Maintain Healthy Weight - Myths and Facts

One of the ironies of reducing and/or maintaining weight is sorting through all the information about how to effectively do it. There are thousands of surefire weight reduction reports and programs touted on TV, online, as well as ideas from family or friends - all well intentioned, of course.

With hundreds of products and weight reduction theories, confusion begins to creep in. There is a lot of good information, however, there are also a lot of myths, misinformation and scams. The following common weight reduction myths and facts will set you on a healthy track to reduce and maintain your ideal weight.

Myth: Reducing weight fast encourages people to stay on the plan.

Fact: Reducing weight fast may seem to encourage people to stay on the plan, and it may, however, only in the short term. The truth is that when you starve yourself you lose muscle and this slows your metabolism. Thus, your body will burn fewer calories and it will become more difficult to reduce and maintain weight in the long term.

Myth: Eating only three meals per day and NO snacking is the best way to reduce weight.

Fact: Eating three main meals with a healthy low-calorie snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon is highly effective. Snacking within your calorie count avoids deprivation. The low-calorie snacks need to be counted as the total daily calorie in-take. For example: 1,400 calories. Breakfast: 350 calories. Mid-morning snack: 100 calories. Lunch: 400 (450) calories. Mid-afternoon snack: 100 calories. Dinner: 450 (400) calories.

Myth: Low-fat food plans are best for weight reduction.

Fact: This myth seems that it would be true, yet, it is false. The truth is twofold. #1: Your body needs a certain amount of fat to function properly. #2: Low-fat or fat free foods are still high in calories, fillers, and sugar. It is ultimately the amount of calories you consume that causes weight gain, not the amount of fat. The most effective food plan is monounsaturated fat (MUFA) and no saturated or trans fat. Research reveals foods rich in MUFA; improves blood cholesterol, which reduces heart disease. Most popular MUFA foods include: Raw Almonds, Walnuts, Macadamia, Cashew, Pine nuts, Sunflower seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Avocado, Nonhydrogenated peanut or almond butter spreads, Olive, Safflower, and Peanut Oil.

Polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) - plant-based food and oils is essential for a healthy food plan. PUFA improves blood cholesterol and also reduces risk of type 2 diabetes.

Omega-3s - found in fatty fish are especially beneficial for heart health, reducing blood cholesterol and coronary heart disease. It also protects against irregular heartbeats and lowers blood pressure.

Myth: Counting calories is only for obese people to reduce weight.

Fact: Based on your lifestyle and exercise program, your body needs a certain number of calories each day to maintain good health. Eating more calories than your body needs in a 24-hour period is the reason people add weight over time. In order to effectively maintain weight you need to eat only the number of calories needed each day to maintain your ideal weight.

Myth: Carbohydrates make you fat.

Fact: It is not carbohydrates that cause weight gain, it is excess calorie intake. The problem is highly processed carbohydrates (wheat/whole wheat bread, cake, pasta, pastries, cookies, muffins, etc.) are high in calories. Instead, choose non-wheat (a.k.a. gluten free) carbohydrates and reduce portion size.

Myth: In order to reduce weight - one needs to be deprived.

Fact: Reducing weight effectively is to maintain an overall healthy food plan. Eat to maintain a healthy body weight for your height, and body frame (small, medium, large). Maintaining a healthy food plan will create the results you desire. A food plan that drastically cuts calories, or deprives you of your favorite dishes reduces your success rate in the long-term. The most successful food plan begins by choosing food that is right for your blood type and includes your favorite ingredients with some modifications.

Learn to create your favorite dishes using healthy ingredients - Avoid Genetically Modified food and wheat. Non-wheat (gluten free) products include: Rice, Tapioca, Spelt, Quinoa, etc.

Increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in your daily food plan, and exercise regularly. Creating a healthy lifestyle is key to reducing and maintaining your ideal weight.

Weight maintenance is quite easy when you avoid 'quick fix' programs and eat right from your blood type.

Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD, Metaphysician - Certified Hypnosis Practitioner, Author and Speaker. Dr. Dorothy facilitates clearing blocks, fears and limiting beliefs. You can live the life you desire. She brings awareness to concepts not typically obvious to one's thoughts and feelings. http://www.drdorothy.net

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7 Steps to the Ideal Weight

Unfortunately, in most cases, if women manage to lose some extra pounds, in a while their weight comes back, and then the lost weight is added twice. However, when losing weight it is not necessary to put yourself on the rack. It will be enough only to modify the diet regime and to move more. Well, if you organize all the information on weight loss, the weight loss process can be divided into several I-start-on-Monday steps leading to the ideal weight.

Step 1: Set up a Food Journal 

A food journal helps eliminate the main cause of weight gain that is a poor diet. Your food journal can be a notebook or an online profile. Take into consideration that online you have possibility to communicate with the same weight losers. There can be found many discussions, tips that could become an additional challenge to get the best results! In a food journal, you should record all food and products you eat every day. With the help of this journal, you will see clearly if there are a lot of sweets in your meal plan. Additionally, there could be not enough vegetables and fruit, or you consume a lot of high-calorie or fat food, etc.

Step 2: Start a Low-Fat Diet
By itself, fat is a very high-calorie product. Just take into consideration that 100g of fat equals 900 kilocalories. By reducing the amount of fat in the diet, you reduce the overall calorie intake in your daily menu. You should know that besides the obviously fatty foods such as butter, lard, pork, etc., there are some "hidden fats" in sausages, biscuits and chips, and any fast food has an incredible amount of fats as well.

Step 3: Read the Labels
Let people around consider you mad when you are going over packages of cheese or cottage cheese, calculating something, making some rough calorie calculations! You know that you eat what you buy at home later. That means it's high time you controlled everything that you put into your basket in the supermarket. Do not rely on commercials and old habits. The yogurt and other dairy products commercials are not always truthful. So, take your time, read everything written on the labels.

Step 4: Don't Go on Hunger Strike
You need to feel full. To do this, add to your menu more vegetables, fruits and berries, as they make you feel saturated and your stomach full and they have almost no calories. When cooking, add vegetables to meat and fish meals and fruits and berries to desserts.

Step 5: Eat From the Right Plate
The RIGHT means:

• smaller in size than the one you used before;
• use such proportions as 1/2 - vegetables, 1/4 - meat or fish, eggs or beans, 1/4 - carbs (potatoes or cereals, pasta, bread).

Step 6: Grow Thin Gradually
To get a good result without negative consequences in the form of stomach disorders, sagging skin, etc., you need to lose weight slowly. Nutritionists state that 1-2 lb per week is the best option.

Step 7: Increase Physical Activity
Ideally, it would be great to go in for sports. However, nowadays, many of us have neither time nor the energy. For starters, try basics - increase the number of steps you do a day. For example, go to work on foot, use the stairs instead of the elevator, get a puppy and walk over it in the park. The weight loss will not detain you!

So, what do we have? The ideal weight is only in 7 Steps. Read more at http://1loseweightfast.com/. Start reaching your slender dream right now!

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Ideal Weight for Healthy Living

Usually our idea of ideal weight is dictated by the images of the beautiful shapely bodies of models and celebrities. The size zero bodies of beautiful women may look attractive on magazine pages or on television screen. However, when you realize the harm that these women do to their health while creating the skinny body, you will be forced to reconsider your concept of ideal weight.

What is an ideal weight?

An ideal weight is one that keeps you healthy and fit. Health professionals do not emphasize on the term ideal weight, instead they focus on healthy weight. While diet and physical activities primarily contribute to the body of a person, there are other factors such as age, race, genetics, family history of body weight, environmental factors, behavior and metabolism rate that help to determine the body of a person.

Body weight vs. Body Mass Index

The ideal weight varies according to the stature of a person. Therefore, while measuring the body weight, it is necessary to take into account the height of a person. While the weighing scale displays your body weight, to determine the amount of fat in your body, you must calculate your body mass index (BMI), which is defined as the weight, measured in kilogram or pound, divided by the square of height, measured in meters or feet. The body weight is considered healthy, when the BMI is between 19 and 24.9. People whose BMI is below 19 and above 24.9 are considered underweight and overweight respectively.

How to attain ideal weight

To attain the ideal or healthy body weight you need a healthy diet and regular physical activities. Balancing energy consumption and energy expenditure is prerequisite for attaining the healthy body weight as well as for maintaining it. You gain weight when your energy expenditure is less than your energy consumption. By increasing the level of physical activities you burn the unused calories that are stored as fat.

A person is underweight when the amount of calorie intake is less than the amount of calorie used during physical activities. To attain the ideal body weight, an underweight person should slowly increase calorie consumption.

A healthy lifestyle will help you to maintain a healthy body mass index. A diet containing sufficient whole grain, fruits, vegetables and moderate amounts of animal protein is considered beneficial for health. A balanced diet combined with regular physical activities will keep you healthy and happy.

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