Do NOT Exercise To Lose Weight With Us.

Yup... you read that right.
The title does sound slightly bonkers.
But, in my experience, it's true.
Here's why.
Most diets and weight loss sites talk about exercise in terms of 'burning calories'.
As in, if you run for 20 minutes you'll 'burn off' the chocolate chip cookie that accompanied your mid-morning cuppa.
Or, say you had a Big Mac for lunch? Well, a three-hour-run will 'cancel out' those calories.
But, by thinking of exercise as 'burning off' or 'cancelling out', you inadvertently reduce exercise to a numbers game.
The problem with thinking of exercise with this numbers mindset is that your workouts will be short-lived.
Very short-lived.
You'll give up.
You'll quit.
Exercising will feel like a torture session where you're 'make up' for the guilty pleasure of having eaten something yum.
And eating will seem like a naughty pleasure where X no. of cookies = Y no. of hours exercising.
Sound like fun, no? Ick.
It's very possible you've been there already. I know I have.
Clearly, exercise is huuuugely beneficial for shifting those extra kilos.
Where most people fail is this: weight loss is their singular reason for exercising. And so they run out of puff.
If you're one of the ones who runs out of puff where exercise is concerned, you need to change the way you view - and supplement your reasons for - exercising.
Here's how.
The real reasons to exercise.
Before I share the real reasons to exercise, here's a helpful aside that'll make a world of difference to how you view it.
Stop calling it exercise.
If you're like most people, exercise has "Eww... I'm all sweaty and puffed," negative associations. That's exactly why the majority of good folk eschew it.
Instead, replace the dreaded E-word with 'moving your body'. Our bodies are absolutely, brilliantly designed to do just that - move.
See, how suddenly it already feels more do-able just by changing what you call it?
Now, back to the real reasons for exercising Moving Your Body:
MYB lowers cortisol levels.
Cortisol is a stress hormone released by your body whenever you feel stressed. When your cortisol levels are elevated, your body tends to lay down fat, especially around your tummy.
MYB is the antidote for lowering your cortisol levels.
MYB increases your sensitivity to insulin. Increasing your insulin sensitivity sounds like it'd be a bad thing but it's not. Here's why.
The more you MYB, the more sensitive your muscles become to insulin, so your pancreas produces less insulin. Since insulin also instructs your body to lay down fat, less of it in your body, the better.
MYB increases feel good hormones.
When you MYB, you release some of the best stress-reducing drugs available - your body's own natural endorphins. The release of these natural opiates positively affects your mood, enhances concentration and enables you to sleep more soundly.
And, finally...
As if these weren't reason enough already... MYB increases your sex drive.
And, certain hormones released during exercise have been shown to slow - and even reverse - the aging process.
Yay!
To conclude.
If you've previously exercised to 'lose weight', stop it. It's doomed to fail. Like all those other times.
Instead, Move Your Body. Because it's terrific for you - and your brilliantly, intricately designed body - on so many other levels.
MYB every day and watch those extra kilos shift.
Love etc, Avril

Avril Carpenter helps women ignite their thinner sparkle. An expert in the psychology of weight loss she helps clients pinpoint what's going on between their ears that prevents them being their happy weight.
Clients discover that when their mindset is sorted, the number on the scale takes care of itself. Forever.
If you're ready to lose weight, look absolutely fabulous (daaarling) and ignite your thinner sparkle c'mon over to http://avrilcarpenter.com/
You'll find a bunch of F.R.E.E resources and weekly tips which you can apply immediately to get your thinner sparkle on. Your thinner-sparkly-self will thank you for it.

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Lose Weight? 3 Simple Steps to Begin!

!Hey, you there
Yes you, the one who is looking for a weight loss solution!
Why do you want to lose weight? There are a few reasons why people are seeking weight loss. But hang on, I have to clarify some myths:
1. You want to lose weight because people say you are fat.
2. You want to lose weight because you think you are fat.

No! You shouldn't lose weight just because you were perceived as 'fat'! A healthy weight is one that is maintained within the normal Body Mass Index (BMI) range of 18.5 to 24.9! BMI is calculated by using your body mass (kilograms) divided by the square of your height (meters). So if your BMI is within the normal range, you should seek to tone your body instead of losing weight!
For those who have a BMI of 25 or more, you should be looking to lose weight, because fit and healthy people are cool!
But first, you must ask yourself how did you gain all the weight in the first place? You like eating? So does everybody! Being able to eat your favourite food is probably one of the best feelings in the world! You get my drift.
And then you ask, "How can some of my friends who always eat all their favourite foods never be fat? It's not fair!"
Is it really not fair? Have you ever asked these people about their lifestyle? Do they exercise? If they do not exercise, what else do they do?
The reason why some people gain weight easily and others do not is the difference in our metabolism rate! Each and every one of our bodies are different, so our metabolism rate is also not the same. Your metabolism rate is affected by everything you do! From sleeping to even drumming your fingers on the table. The efficacy of your digestive system also accounts for your metabolism rate.
Now that you know a little bit more about weight gain, start to look back on your lifestyle. Have you previously lived a sedentary lifestyle? Would you rather wait 15 minutes for a 2-minute bus ride or just walk 15 minutes to the same destination? Walking is also a form of exercise in case you haven't realised. Exercise means to move. The key to lose weight is to move more! You can stop thinking about exercising if you don't like to exercise. Just think about moving more than you are doing now.
Without following an exercising routine, you can start off with these:
1. Take the stairs instead of the escalator or the elevator if you are not in any hurry.
2. Always walk to places within a 20-minute walking distance from your location instead of taking transport if you can spare the time.
3. Tidy up your house; doing housework whenever possible.
To some of you, taking these 3 simple steps may be compared to living in hell. To the rest of you, it may be a sudden realisation of how easy it is to 'exercise', to lose weight!

Ignatius Wong is an author from Losers Are Winners, a blog that focus on giving views and tips on health and weight loss. Visit http://losersarewinners.wordpress.com every week to find out new ideas and tips about weight loss!

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Three Reasons Why You're Probably Not Losing Weight

Many of us have battled with the age old conundrum of "Why when I'm doing everything right, am I still not losing weight?" It can be one of the most frustrating obstacles in life for many, often sufficient to cause some to completely give up on their weight loss goals due to not seeing results.
To use a common phrase; "barking up the wrong tree" may help shine light on the bigger picture. Basically it doesn't matter how much effort you're putting in if you're focusing on the controlling or reducing the wrong things. Hopefully the following pointers will help to keep you heading in the right direction:
1. You're probably focusing on the wrong thing!
Ever since the 1980's the word FAT has been viewed as a swear word, something to be feared and loathed. Everybody from Richard Simmons to Rosemary Conley has espoused the "Eat less fat and you'll be less fat" dogma.
After 20 odd years of people reducing fats and still getting fatter we've finally cottoned on to the fact that (largely in part to individuals such as Dr Atkins of the Atkins diet and Barry Sears of the Zone diet) fats are innocent and it's actually carbohydrates (aka "carbs") that are the villains who are wrapping all of this extra insulation around our ever expanding waistlines.
2. You probably don't understand exactly what a "Carb" is!
During my time as a fitness professional this is probably in the top 3 most common misconceptions I regularly come across. I'm going to set the record straight here and now; FRUIT & VEGETABLES ARE CARBS!
A large number of people think that these are food groups all of their own, but fruit and vegetables are carbohydrates.
If you look into the works of authors such as Loren Cordain (The Paleo Diet) and Robb Wolf ( http://robbwolf.com/ ) you will notice that these are the main types of carbs that our ancestors ate and that we have evolved to eat. That was until the mass production of grains (wheat etc) began with the advent of the agricultural revolution. Which also neatly coincides with the onset of many health-related diseases.
From the current research it's looking as if processed grains play a clear part in many of our health-related illnesses. The problem is that their availability is very widespread, as process grains such as wheat are in everything from cakes, biscuits and bread to pasta and pizzas.
3. You probably don't understand the effects of insulin on weight loss!
Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas and is essentially a storage hormone. Every time your body metabolises foods and releases among other things glucose into your bloodstream the pancreas secretes insulin to bring those sugar levels back down to normal. The greater the sugar release the more insulin needs to be secreted. To give an example a few biscuits would cause a significant spike in your blood sugar as opposed to an apple which would illicit a much more modest response (see the glycemic index)
The greater the spike in sugar levels the lower are brought back down, actually to below where they were initially. This will then result in your brain telling you to eat again to bring them back up again, thus setting off a chain of you feeling a desire to eat fast release types of foods (bread, cakes etc)
The double whammy is that as insulin is a storage hormone, whilst high levels of it are present your body not only will your system aim to extract and store as much fat as possible from the high GI food you have just eaten but your body will also not release any from it's fat stores.
In a nutshell, eating these high GI foods not only makes you fat, but it also makes sure you stay that way.
To conclude, try to do the following:
Aim to get the majority of your carbs from vegetables (especially lots of the leafy green alkalising ones)
Supplement your veg intake with limited amounts of fruits.
Steer clear of the bloodsugar-spiking carbs such as bread, pasta, cakes, sweets, fruit juices, soft drinks and sweets etc and you'll notice the pounds start to come off.
Don't worry about eating fats, they're essential to the body and actually help you lose fat. Just avoid the high omega-6 ones like processed vegetable oils and the trans-fats found in most junk foods.

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Shocking! The Real Truth About Women's Diet Plans

We've probably all heard about the Grapefruit Juice Diet, the Soup Diet, and all sorts of other diet plans. The names of these diets are well-known and easily recognized. They all have their fans and their detractors, and they all claim to have proof that they work well without damaging your health.
Here's some straight talk about diets: The only diet that will work for you is one that you can easily maintain and sustain without making any drastic changes to your lifestyle. None of these popular diets fit that description.
To be perfectly honest, none of these quick-fix, fad diets provide the nutrition you really need. This article is a gallery of some of the least healthful fad diets ever concocted, and the reasons why their outlandish methods of losing weight will never work for most people.
1. Grapefruit Juice
According to the Grapefruit Juice Diet, all you have to do to lose weight is eat whatever foods you like (as long as you eat more fats and proteins than carbs), while also drinking grapefruit juice at a rate of 64 ounces per day. In theory, the grapefruit juice and the protein will work together to boost your metabolism and burn more fat.
However, more objective scientists have shot down this theory by pointing out the complete lack of scientifically-valid research to prove that this plan actually works.
2. Baby Food
Tracey Anderson, who is a well-known trainer, designed the Baby Food Diet. It advises dieters to go through as many as 14 jars of baby food throughout their day, and conclude the day with a "real" dinner, if desired.
Baby food has a very small amount of calories, so, on some level, it makes sense that a diet like this would cause one to lose weight. On the other hand, critics have pointed out serious flaws in this approach to dieting. Namely, baby food lacks many of the nutrients that adults need, and this diet may increase the chances that the dieter will end up binging on junk foods.
3. Soup
There are a number of variations on the Soup Diet, most of them featuring chicken or cabbage soup. In every version, the basic idea is the same: Eat a normal breakfast, then eat nothing but soup for the rest of the day.
Simple? Definitely. Healthy? Not necessarily.
The basis of the Soup Diet is what is known as "caloric restriction." It focuses on forcing your body to burn fat by limiting the number of calories you take in, but does nothing to ensure that you're getting the nutrients your body needs to function optimally. Any diet that does not require you to eat foods that give you those nutrients is not to be trusted.
You may lose some weight while on a caloric-restriction-based diet like the Soup Diet, but you'll be harming your body by depriving it of nutrients. Not only that, but with diets like this one, there is a very good chance that you'll regain all that weight as soon as you go off the diet.
4. Cookies
The simple concept behind the Cookie Diet appears delicious at first: Every day, you eat 6 cookies, followed by dinner at the end of the day. The cookies, however, aren't much like anything your mom might have made. Most of them contain some type of meat protein (yes, really).
Some people have had success with this diet, but, again, their success is most likely because they consumed such a limited number of calories per day while on this diet - about 800 to 1,000.
The main problem with this diet plan is that you probably won't be able to stick to it for very long. The cookies aren't exactly great-tasting, and you'll probably experience cravings for "real" food before long.

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Rapid Weight Loss - Good or Bad?

If you're like most people who want to achieve fat loss, you want to reach your dream body - yesterday. You don't want to wait six months to 'take things slow', but rather, you want to be done with this dieting business once and for all.
You want results and you want results now.
If this speaks your language, it's time to rethink your approach. Far too many people get caught up in crash diets that promise ultra-fast results, but have little chance of ever helping you maintain that goal weight you're looking to achieve.
So let's take a quick peak right now at why rapid weight loss isn't the best route to take and why the slow and steady approach, at the end of the day, is actually the fastest route to true weight loss success.
Loss Of Lean Muscle
The very first reason why you should avoid rapid weight loss is because of the fact that losing weight too quickly is almost going to guarantee you that some of that weight will be muscle mass loss. When you are dropping pounds by the week, you're either losing water or lean tissues because your body thinks its starving and will be holding on to body fat with everything that it's got.
This is not the way to an attractive body.
Slowed Metabolism
The second reason to avoid rapid weight loss is because it's going to significantly slow down your metabolism. To achieve rapid weight loss you will have to use a very low calorie diet and your body will adapt quickly to this. When you're hardly feeding yourself any calories, the body knows it's time to conserve fuel and as such, will cause your metabolism to slow to a c-r-a-w-l.
This doesn't bode well in the war against the bulge. The best way to fast weight loss results is to maintain the fastest metabolic rate so that you can burn fat all day long.
Nutritional Deficiency
Finally, the last reason why rapid weight loss isn't the best choice to go is because it will set you up for nutritional deficiency. If you're only consuming 1,000 calories per day (or somewhere around that mark), you won't be taking in a good variety of foods and meeting all your nutritional requirements.
Over the long term, this could set you up for serious health issues.
Slow And Steady Wins The Race
So rethink your approach. Those who take things slower and put in the time and effort to do it correctly will actually reach their goals faster because of the fact they won't lose weight and the regain it right back as soon as they fall off their diet - and let's face it, those crash diets are impossible to stick with for more than a week or two at a time.
Be smart, have patience, and work hard. That is what will get you to your end goal.

Comprehensive and specific articles on Health & Fitness - http://www.myhealthandfitness.net.au

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How Not To Fail At Weight Loss

Many people on weight loss programs don't seem to be making any progress. They are at a loss as to why their diet isn't working. There are many reasons for this.
Making your diet work is like planting a garden. You need good soil and proper planning for it to grow. All to often diets stall for just these reason.
Taking weight loss serious is the most important thing you need to do. You must prepare yourself mentally so that you can stay focused on losing weight.
Make a commitment to lose weight, no matter what. You can't lose weight to please someone else. You must do it for yourself. Take the "I will" approach to weight loss. By saying you are going to try to lose weight, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.
Being inconsistent with your diet is yet another problem that leads to failure. Many of us eat properly during the week, then splurge on the weekends. A proper diet requires consistency in order to succeed. Those small snacks that you're eating on a regular basis add up and you soon find that your diet has failed.
Many people think that they can purchase healthy foods and lose weight but end up eating twice as much. This practice will not only result in no weight loss but most likely weight gain. Eating vegetables in their natural form is the best way to lose weight. Avoid eating processed foods at all costs.|
When on a weight loss program, your body requires that you flush if of all the unwanted toxins. It is vital that you drink plenty of water to complete this process. Research has determined that eight or more glasses of water everyday works best for completing this process.
Physical activity is paramount to losing weight. The choices of activities that you can participate in are limitless. A daily routine consisting of 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise is great for burning calories.
If you have reduced your caloric intake and you still aren't losing weight, chances are you aren't getting enough exercise.
Too much exercise can also create problems. Overdoing your exercise routine may send your body into an anaerobic state. This means your body is burning carbs rather than fat.
Try to maintain a heart rate of no more that 85% of your maximum for approximately 20 minutes. By doing this you will throw your body into an aerobic state, burning fat instead of carbs.
Getting enough rest with today's fast paced lifestyle is an issue for many of us. Often, not getting proper rest can bring your weight loss program to a screeching halt.
Focus and consistency are a must when attempting to lose weight. Often major events such as trying to stop smoking or illness can lead to the downfall of many weight loss programs. Try to keep life as simple as possible so you can remain focused on your goal.
Last but not least, set realistic weight loss goals. Having an unattainable goal will almost certainly lead to the downfall of your program.
Weight loss becomes much easier once you master these principles.

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