Safe Weight Loss

What is necessary for safe weight loss?
A calorie deficit must be created through exercise and a small calorie reduction. This means more energy goes out than comes in. If it were only so simple!
Problem #1
Appetite seems to increase with activity level (therefore cancels out energy expended), this may not always happen.
Problem #2
The body will attempt to conserve weight during times of increased activity and reduced calorie intake (body becomes more efficient with energy).
Problem #3
Scales do not tell how much of the body weight is muscle, fat, OR water.
Problem #4
We all know someone who eats a lot (and eats a lot of "forbidden foods") BUT does not seem to gain a pound, while others eat very little and still have difficulty in altering their body composition.
Tip #1
You must use weight training to build muscle mass and increase metabolism and you must exercise consistently. The energy expenditure will help develop a negative caloric balance.
Tip #2
Base your success on how you feel, how your clothes fit, and how well you perform in your sport/activity, NOT on how the scale reads.
Tip #3
Do not starve yourself. The body may shut down its metabolism and it becomes extremely efficient in saving/storing energy. Eat nutritious meals spaced evenly throughout the day to maintain the metabolism and provide energy for exercise. Reduce any unnecessary food intake.
Tip #4
Remember you are trying to eat fewer calories then are needed to maintain weight. Aim to reduce the calories by a maximum of 20% (i.e. 200-400 per day), BUT/ never go lower than 1500 total daily calories. Reducing the amount of fat in your diet greatly helps in reaching a calorie deficit (because each gram of fat has 9 calories).
Tip #5
Do NOT eat "fat-free" foods in excess. Remember the aim is a calorie deficit! There are no magic OR forbidden foods. Some are better than others BUT very few items need to be fully excluded from a diet. Allow yourself at least the occasional treat.
Tip #6
Choose water as your low-calorie fluid source, unless you need the nutrients that are provided by a glass of milk OR juice.
Be honest #1
Do you really need to lose weight? Losing weight often involves certain sacrifices, so determine if it is really necessary for health or performance and then make full commitment to the goal.
Be honest #2
Can you decrease your food intake without your health suffering? Try to reduce calories with your health in mind by reducing the foods with least nutritional value (i.e. processed foods, sugary drinks, excess sauces, and sugar).
Be honest #3
Are you truly hungry when you eat? Are you just thirsty, bored, stressed?
Be honest #4
Are you active for only 30minutes (your exercise session) and then stuck in a chair for the rest of the day? Consider this before you justify an increase in caloric intake.

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By Craig Ballantyne
Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Men’s Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit www.TurbulenceTraining.com

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How to Increase Your Fat and Sugar Burning to Aid Weight Loss

In order to carry through a successful weight reduction process, your over-weight must be attacked from several angles at the same time. Among other measures, you also have to increase your burning of fat and sugar. This burning is also of two kinds. The body are steadily burning fat and sugar and thereby producing heat, and it burns these nutrients to get energy for the daily activities you perform. The aim in a slimming process is to increase both these burning processes. In the terminology often used about slimming, this is often called "increasing your energy levels".
A. THE FAT AND SUGAR BURNING PROCESS
The burning of fat and sugar is composed of many chemical steps. Fat is first broken apart yielding free fatty acids. The fatty acids are then broken further down to pieces called acetyl. The sugar is also broken down to acetyl in a process called glycolysis, and the energy thus released is used to produce an energy-rich compound called ATP. The acetyl formed from the braking down of fat and sugar is then further combined with oxygen yielding carbon dioxide and water, and even more ATP is produced. The ATP produced is then used to release heat and to give energy for the bodily work.
B. GET ALL THE NUTRIENTS YOU REQUIRE
The process of braking down and burning fat and sugar uses vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids as working tools. Therefore your diet has to contain all these nutrients in the needed amount. Including vegetables or fruit in a natural form in every meal will help you get these nutrients.
Even though your generally shall reduce your fat consume, some types of food containing essential fatty acids should be a part of your daily diet, for example nuts, almonds, sunflower seeds, olives, olive oil and fat fish.
Extra supplements of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and lecithin can also be of help.
C. PHYSICAL EXERCISE
You should do some physical exercise at least every second day. Condition training like running, swimming, cycling or ball play consumes energy and thereby helps burn fat and sugar. The burning process even continues some hours after the training session.
Weight lifting or other muscle building activities are also of value. They help convert fat in your body to muscle mass and muscles are always burning some sugar and fat, even when they are not active.
D. USE OF DRUGS OF THE AMPHETAMINE GROUP
Amphetamine and related substances stimulate the activity of the central nervous system and thereby give impulses to increased external activity that consumes fat and sugar. These compounds also increase the metabolic activities that produce heat by consume of fat and sugar. These compounds can also reduce the appetite. All these effects can together help to reduce an excessive weight.
However, these compounds also may give many unpleasant or dangerous effects, like addiction, insomnia, agitation, manic reactions, hypertension, stroke, heart valve damage and heart rhythm disturbances. Therefore amphetamine itself and many related compounds are by now banned in most societies as a means to reduce weight. Amphetamine was early banned and classified as an illegal narcotic. By now also these compounds has been banned after having been on the market for some time: aminorex, fenfluramine, phenylpropanolamine and ephedrine.
Substances of this group available on the market today as weight reduction aids are: Phentermine, diethylpropion, phenidmetrazine, benzphetamine, sibutramine, rimonabant, oxyntomodulin and fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac).
E. USE OF CAFFEINE AND SIMILAR COMPOUNDS
Caffeine and similar compounds also increase the mental alertness, the feeling of energy and the impulses to external action, and thereby they also increase the burning of fat and sugar. They also increase the fat and sugar burning by accelerating the basic heat production metabolism.
A simple way of taking caffeine or the related compound teofylline is drinking a few cups of coffee or tea each day. A cup of coffee in the morning can and another cup in the afternoon can often give you the impulse you need to do an effective daily exercise session.
The tropical plants Yerba Mate and Guarana contain caffeine variants with a much greater effect on the fat and sugar burning than ordinary caffeine. On the market you can find sport drinks and slimming aids containing extracts of these plants.
F. SUPPLEMENTS STIMULATING THE THYROID GLAND
The hormones produced by the thyroid gland increase the basic metabolism and the burning of fat and sugar. A sluggish production of thyroid hormones can therefore contribute to developing over-weight.
Vitamins and minerals that the thyroid gland use as tools to produce its hormones can help to effectivize the thyroid hormone production, for example vitamin B1, vitamin B2, Vitamin B6, magnesium, manganese, potassium and zinc. Compounds being raw material for this production can also help the thyroid gland to effectivize its hormone production, for example L-thyrosine and iodine. These compounds are found in many supplements to aid slimming.
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By Knut Holt

Knut Holt is an internet consultant and marketer focusing on health items.

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