Low calorie dieting slows your metabolism, making it progressively more difficult to lose weight and keep it off. The failure rate of most diets is astronomical, yet people continue to try one after another, always hoping that each new scheme will provide the solution. If you’re a veteran of the diet wars, the one word answer to your dilemma may be muscle.  Let’s take a look at why diets often fail and how strength training and a healthy appetite can rev up your metabolism.

Dieting fails due to a combination of hormonal changes, muscle loss, and flat out frustration. When faced with a shortage of calories, your body’s natural response is to conserve fat. This mechanism may have come in handy for your distant ancestors trying to survive a famine, but the “starvation response” and it’s associated hormonal changes make life difficult for many a dieter.

If a dieter persists long enough with the self-imposed famine, the body begins to break down muscle tissue for fuel. When protein is broken down, it releases nitrogen. Your body will quickly wash away the nitrogen by releasing water from tissue cells, causing an immediate reduction in water weight and a noticeable drop on the scale. However, water and muscle loss is nothing to celebrate. The water weight will be quickly regained as soon as you have something to drink, and the missing muscle can wreak havoc on your metabolism for a good long time.

Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. It requires a certain number of calories each day to maintain itself. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even when you’re just sitting around. As your muscle mass drops, so does your daily calorie requirement. Suppose, for example, that 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 just sitting there. Together, those 10 pounds of muscle had been burning 500 calories a day. With this muscle tissue gone, the dieter must now consume 500 fewer calories a day in order to maintain that weight-loss.

However, we know that most dieters won’t keep up the starvation routine for long. They’ll eventually return to their old eating habits. When this happens, the weight inevitably comes piling back on. The kicker is that while they lost both muscle and fat during the diet, what they put back was all 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. This means that their metabolisms are slower and their calorie requirements are lower. 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 then some.

The solution to this dilemma is an active lifestyle that includes aerobic exercise, a solid weight training program, and a healthy diet. What is a healthy diet you ask? A healthy diet is based around whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, and lean protein. A healthy diet keeps your metabolism in high gear with 4 to 6 small meals a day. It’s flexible enough to allow for popcorn at the movies or cake at a birthday party. No food is off-limits, but sweets and high fat junk food are eaten less often and in smaller quantities. A healthy diet is realistic and permanent; not something you suffer through for a week or two and then quit.

The goal is to consume as many calories as you can while still losing body fat and maintaining or gaining lean muscle. If your calories are already below normal, don’t restrict them further. Instead stick with your current amount and focus on becoming 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, and only 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 slow-down in your metabolism.

Following 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 get loser and your self-esteem will sky-rocket. Yet the number on the scale won’t budge!?!?! It’s at this point that a lot of people will chuck the weight training because they don’t understand the physiology of what’s happening.

The truth is that when you’re strength training it’s possible to get smaller and heavier at the same time. Muscle is a much denser tissue than fat. A pound of muscle is like a little chunk of gold, while a pound of fat is like a big fluffy bunch of feathers. The fat takes up more space on your body. At this point, it’s best to toss out the bathroom scale and rely on the way you look and the way your clothes fit. The scale can be misleading and discourage you when you’re actually doing great.

The bottom line is that you want to make strong, healthy, positive changes rather than punishing your body and your spirit with starvation. Your goal is the sleek healthy body of a naturally lean person who can enjoy what they eat. You want to avoid at all costs the frail sagging body of a chronic dieter who has to measure every morsel.

Thought For the Day

The bottom line is that you want to make strong, healthy, positive changes rather than punishing your body and your spirit with starvation.

A fun, fast, effective session for time-poor mothers who want to get back into shape. Come and exercise in a relaxed, friendly environment with like-minded Mums.

Your Master Trainer Patricia is a Mum just like you and understands the pressures and challenges of motherhood. Her experience and encouragement will help you to achieve your ideal body.

Under stress, many people eat for relief, which, unfortunately, lasts only as long as the last bite. The problems will suddenly reappear. The reality is, they never went away. The inevitable feelings of being a failure set in. Not only didn’t you solve your problems, you created a new one, right there around your waist.

The solution?
Find tools besides a fork to attack emotional anger. In the time it takes to eat for your favorite quick-fix food, you can take steps to break the cycle, beat stress, eliminate emotional eating and yes, finally drop that excess weight for good without even trying.

Food cravings, especially for emotional eaters, mean you want something else.  It could be creative stimulation, companionship, or more satisfaction in life. What are your eating triggers? Boredom, frustration, and loneliness? Once you figure out what the real issue is you have a great chance to change the behaviour. Here’s how to figure it out and “feed” your real issue.

1. Keep a food journal.
Every time you reach for food, write down what you eat and how you were feeling. Patterns will emerge. Once you recognise the pattern you are on a path to start to break it.

2. Shop for some new “stimulants.”
Do you eat when you’re bored? Time to make a new “grocery” list: buy inexpensive, accessible things such as books, CDs, and tapes or DVDs of favorite films that provide the emotional lift you’re seeking from food. Keep them handy, and turn to them when you’re down.

3. Call your best friend.
Do you eat to escape painful feelings? Make a human connection instead of eating. Call someone who makes you feel good. Someone who makes you feel good.

4. Create new habits.
Find a hobby. When you’re engrossed in something you love, you forget all about eating, especially if you’re active. Falling in love with an activity like walking or bicycling is even better.

5. Head toward your dreams.
Moving towards goals, one little step at a time is satisfying. With taking a simple, small step forward the feelings of empowerment and accomplishment provide a heady satisfaction that begins a cycle of satisfaction and for many, satisfaction without food.

6. Find new rewards.
Like most people, you probably eat to celebrate happiness too. Find new, affordable rewards such as earrings or tickets to a play or movie.

Let’s look at the weakness and strengths of fasting for weight loss.

Like most forms of dieting, fasting can be used to bring about dramatic but temporary reductions of weight. You can go on a long fast, taking nothing but juice or eating grapes or taking some other low calorie meal substitute for several weeks, and while you are on the fast you will certainly lose weight. However, during the fast you may not be able to carry on your normal social interactions. It’s not so easy to sit around sipping carrot juice while the rest of your family is eating a normal meal.

Another problem with long fasting is that your body requires vital nutrients (vitamins, minerals, protein) and your favourite juice may not contain them. Long fasting without proper medical supervision can be dangerous.

Finally, a major problem with this kind of fasting is that once you stop fasting and resume eating your normal diet, you are likely to gain back all the weight that you have lost during your crash weight loss fast.

So, does fasting have any place in a weight loss plan? Yes it does. Periodic fasting is one of the secrets of a long and healthy life. Our body’s digestive organs require a rest from time to time, just as we require days off from work. One-day fasting done in a methodical and regular manner provides the kind of rest that helps our digestive system, aids in the elimination of toxins from our body, and, yes, also helps us to lose weight in a healthy and sustainable way.

How to Fast Properly

Here is a method of doing one day fasts, taking no food and (if your body is strong) no water in a period from the sunrise of one day to the sunrise of the next day.

Successful fasting has three stages: preparation, the actual fast, and breaking the fast. Each one of these stages is important.

Preparation

If you are not prepared both mentally and physically you will find it difficult to go one day without food. The mental preparation is simple, but very important. The night before the fast you have to take a firm determination that tomorrow you are going too fast, that you are not going to eat any food. If you fix your mind in advance then you will not start deliberating during the fasting day whether you should continue or not to continue. If you are undecided or waffling you can always find a hundred reasons why you should start eating!

Physical preparation is also important. The day before you fast you should eat a normal amount of food and take a good amount of liquids (especially if you are going to be fasting without taking any liquids). If you miss some meals on the day before fasting, then you may start feeling hungry during the fasting period. If you do not take enough liquids, especially during the night before the fast, then you will feel uncomfortable when you are fasting.

If you are physically and mentally prepared you will not feel very hungry while you are fasting. Once you decide to fast, your hunger just “shuts off” for the fasting period. This sounds hard to believe, but if you do it a few times you will see that it is true.

The Fasting Day

it is best to do light physical tasks and concentrate more on intellectual and spiritual work during the fasting period. It is not a good idea to spend your time thinking about what you are going to eat tomorrow! If you have prepared yourself properly this shouldn’t be a problem and you can use the time that you gain by not eating to do some constructive things that you normally don’t get time to do.

Breaking the Fast

One of the benefits of fasting is that it helps to eliminate toxins from the body. However, you can only get this benefit if you break your fast correctly. On the morning following the fasting day, take two glasses of lemon water. Put the juice of have of a lemon in one glass and add a bit of salt. (The drink should taste both lemony and salty). After some time, you can eat your breakfast. The lemon water will help you to flush your digestive system with a strong bowel movement and many toxins will be eliminated.

One day fasts like this can be done twice a month. This kind of fasting will give rest to your digestive organs, help eliminate toxins, build your will power and strength of mind. On top of this, the overall reduction in calories that you get from going two days without food each month, will definitely be one of the elements of a balanced and sustainable weight loss program.

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.

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

Ensure 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 half to 1 kg 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.

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 tomato sauce, salad dressings, and 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 and cucumber 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 kilo’s 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 pictures of yourself looking great (or bad!) on your refrigerator as a daily reminder of where you are heading.

Exercise is an excellent means of releasing tension from your body and inducing a relaxation response. You’ve been practicing this technique for many weeks now. Among the other benefits physical activity brings, have you experienced a reduction in stress?

Thought For the Day

Learn to use your mind or your mind will use you.

According to the latest statistics, the obesity epidemic continues to grow worldwide and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. An astonishing 59.6% of Australian and New Zealand adults are overweight or obese, while 30% of Australian and New Zealand children are clinically overweight. More than half of the American population is overweight.

According to the latest statistics, the obesity epidemic continues to grow worldwide and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. An astonishing 59.6% of Australian and New Zealand adults are overweight or obese, while 30% of Australian and New Zealand children are clinically overweight. More than half of the American population is overweight.

Those who have adequate amounts of protein in their diet, however, may find they’ve escaped being part of this alarming trend. That’s because the latest nutritional research indicates that protein has numerous dietary benefits that give a boost to weight loss and weight management efforts. Lets look at some of the ways you can benefit from a healthy daily protein intake.

One of the principle advantages of protein is that it creates a feeling of fullness and satisfaction in the body that makes overeating much less likely. Besides being filling, protein is a smart addition to any weight loss or weight management programme because of the effect it has on carbohydrate cravings.

As nutritional research has documented, carbohydrates trigger the brain to crave more carbohydrates, leading to a cycle of carbohydrate eating that becomes hard to control. Protein can block that triggering effect in the brain. If you eat protein with a carbohydrate it will reduce the cravings caused by eating the carbohydrate.

Simply adding protein to a meal (including breakfast), provides you with an incredible advantage in your quest to lose or maintain weight. But protein provides more than just weight benefits – it provides you with an important necessity as well. Adequate daily protein intake is essential for building and maintaining lean muscle mass.

It may sound like a term that applies only to athletes, but in fact, everyone has a certain percentage of lean muscle mass in their body. The higher your percentage of lean muscle mass, the more calories you can burn in a day.

Besides determining how many calories you burn each day, lean muscle mass also serves a vital function for those trying to lose or maintain their weight. If your diet does not contain enough protein to build or maintain lean muscle mass, your body will begin to lose weight from the heart, muscle and organs.

This type of dieting is unsafe and can prove fatal. So, how much protein do you need every day? Women need approximately 80-100 grams daily, while men need roughly 120-150 grams on average.

But as you incorporate protein into your diet, remember that not all protein is equal when it comes to calories. For example, a serving of prime rib has 1,500 calories! That’s why it is important to source your protein from healthy, lean protein sources such as fish, the white meat of chicken and turkey and very lean sources of beef. If you can see the fat…cut it off before you cook it, and don’t eat it.

There are many alternatives to fat containing nutrition:

• Skip butter totally or use margarine or avocado.

• Exchange the mayonnaise in your salad sauce, or the sour cream on your potatoes with yogurt.

• Try chicken sausage instead of the normal ones, they contain considerably less fat.

Thought For the Day

My message is simple: take control of your life.
Charles Barkley