Tips For Realistically Losing Weight

Obesity is a life threatening condition and is spreading at an alarming rate throughout Western society. It is particularly prevalent in the USA. However there are some steps you can take to reduce your weight and improve your health and lifestyle.

Reducing calorie intake:

What are calories? A calorie is a unit used to measure energy. It is required by most governments to print the calorie value of foods on the nutrition label of all foods that are sold to consumers. Because if this it is easier to calculate your calorie intake. Reducing calories means not just cutting food intake but being careful of the actual caloric value of the foods you are eating.

Reduction but not eliminating fats and oils: fat and oil is necessary for the body but we often eat foods which are too high in fats thus taking in more fat and oil than we need to. When you cut down fat and oil you will reduce calories and definitely manage to lose those pounds.

Decrease but do not eliminate carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are necessary to the body but we often eat too much of this class of food resulting in the body storing these foods as fat. When you cut down carbohydrates you will reduce your weight.

Increase your protein levels: It is often good to eat foods that are high in proteins as they are not as fattening as other foods. High protein foods are good to eat when you are reducing weight to prevent any muscle loss occurring as you shed those pounds.

Eat more fruits and vegetables: These are good for providing nutrients to the body and are low in calories. They are a good alternative to “junk food” snacks. They will also increase fiber in your diet.

Reduction in sugar and sodium. Sugar is readily broken dawn by the body into energy and excess stored as fat making it a fattening food. Sodium eaten in excess can contribute to water retention by the body and prevent weight loss.

Increasing fiber in your diet: this will help you to curb hunger pangs as fiber rich foods will help you feel full as they take longer to digest. Your digestive system will work better with an increase in fiber.Whole grain foods, unrefined foods, fruits and vegetables will give you more fiber.

Increase your fluid intake: Drink more pure water especially. This will help to improve your health and fill you up.

Increase exercise: Regular exercise will help you reduce weight and build muscle instead of storing fat. You can either work out for about 20 minutes 3 times a week or take a brisk daily walk.

When you use these steps you will reduce your weight. You will not achieve a super figure in one day but when you keep up a healthy diet you will lose weight steadily. Maintaining a healthy diet with regular exercise will ensure that you not only reduce but will keep the weight off. You will feel healthier and have more energy to do the things you really want to do in life.

Tips To Help You Lose Excess Fat

Believe it or not, losing a little or a lot of fat involves pretty much the same concept - consistent dieting coupled with cardiovascular exercise and weight training. This is how the professionals do it, and it works. If you are overweight, you may be hesitant to start a weight training program, but the benefits far outweigh any reservations you may have.

Weight training enhances your fat loss by increasing your muscle mass and more muscle means more calories burned (faster metabolism). It also it gives your skin a more tone, tight appearance, lowers your blood pressure, strengthens your bones, improves your agility, increases your flexibility, strengthens your immune system and gives you more energy and a brighter outlook on life. If you have a high level of body fat, or you have never been able to successfully lose fat, you should consider trying a complete, well-rounded program that not only focuses on dieting, but also includes adequate cardiovascular activity and weight training.

If you are already very muscular, and you just want lose a little body fat, then a fat loss program that includes regular cardiovascular activity and weight training is perfect for you. The best way to get ripped and maintain as much muscle as you can is to diet slowly.

The truth is, when you are on a low calorie diet, your body prefers to use muscle tissue for fuel rather than excess body fat. So, the slower you lose weight, the more likely you are losing fat and not muscle. Ideally, you should aim to lose no more than 1lb - 1.5 lbs per week that's it. If you are obese, then you should try to lose no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. Any more than that and you are sacrificing muscle.

Women do tend to lose fat at a slower rate than men, but don't let this discourage you. Women simply store fat more efficiently than men because it is needed during and after pregnancy. As your body fat levels drop, you will notice that the fat loss comes off in reverse of how it was put on. So, the most recent fat gains will come off first, while the old fat that has been there for a while will take the longest to lose.

The most difficult fat to lose usually centers around the waist, belly and lower back areas for men, and the upper thigh and buttocks, area for women. The fat in these areas are the most difficult to totally get rid of. This type of fat is difficult to lose because the low blood flow in these areas hinders the fat mobilization. So, if the fat can't be moved into the bloodstream to be used as fuel, those love handles will never go away.

That's why thermogenic supplements help to improve fat loss - they increase circulation into these hard to reach areas and mobilize the stubborn fat.

Remember that you cannot spot reduce!

What I mean by this is that you can't pick and choose the areas that you would like to lose the fat and do exercises that work those areas expecting the fat to just magically disappear in those areas. Your body does not work that way. The only way to decrease the amount of fat in certain key areas is by lowering your total body fat levels.

As you lose fat, it will come off all over your body, not just in specific areas. If you follow a complete diet and weight training program for at least 12 weeks, you will begin to see dramatic changes occurring with your body, and I'm not just talking about the obvious physical changes, I'm also talking about the psychological and physiological changes.

You can expect lower body fat (of course), increased muscle mass, increased metabolism, increased sense of well-being, more energy, lower bad cholesterol level, increased good cholesterol level, decreased risk of heart disease, deeper more restful sleep and most important, increased self-confidence.

To be successful, your fat loss program should include the following:

* A calorie restrictive diet, which requires you to eat no less than 12x and no more than 15x your LEAN bodyweight in calories.

* Regular cardiovascular activity for at least 30-45 minutes 3-4 times per week. Some recommend a moderate pace while other recommend a vigorous pace -- it doesn't really matter as long as you are exercising.

* Weight training.

* Supplementing your diet with vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Vitamin C, L-glutamine, and a good multi vitamin are the bare essentials.

* Adequate dietary fat, including high amounts of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-6 and Omega-3).

* Regularly monitor your progress. If you don't track your progress you won't know if your diet program is working! Looking in the mirror or just relying on the scale is NOT adequate. Here's a great composition tracking software that I highly recommend http://www.comptracker.com

It will let you know exactly if what you are doing is working.

* Finally, make sure that the program you decide on is compatible with your lifestyle and schedule.

You can have the greatest program in the world, but if you cannot implement it then it is worthless. There are thousands of fat loss diets and workouts that will work, but the hard part is finding one that works for you and the specifics of your diet and schedule restraints.

Tips to Stick To Your Diet

It has happened to all of us at some point or another: we were doing so well with our weight loss diet or exercise regime. Then suddenly we fell off the horse and decided that if we had already gone this far we might as well give up entirely.

There's an old Chinese tale about a father and his son who lived on a farm. Together they raised sheep and cared for them. They lived off of these sheep and were able to make money from the sheep's fur. Every day both the father and the son walked around the field where they were raising the sheep to check that the fence was in good order. One night, the fence broke and some wolves sneaked into the field and ate some of the sheep.

The son cried out to his father saying that all was lost and that they were now ruined! But the father simply picked up his tools and took his son to the fence to patch it up. Once the fence had been fixed, the father told his son that just because there was a weakness in the fence it does not mean that it cannot be fixed nor that it is impossible for them to keep raising sheep.

Your diet or exercise regime is like sheep, it is always at risk of violated or destroyed. The fence represents your will power and your circumstances. It might happen that you're too busy to go to the gym or go jogging every morning for a period of time. It might happen that you were forced to stop at a fast food joint on the side of the high way. It might happen that you cave in to eating some chips, some chocolate, or any one of your other cravings. But that doesn't mean you should give up and let your sheep continue to be eaten by wolves. After you've stuffed yourself with what you know to be unhealthy food: stop and think about it. It's not the end of the world.

If you go end up on a binge of food, you don't need to eat more bad food to "get it out of your system", to feel better or to make sure it never happens again. You will be faced with times where you want to eat something unhealthy, or you want to sleep in and skip your step class. No problem, but don't let that one incident ruin your motivation or your commitment to your diet or exercise regime. It happens to everyone, but if you're one of the people who is able to pick yourself up and fix the fence you'll be able to keep losing weight and get healthier.

I hope this story has helped you to understand that not all is lost if your resolve waivers for a day or a week, or what have you. You are the boss of yourself and you can chose to return to eating healthy foods and working out on a regular basis without any fear. Trust in yourself and make sure you keep your eyes focused on the goal since that's what keeps us all motivated.

Tools For Your Weight Loss Arsenal

Elliptical machines, treadmills, stationary bikes, dumbbell sets, exercise videos, jump ropes, and home exercise multi-purpose machines.

Tools are something we use to help us get a job done more easily. A good weight loss tool is one that encourages a healthy lifestyle and permanent weight loss.

•Home exercise equipment is a fantastic way to speed up your weight loss results and feel great!

•Home exercise equipment and be used in conjunction with your healthy weight loss plan.

•Losing weight is simply a matter of burning more calories than you consume - home exercise equipment is a great way to increase the amount of calories you burn while improving your overall health and fitness.

•A quality piece of home exercise will give you years of satisfaction and enjoyment.

•Busy lifestyles increase the need for home fitness equipment by allowing you to exercise on your schedule.
Here are some ideas to help you narrow down your choices and find the right piece of equipment for your particular needs.

•What type of equipment do you have room for?

•Are you interested more in cardiovascular exercise or resistance exercise?

•Choose a quality exercise machine from a reputable dealer and remember that purchasing online is a great way to save money.

•Online home exercise equipment dealers will assist you in finding the right piece of equipment for your specific needs.

•You will not be satisfied with a low quality piece of exercise equipment! Your body is too important to risk injury with a poorly designed piece of equipment.

Choose your exercise equipment wisely and you will enjoy improved health and ideal weight for years to come! Remember - It is much easier to make exercise a part of your daily ritual when you have exercise equipment in your home. You can always fit exercise into your schedule when you have the right equipment!

Turning Off The Fat Genes

It doesn't make any difference what I eat. Weight problems just run in my family. It's all genetic." These are common excuses, but genetic research has just shot them down in flames.

Genes do influence our size and shape, but studies clearly show that if you change your diet and lifestyle, you can override hereditary effects to a great degree. Contrary to popular understanding, genes are not dictators, they are committees. They do not give orders; they make suggestions. You can counteract your fat genes and boost your thin genes.

We often think of genes as unchangeable because, when it comes to eye color or hair color, they really are decisive. If they call for blue eyes or brown hair, that's it. But the genes that establish your size and shape are much more flexible. They need to be able to adjust your appetite and your calorie burning, depending on whether food is plentiful or not, and whether you are working hard or resting. Unlike eye or hair color, your body has to be able to change its composition from minute to minute, from day to day.

Although your chromosomes are extraordinarily complex, there are just five key gene groups you need to know about:

* Taste genes determine the foods you crave. In taste experiments, scientists use a test substance called PROP (6-N-propylthiouracil). About one in four people can taste its bitterness very strongly. These people avoid grapefruits and never go near black coffee. Although their acute taste sense is generally an advantage, the downside is they may avoid healthy vegetables, such as broccoli or cabbage, that have a hint of bitterness. If this group includes you, you'll want to find ways to flavor these healthy vegetables so you will include them in your routine.

Another one in four people cannot taste PROP and are called "taste blind." Their problem is they may tend to overeat, making up in quantity what they are missing in taste. If this includes you, and you tend to be indiscriminate in what you're eating, you'll want to take care to emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans, and to be very cautious about fatty foods and their hidden calories.

* A gene on chromosome 7 makes leptin, the appetite-taming hormone. In 1997, English researchers reported the case of two cousins who became extremely obese very early in life. They demanded food continuously and ate much more than their siblings. At age 8, one weighed 189 pounds. She had so much trouble walking she had to have liposuction of her legs. Her cousin was only two years old but already weighed 64 pounds. It turned out they shared a rare mutation blocking the leptin gene. With no leptin to curb hunger, their appetites were voracious.

You are not likely to have this same gene abnormality. However, your leptin may not be working perfectly either. Very-low-calorie diets disrupt its appetite-taming effect, causing your appetite to run out of control. The key to keeping leptin working right is to avoid severe calorie restrictions. If you eat at least 10 calories per day per pound of your ideal weight, you are unlikely to run into serious problems.

* A gene on chromosome 8 builds LPL, the key enzyme that stores fat in your cells. It waits along the walls of the tiny blood vessels that course through your body fat, and its job is to extract fat from your bloodstream and pass it into your fat cells for storage. If your LPL is doing its job a little too well, you can change this genetic tendency by choosing foods that have little or no fat in them. Once again, vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains are your best friends.

* The hormone insulin, coded on chromosome 11, is part of your body's system for increasing your metabolism after meals. Depending on the type of foods you choose, you can help insulin spark a pronounced after-meal burn that releases calories as body heat rather than storing them as fat. Low-fat, vegan diets, along with regular exercise, make insulin more efficient.

* Believe it or not, exercise aptitude is largely biological, too. People who love to go for a five-mile run at the crack of dawn are genetically different from other people. They are endowed with a better capillary network that brings oxygen to working muscles and a more efficient fuel-burning mechanism. If you did not get these genetic advantages, you can do the next best thing. If you begin a regular exercise program and stick with it, your muscle cells begin to look more and more like those of natural athletes.

There is no need to be daunted by your family heritage. Yes, some of us will always be bigger and others smaller. But with a healthy, low-fat diet and regular physical activity, your genes can stop working against you and start working for you.

Understand How To Lose Weight!

The human body is incredibly complex. Every second, millions of physiological and chemical reactions take place in order to maintain good health. The body both creates things (eg. heat, muscle, proteins, RNA, hair, nails, enzymes, fat tissue, bones) and breaks things down (food, stored fat, etc.). These anabolic and catabolic processes, along with all organs and systems, need fuel to enable them to function. The fuel or energy that the body uses, comes from the food and drink that we consume in our diet. In a nutshell, food is human gasoline.

Carbohydrate is one of the three macronutrients, the other two being protein and fat. Carbohydrates provide essential energy for the brain, red blood cells and a growing fetus. Carbohydrate is also the principal fuel source for strenuous muscular activity. The carb food group includes many foods that are packed with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals (disease-protective plant chemicals). A healthy diet must include carbohydrates.

The brain's favorite fuel is carbohydrate. If absolutely necessary, the brain will utilize fat (in the form of ketones), but it performs less efficiently on this type of energy. Current evidence demonstrates a clear association between intellectual performance and the presence of carbs. For example, better performance was observed in all types of age and social groups after a carbohydrate meal. Although research is ongoing, it seems that for optimum intellectual activity, we need a regular intake of carbs.

In terms of chemical structure, the two main types are Simple Carbohydrate (or "simple sugars"), like Monosaccharides and Disaccharides; and Complex Carbohydrates (or "complex sugars"), like Oligosaccharides and Polysaccharides. Carbohydrate comes mainly from plant-food, such as vegetables, fruits, beans, and cereal grains, although the simple sugar lactose is found in milk and milk products.

Simple carbs include: glucose, fructose and lactose. Common sources include table sugar (sucrose), boiled sweets, syrups and honey.

Complex carbs comprise starches or fiber. Good sources of starches include, bread, pasta, rice, beans and some vegetables. Good sources of dietary fiber include: vegetables, fruits, beans, along with the indigestible part of the grain, like wheat bran and oatbran.

Our food fuel comprises the protein, carbohydrate, fat and alcohol we eat. But the exact mixture our body uses typically varies according to circumstances (eg. our physical activity, our last meal etc.). There is an "order of priority" that dictates which fuels are burned first. Alcohol calories are burned first. This is because we cannot store alcohol energy. Next, we burn protein, then carbohydrates, then fat. In practice, however, we typically burn a "mixture" of carbs and fat, with the ratio being dependent on meals. Just after meals we burn mainly carbohydrate, while between meals we burn more fat.

Understanding obesity - how to reduce weight

THE CAUSES OF EXCESSIVE WEIGHT

If you eat more nutrients containing energy than you need for your daily activities, for the internal processes of your body, and for the burning process that maintains the body temperature, the excessive nutrients can be transformed to fat and stored in the fat depots in your body. The causes of this occururing, and thus of overweight, are one or more of these factors:

1. Consuming too much fat: Fat is the most energy-rich nutrient, and over-consume will cause the eccessive fat consumed to be deposited in the body.

2. Consuming too much sugar, starch or other carbohydrates: Carbohydrats are also important energy sources. Over-consume of carbohydrates will cause the eccess to be converted to fat and stored in the body.

3 Consuming too much alchohol: Also this substance contains energy, and eccessive consume results in fat stored in your body.

4 Consuming too much of preprocessed products with added, and often hidden fat or sugar, like sweet beverages, cakes, ice-cream, fast food and snacks.

5. Eating too much alltogeather: Perhaps your food is not fat- or sugar-laden, but you simply eat too much alltogeather. Also protein will be converted to fat if it is overconsumed.

6. Irregular eating, like eating much at one time, little at another time, wait long between some meals, cunsuming huge doses of sugar at some times, no sugar at other times: If you eat irregularly, you can get an uncontrollable appetite, a swinging blood sugar level, and an abnormal  physiology that makes you deposit fat in your body. 

7. A still sitting life with little exercise so that you burn little fat and sugar.

8. Boredom in your daily life: If you do not have much hobbies, or leasure activities, or isolate yourself from other people, you may suffer form boredom, and eccessive eating may be your way of getting entertainment.

9. The body has some capacity of burning some extra amount of sugar or fat. This capacity may be decreased because of lack of vitamins and minerals, and because of an unsound diet.

10. An abnormal appetite that urges you to eat far more than you need:  This abnormal appetite may originate from psychological causes, an onsound diet or lack of exercise.


AANALYZE YOUR OBESITY PROBLEMS

Before beginning your weight reduction program, go through every possible obesity causing factor listed above, to find out what factors contribute to your over-weight problem. Go down to details. For example: If you find you consume too much sugar, find out the exact food types contributing to your eccessive sugar consume. Write everything down.

MAKE A PLAN

With the performed analysis in hand, make a plan for your weigh reduction. Decide a goal for your weight. Decide one or more measures for each component contributing to your problem. Write down your plan.

HOW TO REDUCE WEIGHT

In order to successfully loose weight, you must attack every component you have found to be a causing factor of your obesity problem. Here are the concrete mesures you can use, and put into your plan:

1. Eat less fat

If you eat much fat, you must reduce the daily intake of fat, to do so:

* Choose fat poor fish, fat poor meat/beef, chicken, turkey, mushrooms and other food sources with law fat content as the main components for dishes.

* Cut away visible fat from meat or other food sources.

* Do not add much margarine, butter or oil to your food.

* When you fry something, try to use as little fatty smear in the pan as possible.

2. Eat less sugar

If you eat much sugar, reduce your daily inntake of free sugar, or bounded sugar as in flour, potatoes and the like:

* Do not add much sugar to your food.

* You may also need to consume less bread, potatoes, peas and beens, if you eat very much of it, but do not stop eating these kinds of food, since they contain valuable nutrients. However, use bread made of full corn.

3. Avoid eccessive alcohol consume

Alcohol contains energy, and will be transformed to fat, if you consume too much of it.

4. Avoid preprocessed food with added and often hidden fat or sugar

Some food contains a great amount of hidden fat or sugar, espesially fast food, snacks or preprocessed food.

* Therefore you should avoid eating much of products like: cakes, sweet drinks, snacks, choclate, icecream or fast-food.

* You should also buy all the food you use in a natural form, and make your dishes yourself. Then you achieve an absolute controle over the amount of fat and suger in your dishes

5. Eat less alltogeather, but do not starve yourself

Having reduced the amount of sugar and fat from your diet, you may fall to the temptation of eating more than before, beacuse the new composition of your food does not satisfy your hunger. You should be aware of, and avoid this trap.

* When trying to loose weight, you should reduce the total amount of the food you eat.

* However, you should not starve yourself. To starve will only make you  tired and sick, and then make you interrupt your efforts to get slim. 

6. Eat regularly

Regular eating habits will give you a stable blood sugar level, help you control your appetite and normalize your fat burning physiology.

* You should eat three or four meals each day.

* Each meal should contain the same moderate amount of sugar and fat.

* Each meal should contain some protein sources like fish, meat, eggs, mushrooms or proteine-rich seeds, and in every means be as nutritionally complete as possible.

7. Increase your daily physical activity

Physical activity increases fat burning and will help you control your appetite.

* Do some daily exercises of a kind that increases energy consumption: Jogging, cycling, swimming, ball play, skiing, and so on.

* Do also som exercises to increase your muscular volume, since muscles will burn fat, for example weight lifting.

8. Find some new hobby or interest

If you find yourself some new hobby or leasure activity, you will avoid boredom and the temptation to over-eat because you are bored. Try also to do interesting activities together with other people. The new activities will also give you less time to only sit eating.


9. Eat healthy food to increase your fat burning capacity

It is not possible to loose weight without sticking to the above mentioned basic fat reduction principles, but you will also benefit from applying some measures that will increase your ability to passivly burn fat:

* Eat as natural food as possible, avoid food that has been heavily  cooked, heavily fried or chemically processed. Natural food has its content of protein, vitamines minerals and anti-oxydants intact, and these are necessary for the fat burning abilities.

* Eat some raw  fruit and vegatables to each meal, since these contain vitamins, minerals and anti-oxydants you need.

* You may benefit from supplements of vitamins, minerals, herbs, anti-oxydants, as these will make your body more capable of burning fat.

* The little fat you use in your diet, should come from sources like olive, peanuts, canola, fish, nuts, sun-flower, etc. Then you will get a good balance between mono-unsaturated fat (olive, canola, peanuts), poly-unsaturated fat of the omaga-3-type (fish) and poly-unsaturated fat of the omega-6-type (sunflower).

* Consume whole cereals or bread made from whole unrefined cereals.

* There are also natural products on the market you can use to increase your break down and burning of fat.

10. Bring your appetite under controle

Many of the measures allready listed, will also help you to controle your appetite. If this still is difficult, this problem may be attacked by specific means:

* You can use some medicines to reduce appetite for some time or to reduce the uptake of fat or carbohydrates in your inestines. There are both natural medicines based on herbs, vitamins and minerals and pharmachological products to achieve this.

* Daily meditation can help to relaxe your mind and gain controle.

* Psychological counseling may be necessary.

11. The ratio between fat and sugar in your diet

The total mount of fat and carbohydrates combined, is a key factor in causing obesity, not fat alone or carbohydrates alone. In some weight loosing regimes, one eats very little carbohydrates, and fairly much fat. In others one eats fairly much carbohydrates, and very little fat. The proponents of each type of regime claim that their approach helps the body to burn fat better. 

Probably people are different, and react differently when trying to manipulate the diet in these ways. As a first approach, it is probably not wise to try such extreme approaches. However, if you have brought your eating habits under controle, and still not achieved a satisfactory result, you can try to manipulate the fat/carbohydrate ratio to see if this will help. But do not stop consuming fat alltogeather. You will allways need some essential fatty acids in your diet.

CARRYING OUT YOUR PLAN

Having made your plan for your weight reduction, the time has come to carry it out. After each week, go through the points in your plan, and evaluate how well you did. Also check your weight. Write down for every point in your plan how well you did.

Understanding the Tummy tuck procedure and Complications from Tummy tuck surgery

Tummy tuck surgery is performed thousands of times successfully each year with out any risk for patients going through the tummy tuck procedure.

If you are worried or concerned about complications associated with the tummy tuck procedure, talking to a qualified plastic surgeon that has been trained in body contouring should help alleviate many concerns you may have.

Finding a good experienced plastic surgeon should not be difficult as plastic surgery is practiced abundantly in most major cities.

It should be noted that with advancements and technology in plastic surgery, most complications following tummy tuck surgery are deemed rare.

Educating yourself about the tummy tuck procedure should be your first step in helping you choose a plastic surgeon. A good qualified plastic surgeon will take time to discuss with you procedures in place to minimize complications from tummy tuck surgery.

Ask your plastic surgeon lots of questions about the tummy tuck procedure and any complications that could develop following your tummy tuck surgery. Being well informed is the best choice you can do for yourself and should help alleviate most concerns you may have.

Listed below are some of the complications associated with the tummy tuck procedure that should be addressed with your plastic surgeon.

Allergic reaction - to the anesthesia

Infection - can be a serious problem and if bleeding occurs may develop into a hematoma

Hematoma - A collection of blood under the skin (commonly referred to a blood blister)

Blood clots - More common with women taking birth control pills.

Fat necrosis - After the abdominal wall has been stretched. Blood supply to the remaining fat and skin has been damaged. On rare occasions this may lead to necrosis of the fat cells which then become liquefied and hardened.

Swelling - Mostly lasts for a month a month to six weeks following surgery.

Bruising - Common in the abdomen area but in severe cases can extend to the surrounding skin.

Skin Loss - The abdominal wall is stretched during surgery and blood supply to the skin may be damaged which may result in death of the skin in the surrounding areas. This is more common in people with diabetes and smokers. If this occurs a skin graft may be needed.

Wound Separation - Scar tissue heals slowly and some separation may be expected, although rarely a problem it may lead to a heavier scar and slower recovery.

Some common plastic surgery techniques being utilized today to reduce complications in certain areas following your tummy tuck surgery are as follows.

Pain and nausea can be greatly reduced if your plastic surgeon injects and long lasting numbing medicine in the rectus muscle which has been tightened during the tummy tuck procedure. This is a simple procedure if performed by your plastic surgeon will most likely reduce complications from pain and expedite your recovery from plastic surgery.

Applying a topical steroid cream for a few days following surgery will significantly reduce complications from scarring, and if followed up for about six weeks your scars will fade faster and become much less noticeable.

Fluid collection under the skin following your tummy tuck surgery can be reduced by placing drains under the skin at the time surgery is performed.

Another procedure you may ask your plastic surgeon about for reducing the complications of fluid collection is by placing internal stitches between the fascia (gristle) and the underside of your fat. Most likely this will prevent any complications from fluid collection before they start.

This tummy tuck procedure may reduce the time of having your drains in place to just 2-3 days following your tummy tuck surgery

Becoming educated in the tummy tuck procedure is your responsibility and should not be avoided. Only then will you be able to make wise choice finding a qualified plastic surgeon that you will be confident with to perform your tummy tuck surgery.

After carefully choosing your plastic surgeon you will then be able to understand the procedures in place to reduce any risk of complications.


Dennis M. Driscoll

Understanding your Metabolism

Our metabolic rate determines the rate at which we ‘burn up’ our food, and by increasing this rate, we can lose weight more quickly, easily, and safely.

When we diet, by decreasing our calorie intake too drastically, we cause our metabolism to slow down, making it progressively more difficult for us to lose weight. Most diets fail, yet we continue to try one after another, always hoping that each new regime will provide the ‘magic’ solution. If this sounds like your problem, there may be a simple answer. Let’s look at why most diets fail, and how strength training, combined with a healthy food intake can speed up your metabolism, making it easy for you to lose weight.

By drastically cutting our food intake, our body’s natural instinct is to switch to a ‘starvation response.' The fewer calories we consume, the more our bodies become efficient at using these calories - leading to slower weight loss. This was once a useful mechanism for our ancestors when food supplies were less predictable, but this ’vicious circle’ can make life almost impossible for the modern dieter.

When the body is persistently kept short of calories, it breaks down muscle tissue to use as fuel. Our body, using water from our tissue cells, quickly washes this away causing an instant reduction in weight through water loss. However, this weight loss will be short lived, and will quickly be regained when we take in water and the muscle we have lost will slow down our metabolism in the long term.

The reason for this is that each pound of muscle requires a certain number of calories each day just to maintain it. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn even when you’re doing nothing, even sleeping! If you lose muscle, then your daily calorie requirement becomes less. For example, imagine a dieter loses 10 pounds of muscle (along with maybe 20 lbs. of fat) on a strict diet. Now suppose that each pound of muscle had been burning 50 calories a day. Together, those 10 pounds of muscle had been burning 500 calories a day. With this muscle tissue gone, the dieter must now consume 500 less calories a day in order to maintain that weight-loss!

However, of course people do not stick to their diets for ever and when they return to their old eating habits, the weight that they have lost, invariably comes piling back on. Unfortunately, whilst they lost both muscle and fat during the diet, all the weight they regained was fat. So, even though they may weigh the same as they did when they started, they now have a lot more fat and a lot less muscle than they did before the diet. Therefore, their metabolism is slower and their calorie requirements are less. Even if they return to their pre-diet eating habits, they still require 500 fewer calories a day due to the muscle loss. That’s one reason dieters are prone to regaining all of the lost weight, and conversely sometimes even gain weight afterwards.

A good solution is an active lifestyle that includes aerobic exercise, a good weight-training program, and a healthy diet containing fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grain cereals and plenty of lean protein. It is a good idea to eat ‘little and often’ – keeping your metabolism in high gear by eating 4 to 6 small meals a day, rather than one or two larger ones. No food is forbidden, but sweets and high fat junk food are eaten less often, and in smaller quantities. A healthy diet is a realistic and permanent way of eating – not a diet that you suffer through for a week or two and then give up!

The goal is to consume as many calories as you can, while still losing body fat and maintaining or adding lean muscle at the same time. If your calories are already below normal, don’t restrict them further. Instead, maintain your current amount and instead try to become stronger and more active, so you can gradually increase your calories to a normal healthy level. If your calorie intake is already in a healthy range, decrease it only slightly, if necessary. A small reduction of about 250 calories a day, or 10-15 percent less than usual, is more likely to protect your lean muscle, and less likely to trigger a go-slow in your metabolism.

If you follow this type of routine, it’s possible to gain about one pound of muscle per week and lose about one pound of fat per week. The end result is that the number on the scale might not move much at all, it may even go up. Your clothes will feel looser, and you’ll feel great. Yet the numbers on the scale won't move!! It's at this point that a lot of people give up the weight training because they don't understand what's happening.

The truth is that when you're strength training it's possible to get smaller and heavier at the same time, as muscle is a much denser tissue than fat. The fat takes up more space on your body. At this point, it's best to ignore the bathroom scales and rely on the way you look and the way your clothes fit.

The conventional way of dieting can lead to a weak, tired body, exhausted by the constant cycle of starvation and weight gain, unable to enjoy food. However, by following these easy steps above, you can easily reach your goal - the slim, strong, healthy body of a naturally lean person who can enjoy their food without guilt, for life!

Use These Weightloss Tips Today

Even the most seasoned weight loss expert can use some weightloss tips every so often.

Our eating habits are tied very closely with our behavior and using a behavioral approach to dieting can be beneficial to certain types of people who have bad eating habits that can be overcome with a little behavioral intervention.

Many times an individual eats without thinking. This means that the person’s habitual behavior has overrun his cognitive functioning. In a nutshell, we basically shove food into our mouths just because it is there. Among the many weightloss tips offered, thinking before snacking is the prime tip as far as the behavioral approach goes. When we act on impulse, we rarely make good choices.

The behaviorist will look at the problem in a number of ways. The best approach would be to get into the habit of slowing down a little bit. Some good weightloss tips include waiting ten minutes before grabbing that snack that is calling you from the pantry. You may discover that you are not really hungry. If you wait ten minutes the craving will most likely go away on its own.

You can also opt to go for a brisk walk when the urge to cheat on your diet arises. This is a great way to get much needed exercise along with self-control. You will be less likely to run to the pantry upon entering the home after a jaunt around the neighborhood. You will be more likely to go for a big glass of cold water instead.

Some people laugh at these two weightloss tips but they do work if you take a behavioral approach. You have to focus on your actions. The best way to look at it is making priorities. Do you want the chocolate cake or do you want to fit into those jeans tucked away in your closet? There are times that the chocolate cake will win but not often if you focus on your behavior.

Weightloss tips that involve a behavioral approach also include portions. We often need to train ourselves to understand how much is enough. Getting into the habit of buying single-sized servings or taking the time to measure will increase your chances of success.

You also may find that there are certain “triggers” that cause you to eat. This is a simple stimulus-response cycle that the behaviorists claim can be broken with a little effort. Weightloss tips in the trigger realm include avoiding the kitchen right after a stressful situation, eating only at the dinner table and keeping a diary of what happens right before you get a craving.

Using Hypnosis to Lose Weight - How Effective is It?

Why does hypnosis help with weight loss?

It’s becoming more and more common nowadays to turn to hypnosis when we want to achieve a goal. We may want to quit smoking, rid ourselves of phobias or lose weight – in all these cases hypnosis offers a proven and successful solution. So why does hypnosis work?
If you look at hypnosis for weight loss then the reasons behind the success of this method becomes clear. If you suffer from weight problems – whether you yo-yo diet or can’t seem to find the motivation to get on a diet that suits you – then you probably already know that your problem isn’t really your weight at the end of the day. The problem is more likely to rest with you.
In the majority of cases people cannot lose weight effectively because of some psychological issue that prevents them from achieving their goal. You may, for example, naturally crave unhealthy foods rather than healthy ones. Eating unhealthy foods here may make you happier and more comfortable. Or, you may eat the wrong foods or the wrong amount of food whenever you are stressed, unhappy or uncomfortable. In either case hypnosis can help.
Hypnosis helps here because it goes straight to the root of the problem – your unhealthy eating patterns – and helps modify your behavior. So, after this kind of treatment your mind won’t tell you to eat sugary or fatty foods – it will tell you to eat healthy ones. And, your mind won’t tell you to reach for a snack when you’re worried or stressed but instead will give you an alternative ways to manage stress. This behavior modification is the key to successful weight loss – and keeping it off.
How do I know hypnosis works?
Hypnosis is a scientifically accredited method of helping people overcome all kinds of difficulties. For example, in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology (Vol.64, No.3) in 1996 a study showed that the average weight loss without hypnosis was 6.03 pounds. With hypnosis average weight loss came in at 14.88 pounds. So, with hypnosis you can double your weight loss with no extra effort.
And, because hypnosis modifies your behavior at source then you stand a far greater chance of keeping the weight off rather than putting it on again. A study that appeared in the Journal of Clinical Psychology (41) in 1985 tested a group of people who used hypnosis to lose weight and a group who did not. Whilst both groups lost weight during the study the hypnosis group continued to lose weight after the study had finished and achieved their weight loss goals. The group that did not have the behavior modification benefits of hypnosis did not achieve this.

Wanting To Lose Weight, Why Not Go Go Herbal

These days, there is a great deal of pressure for overweight people aroundthe world to lose those excess pounds. Being closer to their ideal weight would not only lead them to have a healthier lifestyle but it will also literally lighten their load, and improve their overall well-being.
There is a long list of dieting options available. There are exercise programs, exercise machines, dietary supplements, dietary food and drinks, diet pills - there are even soaps which claim to help you lose pounds while you bathe.
One other available option to shed off those unwanted pounds is to go herbal.
Herbal weight loss products have been in great demand for people who want to lose weight the natural way. However, when you take herbal supplements to lose weight, you would have to wait for a longer time for the results because of the more subtle effects of medicines which came from plants and natural herbs.
Here are some herbal weight loss options that you might want to consider:
1.   Herbal weight loss products
There are a lot of herbal weight loss products available in the market now. You can check out the Internet and you will find a lot of herbal weight loss pills and products.
Be careful, however, as there are some products which claim to be safe and natural because they are herbal, but some actually have  side effects because of non-extensive research on the effects of these products.
Here are some ingredients and chemicals which make up some  herbal weight loss products that you should watch out for, as they might have harmful effects to your health:
>  Senna. This is an herbal laxative. Senna is a main ingredient in weight loss teas, and it works by stimulation the colon. The downside effect of this herb is dehydration. It can also lead to colon problems and can become addictive. Some people, when addicted, are unable to perform bowel movements without it, so watch out.
>  Chromium picolinate. This is a synthetic compound found in herbal weight loss products. Chromium is a nutrient which helps regulate blood-sugar level.  However, this ingredient, when taken in high doses, may cause damage in the chromosomes. It can also lead to dehydration.
>  St. John's wort. This supplement increases the production of a chemical in the brain. If not used properly, it may cause eye and skin sensitivity, mild gastrointestinal distress, fatigue and itching.
Although a lot of herbal products claim to be safe and natural, it is better to scrutinize the ingredients and  research about the effects of the product itself before going for these herbal dietary pills.
2.  Organic food.
Around the world organic food has found its way to more homes and restaurants. Organic food devotees believe that consuming organic goodies help their bodies as well as the environment.
A person who buys organically raised eggs and vegetables claim to be healthier, and they are not spending money on doctors and prescriptions as these keep them healthier and away from the hospital. This could also be an option for weight watchers, as organic food is known to be kinder to your weight than chemically-processed food products.
3. Green Tea.
Studies show that intake of green tea, or green tea extracts burns extra calories. Also, green tea with caffeine can increase fat burning by up to 40% thereby reducing fat.
This is one good option for those who want to lose weight. In a study done, people who took green tea were found to lose 2 to 3 times more weight than those who did not drink green tea.
These results show that green tea is a natural product for the treatment of obesity. Thus, it also makes for a healthier dietary option, not to mention the good effects that it has on the body as compared to caffeine. A cup of tea gives an emmediate energy lift without the side effects of caffeine.
3. Caffeine.
Coffee provides an energy boost to increase fat burning. Caffeine also provides a likelihood to be active, which in turn increases your rate of calorie burn.
4. Immortality Herb
This herb, whose scientific name is Gymnostemna Pentaphyllum, is known to have the following benefits:
>  increases healthy blood flow
>  reduces artery blocks
>  aids healthy blood pressure
>  increases the rate of fat burning
5. Apple Cider Vinegar
There are pills and food supplements whose main ingredient is apple cider vinegar. Here are the benefits of taking this herbal option:
>  weight loss
>  improved cholesterol level
>  improved high blood pressure
>  helps prevent rheumatoid arthritis

Water: Your Best Weight Loss Friend

Water is one of the key components to a healthy diet and a long-term weight loss undertaking. It not only nourishes your body by keeping your cells hydrated, but it fills your stomach so that you are less hungry. Here are some quick tips for consuming a weight-loss-friendly amount of water without feeling like you are a human water drain.
8 Glasses a Day
Just about everyone has heard that it is important to consume at least 8 glasses of water a day as part of a well-balanced diet. The 8 glasses of water will help to hydrate your body and leave your skin feeling moist and supple. What’s more: it is important to understand exactly what those 8 glasses of water are doing to your body.
As the water enters into your system, it hydrates your cells. Not only will you feel more energized, but it will help to keep your cells strong against illness, headaches and fatigue. Imagine that the body’s cells are a plant. Without water, the plant will wilt and be less strong against daily elements. However, with the proper amount of water and care, the plant will be strong and healthy.
Water relieves the body of harmful toxins, such as those that are caused by illness and stress. By infusing hydration into your system, your body pumps out unwanted chemicals that will slow you down and make your body function less healthily. 8 glasses of water is the minimum if you wish to retain a properly functioning machine.
Fruit
Many people get their water from fruits, such as apples, watermelons and berries. One piece of fruit, depending on the size, can count for as much as half of a glass of water. The added benefit of fruit is that in addition to helping to hydrate you, fruit can add healthy amounts of vitamins and minerals to your core diet.
Fruit also fills the stomach and energizes you. Because fruit contains very few calories, it is a good food to fill up on. However, fruit does contain fructose, which is a type of sugar. Fructose will spike the level of sugar in your blood stream, which will give you energy. Yet, if that energy is not consumed readily, the fructose will turn to fat (if only a small amount of it.)
Dehydrators
There are beverages and activities that dehydrate your body quickly so that your essential amount of water intake needs to be increased. Beverages that deplete water from your body include sodas, coffee, tea and alcohol.
In order to ensure that you stay properly hydrated, drink one glass of water for every glass of soda or other dehydrating beverage. Also, for every half-hour of sweat-inducing exercise, you should drink at least one cup of water. If you are exercising in a particularly humid environment, you may have to drink more water in order to avoid headaches, illness and overall dehydration.
Water truly can aid your weight-loss process if you are diligent about consuming generous portions of it. Many people find that carrying a water bottle with them everywhere they go is the best way to remain tempted to treat your body right.

Ways To Save And Shape Up

Shaping up does not have to cost a lot of money. It can be as simple-and inexpensive-as making small lifestyle changes.
Here are a few tips to help you get started:
1. Why not skip watching TV for one night and go for a walk with a friend? Walking is one of the best forms of exercise and the easiest to do.
2. Do your own yard work. Pushing a manual mower and raking leaves burns hundreds of calories and can save you $100 or more every month.
3. Wash and wax your own car to save dollars and burn calories.
4. Do your own housework. It burns between 140 and 400 calories a day and can save you the money you would spend hiring help. Thirty minutes of window washing burns 100 calories.
5. Consider a health care discount program like HealthSaver, which has teamed up with Jenny Craig to offer great savings on a variety of weight loss programs.
Members can save money on sensible weight loss programs, which focus on a healthy relationship with food, an active lifestyle and a balanced approach to living, commonly referred to as food/body/mind.
The programs offer planned or personalized menus, a personalized activity and motivational plan, one-on-one consultations, weight loss success manuals and tools and 24-hour support. Plans include:
• TuneUP: a 30-day introductory program (plus the cost of food) that's free with HealthSaver membership. It offers a quick shape-up for people who already have a healthy diet, exercise and want to lose 10 lbs. or less.
• OnTrack: A six-month plan to help you get back OnTrack with consistent healthy eating and physical activity. Membership earns you a 50 percent discount.
• Jenny Rewards: A yearlong plan in which food discount rewards grow from 10 to 35 percent as long as you continue. You get a 20 percent discount.
HealthSaver offers discounts of 20 percent on vision care, prescriptions and alternative health care treatments.

We all want a weight loss program that works!

According to several reports taken in the recent past, America has a high obesity rate. The reports show that almost 60% of America’s population suffers from either overweight or obesity problems. America is not the only country facing such problems. Britain too is plagued by the very same problem. According to reports in Britain one out of every 10 children are cursed with the very same problem. This problem is not common only to America or Britain, however the percentage of obesity or overweight people in these countries are alarming. We are soon becoming a nation that is very unfit and filled with fat obese people. Due to the rise in obesity nation wide, diet plans have been blossoming all over.
There are dozens of diet plans that are being made available to everyone. There are low carbohydrate diets, low protein diets etc and many more. Inspite of all these diets out there, we are still fat and are getting even fatter. There are so many diets out there that it is honestly very confusing.
There are many people who genuinely want to lose weight and are not sure how to go about it. All these diets have got them wondering which one to try out.
For those who are earnestly seeking weight loss and wanting to see results there is one such program that I personally recommend: Fat loss 4 idiots. This diet really does work. It is very unlike most of the diets you’ve heard of before. This diet even offers you a good explanation for why you lose weight when you are on the diet. It is simple and easy to understand. The diet states that your body will burn as many calories as you take in. so if you take in about 2800 calories, you will also automatically burn 2800 calories. Your metabolism automatically adjusts to whatever you take in. that’s just how our system works and is meant to work.
Low carbohydrate diets too are very popular but these diets are a bit hard to follow. These diets are best only if followed to the T. The problem with low carbohydrate diets is that during the diet you feel very tired, this is because you are robbed of carbohydrates which produces energy.
Diets are not supposed to treat food as the enemy. Food can never be our enemy. You can eat your favorite food and still lose weight. Just so you know, our brain controls the release of 2 fat burning hormones and these two hormones are controlled by the food that we consume. These 2 hormones are essential in the burning and storage of fat in our body.
Fat loss 4 idiots is just making sure that everyone is educated  everyone and trying to help them make sensible decisions regarding their eating habits. They not only educate but also provide you with a diet that will help you lose weight in a healthy manner without causing your body any harm.

Weight Loss, Dotti's Way

If you are struggling to lose weight and have tried just about every diet plan and exercise regime on the planet but just keep failing perhaps you should talk to Dotti.  No, Dotti isn't the latest weight loss program or newest gym chain to open.  Dotti is a lady from St. Louis, Missouri who chronicled her struggles - and success - at losing weight online.  You could say Botti had one of the very first blogs on the Internet, as she started writing about her journey to lose weight in 1998.
Since then she has helped countless thousands of others with weight loss.  Through recipes, exercise advice and just personally sharing her story with thousands of others she has motivated people, like Dottie herself, felt that they just could not shed those extra pounds no matter how hard they tried.
Dotti made the Weight Watchers Winning Points meal system a central point of her entire weight loss regime that helped her dramatically change her life.  From the beginning, Dotti focused on simple weight loss techniques combined with the Points system to drop the weight and keep it off.  In her online journals and various books she has published online about her journey she explains to the reader some of her struggles with weight loss and helps the reader relate to some of their own challenges they are having with weight issues.
What makes Dotti's weight loss story and website stand above the thousands of other sites out there about weight loss is that she doesn't try to push you into buying a specialized program or give you unrealistic goals.  She explains the simple truth about weight loss and guides the reader down how she did it.  There are no quick-fix weight loss plans at Dotti's, just simple advice that can help you change your life and become the person you always wanted to be.

Weight Loss, It Maybe More Healthy Than You Think

So you want to lose weight because you hate that you look fat and can walk up a flight of stairs without breaking into a major sweat and losing your breath for 5 minutes. You think that weight loss is the ticket to reenergizing your long lost love life. But let me tell you about a few other things that might persuade you to lose that 24 pack for a reason other than vanity.
Let's start by listing all of the other diseases that can be associated to obesity. Heart disease is probably the major one and shares associations with many of the others in the list. These include hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis, congestive heart failure, and sleep apnea. Other things not necessarily related to heart are colon cancer, fatty liver, gynecomastia, irregular menstruation, breast cancer, uterine cancer, depression, joint pain and destruction, and heart burn. With each of these diseases carries with them a host of other complications, many of them that are life threatening or seriously debilitating conditions This is all not to mention the social stigmatism that hinders life in all arenas including personal life and career.
The great thing about weight is that it is not a permanent disability that has to be accepted. On the contrary it is very within the realm of possibility to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. Weight is not the only thing that goes either. With weight loss goes the increased risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, dyslipidemia, increased risk of cancer, depression, sleep apnea, and on and on. You also gain stamina, productivity, self-esteem, confidence, respect, and on and on.
So the question is why wouldn't you go out this minute and get your hands on the latest and greatest weight loss information that money has to buy. Or I have an even better way--that is to go to your family physician (who has the best information that money can by at his/her beckon call) and have him come up with a comprehensive to help you safely and effectively lose the weight in a very controlled environment with the best support money can buy. And the best part is that it is not your money that is doing the buying, its your insurance company's bank roll. They are glad to do it too and this should tell you that this is important. You see insurance companies know that it is in their best interest for you to lose weight and to keep it off--because it keeps you healthier and out of the doctor's office and the hospital.

Weight Loss: Setting Reasonable Long Term Goals

We see a lot of people struggling with weight issues and their body image. With the available resources and materials for weight loss spilled all over the place, those, who are over weight, are a bit confused about which method to follow to shed those extra lbs. Although the basics of weight loss do not change, they depend on setting realistic goals, cutting the calorie intake and exercising a little bit. Many presume that a weight loss program is all about a restricted diet, or fad diets, or diet pills and involving strenuous physical exercises. But, actually the basics of weight loss program are rational, flexible and healthy to which any one can adhere to while they work well on the person aiming to lose weight.
The first basic step towards weight loss is to set a reachable goal. When setting a goal to reduce weight, it is good to know the reason for doing so, benefits you may get at the end of the weight reduction program and the changes you are willing to make in your diet. This kind of analysis of the self helps understand the problem the better way and helps in setting realistic goals for weight loss. The weight loss efforts should be a reasonable one and should be gradual.
Once the goal is set to reduce say two pounds a week, then comes the step of creating a food journal to analyze and monitor what you eat for the particular week. This food journal helps keep track of what you eat, or drink. Sometimes the feeling towards the food you eat is also jotted down. This is very important as it throws light on the food pattern and habits of the person. The weight loss is also recorded. By reviewing the food pattern, the foods that needed to be avoided can be seen clearly and can be substituted with healthy foods. The secret is to be very consistent with this surely you will see positive results. Water is a very good natural hunger suppressant and can be taken in good quantities, if you note that you are drinking less amounts of water. It too can contribute to the weight loss efforts.
When the diet is combined with good exercise say walking or swimming or aerobics, it too aids in burning calories. The exercise should be in such a way that when it is done, it should be enjoyable, choose the kind of activity which interests you a lot than slogging. Exercise too needs to be tracked in the journal to see its effects with your own eyes.

Weight Loss: The All Natural way without Gimmicks

If you type up Weight Loss in a keyword tracker tool or in a search engine like Google, you will be alarmed to see how many searches in a day are being done on this subject alone. Take www.submitexpress.com for example, put ‘weight loss’ in their word tracking device; you will see that on a daily basis, more than 5000 searches are being done on how to lose weight.
However, this shouldn’t be alarming, I mean the average person does have the desire to be liked, sought after and popular. This might explain why we are so captivated with celebrities and perhaps why we at times blindly follow whatever fad or trend they might propagate in the quest to lose weight and be slimmer, sometimes at the cost of our own health.
An observation of Nature will show that no animal free of captivity is upholstered with excess weight and are oft times very fit, agile and sharp. This is because unlike man, all animals adhere to the simple laws of nature to maintain health which include eating the right foods for your type and getting adequate exercise. Well these are the basic laws, others might include getting sufficient rest, getting sunshine, interacting with others.
There are so many myths and fads that promise to aid you in losing weight that when they are intelligently dissected will make you wonder what ever made you think to give them a shot, which is part of the reasons why I am writing this to inform you that as the slogan of my site on drugless healing says: “if one way is true, it is the way of nature”.
Moreover, Nature bows at no alter, seeks neither praise nor applause, she only asks for a hearing, my friends.
For weight loss, your best bet will be to embrace the three limbs of Naturopathy:
-Proper Exercise
-Proper Diet
-Positive Thinking.
Now I will explain each one in brief detail:
PROPER EXERCISE:
Now, there was a time, like almost everyone, that I assumed big and inflated muscles meant fitness and health. Wrong. Maybe it might depict strength-to a degree and that, for only a while, but you ask anybody about one of the greatest martial artists of all time, Bruce Lee, here was a guy who was said to do a thousand (1000) push-ups and other feats of strength and any picture of him shows he was not a blown up mass of muscle waiting to atrophy and deflate as is the case with most fitness experts and body-builders using artificial supplements, I mean look at the agedness depicted across their faces most of the time.
This leads one to conclude that for exercise, basic Aerobic-with oxygen-exercises (such as walking, jogging, and dancing) and Anaerobic-without oxygen-exercises (such as push ups, pull-ups, dips, using the ab-wheel and weight lifting for body builders) can be sufficient without the use of synthetic products. For those who want an exercise for the mind as well as the body, Yoga definitely is unmatched.
From my experience, if you were to do the Sun Salutations (hailed in Yoga, Martial Arts and African Wrestling as the ‘best exercise for humans’) which have been passed down from centuries with a proper and sensible diet, which I will be explaining soon, you are well on your way to weight loss and strength.
Some Indians perform about a 100 plus rounds of this marvelous exercise on a daily basis and have immense fitness, strength, agility and virility. Add some other poses like the inversions (Shoulder-Stand), Forward Bends (Head to Knee Pose), Backward bends, Balancing Poses (arguably the best exercises to tone the arms, abdomen and restore a sense of balance and self confidence in humans who practice them) and you are bound to see the immense results. Speaking of emulating celebrities, well did you know Sting, Madonna, Russell Simmons, Beyonce and Prince all practice some form of Yoga and need I mention how fit and good they look?
I could go on and on about Abdominal exercises and Breathing Exercises of the Yoga genre (which in the case of the latter is also EXTREMELY effective for weight loss) but that will be another subject in itself, the bottom line is: in my opinion, exercises that use the body’s weight for resistance such as Yoga, Calisthenics and Pilates are arguably the best for the human body.
Have you ever seen a chimpanzee lifting rocks repeatedly? Yet that distant cousin of humans can rip a door off a car and is easily 8 times stronger than an average modern day human. Still, if we share about 98% DNA with this primate (as well as other apes), its evidence to make one wonder how much healthier and fit we would be by adhering and living as close as possible to Nature’s laws of diet and exercise.

PROPER DIET
-“You are what you eat” (Anonymous)
-“Let your foods be your medicine and your medicine your food” (Hippocrates, the father of medicine)
-“Every herb bearing seed and every tree bearing fruit with seed in it shall be yours for food” (Gen 1:29)
From these radical quotes above, it should be plain to see that most modern day meals and mixtures are totally against Nature’s intent for us as humans for fitness, agility and strength. It will be safe to say that if you want to lose weight, re-read these three quotes and the proper diet will stare you right in the face: Fruits and Vegetables.
Admittedly, and you can take this from a guy who was a raw vegan for several months, (Now, I mostly fast and eat mono meals of fruit and raw or cooked vegetables every other day) that might be kind of hard to accomplish or adhere to. Well, if you approach it the wrong way, being radical in nature and as with all things that don’t have a strong foundation, you may be bound to fail.
The good news is there are several books on the subject of this kind of a diet and though adequately addressed in the core e-book of my site, you can type up Vegan Diets, Raw Vegan Diets, Vegetarianism in any search engine to be educated-to a degree- on the subject. I have experimented with each of the three kinds of diets and have been on the Standard American diet and am now of the firm belief that the first two and maybe the third if done sensibly and wisely are the best for humans, period!
 I touched on the subjects of internal cleanliness and non-animal product diets in my article available in my blog and some article directories under the title “Is a Low-Carb, High Protein diet the best for weight loss?” but I will briefly state again that based on the quotes above, and the facts that this diet has been proven countless times to be the best (Ask Bill Pearlman-four times Mr. Universe winner!), without the need for much of an argument, a diet free of animal products is simply the best for humans.
For an idea of a daily menu, you can look for my article “How to Cure Acne in 10 days” in some of the major article directories online, last time Google did its spider crawl, it came up in most of them but I also put in my blog for my readers just in case.
I’ll leave you with this factor to consider though on the subject of proper diet, based on the anthropological approach of several authors of Naturopathy, and from simple observations, we as primates, just like our distant cousins, the great apes, are frugivores, eaters of mainly fruits and green leaves and it cannot be a co-incidence that these substances make up the mucus-less or alkaline forming foods that even science has proven to be the best for human life and of course, weight loss.
POSITIVE THINKING:
Some quotes from perhaps the most rugged book ever put together, that being the Bible, bring to mind just how important it is to think positively-and wisely so-in any endeavor one is undertaking. “As a man thinks in his heart; so is he…” and “Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life”. That stated, what you constantly think over and over is eventually what comes to pass.
The mind has such powers that are beyond human comprehension at times, but according to the author of the “Power of Positive Thinking”, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, “You are what you are now based on your thoughts five years ago and will be in five years what you constantly think of yourself now.”
Although one’s thoughts are very important, without taking the steps to act on them (of course when they are constructive and positive) they do end up being a waste, but your reading this article does depict a desire to want to improve yourself be it through weight loss or any other factor.
Like with any journey in life, of course, you will have times when you may want to give up, lose faith or focus and consequently get off the path to success, which may explain why most people fail at diets and fads in the quest of losing weight, well, my friend, you will have to literally tune your thinking to be positive so as to overcome the doubts and fears as you go about accomplishing your goals. It honestly will be easier applying the two other limbs of drugless healing above for weight loss as they do go hand-in-hand.
In conclusion, forget the fads and hypes. For a healing program to be successful at anything, especially weight loss, it must cover the three limbs of health: diet, exercise and positive thinking. It is my hope that this article will show you how to choose the best methods of attaining not only weight loss, but fitness and health on the inside and out.

Weight Loss: Tweaking Your Lifestyle

Despite our national propensity to overeat, under-exercise, and grow steadily heavier and more out of shape, we all yearn to be slender, fit, and attractive. Our culture rewards the thin and the beautiful; look at how we devour celebrity gossip, mesmerized by the looks and energy of our current favorites.
Why the discrepancy between our aspirations and our reality? There are a plethora of reasons, most of which can be traced to the simple fact that life gets in the way.
“I’d love to cut back on my food intake,” we think, “But I have to attend all these work functions and have little control over the meals that are served.” “I would really like to get in shape,” we complain, “But there’s no free time and I can’t afford a personal trainer like the movie stars I see.” “I really want to take care of my skin and my body,” we wail, “But I’m so busy that a quick shower and a slap of moisturizer is all I can fit into my schedule.”
It would be so wonderful to have loads of free time: to plan our days; to cook low calorie, healthy meals; to exercise without time constraints; to be able to pamper ourselves without the pressure of deadlines. Unfortunately, our lives are too hectic for that to happen in the foreseeable future. We can throw up our hands in frustration and join the legions of the overweight and the unfit, or we can work out a personal plan that fits within our lifestyle, taking us where we want to go, albeit not quite as quickly or completely as we would prefer.
Your life, your time, the demands and responsibilities you face, vary on an individual basis. You will need to calculate what works for you, and what cannot be realistically accommodated. Here are some ideas to consider:
1. Diet
Eating on the run, at your desk, or on the rubber chicken circuit, wreaks havoc with even the best-laid diet plans. If you weigh even a pound more than you’d like, try to identify where you are going astray.
If fast food on your way to an appointment is your downfall, look at what you order. Almost all drive-thrus these days offer salads. The problems with those salads can be minimized by throwing away the little bag of croutons (fried) and omitting the packaged dressings (loaded with fat). Carry your own individual container of low calorie dressing, opt for (unsweetened) ice tea, black coffee, or a diet soda, and avoid those sugar-laden colas like the plagues they are.
If you lunch at your desk, ask yourself what are you eating? If it’s takeout, by all means have a cheeseburger or a sandwich. Just discard the bread or bun and eat with a plastic knife and fork, cut into raisin-sized pieces that will fill you up fast. French fries and onion rings? You just don’t want to go there.
Is your office always filled with snacks and treats (as most of them seem to be these days)? When the snacks come by, go to the bathroom or, better yet, take a brisk walk around the building to beef up your “won’t” power and clear the vision of goodies from your head.
If business lunches, dinners, or those awful meeting banquets are your obstacles, plan ahead. Lunch is relatively easy: salad (with your own dressing, of course) or fish and cottage cheese are available almost anywhere. For dinner, try two low calorie appetizers instead of an entrée. Best of all is something that you have to work at – crab legs, unpeeled shrimp, an artichoke (hold the hollandaise) – it will take a lot of time and no one will notice how little you are actually eating.
Banquets are particularly difficult because a plate is plunked in front of you, filled with food you would never order by choice. Cut whatever protein and vegetables there are into little pieces and chew slowly. Spread the rest out over your plate and play with it to delay the onset of a syrupy dessert. Get a cup of black coffee and place it squarely in front of you to thwart that eager-beaver waiter who keeps trying to slide a plate of pie onto your table.
Entertaining in the home creates a different set of problems because usually you know the hostess and want to avoid creating any bad feelings. Fall back on allergies as no one wants to see you break out in hives in the middle of their party. Carry a club soda or mineral water with you and no one will notice that you’re not drinking.
Over a period of time, these little changes can have a significant impact on your weight. If you’re hungry when you get home, make sure that you have some liquid protein or a health shake available to complete your daily nutritional needs.
2. Exercise.
With the best of intentions, millions of us purchase gym memberships. If we all actually used them on a regular basis, as we promise ourselves we will, there would be waiting lines spilling into the streets. Health clubs can keep signing up more and more members because they know that the number of regulars will stay about the same as the new enrollees will show up in a burst of initial enthusiasm but within a few short weeks will gradually fade away.
Unless you have a job with very regular hours, something few of us enjoy these days, it’s difficult to commit to going somewhere on a regular basis. We mean to go but then an important meeting comes up, our significant other asks us to do something, or the kids pester us to drive them somewhere.
Our high demand lives almost force us to obtain our exercise at home. Television is replete with home equipment that promises to flatten our abs, define our pects, and re-sculpt our entire bodies. Despite their assurances that the equipment easily folds away, we know our apartments can never accommodate a Bowflex or a Nordic Track. Where do those buyers live? In the suburbs, we suspect, where the expensive equipment is soon relegated to the basement or the garage to gather dust until some future yard sale comes along. Equipment, except for minimal contraptions such as elastic bands and hand weights, are just too much trouble, and setting them up takes too much time.
Slipping exercise into your schedule is most easily handled (and therefore more likely to be regularly repeated) by pursuing activities that can be initiated without any preparation time, special clothes, or long periods free of interruption. The old standbys of pushups, situps, stretches with weights, yoga, and calisthenics have stood the test of time for a reason. They can be inserted into your crowded schedule at odd moments of the day and require no preparation except a short warm-up. Some of the newer programs: callanetics, pilates (some), killer exercises, and video workouts also fit these requirements.
When you unexpectedly find a secret half hour free, take a walk and, if you can, magnify its benefits with an occasional bout of sprinting.
Such a plan may not make you into a Mr. or Ms. Universe but it will keep you limber and semi-fit while avoiding that energy-devouring guilt you develop when you set your sights too high and then fail to follow through.
3. Taking care of yourself.
We have all read the accounts of Cleopatra bathing in asses’ milk to bleach and smooth her skin. But she was a Queen, for heaven’s sake! She didn’t have to get up at the crack of dawn to fight the traffic into the office. She didn’t have to take care of a husband, a house, or a child. You’d have the time to leisurely bathe if it weren’t for cleaning the house, washing the clothes, finishing that report for the office, helping the kids with their homework, cooking dinner, and picking up Aunt Mildred at the airport.
We know we need to take care of ourselves. We want to perform the routines that will stave off the signs of age that wait just around the corner. We would love to take a long daily bath or shower, polish our skin to perfection with a loofah and scrubbing powders, envelop ourselves in skin softeners and lotions, and pamper our face and hair with special cleansers, masques, and skin brighteners.
Again, our lives get in the way. We work out a minimal routine of makeup remover, toner, and moisturizer. We shampoo our hair when we can and occasionally find the time for a special oil treatment or facial. It is hard to be fully motivated when the signs of age are brief and fleeting. When I have more time, we tell ourselves, I’ll work on it. Twenty years later, the wrinkles have set in, the jowls have puffed out, and our skin carries the scars of sun, wind, and gravity. Then we bemoan our lack of care through the years and try to minimize the ravages of time already indelibly imprinted on our looks.
By all means, stick to your rapid daily routine. Sure, you could get up earlier in the morning and have time for more self-care but you’re already, like most working-age Americans, sleep-deprived.
One solution is to identify one period a week when you can steal a couple of hours for yourself. Women, especially, shortchange themselves, too busy taking care of everyone else and ignoring themselves. Stake out your claim to that two hour window as if your life depended on it. Use it only for you. Use it to take deep treatments for your face or your hair. Use it to practice relaxation, listen to music, or walk in the rain. Use it to pamper every part of your body and spirit. Use it to think about yourself, and your goals, and your dreams. Use it to appreciate yourself and the good things life has brought you. Use it to lay plans for future self-development and use it to become your own best friend and confidant.
Our lives are so filled up with what we have to do that our wants and internal needs are often unmet. In even the busiest and most demanding schedule, there are moments we can carve out for ourselves, but only if we absolutely insist on it. Right now is the time to become assertive about your own self. You too deserve a brief moment in the sun.

Weight Loss After Pregnancy - What They Didn´t Tell You!

mary is a pregnant mother of three who continues to breast-feed her 18-month-old.
After each of her pregnancies, she has had difficulty losing weight.
With all of her responsibilities, weight loss isn’t a priority. Still, she wishes that, once this pregnancy is over, she will be able to return to her pre-marriage weight.

The average woman gains more than 25 pounds during her pregnancy. The procedure of childbirth may result in a weight loss of up to 14 pounds, which means that new moms still have considerable weight to lose once they leave the hospital.
However, some women simply assume that this “baby fat” will never go away. Yet, it is entirely possible to lose weight during the post-partum period. A number of medical experts recommend easing into a weight loss program after the birth of your baby.
This means that you will not start dieting until about three months following birth. You should combine a low-fat diet with moderate exercise in order to achieve weight loss.

Don’t expect instant results. It will take you up to a good nine months to get back to your weight prior to pregnancy. A go-slow approach is best because you need to give your body time to recover after childbirth.
Certainly, you might be able to lose weight faster, but you might be sacrificing valuable nutrients as a result.
Interestingly enough, breastfeeding actually enhances weight loss. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has found that breastfeeding leads to the release of hormones which enable your uterus to return to its normal size.
However, breastfeeding alone won’t bring down your weight. You need to combine it with a sensible diet and a moderate exercise program. Keep in mind that you need to have at least 1800 calories a day while breastfeeding in order to keep yourself and your baby healthy.
Still, stay clear of junk food during this period. You should rely on food with high nutritional value to maintain the proper level of calories each day.
There are many good reasons to exercise during the post-partum period. In addition to helping to accelerate weight reduction, exercise can help alleviate post-partum depression, improve your mood, and boost your confidence. Exercise can also “clear your head” so that you’re better able to meet the demands of motherhood.
You might consider joining a “Mommy and Me” exercise class so that your baby can exercise right along with you. Another helpful hint is to enlist the help of a friend or relative to act as your exercise buddy so that you’ll have some emotional support while exercising.
An added bonus of exercise is that it should boost your energy level, which is quite important when battling the fatigue which comes from caring for a newborn.
Your diet should generally be low-fat but not fat-free; vitamin rich; and high-fiber. Under no circumstances should you go on a fad diet. Such a diet could be quite harmful to your health and could actually slow your recovery from childbirth. It’s a good idea to set weight-loss goals, but don’t go overboard. Recognize that there’s a limit to the amount of weight you can lose during a given period of time.
You may see a number of actress-moms gracing the covers of magazines shortly after the birth of their children. They appear svelte and elegant, totally devoid of baby fat.
In the accompanying article, they may even talk about exercising right after childbirth. Such articles send new mothers a dangerous message: that you must do all you can to become thin as quickly as possible after your baby is born.
Such a philosophy is not only ridiculous, it’s also unhealthy. As a result, you’ll need to “tune out” such messages from the media and stay the course with your own gradual weight loss plan.
The time right after the birth of a child can be quite challenging, taxing both your physical and emotional strength. While it is certainly a good idea to eat healthy, you’ll need to pace yourself as far as weight loss is concerned.
Over time, you should be able to lose the weight you gained during your pregnancy. In fact, you might find that you’re actually healthier after your baby is born.