Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

This is the one big promise we make to ourselves every year but seldom keep. I can't speak for everyone, but for the ones obsess with losing weight, don't make that resolution about the bathroom scale. If this is the promise you have been making for years, "this is the year I'm going to lose weight", it's time for a change. This year you want to promise your going to "live a healthier life", exercise regularly and eat better. Step off the scale now and no one will get hurt. Focusing just on weight loss can lead to cycles of losing and regaining weight, lower self-esteem, and a preoccupation with food and body image. “You’ll do better if you have goals that have to do not with weight, but with health,” says Carol Landau, Ph.D., clinical professor of psychiatry and medicine at the Alpert Medical School, Brown University. While a New Year’s resolution is a great way to get in touch with what’s important and how you want to change, “Most diets don’t...

This post might be a little technical but, and I have written about this several times, you have to be serious about your weight loss and you have to know why your overweight. And most of all remember that you can't exercise away a bad diet. So having said that, read on. The one thing that's so hard about exercise and weight loss is this: It's  hard  to burn enough calories with exercise to make a serious dent in your weight. In fact, the workouts that are most effective for weight loss are the hardest ones:  High intensity interval training, tabata training or metabolic conditioning.  If you're a veteran exerciser, you might enjoy torturous workouts on a regular basis. If you're not?  You may find any amount of exercise hard to accomplish. Unfortunately, that may end up hurting your weight loss efforts. So, how much exercise do you need and how can you fit it in? Use these tips below to make the most o...

Many of us fail at weight loss because we are really serious about getting to a proper weight for our size and age. You should aways start with a doctor visit.  This post first appeared on VeryWell.com and if you are one of the ones who have tried and failed to keep the weight off, maybe it's because you should always start with your doctor and explain you want to do this without pills. The last thing you want is to get hooked on diet pills. That's no way to restrict calories. The minute you stop taking diet pills you gain the weight back. If you are ready to see a doctor for weight loss, you need to go to your appointment prepared. There are several critical weight loss questions you need to ask. You may want to talk to your doctor about weight loss medication, about the risks of different weight loss programs and about the benefits of losing weight. Your physician will be able to give you answers that take your personal health history into account. The Best Doctor fo...

It's a very special day for every family. A day of celebration. I hope you can spend some time with your family, even if it's on the phone. Celebrating has always involved food and drink, it's a tradition that has gone on for thousands of years and I'm sure it will continue on, but we don't have to pig-out. Yes, you have to taste the important traditional dishes that your friends or relatives have taken hours to prepare, but use a small plate, take small amounts and try and avoid the sugary stuff. Remember you can't work-off a lot of calories. A one hour workout for an experienced athlete will only burn about 300 calories. For a person with less athletic experience you might only burn 100 calories. On a festive holiday like Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year it's easy to consume 3000 to 4000 calories between all the food, snacks, and drinks for the day. That kind of consumption can increase your weight by 2 or 3 pounds at least. So if you can hold...

A calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. Calories in food provide energy in the form of heat so that our bodies can function. Our bodies store and "burn" calories as fuel. Many dieters count calories and try to decrease caloric intake to lose weight. The Definition of Calorie vs. Kilocalorie When the word "calorie" is used in nutrition settings, by dieters or simply by consumers who are talking about food, they are usually using a casual definition of calorie. But they are actually referring to kilocalories. This is how the two terms are different. The definition of calorie (cal), or small calorie, is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celcius. The definition of kilocalories (kcal), or large calorie, is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celcius. A kilocalorie is equivalent to 1000 sma...

If you're ready to start losing weight, but you don't want to follow a strict eating program, I have good news. You can lose weight without going on a diet. Just make a few simple changes to your daily routine that will help you eat less no matter where you are and lose weight for good. I found this post on VeryWell.com and I will have to put my two cents in between some paragraphs. Ways to Lose Weight Without Going on a Diet Don't drink your calories.  Beverages are bottomless these days. You can't order a soft drink or iced tea at a restaurant without being provided quick, free refills, or having the freedom to get them yourself. To keep from drinking a day's worth of calories, choose herbal tea, unsweetened iced tea, flavored wateror ice water with a spritz of lemon or lime. If none of those choices suits you, allow yourself one glass of the "real thing" and drink only water thereafter. Calories from sodas and other sweetened beverages...

If you've been trying to lose weight for any length of time, you're probably pretty good at monitoring your calories. Even if you don't keep a detailed food journal, you probably have a rough idea of the calories you're eating. But there's one area we often fall short and that's in the calories we drink. Energy drinks, juice and smoothies can add extra calories, but alcohol is often our biggest enemy, going down so smoothly, we may have no idea just how many extra calories we're taking in. If cocktails are a regular part of your diet and you're trying to lose weight, being more aware of what and how much you drink can make a difference. Drinking, Weight Loss and Your Health If you're a moderate drinker, which is defined as two drinks a day for men or one drink a day for women, some studies have found possible health benefits such as: Reduced risk of developing heart disease Reduced risk of ischemic stroke Lower risk of dying of a heart a...

As you return to your work after eating lunch, you may wonder: Why am I so sleepy? Whether you use words like drowsiness, sleepiness, tiredness, or fatigue to describe this mid-afternoon lull, why does it occur? Well, it may actually relate to a natural dip in the circadian rhythm. It is normal to feel a little sleepy after eating lunch. Some people may mistakenly think that it relates to the consumption of food. In particular, some believe that there is a significant shift in blood flow from the brain to the stomach or gastrointestinal tract to aid in digestion. Although this sounds plausible, it doesn’t really make that much sense. If this were the case, why wouldn’t we feel just as sleepy after eating a large breakfast or after dinner? The truth is that this sleepiness is unrelated to meals and is due to another cause. Others may argue that there are elements within food that cause sleepiness. For example, there are minuscule levels of the hormone called melatonin. Although m...

Walking can be a real workout but it can also do nothing for weight loss. If you use "walking" the right way it can be the weight loss exercise you have been looking for. How It Works Walking may be the simplest way to work out. You can do it almost anywhere, and it’s a snap to get started: Just put one foot in front of the other. There are many great reasons to walk. Your heart will get stronger, you’ll lower your blood pressure, and your bones will get stronger. Walking also eases stress, helps you sleep better, and can boost your outlook on life. If you have a big dog you already have a walking buddy. You can both get healthy.  If you want to walk to lose weight you have to walk about one hour a day, 5 days a week, at at a 4 MPH pace. Don't get excited because I know that most of us can't do that. You have to start out walking your own pace for 30 minutes and just keep building up and you can walk at that brisk pace. My wife and I are over 70 and we can do...

It may sound like a stupid question...like who doesn't need to lose weight?  But we often base our weight loss goals on an old version of ourselves that was once fit and thin.  When you get older, things change and it pays to actually assess your weight with the right tools so you know just how to set your goals. Do You Need to Lose Weight? If you're really not sure, your doctor's office is an excellent place to start. When was the last time you had a physical?  Now would be a great time to schedule one and talk to your doctor about your weight.  He or she can at least give you a ballpark for a healthy weight for you. But you shouldn't get all rapped up in the numbers on the scale.  Those who want to lose weight, really need to lose body fat. So while most of us use the scale to measure results, we should be using a tape measure. Another blogger wrote in one of her blogs, "your pants don't lie". What she was talking about is that drop...