How do celebrities lose weight?

Ever wonder how celebrities acquire beautiful bodies even if some of them previously do not have them? Let’s face it; losing weight is no overnight magic. Even celebrities have to spend weeks for it, and you have to undergo the process too to acquire the figure you want. Here are some of the secrets celebrities used in losing weight that are actually healthy and effective.

Eat less but eat healthy. This doesn’t mean that you have to stop eating and go hungry. You’ll just end up 180° from your goal to shape up. Severe fasting can lead your body to decrease its metabolic rate but increase its ability to store fats. It also results to easy fatigability and excessive cravings which are not healthy. While celebrities go on diets; there are many types of diets adhered by different Hollywood stars but the principle behind all of them is that your intake of calories is less than the amount you expend everyday but never starving yourself.

Drink up. Drinking water doesn’t only make you feel less hungry; it also refreshes your body by flushing out impurities, aiding your digestion and speeding up your metabolism. Moreover, it doesn’t give you the extra calories found in sodas, and coffee.

Be more active – exercise! Have you ever seen pictures of celebrities jogging, or walking their dogs or doing special work-out trainings? This is their method of being more active to burn up the calories before they turn into flabby fats. Moreover, exercise makes you feel good about yourself. With exercise, your body is stimulated to release endorphins which make you happy thus decreasing instances for you to sulk and binge over life’s stressors.

Do behavior therapy. While you slowly unfold the secrets of celebrity weight loss, you’d also learn that they get rid of their bad habits (e.g. smoking, abusing drugs, being alcoholic , etc.) by supplanting them with good ones (e.g. having proper diet, doing exercises, building better coping skills, going on vacations, etc.). This is because they know that losing weight effectively and healthily just isn’t complete without a total behavior therapy, and which is why you need to know their last but most important secret of all…

Have the will to do it. Celebrities are very determined to lose weight because it is part of their job. Along the way, they influence people to emulate them. That’s why you’re reading this article; because they look good to you and you want look good too. You want to know their methods and you want to try them for yourself. But you have to have their will too. This will propel you to do what it takes to lose weight and feel that celebrity feeling of looking gorgeous like they do.

If you think about these secrets, they are doable. That is why celebrities practicing these have high success rates of losing and maintaining weight. So if they can do it, why can’t you?

Want To Lose Weight? Try These Foods That Increase Metabolism

Losing weight can be hard work. Not only do you have to cut out all your favourite foods but you also need to increase the amount of exercise you do on a regular basis. What many people don’t realise is that there are some foods which can increase your body’s metabolism. This will help you to burn calories faster and with less effort. While increasing your metabolism won’t make you lose weight automatically it can certainly help! Here are some of the most common foods and drinks used to increase the body’s metabolic rate.

Apples

Research has shown that people who eat an apple a day are likely to lose more weight than those who don’t. Whether this is because the body’s metabolism is increased when you eat an apple or just because healthier people tend to eat more fruit is not yet known. It certainly can’t hurt to eat apples though – especially if you use them to replace unhealthy snacks.

Yogurt

The reason yogurt is such a useful substance when you’re trying to lose weight is that it requires quite a lot of energy to be broken down. This is because yogurt contains a large amount of protein. For this reason your body has to work hard when you consume it which helps to increase your metabolism. Of course, it’s important to make sure you only eat low-fat yogurt otherwise it could have the opposite effect!

Green Tea

Green tea is probably the most common substance used to increase the body’s metabolism. There are many studies which seem to show that a green tea each and every day can work wonders for various different parts of the body including metabolic rate. The great thing about Green Tea is that it’s enjoyable to drink and can still help you lose weight. It’s also thought that Green Tea may reduce your chance of getting certain types of cancer.

Coffee

Some people are under the impression that coffee is a “magic pill” for losing weight but that isn’t the case. Although caffeine can give your body’s metabolism a helpful boost it can cause many negative side effects too. For this reason you shouldn’t consume more than one or two cups a day. If you start to have trouble sleeping then caffeine is likely to be the problem and you may have to cut it out your diet. The same can be said if you find you’re more irritable than usual.

Turkey

It’s often assumed that healthy foods must be dairy , fruits or vegetables but turkey can also increase your body’s metabolism. This is because it’s high in protein which requires a certain amount of calories to break down.

There are many other foods you can use to lose weight. For example, some foods might not increase your body’s metabolism but may reduce your appetite. If you can systematically replace all unhealthy foods with foods that help to burn more fat then you’ll find it much easier to lose weight quickly. On the other hand, you need to be careful not to overeat which can cause additional problems.

Finally, you should always make sure you eat a balanced, healthy breakfast every day. Failure to do so can seriously hamper your efforts to lose weight. Overnight the body’s metabolism will gradually slow down because of the lack of food intake. A reasonable sized breakfast can help to increase your metabolic rate again. On the same note, it’s often a good idea to split your meals up into smaller portions throughout the day in order to balance your body’s metabolism and force it to keep going at a steady rate.

The Myth Of The Fattening Food

A few days ago, my wife was lamenting about her desire to lose “…that last five pounds…”  Not a common lament among those of us trying to shed a few pounds, but she followed it with a comment about needing to cut out the fattening food.

I had to bite my tongue to keep from asking her what constitutes a “fattening food?”

There’s a myth that abounds in weight loss circles that suggests fat is evil.  It’s known as the low-fat craze, and it took the U.S. by storm in the early 1990’s, and hasn’t really given up its stranglehold on weight loss, fitness, or health circles in general.

We need to drag this beast out of the shadows and expose it for the lie it is.

The myth of fattening foods has its roots in that fact that fat has more calories per gram than either carbohydrates or protein.  More than twice as many calories/gram of food, to be exact.  So, the rationale goes that if people simply replaced the same quantity of fat with an equal mass of protein or carbs, we would inevitably lose weight.  And, purely from a mass basis, they’re right.

But…

The math doesn’t take into account the fact that fats are essential to good maintaining good health.  Fats (and their good friend cholesterol) are essential elements in many processes in the body.  For instance, vitamins A, D, E, and K are all fat-soluble – meaning they are not soluble in water, and fat facilitates their absorbance in the body.  Not only that, well chosen dietary fats can contribute to the removal of plaques from arterial walls, contribute to feelings of satiety (or fullness), and slow digestion, which improves the odds of sustainable weight loss.

Now.

Am I suggesting that you abandon your lunchtime salad in favor of a slab of bacon and some greasy sausage?  Absolutely not.

But what I am saying is that with that salad, you may be better off to toss the “fat-free” salad dressing in favor of a small serving of vinegar and oil.

The truth about fats and weight loss is that there’s no correlation.  In fact, according to the Harvard School of Public Health, most Americans are now getting fewer of their calories from fat than we did a few decades ago, yet our collective waistlines are expanding.  Why?

Because weight loss (or gain) is about calories – regardless of source.  Americans have tried to give up fat, yet our bodies continue to crave this nutrient, so we’ve replaced it with larger quantities of carbohydrates and refined sugars, yielding weight gain.

And if you’re wondering – “Well, how much fat you should I eat per day?”  The number, according the American Heart Association is about 30% of total calories should come from fats.  That’s one-third of your calories!  Not pinching there – and that’s from the AHA.

I may not change your mind overnight, but just consider it.  Fat is not inherently evil, and there is no such thing as a “fattening” food.  Foods simply contribute calories, and how we distribute those calories has a dramatic impact on our health.

This guest post was written by Greg Hayes. To read more of his ramblings about learning to live fit as a middle aged man, while balancing the everyday demands of life, wife, kids, job, and home, check him out at Live Fit Blog.

10 Quick and easy ways to lose weight

When it comes to weight loss and methods that can help you lose weight it is not always that hard to save calories and get rid of the excess pounds. There are a number of things you can do in your daily life, part of your routine that can really make a difference. In this short post we outline 10 quick and easy ways to lose weight. The tips and tricks explained here are not meant to replace your weight loss plans or programs; they can be used as an additional source which can help you understand better how to lose weight quickly.

1. Keep meats that are high in fat (burgers, fried food, junk food) outside your diet. They have nothing to offer to your body and health (other than calories and fat) and there are many better replacements both in terms of calories and healthiness.

2. Did you notice that people who eat spicy food do not have weight problems? This is true and the main reason behind this is that spicy food can accelerate your metabolism and help you burn more calories. So spicy up your food to make it tastier and boost your metabolism at the same time.

3. Salads are delicious, healthy and calorie friendly. Why not try having a salad for lunch instead of a heavy and calorie loaded meal? Salads give you a lot of energy at minimum cost. It goes without saying that you should avoid saucy salad dressings.

4. There is no valid excuse that can keep you away from walking or running for 30 minutes per day. This activity will clean your mind, give you more energy and help you lose weight. If the weather is bad then go to the gym or use the treadmill at home. If you don’t have one, then buy one. Do not expect that you will lose weight magically. You need to take actions and make the effort.

5. The last meal of the day is dinner. You should take your dinner at least 3 hours before bedtime and after that you should not eat anything. Do not make the mistake that many people do. Many people eat their dinner and until they go to bed they eat snacks and sweets (a bite of this and that), capable to blow up their weight loss efforts. A nice way to remind your self that you should not eat anything is to brush your teeth right after dinner.

6. When you need to drink something then this should be fresh water. There are no perfect substitutes of water despite what you want to believe. Better drink fewer juices and no soft drinks and fight your thirst with 6-8 glasses of water per day.

7. Weight lifting can help you lose weight fast. Do not be afraid of strength training and body building. The harder and more effort you put into exercise the more weight you will lose. Weight lifting can help you build muscles utilizing the fat reserves for energy.

8. If you do not have to go to a restaurant (because you are invited for dinner) then try to eat at home. Eating at home is better because you have more control on the size of the food portions and the ingredients used for cooking. Food cooked in restaurants is not really healthy and the more you can avoid it the better.

9. If you really have to eat out then prefer to order your own portion from the menu instead of taking buffet. Buffets are full of temptations and most probably you will not be able to resist and at the end you will feel bad. Also try eating only half of the food portion to make sure that you will not consume more calories than you really need.

10. Last but not least, if you are serious about losing weight quickly then keep a food diary. In the diary you can record everything you eat and drink and also calculate the amount of calories. Watch your diary and make sure that you do not eat more calories (keep your diet around 2000-24000 calories daily) than what you need and also used it as a tool to help you set your weight loss goals.

Is it possible to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks?

Many people comment on weight loss blogs and are asking if it is feasible to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks. The answer to this question is both positive and negative. On the positive part, it is possible to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks and the negative part is based on the fact that while you can you should not try and lose too much weight in such a short period of time. Weight loss to be effective should be done naturally and gradually. Losing 10 pounds in just 2 weeks is very difficult to be done using natural and healthy ways. To make such a reduction in your weight you either have to follow a very strict diet or use chemicals (i.e. weight loss pills). Even by engaging such techniques the only thing you can achieve is to lose water weight and dehydrate your body and most probably what will happen is that you will get the weight back as soon as you stop the program. If this is how you want to lose weight then go ahead and do it, there a number of weight loss pills and diets on the Internet that will help you out. If on the other hand you want to lose weight in a way that you will not cause any other problems to your health and be able to keep the weight off then you have to do some sacrifices and be ready to work hard until you get the desired results.

In this article we will not try to explain how to lose 10 pounds in a week but on how to lose weight in 2 weeks. The number of pounds you will lose in these 2 weeks depends on the characteristics and body structure of each person. What is suitable for some people may not work for others. A weight loss program that works for some may not work for others. This is the main reason why the question ‘is it possible to lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks’ has two contradicting answers. What you should concentrate your efforts on is to set the baseline for weight loss. This means that you should start preparing your body for losing weight by creating your long term healthy plan. When you start your efforts it is likely that you will lose a few pounds in the first 2 weeks. What you need to ensure is that this trend will continue and that you will not get the weight back. When we say ‘do not get the weight back’ we simply mean that once you stop your efforts and for a period of 6 months you will not return to your previous weight. The main idea behind this is that by that time hopefully you have already adopted a new lifestyle and eating habits and there is no longer need to follow any weight loss plan, process or program.

So, for the next 14 days try to apply the tips below and see for yourself how many pounds you can lose.

1. Drink at least 10 glasses of water per day
2. Do not eat ready-made meals. Avoid eating out or taking take away. Cook at home using healthy and low calorie products.
3. Eat more salads with not extra dressing except virgin olive oil
4. Stop drinking soft drinks and alcohol
5. Replace milk with low fat milk
6. Replace snacks with fruits and vegetables
7. Eat at least 2 apples per day.
8. Eat your last meal at least 3 hours before you go to bed
9. Start your day with a good breakfast
10. Start walking for 20 minutes per day the first week and 30 minutes the next week.
11. Replace meat with fish
12. Do not forget that your goal for the next 2 weeks is to lose weight. This may need some sacrifices but you need to be strong and do it.
13. Do not eat fried foods. Prefer barbequed or boiled. This will also help on how to lose belly fat and  how to get rid of tummy fat
14. Do not buy take away coffee (latter, cappuccino). Prefer black coffee with a bit of low fat milk.

How to lose weight fast without pills

If you want to lose weight fast and safe then certainly you should do it without pills. Pills are not recommended in any way to help you lose weight. What usually happens when you take pills to lose weight is that at the beginning you think you are losing weight because the scale shows you a couple of pounds slimmer. In reality though the pounds you lost is not from fat but from water (water weight). After a few weeks you get tired of taking chemicals and all the weight you lose is coming back.

Pills are not a safe way to lose weight. You can see many adverts on the web like “top 5 diet pills” but you should try and stay away. Most pills try to either control your appetite or accelerate liquid disposal and the final result is not weight loss but more serious health problems. Weight loss pills can damage the liver and other body organs and in the majority of cases they are not even certified for circulation. The companies that produce and promote weight loss pills will try and convince you to buy them by giving you free samples or by showing weight loss success stories or even state that their products have been featured on news networks and TV Channels. This is all fake and completely wrong. If you need evidence then try to contact them and ask them to give you more details about the success stories or the exact programs that reviewed their products. Most probably you will not be able to find anyone to speak to but in the rare cases that you do you will not get convincing answers. Even more serious some weight loss pills claim that they are approved by the National Health Council but if you search about them you will find that this claim is also wrong. Finally following a weight loss program with pills costs a lot, and this is money given to people who are cheating you and to products you may harm your health.

So, if you are now convinced that weight loss pills is not the correct way of approaching weight loss, you need to understand how to lose weight without pills. In simple words, the correct way to lose weight is the healthy way. By healthy weight loss we mean using physical means through diet and exercise and not by using any chemical products, strict diets or crash diets. This does not mean that you cannot lose weight fast. On the contrary when you lose weight the healthy way you are sure that you will keep the weight off. The basic guidelines for a healthy weight loss are the following:

Healthy diet: A healthy diet is based on natural products and foods that are low in fat, sugars and calories. Examine your diet and identify the items that do not meet these characteristics. There are plenty of foods you can choose that can help you lose weight. All you have to do is read the food labels and only buy items that are within your standards. You can also get the assistance of a professional nutritionist to help you out.

Healthy living: People who live a healthy life have the following characteristics: they sleep good, they are able to minimize stress, they allocate time on things they like, they rest enough and they are active either through sports or exercise. They do not smoke and they drink and eat with a measure. Recall in your mind people who know who live a healthy life, as described here, are they obese or overweight? Most probably not.

Self confidence and optimism: Self confidence has a lot to do with weight loss. People who have high self confidence are able to control their weight very easily. This is because they have faith in their self and their capabilities and weight loss is about being able to push your self to the limits and withstand the difficulties with courage and believe. Finally, people who manage to lose weight are optimistic about the result. When you start your efforts you should be optimistic about the results and look forward to meet your new self and not pessimistic that you will fail.

Fastest Way to Lose Weight

What is the fastest way to lose weight? Well, you have to follow a plan and stick to it. The first order of business then is to drink lots of water. Why does this work? Water suppresses one’s cravings and therefore the appetite. Also, it tones muscles, reduces cholesterol and aids in digestion and liver functioning. Not only that, water cleanses out the system and speeds up the metabolic rate so one can burn calories more proficiently. If you’re about 130 pounds, usually drinking eight glasses of water is enough for you to adequately burn calories and lose weight quickly.

Detoxing the System

Of course, drinking water in and of itself is not enough for you to lose weight fast. You also have to eat the right stuff in order to see any measurable reduction in your overall weight. Some of the foods that assist in immediate results when it comes to losing weight also help detox the system of any contaminants and pollutants. If you cleanse the system, your digestive tract and liver functions at levels that help speed up your metabolism and burn calories. Thus, if you eat foods that cleanse your system and are lower in calories, you will resultantly be not only thinner but more energetic too. If you’re more energetic, it only stands to reason that you’ll also burn calories more swiftly as well. So, what are the foods that are helpful in this regard?

Cleansing Foods
Eat strawberries and raspberries. They contain elegiac acid. This substance is effective in ridding the body of any contaminants. Eating grapes help the arteries to function with precision while cranberries assist in flushing out the kidneys. Lemons are helpful in cleansing the liver.

Ways to Burn Fat

Eat low fat dairy products, such as some cheeses, yoghurt or skim milk to burn fat in the abdominal area. These calcium-rich products help reduce the amount of absorbed fat in this region of the body. If you add to your fiber intake you will also lose weight at a much swifter rate. By doubling your consumption, you will feel fuller and at the same time cleanse the system so you can burn calories with greater efficiency.

Don’t Hold the Hot Sauce

If you like any type of hot food, you’re in luck. Capsaicin, which is found in chili peppers, speeds up the metabolic rate and increases your ability to burn calories by roughly ten percent.

An Excellent Diet Drink

A good beverage to add to your diet, besides water, is green tea. By drinking around 5 cups per day, you can boost your metabolic rate as well as burn as much as eighty calories in a single day.

More Meals and Smaller Portions

Keep in mind as well that it is best to eat more meals and smaller portions. That way, you burn calories more effectively as well as stave off any hunger pangs. Pick fruits such as bananas, apples, cherries, blueberries, cantaloupes and watermelon for optimum weight loss. Vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, cabbage, legumes, spinach, pumpkin, tomatoes, black beans, onions, and collard greens are also excellent foods to eat for quickly reducing one’s weight.

Select Grains

Choose grains such as whole wheat breads and rolls, whole grain cereals, oatmeal and barley to give any excess weight a quick “heave-ho.” Or, choose skinless chicken breasts, pork chops, tuna and salmon to burn fat and reduce weight at a quick rate.

Choice for Snacks

For snacks, good choices are popcorn (without butter of course), nuts, seeds, trail mix, applesauce, raisins, pretzels and granola bars.

Maintain a Schedule

When trying to lose weight in a minimum amount of time, it’s also important to plan your meals. Write down a daily schedule as to when you’ll eat and what food you’ll be eating as well. By doing so, you can maintain a type of diary to make sure you’re keeping on track with regards to your weight loss plan. A good schedule might include breakfast at 7 a.m., a nutritious snack, such as an apple at 10 a.m., lunch at noon, another healthy snack at 3 p.m. with dinner scheduled around 6 p.m. As you can see, by following this type of schedule, you can eat a number of low-calorie, fat-burning foods throughout the day without feeling deprived.

Consume Beverages Separate from your Meals

Don’t consume water or tea with your meals. By doing so, your foods will be better digested. Drink a cup of warm tea about ½ hour after you eat.

To Lose Weight Quickly – Choose a “Blue” Food

An interesting note – certain colors affect our perception of what we eat. For example, any foods that are colored blue, purple or black normally suppress the appetites of most people while foods colored red stimulate the appetite. Therefore, it might be helpful for some people to design a diet where they add some foods colored blue in order to help them in their weight loss efforts. Much of what we enjoy eating then has a good deal to do with the color of the food.

Stay with the Program

In any event, the above information can assist you if you want to lose weight fast. By referring to it as you plan your diet, you can be assured you’ll see results in a short manner of time.

How to Lose Weight in 10 Days

Making the Commitment

So, you’ve decided it’s time to shed some pounds for an important event or you’re just sick and tired of being around ten pounds overweight. Well, you can do it if you put your mind to it. It just takes a little determination combined with a realistic yet healthy perspective towards losing weight. In this article we will give your some tips on how to lose weight in 10 days, in a healthy way.

You’re no longer in the “Fast” Lane

If you want to find out how to lose weight in ten days’ time, then you’ll definitely have to stave off your hunger with more healthy foods. That means you won’t be able to make a trip over to your favorite fast food restaurant, bakery or deli nor visit any vending machine that offers such “treats” as potato chips, pork rinds or any foods that lack nutrition but provide plenty of calories. Forget such foods exist if you want to make a commitment to your diet plan. That means you will have to avoid any foods made with white flour, any sugary foods, all fried foods, red meat and any meat that is processed like bologna, hotdogs or sausage.

Get Moving

Another step you’ll need to take is to exercise at least five days a week. If you’re not used to a daily routine, it’s probably best you start with, say, ½ hour’s worth of walking per day. You have to keep moving to a certain degree if you want to speed up your metabolism to lose weight fairly quickly. How to lose weight with exercise is easy once you get into the routine of daily exercise.

Stay Hydrated

Next, you’ll have to make it a goal to consume an adequate amount of water daily. Water assists in cleansing the system and speeding up your metabolic rate so drinking water between meals and after exercise is one of the most effective ways to get rid of any surfeit of weight fairly quickly. If you don’t want to drink plain water, choose a flavored variety that doesn’t have any calories. If you’re wondering how much water you should consume per day, simply take half of what you weigh and that is the amount of ounces you should drink in water per day. Therefore, if you weigh 130 pounds, you should drink 65 ounces of water. Since there are 8 ounces in a cup, then you should drink about eight 8-ounce glasses of water daily.

Forget the Coffee and Cola

In addition, you’ll have to give up the caloric beverages you may now consume. Therefore, you’ll need to forgo the lattes with extra cream or any colas that have extra calories. Keep your coffee consumption to a minimum as well as caffeine can disrupt one’s digestion. If you want to lose weight “naturally” fast, don’t add caffeine to the mix. You can instead opt for high alkaline drinks that give you energy and help your body get rid of the unnecessary toxins.

Catch your Zs

Getting your proper rest is essential too. You can’t digest your food properly if you’re not getting enough sleep. You need the additional sleep so your body can recuperate from the day’s stresses and activities and function well metabolically. Studies have shown that people who do not obtain the proper amount of rest often will have a harder time losing weight and keeping it off in comparison to those people who get their proper beauty sleep. Therefore, sleep is important to anyone who wants to look good as well as lose weight and stay slim too.

Slimming Foods

You already know what you basically can’t eat. Now you can concentrate on what foods are acceptable with respect to effective weight loss, especially if you want to take the weight off in ten days. If you plan your diet around the basic four food groups, that’s a good start. You can be assured that you will definitely lose weight and keep it off if you focus on eating fruits and vegetables and keep such foods as part of your mainstay nutritionally.

Eat your Greens

Eat broccoli and cauliflower each day as these vegetables contain fewer calories than what it takes for your digest them. Also, lettuce can be prepared in a number of different ways. Prepare a salad with iceberg lettuce, a little cabbage, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and slices of carrots. Top with a sprinkling of unsalted almond slices. For a dressing, use olive oil and vinegar and you will be well on your way to being thinner after ten days.

Optimum Nutrition

Make sure you steam your vegetables so they will hold most of their nutritional value. Fruits will play heavily in your weight loss plan too so make sure you have apples, oranges, grapefruits, cantaloupes and kiwi on the menu.

A Slimming Selection

Bran is equally helpful when you’re losing weight. You can have it every day for breakfast and will note a reduction in your weight in the frame of ten days. Bran is a notable food in this regard as it has been proven to help people lose weight and keep it off.

Detox

As you can see, many of the foods are fibrous which help in cleansing the system. When you cleanse or detox your system, you also speed up your metabolism and utilize nutrients more effectively. As a result, you not only speed up your system so it burns calories more efficiently, you’ll also feel more energized. Therefore, you are better able to participate in exercise without feeling sluggish or rundown.

The Basic Plan

Therefore, it’s important to include fruits, vegetables and bran in your diet plan. In addition, add whole grains, chicken, fish and legumes to further your efforts toward fairly quick weight loss.

The Benefits of Legumes

Legumes such as red beans, pinto beans, lentils and lima beans satisfy the appetite and also add the needed protein and fiber that will speed up your metabolism and help you burn calories with more proficiency.

Add Chicken and Fish

Eating chicken and fish are good protein foods and do not have the additional fat that inhibits the effective loss of weight. So, add them to your menu if you want to shed weight fast.

The 10-Day Guarantee

If you eat any of the aforementioned foods in measured portions and consume plenty of water while exercising at least five days per week, you will see your weight drop to your desired goal in only 10 days.

Next Page »