Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Which Diet Program Will Work For You : Low Calories

The average person needs to eat about 2000 calories per day to maintain their weight. Of course this varies based on how much the person weighs, their metabolism and activity levels, but it is a bench mark. There are two ways to lose weight on a low calorie program, either cut back the number of calories consumed or increase activity levels to burn off more calories.

A pound of fat requires that 3500 calories either be burned or not consumed. A calorie is the amount of energy in food. 500 calories would have to be cut from the average person's daily diet to lose one pound of fat per week. A restricted low calorie program is usually between 1200 to 1500 calories per day. A medium apple has 70 calories, an 8 oz. steak about 425. One tablespoon of fat, oil, or butter has 120 calories. As a general rule fat and oil has more calories than any other type of food. Vegetables and fruits have the least amount of calories.

Increasing the amount of exercise per day can result in weight loss. If you walk for 30 minutes daily you'll burn off 250 calories. The good news is that exercising at a brisk pace, say walking, for 20 minutes will increase your metabolism from 10 to 15% for two to four hours afterward. A brisk pace means that you can still talk while walking. If you can whistle or sing, you're going too slow and if you can't catch your breath enough to hold up your end of the conversation, you're going too fast.
Combining a low calorie program with an exercise program will allow you to burn off the fat faster.
The advantage of a low calorie program is that you can eat a wide variety of food. There are no restrictions on what you can eat, just how much you can eat. If you absolutely have to have a piece of cheesecake you can eat it as long as you include it in your daily calorie consumption.

The disadvantages include sometimes being hungry. Severely cutting back calories doesn't accelerate weight loss; in fact it has the opposite effect. Your body is conditioned to react to starvation, which is what you're doing when you decrease calories below 1000 per day, by lowering your metabolism. So you can cut back and your body will just compensate. The bad news is if you go back to a normal diet it takes your body a while to realize you're not starving and increase your metabolism back to normal levels.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Which Diet Program Will Work For You : Low Carb

Several diet programs work on the premise that if you severely cut back carbohydrates from your diet, your body will be forced to use fat stores instead. Carbs, especially refined carbs like sugar and flour, spike the blood sugar. You don't count calories but just the carbohydrates in the food. This spike signals the body to produce a spike of insulin in return. Insulin transfers the sugar to the body as energy. If the body doesn't need the energy at the moment it is stored as fat. Since the insulin has gotten rid of the sugar, the lack of sugar in the blood stream signals the brain it's required and you're hungry.

Protein, fats, and some natural carbohydrates found in vegetables don't spike the blood sugar, so the vicious cycle isn't started. Maintaining even blood sugar level makes it easier to lose weight.
South Beach Diet and Atkins are two of the most well known of these low carb programs. The South Beach Diet is more lenient as far as the variety of foods allowed.

Both start off with a two week kick off period that consists of eating mostly proteins supplemented by no more than 20 grams of carbs a day. A banana has 26 carbs, a slice of white bread 15, chicken 0, fats and oils 0. Fruit, sweets, breads, and quite a few vegetables are not allowed on low carb programs.
After the initial kick off the dieter can slowly add back foods higher in carbs focusing on those that don't spike your blood sugar. The program is life long and encourages you to limit carbs, especially sugar and flour for life.

The advantages of the low carb program is that there are few limits to the amount of low carb foods you can eat. Theoretically as much chicken, fish, beef, and cheese is allowed. Most people don't get hungry on a low carb program because calories aren't restricted.

One disadvantage is that variety of foods is restricted, so you may not get hungry but you might get bored. There may be a tendency for some people to increase their cholesterol levels while on the program if they consume too much fat or oils. Another disadvantage is the program must be followed strictly. If you do go off the program for a special occasion, it takes several days for your body to get back to the fat burning stage.
I have seen so many people around me succeed with this low carb program. The most important thing about this program is self discipline. If you are able to discipline your self, you can get the result as short as 3 months.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Metabolism And Your Weight

You likely know your metabolism is linked to your weight. But do you know how? Common belief holds that a slim person's metabolism is high and an overweight person's metabolism is low. But this isn't usually the case. Metabolism alone doesn't determine your weight.

Rather, weight is dependent on the balance of calories consumed versus calories burned. Take in more calories than your body needs, and you gain weight. Take in less and you lose weight. Metabolism, then, is the engine that burns these calories and is the scale that regulates your energy needs.

Stated simply, metabolism is the process by which your body converts food into energy. During this biochemical process, calories - from carbohydrates, fats and proteins - are combined with oxygen to release the energy your body needs to function.

The number of calories your body burns each day is called your total energy expenditure. The following three factors make up your total energy expenditure:


Basic needs


  • Even when your body is at rest, it requires energy for the basics, such as fuel for organs, breathing, circulating blood, adjusting hormone levels, plus growing and repairing cells. Calories expended to cover these basic functions are your basal metabolic rate.

    Typically, a person's basal metabolic rate is the largest portion of energy use, representing two-thirds to three-quarters of the calories used each day. Energy needs for these basic functions stay fairly consistent and aren't easily changed.

Food processing

  • Digesting, absorbing, transporting and storing the food you consume also takes calories. This accounts for about 10 percent of the calories used each day. For the most part, your body's energy requirement to process food stays relatively steady and isn't easily changed.

Physical activity

  • Physical activity, such as playing tennis, walking to the store, chasing after the dog and any other movement accounts for the remainder of calories used. You control the number of calories burned depending on the frequency, duration and intensity of your activities.

It may seem logical to think that significant weight gain or being overweight is related to a low metabolism or possibly even a condition such as under-active thyroid gland (hypothyroidism). In reality, it's very uncommon for excess weight to be related to a low metabolism. And most people who are overweight don't have an underlying condition, such as hypothyroidism. However, a medical evaluation can determine whether a medical condition could be influencing your weight.

Weight gain is more likely due to an energy imbalance consuming more calories than your body burns. To lose weight, then, you need to create an energy deficit by eating fewer calories, increasing the number of calories you burn through physical activity, or preferably both.

If you and everyone else were physically and functionally identical, it would be easy to determine the standard energy needs. But many factors influence calorie requirements, including body size and composition, age, and sex.

To function properly, a bigger body mass requires more energy (more calories) than does a smaller body mass. Also, muscle burns more calories than fat does. So the more muscle you have in relation to fat, the higher your basal metabolic rate.

As you get older, the amount of muscle tends to decrease and fat accounts for more of your weight. Metabolism also slows naturally with age. Together these changes reduce your calorie needs.

Men usually have less body fat and more muscle than do women of the same age and weight. This is why men generally have a higher basal metabolic rate and burn more calories than women do.

Your ability to change your basal metabolism is limited. However, you can increase daily exercise and activity to build muscle tissue and burn more calories.

Your metabolism influences your energy needs, but it's your food intake and physical activity that ultimately determine your weight.

Losing weight, like any task you undertake, requires that you have dedication and motivation to succeed. This means you need to get your head in the right place.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Cause Of Overweight

Hello again, this post is the additional to my before post regarding the cause of overweight. For all of us know, there is a lot of reason what cause overweight. It depends to a person himself. Here is a list on several cause:-
Energy Balance

For some people, overweight and obesity are caused by not having energy balance. Weight is balanced by the amount of energy or calories you get from food and drinks (this is called energy IN) equaling the energy your body uses for things like breathing, digesting, and being physically active (this is called energy OUT).

Energy balance means that your energy IN equals your energy OUT. To maintain a healthy weight, your energy IN and OUT don’t have to balance exactly every day.
It’s the balance over time that helps you maintain a healthy weight.

The same amount of energy IN and energy OUT over time = weight stays the same
More IN than OUT over time = weight gain
More OUT than IN over time = weight loss

Overweight and obesity happen over time when you take in more calories than you use.
Physical Inactivity

Many people aren’t very physically active. There are many reasons for this. One reason is that many people spend hours in front of TVs and computers doing work, schoolwork, and leisure activities. In fact, more than 2 hours a day of regular TV viewing time has been linked to overweight and obesity. Other reasons for not being active include: relying on cars instead of walking to places, fewer physical demands at work or at home because modern technology and conveniences reduce the need to burn calories, and lack of physical education classes in schools for children.
People who are inactive are more likely to gain weight because they don’t burn up the calories that they take in from food and drinks. An inactive lifestyle also raises your risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, colon cancer, and other health problems.

Current research indicates that the greatest weight loss occurs through a combination of increased physical activity and decreased calorie intake. To maintain weight loss, research indicates that it is absolutely essential to increase activity.

The reason why performing exercises is very important in order to burn fat is your metabolic rate. An increased metabolic rate results in an increased fat metabolism. That allows you to burn fat automatically. Performing an exercise increases your metabolic rate for several hours. I highly recommend that you take advantage from this effect and practice an exercise of your choice. It’s really important that you grasp the significant meaning of your metabolic rate.

Environment

Our environment doesn’t always help with healthy lifestyle habits; in fact, it encourages obesity. Some reasons include:

  • Lack of neighborhood sidewalks and safe places for recreation. Not having area parks, trails, sidewalks, and affordable gyms makes it hard for people to be physically active.
  • Work schedules. People often say that they don’t have time to be physically active given the long hours at work and the time spent commuting back and forth to work.
  • Oversized food portions. Americans are surrounded by huge food portions in restaurants, fast food places, gas stations, movie theaters, supermarkets, and even home. Some of these meals and snacks can feed two or more people. Eating large portions means too much energy IN. Over time, this will cause weight gain if it isn’t balanced with physical activity.
  • Lack of access to healthy foods. Some people don’t live in neighborhoods that have supermarkets that sell healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Or if they do, these items are often too costly.
  • Food advertising. Americans are surrounded by ads from food companies. Often children are the targets of advertising for high-calorie, high-fat snacks and sugary drinks. The goal of these ads is to sway people to buy these high-calorie foods, and often they do.


Genes and Family History

Genetics play a major role in overweight and obesity. Scientific consensus is emerging that body weight is about 70 percent determined by inheritance. Exactly how genes control body weight is not known, but the resting metabolic rate, which is the amount of energy we expend at rest, and the metabolic energy we expend after a meal are about 70 percent determined by our genes.

Studies of identical twins who have been raised apart show that genes have a strong influence on one’s weight. Overweight and obesity tend to run in families. Your chances of being overweight are greater if one or both of your parents are overweight or obese.

Your genes also may affect the amount of fat you store in your body and where on your body you carry the extra fat. Because families also share food and physical activity habits, there is a link between genes and the environment. Children adopt the habits of their parents. So, a child with overweight parents who eat high-calorie foods and are inactive will likely become overweight like the parents. On the other hand, if a family adopts healthful food and physical activity habits, the child’s chance of being overweight or obese is reduced.

Genetic inheritance, however, does not fully explain obesity, nor the rapidly increasing weight of millions of Americans. Genes are remarkably stable; we have essentially the same genes as our caveman ancestors.

So why are we getting fatter? Here, almost all obesity experts agree: We are fatter because our access to food, the types of food we eat and our activity patterns have all changed in the wrong direction. Our genes don’t make us fat, but they do make us susceptible to gaining weight, in an environment that makes gaining weight easy.

Health Conditions

Sometimes hormone problems cause overweight and obesity. These problems include:

  • Underactive thyroid (also called hypothyroidism). This is a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn’t make enough thyroid hormone. Lack of thyroid hormone will slow down your metabolism and cause weight gain. You’ll also feel tired and weak.
  • Cushing’s syndrome. This is a condition in which the body’s adrenal glands make too much of the hormone cortisol. Cushing’s syndrome also can happen when people take high levels of medicines such as prednisone for long periods of time. People with Cushing’s syndrome gain weight, have upper-body obesity, a rounded face, fat around the neck, and thin arms and legs.
  • Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). This is a condition that affects about 5 to 10 percent of women of childbearing age. Women with PCOS often are obese, have excess hair growth, and have reproductive and other health problems due to high levels of hormones called androgens.
Medicines

Certain medicines such as corticosteroids (for example, prednisone), antidepressants (for example, Elavil®), and medicines for seizures (for example, Neurontin®) may cause you to gain weight. These medicines can slow the rate at which your body burns calories, increase your appetite, or cause your body to hold on to extra water—all of which can lead to weight gain.

Emotional Factors

Some people eat more than usual when they are bored, angry, or stressed. Over time, overeating will lead to weight gain and may cause overweight or obesity.

Smoking

Some people gain weight when they stop smoking. One reason is that food often tastes and smells better. Another reason is because nicotine raises the rate at which your body burns calories, so you burn fewer calories when you stop smoking. However, smoking is a serious health risk, and quitting is more important than possible weight gain.
Age

As you get older, you tend to lose muscle, especially if you’re less active. Muscle loss can slow down the rate at which your body burns calories. If you don’t reduce your calorie intake as you get older, you may gain weight. Midlife weight gain in women is mainly due to aging and lifestyle, but menopause also plays a role. Many women gain around 5 pounds during menopause and have more fat around the waist than they did before.

Pregnancy

During pregnancy, women gain weight so that the baby gets proper nourishment and develops normally. After giving birth, some women find it hard to lose the weight. This may lead to overweight or obesity, especially after a few pregnancies.
Lack of Sleep

Studies find that the less people sleep, the more likely they are to be overweight or obese. People who report sleeping 5 hours a night, for example, are much more likely to become obese compared to people who sleep 7–8 hours a night.

People who sleep fewer hours also seem to prefer eating foods that are higher in calories and carbohydrates, which can lead to overeating, weight gain, and obesity over time. Hormones that are released during sleep control appetite and the body’s use of energy. For example, insulin controls the rise and fall of blood sugar levels during sleep. People who don’t get enough sleep have insulin and blood sugar levels that are similar to those in people who are likely to have diabetes.

Also, people who don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis seem to have high levels of a hormone called ghrelin (which causes hunger) and low levels of a hormone called leptin (which normally helps to curb hunger).
Nutritional Causes

Americans today are eating more calories than ever before, as indicated by statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It’s no mystery why Americans are gaining more weight: we are eating more calories. Specifically, we are eating more carbohydrates, mostly as refined grains, added sugars, and sweeteners; and we are still eating too much of the wrong kinds of fat – animal and trans fats. All of this may lead to premature death.

Another nutritional cause of obesity is that we eat out more often than we used to. About 50 percent of food spending today is spent on food eaten away from home. Eating out contributes to a higher intake of added fats and carbohydrates. Further, the intake of fruits, vegetables and milk is lower when eating out. 75% of students ages 11-18 eat in a fast-food restaurant each week.
Use of Alcoholic Beverages

The free use of alcoholic beverages in recent years should be mentioned in this connection. Many think of a "drink" merely as a tonic, not knowing that alcohol has a caloric value. Alcohol is not a food in that it does not build body tissue. How-ever, it is absorbed easily and is oxidized in the body, yielding heat at the rate of 7 calories per gram. Suppose one ounce of whiskey were used; about 15 grams of this is alcohol, which would yield 150 calories. Compare this with 40 per cent whipping cream—approximately 12 grams of fat per ounce, yielding 108 calories. Indulgence in alcohol thus produces heat and spares to a degree the food eaten permitting it to accumulate as fat.
Glandular Disturbances

We are not unmindful of the fact that glandular disturbances may affect body weight. A slow thyroid gland or abnormally functioning pituitary glands are perhaps most commonly observed in this problem. Endocrine studies should be made always and glandular help given where it is needed. Even the apparent cases of glandular obesity can be helped with proper diet restrictions to a gratifying degree. The relation existing between obesity and the endocrine glands merits more study than has been given it thus far.

Friday, May 22, 2009

WHY ARE WE SO OVERWEIGHT?

I suppose the easiest answer is fast food, but the problem extends out to so much more. Yes, the prevalence of fast food restaurants certainly doesn’t help. At any rate, many of these restaurants are now offering health-conscious choices including salads, potatoes instead of French fries, yogurt, and grilled meats instead of fried meats. So with these items now included on their menu, why aren’t we losing weight? The answer lies within our choices. Those choices extend to home life as well.

Many people live horridly busy lifestyles, and they more often than not opt for pre packaged foods that contain high amounts of salt, fat, and other unhealthy components that contribute toward weight gain. We tend to maintain a mostly sedentary lifestyle choosing to watch a favorite television program after dinner rather than going out for a walk like they used to do decades ago.

Today, you’re more likely to find kids on the computer or in front of the TV with a video game controller in their hands. Kids know more about the story line on Desperate Housewives than many of their housewife mothers. They can tell you about all of the new products being offered through commercials they see in between their programs.

In fact, the average child these days will watch more than 15 hours of television each and every week. Now, we’re not saying television is BAD. In fact, some programs can be beneficial and even helpful in making kids smarter. What we’re saying is that kids need to get outside more instead of sitting in front of the TV eating Cheetos and drinking sugar rich soda.
The statistics are showing this to be true. Fifteen percent of all children and teens are overweight - a number that has tripled since a previous study done in 1980.

Some people blame their excessive weight gain on slow metabolisms. In some cases, this might actually be true. However, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has confirmed what no one really wants to face: we’re overweight because we simply eat too much of the wrong foods.

Losing weight is actually quite simple – eat less, exercise more. But we’re resistant to that message. Mainly, it’s because we’re looking for a quick fix – an easy, painless way to drop pounds without sacrifice. After all, losing weight just CAN’T be that easy, now can it?
No, it isn’t. You have to consider portion control, food choice, exercise, how much exercise, what kind of exercise, etc. But worrying about all of the specifics will do you little good. You need to get the big picture in mind first before worrying about the specifics.

What you want to do is lose those extra pounds. And there are many, many ways to go about that. But before you wait around for the next miracle diet, try some of the tried and true methods I will show you. It’s not as monumental as you think it is!

Monday, May 4, 2009

Introduction

I already know two things about you. (1) You are an intelligent person (2) who has a weighty problem. I know that you are intelligent because you are seeking help to solve your problem and that is always the second step to solving a problem. The first one is acknowledging that there is, in fact, a problem that needs to be solved.

You need to lose some weight and it might surprise you to know that how much weight you need or want to lose is not an issue. It really doesn’t much matter whether you need to lose 10 pounds, 110 pounds or more....the process for losing weight is exactly the same for every pound that must be lost. Not only is the process the same but the formula for losing a pound is the same as well. We will discuss the process and the formula later in this book.

You have no doubt discovered that there are as many weight loss ‘experts’ as there are weight loss programs. You can find programs and gurus that will swear that counting carbohydrates is the only way to go and you will find programs and gurus that promise counting fat grams is the only way to go. You can find calorie charts and carbohydrate charts and fat gram charts everywhere. Some of them are even free.

The truth of the matter is that, yes, you are going to have to count something.....calories, fat, carbohydrates...or with some plans ‘points’. No matter...you will be counting something. We will be discussing the various counting options and then because you are an intelligent person you can choose for yourself what program will be the best one for you based on the facts that you will learn.

Here we will also be talking about ways to help you stay with your ‘healthier eating plan’ (never use the four letter word ‘diet’) long enough to learn how to manage your eating habits and thus your weight for the rest of your life.

Diet pills and physically altering surgeries are an option today. You have seen the ‘miracles’ of enormous weight loss by prominent people who have opted for these solutions. You will find out what those diet pills and surgeries are and the risks involved for opting for those solutions yourself.

You are an intelligent person. Read and decide for yourself which way is the right way for you.