For some people, food becomes a way of coping with stress, depression, or anxiety. Overeating or eating the wrong foods are some of the reasons why people can become overweight. Other reasons can be from dieting and/or excess dieting. Have you ever asked yourself, "why do some people gain weight so easily?

 

And why do so many others find it difficult to lose weight?" For many dieters, initial weight loss is quite rapid, but then a plateau is reached and further weight loss is more difficult. Why does this occur? When food intake is restricted, the metabolism slows down. This means less fat is broken down and converted to energy. Most people who lose weight on a diet will gain it back plus some. I have learned through the years working will nutrition that diets don't work (this is why I call this the non-diet weight loss program), but most all Americans have, or will, diet to lose weight.   Many companies are cashing in on diet products, and weight-loss programs. The market is currently flooded with so call "low fat, low calorie" diet foods. Body weight changes are the sort of crude and useless measurements employed by diet centers and other weight-loss scams. Don't become a victim to these vampires. I call these weight loss programs vampires because they will suck every penny out of you. You can get the same results by using the sensible eating habits that will be taught in this web site.  It is hard to lose weight and keep it off. Let me tell you why so many weight-loss plans are unsuccessful and why so many people put the weight back on as soon as they reach their goals. First of all, it's important for everyone who wants to loss weight to avoid quick-crash weight-loss programs. Without the proper nutritional support, changing your eating habits, and controlling the appetite, you'll just gain the weight right back. You cannot learn proper eating habits by buying a frozen dinner or drinking a meal replacement drink. All of these items only work if you are planning to use them for the rest of your life. Besides, is this the way you are going to teach your children to eat? Most children pick up bad eating habits from their parents. Perhaps this is one of the reason why over-weight runs in families.

   Don't spend the rest of your life being a yo-yo with your weight. Oprah Winfrey discovered she could lose weight by drinking 400 calories a day while exercising an hour each day. Anyone can lose weight using these barbaric techniques, but once she tried to resume her normal lifestyle of eating solid, ordinary foods, the weight she lost with her quick, low-calorie diet quickly (like always) crept back on her newly slenderized body. WHY? Because diets do not work. Not only will consuming small amounts of calories per day result in quick weight loss, but will also result in an increased craving for sweets. In addition, low calorie consumption triggers low energy levels, and slows down the metabolism. By getting the right nutrients and select balance of healthy foods, it's easy to take the weight off and keep it off.  I will show you how to lose weight and at the same time increase energy levels. All while eating normal, solid foods that can help keep you permanently slim for the rest of your life. This program is not a new discovery. It is about eating the right foods and burning fat for fuel. It's plain, easy, and simple.

    Proper nutrition will not only make your body look good but also is needed to maintain healthy looking skin and hair. If you really want to maintain a healthy body, with less body fat for the rest of your life, you have to learn to alter your eating habits and stop snacking on junk food. You must change what you eat. Obviously, you should avoid food components known to be detrimental to your health, such as sugar, saturated fats, cholesterol, salt, food additives and alcohol. It is not the amount of food you eat that is as important as the types of foods you eat. However, the amount of fat you eat will ultimately determine how much body fat you will have. You are what you eat and it will show on your body! If you want a great healthy-looking body you have to eat that way - nothing in this world comes easy or free.

 

     Your body actually prefers to store the fat you eat into body fat. That's why the total calories from fat you eat each day are much more important than total calories from protein and carbohydrates. Your body will burn protein and carbohydrates as a fuel source long before fat. Some popular low calories diets don't work simply because they contain too much total fat. Some of your diet dinners found in the frozen department at the grocery store are low calories but are high in fat. Weight Watcher meals have as much as 13 grams of fat per 12 oz. meal. That is over one gram of fat per ounce of food, with 117 of those so-called "low calories" coming from fat (36 percent). Lean cuisine meals are just slightly lower in fat.  A three-and -one-half ounce of tuna packed in water has only 70 calories with less than one gram of fat. You can add all the vegetables your stomach can possibly hole and still come out with less than one gram of fat total. In addition, vegetables have fewer calories (12 percent), because vegetables are low in calories and contains no fat. In the following pages, I will show you how to calculate to get total percentage of fat in calories, and the difference between sugars. Once you start to calculate the foods you thought to be low calorie, you will be surprised about how misleading products can be. Some of the granola bars and diet bars, actually have just as much fat and sugar as a candy bar. Ultra Slim Fast Bar has only 110 calories, 18 grams of carbohydrate and four grams of fat which equals to be 32 percent fat. This bar also contains corn syrup, rice syrup, malted barley syrup, which are all simple carbohydrates. This tells me that the 18 grams of carbohydrates are coming from sugars (65 percent), which have little value for the body. You have to read the labels of the food you buy very carefully. Remember, calories are not as important as where the calories are coming from.

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     These foods will fill you up without filling you out. You can virtually eat as much as you want of these foods. Low in calories and high in nutrients, they help regulate blood sugar levels and facilitate fat burning rather than fat formation. Both the American Heart Association and recently - issued Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health suggest that you obtain between 55 percent to 65 percent of your daily calories from complex carbohydrates. Breads, cereals, legumes, and starchy vegetables are classified as complex carbohydrates. Also see Know your Sugars.

    This program is not just another diet program, but a healthy program that will teach you the right way and the wrong way of weight control. By eating and snacking less, your body will automatically burn fat for fuel. You can actually eat yourself slim. The basic equation for losing weight never changes: In order to lose weight, you first have to control your appetite for fat and sugary foods, and burn more calories than you are consuming. Calories are a measurement of food energy. The primary energy suppliers are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Proteins and carbohydrates contain less than half the calories found in fats.

     As I have explained, calories are not as important as the fat content. A food product can be low in calories, but high in fat. What this means is a food product can be low in calories but almost all the calories in it can come from fats. Always read the fat content and multiple it by 9 to get total fat in calories. Example: lets take an Ultra-Slim Fast snack bar, 110 calories with 4 gram of fat.four times nine equal 36 calories of fat. Now divide the 36 calories of fat into the 110 calories for your total percent of fat per bar. You will see that this low calorie diet bar has about 33 percent fat.

 

    Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the number of calories needed to sustain vital function of the body without gaining or losing weight. BMR is also the rate at which your body burns calories (metabolism). To burn off body fat, first you will have to burn more calories. Exercise improves BMR so that you burn more calories not only at times of exercise, but throughout the entire day. Improved BMR may be especially important to those who have recently lost weight, because a reduction in caloric intake can slow down BMR. In other words, the body adapts to lower caloric intake by burning fewer calories. The dieter's body can get use to 1,000 or less calories per day without losing any more weight. Once the caloric intake increases, weight gain is the result. This is why diets do not work. Exercise is the very best way to compensate for the body's tendency to slow metabolism, and increase the number of calories burned.

 

     The simplest method I found for determining one's BMR is as follow: BMR equals bodyweight multiple by 20 for men who are active; 18 for men who are inactive. For women, multiple bodyweight by 18 for those who are active; 16 for those women who are inactive. Once you determine your BMR, slowly reduce your daily calorie intake. This will give the stomach time to shrink. Jumping right in with lower calorie will cause hungry pangs, specially if the stomach is used to large amounts of food. I suggest starting off lowering your calories by 200 per week until you reach your ideal goal. Never lower your calories more than half of your daily BMR intake. Example: An inactive women, with the weight of 140 would multiple 140 times 16 equal 2240 calories per day. Deducting 200 calories per week, at the end of one month her total calories should be 1440 per day.

    Fast foods are not the only foods that are high in fats. Foods that you consume on a daily basis can actually have just as much fat as a Big Mac. Most people have the right idea, when going to a salad bar for lunch or dinner. But what they don't know is a trip to the salad bar can add up to a 1,000 calories with 50 percent fat and more. Most people cannot let all that food go to waste so they will eat more than they would normally eat. And how about salad dressings, potato salad, creamy soups, sauces, and cheap imitation oils that are nothing but saturated fats. As you have learned, calories are not as important as the calories from fats. For example, if you eat 500 calories from fats. For example, if you eat 500 calories of fatty foods, a whopping 97 percent of those calories (485) would be available for instance storage as fat! Whereas, if you eat 500 calories of complex carbohydrates, 90 percent of those calories (450) will be burned as fuel, only 10 percent (50) would be available for instant storage as fat. And 485 calories for storage of fat versus 50 calories will make a big different to your body. These fat percentages are just of fat alone. By adding a non-fat or lower-fat food, your percentages of fat will be lower. That is how some of these low-calories diet products can say 97 percent free-fat. They will add the average calories for the whole day (no fat included) and divide it with the fat in that one meal. So if you eat that one meal plus 1,400 more calories that have no fat, your total fat for the day will be 3 percent fat. Let's take, for instance, Lean Cuisine's frozen low-calorie meals. It states right on the box, "98% fat - free". But if you read the back of the box, you'll soon see that the 11 ounce, 250 calorie meal has six grams of fat, which for the calories will equal out to be 22 percent fat. Twenty-two percent fat is still low for a meal, but is 11 ounces of food going to satisfy you? Where as hamburger you cook on your own, using two ounces of lean hamburger has 149 calories with 11 gram of fat (66 percent). And add two whole wheat buns at 200 calories with one gram of fat. Multiply total fats from both foods (12 grams) by nine (108) than divide 108 into total calories of both foods (349) to get the percentage of fat, which is 30 percent. Add no cheese and use a reduce-fat dressing.

     Eating foods that are high in fiber causes us to eat more slowly and get full sooner. It slows the eating process by increasing the amount of necessary chewing. Its bulk induces a feeling of satisfaction, and it stimulates the release of hormones that tell us we feel full. In addition to their ability to promote regular bowel movements, water-soluble fibers effect digestion, blood sugar control, lipid (fat) metabolism, and colon health. (A low-fiber diet has been linked to obesity). Adding fiber to the diet has also been shown to reduce the number of calories consumed by increasing the feeling of fullness and decreasing the feeling of hunger. Technically speaking, fiber is classified as a carbohydrate. But unlike carbohydrates, fiber is not absorbed through the intestinal wall. Therefore, it adds no calories.  Despite the benefits of fiber, not all high-fiber foods are recommended. Most high-fiber foods such as cereals, muffins, and breads, are high in sugars and/or highly saturated fat with tropical oils such as coconut and palm oil. Read the labels very carefully. Foods that are high in fiber are: vegetables, fruits with skins, wheat, bran and whole grains. Supplements that are high in fibers: guar gum, psyllium husk, and oat bran.   Fiber supplements produce a satisfied feeling of fullness so you will eat less. Caution: If you use a fiber supplement, be sure to drink plenty of water with it. Taking any fiber product without adequate fluid may cause it to swell and block the throat or esophagus, and possibly cause choking. You should take any supplemental fiber formula with at least eight ounces of water. Fat substitutes such as no-oil salad dressings, Butter Buds butter substitute, Pam vegetable spray for frying, cholesterol-free/reduced-fat mayonnaise, and salad dressing substitutes, can all help reduce total fat calories.

 

     Saturated verses unsaturated fats. There are two types of fats: saturated fats and unsaturated fats. Saturated fats raise total cholesterol and reduce HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol). When either saturated fat or cholesterol are eaten, your liver sends more cholesterol into your blood. Too much cholesterol causes fatty build-up, not only in the body as fat but the arteries as well, leading to heart disease and high blood pressure. Unsaturated fats are important for proper functions of the body. These include storing energy, cushioning and providing support for the vital organs, and regulating temperature. Fats surround, protect and hold in place organs, such as the kidneys, heart, liver and are necessary for normal growth and healthy skin.

 

     When unsaturated fats are consumed there is an increase in the producing of lipases fat burning enzymes. If the body does not consume enough fats, these enzymes are not released. If these enzymes are not released, there will be no extra enzymes to be used to help break down stored body fat. Thus this will slow down the fat burning. When taking in small amounts of unsaturated fats, fat mobilization and fat burning enzymes are increased throughout the day. Remember saturated fats store as fat, unsaturated fats can be used by the body. The key work is "unsaturated" fats. Saturated fats are those that are usually hard at room temperature and which come primarily from animal sources and fried foods. However, two tropical oils (palm oil and coconut oil), are the exceptions. Each is even more saturated than lard! These tropical oils are frequently used in commercially prepared bakery products. Other foods that are high in saturated fats include salad dressing, mayonnaise, and all sauces. Unsaturated fats are usually liquid at room temperature and are derived from vegetable, nut, or seed sources, such as corn, safflowers, sunflower. Foods that are high in unsaturated fats include avocado, chicken, fish, nuts, and vegetable oils.

    In the usual American diet, 40 percent of the calories come from fats. Lowering this percentage will help your health as well as your body. The current government recommendation for calories from fat is 30 percent or less. Dr. Daniel Nixon, a vice president of an Atlanta-based society recommends 25 to 20 percent. I usually like to keep my fat content down to 15 to 20 percent of total calories. This might seem low considering most diet dinners and diet snack products out the market has an average of 30 to 40 percent of total fat content. Fats furnish more than twice the number of calories per gram furnished by carbohydrates or proteins. One gram of fat yields approximately nine calories. Whereas proteins and carbohydrates yields approximately four calories. Excessive amounts of fat in the diet may lead to abnormal weight gain and obesity. In addition to obesity, excessive fat intake will cause abnormally slow digestion and absorption, (three to four hours to digest), resulting in indigestion. The average percentage of body fat for a man is about 12 to 15; for women, it is about 16 to 20.

 

     Many people find that even when they have modified their diet and added regular exercise to a weight-loss regimen. they still do not lose weight in sufficient amounts. Numerous clinical studies have proven this situation is often due to poor metabolic functioning. For various reasons, some people do not burn-up or metabolize body fat as well as others. This frustrating reality often leads to a feeling of hopelessness for people trying to lose weight. They believe that there is nothing they can do to slim down, and so they revert to old dietary habits. Once you understand proper nutrition, and the way the body metabolizes fat, you will then see why diets have always failed you! Something else to remember: It can take eight to nine times longer to lose the weight, than it does to gain it.