The `fast' way to weight loss

-Article from www.indiatimes.com

KANPUR: Navratras are here and so is the practice of observing fast for nine days. An ancient practice, fasting doesn't involve any elaborate preparations - you just have to say no to food. And in this age of fitness it is a healthy weight-loss option too.

"The holy and spiritual atmosphere during the nine-day Navratra radiates positive vibes giving energy to the individual to follow the healthy diet plan," believes 27-year-old, Vandana Bhalla who has been observing fast during Navratra for the last decade, despite being a working woman.

She adds, "The appeal lies in the fact that it is a quick method for substantial weight loss. One tends to take a limited diet during this period surviving on fluids, juices and liquids."

A limited diet coupled with more fluid intake surely does wonders in removing the extra flab from the body and that too without much effort. If the health experts are to believed, the liquid and fruit diet during the Navratras helps in avoiding the thoughtless eating which is usually done in normal days. Non-cereal meal during fasting is a good method of reducing the weight.

However, there is a downside to this trend too. The girls observing fast and depriving themselves totally of food often land up at the doctor's with stomach pain or other problems.

On the other hand, keeping in view the preference of the customers for `satvik' food during the ongoing `Navratra', the city restaurants and sweet shops too are making efforts to lure their customers by arranging for no-onion and no-garlic food.

---Catholics also have this kind of practice called the Holy Week, right? And they are also encouraged to fast during those "holy days." But I don't think it's a very good way to losing weight. I tried fasting a lot of times during my younger days but I always end up having stomach problems. I lose much of the energy needed to do a good job at work and my mood is also not very good most of the time. I'd rather exercise than starve myself.

Weight Loss: Effective Steps

---This is a good read from this link.

When you decide to bite the bullet and lose weight, setting weight loss goals can help. These four goals to weight loss success can not only help you with losing weight, but they can also help when you set goals for other things in your life as well such as a career change or changing a habit. Setting goals can help you achieve the things that you want in life. It provides an organized path that you can follow. If you set small goals on the way to achieving your larger goal, then the smaller goals can serve as benchmarks toward success. These steps will help you.

Step One; Make Small Changes

Think in the long term by being willing to settle for small changes in the short term. Small changes such as exercising three times per week or losing a pound every two weeks are very achievable. You can also set specific daily fat and sugar intake maximums as you learn to eat healthier. Start with easy goals to attain. Don't fall for quick results gimmicks such as weight loss pills. Make goals checklists on your calendar to check off upon completion and give yourself a sense of achievement. Don't set any goals for yourself that you will have great difficulty with at this point in your planning. You don't want to burn out before you even get a chance to see results.

Step Two; Extend Your Changes

Set more ambitious extensions of the small changes you are making. These can be goals that have some level of difficulty, but with more time to achieve them You might, for example, try to exercise four times per week for twice as long. Decrease your consumption of unhealthy foods while increasing your consumption of fruits and vegetables. If you are having issues with your self-image, consider setting a goal to get professional counselling. Make all of the early changes more permanent and find new ways to improve your results.

Step Three; View Everything in Proper Perspective

Effective weight loss goals should all fit within your life outlook and life purpose. All of the smaller changes you've been making up to this point should have been aimed at the long-term view of things. As you put your effective weight loss goals in perspective, you should be able to picture yourself the way you want to be when your goals have been achieved. In other words, you should know how much weight you want to lose or how fit you want to look. Write down your long-term goals. Just as you want to see your daily goals checklist each day, you will benefit from seeing what all of these daily goals are leading up to each day. Remembering why you are doing these things each day will help you to keep doing them each day regardless of the amount of short-term results achieved..

Step Four; Set Up a Rewards System

Try to estimate when you will achieve your small, intermediate, and long-term goals. Set rewards for yourself for reaching each of these goals as they happen. Don't reward yourself with what you are trying to overcome. In other words, don't make dessert a reward for your weight loss goals. Give yourself something else nice and important to you that you can't give yourself very often.

There are many effective ways to lose weight, however is it right for you?. To learn more about this issue check out these articles about chosing the right weight loss plan especially how to obtain sustainable weight loss and fitness through rapid weight loss programs

Weight Loss: Fast and Safe

Sick of crash diets and fat diets? Follow these healthy tips for rapid weight loss.

You've heard it time and again: fad diets don't work for permanent weight loss. But what about those times when you really need to lose some weight fast? It's hard to pass up the promise of crash diets like the Lemonade Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, or Lose 21 Pounds in 21 Days when your mission is to squeeze into a new outfit in time for a reunion, wedding, or other special event.

So what's wrong with dropping 20 pounds fast so you can wow your friends and family with a svelte new shape?

The truth is that nothing is wrong with losing weight rapidly -- as long you do it the right way, says Michael Dansinger, MD. He's the medical doctor for NBC's The Biggest Loser show, which spotlights quick and dramatic weight loss.

"In theory, one could drop as much as 20 pounds in a week following a very ambitious eating and exercise plan, devoting more than seven hours per week to rigorous exercise, and under a physician's care like we do on the television program," he says.

But even if you can't drop everything to go to weight loss "boot camp," you can safely lose 3 or more pounds a week at home with a healthy diet and lots of exercise, says weight loss counselor Katherine Tallmadge, RD.

In fact, having a goal like looking great at a wedding or reunion can be a great motivator, as long as you follow a weight loss plan that you can keep up after the special event.

But you need to plan ahead and allow enough time to make changes to your shape.

"Don't wait until one week before the reunion to try and lose 10 pounds," advises Tara Gidus, MS, RD, team dietitian for the Orlando Magic.
The Secrets to Fast Weight Loss

Losing weight is a simple mathematical formula: You need to burn more calories than you eat. Experts generally recommend creating a deficit of 500 calories per day through a combination of eating fewer calories and increasing physical activity. Over the course of a week, this should yield a loss of about 1-2 pounds of fat.

If you want to lose weight faster, you'll need to eat less and exercise more. Bottom line: 1,050 to 1,200 calories and one hour of exercise a day (but be sure not to dip below this calorie level for safety's sake). On this type of plan, you can expect to lose 3-5 pounds the first week, or more if you weigh over 250 pounds.

"Dieters who follow the plan can lose 2 pounds from diet and 1 pound from exercise each week, and even more if they have more to lose, because the more fat you have to lose, the faster it comes off," says Dansinger.

You may lose even more weight initially if you limit salt and starches.

"When you reduce sodium and cut starches, you reduce fluids and fluid retention, which can result in up to 5 pounds of fluid loss when you get started," explains Dansinger.

You've heard it time and again: fad diets don't work for permanent weight loss. But what about those times when you really need to lose some weight fast? It's hard to pass up the promise of crash diets like the Lemonade Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, or Lose 21 Pounds in 21 Days when your mission is to squeeze into a new outfit in time for a reunion, wedding, or other special event.

So what's wrong with dropping 20 pounds fast so you can wow your friends and family with a svelte new shape?

The truth is that nothing is wrong with losing weight rapidly -- as long you do it the right way, says Michael Dansinger, MD. He's the medical doctor for NBC's The Biggest Loser show, which spotlights quick and dramatic weight loss.

"In theory, one could drop as much as 20 pounds in a week following a very ambitious eating and exercise plan, devoting more than seven hours per week to rigorous exercise, and under a physician's care like we do on the television program," he says.

But even if you can't drop everything to go to weight loss "boot camp," you can safely lose 3 or more pounds a week at home with a healthy diet and lots of exercise, says weight loss counselor Katherine Tallmadge, RD.

In fact, having a goal like looking great at a wedding or reunion can be a great motivator, as long as you follow a weight loss plan that you can keep up after the special event.

But you need to plan ahead and allow enough time to make changes to your shape.

"Don't wait until one week before the reunion to try and lose 10 pounds," advises Tara Gidus, MS, RD, team dietitian for the Orlando Magic.
The Secrets to Fast Weight Loss

Losing weight is a simple mathematical formula: You need to burn more calories than you eat. Experts generally recommend creating a deficit of 500 calories per day through a combination of eating fewer calories and increasing physical activity. Over the course of a week, this should yield a loss of about 1-2 pounds of fat.

If you want to lose weight faster, you'll need to eat less and exercise more. Bottom line: 1,050 to 1,200 calories and one hour of exercise a day (but be sure not to dip below this calorie level for safety's sake). On this type of plan, you can expect to lose 3-5 pounds the first week, or more if you weigh over 250 pounds.

"Dieters who follow the plan can lose 2 pounds from diet and 1 pound from exercise each week, and even more if they have more to lose, because the more fat you have to lose, the faster it comes off," says Dansinger.

You may lose even more weight initially if you limit salt and starches.

"When you reduce sodium and cut starches, you reduce fluids and fluid retention, which can result in up to 5 pounds of fluid loss when you get started," explains Dansinger.

Exercising for Fast Weight Loss continued...

"Cardio burns the most calories, so it is ideal for fast weight loss, but afterwards you need to include a few hours a week of strength training," he says. To burn the most fat, try to break a sweat after your warm-up and keep sweating for the entire hour, says Dansinger.

Most everyone can do an hour a day, but the intensity of your workout will depend on your current state of fitness. Experts recommend gradually increasing exercise intensity to avoid injury.

When you can't do cardio, Tallmadge recommends doing strength training at least twice weekly, working all your major muscle groups, and fitting in at least 15,000 steps a day (get a pedometer to keep count).

Gidus suggests doubling up on your exercise routine: "Do a morning and evening workout, and if you don't have time to do two a day, expend more calories in the workouts you are currently doing."

Another option is to incorporate interval training. The new South Beach Supercharged plan by Arthur Agatson, MD, promotes adding high-intensity intervals to workouts to burn more calories in less time.

"Interval training allows people to work harder without having to spend the entire time at the higher level, and over time, the more you do it, the easier it becomes to burn more calories," says Blatner.
Fad Diets and Crash Diets

Many people don't have the time to do the rigorous amount of exercise required to lose weight quickly, and so turn to fad diets. But keep in mind that if a diet plan sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So steer clear of programs that promote pills, laxatives, fasting, or potions, and any that promise weight loss faster than 2-3 pounds per week.

The truth is that cutting calories below 1,050 per day is counterproductive, because you need strong muscles to be able to exercise effectively.

"When you eat too few calories you lose fat but also precious muscle, which is the worst thing you could do because it slows your metabolism and makes it more difficult to increase exercise intensity or duration," says Dansinger.

And what about over-the-counter (OTC) diet pills? Except for the OTC version of Alli, most respected experts do not recommend them.

"Diet pills are either ineffective or extremely dangerous, and not recommended," says Dansinger.

The bottom line? Weight loss experts agree that any rapid weight loss diet should be identical to a long-term, sustainable plan -- and not a fad diet. And fasting or cutting calories below 1,050 are not appropriate for the long term unless you are under a physician's care.

---Hmmm...I didn't know there was so much danger in rapid weight loss. I used to feel very proud of losing weight fast. Now I know better.

Weight Loss: Get a Buddy

Teaming up is more fun, and it may even help you shed more pounds.

There's no getting around it: The road to weight loss can be a bumpy one. But much like life's other journeys, the going can be smoother when you have someone to share the trip.

That's where a "diet buddy" comes in -- a partner who not only shares your weight loss and workout goals, but can help you navigate a kinder, gentler path to sveltesville. Many experts now say buddying up can make the difference between failure and success with any weight loss plan.

"Most people put all their effort into finding the right diet or exercise program but don't put any energy into creating a support and accountability system, and too often, that's where the devil lies," says Adam Shafran, DC, an exercise physiologist and chiropractor who is the author of You Can't Lose Weight Alone: The Partner Power Weight Loss Program.

Shafran, who also hosts Dr. Fitness and the Fat Guy, an Internet radio show focusing on weight loss, says people fail not necessarily because they're following a bad weight loss plan, but because they lack a good support system.

"It can be the deciding factor that makes a diet work -- or not work," say Shafran.

Some psychologists agree.

"In the realm of dieting, there is evidence that social support is a positive factor influencing weight loss," says Kenneth Schwarz, PhD, who with his wife, Julie Schwarz, wrote the book Maria's Last Diet: How to Break through the 15 Obstacles to Achieve Diet Success.

In research published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in 2005, doctors at Brown Medical School and Dartmouth University found that people who had an exercise buddy who successfully lost weight were more successful at losing, too.

What Makes a Good Buddy

Most of us know what turns us on in a partner, and it's easy to count the virtues of our best friends. But if you're thinking of using these same guidelines to find a diet buddy, you could be making a mistake.

"You may have a partner or a best friend who you love dearly, but if you're still overweight and struggling to lose it, then clearly, that partnership, while perfect in other areas of your life, is not the right relationship to help you lose weight," says Joey Dweck, founder and CEO of DietBuddy.com, an online "match service" for those seeking weight loss partners.

As such, he says, seeking a diet buddy who has the same qualities you see in your partner or best friend may not be the ideal solution.

Experts say that sometimes, qualities you would never tolerate in a partner -- like holding you accountable for every bite you take -- could be the very qualities you need in a weight loss buddy.

The bottom line: "Choosing a diet partner, like choosing a diet, is a very personal matter," says Schwarz. Just as there is no one diet that's perfect for every person, Schwarz tells WebMD, there is no one type of diet buddy that is universally better than another.

Shafran agrees, "The truth is that even if we share the same goals, what it takes to get us there is different for every person. And that means every person needs something slightly different in a diet buddy."

So how do you figure out what you need? Look deep inside yourself and be brutally honest about what you need to get your weight loss mojo working, Dweck says.

Don't just focus on doing things together, Shafran says.

"Diet buddies are just two people who share a common goal and know they can count on each other to help them achieve that goal in whatever way it takes to do that," says Shafran.

For some, that may mean working out together or getting together to cook or swap recipes a couple times a week. For others, it can mean taking turns babysitting so that each of you can get to the gym separately.

Another consideration is mutual availability. Both partners should agree up front on how much time and energy they have to devote to the partnership, and discuss what they need from each other during that time.

Also important: The primary mode of contact and support. If you're constantly monitoring your email and need a buddy who's always there when you send out that Instant Message S.O.S., be sure you pick a buddy who is as computer-accessible as you. If what you really need is face-to-face contact, pick a buddy who has a similar need -- and the time to share.

"For some people, the anonymity of having an Internet buddy is the best solution. For others, it has to be someone who they can get together with for a Wednesday night weigh-in," says Shafran. "It doesn't matter, as long as both buddies want the same thing."

No matter what your mode of communication, it's important that buddies spend time listening to each other.

"It can be online in a chat; it can be on the phone; it can be in an email; or it can be in person, as long as there is some time that each of you can devote to listening and encouraging the other," says Dweck.

It's also important to recognize that encouragement comes in many different forms.

"For some people, it means hearing kind and supportive words; for others, it means having someone come by and literally drag them out of the house and to the gym," Dweck says. "As long as both buddies know what the other needs and expects, then they can be there for each other."

 The Buddy Contract

To help ensure that both you and your buddy get what you bargained for, consider writing up a "buddy contract" -- a document that spells out your mutual goals and the ways you plan to help each other achieve them.

Be sure to include both short-term goals ("I want to get to the gym three times a week and I need you to go with me") and long-term ones -- such as how much weight you'd like to lose, or how many miles you'd eventually like to walk each week.

"The goals should be firm, but the ways to accomplish them should be flexible, to accommodate what you learn about yourselves and each other along the way," says Shafran.

He suggests that both buddies keep a copy of the agreement and re-read it often, reminding each other of what you're each trying to accomplish.

At the same time, don't be afraid to call it quits when a diet buddy isn't working out. If you're not getting what you need, or if your buddy wants more than you can give, have a heart-to-heart chat about what's going wrong. If it can't be fixed, it's time to move on, Dweck says.

"The purpose of a diet buddy is to enhance the weight loss journey for both partners, and make it easier and more fun for each of you," he says. If that's not happening, there's no point in sticking it out.

At the same time, if your diet buddy partnership begins to blossom into a beautiful friendship -- experts say, "Go for it!"

Says Dweck, "You may find that you are building a lifelong friendship that continues on with mutual support for the rest of your lives."

---Yeah! I hope it's a lifelong thing for me and my boyfriend. He's trying to gain weight while I'm trying to gain some. Everytime I notice that there's so much food on my plate, I automatically reach for his plate and give him all of it. That's what we call teamwork.

Weight Loss: Understanding Why Counting Calories Never Works

An article written by Kathy Freston (from www.alternet.org)

"We've known for more than a decade that the key to weight-loss is to consume fewer calories than you're burning--in other words, eat less, exercise more, or both. That dietary adage was confirmed last week by researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health, with a widely reported study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In the study, researchers put 811 overweight adults on one of four weight loss plans, which were supposed to vary widely in fat, protein, and carbohydrate content. Most of the reporting discussed Atkins-style high protein diets as similar to the diet's high protein plan and Ornish-style low fat vegetarian diets as similar to the study's low fat plan. Since everyone who cut out 750 calories per day from their diets lost basically the same amount of weight, the take home message seemed to be that none of the popular diets are any better than any of the others.

But upon closer analysis, a very different conclusion emerges.

First, all the tested diets strived to be "heart healthy," which means that they limited saturated fat, limited cholesterol, and contained at least 20 daily grams of fiber (in the form of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables). Anyone with even a passing familiarity with Atkins-style diets knows that all three of these requirements are virtually impossible on such diets--so this study should not be read, in any way, as endorsing an Atkins (or similar high-meat) diet for weight loss.

Second, although the caloric restriction worked for everyone who stuck with it--so it certainly is confirmation that caloric restriction is the way to lose weight--participants at two years were already consuming more than the allowed calories and gaining back weight. In fact, all four groups were on track to be right where they started by year three. In other words, for long term weight loss, all of the diets failed.

The reason for the high failure rate seems obvious to me: All four diets used similar foods and required precise caloric accounting, so all four diets were confusing and very hard to follow. Basically, adherents were asked to be absurdly careful with caloric counts (dropping precisely 750 calories per day) and proportions, but were told to eat identical foods--just in different amounts. So far, diets that require rigorous participant logs and calorie counting have always failed in peer reviewed studies, so this shouldn't have come as a big surprise.
In fact, there is a diet that works--consistently--at helping adherents to lose weight and keep it off, and which has a very high compliance rate: a very low fat, vegetarian diet, as recommended by Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. John McDougall, Dr. Neal Barnard, and many others.

The very-low-fat vegetarian diets work long-term because they focus on the consumption of fiber and complex carbohydrates, which make you feel full without a lot of empty fat calories, so adherents needn't keep food logs, restrict food intake, or count calories--in other words, they take advantage of the nature of food.

The Harvard study got off to a good start by requiring (in all four groups) 20 grams of fiber per day and by limiting fat and cholesterol, but the reason all four groups failed in the end is that all four diets included meat, which has no fiber at all, and which is packed with fat, relative to whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables.
As explained by Dr. Ornish in the 2001 foreword to Eat More, Weigh Less, which is the Bible of this way of eating: "When you go from a high fat to a low fat diet, even if you eat the same amount of food, you consume fewer calories without feeling hungry and deprived. Also, because the food is high in fiber, you get full before you consume too many calories. You can eat whenever you're hungry and still lose weight."

Interestingly, in their review of all the past studies that have been done on diet and weight loss, the researchers note that "a very-high-carbohydrate, very-low-fat vegetarian diet was superior [for weight loss] to a conventional high-carbohydrate, low-fat [non-vegetarian] diet." But for some reason, they don't include this diet, which has been proven to work, in their study.

In addition to the fact that Ornish-style vegetarian diets are easy to follow and work naturally for weight loss without calorie counting and food logs, adherence to the diet is high because results come fast and furious, and they include so much more than weight loss, from improved sexual function and greater energy to unclogged arteries and less need for sleep.

And while it might seem challenging at first, it's actually quite basic--you eat all the grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables you want--from black bean burritos to three bean salads to pasta with (faux) meatballs to spaghetti squash and collard greens to apples and blueberries (basically, if it's a whole grain, bean, fruit or vegetable, you can eat as much of it as you want).

And we've known about this miracle diet for more than a decade."



---I never really liked counting my calorie intake! It brings me so much pressure seeing how much calorie I've already had. Good thing, I have no problem with eating tons of whole grain, fruits and vegetables. I plan to stick to that!