Breaking Stalls and Plateaux Part 3

by | Jul 30, 2012 | Exercise, Fat Loss, Sensible Eating, Stalls and Plateaux | 0 comments

So, you’ve been on your diet or a while now – but the weight is no longer coming off.

It’s OK… You just stalled or hit a plateau

Whatever you do don’t worry as in nearly every case, it is avoidable and in all cases it is possible to overcome the stall, plateau or whatever else you want to call it.

In the last part of this three part series, I’m going to give you a checklist of things to go through and outline the three most effective ways of kick-starting your diet and getting you back on track to phenomenal fat loss. Guaranteed!

Do go through Part 1 and Part 2 first as you do need to know which one – or more – of the many different things that can halt weight loss is affecting you personally

Marks Check List

Things to do when the weight loss slow down.

  1. Don’t give up.
  2. Be positive.  At least there is no three-fold gains
    (weight, measurements and volume) and if you are in ketosis, you are still losing fat
  3. Stick to your plan. It’s there for a reason, don’t ‘do it my way’
  4. Check EXACTLY what you eat. Don’t use net carbs – it’s a marketing con – so count them all
  5. Check labelling for protein content and remember the law allows up to 140% error – also check portion size. It might relate to only one square of chocolate not the whole bar.
  6. Always allow a few days for change to take effect.
  7. Change or begin exercise routine
  8. Take supplements.
  9. Check calories. Do make sure you are not eating too much and not eating too little.
  10. Get enough sleep. A rested body works far better than a tired one.
  11. Don’t cheat. Ever.
  12. Are you staying in ketosis (Well derrr)
  13. Eat little and often to even out blood sugar levels and stop insulin rebound
  14. Avoid alcohol. There are a surprising amount of carbs even in spirits, and don’t forget alcohol stimulates the production of insulin
  15. Reduce carbs even further. This has been mentioned in the text.
  16. Check mineral levels.
  17. Make sure you have adequate levels of salt, potassium, zinc and copper.  Enough to allow your body to work properly, but not too much as to cause water retention.
  18. Avoid food additives – like the plague. These are known to cause a number of reactions interfering with the smooth working of the body. This can lead to a difficulty in losing weight.
  19. Cut down/cut out tea and coffee and caffeine added drinks like cola, red bull etc. These stimulate the release of insulin which as you know is the ‘get fat’ hormone
  20. Cut down or quit smoking – Smoking may reduce your appetite but it also uses up vitamin C and  stimulates adrenal gland
  21. Take note of your calories.
  22. Check your Fat, Protein and Carb ratio. For many low carb diets this is typically 33:55:12% by weight.
  23. For the zone diet it is 40:30:30.  Whichever diet you are following you should know what this is. (Note Atkins does not use this, particularly during induction)
  24. Make sure you are having enough fibre.
  25. Check for general health problems and especially yeast infection, candidas etc
  26. Are you eating enough different lowcarb foods to keep your interest high.
  27. Check that you are eating enough protein and fat and in the right proportions
  28. Check you are not eating transfats or otherwise hydrogenated fats.
  29. Take MSM supplement to make the transfer of fat and water out of the body more efficient

Stall Buster 1

It could not be easier – Just go back to induction levels. It’s very simple and works for many folk like a dream.

Stall Buster 2 (Condensed version)

Do these in the order they are given:

  • Make sure you are following the plan and not doing your own thing
  • Change how you eat – Eat little and often by dividing your intake into 4 – 6 servings spread throughout the day.
  • Check your Carb Intake properly.  Account for and include anything you would normally not include, like fibre.  Do NOT use net con carbs – use the actual carb amounts.
    • This will give you a true picture of the real amount of carbs and calories you are eating.
  • Using the accounting method above, adjust your carb intake to 15 – 20 gm below your critical carb amount  (if you know it) or better to the same level you used for your induction phase.
  • Check you calorie intake.

Work out how many calories you are consuming using the following table.
Compare these against your gender and activity level to see if you are consuming too many or too few. There is a more comprehensive online calculator on the Low Carb and Atkins Monthly website.
www.lowcarbandatkins.com
As a very approximate guide, use the following:  Simply multiply your weight in pounds by the relevant multiplier

Food Type Quantity of food Multiplier Total each line
Amount of Protein grams X4
Amount of Fat grams  X9
Amount of Carbs grams  X3.75
Amount of Alcohol grams  X7
  Total Calories

 

 

 

 

 

So, for example, if you are male weighing 170lb having moderate exercise your calorie intake would need to be around 2635 per day for maintenance.
If it’s too high either reduce carbs more or change to eating more protein and fat but without eating too many calories for your body type and activity level.
If it’s too low, increase Protein and fat proportionally to get the level of calories you need.

Multiply Your Weight by the figure below
Activity Level Women Men
Sedentry 12 13
Light Exerciser 13 14
Moderate Exerciser 14 15.5
Mod to Heavy Exerciser 15 16.5
Heavy but Regular Exerciser 16 18

 

 

 

 

 

Note: Calorie needs will vary greatly according to many things, including: gender, age, height, level of activity, body fat percentage and type of food eaten. This is just a simple guide to see if anything is amiss.

In addition to the above:

  • Take exercise opportunities like using the stairs instead of the elevator etc.
  • Do muscle building exercise.
  • Earn your appetite by before dinner walks etc.

Stall Buster 3

The MFP.   Meat, Fish and Poultry Regime.

This is a very simple diet. For two weeks eat only Meat, Fish and Poultry, and a few high fibre veggies. BUT make sure it is home cooked or in the very least additive and carb free.  Don’t use processed meat from the deli as this is full of sugars, fillers, additives and other nasties.

You may want to prepare some snacks a day or two prior to starting, such as home cooked chicken or turkey pieces. When they are cooked, cut them into snack size pieces and leave in a suitable package in the cooler. Also, make up some home made mayo. Divide it into three portions, have one as natural, add curry powder to another and crushed garlic, salt and pepper to the last one. Keep these covered and use them as dips on your meat etc.

The fish should be un-breaded, cooked according to any of the many recipes suitable for induction.
You can allow yourself one or two (max) eggs each day too. Again you could hard boil some in advance for ease when the munchies come.
If you’re not already in ketosis, make the first few days high fat days. (Meat cooked with lots of butter sauces etc to encourage your body to go into ketosois a little quicker.)
Make sure you take proper mineral, Vitamin (and fibre if you need it)  supplements for your body’s needs and above all drink lots of fluid – water preferred.

So hopefully, even from this short resume of causes and solutions you will understand that any stall, plateau or slow down in FAT LOSS is not the end of the world.  In fact it’s just a call to action for you to take charge of your health once again.

Breaking Stalls and Plateaux Part 2

by | Jun 24, 2012 | Exercise, Fat Loss, Stalls and Plateaux | 0 comments

During the Low Carb weight loss journey, many dieters experiences a slowing down or a halt in weight loss.

The good news is that in nearly every case, it is avoidable and in all cases it is possible to overcome the stall, plateau or whatever else you want to call it.

In this three part series, I go over most over the most comprehensive list of things that can cause your at/weight loss to tail off and in the last part I’ll give you three ways that you can use to bust a stall or plateau… Guaranteed!

Part Two – 16 Ways you can Sabotage Your Weight Loss Plans

A Bored body.

Even if you are exercising and have reached a plateaux, this could well be a sign that you’re now not exercising enough. Simply put, your strength and stamina levels have reached a point where you are in fact cruising through your exercise session and it’s not causing you to even break into a sweat.  This will start to have the same effect as no exercise.
This is most evident for folk doing aerobic or low impact exercise. The best type of exercise for fat loss on a low carb regime (in fact for any regime) is one which ‘makes’ muscle. That has to be resistance training or weight lifting. That’s because this type of exercise is the only really effective way of building muscle. There are so many advantages in doing this. Not the least of which is you are getting a much better tone and body shape.  Better muscle tone improves the posture and makes skin ‘hang’ better. Look at anyone in the gym and see which bodies look better. As this improves, so will self-esteem and also you will find daily tasks so much easier as you have the strength to do them.

Not Enough Water.

You’ve heard it before I’m sure. Your body uses liquid to fulfil all of its functions. Without adequate fluid levels everything slows down and that includes metabolising and eliminating fat.  Remember, too, our requirement for adequate levels of liquid are increased if we are in dry or warm environments.  And lastly, you remember that you can see the excess fat excreted – floating on the water after you pee.  Well, to get the fat out of your body and into the bowl, you have to wash it through with something.  In a nutshell ketosis does not work without adequate amounts of water.
Now you will also have heard that you have to drink the magic 64 oz per day. Well, up to a point it is true that more is certainly better than less, but not all of that must be water. Teas, especially herbal ones can count too (but watch out for the fruit teas as they may have higher carb levels!).  The watchwords here are your beverages must be carb AND calorie free. See later for beverages.

Medications.

So many medications are just set to stop weight loss either by slowing down metabolism, or otherwise interfering with the body’s processes.  First on the list are diet pills (often just cause you to flush water); appetite suppressants (make you not eat enough); or anything that promises instant weight loss. (Many of these are filled with starchy fillers that just add to the problem).  Diuretics are again a major cause of stalls particularly if you are in ketosis simply due to the body not having enough fluid to complete the process.

Not so obvious maybe are meds designed to lower cholesterol. (e.g. Clofibrate)  They have just the reverse effect as they inhibit the liver’s ability to convert fat to glycogen, slowing down fat burning. Did I mention the side effects?

How many of you can testify that you put on weight when you started to take the pill? Similarly, oestrogen, HRT pills, steroids, cortisone, seizure medication, will all cause weight gain.
Aspirin slows down the metabolism and is know to cause hypoglycaemia.  I still wonder why they prescribe it for heart attack victims who need to lose fat. Other pain control pills like Acetaminophen, panadol and etc.

Others to be aware of are amphetamines, anti-inflammatory, antibiotics, antihistamines, anticoagulants, analgesics and tranquillisers.  Drugs like propanolol (used for angina) cause the metabolism to slow down.

If you take insulin or use oral diabetic medication then you can expect to see greater fat storage as fat burning slows down or stops altogether. (See Thomas Smiths excellent article on diabetes in the last issue)
But remember to consult your medical practitioner before making any changes to your prescribed medicines. That said, make sure your medical practitioner knows about these things as many don’t and merely trot out the stuff sold to them by the pharmaco’s. You won’t be able to convince them either, so if they’re not knowledgeable get another practitioner before the one you have kills you.  (Sounds dramatic but sadly there is truth in that)

Food Sensitivity.

Of the main food groups allowed on Low Carb diet, Dairy products such as cheese can cause quite a problem with stalling.  The first reason may be a simple one – processed food often contain added sugars and starchy fillers. The second reason you can get problems with these is a common allergy to the casein in cow’s milk. (This can often be triggered by the shocking amount of antibiotics and other growth hormones present in modern milk supplies – but whatever you do – don’t switch to soy milk).
Other common food allergies are from wheat and wheat gluten, corn, soy, eggs (Particularly the white and more from battery hens than free range).

Chinese Food.

The high levels of MSG found in Chinese restaurant food is known to cause many gastric disturbances. It’s also directly linked to obesity. (Not to mention the other side effects, some of which are shocking)

For all the above, use a food elimination method to find your particular culprit.

Using Net Carbs.

This has got to be the biggest scam to hit the low carb world since the diet first became popular.  It’s not so much that the science is wrong – one way or another everything, even fibre, is metabolised to some extent by the body and this differs from person to person.  Also, much is made about the spike using the glycomic index as a way of giving credibility to the method.  If the GI or spike mattered one iota, then Dr Atkins et al would have given carb levels for each meal or snack. Instead they all, almost without exception, set daily targets of so many grams.
Manufacturers have betrayed the consumer by tricks and stealth to kid us that because ‘xyz’ ingredient has such a low glycomic index it need not be counted.
I’ve said it before and here again.  They are lying and spreading those lies as if they were gospel and conning the public and professionals alike.  Don’t fall for it.  Count all carbs and you won’t go wrong.

Take a look at a sample taken from a nameless producer. The snack bar has a big 2g decal on it so you would be forgiven for thinking that it only has 2 grams of carbs.  But when you view the info you can see that the actual carbs are 17grams for the bar. If you’re on induction, that’s nearly all your daily allowance gone in two mouthfulls.  Tellingly, if you add up the fat, carbs and protein – the amounts come some 7 grams short of the whole bar’s weight.  My question is: where have they gone and what are these ingredients anyway?

Also, I have a big problem with the ingredients as they are listed.  Soy protein is at the top of the list – not my idea of a healthy food (See Kaala Daniels article in December’s Low Carb and Atkins Magazine or better still, read her book).
Also fibre cannot be automatically taken away, as many folk do metabolise fibre to some extent.

Wrong Type of Food.

Obvious, but often overlooked. Make sure you know what you are eating. The more processed a food is, the less healthy it is going to be. It will have more fillers, additives, flavour enhancers and the like, all of which may well cause you problems.  There is a growing understanding that it is important to eat food right for your type.  More on that later.

Post Induction Stall.

The most common type of stall and one that can, in most cases, be avoided if you know it’s a possibility. Firstly, apart from a couple of things I’ll mention later, this is not so much a stall but more a change in the way the body is handling your new diet and weight loss regime. It has in effect sensed that the food it is getting in is going to be something it will have to cope with permanently.

By now you should have understood that a lot of your initial 3 – 5 lb (1.5 – 2.5 Kg) weight loss on induction was water being removed from your body simply because you were using up your store of glycogen (glucose that’s used for instant energy stored within the muscle and liver).  For every gram of glucogen there are three grams of water stored with it, so when you use up the glucogen the water has to go too. Once this convenient store of energy has gone the body then starts metabolising fat using the process of lypolysis and gluconeogenisis (See note)

The good news is that you ARE burning fat!
The reason for this is straightforward and is a function of the way the body uses fat cells for water storage and the way that fat cells work themselves.

As I said earlier, when you start an LC diet your first losses are glucogen then fat, as ketosis kicks in, and a lot of water. This water loss can fool the body into thinking it is dehydrating and as a result of that it starts to hold on to all the water it can.  This has two results.  The first is that the metabolism slows down and the second is the processes which are causing fat loss slow down too.

But listen, you are still burning fat all the time your body is in ketosis – it does not have a choice.

Now here’s more good news. Each of us has a natural, personal ratio of fat, muscle and water. And as your body senses the change in that relationship, given the chance, it will tend to get back its own ideal ratio and soon will start to let go of the excess water too. (Note when we are fat this ratio is distorted so it will need a time for retraining). Also, each of us has a natural limit to the amount or rate of fat removal we can healthily sustain. Our bodies will determine that for us.

So one way to help this change of phase pass quickly is to drink more liquid (non diuretic ones) and exercise.  The liquid will help overcome the body’s sense of dehydration and provide the much needed fluid to aid the body’s processes.  The exercise will help build muscle and bring about a more rapid return to that ideal ratio.

Body Changing Speed.

When you’re on a lowcarb diet, think of the changes you are asking of your body. First, you’ve taken away it’s reserves of instant energy (the glucogen), then you’ve made it start to burn fat, turn that into amino acids and then convert that into glucose. You may even have started to exercise. All these are a good thing. But the body is just reacting to these things forced upon it, so don’t be surprised if it takes time to regroup and adjust to the new way of being. The point here is not to allow that to take too long. Go through the check list and make sure you’re not allowing new bad habits to settle into the place of the old ones. The secret here is to not let your body get too comfortable or set in its ways (And believe me it will whenever it gets the chance) – but rather set your body new limits and tasks.

Brain Body Link.

Undoubtedly, your mind is your most valiant ally, or your most vile foe. Many serious scientific trials have shown just how effective the brain is at telling the body what’s what. This is the same for all of us eating lowcarb to lose or maintain an ideal weight.
The first thing is to have a good, clear and complete set of positive goals written down. The part of our mind that helps us achieve does not really understand negativity so all goals should be in the form of positive statements. i.e:  Not “I want to lose 30 lb”,  But “I will be lean and fit into my size 10 dress!”  Not “I will not eat high carbohydrate food” It’s far better to use “I will eat good nutritious high protein food”.

The second is to obliterate the possibility that failure is acceptable and keep telling yourself that.
Though it might sound daft, tell yourself every day just what you want your body to be doing. You will be surprised how much difference this makes.

Commercial Foods.

The bane of lowcarbers. You cannot dictate exactly what ingredients are used in these ‘foods’, and remember they are made by commercial companies in order to make a profit – a maximum profit. Ostensibly there is nothing wrong in that, except when through avarice they start to use whatever cheap ingredients the law allows – whether or not it is truly healthy – just to maximise their profit.  Once they have got to this stage they will stoop to whatever depths they have to in order to get you to buy them, even if it means not being too friendly with the truth about the carb contents, protein contents, fat type and contents or what artificial poison (oops, sorry) sweetener they are using. And it doesn’t matter whose name is on the packet either.  You are going to stall if you eat commercially made low carb food – guaranteed.

My Way of Eating.

All good low carbers stick to the plan. It takes lots of experience to go off plan and is not recommended. When you start deciding that ‘well, I’ve been good, I deserve a treat now’, that could be your undoing.  It won’t be long before that piece of pie you allowed yourself at the weekend becomes a piece of pie every day.  Or that Friday night ice cream becomes a regular nightly feature of your eating routine.

To make any plan work – you have to work the plan – it is that simple.  So if you know you have been having the odd deviation from the low carb straight and narrow, stop it before it gets to be a habit. The experience of thousands of LCer’s is that one slip from the path will lead to a slide down the mountain.  No matter what the justification, no matter how much you kid yourself that you deserve it, that little ‘treat’ won’t do you any good. The best reward you can have is success and that means sticking to your chosen plan.

Not the Right Plan?

More as an aside here. We are all individuals and there are many Lowcarb plans. You owe it to yourself to investigate them all. It may be that the plan you chose initially is not the best one for you. At least by finding out about other plans you will have more information upon which to base yourself and make your plans. In diet and in everything else, knowledge is empowering.  Get empowered!

Yes, you do deserve a reward.  But in truth your reward should be more than something that you know is not going to be good for you. Why not make a nice dessert or a cosy meal for two for your reward and share it with someone special. Go out to the cinema or theatre. Make your reward something really special – you owe that to yourself and to your continued success.

Weekend Off.

There are a few individuals who can lowcarb during the week and take the weekend off – but they are the exception who effectively are losing weight as the amount they eat over the whole week measured by calories is  slightly less than they are using up.  In addition to be successful in this way, they will normally have a faster metabolism too. When anyone with a normal or sluggish metabolism tries the same thing it is a certain recipe for disaster. Considering it can take up to 2 or 3 days for some to get into ketosis (and for some, that’s a struggle too), then effectively the amount of days you are burning and losing fat amounts to about 3 days a week. That’s a very poor result and of course you have to use every ounce of will power to start again each week. This is not recommended in any way. The whole idea of a LowCarb diet is to keep blood sugar levels and fat burning process consistent, the Lowcarb way of eating trains the body to get used to the LC lifestyle and make the best use of the quality food you consume. To suddenly yoyo back to high carb is both a shock and unnecessary stress to the system and will be the cause of greater fat growth than fat loss. (See the side note on Insulin and glucogen to see why)

Splenda.

Not a carb nor calorie free sweetener. In the very few human trials done before FDA approval with, would you believe, less than 30 people, some of the testees absorbed ALL the sweetener.  That meant they were metabolising it. The average absorption (extrapolating the results from animal trials) is believed to be around 15%.  As that’s an average, some people will obviously absorb more.  If you are using it, then count at least one gram carb for every two grams sweetener.  Also remember that the bit that’s not sugar must be something else.  In this case it ends up being definitely carby.  But please note I am not recommending you use it, as its safety is unproven over the long term and there are many people who have had severe and dangerous reactions to it.  Not the least of the problems in my book, is that it is very likely to cause a stall.

Gained Weight.

Again don’t panic, particularly if it’s just a pound or two.  If measurements and volumes have remained the same then you’re still in the game. The most normal reason why our weight fluctuates is due to water gains and losses. And don’t forget, when your exercise routine is effective, you will be making muscle and this weighs more than fat for the same volume.

For ladies, then things like hormonal fluctuations can make quite a difference to weight. One thing to remember is that scales never tell the truth.

Does eating More Fibre Make a Difference?

by | May 29, 2012 | Fat Loss | 0 comments

It’s a certain fact that many folk on low carb diets don’t take enough notice of how much fibre they eat.
If this is left to the extreme it can cause many problems. However, as we will see from this short article, the remedy is simple and effective

According to dieticians in the UK, their recommendation is that people should be eating between 18-24 grams of fibre a day.  However, a recent survey sponsored by one of the large supermarkets has shown that the average UK intake is just 12grams.  So the question is: can changing your diet and increasing your fibre give your digestive system a new lease of life?

Studies have shown that one way of decreasing colon cancer is to ensure that the food travelling from the mouth through the digestive system to the anus, when kept on the move, will prevent potentially harmful waste products from being easily absorbed.  In a recent test – Dr Mark McAlindon, who is a consultant gastro-entroologist at the Royal Halampshire Hospital in Sheffield, carried out a recent test showing that increasing fibre can indeed quite dramatically change the way our bodies handle food.

In his test, he took two lorry drivers, who both had a high-fat, low-fibre diet, and tracked their bowel movement as they took one of their international journeys from Southampton to Turin.  They were given a special pill which was used to measure the transit time of the food as it passed through the digestive system.

Before the diet, it took Don 22 hours and 39 minutes to allow the pill to go through his digestive system.  Wolfgang, however, took an amazing 42 hours and 25 minutes.  For the next ten days the truckers were given a diet that ensured that 50grams of fibre was consumed each day.  The test was carried out again with both drivers showing a significantly quicker transit time. After increasing their fibre intake, the time taken for the pill to pass through their digestive systems had been reduced to an average of nearly 21 hours.

One of the things to bear in mind here, though, is that the two guys who were chosen to do this test do have a job that involves them sitting down for most of their working day.  There is a direct correlation with how active you are as to how quickly your digestive system works.  It should also be borne in mind that they were given 50g of fibre a day whereas the recommended allowance is between 18-24g per day.

Small Changes in Your Diet can Make a Huge Difference

by | May 27, 2012 | Cravings, Fat Loss, Food Choices, How Your Body Works, Metabolism, Sensible Eating, Snacks | 0 comments

Each day we make as many as 200 food choices.

These are influenced by many things, even the folk we’re eating with.Even though each of those choices may only represent a small contribution to our final health – they all add up to making an
immense difference.

You’ll probably notice that many of our reader’s questions are about small things. They are about the details in diet. Sometimes people ask me “surely, if I just take care of the big things then I don’t really need to worry about the small things?”

But when you analyse anything, the big things are made up of lots of small things. If you take care of the detail in your diet, then each of those things that you take care of will add up and make the big things far more effective. Here are a couple of those small things that you might like to consider:

Firstly, when you go to the supermarket or your local shop to stock up, look down the ingredients list to make sure you avoid eating foods that have got artificial sweeteners, MSG and a whole range of additives and colorants. These are the things that many manufacturers have to put into their food in order to put back the flavour and vitamin content that their processing has processed out.
Try as much as you can to use organically sourced and grown produce. By sticking to
organic (from a reputable producer), you know that you are not going to be eating and digesting pesticides, phosphates, all kinds of hormones and all the other things that commercial food producers use in order to overcome the problems that their fast-food production line cause.

It’s making those healthy choices, the small ones, that all add up to a much healthier lifestyle.

And it’s not just what you eat!

A small choice you can make every day is just to take the elevator to get up two floors, or take the stairs. Taking two flights of stairs briskly will do far more for your heart than taking the elevator, that’s for sure.

Doing that five or six times a day, is just like jogging to the top of a ten-storey building!

It’s those type of small changes that I’m talking about, those small changes can make a really big difference.

The reason for making those choices is clear.

In Europe, the U.S.. Australia and in fact most of what would be considered the western world, its poor lifestyle choices that (e.g. what we choose to eat, to exercise, etc) account for the leading causes of death. Things like cancer, heart disease, diabetes and the rest.

In fact, the WHO (World Health Organization), in it’s recent World Cancer Report, have said that the rates of cancer would increase by 50 percent over the next 15 years. Statistics like that are cause for concern.

However, all is not doom and gloom as WHO also intimates that at least a third of the cases could be prevented by folk making better lifestyle choices.

Some folk think that in order to make these changes they have to make a lot of sacrifices. But in reality, this is just not so.

If you think about it, it won’t cost you much at all to take the stairs (often times it’s quicker than taking the lift). In fact just 20 or so miniutes of
exercise a day can make the difference .

And to eat organic may cost you a few more
dollars a month, but these are all a small price to pay in exchange for a long, healthy, active and
sickness free life.

Four Questions to Successful Fat Lose

by | May 26, 2012 | Fat Loss, Questions about low carb, Sensible Eating | 0 comments

Here’s four things to take care of which will further guarantee your successful fat lose.

1. Questions

Many folk fail to ask themselves why they want to lose fat. By not asking detailed enough questions, you fall victim to only giving yourself vague reasons and vague goals. If you don’t know exactly where the goal is you will find it almost impossible to score.

2. Quantity

Make sure you absolutely know how much you should be eating for your activity level, and body size. (Height and frame type). Eating too little can be as self-defeating as eating too much.

The other quantities you absolutely must know are the size and weight you want to be when you reach your target. Notice that was size and weight. The most important of these is actually the size you want to be, as your weight can be influenced by the type of exercise you do to help achieve your goal.

3. Quality

You really are what you eat. People who eat junk and processed food on a consistent basis really do have lower health levels than those who take full responsibility for what they put into their bodies.

Just have a look at the long list of preservative and taste enhancers that you find on the ingredients list of commercially produced food.

The only way you can almost guarantee not to be slowly poisoned by them is to prepare your food from quality, fresh and preferably organically sourced ingredients. Which for the most part need not cost any more if you do you shopping wisely.

4. Quitting

In a word… Don’t

Churchill’s admonition to never, never, never give up was spot on particularly for those in the battle against the bulge.

That seemingly weeks going by with no movement in the scales does not mean your overall condition is not improving either.

How to Lower your LDL Without Harmful Drugs

by | May 26, 2012 | Fat Loss | 0 comments

Magnesium, like many trace elements is used by our bodies to perform many un-noticed tasks.

Here we see it can easily and safely be used in place of statins and other harmful drugs.

World wide, millions of people take a statin based drug each day to help lower the high levels of LDL (the ‘BAD’ form of cholesterol) .

While these are well known and commonly prescribed drugs, what is not as well known are the wide range of harmful side affects such as decreased insulin sensitivity, organ damage, muscle & sexual dysfunction.

There is, however, good news as US scientists* have concluded that a common mineral supplement offers a much safer and effective way to combat high cholesterol levels and lower the risk of heart disease than do statin based drugs.

In fact, total cholesterol levels can be lowered by as much as 23%. The mineral in question is magnesium. It works in a similar way to statin by inactivating an enzyme HMG CoA reductase, (HMG formation is the first of many steps in the formation of cholesterol.) Magnesium has yet further benefits towards a healthy heart in that it helps to increase the activity of a beneficial enzyme LCAT which helps to elevate the ’good’ HDL cholesterol.

Yet another enzyme– Desaturase – is dependent on magnesium. Desaturase helps convert linolenic and linoleic acids into anti-inflammatory prostaglandin’s.

Eating magnesium rich foods such as fish, avocado, leafy green vegetables, seeds, nuts and whole grains will obviously help, as will taking a supplement of (recmd) 150—200 mg 2/3 time daily.

HMG – (5-hydroxy 3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase)
LCAT- (lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase).
*Professor A Rosanoff & Dr M Seelig Downstate Medical centre Brooklyn State University of New York.