Eat To Lose Weight

Eat To Lose Weight
by: Mandy S. Morris


Are you one of the millions of people suffering from being overweight? Is your kitchen counter is filled with protein shakes and diet pills that didn't work, and your basement crammed full of exercise equipment that eventually just sits there? Have you starved and exercised yourself into what felt like oblivion to see hardly even a dent of weight loss on your scale? Maybe you have tried every latest craze on the market, only to see very little, if any results! Is it any wonder so many of us eventually give up?

That's how it was for me until I stumbled across the most amazing plan to lose weight. It is the healthiest and safest way to lose weight I have found. But most importantly, it actually works! You don't have to starve yourself, exhaust yourself, or drain your bank account trying to lose those extra pounds. You can actually eat your way into getting thin! That's what I did!

By eating the right foods at the right time, you can lose weight quickly and effectively. It is so easy, anyone can do it! Eating food is much more effective than taking any dietary pill. By eating specific foods at the right times, your body will burn fat calories at a very fast pace. It will fuel fat loss and you will see the pounds start dropping off. I was amazed to see the body I once had as a teenager! I really thought that would never be possible for me again.

This weight loss plan is the easiest plan I have ever tried. The 11 day program is all laid out for you. You will never starve and you will enjoy eating delicious foods that will make the pounds melt right off your body. After 11 days, you will have 3 days to cheat and eat whatever you want. Have you ever heard of such an easy plan? You will be amazed to see the results! I was thrilled to be able to wear clothes I had not been able to fit in for years! And what fun it was to go buy myself a whole new wardrobe!

By losing weight you will greatly reduce your chances of getting Type2 Diabetes, heart and colon cancer, arthritis, high blood pressure and a number of other diseases related to being overweight. You will have much more energy and feel so much better about yourself. It is the best thing I have ever done. Losing weight doesn't have to be just a dream any more.

By using this method I have lost more weight than I ever thought possible. The nice thing is, it really does work! For more information you can go to http://www.articlelinkto.com/fatloss4idiots

About The Author
Mandy Morris lives in Chicago and is an author who doesn't like to starve herself for a diet. http://www.articlelinkto.com/fatloss4idiots

Diners Healthy Eating Survival Guide

DINERS HEALTHY EATING SURVIVAL GUIDE
by: Jim O'Connor


To go ordering, or let's go out is becoming a primary behavior in today's society, and jeopardizing our healthy eating values. The result is bigger, and bigger waistlines. Many of us are not even aware of why. Listed below I share my 9 healthy eating rules to follow protecting you from those restaurant calorie demons.

No wonder why diners today are more concerned about healthy restaurant eating. A recent study of 300 American chefs indicated that 50% didn't even care about the calorie content of the foods they served to the public. As a matter of fact, a mere 1 in 6 American chefs feel calorie content is remotely important. Therefore, as predicted, a typical chef's main objective is to provide you with an excellent, but not necessarily healthy, dining experience so you will run out and tell your friends, and come back wanting more. Healthy restaurant eating is not on the top of chefs concerns. With that said, saturating the dishes with fat, salt, and sugar is of very little concern to most chefs. Restaurant chefs are simply willing to do whatever is necessary to show the customer extreme value while concentrating on the main goals of making their food taste and look great, even if it is at the expense of our health. This extreme perceived value objective has lead to the "super size portion generation" leading to bigger waistlines.

Do to the current pace of today's society, Americans are now consuming over one third of there calories from eating out. How many of these calories are actually healthy dining calories? Probably not many.

Today we, as diners, must take on more personal responsibility than ever before focusing on eating right while eating out.. Chefs, restaurants, and friends are not going to look out for our health. Thus, it is our own personal responsibility to preserve our health by eating right while dining out.

If your health is meant to be, it is up to you. It is about choices. You have the personal choice of eating right. However, please understand, it is up to you to make a difference not anyone else. Which choice are you going to make?

Listed here are my 9 surefire health eating tips to help you take personal responsibility by eating right while dining out.

1. Don't arrive extremely hungry. It is best to have a snack a couple of hours prior to eating out. This will ensure that you won't enter the restaurant ready to eat the basket of bread. Don't worry about spoiling your dinner; It is a bad healthy eating habit to come into a restaurant ravenous.
2. Take it home. When an extra large portion comes to the table request a doggy bad immediately prior to putting a bite of food into your mouth. Cut the extra large portion in half, take it home, and eat it tomorrow.
3. Dine at healthy eating restaurants. Patronize healthy dining eateries so you won't get caught in a situation of not being able to locate anything healthy on the menu. Don't set yourself up for failure.
4. Ask servers for substitutes. Be specific to the server about what you want to substitute. It never hurts to ask about getting your food prepared in a healthy dining manner. An good example would be replace the mayonnaise with mustard. It never hurts to ask.
5. Order dressing on the side. Another healthy eating tip is to order your salad dressing on the side. Be a dipper. You will save yourself added fat, and unwanted calories.
6. Beware of beverages. As you know, wine, beer, and regular soda all have calories too. Consider consuming water to conserve calories. Why drink your calories when you can eat them.
7. Healthy eating means avoid these terms: alfredo, au gratin, breaded crispy, french fried, pesto, hollandaise, light cream sauce, sauteed, or pastry.
8. Leave food on your plate. A good healthy eating habit is to always leave a bit of food on your plate. You don't have to clean your plate. If you follow the doggy bag rule, of course, this may not apply.
9. Eat slowly. Eating slowly is proven to decrease the amount of food you eat. Thus, the caloric content ingested will be much less.

Eating healthy and eating out can be mentioned in same sentence. By following these 9 surefire healthy restaurant eating tips you are assured of walking out of the restaurant at the same weight you walked in at.

About The Author
Jim O'Connor To discover more empowering health, fitness, and nutrition tips in video, audio, and text visit Jim O'Connor's Wellness Word Newsletter. Receive a free multimedia fitness programming secrets email minicourse by visiting http://www.wellnessword.com.

How To Build Chest Muscle Lightening Fast In 3 Easy Steps

HOW TO BUILD CHEST MUSCLE LIGHTENING FAST IN 3 EASY STEPS
by: Richard Knight


If you’ve been trying to build chest muscle but aren’t seeing the gains you were looking for then there are a few key steps you can take to build chest muscle in lightning speed.

How to Build Chest Muscle Step I – Dissect your chest work out

If you want to build chest muscle you have to dissect your chest workout. Your chest which consists of your pectorals “pecs” are pretty big muscles, which means you’re going to have work out different parts of your chest “one at a time” if you want maximum results and the fastest gains possible.

It’s real simple. All you have to do is break down your chest workout or chest exercises to work out the 4 main parts of your chest. These 4 parts are your upper chest, your lower chest, your inner chest and your outer chest. Here are a few exercises you can use to build chest muscle very quickly.

Upper Chest Muscle Exercises

• Incline Barbell Bench press - Military Dumbbell Presses - Incline Dumbbell Flyes

Lower Chest Muscle Exercises

• Decline Barbell Bench press - Parallel Bar Dips - Decline Dumbbell Flyes

Inner Chest Muscle Exercises

• Standing Cable Crossovers - Flat Bench Dumbbell Flyes

Outer Chest Muscle Exercises

• Flat Bench Barbell Presses - Flat Bench Dumbbell Flyes

By dissecting your chest workout in this way you will not only build chest muscle fast but you build ALL the different areasof your chest muscle which leads to a bigger, stronger and wider chest.

How to Build Chest Muscle Step II – Work Your Chest to Failure
If you want to build chest muscle, you have to train your chest to failure. If you don’t know what I mean, it’s very simple. You have to push your chest muscles to the point where it is unable to do any more reps on its own during that set.

This is why you also NEED a spotter – someone to help you when your muscles fail during an exercise. For example, if you’re bench pressing and your muscles fail halfway on your last rep, you want someone there to assist you, so you can keep pushing even though your muscles have failed – that’s the key to unlocking HUGE muscle gains.

When you train your chest muscle to failure like this, your body says “Woe, I better start sending more nutrients (protein, water, calories, etc.) to build my chest muscles so next time we deal with this stress (weight training to failure), it won’t be as strenuous as last time”. Training like this can and will lead to HUGE chest muscle gains quickly.

How to Build Chest Muscle Step III – Don’t Cheat on Your “Negatives”
What are “negatives”? – Negatives are the eccentric or lowering phase of your particular exercise. For example, if you were bench pressing, your negative would be when you are lowering the barbell once you’ve reached the top. In other words, negative is the motion you take after you have contracted your targeted muscle (in this case lowering the barbell after we have contracted our chest muscle to push the barbell to the top).

Most people use gravity during negatives instead of having a controlled movement downward. This is what I call “cheating your negatives” and it’s also hazardous to your muscles. Think about it, if you just finished pushing a 150lb barbell upward, it’ll be pretty dangerous and “useless” when you’re trying to build muscle if you just relaxed your chest muscles as soon as you were about to lower that barbell it.

Instead, take your time and bring the weight down in a controlled motion and try to really feel the burning in your chest muscle as you lower the weight thus stretching and really targeting your chest muscles as a result.

Remember, it’s not quantity but quality. Think about it, you could lift 30 pounds ten times with poor form or 30 pounds six times with proper form, and you would notice much better results with the latter example

So don’t cheat yourself out of building the massive chest you desire by cheating on your negatives – this is when much of the pressure is being put on your muscles, so don’t “wimp out”.

To anyone who wants to learn how to build chest muscle and quickly at that simply follow these 3 simple steps and you’ll be on the road to a massive chest in no time.

Copyright 2006 Richard Knight

About The Author
This article has been written by Richard Knight, a “former skinny guy” and weight gain consultant. Richard teaches other “Average Joes” step by step how to build lean muscle mass in 28 days FLAT with his own weight gain system. Get his FREE tips today. . . http://www.skinny2massive.com

Cycling Your Way To Fitness

CYCLING YOUR WAY TO FITNESS
by: C.J.Gustafson

Stationary Bikes - Still A Top Choice For Overall Fitness
In all the craze over new fangled fitness equipment, the exercise bike often gets overlooked. Stationary bikes have been around for many years, which can lead some people to think they are outdated or not as effective as newer types of equipment. But for many people, exercise bikes provide a fun, consistent, reasonable means of exercising, improving cardio functions, and losing weight.

Stationary exercise bikes provide all the benefits of riding a bicycle. They provide good cardio workouts, have much less impact on knees, hips and other joints than walking or running, and can be used at any time it’s convenient. Most stationary bikes have manual or computerized controls to allow you to adjust resistance and speed. Many also come with heart monitors and cardio workouts already programmed in. There is a huge selection of price and style, and stationary bikes tend to be the most affordable cardio exercise machine.

Plus, with a stationary bike, you don’t have to worry about traffic, dogs, or bad weather. You can exercise in the convenience of your own home and even watch television or read a book while you bike. Try doing that on the bike path at the park!

Types of Stationary Bikes
Standard, upright stationary bikes come in single or dual action models. Dual action bikes have handles or levers to work the upper body and have been shown to provide more effective cardio workouts, burn more calories, and also improve overall body tone more efficiently than single action bikes. Dual action bikes work well for those with hip or leg injuries who need to exercise but also need to go easy on their legs. The dual action allows the arms to work harder to operate the machine, thus requiring less work from the legs.

A recumbent bicycle, sometimes called a “bent,” is a type of stationary bike that is more laid back…literally. It places the body in a semi or fully reclining position, taking pressure off the back area. Some people feel the position is difficult to adapt to at first, but many who choose recumbent bikes say they are very easy and comfortable to ride. They usually come with a larger seat, which often means you will stay on the machine longer or not have discomfort later.

Because of the reclining position, a recumbent bike works the abdominal muscles more and also creates more hamstring action. The lower center of gravity makes for better balance as well. Doctors feel they are better for those with back problems or with cerebral palsy and related diseases. The recumbent bikes also bring your feet more closely in line with your heart, keeping blood pressure low and providing for a safer overall workout.

Popular Models & Prices
Most stationary bikes come with ways to assess your speed and distance. Economy models have a tachometer/odometer combination and a design that utilizes a flywheel to provide resistance. These models are not programmable and provide the least effective workout, but are at under $200 can be an inexpensive way for a beginner or someone on a tight budget to get some exercise. They can be purchased at many department stores.

Standard models usually come with more features such as a programmable consul that calculates heart rate or allows you to pick a heart rate and then adjust the resistance accordingly. These bikes may use flywheels, fan blades, or magnetic resistance, depending on the quality. Magnetic resistance is usually the best method as it operates more smoothly and is quieter. These models can range from $200 up to $1500 and provide the broadest range of selection for the average person. Some popular models include Tunturi F520 (recumbent), Vision Fitness R2000, and several models from Schwinn, the popular bike manufacturer.

More expensive stationary bikes often use magnetic resistance and typically need to be plugged in to an outlet. They come with all the bells and whistles, including extended warranties, more varied programming features, and comfort options such as built in fans. They typically cost over $1500. Lifecycle 5500HR and 5500RHR (recumbent) are popular choices among those who are serious about their workout or have a healthy budget.

Other popular manufacturers of exercise bikes include Nordic Track, Reebok, Weslo, Keys, Fitness Quest, and Edge.
Compared To Other Equipment
All types of stationary bikes provide a low impact workout that many feel is an advantage over treadmill exercise. The force on the knees, ankles, feet and other body parts that occurs with walking or running can cause swelling or discomfort in the joints. It can irritate old injuries or sometimes even produce new problems. A stationary bike provides non-weight bearing exercise that reduces impact on these areas.

In the health and fitness industries, and among customers, there is an extensive debate over which machines burn more calories and give a better cardio workout. There is evidence on both sides of the issue, but many people agree that a stationary bike should have dual action to optimize weight loss and heart health. The pumping of the arms has a significant impact of the effectiveness of any workout, and a treadmill is less effective as well if you hold onto the hand supports rather than letting your arms swing or pumping them in rhythm to your motion.

Elliptical trainers are another exercise option that provides a low impact workout, but many feel they do not provide the same cardio benefits. Rowing machines are boring, more difficult to use, and can be hard on the back. Other equipment has disadvantages as well, making stationary bikes a good choice for overall effectiveness and satisfaction. Consumer buying shows that exercise bikes continue to rank as a top choice for exercise and fitness training.

In the ever expanding world of health and fitness equipment, there have been some true advances as well as a bunch of gimmicks. A stationary bike is an old standard that has been a proven exercise tool for years, and that continues to improve and adapt through new technology. The overall effectiveness, ease of use and variety of designs and prices makes a stationary exercise bike an excellent choice for beginners and advanced enthusiasts alike.

About The Author
C.J. Gustafson is a successful writer for http://www.best-home-gyms.com, your complete shopping guide for home gym equipment, exercise bikes, treadmills, elliptical machines, weight lifting equipment and more.

Copyright 2005 Best-Home-Gyms.com

Fruit For Fitness Tips

FRUIT FOR FITNESS TIPS
by: Steve Shannon

Without question, fruit has wonderful natural benefits for the human body. Fruit is packed with vitamins and fiber much like vegetables, but comes in a wide variety of sweeter, more palatable flavors. Adding fruit to your diet is an excellent thing to do, but there are a few things that you need to keep in mind:

1. Eat fresh fruit instead of drinking fruit juice. Juice is often sweetened, but fresh fruits have natural sugars. Also, you don’t receive all of the needed fiber and vitamins from fruit juice as you do from fresh fruit.
2. If you do have a craving for fruit juice, then go for fresh fruit juice instead of those that contain artificial flavors and colors. Or even better, try making your own fruit juice, taking care not to sweeten it with too many calories.
3. Choose fresh fruit over processed fruits. Again, processed and canned fruits do not have as much fiber or vitamins as fresh fruit, and processed and canned fruits are nearly always sweetened.
4. Wherever possible eating locally produced seasonal fruits and vegetable fresh from the garden or grove is preferred.
5. Fresh fruit makes the absolute perfect dessert for any meal. Throw out the cake and add a fresh fruit bowl to the dining table.
6. Fresh fruit also makes the perfect snack. It’s far better to grab a banana or apple when hunger pangs strike, than a bag of greasy potato chips. Plus, fresh fruit just tastes better.
7. It’s interesting to note that nature produces several varieties of fruits resembling the shapes of the organs of our body, which are useful and beneficial to that specific organ. Here are some examples:

• Apricot - Brain
• Mango-Papaya - Stomach
• Almonds - Eyes
• Apple - Heart
• Grapes - Lungs
• Cashew nuts - Kidney

8. Fruits and vegetables have in them a natural storage of the sun’s energy. If we make a daily practice of having fresh fruit and vegetables, or one glass of real fruit juice and two or three cups of green juice of vegetables, our requirement for food will be reduced to a minimum. We will have enough energy to maintain the body in a healthy condition.

Overall, just remember that fresh fruit is better for you than canned fruit, fruit juice, processed fruit, or cooked fruit. Eat as much fresh fruit as you like. Another benefit of adding fruit to your diet is the added water intake. Water is a simple, yet effective tool in the fight against the scale and the emergency room, and is often overlooked by most people. But that is a whole other subject...

About The Author
To learn more about the tremendous benefits of water in your dietary routine visit: http://www.privilegedinfo.com/waterwisdom.html. Steve Shannon is webmaster at PrivilegedInfo.com.

Identify The Root Cause Of Your Back Pain Before Fixing It

IDENTIFY THE ROOT CAUSE OF YOUR BACK PAIN BEFORE FIXING IT
by: Michael Saros


If you feel that back pain is completely overwhelming your life, you are not alone. So many people live with debilitating, even crippling back pain everyday seemingly with no end in sight.

It is a daily ritual for them to reach into the medicine cabinet and pop a pill of their favorite over-the-counter pain reliever or doctor prescribed medication.

Despite the publicized health risks for taking these drugs on a continuous basis, back pain sufferers continue to swallow pills even if the relief only lasts temporarily and is miniscule at best. A cycle of doctor visits, pick-ups at the local pharmacy and popping pills becomes a way of life.

But does it have to be this way? Are we truly limited to just a bottle of medication with potential side effects and the one-sided advice from a doctor?

ABSOLUTELY AND POSITIVELY NO WAY!!!

AND YES...YOU AND YOU ALONE CAN DEFEAT YOUR OWN BACK PAIN!

First, you must understand that everyone for the most part has access to a huge arsenal of tools for combating, eliminating and managing back pain. But not everyone has the same degree and cause of back pain.

It is so important to find and effectively use the right set of tools for your own particular situation.

For example, too much rest or relaxation (a tool for getting rid of back pain) has the potential to be detrimental to your health if weak and underdeveloped muscles are the underlying cause of your back pain.

On the other hand, if you suffer a herniated disk from playing a sport, rest and relaxation may play a larger role in a quick recovery.

So essentially, effectively treating your back pain first depends on identifying the primary cause(s) or origin(s) of your back pain.

The better you are at identifying the cause of back pain for your own particular situation, the more specific and exact your arsenal of tools will become to effectively eliminate your back pain for good.

So after all that, you must identify the cause(s) of your back pain. Let's look at some common causes of back pain.

Common Causes Of Back Pain

• Poor Posture
• Injury (Sports, Car Accident, Fall, etc.)
• Poor Genetics Or Congenital Disorder (Scoliosis, Spinal Stenosis, Degenerative Disk, etc.)
• Using Improper Lifting Techniques
• Obesity
• Frail Bone Structure/Osteoporosis/Osteoarthritis
• Muscle Weakness/Imbalances
• Lack Of Exercise/Sedentary Lifestyle
• Poor Nutrition
• Stress/Anxiety
• Poor Sleep
• Performing A Repetitive Motion That Puts Strain On Your Back

Take a good long look at the list above. Just about everyone who suffers with back pain can relate to one or several if not all of these common causes of back pain. I, personally, can relate to every single one.

And it's ok to have several causes or identifiers of your back pain. The more you can discover, the more weapons you will have to effectively combat and eliminate your back pain for good.

Back pain is similar to a weed. You can't just mow over the top of it and hope you never see it again. You have to find the root of the weed or the root of the problem in order to effectively treat it.

How do you do this?

Well, you need to examine your own lifestyle. I would like you to ask yourself these questions to help determine your cause(s) of back pain:

Questions To Determine Cause Of Back Pain/Circle All 'Yes' Answers

1. Do I suffer from a congenital condition or was I born with a spinal condition?
2. Do I not pay attention to my posture either sitting or standing?
3. Do I not practice good posture either sitting or standing?
4. Have I suffered from a recent car accident or fall and subsequently experienced back pain not long after?
5. Do I do a lot of heavy lifting or bending over in my job or at home?
6. Do I perform an unnatural repetitive motion at work or at home?
7. Do I not practice safe lifting techniques?
8. Am I 20 pounds or more overweight?
9. Do I not eat enough fruits and vegetables?
10. Do I not drink enough water? 8-12 glasses per day?
11. Do I eat too many sweets and foods containing sugar?
12. Have I been diagnosed with osteoporosis or arthritis?
13. Do I lead a sedentary lifestyle? Am I a couch potato?
14. Am I under a lot of stress? Do I suffer with anxiety?
15. Do I have trouble sleeping?

Of course, these are just a handful of questions you could ask yourself to discover the root cause(s) of your back pain. Please circle the questions that have a 'Yes' next to them if you have not already.

Take a good look at the questions you circled. This method is not foolproof but it is a great way to see all the potential causes or root origins of your back pain. You should see the things you need to improve in order to help you live free of back pain.

Once you know or at least have some idea of the cause(s) of your back pain, then you can delve deeper into the plethora of ways to combat and eliminate it once and for all.

About The Author
Mike Saros is a former back pain sufferer and author of The No More Back Pain newsletter found at http://www.BackReliefElite.com . He will instruct you how to end your own lower back pain at http://www.SecretsToAPainFreeBack.com/Secrets_Discount.htm.

Monitoring Your fitness Progress: Don't Guess - Measure!

MONITORING YOUR FITNESS PROGRESS: DON'T GUESS - MEASURE!
by: Anthony Ellis

Mass Gaining program is incomplete without the timely measurements to monitor Your Progress. The only way to know if your mass or fat loss program is successful is by monitoring your measurements, weight and body fat levels.

'One accurate measurement is worth a thousand expert opinions.' - Admiral Grace Hopper, U.S. Navy

Depending on the program, I recommend that everyone take their body fat levels every 1-2 weeks. There's a lot that these readings reveal to a trained eye! For example, I was recently on a fat loss diet, and I did not lose any weight for three weeks. At first I thought that I needed to drop my calories further because the current levels were not working for me. I did not want to do this because as a hard-gainer, dropping my calories too low can result in too much muscle loss. So, before I committed to a more drastic diet, I checked my body fat records.

Was I in for a shock! According to my body fat calculations I was actually getting leaner. Even though my weight did not change during that three-week period, my body fat levels went down 3%! Since I did not lose any weight during that time, the fat must have been replaced by muscle (an added benefit, but this does not happen most of the time). I would have never known this by simply looking in the mirror.

Another example is last year when I was on a mass cycle. I was eating a tremendous amount of calories and gaining weight like crazy. I stopped the diet once I began to notice that my fat gains were larger than my muscle gains. I would never have noticed this if I had not closely monitored my body fat levels.

I expect to gain some fat on a mass diet, but I always want to gain more muscle than fat. If I had not kept track of my body fat levels, I would have gained too much fat.

TRACKING RESULTS
There are many methods of measuring your body fat and some are quite expensive. While many consider underwater weighing to be the most accurate, no method is 100% precise -- they all have some margin of error. It's not important to know the exact number -- what's important is to use the same method each time you take your measurements so you can have a consistent record of your progress. I just use an inexpensive skinfold caliper. They cost anywhere from $29-$80 and are simple to use.

A good caliper is essential. Without it, you won't know how exactly your body is responding to your diet and training routine. You may also want to consider using a tracking software like The Composition Tracker at http://www.comptracker.com ... It will help you analyze your data and tell you if you are actually building more muscle and losing more fat!
Just looking in the mirror and guessing is not acceptable!

If you want to start getting great results, you must develop the habit of accurately tracking your progress. If you don't, you will continue to go in circles. This may seem like a 'hassle', but nothing worth having is ever easy to attain.

About The Author
Former "skinny guy" Anthony Ellis is the author of Gaining Mass! The most widely used weight gain program in the world. This unique program designed to help people gain weight and build muscle, is currently being used in over 90 countries Click here for more information http://www.musclegaintips.com.

Top 10 Tips For Choosing A Successful Diet Plan

TOP 10 TIPS FOR CHOOSING A SUCCESSFUL DIET PLAN
by: Debbie Fontana

Going on a new diet usually ranks about as high as going to the dentist.

You know you need to do it. But you procrastinate because your past experiences have been so unpleasant. Even torturous. But there's one big difference between going to a dentist and going on a diet. The results from the dentist usually last. So why don't the results of a diet usually last? Because you have to eat several times every day. So if the only way to keep the weight off is a diet that seems as torturous as a trip to the dentist, is it any surprise most of us fail repeatedly? I believe you'll have a greater chance for long-term success if you enjoy your weight loss program. So here are my top 10 tips for choosing a successful diet plan:

1. You Have to Be Able to Live With Your Diet And Have a Life With It.

This is absolutely the most important tip.

If your diet seems like torture, if the food gives you no pleasure, if you're making yourself and everyone around you miserable, then you'll have trouble losing all the weight you want and keeping it off.

You have to make long-term changes in your eating habits to succeed with weight loss. So whatever you do to lose weight initially should be similar to how you keep it off.

That means you have to eat foods you enjoy. You have to be able to socialize at food-based events. You have to be able to enjoy life.

2. You Should Lose No More Than 2 Pounds a Week.

Sometimes, you may lose a little more at the beginning. But week-to-week, 2 pounds is enough. Anything more is unhealthy.

3. Your Diet Shouldn't Be Extreme in Any Way.

Unless your doctor advises you otherwise, it's unhealthy to eliminate entire food groups. A balanced diet provides vitamins and minerals to keep you strong.

So skip the diets with low-carb, all grapefruit, or whatever the latest fad is. Extreme diets usually don't work. At least not for very long.

4. You Should Have Minimal or No Hunger.

If you're losing only 1 or 2 pounds a week, you shouldn't experience tremendous hunger. Not if you plan your meals and snacks correctly.

5. You Should Have Lots of Food Choices.

There's no reason to restrict the kinds of food you eat week to week. I've never understood plans that say in Week 1, you can only eat these 10 foods. In Week 2, you can add another 5 foods. But if you gain weight, go back to Week 1.

If your diet doesn't work with every food from Day One, it's probably not going to work. Period.

6. You Should Be Able to Enjoy the Holidays.

If your diet doesn't build in holiday eating, you're going to do it anyway. You'll just ruin your diet.

That's why so many people start diets in January - after the holidays. Trouble is, the holidays always roll around later in the year. So you need to have a way to handle them.

7. Your Diet Has to Allow for Moments of Weakness.

Perfect diets are for perfect people. But there are no perfect people. So a perfect diet is destined to fail.

8. You Shouldn't Have to Exercise with the Diet To Lose Weight.

I'm not saying you shouldn't exercise. We all know exercise is healthy and it makes you feel good.

But the benefits of exercise should be a bonus. Not a necessary part of a diet plan.

After all, what if you become unable to exercise for some reason?

Or suppose you stop losing weight on your diet plan and you haven't reached a reasonable target weight. If the only way to start losing again is to exercise more, then the diet's not working.

9. You Should Get All the Information You Need When You Start the Diet.

If someone sells you a diet and you have to go back week after week to get more information, they're just trying to make money off of you. There's no reason why Week 1 should be substantially different from Week 9.

And when you pay your money, you should know what the entire diet system is about. How else can you evaluate if it's going to work for you?

10. You Should Control the Diet.

The diet shouldn't control you. By this, I mean that your diet should meet your needs and wants.

Strict rules just increase your chance of failure.

For example, if you like to snack in the evening, but your diet eliminates eating after 7PM, how are you most likely to fail on your diet?

That's right. By snacking in the evening.

But everyone has different needs and wants. So you have to be able to customize a diet to meet yours. Then you're more likely to succeed.

And of course, before starting any weight loss program, you should see your doctor to make sure your diet is right for you.

Copyright (c) 2006 Debbie Fontana

About The Author
Debbie Fontana is a full-time author and business owner who writes about health, weight loss, looking great, and feeling fantastic. She created the delicious I Love to Cheat lifestyle diet and the companion I Love to Cheat Rewards Newsletter. She encourages her subscribers to submit their weight loss problems, questions, and concerns. Visit her at http://www.ILoveToCheatDiet.com.

Man Of The Month: Mr. February Jake Campione

MAN OF THE MONTH:
MR. FEBRUARY - JAKE CAMPIONE

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JAKE CAMPIONE FOR FEB 2007!! A MODEL AND GORGEOUS ATHLETE!

A very hot AAG model! Loads to love! I am sure you will all enjoy visiting his page! Although there is not much we know about Jake Campione it is known that he is well loved for his great shots! Hopefully we'll hear more on this great model and athlete. more...

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MORE PICTURES OF HANDSOME JAKE!

Visit the website for more great men!

Brand New Pic of Nick Auger!

Brand New Nick Photo Added
Thank you Natalie!