Can Swimming Help You Lose Weight

If you know and love swimming, then it is perhaps the best and most enjoyable way to lose weight. Swimming gives the entire body a good workout which is why it is acknowledged as a superior form of cardiovascular exercise. Also, with swimming, you tend not to injure yourself. You can swim as rapidly as you like or as leisurely as you like – swimming can definitely help you lose weight. 

What are the Health Benefits of Swimming?

American Heart Association says that just half to one hour of swimming daily can help you lose weight at the rate of several pounds in a month; provided of course, you don’t binge on food. Unlike most other forms of cardio, swimming provides a full body workout. Physicians say that individuals with joint pain can also benefit from slow swimming. The gentle movement of the limbs supported by water exercises the joints and improves blood circulation around the joints.

Swimming to lose weight

If you haven’t been swimming on a regular basis, then it would be best to do tiny laps followed by rest of equal intervals. Each day increase the lap distance by 30% and number of laps by a third until you are swimming at least for one hour with just one or two tiny rest intervals. Intensity is the key in swimming to lose weight.

Eat before or after swimming?

Does not matter! If you need to eat before swimming do so but make it a small meal. Don’t worry about cramps or not having energy to swim. There will be enough blood and energy in your body to do some pretty intensive swimming. Also, the meal before the swim can be high in carbohydrates so that you have a quicker release of energy. Fruit is best.

After swimming you can have a regular meal. However, if you are huffing and puffing, it might be best to relax a bit before you tuck in.

Does swimming lead to weight loss or weight gain?

Some of our readers wrote to us saying that they knew of people who claimed they gained weight after swimming. The reality is that any exercise will make you hungry. Whether you exercise control over yourself or not will determine whether you lose weight or gain weight. Why blame the exercise?

In a research conducted by the University of Florida, they found that some of the participants had their appetites stimulated probably as a combination of the exercise and the cold water temperatures. The fact that they felt ravenously hungry indicates that a massive amount of energy was spent. If you exercise control and have a regular balanced meal after swimming (as against binging), you will definitely end up losing weight proving beyond doubt, that swimming helps you lose weight.

How Effective are Soup Diets for Losing Weight

Have you ever wondered, how effective are soup diets for losing weight? Soup diets take off from a commonly known myth which says that drinking glass of water prior to your meal will make you feel fuller for longer, after you’ve had your meal. Well, there isn’t much truth behind this myth but it gives way to the science of food volumetric and satiety index. Ever wondered why eating a bowl of oatmeal is more satisfying than eating two donuts or a bag of crisps? The answer lies in food volume and caloric density.

Everything we eat contains water. The percentage of water contained in each food varies. Water plays an important part when it comes to adding volume to the food we eat. A glass of whole milk is approximately 250 grams but it contains around 150 calories. A bag of crisps on the other hand, may weigh around 80 grams but it may contain up to 350 calories! The difference between the two foods in terms of volume is the water content. The myth about ‘glass of water prior to each meal’ fails due to a very plausible biological phenomenon. When you drink water or a liquid of comparable density and viscosity, it settles in your stomach for a little while after which it is sent to the small intestine by our stomach. The water and the solid particles in our stomach don’t form a proper mixture, hence, the stomach is able to sieve the water from the solid particles and send it to the intestines. This shrinks the volume of our stomach, sending out a partial signal that the stomach is still empty.

This is where soup diets come in handy. Most of the soup diets tell us to bring together the things we eat normally, add water to them, blend them, and make a soup/sludge out of them. This may seem like a disgusting idea but medically speaking, it works! What happens is that the additional water you blend with the food becomes properly mixed with the food, forming a homogenized solution. Now, our stomach is smart but it’s not smart enough to filter out water from such a uniform sludge/solution. The result is that the stomach has to keep the water along with the food in the stomach for longer where it has to do further work on the mixture. This keeps the stomach fuller for longer hence delaying the onset of hunger by a considerable amount of time. This way, soup diets definitely work.

Another factor to consider is that the soup diet should contain all the healthy food groups you need daily. Fruits, vegetables, lean meats, nuts, seeds, whole grains and a bit of dairy. A blended version of all these food groups would taste really disgusting so you’ll have to play it smart when you choose to mix different things in a blender or in a cooking pot. Many diets come with good recipes that make great healthy soups but some soup diets are fad diets which have much exclusion. Try to stay away from such fad diets as they don’t work in the long run.

You don’t even have to follow a particular diet. Get creative, mix all the stuff you would eat for a particular meal in a blender or cooking pot, add water, and you can have your very own soup! Cooking skills do apply!

 

Calorie Restriction to Lose Weight

When you need to reduce your weight, restricting your calorie intake is a good idea. You can do that though dieting sensibly and maintain good health while keeping your metabolism high by exercising regularly. So what are the best ways to do this without sacrificing many of the things you like to eat? Let's look at the pros and cons of calorie restriction in terms of dieting to lose weight.

We All Lose It Differently

Different people tend to lose their excess pounds of stored fat at different rates. However, there is one perfectly relative constant evident in all of the many popular methods, strategies and programs that can be found out there. That is the fact that when you burn a greater number of calories of energy than you are consuming via your diet, you must reduce the volume of fat your body is storing. The beauty of this fact is that it generally equates to a marked reduction in weight for most people.

Yet why does it often baffle many people as to why this strategy does not always necessarily mean a visible loss of weight when you get on the scales? Let's take a closer look and see why this might be.

Why Don't I Lose Weight on a Calorie Controlled Diet?

Restricting Calories to Lose Weight

It happens quite a lot that people don't actually lose weight even though they are eating a calorie controlled diet. They weigh themselves each week but the numbers on the scales tell them that nothing has changed! But this is generally not something to worry about, especially if you are exercising as well as dieting.What often happens is that you may be gaining muscle mass through exercise, even though it is unnoticeable because you are not doing heavy resistance training like a bodybuilder would do. But they still gain mass while your body's store of fat is slowly reduced. Muscle mass weighs more than fat by volume, so even though you may be losing fat, you are gaining an equal weight of lean muscle. This, believe it or not is the most desirable effect of dieting and exercising to lose weight. Because it causes your body to slim down and tone up to look a whole load better, even though it doesn't necessarily weigh any less than it did before. It will gradually weigh less, but it just takes time, while it gets to look better and better as you go.

This is one of the reasons why losing weight fast is not a good idea, while taking your time and letting it happen naturally is the most beneficial way of going about it.

How Do Muscles Get Big?

When you exercise your muscles gain strength because they are being used much more and to gain that strength they must burn more fuel. They get it from the glucose dissolved in the blood stream and that gets there thanks to your amazing digestive and metabolic system.The food you eat contains complex sugars which are broken down into glucose and that gets placed in the blood stream to feed the muscles that need it. When you are eating a healthy, balanced diet the rate at which the sugars get into the blood stream is controlled to match the amount being taken by the muscles as they work.

As the muscles are made to work harder, they demand more fuel. If it is not present in the bloodstream, the body makes more by taking from the fat store and converting it back to glucose.This is one of the great truths in reducing physical size as it is how exercising burns fat. In reality, it doesn't actually burn fat; it forces the body to reprocess it back into its original form, which was sugar, or more correctly, glucose! The longer you exercise, the more fat is reprocessed into glucose as fuel for your muscles to keep going.

Why Do Different Sports People Look Different?

Different kinds of exercise will produce different body shape results depending on how the body is exercised. Bodybuilders work out with heavy weights and strong resistance apparatus with low repetitions (reps), because that forces the muscles to build bulk. It uses a lot of energy, but to get the muscle definition and huge muscles, they have to eat a very high protein diet to build those muscles. Their bodies are stripped of almost all fat, which is why they look the way they do in competitions.

With contact sportsmen such as rugby players and footballers, their primary focus is to build fast running speed in short bursts, which means building up their leg muscles to cope with the rapid acceleration and direction changes they are forced to make. Distance runners and those who take part in stamina sports events exercise differently still. They need to be able to keep going for very long periods of time, which means their muscles are trained to keep working while staving off fatigue.

Muscular Growth and Strength Increase

The muscles don't gain so much bulk but do gain the ability to work for very long periods of time. That's why when you look at marathon or long distance runners, they are nearly always thin looking!

The average dieter doesn't need to be able to perform like sports people or athletes and they don't necessarily want to look like bodybuilders, although a fit, trim figure is highly desirable. This is obtained by combining a healthy diet with regular exercise program designed to improve stamina and strength without unduly building muscle bulk, while reducing the ratio of body fat to muscle to get that toned, lithe appearance.

The idea of losing weight is only really necessary when you are very overweight and in need of reducing that number when you get on the scales. But if you are realistically only several pounds overweight, you can greatly improve your physical appearance while not actually losing much weight in the process, which is also how you avoid losing weight fast. You do that by eating a healthy diet and exercising every day for a reasonable amount of time.

Although the most important exercise you should do is to exercise patience, because the best way to go is to go slowly and surely!

Healthy Meal For Weight Loss

Most people out there would love to be able to lose some weight, whether that means just a few pounds or a lot more. But it’s also true that most of them don’t really know what the best way to accomplish healthy and quick weight loss is. In order to achieve this goal, you need to start making some adjustments in your lifestyle.

 

The first thing you should change is your eating pattern, and you should really start by eliminating all junk food from your diet. Junk food is the number one reason for weight problems for most people, and avoiding fast and junk foods like French fries, potato chips, burgers and pizza is the first step in the road to completely eliminating excess weight. Junk food has very little nutritional value to justify for it’s overly high calorie count, and it really does you no good to keep eating it.

 

Once junk food is out, start thinking about hydration. You should really make a conscious effort to drink lots and lots of water. Not only is water essential to the normal functioning of your organism, but it also promotes weight loss. You probably drink water at a temperature colder than your body’s, which is usually around 37 degrees on the Celsius scale, so the body has to work harder and burn calories to heat up the water you drink before it can pass it out via the bladder. Also, if you are trying to exercise, drinking enough water becomes even more important, because nothing can hinder your fitness related efforts like dehydration.

 

You should also make an effort to eat smaller meals. Most fitness and nutrition experts agree that the optimal way of eating healthy includes having five to seven small meals at every few hours. This will make sure that your appetite is kept in check, since the next meal is always around the corner, and it will also boost your basal metabolic rate, which in turn can aid you to burn additional fat without any additional effort such is working out more. Another thing you can do is to go on a lowered calorie consumption diet. The benefits of a restricted calorie intake have been well documented, and it’s shown that a diet with fewer calories can help you lose weight, stay healthy and live longer. Make sure that you  maintain a caloric deficit by burning a bit more calories than you consume every day. This gradual approach to weight loss will help you to stay healthy while slimming down.

As much as food is important, you really should also incorporate and regular exercise routine to your weight loss plan. Working out is really the best way to increase your daily calorie consumption and promote both weight loss and general health of your entire organism, from the cardiovascular and pulmonary organs all the way to your spine and muscles. You don’t really need too much of it, but a sensible, moderate combination of resistance weight training and cardio will go a long way when it comes to losing weight.

Yoga For Weight Loss

Yoga is a great way to calm your mind and lower stress, but did you know you can also lose weight doing yoga?

At first glance, it would seem that sitting on a mat and meditating is not going to burn fat and calories. But yoga can be as effective as any fast paced cardio workout at building up a sweat, increasing strength and losing weight.

Yoga is a great way to  relieve stress and ease your everyday experiences by quieting your mind. Stress in your life can lead to unwanted weight gain. Entering into a peaceful state lowers the production of the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol causes the body to store fat, especially in the midsection.

While there are many different yoga styles, they are all based on the same definition of yoga which is the union of mind, body and spirit.

Yoga for Weight Loss – Tune Up and Slim Down All over

Research shows that yoga benefits both the mind and the body. The more physically active styles of yoga such as Ashtanga, Vinyasa or Bikram can burn significant calories and reshape the entire body.

Moreover, research shows that yoga can help slim your waistline as long as you count calories at the same time. Many women who have been practicing yoga for years develop a graceful dancer's body with long, lean muscles. It was reported that nearly 16 million Americans practice the ancient discipline of yoga to promote weight loss, increase stamina, lower stress and find inner peace.

Yoga forces you to step outside of your comfort zone to better understand yourself from a different perspective. It raises an awareness of your overall sense of purpose in life and can help you gain control of your eating habits.

When you learn to clear your mind of all distractions, it helps you listen to your body's needs and so you are better able to differentiate between feelings of real hunger versus food cravings. This mindfulness will help you enjoy your meals by helping you focus on the meal (not the TV) and taking your time to eat. 

Yoga has other health benefits besides weight loss...

• An hour of stretching, breathing and holding various poses can slim and tone the body.
• Yoga is a stress buster and will leave you feeling calm and focused.
• Recent scientific findings show that yoga's benefits include overall better health and peace of mind.
• Breathing is an important part of yoga which teaches you to breathe in positive energy and breathe out all negative stress.
• It has also been shown that the strength and balance poses can increase flexibility, tone muscle, improve posture and rejuvenate the skin.
• You may even begin to feel and look younger with regular yoga practice.

Millions of women have integrated yoga into their daily lives and as a result, they have reported feeling happier, healthier and more fulfilled. Yoga soothes the nervous system which helps calm the heart. A study from the Indian Institute of Technology showed that those who practice yoga have steadier heart rates.

Doing yoga on a regular basis can help ...

• Lower high blood pressure
• Lower cholesterol levels
• Improve blood sugar levels
• Reduce stress hormones

Studies show that regular yoga practice can help lower fatigue and keep the body in balance. Yoga moves engage your core which requires focus and balance. 

According to research published by the Mayo Clinic, yoga's deep breathing combined with the need for balance and concentration, helps to lower blood pressure and lessens feelings of stress and anxiety. The extra intake of oxygen when you breathe deeply also helps you feel more energized and alert.

Yoga For Weight Loss – Yoga is Also a Great Stress Reliever

Yoga will move your body through challenging poses that work all of your muscles so you burn the most fat. Holding these positions isn’t as easy as it looks. Doing so will build strength and focus.

Yoga can clear your head, tone your muscles and give you the same endorphin high you get from running. Over time, you can learn to use the deep breathing from yoga whenever you are feeling stressed or anxious.

So the next time you are at wits end, try to sneak in some yoga moves. Learning how to do yoga is relatively easy and will help you improve your focus and relieve tension.

Yoga is a great time to turn off your brain and tune out whatever is bothering you at the moment. Yoga forces you to stay in the present moment during your practice so you are able in tune into your body, focus your mind, harness your energy and center yourself.

Could The Grapefruit Diet Actually Help Individuals Lose Weight?

The grapefruit diet was first uncovered back in the 1930s and you may be surprised to see that it has been incredibly popular throughout all these years as a way for individuals to lose some weight. One reason why folks like grapefruit so much is on account of the fact that they are able to just about eat as much as they’d like of this fruit mainly because it is low in calories and high in fiber, and in addition it has no fat. You need to also realize that it has many health advantages as well as the fact that this is one of the fruits that is incredibly high in vitamin C. Many people don’t comprehend the concept of the grapefruit diet but you are going to be glad to know that we are explaining how it works on this page.

The basics of this diet are incredibly simple, you’ll simply eat half or a whole grapefruit before you consume every meal. You will find out by doing this you’ll wind up eating less food because of the particular enzyme in grapefruit which will actually control your appetite. Something else you may be aware of is the fact that grapefruit will actually help you increase the fat burning process throughout your entire body helping you to loose fat.

Something that may surprise you is that there’ve been many people who have reported amazing weight loss in the first fourteen days, up to 10 pounds, and all they did was start eating grapefruit prior to their meals. Something I would like to mention relating to this diet program is that there is much room for improvement in order to help men and women lose even more weight than just following the simple system. One Method To wind up burning off even more fat everyday is by simply adding some type of exercise into your daily routine together with eating a grapefruit prior to every meal. Everyone knows that physical exercise burns fat, and when this is merged with the fat burning components of grapefruit, you may possibly see that your success is truly amazing.

Tracking the calories you eat every single day will be another additional benefit for your weight loss if you were to decide to implement this together with exercise and grapefruit. You need to keep in mind that you do not need to go crazy with regards to lowering your calories, even a reduction of 500 each day will help you end up losing more weight. Needless to say you need to keep in mind that you do need to eat every day in order to drop some weight, of course, if your body is not obtaining the calories it requires there’s a good chance that your weight loss will become slower.

There is one last thing which can actually help you end up losing more weight when using the grapefruit diet and that’s by having more veggies and fruits in your meals. You have to keep in mind that nearly all the minerals and vitamins your body needs are discovered in fruits and vegetables, not to mention the fact that they are generally low in calories and high in fiber. For people looking to drop some weight, the grapefruit diet might be exactly what you are trying to find, of course, if you’re looking to lose more weight you might want to add in a number of the recommendations above.

 

7 Fast Ways to Lose Weight

Nearly everyone wants to find fast ways to lose weight. Diet pills don’t work, and it seems that there is a new weight loss book on the market every week. Worse, the books all recommend different things!
Figuring out which advice to follow is frustrating at best, but there are a few tricks you can use to lose weight fast.

1.) Control Your Blood Sugar

Even people who don’t have diabetes can benefit from practicing strict blood sugar control. Get a glucose monitor, and test yourself before and after every meal. By adjusting your portion sizes and carbohydrate intake, you can keep your blood sugar between 70-130 mg/dL.

Many people report losing up to twenty pounds in a single month just by keeping their blood sugar within this range, so that makes blood sugar control one of the best fast ways to lose weight without pills.

 

2.) Lift a Bowl of Soup

If you hate lifting weights and running, try a soup diet. Any type of soup will work, but those with high fiber content and low sodium will work best. Soups fill you up without a lot of calories, and the extra liquid in your diet will help flush toxins from your system.

Soup diets have been popular for decades because they are easy, they taste good, and they can peel off up to ten pounds in a single week. It’s a great way to lose weight without exercise.

Soup diets may be used for extended periods of time, but care should be taken to ensure that soup menus include sufficient calories. Extremely low calorie diets will cause rapid weight loss, but the side effects of very low calorie diets can sometimes be dangerous. Aim for a minimum of 1,200 calories per day, regardless of the type of diet you decide to follow.

3.) Go Vegetarian

At least try to go vegetarian part time. A well planned vegetarian diet is usually low fat, high fiber, and contains all the vitamins and minerals your body needs without a lot of calories. A week-day vegetarian diet is the best way to lose weight for those who don’t have a lot of time to cook and those who actually like vegetables.

4.) Be a Carnivore

Very low carbohydrate diets based on lean meats, nuts, seeds, and green vegetables will melt off excess weight within weeks. As far as fast diets go, low carbohydrate diets are one of the most effective ways to drop pounds. However, they may not be healthy for everyone, and many people can’t stay on a very low carbohydrate diet for long. Still, if you only need to lose ten or fifteen pounds, and you like meat, being a carnivore could be your ideal short term diet.

Low carbohydrate diets should be avoided by people with kidney disease. Also, people with severe forms of heart disease should ask their doctor if a low carbohydrate diet is safe for them. Although low carbohydrate diets are safe for most people, those with certain health conditions should avoid diets with excess protein.

5.) Practice Mindful Eating

Mindful eating means that not only do you plan every bite that goes into your mouth, you make a point to really enjoy it. Eat slowly, and serve small amounts of several different foods at each meal instead of the standard main dish and two or three sides. This way of eating allows you to experience the full flavor and aroma of your food without fatiguing your taste buds or accidentally bolting your food. Mindful eaters consume an average of twenty percent less food per day, which can add up to some serious weight loss over the course of a few weeks.

6.) Be a Little Fruity

Fruit based diets are an amazing weight loss tool. Not only will you lose weight fast, but you will get to enjoy a variety of delicious fruits that you normally probably wouldn’t buy. Fruit diets may focus on smoothies and juices, or they may be based on whole, raw fruit. Either way, dieters who build their menus around fruit report losing eight to twelve pounds a week during the first couple of weeks.

Fruit diets should not be used by those with diabetes, kidney disease, or certain digestive disorders. Those who have had gallstones should avoid fruit diets, as well, due to the potential for causing another gallbladder attack from rapid weight loss. For healthy people, however, a fruit based diet is fine for a couple of weeks.

7.) Don’t be a Vacuum Cleaner

Dieting does not mean you can’t eat the things you like but most people tend to overeat too much of it. This is especially true when it comes to eating out. Most restaurants create their dishes to attack the taste buds. They’re generally high in sodium and rich with fat. Learn to cut yourself off instead of trying to finish every last bite. One meal can typically contain 1000+ calories. For many that’s half a day’s caloric intake.

Whether you’re at home or at a restaurant, start training yourself to eat smaller portions. Make it a goal to only eat half of the meal and save the rest for later. And be sure to pass on the bread before the meal. Instead drink a couple of glasses of water to help fill you up prior to eating.

No matter what type of weight loss plan you choose, remember that to lose weight fast should be a short term goal. For the best results, lose ten or fifteen pounds on a fast diet, then aim to lose no more than two pounds a week after that. Rapid weight loss is great motivation, but the best way to lose weight is from slow, steady progress.

 

 

 

10 Ways to Lose weight Naturally Without Exercise

There are many diet ways that people do to lose weight without exercise, such as vegan diets, fasting diets, ketogenic diets, to carb diets.

However, they only focus on the goal of losing weight but neglecting a healthy diet. Even though reported by Healthline, a healthy diet has been scientifically proven to provide many health benefits, such as reducing the risk of several chronic diseases and maintaining a healthy body.

So is there a healthy and fast diet without exercise to lose weight naturally? Here's the answer :

1. Increase Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables

It is a fact that eating more fruits and vegetables is very good for the body, because these foods can help you lose weight.

In addition to having a high water content, nutrients and fiber, usually fruits and vegetables also provide energy with low calories. But there are things we should pay attention to, namely limiting their consumption because some types of fruit contain high sugar and can increase cholesterol.

2. Drink more water

Drinking 0.5 liters of water can increase the calories you burn by 24-30% during the hour afterward. In addition, drinking water before eating can also cause a decrease in calorie intake, especially for middle-aged and elderly people.

Water is very good for losing weight quickly without exercise because it gives the effect of a fuller stomach, so you are more resistant to hunger.

3. Eat more foods that contain protein

One of the most important nutrients when it comes to weight loss is protein. The body burns calories when digesting and increases protein metabolism by up to 80-100 calories per day. A high-protein diet can also make you feel fuller for longer and reduce your appetite.

4. Limit consumption of carbohydrates

One of the most important for weight loss is a low-carb diet. Limiting carbohydrates and eating more fat and protein reduces appetite and helps you eat fewer calories.

This can result in very fast weight loss up to 3 times greater than a standard low-fat diet. But it should be noted and well controlled for low-carb diets, because this has the potential to increase many risk factors for disease.

5. Chew Food Slowly

Maybe not many people know that chewing food slowly is one way of a healthy diet. This can be proven because when eating too long the brain has more time to recognize the feeling of fullness.

Chewing food slowly also allows all foods to be processed better, which in turn reduces the amount of food that enters, causing a feeling of fullness faster.

6. Avoid sugary foods or drinks

Usually sweet foods and drinks contain added sugar. In addition, these foods and drinks also often contain nutrients that are not good for health, including organic drinks such as fruit juices that contain large amounts of sugar.

7. Use a small plate

This may seem strange but paying attention to food portions is an important key in losing weight. Try using a smaller plate when you eat unhealthy foods such as foods high in fat and sugar.

This encourages you to eat less of these foods. Instead, try serving healthy food on a bigger plate to get you excited about spending more.

8. Avoid gadgets

Bad habits of playing gadgets everywhere including when eating can also lead to unhealthy things. It's better to avoid gadgets while eating because it can trigger overeating. By focusing on food you will know how much food has entered your mouth.

9. Sleep Enough

The way to a healthy and fast healthy diet without exercise to lose weight is getting enough sleep. Studies have shown that sleep-deprived people are 55 percent more likely to be obese, compared to those who get enough sleep. This is because sleep deprivation interferes with daily fluctuations in appetite hormones, leading to poor appetite regulation.

10. Record Daily Calorie Count

At last, knowing what you are eating is very helpful when on a diet to lose weight. You can use the application on your cellphone to count it or make a diary of what you have eaten that day.

 

 

Weight Loss Tip for College Students

When you visit a college it is very sad to see the number of overweight students in the campus. There are students who are so over weight that it wonders to me what will happen to them when they reach 30 or 40. There are number of factors that contribute for a person to become over weight. The number one factor is lifestyle. Our lifestyle has become such that when we go by the style and trend, we tend to lose our health. For example it is a trend that one must drink beer and smoke when you attend a college party but these factors make o en over weight, this no one realizes. Well here are some tips for college students to get slim and get back into shape.

Avoid food from college cafeteria :  The first rule is to not to use the college cafeteria. When you go to the cafe you see your friends there and they will invite you for some food or snacks. All snacks are unfortunately loaded calories and they will increase your weight. It is better to have light snacks that are very less in calories. In case you happen to go to a café make sure you don’t eat everything that is tempting. You have to control yourself if you desire to lose weight.

Do not eat junk food : There are lot of exciting offers that are available in the college café. Incase you happen to visit one, you must make sure that you select food which are good for your health. For this you have to compromise with your taste bud. You need to take food which are mostly backed as they won’t have oil in them. Light snacks are always better and when for a week you have followed this strict diet then you can reward your self by eating what you desire the most.

No drinks :  Beer and other liquor are very good to taste and in some parties it is compulsory to have these but these drinks are loaded with calories and will ruin your effort of losing weight. You can have juice instead of these things and better to have juice without the added sugar. It is always a wise choice to have whole fruits as they are rich in fiber and will benefit your health.

Avoid small snacks in between the meal : You need to avoid certain snack that will tend to increase your weight like a chocolate bar or some fried figure chips in between the meals or in between class hours. These are nothing but ways to increase your weight. You will lose weight once you put a control on these things.

Exercise : The most important thing to lose weight is to exercise. If you cannot exercise then there is no way by which you can lose those extra pounds. Make sure that you take out at least 30 minutes from your busy schedule to go and do some work out.

It is not that difficult to lose weight if you have the right determination and you are working hard towards it.

10 Top Secrets of Weight Loss

10 top secrets of weight loss – These tips don’t originate from a top secret facility that conduct testing on genetically improved human beings; these are just some common sense decisions you should be making daily to stay healthy.  Some tips have been shrouded by misinformation and this article will be a good opportunity to clarify some myths of the nutritional world.

Keep a food journal, it’s obsessive but it works.

Food journals are very important when it comes to identifying the hidden calories you consume without noticing. A soda, bag of pretzels; they all add up to your total caloric intake. Keeping a food journal will give you a reference of how many calories you’re consuming during the day. Hopefully the guilt that results, will keep you from overeating.

Juices are too healthy! Go with whole fruits.

Juices are calorie dense. Don’t eat 4 oranges worth of calories in a glass of orange juice, rather, eat the whole fruit. The pulp will help your GI tract while you’ll feel fuller for longer. So, juices are off the table and whole fruits are on the table!

Running or jogging can do wonders!

Running or jogging is a very good source of calories burn. For example, if you’re running 5km in 30 – 35 minutes, you’re easily burning around 300 – 400 calories! That’s just the calories burn during the exercise; let’s not forget the post-running calorie burn!

Eat as many raw vegetables as you can.

Anytime you feel hungry, don’t hesitate to munch on raw vegetables. Raw vegetables are high volume low calorie food and there’s no way you can overeat raw vegetables. Also, they’ll provide you with essential minerals and vitamins so you don’t have to pop a multi-vitamin pill.

Be aquatic and lose weight!

Swimming burns a lot of calories. If it’s summer and you have privileges to a swimming pool, go with swimming. It is a full body workout.

Having breakfast like a king isn’t a very smart thing to do.

The in-fashion thing to do is to have a grand breakfast, a moderate lunch and a meager dinner but try not to go over-board with your morning extravaganza. Have a moderate breakfast rather than stuffing your gut with everything present in your refrigerator. Some people consume way too many calories while misinterpreting the popular saying.

A hint of chocolate never hurts anyone

A small serving of dark chocolate (~10 – 15g) during a strenuous workout will give you an instant boost! So go for it if you feel like giving up during your exercise.

Post-dinner walk is a must.

There’s nothing like a post-dinner walk that starts to consume the bucket-load of food you just consumed! Go for a walk before bedtime to make sure your body doesn’t turn into a food to fat conversion machine.

Proteins for the win!

Proteins keep you full for longer so don’t shy away from good sources like eggs, fish and chicken. Protein shakes are a good option as well.

There’s no such thing as ‘overtraining’ so stop whining.

There’s no such thing as ‘over training’ or ‘over exercise’ unless you have a medical condition. Your body was made to run, swim, hunt, jump and climb trees! Sadly we don’t do that anymore but our body is still capable of doing it. So play hard and enjoy the pain!

 

Eating Low Carb Foods For Weight Loss

Eating foods low in carbs is very important when following a low carbohydrate weight loss plan. If you know what you are allowed and what should be avoided, you are closer to success.

Complex carbohydrates are a great friend to those of us on a diet. Usually when you follow a weight loss plan you feel hungry. If you are on a low carb program, this is likely to be purely physiological. Complex carbs release energy slowly which means that we feel fuller for longer. This is the exact opposite of what simple carbohydrates do. They release energy really quickly, the body uses this and then in a couple of hours we are starving. That is why you are often hungry fairly soon after eating Chinese foods.

So what should you be eating?

1) Eat more whole grains - brown bread instead of white and real fruit instead of juice.

2) Every meal should be made up of at least 50% vegetables. The rest of the meal should include complex carbohydrates, protein and some good fats.

3) You need to eat as many different types of vegetables as possible. The recommended amount is five servings of fruit and vegetables per day, but when you are losing weight, you should double this. Not only will they keep you feeling full but you are less likely to reach for sugar fixes. Salads are a great start to any meal but you could also have home made vegetable soup as well. Just skip the salt when you are making it.

4) Drink plenty of water as it helps to detoxify your system.

5) Dump the bad fats. Fat has gotten a very bad reputation and this is completely deserved when it comes to saturated fats. These are not only linked to putting on weight, but are also linked to heart disease and cancer. The good news is that they are quite easy to avoid if you give up cakes, biscuits, processed foods, fast food and frying your home made food. Yes, I know that sounds like a lot, but if you are going to lose weight, you need to face facts. Your unhealthy diet has to go or you may as well give up now.

6) Increase the good fats. Olive oil is an excellent source of monosaturated fats as are the oils made from peanuts, almonds and rapeseed.

7) Low carb foods include skim milk, cottage cheese, high fiber bran, home made muesli, skinless chicken and turkey breast, pork tenderloin, veal, beef round, hamburgers made with extra lean meat eaten open faced (i.e. you only use one whole meal bun).

8) Potatoes are not a low carb food. If you have to include them in your diet, do so only on occasion and only use boiled/steamed new potatoes.

9) Apples are a dieters best friend and should be eaten daily.

10) Beans should also be eaten as often as possible. They are high in fiber and protein and are excellent at fighting disease. But your body can react badly if you increase your consumption too suddenly. You will become accustomed to eating more beans over time.

Eat the above foods when you're on a low carb diet and the pounds will start to drop.

 

6 Things You Should Do Before Starting Weight Loss Program

A snap decision to start a weight loss program of your own would never turn out to be a consistent one. Like any other changes in life, weight loss requires commitment and preparedness. Diet and exercise is not as easy as just blurting out the words. You have to make your body and mind ready for the impending change in terms of eating, waking up in the morning, doing your routines, and your lifestyle as a whole.

In order for you to have a long term change on your body and weight, you must prepare and convince your mind that what you’re going to do is something which can basically change your lifestyle. Keep in mind that weight change will never be overnight. Below are six things you should do to prepare you for a committed weight loss program, regardless if you’re going to undergo a formal program or just a do-it-yourself kind of program.

Educate Yourself
Read, ask, and observe. Educating yourself doesn’t only mean reading the search results from typing “weight loss programs” in the Google search bar. It basically means you ask around, read magazines and books (not just internet stuff), and observing people as they do the same thing you want to do. By doing this, you can actually start with the program by moving and walking around, and not just sitting and slouching in front of your computer while eating some junks.

Start Your Health Journal
For you to be able to prepare your mind for the impending lifestyle change, you must put it into writing. Write about what you want to change or achieve and how you are actually planning to do it. Like a diary or your best essay for a school project, make it a point to write on your health journal as best as you can every day. This will certainly condition your mind into exercising and dieting. Continue to write and document your everything even as you start off with your health rituals.

Stretch Every Morning
You can prepare both your mind and your body if you start your stretch rituals every morning. You might also want to do this two or three hours before you sleep. Just make you won’t be after eating dinner, though. As your mind memorizes stretching as a routine, then your body will certainly be ready for something harder and more intense.

Prepare Yourself for the “Mind Over Matter” Scenario
As you stretch and start off with some heavier exercise routine along the way, remind yourself frequently that losing weight is something mind over matter. The process is going to be hard and painful both physically and mentally. It’s your mind which your controls your body after all.

Organize Your Workout Schedule
The most important thing when your start your workout routines is that you don’t stop and skip. So ahead of time, arrange and organize your schedule so that you won’t be needed to compromise your exercise routine very often.

Learn to Accept Yourself Regardless of What the Outcome Will Be
You will always be beautiful and unique in your own way. So learn to love and accept yourself no matter what and how the weight loss results change you. If you want more results, be consistent. But keep in mind that all those fats and flabs are only “after skin” deep. It doesn’t and will never define who you really are. Be confident and be yourself before you even begin your weight loss plans. All that matters after all is that you’re completely healthy.
 

How to Eat Vegetarian to Lose Weight

Many people practice some variant of the vegetarian or even vegan diet, for various reasons. Some people will make an ethical and moral choice to stop eating meat of animals and any animal products because they object to the treatment that animals are exposed to. Other people will go on an animal free diet to reduce their risk of contracting illnesses that are linked with regular consumption of meat. Still, one of the most easily obtainable benefits of a vegetarian diet is the possibility of weight loss, and more and more people decide to try a vegetarian diet in order to lose some weight.

It’s in fact pretty easy to slim down if you eliminate meat and other animal products from your diet. What’s more, vegetarian diet will also make it possible for you to keep the slim line you obtain indefinitely. Most studies show that people who lose weight via a vegetarian diet tend to keep their new weight at approximately the same level for an average of seven years longer than dose who loss their weight via a more common diet that includes animal products.

By removing all meat from your daily diet, you open the possibility of really spicing things up in your kitchen with new colors and flavors. Instead of the dull, brown veal, fish and poultry products, your plates will now feature a myriad of colors. And what’s even more important is that all those pretty colors are also the sign that your food is full of nutritious and healthy photo-chemicals that will really boost your immunity to illness and disease. As long as you stay on this diet rich in various photo-chemicals you can enjoy the benefits of the supercharged immune system that will keep those diseases and illnesses at bay.

Eating lots of fresh fruit and delicious veggies will also help clean your system of the accumulated toxins. Just think of all the chemicals, pesticides and antibiotics that get fed to the animals and mixed into products that are made of their meat – this thought alone should be enough to make you seriously consider becoming vegetarian. All farmed animals, including chickens, pigs and cows are fed steroids to help them grow, and fish can be full of various heavy metals like mercury and lead. Just termical treatment, like cooking, baking or frying fish or poultry will not remove those toxic chemicals from your food. The best way to ensure that you stay poison free and healthy is to avoid eating meat and base your nutrition on a vegetarian diet.

It’s also proven without a doubt by numerous different research that vegetarian diet can not only help you lose weight, but also make your bones and teeth much stronger than a conventional diet that includes loads of animal products. When most people get into their sixties, they suffer from atherosclerosis and various other bone and joint problems, but the statistic clearly show that the percentage of vegetarians who develop problems such as these is by 80% less than in the general population.

How To Lose Fat as Fast as Possible

If you are serious about weight loss, you probably already know that the best way to lose the unwanted fat is to utilize a mixture of diet and exercise. To reduce body weight, you need to consume less calories than you burn, so by mixing both exercise regimen and a sensible diet you are really doing both at the same time. This will not only help you to accomplish your end goal, or in this case fat loss, but can also be a great way to control your weight and keep it at a level you are comfortable with later on. Some of the most challenging aspects of weight loss is not only losing the fat as most people think, but also keeping it off once you accomplish that, and buy utilizing a regimen of physical exercise combined with a healthy eating habits will definitely help you succeed in accomplishing that.

 

The weight loss, diet and nutrition market is very competitive, and there are a lot of diets available out there. Some are great, some so-so, and some jut plain don’t work, but the one thing that most efficient diets have in common is that they all fall in the “low carb” group. What does the term “low carb” even mean? Eating a low carb diet means that you are consuming your calories primarily from proteins and dietary fats, and that you are keeping your carbohydrates, especially simple carbs like starch and sugar as low as possible. This type of diet will definitely help you to lose some pounds quite quickly if you are diligent, but how can you speed up the process even  more and make sure that you don’t put the pounds back once you are of your diet? That’s really where exercise is useful. 

The truth is that it’s often not enough just to lower your overall calorie intake, you need to up the calorie spending as well. One very efficient way to do this is by using a form of cardiovascular training called the HIIT (high intensity interval training). This type of training means that you are rotating short periods of high intensity training, like full on sprints on foot, treadmill or bicycle, with periods of relatively less intensive movement (moderately paced jog, for example). By doing three twenty minute high intensity interval trainings per week, you’ll not only be able to burn a lot of calories during the workout, but you’ll get to reap the benefits of the increased metabolic rate as well, meaning that your body will naturally burn more calories on it’s own.

Also, another reason why workout is really essential if your goal is both to lose fat and to stay slim and fit is that exercise builds muscle, and having extra muscle in place of that unnecessary fat will make you burn more calories. Let me explain – muscle is a functional organ, unlike the fat deposits, which are really dead weight. And like any functional organ, muscles need calories to sustain themselves, so you burn calories both developing and sustaining muscle mass.

A Simple Weight Loss Tips

These weight loss tips are just a few of the hundreds of sensible strategies to help you lose weight, feel great and get the body you've always wanted. Weight loss doesn't require a huge amount of time or money. In fact, small changes to your daily habits like drinking more water can help you reach your dream body quicker than you ever thought possible.

If you live a well balanced lifestyle and focus on your all aspects of your health including body, mind and spirit, you will achieve your goals much quicker than if you just obsess about diet and weight loss. Remember that successful weight loss requires a change in lifestyle. It's a way of life. Think progress, not perfection, and you will be more likely to succeed!

1.Exercise to Feel Great

Exercise is the number one most important weight loss tip to help you burn through a mountain of fat. Try these sensible exercise tips so you get in shape, lose weight and feel good about yourself again.

* If you have time for regular exercise, select an activity that you enjoy. There are so many ways to exercise. You can walk, run, bike, dance, swim, rollerblade or join the local YMCA or health club.

* The key is to stay active no matter what exercise you choose.

* Listen to high energy workout music with a strong, steady beat. Research shows that  phrases like "push it" and "you can do it" are subconscious motivators to keep your workout going strong.

* Workout with a partner who is in as good a shape as you are.

* According to a Fitness Survey, 80 percent of people said they are more likely to exercise if they have a workout partner.

* But if you don't have time to get to the gym, use every opportunity throughout the day to move your body and expend calories.

* Get in the habit of walking around your neighborhood or around your office complex after lunch to burn calories and boost metabolism.

* When standing in line at the store, instead of getting impatient, use this opportunity to flex your muscles. Squeeze your abs and buttocks several times to keep the muscles toned. This is one of the easiest of the weight loss tips and effective as well!

* Stand up to stay slim! Standing activates more muscles in your legs which increases the activity of a fat blasting enzyme by 90 percent! Stand when talking on the phone, tap your toe, bounce your foot or fidget in your seat at work to burn more calories each day.

* Researchers at the Mayo Clinic call this type of energy expenditure "non exercise activity thermogenesis" or N.E.A.T. and say that it's just as important as formal exercise when it comes to weight loss.

* When shopping, stop searching for the parking spot closest to the door. Park far away and walk the extra distance. All the additional walking will add up over time.

2. Drink Ice Water to Curb Appetite

If you are serious about getting a great bikini body, then drink ice water. Studies show that drinking water promotes weight loss and can help you reach your weight loss goals faster than you ever thought possible.

* As soon as you begin to feel hungry, drink a glass of water. 

* Water helps fill up the stomach which makes you feel less hungry. This is the easiest weight loss tip that really works!

* According to research at Virginia Tech, dieters who drank two glasses of water before each meal lost an average of 16 pounds over a three month period.

* Drink ice cold water for even more energy and calorie burn.

* The reasoning is that it takes energy for the body to warm up the cold water before it can be digested resulting in more calories burned.

* Add lemon or cucumber slices to water if you are having withdrawal from your normal soda or other sugary drinks.

* Beverages like Gatorade are designed to replenish electrolytes and carbohydrates lost through endurance exercise like long distance running. So if you are drinking Gatorade at any other time, you could be sabotaging all the calories just burned during exercise.

3. Eat Smarter to Cut Calories

You will lose more weight and see faster results if you combine exercise with a smart eating plan to curb your appetite and maintain steady blood sugar levels. Eat small meals four or five times throughout the day to keep your metabolism high and the body in fat burning mode.

Try these smart eating tips to boost metabolism and burn more calories so you can lose weight and feel great.

* Begin your day with protein. UCLA studies show that starting your day with chicken, eggs or other protein instead of carbs can double your energy and lower fatigue. 

* Eat for energy, including more organic foods that come from nature.

* Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables with each meal. This is an essential weight loss tip.   

* Consume blueberries, raspberries and strawberries, oranges and kiwi for healthy vitamin C, fiber and antioxidants.   

* Control portions and remember to consume no more food than the size of your fist at any one meal. Larger portions means more calories which makes it difficult to lose weight.

4. Keep Track of Your Weight

Keeping track of your weight is one of the easiest and most effective quick weight loss tips to do every day. The actual amount you weigh is not as important as noticing a five pound weight gain - or a five pound weight loss - which means congratulations are in order!

Keep Track of Your Weight Loss with A New Digital Scale

* Treat yourself to your favorite food once a week whatever it may be in order to put the cravings to rest, but be sensible.

* Avoid white flour foods such as white pasta, white bread and white rice. 

* Remember this quick weight loss tip: If it's white and fluffy it will make you puffy! Discover more easy weight loss tips here.

* Studies show that those who eat the most whole grains have less body fat, especially belly fat.

* Most whole grains are complex carbs that tend to have higher fiber content which keeps you feeling fuller longer. 

* Avoid carbohydrates after a workout unless you want to gain weight.   

* New findings show that a protein drink or non fat milk after exercise helps stabilize insulin and blood sugar levels and helps repair muscle tissue. 

* These tips for weight loss are common sense strategies to keep your refrigerator and pantry stocked with healthy snacks.

Tracking your weight over the holidays is especially important in order to fight holiday weight gain. Consider investing in a bathroom scale. It is a good habit to know how much you weigh.

Shop the newest weight loss scales if you are serious about taking control of your health starting now!

These digital scales calculate body fat, body water, body muscle and bone mass using new technology to help you understand your overall body fitness level.

Studies show that dieters who weighed themselves at least once a week lost more weight than those who didn’t.

* According to the University of Minnesota, using a scale is just as important for maintaining your weight as it is for the initial weight loss. 

* Weigh yourself at the same time each day. The best time is as soon as you wake up in the morning after visiting the bathroom.

* This is a very important quick weight loss tip if you are trying to lose unwanted weight.

* Research shows that those who stepped on the scale every day lost more weight than those who did not weigh themselves daily.

* Those who weighed themselves every day after successfully losing weight were about 12 to 18 pounds lighter than those who did not monitor their weight regularly.