Do You Want To Lose Weight Or Live A Healthy Life?

Healthy living doesn't just happen. It requires information, planning and good products.

One of the things that surprised me when I began as a Personal Trainer was the number of people who looked slender and were at a "healthy" weight but were excessively fat. The scale said they were fiddle fit but their body fat measurements told another story. Weight and the ratio of fat to lean mass are different things entirely and the too often cited body mass index can be as misleading as helpful.

The lesson to be learned is that simply losing weight is no guarantee that your health is going to improve for the long term. Even a couch potato can lose weight by adequately adjusting their diet. However, the National Institutes of Health conducted a study in 2006 and found that people who control their weight by diet alone, do so at the expense of muscle mass, strength, and cardiopulmonary health.Recent studies have concluded that inactivity is equal to smoking as an indicator of heart disease risk. Weight loss by diet alone can significantly impact the way you look, but, the way you look is pretty insignificant in comparison to good health. There are abundant studies showing that moderately overweight persons who engage in regular adequate exercise are healthier than sedentary persons who maintain a healthy body weight.

Instead of focusing on weight loss, you will do much much more good for your health, and your appearance, if you will adopt a healthy lifestyle. When a healthy lifestyle is adopted, a healthy weight will be attained, the percentage of body fat will move toward the healthy range and strength, balance and cardiorespiratory fitness will improve as well.

When we are told we need to lose weight or summer is coming on and we decide for ourselves we need to lose weight, we immediately think of the greatest possible loss in the shortest possible time. After all, didn't Milly Model lose 90 pounds in only three months? Probably not regardless of the claims made. It is no easy task, as most of you know, to lose 10 or 15 pounds in a relatively short period of time, and it is much more difficult task to keep it off. It is much too easy to regain the lost weight. Their are a lot of reasons for that but they come down to the fact that you lost weight but you did not adopt a healthy lifestyle. The weight loss is over and you are back to the same lifestyle that put the weight on you in the first place. That is the only lifestyle you have habituated.

Adopting A Healthy Lifestyle
A healthy lifestyle is a lifestyle that maintains a balance of healthy eating, regular exercise and adequate rest (Yes, inadequate sleep will sabotage your weight - and your health.) Maintaining a healthy lifestyle isn't as difficult as it sounds. Suppose instead of attempting to lose weight, you cut out just 100 calories a day. We are talking only about 10 potato chips. There are about 10 calories per chip and 6 of those 10 calories is fat. I hope that just ruined your day. Can you live without 10 chips? Of course you can. You will hardly notice. It depends somewhat on where you get the sweet tea but there are approximately 200 calories in a 16 oz. (two cups)glass of sweet tea or soft drink. It really isn't going to disrupt your life to cut out a cup of sweet drink a day. The point is this: You can cut a hundred calories a day from you food intake without a noticeable disruption in your life.

Now, add a little exercise. If you really can't find time for the gym - I don't buy it but let's say that is true; walk. Most of us can walk. Walk 20 minutes a day and most will burn a hundred calories more or less. It never ceases to amaze me. Every day I see people driving around and around the parking area of the Y trying to find a parking space nearest the building so they don't have to walk so far to work out????? I don't even have words. If it is safe and the weather is nice, make a habit of parking at the far side of the parking lot whatever your destination. Anyone can fit a 20 minute walk or two 10 minute walks into their day.

KEEP A JOURNAL/LOG OF YOUR FOOD AND EXERCISE. Yes I shouted that. I know, it is an annoying little detail but the success rate of those who keep a journal is four times greater than the success rate of those who don't keep a journal.

Write me in a six months and tell me your success story.

The Perfect Exercise

Healthy living doesn't just happen. It requires information, planning and good products.

As a fitness professional I often hear people say, "I am too old to start exercising." or "I am too out of shape to start exercising." There are a few medical conditions that may stand in the way of starting an exercise program. Too old and/or too out of shape is simply an excuse to remain on the road to a health disaster.  There is no one to old or too out of shape to benefit from some form of exercise. When people say that they are equating exercise with all the huffing and puffing, sweating and groaning people they see pushing themselves to the limits. It they can do that, good for them.  But you don't have to push yourself to the limits to reap health benefits from exercise. There is a very simple exercise, done to some extent by almost everyone, that you can do to improve your health and your weight. It has been called "the perfect exercise." It is walking. Remember when you did that?

Weight Loss Without Dieting

Healthy living doesn't just happen. It requires information, planning and good products.


Is it really possible to lose weight without dieting? Yes, it is but before we explore that let's take a look at the basic components of any successful weight control program. Regardless of the tricks, secrets and miracles you find being promoted in advertising, there are basic rules to any weight loss effort that make the difference between success and failure.

It's Your Health, Get IT And Keep It

Why would you choose to live your last years of life debilitated, unable to do the things you want; donating your retirement income to doctors and medical medical professionals? Of course no one consciously makes that choice. Nonetheless, you make that choice when you choose

What Are Bad the Fats?

Not all fat is bad.  We all know that.  Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat is good and saturated fat is bad.  Right?  That is what we have been told for decades but is that right?Maybe not.  Recent studies, contrary to long accepted hypotheses, seem to indicate that there may be no bad fat except trans fat.  In proper amounts, no naturally occurring fat is bad whether it is on your body or in your plate.  That said, fats do have their negative side.

Let me make this clear first.  This is article is not an endorsement of indiscriminate fat consumption.   Fat is calorie dense having more than twice the calories per gram as protein and carbohydrates.  Any fat eaten in excess will pile the calories onto your plate and the fat onto your body and into your system.  Excess fat on your body and in your system has a well-established link to cardiovascular disease and, as it turns out, that may be the culprit in health issues and not dietary fat per se.


Has Saturated Fat Been Falsely Accused?
Saturated fat has long been considered the bad boy of natural fats.  Certain foods, red meats, pork, poultry with skin on and full-fat dairy products are high in saturated fats.  So we have been told to skin our chicken, minimize pork and red meat and substitute low-fat for everything dairy.  As it turns out, this advice may not have been as well founded as first thought.  The argument for minimizing, if not avoiding, saturated fat has been that saturated fat increases cholesterol thus raising the risk of cardiovascular disease. But does it really do that?


The answer to that question depends in part to the saturated fat in question.  Almost all the saturated fats consumed by humans consists of stearic, palmitic and lauric acid.   But are these really bad fats?  Perhaps not.  Whenever you consume stearic acid (found in animal fat), you liver converts it to oleic acid, the good monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. 


The other two saturated fats that usually are eaten by humans (lauric and palmitic) do in fact raise total cholesterol.  However, it raises both LDL and HDL so that the ratio of LDL to HDL (the marker that really matters) remains the same.  In other words, the outcome is neutral and not negative.



The conclusion to all this drawn by some is that it isn't the fat that is killing us; it is the lack of activity.  To support their conclusion they point to some of the African tribes whose diets consist of more than 50% fat and half that is saturated.  Yet for all that fat, heart disease is virtually unknown among them and they are among those having the lowest cholesterol.  I recall Joseph Weider noting this in an article almost five decades back and coming to the conclusion that the difference was the fact that they have no cars, TVs, convenience stores or pantries full of edibles high in calories and low in nutrients.


The Really Bad Fat
So who is the bad guy in all these fats?  The bad guy is trans fat.  (See Wikipedia for more on trans fat)  Trans fat is neither natural, necessary nor smart.  What is trans fat?  It is a natural fat that has been altered so that it remains solid at room temperature.   That means it is solid in your body which also happens to be within the room temperature range.  We do not yet know the precise biochemical processes that cause trans fats to produce high cholesterol and related health problems.  But the correlation between trans fat and health problems is to well established to ignore.  Just don't eat trans fat.


How do you know if it is trans fat?  If it is on the shelf and it isn't liquid, it is trans fat.  I the label doesn't specifically say "No trans fat"; assume it has trans fat.  It the restaurant doesn't advertise "No trans fat"; assume that they use trans fat.


Enjoy your natural fats in proper proportions, get the exercise you need, avoid trans fat and enjoy good health.

Is Eating Fat Really Bad For You?

You have all heard that eating fat is bad for you.  The current politically correct spin on fat is that eating fat will make you fat, clog your arteries, cause you to have heart disease; in short, fat will kill you.  Most of this information comes from those who are selling low-fat/non-fat diets.  The truth is that dietary fat is essential for your overall health.

The Truth About Fat

1. Fat does not make you fat.  The general perception is that your body stores dietary fat as body fat.  The truth is that your body doesn't just automatically store dietary fat as body fat.  It isn't eating fat that makes you fat.  Eating too many calories, whether they come from fat, protein or carbohydrates makes you fat.

2. That said, you should keep in mind that dietary fat is calorie dense.  One gram of fat has more than twice the number of calories as protein or carbohydrates.  There are 9 calories per gram of fat compared to 4 calories per gram of protein or cholesterol.  Too much fat is fattening because it is high in calories; not because it is mysteriously stored as fat in your body.

3. Dietary fat is essential for your overall health.  It is a primary component of every cell membrane in your body.  Far from killing you, the fact is that you cannot live without dietary fat.

4. Essential fatty acids or EFAs are just that; i.e. essential nutrients.   An essential nutrient is any nutrient required to maintain life and health that either can't be produce by your body or can't be produced sufficiently to maintain good health; in other words, they must come from your diet.

Continue to follow us on this series of articles on dietary fat and your health to learn more about the fats you should have in your diet, how much fat you should have in your diet, the health benefits of good fats and the fats you should avoid.

10 Easy Rules for Weight Loss

Managing your weight is easy once you get the hang of it. It is a matter of following a few simple guidelines. Here are ten rules to help with your weight management program.

1. The first rule, the most simple and the most violated, is that you save some of the elephant for tomorrow. The French eat a diet of very rich food but manage to stay trim. How do they do it?

How Do I Get Rid of Abdominal Fat?

Perhaps the most frequent question I get at the gym is this:  "Which machine is best for getting rid of this fat stomach?"  My answer is invariably the same;

Fat Fact and Fiction

There are a lot of myths about weight and fitness.  I will try to answer a few.

1.  Can I be fat and fit?  Some disagree with on this but the answer is No!  You may be fat and feel good.  You may be fat and have good aerobic conditioning.  You may be fat and strong.  But

Why Can't I Lose Weight?

"Why am I not losing any weight?"  Hands down, this is the most common question I get from my clients.  My answer is always the same: "You are taking in more calories than you are using."  It is that simple.  To some extent, not all calories are equal.  Nonetheless,

Lack of Water Sabotages Weight Loss and Health

Most people don't think of water as a nutrient but did you know your body is 75 percent water, that your brain is about 85 percent water and your blood is 90 percent water.  Knowing that, how important do you think water may be as a nutrient.  Water has a crucial role in your metabolism and your weight loss.  Not only is sufficient water necessary for efficiently burning calories but a lack of sufficient water will reduce your bodies abililty to