If you’re overweight, losing just 10% of your body weight is associated with a myriad of health benefits, including lowering blood pressure, blood cholesterol, and blood sugar, and reducing your risk for heart disease. Not only that, experts say, but this kind of weight loss is easier to attain and maintain, setting you up for success in the long run.
Your Weight “Set Point”

Just as your body temperature is programmed to stay around 98.6 degrees, your body weight is naturally regulated to stay within a range of 10%-20%, says Thomas Wadden, PhD, director of the Center for Weight and Eating Disorders at University of Pennsylvania Medical School. This weight range is known as the “set point.”

A complex set of hormones, chemicals, and hunger signals help your body naturally maintain your weight within this range, says American Dietetic Association spokeswoman Dawn Jackson Blatner, RD.

It is not just a matter of genetics, though. Your eating and exercise habits can also help to determine your set point.

“Overeating swamps the internal regulatory system, and, as a result, the set point increases — which is much easier to do than it is to lower it,” says Wadden. The body adjusts to the higher weight and “resets” the set point to defend the new weight.

It is difficult, but not impossible, to set your range lower. “With changes in healthy eating and exercise behavior, you can lower your set point,” says Blatner.
The 10% Solution to Weight Loss

A recent book, Break Through Your Set Point: How to Finally Lose the Weight You Want and Keep It Off, by George Blackburn, MD, suggests that maintaining a 10% loss for six months to a year helps your body adjust to the lower weight and thus reset the set point.

Wadden explains that when you lose large amounts of weight at once, you set up an internal struggle and hormones like ghrelin spike to make you hungrier as your body tries to defend its comfortable range.

Instead, experts recommend that you try losing 10% the old-fashioned way — by slowly changing eating and exercise behaviors — then maintain this new weight for a few months before trying to lose more. Not only will your body get the signal to lower its “set point,” but you’ll give yourself a chance to get used to new food choices, smaller portions, and regular exercise.

“When patients lose 10% it may not be the pant size they want, but they start to realize how a little weight loss impacts their health in very positive ways,” says Blatner. “They feel better, sleep better, have more energy or less joint pain, and some people are able to reduce medications.”

source: webmd

The first thing you must know about how to effectively reduce belly fat is that there is no magic bullet when it comes to weight loss. Reducing body fat levels requires a three pronged approach that doesn’t come from popping diet pills or gulping down foul tasting drinks. Belly fat also won’t come off by trying to spot reduce only doing sit-ups or crunches. It’s just not possible to spot reduce, so don’t waste your time.

So, the question remains, how do you effectively reduce belly fat? Here is a safe, practical three pronged approach to get rid of belly fat.

1. Healthy Meals. Notice the word diet isn’t part of the equation. That’s because the word diet conjures up visions of carrots and celery and not much else. The word diet gives us nightmares of deprivation and hunger, and that’s not the image we’re looking for with permanent weight loss. Just because the word diet isn’t used does not mean you’re free to gorge on junk food at will. Healthy meals consist of lean protein, lots of vegetables, whole grains and some fruit. Your should consistantly choose foods that are as close as possible to their natural state.

2. Cardiovascular Exercise. Regular cardiovascular exercise will reduce body fat levels. Where should you start? Wallking is great cardio! Put your shoes on and get moving for at least 30 minutes per day. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far you walk in the beginning, the most important point is that you’re moving your body aerobically on a regular basis. If you don’t enjoy walking then ride a bike, rollerskate, jog, run. Participate in whatever aerobic activity you enjoy.

3. Lift Weights. Yes, you did read that correctly! If you’re wondering what lifting weights has to do with effectively reducing belly fat, then read on. Regular weight lifting has several beneficial effects for those folks trying to reduce their body fat levels. Muscles burn extra calories. The more muscle you carry on your frame, the more calories you burn in a 24 hour period which translates into extra fat burning power. Muscles take up about one third less space than fat. Muscles give you the power to carry on your daily activities more effectively and with energy to spare.

Learning how to effectively reduce belly fat isn’t a difficult task. The three principle keys to getting rid of your gut rely on diet, cardiovascular exercise and weight lifting on a regular basis. Remember, you didn’t sprout belly fat overnight and you can’t get rid of belly fat in a day, but you can reduce belly fat if you’re willing to put forth a bit of
effort.

You need to carefully monitor your fluid intake if you are looking to lose belly fat. Eating the wrong foods and drinking the wrong fluids just equals wrong altogether. Drink plenty of water. I myself have to say that I’m not a big fan of water in terms of taste, but there are many different options, which I’m sure you know. Crystal Light, the low-calorie sports drinks. My personal favorite: water and lemons. Over the years I have started adding lemon juice to my ice cubes, and I have to say it tastes just right. Try to avoid fruit juices, chocolate drinks, and soft drinks. I know, they are tasty, but we do want to reach our goal of losing as much belly fat as possible, right?

Cardiovascular workouts are great for losing belly fat. Combined with eating right and drinking enough liquids (good liquids), cardio exercise will help to dramatically speed up the weight loss process. There are so many different activities you can do as a cardio workout. You can work out at home, outside, at the gym, and ultimately, wherever it’s most convenient. Running, walking, swimming, dancing and biking are some great exercises for losing belly fat. An ideal time for your workouts is within the range of 30-45 minutes, and 3-5 times a week.

No matter what you decide in terms of nutrition or exercise, be certain to get yourself on a good multivitamin, and to detox your system by increasing your fiber intake and body wrap supplementation. Without the proper vitamins, minerals, and detoxification, you may be halting your weight loss efforts before they even begin.

For the many inquiries I receive with regard to losing belly fat, here is my personal recommendation: Losing Belly Fat

Also, of noteworthy interest is this website which provides dozens of resources and articles with regard to belly fat and a variety of different weight loss techniques: Fat Belly

Brandon Walsh is an Ezine expert author in the fields of nutrition, weight loss, and healthy living and has over 240,000 published article views.

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

Experts on the moderate-low intensity cardio/aerobic workouts suggest that in these instances the body uses more fat than carbohydrates as a fuel for the workout. This means that these types of cardio workouts will be beneficial to those who want to lose weight fast. Those who are proponents of high intensity cardio workouts suggest that once the body is made to go through such a workout it will have a higher expenditure of energy and as such the weight loss will be greater. This really needs consideration; what type of workout is more effective?

[ad#co-1]To do this best, we can compare various case studies. Let ‘s first consider a man who is between the ages of 30-39 and has a weight of 85Kg. Let ‘s also assume that the man has aerobic capacity in the range of 40ml/kg/minute. In this case study we will compare the two training methods both of which will burn up the same number of calories i.e. 500kCal. For the low intensity cardio workout the rate will be set at 65 percent of the maximum heart rate. This is the rate that has been categorized as optimum for fat loss
. As for the high intensity workout the rate will be set at 85 percent of the maximum heart rate. This is the rate that has been preferred when you want to improve the personal aerobic capacity. The 85% rate mostly makes use of carbohydrates as the fuel source.

Moderate rate of 65%: At this rate the person in question will require 55 minutes to burn up the 500 calories. By using a gas analyzer it has been shown that at this rate the fuel contribution is 37% fat and the carbohydrate use is 63%. One gram of fat yields approximately 9kCal. As such the person will have used 79g carbohydrate and 20g fat.

High intensity of 85%: At this rate the 500 calories are burnt up faster i.e. 42 minutes. When we analyze the fuel contribution using the gas analyzer it is observed that 17% is fat while 83% is carbohydrate. This translates into 104g carbohydrate and 9g fat.

By using this case study we can make some inferences about both types of workout. The moderate workout uses more fat for same amount of calorie burnt, more fats are used in similar time, and that the training is less demanding. On the other hand the training benefits are less significant, it is easy to cancel out the benefits acquired depending on your food intake and the amount of fat used is quite insignificant.

For the high intensity workout more energy is used in the same time limit and the training results in greater benefit. The training is harder to perform and fewer fats are burnt off.

These observations should help you make a choice of the regimen that will suit you. Whatever the choice it is prudent to be active and eat healthy.

About the Author
Dane Fletcher is the world-wide authority on bodybuilding and steroids. He has coached countless athletes all over the world. To read more of his work, please visit either http://www.BodybuildingToday.com or http://www.SteroidsToday.com[ad#co-1]

The study, in Nutrition & Dietetics published by Wiley-Blackwell, found higher protein meals may have a subtle fat-burning effect in overweight or obese people. And the study showed the glycaemic index (GI) of a meal has no additional effect on fat breakdown.

Study co-author Dr. Marijka Batterman, an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian, said: ‘We know from past research that overweight or obese people are not as efficient at burning fat. This new study shows that fat oxidation, or the body’s ability to ‘burn’ fat, improves in obese people when they eat a higher protein diet.’

Study participants were put on two protein-enriched meals and one standard meal, which all contained the same number of kilojoules. The two protein-enriched meals differed in the type of carbohydrate they contained – either high- or low-GI. The amount of kilojoules subjects burnt was then measured.

The high-protein meals led to the greatest level of fat oxidation. This plan included a cheese and tomato omelette for breakfast, and a beef, chutney and salad sandwich, with a tub of low-fat yoghurt, for lunch.

“We found a clear relationship between body composition and the effect of dietary protein on fat oxidation. Our bodies burn energy and use fat differently, and we need to take this into account when planning our diets,’ said Dr. Batterman who works at the Smart Foods Centre at the University of Wollongong.

Claire Hewat, Executive Director of the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA), said all foods could fit into a healthy diet if eaten in the right amounts, and combined with regular physical activity.

‘Forget the fad diets that are so fashionable these days. Instead, include lean protein from healthy foods like lean red meat, chicken and fish, legumes, eggs, nuts and reduced-fat dairy foods. People wanting individual advice on how much protein they need should see an Accredited Practising Dietitian,’ said Ms Hewat.

This paper titled “High-protein meals may benefit fat oxidation and energy expenditure in individuals with higher body fat” is published in December 2008, Nutrition & Dietetics (Vol. 65, Issue 4). The article abstract is available free online at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/121501657/abstract

A large waistline can double the risk of premature death even in people who are not ‘officially’ overweight, an alarming study has found.

Researchers concluded that waist measurement is a much better indicator of a person’s lifespan than the traditional ‘body mass index’ score used by the Government.

This divides people into obese, overweight and normal weight.

The disclosure means doctors could be missing vital chances to save people’s lives because they are looking at the wrong measurements.

The study, which involved more than 350,000 people from nine European countries, found that even those judged to be a healthy weight under the BMI could be at risk of heart attack or stroke if they had too much waistline fat.

It found that every inch added on the waist increases a man’s chance of dying early by 9 per cent and women’s by 7 per cent, no matter how thin the person is in the first place.

The research found that among people with similar BMIs, people with large waists had roughly double the risk of a premature death as those whose waists were defined as small.

A large waist was defined as 47 inches in men and 39 inches in women, while a small waist was 32 and 26 inches in men and women respectively.

In Britain, the average waist size is 38 inches in men and 33.5 inches in women.

Professor Edlio Riboli of London’s Imperial College, and coordinator of the study, said: ‘Although smaller studies have suggested a link between mortality and waist size, we were surprised to see the waist size having such a powerful effect on people’s health and premature death.

‘Our study shows that accumulating excess fat around your middle can put your health at risk even if your weight is normal based on BMI scores. There aren’t many simple individual characteristics that can increase a person’s risk of premature death to this extent, independently from smoking and drinking.’

Doctors have traditionally used the BMI, a measurement of the ratio between a person’s height and weight, to test a person’s risk of health complications.

A BMI of between 18.5 and 25 indicates that someone has a healthy weight. If their score is above 25 they are overweight, and if they are above 30 they are obese.

In Britain, the average person is now overweight according to the BMI, with an average score of 25.4.

But the BMI has come in for criticism because a super-fit athlete can come out as overweight or obese even though their high weight is accounted for by muscle and not fat.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, also found that measuring the ratio between the sizes of the waist and the hip is a better measure of health than the BMI.

Lower waist-hip ratios indicate the waist is comparatively small in relation to the hips.

In Europe, this ratio ranges from 0.78 to 1.1 in men and from 0.66 to 0.98 in women.

But each 0.1 increase in the ratio equates to a 34 per cent higher mortality risk of early death in men, and 24 per cent in women.

To measure the waist, doctors suggest people should measure around their body around four centimetres (1.5 inches) above their belly button.

Professor Riboli said: ‘The good news is that you don’t need to take an expensive test and wait ages for the result to assess this aspect of your health – it costs virtually nothing to measure your waist and hip size.

‘Doctors and nurses can easily identify people who need to take certain steps to improve their health by routinely monitoring these measurements.

‘If you have a large waist, you probably need to increase the amount of exercise you do every day, avoid excessive alcohol consumption and improve your diet. This could make a huge difference in reducing your risk of an early death.’

The participants in the study, aged 25 to 70, were monitored for an average of 10 years. During this time, a total of 14,723 died.

The study authors said sedentary lifestyles, poor diet and genetic predisposition caused the expansion of the waistline.

Dr Tobias Pischon, lead author of the paper from the German Institute of Human Nutrition, said: ‘The most important result of our study is the finding that not just being overweight, but also the distribution of body fat, affects the risk of premature death of each individual.

‘Abdominal fat is not only a mere energy depot, but it also releases messenger substances that can contribute to the development of chronic diseases. This may be the reason for the link.’

Tam Fry of the National Obesity Forum said: ‘This underlines the fact that waist measurement is what doctors should be using with their patients, rather than the BMI. The BMI should really only be used with children.

‘But people need to know where their waist is – if you go up and down each time you’re not comparing like with like. They need to measure about 4cm up from their belly button.’

On Tuesday another study showed the arteries of obese children were as bad as would be expected in people aged 45 – meaning that they should be treated as being at the same risk of heart attack as middle-aged people.

Source: dailymail

Jelly Belly. Love Handles. Dunlap Disease. Whatever you want to call it, the excess fat around your midsection that wiggles and jiggles in all the wrong places is not pretty. Fat belly is not just unattractive, it can be dangerous to your health. That Extra fat carried throughout your abdomen can increase your risk of heart disease. With so many pills, potions and programs pooring the weight loss industry today, many consumers are left feeling just plain confused about how to effectively lose belly fat.

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The first thing you must know about how to effectively lose belly fat is that there is no magic bullet when it comes to weight loss. Reducing body fat levels requires a three pronged approach that doesn’t appear based on information from popping diet pills or gulping down foul tasting drinks. Belly fat also won’t come off by trying to spot reduce only working at sit-ups or crunches. It’s just not possible to spot reduce, so do not waste your time.

So, the question remains, how do you effectively lose belly fat? Here is a safe, sensible three pronged approach to get rid of belly fat.

1. Healthy Meals. Notice the word diet isn’t part of the equation. That is because the word diet conjures up visions of carrots and celery and not much else. The word diet gives us nightmares of deprivation and hunger, and that’s not the image we’re looking for with permanent weight loss. Just because the word diet isn’t used does not mean you are free to gorge on junk food at will. Healthy meals consist of lean protein, lots of vegetables, whole grains and some fruit. You must consistantly choose foods which are as close as possible to their natural state.

[DFR::021078008774-10369852-cj|align_left_1]

2. Cardiovascular Exercise. Regular cardiovascular exercise will decreases body fat levels. Where should you start? Wallking is great cardio! Put your shoes on and get moving for at least 30 minutes per day. It does not matter how fast or how far you walk in the beginning, the most important point is that you are moving your body aerobically on a regular basis. If you do not enjoy walking try these options: riding a bike, rollerskate, jog, run. Participate in at all aerobic activity you enjoy.

3. Lift Weights. Yes, you did see that correctly! If you’re wondering what lifting weights has to do with effectively lose belly fat, then read on. Regular weight lifting has several beneficial effects for those people trying to lose their belly fat levels. Muscles burn extra calories. The more muscle you carry on your frame, the more calories you burn in a 24 hour period which translates to surplus fat burning power. Muscles take up about one third less space than fat. Muscles give you the power to carry on your daily activities more effectively and with energy to spare.

Learning how to effectively lose belly fat certainly isn’t a difficult task. The three principle keys to getting rid of your gut rely on diet, cardiovascular exercise and weight lifting on a regular basis. Remember, you did not sprout belly fat overnight and you can’t get rid of belly fat in a day, but you can reduce belly fat if you’re willing to put forth a bit of
effort.   Visit The Health – Fitness & Nutrition Store

Why is protein supplements important? Typically, protein supplements have been used by bodybuilders and those who want to build muscle and get bigger. Protein has many good things and your body need adequate protein from a greater number of resources like food and protein. There are so many quality proteins available in the current market that you can be sure that you will be able to find the protein supplement that is right for your specific needs, whether you will use it for bodybuilding or fitness program. You can choose the right protein supplements by taking both the ingredients and the cost into consideration.

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Protein Supplements – Protein Benefits:

By using protein supplements you can enjoy the benefit of protein. One of the most important benefits of protein is a muscle-building benefit. Protein provides the building blocks for muscle development. For example a whey-based protein powders are very important components of any fundamental bodybuilding or fitness nutrition program.

Protein Supplement, Soy, Whey, Or Egg Protein Supplements:

Soy, whey, or egg protein supplements are examples of protein supplements available in the current market. Soy, whey, or egg is a reference to a protein supplement source. This source has been concentrated through high heat drying, acid extraction, or filtration. After the concentration process there is usually 60 – 70 percent protein by dry weight. But when the protein is concentrated other things like lactose and fat are also concentrated with it.

A Note About Protein Supplements:

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Protein supplements can be used for various purposes, but be sure to consult a doctor if a specific protein is right for you. When a specific diet is combined with the use of protein supplements, the value can be much greater and results better. Good exercising program can help too.

You can exercise without tense.

When you exercise relax, you’ll feel happy and exercise might be other effective. If you’re exercising and telling yourself I should lose weight! Exercise will not bring you big result and you would be tired.
You can exercise light. When you exercise heavily, you can’t train the muscle that hurt fats effectively. You’ll have big muscle and burn little fats. Exercise light will train your lean muscle that allow you to burn lots of fat and have wonderful person shape. Remember to breathe when you’re exercising. Only you have an adequate amount of oxygen allows your body to use your energy effectively. If the fuel in your body is not used effectively, you burn lower fats.

So by all these knowledge, you can choose to to exercise less but impact fats effectively or exercise the same but burn few times more fats than before. You can now not stuck in the situation that you need to exercise a lot and hardly lose weight.

Visit The Health – Fitness & Nutrition Store

Viruses dramatically increase cellular metabolism, and existing anti-obesity drugs may represent a new way to block these metabolic changes and inhibit viral infection, according to a study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Metabolism refers to all the reactions by which living things break down nutrients to produce energy, along with those by which they rebuild broken-down nutrients into complex molecules (e.g. DNA). A significant example is the breakdown of blood sugar (e.g. glucose) and its conversation via chain reactions into adenosine triphosphate, the energy-storing currency of cellular life. As an important offshoot of that process, glucose can also be converted into fatty acids, the lipid building blocks of human hormones and cell membranes. Many viruses, including influenza, HIV and hepatitis, use those same fatty acids to build instead their viral envelopes, outer coatings that help them penetrate human cells. Going into the study, little was known about the mechanisms through which viruses hijack metabolic building blocks from their cellular hosts, with older techniques providing a limited picture.

In the current study, a team of researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center and Princeton University created a new technique to clarify these mechanisms, and found that the technique could identify anti-viral therapeutic targets. Researchers combined drug discovery technologies to capture for the first time the exact concentrations and turnover, in other words, the fluxes, of interchangeable molecules within the metabolic chain reactions that convert sugars into fatty acids. The fields of metabolomics and fluxomics have emerged to measure these patterns, and to provide insight into diseases with a metabolic component, from diabetes to infectious diseases to cancer.

“Using new fluxomic techniques, our study reveals that viral infection takes control of cellular metabolism and drives, among other things, marked increases in fatty acid synthesis,” said Joshua Munger, Ph.D., assistant professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and a study author. “We also found that if you target these increases in fatty acid metabolism using existing anti-obesity and anti-metabolism drugs, you inhibit viral replication.”

A Thousand-fold Reduction in Viral Replication

In their experiments, Munger and colleagues developed a technique to measure changes in metabolic flux in human cells as they become infected by human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), an enveloped virus of the b-herpes family that infects most human adults and that causes severe disease in those with weakened immune systems. Researchers chose cytomegalovirus for experiments because it serves as an excellent model for processes at play in many enveloped viral infections and in cancers. HCMV replicates in a variety of human cell types, including fibroblasts, the cell type used in the study.

To study metabolic flux, Munger and his team created a stable, isotope-labeled version of glucose, which when “fed” to cells, was metabolized in a similar fashion as unlabeled glucose. Liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry were then employed to track the isotope label as it spread, or permeated, through the metabolic network. The impact of viral infection on cellular metabolism could be measured by the speed at which the labeled version spread, and then compared to uninfected cells. Given the complexity of interconnections within the metabolic network, the team also developed a novel computer model of metabolic function to analyze the data and guide further experimentation.

Many metabolic processes are essential to the survival of human cells, and so are not candidates for research efforts that would shut them down in the attempt to stop viral replication. For that reason, Munger and colleagues chose to look at whether interfering with glucose-to-fatty acid metabolism could stop viral replication, because fatty acid biosynthesis is not essential in adult humans. It does appear, however, to be essential to the ability of viruses to build their envelopes, reproduce and spread.

Thus, the team next used drugs known to inhibit enzymes that build fatty acids, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and fatty acid synthase (FAS), used in the treatment of obesity and high cholesterol, to determine whether HCMV-induced fatty acid production was necessary for enveloped viruses to make copies of themselves. Indeed, treatment (10 mg ml-1) with 5-tetradecyloxy-2-furoic acid (TOFA), an ACC inhibitor, resulted in a more than thousand-fold reduction in HCMV replication. C75 (trans-4-carboxy-5-octyl-3-methylene-butyrolactone), an inhibitor of FAS, resulted in a more than 100-fold effect at the same dose.

To investigate whether this requirement extended to other enveloped viruses, the team measured influenza A replication in the presence of the same TOFA and FAS inhibitors, and found similar reductions in replication. Influenza A has little in common with HCMV except for its lipid envelope.

Extensive clinical testing would be needed to draw conclusions about the safety of TOFA and C75, or similar compounds, as antiviral treatment. That said, the team took an early look at toxicity, exposing uninfected fibroblasts to C75 or TOFA for 96 hours. They found that the drugs blocked HCMV replication without causing cell toxicity or self-destruction (apoptosis).

Along with Munger, Jessica McArdle of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics contributed to the work. Bryson Bennett also worked on the project from the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics in the Carl Icahn Laboratory at Princeton University. Leading the effort from the Princeton side was the corresponding author, Joshua Rabinowitz, who worked with Anuraag Parikh, Thomas Shenk in the Department of Molecular Biology, and Xiao-Jiang Feng and Herschel Rabitz at the Frick Laboratory. The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Metabolomics Roadmap initiative, the National Science Foundation, the Beckman Foundation, the American Heart Association, the National Science Foundation and the American Cancer Society.

“Recent studies have shown that fatty acid biosynthesis is important for the replication of diverse enveloped viruses,” Munger said. “The replication of both hepatitis C and HIV, for example, has been linked recently with lipid synthesis, reinforcing our approach and its importance. Lastly, viral infection also clearly upregulates glycolysis, a marker for tumor growth, which is just the latest in the longstanding connection between viruses and cancer. Hopefully, our work will at some point provide insight into the metabolic manipulations seen in cancer as well.”

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Article adapted by ultimatefatburnerreviews from original press release.
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Source: Greg Williams
University of Rochester Medical Center