Weight Loss

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The Pitfalls of Weight Loss Programs and Diets

Most diet and weight loss programs have a depressingly high failure rate, with people either never reaching their weight goals or reaching them and regaining all the weight they lost (and sometimes more) in about one year.

Getting the weight off fast is so desirable that many of us are willing to sacrifice health and ignore common sense in the hope that some new weight loss program or scheme will work. This pipe dream can unfortunately outweigh the negative consequences. So let's examine the downside of dieting.

What Is An Unhealthy Weight Loss Program?

* Any weight loss program that is not nutritionally sound;
* One that works against what the body naturally needs like vitamins, minerals, and a minimum number of calories a day;
* One that requires you to go without eating (for example, fasting or meal replacement drinks);
* One that puts your body into an unnatural state, such as starvation or ketosis.

Your body can only lose a few pounds a week on a consistent basis. If you lose more than that initially, it's likely just water loss. So any weight loss program that promises you will lose five pounds a week, or 25 pounds in 3 weeks, is guaranteeing you will be losing water and muscle mass not fat.

Almost every popular weight loss program out there falls into one of the following diet categories: low calorie diets, meal replacement drinks, packaged foods, unbalanced nutrients, and ketosis diets. Let's see how they stack up.

LOW CALORIE DIETS

Whenever you drastically reduce your calories, the body enters an unnatural state and its defenses kick in. So when calories drop below, say, 1000 calories a day, your metabolism will shut down in an effort to conserve energy. And weight loss with a sluggish metabolism is very difficult.

Your body will start using muscle tissue to provide energy, which again leads to a decrease in the metabolism. Taken to an extreme, the body will break down its vital parts (such as the heart muscle) trying to meet its energy needs.

In addition to these drawbacks, trying to maintain the weight loss over time is nearly impossible because your body is now used to making do with very few calories. Going back to "normal" eating causes the weight to pile back on.

For this reason, low cal weight loss programs rarely work over the long haul.

MEAL REPLACEMENT DRINKS

One of the most unnatural things for your body is to go without solid food, which is what meal replacement plans ask it to do. Some people think that dieting will be easier if they aren't confronted with daily food choices and the pounds will just fall off. This may be true while they are on the liquid diet. But what about afterwards?

Where will the good eating habits come from after you've lost the weight? This is something that takes time, practice and knowledge. Dieters need to establish a healthy attitude towards a life-long eating plan. And no "fad" weight loss program or liquid lunch can help you with that.

Getting hooked on meal replacements can become a destructive way to view food. It often leads dieters to fear food or binge to "feed" their cravings after a long period of deprivation. And that's just the psychological side of the equation.

The lack of fiber in such weight loss programs can be a threat to good physical health. And when the body is denied enough solid food, the intestines go into overdrive absorbing calories and nutrients. This helps you during the diet period, but later it makes it much easier to regain the weight.

Another yo-yo weight loss program that hurts you in the end.

UNBALANCED NUTRIENT PLAN

Be cautious about any weight loss program that has strict rules about good foods and bad foods. Sure, high fat and high sugar foods might be considered bad for the waistline, but moderation not abstinence is key to success.

Why? Because eating the same foods every day (say, grapefruit or high protein meals) is going to result in two things: nutritional imbalance and boredom.

All foods are made up of the same nutrients in different amounts: fat, carbohydrates, and protein. It is the right proportion of these nutrients that will bring about weight loss - not the avoidance of "bad" foods and the consumption of only "good" or magical foods.

In the world of dieting, no one food or nutrient group is magical. Variety and moderation are the keys to a healthy diet and a successful weight loss program.

PACKAGED FOODS

To stay at your ideal body weight, you have to learn how to make proper food choices. By following a packaged food weight loss program you are postponing the inevitable, and spending plenty of $$$ in the process.

Another problem with this kind of weight loss program is that the foods provided are not always healthy. Read the package label and you will see chemicals, preservatives, sodium, sugar and saturated fats. And when all you can eat is packaged food, how do you plan meals with other people? Going out to restaurants and parties and enjoying family meals becomes a big hassle.

Your weight loss program then becomes a burden, not only to you, but to those around you.

KETOSIS DIETS

Ketosis has been defined as:

"An abnormal condition marked by excessive production of ketone bodies. Often caused by high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet."

Atkins and certain other weight loss programs are based on the principle of restricting carbohydrates to the point that the body enters into ketosis. On the surface, a ketogenic diet seems to work for two reasons: First, you'll lose large amounts of weight, which is very pleasing to the dieter. Secondly, you don't experience hunger.

But there are serious drawbacks. Your weight goes down due to water loss (which occurs when you restrict carbohydrates) and a loss of lean muscle tissue. This is NOT true, lasting weight loss.

The loss of appetite comes from having ketones building up in the body, which can harm your health. Side effects of a ketosis weight loss program can include fatigue, kidney stones, gout, and muscle loss. The longer you follow such a diet, the greater the risk to your health.

Clearly not a wise choice of weight loss program, not for the short term or the long.

WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM QUESTIONNAIRE

There are always new weight loss programs coming onto the market and going in and out of style. To evaluate if a weight loss program is healthy and sensible for you, ask yourself the following questions:

* Is the plan nutritionally sound?
* Will it help improve my weight, metabolism, cholesterol level, blood pressure, energy level, and general health?
* Will I be eating real food and not have to buy special formulas, drinks, etc?
* Will I be eating a wide variety of foods rather than just a few "diet" foods?
* Am I allowed to have some treats and eat my favorite foods?
* Can I eat out in restaurants, have a glass of wine with dinner, or some dessert?
* Can I follow this weight loss program without it interfering with my lifestyle?
* Can I lose weight without feeling hungry?
* Will l develop eating habits for life-long weight control with this weight loss program?
* Is this the last diet I will ever need to finally reach and maintain my ideal weight?
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Why Losing Weight is Good

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There is a great benefit acquired from losing weight. Though losing weight is not easy, the long term effects brought by it would probably be of help to anyone considering to shed those unwanted and unhealthy pounds.

The following are a few of the remarkable advantages from losing those excess weight.

Weight loss prevents high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke

That is a three in one benefit from losing weight. It is a fact that heart disease and stroke are one of the primary reasons for disability and death in both men and women in the US. People who are overweight have a higher risk to have high levels of cholesterol in their blood stream as well as triglycerides (also known as blood fat).

Angina, one type of heart disease, could cause chest pains as well as a decrease in the oxygen pumped to the heart.

Sudden death also occurs from heart disease and stroke, and usually this strikes with very little warning, signs and symptoms.

It is a fact that by decreasing your weight by a mere five to ten percent, this could positively decrease the chances of you having or developing heart disease or a stroke. Plus, how your heart functions would also improve as well as your blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride count will decrease.

Weight loss prevents type 2 diabetes

Diabetes puts in jeopardy one’s life as well as how one leads his or her life because of the complications that result from having it. Both types of diabetes, type one and type two are linked with being overweight. To those who already have diabetes, regular exercise and losing weight could help in controlling your blood sugar levels as well as the medication you may be currently taking. Increase your physical activity. You could simply walk, jog or dance. It helps get those blood streams moving as well as lose those unnecessary pounds.

Weight loss helps reduce your risk for cancer

Being overweight is linked with a number of kinds of cancer. Specially for women, the common types of cancer that is associated with being overweight include cancer of the uterus, gallbladder, ovary, breast, and colon. This is not meant to scare you, this is only to keep you informed. Men are at risk too from developing cancer if they are overweight. These include cancer of the colon, prostate and rectum. Extra weight, a diet high in fat and cholesterol should as much as possible be avoided.

Weight loss reduces sleep apnea

Or it could eliminate it all together. Sleep apnea is a condition wherein one could temporarily stop breathing for a brief period and then would continue to snore heavily. Sleep apnea could cause drowsiness or sleepiness during the day and – because of being overweight – could result in heart failure. Shedding those excess pounds could help in eliminating this problem.

Weight loss reduces the pain of osteoarthritis

When one weighs heavily, the joints of his or her knees, hips and lower back would have to exert double – if not triple – effort to carry him or her through out his / her waking, walking and moving life. This could cause tension and stress on these joints. Weight loss decreases the load these joints carry thus decreasing – if not eliminating – the pain of one who has osteoarthritis.

Hypnosis Weight Loss: Some Ways to Stop the Weighting

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Controlling your weight and avoiding weight gain as you get older are important ways to prevent a host of weight-related health problems.

Indeed, if you are more than 20 pounds over your ideal weight, you are at greater risk for a rogues’ gallery of potentially deadly conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, endometrial cancer, obstructive sleep apnea, and breast cancer.

What’s more, most people who are overweight tend to avoid exercise, and that avoidance just adds to the toll paid for extra pounds.

If you have a sedentary lifestyle and are overweight, you are at a higher risk of cardiovascular disease and other health problems. And, if you already have a medical condition such as high cholesterol, being overweight puts you at higher risk for complications.

The good news is that even modest amounts of weight loss can improve your health significantly. Loss of 10% of body weight can reduce blood pressure, high cholesterol, triglyceride, and high blood sugar levels.

Today, there are many procedures that can contribute and help people loss weight effectively. One of the known procedure in losing weight is through hypnosis.

However, many misconceptions have come up with regards to the application of hypnosis in losing eight. And because it does not involve drugs or any kinds of medications and surgery, many people tend to think that losing weight through hypnosis seems to be one of the safest weight loss program.

To know more about hypnosis and its effects on losing weight, here is a list of some facts that will give you an insight about what it can do to your body weight.

1. Hypnosis can be an imminently risky if not done properly and not utilize by people who are highly trained with the real concept of hypnosis.

Even if many people tend to think that hypnosis will not pose imminent danger to their health, still, it is important to know that the person who will do the procedure is skilled enough and that he or she knows what factors to consider before doing the procedures.

2. Hypnosis alone cannot eliminate excess fat from the body and, therefore, make somebody lose weight.

Most health experts contend that hypnosis should only be a part of a whole assimilated process. It should never be used as the sole weight loss procedure.

Moreover, one session of hypnosis will only have very minimal results on an individual’s weight. When losing weight, hypnosis matched with psychotherapy will be more effective than hypnosis alone. This is because hypnosis is only a state of deeply relaxing the mind, in which one can still be in control of his or her own body.

3. Hypnosis is one way of getting into the subliminal state of a person. When a person is on the “hypnotic stage,” the body is more responsive to suggestibility because of its intensified state of concentration.

However, this does not necessarily mean that through hypnosis, one can already “reprogram” the mind of an individual.

In reality, hypnosis can only run the range from trouble-free relaxation condition to proper initiation managed by a professional hypnotists. Hence, it should not be considered paranormal and magical in its upshots.

Boiled down, people should be more aware that hypnosis is not a sole effective process in losing weight. It is more of a facilitator of various treatment techniques.

Therefore, it should be combined with other weight loss management program to be effective in making people lose excess weight. In this manner, people will be able to lose more weight with a more relaxed and refreshed state of mind.

As they say, a healthy mind is a healthy body.