Choosing a Weight Loss Program
During any one year, over half of Americans go on a diet to lose weight. For many people, it is difficult to lose more than a few pounds and few succeed in remaining at the reduced weight. The difficulty in losing weight and keeping it off leads many people to turn to a professional or commercial weight loss program for help. When considering joining a weight loss program, chose wisely.
Almost any of the commercial weight loss programs can work, but only if they motivate you sufficiently to decrease the amount of calories you eat or increase the amount of calories you burn through physical activity each day (or both).
free online diet plansShould I Look for in a Weight Loss Program?
Make sure it is safe. Whether you create your own program or use a commercial one, make sure it is safe. A safe diet should include all of the recommended daily allowances (RDAs) for vitamins, minerals and protein. The weight loss diet should be low in calories (energy) only, not in essential vitamins or minerals.
Slow steady weight loss. The program should be directed toward slow, steady weight loss unless your doctor feels your health condition would benefit from more rapid weight loss. Expect to lose only about a pound a week after the first week or two. With many calorie-restricted diets, there is an initial rapid weight loss during the first 1 to 2 weeks, but this loss is largely fluid. The initial rapid loss of fluid also is regained rapidly when you return to a normal-calorie diet. Thus, a reasonable goal of weight loss should be expected.
When inquiring about a commercial weight loss program, be sure you are provided with a detailed statement of fees and costs of additional items such as dietary supplements or foods. Other important questions to ask of any potential weight loss program include:
Does the staff consist of free online diet plans counselors and health professionals such as registered dietitians, doctors and exercise physiologists?
Are food choices flexible and suitable?
Are weight goals set by the client and the health professional?
What percentage of people complete the program?
What is the average weight loss among people who finish the program?
What percentage of people have problems or side effects? What are they?
If you plan to lose more than 15 to 20 pounds, have any health problems, or take medication on a regular basis, your doctor should evaluate you before you start a program. A doctor can assess your general health and medical conditions that might be affected by dieting and weight loss.
Also, a doctor should be able to recommend appropriate programs and help you come up with a sensible weight loss goal. If you plan to use a very-low-calorie diet, you definitely should be examined and monitored by a doctor.
| What Else Should I Look for in a Weight Loss Program? Your program should include plans for weight maintenance free online diet plans the weight loss phase is over. It is of little benefit to lose a large amount of weight only to regain it. Weight maintenance is the most difficult part of controlling weight and is not consistently implemented in weight loss programs. The program you select should help you improve your dietary habits, increase your physical activity, and help you change other lifestyle habits that may have contributed to your weight gain in the past. Being overweight is too often viewed as a temporary problem that can be treated for a few months with a strenuous diet. However, as most overweight people know, weight control must be considered a life-long effort. To be safe and effective, any weight loss program must address the long-term approach or free online diet plans the program is largely a waste of money and effort |
A gym is a great place to see the adage "a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing" brought to life. Every day, I see well-educated, competent adults injuring themselves in pursuit of fitness. And while their exercise mistakes may cause them pain and even serious injury, they're not the only ones feeling discomfort. You have no idea how unpleasant it is to watch someone blithely wrecking her cervical spine while the thought-bubble over her head reads, "I'm flattening my abs!" The following are some mistakes that will send me flying across the room to intervene. Unfortunately, I can't be everywhere so I'll share a few of the more common mistakes I've seen: Just Say No to Neck Crunches! When performing a crunch (or curl, as we now call them), do not yank or your head. Do not pull firmly on your head. Do not initiate motion with your head. In short, leave the chiropractic free online diet plans to the licensed professionals. Violently yanking your head forward is not only lousy for your cervical spine (the upper portion of your spine); it also makes for a crappy ab exercise. If you're a chronic head-puller, here's my fix: Clasp the palms of your hands together, interlacing the fingers. Place your clasped hands under your chin and against your throat. Perform your curl with the hands never leaving this position. Aha! Harder, isn't it? Now that you're not yanking on your head, your abs have to do the work. I can hear you asking, "But now that my head isn't supported, won't my neck be straining?" The answer is, "Not really." While your neck will indeed be supporting your head, it ought to have no problems doing so. And even free online diet plans you are asking your neck to contribute, you're being far kinder than when you snap it forward by "supporting it" a bit too enthusiastically. |
Help! I've Squatted and I Can't Get Up!
Unlike toes, which are happy to forge boldly ahead, knees like to hang back a little where it's safe. So when you're squatting or lunging, don't put your knees ahead of your toes. When you look down in a squatting position, you should be able to see your toes. If you don't see your toes, your knees will take it badly and (ahem) get all out of joint.
Here's the right way to do a squat: Keep your knees over your ankles and scoot your butt back and down as if reaching for a chair behind you. You should never see your knees shoot over your toes. If you do, you're putting too much stress on your knees. While we're on the topic of squats, try to keep your eyes forward or up. This will help you keep your back straight, instead of rounded (another squatting no-no).
Attack of Big Foot
It's All in the Wrist!
Last week, I saw some guy waterskiing on the treadmill. He had the speed and the incline cranked while he held on for dear life to the console. I advised him to slow down a little and swing his arms but he refused. "I burn more calories this way," he insisted, pointing to the LED display. I tried to point out that the treadmill didn't know he was waterskiing instead of running but I don't think it registered. The fact is, if you're leaning on a console when using a stair-climber or hanging off a treadmill, you're not getting the exercise you programmed into the machine. Your arms - and wrists and elbows - are bearing more than their fair share of the load. If you lean over on the stair-climber or treadmill, you're also straining your lower back.
If they ever have a telethon for type A personalities, my sister Rachel would be the poster child. An investment banker, she flies to dozens of meetings a week. She eats what she can scrounge from vending machines, her shoulders are hunched forward as if bent over an imaginary desk and her skin looks like it hasn't seen outdoor light in about a decade.
When she's not worrying about her two young kids, the mortgage on her apartment or the future of her embattled firm, she worries that she ought to be doing something to reduce her free online diet plans, correct her posture and strengthen her body. That something, she fears, is yoga.
"The breathing, the relaxation, the excruciating poses," she sighs. "I know it's exactly what I need." There's just one problem. She hates yoga.
"It makes me want to crawl out of my skin," she complains. "My mind races when I'm supposed to be relaxing, and I get anxious thinking about all the time I'm wasting holding downward dog. But if I hate it, does that mean I really need it?"
This is a question I've heard before. We all have something we dread doing. Sometimes, it's a whole category of thing (anything competitive, anything cardiovascular, anything "mind-body," etc.). Sometimes, it's a specific exercise (push-ups, lunges or those horrible squat-thrusts they made you do in gym class). I get asked repeatedly, "If I hate it, does that mean I really need to be doing it?"
The answer, I've decided, is yes... maybe. Obviously, my sister needs to learn to value time spent nourishing her body and spirit. And clearly, yoga would be an ideal way to accomplish her goals. But yoga is hardly the only solution to her problems. She could, for example, assemble a program of strength training and cardio that would do the same thing. She could try Pilates or dance or mountain climbing. There's always another way.
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A low fat weight loss program recommends low fat or no fat foods. The underlying principle behind this diet is that reducing fat intake coupled with regular exercise results in lasting weight loss.
This weight loss program can be very effective if properly produced or administered by a good weight loss expert and results in steady and long term weight loss. Unfortunately most low fat programs in the market reduce fat consumption to such a level that it becomes harmful for health. Some varieties recommend a very high consumption of carbs which is not good. Also, often with this kind of program, fat loss is very slow because of the un-optimized diet menus.
I stress again that low fat diet is generally the best way to lose weight. The drawbacks outlined are of the incorrect manners in which this diet is presented rather than of the diet itself.
This kind of weight loss program requires you to consume high protein, low carb foods. This program claims that carbohydrates make us fat and reducing its consumption leads to fat loss.
This weight loss diet usually leads to quite a rapid weight loss initially but isn't very effective in the long run. Also, this kind of diet leads to a steadying of blood sugar levels which is healthy.
On the other hand, this weight loss program generally encourages over-consumption of saturated fats which increases the risk of heart disease. Also the rapid burning of fatty acids due to the absence of sufficient carbs makes kidneys work overtime and may lead to serious health problems. This kind of weight loss free online diet plans should better be avoided as it poses serious health threats.
This kind of weight loss program provides you with a fixed menu diet that enlists the foods that you can eat. Some varieties make you keep track of your calorie needs, others stress that the same calorie count is good for most of the dieters.
This weight loss program can be easy to follow because the foods are already selected for you and in most cases there is no need to keep the calorie count.
The drawbacks are that this program can deliver results initially but almost always fails in the long run because the food choice is so free online diet plans that the program is very hard to follow in the long run. Also, some of these plans can prove harmful for health due to the lack of balance diet.
This kind of weight loss program requires you to buy pre-packaged meals. Generally, the stress is on taking appropriate portion sizes. This weight loss program is very popular with weight loss aspirants wanting to lose a few (10-15) pounds quickly.
