Biggest Loser - Weight loss blog

You may be thinking of losing weight fast. Apart from reading about effective exercises that help you lose weight fast, you may have come across many weight loss diets that claim to save your time by helping you lose weight rapidly. Some of the normal weight loss diets seem beneficial but are very hard to follow. This is one of the major reasons why you choose to follow an extreme weight loss diet.

What is an extreme weight loss diet?
An extreme weight loss diet is basically a solution that many people come up with to lose weight. Some people are unhappy with the way they look and they wish to have a toned and agile body. They think that starving themselves will help them lose extra pounds and look good.

These diets look like a quick solution to your problem but they are only short term and their side effects stay for a long time. Diets that help you lose weight within a week or two are not designed to make major changes in your lifestyle and so you come back to your normal shape and size once the diet it over. You have to avoid certain foods if you follow these diets and that may not be very healthy and safe in the long run.

Loss of muscle tissue
You cannot lose weight too fast, because your body is not designed for that. If you take the risk of losing weight rapidly, you may not only lose weight but also decrease your muscle tissues ,which is not good for the body. If you wish to lose fat, you have to make gradual changes in your diet and lifestyle.

Imbalance of metabolism
When you follow a rapid weight loss diet, your body slows down its metabolism to save energy. When you skip meals, your caloric intake reduces and the body will tap in the fat reserves for more energy. This slows down the metabolism and weight loss becomes very difficult because of this.

Other health risks
Crash diets and yo-yo dieting can cause a lot of health problems which may even prove to be life threatening. Cases of cardiac arrest and death have been reported because of extreme dieting.

Extreme weight loss diets are not as safe as you think. It is highly recommended that you make lifestyle alterations to change the way you look.

According to the latest research, teenage obesity is increasing at an unmatched pace worldwide. The rate at which obesity is rising has jolted the medical fraternity into action. Now that around 15% of the children below the age of 15 are obese, doctors have taken this as a wake up call that requires speedy and timely action.

Causes of teenage obesity
Various factors cause obesity; however, the main factors that contribute to obesity are overeating, lack of physical activity and excessive TV viewing. If you eat and drink more than your body needs, the excess fat is stored in your body. Lack of physical activity only adds to the problem. Most television studies have shown that children, who have televisions in their bedrooms, have a tendency to eat more. This leads to lack of physical activity and worsens the problem.

How to avoid/treat teenage obesity
The best method of treating or preventing obesity is to reverse the causes of obesity. Teenagers should eat a healthy diet and avoid eating junk foods, which is easily available these days. They should exercise regularly and stay active throughout the day. Teens should get involved in more activities that would help them maintain their fitness levels as well as burn the stored fat on a regular basis. Most importantly, they should avoid watching TV for longer durations and snacking in between meals.

How can teenage obesity be treated?
Most children inculcate unhealthy lifestyle habits from their parents. This is why parents have an important role to play in the lives of their children. They should guide their children towards healthy lifestyle choices. Several studies have revealed that a balanced diet ranks low on the glycemic index. This means that it is helpful in reducing teenage obesity. Parents should guide their children towards healthy diets and regular exercise for adequate weight loss. Moreover, it’s obligatory for parents to explain to their children, the risks and problems associated with obesity and the benefits of losing weight. If this is not possible, parents can seek medical treatment where the doctor is most likely to prescribe Xenical. This treatment can help children live a healthy and happy life.

Weight loss is a simple process of burning more calories than you consume. You must have heard it many times – to lose weight, you need to exercise regularly and monitor your diet so that you burn more calories than you eat. There are possibilities that despite of working out rigorously over last few months, you are still not able to lose extra pounds. Do not despair, there are some facts about exercise and weight loss which you may need to know.

Exercise is not all about weight loss but a part of the whole story. Exercise helps with weight loss only when done consistently but in specific volume. A lot of people fail to achieve any meaningful even after months of trying due to slow metabolism. In that case, you need to work out on improving metabolic rate to achieve weight loss. Few exercises simply don’t help with increasing metabolic rate because you just don’t get to burn enough calories with them and weight loss is all about burning more calories.

Apart from metabolism, genes and age can also be reasons if you are not able to lose weight with conventional exercise programs.

Exercise is as important for weight maintenance as it is for losing weight.

Before you start with any weight loss and exercise program, be sure to consult with your doctor. A doctor would be able to recommend exercise regimen that would be best for you.

‘Dieting’ does not necessarily mean eating less to lose weight; although, this word is primarily associated with weight loss. But the word ‘diet’ also describes the food that you normally consume on a day to day basis. The aim is to improve your day to day diet by incorporating gradual but permanent changes so that you lose weight while still remaining healthy; restricting calorie intake may not always give you the desired results.

Low calorie and fad diets could have serious health implications — insufficient vitamin and nutritional intake, lethargy, reduced metabolism, hormonal effects and even dehydration. Dieters are commonly known to experience intense feelings of hunger and deprivation; this then leads to ‘binge’ eating over time.

Here are a few tips on how you can cut calories sensibly without ‘dieting’ or feeling deprived.

• Research shows that recording exercise and food intake is one of the best predictors of successful weight loss
• Understand your eating patterns as well as eating triggers
• Learn how to make sensible nutritional changes
• Read food labels as this is the key to healthy portion sizes
• Measure portion sizes
• Hold the fat; fats from olive oil and canola are healthy. Similarly, nuts are nutritious and healthy to eat but in moderation
• Limit the amount of oil used by using non-stick pans
• Skimp on butters, dressings and creams, using just enough for taste
• Blot out the fat from greasy foods
• Spice up foods, flavour with red peppers or chilli peppers; this helps boost metabolism

It is believed that making changes to your diet, that is, replacing high-fat and high-calorie foods with fruits and vegetables that are high in volume, fibre and nutrients, can in fact make you feel full faster. Similarly, whole foods are low in calories but loaded with good health

Alcohol is a favourite pastime for most people; but alcohol contains 7 calories per gram, as well as lowers self-control when a person eats after drinking in excess. So it makes good sense to limit your alcohol intake or drink in moderation after a meal.

Water is the elixir of life! Drinking water throughout the day helps curb your appetite, burns calories and gives body at least 10 minutes more energy for exercise. Lowered water levels in your body can slow down your metabolism.

For a healthy lifestyle, follow a diet that is easy to stick with, try incorporating some or all of these easy strategies to reduce calories without giving up the pleasures of eating.

Every individual’s body has a set pace for its weight-control or weight-related functions such as appetite, hunger, metabolic rate, fat and sugar metabolism and calorie expenditure; however, we have been wired to operate more efficiently with an optimum intake of vitamins.

There are a number of weight loss vitamins which assist an individual in his/her weight loss programme. Almost all the vitamins play a crucial role in maintaining optimum health and weight, and many operate synergistically, to help maintain weight at its optimum level.

The most important vitamins and minerals for weight loss are: Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Choline (part of B-complex), Inositol (part of B-complex), and Vitamin C.

Vitamin B2, also called riboflavin, is essential for normal thyroid function and body metabolism. Good food sources of vitamin B2 include: Milk, liver and kidney, almonds, hard cheese, eggs, wheatgerm, leafy green vegetables, as well as marmite.

Vitamin B3, also called niacin, is essential for normal thyroid hormone production. Moreover, this vitamin is very much a part of the glucose tolerance factor (GTF) which is released every time the blood sugar rises. Good food sources of vitamin B3 include: Wheat bran, liver, tuna, turkey, chicken, meat, eggs, mackerel, salmon, oats, barley, wheat flakes, cheese, dried fruit and brown rice.

Vitamin B5, also known as pantothenic acid, aids in fat utilization, thereby playing an important role in energy production as well as in assisting adrenal function. Good food sources of vitamin B5 include: Liver and kidney, meat, poultry, nuts, wheat flakes, wheat bran, wheatgerm, eggs, molasses, oats, barley, beans, wholegrain bread and green vegetables.

Vitamin B6, also known as pyridoxine, helps regulate the production of thyroid hormone and metabolism. Good food sources of vitamin B6 are: Brewer’s yeast, wheat bran, wheatgerm, oats, sardines, mackerel, poultry, beef, avocado, bananas, brown rice, cabbage, dried fruit, molasses and eggs.

Choline, a member of the Vitamin B complex group, it is not a real vitamin as it is made in the liver. However, this vitamin is essential for effective fat metabolism. Its deficiency leads to fats becoming trapped in the liver. Good sources of Choline include: Lecithin, beef liver, beef heart, egg yolks, wheatgerm, cauliflower, cucumber and peanuts.

Inositol, also a member of the vitamin B complex group, it is also manufactured inside the body like Choline. Inositol works to combine with Choline to assist in fat metabolism. Inositol comes from: Lecithin, beef heart, beef liver, wheatgerm, soy, eggs, citrus fruits, whole grains and nuts.

Vitamin C provides a range of health benefits, including proper conversion of glucose to energy in the cells. Good food sources of vitamin C include: Blackcurrants, broccoli, green peppers, kiwi fruits, Brussels sprouts, lemons, oranges, strawberries and cabbage.

Although, cutting calories and exercising have long been touted as the best ways to shed pounds, vitamins that people consume also affect how efficiently the body can help you lose weight.

Finding a weight loss programme is easy but it is extremely tough to stay committed to it. This article offers you helpful tips to keep you motivated for weight loss so that you can achieve lasting results.

• Drink lots of water – Drinking plenty of plain unflavoured water throughout the day helps to revitalize the body’s cells and help them to operate more efficiently. As a result, you get more energy for exercising to burn off fat. Besides, water acts as a solvent for many vitamins and minerals. It also enables transfer of nutrients into and wastes out of cells, which helps the body to function properly.
• You need to exercise – Excessive dieting is not the right solution for healthy weight loss. Take up an activity that you enjoy or plan your exercise regime with a friend. This can keep you motivated and enjoy the weight loss process, instead of making it look like a chore.
• Take a diet plan which is sustainable for long – Don’t commit yourself to a diet plan that restricts you from eating your favourite food or makes you eat food that you hate. It is likely that you won’t stick to it for long. Go for moderate dieting plans that you can continue successfully for long.
• Find out why you overeat – Many people are inclined to go on binge eating when they are stressed, depressed, lonely, angry or bored. The idea is to identify your eating triggers and address them without food. This can help you maintain your weight loss for a long term.
• Incorporate lot of fibre in your diet – A better way to lose weight is to curb your hunger pangs by increasing your intake of dietary fibre such as fruits, vegetables and wholegrain cereals. This is because dietary fibre is quite filling; it makes you feel full even if you eat less.
• Consume low-fat food – Fat contains more than twice the amount of calories/gm than protein or carbohydrates. So when you cut down fat in your diet you automatically reduce energy intake without reducing food intake too much. Experts believe you should not consume more than 25% of your calories from fat - and that fat should be the “non-saturated” type.
• Motivate yourself on being healthy, not on becoming thin – By changing the perception you can keep your spirits high. Experts believe that people should train their mind towards eating healthier food rather that worrying about foods that affect your body’s weight. This helps you stay committed towards weight loss.

Are you finding weight loss a difficult goal to achieve? Small changes to your lifestyle can really make weight loss easy for you. Unsuccessful attempts to weight loss sometimes make it boring to keep efforts going. So just stop worrying about your weight, practice following changes in your lifestyle which will make your weight loss program an easy and exciting practice.

• When you are obese or overweight, it indicates that you are eating more calories than your body needs. You need to find a way so that you feel full without consuming too many calories. Eating lot of fiber with your diet will serve the purpose. Apart from making you feel full for longer time, fiber is always important for a healthy digestive system. Few sources of fiber include fruits, vegetables, whole grain, cereals and berries.
• Drink lot of water which increases your metabolism and burns fat faster.
• Regular walking or running everyday to burn calories.
• Laughing hard is great way to burn extra calories and work your abdominal muscles. It also improves your mood, making the weight loss journey a little easier.
• Get enough sleep every day. Sleep loss to weight gain are strongly connected to each other.
• Don’t skip meals. Skipping one meal makes you eat too much in the very next meal.

Small Tip: Stay motivated, stay focused, and start losing more weight.