The body is a finally tuned mechanism. Many of us treat it with too little respect and wonder why it responds negatively from time to time. Disease is largely due to external factors. It isn't necessarily the same for any 2 people, but the likelihood is that there will be others just like you who have had the same outcome. Weight should also be viewed in the same way. If you have eaten too much or eaten the wrong foods then you may well put on weight. That may sound like a very simplistic approach, but that is the basic reason why people gain weight and also why weight loss can be so difficult for them

In order to really understand the weight loss process we also need to understand the complexities of the process that made us overweight in the first place.

Basically if you are alive and breathing you have a family of hormones and enzymes that are intended to fight the fat. Unfortunately our poor and inconsistent dietary habits means that changes take place in the body make it more difficult for the body to lose fat and ultimately sustain any weight loss.

If we miss a meal or eat too many carbohydrates our bodies respond by elevating the stress hormones. The body then thinks it is in a life threatening situation and responds by releasing stored glycogen into the blood to raise the blood sugar. If this cycle is repeated on a regular basis our bodies will be experiencing bouts of high and low blood sugar causing the body to be over stressed and therefore unable to deal effectively with weight loss.

If the body has elevated blood sugar levels, the response is to release insulin to lower the blood sugar. Insulin levels will remain high if the body is consistently under nourished with the wrong food combinations. Excess insulin along with inactivity can prevent weight loss due to the fact that inactive muscles become insulin resistant and more and more calories are stored in the fat cells. This can ultimately progress to situation where the body becomes insulin resistant.

If you find yourself accumulating fat in the middle of your body then you have more than likely become insulin resistant. Weight loss can be incredibly difficult if this is the case. However even more important is the fact the fat accumulation will eventually extend to other areas of the body and you will be come progressively more obese. As the muscles and fat cells become less sensitive to insulin, blood sugar levels will rise higher and the body will be forced to use the pancreas to help to lower the levels. In a worst case scenario this can result in Type 11 Diabetes.

There is a belief amongst those who are overweight that they can be overweight and be healthy. This just isn't the case. Being overweight can in itself increase your chances of contracting a life threatening disease, on the other hand the unhealthy life style you have been leading may also be the cause of the disease. Health and being overweight do not equate.

Successful weight loss depends on many factors, one of which is turning fat into lean muscle. You need to eat the correct foods for your metabolic type and do the appropriate exercises. Very often this can result in an initial weight gain as you gain muscle (which weighs more than fat). Then as if by magic your body will start to experience weight loss that can often seem to be faster than normal.

Because muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in your body, your ability to burn up unwanted fat and subsequently achieve weight loss is improved. However it is important to remember that although you may think that weight loss is your goal the chances are what you are really aiming for is a more streamlined body. If in order to achieve a more streamlined shape you need to convert fat into lean muscle and gain a bit of weight in the process, then weight loss has to become a secondary issue.

Many slimming cubs now encourage you to measure yourself as well as weighing yourself as you are likely to see faster results from your measurements than from your weight loss

Janet Matthews
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2. Lose Weight 2
Lose Weight

Weight Loss has become the industry of the 21st century. With the increase of fast foods and simple carbohydrate foods many people are finding that they can no longer control their weight and they don't understand why. Education in this area is vital if we are to beat this obesity epidemic. People are desperate to lose weight but are clutching at the latest fad diet and are soon disillusioned when their weight loss isn't sustained and they find they are heavier than they were when they started

According to Dr Jaap Seidell of the International Obesity Task force, the incidence of obesity is on the rise throughout the world making it one of the fastest developing public health concerns. The World Health organization has described it as a "world wide" epidemic. It's estimated that around 250 million people worldwide are obese. This is particularly prevalent in the US where over one third of the adult population are obese and one in seven children and adolescents are obese.

In recent years there have been more and more people jumping on the weight loss bandwagon and producing the latest book on how to lose weight. Apparently there are over 2,000 diet books all claiming miraculous results. Previously most people who wanted to lose weight used the calorie counting diets, which amazingly have somehow survived and are still used today.

Basically calorie controlled diets don't work. Restricting calories doesn't necessarily equate to a well balanced nutritious diet. Often the desire to lose weight can result in dieters skipping meals or eating meals that are high in carbohydrates so that they feel full, not realising that the feeling of fullness will not last and in no time at all they are hungry and searching again for that carbohydrate snack. A packet of biscuits worth 300 calories can easily become a meal substitute for someone who has a carbohydrate or sugar craving and who doesn't understand the principles of good nutrition. Needless to say they are surprised when they don't lose weight and subsequently give up the diet.

My own personal opinion on how to best lose weight has been to find a diet that is right for you and one that you can stick to for the rest of your life. No matter how you try to package the truth, at the end of the day if you are overweight you are either eating too much or you are eating the wrong foods for your body. Your aim should be to lose weight for life not just for a special occasion or perhaps to lose weight with the idea that once you have reached your target weight you can then go back to your old eating habits. I have seen this happen so many times where people reach their target weight and 6 months later they return having put that weight back on and sometimes even more.

If you need to lose weight it is a wake up call to take care of your health. It is in your own interest to research this and find a diet that you can live with that not only helps you to lose weight but also ensures that you reach and maintain optimal health.

Many people don't realise that weight and health are intrinsically connected. If you are overweight then your body is not functioning with optimum health. The two do not go together. So lose weight the healthy way and you will immediately improve your overall state of health.

Janet Matthews
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+44 7815614557

3. Weight Loss 2
Weight Loss 2

There is a lot of speculation in the health industry regarding what constitute a healthy weight loss diet. Should you be following a high protein diet, a low calorie diet or maybe a low fat diet. At the end of the day the most important thing to consider is which diet is going to ensure that you burn the fat.

Weight loss really is a burning issue for everyone who wants to lose weight, as that is what you need to do. You need to burn off the fat It may surprise you to know that every time you miss a meal - just one meal- your body increases the release of lipogenic (fat storing) enzymes. At the same time the lipolytic (fat burning) enzymes are decreased. Unfortunately this is much more pronounced in women than in men with three times the amount of lipogenic enzymes being produced in women and only a third of the amount of lipolytic enzymes being produced. So immediately you can see that eating less food by missing a meal isn't going to help your weight loss, especially of you are a woman, in fact it is going to do completely the reverse.

According to Paul Chek of the Chek Institute, if you eat a hearty, well balanced breakfast and have regular small meals throughout the day your body's metabolism will be elevated and you will burn the fat more easily, thus increasing your weight loss. This is also helped by the fact that you are more likely to be physically active during the day.

It may be that you prefer a small breakfast of coffee and toast and jam followed by a pastry for lunch, in that case you are likely to be very hungry by the evening and will want to eat a large evening meal at a time when your body is tiring and less likely to use the energy provided by your meal, and so the excess will not be burnt off and will be stored as fat. During the day your metabolism will have been much lower due to the fact that the small amount of poor quality food you have eaten has not given you as much energy and your metabolism will have been decreased. Weight loss is less likely to take place under these conditions.

It is also worth remembering that weight loss doesn't necessarily equal fat loss. Very often when you lose weight on a diet you lose muscle not fat. Muscle is needed to burn energy. If you decrease muscle mass, subsequently your metabolic rate will be lower and you won't burn as much energy. This increases your chances of regaining any weight you may have lost and may be the start of what is termed the yo-yo effect, which leads to an increase in your body's set point. If this happens, weight loss can become even more difficult as your body has now "set" your normal weight at a level above that which is desirable. As you can see the issue of weight loss can very easily become a vicious cycle.

The ideal weight loss program will encourage your body to convert fat into lean muscle. However although this will give you the streamline figure you so desire you may experience a gain in weight or possibly just stayed the same. The main reason being that muscle weighs heavier than fat. If shape and size is really what you are aiming for then you should be forgetting about weight loss, throw away your scales and concentrating on the tried and tested methods of re-sculpturing your body shape by turning fat into lean muscle

There is plenty of good advice available to enable you to do this healthily and with little or no stress on your body. If in doubt, ask yourself the question does this make sense. There is no easy way to lose weight but following the right advice can make it relatively painless and straight forward

Janet Matthews
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+44 7815614557

4. Weight Loss 1
Weight Loss 1

The number of people who see weight loss as a top priority is increasing daily. We hear regularly on the news that there are more and more young children with weight problems and the number of clinically obese adults is almost becoming an epidemic.

The number of Weight loss programs has risen dramatically to meet this ever increasing need and all have their various promises of "amazing weight loss" in record time.

The latest fad weight loss diets make weight loss sound like a fun holiday, but as we know only too well weight loss is far from fun for most people, in fact it can become an obsession or a complete turn off. The information available has become an absolute minefield and many people are struggling to know which weight loss program they should choose. Unfortunately if you give people too many choices they often end up doing nothing.

So why has weight loss become such an epidemic? As with all things there is never a simple answer. It would appear that 2 people can eat similar foods and one will be over weight and the other will be as "thin as stick". Although this can be very frustrating, often for both parties concerned, it is not easy to ascertain why this should be.

At the end of the day it is up to each individual to understand their own bodies and know what foods they can eat and what foods either have a bad effect on them or cause them to put on weight. Weight loss is an individual business. In the same way that two people can eat the same food and one puts on weight and the other doesn't two overweight people can go on the same weight loss diet and one will lose weight and the other may at best stay the same or at worst may even put weight on. So why should this be?

There is one basic reason why people can vary so much. Simply put they are different metabolic types. Of course as I said early this is not a simple matter and of course the reasons for these metabolic differences are much more complicated. However even at the basic level it does help to know that there are very definitive reasons why one person finds weight loss relatively easy while another person finds it extremely difficult to shift those stubborn pounds/kilograms.

So why are so many people being diagnosed as clinically obese. Basically most people have a poor diet lacking in good nutritional principles. The reason why people put weight on in the first place can often be different from the reason why they find weight loss so difficult. But if they were eating a well balanced nutritious diet in the first place it is very unlikely that weight loss would now be an issue for them. By that I mean eating food as nature intended, so no weird and wonderful chicken nuggets that look like they never saw chicken, or low fat spreads that are so highly processed their molecular structure isn't even recognized by our digestive systems. Did you know that margarine is just one molecule different from plastic??

If you want to be slim and healthy then feed your body "real food". A good rule of thumb is - if your ancestors didn't eat it then you shouldn't eat it either.

Many of the so called weight loss products use additives that mimic real food and our bodies don't know how to respond. Diet drinks for instance are now being sited as one of the main reasons why people are unable to lose weight, mainly due to the sugar substitutes that are used, which incidentally are also being linked to various health complaints.

How many of us would treat our cars with as little respect as we treat our bodies?

If we treated our bodies with the same care and attention we give to our cars then weight loss would be a thing of the past. Regular overhauls, yearly MOT's, regular oil change and good quality petrol appropriate to the car we are driving. It is obvious common sense - but not so obvious it would appear when it comes to looking after our bodies!!

Janet Matthews
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+44 7815614557

Its Good Business

5. Lose Weight 1
Lose Weight 1

Weight loss diets have become the talk of the century as people struggle to find quick and easy answers to their weight problems. Weight loss has the same effect many medical conditions, whereby the patient doesn't want to make any lifestyle changes, but wants a magic pill or potion that will solve their problem. Unfortunately in both cases there is no quick fix and in order to "solve the problem" it is important to look at the reasons why the problem exists in the first place.

People are constantly looking for that perfect diet and wonder which one of the numerous diets available they should choose to help them to lose weight? For some people the need to lose weight is a serious life saving business whereas for others it may just be to lose weight to look a little better in that wedding outfit or to get into a new dress for a special occasion. But whatever the reason the desire to lose weight can become an obsession and people will go to unbelievable ends to make this happen.

Whereas most people are content to lose weight by following a simple calorie controlled diet or by attending a club like Weight Watchers, others have to resort to more drastic measures to lose weight, like having their stomach's stapled or undergoing an operation such as liposuction to remove several pounds of fat from their bodies. These people often have a more serious problem needing a more serious approach to help them to lose weight.

So what are the reasons for this surge of interest in the latest ways to lose weight? Basically we are fast developing multiple nations of overweight and even obese individuals who are now wanting to lose weight either because their doctors have advised them to or because they have decided for themselves that they will be healthier if they lose weight or will simply look and feel better.

We are also far more concerned with image, particularly amongst the younger generation who feel they should look like the super models and want to be able to wear the latest fashions. Their desire to lose weight can often become an issue if this becomes an obsession. Many young people who start off wanting to be "super model slim" can very easily become anorexic if it is in their nature to become overly obsessive

Our governments are constantly throwing statistics at us about the growing number of obese individuals, especially children, and are now introducing ways of helping these individuals to lose weight. Whole families are being put on programs to help them to lose weight and several television programs are also jumping on the bandwagon, promising to help you to "lose weight and shape up in six weeks". This is often a combination of a weight loss diet and an exercise program to help to speed up the process.

Of course the cycle wouldn't be complete without some expectation that schools should play their part and ensure that young people are educated about the need for healthy eating. Perhaps they will also be expecting the schools to educate the parents also, after all healthy eating begins in the home!! In my experience far too many parents indulge their children by giving in to their fads and fancies and are too eager to give them sugary treats and too often have trips to the fast food establishments. There is nothing to beat some good home cooking with natural ingredients. The sooner parents realize this the sooner the obesity epidemic will diminish and the need to lose weight will be a thing of the past.

My ideas may be seen as "old fashioned" but at the end of the day the ever growing need to lose weight is a modern epidemic. So perhaps the old fashioned ideas are not such a bad idea after all.

Janet Matthews
skype me
+44 7815614557