How do I estimate calorie intake?
To estimate how many calories you should consume in order to maintain your weight, you’ll need to do a little math. By using a simple formula called the Harris-Benedict principle, you can assess your basal metabolic rate — also known as your BMR.

Calculate Your BMR
Your BMR is the amount of energy your body needs to function. We use about 60% of the calories we consume each day for basic bodily functions such as breathing.

Other factors that influence your BMR are height, weight, age and sex.

Here’s how you can calculate your BMR using the following formula:

Women:
655 + (4.3 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

Men:
66 + (6.3 x weight in pounds) + (12.9 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

The result of this formula will be the number of calories you can eat every day and maintain your current weight. In order to lose weight, you’ll need to take in fewer calories than this result.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you have the habit of enjoying a few buttery slices of toast and downing a giant glass of juice first thing in the morning, however, it could spell diet disaster.

By making just a few changes, you can turn your typical morning meal into a breakfast for weight loss champions.

Say farewell to the fast food places that beckon you on your way to work, and begin to make smarter choices at home instead. Consider breakfast as the way to fuel your day.

A donut just won’t do the trick. A sausage and egg biscuit will weigh you down, not get your motor running. If you think of breakfast as setting the course for the rest of your day, you’ll start thinking healthy instead of fast, cheap, and convenient.

Keep an eye on your intake of fruit juices. One 6-oz. glass of fruit juice will run between 80 and 100 calories. Before you drink juice, have a tall glass of water — you’ll end up drinking less juice.

Better still, instead of drinking your fruit, have the real thing. Juice causes your blood sugar to spike and insulin to surge, which can stimulate your appetite. Whole fruits are a good source of fiber, which can help curb your appetite.

If you normally have a bowl of cold cereal, give hot cereal a try. Oatmeal is a great choice. It is rich in fiber, which will keep you feeling full, and does your health good by helping reduce cholesterol. Oats contain water-soluble fiber, and its carbohydrates release slowly into the bloodstream, helping to keep cravings from coming on fast. When choosing cold cereals, pick whole grain varieties for the extra fiber they provide.

Tip: “Made with whole grains” doesn’t mean the same thing as “100% whole grain.” Choose 100% whole grain products as often as possible.

If you’re a whole milk drinker, try stepping down to 2% and then 1% after a few weeks. If non-fat milk is too weak for you, consider going back to 1%. It is worth saving the fat and calories.

Choose whole wheat bread products in the morning to get off to a great start. Whole grains will help you stay fuller longer than refined carbs, plus they have more fiber. Have a whole wheat English muffin instead of a regular one, and top it with hummus, peanut butter, or reduced-fat cheese for a quick breakfast that will stick to your ribs (figuratively, of course).

The main purpose of this article is to educate us in what is beneficial for us and what is not when it comes to selecting an appropriate high blood pressure diet.

High blood pressure occurs when the blood is pushing too hard against the artery walls due to narrowing blood vessels.

The sad truth is that you’re likely to need long-term treatment for high blood pressure as it isn’t curable. However the good news is there are many way you can reduce your chances of suffering from high blood pressure.

Foods that help lower blood pressure:
Fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy foods, beans and nuts are recommended. Others include:

• Leafy green vegetables
• Milk
• Broccoli
• Turmeric
• Celery
• Cayenne pepper
• Vitamin C

Your GP or nurse is likely to discuss lifestyle changes which might help. For example, he or she might advise you to:

• Stop smoking
• Change your diet to a low-fat, low-salt diet
• Cut down on alcohol
• Cut down on coffee and high-caffeine drinks, such as cola
• Take some regular, moderate exercise
• Lose any excess weight
• Avoiding stressful situations

High levels of fatty foods and sugar can narrow our arteries, making our blood vessels rigid and more vulnerable to blood clotting which can lead to heart disease or strokes.

The other big problem, is excess salt. Recent figures show that as a nation we eat one third too much salt in our diet. If we simply stopped adding salt to our food we would signficantly reduce blood pressure and associated diseases.

Research also suggests that sticking to the advised intake of salt (5g a day for women and 7g for men) would mean 22 per cent fewer deaths from strokes and 16 per cent fewer from heart attacks – saving 34,000 lives a year!

The frustration of trying many different method but never achieving the results you want can reduce your self confidence and even make you lose motivation.

To help you achieve your weight loss goals, we have created a list of the top 10 most effective weight loss tips that will help you no matter what your shape, size or gender.

Quite often, this step is overlooked, but it is the most important step of all.

To be successfull in losing weight you first have to change the way you think. You need to take control of the bad habits, and you have to believe that the changes you’re making are good for you.

A famous quote from William James comes to mind:

“The greatest discovery of any generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.”

No matter how much you want a change in your life, nothing will happen until you do something. You can talk about starting an exercise regiment and eating healthier foods all you want, but nothing will change until you start doing it.

Dreams will only turn into reality if your willing to work hard.

If your overweight, you can’t continue with your current diet. You need to cut back on the fast food, cakes, sweets, snacks, and various other foods that have a high number of calories. This of doesn’t mean you need to stop completely, but you do need to limit the amount you intake on a daily basis.

You need to replace these with fat burning foods, such as:
Fruits, Milk, Whole grain cereal, Oats, Jalapenos, Green Tea, Coffee, Salmon, Lean beef, Tuna, & Turkey.

Note: You don’t need to take drastic measures, and starve yourself, simply reducing your calorie intake by 500 per day, and you will start seeing results pretty quickly.

Exercising regularly not only makes you physically fitter and helps you lose weight, but also improves your mental ability. Exercise can also reduce your chances of having heart stroke and other heart related diseases.

The average adult needs to do atleast 30 minutes of exercise per day, roughly 5 times a week. The most important point to note is that you need to exercise regularly, otherwise you won’t get the results you’re looking for.

The top ten exercises that will help you burn that fat away quickly:

1. Running
2. Cycling
3. Circuit Training
4. Elliptical Trainer
5. Swimming
6. Rock Climbing
7. Step Aerobics
8. Rowing
9. Stair Climbing
10. Walking

Note: Anything that elevates your heart rate will benefit you with your weight loss ambitions, so it could be anything from walking briskly, to playing sport with friends.

It is ok to do exercise and reduce your calorie intake, but you need also need to ensure you are having a balanced diet.

A well balanced diet will ensure that you don’t put on any additional weight and will help burn the excess fat in your body. A well-balanced diet includes food from the five main food groups. These are:

• bread, cereal (including breakfast cereals) and potatoes (starchy foods)
• fruit (including fresh fruit juice) and vegetables
• meat and fish
• milk and dairy foods, and
• fat and sugar

Most people need to eat more starchy foods and more fruit and vegetables, as well as reduce their fat intake, drink less alcohol and eat less salt. Look for labels that say food is low in fat (particularly saturated fat), low in salt and sugar-free.

Our body weight is around 70% water, and therefore is very important that you’re getting enough water throughout the day.


Typically its recommended that an average adult should drink around 8 glasses of water per day.

Drinking water before or with your meal may help you feel fuller faster. And if you’re replacing your regular sugary soda with a glass of zero-calorie water, then it will help you reach your weight loss goals quicker.


Note: Eating high-water content foods will also help you lose weight, because these foods are lower in calories.

Eating foods low in calories but high in complex carbohydrates can actually change your metabolism from that of a fat person to that of a slim person.

Foods high in water and fiber, such as watermelon and lettuce, pass through the digestive system so quickly they have no chance to turn to fat.

Good sources of complex carbs are:

• Potatoes
• Rice
• Beans
• Pasta
• Brown bread
• Starchy vegetables (like peas and corn)

It is a well known proven fact that drinking green tea can stimulate your metabolism and help reduce and lower your body weight by 35-43%.

There is also some strong evidence that green tea included in your every day diet can reduce bladder, colon, esophageal, pancreas, rectum, and stomach cancer by up to 60%!

If you have been dieting hard but not losing weight, or reached a plateau, chances are that you are deficient in at least one vitamin or mineral.

Vitamins are enormously helpful in weight loss. Not only do they supplement your nutritional input when following a low calorie diet, but they can also increase your metabolism and actively increase your weight loss!

The most important vitamins and minerals for weight loss are:

Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Calcium, Choline, Chromium, Inositol, Manganese, and Zinc.

One study found that eating just one spicy meal a day boosts metabolism by up to 25 percent.

Foods containing chillies or cayanne pepper are considered to be foods that burn fat. Chillies contain capsaicin and capsaicin is a thermogenic food, so it causes the body to burn extra calories for 20 minutes after you eat the chilies.

Sometimes we get impatient, and want to see results within a couple of days.

It can often take weeks, and sometimes even months until you start seeing results. You need to be patient with your body, as it takes time for your body to adapt to all the different changes it encounters.

Summary
In the end what I will say is that not every method will work for everyone since every person has unique characteristics. However there are simple steps that everyone can follow to achieve their weight loss goals.

If you are serious about wanting to lose weight, then by doing regular exercise, having a balanced diet, and believing that you can change yourself for the better are all the key ingredients you need to make your weight loss dreams come true.