Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

This is an article I found in HealthDay recently, it's definitely worth a read. Your over-weight problem may be caused by food additives. Fructose -- a kind of sugar found in a wide variety of foods and beverages --may encourage overeating. Fructose may be best known to consumers in the form of high-fructose corn syrup, which has long been added to manufactured foods from sodas to cookies. Distinct from sugar known as glucose (produced by the natural breakdown of complex carbohydrates), fructose is also a "simple" sugar and a natural component of fruit. However, "in a series of studies we have found that when compared to glucose, the simple sugar, fructose, is a weaker suppressor of brain areas that help control appetite and the motivation to eat," said study co-author Dr. Kathleen Page, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In other words, people are more lik...

Great post from  VeryWell.com  tells us about the different fats in our body and which ones are dangerous to our health. Visceral fat is adipose tissue (fat tissue) that surrounds your vital organs. Visceral adipose tissue is located deep inside your body and is sometimes referred to as belly fat. If you have too much visceral fat, you may be at higher risk for certain health conditions and diseases. The Definition of Visceral Since visceral fat is often called belly fat, you might wonder why we use the term "visceral" to describe it. The reason is that there are two different kinds of fat in your belly and visceral fat is only one of them. In a health setting, the word visceral means in or near your vital organs (your viscera). These are the organs deep in your gut, like your stomach and your intestines. Visceral muscles are found in the walls of your visceral organs. Visceral fat surrounds those organs. Since your vital organs are located in your midsection, visc...

I’m talking about up to 30% more calories from certain foods.  It works like this: Nutrient-dense foods tend to be more complex. Take proteins, for instance. It takes more energy for your body to digest and use protein than it does for simpler foods like sugars. The effect of eating protein is the highest of all foods. What I mean is after eating protein, your metabolic rate will increase by approximately 30 percent. In other words, if you eat 100 calories of protein, 30 of those will be burned just digesting and using the protein. By comparison, carbohydrates are typically around 10 percent, and fat is just 5 percent. Proteins are primarily used as our body's— building blocks. They are most abundant in animal products—lean meats, egg whites, and low-fat cottage cheese are great protein sources. (Protein is also found, to a lesser degree, in beans, nuts, and various grains for you vegetarians out there.) Proteins are found in every cell in our bodies. Our muscles, hair, s...

Before you read the following post, I realize a lot of people with a weight problem think that exercise is impossible for them. But the best exercise for losing weight and strengthening the body is "walking". And some of us can't walk much, but don't let that stop you. I walk in the Mall every morning I can and I see the elderly with canes, walkers, and even wheelchairs doing their best to walk. Some only walk for 10 minutes at a time and then sit for 10 minutes and then walk for 10 minutes and then sit again and keep going. In a few weeks, they become stronger and will walk farther. It's uplifting for me to see the effort people are making to try and become healthier. Read the post below from  VeryWell.com . Is Walking 15 Minutes Helping Me Any? Yes, your body still has burned calories that it wouldn't have burned. If you are on a low-calorie diet, your body still will be burning fat as it doesn't have enough calories to get through the day. Bu...

I found this post on WebMd and for those who overeat, this read is a must. Think back to the last time you ate when 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 stomach ache? Or were you tormented by guilt or shame? For me, it was the guilt and shame that I felt for not being able to control myself. 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. 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...

You might think this is too complicated for me, but you want to understand the principles behind weight loss if you're going to succeed in your weight loss journey. Body composition  refers to the proportion of fat and fat-free mass in the body. A healthy body composition is one that includes a lower proportion of body fat and a higher proportion of fat-free mass. Body composition is one measurement that is used to assess your health and fitness level. What Is Body Composition? Your body is composed of two types of mass:  body fat  and  fat-free mass .   Body fat   is fat that is located within the body. Body fat can be in muscle tissue, under the skin or around organs. Some fat is necessary for overall health. It helps protect internal organs, provides energy and regulates important body hormones.  Fat-free mass  includes bone, water, muscle, and tissues. Fat-free mass is also important for the body to function prop...

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...