Here are some simple tips for losing weight that don’t cost much money and are risk-free too:

1. Increase your intake of water: Water is the most important nutrient as it has the power of flushing out all the toxic elements from the body and maintain the metabolism of the body. Drinking at least 10 glasses of water is a must. Start your day with a glass of luke warm water and add a few drops of lime juice and honey to it. Don’t be afraid of the honey as although it is sweet it does not have sugar and ha numerous medicinal properties that are great for a good digestion.
2. Take out time during the day for some exercise: Exercise does not necessarily mean an hour’s workout at the gym. Depending on your daily routine see the time you can take out and which exercise you can accommodate during that time. It can be a walk, cycling, yoga, treadmill or whichever form of exercise that suits your body and schedule. If due to some reason you are unable to take out time in the morning, try to shift your exercise in the evening. Especially for working women or ladies with small kids taking out time seems next to impossible. Try to put in some exercise when the kids are off to school, studying, playing or sleeping. This way you shall be bale to manage your work as well as exercise.
3. Don’t procrastinate: Always remember the more you postpone weight-loss the harder it would be for you to lose those extra pounds. If you feel you are too tied-up to start exercising today you are sure to feel so even after 1 year. The initiative to lose weight has to come as soon as possible. The sooner you work on those extra pounds the faster you would lose them.
4. Don’t start any drastic diet: It is not sensible to start any drastic diets that ask you eat abnormally low quantities of food or to completely remove any item from your diet. The problem with such diets is that they are not healthy for the body and the minute you stop these diets your body does a rebound and the weight comes back faster than you could have ever imagined. Completely removing any food from your diet would increase your craving for the food and you may end up binge eating at the first given opportunity, wasting all the effort you had put in for such a long time.

As a parent firstly learn to identify that your child is obese. Every parent finds a chubby child “cute” but is it really as harmless as you think it is? Don’t put off the weight loss program for your child merely hoping that the fat will disappear. It wont and would bring with it a number of health problems too. Did you know that child obesity can cause heart diseases, musculoskeletal problems, diabetes, and asthma and in some cases may even be the precursor for cancer? Apart from the health related problems what about the psychological problems your child would grow with thanks to his obese body?

Fat people are unfortunately the favorite butt of all jokes. Unfortunately for obese children they get ridiculed amongst their peers at school and play which can be very discomforting for the psychology of the child. It hampers their self worth and may bring in with itself a self imposed hatred or self pity. It may make them aggressive, nasty, bad-tempered, and sadistic or may make them introverts and complex adults with serious psychological problems.  As a parent it is your duty to address the issue without any delay and jump into action at the very first indication that your child is bordering on obesity. So what are the options you have as a parent who wants their child to lose weight?

Before you start any weight loss program for your child study his whole day’s activity and plan where all you can “add” activities that induce physical labor. Activities like cycling, swimming, jogging, brisk walking are excellent options for children. Not only do they help in weight loss but they also help in the muscular development of the child. Depending on the choice of your child you may enroll him in a hobby class for games like basketball, football, cricket, baseball or any game that involves running and lots of physical strain. The idea is to “burn” the fat naturally to make the child leaner and fit.

Along with the above activities study the diet chart of the child. As he is still in his growing years it is not wise to restrict the diet. Hence give the child a balanced diet that has enough proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and good fats. Do not try to remove the fats and carbohydrates from a child’s diet as they are very essential for his complete nutrition and energy requirements. Cut down on empty calories and junk food and shift to natural foods high in fiber. Do not even think of giving your child any weight loss drugs. A child’s body is flexible enough to lose weight quickly as long as you employ the right means to do so.

Lately a drug known by the name of Phentermine has been in demand and is said to be quite effective for tackling obesity. Most of the weight loss products in America have it as an ingredient. So how effective is it actually and is it safe for your body? Let’s have a look at what the drug is all about and its effects on the body to appropriately judge the benefits and usage of the drug.

Working of this drug is dependant on the individual body constitution of the person consuming the drug. This drug is known to reduce the craving for food and thus curbs the appetite of the person. The most important fact about the drug is that it has been approved by the FDA that automatically makes you believe in the drug. When you consume tablets containing Phentermine, it affects the hypothalamus and the central nervous system to control the appetite.

Phentermine is actually a amphetamine that transmits signals to the neurotransmitters that in turn transmit signals to the brain. Thus its consumption makes the brain block out all hunger related signals and you don’t end up feeling hungry or feel the urge to eat food. Along with curbing the appetite this drug also escalates the lepton levels that hikes the metabolism of the body and burns off all the extra calories. These two functions in sync help you lose weight naturally and effectively.

The doubt in many people’s mind stays because of a past incidence wherein phentermine-fenfluramine combination drug had resulted in a valvular disease in women. However, the catch ere is that phentermine in itself was not the harmful drug but its combination with fenfluramine had caused health related issues. This is something that can happen with any drug and phentermine is no exception to the rule. As with all medicines you should consult a qualified doctor before you start having phentermine. The doctor would also take into account your medical history and the drugs that you are having. Then he would advise you on whether it would be safe to take phentermine or not. Please note here that the FDA has approved phentermine AND NOT its combination with any other drug.

Depending on your body and medical history the physician would advise the dosage of phentermine to be taken. Generally phentermine is advised to be taken on an empty stomach with water in whole i.e. no breaking the tablet. Whatever dosage has been prescribed to you take the full dosage once a day. Phentermine is available in the market in various concentrations ranging from 15 mg to 37.5 mg and remember that the tablet is not chewable, you have to swallow it.

Phentermine is to be avoided by breast-feeding mothers as the drug may pass over to the baby via the mother’s milk. Get rid of all the extra fat and get your body back in shape with phentermine. It has helped numerous people get rid of obesity and is the answer for eradicating obesity from your life forever.

In order to have a good personality, it is essential to maintain a proportionate weight. Those who are overweight are always worried about it.  Remember that it is extremely difficult to lose weight and requires concerted efforts and regular daily routine to do so. Here are a few tips for losing weight-

Plan reducing weight

Find a suitable plan to reduce weight and ensure that it is implemented sincerely. It is not so simple to lose weight but can be done if you are determined to do so. Fix goal to lose unwanted extra weight and concentrate to achieve it. Don’t get influenced by others that it is a difficult task. Thus it is immaterial whether you are following a weight loss guide; a DVD or a program online, what is important is that it must be followed strictly.

Maintain record

Keep a diary and maintain record of all your ideas, feelings, intake of food efforts being made to lose weight. Thus you would have complete record of your efforts towards losing weight. You would be able to assess the reason of not losing extra weight and take remedial measures.

Drink adequate water

A large number of Americans don’t consume sufficient quantity of water for proper functioning of body. Normally a person weighing 150 lbs is required to consume five bottles of water daily. This can be done by avoiding unnecessary intake of fluids like cold drinks, coffee and alcoholic beverages. We generally don’t realize importance of water to our body and take it for granted. Once this is understood we would certainly increase intake of water gradually.

Dieting not necessary

Dieting is not essential. Majority of people are unable to continue having a particular diet for a longer period and soon give up. Only minor changes should be made in your nutritional habits so that it can be sustained.

Eat breakfast

After fasting whole night the metabolism is lowest in morning. There is requirement of stroking metabolic fires with good breakfast. If this doesn’t happen your body would like to store excess calories from next meal you have as fat. Thus, it is very important to have proper breakfast.

Smaller meals

It is advisable to have four to six small meals per day rather than 2-3 big meals. By distributing energy intake into smaller and frequent increments, this would increase metabolism.

Reduction of stress

Stress causes release of cortisol which helps in storage of fat in body. Efforts should be made to reduce stress with the help of yoga, meditation, taking up hobby or anything that reduces stress.

Keep food log

Make note of all that you eat and calculate average calories per day. Now reduce calories as per requirement to achieve goal.

Regular exercise

Start exercise program slowly. This could be for three days a week. Walk of twenty minutes every day is good enough. Carry out short workouts at gym or home which will increase calories expenditure. So number of calories from your diet may not be cut but you still lose weight.

When browsing through various weight loss programs it is imperative to study the detailed break-up of the program and see if you shall be able to do it “completely”. Say you come across a weight loss program that asks you to eat 2 eggs daily and you don’t eat eggs. Obviously it is not suitable for you. Don’t be under the impression that you can leave one aspect aside and still make the program work for you. For desired results you have to follow the program “exactly the way it is”. There are many programs that have scope for modulations but these modulations have to be discussed with a doctor or nutritionist and not be self decided.

If you want to go thorough some good weight loss programs you can surf the internet, read books, ask your doctor or see some related programs on TV that give you valuable insights on these programs. Let’s have a look at a famous weight loss program known as “High protein, low carbohydrates diet” and its salient highlights:

A high protein diet asks you to increase your daily protein intake and reduce the daily carbohydrate intake for effectual weight loss. This is very effective in losing weight quickly but the weight loss need not necessarily be sustainable. The whole idea is to get around 30-50% of your required daily protein intake from proteins.

The scientific explanation for this diet is that when the carbohydrate consumption of the body goes down the body starts burning its own fat that leads to weight loss. This body state is referred to as “ketosis”. In this state the appetite of the person reduces drastically and he feels less hungry that causes weight loss.

The disadvantages of this diet if you overload your body with proteins:

Strain on the kidneys: Too high proteins in your diet are not healthy for the kidneys and may lead to kidney disorders.

High cholesterol: A high protein diet directly ends up increasing your cholesterol as all food with high protein generally has high cholesterol too.

 Osteoporosis: High protein diets make the person excrete more calcium that deprives the body of the required calcium causing osteoporosis.

Kidney stones: Due to high protein intake the calcium excreted by the body also increases and as a result there may be formation of kidney stones too.

 Cancer: When you deprive your body of many carbohydrates you are also keeping your body deprived of many anti-oxidants that are required for keeping away cancer. So if you want a high protein diet then increase the intake of foods rich in antioxidants like fruits, whole grains etc so that your body’s antioxidant requirement is also met adequately.

 Unhealthy metabolism: The state of ketosis is acceptable to the body only for a while and not prolonged as then it starts harming the organs and can cause a very unhealthy metabolic state.

1. Which weight loss treatment would suit me and my lifestyle the best?
2. Will I be able to sustain the treatment?
3. Is the treatment healthy for me?
4. What schedule would I need to adhere to maintain the weight?
5. Will I be able to do so?

These questions would let you narrow down your choices considerably and make it comparatively easier to choose from.

In the recent years “Yoga” has suddenly made an entry in our lives and has some excellent reviews from people who claim to have got back in shape thanks to “Medical Yoga”. So what exactly is medical yoga and how effective is it for controlling obesity.

Medical yoga targets not just physical wellness but also psychological wellness. It believes that a healthy mind is a must for a healthy and fit body. This is especially important for cases where people tend to binge on food when their stress levels escalate. Medical yoga keeps your mind in perfect control and hence prevents any such binging sessions that make you put on weight.

The magic of Yoga on weight loss was discovered when yoga practitioners noticed that their regular clients started losing weight that they were unable to do so in spite of numerous diets. The obvious relation came to the picture; yoga includes body postures that relax the mind, body and soul. When these three are at peace and in sync automatically the body becomes healthier. As a result the body starts shedding the extra fat that would make it unhealthy making you slimmer without “even trying too hard”.

Yoga has shown spectacular results in curbing obesity even in case of patients restricted to the wheel chair. According to yoga the root cause of weight gain is “Stress” in our everyday life. The constant fretting, fuming, fussing, running about, multi-tasking, lack of sleep, unhealthy eating, erratic schedules etc are all increasing the stress in our daily life. Hence the body starts accumulating fats as the hormones to burn fats are not doing their proper work as stress hampers their functioning.

Medical Yoga helps you to think with clarity and teaches you how to deal with stress without straining your mind and body. It targets your “self awareness” and makes you understand “yourself”. It teaches your mind to differentiate between what is good for the body and what is not. Medical yoga combines various yogic postures that help cleanse your mind and regain the control over your body to be able to lose weight effectively and maintain it.

No matter what your body constitution and medical history, you should remember one thing that weight loss is not a “quick-fix” solution. Anyone who claims otherwise is making a fool out of you. And even if you do end up losing weight “miraculously” in just a few days, be prepared for some serious medical complications as it is not healthy to lose large amount of weight quickly.

The body has to be respected and given time to shed the excess weight. Only then would the weight loss be termed healthy and you would be able to sustain it. Those people who wish to look slim for just a few days and then bloat up again are those who preferred taking the short cuts to weight loss.

Unfortunately for the consumer, weight loss treatments are an enormous business opportunity for business conglomerates. Keeping all ethics aside, they look at weight-loss drugs as a cash cow that they wish to milk to the maximum. Every publication you read and every second commercial you come across is speaking about a “wonder drug” that would melt away all your fat. So how do you decipher which drug is effective and whether it would really deliver the results they are promising?

Before you take weight-loss drugs try to understand what these drugs really are:

1. Drugs that reduce your appetite- These drugs target your craving for food by suppressing your appetite. Thus you feel less hungry so automatically your food consumption reduces.
2. Drugs that increase your body’s metabolism- These drugs increase your body’s metabolism so that your body is able to burn fat faster and minimize the fat storage in the body.
3. Drugs that block all fat absorption in the body- These drugs prevent the fat from getting stored in the body.

There are a few drugs that have been approved by the FDA and other medical councils but the only catch in these drugs is that their results are short term and some people may complain of side effects too.

Obviously you cannot have these drugs for ever, so as soon as you stop the drug your body comes back to its normal state and your weight gain begins. Drugs can help you only if they are not the only weight-loss option you have opted for. If you can supplement your weight loss drugs with adequate exercise to maintain the weight loss then you can try out these drugs. The aim should be to bring down the weight to the desired level and then continue work-outs to keep it there even when your body no longer has the support of the drugs. Whether you do work-outs, yoga, aerobics or whatever method you choose, you need a back-up plan with weight loss drugs.

This diet recommends frequent eating of regular meals, say 6-7 times a day, to prevent feeling hungry and thus reduces the scope of binge eating. Eat unprocessed vegetables, unprocessed fruits, non-fat dairy products, egg whites, lean meat and whole grains as per your requirements and supplement it with a 45 minute walk per day and see your weight vanish in no time. You may also consume low quantity of omega-3 fatty acids (like in fish). Caffeine, white pasta, processed food, egg yolk, white bread and fats are completely off the diet chart.

You go to any supermarket and you are surrounded by “fat-free” foods. Have you ever bothered to see what exactly is there in these fat-free foods and whether the food really contained any fat before being declared fat-free? Take juices for example, they never had any fat, so where does the question of “NOW FAT_FREE” arise? Understand one thing as a consumer that marketers are targeting to capture your attention “no matter how”. And since it is in fashion to be diet-conscious and eat fat-free food they are claiming every second food to be fat-free.

Remember that in a low-fat diet you are basically targeting on “low cholesterol” and not on completely eradicating fat from your diet. Fats are also an essential nutrient that MUST be consumed for a healthy body and proper metabolism. The catch is only in limiting the intake to healthy limits. Read the fat-free label carefully to see if it is really fat-free or not. Fat-free foods are supposed to have less than 0.5 grams fat/serving. Low-fat foods are supposed to have less than 3 mg of fat/serving and reduced fat foods should have at least ¼ less fat than their counterparts. Some products make up for the lack of taste in fat-free foods by loading them with sugar, syrups and many such items that are high in calories but not on fat. So take care of what you pick-up from the shelves rather than going just by the “fat-free” label.

Nutritionists argue that it is not advisable to stay away from fat but eat “good fats” instead. The good fats include poly-saturated fats and mono-saturated fats. Focus on foods with low LDL i.e. the bad cholesterol and have food with high HDL i.e. the good cholesterol for a healthy fat-free body all your life.

Weight loss is quite tricky and it is not necessary that the regime that has been suiting you and helping you lose weight all this while will work all through the end. In fact chances are that you would get stuck in the last 5 pounds or so. It can be immensely frustrating and annoying being just a little away from your destination. So what should you do to bridge that last gap?

Start by first trying to understand your body and its mechanism during weight loss. All the while you subjected your body to a NEW weight loss regime that worked for you body and gave you fantastic results. Bu now after following the same regime for quite some time your body gets “adjusted” to it and reaches a plateau. This is why after losing so many pounds you get stuck in the last bit. So the only solution is to first remodel your workout schedule. This would shake-up the body from its reverie and again starts the process of weight loss.

Remember that your body is very flexible; it is up to you to stretch its limits and redefine boundaries. If you don’t push your body further it would easily adapt itself in a routine and refuse to shed more fat. The modulation can be either in your speed or your time. Extend the 30 minutes to 45 minutes and you would not even notice the difference after a few days as the body again starts to adapt to the new regime. Or just increase your incline slightly and see those extra pounds melt away in no time.

The second important tip is to include more fiber in your diet. Medical science recommends at daily intake of fiber as 25 grams which unfortunately we don’t reach. Fiber has numerous health benefits apart from being good for weight loss. Introduce whole grains to your diet rather than refined carbohydrates. Also include both soluble and insoluble fibers for maximum benefits. Insoluble fiber is present in whole grains and roughage and soluble fiber is found in fruits such as apples, pears etc.  Modulate your diet to include both types of fibers. Even fiber supplements are a good choice for augmenting your fiber intake per day. Don’t overload yourself with fiber lest you may feel uneasy and bloated.

Control binge eating no matter what. It’s OK if you suddenly have a craving for chocolates and have a candy but please keep yourself away from gobbling the whole bar down and then regretting it when you measure your weight the next day. If you are planning a regimented weight-loss then don’t banish any food from your life. Just reduce its quantity and frequency. This would keep you away from cravings and going overboard the minute you see them. Also when you feel you are having a weak moment seek solace in your friend, sister, mom or whoever you feel would help pass the time over. All these are just phases and gradually they would become an integral part of your life and shall help keep your weight in check all your life.

When we talk about surgical weight loss treatment there are a number of options:

1. Lap-band surgery: In this surgical treatment the surgeon uses a prosthetic devise known as the lap-band and separates the stomach into two parts. The lap-band is actually similar to a ring and forms a pouch like structure in the stomach. The bigger part of the stomach stays below the smaller part that was formed using the lap-band. The smaller stomach created by the lap-band reduces your appetite as you would now feel full faster as the net capacity of the stomach has been reduced. This reduced appetite would help you lose weight effectively. The science behind this surgery is to make the person feel satiated faster and keep feeling full for longer durations. This surgery is generally recommended for people who are abnormally obese and for those for whom their food intake is enormous. Also this surgery is generally recommended only if your excess weight is posing to be a life threatening problem for you.
2. Gastric Balloon surgery: This is also one of the renowned weight loss surgeries that use a premium quality silicon balloon, placement tube and filling system. This balloon is inserted in the stomach by surgery and the objective of the balloon is to make you feel satiated soon and thereby reduce your appetite significantly. Apart from satiating your appetite it also gives you the impression of having a full stomach for longer periods thereby increasing the gap between two meals. The best part about this surgery is that it is an out-patient surgical procedure that takes not more than half an hour. Just a few hours of rest post the surgery and you would be sent home by the end of the day. The first week the patient is put on a liquid diet with high water intake. Thereby the dietician advises you on how to plan your meals for the day that include solids too. You should be prepared for a 6 month regime of a diet program after inserting the balloon. You would be offered proper training and guidance by a team of experts who would track your weight, diet, progress, regime with diligence for maximum weight loss possible. The program focuses on altering your lifestyle in such a way that you start leading your lifestyle in the appropriate manner even when the balloon is no longer there in the stomach. The best part about this surgery is that it is not a stop gap measure. It educates and modifies your life for the better so that you don’t suffer from obesity again in your life.