Friday, September 26, 2008

The Truth About BMI, Body Fat and Health

Though one of the most popular tools used today to determine whether someone is at a healthy weight or not is the BMI, body fat and lean muscle tissue don't figure into the equation. This has led many experts to discount BMI as an archaic measurement that isn't accurate for many people. What is BMI, and why is it a good measure for some, maybe, and completely wrong for others?

BMI, or body mass index, was created in the early 1800s by Adolphe Quetelet. Because of that, it's sometimes called the Quetelet index. It's nothing more than a way of comparing a person's weight to his or her height, and determining if his or her weight falls into a healthy and normal range. The BMI is still used today pretty much as it was when Quetelet invented it.

The formula for figuring BMI (body fat, bone and frame size, muscle and body type aren't included in that) is this: Take your height in meters squared (your height times itself) and divide your weight in kilograms by that number. For example, if I'm 5 feet tall, that's about 1.5 meters. To square that number, take 1.5 times 1.5. The result of that is 2.5. So if I weigh 120 pounds, that's about 54.5 kilograms. Divide 54.5 by 2.5 and I get 21.8 as my BMI. The normal weight range is from 18.5 to 24.9, so 21.8 is classified as a normal weight. Underweight is considered 18.5 and below, while overweight people will calculate a BMI of 25 to 29.9. A BMI of 30 or greater indicates obesity.

BMI, body fat and general health can all be used as signs of how fit a person is. But where general health is pretty self-explanatory and the percentage of body fat clearly shows whether a person gets enough exercise or not, BMI is a bit trickier.

People with a lot of muscle don't show accurate BMI readings. Because muscle weighs so much heaver than fat but takes up less space, a relatively small statured person can carry a lot of muscle weight without looking huge. BMI doesn't take that into account. Football players, professional wrestlers, bodybuilders, and virtually any athlete who has a lot of muscle is going to measure as overweight and even obese according to the BMI. So it's not accurate for them. Is it accurate for everyone else?

The answer to that is yes, and no. It depends on you. The BMI typically doesn't show an accurate result for children. And extremely tall or large-framed people will show overweight or obese classifications more easily because of the extra weight from their bones and muscles. So for very short, tall or muscular people, the BMI appears to not be a good tool.

There's also no distinguishing between men and women in the BMI. Body fat is more natural for women who are supposed to have more than men, so some sort of distinction in the measurement of the sexes would help the BMI's accuracy.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Tips For You On A Diet For Lowering High Cholesterol And Losing Weight

If you have high cholesterol it is important to get yourself on a diet for lowering cholesterol and losing weight. Many Americans worry about their cholesterol levels, especially those who are over weight. In most cases the first step in resolving your high cholesterol and shedding those extra pounds; is changing your diet. You will discover some pretty convincing evidence, in this article, which will convince you, to improve your health by losing weight and lowering your cholesterol.

A recent study completed by The School of Medicine at Stanford University showed that with both diet and exercise, you can significantly reduce your cholesterol and get rid of the extra weight. The study was done with over 300 men and women with high cholesterol. In order to control the groups the first group was put on a low fat diet. Then the second was put on the same diet with an exercise program.

After a year the group with both diet and exercise had lower cholesterol. The group that didn’t incorporate exercise didn’t have a loss as significant as the first group.

Eating a low cholesterol diet has shown to lower cholesterol by 8% to 20%. There are a few low cholesterol diets that have proven to work well. These diets include; the Dash Diet, The South Beach Diet, The Ultra Metabolism Diet, and The Weight Watchers Diet. Every one of these diets has online programs or books to guide you through the diet with menu plans and instructions.

As an addition to your low cholesterol diet you should make sure to eat plenty of Vitamin C. Vitamin C is used to fix natural cracks and fractures in your arteries. If you don’t get enough Vitamin C your body will substitute it with cholesterol. If you make sure to get enough of the vitamin as part of your low cholesterol diet, your liver will not be forced to produce excess cholesterol.

In another study done, with sixty heart bypass surgery patients, it was shown that eating grapefruit everyday lowers your cholesterol. The study had the patients divided into three groups. One group was given red grapefruit. One group was given white grapefruit.

However the last group was not given any grapefruit and had no diet restrictions. The study showed that the groups that ate grapefruit regularly as part of a low cholesterol diet showed a significant drop in cholesterol. Whereas the group without restrictions, which didn’t eat any grapefruit, didn’t show any drop in cholesterol.

Additional studies have shown that women that have eaten five to six smaller meals had lower cholesterol and better weight control; than those that ate fewer larger meals. If you eat many small meals with a low cholesterol diet and fewer calories you will be able to lower your cholesterol by about 5% and drop your weight.

There is no question, having high cholesterol and being over weight, is very dangerous to your health. However, if you suffer from being over weight and high cholesterol there are some simple things you can do to lower both your weight and high cholesterol level.

As the above information indicated it doesn’t have to be complicated. Simply get yourself on a diet for lowering high cholesterol, combine it with a good exercise program and you are on your way to better health.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Burn Excess Fat Green Tea Weight Loss

With the boom of herbal products in the last decade or so, one of the most popular products has been green tea – but did you know you could use green tea for weight loss? There’s been a lot of talk about reasons to use green tea to help improve your health, but a lesser-known fact is that is that green tea can help you burn calories, as well. Before you decide to stop your diet and quit exercising, you must realize that green tea is merely an aid for weight loss.

Green tea is a weight loss aid, but it’s merely meant to help you shed pounds – it’s not going to do all the work for you. So how can green tea help you lose weight? It’s pretty simple, really: green tea contains caffeine. As a stimulant, caffeine naturally helps you burn extra calories. The thing is, most drinks that contain caffeine are full of calories of their own, too.

Coffee, soda, and energy drinks are never going to help you lose weight, because they’re filling your body up with fat and calories along with the caffeine content. Again, it’s key to remember that green tea is just a little boost, in the neighborhood of an extra 70 to 80 calories burned per day. That number much is less than the amount of calories in a single serving of soda or coffee.

One thing that gives green tea weight loss an advantage is the compound called epigallocatechin gallate, commonly known as ECCG. The ECCG in green tea increases the effectiveness of the caffeine, leading to a greater amount of calories burned. Along with the fewer calories contained in a serving of green tea, this means the caffeine in green tea can help you lose weight where it would not if you got it from soda or coffee.

It can’t be stressed enough that green tea is just a small ally in the war against fat. If you were to lose 80 extra calories per day, that only adds up to about 8 pounds lost in a year, assuming you made no other dietary or exercise changes. If you want to shed pounds quickly, green tea can help, but it’s not the answer.

The good news is drinking green tea does more than just help you lose weight. As an antioxidant, green tea provides a number of benefits to your cardiovascular health – this means green tea can help reduce the risk of heart problems. Green tea can also help improve your metabolism and control your cholesterol level, and some claim that it can help your mental focus, as well.

Replacing your daily coffee intake with green tea can be a great way to help lose weight and improve general health. You’re replacing all the calories and chemicals found in coffee with pure herbal tea. This change can help make you feel healthier in months, and experience the effects of green tea weight loss at the same time.

Rapid Weight Loss Can Be Yours!

If rapid weight loss is what you have in mind, then the important thing is to be safe about it, as opposed to foolish. Always bear in mind that you do not want your health to suffer for the sake of losing a few pounds.

With that said, rapid weight loss is something that can be accomplished. Do not beat yourself up if you have some weight to lose however. Are you aware that your rate of metabolism has an impact on the weight you are? It does. Individuals with slow metabolism have a more difficult time losing weight because more fat is stored. There are other people who suffer from hormonal imbalances.

The most common causes of weighing too much are a lack of exercise and eating too many of the wrong foods or simply eating in an unhealthy manner. If rapid weight loss matters to you because a special event is coming up then the first thing you need to do is to start consuming more water on a daily basis.

Drink six to eight glasses of water a day (full glasses that is). In particular you should start each morning with a glass of water. This helps to jumpstart your metabolism. Water is not only good for you when it comes to losing weigh but it is good for the body in general.

Eat as organically as possible. Start your day with an apple, banana, whole grain, plain yogurt and raw honey. Other foods that you should eat as often as possible include carrots, peppers, tomatoes, and wild smoked salmon. Rapid weight loss can only be accomplished if you eat as healthy as can be.

Always eat your supper approximately four to five hours before you go to bed so it has time to digest properly and will not just lie there in your stomach, or worse, be saved in the fat stores! Refrain from snacking throughout the evening.

Incorporate walking into your daily routine. You do not have to walk as if you are in a marathon but make it a brisk non-stop walk. Start with a 20 minute walk every day and then work up to 30 minutes and from there, 45 minutes to an hour.

Get rid of junk food from your diet and stop buying fast food. These foods are fatty, fried and very salty. This all spells bad news for a person trying to lose weight. In the same way, put an end to drinking soft drinks and drink water instead. Soft drinks contain nothing but empty calories (150 empty calories to be exact) and have no nutritional value at all. Soft drinks and other similar beverages can pack on an average of 15 to 16 extra pounds a year. This is not what you want!

Weight loss can happen if you are diligent in your eating and exercise habits. Be smart and consistent in your efforts! You do not have to work out at the gym everyday to achieve the rapid weight loss you want--nor do you have to hire a gourmet chef.

Proven Solutions To Winter Weight Gain And How To Lose It

Did you know winter weight gain may be the biggest enemy you have in your battle to keep your weight down? You may be one of those that really pack the pounds on during the winter. Have you ever asked yourself why it happens to you? Well actually there are several things that can cause this unsightly weight gain. However, you can take steps to help lessen the chance of putting the extra pounds on.

One of the biggest contributing factors can be winter boredom. Chances are you decrease your activities during the winter months; especially the outdoor ones. This can be due to the shorter daylight hours.

Recent studies have shown that when physical activities are reduced you tend to get bored. The same studies indicate boredom causes many people to eat more than they normally would. And if you are like so many others you will tend to snack on comfort food.

Unfortunately much of today’s comfort food is not good for our overall health much less our waist line. If you must snack out of boredom you should be extremely careful to make sure your snacks or healthy. It would be a good idea to keep veggies, fruits and nuts around. The lower the calorie counts the less chances you will have winter weight gain.

Some scientist place the blame of cold season weight gain on our ancestral blood lines. These same folks think some of your pre-historic relatives may have had to pack on the fat just to stay alive during the cold months. In turn this same need created a desire for food that would add the extra fat quickly and easily. Today we call that loading up on the calories.

Furthermore these scientists also believe your relatives also piled on the extra calories because of the fear of the food spoiling. And of course the food spoilage would cause shortages before the coldest part of the winter was over. The need for survival was to add the fat, just like some animals do for survival.

But you don’t have to let this needling of “Need Meat”, “Need Meat” control you. A chain around the refrigerator will do just fine; thank you very much. Seriously you can over come this inherited need (if that is what it is) by remembering you live in a warm friendly environment and the grocery store is just around the corner. Thus you don’t have to eat everything in sight just to stay warm and survive.

But let’s face it; you know darn good and well you tend not to exercise as much during the winter. It’s much easier to come home in the evening and throw yourself down in the recliner and catch some TV time. Well, friend you just compounded your winter weight gain by a factor of 2 or more.

No matter what else you do you have to get some exercise. If the weather is to bad to go outside and walk, use the stairs in your office building. Go to the gym for lunch instead of to the cafeteria. Do what ever you to do to keep your metabolism up to burn those extra calories.

As you can see there are many things that can cause you to jump up to 2 pants size larger during the winter months. However, if you take some of the steps mentioned above it will help control your winter weight gain and make it easier to lose when the warmer months roll around.

Tips For Weight Loss For Teens

Looking for tips for weight loss for teens? Today's world puts a lot of extra pressure on teens to look thin. Popular TV shows aimed at teens all feature thin, pretty young characters, overbearing parents can put undue stress on their kids to lose weight, and even worse still, is teenagers peers can be incredibly judgmental of a their weight.

Being the "fat kid" throughout high school can be a recipe for life-long self-esteem problems. There's no easy solution to this problem. Weight loss is tough, and all the added anxiety that comes with being a teen only makes matters worse. Taking advantage of some of these pointers can help make the teenage experience less scary for overweight teens.

One of the most important tips, especially for young girls, is to make sure that you understand what a healthy person looks like. A lot of girls and young women on TV are, or at least appear, dangerously thin. The media may portray this as the ideal, but the truth is, it's not a healthy lifestyle. Many young girls develop eating disorders trying to match the looks of women they see on TV, and this is a recipe for disaster.

Young men can fall victim to eating disorders, too - it's not a problem exclusive to girls. It's not uncommon for many teens to look in the mirror and see only ugliness and fat, when in reality they are a perfectly healthy young person. If you constantly feel severely depressed about your weight or your look, you should seek help from a psychologist. They can help you improve your own self-image and pursue weight loss goals in a healthy manner.

Another in the list of tips for weight loss for teens is to keep in mind what your body is growing through. During your teen years, your body can undergo a number of changes that affect how you grow. For instance, you might hit a late growth spurt and gain a few inches in height, making your weight even out across your frame. Puberty is a complicated time - if you know that you're following a proper diet and exercise plan but aren't seeing results, you might just have to wait until you've fully grown into your body.

Regardless of other factors, diet and exercise are always going to be an important factor in weight loss. Keep this in mind as you go throughout your school day, and think of ways to improve your health. If your school cafeteria only serves greasy, unhealthy foods, talk to your parents about bringing a healthier lunch every day. Make sure to participate in gym class, and if you can, get involved in extra-curricular sports, too.

Another factor that can be a great help in losing weight is enlisting the aid of your family. In almost every case, your family wants to be healthy too, and they will help you out as best they can. If one of your parents is the primary family cook, talk to them about healthier options for food. Furthermore you can offer to help your parents with renovations or yard work for a little extra exercise.

These tips for weight loss for teens can make a huge difference for you.

Do you want to learn more about weight loss?

Visit my site for more information on Weight Loss Methods that Work

Jonathon is a psychologist and author and writes extensively on a range of self improvement topics.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathon_Jones

Lose 15 lbs fast

Simple Steps to a Healthier Weight

Many people, who want to lose weight, expect the process to be quick and difficult. Very often people will be very harsh on their bodies physically and nutritionally. Some people will exercise for countless hours of the day, while others will completely give up certain food groups. However, healthy weight loss does not have to be that difficult. There are certain simple steps which we can take in order to improve our weight.

The first step to a healthier weight is to reduce food intake slightly. This does not mean cutting out entire food groups from your diet. It simply means placing a little bit less food on your dinner plate; for instance, if you are about to consume a meal, instead of grabbing your usual big plate, opt for a smaller plate. Another way to achieve a healthy weight is to eliminate carbonated drinks from your diet. These types of drinks are loaded with sugar and they contain absolutely no nutritional value. Instead, try to drink more tea, milk and water. Water is overall very beneficial for your body. Milk is rich in calcium; whereas, tea is enriched with beneficial antioxidants. So try to make these beverages your top picks.

Another way to reach a healthy weight is to watch what you eat when dinning out. Many people splurge when they go out to eat. They either eat way more than usual or they eat something that is much more fattening than usual. This is truly unnecessary. Many restaurants now days offer exceptional low fat meals. So you don't have to sacrifice your healthy eating habits just because you are out. And last but not least, whether you are eating at home or dining out remember that you don't have to "eat-it-all." Some people have the tendency to wipe their plate clean even if they are already full. So if you want to lose weight without undergoing any harsh dieting regimen, try to incorporate a few of these tips into your daily diet.

Lyla Feldman writes about health and fitness. Some of her favorite passions include writing about energy drinks and natural sleep aids.