The Pros and Cons of a Lemonade Diet

The lemonade diet also known as the lemon juice diet is a fad that really caught on among dieters and has become very popular. So is all the hype about the lemonade diet true and does it really make you lose weight fast?

The lemonade diet is a pretty harsh diet. You are only allowed to drink lemon juice for a period of 10 to 12 days. During this period, you are not allowed to consume any other food.

The recipe for the lemon juice is pretty simple. You will need to mix 2 tablespoons of lemon juice with honey or maple syrup. Then add 10 teaspoons of cayenne pepper and water.  You will have to make and consume about 12 glasses of this juice daily.

The purpose of the lemon juice diet is to detoxify the body and aid in fat loss. You might be wondering if this diet is safe or effective. After all, 10 days without food does seem dangerous and unhealthy. So, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of the lemonade diet.

One of the advantages of the lemonade diet is its detoxifying features. Since the lemon juice has detoxifying qualities, the body is able to detoxify itself effectively.

The disadvantage is that it’s not proven that the lemonade diet actually does any detoxification. The liver and kidneys are more than capable of detoxing a body without any harsh diets.

Another advantage of the lemonade diet is that those who go on it claim to lose weight quite fast. Since the diet is so restrictive and no fats or carbohydrates are being consumed, it is possible to lose a few pounds during this period.

The negative side to this is that the diet causes insulin spikes and obviously cannot be maintained for a long period. It causes cravings for food and once you’re off the diet and back to eating normal food, you will gain back the weight you lost and possibly a few pounds more. The diet due to its highly restrictive nature is stressful and you will experience irritation and anger easily.

There are several other negative possibilities with the lemonade diet. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the cons far outweigh the pros. The lemonade diet does more harm than good.

There is nothing like a sensible diet and regular exercise to keep you in good health. Fad diets like the lemonade diet, adversely affect your metabolism which drops since your body thinks that it’s on starvation mode and tries its best to hold on to the remaining fat.

Furthermore, the weight that you may have lost may just be water weight and not really fat. That makes the loss temporary and an illusion. Once you’re off the diet, the weight will pile back on and reality can be painful.

To summarise, the lemonade diet is not something that anyone should strongly consider as part of a long term weight loss solution. There is no substitute than good ‘ol exercise and a healthy diet plan.

The Best Fat Burning Workouts

Losing weight and burning fat requires time, effort and sacrifice. It goes without saying that you will only lose weight in a healthy way if you combine the right exercises with a proper diet and keep up the regimen with consistency and purpose.

This article will focus on the exercise aspect of your weight loss program. You will need to do the correct exercises to burn as much fat as possible. If you’re not maximising your workouts, you’ll not burn fat fast.

This will demotivate you and make your fat loss journey a struggle. Like a hamster spinning a wheel, you’ll be doing a lot but not getting anywhere. Observe the tips below and watch the fat melt off your body in record time.

The key to losing fat quickly is combining cardio with resistance training. The reason most people don’t reach their fat burning potential is because they only do one and not the other.

Cardio refers to cardiovascular activity and it is the cornerstone to weight loss. Walking, running, swimming, cycling, rowing and skating are examples of cardio activities. Basically, any exercise that raises your heart rate for a continuous period of time can be considered a cardio activity.

The more intense your cardio workout, the more calories you will burn and if your diet is good, you will burn off more fat. Cardio activities should last for 30-60 minutes. It should never go on for more than an hour at a time.

There is often strong debate about whether one should engage in fast cardio or slow cardio. Another hot topic is if you should do cardio on an empty stomach.

The best advice I can give you is this. Cardio at any time is good but you will burn fat faster if you do it first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. However, do it at a moderate pace. If your cardio is too strenuous, you’ll burn precious muscle.

It’s always advisable to alternate between slow and fast cardio on different days to spice up your training and keep your body guessing.

The next part of your workouts should be resistance training. That means working out with weights, resistance bands or other muscle building apparatus.

The heavier the weights, the more calories you burn and the faster you drop those pounds. Your body burns more calories when it has more muscle.

Women often feel that working out with weights will give them a masculine body. This is a common misconception. Weight training will tone up their thighs, butt and give their body a fit, feminine shape.

Building muscle is not easy and most men themselves, struggle with it. So, women can rest assured that resistance training will make them fit and fab without turning them into the Hulk.

Resistance training should last for about 30 to 45 minutes. That should be sufficient to raise your metabolic rate and make you a fat burning machine. The goal here is to burn fat, improve your muscle tone and raise your metabolism.

Both cardio and resistance training must be combined for you to have the best fat burning workouts.

For example, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays you could do weight training. On the other days, cardio would be your choice.Or you may wish to work out with weights for about 30 minutes and follow it up with a 30 minute run.

This would be an excellent workout. Combine both and you will have workouts that will burn the most stubborn fat in no time at all.

Is It Difficult To Lose Weight?

If you look at the ads for diet pills or the weird contraptions being sold on those late night infomercials, you’ll probably think it is easy to shed those pounds. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Losing weight is one of the hardest things to do. This probably explains why so many people give up on their fitness goals or break their New Year’s fitness resolutions.

Losing weight is a long, tough road paved with sweat and in some cases tears. The concepts of weight loss are pretty straightforward. Consume less calories than you expend. Combine cardio and resistance workouts. Eat healthy. Avoid the fatty foods and so on so forth.

So, what makes it so difficult?

Implementation. It’s applying these concepts that is so difficult. Eating less requires sacrifice. Most people are into the habit of eating whatever their hearts desire. Cakes, ice cream, pizza and all the other comfort foods make people happy. Giving up these high calorie foods means sacrificing short term happiness and nobody likes that.

Furthermore, eating poorly is a habit. So, by attempting to eat right, you’ll be breaking a bad habit. This is extremely difficult. Most habits are hard to break.

To make matters worse, exercise is required to burn fat. Often for periods of 30 to 60 minutes. This involves sweating, panting, gasping and pain. Exercise is not exactly fun for those who are fat or obese. They are not used to it. Once exercise becomes a part of your life, you’ll do it more willingly but even then, it’ll take motivation.

Not only is it painful to sacrifice your favourite foods but now you have to torture yourself with exercise daily. It’s a double whammy. Sacrifice and effort. It’s so much easier to gain weight. Just sit on the couch, watch tv and eat whatever you want , whenever you want.

It doesn’t take effort to gain weight. In fact, gaining weight is not only easy but it’s fast. This is the third annoying fact.

Why?

Because it takes a much longer time to lose fat that it does to gain it. This is the main reason that most people give up.

They do not see the results fast enough. An hour of intense exercise only burns about 400 to 500 calories. One slice of pizza contains about 300 calories. Eat two slices and you have cancelled your workout.

Can you imagine that? 1 hour of sweat and hard work gone with just two slices of pizza. That’s enough to break most people’s hearts.

Losing weight is a slow process. You will need to be on the right diet for quite some time. Depending on the amount of weight you need to lose, it could be a diet that you have to keep up for months. During this time, you will need to exercise as often as you can and not slip up on your diet.

A long, difficult process, to say the least. As difficult as it may be, you should stay on the path and not give up. You will reach your goal if you persist.
Once you have lost the fat and reached your desired goal you will feel a sense of achievement and happiness that no comfort meal can give you. The daily exercise and training will have you looking fit and feeling good. All the sacrifices will be worth it.

Is Going On a Detox Diet Plan a Good Idea?

The theory behind a detox diet plan is that our bodies and organs accumulate toxins through years of eating the wrong foods, breathing in polluted and drinking water which have chemicals in them. By going on a detox diet, we’ll be able to flush out the nasty toxins and rid our body of them.

Is this theory valid?

Unfortunately, it is. There are several negative effects of having toxins build up in our body. Skin that ages faster, cellulite, headaches, constant fatigue and aches are all symptoms of toxic build up in your body.

Therefore, it is an excellent idea to go on a detox diet plan for a few days before embarking on a weight loss program. The fat in your body is filled with toxins. Fat binds the toxins in your body to keep you safe.

Once you go on a detox diet, you’ll flush your body of toxins and it will be much easier to burn the fat. A detox diet plan can last for 3 days up to 7 days. A detox plan is not meant to be long term and it’s not meant for fat loss. It’s to detoxify your body.

So what is a detox diet plan like?

Before going on a detox diet plan, you should be aware that not all plans are created equal. Some are too strict and torturous to the point that they are not advisable. You need to do due diligence and see if the plan you are embarking on is sensible and not unbearable.

There are several examples of detox diets.

One method is to only consume 1 particular type of fruit for a period of 3 days. You are not allowed to eat anything else but that one fruit. You will also need to drink copious amounts of water with some lemon juice squeezed into it.

During a detox diet, it is advised that you only consume distilled water. You will have to drink about 64 ounces a day.

There are several detox diets that can be found online using Google search. Listing out all the detox plans is beyond the scope of this article. However, what I wish to impress upon you is that detox diets are good for you.

Embark on a simple 3 day program and enjoy the benefits of a healthier body. If a detox diet plan seems too harsh, you may wish to slowly detoxify yourself over a long period of time. You will eat only single ingredient foods such as broccoli, chicken breast, carrots, etc.

These are foods that are not processed and don’t have preservatives added to them. Steam your food and eat while hot. The less salt and artificial seasoning you use, the better. The theory behind this is simple.

If you stop overloading your body with toxins from bad food choices, over time your body will automatically cleanse itself of toxins. This is a less trying method and easier to follow.

You will need to change your eating habits and constantly think about how to eat healthy. In the beginning, this will not be easy. But with time, it will come naturally and the results will amaze you. You will feel so good that you will adopt healthy eating for life.

How to Keep Your Workouts Challenging and Interesting

It’s crucial to constantly challenge yourself and keep your workouts fun and exciting. Losing weight, getting muscular or fit takes time. If you’re doing the same training daily over a few weeks, you’re going to get bored very quickly and will not look forward to exercising.

Once that happens, it’s all downhill and a matter of time before you quit exercising and give up on your fitness goals.

This article will list 10 ways you can inject excitement and variety into your training sessions. They can be applied to cardio, weight training and most exercises.

1. Combine exercises with other activities. I had an obese client in her mid-forties. She loved spending time in front of the tv. I helped her to position the television in her house in front of the treadmill. She had to walk for an hour on the treadmill thrice a day. Morning, noon and night. She willingly did it and watched tv at the same time. She barely noticed the time fly. Get creative with your workouts.

2. Try new things. If you run all the time, try cycling. Or maybe swim laps at the pool. If you run a certain route every day, change the route. The new scenery will be a welcome sight.

3. If you go to the gym, try visiting another gym. New people to look at. I know that you’re going to a gym to work out, but it doesn’t hurt to see and meet new people before or after your training.

4. Listen to music that gets your blood pumping. It could be techno, rave, epic soundtracks, etc. Listen to whatever gets you going. Put your player on shuffle mode so u don’t listen to the same songs in the same order every time. Change songs every so often.

5. Join classes. Maybe sign up for a Latin dancing class or kickboxing. Joining others for exercise can be fun and interesting. You may even wish to go for Karate classes. Those are excellent because not only will you burn calories but you will be learning a very useful skill.

6. Have a training partner. Find someone who is not lazy to accompany for your workouts. Both of you will motivate and push each other to new personal achievements. Competition is always fun.

7. Keep records of your training and always try and improve on your past results. If you run 3 miles, try and shave off a minute from your timing. You are always striving to beat your personal best. This tip alone can keep you motivated for years.

8. Use social media to show off. There are several apps for your smartphone that can track your training and progress. Many of these apps allow you to log in through Facebook and post your results. If you like showing off, this will be fun. It will also motivate you to do your best.

9. You may also surf online for videos or training programmes. There are several excellent DVDs such as Insanity or Taebo that can be watched and followed at home. “Insanity” is truly excellent and will shred the fat from your body.

10. Finally, you may look through fitness magazines for new workouts. I’ve noticed that nowadays whenever a movie comes out with a buff actor in it, they tend to publish his workouts in magazines. The idea is that you will be able to sculpt a similar body by following his workout. I’ve seen the Spartan workout for the movie 300, Ryan Reynold’s workouts for the Green Lantern and quite a few others too. Interesting stuff.

So, go ahead and give these techniques a try.

Add some variety and challenge to your training and you will not only constantly keep your body guessing but you will smash through plateaus and stay motivated till you reach your fitness goals.

Are Diet Pills Safe and Effective?

This is a very common question and there are 2 reasons why it is even asked in the first place.

The first reason is that the problem of obesity is getting uncontrollable. More and more adults all over the world are getting fatter and unhealthier. There is no easier or nicer way to say it.

The second reason is that many people are looking for a fast solution to their weight problems. We live in a world of quick fixes, mobile phones, microwaveable meals and instant gratification.

So, of course there must be a pill that you can swallow that will magically make your fat disappear, right?

Wrong. The hard truth is there isn’t any diet pill on the market that can make you lose weight quickly.

Most people gain weight naturally by eating too much and exercising too little. Common sense will dictate that losing weight will have to take place naturally too with more exercise and by eating less.

You may wonder about the diet pill commercials and glowing testimonials from success stories. It all seems so promising and tempting.
Let’s examine the first part of the question – Are diet pills safe?

The answer is that it’s anyone’s guess. The diet pill companies will state that they have conducted tests and it all seems just fine and the side effects are minimal. They may throw in words like ‘clinically proven’ and ‘approved’.

However, the long term side effects are not known. The slimming pills you take today may have effects 30 years down the road. Nobody knows what they are because the studies have not gone on for that long. All results are based on findings in the short term.

My personal philosophy on diet pills is that you cannot hope to lose weight by eating something else.

Now let’s examine if diet pills are effective.

The answer to this is yes and no.

In the short term, diet pills may prove highly effective. There are several types of diet pills. Some claim to bind fat so that you can excrete the fat. Others attempt to suppress your appetite so that you eat less. Then there are pills that boast of their ability to raise you metabolic rate.

Now, what you need to realise is that these pills may do what they claim to do. The glowing testimonials from slim happy people may have a sliver of truth in them.

But, in the long run, all these pills will fail for one simple reason. You cannot be on these pills forever. The moment you stop your appetite suppressing pills, your appetite will be back with a vengeance and you will eat more and gain even more weight.

The same applies to any other pill. Once you stop, you’ll regain all your old weight and possibly more. No diet pill manufacturer will recommend that you be on their pills forever. It is often stated on diet pill bottles that the pills should be used together with a sensible diet and regular exercise.

If that is the case, why even bother with pills?

The only way to ever lose fat successfully and keep it at bay will be to eat properly and exercise as consistently as possible. This will not only keep you strong, fit and healthy but will be easier on your wallet too.

5 Reasons Why You Are Not Losing Weight

There are many people who follow their diets, do the exercises, track their progress and count their calories and yet do not seem to be losing any weight. This is highly demoralising and depressing to them.

There are a few reasons why you may not be shedding those pounds and seeing the scale change. I’ve listed 5 possible reasons that are most common.

1. You are eating more calories equal to or more than you expend. Often times when people exercise, they overestimate how many calories they have burned. Just because their workout is exhausting, they assume that they burnt a ton of calories. They then go on to give in to temptations and sneak in a snack or consume alcohol.

They feel that it’s ok to stray from their diet because their training will compensate for their dietary slip up. All these slip ups add up and you may easily eat more calories than you have burnt. Not a good thing.

2. You are only relying on exercise to work wonders for you. It’s a strange thing but most folks find it easier to exercise rather than control their diet. They prefer to keep their diet unchanged and just rely on exercise to burn the fat off. This will really hinder their progress.

Burning calories through exercise is difficult. A really intense workout for an hour may burn 400 to 500 calories. However, you could consume 500 calories in about 20 minutes just by eating pizza.

Imagine eating whatever you wish throughout the day and expecting an hour of training to burn off those calories. It’s just not going to happen. You must watch your diet and consume your calories wisely and ensure that it’s at a deficit.

3. You’re doing the wrong kind of exercises. There is a very common misconception that doing sit-ups will burn your abdominal fat. Nothing could be further from the truth. To burn fat, you must engage in cardio training at least 3 times a week. Cardiovascular activities are your best bet for fat burning.

You may do weight training on days that you do not do cardio to have an all rounded training program. You’ll also maintain muscle tone and raise your metabolic rate. However, the bulk of your training should revolve around cardio activities.

4. You are basing your progress on your weighing scale

It is common for people to burn fat and gain muscle at the same time. Since muscle is denser than fat, it takes up less space. This explains why many people say that their clothes are getting loose but the numbers on the scale have not changed.

What has happened is that they have burnt a pound of fat but the body gained a pound of muscle. So, the scale will show the same number despite the person having become leaner and stronger.

It would be a good idea to use measuring tape to measure the different parts of your body and track those measurements. Alternatively, you may rely on the mirror. If you look better and leaner as the days pass by, then you don’t have to worry about the numbers on the weighing scale

5. Finally, one reason that you may not be losing weight is the possibility that you might be having a medical problem. Thyroid problems, medical disorders or other health issues may be impeding your progress.

It is recommended that you consult a doctor to find out what is wrong. In many cases, medication will help solve the problems and you will lose weight successfully after that.

These are a few of the most common reasons for you not losing weight. Self-reflection and analysis of your diet and training will show you what you are doing that’s hampering your weight loss. Correct your mistakes and you will lose the excess weight effectively.

2 Secret Methods for Easy Weight Loss

Anybody who has been struggling to lose weight will testify that burning fat is anything but easy. After a week of slogging it out at the gym, they may lose half a pound. It can be very disappointing. 

This article will give you 2 secret methods that will help you to lose weight without too much torture. Of course, you will need to do the harder workouts and watch your diet too but these 2 methods will help you lose more weight.

Secret 1 – Go for a 30 minute brisk walk every morning when you wake

In the morning when you just wake up, your stomach is empty and your body’s glycogen levels are low. When you engage in cardio activity in this fasted state, your body immediately starts burning your fat as a source of fuel.

At any other time, your body will burn the food that you ate for energy.  So, by walking on an empty stomach, you will burn the fat immediately.

The secret here is to walk at a moderate pace. It has to be brisk but not too fast. You should be able to hold a conversation and not be panting. At the same time, your brisk walk should raise your heart rate.

Do this daily for 2 weeks and you should see your weight dropping. It goes without saying that your diet must be sensible.

Secret 2 – The power of intermittent fasting

This technique is not talked about much because many people are not even aware of it. In a day there are 24 hours but you will only eat during an 8 hour window.

First, you will need to calculate your calorie requirements for the day. You can do this by visiting this website http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

Check and see how many calories you need to consume to achieve fat loss. Once you have that number, you will know exactly how much you should be eating.

Now, assuming you wake up at 7am, you will want to start eating as late as possible. Contrary to popular belief, breakfast is not the most important meal of the day.

I understand that this may be a shocker but if you will give this method a try, the results will speak for themselves.

Back to the example, if you wake up at 7am, you may wish to have your first meal at 11am. From the time you start your first meal, you have an 8 hour eating window. That means, you should have your final meal for the day by 7pm(eight hours later).

Within this 8 hour window, you must consume all your required calories for the day. This would be the number you got earlier.

So, you will still be getting all your nutrition and calories for the day but you can only eat within the 8 hour window. What this does is that it gives your body 16 hours to digest the food and burn fat during this time. 

In the beginning, getting used to this way of eating may be difficult and inconvenient. However, once you figure out the arrangements and get used to eating in this manner, you will be stunned by how fast you shed the pounds.

This is one of the most powerful and effective methods of losing weight. Give it a try and you will be pleasantly surprised.