Weight Loss - Fighting off those last 10 pounds can bring up mixed feelings. On one hand, you're happy and proud to be just a step away from the weight you'd wanted to reach. On the other hand, you face the potentially depressing prospect of having to unload yet another 35,000 calories (otherwise known as 10 pounds). Weight loss is all about changing behavior, and that is most true when you're fighting off those last 10 pounds. "There is evidence that the individual has to have a great desire to get to their goal weight, and that desire has to be backed up with real changes in behavior to maintain a healthy weight over time," says Catherine Fitzgerald, RD, a dietitian in the weight-loss program at the University of Michigan Health System. Here are seven tips to help you through the home stretch of your diet. And get support year-round when you sign up for the Weight Control Newsletter.
Lift weights
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You can't beat muscle mass when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, says Nancy Spaulding-Albright, RD, a nutritionist and dietitian at the Sunrise Outpatient Center of the HealthSouth hospital group. "Everyone knows muscle burns more calories, even at rest, than fat or other tissues," she says. If weight lifting isn't for you, try swimming, yoga, or Pilates. It's true that muscle weighs a bit more than fat, but it also burns more calories. In the long run, you'll stay trimmer with muscle than without it.
Focus on better health, not fewer pounds
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Sure, dropping weight will, by itself, improve your health. But if you want to stay motivated while you're losing weight and beyond, think long term. "Tell yourself, 'I want to live to see my grandchildren,' rather than 'I want to look good at my class reunion,'" says Spaulding-Albright. The approaching class reunion may motivate you to lose weight today, but it may also set you up to fail later. "Patients who can stay focused on better health tend to reach their weight goals and keep weight off over time," she says.
See a dietitian
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When you sit down with a trained dietitian or nutritionist to look at your diet, "you may be amazed how many hidden calories you eat," says Fitzgerald. "I see patients who forget to add those half dozen tablespoons of sugar they put into their coffee each morning or don't realize how many calories their three-sodas-a-day habit adds up to. And those are the kinds of calories, the ones you don't even think about, that make weight loss harder." Contact your doctor or local hospital to get a list of dietitians or nutritionists in your area.
Know your metabolic rate
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Do you know how many calories you need to eat each day for your body to function? The government-mandated food content labels you see in stores assume you have a need for 2,000 calories a day. But that's an average, and it's not specific enough for someone working to lose weight or keep weight off. "Your size and gender have a lot to do with your calorie needs," says Spaulding-Albright. "Dieters don't want to be eating 2,000 calories when they only need 1,800." Your resting metabolic rate (RMR) is simply the minimum number of calories you need each day to support your body's functions. If you get a lot of exercise, your calorie needs may be much higher than your RMR. So how do you estimate your RMR and your real-world calorie needs? The best way, says Spaulding-Albright, is to contact hospitals or clinics in your area; they have sophisticated equipment that can give a good assessment. You can also sit down with a dietitian or personal trainer, who know how to make reliable estimates by calculating your age, height, gender, and other measures. You'll also find many free RMR calculators on the Internet. These are helpful, but not the most accurate. If you chose this route, try several RMR calculators to get a good approximation.
Eat a bigger breakfast
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The idea here is to get your major calorie load in earlier in the day rather than later," says Spaulding-Albright. "There's that old saying, 'Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince, and eat dinner like a pauper,'" she says. "That's actually a help for dieters." When you eat more of your daily calories earlier, it gives your body a better chance of burning those calories over the course of a day. Eating a really heavy dinner is a bad idea, she says, because those calories have little chance of being used.
Eat five small meals a day
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Eat small, eat often. You may have heard this bit of advice before, but it is one of the dieting maxims most easily brushed aside in the course of a busy day, says Spaulding-Albright. "When weight loss plateaus, which is not unusual when you've lost a significant amount of weight, this can sometimes help kick in some additional weight loss," she says. "It makes you feel more satisfied and helps deal with cravings."
Think positive thoughts
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"Always go with the dieting positives, rather than the negatives," says Fitzgerald. "You're actively adding good things to your life. You're eating more good foods, which improves your overall health. You're getting daily exercise, which improves your mood, burns calories, and makes you stronger."
For your Personal Training workout programs and Diet Plans go here: Nutrifitness
Source: WebMD
About The Author ---------------- Michael Lewis is a staff writer for www.ageforce.com and several other websites. If you would like to contact Michael you can e-mail him at Michael@AgeForce.com or if you would like to know more about Weight Loss, HGH (Human Growth Hormone) and related health topics please visit us at http://www.ageforce.com.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
A Cellulite Cure That Works
by Naweko San-Joyz
Cellulite is not a medical condition or an aesthetic mutiny perpetrated by your thighs. It’s just excess fat that we’ve relegated as unsightly. Not all women have cellulite. All women of course have fat, but cellulite is simply excess fat bursting through the connective tissues holding the fat layer in place.Mitchel Goldman, MD, an associate clinical professor at the University of California at San Diego regularly informs the dermatological community about cellulite treatments. On one such occasion in 2002, at American Academy of Dermatology's summer scientific meeting in New York, Dr. Goldman offered bleak hope for women with fat dimples while asserting that there is no “cure” for cellulite.Perhaps Dr. Goldman has never visited a women’s figure competition, Gold’s Gym or any placed packed with women who know how to take care of their bodies. If he did frequent such places, Dr. Goldman would find that there is indeed a three-step remedy for cellulite which follows:1. Eat a macronutrient rich diet that maintains your ideal body weight;2. Exercise at least 60 minutes daily to promote circulation and increase the skin’s elasticity and tone; and 3. Do resistance training to increase muscle size, boost fat metabolism, and increase structural support for the skin’s fat layer.I assure you that women who pose as models for cellulite creams and services already do these things.Notwithstanding, Dr. Goldman rests convinced that "Foods really do not have an impact on whether a woman has cellulite or not." He further doubts dietary interventions by stating, “Even a woman who radically changes her diet from high fat foods to low fat foods would still have cellulite. Consumers should be wary of any diet plan that claims to reduce the appearance of cellulite -- it is simply not credible."So how do women in the advertisements for cellulite creams get rid of their cellulite? Not by using a cream, of course. One may answer that Adobe Photoshop editing cleverly erases the smiling fat dimples. That’s not always the case. Women can and do shrink their cellulite bubbles using a sensible diet and exercise program.1. Eating to eliminate cellulite.Enjoy five to six meals/snacks a day. Frequent eating keeps the blood sugar level balanced so that your body does not resort to fat storage. This predictable food intake also keeps the metabolism burning calories at a consistent rate.2. Strategic exercising for cellulite eliminationA study issued by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine in 2002 recommends an hour of cumulative exercise each day to maintain a healthy weight. Cellulite is an aesthetic issue and not a grave health threat. So while climbing the stairs here, and washing the car there, may help your heart, it does nothing for cellulite.If you want to get rid of cellulite, you need to exercise for at least 45 to 60 minutes consistently to reap the fat burning benefits. Yet, you need not exhaust yourself.Make your body tingle with energy Just try walking briskly at a rate fast enough to make your thighs and rear-end tingle. That way, you know you are stimulating the fat while simultaneously massaging the skin. Moreover, you are raising your external body temperature. You can spend $100s of dollars at a spa trying to get the same effect in some body wrap or massage machine. Spare yourself the hassle and get real results from the gym or on the trail.3. Make the most of weight trainingThe most ridiculous fear that arises from women when I suggest weight training is the unfounded cry, “But I don’t want to get bulky and muscular!” Please. Too many women in the gym today are hardly in any danger of developing muscle simply because they are not properly training or eating to gain muscle.The only way to get “bulky” with muscle is to consistently train for years lifting heavy weights and eating a generally bland diet that’s rich in protein. With that, it’s critical to make the most of your muscle training minutes in the gym. Granted the variety of weight lifting techniques remains endless, here’s some basic steps for increasing your muscle mass:Eat before liftingEat at least 45 minutes before lifting weights. While, your stomach should not fill bloated with food, having some nutrients in your stomach will ensure that you have enough energy to actually lift the weight and perform enough repetitions to promote muscle growth.Lift enough weight to feel your muscle burn after 8-10 repetitions.The whole point of lifting weights is to tear down the muscle you have so that it will repair itself and grow back stronger and more plentiful. If you are not burning, it’s likely that you are not breaking down muscle.Refuel your muscles with protein and carbohydrates immediately after lifting weights. Professional bodybuilders strategically plan their day to ensure that they get their protein within at most 45 minutes after having lifted weights. This is because the muscle needs fuel to repair itself. If you skip feeding a repairing muscle, it will not grow, or at best you’ll reap minimal results.Moreover, a resent study published in the June 2004 edition of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism confirmed that after resistance training, a meal containing protein and carbohydrates produced more muscle growth than a meal consisting purely of carbohydrates.Consistent dieting habits, exercising and resistance training effectively eliminate cellulite. This three-tiered strategy reduces excess fat and tones the skin- collectively revealing a smooth, bump-free backside. Though you may hate the method, it produces visible results four to six weeks with regular usage.
Health author and Stanford University graduate Naweko San-Joyz lovingly writes from her home in San Diego. Her works include “Acne Messages: Crack the code of your zits and say goodbye to acne” (ISBN: 0974912204) and the upcoming work “Skinny Fat Chicks, Why we’re still not getting this dieting thing” (ISBN: 0974912212) for release in June of 2005.
For more on Cellulite see Http://thenutrifitness.com click on Nutrifitness E-Books for "Conquering Cellulite Guide"
Cellulite is not a medical condition or an aesthetic mutiny perpetrated by your thighs. It’s just excess fat that we’ve relegated as unsightly. Not all women have cellulite. All women of course have fat, but cellulite is simply excess fat bursting through the connective tissues holding the fat layer in place.Mitchel Goldman, MD, an associate clinical professor at the University of California at San Diego regularly informs the dermatological community about cellulite treatments. On one such occasion in 2002, at American Academy of Dermatology's summer scientific meeting in New York, Dr. Goldman offered bleak hope for women with fat dimples while asserting that there is no “cure” for cellulite.Perhaps Dr. Goldman has never visited a women’s figure competition, Gold’s Gym or any placed packed with women who know how to take care of their bodies. If he did frequent such places, Dr. Goldman would find that there is indeed a three-step remedy for cellulite which follows:1. Eat a macronutrient rich diet that maintains your ideal body weight;2. Exercise at least 60 minutes daily to promote circulation and increase the skin’s elasticity and tone; and 3. Do resistance training to increase muscle size, boost fat metabolism, and increase structural support for the skin’s fat layer.I assure you that women who pose as models for cellulite creams and services already do these things.Notwithstanding, Dr. Goldman rests convinced that "Foods really do not have an impact on whether a woman has cellulite or not." He further doubts dietary interventions by stating, “Even a woman who radically changes her diet from high fat foods to low fat foods would still have cellulite. Consumers should be wary of any diet plan that claims to reduce the appearance of cellulite -- it is simply not credible."So how do women in the advertisements for cellulite creams get rid of their cellulite? Not by using a cream, of course. One may answer that Adobe Photoshop editing cleverly erases the smiling fat dimples. That’s not always the case. Women can and do shrink their cellulite bubbles using a sensible diet and exercise program.1. Eating to eliminate cellulite.Enjoy five to six meals/snacks a day. Frequent eating keeps the blood sugar level balanced so that your body does not resort to fat storage. This predictable food intake also keeps the metabolism burning calories at a consistent rate.2. Strategic exercising for cellulite eliminationA study issued by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine in 2002 recommends an hour of cumulative exercise each day to maintain a healthy weight. Cellulite is an aesthetic issue and not a grave health threat. So while climbing the stairs here, and washing the car there, may help your heart, it does nothing for cellulite.If you want to get rid of cellulite, you need to exercise for at least 45 to 60 minutes consistently to reap the fat burning benefits. Yet, you need not exhaust yourself.Make your body tingle with energy Just try walking briskly at a rate fast enough to make your thighs and rear-end tingle. That way, you know you are stimulating the fat while simultaneously massaging the skin. Moreover, you are raising your external body temperature. You can spend $100s of dollars at a spa trying to get the same effect in some body wrap or massage machine. Spare yourself the hassle and get real results from the gym or on the trail.3. Make the most of weight trainingThe most ridiculous fear that arises from women when I suggest weight training is the unfounded cry, “But I don’t want to get bulky and muscular!” Please. Too many women in the gym today are hardly in any danger of developing muscle simply because they are not properly training or eating to gain muscle.The only way to get “bulky” with muscle is to consistently train for years lifting heavy weights and eating a generally bland diet that’s rich in protein. With that, it’s critical to make the most of your muscle training minutes in the gym. Granted the variety of weight lifting techniques remains endless, here’s some basic steps for increasing your muscle mass:Eat before liftingEat at least 45 minutes before lifting weights. While, your stomach should not fill bloated with food, having some nutrients in your stomach will ensure that you have enough energy to actually lift the weight and perform enough repetitions to promote muscle growth.Lift enough weight to feel your muscle burn after 8-10 repetitions.The whole point of lifting weights is to tear down the muscle you have so that it will repair itself and grow back stronger and more plentiful. If you are not burning, it’s likely that you are not breaking down muscle.Refuel your muscles with protein and carbohydrates immediately after lifting weights. Professional bodybuilders strategically plan their day to ensure that they get their protein within at most 45 minutes after having lifted weights. This is because the muscle needs fuel to repair itself. If you skip feeding a repairing muscle, it will not grow, or at best you’ll reap minimal results.Moreover, a resent study published in the June 2004 edition of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism confirmed that after resistance training, a meal containing protein and carbohydrates produced more muscle growth than a meal consisting purely of carbohydrates.Consistent dieting habits, exercising and resistance training effectively eliminate cellulite. This three-tiered strategy reduces excess fat and tones the skin- collectively revealing a smooth, bump-free backside. Though you may hate the method, it produces visible results four to six weeks with regular usage.
Health author and Stanford University graduate Naweko San-Joyz lovingly writes from her home in San Diego. Her works include “Acne Messages: Crack the code of your zits and say goodbye to acne” (ISBN: 0974912204) and the upcoming work “Skinny Fat Chicks, Why we’re still not getting this dieting thing” (ISBN: 0974912212) for release in June of 2005.
For more on Cellulite see Http://thenutrifitness.com click on Nutrifitness E-Books for "Conquering Cellulite Guide"
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