Monday, March 26, 2007

Why Do All Diets Fail?

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Diet Articles

Why Do All Diets Fail?


There's a dirty little secret in the diet industry. The sellers of weight loss programs won't admit it, but no weight loss plan works for everyone. In fact, all diets fail MOST OF THE TIME!

Don't we all have a friend who can eat and eat without gaining a pound? Clearly, we're not all the same, so if you try a weight loss plan that "works for everyone," and still can't lose weight, don't get discouraged. Get a new plan - one that works for you.

You are unique, both in your personality and your body.That's why diets fail when they aren't right for you. To lose weight and keep it off, you need to find a weight loss plan that suits your unique personality and body.

Maybe you just can't eat enough meat and fat to stick to a low carb diet. Perhaps you aren't able to exercise much, due to some disability. Will the diet you are looking into give you enough pleasure at mealtime? Look at many weight loss programs, ideas and diets, and when you find one that is suited to you, get motivated.

Motivate Yourself To Lose Weight

Imagine yourself at your ideal weight. Perhaps you'll feel better, or look better. Maybe you don't care about the admiring glances you'll get, and you just want to be healthier.

You know what's important to you. If you like the idea of people looking at your thinner body, then imagine that happening. Use your imagination to motivate yourself, and you'll be more likely to stick with any weight loss plan.

Do you ever feel motivated by a book or article on the latest diet or weight loss theory, only to lose your motivation as time goes by? None of us can stay permanently motivated by a book or article, so sign up for a weight loss newsletter. The advantage of a newsletter, is that it regularly re-motivates you.

Find the right weight loss plan, get motivated, and you will lose weight.

Steve Gillman writes on many self-improvement topics. You can get more weight loss tips, and subscribe to a free weight loss newsletter at: http://www.99WaysToLoseWeight.com

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Why Diets DONT Work


One of the biggest scams ever successfully pulled on the American public is - somewhat appropriately - a 4-letter word. That word is, of course, Diet. By now you have seen advertisements for more diets than you can easily remember, and have also most likely seen an article or television show debunking some of those diets. Unfortunately, the art of shooting holes through the credibility of a diet plan is normally done by ANOTHER diet company, solely for the purpose of getting you to use their product instead. Well, this article has nothing to sell, nor really anything to gain, save the knowledge that hopefully the reader - that's you - will put down the Diet Madness Menu, and get a real world point of view on why diets don't work, and what you can do about it.

Eating, the Lost Art

If you are considering a diet, or have in the past, your primary motivation was most likely to lose weight. What if I was to tell you that in order to lose weight, you actually need to eat MORE than you have in the past? You would probably shake your head at that crazy idea, and think that it was some new fad that could in no way assist you in your weight loss goals. Of course, the fact that every diet you've ever heard of was at one point "some new fad" would probably never even cross your mind. Nonetheless, the fact remains that most people do need to eat more than they presently are in order to lose weight, but the trick comes in eating the right kinds of foods, in the right ratios of nutrients, and at the right times of day. Sound tricky? Perhaps, but I assure you, it is really quite simple. However, the purpose of this article is not to inform you of the benefits of eating, but merely to let you know that eating is indeed a very effective way to lose excess bodyweight, and to explain how diets keep that from happening.

Stating the Obvious

Although most people do not think of the "latest diet" in these terms, hopefully the following question will make you consider what is pretty obvious if you stop to think about it. If the new "Last Diet You'll Ever Need" was really that good at making you melt away pounds while sitting on the couch munching "Carbo Craze Chips" or was even remotely effective at burning off your spare tire while inhaling the sweet scents of "Aerospace's Aromatic Air Baubles", then why isn't everyone already thin??

Seriously - think about it. Every time you hear about the latest diet or the most up to date exercise device that only takes 20 minutes per day, they always say that you will never need another system! The advertised system - no matter how logical or even outlandish as it may seem - is always touted at being better than ever, and the last system you will ever need. Well, if that were true, don't you think that the manufacturer of that system would not only become wealthier than anyone in history, but would also become famous as the person who FINALLY solved the obesity problem in our world? Don't you think that person could also afford to advertise their product during prime time on TV, instead of late at night? Don't you think that system would become known throughout the world - throughout history itself - as a turning point in human development?

So, I'll ask you the same question again: If the solution is already out there, why do we need to keep coming up with new solutions?? The answer is, of course, very simple - these systems don't work, and the human populace is simply looking for a non-existent quick fix to getting rid of too many late night excursions to the local burger joint, or to the fact they should have taken stock in beer while they were in college. Then what does work? Human physiology.

Metabolism

Metabolism is defined as the rate at which your body processes food. In other words, how fast your body burns calories. The faster your metabolism, the more food you can eat without gaining weight. How do you control your metabolism? By eating a nutrient-dense meal every 3 to 3 hours. This practice "stokes your internal furnace", for lack of a better analogy. Think of your body as an old-style locomotive that had coal shoveled into the combustion chamber one shovel at a time. If you didn't shovel in coal fast enough, the locomotive would slow down, and your body is no different. If you don't eat often enough, your metabolism slows down and you don't burn through calories very quickly. In addition, not only does your rate of calorie consumption go down, but your body starts storing almost everything that you do eat as bodyfat! So, in essence, every time you starve yourself in your honest effort to "stick to your diet", you are actually slowing down your metabolism as well as making your body more efficient at building padding for you to sit on at baseball games.

Muscle

"I don't care" you say. You believe that in order to lose weight you need to starve. Okay, that's wrong, but I'll explain why that thinking is flawed. Your body needs energy so you can live through any given day. The amount of energy that you need is determined by your Basal Metabolic Rate, and by your activity level for that day. For most people, this amounts to between 1,500 and 2,500 calories per day. Well, if your calorie-restricted diet doesn't allow you that many calories, your body will find a way to survive anyway. It does this by breaking down your muscle tissue and using it for energy. "So what?" you say. You don't care, as long as the scale says you are losing weight, right?

What if I told you that the ONLY place on your body that you can burn bodyfat for fuel is your muscles? What if I told you that the more muscle tissue you lose on a calorie-restricted diet, the fewer calories you can eat after the muscle loss? What if I told you that after losing 20 lbs on a calorie-restricted diet, your total bodyfat level will have dropped very little, if at all? What if I told you that by using muscle mass for energy, you have literally crippled your body's ability to burn bodyfat in the future, and that by the laws of Nature (which we can't change, by the way), you will absolutely put the weight back on, and probably gain more weight than you ever had before?

If I told you all of that, would you still want to burn muscle tissue for energy while starving yourself to stick to your diet, paying $8 a bag for Carbo Chips, and $20 a session for Aromatic Air Baubles?

On the other hand, perhaps the laws of Nature don't apply to you. In that case, be sure to tune in tonight - I believe the "Lose Weight While You Eat Butter Fried Bacon" diet is going to be featured on a new infomercial. It is, after all, The Last Diet You Will Ever Need!

Aaron Potts is the owner and creator of Fitness Destinations, a content-filled health and fitness website for consumers as well as professionals in the fitness industry. Aaron's experience in the health and fitness industry includes one on one personal training in many different environments, maintenance of several health-related websites, and authoring of many fitness-related products for consumers and fitness professionals. http://www.fitnessdestinations.com

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Who Said Low Carb Diets Ever Meant No-Carb?


A little information if often a dangerous thing... and many people trying low carb diets failed miserably in the long-run because they took the concept to its extreme figuring that if low-carb diets were good, then no-carb diets must be better? Wrong!

One of the primary reasons why low carb diets are so successful for a lot of people is that it forces them to remove the nutrient-deficient junk food from their daily food intake. In the last 20 years the average North American diet has become so polluted with refined foods, sugars, and unhealthy fats that the average American is now clinically obese!

Low carb diets owe their success to common sense more that any diet revelation. When was it ever acceptable to consume donuts, soda pop, Big Macs, deep-fried French fries and pizza on a daily basis? As peoples lives became busier the advent of fast food and convenience food grew by leaps and bounds. This was all very convenient for busy families trying to get food on the dinner table in time, but only now are we realizing the true cost of this convenience.

Processed and refined foods alter foods from their natural complex state, grinding them into fine powders that are easier to handle, store, preserve, and use in the manufacturing process. The unintended consequence of this refining process is that it makes it much easier for your body to absorb the carbohydrate glycogen energy from these foods, and creates large spikes in blood glucose levels. This in turn puts additional strain and stress on your bodys internal processes as they try to compensate for these glucose spikes, and in the process tells you body to store the energy as additional fat! In general, carbohydrates that are consumed in their natural state take longer to breakdown in your body, and the glucose release is dampened, leading to lower overall blood glucose levels.

The success of low carb diets lies more in the fact that it forces you to eliminate most refined carbohydrates, to eat foods in their natural state, and eat foods that have a low caloric density, which ultimately forces you to consume less calories!

If youd like more ideas on how to incorporate delicious low carb foods into your lifestyle you can search the recipe database at: http://www.mylowcarbdietrecipes.com/myrecipes.asp

S.A. Smith is a freelance writer, correspondent, and contributing editor of My Low Carb Diet Recipes resource site and can be reached at http://www.mylowcarbdietrecipes.com

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Friday, March 16, 2007

Where Diets Go Wrong

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Diet Articles

Where Diets Go Wrong


When we discover that we are heavier than we want to be, we have a natural invlination to eat less food. We may skip lunch or eat only a tiny amount of our dinner in the hope that if we eat less our body will burn off some of its fat. But that is not necessarily true. Eating less actually makes it more difficult to lose weight.

Keep in mind that the human body took shape millions of years ago, and at that time there were diets. The only low-calorie event in people's lives was starvation. Those who could cope with a temporary lack of food were the ones who survived. Our bodies, therefore, ahve developed this built-in mechanism to help us survive in the face of low food intake.

When researchers compare overweight and thin people, they find that they ear roughly the same number of calories. What makes overweight people different is the amount of fat that they eat. Thin people tend to eat less fat and more complex carbohydrates.

Losing weight is not something one can do overnight. A carefully planned weight loss program requires common sense and certain guidelines. Unfortunately, there's a lot of misinformantion floating around and lots of desperate people are easily duped and ripped off.

Every day one can open a magazine or newspaper and see advertisements touting some new product, pill or patch that will take excess weight off quickly. Everyone seems to be looking for that "magic" weight loss pill. Millions of Americans are trying to lose weight, spending billions of dollars every year on diet programs and products. Often they do lose some weight. But, if you check with the same people five years later, you will find that nearly all have regained whatever weight they lost.

A survey was done recently to try and determine if any commercial diet program could prove long-term success. Not a single program could do so. So rampant has the so-called diet industry become with new products and false claims that the FDA has now stepped in and started clamping down.

Being seriously overweight and particularly obesity can develop into a number of diseases and serious health problems, and it is now a known fact that when caloric intake is excessive, some of the excess frequently is saturated fat.

The myth is that people get heavy by eating too many calories. Calories are a consideration it's true, but overall they are not the cause of obesity in America today. Americans actually take in fewer calories each day than they did at the beginning of the century. If calories alone were the reason we become overweight, we should all be thin. But we are not. Collectively, we are heavier than ever. Partly, it is because we are more sedentary now. But equally, as important is the fact that the fat content of the American diet has changed dramatically.

People who diet without exercising often get fatter with time. Although your weight may initially drop while dieting, such weight loss consists mostly of water and muscle. When the weight returns, it comes back as fat. To avoid getting fatter over time, increase your metabolism by exercising regularly.

Select an exercise routine that you are comfortable with and remember that walking is one of the best and easiest exercises for strengthening your bones, controlling your weight and toning your muscles.

Article by Jay Harris of IMI Concepts. Visit his website http://www.home-job-alert.com

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Monday, March 12, 2007

Weight Loss Methods

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Diet Articles

Weight Loss Methods


On the market at any given time, there are hundreds of weight loss methods. You will no doubt see hundreds of commercials in your time for a weight loss drug, a weight loss plan, or an exercise machine. They all tell you that they are the best. They will provide for you the best solution for losing weight. Some may say that they will guarantee the weight loss if you follow their so called simple steps. The truth of the matter is that you need to actively work for the weight loss to be effective. Here, we will talk about different methods of weight loss that you can use to help you gain control of your life.

Realize that anyone that needs to lose weight has to fight for it. Sure, it might be easier for some to lose than others, but the bottom line is that there is no easy weight loss solution out there. No magic pill exists to magically melt away the pounds. It all comes from hard work, eating right, and determination. But, let us explore the different methods of getting the weight off! From the simplest to the most difficult, there are really hundreds of ways you can effectively lose weight. Just remember determination is the key to success!

First of all, it just makes sense to talk about the most effective and longest lasting diet ever. You will never believe this but this is such a powerful diet that when most people follow it, they lose weight! Unfortunately, it is the most difficult to do as well. Eating a balanced diet and getting regular, vigorous exercise is the diet in question here. Yes, we all know that you don't want to give up your favorite foods or want to exercise hard and heavy. But, again, this really is the most beneficial diet out there for weight loss. You need to maintain a healthy diet full of vegetables, fruits and the right portions of meats, grains, and dairy. You will need to exercise daily, developing strong muscles and work off that unwanted fat.

So, like many people you didn't stop reading there. You do not want to do that diet because you may have tried and found it too hard. You may have found that you just didn't have time. Whatever you excuse it, you are here and reading on to search for an easier solution.

Many people have tried the limitation diets like South Beach, Atkins, no fat, or no protein. There are hundreds of fad diets out there. Do they work? Maybe, but you need to realize that by giving up an entire food group can do damage to your body later on in life as well. High fat diets can contribute to heart disease and high blood pressure. Low fat diets can cause their own set of problems because your body needs a healthy amount of fat. In order for these diets to work, you will have to give up the "bad" food for the course of your life. This is difficult, but like we said, all weight loss is!

Exercise can be an excellent way to loose weight. You can exercise away the pounds if you like. Things like jogging, swimming, aerobics, Pilates, and all sorts of other exercise routines can in fact help you to lose weight. In many of these situations, you will have to work long and hard at it. Determination, remember? But, what you are doing is building up the muscle mass in your body. Muscles will burn fat twice as fast as weaker muscles. That means that you will burn fat faster when your body is in shape through exercising. It is important to stress that you will need to insure that you are seen by a doctor prior to starting a hard core exercise plan. Also, remember that you can be thin through exercise, but if you are eating the wrong foods, you are likely to have high cholesterol, high blood pressure or many other things.

Herbal remedies are another way to lose weight effectively. Herbal remedies are available in all sorts of combinations. Most of them are healthy and definitely non toxic. They work because they are all natural products like the foods we eat, that our bodies already know how to digest and use. That means they can be twice as effective, in some cases, as medications. But, just like eating a meal that gives you indigestion, while you may be affected, the friend may not. Herbal remedies can be quite similar meaning they are not a for sure thing.

There are, of course, diet pills that do work. Like herbal remedies, they can help speed up metabolism or help to tell you to stop eating. They can trick the mind into thinking you are full. Many of these diet pills are herbal remedies and do work on and off for many people. While there is no proof that they will work in your situation, they may just be what you need in the end.

And, we are back to the good old eating right and getting the exercise you need diet. Weight loss is a lifelong battle for many people, contributing to their death, in some cases. But, by simply eating right and getting the daily dose of exercise that many of us do not get, we can greatly reduce the amount of bad the weight does to us. Heart disease, organ failure, and many more things can be caused in part or fully from being overweight. Whatever method you decide to use as your method to lose weight do so and, remember that it will take a lot of determination and a whole lot of patience to get where you are going. You will lose the weight. You will be proud to look in the mirror, not because you look good, but because you accomplish a huge goal, a difficult goal, and a lifetime goal of losing weight! Remember to talk to your doctor about you weight loss method as well.

Hilda Maria is a freelance writer with 5 children who knows the importance of a balanced diet for them. She enjoys providing useful knowledge about weight loss and exercise to her readers as well as to her children.

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