Diet

In order to make the most of your weight loss program, finding the most effective ways to burn fat will maximize your results and minimize your waistline! Follow these 10 tips for fat burning if you want to lose weight and lead a healthier way of life.

1.) Drink More Water

One of the best weight loss secrets is to ditch the sodas and stick to water! Experts say you should drink approximately eight glasses of water a day to stay hydrated and healthy. Instead of turning to calorie-laden or sugar-rich drinks, grab a refreshing glass of water. In addition to flushing toxins out of your system, drinking water encourages you to build muscle.

2.) Eat More Meals

A traditional three-meals-a-day plan just will not cut it if you are in the market to burn fat. Your body is not able to metabolize large meals and will quickly turn any excess into fat. Many experts believe you should eat six small meals a day. Be sure you cut back on your food consumption at each meal, or else you will be doubling your intake—and doubling your fat storage!

3.) Work Out with Weights

One great way to maximize the amount of fat you are burning is to add a weight program to your work-out routine. Weight training will not only tone your physique but will strengthen your body and improve your general health. Lifting weights will also burn calories and fat more quickly than traditional exercising, and it will also boost your metabolism.

4.) Choose Protein

Choose protein-laden foods for boosting your metabolism and enabling your body to burn fat rapidly. In addition to burning fat, consuming a protein-enriched diet will help you rebuild muscle after work-outs and maintain leanness of that muscle. Wisely choose proteins for your diet. Take great care to pick proteins low in fat so you do not consume extra calories.

5.) Cut Calories Wisely

It may be tempting to drastically cut your calorie intake when starting a healthy lifestyle. Instead, use a step method when cutting your calorie intake to minimize risk. Reducing calories too quickly results in your body rapidly burning all available calories, which will lower your metabolism. Furthermore, you are more likely to maintain your healthy lifestyle through this step method.

6.) Reward Yourself

When it comes to successfully dieting to burn the most fat, be sure to reward yourself. Everyone has temptations and favorite treats—so allow indulgence. You will be less likely to cheat on your new diet if you grant yourself small rewards. If you are a chocolate lover, treat yourself to a small square of chocolate or single chocolate kiss each evening.

7.) Avoid Marathon Work-Outs

The biggest mistake people make when looking to burn fat and lose weight is to have one long, extensive work out session. Instead, break up your work-out plan into small chunks throughout the day. Take a brisk walk in the morning, enjoy a work out at lunch, and then exercise more in the evening. In addition to staying active all day long, breaking up your work out will better maintain your metabolism.

8.) Mix It Up

Choosing to engage in a variety of quality exercises will keep your interest and best allow you to maintain your goal of burning fat. Instead of doing the same exercises each day—mix it up! Opt to swim laps one day, jog another, and bike the next. Rotating your activities will not only allow you to experience a variety of athletics, it will also allow you to better tone your body.

9.) Skip Happy Hour

For those individuals who want to burn fat quickly, avoid alcohol. Rich in sugars and carbohydrates, alcohol is a calorie-rich substance. These empty calories can add up quickly and take away from necessary nutrients that should be included in your daily diet. Furthermore, alcohol acts as an inhibitor for burning fat, allowing your body to store it more quickly.

10.) Try a Low GI Diet

A low GI diet is an excellent method of burning fat quickly. This diet encourages individuals to consume high amounts of foods with low rankings on the Glycemic Index. These foods are nutritious and will aid your body in burning fats and calories at a quicker pace. This diet includes many of your favorite fruits, vegetable, meats, dairy, and grain products.

Did you know that not drinking enough water might be why you’re on that dreaded weight loss plateau even though you’re maintaining your diet’ Research suggests that a lot of Americans unknowingly suffer from mild, chronic dehydration, and that might be you they’re talking about! I hope you read this article because it explains and makes sense the importance of water and the surprise impact to dieters.

Water is an essential ingredient for your weight loss. Water is required for a whole range of the body’s biochemical processes, so lets look at what water does specially for dieters:

Your body needs to metabolize stored fat into energy – so much so, that your body’s metabolism can be slowed by even mild levels of dehydration. And the slower your metabolism, the slower your weight loss (and you become tired), until eventually your weight loss just grinds to a halt! You now have just hit the dreaded diet plateau.

Water is a natural appetite suppressant. What good news! In the hypothalamus, a region in your brain that controls appetites and cravings, the control centers for hunger and thirst are situated next to each other, and there tends to be some overlap. This has both advantages and disadvantages for the dieter. On the flip side, it means that chronic mild dehydration can confuse these mechanisms, leading to feelings of hunger, rather than thirst. But on a positive note, it means you can use water to reduce your appetite. For example, in one University of Washington study, drinking a glass of water reduced nighttime hunger cravings for most of the dieters studied. I have also found this to be true.

Water is an essential to the processes that enables your muscles to contract. So water helps maintain muscle tone. Better muscle tone means a better looking body, and isn’t that what dieting and weight loss is about?

There’s help for that sagging skin. Water also helps to prevent the sagging skin that often follows weight loss – water plumps the skin cells, giving the skin a younger and healthier look.

Water helps rid the body of waste. During weight loss, the body has a lots of waste to get rid of because of all that fat. So enough water is essential to your health while dieting.

Water also helps with constipation. When the body gets too little water, it siphons what it needs from within, particularly from the colon. This leads to constipation. But normal bowel function almost always returns with adequate water intake.

Generally speaking, mild dehydration can cause a number of health problems, in addition to your diet plateau. The symptoms of mild dehydration can include:

– Headaches; that light headed feeling as dehydration interferes with normal body processes, including waste disposal.
– Fatigue, as the body’s metabolism is slowed – mild dehydration is usually the most common cause of daytime fatigue.
– Hunger; cravings due to weakening of the thirst mechanism
– Fluid retention as your body tries to hold on to the water it already has
– Constipation, as the body works to conserve its internal water sources

Not a pretty picture but once you get your water in balance, you reach the “breakthrough point”, a concept pioneered by Dr. Peter Lindner, a California obesity expert. He says, “Once you’ve reached the breakthrough point, fluid retention eases, the liver and endocrine system start to function more effectively, you will start to regain your natural thirst and your hunger cravings will be significantly reduced. And so the end result of reaching and sustaining the breakthrough point in your water balance is that your body is able to metabolize fat more effectively.”

How much water should you drink daily to be healthy? First, a couple of basic principles:

1) The simplest way to tell if you are drinking enough water is check the color of your urine: It should be clear or a very pale yellow in color. (but note that some supplements and medications may also affect your urine color).

2) Get in to the habit of drinking regular and adequate amounts of water. Never wait to drink until you’re thirsty, because if you’re feeling thirsty, dehydration has already set in!

Having said that, an adequate water intake for a sedentary but normal-weight adult during cool weather, is generally recognized as 8 x 8 oz glasses. You will need more water in hot weather, when you lose more water through sweat. You also need to drink more water when you exercise. Athletes attempt to enhance their performance by maintaining an optimal fluid balance while exercising, estimated to require 6 to 12 oz of fluid at 15 to 20 minute intervals. Even if you’re not concerned about your athletic performance, you should consume a similar amount of water when exercising, in order to maintain adequate hydration.

Here’s another important thing to remember; if you’re overweight, you’ll need an extra glass of water for each 25 pounds overweight, because the extra weight creates extra metabolic demand.

How can you drink so much water’ Weight loss experts secrets say drink 3 glasses of water with every meal. That’s 3 glasses with breakfast, 3 with lunch, and 3 with dinner. Plus, of course, additional regular water between meals when you’re exercising or when its hot. That sure makes it doable, doesn’t it?

So if you’re dieting, stalled on a weight loss plateau, or suffering some of the classic symptoms of dehydration, do, above everything else, be sure that you have an adequate water intake. It could be the missing ingredient in your diet regime and as easy to fix as drinking 3 glasses of water with each meal.

Remember that water is a natural appetitie suppressant. Use it to your advantage. If you’re out shopping, take a bottle of water with you. If you feel like a late night snack, either go to bed or drink a glass of water. If you want a change, add a little bit of lemon juice into a glass of water. I find, instantly, my desire to eat is gone. Give it a try.

There is an increasing focus on weight loss in North America in the modern age, and the focus goes beyond mere looks. More and more studies are proving that being overweight not only looks unpleasant, but can also lead to some serious health issues, including high blood pressure, heart disease, and other factors which can lead to an early death.

Many obese people, however, face a serious problem when they begin to consider weight loss; they have become so overweight that their bodies simply cannot handle diets, nor can they summon the ability to partake in regular exercise. In most cases, the weight problem has become so critical that they do not really even have the time it takes to bring their weight down to a healthy level as they are in immediate danger of serious health consequences.

Lately, many people in this situation have begun to turn to the option of gastric bypass surgery. Over 150,000 gastric bypass procedures- wherein calorie intake is reduced by causing food to bypass parts of the stomach and the small intestine- were performed in 2005, many on the recommendation by a doctor for people who were considered morbidly obese.

One of the benefits of this procedure is that it is 100% effective when successful. Patients frequently state that they do not get hungry as often as they did before the surgery, nor does the hunger last as long. Patients also claim that they do not suffer the same cravings for unhealthy food that they did before the surgery. These effects are due to two factors. The first is the decreased size of the stomach- patients simply cannot hold food in the same capacity as they did previously. In addition, the smaller size means that the stomach is empty less than before the surgery and therefore does not signal the brain that food is needed.

The second reason for the decrease in appetite and cravings is the change in the hormonal balance that occurs after the surgery.

Gastric bypass is certainly beneficial in both time passed in regards to pounds lost and in the ease of the weight loss itself. However, there are also several risks involved when a patient elects to undergo the surgery.

Almost ten percent of patients who undergo the surgery report symptoms that could prove fatal some of the time. The surgery has been highly invasive in the past, with a large incision required form the upper chest to the navel. Any procedure involves risk, and the greater the cut the greater the risk. In addition, this large incision meant that a patient’s recovery time was greater, and also more painful.

Many of the risks of gastric bypass surgery are being eliminated with advancing research and procedures, such as the new laparoscopic bypass. Electing for this surgery will also entail a period of “dumping” time, in which a patient can expect to have recurring nausea, diarrhea, and an intolerance to sweets that may last for the rest of their lives.

The greatest risk in undergoing the gastric bypass surgery is the same as any surgery, especially those that are gaining popular attention; the risk of undereducated operators. Some studies have shown that the risk of death after gastric bypass is much higher in patients who go to surgeons with less experience in and knowledge of the procedure. The popularity of the procedure means that there are more doctors trying to make a quick dollar off of a limited knowledge, so any patient considering the surgery needs to be aware of their surgeon’s credentials and background.

Many people today are turning to a plant-based diet as an alternative to diets too rich in saturated meat products, junk food, and highly processed foods. In some cases, it involves spending more time in the produce section of your local grocery store, looking for fruits and vegetables that are grown organically and spending extra money on them.

You can follow a great plant-based diet in an even better way while growing your fruits and vegetables in your own home garden. If you live in an apartment, you can start a container garden in front of a sunny window. If you have a plot of land to turn into a garden you can go big with a garden filled with healthy fruits and vegetables. You can grow almost anything in a small garden so you have the spring, summer and fall to eat off your own land.

Vegetables Easily Grown At Home

Tomatoes lend themselves well to container gardening and can grow like wild in the good earth of your back yard. They grow and ripen all season long so you can pick what you need for sandwiches, salads, snacks, fresh sauces and even for juicing.
You can grow your own peas or beans in a container or in your backyard garden. They are rich in phytonutrients that have their maximum potency if you simply pick what you need and eat them as soon as possible; you have the greatest amount of healthy phytonutrients and antioxidants in the food shortly after picking them.

Peppers, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, and greens like Kale are great options for a home garden and allow you to reach for healthy and super fresh produce all summer long and into the fall.

Your Home Garden

If you decide to have a back yard home garden, you need to decide if you want to grow organic foods or not. Organic gardening is the best possible choice because the food is grown without pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. This means no harmful chemicals exist with the food you pick and you can even eat them straight out of the garden without having to wash them extensively.

Grow a wide variety of foods that become ripe at different times of the season:

Radishes, for example, take only a few weeks to become edible and, after pulling them up, you have room to grow a row of something else. Most people grow tomatoes and some people grow carrots, lettuce, and potatoes.

Both potatoes and squash need the entire summer to become available for eating so all you need to do is to keep them weed-free and watch them grow. In the early autumn or late summer, you can dig up the potatoes and harvest the squash. These types of produce can be kept at room temperature or in a cool place for many months so you have instant winter eating from vegetables you grew in the summer.

Lettuce and other greens can be grown and harvested all summer long for the best in salads that are high in phytonutrients and antioxidants. All you need to do is harvest some of the leaves, wash them, and enjoy them in a healthy salad with tomatoes, carrots, or radishes you grew yourself. This is the core of a plant-based diet that will give you benefits far beyond a meat-based diet.

Meat-based diets are low in antioxidants and high in saturated fats. You can get the nutrition you need from vegetables and fruits you grow yourself with a known reduction in fatty deposits in your arteries and a lesser chance for heart disease and stroke. There is a reduced risk of certain cancers with a low-fat, plant-based diet.

Get Even Better Results With Composing

If you want an especially fruitful garden, consider starting a compost pile or box. All you need to do is put in vegetation and clippings from around your yard, add food scraps and paper, mixing everything with a little bit of soil. Worms thrive in the moist environment of a good compost heap so that you will soon have these things turned into rich soil that will make your organic garden thrive.

Get Started Today

There are millions of guides online for organic vegetable gardening, and many books on the topic. In reality, the best teacher is experience, so learn the initial steps, get the supplies and just do it! Remember to get the kids involved in the garden as well; it is a great learning experience, and a great opportunity to spend quality time together.

When you think of ‘healthy’ food, what do you think of?

For many of us, this doesn’t exactly bring to mind a gourmet meal. Instead, you might think of healthy foods as being those typical ‘low fat’ sandwiches or crisps that have had all the moisture sucked out of them. Maybe you think of bread that is about as thin (and tasty) as a piece of cardboard!

Whatever the case though, healthy food doesn’t actually have to be this way. In fact healthy food should be all the stuff that you really want to eat. After all, this food is meant to be really good for you; so it makes sense that it would be tasty and satisfying!

Where Diet Food Goes Wrong

Diet food unfortunately is completely unhelpful for the most part. This is food that has had the fat removed from it, based on the incorrect belief that fat causes heart problems. We now know that fat is actually good for us and even slows down the absorption of sugar as well!

What’s more, is that it’s fat that makes us feel fuller! And while it contains more calories, this simply means we need to eat less of it – and less of everything else as well.

What Healthy Food Really Looks Like

The first clue that healthy food should actually be tasty and even indulgent comes from the Mediterranean Diet. This is an entire continent of people who are in fantastic health despite eating a diet that would technically be considered unhealthy by many ‘experts’.

People on the Mediterranean Diet live longer and have great heart health – thanks to the saturated fat content and things like resveratrol found in red wine.

At the same time though, the Mediterranean Diet includes a ton of different fruits and vegetables all arranged beautifully on the plate and displaying a ton of vivid colors. Greek salad contains tomatoes, feta, cucumber and pepper and is packed with goodness!

Meanwhile, the inclusion of oil on top actually ensures that all those nutrients are absorbed better.
When you eat like this, you actually enjoy your food and you feel full and satiated. Thus you don’t get cravings or feel the need to snack and you also get to enjoy eating – the way you should!

It’s not just the Mediterranean Diet that offers these benefits of course. The take home message here is rather a very simple one: eat a varied diet and make sure you enjoy it!

What is a raw food diet?

You have probably heard about the Raw Food Diet. There are a lot of different variations on the Raw Food Diet depending upon the person advocating it.

The basic and common feature of most raw food diets is that they all advocate eating food in their natural state – that is, uncooked, unprocessed, organic and unexposed to herbicides and pesticides.

What does a raw food diet include?

All raw food diets include a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.
Some include unprocessed nuts and uncooked grains.
Some raw food diets are a variation on veganism which shuns all animal-based food.
Other raw food diets include eggs, milk, cheese and raw fish (sushi and sashimi).
Then there is just the simple action of eating lots of raw fruits and vegetables to retain all their nutrients. One example of this is the juicing lifestyle, where fresh homemade juices are made from both vegetables and fruits are the mainstay of one’s daily intake.

Reasons To Fill Your Diet With Raw Food

Weight Loss

The main purpose of most people who shift to a raw food diet is for weight loss. It is true – eating raw food will facilitate weight loss because eating raw food will mean that you won’t consume as much fat and calories as with a regular diet.

Disease Prevention

Another main purpose of most people who shift to a raw food diet is to fight what is referred to as lifestyle diseases. Lifestyle diseases include hypertension, coronary artery disease and diabetes. These lifestyle diseases are often caused by eating food that is too high on fat, sugar and cholesterol.

Chemical Free Eating

Some who go on a raw food diet do so because they want to avoid the accumulation of harmful chemicals in their bodies from food that is exposed to pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and hormones.

Fruits and vegetables grown in commercial farms are usually treated with pesticides and herbicides to keep insects from feasting on the fruits and vegetables.

Livestock, pork and chicken grown commercially are treated with hormones and antibiotics to prevent disease and ensure optimal growth. Seedless fruit are sprayed with hormones as well.

Anti-Aging And Increasing Immunity

Still some people who opt for a raw food diet emphasize a healthy lifestyle that will keep them looking young.
They believe that fresh, unprocessed fruits, vegetables and grains boost the immune system which keeps infectious diseases at bay and it improves the body’s circulation and systemic functioning which gives them clear skin and radiant hair.

Is It Easy To Maintain A Diet Of Raw Food?

As with all diets, you must consult your doctor to see if you may shift to a raw food diet. And if you do shift to a raw food diet, perhaps it is best to do it gradually.

Start with juicing an assortment of fruits and vegetables to replace colas and desserts. Replace your regular cooked meals gradually with a wide assortment of salads and grains and nuts.

The most difficult thing about going on a raw food diet is sourcing raw, unprocessed and chemical-free food.
If you like going out to eat, you will find it difficult to find restaurants that serve only raw food.

The next difficult thing is in preparing the food—it is time consuming. It is easy enough to simply peel a banana or eat an apple for a snack but if you have to subsist on fruits and veggies, you will have to carry fresh fruits and vegetables with you throughout the day.

Another problem most people encounter with the raw food diet is that food grown organically is more expensive.
Also there is a real danger of malnutrition as there are nutrients and minerals which you cannot get from uncooked fruits, vegetables and whole grains. You will have to take a vitamin or food supplement for this.

You will have to eat fruits and vegetables that are unfamiliar to you. The texture of uncooked food may be difficult to get used to at first.

For those who advocate eating raw fish, eggs, milk and milk products, you might need to conquer your gag reflex first. There is also a real danger of food poisoning from food that is unpasteurized such as milk and milk products, so one needs to take care, though these days it is not as problematic since the there are many quality controls in place.

Final Thoughts

Shifting to a raw food diet requires a lifestyle change as well as a change in mindset. It will not work for everyone and some people can follow a raw food diet but not strictly. Ask your physician first.

There are so many benefits to eating raw food and one thing to keep in mind is that it need not be exclusive of other food, you can simply add more fresh, and raw fruits and vegetables to your diet on a daily basis and cut out processed foods. That alone is a huge step to improving your health, preventing disease and curtailing the effects of aging.

You have the plan of shedding the excess fat? Are you tired of having excess weight? Well, deciding to lose weight is a fundamental decision. It is because having excess weight is associated with many side effects.

Well, staving off such effects is done in many ways.

However, today, the center of discussion is how coconut oil helps an individual who is on the verge of shedding off some weight. In a nutshell, losing weight is one of the coconut oil benefits.

One key to not only successful but also lasting weight loss is to make sure there is steady blood sugar so that extreme ups and downs are evaded and do not result in you falling off the wagon.

How can you steady the blood sugar for a long period of time as well as between meals? Of course with satisfying and healthy fats. As a matter of fact, coconut oil is the best fat to settle on as far as weight loss is concerned.

It is because of the plethora of MCTs that promote metabolism for almost immediate energy.

Additionally, the MCTs in coconut oil never end up as stored body fats like long chain fatty acids.

Nations that take large amounts of coconut as well as coconut oil in their diets for instance Phillipines, Pacific Islands and India have fewer cases of weight related diseases. Such nations have fewer cases of diseases of obesity and heart diseases. It therefore, disapproves any agenda smear campaign that is against such marvelous healthy oil.

What are the best coconut oils for weight loss? That might be the most disturbing question one may be asking. However, it is important to note that not each and every coconut oil is created equally for weight loss functions.

Using organic virgin oil therapeutically for weight loss is an awesome idea. It is because the delicate micronutrients in the coconut oil will be preserved. At that, no chemicals will have been utilized in processing.

Besides, provided that the oil can reduce appetite and accelerate fat burning, it natural to say that it can as well help in weight loss. The oil tends to be effective in shedding off abdominal fat that aligns itself around organs and in abdominal cavity. The said fat is quite dangerous and is associated with various Western diseases. To be on the safe side, try to utilize such a coconut oil benefit.

Americans today are out of shape. The excess weight pooled around your hips and thighs is the product of poor nutrition and no exercise. In fact, the decreased exercise levels of the busy professionals of today have caused many people to become obese, or at the very least have sluggish metabolisms. A slow metabolism leads to more and larger fat cells in the body, less muscle tone, and various other pains and health issues, ranging from annoying to potentially severe. However, even if you are trapped in this cycle of health decline, don’t panic; you can turn everything around with diet and exercise. The first step to good health is to get your metabolism to speed up through increased activity. Pilates is a great method of activity to start increasing your metabolism. Pilates, however, can do nothing to alleviate your midnight cravings for ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. Pilates can, however, kick start your metabolism, making it easier to burn off those cookies and ice cream.

Around 70 years ago, a man named Joseph Pilates developed an exercise program, known today as Pilates. Joseph Pilates, a nurse, originally developed the system as a method to help his patients during the rehabilitation phase of their recovery from illness or injury. This method uses the mind to control the muscles. Pilates provides support for the spine, focusing on the muscle responsible for the participant’s posture. Improving a person’s posture is one of the main goals of Pilates. Joseph Pilates designed his now-famous program as a way of using repetitious exercises of breathing and spinal alignment, through which a person can learn again how to move correctly and how the body can learn to cooperate and coordinate the body’s movements with one’s mind. Pilates has a holistic approach to exercise, with body and mind working as one.

So, if the idea of learning how to use your minds abilities to control your body, while reconstructing your posture and improving your physical fitness level appeals to you, then Pilates is a great way you could achieve your goals. Instead of just worrying about that piece of cheesecake you just ate, you could be more proactive by learning how to control your posture and muscles. One may argue that weight is largely determined by genes. But, although the body’s ability to move is to a certain extent determined by genes, Pilates can be used to increase a person’s ability, no matter the predisposition.

In addition, recent studies have shown that poor eating habits and low activity have gotten the population to where it is today. Although the obesity level in all ages in this country has increased to new proportions, the need to find a way to get the problem under control has increased proportionately. In this nation of plenty, there is a fine line between eating well and over indulgence and obviously, the general population has a problem sensing that line, as evidenced by our ever-increasing waistlines. By committing to an exercise program, like Pilates, you can soon start seeing results, leading to the happy feeling that accompanies a healthy habit. Joining the local Pilates team center, you can even enjoy an occasional ice cream cone or cookie without having to worry that you will gain weight or that you can join in on physical challenges like mountain biking because your muscles are in better condition.

Pilates has been popular for years and Pilates enthusiasts swear that it benefits one by helping to realign the spine, increase flexibility, build muscles, and promote a sense of general well-being. In point of fact, any regular exercise program can jump start the metabolism in a sluggish individual, causing weight loss. Performing simple sets of Pilates exercises can help the participant to get ready to live a more active and healthier life.

Winsor Pilates has become very popular in today’s fickle market always looking for the best in weight loss programs. So far, it has received good reviews both from users and professional analysts. But, for someone, recently introduced to this form of the ever famous exercise regimen, one cannot ask, what is it? How can it help me?

Many analysts say that Winsor Pilates is best for weight loss, fat burning, mental conditioning, and like original Pilates, it offers better health through exercise. Winsor Pilates comes on a DVD, and claims, when used 3 days a week, it can produce results in as short a time as four or five weeks. This seems a somewhat ambitious claim but according to most regular users, Winsor Pilates, does work; with extra benefits to boot.

Winsor Pilates is a low-intensity exercise that burns a lot of calories. Because it is low intensity, it can be done by almost anyone in almost any state of health (although as usual, one should check with a doctor before getting started – just in case!)
Joseph Pilates, who devised the Pilates method, focused on breathing and stretching with slow paced movements. Winsor Pilates is a derivation of the Pilates designed by Mari Winsor. It aims to train the “core” or the muscles in the abdomen, back and buttocks. The Winsor method claims that by strengthening one’s core, one can get, as well as physical fitness, mental clarity which allows the mind to work efficiently with the body.

Mari Winsor, the inventor of Winsor Pilates is 54 years old and still has the physique of a 20-year-old; she claims this is due to the Winsor Pilates System – her body is lean and flexible, something that can not be said for a lot of people her age.

Mari Winsor made Winsor Pilates for the use of the masses. It makes use of the Pilates method, adapted into a low-intensity exercise which as noted earlier can be done by most people, even in the frailest of health. This makes it accessible as well as useful for anyone, even people of poor health, giving the opportunity to improve health without the stricter requirements of other exercise methods.

Some fans of the Winsor method even say it can be used for rehabilitation, although this might be true, it is hardly easy for a person with broken bones to work out only in front of a DVD. If someone wants to use Winsor as part of a rehabilitation program it should be under the supervision of a certified Pilates instructor. This is because, for rehabilitation, Pilates has to be precisely observed, no number of DVD’s can replace an instructor, an instructor assures that one executes the moves correctly and that one is not causing damaging or hurt, in addition, instructors are a good source of answers for most of the questions you’ll have about Pilates. Please though, consult your doctor either, before using Pilates for rehabilitation.

For pregnant women however, Mari Winsor did not modify the Pilates method to accommodate pregnant women, so care must be taken. During the third trimester, Pilates done lying down should be avoided; this could damage the blood flow to the baby.

All in all, aside from pregnant women and extremely ill people, Winsor Pilates is for everyone. It provides an exercise regime that is gentle on the joints muscles and bones. After the increased focus on abdominal muscles and all-in-one gyms, Winsor is a definitely good addition to harder systems that are abandoned because they are too difficult or take too long to make improvements.

If you are carrying around a few (I use that term loosely) extra pounds like most of us are, you all know all the reasons why we should take the weight off. It will reduce stress on our heart, reducing the chance of heart disease, cancer, possibility of diabetes; feel better, look more attractive, etc.

There are 101 reasons why, but it can be a real pain to finally get that weight off. You push really hard, make a little progress, get side tracked, and bam you are heavier then you started.

It’s maddening. Enough with that hassle, I have put together 5 simple steps to actually losing weight and keeping it off. These steps can be applied to anything, but we are focusing on weight loss here.

1. Know What You Want
2. Know Where You Are
3. Track Your Results
4. Make Course Corrections
5. Being held Accountable

Now all your extra weight will effortlessly melt off. Yeah right! A simple list of 5 items is not going to do it, so let me explain the intricacies of the 5 items and where the hang up normally occurs when applied to losing weight.

1. Know What You Want

This one is dead simple. Most people that want to lose weight have an idea of how many pounds they would like to lose or how they would like their body to look.

I think we can safely say if your body started looking the way you wanted it, you would know, even if you didn’t have it completely mapped out and detailed.

2. Know Where You Are

This is the big trip up. It is almost always overlooked and is the number one reason for the up and down Yo-Yo effect we experience with losing weight. We are unhappy with how our body feels and how it looks and it is painful to zoom in and get an accurate picture of where we are. Unfortunately, we have to know where we are, to be able to accurately judge the results we are getting.

You are on a trip to San Diego, California. You would like to start your trip from Phoenix, Arizona, but you really don’t know where you are. No problem. You get an Arizona/California map and find that a simple 6 hours trip west on interstate 8 will get you to San Diego.

6 hours later, you have no clue where you are and it is definitely not warm San Diego. You feel defeated and you want to give up! Do you blame the car? The stupid maps? San Diego? Yourself?

Now what if I told you, you were actually in New Your City, not Phoenix, Arizona. A 6-hour car ride west from New York City will never get you to San Diego.

If you took the time to accurately find out where you were, you would have been able to choose the appropriate means to get to San Diego and have an expectation as to how long it would take.

This is the same with weight loss and our personal physical condition. In our minds, we think we are starting in a different physical condition then we really are. When the results don’t follow the illusion in your mind, we get upset.

3. Track Your Results

This is conceptually simple. If we have no clue as to WHAT we are doing, how do we know what is working? It might be a simple to-do, but is also simple not to do. In the end, most people never track their results.

4. Make Course Corrections

We love to do this one. We have it hands down. It is like step 1 of knowing what you want. We try the new food diet, the super sit-up machine, and the cardio hip-hop power energy yoga fat burner class.

We might be great at switching it up, but without knowing where we are starting from and a history of tracked results, we have no clue as to what we should change or even which direction we should go.

5. Being held Accountable

No, not accountability! That is an evil word. I don’t want someone to know what I am doing, or more importantly what I am not doing.

So, why do we resist accountability, your secret weapon to weight loss? Because it works! If you know someone is going to be watching, you would follow through or at least feel very uncomfortable not following through.

Accountability when used wisely, is the ultimate turbo booster to your weight loss. Since you are going to be accountable anyway, you might as well get something out of it.

Using accountability up front, you can achieve the body of your dreams. If you let your body hold you accountable, it will throw on fat in places you don’t want it to be.

The biggest obstacle to weight loss is not taking any action. It doesn’t matter how good the plan is, it is worthless if you don’t follow it. So what do I do now?

First and foremost get Accountable.

Forward this article to someone you respect and care about and tell them I want to be accountable to finally taking off my extra pounds. When they agree to support you, start working through Steps 1 – 5.