Savvy Diets

Top 10 Free Weight Loss Tools

The Internet has thousands of sites dedicated to weight loss. Most of pretty much junk. BestSitePicks has sorted through the Web to discover the best free weight loss tools to help you lose weight.

Highlighted resources include: the Traineo Weight Loss Community, Fitday - a free journal, calorie counters, diet plans, and much more! Put the tools in place to secure your weight loss success.

Top 10 Fad Diets

Looking for the latest fad diet? One of our favorite reference sites, BestSitePicks has information on the top fad diets - including Master Cleanse, Ear Staples, Raw Diet, Atkins, the Grapefruit Diet, Apple Cider Vinegar Diet and many more! Vote for your favorite diet or add a fad diet of your own to the list. Links are hand-picked for quality.

Weight Loss by Walking

Weight Loss by Walking

By: Alex Fir

Exercises are great for your workout program for the reason that they help tone sagging muscles while burning calories at the same time. However, aerobic exercise is one of the best ways to burn fat. A fantastic way to get an aerobic workout is walking.

Walking is the most successful and easiest workout we can use in our exercise routine. But you need to know how to do it properly in order to get the most from walking. Here is how weight loss by walking works.

(more…)

Lose Weight the Right Way

Here’s hope for all those who feel that they need to lose a lot of weight for their diet to be successful. According to a new report, this does not have to be true. Even if a moderately obese person loses around two to five kg, he can consider it a successful experiment in weight loss. So if you are on a diet such as the low-fat, low-carbohydrate or Mediterranean and lose a few kg, consider your efforts successful. Apart from the amount of pounds lost, you should consider factor such as the drop in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. This helps you lower the risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

Weight loss should be seen as one of the many benefits of adopting a healthy lifestyle that also enables one to cut out the risks of diabetes, stroke, cancer and many other ailments. Don’t fall for fad diets that want you to eat food of a particular color and eschew a lot many other food types. Do not take weight loss pills as these can damage the cardiovascular system. If you really wish to lose weight fast then the safest and simplest way is to eat less and burn more calories. Done within limits this is guaranteed to make you shed a few pounds. Of course, this cannot be done for a long period. It’s a short term exercise. So, focus on improving overall health instead of focusing totally on a slimmer waist and don’t get taken in by so-called weight loss experts who advise you to stop cardiovascular exercises as these can make you eat more.

Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight

Healthy diet.

Atkins Diet: Role of Supplements

Supplement your diet with these nutrients.

Do fat burners really help burn fat?

There are always two ways to accomplish a target; a long arduous way that is usually the right way and a short cut that more often than not yields temporary results. Perhaps of all human endeavors this is most relevant when we talk of man’s eternal battle with his bulge.

As P.T Barnum said – “There’s a sucker born every minute and there are two to take him”. Applied to the endeavor of weight loss it means that for every person trying to lose weight there are two people out there trying to sell him a weight-loss or fat burn pill. What’s more these spin meisters will shove some quasi scientific jargon in your face and use Latin instead of simple English words to describe a condition, which they will exaggerate ten fold.

Companies selling fat burners feature models claiming that it’s the capsule that they pop that has given them the shape; even though your better sense screams inside you that this is simply not true you reason against reason. The chimera of a toned tummy appears within grasp and you reach for your wallet. You suspend common sense and believe what the ad says about proper nutrition and exercise not being enough to make you lose fat because your cortisol levels are too high!! You simply have to take their miracle pill if you wish to lose flab in this lifetime.

Another trick that these vendors use is that they invoke respectable studies to back their product but do not mention if their pills have the “active ingredient” studied in the research in the same proportion as in the study. Often, they try to hide behind the “proprietary medicine” façade. Also, it is not uncommon to have vendors push research carried out on rodents as proof that the ingredient they are selling actually works. Without prior research into the effects of a drug on humans and in the absence of FDA approval, consuming any such drug can be detrimental to your health. Know that testimonials do not count for much in most cases, do your own research before taking the plunge with any pill. Of course, the best thing to do would be to not take the plunge at all.

The ads and claims made by most fat burner capsule makers are blatantly misleading and false. In fact several of these companies are facing lawsuits from individuals as well as the Federal Trade Commission for intentional falsifying of information and make wrong claims about their products. All so-called fat burners are either appetite suppressants or work to increase the metabolic rate. However, the effect of such drugs is minuscule and the amount of calorie burning that they actually offer can be achieved in a healthier way by a number of other activities such as a brisk ten minute walk, taking the stairs to climb to the fourth floor, a little aerobics, etc.

Then why are we so ready to turn ourselves into couch-attached pill popping wastrels. Because we fall prey to clever marketing and we can get lazy. Pills cannot replace activity, loss of activity leads to serious muscle atrophy that cannot be corrected by popping pills.

If at all you do take these fat fighting pills make sure to check for information on contraindications and safety information. Often, such drugs with stimulants are not recommended for those with a heart condition and for expectant mothers. Diabetes and high blood pressure are other conditions in which consuming such medication may lead to complications.

The most popular miracle in a capsule for the past few years was Ephedra. It was used by a large number of college athletes and people wanting to get slim. The FDA classified Ephedra as a dietary supplement that was “presumed safe”. However, an increased number of cases filed by citizens against the vendors peddling ephedra finally led the FDA to ban the herb. Use of ephedra led to several cases of myocardial infarctions, seizures, strokes, and death.

There is a serious problem of regulating the proliferation of diet pills because they are not required by law to be tested by the FDA. FDA’s actions are corrective instead of pre-emptive, which means that a fat burning pill can be bought over-the-counter or as a prescription drug and continue to be sold till evidence against it comes to the fore and the people raise their voice. This can take years and in the meantime many lives can be damaged by these untested drugs.

As it is these drugs are risky, things can get worse for people who try to speed up their weight loss program by overdosing on these drugs. An overdose can result in convulsions, hallucinations, breathing problems and death. It is just not possible that these drugs that interfere with the body’s metabolism and restrict its ability to absorb fat, give a false feeling of satiety, and reduce weight by eliminating water can ever be helpful in the long term.

If you are taking diet pills and are experiencing any of the following symptoms, stop taking these pills immediately. Anxiety, insomnia, tightness in the chest, dizziness, irritability, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea are symptoms you should be wary of. Often, people who take to these pills have problems with their self esteem and without knowing they get emotionally dependent on these pills. When one pill does not work to their satisfaction they hop on to another pill, it is important that these pill hoppers ditch this ride to nowhere and try to lose weight the honest way.

Exercises To Lose Weight Quickly

There’s a ton of fun stuff to do for exercise!

High Fiber Foods

Healthy way to lose weight.

The Psychology of Weight Loss

Our eating habits are strongly influenced by the emotions we feel. Our thoughts and will power play a significant role in deciding the amount we eat as well as the success and failure of our dieting expeditions.

Here’s how emotions affect our hunger pangs –

* Anger, depression, anxiety, boredom, and loneliness are triggers for reaching out to the cookie jar.

* You may wish to dull the pain of a confrontation or wash away the memories of being put down by your boss with a jumbo milk shake.

* Emotional hunger also manifests itself when you take food to overcome the anxieties of a close relationship and to avoid thoughts of rejection.

* If self-doubts plague you and you eat to push them down then you are a victim of your moods that push you to eat in excess.

* You may be using food to fill the gaps caused by the unfulfillment of some basic needs such as trust and a sense of belonging in a relationship.

* Often deprivations and hardships experienced as a child are strong triggers to an uncontrolled eating episode.

* You can also view eating as a means of asserting yourself. Nobody tells YOU what to eat!

* You may also take recourse to eating in order to avoid a challenging situation; either at home or at work.

In order to get the most out of your body from a diet you need to first get the most out of your mind. This is how you do it.

Start with a positive attitude. It has a lot to do with the final outcome, more so than the popularity of the health club, the drive of your trainer, and any miracle foods that you may be banking on. Do not whinge or rationalize lapses in your commitment. It will only distance you from your objective. If you have it in your head to do what it takes to achieve success, you will outdo yourself and achieve superlative results regardless of any shortcomings in genes or resources.

Plan for the long term. Treat getting into shape as an event forever and not just a temporary activity to lose a few inches. Equate wellness with a healthy lifestyle. If it involves making some tough decisions then please take those tough decisions. These will most probably be about your self-control, eating habits, and exercise routines.

Be practical and push yourself to achieve those practical aims. Do not start something that you may not be able to finish. Follow through on your decisions. If you become a member of a health club then do go there every day. Complete the entire course of a diet or an exercise plan; do not give up mid way.

There is never a “best moment” to start exercising. The best time is NOW. Do not procrastinate. You have to will yourself to achieve what you wish. Things “hardly” attained are better retained and you owe this not only to yourself but also to your loved ones. Take control of the situation and do not make excuses or shift blame for never being able to get started. Get mentally prepared for some tiredness and inconvenience. The soreness factor is largely a function of your own perception.

Accentuate the positive and focus on what you are gaining. Giving up those cheese and chocolate cakes is actually adding years to your life.

Remember that a target, any target is achieved by focusing on the final deliverable at all times. It is impossible to stay highly motivated all the times and the process will appear tedious at times but do not yield to the temporary relaxations. You do not have forever to get started. Work on it from now and enjoy the fruits forever.