Monday, February 18, 2008

5 Strategies For Successful Teen Weight Loss

by: Scott T Smith

Adolescent obesity has skyrocketed in recent years. During the 1980s, adolescent obesity rates hung at around 5%, but today they are close to 15%, according to the National Center of Health Statistics. This 10% increase can be linked to a number of developments in the past two decades, such as more television and less healthy foods, but something can be done about this as well. Teen weight loss can happen, with focused commitment, the right kind of natural weight loss supplements and family help and support.

For many teenagers, physical appearance is a vital attribute. More importantly, however, obesity during the teenage years can lead to obesity as an adult, and continuing health problems as a result of being overweight. Heart problems, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea are all products of obesity, and are no way to live a healthy life. Take a look at these five strategies, though, and a healthier life begins to become clear:

1.) Family Encouragement - A family can play a crucial role in helping a teenager lose weight. Frequently, an overweight teen feels shut out from the world of their peers due to their appearance, as well as the inability to participate in physical activities. Because of this, a supportive and encouraging home is indispensable, and can go a very long way in helping a teen deal with issues of weight loss. Parents should let their teenager know that they are loved, despite whatever they may feel about their physical appearance, and that their efforts to lose weight are believed in. If a teen wants to talk about any problems they are encountering, let them - it can only help.

2.) Turn Off the TV - Inactivity is one of the primary causes of obesity, and the television is one of the primary causes of inactivity. Eliminating television is likely too severe a measure, but limiting its use during the day could encourage other activities that are more healthy. Help come up with fun physical activities, such as sports like fishing, spending time in the outdoors, or just going for a walk.

3.) Forget About Sugary Soft Drinks - All those name-brand sodas, in addition to being highly popularized, are full of chemicals and sugar. Put simply, they aren't good for you. The medical journal Pediatrics recently published a study revealing that removing over-sugared soft drinks can assist in teen weight loss by cutting beverage calories by up to 80%. Try real fruit juices instead.

4.) Watch the Food - Not all food is created equal. Eating fast food and easily accessible, over-processed snack food is the surest way to an unhealthy, and overweight, lifestyle. Stop stopping at fast food joints and think about eating something more wholesome, like a balanced meal at a restaurant or something cooked at home. For that matter, ensure a daily intake of fruits and vegetables - they provide many necessary vitamins and nutrients that help burn excess calories, and maintain high energy throughout the day.

5.) Exercise Regularly - Exercise is key. If a teenager never gets to the gym or goes outside, then the hope in losing weight immediately begins to pale. Without a consistent amount of exercise, excess calories can never be burned. But ultimately, more important than any appearance or expectation, exercising helps maintain a strong and healthy body. A body without any related health issues.

Teen weight loss is a challenge, but not an impossibility. Losing weight as an adolescent may require a lifestyle change, but doing so will lead to a longer, happier life. Developing a healthy lifestyle as a teenager can only mean a healthy lifestyle as an adult.

About The Author
Article by Scott T Smith. Worried about your overweight teen? Slimstuff has just what your teen needs. Visit Slimstuff on the Web at http://www.slimstuff.com/ ::All-Natural Teen Weight Loss Supplements::

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Thursday, February 14, 2008

Politically Incorrect Weight Loss Tips

by: Dr. Jeffrey S. Reynolds

Politically Incorrect Weight Loss Tips

Excerpts from tips that San Antonio chiropractor and chiropractor San Marcos acupuncturist Dr. Jeffrey S. Reynolds gives to his patients on losing weight.

1. Cut Out Sodas! Let's review some the basic ingredients of sodas: BONE DEMINERALIZER (carbonated water), SUGAR, SPEED (caffeine). Sodas are now the #1 cause of osteoporosis. People do not realize the amount of calories and carbohydrates in sodas. You might as well eat a piece of cake every time you drink a soda because you're getting the same amount of empty calories. It has been shown that if you drink 1 cola a day, you will gain 10 POUNDS in one year. DRINK MORE WATER! 2. Reduce Caffeine Intake! The problem with caffeine is that it is an energy substitute. Instead of your body using its own resources for energy, like fat, your body uses caffeine first. You body is set up to make the least amount of effort, so why should it burn fat when you give it free energy in caffeine. DRINK MORE WATER!

3. Reduce carbohydrate intake! When you break down a carbohydrate it becomes a simple sugar for energy. If you eat more carbohydrates than your body needs, then your body stores it as fat. The problem with low fat foods is they increase the sugar amount so that it will still taste good. REDUCE THE AMOUNT OF BREAD, TORTILLAS, CHIPS, POTATOES, SPAGHETTI, AND WHITE RICE IN YOUR DIET.

4. Stop Going To Buffets! Usually your determination not to overeat is overridden by the desire to get your money's worth. Temptation can be very difficult to deal with, so the less you have the better. Treat yourself to a better quality meal with smaller portions. Next time you are at the buffet just look around and see who's eating there. It's mostly fat people! EAT SMALLER PORTIONS!

5. Start Walking! One of the easiest ways to exercise is walk 30 minutes every morning. If you walk before you have your breakfast, your body will burn more fat. Walk 15 minutes in one direction away from your house and then turn around and walk home. There are TREMENDOUS benefits to exercise. WALK DAILY!

6. Stop eating at least 3 Hours Before You Go To Bed. This is a major key to the weight loss products that you drink at night before you go to sleep. When sleeping, your body wants to rest and repair, not digest. Plus, you are not active, so you not burning many calories.

7. Change Your Life! Basically what you are going to have to do is break old habits and create new ones. Being thin is a way of life!

To get a copy of the entire article contact Dr. Reynolds at
http://www.reynoldschiropractic.com/

About The Author
San Antonio chiropractor and chiropractor San Marcos acupuncturist Dr. Jeffrey S. Reynolds of Reynolds Chiropractic Acupuncture Clinic is a leading expert on chiropractic care San Antonio and has been practising as chiropractor San Marcos

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Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Exercising For Weight Loss

by: George Best

Most people know that exercise is an important part of any weight loss program, but there is considerable confusion over what type of exercise and how much is needed to produce maximum results. Even experts cannot agree as to what the "right" exercise is to produce weight loss, and in part this confusion lies in the fact that many experts rely on only a partial analysis of the available research on exercise physiology, and there is often a tendency to make "one-size-fits-all" recommendations, when the reality is that different people will actually get different results from different approaches.

Let's begin with what the current research on exercise physiology tells us. It is well-established that it takes approximately 30 minutes of any kind of exercise for the body to burn off its glycogen (stored sugar) reserves and begin burning fat. So, most experts recommend at least 30 minutes of exercise, and generally 60 minutes or more may be recommended to get a good amount of fat burning. Now, if you are going to be exercising for 30 to 60 minutes, or maybe more, what type of exercise would you be able to do for that length of time? It probably would have to be low to medium intensity. In other words, you're probably not going to be able to run full speed or do any other type of high-intensity exercise for 30 to 60 minutes without a rest, unless you happen to be an elite athlete, and even then you'd be struggling. So, by default, the common recommendation for exercise to lose weight has been 30 to 60 minutes of low to medium intensity aerobic exercise. Aerobic translates to "in the presence of oxygen", which in common language means that aerobic exercise is any type of activity that you can do without gasping for breath.

In recent years, some experts have changed their recommendations to using a more intense anaerobic ("without oxygen") exercise program for weight loss. This would include things like intense weight lifting, and something called "interval training". Interval training involves brief bursts of high intensity activity with periods of rest or low intensity activity in between. For instance, your could sprint at full speed for 30 to 60 seconds and once you were winded, you could walk at an easy pace for a couple of minutes until you could catch your breath, then repeat the cycle several more times.. Because this kind of workout is much more strenuous, it is performed over a much shorter period of total exercise time - about 20 to 40 minutes (at least half of which is rest time), as compared to half an hour to an hour of non-stop exercise as is recommended with low to medium intensity aerobic workouts. The question is, how do the two types of exercise compare in terms of their ability to promote fat burning?

The aerobic exercise promoters point to the research that was mentioned earlier that has shown that any exercise, no matter how intense requires at least 30 minutes to use up the body's stored glycogen (the body will normally burn glycogen before it will burn fat) before fat burning can begin. So, they say, short periods of even highly intense exercise won't burn much fat and is therefore not a good choice for promoting weight loss. But they are only seeing part of the story.

It is true that you must exercise for at least 30 minutes to begin to achieve fat burning - but that's at the time you are exercising. Brief bursts of intense anaerobic exercise does something that even quite a lot of low to medium intensity aerobic exercise does not. Intense anaerobic exercise stimulates the production of growth hormone, which is a strong stimulator of fat burning. The thing is, the release of growth hormone triggered by intense anaerobic exercise comes 24 to 48 hours AFTER the exercise, and then it produces considerably more fat burning than is possible with all but extremely long periods of low to medium intensity aerobic exercise.

Because of this effect, most people will lose weight much more easily by doing shorter periods of more intense exercise. 20 to 40 minutes of heavy weightlifting, interval training (which could be done on foot, on a bicycle, swimming, kickboxing, etc.Any kind of activity in which there are periodic bursts of intense exertion interspersed with rest periods, or periods of low intensity activity is typically preferable in the long run for weight control than even long hours of lower intensity aerobic exercise.

Now, you'll notice that I said "most people". There is an exception to the rule. People under considerable stress, either emotional or physical, or both, in their daily lives are prone to overworked adrenal glands. The adrenal glands do a lot of things in the body, but with regards to weight loss, they produce two hormones. Cortisol is one of the hormones, and it stimulates fat storage in the lower abdominal area. This is typically a saggy, pendulous fat held below the waistline. The other hormone the adrenals produce is adrenaline (also called epinephrine), which actually promotes fat burning. Since the adrenals produce cortisol which causes fat deposition and adrenaline which promotes fat burning, you might assume that these two hormones cancel each other out. The thing is, cortisol can be produced by the adrenals for a much longer time than adrenaline, which is produced for brief periods, so in the long run, the cortisol effects (fat storage in the lower abdomen) win out when you are under chronic stress.

The adrenals are influenced by physical stress as well as mental stress, so for someone who is under a lot of stress in general in his or her life, high-intensity exercise will only add to the total stress and will tend to make the adrenals produce a lot of cortisol, and therefore will tend to promote lower abdomen weight gain. Yes, you read that right - excessive exercise for someone under a lot of stress can actually cause that person to deposit MORE fat around the lower belly! This can result in the frustrating situation in which one exercises more and more and harder and harder to try to get rid of that lower abdomen stomach "pooch", but never can seem to get rid of it. Because the intense exercise is stimulating more cortisol production, that person is fighting a losing battle. Because of this effect, it is recommended that people under a lot of stress and/or who have most of their weight held in the lower abdomen stick to relatively low intensity aerobic exercise. This kind of activity is usually helpful for controlling stress and reducing the level of cortisol, thereby making it easier to get rid of the deposition of fat around the lower abdomen.

Hopefully you now have a better understanding of how to use exercise to maximum benefit for weight loss.

About The Author
Dr. George Best has been a holistic healthcare provider for 15 years. For more information on natural weight loss, please visit http://www.trainyourbrain4weightloss.com/ , or email to DrBest@trainyourbrain4weightloss.com.

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Sunday, February 10, 2008

Healthy Weight Loss Diet Plans – What Are The Key Ingredients?

by: Melinda Grossman

Healthy weight loss diet plans have a different focus than many of the commercial programs. Too many of the commercial programs compete to show who can have customers losing the most weight in the fastest time. Healthy weight loss diet plans only aim to give participants a better quality of life.

These plans focus on turning you on to a healthy lifestyle. The goal is to teach you this new lifestyle beginning with the moment you start the diet. And you never really go off the diet; you will only adjust it to your new weight. You learn a new diet – or healthy way of eating – for life!

One example of a "new" way of eating is a weight pyramid. At the base of the pyramid are the foods that you can eat without restriction. These include all kinds of fruits and vegetables. There is such a variety of these foods that you should never want for a new choice.

Next up on the weight pyramid are the carbohydrates and grains. Healthy weight loss diet plans will not leave these foods out. In fact, some good plans will allow 4-8 servings per day. An important detail is that the majority of these food choices are whole grains. Oh, the exact number of servings depends on your current weight, height, and fitness level.

Healthy weight loss diet plans also include at least 3 and up to 7 servings of protein and dairy. These include lean meats, chicken, and fish. Cold water fish is the best because it is full of Omega-3 oils which are healthy fats for your body.

Even fats and sweets should be accounted for. You might have a diet that allows you 3-5 servings of fat and 75 calories of sweets. Why? Because your body needs a small amount of fats. You won't stay on your diet for life if you know you can never eat sweets again.

A good plan will also offer sample menus. These give you an idea of what is meant by the requirements of the plan. They make it clear how to put together a meal out of the many choices available.

You'll do better with healthy weight loss diet plans if you learn about correct portions. Check to make certain whatever plan you choose is clear on portion sizes. For example, a medium apple might be the size of a tennis ball. A 3-ounce piece of meat might be the size of a deck of cards.

What's more, some plans even give instructions on how to figure servings on food you buy pre-packaged. Do you go by what the package says is a serving? Or do you go by a certain number of calories or carbohydrate grams? Healthy diet plans will tell you.

There's no quick fix for losing weight. You can't simply sit on the sofa and drop the weight you’ve been carrying. It takes effort to change behaviors you’ve spent a lifetime cultivating. However, healthy weight loss diet plans give you the tools and they make being in shape a life-long habit.

About The Author
Melinda Grossman Want more healthy food tips or some free diet meal plans? Info on fitness weight loss programs or even some special tips just for women? I finally have my own weight and exercise regimens under control and I want you to join me. That's why I share what I've learned at http://www.weightlossanswersonline.com/

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Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Foolproof Weight Loss Diet

Author: AltecLP

More and more people are turning to the diet pill for their weight loss program. What weight loss secrets do they use to get that way? Is it a diet, a diet pill, Weight Watchers, or what? It seems that if we could only get the inside information on the new celebrity weight loss program or weight loss pill, then we'd be almost guaranteed to experience fast weight loss of our own.

Fast weight loss is possible if we, under the supervision and approval of our doctor, combine a sensible diet with a diet pill or weight loss pill that is safe and effective. Among all diet pills, Phentermine being one of the oldest survivors in the category of weight loss drugs is still considered the most effective and cheapest making it one most popular diet pill. However, if the diet pills are used as per doctor's instructions, the drug is very much effective as a successful kick-starter for one's weight loss program and can yield results in a few weeks.

Finally, if you want to retain the weight loss you have achieved through Phentermine, you should follow an extensive weight loss program, which will consist of controlled diet program along with regular required exercise supplemented by the diet pills. Individuals using the diet free weight loss program results vary, because we all do not have the same body type or the same genetic make up. In choosing diet pills that will effectively promote weight loss, it is best to look for pills that have the ingredients that will enhance your body's metabolism, or the ability of the body to burn excess fats.


There are representatives from all the food groups in an ideal weight loss diet plan to ensure that all forms of nutrients enter your body. When it comes to the right diet for weight loss, I would recommend a Mucus-less or Mucus-poor (raw and cooked fruits and veggies) over any other mere fad in the quest of attaining fitness and health.

In my opinion, consumption of fresh home-made salads, mono-meals of fruits, snacks on dried fruits such as dates, a few nuts and maybe even a short juice fast, as a choice for a diet (along with some form of exercise) will be the best path to attaining safe and healthy weight loss. For more information about the weight loss nutrition and weight loss diet, visit WeightLossMarts.com. Find out how to lose your extra weight forever when you visit this webite.

About the Author

Altec L.P writes for WeightLossMarts.com where you can learn more about healthy dieting and get great weight loss tips.

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Sunday, February 3, 2008

7 Weight Loss Motivation Tips

Author: jayzn

When you are dieting, having weight loss motivation can be a struggle for anyone. The continual cycle of gaining weight, losing weight, gaining weight and losing weight can become very tiresome and demotivating.

The following tips are from my courses and seminars to help you get rid of that weight and find that weight loss motivation.

Tip 1 - Know what you want

Make sure you know precisely how much weight you are going to get rid of. Some weight just doesn't cut it, so have a precise figure for your target weight and how much you are losing.

Tip 2 - Avoid the scales

Avoid weighing yourself every single day, it'll just dent your weight loss motivation and frustrate you. Instead, pick one day a week to weigh yourself and weigh yourself every week at the same time (I usually recommend Monday's as you may be at your heaviest after any weekend excesses!).

Tip 3 - Watch the inches, not the pounds

Often weight loss isn't immediately noticeable through weight, but is more obvious through inches lost. So, measure your chest, waist, hips and thighs and record the results so you can track them over time.

Tip 4 - Track your results

Motivation comes from seeing regular results, so track your weight loss successes and your measurements shrinking. This will ensure you are more motivated to lose weight.

Tip 5 - Eat regularly, avoid starving yourself

The majority of dieters think that they can skip meals to lose weight faster. STOP IT! It doesn't work like that. If you skip meals then your body is going to think there's a famine on the way, which means your body starts to piles on the fat to ensure you survive the famine. Eat regular healthy meals and you'll find your diet much easier.

Tip 6 - Don't Deny Yourself

Many dieters will deny themselves anything nice such as chocolate, cakes, etc. Trouble is, when you deny yourself something, you want it even more. So instead CHOOSE not to have it, because then you are in control and don't feel those uncontrolable urges. Occasionally, you may choose to have a treat, which is great too, because you deserve it.

Tip 7 - Drink, drink, drink

And no, I don't mean alcohol. I mean yummy, delicious water. Drink plenty of it as it will flush toxins from your system and help keep you healthy.

These seven tips for weight loss motivation and success will help you to rapidly lose weight with the minimum of trouble.

About the Author
For weight loss motivation and a free weight loss course and gift certificate visit http://www.weightlosswithouteffort.com, the home on online weight loss.

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