Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

  Am I Obese? How Experts Define What Obesity Is By Amanda MacMillan Obesity means having far too much body fat. It's about much more than your clothing size or how you look. It can seriously affect your health. Your whole body feels it, from your joints to your  heart ,  blood pressure ,  blood sugar , and other systems. The extra fat cells produce inflammation and various hormones, which boosts your odds of chronic medical conditions. If it seems like those odds are stacked against you, remember that it's possible to beat them. The first step is to know where you stand. Are You Obese? You step on the scale and your doctor or nurse notes your  weight . They might also measure your waist since it's especially risky to have too much  belly fat . If your doctor says you're overweight, that means "you're slightly over what's considered healthy," says Y. Claire Wang, MD. She's co-director of the Obesity Prevention Initiative at Columbia University. Obe...

 I am a firm believer that going on a fat-free, low-carb diet is the way to lose weight. If you are committed to losing weight, you really need to lose fat. When you lose body fat your weight isn't important any longer. You can't lose body fat if you continue to eat foods that contain fat. The only way I found to lose body fat is to train your body to burn body fat. You do that by not eating fat. Your body doesn't care where it gets fat to burn, it just needs to burn some fat every day.  If you're going to succeed in your new diet, your family has to help. The others in the house have to understand that if you continue to buy junk food you won't stay on the diet. Eating is an addiction like smoking and it will be difficult to stop eating junk food if it's in the house. Better: Formulate A Plan Going into the grocery store with a meal schedule, shopping list, and some extra willpower will help you avoid caving in and buying junk like frozen pizzas, doughnuts, and...

  You want to drop pounds, now. And you want to do it safely. But how? First, keep in mind that many experts say it’s best to  lose weight  gradually. It’s more likely to stay off. If you shed pounds too fast, you’ll lose muscle,  bone , and water instead of fat, says the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The academy’s advice: Aim to lose 1-2 pounds per week, and avoid  fad diets  or products that make promises that sound too good to be true. It’s best to base your weight loss on changes you can stick with over time. For faster results, you’ll need to work with a doctor, to make sure that you stay healthy and get the nutrients that you need.  Make a Plan You’ve probably heard the saying, “calories in, calories out”; as in, you just need to burn more calories than you eat and drink. But it’s not that simple, as many people can tell you from their own experience. Your  metabolism  -- how well your body turns calories into fuel -- also matters...

We used to reward ourselves by spending money on something we wanted to buy but didn't have the money until now. For guys maybe it was a new car or truck. For a woman maybe it was a new outfit. Maybe we got a Christmas bonus or a big commission check so we felt like it was time to treat ourselves.  That was then, and this is now. Now we go out and eat a big meal to celebrate our success. Maybe get a bottle of wine with dinner or cocktails before dinner. I think eating to celebrate started when buying clothes wasn't exciting anymore.  This goes much further than an occasional meal out. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight. So what you might ask? The overweight problem is causing a Healthcare crisis. If you don't believe me, Look at your Healthcare premiums. Another reason for the high premiums is that the percentage of people without healthcare is rising. Yes, your premiums are paying for people who can't pay for their healthcare. The insurance companies are stuck with...

I know all about eating too much at those family gathering. In this case we are talking about Thanksgiving.  Around my house or at anyone’s house that I know there is two parts to the big feast. First we eat a huge dinner, sometimes three kinds of meat, two different types of dressing, two types of cranberries, several types of potatoes, and several different vegetables. The idea is that no one, no matter how fuzzy, will go way hungry. There is always something for everyone in unlimited quantities. Then comes the second part, which usually is about one hour later, “dessert”. This is what everyone has been waiting for. If it’s a big gathering like 10 or 12 or more the whole table will be filled with pies, cakes, chocolate candies, brownies, lemon squares, and other ethnic tricks that we only see once or twice a year. These are times that no one should miss, even if you’re on a diet. The really bad part of the Holidays is that you might have to eat this meal more than once. We all ha...

  By Jennifer Rainey MarquezWebMD Feature Reviewed by  Joseph Goldberg, MD Think back to the last time you ate so much you felt absolutely stuffed. Were you tearing into a huge cake to celebrate a friend’s birthday? Loading up on turkey and sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving? Or were you at home alone, maybe at the end of a tough day? How did you feel afterward -- simply annoyed that you gave yourself a stomachache? Or were you tormented by guilt or shame? Eating too much every once in a while is normal. So is eating for emotional reasons. “From the moment we’re born, we’re nurtured with food, rewarded with food, and so emotional connections to food are normal,” says Michelle May, MD, author of  Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat . People who compulsively overeat, though, may use food as their only way of coping with negative emotions. As a result, they often feel that their eating is out of control. They think about food all the time and feel guilty, ashamed, or depressed ...

 I get this question frequently; "How Can I Lose Belly Fat?" If I had a dollar for every time I got that question. Wow!! The answer is complicated. First, we don't all lose fat the same way. I'll explain what worked for me. I had to change my diet totally. I stopped listening to everyone and did what I know works for me. Because I've dieting for 30 years on and off, I have had success, but I always go back to the foods I love, and the weight comes back. This time I promised myself that wouldn't happen. Whenever I lose fat, I lose it all over. My face gets thinner, my arms get smaller, I will lose a pants size, and my legs get thinner. Lately, instead of exercise, I've been doing yoga and bike riding. That's worked better for me than doing sit-ups and other exercises. I bike about 90 minutes, twice a week. And do yoga 3 times a week. I bounce around a little with the seasons of the year, but I have been maintaining 155 to 160 for more than 2 ye...

  HOW TO FINALLY GET IN SHAPE, EVEN IF YOU'VE FAILED BEFORE Getting fit can seem like an impossible task. First, there's all the information you have to deal with -- someone telling you to do this program or that program or follow this diet instead of that diet.  Then there's the real work. Dealing with  cravings  when nothing sounds better than putting away a dozen donuts. And you can't forget  actually exercising , right?  What you may not realize is that on top of all of this, you actually have to fight your own brain when it comes to fitness. You see, for all the talk we do about how we'd like to change this or that, get fit, go on a diet, or whatever it is, most people prefer to stay the same. This isn't necessarily your fault; change is terrifying, and because of that, your brain uses a number of tricks to keep you the same. Here are three ways your brain is sabotaging your fitness goals, and how to fix those.  Your brain tells stories to make yo...

  What does that mean? Good Question, this post will explain. Pick Whole Foods The basic idea of clean eating is to choose foods that are as close to their natural form as possible. So instead of boxed, bagged, or packaged foods, choose fresh, whole ones. Think whole turkey instead of frozen turkey meatballs or raw grapes instead of gummy snacks made with fruit juice. Bonus: When you avoid highly processed foods, like chips, cookies, and ready-to-eat meals, you skip their loads of calories, sugar, salt, and saturated fat. Load Up on Fruits and Veggies Clean foods are naturally low in salt and sugar, and adding them goes against the as-natural-as-possible approach. Since processed foods are a major source of sugar and salt, you can slash your intake when you avoid them. Otherwise, read food labels to look for added sweeteners and salt, even in foods that seem healthy, like yogurt or tomato sauce. Also, keep tabs on how much you add to your foods and drinks. Try flavoring with spices...