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Weight loss diet for man and women

Overweight Children – Prevention and Treatment

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Obesity is an increasing problem for children.

Now, in addition to educational efforts to get parents to teach their children to eat well and exercise more, kids are turning to adult obesity treatments. These include the use of weight control drugs, like Meridia, and gastric bypass surgery.

As in adults, there is no quick and easy way for kids to lose weight. Instead, many overweight kids end up becoming overweight adults.

Weight Loss Goals

The first goal in getting kids to a more healthy weight should actually not be weight loss. Instead, the usual recommendation is for kids to just stop gaining weight, and then, as they get taller, they can ‘grow into’ their weight.

An even more realistic goal might be to just not gain weight so fast though. For example, a 12 year old boy should usually gain about 10 pounds a year during the early teen years. If he gains much more, say 15-20 pounds, then he will quickly become overweight. If he limits himself to the usual healthy weight gain for a teenager, then he might become less overweight and will at the very least, not become more overweight. Although that doesn’t sound like much, it is an important accomplishment and first goal.

If your child is very overweight, then the next goal should usually be to stop gaining weight or gain less weight each year, say perhaps only 3-5 pounds a year. If necessary, your child could then move towards losing weight, especially if he is very overweight, in which case he may need to restrict his calories somewhat under the guidance of a Registered Dietician or your Pediatrician.

 

Parents, and many weight loss centers, like Weight Watchers, often ask what weight a child should be to be more healthy. This is a tricky question, as a child’s BMI and healthy weight changes each year as he gets taller. It can be important to figure out what a healthy weight would be though, as it can be an important concrete goal to reach for.

Although the body mass index calculation is usually used to figure out if a person is at a healthy weight, you can also use it to find a target healthy weight for your child. For example, a 12 year old boy who is 4’11” and 150 pounds, has a BMI of 28 and would be considered overweight. A more healthy BMI would be about 24, which would put his weight at only 119 pounds. But it is very unreasonable (and unhealthy) to expect a child to lose 31 pounds.

You should instead look at what his height and weight should be in a year or two to reach a healthy BMI. For example, for this child, in a year you can expect him to grow about 3 inches. And at age 13, a more healthy BMI for a boy would be 25 (which is about a 10% loss in a year). If you enter those numbers in this reverse BMI calculator, you will calculate a target weight of 137, which is a little more reasonable and about a 1 pound loss a month.

Losing Weight

In general, to lose weight, you either have to decrease the amount of calories you are eating and drinking, exercise to burn more calories, or even better, do a combination of both. Remember that 1 pound is equal to about 3500 calories, so you have to burn 3500 calories to lose a pound or eat an extra 3500 calories to gain a pound.

For example, if you are child is at a steady weight, to lose 1 pound a week, you either have to eat 500 fewer calories a day (equal to 3500 calories a week) or burn 500 extra calories a day by exercising. Or eat 250 fewer calories and burn 250 calories exercising.

To lose 1 pound in two weeks, you can decrease your calories by 250 a day or burn 250 extra calories a day.

What is 250 calories? A piece of cake, 4 cookies, 2 sodas, an hour of light bicycling or walking, or 30 minutes of playing soccer, roller blading, or jogging at 5 MPH. 250 calories is also almost the difference between eating a regular McDonald’s cheeseburger (330 calories) and medium (450 calories) french fries instead of a Quarter Pounder (430 calories) and super-size (610 calories) french fries.

If your child is gaining 1/2 pound a week, then cutting his diet by 250 calories a day will lead to no weight gain. Once he stays at a steady weight, you can cut back by another 250 calories a day to lose 1/2 pound a week.

Although you don’t need to count calories each and every day, doing it for a week or so might help you find where excess calories are coming from. If your child is gaining a 1/2 pound a week, you might find that cutting out a bedtime snack of 250 calories might keep him from gaining more weight.

Prevention of Obesity

Although trying to help overweight children lose weight is important, even more important may be trying to prevent them from becoming overweight in the first place. This too is not easy, but something that needs to be started in early childhood, especially if your child is at risk for becoming obese, like if they have overweight parents.

Targeting the behaviors that lead children to become overweight can be helpful in preventing your child from becoming overweight. These include unhealthy eating habits and a lack of physical activity and exercise.

Tips, both to prevent obesity and help your child lose weight, include:

  • limiting the number of calories that your child drinks. For example, many kids drink too much juice and soda each day. Sticking to the usual recommend limits of 4-6 ounces of 100% fruit juice for children under age 6 years and only 8-12 ounces for older children can help to limit excessive weight gain.
  • limiting the amount of milk that younger children drink. Although drinking milk is important and it is a good source of calcium, too much milk can lead to your child becoming overweight. Obesity often starts in early childhood, with a common scenario being a child who drinks too much milk. Children usually only need about 16-24 ounces of milk each day.
  • avoiding frequent meals of fast food.
  • don’t ‘super size’ your child’s meals. A common problem that contributes to overweight children are meals with portions that are too large.
  • don’t force younger children to ‘clean their plates.’ An important way to help children learn to eat healthy is for them to know that they can stop eating when they are full. Continue reading Overweight Children – Prevention and Treatment →
Health Care

Take Care of Your Health

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Easy lifestyle is what we are drawn to now. Very less effort put in; travel by motor, air conditioned environment, ready-made food stuff, etc. Earlier people used to hunt for their living, due to which their body would undergo a lot of physical exercise & the intake was more of natural substances, but today the story is different. But don’t feel guilty if you like foods such as potato chips, candy bars or ice cream. Eat them in moderation, & choose other foods to provide a balance. Your food choices can reduce your risk of illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, & diabetes, as well as defend against depression. Additionally, learning the habits of healthy eating can boost your energy, sharpen your memory & stabilize your mood.
Balance your body
Hygiene:   Practices that prevent spread of disease-causing organisms is hygiene. Since cleaning processes (hand washing) remove infectious microbes as well as dirt & soil, they are often the means to achieve hygiene. Wash hands for at least 20 seconds to remove germs.
Don’t Skip Breakfast: Eating breakfast keeps our metabolism running because skipping meals causes the body to kick into ‘starvation’ mode. Breakfast can help prevent strokes, heart attack & sudden death. It helps curb your hunger & prevent eating later in the day.
Eat Variety of Foods: We need more than 40 different nutrients for good health, & no single food supplies them all. Our daily food selection should include bread & other whole-grain products; fresh fruits, leafy vegetables, dairy products, & meat, poultry, fish & other protein foods. Eat more proteins as Protein stimulates the major brain chemical dopamine which keeps us alert.
Make changes gradually: Begin to remedy excesses or deficiencies with modest changes that can add up to positive, lifelong eating habits. Abrupt changes may be harmful. Continue reading Take Care of Your Health →

Weight loss diet for man and women

15 Tips to Restart the Exercise Habit

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It’s okay, you can finally admit it. It’s been two months since you’ve seen the inside of the gym. Getting sick, family crisis, overtime at work and school papers that needed to get finished all kept you for exercising. Now, the question is: how do you start again?

Once you have an exercise habit, it becomes automatic. You just go to the gym, there is no force involved. But after a month, two months or possibly a year off, it can be hard to get started again. Here are some tips to climb back on that treadmill after you’ve fallen off.

  1. Don’t Break the Habit – The easiest way to keep things going is simply not to stop. Avoid long breaks in exercising or rebuilding the habit will take some effort. This may be advice a little too late for some people. But if you have an exercise habit going, don’t drop it at the first sign of trouble.
  2. Reward Showing Up – Woody Allen once said that, “Half of life is showing up.” I’d argue that 90% of making a habit is just making the effort to get there. You can worry about your weight, amount of laps you run or the amount you can bench press later. Continue reading 15 Tips to Restart the Exercise Habit →
Ask and Answer

What vitamins can I take to lose weight?

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Ask:

I have been trying to lose weight for so long and I always have trouble. I am 30 pounds over weight and would do anything to lose it. What my usual routine is not eating all day and then binging on Wendy’s or any other food at night. It like gives me a high but then after I am done, I stress out and cry to Yahoo Answers! Please any advice would be great. What vitamins can I take to lose weight?

Answers:

Answer1:

One reason you cannot lose the weight is precisely the pattern you described- not eating, then binging.

Not eating puts body into starvation mode. When you finally cave and binge, the body clings to the calories you eat greedily. It thinks it needs to because your consumption isn’t reliable. So, first things first- change your eating habits. Not an easy thing to do, but if you’re serious about losing weight it’s a MUST. Not eating is not how to lose weight- especially safely. The way to lose weight is to be smarter about what you eat. If you can’t afford the time or money to make fresh food at home all the time, be smarter about what you eat on the go. Let’s try a low-fat granola bar over twinkies, Tortillas wrapping up lettuce, chicken, a little cheese over burgers. Things like that can help. Continue reading What vitamins can I take to lose weight? →

Health Care

How To Take Care Of Your Health

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Our health is the most important factor that we need to give much attention to. When we get sick, everything around us is affected; our work, family, social life, and etc. That is why to stay healthy is very important so you can do anything that you want without any hassle. But most people say that taking care of your health could be expensive because you need to invest from it. Most people just get concerned of their health if they get sick but if they are healthy they don’t even care. But wouldn’t it be better if we maintain the good health that we have by preventing any sickness to develop? This may not be easy but it is possible. Try to think of the money you can save if you do not get sick for a year? That is a lot of money if you think of it and you can invest that to more important things that can help you achieve your other goals. Now to help you fight sickness to develop, here are some of the things that you need to do.

Get Health Insurance

The very first thing that you need to secure if you can afford it is to get a personal health insurance. It’s either you get it privately or from the company that you work for, it doesn’t matter as long as you have health insurance. Your health insurance will not only save your life from sickness but also your pocket from possible expenses. If you have health insurance you don’t have to worry from medical and hospital bills because everything will be taken care of the insurance company.

Eat Healthy Food

Another way to protect you from getting sick is to eat healthy food, food that is rich in vitamins and nutrients. I’m actually referring to fruits and vegetables and other suggested healthy recipes. Avoid food that can cause you to develop serious illnesses like high blood pressure, heart problems, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and many more, foods like fatty food, sweets, foods that are high in calories and carbohydrates. Try to make your own diet plan, a plan that you are comfortable with. As long as you have control with your calorie intake you will not have any problem with any sickness to develop. Continue reading How To Take Care Of Your Health →

Weight loss diet for man and women

Diet and fitness plan for women

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Exercise your way to good health Today’s woman is hard-pressed for time, juggling between home and work. These three exercises will target all the major muscle groups, give you a fantastic calorie-burning boost, and will get you fitter and in an all-round shape in no time.

Bent-knee push up Kneel on all fours with your arms straight and hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Look downwards so that your neck, back and upper legs form a straight line.

As you inhale, bend your arms to move your body towards the floor. Hold for a second, then exhale as you push yourself up to the starting position.

Two-arm swing (Kettlebell) Begin in the squat position, gripping one kettlebell in between the feet with both hands.

Inhale as you extend at the hips and knees to swing the kettlebell upward. Bring the kettlebell slightly above shoulder height. Let the kettlebell swing back to the original position back down between the legs.

Squats Stand with feet shoulder-width apart.

Keeping your chest up, a natural arch in your back, and your core tight, inhale as you squat down until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Remember to keep your knees in with your toes.

(Inputs from Jivesh Shetty, Fitness Advisor)

Eat well Eating healthy is one of the best ways to take care of yourself and the family. A healthy diet gives energy to get through the busy day, supports mood, helps in weight maintenance and gives a fresh look. Here are some tips for today’s multi tasking women:

Dos: Diet should comprise whole grains like wheat, jowar, legumes and pulses — green gram, lentils, fesh fruits and vegetables, egg whites, chicken, fish — roasted, boiled or baked, healthy fats like nuts, flaxseeds, fishoils etc.

Have a glass of skimmed milk everyday. Low fat paneer sandwich, Ragi porridge, broccoli salad also give calcium.

Choose whole heat and jowar rotis, whole wheat pasta, oats, brown rice etc over maida products likes bread, pasta, roti etc.

Never skip your breakfast: If you are falling short of time have oats porridge or grab a sandwich on your way or order idli in the office.

Have small and frequent meals: Carry handy foods for mid-morning and afternoon snacks (nuts, fruits, butter milk).

Cut down on outside foods: Avoid fried and extra sweet foods. While eating outside always order sensible. Order brown bread veg sandwich instead of fried pattice and mayonnaise.

Don’ts: Avoid excess alcohol and caffeine

Avoid excess intake of red meat and egg yolks

Avoid transfats, refined sugar and excess salt

Don’t have late and heavy dinners

Avoid cold drinks

(Inputs from Namita Nanal, Nutritionist)

Baby time!

It would be futile to ask a busy woman with or without a job to focus only on the IVF treatment and give up everything else in her life. However, a busy woman may actually be able to take the IVF treatment better, mentally, as she has not focused all her energies on only this one thing and is otherwise occupied. Continue reading Diet and fitness plan for women →

Weight loss diet for man and women

HEALTHY DIET FOR TEENAGE GIRLS

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According to the Centers for Disease Control, adolescent obesity increased from 5 to 18.1 percent between 1976 to 2008. Teenage girls are particularly sensitive to their weight and suffer psychological as well as health consequences from being overweight. Some teenage girls of normal weight develop disordered eating habits such as skipping meals, starving themselves or binging in an effort to become this. A healthy diet for a teenage girl looks much like that for an adult, but because she is still growing, nutritional balance and establishing good habits are even more important.

HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF POOR EATING HABITS

Teenage girls need to take in an appropriate number of calories, neither too many or too few, to provide energy for their daily activities, to obtain important vitamins and nutrients, maximize height potential, and maintain a healthy weight. Being obese in adolescence potentially results in a lifetime of health problems. Overweight teenagers often develop early onset of chronic conditions such as heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, asthma and sleep apnea. The Centers for Disease Control also point out that being overweight can undermine a youth’s self esteem, setting them up for poor academic and social performance.

At the other extreme, teenage girls who starve themselves or binge and purge do not eat enough calories and risk nutritional deficiencies resulting in anemia, irregular menses and poor bone development.

A HEALTHY DIET

A healthy diet for a teenage girl features a balance of carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Do not shy away from healthy fats, like those found in nuts, olive oil and avocados; obtaining about 25 to 35 percent of your daily calories from these sources helps with vitamin absorption, healthy skin and hair and hormone regulation. Carbohydrates, like whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, provide energy and nutrition. Because they digest slowly, eating about 50 to 60 percent of your daily calories from these good sources will keep you from getting too hungry during the day. Calcium, available in low fat dairy such as milk, cottage cheese and yogurt and in dark green vegetables, is especially important to support growing bones and prevent weak bones later in life.

TYPES OF FOODS TO INCLUDE

Giving girls the tools to make healthy choices can help them manage their weight and gradually lose pounds; or perhaps prevent them from developing unnatural eating habits that can explode into a full-blown eating disorder. Teenage girls are more likely to skip meals because they are self consciousness eating in front of other people or because they believe it will help them lose weight.

Strive to eat breakfast every day because it fuels your morning and prevents overeating later in the day. Choose whole wheat toast with peanut butter or pour a bowl of whole grain cereal with low fat milk. If you run out the door, grab a low-fat string cheese and a banana, or blend an all-fruit smoothie to pour into a to-go cup.

At the lunch line, your choices might be limited but skip the fries and burger or pizza and go for a grilled chicken sandwich with a baked potato instead. Better yet, bring your own lunch that might include a turkey sandwich on whole wheat, yogurt and fresh fruit. Snack on fruit, small servings of trail mix, air-popped popcorn, or 200 calorie energy bars. Experiment with foods like cut-up vegetables and hummus.

At dinner, a teenage girl can help plan and prepare the meal. Whole grain pasta with marinara and a side salad can be made by the most novice of cooks. Continue reading HEALTHY DIET FOR TEENAGE GIRLS →

Weight loss diet for man and women

Tips for Balanced Diet, Healthy Food for Teenagers (teens)

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Teenager’s (teens) diet and food is most important as these young people (teens), who are at the phase were they cannot be called children nor adult. So their diet is very vital as they have to grow into young adult (teens) and take up all the responsibility of life. Hence parents as well as the teenagers them self have to be very careful in choosing their food and diet. The nutrient and energy needs of teens are higher than those of any other age group.

Tip # 1 Balanced diet
Teenager’s (teens) food should contain every item of food group, their diet and food should contain protein, Carbohydrate, little fat, more of fibrous food, minerals, vitamins, more of vitamin B, C and E, and lots of fluids including water and other liquids.

Tips # Protein’s food
These young people(teens) have lots of energy in their diet (food) so provide them with lean meat, eggs, pulses, low fat milk so that they can perform well in their life. Milk, cheese, yoghurt, Soya beans and nuts are rich in calcium which is needed for healthy bones and teeth growth of teens. Ground nuts are good source of protein for your teens. Teens liking vegetarian diet should eat at least one bowl of pulse, dal, and legume everyday like rajmah, chana and karamani.

Tips# 3 Carbohydrates
An Adolescent need to have in their food and diet moderately Carbohydrates which they can get from wheat, rice, maze, potato and roasted grains.

Tips # 4 Vitamins and fibrous food
These Juvenile (teens) need to have lots of Vitamins and fibrous food for over all growth and to have healthy life. They should eat lots of fresh green vegetables, more of leafy and green vegetables which not only contains Vitamins as well as roughage.

Tips # 5 Iron for healthy eating for teens
Teens need to have good intake of iron in their diet for healthy eating. This is more so for teenager (teens) girls who need more iron after puberty, they as there is loss of iron during menstruation. Meat, particularly red meat and liver, and fish are rich sources of iron. Pulses (beans and lentils), green vegetables, and fortified cereals are also good sources of iron. Citrus fruit (such as oranges and lemons), tomatoes and potatoes are all good sources of vitamin C, which is essential for teens health. Vitamin C may help the absorption of iron, so have fruit juice with an iron-rich meal for teens. Raisins and dates are high in iron. Try to include in teens your diet.

Tips # 4 Vitamin D
Vitamin D is very essential for the healthy teens, as Vitamin D helps in absorption of calcium. Sunlight is the best source of Vitamin D, so make a habit for teens and young people to sit in early day sunlight after having oil message. Shark oil is also rich in Vitamin D.

Tips # 5 Family meals
Make a habit to have family meals, so that teens can have better option of food choice. This habit of family meals every day creates healthy family bonding especially with your teens. Continue reading Tips for Balanced Diet, Healthy Food for Teenagers (teens) →

Health Care

7 Hidden Ways to Get Better Sleep

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As a college student, I had my fair share of sleepless nights. But as I matured (and learned from the adverse affects I suffered because of those late nights), I began to realize that at the core of a healthy, long life is goodsleep. Surprisingly, what we hear about health usually revolves around exercise and nutrition; the truth about sleep—one of the most important factors to attaining vitality—is often left out of the mix.

Losing sleep is certainly not something to be taken lightly. An occasional night of tossing and turning is normal, but continued patterns of this behavior can cause real problems in your ability to function normally. Research shows that inadequate sleep can have disastrous effects on your weight loss efforts, impair your concentration, and even mimic the symptoms of impaired glucose tolerance (which can lead to diabetes and hypertension).

Your mood also suffers when you don’t get enough shut-eye, causing you to become disoriented on the job, fatigued behind the wheel of a car, or irritated at home. But more importantly, these mood swings can affect your relationships with others, and even lead to depression.

But the good news is that, starting tonight, you can improve the quality and quantity of your sleep. Here are 7 ways to get back on track. You’ll be sleeping like a baby in no time!

  1. Create the right environment. Get your body and mind in the habit of using your bedroom for sleeping. If you frequently sit in bed to pay your bills, do your homework, watch television, eat, talk on the phone, etc., your mind will expect that the bedroom is for daytime activities. Instead, create an environment that is suitable for sleeping. Equip your room with soft lighting, comfortable bedding, and relaxing music. Other tricks include turning the temperature down a few notches, and turning the clock away from your view. Recent studies reveal that watching your sleep time vanish into the morning hours only makes you more anxious and less able to fall asleep.
  2. Get yourself into a routine. This is especially hard for people with wavering, active schedules, like students and parents. On busy days, it is difficult—but crucial—to be firm with a routine. If you normally don’t fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning, or if you don’t have a sleep schedule at all, try going to bed a half an hour earlier each week, or set a time to get in bed and stick with it. Eventually your body will get used to going to sleep at that time and it will begin to come naturally.
  3. Limit food and beverage intake before bed. As you lie down to sleep, acids in the stomach level out, making heartburn and indigestion more likely to occur. Also, your metabolism increases slightly to digest food, which can also raise your energy level. Stop eating at least three hours before your scheduled bedtime. If you must snack on something, keep it small, and avoid high-fat foods, which take longer to digest. Instead, have a granola bar, some toast, or a small bowl of cereal, but keep your portion small. Say no to stimulants like caffeine and nicotine, which can raise blood pressure and energy levels. Alcohol may be a depressant, but after its sedative effects wear off, your sleep patterns will suffer.  Continue reading 7 Hidden Ways to Get Better Sleep →
Weight loss diet for man and women

How Eating More Often Can Help You Eat Less

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Three square meals a day is so passe nowadays. The “secret” to curb cravings and burn fat faster is to keep your blood sugar level by eating smaller meals more frequently. In today’s world of desk jobs and driving everywhere instead of walking, it doesn’t make sense to eat big meals three times a day. You’re not going to burn up those calories right away — they’re going to be stored as fat instead! It’s better to break up the calories you eat into 5 or 6 meals — or, at the very least, 3 medium meals and 2 to 3 snacks.

Here are two ways eating more often can help you to eat less:

Lighten the load
Your digestive system works more efficiently on a lighter load. You overeat, overload the digestive system, and see what happens. It slows down considerably. In addition, if you overload the system frequently, it may result in indigestion, which in turn might lead to other health problems. In other words, your metabolism will work favorably for your weight problem when you eat less more often.

Your energy levels drop when the intervals between meals are too long. If you wish to work continuously at peak energy levels keep supplying the digestive system with small amounts of nutritious food every three hours or so.

Starvation or eating too little too infrequently is not at all a solution to your weight problem. Your body holds on to its fat content in that case. If you eat smaller meals of the right type (food that contains proteins, carbohydrates and even a little fat) more frequently, your body burns more fat or more calories than it takes in, resulting in a net loss. It may seem to be the impossible, but it is true. Continue reading How Eating More Often Can Help You Eat Less →