Sunday, July 5, 2009

Weight Loss Truths: Things you should understand before start !

1. You have to exercise more than you think.

Getting at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week is great for improving heart health and staying active, but research indicates that those looking to lose weight or maintain weight loss have to do more—about twice as much.

In other words, things like taking the stairs, walking to the store, and gardening are great ways to boost activity level, but losing serious weight means exercising regularly for an hour or so.

2. A half-hour walk doesn’t equal a brownie.

It’s easy to underestimate how many calories some foods contain, it’s also easy to overestimate how many calories we burn while exercising.

Even if you exercise a fair amount, it’s not like you can eat whatever you want.

Although exercise does burn calories during and after exercise, you should be clear about the fact that for substantially reducing body weight nutritional modifications are also necessary and spending calories exercising will have limited results.

In other words, to lose weight, you have to cut calories and increase exercise.

3. Eating more of something won’t help you lose weight.

This idea—that eating more of a certain type of product will help you lose weight is in direct opposition to the basic idea behind weight loss—that we have to eat less, not more.

4. Simple Calories in = calories out won’t do!!!

The type of calories we eat matters and avoiding certain types helps to lose or prevent weight.

As logical sense would tell us, drinking 500 calories of soda is not equal to eating 500 calories of fruits and vegetables. One is simply “empty” calories, provides no real nutritional benefit and don’t do much to combat hunger. Whether you ascribe to the simple idea of trying to burn more calories than you take in or focus on avoiding certain types of calories, you want to minimize intake of empty calories, and maximize nutrient-dense calories.

5. Your body is always working against you.

Most people have noticed that it’s hard to lose weight, but easy to gain it. This is a relic of harder times, when food was not as abundant as it is today. Our genetic taste buds made energy-dense food desirable because it was necessary to pack away calories so we could make it through the thin times. We feasted when we could, in preparation for the famine.

But now that we live in a time of abundance, that system predisposes many of us for weight gain and retention. And for obese dieters, this system is even harder to overcome; after weight loss, they become better at storing fat, making it harder to keep weight off.



6. Our cultural environment.

It’s hard for people to come to a healthy sense of themselves given the cultural climate, and nutritious and pleasurable options for healthy food are not as easily accessible as less nutritious ones.

That doesn’t mean this can’t be overcome, but it does require maybe putting other parts of your life on a “diet.” like fast food restaurants, a bad-influence friend, or driving, which may help increase walking and biking.



7. Maybe you don’t need to lose weight.

It’s true that people can be fit and healthy and not necessarily be thin, just as it’s true that thin people may not necessarily be healthy. Good health, rather than weight, should be our focus; too often, it’s not.

Striving for an unhealthy level of thinness may be detrimental to our health, but understanding the health repercussions of obesity is also critical.



8. This is not a diet; this is your life.

We are made to think that we can lose weight fast, and that’s that. But most people who maintain their weight understand that eating and exercising are not temporary conditions, to be dumped once a pair of jeans fit. Instead, they are lifestyle choices, and ones to be made for the long haul.

Saturday, February 2, 2008

High Protein Diet

A high protein diet is often recommended to Body-builders and Weight-trainers in aid to build muscle and lose fat. This kind of diet is not calorie-controlled and should not be confused with low-carb diets such as the Atkins Diet.

Daily requirement for a healthy individual is anywhere between 0.6 to 1.5g of protein per pound of bodyweight per day (1.4–3.3g per kg).As most high protein foods are naturally low in carbohydrates and saturated fats, following a high protein diet, you automatically eat less carbohydrates. High protein foods also help maintain muscles, as muscle loss is a problem with most successful diets. And even help build muscle while you are dieting and exercising.

Benefits

  1. More calories are burnt following a Protein Weight Loss Diet as it prevents muscle loss when dieting, Increases muscle strength and helps build new muscles.
  2. A high protein diet plan can not only help you lose fat and weight but it seems that it can also be held accountable for the loss of important nutrients that keep the body healthy.
  3. Using lots of protein in your diet may in fact boost antioxidants, preventing the body from infections and certain illnesses such as cancer.
  4. The excess protein consumed is merely burnt for energy or excreted.

High Protein Sources Used In Diet

  1. Casein - Casein is the milk protein in cow's milk. It is low in fat and cholesterol. Casein also helps by creating a gel-like substance that makes your stomach feel full. casein is great help when following a Protein Weight Loss Diet as it prevents muscle loss when dieting, Increases muscle strength and helps build new muscles.
  2. Whey - Whey protein is a natural protein from cow's milk. It contains no fat or cholesterol. Whey protein is beneficial when losing weight and stops feelings of hunger. Whey is a major ingredient of health food, protein drinks for losing weight.
  3. Turkey -Turkey is a very lean meat, containing hardly any fat, can be used on sandwiches, soups and as part of a main meal when following a diet.
  4. Soy -Soy beans contain linolenic acid necessary to build cells (new cells help to heal wounds and regenerate the body) and produce hormones. An example of a high protein diet is the soy diet where mainly every meal and drink is a soy-based one. Extremely high in protein and providing lots of extra health benefits such as helping to prevent certain major diseases like heart disease and cancer, soy should be incorporated in any healthy diet.

Side Effects of High Protein Diet

  • Fatigue - After some strenuous activity (when body has used a lot of energy), followers of the high protein diet might experience sudden moments of fatigue. This happens as body lacks in sugars following High Protein diet.
Measure - Eating a snack containing some carbohydrates should help.
  • Constipation - As less carbohydrate rich foods are consumed (naturally containing fibre) such as wheat, grains and bread, the digestive system might get clogged and constipated.
Measure - Eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg and an occasional slice of wholemeal bread will help.

  • Low Blood Pressure - One of the dangers high protein diets present is that healthy foods providing essential nutrients are necessary for the body to function, such as carbohydrates and sugars. Most of these foods and a diet containing carbohydrates help lower blood pressure levels. People who stay on a protein rich diet will not get enough vitamins and minerals.

Measure – Health supplements should be taken considering ones diet.

  • Low Calcium Levels - After sticking to a high protein diet for a longer period (over a month) will seriously decrease the amount of calcium in the body as because the body is getting less carbohydrates to turn into energy, all the reserves are used. If this loss of calcium is not compensated it may result in bone loss and arthritis.

Measure – Appropriate measures should be taken to avoid Calcium deficiency.

High Protein diet is held accountable for the loss of important nutrients that keep the body healthy in many cases and proper care should be taken to ensure body gets all necessary nutrients it needs for proper functioning.