Perimenopause Weight Gain - Why and What to Do

The permanent end of menstruation and fertility is referred to as "menopause." It's at that point that a woman has definitely gone through her last menstrual cycle. The period leading up to that point is what is known as "perimenopause," and it can last for several years - years during which a woman notices gradual changes in her metabolism, her shape, her mood, and much to her dismay, her weight.

This "middle-age spread,"  so women are told, is simply to be expected at this point in their lives, and should be greeted with, at the very least, a cheerful resignation. Settle. Make peace with your changing body. Go gracefully through this inevitable rite of passage. Perimenopause weight gain is something that isn't going to go away.

Well, that sounds depressing. Is that the final word on the subject?

Absolutely not.

Causes of Perimenopause Weight Gain

The same metabolic set point remains true for your perimenopause body as it did before the process began. Weight gain is just another symptom of a body that is out of balance, and to restore it you need to figure out what is happening at the base of your physiology and emotions. Actually, it can be a blessing in disguise for some women. Once the masking effects of estrogen disappear, it can become much easier to understand what's not working well for your body. Many women have conditions such as insulin resistance of adrenal fatigue that may have been developing for years, but only after their estrogen began to dip were they able to notice the symptoms and address them.

It's important to understand that it's not just poor diet and lack of exercise that's creating the weight gain women experience in perimenopause. Fluctuating estrogen levels, stress, emotional issues, too little fat intake, artificial sweeteners, caffeine, menopause-triggered food allergies, years of exposure to allergens, plastics, chemicals, pesticides, bacteria, heavy metals and other poisons and irritants can so gum up a woman's system that it just can't function correctly despite her best attempts to eat well and exercise. Fasting and crash diets, in a desperate attempt to lose weight, only result in releasing these toxins back into the body, making her feel miserable. Her body at this point just wants to get back to a safe and familiar place, no matter how unhealthy that place might have been, and will sabotage her best efforts to drop those pounds.

So if your diet and exercise program seems to be having little effect, schedule an appointment with your doctor to see if there might be other factors that are impeding your progress toward your perimenopause weight loss goals. There's no reason to settle for anything, just because you've reached some arbitrary milestone in your life, and you certainly don't need to settle for perimenopause weight gain. Just because the diet and exercise you practiced before no longer seems to be working the way it once did doesn't mean that there isn't a solution. So what if your hormones are fluctuating, you've had years of exposure to toxins, and your newfound talent for retaining estrogen producing fat cells all add a little complication to the plan - that doesn't mean there isn't one that will work for you.

Drop Weight Now!

After gaining 80 pounds, I knew I not only wanted to but needed to drop weight now! So here I am opening up my own personal journal that documents my personal weight loss struggles. Compiling my struggles and word of advice to help create this article. It's hard opening up, talking about weight gain , loss, and how it all feels. The physical and emotional battles that millions like myself go through on a weekly, daily and hourly basis. But here I go anyway...

Raised in a fast paced world, where fast food restaurants reside on nearly every corner. Its easier to grab a quick bite to eat on the way home, than it is to cook dinner. Its less time consuming to order off the menu, than it is to plan your own menu. After gaining 80 pounds with my second child, I new something had to change. It took me a long time after to realize that, that something was me. My habits, lifestyle, and choices had to change.

I decided to start my journey which I named drop weight now. I found something powerful in those words, it didn't give me a way out, I couldn't come up with excuses, why's or buts. I just had to do it, not next week, next month, next year, but now!

I started by finding a partner, someone who had the same desire to lose weight now. Finding a partner, helped me to stay motivated, I knew someone was depending on me to join them on nightly walks and I couldn't bag out. Having someone with similar goals, will not only help you but them in return.

My next step was changing my eating habits. Skipping breakfast, only left me to drool over the vending machines at work. Lets be real, the choices aren't always the healthiest and my 2-3 trips a day at work weren't either. Eating a healthy breakfast, helped me to avoid the vending machine and left me feeling full of energy.

Eating breakfast wasn't my only change, I started eating more often. 5 times a day, but I certainly watched what I ate. Two small snacks helped curb my appetite and helped speed up my metabolism.

Drinking water 8 glasses a day was a huge change for me. I am a self proclaimed caffeine junky. It was so hard to pass up the soda for a bland drink of water. I just had to do it, and with some self coaching I did. It really helped me to drink water before eating, I felt like I ended up eating less.

After months of doing this, I saw some results. However I was still struggling. But I needed more help, I needed to find something to help me get to my ideal weight. I needed a miracle to help me drop weight now! I started searching online and found a product named strip that fat. Another product, making claims another false hope? Well I ordered it anyways, and am happy with my results. I experienced fast results. It was nice find a helping hand! For the first time, I have found a new me. I can walk through the mall and buy clothes and actually fit into them! I feel more confident, happier and have more energy.

I know there are millions out there, wanting to lose weight now, and together we can all strip that fat! Live longer, happier and healthier!

Good luck to you all on you journey!

Fastest Way to Lose Weight Easily

What is the fastest way to lose weight? This brings up a couple of questions. Is this method capable of producing results each time, is it safe and sound, and does it consistently maintain effectiveness for months later?

A nightmare thing to deal with is the time involved and misery of dieting. So what is the fastest way to lose weight?

You could have it physically eliminated. That can be bad, but lots of dieters are going this route. Anyone can remove a lot of the repulsive, stored lard in a quick procedure. It does not return, but you could expand your remaining adipose tissue to replenish it. This is the only real method to spot reduce. For quite some time, so called experts have touted local fat removal plans. The body doesn't operate that way. Your body will relinquish excess energy storage the way it decides, not the way you desire it would. This is obviously the fastest way to lose weight, but unworkable for those with a lot to lose and not sustainable.

Another challenger for the fastest way to lose weight is by reducing carbohydrate intake. This may have been the earliest musclehead diet. By cutting starches, dual things occur. Fat gets broken down for caloric needs. In addition, there is a diuretic effect that throws off body water. This leaves you with a small reduction in body fat and a big reduction in body water. Basically, you have dropped a lot of water in a brief period. It's impressive on the scale and will allow you to lose a pant size in a hurry. The trouble with this technique is the sustainability. This system drops mostly water. The body is waiting for you to devour starches again, as if to make you suffer. When you do, the fluid conservation works overtime. You can regain most of your betterment and probably more within a couple of days. What a let down. There could be ways to avoid this, but this style usually slows down after a short period of time. Surely this is not the fastest way to lose weight.

Consider the standby low calorie method. This is the usual diet that many run from. A lower energy intake will force your body to burn its own reserves in order to make up for the lack of intake. Many patients remain hungry on this style of diet. They get tiresome of doing without their coveted foods. This may be the least liked fat buster of all time.

There is the low fat method of eating. With this method fat grams really matter. Some consider this rabbit food. This may be the better way to get vitamins and minerals. It can also up your metabolic rate. If you miss a meal, you will most likely become ravenously hungry. It is easy to break down when you are in this weakened state. There are many alternatives for the fatty foods you give up. There are reduced fat options and yogurt, for example. The problem with this method is the starch content that is packaged in low fat food products widely available. Many dieters remain overweight while eating a reduced fat diet. Sounds absurd, but it's true.

An alternative style is food combining. Will this be the fastest way to lose weight? In this system of weight loss, no food type stands alone. A starchy carbohydrate is combined with a fish, fat, and non-starch carb. Consider a serving of protein, rice, and turnip greens would be combined to make a meal. The science behind this system is the combined meal. Combined meals alter the glycemic index of each food type, changing the glycemic index of the full meal. For example this would be how the peanuts in a Snicker bar lower the index of the candy. When the fiber, fat, and protein of the nuts are added to the high glycemic carb, the result is a better index. The glycemic index considers the impact a food has on blood sugar. A high G.I. food makes a higher likelihood that the starch in the food will be stored as fat.

There is a new way to consider now. Consider if you could eat everything you want, and still drop weight. This system allows clients to consume a constant amount of their preferred foods like cake, fried chicken, and tacos. The food has to be eaten in predictable ways. The promise is that blood sugar and energy remains consistent. The client never feels desperate and client's body gladly lets go of fat reserves. Since you don't have to let go of your coveted foods, this may be the fastest way to lose weight.

Lose Weight by Eating Oats

If you need to trim down, eat up more oatmeal and oatbran! Oats are loaded with soluble and insoluble fibers that will keep your cholesterol and sugar levels in check. As this helps keep your weight down, oats will keep your energy up for your exercise program. Here's exactly how good oats are if you are trying to lose weight:

Oats are high in the soluble fiber beta-glucan which has been proven to lower cholesterol. When soluble oat fibers pass through your digestive tract, it turns into a gel that traps cholesterol-containing acids. Instead of your body absorbing the cholesterol, it is excreted as waste.

On top of this, oats contain high levels of tocotrienols which stop cholesterol synthesis. All the high-fiber, cholesterol-zapping power of oats will definitely help trim down your tummy.

In one study, participants who ate 43 to 85 grams of oat bran daily for 6 weeks lowered total cholesterol by 20 percent and bad (LDL) cholesterol by 25 percent.

But cholesterol is not the only thing oats can diminish. Oats can also help regulate your blood sugar. The beta-glucan fiber in oats also slows down digestion - prolonging the absorption of carbohydrates into the bloodstream. And many of us know how carbs - when they are converted into sugar inside our bodies - are the culprit for packing in the pounds.

If you are involved in an exercise regimen, even better. The exercise is of course great for speeding up weight loss. The oats help by being a great pre-work-out energy food. This is why many athletes make oats part of their diets. The oats help them work harder at their training.

Eating enough oats will also help reduce belly fat as it will make you have regular trips to the bathroom. This is essential to cleaning the gut and avoiding bloating. As a high density food, it is low calorie yet is heavy enough to make you feel full longer. Being satiated by good healthy oats means less appetite for less healthy - more fattening - foods.

New research shows children between 2 to 18 years of age who eat oatmeal regularly have a much lower risk for obesity. They are 50 percent less likely to become overweight.

Oats are definitely essential in a healthy diet for weight loss. For the average adult, all you need to reap all these benefits is about a cup of oats everyday.

Weight Training Routines - Building and Sculpting Your Body

There are basically two types of weight training routines, each with a different end goal. The first one is body sculpting or toning. The second one is body building or bulking. While both can be done almost simultaneously, this is not easy.

Women generally seek body sculpting, believing that bulking up will make them look masculine. This, however, is not the case. It is one of the biggest weight training myths out there. For one, you need testosterone to bulk up, which women do not have much of. Secondly, not everybody, and that includes men, has the genetics to build up huge muscles.

The good thing is, weight training can speed up fat burning, and give you more muscle tone and better body proportions. Even better, more muscle mass helps enhance aerobic exercise and prevent injury.

Whichever of the two is your goal, sculpting or bulking, you need muscle definition. Weight training routines help build up that impressive muscle and burn fat that covers the muscle so you get definition. You can't have six pack abs without well developed abdominal muscles, for example.

There are basically two types of weights training routines; compound and isolation. Compound exercises use multiple muscles, joints and ligaments. These should form the staple of your workouts, whether or not you want to bulk up. Isolation exercises target a specific muscle or group of muscle and one joint at a time. These are for adding detail.

Examples of compound weight training exercises are bench press, squats, shoulder press, dead lifts, bent over rows, etc. Isolation exercises include preacher curls, concentration curls, side raises, leg curls, leg extensions, seated machine rows, etc.

And, yes, there are exercises that fall somewhere between compound and isolation. The upright (EZ or straight) barbell row is a good example.

Your weight training routine should mainly focus on free weights, that is barbells and dumbbells. And you should always use the heaviest weight you can handle for about 10-12 repetitions without losing form. This applies to you ladies too; don't be afraid to look like man, it won't happen.

Some people, women especially, tend to relegate weights training routines to the end of their aerobic workout. This is a mistake for two reasons, 1) most of your energy will be spent on aerobics exercise therefore compromising weight lifting intensity and 2) weight lifting burns fat and doing aerobic workout after helps speed up fat loss.

If your goal is to pack on slabs of muscle, it may be wiser to cut back on aerobics in order to give your body a chance to bulk up. Cutting back is not the same as cutting off. Some aerobic exercise is good for your heart and will also help build up stamina as well as speed up recovery. In turn this will help increase weight training intensity, which we know is what's needed to stimulate muscle growth.

Losing Weight Through Acupuncture

These days, there are many types of diets and methods for weight loss. Some may be for you and others do not, but the vast majority of obese people are willing to try anything healthy. Usually weight loss methods revolve around the food we eat, but a method, the food has to do with anything and has shown promise of being effective is acupuncture for some weight loss.

Acupuncture has been used for centuries as a methodHealing and improve the overall health of a person. This practice is to place the needles and strategic points which are connected to the nerves and has proven to help re-orientation of energy in the body and thus to alleviate physical and emotional stress.

So how acupuncture can help you lose weight? Acupuncture helps to be more relaxed and gives you more energy, which is in a zip in your step again and you can help ensure that the exercise more to burn more calories.The stress relief alone from acupuncture can be huge boost to people who are prone to stress eating and that alone can help you lose a lot of weight.

In addition, acupuncture helps boost your circulatory system and can improve your metabolism both things which can help you burn extra calories even when you're just sitting around watching TV. acupuncture techniques help improve the digestive system which can help you to feel full faster and therefore eat less. wended acupuncturist treats you for weight loss often times the needles will be put in the meridian points that are associated with the kidney, spleen and stomach and sometimes those with the lungs, thyroid and mouth. Typically, however, the treatment is customized to the patient and their particular needs.

Losing weight through acupuncture requires a commitment of about two treatments each and every week. These treatments will most likely consist of placing the needles at strategic points in the body as well as sending electrical currents through the needles. Sometimes, the acupuncturist may also have a mixture of herbs that the patient can take which will help remove toxins and strengthen the flow of energy which will aid in weight loss. They may also have dietary recommendations and you may be asked to eliminate some foods from your diet for a specific period of time until your weight stabilizes.

One thing to remember about using acupuncture for weight loss is that it is a slow process and you will have to have some patience. Acupuncture overall can bring on a lifestyle change that will help you lose weight and keep it off. This is a natural method of losing weight that is not harmful to you and should be tried by anyone who has a few extra pounds they need to take off.

Lose Weight Patches to Ensure Fast and Quick Weight Loss of 20lbs Within a Month

Lose weight patches are a relatively new innovation as compared to other weight loss products but they seem to have beaten all other products to lose weight. Such patches are the most effective way to get rid of your excess body weight without any side effects. This is specially true in case of high quality herbal slimming patches.

Herbal slimming patches are made up of the best herbs and other ingredients that have been used since ages for weight control. Some of them are effective in reducing your appetite while other help boost your metabolism so that your body is converted into a fat burning furnace.

For example, Gaurana is a key ingredient in one of such high quality patches. It is not just an energy booster but is also highly effective in increasing your metabolism. In addition to this, it also helps reduce your appetite. It is rich in caffeine. In fact, you would be surprised to know that it contains thrice as much caffeine as coffee!

This makes it extremely effective in fighting fatigue and increasing endurance.

Another natural ingredient in such a patch is yerba mate. This is another herb that is highly effective in suppressing your appetite. It can make you believe you are full when you are not. This puts a break on your caloric intake and helps significantly in weight control.

Controlling your diet is one of the most important aspects of any weight loss product. Fucus vesiculosus, is another ingredient that helps reduce food cravings.

Other ingredients in such patches include zinc pyruvate, lecithin, flaxseed oil, l-carnitine etc.,

Such patches not only make you lose weight but also breakdown fat and cholesterol. This is great for your heart function and cardiac health. Improved cardiac function ensures greater energy levels. This gives such a patch an edge over other weight loss products and pills that often make you feel fatigued and lethargic.

A weight loss patch acts very fast as compared to pills and this is largely due to the fact that ingredients reach your bloodstream directly on application bypassing the digestive system. This ensures more accurate dosage and better potency of the ingredients since they do not come into contact with stomach juices and acids.

A good quality patch is clinically approved and can easily make you lose up to 6lbs within a week. So, if you want to get 20-25lbs leaner within a month, this is the product you should go for.

Shake Weight Reviews - Pros and Cons of Shake Weight

If you're reading this article you must have seen the infomercial for the Shake Weight, the new fitness product that has grown in popularity after being featured on TV. What most people focus on is the suggestive nature of the infomercial, something which at least one late night talk show host made fun of. What I want to do in this article is to review Shake Weight the product, not the ad, and to figure out the merit of this product.

Using the Shake Weight is easy. You hold it in one hand or both and simply shake it. The weight has a spring action on both sides so the workout is shaking and holding the item in its place. The device is for the upper body and is designed to work your arms, shoulders, and chest muscles.

Naturally, no product is perfect. One of the ways to decide for yourself whether you should get it is to know about the pros and cons of this machine. So, what are some Shake Weight pros and cons you need to know about?

Pros:

- The Shake Weight is an affordable piece of equipment unlike many overpriced fitness products in the world today.

- This product comes with a money back guarantee

- It is easy to use

- Can be used at home, in your car, on vacation, practically everywhere

- Does stimulate the muscles

Cons:

- There is no reason why shaking will lead to a more feminine type of muscle growth

- Unlikely to be more productive than regular weight training, although it can be a frehsening change of routine

- Comes in a single weight while dumbbells are available in many different weights

- Can't be used to work the lower body at all

As you can see, there are good points and bad to be made about this product. You need to decide whether this is something you will use. If so, then by all means, try it out. If not, then you can still do regular workouts and get excellent results.

Lose Water Weight - 5 Important Tips

Periodically do you have that bloaty, yucky, fat feeling? And then you go to bed and miraculously it is gone the next day! Welcome to the world of carrying water weight. Oh and it changes as much as the weather does depending on what you eat and well, the weather. So here are some tips about how to lose water weight:

There are a few simple methods you can use to help slay the water dragon. You are going to think this is backwards, but, drink water. Yes, this sounds weird, however, you body is retaining water because it needs water. When you keep your body hydrated you flush out the toxins that build in your body and eliminate them when you urinate.

Another tip is to drink pineapple juice. Pineapple juice is a natural diuretic and will help remove excess water from your body. If you can not tolerate full strength pineapple juice, water it down a bit. Typically if you pour three-fourths juice and one-fourth water you will still retain the taste and reap the benefit of pineapple juice.

If you prefer to take a pill, then you may want to consider Alfalfa. Alfalfa is also a natural diuretic, that has no calories and only one gram of carbohydrates. However, as with any medication you may want to check with your doctor first before you take alfalfa.

A surefire way to reduce the water weight cycle is to take a multivitamin that is high in B vitamins. A supplement will not only help you to remove excess water from your system, but serve as nutritional supplements your body is lacking. And remember, the vitamins your body does not need will get flushed out when you drink plenty of water.

Finally, what you eat may be a cause of your water retention. You are the only one that knows your body and can judge what foods affect you to gain the weight, however, one of the most obvious foods that keep water in your body is salt. An excess of salt will make you retain water.

Losing Weight With Colon XR

It seems that everyone is looking to lose a few pounds these days. Lately, the news has been talking about the benefits of colon cleansing for weight loss. This article is going to discuss if colon cleansing is a good idea for weight loss. When you are done reading, you'll be able to make an educated decision about if you should use this method specifically to lose weight.

What Is Colon Cleansing?

As waste passes through the intestinal tract, bits and pieces get stuck in the nooks and crannies of the intestine. Over time, this buildup gets greater and greater and starts to really weigh us down. It's estimated that we carry an average of 10-20 pounds just in excess waste trapped in our lower intestine. Worse, this waste is toxic and leeches back into our bodies. We see this poisoning manifest in the form of fatigue, acne, headaches and weight gain.

Colon Cleansing is the process of removing this toxic waste from our bodies. It can be done a number of ways, but one of the most popular is through an all natural supplement called Colon xR. This supplement scrubs out the built up waste in the nooks and crannies of your colon and gently removes it from your body.

How Do You Lose Weight With Colon xR?

As stated above, Colon xR removed the built up waste from the nooks and crannies of your lower intestine. Remember, on average, you could be carrying up to 10 to 20 pounds of this waste in those nooks and crannies! That a lot of waste! This removal is gentle and gradual. It won't leave you trapped in the bathroom all day like many laxatives will. Within a few days, many people report an increase in energy and a noticeable decrease in their midsections.

What Colon Cleansing Will Not Do

Colon Cleansing will not keep the weight off. It is not designed to be a weight loss product in and of itself. Weight loss really is just a side effect of a good colon cleanse. You shouldn't use a product like Colon xR just to lose weight, as it can be harmful to your health if done in excess.

If you are looking to take control of your life, start a new weight management program or just feel better in general - then an internal colon cleanse may be what's right for you. A quality colon cleanse is good for most people once or twice a year and can help jumpstart a nutrition program and get you going in the right direction.

Weight Management - Some Useful Rules to Follow

If you are keen to lose weight, and/or reach a healthy weight for your height and build, here are a few useful and realistic rules that I would encourage you to consider:

Body weight Evaluation

The Body Mass Index (BMI) is the generally accepted measure of body fat against muscle (lean body mass). It is not a precise measurement and often does not take into account those with extremely muscular physiques, but as a ball park figure to evaluate your weight it is useful. A Brief search on the internet will find you an online BMI calculator.

Gradual Weight Loss not Rapid Weight Loss

The 'lose 30 pounds in 30 days' weight loss plans that seem to continuously circulate looking for new victims should be avoided at all costs. Dependent on the amount of weight you need to lose, the generally accepted percentage loss is 10% of your body weight in a 6 month period, and this is what you should be aiming for. If you aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week, you will manage your weight loss in a sustainable manner and are far more likely to keep it off for the long term.

Encourage Your Children to Maintain Healthy Weights

Everyone knows the saying that overweight children become overweight adults. In most cases it is true, and one of the great gifts you can give your children is to teach them to eat healthy food and to be physically active. It will serve them well in later life.

Before you Begin a Weight Loss Program - Speak with Your Doctor

Consulting one's doctor is a good idea for those about to begin a weight loss plan. This is particularly true if you are a pregnant woman or are currently nursing a child. If you have a chronic disease or are on medications, you should also consult your doctor. It's a good precaution to take, and he/she may be able to offer good advice or resources to help you in your quest.

It's certainly a big decision starting on a new weight loss plan. Excitement, anticipation, a little bit of fear and apprehension. but by following the basic steps one can reach one's goals and gain self esteem and confidence in the process.I hope these basic tips will encourage you to begin on a sensible weight loss program and assist you in making the right decisions before beginning a weight loss plan.

Weight Loss Secret - Think Bodybuilding

Bodybuilders utilize a small secret to reduce their weight. They go for weight loss but keeping their health and fitness. Their methods have been always used by others for weight reduction.

One should always remember that the bodybuilders on a regular basis observe healthy weight reduction process that is reduction of weight through nutritional food intake along with the muscle strengthening exercises.

Doing dieting for weight reduction activates a powerful chain reaction by the body to preserve vigor and energy. When you initiate diet, it engages lesser intake of calories. This hits the panicky button and then sends the danger signal to the body to get ready for potential undernourishment situation. Occasionally the body effectively takes action against such situation. The body mechanism is built to take action in defense against undernourishment body condition.

The body in such case of diminishing caloric intake, starts preserving the energy by slowing down the resting metabolic rate. It implies that the body preserves the number of calories burned in a day to keep you alive.

The outcome of diminishing metabolic rate is that lesser calories are burned than in normal state, this preserves energy by the body and assists in accumulation of fat in the body. Hence there is no weight loss while dieting. Decrease in the metabolic rate is the strongest road block for the dieters to conquer.

There are very easy steps that will conserve the muscle even in the dieting period. Increase intake of adequate amount of protein should be there, include lean protein as a supply in every meal, Non-animal protein to comprise in daily meal and consuming protein juices in the second half of the day that is after a night sleep. The appropriate period for most of the American can be between lunch and dinner.

Weight Loss - What is the Right Weight For Your Height?

If you are under a weight loss program you need to know what is the right weight for your height. What is the right weight for my height? This is the most common question people ask doctors and other health professionals. This question is not easy to answer as it seems to be. Different types of people are different body types so there is no exact number which can explain the right weight for your height. There is a different growth pattern for different people. All the people grow in the age of puberty - there is a rise in height and weight in this period. In boys we can see increase of muscle mass in this period. Some people start growing in the age of eight years and some in the age of fourteen years. The people who do not grow with others catch up the same growth in their later life.

There is a way which can help us to figure out if a person has the right weight according to his height. This is called body mass index. Body mass index tells us how much fat a person has according to his weight and height. This index needs the weight and height of a person to calculate the BMI number. After you have figured out the body mass index a percentile chart is used which tells us that if a person has perfect weight, he is underweight or he is at the risk of being overweight.

So whenever you want to start an exercise program or you want to stick to a diet plan always try to know your body mass index; it will help you in getting the right start.

Making Homemade Weight Loss Shakes

If you find that commercial weight loss shakes are costly and you are not sure about their ingredients, then try making homemade weight loss shakes instead. Homemade weight loss shakes are one of the most popular weight loss supplements because anyone can make them as long as you have the right ingredients, a blender, and some ice. In fact, they may even be helpful for some people compared to other weight loss products being sold in the market.

Simple but healthy

Homemade weight loss shakes are simple and easy to make because they do not require any cooking. When you use fruits or vegetables as your main ingredients for homemade weight loss shakes, you can get a healthy serving of all the vitamins and minerals all in one beverage. Furthermore, it can also serve as a replacement for other meals.

Common ingredients

Sometimes, you may need other ingredients to add to your homemade weight loss shakes. It will depend on the type of nutrients your body needs and the kind of energy boost that you want. Here are some common ingredients that you can add to your shake:

o Fruits - these are helpful in getting rid of toxins from the body while providing antioxidants.

o Yogurt or low-fat milk - for your dose of vitamin D and calcium.

o Protein powder - for easier and faster digestion of your food while keeping you full for longer periods of time.

Other ingredients

Additional supplements and vitamins can also be added into your homemade weight loss shakes. Examples are bee pollen, black cohosh, ginko biloba, and dandelion. These ingredients promote healthy liver functions, cleansing of the intestines, more energy for exercise, prevention of fatigue, and prevention of allergies.

The benefits: vitamins and minerals

Freshly made homemade weight loss shakes are good sources of vitamins and minerals that pair up with co-enzymes and enzymes. These vitamins make the enzymes work and without them, our bodily functions will stop.

Enzymes

This is because enzymes work as catalysts in several chemical reactions happening inside our bodies. These chemical reactions are important to carry out digestion and the absorption and conversion of food to body tissue. Furthermore, enzymes are able to produce energy that are important for metabolic activities in our bodies.

The benefits: better vitamin and mineral absorption

When you drink homemade weight loss shakes, your body tends to absorb more vitamins and minerals coming from the fruits or vegetables you added in them, compared to eating them as a whole. This is because a lot of nutrients are trapped within the fiber present in the whole fruit or vegetable. However, by placing them in the blender, you break down the fiber to release the important nutrients.

You need vitamins and minerals

Even when you are on a diet, you still need the right amount of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that your body can take so your organs can still function properly. Furthermore, without the proper dose of those essential nutrients, you can become malnourished. Malnutrition can cause a lot of deficiency disorders and diseases, so make sure that your body is still getting its recommended daily dose of nutrients coming from healthy fruits and vegetables that you can eat whole or blended into homemade shakes. Here are more benefits of the vitamins and minerals you can find in fruits and vegetables:

1. Stronger nails and hair

2. Smoother skin

3. Essential compounds needed for health, physical well-being, metabolism, and health.

4. Maintain bone strength and bone density.

5. Regulation of blood clotting.

6. Aiding the functions of muscles and nerves.

7. Regulation of your heart beat.

8. Reducing risks on heart attacks and strokes.

Tips and tricks for making shakes

To start making your homemade weight loss shake, make sure that your vegetables and fruits are juiced raw. Depending on the fruit, small fruits with seeds can be placed into the blender with the seeds, like pears and watermelons. However, if you are using apples, grapefruit, oranges, nectarines, peaches, or papaya, make sure to remove the seeds or large pits.

Peeled and ripe

Make sure to pick ripe and fresh fruits and vegetables. If they are bruised, wilted, over-ripe, under-ripe, or even rubbery, the shake will end up tasting bad. If the fruit or vegetable is not grown organically, peel off the skins since all the chemical residues can be found on the surface. If you are using pineapples, grapefruit, papaya, kiwis, and oranges, make sure that you also remove their skins.

More tips with the blender and mixture

Vegetables and fruits should be cut into pieces that can easily fit your blender. If they get stuck under the blade while blending, use a spatula to remove the jammed ingredients before proceeding to blend. If your shake is blended evenly, add 2 ice cubes and keep adding them once in a while until it sounds smooth. However, if your blender cannot blend the ice cubes well, substitute them with cold water or cold fruit juice instead. Finally, if your shake is too thin, add more ice or fruit, and more liquid if it is too thick.

Why We Gain Weight

There are many myths surrounding weight loss and weight gain. In this short article I'm going to outline the real reasons we gain weight. Each person is an individual and as such there are complex interlinking reasons why we are the weight we are. If we can understand the reasons behind our weight, we can go some way to reducing our weight and living a healthier life!

Genes
Maybe you're born with it! Don't you hate your friends who never seem to put on any weight? Well, it might just be their genes. Some people have finely tuned appetites that allow them to eat just the right amount of food for their metabolism so they hardly ever put on weight. Others might find it more difficult to "hear" their body's signals of being full, so they tend to overeat and put on weight. Don't worry though, your genetic make up doesn't mean you can't lose weight, just that you need to factor in your own sensitivities to you meal times.

Bad Habits
Bad eating habits can easily cause us to be overweight. Often these habits are formed very early on in life and pattern us into eating specific types of food that make us put on weight more easily. Habits can be anything from always snaking in front of the TV to cravings for particular types of food. Noticing your habits can help you take control of them and cut down on unhealthy eating.

Emotions
Our emotions play a big role in our lives, and they can be our downfall when it comes to losing weight. Emotions are tightly linked to habits. The whole notion of comfort food plays in this arena, and it is usually a downward spiral - we feel bad so we eat foods that are high in fat, that makes us feel bad because we know we shouldn't, but feeling bad makes us eat foods that are high in fat etc etc. Understand how you react to various emotions with respect to food and you can avoid the inevitable weight gains.

Inactivity
By far the biggest cause of weight gain and obesity - inactivity. Simply put if you do not do some exercise, you will never be able to maintain a healthy weight. You don't have to be a gym freak to lose weight, but you do need a consistent and enjoyable exercise routine to help your body burn off excess calories and keep you trim and looking and feeling great.

Can You Lose Weight Fasting? How to Lose Weight Fasting

Many people ask about fasting to lose weight. As with any process involved with diet or exercise you should always consult your doctor before starting any kind of diet or exercise program. Fasting involves not eating or drinking either everything or certain types of foods for an extended period of time. If you have never tried fasting before you should always keep a fast for only a few days at a time to start to see how your body reacts to the fast. There are juice fasts, meat fasts, carb fasts and full food fasts with only water involved so you need to determine what kind of fast is best for you.

Many people use fasting along with a colon cleansing process to eliminate toxins from your system. All doctors who recommend fasting also recommend that you make sure that you stay hydrated to avoid physical problems from dehydration. You need to drink at least sixty four ounces (eight 8 oz. glasses) of distilled purified water. Proponents of cleansing think you should not drink tap water due to the many chemicals used in the removal of bacteria and contaminants in the water supply.

A good colon cleansing product can help you lose at least five pounds of excess weight from your digestive system before you even lose any fat weight. This can also help you get a slimmer trimmer waist area and bring out any abdominal tone you may already have. By fasting to lose weight for short periods (two to three days) and alternating with eating periods you can fool your body into not dropping into a slower metabolic rate which is always a concern with fasting. When breaking a fast of any length do it with a small meal to make sure your body can adjust to it without reacting. If you eat a large meal when breaking a fast you may end up with any of several digestive complications including diarrhea, vomiting or even constipation.

Fasting to lose weight is an effective and easy way to drop some pounds and does not involve exercise, buying any kind of special foods and can be done by anyone no matter what their economic status is. Decide which kind of fast is best for you. Start with something like just meat for three days, take three days off and try breads and grains for three days. Take another three days off and try not drinking anything except for water for a week and see how much weight you can lose.

Lose Weight Fast But Don't Starve Yourself

On a good diet program you can lose weight easily and safely. The new research based no starvation diets are what you really should try. These are diets which do not require you to be an expert cook and are low in cost.

You definitely do not need expensive foods and/or diet supplements. Actually you can choose the foods you like eating rather than having to eat from a list you don't want.

You could try one of the new research based no starvation diets. All these diets are new on the scene and you should seriously consider them since they are all proven top weight loss programs.

So you might ask what is new with this type of diet and how does it differ from all the other weight loss diets being promoted everywhere? The secrets and methods of these diets are very simple.

They operate on the idea of shifting calories and adjusting the ratio of nutrients in the kind of food you consume. The foods you eat actually speed up your metabolism. This helps to use up a lot of calories and fat which you have accumulated in your body over a period of time. In addition these new diets help you keep your metabolism steady so as to burn up fat.

These modern research based programs provide you with fast weight loss at a safe and healthy rate. Don't be fooled into the idea that you could lose 30 pounds in a week or so. There are many ads out there that make ridiculous claims of this kind. It just isn't true as we all really know.

Complete starvation is bound to bring about great weight loss but is much too dangerous. These new diets provide you with a way to lose weight safely by eating fat burning foods rather than by eliminating important foods from your daily diet.

Pleasant and enjoyable exercise such as a walk every day will help to hasten your weight loss. These programs have online forums on their websites. Here you can discuss your weight loss problems or share your opinion,which can be of great help. One of the unusual ideas is that you should eat four meals daily,at intervals of least 2 1/2 hours between meals.

Many nutritionists and diet experts suggest that you should have six small meals per day to keep your blood sugar count steady. However this will not help you to shed pounds. With the normal three meals per day your blood sugar level may vary widely during the day. Eating four meals per day evens out your blood sugar level. This is beneficial and you will not be hungry.

Another new idea is rotating your meals. You will have a carbohydrate rich meal for breakfast. Then later you have a meal which is rich in protein. you repeat this throughout the day. The digestive system is believed to digest the meals more quickly in this way.

All these diets have been demonstrated to work well. So which should be your choice? Really it boils down to personal choice.Consider what each of these programs is offering and which of them appeals most to you.

Are you really tired of being overweight? You will get rid of excessive fat quickly if you use a new research based no hunger diet. In just a short time you will be a slimmer much more healthy person. Be sure to have a look at these diets.

Weight Lifting For Weight Loss

In order to lose weight you must reduce your caloric intake. But this causes a major problem. As you cut your calories your metabolic rate goes down. The metabolic rate is the rate at which the body burns calories. The higher your metabolic rate the more calories you burn even at rest.

But there is good news the more muscle you have the higher your metabolic rate. Ever wondered why younger people can eat many more calories than older people without gaining weight? Younger people generally have more muscle mass than older people and thus have a higher metabolic rate. As we age, eating the same number of calories causes us to gain weight.

Weight lifting increases your metabolism. Muscle burns more calories than fat. If we lose muscle instead of fat when dieting, we decrease our metabolic rate. When our metabolic rate decreases we plateau and cannot lose any more weight. That's why it's best to lose weight gradually to prevent a significant decrease in our metabolic rate. Weight lifting while dieting will keep your metabolic rate at a high level.

Use strength training to build muscle instead of losing it. For every one pound of muscle your body will burn 50 calories. And this happens without dieting or any more exercise. You can even lose weight while sleeping. Muscle keeps your metabolic rate higher longer. A pound of fat will not burn any calories, a pound of muscle will. Keep muscle rather that fat and you will look better too. It's a no-brainer put on some muscle.

Be sure to work your major muscle groups. Try for 30 minutes of weight bearing exercise every other day. Since muscle weighs more than fat you might see an increase in your weight at first. Don't let this bother you. If you are lifting weights and cutting calories the extra weight is muscle not fat.

In addition to the above benefits strength training is effective in improving glucose tolerance. It also helps to prevent osteoporosis. To achieve results it is not necessary to lift excessive amounts of weight. Develop a strength training program that fits your needs.

Unfortunately, as we age we lose muscle and gain fat. We lose about 20% of our muscle mass after 30 years of age. The only way to retain our muscle mass is with weight lifting. When you increase your muscle mass you burn more calories. And that means you can eat more without gaining weight. Your metabolic rate will remain elevated longer and you will burn more calories without any effort. Weight lifting will help you lose weight faster.

When you combine cardiovascular workouts with weight training you will lose fat faster and more efficiently. So opt for the weight training along with the aerobics. It will keep you leaner and more muscular.