Understanding your Metabolism
Our metabolic rate determines the rate at which we ?burn up' our food, and by increasing this rate, we can lose weight more quickly, easily, and safely.
When we diet, by decreasing our calorie intake too drastically, we cause our metabolism to slow down, making it progressively more difficult for us to lose weight. Most diets fail, yet we continue to try one after another, always hoping that each new regime will provide the ?magic' solution. If this sounds like your problem, there may be a simple answer. Let's look at why most diets fail, and how strength training, combined with a healthy food intake can speed up your metabolism, making it easy for you to lose weight.
By drastically cutting our food intake, our body's natural instinct is to switch to a ?starvation response.' The fewer calories we consume, the more our bodies become efficient at using these calories - leading to slower weight loss. This was once a useful mechanism for our ancestors when food supplies were less predictable, but this 'vicious circle' can make life almost impossible for the modern dieter.
When the body is persistently kept short of calories, it breaks down muscle tissue to use as fuel. Our body, using water from our tissue cells, quickly washes this away causing an instant reduction in weight through water loss. However, this weight loss will be short lived, and will quickly be regained when we take in water and the muscle we have lost will slow down our metabolism in the long term.
The reason for this is that each pound of muscle requires a certain number of calories each day just to maintain it. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even when you're doing nothing, even sleeping! If you lose muscle, then your daily calorie requirement becomes less.
For example, imagine a dieter loses 10 pounds of muscle (along with maybe 20 lbs. of fat) on a strict diet. Now suppose that each pound of muscle had been burning 50 calories a day. Together, those 10 pounds of muscle had been burning 500 calories a day. With this muscle tissue gone, the dieter must now consume 500 less calories a day in order to maintain that weight-loss!
However, of course people do not stick to their diets for ever and when they return to their old eating habits, the weight that they have lost, invariably comes piling back on.
Unfortunately, whilst they lost both muscle and fat during the diet, all the weight they regained was fat. So, even though they may weigh the same as they did when they started, they now have a lot more fat and a lot less muscle than they did before the diet. Therefore, their metabolism is slower and their calorie requirements are less. Even if they return to their pre-diet eating habits, they still require 500 fewer calories a day due to the muscle loss. That's one reason dieters are prone to regaining all of the lost weight, and conversely sometimes even gain weight afterwards.
A good solution is an active lifestyle that includes aerobic exercise, a good weight-training program, and a healthy diet containing fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain cereals and plenty of lean protein.
It is a good idea to eat ?little and often' ? keeping your metabolism in high gear by eating 4 to 6 small meals a day, rather than one or two larger ones. No food is forbidden, but sweets and high fat junk food are eaten less often, and in smaller quantities. A healthy diet is a realistic and permanent way of eating ? not a diet that you suffer through for a week or two and then give up!
The goal is to consume as many calories as you can, while still losing body fat and maintaining or adding lean muscle at the same time. If your calories are already below normal, don't restrict them further. Instead, maintain your current amount and instead try to become stronger and more active, so you can gradually increase your calories to a normal healthy level.
If your calorie intake is already in a healthy range, decrease it only slightly, if necessary. A small reduction of about 250 calories a day, or 10-15 percent less than usual, is more likely to protect your lean muscle, and less likely to trigger a go-slow in your metabolism.
If you follow this type of routine, it's possible to gain about one pound of muscle per week and lose about one pound of fat per week. The end result is that the number on the scale might not move much at all, it may even go up. Your clothes will feel looser, and you'll feel great. Yet the numbers on the scale won't move!! It's at this point that a lot of people give up the weight training because they don't understand what's happening.
The truth is that when you're strength training it's possible to get smaller and heavier at the same time, as muscle is a much denser tissue than fat.
The fat takes up more space on your body. At this point, it's best to ignore the bathroom scales and rely on the way you look and the way your clothes fit.
The conventional way of dieting can lead to a weak, tired body, exhausted by the constant cycle of starvation and weight gain, unable to enjoy food. However, by following these easy steps above, you can easily reach your goal - the slim, strong, healthy body of a naturally lean person who can enjoy their food without guilt, for life
nutrition and how to loose weight safely and easily.
What would you do for a Klondike Bar?
Unfortunately, the words "diet" and "cheating" go hand in hand. When you say, "I'm on a DIET", it usually means you are depriving yourself of something. Diets do not work; they are restrictive and can become exceedingly frustrating, leading you to "cheat". The more you restrict calories and the tempting treats you love, the more likely you are to binge eat. This is counterproductive in a fat loss program and will prevent you from becoming lean.I'm sure you know the scenario; you embark on a weight loss plan (a.k.a.
A Very Low Calorie Diet) fully confident and filled with motivation and willpower. You go out to eat and turn down the dessert you desperately want and then have to sit at the table and watch EVERYONE else gobble down their brownie ala- mode or a slice of Death by Chocolate cake. As the days of deprivation go on you suddenly find yourself thinking about food more and more. You dream about the pint of ice cream that's calling your name. You begin to bargain with yourself,...
What would you do for a Klondike Bar?
Diets > What would you do for a Klondike Bar?
The High Blood Pressure And Sodium Connection: Is Salt Raising Your Blood Pressure
Copyright 2006 Frank Mangano
You can have your cake and eat it too -- well at least you can lower your blood pressure and have your salt too. That is what recent research is telling us about sodium's role in managing blood pressure. Hypertension, it turns out, is not caused by too much salt. Neither is it lowered by simply cutting salt out of your diet. So how is it that table salt (sodium) is still getting such a bad rap and being linked to high blood pressure? The real culprit it turns out is not salt, but how your body manages sodium and its proportion to the amount of potassium, calcium and magnesium in your body.
Scientists have discovered that deficiencies in potassium, calcium and magnesium have a much greater impact on blood pressure than the mineral salt.
These other minerals are so important in controlling blood pressure that when they are out of balance with each other, they can make salt more of a threat to healthy blood pressure.
Diets > The High Blood Pressure And Sodium Connection: Is Salt Raising Your Blood Pressure
The Natural Truth About Quick Weight Loss
The Natural Truth About Quick Weight LossActually, I was reading about fad diet and suddenly I received a message in my mail "Lose 20 Pounds in 10 Days!"So I thought I should write some more on quick weight loss diet plans and how they're intended to fail miserably.I have already written a lot on such topics and I think you should read this article because they are flawed at the grass root level! along with this article to learn exactly what's wrong with quick diets.There are a few facts that I want to discuss before getting into the specific details of how she lost 10 pounds in 10 days and more specifically, even after losing 20 pounds, how she has more fat.1.Temporary weight loss will never teach to anyone how to maintain her proper weight.2.Protein shakes are an unhealthy way to trick yourself into eating fewer calories.3.It is unlikely that any person could lose 20 pounds of fat in 10 days. A large part of this loss is water and depleted muscle mass, not fat.Now let me explain how...
The Natural Truth About Quick Weight Loss
Diets > The Natural Truth About Quick Weight Loss
Leading Heart Disease Expert Al Sears, M.D. Offers Complete Heart-Health Program To Combat America?s #1 Killer ? Heart Disease
St. Paul, MN
October 19, 2004 ?- Over 950,000 Americans will die of heart disease in 2004.
According to leading heart disease expert Al Sears, M.D., most of these heart disease deaths are preventable, if we ignore the current advice about cholesterol, low-fat diets and long-duration exercise. In his controversial new book, The Doctor's Heart Cure, Beyond the Modern Myths of Diet and Exercise: The Clinically-Proven Plan of Breakthrough Health Secrets That Helps You Build a Powerful, Disease-Free Heart
http://www.dragondoor.com/b30.htmlDr. Al Sears recommends a radical solution to end America's #1 health crisis.Al Sears, M.D.
lays the blame for America's heart disease crisis, squarely with the introduction and popularity of the low-fat diet. According to Dr. Sears, the switch to low-fat diets has been responsible not only for an increase in heart disease, but is also largely responsible for...
Leading Heart Disease Expert Al Sears, M.D. Offers Complete Heart-Health Program To Combat America?s #1 Killer ? Heart Disease
Diets > Leading Heart Disease Expert Al Sears, M.D. Offers Complete Heart-Health Program To Combat America?s #1 Killer ? Heart Disease
To Diet or Not to Diet and the Right Answer
It's that time of the year again ? the sun is shining, our mood is rising and we want to throw away the layers of winter clothes and with them the extra kilos that have somehow managed to sneak in again?Suddenly we are all ears for the latest diet out there. This one WILL work for us. This time we are more determined, more worked up. So we start big, armed with books, tips, gym gear, calorie counting and panting our way to slimness. And we get tired and mentally exhausted -not so much from exercising or calorie counting but from having to think about food all the time.
Diets can become very obsessive, mentally and physically exhausting. But what is more ? they create havoc with our metabolism. The more we diet the less efficient our metabolism is so unless we plan to keep this diet for the rest of our life, then we are definitely going to regain our pre-diet weight and even some more?The other thing about diets is that they expect us all to be the same and react the same way to...
To Diet or Not to Diet and the Right Answer
Diets > To Diet or Not to Diet and the Right Answer
Easy weight-loss - without a diet!
There are many different reasons why someone may want to lose weight. You may want to feel healthier, look better, fit into your old clothes or even have been advised by a medical practitioner to get in shape. However, if you are one of those people who battle constantly with your weight then you already know how hard it is to stick to a diet. In the majority of cases they just don't work!
All the current slimming pills and weight-loss fads are of extremely limited effectiveness. When you take into consideration the dangers of surgical procedures and the lack of long-term studies of new-fad diets a safe, reliable alternative is needed.
Although many claim that there are painless ways of losing weight the simple is truth is that weight-loss, like everything else worth achieving in life, requires some effort on your part. However there are techniques and tools to make your transition to health much more enjoyable and easy. A great example is the Paul...
Diets > Easy weight-loss - without a diet!
Protein - The Denominator Customary to All Diets
The Human Body is in a constant flux with the environment. Matter and molecules flow in and out, casting themselves into its complexities. Although the body lends them structure, it is the intake?the diet?that decides its physique. To control what goes in a diet is to choose what stays inside. Dietary decisions reflect an awareness of metabolism and the nutrients needed to modify it.
There may be a host of diets purported for each activity and illness. However, the one macronutrient that is invariably required, in substantial amounts irrespective of the physiological state, is protein.Proteins hold this special place in every diet for a variety of reasons. They connect the DNA to the rest of the cell and modulate all cellular functions and responses. They are the scaffolds of the human body that struts a billion cells. Proteins are also the workers that shuffle around the body relaying messages, carrying out repairs and digestion.
Oxygen from the lungs and many nutrients...
Protein - The Denominator Customary to All Diets
Diets > Protein - The Denominator Customary to All Diets
Online Furniture Store Great Priced Furniture.com extends it's American Drew Furniture portfolio to include Anniversary Collection
Wilmington, North Carolina (ContentDesk) January 12, 2006 -- Online furniture store GreatPricedFurniture.com, has extended its American Drew Furniture portfolio to include the Cherry Grove, 45th Anniversary Collection. Cherry Grove is one of American Drew's longest established lines and the Greensboro, NC based company recently introduced several subtle design refinements to enhance its overall...
Online Furniture Store Great Priced Furniture.com extends it's American Drew Furniture portfolio to include Anniversary Collection
Diets > Online Furniture Store Great Priced Furniture.com extends it's American Drew Furniture portfolio to include Anniversary Collection
refinance Diets Understanding your Metabolism
Diets Understanding your Metabolism
Adventures in Bolivia
As a graduate student, I finally had the opportunity to work on a project in southern Bolivia. Although I had spent previous summers camping alone while conducting fieldwork in remote areas, this was to be my first journey overseas, to a country known variously for coca growing, revolution, and the final resting place of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.La Paz is nestled in a series of steep valleys that are eroded in a jagged, blasted moonscape of sun-baked volcanic rock. One of the city...
atv tires
Diets > Adventures in Bolivia
Time For A Dog Bath? Dog Bathing Tips For You And Your Dog
Cleanliness and proper grooming can be very important to the continued good health of our beloved pets. But bathing our puppy or adult dog can often prove to be a challenge. There are many questions, myths and opinions floating around when discussing the best care for different dog types and temperaments. Check out these dog bathing tips to get some great ideas so you'll be prepared for your next dog bath and grooming session.How often should you bath your dog?How often your pet will need a dog...
Time For A Dog Bath? Dog Bathing Tips For You And Your Dog Diets
Diets > Time For A Dog Bath? Dog Bathing Tips For You And Your Dog