Let’s start with the negative aspects of a low carb diet and end on a positive note with the up side to low carbohydrate dieting.

Clearly, a low carb diet is really no different than any other type of fad diet. Though one might be lead to believe that carbohydrates are the evil behind flabby abs and big bums, what the diet is really doing is cutting calories. As we all know, healthful weight loss occurs when caloric intake is lowered to allow for more calories burned than consumed. A low carbohydrate diet’s gimmick is that by cutting out a lot of if not all carbohydrate from the diet, far fewer calories are consumed. Sounds good, right?

Not really. There are some healthful aspects of carbohydrate that are also going to be missing. Fiber is an important aspect of weight loss, gastrointestinal health, cardiovascular health and possibly cancer prevention. Fiber is found in whole grains, fruits and vegetables. These food sources are only allowed in small portions if not eliminated all together.

What else is lost along with the fiber? Fruits and vegetables contain many, many important nutrients that not only aid in weight loss but promote good overall health. Vitamins and minerals can be severely lacking in strict diets and lead to all sorts of health problems.

It’s imperative that people consume plenty of vegetables and some fruit in their daily diets. One simply can’t be healthy and lose weight without consuming vegetables. Any fad low carb diet that advises limiting vegetables is simply ludicrous. What better food group to offer optimum nutrition and so few calories at the same time?

Another problem is the general misunderstanding of the diet. Because many dieters have been lead to believe that carbohydrate is evil, they tend to think that any protein is good and fill their plates with low carb diet food that is high in saturated fat. Though they may still be able to lose weight while dining on bacon every morning due to the extreme calorie cutting, there’s a good possibility that they are doing all sorts of miserable things to their bodies such as clogging their arteries or making themselves more susceptible to developing certain types of cancers such as breast cancer or prostate cancer.

Probably the most damning problem with following a low carb diet plan is the mere fact that long term weight loss is extremely difficult. Depending on how extreme the diet is, much of the initial weight loss could be due to the fact that the body is in a state of ketosis where water weight is lost. Not to mention that eventually, normal eating will resume and folks who have starved themselves from breads and the like may go overboard when they finally begin eating carbohydrates again. The simple fact is that most low carb diets are very difficult to maintain for an extended period of time and due to the aforementioned problems, it may even be detrimental to one’s overall health to remain on such an eating plan for too long.

That being said, there are few benefits to low carb dieting.

As I’ve said, healthful dieting has everything to do with lowering caloric intake as well as increasing caloric deficit through exercise. We all have different energy requirements. People who are more active can tolerate a higher level of caloric intake than people who live a sedentary life.

When we wish to lower our caloric intake in order to lose weight, we need to eliminate things in our diet. What should be eliminated? We need protein to maintain cellular integrity, hormonal function and a vast plethora of other activities in the body. We need carbohydrate as well for energy needs. Some carbohydrates, however, offer little more than this and we need the other benefits of good carbohydrates as well.

Good carbohydrates offer more than energy. Whole grains which are made with the whole grain kernel rather than processed flour offer fiber. Fruits and vegetables offer both fiber and vital vitamins and minerals; all of which not only support bodily functions and thus overall good health, but also have been known to aid in weight loss.

If a low carb diet plan advocates eliminating carbohydrates that are nutritionally poor such as refined sugars in junk food, and instead tell the dieter to choose carbohydrates that are high in fiber and other vitamins and minerals, then the diet could be a very sound eating plan.

As well, if the low carb diet advocates the use of lean protein sources instead of randomly assigning “choose from the protein group,” then the diet will probably help lower cardiovascular risk disease by lowering the amount of saturated fat in the average American’s diet.

The fact is that because some things in our diet have to be eliminated, we need to eliminate those things that are nutritionally poor. By doing this, you’re able to lose weight without leaving the body susceptible to all the problems that come with poor nutrition.

As weight is lost and the dieter has been trained to enjoy things like fruits, vegetables and whole grains over junky carbohydrates, lasting weight loss results are far more likely. This is because the person, rather than simply following a fad diet, has learned to eat properly possibly for the first time in his or her life.

Add to that plenty of exercise, water and sleep and this person will be at optimum overall health!

Video part 3 is my most favorite one. The end of the story is really funny and scary at the same time. Enjoy!

Part 1:

Part 2:

part 3:

Synopsis source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0716958/

Chubby telemarketer Betsy (Sharon Madden) is such a reclusive loner she has nightly talks with her plants in between harassing people over the telephone. When her nerdy, bald high school flame Elmo (Larry Gelman) comes back into the picture wanting to sweep her off her feet, Betsy decides she needs to lose a few pounds. She already has a special refrigerator that taunts her (”Fatty, fatty 2 by 4″) every time she opens the door, but that doesn’t seem to be doing the trick. One day out of the blue she gets a phone call from a mysterious company called “Your Weight Is Over.” Next thing she knows a package is delivered to her door. Inside is a hearing aid. In a crowded restaurant, she slips the device in and from that point on can hear food literally screaming in agony as it’s being eaten. Hey, it DOES ends up successfully making her lose her appetite for the night. In fact, she passes out from the shock.

A few days later, she receives a package from the same company. This time it’s a pair of eye glasses. As soon as she slips them on, she can see faces on the food. A pear, banana and apple sitting on the desk (all with sad-looking expressions) plead “Please don’t eat us!” over and over again. Then they become friends. Each piece of fruit has a personality of its own. The pear has a female southern belle voice, the banana has a grating New York accent and the apple, naturally, is the intellectual of the group. Before long, Betsy’s had enough of this program and tries to take the glasses off. Uh oh. They won’t come off… and the hearing aid won’t come out either. Will she ever be able to eat again or will she have to “murder” one of her new buddies?

Everyday we hear the news about how bad the economy will be in the coming year. We don’t know what the year 2009 will be like. One thing we have to understand is that worry won’t change anything one bit. Let’s take a positive thing out of the negative. Be an optimist and believe that everything will be better. Despite the economic crisis, this is actually the best time to lose weight. Cut all the unnecessary spending, cut eating out and cook at home more.

One of my biggest New Year’s Resolutions is still LOSING WEIGHT

I want to loose 20 pounds before our 5th anniversary on July 7th. (This time I’m very serious - starting on January 1st, 2009-)
How :

• Remove all junk food, sweets from refrigerator.

• Remove all junk food, sweets from my drawer in the office (I love to keep bunch of snacks in my drawer. When I’m bored I run to my drawer and satisfy myself with all kinds of chocolates, chips, cookies, peanuts and etc. I’m bad! bad! bad!)

• Eat breakfast regularly - control portions.

• Bring variety of cut out fruits to work. When I’m hungry or bored, fruit will be my solution.

• Reduce meal portions.

• Drink green tea 2 cups/day - morning and mid-afternoon

• Cook my own lunch (in this way I can control and pick the healthiest food I can eat)

• Have dinner before 7pm-control portions.

• Exercise 5 days a week - 30 minutes to 1 hour.

• Go to bed before 12am.

• Drink Plenty of water.

Okay…that’s my goal. No more excuses!

What’s your new year’s resolution? We would all like to hear.

My weight has been stable for about 3 years. I want to achieve my desired goal of weighing 100lbs but it seems so hard. The reason why I want to loose 15 pounds is because I’m not that tall. I’m only 4″11 and I think 100lbs is the best weight for my small frame. What do ya’ll think?

I need to stay motivated and get back on track.  2 months ago I joined the Nutrisystem diet plan and I quit because I was too stingy.  But now I have joined Nutrisystem again. This time I ordered the dinner meal only.

Dinner is the most difficult and weakest part. Since my husband and I work full time, I don’t have time to cook (lazy is the right word) for our dinner so we always dine out.  Or buy dinner and eat it home.  Most of the time the food that we eat is not healthy food.

That’s the main reason why I decided to join the Nutrisystem diet plan again and order just the dinner meal only. Most of their dinners have calorie counts between 220-360. I hope that’ll help me.

Anybody have experience struggling to lose the last few pounds?

The Weight Watchers®. diet is based on the idea that ” healthful weight loss occurs when we consume less food than we burn “.  Many of us know this, but find it difficult to apply it to our own lives.  Counting calories and weighing food to make sure we accomplish this mission just isn’t all that easy.  It’s time-consuming and if there’s one thing most of us are short on, that would be time.

Not only that, but putting all that thought into what we’re eating kind of sucks the fun out of food.  We begin to obsess on every bit we put in our mouths; how many calories was that?  Oh, I forgot about the mayo!  Etc.

The Weight Watchers®. points system is supposed to make it easier for you to accomplish your weight loss goals without the hassle of counting all those calories.  Foods are assigned points; for instance something that is about 250 calories will be around 4-5 points.

Each individual starts with a meeting to determine the correct amount of points allowed per day to achieve his or her weight loss goals.  This way, rather than counting calories, they count smaller numbers.  They are not told what they can eat, but they do have to figure out how to eat in a way that doesn’t go over their daily allotted points.

Obviously, one can see that this could lead to making healthful choices.  For instance, nobody wants to blow all their points on a huge breakfast and then not have much left over for the rest of the day.  Things like fruits and vegetables aren’t going to add very quickly and are better choices for snacks.  Makes sense, right?

But, you’re still counting.  You still have to think about everything you put in your mouth and record it in a food diary.  You may not have to weigh anything, but you do have to learn proper portion size (which isn’t all bad and key in weight loss), but it still forces you to obsess over food.

Using a food diary in and of itself is rather tedious and unless you’re a detail-oriented person, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to keep up for long.  There are already so many things in our lives that we have to monitor and fuss over.  We have to remember to keep track of our children’s homework assignments.  We have to remember to pay our bills on time.  We have to make sure we’re on target for work assignments.  Why make yourself slave to something else?

There is an alternative to the Weight Watchers®. points system and that is the Core Plan that weight watchers offers. This weight watcher diet doesn’t involve recording food or keeping track of points.  Instead, a restrictive list of what foods you are allowed to eat is incorporated.  For people who like a little more direction on what to eat and what not to eat, then this plan that takes the work out of it is probably a better way to go.

Unfortunately, there are two major drawbacks to this as well.  Can you guess what they are?  First and foremost, it’s too strict. When a diet is too strict, the failure rate is high.  It may become too difficult to resist things that you crave and eventually, the binge monster will rear its ugly head.

The second problem is that it’s not teaching you how to eat healthfully for life.  That which makes it simple causes trouble down the line when the weight has been lost and “normal” eating resumes.  It’s very easy to go overboard when you’ve restricted yourself for so long.  Not only that, but without your restrictive list of foods and weight watcher recipes, will you be able to make the right choices?  For that reason, the Weight Watchers®. points system, or Flex Plan, is probably the better of the two.

Whichever method you choose, part of the program and one of the strong points is the weight watcher meetings.  Weekly weigh in’s and discussion with fellow dieters and counselors can offer the support you may need to boost your confidence and help you stick with your weight loss goals.  Well, that is if it’s been a good week and you’ve lost weight at this weigh in.  If you’ve gained weight, these public weigh in’s may prove to be more than you can handle in terms of obsessing over the event.

In addition, many nutritionists will tell you that looking at the scale too often can be more discouraging than anything.  Our body weights fluctuate and when we’re talking about just one or two pounds, your true weight may not be reflected right at that moment.  If you weight during your menstrual cycle, the scale might be reflecting water weight rather than true body weight.

In addition, these meetings are just one more thing to add to an already busy schedule.  Part of the reason you may be heavy in the first place could be the fact that you don’t seem to have the time to exercise or eat properly.  I can’t help but think that the time may be better spent in the gym or preparing a healthful lunch instead of grabbing something easy (and usually fattening) because you didn’t have time to eat.

Some people even describe the meetings as a little boring and repetitive, perhaps even a little corny in their bubbly manner.  Some of us just don’t work well with the group strategy.

The weight watcher diet program has both positive and negative aspects.  Some people will achieve lasting weight loss and others may find that the program just isn’t for them.  You’ll have to weigh the odds and decide for yourself whether or not Weight Watchers is for you!

No matter what the flattering outfit, it became quite apparent that Kirstie didn’t quite meet the goals of the program, though she did lose weight. So, Valerie stepped in and now has a book out on the shelves about her success with the Jenny Craig diet. So, why did Kirstie “fail” and why did Valerie lose all the weight she wanted?

It could very well be that Kirstie cheated, but when evaluating the success or failure of a diet, one has to look beyond the dieter and look at the diet itself. What works for some just isn’t right for others. It’s a very subjective thing.

Over the years, Jenny Craig has changed her look about as many times as Madonna, but one thing remains the same, pre-packaged food and personalized counseling. The main jist of the program is to go to a Jenny Craig weight loss center and receive an evaluation and counseling by an employee of Jenny Craig. I say “employee” because the counselors are basically trained through Jenny Craig and have very few prerequisites. Certainly, a degree in nutrition or licensing as an R.D. (registered dietician) is not required. I would venture to guess because its basically an entry level position, that not a lot of money is involved and thus it’s a bit of a gamble when drawing from the part of the labor pool willing to work for less.

But I digress. The counselor will set you up with a target goal and date for your desired weight loss. At this point, you’ll select from a menu for the week’s pre-packaged foods. You can go two routes here. Route one, and the expensive route at that, is fresh frozen foods. Route two is cheaper (but still pricey) and less convenient boil bags are used.

In terms of the taste of Jenny Craig food, that’s also a subjective thing. Some folks find a Jenny Craig meal to be adequate and tasteful enough, others find the meals a little bland. Still others who enjoy cooking won’t do well with this program because they’ll simply miss creating their own cuisine. In addition, if you have a family to cook for, will it be difficult to prepare tastier food for your family while you dine on your frozen cuisine?

As things progress, you’ll eventually be weaned off the program and gradually return to eating normally. This is done through the Jenny Craig weight loss center. Some may find the whole experience of having to make appointments to meet with counselors at the center to be yet one more thing to have to remember. For those folks, there’s Jenny Direct. This program is handled through telephone calls and orders that are shipped directly to your home.

This approach may be better for somebody with a busy, hectic schedule that makes appointment setting difficult. As well, a person who is a shut-in or just has difficulty getting out for one reason or another may benefit from a program such as this. And, some people would just assume keep their weight loss matters to themselves rather than meeting up in a public setting.

So, back to Kirstie and Valerie. Why was Jenny Craig weight loss possible for one of these celebrities and not the other? Well, for all of the reasons discussed plus one more. Weight loss isn’t all about what one puts in their mouth. It also isn’t all about exercise, though that’s one aspect that isn’t emphasized enough with Jenny Craig either.

Another aspect of healthful weight loss is to get to the real issue of why some people overeat and gain weight and why others do not. Food issues are quite often more about emotional eating than anything else. Let’s face it, since childhood many of us have associated food with reward, pleasure and comfort.

We so often reward our children for a job well done with a treat like ice cream. Or, we may threaten to take away that treat if they don’t finish their dinner. We use at as reward and punishment. In addition, we celebrate most every occasion with some sort of food: birthday cake, Easter brunch, Fourth of July BBQ. It seems to be the center and focal point for so many occasions.

Think back to a time when you were a child and either fell off your bike or tripped while running about. Did anything else come with the bandage? Perhaps a piece of candy? Just like it was then, as adults when we feel emotional pain we tend to reach for food to help us forget our troubles if just for a few moments.

The trouble is that as with any other instant gratification, the food doesn’t solve our problems. It merely takes our focus off the troubles for a little while, and in the end, it only adds to our troubles.

There’s a lot to be said for the old adage, “eat to live, don’t live to eat.” How many of us actually follow that? Jenny Craig weight loss doesn’t account for this aspect of weight loss enough. With very little training, counselors have even made some of their clients feel guilty for not having lost the weight expected by their target date. According to some individual stories on various dieting blogs, there has even been suggestion that certain clients are asked to leave the program so as not to set poor examples or suggest that the program may not work for all.

Of course, those are merely heresay and whether or not this is an aspect of Kirstie’s sudden disappearance as spokesperson for Jenny Craig would only be conjecture. For whatever reason, the diet failed to work for Kirstie. It may or may not work for you.

Its a lot cheaper and you can be more fun because you won’t get bored to eat the same food over and over for a year. If you eat the same food all the time, like vaccines, your body will be immune. In that case, YES! you will loose weight, not because of the program, but because you are tired of the food and you don’t want to eat it anymore. Just to see the food makes you lose your appetite (heheeh…… that’s my theory ).

The key to managing your own diet plan is the portion and balance of the diet. I mean, you can not just eat carbohydrates all the time and skip the protein. All the nutritions in your daily food intake have to be balanced. Try to eat 5 meals a day and watch out the portion and what you eat. Since I have the whole meal planner and serving guide from my previous diet program, so I can use that for an idea on what to eat and what groceries to buy. Also don’t forget to eat 100% whole wheat bread instead of white, brown rice instead of white, 1% milk instead of whole milk, etc..etc… You know what I mean.

I try to do my exercise regularly 6 days a week and eat right with the right proportion (cheat a little bit here and there, heheh). I want to see if I can loose weight that way. That will be my challenge. And I’m confident I can do it. I see result since I increase my exercise routine.

• Do not focus on REDUCING the amount of calories you take in. Focus on BURNING off calories in order to lose extra weight fast. Dramatically reducing the amount of calories your body needs will slow down your metabolism…which will then lead to stored fat.

• Don’t jump in to a healthy lifestyle full speed ahead. Learn and comprehend everything first dealing with getting your body in better shape. Know what is right for YOU and your body.

• Focus more on building muscle as building lean muscle will burn more calories…even while you rest.

• Eat 6 small healthy meals daily.

• Exercise first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

• Eat the following types of foods: protein, healthy fat (monounsaturated), fiber, complex carbs, vitamins and minerals.

• Drink plenty of water daily. 1/2 to 1 gallon is recommended. This is very important, not just to lose extra weight fast, but for total internal and external health.

• Do not pay attention to the scale. Check the mirror for the fruits of your labor. Muscle weighs more than fat, so it may not be that you’re not losing weight, it could be that you’ve put on muscle….which is a VERY good thing.

• Never get discouraged. Results will come. However, you must stay consistent with a healthy lifestyle to see results.

• Don’t make this all so complicated. To lose extra weight fast is not rocket science. Believe in yourself, and that body you’ve always wanted WILL follow.

If you want to learn about more ways to lose extra weight, I recommend for you to take a look at these powerful fat burning programs that will have you burn fat, lose weight, and build lean muscle fast.

Avy Barnes is a long time health and fitness enthusiast. Being someone who once struggled in weight loss, muscle building, and overall health improvement, you will be able to connect more to all the information he provides through articles and his popular blog. If you’re looking to improve your health, and join a blog dedicated to bringing you information, news, tips, tricks, and videos all related to living a healthy lifestyle, then be sure to check out Conquer Weight Loss, and enjoy a healthier and happier life.

Then, when I walked around at Goodwill last week, I saw an almost new step on the box sitting on the rack. It seemed it’s waiting for me to grab. it looks new and it’s probably been used for 2-3 times, but who cares.. You step on it anyway. See folks! Weight loss and being frugal go hand in hand It’s important to be creative and not lose hope. Woouuhuuoo

Now it’s time to shape my buns with my new step … one! two! right and left! leave your buns up Suzana!

The fact is that diet health and fitness don’t always go hand in hand. Sadly, many people are tricked into believing that if they spend enough that they’ll be able to lose weight quickly and keep it off. That’s just not the truth. The scary truth is that most of these fad diets are nothing more than gimmicks and smoke screens that can actually be far more harmful than good.

In order to find good health diet nutrition weight loss, you need to learn what the scary truths are behind false health diet nutrition diets. Let’s look at some of the scary truths and pitfalls of weight loss via fad diets.

VLCD’s

VLCD’s or very low calorie diets are what the vast majority of fad diets truly are. The maple syrup diet and grapefruit diet are prime examples of this type of fad diet. In each diet, the dieter is given specific menus to follow that make it sound as if the tonic in one and the fruit in the other have amazing abilities to curb appetites and increase one’s ability to lose weight.

The problem is that no matter what the concoction or type of fruit, the rest of the menu is way too low in calories. Sure, you’ll definitely lose weight and quickly! But you are also making the future a very tough place to be. One simply cannot continue eating such low amounts of calories without having severe health consequences. You’ll see it in the mirror when your hair begins to thin and your skin becomes dull and pasty, and you’ll feel it when you try to perform normal functions and have absolutely no energy or stamina. You’re starving your body!

Because of this, normal folks will eventually begin eating normally again once the desired weight is lost. Then what happens? You guessed it. The weight comes back. The only reason you lost the weight was because you weren’t eating enough to support your body. You didn’t lose weight in a healthful way by only restricting enough calories to lose a pound or two a week and still support your body. What’s more, you’ve now lowered your metabolism by starving yourself and you’ll have a more difficult time in the future losing all that weight you’re gaining back.

Herbal weight loss aids

Another scary truth in false health diet nutrition plans are the use of herbal weight loss aids. Many companies such as Metabolife make it sound like they’re just giving you a little help, a little boost in your weight loss efforts. Really, what they’re giving you is a bunch of caffeine and herbal stimulants that speed up the body and have a marginal effect on weight loss and appetite suppression.

You spend a ton of money, and unless you follow a health diet nutrition weight loss plan on the side, you’re really not getting a whole lot of help from these products. In addition, a lot of people make the mistake of assuming since these products are all natural as the marketing genius touts, that they in fact are. Nope! Many of these products contain stimulants that may make the normal person jittery all the way to causing some serious cardiovascular side effects in folks that have underlying cardiac issues. People who have arrhythmias may be dangerously affected by the increased blood pressure associated with many of these herbal weight loss aids.

Eliminating Food Groups

If you love bread and somebody tells you to never eat it, how long do you really think you’ll last? Diets that are too strict and eliminate one or more food groups are quite unrealistic. Again, there is no magic to them either no matter what purported study they boast. Very simply, by cutting a particular food or food group, they’ve eliminated calories on the diet most of the time to the extreme causing weight loss.

No matter what the result, once you cave and begin to eat that which you miss, you’ll gain the weight back. The diet failed to teach you how to healthfully and naturally lower your caloric intake. The only thing you really learned is that life without carbohydrates made you crabby as all get out and wasn’t a whole lot of fun.

In addition, eliminating one or more foods or groups goes against what we have been told for years by nutritionists. Remember the food guide pyramid? Even though the ADA (American Dietetic Association) has revamped this pyramid in recent years, it still advocates a balanced diet that incorporates a wide variety of foods.

The reason behind this is quite simply that we get different nutrients from different things. Even in each group, one should eat a variety of foods. We get omega 3 fatty acids from fish. We get selenium from beef. Optimum nutrition in the vegetable and fruit group is best achieved by choosing a rainbow of fruits and veggies. This is due to the phytochemicals that give the produce not only their colors but specific nutrients as well! Under grains, it is important to get both soluble and insoluble fiber which come from different sources.

Rather than memorize the nutrient value of any health diet nutrition plan, all you really have to do is what you know to be tried, tested and true. Eat a variety of foods, small portions and exercise!

Health and diet can go hand in hand if you learn the basics and ignore the quick and easy path!