Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

We all do this, we diet all week and then from Friday night until Sunday night we go crazy drinking and eating and snacking and going to restaurants and gain back everything we lost during the week and usually more. Weekend weight-gain seems to creep up on you. How? It's so easy to get in the mind frame of "I've been good all week, so I deserve to splurge this weekend!" Those free-for-all weekends add up to pounds gained quicker than you'd expect. Here are some simple ways to avoid weekend weight gain: Stock Your Staples If your fridge and pantry aren't stocked with the healthy foods you need, you will have no choice but to eat whatever is within reach (or within a phone call to the pizza place). Friday morning, take stock of your staples and drop by the store on your way home to purchase what is low or missing. Be Smart, Don't Skip If you are planning to go out with friends for a non-diet-friendly meal Saturday night, try to eat lighter...

I found that the more you eat early in the day the less snacking you do in the afternoon and evening. This post is from WebMD and will explain why a good breakfast is important to losing weight. Are you one of the nearly 31 million Americans who skip breakfast? Or is your idea of a balanced breakfast whatever you can gobble up while on the go? If so, you may be harming your health before your work day even begins. You’ve probably heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day – research suggests that it’s true. Here’s why you should make breakfast an essential part of your AM routine: Breakfast may help you lose weight . According to recent research, eating a  high-protein  breakfast may actually help you shed pounds. Studies indicate that dieters who eat high-quality protein as part of their first meal are more able to ward off hunger pangs, reduce cravings and lose fat while maintaining lean muscle mass. One study published in the  Inte...

What you eat matters! This is what they Promise you. I found this in my email today and wanted to write about it. This is really what everyone hopes for when they diet and you can do it. It will take some time. I don't buy the 32 days they promise. I think you'll see a difference in 32 days and you will lose at least one pants size, but some of us will need a couple more months.  The Promise Eat fat and lose weight. That's the promise of the Flat Belly Diet. Now for the fine print: The kind of fat matters. The plan focuses on monounsaturated fats, which you get from olive oil, nuts, and other plant foods. Authors Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, claim that in 32 days, you can lose up to 15 pounds and drop belly fat by following their plan: Eat 400 calories per meal, four times per day (daily total: 1,600). Don’t go longer than 4 hours without eating. Eat monounsaturated fats at every meal. What You Can Eat and What You Can't First, you target...

It's not a weight-loss plan, it's the way the Mediterranean people have been eating for thousands of years. Back in the 1980's the medical community became very interested in the Mediterranean people. They had less health problems than other Europeans, Americans, and the rest of the Western World.  At first, they thought it might be the wine they drink every day. Like the French, they have far less cases of cancer and heart disease. So if it's not the red wine what is causing the difference. Now we know it's the diet, that makes the difference. Yes, red wine is good for your blood but it's the whole diet that gives them the good health they enjoy. 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 ...

Getting fit doesn't have to be complicated. Simple bodyweight exercises are often the best choice for those without a lot of time, money and motivation to learn or employ the latest fitness fads. Bodyweight training can also be a great choice for building strength, gaining muscle, boosting cardiovascular fitness, and burning calories. Here are ten reasons to get on board with bodyweight training.  Before you read any further, you should know that you won't become fit if you don't fix your diet first. A poor diet won't create enough energy that you need to exercise. Your exercise program can't compensate for a bad diet.  Fast Fitness Gains Bodyweight exercises lead to fitness gains in a hurry. Most bodyweight exercises require you to perform multi-joint movements (compound exercises) that work against gravity. These types of movements (squats, lunges, push-ups) all make up the cornerstone of any strength training routine and are extremely effective...

The Best Time of Day to Exercise to Lose Weight We are firm believers that exercise should be a part of a daily healthy lifestyle no matter what your end goal is. It keeps the mind alert, the muscles fresh, and the heart ticking properly. However, if your end goal is to shed a few pounds while you’re at it, you may be wondering the best time of day to exercise. Here’s a piece from the New York Times about a study done regarding weight loss focused workouts.  You're probably wondering, "what difference does it make"? It will make a difference if you're trying to lose body fat. You might try setting your wake-up alarm earlier and exercising before breakfast. There is some evidence that working out on a completely empty stomach — or, as scientists call this woozy, wee-hours condition, “in a fasted state” — prompts the body to burn more fat and potentially stave off weight gain, compared to exercising at other times. In a groundbreaking 2010 study, researchers ...

Eat fat and lose weight. That's the promise of the Flat Belly Diet. Now for the fine print: The kind of fat matters. The plan focuses on monounsaturated fats, which you get from olive oil, nuts, and other plant foods. Fat from animal products including dairy will add more fat to your body. The body needs good fats for the heart, brain functions, and your joints but animal fat is hard for the body to process so much of it ends up stored in your fat cells. Authors Liz Vaccariello and Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, claim that in 32 days, you can lose up to 15 pounds and drop belly fat by following their plan: Eat 400 calories per meal, four times per day (daily total: 1,600). Don’t go longer than 4 hours without eating. Eat monounsaturated fats at every meal. Does It Work? Any weight loss plan can help you whittle your waist. But no diet is proven to specifically target that area, and monounsaturated fats don't have any special effect on belly fat. It's likely that if you...

New research is shedding light on a question that has long confounded dieters and obesity researchers alike: Why do so many people regain weight after they’ve worked so hard to lose it? The answer, according to a new study, is appetite. People who successfully lose weight get really hungry -- more than anyone had ever expected that they might. The body prompts us to eat about 100 calories more than usual for every 2 pounds or so of weight loss, researchers found. “That’s the very first time that number has been quantified. We never knew how big that number was before the study,” says researcher Kevin Hall, PhD, who studies how the body responds to weight loss at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD. It’s this surge in appetite, even more than the drop in metabolism people have after weight loss, that drives weight regain, he says. The effect of appetite is three times stronger than the slowing meta...

You might remember the Grapefruit Diet. It's not much different, they just put a new twist on it. Review the review but with a grain of salt. If you know what I mean. The Promise The plan claims that you may lose up to 10 pounds in a week if you follow it. It’s a very strict, low-calorie diet with some foods that seem healthy and others that don’t. There are set foods to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but that’s it. There are no snacks, and there’s no wiggle room about food choices based on your tastes. The diet itself only lasts for 3 days. After that, switch to a normal, healthy diet for at least 4 days. If you’d like to lose more weight, you can repeat the program as often as you’d like, as long as you take 4-day breaks every time after you do it. Never follow the diet longer than 3 days in a row. If you do a search on your browser, "military diet" you'll find they have food suggestions for  the 4-days you're off the diet. What You Can Eat and...

Many Americans struggle to control their weight. The country’s obesity problem is well known: 1 in 3 of us is obese, and the rate is rising. But you still might wonder what a healthy weight is, and how to get there (and stay there) the right way.  Remember as you read what the experts say, cutting calories is not about eating less food, it's about eating food with fewer calories. When you eat high-calorie food and drinks you add body fat. Body Mass Index (BMI) It’s pretty easy to figure out the estimated healthy weight. You can use two simple tools. The first is called body mass index (BMI). To figure out your BMI, just use this math formula: Multiply your weight in pounds by 703 and divide it by your height (in inches) squared. So, for example, if you weigh 185 pounds and are 5-foot-5 (65 inches), then your BMI works out this way: 185 x 703 = 130,055 65 x 65 = 4,225 130,005 ÷ 4,225 = 30.78 (round up to 30.8) Obesity in adults ...

If you are a dieter and have been fighting the battle of the bulge for a while now, you probably know that exercise isn't the only important part of losing fat. You have to eat the right foods. Okay, I could make a list of all the foods you should be eating and you'll look at the list and think "I eat most of those things", and you probably do, but what's more important is what you "shouldn't be eating". Eating healthy foods once a day or having a healthy meal once a day isn't enough. Everything we put in our month has to be for one purpose only. "To Give the body nutrition." The whole idea of eating healthy is to eat as much as you need but to eat only what will give your body nutrition. It's the nutrition from food that gives the body the energy to function properly. The body will always function on less but some functions will have to be put on the back-burner in the hopes of getting more energy later. Why do thin people see...