To start off, let’s take a look at a much talked about topic; the BMR. What exactly is the BMR? To understand BMR we need to underst

and a few basic rules about Calories and how we burn them throughout the day.

Total calorie needs are determined based on a number of factors, including basal metabolic rate, gender, age, muscle mass, exercise, and voluntary movement.

•  Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories that you need at rest for those functions that are not under your voluntary control. This includes your heart rate, digestion, respiration, maintenance of blood pressure, and body temperature.
• BMR is responsible in most of us for approximately 60%–75% of the calories we need per day.
• Your muscle mass determines your BMR, so men have a higher BMR than women because men have more lean muscle mass.
• Another source of calorie burning is the thermic effect of food, which means the calories it takes to digest your food. Depending on what foods you eat, this makes up about 10%–30% of your total energy expenditure.

From the above discussion, it becomes clear that the lean muscle mass has an important role to play in the expenditure of daily calories you gain from food. The more lean muscle mass you have, the more calories you need for daily maintenance.

The problem is that gaining muscle mass is very hard. To gain muscle mass, your muscles have to go into overdrive. This means that they have to be overburdened in some way so that your body adapts to this muscle overdrive by producing more lean mass. This is exactly what weight lifters and resistance trainers do! But the question is that is it recommended for women? Definitely YES! Women have a very different anatomy when compared to men. It is actually very unlikely of them to get buffed like most male body builders. So don’t worry, you’re safe; hit the weights and hit them hard, but make sure that you follow a good routine that comprises of a variety of exercises that hit different muscle groups each day.

The surprising bit is that increasing your lean muscle mass by 10 – 15% will actually increase your daily caloric expenditure by approximately 200 – 300 Calories! What does this tell you?  Lean muscle mass can actually give you a liberty to eat more without getting fat. The best part is that there’s no downside to it. 10 – 15% gain in lean muscle mass is not even noticeable but do remember that it’s lean muscle mass and not weight itself. You may have to go to your physician to get a checkup in order to determine whether you’ve gained lean muscle mass or not. So, simply put, weight training can help women lose weight and sustain it, by causing an increase in their lean mass and by increasing their BMR.

Diet Plans are hard to stick to. Gym seems to be a distant dream in a busy schedule. But being simple may do the trick for us if we are consistent. Written below, are a few tips almost all of us know but tend to ignore, running after the complexities, believing them to help us lose weight.

Eat Slowly, Chew Properly

Remember, Mom always telling you to eat slowly. Well, it works in losing weight too. Don’t try to gulp all the food in one go. Chew and enjoy every bite. It takes a while for the brain to sense a full belly. If you adopt this habit you’ll get full with less food.

Brush your teeth

One of the largest contributors to expanding pant sizes are often snacking and binge eating. A big help would be to avoid these. The solution – brush your teeth! Brushing after major meal signals to your body that meal time is over, and you’re less open to eating when your mouth is clean and fresh.

Go for smarter, lighter versions of food

If you seriously wish to have those extra pounds off you then you should discern among foods and chose what fits best into the idea of a smarter you. You can make choices, such as, if you wish to have french fries then do have them. But baked ones instead of fried. Similarly, you can make certain very healthy changes to your diet turning it into a balanced one. Believe me, it will help you and be fruitful in the long run.

Drink a gallon of water a day!

Perfect Weight Loss Drink is found at your local tap. Yes, drink water and drink a lot of it. Water helps you lose weight. Replace all of those soft drinks and coffees throughout the day with water. You can eliminate many needless calories by doing so. Water flushes toxins and excess waste from your body. It helps you stay active for longer periods of time.
If you still want it to be better drink luke warm water. Have you ever noticed the clear and glowing skin of Chinese, Japanese and Korean people? They take warm water as a beverage after every meal. Consider washing an oily dish with cold water and yet another dish with warm water. That’s the fitness secret of the cousin nations. It could be yours too. Moreover the urges to visit the loo are an additional reason to take a small walk.

Walk!

Walk while you talk!! When most people think of exercise they imagine push-ups, lunges or any other forms of exercising that is particular of a gym. Place a tread mill in your TV lounge. Chew a gum and walk as you watch your favorite program on TV. It’s a perfect example of multi tasking your body.

Be playful and active

Yes, be active and be happy. Play with the kids at home. Wash the car yourself. Say good bye to the pool guy. Clean the pool yourself. You will save money only spending those extra pounds off you.
Imagine a smart you
It might seem funny or a weirdo. But yes, instead of a chubby you, paint a smarter image of yours in your mind. You’ll be motivated to control and organize your eating habits and life style to achieve the dream figure in your mind.

Eat an elephant one small bite at a time.

Losing weight is a big deal that can be handled by doing several small things that will help you keep the weight off. If you succeed to follow small healthy habits and an active lifestyle you won’t be left in need to worry about spending cumbersome hours at the gym.

But HOW?

Now, this is a very common question which people commonly ask without trying. First of all, for changing your eating habits, you need to understand the importance of the change itself.

Healthy eating and active lifestyle not only contribute to great looks and a well-toned body. Such changes can actually improve your life expectancy, your quality of life and most importantly, it can give you peace of mind.

There is no doubt that food addiction and drug addiction are almost similar and their treatment isn’t different also. The first healthy thing to do is to actually admit that you are hooked onto some foods that is detrimental to your health after which you need to figure out which kind of food do you really need to get rid off.

You should know which foods cause craving. So a good start would be to make a list of all the unhealthy foods you consume throughout the day. Following few points are vitally important:

•   Exercise is very important especially when you are losing weight. Not only for your body shape but for your good metabolism and overall health, you need daily exercise. It burns extra calories and works up a good appetite. The least you can do is walk around 30 minutes daily.
• Never skip breakfast and go for a protein rich morning fedfast! Proteins help in losing weight and keep your blood pressure normal while making you feel fuller, for longer.
• Try to sleep properly and at least sleep eight hours a night. Good sleep is essential for your mental health and other daily bodily functions.
• Omega-3 and vitamin D optimization is very important as both of these are associated with diseases like obesity, depression, tension, and fatigue which are the common issues now days. Omega-3 and vitamin D are also good for your growth hormones.
•  Take some natural supplements like Glutamine, 5-HTP and amino acids. They help in reducing craving for food. There are some herbs too for reducing your stress like Rhodiola. Chromium is good for balancing your blood and sugar level.
•  Try to be optimistic most of the time. Mood modulation and control is equally important in controlling your appetite. Try to overcome your emotions before they overcome you.

“Eat to live not live to eat”. Make sure, you eat only when you need to. Take a start with some very small steps. Do not go for big leaps as they will only lead you to inconsistent eating pattern and resulting in possible failure.

If you like sugar rich food then cut off sugar intake as much as you can. Avoid taking sugar in your daily cup of tea or in any drink. Make small cuts in your diet like: Letting go of that maple syrup on your pan cakes and using honey instead or going for a low fat yogurt or going for roasted chicken rather than deep fried chicken. These changes may not look much but they can cut down your caloric intake by 15 – 20%.

The great thing about making changes is that we have a lot of food alternatives available. Stay away from foods that are processed, deep fried, excessively sweet, rich in sauces, made from white bread and try to consume foods whose ingredients who can make out by just looking at them.

This will ensure that you don’t consume large amount of hidden calories that usually come from Trans fat. Keep this advice with you and you will automatically stop eating foods that make you fat.

They are the main two reasons for people being overweight and out of shape.

Learning to change the current habits to modify the negative habits will promote weight loss and healthier bodies.

Rule #1

The first rule of every weight loss plan is to realize the weight will come off slowly if the correct weight loss plan is used. Do not use diets that will promise fast results since the results will not be lasting and the weight will come back. Know it took time to gain the weight so it will take time to lose it. Be patient with the weight loss process.

Rule #2

The second rule of weight loss is to create a plan that is easy to follow. Create a plan you can follow and is simple. When creating a weight loss plan you need to have realistic weight loss goals. Do not try to lose the weight too fast since that will have negative effects on your health in the long run. Take the time to lose weight gradually and it will be more beneficial and healthier.

Rule #3

Learn to eat better. Change the current eating habits. Incorporate fresh vegetables and fruits into the diet. Avoid sugar, sodium, and unhealthy fats. Avoid frying the foods. Learn to back or broil the meats. Steam the vegetables. Learn to each more fish, chicken, and pork. They are healthier as well as having lower fat contents. Avoid eating junk foods like ice cream, cookies, cheesecake, and candy. These foods are high in calories and unneeded sugar that is turned to fat when it is not burned up.

Rule #4

Substitute the sugary foods with fruits and whole grain natural snacks low in fat, sugar, and sodium. There are more tasty foods to replace the junk food normally consumed. The healthy alternatives will help with the weight loss goal.

Rule #5

Add exercise to the weight loss plan. Start taking thirty-minute walks three times a week. Instead of taking the car to the corner market, walk there and get some exercise. During the hour lunch, put on the sneakers and walk for thirty minutes. This method will not only add exercise but it will help to burn the calories of the food just consumed.

Join a fitness center. Take up biking or swimming. These are great ways to exercise that are very enjoyable. Using any of these means of exercise will help the weight loss plan and provide additional enjoyment in the process.

Remember to take it slow with the weight loss plan. Slow and easy means lasting results without hurting the body in the process. Be patient through the process. Learn to take the weight loss plan on a weekly basis so you will not become discouraged when you do not see immediate results.

No doubt there are many weight loss programs around us; but unfortunately it is hard to sort out the effective ones.

The effective weight loss program is one that does not promise to lose 30 pounds in 30 days; rather it supports a lifestyle change. The good and effective weight loss programs are the ones that do not make fake promises and keep the people healthy.

Most effective weight loss programs are trying to knot into the hunger center of brains. The brains have the feeling of being satisfied when some signals are there. A good portion of these signals comes not only from the stomach being full rather from the ratio of carbohydrates, fats and proteins one eats. Carbohydrates are a group of food the body craves to hit the highest point of activity level.

Carbohydrates are required to run away from a hungry lion or jumping from one tree to another. Our brain and the taste buds are designed to hunt for the source of such high carbohydrates foods. This is the reason that why some people have the craving for sugary things. Sugar is one such food that is easily digested and gives instant energy.

By eating such high-energy food the brain is then convinced that person can climb up the tree to stay away from the predator. Good eating habits mean regulating the intake of carbohydrates and total calories as a whole. This is the key idea of Atkins, Zone and the South beach Diet.

In the past days the good dietary practice was considered just watching the portion size, weighing the food and buying pre-packaged diet meals. The aim behind the dietary limit was to starve the body gradually to burn the reserves of fats.

Though this was not a bad theory but the problem is, there must be some trigger types of foods in the diet plan; otherwise the body will be convinced, you are in the time of famine.

One-way to avoid giving body the signal of famine is by eating the foods with exceptionally good flavors. The examples of such weight loss programs are Jenny Craig, Deal A-Meal and Weight Watchers.

The last are the “plain nuts” diets. These are the diet plans that ask the person to eat nothing but only okra for 3-4 weeks, or they demand that everything must be soaked in vinegar before eating, or the eatables have to be washed thoroughly with a special nutritious drink or sometimes one meal has to be substituted with shake. The examples of such diets are Slim Fast program and Hollywood diet.

Whatever is the idea of the weight loss program, the effective weight loss program is the only one that allows you to listen to your body while working on it.

You see it being asked all over in places like yahoo answers and forums.

The problem is most of the answers given are written by idiots who know absolutely nothing about weight loss or fitness.

Before I answer the question “how can I lose weight fast”, we need to bust some myths.

Myth 1: Starving Yourself

To keep it short and not drone on about all of the reasons why you shouldn’t starve yourself, I’ll keep it simple. Starving yourself will temporarily lead to weight loss the problem is your body will quickly adjust to the lack of calories by slowing your metabolism.

Myth 2: Fad & Crash Diets

If anyone tells you that you can lose 25 lbs in 2 weeks they are misleading you. Is it possible? Yes, but 90% of it will be water not fat. Your goal is to lose fat is it not? Your body simply can’t burn that many calories without serious side effects. You would have to burn over 102,000 fat calories.

Myth 3: Take This Magic Pill

Hate to break it to you but there is no magic bullet, not Acai Berry or anything else. By the way for anyone interested in Acai Berry, just to let you in on a little secret but there is no research about Acai affecting weight loss.

So we come back to the question again “how can I lose weight fast?”

Well it comes down to those two dreaded words, diet and exercise.

I’m not going to go into all of the details on how to lose weight because it would take several pages of information to lay it out. To bottom line it for you though and leave you with some tips:

For your diet, start by cutting sugar out of your diet and add fiber to it. For exercise research has shown that weight training and interval training are the most effective means of fat burning.

I can’t tell you how many times I have answered the question “how can I lose weight fast” on yahoo answers trying to debunk all of the bad information out there. It really comes down to how dedicated you are to losing weight.

If you are serious then I would recommend a couple of guides that I personally have reviewed and I know that they are effective.

For beginners who want to learn how to properly diet I would recommend The Diet Solution. There is a lot of good advice in this guide about dieting and what to eat and what not to eat.

For people who are more dedicated and already eat well, I would recommend BeachBody’s Insanity. This is one of my favorite programs out there when it comes to exercising. The workout videos are nothing short of insane. The great part is you can keep your own pace but even going slow it still kicks your butt. Definitely top notch work and extremely effective exercises.

The question is, are you willing to put in the work to lose the weight? If you’re not then don’t bother to even go to those pages because you will just waste your money.

Strategies on how to lose fat normally centers on specific dietary approaches. However, there are many factors aside from controlling how many grams of fat you consume each day that can help accelerate your fat loss.

In this article we will look at two different nutrition research studies that reveal key strategies for effective and permanent weight loss.

Weight Gaining Behavior – A 2004 study published by Dr. David Levitsky examined the eating behaviors of college freshman at Cornell University. He found that the students whom gained the most weight had 3 common characteristics:

1. “All You Can Eat” Dining
2. Snacking On High Fat Junk Foods
3. Increased Frequency of Snacking on Junk Foods

The problem here is that humans don’t snack well. We don’t regulate our caloric intake over time such that if we eat an extra 300 calories as a snack mid morning then we won’t eat 300 calories less at lunch.

You need to be careful when it comes to snacking. Most snacks are carbohydrate and/or sugar based. AVOID these snacks at all costs. They will balloon your calories and carbohydrate intake, pulling you right out of the fat burning zone. Instead focus on eating protein and fiber rich snacks. This one behavior change will make a huge different in your journey to lose more weight.

In regards to “All You Can Eat” Dining, this is just a bad idea. Control your environment. We are very sensitive to visual cues such as plate size, amount of food, glass size/style, etc. “All You Can Eat” Dining is setting yourself up for dieting failure – avoid it at all costs so you can control your calorie intake with ease.

Stress, Exercise, and Support – Another famous study, the Lifestyle Heart Trial, reveals to us 3 crucial behavior changes that we must make for permanent and fast weight loss. Between 1977-1980, a group of people were put on the Ornish Diet as part of the Lifestyle Heart Trial. The Ornish Diet is a vegetarian diet that is very low in fat (less than 10% of calories from fat). Because of the severe fat restriction many find this diet hard to adhere to for the long term. However, during the Lifestyle Heart Trial the participants experienced phenomenal results such as regression of heart attack causing plaques in their arteries. Ever since this original study, similar results using the Ornish Diet have never been replicated.

Why?

Because the people in the study were implementing more than just a diet; they also did regular exercise (3 hours per week), meditation and relaxation (1 hour per day), and participated in 2 group support sessions each week. The addition of the other factors made the diet so much more effective.

Most people are probably already adding exercise to their weight loss plan but many miss regular stress management and developing a strong support system. These are make or break pieces to your fat loss puzzle. Adding exercise, stress management techniques, and finding a support system will greatly enhance your weight loss results.

If you are having trouble losing weight or if you have hit a weight loss plateau examine your current fat loss efforts. Do you actively manage the stress in your life? Do you have a support team? What kinds of foods are you snacking on? Do you control the portions you eat by avoiding “All You Can Eat” events?

Honestly answer these questions. Find the holes in your plan. Change them and get your fat loss back on track.

About the Author/More Info:
Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete 28 day diet and training system crafted to help you lose 10,15, or 20lbs of body fat in just 28 day. To start losing weight fast visit Warp Speed Fat Loss. Mike Roussell is a nutrition doctoral student at Pennsylvania State. Mike’s writings can be found in magazines such as Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, and Testosterone Nation. Mike specializes in fat loss nutrition and diets for busy men and women who need to lose weight fast without it interfering with their lives. Warp Speed Fat Loss is a complete Done-for-You A-Z Fat Loss Blueprint that gives you exactly everything you need to eat to lose weight in record time.

Cardio exercise is such a strange thing.  In theory, it should work so perfectly well for all men and women, but as anyone who has tried it knows, the practicality of it just doesn’t add up.

After all, some men and women do cardio 6 hours, 9 hours, or more per week, and still have belly fat to burn. On the other hand, it works just fine for others.

British researchers wanted to get more insight into this paradox, and studied 35 overweight men and women, who weren’t previously exercising.

(Reference: International Journal of Obesity 32: 177-184, 2008).

Subjects exercised 5 times per week for 12 weeks.  That’s a lot of exercise, but it helped the subjects lose an average of 8.2 pounds, which is great – I was positively surprised by the results.

So cardio will work for some people, however, in my experience, it works best in young men, who need the help the least!

Back to the study, the variance in fat loss between individuals was huge. Check this out…

The best subject lost a staggering 32.3 pounds in 12 weeks, while the worst subject actually GAINED 3.74 pounds.

The scientists think they know where things went sour.  They classified the subjects into 2 groups, called the “Compensators”
and the “Non-compensators”.

The Compensators were hungrier, and as a result consumed an extra 268 calories per day, all but wiping out their cardio efforts.

Therefore, the Compensators lost the least amount of weight, and scientists believe that was due to the huge “compensatory” increase in appetite experienced by this group.

Does your appetite increase when you do slow cardio?  If it does, research shows it will ruin your cardio efforts.

So if your cardio program is not working for you, check your appetite and calorie intake to see if you are “compensating” for your efforts. If you are, you might be better off using a program of high-intensity resistance and interval training (i.e. Turbulence Training) for your weight loss efforts.

As Australian Professor Steve Boucher has shown in research, interval training increases hormones called catecholamines.  And increased catecholamines can reduce appetite, among other fat-burning benefits.

In the real world, few people lose 33 pounds after 12 weeks of cardio. Heck, few even achieve an average weight loss of 8 pounds with aerobic exercise.

So again, check your appetite, and consider giving high-intensity exercise a go for your next workout program.

Beat the curse of cardio with high-intensity Turbulence Training.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS
Author, Turbulence Training

About the Author

Learn about the “Dark Side of Cardio” in the free report from Craig Ballantyne at Turbulence Training for Fat Loss. Craig is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit Turbulence Training for Fat Loss

Then you need to keep reading. I am going to show you fast and easy weight loss tips that will help you to lose the fat and give you the body you desire.

Before you embark on this weight loss journey you need to understand that there are no lose weight fast diets that work.

Yes you can lose 12 lbs in a few days but it will be 90% water, and you know what, you’ll gain it right back. If you want to get rid of that extra fat without the work then go see a plastic surgeon and get liposuction.

Dramatically speed up your metabolism and weight loss with these fast and easy weight loss tips.

Fast Weight Loss Tip #1:

Put down those cupcakes.

My number one most important tip for everyone starting out, that is serious about losing weight, is to cut out the sugar. If you want to start seeing dramatic changes around the waste and thighs then you must start here. Don’t even waste your time with diets until you get your sugar cravings under control.

Fast Weight Loss Tip #2:

Drink Water

Water is one of the best appetite suppressants known. A fast and easy way to start losing weight is by drinking a glass of water before each meal. The added volume will fill up your stomach, causing you to eat less, and consume fewer calories. If you want to lose weight faster then you need to drink water.

Fast Weight Loss Tip #3:

Eat More Frequently

No, I didn’t say eat more food. I want you to eat smaller amounts of food more frequently. The best way to lose weight is by speeding up your metabolism and one surefire way to do that is to let your body know that it has a steady fuel source. Losing weight is all about getting the body to burn more calories. If it knows that it has plenty of fuel then it won’t worry about storing calories as fat.  Read Insulin: The Fat Hormone to understand why.

Fast Weight Loss Tip #4:

Bust out the Metamucil

All kidding aside you really need to eat more fiber in your diet. Like water it helps to fill you up without all of the extra calories. Make it a habit that when you go grocery shopping to check the food label and see how much fiber is in it. If you want to see those pounds melt away add some fiber to those meals.

Fast Weight Loss Tip #5:

Lose the Scale

Do you walk around with your weight tattooed on your forehead? Then why would you use it as a measure of how you look?

Your scale doesn’t read: skinny-just right-fat-OMG you’re huge

Then why do you care what your weight is? You need to ditch the scale and start measuring your problem areas or better yet buy a body fat analyzer. They have scales that measure your percent body fat, weight, and percent water. Most body fat monitors even have built in trackers. The question you should be asking yourself is do I want to weigh less or look better?

That ends my fast weight loss tips for today. These weight loss tips are meant as a starting point. Once you have mastered these you will have already lost a lot of unwanted fat. Be sure to read my other articles for more fast and easy weight loss tips.

Then you need a scale that tells you more than just your weight.

Does your scale tell you your body fat percentage?

Well now it can. I went through and checked out a bunch of body fat monitor scales and was amazed at how far they’ve come since I bought my first hand held body fat analyzer.

If you want an accurate way to track your body fat percentage then you definitely need to check these out. Any person who is serious about making progress should really invest in one of these body fat monitor scales.

Body Fat Monitor Scales – Top Picks

1. Tanita Body Fat Monitor With Body Water %
   $79.99

   Tanita’s new Scale plus Body Fat monitors with Body Water % calculate body water levels using bioelectric impedance analysis (BIA), the same highly accurate method used in all our body fat monitoring products.

   • Tracks 10 previous weight and body fat% readings with calendar date.
   • Easy-to-read 2.25″ 2-line display.
   • 4-person memory with athlete mode.
   • Power: AA batteries x 4 (included).
   • Capacity: 330 lbs (150 kg).
   • Weight Increments: 0.2 lbs.
   • Body Fat Increments: .1 %.
   • Modes: Adult, Children, Athlete.
   • Memory: 4 people.




2. Homedics Body Fat Monitor Scale
   $39.99

   The Homedics body fat monitor and scale uses BIA to measure body fat to the 1.0% and has up to 4 user memories. It has a 300-lb weight capacity and is designed with an LCD readout and body fat range graph.

   • Uses BIA to measure body fat to the 1.0%
   • Up to 4 user memories
   • 0.8 in LCD readout
   • Body fat range graph
   • 300 lb weight capacity
   • Reads to the 0.5 lb
   • Scale only mode-instant on and auto zero
   • Requires one 9 volt batter (not included)




3. Omron HBF-306 BodyLogic Pro Hand Held Body Fat Monitor
   $39.95

   Omron Body Logic body fat body fat monitors accurately measure body fat percentage in only 7 seconds!

   • Slim design for easy travel
   • Comfortable contoured design and large LCD readout for ease of use
   • Advanced technology for fast and accurate results
   • Advanced technology for fast and accurate results
   • Storage of up to 9 personal data profiles
   • Includes athlete mode and body mass index reading
   • Displays body fat percentage in only 7 seconds!

I’ve personally used the Omron for several years now but after seeing the Tanita body fat monitor scale I think it’s time for a change. Any one serious about losing weight should make buying a body fat monitor a number 1 priority.