When we go on a diet, we often do the mistake of taking these things as short term. But shedding weight and getting your desired figure is not some short term project. You have to introduce changes in your lifestyle. Otherwise you will gain everything back in a short span of time. To make weight loss permanent, take few things into account:

• Increase Time span of your cardio exercises: Increase the time by  at least fifteen minutes and try to make it a five days a week routine. It will burn your calories and keep your heart healthy. Once you get it into your routine, you won’t find it difficult to stick to the routine.
• Eat Five Times A Day: If you take meals five times a day and into smaller quantities, it will keep your metabolic rate high and you will burn fat faster. Smaller meals over a day will keep the hunger away from you. In the meanwhile plan your five smaller meals intelligently. Try to avoid fried and fatty food. Drink good old plain water instead of soda drinks.  
• Pay Attention to Your Fiber Intake: You have to eat green leafy vegetables, broccoli,cabbage and other wholegrain to make your diet sufficiently filled with fiber. If you diet has sufficient quantity of fiber, you will feel satisfied and filled and tend to eat less.
• Build Muscles: Muscles are metabolically more active compared to fat. So pay attention to build some muscles in your body. Try to have a healthy ratio of fat and muscles according to your body weight. Add some weight training to your exercise. You don’t have to lift weight like a champion. Take load according to your age and stamina.
• Reduce Your Intake of Processed Food: Reduce refined food from your diet. They contained lots of fat, salt and sugar. No don’t carry much nutritive value. Reducing processed food, refined sugar and flour from your diet help you in reducing calorie intake.

You keep on smoking so that you can control your body weight? Or do you want to quite smoking but fear that you will gain weight considerably? Rest assured. Your fears of weight gain may not come true. All you have to do is start thinking positively and acquire a positive body image. A positive body image and weight loss have stronger affinity.  Most college going young girls fear giving up smoking because it will result in weight gain. But a new research shows that a more effective approach in keeping body weight in check is to dialog with and support these young women, and to make them get a positive body image.
Melissa Napolitano who is a Clinical Psychologist at Temple University Center for Obesity Research and Education explains, “A lot of college – age women report smoking to keep their weight down and for body image reasons, and we think that by providing them with the tools to make them feel better about themselves, it alleviates some of those stressors.”

They have conducted a two phased study. In the first phase researchers asked the focus group about the reasons of smoking. The answers were obvious like stress, peer pressure and weight management. The girls also seconded the observation that being part of a group-based social support network would be very helpful for them, in their bid to quit the habit.

The second phase of the study was known as Fit to Quit. Twenty four girls were randomly assigned either to an exercise program or body image group counseling session. The girls were also provided with nicotine patches so that they don’t suffer too much of a withdrawal symptoms.

After eight weeks the girls were called for assessment. The researchers have found that those in the body image group counseling were more than twice as likely as the others to have permanently renounced smoking. They exhibited an 18 percent success rate, whereas the others in the supervised group-exercise program only showed an eight percent quitting rate. Napolitano revealed, “Alot of times, we  would try to call participants to remind them of different sessions, and they would respond back via text or e-mail, so we took that message and used avenues like text messaging and the Internet not just as a means of getting information out, but for support as well.”  She is quite hopeful and elaborates further, “Our hope is to make programs like Fit to Quit sustainable on other college campuses, because we know that if we can give young people the tools they need to make better health decisions, it helps them not only improve their health but it also helps them do better academically.”

There is no dearth to the methods of losing weight, especially with advancements like bariatric surgery, liposuction, diet pills and many more. Physicians, dietitians, doctors and other health professionals usually recommend adjusting our eating patterns and increasing physical activity to lose weight. In other instances, professional recommend drugs & supplements, pills, surgeries, therapies etc. to lose weight. There are treatments such as blocking fat absorption or reducing the stomach size in order to ensure less food consumption. These treatments however can have serious side effects and may not be a long-term solution either.

Therefore, using some of the best and popular home remedies can offer a permanent solution and definitely ensure there are no side effects of using such remedies. Some of the most recommended and popular home remedies for weight loss are:

• APPLE CIDER VINEGAR
• COCONUT OIL
• EXERCISE & DIET
• MASTER CLEANSES

Apple Cider Vinegar: This is considered the one of the most important natural remedies in healing the body, provided you are able to get of the taste of apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar helps in detoxification of the liver that plays a vital role in weight loss. Historical facts testify that Egyptians tool apple cider vinegar for weight loss. Different schools of thoughts have revealed different benefits of apple cider vinegar: some believe that it helps in speeding up the metabolism and some believe that it burns the calories to reduce appetite. Whatever the benefit, it serves a great deal as far as weight loss is concerned. 

Coconut Oil: People these days are adding coconut oil to their diets and enjoying incredible results, and leading a healthier and energetic life. Usage of coconut oil is gaining immense popularity for various reasons.  Studies have confirmed that coconut oil helps in weight reduction, increases metabolism, and helps fight diseases as well.

Exercise & Diet: This does not require any special description, as it is quite self-explanatory. However, the choice of food in the diet has to be carefully chosen in order to suit your weight loss goals. As far exercises, walking, jogging and other form of physical activity is recommended for any kind of weight loss endeavor. However, if you need to have specific parts of your body to lose weight, there are specialized workouts and exercises available.

Master Cleanses: Stanley Burroughs created Master cleanses also known as ‘Lemon cleanses and Maple syrup diet’, in 1941. According to him, this is a detoxification program that aids in the removal of harmful toxins within the body as well as a reducing diet for weight loss. The cleanse involves drinking only lemonade made from fresh lemon or lime juice, Grade B maple syrup, water and Cayenne pepper. No solid food is eaten for the entire cleanse. Since there is no intake of solid food, special precautions are taken to avoid constipation. Senna tea is taken every night, and in the morning warm saline is required. This passes through the digestive system extremely quickly, usually causing defecation in 30-60 minutes. However, it is recommended that you understanding the procedure completely before going in for master cleanse.

It is important to understand that fat cells once formed in the body stays forever and can never be gotten rid off. It can however reduce in size with diet control and medical treatments but cannot be taken out of the body altogether. Thus to keep a healthy weight, it is paramount to follow a healthy eating habit and keep your body adequately exercised.

Simply put, two components are vital for maintaining healthy weight and those are eating less caloric food and giving the body adequate exercise and activity. Here are some of the tips to developing a structured approach towards weight loss:

Following a customized diet – While trying to lose weight, it is never a good practice to lose so much in too short a span. Usually people start observing strict fast or go on liquids alone and at the end the day feel fatigued and not feel happy for the weight thus lost. Losing beyond 1 to 2 pounds a week is unhealthy. By consuming 500 to 1000 calories less on a daily basis, one can easily reduce about 1 – 2 pounds in a week. When done over a period of time, this weight reduction can help you fight obesity in a healthy way. Reducing caloric food however requires choosing your diet appropriately. Though you have the choice of choosing less caloric and less carbohydrate diet, you need to at the same time ensure that you include healthy fats like monosaturated and polyunsaturated fats to keep yourself healthy.

Keeping your body exercised – Healthy weight demands reasonable physical activity. Exercises should be a part of everyone’s daily routine and people desirous of losing weight should perform moderate intensity exercise for at least an hour every day. Adding some more physical activities like deliberately choosing stairs over lift or getting up often from the desk or sofa to carry out tasks can be highly useful.

Gaining knowledge on diet pills – Many diet pills are sold over the counter and can have greater medical implications if consumed without doctor’s advice. Xenical is a diet pill that contains Orlistat, which has the potential to decrease the dietary fat by 30%. Other prescribed diet pills include amphetamine derivatives and sibutramine (Meridia). These are safe to use in consultation with your doctor. However the effect of such medicines usually stops with discontinuance. Long-term result of these medicines is not fully established so far. Over-the-counter medicines also include pills that contain phenylpropanolamine and such pills should not be consumed. Pills with this ingredient are known for enhancing the risk of blood pressure and stroke. Such pills can precipitate nervousness, high palpitation, and jittery feelings.

Getting surgical treatment for obesity – Depending on the severity of obesity, surgery might be the ultimate remedy. In such situations, the doctors perform a surgical procedure where the intake of food is made to a limited quantity. This is done by gastroplasty also known as stomach stapling, where a large incision is made to create a small pouch in the stomach to allow restricted amount of food for digestion. The same surgery is also done through laparoscopy where making a large incision is avoided and this procedure is popularly called as stomach banding.

Having an idea on the issues related to obesity and by following a systematic plan, obesity can largely be fought against.

A recent study (funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health) conducted in the recent years has drawn the attention of physicians, dieticians, and individuals to focus on calorie reduction rather than choosing a specific diet to lose weight. Regardless of the kind of diet you choose (carbohydrate, protein, or low fat), you can lose weight if you manage to reduce your calorie intake somehow.

To testify that reducing calorie is the key to losing weight whichever way you achieve it, researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Pennington Biomedical Research Center of the Louisiana State University System conducted a randomized clinical trial. Here overweight participants were assigned four different diets for a two-year period and their performance was monitored at the end, where the results revealed that regardless of the choice of the diet, all the four groups could achieve weight loss through calorie reduction. This study appears in the February 26, 2009 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

Frank Sacks, lead author of this study and a professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at HSPH, said “This is important information for physicians, dieticians and adults, who should focus weight loss approaches on reducing calorie intake.”

The clinical trial involved 811 men and women who were randomly divided into different diet groups with different nutritional components:

• Low-fat, average protein: 20% of calories from fat, 15% of calories from protein, 65% of calories from carbohydrate
• Low-fat, high-protein: 20% fat, 25% protein, 55% carbohydrate
• High-fat, average protein: 40% fat, 15% protein, 45% carbohydrate
• High-fat, high-protein: 40% fat, 25% protein, 35% carbohydrate

These participants differed largely in terms of age, background, income, and geography. The diets administered to all these participants were carefully chosen to ensure heart-friendly principles; use of unsaturated fat instead of saturated fat; and included whole cereal grains, fruits, and vegetables. Every participant was given an individual prescription that encouraged a calorie reduction of 750 per day. All the participants were made to do 90 minute workout in terms of moderate exercises, which their daily food and drink intake were recorded both in a food diary and in a web-based program to evaluate how closely they meet their dieting targets. In the span of two-years, all these participants were provided counseling session at periodical intervals (in every eight week and three group discussions during the first six months, which got reduced to two discussions after six months till 2 years.)

The results when evaluated after 2 years revealed that all the participants lost an average of 13 pounds at six months and could maintain a 9 pound loss at the end of two years. The efficient weight loss was actually achieved during the first six months and after about a year, all participants started to regain their weight which is normally the case even with other diet studies. Here however the weight gain was much less about 20 % when compared to other studies. Further participants could lose about two inches from their waistline at the end of the two-year timeframe. The main finding of this study, in the words of Elizabeth G. Nabel, M.D., Director, NHLBI, “These results show that, as long as people follow a heart-healthy, reduced-calorie diet, there is more than one nutritional approach to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight.”

Preventive Medicine, an American journal published a research conducted by a team of researchers from the University of Otago, New Zealand. This research made an interesting revelation that women can keep their weight under control or even reduce if they include relaxation techniques. The authors suggested that women who have undergone non-dieting intervention to keep the weight off can maintain it for a longer duration if they include relaxation techniques and not allow themselves to regain the lost weight.
This confirmation came after a two-year follow-up research project of Otago to test the efficacy of non-dieting intervention programs in terms of achieving better lifestyle behaviors and reducing medical symptoms & psychological distress.
This study involved 225 Dunedin women with a BMI of 28. All these women were placed in one of the three 10 week intervention programmes. The objective of all the three 10 week programmes were to help women shift their focus from analyzing caloric consumption and body weight to focusing on lifestyle changes to enjoy a balanced life whether or not they loose weight.

According to Dr. Caroline Harwath (Department of Human Nutrition), women in all the three programmes did not gain any further weight even after giving up dieting, during this two-year period. This according to Dr. Caroline, is a very positive outcome for a group that was susceptible to eventual weight gain.
One of the three programmes also included intensive training on relaxation techniques, apart from helping the participants to shift their focus towards lifestyle changes. This group, in Dr. Harwath’s opinion, was the most successful in maintaining the same level of improvements at the two-year follow up in terms of psychological and medical symptoms as they had showed at the end of the first year.
Dr. Harwath warns that emotional distress and negativity can cause a woman to overeat and indulge in sugary and high-caloric food. With the help of relaxation techniques, such women can gain the required inner strength to grapple with stress and emotion, without having to indulge in overeating.

The relaxation techniques included progressive muscle relaxation, abdominal breathing, and visualization and these techniques were adapted from a Harvard Mind-Body Medical Institute programme.

The most interesting aspect of this study was that its main objective was not to curb obesity in any way. But the two-year study opened up a positive indication where women who practiced relaxation techniques regularly could manage to reduce about 2.5 kg at the end of this period.

Dr. Harwath feels that this study though not significant enough statistically, it nevertheless gives a positive outcome and counters the short-term success of non-dieting interventions. Researchers feel that including relaxation techniques can help in leading a healthy lifestyle even if weight loss is not achieved.

In a recent study where the researchers studied the adipose tissue around the human coronary arteries observed that the high fat diets contribute to the inflammation of fat tissue in the area resulting in inflamed blood vessels and thus increase stress for the heart. The research was conducted by Neal Weintraub, MD and other fellow workers from University of Cincinnati. The ‘American Heart Association journal Circulation Research’ would publish the article in the forthcoming publication on Feb 20.

It was rather alarming to note that the inflammation of the tissue and blood vessels occur within a very short-span of time due to high fat diet and thus pose a major threat as a contributor to cardiovascular diseases. In mice the inflammation occurred just by feeding high-fat diet to the animal for about two-weeks. The diet fed to mice was not too different in its formulation from the diet consumed by majority of Americans.

“It produced striking abnormalities of the fat tissue surrounding blood vessels in a very short period of time,” says Weintraub, senior author of the study. “This is a warning to those who say there isn’t a problem because their weight and cholesterol levels are under control. Lipid profiles don’t hold all the answers.”

According to Weintraub the high fat diets play a role in many ways to make humans arteries harden, a situation known as atherosclerosis.

“Elevated blood lipids—or cholesterol levels—can worsen with the intake of high fat diets, and this is known to contribute to atherosclerosis,” he says.  “However, many patients who consume high fat diets do not exhibit abnormal lipid profiles but still develop atherosclerosis nonetheless.”

According to researchers, “These new findings suggest a direct link between poor dietary habits and inflammation of blood vessels, mediated by the fat cells surrounding the blood vessel wall.”

According to Weintraub the researchers were not sure of the reason of the tissues (surrounding blood vessels) being so responsive to high-fat diets and suggest further investigations to find out the same.

The results do make us ponder upon the importance of choosing the right diet not only from the point of view of weight gain but from other aspects as well. The researchers also point out to same when they quote “Bad dietary habits can lead to a number of problems, and this suggests that a high fat diet is detrimental in ways we didn’t previously understand.”

The subject of obesity and loosing weight is seemingly the most mulled over thing in today’s generation. There are a number of diet pills available in the market and you have experts advising you on specific diets and exercises. But the simple truth is that weight management requires certain level of discipline and setting up rules that should never be broken. Though the following are simple rules, they can be highly challenging at the time of execution.

Rule no. 1 – Compute your BMR Level

BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) is calculated to evaluate your body needs for its proper functioning. BMR is responsible for actions like breathing and digestion. In fact, calculating your BMR, your calorie consumption is arrived at for a daily intake, depending on your activity level.

The first step towards your weight loss mission is to calculate your BMR and see if you need to cut down on your calorie consumption to lose weight. But what you need to ensure at the same time is that your body gets enough calories, otherwise you might loose muscle weight and not fat.

Rule no. 2 – Measure the extent of your activity

Though this is a same old record that is played by every expert and nutritionist, it still is worth a mention. The more involved you are in your daily activity and workout, the more you burn your calories as your BMR and activity levels are inseparable components of a weight loss cycle.

With the help of a calorie calculator, you can compute the amount of calories you will be able to burn with few simple activities like walking and exercises and if required you can move on to more intense exercises like weight lifting.

Rule no. 3 – Monitor your progress

Ensure that you monitor you level of progress by record the following three things definitely.

• Your BMR level that is updated once every 3 weeks when you check your body weight.
• List your activities and calculate the amount of calories you have burned doing those activities.
• Your level of calorie intake and the kind of food you consume.

Curtailing on your daily caloric consumption, you can definitely see a marked improvement in you weight over a period of time. This process, though is slow, can definitely keep you on the vigil of your weight and ensure a healthy and quality life.

The first step to losing weight for anybody is to cut out on eating. But the problem with this approach is when you stop dieting you are on your way to gain the same weight in due course. Thus to ensure a long term weight loss, the need of the hour is not to go on dieting but to making healthy food choices. When attention is paid to the kind of food you consume, you not only keep yourself fit and healthy but also achieve weight loss as a byproduct. This is far better than concentrating on ‘losing weight’ alone and getting a unhealthy body as a byproduct.

Three crucial aspects form the basis for a healthy diet:

Choice of food: Always choose fresh whole foods to processed and frozen food products. Developing the habit of eating whole and unaltered food is far too healthier than consuming even enriched whole bread and the likes as these are stuffed with nutrients and preservatives. 

Moderate food consumption: There is no denying that for the proper functioning of the body, restricting on calories is a must. More so if the objective is to lose weight as it tantamount to burning more calories than you consume. The best way to go about it is to reduce about 200 -250 calories from your daily consumption. However, ensure you do not exceed this limit as it can turn out to be counter-productive.

Vegetarian foods: Your diet should comprise largely of vegetables for the simple reason that the antioxidant elements from fresh produce have a dramatic effect on the free radicals in our bodies. Thus fresh vegetables, particularly leafy vegetables being low on carbohydrates, are best to ensure a calorie-restricted healthy diet.

Besides these three focal points, there are other factors like maintaining proper hydration, keeping fit, and reducing stress etc which constitute a healthy lifestyle.

Acai berries are believed to contain anti-aging and weight loss properties and that’s the reason this product enjoys greater popularity in the weight loss arena. Native to Central and South America, acai-berry is a purple colored reddish fruit and is considered a rich antioxidant.

The anti-oxidant property of Acai berry has been the focus of many researchers to understand its effect on body weight and cardiovascular disease. The anthocyanin content in Acai berry is the powerful antioxidant component and acts as a best defense mechanism against stress factors. Anthocyanin also significantly aid in protecting body cells. A diet inclusive of rich antioxidants can neutralize the effect of free radicals that are harmful and produced in the body automatically.

By neutralizing free radicals with the help of such antioxidants, diseases like heart malfunctioning or cancer can be largely minimized.

Acai berries are extremely rich in fiber and contain essential fatty oils and the free radical fighting components of Acai berry is simply unquestionable. Consuming the genuine acai berry, one can easily eliminate the waste accumulation, toxins, and other unwanted components that are formed as a byproduct in our system in one way or the other. Acai berry is the best energy booster and is capable of improving every aspect of your metabolic function.

Acai berry though has a number of benefits it has one noticeable side effect and that is it suppresses food craving. While it is a side effect for some who need to ensure sufficient food intake, it indeed is a great benefit for those wanting to shed weight.

If all your efforts to lose weight have so far not been successful, try acai berry diet and see its amazing benefits manifest itself in due course.