Best 10 Dieting Tips for Summer - Summer Weight Loss

Best 10 Dieting Tips for Summer

As the air starts losing the cold bite of winter, you are happy in anticipation of the summer. You start planning holidays to sea resorts with friends and family. Until that fateful moment when you realize you have been too lax with your body and you are not in shape for the summer activities and swimming trunks or bathing suits cannot accommodate your body any more!

Still don’t despair! Summer weight loss is still possible. Remember that losing weight is influenced to the extent of 70% to 80% by what and how you eat and the balance by the physical activities and exercises. Cut down intake of excess calories which increase fat in the body and exercise the body which will help in to burn body fat and to lose weight.

The following simple natural weight loss suggestions if implemented can help you with summer weight loss and shape up your body to face summer with confidence in a matter of three to four weeks.

Drink at least 8 to 10 glasses of water per day.

Water plays very important role in our body functions. Body fat and bones account for 20% of water each, lean muscle tissues are 75% water and over 80% of our blood is water. Water helps kidneys remove toxins allowing liver to metabolize more fat. It works as a natural suppressant of appetite;

Put alcohol on highly restricted list if you are serious on losing weight. Alcohol helps body in storing fat by slowing down metabolism;

Main culprits causing excess weight are saturated fats. Saturated fats and sugar are strictly no-no for weight watchers. Avoid desserts, ice creams, etc;

Include low fat milk products such as yogurt, skimmed milk, cottage cheese in diet; they contain “good proteins” which help suppress cravings for food. They are essential in building muscles;

Vegetables, beans, whole grains and fruits contain “good” carbohydrates which are moderate on calories and fats, they are consumed slowly by the body and thus they help suppress hunger naturally;

Omega 3 fatty acids increase metabolism and energy levels of the body. Eat fish such as Mackerel, Salmon, Sardines and Herrings; they are rich Omega 3 fatty acids which help prevent blood clotting, regulate blood pressure, and lower risk of heart failure. They are helpful in weight loss;.

Eat four or five meals of smaller portions instead of the normal three meals. Smaller meals at shorter intervals help metabolism and burn fat; it helps to lose weight;

Eat adequate fiber food. Fiber food is more filling and it suppresses hunger. It takes longer in digestion and passing through the body it attaches to some fats and proteins in our food and thus keeps them from being digested. Whole grains, brown rice, figs, Apples, broccoli, peas, lentils, beans, fresh vegetables and fruits and nuts are high on fiber content;

Spices such as ginger, mustard, pepper, cinnamon, clove, bay leaf, etc decrease sugar cravings and are helpful in weight loss;

Avoid late night meals within the two to three hours before going to bed. Allow time for digestion of the meal before going to bed.

What Is the Fat Smash Diet? lose weight with fat smash diet

What Is the Fat Smash Diet?

In America Weight Loss has become an industry and every other day some new diet plan is announced. Various dieticians, medical doctors and others have jumped into the fray. Protagonists and antagonists of various diet plans fight it out with claims and counter-claims until some new diet plan comes along to divert the attention.

Naturally people get a little skeptical about these diet plans. However, there are certain marked departures from the popular versions of diets in Dr. Ian Smith’s Fat Smash Diet. Firstly Dr. Smith’s diet is not proposed as a quick fix for losing weight but is proposed as a lifestyle approach on healthy eating, eating filling foods; secondly it lays stress on regular exercise and does not rely only on low calorie low fat diet.

Fat Smash Diet And Celebrity Fit Club

Fat Smash Diet has come to sudden prominence because of the platform of VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club from which it got projected. This is a reality TV series based on an earlier British version. Eight overweight celebrities, split into two teams of four each, compete with each other as they try to lose weight. They are monitored and supervised by a team that includes a nutritionist, a psychologist, and a physical trainer. Dr. Smith was the nutritionist who put the competitors through his Fat Smash Diet.

Later Dr. Smith has published a book detailing the nutrition and fitness diet plan that he had used on the reality show. His diet plan has devised a weight loss plan based on scientific principles and is backed by research. This is an easy to follow diet plan; DR. Smith claims that his plan can be easily used by anybody, irrespective of whether the objective is to lose 10 lbs or 50.lbs.

Dr. Smith’s diet plan has four phases, each phase consists of 4 or 5 meals a day; the meals consist of raw, steamed, baked, or grilled food. In each phase a certain amount of exercises is a definite component.

Phase 1 of 9 days is to “detox” the mind and body, as Dr. Smith says. This phase consists of mostly vegetarian food with some egg and dairy products. 30 minutes of exercise for five days a week are necessary.

In phase 2 of 3 weeks duration more food options are allowed and cereals, lean meat and seafood is included in the diet. Exercise duration is increased to35 minutes per day for 5 days a week.

Phase 3 lasts for 4 weeks. More leniency in the food is given; Pasts, bread and desserts and a small scoop of ice cream or 2-3 cookies are allowed. Duration of exercises is increased to 40 minutes.

Phase 4 is a lifetime plan phase in which the dieter eats most foods and drinks he had previously enjoyed; even alcohol is permitted.

Dr. Smith’s plan gives long lists of foods you may enjoy while still being able to shed weight and it also gives a list of those you avoid.

DR. Smith’s fat Smash Diet gives much greater freedom to the dieter; he insists that his plan aims to change the dieter\'s \"relationship with food\".

Beat Your Food Cravings and Lose Weight

Beat Your Food Cravings

Many people suffer from food craving occasionally. Craving is always for a certain specific food or type of food, not just anything to satisfy hunger. Generally the craving is felt for candy, chocolate or something that will give sugar or carbohydrates to the body. It could even be the craving for potato chips or an extra glass of wine.

Quite often people think it is bad habits that are responsible for this craving, or that the person has poor will power. That is really not the case! The food cravings have biological reasons and to beat the food craving we must understand these underlying reasons.

Reasons for food craving

Whenever we are exhausted or we feel depressed we have low blood sugar condition and the body signals brain that it needs something to pep-it-up. This results in a craving for sugar or carbohydrates. One of the causes for this behavior is Serotonin, our basic feel-good hormone. The conditions of low level of Serotonin and low level of blood-sugar go hand-in-hand. That is why whenever there is less of Serotonin; we feel a craving for sweet food such as chocolates to make up for the shortage of sugar in blood.

Unfortunately, sugar or carbohydrates release only a short burst of serotonin; when that burst dies down, the craving returns. This leads us into a spiral.

Another reason is Adrenal Fatigue. When you feel stressed out or feel run own, when you have not had a restful sleep or you are feeling very tired for no specific reason, you are suffering from adrenal fatigue. In very severe cases the condition is called adrenal exhaustion. In the modern world this health disorder is quite common, but unfortunately it is very rarely appreciated as such.

In case of Adrenal Fatigue also the body sends a signal to the brain for a pick-me-up and that is your craving for sugar or carbohydrate snacks, or may be, coffee during the day; at night you may look for alcohol or carbohydrates. All of this only makes the problem worse.

It is also seen that persons, who keep themselves on a low fat, low carbohydrate diet on a long time or have been taking appetite suppressants, do have food craving; it is because they have become at least partially insulin resistant without realizing this condition. In the normal course blood sugar level of the body is maintained stable by the action of insulin; insulin signals the cells of the body to absorb glucose from the bloodstream when necessary. Because of their insulin resistant condition, the cells do not respond to the signal and cannot mop up glucose they need. This results in a distress signal to the brain asking for more carbohydrates or sugar. The body thus receives excess calories which are deposited as fat and the person starts gaining weight in spite of eating less.

Beating the craving

If you appreciate the basic reasons for the craving, then beating the food craving can be done. It may take a little time but it can be done. To break food cravings, the body needs real healthy foods, additional nutritional supplements (of pharmaceutical–grade) at times; this and moderate exercise can help curb cravings. This process may take some time, but it will succeed.