Health Care

By: Alien

So you’ve put together a weight loss plan and it’s working exactly as you expected. OK, it’s hard to stick to a diet, but with such great results, you’re sure it will be no time until you are lithe and slender once again. But then all of a sudden – disaster! Your weight loss comes to a screeching halt, your scale seems stuck on the same number, you may even gain a few pounds. You’ve hit a weight loss plateau.

To understand weight loss plateaus, think about your weight loss calculator: you enter your current weight, height, and gender, and it tells you how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. You reduce your calories below that amount, and you start to lose pounds. But now that you’ve lost a few pounds, put your information into that weight loss calculator, and you’ll see that the calories you need to maintain your current weight are much less than they were at the start – probably about what you are eating right now. That’s why the weight loss plateau has struck.

To look at it another way, imagine that you carry a ten-pound bag full of rocks with you wherever you go. Any exercise you do is going to be more strenuous, and it’s going to burn more calories. If you decide to stop carrying that bag of rocks around, your exercise will be less effective. The ten extra pounds of weight that you were carrying around with you act the same way.

So how do you get past a weight loss plateau and start losing weight once again? The biggest mistake that people make is to try to cut calories even more. That puts the body into starvation mode, and deprives you of the energy that you really need in this critical time. The best suggestions for moving beyond a weight loss plateau are:

* Exercise more. Keep your metabolism up and burn more calories by adding extra exercise to your weight loss regime.
* Build more muscle mass. Muscle is great for burning calories at rest and while exercising. Add weight or resistance training to your exercise regime to build up those muscles.
* Shake Up Your Eating Regime. Sometimes you can break your body out of a weight loss plateau by changing how you eat while keeping your total number of weekly calories the same. Eat fewer calories on one day and more the next (while sticking to healthy foods, of course). Add more proteins while cutting back on the carbs, or eat more meals per day, but make them smaller.
* Emphasize Complex Carbs. Now more than ever, you need to focus on replacing refined flours and sugars with complex carbohydrates like brown rice, whole grain wheat bread, and vegetables. This will give you the energy your body needs without the sugar crash and resulting hunger that you get by eating simple carbs.

One of the easiest ways to lose weight, with few restrictions on what you can eat, is the Low GI Diet. It works with your body and helps get over the hunger pangs associated with many other diets.

Alien writes for Weight loss diet . He also writes for bodybuilding supplements and herbal cure Article Source:

source:http://www.eArticlesOnline.com

By: Brad Howard

People today are highly concerned with their bodies and their health so it is no surprise that more and more people are hiring personal trainers to help them lose weight and get in shape. For the most part, this is a good thing. It’s great to see people taking a positive step towards weight loss and a healthy future.

However, do you really need a trainer? There are some people out there that can greatly benefit from the regular expertise of a personal trainer. There are many other people who could likely do it just fine on their own if they would only set their mind to it. The trainer merely serves as a person to answer to; the person you are paying to kick you in the tushie when you don’t get moving!

It’s true that your trainer knows a lot about helping you get in shape and lose weight to be a healthier and more beautiful you. So what are some big secrets your trainer doesn’t want you to know?

1. You don’t have to “feel the burn”. We’ve all heard the phrase “no pain, no gain”. You may have even chanted it a few times yourself during your workout but one thing your trainer might not want you to know is that working harder and pushing further won’t help you lose weight if you are injured. Remember, for beginners, slow and steady wins the race!

2. You do not have to give up junk food entirely. Trainers have a habit of blacklisting certain foods that just might happen to be your favorite. There is good reason for this. Most people that are overweight may already have a problem with saying no to food. However, cutting out a favorite treat altogether can lead to serious cravings and secret binges. It’s okay to have a little chocolate or a soda now and then – just learn how to pace yourself and keep it to a minimum. Be sure you never use the food item as a “reward”. (As a side note, in most states, trainers cannot give nutritional advice unless they are a registered dietician.)

3. You don’t need a routine to burn calories. Trainers train you to focus on a set, regular weight loss and exercise routine because that is the best way to get you in the habit of exercising and to push you to do what you need to do to burn calories. However, you can just as easily burn calories and get the exercise you need in your regular daily activities. There are many healthy habits that can be incorporated into your daily activity that do not require a gym, or a trainer.

4. Losing weight is often simply about forming better habits. You need better and healthier eating habits, sleeping habits and exercise habits. Forming these habits will help you lose weight and keep it off- without needing a trainer!

If you are using a trainer, keep in mind that you should feel comfortable with the trainer that you are working with. It should be someone not only knowledgeable but also someone that cares about you and your needs. Remember, you should work together as a team with your health as the common goal.

About the Author:

Brad Howard knows "The Secret". It's what keeps many personal trainers in business, especially the bad ones. Can you guess what it is? No one has yet....