Break Through a Weight Loss Plateaus

It's extremely common to hit a plateau at some point during your weight loss journey. And, obviously, it can be really discouraging when the number on the scale doesn't move. Good news — there are certain things you can do to help bust through that plateau and watch the scale number lower.

Reevaluate Caloric Needs

As you lose weight, your body burns fewer calories — sad, but true! This means that over time, you need to consume fewer calories to lose weight at the same rate.

You have two options: 

1. Consume less food every day
2. Move a little more to make up the difference. 

Back to Basics

Good habits sometimes fall by the wayside when you get too comfortable with a program, so make sure you're as on track as you think you are. For starters, write down EVERYTHING you eat. You may not realize how many little extras you're sneaking into your day. Also, make sure you measure out or weigh your foods. Measuring cups and a small kitchen scale are great tools you can use to ensure you're eating exactly the portions you're accounting for. 

Move

Exercise burns calories. It's that simple! If you haven't started a workout routine yet, start by walking 30 more minutes a day or by trying out a dance class at the local gym.

The Key To Heart Health

If you've been working out, either step up your intensity or add an extra workout each week.

If you're on a budget, there are a lot of free videos available online, from yoga and pilates to cardio and dance. The key here is just to move more than usual, at least until you break through that weight loss plateau.

Switch It Up

Being consistent can be great, but sometimes you need to change things up to get your body back on track. If you typically eat three large meals and no snacks, try skipping one meal every other day. If you've been snacking a lot, try skipping those snacks and replacing them with larger meals. Once you've broken through the plateau, you can always go back to the plan that best fits your daily life.

Choose Fresh Foods Over Packaged

If you've been eating too many meals out of a box or bag, you may want to try adding more fresh options to your diet. This is especially true if you're a fan of mom and pop brands. Those are sometimes less accurate than mass produced items when it comes to the nutritional information. If you're struggling with stalled weight loss, you may want to skip prepared foods for now. Limiting packaged foods in favor of fresh foods (lean protein, fresh veggies and fruit, etc.) is a great way to jump-start your weight loss.

Beware of Bites

We're all guilty of having an extra bite here and there.

But those extras have calories, and those calories can really add up! Try to cut out the extras or at least be totally honest and record every single one of them in your food journal. You might be surprised to see you're eating more calories than you think!

Get Support

Invite friends to come with you on a walk, join an online health community like calorie count, or sign up with a local fitness group. Sometimes the support and help of others is all you need to get back on track.

Drink Water

This might go without saying but drinking water is super important. It keeps you hydrated, helps you feel full, and flushes out toxins. Travel everywhere with a bottle of water in hand and try to drink at least eight cups daily. 

Plateaus can be very discouraging  but is normal. Your body doesn't like when you lose weight, it things Your starving and it starts to hoard fat instead of burning fat.  

You can actually gain weight.

If you want your body to keep burning fat, you have to trick your body. Your body doesn't know how much fat is too much. Humans never had a problem with too much fat before the late 1800's. Oh sure, there has always been overweight people going back thousands of years, but not in the numbers we have today. People have always been more active than modern man and we didn't have to workout to burn calories. Also, before the 1950's we never had processed food, the food we ate was all natural. We never imported food from other countries and for the most part, our foods were locally grown.

The consumer has bought into this recent trend of buying processed foods to save time. In the future, we will discover that this trend was the biggest mistake modern man has made. 

 I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. 

I wrote an ebook that will give you all the info in one read. It's a how-to book that also tells you about the mistakes I made and how to avoid them.

My ebook is available at www.amazon.com, www.B&N.com, iBooks (download the app), kobo.com, scribd.com and much more. My ebook will go on sale in May for $1.99. This special will only last for a limited time.

Partying and Drinking on a Diet

A great post, this is a popular question That comes in my inbox almost every week.   This post from "HealthNet" has good information and because we often part with friends, overeating is a problem and can ruin your diet. Hopefully, you can get some valuable tips.

 How to Eat (and Drink) Smart

By Jay Williams, Ph.D.

The standard answer given to the age-old question of how to eat sensibly at parties is, “Eat before you go.” Really? Has that ever worked for anyone? Whenever I do it, I end up eating twice: once before I go and again after I get there. If we ate at parties only because we were hungry or the food was good, the tip might work -- but the majority of party calories are emotional or social (or both).

After years of trying, I've finally mastered the science of eating healthily at parties. Here are three levels of party-food mastery you can call upon at your next gathering. (Thanksgiving doesn’t count -- that’s your one Get Out of Jail Free card.)

Good: Scan The Buffet Before Getting In Line

Choose your top three picks and get through the buffet as quickly as possible. Pausing can easily add 500 to 1,000 calories to your plate. Line-cutting is allowed. Sit-down dinners are harder, especially with the hostess wondering why you didn't indulge in the deep-fried cheese balls. Solution: Leave the empty calories on your plate and claim lactose intolerance, or say you're highly allergic. Both of those white lies have worked for me in a pinch.

Better: Ask Before You Eat

If the server comes around with a tray of delicious-looking but unrecognizable appetizers, make sure to ask what they are before popping one into your mouth.

Best: Plan (Way) Ahead

The month before: If we're talking holiday party (Thanksgiving through New Year's), get down to your fighting weight so gaining one or two pounds won’t be a disaster and you'll still be able to zip up that sexy New Year's Eve dress. (By the way, this same tactic will work for a wedding, graduation or family reunion during the year.) If it takes you four weeks to look your best, you probably won't want to undo all that work in a single weekend.

The week before: Announce that you're bringing your favorite dish. Don't ask, “What can I bring?” The answer to that question is always “Nothing” or “A bottle of wine.” Bring a healthy dish you love, and put that on your plate first.

The night before: Get enough sleep. This will help you make better food choices the day of the party. Why? Because sleepiness affects our hormone levels -- including the hormones that control appetite. If you're tired, your body may start craving the sugary foods that will trigger an immediate release of serotonin and dopamine. And that will make the dessert table at the party very hard to ignore.

The day of the party: Decide in advance what you're going to drink. Consider not drinking alcohol at all -- it’s just empty calories, and you can have plenty of fun without it. (I do it all the time.) If you do want a cocktail, order a lower-calorie one. (Jack and Diet Coke, anyone?) After that switch to Club Soda with a twist (no calories).

The hour before the party: Make a pact with your partner or friend that neither of you will overindulge. That way, you can hold each other accountable and avoid making bad choices together. Knocking a chicken wing out of a friend’s hand is absolutely acceptable, and he or she will thank you for it later.

And here are a few final words of wisdom...

Do Not:

1. Skip breakfast thinking you will “save the calories.” Research has shown when you skip breakfast, you're likely to gorge at dinner.
2. Tell yourself (or the person standing next to you), “I only eat this way at parties.” Your body has no idea that this is a special food for a special occasion -- it only knows that it's fattening and will derail your diet.

Do:

1. Call your best friend for an immediate food intervention if you have to. Leave a message if you get voicemail. Remember, it's your body -- not your host's -- and you’re not going to be smiling tomorrow if you overeat or drink tonight to make them happy.
2. Bring gum. It'll give you something to chew on instead of empty calories, and there will be nowhere to put the chewed gum when the appetizer tray comes around. (Your mouth will be in a bind!) Plus, you'll have minty-fresh breath for up-close conversations. Icing on the proverbial cake!

So enjoy! Socialize! After all, that’s what parties are really about. Focus on your friends, not the food. You'll be much happier tomorrow if you're not stuffed.

I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. 

I wrote an ebook that will give you all the info in one read. It's a how-to book that also tells you about the mistakes I made and how to avoid them.

My ebook is available at www.amazon.com, www.B&N.com, iBooks (download the app), kobo.com, scribd.com and many more. My ebook will go on sale in May for $1.99. This special will only last for a limited time.

What My Website's About?

I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. Today I want to talk about food. 

We all know by this time that when you cut calories in your diet, you have to pack all the nutrition you can in everything you eat. You can’t waste calories on food that isn’t giving you something in return. So, in order to give me energy, I try and eat all I can of the super-foods. 

One of the new ones is Quinoa.

What is quinoa?

Well, some consider it a grain and some don't.  Either way, it's definitely in the grain/rice/cereal family, and that's a family I enjoy eating.

Even better news is that quinoa (pronounced Keen-Wah) is actually a pretty good source of protein when compared to most grains, packing in 8 grams per cup.

Even better news is that quinoa is the only grain that contains complete protein, each gram containing all 26 amino acids.

Even BETTER news is that quinoa is extremely low glycemic coming in at an extraordinarily low 35 on the scale while offering a generous 5 grams of fiber per cup.

Do you now how AMAZING quinoa is?

It's the grain of all grains.  You can mix it with beans, you can eat it by itself, you can mix it in "salads", serve it alongside steak, chicken, or fish...you can pretty much do whatever you want with it anytime you need a quality, low glycemic, high fiber, protein-packed carb source.

In case, you're not familiar with the “super foods” just do a search on the internet and there’s plenty of websites like “Health.com” that will give you a full list. Just to name a few: Blueberries, tomatoes, oats, avocados, salmon, broccoli, green tea, eggs, and almonds. There’s actually about two dozen more which gives you a big variety of choices. Try to eat some every day. 

Quinoa is a good alternative to rice or potatoes. A 4 oz. piece of meat with a cup of quinoa, vegetable and beans and you have about 40 gm of protein and every few calories.

When you're trying to lose weight and lose fat, it's important to maximize your protein. Try and eat protein at every meal, yes even breakfast. As you lose weight you want to avoid losing muscle mass and that's not easy. But eating lots of protein will help you to maintain your muscles. The challenge is to avoid red meat. Red meat has protein but also has animal fat and too much animal fat will cause you to gain fat, not lose it. Fish and poultry has protein but most of your protein should come from plant protein. If you can get about 80 gms. a day of protein, you won't get hungry. Protein at every meal will keep you feeling full.

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I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. I wrote an ebook that will give you all the info in one read. It's a how-to book that also tells you about the mistakes I made and how to avoid them.
My ebook is available at www.amazon.com, www.B&N.com, iBooks (download the app), kobo.com,  Scribd, and more.

Your BMR is Another Must Know

BMR - Basal Metabolic Rate

I've written about this before and I get questions about this all the time, "How many calories do I need?" This post will answer the question. Losing weight is still about calories. The calories you take in every day vs. the calories your body burns. So, the big question is  "How many calories does your body burn?" If you're going to lose weight you need to know your BMR (the number of calories your body burns). So, read the post below for help.

The calories you take in every day vs. the calories your body burns. So, the big question is  "How many calories does your body burn?" If you're going to lose weight you need to know your BMR (the number of calories your body burns). So, read the post below for help.

Measuring a Healthy Lifestyle
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) Definition

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body burns at rest to maintain normal body functions. It is the amount of calories per day your body burns, regardless of exercise. It changes with age, weight, height, gender, ethnicity, diet and exercise habits. An average BMR would be 1850 calories per day for an adult man and 1500 calories per day for an adult woman of average height and weight. Don't use the averages if you're overweight, use a calculator to get your number. Those numbers are accurate if you're in good shape and your body is functioning on all 8 cylinders. If you're overweight your body doesn't burn as many calories and your body can't burn all the calories you eat. You don't even have to be overeating, some calories your body can't use and it will store those calories in fat cells and leave them there. Some of the things we eat the body can't process and only the food or drinks that get processed will be separated and either disposed of or used by the body.

Yes, it's a little complicated but because of the things we eat, we are either functioning the way we should or not. If you aren't getting enough nutrition some of the body functions will not work properly and you could gain weight, lose weight, or your immune system becomes weak and you become ill.

This is the number before factoring in any movement, it is below even the sedentary level. Once you add in what it take to simply move around for basic functions, while still being sedentary, the average calories per day needed would be 2200 for the man and 1800 for the woman. This number is pretty accurate for a young adult in good condition and proper weight.

Calculating Your BMR

Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator: Input your height, weight, and age and adjust for your activity level to find out how many calories you can eat and maintain body weight. In order to lose weight, you would want to eat fewer calories and/or burn more calories through exercise. This calculator uses the classic Harris-Benedict equation for energy expenditure.

Basal Metabolic Rate - Burning Calories Even at Rest

You may think your Fitbit is fibbing or broken when it tells you that you've already burned a few hundred calories when you get up in the morning. What, you wonder, was I running in my sleep? No, it is simply reporting the calories you burned due to your basal metabolic rate. Normal body functions like breathing, blood circulation, and brain functions all burn calories so you do burn calories when you sleep.

Find a BMR calculator on the internet and because the answer can vary do it twice on two different sites. I found a good calculator on CalorieCount.com.

I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. I wrote an ebook that will give you all the info in one read. It's a how-to book that also tells you about the mistakes I made and how to avoid them.

My ebook is available at www.amazon.com, www.B&N.com, iBooks (download the app), kobo.com, scribd.com and much more. My ebook will go on sale in May for $1.99. This special will only last for a limited time.

Pros and Cons of using BMI to evaluate your condition.

I found this article, it has some good points about BMI and if you are using the BMI standards to judge your risk factors you might want to read this, it's an eye-opener.

Your BMI is a number. It doesn't reveal anything about your body composition -- for example, how much muscle versus fat you have. That's why conclusions based only on BMI can be misleading, especially for the following groups:

Muscular people: Some people have high BMIs but don't have much body fat. Their muscle tissue pushes up their weight. People in the military who exercise daily might fall into this category, Atkinson says. Other examples: "A football player or a body builder who is very muscular. Their BMI shows up pretty high and yet their body fat is actually pretty low," Kahan says.

Frail or inactive people: Some people with BMIs that are in the normal range actually have lots of body fat though they may not look out of shape. Think of that as being fat on the inside.

"They have very low levels of muscle and bone -- often elderly people, those in poor shape, sometimes those who are sick. They tend to be somewhat frail. Their BMI can look in the normal range, even though they have quite a lot of body fat in comparison to their lean body mass," Kahan says. "Ultimately, they have similar risks as people who carry lots of body fat and have a high BMI."

Very inactive people who rarely exercise may be of normal weight and BMI but be "overfat," Atkinson says. "They don't have as much lean body mass as they should, and they have more fat than they should." In spite of being lean, if you have muscle and your not active and that muscle doesn't get any exercise, it can turn into fat, but you can exercise every day and you can't turn fat into muscle. once you accumulate excess fat the only way to lose it is to burn it and change your diet to avoid any more animal fat. Now, it almost impossible to avoid all fat in your diet and you shouldn't try, but  you can change what you eat. Fish is a great substitute for meat and there are dozens of seafood  that are low in mercury.

Ethnic differences: Major ethnic differences exist regarding BMI, but few people are aware of this fact, including some doctors, Kahan says. "It's certainly something that needs to be communicated better to the public and the health care community -- and in a way that people can do something about it."

For example, Asian Americans tend to develop health risks, including the risk of diabetes, at significantly lower BMIs than whites. According to the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, a healthy BMI for Asians ranges from 18.5 to 23.9, a full point lower than the standard range of 18.5 to 24.9.

For Asians, a BMI of 24 or more signals overweight, compared to the standard of 25. More strikingly, Asians are considered obese at a BMI of 27 or higher compared to the standard BMI obesity measure of 30 or higher.

Genetics plays a role in body fat, Atkinson says. Asian ethnic groups, from Japanese and Chinese to Cambodians and Indians from India, tend to lay down fat in the midsection, he says. "When they start gaining weight, they gain it first in their abdominal cavity."

People of Indian descent are at highest risk, according to Atkinson. "With a lot of Indians who come to the United States and start living the American lifestyle, their weight and BMI may not make them look fat, but they are particularly at risk," he says. "They have excess fat in their visceral cavity, in their abdominal fat, and that's associated with diabetes, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, and all those kinds of things."

"The standard definition of overweight is a BMI of 25 or above. But if you're from India, your risk of diabetes starts going up with a BMI of about 21 or 22," Atkinson says.

In contrast, many African-Americans may have high BMI measures, but no associated health risks, Kahan says. "Because African-Americans tend to have a little bit more lean body mass -- bone and muscle -- than, for example, Asian Americans, they very often have a deceptively higher BMI than other populations."

Compared to whites with the same weight and BMI, African-Americans tend to have less visceral fat and more muscle mass, Atkinson says. Therefore, an African-American person with a BMI of 28, which the standard chart defines as overweight, might be as healthy as a white person with a BMI of 25.

Age and BMI: The notion of an ideal BMI may shift with age. "People who are older probably should have a little more fat on them -- not obese, they shouldn't have a BMI of 30," Atkinson says. But, he points out, late in life, people who are "a little bit overweight" tend to have a better survival rate than leaner people. The reasons for that aren't totally clear, but it may have to do with having reserves to draw upon when fighting off an illness. However, it's hard to tell for sure since many factors affect someone's health.

I can agree with most of the arguments about BMI, just remember that BMI is only an indicator of your risk. The higher the number the more risk you have for disease.  It's not an indicator of your condition.  As an indicator of your risk, I think it does it's job, but you still need a physical exam  to know your condition. Anyone who has a high risk for any disease and your BMI will give you that indication, should have regular check-ups by a physician. 

Get my ebook for more health tips. I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. I wrote an ebook that will give you all the info in one read. It's a how-to book that also tells you about the mistakes I made and how to avoid them.

My ebook is available at www.amazon.com, www.B&N.com, iBooks (download the app), kobo.com, scribd.com and much more. My ebook will go on sale in May for $1.99. This special will only last for a limited time.

Overweight and Out-Of-Shape Part 2

I'm not going to paint a rosy picture about how easy it's going to be to lose that fat, but losing that fat is essential. You don't have to worry that much about what the scale says, your goal should be to lose inches in the truck section of your body. The rest will take care of itself. The bad fat your doctor doesn't want you to have is the fat around your waist. When you measure your waist at the navel it should be half your height. I'm 72 inches tall, my waist should be a 36. I don't mean a 36 pant size, I mean 36 inches at the navel.

So even if your weight is in the normal range, and you can check your range on several different websites, if your waist is too large you need to lose some of that fat. There are two ways fat can build-up, over the top of your muscles or under the muscle layer. Under the muscle layer is very dangerous. You may think that stomach is solid muscle but if you have excess fat under that muscle then it's surrounding your organs. Your liver and your heart are where your doctor doesn't want excess fat. That excess fat around your organs will slow down body functions.

So what can you do about it now? First, you'll have to change your diet and not just temporarily. You have to start eating healthy and that means eating fresh and eating clean. So what does that mean? You can probably get more info from "health and fitness" websites than I can give you in one post, but just to simplify things. "Fresh" means you stat buy only produce (fruits and veggies) that are fresh, not frozen. Meat and fish that's fresh and whole grains nothing processed. That means cereals, pasta, and bread that's whole grain. Whole wheat is not whole grain. Whole wheat is processed flour that strips out the nutrition during the processing. You want to avoid anything containing processed or enriched flour.

Also, you have to be careful how you cook food. Cooking oil is your enemy when you're trying to lose fat. First of all, no fried foods, no foods or drinks that are sweet. Fruit is your new dessert. Nuts and seeds are good in moderation. Cooking oils can be deceiving, most of them are blended oil, some might be good oils but some are bad. They can blend oils in one bottle and call it "olive oil" as long as it's mostly olive oil. And they do the same thing with other oils like "canola". Companies will use 20% palm oil or a mix of other tropical oils and they don't have to put that on the label. When I buy oil for cooking I buy 100% extra virgin olive oil. If you buy the oil that comes from Italy or Spain you want the oil that's bottled over there. I say that because Italy and Spain have laws to protect the quality of their oils. Government inspections are a serious thing and no one wants to lose their license to export olive oil.

So after you straighten out your diet, you will start to have more energy.You have to be on your new diet for a few weeks before you start to feel better. Just being on your new diet will make you feel healthier and then you should start a walking routine, about 30 minutes a day more than you walk now. You want to build up to 10,000 steps a day. That's what you want to do every day to lose inches. 10,000 steps can be a big increase for some of you, so build up to it slowly and don't try to do the whole thing at one time. Try and do some walking early in the morning and then finish up after dinner.

75% of your food should be vegetables and fruit, 15% fish, poultry and some meat and the rest whole grain. Drink mostly water, some coffee or tea and a glass of red wine a couple time a week. Try and go heavy on the fish and don't be afraid of mercury. Go on the internet and look for seafood low in mercury and you'll be surprised how long the list is.

If you stick to this new diet and do the walking every day in just 3 months you'll feel much better and look much better and if you stick with it, you lose that fat and you'll love yourself for doing it. Good health is a one-way road so you can't go back. If you want to live a healthy life, you have to work at it every day and never look back.

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I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you're trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. I wrote an ebook that will give you all the info in one read. It's a how-to book that also tells you about the mistakes I made and how to avoid them.

My ebook is available at www.amazon.com, www.B&N.com, iBooks (download the app), kobo.com, scribd.com and much more. My ebook will go on sale in May for $1.99. This special will only last for a limited time.

Do You Read Those Health and Fitness Websites?

I’m sure you have read a few yourself. The one’s that advocate exercises that most of us can’t do, but there great if you want to lose inches or lose weight. No wonder most people give up trying. Last month and I think I wrote about it, less than 3% of  American adults are physically fit. We already know that 66% of adults are overweight which means another 30% of adults may not be overweight but they’re seriously out-of-shape.

Now you can understand why Americans on average pay about 17% of their income for healthcare, whereas in other developed countries the average citizen pays about 9% of their income for healthcare. If we had the best healthcare system in the world you could justify the extra cost, but we don’t. We rank number 37 in developed countries according to the World Health Assoc.

So why is this important to you. The numbers of physically fit people in our country are steadily dropping generation by generation. Americans need to realize what they are doing to themselves. Americans have a strange attitude toward themselves and it’s not just about fitness. We tend to put thing off. We have a “why do I have to do it today?” attitude with most everything and that’s one reason we are so rushed. We are in a hurry to do everything. We thing that we can do everything at the last-minute, not realizing that we are putting extra stress on ourselves.

This is one reason why we fall for all those quick weight loss methods. We want to be able to use the quick and easy method and we think that if we just keep looking we’ll find one.  Well, good luck with that. The methods for getting rich and the methods for losing weight aren’t much different and as we all know there’s no quick way to get rich.

Anytime your body loses weight quickly your body goes into starvation mode and starts to hoard calories, and the fat starts to return. The bad part is when you lose weight quickly you're losing mostly muscle weight and only about 30 fat. But when you gain the weight back, it comes back all fat. So now you’ve increased your percentage of body fat you decrease your percentage of muscle mass. So what the different you might ask. It’s your muscle mass that has to burn fat to maintain it’s size and strength. So every time you lose muscle your losing your ability to burn fat.

Overweight people constantly complain to me in emails that they eat like a bird and can’t lose weight. If you're already overweight and out of shape you have your work cut out for you. I’ll write more about this in my next post and give you tips that I used to lose my fat. Before you can get into shape you have to lose that fat.

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I write about losing weight, how to lose weight, what foods to eat when you’re trying to lose weight and exercise that will help you lose weight. I wrote an ebook that will give you all the info in one read. It’s a how-to book that also tells you about the mistakes I made and how to avoid them.

My ebook is available at http://www.amazon.com, http://www.B&N.com, iBooks (download the app), kobo.com, scribd.com and much more. My ebook will go on sale in May for $1.99. This special will only last for a limited time.