bodies, therefore, have developed this built-in mechanism to help us survive in the face of low food intake. When researchers compare overweight and thin people, they find that they are roughly the same number of calories.

 

Reflux of bowel contents into the non-functioning upper portion of small bowel, resulted in more absorption of essential nutrients, but also less weight loss, and increased weight gain, post-surgery. As a result of the bypass, fatty acids are dumped in the colon, producing an irritation that causes water and electrolytes to flood the bowel, ending in chronic diarrhea. The bile salt pool necessary to keeping cholesterol in solution is reduced by malabsorption and loss through stool. As a consequence, cholesterol concentration in the gall bladder rises, increasing the risk of stones.

 

What makes overweight people different is the amount of fat that they eat. Thin people tend to eat less fat and more complex carbohydrates. Losing weight is not something one can do overnight. A carefully planned weight loss program requires common sense and certain guidelines. Unfortunately, there's a lot of misinformantion floating around and lots of desperate people are easily duped and ripped off.

 

A survey was done recently to try and determine if any commercial diet program could prove long-term success. Not a single program could do so. So rampant has the so-called diet industry become with new products and false claims that the FDA has now stepped in and started clamping down. Being seriously overweight and particularly obesity can develop into a number of diseases and serious health problems, and it is now a known fact that when caloric intake is excessive, some of the excess frequently is saturated fat. The myth is that people get heavy by eating too many calories.

 

Calories are a consideration it's true, but overall they are not the cause of obesity in America today. Americans actually take in fewer calories each day than they did at the beginning of the century. If calories alone were the reason we become overweight, we should all be thin. But we are not. Collectively, we are heavier than ever. Partly, it is because we are more sedentary now. But equally, as important is the fact that the fat content of the American diet has changed dramatically. People who diet without exercising often get fatter with time.

 

Although your weight may initially drop while dieting, such weight loss consists mostly of water and muscle. When the weight returns, it comes back as fat. To avoid getting fatter over time, increase your metabolism by exercising regularly. Xenical is the first in a new class of anti-obesity drugs known as lipase inhibitors. Lipase is the enzyme that breaks down dietary fat for use by the body. Xenical interferes with lipase function, decreasing dietary fat absorption by 30 percent. Because the undigested fats are not absorbed, fewer calories are available to the body. This may help in controlling weight.

To know more about weight loss drugs, visit www.generic-viagra-caverta.com

Weight Loss Surgery: What Are The Options?

To understand how surgical procedures aid the grossly overweight person to reduce their body fat, it helps to first understand the digestive process that is responsible for handling the food we take in. Once food is chewed and swallowed, it's on its way through the digestive tract, where enzymes and digestive juices will break it down and allow our systems to absorb the nutrients and calories. In the stomach, which can hold up to three pints of material, the breakdown continues with the help of strong acids. From there it moves into the duodenum, and the digestive process speeds up through the addition of bile and pancreatic juices. It's here, that our body absorbs the majority of iron and calcium in the foods we eat.

 

The final part of the digestive process takes place in the 20 feet of small intestine, the jejunum and the ileum, where calorie and nutrient absorption is completed, and any unused particles of food are then shunted into the large intestine for elimination. Weight loss procedures involve bypassing, or in some way circumventing the full digestive process. They range from simple reduction of the amount you can eat, to major bypasses in the digestive tract. To qualify for many of these surgeries, a person must be termed "morbidly obese", that is, weighing at least 100 lbs. over the appropriate weight for their height and general body structure.

 

Gastric Bypass

In the mid 1960s, Dr. Edward E. Mason discovered that women who had undergone partial stomach removal as the result of peptic ulcers, failed to gain weight afterwards. From this observation, grew the trial use of stapling across the top of the stomach, to reduce its actual capacity to about three tablespoons. The stomach filled quickly, and eventually emptied into the lower portion, completing the digestive process in the normal way. Over the years, the surgery evolved into what is now known as the Roux-en-y Gastric Bypass. Instead of partitioning the stomach, it is divided and separated from the rest, with staples. The small intestine is then cut at approximately 18" below the stomach, and attached to the "new", small stomach. Smaller meals are then eaten, and the digested food moves directly into the lower part of the bowel. As weight loss surgeries are viewed overall, this is considered one of the safest, offering long-term management of obesity.

 

Gastric Banding

A procedure that produces basically the same results as the stomach stapling/bypass, and is also classed as a "restrictive" surgery. The first operations, involved a non-flexing band placed around the upper part of the stomach, below the esophagus, creating an hourglass shaped stomach, the upper portion being reduced to the same 3-6 ounce capacity. As technologies advanced, the band became more flexible, incorporating an inflatable balloon, which when triggered by a reservoir placed in the abdomen, was capable of inflating to cut down the size of the stoma, or deflating to enlarge it. Laparoscopic surgery means smaller scars, and less invasion of the digestive tract.

 

Biliopancreatic Diversion

A combination of the gastric bypass, and Roux-en-y re-structuring, that bypasses a significant section of the small intestine, thereby creating the probability of malabsorption. The stomach is reduced in size, and an extended Roux-en-y anastomosis is attached to the smaller stomach, and lower down on the small intestine than is normal. This permits the patient to eat larger amounts, but still achieve weight loss through malabsorption. Professor Nicola Scopinaro, University of Genoa, Italy, developed the technique, and last year published the first long-term results. They showed an average 72% loss of excess body weight, maintained over 18 years, the best long-term results of any bariatric surgical procedure, to date. BPD patients require lifelong follow-ups to monitor calcium and vitamin intake. The advantages of being able to eat more and still lose weight, are countered by loose or foul smelling stools, flatus, stomal ulcers, and possible protein malnutrition.

 

Jejuno-Ileal Bypass

One of the first weight loss procedures for the grossly obese, was developed in the 1960s, a strictly malabsorptive method of reducing weight, and preventing gain. The jejuno-ileal bypass reduced the lower digestive tract to a mere 18" of small intestine, from the natural 20 feet, a critical difference when it came to absorption of calories and nutrients. In the end-to-end method, the upper intestine was severed below the stomach, and re-attached to the small intestine much lower down, which had also been severed, thereby "cutting out", the majority of the intestine. Malabsorption of carbohydrate, protein, lipids, minerals and vitamins, led to a variation, the end-to-side bypass, which took the end of the upper portion, and attached it to the side of the lower portion, without severing at that point.

 

Multiple vitamin losses are a major concern, and may result in bone thinning, pain and fractures. Approximately one third of patients experience an adjustment in the size and thickness of the remaining active small intestine, which increases the absorption of nutrients, and balances out the weight loss. However, over the long term, all patients undergoing this bypass are susceptible to hepatic cirrhosis. In the early 1980s, one study showed that approximately 20% of those who had undergone JIB, required conversion to another bypass alternative. The procedure has since been largely abandoned, as having too many risk factors. While surgical methods of reducing weight are valuable to the morbidly obese, they are not without risks. Patients may require more bed rest post-surgery, resulting in an increased chance of blood clots. Pain may also cause reduced depth of breathing, and complications such as pneumonia.

 

Before undergoing any fat/weight reduction surgery, a severely overweight person needs to thoroughly understand the benefits and risks, and must make a commitment to their future health. Having a smaller stomach is not going to stop the chronic sugar-snacker, from "grazing" on high calorie sweets. Nor does a steady supply of pop, concentrated sweet juices and milk shakes, reduce the calorie intake. With some bypass surgeries, certain foods can aggravate side-effects that need not be that severe, if common sense diets are adhered to. Surgery can be a "shortcut" to weight loss, but it can also reduce your enjoyment of life, if you are unable to adhere to the regimens that go with it.

 

Fitness Consultant Anthony Ellis has helped thousands of individuals lose fat and build more muscle. To read more about his fat loss recommendations please check out his site at www.fatlosstips.com

 

There are more Weight Loss Articles from Cure Help Health Tips!

 

Weight Loss Supplement - Boy we surely do live and in image obsessed world. Every where you turn, you will catch a gander of some tall and lanky super model in various states of undress. Our media helps to encourage this type of image worship. It's like an acceptance tool.

Ephedrine Weight Loss - 1. Dandelion: (Taraxacum officiale) Identity: Roots, Leaves - Can commonly be viewed as a weed in the yard that needs to be eliminated. However, it has been used over the centuries in salads and in Herbal Remedies for its help-healing properties.

Products Weight Loss - A healthy pregnancy almost always involves weight gain. But now that baby's here, you're probably wishing those extra pounds would hurry up and disappear!

Source Fitness Rx - "I'm fat, but I'm thin inside. Has it ever struck you that there's a thin man inside every fat man?" - George Orwell Obesity is life threatening according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which recently ranked obesity as the number one health threat facing America.

Weight Loss Failure - Drgily.com is proud to introduce their free on-line weight loss program, "Weight Loss For Life". What sets it apart from other programs available on-line is its exclusive reliance on scientific evidence and its ease of use.

Weight Loss Foods - In response to an email I received from a reader I have taken up her suggestion to share my next weight control program by publishing my weight loss diary in article form for everybody to follow.

Weight Loss Formula - Mehta www.fatfreekitchen.com [You have permission to publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as long as the piece is used in its entirety including the resource box, all hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and references and copyright info.

Weight Loss Formula - For most of my life, or at least as long as I can remember, I have been overweight. No let me rephrase. I have been fat. Yes, fat. Not just a little overweight, not big boned, not plus sized or comfortably large. Not weight challenged or in need of loosing a few pounds.

Weight Loss Health - Have you ever noticed that sometimes you get bombarded by uncontrollable urges that can strike at any time? Sometimes you can be walking down the aisle of a grocery store and that piece of chocolate or bag of cookies just hops into your cart without your even noticing.

Weight Loss Health - If I were asked, "what is the most difficult thing many people find to do when they start a weight-loss program?", I would have to say right near the top of the list is this - they don't drink enough water!

Weight Loss Hypnosis - Weight-loss is one of those things that most people consider at some time in their life. Trying to find the best diet or the most efficient type of exercise seems to be a never-ending job. Initially it may seem that the desire to find the ideal weight loss program is all about looking good to others, this may be true but in reality it should be all about your own feelings of self worth and that relates to more than just your appearance.

Weight Loss Hypnosis - The most frequently reported study to promote Hoodia Gordonii as a weight loss supplement was conducted with obese individuals who were given Hoodia Gordonii and left in a room with little to distract them except TV, reading and eating.

Weight Loss Industry - When you go on a diet and decide you want to lose some weight, most people think "I'll stop eating so much, maybe do a bit of exercise and be my ideal weight in just a few days". Sadly, these people end up disappointed and usually heavier than when they started.

Weight Loss Information - Well, here it is, late night TV and I'm flipping through the channels trying to find something good to watch. As I'm surfing the tube, I notice a huge amount of weight loss infomercials. And you know what, most of them literally make me sick to my stomach. Not because I despise TV, but because I can't stand it when companies blatantly lie to unsuspecting consumers and make MILLIONS in the process doing it.

Weight Loss Issue - You may be surprised what the federal government has to say about weight loss. The National Institutes of Health has some interesting ideas about what it takes to trim the fat. You may find that a number of these ideas conflict with what you've been hearing in the popular press.

Weight Loss Issues - A recent study shows that people who drink diet soda on a daily basis are more likely to gain weight, over a ten year period, than those who drink no soda at all. Clearly, the concept of 'diet' soda - soda with little or no sugar, fat or calories - is backfiring.

Weight Loss Lesson - I was watching a spiritual program recently and the person asked a question and then his answer really caught me off guard. I'm going to ask you the question he asked and then give you his answer. It will definitely make you think.

Weight Loss Lesson - If you were going to travel to the other side of the world, you'd need to plan it. I mean, you're not going to just book a seat on a plane, take off and just take it all as it comes. You need to plan your finances, organize time off from work, get a visa, book accommodation, the list goes on.

Weight Loss Maintenance - A quote from Nelson Mandela illustrates this in showing you that you are an AWESOME child of God. I look at this quote each and every day when I do my energy circles. I encourage you to print this and tape it somewhere so that you see it everyday.

Weight Loss Operation - "There goes Godzilla" and I was stunned to see the neighbourhood children point and run as I glared at them. I knew that I was plump, but Godzilla, I rushed in dumped all the groceries at the door and checked my self out in the mirror. I mean...after a long time, really checked myself in the mirror.

Weight Loss Quick - A metabolism drug like ephedrine, has shown many people how to burn fat fast. These drugs however, are associated with a certain degree of risk. What about their effectiveness