The updated version has a change that may startle many: healthy fats and oils now appear in the lowest food level of the pyramid. That’s right, it is as important to have these in your diet as it is to have fruits and vegetables.
Healthy fats and oils are those derived from plants. However they must not be hydrogenated vegetable oils, as those are high in trans fat. Cold pressed vegetable oils are the best quality, and of those, flaxseed oil – containing Omega 3, Omega 6 and Omega 9, is particularly beneficial. For maximum nutritional benefit vegetable oils should not be heated. So if you are taking an oil such as flaxseed for the Omegas, pour a little over a salad, into a smoothie, or use it when making a pesto or tapenade.

Another change is white rice and products made using white flour are as undesirable as sugar and salt in your diet. Wholegrain bread and pasta will not only give you extra nutrients, the fibre will help give you that nice, full feeling. Brown rice takes longer to cook – which is rather a nuisance – but has much more to offer than white.

Harvard: Eat a plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; choose healthy fats, like olive and canola oil; and red meat and unhealthy fats, like saturated and trans fats, sparingly. Most important of all is keeping calories in check, so you can avoid weight gain, which makes exercise a key partner to a healthy diet.

The actual weight they want to lose is the excess fat they carry, however a thin layer of subcutaneous fat is a good thing. It plumps up the skin attractively, provides protection from the cold and helps provide us a little cushioning.

It’s when that layer of subcutaneous fat swells beyond a centimeter or two in width that we start to grab and pinch at it accusingly, and purse our lips as our clothes stop fitting so well.

The weight loss equation is a simple one: Use more energy than you absorb through food and drink, and your body will need to burn its resources to keep you going.

Eat less? Exercise more? Reduce it down to basics and yes, that’s all you need to do to lose that fat.

Of course food (and drink) is one of life’s major pleasures. And these days it is for many the easiest and most accessible pleasure. To cut yourself off from that sensory reward is more of a challenge than you’d like to think. Particularly when the pleasure of being the shape you want to be is so distant, and the taste of your favourite food so close…

Adding exercise to use more energy is the other side of that coin, and it will certainly improve your day-to-day lifestyle (chemical balance, ease of motion, stamina) if you can make exercise a part of that lifestyle.

But many shy away from the immediate pain of exercise. The chafing, sweating, burning lungs, aching muscles. And the feeling of incompetency when you start a particular exercise. You’re not skillful at this. So it’s not fun.

It’s difficult to persist when the pleasure of having that great figure is so far away, and the pain of the actual exercise is right here and now.

So if eating less is not for you, and neither is a full-on exercise program, then maybe you’re looking for a quick fix.

Wise up. There is none.

You probably already know this. You’ve probably tried to lose weight before. And you may have succeeded. But has it stayed off?

Yo-yo dieting is very common, and very hard on the body. Lose 10 kilos, gain 12 kilos, lose 5 kilos, gain 6 kilos. Not only is it an emotional roller coaster, it’s expensive in time and in money. Most weight loss programs involve some sort of cost, and fluctuating body size means fluctuating clothing size, which will put an even bigger dent in your wallet.

But here on this site you’ll find a huge number of simple tips, for either reducing your energy intake, or increasing your energy output. Just small, easy changes, for easy weightloss. Try adopting a new one every week. Make it a habit. Make it yours. With enough of these habits in place you’ll start to see those kilos disappear.

Sign up as a member and get a new challenge delivered into your email inbox every week. Just one simple life change per week.

Be gentle and loving with yourself. Ease yourself one easy step at a time, back into the shape you love.

You WON’T lose fat or look your best by just eating low carb, low fat diets, or low calorie diets. The truth is, fat loss comes down to eating in a way that’s right for you. You’re going to discover an easy way to trick your body into burning more by eating more with these delicious foods that satisfy your hunger cravings…

Cardio Doesn’t Work…

Long cardio or aerobic workouts several days a week are the WORST WAY to burn fat. You’re going to almost triple your fat loss and fitness results by exercising in the complete OPPOSITE manner for 45 minutes a WEEK with no cardio at all…

Crunches & Situps Don’t Burn Belly Fat…

1000’s of crunches, sit ups, or those crappy infomercial abs gizmos WILL NOT burn your belly fat or give you a flatter stomach and certainly not six pack abs. You’re going to burn belly fat 5 times faster by using certain full body exercises that don’t actually target your abs at all…

Late Night Eating Is A Myth…

Going to bed hungry is actually one of the WORST THINGS YOU CAN DO. You’re going to discover you can boost the super powerful fat loss hormones in your body by eating the right type of tasty little dish an hour or so before you go to sleep…

The ‘Fat Burning Zone’ Is A Mistake…

The “fat burning zone” you see on most cardio machines is actually the LAST THING you want to follow to burn the most body fat. You’re going to burn fat and calories for up to 3 days like we do with a VERY DIFFERENT kind of quick and simple workout…

‘Toning’ Your Muscles Doesn’t Work…

Trying to “tone” your body by using light weights or high repetitions is a BIG WASTE OF TIME. You will experience ZERO results this way. But now you’re going to be sculpting a leaner and sexier body that will burn your stored body fat for energy for years to come with this 1 overlooked technique…

Whenever you feel a need to pick up that piece of chocolate – instead, brush your teeth. When your mouth
feels clean and fresh, you will be less tempted to put something in it.

Drink water – and lots of it. Drinking plenty of water is not only a healthy habit, it can help you with your
weight loss efforts. Keeping yourself well hydrated helps cut down on water retention. When you drink
a glass of water before eating, it can actually help dull your appetite thus helping you eat less.

If you have decided to go on a “diet”, do it with a friend. You can help each other succeed. Be sure
to provide support for one another – and, if you want to get a little competitive in your weight loss efforts,
go for it. Challenge each other to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week. It is important to note here that setting
attainable goals is the only way you will be successful in the long-run. Do not aim to lose 50 pounds. Instead,
set your goal at 5 pounds a month, until you reach your goal.

If you tend to “reward” yourself with food, establish a new system for rewarding yourself. Buy a new piece
of clothing, book, plant, flowers, or something for the house. The key is to stop finding an excuse to eat
when you are not hungry.

If you are someone who likes to snack in the evening, choose foods that are relatively low in calories. Good
choices would include air-popped popcorn, crunchy vegetables, rice cakes (they come flavored, now!),
a handful of pretzels, sugar-free Jell-O, or broth-based soup (not creamy!). By choosing foods that are not
high in calories, you will not do as much “damage” if you eat too much.

Do not weigh yourself every day. Your weight fluctuates constantly. You should only weigh yourself once a week or every other week. Be sure to do it at the same time of day. You typically weigh more in the evening than you do in the morning.

Never grocery shop when you are hungry. You will tend to buy more fattening foods when you are hungry.
Keep this in mind: If it is not in the house, you can’t eat it. Avoid buying foods you cannot resist.

Do not drink your calories! It is simply too easy to lose track of how much you are taking in. Weight loss is
about consuming less calories than you burn. Why not really enjoy your calories – chew them!

Finally, do not feel like you have to clean your plate. Stop eating when you feel full. Incidentally, slowly
eating your food will help you to eat less. If you eat too fast, your brain is unable to tell you are full in time
and you end up eating too much.

Another key strategy to losing weight is making yourself feel full. Try drinking a glass of water just before you
begin eating. By doing so, the water is occupying space in your stomach. You will feel full faster. Most
importantly, eat foods high in fiber.

Foods that are high in fiber (such as fruits, whole grains, and vegetables) contain bulk with considerably
fewer calories-to-volume-of-food. Fiber is a substance that your body does not use as a calorie source. Yet,
it occupies space in your stomach which in turn makes you feel full faster.

Most fruits and vegetables are excellent choices when you are looking for a food low in calories. Watch out for avocados and coconuts. Both are high in fat, thus high in calories. Including a rich amount of fruits and
vegetables in your diet not only makes sense for a weight loss plan but for any diet plan. To promote good health, you should always incorporate a variety of fruits and vegetables.

Should a weight loss plan be fat-free?
No. A sensible weight loss plan will include fat, 15 to 30% of the calories from fat. Your body does need fat, so it is not a good idea to omit it from your diet. It is also not a good idea to eat too much fat, more than 30% of calories. Serious health problems can occur as a result of eating a diet rich in fat.

When a product states that it is fat-free or that it is lower in calories than the original version, be sure to
read the label. Always check the number of calories and know the serving size. Many fat-free versions of some of your favorite foods are not necessarily lower in calories.

Final comment, there are no “magic” foods. Eating grape fruit religiously, while it is a healthy food choice, do
not expect this practice to burn any extra calories.
Slurping down cabbage soup, sorry to say, will not produce any wonderful results either. Simply put, use
your head when you hear or read some quack’s new revolutionary diet plan. Nope, combining foods a certain
way is not going to make you drop the pounds either -

Some people react more favorably to the more short duration, high power anaerobic exercise (such as sprinting or weight training) as compared to longer duration, low power aerobic exercise (such as walking or jogging). The main reason for this is muscle fiber type.

There are two main types of fibers in your muscles.

Slow Twitch: These are also known as Type I muscle fibers. They are responsible for long-duration, low-intensity activity such as walking or any other aerobic activity.

Fast Twitch: These are known as Type II fibers (they are divided further into Types IIA and IIB). They are responsible for short duration, high intensity activity. Type IIB fibers are built for explosive, very short-duration activity such as Olympic lifts. Type IIA fibers are designed for more moderate-duration, high-intensity work such as weight training.

The difference for some people is the ratio of slow twitch to fast twitch muscle fibers. A marathon runner may have 80% slow twitch fibers in his or her legs and, therfore, be an amazing aerobic athlete.

An athlete such as a sprinter may have 80% fast twitch muscle fibers in his or her legs and be an amazing anaerobic athlete. This type of person would not react favorably to aerobic exercise due to the high percentage of fast twitch fibers in their legs. They would tire quickly because most of their muscle fibers are designed for short bursts and, most likely, would lose motivation rapidly.

So how do you determine what is going to work for you the best?

For most of us we are not one extreme or the other, most of us mere mortals are a relative mix of the two major types of muscle type and therefor we can mix up our training and do a combination or do what we like the most.

Some of us will tend towards one type or the other though and this can be easily determined by looking at pictures of ourselves when we were younger (or should I say less fat) and our underlying body type was easier to see.

If you look at me as a teenager you can see that I was very slender and so I had more of the slow twitch fibres whilst my brother was more muscular so more of the fast twitch fibres.

Look at a picture of a marathon runner vs a sprinter ….which one do you look more similar too?

“I’ve successfully lost X of the Y pounds I want to lose, but now I am stuck at the same weight even though I’m sticking to my diet. How can I start losing again?”

Here’s the answer… You’ve reached a plateau (which is normal), and — it’s time to shake things up! —

Plateaus are a fact of weight-loss life, so don’t get down on yourself. In fact, now is exactly the time to pat yourself on the back: Look at how far you’ve come and be proud of it! Then you can determine if this is really a plateau — or if you have simply reached your ideal weight.

I know as well as you do how attempts at weight loss can drive us crazy. According to the numbers, we can seem to be doing everything right, and yet nothing seems to happen.

The first step is to stop focusing on the scale. Often a change in the scale just reflects the pounds of body fluid you lose and gain every day rather than how much fat you’ve lost or gained.

Also, you can lose inches of fat without losing weight when you gain muscles, because muscles weigh more than fat (but look a heck of a lot better). So if you can’t rely on the scale to tell you how you’re doing week to week, what can you count on? Use a measuring tape as your another tool to measure your success.

The science of weight loss is not a mystery — you must decrease the energy in (calories) and increase the energy out. One of the best ways to increase our energy out is to increase our activity level. That means…

Exercise

In any weight-loss program, exercises is a crucial part of the formula. If you’ve stopped losing weight, it’s time to start exercising more or increase your workout intensity. Here are several ways you can alter your training routine to push you past the plateau.

* Add variety
If you’ve been walking, try cycling or swimming. Increase the intensity of your cardiovascular or aerobic exercise by adding short bursts of higher-intensity movement, such as sprinting. These intervals should last 30 to 60 seconds and be followed by less intense exercise for two or three times the length of the burst. Start by adding one or two of these intervals to your routine, then increase the number as you improve your conditioning. Work out with a friend or a personal trainer. This may motivate you to pick up your pace.

* Intensify your workouts
Adding a few extra minutes to your routine, occasionally picking up the pace or tackling a hill or two can help you burn extra calories. Your 20 to 30 minutes of daily walking is good, but adding more time or trying new activities, such as bike riding or swimming, will help boost calorie burning.

* Add some muscle
Try some strength-building types of exercise, such as weight training or calisthenics. You’ll build more muscle, which burns more calories than fat, *even when you’re sleeping.*

Watch Your Food Intake

A strict exercise regimen is crucial in a weight-loss program, but the fat won’t come off if you’re hitting the potato chip aisle on a regular basis. Here are simple dietary changes you can make to help you lose the fat.

* Drink a lot of water
Drink a glass before you treat yourself to a second helping or an unnecessary snack. This helps you feel fuller. Eat foods that are high in fiber – they, too, help fill you up (the body doesn’t digest fiber).

* Add some weight-loss supplements
Natural weight-loss products contain herbs to boost your metabolism, burn fat and help you curb your cravings for carbohydrates. If you’re not using any weight-loss program, a plateau is a good time to start.

* Check your eating habits
Sometimes when the pounds start coming off, we’re not as diligent as we were at the beginning. Portions start to creep up in size, and more sweets find their way into our diets. A food log is a good way to keep track of what you’re putting in your mouth.

As you ease off that weight plateau, maintain your persistence. Your weight loss probably will be about a pound a week, and you may land on another plateau. Make adjustments as needed with your activity level.

In the end, you should view hitting a plateau as a good thing. Why? It means your body has less fat to lose, which explains why the weight isn’t coming off as readily. And remember: It’s best to lose weight slowly and sensibly so you can make changes that you’ll keep for life.

There are many reasons for plateaus and therefore many solutions. If you address the above issues, you’ll achive the weight-loss results you desire. And enjoy your improving fitness level and better health.

This article was provided by http://WeightLossGold.com. Visit their site for proven tips on burning fat and losing weight. We recommend their FREE newsletter. Send a blank e-mail to mailto:subscribe@weightlossgold.com to subscribe.

“Basal metabolism” is the metabolic rate or caloric expenditure needed to maintain basal body functions such as your heart beating, breathing, muscle tone, etc. It’s how fast your “motor” is running when you’re still in a reclined position or sleeping. Basal metabolism accounts for about 75% of the calories you expend on a daily basis!

The good news is that there are 11 ways you can “boost” your metabolism! The more of these you’re able to incorporate into your life, the more you’ll boost your metabolism. That means you’ll be expending (“burning”) more calories 24 hours a day!

1. Always eat breakfast! Skipping breakfast sends the message to your body that you’re starving because you haven’t had food in 18+ hours. As a protective mechanism, your metabolism slows down. Food, especially complex carbohydrates, fuels your metabolism.

2. Eat earlier in the day! Research has demonstrated that you can lose weight simply by eating a substantial breakfast and lunch, and a light dinner. Dinner should be eaten as early as possible, preferably at least four hours before bedtime.

3. Never eat less than 1200 calories per day! Less than 1200 is usually not enough to support your basal metabolism and thus will slow your metabolism.

4. Snack frequently! Complex carbohydrates (fruits, vegetables, and grains) fuel your metabolism. Also, snacking prevents you from becoming too hungry. The hungrier you are, the less control you have over what and how much you eat.

5. Eat more carbohydrates (food from plants), and less fat (food from many animals and other food with added fat)! Carbohydrates boost your metabolism and have fewer calories per weight than fat.

6. Do some type of aerobic exercise (walking, jogging, swimming, stationary cycling, aerobic dancing, etc.) on a daily basis (preferably in the morning)! Forget this twice-a-week stuff. Our bodies were designed to be active on a daily basis! When we are, our metabolism soars!

7. In addition to your regular aerobic exercise, take a brisk 10 to 15 minute walk at lunch or in the evening. This serves to boost your metabolism even more!

8. Tone your muscles with weight training three days per week. Toned muscles send your metabolism through the roof. Do it!

9. Look for situations to be active. Park as far from the store as you can rather than looking for the closest parking spot. Use the stairs rather than the elevator, a broom rather than a blower, etc. Look for the “hard” way to do things!

10. Avoid alcohol! Alcohol depresses your metabolism and stimulates your appetite.

11. Drink 60+ ounces of water a day. Your metabolism needs plenty water to function properly. Carry a bottle of water with you and drink frequently throughout the day.

Get started today! You’ll feel better and your metabolism will be in “great shape”!

If you would like to learn more about losing weight and speeding up your metabolism in a healthy way, I suggest you check out Ultimate Weight Loss Revealed by the internet’s well respected fitness expert Brad Callen. The book tends to be more for women in their mid 30’s than for men, but is still an excellent resource to have on hand.

Author and exercise physiologist, Greg Landry, M.S.,
publishes a FREE email newsletter, “Fitness, Health,
& Weight Loss”! To start your free subscription….
Fitness-on@mail-list.com or http://www.Landry.com

Copyright 1998 by Greg Landry, M.S.