Lets face the facts. Weight loss is not an easy task. By nature humans resist change. Familiarity breeds comfort. Our familiar people, familiar surroundings and familiar food give us comfort. So when we want a change in our weight our whole being resist it. For losing weight we have to alter so many things and we have to fish in troubled waters.
How to make weight loss somewhat systematic and easy? Experts recommend that you keep a food diary. Fist there won’t seem much connection between a weight loss desire and food diary. But if you probe deeper into a human nature, we react strongly to facts and visuals. Facts gets hammered into our head if we have proof in our own handwriting. Just the way people maintain a tab on their finances by noting down. This way it is easier to know how much money is spent in what item. It also helps access that where one is spending needlessly. Same is true for a food diary. It help you pinning down what you are eating at what time and how much sweet drinks you are taking in a day. It will also helps you find out what situation prompts you to eat or not to eat.
Once you have the necessary facts with you in the food diary, it will be easier for you to tackle the problem of weight gain.
You will gain a clear insight into your eating habits. You might be able to ignore your food diary initially but later on it will be hard to sweep everything under the carpet and you will definitely try to improve your eating habits.
A food diary helps you in finding out when you are indulging in emotional eating and when you are really hungry. If you note down that you are eating with whom, it will be easier to track whether you indulged or the person restrained you from unhealthy eating. Next time you will be sure whom to dine with and whom to be ignored.
Maintaining a food diary means maintaining a dialogue with yourself. No one is going to read your food diary but you. When you are going to talk to yourself, it will be difficult to lie. When person faces the truth day in and day out, sooner or later that person will take corrective measures too. So go ahead and maintain a food diary. An open and honest communication with yourself will be eye opener and of immense help in weight loss.

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.

Health is something that is extremely important for people of any age and while we get old we have all the more need to stay fit and healthy. In fact there are many herbs and eatables that slow down the effects of aging on human mind and body.

We are all aware that it takes a lot of efforts to stay healthy and fit and it does not happen just by chance. Fitness is practiced as a state of mind by many healthy people. It would be great for us to be aware of our present and learn to exercise some control on our thoughts. Here are some of the reasons that are associated with getting older and also information on some foods that can prove helpful in slowing down the process to some extent.

The two most important factors that are associated with aging are continuously damaging cells and a deteriorating immune system in living beings. Cell or tissue damage is caused by the free radicals that can not be neutralized by our bodies because of the lack of antioxidants. On the other hand, day-to-day stress and environmental factors that surround us cause our immune system to go weaker as we grow old.

The factors stated above point to the importance of choosing food items that would facilitate neutralization of free radicals and the ones that would make our immune system stronger. The herbs like grape seed, shiitake mushrooms, ginkgo bilboa and pine bark are known to do a great deal in both these aspects. These are potent sources of rich nutrients that are greatly helpful in dealing with the effects of aging.

It would be great to leave out the fat content from our diet as we progress towards older age. The reason for this is that fat is known to reduce the ability of our body to deal with free radical. On the other hand chlorophyll laden eatables such as green foods, alfalfa, and green leafy vegetables are extremely good for restoration of damaged cell and tissues. These are also the sources of minerals that are good for body’s health. Healthy eating habits are key to prevent many of the age related problems. The earlier in life somebody adopts good eating habits the healthier old age he or she would be able to enjoy.

Is there any correlation between stressed women and weight gain? Many research studies confirms this fact that stressed out women reach for comfort food and that result in weight gain. Actually obesity and weight gain are acquiring alarming proportions during recent times. Modern times hectic day schedules take its toll on women and they naturally reach for the comfort food and eat plenty of it. Research studies indicate that if we eat and drink while undergoing stress our BMI can be high compared to those who don’t.

It is often noted that when we are under duress we tend to eat emotional food that caress our senses and comfort us for a while such as hamburgers, pizzas, and chocolates. Stress-eaters often consume more alcohol too. That doesn’t do anything constructive for weight loss.

The Culprit is the Cortisol

What happens when we are under stress? Our body secretes a stress related hormone known as cortisol into our blood stream. Cortisol lowers our metabolism. The worst result is if you are not reaching out to any emotional food still you can add pounds to yourself. If you are taking more calories while tense just imagine what cortisol can do to your weight loss program! Cortisol receptors are unfortunately located in our abdomen and they store fat in abdominal area as side effect. Women with high waist-to-hip ratio are more susceptible to cortisol action that low waist-to-hip ratio.

We don’t know why under the effect of cortisol women prefer to eat fat rich and sweet food. That’s a mystery. But what is not a mystery is that if we try we can cope with emotional eating.

Man/Woman is a Social Animal: Believe in this saying. We really are a social animal and can’t live happily in isolation. We all need out emotional rocks to fall back on. We all need friends and family to laugh with and share our grief with. During those laidback days of our grandmothers and great grandmothers, they had enough time to chat over a cup of coffee with neighbors and build life long friendships which flicking TV channels can’t provide to us. So go out and make friends. Meet family members over weekends or invite them to your place. Keep things and life simple to save yourself from stress. Join support groups or in-person weight-loss program. Always find time to invest in relationships so that you won’t lack that magical emotional support and motivation when you need it. When you have friends and family, you dial their numbers instead of reaching out to emotional eating and stay away from weight gain!

Distract Yourself: When you are about to binge, distracting yourself with some other activity will do wonders. Do something else. Listen to a song, read a short story, talk to a friend or go for a walk. Do breathing exercise to relax yourself. If you are in office and can’t do much, look out of the window, talk to office mate about anything for a while, read a joke or carton strip. Distracting yourself will help you in letting go of the urge to eat something and you will save yourself from weight gain.

Get Enough Rest: Having enough rest everyday will prepare you for a day’s work. If you are fully rested you can take the challenges of the day in a calm and composed manner. If you are suffering from lack of sleep, then it won’t take much to be stressed out and reach for comfort food which you want to avoid. Taking proper rest keep your weight in control.

Have you recently given up smoking and are concerned about the weight you gained after you quit? Do not worry as you are among the 80% who have given up smoking cigarettes and have gained weight. There is a very high probability that you gain some weight after you give up smoking. However most of the weight gained after quitting smoking can be shed with in the 6 months of such weight gain. It is equally important to know that post quitting weight gain can be controlled with some amount of time and efforts.

Let us talk about why people gain weight after they quit smoking and how to minimize such weight gain.

• Raised Metabolism

BMR of an average smoker is higher than that of a non-smoker resulting is burning of higher calories. The heartbeat of the smoker increases immediately after you smoke a cigarette and the metabolism shoots up simultaneously. Obviously we all know that it is a very unhealthy way of keeping the metabolism up as a high percentage of smokers account for people with some kind of heart disease.

Usually when you quit smoking the metabolic rate slows down to less than a healthy metabolic rate and takes some time to come to the normal levels. This slower BMR in the post quitting period results in burning calories than it is needed in a normal person.

A smoker weighs 4 to 10 pounds less than a non smoker with similar physical activity level. Thus when he quits smoking he comes to the normal weight of an average non smoker with his kind of physical activity. A study reveled that about 50 % of the people who quit smoking gained less than the average 4 to 10 pounds while about 10 % of them even gained between 25 to 50 pounds.

• Eating habit changes

It is very usual to notice a change in your daily diet after you quit smoking. Mostly the appetite goes up after quitting and thus increases your calorie intake. This is one withdrawal symptom that stays for a prolonged period in a person.

Is it certain to suffer a weight gain on quitting?

The answer is NO it does not have to happen! There have been studies on heart patients who were advised to change their diet and the lifestyle after giving up on smoking. These people did not experience weight gain as compared to the patients who were not given any advice on diet and lifestyle. Another study involved recruits in the Air force to go through a six week long boot camp where they were forced to quit smoking. They did not gain weight at the camp as there was a very strict control on their diet. This study definitely points to the fact that it is possible to maintain weight even after giving up on smoking.

While we are all aware of the immense health benefits that are associated with quitting smoking, some people still hate to add a few pounds more to their weight. It is important to note here that most of the weight gain occurs in the first six months and this weight can be easily shed once the body metabolism comes to healthy rate. Also note that if you can keep a check on your diet and physical activity level, it is possible for you to not gain weight at all.

Have you ever pondered upon if weight loss can be unhealthy as well? Yes it is true that weight loss can be extremely unhealthy at times. Here we would try to define an unhealthy weight loss and see how we can enforce a healthy weight loss.

A weight loss is termed as unhealthy when it can lead to various heath issues, usually because of method adopted for such weight loss. It is obvious that most of the diet programs that cut out certain foods from our daily intake tend to induce unhealthy weight loss. Cutting out certain items results in a quick drop in the energy levels and other bodily processes. However, as soon as these items are included back in the diet, the weight lost comes back very fast. On gaining the weight back people very often start on a different diet plan that cuts out some other food items and the process goes on like this.

We are all aware that our body tunes to a specific diet that we take and the constant changes in the diet plan confuses our bodies. Especially the diet plans that restrict intake of food items can have the reverse effect on our weight. Our body may feel starved and thus induce us to have more calories than usual resulting in a weight gain. The quick weight fluctuations can cause many other health problems and thus it is considered to be an unhealthy way of losing weight.

Healthy weight loss on the other hand is usually an outcome of including enough physical exercise, a healthy diet plan and a sound sleep pattern in our daily routine. Yes, a sound sleep is as essential as regular exercise and a strict diet for you to healthily lose weight. Because of a sound sleep you tend to feel fresh instead of feeling tired and cut down on restoring to junk food for activeness and to keep your sugar level up.

The lifestyle change is of prime importance to healthy weight loss instead of mere changes in the diet plans. The fact is that many a times you will not need to cut anything out of your diet and still can induce weight loss that is healthy. You will be surprised to find some of the best plans that allow you to eat anything you want to once in a while just to keep you motivated enough.

Setting realistic weight loss goals again helps you to adopt methods that are healthy. You need to be patient with the downtrend of your body weight rather than desiring it to happen in a flash.

Succinctly put, to achieve healthy weight loss you need to be focused on the realistic goals, get enough sleep and exercise regularly. Some may find it difficult but it is worth the pains in the end. 

You must all be aware that the breastfed children do have a reduced risk of gaining weight during their childhood. It has remained an unexplained question in front of the researchers as to why and how it happens. Studies on the association of breastfeeding with the tendency of not gaining weight in later in life are on the way. The researchers are associating the abilities of keeping the weight off in breastfed kids to their dieting and lifestyle habits.

It is largely believed that various maternal characteristics and the choice of the mothers drive them to breastfeed their kids. Studies conducted among the mothers of the kids from Europe pointed to the fact that the mothers who thought breastfeeding to be healthier than formula feeds chose to breastfeed. The kids who were breastfed were spent more time on activities involving physical endurance and consumed healthier food like fruits more often that the kids who were not breastfed. The choice of healthier diet and lifestyle of the kids of such mothers seemed influenced from the mothers’ way of choosing diet and lifestyle.

Earlier studies have also pointed out to various associations between breast feeding and eating habits of the kids. Cooke from London observed a better fruits and vegetables consumption behavior among the breastfed kids of ages between 2 to 6 years. Toschke from Norway had observed that breastfed kids spent lesser time in front of the television and consumed fruits more often as compared to non breastfed kids. However Victora and others did not find any association between the diet and lifestyle of 18 years old and the fact that they were breastfed when they were young.

All the studies conducted in this regard sufficiently indicate to a strong association between the breastfeeding and the tendency to gain weight amount kids in their childhood. The maternal characteristics and their choice of diet and lifestyle hugely affect the diet and lifestyle of the kids especially till the time they gain maturity.

Do you have a tendency to overeat at times? When you overeat do you realize that you are eating more than you should have? If the answers to these are yes, then the chances are that you are one among many that are suffering from a most common disorder which is known as binge eating disorder. The chances are that if you are suffering from this disorder then you may be eating large amount of food even when you are not hungry. It can be embarrassing for you to have food with others because of the quantities that you consume.

Binge eating disorder is a very common eating disorder especially in women as compared to men. Not only obese people suffer from this disorder, many people with normal weight may also be victims of binge eating disorder. People indulging in binge eating may have gained weight early in life and may also gain and lose weight cyclically.

It is observed that binge eating disorder leads to depression in people and they become susceptible to most of the stress related problems and may even develop suicidal instincts.

There is yet another eating disorder called Bulimia Nervosa of which binge eating disorder is a part. People suffering from bulimia nervosa however try to control their body weight by throwing up what they consumed and / or exercising extensively. Though this manages to keep the weight under control, it is not an appropriate way to lose weight.

People eating excessively especially when they are not hungry should seek the advice of a heath professional to find out if they are a victim of this disorder. If the disorder is confirmed it can be cured with the help of drugs and psychological assistance from psychiatrist, psychologist, or clinical social counselor.

The deterioration in the healthy behavior like good eating habits and physical activeness that often occurs in the growing children frequently contributes to the instances of childhood obesity. The possibility of this behavioral deterioration is prevalent as per one of the studies that are published in Jan/Feb 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. According to researchers these behavior often undergo a change for the worse in the children during the transition from pre-school age to the school age. The diet pattern, thus many a times do not meet the current recommendations and may contribute to the childhood obesity.

The researchers interviewed the parents to find out their perception of the kid’s behavior and noted that parents of pre-school children (2 to 5 years) had a better perception of the eating behavior and physical activity levels of their kids as compared to the parents of school-aged children (6 to 12 years). The parents of the older children felt that their children had been following a less healthy diet and leisure-time activities.

For the study, researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and Brown University Medical School surveyed mothers of 174 children aged between 2 to 12 years. The parent filled in a questionnaire regarding eating and leisure time activities of the children and also provided child’s weight and height data for the records.

The findings of the exercise reveled that the older children were restoring to intake of sweetened fatty drinks instead of low-calorie drinks and also had higher consumption of salty and sweetened snacks. Most of the parents of the older lot reported that they were having dinner together less frequently which could be a pointer to a less healthy choice of food by these kids. On the other hand parents of the younger children reported their kid an average or above average active child as compared to their peers. The time spent on watching TV was also reported to be higher among the older kids. In all the study pointed out to the fact that the eating behavior and the physical activity behavior changes for worse as a child grows.

"Although preschool-aged children engaged in more healthful behaviors according to parent recall, the preschool-aged children only met two dietary recommendations, fruit and low-fat dairy intake. All other parent-reported eating and leisure-time activity patterns did not meet current recommendations," states Dr. Hollie A. Raynor, Department of Nutrition, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in her report and adds, "Surprisingly, other than fast-food consumption, this study found few parent-reported eating and leisure-time behaviors related to weight status, which may be a consequence of the overall poor diet quality and relative inactivity reported in this diverse sample. Thus, interventions designed to help children meet dietary and leisure-time activity recommendations should begin by assisting parents with preschool-aged children in developing skills to provide the structure and the environment necessary for their young children to develop healthful lifestyles."

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.