Lose the Extra Forever

Stop Starving and Start Living!

In today's culture it is a shameful thing to be overweight and, even if the condition is medical and not the case of a regular couch-potato or a white-collar office rat, people are stigmatized and labeled all the time. The position of the medical professionals is clear being overweight is harmful to one's overall health and it increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases as well as diabetes and cancer. However, although it is logical that people would primarily care for their health and not merely for the way they look, in today's culture, it has also become normal that the media dictate not only the standards music, taste, art, beauty and other-wise, but also the standards and the widely accepted values health-wise. Namely, in today's society it is not uncommon to starve oneself for days, weeks or months in order to lose a few extra pounds. It is also a commendable sacrifice considering the overwhelming choice of food fast foods, as well as restaurant made and served foods and the promoted party-goer lifestyle that includes the consumption of alcohol that is certainly above the recommended dosage, both for the health and the body weight. The problems young men and women are facing today are what kind of stance they should take, what lifestyle they should choose should they become gym-goers even though they do not like exercising indoors and only because it is the trendy thing to do? Should one decide to spend their life craving for chocolate or a hamburger, but completely give up on meats, dairies and sweets because there are celebrities talking about it? Is one to starve themselves to thinness at the cost of their health, only because the current pop-culture says it is the preferable thing to do?

There are plenty of choices and plenty of paths before young individuals today and neither is uninfluenced by the culture of esthetic-ideal-frenzy and misconceptions.

Nevertheless, there are certain facts that everyone, young in the body and young in the soul, should bear in mind when finally taking the time to decide on their lifestyle in the long-run, and also certain advice that they should take under consideration.

• 1. Starving is not dieting!

Starving oneself does not guarantee weight loss at all. In fact, the reality of things is much different. Starving creates the opposite effect of what the person trying to lose weight is doing it activates the stress hormone secretion in the body and completely slows down the metabolic processes. When metabolism is lowered to the bare minimum, everything that we intake is considered a precious substance the body stores it. Now, we usually have problems with particular areas of our bodies whether it is the thighs that we cannot shape the way we want to, or it is the abs that defy the sculptor's efforts and sweat it is genetically predetermined whether one would gain weight quickly or have difficulty losing it, where the deposits would go first or most, etc. We are basically sentenced to being dependent on our genetic code, but not to be enslaved by it! Moreover, we are the ones with the power to change or, at least, modify the way our body functions if your body is slow to burn fat, the decrease of calories you intake and the increase of physical activity cannot fail to reduce the body weight. If your body is more responsive to a particular diet, then it is that diet that you should pursue regardless of whether it is recommended by the celebrity nutritionists, as long as it includes healthy foods and an appropriate mixture of proteins and carbs.

• 2. Weight loss is a result of a proper diet and exercise!

There are many diets today, protein or carbohydrates based, whose supposed efficiency is even promoted by celebrities worldwide. However, one must always bear in mind that what helps one individual maintain or lose weight, or better yet, speed up the metabolic processes, need not work for another. Therein lays the main problem in today's world, which relies on quick fixes for the most part. What is very difficult for some people to accept is that there are no easy and quick solutions to the problem of their bodies being different than the current, though rather changeable, standard of body-beautiful.

Very often people disregard the fact that they are the ones who know themselves and their body best. Therefore, any diet or regimen can be figured out easily by mere observation. It is widely known that the best foods to speed up one's metabolism are green raw vegetables in combination with protein rich, but low fat meats. It may not be a strict diet promoted by a famous actor, but it can be your personalized combination that gives best results. Namely, with an appropriate amount of exercise, which should, by the by, be moderate and with plenty of resting time, and a regimen that is restrictive enough to prevent you from taking in too many calories, but not to leave you craving for your favorite food, the results will not be disappointing. Moreover, with balanced diet and exercise, there will not only be changes in the size of your body, but there will be visible change in the way the body reacts to food, physical activity overall, sleep and stress and the changes will be positive! From the improvement of one's mood to the improvement of the body image, there will not be a better incitement to continue at the same, or even at a quicker pace!

• 3. Do not despair! The change is not supposed to come overnight! Drink your water!

Many people hope and pray even that the stored deposits of fat simply vanish from their bodies as if it did not take years for them to be stored and forgotten there in the first place. It may actually be the worst enemy of all those who are trying to lose those extra pounds forever.

Let me break it to you it is virtually impossible to lose all that weight over a short period of time in a way that is healthy for you and in a way that will not produce the yo-yo effect soon after.

Just think about it your only way of cleansing yourself is to start by burning the excess. That means that you should not take in more than absolutely necessary, more than the bare minimum of nutritive substances. However, there are also toxins and all kinds of waste that has to be flushed out you need plenty of water! And you need to drink it in such a way so as not to make yourself sick!

Water is what will help you not only get rid of the waste and the toxins, but also what will help you additionally speed up your metabolism  drink it cold! It will help with the digestion as well, as long as you eat food that is not processed and that is sugar-free (as you well should!).

It is very important to maintain a routine and not to stray too much from it. However, do not allow your diet and exercising to take over your life you had a life before the major decision and you made the decision because you wanted to improve your life! Do not allow for your hobbies and other (healthy) habits and practices to become neglected. That includes your friends. Instead, try asking for support from your family and friends and make sure that they understand why you are making such an effort to change your life. Who knows! Maybe you will inspire someone close to you to take up a sport or change their eating habits.

• 4. Take seriously only the reason you made the decision in the first place and not yourself!

It will not be the end of the world if you break the rules once in a while, but just think about the work and the effort you have then wasted. Do not take the decision to live a healthier life as a sentence your goal is not to become thin and then return to where you started. No! Your goal is to establish a new pattern of behavior and change your complete lifestyle dieting differently, drinking differently yes, that means no, or very little alcohol, and yes, wine is an alcoholic beverage and the same goes for beer and exercising regularly, will lower your stress levels, increase your tolerance to stress and improve your general health by enhancing your body's ability to fight disease. Not to mention that your new improved immune system will be more powerful against the seasonal colds and the flu, but also cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, and we all know that this is of the essence today!

Author Bio:
Ivan Dimitrijevic is a health blogger with strong roots in SEO industry. He has done research on many weight loss related products, from dieting plans and meal replacement products to fitness plans, and he's always ready to share his knowledge with his social circles.

BMI in Men and Women - How Much Should You Weigh?

If you are concerned about your current weight you probably ask yourself - How much should I weigh? Can anyone really answer this question? Well, there are many factors involved here like gender, body shape and most of all, your lifestyle. In order to figure out what would be your ideal weight, we advise you to take a look at your height and weight ratio.

One of the most popular ways to determine your ideal weight is through the BMI factor which requires both your height in pounds and weight in inches. If you live in countries where these particular units are not used, you can find an online converter easily. Additionally, you can also calculate these on your own by simply following these figures:

• 1kg equals 2.2 lbs
• 1m equals 39.37 inches

So let's continue finding an answer to the question asked above. As you may already guess, the answer is quite simple, but there are some factors that make the number different from one person to another. The BMI mentioned above can be used to get a general idea about your ideal weight.

Everything is much clearer if there are examples. So, let's see two of them. In the first example, we have a woman 5'1" tall and her current weight is 122 lbs. According to her BMI, if she weights 142 lbs, she can be classified as overweight. However, if she loses some weight and for example reaches 105 lbs, she will be classified as underweight.

In our second example, we have a man of the same height as the woman. According to its BMI his preferred weight would be 134 lbs. To be classified as overweight, he has to weigh 145 lbs and 123 lbs to be considered as underweight.

As you can see although the man and woman have the same height, their weight is different. There are many factors for this and one of the factors which adds more pounds to the man is the muscle mass. It has been proven that men have less body fat than women and more muscles.

This is the reason why there are BMI calculators for men and women separately. However, the BMI shouldn't be considered as a precise method to determine your ideal weight, but rather a guideline to see whether you are in the ideal range. In order to determine your ideal weight it is highly recommended to ask for an expert's advice.

About the author:
Karla Colletto writes about dieting and losing weight the healthy way. If you need more information about determining your ideal weight, please visit HowMuchShouldIWeighChart.com

The Great Perks of Being Healthy

Ignoring the fact there is something wrong with your current way of eating will lead to awful lot of health challenges. This is one of the worst mistakes that today's people unknowingly commit. Sure eating tender and succulent steak, mouth watering burgers, and getting your daily dose of sweets may prove to be satisfying, but all of these will soon have a 180 degree plunge into a physiological nightmare sooner or later, not to mention the heavy toll one will have to bear regarding their self confidence.

Living in a world wherein the dangers of new epidemics are just lurking around the corner, many people nowadays have taken necessary actions to prevent these from affecting them. Thus, the sprouting of more health conscious individuals. It couldn't be helped because with what the media is saying regarding health, there is a dire need for man to start putting his acts together in order to actually be healthy.

If one wants to live longer, now is the time to choose to be healthy, not any minute later. It should always be remembered that being healthy is not something that one just shrugs their shoulders at. There are already many people experiencing the many benefits of choosing the healthy life.

Many organic stores have now sprouted like wild mushrooms because of the high demands of consumers. There are already many healthy foods to eat, unlike the greasy fish and chips we grew accustomed to. Foods naturally grown without the use of insecticides and other artificial help really do wonders to our health. Thus, we are assured that every food that we put in our mouths have nutrients that are not affected by these harmful substances.

For the weight conscious, a low carb diet plan will also do the trick. Not only does it help you in loosing those extra pounds but it also has positive effects on the body such as reducing blood glucose for those who have diabetes, decreasing the blood pressure, and give you that feeling of a greater well-being.

One added tip: always keep a healthy food list and a healthy grocery list. This will save you time in picking the right products for your family. When you already have a grocery list that only focuses on the healthy stuff, you will see the great change in your family's health.

Being healthy can do wonders for you and for the people around you. When you are healthy, you become more productive and thus, you are able to help other people.

But being in the pink of health is not that easy. It requires certain sacrifices especially if you are already accustomed to a certain lifestyle of not eating right and not getting enough exercise.

One thing you should always remember is that it doesn't happen overnight. It is a step by step process that should be properly observed. So don't get frustrated if you can't see immediate results. Just be extra patient and over time you will see that your sacrifices were all worth it.

By NovieJean Casilang @dietingdirection.com

Seven Point Weight Loss Strategy

You must have undergone a lot of crash programs to lose weight but the extra pounds keep coming back. It's not that you just need to work for a few days control your diet and then let the weight return. There needs to be a strategy in place instead of a plan. The short term weight loss courses available in abundance in the market are not only short lived but are also dangerous for the health of an individual. It's not always necessary that you follow some old advice from a medical book that had been written when obesity was in its infancy.

Times have changed and so have many habits of individuals. While going in for shopping we tend to look at the ingredients of the packaged stuff that we are buying. Very few people know that food items that have numbers etched on them are quite high on fats and preservatives that will not really go down well with your health. You need to make sure that you purchase food items that are low on fats and preservatives. Make it a practice for the whole of your life to eat healthy and remain healthy.

Many individuals go on a diet that does them more harm than any good although unintentionally. Many people just have salad for lunch that is the worst thing to do in weight management. You need to supplement it with something else like a bean soup. You need to take care, a hormone called ghrelin that triggers hunger in the human body. If ghrelin levels don't fall you are going to feel hungry and your weight management will go in for a toss.

You need to be very sure about the time period that you sleep for. Make sure that you enjoy a sleep time of at least 5-6 hours every day. If the time is less than this, everyday; chances are you are going to gain weight instead of losing some extra pounds. Many weight loss coaches will suggest you saving your time from the Gym and investing it on the bed sleeping.

You need to breathe heavy before breakfast as breakfast is the most important part of the meals that you have throughout the day. Do aerobics before breakfast. Your insulin level needs to be the lowest at this point of time so that the energy for exercise comes from the fat that is present in the body and your body becomes a fat burning machine.

Make sure while exercising to divide it into phases. If you are exercising for 1 hour break it into 4 sets of 15 minutes each or 2 sets of 30 minutes each. This will help you in catalyzing the fat burning process. And once the fats start burning you are in the weight loss with a bang.

This point is of utmost importance for almost everyone all across the world as majority of the population is doing desk jobs or jobs that involve a person to sit in a cubicle for 8 hours a day. No matter how regularly you visit the Gym after office hours it's not really going to make the things happen in the right direction. You need to do something extra during the office hours. It maybe a brisk walk or some jumping jacks.

The last but the most effective method for burning calories and fats is cycling. Cycling is one activity that's famous all across the world. Even in Gyms you are bound to find bicycle exercises. Cycling will not only burn fat for you but will also save a bit of expenses in form of fuel expenses. Thus while following this seven point weight loss strategy you are bound to lose weight in the long run and lead a healthy quality life in future.

Author Bio
The author is a fitness freak. A strong advocate of Somanabolic Muscle Maximizer the author has been writing about Muscle Maximizer and many health issues for the past 15 years. The author has been associated with many bodybuilders coaching and mentoring them for various events and tournaments.

Overweight Women Experience Obesity

Overweight women face a multitude of hardships - such as discrimination in the workplace - that arise from the stigma surrounding obesity. While weight loss may seem like the solution for women hoping to escape anti-fat prejudice, it may not be that simple after all.

New research out of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, The University of Manchester and Monash University, has revealed that anti-fat prejudice still persisted against former obese women, even after they had lost a significant amount of weight.

Previous research has shown that the harmful nature of obesity stigma crossed many domains, Dr. Janet Latner, the study's lead author at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told FoxNews.com. So we designed an experiment to look at whether obesity sting persisted once the weight had been dropped.

Published in the journal Obesity, the study asked young men and women participants to read various stories about a woman who had lost about 70 pounds, or a woman who was currently obese or thin who had remained stable. The participants were then asked to rate the women's attractiveness and then give their opinions on fat people in general.

Negative attitudes toward the obese targets also seemed to increase when the participants were falsely told that the person's weight was easily controllable.

Though the researchers cannot explain exactly why the findings were the way they were, Latner and her colleagues theorized that people are perhaps more judgmental towards the obese, because they believe that it is something the person can easily manage.

Because of their staggering findings, Latner and her team agree that government intervention is necessary to reduce the prejudice against the overweight and obese.

According to Latner, while obesity is important to combat in today's society, obesity stigma is just as important to address, because its persistence could deter overweight women from shedding the pounds.

By Loren Grush

Why Count Calories? Because Health is Wealth

Many people try to avoid counting calories when trying to achieve weight loss. There are so many new weight loss methods today that it might seem like this is actually possible, especially when some diets specifically advertise that you won't have to count calories at all. In my opinion, this is like a financial self-help book that claims you can get rich without paying any attention to how much you earn or spend. Would you be tempted to believe such a claim?

Calorie counting is budgeting for the body
Even if you have no idea exactly what percentage of your income you spend on your rent, chances are you do keep a budget in your mind, if you're the average responsible adult. This means having a rough idea of how much you can splurge before it's going to land you in trouble. You've probably experienced both sides of the equation-getting into debt as well as having a savings account. The more experience you accumulate, the better equipped you are to judge how much you can spend and how much you need to save. You just can't get away from the basic truth that earning more than you spend equals savings, and that spending more than you earn equals debt.

Weight management is just like that. You have total freedom in deciding what, when, and how to eat your food, but you can't escape the basic truth that eating more than you burn equals weight gain and that burning more than you eat equals weight loss. It's not a theory, a special dieting method, or something someone invented to make you miserable-it's just plain physics.

Calorie counting is NOT a weight loss method
Surprised to hear that? Well, it's true. It could help you lose weight, gain weight, or maintain your weight, but calorie counting is not a weight loss method the same way budgeting is not a way to get rich-it is simply the foundation and basis for weight management the same way budgeting is the basis of money management. It's a tool you can use to see where you can improve your lifestyle choices to achieve what you want to achieve. Feel free to try any diet that sounds good to you-calorie counting still applies. Feel free to try out the latest fitness routine-calorie counting is as important as ever. While you can change your diet and fitness habits without counting calories, you'll be at a loss if for some reason they stop working. You won't know where it went wrong. At the end of the story you could have twenty diets that "just don't work" for you without having any idea why they failed. To use a financial analogy again, it's like buying and selling stocks without ever looking at the stock market. If you wouldn't entrust your finances to Lady Luck, why entrust her with your health?

Calorie counting is not an extreme last-resort measure
If the word "budget" revives in you traumatic memories of math class in grade school, consider this: you probably budget without ever realizing it. Unless you go through life blissfully unaware of the cost of foods, furniture, clothes, and so on, you probably frequently make choices based on what you think you can afford. If you ever treat yourself to something, whether it's an ice cream or a spa treatment, it's because you know that doing it on a daily basis would break the bank. That's budgeting!

Similarly, calorie counting can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. Some people, like athletes and body-builders, want to know exactly where each calorie is going. They may spend hours planning the week's menu or reading and calculating fat percentages. For other people who have no issues with their weight, it may be enough to know that some foods, like chocolate-covered donuts, are very high in calories and low on nutrition. However, most people fall somewhere in the middle. We need to have a rough idea of how much we are actually ingesting per day and compare it to a rough idea of how much we are burning. If you fall into that group, there's great news in store for you.

Calorie counting is so much easier today
Even just a generation ago, no one had mobile devices that could keep track of calories in and calories out. There was no "app" for anything-a notebook and a pencil were your best bet. Besides that, calorie counting usually meant reading nutrition labels, doing the math, and looking up exercises in some kind of chart to calculate calories burned. Today, there are online calorie counters with huge databases of food items and activities so all you have to enter is how much you ate or exercised. That's it! In return, you get all kinds of charts and graphs showing you your progress and what you need to do to achieve your goals. It doesn't get much simpler or easier than that.

It's been said that "Health is wealth," but I would go even further to say that health is our greatest wealth. Responsible money management is all well and good, but your weight management is far more important. By budgeting for your body, you can avoid the high health risks associated with being overweight, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer. A few minutes every day on your computer or mobile device to make sure you're nutritionally on track-wouldn't you say it's worth it?

About the author: Varsha Aditya is a writer for the popular calorie counter website CaloriesAndMore.com which promotes healthy and sustainable weight loss without all the impossible rules of fad diets. Visit us to find more articles about sustainable weight loss, and see how CaloriesAndMore.com's huge database of foods and activities can make calorie counting a breeze.