When you consider the real risks of going on a diet it is hard to understand why modern women are ready to spend a small fortune seeking the body they crave. Then again, when you look at the scrawny anorexic super models and “media personalities” who stare out of magazines and newspapers at us perhaps it is easier to realise why today’s modern women are prepared to spend nearly the same amount as a bank in trouble demands from the government.

How many of you know that dieting can lead to eating disorders? Those of you that did can have a gold star. Those that didn’t had better pay attention!

If you go on a diet in an attempt to lose weight and you fail then you classify yourself as a failure. When you go on to a diet, the fuel that your body needs to function properly, FOOD becomes your number one enemy. The food that you like, cream cakes, chocolate, McDonalds are forbidden and the foods that you don’t like, rice cakes, low fat cheese are O.K. diet foods. A lot of dieters find that every encounter with food results in tension and stress. In an effort to reach their target weight the dieter is not prepared top stick by their diet. They adopt other tactics and maybe indulge in a bit of bulimia. Or when they look at a full length mirror instead of seeing “skinny Minnie” they see a little fat person and they welcome good old anorexia. Or they might think to themselves “Oh what the heck…” and then go on a binge eating session.

Of course, these are the extreme risks of going on a diet. However, other more common risks that occur include what happens to your body when you try to lose a substantial amount of weight in a short period of time. The heart of this risk isn’t with losing subcutaneous fat, (the pinch an inch fat) but with losing the fat which protects your lean organs such as your liver and kidneys. When this happens it puts a strain on these organs as they try to retain their normal function. Ultimately the dieter can suffer from organ failure. Imagine waiting for a liver transplant and some one asks you how you’re in this position. How stupid would anybody feel if the answer was “I overdid my diet.”

Diets which ban certain food groups such as low carbohydrate diets, nil fat diets, high protein diets etc are all unhealthy because they are depriving your body of the correct combination of essential food groups as are diets that prescribe 800 calories per day or 1000. A healthy diet typically requires 50% of your calories come from healthy carbohydrates, such as whole grains, vegetables and fruit. Similarly 20% comes from protein such as chicken, eggs, cheese and 30% from GOOD fats, mainly poly and monounsaturated fats but some saturated and fish oils.

If you deprive your body of carbohydrates you can actually promote malnutrition. If you go on a high protein diet you can stress your kidneys. A high fat diet can lead to heart disease. Whatever diet you follow, if it brags “lose a kilo a day” remember the initial weight loss will be mainly water. This in turn can lead to dehydration and ultimately muscle waste age. What do you need to help you burn fat? MUSCLE. No muscle equals negative fat burning.

No one who promotes diets informs you of the simplest fact of all, because if they did it would have a negative impact on their earnings. DIETS DO NOT WORK!

When you go on a diet you are cutting down the fuel your body needs for metabolism. (the number of calories your body needs to perform its everyday functions such as breathing, digesting food etc.) When this happens your metabolic rate slows down. (Therefore you don’t need as many calories!) You hit your target weight and you start eating normally again. HOWEVER you r metabolism is still running at its reduced weight. Guess what happens next? You got it! The excess calories you take in are stored as fat and then what happens? Have you got it? That’s right, it is stored as fat and bingo, and you now weigh more than you did when you went on the diet! Ah well, better go on a better diet this time! Guess what, the same thing will keep happening until you change your lifestyle.

Change your lifestyle! What do you mean? What I mean is changing the food that you eat. Cut out the unhealthy sugary, processed, trans fat laden junk that you have been eating in the past and start eating healthily. Don’t sit on your butt all day! Go out and EXERCISE. Start gently and gradually and build up to it. Also do a bit of weight lifting to build muscle. Remember what we said earlier on, muscle helps burn fat!

Don’t look at rapid weight loss, aim for a pound per week. If you don’t like weighing yourself measure your waist, and see how soon you can fit those great pants, skirt or dress you haven’t got in to for a couple of years. If you do weigh yourself do it at the same time on the same scales on the same day every week.

Remember an exercise regime plus healthy diet beats dieting every time (AND you don’t have to go hungry!!)

Finally, a word of caution. If you are seriously overweight before you do anything IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU SEEK MEDICAL ADVICE BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING.

One common misconception is that diet means starving, fasting, or enduring suffering of different sorts. It does not mean that. These bad connotations are merely deformed ways of dieting.

It may include the withholding of certain foods but that depends on your diet, and it most often will include adding certain foods to your daily menu.

A second misconception revolves around the planning of a diet. Put simple – planning a diet is no simple task,

To plan a diet one needs to have a lot of knowledge in his/her possession.

It’s not enough to knowing what foods are fatty and which are not,

You also have to know the structure of different foods,

And the effect of every type of food on our metabolism.

This is why you need to gather a lot of knowledge in order to plan your own diet.

Of course you always have the option of using a professional to plan your diet for you.

A third misconception: Diet is not a synonym to weight loss,

There are different kinds of diets and weight loss diet is only one of them.

Weight gain diet:

Weight gain diet is mostly used by athletes and body builders.

It is used to gain weight for muscle building and bulking up for all kind of reasons.

The point is not only eating whatever you want and get fat.

It’s planning a menu to help the body gain the weight correctly & healthily.

Weight control diet:

For some people keeping their weight is a big issue.

This kind of diet is designed to help people not gain and not lose weight.

It is often used by people who lost weight successfully but are afraid to gain the weight back.

It is also used by people who do aerobic activities regularly and do not want to lose weight & muscle.

Weight loss diet:

The most common of all diets,

Used by overweight people all around the world with the sole purpose of losing fat.

Weight loss diets can be very different.

There are many approaches regarding what is the best/fastest/healthiest way to lose fat.

There are some very radical diets that require serious discipline and devotion.

For example there is the “no-carb” diet,

This diet is currently debated all over the world because of the importance of carbohydrates to all the body’s functions.

There are weight loss diets that revolve around eating a lot of a specific food like lettuce, other vegetables or even ice cream.

Alongside with the “normal” diets we can see the pills, powders, oils and all kinds of food additives.

These are diets that you should be very careful with,

Some of them are totally unhealthy and mostly there results can be reproduced with a natural and healthy diet.

In short, changing your diet is not something to be taken lightly. A wrong kind of diet might actually be harmful.

I hope I helped you get a better understanding on what is a diet,

Good luck,

Unfortunately, most people haven’t yet written their own weight loss success story. Most people are seeking rapid weight loss through one method or another, yet almost two-thirds of our nation is still classified as overweight. About one-third of our population is clinically obese. Clearly, the average weight in the United States continues to rise just as fast as the number of crash diets advertised on television.

While it can certainly be argued that Americans don’t exercise to lose weight nearly enough and rely too much on quick weight loss diets, it’s also true that a healthy diet will can have a substantial impact on fat loss results.

Diet Dilemma:

Unfortunately, when most people consider weight loss nutrition they automatically think of low fat foods such as alfalfa sprouts, broccoli and nonfat cottage cheese. Just the thought of surviving on such meager fare leaves the dieter discouraged and disappointed. Unable to eat the foods they love, dieters give up all hope of achieving their spot on the ideal weight chart and revert to their old pre-diet dining habits.

That’s where most diets fail. Consumers, seeking honest weight loss help, are led to believe that in order to reach their ideal body weight they absolutely must give up all the foods they love and enjoy. Not realizing that this diet information is dangerous and self-defeating, the average dieter attempts to ‘willpower’ their way through day after tortuous day, denying themselves the very foods that they cherish the most. Such an approach almost never leads the consumer to a healthy weight because it’s virtually impossible to deny yourself to this extreme. After the inevitable failure of this weight management technique, the dieter feels like a personal failure. Feelings of inadequacy set in, and it’s easy to lose weight loss motivation altogether.

Thankfully, your weight loss story doesn’t have to end here. An eminently better way to diet and lose fat is to make modifications to your menu that you can stick with for life. While it is possible to burn fat using the ‘willpower through it’ method, weight loss success is much more likely when small (almost unnoticeable) changes are made.

Americans Consume Piles Of Pizza:

Pizza is a perfect example of how you can make a minor modification to your diet, without giving up the foods you adore, and still attain some healthy weight loss. “Americans spent more than $22 billion last year on pizza, according to ‘The Pizza Market’ study conducted by Packaged Facts, a market research company. Helping to drive this trend is what many refer to as “consumers’ growing love affair” with frozen pizza. About 7.7% of total dollars spent for pizza in 1995 was for frozen pizza, and growing sales are being spurred by the new rising crust varieties.” (Source: Baking Business; 11-26-1996).

Most pizzas will do little to help your fast weight loss diet because they’re typically loaded down with high-fat toppings like cheese and pepperoni. As an example, Pizza Hut claims that “If all the cows it takes to produce Pizza Hut cheese stood end to end, they would span the distance between the international space station and Earth at its point closest to the planet (333 kilometers or 207 miles)” (Source: Pizza Hut).

As a nation, our love affair with pizza has hindered our weight control efforts. Each man, woman and child in America eats an average of 46 slices (23 pounds) of pizza a year (Source: Packaged Facts, New York). A look at the Pizza Hut menu reveals that a single (100 gram) slice of Pizza Hut pan pizza (pepperoni) has 280 calories. That same slice at Domino’s Pizza will cost you 310 calories. A single (153 gram) slice of Papa John’s Pizza (The Meats) checks in at a whopping 430 calories, while a slice of pepperoni (111 grams) at Round Table Pizza boasts 310 calories. Finally, a (141 gram) deep-dish pepperoni slice from Little Caesars will set you back 350 calories.

Can Pizza Be Part Of A Healthy Diet?

With all those calories in pizza, and the pizza delivery truck just a phone call away, your diet and nutrition plan may be in jeopardy. But it doesn’t have to be. The incredible pizza served up at your favorite pizza restaurant doesn’t have to derail your weight loss plan. While the local pizza franchise won’t ever be mistaken for the neighborhood quick weight loss center, and pizza probably won’t ever qualify as a fat burning food, you don’t have to give it up entirely in favor of the latest fad diet.

Many Americans are finding that their local pizza place is now offering healthier choices. With consumers concerned about so many carbs in pizza (due to the Atkins Diet and the South Beach Diet), and with high fat foods still a concern for many, pizza recipes are changing for the better.

Papa Murphy’s deLITE Pizza May Fit Your Diet Plan:

Papa Murphy’s Pizza is a fine example of a company that has listened to the customer and now offers a diet recipe on its pizza menu. Aware that many people are on a low-carb diet and weight loss program, Papa Murphy’s has adjusted their pizza dough recipe accordingly. The result is their deLITE line of pizzas, where a slice of pepperoni will cost you only 160 calories. Mindful of the millions of Americans on a low carbohydrate diet, Papa Murphy’s has cut back on the crust while preserving the flavor. Even the Papa Murphy’s equivalent of the big sausage pizza, which they call the Meat DeLITE, has just 190 calories.

With their Cheese DeLITE pizza boasting only 140 calories per slice, and the Veggie DeLITE pizza coming in at just 150 calories per slice, we may assume that the pizza ovens at Papa Murphy’s are working overtime!

So, Can Pizza Be Part Of A Healthy Diet?

While a steady diet of pizza will never be the next Weight Watcher diet, and the local pizza restaurant will never be a weight loss clinic, it is not unreasonable to claim that the Papa Murphy’s deLITE line of pizzas can indeed be a valuable part of our diet and exercise program.

Traditional diets promising easy weight loss demand that the dieter forfeit their favorite foods. More often than not, such diet programs include giving up pizza. Such drastic actions are often a direct path to failure, leaving the dieter with a weight issue they cannot handle and a monumental feeling of failure.

A much better approach to any weight loss diet is making small but significant changes that the dieter can stick to for life. One such change is making a switch from regular high-fat, high-calorie pizza to the Papa Murphy’s DeLITE line. Based upon a comparison to Papa John’s (see above), substituting the Papa Murphy’s DeLITE pizza will save you 290 calories per slice. Keeping in mind that the average American consumes 46 slices of pizza annually, the potential caloric savings is 13,340 calories per year. That’s almost four pounds of fat that can be shed each and every year simply by switching to the DeLITE pizza!

Is the DeLITE pizza a guaranteed way to lose weight fast? Is the DeLITE pizza a diet food or even a low fat option? Of course not. But it will help most dieters stay on their plan, and thus gives them a higher probability of achieving their ideal weight. So while it’s not a good idea to go into a pizza frenzy just yet, the DeLITE pizzas from Papa Murphy’s may indeed be part of your healthy diet.

The Problem Is Too Many Choices:

There is a staggering number of diet products on the market today, from the Atkins Diet to the Zone Diet. Compounding the confusion is the vast array of weight loss pills, patches and creams available.

With so many diet and nutrition weight loss products on the market, consumers looking for health advice find themselves overwhelmed by too much information.

Sometimes, Expert Advice Poses An Even Bigger Problem:

In February 2006 a news story muddied the waters even more. The Women’s Health Initiative reported that low fat diets may not offer the health benefits we had previously thought. They researched the connection between a low-fat diet and a woman’s risk of heart disease and cancer.

Limited in the space and time they have to report on health tips and news, the media failed to report the full story. Unfortunately, the result was that most major media outlets reported the ‘Death Of The Low Fat Diet’. The average person, perhaps thinking they were getting a tip on losing weight or maintaining a healthy diet, was misled.

Reading the full study, however, revealed that the researchers did not intend to steer the public away from low fat foods or low fat recipes. Indeed, entire volumes have been written about the benefits of a low fat diet, and one narrowly focused study will not change that fact. “Despite the virtues of this study — particularly its size and its design — it is a single study, and leaves some unanswered questions. Therefore, it does not constitute the final word on the subject of nutrition in older women” (Source: Harvard Health Publications; Harvard Medical School).

Sometimes even the free medical advice from our government only serves to confuse the public. For example, consider the recent news about trans fat and saturated fat regarding food labeling requirements. For the first time in our nation’s history, food labels will now have to disclose how much trans fat is contained in the product. Added to the aforementioned research on low fat diets, these two facts bewilder and baffle the average consumer who may not understand the different types of fat in foods.

Another fine example of expert advice perplexing the public can be seen by the fact that our government has periodically changed the ideal weight chart and the recommended body fat percentage for both men and women.

So How Do Choose The Best Diet Product For You?

The first step in selecting the best diet plan for you is to find free diet information and free advice about weight control. Many reputable and reliable resources are available, one of the best being health clubs. Gyms that are focused on truly helping people achieve weight loss success will feature informative and free articles on their website. The federal government also sponsors and hosts some excellent sites that are packed with free diet information.

When seeking the best diet product for you, keep in mind that every person is unique, with separate and distinct tastes and preferences. In other words, the weight loss plan that works for you may not work for me. Some people claim that the Maker’s Diet is the best weight loss diet on the market today. Others favor the diet foods offered by the South Beach Diet. Even the best weight loss program in the world is worthless if it’s not a good match for you personally. For easy weight loss to be realized, then, it’s critical to examine many different diet products to find one that fits your individual personality.

Personalize Your Diet Plan For Optimum Results:

If you absolutely love bread, then the Atkins diet recipes will not work for you. In the same way, Weight Watcher recipes won’t help you much if you’re not an active participant in the Weight Watcher Point program. Attempting to force yourself into diet program that doesn’t fit your personality or tastes will inevitably lead to failure.

A much better approach is to find a diet system that parallels your individual preferences. Whichever diet program you select, it is important that it be a diet you can stick with for life. Forcing yourself into a diet plan that’s not right for you will only make you disappointed and discouraged.

To Lose Weight Fast, Don’t Forget Weight Loss Exercise!

As we’ve seen, the experts argue about which diet is best. It seems that every weight control system has doctors and research to back up their claims. However, it cannot be disputed that the path to healthy weight loss will always include a combination of diet and exercise. It is only when you exercise to lose weight, combined with a healthy diet and sound nutritional practices, that you can achieve true fat loss and solve your weight issue once and for all. It’s not an exaggeration to say that attempting weight management without exercise is like trying to build a house without a hammer – when you’re trying to lose fat, why leave out the most effective tool?

That being said, our sound advice on how to choose a quick weight loss diet is to remember these diet tips from Pick Up The Pace:
1) If a diet has gained national exposure, it has probably worked for someone.
2) Just because a diet has worked for someone else doesn’t mean it will work for you.
3) Any given diet program can probably help somebody, but no diet program will help everybody.
4) Any fast weight loss diet must include regular exercise to be effective.

The first diet pills go all the way back to the 1950s, when amphetamines were offered as a way to suppress your appetite/boost your metabolism. Unfortunately, amphetamines (also known as “speed”) are highly addictive, and caused so many serious side effects that the drug companies were forced to take them off the market.

There then followed a long line of diet-pill drugs, which came and went as the continual discovery of side effects would force a new pill off the market within a few years. The most infamous case of this, were the “fen-phen” diet pills. The FDA approved this combination of fenfluramine and phentermine, assuring all that it was completely safe. Mere MONTHS later, the FDA had to issue a humiliating reversal of its decision – the “fen-phen” combination produced some of the worst side effects ever seen in any diet pill offered!

But “Big Pharma” wasn’t about to lose this “cash cow” that easily. In order to regain the trust of the general public, they began moving towards the use of “natural ingredients” in their new diet pill offerings. Of course, just because a chemical is produced by a plant, doesn’t mean it’s any safer than one produced in the laboratory.

The most notorious “natural” diet pill ingredient, was ephedra. Similar to caffeine (but more potent), it was eventually found to be causing caffeine-like side effects – but much more serious. Heart palpitations, heart arrhythmias, other heart problems, allergic reactions, nervous system problems – quite a list indeed! It too, was eventually banned in most of the technologically-advanced, Western civilized nations.

Are you seeing a pattern yet?

All of this does not mean that diet pills are entirely useless. A very few, select diet pills, have some value in assisting with weight loss. They can be useful – but only if you know how to use them correctly, and are fully aware of their problems:

1) ALL diet pills are potent drugs. They all have side effects – some of which are potentially very dangerous.

2) The more frequent side effects of diet pills include: heart complications, high blood pressure, dizziness, nervousness, insomnia, dry mouth, and diarrhea or constipation.

3) Like many other drugs, diet pills can be addictive. People have been known to become quite dependent on these pills, even long after they have stopped their dieting.

4) Many “successful” diet pill claims, are by people who also used a diet plan and exercised regularly during this period. Thus, there’s no way to know for certain, whether they would have lost the same amount of weight WITHOUT using the diet pill.

5) Recently, Big Pharma has tried a different approach: Offering watered-down versions of their prescription diet pills, as “over-the-counter” diet pills. Of course, being watered-down, they are even more useless than their original, stronger, prescription-required versions.

Even worse, after taking all these risks and possibly suffering through a list of side effects, ALL diet pills only work for a short time. Typically, your body will adapt to their weight-loss effects, and the pills will lose potency after a couple of months.

But worst of all, is the “bounce”. Many diet pill users report that after they went off the pills, they regained all the weight they lost while on the pills – plus more! (I have personal experience with this: After trying several different diet pills, each time I finished my diet-pill regimen, I would eventually end up at a HIGHER weight, than the weight I started at before using the diet pill!)

So as we can see, despite the promise of “easy weight loss”, using Celopin Diet Pill (and other diet pills) can lead you through a potential minefield of problems and dangers. But as I said earlier, there are ways to deal with these problems, and alternatives for losing weight quickly and easily – if you know where to find Diet Plans that really work! And I will show you exactly that (plus give you full details on how to make your weight loss Permanent, and avoid the “bounce” entirely), in my next article in this series on: http://celopindietpill.blogspot.com

At the same time, we’re continually inundated with news of the most recent diet and how this time it’s really going to work for us. The South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet, the Atkins Diet, the Low Carb Diet, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the Mediterranean Diet, the LA Weight Loss Diet, the Weight Watchers Diet, the Diabetic Diet, the Low Cholesterol Diet, the Prescription Pill Diet, the 3 Day Diet, the Low Fat Diet, the High Protein Diet, the Maker Diet, the Liquid Diet, the Grapefruit Diet, the Fad Diet, the Blood Type Diet, the GI Diet, the Vegetarian Diet, the Vegan Diet, the Detox Diet, the Dash Diet, the Candida Diet, the Gluten Free Diet, the Hollywood Diet, the Negative Calorie Diet, the 1200 Calorie Diet, the Raw Food Diet, the Phentermine Diet, the High Fiber Diet, the Macrobiotic Diet, the Science Diet, the Lemonade Diet, the Scarsdale Diet, the Diverticulitis Diet and the Fat Flush Diet are all examples of diet plans that promise to help us achieve quick weight loss.

Crash diets, weight loss pills and get-thin-quick gimmicks are more prevalent than ever, yet two-thirds of our population is still overweight. Even more startling is the fact that approximately one-third of the people in our country are clinically obese.

With all of these ‘solutions’ available to us, why is it that obesity trends have been alarming enough to prompt the Centers For Disease Control (CDC) to label obesity a national epidemic? Why are we still, as a nation, getting fatter? It’s certainly not because we’re not trying.

On the contrary, as a nation we’re trying harder than ever to lose fat through diet and other weight loss products. As reported by CNN on 1-14-05 “Americans were expected to spend more than $40 billion in 2004 on weight control pills, gym memberships, diet plans and related foods, estimates Marketdata Enterprises, which studies the weight loss industry.” Furthermore, statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that 80 percent of overweight individuals and almost 87 percent of obese individuals are trying to lose or maintain their weight.

As reported by mygoals.com, 80 percent of Americans made a New Year’s resolution in 2005. A whopping 26 percent of those resolutions were to improve overall health and fitness, making this the top category for self-improvement. This year was no anomaly, either, according to Amy O’Connor, deputy editor of Prevention magazine: “Fifty-nine million people every year resolve to lose weight.”

So, is there a healthy diet product out there that will actually work? More than likely, the answer is yes. Although there is quite a bit of fraudulent weight loss merchandise on the market today, there is also (somewhere out there) a diet program and weight loss plan that will work for us. The challenge is to find that diet product or diet plan.

-> Repeat Business:

The diet and weight loss industry is a huge money making machine. According to Marketdata Enterprises, the annual revenue for the diet industry was over $30 billion dollars in 1990. A 2005 report by Stanford University documents that the consumer diet industry is now approximately $44 billion and growing. With all this money flowing around, haven’t we as a country spent enough to fix the obesity problem once and for all?

How can the diet industry keep making more and more money, year after year? After all, $44 billion dollars is a lot of cash! The answer to that question is simple: repeat business. “98% of today’s dieters gain the weight back in 5 years. 90% of those individuals end up gaining back more than they lost originally, due to the body’s panic and efforts to stabilize metabolic rates over the long term” (Source: Stanford University; stanford.edu).

How do the diet-promoters get all that repeat business? The diet industry is a very unique enterprise in that, when it fails someone, they rarely blame the product. We are hard-pressed to find another business where, if the product doesn’t work, we blame ourselves. All too often, after giving up on yet another diet program, we find ourselves thinking “Well, I guess I’m just not a good enough dieter.” The tendency is for us to believe that we failed the diet rather than the other way around.

Apply this same logic to the automotive industry, and it soon becomes clear just how faulty this line of reasoning really is. What would happen if we take our car in to the mechanic for repairs and when we returned to pick it up he told us that although we still had to pay the bill, he was unable to fix the problem? Would we willing pay the bill anyway and just say “Oh well, I guess it’s just a bad car?” Of course not! That would be ridiculous! But that’s exactly what we do when it comes to diets.

-> One Size Does Not Fit All:

What we need to realize is that there is probably a weight loss product or weight loss plan out there that will work for us, but it may not be the same one our friends or co-workers used. To find the best weight loss program for us, we absolutely must realize that one size does not fit all. What worked for our sibling or spouse may not work for us, and what works for us may not work for them.

It’s probably safe to say that any diet supplement has helped somebody, but it’s also true that no weight loss drug or plan has helped everybody. Each person has a unique metabolism and very individual nutritional needs, so no single plan will work for everyone.

-> How To Find The Right Weight Loss Diet:

Some fat burner products on the market today do indeed work. Others are a complete rip-off. How do you tell the difference? Where do you go for accurate and reliable weight loss information?

First and foremost, talk with your doctor. Your own personal physician is likely to be honest with you and provide you with the facts. In addition, he or she can help you decide which weight loss supplement may be right for your personal situation.

There are also quite a few reputable organizations that provide accurate information on fat loss. Some of the better resources include:
* American Cancer Society – www.cancer.org
* Centers For Disease Control – www.cdc.gov
* Diet Scam Watch – www.dietscam.org
* Calories Per Hour – www.caloriesperhour.com
* Harvard Medical School – www.health.harvard.edu
* Mayo Clinic – www.mayoclinic.org
* Shape Up America – www.shapeup.org
* Calorie Control Council – www.caloriecontrol.org
* President’s Council On Physical Fitness – www.fitness.gov

When seeking a healthy weight loss plan, it’s important that no food be strictly forbidden. There should not be any (or many) foods that we avoid completely 100% of the time. Why? Because that sets us up for failure! For example, if fudge is one of our favorites and we force ourselves to NOT eat fudge at the holiday party, then for many of us what we’ve done is set ourselves up for a binge fudge-festival.

Avoiding our favorite foods entirely is a too much self-deprivation for most people, and this sets us up for binge-eating. That’s a recipe for disaster!

A much better approach is to enjoy foods in moderation. Watch those serving sizes! Enjoy and savor one piece of fudge! It’s better to enjoy one piece of fudge and then stop than attempt to deprive ourselves entirely, only to end up eating the whole pan.

A good diet and nutrition program will also help us keep in mind the cost of the foods we eat. We’re not talking about dollars and cents here, but the FITNESS cost of the food. When picking up that fudge, keep in mind what it will cost to enjoy it. When picking up a plate at the buffet table, let’s take a moment to pause and think to ourselves: “The cost of this fudge will be an extra _____ minutes of exercise…..is that worth it to me?” Maybe. Maybe not. That’s for each of us to decide on our own.

The point is that we should be conscious of our food decisions. No foods are forbidden entirely, but we do need to watch our portion sizes and carefully consider the cost of each food. Any good weight management program will incorporate these concepts and also will be approved by your doctor.

-> How To Find The Right Weight Loss Supplement:

Perhaps even more so than with weight loss diets, when searching for weight loss supplements it is critical to rely on the advice of your physician. The careful and supervised use of weight loss diet pills, combined with a sensible diet and regular exercise, can lead to quick weight loss and even easy weight loss (or at least easier than you expected).

Beware, however, the supplement scams on the market. It seems that every time we turn around we are blasted and bombarded with the latest, greatest, new and improved treatment for obesity. The gimmicks just keep coming. The sad truth is that few of these products work. Even fewer will result in real, permanent and lasting fat loss. A very few of the weight loss gimmicks on the market today are not only a consumer rip-off, but they are also quite dangerous…..even deadly.

As an example, consider the prescription diet drug Meridia. Does it help you lose weight? For some people, the answer is yes. For others, the answer is no. Can it kill you? The answer to this question seems to be a nervous ‘maybe’. “The consumer group Public Citizen had petitioned the Food and Drug Administration for a ban, citing Meridia users who died of heart problems as young as their 20s and 30s. Even before Meridia was approved for sale, the FDA knew it could increase users’ blood pressure, the group contended.” (Source: cnn.com)

This week the FDA again refused to ban Meridia, even though whistleblower David Graham (an FDA drug safety officer) testified to Congress last fall that his agency was allowing five unsafe medicines to stay on the market, including Meridia.

Another example of a dangerous weight loss drug is ephedra. Ephedra was banned in the United States last year, in part due to numerous deaths attributed to this popular weight loss supplement. On April 14 2005, a federal Judge in Utah reversed the short-lived ban on ephedra. Within minutes, spammers were filling our email boxes with messages to BUY BUY BUY before ephedra was banned again.

Yes, ephedra will help some people lose weight. Yes, ephedra is safe for some people in low doses. But there is that little nagging fact that people have DIED and that their deaths have been attributed to ephedra use…..

Yet another example of a dangerous diet drug is steroids. For whatever reason, some people have decided that anabolic steroids are the best way to lose weight. Despite the well-documented and serious side-effects of steroid use, the lure of easy weight loss has caused many to throw caution to the wind. Perhaps the most concerning trend is steroid use among our teenage population: “Teens also listed steroids, growth hormone, amino acids and other potentially unhealthful products among those they’d tried in the previous year.” (Source: cnn.com)

There do exist, however, some diet supplements that work and are also quite safe. Again, it is never a good idea to begin any supplementation program without first seeking the advice and approval of your doctor.

Three popular and dependable fat loss products designed to help you lose weight fast are ChromeMate, Lipotropic Plus and Super L-Carnitine.

Chromium helps insulin metabolize fat, turn protein into muscle and convert sugar into energy. ChromeMate, a unique form of niacin-bound chromium, is designed to optimize energy output. It accomplishes this by increasing the amount of glucose available for energy production nearly twenty-fold. It also is the “master” nutrient for controlling blood sugar, which in turn curbs sugar cravings. What’s more, a study at Auburn University showed that ChromeMate reduced LDL cholesterol by an average of 14%. In fact, ChromeMate has been awarded a patent for lowering cholesterol.

The Lipotropic Plus Formula is scientifically-engineered to assist in the breakdown, distribution and burning (oxidation) of fatty acids. The active ingredients actually accelerate the fat-burning process by breaking down fat cells into smaller particles (emulsification) to be used for fuel during exercise.

Super L-Carnitine is essential for fat burning. I.B. Fritz and K.T.N. Yue, physiologists from the University of Michigan, discovered that Carnitine actually accelerates fat-burning. Without it, fat is unable to penetrate the walls of the mitochondria of the muscle cells. Carnitine is the shuttle that carries fat into your body’s furnaces (muscles) to be burned for energy. Super L-Carnitine increases the rate of fat utilization for fuel.

-> Weight Loss Exercise:

In this article we’ve been discussing weight loss diets and weight loss supplements. At this point it is essential that we add the third and most important component of overall health and fitness: exercise.

Exercise is one weight loss method that has never been banned, has never led to an investigation, and has never been been listed on a ‘whistleblower’ fraud report.

Exercise is the only path to health and fitness that virtually every doctor in the world agrees upon. Exercise is safe, effective, and brings many more benefits to our lives than diets or drugs ever will alone. Exercise is fun, invigorating, motivating and the single most powerful way to improve our life and well-being!

Yes, it’s quite possible to lose weight without participating in regular exercise. However, diet and exercise combined will help us burn fat faster than we thought possible! Weight loss achieved by regular exercise and diet will be healthy weight loss because of all the benefits we obtain from regular exercise:

1. Strengthens muscles
2. Strengthens bone
3. Strengthens ligaments
4. Strengthens tendons
5. Strengthens immune system
6. Improves muscle tone
7. Improves endurance
8. Improves strength
9. Improves self esteem
10. Improves confidence
11. Improves balance
12. Improves physical appearance
13. Improves physical performance
14. Improves glucose tolerance
15. Improves circulation
16. Improves memory
17. Lower risk of heart disease
18. Lower risk of diabetes
19. Lower risk of cancer
20. Lower blood pressure
21. Lower cholesterol
22. Lower risk of stroke
23. Lower risk of osteoporosis
24. Lower risk of osteoarthritis
25. Lower requirements for medication
26. Lower risk of injury
27. Lower bodyfat
28. Helps with sleep disorders
29. Reduces post-operative complications
30. Reduces frequency of illness
31. Prevent Alzheimer’s disease
32. Prevents muscle loss
33. Increases metabolism
34. Eases symptoms of menopause
35. Healthier pregnancy
36. Fewer problems with childbirth
37. Reduces ovulation problems
38. Prevents heartburn

Reaching your ideal weight via a healthy and active lifestyle has been found to lower health risks and medical problems in 90 percent of overweight patients. In addition to the exercise benefits listed above, fit people are eight times less likely to die from cancer than the unfit, and 53 percent less likely to die from other diseases. Fit people are also eight times less likely to die from heart disease.

Without a doubt, regular exercise is the most important piece of the puzzle and the best way to achieve rapid weight loss. Exercise is the safest way to achieve permanent fat loss, and when combined with a sound diet and nutrition program the body is turned into a virtual fat-burning furnace!

-> Conclusion:

Fast weight loss is possible if we, under the supervision and approval of our doctor, combine a sensible diet with a diet pill or weight loss pill that is safe and effective. When we combine these three fat-burning strategies it is almost guaranteed that we will experience quick weight loss results.