Obesity is one of the major health problems haunting the medical world. You can effectively reduce the weight by changing the metabolism of your body. Metabolism and weight loss are related to each other. Metabolism is nothing but the natural burning of calories in your body. Metabolism is a natural phenomenon and you need not put any effort on your part. It is happening even in your sleep. Metabolic rate decides the success of your weight losing efforts. As metabolism is a natural calorie burning process, an increase in metabolic rate will help you in your efforts to reduce weight. The proper recommended level of reducing weight per week is one or two pounds and increase in metabolism will help you to achieve this realistic level. Fluid intake is increased when metabolic rate is increased and thus help for gradual weight loss. Metabolism And Permanent Weight Loss In today’s hectic life style people find no time to do regular exercise. It is amazing to know that they not even properly follow the weight loss program for which they had spent a lot of money. Those who started doing regular exercise discontinue it any given point of time due to work load, transfer, stress or illness. If you have decided to start doing exercise then select the exercises that suits your age and physical ability. The best solution is to increase the metabolic rate to achieve permanent weight loss. This relieves you of the compulsion of doing long hours of exercise. Having relieved of doing long hours of exercise you will find more time to do whatever you want. It gives more time within your spare time to enjoy other activities. Moreover you need not do any tough exercises. The Benefits of Increased Metabolic Rate Pursue your efforts to achieve permanent weight loss through increasing metabolic rate. You can accrue added benefits while pursuing towards this goal. Increase in metabolic rate reduces the possibility of putting weight again and avoids the disappointment of most of the weight reducing programs. Eliminate the necessity of doing long hours of exercise. You can follow your normal eating habits. Time and money are saved in preparing non-fat foods. Getting rid of the obesity problem you will feel active throughout the day. Solving your obesity problem help you to maintain overall health. Practice Right Methods Dieting is the most common practice adopted by many to reduce weight. This wrong method of changing metabolic rate will affect your health in the long run. During dieting the inner organs are deprived of essential nutrients for their normal functioning and put extra strain on them. Over a period this extra strain will make your inner organs more older than your physical age. This is known as biological age. Dieting or taking insufficient food and unbalanced food result in increased biological age. This is the reason why people even in their twenties are also getting heart attack, diabetes or other major diseases today. Another wrong practice is reducing the intake of calories. You over all health is affected if your body is denied the optimum level of calories daily. The true fact is that metabolic rate is reduced when calorie intake is restricted. The resulting weight loss will be only from your muscles and organs and again this affects your overall health. You will gain weight when the muscle mass is reduced. Artificially controlling appetite using diet pills affects the metabolic rate. The metabolic rate is getting affected by age, sex, muscle mass and sleep disorders. Focusing on your fitness program and neglecting your sleep is not beneficial. Focusing on one thing and neglecting another thing will not help you. If your fitness program is focusing on fat zone alone, then it will not be any use in shaping your body. To main the optimum weight, an overall work out is necessary.Choose the correct methods to increase the metabolic rate to lose weight according to your age, physical ability and requirement. Author Information: An increase in metabolic rate through natural means help you to lose weight properly and avoids taking the riskier methods of weight loss through dieting, artificial appetite control and heavier workouts. Metabolic Rate
What is Dukan Diet and its side-effects?
This article gives pertinent information about Dukan Diet and its side-effects
mediaimage
Pierre Dukan, a French doctor and nutritionist, challenged with the case of obesity started to look for alternative ways in curing the illness. After 20 years of thorough research he published in the year 2000, a book called, “Je ne sais pas maigrir” or translated as, “I don’t know how to get slimmer.” It gained the best-seller in France after a year it has been published.
It was made a hit in UK when Kate Middleton, now the duchess of Cambridge, tried the Dukan Diet before her marriage to the beloved Prince William, she reportedly claimed a loss of two dress sizes. It also allegedly claimed to help five million French. The book is also gaining fame in the US in the year 2011 when actress/singer, Jennifer Lopez, lost pounds after her pregnancy by following this diet.
Dukan Diet: What is it? How does this work?
Dukan Diet is similar to the famous Atkins diet. Atkins and Dukan are much alike in terms of non-intake of carbs initially and do not require portion control or counting calorie consumptions. In Atkins, it requires net carbohydrate intakes and unlike Dukan, it suggests a daily intake of oats, increase water consumption and 20 minutes of everyday brisk walking. Dukan Diet adopts four phases namely: Attack, Cruise, Consolidation and Stabilization.
Four Phases of the Dukan Diet
Attack: In this starter phase, the dieter is only allowed take protein rich foods that are exquisitely low in fat. Dr. Dukan provided 72-item list of foods to be eaten, it excludes pork, lamb, poultry products and cheeses. Food should always be cooked but without adding any fat to it, it best to cook in grilling or roasting. It also requires you to eat 1 ½ tbsp. oat bran & 1.5 liters of water per day. This phase should be followed around 2-7 days or more. Results from this initial phase within 5 days may result in 4-7 lbs. loss. This phase promotes quick loss of weight since it is strictly based on a protein-only diet.
Cruise: Cruise, the second to the fourth phase of the Dukan diet scheme. During this phase dieters who were only allowed to eat protein-only foods can now alternate a 28-items of non-starchy vegetables. They may take attack phase diet for today and take non-starchy veggie diet for tomorrow, and so this phase must go on by alternating these two types of diet each day. This phase may last long enough as much as you want by reaching your desired weight and assuring 2 pounds per week loss.
Consolidation: As one achieves the desired weight, one has to go the next phase called Consolidation, this is the maintenance phase of this diet scheme where you have to prevent putting back excess pounds. The plan in this phase is less strict compared to the first two phases. During this phase you are permitted to eat protein-only and veggie diet along with a piece of low-sugar fruit, 2 slices of whole grain bread and a portion of hard cheese. In this phase you are allowed to have 1-2 serving of starchy foods and one celebration meal per week. The phase of consolidation does not expect to loss off pounds but rather it is steadily the maintenance process.
Stabilization: Stabilization is the final phase and a life-long phase of the diet scheme. In here maintenance of the life-changing diet may be a challenging and tempting. During this portion of the scheme, one is already permitted to allow any food intake that a person wants and by also sticking to the diet rule in the consolidation phase. As Pierre Dukan suggest, that staying on the phase 1 rule once a week and eat whatever you like for the rest of the week lowers the chances of regaining weight.
Pros and Cons of Dukan Diet
Pros: The fast results of this diet scheme is beneficially rewarding and motivating. It allows you to have protein and veggie meal plan diets and does not require you to count off your calorie intakes.
Cons: It is highly restrictive and can exclude healthy foods. Dieters can experience side-effects such as symptoms of headaches, nausea, lethargy, irritable and loss of concentration. Dieters may acquire halitosis (bad breath), metallic tasting mouth and strong smell in their urines. For those people who have problems with their kidneys and liver are not advised to follow this diet plan. It is not also recommended for pregnant and nursing mothers.
Views and Opinions by Health Experts on the Dukan Diet
There are lots of critics in this diet plan. Due to the restrictive type scheme of this diet, some fruits, grains and nuts which are healthy and have high amounts of vitamins and minerals that are vital to the nutrition of the body are eliminated. Keri Gans of American Dietetic Association, said that the lost amount of multivitamins that should be acquired from those restricted foods are not compensated in the Dukan diet. Experts have also criticized that experiencing such side-effects may not be healthy at all.
How to Lose Weight?
If exercise alone is difficult then a balanced regime of exercise and reduced calorie intake – bearing in mind the maxim ‘little and often’ – is a good way to approach losing weight. It is generally believed that eating three smaller regular meals, with morning and afternoon snacks in between, is the best way to lose weight. Regular eating maintains a balanced sugar level in the blood, preventing hunger and helps us to avoid overeating. This has the effect of speeding up the metabolic rate so your body breaks food down more quickly to turn it into energy. “Ideally, eat something small (even a piece of fruit) every 3 hours (women) or every 5 hours (men)” (Collins, 2005). Another timeless way to lose weight – and one that will save you money – is to increase your daily intake of water. This is important as dehydration can mean that you don’t reap the full benefits of your efforts to lose weight.
Enough water is considered to be at least two litres a day (Biggs, 2006). If you don‘t drink enough then your metabolism will shut down first causing your weight loss to slow right down; your digestion will suffer; and you might experience ‘fake hunger’ symptoms (Biggs 2006) . It is important to remember that some people lose weight more easily than others because of their body’s ability to burn fat. One of the most effective ways to burn fat is through cardio-vascular exercise which increases the heart rate sufficiently – for example, aerobics or running. This form of exercise is more effective than, say for example, weight lifting or light walking, which are good muscle-toning activities helping to reduce the appearance of fat. However, if you simply don’t have time to go to an aerobics class or the space in your own home, then other forms of exercise are still effective. Jon Shepherd, from Ultra-FIT magazine, explains: “You won’t burn so many calories weight training, but the potential effect it will have on your body composition and metabolic rate are significant. Muscle is the most metabolically active part of your body, burning up to three times as many calories as any other tissue type. Weights (and other forms of resistance training, like circuits) promote the development of lean muscle, boosting your fat burning potential” Source: (http://www.concept2.co.uk/weightloss/chewing_the_fat.php#2)
Fitness activities and calorie burningActivity calories/hour Aerobics high intensity 520 Rowing – slow 400 Weight training 270-450 Swimming for fitness 630 Treadmill running (3.8min/km) 1000 Treadmill running (5.6 min/km) 750 Source: (http://www.concept2.co.uk/weightloss/chewing_the_fat.php#2)
The above figures are based on a 65kg individual. If you weighed more then additional calories will be expended, fewer if you weigh less. The table illustrates the differences in calorie reduction between various activities. It is important to find the right kind of exercise to suit you. For most people, walking is the easiest and most effective form of exercise. Ann Bolger, M.D., a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association (AHA) says, ‘exercising is like taking the pennies from under the couch cushions and putting them into your piggybank,’ in that every little bit counts.’ (Meadows 2003: 18). There are many small ways of increasing the amount of walking in your day. For example, if you have a dog, or someone in your family or a friend has a dog, then try to find the time each day to take it for a brisk half-hour walk. If you’re lucky to live a mile or so away from work then get up a bit earlier and walk instead of catching the bus. Even parking a bit further away when you go shopping can make a difference.
So this is all about what to do outside the home. But what about when you come back from a day at work and you want to relax? You can contribute to your efforts to lose weight by the way you cook: using unsaturated vegetable oils, and oils such as corn, olive, or soyabean makes a significant difference to your fat intake. Snacks too can be swapped for healthier, lower fat options such as sesame snaps; Ryvita, or a piece of fruit. (Meadows 2003: 18). Many of us like to relax with a glass of wine in front of the TV – but there are other more weight-loss-effective ways of relaxation. Try substituting your daily glass of wine (110 calories) or half bottle (250 calories) for a session of meditative yoga. In this way you can reduce calorie intake, and exercise and relax all at the same time, and it doesn’t cost you a penny. “Yoga also offers psychological benefits. As Baxter Bell, a graduate of Piedmont Yoga Studio’s Advanced Studies Program, says: Weight gain often brings with it a great deal of harsh self-judgment. Through yoga, we can counteract this by creating a safe, positive environment to reconnect with our bodies and quiet the counterproductive messages that often arise in our minds. (http://www.yogajournal.com).
If the traditional more-exercise-less-calories method doesn’t work then look into alternative ways to lose weight. There are little exercises and tips that can take all of 15 minutes of your day – such as the ancient Chinese system of exercise called Chi Kung. A specific series of movements called the Swimming Dragon is renowned for its effectiveness in helping to lose weight. Through a series of simple movements, the Swimming Dragon works to stimulate the correct flow of chi, or vital energy, through the meridians (energy pathways) of the body. The exercise massages all the internal organs and helps to normalise hormone secretions. By practising the exercise for 15 minutes once or twice a day, it is claimed that your body will begin to naturally break down unwanted fatty tissue. (Alexander, J, 1996: 31)Lastly, weight loss is something to be achieved over time: take it a step at a time and don’t expect too much. Most importantly, losing weight should be something that fits comfortably into the rest of your life and something that you enjoy.