Extreme Weight Loss Success Stories

Looking for motivation? The best weight loss inspiration is real-life success stories. The men and women who, through hard work and dedication, managed to shed over 100lbs are seriously deserving of admiration. They've transformed their lives and bodies, pushing themselves to the limit for a happier, healthier life.
This one impressive tale of a man who lost 170lbs can be read on The Huffington Post.

Name: Jeremiah Sears
Age: 32
Height: 5'11"
Before Weight: 358 pounds
How I Gained It: Ever since I can remember, I have always had a problem with my weight. From the time I was in high school I was creeping up on 300 pounds, but I learned to live with it. I was constantly getting fast food or eating a snack. I worked nights, so when I got home I would eat a big meal and then go to bed.
I had it in my head that I was always going to be this way no matter how hard I tried. Over the years I tried hundreds of diets and diet pills waiting for a miracle to happen, but it never did. When the diets didn't work it would make me depressed, and I would gain more weight. I was fighting a losing battle with myself. I had been to the doctors to check on some complications I was having and the doctor informed me that if I didn't lose weight my blood pressure and sugar were going to get out of control. I took the doctor's advice with a grain of salt and kept living the same way. After a few months of not following the doctor's orders, I started to feel like even getting up in the morning was a struggle.

Read the rest here:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/weight-loss-success-jeremiah-sears_n_1341901.html

9 Health Myths

We've heard them before. Don't read in the dark because it'll damage your vision, don't go out without a jacket or you'll catch a cold, so on and so on. Turns out a lot of these myths are a result of misinformation or some twisting of the truth.

Health has comprised a list of 9 health myths that you really shouldn't stress over.

In the old days, health misinformation would spread slowly. Not today. "The Internet has given people the ability to send everyone on their email lists wild stories that end up mushrooming around the world in a matter of hours," says Rich Buhler, creator of Truthorfiction.com, a website devoted to debunking false email rumors. But relax: Most of those health scares hitting your in-box are a misreading of facts or a deliberate twisting of the truth.

Read about the 9 myths here: http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20443377,00.html

Why Weight Training is Important

If you don't lift weights, you might want to reconsider your workout routine. Whether you want to lose weight, build strength, tone up, or improve your overall health, building muscle is a necessary step! There are countless benefits to lifting weights.


See the 20 reasons you should implement muscle training to your exercise sessions from Fitbie!

"When you lift weights, you cause tiny tears in your muscle fibers. This accelerates a process called muscle-protein synthesis that uses amino acids to repair and reinforce the fibers, making them resistant to future damage. So when a muscle fiber is exposed to a frequent challenge—as it is when you regularly lift weights—it makes structural adaptations in order to better handle that challenge. For example, your muscles adapt by getting bigger and stronger, or by becoming more resistant to fatigue.
These adaptations occur to reduce stress on your body, which is why you can perform everyday functions—such as walking up stairs or picking up a light object—with little effort. It's also why if you routinely lift weights, you'll find that even the hardest physical tasks become easier. In scientific circles, this is known as the training effect. Turns out, this training effect improves not only your muscles but your entire life, too. It is, in fact, what gives you the edge."

http://fitbie.msn.com/get-fitter/tips/20-reasons-start-lifting

How Much Water is Enough?

It's always said that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is ideal. While it's essential for every single body function, weight loss, and even mental health to stay adequately hydrated, saying that a person needs 8 glasses of water on top of their meals and other beverages is pushing it. The water content in your diet, sex, body type, environment, and many other factors effect the amount of water you require in a day. How much is enough for you? The Huffington Post tells us how to determine how much water you need.

One way to keep on top of your hydration is to keep an eye on the color of your urine. Lawrence Armstrong, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist and professor at the University of Connecticut's Human Performance Laboratory, established a urine color chart to accurately depict levels of dehydration. While Armstrong does not allow online reproduction of the chart, as the colors may appear differently on different computer monitors, color printers and web sites, numerous other outlets, including the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the New York Times and the Boy Scouts of Americahave since created their own digital versions of the color chart.
The slideshow below is based on the colors presented by the Boy Scouts of America. The goal is to produce urine the color of lemonade, ideally in the range of colors one through three. If your urine is in the range of colors four through eight, you need to drink more fluids and may need to consult your doctor. (Note: This slideshow is not for clinical use, but can be used as a basic guideline.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/28/how-much-water-urine-color-chart_n_1305129.html?ref=healthy-living&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

Intuitive Eating

Diets can be painful and frustrating. Even worse, all of the calorie-counting and deprivation of certain delicious, energizing foods can paint out food to be an enemy rather than a source of nutrition and life. For Americans, most of the trouble for obesity seems to lie in our tendency to eat greasy, unhealthy foods in portions that are much larger than we'd ever require. Eating this way isn't what your body want or needs.
Intuitive eating is a dieting philosophy that encourages you to stay in tune with your body's needs to keep yourself satisfied and healthy. You eat until you're 80% full and intake the nutrition you require to be happy and healthy. Calorie counting or food-loathing is strongly against this philosophy. A blog on The Province discusses this thought in detail.

"Are you tired of repeated dieting without results? Do you feel you are at war with food? There is a nutritional philosophy called “intuitive eating” that may help free you from the power of food. What does it entail?
Intuitive eating involves listening to your body’s natural cues and signals like hunger and fullness and mastering your own feelings and internal dialogue (whether negative or positive) about your body and food. Intuitive eating abandons the old diet mentality of counting calories and fat grams that our culture has been stuck in for far too long — a diet mentality that doesn’t always allow us to accept ourselves as we are, and one that can further deepen our negative relationships to food."

Read more: http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/02/20/intuitive-eating-listening-to-your-bodys-cues-to-lose-weight/

The Reason Why Dieting Hurts

Do you ever wonder why dieting is just so hard to keep up with? A little hormone called leptin is the culprit. It plays a key role in energy expenditure and intake, meaning it's behind your feelings of hunger and hinders with your ability to lose weight. Your body automatically responds to your attempts to eat less and lose weight with the perfect counter of making you crave the amount of food you used to eat and slowing down your metabolism to in an attempt to maintain your original weight. It works against all of your efforts with this vicious cycle, but it doesn't have to work this way. There are ways around it!

In fact, cheating on your diet every once in a while is a great way to get your metabolism revving and to keep leptin levels normal, making it possible to continue losing weight while not completely depriving yourself of the high-energy foods that you love! Carbs are actually your best friend for this. You can read about why this is on Laurens Fitness.

"OK, so I mentioned above that leptin levels drop dramatically when you diet, causing all sorts of problems that you don’t want. Basically making it near impossible for you to lose the pounds. The good news is, this is reversed really really quickly. It takes less than a day for leptin to get back to normal levels. With a fair increase in calories, your body will increase your leptin levels, thus your metabolism will go up and appetite will be suppressed. Great I hear you say, but then I am eating more calories and will just reverse all the good work I already did. Well, not if you are strategic about it.

If you cheat on your diet once a week (when we know that leptin can be at its lowest after dieting), you give your leptin and your metabolism a boost, setting and priming your body up for fat loss once you resume your diet. You can eat what you want for a day, try not to binge…it’s just not a good habit. Up your energy intake that day, get your metabolism firing. When you go back to dieting, you will be in a much better state than if you had simply let your leptin levels and metabolism hit rock bottom. It’s almost impossible to lose weight at this stage.

The best thing to eat is stuff that is full of carbs. There is a relationship between leptin, carbs and insulin. There has been research suggesting that upping your energy intake alone won’t really help. If you stuff yourself full of protein and fats, it won’t raise your metabolism and up your leptin levels as effectively as carbs will. So on you cheat day, concentrate on carbs."

Read more: http://laurensfitness.com/2007/12/28/dieting-why-is-it-so-hard/

10 Fit Ways to Celebrate Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is quickly approaching! While this day is known for being the day to eat chocolates and sweets, there are plenty of enjoyable alternatives to celebrate while keeping you and your love fit and healthy.
SheKnows shows us 10 different ways to enjoy a fitness friendly Valentine's day.

"Valentine's Day can certainly be sweet for romance – and most definitely your sweet tooth – but how about celebrating in a way that's both sexy and healthy this year? Whether you're planning on clearing the living room to make space for a sexy tango or you're venturing out on high-flying fun, here are 10 fit ways to celebrate Valentine's Day!"

Read them here: http://www.sheknows.com/health-and-wellness/articles/947175/sexy-fitness-10-ways-to-celebrate-valentines-day