Low Carb Diets

“You’re only as fat as the food you eat,” is a very popular saying nowadays and everyone is trying to lose weight with low intake diets. Sounds very logical doesn’t it? Eat less and be less fat, right? That concept works in our heads but to be honest that’s not exactly how it works in reality. I’m going to tell you how low intake diets work in reality and why you should stay away from low intake diets such as the negative calorie diet.

Low intake diets have to be one of the biggest pitfalls for people trying to lose weight simply because it wrecks their metabolism. Think about it. A low intake diet basically means that you eat less and you almost starve yourself. This causes your, probably already slow, metabolism to slow down dramatically and, to cut a long story short, that will pretty much be the end of your fat burning days. In other words you will lose weight at first with a low intake diet but in the end you will find it difficult to maintain your weight and you will eventually gain it all back again. You don’t want that do you?

Oh but you’ve read so many testimonials about how well a low intake diet helped other people. As I said before with a low intake diet you will lose weight but in the end you will have trouble maintaining it. These people who write testimonials have lost weight but they haven’t yet felt the consequences of putting the breaks on their metabolism.

Don’t condemn your metabolism for a quick fix because you want to be slim in 2 weeks. You might regret it in the future. I’m warning you a low intake diet could mean you have to stay dieting for the rest of your life to stay slim. That’s day after day of feeling week from the lack of energy and that feeling of hunger in your stomach twenty-four seven.

Do yourself a favour and stay away from low intake diets. There are many other diets out there that will do you good. Instead of eating less why don’t you try just eating healthier food. Do a bit of research and find the diet that is good for you. Perhaps a little exercise wouldn’t do any harm. Just be careful of the low intake diet.

Don’t sit there any longer, get up and find out what diet you need. However, just stay away from the low intake diets.

In order to successfully reduce weight and get slim, you have to eat healthy food, you have to reduce your consume of fat and carbohydrates and you have to exercise regularly. Here are some practical measures to fulfill this goal:

- Reduce the total amount of food you eat.

- However, do not try to starve yourself. Eat regularly 4 (or 5) moderate meals each day. In this way your blood sugar level will not drop to low amounts that hinder you in doing physical activities, and give you an impulse to over-eat.

- Do not use fast-food or other sorts of pre-made food. Make your meals from pure raw ingredients that you buy yourself. In this way you have full control of what you put into your body.

- Do not eat between the meals.

- Each meal shall include some lean protein-rich element like lean fish, poultry, mushrooms or lean meat.

- Cut away all visible fat from meat, poultry or fish.

- Each meal shall also include some vegetables or fruit. These shall be raw or only gently cooked.

- In each meal there shall also be some whole corn bread or cereals, beans, peas or potatoes as a carbohydrate and energy source. It is important to vary the energy source from meal to meal. Do not only use bread or potatoes.

- Fat fish, nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, olives and the like contain very much fat. But the fat is of a type that is valuable for your health. You shall therefore eat some of these food types every day, but in moderate amounts. You may however choose to increase the amount of these ingredients in your diet if you reduce the amount of bread, and other carbohydrate sources.

- Do not add much extra oil, butter, fat sauces, fat dressings, sugar or sweet sauces to your food.

- The little fat you add to your food should be of natural chemically unaltered types like virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, rape oil / canola oil, soy oil, fish oil or natural butter. Vary the oil type to get all essential fatty acids.

- Ideally you should not consume sweet beverages, except fruit juice in moderate amounts.

- Reduce your alcohol consume. Alcohol is converted to fat in your body.

- Drastically reduce your consume of snacks, ice-cream, cakes, cookies, chocolate and the like.

- Do not consume great amounts of salt. Salt does not make you fat, but it binds water in your body and this excessive water contribute to your weight problem. When you loose fat, the fat also tends to be replaced by water. Reducing the salt consume will help you get rid of excessive water.

- Some people over-eat because of boredom. Find some new hobby activities or some new friends that share some of your interests.

- Do some physical exercise at least every second day. You shall include exercises that give your muscles some resistance in order to increase your muscle mass, for example weight lifting. You shall also include some activities that make you consume energy and build up your condition, like running, swimming and cycling. And you should do some stretching exercises, for example yoga postures.

- A supplement of vitamins and minerals can be useful to make your body able to burn fat effectively or increase your ability to engage in physical activities. When you reduce the amount of food you consume, also the amount of vitamins and minerals you take in will be reduced. This lack can be remanded with an extra supplement.

- On the market you can also find preparations of herbs, vitamins and minerals especially made for people in a slimming process, giving these effects: They replace a lack of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants because of reduced eating. They help your body burn and eliminate fat. They give you a feeling of greater energy and a greater ability to be physically active. They help reduce an abnormal appetite. Some preparations also contain ingredients that reduce the uptake of fat and carbohydrates from the intestines.

Fat Loss Tip #3) Proper Meal Frequency

Meal Frequency (i.e., the number of meals you eat each day) could be the most important aspect of your nutrition program. If you do this right you will build muscle, burn fat, and with a proper resistance training program, be well on your way to achieving the body of your dreams.

But first, I must burst your bubble. What you are about to read isn’t sexy, it’s not exotic, secret, or the uncovering of some super Eastern European nutrition system that led to tons of gold medals in weight lifting. I’m also not going to tout some super juice, or specific vegetable that you need to eat outrageous quantities of in order to achieve your goals.

What it is, is sound advice that works. Do this correctly, and you will be well on your way to fitness nirvana. The thing is, most people know about it, yet few actually follow through with it and put it into action.

I admit to being one of them. I’ve always been in good shape from playing sports, working out with weights and eating right. However, I was in good shape and not great shape because I did things right about 75% of the time.

I ate 6 meals a day, most of the time. I consumed enough protein in each meal, most of the time. I worked out and worked out intensely enough, most of the time.

Why is that, you might wonder. Well, I’m glad you asked. You see, it takes motivation, persistence, planning, and a little bit of sacrifice. Sounds horrible, doesn’t it? Don’t worry, it’s not. But as I’ve stated before, nothing worth achieving comes easy. Don’t get me wrong, it is simple, it’s just not easy. But it can be pretty painless, if you have the right mind set.

So, what is it, already? Okay, okay, here you go. Eat six meals a day. No excuses, no exceptions, no nothing. Just do it. I told you it was simple. You might be ready to toss me in the trash because you already know such obvious advice.

But let me ask you this, how many consecutive days have you eaten six nutritious meals? If you are like most people, probably not many.

So if you know it’s an extremely important part of achieving your goals and building the body you want, why aren’t you doing it more often? I think one reason is that those of us in the industry have failed in hammering home the absolute importance of eating six meals a day. Sure, we say it, but if so few people are doing it, we must not be stating our case very well.

Reason number two - eating six proper, nutritious meals a day takes work. It takes a time commitment, among other sacrifices. And it’s not just the time it takes to make the meals, or the time to eat them. It also involves other aspects of your life.

For example, socializing, going shopping, playing sports on the weekends, etc. If you eat six times a day, you need to eat every 2 or 3 hours, tops. What are you going to do, sit home all day every day so you can be near your food? Of course not.

But you will need to plan ahead. This could mean shopping and then cooking most of your food once a week, putting each meal in a microwaveable container, and then carrying meals to work with you.

You may need to invest in a high quality thermos (or two or three) and make your favorite protein shakes to take with you when you are going to be out and about for a while, or bringing some protein bars with you instead.

You may also need to withstand comments from friends and family. In our culture today, most social functions center around food - thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, even labor day and memorial day are times to get together with friends for a cookout.

Sure, you may be able to eat some of the food available. Even so, you most likely will be around long enough for at least one other meal, in which you will need to be prepared with something you brought with you.

This may require turning down the food offered and whipping out a protein bar, thus dealing with the questions and comments, usually negative, that will most likely arise.

And hey, how many of us have the well meaning mother or grandmother that assures us we are too skinny, we must eat more, offers us everything in site, and just won’t take a polite no thank you for an answer?

I know, eating right may not be easy, but it is necessary if you truly want to achieve your best body, and in the shortest amount of time possible.

I’ve given my lecture on the necessity of eating six times a day. Now let’s talk about what this can actually do for you in terms of achieving your muscle building and fat burning goals.

Our genetics haven’t really changed during our existence. Initially, food was very difficult to come by and our ancestors never knew when they were going to be getting their next meal.

It was only natural that our bodies became very efficient at storing excess calories just in case they were needed at a later time in order to fend off starvation.

That was great back then. It helped keep many people alive. Now, however, when our next meal is a phone call or fast food restaurant away, it’s not so good. Especially since those calories are stored as ugly body fat. Do any of us really want to look like a bear on the verge of hibernation? I think it’s safe to say that the answer to that question is no.

This is one of the reasons for eating six meals a day. In general, there are three things that can lead our bodies to storing calories as fat. One would be to consume a very large meal.

This alerts our body to the fact that this could very well be our last meal for a long time to come, so we better preserve as many calories as we can (as body fat, of course) just in case our next meal doesn’t come for a long time.

The next reason is going too long between meals. Again, this kicks in our bodies starvation mode and it stores calories as fat because it’s not sure when it will be getting its next meal.

A third reason would be a sudden and severe restriction in daily calorie consumption. Just like going too long between meals, this kicks the starvation mode into action, causing the storage of body fat.

Now, what do most people do when they decide they need to lose weight and go on a diet? Correct, they severely restrict calories as well as going a long time between each meal.

This may work at first but eventually causes the exact opposite result that they are looking to accomplish. Their metabolism slows down and they start storing fat, even on so few calories a day.

Add to this mix, that most people who diet don’t add weight training to their program and you have a real recipe for disaster. Without adding weight training, at least half of the weight lost will be muscle, not fat, which slows down your metabolism even more.

If you restrict your calories too severely, even if you are weight training, a good percentage of your weight lost will be muscle, as your body doesn’t have enough calories to sustain the muscle it has, let alone build new muscle.

This also goes for going too long between meals. If your body goes too long between meals, not getting the necessary calories, protein, and other nutrients, it goes into a catabolic state. In other words, it starts eating your muscle for energy. This would slow down your metabolism, leading to the storage of more body fat. It’s a vicious cycle.

In addition, anyone who severely restricts calories and goes a long time between meals will hit upon the first reason - eating an excessively large meal, otherwise known in diet speak as binging. And most of these calories will go straight to being stored as body fat.

A study published in Metabolism (Karbowsa, J., et al. [2001] Increase of lipogenic enzyme mRNA levels in rat white adipose tissue after multiple cycles of starvation/refeeding. 50:734-738.) looked at this very same issue using animals.

The study showed that cycles of starvation and refeeding (i.e., binging) led to an upgrade of lipogenic enzymes. These enzymes promote body fat synthesis. We possess these same lipogenic enzymes. So, if you want to lose body fat or keep off the fat you’ve lost, don’t starve yourself. If you do that, you are only going to binge, leading you to put the fat back on.

Now, how do you avoid these mistakes? You eat smaller, more frequent meals. If you eat every two or three hours, always having a prepared nutritious meal, shake or bar handy, you are much less likely to binge.

By not severely restricting calories and adding weight training, you will lose body fat, not muscle, thereby not only preventing your metabolism from slowing down, but also speeding up your metabolism due to the added muscle from the weight training.

Gregg Gillies

We are all guilty of cheating on our diets from time to time and can also feel guilty about doing it. So why do we cheat anyways? This article is going to address this question. You will also learn how often you should cheat on your diet and supplements that should be taken before and after a big cheat meal.

Strict dieting can cause many psychological problems such as headaches, fatigue, depression, anxiety, and wanting to be unsocial. Marta Meana Ph.D., an associate professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas states, “When you cut back on sugar, you`re experiencing a decrease in brain chemicals, such as serotonin and endorphins, that make you feel good. If you`re feeling a severe drop in mood, you`re probably restricting too much, too fast.” You may also be out with a couple of friends one night and they say, “Hey, do you want a beer,” or the best one yet, “How about a piece of pizza.” On special occasions like these or when you feel that you need a treat from the past few weeks of dieting, then cheating is okay. Just don`t make a habit out of it.

From a health perspective, using a cheat day as an excuse to gorge yourself is horrendous. It`s fine to have cookies, cakes, soda, pizza, etc., but the key is to not gorge yourself to the point of sickness. You should use your cheat meal as an opportunity to eat anything you want, but not everything you want. Eat enough to enjoy the food, but don`t over do it. Speaking personally, I cheat once a week to satisfy my cravings. Some people don`t cheat at all while others can get away with a cheat meal two or three times a week. You will have to find which method works best for you.

So how do I go about preparing for my cheat meal? You better be guessing that I am prepared supplement wise to keep myself from feeling guilty afterwards. I also need to decide if I really need a cheat meal or if it`s just a craving that I normally get from time to time. The first thing I do is take a thermogenic, such as Hot Rox or Xenadrine, and a healthy fat source such as fish or flax seed oil. I`ll then wait twenty minutes to decide if I am still hungry and if I am, then I will get something such as cookies, cakes, or pies. Then i`ll go eat some pizza, lasagna, or spaghetti, topped off with something healthy to aid with digestion. I won`t train after a cheat meal because I feel my body needs the excess calories to replace damaged muscle tissue. Again, different people have their own methods of going about cheating, and there is no right or wrong way of doing it.

Cheating is fun and sometimes it is the only thing that can turn a bad day into something good. I know of no one who can go their entire life without eating something that`s bad for them, and if someone ever tells me that they don`t cheat, I know they are lying! Another reason people can`t stick to their diet long-term is because they think that they have to be perfect all of the time. Live a little and go have a cheat meal!

*http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/qa/afc/afc_jan032003.htm

*http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/berardi14.htm

*http://www.naturalphysiques.com/faq/273.html

*http://chetday.com/cheatdays.htm

*http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0846/is_9_24/ai_n13661416

If you feel like you are overweight you are not alone. There are thousands of people in the world that feel like they could lose a few pounds. But the good thing is that every year a large percentage of people that feel that they are overweight take the steps necessary to get down to their target weight.

Losing weight does not have to be difficult. Over the years there has been a lot of talk about how hard it is to lose weight, and that it takes a lot of time, hard work, determination, and in many cases money. And sure, this is true. You are not going to lose weight by simply sitting around and doing nothing. But the fact of the matter is that every year people all over the world find a way to lose weight. Why can’t you be next?

The first thing that losing weight will do for you is obvious; it will make you look better. Looks are the number one reason that any person wants to lose weight. Sure, there are other reasons, but most people that want to lose weight do so because they want other people to look at them and say WOW!

On the other hand, looking good is always nice, but a lot of people need to lose weight in order to stay healthy. You need to ask yourself one very important question; am I jeopardizing my health because I am overweight? If you answered yes to this question then you will definitely want to look into how you can go about losing weight. By shedding a few pounds you will be able to lose the necessary weight to keep your body healthy.

Many people feel that the only way to successfully lose weight is to spend tons of money on supplements, and specialty diet products. This is definitely a myth. By using traditional methods you should have no problems losing weight. Instead of wasting your money why not buy a book on losing weight and follow its direction to a T? Also, you can mix in an exercise regimen that will aid you in your weight loss. That sounds a lot easier than spending hundreds of dollars doesn’t it?

Overall, if you are overweight you can get started losing some extra pounds today. There are hundreds of different reasons that losing weight will be of a major benefit to you. All you need to do to get started is come up with a weight loss program and stick to it. By sticking to a program and setting personal goals you will be well on your way to losing weight. There is no reason to wait another day!

There are many weight loss diet programs in the market. The ones that are most popular and known worldwide are the Atkins diet and the South Beach diet. Both have their pros and cons, but people have been known to benefit from these diets.

Your slimming down not only depends on the weight loss diet that you choose but also on your level of motivation. If you are motivated enough and feel the need to lose weight within a set time frame, you will be able to achieve it. But if you do not have any weight loss goals and if you are not motivated, you would most probably be cursing the weight loss diet. This is a fact, and it happens with most.

Remember that changing a weight loss diet will not have the desired effect, though you may feel that there is, in the initial stages. Perseverance is the key to lose weight. You need to persevere and if you perspire as well then it will yield even better results. By perspire, I mean, that you should be physically active along with the weight loss diet. Try to jog or walk for an hour at least every single day. This combination will surely get the desired results.

The answer to the title of this article is “none.” That’s right, no diet plan on its own is very effective for permanent weight loss. You can stop reading right now and go look for another magic bullet or you can stick around and hear the hard truth.

Still here? Great! OK, the only method for achieving permanent weight loss is to combine a nutritionally balanced diet that consists of a calorie count slightly below what you need to maintain your present body weight along with regular exercise. I’m sure you’ve probably heard this a thousand times before, but like any simple truth that’s difficult to accept, it bears repeating. Dieting alone just isn’t going to cut it!

Sure, you can lose a few pounds on a calorie-restricted diet alone, but you’ll eventually hit a point where your body refuses to give up any more of itself. Most people then get frustrated and quit the diet. You know the rest of the story –- you put back all of the weight you lost plus a few extra bonus pounds.

Of course what you hopefully want to lose is body fat. Unfortunately, what you wind up losing when you just diet is a combination of water, fat, and lean muscle. The goal is to maximize fat loss while sparing your muscle tissue.

The great thing about exercise is that when consistently applied, you slowly begin to raise your metabolic rate. So even when you’re not active, your body is burning fat. This is the beauty of the “one-two diet and exercise punch” –- the exercise keeps your internal furnace running hot and a lower calorie diet forces your body to throw more fat into the fire for fuel.

So what diet should you choose in combination with an exercise plan? How about just keeping it simple? Avoid the following and you should be fine:

* Saturated fats

* Refined sugar

* Preservative-laden foods such as hotdogs and lunch meats

* Keep the following foods to a minimum:

– Ice cream

– Cakes and cookies

– Candy

– Soft drinks

– Chips

– Fried foods

* Cut back on eating out. Pack your own lunch instead of going to KFC or MacDonald’s on your lunch break. The higher-end restaurants have the additional trap of serving ridiculously large portions.

* Speaking of smaller portions — instead of a 22 oz steak, have a 4 oz steak. Better yet, have a piece of fish or a skinless chicken breast.

For the exercise component, chose something that you will enjoy doing at least 4 times a week for 20-40 minutes. It could be a brisk walk, swimming, or my favorite, the elliptical trainer. Just be sure to set aside the time and then make the commitment to yourself to stick with it!

So there you have it. It’s not high tech or glamorous and it won’t have you losing 50 lbs in a week, but it has been proven to work time and time again for countless people who have made it an integral part of their lives.

So hopefully you won’t ever start a diet again without partnering it up with an exercise routine!