Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

This article came in a newsletter the other day and is worth reading. If your having a hard time losing weight this lady has the same problem. Read her story Ever notice that sometimes the blubber won't budge no matter how many reps you add or calories you subtract? Or maybe other forces are at work—forces that are invisibly undermining your best efforts to leave that last 20 pounds in the past. Even though I'm an identical twin, I've outweighed my brother John from the moment we emerged by caesarian section. I was a 6-pound little piggy, whereas John was the 4-pound, 4-ounce victim of my embryonic gluttony (or so the family joke/legend has forever maintained). In the decades since our birth, I have regularly climbed into "overweight" BMI territory and struggled to escape. Staying lean has been as difficult for me as it is effortless for John—this despite lifelong eating and exercise patterns that strike our friends as spooky in their similarity. To this da...

One of the more frequent questions I get in my email is "Do I have to diet to lose weight?" The word "diet" doesn't have much to do with losing weight. The word diet really refers to your "Diet Plan" or what you're eating everyday. Most of us have no diet plan, we simply eat whatever we have a taste for. That's the reason so many Americans have a weight problem. Bad sleeping habits is another reason for gaining weight. Sleeping more can keep you from grazing and will reduce your total calorie intake for the day. It's a fact that those people who stay up until midnight or later will consume an extra 1000 calories a day. Cutting calories is the way to lose weight. It has nothing to do with starving yourself. Eating fewer calories is accomplished by eating foods with less calories, not eating less food. Americans are famous for eating loads of high-calorie food, like dairy products, snack foods, fatty fried foods, and high calorie drinks. ...

I think the next time I'm in the coffee shop I'll try tea. Tea can help your heart, boost your brainpower, keep your metabolism humming, and more. Our guide to the supersip covers it all, including how to brew a cup that's fit for a queen. Tea does a body good. "It's also calorie-free if you don't add milk or a sweetener like sugar or honey," says Diane L. McKay, PhD, an assistant professor of nutrition at the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy in Boston. Check out the myriad benefits of that mug: Your brain: A cuppa doesn't just make you more productive at the office (one study showed that tea drinkers have improved accuracy and attention when switching between tasks). It may also ward off Parkinson's disease and slow the progression of Alzheimer's. Your bones: Studies indicate that phytochemicals in tea, such as flavonoids, may protect against bone loss: Regular tea drinkers have higher bone density than ...

Dieting is hard. But avoiding "empty" calories helps you reach a healthy weight without feeling like you're dieting. Your body needs a certain amount of energy each day. Energy comes from food in the form of calories. Calories let you function and keep doing your daily activities. But after your body meets its needs, it stores extra calories as fat. Most of us get plenty of calories in our diet—often too many. Foods with empty calories have lots of calories but very few nutrients like vitamins and minerals. "Convenience foods," like packaged snacks, chips, and sodas, are common sources of empty calories. Nutrient-rich foods, on the other hand, have a lot more nutrients in relation to their calories. A few examples are vegetables, peanut butter, bran cereal with fruit, and fish. Tips for avoiding empty calories Instead of this: Choose this: Sugar-sweetened drinks like soda, energy drinks, and sweetened coffee drinks, not good. Water, no-sugar-added fruit...

In an earlier post, I wrote about extra inches around your waist can shorten your life. And now I found a great article totally separate from the older article and this new one confirms the findings of the other one. More muscle and less body fat and you'll live longer. TUESDAY, March 18, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- The more muscle older adults have, the lower their risk of death, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed data from more than 3,600 older adults who took part in the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey between 1988 and 1994. The participants included men 55 and older and women 65 and older. As part of the survey, the participants underwent tests to determine their muscle mass index, which is the amount of muscle relative to height. The investigators used a follow-up survey done in 2004 to determine how many of the participants had died of natural causes and how muscle mass was related to death risk. People with the highest levels of muscle...

Evidence from a new study published in the March issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings, suggests extra inches raise risk of dying younger, regardless of body weight. How many inches are extra inches; your waist should measure one half the inches of your height. For example, I’m 6 foot tall, that’s 72 inches and I should have a 36 inch waist. FRIDAY, March 14, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Having a big belly means big trouble when it comes to your health, researchers warn. They analyzed data from 11 studies that included more than 600,000 people worldwide and found that people with large waist circumferences were at increased risk of dying younger and dying from conditions such as heart disease, lung problems and cancer. Men with waists of 43 inches or more had a 50 percent higher risk of death than those with waists less than 35 inches. This equated to a three-year lower life expectancy after age 40, according to the study. Women with waists of 37 inches or more had an 80 percent higher ...

I found this testimonial on line and it should be inspirational for everyone. There’s no magic pill or trick to losing weight, you just do it cold turkey. We all have the power to do it, you just have to make up your mind to start. This girl decided to run and change her diet and that’s the fastest way I know to drop body fat, but not all of us can do that. I like the walking method. It takes longer but if your not young anymore walking is easier on your body. Read her story and be inspired yourself. I’ve been heavy my entire life. Even in my kindergarten photos, I was chubby. In late high school, I gained more weight. In college, I reached 260 pounds — I think because I was on my own. I had a driver’s license, a job. I could go out to dinner, eat when I wanted. Nobody was watching over me. Being heavy didn’t make me feel bad, though. I was pretty confident. I didn’t realize I was as big as I was until I started looking at old photos a few months ago. It was pretty shocking. Abo...

On the Fox TV Network the other night, one of the big stories was about high protein diets. A new study has shown a link between the over consumption of animal protein and how it can stimulate the growth of cancer cells. It seems we all have cancer cells but they don’t normally grow, unless we consume too much animal fat, dairy or fats from processed foods. Before I continue I want to explain about the link to cancer. After all, Man has been eating red meat for millions of years, right. That's true but todays red meat is not the same. Most red meat that we buy in the supermarket comes from Steers that have been raised in feed lots on a grain diet that is full of hormones and other chemicals that shorten the growing time and put more fat on the animal. These hormones and other chemicals stay in the meat and what you're buying will contain the chemicals that the animal ate. Normally a grass feed Steer that lives on the range in big herds will take 18 to 20 months to grow to ...

The Promise Do you need a detox diet -- really? They're popular, but they aren't proven to do what they say they'll do: flush toxins out of your system. In fact, they may be risky and even backfire. Still thinking about it? You should know this first. Do They Work? You might lose weight on a detox diet, because they're usually very low in calories. But the idea that your body needs help getting rid of toxins has "no basis in human biology," says Frank Sacks, MD, of the Harvard School of Public Health. Your organs and immune system handle those duties, no matter what you eat. Plus, you're likely to lose weight and gain it back when you go off any extreme diet. And further more, Detoxing will empty the con-tense of your stomach which means you'll lose the good bacteria the you need to digest food and the good bacteria in your intestinal track for your immune system. Basically you'll have no immune system until you restore the good bacte...

There’s no set rule for food intake. A rule of thumb is that you should not eat more calories than you burn. Burning calories is governed by the amount of activity you have that day. That’s why your weight can go up or down from day to day. That’s why you want to do exercise every day, but don’t get crazy and do like 2 hours on a treadmill, if your not use to that much activity it just increases your appetite. You can walk that two hours a day if you like, but do it slow, maybe while you’re watching TV, if you use a treadmill or a walk in the Park or join the Mall Walkers in the morning. There is a study today about employees of a life insurance company that opted to put a work table with laptop above their treadmill, there better known as a stand-up desk and you can adjust the hight. It’s been very successful. Several employees have lost weight over time. While they’re working they were walking about 4 hours of their 8 hour work day. Not all at the same time, they break up the walki...

The Promise Eat like a caveman and shed pounds. That's the theory behind the Paleo Diet. If you haven't heard of this diet you might do some research online. I think it's a lot like a Mediterranian Diet except it's a low-sodium diet with lots of meat. I don't think it's for everybody but I've it does work. I would think you might have to supplement this diet with vitamins. This diet is a good option for those who like to exercise. Loren Cordain, PhD, who literally wrote the book on The Paleo Diet, claims that by eating like our prehistoric ancestors, we’ll be leaner and less likely to get diabetes,heart disease, cancer, and other health problems. Also called the Caveman Diet or the Stone Age diet, it’s basically a high-protein, high-fiber eating plan that promises you can lose weight without cutting calories. What You Can Eat and What You Can't Go Paleo, and you'll eat a lot of fresh lean meats and fish, fruits, and vegetables, and healthier ...

I know I should write more about exercise, but the truth is that exercise is only about 20% of losing weight and 80% of weight lose is diet. I don't advocate a gym membership or even trainers unless your a real exercise enthusiast. The best way for a novice to start exercising is to start walking. Get some kind of fitness tracker that keeps track of your heart rate and the minutes a day that your active or moving. Some trackers will also track the hours you sleep. Sleep is really important for losing weight. Moving is the part of being active that's the most important. When you stay moving, that doing something while on your feet that's being active. That's why some offices are going to stand up desks. Working on your feet is more productive and as a bonus will help you control your weight. Think about it, when I worked in retail there's no chairs by your counter. Why do office workers have to sit to be by their desk? That's old school, because no one though...

The article that follows is a good reason for men to stay moving even after work. A couch potato even in his 40's can set himself up for a heart problem later in life. You don't need to be overweight to be at risk. You might make it a habit to take a walk after dinner. Thirty minutes at night will help digestion and help you sleep. Walking at night will also help your weight management program and lower the risk for heart problems. Oldermen who spend a lot of time sitting around are more likely to face heart failure down the road, a new study shows. The research included more than 82,000 men between the ages of 45 and 69. Those who spent more time being sedentary outside of work hours, even if they exercised, had a higher risk for heart failure, reported the researchers from Kaiser Permanente in Southern California. "Men with low levels of physical activity were 52 percent more likely to develop heart failure than men with higher levels of physical activity," sa...

The following is taken from an article just published online last month that high-lites the dangers of added sugar. Processed foods and bottled drinks (except water) all have added sugar or some type of sugar substitute. For decades we have been feeding our children pre-made frozen foods and other processed foods and drinks, and those habits have been passed down from one generation to the next and finally causing this epidemic of overweight people that we see today. Read the article below and think about how you can make changes in your diet. Doctors have long thought extra sugar in a person's diet is harmful to heart health because it promotes chronic conditions such as obesity and diabetes. But the added sugar Americans consume as part of their daily diet can -- on its own, regardless of other health problems -- more than double the risk of death from heart disease, a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found. The average American diet c...

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 diary and lean meats, then being overweight won...

No matter what your scale says, being comfortable in your own skin is up to you. It can be tough, in a society that prizes unrealistic images. But it's possible, and it starts with what you say when you look in the mirror.  One of the first rules of achieving a healthy and happy  body image  is to stop allowing "put-downs" in front of the mirror, says Lori Osachy, body image expert and lead therapist at The Body Image Counseling Center in Jacksonville, Fla. "Even if in the beginning that means you have to jump in front of the mirror and shout, ‘You're awesome,' and then immediately jump back out, that's OK," she says. "The goal is to retrain your brain how to think positively about your reflection and your body."       Over time, telling yourself that you're beautiful, even if you don't believe it at first, will improve your confidence, she says. The psychology behind this technique is called "cognitive behavioral therapy...