Author: Fabian

Low Carbohydrate, or Low Carb Diet Plans are something that I’m sure you’ve already heard a lot about. I’m also pretty certain that a lot of what you’ve heard about them is false – or at least misleading. This family of diet plans, like so many others, have had their moment of glory being promoted as “the next big thing” in weight loss. In fact, they’ve easily enjoyed more popularity than any other type of diet in recent times. There are a few reasons for this: There was the huge marketing success of the most famous of all low carb…

A common question asked by newcomers to weight loss is “why do I need to calculate Body Fat Percentage?” (those who have even heard of Body Fat Percentage, that is.) Well, as you’re about to see, it’s actually very important to the success of any weight loss program. In fact, Body Fat Percentage is THE most vitally important measurement to monitor if weight loss is your goal. Here’s why . . . Why You MUST Calculate Body Fat Percentage One of the major reasons that ineffective weight loss programs and fad diets fail to work is that they cause your…

The Body Mass Index, or BMI, is normally presented in the form of a BMI Chart. Generally speaking, it’s used to quickly and conveniently assess how healthy or unhealthy a person’s body weight is. The BMI is a very widely used measurement, and it’s purpose is to classify a person’s body weight based upon their height, assuming they have an average body composition (or fat percentage). It’s calculated by simply dividing your weight (in kilograms) by the square of your height (in meters). It can be calculated using a variety of different units though, as you can see with these…

Acai Berries and Acai Berry Supplements have been incredibly popular and heavily promoted all over the internet and the media over the past few years. Even Oprah Winfrey has publicly supported this fruit, which was relatively unknown outside of South America until very recently. These berries have been widely described as superfoods, and while they may possess a number of useful health benefits, the fact is that their many of their benefits, especially their weight loss powers, have been absurdly overstated in a large number of cases. Before examining what Acai Berry Supplements really can and can’t do for your…

Vibration Exercise Equipment is one of those things that on the surface appears to be a total gimmick, but in fact it offers a number of very real benefits. Having said that however, there are also some claims made about what it can do that simply aren’t true. This equipment basically consists of a platform that’s driven by an oscillating motor. When you stand or sit on the platform, it vibrates your entire body while you hold static poses or do dynamic exercises. It’s usually adjustable in terms of the frequency, amplitude (amount of movement), and direction that the platform…

To have realistic expectations about any type of belly fat diet, it’s important to understand whether or not certain foods really can target your belly fat. Such claims have been fairly common in recent years, but are they really genuine, or just more of the usual inflated hype? Well, before answering that question I should point out to you that you’ll find quite a lot of tips and information around about what foods are important in a belly fat diet. But when you dig deeper, you’ll find that what’s being presented is often actually just general weight loss diet information.…

To many people who are aiming to lose weight, the thought of good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates will probably sound like a strange notion. After all, carbs are those foods that make you fat, right? So how can there be any such thing as good carbohydrates? Surely they’re all bad carbohydrates, aren’t they? Well, as a matter of fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The problem is, we’ve become so accustomed to hearing uninformed people making silly statements like “carbs are fattening” and “you should cut down on carbs” that over time, they’ve unjustifiably earned the bad boy…

How realistic a strategy is replacing exercise with walking to lose weight? There are a handful of weight loss programs out there these days that promote walking as their only form of exercise. Of course, these are designed to appeal to people who aren’t too keen on working out in any way. While walking can have a place in a weight loss program, it’s important to understand that it does have limitations in what it can do for you. The Role of Exercise For Weight Loss Before deciding whether or not walking to lose weight is appropriate for you, it’s…

A Low Calorie Diet Plan will be your best friend when it’s used correctly, but your worst enemy when it’s used incorrectly. Before I explain why though, first let’s agree on what exactly we mean by the term “Low Calorie”. Whether you’re overweight, underweight or just of average weight, if your body weight is steady – in other words it’s not rising and it’s not falling, it indicates that your body is in a calorie balance. That means your calorie intake (the calories you eat) and your calorie expenditure (the calories you burn) are on average, pretty much equal. Any…

Of all exercise equipment sold to the public, ab exercise machines are without a doubt the most widely bought, yet the most blatantly misleading. According to recent statistics, $518 million dollars is made each year from the sale of home exercise equipment through infomercials in the United States. A whole 40% of that market – $207 million, is from ab exercise machines. That’s over $1 billion dollars of sales every 5 years! The reason this market is so lucrative is that stomach fat is such a widespread problem for overweight people, and yet it’s an area of the body that…

Studies have shown that there are 5 leading causes of excess abdominal fat, or tummy fat, developing in the female body. Unfortunately, some of these are totally beyond your control so you have no choice but to live with them. Others however, you can in fact do something about. What’s So Special About Tummy Fat? Tummy fat is actually totally different to the fat that you have on your thighs, buttocks, arms, and in fact, surrounding your whole body. This fat is called subcutaneous fat, and is very visible to the eye because it’s located just underneath your skin. As…

Getting rid of cellulite is a preoccupation with many women because of its unsightly nature. But is it really possible to reduce, or even remove, cellulite altogether? When you consider all the treatments, therapies, creams, and so on, that are available these days to treat cellulite, you can certainly be excused for believing it is in fact possible, one way or another. But things, as they say, aren’t always what they seem. Let’s start by looking at what exactly cellulite is. What is Cellulite? Before figuring out whether or not getting rid of cellulite is a realistic ambition, it wouldn’t…

I’ve put together this list of fat burning foods to help you get an appreciation for what kind of foods really give your metabolism a boost, and help you to shed the kilos faster. As you can see, I’ve presented them in different food groups depending on their major characteristics, so they’re not necessarily shown in any order of importance. Before going any further though, I’d like to lay down two very important ground rules first, to hopefully prevent you from using this list of fat burning foods in the wrong way. First of all, while focusing on these foods…

There’s no disputing the fact that medically-prescribed Detox Diet Plans do provide very real and necessary benefits to your health. But the simple fact is that commercially-available Detox Diet Plans, particularly those that come with the promise of weight loss, are nothing but a hoax. Unfortunately, detoxes are another one of those pervasive gimmicks that sound reasonable enough on paper to fall for. And to make matters worse, they can even successfully con the unsuspecting user into believing that they actually work for weight loss as well. Let’s take a closer look at what Detox Diet Plans are all about,…

With this Calorie Burn Chart you can quickly work out and compare how many calories you can burn with over 120 different activities and exercises. This is a very handy tool for helping you to decide which activities to include in your lifestyle for burning lots of calories. The Calorie Burn Chart shows the Metabolic Equivalent, or MET value for each listed activity. The MET is also known as “multiples of resting metabolic rate” and is basically a value used to compare the energy cost of different physical activities. One MET is equivalent to your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR.…

It’s suggested that exercising in your Fat Burning Zone maximizes your rate of fat loss. But is this really the most effective way to lose weight? I remember back when I stepped into a gym for the first time, the trainer there got me started jogging on a treadmill. He explained that by jogging at a speed that kept my heart rate at about 60% of my maximum heart rate, I would burn fat as quickly as possible. By going any faster than that, he told me I would be focusing on improving my fitness instead, and wouldn’t lose as…

Following on from the theme of specially-designed resistance training workouts that boost effectiveness, let’s take a look at another strategy called pyramid sets. Resistance training workouts can often be tricky to design because of the need to keep your routines challenging and effective for your body. Working out for months with the same routine can easily get very stale because your body quickly adapts to anything that’s constant. Unless you’re careful therefore, you could be wasting a lot of time in the gym and doing your body a disservice by sticking to an inadequate resistance workout plan. But what about…

MYTH #1: Red meat is fattening. FACTS: The truth is that there are good meats and then there are not-so-good meats, and there’s no reason to avoid the good stuff for fear of the bad. Different cuts of meat have different amounts of fat, and as long as you stick to the lower-fat variety, there’s no reason whatsoever to cut red meat out of your diet. Red meat is actually a premium source of complete protein and high-quality iron, both of which are very beneficial to your health and wellbeing. Because the fat in red meat is generally higher in…

For many years now we’ve been virtually brainwashed by messages about the dangers of fat in our diet. As a result we have pretty much developed a phobia of dietary fat, which is why low-fat foods have found such popularity over recent decades. Traditionally, dietary fat has been associated with obesity, heart disease, high cholesterol, clogged arteries, and even cancer. The fact of the matter is however, that there are good dietary fats and there are bad dietary fats. Our body actually needs good fats to function properly and maintain good health. That being the case, cutting too much fat…

The Glycemic Index is something that we’ve all heard a lot about. It’s what the “GI” stands for when your hear expressions like “high-GI” or “low-GI” carbs. A related index, but one that isn’t heard so much about, is the “GL”, or Glycemic Load index. So what exactly are the GI and GL, why were they created, what do they do, and how do you use them? Well, the Glycemic Index was originally developed for diabetics, as a scale to classify how much of an effect different carbohydrate foods have on blood sugar levels. This is an important consideration since…

As women with an interest in weight loss and nutrition, we hear a lot about the importance of protein. But what actually is protein and why do we need it? Well, believe it or not, protein isn’t just important for body builders to build muscle with. It’s needed by everyone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s necessary both for the normal daily functioning of your body and for proper nutrition. Protein is made from molecules called amino acids. And the fact is, most of your body itself is also made from amino acids. As you probably already…

It’s not uncommon for regular cardio exercisers to find themselves plateauing from time to time, where their results tend to be a little flat and uninspiring – perhaps even non-existent. This is a frustrating problem which is almost inherent in prolonged low-intensity cardio workouts, because of the consistent and monotonous nature of this type of training. The main reason behind this is that your body tends to quickly adapt to anything that’s consistent. So if you get into the habit of working out at the same, moderate level of intensity all the time, once your body gets accustomed to the…