Dan Dempsey’s Weight Loss Blog

Are there any easy ways to lose weight? It’s common knowledge that diet, lowering caloric intake, and exercise, increasing the number of calories you burn, work together as a formula for weight loss. But sticking to the diet is the hard part. It won’t be 100% simple, but with a little work it sure is easier. Here are some tips to make it easier.

Keep a daily log of everything that passes your lips. Taking notes helps you eat less. Studies show that people who keep track of what they eat end up eating 15% less. 15% is a lot.

The average American consumes an additional 245 calories per day just from drinks. Switch from juice, soda, and other calorie drinks to water. 245 calories a day add up to 90,000 calories each year. That’s 25 pounds. Are soda and juice really that good? Keep in mind too that juice and soda don’t trigger a feeling of fullness, despite their calories.

Grazing, eating more smaller meals during the day rather than a few large meals, is another way to drop weight. Studies show that eating in smaller portions more often results in eating 30% fewer calories. Furthermore, even the same number of calories eaten in smaller portions during more frequent meals can result in weight loss. You’re less likely to binge because the body releases less insulin.

Get rid of the “fat” clothes. If you don’t have clothes that are comfortable when you’re fat, you’re more likely to be reminded to keep the weight off every time you dress. And if you have to purchase a whole new wardrobe you’re less likely to gain weight.

Use smaller plates. It’s proven that people eat what’s in front of them. Use the salad plates instead of dinner plates.

Similar to the idea of using smaller plates, serve your food on the plate rather than in bowls on the table. Again, people tend to eat what’s in front of them.

Don’t eat white bread, sugar or white rice. Those foods are loaded with carbohydrates which lead to higher blood sugar and weight gain. Stick to whole grain breads and dark rice. Don’t be concerned with the sugar, pretty soon you won’t miss it.

There are a lot of other tips for easy ways to lose weight. Don’t be intimidated if it’s only easier instead of really easy. If weight loss were easy, everyone would be a supermodel.

In 1985 the famed three day diet first came on the scene. It boasted creation of a “specific metabolic reaction” to cause quick weight loss and the system to be cleansed. This reaction has never been proven or even attempted to be explained. The diet is to be followed for only 3 days, with an off period of generally 5 days in between diet times. All the versions of this diet share in common specific steps that must be followed and foods that must be eaten in order for the diet to work. What better way to blame the dieter when it doesn’t work than “you botched the formula.”

Breakfast on the first day begins with coffee (no sugar), one half a grapefruit, and a piece of toast with 1 Tbsp peanut butter. Lunch is a can of tuna, a piece of toast, and black coffee. Dinner consists of 3 ounces of chicken or lean meat, a cup of green beans, one cup of carrots, one apple, and one cup of regular vanilla ice cream. The other two days are about the same but with some substitutions such as hot dogs instead of lean meat. Supposedly it’s possible to lose as much as 10 pounds in only three days.

Hogwash is the answer. The question is what is a specific reaction to that claim? There is no evidence for the so-called “specific metabolic reaction.” The only reason this diet would work to help a person lose weight is because of the lack of calories in the diet. In fact, because the diet is so low in carbohydrates a person could drop ten pound in three days. Of course most of that would be water weight because carbohydrates encourage the body to retain water. By the way, losing that much weight from not retaining water is dangerous as the body needs water to survive.

Once the three days are over the weight will return, primarily because it’s mostly water. But also because any weight lost from the missed calories will be regained when the starving diet victim returns to normal, or in this case heavier than normal, eating. Deprive the body of water in three day cycles enough times and a person could develop kidney damage, dehydration, or a host of other dangerous conditions.

If something sounds too good to be true it is. The 3 day diet sounds too good to be true.

People who need to lose weight are constantly seeking diets that work. The issue isn’t really finding a diet that works, but rather locating a diet to which a person can stick. The diet industry is huge. Including books, diet food programs, trainers and nutritionists, spas, and all the other elements of the health and diet industry a lot of money, over 46.8 billion dollars in 2005, is pulled in not from people becoming healthy or losing weight, but rather from people attempting to become healthy or lose weight. Because repeat business brings in the cash, the focus is surely on methods and products that work for a short period but result in return business.

Here’s a diet that works. Drink only water, eat only 1000 calories every day, and combine it with 30 minutes of aerobic activity five days each week. That diet will result in losing weight. Only two small problems. The first is that cravings will ruin the diet. 1000 calories and all that exercise will eventually lead to massive hunger and binge eating. First it’s a potato chip or piece of cake, then it’s an extra hot dog and the whole bag of chips, and then the diet is ended. The second problem is what happens after the diet ends? What happens when the weight is lost? What, you’ll return to eating the same way you ate prior to the diet? Guess what, then the weight will come back. Next spring, or next time to wear that dress or tuxedo, or next family trip, or simply the next time you glance at a looking glass on the way out of the gym it will be once again be diet time.

The best diet is one making a change to overall diet, permanently. More and more people are coming to realize that to lose weight it’s best to make a whole lifestyle change, including healthier eating habits and more exercise. Connie Guttersen created the Sonoma Diet which, as a base, discusses 10 “power foods.” These are almonds, bell peppers, blueberries, broccoli, grapes, olive oil, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes and whole grains, combined with the diet of the Sonoma country, which includes Asian, Latin American and Mediterranean foods and dishes. The diet is full of real food, and real portions, combined into enjoyable dishes to help encourage someone to stay with it .

Want a diet that works? Move your mind from a short term diet to permanent eating habits that go along with an overall healthy and active lifestyle. That way you won’t put on the pounds in the first place.

Article Title: Atkins diet
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Author: Daniel Dempsey

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The Atkins diet is really called the Atkins nutritional approach. It was the brainchild of the doctor named Robert Atkins. He had gained a lot of weight in medical school. A medical Journal had an article about a diet. He decided to improve it and release it under his name.

Atkins, in his Atkins Diet, believed prevailing theories about weight gain were all wrong. He held that saturated fats weren’t as bad as people claim. The carbohydrates are the culprits. Atkins held that our obsession with fat actually worsened the problem. Many low-fat foods are packed with carbohydrates. Eating a low-fat version of foods was actually less healthy.

This all changes in the Atkins diet. He shifts dieters’ metabolism to burn body fats by cutting out carbohydrates from their diets. Lose the fat lose the weight. The goal wasn’t necessarily to take in fewer calories. The diet would work because it burned calories. The Atkins diet supposedly burned an extra 950 calories everyday. But later reviews of his studies found that his claims were false.

Dr. Atkins also touted the positive influence this Atkins diet could have on people with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is most often associated with obesity. Weight loss associated with the Atkins diet, as with any diet, would therefore help people manage type 2 diabetes. In addition the Atkins diet also addresses the measure of taking in fewer carbohydrates which is part of managing type 2 diabetes, so that Dr. Atkins suggested people on his diet would no longer need to monitor their blood sugar or take insulin. The medical world, in general, disagrees with Atkins on this point. They agree lower carbohydrates help with type 2 diabetes, but there is no proof that carbohydrates cause the disease.

So just how does this Atkins diet work? It follows four phases - induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. Here is an overview of the most important phase - Induction.

The first phase of the Atkins diet, Induction, is like the boot camp for the diet. It lasts for about two weeks. Carbohydrates are nearly removed entirely from the diet, only 15-20 grams can be consumed each day. The goal is to enter a fat burning metabolic phase called ketosis when the body, starved of glucose, will begin converting stored fat into fatty acids needed to power the body. Weight loss of 20 pounds over this period isn’t uncommon – that’s a staggering amount.

Learning the ideal carbohydrate levels for weight losing and for day to day intake after the weight loss ends are the purposes of the final three phases in the Atkins diet. Millions of people are still losing weight on this diet – but beware the dangers of taking in too much fat.

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Resource box: Daniel Dempsey Dempsey

2189 N. Rte. 83 # 103

Round Lake Beach, IL 60073

http://www.dandempsey.com/weightloss/tsfls.htm

Diet and exercise combined are an alpha male of the health world, together they represent the quickest way to lose weight. How do you burn more calories than you take in? Starving yourself is silly because it sends your body into a low calorie burning mode, and it could cause serious health issues. Like so many other things slow and steady wins the race. Combining a healthy diet with exercise is a long term method for the quickest way to lose weight. That’s without the yo-yo effect of many fad diets.

Diet means the everyday way you eat, not a short term solution for losing weight. Foods from each food group are part of a healthy, balanced diet. From there adjust down calories during periods when some weight loss is needed.

Sounds like a big change, huh? It might not be. You may already eat most of the foods needed for a well balanced diet, just not in the right portions. Cut down quantities, replace starches with whole grains, and you can still even eat cake while losing weight .

A good diet plan includes preparing for special occasions as well as for meals at home. Eating at restaurants and friends’ homes doesn’t mean breaking good eating habits. Ask some questions. Don’t let a failure bother you. Sometimes you’ll eat the wrong things. But when you get bucked off get right back on. Get back to the diet.

As for exercise perform 30 minutes of aerobic exercise seven days a week. That’s the goal, don’t worry if you miss a day here or there. Add extra activity such as parking further from the store or office for a little walk, or using stairs instead of the elevator.

Simple math is good diet plus exercise equals the quickest way to lose weight.

Do easy ways to lose weight exist? It’s common knowledge that diet, cutting down on caloric intake, and exercise, increasing calories burned, combine into a formula for weight loss. But the hard part is sticking to a low calorie, and often bland, diet. It won’t be effortless, but with a little work it sure is easier. Here are some tips to make it easier.

Carry a notebook to jot down everything that passes your lips. Taking notes helps you eat less. Studies show that people who keep track of what they eat end up eating 15% less. That’s significant.

The average American consumes an additional 245 calories per day just from drinks. Make the switch to 0 calorie water. 245 calories a day is nearly 90,000 calories each year. That’s 25 lbs. Are soda and juice really that good? Another fact is that despite their calories, drinks like soda and juice don’t trigger a feeling of fullness the way foods do.

Grazing, eating more smaller meals during the day rather than a few large meals, is another way to drop weight. Studies show that eating in smaller portions more often results in eating 30% fewer calories. You’re also less likely to binge because the body won’t produce as much insulin which leads to hunger.

Get rid of the “fat” clothes. If you don’t have clothing that’s comfortable when you’re fat, you’re more likely to be reminded to keep slim every time you dress. And you’re less likely to gain weight if doing so means having to buy a whole new wardrobe.

Use smaller plates. It’s been proven that people eat more when more food is in front of them, and they eat less when less food is in front of them. Use the salad plates instead of dinner plates.

Similar to the idea of using smaller plates, serve your food on the plate rather than in bowls on the table. Again, people tend to eat what’s in front of them.

Avoid white foods such as white bread, sugar, and white rice. Those are the foods with loads of carbohydrates which lead to higher blood sugar and weight gain. Stick to whole grain breads and dark rice. Don’t worry about the sugar, pretty soon you won’t miss it.

There are a lot of other tips for easy ways to lose weight. Don’t be intimidated if it’s only easier instead of really easy. If weight loss were easy, everyone would be a supermodel.

In 1985 the famed three day diet first came on the scene. It boasted creation of a “specific metabolic reaction” to cause quick weight loss and the system to be cleansed. This reaction has never been proven or even attempted to be explained. The diet is to be followed for only 3 days, with an off period of about 5 days in between diet times. All the versions of this diet share in common detailed steps that must be followed and foods that must be eaten in order for the diet to work. What better way to blame the dieter when it doesn’t work than “you botched the formula.”

First day breakfast includes coffee (no sugar), one half a grapefruit, and a piece of toast with 1 Tbsp peanut butter. For lunch, you are to eat a can of tuna, a piece of toast, and black coffee. For dinner it’s 3 ounces of chicken or lean meat, a cup of green beans, one cup of carrots, one apple, and one cup of regular vanilla ice cream. The other two days are about the same but with some substitutions such as hot dogs instead of lean meat. Supposedly it’s possible to lose as much as 10 pounds in only three days.

Baloney! How’s that for specific? And no baloney is not on the diet. As stated the metabolic reaction has never been examined much less proven. Any weight loss would be mostly water loss due to a lack of carbs which help the body retain water. That could lead to dehydration.

Because of binge eating after such starvation and because most of the weight lost is from water, the weight will quickly return after the three days. Deprive the body of water for three day cycles enough times and a person could develop kidney damage, dehydration, or a host of other dangerous conditions.

The 3 day diet is best treated as a no day diet. In other words, don’t do it.

Many folks need to lose weight, and lots of them are always searching for diet plans that work. It’s not really hard to find diets that work, but finding a diet a person can stick to is the issue. The diet industry is very large. Between books, diet food programs, trainers and nutritionists, spas, and all the other elements of the health and diet industry a lot of money, over 46.8 billion dollars in 2005, is pulled in not from people becoming healthy or losing weight, but rather from people attempting to become healthy or lose weight. Because the money comes from repeat business, the focus is surely on methods and products that work for a short time but result in return business.

So you want a diet that delivers? Here’s one. Combine limiting caloric intake to 1000 calories each day with at least 30 minutes of exercise at least five times a week. It’s a guarantee you’ll lose pounds. Only two small problems. #1 cravings will likely foil the diet. Sooner or later, particularly after returning home from work outs, those 1000 calories won’t be enough to satisfy. First it’s a potato chip or piece of cake, then it’s an extra hot dog and the whole bag of snacks, and then the diet is ended. The second issue is what happens after the diet is over? What happens when the weight is shed? What, you’ll return to eating the same way you ate before the diet? Guess what, then the weight will return. Next spring, or next fancy dress ball, or next family trip, or simply the next time you glance at a mirror on the way out of the shower it will be time to return to a diet to lose the unwanted pounds.

The best diet is a forever diet. A lifestyle change to healthier eating habits and more physical activity is the best way to lose weight and keep off the weight. Connie Guttersen created the Sonoma Diet which, as a base, discusses ten “power foods.” These are almonds, bell peppers, blueberries, broccoli, grapes, olive oil, spinach, strawberries, tomatoes and whole grains, combined with the cuisine of the Sonoma country, which includes Asian, Latin American and Mediterranean influences. The diet is full of real food, and real portions, combined into enjoyable dishes to help encourage someone to stay with it .

Want a diet that works? Shift the focus away from a short term diet to a long term style that’s part of an overall healthy and active lifestyle. That’s the way to not only lose the weight, but to avoid gaining it in the first place.

Article Title: Atkins diet
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Word count: 491

Author: Daniel Dempsey

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Article Body:

Many people have heard of the Atkins diet, the short name for Atkins nutritional approach. It’s a low-carb diet created by Robert Atkins. He had gained a great deal of weight while he attended medical school. He read about this diet in the medical journal. He built on that diet and eventually made it popular.

Dr. Atkins had rather radical theories about the nature of weight gain as expressed in the Atkins diet. He held that saturated fats weren’t as bad as people claim. Carbohydrates, found in potatoes, and breads, were the real problem. In Atkins theory eating too little fat make things even worse. Many low-fat foods are packed with carbohydrates. That meant people on a diet often ate foods that were worse than they normally ate.

This all changes in the Atkins diet. Once Carbohydrates were removed from a diet, people would burn more stored body fat. Once the fat was burned, the pounds will follow. It’s not just a matter of eating less. Dr. Atkins held that your diet could actually help you burn calories. The Atkins diet supposedly burned an extra 950 calories everyday. But later reviews of his studies found that his claims were false.

In addition to claims of weight loss, Dr. Atkins said his Atkins diet could help people with type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is most often associated with obesity. Therefore, by means of losing weight a person on the Atkins diet would be addressing their type 2 diabetes. Dr. Atkins also said that his Atkins diet would remove the need for medications such as insulin, because it severely cut down on carbohydrates which Atkins claimed were the major cause of type 2 diabetes. But that’s counter to the prevailing medical theories regarding type 2 diabetes which, although recommending that lowered intake of carbohydrates and weight loss help manage diabetes, ascribe no causal relationship between carbohydrates and type 2 diabetes.

What are the specific rules of the Atkins diet? It follows four phases - induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. Here is an overview of the most important phase - Induction.

As the first phase, Induction is the most crucial and most restrictive portion of the Atkins diet. This phase should be followed for a period of two weeks. Carbohydrates are nearly removed entirely from the diet, only 15-20 grams can be consumed each day. The lack of carbohydrates will prompt the body to convert fat into fatty acids for fuel – a process known as ketosis. Weight loss of 20 pounds over this period isn’t uncommon – that’s a staggering amount.

The next three phases of the Atkins diet help establish the levels of carbs people can consume in order to lose weight and to maintain a desired weight. Dr. Atkins himself died of complications of increased fat intake in his diet, which is something to keep in mind when choosing this diet.

====================================================================================================

Resource box: D. P. Dempsey Dempsey

2189 N. Rte. 83 # 103

Round Lake Beach, IL 60073

http://www.dandempsey.com/weightloss/tsfls.htm

Are there any easy ways to drop weight? It’s common knowledge that diet, lowering caloric intake, and exercise, increasing the number of calories you burn, combine into a formula for losing weight. But the hard part is sticking to a low calorie, and often bland, diet. It won’t be easy, but with a little work it sure is possible. Here are some tricks to make it easier.

Keep a daily log of everything that passes your lips. Taking notes helps you eat less. Studies show that people who keep track of what they eat end up eating 15% less. That’s significant.

On average Americans consume 245 calories a day from drinks. Switch from juice, soda, and other calorie drinks to water. 245 calories a day add up to 90,000 calories each year. That’s 25 lbs. Water isn’t that bad, is it? Keep in mind too that juice and soda don’t trigger a feeling of fullness, despite their calories.

Eat five or six smaller meals a day instead of three large meals a day. Studies show that eating in smaller portions more often results in eating 30% fewer calories. Furthermore, even the same number of calories eaten in smaller portions during more frequent meals can result in weight loss. You’re less likely to binge because the body releases less insulin.

Get rid of the “fat” clothes. If you don’t have clothes that are comfortable when you’re fat, you’re more likely to be reminded to keep slim every time you dress. And you’re less likely to gain weight if doing so means having to buy a whole new wardrobe.

Use smaller plates. It’s proven that people eat what’s in front of them. Use the salad plates instead of dinner plates.

Similar to the idea of using smaller plates, serve your food on the plate rather than in bowls on the table. Again, people tend to eat what’s in front of them.

Avoid white foods such as white bread, sugar, and white rice. Those are the foods with loads of carbohydrates which lead to higher blood sugar and weight gain. Do eat whole grain breads and brown rice. Don’t be concerned with the sugar, pretty soon you won’t miss it.

Weight loss isn’t easy, but relatively speaking there are easy ways to lose weight. Don’t be intimidated if it’s only easier instead of really easy. If weight loss were easy, everyone would be a supermodel.