Belly Fat Loser

Is vitamin D trhe cure all of the coming decade? It's kind of early to tell yet, but the latest research is very promising. The D may be good for everything from cancer to diabetes, and yes it might even help you scrape off that extra fat you've been a' totin'.

What are the main vitamin D deficiency symptoms? Can a vitamin D deficiency really make you gain weight or feel generally bad, compared to someone who is getting plenty of vitamin D? Fro that matter, what is the recommended amount of Vitamin D you should take every day, and is that really the amount you should be taking for maximum results? With more evidence coming out seemingly every day about the hazards of vitamin D deficiency, and the powerful benefits of proper levels, this vitamin that many people get in primarily their daily glass of milk can no longer be ignored.

Okay, if you live in Arizona, Florida, or So. Cal, you probably don’t need to read this, because vitamin D is made in the body through sun exposure. On second thought, it’s probably a great idea for everyone. If you’re in Seattle, Glasgow, or Anchorage, you may want to read it twice. That’s because one of the body’s primary mechanisms for getting Vitamin D is through sunlight exposure. In fact, Russian kids living in the arctic used to go through UVB lamp treatments back in the ’60′s so that they could increase their Vitamin D levels. They had great tans, too!

What Does Vitamin D Do?
Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in the gut and maintains adequate serum calcium and phosphate concentrations to enable normal mineralization of bone and to prevent hypocalcemic tetany. It’s also used for bone growth and bone repair by osteoblasts and osteoclasts. The goodness doesn’t stop there, however. “D” also plays a vital role in the modulation of cell growth, neuromuscular and immune function, and fighting inflammation.

One thing about Vitamin D is that your body has no use for it in it’s natural form. Whether it enters your body or is produced by it, it must go through 2 separate hydroxylations in the body for activation. These happen first in the liver, and next in the kidneys. After these processes, it’s ready to go do it’s stuff.

Who is Vitamin D Deficient?
The answer: nearly everyone! According to a published 2009 study performed at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and astounding 77% of Americans do not get enough of this important nutrient in their daily diets without supplementation. For some unfathomable reason, African-Americans fare much worse than average on this score. Nearly 97% of them fall into the “You need more vitamin D” category.

What symptoms Can You Expect if you’re Deficient in Vitamin D?
Good question, and the answer is broader than you might expect. One of the main symptoms of a general vitamin deficiency is poor overall mood. Although your mind probably doesn’t jump to Vitamin D when you think “mood enhancement”, recent research has uncovered that it is one of the vitamin’s main contributions. If your significant other is contemplating a new wing on the house, just to keep you at a safe distance, you might be vitamin D deficient.

Metabolic syndrome, that down-in-the-dumps feeling you get when it’s been a few weeks too long since you’ve seen any real sunlight, may be caused by more than simply a desire to see the good, ole’ Sol again. Some 2010 research, conducted as part of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, concluded that test subjects who received inadequate vitamin D exhibited all the classic symptoms of the disorder.

It Can Go Beyond Just Feeling a Bit Sub-Par
You’ll have bigger problems than just feeling a bit lackadaisical, if your levels aren’t brought up. Scientists are now discovering that low vitamin D can contribute to cardio-vascular disease, cancer, and cognition problems. Youngsters can also develop asthma due to low levels.

Diabetes, Too?
Now researchers are also tying low vitamin D levels to diabetes and glucose intolerance. Thankfully, some of them think that there may be some hope for treating diabetes with vitamin D therapies. The Pacific Northwest Diabetes Research Institute (PDRI)  is one of 4 research institutions around the world that are part of a research project to investigate environmental risk factors associated with Type 1 (Juvenile onset) diabetes. A part of the study is a randomized, controlled trial to test directly how vitamin D supplements influence diabetic tendencies in children.

An English study in 2008 revealed that ultra high vitamin D doses, in the range of 5,000IU, cut childrens’ risk of developing Type 1 diabetes by about 30%, hardly inconsequential. Note that that’s just a wee bit more than the average recommendation of 200 – 600 IU, depending on your age.

Thinking that some kind of treatment or cure for diabetes might come out of vitamin D research makes me pretty damn excited, since my young daughter has diabetes.

In kids, Rickets and osteomalacia are the classical vitamin D deficiency diseases. With rickets affected kids, vitamin D deficiency causes a disease which leads to a failure of bone tissue to properly mineralize. When this happens, it leaves the poor tykes’ bones a bit Al Dente, and causes skeletal deformations. Many people think that predominantly childhood diseases like this are the extent of low vitamin D levels, but unfortunately, as I laid out above, Low-D (sounds like a rapper from the Bronx) can cause serious problems in adults, too.

Can Vitamin D Help Me Lose Weight?
Ah, the real reason that I got into the whole vitamin D discussion in the first place; weight loss. Sorry to make you wait. Does it , or can it help on this score? It seems to help with so many other things, why not this, too. Actually, the link between weight loss and vitamin D levels may be even stronger than you would have probably imagined. A 2009 study on the subject showed that vitamin D levels were actually an extremely effective predictor of who would lose weight on a diet. No, it’s true!

The study, by Shalamar Sibley et al, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota showed that you can almost tell how much weight someone would lose on their diet by measuring their vitamin D levels at the beginning. He determined that there is a direct correlation between those levels and how many pounds you lose.

Blood vitamin D levels are measured in ng/mL. For every 1 of those higher  the subject’s levels (measuring a precursor to vitamin D) were at the start of their diets, they lost another ½ a pound. Even better, the weight loss was of the right kind. The higher the vitamin D levels at the start of their diets, the higher percentage of the weight lost was belly fat!

What the UM study could not answer was whether or not the Vitamin D directly caused the weight loss.

How Much Vitamin D Do You Need Each Day?
That depends on who you ask. According to the federal government, you need about . On the other hand, the Institute of Medicine now recommends vitamin D supplement levels as follows:
200  IU/d from birth to 50 years of age
400 IU/d for adults aged 51 to 70 years
600 IU/d for adults 71 years or older

Some health professionals recommend far higher levels to ensure you get the maximum benefits, however, as was noted in the above diabetes study. I found that levels around 5,000IU or even higher have been touted by various experts, in addition to those in the English study on small children. In fact, one study of chronic fatigue sufferers done back in 2000 actually used 50,000IU a day for 6 weeks, but you know what? The formerly wheelchair bound patients actually walked at the end of the 6weeks! Halleluiah, I can walk!

Seriously though, the scientific community is just beginning to uncover the power of this vitamin you probably get mostly from your milk.

What Foods Can I Eat to Get Vitamin D?
There are plenty of rich vitamin D sources out there: fish and fish oils, egg yolks, cheese, and that old childhood favorite, beef liver.  You may have noticed a distinct lack of plant based sources on that list. Your powers of observation have not failed you. If you’ve forsaken the goodness of animal carcass derived fare for some down home, grown at the local farm type of diet, you’ll probably want to grab some vitamin D supplementation on your next trip to Whole Foods.

If you’d like to enjoy the many benefits scientists are discovering that go with vitamin D supplementation, make sure you take the right kind. Remember, it has to be properly broken down before your body can use it. You need the D-3 variety. What’s D3? The D-3 form of vitamin D is the kind that your body makes form sunlight or animal derived, as opposed to D-2, which is the kind made from plants. Why does it matter?

D-2 is broken down by your body, and some of the resultant compounds are not altogether good for you. This is especially true at the dosages recommended by some of the leading vitamin D therapy proponents. Taking 10,000IU of the wrong kind could lead to trouble in a hurry. It is actually toxic in such high doses.

Here is a great Vitamin D-3 supplement from Vitamin Shoppe. You can waste the gas driving to one of their local stores, or pick it from their web site without going anywhere.  Click on the link below to go there.

Hero Nutritionals Slice Of Life Vitamin D-3 1000 – 60 Gummies – Vitamin D

For a nice change up that will make your muscle start to grow again, throw in a few sets of eccentric reps. Now you know what's good for you!

Eccentric reps can be a great way to increase your results or break through a troubling (is there any other kind?) plateau. You always do eccentric reps when you’re lifting, because it’s merely the lowering phase of any lift. The key is to use them to your advantage once in a while.

To effectively perform an eccentric rep, you can use one of a couple of techniques. Just lift as you always do, but for the eccentric phase of the movement, slow way down, so the eccentric phase takes 3 – 4 times longer than the concentric phase.

The second way to get some more value form the eccentric phase is to specifically set out to do eccentric reps form the get go. Thoroughly warm up, then, to use the bench press as an example, load the bar with very close to your max weight for the lift. USE A SPOTTER FOR THIS, PLEASE! Then lower the weight slowly to your chest. Have the spotter help you raise it, then fight it on the way down again. DO about 5 or 6 reps like this. You can even use more than your max, but you’d better really trust your spotter , not that you shouldn’t anyway.

Doing some eccentric reps is a great way to change up your workout and add some much needed progress to your lifts. Enjoy! If you’ve used these in the past or are now, drop me a comment and let me know how they work for you. Thanks!

Starting tennis young is a great way to instill a love for the game and physical fitness. One ddrawback is that you can be all used up by the time you're 30. One of the problems you could easily face at some point is tennis elbow. It this ever strikes you, here is a treatment regimen to help.

Tennis is a fantastic sport, and one you can play well into your golden years, unlike many other sports that can help keep you inn shape. Depending on how you play, it is a great way to stay in fit without worrying too much about injury.

One common affliction among tennis players everywhere though, is tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis ), a maddening pain that can take much of the fun out of a few hard sets. In more serious cases, it can keep you off the court altogether. If it affects you, here is a tennis elbow treatment that can help alleviate the pain and get you back on the court again.

What is Tennis Elbow?
Although it’s called tennis elbow, it is not confined to tennis players. In fact, you can get it from playing other sports as well. Golf, fencing racquetball, and other sports that require a swinging motion can bring on the condition. No matter how you get it though, the results are basically the same. You feel a radiating pain that starts at the elbow and travels down toward your wrist. It typically occurs on the outside of the elbow.

It is caused by tendon degeneration brought on by repetitive motion. Although many people think it is tendonitis, it is actually different. Tendonitis is inflammation of the tendons. Tennis elbow, although it is tendon related, is caused by micro-fractures in the tendons that are incompletely healed whereas tendonitis is more of a tendon inflammation.

What to Do About Tennis Elbow
Knowing about it fine, but finding an effective tennis elbow treatment is more important. I’ve had it, and it’s certainly no picnic. The first thing to do is have someone who knows their stuff look at your swing to make sure it’s not a mechanical problem that’s bringing you down. Often, a minor modification to how you’re swinging your racquet can make all the difference. This is important, because if your swing is causing the problem, nothing else you do will fix it permanently. Soon you’ll be back at square one.

RICE – Not the Kind From Your Wedding, Either
As with many other common sports injuries, the RICE regimen is the first course of action. RICE stands for Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. Stop playing for a week or two. I know, for a committed (crazy) tennis player, that can be worse than any pain they’re experiencing, but unless you want to keep tearing up your arm, it’s a plunge you’re going to have to take.

Next, get some ice on it STAT to lessen the pain and inflammation. Much if the pain is caused by blood and fluids pressing against nerves inside your arm. The ice will slow any bleeding caused by the injury. Don’t see any blood? Well, you’re not going to. It’s caused by micro-tears in the tissue, and it’s all internal. It’s deep enough that you’re probably not going to detect any evidence of it at all.

For much the same reason as ice, Compression and Elevation are prescribed. The pressure keeps the swelling down, and swelling retards healing. Be careful that you don’t go overboard here. If you use a bandage or other compression technique, making it too tight will cut off the circulation which can have very unfortunate consequences. That arm on the ground could be yours…

Elevation is pretty self explanatory. Keep your arm higher than your shoulder for a day or two after you first notice the onset of pain. Hat will also help lessen any swelling or inflammation, and promote healing.

Get a Grip!
If you got it from tennis, the first step is to ensure that you’re using the right racket, and that it’s properly set up for you. Check the grip size. A seemingly microscopic change can make a big difference. Grip sizes measure between 4” and 4-7/8”. That doesn’t seem like much, but that 7/8 of an inch can make all the difference. Most important when tennis elbow is concerned is to make sure the grip isn’t too small.

To find the right grip size for you hand, place your hand out, palm facing up. Notice the three lines across your palm. Take a measurement from your middle crease straight up to the end of your ring finger. That is the correct measurement. If you are between exact eighth measurements, go the size smaller and add an overwrap to make up the difference.

Tension Armache?
The next thing to check is the string tension. Too much can contribute to the shock your elbow feels when you strike the ball. Backing off on the tension a few pounds can lessen the shock your arm experiences, and help cure your problems.

You’ll give up some control by lessening the string tension, but you’ll actually gain a bit of power. As with grip sizing, a little change can go a long way. Dropping the tension only 3 – 5 lbs can really help your poor, aching arm, and you may barely notice (on the other hand, your game may really go to hell) how it affects your hitting. Besides, you can usually compensate for the decreased control and more “pop” you’re getting off your racket. It may take a while to regain your form, but your arm will certainly thank you for the change.

Off Balance? – No, Not You
Another racket related thing to check is the balance. Check to see that the racket you’re using is neutral or head light. Using a very head heavy racquet can add significantly to the damage. Going lighter in the head will help reduce the tendon strain you’re experiencing.

Get Back to Work
There are some great exercises to help rehab your arm. Exercising will also build strength; important not only to prevent the problem in the future, but to maintain strength in your arm when you’re recovering and not playing.

First on the agenda is stretching. Simply hold your arm out straight and grab the fingers of your injured arm with your other hand. Gently pull your fingers back toward your body. That will stretch your muscles, tendons, and ligaments, improving flexibility and lessening the possibility you’ll re-injure it in the future. Do these stretches both palm up and palm down.

Next, there are some strengthening exercises to do. Use very lightweight (1 – 5 lbs) dumbbells for most of these. You’ll add more weight later, so don’t try and show ho much weight you can use now. Grab a dumbbell, then put your arm on a table, palm up , with your hand and wrist hanging over the edge. Let the weight droop until your hand is bent back, then slowly curl your wrist up, keeping your forearm firmly against the table. Do 15 of these. Wait a minute, then flip your hand over so it’s palm down and do another 15 reps. Start out only doing one set of each, then work your way up to 3 sets of each.

Get Back to Where You Once Belonged
One common problem with avid tennis players is that their addiction prevents them from taking it easy. They have to play for hours, 5 – 7 days a week. Although that may sure keep the extra fat at bay and your game at a high level, it does nothing to help an elbow heal. Despite the compelling draw of the tennis court, easing back into it is vital to prevent an injury recurrence. Start out playing only 15 – 20 minutes, and because the backhand motion is more likely to cause injury, stick to the forehand only at first. I know, it sucks!

After a week, you can double your playing time, but again, forehand only. By now, your backhand will be growing pretty stale.  Don’t worry, it comes back fast. I’m coming off an Achilles injury and I was pretty  surprised at just how fast I regained my backhand, even though I hadn’t really hit for about a month. The third week, you can add in some backhand, but keep it to about 20% of your overall swings, and keep both hands on the racket at all times when you’re hitting backhand shots. Oh, and NO SERVES YET!

By the forth week, you can ease up to about 45 minutes to an hour of play, but still no serves for a while. You can add in one handed backhands now, though. Week five is pretty much a copy of week four, but you can try a few serves just to see if it has completely deserted you.

Week six brings with it even more playing time; however much you want, as a matter of fact. Add in substantial serving time if you’d like. After a week of that, you’ll be ready to jump back in with both feet, and play as hard as you want. If you short cut this process, there’s a fine chance you’ll find yourself back at the beginning in short order. If you love to climb that mountain over and over again, that’s between you and your arm.

I always like plenty of activity to help stay fit and burn off body fat. Tennis is a great one, because it’s fun enough that you get your cardio without dieing of boredom. You also find some great friends and if you live in an area with nice weather, it’s affordable too, since you can play outside on public courts for free. There are some drawbacks however, and tennis elbow can be one of them. If you’ve managed to get yourself a case of it, these tennis elbow treatments can have you back on the court in short order.

Belly Fat, is it really the scrouge of modern society? Well, it is a hell of an issue, but probably hasn;t risen to societal scrouge status just yet. It is a growing problem, however. Here is a major cause and how you can help fight it.

Have you been trying to get rid of that last bit of belly fat with far less success than you’d expect, given your efforts? Doing everything right, according to what “they” say, but it still persists; that last 5, 10, or 20lbs right down there? DO your kids jokingly call you “muffin top”, no matter how you try and lose your fat? Well, stop getting all worked up, there may be a reason for it that goes beyond exercise and diet, and getting all worked up may actually be at the root of your problem.

Sure, you’ve been told that fat loss all comes down to the big two body sculpting tools. No, I’m not referring to scalpel and suction, either. It’s diet and exercise, but what happens when, despite your best efforts, those two seem to be unable to work their magic any longer? It’s time to dig deeper, and see what’s really holding you back.

It seems no matter who you ask, there’s one constant about modern life; stress. Busy schedules, financial pressures, medical problems of yourself and loved ones, and the overall pace of life all contribute to the evil force from the dark side. If you’ve managed to avoid getting stressed out with everything going on these days, more power to you, but you’re in the minority.

The Belly Fat Connection

Medical science has been looking into stress as a health risk for some time now, and the more they find, the worse this little devil sounds. It appears that in addition to stress’s direct health effects, it can also be a major contributor to increased body fat, especially visceral fat, that insidious layer of lipids packed tight around your internal organs. This has been recently proven to cause or directly contribute to all manner of health problems, including some biggies like heart disease, strokes, and diabetes. Worse, it does so out of all proportion to its presence. Basically, a little goes a long way, the wrong way.

So, why does stress contribute to belly fat and how can it sabotage your best efforts to defeat fat? Basically, it comes down to one thing, a little hormone we like to call cortisol. Cortisol is a powerful hormone secreted by your adrenal gland. In a perfect world, you’d never need it. Back before the pyramids were built, the body used cortisol to get you the heck out of there when you got jumped by bears and cougars. Unless you hang on the mean streets of Chicago, there’s far less need for it today.

The problem is that it ramps you up for action, and not the kind you’re after on Saturday night, either. Among other things, it’s designed to keep you alive by turning you into Usain Bolt or Mauricio Rua should the situation demand it. To achieve that end it does 3 primary things to your body, and when you discover what they are, you’ll see why it’s so adept at helping you pack on the belly fat, too.

Cortisol Effects:
–    Increases blood sugar – Any time your blood sugar increases, insulin is sure to follow. Unfortunately, that is one of the things that fat loves, because your body is predisposed to store fat when insulin levels are high.
–    Increases insulin resistance
–    Increases catabolism, destroying muscle tissue, or undermining it’s growth.
–    Increases appetite

There are many other cortisol inspired effects, such as decreased immune response, that I’m not going to discuss here, because they don’t directly pertain to fat loss or gain.

If you’ve been trying to lose fat, only to feel like you’re pissing in the wind, you’re probably under a chronic stress load. In response, your adrenal gland secretes cortisol, and because you’re chronically stressed to some degree, your levels never return to normal. The key is to destress (not distress, that’s the condition you’re trying to avoid) and give your hormones a break for a change. How can you do that? After all, just turning it all of is far easier said than done. There are just too many things going on in the average person’s life for that.

Anti- Stress Strategies
So, if you can’t turn it off, how can you minimize it, so that you can get back to the fat loss business? There are two effective strategies here, and you’ll probably want to incorporate them both to some degree.

The first is stress avoidance. After all, if you don’t get stressed out in the first place, you won’t have to de-stress. Obviously, you want to avoid situations that elicit a stress response, especially the big ones, because they do more damage and take longer to recover from. Here are some ways you can help fight stress by heading it off at the pass:

If you commute through heavy traffic every day, you know that’s just stress waiting to happen, don’t you? Try to shift your commute time or route so that you miss the peak traffic volumes. About 10 years ago, I began to leave for work at 5:00am instead of 6:00am. What a revelation! It was so much more relaxing driving when there are fewer cars on the road. I got to work in 20 minutes instead of an hour, too. That means I went from barely making it on time, to arriving over an hour and a half early!

As an added bonus, I saved a ton of fuel and cash because there was less time spent in stop and go, or stop and slow traffic, so I had more money to play with. I got to answer my emails in peace, and was all caught up when everyone else arrived at 7:00. That led to even less stress. All in all it was a great choice, and for me the trade of that for having to leave an hour earlier was well worth it. Maybe you would rather roll around in a  broken glass and vinegar bath than sacrifice an extra hour of sleep at the altar of stress management, but I used to feel the same way, and I can tell you that it’s definitely worth a look. Let’s see, 20 easy minutes vs. 60 stuck in traffic hell minutes.

As far too many people can attest, the commute is just the beginning. Once you arrive at the job you’re probably all too lucky to have these days, the stress really begins in earnest. Pressure to meet goals, complete projects on time, finish all those reports that were supposed to be on your boss’s desk yesterday, and interact with co-workers, who may or may not be a picnic to deal with, can all add to the mountain of stress you’re under.

How much does workplace stress contribute to that extra jelly roll around the ole midsection? According to a 2010 study from the University of Rochester’s medical department on 2,782 individuals, not only can workplace related stress make you fat, it also boosts the likelihood you’ll be hit with depression, cardiovascular disease, or anxiety attacks. One way that workplace stress takes it’s toll on your belly is that it kills much of your motivation to exercise. According to lead study author, researcher Diana Fernandez, all that pressure you’re facing at work makes it all too likely that when you leave work you’re not going to the gym, but home to sit on the couch and watch TV.

That’s a shame really, because vigorous exercise is one of the best ways to destress after facing a stressful situation, which for many people is simply their daily life at a job they’re not all to thrilled to be at, but can’t afford to give up. The study actually said as much, and pointed to exercise as a key to facing down stress.

Another way the Rochester study found  that workplace stress affects weight gain is that it can often lead to poor quality sleep. As I’ve posted on before, scientists have found direct correlations between poor sleep and fat gain. This is one more study that adds weight to that link.

Here’s another great tip: Take 10 minutes out in the middle of the day and destress. Sure, you think you can’t find the time, but the 10 minutes will more than likely be made up by greater efficiency. On top of that, you’ll feel better and be a much nicer person to be around. Just how are you supposed to de-stress in the 10 minutes?

There are plenty of ways, including: listening to relaxing music in a quiet room, vigorous exercising, sex (another benefit of working from home), breathing exercises, writing, meditation, listening to comedy, and doing yoga. Whatever you choose, try and pick your destress time immediately after your most stressed out time of the day, if you have one. Many of these stress relief techniques require some practice before they’re really effective, but if you put in the time, they’ll deliver for you.

A recent Wake Forest University study revealed that it’s not only humans that demonstrate a direct link between stress and visceral fat. They completed a study using monkeys, and found that they showed a similar pattern of stress induced fat gain. Worse, CT scans showed that virtually of the fat gain was of the visceral (belly fat to you and me) variety.

Why does this suck? Because belly fat isn’t like other fat. It is active, meaning that instead of merely sitting there, soaking up all the extra calories you can throw at it, belly fat is active. It actually strives to preserve itself through various mechanisms that affect your metabolism. One of the most powerful is hormone release that alter how your body metabolize carbohydrates. Yes, what you always suspected  is true; your fat really is fighting against you when you try to get rid of it.

It’s kind of a catch 22 when it comes to workplace related stress. Financial problems bring their own brand of stress, and it is a powerful one to be sure. Earn less money and have more stress, in many cases. So there is stress inducing pressure on many levels when it comes to workplace stress. It’s the “If I could only bring home that big bonus” syndrome, in which you get one stress variety by trying to avoid another.

Back in 2000 a Yale study found that even women who were not predisposed to be overweight could gain fat due to stress. In fact, lead investigator on the study, Elissa S. Epel, Ph.D. said this of the research results she discovered while at Yale’s psychology department: “Greater exposure to life stress or psychological vulnerability to stress may explain their enhanced cortisol reactivity. In turn, their cortisol exposure may have led them to accumulate greater abdominal fat.”

The Yale study also determined that stress not only has an impact fat gain, but on fat distribution. It can shift fat gain from subcutaneous fat (the more benign kind), to a larger percentage of visceral fat (the bad kind). It points to stress related hormones such as cortisol as primary reasons for this.

To check out more on how hormones such as cortisol can help make you fat, and more importantly, what you can do to stop them, check out my post on cortisol and leptin from a few months ago.

If you have any ways that you’ve used to combat stress, please leave a comment. It could really help someone. I and the other readers would love to hear about them.

Struggling through your weight loss program, be it diet, exercise or a combination of the two, can be trying. These tips wil help give your self confidence a shot in the arm and keep you going.

Starting and maintaining a weight loss program can be discouraging at times. It is hard to stay positive when you are not seeing immediate results and must wait for your consistency to pay off. It is also hard not to get too caught up in your daily requirements. You must remember to have a life outside your diet. You must remember to nourish your soul outside of your restrictions. Keeping your self confidence high will result in better diet results. Follow these suggestions to see that happen.

You Are Not Your Weight
Although it is a healthy goal to be at an optimum weight, you need not define yourself by your size. You are a person of worth and have many talents that have nothing to do with your dress size. Always remember that your worth is not measured by your scale. You are of worth because of who you are.

Take care of your Skin
When you look in the mirror–something that you’ll find yourself doing more often while trying to lose weight–you want to be happy with what you see. It may be time to start using anti aging skin products that will help erase tired lines and puffy circles. Drinking your daily quota of water will also do wonders for your skin.

Nourish your Mind
No one wants to be a single faceted character that is only concerned with shrinking their waist. Be a diverse individual by reading literature, learning a new skill and sharing what you know. You will build your self confidence as you are trying to lose weight which will make it easier to stick to your goals and get through the tough times.

Find a Buddy
Sharing your accomplishments with someone who is genuinely excited for you will help you feel good about your efforts. Even if the buddy is not someone who is exercising with you, they can be the person you share your results with. Be sure it is someone that will cheer you on when you are discouraged and someone that will express their pride when you stick to it.

Allow for Mistakes
Don’t get overly discouraged when you mess up. Tell yourself from the beginning that you might give in to temptation from time to time. Trying to avoid them all may be a recipe for failure from the outset. If you happen to miss a day of exercise simply resolve to do better and do not dwell on it.

The preceding was a guest post by Lance Williams.

The Braichioradialis, highlighted here, is only one of the muscles in your lower arm that you'll be building. Fortunately the others respond very well to a small bit of training too. You can get pretty impressive gains is a relatively short time if you do only a few sets, a couple of times a week.

There’s no question about it, a well developed set of forearms projects an air of strength, but there’s far more to building a nice set of lower guns than giving the crusty, old sailor a run for his money. Forearm exercises that build strength in your lower arms have applications in many sports and greatly assist you in performing other lifts. In light of this, finding the best forearm exercise equipment to use when building said muscles is quite important.

Your forearms are more than simply a way to display your impressive vascularity when wearing a short sleeved shirt. Since one of their main functions is powering your grip, performance in sports that rely on your ability to grab and hold tight to objects can be significantly improved by embarking on a forearm development program. Gymnastics, rock climbing, power lifting, martial arts, pole vaulting, rowing, and motocross are all examples of sports that rely significantly on your ability to not let go until  the appropriate time. I’m sure there are others, as well.

What Equipment to Use?
The simplest piece of gear, and one you can make yourself in minutes for a few pennies is simply a 1′ long, 1-1/2” diameter wooden dowel with a weighted rope hanging from the middle of it. You just grasp each side of the dowel and roll up the rope, bringing the weight with it. Add more weight to increase the difficulty. Ask anyone who’s done this about the efficacy of such a movement. It works! You can hit Home Depot and grab the necessary materials to build one of these yourself for about $3.00.

Another old standby for increasing your Popeye factor is the ubiquitous spring powered grab handles. At one time you couldn’t venture into a gym or almost anyone’s home without running into one of these things. You know it well, the plastic handles, about 2 inches apart, with a curlique spring at the top. These too are effective for increasing your forearm strength and stamina. The downside is that the resistance can’t be changed to accommodate your increasing strength. After a while, you’ll reach the point where you do so many of these things that it almost becomes pointless to continue.

A standard, Olympic barbel is also a mighty fine piece of forearm building gear. It, too is very simple to use. With the bar on standards about waist high, rack up some weight and back up to the bar. Grasp it from behind (makes sense, as you backed up to it), with your palms facing away from you and your fingers partially extended. Roll your fingers up, bringing the bar up with it, then curl up your wrists so you lift the weight as far as possible. Do about 10 – 12 reps. You will feel these, guaranteed!

Another great way to use a barbell to develop impressive forearms is with a forward wrist curl. Start with a standard, 45lb barbell. Grasp it with your palms facing down. Put your forearms arms parallel to each other out in front of you length-ways on a bench, so that your hands are hanging over the edge. Let your hands droop, then raise the bar, being careful not to let your forearms leave the bench. Again, do 10 – 12 reps. It’s guaranteed to do the trick!

The great thing about forearm development is that you can do it with the most basic kinds of equipment. There’s no need for expensive, high-zoot machines that would make your Air Force pilot brother jealous. Stick to the basics, and you’ll get pretty amazing results in a very short period of time. My favorites are the barbell exercises. You can do these with dumbbells also, if you have to. Let me know how it works!

There's no one on the field now, but it feels like everyone's still inside your head, screaming and pounding. Here's what to do to help fight back against a Superbowl sized hangover.

So, you spent the better part of yesterday either watching the Packers beat the Steelers in Superbowl 45 or preparing for it. If you’re like most people, much of that preparation consisted of drinking copious quantities of beer, loading up on piles of appetizers, or both. You probably feel like crap, or like you gained about ten pounds now; or again, possibly both.

What can you do to get back to normal after a day of abusing your body in the name of fine festivities? After all, it’s not everyday that you wake up feeling like you do now, and it would be kind of nice to get back to normal as fast as possible.

Before the Party Starts….
There are some choices you can make before the party starts that will help you keep the bad feelings away. I know it’s too late for that now, but you can use this to fight back next time. One important thing to control is the kind of beverages you drink. If you’re going to be drinking alcohol, and most likely, you are on a day like the Superbowl, the kind of alcohol you drink can make all the difference.

Actual University studies have been done on the subject, and I’m not talking about that time you and your frat brothers lined up 10 shots of vodka and 10 beers, then had one brother drink the vodka and another the beer to see which of you felt worse the next morning.

No, an actual Ivy League institution, Brown University, really used lab time to discover which type of alcohol caused a worse hangover. The researchers discovered that, although the different kinds of alcohol resulted in the same level of cerebral impairment, heavily drinking test subjects reported that their hangovers were milder when drinking vodka than for other types of alcohol, such as bourbon.

Why does vodka cause a mellower hangover than other types of alcohol? One word; congeners. Fermentation causes toxic byproducts called congeners. Vodka has a lower quantity of these than other kinds of alcoholic beverages. So, that’s how the Russians do it! According to a recent Time Magazine article, “The average Russian drinks 4.75 gal. (18 L) of pure alcohol a year, mostly in the form of vodka.” The article also noted that Russian adults drink more alcohol than any other nation in the world, prompting the government to institute a rather dramatic liquor tax increase on January 1st of this year….and they don’t even watch the Superbowl over there.

So, what can you do if you’re afflicted with the pounding head, nausea, and sweating associated with a Superbowl sized hangover?

Rest –
Rest is key to recovery not only for sore muscles, but also after a day of excess food and drink. Sadly, your boss probably won’t believe you if you call in sick today, mostly because the Monday after the Superbowl is traditionally one of the highest absenteeism days all year. Go figure….

The smart ones prearrange for the day off, but if that wasn’t in the program this time, you better drag your sorry self out of bed and jump in the shower. It’s amazing that after drinking so much you can be dehydrated, but that’s one of the main reasons that you feel so bad; lack of liquid in your cells. You’ll get the most benefit from fighting this by drinking plenty of water before hitting the rack, but on any case, it’s better late than never, so grab a few bottles of cool, clear water and drink them throughout the day.

Vitamins -
Vitamin depletion is another primary reason that your body’s temple feels desecrated, so take a powerful vitamin supplement. Again, this is better if you do before bed, but better late than never. I like Emergen-C’s immune booster drinks, but you can use just about anything that strikes your fancy. One of the most important vitamins when combating a hangover are the B’s, and these supplements have good amounts of B vitamins, but a real B-vitamin supplement will really help you battle back from near oblivion even more effectively. Large doses of B6 and B12 have been found the most effective for this. Niacin is also thought to be effective as a way to help along the detox procedure.

What to Eat –
Although you may have eaten enough yesterday for about 3 days, eating eggs first thing in the morning will help, because eggs contain a protein called albumin and building block called Cysteine that are both thought to be beneficial in combating hangover effects.

Fructose is often said to help fight hangovers, and a 1976 Finish study discovered that, while “fructose significantly inhibited the metabolic alterations induced by ethanol “, it did not change the test subject’s perceptions of their hangovers. In other words, it may help you recover, but it won’t help you feel like you’re recovering.

Aspirin, Tylenol, Ibuprofen…Look Before You Leap
What do most people do in the morning? Grab the pain reliever, right? While that may be a great idea for aspirin, or Ibuprofen, it might not be the right thing to do when it comes to the other common pain reliever. It is well known that Acetaminophen can lead to liver damage , and this effect is intensified when combined with alcohol. In fact, acetaminophen can cause severe liver damage when combined with alcohol, even the first time you mix the two, so don’t do it! The pain reliever is found in Excedrin®, Midol®, NyQuil®, Sudafed®, and most commonly, Tylenol® . “Acetaminophen is the most common drug cause of acute liver failure,” according to Dr,Jerrold Leikin, MD, Director of Medical Toxicology for North Shore University Health System . All in all, stay away from it when or within a few days after drinking.

Exercise – But Drink plenty of Water While You Do
Last but not least, hit the gym for a hard workout. That helps you take you mind off things,a dn sweat the toxins out of your body. Make sure that you really hydrate yourself during this though, as your body is already more dehydrated than usual, and sweating will only make it worse.

If you spent yesterday really enjoying yourself, but are wondering today if could have possibly have been worth it, that’s a question only you can answer. However, there are things you can do that can help you feel like your old self once again.

Your exercise weight loss plan is important to reach your weight loss targets as fast as possible. Including some cross country interval training, like this guy's doing, is a great idea.

The proper workout weight loss strategy is one of the key ingredients to losing weight and keeping it off, yet it’s surprising how difficult it is to find anyone with a coherent strategy underpinning their time in the gym, riding the bike, or on the court. Truth be told, the “just get out there and do it” plan can be pretty effective for many people, but if losing weigh is your primary goal, wouldn’t you rather do it faster, and with less effort? That’s where a real, strategic, weight loss plan comes into play.

It’s true that activity of any kind, whether it’s gardening, cleaning your house, or doing cleans in the gym can be used to lose weight. If you’re actually heading to the gym or hopping on your bike every day with the express intention of losing weight, there’s probably at least a part of you that can’t wait for it to be over. To keep that part of you happy, you need to either tell it to just shut up, or you need to find a faster workout that will get you the fat burning results you need.

There are different workouts for different purposes, but there are also different workouts for different people. What works best for Bill doesn’t necessarily give Jon the best results, and what Mary swears by, Renee’ can do like mad without dropping an ounce. You also have to take into account your injury history. For example, if you’ve got more titanium in your knee than they used to build the space shuttle, maybe singles tennis is something you should stay away from.

Forming an effective weight loss workout strategy requires that you take the various factors into account that influence the outcome. Remember that much of your fat loss will be determined by your diet, but for now we’ll just look at the exercise component of the equation. There are several things for you to consider when formulating your strategy:

What Are Your Goals, Really?
How much weight are your trying to lose, and how fast would you like to lose it? Of course your answer is “All the extra I’m carrying around, and as fast as possible.” That’s great, but you need quantifiable goals. That way you can set targets to reach for and track, which is a very effective weight loss technique you can begin using right now. It doesn’t hurt or cost anything.

To really determine exactly how much weight you can shoot for with any precision, it is a good idea to get your body fat level tested. That way you’ll know how much fat you have to lose, which is more beneficial than just having a target weight loss number. Because different people’s muscle mass varies so widely, even among folks the same height, it is easier to know where you stand if you look at the actual percentage of your body that is fat.

To get an idea of what I’m talking about, when I weighed 225lbs at 6’2, I was about the same size as New Orleans Saints

You'll not find too much better for losing weight than heavy weight training, if you do it correctly, so add some of that to your plan, for sure.

linebacker Jonathan Casillas, who I can assure you looks much different (better) than I did at that height and weight. If you choose your goals based on a body fat test, you’ll know exactly what to shoot for.

The time frame you’re working with is an important goal also. Need to lose 30lbs for your 20-year reunion this summer to impress the one who got away? Maybe you have much more weight to lose, and no real schedule to stick to. In that case, you can put yourself on one. Break your goals down into manageable chunks; little mini goals that will end up with you reaching your ultimate goal. That makes sure they’re achievable, and it gives you a sense of accomplishment when you reach them. It will strengthen your motivation and driving you forward to your next mini goal.

Personal History – When you’ve determined your goals you can start to develop a workout strategy for reaching them. One of the first things you have to examine is your personal history, combined your likes and dislikes. Ultimately, you’d like to have your strategy fit perfectly within them and accomplish your goals too.

Rather pull out your fingernails with rusty pliers than run farther than from your car to Starbucks front door? That’s good to know, because if you try to incorporate running as a core component of your weight loss workout eventually one of two things will happen; you’ll either grow to love running (not bloody likely), or you’ll endure it for a while and then quit, never to return. I’m a strong proponent of making workouts fun, so you stay with them.

Trust me, going to do something fun is much more likely to be repeated than taking another trip to the torture chamber. Although a few lucky individuals with willpowers of steel can buck this rule, they’re definitely the exception to it.

Although progress is a powerful motivator, a fun workout quickly becomes part of your lifestyle, rather than a chore. Once it takes a place as part of your lifestyle, you’re much less likely to let it go.

What’s Been Broken?
Another determining factor in your choice is your injury history. As I mentioned above, it’s important to listen to what your body and your orthopedist are telling you when it comes to designing a workout you can live with for a long time. If you’ve got 3 bad knees, find activities and exercises that aren’t likely to re-injure them, or make you reach for the Ibprofen. Hack squats out, swimming in. Trade in bump skiing for a bit of sightseeing on some tele boards. You get the picture. Again, make it fun, but keep in mind what your body’s been through already.

Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Something Old ,Something New…..
Try something new when you’re trying to develop a long term plan. You may find something you really like. I

Planning on attending a class a couple of times a week can work wonders....if it's the right kind of class. An hour of aerobics is okay, but pillates or kickboxing cardio is a better choice.

discovered tennis about 18 months ago, and cardio has never been easier or more fun, plus it’s great for the leg muscles, although the same cannot be said for the knees.

A New, Billion Dollar Business?
You should approach your fitness plan much like you would create a business plan for a new business. You’ll include your goals, progress markers, and the exercise schedule (days, specific exercises, and   durations / sets / reps) you need to do to reach your weight loss and fitness goals.

Much like a business plan, your weight loss exercise plan should be adaptable to meet changing conditions and progress. That way, if your progress is running above or below your goals, you can adapt your plan to compensate. Speaking of adjusting your plan………

All Mixed Up?
One training principle that’s actually been around for decades but has been receiving a ton of press lately is muscle confusion; the practice of constantly changing your exercise so your body has to continually adapt. This is a sound strategy, because the whole point of training is to precipitate an adaptive response to it. The more you can make your body adapt to an increasing load, the more progress you’ll make for a longer period of time.

This is a great thing to incorporate into your exercise plan. Planned randomization to your training can give you a couple of benefits. One is that you’re less likely to get bored from doing the same thing, over and over again, for months on end. The other benefit from mixing things up is the performance advantages you’ll get. You’ll build more muscle, so you’re metabolism will increase faster, and you’ll burn more calories even when you’re sitting on your behind watching those Matlock reruns.

Fail to Plan, Plan to???
There an old business axiom, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” This could have been written for weight loss too. While not planning is certainly no guarantee of failure, spending a half hour planning can make sure you succeed faster and with less effort,that’s definitely time well spent. Have you ever actually planned your workout strategy? Let me know in the comments….

Yes, crunches will tighten your abs, but despite the plethora of cool ab contraptions marketed on TV informercials, ab exercises won't do too much to help you lose weight. Instead, check out some of these cool tips......

If I told  you that you could lose 5, 10, 20, or 30 pounds this year, yet not diet, exercise, or spend more than a few minutes a day doing it, you’d be all over it, right? Well, it’s the new year; a time when millions of people have resolved to lose fat. Unfortunately, most of those  now resolute folks will have lost much of the will power to reach their goal of a newer, slimmer them before they rip open their first heart shaped box of chocolates next month. Here is how to lose belly fat with some tips that will have you losing fat, without doing the same old thing once again.

You know all the same, old song and dance: you have to burn more calories than you eat, you can’t out exercise a bad diet, don’t skip breakfast, eat more small meals, do more cardio, bla, bla, bla. The fact is that you probably know most of what there is to know about how to make that fat fall away from that belly you’re toting around. The problem is that it’s a heck of a lot easier said than done to keep up with what you need to do for the length of time you need to do it, right?

Health Clubs Do This, Because You Let Them….

A friend of mine is in management at a local health club that’s part of a large, national chain. He revealed an interesting thing to me the other day. He said that in December and January clubs intentionally oversell their club’s capacity even more than usual. Why? Because of every 100 members that join in January because they resolved to “lose weight this year”, only 12 will still attend the club at the end of February,  and only 2 will still attend by the end of March.

That means only 2% of well intentioned folk who join a fitness facility to lose weight even stick with a regular exercise program for 90 days! This, despite the fact that they’re still paying club membership fees for the length of their 12 month contracts. Doubtlessly they’re intending to get to the gym “tomorrow”, but we all know when tomorrow comes. That’s great for the clubs, who can continue to collect their money for the remaining 10 months, selling even more memberships all the while, but not so great for the folks who need to lose  weight.

That’s where these unusual tips come into play. They are some things that you can do that are a bit out of the ordinary, but very effective nonetheless. You can follow them all, cherry pick the best ones, or focus on your goal and completely change your life so that you’re living like an Olympic athlete. Any of those strategies will do the trick, but maybe it’s best to pick something that is a little easier to stick with, then add in some more powerful strategies when you start to taste success.

Fat Loss Tip #1 – Do the Easy Stuff First –
If I told  you that you could lose 5, 10, 20, or 30 pounds this year, yet not diet, exercise, or spend more than a few minutes a day doing it, you’d be all over it, right? Well stick with me. Doing the easy stuff first may be easy, but it’s also powerful. These little tips can jump start your metabolism and help you burn more fat each and every day.

Like…..drink ice water 2 hours after each meal and 1 hour before. Doesn’t sound like much, does it? The fact is that you can burn about 25,000 calories every year with this simple trick alone, and that is 8 pounds right off your midsection. This ice water consumption has the added benefit of ensuring that your body is always properly hydrated, without which optimum fat burning is  impossible.

Here’s a cool tip that can really help. Renowned fitness author Tim Ferriss revealed a ton of almost too good to believe strategies in his new book, The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman Great title! It is really full of some amazing info. Check out what people are saying about it in some of the 1,000+ customer reviews on on Amazon. One of those powerful fat loss tips is that just using an ice pack on your upper chest and back area for 30 minutes a day, days a week can significantly increase the amount of fat your body burns. You can do this while you’re exercising, or just watching TV, and it’ll go to work  for you.

Here’s another easy weight loss tip for you; make some changes to how you eat. No I don’t mean going on a diet, I’m talking about small modifications that will activate hormonal a metabolic triggers that make your body burn more fat, more efficiently. One of these is to shift your carb intake to earlier in the day. This keeps insulin levels lower when you’re sleeping, making it less likely that you’ll store fat.

Okay, enough about coldness and ice, here is another tip that doesn’t require you to go anywhere near your freezer.

Fat Loss Tip #2 – Change, But Don’t Change
Don’t stop eating. Yea!! Actually, although you definitely don’t want to stop eating, you can do a bit of stealthy food replacement. Change a couple of the foods you’re eating now with some of these turbocharged fat burning foods. They’ll help promote fat loss, they taste great, and you’ll really not be changing a thing as far as your daily routine goes. The funny thing is that some of these foods can be almost identical to the foods you’re already eating. Here’s an interesting example……..

If you’re eating beef, that’s great, American beef producers need all the help they can get. Beef has gotten kind of a bad rap when it comes to fitness, and although it is not entirely undeserved, beef can have an important role in helping you burn excess body fat. However, the big beef guys may not be happy with what I’m about to share with you.

You see, much of the beef you eat is not something you’d want to put into your body if you really knew anything about what was hiding in there. I had a friend some years ago who’s family raised beef cattle by the thousands. He loved to eat beef, and did so frequently. However, he and his family didn’t eat the same beef as they sold to you and I.

They kept a group of special cows for themselves, and you won’t believe why….
What many people didn’t know however, was that this guy and his family didn’t eat the same beef they sold to the restaurants and grocery stores. They ate from a special stash of cattle they kept for family and close friends to enjoy. Why would they go through the trouble of doing this? After all, raising cattle is hard work.

It’s because they ate only cows that were 100% grass fed. There are actually three powerful reasons why his family kept the good stuff only for themselves and a privileged few. The first has to do with nutrition. You see, the diet of any animal determines the nutrient content of the meat, and that’s certainly true with beef cattle.

Most beef cattle spend the lion’s share of their time hanging around on the feed lot not doing much of anything but consuming a special diet of corn and soy based commercial animal feed. There are numerous reasons why that does not a cow that you’d really want eat make, but one of the most powerful is that corn and soy based animal feeds are highly processed and tons of chemicals are used in their growth and production. That means you’re eating that stuff too when you eat those cow’s meat.

To top it off, those grains are not the natural diet of cattle, and it’s not what their digestive tracts are optimized to consume. They traditionally eat grass and other green plants found in the fields they graze. Why does that matter? Well, cows eating corn and soy have more digestive disorders than do grass fed cattle and are more susceptible to disease. They have to be fed antibiotics to combat disease, otherwise they’d never make it to market.

That means they can be a breeding ground to antibiotic resistant bacteria. If you’ve followed the news at all over the past few years, you’re well aware of the problems we’re facing with many of these so-called “super bugs”. Feeding our food sources a steady diet of antibiotics is one of the contributing factors behind these emerging antibiotic resistant bacteria.

You may think that “super bug cows” would be problem enough, but what he revealed to me next just about made me sick!

Have you ever been to Texas, Oklahoma, Washington, Oregon, or any other of the big beef producing states and seen the humongous feed lots where the cattle is fattened up before heading to market? We’re talking acres of cows, doing nothing but standing around eating. Not to put too fine a point on it, but what do think happens when they just stand around and eat all day long?

That’s right, what goes in must come out. They stand around happily, chewing their cud and eating more grain based feed, then pooping all over the place. The problem is that they also happen to be pooping where  they’re standing around. I don’t know about you, but I’d never really though about the fact the most of the meat I was eating had spent most of it’s last months standing around in a crock of shit.

This fecal matter leeches into the animal’s bodies through cuts and scrapes in their lower legs and hooves, and is yet another reason why the cattle are fed a steady diet of powerful antibiotics. If they weren’t, they’d drop dead of sepsis thanks to their constant exposure to blood borne bacteria.

My friend said that many of these cows are so sickly that he about puked just thinking about eating them. They aren’t the dreaded “downer cows” you may have heard about, but face it, if you’re going off to the slaughter house in a couple of weeks, does it really matter if you’re not completely healthy? Exactly! It doesn’t, so as long as they can walk to their deaths, that’s good enough! Not all cows from all beef producers fit this description, but………

Hold the Phone! Some beef is really good for you and it helps you burn fat and gain muscle!
So, now that you have a little window into one of the dirty, little secrets of what you’ve been eating, lets look at the good side. Beef can be a very healthy and nutritious food that can do great things for your body, including effectively helping it burn fat. It is a high quality protein source, and that’s good for kicking your metabolism in the butt, just stick to the grass fed variety, if you can.

How Beef Helps You Burn Fat and Build Muscle
Grass fed beef is chock full of something you don’t normally find too much of in beef; conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). This is a special kind of fat that has been demonstrated to help you burn fat and increase your overall health. It comes from the diet your food eats, something I touched on in my post about nutritious foods a few months back.

A study entitled “Conjugated Linoleic Acid Reduces Body Fat Mass in Overweight and Obese Humans“ performed in 2000 by Blankson et al, demonstrated that including CLA in your diet can significantly decrease body fat levels while maintaining lean body mass. In that study, obese people who did not change their diets, except to include CLA supplements, experienced significant body fat loss.

A newer double blind, placebo controlled study of CLA effects on body composition from Dr. Ehrling Thom (most of the other references on the Internet call him Thom Erling, likely because everyone has cribbed other articles on the subject and forgotten that references list researchers last name first. No one bothered to track down any actual research done by the good Dr., and the original mistake has been propagated all over the net) a Norwegian researcher who also has a patent pending for reducing skin atrophy with a special vitamin D combination. Dr. Thom’s research used a double blind, placebo controlled protocol to ensure accurate and scientifically significant results. He found that, while it didn’t generally promote weight loss, participants taking CLA supplements lost between 15 and 20% more body fat than those downing the placebos.

Couple the power of CLA to the other nutrients, such as protein and iron, found in beef and you can see it’s a recipe for fat loss and muscle gain.

Fat Loss Tip #3 – Medical Hypnosis Treatment – How Something  You’re Not Even Aware of Can Help You Lose Weight

Need something a bit more powerful and under the radar? Try medical hypnosis. This isn’t just heading to your local hypnotist so you can have the crowd laugh as the chairs are pulled out from under you. I’m referring to visiting an actual medical professional hypnotherapist who specializes in treating behavioral problems such as smoking and weight loss. As much of the problem with weight loss is in out minds, it only makes sense that at least a partial solution could be found there too.

Does it work? Why yes, it does, and it’s been proven in research studies to be an effective tool for losing weight. A 1996 meta-analysis program by Kirsch of 6 different studies hypnosis weight loss studies found that hypnosis and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy was more effective than behavior modification alone for weight loss.

The downside of medical hypnosis? It works better for some people than others, and it is fairly expensive, although it could be argued that carrying excess fat has an even larger, long term cost. Some health insurance policies will cover some or most of the cost if your physician prescribes the treatment however. If nothing else has worked well for you, this may be a tip worth pursuing.

These are just a few weight loss tips that can help you drop those pounds for the new year. Repeat after me, now… Do the easy stuff first, because you can.

What have you found to help you lose weight and/or gain muscle so far this year?

Jack LaLanne at his prime, back in 1951. You should look so good when you're 37.....or ever. It was development like this that enabled Jack to perfom his many wacky fitness feats he staged throughout his long life.

Jack LaLanne was a fitness pioneer in the truest sense of the word. That term gets thrown around often when referring to anyone who has been in an industry since the earth cooled, but in this case it is more than justified. Think I’m kidding?

LaLanne – Innovator or Nutball??
Jack brought us many of the exercise innovations we take for granted today, mostly because they’ve been around so damn long we’ve probably forgotten that someone actually invented them. If you hoist the heavy iron, chances are you’ve loaded up a Smith machine. Even if you’ve only passed through a fitness facility, you’ve likely sat at a leg extension machine and done a few reps. Every hardcore bodybuilder has used a cable crossover to sculpt their inner pecs, and every weight trainer has likely done a set or 500 of tricep press downs on a cable machine.

For all of those machines we can thank Jack. He also had one of the earliest versions of resistance band training equipment. He invented or strongly influenced so many pieces of modern exercise equipment it boggles the mind. Innovator just scratches the surface when talking about this guy. From exercise to nutrition, he defined the modern fitness industry.

His views on weight training were a revelation at a time when even football coaches though weights would make you bulky and slow. How many elite college and NFL football players would agree with that now? Probably not a one, and they can all thank Jack LaLanne for that, at least in part.

Jack even though women should train with weights at a time that most people though that it would make them look overly masculine, a view that was only proven to be true when female body bodybuilders started experimenting with powerful, East German pharmaceuticals in the ’80′s. For the rest of the female population, who shunned daily injections, Jack’s thoughts on women and weight training were proven to be right on the money.

An Early (really) TV Exercise Pioneer
Jack was also a pioneer in that magic medium that brings moving pictures and sound over the airwaves (or now streams over the Internet), TV. He had his own TV exercise program back in 1951 for Christ’s sake! Most of us weren’t even born yet, and he was talking about and demonstrating the benefits of exercise and the fitness lifestyle on television.

Jack LaLanne’s Diet – Backwards??
Although Jack’s early views on exercise, and especially weight training have been more than vindicated, there is one area where he still flies in the face of modern convention; diet. Sure, the contents of Jack’s diet were impeccable for a fitness oriented individual, and could scarcely be beat for staying lean and building muscle. It’s the timing that most modern trainers and nutritionists would take issue with.

Jack was an early proponent of the healthy eating lifestyle, and to that end he ate what can only be described as a champion’s diet. Plenty of vegetables, fruits, eggs, and fish. He loved single ingredient, unprocessed foods at a time when the majority of the American diet was nowhere near as processed as the stuff you’ll find on the shelves of your local SuperFood Market today. One can only imagine that he about crapped his pants at the though of eating much of the stuff that came to be marketed as food later in his life.

If his diet was so darned great, why would anyone question it? It wasn’t what he ate, it was the fact that he ate only two meals per day. Most diet, exercise, and fitness professionals today advocate at least 3 times that many, to promote maximum nutrient absorption and calorie distribution. So, although he expounded on so many of the principles we hold dear today, there was at least one area where he was different until the end.

Speaking of the end, it came when he was 96, on January 23, 2011. Obviously he could teach most people a thing or two about health and nutrition, and he lived just the way he advocated, which is kind of rare in this day and age. It must have worked as he was with us for nearly a century, and could probably kick most people’s ass at an age when most people are trying to figure out how to file for social security. RIP, Jack!

In response to the stress of modern life, we often turn to food. Come on, admit it. It's happened to you, too!

We are several weeks into the new year and for most that means a determination to prevent derailment from the tracks of a hopeful resolution.  A regimen was likely put in place to lose weight you’ve been meaning to shed for years. You may be measuring with the wrong scale, however, to rid yourself of those unwanted pounds.  Ask yourself the following questions to determine if stress is causing you to gain weight.  If so, you may need to add a stress relief program to your goal train.

When do you find yourself reaching for unhealthy snacks?

We are all creatures of habit, and you may not know what habits are causing problems.  For a week, write down everything you eat and at what time.  The very act of writing it down may deter you from reaching for that soda mid-afternoon or snacking on one too many brownies at the dessert bar, but you will start to see a pattern emerge.  Often we become stress-eaters, meaning that in a moment of crisis we grab a doughnut or candy bar. By keeping a record you’ll recognize the pattern.  This will allow you to recognize the symptoms of stress and alleviate it before you’re reaching for the calories to distract you.

Is stress keeping me up at night?

When we do not properly relieve ourselves of the day’s stressors, we can find ourselves awake at night and anxious.  This becomes a vicious cycle because without proper rest we are more likely to be unmotivated to exercise and eat right.  We all know it’s easier to grab fast food than prepare a healthy meal at home.  Take the time each night to relax and do what it takes to get a good night’s rest.  Your waist will thank you.

Am I stressed to the point of being in-active?

Do you find yourself pulled in so many directions at work that by the time you head home you just want to turn on the tube and block out all other distractions? This may be a sign that your stress levels are too high. It’s not a bad thing to want to relax after a hard day at work, but if you’re giving up social opportunities or losing a desire to exercise, you are risking the chance of gaining more weight and keeping the extra you already have to lose.

Look at your life right now, if you see some of these habits in your life, consider losing some stress’s and see how much your life will change.

This has been a guest post by writer Lance Williams.

Quick, which of these 3 foods will help you raise leptin levels? You should know, since leptin could be the most powerful fat loss discovery in the last 50 years.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was something that you could do to to help lose weight that entailed eating  the most anti-diet foods you can think of? I’m talking about pancakes with syrup, McDonald’s apple pies, cinnamon rolls, and all sorts of other things that you’d think would kill your weight loss dead in it’s tracks. Ever heard of leptin and how it helps you lose fat?

Leptin is a powerful hormone (are there any other kind?) who’s primary function is to to suppress your appetite and increase the amount of energy you burn. I’m sure you’re looking through your medicine cabinet right now, trying to find a bottle of the stuff. It sounds like a magic bullet. Unfortunately, there are no leptin supplements available at your local health food store., otherwise you’d probably be battling me in line for the last bottle.

How Does Leptin Help Me Lose Fat?
Your body’s leptin level has a direct correlation to your metabolic activity, which in turn is a great indicator of how much energy you’re burning. Perhaps more importantly, leptin’s appetite regulation function actually goes a long way to determining how hungry you feel and whose what foods you crave. Even better, the cravings it affects are precisely the ones that can sabotage your diet, those diabolical carb cravings.

Your appetite rises and falls inversely to leptin levels. When leptin levels are low, you’re hungry, and vice versa. The question is what makes them rise and fall? If you can control them, to an extent you can control your appetite, and more importantly, your quest for carbs.

How Can I Make Leptin Levels Rise – The Leptin Paradox
Paradoxically, what you must do to increase leptin levels is to eat the very carbs that you want to avoid, and the ones that you tend to eat when leptin levels fall too low. That’s the basis behind rthe plethora of diets today that espouse having a “junk day” or equivalent. That resets your leptin levels, and causes them to rise, where they stay for 4 – 6 days.

To keep them from falling to levels that presage an appetite increase and a metabolic decrease again, simply spend one day eating the junk we love to, well, love. This can be such niceties as oatmeal cookies, blueberry pancakes, and pineapple upside down cake (yes, it’s true). The key is to restrict yourself to doing it only once a week or so.

Eating more fiber can also help to increase your leptin levels, because one of the signals your body uses to stimulate leptin production is feeling full. Fiber consumption makes you feel fuller while ingesting fewer calories. The full feeling triggers more leptin production, further helping to curb your appetite.

Why Shouldn’t I Just Max Out Leptin Levels All the Time?
It seems there is always the bad with the good. Leptin is a Cytokine; a protein that affects cellular interaction. There are both pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Leptin happens to be of the pro-inflammatory variety. That’s why you just can’t shoot for the moon all the time with regards to leptin levels.

Can I Make My Body Respond to Leptin Better?
That’s a great question. Can you simply make your body respond to lower levels than it does now? That way you can keep levels lower and not worry about the inflammatory properties of the hormone, but still benefit from it’s ability to keep your energy burn high, and appetite low.

A recent University of Florida study discovered that excessive fructose consumption may cause leptin resistance to rise. Gator researchers noted that study participants (lab rats) who ate a 60% fructose diet were leptin significantly more resistant to the hormone at the end of 6 months. Rats on a fructose free diet exhibited no such resistance.

Does this mean you should avoid eating any fructose? No, the researchers didn’t recommend you go that far. However, the findings do point to another reason that excessive consumption of a sweetener that is omnipresent in North America diets could be making us all fat.

Another interesting UofF study discovery was that rats who were fed the high fructose diet and then switched to a high fat diet demonstrated a propensity to eat more and gain more weight than the rats that had the fructose free diet, and then switched to the high fat diet.

Omega-3s, Again
Another powerful way to boost leptin response in your body is to make sure your diet is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. When you gain too much weight, your body releases strong inflammation fighting substances. These help block leptin reception in the brain, making it so they need ever increasing levels to help suppress appetite. The Omega-3s are antinflammatories that reduce your body’s inflamation fighting response, helping leptin decrease appetite response in the brain.

How Important is Leptin for Fat Loss? What the Eggheads Say…..
Eric Ravussin, PhD, Professor, Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, put it this way: “The discovery of leptin in 1994 was a major scientific breakthrough that revolutionized our understanding of the neurohormonal basis of obesity,”

To me, that sounds like it’s pretty damn important! The good prof has spent a nice chunk of his time as president of The Obesity Society, which lends even more credence to his opinion.

Another study, this one done across the pond at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s Hospital adds more evidence to the those who support leptin as a powerful weapon in the fat loss game. The Cambridge study found that patients with a rare disorder that eliminates leptin were morbidly obese, because they ate constantly, even foods that they didn’t really like. After being put on leptin supplementation therapy, they lost much of their food cravings and more importantly, lost weight.

Up in the Pacific Northwest, researcher Michael Cowley at the Division of Neuroscience at Oregon Health and Science University stated: “We become obese, because we really like hamburgers or can’t stop eating doughnuts. We become obese, because we obsess about food,” and further that “This study shows that craving is modifiable by leptin”
Boosting leptin levels is a great way to work with your body to help lose fat. Like so many things in life, success is more about working smart than working hard, although both surely never hurt. If you’re having success with losing weight by keeping your leptin levels up, drop me a line and let me know how much better you’re doing since you started paying attention to leptin.