How Much Water Should I Drink to Lose Weight?

Archive for November, 2009

What is the fastest way to lose weight? In this article, I will answer that very question. I will reveal the absolute fastest way a person can lose weight and still be healthy and retain a semblance of sanity. But first, here’s a little background information on weight loss.Weight loss is extremely complex. It’s not just a matter of eating less, and exercising more. Many of you can attest to that.There are other mechanisms at work within the body that slow your weight loss down, and some even stop it altogether.Your body doesn’t want to lose weight. I doesn’t like it. On the contrary, your body wants to survive, and it equates any efforts to starve it, or to exercise it excessively as undue stress.The body releases a hormone called cortisol when it becomes stressed. This hormone causes the body to store fat, and catabolize muscle. Essentially, by doing the things you’ve been told will help you lose weight, you’re actually causing yourself to retain, or even gain fat. This is especially true if you follow the more gimmicky or faddish ways promising to be fast ways to lose weight.In reality, the fastest way to lose weight is not through starvation diets, or by performing marathon cardio sessions.The true fastest way to lose weight is by adopting scientifically proven fat loss workout routines, and combine that with equally proven extreme fat loss diets.The workout routines I’m referring to elicit a metabolic and hormonal response within the body that cause you to continue burning fat for up to 38 hours after your workout is over. The types of fat loss workout routines I’m talking about are based on the Tabata method, and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).Both of these training methods have been proven to melt the fat like nothing else. When you unite that with an extreme fat loss diet like Fat Fast, or the more modern Velocity Diet, then you have an extremely powerful fat loss combination that can’t be beat. It truly is the fastest way to lose weight.If they’re so powerful, then why don’t more people know about Tabata, HIIT, the Fat Fast Diet, or the Velocity Diet? It’s simple. It’s because they’re not overnight guarantees, they’re not “lose weight while sitting on your couch,” and they’re definitely not a pill you can take. It’s actually hard work, and no one is writing articles, or filming infomercials about something that requires real work, and can’t be bottled.Tabatas and HIIT are the most intense workouts on the planet. Fat Fast and the Volicity Diet are extreme, low calorie, high protein, high fat, low carb diets that no one can realistically hope to stay on for any length of time.In short, the fastest way to lose weight is also one of the toughest, meant only for the strong willed. What’s the average person, with average will supposed to do?You have to rethink what “fastest way to lose weight” really means to you. You have to ask yourself a different question, “what is the fastest way I can lose weight?”Once you ask the question, you have to give yourself an honest response.Imagine you’re on the Velocity Diet but you find it too difficult to stick to and you give up after a week. You’re now thinking that you’re a failure. What about the super intense Tabata or HIIT workouts? After the first few, most people give up because they’re so painful to do. Once again you’ll start thinking of yourself as a failure.When you have this negative mind-set, you’ll be less likely to stick to anything, or even try anything else. You’ve given up. How do you keep from letting negativity poison and thwart your fat loss efforts?The answer is the Zen approach. Buddhists believe in something called the “middle way,” which is the practice of non-extremism. By using the middle way, you’ll make more progress than you would if you tried an extreme approach and failed.To incorporate the Zen approach to fat loss, you perform some form of Tabata, or HIIT workouts a couple times per week. Choose two non-consecutive days such as Tuesday and Thursday, or Monday and Wednesday. You also throw in a Fat Fast, or Velocity style diet every other day. The way that works is you diet one day, then you eat normally (but still healthy) the next. Knowing that a regular meal is coming the next day will keep you on track during your diet days.That’s the middle way to rapid fat loss.Obviously, the person doing Tabatas and/or HIIT 4 times per week and does a strict Fat Fast, or Velocity Diet every day of the week is going to lose weight super fast. But for the rest of us mere mortals, the “middle way” is a more reasonable approach, and the fastest way to lose weight for US.

People can be overweight for several reasons and not all of them are a matter of poor diet choices. Some people suffer from genetic disorders or a genetic predisposition to gain weight, neither of which they can help. Other people suffer from being overweight because they have developed poor eating habits, have a busy lifestyle or have a routine that is not conducive to good diet practices. Other than cases of heredity many people simply gain weight over time but are aware enough to keep a close eye on the situation and their health and therefore have no need of fast weight loss.
Weight matters, just ask a diabetic, so weight loss matters as well. Does fast weight loss ever matter? Moreover, if so then who does fast weight loss matter for?
People interested in fast weight loss fall into one of two categories. Those who are very large and have just had a wakeup call about how that weight is effecting their health and life expectancy and those who believe the hype surrounding every diet guru’s “secret” formula to super model slim bodies by following a special course of action, for a onetime fee of course!
If you talk to any health expert, they will tell you that the safe rate of weight loss that the average person can achieve through better eating habits and some exercise is 1-2 pounds per week. This is safe, healthy and sustainable for long lasting results. You can also use Proactol a safe over the counter product, which binds to fat, and achieve 2-3 pounds of weight loss each week. A safe easy to use product will help you attain fast weight loss.
If you are like most people who are keen on losing weight you would probably like to see it fall off much faster, like 10-15 pounds in a week’s time instead of 1 or 2. Think about what you are asking though, have you ever gained weight that quickly. More than likely not, and if your body does not put it on that fast it will not take it off that fast without serious damage to your health and well being anyway.
Starvation diets for weight loss have always been around and each generation tries a version of it. The problem is the weight that is lost is not fat but rather muscle tissue and fluid. Not to mention the sleep and money that is lost to these endeavors! Fast weight loss under these circumstances is unnatural and disturbs the natural rhythm of the body. Most often weight loss like this will quickly be reversed and more often even more weight will return.
In the cases of extreme obesity when health is seriously threatened by the excess weight, fast weight loss could be essential in saving a person’s life. This is a time when bariatric surgery may be just what the doctor orders. There are weight loss surgeries called gastric bypass or laparoscopic banding, Lap Band. During surgery, the stomach is stapled or banded to create a small pouch for a stomach. After surgery, patients are limited in what and how much they can eat by this physical change. This eliminates weight gain and spurs rapid weight loss; most people will be allowed to return to work within a few weeks of the surgery.

What Ever the Reason
So you want to lose weight 3 weeks. Is there is a special occasion coming up you wish to look good for. Some clothes you want to fit back into. A sporting activity or hobby you need to get in shape for. Looking for a soul mate. Your doctor told you to lose some weight. Tired of people making remarks about your size. For what ever reason, you want to lose some weight and you want to see results now!
Get the Ball Rolling
To successful lose weight 3 weeks you will have to get busy. You are going to have to decide on a plan, have some reasonable goals and be sure to stick to them. If you are able to accomplish this you will feel and look better. Being at your proper weight is just down right healthy and makes good sense, even if that is not the first reason why you decided to take action. Did you have a plan in mind? Did a friend make a recommendation? If you are still undecided in this area you should consider an online diet program. Many have successfully shed their unwanted pounds in the privacy of their own homes using an online diet to implement and keep track of their weight loss.
Making a Good Choice
There are many online diet programs to choose from. You will want to make your decision based on your specific needs. Age, gender, health and overall goals need to be kept in mind. Since a good online diet program will have you eating right and exercising consider the ratio between these and adjust your choice accordingly. If you are young and in good health, a plan that emphasis the exercise will be fine. if you are older, pick a plan that emphasis good eating habits. Most plans are flexible in this regard and will allow you to balance eating habits and exercise to your needs and abilities.
Few Other Things
A good online diet program should not make any wild claims. I know you want to lose weight 3 weeks but if a diet plan says you will lose 50 lbs in 3 weeks or some other unbelievable statement you need to make a different choice. A quality online diet program will offer a money back guarantee. Some will even make this a 60day guarantee. You should also get more than just an online e-book. There should also be online support, bonuses, diet calendars and weight loss generators just to mention a few. With these extra tools at your disposal you have a better chance of success.
Conclusion:
Wanting to lose weight 3 weeks is not an unreasonable desire. With a little fore thought and planning this can be accomplished using an online diet program. Be wise and compare a few before making your choice. Once you start be sure to stick to your guns and make your goals a reality. Visit www.my5starreview.com for more information.

As the holidays approach we are annually bombarded with ads for weight loss programs, diets and clinics to help take off the extra pounds that we are expected to gain over the season of festivities. Many people take the opportunity of a New Year’s Resolution to make the decision to join a weight loss group program for support in their efforts to lose weight or at least begin a healthier lifestyle.

While many people dismiss the idea of joining a support group style health program, most will find that this is just the motivation they need to stick to a regimen of healthy dieting and exercise.

Support and Peer Pressure

The major weight loss clinics that require attendance at regular “meetings” to weigh in and get one on one counseling in their weight loss goals are actually the most successful and sustainable of the weight loss programs. People who find success with this style of weight loss aid are usually the type that needs the motivation of subtle peer pressure to keep them on the program.

Clients will attest that knowing that they will have to get on a scale at the end of the week is a strong motivational tool, when just doing it for themselves seems to lose its urgency after a few weeks. The ultimate goal is the same, the patient is there to lose weight and if it takes the praise and pressure of a group environment to accomplish a healthier lifestyle, so be it.

The support group style of weight loss clinic is also just that – a support group. It is much easier to engage in a program of diet and exercise knowing that you are with others who are struggling toward the same goals as you are. The group is with you to cheer on your achievements and help revive your drive to succeed in your weight loss goals when there is a setback. The group will be lead by a clinical dietitian who will initially be conducting weekly “classes” to teach the participants about the foundations of metabolism and nutrition, in addition to providing one on one advice about dieting as the weeks go by and a pattern of weight loss or gain is being established for each participant.

A possible drawback to this style of weight loss program is that many participants find that they have to remain in the program for most of their life. Not necessarily on a weekly basis, but most participants will find that they must still attend meetings at a regular interval to stay in tune with updates to the nutritional information and to stay motivated to maintain their new healthier lifestyle.

Remember, this type of weight loss program works well for a certain type of individual with a particular type of personality. Since the core personality of the participant is not going to change after the weight is lost, the continuation of attendance in the program may become a way of life to maintaining a healthy weight. Fortunately, most find friendships within the program structure that last a lifetime!

Exercise is a very important part of any weight loss program. But with our busy and ever changing schedules, we all search for exercises which will help us lose weight quickly. But there are quick and simple exercises to lose weight quickly which we will share with you in your quest.Losing weight quickly can be misleading.  The goal for a healthy weight loss program is to lose 1-2 lbs per week. If you are just beginning to lose weight, aim for up to 2 lbs of weight loss in your initial weeks.  However, after 6-8 weeks, strive for a realistic goal to lose at least 1 lb of weight every week.  Never try to lose weight by drastically restricting your caloric intake.  If you do, you risk weakening your immune system. Remember, a healthy weight loss program will boost your Immune system and not starve it.Here is a list of 5 exercises to lose weight quickly.  They include both aerobic and strength training which can be done in the comfort of your home.Exercise 1: Jumping jacks: Jumping jacks is an excellent complete body aerobic workout  that can be done anywhere. Do 4 or 5 sets of 20 jumping jacks, or as needed..Exercise 2: Fast walking: Normal walking is great aerobic exercise, but  fast  (brisk)  walking is even better for burning fat.  Be sure to stretch first and warm up prior to walking. Exercise 3: Pushups: Pushups falls into the category of strength training: your arms have to support up to 70% of your body weight. Strive to complete 2 or 3 sets of 20 pushups to build arm strength and increase your heart rate.Exercise 4: Squats:  The largest muscles in your body are your buttocks and leg muscles..  Each day stand in front a mirror and put your feet at shoulder width while facing forward and repeatedly squat down-and-up 10-20 times for 2 or 3 sets. Feel the burn while building your leg and buttock muscles. This is one of the best exercises to lose weight quickly. Exercise 5: Stepping: Stepping is a excellent way to increasing your heat rate and burn calories. You can use your stairs at home, but for best purchase specialized stackable step mats and stack them up to at least 15 inches. Do 2 to 3 sets of 20 steps each to begin. As you continue to use these 5 exercises to lose weight quickly, your body will continue to benefit from both aerobic exercise and strength training for years to come.  Best of all, you will look and feel better, become healthier and increase your longevity.Stay motivated and add more exercise to your program as you gain stamina.

When engaging in any sort of behavioral change, it is vital to the success of the endeavor that you develop some sort of system of accountability. When you know that you have to report your daily habits, your tendencies will tend to be modified.
When you establish your accountability system, you can set it up so that you are accountable to yourself, to someone else or to both. The methods by which you record your habits are very similar for both internal and external communications. It is necessary, however, that you commit yourself to being entirely honest with your report. Know that the honesty of your report will lead to a change in your overall body weight.
Here are some general methods of accountability that you can use:
Chat it up with a “Buddy”
Find a “buddy” that you can develop a sustainable weight-loss relationship with. Speak with that partner via phone or email several times a week with updates on your individual weight loss routines. Sometimes all you need to make it through a challenging period in your dieting or weight loss is someone to chat with about the challenges you face.
Friday Fess-Up
Weigh yourself each Friday morning. Send the number to your “weight loss buddy” and have your “weight loss buddy” send you her number. Knowing that at the end of each week you will have to report your weight will help you to stay focused on your goal of dropping a healthy 2 pounds a week. You will also have an opportunity to gauge your success against your partners.
The end-of-week fess up can become a small competition between the two of you to see who was able to lose the most weight over the course of the week. By weighing in on Friday, you will also be encouraged to maintain a healthy routine over the weekend.
Chart Your Intake
If controlling the amount of food that you eat is important to your weight loss routine, then chart the number of calories that you eat on a daily basis. Separate a sheet of paper into columns – one for each day. Record each piece of food that you eat along with the caloric content. At the end of the day, tally your calories. Compare the tally against what is recommended by doctors for your weight and body type.
You can either compare this chart with a buddy or retain it for your internal use. Either way, you will have a record of the food you eat to keep you on the right track when preparing and eating food.
Make it Public
Many people have found that participating in public bogs helps them in their weight loss. When you post each day or week what your activities and foods have been, you are opening your lifestyle to critique from readers. Readers can suggest healthy methods to change some of your habits and can offer general encouragement. Take a look around on the Web for the blog that is right for you. Some are more helpful than others.
Most importantly, remember that you are primarily accountable to yourself and to your future. A healthy weight loss plan will help you maintain and active, happy life. A little accountability now will reap larger rewards years down the line. Go ahead: engage.

And that simple tip is having a time once a week to eat as much as you like. The more, the better. Yes, you hear it right! it is best if you have more than a couple weeks left to lose weight before wedding.

If you watch what you eat, workout every day and two weeks later you do not see anything new on the scale, you must be doing something wrong. But you can fix it! To lose weight before wedding, you really need a diet.

But when you diet, your leptin (leptin is a hormone produced by fat cells that helps regulate appetite and promotes normal insulin activity) levels drop down. And this means, your metabolism does also! It slows down, and you start burning less calories than you could. But when you overeat, your leptin levels spike and your body raises your metabolism. You can use this to your benefit to lose weight before wedding!

So here is what you can do: choose one day to pig out. Eat whatever you like and as much as you really want to.

Just a little constraint to lose weight before wedding – do not pig out all day. Choose just one meal. And after that one meal, get back to your usual weight loss program. You might notice a slightly higher number on the scale the next morning, but this is a temporary result, it will drop down quickly!

It is best if you choose the time to pig out in the morning – because your metabolism is higher in the morning compared to any other time of the day.

This simple thing can help you to lose weight before wedding and shrink your waist easier.

I desperately wanted to lose weight before wedding, and I lost over 20 pounds in about 6 weeks. If you would like to know what helped me, read my personal story about what I did to lose weight before wedding.

If you know anything about LA Weight Loss, then you may know that it is one of the biggest weight loss centers in the world. With approximately 900 locations in 48 states, as well as in Europe, Canada, and South America, this diet program is extremely popular all around the globe. Let’s take a look at why this is.
LA Weight Loss focuses on eating real foods from supermarkets, restaurants and even fast foods. It concentrates on reducing calorie intake by portion sizes, as opposed to, calorie counting. It allows you to eat most any kind of food. Counselors gather your information, such as, weight, height, exercise levels and medical history and formulate a personal program to fit your lifestyle.
You are offered a variety of food choices, even those from your favorite foods. They will provide you with a food and exercise program, as well as, counseling support to encourage you on your way to your desired weight. Sounds almost too good to be true, but the company advertises weight losses of 2 to 3 pounds every week as part of its success story.
How exactly does this program work? It is actually divided into three phases, the weight loss stage, the stabilization period and the maintenance period. The weight loss period is the time it will take for you to reach your dream weight. You will be given meal plans based on 1100 to 1800 calorie intake each day. The diet will consist of 45% carbohydrates, 35-40% protein and 15-20% fat. The meal plan will consist of a healthy balance of real foods to bring you down a few sizes.
Exercise is also very important during this phase. It is meant to bring a gradual weight loss that won’t harm your body. You will meet with a counselor up to three times a week during this period. The next stage is the stabilization period. This is usually six weeks long. During this time you will meet twice a week with a counselor with weigh-ins and reviews. The maintenance period consists of weekly counseling sessions to help you maintain your weight loss.
The advantages of this weight loss program are that they allow you to eat everyday foods and make it possible to eat out. The key is portion controls and healthy cooking. You don’t have to count calories and individual sessions and weigh-ins will maintain your privacy. Why wouldn’t anyone want to be a part of this? Well, there are some disadvantages. It is a really expensive weight loss program. In addition, the counselors are usually not dieticians, but former LA weight loss members who are paid commissions on sales of LA supplements and snack bars. Consequentially, there is a lot of pressure to buy these items. Costs of these additional items are often hidden when initially signing up. Also, the cost of the entire program is usually required to be paid in full at the start up.
The LA Weight Loss program will allow the average person to lose weight in a healthy, gradual manner. Be cautious however of any diet which allows a calorie intake of less than 1200 calories per day. Health professionals promote a diet of between 1200 and 1500 calories. This is a safe diet plan that would be similar to that of a nutritionist. If you have the money to invest in this weight loss program and you need the individual attention to keep motivated, you probably will lose the weight. Just be prepared for some heavy sales pitches and extra costs associated with supplements.

3,500 calories to burn a pound of weight from your body. That is how many additional calories you have to burn for every pound of weight you wish to lose.A common question among those who are overweight is “how can I lose weight quickly?” No thought is given to how many years it took to accumulate the weight and that just possibly it could take just as long to lose it.However, It is possible to increase the rate at which you lose weight. All you have to do is increase the number of calories you burn each day and make sure they are more than the calories you take in.You have 3 main body functions that need energy to work.

1. Your Life Force.Your body functions whether you are awake or not. To function it needs energy. It gets this energy by burning calories. The action of burning calories to keep your body humming along is called your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and approximately 30% of calories consumed by your body are used for this function.

2. Physical Activity. Body movement, hands, arms, legs etc., over and above the automatic life sustaining BMR actions your body makes. These actions burn about 60% of the calories your body takes in.

3. Dietary Thermogenesis. This is the action of burning calories during and immediately after the act of eating which enables the body to eat, digest, use and absorb the food. Approximately 10% of the calories burned by your body are used in this function.

How then does all of this help us to lose weight quickly, given that you need to burn 3,500 calories to burn a pound in weight?

The experts recommend losing no more than 1 to 2 pounds a week. This translates to burning an additional 3,500 to 7,000 calories a week. Breaking it down this eqates to between and 500 and 1,000 calories to lose daily.

It gets even easier to lose the weight if you choose to split this amount into calories you want to burn off with additional activity and calories you want to lose by reducing your intake through better eating.

Within these parameters losing weight does not get much simpler than that. How quickly you can lose weight then is dependant on how committed you are.

Here are 3 strategies for losing weight you can start using today.

1. Exercise – 20 to 30 minutes, 3 to 4 times a week, of aerobic exercise like brisk walking, swimming, jogging or aerobic training, all of which will increase your heart rate. High intensity workouts of a sustained nature like these keep your body burning fat long after finishing the exercise.

2. More Meals – 5 smaller  meals eaten during the day allow your metabolism to burn fat faster that larger less frequent meals do. Smaller, regular meals also allow you to keep hunger pangs and potential binge eating in check.

3. Spicy Food – research has shown spicy food can boost your metabolism by up to 50% for anything up to 3 hours after finishing your meal. Chillies are particularly good at this.

With little effort these strategies can be put into effect and your life can start changing for the better very quickly. You can lose weight quickly but only if you consistently work at it.

These strategies will help you achieve your weight loss goals.

You do not have to be one of the many who are dissatisfied with what they weigh and how they look. Did you know that four out of five American women are unhappy with how they look?

On any given day one in four American men and and 50% of American women will be dieting. Of those who are dieting 95% will regain the weight they lose, plus an extra couple of pounds, within two years of completing their weight loss program. Only 5% manage to lose weight and keep it off. Find out HERE how you can be one of the 5% who not only lost weight, and achieved the slimmer, more attractive body look they desperately wanted, but also managed to keep their trim looks.

If you are like me, you have probably been through all this before, the family wedding is coming up next month and you can’t seem to fit into that suit or dress because you have put on too much weight. So you must lose at least ten or more pounds quickly.

Losing weight quickly is not advisable as most of the loss will be muscle tissue and water; you put on the weight slowly (usually over years) so normally you should take it off slowly and then you will know that the majority of the loss will be body fat.

But you have a problem here and the clock is ticking so you will have to diet pretty hard to meet your target weight loss. Let’s look at that first, you all know that diets don’t work; they send the body into starvation mode, a survival mechanism from long age when humans faced periods of famine.

Going too low in calories causes the body to lower its metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat. At the same time, hunger signals increase and you quickly start to crave high-energy foods loaded with fats and sugar, the same foods you are trying to do without.

Research shows repeated dieting actually makes it harder to lose weight and easier to put it on because when you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits the drop in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old habits actually represent an excess in calories.

Not only do you regain the fat stores just lost, but also you may even gain an extra bit.

Knowing this, you really don’t want to put yourselves through this rigorous process, but for this special occasion you will. First though, you will have to boost the metabolism that has been lowered by the dieting.

To do this you will have to perform a “Strength Training” workout to generate that initial spike in your metabolism. By increasing the lean muscle on your body by using Strength Training, your metabolism will increase, burning fat along the way.

The strength training technique I use requires just twenty to thirty mins per week. Gone are the days of the five-day a week program with 6 to 12 sets per body part that, method has never worked.

One short intense strength-training workout a week will elevate your metabolism more than you ever thought possible.

While the calories expended doing exercise are important, the increase in metabolism especially after strength training continues long after the exercise is finished, burning calories at the same time.

The two main components of this technique are the intensity of the exercise and the recovery after the exercise.

Infrequent, short, high intensity weight training sessions, followed by the required amount of time to recover and become stronger is what is needed to increase functional lean muscle and lose body fat.

Small frequent meals should be consumed during the day each containing a little protein to maintain muscle mass and energy levels. A high quality broad-spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement should also be taken on a daily basis.

As before get the calories from high quality food but if you can’t, utilize a blender to make concoctions from skim milk with whatever additives you want to use, just as long as you keep count of the calories for your daily total.

Now use these blender mixtures and solid food for your daily feedings. Spread it out over many small meals a day instead of the traditional three meals a day. The way to keep track of weight loss is to buy a calorie counter and record your daily calorie intake for a week.

Now average out how many calories you consume a day with the use of a seven-day eating plan and calorie counter, once you have this figure subtract 1000 calories and this will be the target number of calories you will be aiming for.

Remembering that one-pound of fat contains 3500cals, losing 1000 calories a day will total 7000 for the week, which equals two pounds lost by dietary means alone. Another technique for low calorie eating is to watch your fat intake as this has the most calories.

Incidental activity is also very important if you want to lose this amount of weight in this short period of time, by increasing incidental activity you can burn at least another pound a week The best exercise for the purpose of fat-loss is fast walking either indoors on the treadmill or outdoors.

Walk until you are mildly puffing and hold that rate until the allotted time. If your aerobic activities leave you panting or breathless, your going too hard, your energy is coming from your carbohydrate reserves and not from your fat stores. Try fast walking for one hour a day every day of the week.

Well there you have it, as an experienced trainer I wouldn’t recommend this type of program to my clients. The weight loss is just too quick and the program would be very hard to maintain owing to the very low caloric intake.

I advise my clients to decrease their calories by just 500 per day (and no more) below their maintenance levels and they will be losing 1 – 2 pounds of body fat every week, safely, without craving and without too much disruption to their lifestyle.

In conclusion remember, think long term here and that’s between 30 and 50 pounds of fat lost in six months. Any faster and all you will be losing is water and precious muscle tissue.