Your Fat Point

January 3rd, 2009

Many people have long held the mistaken belief that everybody has a particular fat point where their body realizes that this is the level of fat that is normal to that particular person.

This is not true and we all develop our own fat point based on our lifestyles.
While there are various different body types that are determined by our genes the percentage of fat that we carry around in our body is not due to the genes that we have inherited. It is due to the food that we have been eating from the beginning of our life to the stage where we are at presently.

If you have been over eating for a long period of time and you have remained at a specific fat percentage for quite some time then that becomes your new fat point. And that can change up or down according to the lifestyle that you choose to lead.

If you have remained at a particular fat point for a year or two then your body will develop all the necessary requirements in the form of capillaries, connective tissues, hormonal levels and so on to support that point.

You have determined what that point is and your body will now try to maintain the new level.

Your body will constantly monitor that new fat point by all the messages that are sent to the brain. If you are to go on a crash diet your body will react to the fact that it sees an attack on that fat point and will do all it can to maintain what it believes is the correct balance. The maintenance can be in the form of a reduction in muscle tissue to save fat.

Unfortunately for many people they don’t like to accept the fact that it is not their genes or anything else that has resulted in their fat point being too high.

Everything In Moderation

December 27th, 2008

How many times have you heard that statement? The best results are always when anything is done in moderation. You gain body fat because you weren’t eating or drinking in moderation so in order to reverse that situation you also need to plan your weight loss programs so that eating or exercising that is involved with that program is also done in moderation.

Excessive exercising for somebody who hasn’t done much in the past can result in injury and that injury can make you less mobile and increase the opportunity to gain body fat.

Sudden changes in diet will send the body into reactionary mode storing fat. Gradual changes to your diet on the other hand done in moderation will not send signals to the body that is a starving and in fact you won’t feel as though you are starving either if you do it in moderation.

Making moderate changes to your food and exercise won’t infringe on your lifestyle anywhere near as much and that will in effect make it a lot easier for you to maintain the changes for a lot longer until they become second nature.

This is when you will get to the stage where you can gradually keep reducing the body fat and become healthier and healthier and more energetic as time goes on.

Even your intake or water has to be in moderation because drinking excessive water can flush out important nutrients from your system doing more harm than good.

You are better drinking a glass of water here and there throughout the day rather than trying to drink gallons of water in the hope that it will help you to lose weight faster.

Even good foods need to be eaten in moderation as excessive quantities of these foods can still cause the body to store them as fat.

It’s a simple rule to follow really; if you are eating drinking or exercising too much or too little you are unlikely to get optimum results.

What You Can Expect

December 20th, 2008

If you’ve been on any diets or weight loss programs in the past then consider the results that you got from them because that is what you can expect if you go on the same diet again.

You need to look not only at the diet itself, the time that you were on it and whether you lost weight or not, but also the period after you stopped dieting and consider how fast you put the weight back on because very often that weight gain after dieting was a result of the diet itself.

If you are considering another attempt at that diet where you lost a lot of weight quite rapidly, it will be worthwhile to look a little further and see what the final outcome was over the medium to long term as that might paint a different picture and change your opinion on the effectiveness of the diet.

It might be time for you to consider an alternative way of losing weight or to be more precise losing fat because that is the most important thing that you should be looking at.

Consider using a weight-loss program that reduces the fat gradually and is easy to maintain while you go about your normal day-to-day life. You might think that it will take longer to lose the weight but what you really should be focusing on is getting to an optimum body shape and staying there for the rest of your life.

It is not much use to you to lose weight for a few months and put it on for the next few months and then repeat the cycle over and over again.

This is all that you can expect to get if that’s all that you got in the past and in fact it only becomes more difficult to lose weight and easier to put it back on so keep that thought in your mind before you embark on another weight-loss program.

Natural Weight Loss Products

December 13th, 2008

Many people assume that because a product is natural is a lot healthier for the body but this is not always the case as even natural ingredients, and particularly those that they put in weight loss supplements can cause other problems detrimental to your health.

Many natural weight loss products also have such a minimal amount of substances in them that are beneficial to weight loss that the chances of them benefiting your weight-loss program will be negligible.

That’s not to say that some natural weight loss products aren’t good but you need to be aware that many of them are just getting promoted as with any other weight loss and dietary supplement purely as a source of income for the people selling.

The FDA has in fact banned the use of many natural products that were used in weight loss supplements over the years because they are proven to cause anything from mild to severe reactions in some people.

A lot of these products only act as diuretics which cause a temporary loss of water giving people the false impression that they are losing weight rapidly.

You will in fact have a lot more chance of losing weight by an increasing the quantity of water that you drink and remaining hydrated all the time.

The best natural weight loss products are the good healthy foods that you should be eating every day in the form of fresh fruit and vegetables that will assure you have all the necessary vitamins and minerals that your body needs to function properly.

If you have any health problems such as high blood pressure or heart problems then you will need professional advice even when taking natural weight loss products to ensure your safety. Some natural ingredients can increase blood pressure and if you already have high blood pressure the results could be fatal.

Retaining Your Muscle Mass

December 6th, 2008

Retaining your muscle mass while on a weight loss program is one of the most important aspects that you need to concentrate on as this will help you to keep your fat percentage down long-term.

On the ultra low calorie diets the body begins to cannibalize its own muscle tissue as its defense mechanisms come into play.

An example of this is shown with some of these apparently slim fashion models who have quite high levels of body fat in proportion to their overall size.

The reason for this is the fact that they haven’t done any form of exercise or resistance training to maintain any reasonable level of muscle mass and this is only made worse by the fact that they are often eating a very low quality diet and nutrition is lacking.

It is not uncommon to see skinny models with cellulite and that is a sure sign that they are retaining fat in a higher percentage than they should be.

They would find that if they added a little bit of resistance training or even some form of decent exercise to their daily routine they would be able to still retain a slim figure but the body fat percentage would be considerably lower and they would look a lot more toned and healthy.

And healthy is what you should be aiming for when you go on a weight-loss program and not simply losing weight as actually improving your overall health and well-being will help you to live a better lifestyle for a lot longer.

Increasing your muscle mass also improves your metabolic rate whereas body fat has a very low level of metabolic activity. Nutritionists regard muscle as the furnace that burns in the body and this is what you should be aiming for.

If more weight loss programs focused on retaining muscle mass people would be unlikely to put the weight back on rapidly once they finished the program.

Poorly Focused Diets

November 29th, 2008

Many of the weight loss programs that have come out over recent years have had a very low success rate due to the fact that they have focused on the wrong techniques of healthy weight loss.

It is not just about losing weight and that is what some people don’t seem to understand.  It is about reducing the percentage of body fat and getting that to a more normal level.

Any diet that focuses purely on reducing weight without concern with the percentage of body fat and the nutritional needs of the body as a whole is setting itself up for disaster.

When you focus solely on reducing body weight you are also reducing, in many instances, the percentage of muscle in the body and that is one of the major components that helps to reduce body fat.

Muscle burns fat and the more muscle that you can retain the more fat you are going to burn so while a diet might for a short time help you to lose body weight if it is reducing muscle at the same time then the long-term effects will be that it will be become more and more difficult to reduce the percentage of fat.

The other problem with many of these fast diets and weight-loss programs is the fact that they reduce body weight so fast initially that the body’s defensive mechanisms are thrown into action.

The body will then begin to try to conserve as much body fat as possible to stop it from starving. You cannot effectively lose large amounts of body weight in a short amount of time and hope to keep it off unless the body believes it is getting all the nutrition it needs.

These ultra fast weight loss programs cause people to lose and then gain weight rapidly making it all the more difficult to lose weight the next time they try.

With A Little Help From Your Friends

November 22nd, 2008

It is so make it easier to get by and to stick to a weight-loss program if you have the support of your friends and family.

You could be doing them a favor by getting them involved in your weight loss program particularly if living in the same household where everybody begins to eat better quality foods.

Those people who have the support of others around them when trying to lose weight have a huge advantage over anybody going it alone.

You can encourage one another to get out and exercise together and make a social occasion rather than something that you would prefer not to do.
Go walking in a park or swimming at the beach to exercise and when doing this with friends and family it can be a fun time.

If you are using resistance training as part of your weight loss program then it is good to have a training partner to help spur you on to better performances and also in the event of using heavy weights to be there for the safety as a spotting partner.

More often than not more than one person in the household will be overweight because eating habits tend to depend a lot on the foods that are purchased each week so getting everybody involved in the weight-loss program will generally see the purchase of better foods and all members of the home can have an overall change in attitude towards food for the whole household.

It can be extremely difficult for the person losing weight if there are people around them who appear to be eating all and sundry as they like with little concern for their own weight.

Many weight loss experts suggest that surrounding yourself with people who don’t have a weight problem and eat good wholesome meals all the times will actually help to encourage you to change your eating habits and fall more into line with what they regard as normal.

Enjoying Your Weight Loss

November 15th, 2008

Weight loss doesn’t have to be something that you dread every day of the week.

You should be eating good healthy food that doesn’t leave you feeling starved although initially you might feel that way as you change from the bulk poor quality food that you’ve been eating to smaller portions of better quality food.

It can take time to your body to adjust and one of the best ways to help out in this situation is to drink more water.

Most people realize that exercise is one of the best ways of losing weight although there are a lot of people who are reluctant to exercise for one reason or another.

For those people who are obese it can be quite difficult to exercise although there are forms of exercise their can cater to virtually anybody.

Swimming biking and walking are three very good low impact forms of exercise that can improve your fitness and reduce your body weight.
They can speed up your metabolism and help you to burn fat and swimming in particular is very good for people who are overweight to the extent that they find walking difficult.

Recently Nordic walking has become a lot more popular and this is a particularly good form of exercise for two reasons.

Firstly by using the poles when you are walking you are using a lot more of your upper body muscles for the exercise and in doing so this helps to burn more calories than walking without them.

The other benefit of using the poles when walking is the fact that it takes a lot of the stress off your knees and hips and this can be a godsend for oversized people who find that their joints take quite a hammering when walking due to their weight.

Is no wonder that Nordic walking is becoming one of the most popular forms of exercise throughout the country.

There Is More To Weight Loss

November 1st, 2008

If you are willing to put in the extra effort you can lose considerably more weight a lot faster by adding resistance training to your weight loss program.

Lifting weights will help to burn body fat quicker than aerobic exercise which is something that a lot of people don’t understand.
Aerobic exercise for an hour or so will burn more calories than lifting weights for the same hour however weightlifting gives additional benefits after that hour that aerobic exercise doesn’t.

After resistance training your muscles need to repair themselves and in doing so this process burns even more calories so you are getting the benefit of the calories that are burnt during the exercise combined with the calories that are getting burnt as the muscles are getting repaired.

There is also another benefit that is obtained by weightlifting and resistance exercise and that is the fact that you will be building up muscle mass.

Now many women get concerned thinking that they are going to look like a female version of Arnold Schwarzenegger but not only is this unlikely, without the use of steroids it is impossible particularly for a woman.

Muscle burns fat and by building up your muscle mass you are creating a fat burning machine that will help to use up excess body fat throughout the day.

This is why people who supplement their weight loss programmes with suitable resistance training will reduce fat and get considerably better results in less time.

You also get the additional benefits of becoming fitter, improving your heart and your bones and it also has a positive affect on your mental attitude and to some people just feeling better about themselves can solve a lot of the reasons why they overeat in the first place.

You don’t have to lift excessive weights for this to work as even light resistance training will be an added benefit to your weight-loss program.

Vitamin And Mineral Deficiencies

October 25th, 2008

For many people who are overweight the simple fact that they have become overweight due to poor nutrition and over eating results in many instances of vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

By simply supplementing the diet with vitamins and minerals in the correct quantities this will help to reduce those deficiencies and that alone can assist in reducing the need to eat copious quantities of food due to the constant feeling of hunger.

There is another problem that faces people who are trying to lose weight and that is the fact that many of these diet and weight loss programs create their own deficiencies in vitamins and minerals by not supplying suitable amounts of food to sustain the persons good health while trying to help them lose weight.

Any diet that leaves you constantly feeling hungry is lacking and more often than not it will also be lacking in your body’s need for vitamins and minerals.

Unless the diet has been prepared with the specialist help of dietitians who have a comprehensive knowledge of the bodies need for all the various vitamins and minerals then the chances of you succeeding on a diet will be minimal and this is one of the biggest reasons why many diets are a failure.

It is not so much the person’s willpower to make it work as the fact that the body is crying out for its needs and they aren’t being met with the food that has been allowed on that particular weight-loss program.

If you’re on a diet and you find that you are constantly hungry or craving particular foods then it will be well worthwhile supplementing that diet with a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement that will give you your recommended daily requirements.

You might find that this is all you need to help you to succeed.