Weight Loss Program Can Work For You

Weight loss programs can help a person when they don't have a clue how to start. I personally never was able to stick with a program, but that was 20 years ago when these programs were not very flexible and didn't give you much choice in the foods you ate. But today things are much different and the novice who hasn't  had any luck in the past with these programs might find one that will work for them.

Finding a weight loss program can be quite a challenge. It takes time, mental toughness and support to change lifetime habits. But it's a process you must learn in order to succeed. Regardless of which of the many weight loss programs you decide to join, you alone are the one who has the power to lose your excess weight.

We are flooded with success stories every day on television and in newspapers, magazines and tabloids, all of them about people who have lost their excess weight and kept it off with a new miraculous weight loss program.

Diets and weight loss programs are generally more flexible now than they once were. The meals are attractive and can often be prepared in a matter of minutes. Low-fat and low-calorie foods are on shelves everywhere.

You will probably need to learn new, wiser eating skills. You will want a weight loss program that gives you some control, rather than imposing one rigid system. Look for one that offers a variety of different eating plans, so you can choose the one that's best for you.

Keep in mind, too, that your weight loss program will most likely include some physical exercises. Look at the exercising aspect of your program as fun and recreation and not as a form of sweaty work.

If you are willing to take the few simple steps that lie between you and fitness, you will soon begin to feel better, and the improvement will reflect in every part of your life. These are the new weight loss programs of today. The new programs are designed to get you healthy and as you get healthy and feel healthy the weight will come off.

A rule of thumb that I follow when making recommendations, is not to spend a lot of money and don't sign-up for a long-term program. Weight Watchers is a good program for beginners but you want to "pay by the week" until you're sure this is for you. The people who always drop-out of programs that require going to a gym or somewhere for a meeting is that over time you always find a reason not to go. People drop out because their lives are busy and over time other things take priority. Choice a plan wisely or do it on your own.

Over a couple of decades, I lost my excess body fat by changing my diet. I did it on my own, just like I quit smoking. Make up your mind that you want to be thin and you can do it.

Look on my Home Page and click on the Tab "Diet". If you stick to that program you will lose weight. The pyramid give you numerous food choices every day, stick to the pyramid, and only drink what it says. I did push it a little, with tea and coffee but I drank them black. Wine very little and lots of water. It worked for me and you can eat all you want if it's on the pyramid.

Get my new e-book on weight loss at smashwords.com. Type "getting to a healthy weight" in the search field and check it out.

Is Breakfast Important?

There's many different opinions about the value of breakfast, but for kids everyone seems to agree that kids need to eat breakfast before school. Breakfast for school kids can actually increase their IQ. These are not my words, in 2013 a study was done with Chinese kindergartens and the study found that the students that ate breakfast had higher IQ's.

Will breakfast for adults do the same thing? I doubt that, but I do know that those adults who eat breakfast snack less throughout the day. So why is that important? Eating snacks especially in the morning starts a cycle of more snacking throughout the day which translates to over-eating. It is true that those adults who eat a high-protein breakfast (13gm of protein minimum ) are thinner and healthier.

So why is that, you might ask? What science says is that eating protein will start your metabolism burning calories and the earlier you start burning calories the more calories you'll burn that day. The same thing goes for exercise. Exercise will wake up your sleeping metabolism and start the process of burning calories. So the earlier in the day you exercise the more calories you'll burn that day.

Do you see where I'm going with this. I wrote last week about running and how running is one of the best ways to lose weight. Why is that, you might ask? O.K., running will quick start your metabolism and start you burning calories, but more important a high intensity workout like running will keep your metabolism burning calories longer than passive exercise. Hence, the morning run. For many years I thought that runners would run in the morning because it was cooler and morning exercise wakes you up and helps prepare you for the day ahead, who knew that runner would actually be burning more calories by running in the morning.

A brisk walk can do the same thing, it's just that running will accomplish the same thing in less time. I wrote in that post last week that beginner can still run, they just have to start slow. 10 minutes a day, to start. Walk for 2 minutes, then run for 20 seconds, then walk for 2 minutes, then run for 20 seconds and so on. If your out of breath at the end your going to fast. This is meant to condition your body for the next step. After a couple of weeks and you've increased the pace, you need to increase to 20 minutes a day. with 30 second intervals of running. Remember if your out of breath your running to fast. The next step would be to increase to 30 minutes a day and after you get use to that you would increase the time running and decrease the time walking. Check out the post on Running. If you forget I'll re-post two posts I wrote about running.

Breakfast is also important for running or any early morning exercise. You need fuel to work-out. A small amount of carbs before and protein after. If that sounds to difficult and time-consuming think about high-protein shakes. My wife makes a high-protein shake every morning. Actually she puts the drink together at night and puts it in the frig. In the morning she puts it together, puts it on the blender and in 2 minutes she's out the door with the drink in hand. People who are pressed for time in the morning have no excuse now. There's several different recipes for shakes but basically its Greek Yogurt and fruit with a protein powder added. You can find recipes on the internet.

Why Talk About Running?

Running is probably the best exercise I know for losing weight. Many overweight people, especially middle age men remembering their youth will start running again trying to recapture that body they once had back in school. Well I found out a while ago that I'm not going to recapture my youth but I can run to lose weight. Running is inexpensive and there's no gym membership involved, just a good pair of running shoes. Also you don't have to spend half a day at the gym to lose weight. You can run for half an hour and your done for the day.

Whether you’re running for the first time, or for the first time in a long time, you want to kick things off slowly. Before you lace up your shoes and hit the pavement, try this smart advice to get into the race safely.

"If you’re huffing and puffing at the end of a run, you’ve overdone it." -- running expert Jeff Galloway gives advice on how to begin.

Start with your diet. To fuel a run, keep well-hydrated by drinking at least 8 ounces of nonalcoholic liquid eight times a day and eating a small, sugar-boosting snack 30 minutes before you head out, says former Olympic runner Jeff Galloway, a columnist for Runner's World and author of Women's Complete Guide to Running, which he co-wrote with his wife, Barbara. He suggests half of an energy bar or a sports drink. 

Find a buddy. Running can be a great way to stay in shape and keep connected with friends. "Women tend to respond better to running in groups," Galloway says. "It helps keep them motivated."

Pace yourself. Galloway cautions newbies not to get overly enthusiastic early on. “Men tend to get injuries from overdoing it," he says. "Men who have not done any real exercise in 20 years and suddenly decide to run like they did in high school -- that's a formula for disaster."

The Walk-Run Ratio
Galloway, who works with runners of all ages and levels, teaches a technique that lets the body ease into its new type of motion. Beginning runners, he says, should run for 5 to 10 seconds out of every minute, walking the rest of each minute. Gradually, the walk/run ratio will shift as your muscles strengthen and your joints adjust.

Even in the beginning, when the bulk of your run time is spent walking, you’re still getting a good workout. "Walking is the best cross-training," Galloway says. "And a lot of people progress to marathons in just 6 months." I never made it Marathon, but I ran 5 miles a day and that's a good workout and after you get use to running you will pick up speed and running 5 miles is easily done in 30 minutes, as a matter of fact after spending months running I could run 10 miles in 30 minutes. I wasn't exceptional just average.

Running Rules
Here are a few of Galloway's tips to keep you on the run and off the injured list.

Go for gain, not pain . "Follow the huff-and-puff rule: If you’re huffing and puffing at the end of a run, you’ve overdone it," says Galloway, who advises a slow and easy approach to running. "The bottom line: You need to monitor your aches and pains."

Avoid runner's lows. Done incorrectly, running can cause a lot of discomfort and even injury, Galloway says. "People get discouraged and feel they’re not designed for running. Really, they just need to correct their walk/run ratio [until it feels right]." 

Stretching is an important part of running without injury. Check-out my next post.

Naturally, if your under Doctor's care or are extremely heavy you should see a doctor before starting any strenuous exercise program. Running, if not done right, can be hard on your heart and other parts of your body. Be sure your healthy enough to run before you start a program like this.

Partner up to exercise

Great article from WedMd. Most people who quit exercising are doing it alone. You can always find an excuse for not workout if your alone. Workout partners usually stick with it. 

Partners Can Team Up to Get Healthy
You and your  partner may be best friends, but are you allies when it comes to getting in shape, eating well, and living a healthy lifestyle?

For many people, the answer is no, say psychology professors Thomas Bradbury, PhD, and Benjamin Karney, PhD,  co-authors of the recent book Love Me Slender: How Smart Couples Team Up to Lose Weight, Exercise More, and Stay Healthy Together. Having a partner gives you a reason to workout, It will keep you motivated. Your chances of staying with your workout routine is 5 times greater if you have a partner. People who workout alone will easily find reasons not to workout.

Over the past 2 decades the professors videotaped thousands of young married couples to study how couples communicate. They found that many important conversations revolved around health. "Often we'd see couples in which both partners wanted to get healthier, but they just weren't getting traction," Bradbury says.

But some couples do make it work, he says. Here's what they do (and don't do) to achieve a healthy lifestyle together:

DO model healthy living. "Switch to nonfat milk, for example, or order the chicken sandwich instead of the hamburger," Bradbury says. "Small things that we see modeled in our relationship start to become the norm."

DON'T simply make suggestions if your partner struggles with their weight. Focus your energy on understanding the problem. "Sometimes the most effective thing to do is say something like, 'Tell me what's behind your need to lose weight,'" Bradbury says.

DO think long term. Good health takes work, so discuss the rewards to be reaped in years to come, like playing with your grandkids. Bradbury says, "Tell your partner, 'I want to be with you for a long, long time.' That can be a powerful message. And chocolate cake every day isn't consistent with that."

DON'T criticize. Instead, encourage. Notice when your spouse or partner orders a salad or takes a walk. That will help them stay optimistic.

DO return to healthy activities you did as a younger couple, like taking walks together or playing tennis. "Incorporate those kinds of health-promoting activities into your identity as a couple again," Bradbury says.

WebMD Magazine.

Reconsider Yoga

If you've ruled out yoga for physical reasons, it might be time to reconsider.

This is a great article for anyone who thinks it's too late for them. It's never too late.

If you think you're not the yoga type, think again. Just about anyone can do it, and it's not about bending yourself into a pretzel.

For men and women of all shapes, sizes, and abilities, yoga builds strength and balance. It's also a great way to ease stress.

"In a gym, you're really pushing yourself to go further when you're working out. In yoga, it's the opposite. The poses encourage all the range of motion that the body is designed to do," says Megan Dunne Krouse, a yoga instructor in Chicago.

                

When Megan Garcia signed up for yoga at Smith College, she felt intimidated because she was the only overweight person in the class. She stuck with it, though, and noticed she started gaining strength, plus feeling and sleeping better, too.

Now she is a plus-sized model and Kripalu-certified yoga instructor who teaches in New York and specializes in teaching yoga to people of all shapes and sizes.

Garcia found that yoga changed her in unexpected ways.

"Before I started doing yoga, I really lived life from the neck up," she says. "After yoga, I began to really feel at home in my skin. If I didn't have yoga, I can't imagine feeling so good in my body. Yoga has made it comfortable for me to sit on the floor, to twist, to bend. It grounds me in my body."

RaeAnn Banker, who owns River Yoga in Lahaska, PA, started taking yoga classes on her 42nd birthday as a present to herself.

"I was overweight, and since my mother was morbidly obese, I knew I better do something or I was going to end up just like her," Banker says.

"It took several months of driving by the yoga center before I got up the courage to go in. But once I started, I loved the classes. I was the weakest student in the class, but I kept going," Banker says. "I ended up losing 35 pounds over the next 2 years and becoming a yoga teacher. Yoga literally changed my life."

"Yoga doesn't discriminate," he says. "Yoga will make you feel good. Yoga, at its root, is about bringing more awareness to action and to movement. The more you get in your body, the more connected you are to the world."

Tips for Trying Yoga

Check with your doctor before starting yoga or any new exercise program. And keep these pointers in mind:

• Choose a style of yoga that suits you. Not all yoga classes are alike. Some are more vigorous than others; others may emphasize meditation.
• Find a teacher you like. Classes that are billed as "intro" or "beginner" can attract a wide range of skill levels. You can sign up for a private one-on-one session customized to your needs.
• Go at your own pace. You can modify yoga poses using blocks, straps, and other tools so that you don't overstretch. Ask your instructor for help and for modifications that suit your needs.
• Listen to your body. If you're forcing yourself into a position that's painful, that's a signal to stop.
• Don't compare yourself to others. It's not about being as flexible as everyone else -- or as the people you see in yoga magazines who have been practicing for years. And always remember, there's room for you, too.

WebMD Feature

If you decided to join a class don't do it blindly. Find a group about your age and a class with other beginners. Yoga can make the aches and pains go away. Like anything else it will take time. But even Retirement Homes have Yoga class for their residents. 

What's in our diet pills?

I've been unavailable for a couple weeks and I haven't posted anything for almost 3 weeks but I have been doing a lot of research. One article I read by accident was in the New York Times about the FDA. I promise you this is not boring. Anyone who is trying to lose weight needs to know this.

The FDA or Food and Drug Administration that regulates the manufacturing of vitamin supplements and diet pills has been called on the carpet for knowing the dangers of a chemical called BMPEA used in supplements and other pills and keeping quiet for the past two years.

All of this is now coming out in the open because Canada health authorities have called this chemical a "serious health risk" and banned the chemical from being used and pulled the products containing BMPEA from the shelves. This product was pretty widely used in nine different supplements.

Now it's been published that the FDA isn't properly policing the supplement industry because top regulators come from that same industry. It's like sending the Fox to guard the Hen House.

All of this comes at a time when the Federal Government is trying to put more regulation on the supplement industry that would include diet pills.

I've never been a fan of taking diet pills but I know many people trying to lose weight will get desperate after trying dozens of different diets. I've written lots of posts about diets and why they don't work, but having said that, I also know that desperation will cause people to use desperate measures and "pills" are a desperate measure. In my experience, pills will do more harm than good. Let me explain. Diet pills will usually cause quick weight loss of a few pounds but not without side effects. Some people become very nervous, others become weak, sometimes diet pills affect your sleep habits. And if you can't sleep that causes a whole new set of problems.

Some people are already on prescription drugs and then introducing a new drug can cause bad side effects and could counter your other drugs. Diet pills are more than just a supplement like vitamin D. Diet Pills are chemicals that will change behavior. And that's exactly what they are supposed to do. The simplest form of diet pill will at least curb your appetite. So the manufacturers think that if we can get you to eat less, you'll lose weight, it's that simple.

But it's not that simple. Losing weight is about losing body fat. If you don't eat properly you might lose some weight, but you'll be losing mostly muscle and you might actually increase your body fat but still lose weight. I hope I didn't confuse you. You can lose weight by losing 10 pounds of muscle in your arms and legs but add 3 pounds of fat to your waistline. You step on the scale and you weigh less, but your waist is getting bigger.

How can that be? How could I lose all that muscle? Actually, most people who lose weight will lose more muscle weight than fat. Muscle weighs far more than fat. If you look at a turkey, for instance, a raw whole turkey has yellow fat inside the Caracas,   take a cup of pure fat and then a cup of pure white breast meat and weight each one and you'll see the meat weights more.

So why do we lose more muscle than fat? Because you have less appetite and eat less, you lose your energy. You have to eat quality foods with lots of nutrition to keep up your strength and keep you active. You get your energy from the food you eat and you need that energy to stay active and burn fat.

I'll follow-up on this later in the week. There is a science to losing weight and I'll write more about the science and why heavy people can change and we shouldn't hold them responsible for their weight until we know the whole story.

If you really want to lose the extra flab you can get help, I write 4 blogs and I’ve written two E-books. E-books are the easiest and cheapest way to learn about any subject without groping through hundreds of website looking for the material you want. 

My first e-book is “HowBadDoYouWantToLoseWeight” and it sells for $2.99 on most online bookstores like Amazon, BN.com, iBook, kobo, and Gardner books in the U.K.

My second e-book is available in the same stores. And on smash words.com. If you use the smash word promotional code You can get my second book for $1.99 (PJ42H). Just type in the search line “getting to a healthy weight”.

Beginners at workouts need to read this.

Great article, this problem is the major reason most beginners stop working out. 

What You May Not Know About Muscle Soreness

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You just crushed a really hard workout. You upped the load of your training, or you stepped out of your routine and tried a new activity. You feel great—until you wake up the next morning, barely able to move.

Enter delayed onset muscle soreness, better known as DOMS. It’s an acronym that athletes and fitness buffs wear with pride.

RELATED: The 20 Worst People at the Gym, According to Trainers

As its name suggests, “DOMS is muscle soreness that becomes evident six-to-eight hours following activity, peaking around 24 to 48 hours post-training,” says Jon Mike, CSCS, NSCA-CPT and PhD candidate in Exercise Science at the University of New Mexico. While the symptoms will often start to diminish at about 72 hours, “the precise time course and extent of DOMS is highly variable,” Mike says.

DOMS is most pronounced when you introduce a new training stimulus—a new activity, increased intensity or volume—or if you are new to physical activity in general. “Your body is making adaptations to better prepare your muscles to do that activity again,” says Lauren Haythe, certified Kinesis Myofascial Integration Practitioner and yoga teacher. That’s why on Day 1 at the gym, after doing squats or lunges with 10-15 pound weights, you can be brutally sore the next day. “But, as you continue on, you can build up from there, and you won’t be so sore,” she says.

RELATED: 7 New Recovery Tools You’ll Love to Hate

While all kinds of muscular contraction can cause soreness, eccentric contraction—where the muscle lengthens as it contracts—is most often associated with DOMS, according to Mike. This includes movements such as running downhill, lowering weights or lowering down into a squat or push-up position. “There is also some evidence that upper body movement creates more soreness than lower body exercises,” says Mike.

Muscle discomfort is the most common characteristic of DOMS, but there are other symptoms. According to the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), these may include reduced range of motion and joint stiffness, local swelling and tenderness, and diminished muscle strength. These symptoms appear gradually following exercise (not to be confused with acute pain that may arise during physical activity).

RELATED: Are You Foam Rolling All Wrong?

Muscle Soreness: Myths vs. Facts

No pain, no gain. Lactic acid build-up. An indicator of muscle growth. These are all phrases that we tend to associate with DOMS. While you may think you know everything you need to know about the condition that has you waddling like a duck, you may be surprised by what’s actually happening in your body.

Myth #1: DOMS is caused by the build-up of lactic acid in your muscles.

The verdict: Not true. During exercise, your body needs energy, and it breaks down molecules to get that. As a result of this metabolic process, your cells naturally become more acidic, which makes your muscles feel like they’re burning. But this isn’t caused by lactate. Lactate is actually a by-product of the metabolic process and serves as a buffer that slows down the rate at which the cells become acidic. “People produce lactate all the time, even at rest. It clears your system 30 minutes to 1 hour after working out,” says Mike.

A study in Clinics in Sports Medicine found that DOMS is the result of microtrauma in the muscles and surrounding connective tissues, which causes inflammation. The reason that eccentric muscle contraction (think lowering a dumbbell back down in a bicep curl) is more likely to be the culprit is because it places a higher load on your muscles compared to concentric contraction. “It’s the active lengthening of muscle fibers under load. It’s like you’re pulling on a rope, and there’s so much force that the rope starts to tear and pull apart,” says Mike.

RELATED: The Truth About Lactic Acid

Myth #2: It’s not a good workout unless you’re sore the next day.

We often wear our DOMS as a badge of honor and believe that if we’re not sore, we’re not doing enough during out workouts. But that’s just not true.

“It doesn’t mean that you’re not getting as good of a workout because you’re not crippled the next day,” says Monica Vazquez, NASM certified personal trainer. “You should feel [soreness] 24 hours to three days after the activity. If, after three days, you try to do the same exercise and you cannot because you go immediately to muscle failure, you’ve done too much,” she says.

According to Mike, studies have shown that soreness itself (using a scale from 0 to 10 to assess the level of soreness) is poorly correlated as an indicator of muscle adaptation and growth. There are many factors that influence how DOMS presents itself in individuals. “There is great variability, even between people with similar genetics and even among highly-trained lifters [and athletes],” he says. So while comparing notes (and commiserating) is all part of the process, soreness and DOMS isn’t the best gauge of how effective your workout was or who’s in better shape.

Myth #3: The more fit you are, the less susceptible you are to DOMS.

It’s true that you will start to feel less sore as your body adapts to your workouts and learns to distribute the workload across your muscle fibers more effectively. That’s why you should regularly change up your exercise routine.

However, there is also a genetic component to how sensitive we are to pain and soreness. “People can be no-responders, low-responders or high-responders to soreness,” says Mike. If you’re a high-responder, you will experience DOMS more acutely than someone who is a no- or low-responder when given the same training load. While you can’t change your genes, it is important to know where you fall on the spectrum to understand how your body may respond to changes in your workouts.

Myth #4: Muscle damage is a bad thing.

Yes, DOMS appears to be caused by trauma to your muscle fibers, but it’s not a definitive measure of muscle damage. In fact, a certain degree of soreness seems to be necessary. “When muscles repair themselves, they get larger and stronger than before so that [muscle soreness] doesn’t happen again,” says Vazquez. While these mechanisms are not completely understood, Mike notes that some muscle trauma is needed to stimulate protein production and muscle growth.

Myth #5: Pre- and post-workout stretching is a good way to prevent and treat DOMS.

Unfortunately, no. A review of studies for the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews on the effects of stretching before or after exercise on the development of delayed-onset muscle soreness found that pre- and post-workout stretching did not reduce the effects of DOMS in healthy adults. In fact, research has found that static stretching prior to working out does not safeguard you against injury and may actually decrease your power and strength.

While you may not be able to avoid soreness altogether, ACSM suggests advancing slowly with a new workout, giving your muscles time to adapt and recover. Vazquez recommends always including a proper warm-up (including dynamic stretching), and cooldown period as part of your routine.

RELATED: 10 Ways You’re Sabotaging Your Workout

Stop Waddling: How to Recover from DOMS

There are a number of ways to alleviate those can’t-make-it-up-the-stairs symptoms. A sports massage is one good way to reduce the effects. “A massage will move the fluid and blood around in your body, which can help heal the microtrauma in your muscles better,” says Haythe. A study in the Journal of Exercise Rehabilitation found massage to be beneficial on both gait and feelings of post-workout soreness.

Other common ways to treat DOMS include foam rolling, contrast showers (alternating between hot and cold water), Epsom salt baths, increased protein intake (to increase protein synthesis) and omega-3 supplementation (to reduce inflammation), and sleep. New research in the Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine suggests that supplementing with saffron may also help to alleviate DOMS. Regardless of your preferred Rx, Haythe recommends looking at your diet to make sure you’re taking in nutrients to help your body heal. “Find a diet that can really help you feel the best that you can feel,” she says.

When It’s More Than Just Soreness

There may be times when you overdo it with your workout and feel bad. Really bad. But when should you be concerned?

“If your level of soreness does not go down significantly after 72 hours and into the 96 hours mark,” says Mike. ACSM advises that if the pain becomes debilitating, you experience heavy swelling in your limbs or your urine becomes dark in color, you should see your doctor.

If it’s an injury, you’re more likely to feel it immediately during your workout— something that should never be ignored. Soreness, on the other hand, will appear gradually, often the next day. “An injury will likely limit your range of motion and last longer than three days,” says Haythe.

When all is said and done, DOMS shouldn’t be avoided or revered. And it shouldn’t be your only gauge of your level of fitness or strength. “People think that the only part of their workout that matters is the hard part,” Vazquez says. “But, you can do more of the hard part if you don’t injure yourself.”

Long-term, Haythe says, “You’ll build more muscle, strength and endurance if you give your muscles a chance to take a deep breath and recover.”

—By Christine Yu for Life by DailyBurn