Healthy Weight Loss Advice - Understanding Body Composition

It doesn't matter what you weigh. Height and weight charts are meaningless. What really matters is the composition of your body - how much of your body is muscle and how much is fat. An understanding of body composition is one of the ways you'll escape the gravitational pull of the diet mentality. Body composition is a much more sophisticated way to see your body. Forget the scales and the height and weight charts. Concentrate on body composition.

Body composition testing measures how lean your body is. Remember, getting lean means to enhance your lean body mass - your muscles, your bones, your organs and the fluids of your body. Body composition is the only accurate way to measure how lean you are.

We have a real challenge in this country. We live in the fattest nation on earth. The average American male is 26% body fat. The average American female is 36% body fat. Let's put that in perspective. If this average male with 26% body fat weighs 200 pounds, it means he's carrying around 52 pounds of fat. Fat is dead weight. Every pound of fat adds 7 miles to your circulatory system. Your body stores your toxins in your fat cells. The more fat you have on your body, the more toxic your body is.

Example. A person who is 50 pounds over his or her ideal body weight has a risk of cancer that is 18 times higher than the average. According to cutting edge research performed at Tufts University Medical School, the best single indicator of whether you're aging successfully is your body fat percentage. The leaner you are, the more successfully you age. You can't be too lean.

According to exercise physiology research what should your body composition be? Men should be 15% body fat or less regardless of age. Women should be 22% body fat or less regardless of age.

Fifteen percent body fat for men and 22% body fat for women will put you into good to very good health. What if you want excellent health? What if you want to be as healthy as you could possibly be? For male athletes or men who want excellent health, the range is 6 to 12% - regardless of age. For women it's 12 to 18%.

How do you measure body composition? There are various methods. Hydrostatic weighing is the gold standard of body composition testing. It's the most accurate, but not very practical. Skin fold calipers are nearly as accurate, a lot more practical, and a lot more comfortable for you.

Fat is stored in 3 different areas of our body. Subcutaneously - which is between the skin and the muscle. Intramuscularly - which is within the muscle (otherwise known as marbeling in steak). And, between your organs.

To obtain your body composition, it will be necessary to measure the thickness of your skin fold in 7 different locations on your body using a skin fold caliper. It will very accurately measure the thickness of your skin fold in millimeters. These numbers will be entered into a very complex mathematical formula that has been developed by exercise physiology research.

What will you learn? You'll learn your body fat percentage which is a relationship between the amount of fat you have compared with your lean body mass. You'll learn how many pounds of your total body weight are fat. And how many pounds are lean body mass. And you'll learn your true ideal body weight. How is that calculated? The computer will take your lean body mass (your fat free weight) and add to that the optimal amount of body fat 15% if you're a guy. 22% if you're a gal. Now you have your true ideal body weight based on your body and not some height and weight chart.

Remember, you won't always lose weight every week. But this is where the measurements really help. If you don't lose weight, but your measurements get smaller, you've gotten leaner. Research reported on ABC-TV NEWS showed that adding just 5 pounds of muscle and maintaining it for one year automatically burns 91,250 calories! And burning 91,000 calories translates to losing as much as 26 pounds!

Remember, if you gain one pound of muscle and lose one pound of fat, your weight hasn't changed, but you're leaner.

By: Malton A. Schexneider

Helping Your Obese Child Lose Weight

There are a lot of stories in the news these days about children who are overweight. In fact, I have seen pictures of young children who weight as much as a full grown adult. These children are truly obese.

Obese children can have many of the same health risks as adults, running from diabetes to heart problems. They are more likely to have even more health problems when they become adults.

There are many factors that lead to today's prevalence for obesity in children:

1. First of all, children are not as physically active as they were just a decade ago. You are more likely to find them sitting at the computer or playing Playstation than running or swimming.

2. Families are eating at restaurants more. Since most Moms are working outside the home, it's just easier for them to pick up some Kentucky Fried chicken than to cook a healthy meal.

3. Children are eating snacks that are higher in fat and refined sugar. These snacks are even available from vending machines at their schools, although some schools are finally adding fresh fruit and vegetables to their machines.

Children and teenagers are heavier than they were two decades ago. But, how do you know if they're heading toward obesity? Obesity is not measured the same for kids as it is for adults. Periods of growth and their different metabolic rates make it difficult to get a precise measurement using the normal BMI (Body Mass Index) method. The BMI for children needs to be used in combination with their age and gender for better accuracy.

Obesity is also measured differently according to a child's gender. Boys are considered to be obese when his body fat is 25% or more of his total body weight. A girl is considered to be obese when her body fat is at 27% of her total body weight. Girls and women normally have a higher percentage of body fat than boys and men. Normal body fat for a male is about 15% and at 27% for a female.

The same rules apply to children who are trying to lose weight as to adults: eat less and exercise more.

If you feel that your child weighs more than he or she should, a trip to the pediatrician is in order. The doctor can help you set up a safe diet and exercise program for your child. Here are a few other things that you can do:

1. Plan family activities such as hiking, camping or swimming that will get your child more physically active.

2. Cook more healthy meals instead of brining home fast food for dinner.

3. Remove potato chips and candy from your home and replace them with vegetables and fruit.

Get your overweight child help as soon as possible to prevent long term health problems.

By: Jude Wright

Overweight? There's More Than One Way To Take It Off

What does it take to lose weight? Put simply, it's to burn more calories than you take in. But, it really isn't as easy as it sounds. Let's take a look at some of the steps that you can take to start losing those pounds.

The first thing that you should look at is your diet. You should be eating portions sizes that are compatible with your body type and gender. A woman doesn't need to eat as many calories as most men do, and a small-boned woman doesn't need as much food as a large-boned woman. Portion size is one of the biggest obstacles to losing unwanted weight.

Keep healthy snacks in the refrigerator and pantry instead of candy and potato chips. It will help you to overcome the temptation of eating those high fat foods.

Keep a food diary so that you know what you are eating, how much you are eating and why you are eating it. Often, your mood can determine your food choices. Keeping a food diary can also help you become more aware of your portion sizes. You should review your food diary every few days to see if you can spot patterns in your eating habits that are preventing you from losing weight. Perhaps you eat more when you're unhappy or bored. Once you find poor eating behavior habits, you are more able to find ways to control them.

Set a goal. Write down how much weight you want to lose and the date you want to lose it by. Be reasonable. You won't be able to lose 30 pounds by next week. Tape the paper with your goal written on it on your refrigerator door and your bathroom mirror. If you have an old picture of yourself at your ideal weight, tape it up with your goal as incentive.

Get some exercise. Start an exercise program of some sort, even if it's just taking a walk. If you are already walking three to four times weekly, try holding weights while you walk and then increase your speed when you get used to holding the weights.

Try a different form of exercise. Ride a bike instead of walking or go swimming at a local pool. Do two or three different kinds of exercises throughout the week to get a well rounded workout.

Add strength training. If you add a few weight lifting exercises, it will help tone your body. Start out with lighter weights and add more weight as your body strength improves. A $30 investment should get you a nice set of dumb bells in the three to ten pound range.

It's not as easy to lose weight as some people will tell you it is. They say that all you have to do is buy this membership and you'll start losing pounds. But, the only way that you will start losing weight is to take the action steps necessary. Eat smaller portions and get more exercise. Those are the first two steps to weight loss success.

By: Jude Wright

Things You Must Avoid When Trying To Lose Weight

Dieting is seriously hard work! This article will attempt to guide you in the right direction by avoiding the usual dieting pitfalls.

1. Don't be hasty in choosing a diet.
Many people latch onto the next big thing and this can sometimes turn out to be a super hard diet that they have no chance of being able to follow. If you're not sure then pick another diet, go with one that feels right for you.

2. Be realistic - keep your feet on the ground!
Changes won't happen over night. With any goal you may choose you need to give it time and work at it consistently and then you will see results. Dieting results also tend to vary from one person to the next.

3. Don't overdo the exercise
Don't use your enthusiasm in the early days of your diet to hit the gym too regularly. Your body will need to time to heal after every workout so if you don't give it the proper rest, all your work in the gym will be in vain.

4. Calories are important
It's important that you don't drastically cut down the number of calories you take in, contrary to popular belief. Your body will react badly to this and it isn't the best way to lose weight.

5. Meals are important too
It's never a good idea to skip meals. Dieting properly is about eating the right foods not cutting them out altogether!

6. Don't check your weight every day.
Keep off those bathroom scales if you can help it. Your weight will fluctuate naturally, this isn't something you can avoid and if you check your weight every single day, you'll soon feel depressed!

7. Keep in control of your emotions
It's easy to let your frustration overtake you and then blindly reach out for a fatty snack. Be strong and keep focused, don't let your emotions rule you.

8. Help is at hand
It can sometimes take a will of steel to survive any diet and you're a fool if you think you can do it all alone. Take the opportunity to reach out to friends and colleagues who can give you the encouragement you need.

9. Don't trap yourself in a food prison.
Although it may feel like you can never enjoy food while you're on a diet, you're just beating yourself up if you don't eat your favourite foods once in a while.

10. Don't think that your willpower will be enough to get you through.
Keep a clear head. You need to make a list of all things you need to eat and all the things you should avoid.

I hope these tips go some way to helping you follow your diet plan thoroughly. It's not easy but it is doable, especially with a little help from your friends.

By: Matt OConnor

What Is A Realistic Weight Loss Goal?

The truth is that you can reach any healthy weight from any size with the right techniques. You can drop from 450 pounds to a size 12 dress for example, without bariatric surgery or even medically supervised diets like Very Low Calorie Diets (VICD). Many have achieved this to confirm that it's a replicable possibility among particular people.

When it comes to total weight lost what is realistic is primarily depended on the individual. The motivation the desire and the willingness to change are very important. So important are these that even extreme interventions like weight loss surgery that have a near guarantee of huge permanent weight loss, weight regain can occur if the individual lacks the desire, will and motivation to change.

However even all the willingness and passion will never replace good dieting habits. Infact when looking at realistic dieting goals you should look at two main perspectives; total amount of weight loss targeted to result to the idea weight or desired weight and the time taken to reach this goal or rate of weight loss.

You have probably heard that you should aim for two pounds of weight loss a week. This is what is generally acceptable as healthy. But as you probably are aware, weight loss tends to taper and hit a platue.

Similarly you may have heard of people that lose much more in a week. For example the story featured on US magazine of Janet Jackson who lost 60 pounds in 4 months. From chubby figures that could no longer fit her rings, she transformed into a model that graced the cover of the magazine with chiseled abs.

What you need to understand is celebrities like Janet Jackson have nearly endless resources to support their endeavor, from motivational coaches to personal chefs. This is why what can be a realistic goal for one is by far not realistic to someone else.

Your goal setting should agree with your level of commitment. Commitment requires sacrifices. It also requires priotisation. Infact there is a level of commitment which if you find yourself in, you should forego losing weight for the time being. This is rather than putting yourself in a position of imminent failure hence frustrating yourself.

And though it seems that you should set goals depending on your level of commitment you can do the reverse. For example, you just want to fit in a size 10 jeans. Then you can find what is needed overtime to achieve this. Then you can commit to achieve it.
All in all what is realistic always depends on what your really want and how much you are willing to pay to get it.

By: Mark Kimathi

20 Diet Plan Steps To A Slimmer You

Sticking to a diet plan is not easy, if it were then everyone would be thin and we wouldn't need to set diet goals for ourselves. We all need a little help to keep us on track with our diet plans sometimes. These 20 tips are meant to give you some additional ammunition in your war against the weight.

1) Make sure you eat a good breakfast. It keeps your energy levels stable and keeps your metabolism high.

2) Fill your plate with veggies and eat them first. If you split your plate into 4 sections two of them, or half the plate, should be veggies. That leaves 1/4 for a meat item and 1/4 for a starch.

3) Remove liquids with calories from your diet plan. This includes soda's and juices. Switching from regular Coke to Diet Coke saves you 180 calories from a 12 ounce can. That's 65,700 calories a year or almost 19 pounds.

4) Try to avoid caffeine. It will give you that temporary boost in energy and dull your appetite, but later you'll feel even worse and twice as hungry. And the more hungry you are the more likely you are to binge.

5) Switch from whole milk to 1% or skim milk.

6) Drink at least 64 ounces of water a day.

7) If you're feeling hungry have a glass of water first. Often we think we are hungry when in reality we are thirsty. Even if it is true hunger the water will fill you up a little and you'll be less likely to overeat.

8) Have a healthy snack at 3PM when your energy is low. Vegetables with low calorie dip, rice cakes and sugar-free jam, low fat yogurt or a small handful of almonds are all good choices.

9) Keep your portions reasonable. Portions should be the size of your fist or the size of a deck of cards. Stay away from "supersize" portions

10) Eat at a slower pace. It can take 15 minutes for our brains to register that we are full so if you're eating fast you're probably eating too much.

11) Eat more soup. They are filling and good for you. Stick with the non-cream soups that are low in calories and often high in fiber.

12) Eat every 3 hours to keep your metabolism high, hunger at bay and your blood sugar levels stable.

13) Use low calories condiments like mustard instead of fatty ones like mayonnaise.

14) Keep a food journal, especially if you're just starting to diet. There are lots of them available online. My favorite free one is at FitDay.com

15) If you're eating out get a doggie bag and put half your meal into it for later or even better for someone else. A typical meal out will have 1000+ calories, not including bread, appetizers, drinks etc.

16) When eating out skip the dessert. If you simply have to have that triple fudge chocolate layer cake share it with someone.

17) Treat yourself once a week. Even the strongest of us have weak moments. If you know that you'll get a break once a week it's much easier to stick with your diet for the other 6 days.

18) Exercise regularly. Even if you just walk 20-30 minutes a day the benefits are amazing. You'll lose not just from the calories you burn during exercise, but also from the boost in metabolism.

19) Find an exercise partner. It helps to know that someone is counting on you to show up at the gym. And it makes it more like an appointment and thus harder to skip out on.

20) Limit the amount of alcohol you drink. Try to drink only on weekends and limit yourself to one or two glasses.

Even using just a few of the tips can save you hundreds of calories daily and take off some unwanted pounds. I am not that overweight to begin with and dropped almost 10 pounds just by cutting soda out of my diet plan and drinking more water. Good luck with whatever diet plan you choose and I hope this list will help some of you to meet your diet goals.

By: Steven Walters

Low Calorie Recipes Can Be The Key To Dieting Success

How often do you see a new diet advertising on TV or radio that sounds like it might be the answer to all your weight problems? People are always hoping to find a new diet that will allow them to lose weight easily. It's hard to believe that just about any sensible diet will bring you success if you are able to follow through and remain on the diet until you reach your goal.

As much as you may be able to enjoy a good piece of fruit or a nice salad, there are times during a diet when you want something that is more like a meal. This is where good low calorie recipes can really save you from straying away from the path to dieting success.

Dieters today are fortunate to have many more resources at their disposal than dieters in years past. Today we have the Internet as well as more dieting books that you could ever hope to read. The array of dieting books available in a single book store is quite impressive these days.

Having nothing to eat but boring food while dieting is difficult but can become much more difficult when you are around others who are not dieting and may be eating things you would like to be able to eat as well. You are bound to find yourself in the company of others who may be eating whatever foods they want during the time you are dieting.

People have different likes and dislikes and that is certainly true when it comes to food. I don't know how many times I have tried a low calorie recipe that was reported to be very tasty only to find that I did not like it at all.

Low calorie recipes can be a tremendous help for those who are trying to reduce their caloric intake while dieting. Having food that is enjoyable to eat will make it much easier to remain on a diet and greatly increase your chances for weight loss success.

Take the time to seek out some low calorie recipes that appeal to you and simply try them. Many of them you may not care for but when you find those hidden gems that you really enjoy, it can increase your chances for dieting success a great deal.

Dieting can be a very lonely struggle, especially when you live with people who do not have weight problems and are able to eat whatever they like. Having food around the house that is not helpful to someone dieting can be a real problem.

By: Aileen Cormac

Dieting after pregnancy

If you have just this minute given birth to a baby, or your time is just around the corner, you might find that your thoughts are going to be on regaining your pre-pregnancy stature. This is all well and good, but new mamas need to be fastidious about how they go about dieting after pregnancy.

There is more and more difficulty on mothers these days to recover their pre-pregnancy weights and this is only fuelled more and more by fairy tales of new celebrity mams who manage to recuperate their bodies within a matter of months after delivering their baby.

If you have the time, the big bucks and the longing to do this, it is entirely viable that you can and will lose the weight you put on in a healthy way. However, if you do not fall into the tax grade of any of the new celebrity mummies, you are probably going to go it alone and try to lose the heft.

This just won't work. Just about all of these new mommas have a diet and fitness mentor to help them with their exercise routine and dieting after pregnancy. Unless you have entre to that kind of proficient help, you are better off using the "nine months on, nine months off" rule.

This plainly means that it took you nine months to put on the mass, you ought to wait and step by step lose the heft over a similar nine month period of time. When you reflect about it, this is essentially very intelligent considering all the stress that you will have on your time with not only a newborn infant on your hands, but also your normal program.

This is why you need to be watchful when thinking about slimming after pregnancy. For one thing you need to be as practical about this as you were about your diet during your pregnancy, and for a further thing, if you are breastfeeding your newborn, you will need strength and the respectable sustenance to get you through the day.

To that end, if you talk with your family doctor about a apt diet for you, you can then start off to lose weight in a healthy and shrewd way.

Remember that dieting after pregnancy is not something to be taken jokily. You need to give it as much care and thought as you did when you were expecting, because you now also have your baby to look after. The very last thing that you want is to fall ill through lack of a respectable diet and nourishment.

By: Susie Jane

Healthy Weight Loss Program

The present article has been read by many of our visitors and greatly appreciated. Hopefully you will enjoy it likewise.

For anyone who wishing to lose weight, a healthy weight loss programme is a must. Settling for anything less than a healthy weight loss program can lead you down the wrong path and you might find that you have more problems to deal with than being overweight.

One of the best thing you can do to find yourself a healthy weight loss programme is to first talk things over with your doctor or even a certified nutritionist or dietician. These proper individuals can give you the proper advice on what character of weight loss you need to follow in order to lose weight in a fit manner.

Though some people do follow the advice granted to them by these certified professional, most people incline to find that a healthy weight loss programme such as what is advised, takes too long a time to show any real results.

This is why so many people find themselves turn alternatively to rage diets and other means of weight loss which will show them results more or less immediately.

And though this can be done in a safety manner, if you look truly closely at these fad diets, most of them go against the grain of what is truly fit for a person. Instead, it embraces bits and pieces of a healthy weight loss programme leaving out some crucial foods and nutrients.

It’s true that a person can live on this character of diet without to much of a problem, but what about the long term affects? What happens to a person over the long when they feed their body only half of the nutrients it requires?

What happens if a person inevitably to go back to a full fledged fit diet for a health discipline Do they throw it all outside because it goes against what they have been consuming on a day-after-day basis for the last few years?

And more to the point, what happens when a person goes off this type of half fit diet? Do they keep the weight off permanently, or do they retrieve it back again nullifying all their hard work?

These are good questions that need to be answered and looked into if a person is looking at losing weight Using these means.

And though the more sensitive mental attitude would be to go with a healthy weight loss program alternatively of only a half healthy one, many people take instant satisfaction and are unwilling to spend the time and effort required to lose weight in a fit manner.

If you are looking at losing weight, and you have the time and the patience, then losing weight Using a healthy weight loss programme is the best thing that you could do for yourself.. for more on this topic, please check our web site by following the link below...

Thanks for reading and good luck putting this information to good use.

By: Michael Malega

Top Network Marketing Companies - 4 Tips To Select The Best One!

Joining the top network marketing companies is no guarantee of success for a number of reasons.

If you are currently exploring the MLM business and trying to decide which of the thousands of network marketing companies to join, then pull up for a minute and listen to what I've got to say.

Let me say I thought long and hard about writing this article because the idea of someone spending a lot of time researching which MLM company they should join made me chuckle.

Why?

Well, with the reputation the industry has developed regarding aggressive recruiting practices anyone looking for a company to join would seem like a fish looking for a net to jump in. Be realistic, how many people have actually found you and begged you to show them the plan?

There are several aspects of the network marketing business which you need to understand before parting with your joining fees. There may be several reasons why a network marketing company is at the top of the tree and it's more than likely they have been around for a long time.

Is this a good recipe to join a company? Should the fact they have been in business for 10, 15 or 20 years be your sole consideration for jumping on board? Not on your life!

You see, network marketing companies are starting up all the time. While many go out of business for various reasons just as many will appear on the horizon. Why do they go out of business? Poor product choice, bad marketing but most of all, lack of capital and a good business plan.

Here's a simple process for deciding which of the top network marketing companies you should consider joining.

1. Look for a company which is showing steady growth in the first five years of operation. Most don't survive this heady period.

2. Look at the companies management team. Are they experienced network marketers with a solid track record in the industry.

3. If possible, try to get a handle on the company's financial situation. Do they have solid financial backing to survive the first few years in business while they are getting established.

4. In my opinion, probably the main consideration and that is what does the company have to offer in the way of products? If they are offering what everyone else is then move on.

Top network marketing companies have the ability to take a product that's already successful and then improve on it, whether it's by adding a new twist to it or making it more effective.

By: Dean Caporella