Drive-thru diet

How ironic that I would stumble upon this commercial while I was trying to find something good to watch...the Taco Bell commericial that talks about its Drive-thru diet...at first I thought it was a joke.

It just made me chuckle a little. And hey if it works for anyone...awesome! More power to you. I'm not one to judge anyone, just thought I would give my opinion and say it caught me off guard, that's all lol







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~Would you like to join me on the Master Cleanse?
Find out how... http://tinyurl.com/cleanse-your-body

~The most lucrative & pain-free $6 you'll ever spend...make extra money in just 4-6 weeks! http://www.six4wealth.blogspot.com

First day of a healthier me

C and I had our weigh-in today. I have a count down written on our bathroom mirror with a dry erase marker to make it official. It's pretty exciting because I'm so curious to see how well I do. I don't even care about beating him...well maybe I do. The main thing is to be healthier, eat healthier and to tone up my body.

I rang in the new year by drinking nothing but water. I definitely peed a lot so I know it's been flushing me out like crazy lol.

So, I had planned on starting the Master Cleanse today since it is the first day of the new year, but we've been lazy since the holiday break is still going on. We didn't get the chance to go to the market to get what I needed.

I did get a lot of other things done, though, as far as what I'll eat before and after I finish with the Master Cleanse. I'm also pretty excited to exercise...never thought I would ever say that. It's funny because when I had started up a new craze for exercizing during my spare time a few weeks ago, my 17-month-old was copying me and doing leg stretches and trying to jump. He is so adorable.

We forgot to take before pictures today, but I'm sure we won't lose so much weight from today and tomorrow. So yeah I'll show that and the after picture at the end of all of this.

Anyone else who is jump starting their health/diets/weight/etc, good luck to you!

I'll write soon,

Jess






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~Would you like to join me on the Master Cleanse?
Find out how... http://tinyurl.com/cleanse-your-body

~The most lucrative & pain-free $6 you'll ever spend...make extra money in just 4-6 weeks! http://www.six4wealth.blogspot.com

Couples contest with the hubby

Ok, so let's talk about a common resolution: losing weight. The hubby and I decided to make the month of January a competitive, intense and hopefully a little lighter...by pounds, that is.

Like most people...and women for that matter, I had been putting off taking that first step to start making myself feel better about myself and my body. And even though C is perfect and I don't think he has anything to worry about with weight, he wants to do it so he can feel his best, too. Overall, of course, we want to do all of this for our 4 children.

I mean we are still young, but we aren't getting any younger. Plus, I've been noticing my energy has just been next to zero and I want to be active for the kids.

So we've created our "Couples Contest." We have a weigh-in tomorrow morning in our master bathroom and whoever loses the most weight between tomorrow and February 1st wins. Seems simple enough right? Well, I'm nervous, but I'm willing to give it a try.

With everything that's happened the last year and every year leading up to this moment, I know I can do anything I set my mind to. Besides the coveted title of the winner of this competitive contest we have going on between us, we've each chosen an incentive if we win.

I went first and decided if I lose more weight that he would have to undergo another "first time" and get a manicure and pedicure with me. It will be fun, relaxing and will be a unique experience for the both of us.

I almost wish he had gone first because my incentive seems selfish and small compared to what he wants for his incentive. He said that if he wins, he wants me to write, edit, proofread, set up a publisher and completely finish my next book. I hadn't even thought of anything like that.

My problem is I have so many ideas brewing inside my head and written down on post-its that I never know what to start or finish especially since we are always so busy. So, he gave me the option of no excuses which will probably be more rewarding than losing weight.

Well, losing the baby weight and trying to tone areas that we women rarely speak of will be a great feat, too.

I've done a lot of research, planning and brainstorming on what I'd like to do in order to make this journey a smooth one. I'm no doctor or nutritionist, but I've created a meal plan and even a daily exercise plan. I can already hear the judging before I type it...but I am also going to undergo the controversial and popular Master Cleanse to rid myself years of toxins, build-up and to pave the road to healthier eating.

If you are still with me, thank you for not shaking your finger at me. I've read a lot of reviews where people couldn't understand why someone would put themselves through such torture. "Why can't you just exercise like a normal person to lose weight?" Where that could be a legit concern, there are a lot of misconceptions about the master cleanse aka the lemonade diet.

I'm not here to be a martyr or to name drop, but I'm just here to share my experiences over the next month. I welcome any and all questions or comments...don't worry you won't hurt my feelings.

And, in case you are wondering, I'm not obese or anything. The only problem areas I have are common-my stomach (pooch lol) and my obliques (lovehandles LOL-funny word for a body part). I want to tone my butt, too. I love keeping my sweetheart happy...even though he says I'm beautiful even before we start the contest.

OK, so stay tuned for comments from me, daily grumblings, pictures documenting my progress, possible videos and meal plans, etc.

And to everyone out there: Happy New Year and good luck with all of your resolutions.

Remember:

"The longest journey begins with a single step." ~Lao-Tzu





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Would you like to join me on the Master Cleanse?
Find out how... http://tinyurl.com/cleanse-your-body

The most lucrative & pain-free $6 you'll ever spend...earn extra money in just 4-6 weeks! http://www.six4wealth.blogspot.com

yayFOOD versus Fat Loss 4 Idiots

yayFOOD and Fat Loss 4 Idiots both have pros and cons. I'd like to explore both of them here.

To begin with, Fat Loss 4 Idiots is undeniably the more popular of the two. It's been around a lot longer, and quite frankly is marketed a lot better.

However, does that make it better? Let's explore:

First of all - when you get inside the member's area for FL4I, you're greeted with what looks like 20 or so different pages. These are mini-articles. There's also a diet generator.

The basic concept of Fat Loss 4 Idiots is that you need to eat the same foods over and over - but they mix and match them so that you're eating different combinations. You can only eat the same 30 foods over and over. Some examples of these foods are garden salad with dressing, green and red vegetables, hard boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, green beans, fresh grapefruit, and broiled flounder.

When you get inside yayFOOD, the member's area is quite different.

There are calorie calculators, where you type in your height, weight, and exercise level. Depending on your specifics is how they tell you what to eat - which seems to make a lot more sense.

The first benefit of yayFOOD is that you can eat whatever you want - not the boring diet food - although they do give sample meal plans and meal ideas so that you can have some reference. There are even 7 day meal plans that Rachel herself eats. Members add recipes to the Recipe Database all the time, too - so there's no shortage of variety.

There are hundreds of articles, reports, and resources for you to use in there.

There's ongoing support, too - so that you can ask a question whenever you want and get a quick answer.

There's also a diet goal section where you can put in your weight, and it'll automatically email your friends and family when you reach goal (if you want). You can also keep a journal, a goal setter, and more.

There's also much more of a community with yayFOOD.

Overall, yayFOOD has much better value than FL41. The good thing about Fl4I is that it's a one-time fee, whereas yayFOOD is $19.95 a month. However, since you get so many extra benefits with yayFOOD, it might be well worth it for you. Also, there's an 8 week no-questions-asked guarantee, so it's risk free. See what you’re missing at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

The Quickest And Healthiest Way To Lose 100 lbs.

If you’ve ever wanted to know how to lose 100 pounds, you probably came across many different types of diets.

It’s true; there are tons of ways to lose weight. You could take diet pills, go on medicine, eat low calorie, low carb, starve yourself, go on a liquid fast… the options are endless. Most of them work, too.

The problem is, it’s very hard to stay on those types of diets. Not only are they physically hard (you often go hungry), but psychologically, they’re not good for you either. If you gain weight for one day, then you feel as if you’ve “messed up”, and there’s no point in staying on the diet. Also, these diets are short term things… people have no desire to stay on them for the rest of their lives, so once they lose the weight, they revert back to their old eating habits and gain the weight again.

If you want to know how to lose 100 pounds – the good news is that it’s not as hard as everybody makes it out to be. You don’t have to go hungry, and in fact, that actually hinders your weight loss efforts. Low calorie, low carbohydrate, and starvation diets actually DON’T work (well).

When researching how to lose weight, I researched a lot about bodybuilders and people with anorexia. I wanted to know how to lose 100 pounds, and figured that since those types of people are obsessed with their bodies, they would know the best methods available. What shocked me is that the hardcore anorexics actually don’t starve themselves – they know it doesn’t work that well long term – but they follow a specific eating plan.

Of course, the plan that I suggest and use frequently isn’t as strict as the one that anorexic people use, but the point is that it works, and it works well.

The great thing is, this plan is completely healthy, and it was actually based on the way that our ancestors ate.

In this way of eating, people vary their calories. They still get to eat normal portions, and they can eat what they want – but the magic is when they “trick” their body and vary what they eat per day. The body never gets used to what it’s being fed, so it can’t plateau.

Actually, you’re shocking your body, and doing the opposite of what it expects you to do. This is why the effects are so powerful! You're going to NOT continue eating the same types of calories and meals for more than a couple days at a time, and you're going to lose a lot of weight by doing this.

Because of this, people keep losing weight, over and over and over. People actually lose up to 13 pounds every 11 days with this method, and it never “expires”.

You can check out more varying calories on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

The Fastest Way To Lose Weight Is Also The Easiest

If you are looking for the fastest way to lose weight and you have over 10 pounds to lose, you're in luck. A breakthrough weight loss system, originally highly guarded by bodybuilders and people in the anorexic community, is finally being exposed to everybody. This is not unhealthy or fad-ish, and is actually clinically proven to be very beneficial, both physically and psychologically on dieters.

This weight loss system, called "calorie cycling", enables people to shock the metabolism into burning fat more efficiently, thus resulting in more rapid weight loss.

Dieters are never hungry and never in a "famine" mindset. There is also never any unrealistic starvation or removal of any one food group, such as low carbohydrate.

People get to choose what they want to eat, so there are no pre-packaged foods, pills, potions, liquids, bars, or anything to buy. In tests, people lost much more weight with this versus starvation, low calories, and 99.1% of the other "fad" diets.

This weight loss method is so powerful that it allows people to lose up to 11 pounds every 13 days. In very rare cases, some people (those with a lot of weight to lose) have reported losses of up to 35 pounds in a month. This is absolutely the fastest way to lose weight.

Other benefits of this diet are that dieters can avoid the "plateau" effect by switching their calories, and they can eat whatever they want (in moderation - but reasonable moderation, not tiny servings).

In research, dieters were happier and more willing to stay on this diet versus traditional diets such as low calorie and low carbohydrate. Energy levels stayed the same or higher as compared to other diets as well. If you have 10 pounds or more to lose, calorie cycling is absolutely the fastest way to lose weight.

You can check out more about calorie cycling on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

How To Lose Weight (And NOT With A Low Calorie Diet)

If you want to know how to lose weight, there are many different people and companies that will tell you different things. Everybody seems to have their own agenda with weight loss, and you might hear about all sorts of crazy diets – from liquid starvations to eating only cabbage to cookie diets, and everything in between.

A lot of people will tell you that the most “sensible” diet is one in which you eat low calorie and exercise regularly.

While low calorie is good in the short term, if you really want to know how to lose weight – you need to know that low calorie is NOT the best option out there.

With low calorie, you can plateau very easily. Your body gets used to what you’re feeding it, and it will adjust accordingly.

If you are trying to figure out how to lose weight, you’ll undoubtedly hear of the other diets too – for example, the ones that were already mentioned. These diets generally also work very well in the short term, but you can either gain the weight back, or be miserable because the diets are so limiting.

One way that has been popular since the beginning of evolution is the shifting calorie method. With this, you switch up your calories on a daily basis so that your body can never figure out what you’re going to feed it.

Because you’re “shocking” your body, your body can never adjust – and therefore, you can never plateau. Since you can never plateau, you continue to lose weight over and over again.

If you really want to know how to lose weight – this is the easiest way possible.

It’s also great because it doesn’t limit you to eating certain things, so you’re not miserable all the time. Psychologists have claimed that this diet is better than almost any other diet out there because dieters don’t have that “famine” mindset.

You can check out more about shifting calories on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Tips For Those Who Need To Lose Weight - Part Two

If you’re looking for some weight loss tips, you will find many different tactics when you look for them.

For example, you might read to drink more water, to omit certain things from your diet, and to exercise more.

Besides those great things, I believe a huge impact can be gained by not letting yourself become too discouraged; you do matter and life can be wonderful if you see it that way.

First you should look for support among family and friends. It can be an enormous help to discuss obstacles and share skills and tactics with others on the same path.

You might look for this support from others you know who are in weight loss programs and you can seek guidance from someone you know who has lost weight and kept it off.

There are success stories across the country today. On television and in newspapers, magazines and tabloids about people who have miraculously lost untold pounds and kept it off. In all instances they say their mental attitude as well as their outlook on life has totally changed.

Diets and weight loss programs are more flexible now than they once were and there are many prepared foods already portioned out. They are made attractive and can be prepared in a matter of minutes. Low-fat and low-calorie foods are on shelves everywhere.

You will probably need to learn new, wiser eating skills. You will want a weight loss regimen that gives you some control, rather than imposing one rigid system.

Look for one that offers a variety of different eating plans, so you can choose the one that's best for you.

You can check out more about losing weight on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Tips For Those Who Need To Lose Weight

If you’re looking for some weight loss tips, you will discover many different approaches in you research.

For example, you might read to drink more water, to avoid certain foods, and to be more active.

While I do agree with all of that, I think one of the most important weight loss tips is to maintain a positive outlook.

Once you have made up your mind to lose weight, you should make that commitment and go into it with a positive attitude. We all know that losing weight can be quite a challenge. In fact, for some, it can be downright tough. It takes time, practice and support to change lifetime habits. But it's a process you must learn in order to succeed. You and you alone are the one who has the power to lose unwanted pounds.

Think like a winner and not a loser - remember that emotions are like muscles and the ones you use most grow the strongest. If you always look at the negative side of things, you'll become a downbeat, pessimistic person. Even slightly negative thoughts have a greater impact on you and last longer than powerful positive thoughts.

Negative thinking doesn't do you any good; it just holds you back from accomplishing the things you want to do. When a negative thought creeps into your mind, replace it reminding yourself that you're somebody, you have self-worth and you possess unique
strengths and talents.

Contemplate what lies ahead of you. Losing weight is not just about diets. It's about a whole new you and the possibility of creating a new life for yourself.

Investigate the weight loss programs that appeal to you and that you feel will teach you the behavioral skills you need to stick with throughout the weight-loss process.

You can check out more about losing weight on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

The Shifting Calories Method And Why It Works

Shifting calories is a great way to lose weight, because it helps you easily trick your body.

When you eat low calorie or low carbohydrate, your body gets used to the same routine. Eating 1200 (or however many you choose) calories every day is something that your body can easily get used to, and it will adjust accordingly. It will lower your metabolism accordingly, and it will make you lose weight at a much slower pace.

With this method, your body never knows what's coming to it, so it will never be able to plateau. You'll continuously lose weight, over and over again.

This is also great for your psychological mindset. When you do the shifting calorie method the right way, you shift your calories to a certain level on different days.

Because some days are almost drastically higher, you get to "cheat" on those days.

This is great for people because they don't feel like they're missing out on their favorite foods, or that they're different from the non-dieters in their life.

You're also never bored with your diet, which is very important. "Diets" don't really help people - but lifestyle changes that are easy to commit to for life are things that will allow weight loss to stay off for a long, long time. With the shifting calorie method, you also don't need to deprive yourself of nutrients, as you would on diets such as the cabbage soup diet, the cookie diet, or other popular fad diets. You can eat whatever you want, as long as it's within calorie allotments.

You can check out more about the shifting method on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

How To Read A Nutritional Label

Reading nutritional labels can be a daunting task if you don't know exactly what to look for. Because the information is so significant, it's important to at least have a watered-down idea of how each one works.

To begin with, the nutritional label gives a breakdown of the nutrient content of food. It's based on a 2000 calorie diet (the average amount of calories recommended for Americans on a daily basis).

Serving Size

This self-explanatory section tells the consumer the size of the servings inside the package.

Serving per Container or Package

This often overlooked section tells the consumer how many servings are in the package. If there are 3 servings and one eats an entire package, they need to multiple everything else on the nutritional panel by 3 to get their true nutritional breakdown.

Calories and Calories from Fat

This is generally the most viewed part of a nutritional label. It tells the consumer how many calories are in the product as well as the percentage of calories that are from fat.

% Daily Value

This tells people the percentage of daily value of a nutrient compared to a 2,000 calorie diet. For example if something has 10% protein, the consumer is getting 10% of the protein that they need for the day if they eat a 2,000 calorie diet.

Fat, Cholesterol, and Sodium

These values are ones that Americans generally eat enough (or too much) of. They should be limited and health experts recommend that saturated fat, trans fat, and cholesterol is kept to an intake level of as low as possible.

Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron

Most Americans don't get enough of these nutrients. The more one eats of these, the more their health can be improved.

You can check out more about healthy eating on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

How To Choose The Right Weight Loss Program

Weight loss programs are all over the place nowadays. Everybody seems to have the latest and greatest "magic answer" to lose weight.

The truth is... most of these diets do, in fact, work. But they're certainly not for everyone.

So how do you choose a weight loss program that's right for you?

The most important thing to do is consider certain criteria.

Are you a picky eater? - If you're picky you might not want to indulge in diets that eliminate certain foods or force you to narrow down your choices.

Low carb diets might be horrific for you if you enjoy fruits and vegetables. On the same note, vegetarian diets might be horrible for you if you love meat.

The good news is that there are diets that allow you to eat whatever you want... you just have to discipline yourself not to go overboard.

Do you exercise? - If you're not very active you might want to choose a diet that emphasizes exercise.

On the other hand...you might want to choose a diet that doesn't push exercise if you can't or are not willing to put in a lot of exercise.

Do you need support? - If you know that you need someone to help hold you accountable, join an organized weight loss program where you can readily find a partner or a community to support you in your weight loss endeavors.

What's your lifestyle? Make sure that the weight loss program that you ultimately choose is something that fits in well with your life.

You can check out more about diet choices on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Low Carb Diets - How Effective Are They?

Low carbohydrate diets such as Atkins have strong short-term effects. I don't know anybody who couldn't lose a ton of weight with it.

I also don't know anybody who was able to keep the weight off once they reintroduced carbs.

This doesn't work for a bunch of reasons.

1. A lot of the weight that you lose on the low carb diet is water weight. Every gram of carbohydrate that you ingest is generally accompanied by 3-5 grams of water. When you lose the carbs, you lose the water. After you decide to start eating carbohydrates again, not only do you get the water weight back, but your body also rebounds against you and starts retaining all new water that comes in. Sure, after a few days, your body will stop retaining the water, but at this point, your mental state has been wrecked. This does not help you psychologically when trying to maintain weight loss.

2. If you drop your carbohydrate level too low while exercising, you can alter your body's T3 levels. This will lower your metabolic rate, which will cause all sorts of bad effects, including losing weight slower.

3. When you don't eat carbohydrates, your body takes whatever protein you get and converts it into glucose, which is then used for energy. This is usually what the role of carbohydrates are, but since you're depriving yourself, your body needs to adjust accordingly. The result of this is that you don't get to experience the important benefits of protein (maintenance, repair, and growth of body tissues), because it's too busy being converted into energy instead.

4. Your muscles lose their density and flatten out when on a low carb diet. Your muscles feel softer, and your energy level goes down.

5. When this diet was popular in the 1970s, doctors saw that people regained their weight very quickly after getting off the diet. They found that this was because people became very carbohydrate sensitive when coming off the diet. The effect was magnified if these people exercised while on the diet. The body would horde as many carbohydrates as possible when they were eaten again, out of fear that they wouldn't get more later.

People gained a lot of water weight that did come off, but people noticed that it was much easier for them to gain weight in the future, and much harder to lose it.
There are many other effects that come with the low carb diet as well... many of them are devastating.

You can check out more about other diet tips on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Starvation Diets - Do They Work?

Many people find it difficult to understand how starvation doesn't help you lose weight all the time...or how it can even make you gain.

The truth is, though... starvation is simply not effective when it comes to weight loss.

The reason for this is because when you restrict the number of calories that you take in, your body literally goes into a "starvation mode".

Your mind thinks that you're doing the logical thing - burning more calories than you're taking in - and so that you should naturally lose weight.

Your body, however, "outsmarts" your mind. It believes that it is not going to be fed any more calories, so it will do everything it can to hold on to whatever calories/fat/etc. that it can get access to.

That means that even if you don't eat any more food now, your body will cling to everything that it was holding before. Food that is in your body will not be burnt as normal... and your weight loss efforts will actually be stagnated.

This would work well if you were in some sort of famine, but not in a situation in which you're trying to lose weight.

Besides this, starvation mode leads to a direct loss of muscle. When this happens, your metabolism is forced to slow down even more (as if the normal consequences weren't enough). When your metabolism slows down, it becomes even more difficult to lose weight.

In addition to all of this, you will likely feel very tired and find it difficult to concentrate.

You can check out more about preventing starvation on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Calories Needed To Lose Weight

Many people think that not eating a lot is a quick way to lose weight. However, the fact of the matter is that calories are needed to lose weight in the long term. Without eating food, the body will go into starvation mode and weight loss will actually stop instead of move forward.

Although some people realize that starvation is actually a counterproductive way to lose weight, they don't know how many calories that they need to eat to lose weight.

The best way to do this is for an individual to track how many calories they eat on a daily basis. Many people say that 2000 calories are a typical day's worth of calories. In actuality, though, that really depends on the weight and size of each individual. Women usually eat around 2000 and men around 2700. Most people are shocked when they find out how much (or how little, but usually the former) they eat once they actually write everything down.

Common practice is to figure out how many calories one eats per day, and then subtract a certain amount of calories during the "diet period". As a general rule, if one reduces 500 calories per day, at the end of 7 days, they will lose one pound (3500 calories).

While the body does respond to eating the same amount of lower-calories every day for the short-term, it plateaus after a while. A good tactic to fight back is to calorie cycle. By calorie cycling, you might eat 2000 calories one day, 2500 the next, and 1500 the next. This constantly keeps your body "on its toes".

The general rule of calorie cycling is to figure out how many calories that you were going to eat if you were going to go on a traditional diet, multiply it by 7, and divvy the calories out for the week. For example, if one was going to eat 1800 calories a day that would be 12,600 calories for the week. Calorie cycling would be eating, for example, 1600, 1800, 1600, 2000, 2200, 1600, and 1800.

You can check out more about calorie cycling on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Does Fasting To Lose Weight Really Work?

Fasting to lose weight is generally not a good idea. Sure, fasting absolutely works for many things - including cleansing your body of toxins and "refueling" your system - but for weight loss, fasting is not very effective. No doubt about it, fasting will help people lose weight for the short term. It will not, however, allow for permanent fat loss.

The problem undoubtedly comes in when people begin eating again. Because their bodies never know if they are going to receive any more calories (especially if it has hit starvation mode), they desperately cling on to every calorie that they can.

Because of this, one of two things would happen.

The first thing (and the luckier of the two) would be that someone wouldn't be able to lose any more weight once they got off the fast and reintroduced foods. The more common bodily response, though, is to gain weight (even if foods are introduced gradually). Not only would this be damaging short term, but it could also damage the metabolism if fasting happened frequently enough. This is because valuable muscle tissue is lost during the fasting process. Fasting often could make weight loss via normal means even harder in the future.

Other problems that are attributed to fasting are brittle nails, sensitivity to cold, fatigue, diarrhea or constipation, and heart problems. Sudden death could also occur with very low calorie diets. Any type of fast or reduced calorie diet should be medically supervised by a doctor or health professional.

You can check out more about alternatives to fasting on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

So You Want To Lose Weight Quick?

If you want to lose weight quickly, there are a number of steps that you could take.

In order to both lose weight quickly and keep it off, though, the choices get a little slimmer. The thing is - low calorie, low carb, and starvation diets certainly do help people lose weight quickly... but after a few months, the "honeymoon period" is over.

So what does one do?

The best course of action to combat flat lining is shifting calories. With this method, people don't do anything unhealthy (with other diets such as low carb, there are a lot of adverse health effects). In fact, shifting calories is something that has been around for many years and is widely used by bodybuilders. With shifting calories, people simply vary the amount of calories that they eat on a daily basis. Because the body stays "confused", it cannot adjust in the way that it normally would with a typical low calorie or low carbohydrate diet.

Dieters continue to lose weight long after the "honeymoon period" with this style of eating. People have reported losses of up to 11 pounds every 13 days with shifting calories (although that's not necessarily typical). Because of its ability to work quickly and safely, this is the best way to lose weight quick.

Outside of the quick weight loss, shifting calories is very beneficial psychologically. Because there are "high calorie" days in addition to "low calorie", people don't feel as if they're as neglected as they would be on a typical diet.

Because of this, the shifting calories method has much higher retention rates than other diets.

You can check out more about shifting calories on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

A "Lose Weight" Diet Plan - How Hard Is It To Find One?

Diet plans are all over the place for people who have pounds to shed. There are cabbage diets, grape diets, low carbohydrate, low calorie, starvation, and everything in between.

So how does one know the best diet plan for them?

There are a few things that one should consider when looking at diet plans. First, they should look at the long term effects of a diet. Sure, some diets offer rapid weight loss - but long term, how will they impact the dieter? Are there unhealthy side effects? Will weight gain return? Are there psychological impacts? Logically speaking, if someone is going to put in the work and discipline to go on a diet, it would make sense to do something that will give them the greatest return on investment.

Another important thing for a dieter to look at when evaluating diet plans is how easily the diet would fit into their lifestyle. It could be very damaging for someone to be on a restrictive diet and then still having to live everyday life - events at work, going out to eat with family and friends, holidays, and everything in between.

Something else to look for is to make sure if the diet is restrictive food-wise, that you actually like the foods. This might make sense, but there are many people who try out diets (for example, the low carb diet) that simply can't do it long term because of their love for carbs, or dislike for non-carb foods. On the other hand, it might make the most sense for a dieter to restrict something other than foods - such as calories. This way, they can still choose what they want to eat - just eat in moderation.

You can check out more about diet plans on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

How Can I Lose Weight?

Many people find themselves asking, at least at one point throughout their life, "How Can I Lose Weight?" While there are many answers, one very effective one is via calorie cycling.

Calorie cycling, also known as zigzag dieting or the shifting calories method, is where one switches up the amount of calories that they eat on a daily basis. Other methods of dieting, such as low calorie or low carbohydrate, work short term, but eventually the body figures out what's happening and plateaus. While shifting calories, one achieves absolute control over their body.

To calorie cycle, one needs to figure out how many calories that they would eat on a low calorie diet, multiply it by seven, and then spread the calories out throughout the week. For example, if they were planning on eating 1800 calories a day, they would multiply 1800 by 7 (12,600) and then break those calories up throughout the week.

For example, their calorie allotments might go like this:

Monday - 1800

Tuesday - 2000

Wednesday - 1600

Thursday - 2000

Friday - 1700

Saturday - 1900

Sunday - 1500

Not only is this very effective physically speaking, but it's very beneficial psychologically as well. Because people have both high and low days, they don't feel as restricted as with normal diets. They might not like their low calorie days, but they know that high calorie days are coming, so they can look forward to them. With normal low calorie diets, people don't have any "light at the end of the tunnel", and are generally unhappy.

Because of this, calorie cycling has much longer retention and success rates than other diets.

You can check out more about calorie cycling on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

The Zigzag Diet - And Why It's So Beneficial

Zigzag dieting, also known as the shifting calories method or calorie cycling, is one of the most healthy and effective ways to lose weight around. In fact, many types of people utilize this method of eating, including bodybuilders (although this type of dieting works for everyone who wants to lose weight... not just people who want to add bulk).

There are many reasons for this.

The first reason is because nothing is restricted in this way of eating. People don't need to cut out carbohydrates, for example, or eliminate any type of food group. Dieters can eat whatever they want, as long as they stay within their (liberal) calorie allotments.

The second reason that this works so well is because of the psychological effects on dieters. Most people, when on a diet, feel as if they're neglected and restricted.

But not with the zigzag diet. The calories are changed on a daily basis. For example, someone might have to eat 1500 calories one day, and then 2000 the next.

Because of these "cheat days", people are much more apt to stay on the diet since they always have something to look forward to.

A third reason that zigzag dieting works so well is that the constant calorie change is almost "fooling" the body (in a healthy way). With other diets, the body learns to adapt to the new way of eating. For example, with very reduced calorie diets, the body goes into starvation mode. However, with zigzag dieting, the body can never adjust since calories are changed so frequently. Therefore, every single time someone goes from high calorie to low calorie, they lose weight.

Lastly, people's bodies are created to respond well to zigzag dieting. People have been eating this way since early evolution, so our bodies are well adapted to it.

You can check out more about zigzag dieting on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Calorie Cycling And Why It Works

Thanks to the weight loss industry, many people think that weight loss is a complex, overwhelming process.

It's not their fault - companies have spent millions of dollars trying to confuse dieters, so that they helplessly spend their money, hand-over-fist, in order to find the latest and greatest "cure".

But people who are able to get "out of the box" and learn about simple and proven weight loss methods tend to have the huge advantage. This is because once they realize that food and the patterns in which they eat is more powerful than any kind of weight loss pill or surgery... they have complete mastery over their body.
Once these people have a grasp of how to eat, they never again have to worry about gaining weight back or becoming fat ever again.

Because it's very, very easy!

All people have to do in order to lose weight is to shift their calories. That's it!

With typical low-calorie or low-carbohydrate diets, people eventually end up in a plateau. Their bodies adjust to the diet, and weight loss halts.

The weight loss industry doesn't want to acknowledge this, though, because low calorie, low fat, and low carbohydrate products account for millions of dollars in revenue.

But with calorie cycling, people constantly switch up the amount of calories that they eat on a daily basis. They have low days and high days... and because their bodies never know what to expect, they can never adjust accordingly. Because of this, people continue to lose pounds upon pounds of weight.

Although bodybuilders and other body-conscious people have known about calorie cycling for decades, this is not popular to mainstream America because of the lack of money that people can make from it. With calorie cycling, there's no need for people to buy certain kinds of foods or restrict themselves in any kind of way... so there's not a lot of money in it for companies.

You can check out more about calorie cycling on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

The Cookie Diet - Does It Work?

Due to the weight loss crazes that prevail in our country, many people are always looking for the "latest and greatest" way to lose weight. The newest fad is the "Cookie Diet", promoted by Dr. Siegal of Miami. This diet has been promoted on many different television and radio shows, and is exactly what it sounds like: a diet in which one eats cookies all day. While half a million people are on this diet (and have lost weight), it's not advisable for the long term.

Why Is The Cookie Diet A Bad Idea?

First of all... any diet that is "short-term" does not make sense when translated into real life. Sure, eating cookies is great for now... but how many people are going to be able to stomach eating cookies every day for the rest of their life (really think about that before you answer!)? Besides, as of right now, there are only six different flavors. Even people with the biggest sweet tooth are not going to be able to eat six flavors for the rest of their days.

A diet should allow you the flexibility to eat what you want.

Next, people don't get to eat very much on the diet. They eat six cookies throughout the day and a dinner. This is a very restrictive way of life that is bound to greatly interfere with social life, events, and work.

A diet should fit in with your lifestyle.

Third, the diet is not very nutritious. As mentioned, one has to eat six cookies throughout the day and a dinner. Unless someone gets in all of their nutrients via vitamins and one heck of a filling dinner... it will be very hard to stay truly healthy.

A diet should allow you to eat healthily.

Fourth, there's a high cost associated with buying these cookies. They're not just any cookies - they have high fiber content in them as well as specific ingredients.

You should not have to spend extra money to be on a diet.

Lastly, if you happen to be out of cookies - you're out of luck for the day. This is inconvenient. A diet should work around what you want - you shouldn't have to work for the diet!

You can check out more about a diet that does work on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Calorie Cycling - Is It Really A New "Fad"?

Calorie cycling has been around since the beginning of evolution. Because of our body composition, there is always a natural "slow-down" period that happens when someone restricts their caloric intake, and cycling calories simply manipulates that to get the best possible weight loss results.

A main reason of why people hit plateaus in their diets is because the body is designed to save fat storages.

Anytime those fat storages are threatened, the metabolism has to slow down in order to compensate.

The thing is - the reason that our bodies are made this way is to adjust to the patterns of our ancestors. Our ancestors were very active, had to literally chase their food to the ground... they didn't get the luxury of living in heated homes, or sitting around and watching TV.

However, because our bodies don't acknowledge this, the extra food continues to pile up as "fat storage", and we gain extra weight.

With calorie cycling, metabolism is pretty much "shocked" from becoming stagnant (in a healthy way). What this means is instead of eating the same amount of calories every day, and the body adjusting , one would continue to change their calorie allotment on a daily basis.

When this happens, your body doesn't know what to do. All along, it was holding along fat storage deposits assuming that you were eating "X" amount of calories per day. When you switch and eat less than X, or more than X, it doesn't know if it should hold on to the fat stores or not... and you end up losing weight.

Bodybuilders have been using this system for years (but they do it to gain weight - with other versions, you can do it to lose weight).

This is actually very healthy and recommended by most doctors.

You can check out more about calorie cycling on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

The Best Way To Eat - Shifting Calories

With all of the different diet and health information out there, it's easy to become lost in a sea of "This is better, that's better."

But the question still remains - What's the best way to eat when trying to lose weight?

In this author's opinion, the answer is calorie cycling (also known as shifting calories and zigzag diet).

The reason for this is because it's a completely natural and healthy way of losing weight. There are no pills, no patches, no restriction of food groups, and no gaining the weight back as soon as you stop this way of eating. All that one does with shifting calories is vary the amount of calories that they eat on a daily basis. It's simple enough, right?

Because the body can't get used to what it's being fed, it can't adjust accordingly, and it can't plateau. With other diets that have the same amount of food per day (for example, diets that say to stay under 35 grams of carbohydrates or to stay on a 1200 calorie diet), the body anticipates this ahead of time. Weight loss comes to a complete halt.

With calorie shifting, there's no anticipation on the body's end, and pounds continue to be melted off. This diet is also the best way to eat because it's so psychologically inviting. There are "cheat days", so people don't feel miserable and restricted. This is generally one of the biggest reasons why people quit diets in the first place. They have eating patterns that are not conducive to their normal way of life, and the "shock" of the change frustrates them.

You can check out more about calorie cycling on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle

Slimming Diets - Is There A Difference Among Them?

There are so many different slimming diets out there that claim to make people lose weight. At the end of the day, is there really a difference among them?

The answers might surprise you.

There are all sorts of slimming diets, as you know. But there are huge differences in each diet that one should strongly consider.

For example, with some diets, one can only eat certain amounts of food per day. This is something to consider for a few reasons. First, some people might not like restrictive ways of eating. Second, when one eats a certain amount of food per day, the body often adjusts and weight loss stagnates. In choosing a long-term diet, this is something to consider.

Another important thing to look at when choosing a slimming diet is to see what the success rates are of people who get off the diet. With low carbohydrate diets, for example, many people lose lots of weight. The problem is they generally gain it all back, plus some.

The "shock" to your normal way of eating is something else that's important. Is this a slimming diet that you can live with? Is it something that you can maintain for the rest of your life?

Lastly, how do you feel when you're on this diet? Are you happy because you're losing weight and you know it'll stay off? Are you halfhearted because you know you'll gain the weight as soon as you get off of it? Are you miserable because you can't eat your favorite foods?

All of these things are important. At the end of the day, there's a huge difference between slimming diets.

You can check out more about slimming diets on my website at http://tinyurl.com/yayFOODlifestyle