Wednesday, March 27, 2013

No More Weight Loss - Gain Weight Control

In today’’s society of the glamour models with tooth- pick legs and flat stomachs on every magazine cover, people are becoming more obsessed with weight loss instead of weight control. Billions of dol- lars are spent every year on fad items such as ab- dominal machines, video tapes, energy and mood pills, fat burner pills, etc. Many companies and or- ganizations are capitalizing on this by promoting pro- grams that could lead a desperate person into the wrong direction. The first step in gaining weight con- trol is to stop all the fad diets and paraphernalia and get into the grove of eating healthy and working out. Begin by having a great attitude that you did not gain the weight over night; therefore, you cannot pos- sibly lose it over night!! If it was that easy, Americans would not be so obese. Commit yourself to a pro- gram for at least 3 months in order to get long term results and ultimately make this new change, a lifestyle change.

Avoid programs that promote the following tactics:

WEIGHT LOSS WITHOUT EXERCISING - You must exercise in order to lose body fat and of course watch what you eat. If one just restricts their eating but does not change their habits, they will not gain control of their weight.

FASTING - This is a definite sign that the program does not know what they are talking about. Cleansing of the body can be done without fasting. Fasting slows down your metabolism causing you to gain weight back more rapidly.

IMPROPER FOOD PLANS - A good healthy eating plan will incorporate the proper amounts of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.    A plan that totally restricts your carbohydrates and depletes your energy can be dangerous. Your body will excrete excess water that is stored and cause weight loss. Once again, no control over your weight. Unfortunately, the average American eats approximately 50-60% of their intake in carbohydrates, so by cutting back to lose body fat will not hurt.

DOES NOT CHECK BODY FAT - A program that only determines progress by your weight on a scale. Realistic and healthy weight loss in generally 1-2 pounds of body fat per week - Most plans will not distinguish the difference between weight loss and body fat loss. A good plan will not allow you to lose much lean tissue. Remember lean tissue requires calories to survive. The more lean tissue you have the more calories you can burn.

A good, healthy fitness plan that will help you gain control over your weight should be one that is open to your doctor’’s approval and one that meets your lifestyle needs. Remember, all good things take time. Be patient and put your mind to it. You will gain control over your weight and receive the results you want.

How to feel fuller while eating less!

Today I want to share a way to eat less throughout the day, while feeling fuller AND still getting plenty of valuable nutrients. Think about that, a way to take in less calories but still feel like you've eaten plenty.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, I can tell you that its NOT too good to be true because I know plenty of people, athletes and non-athletes alike, who have admirable physiques and would find the information in this post to be old news.

So what is it? REPLACE ONE OF YOUR MEALS WITH A CUSTOMIZED PROTEIN SHAKE.

A meal rich with protein and some fat will leave you feeling satiated for substantially longer than one based on carbohydrates. And a protein shake is customizable but more importantly it is easy to make, quick to clean up, and inexpensive.

Here's my recipe for a nutrient packed super-shake and how and why I choose each individual ingredient:


First thing you should notice: there's a VitaMix Blender in the background. I highly recommend their blender. Its a few hundred bucks but its a workhorse and mine has been working perfectly since 2006!

Ingredients*:
- Base of water or Organic Whole Milk** or unsweetened almond milk to start
- 2 Scoops plain Whey Protein - avoid brands with artificial sweeteners like Aspartame and Acesulfame Potassium
- 1 tablespoon of Udo's Oil - it is crucial to your health to ingest enough of Omega-3 and Omega-9 fatty acids, I have found anecdotally that this supplement will make a difference in the speed in which my body heals
- 1 scoop of Pure Energy Greens - the greens will aid in digestion and give your body what it needs to battle the accumulation of acids
- 1 scoop of Organic Peanut Butter - aids with taste

*If your goal does NOT involve building muscle mass/size, or weight gain then only use one scoop of whey protein.
**Organic milk IS different than non-organic and will help you avoid adding animal hormones and hormone by-products into your body.

Stay tuned because the store will soon be up, allowing you to easily purchase some of these hard to find ingredients.