Thursday, March 5, 2015
Best Diet - 3 Key Ingredients For Ultimate Weight Loss Success
So you've made the resolution that THIS is the year you're going to lose weight and get in the best shape of your life. You're not going to settle for second best - you're going to achieve that dream body you've always wanted.
Great news - this is actually the best time to make that commitment. Why? Because you can take advantage of the powerful momentum and energy a New Year brings to achieve your weight loss dreams.
But there's nothing worse than committing to lose weight, only to get lost among the 5 gazillion diets out there. It can get confusing - you may end up wasting a lot of money and effort. You may end up wondering which diet is really the BEST diet for you.
You may even end up feeling so frustrated that you give up on your dream of becoming slim and healthy. But it doesn't have to be that way.
In order to have rapid weight loss success, you have to find the best diet for you (a.k.a. the diet that will speed you towards your dream body at lightning pace). There are millions of diets - but only a few that are best for you and your lifestyle.
The best diet for you will have the 3 key features listed below. Choose your diet with these 3 key features in mind and you're already halfway to your weight loss dreams.
#1 Proven Success Rate
Are there before and after pictures of people who have lost weight with that particular diet? Are there customer testimonials? Have there been independent studies done on the diet's success rate?
The diet you choose doesn't have to have all three of these but try to find at least some kind of proven success rate before choosing that particular program.
Finding a diet with a proven success rate not only lets you know that the diet works but it also helps give you the confidence that the diet will work FOR YOU.
Confidence is one of the most underrated factors in a successful weight loss program. If you've tried and failed with diets before you especially need that extra boost of confidence to carry you through the more difficult times in the diet. By reminding yourself that this diet has been proven to work - you'll be able to keep going and reach your weight loss goals.
A related feature that gets extra points is if the diet has been recommended by an expert or a physician. Again this boosts your confidence that the diet is safe and effective.
#2 Affordable.
Losing weight should not cost you thousands of dollars (unless we're talking about surgery here and that's an entirely different article). The best diet will be affordable for the average person.
If the diet costs too much, be very suspicious and look elsewhere. There are too many shady diets out there and as a consumer, it pays to be cautious.
I'll give you an example of what I mean:
A close friend of mine went to a well-known weight loss clinic in our area and was told she had to pay the yearly fees up front (around $1000 NOT including food). They also told her she had to buy their food in bulk (like $500 for a year's worth of chocolate). When the chocolate gave her heart palpitations and she had to take it back, they told her it was non-refundable. She was out the money for the chocolate. Plus, she feels she can't leave the program because she's paid the yearly fees (which, you guessed it, are also non-refundable).
She unfortunately made the mistake of ignoring her instincts and paying way too much money for a diet program. If you notice you're being asked for hefty fees right out of the gate, warning lights should be flashing in your mind.
Now on the other hand, the best diet WILL cost you something. It actually is better if you put some cash on the table for your diet program. Why? Because when we invest in something we're more likely to stick with it. When we invest in something we are more likely to follow through and get the results we want.
For example I did a liver detox several months ago. I'm not really into liver detoxing but I read an article and figured I'd try it.
The detox kit cost me a whopping $50 and when I opened the instructions they told me I had to give up junk food for two weeks. In any other universe I would have laughed and simply forgotten about detoxing my liver. But because I'd shelled out $50, I was invested - I decided that I hopefully wouldn't starve from lack of junk food over two weeks and suffered through it.
If I'd gotten the detox kit for free there's no way I would have followed those instructions. But because I was invested, I followed through and now have a healthier liver thanking me for it.
So when searching for the best diet, putting out some money on yourself and your dreams of a better body is actually a healthy thing. Just keep in mind that you shouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars on it.
#3 Compatible with Your Tastes and Lifestyle
This is THE most crucial step however it's the one where most people go wrong. When choosing a diet, they simply pick one and go, without considering if it is compatible with their tastes and lifestyle.
For example, if you hate feeling deprived or empty you might want to choose a program that lets you eat many times during the day so you don't feel hungry. If you get bored easily you want a diet program that gives you tremendous variety and flexibility. If you don't do a lot of cooking or food preparation, you'll want to look at a program where the food is pre-made for you.
Diets are like cars - there are hundreds of different models out there, each with their own unique features. And they can get you where you want to go. But your personality might gel better with certain features than others.
Dieting is hard enough. Don't make it harder on yourself by choosing a diet not compatible with who you are. Setting yourself up for success will also guarantee that you'll stick it out until you reach your goal.
And one other thing, the best diet will be one that you can get excited about. Choose a diet that you enjoy, that you believe in, that may actually be - gulp - fun.
Emotional excitement will fade in time, yes. But it can give you enough of an emotional push to get you over the initial hump. By that time your first few pounds will have come off and will serve as your continuing motivation.
So those are 3 key considerations when looking for the best diet. Keep them in mind and you will progress in leaps and bounds towards your dream body. Remember, planning now may seem boring - but it's the key to your future weight loss success.
Great news - this is actually the best time to make that commitment. Why? Because you can take advantage of the powerful momentum and energy a New Year brings to achieve your weight loss dreams.
But there's nothing worse than committing to lose weight, only to get lost among the 5 gazillion diets out there. It can get confusing - you may end up wasting a lot of money and effort. You may end up wondering which diet is really the BEST diet for you.
You may even end up feeling so frustrated that you give up on your dream of becoming slim and healthy. But it doesn't have to be that way.
In order to have rapid weight loss success, you have to find the best diet for you (a.k.a. the diet that will speed you towards your dream body at lightning pace). There are millions of diets - but only a few that are best for you and your lifestyle.
The best diet for you will have the 3 key features listed below. Choose your diet with these 3 key features in mind and you're already halfway to your weight loss dreams.
#1 Proven Success Rate
Are there before and after pictures of people who have lost weight with that particular diet? Are there customer testimonials? Have there been independent studies done on the diet's success rate?
The diet you choose doesn't have to have all three of these but try to find at least some kind of proven success rate before choosing that particular program.
Finding a diet with a proven success rate not only lets you know that the diet works but it also helps give you the confidence that the diet will work FOR YOU.
Confidence is one of the most underrated factors in a successful weight loss program. If you've tried and failed with diets before you especially need that extra boost of confidence to carry you through the more difficult times in the diet. By reminding yourself that this diet has been proven to work - you'll be able to keep going and reach your weight loss goals.
A related feature that gets extra points is if the diet has been recommended by an expert or a physician. Again this boosts your confidence that the diet is safe and effective.
#2 Affordable.
Losing weight should not cost you thousands of dollars (unless we're talking about surgery here and that's an entirely different article). The best diet will be affordable for the average person.
If the diet costs too much, be very suspicious and look elsewhere. There are too many shady diets out there and as a consumer, it pays to be cautious.
I'll give you an example of what I mean:
A close friend of mine went to a well-known weight loss clinic in our area and was told she had to pay the yearly fees up front (around $1000 NOT including food). They also told her she had to buy their food in bulk (like $500 for a year's worth of chocolate). When the chocolate gave her heart palpitations and she had to take it back, they told her it was non-refundable. She was out the money for the chocolate. Plus, she feels she can't leave the program because she's paid the yearly fees (which, you guessed it, are also non-refundable).
She unfortunately made the mistake of ignoring her instincts and paying way too much money for a diet program. If you notice you're being asked for hefty fees right out of the gate, warning lights should be flashing in your mind.
Now on the other hand, the best diet WILL cost you something. It actually is better if you put some cash on the table for your diet program. Why? Because when we invest in something we're more likely to stick with it. When we invest in something we are more likely to follow through and get the results we want.
For example I did a liver detox several months ago. I'm not really into liver detoxing but I read an article and figured I'd try it.
The detox kit cost me a whopping $50 and when I opened the instructions they told me I had to give up junk food for two weeks. In any other universe I would have laughed and simply forgotten about detoxing my liver. But because I'd shelled out $50, I was invested - I decided that I hopefully wouldn't starve from lack of junk food over two weeks and suffered through it.
If I'd gotten the detox kit for free there's no way I would have followed those instructions. But because I was invested, I followed through and now have a healthier liver thanking me for it.
So when searching for the best diet, putting out some money on yourself and your dreams of a better body is actually a healthy thing. Just keep in mind that you shouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars on it.
#3 Compatible with Your Tastes and Lifestyle
This is THE most crucial step however it's the one where most people go wrong. When choosing a diet, they simply pick one and go, without considering if it is compatible with their tastes and lifestyle.
For example, if you hate feeling deprived or empty you might want to choose a program that lets you eat many times during the day so you don't feel hungry. If you get bored easily you want a diet program that gives you tremendous variety and flexibility. If you don't do a lot of cooking or food preparation, you'll want to look at a program where the food is pre-made for you.
Diets are like cars - there are hundreds of different models out there, each with their own unique features. And they can get you where you want to go. But your personality might gel better with certain features than others.
Dieting is hard enough. Don't make it harder on yourself by choosing a diet not compatible with who you are. Setting yourself up for success will also guarantee that you'll stick it out until you reach your goal.
And one other thing, the best diet will be one that you can get excited about. Choose a diet that you enjoy, that you believe in, that may actually be - gulp - fun.
Emotional excitement will fade in time, yes. But it can give you enough of an emotional push to get you over the initial hump. By that time your first few pounds will have come off and will serve as your continuing motivation.
So those are 3 key considerations when looking for the best diet. Keep them in mind and you will progress in leaps and bounds towards your dream body. Remember, planning now may seem boring - but it's the key to your future weight loss success.
Build Muscle And Burn Fat With 4 Simple Steps
Build muscle and burn fat are the two most important factors in building an exceptional body, so you will want to heed the advice in this guide. The desire for a strong, healthy body is common enough, and there is no shortage of information out there. Not all of it is accurate, so here in this article we show you how to build muscle and burn fat properly.
Step 1
The basics which you need to know to build muscle and burn fat effectively are cardio exercises and resistance training, which more often than not involves lifting weights at a gym. Weight lifting is excellent for your muscles, giving them more strength, and improving their efficiency. The weight lifting will then bulk up the muscles with extra size, and the cardio burns off excess fat, and gives your heart a stimulating workout.
Step 2
Once y! ou have developed a settled exercise program with both cardio and resistance training, the most effective way to build muscle and burn fat as quickly as possible is to cut the rest periods in between exercises right down. This makes your gym work a lot more strenuous, and you need to be careful. Provided you stay within your limits, your muscles will benefit enormously from working at the point of exhaustion.
Step 3
One often overlooked, but extremely important, factor in the efficacy of your workouts is your diet. Learning which foods to eat at any given stage is a vital factor in being able to build muscle and burn fat. Very few bodybuilders really know how to do this. Muscles need protein to rebuild themselves after a strenuous workout, so take in protein food as soon as you can. Try it for a month, and see what happens. Try it with low fat protein such as tuna or chicken, and you should be pleased with the results.
Step 4
Make sure the weights you lift a! re right. Whereas most people will tell you to make sure you a! re not lifting too much weight, and that is indeed sound advice, you also need to know that there are more people in gyms under lifting than over lifting. Many weightlifters struggle to see gains because they aren't lifting enough weight to work the muscles. A weight which you can only manage to lift for 6 or 8 reps is ideal to build muscle and burn fat. Find a weight which you can only lift around 6 times, and keep practising lifting until you can lift the weight more than six times. When you can lift the weight ten times with relative ease, it is time to increase the weight again.
Follow the simple but effective advice in this guide, and you will find yourself able to build muscle and burn fat.
Step 1
The basics which you need to know to build muscle and burn fat effectively are cardio exercises and resistance training, which more often than not involves lifting weights at a gym. Weight lifting is excellent for your muscles, giving them more strength, and improving their efficiency. The weight lifting will then bulk up the muscles with extra size, and the cardio burns off excess fat, and gives your heart a stimulating workout.
Step 2
Once y! ou have developed a settled exercise program with both cardio and resistance training, the most effective way to build muscle and burn fat as quickly as possible is to cut the rest periods in between exercises right down. This makes your gym work a lot more strenuous, and you need to be careful. Provided you stay within your limits, your muscles will benefit enormously from working at the point of exhaustion.
Step 3
One often overlooked, but extremely important, factor in the efficacy of your workouts is your diet. Learning which foods to eat at any given stage is a vital factor in being able to build muscle and burn fat. Very few bodybuilders really know how to do this. Muscles need protein to rebuild themselves after a strenuous workout, so take in protein food as soon as you can. Try it for a month, and see what happens. Try it with low fat protein such as tuna or chicken, and you should be pleased with the results.
Step 4
Make sure the weights you lift a! re right. Whereas most people will tell you to make sure you a! re not lifting too much weight, and that is indeed sound advice, you also need to know that there are more people in gyms under lifting than over lifting. Many weightlifters struggle to see gains because they aren't lifting enough weight to work the muscles. A weight which you can only manage to lift for 6 or 8 reps is ideal to build muscle and burn fat. Find a weight which you can only lift around 6 times, and keep practising lifting until you can lift the weight more than six times. When you can lift the weight ten times with relative ease, it is time to increase the weight again.
Follow the simple but effective advice in this guide, and you will find yourself able to build muscle and burn fat.
Bust Through the Weight Loss Plateau!
Dieters dread the plateau. You're on a roll, losing weight steadily and happily for weeks. Your confidence is high and your goal is in sight. Then suddenly your scale freezes. No matter how hard you try, those extra pounds just refuse to budge. You've hit a wall and you know the frustration of seeing no progress could easily lead you to gain back what you've lost. So how do you break through the plateau?
It's perfectly normal for a dieter to reach a plateau. The trick is to use it as an opportunity to double up your efforts and get really clear on your strategy to carry you through to the finish line. Below you'll find suggestions that can help you recommit to your program and re-ignite the weight-loss process when you feel challenged.
1. Get clear on your ultimate weight-loss goal.
Be sure that your weight-loss goal is realistic and that your expected rate of weight loss is reasonable. If you are on a heath enhancing, nutritionally rich weight loss program you can expect to loss one to two pounds a week. Each body has its own ideal weight and size. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, but listen to your body and notice what feels best for you. A simple way to approximate your ideal weight is by referring to a Body Mass Index chart.
2. Go high-protein, low carbs.
Unless you are eating enough protein to maintain your lean muscle mass, you are likely to have lost weight already from both your fat stores and muscle. Women need to eat approximately 100grams of protein a day and men 150 grams in order to preserve their muscle tissue during a weight loss program. If you have lost some muscle during your weight loss program so far you will need to focus on protein so your body can build muscle, which requires more calories to sustain, which will in turn, kick start your weight loss again. Needless to say, any weight loss program you choose should be one that preserves your body's muscle and this does not happen!
3. Add resistance training to your program.
A wonderful way to boost your metabolism and break through to the next level of weight loss is by incorporating aerobic exercise into your program, such as 30 minutes of walking three to four times a week. (If you are 35 years or older, or haven't exercised regularly, begin with 10 to 15 minutes two to three times a week.) In addition, weight training with free weights or machines several times a week can help increase muscle mass, which in turn allows you to burn more calories faster. Studies show that weight training can increase your metabolism overnight by five to 10 percent. Working out can increase your metabolism for up to 21 hours after an intense workout.
4. Look out for hidden carbohydrates.
If your weight loss progress seems slow, look out for carbohydrates that might be sneaking their way unnoticed into your diet. Sugar can lurk in the most unexpected places such as ketchup, salad dressings, teriyaki and barbecue sauces. Watch out too for cornstarch, sugar or milk solids in many processed foods such as gravies, or sauces on frozen vegetables. Be especially careful about "low-fat" foods where flavor is enhanced by sugar and other carbohydrates. Try keeping a diet journal for a couple of days of EVERYTHING you eat and drink. You may quickly discover the hidden carbs that are keeping your weight-loss progress stuck and be able to eliminate them and move past your plateau.
5. Take the "refinement" out of your diet.
Try eliminating all refined sugar and refined grains from your diet. This includes white bread, pastries, pasta, white rice, white flour crackers, sugar-coated breakfast cereals, cookies and cake. This simple step can encourage a huge weight-loss breakthrough and leave you feeling more healthy and energized in the process.
6. Don't go hungry.
Cutting back on how often you eat can have a negative impact on your diet plateau. Many studies show that small, frequent meals are more satisfying and produce better weight-loss results than the same number of calories consumed in three large meals. Take advantage of healthy snacking and crunch on fresh slices of raw vegetables like celery, peppers, cucumber and jicama when you're hungry.
7. Drink to burn up.
It's vitally important to replenish your fluids by drinking plenty of water on your weight loss program. An inadequate supply of water in itself can slow down your weight-loss. Carry water with you wherever you go throughout the day. For additional weight-management benefits, add a high quality aloe concentrate to your water to help keep your digestion in top shape. Also, a probiotic supplement can help us maintain a healthy intestinal flora. Keeping well hydrated not only helps you burn fat efficiently, it also helps control hunger.
8. Keep your incentive strong.
Remember the determination you felt when you first began your weight-loss program? Remember the excitement of watching the pounds drop one by one? Go back to whatever your initial motivation was and see whether it still works for you. It may have been the desire to lose weight for a particular event or to regain your figure after pregnancy. You may have been motivated by poor health or by the shock of just how much weight you had gained. See whether the same motivation still has juice for you. If not, choose a new one. Keep a picture of yourself looking great (or bad!) on your refrigerator as a daily reminder of where you are heading.
(c) Kim Beardsmore
It's perfectly normal for a dieter to reach a plateau. The trick is to use it as an opportunity to double up your efforts and get really clear on your strategy to carry you through to the finish line. Below you'll find suggestions that can help you recommit to your program and re-ignite the weight-loss process when you feel challenged.
1. Get clear on your ultimate weight-loss goal.
Be sure that your weight-loss goal is realistic and that your expected rate of weight loss is reasonable. If you are on a heath enhancing, nutritionally rich weight loss program you can expect to loss one to two pounds a week. Each body has its own ideal weight and size. Don't compare yourself to anyone else, but listen to your body and notice what feels best for you. A simple way to approximate your ideal weight is by referring to a Body Mass Index chart.
2. Go high-protein, low carbs.
Unless you are eating enough protein to maintain your lean muscle mass, you are likely to have lost weight already from both your fat stores and muscle. Women need to eat approximately 100grams of protein a day and men 150 grams in order to preserve their muscle tissue during a weight loss program. If you have lost some muscle during your weight loss program so far you will need to focus on protein so your body can build muscle, which requires more calories to sustain, which will in turn, kick start your weight loss again. Needless to say, any weight loss program you choose should be one that preserves your body's muscle and this does not happen!
3. Add resistance training to your program.
A wonderful way to boost your metabolism and break through to the next level of weight loss is by incorporating aerobic exercise into your program, such as 30 minutes of walking three to four times a week. (If you are 35 years or older, or haven't exercised regularly, begin with 10 to 15 minutes two to three times a week.) In addition, weight training with free weights or machines several times a week can help increase muscle mass, which in turn allows you to burn more calories faster. Studies show that weight training can increase your metabolism overnight by five to 10 percent. Working out can increase your metabolism for up to 21 hours after an intense workout.
4. Look out for hidden carbohydrates.
If your weight loss progress seems slow, look out for carbohydrates that might be sneaking their way unnoticed into your diet. Sugar can lurk in the most unexpected places such as ketchup, salad dressings, teriyaki and barbecue sauces. Watch out too for cornstarch, sugar or milk solids in many processed foods such as gravies, or sauces on frozen vegetables. Be especially careful about "low-fat" foods where flavor is enhanced by sugar and other carbohydrates. Try keeping a diet journal for a couple of days of EVERYTHING you eat and drink. You may quickly discover the hidden carbs that are keeping your weight-loss progress stuck and be able to eliminate them and move past your plateau.
5. Take the "refinement" out of your diet.
Try eliminating all refined sugar and refined grains from your diet. This includes white bread, pastries, pasta, white rice, white flour crackers, sugar-coated breakfast cereals, cookies and cake. This simple step can encourage a huge weight-loss breakthrough and leave you feeling more healthy and energized in the process.
6. Don't go hungry.
Cutting back on how often you eat can have a negative impact on your diet plateau. Many studies show that small, frequent meals are more satisfying and produce better weight-loss results than the same number of calories consumed in three large meals. Take advantage of healthy snacking and crunch on fresh slices of raw vegetables like celery, peppers, cucumber and jicama when you're hungry.
7. Drink to burn up.
It's vitally important to replenish your fluids by drinking plenty of water on your weight loss program. An inadequate supply of water in itself can slow down your weight-loss. Carry water with you wherever you go throughout the day. For additional weight-management benefits, add a high quality aloe concentrate to your water to help keep your digestion in top shape. Also, a probiotic supplement can help us maintain a healthy intestinal flora. Keeping well hydrated not only helps you burn fat efficiently, it also helps control hunger.
8. Keep your incentive strong.
Remember the determination you felt when you first began your weight-loss program? Remember the excitement of watching the pounds drop one by one? Go back to whatever your initial motivation was and see whether it still works for you. It may have been the desire to lose weight for a particular event or to regain your figure after pregnancy. You may have been motivated by poor health or by the shock of just how much weight you had gained. See whether the same motivation still has juice for you. If not, choose a new one. Keep a picture of yourself looking great (or bad!) on your refrigerator as a daily reminder of where you are heading.
(c) Kim Beardsmore
Best Ways To Burn Fat
The best ways to burn fat will be different for each unique individual, as we all have different metabolisms, and different physical characteristics. Nevertheless, there are some common principles which can be applied to anyone, and it these that we shall concentrate on here. The methods given here are tested over time, and among the best ways to burn fat.
Method 1
The most obvious form of exercise you can perform is still one of the best ways to burn fat, and that is simple running. This running can be done indoors on a treadmill, but you will probably burn more calories by getting outside. If you do your running in the countryside, across country and often on hilly terrain, you will be working your body hard, and in a healthy environment.
Method 2
There is no doubt that skipping is one of the best ways to burn fat, if not the best. Successive generations of boxers have incorporated skipping into their daily schedule, and these are people who can afford to be at anything below peak fitness. If you practice skipping for twenty minutes, you will probably find it the hardest 20 minutes of your training career!
Method 3
One of the best ways to burn fat is to know what you are setting out to do All physical exercise takes effort and determination, and you are far more likely to succeed if you can know what you have to do to reach your target. On average you need to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat. There is also a formula which says if you multiply your weight in pounds by 13, you will find out the number of calories it will take for you to stay at your current weight. If you play around with the numbers a little, you can get an idea of how many calories you need to be taking in each day to lose the fat you want to lose. From these formulae, you can work out a reasonable plan for burning fat and losing weight.
Method 4
The best ways to burn fat will always be ways you are likely to stick with, so if you are keen on intense sport, take advantage of this. Even if you only perform the activity in short bursts, you will still be burning calories. There is a lot of running and exertion involved in virtually any sport, and most have practice drills which you can perform alone. Doing something which gives you a challenge, and which you find satisfying, will give you the drive to push through the bad times and carry on.
These four methods are the best ways to burn fat.
Method 1
The most obvious form of exercise you can perform is still one of the best ways to burn fat, and that is simple running. This running can be done indoors on a treadmill, but you will probably burn more calories by getting outside. If you do your running in the countryside, across country and often on hilly terrain, you will be working your body hard, and in a healthy environment.
Method 2
There is no doubt that skipping is one of the best ways to burn fat, if not the best. Successive generations of boxers have incorporated skipping into their daily schedule, and these are people who can afford to be at anything below peak fitness. If you practice skipping for twenty minutes, you will probably find it the hardest 20 minutes of your training career!
Method 3
One of the best ways to burn fat is to know what you are setting out to do All physical exercise takes effort and determination, and you are far more likely to succeed if you can know what you have to do to reach your target. On average you need to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound of fat. There is also a formula which says if you multiply your weight in pounds by 13, you will find out the number of calories it will take for you to stay at your current weight. If you play around with the numbers a little, you can get an idea of how many calories you need to be taking in each day to lose the fat you want to lose. From these formulae, you can work out a reasonable plan for burning fat and losing weight.
Method 4
The best ways to burn fat will always be ways you are likely to stick with, so if you are keen on intense sport, take advantage of this. Even if you only perform the activity in short bursts, you will still be burning calories. There is a lot of running and exertion involved in virtually any sport, and most have practice drills which you can perform alone. Doing something which gives you a challenge, and which you find satisfying, will give you the drive to push through the bad times and carry on.
These four methods are the best ways to burn fat.
Best Fat Burner
What is the best fat burner?
This article will tell you but my approach is a little different. I am not going to tell you the best fat burner by discussing certain ingredients or chemicals or telling you some particular brand name is the greatest.
No. I am going to let the average person decide by casting a vote. I used an internet tool that let me determine how many searches were performed for a particular word or phrase at a certain search engine.
The results were for the month of May, 2006. I selected well known weight loss pills, brand names or an ingredient and then entered that word or phrase to get my numerical result.
The top vote getter, the most searched term for an herbal diet pill or what the people think is the best fat burner is "ephedra".
Here are the results:
Ephedra 86,507
Hydroxycut 52,524
Xenadrine 32,650
Stacker 2 19,031
Metabolife 9,819
Ephedrine 42,575
Green Tea 40,856
Chromium 8,754
Let me note a few things of interest.
More people searched for the term "ephedra" during the month of May, 2006 while searching for information on a weight loss pill or diet pill than any other well known brand or ingredient.
But what's interesting is, most people think ephedra is illegal or no longer available. Plus, ephedra is just one herbal ingredient in many fat burners.
Green tea, while it has many other benefits was not searched as often as ephedra which is considered illegal by many people.
This is also curious. The brand name Metabolife is a brand that is no longer around. The company has gone bankrupt from lawsuits yet almost 10,000 people a month search for this once great weight loss product.
Another interesting point is that the word "ephedrine" is actually a chemical within the herbal ephedra plant, but a large number of people are searching for this chemical.
Ephedrine is the major reason the herbal plant, ephedra, works so well and is considered the best fat burner, certainly among the general population of people searching the internet for weight loss pills or diet pills.
This article will tell you but my approach is a little different. I am not going to tell you the best fat burner by discussing certain ingredients or chemicals or telling you some particular brand name is the greatest.
No. I am going to let the average person decide by casting a vote. I used an internet tool that let me determine how many searches were performed for a particular word or phrase at a certain search engine.
The results were for the month of May, 2006. I selected well known weight loss pills, brand names or an ingredient and then entered that word or phrase to get my numerical result.
The top vote getter, the most searched term for an herbal diet pill or what the people think is the best fat burner is "ephedra".
Here are the results:
Ephedra 86,507
Hydroxycut 52,524
Xenadrine 32,650
Stacker 2 19,031
Metabolife 9,819
Ephedrine 42,575
Green Tea 40,856
Chromium 8,754
Let me note a few things of interest.
More people searched for the term "ephedra" during the month of May, 2006 while searching for information on a weight loss pill or diet pill than any other well known brand or ingredient.
But what's interesting is, most people think ephedra is illegal or no longer available. Plus, ephedra is just one herbal ingredient in many fat burners.
Green tea, while it has many other benefits was not searched as often as ephedra which is considered illegal by many people.
This is also curious. The brand name Metabolife is a brand that is no longer around. The company has gone bankrupt from lawsuits yet almost 10,000 people a month search for this once great weight loss product.
Another interesting point is that the word "ephedrine" is actually a chemical within the herbal ephedra plant, but a large number of people are searching for this chemical.
Ephedrine is the major reason the herbal plant, ephedra, works so well and is considered the best fat burner, certainly among the general population of people searching the internet for weight loss pills or diet pills.
Best Weight Loss Supplements-How To Find The Top Ones To Help You Lose The Weight You Need
Here are some tips to finding the best weight supplements for you even if you do not fall under the obese category and just want to shed those extra kilos around your belly. Weight loss through diet supplements and not hardcore exercise or weight training is what every obese and overweight is looking for.
Starving yourself to death for a day or two has never worked for anybody and it will not work for you either. The third day or the third week you tend to give in to the temptation of having a good elaborated meal or fall back upon your old diet for refuge.
The reason that diets don't work is very simple: most people deprive themselves in one certain area of nutrition, and therefore, while they may in fact lose weight from the diet they've embarked on, they will actually be less healthy as a result. Also, often times diets revolve around depriving your body of the food it needs, as well as the food you enjoy.
Many people are able to do this for a certain amount of time, but sooner or later will cave into the temptation of eating the foods they love. In fact, when they do cave and start eating the same foods they always have, they will probably eat even more than they used to, and as a result will end up even heavier than they were before they started the diet. Most times, with a diet you simply have to changing your eating habits all at once, and without a gradual build up, you will shock your system, and it won't be long before you are eating the way you always have been.
It is better to keep your weight in check by taking natural weight loss supplements that money can buy. Protein supplements which takes longer to digest and thus making you feel less hungry can be the best supplement you are looking for.
Diet pills, fat burners and all other supplements should not be taken with simply your own judgment as it might bring the side effect of sweating profusely, headache, nausea and terrible kidney failures. Consult a nutritionist and dietitian who can advise you better. A little exercise i.e. walking or visiting a fitness center four days a week for an hour has always been suggested by fitness professionals.
Remember, when exercising, make sure you start out gradually and work your way up. As with diets, many people simply start out doing it too fast, and begin doing workouts that their body can't handle or are simply very difficult to do at first.
As a result, they will begin dreading their workout time, and will probably quit pretty shortly after starting. When you gradually work your way up, you give your body time to recuperate and gradually build up your strength so that soon you can handle much more than you ever could in the beginning.
Replacing one or two of your day's meal with these healthy weight loss supplements, such as shakes and juices have brought wonderful results. Who knows; it might be the supplement you are looking for. For weight loss nothing works better than organizing your life in a routine diet full of proteins, vegetables, fruits, water and exercises and do not loose hope if you don't get results in couple of months.
Choose the best weight loss supplements that help you increase your body metabolism. People who have a lean and thin body have higher rate of metabolism naturally and active people loose weight by constant physical activity.
Starving yourself to death for a day or two has never worked for anybody and it will not work for you either. The third day or the third week you tend to give in to the temptation of having a good elaborated meal or fall back upon your old diet for refuge.
The reason that diets don't work is very simple: most people deprive themselves in one certain area of nutrition, and therefore, while they may in fact lose weight from the diet they've embarked on, they will actually be less healthy as a result. Also, often times diets revolve around depriving your body of the food it needs, as well as the food you enjoy.
Many people are able to do this for a certain amount of time, but sooner or later will cave into the temptation of eating the foods they love. In fact, when they do cave and start eating the same foods they always have, they will probably eat even more than they used to, and as a result will end up even heavier than they were before they started the diet. Most times, with a diet you simply have to changing your eating habits all at once, and without a gradual build up, you will shock your system, and it won't be long before you are eating the way you always have been.
It is better to keep your weight in check by taking natural weight loss supplements that money can buy. Protein supplements which takes longer to digest and thus making you feel less hungry can be the best supplement you are looking for.
Diet pills, fat burners and all other supplements should not be taken with simply your own judgment as it might bring the side effect of sweating profusely, headache, nausea and terrible kidney failures. Consult a nutritionist and dietitian who can advise you better. A little exercise i.e. walking or visiting a fitness center four days a week for an hour has always been suggested by fitness professionals.
Remember, when exercising, make sure you start out gradually and work your way up. As with diets, many people simply start out doing it too fast, and begin doing workouts that their body can't handle or are simply very difficult to do at first.
As a result, they will begin dreading their workout time, and will probably quit pretty shortly after starting. When you gradually work your way up, you give your body time to recuperate and gradually build up your strength so that soon you can handle much more than you ever could in the beginning.
Replacing one or two of your day's meal with these healthy weight loss supplements, such as shakes and juices have brought wonderful results. Who knows; it might be the supplement you are looking for. For weight loss nothing works better than organizing your life in a routine diet full of proteins, vegetables, fruits, water and exercises and do not loose hope if you don't get results in couple of months.
Choose the best weight loss supplements that help you increase your body metabolism. People who have a lean and thin body have higher rate of metabolism naturally and active people loose weight by constant physical activity.
Burning Fat vs. Burning Calories
To lose weight and get in shape you must have a good diet and exercise regularly to burn fat. The first thing you must understand about exercise is that just because you are burning calories does not mean you are burning fat. Your main focus when you exercise should be losing body fat, and you can't lose body fat just from burning calories. When we exercise, our bodies will start burning calories, but the calories that are burned are the calories from carbohydrates in our system. In order to burn calories from your stored fat, your body requires the presence of oxygen. There is a certain amount of oxygen that your body needs in order to start burning fat and the only way for you to measure the amount needed for your own body is to keep up with your target heart rate during exercise. Please understand that if you continue to only burn calories from carbohydrates, you will lose mostly "water weight" which leads to a decrease in your metabolism. Also, think of the calories that are burned from carbohydrates as your energy calories. If you lose too much energy calories then your muscles will not receive enough energy to increase your metabolism which indirectly burn fat. Therefore you must increase your calorie intake when you are on an exercise program to replace your burned energy calories.
Burning Fat Calories during exercise
During aerobic exercise, your body goes through several stages before it reaches the point where you are burning fat. You will hear people say that you are only burning sugar (carbohydrates) not fat during the first 10 minutes of exercise. This is true to a certain extent. I say this because you will continue to burn sugar past the 10 minute mark if you are not working out hard enough for your body to want more oxygen; or you are working out too hard and you can't supply your body with enough oxygen for fat burning. When you exercise you must move at a steady pace (not too fast, not too slow) so your body will utilize your stored fat (not carbohydrates or sugar) as its energy source. Also remember that just because you reached the fat burning stage does not mean you will stay there. Staying at the fat burning stage once again depends on if you are moving at a pace that is right for your body. Make sure that you are within your target heart rate range.
Burning Fat Calories at rest
The only way for you to continue to burn fat calories hours after you have finished working out is through the anaerobic exercise of weight training. Weight training is the key to burning fat at rest. Weight training is an anaerobic activity that will cause you to burn more calories than aerobic exercise. The calories that you are burning during weight training exercises are mostly calories from carbohydrates (meaning you must eat even more calories per day for energy); but the calories you burn at rest are mostly calories from fat. The reason you are burning fat at rest is because weight training increases your metabolism which uses your stored fat as energy.
To make your body the ultimate fat burning machine you must do aerobic (cardio) and anaerobic (weight training) exercises.
Burning Fat Calories during exercise
During aerobic exercise, your body goes through several stages before it reaches the point where you are burning fat. You will hear people say that you are only burning sugar (carbohydrates) not fat during the first 10 minutes of exercise. This is true to a certain extent. I say this because you will continue to burn sugar past the 10 minute mark if you are not working out hard enough for your body to want more oxygen; or you are working out too hard and you can't supply your body with enough oxygen for fat burning. When you exercise you must move at a steady pace (not too fast, not too slow) so your body will utilize your stored fat (not carbohydrates or sugar) as its energy source. Also remember that just because you reached the fat burning stage does not mean you will stay there. Staying at the fat burning stage once again depends on if you are moving at a pace that is right for your body. Make sure that you are within your target heart rate range.
Burning Fat Calories at rest
The only way for you to continue to burn fat calories hours after you have finished working out is through the anaerobic exercise of weight training. Weight training is the key to burning fat at rest. Weight training is an anaerobic activity that will cause you to burn more calories than aerobic exercise. The calories that you are burning during weight training exercises are mostly calories from carbohydrates (meaning you must eat even more calories per day for energy); but the calories you burn at rest are mostly calories from fat. The reason you are burning fat at rest is because weight training increases your metabolism which uses your stored fat as energy.
To make your body the ultimate fat burning machine you must do aerobic (cardio) and anaerobic (weight training) exercises.
Burn Fat and Gain Muscle
Burn fat and gain muscle - it isn't as hard as you might think. You can train your body to burn excess calories instead of storing them as fat, and you can exercise to build up your muscles. With the right techniques, it is easy, so here we show you the best ways to burn fat and build muscle.
Step 1
The very first technique you need to learn in learning how to burn fat and build muscle is to train your body to burn off excess fat. The human body is intelligent to the degree that it watches the calories coming in, and the activity burning them up. It doesn't have any idea what future calorific intake will be, so it tends to store excess calories as fat. Exercise is what your body needs to keep the fat burning off. Simple running, swimming or cycling will stimulate the body to burn off fat.
Step 2
These simple forms of exercise are the best starting point for a system to burn fat and gain muscle. As a complement to this, you will want to start eating as healthy a diet as possible, and you will need to add some resistance training to your program. The most effective form of resistance training is with weights. Weights increase the muscle mass, and this in turn leads to an increase in the speed at which calories are burned. Combine this with the reduced calories from your improved diet, and you should see a dramatic improvement in your health.
Step 3
At this stage, you can increase your food intake. You should see quick results from the previous step, as your muscles get bigger and your waist gets smaller. This is exactly the result you want when you burn fat and gain muscle. Eventually you will reach a stage where your metabolism will be trying to burn off fat and grow muscles, but the difficulty lies in the body's natural tendency to burn muscle. Sometimes when you are hungry on waking, that is a symptom of your body burning muscle instead of fat.
Step 4
As you progress, you will need to step up your cardio and weight training. The weights you use will need to increase in weight constantly, as your body adjusts to each new level. When you can lift a weight for 8 reps with no obvious difficulty, you can then add to the weight and keep the pressure constant. At this stage, you can also add protein supplements. These can help you burn fat and gain muscle by repairing the muscle quickly. Protein is the nutrient which aids muscle repair, and this stimulates growth as your training program continues.
The most crucial step in learning to burn fat and gain muscle is to train your body, first to burn fat, and then to sustain muscle growth. Check out the links below for a free review of the best burn fat and gain muscle guides.
Step 1
The very first technique you need to learn in learning how to burn fat and build muscle is to train your body to burn off excess fat. The human body is intelligent to the degree that it watches the calories coming in, and the activity burning them up. It doesn't have any idea what future calorific intake will be, so it tends to store excess calories as fat. Exercise is what your body needs to keep the fat burning off. Simple running, swimming or cycling will stimulate the body to burn off fat.
Step 2
These simple forms of exercise are the best starting point for a system to burn fat and gain muscle. As a complement to this, you will want to start eating as healthy a diet as possible, and you will need to add some resistance training to your program. The most effective form of resistance training is with weights. Weights increase the muscle mass, and this in turn leads to an increase in the speed at which calories are burned. Combine this with the reduced calories from your improved diet, and you should see a dramatic improvement in your health.
Step 3
At this stage, you can increase your food intake. You should see quick results from the previous step, as your muscles get bigger and your waist gets smaller. This is exactly the result you want when you burn fat and gain muscle. Eventually you will reach a stage where your metabolism will be trying to burn off fat and grow muscles, but the difficulty lies in the body's natural tendency to burn muscle. Sometimes when you are hungry on waking, that is a symptom of your body burning muscle instead of fat.
Step 4
As you progress, you will need to step up your cardio and weight training. The weights you use will need to increase in weight constantly, as your body adjusts to each new level. When you can lift a weight for 8 reps with no obvious difficulty, you can then add to the weight and keep the pressure constant. At this stage, you can also add protein supplements. These can help you burn fat and gain muscle by repairing the muscle quickly. Protein is the nutrient which aids muscle repair, and this stimulates growth as your training program continues.
The most crucial step in learning to burn fat and gain muscle is to train your body, first to burn fat, and then to sustain muscle growth. Check out the links below for a free review of the best burn fat and gain muscle guides.
Best Ways To Lose Weight
As a rule of thumb, embrace a healthy weight loss diet plan that is rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole grains, alongside drinking a lot of water, at least 8-10 glasses a day.
Overweight can cause a lot of troubles to one personally alongside other health related issues. Studies have shown that overweight invariably leads to health issues such as hypertension, cardiac troubles, sleep apnea and diabetes. Further, being obese could hamper one's freedom to move, run, or sit comfortably in a standard chair. The only way out of this mess is to shed those extra pounds around your waist by embracing some healthy weight loss diet plan and follow it religiously. In the following paragraphs, you'll see few important tips that could help one effectively reduce his/her weight to healthier proportions.
Every healthy weight loss diet plan proposed by dieticians and nutritionists starts with a simple suggestion - reduce the food intake to the optimum amount. But it is the most difficult of the things to implement and it will take a lot of mental effort from your side to tune your mind to say NO to victuals.
Reducing the food all in a sudden could adversely affect one's health. Hence reduction in food intake also means adopting a healthier and balanced diet schedule. As a rule of thumb, embrace a healthy weight loss diet plan that is rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole grains, alongside drinking lots of water, at least 8-10 glasses a day. It would be prudent to chart a healthy weight loss diet plan for oneself than following text book quick weight loss programs such as Mediterranean Diet, Hollywood diet, lemonade diet or slim fast diet.
And finally, backup your efforts with a strict fitness regime to burn away those extra calories from the body. Make it a practice to spend 30 min in the gym daily. A short stroll in the garden or in the street in the evening is also is advisable.
To conclude, whichever healthy weight loss diet plan you choose, it will be hard work overall - both physical and mental - to shed those extra kilos you have gained over the years by hard eating. But the end result is worth all the efforts put in. And that will be a test of your mental resolve as well.
Overweight can cause a lot of troubles to one personally alongside other health related issues. Studies have shown that overweight invariably leads to health issues such as hypertension, cardiac troubles, sleep apnea and diabetes. Further, being obese could hamper one's freedom to move, run, or sit comfortably in a standard chair. The only way out of this mess is to shed those extra pounds around your waist by embracing some healthy weight loss diet plan and follow it religiously. In the following paragraphs, you'll see few important tips that could help one effectively reduce his/her weight to healthier proportions.
Every healthy weight loss diet plan proposed by dieticians and nutritionists starts with a simple suggestion - reduce the food intake to the optimum amount. But it is the most difficult of the things to implement and it will take a lot of mental effort from your side to tune your mind to say NO to victuals.
Reducing the food all in a sudden could adversely affect one's health. Hence reduction in food intake also means adopting a healthier and balanced diet schedule. As a rule of thumb, embrace a healthy weight loss diet plan that is rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy products and whole grains, alongside drinking lots of water, at least 8-10 glasses a day. It would be prudent to chart a healthy weight loss diet plan for oneself than following text book quick weight loss programs such as Mediterranean Diet, Hollywood diet, lemonade diet or slim fast diet.
And finally, backup your efforts with a strict fitness regime to burn away those extra calories from the body. Make it a practice to spend 30 min in the gym daily. A short stroll in the garden or in the street in the evening is also is advisable.
To conclude, whichever healthy weight loss diet plan you choose, it will be hard work overall - both physical and mental - to shed those extra kilos you have gained over the years by hard eating. But the end result is worth all the efforts put in. And that will be a test of your mental resolve as well.
Breaking the Jinx of Obesity through Weight Loss Drug
'Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fattest of them all'
Though my mirror would not magically utter my name, my eyes would move unconsciously to the ugly bulge that has formed near the middle part of my body. I know I am the one. For years, I have continued to hate the mirror. I even attempted a lot many times to do away with even traces of the thing. But, my wife wouldn't allow (women and mirrors go hand in hand).
Finally, I understood that closing my eyes to the fat won't make me less fat. Weight loss drug was one such step which I undertook to do away with the fat. A weight loss drug works by ddecreasing appetite, increasing satisfaction, decreasing fat absorption and increasing the rate of metabolism.
Weight loss drugs refer to over-the-counter medication or prescription drugs. The drugs are manufactured from a large number of chemical as well as herbal formulations such as amphetamines, appetite suppressants, benzene derivatives, herbal extracts, hormones and many more.
The use of weight loss drugs, to the confusion of users, does not offer exactly similar benefits to all. While some may benefit from it, others may not. This is a mystery that scientists till date are trying to decipher. Scientists have come to the conclusion that obesity or overweight is a complex illness. There is not only the physical determinant to it such as larger intake of food or more fat absorption. There are behavioural and psychological aspects to the illness as well. Therefore, it is imperative that obesity be treated by taking the entire picture in mind.
A few drugs have had enough research; certain others are still remaining to be studied in depth. The key to the use of weight loss drug is to examine properly if the drug is effective. Only properly researched drugs must be used to avoid side effects.
Weight loss drugs demand perseverance on the part of user in his dietary and workout habits. It is all the more important that user reduces intakes of fatty foods and consume more of low carb diets. Daily exercise is also important. Muscles are an important method of burning calories. Besides, it gives a good shape to ones body.
Weight loss drugs are not entirely free from drawbacks. Many weight loss drugs have been investigated to result into side effects such as cardiac arrest. Besides, it is often quite tricky to pinpoint if a particular weight loss drug was behind the weight one lost. Any weight loss program is often accompanied by diet and exercise; thus making it difficult to decide the contribution of the drug. Despite these criticisms, the desire of humans to find a magic pill for weight loss continues.
Though my mirror would not magically utter my name, my eyes would move unconsciously to the ugly bulge that has formed near the middle part of my body. I know I am the one. For years, I have continued to hate the mirror. I even attempted a lot many times to do away with even traces of the thing. But, my wife wouldn't allow (women and mirrors go hand in hand).
Finally, I understood that closing my eyes to the fat won't make me less fat. Weight loss drug was one such step which I undertook to do away with the fat. A weight loss drug works by ddecreasing appetite, increasing satisfaction, decreasing fat absorption and increasing the rate of metabolism.
Weight loss drugs refer to over-the-counter medication or prescription drugs. The drugs are manufactured from a large number of chemical as well as herbal formulations such as amphetamines, appetite suppressants, benzene derivatives, herbal extracts, hormones and many more.
The use of weight loss drugs, to the confusion of users, does not offer exactly similar benefits to all. While some may benefit from it, others may not. This is a mystery that scientists till date are trying to decipher. Scientists have come to the conclusion that obesity or overweight is a complex illness. There is not only the physical determinant to it such as larger intake of food or more fat absorption. There are behavioural and psychological aspects to the illness as well. Therefore, it is imperative that obesity be treated by taking the entire picture in mind.
A few drugs have had enough research; certain others are still remaining to be studied in depth. The key to the use of weight loss drug is to examine properly if the drug is effective. Only properly researched drugs must be used to avoid side effects.
Weight loss drugs demand perseverance on the part of user in his dietary and workout habits. It is all the more important that user reduces intakes of fatty foods and consume more of low carb diets. Daily exercise is also important. Muscles are an important method of burning calories. Besides, it gives a good shape to ones body.
Weight loss drugs are not entirely free from drawbacks. Many weight loss drugs have been investigated to result into side effects such as cardiac arrest. Besides, it is often quite tricky to pinpoint if a particular weight loss drug was behind the weight one lost. Any weight loss program is often accompanied by diet and exercise; thus making it difficult to decide the contribution of the drug. Despite these criticisms, the desire of humans to find a magic pill for weight loss continues.
Can Energy Drinks Help You Lose Weight?
Energy drinks are liquid soda-style beverages that are boosted by the inclusion of 'energy boosting' ingredients including sugar, caffeine and other caffeine-like substances like ephedrine, and guarana. Some energy drinks also have vitamins, "acid stabilizers" or other nutritious-sounding ingredients, too. With all of these ingredients one might well ask whether energy drinks can help you achieve your weight loss goals by giving you the boost you need to exercise consistently.
Red Bull, Jolt, Amp and Hype are four of the more commonly known energy drinks. Energy drinks themselves are classified as "functional beverages" which means that they do not form part of the bigger nutraceutical food or dietary supplement industry. So because energy drinks are not classified as either a food or a dietary supplement, they are not regulated nor monitored by the Food and Drug Administration.
The aim of energy drinks is to boost your energy for physical activity and to improve your ability to concentrate on a specific task. Many believe these drinks can provide the energy they need to perform their exercise routine. But whatever you do, you should not confuse energy drinks with sports drinks. Sports drinks are specially formulated to help provide energy to tired muscles and to help the body absorb water and glucose (sugar) - energy drinks are not designed to do this.
While sports drinks are at their most beneficial if your workout is going to exceed an hour or so, plain water is generally a preferred option for quenching your thirst and replenishing your body fluid. Energy drinks, on the other hand, dehydrate rather than hydrate so this is why they are not designed for assistance with sports, but rather just to give you that quick energy-based pick me up.
While many people might claim that energy drinks are good for you if you are playing sports, the truth is that they are good for short bursts of activity and mental alertness only. It is vital that if you are consuming energy drinks that you know what you are drinking. Energy drinks are not necessarily bad for you, but they shouldn't be seen as natural substitutes for health supplements either. Some of the marketing for energy drinks claim that they "improve performance" and can be misleading because essentially all you are doing is over stimulating your body with caffeine.
There is not very much that is currently known about energy drinks and the effects that their consumption can have on a person's overall health and wellbeing. The creators, manufacturers and marketers of energy drinks will tell you about the numerous health effects of their products. Their messages will tell you that these products can increase your physical endurance, improve your reaction times, boost your mental alertness and c oncentration, increase your overall wellbeing, stimulate and even speed up your metabolism, improve your stamina and help eliminate waste from your body.
Ideally, energy drinks should not be used by someone exercising for a sustained period of time because the combination of fluid loss from sweating and the diuretic quality of the caffeine can leave the drinker feeling severely dehydrated at a time when their body needs to be replenished with fluids.
So, what is the deal with energy drinks and why are they so popular? Well quite simply, if you manage your consumption at only one or two a day, then energy drinks won't harm you and in fact can help you improve your day-to-day activities. Their super-concentrated stimulating ingredients will indeed wake you up and help you to improve the way that you conduct and perform simple mental tasks. There is plenty of sugar and caffeine in energy drinks though, so you should be sure that you minimize your consumption to one or t wo drinks a day at the most. Any more and you could well experience side effects.
Red Bull, Jolt, Amp and Hype are four of the more commonly known energy drinks. Energy drinks themselves are classified as "functional beverages" which means that they do not form part of the bigger nutraceutical food or dietary supplement industry. So because energy drinks are not classified as either a food or a dietary supplement, they are not regulated nor monitored by the Food and Drug Administration.
The aim of energy drinks is to boost your energy for physical activity and to improve your ability to concentrate on a specific task. Many believe these drinks can provide the energy they need to perform their exercise routine. But whatever you do, you should not confuse energy drinks with sports drinks. Sports drinks are specially formulated to help provide energy to tired muscles and to help the body absorb water and glucose (sugar) - energy drinks are not designed to do this.
While sports drinks are at their most beneficial if your workout is going to exceed an hour or so, plain water is generally a preferred option for quenching your thirst and replenishing your body fluid. Energy drinks, on the other hand, dehydrate rather than hydrate so this is why they are not designed for assistance with sports, but rather just to give you that quick energy-based pick me up.
While many people might claim that energy drinks are good for you if you are playing sports, the truth is that they are good for short bursts of activity and mental alertness only. It is vital that if you are consuming energy drinks that you know what you are drinking. Energy drinks are not necessarily bad for you, but they shouldn't be seen as natural substitutes for health supplements either. Some of the marketing for energy drinks claim that they "improve performance" and can be misleading because essentially all you are doing is over stimulating your body with caffeine.
There is not very much that is currently known about energy drinks and the effects that their consumption can have on a person's overall health and wellbeing. The creators, manufacturers and marketers of energy drinks will tell you about the numerous health effects of their products. Their messages will tell you that these products can increase your physical endurance, improve your reaction times, boost your mental alertness and c oncentration, increase your overall wellbeing, stimulate and even speed up your metabolism, improve your stamina and help eliminate waste from your body.
Ideally, energy drinks should not be used by someone exercising for a sustained period of time because the combination of fluid loss from sweating and the diuretic quality of the caffeine can leave the drinker feeling severely dehydrated at a time when their body needs to be replenished with fluids.
So, what is the deal with energy drinks and why are they so popular? Well quite simply, if you manage your consumption at only one or two a day, then energy drinks won't harm you and in fact can help you improve your day-to-day activities. Their super-concentrated stimulating ingredients will indeed wake you up and help you to improve the way that you conduct and perform simple mental tasks. There is plenty of sugar and caffeine in energy drinks though, so you should be sure that you minimize your consumption to one or t wo drinks a day at the most. Any more and you could well experience side effects.
Can't Lose Weight? Maybe You Have A Thyroid Disorder
A thyroid disorder called hypothyroidism means you have an underactive thyroid gland. If you have trouble losing weight no matter what you do, it could be because you are hypothyroid. There are almost 30 million Americans with thyroid disease and women are 7 times more likely than men to have it. Hypothyroid is the most common thyroid disorder and often misdiagnosed by doctors.
You may get this because it is inherited, or because of previous problems, such as nodules, goiter, thyroid cancer, previous thyroid surgery, another autoimmune disease.
This is a condition where the thyroid gland, a small butterfly shaped organ located at the base of the neck, does not produce enough hormone to function properly.
What happens is that it takes in iodine, combines it with tyrosine (an amino acid) and converts it into the hormones T4 and T3. If your thyroid is normal, 80% will be T4 and 20% T3. These hormones travel through the bloodstream, converting oxygen and calories into energy. If this process doesn't work properly, then the calories and oxygen cannot convert the energy properly and you may gain weight or incapability to lose weight.
The symptoms can include : weight gain, depression, forgetfulness, fatigue, hoarseness, high cholesterol, constipation, feeling cold, hair loss, dry skin, low sex drive, tingling hands or feet, irregular periods, infertility. You may even experience recurrent pregnancy loss, resistant high cholesterol, difficult menopause, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, or mitral valve prolapse.
Do you feel sluggish and fatigued on a regular basis, or do you get bouts of depression and sadness? Are you always feeling cold, especially your hands and feet, or do you have brittle nails? These are just some of the possible signs of the disease. There may be other causes, but at least this may give you a clue as to why you do not feel well. Check with your doctor in all cases to be sure.
When your metabolism doesn't work right because you have this disorder, you may find that there's no amount of dieting or exercise that takes the weight off. You may in fact put on extra pounds, even though you are doing just what you are supposed to.
What can you do ? Meet with your doctor and ask if you need a thyroid examination and blood test. These likely will be a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) blood test, along with T4, T3, Free T4 and Free T3 tests.
A drug called levothyroxine (often called Levo-T, Levoxyl, Synthroid, Unithroid) may be prescribed for you. It is usually inexpensive, has minimal side effects, and has uniform potency. However, all thyroid hormone replacement therapies, whether natural or synthetic, have the ability to restore thyroid hormone levels.
Supplements that contain the f ollowing might also help:
- L-Tyrosine - is one of the amino acids that your body needs to make thyroid hormones. It is included in some weight control products because it works to stimulate your metabolism. It's also an element in helping your brain operate more efficiently which makes you feel better.
- Guglipid - an extract from the Indian guggal tree, may improve thyroid function and assist in controlling your weight. Scientists are finding that guglipid lowers bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol, and thus can help somewhat to prevent heart disease.
There is always hope and lots of help out there for you. If you suspect that you have this condition and you are not sure what to do, talk to your physician for guidance and advice.
You may get this because it is inherited, or because of previous problems, such as nodules, goiter, thyroid cancer, previous thyroid surgery, another autoimmune disease.
This is a condition where the thyroid gland, a small butterfly shaped organ located at the base of the neck, does not produce enough hormone to function properly.
What happens is that it takes in iodine, combines it with tyrosine (an amino acid) and converts it into the hormones T4 and T3. If your thyroid is normal, 80% will be T4 and 20% T3. These hormones travel through the bloodstream, converting oxygen and calories into energy. If this process doesn't work properly, then the calories and oxygen cannot convert the energy properly and you may gain weight or incapability to lose weight.
The symptoms can include : weight gain, depression, forgetfulness, fatigue, hoarseness, high cholesterol, constipation, feeling cold, hair loss, dry skin, low sex drive, tingling hands or feet, irregular periods, infertility. You may even experience recurrent pregnancy loss, resistant high cholesterol, difficult menopause, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, carpal tunnel syndrome, or mitral valve prolapse.
Do you feel sluggish and fatigued on a regular basis, or do you get bouts of depression and sadness? Are you always feeling cold, especially your hands and feet, or do you have brittle nails? These are just some of the possible signs of the disease. There may be other causes, but at least this may give you a clue as to why you do not feel well. Check with your doctor in all cases to be sure.
When your metabolism doesn't work right because you have this disorder, you may find that there's no amount of dieting or exercise that takes the weight off. You may in fact put on extra pounds, even though you are doing just what you are supposed to.
What can you do ? Meet with your doctor and ask if you need a thyroid examination and blood test. These likely will be a TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) blood test, along with T4, T3, Free T4 and Free T3 tests.
A drug called levothyroxine (often called Levo-T, Levoxyl, Synthroid, Unithroid) may be prescribed for you. It is usually inexpensive, has minimal side effects, and has uniform potency. However, all thyroid hormone replacement therapies, whether natural or synthetic, have the ability to restore thyroid hormone levels.
Supplements that contain the f ollowing might also help:
- L-Tyrosine - is one of the amino acids that your body needs to make thyroid hormones. It is included in some weight control products because it works to stimulate your metabolism. It's also an element in helping your brain operate more efficiently which makes you feel better.
- Guglipid - an extract from the Indian guggal tree, may improve thyroid function and assist in controlling your weight. Scientists are finding that guglipid lowers bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol, and thus can help somewhat to prevent heart disease.
There is always hope and lots of help out there for you. If you suspect that you have this condition and you are not sure what to do, talk to your physician for guidance and advice.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Can Eating More Often Actually Be The Answer To Losing Weight?
It may seem like a "contradiction" to suggest that eating "more often" is the answer to getting slimmer, but in reality the idea of eating more often is the only way to speed up weight loss.
Everybody understands what a calorie is -- and everybody "knows" that the best way to lose weight is to begin eating fewer calories per day. Right?
Well, not so fast...
The problem with this way of thinking is that the human body does not burn calories based on a "24 hour day." In fact, the 24 hour day is just an arbitrary interval of time, and it has no bearing on how your body burns calories.
You see, the human body burns calories in "real time" -- or in other words it burns calories as you eat them (it does not burn calories based on a 24 hour day).
This means that your daily caloric intake is almost meanin gless when viewed all by itself.
For example, let's take a typical dieter who skips breakfast, but who then eats 900 calories for lunch, 900 calories for dinner and 300 calories for a late night snack - for a total of 2,100 calories per day.
This dieter falsely "thinks" that their intake of 2,100 calories per day is the deciding factor in whether they lose weight or not - but in reality the deciding factor is something totally different...
The "deciding factor" lies in how many calories that they eat per "meal."
For example, if that same dieter took those 2,100 calories per day and divided them evenly into 6 meals (350 calories for 6 meals = 2,100 calories) -- then their body would be able to burn much more of those daily calories throughout the day.
Consequently, the dieter would seriously increase their weight loss results if they did this.
Why is this true?
Simple, because your body burns calories as you eat them, and if you feed your body too many calories at any single "sitting" then the excess calories from that sitting cannot get burned and may wind up stored as fat tissue.
However, if you eat fewer calories per "sitting" then your body has a better chance to burn all of those calories, and if it burns all of the calories at any given meal then your body will be forced to begin burning stored fat tissue for any additional energy that it may need before your next meal (which equals fat loss for the dieter).
So if you eat fewer calories per "meal" but increase the number of meals throughout the day, then you can begin losing more weight while still eating the same number of calories per day (you'll just be doing it via a greater number of meals each day).
So when a dieter uses this method of dieting the "overall calories" consumed each day would be the same, but yet the dieter's body would be able to more efficiently burn those calories on a "per meal" basis - and thus the dieter will lose more weigh t each day.
Everybody understands what a calorie is -- and everybody "knows" that the best way to lose weight is to begin eating fewer calories per day. Right?
Well, not so fast...
The problem with this way of thinking is that the human body does not burn calories based on a "24 hour day." In fact, the 24 hour day is just an arbitrary interval of time, and it has no bearing on how your body burns calories.
You see, the human body burns calories in "real time" -- or in other words it burns calories as you eat them (it does not burn calories based on a 24 hour day).
This means that your daily caloric intake is almost meanin gless when viewed all by itself.
For example, let's take a typical dieter who skips breakfast, but who then eats 900 calories for lunch, 900 calories for dinner and 300 calories for a late night snack - for a total of 2,100 calories per day.
This dieter falsely "thinks" that their intake of 2,100 calories per day is the deciding factor in whether they lose weight or not - but in reality the deciding factor is something totally different...
The "deciding factor" lies in how many calories that they eat per "meal."
For example, if that same dieter took those 2,100 calories per day and divided them evenly into 6 meals (350 calories for 6 meals = 2,100 calories) -- then their body would be able to burn much more of those daily calories throughout the day.
Consequently, the dieter would seriously increase their weight loss results if they did this.
Why is this true?
Simple, because your body burns calories as you eat them, and if you feed your body too many calories at any single "sitting" then the excess calories from that sitting cannot get burned and may wind up stored as fat tissue.
However, if you eat fewer calories per "sitting" then your body has a better chance to burn all of those calories, and if it burns all of the calories at any given meal then your body will be forced to begin burning stored fat tissue for any additional energy that it may need before your next meal (which equals fat loss for the dieter).
So if you eat fewer calories per "meal" but increase the number of meals throughout the day, then you can begin losing more weight while still eating the same number of calories per day (you'll just be doing it via a greater number of meals each day).
So when a dieter uses this method of dieting the "overall calories" consumed each day would be the same, but yet the dieter's body would be able to more efficiently burn those calories on a "per meal" basis - and thus the dieter will lose more weigh t each day.
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