We all remember the hype associated with the Atkins diet and actually saw proven results from co-workers, friends, and family. Many of us have also gone through the stages of choosing a fat-free diet which actually made us believe it was “OK” to eat more because of the low gram count of fat. As “dieters” we often search for ways to lose weight without hard work and exercise. In most cases, we can lose a few pounds on several different diets, but, as soon as we see the success start to happen, we decide that it’s time to treat ourself to some fried, greasy food. On some of the basic diets, relapse will lead to quick gainage of those pounds you once lost.

Although I usually am a leader, I couldn’t help myself by following the people on the South Beach Diet. Just like many of you, I wanted to lose some extra pounds with minimal effort. I planned on exercising (so I say), but wanted a quick jump start before I began my physical journeys. Many people classify this diet as a low carb diet. After researching this, myself, it is actually a no-carb diet for the first two weeks. I think the whole trick to this diet is actually revolved around cutting sugars from your diet. The good news, for all you “sweet” junkies, is that you can use sugar substitutes such as splenda.

With this diet, there are three stages. Believe me when I tell you, stage one can be brutal. If you are a carbohydrate junkie (like me) you may have a tough time making it through the first phase. In a nutshell, you are limited to, basically, low fat cheeses, eggs, water, lean meats, NO SUGAR or CARBS, and certain vegetables. I am not sure to credit the weight loss of 7-10lbs in the first phase to the diet or to the person on the diet who is so sick of eating eggs that they decide not to eat them at all! Honestly, there are only so many things you can do with meat and eggs before you become nauseous at the thought of eating them again. All in all, if you can battle it through the first two weeks, eating wheat bread and pita in the second stage will seem like a luxury.

Many people on this diet want to weigh themselves, daily, because of the rapid weight loss reputation. I urge you not to do so! Sometimes you may not see the weight loss until the third week. In many cases, if people do not see success from the beginning, they tend to relapse. Personally, I did not see the success until the third week. I must admit that I cheated in the first week because I did not see a quick result. Luckily, I jumped back on board and continued my diet. Within two weeks from my relapse, I weighed myself and noticed a five pound weight loss.

As mentioned previously, phase two and three of the diet allow better foods. You are encouraged to add some carbohydrates in the form of wheat and whole grains, and also are allowed portions of low fat and sugar free sweets, including fruits. Do not mistake this for the adkins diet, though. You are allowed some things such as tomato soup and ketchups, which are frowned down upon by the Adkins lovers. By the time you reach phase three, this style of eating becomes part of your lifestyle. Things you normally would not eat become favorites. This diet actually persuades you to enjoy healthy foods through habits and actually makes you eat less than you normally would.

All in all, I love the diet and have had great success with it. I cheated a couple times, but found the will power to continue where I left off. I recently just started phase three and have lost more than 10 lbs after a month’s time. You can read all of the books you want, but the trick to this diet is fairly simple. Cut your sugars and replace them with substitutes, replace your carbohydrates, and give the new foods time to reconstruct the way your body thinks. In order for this diet to be successful, you have to be successful in following the rules. Once you start to see the results, you will continue to diet. Unbelievable, but the South Beach Diet really does work.

A study came out a while back that discovered a key difference with people who are successful at losing weight and those who are not. The simple act of keeping a food diary was found to be responsible for losing twice as much weight as not keeping one. These findings will be will be published in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine and were funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

The more food records people kept, the more weight they were lost, said lead Jack Hollis Ph.D

This should come as no surprise to owners of my Weight Loss Hypnosis System CDs. I include a food journal along with an Action Item Form, Personal Weight Loss Contract, Monthly Recap Form, and other support documents. If you own this CD system and arent using the Food Journal, then the results of this study should inspire you to print it out and put it to use.

I just did a search for food diaries online and found a very popular site thats selling access to them for $9 a month! That’s just plain crazy. This stuff is not complicated. Its food. Its your body. Its not necessary to get lost in the minutia of doing a statistical analysis of your eating habits. It is important however to know what you eat. Thats why I provide all those tracking forms with my weight loss CD system.

These forms are going to be included as a bonus with my weight loss book when it comes out next month, but since keeping a food journal is such a great way to start the process of losing weight I thought Id provide one to you right now as a bonus for reading this blog

Heres the idea behind keeping a food journal: by writing down everything you eat on a daily basis, you will begin to become objectively aware of the calories you are consuming and the source of those calories. The key here is that its objective. Youre not relying on your own selective memory to determine your current eating habits, its all written out there in black and white.

Print out the food journal provided below. Make 7 copies of it. For the next week fill one out day by day and make sure to include what you drink too. Then, at the end of the week, take a look back and notice the patterns. This is your starting point.

When you want to change your life, its important to know where you are now, where you want to get to, and then start taking the necessary steps to get there.

In next weeks article I’ll show you how to use the results of your food journal to start making the changes that leads to permanent weight loss.

Heres the link to get your free food journal: Food Journal PDF

Print it out now and start using it today so you’ll be able to take advantage of next weeks followup article when it comes out. Dont put this off. I may take this link down once the book comes because out the food journal will be provided as one of the books bonuses.

You may not be aware of the fact that not everything you take in goes out. Of course theres the matter of fat that we store from eating too much and not working out. But with all that we are inhaling, ingesting and even subjecting ourselves through, we are also accumulating harmful substances that will soon poison us from within. This is why we have to really get rid of all those toxins.

The good thing about that is you do not have to undergo the knife just to get your inside all cleaned up. You do not have to go to a spa and undergo expensive spa treatments like you do with your zits. This diet works by getting rid of your toxins to get amazing benefits like clearing up your acne.

The diet is so simple and easy to follow. The Master Cleanse diet is a kind of liquid fast so you will need to keep yourself from eating for the 10 days that youre on the diet.

But dont stop reading now, you wont be incapacitated the entire time you are on the diet because it can nourish you as well.

To keep you from feeling all weak, you will be chugging on lemonade the entire day long. The lemonade is a mixture of lemon juice, cayenne pepper and maple syrup. You can drink 6 to 12 glasses of this lemonade which will actually aid with the detoxification process.

The ingredients are all included for their properties. The lemon juice and the cayenne pepper are both amazing in loosening the mucous linings of the body. Both also effectively cleanses the digestive, respiratory and circulatory systems.

They effectively loosen the mucous linings of the body so that toxin build ups are easier to remove. You couple that with laxatives either during the morning or the evening and youll be freeing your body from toxins in no time.

If you follow the Master Cleanse really closely (and it wont be hard to do so) you will be able to harness all the benefits like increasing your vitality with a strengthened immune system and promoting over all health.

Dont forget it makes you lose weight too. Drinking lemonade was never that good.

Stop dieting, start losing. You’ve heard that before but what should you really do? Stop riding the diet roller coaster and get on to the path towards permanent weight loss.

I bet you lost weight in the past only to put it back on within a short space of time. Have you followed every diet including South Beach, Atkins, the Peanut Butter diet, the Drinking Man’s diet, or even the Chocolate Diet? All of these diets work, and none of them work, meaning that you will probably lose weight if you lose them, but you won’t keep it off. Why not? Because when you complete the diet is you simply go back to your regular routine; the routine that got you fat to begin with.

Diets used to carry warnings saying that you should not to stay on them longer than the prescribed time; this would normally be two weeks, or sometimes just three days. Today’s on the other hand most diets are aiming to style themselves as lifestyle choices, but this doesn’t working either. You need to be able to eat a sandwich now and again. You might want a burger and the bun from time to time! If you aim for a balance between foods you prefer, and you will have a much better chance of success.

Small Changes: Big Answer to Weight Loss Blues

If you start today, and just take one day at a time by making one or even two small changes like changing to the sugar-free soft drinks. Weaning yourself down to two or less a day. You don’t have to make drastic changes. If you try and do this it will never work because while you might be happy to start with, you slowly get depressed near to the end. In fact, that is the problem: you are anticipating the end.

It All Comes Down to Choices

Talk to people who’ve lost weight and kept it off. They’ll say, “This is a lifestyle.” It’s about choices you make every day. Are you choosing to take an extra helping, even though you’re comfortably full? Change that one behavior and you’re on your way. Do you choose to take the bag of chips to the couch? Change that, in fact just stop eating on the couch entirely and you’re one step closer. Eliminate the habit of grabbing a few bites on your way past the candy dish, that alone can shave several pounds.

Choose one small habit or behavior at a time, not your entire existence, and you’ll have a much better chance to reach your weight loss goals.

Regardless of your age, there is probably some interest in learning how to tone up your abs. If that wasn’t the case, then you probably wouldn’t be reading this article now. But getting rid of that stubborn belly fat in order to tone up your abs is probably one of the most difficult tasks to accomplish. The key is to continuously perform abdominal exercises everyday and eat the proper diet.

Some individuals are blessed with toned abs while others are too conscious about their stomach bulges. If you have excess body fats, the muscles in your abdomen area become invisible. According to experts, if you want to tone your ab muscles, you need to give particular attention to you diet. 75% of your effort should be dedicated to improving your diet and the other 25% is for the ab exercises.

The diet plays the largest role in toning ab muscles. However, with so many diet programs out there, you might find it hard to pick the best one that might work for you. The secret is to eat certain foods that can help in decreasing the body fat. Most of the diet programs help individuals in cutting down their calorie intake. If your body cant get enough calories from the foods you eat, then the fat stored in your body (particularly in your stomach area) will be used. If you start eating properly, you can surely shed those unwanted fats.

It is advised that you consult your doctor first before trying to select an eating or dieting plan. Doing this will ensure that you get meal plans that are perfectly suitable for your health conditions. Also, you need to learn which foods provide fewer calories. Remember, the less calories your body intakes, the more fat that is naturally burned by the body. This is why you need to change unhealthy eating habits that force you to intake large amounts of calories per day.

Exercise is also vital, especially abdominal exercises. The most common is the abdominal crunch and it is highly effective when done properly. The exercise is straight forward and very simple. Even if the exercise is obscure or weird, many people perform them. Having an exercise ball at home is also a good idea so that you can use it when doing your ab exercises. There are helpful DVDs and videos on how to use the exercise ball; watch the videos at home and follow the instructions carefully and properly. Another exercise is the sit up. Make sure that your feet remain flat on the floor when doing the exercise. Just bend your body as high as you can. Leg lifts, jackknife sit ups, and v-ups are effective exercises as well.

Please note that abdominal muscles are really stubborn. It requires a lot of patience in order to see your stomach muscles come in. But if you consistently exercise your abs and eat right for the next few months, you should be able to build strong toned abdominal muscles. Once you get rid of the stomach flab, you must continue with toning and strengthening your ab muscles so that they can show.

A good looking body is something that we all want, even if we wont admit it, but for those of us who are overweight or even underweight, it can be a challenge to even get started. Regular gym visits make very slow progress and when its hard to keep doing something that requires effort when you dont even see results.

People that feel they are too thin can have a frustrating time at the gym as everyone there seems to be bigger and you seem to be making no progress at all.

Overweight people have an even more of an ordeal to go through at the gym as it is far more difficult to lose weight than it is to gain weight, but surely there is a way to speed the process along?

Things like dieting supplements and protein shakes are things that we have all heard of, but probably dont know much about. A lot of people question whether they work or not, whether they will have side effects etc. and rightly so. The answer is; if theyre used properly, then they can work wonders for your body, but otherwise, the chances are they will not do much.

For the underweight people who are looking to gain some muscle, carbohydrates and whey protein supplements would be perfect. They will naturally help your muscles grow at a faster rate as long as you keep working out as well!

This will start to make a highly noticeable difference if you are drinking protein shakes as instructed by the particular brand you use. This is because the Whey protein that they usually contain (from experience Whey tends to be more effective than Creatine) can easily be turned into muscle by your body. However it will need an incentive to do so, i.e. regular pumping of the muscles so that they need to be repaired.

Unfortunately there is quite a bit more effort involved if you are overweight. The reason for this is that you cant turn fat cells straight into muscle, you have to burn the fat cells off first, then build muscle in its place. A supplement containing Sida Cordifolia would be ideal for this as it improves your metabolic rate, increasing the energy you used when doing anything, meaning fat cells burn off much quicker.

If you take this step to lose weight followed by the previously mentioned muscle gain steps, then realistically youre probably looking at around 8-10 months before your body starts taking shape, but if throughout this period you are active, with regular workouts and exercise, you could not only shorten that time frame, but you will end up fitter, healthier and generally felling better than you have in a long time.

These days obesity and being overweight has reached almost epidemic proportions. Our inactive lifestyle along with the consumption of what is referred to as the “Standard American Diet” has affected our waistlines and our bathroom scales in ways that are not pleasing and definitely not healthful. We eat too much and we work out too little.

Our ancestors needed to evolve in such a way as to ensure continued existence. Therefore our bodies easily conserve fat and energy in order to defend us from the times of scarcity. These days the only food shortage that we ever suffer is the self-imposed famines that we experience when we go on a restrictive diet.

But our bodies do not make a distinction between a restrictive diet and a shortage. We go on a diet and our bodies interfere with our hard work by slowing down our metabolism and conserving every trace of fat and energy that it can. That is one of the reasons why it gets more tough to lose weight with every consequent diet.

One resolution to this quandary is to end dieting and begin eating. In other words stop depriving yourself of food and start eating the way your body was intended to eat.

It’s much more than just starting to eat as usual again. We must redefine what “normal” eating is. The Standard American Diet or as it is also known SAD contributes largely to our problems with obesity and overweight. Our bodies were in no way designed to eat the standard fare of processed, nutritionally void and damaging foods that is so plentiful in our culture and that many of us are used to.

Our bodies were designed to eat the good for you, nutritious and natural foods that are found plentifully in nature. Nature provides the foods that are optimal for our bodies. Fruits, vegetables, whole grains and even fish and lean meats. The less processed and the more natural the food the better it is for our bodies.

Our bodies were also designed to move and exercise. Our ancestors spent most of their days up and about, moving around and our bodies are intended for that. If you want to lose weight and become healthier the answer is to take in both a healthful diet with optimum nourishment and an exercise plan.

So if you want to combat obesity and lose weight for good not to mention generate optimal health start eating the healthiest foods in nature and begin an work out program. Your body will thank you and you will see the results on your bathroom scale.

How many times have you tried a new diet program hoping to lose weight fast only to end up in frustration and failure? Did you know that over 90% of people actually gain weight within 6 months of dieting! Here are the top 10 reasons why:

1. Diets focus all your attention on food and eating, which is what you actually want to minimize in your mind. What you focus on expands so focusing on food is counterproductive when you want to lose weight.

2. Diets create stress and stress creates a compulsion to eat.

3. Diets fail to address the real problems: your self-esteem and your reliance on food to control your emotions.

4. Dieting can result in mood swings and depression which make it harder to lose weight. Depression actually leads to weight gain.

5. Diets put you in starvation mode. When you severely restrict your food intake it signals your body that food is scarce. So Your body protects itself against the possibility starvation by storing fat when whenever food becomes unavailable.

6. Diets lower your metabolism. When you suddenly limit your caloric intake, your metabolism slows down and burns less calories. Dieting actually makes your body efficient at conserving calories and storing them up as fat .

7. Diets judge their success by the number of pounds lost instead by the true objectives: increased energy, feeling good about yourself, and looking good in your clothes again.

8. Diets are temporary. When you reach your goal on a diet you stop and then return your your normal eating habits so the weight eventually comes back.

9. Diet sodas increase your appetite. They contain phosphoric acid which increase your appetite and leaches calcium from your bones. They may also contain aspartame which drains your energy, your strength, and your stamina.

10. Diets change your short term eating habits without changing your long term mindset about food. Your thoughts create your actions, so if you still have the same thoughts and feelings about food eventually you will return to the same eating behaviors. To create long term, permanent changes in your body you must first start with changes in your thinking.

We all know that the only way to keep our kids from getting any fatter is by making them eat healthy fruits and vegetables as well as forcing them to stay away from junk foods. However, any parent knows that it is easier said than done! After all, which kid would want to give up on the tasty junk foods for the sake of fruits and vegetables! Well, good news is that there is a little trick which works wonders in this case! In this article I will talk about that little-known but useful trick!

The trick is that of hiding healthy foods in the guise of ‘comfort’ foods. How about a spinach burger, or a ’soft drink’ made up of just plain water with a tad of sugar and a pint of natural lemon or mango flavor? How about using margarine instead of butter for the purpose of cooking those delicious and yummy popcorn balls? There are plenty of ingenious ways you can use to make your kids eat healthy foods without much fuss!

Now, there are certain things to remember here:

1. First of all, contrary to what many parents believe, there is nothing unethical about tricking your kids into eating healthy foods; the only ‘bad’ thing which is going to happen as a result of this trick is that your child would be more and more addicted to healthy foods and his addiction towards junk foods would automatically diminish over time!

Most of the organic fruits and vegetables out there are rich in fiber, among other nutrients! Therefore these foods help keep your kids full for a long time, and consequently, their appetite for junk foods is killed!

2. Secondly, while it is true that this tehnique only works for young children, it is also true that if you make them accustomed to healthy foods right from their infancy, it would be easier for them to incorporate healthy eating habits later in life, and when that happens, you won’t really need to trick them anymore by offering healthy foods camouflaged as junk foods! Remember that habits, good or bad, are adopted by human beings right from a very young age!

3. Thirdly, in the quest of making our children eat healthy foods, we must not lose sight of the foods they may be allergic too! Milk may be good for the growth of kids, but many kids are lactose intolerant and as such, cannot digest milk properly! The only solution is to offer skimmed or ‘fat-free’ milk instead!

Also there are many kids who are allergic even to the innocuous potatoes! If your kid dislikes potatoes no matter how you cook them, then there is more to it than its bland taste. However if your kid seems to prefer potato chips in place of roasted or steamed potatoes, then it is just an unhealthy food choice which needs to be taken care of. Granted that potatoes are high on carbs, but still, steamed potatoes are lower on calorie content than potato chips; plus your kids need carbs anyway!

People learn only from their peers, and this holds true for adults as well as kids. It is no secret that the level of childhood obesity in the world is increasing alarmingly with every passing year. Even though parents tend to blame their kids’ unhealthy lifestyle habits as the root cause of obesity, the fact remains that if parents are willing, they can change those habits during the growing years of their children.

Bear in mind that a stitch in time saves nine; if you nip these bad habits of your kids in the bud then they would always remain fit and healthy. If you are clueless about what to do in this direction, I will tell offer you two tips on that!

Make no mistake, even though now I am a fitness professional, I too was a big, fat ugly kid hated by my class mates and neighbors alike! Just like your kids I too loved all the tasty and yummy junk foods my parents used to feed me.

My parents believed that I would cry less if they feed me delicious foods all the time; however this didn’t help at all as I cried even after all that ‘pampering’; if anything, I fell prey to unhealthy eating habits for which I had to pay dearly later on.

When I grew up a little, Mac Donalds became my regular destination and their burgers my all-time favorites! To top it all, my parents even took me to a doctor for they thought I was extremely underweight and malnourished, and oddly enough, that doctor only gave reassurance to my parents’ fears!

I don’t even need to tell you the end result of it all; soon I had a fatty belly and a pair of flabby arms which I detested very much (even though my parents seem to have no issues with them).

After keeping up with the taunts of my schoolmates for a while, I thought that enough was enough, and one day took a stand that I would lose weight no matter what!

1. Encourage your kids to idolize professional athletes and bodybuilders: These days, kids usually idolize movie stars and prefer to sit on the couch the entire day and watch movies of their favorite idols. There is nothing wrong with hero worship at all, as long as it helps your kids stay fit and avoid weight gain. Idolizing movie heroes and heroines won’t be of any use to them; on the other hand, idolizing professional sportspersons, body builders and athletes would really help them stay active all the time. While it is true that I got involved in hula hopping because it was a very popular sport among our neighborhood kids, I played tennis mainly because famous tennis players such as Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick were my idols (they still are).

When kids consider athletes to be their heroes, they like to emulate their active lifestyle and have a have a healthy body like them, which in turn means that your kids would start eating healthy and indulging regularly in outdoor games!

2. Dont stop your kids from participating in sports: So when I decided to lose weight, I started spending much more time in my favorite sports than I used to!! Thankfully, unlike the parents of some of my peers, my parents never prohibited me from getting involved in outdoor sports.

Take a cue from this: if you are a parent and wish to keep your kids fit and healthy then keeping them from indulging in sports is just stupid! Far from making your kids sit at home and forcing them to stick their eyes on books throughout the whole day, you should actually encourage them to become active in life, since only active kids are able to keep the fat away for the rest of their lives!

Really, that is the only thing I did, apart from changing my unhealthy eating habits, in order to acquire the fit body that I still maintain! And you thought it was too difficult to help your kids lose weight!