Saturday, July 12, 2008

Ways to burn more Calories….

The name “calorie” derives from the Latin word “calor” which means HEAT. The calorie is generally used as an energy measurement unit and specifically for the amount of food energy.

There are 2 definitions related to calories:

· 1. The small calorie (gram calorie) – represents the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius (about 4.184 Joules). The symbol of this unit is “cal”.

· 2. The large calorie (kg calorie) – represents the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 degree Celsius (about 4.184 Kj). The symbol of this unit is Kcal and is often referred to as a Calorie (with a capital “C”).

In order to reduce body weight, dieticians recommend to reduce the intake of calories. So, in a lot of countries, producers of food products are obliged to label the nutritional value (including calories) of their products. The energy obtained from a certain food product is expressed in both Kilocalories (Kcal) and Kilojoules (Kj). In this way, everyone can calculate the daily intake of Kilocalories and can balance it with the needed quantity of Kilocalories for their life style.

In order to estimate the energy value of a product, the first step is to estimate product’s digestible constituents (fat, protein, carbohydrates, etc.). The result of this analysis is then converted into an equivalent energy value based on a standardized table of energy densities:
FOOD COMPONENT Kcal/g
1. fat 9
2. ethanol (alcohol) 7
3. proteins 4
4. carbohydrates 4
5. organic acids 3
6. polyols (sugar-free sweeteners) 2.4

These functions can be influenced in order to speed up your rate of burning calories. Some of the best solutions for this are:
1. Exercises
2. Move more
3. Eat spicy food
4. Eat little and often

Turbo Jam Workout Videos For Weight Loss

By Jeff Lugeanbeal

Turbo Jam workout is an aerobics video program based on 11 specific moves. The creator of this fitness program calls these the elite moves. The program promises weight loss up to 10lbs. and 10 inches in ten days, but many studies have proven that healthy weight loss is approximately 2 to 3 pounds per week.
The video series utilizes aerobics, and kick boxing videos set to dance music. The series has been made popular by employing television advertising and internet marketing strategies. Most people say the videos are a fun alternative to tread mills and elliptical machines.
Turbo jam workout is distributed and marketed by a company called Beach Body. Beach body has many complaints against it, mainly poor customer service, pushy sales people, over charging of credit cards, fraudulent charges on credit cards, and high shipping charges. So be very careful when ordering from this company.
The company Beach body also distributes hip hop abs, yoga booty ballet, and the p90x training system. These fitness systems are all marketed through television advertising. We want you all to be aware of any product that promises ten pounds of weight loss in ten days. This is nearly impossible to achieve and the weight you would be losing in those ten days will be mostly water along with some body fat.
Do you want permanent weight loss? Then do it the right way. Take the body fat off slowly, with a specially designed weight loss and exercise program. I know you have it within you to make some lifestyle changes for permanent weight loss!
Jeff Lugeanbeal- Sought after Health and fitness professional, motivational and nutritional coach, is a recognized authority On the subject of weight loss. His Web site, http://www.worldwideweightloss.com/turbojam.html provides a wealth of informative articles and resources on everything you'd ever need to know about permanent, natural fat loss and will help you achieve the body you've always wanted.

Friday, July 11, 2008

How To Get Rid of The Enemy Called Hunger

How nice it would have been if you could cram your stomach with as much of these calorie-rich junk foods as you want and still lose weight! At least, that is how most of the overweight people out there think when they are on a diet. After all, in a world where you can have your teeth operated upon without any pain at all, why on earth would you go through the painful pangs of hunger just to shed some pounds? Who the heck wants to eat those raw foods when the heart (and body) cries out for the carbohydrate-rich stuff that you have been eating since God knows how long?

This is the mentality of a typical human being who is on a diet. There are certain other things that adds to this negative mentality about weight loss plans as well, and that includes the sheer monotony and dullness of most diet programs. How long can you eat raw carrot before you say ‘enough is enough!’ and throw off the remaining carrots in a huff and start binging on a packet of tasty potato chips?

So the question remains, why do our body crave for carbohydrates?

First of all, we Americans are fed on a carb-rich diet that includes sweets, pastas, chips and all that! With such a diet day after day and night after night, it is no doubt that our blood sugar levels shoot up and insulin has to step in order to lower the blood sugar level. Eventually our blood sugar level becomes too low and an imbalance occurs thereby; and we start feeling hungry. It is then that we crave for one sweet, then one biscuit, then a pastry, etc.

I am not saying that you lead this type of lifestyle but most Americans do. For them, ‘healthy eating’ is rather a strange phrase.

So you know why you get hungry too often, and now you will learn about the solution.

The solution is in eating a diet that is rich in protein and fiber. Such a diet generally fills your stomach quicker and keeps it full for a very long time. Fiber-rich foods don’t shoot up your blood sugar level so there is no cause of carb cravings. When you are not hungry, you won’t eat; it is as simple as that! Protein helps you build strong muscles, which will eventually destroy all your fat deposits by burning them down!

I hope this article gives you an idea of why most people fail to stick to a diet plan, as well as the remedy for it!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

4 Reasons Why You Should Use Elliptical Trainers For Exercise

The most common excuse that people make to get rid of exercise is lack of time. Strangely enough, those same people have got enough time to chat with friends for hours or watch their favorite TV program while sitting on the couch. The second excuse is that of money, and third one is of compatibility of the exercise equipment. Sure, not every type of exercise equipment suits every type of body, and hey, you are here to workout, not breaking your bones and ribs, are you?

There are many well known effective ways to lose weight, such as cycling or hiking. While they can help you burn a great deal of fat, they put your body through a lot of strain and stress, which is why you start hating your exercise routine more and more as time goes by. However, as modern technology continues to progress, more ‘easy’ options are becoming available at hand!

Introducing elliptical trainers - Free Weight Loss Help

Here are some advantages of elliptical trainers over ordinary exercise equipments:

1. Extremely Flexible: Elliptical trainers provide a lot of flexibility to the end users, in that they are very easy to use and carry. It is of course a bit challenging to work with them, especially for the first time; but then, any type of exercise can be challenging at first. Remember I told you that people prefer to spend more time in watching TV than on doing the much needed workouts. Well, with elliptical trainers, that needn’t be the case. You can now kill two birds with one stone: you can exercise with the help of elliptical trainers even while watching your favorite TV program. They are THAT flexible!

2. Puts less strain on the body: With conventional exercises such as jogging and running, you put a lot of strain on your body. With elliptical trainers however, the strain put by the equipment on the body is minimal. After a point of time, you should have no problems is working out with them. You can workout on your legs and feet without putting a lot of strain on your feet. However if you think that elliptical trainers are only good for working out on your lower body part, you cannot be further from the truth! Truth to be told, you can also use the elliptical trainers to work out on your arms, chest, stomach, biceps, buttocks etc.

3. They are cheap: One reason why people cannot exercise at home is because most exercise equipments are quite expensive and beyond the reach of the common man. Also, a gym’s membership can be as expensive as the price of a DVD! With elliptical trainers, this needn’t be the case since they are extremely affordable and anyone can purchase them.

4. Relief from boredom: One of the reasons why people cannot stick to a singular exercise routine is because of boredom. You see, when you start an exercise routine. you are all enthusiastic about it, but all your enthusiasm slowly dies away as you have to repeat the same exercise routine day after day. With elliptical trainers, since your entire body becomes involved in the workout, you don’t feel the pangs of boredom even for a moment!

3 Easy Weight Loss Tips for Newbies

3 interesting tips for new in weight loss:

Many people believe that weight loss is too easy, and that they can achieve it in no time. You may or may not be aware of it, but this very attitude leads them to weight loss failure. Unless you know about the right weight loss ‘tricks’, how can you expect to get rid of your fat tummy? In this article I will give you three weight loss tips.

1. Stick to a routine: When you want to lose weight, you need to replace your old ‘bad’ habits with the new ‘good’ ones. When you were following your old habits of eating junk foods and watching television for hours, you were following a ROUTINE, and then they became habits. Similarly, now you need to establish the routine of eating healthy foods and exercising instead of sitting on the couch all day. Let’s say that you eat four burgers per day. Make a point to replace one burger with a natural fruit everyday; slowly it will become a habit and you will forget about burgers.

Similarly, if you watch television in the evening, spend that time in doing some workouts instead! After you start working out at a fixed time, you will soon see that this has developed into a habit. The trick to forming a new habit is to keep doing the same thing at the same time over and over again! More importantly, try to STICK to your new timetable!

2. Boost your metabolic rate: There is a rule for weight loss which states that the higher your metabolic rate is, the faster you are able to burn fat and lose weight. Therefore you should make every effort to increase your metabolic rate. The best way to do this is by increasing your lean muscle mass. Lean muscles have the tendency of burning fat at a tremendous pace. There are many exercises that would help you with muscle building but the one I recommend is weight training or resistance training, because they are the best workouts for this purpose. Even a half-an-hour weight lifting everyday would help you burn a lot of fat!

3. Talk to the right experts: When it comes to weight loss, often a general doctor may not be able to offer you much help. For example, if you need to change your diet, a nutritionist would be good, and if that nutritionist has himself lost weight using his diet plan then that is even better! Similarly, when it comes to exercises, professional fitness trainers who have themselves lost weight are the ideal experts for you! The bottom line is, you would want to find someone who is an expert and has already achieved what you want to achieve!

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

What If The Weight Loss Product You're Buying is Poison?

These days, obese people suffer less from obesity related problems and more from the side effects of weight loss products that they use. If you don't exercise caution when buying a weight loss product, it can be harmful for your health. Doing your due diligence and arming yourself with the correct knowledge is very much essential, especially when it comes to weight loss. Before buying any weight loss product, make sure that you have researched it thoroughly. During your search, you should try to get as much information as possible about the product, its good and bad effects, the ingredients that it is made up of, etc., as these things can seriously affect your health, either positively or negatively! In this article I will tell you how to know a good weight loss product from the bad ones.

To start with, you shouldn't accept everything at face value. The internet is littered with both good and bad information, and more often than not, the bad information overshadows the good one. There is a lot of misleading information regarding several weight loss products doing the rounds of the World Wide Web, and in case you don't know, the perpetrators of this misleading information are either the product manufacturers themselves or their partners who promote the products on their behalf. You may come across websites offering you what seems to be 'honest reviews' regarding your product, but is that really so? Most of these reviews are filled up with dishonest, misleading and fraudulent information, and if you rely on this information when purchasing a weight loss product, you are doomed!

I will give an example to clarify my point. You maybe aware of the fact that there are several websites out there claiming to offer natural weight loss products. Well, at one point of time, some experts of the Johns Hopkins University surveyed those sites in order to find out whether the outrageous claims made by these sites are true or not. Not surprisingly, many websites failed the test; some failed to give information regarding the correct dosage of the supplement, others failed to reveal about the harmful side effects of the products, and yet others failed to offer information regarding the ingredients of the products. Believe it or not, lack of such vital pieces of information can harm the consumer more than anyone else.

So, how to separate the wheat from the chaff? As a rule of thumb, you should avoid products whose claims seem to be outrageous or impossible. An old saying goes that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is! If you find a website that claims that their product can do miracles for you, chances are that reality is exactly the opposite - that is, it will harm your body in a 'miraculous' way.

Your best bet is to consult a doctor or a nutritionist before you even decide to buy any weight loss pill. Your doctor should be able to clarify what side effects the consumption of a particular medicine may have, and this piece of information alone will save you from a lot of troubles down the road!
fast natural weight loss

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

3 Steps to Successful Weight Loss

If you are paranoid about the bulging belly, or those flabby arms and fatty chest, then you must lose weight. However, there is a right and a wrong way to lose weight. The right way to do it is by approaching your weight loss program positively! While this article is not filled with the positive thinking mumbo-jumbo, keep in mind that unless you approach your life or weight loss program in a positive way, you can never expect yourself to be successful!

Losing weight naturally can be sometimes hard, time consuming and even boring. But don’t ever think that weight loss is impossible ! With a little help and support from your friends and family, and with proper guidance from your doctor, you should be able to lose weight permanently!

1. Make up your mind first: How many times have you got confused and failed to achieve the desired results simply because you didn’t make up your mind? When it comes to weight loss, it is not much different! Instead of jumping headlong into a weight loss program without any planning, you should first make a weight loss goal for yourself. Decide why you want to lose weight and how. Then make up your mind to achieve your goal. Trust my friend, that is how thousands of people has lost weight successfully and you can too!

2. Approach your weight loss program positively: Negative thoughts only beget negative results. If you want to be successful in weight loss, you must think and act positive. You must look at your weight loss program as a way of getting healthy, not just looking slimmer! Also you must not see your body weight as a big disadvantage; that way, you will always feel depressed and won’t be able to shed the extra pounds that you don’t want to have! Positive thinking would keep you one step closer to success!

3. Go for a lighter diet: Instead of trying to survive on heavy fried foods, you should include light and solid foods in your diet. For best results, eat a low-fat diet. Foods such as whole grain wheat, nuts, legumes, natural fruits and vegetables, etc., are best for weight loss. Avoid junk foods altogether. You also need to drink plenty of water throughout the day because water boosts your metabolic rate which enables you burn fat at a high rate.

You should try to eat small meals throughout the day, but to make sure that you don’t feel hungry later in the day, eat a large and heavy meal at breakfast, such as cornbread with Taramasalata. This will keep your stomach full for longer. Avoid eating large meals in the evening! Hope you liked this best weight loss tip for today.

Organic Weight Loss Supplements

By Neil Thrasher

Prescription diet pills are finding fierce competition from organic weight loss supplements such as proactol. Consumers are hesitant to buy medicated diet pills and supplements due to the presence of dangerous side effects, so naturally they are choosing more healthy organic weight loss supplements to battle their obesity. Organic weight loss supplements have proven equally effective to prescription diet supplements, and are safer alternatives.
Proactol contains fibers from the plant Opuntia Ficus-Indica, a relative of the cactus. The fibers contained in proactol have proven to be highly effective in absorbing excess body fat, thus reducing body weight. The chances of addiction are minimal since this is a natural product. Dieters have been disappointed over the years when trying to choose the right supplement for weight loss. Harmful side effects and ingredients have been pushed on them just to make a quick buck, and now dieters are becoming smarter and are making educated decisions on what pills they will introduce to their bodies. After all, if a consumer fails to lose weight with an organic weight loss supplement at least they can be comfortable knowing they are not compromising their health with a dangerous substance. This same level of comfort is absent when taking prescription supplements. Proactol has recently been featured on Celebrity Fit Club and in the Telegraph UK Newspaper, and has been backed by Dr. Adam Carey, resident nutritionist for Celebrity Fit Club. Even though proactol has proven effective, dieters still should realize the fact that the best results are delivered when proactol is used over a period of time, as with any weight loss supplement.
Organic weight loss supplements are a healthy new alternative to taking medicated weight loss pills, and dieters should take note of this fact. Medicated pills are not always the best way to go, and are surely not safe for most of us.
For more information on proactol please visit http://www.fatmanagement4me.com/proactol.html

Monday, July 7, 2008

Getting Rid Of Belly Fat: How I Got Rid of My Fat Belly and How You Can Too!

People get inspired from others’ success. If this is true, then I am sure that this article will inspire many people who are struggling to lose weight. My article will tell you about how I lost 30 pounds of weight without the help of any of the fad diets or expensive gadgets that continue to hound you. This article would also tell you that weight loss is easy, NOT hard!

So what prompted me to lose weight? Usually, people want to lose weight after being taunted by friends and colleagues about their fat bellies. Well, no one taunted me openly, but I am sure very few people had any respect for me and the reason was nothing else than obesity. Bit I decided to lose weight after I read in a health magazine that obesity can result in serious health complications; in fact, obesity is a serious health hazard. So I decided to save myself from the clutches of future health problems by losing weight.

But guess what? Everytime I promised myself to lose weight, it was only a matter of time before I broke my promise and got back to my old habits. Then one day I decided that enough was enough, and I seriously need to do something about it!

I thought that pride and respect is very important for me. If I don’t get adequate respect from others, I would get hurt. Since I was proud of my other achievements I decided to use my pride as my weight loss tool. What I did was write a letter which said that ‘I promise to lose weight within xxx timeframe’. I distributed copies of the letter to everyone: my colleagues, my boss, my family, girlfriend, etc.

Now there is no way to quit my weight loss program because if I do, I would lose others’ respect for me, and that would be the worst thing to happen. On the other hand, if I lose weight successfully, they would respect me a lot more! So, that became my primary motivation to lose weight.

You see, most people fail to lose weight because they are not motivated enough. If you motivate yourself with a selfish desire, it is only a matter of time before you will be able to shed all those extra pounds successfully.

So, to conclude the story, here is how I lost weight:

1. I worked out regularly in the gym for at least half an hour. Sometimes I would even workout for an hour. There were no ‘breaks’ for me: I had to workout everyday!

2. I eliminated all junk and fatty foods from my meals and survived only on half the amount of food I used to eat!

3. I used a few herbal weight loss supplements to accelerate the weight loss process.

You see, I neither used fad diets, nor expensive weight loss gadgets, and yet, I lost weight successfully! If I can lose weight using natural means why can’t you? This was a secret to loosing belly fat.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Best Kept Secrets of Fat Loss #2

Diet

Since school began, it's been busy and cannot do much for my hobbies lately. Only thing I have been able to continue is probably my diet. My diet has been showing progress little by little. I cheat my diet menu quite often, so I guess I have been losing my weight so slow. I need to fix this! A few days ago, we bought chips somehow when we went grocery shopping. I didn't notice A.A. grabbed chips until we got to a cashier. Well, eventually we bought them and we, especially I, have been snacking those. It's not good!!! I love Sun Chips, but I wish I didn't crave. Even those are baked chips, they have calories. I know I wouldn't eat any if we didn't have chips in my sight, so I don't want to buy them, but A.A. wants to snack.. pretty big problem..
I started eating asian salad, which helps my diet. It has lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sliced ham, and sometimes fried eggs. Originally it was "harusame salad." But, I have been eating without harusame since it's out (I tried chinese harusame, but I didn't like it). The dressing with this salad is made of 2 Tbl. soy sauce, 2 Tbl. rice vinegar, 1 Tbl. sesame oil, and 1 Tbl. sugar. And then I add mustard for finishing. When I think it's kind of heavy taste, I reduce the amount of soy sauce and sugar. I believe my skin, especially my face, feels and looks much better because of the rice vinegar.
I want to update my blog and take photos of Sophie and Misha more often. They have been doing great and I think Misha now weights around 90 lb. or more. She is thick and feels like heavier than Sophie.. She needs new collar, probably size 20''.
Day 61:
• Breakfast: cereal with raspberry jam
• Lunch: fried chicken; caesar salad; yogurt
• Dinner: skipped..
Day 62:
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: Cabo salad @ Taco del Mar (I tried to check calories, but I couldn't find it online..)
• Dinner: a couple of slices of apple (shared with Sophie & Misha)
Day 63:
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: Crab legs salad (so good) @ Murphy's; beer.. (doesn't sound right..)
• Dinner: a couple of slices of apple
Week 9 (!) Feedback:
I lost a pound, so total 14 lb. loss for 9 weeks. I wish I could lose quicker..but, it doesn't happen that way. I was so frustrated last a couple of weeks, because my weight didn't change at all. During the ninth week, it finally moved down a pound. It was only a pound, but still a pound: I'm very happy to see that!!
Day 64:
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: a couple of slices of apple & string cheese(shared with Sophie & Misha); yogurt
• Dinner: harusame salad (yummy!)
Day 65: today is FRIDAY.. that means that I have to be careful about what I eat..
• Breakfast: cereal with banana as usual
• Lunch: harusame salad; DQ small butterfinger bllizard (it was very HOT today, and I couldn't say no..)
• Dinner: skipped, but I had beer.. (still HOT at night, you know..)
Day 66:
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: tuna salad & Dagger Falls IPA (very tasty beer!) @ Sockeye Grill & Brewery
• Dinner: yogurt
Day 67:
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: harusame salad (tried Chinese harusame - didn't like the taste & smell); yogurt
• Dinner: snow cone
Day 68: back to school
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: 6 pieces of baked snacks; yogurt; two pieces of ham
• Dinner: 6 more pieces of chips; snow cone; a few slices of melon
Day 69:
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: one piece of chicken strip; yogurt; garden salad with soy & rice vinegar dressing
• Dinner: a couple of slices of apple (shared with Sophie & Misha)
Day 70:
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: 11 pieces of Sun Chips; yogurt; garden salad
• Dinner: 6 pieces of chips
Week 10 Feedback:
I lost a pound somehow this week.. so total weight loss is 15 lb. It seems like I crave sugar a lot more than before. Is is because I relatively have low carbs?
Day 71:
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: 11 chips (again..); string cheese
• Dinner: a piece of cheese pizza from Papa Murphy's; yogurt (my favorite brand, Brown Cow)
Day 72: TGIFriday.. already!
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: asian salad; 6 chips; a string cheese (shared with Sophie & Misha); halved dried pineapple
• Dinner: snow cone; 6 chips (again)
Day 73: I really wanted to drink beer.. but I didn't!
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: asian salad; yogurt; a few pieces of Sun Chips
• Dinner: about ⅓ of Häagen-Dazs mago sorbet (somewhere around 200 cal); Sun Chips
Day 74: Sunday..
• Breakfast: cereal with banana
• Lunch: asian salad; yogurt; 11 pieces of Sun Chips
• Dinner: small TCBY raspberry sorbet (probably around 200 cal)