Have you ever had a discussion with a friend where they’ve told you all about this amazing diet they’ve been on; they’re losing weight left, right and center, and proclaim that if you want to lose weight – this is THE way?

And after hearing that, did you proceed to get every single last detail of their plan, only to go home and follow it to a ‘T’. Did you have success? Read more…

Posted on April 10th, 2008 by Shannon Clark
Filed under: Weight Loss | No Comments »

If you’ve been training for at least three months and now you’re ready to kick it into high gear and start learning more about training and nutrition so you can get better and faster results, then this article is for you.

THE SECRET TO INCREASED FAT LOSS IS:
Read more…

Posted on April 3rd, 2008 by Lori Braun
Filed under: Health | 4 Comments »

by Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N.

When it comes to losing weight, the following eight food strategies have helped thousands of my personal clients achieve their goals. Go ahead and give them a shot!

* Fiber — Both types of fiber, insoluble and soluble can help your weight loss efforts.

o Insoluble fiber provides volume to food without adding a lot of calories. Foods rich in insoluble fiber include high fiber cereal, whole wheat bread, wheat bran, fruits and vegetables.
Read more…

Posted on April 2nd, 2008 by Lori Braun
Filed under: Health | No Comments »

After reading this entry, why not discuss it on our message board? Go check it out HERE.

Question: Is there a difference between “percentage of body fat” and “body mass index”, and if so, what is it? How do the two correlate?

Answer: Yes, there is a huge difference between body fat and body mass index (BMI). Body fat is a much better indicator of your health, fitness level, disease risk and ideal body weight than BMI. In fact, Shape up America, the anti obesity campaign started by Dr. C. Everett Koop, recently published a press release pointing out the shortcomings of BMI. According to the Shape up America website, BMI missclassifies one out of four people and should not be used by athletes.

To understand why BMI is not a good indicator of your health and fitness, you first need to understand what the BMI is. I pulled out my handy textbook, “Physiology of Sport and Exercise” By Wilmore and Costill to get the official definition. BMI was described in the glossary follows:

“BMI is a measurement of body overweight or obesity determined by dividing weight (in kilograms) by height (in meters) squared.”

The text went on to say that you’re considered overweight if you’re female and your BMI is 27.3 or greater or if you’re male and you’re BMI is 27.8 or higher. It also said that BMI correlates highly with body composition and is a better indicator of fitness than your weight alone.

If you’re sedentary, then I’ll buy the part about BMI being better than going just by your body weight alone, but the part about BMI correlating well to body composition is complete hogwash!
Read more…

Posted on April 1st, 2008 by Lori Braun
Filed under: Health | No Comments »

Hunger is part of the dieting process. While most of us know this, many of us cannot accept this. No one likes to feel hunger, but if you want to achieve success with your fat loss goals it’s likely something you are going to have to try and deal with at some point or another.

How can you make this easier? Your psychological mindset with regards to dieting plays a huge role in your results. Pushing to very low body fat digits is not for the weak-minded as it’s going to take some sheer determination and will-power to say no to the foods that are screaming your name.

Having a few sayings you repeat to yourself when the going gets tough can help. Here’s a good one for those of you who are really hardcore. Next time your stomach is telling you to just give in, say this back at it.

“The feeling of failure is worse than the feeling of hunger.”

Posted on March 30th, 2008 by Shannon Clark
Filed under: Weight Loss | No Comments »

If you’re one of the many people out there who have incessant cravings for chocolate or peanut butter - or the combination of the two, a great protein powder to invest in is PVL’s Whey Gourmet Chocolate Peanut Butter flavor.

As one of the top rating protein powders as far as taste is concerned, it’s a hot item on many’s supplement list.

Try mixing it into your oatmeal in the morning, with your cottage cheese as a late-night snack, or simply shake it up with some water or milk for the perfect post-workout treat.

Posted on January 29th, 2008 by Shannon Clark
Filed under: Health | No Comments »

You’ve likely heard it before. ‘Eat every three hours to keep your metabolism as high as possible.’ Because of this statement, people everywhere are anxiously watching the clock, making sure they hit their meal times on schedule, every day, every time.

They figure by doing so, they’ll boost their metabolism, thus allowing them to eat more food and still lose weight.

Does this sound like you? If so, you may be in for a bit of a surprise.

Read more…

Posted on January 9th, 2008 by Shannon Clark
Filed under: Weight Loss | 1 Comment »

Q: Lately it seems like no matter what I do, I just can’t lose weight. I’ve been sticking with my diet for so long now and I’m really afraid to lower my calories any further because I am just barely getting by on my current intake. What could be going wrong?

A: Great question! This is something that a lot of women run into and unfortunately, something that halts all their progress.

I think the question you really need to ask yourself is when the last time you took a diet break was. Has it been more than 6-8 weeks? Are your calories less than 10 multiplied by your body weight in pounds? (say a 150 pound female consuming fewer than 1500 calories)? Are you generally feeling tired, cold, and irritable?

If you answered yes to two or more of those questions, chances are, you need a break. What very often happens is the metabolism ‘shuts down’ in a sense, in that it starts to really conserve energy, slowing down so it doesn’t expend any more calories than it needs to. This will translate to you not burning any additional body fat. Basically, your body is working against you.

It’s always a good idea to take a break from your diet every so often to ‘reset’ things a little and let your body know that it’s not starving to death.

My guess is once you eat at maintenance calories for a week or so and then move back onto the diet, things will be rolling again and you’ll be feeling a hundred times better.

Posted on December 7th, 2007 by Shannon Clark
Filed under: Q and A, Weight Loss | 2 Comments »