Living Right - Losing Weight

Counting calories is considered almost a precondition to dieting.
But is it that important?
Can’t you lose weight without reading the tag of everything you eat?
Let me paint you a little picture:
You open your fridge,
Your eye catches a fruit yogurt.
You really want that yogurt.
You start thinking: “what did I eat today?”, “can I allow myself this yogurt?”
You reach for the yogurt and start looking for the nutrient table.
Then you start deciphering the table and the meaning of these calories.
You decide to eat the yogurt.
It only took you a few minutes and you even feel a little guilty about it.
Sounds familiar?
This is what a dieting person goes through every day.
But I say:
Isn’t it enough that we need to know what we eat and when we eat?
Do we have to become a human calorie calculator?
Must we count calories to burn fat?
No, we must not.
We can stop counting every calorie and still lose weight in a satisfactory manner.
Of course you should have proper knowledge about what you should eat and how much of it.
The problem is: people become fanatics.
Being on a diet, we can’t just eat whatever we want whenever we want it (yes, we are still on a diet),
But we also shouldn’t ourselves constantly with counting calories to burn fat properly.
For example:
If you know your diet tells you to eat a 400 calorie meal,
It can be translated to eat 350-450 calorie meal (as long as you don’t just add 50 calories to each meal of the day).
You can count calories in broader strokes and still lose real weight.
Believe me, the relief of not having to count every calorie will worth much more than the occasional 100-150 calories per day which you might eat.
The important thing is to set yourself free.
I’m not exaggerating.
If you’ve been doing it for a while stopping the calorie counting is so refreshing,
You’ll feel like a different person.
But don’t mistake it with paying less attention.
You actually have to pay more attention, not to calories, but to what feels right.
In the long run, the motivation to keep going is way more vital than the extra few calories.
You should change your state of mind from:
“I must count calories to burn fat”
To:
“I must know my calories to burn fat”
Concentrate on the content of the food, its’ nutrition value and not the difference between a 200 kcal sandwiches to a 230 kcal one.
This state of mind will help you stick to your diet.
And more importantly it will help you make your diet easier and calmer.
Don’t you want that?
Don’t you want to enjoy your diet? Or at least not suffer?
Sure you do.
Remember: a good diet should give you balance, not rob you of it.
Click Here to find out what’s wrong with your diet
Click Here to use your mind and make your diet easier

Good luck,

David H. Mason

I’ve heard the name ketosis diet a lot of times before,
I’m sure some of you have heard of it too.
But do you know exactly what it is?
Do you know its dangers and benefits?
So let me tell you all about it.
Ketosis diet is a diet based on a state of the human body called ketosis.
Ketosis happens when the body is deprived of carbohydrates and starts relying on proteins, fat and muscle for its energy.
In other words a ketosis diet is a low carb/no carb diet.
In this state, the brain is telling your body to reserve glucose for emergencies only.
This is due to the brain understanding it is not getting enough glucose because you don’t eat enough carbs.
So, like every dieting person hopes, the brain starts using fat stores for all immediate energy needs.
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
What I didn’t tell you yet, is that ketosis is treated by a big part of the medical society as a bodily crisis.
So read ahead before you go and start a ketosis diet.
The state of carbohydrate depravation is not only dangerous but is considered a bodily crisis.
This will be enough to make me ban this diet for life.
But if it’s not enough for you, take a look at the side effects.
The basic side effects of a ketosis diet are constant tiredness and general fatigue and similar bodily malfunctions caused by simply not having enough glucose in your body.
But aside of those, it can cause life threatening liver damage and destruction of muscle tissue.
I’m sure you don’t want any of those.
But wait, there’s more.
Considering the effects of a ketosis diet,
You very likely won’t be able to follow even the easiest workout regime.
And as we all know, working out is a vital part of losing weight.
So you are constantly tired, you can’t exercise because you don’t have sufficient energy,
You have a lot of restrictions regarding what you can and can’t eat
And your body uses its fat as a last resort for an energy source.
Ladies and gentleman, this is called starving.
Starving is in many ways a sort of sickness.
This sickness can cause long term damage to your body and can also affect any future dieting efforts.
Please, before you start a new “promising” diet - consider it very carefully.
All and all, ketosis diet is not a very enjoyable process.
You have so many alternatives, so many healthy diets that offer a better lifestyle.
You shouldn’t succumb to a harsh and dangerous ketosis diet.

Click Here to find out what’s wrong with your diet
Click Here to use your mind and make your diet easier

Good luck,

David H. Mason

One of the side effects of the fast pace of our live is this: we look for quick solutions.
We want to solve our money problem by investing money in the stock market instead of working,
And we want to get thin and shed the extra weight in no more than two weeks (A month if we’re patient).
Because of this, When some people think how to lose weight, fasting might seem as a favorable option.
Fasting is basically abstaining from eating,
Supposedly it has its advantages.
For example – a day of a complete fast can clean your systems of toxins and perhaps even “re-boot” your metabolism.
But that’s not what people usually talk about.
Actually, when people refer to fasting diets, they don’t really mean a complete fast,
They mean skipping meals or restricting their diets to just one sort of food.
For example: one fasting diets’ menu includes 5 days of no solid foods,
All you can eat is vegetable juice (or soup) of various kinds.
It’s easy to see how this kind of diet can be disrupting to your everyday life.
These sorts of diets are so extreme,
You have a medical inspection and have medical supervision throughout them.
In my opinion, you should aspire for a more balanced diet then this.
If you really want to lose weight, fasting is good only for very short terms and even that won’t really help you keep the weight off.
If you want to keep your health as well as lose weight,
Fasting on a regular basis is not just a bad idea, it’s downright dangerous.
There are three major reasons why should people avoid counting on fasting as the basis of their diets. These reasons apply to most extreme short term diets.
Health-wise: It’s not healthy.
Any extreme form of diet can traumatize your body.
We are designed to consume food.
Some of that food can have bad after effects like toxins which fasting can clean,
But it’s not a way to reduce body fat.
Metabolism-wise: a short fast can “re-boot” your metabolism,
But starving your self will put your body preservation mode.
That’s why a change in diet will cause a short drop in weight and stop after two weeks.
Motivation-wise: It’s ten times harder to keep up with a diet you do not enjoy.
Some people think that any diet has to include starvation but that’s simply lack of knowledge talking.
A good diet should be one that you can keep for a long while.
Mentally-wise: going on a fast won’t change your eating habits,
And even if you will lose a few pounds there’s nothing to keep you from gaining them again in a short while.
To summarize,
A diet should be more than just a quick way to lose weight.
Fasting cannot and should not be a long term solution.
The best diet should add balance to your life, not rob you of it.
You don’t deserve to suffer just to lose extra weight. You really don’t.

One of the biggest issues with dieting nowadays is choosing the right diet for you.
With the already packed market of various diets, a new trendy diet pops out every once in a while and usually promising very good results in very little amount of time.
Such is the Kelloggs’ Special K diet.
In very short amount of time this highly publicized diet plan has reached the ears and plates of dieters around the states.
So what is the special K diet?
1. Eat a serving (45g) of any brand of Kellogg’s Special K Plus cereal with 2/3 cup skim milk and fruit for two meals a day.
2. Eat your third meal as you normally do.
3. For snacks, choose from fresh fruits and vegetables or a Special K Bars.
4. Consume beverages as you normally do.
If you follow these 4 steps the Kelloggs company promise you will “Lose up to 6 pounds in 2 weeks!”

So far so good, right? Well, not exactly.
Basically there’s nothing special in special K diet,
All it does is to reduce normal intake of calories to about 1500 a day.
So Special K diet is good for people who aren’t on any kind of diet,
That means people who don’t mind what they eat (are you in that category?).
Most people really do lose some weight in the first two weeks the same as with most slim diets.
But what then?
Simply put: Nothing.
You won’t lose much more weight then that.
Moreover, if you go back to a regular diet program you will probably regain Some of that lost weight quickly.
Other then that there are another few drawbacks I find annoying:
It’s boring.
I don’t know about you, but eating cereal all day and a few vegetables doesn’t sound too good to me.
It won’t sedate your hunger.
Special K cereal actually have a high glycemic index,
Which basically means that it will make you even hungrier.
There are much better sorts of food that have low calorie intake and won’t keep your belly rumbling all day long.
Special K diet doesn’t have a very high nutrition value.
If you replace two meals of your day with some substitute,
You have to make sure this substitute will include most of your nutrition needs.
One last reason why I wouldn’t suggest you to try Special K diet is that it doesn’t promote good eating habits.
One thing people fail to understand is that a good well balanced diet is first and foremost a change in life style.
Of course that Special K diet is better then what some people eat,
But eventually, changing one item on your menu,
Especially if it’s with food that has low nutrient value,
Won’t make a big difference in the long run.

My point is this: finding the right diet is very important for you,
And it really is good if you find a program that is cheap and easy to follow
But make sure you don’t get duped into trying trendy diets like the Special K diet.
Most of these diets would have you believe that small miracles can happen.
These kinds of diets should be treated with some healthy suspicion.
And my suggestion to you is this: expand your knowledge about dieting and nutrition.
There’s plenty information available nowadays, most of it reliable.
After a while, create your own diet program, full with variations of your own choice.
That’s the kind of diet you will find easy to follow in the long run.

Use your head to improve your diet
Where did your diet go wrong?

Good luck,
David

What is the quickest way to burn fat? – fasting, exercising or none of the above?
I’ve been asked many times before – what’s the quickest way to burn fat?
Obviously, this question can have various answers depending whom you ask, so let me give you three possible answers to this oh-so-important question.
I’ll tell you in advance that my favorite answer is the third one, so bear with me.
#1 Fasting, not eating, or consuming as few calories as you can
Some people say that the quickest way to burn fat is the most straight forward one: just stop eating!
What is the logic behind this?
Calories are units of energy measurement,
During the day the body consumes this energy to keep you going.
When the body has no excess energy, it consumes whatever it stored as reserve: fat.
As with other mammals like bears and camels, having body fat can help you out if you’re going into hibernation or stuck in a desert with no other food.
Unlike these animals, our daily routine is not that extreme.
The quickest way to burn fat might be not to eat, but that doesn’t mean it’s healthy or good for you.
Consuming too few calories will make you exhausted, tired and can make you sick.
To be blunt: it’s bad for you! It will make you hate your diet and you’ll regain the lost weight quickly.
Please don’t be tempted not to try these sorts of fat loss programs.
#2 Consuming proteins and working out like crazy
Protein can be found in certain foods like meat, fish and beans.
The purpose of protein in your body is to function as a building block for muscle.
When you consume protein and carbohydrates prior to a workout, your body can take advantage of that extra blood flow and work the muscles more efficiently.
This is what makes the consumption of proteins important when including exercise plan into your general fat loss program.
But a high consumption of proteins without work out will cause the proteins to break down into glucose and eventually become fat.
So, the second answer to the question what is the fastest way to burn fat is this:
Change your diet to include high amounts of protein, then do as many cardiovascular exercises as can squeeze into your daily routine.
In theory, this sounds like a good plan.
Muscle tissue consumes a lot of energy even in rest, which means you’ll burn more fat even while you’re sleeping or watching TV.
The problem is that pushing yourself into a harsh training routine can not only hurt your body, it can also discourage you from continuing with your diet in the long run.
Exercise is most definitely a good part of every diet plan, but I wouldn’t recommend it as your only solution.
#3 Enjoy your diet, make it work
I told you that my favorite solution is the third one, so let me detail it to you.
My idea of the quickest way to burn fat is to not rush it at all.
When you try to rush things, you eventually end up hating your diet and gaining the weight back again.
If you take your diet as an holistic change in your life,
If you find the right food for you,
If you find the way to incorporate an exercise program in your routine (without overdoing it),
I’m sure you’ll get results quicker then you think.
But more importantly, you won’t gain the weight back again, and you won’t suffer in the process.
I hope I convinced you that that the quickest way to burn fat is a well balanced diet program.
Good luck,
David H. Mason,

For more information about dieting psychology, weight loss, fitness and nutrition you are welcome to visit my site:
www.LivingRightLosingWeight.com

Have you ever asked yourself: “Why not do a short term diet and get some quick results?”
Well, read on and I’ll tell you exactly why not.
There are a lot of short term diets out there.
Most of them are very radical and sometimes even painful.
There are a few “sane” short term diets for you to try but I would vote against those diets as well.
There are of course benefits to earn from such diets,
In fact, I have seen results from such diets on myself and others.
After all, many of us will accept two weeks of suffering in exchange for some quick weight loss, right?
But is it worth it?
Before you say “sure, it’s only for two weeks” please read these 3 reasons:
Reason no. 1 – most of the short term diets are harmful.
Not just harmful for two weeks but actually traumatizing for the body.
I have heard of some diets that require you to fast from 17:00 till morning.
It’s almost half a day without food!
Our body is not programmed to deal with such harsh conditions.
Besides – starving yourself will only slow down your metabolism.
Reason no. 2 – This is mentally wrong.
These sorts of diets are not only unhealthy but they are actually teaching you to how to keep making mistakes.
Let me explain,
You do this diet, you suffer, you lose weight.
That’s the equation, right?
What does that teach you?
Two things: that suffering is an integral part of any diet and that it’s suffering is an acceptable and even welcomed part of life.
Both are totally wrong and both are embedded into your brain when such a diet works for you.
This is not a matter of decision!
Look at your body as a machine, your brain is the controls.
When you go through a physically exhausting process your mind is making a note of it.
But when you feel the success of weight loss afterwards, your mind connects the two.
The bottom line is, it becomes much harder for you to go on a diet which doesn’t involve suffering.
Reason no. 3 – It won’t last.
This is the main reason to avoid short term diets, they just don’t last.
You will regain the weight, maybe not all of it, but most of it for sure.
There is no way around it, your body will get back to what it is used to.
So if you are overweight due to what you eat (like most overweight people),
You will just gain this weight back in a few weeks.
To sum up, a real diet is a diet you can live with,
A diet that fits you and that you can go on and do for years.
Most effective diets are about changing habits, short term diets will only harm your efforts of doing that in the future.
Please, do not make this connection between weight loss and suffering,
It shouldn’t be that way.
Good Luck,
David.

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Why be hungry if you can lose weight without it? Don’t starve yourself, lose weight the healthy way
There are a lot of myths on the subjects of dieting and weight loss.
One of those is that “hunger is a part of any effective diet”.
Well, that’s just wrong.
I can assure you, many people have lost weight without being hungry.
Let me explain to you how it works.
How to eat - the first thing you need to know is this:
“Hunger is a matter of weight, not calories”.
That’s right, you will only feel full when you reach a sufficient weight in your stomach.
This means that eating small amounts of food that stores a lot of calories is much less effective than eating heavy foods with fewer calories.
You can eat a bag of chips and not feel full because it’s very light.
The body needs to feel full of something and the entire bag of chips is not enough for that.
You will find yourself eating 500 calories easily and still feel like you need a big meal.
Instead, eat heavier foods like whole wheat bread, which is heavier than white bread but lighter in calories.
If I feel hungry between meals I just eat a sandwich made of whole wheat bread with some light cheese, and that keeps me full until the next meal.
You have to remember, you want to lose weight, and you want to do effectively and without suffering - so stop wasting calories on food that will not satisfy your hunger
When to eat - this is the fun part,
Instead of eating 3 meals, you should try to eat 5-6 meals a day.
Yes, I’m not kidding, who can ever be hungry with 5-6 meals a day?
This sounds fun and it actually is!
It goes like this:
Never skip breakfast, when you eat breakfast your body starts working.
You don’t want to waste the first hours of your day when you can let your metabolism work for you.
After breakfast and before lunch eat some fruits or a whole wheat bread sandwich.
Avoid eating a big lunch, it defeats the purpose of this diet.
After lunch and before dinner eat another small meal and on it goes.
You get the point, eat 5-6 small meals a day, but Keep them small.
Big meals will teach your body to get used to a lot of food, so small amounts of food won’t satisfy you.
Also, small meals help your metabolism to keep up and work hard for you.
Have at least two hours between two meals and you should be totally fine.
What you eat - first of all you need to eat the right food.
The “right food” is very different for each person and his/her diet.
But I will give you a bit of an idea of what not to eat.
You should avoid high fat products like cheeses and milk.
Oily foods generally contain more “useless” calories so try boiling instead of frying when possible.
You should of course avoid all kinds of candy and snacks for the above reasons. Try to substitute them with other treats that are healthier.
That’s it, hope I helped you understand the dieting does not have to be awful.
You don’t need to suffer to lose weight.

Good luck,
David,
For more information about dieting psychology and nutrition visit my site:
www.LivingRightLosingWeight.com