Chances of them learning about living healthy from their family is very slim where an exception can be a family of professional athletes. But that’s it!

Recent studies indicate that around 16% of children between 6 and 19 years are obese. Growing at an extremely alarming rate 15% more are at the risk of becoming over-weight. If you’re in a snake-oil weight-loss industry then you need to celebrate but if you have kids between 6 and 19 in your household and you seriously believe that they’re NOT healthy then you need to pay attention.

Reasons of Child Obesity

Children need physical activity. They need to go out and play. Kids must move their body, get tired, sweaty and full of dirt. But unfortunately, the current American lifestyle rarely permits them to lose weight. All they’re left with is a lot of burden – of studies, family and relationships. Healthy food is disappering from their plates. They’re forgetting that eating breakfast can work wonders for them in losing weight.

National guidelines recommends a minimum of 150 minutes of physical activity – that’s just 2 hours and 30 minutes! Even if your child considers going to a health gym for 5 days in a week it’ll be just 30 minutes that he needs to invest for his healthy future.

Another major reason for the increasing child obesity trend is fast food. Fast foods have done more harm to America with  regards to health than any other thing. It is estimated that fast foods result in an extra 6 pounds of weight gain in children.

Genetics can also play an important role in child obesity. Kids of obese parents inherit their obesity. Socioeconomics also plays a key role. While for some societies like Afro-American the obesity increased with increase in better socioeconomic conditions. The opposite is also true for White girl teens who showed a loss of weight as the socioeconomic conditions improved.

Sedentary lifestyles, using cars as the only mode of transportation, peer pressure are some reasons that add to the problem.

Effects of Child Obesity

We’ve already seen the causes of Childhood Obesity. While some causes are beyond our control we need to remember that every once in a while we see people completely changing their lives by reducing weight in adverse physical conditions. Kids making news by losing 100 lbs is not very unusual and can be done through a strong will!

If not checked, the effects of Child Obesity can be long-lasting, often lasting lifelong with the obese victim.

Several studies link low self-esteem to child obesity. Even when these kids grow up and live a successful life, they somewhere seem to have a low self-view about themselves. They often hate public speaking, taking part in social sports or even taking part in social parties.

Chances of getting a coronary heart disease increases several folds even with a found pounds of weight gain as a child.

“If you’re trying to prevent this problem, then you want to establish good food habits early. You want to keep children away from the food industry messages to eat unhealthy food. It could be that earlier years will be the best time to begin that education,” says Dr. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale.

Obese children make a world of their own. These kids often have too much of their own burden that they better stay away  from getting some more of it by unkindly people who try to humiliate them rather then help them. Remember, obesity is in itself a punishment and if you make the child’s life any more miserable then you’re contributing in ruining that kid’s life.

Its high time that parents dismissed the obesity with baby-fat. Instead, they need to prove as role models making healthy choices everytime. Of course, they can treat themselves every once in a while but it is solely upto you!

If you know of any over-weight kid and want to share their problems, challenges then please do so in comments below!

But it is not just a new, hip and cool thing to do. Being a vegetarian has lots of benefits to offer you if you want to reduce weight.

Majority of Americans have been meat eaters right from their childhood. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken and eggs have been the identity of the American food for a very long time. So, you may be asking – “Why do I switch my non-vegetarian diet to a vegetarian diet?”

Let me explain that to you in a minute but till then just keep reading. The most important reason why eat eat food is to keep life going, sustain ourselves. The food we eat should provide the required nutrients necessary to provide the energy needed by the body – which varies to the type of work people do.

Food is like the fuel that runs our vehicles. We fill the car with the right amount of gas it needs. We just don’t go riding the car day and night just to fill it with more fuel. Likewise, we only need the necessary amount of food to keep going.

Non vegetarian diets contain more fat content than most vegetarian diets. People living on an almost exclusive non-vegetarian diet should take notice of this.

Do I live a healthy life?

Let me give you a simple exercise to see if you can derive simple and clear conclusions based on it.

• Do you feel happy when you see yourself in the mirror?
• Is your weight what you’d call satisfactory?
• Do you feel good and comfortable with your weight most of the time?
• Can you sleep like a child – quick and easily?
• Can you get up feeling good or do you feel sluggish?

If you don’t feel like you really should then it is high time that you made changes in your diet for weight loss.

Why do I switch to a Vegetarian diet ?

OK, now this will answer your previous question. Vegetarian diet offers a very fulfilling reason to make a switch.

There have been a number of studies done to measure the benefits of a vegetarian diet.

Studies suggest that people living on a non vegetarian diet have a shorter lifespan. It simply means that changing your lifestyle to a vegetarian diet will increase your lifespan.

Vegetarians are less prone to chronic diseases than are non-veggies.

On average have more heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

Predominantly eat lesser amounts of fruits and vegetables than recommended.

The WSJ published this article when the amount of people who resolve to lose weight is at its apex, the new years. But the principles are timeless and can be followed anytime for achievement of weight loss goals.

This is somewhat based on exchanging money for health but in a very effective manner. The money you put on line in this method is the MOST fairly used rather than investing in some new fad diet.

It works like this -

1. You set a goal e.g. lose 15 lbs in 30 days
2. You decide on a monetary amount that you’ll have to forfeit if you don’t lose the weight you’ve set as a goal. (Note: The money should  be enough to make you cringe ) e.g. $500
3.If you achieve the goal then congratulate yourself and if you don’t then bid good-bye to your hard-earned cash.

First of all this plan works because one of the most desirable element for us is MONEY. Yes, money drives the world! The thought of losing money can create intolerable pain and giving it away due to our mistakes (which could have been avoided) makes us even more mad. So pain to part with something (money) combined with desire of gaining something (weight) works like magic.

It can be fun in so many ways because the looming fear of losing the money can make us do things that we otherwise won’t. For e.g. not many people pay attention to their health when they know that they’ll have to pay thousands in medical bills but happily start losing weight when the amount on the line is as little as $100 (the relative gain in terms of healthy body is much much more!)

So try this out for yourself. Go make a bet with someone. It can be your weight-loss buddy, your friend or your spouse. Bet any amount you’re not comfortable giving away. Sign a contract in presence of a witness, maybe a common friend you have.

I “bet” this will be the best use of money for your weight loss.

One such program which is making its impact on the market is The 4 Day Diet (buy from Amazon) by Dr. Ian Smith from The Celebrity Fit Club on VH1. In his book he provides sensible advise, motivating tips and several recipes that can aid your weight loss efforts.

His ideas has helped Americans lose millions of pounds through his 50 million pounds lost challenge.

The tips given by him may seem to be pretty basic and all over the place. But they are all over because these weight loss tips work! These weight loss tips have been proven over and over by people who wanted to lose weight.

And the BEST part of it is that you can get started RIGHT AWAY without any special food or instrument.

Some of his weight loss tips include -

• Reduce the intake of salt : First of all, adding sugar to your food can become an awful habit. It an addiction. When you fall prey to this habit one thing happens – you add salt to the food that is perfectly OK. Been there done that. It can be VERY difficult to get rid of this habit. And besides salt increases the risk for high blood pressure.
• Don’t overcook vegetables : You’ve heard it a million times but here it is again. Don’t overcook your food. If you over cook vegetables the nutrients viz. minerals, vitamins start to evaporate. Tip: Try eating raw vegetables like tomatoes, carrots and cabbage. They don’t contain fats are very effective in losing weight. Read my post on Negative Calorie Foods.
• Try to get rid of fried foods : Fried foods are harmful for your body as they load your body with unnecessary fats and calories effectively hampering your weight loss efforts. Instead roast, grill or steam your food.
• Cut back on fats : Fats make food tastier but they also make you unhealthy. A gram of fat provides as much as 9 calories more than double as compared to the same amount of protein or carbohydrate. And you know that 3500 calories equal 1 pound.

I’ll post some more tips soon. In the meantime, please subscribe to Reduce Weight in the box to the upper right. Thanks!

You see this term tossed around quite a bit these days. You might wonder – ” What in the world is Resting Energy Expenditure” or REE ?

You may have studied it in high school that our body works even when we sleep. Our heart doesn’t stop pounding. The kidney purifies the blood constantly. The lungs expand and contract continously. The food is digested even when we rest and some of us use our brains too and yes that requires energy too! Now you know why your head pains when you tired and you cannot concentrate properly when you’re hungry.

The energy that the body uses to do all the stuff above is known as Resting Energy Expenditure. 

The REE is also sometimes known Basal Metabolic Rate.

The Resting Energy Expenditure surprisingly consumes about 60% to 70% of all the energy requirements.

So, the total amount of energy consumes is the total of energy consumed while you rest + energy consumed during physical acitivity.

So does that mean you’ll lose more weight by sleeping? Well no because due to the absence of physical activity your body accumulates fat which makes you lazy and lethargic.

A friend of mine recently recommended the FatLoss4Idiots program. Here’s the URL >>

http://fatloss4idiots.com/

 I’ve heard of it before but I was reluctant to shell out the money. But because I thought it’d be a good idea to review it on ReduceWeight I gave it a go and purchased the package which was priced at $39. I later on figured out that it’d have been better had I purchased the “upgraded” package for just $16.95!

So What is FatLoss4Idiots?

FatLoss4Idiots is a weight loss programs designed to burn fat in shortest possible time doing what you already do. It doesn’t need special equipment or diet to follow the FatLoss4Idiots program.

FatLoss4Idiots shuns several myths surounding the foods we eat. It severly rejects the low fat and low carb diets in favor of what is called Shifting Calories.

Shifting Calories? Come Again!

FatLoss4Idiots is based on Shifting Calories method. In this methiod you change your diet constantly for maximum fat loss. This prevents the body to getting used to the foods you consume. It ultimately leads to a more efficient weight loss. One of the better part of this program that I liked was that it included a Diet Generator which takes the guess work out from your diet! You don’t have to brainstorm for your next meal anymore

Shifting Calories. That’s it?

The FatLoss4Idiots program is MUCH more than just Shifting Calories. It has 10 rules as the foundation. These 10 rules are -

1. Manipulate calories
2. Eat 4 meals a day (2 1/2 hours between each)
3. Prepare meals at home
4. Rotate carbohydrate and protein meals each day
5. Eat simple meala
6. Knowing when to stop eating
7. Only drink certain drinks
8. Drink lots of water
9. Walking
10. Avoid sweet stuff

The claim that you’ll lose approximately 9lbs  every 11  days is somewhat unrealistic but achievable. It is unrealistic because the FatLoss4Idiots recommended diet doesn’t always work in the same way for everyone. It is achievable because you don’t know if it’ll work for you or not. It can only be said after trying the FatLoss4Idiots program.

After researching a little bit I found out that the FatLoss4Idiots was superior to the South Beach Diet. It is better in a sense that people who are on the South Beach diet feel weak and tired – physically as well as mentally. Whereas on the FatLoss4Idiots diet you eat everything but in low amounts. It is a very special and rare combination.

The diet also makes sense because as I have stated before eating small portions of food multiple times a day HELPS you lose weight and this is what stated in the FL4I program.

Will you lose weight?  Well you’ll have to try to see. I think $39 isn’t that much given that you’ll feel much more better 1 month from now than you’d otherwise if you follow this program.

Visit FatLoss4Idiots Now!

 A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book according to an Irish Proverb

There couldn’t be a better advise when it comes to weight loss and laughing. We’ve heard it many times over that laughing can aid in weight loss. But it wasn’t scientifically proven until now!

According to a recent study – a good, intense laughter can burn calories equivalent to approximately 20 minutes of weightlifting. Not only does laughing reduce weight but also increases energy upto atleast 20% which is quite amazing given the ease of the process.

Laughing also increases the amount of killer cells and antibodies. If you don’t believe in all these even after they’re scientifically proven you should better try it for yourself. Some reasons that come off my mind are -

• It doesn’t cost anything – totally FREE to try and own
• Has no side effects  ( Now, it sounds like some weight loss product pitch but it ain’t! )
• Will only make you more cheerful even if it doesn’t work.
• Make you more popular among friends and associates.

So, switch on the TV and tune in to your favorite comedy show or buy some comedy dvd’s, books or even movies that will enlighten your day and those around you!

You can lose weight without going to the gym or any other time and effort demanding activity

Wouldn’t your life be much better if you lost some weight? Actually, lose some weight without commiting time for the gym, jogging or other tiring and effort-demanding activity? Well contradictory to popular belief there is a way that works VERY well when you want to reduce weight without doing any exercise.

There is a very simple equation there is at work for weight gain or for that matter weight loss. The amount of calories we intake provides us with energy to perform everyday work. It depends on age, metaboism rate, the type of work you do – people that do a lot of physical activity require more calories.

But it doesn’t just stop here. We also BURN calories.  If we burn less calories than we take then weight is gained. On the other hand if we burn more calories than we take then we lose weight.

So if you’re wondering why some people don’t seem to gain extra pounds then this is the little secret for their constant weight.

1 pound of weight comprise of 3500 calories. You burn 3500 calories – you lose 1 pound weight. That’s simple! Even if you just burn 500 more calories everyday then you lose 1 pound in a week. That’s 4 lbs in a month! 48 lbs in a year! How much does this excite you?

• Lean protein controls hungers attacks
• You fell satisfied and crave less for food when lean protein is included
• A little quantity of lean proteins can fulfill your daily appetite.
• The South Beach Diet recommends lean protein for weight loss
• Lean protein helps you build muscle quickly
• Because you don’t fell hungry you don’t eat unnecessary foods that add to your weight gain like fats.

There are many food recipes that aid to your lean preotein intake. In fact, you can take lean protein in breakfast, lunch or even dinner!

Some of the foods you can take that contain lean protein are  -

Breakfast:

· Turkey Sausage, scrambled egg substitute and whole grain toast.

· Whole grain min bagel with a light layer of peanut butter.

· Whole grain English muffin with egg substitute reduced fat cheese and turkey bacon.

Lunch:

· Grilled chicken salad.

· Tuna salad or tuna on whole grain bread.

· A small amount of reduced fat cheese with fruit and whole grain crackers.

· Reduced fat cottage cheese and fruit platter.

Dinner

· Grilled chicken breast with sweet potato and veggies.

· Lean turkey meatballs over whole-wheat spaghetti with marinara sauce.

· White chicken chili with a side salad.

· Lean pork chops, brown rice and veggies.

Snacks:

· Cottage cheese and peaches.

· String cheese with an apple.

· Sliced turkey rolled in lettuce.

· A dab of peanut butter on celery.

Additional resources -

Foods that Curb Hunger [ WebMD]

The Good Protein Chart [ WebMD ]

Lean Protein and Very Lean Protein [National Institute of Health ]

Hungry? Eat more protein [ Suite101]