Lose Weight Quickly

“Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince and eat dinner like a pauper.” This maxim can be attributed to nutrition writer Adelle Davis, and since her passing in 1974, the advice to eat less at night to help with fat loss has lived on and continued to circulate in many different incarnations. This includes suggestions such as:

“Don’t eat a lot before bedtime”
“Don’t eat midnight snacks”
“Don’t eat anything after 7pm”
“Don’t eat any carbs at night”
“Don’t eat any carbs after 3 pm”
and so on…

I too believe that eating lightly at night is usually very solid advice for people seeking increased fat loss, especially for people who are inactive at night. However, some fitness experts today, when they hear “eat less at night,” start screaming, “Diet Voodoo!”…

Opinions on this subject are definitely mixed. Many highly respected experts strongly recommend eating less at night to improve fat loss, while others suggest that it’s only “calories in vs calories out” over 24 hours that matters.

The critics say that it’s ridiculous to cut off food intake at a certain hour or to presume that “carbs turn to fat” at night as if there were some kind of nocturnal carbohydrate gremlins waiting to shuttle calories into fat cells when the moon is full. They suggest that if you eat less in the morning and eat more at night, it all “balances itself out at the end of the day.”

Of course, food does not turn to fat just because it’s eaten after a certain “cutoff hour” and carbs do not necessarily turn to fat at night either (although there are hypotheses about low evening insulin sensitivity having some significance). What we do know for certain is that the law of energy balance is with us at all hours of the day - and that bears some deeper consideration when you realize that we expend the least energy when we are sleeping and many people spend the entire evening watching TV.

I had the privilege of interviewing sports nutritionist and dietician Dan Benardot, PhD, and he gave us a very interesting perspective on this.

Dr. Benardot said that thinking in terms of 24 hour energy balance may be a seriously flawed and outdated concept. He says that the old model of energy balance looks at calories in versus calories out in 24 hour units. However, what really happens is that your body allocates energy minute by minute and hour by hour as your body’s needs dictate, not at some specified 24 hour end point.

I first heard this concept suggested by Dr. Fred Hatfield about 15 years ago. Hatfield explained how and why you should be thinking ahead to the next three hours and adjusting your energy intake accordingly.

Although it’s not really a new idea, Dr. Benardot has recently taken this concept to a much higher level of refinement and he calls the new paradigm, “Within Day Energy Balance.”

The Within Day Energy balance approach not only backs up the practice of eating small meals approximately every three hours, AND the practice of “nutrient timing” (which is why post workout nutrition is such a popular topic today, and rightly so)… it also suggests that we should adjust our energy intake according to our activity.

Let’s make the assumption most people come home from work, then plop on the couch in front of the TV all night. Let’s also assume that the majority of people go to bed late in the evening, usually around 10 pm, 11 pm or midnight. Therefore, nightime is the period during which the least energy is being expended.

If this is true, then it’s logical to suggest that one should not eat huge amounts of calories at night, especially right before bed because that would provide excess fuel at a time when it is not needed. The result is increased likelihood of fat storage.

From the within day energy balance perspective, the advice to eat less at night makes complete sense. Of course it also suggests that if you train at night, then you should eat more at night to support that activity beforehand and to support recovery afterwards.

Those stuck on a 24 hour model of energy expenditure would say timing of energy intake doesn’t matter as long as the total calories for the day are in a deficit. But who ever decided that the body operates on a 24-hour “DAY”?

Try this test (or not!): Eat a 2500 calorie per day diet, with nothing for breakfast, nothing before or after your morning workout, 500 calories for lunch, 750 calories for dinner and 1250 calories before bedtime.

Now compare that to the SAME 2500 calorie diet with 6 small meals of approximately 420 calories per meal and then tweak those meal sizes a bit so that you eat a little more before and after your workout and a little less later at night.

Both are 2500 calories per day. According to “24 hour energy balance” thinking, both diets will produce the same results in performance, health and body composition. But will they?

Does your body really do a calculation at midnight and add up the day’s totals like a business man when he closes out the register at night? It’s a lot more logical that energy is stored in real time and energy is burned in real time, rather than accounted for at the end of each 24 hour period.

24 hour energy balance is just one way to academically sort calories so you can understand it and count it in convenient units of time. This has its uses, as in calculating a daily calorie intake level for menu planning purposes.

Ok, but enough about calories, what about the individual macronutrients? Some people don’t simply suggest eating fewer calories at night, they suggest you take your calorie cut specifically from CARBS rather than from all macronutrients evenly across the board. Is there anything to it?

Well, there’s more than one theory. The most commonly quoted theory has to do with insulin.

“I want to get cut up for an upcoming contest. Should I eat at night? I heard I shouldn’t eat carbs after six pm.”

“It’s true that insulin sensitivity is lowest at night. Let’s discuss what is happening in your body that makes it dislike carbs at night. Cortisol, a catabolic hormone, is highest at night. When cortisol is elevated, your muscle cell insulin sensitivity is lowered…”

More recently, David Barr wrote a tip on “lower carbs at night” for T-Muscle Magazine. He said:

“Even when bulking, you don’t want to start scarfing down Pop Tarts before you go to bed. Our muscle insulin sensitivity decreases as the day wears on, meaning that we’re more likely to generate a large insulin response from ingesting carbs. Stated differently, we’re more predisposed to adding fat mass by eating carbs at night because our body doesn’t handle the hormone insulin as well as it does earlier in the day.”

Mind you, Barr is a not a “voodoo” guy; he is a respected scientist who also happens to be well known as a “dogma destroyer” and “myth buster”… and Duchaine, although he had a shady past and some run-ins with the law, was nevertheless highly respected by nearly all in the bodybuilding world for his ahead-of-his-time nutrition wisdom.

As a result of advice like this, word got out in the bodybuilding and fitness community that you should eat fewer carbs at night. Real world results and the “test of time” have suggested that this is an effective strategy. I also don’t know a single nutrition or training expert who doesn’t agree that insulin management and improvement of insulin sensitivity aren’t effective approaches in the management of body fat.

However, it’s only fair to point out that not all scientists agree that cutting carbs at night will have any real world impact on fat loss, outside of any additional calorie deficit created by it. Dr. Benardot, for example, doesn’t think there’s much to it. He says that exercisers and athletes in particular, usually have excellent glycemic control, so the ratio of macronutrients should not be as much of an issue as the total energy balance in relation to energy needs at a particular time and the meal frequency (eating every 3 hours).

Regardless of which side of the “carbs at night” debate you lean towards, if you consider the within day energy balance principle, it makes perfect sense not to eat large, calorie-dense meals late at night before bedtime.

Keep in mind of course, that cutting back on your calories and/or carbs at night makes the most sense in the context of a fat loss program, especially if fat loss has been slow. It’s quite possible that I might give the exact opposite advice to the skinny “ectomorph” who is having a hard time gaining muscular body weight.

Also consider that this doesn’t necessarily mean eating nothing at night; it may simply mean eating smaller meals or emphasizing lean protein and green veggies (or a small protein shake) at night.

Many programs suggest a specific time when you should eat your last meal of the day. However, I’d suggest avoiding an absolute cut off time, such as “no food or no carbs after 6 pm, etc,” because people go to bed at different times, and maintenance of steady blood sugar and an optimal hormonal balance even at night are also important goals.

A more personalized suggestion is to cut off food intake 3 hours before bedtime, if practical and possible. For example, if you eat dinner at 6 pm, but don’t go to bed until 12 midnight, then a small 9 pm meal or a snack makes sense, but keep it light, preferably lean protein, and dont raid the refrigerator at 11:55!

An important rule to remember in all cases, is that whatever is working, keep doing more of it. If you eat your largest meal before bed and lose fat anyway, I would never tell you to change that. Results are what counts. On the other hand, if you’re stuck at a fat loss plateau, this is a technique I’d suggest you give a try.

Night time eating is likely to remain a subject of debate - especially the part about whether carbs should be targeted for removal in evening meals.

However, perhaps even those who are skeptical can consider, that if cutting out carbs at night is effective for fat loss, it may be for the simple reason that it forces you to eat less automatically.

In other words, setting a rule to eat fewer calories or to eat fewer carbs at night may be a very effective way to keep your daily calories in check and to match intake to activity, whereas people who are allowed to eat ad libitum at night when they’re home, glued to the couch and watching TV, etc., may tend to overeat when food is readily available, but the energy is not needed in large amounts.

Me personally? Unless I’m weight training at night, I have always reduced calories and carbs at night when “cutting” for bodybuilding competition. It’s worked so well for me that I devoted a whole section to it in my program, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM) and I call the techniques “calorie tapering” and “carb tapering.” For more information on how I use these methods to help me reach single digit body fat, you can visit: www.BurnTheFat.com

The Best Foods To Gain Weight! Learn How To Easily Beef Up Simply By Changing Your Diet

There’s plenty of information out there about how to lose weight. Shelves in bookshops heave with volumes and volumes on the subject and magazines dedicate thousands of column inches to the issue every single week. But if you’re someone who wants to GAIN weight, you soon realize that there’s a lot less information and advice out there for you to read and use. Today I’m going to tell you a little bit about how you can gain weight safely and consistently without getting fat and without negatively affecting your health. By following the tips and advice that follow, you’ll be able to beef up as much as you like. The only limit is your own preference. So let’s get started.

The only real way to gain weight is to increase the number of calories you consume on a daily and weekly basis. However, there are a few special rules to doing this that you should follow if you can. Let’s get the main calorie concept out of the way first. A pound of weight consists of around 3500 calories. To lose a pound a week, you’d need to eat 500 fewer calories a day (7 x 500 = 3500) than usual. To gain a pound, which is what you’re looking to do, you need to eat 500 MORE a day. So that’s the first thing you need to do. Over the course of one week, eat as you usually do and take note of how many calories you consume in a day on average. After the week is over, total the day’s up, then add 3500 to that number. Divide that number by 7 and you’re left with your new per-day calorie intake goal. Here are a few quick tips to help you eat more calories in the best possible way:

An important point you MUST bear in mind here, is that some foods are much better than others when it comes to which ones you choose to eat to increase your calorie intake. Try to adhere to the following rules:

- Include a lot of unrefined/unprocessed carbohydrates in your weekly diet, things like whole grains and fruits, plenty of vegetables and lean foods that are high in protein such as products made of skim milk, eggs, and low-fat cuts of red meat like beef and pork.

- Try to avoid eating lots of saturated fats. It might seem like a good idea to pack on some weight, but it’s not when you think about it. All fats contain the same number of calories (45 in 1 teaspoon). Eating saturated fats more than any other kind will only raise your cholesterol, so stick to healthy fats like Omegas 3, 6 and 9.

So, which specific foods can you eat to up your calorie intake without consuming too much bad fat? Here are some ideas:

- Add fruit, seeds and nuts to your cereal in the morning. Muesli and porridge are especially good morning meals.

- Feel free to eat dessert, but try to find desserts that contain low-fat milk and healthy oils.

- Snack regularly on things like crackers and cheese, yogurts, soup with croutons and added skim milk, and milkshakes containing frozen yogurt or low-fat ice cream.

Overall, remember that your goal is this: to eat more calories per week by consuming foods that are high in protein but low in saturated fats. Eat big to get big!

Doing too much aerobic exercise will hinder your weight gain, but exercise is still highly recommended. You want to keep your muscles lean and fit, so lift weights whenever you can. Stick to performing low reps with a lot of weight to bulk up without getting too ‘cut’.

Lastly, sleep as soundly and for as long as you can every night. 8 hours minimum if you can manage it. It helps your body process the things you’re eating and keeps you feeling awake and vitalized during the day.

If, after a few weeks, you see your weight gain stop or severely slow down, up your calorie intake further – but still keep your diet healthy. Add 250 more calories to your daily intake and go from there to kick-start your weight gain again. Simple!

‘Perfect Body Plan’ is a brand new e-book that has been designed in a special way. It allows anybody who reads through its pages – regardless of what their specific, individual goal is – to achieve their perfect body. It only uses tried-and-tested techniques that fuse diet advice, multiple fitness and weightlifting programs that anyone can perform, and psychological guidance that MAKES SURE you achieve your goals. Whether you want to lose weight or gain it, get fit or simply look good naked, ‘Perfect Body Plan’ has the answers…

Take a look now at Perfect Body Plan

Which Alcoholic Drink is Best When You’re Dieting?

QUESTION: Dear Tom: If you are going to go out and have a drink or two with friends, which drink is the best when you’re on a fat loss program like BFFM? Would it be wine or a vodka mixed with soda? Is champagne better or worse than the other two?

ANSWER: The first thing I would suggest is that you ask a better question! The answers you get are only as good as the quality of questions you ask. “Which alcohol is best?” is not a very good question when your goal is to get leaner.

If you asked, “How much damage would I do to my body and how much would I slow down my results if I drank during my fat burning program?” you might get a different feeling towards alcohol. This type of question presupposes that there WILL be a down side, it’s only a question of how bad it will be.

If you focus on the consequences of drinking, (like getting a beer gut), instead of how you can best “get away with it,” it may change your attitude. Then if you shift focus to the abs and lean body you want, and change your question to what is the best way to get great abs and a lean body, it will change your attitude and motivation even more.

[3] I do not recommend daily drinking as part of a fitness lifestyle, because daily drinking can become habit forming. My recommendation is limit drinking to weekends, holidays and or special occasions.

How an Entire Year Could Go By With No Results

QUESTION: Dear Tom: I’ve been going to the gym for the past year now, but I have only lost 2 pounds. I eat about 1800 calories a day and I do 3 cardio and 3 weight training sessions a week. I am 5 feet 5 inches and 128 lbs. I would like to be at 120 lbs.

To lose 8 more lbs isn’t a lot to ask, but I’m really frustrated. I’ve been VERY persistent, and I rarely cheat except once each weekend, but at this rate, it will take me another 4 years for me to reach my goal! Please help!

ANSWER:

Don’t worry, it won’t take another 4 years! In fact, you can reach your target weight within the next month if you start getting feedback, charting results and making some strategic changes to your program.

First, it’s important that you understand how a year could go by with almost no progress.

Have you been doing the same nutrition, same calories, same cardio, same weight training and the same intensity for the entire past year with no changes? If so, then you shouldn’t be suprised if you’ve continued to get the SAME results (very little).

If you do more of the same, you usually get more of the same.

Caloric intake, for example is not something you calculate once and then never pay attention to again. Calories have to be calculated and customized for each individual in the beginning and then adjusted continuously in “real time” during the course of a fat loss program, based on actual results.

Just because you start at 1800 doesn’t mean your caloric intake should stay there. Calories may need to be increased or decreased depending on whether your goals, your body weight and your activity levels change and based on your weekly progress (or lack of).

Which brings me to another point. I am a huge fan of using progress charts. There is a saying in business management and sports coaching:

“What gets measured gets done.”

When you start “keeping score” and tracking performance right down to the numbers, it’s almost miraculous how this awareness of how you’re doing translates into improved results.

When you track your body composition results every week, if a week or two goes by with no results, then you don’t continue with more of what got you no results, you change some variable in your program immediately!

An old Turkish proverb that says,

“No matter how far you’ve traveled down the wrong road, always turn back!”

Of course, you don’t have to throw out your entire program, you can simply “tweak” ONE or maybe two variables within the same program.

Also, when you measure, track and analyze muscle versus fat (body composition), instead of just scale weight, you might even discover you’ve gained some lean body mass and this offsets the drop on the scale (which means it’s possible you made more progress than you thought).

Now, back to the calories. To break a plateau, you can take a reduction in calories, or an increase in activity, either of which will create a deficit if you are currently in energy balance, or increase your existing caloric deficit.

1800 calories may not provide a large enough deficit for some women, and in fact, the majority of women your height, weight and activity level usually are losing fat safely and successfully on 1500-1600 calories per day. (for men about 2200-2500 calories, avg.)

At the end of the day, fat loss boils down to calories in versus calories out, so if you plateau, you may need a simple calorie reduction, provided you don’t restrict too low for too long (which tends to trigger your body’s “starvation response.”)

As for your cardio program, 3 days a week of cardio works for many people, but usually, I would consider three weekly cardio sesssions a maintenenance workout or at best a starting point for beginners, NOT a “maximum fat loss” program.

Example: this week, you could increase your cardio from 3 sessions to 4 sessions. If you combine the decrease in food intake with an increase in calories burned through activity, that will almost certainly get you burning fat again.

If it does, then stay with 4 days a week of cardio. If not, the next week go up to 5 days a week. Repeat this simple “feedback loop” process as many times and for as long as necessary.

Also remember that more (often) is not always better. You can also increase the intensity and get more calories burned in same amount of time. This feedback loop process can be used to make decisions about your training intensity, duration and type, as well as frequency.

Whichever strategy you choose to break the plateau, remember Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity:

“Insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”

Although this seems like common sense to some people, what happened to you is really quite common because it does appear that you’re doing everything you’re “supposed to be doing” with perfectly good intentions.

You have have all the key elements there: You’re exercising (weights and cardio). You’re watching your nutrition, and you’ve been disciplined and consistent in following it.

The trouble with many popular programs - even good ones - is that they are too dogmatic. Their entire program may revolve around “X” number of calories, “X” days per week of cardio and “X” days a week of weights….

And you’re not allowed to “tamper” with that “holy grail” formula.

I can understand the rationale for a simple diet and exercise prescription for a beginner in order to not confuse them with too many choices, but what if it doesnt work after a month, three months, six months, A WHOLE YEAR? What if there are no options, what then?

In NLP, there’s a principle, (borrowed from cybernetics), called The Law of Requisite Variety, which says,

“The person with the most flexibility is the person with the most power and the greatest chance for success.”

You need to know what to do when you’re not getting results… you need options and choices for breaking plateaus, and that’s important because plateaus happen to everyone - including me.

Some people think that hitting a fat loss plateau means there’s something wrong with them. But plateaus are natural and normal. In fact, you could look at it this way:

Hitting a plateau means your body is healthy and your body is functioning normally, because normal function of the body is to adapt effectively to stress, to protect you and to maintain homeostasis.

Exercise is a stress. Dieting is a stress. It’s natural for your body to adapt to them. When you adapt, you must place a new “positive stress” on the body if you want continued improvement.

If you want to learn more details about how to change your program to break plateaus and make continuous progress as fast as safely possible, then I recommend you take a look at Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle (BFFM).

BFFM has flexibility, feedback and performance tracking built right into it. Chapter 4 in BFFM teaches the “BFFM feedback loop method”, and shows you how to chart progress and adjust your diet and workouts on a weekly basis, to keep you making progress or get you back on track if your progress stalls out.

There is no reason to allow even a few weeks, let alone an entire year to go by without results. But you can’t expect to get different results if you continue doing more of what’s not working.

Keep after it! Be persistent… but also be flexible!

Your friend and coach,

Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT www.BurnTheFat.com

Speed Eating and Fat Loss: Diet Advice Your Mom Was Right About All Along

A new study just published in a recent issue of the journal Obesity has revealed that thin people eat very differently than heavy people at all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants.

Researcher Brian Wansink and his team from the Cornell University Food and Brand Laboratory observed diners at 11 different Chinese buffet restaurants across the United States.

Their goal was to find out whether the eating behaviors of people at all-you-can-eat buffets varied based on their body mass.

Trained observers recorded the height, weight, gender, age, and behavior of 213 patrons. The various seating, serving and eating behaviors were then compared across BMI levels.

This study confirms earlier research from the University of Rhode Island published in the journal of the American Dietetic Association which found that eating slowly leads to decreases in energy intake.

Time-Energy Displacement means that the more time you take to eat, the less energy (calories) you are likely to consume. The faster you eat, the more energy (calories) you’re likely to consume.

But wait, there’s even more! A study from the University of Alabama looked at satiety (how full a food makes you feel), energy density (calories per unit of volume) and eating time of various foods. To maximize the effects of Time-Energy Displacement, it was found even more advantageous to choose foods that FORCE you to ingest calories more slowly.

Foods that have a high satiety factor such as high fiber and high water foods (so you feel fuller more quickly):

Foods with a high “chew factor” (so you can’t eat them fast if you tried; you have to chew them thoroughly):

Foods with a low energy density such as salad vegetables and greens (so you’d get tired of eating before you took in a lot of calories):

These results also confirm all the studies that have been advising us not to drink our calories. Liquid calories, especially soft drinks and dessert coffees are two of the biggest sources of excess calories in the typical American’s diet.

The problem: calories in liquid form can have a very high caloric density and can be consumed very quickly. Liquid calories also do not activate the satiety mechanism in your brain and gastrointestinal tract the way solid food does.

“Don’t inhale your food” used to be an admonishment about proper eating etiquette you heard from your mom. It is now scientifically-proven fat loss advice.

To learn more research-proven tips for burning fat, visit the “Burn The Fat” website at www.BurnTheFat.com

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

Faith Based Diets: Does God Punish You For Being Fat?

Faith based diets have been around for decades. But is overeating really a sin? Does God punish you for being fat? A recent column in an issue of USA Today answers, “weight loss is hard enough without feeling that the almighty is on your back, too”…

Recently, I was sitting in a wonderful little breakfast “parlor” on Main Street in Santa Monica (California), enjoying a bowl of oatmeal, a mountain of fresh fruit and a “sexy omelette” (the bodybuilder’s favorite). There was even a “Schwarzenegger omelette” on the menu - I kid you not! Although the usual dietary temptations are omnipresent everywhere, I noticed a lot more healthy eateries and healthy options on menus out here, which is okay by me! It seems like people are much more health conscious in Southern California compared to back home in the New Jersey/New York City area.

One thing is for sure - people are definitely in better shape. No doubt, it’s partly due to the year-round beautiful weather. You can’t hide under those winter coats in this weather! When I left Newark airport it was a blustery 37 degrees. It’s 77 degrees and sunny as I sit here on my hotel balcony, laptop on my lap, overlooking the palm trees and Pacific ocean.

A friend of mine once said that “Palm trees are God’s way of saying, LIVE HERE!”

Speaking of God, that brings me to the subject of this article. As I was finishing up the last few bites of my high protein omelette, I came across an article in USA Today that I simply HAD to pass on to you because it’s related to some of the weight loss work I’ve been recently doing and it bears some important lessons.

The column, written by Christine Whelan, a professor of sociology, said that religious diet groups are growing in number and some of them say that “God might not approve of that second piece of pie.” In fact, some of these groups, reported Whelan, warn that God will punish you for overeating and being fat. The Weigh Down Workshop, one of the most “hard-line” of such groups, tells their participants that God will “destroy you” if you abuse your body by overeating.

Well, we’ve certainly heard of gluttony referred to as a deadly sin, but is this going a little too far?”

I’m not sure what other people think, but I prefer to think of God as a loving God, who does not punish a person in the hereafter for being fat in this life. But then again, why would he have to? He has created a magnificent physical world based on immutable physical laws of cause and effect, reward and consequence, which mete out all the “punishment” needed, right here in this life: diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, osteoarthritis, gout, and even cancer. All of them are linked to obesity. Combined with the emotional pain of being overweight and the lower quality (and sometimes quantity) of life, I’d say that’s punishment enough, wouldn’t you?

But enough of my theological viewpoint, I found some tremendously valuable practical lessons in the newspaper article.

I don’t believe that instilling guilt or fear of eternal damnation is an uplifting way to change behavior. Perhaps it might be effective for some, as fear of consequences can be a powerful motivator. But aren’t there more positive ways to achieve behavior modification than hellfire and brimstone?

For example, metaphors are also powerful motivators, especially because metaphors are language that your unconscious mind can understand. Didn’t Jesus teach in parables and metaphors? What if you said your body was like a temple? Would you behave differently? Would you look after your “temple” with more care? Those with spiritual beliefs almost certainly would, if they kept that in mind and believed it on a deep level.

In my books, I delve into the emotional, psychological and social aspects of body fat loss.

Some of the chapters are devoted to teaching you how to build a fortress of positive, uplifting, inspiring energy around you in the form of positive, uplifting, and inspiring people. But many of my readers and clients tell me this is easier said than done in their world. “What am I supposed to do when peer pressure from my friends is pulling me down?” “What do I do if my own family won’t support my new, healthier choices? What if they keep bringing potato chips, cookies and ice cream into the house?” “What if no one supports me?”

Enter spiritual diet support groups. Not all of these groups are so extreme as to pronounce that being fat is a sin. And as Whelan put it, “religion may be the ultimate trump card of many behavior modification programs.”

No matter how independent we are, we all need support in our journeys toward personal improvement. It’s the great paradox of succeeding in any endeavor in life - you have to do it by yourself, but you can’t do it alone.

Spiritual communities and religious support groups can be the last refuge of support and encouragement for some people. For anyone with spiritual beliefs, these groups may be one of the best places of all to turn for social support. There’s your church, synagogue, mosque or other place of worship. There are also organized weight loss support groups.

One such group mentioned in the USA Today article is BABES - Beautiful Accountable Babes Exercising Sensibly. The mission of babes is “connecting with others to lose weight and build friendships.” Accountability. Exercising. Connecting with others. That all sounds pretty sensible to me! Moreover, according to BABES co-founder, Barb Swanson, “we are not into sin and judgement. God wants balance and it’s more than the size that you are.”

Indeed it is. As I have said before, body fat is not a person, it’s a temporary physical condition. What we really are is far more than physical bodies.

There’s enough guilt, fear and shame for people who are struggling with weight issues already. They don’t need any more negativity from their spiritual leaders. Instead, if you are a person of faith, use your spiritual community as a source of social support and inspiration, and motivate yourself by focusing on the positive and uplifting side. It will pay you eternal dividends.

Alli Revealed - Safe Diet Pills and Stunning Results

Are you carrying a few extra pounds? Are you overweight? Are you obese? Unfortunately, for a lot of you, the answer to one or more of these questions will be yes. We live in an overweight society. Every day, the news is proclaiming just how many people in the United States are not just overweight, but actually obese. The problem is that no matter how much we want to lose weight, it can be difficult.

When you are carrying a lot of extra fat, exercise can be almost impossible. It is not a question of laziness. It is simply difficult to do, because all that weight makes it so hard. Sometimes you just need a jumpstart, something to help you start your journey. Alli can do that for you.

You see, unlike its competitors, Alli believes in a full body approach to weight loss. Like many other products on the market, this system does include capsules. However, unlike the greater majority of its competitors, this weight loss product offers totally safe diet pills. How do you know they are safe? Well, how about this: they have the complete approval of the Food and Drug Administration. How many diet pills can say that they are FDA approved? A better question: how many over the counter diet pills can say they are FDA approved? Not many, certainly - not a whole lot can even claim to be safe. Clearly, Alli is different. The big news is that this product is different for even more reasons. For instance, it does not want you to rely solely on the pills. In fact, when you go with this product, you get much, much more.

You get an introductory guide, explaining all about the system. You also get a health guide, plus literature to help you calculate how many calories you need to be taking in and how many calories you are ingesting each day. Even more importantly, Alli has implemented a “buddy system.” They offer a support system, so that you will always be able to talk to someone when you need help. How wonderful is that? Because sometimes food can be an addition as well. To be able to talk to someone when you get a craving to binge or overeat is so incredibly beneficial.

Alli is unlike any other product on the market today. So many diet pill manufacturers want to make you think that you can lose so much weight, just by taking the pills. They want to make you think that you do not need to do anything else. The truth of the matter is that any weight you lose in that way is going to come back, and you will likely gain even more right along with it. This product is different. This product knows the value of diet and exercise - and it also knows that sometimes, we need a little kick start to help us start.

Dean Whittet is a health and vitality expert and has provided help to thousands of men and women alike. Be sure to visit his website to read Alli reviews and customer feedback.

Why Women Gain Weight And How You Can Lose It Starting Today

Gaining weight as a woman is no fun, especially when you don’t know what the cause is. You can be living your life and feeling relatively happy in your work and home life, but come every Saturday when you step up on those bathroom scales, you see your weight is up by two pounds. And because you can’t tell why it’s happening, it’s impossible to know if and when it will stop. However, if you CAN somehow identify where things are going wrong, you CAN take control of your situation. You can stop the weight gain if it hasn’t stopped already and actually reverse it by losing all of the excess fat you don’t want.

First things first, you need to do an analysis of your weekly schedule and identify which parts of your lifestyle are causing you to eat too much. You see, that’s the only true cause of weight gain: eating too much and not doing enough exercise to burn the surplus calories off. But instead of just saying, “Okay, I’ll eat less,” it’s a better idea to identify exactly when and why you’re eating too much. Here are the main indirect causes of weight gain in women:

To stop the weight gain right away (if it hasn’t stopped already) you’re going to need to eat fewer calories per day and per week. Click this link to go the ‘Perfect Body Plan’ BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) calculator. By filling in a few basic stats about yourself, such as your age and height, it will tell you how many calories a day your body needs to maintain its weight. By eating fewer calories a day than your BMR, you’re guaranteed to lose weight. Once you’ve done that, read the tips that follow. Together they’ll help you stop your weight gain, lose weight, get fitter and guarantee you don’t gain weight in the future.

Without realizing it it’s extremely easy to fall into bad habits when it comes to eating more than you need to. For one week, write down everything you eat along with the times you eat it. Make sure you note down the number of calories each of your meals and snacks contains. At the end of week, look for trends. Many women eat during the evening while watching TV with their kids or pig out straight after work as a stress release mechanism. Once you’ve seen where your main weak points are, change them by either cutting out the excess eating, or changing what you eat to something much healthier and well-proportioned. For example, if you often eat a sandwich when you get home that consists of white bread, butter and a highly calorific filling such as red meat with a condiment of some sort, change it to a whole meal bread (which, unlike white bread, is an unrefined carbohydrate) with low-fat or no butter and a lower fat meat such as tuna or chicken. Straight away you could be cutting your weekly calorie intake by up to 2700 calories! Change another snack too and you’ll be losing more than a pound a week instantly!

To boost your metabolism and always ensure you’re burning fat and not muscle, it’s important you perform regular exercise. If you’ve never really exercised before, that’s okay. It doesn’t have to be hard or boring. Playing a sport twice a week is a great way to start. Then on the weekends you can mix in a little jogging or, if you prefer a lower impact exercise, swimming to burn some extra calories. 3 hours of exercise a week, playing sports such as squash or badminton, and an hour’s running at the weekend is enough to burn several thousand calories. Add that deficit to the reduction of your calorific intake from foods and the result is consistent, safe, long-term weight loss. It falls off and STAYS off. Here’s a quick example of how you could mix a lowering of your calorie intake with exercise. You eat 600 calories less per day than your BMR. That equals over a pound of weight loss per week already. You then do exercise three times a week, twice intense and once less intense. That equals about another 2500 calories, factoring in your other physical activities, such as walking, climbing stairs, etc. Both together, these calorie control methods will allow you to lose 2 lbs a week, EVERY week for as long as you keep up the changes.

Even when they’re losing 2 or more pounds of fat a week, some people fail to continue their body improvement program for more than a few weeks. They get distracted, they slip back into their old habits. Don’t allow this to happen to you. Make short term goals by breaking down your main, end goal. Focus on setting yourself S.M.A.R.T goals. That means: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-framed. That way you massively boost your chances of keeping up your new lifestyle over the long term.

How To Lose Weight For Free – And Keep It Off For Good!

Most people have no idea how much money the diet industry rakes in each year. Think $65 billion and you’re in the right ballpark – and the figure’s climbing exponentially. The reason so much money is being by spent by men and women around the world is because only a tiny percentage of them ever achieve their goals of losing weight and getting fit. We’re talking less than 5%, that means that out of every one hundred people who try to lose weight, less than five of them manage to do it AND keep it off for more than a few weeks or a month.

So what’s the deal? Why are so many people trying and failing to lose weight? Is it really that hard? The answer is a resounding no. It doesn’t have to be hard if you know what you’re doing. Forget the short-cuts, the fad diets and the fancy exercise machines. If you want to transform your current body shape, size and appearance into your perfect physical form, you need to go back to basics. You need to return to the roots of natural, sustainable body improvement. That means diet and exercise in VERY specific types and quantities. If that sounds like hard work to you, like the long way round and something you can’t deal with, you may as well forget about achieving that perfect body weight and shape you’ve dreamed about for so long – because you’re not going to get it any other way. If you’re okay with that, however, then great! You’re ready to begin learning what you need to, not do, and how you’re going to use a special plan to transform your lifestyle and, as a result, your body’s weight and appearance.

Forget right away about cutting all fat out of your diet – it’s just not a good idea. Your body needs fat to work properly, without it you’ll feel deprived. What you should do instead is control the kinds of foods you eat that contain fats. Choose monounsaturated fats wherever possible. You’ll find these in olive oil, rapeseed oil and nuts. Avoid saturated animal fats such those found in butter, cheese and meat.

You’re going to be cutting out a big chunk of the calories you usually eat each week, it’s this main change – combined with exercise – which is going to make you lose weight. So you don’t feel hungry or starved all the time, eat lots of multicolored vegetables and protein. Keeping your diet high in protein will help you feel full for much longer throughout the day.

It’s okay to eat carbohydrates, but remember to balance your intake of high-carb foods. As a general rule, cut right down on carbohydrates such as white bread and white rice. Eat unrefined carbohydrates instead, such as whole-wheat pasta and brown rice. I recommended eating no carbohydrates after 5 PM each day, especially if they’re of the refined kind.

If you need more advice on how much of this and how much of that you should eat, remember these general guidelines. Approximately 30 percent of your daily calorie intake should come from healthy fats, 25 percent should come from proteins and the remaining 45 percent should come from carbohydrates. Once you’re within those guidelines, control the portion sizes you eat. Eat three square meals a day, snacking in between them on healthy foods such as berries, nuts and cups of vegetable soup. It’s okay to mix up the foods you’re eating, just make a mental note of the number of calories you’re consuming each day.

If you want to lose 2 lbs a week, every week, you need to eat 500 calories per day less than your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). Once you know this figure, which sums up how many calories a day your body needs to function and maintain its weight, you need to eat 500 calories less than it each day. Click this link to use the ‘Perfect Body Plan’ BMR calculator to work out yours now.

At the same time, you should be doing regular exercise. Playing a high energy sport twice a week is a good way to start. Try badminton or squash – playing each of these sports for a total of two hours a week will burn approximately 2000 calories. Add that 2000 to the 3500 calories you’ll be cutting from your new eating plan (500 less a day) and you’ll lose almost 2 lbs of fat a week. Combine those changes with extra daily exercise, such as walking and housework and you’ll lose even more.

Just remember that to lose a lot of weight over the long-term, and keep it off, you need to make permanent changes to your lifestyle. They don’t have to be boring changes, though. A really well designed body improvement plan can actually improve your diet and widen your culinary tastes as well as give you the fitness and exercise instruction you need WITHOUT it being a chore or impossible to maintain.

7 Great Tips To Lose Weight Without Quickly Putting It Back On

Every year millions of people attempt to lose weight. Some do it as part of a New Year’s resolution, others for a special occasion like a wedding or school reunion, and some do it simply because they’re unhappy with their weight – and have been for years - and want to change the way they look for the better. Unfortunately, most people who attempt to shed some weight see only a small amount of success, that doesn’t last for very long. Others see none at all. So what’s going on? Why is losing weight so hard? Why do so many people fail? And, perhaps most importantly, what can you do to make sure you aren’t just another person who ends up in the “tried and failed” category of dieters?

The answer lies in two special things: knowledge and application. First you need to know exactly what to do, then you’ve got to do it. No ifs, not buts and no cutting of corners.

Today is the perfect day to start expanding your knowledge. Once you have your plan in place, which contains every change you need to make and how you’re going to make it, you’ll be ready to begin losing weight. We’ll start by looking at 7 really powerful weight loss tips. These facts accurately sum up fundamental rules of successful weight loss that every person who’s serious about improving their body shape and size should know and remember:

If you’re one of those people who has put off making a concerted, definite effort to lose weight using tried-and-tested methods, in the hope that you’ll be able to find and use a simpler, easier approach, you aren’t alone. It’s easy to put things off and blindly wait for a miracle method to come along and do all the hard work for you – but you have to realize that it’s never going to happen. The only way your body is going to be the way you want it to be is if YOU do what’s needed to get it that way. Once you accept that fact, you’re ready to really begin your journey.

2. Real, Long-Term Weight-Loss Is Only Accomplished Through Permanent Changes In Your Lifestyle, Not Through ‘Diets’

Because ‘diet’s’ are temporary, so are the results they bring about. Instead of saying to yourself, “Okay, today I’m going to start my diet!” say, “Today I’m going to change my lifestyle,” and focus on doing just that.

Making those first few changes in your lifestyle and getting the ball rolling is great – you’re fired up and raring to go. But make sure you don’t let your surge of enthusiasm overpower your ability to make good decisions. You need to pace yourself and take things one step at a time.

To lose weight consistently, at a significant but safe rate, you’re going to need to control the number of calories you consume on a daily and weekly basis. That means becoming aware of foods that are very calorific and foods that aren’t. You don’t need to become a nutritionist to do this though. Just get used to looking at food labels and keeping a running total of how many calories you consume throughout the day.

It’s okay to dream about your perfect body and how great it will be once you’ve got it – in fact, it’s a really positive thing to do. It helps stay you motivated and working hard. However, it’s important you break your big end goal down into smaller chunks in the form of short-term goals. For example, to lose 2 pounds a week for a month. Or to fit into a certain pair of jeans you used to be able to comfortably wear a few years ago.

To lose weight and keep it off for more than a few weeks, you need to avoid skipping meals or otherwise starving yourself. It’s much better to eat little and often. Break up your three main healthy meals with equally healthy snacks to keep you from getting hungry and hankering after “bad” foods – a handful of nuts or a piece of fruit both do the trick nicely. Also DO NOT avoid all foods that contain fat. Your body needs fat to survive and stay healthy. Just focus on eating healthy fats, such as those found in Omegas 3, 6 and 9 – include them in your balanced diet to ensure your weight goes down and STAYS down.

If you want to lose weight and generally improve the overall health, fitness and appearance of your body, it’s no good only making one or two changes to your lifestyle. You need to use an approach that covers each of the necessary areas of improvement: psychology, motivation, goal setting, diet, fitness & exercise, etc. That doesn’t mean achieving your ideal physical form is going to be really hard or feel impossible, though. Just that to do it you need a complete approach that covers everything and misses out nothing.

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