Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

                                               What Does Being Overweight really Cost? More than 69 percent of Americans are overweight. This problem is a serious health threat to Americans. Obesity is now classified as a chronic disease by the American Medical Association. Most people are aware of the health problems being overweight can cause. Diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and the list goes on, but most people don't realize overweight people will get cancer at a higher rate than someone at a normal weight. If your in-danger of having cancer because other relatives in your family have or had cancer, then pay attention to the next paragraph. Yes, losing weight will lower your risk for cancer, but you can also start an exercise program and get into shape. Yes, exercise will help you lose weight, but in-spite of your weight, if your in good physical condition and exercise regularly, have a good diet that includes lots of vegetables and fruits, protein from dia

I've written before about making a lifestyle change as a way to lose weight.  There has been much written about the Mediterranean Diet, it's not a real diet with set rules about your everyday meals. It's a lifestyle of eating the way Mediterranean people have been eating for centuries. On the front page of my website, I write about the Mediterranean lifestyle of eating in the diet section. When I gave up on diet plans you buy in packets at the grocery store. And decided I wasn't going to sweat the pounds off. I read a book on the Mediterranean Diet and it all started to make sense to me. Cutting back on the food I was eating, only made me hungry after an hour or so. I needed to change my eating habits totally. I stopped eating traditional meals, no more 3 meals a day. Now I was going to eat 6 times a day. So you might ask, how do I lose weight that way.? Good question. The Idea is to only eat enough to stop the cravings. Of course, you have to eat real food, not sn

                      Did You know that less than 3% of Americans are physically fit. I don't mean the ones who are trying to get fit, I'm talking about the people who are physically fit. It's sad and I hate to think about it. The cost of not being healthy is over $100,000 per person in a lifetime, plus the fact that overweight people are not as productive and on average earn less money over their lifetime. Overweight people will pay more for health insurance over their lifetime, they will see the doctor more often, they will take more sick days, and they will take more medications over their life and all of this will cost the average person more money and is costing the tax payer more money in taxes because of those people who can't afford to pay. For those people who have been trying to lose weight and always regain the weight and never seem to lose the fat, there is hope. Anyone can lose the fat and keep it off. Losing fat is the key to good health. The only pe

There’s no calories to count or cutting out major food groups. You swap the bad fats for heart-healthy fats like olive oil. You’ll eat fish and poultry instead of red meat. And eat fruit instead of fancy desserts. You’ll eat more veggies and beans. Nuts are a mainstay, but only one handful a day. You can also have whole-grain bread and wine in moderation. All the food is fresh, seasonal foods prepared in simple, easy ways.  You can have bread and pasta made from whole-grain. Whole grain gives you more protein and minerals.Try whole-grain pita bread dipped in olive oil and hummus. You will eat fats but good fats from olive oil, avocados, and nuts. The menu will be huge. The Mediterranean region takes in Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Turkey, Morocco and many others. You can use a lot more spices to flavor your food. Most Mediterranean meals are small plates of cheese, olives, tomatoes, beans and peppers. And of course pita bread. And like all Mediterranean people y

Why is this important to anybody? I want to use myself as an example for a minute. I’m over 65 an on Medicare so if you’re on Medicare you understand what I mean. I go to my primary physician twice a year. He checks me over and decides if there’s any change in my condition that he has to be concerned about. If there is than he might send me to a specialist or simply make some suggestions. One time I was in his office and he asked me how long I wanted to live. So I answered that I hoped to live to 90. He asked me if I knew any 90 year old males that were obese. I immediately said “why do you think I’m obese”? And he replied quickly that my BMI was over 30 and yes I’m considered obese. But I feel great and yes I know I gained a few pounds but I always do in the winter. He replied that there will come a day when insurance companies and employers will judge you not by your health condition today, but by what your condition might be in the future. After our little discussion I lost we

The meaning of the word has changed some since The Affordable Care Act passed. Now we adopted the British scale or the way they calculate Obesity. They use the BMI Method. By calculating your Body Mass Index, that tells doctors your percentage of body fat. So if your BMI is 30 or more you are now Obese. If your number is between 25 and 30 your considered to be overweight and if your less than that your normal. You should know your number. You can find out by using the BMI Calculators that are free on fitness websites like WebMD.com Is it our fault, or not. I think it’s a little of both. Some of this we can’t help, but some of the fault is ours because we haven’t been keeping pace with the times. The world has been changing right before our eyes. The food industry has made the biggest change next to medicine. Most of our food today is processed. What does that mean? Manufactures are in the food industry today and they’re making big money. Back in the 1950’s and 60’s we bought foo

Have you seen the story of this 50 year old woman who was brutally fat shamed in a department store by some rude skinny lady? For years this woman struggled to lose weight yet NOTHING worked. P90X, Atkins, Zumba, Beach Body, Gluten Free, Cross Fit… NOTHING worked. And the last straw was when she was brutally fat shamed in the shopping mall while hoping to find a pair of pants she could fit into. It was in that moment she began her quest to not just LOSE the weight - but to get HOT. And one year later… She dropped an incredible 141 pounds!  And she didn’t just lose weight… instead she got a tight, toned body with that sleek sexy muscular looking stomach. Get this… She did this ALL without EVER stepping foot in a gym or without some crazy diet, or using pills or surgery. So how did she do it? She cleaned out all the high-carb food in the house and started to eat healthy. Fruits and vegetables, whole grains (not whole wheat) no dairy, mixed nuts are okay bu

By adopting sensible eating habits and practicing portion control, you can eat nutritious foods so that you take in as many calories as you need to maintain your health and well-being at your ideal weight. Often, weight loss occurs on its own simply when you start making better food choices, such as avoiding: processed foods, sugar-laden foods, white bread and pasta (substitute whole-grain varieties instead), foods with a high percentage of calories from fat, alcoholic drinks. While nothing is absolutely forbidden, when you do succumb to temptation, keep the portion size small and add more exercise to your daily workout. By replacing some unwise food choices with healthy ones, you'll be cutting back on calories. If you add some moderate physical activity by simply walking more you have the perfect weight-loss plan without the need for special or inconvenient (and often expensive) diet plans. A 45-year-old woman complains that she has gradually put on 12 pounds over the p

We’re finding more and more that our body will do the healing if we eat the proper foods. For instance, on the Today Show this morning Dr. Oz was demonstrating how cancer grows in your body and that we all have these cancer cells but because some people aren’t getting a proper amount of certain foods, the cancer cells will grow and keep growing until we can detect them. Celery, onions and Leeks will stop cancer cells from growing, but you need to eat them 5 times a week. Remember we all have these cells, we need to stop them before they are large enough to be detected. He also said that medicine has nothing that will do this. In other words, you have to depend on the food your eating to stay healthy. We too often think that our lifestyle doesn't matter, that medicine will keep us healthy, so why worry about it. Yes, medicine is making a lot of break-throughs but medicine if the truth be known is still trying to catch up. Civilization is far ahead of medicine. They are playing the

The answer is different for all of us. Maybe you've been working on getting back to the weight you were at in high school or on your wedding day. But do you really need to go that low? Or can you weigh more than your ideal weight and still be healthy? O.K., that's a question everyone wants to know the answer to. Actually people lose weight for dozens of different reasons. Maybe you gained weight because you ate the way your family did, the way you grew up eating and that can be the beginning of your overweight problem. But as you get older you see the other school kids and the clothes they wear and you naturally want to fit in, and so your battle with weight begins. Others gain weight later in life, because of their occupation or maybe they've become overworked and depressed or maybe they've done well in life and food and drink is the reward. My neighbor has a sales job traveling, he's in and out of airports two and three times a week. Eating restaurant food eve

Exercise is a big part of losing weight, but I don't mean you have to sweat it off. You can loss weight without any exercise just by maintaining a proper diet. But if you don't do some exercise half the weight you lose will be muscle. It happened to me, so if you want to look like a pear then don't exercise. But if you want to look like you did when you actually weighed 30 pounds less, then you want to do some upper body exercise besides walking. Generally, the oldest fat on your body is the fat thats the hardest to get rid of. But muscle will eat up fat, thats why people go on high-protein diets to lose weight. If you build enough muscle, the muscle will eat up the fat just to maintain. In another post I wrote that a stunt man that had the "perfect body" would cut back in the off-season but when he was getting back in shape for a movie he would eat protein and good fats to bulk-up for his role. If your going to build muscle you need to eat or have some fat so t