Archive for category Health

How to Calculate a Calorie Deficit

Posted by admin on Sunday, 15 May, 2011

Diet menus are quite specific on the amount of calories the person consumes in every meal throughout the day. Weight-conscious individuals are familiar of maintaining a calorie intake that is less than the number of calories they have to burn, which is related to the concept of calorie deficit.

What is Calorie Deficit?

Simply put, calorie deficit is the difference between the number of calories the person takes in and the amount of calories that are burned through daily physical activities. A good example is if you eat a 2,000 calorie-meal but you tend to burn 3,000 calories on a daily basis, then your calorie deficit is 1,000.

Importance of Calorie Deficit

Ask a nutrition expert about calorie deficit and you’ll see how vital it is. The size of the deficit would determine the number of pounds or kilos you lose every week. Creating this would force the body to use up its energy supply, leading to considerable weight loss.

Calculating Calorie Deficit

Counting the deficit is easy. Just remember that in order to lose a pound, you need to burn 3,500 calories, which can be broken down into 500 calories a day. Burning 500 calories each day of the week is not a hard task, just as long as you make the commitment to be physically active.

Ideal Ways to Achieve Calorie Deficit

Attempting to burn 500 calories is best achieved through a regular cardio workout mixed with strength training. With heart-pumping fitness regimens involved, you can be sure of burning those calories to lose weight. There are many exercises that can help you lose 500 or more calories, such as basketball, tennis, biking and running.

It is also worthwhile to check food labels, just to stay on the safe side on the nutritional content. Some foods have large amounts of calories that may result to weight gain, in the absence of exercise.


Top 5 Dieting Habits For Steady Weight Loss

Posted by admin on Wednesday, 19 January, 2011

To some, losing weight is synonymous to deprivation of food, fad diets, and weight loss supplements, aside from doing heavy exercises. But ask any nutrition expert and you’ll find out that these popular methods don’t help at all. Instead, they can even pose some health risks and aggravate your situation. The healthy way to achieving stead weight loss is through good dieting habits. Let me go ahead and discuss with you the top 5 dieting habits to help you lose those unwanted pounds.

Daily Diet Monitoring
One way of achieving a steady weight loss is by monitoring your daily diet. You can do this by simply counting the calories that you’ve consumed for the day. By doing this, you would know if you still have enough room for eating another meal.

Eat Healthy
Another great habit that you might want to look into is to eat healthy foods rather than to eat less. This simply means that you would need to change your diet by eating the same amount of food but choosing from the healthier alternatives instead of eating the same food in lesser quantities. For instance, instead of feasting on fries, you can eat mashed potato instead.

Avoid Empty Calories
In order to lose weight, you should avoid foods that are considered as empty calories. These are foods that contain a lot of sugar. A few examples of these are sodas and bread made of flour.

Drink Lots of Water
Drinking lots of water keeps you hydrated and flushes out the nasty toxins in your body. Aside from that, it aids in weight loss by making you feel full faster. This can help compensate for the lesser food intake that you are currently doing and will also keep you from eating too much.

Eat Regularly
Never skip your meals, especially breakfast. People who tend to skip meals are more prone to overeating. Instead, you should aim to eat regular meals with the right food choices in the right quantities.

Learn more about this at a certified personal trainer


Common Dieting Mistakes You Should Avoid

Posted by admin on Wednesday, 19 January, 2011

Losing weight and keeping it takes a lot of grit and guts. It involves the great and challenging process of going on a healthy diet and undergoing regular physical exercises, as well as other types of fitness regimens. For most people, this will work out perfectly. However, others are not lucky enough. The main reason? These people are doing it all wrong when it comes to dieting. Here are some dieting mistakes that you should avoid in order to achieve your weight loss goals.

Removing Dairy Products from Your Diet Plan

Most people on a diet have this misleading belief that dairy products should not be included in their daily diet plans. While it’s true that dairy products are mostly high in fats, there are also some that contain just a considerable amount like skimmed milk and natural yogurt. They should be incorporated in diet menus because these dairy products are rich in calcium, which is a big help in the fat-burning process. So, be sure to include selected dairy products in your dieting regimen!

Skipping Meals as a Dieting Measure

Skipping meals does more harm rather than good, yet many people still fall prey to this belief.  Most dieters have the notion that skipping meals will help them to lose weight and cut on the calories. However, this is not entirely true.  Instead of losing the flab, it’s your metabolism that will waver and diminish.  The result? You will feel inactive and have a loss of energy during the entire day. This, in turn, will lead you to overeat during night time and go on a binge. This is a true danger zone because it will not only make you feel bad about yourself later on but it will also mean that you have failed in your dieting goals.


Why Your Diet Plan Isn’t Working (and How to Fix It)

Posted by admin on Wednesday, 24 November, 2010

Balance DietWhen you’ve decided to adopt a diet plan that has worked with your colleagues and friends who were able to successfully shed off unwanted pounds, it can be frustrating if you notice that it’s barely making any difference for you after days or weeks. Taking out any medical or health conditions that may distinguish your body constitution from that of your friends, here are some possible culprits as to why your diet menus seem to be failing.

You’re not really serious and you’re cheating
Dieting requires a determined consistency of to stick to your daily diet regimen.  If you’re not that serious and cheat every now and then, you could lose 2 pounds one week and regain all of it the next by indulging in your favorite treats.

You’re not drinking enough water
Regardless of your diet, drinking at least 8 glasses of water each day ensures that your body can flush out the excess fat and toxins that need to be eliminated.

You’re not getting enough sleep
Taking enough rest and sleep is the only way that your body can rejuvenate itself from daily stress, which includes the dieting and exercise regimens you undergo to reduce weight.  Having enough sleep actually can burn fat as it repairs stressed tissues and muscles, which means that the metabolism continues while at rest. Not getting enough rest actually slows down the body’s metabolic rates, rendering your daily diet less effective.


Unrealistic weight loss goals

Nothing comes instantly in the health department. You can’t grow hair, banish pimples, or lose weight instantly.  Often, despite all the disciplined effort in sticking to your diet menus, you’ll end up frustrated. Not because it’s not working, but because you’ve set yourself to fail with unrealistic targets. Aiming to lose 10 lbs in a week is one sure way to fail.  But you can lose 3 pounds in that time, or you can lose 10 pounds in a month. It’s a matter of having realistic and achievable goals.


How To Choose The Right Diet Plan

Posted by admin on Wednesday, 24 November, 2010

Diet TipsGoing on diet can pose a real challenge, especially for people who are out of shape. While exercise is a good way to shed the extra pounds, it should be complemented with the right diet to be more effective. This article will give you handy tips on how to choose the right daily diet plans. Keep in mind, however, that it is always recommended to consult with a nutrition trainer expert.

Away from Fad, Go for Balance
There are many types of diets out there, from South Beach, to a Fruits and Vegetables diet, to a no-meat diet. But are you sure that they are nutritionally healthy? Although some people attest to their effectiveness, fad diets are not the way to go. They tend to be low calorie and high maintenance, which can be difficult to follow. The best thing to have is a balanced one. A balanced diet means that 40% of your intake should be carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, 30% should be protein, usually white meat in the form of fish or chicken, and 30% should be fats such as nuts and olive oils.

Breakfast and Fiber
Breakfast is usually the most neglected meal of the day, but it is also the most important since it provides you with the needed energy to perform your daily activities. Studies show that people who skip breakfast tend to consume more food late in the day. A good breakfast would usually consist of your favorites such as cereals and milk, or even egg white filled omelets and toast. Also, fiber is important in a diet since it improves digestion and prevents cancer and heart diseases. It also brings your cholesterol levels down.

Minimal Fatty Foods and Less Processed Foods
Part of a balanced meal is healthy fats. The Omega-3 fatty acids that are usually included in nuts, beans, and fish like salmon are good sources of unsaturated fat.  It doesn’t hurt to have these kinds of food. Processed foods are a no-no as they usually are too sugary or too salty.