For many people weight loss is a chronic endeavor. All too often the shedding of pounds is a temporary event followed by a steady regain of lost weight. Most popular diets are unsuccessful in the long run because they fail to address the multi-faceted nature of what successful, permanent weight loss entails. Luckily, research has revealed many invaluable strategies which can help increase your odds of permanent weight loss. While no single article can possibly cover this vast subject, we have provided links to excellent weight loss programs and books which are backed by clinical research, and can significantly help you in your quest. We also encourage you to browse through our hand-picked award links to learn more about the best strategies you can incorporate for long term weight loss success.
10 Strategies for permanent weight loss
1. Exercise is essential for weight loss
It's nothing new, but exercise is probably the most important predictor of whether you will succeed at long term weight loss and weight loss maintenance. In order for exercise to be helpful in weight loss, you should strive for a minimum of five 30 minute sessions per week. The good news is that recent research has shown that three 10 minute sessions in a day are as good as one 30 minute session. This helps many in combating the old "no time for exercise" excuse. Be certain to find something you enjoy. You'll be more apt to stick with it. Try walking with a friend, joining an intramural sports league, participating in outings with a group like The Sierra Club, or trying some classes at your local gym. Once you give exercise a chance, you will begin to enjoy its positive benefits on your psyche as well; you will literally become "hooked."
Having trouble getting a workout in? Why not try one of these Diet Channel recommended programs:
* 15 minute boot camp workout
* Power workout for busy executives
* 10 minute workout for busy moms
Top 3 Diet Plans (based on Diet Channel visitor activity):
Mediterranean Diet - "Ideal for people who like to cook and enjoy great cuisine." Learn More...
Jillian Michaels - "Jillian guides you through the diet and exercise changes you know you need to make." Learn More...
South Beach Diet - "This hugely popular diet promises diligent followers an initial weight loss of 8-13 pounds in the first two weeks." Learn More...
2. Weight loss and weight training
We chose to list this separately from the "exercise" category because of the significant weight loss benefits attached to weight training in and of itself. The basic equation is this: the more muscle tissue you have, the more calories you will burn. This is why world class weight lifters must eat thousands of calories a day to maintain their weight. Muscle is active tissue, fat is not. Thus, muscle "burns" a significant number of calories each day for its own maintenance. In her book Strong Women Stay Slim, Miriam Nelson, a Tufts University researcher, showed that a group of women who followed a weight loss diet and did weight training exercises lost 44% more fat than those who only followed the diet. While aerobic activity can help burn calories, muscle's where it's at when it comes to giving your metabolism a significant daily boost even at rest.
Read Cardio and Strength Training: How do you create a balanced routine? to find out how best to pursue numbers 1 and 2 above in tandem.
3. Keep a diary for triggers that hinder weight loss
Keeping a food diary can be a huge asset in successful weight loss. Devote some time each day to record what you have eaten and how much, your hunger level prior to eating, and any feelings or emotions present at the time. A food diary can provide a large amount of self-awareness. It can identify emotions and behaviors that trigger overeating, foster greater awareness of portion sizes, and help you discover your personal food triggers. Study any patterns that emerge from your food diary and identify where you may be able to make more healthful changes. A food diary provides an added benefit of keeping you focused on and committed to your goals. Start keeping a food diary today by printing our food diary.
4. Stay focused on being healthy, not on becoming thin
Many people become more successful at long term weight loss when their motivation changes from wanting to be thinner to wanting to be healthier. Change your mindset to think about selecting foods that will help your body's health rather than worrying about foods that will affect your body's weight. The Food Pyramid offers a basic outline of the types and amounts of food you should eat each day to give your body the nutrients it needs for optimal health.
5. Find out why you overeat
All too often overeating is triggered by stress, boredom, loneliness, anger, depression and other emotions. Learning to deal with emotions without food is a significant skill that will greatly serve long term weight control. The Solution, a book and national program developed by Laurel Mellin, RD, helps participants to identify their eating triggers and respond to them without food. A research study showed that the participants in this program demonstrated a better rate of long term weight loss maintenance than those who simply diet and/or exercise and don't address behavioral and emotional issues. Chronic over-eaters and "emotional eaters" can be significantly helped by learning new behavioral skills such as those Mellin presents. You can also seek help with behavioral and emotional eating issues from a licensed counselor or psychologist in your area.
6. Weight loss support: join a weight management group
A big key in long term weight control comes from receiving encouragement and support from others. You can check to see if groups such as Jenny Craig offer programs and resources in your areas. You may also wish to check with your local hospital to see if their registered dietitian conducts group weight loss programs.
7. Weight loss and portion control
With the advent of "super-size" meals and increasingly huge portions at restaurants, our concept of normal serving sizes is a distant memory. Be mindful of the amounts of food you consume at a sitting. When necessary, divide your food in half and ask for a take home bag. It is all too easy to be a "plate cleaner" even when served enormous portions. Learn to pay attention to your hunger level and stop eating when you feel comfortably full, not stuffed.
8: Lose weight slowly with small changes
Try to remember that "losing 15 pounds in two weeks" is nothing to celebrate. It is important to realize that the more quickly weight is lost, the more likely the loss is coming from water and muscle, not fat. Since muscle tissue is critical in keeping our metabolism elevated, losing it actually leads to a decrease in the amount of calories we can each day without gaining weight. Fat loss is best achieved when weight is lost slowly. Strive for a weight loss of no more than 1-2 pounds per week. One pound of weight is equivalent to 3500 calories. By making small changes like eliminating 250 calories a day from food and expending 250 calories a day from exercise, you can lose one pound (of mostly fat) per week. You can calculate how much time you need to exercise to burn 250 calories by clicking here. You can calculate your caloric needs by clicking here, and then subtract 250 from that number.
9. Eating slowly can lead to weight loss
Did you ever notice that thin people take an awfully long time to eat their food? Eating slowly is one method that can help take off pounds. That's because from the time you begin eating it takes the brain 20 minutes to start signaling feelings of fullness. Fast eaters often eat beyond their true level of fullness before the 20 minute signal has had a chance to set in. The amount of calories consumed before you begin to feel full can vary significantly depending on how quickly you eat. So slow down, take smaller bites and enjoy and savor every tasty morsel.
10. Weight loss through eating less fat - but do it wisely
We've known for some time that limiting high fat foods in the diet can be helpful with weight loss. That's because fats pack in 9 calories per gram compared to only 4 calories per gram from proteins or carbohydrates. To many, the message to limit fats implied an endorsement to eat unlimited amounts of fat-free products. Just to clarify, fat-free foods have calories too. In some cases fat-free foods have as many calories as their fat laden counterparts. If you eat more calories than your body uses, you will gain weight. Eating less fat will help you to lose weight. Eating less fat and replacing it with excessive amounts of fat-free products will not.
For more information on high-fat foods you should continue to eat, even when trying to lose weight, see the following article from TheDietChannel: Healthy and Fat? 5 High-Fat Foods You Should Not Avoid.
Click here for 8 more great weight loss tips!
Struggling with your diet? Click here for 6 reasons why we don't lose weight.
Before beginning any diet or fitness program, consult your physician.
Thursday, 29 October 2009
Quick Weight Loss Tips - Food Factors
When it comes to finding quick weight loss diet tips that work, selecting your foods for your diet can be a real balancing act. You have to lose some of what you’ve grown accustomed to and add some items that may be new to you. Here’s some quick weight loss tips that experts recommend to promote weight loss.
Quick Weight Loss Tips #1 - Reduce fat.
With regard EO fat, the research is clear: Diets too high in fat promote overweight and obesity. You should strive to consume no more than 25 percent of your calories from fat - and that fat should the “non-saturated” type.
Quick Weight Loss Tips # 2 - Don’t be so sweet.
Numerous studies have linked table sugar to increased calorie consumption. While sugar doesn’t do as much dietary damage as fat, you’ll find that when you eat sweets, you simply want to eat more… of everything. Not only that, but sugar also makes your body excrete chromium, and chromium is a mineral that helps your body build calorie-burning lean tissue - so you want to keep your chromium levels up.
Quick Weight Loss Tips #3 - Drink up.
“If people want to keep their nutrients in balance, they need to drink plenty of plain, unflavored water every day,” says Judy Dodd, R.D., past president of the American Dietetic Association. Water not only acts as a solvent for many vitamins and minerals but also is responsible for carrying nutrients into and wastes out of cells, so the body functions properly. As a rule of thumb, you should drink a half-ounce of water for every pound of body weight daily, unless you’re very active, in which case you should increase your water intake to two-thirds of an ounce per pound of body weight daily. So if you weigh 100 pounds, you should drink 50 ounces of water a day as a minimum
Quick Weight Loss Tips #4 - Fill up on fiber.
You can curb your hunger by increasing your intake of dietary fiber, which is filling, so you feel full but eat less. For these diet tips, experts recommend eating more fruits, vegetables and wholegrain cereals.
Quick Weight Loss Tips #5 - Get treatment for food allergies.
Some researchers believe that being overweight is the result of people craving foods that they are allergic to. For these people, weight loss is extremely difficult until they figure out what those trigger foods are and eliminate them from their diets.
“There are specific food allergies that trigger uncontrollable craving and bingeing,” says Joseph D. Beasley, M.D., director of Comprehensive Medical Care in Amityville, New York. “It’s a common problem in overeaters.”
If you suspect that food allergies might be part of your problem, ask your doctor to help you identify the offending items. Your doctor may recommend that you see an allergy specialist.
Quick Weight Loss Tips #1 - Reduce fat.
With regard EO fat, the research is clear: Diets too high in fat promote overweight and obesity. You should strive to consume no more than 25 percent of your calories from fat - and that fat should the “non-saturated” type.
Quick Weight Loss Tips # 2 - Don’t be so sweet.
Numerous studies have linked table sugar to increased calorie consumption. While sugar doesn’t do as much dietary damage as fat, you’ll find that when you eat sweets, you simply want to eat more… of everything. Not only that, but sugar also makes your body excrete chromium, and chromium is a mineral that helps your body build calorie-burning lean tissue - so you want to keep your chromium levels up.
Quick Weight Loss Tips #3 - Drink up.
“If people want to keep their nutrients in balance, they need to drink plenty of plain, unflavored water every day,” says Judy Dodd, R.D., past president of the American Dietetic Association. Water not only acts as a solvent for many vitamins and minerals but also is responsible for carrying nutrients into and wastes out of cells, so the body functions properly. As a rule of thumb, you should drink a half-ounce of water for every pound of body weight daily, unless you’re very active, in which case you should increase your water intake to two-thirds of an ounce per pound of body weight daily. So if you weigh 100 pounds, you should drink 50 ounces of water a day as a minimum
Quick Weight Loss Tips #4 - Fill up on fiber.
You can curb your hunger by increasing your intake of dietary fiber, which is filling, so you feel full but eat less. For these diet tips, experts recommend eating more fruits, vegetables and wholegrain cereals.
Quick Weight Loss Tips #5 - Get treatment for food allergies.
Some researchers believe that being overweight is the result of people craving foods that they are allergic to. For these people, weight loss is extremely difficult until they figure out what those trigger foods are and eliminate them from their diets.
“There are specific food allergies that trigger uncontrollable craving and bingeing,” says Joseph D. Beasley, M.D., director of Comprehensive Medical Care in Amityville, New York. “It’s a common problem in overeaters.”
If you suspect that food allergies might be part of your problem, ask your doctor to help you identify the offending items. Your doctor may recommend that you see an allergy specialist.
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Carbs and Stress Eating
Weight gain from stress related eating is an epidemic.
Here we help you understand how carbs act as an opiate during times of stress, and how you can avoid this weight loss hazard.
Your workday goes on, stress builds up, and you wind up munching your way through the problem. Sound familiar? If you think you are just a compulsive eater, you can now give yourself a break. There is an actual physiological mechanism at work from eating carbs during times of stress that helps to calm and relax you.
HOW CARBS ACT LIKE OPIATES:
Here we look at a brief description of how carbs act to opiate the brain during times of stress and what you can do to keep from carb binging.
High cortisol and low serotonin levels can result from sustained stress. Recent research has now revealed why carbs are so important in this equation.
New research shows that sugary carbs during times of stress act like an opiate by increasing serotonin.
Your serotonin levels are maintained by a ratio of tryptophan to Neutral Amino Acids ( LNAA). During stress, ingesting carbs significantly increasing Tryptophan/LNAA ratio and thus increasing serotonin.
Additionally your brain runs on glucose or blood sugar. During demanding activities, your brain needs all the glucose it can get. If you are low in blood sugar during times of stress, you are already at a mental disadvantage.
What is common today is nighttime stress induced binging from a combination during the day of stress and fasting. This results in high cortisol levels by the evening, coupled with a high demand for energy from the brain. The result is over eating at night.
Suggestions:
1. Get a good salad in at lunch high in starchy/fibrous vegetables like spinach and green beans. The high starch combined with fiber gives a long slow release of glucose through out the afternoon, giving your brain the glucose it needs.
2. Supplement with a shot of whey protein isolate/concentrate during the afternoon. New research shows the high alpha lactalbumin content in whey has the same effect as carbs on Tryptophan/LNAA ratio
Weight gain from stress related eating is an epidemic.
Here we help you understand how carbs act as an opiate during times of stress, and how you can avoid this weight loss hazard.
Your workday goes on, stress builds up, and you wind up munching your way through the problem. Sound familiar? If you think you are just a compulsive eater, you can now give yourself a break. There is an actual physiological mechanism at work from eating carbs during times of stress that helps to calm and relax you.
HOW CARBS ACT LIKE OPIATES:
Here we look at a brief description of how carbs act to opiate the brain during times of stress and what you can do to keep from carb binging.
High cortisol and low serotonin levels can result from sustained stress. Recent research has now revealed why carbs are so important in this equation.
New research shows that sugary carbs during times of stress act like an opiate by increasing serotonin.
Your serotonin levels are maintained by a ratio of tryptophan to Neutral Amino Acids ( LNAA). During stress, ingesting carbs significantly increasing Tryptophan/LNAA ratio and thus increasing serotonin.
Additionally your brain runs on glucose or blood sugar. During demanding activities, your brain needs all the glucose it can get. If you are low in blood sugar during times of stress, you are already at a mental disadvantage.
What is common today is nighttime stress induced binging from a combination during the day of stress and fasting. This results in high cortisol levels by the evening, coupled with a high demand for energy from the brain. The result is over eating at night.
Suggestions:
1. Get a good salad in at lunch high in starchy/fibrous vegetables like spinach and green beans. The high starch combined with fiber gives a long slow release of glucose through out the afternoon, giving your brain the glucose it needs.
2. Supplement with a shot of whey protein isolate/concentrate during the afternoon. New research shows the high alpha lactalbumin content in whey has the same effect as carbs on Tryptophan/LNAA ratio
Chewing As a Weight Loss Strategy
Do you wolf your food down? If you want to be lean and fit for life you might want to consider the relationship between chewing and weight control or weight loss. While most weight management or dietary programs focus on what to eat, little if any attention is given to HOW TO EAT.
What you will see in this article is a practical strategy you can implement right now to lose weight and be lean and fit for life. Simply by chewing your food longer, until it is basically a liquid in your mouth, you do three things that help your weight loss, health and longevity. The first is that you will eat less. The second is that you will digest and assimilate nutrients more effectively; the third is that you will mitigate toxins and allergies from food, which are important to longevity and weight loss.
Chewing and Food Intake:
Recent studies from Oita Medical School in Japan show a direct relationship between chewing speed and the release of histamine from the brain. Chewing slower and longer causes the brain to release histamine, resulting in decreased food intake.
The speed at which you chew sends signals to your brain that control how much you eat.
Further, hormones such as leptin, ghrelin and cholestokinnen that are involved in the sensation of fullness, do not reach peak expression until 20 to 40 minutes after food is ingested. Chewing longer allows these hormones to work for you. You get the same sense of fullness on less food because you are giving these hormones time to work. Many speed eaters literally chew and swallow faster than their bodies natural satiety signaling can keep up with. If you want to lose weight but you wolf your food down, you are shooting yourself in the foot.
There is a direct relationship between chewing and weight loss. Simply put, the more you chew, and the more slowly you chew, the less you eat. The less you eat at any given meal, the more weight loss.
Chewing and Digestion and Absorption.
Eating the right foods gets you nowhere if you don’t absorb them. Worse, eating the right foods takes you backwards if they putrefy into toxins.
Eating the right food is important, but eating the right food and properly digesting it is essential for life long weight loss.
Digestion begins in the mouth. Specifically, saliva contains a fat metabolizing enzyme called lingual lipase. Before any fat you ingest even hits your stomach, it begins breaking down in your mouth via the action of lingual lipase.
Do you wolf your food down? If you want to be lean and fit for life you might want to consider the relationship between chewing and weight control or weight loss. While most weight management or dietary programs focus on what to eat, little if any attention is given to HOW TO EAT.
What you will see in this article is a practical strategy you can implement right now to lose weight and be lean and fit for life. Simply by chewing your food longer, until it is basically a liquid in your mouth, you do three things that help your weight loss, health and longevity. The first is that you will eat less. The second is that you will digest and assimilate nutrients more effectively; the third is that you will mitigate toxins and allergies from food, which are important to longevity and weight loss.
Chewing and Food Intake:
Recent studies from Oita Medical School in Japan show a direct relationship between chewing speed and the release of histamine from the brain. Chewing slower and longer causes the brain to release histamine, resulting in decreased food intake.
The speed at which you chew sends signals to your brain that control how much you eat.
Further, hormones such as leptin, ghrelin and cholestokinnen that are involved in the sensation of fullness, do not reach peak expression until 20 to 40 minutes after food is ingested. Chewing longer allows these hormones to work for you. You get the same sense of fullness on less food because you are giving these hormones time to work. Many speed eaters literally chew and swallow faster than their bodies natural satiety signaling can keep up with. If you want to lose weight but you wolf your food down, you are shooting yourself in the foot.
There is a direct relationship between chewing and weight loss. Simply put, the more you chew, and the more slowly you chew, the less you eat. The less you eat at any given meal, the more weight loss.
Chewing and Digestion and Absorption.
Eating the right foods gets you nowhere if you don’t absorb them. Worse, eating the right foods takes you backwards if they putrefy into toxins.
Eating the right food is important, but eating the right food and properly digesting it is essential for life long weight loss.
Digestion begins in the mouth. Specifically, saliva contains a fat metabolizing enzyme called lingual lipase. Before any fat you ingest even hits your stomach, it begins breaking down in your mouth via the action of lingual lipase.
Thursday, 15 October 2009
New Study Shows WeighLevel Gives Favorable Weight Loss Results
Sprunk-Jansen has announced the results of a new double-blind placebo controlled randomized study to verify former research.
The study was conducted by a group of Danish and Israeli researchers involving volunteers who were overweight or actually obese. Participants didn’t follow any diet, and were instructed to eat what they used to, yet sticking to three meals a day. While some participants took one tablet of WEIGHLEVEL half an hour before each meal, the rest took placebo.
The results showed the group taking WEIGHLEVEL daily for three months achieved a considerable weight loss among the 29 participants in the study, who on average, lost 0.8 kg per week.
“This type of study is regarded as a ‘golden’ standard for validating the effect of the product, and we’re very happy to confirm practically the same result,” says Eli Kassis, M.D., who is co-author of the study.
The previous study, published in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine., showed that WEIGHLEVEL was highly effective in reducing body weight, averaging 1 kg/week, during the three-month test period of 3 months.
About Sprunk-Jansen
Sprunk-Jansen was founded by pharmaceutical executive Erik Sprunk-Jansen in 2004 to create safer botanical therapeutic formulas to support human health and well-being. All Sprunk-Jansen herbal supplements are based on Greek-Arabic medicine, one of the most enduring and well-researched modalities of healing in the world.
The study was conducted by a group of Danish and Israeli researchers involving volunteers who were overweight or actually obese. Participants didn’t follow any diet, and were instructed to eat what they used to, yet sticking to three meals a day. While some participants took one tablet of WEIGHLEVEL half an hour before each meal, the rest took placebo.
The results showed the group taking WEIGHLEVEL daily for three months achieved a considerable weight loss among the 29 participants in the study, who on average, lost 0.8 kg per week.
“This type of study is regarded as a ‘golden’ standard for validating the effect of the product, and we’re very happy to confirm practically the same result,” says Eli Kassis, M.D., who is co-author of the study.
The previous study, published in Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine., showed that WEIGHLEVEL was highly effective in reducing body weight, averaging 1 kg/week, during the three-month test period of 3 months.
About Sprunk-Jansen
Sprunk-Jansen was founded by pharmaceutical executive Erik Sprunk-Jansen in 2004 to create safer botanical therapeutic formulas to support human health and well-being. All Sprunk-Jansen herbal supplements are based on Greek-Arabic medicine, one of the most enduring and well-researched modalities of healing in the world.
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