Posts Tagged weight loss efforts

Healthy Weight-Loss After Pregnancy

Healthy weight loss is extremely important to keeping those pounds away permanently. Most of us have indulged in some or other fast weight loss program not realizing that it can be very harmful for our overall health and long term weight goals. We don’t put on weight after a single night of bingeing so it is not fair to put the body through on starvation mode to lose weight quickly.

In fact not eating adequately can sometimes have exactly the opposite effect. The body assumes that there is literally a food shortage and in an attempt to ‘survive’ starts storing the food by cutting down the metabolic rate. The result: You feel lethargic and irritated without enough energy to carry on your daily work AND don’t lose a commensurate amount of weight. More important the moment you start eating normally, the weight spirals back. This causes a feeling of failure which proceeds to color all future weight loss efforts, dooming them before you even begin them.

A healthy body needs all the food groups to function effectively. This includes proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins that can come only from a balanced and not a restrictive diet. So it is necessary to ensure a healthy but simple diet complete in all respects for healthy weight loss. The food that we need to eat is easily available in the supermarket and need not be a fancy powdered mixture that makes a hole in our pocket. Some effective yet simple foods that assist in healthy weight loss include the following.

Water: Water is a large component of our bodies and is necessary for all body functions. It is also the only known zero calorie` food’. Staying hydrated prevents overeating since many a time the need to drink is confused with the need to eat. If you don’t like water as it is, try adding a few mint leaves or lemon to enhance its flavor. Keep a bottle within easy reach so you drink up periodically. You will automatically find yourself eating less.

Green Tea: Drinking 6-7 cups of green tea has been clinically proven to assist in healthy weight loss. It is best taken plain without sugar or milk. However you can add lime juice or honey to make it more palatable or even drink it chilled without destroying its properties.

Raw salads and soups: Vegetables are naturally fiber rich and give a feeling of satiety when eaten before or as part of a meal. While raw salads with a low fat or no dressing are the best way to eat them, even soups and stir fried vegetables are great alternatives to other unhealthy snacks.

Fresh Fruits: Though higher in calories than vegetables, fruits are nature’s own dessert and can provide essential minerals, vitamins and other nutrients. They also satisfy the urge to eat something sweet making sure you don’t snack on something unhealthy later.

More important than eating less calories is eating foods with higher nutrient to calorie ratio which is the basis for healthy weight loss.

Healthy Weight Loss Plans: 3 Essential Ingredients

There are probably as many different weight loss plans as there are people trying to lose weight.  There are thousands of different pills, exercise programs, low carb plans, low fat plans, low calorie plans, protein shake plans, certain type of food plans, and the list goes on and on.  But many of these are not healthy and few of them lead to effective and lasting weight loss.

A healthy weight loss plan includes these 3 essential ingredients:

1) It must be well balanced. By this I mean that the plan allows and encourages you to eat a wide variety of foods from all of the major food groups.  This is important so that your body gets all the things that it needs to function well.  Your body needs protein, fiber, calcium, iron and a wide range of vitamins and minerals to function effectively.  Also, it is hard to stick with a plan that strictly limits your food choices.

2) It should encourage slow and consistent weight loss. Those fad diets that try to get you to lose 10 pounds in a week or less are not healthy.  The weight loss comes from depriving your body of what it needs and the loss almost never lasts.  A healthy weight loss plan helps you to slowly and consistently lose weight until you reach a healthy weight goal that you are comfortable with.  Then it helps you to maintain that weight.  A healthy weight loss plan is one that you can be comfortable with for months, years, and even the rest of your life!

3) It includes a plan for increased activity. No, you don’t have to spend hours in the gym every day to lose weight.  But any plan that completely ignores any type of exercise will be hard to maintain. Even walking can do wonders for weight loss and also for better health.  Moderate exercise can help reduce and avoid the potential for many health problems, and it burns calories which greatly enhances you weight loss efforts.

Exposed: the Top 5 Foods That Can Sabotage Your Healthy Weight Loss

The worst thing a person can do when they lose weight is revert back to their old eating habits that got them fat in the first place. Dodging the lure of fat, sugar and other appetite triggers is just as important as making healthy choices when you decided to lose weight. Healthy weight loss is an accomplishment worth celebrating, but if you choose to do it by going back to junk food, you’ll find yourself fat again…and fast!

You might be suprised to know that certain foods you may think are healthy are the same foods that can sabotage all of your healthy weight loss efforts. If you want to keep that slender figure you worked so hard for, you must lead a healthy lifestyle and stay away from the following foods.

Healthy Weight Loss Sabotage Food #1: Trigger Foods
Eating certain foods will make you even more hungry. These appetite stimulating foods are designed to make you want to devour a whole box, package or bag in one sitting. Remember the slogan for Lays potato chips? If not, it went like this: You can’t eat just one! That is nothing but the absolute truth, twisted to their benefit, but true!

Chips, and any food that has been stripped of its fiber turn to sugar quickly in the body, hit your bloodstream rapidly and cause your blood sugar to soar sky high. In response to that sugar surge, your body churns out so much that it drives your blood sugar below where it was before you ate anything. When blood sugar is low, you feel hungry and in need of more of the same kind of food.

Healthy Weight Loss Sabotage Food #2: High Fat and Sugar Foods
Choosing to eat foods with high sugar and fat content can wreak havoc on your attempts to manage your weight. Ever eat a donut and wonder why you feel tired a half hour later? When a food contains both fat and sugar, as many trigger foods do, it provides a rush and then lets you down even lower than before you took your first bite.

Natural foods like fruits and vegetables are digested more slowly and will cause fewer spikes in your blood sugar. This is something that you will have to really make a conscious effort to do. It’s a lot easier to grab a doughnut at the office than it is to pack a snack bag full of carrots. However, once you train yourself to lose your fat and sugar tooth, you will be in better control of your cravings.

Healthy Weight Loss Sabotage Food #3: Animal Products
Contrary to popular belief, the protein found in animal products will not satisfy your hunger drive. Beef, poultry, pork, and fish contain exactly 0% carbohydrates. If you lost weight on a high protein diet sourced by animal products, you are not getting enough unrefined carbs, responsible for triggering your brain to tell you when to stop eating. This is not a good thing when it comes to animal products.

Animal products, even the lean ones, contain artery-clogging, disease-causing saturated fat and cholesterol. Animal meat can quickly hike up those fat calories just like most dairy products, sabotaging weight loss and weight maintenance. Want to get lots of protein without all the side effects of animal products? Try anything with soy. It’s all-natural and the healthiest choice for maintaining an ideal weight.

Healthy Weight Loss Sabotage Food #4: Cheese
Because dairy products are packed with fat, they are your enemies in the weight loss game. Most cheeses are 70% fat or more, and fat-free version is probably loaded with a whole bunch of preservatives that make it unhealthy. Animals get their calcium for strong bones and teeth from plants, so why shouldn’t people do the same.? Unrefined plant foods contain all the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and micro-nutrients you need, including calcium. Nature is smart for our benefit.

Healthy Weight Loss Sabotage Food #5: Alcohol
Not only does alcohol contain extra calories that you don’t get from choosing other drinks, but it also triggers the desire to eat snack foods. These two work hand in hand. Why do you think bartenders set bowls of free pretzels and peanuts out for their customers? Because the more you eat these salty, unhealthy foods, the more you want to drink, and vice versa. Do yourself a favor and keep your alcohol consumption to the occasional drink every few months.

Healthy weight loss and maintenance doesn’t work for most people because they are unwilling to change their lifestyle. It is not an easy thing to do, but it’s a must if you want to get off the emotional and physical roller coaster of yo-yo dieting. Once your weight is off and you are making healthy eating decisions on a daily basis, you won’t even want to revert back to your old habits. All that is required is a strong enough desire and a commitment to follow through. For things to change, you’ve got to change.