Weight gain and loss of confidence are two things that typically go hand in hand. The more weight we gain, the more we’re dissatisfied with our bodies and with ourselves. In fact, an astonishing 80% of women are unhappy with their bodies when they look in the mirror.

How can a woman be successful in losing weight if she’s trapped in this vicious cycle of negativity? In order to change this failing approach to weight loss it’s important to realize that the biggest obstacle on this weight loss journey can be our own emotions.

Because your emotions affect your hormones, they create many physical reactions in your body that lead directly to weight gain. How can you break out of this vicious cycle?

Tapping (also known as EFT or Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a combination of ancient Chinese acupressure with healing psychology.

Click here to learn more about Tapping and how it can help you find the confidence to achieve real weight loss.

How Tapping Can Help You Avoid Stress-Induced Eating

Do you ever feel like reaching for a box of cookies or a chocolate bar when you’re under stressful circumstances? Often, this happens without even thinking, and you feel like you’ve completely lost control of your actions. This is caused by the physical reaction of stress to our body: stress literally takes over your brain and controls your actions.

What happens when you feel stressed? The amygdala (the almond shaped part of your brain, responsible for processing emotional reactions) sends a signal to your body to release the hormones adrenaline and cortisol, also known as “the stress hormone.”

As you probably know, it’s not a good idea to have large amounts of these two hormones coursing through your body because:

1. It slows digestions. And of course, this makes it much harder to lose weight.
2. It causes your brain to have a slower reaction to any given situation and reduces your problem-solving ability.
3. It makes us crave sugary foods because these foods help release serotonin (the hormone responsible for calm and happiness)

First of all, we suffer from slower digestion, and then we make bad decisions even if we’re trying our hardest to lose weight.

It’s no wonder we gain weight when we’re stressed!

Even though your life may be busy and stressful, you don’t have to live with stress. Tapping is a technique that is scientifically proven to relieve stress and other negative emotions.

A study by Dr. Dawson Church, PhD and Dr. David Feinstein, PhD, that measured cortisol levels before and after Tapping treatment found a significant decrease in cortisol levels and a return to a neutral emotional state. This is exactly what your body needs to regain its natural balance.

Click here to sign up for the Weight Loss & Body Confidence Webinar with Jessica Ortner, one of the world’s foremost Tapping experts.

Feel Confident about Your Body

Jessica Ortner first experienced Tapping in 2006 and lost 10 pounds in a month.

“Typically for me it was more like 2 or 3 pounds or maybe even 5 pounds at max,” she said, “I knew right away in that first month that this was completely different. But that wasn’t even the best part. What amazed me was how happy I felt. Things seemed to flow. Instead of wishing I was in another body, I learned to really occupy my own body. I appreciated it and it felt empowering.”

Jessica is now offering a 7-week online program that will help you achieve the same results. The Weight Loss & Body Confidence program will help you get rid of unconscious negative beliefs about your body, reduce stress, and feel amazingly confident.

“I want to invite you to allow me to be your coach and your guide along a journey similar to the one that I underwent when I felt fat, unattractive and lacking in confidence and turned everything around…” Jessica says, “only this one will be about YOU and reaching the ideal body and life that YOU want to create.”

This 7-week program will teach you exactly how to break free from emotional and stress-induced eating; find the joy in exercise; release any emotional pain you’ve been holding onto; and finally achieve weight loss success and reinforce your positive habits in the long run.

Click here to join this amazing webinar and get specific information every week on each step of the weight loss process.

Testimonials on the EFT Method

“If you are seeking sweets or grains because of an emotional challenge, you will want to consider using the simple and effective psychological acupressure technique, EFT, to rapidly help you control your emotional food cravings. Many people don’t understand that emotional wellbeing is essential to their physical health. In fact, in terms of dieting for weight loss, not addressing emotional issues whether small or serious traumas from the past is the primary reason that most people who lose weight often fail at keeping the weight off.”

- Dr. Joseph Mercola

“Habits are hard to break because they’re our neuropathways. What Tapping does is it helps to rewire those pathways so that we can break some of those habits that are so ingrained in us, that keep us on the hamster wheel, that keep us hitting the sugar button, or the cookie button, or whatever it is that we’re using to numb out.”

- Kris Carr, New York Times Best-Selling Author

“What I discovered was far more powerful than I ever expected. Who knew that I literally had a tool right at my fingertips to shift me into an energy space that allows me to make choices based on what is right for ME?

With Jessica’s guidance and unconditional support, I not only learned how to tap, I was able to use this incredible technique to uncover the old tapes and internal conversations that were holding me back. I realized I believed the messages from others about aging and their “shoulds” around how I ate, how I exercised and how my body was going to react as I got older. I was able to shift into a place of even deeper exploration, empowerment and love. I am again in control of my choices as I move into the next great phase of me!!!

I highly recommend this program to any woman who is looking to explore ways to bring greater
self love and care into her life!!!”

- Emily Loewenstein, Food For Your Soul Coach

Click here to see the webinar these experts are raving about and experience both lasting weight loss and unshakeable confidence with the Tapping solution.

Read the full post here: Lose Weight, Feel Confident, and Love Your Body: Weight Loss Webinar with Jessica Ortner

Many people are working hard to lose weight and wondering if there is something that can help them in what seems like an uphill struggle. It may sound strange, but something as simple as drinking certain kinds of tea known as “super teas” can really make a difference in the fight against flab.

Okuma’s authentic Wu-Long Tea is one of the world’s finest-quality super teas, and it has been scientifically proven to aid weight loss, which is just one of its many benefits.

It revs up the metabolism, helping you naturally burn calories and therefore shed those pounds at a faster rate. But first, you may be wondering…

What Are Super Teas?

There are several teas known for their amazing properties not only in accelerating weight loss but also in preventing disease and maintaining a vibrant and healthy appearance.

These are some of the healthiest teas in the world:

1. Green Tea - Made from the leaves of  the Camellia sinensis plant, this tea reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease.

2. Black Tea - It’s made from the same plant as green tea, but the leaves undergo more oxidation when they’re processed. This tea also reduces heart problems and is rich in antioxidants.

3. Oolong Tea - This semi-fermented tea is about half-way between green tea and black tea in terms of its level of oxidation. It boosts the metabolism, helping the body to burn fat faster and more efficiently.

4. Dandelion Tea - Many people think of dandelions as little more than weeds, but dandelion tea can in fact act as a liver cleanser.

5. Ginger Tea – Derived from ginger root, this tea has a huge number of benefits, from combating the common cold to relieving digestive discomfort.

Why Wu-Long Tea Stands Out for Its Weight Loss Properties

Oolong Tea is rich in antioxidants called “catechins” and “polyphenols,” which help to boost metabolism and speed up weight loss. But not all oolong tea is created equal…

A special kind of Oolong tea called Wu-Long is grown in very high altitudes and has a super-high concentration of polyphenols.

So, while regular Oolong is just okay for weight loss, Wu-Long actually burns over 2.5 times more fat than any other variety of Oolong.

No wonder Wu-Long is considered a “medical grade” tea in China.

This Wu-Long Tea comes straight from Anxi County in the Fujian Province of China. Why is this significant, you might wonder? Anxi’s claim to fame is being the Tea Capital of China. It’s a place where some of the world’s best tea is grown, and it is especially famous for its high-quality Wu-Long Tea!

The easiest way to get access to this tea, outside of going to China, is ordering it online from Okuma Nutritionals. This is a company that has been in business for 13 years and was even mentioned specifically by Bill Phillips, author of Body For Life.

Scientific Research Confirms Wu-Long’s Ability to Help Burn Belly Fat and Upper Arm Fat

Although some scientists were skeptical of Wu-Long Tea can truly bring results, a series of experiments revealed that this tea really does have amazing potency.

One study, conducted by scientists from Japan’s University of Tokushima School of Medicine and published in the Journal of Medical Investigation, compared drinkers of Wu-Long tea with those who drank authentic Japanese green tea.

Both groups dranks the same amount of tea, but the study found that the people who drank Wu-Long experienced a 10% energy expenditure increase compared with only 4% for the green tea drinkers.

Other studies show that Wu-Long is better than black tea at burning stubborn belly fat and upper arm fat in particular.

According to Livestrong.com, “In a study by Kevin Maki, president of Provident Clinical Research and Consulting, a private research firm in the United States, participants who drank the equivalent of five cups of Wu Long tea lost significantly more abdominal fat than people who drank black tea, according to a report in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.”

Also, “Nine of 12 oolong tea drinkers lost fat in their waists, and eight of 12 lost fat in their upper arms in a study led by Japanese researcher Masatoshi Nakoma, who presented his findings at the Japan Society for the Study of Obesity in October 2001.”

As if this amazing weight loss wasn’t enough to recommend Wu-Long, this tea may also reduce signs of aging and give the skin a healthy glow. This is not surprising, considering that this tea helps reduce free radicals by 50 percent in just 15 days, according to a study performed at University of California, Davis.

Are you ready to start on your way to a healthier weight and an overall feeling of well-being? Click here to begin your weight loss journey with Okuma’s authentic Wu-Long Tea.

Order Okuma’s Original Wu-Long Slimming Tea Today

Ordering a package of this amazing tea could be the first step in achieving a healthy weight. You would be joining thousands of satisfied customers who are now slimmer and healthier thanks to making this tea a part of their daily routine.

You will receive these four free information booklets with any order:

•  Melt More Fat — Your Workout Guide
• It’s Not If You Make Mistakes, It’s How You Recover
• 51 Recipes to Melt Away Those Pesky Pounds
• 5 Easy Lifestyle Changes That Will Guarantee You Lose Weight

Click the banner below to begin your weight loss journey with Okuma’s authentic Wu-Long Tea.

Article Sources:

• http://www.livestrong.com/article/308263-wu-long-tea-diet/#ixzz2UHgDt8VH
• http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/consumer/food/article/-/16097803/super-teas-enhancing-health/
• http://www.glycemicgourmet.com/wu-long-tea.html

Read the full post here: A Super Tea That Helps with Fat Loss? Here’s the Facts

Extreme dieting isn’t a new fad; it’s ages old. For centuries, men and women alike have been trying to lose weight, to the point that it becomes obsession.

While most of us know about Atkins, the Mediterranean diet and even the grapefruit diet, no modern diet is as extreme as those undertaken by our ancestors. From William the Conqueror to Elvis Presley, legendary historical figures went to great lengths to shed those extra pounds.

Here are five examples of the most extreme diets of all time:

1.The Tapeworm Diet

Arguably the most extreme diet of any is the tapeworm diet. The idea behind this one is this: You swallow a sanitized tapeworm, allow it to mature in your digestive tract and eat away.

As you eat, you feed the tapeworm, not yourself. Your little parasitic friend gains the weight while you drop the pounds.

While tapeworms do, indeed, cause extreme weight loss in their hosts, they also cause diarrhea, bloating and nausea.

When their offspring travel through your tissues and into your nervous system, they can also cause dementia, seizures and meningitis.

2.The Sedation Diet

It stands to reason that if you’re sleeping, you aren’t eating. It also seems to make sense that if you aren’t eating, you’re losing weight. Or so Elvis thought.

Supervised by Dr. Elias Ghanem, Elvis had himself sedated for two weeks while being fed a special liquid diet.

Unfortunately for Elvis, and for others who think this is a good idea, when your body sleeps it also slows down. Since the average human only burns 60 calories when they are sleeping, and since Elvis was still receiving calories through his liquid diet, he awoke 10 pounds heavier.

3.The Graham Diet

Did you know that lustful desires are a result of diet? No? Then you obviously weren’t raised in the 1820s under the tutelage of Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham.

His theory was that sexual desires lead to tuberculosis, epilepsy and even spinal disease.

His theory went something like this: a bland diet controls thoughts of sex.

While not all people bought into this insanity, some people did, most notably the leadership of Oberlin College where a professor was fired for bringing a scandalous pepper shaker to lunch.

4.The Vomiting Diet

There’s little doubt that vomiting your food before it has a chance to be absorbed by your digestive system is a great way to lose weight. It’s also a great way to ruin your teeth, lose your hair and become nutritionally deficient. That didn’t stop the ancient Romans, however.

While it may not have been the best way to lose weight, it was the best way for Caesar to escape at least one assassination attempt. By vomiting in his bedroom instead of his bathroom, he thwarted assassins who were waiting to do him in.

5.The Alcohol Diet

Close to 1,000 years ago, in 1087, William the Conqueror had his feelings hurt.

When the king of France made fun of William’s weight, the great conqueror took to his bed, drinking nothing but alcohol in an attempt to lose weight.

Although he succeeded in conquering England, it seems William was less successful in his weight loss efforts.

William died after falling off of his horse and was reportedly too large to fit in his coffin. Guess his diet didn’t work.

Don’t Rely on Extreme Diets

Anyone with any common sense knows that to lose weight, less food and more exercise are the key. If these extreme diets are useful at all, it’s to show us that we aren’t alone in our never-ending quest to get thin. Extreme diets are as old as history itself and were no more useful back then than they are now.

Read the full post here: Dieting Throughout History: The Most Extreme Diets of All Time

Following a nutritious diet is undoubtedly the most critical component in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. With all the fad diet trends surfacing each day, picking a genuinely healthy diet to abide by can be challenging at times.

It’s easy enough to tell a fad diet from a real diet since fad diets are not sustainable over the long haul and do not provide you with enough nutrients.

As you read this article, you’ll learn more more about diet trends and which ones actually work.

The Paleo Diet

Many speculate that the paleo diet is built on ideals that are unrealistic because it’s based on our diet from the Paleolithic era and conditions today are of course much different than they were during the cime of the cave men.

However, this diet actually offers several valid benefits, both in terms of weight loss and better health.

Essentially, this diet emphasizes consuming primarily veggies, lean cuts of protein, nuts, seeds, and fruit. It also advocates avoiding dairy and sugary, carbohydrate-heavy foods is stressed to prevent insulin spikes, decreased energy levels, and excessive fat storage.

Studies have shown that this diet works because lean protein keeps you fuller longer than carb-heavy meals and that combined with fruits and veggies supplies an abundance of vitamins and minerals.

Weight Watchers

While Weight Watchers isn’t considered to be the best approach by some nutrition experts, it is a popular diet program that has been proven effective over time. Weight Watchers is often a perfect starting point for those seeking to lose weight without strictly limiting their diet and setting themselves up for failure. Weight Watchers operates primarily by controlling the calorie intake through their point system. With fruits and veggies costing dieters 0 of their daily point totals, this can be a very healthy way to go if undertaken properly.

The Mediterranean Diet

Similarly to the Paleo diet, the Mediterranean diet stresses the importance of consuming fruits, veggies, and nuts. Unlike the Paleo diet, this diet suggests limiting meat intake to avoid excessive fat consumption and increased cholesterol. For protein, this diet recommends eating a sufficient amount of fish to obtain various vitamins.

This diet has proven to be successful because it revolves around wholesome, raw foods and limits fatty foods.

The Smoothie Diet

One of the healthiest, trendy diets around is undoubtedly the smoothie diet. Nutritionists often agree that replacing your oatmeal or eggs with a fruit and veggie filled smoothie is the best bet because you’re getting a plethora of vitamins and nutrients.

Not only does the smoothie diet assist in obtaining a nice dose of essential vitamins, it also contributes to improved digestion. Improved digestion allows your body to function better, helping in weight loss.

Compiling your preference of fruits, veggies, almond or coconut milk, and a scoop of protein powder and blending it all up in a personal blender is an unbeatable breakfast in terms of nutrition, taste, and simplicity.

Read the full post here: 4 Diet Trends That Are Actually Healthy

Searching for a diet book that will not only make you healthy but also yield meaningful, rapid and sustained weight loss while enabling you to live longer by avoiding many of civilizations’ most dismal diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease? Look no further, The Ultimate Unification of Diet Health and Disease is exactly what you’ve been searching for.

The Ultimate Unification of Diet Health and Disease is a groundbreaking science-based approach to diet, healthy lifestyle and weight loss. Unlike other diet and health books that preach dietary lifestyles based largely or solely upon weight loss related benefits, with little or no compelling scientific evidence to back up their claims, this book is based on achieving whole body wellness, and as a bonus, inducing significant weight loss related results, all backed by a plethora of authentic scientific research.

More Than Just a Diet Book

The author, Mr. Walter Wood, believes that a lean body is another “side effect” of a healthy body. Once the underlying hormonal abnormalities which have caused obesity to appear in the first place disappear, significant weight is lost effortlessly and rapidly.

Mr. Wood writes that “…Yes, this book is about obesity and weight loss. But in truth it’s about much more. You see, obesity is part of a phenomenon much greater than just being fat. It’s but one disease of a bundle that afflict and paralyze our bodies.”  This is why the author believes that calorie counting, skimpy meals, skipping meals, fear and deprivation is NOT the solution to the current obesity epidemic or for that matter any of it’s attendant ailments. These will service primarily to fuel and exacerbate the fat accumulating problem, not provide a viable solution to the obesity epidemic.

The book is not only about obesity and weight loss but also about that bundle of diseases, which afflict and paralyze the human body.

And what are those diseases, you ask? Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, myopia and dementia to mention just a few. Mr. Wood reveals startling research about the real cause of these “modern” diseases and tells us what we can do to avoid “catching” them. And even reverse them.

The Ultimate Unification of Diet Health and Disease

In chapter one, Mr. Wood, debunks the myths associated with obesity, weight gain and weight loss. He claims calorie counting won’t help you lose weight, and increased energy expenditure will not lead to significant amounts of fat loss,  either. The only viable way to loose weight, ward off disease, reverse diabetes and cure cancer is by targeting the true underlying abnormality that caused these dismal diseases and the weight gain in the first place.

And how is it that we target this hormonal abnormality? It’s not as hard as you think. All we need to do is eliminate a single “secret” dietary toxin from our food supply.

Instead of blaming all diseases of civilization on all carbs equally, as many low carb diet books (think Atkins diet) tend to do, Mr. Wood drives in and singles out the true and only culprit. Not all carbs are created equal, he writes. Many are not only harmless but even beneficial.

In chapter two, the author discusses the causes of diabetes and the dietary steps that can be taken to reverse and heal this dreaded disease which afflicts and paralyzed nearly 25 million Americans.

In chapter three, Mr. Wood shatters the myths associated with heart disease and high blood pressure and reveals the true nature and cause of heart disease,  and how one can cure, reverse and prevent this disease from taking root. No, cholesterol isn’t a killer, he says. In fact, it’s an essential and important molecule in the human body. And, no, saturated fat is not evil, either, it’s actually healthy.

What is the real causes of heart disease? Not what you think. It’s the sugar and other refined carbs in the diet that make us fat, prevent us from losing that fat and that give us heart disease and high blood pressure.

In chapter 4, Mr. Wood reveals startling new discoveries on dietary-induced cancer. He says that “cancer isn’t a death sentence. The fact remains, as recent research suggests, that as much as 80-90% of all cancer in the US is strictly avoidable.”  And he suggests that cancer can be avoided and even cured by the lifestyle he’s recommending in his book. He also writes that low fat or calorie restricted diets don’t seem to prevent cancer.

In the next chapter, the author reveals never seen before research on Myopia. For the first time ever, Mr. Wood has identified the scientific cause of myopia and what we can do to prevent this dire disease from erupting amongst our children. He writes that “..instead of trying to clarify the underlying cause, contemporary medicine has proclaimed myopia is an incurable malady, only modified by the use of prescription glasses or contact lenses to correct, albeit only transiently, our ailing and failing vision, thereby masking the symptoms of myopia rather than actually curing it.” Mr. Wood certainly clarifies the scientific cause of myopia or nearsightedness.

Following an identical pattern, Mr. Wood debunks many of the other modern diseases of civilization and their underlying cause.

A Practical Guide to Losing Weight and Achieving Vibrant Health

In the second part of the book he provides a practical guide on how to implement these dietary changes in one’s life to lose weight, preserve health and resurrect happiness and joy in one’s life that may have been lying dormant.

The Ultimate Unification of Diet Health and Disease is available on amazon here.

Read the full post here: Weight Loss & Diet Book Review: The Ultimate Unification of Diet Health and Disease

Just over 3 years ago I weighed over 225 pounds. At the time I was single, working full-time and was experiencing crippling sciatic nerve back pain for the first time.

I ate out every day for lunch at a variety of local eateries downtown.  I would drink beer 3 nights per week, although I’ve never been a heavy drinker. I ate oatmeal for breakfast, snacks throughout the day (the chocolate chip variety) and something greasy for dinner. The worst part may have been my activity levels, which had diminished greatly in the 10 years since high school.

Lifestyle Changes

At this time I met the woman who would become my wife, left my job to work full-time from home on a freelance basis and really began to educate myself on what a healthy lifestyle actually meant. Throughout this education I wasted money going to different doctors and personal trainers looking for a fix to my sciatic back pain.

Working from home was the biggest factor in losing my first twenty pounds and getting my weight down to the 200 to 205 pound range. When you cook from home and have to clean up your own dishes, go to the supermarket and so on, the awareness level in terms of ingredients rises. Also working as a freelancer meant less income, so spending up to $12 for lunch on a normal weekday now seemed extremely wasteful, whereas before it was the social thing to do.

While my activity level had not increased substantially, I was not forced to sit in a cubicle for 8-10 hours a day anymore. So naturally I moved around more, went to the pool, walked the dog and did all of the little things that help burn calories.

The Next 10-15 Pounds

I shed the first twenty pounds rather quickly, with the combination of frugality and home cooked meals.  The next 10-15 pounds saw an improvement in my actual diet, with a real effort on my part to avoid my cookie cravings, white pasta and other junk items.

For breakfast, oatmeal and/or fruit was a regular item. For lunch, my wife typically cooks rice, beans, vegetables and sometimes a type of meat. At that time I ate whatever she put in front of me.  For dinner we would eat leftovers from lunch and then snack on whatever we wanted to.

Sometimes we’d eat breads, cookies, fruits or all of the above.  We rarely eat out or drink much alcohol, outside of the occasional glass or two of wine.

This is actually still our routine but I have a tighter grip on the foods that I eat and my activity level has greatly increased.

My wife is Brazilian and in Brazil they eat big lunches without a formal dinner. This makes sense in some ways and also explains their love of afternoon naps.

Under 190 Pounds

In all it took around 2 years to get near 190 pounds. This is when breakthroughs started in my diet research, my detox practices and workout routines increased.

Mostly I made a real effort to start every day off with a couple glasses of water to clean my system. After that I would eat bananas for breakfast. This went on for a few months consistently just drinking water and eating bananas.  I would eat 5-10 bananas a day and still do eat lots but not as many. My wife would cook beans and rice for lunch, typically, with fruit and vegetables mixed in. We love to cook with pineapple. For dinner I’d usually eat a salad or we actually liked to order pizza twice a week because there was a great deal at a place close by.

By this point my meat intake decreased to the point where I only ate meat a couple times a week, drank very little dairy and ate very little cheese (compared to what I used to).  When we did buy meat it was organic and my portions were almost always small. My general philosophy is, though, that when I’m a guest somewhere else I eat what they have available and without any guilt. My parents, for example, usually have GMO food at their house, white pasta and meat that does not have an organic label. I’ll eat it knowing it’s not my normal routine and I’ll enjoy it without regret.

The Brazil Trip

My overall increase of fruits and vegetables, along with an increase in exercise, mainly through walking my newborn baby and swimming, resulted in me working my weight down to the 185 pound range. My weight had gone as low as 180 pounds shortly before leaving for Brazil but usually hovered higher than that.

Our house in Brazil is walking distance to the beach, and we don’t have a car. In addition, there are not a ton of options to eat out, so it is much easier to lose weight. Weather permitting, I go on two ‘adventures’ a day. One walk after lunch with just me and my daughter and one walk before ‘dinner’ with the whole family.  These walks are usually to the beach and are up and down hills and cliffs, so they are great exercise.

My wife likes to bake cakes, and I like to eat them. In addition, she will buy plain animal cracker type of cookies, which I enjoy eating. But we also eat lots of bananas and other organic fruit, which is abundant where we live.  I also notice I will be hungry from time to time. Hunger is not something I experience too often in America, but in Brazil it is simply more of a hassle to prepare and stock up on food, so there are more trips to the supermarket needed.

The Two Types Of Weight Loss

Before getting into my most recent weight loss breakthrough, I want to first explain what I’ve noticed in terms of the two types of weight loss. One is lifestyle and the other is the actual diet. Brazil has brought a lifestyle change. There is a more diverse landscape to walk and we don’t have a car. We don’t have as much food on the shelves, and we live right by the beach. All of this is conducive to losing weight.

At the same time, I’m much more aware of what I eat, and I know that fruits and vegetables are a winning diet. Last week I stepped on the scale for the first time in over 4 months and the first time since living in Brazil. My weight: 169 pounds. This is truly unbelievable. I weighed 178 pounds my senior year in high school 13 years ago. I did not weigh under 170 since I was 16 years old.

One Last Trick to My Weight Loss Success Story

For the first time in my life I can see my own abs. All the credit in the world goes to my pull-up routine. At the beach on the other side of the hill from our house is a pull-up bar (slightly lopsided) that sits next to a lifeguard stand. I walk my daughter down to it a few times a week.

I’m up to 10+ pull-ups per session, which is not bad for someone who is a shade less than 6 foot 2 inches with long arms. I can’t quite claim a 6-pack yet but it is getting close. I never knew I had the body type for a 6-pack but I think it is possible because when I flex, you can see them clearly.

My diet is not perfect. In fact, because my food options are limited in Brazil, I have some plans for America in terms of detoxing that I can’t execute here. But I certainly think I can maintain a weight in the 175 pound range without issue as long as I stay active.

It’s been a crazy journey and one that I never set out to accomplish. But as I’ve seen weight drop from lifestyle changes it’s become fun and overall I feel like I can now get the most out of life. As for my sciatic nerve issues, they still will flare up but are much more controlled. I don’t see it getting to the crippling state it was at before anytime soon.

If you want to lose weight the first thing is evaluate your routine and then your diet. Associate with the right people, and it will help your goals fall into place without forcing the issue.  I feel good about what I eat and don’t beat myself up for eating something that is ‘bad’ because overall I’m moving in the right direction.

Read the full post here: Weight Loss Success Story: My 56 Pound Weight Loss Journey

Natural weight loss is essentially a slow, simple, and healthy way to lose weight successfully. Weight gain often occurs if a person has been eating fatty or high-calorie foods or leading a sedentary lifestyle for extended periods of time. Thus, to lose weight naturally, it is important that you eat a healthy balanced diet and exercise regularly.

The fact is that these goals can be achieved easily right in the comfort of your home. There is no need for you to go on any crash diets or spend money on getting a gym membership in order to shed those extra pounds. Take a look at some these simple ways to lose weight naturally at home.

Dietary Tips to Help You Lose Weight Naturally

If you have decided to lose weight naturally, it is important that you develop a strong determination to achieve your goal. Setting some realistic goals and working towards them whole heartedly can go a long way in helping you achieve successful weight loss results. Here is the strategy you can use to work towards your goals:

Avoid High-Calorie Foods and Include Fiber-Rich Foods

Certain foods such as burgers, cookies, pastries, cakes, processed foods, pizzas, and alcoholic drinks tend to very high in calories and do not contain any nutrients or vitamins in them.

Thus, avoiding these foods is imperative if you want to lose weight in an effective manner.

One of the greatest benefits of including fiber-rich diet foods in your diet is that these foods help you feel full for a longer time, thereby helping you eat less in your next meal. In addition, eating fiber-rich foods help remove waste material from your body. This waste may otherwise accumulate as fat.

Thus, eating foods such as oranges, peas, beans, carrots, bananas, apples or sweet corn can prove to be highly beneficial in helping you reduce weight naturally at home.

Eat a Balanced Diet

Eating a diet which contains the right amount of proteins, vitamins, calcium, iron, fiber, nutrients and fats plays a vital role in helping you lose weight in a healthy way.

While the carbohydrate requirement of the body can be met with foods such as cereals, brown rice, lentils, beans and brown rice, the protein requirement can be fulfilled with foods such as fish, eggs, and lean meats. However, eating red meat should be avoided to achieve positive weight loss goals.

Another great weight loss tip is to eat smaller meals instead of three large meals all through the day. Eating five to six small meals throughout the day will boost your metabolism, thereby helping you lose weight naturally.

Drinking water all through the day proves to be highly beneficial in not only removing waste that might otherwise slow down the process of weight loss, but also in suppressing hunger pangs and helping all the vital organs of the body to function properly.

Exercise Regularly

Releasing your energy through various activities such as walking briskly in the park for about 30- 45 minutes daily, running up and down the stair case, dancing in your room with some foot-tapping music, jogging or doing some yoga exercises at home is great way to reduce your weight in a effective manner. Doing exercise regularly for about 30- 45 minutes a day not only helps you burn fat and lose weight in a healthy manner, but also improves blood circulation and enhances your overall fitness.

Apart from following these tips to lose weight naturally at home, it is important that you reduce your stress levels and sleep well in order to achieve successful results in your weight loss regime.

Read the full post here: How to Lose Weight Naturally at Home

Eating healthy is hard enough without making tracking your diet and your daily calorie intake difficult. Instead of complicating things, use an effective method of tracking your diet so that you will be more likely to succeed.

Whether you prefer high-tech gadgets and phone apps or more old-fashioned methods, you can always find a reliable method for calorie counting to help you achieve your weight loss goals.

Here are five of the best ways you can track what you are eating every day.

Apps

Smartphone apps and similar websites have come a long way in tracking what you eat and how much you eat.

You can search the food databases, so you do not have to input nutrition information manually, see graphs of your progress, track your weight and even scan barcodes on food to keep track that way.

Popular apps include Lose It! and My Fitness Pal from the App Store.

You can also go online to the USDA’s Choose My Plate service if you do not have a smart phone.

However, the benefit of using a smart phone to track your diet is that it goes with you everywhere, so you can record whatever you eat instantly and not have to remember it for later.

Journal or Notebook

If you are good at calculating calories and find it easy to bring a leather bound journal from rusticoleather.com with you everywhere you go, this is a great way to track your diet.

Treat it like a diary where you write in what you eat, how many calories are in it, and other health-related activities. Add up your calories as you go so that you do not go over your planned daily intake.

A journal is a great way for anyone to keep track of their diet if they enjoy writing by hand.

Organizing the Kitchen and Weighing Food

A dieter’s worst enemies are right in his or her own kitchen. Weigh out snacks and manage portion control the moment you return from the grocery store. Break up big packages of meat into 4-6 ounce portions before freezing. Having an organized kitchen with all the proper measuring tools will go a long way to help you lose weight and maintain the healthy eating habits you’re trying to establish.

Excel sheet or Google Docs

Use Excel sheets and other information storage programs to track your diet. If you find you are motivated when you put things into a professionally organized format, this method will work for you. It’s easy to keep track of if you’re familiar with Excel. This will allow you to view your eating habits, average calorie intake, and other pertinent information.

Diet Programs

Of course, one of the best ways to track your diet and caloric intake is to let someone else do it for you. Many diet programs provide the food, clearly label it, and leave only the eating up to you. With these programs, all you have to do is eat what they tell you to eat. It can be good to do research of your own and keep track just in case, though.

Track Your Calorie Intake and Achieve Your Goals

Using one of these methods makes tracking your daily eating habits less discouraging. In some ways, it is even encouraging as you can visualize your progress and see you are accomplishing something just by diligently tracking your intake.

Read the full post here: The 5 Best Ways to Track Your Daily Diet and Calorie Intake

Have you ever dreamed of having a celebrity fitness coach help you lose weight?

Now you can experience the next best thing: Kim Lyons, a trainer who has appeared on NBC’s The Biggest Loser and Dr. Phil’s Ultimate Weight Loss Challenge, has created an online fat loss program that you can access from your computer.

This affordable program gives you the 5 keys to weight loss, and it does not involve eating less or counting calories!

In fact, you will be able to eat more of your favorite foods without restricting yourself. You will learn the secrets of eating the right weight loss food and the right workouts to do in order to achieve your desired goals.

Click here to learn more about how you can lose weight by eating delicious food and doing a reasonable (not extreme) workout.

 Weight Loss Secrets from Kim Lyons

Kim Lyons is famous for her high-energy presence on the reality show The Biggest Loser, where she used her fitness expertise to help contestants shed pounds and feel good about their bodies again.

Having gone through weight issues of her own, Kim understands the struggles many people are facing with their weight loss, and she knows how to bring out your potential to overcome those barriers.

She now brings the most important keys to weight loss success right to your home in a DVD video series that guarantees fat loss for those who have access to its special tips and tricks. This DVD series includes the following weight loss secrets:

• Energy Overdraft: Burn more calories than you consume without counting ANYTHING. In this DVD, you will learn the perfect nutrition and exercise balance in order to lose weight. No counting calories, points, grams or anything else! It also includes a reasonable exercise program, nothing too intense, but enough to guarantee healthy weight loss.
• Fast Track Carb Stack Attack: Learn to combine healthy, natural carbs for optimal energy and weight loss.
• The Protein Power Push: Reveals the right proteins to eat in order to lose the most weight.
• The Hydration Equation: We’re often told to drink 8 glasses of water a day, but if you’ve tried this you probably know it doesn’t always help you shed pounds. Learn exactly how much water you need and how often you should drink it.
• Operation Healthy Kitchen: To give you accelerated success, this video will show you how to prepare nutritious meals in under 2 hours a week – even if you’re cooking for the whole family.

Click here to download this information to your computer and get started right away!

Additional Guides to Help You Stay on Track

In addition, you’ll get these detailed guides that will help you choose the right foods and prepare them quickly and easily in your kitchen.

• The Fast Track Manual: 5 Simple Keys to Fat Loss…
 

It includes personal tips, tricks, secrets from the Top 10 fat loss success stories.
• The Fast Track Ideal & Acceptable Food List & Meal Planner…
 Includes a convenient Meal Plan Chart and a Recommended Food List.
• The Top 5 Best Breakfasts, Lunches. Snacks, Dinners, and Deserts…
 Gives you 25 of the most popular options for your meal plans… 
And shows how they fit into the Fast Track Carb Stack Attack…
• The Exact Meals and Workouts of the Top 10 Fast Track Success Stories…
 Reveals the exact meals and exercises the top 10 Fast Trackers followed to achieve a total combined weight loss of 571 lbs…

Depending on your preference, you can download all of these materials for instant access or order the hard copies.

 Click here to get started with the DVD set and find out all you need to know about effective weight loss, including a few additional bonuses not mentioned here.

 Success Stories and Testimonials

“I cannot believe I lost 52 Lbs of FAT in just 12 weeks! I owe it all to the Fast Track Planner and how simple it makes following this awesome program. Never in a million years would I have guessed that losing this much weight would be so easy. I was extremely skeptical, but heard all good things, so thought I’d give it a try. Boy am I glad I did. So is my husband and family. Purchasing this planner was one of the very BEST decisions I’ve ever made and I am so grateful I found you! Thank you so much!”
-Megan Pietrzykowski lost 52 pounds

“I got a six pack in the first six weeks! It was unbelievable to me to eat right, get my exercise in, and still have time for my friends and my family. The results were incredible.” -Eric Post lost 26 pounds

“To start off with right off the bat, I lost 20 pounds in my first 30 days. That was so exciting. And within the first nine months of being on fast track, I lost over 80 pounds, 40 inches all over, including 9 inches off my waist and over 13 inches off my hips and down six dress sizes.” - Melody Thompson lost over 80 pounds

Start on the Path to Weight Loss Today

The great thing about this program is that you can get all the information online. It’s also very low-maintenance and doesn’t require you to have fancy sports equipment or a gym membership. You can stop depriving yourself of delicious foods, and eat the foods you love while achieving a fit and fabulous look.

Read the full post here: How to Lose Weight and Look Fabulous: Fast Track to Fat Loss with Kim Lyons

There are many health benefits that can be derived from drinking ginger tea. One of the promising effects would be your ability to lose weight when you drink ginger tea regularly.

Ginger is known for its benefits in reducing inflammation and helping the body to have a better digestive system and now it has become one of the favorite weight loss regimens used by dieters or individuals who aim to lose weight, and here are the reasons why.

Ginger Can Increase the Body’s Metabolism

Dieters usually drink ginger and/or cinnamon tea because both ginger and cinnamon have weight loss properties that help1 increase the body’s metabolic system. A properly functioning metabolic system is essential to fat loss because it burns the fats in the body and effectively converts them into energy sources instead of storing them as body fats.

Ginger is known to be an edible amphetamine that could work to increase the body’s metabolism by 20%.

However, drinking ginger tea while you are taking certain medications is not recommended by doctors because it also increases the absorption rate of the medicine in the body.

Therefore, it is best to ask for your doctor’s professional advice when you are taking a medicine for your ailment and are planning to undertake a ginger tea weight loss regimen.

Ginger Can Decrease the Amount of Cortisol in the Body

Cortisol is known to be a stress-inducing hormone that is associated with weight gain.

Studies show that a person who is under a lot of stress has the tendency to eat more, and their appetite becomes uncontrollable. The higher the cortisol level, the more likely a person’s stress level to increase, inducing more cravings.

Ginger is known to reduce the production of cortisol, thereby helping the body to maintain a low stress level, reducing the tendency to eat and to gain more body weight.

Ginger Is Digestive System Friendly

As featured in a publication made from the British Journal of Nutrition, ginger is proven to be effective in regulating the serum cholesterol, lipids and blood sugar in the body. It helps to regulate the stomach acid and it accelerates the enzyme activities in the stomach to aid in a faster digestion.

Ginger tea is usually taken before a meal in order to stimulate the body’s digestion system, helping you more easily digest the foods you eat. It is also best to drink a hot rather than iced ginger tea as hot water is also known to be beneficial to digestion.

Ginger Can Potentially Increase Your Ability to Exercise

Because ginger could easily fire a rapid metabolic process in the body, it is considered to be a stimulant that could easily convert your food intake into energy, making the body fitter and more capable of performing exercise and other physical activities.

With the additional surge of energy, you will be more optimistic in exercising, thereby burning more fats and calories to take the extra pounds off your body.

Preparing Your Ginger Tea Right to Get the Maximum Health Benefits of Ginger

Preparing your ginger tea in a cup of simmering water is the most ideal way if your goal is to lose weight.

The hot water adds to the properties of ginger to increase the body’s metabolic response. Drinking two cups of a ginger tea with some lemon juice added to it and 1 tablespoon of raw honey will certainly fire up the digestive system to work fast. It also reduces the release of cortisol in the body, reducing the stress level and helping one feel invigorated and energized.

Taking this kind of ginger tea and complementing it with exercise and a healthy diet will help you get a flatter tummy and lose weight more efficiently.

Read the full post here: Benefits of Ginger Tea: a Perfect Method to Lose Weight