The day you start a diet is the day you start failing. When I use the term diet I mean those crazy things out there that really don’t provide your body the nutrition it needs. Yeah, you can lose a few pounds up front from only drinking lime juice for a week but what are you losing, water weight and some muscle but you really aren’t losing the fat you want to. You see when you starve your body it actually goes into preservation mode and stores more fat. Your body turns whatever it can in to fat because it is in panic mode.

The best possible approach to lose that dreaded fat and get the body you want is to eat. Eat 6 small HEALTHY meals per day. I am not saying go out and eat McDonalds 6 times a day. What I am saying is eat 3 appropriate healthy meals of about 500 calories each plus 3 healthy snacks a day. See when you feed your body regularly it actually increases your metabolism and helps to burn the fat. When your body knows it can count on food regularly it doesn’t think it needs to store that fat for a later date.

When you couple healthy eating with a good exercise regimen you are destined for success. Exercising 30 minutes a day has lasting health effects. You can lower your blood pressure, decrease stress and anxiety, decrease your
chances of stroke and prostate cancer and just feel better in general. You must do more then just diet to lose weight. You can start by skipping all fast food and cutting down on the soda pop. Did you know 1/3 of all calories consumed in the United States are from pop? Just imagine if you cut out 1/3 of your caloric intake where you would be.

It really doesn’t take much to get started. Search “healthy recipes” n the web and you have everything you need to plan your meals. Find a exercise program you will stick with. That could be as simple as a exercise video or any type of home exercise equipment that you will actually enjoy and stick with. Keep it fun, cook what tastes good and enjoy
yourself. You will be on your way to great things.

About the Author:  Brian Williams researches and reviews most types of home exercise equipment for his website www.fitnessgearreviewed.com. He also has been a firefighter / paramedic for the last 10 years.

Calculating your Body Mass Index or BMI, is the quickest way in which to identify if you need to lose weight, but often it is more beneficial to have your doctor calculate this for you so any other aspects of your body can be taken into consideration. However, those who have a high BMI can be at a higher risk of contracting diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and various cancers such as colon and breast cancer; so, being aware of your BMI is extremely important. If you are overweight, you may find you suffer from other complaints such as back pain and joint problems due to carrying extra weight and you may even experience sleep disturbance, or sleep apnea. This can begin as a relatively small issue, but as you gain more weight, this can become more severe, with many overweight individuals ceasing to breathe for a number of minutes due to their excessive weight.

When it comes to successful weight loss, it is all about balance. Often, we will gain weight as we are consuming far too many calories compared to the number of calories we are burning off. So, in order to see some level of weight loss, we need to start cutting our calorie intake, which for many, can start by cutting down on food portions. If we start to consume fewer calories and increase our physical exercises, we will start to see our weight decrease. Ideally, we need to burn off as many calories as we consume, but as we begin our journey of weight loss, it is more beneficial to start slowly, and introduce exercise and a healthy diet into our daily lifestyle until we set large goals. However, even by setting small goals, such as aiming to burn 500 calories a day can see a sensible level of weight loss of around 1lb per week.

Although the strategy in which to lose weight is fairly simple, it can only be realized if we are ready to start losing weight and are willing to put in the required effort and discipline. Different aspects of our life such as our family and work lives can make it extremely difficult to lose weight if we suffer from stress or simply do not have time. However, one of the most effective ways in which to keep ourselves motivated is to remember why we want to lose weight. We want to lose it for ourselves, to feel better about ourselves, to regain our health, see our children grow up and most importantly; increase our life span.

One of the most natural foods around is fruit, so it’s no surprise that fruit is an important part of a healthy diet.  There are hundreds of different types of fruit all offering abundant health benefits.  Studies have shown that eating whole fruit allows you to reap the numerous health benefits versus taking supplements. Fruits contain vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals.

For those wanting to lose weight, adding more fruit to the diet is beneficial.   Fruits help fill the stomach which results in less calories consumed.  Actually, with the variety of fruits available you can freely eat fruits without consuming too many calories – which can also result in weight loss.  In addition to the low calories, fruits are also high in fiber and low in fat.

Below is just a sampling of the low calories in common fruits.

Apple – 44 calories

Banana – 107 calories

Grapefruit -100 calories

Kiwi – 34 calories


Mango – 40 calories

Orange  – 35 calories

Peach – 35 calories

Pear – 45 calories

Pineapple – 50 calories

Plum  – 25 calories

Cantaloupe – 53 calories

Despite widespread recommendations to incorporate strength training into their workout routine, many women avoid it because they afraid of bulking up. Women have low levels of testosterone, so women do not bulk up with moderate strength training. In fact, if you cut calories without adding exercise you can lose muscle along with fat. There are numerous benefits to strength training and you really should add it to your healthy lifestyle. Below are just five reasons you should make strength training a part of your life:

1. Burn more calories. Another reason some women don’t lift weights is because they think they will gain weight. Yes, it’s a fact that muscle weighs more than fat. But, did you know that at rest 10 pounds of fat burns 20 calories, while 10 pounds of muscle burns 50 calories at rest. This effect is also true during aerobic activity. No matter what you do, muscle burns more calories than body fat.

2. Look better. As stated in my last article, get your mind off the scale. Take for example a woman weighting 150 pounds. At 20% body fat, she has 30 pounds of fat and 120 pounds of lean body weight. After incorporating strength training into her routine, she replaces 5 pounds of fat with 5 pounds of muscle. She still weighs 150 pounds, but has reduced her body fat by about 4.5%. Even though her weight stayed at 150 pounds her muscle tone has improved giving her a fit appearance. Conditioned muscles will also help your posture, which also improves your appearance.

3. Strengthen your bones. By stressing your bones, strength training increases bone density and reduces the risk of osteoporosis.

4. Reduce risk of injury. As your muscles strengthen, you are also strengthening the connective tissues surrounding them. This provides protection against injuries caused by weak ligaments, tendons and muscle fibers.

5. Feel better. When you are strong, your quality of life is enhanced. Strength improves your self -confidence and makes your daily activities easier.

If you want learn more about strength training and what exactly that means (it’s not lifting 100 pounds over your head!), check back for my next article. .