Weight Loss with Sohu12

ght (c) 2009 Neal Spruce

One factor determines your weight …calories

Controlling your weight comes down to one thing - managing calories. Your body is a complex machine that requires fuel to run your metabolism and perform all movement. Calories from the food and beverages you consume provide this fuel. If you burn all the fuel you take in, your weight will remain stable. If you end up with excess fuel that isn’t burned, it will be stored as body fat and your weight will increase. Similarly, if you burn more fuel than you take in, you’ll lose weight - it’s that simple. By managing the calories you take in and the calories you burn, you can successfully control your weight.

So why have the majority of adults become overweight or obese in recent decades? Each has taken in more fuel than the body burns mostly as a result of lifestyle changes. Manual labor is now performed by machines and computers. Very few calories are burned during our daily routine because work, transportation, recreation and entertainment are mostly sedentary. People eat out more frequently and enticing food is offered everywhere in large quantities, day or night. Because people have a natural tendency to preserve energy and eat even when we’re not hungry, modern lifestyle easily leads to unburned fuel and unwanted weight gain.

Beware of the creeping waistline

Experts predict nine out of ten people will be overweight or obese at some point in their lifetime. However, most people don’t realize they’re becoming overweight because it happens fairly slowly. The average yearly weight gain among adults is one to three pounds. This means most people are off by only 20 to 30 calories a day. Small changes such as skipping those last few bites or taking 200-300 extra steps per day will keep you trim and away from weight loss diets. But keep in mind as you get older, you’re likely to burn fewer calories because your daily routine changes. This means you need to start thinking about your caloric intake and your level of physical activity. And to keep your weight in check, you’ll need to get on the scale or measure your waistline more than once a year.

Boost your calorie IQ

One of the most effective weight control tools is tracking what you eat. An old fashioned pen and paper work just fine but online trackers also offer support and feedback. After a week or so, you’ll be amazed at how much you learn and your calorie IQ will get a huge boost. Those who consistently track what they eat lose more weight and are more successful at keeping the weight off. Doing so will help you decide where to cut back - skip a regular 20 ounce soda and save 250 calories, switch from whole milk to skim milk and save 50 calories a cup, go for regular coffee instead of a regular blended drink and save 300 calories. If you can’t face cutting all of your favorites out of your diet, eating smaller portions is an acceptable compromise. The small steps are often the ones which have the biggest effect, since they’re easier to stick with. Check your surroundings

Scientific studies reveal that your surroundings influence the amount we eat. The bigger the portions, the more you’ll eat. It’s hard to stay away from favorite foods when they’re right in front of you. If you’re in a social setting, at a buffet or drinking alcohol, you’ll probably eat more. If you watch TV while you eat, you’ll overeat. So control your environment by limiting portion sizes, keeping tempting foods out of sight (and out of mind) and game planning before social events. For instance, you may decide to eat or exercise before the party. In any case, be conscious of your environment otherwise you’ll take in more calories without even noticing it.

Step up your activity level

Every calorie you consume or have stored on your body can be burned through activity. If weight control is the goal, step up your activity level. Start by determining how active you are by using a pedometer to measure the steps you take. Gradually increase your daily steps any way you can - short walks, more chores, pacing while watching TV or talking on the phone and of course, climbing stairs at every opportunity. If you prefer the gym, that’s fine too as long as you’re burning more calories by working harder or adding to your regular workouts. Keep in mind that the more active you are, the more fuel your body burns. This means you can speed up your weight loss efforts or choose to eat more.

Monitor your progress and adjust

Monitor your progress at least once a week by weighing in or taking your circumference measurements. For accuracy purposes, it’s best to check your weight at the same time of day with the same clothing. Also, consider weighing in mid week because weight fluctuations tend to occur after a weekend of dining out or indulging. Because weight can fluctuate on any given day, judge your progress over time. If your results aren’t moving in the right direction after any two to three week period, you’ll need to adjust. Reduce the calories you take in or increase movement until you make progress.

Set goals and get support

Set a short term and long term goal and write them down. In doing so, you make a commitment to yourself which helps propel you into immediate action. Healthy weight loss for most people is half a pound to two pounds per week but the more weight you have to lose, the faster you can lose it. One pound of body fat contains approximately 3,500 calories. The data below shows you how many calories you’ll have to cut out of your diet or burn off through exercise to reach your weight loss goals.

Weekly weight loss goal ½ lb 1 lb 1.5 lb 2 lb

Average daily calorie deficit 250 500 750 1000
(# to reduce or burn above maintenance)

Finally, get support from a friend, family member or from our online community. The key to weight control is managing calories, and by staying persistent and consistent you’ll eventually reach your goal.

References –
Vasan RS, Pencina MJ, Cobain M, Freiberg MS, D’Agostino RB. Estimated risks for developing obesity in the Framingham Heart Study. Ann Intern Med. 2005 Oct 4;143(7):473-80.

Williamson DF, Kahn HS, Byers T. The 10-year incidence of obesity and major weight gain in black and white U.S. women aged 35-55. Am J Clin Nutr. 1991;53:1515S-1518S.

Zhang Q, Wang Y. Trends in the Association between Obesity and Socioeconomic Status in U.S. Adults:1971-2000. Obes Res. 2004;12:1622-32.

Hollis JF, Gullion CM, Stevens VJ, Brantley PJ, Appel LJ, Ard JD, Champagne CM, Dalcin A, Erlinger TP, Funk K, Laferriere D, Lin PH, Loria CM, Samuel-Hodge C, Vollmer WM, Svetkey LP, Weight Loss Maintenance Trial Research Group. Weight loss during the intensive intervention phase of the weight-loss maintenance trial. Am J Prev Med. 2008 Aug;35(2):118-26.

Kruger J, Blanck HM, Gillespie C. Dietary and physical activity behaviors among adults successful at weight loss maintenance. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2006;3:17.

Wansink B, Painter JE, North J. Bottomless bowls: why visual cues of portion size may influence intake. Obes Res. 2005 Jan;13(1):93-100.

Wansink B. Environmental factors that increase the food intake and consumption volume of unknowing consumers. Annu Rev Nutr. 2004;24:455-79. Review.

Every day we are bombarded with overweight and obesity statistics and no country misses out. As a result many of us obsess on the subject and it’s no wonder. To some people a pound or two becomes a huge disaster and the reason is people are so critical of themselves. On the other hand there are those who simply take the other road when faced with weight gain, they simply resign themselves to being overweight.

The above perspectives, both of them, are not very productive to controlling your ballooning weight. You need to develop important solid weight control strategies if you are going to rid yourself of those extra pounds. Are you one of those parents who dog their children with advice about reaching their goals? I can just hear you now, “just do a little each day and before you know it you will have achieved you goal”. Great advice but how about you take a little of it, a page out of your own book if you will, when you are planning your own weight control program.

It may be the case that you only have a few pounds to loose, be realistic about it all. Don’t fret. Scrap that extra little butter, add as much fruit and veges as possible. In a week or two those pounds will have slowly disappeared and you shape will show it.

If by chance you have had the unfortunate event of gaining some 20 to 4o pounds, you will most certainly need to be much more aggressive in you weight control program. As I said before, don’t fret. In this case you will need to plan to loose your excess weight over a period of months instead of weeks and if you use a sensible approach to this goal, you’re far more likely to be able to keep the weight off in the years to come.

If your goal is to loose say 40 pounds plan to do it over a period of six months. Think just how many years it took you to gain those pounds so six months is not a long period in comparison, not long at all to get that fabulous figure. If spread over the six months, that’s about 7 pounds a month. Pardon the pun but that’s a piece of cake.

Please, take a close look at your eating habits, where is it that you go wrong so often? Is it your passion for fast greasy foods such as fries and hamburgers? Do you over eat when stressed for instance? When you know what you are doing wrong then tackle the worst one first. The deletion of fast food calories from your diet will easily result in the loss of a few pounds each month. Cookies are a no brainer, forget them. Go for the leaner meats, veges and fruits and low calorie alternatives for faster results. Drinking juices instead of soda drinks is such a boon to any weight loss program.

The keys in any weight control regime are certainly consistency, moderation and a positive attitude. Weight yourself once a week only and make sure you log the results. Keep track of what you consume, if at the end of the month your observations show a loss of 7 pounds you have certainly succeeded. Didn’t make your goal, then look at your recorded menus and it may be as simple as cutting the portion sizes for the next month, remember don’t fret.

This is the hard bit for so many people, Daily Exercise. It is essentials to reaching your objective. It’s a simple fact; exercise burns calories so choose activities that burn big calorie numbers if you can cope.

Your weight control is in no other hands but yours. Follow a sensible approach that suites you and you will soon be looking good.

Chronic weight gain, particulary when it the excess weight is distributed all over the body, is a common symptom of poor thyroid function, and this is no surprise because of the thyroid’s effects on metabolism. Even though the thyroid gland itself can be the source of slow metabolism, other aspects of the thyroid system are more often to blame. Many of these problems can actually be corrected naturally with diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes. Let’s begin by looking at the thyroid hormone system as a whole as it pertains to metabolism and body weight issues.

The stimulation of metabolism actually begins in a part of the brain called the hypothalamus - the master hormone controller. The hypothalmus senses the need for more or less thyroid hormone production and when more is needed, it signals the pituitary gland to produce a hormone called TSH (you may have seen this hormone listed on a blood test for thyroid function). Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) does what it’s name suggests - it stimulates the thyroid gland to produce the inactive T4 hormone. When the inactive T4 hormone levels increase, it is taken up by the liver and converted to the active form of thyroid hormone, known as T3. The T3 hormone then acts on receptor sites on the cells of the body and causes the cells to produce more mitochondria, which can be thought of a microscopic power plants inside the cells. The mitochondria create energy for the cells (which when combined from millions of cells creates energy for the body as a whole) by burning stored sugar and fat.

When something goes wrong in the thyroid system, the body does not burn fat and sugar as much, so there is a tendency for weight gain. As the cells of the body are not procuding as much energy, a common symptom that develops is chronic fatigue. And because there is not sufficient energy for certain cellular functions, healing and tissue regeneration may be depressed - this is most commonly noticed as hair loss and brittle nails.

There are several possible reasons why the thyroid system might not work as well as it should. First, there may not be sufficient stimulation of the body to cause the hypothalamus to start the process. The primary stimulator of the thyroid system is exercise - primarily short bursts of intense exercise. In other words, for healthy thyroid function, it is more effective to do interval training in which you do repetetive bursts of intense activity with rest in between, than it is to do long periods of low-intensity exercise, but any form of exercise is helpful.

An additional potential problem is damage to the thyroid gland itself, which is most commonly due to infection or sometimes by radiation exposure. Radiation exposure could come from accidental or long-term occupational contact, or in some individuals, may have been intentional as a part of cancer treatment. In the case of actual thyroid damage, some type of thyroid medication will usually be necessary to compensate.

Yet another possible problem in the thyroid system is poor conversion of the inactive T4 hormone to the active T3 hormone by the liver. This typically occurs with poor lifestyle - excessive alcohol and/or drug use, and/or bad diet (especially a diet high in fats and animal proteins). The functioning of the liver can usually be greatly enhanced through dietary approaches, and improved liver function will translate to more efficient activation of thyroid hormone.

The active T3 hormone can actually be blocked at the receptor sites on the body’s cells and cannot send the signal for the cells to build additional mitochondria, and metabolism becomes sluggish. This is a common side-effect of estrogen and estrogen-like chemicals. The most common sources of estrogen interference with thyroid hormone are birth control medications and estrogen replacement therapy. If you have experienced weight gain and other thyroid-related symptoms since starting on birth control or hormone replacement, you may wish to consult with your physician about other options.

Finally, the formation of mitochondria can be interfered with by the presence of certain chemicals. Sodium benzoate, a preservative found in many processed foods and beverages (especially soft-drinks) can damage the genetic material within the cells needed for mitochondrial formation. Here again, cleaning up the diet can be very beneficial to overall thyroid hormone function and the ultimate goal of weight control.

To sum things up, there are steps you can take to maximize the metabolism-stimulating effects of the thyroid. First, regular exercise is important, and interval-training is the most effective for thyroid stimulation. Next, avoid excessive alcohol consumption, avoid drugs and medications except for those that are absolutely necessary, and keep fat and protein intake to a moderate level so as not to overwork the liver. In addition, you may wish to consult with your doctor if you are using any kind of birth control or hormone replacement medication containing estrogen. Finally, avoid the preservative sodium benzoate in order to avoid interfering with the production of your cellular “power plants”, the mitochondria. The majority of the time, these measures will slowly help to correct thyroid hormone activity weight loss will follow naturally as your metabolism speeds up. In a few cases, medical treatment for thyroid damage may be needed, but simple lifestyle changes are often the most effective means of improving metabolism.

In order to effectively lose weight, here are 5 of the most recommended diet pills available in the market: Hoodia Gordonii Plus, Hoodia Chaser, Avatrim Dietary Supplement, Dietrine Carb Blocker, and Hoodia Balance.

Because of the sheer number of diet pills available online, it can be a daunting and overwhelming task to sort out the good ones from the not-so-good ones. The success of diet pills is really a case-to-case basis. It depends on the person taking them and how his or her body will react to the said pills. Nevertheless, extensive research and data findings gathered over time have given us a list of some of the most highly recommended diet pills that are available over the internet these days. Here are some of the results of these studies.

The top five diet pills that come highly recommended by health experts and satisfied customers alike are the following: Hoodia Gordonii Plus, Hoodia Chaser, Avatrim Dietary Supplement, Dietrine Carb Blocker, and Hoodia Balance.

The Hoodia Gordonii Plus diet pill has been around the market for quite sometime now and is one of the most effective, if not the most effective, appetite suppressant made from natural herbs. Aside from suppressing a person’s appetite, it has the ability to boost the metabolism, burn fat and increase energy.

Hoodia Chaser, on the other hand, is not a diet pill per se. It comes in liquid form and is actually the liquefied version of pure Hoodia Gordonii extract. This type of weight loss agent is said to be absorbed by the body faster and works immediately by suppressing your appetite and thus preventing you from overeating.

The Avatrim Dietary Supplement is a unique combination of pure green tea extract, vitamins, amino acids, and other natural thermogenic ingredients that have been proven to promote weight loss. It works by increasing the body’s metabolism and energy output, thereby accelerating the burning of fat, resulting in weight loss.

The Dietrine Carb Blocker, as the name implies, blocks the absorption of carbohydrates. This is ideal for people who still want to be able to eat good food without the consequence of gaining weight.

Lastly, Hoodia Balance is similar to the other Hoodia diet pills, but contains a higher percentage of the South African Hoodia herb. Thus, this pill is considered to be more potent than the others.

Ephedra and Ephedrine are still the top choice for weight loss. The Ephedra herb in its purest form was banned by the FDA, however companies such as Hi-Tech and American Generic Labs have produced pills that have ephedra extract. Ephedra Extract is legal and can be found in Lipodrene, Ripped Power, Superdrine and Metabothin.

We found web sites such as http://www.milliondollarweightloss.com highlighting ephedra based products and everything we’ve seen and heard points to these products still being the top performing ones available both on the internet and in retail locations.

Reference Wikipedia:

In response to accumulating evidence of adverse effects and deaths related to ephedra, the FDA banned the sale of ephedra-containing supplements on April 12, 2004.[9] A suit by an ephedra manufacturer was upheld by a Federal District Court judge in Utah on April 14, 2005. [10] The FDA appealed this ruling, and on August 17, 2006 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit upheld the FDA’s ban of ephedra.[11] The sale of ephedra-containing dietary supplements remains illegal in the United States due to evidence of adverse ephedra-related effects.

Many weight loss supplements make fantastic claims, promising to melt fat or pack on muscle at an amazing rate. However, if you actually try these supplements, you could see a far different result ranging from nothing happening to gaining weight to actually damaging your health. In a day and age when so much is regulated by governmental agencies, how is this possible?

In America, weight loss supplements, along with many other herbal and homeopathic remedies, do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This means that, unlike foods and medications, weight loss supplements are not subjected to the FDA’s rigorous standards of safety and effectiveness. As long as they don’t directly claim to have a therapeutic effect, supplements can make wild promises with little to no scientific proof to back up their statements.

This doesn’t mean that all weight loss supplements are useless or worse - far from it! However, it does place the burden of research on the shoulders of the consumer. Before buying into the claims of any supplement, do some research on your own to determine if it’s right for you.

For example:

• Define your goals before buying any supplements. Are you trying to supplement your nutrition, boost your metabolism, or build muscle more effectively?

• Find out how the supplements are supposed to work. This will help you to decide whether there are any risks (i.e., boosting your metabolism can also lead to increased blood pressure and risk of heart disease.)

• Read the manufacturer’s warnings carefully.

• Look online and in newspapers to find out whether other people have had success with the product.

• Talk with your doctor to find out whether there are any known health risks.

• Stick to brands with solid, trustworthy reputations in the industry.

By following these simple recommendations, you can use supplements to increase the effectiveness of your weight loss program while safeguarding your health and your pocketbook.