Vegetarians & Fat Loss – Diet Advice & Changes Needed if You Want to Drop Weight Fast

Why vegetarians may struggle to lose weight!
Today there are many vegetarians in our society as well as other groups that eliminate meat for spiritual or ethical reasons. My awareness of the high numbers of people practising a vegetarian lifestyle or some level of vegetarianism came about from doing my job as a personal trainer. I was surprised with the different misconceptions people had about eating meat and dieting. Animal meats get bad press because of the commercial farming methods used; this is a shame because this gives all animal meats a bad name. Some people are happy to follow misconceptions and myths without backing it up through research to confirm if their motives are safe, healthy or just plain necessary. This article is for people who live a vegetarian lifestyle but who isn’t vegetarian.

If you want to achieve fat loss it is essential to eat good quality protein, but protein isn’t just protein. You have what’s classed as complete and incomplete proteins that are found in different foods. The complete proteins have all the essential amino acids and the incomplete proteins have some missing or not enough to be classed a complete protein. Complete proteins can be found in animal foods including meat, poultry, seafood, eggs and dairy. It is these complete protein foods that provide all the 8 essential amino acids. Very briefly, amino acids are the building blocks of the body and a necessary part of every cell in the body and vital for health. Specific amino acids have been linked to greater fat loss and known to correct brain chemistry deficiencies for food cravings and depression.

If you don’t consume complete protein foods such as animal foods it is very important to combine different types of plant foods to make up a complete protein to ensure you get all the essential amino acids in your diet. Anything termed essential in the diet means that it is necessary for proper functioning. As a matter of interest the other food group that is termed essential is fat, there are essential fatty acids that must be acquired in the diet or serious health problems can occur. It is handy to note that carbohydrates aren’t classed as essential but protein and good fats are.

This is where it can get difficult to lose weight and fat for the person on a vegetarian diet. In my opinion the drawback to relying on food combing to get all the essential amino acids is that insulin resistant people would find it hard losing weight with combining different carbohydrates. What you have is a diet made up of mainly carbohydrates with little first class protein and essential fat to stabilise blood sugar levels. The reason why many vegetarians can become addicted to sweets is because of their poor blood sugar management following a high carbohydrate diet. Not an ideal habit to have if you want to lose fat and drop pounds in a hurry.

In summary it is essential to eat good quality protein everyday that provides you with all the essential amino acids for optimal health. If you decide to combine different plant foods otherwise known as carbohydrates then you need to realise these foods have an insulin provoking effect that can lead to fat storage. On the other hand if you choose to eat animal protein make sure it is organic and free range. Eating organic meats makes a massive difference to the state of your health because you are eliminating the pesticides and drugs conventional meats contain, organic meats also have more nutrients and are easier for the body to assimilate. Consider this, commercially raised cattle are one of the unhealthiest animals on the planet.
Why vegetarians may struggle to lose weight!

Reasons Why You Don’t Need Acai Berry to Lose Weight Or Body Fat

Be cautious about the amount of supplements you take!
Acai berry is the latest in a long line of super foods that is supposed to miraculously answer your weight and body fat issues with a swallow of a pill. On the surface it is easy to believe the hype. Celebrities endorse acai berry by the dozen and it is a natural food so there should be little if any concern. Or should there be? Read on and discover why acai berry has fallen prey to a global marketing con.

Whenever the diet industry gets excited about one type of food you should be very cautious and open-minded. There are literally dozens of natural super foods that are teeming with nutrients and vitality for the body but you only ever hear about the ones that can be processed into a moneymaking enterprise, especially if it can be made into a recurring revenue stream. Yes, believe it or not no matter what it says on the label or how good a celebrity says it is there is always a money motif behind the hype.

If you are concerned about your weight and your health it is important to get your nutrients from nature rather than a bottle of tablets or processed juice. You need a variety of nutrients from different food groups. Protein, carbohydrates and fats are needed daily, preferably all from natural foods apposed to processed foods. The quantities from these food groups required for weight and fat loss differ from individual to individual. Learning to listen to your response after eating different foods and their quantities is the only way to succeed in dieting. Fine tuning your diet is an individual action as we all respond differently to the same diet.

Remember that acai berry is a fruit and fruits are carbohydrates. Using acai berry instead of or in place of a balanced diet doesn’t cancel the need for other nutrients in the diet. As a matter of fact increasing carbohydrate intake for many people would cause weight gain because of the insulin response caused by the sugar that carbohydrate foods contain.

So be cautious and begin to understand that no amount of supplements in the world can correct a bad diet and change your health and appearance at the same time.
Be cautious about the amount of supplements you take!

The Reasons Why Carbohydrates Can Be Bad for Fat Loss

The two main problems concerning carbohydrates!
Believe it or not, the body has no physiological need for a carbohydrate unlike it has for protein and fat. Despite this fact most of the population overeats these types of calories everyday because they are easily available and more convenient than some healthy alternatives.

This daily habit contributes to an increased waistline and poor health. The drawback to the convenience food culture is the likelihood that the calories will be highly processed. Processed foods usually contain bad fats and artificial ingredients with loads of sugar.

There are two main problems concerning carbohydrates. The first problem is that most peoples total daily calorie intake comes from eating carbohydrates with hardly any protein and good fats in the diet. The second concern is that the bulk of these commonly consumed carbohydrates will almost be guaranteed to be processed and full of artificial sweeteners instead of natural carbohydrates found in vegetables and fruit.

Common foods that contain carbohydrates:
Breakfast cereals
Bread
Biscuits
Noodles
Pasta
Spaghetti
Jellies & jams
Ice cream
Cakes
Pies
Confectionary
Gravies & sauces
Beer
Wines
Fizzy drinks
Sugar

The quicker you learn which foods are carbohydrates and understand the impact they can have on insulin the quicker you will achieve fat loss with six pack abs and better health. If high levels of insulin are raised frequently and for long enough it contributes to diabetes, heart disease and aging.

The reasons why carbohydrates can be bad for fat loss
When we consume food & drink our blood sugar rises and insulin is released to bring it back down to a normal range. This is done by pumping the sugar out of the blood and into the cells to be used for energy or stored for later. Fat has no impact on insulin and protein very little; carbohydrates have the greatest reaction on insulin release. When we eat any kind of carbohydrates they are converted into sugar in the body, the more carbohydrates eaten equals more blood sugar, which in turn means more insulin needed to pump the sugar out of the blood and into the cells.

Insulin is a storage hormone and if you don’t eat the right balance of foods at each meal you get a repetitive cycle of insulin release and fat storage. Eating carbohydrates by themselves will make the fat storing sequence worse. With this going on every mealtime other hormones (fat burning hormones) are inhibited and prevent you from losing fat and weight.

It doesn’t stop there; excess carbohydrates are not only bad for your waistline but bad for your health too. The more insulin released more bad cholesterol is produced. Insulin is the only hormone you can control and this is done with good eating habits.

Excessive insulin has got extensive research linking it to numerous diseases. Choose your carbohydrates wisely in future and always eat good quality protein and good fats with your meals. You will see fat melt from your abdominal area in no time.
The two main problems concerning carbohydrates!

Get Your Celebrity Diet Here – The Foods The Stars Cut Out

See which foods have an adverse effect on your health and body fat levels!
The quickest way to a healthy, slim figure just like your favourite celebrity is to eliminate certain foods from your diet. The clean diet approach helps you lose pounds and inches in less time with the added benefit of detoxifying the body and rejuvenating your complexion.

To achieve the maximum results with dieting and fat loss it is essential to follow the eight guidelines below.

1. Drink plenty of mineral water
2. Eat only natural fresh, non-processed foods
3. Cut out all dairy products apart from natural- live yoghurt, organic butter & eggs
4. Cut out all sugar
5. Cut out all wheat
6. Cut out all alcohol
7. Cut out all caffeine
8. Eat organic whenever possible

I'm not saying you have to stick to these guidelines forever and everyday for the rest of your life but if you did you would be guaranteed a higher level of health than someone who didn't.

The point I want to get across is if you eliminate the foods on the list for at least 30 days and implement the guidelines into your day-to-day lifestyle then you will achieve quick fat loss results. It may be the only way to get the ball rolling.

When you are happy with your results you may gradually reintroduce the banned foods on the list back into your diet. When you begin to reintroduce the banned foods into your diet you will be able to monitor your response to see which foods have an adverse effect on your health and body fat. If a food from the banned list doesn't agree with your digestion, complexion or reverses your body shape then you know to say goodbye to it. Also recording your response to each meal in a food diary will help you quickly establish which foods react differently to your body.

Eliminating processed foods and most dairy products; sugar, wheat, alcohol and caffeine will help speed up fat and weight loss without a shadow of a doubt. It will also help your skin, hair, nails look better, and your physical strength and mental clarity will improve along with your internal health.

It can seem like a burden and great effort to put this in to motion but is worth every single ounce of trouble it may seem. It can go a little like this, if you follow anything blindly you trip up and give up. On the other hand if you plan and set out what you are going to do you have less chance of failing because your course is already set out for you to follow, it really is that simple.
See which foods have an adverse effect on your health and body fat levels!

How to Calculate How Much Weight Loss You Need For A Lean Six Pack

This is for those who want a six-pack that looks great from all angles!
Beginners and in particularly men who take up training with weights normally need to gain weight and bulk up. Once this has been achieved the individual can end up being well over 30 pounds heavier from when they first began training. When the time comes to be leaner and more defined with a six-pack the individual can be confused about what approach to take.

This is when some people look towards fancy training principles for the answer. Many think they will be able to achieve a well-defined and lean physique and stay the same body weight without losing overall size and shape. It is almost as if they have a fear of losing weight in case they return to their former body image previous to training with weights.

Let me explain why it is necessary to lose weight if you want a six-pack that looks great from all angles. Hypothetically speaking lets say you are a 200-pound male and want six-pack abs. You have no idea what your body fat percentage is but you carry some fat around your waist hence the lack of a six-pack showing. If you pinch the fat around your waist with your thumb and index finger you will either be able to grab a thin layer of fat between your fingers or a thick layer resembling the spare tyre look.

Hypothetically speaking one more time lets say you know your body fat percentage and have a reading of 20 percent. That will work out you having 40 pounds of body fat on your body. That means you have a lean body mass weight of 160 pounds. To be able to see your six-pack you will need to get your body fat percentage in to the single figure territory. So in this case that would mean a drop of 22 pounds of body weight. That would take you to a new body weight of 178 pounds with a lean waist and an awesome six-pack.

A lot of men can’t get their heads around this because they are scared of losing muscle size and strength. Once you are lean and look more defined your muscles will look a lot bigger than they were with more body fat surrounding them. Also if you eat a proper balanced diet with plenty of good fats your strength shouldn’t decrease either.

In summary getting lean to show off your six-pack without losing weight is impossible unless you have the gift of gaining muscle at the same time. In the example above our friend would have to lose 22 pounds of fat and gain 22 pounds of muscle at the same time in order to remain the same body weight and achieve six-pack abs.
This is for those who want a six-pack that looks great from all angles!

Toxic Foods For Six Pack Abs

The Foods That Six Pack Abs Hate You To Eat!
Anything containing sugar needs to be avoided, it is highly addictive and highly detrimental to health and fat loss goals. It is important to teach yourself to become a sugar detective by knowing how to read food labels.

Some foods will have half a dozen different types of sugar in the ingredients to help disguise the content; look out for words listed on the label ending in “ose” this means it is sugar, examples are sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, glucose and so on.

Beware of so-called healthy drinks that are hyped up to make them look natural and good for you; they are still sugar, natural sugar on a label means it is still sugar and doesn’t make it any better.

People typically start their day with store bought fruit juices that are high in sugar, they have very little health benefits linked to them because they have been pasteurised. Even if you drink freshly squeezed fruit it is still a high sugar drink, if you want to lose weight you could be making it very difficult for yourself because of the blood sugar response and the release of fat storing hormones associated with consuming sugar. All types of carbohydrate foods once eaten are sugar in the body. Carbohydrate rich foods are mainly non-animal foods.

Excess sugar consumption will eventually affect every organ in the body; it creates an acidic environment within the body and minerals from teeth and bones are used to rectify the imbalance. Long-term abuse leads to decay and weakening of teeth and bones because of all the calcium being taken out of them to protect the blood from the acid state.

If you want a six-pack and reduce fat avoid sugar especially artificial sweeteners found in processed foods and drinks. Always check the labels. Eating sugar creates a never-ending roller coaster ride for hormones such as insulin and cortisol, both fat storing hormones. To help wean off sugar try natural alternatives like stevia, a natural herb you can find in health food shops.

One type of food that people could greatly benefit from not eating is breakfast cereal, the run of the mill breakfast cereals are not health foods. When you take a closer look and see what they consist of a full picture emerges. Most cereals are processed junk food covered in nothing but sugar. If you want six pack abs avoid processed carbohydrates. Eating non-animal foods you find in nature and not those that have been processed will help you reduce fat fast. But don’t forget to include protein foods with every meal.
The Foods That Six Pack Abs Hate You To Eat!

Six Pack Essentials – Exercise Guidelines For Toned & Ripped Abs

You can get very strong and lean without looking like a bodybuilder!
I get endless amounts of questions from people asking me what type of workout works best and how much needs to be done to achieve fat loss. Lets face it, most gym members participate in unproductive exercise programmes that they endlessly seem to do year after year without achieving results. They hope of waking one day with the body of their dreams. They put their heart and soul into the same programme without ever changing it one iota. The absence of learning or trying different training principles will never work in the long run. Also copying what the latest celebrity is doing or puts their name to won’t work either.

The most common myth that never dies is that lengthy cardio training will shift unwanted body fat. I have years of experience witnessing the lack of results people achieve doing such workouts. I also have dozens of opinions through research and personal experience to back it up. People often turn to me for advice after wasting years doing similar programmes. If you go into any gym in the world you are guaranteed to see members beating themselves up on the cardio equipment, now if you were to go back a year later you would likely see the same members on the same machines doing the same workout with still the same body shape. But this time they will look even more tired and stressed if they haven’t already quit through a lack of results.

People don't understand that exercise is a stress to the body and doing more exercise than the body can cope with breaks the body down together with health. The body needs to be in a stress free state to build muscle or lose body fat effectively. There isn’t any relationship between training duration and achieving results. The type of exercises you perform and the intensity of the workout will also determine if you get results or not.

The advantage of resistance training for fat loss over traditional cardio training out weighs the other by far. Done a certain way resistance training will create a cardiovascular response, killing two birds with one stone and saving heaps of time. One of the numerous benefits includes the functional benefit, which has a carry over effect to daily living and most sports. More importantly it will shape the body making it more aesthetically pleasing at the same time as building lean muscle tissue and strength.

Traditional cardio exercises don’t have enough resistance to create an increase in lean muscle. Anything that increases lean muscle tissue is good news for both men and women; more muscle means a faster metabolism and a lower body fat percentage. You can get very strong and lean without looking like a bodybuilder. One more thing worth mentioning is that resistance training will elevate the metabolism for longer after a workout compared to traditional cardio exercise.

Workouts should be intense and short; whatever method you use it should keep your heart rate elevated and breathing increased whilst resting between exercises or circuits. Workouts should also be structured and directed towards your goals. Neglecting rest outside the gym can have a negative side effect to fat loss too. It is just as important as the workout in order to progress and reach your goal. Rushing around stressed all day will do you no good especially if you are training the same day. How can you train hard if your body hasn’t rested from the last workout or your mind is focused on stressful issues?

Finally don’t reward workouts with a treat, could you imagine giving a recovering alcoholic a bar job and paying them with free drinks from behind the bar, it wouldn’t work, neither does eating junk food after a workout for someone on a fat loss programme. Exercise doesn’t turn bad calories into good calories. The body needs the best nutrition at frequent times throughout the day for optimum fat loss. Yes there is room for a cheat here and there even if you do want to look your best, but going for a pizza on the way home from the gym is a recipe for getting nowhere.
You can get very strong and lean without looking like a bodybuilder!

Exercise Plan for The Couch Potato – No More Excuses

Don’t just sit in front of the TV stuffing your face with the wrong calories – get up and move!
Finally there is a way to achieve fat loss without missing your favourite television show. I'm going to show you a way to exercise without leaving the house. No more excuses, this is the ultimate exercise plan for the couch potato.

You have always wanted a six-pack but there is just one problem that stands in your way, you are a self-confessed television addict. We are all aware that sitting on our backsides from dawn till dusk isn't what our bodies are designed to do. What follows is a system to break that habit without breaking your favourite lifestyle trend. The next time you get in from work and park yourself in front of the TV set until bedtime you have to promise to yourself to do the following exercise recommendations as described below. Remember there is nothing wrong with watching the TV if that's what you want to do, watching TV doesn't make people obese it is overeating and a lack of exercise.

The following recommendations can help jumpstart the metabolism and increase enthusiasm to help you want to create a stronger, healthier body without it interfering with your current lifestyle. This is what you need to do, choose a two-hour window you want to work in, typically the most watched programmes are half an hour long on an evening. There is nothing wrong with doing this exercise plan at anytime of the day as long as you stick to the following guidelines.


1. Perform a circuit before the first TV show of your 2-hour window begins.
2. Perform a circuit when the Ad break is on.
3. Perform a circuit when the TV show is ending.
4. Repeat steps 1-3 for 2 hours.

This should work out so you are moving every fifteen minutes or so. You need to do enough exercise for about three minutes work on each of the circuits. The aim is to achieve between five and ten circuits in each two-hour window. Do these 5 days a week and you will burn more calories and tone the muscles whilst doing the same thing as you would normally be doing. In case you forgot what that is it’s sitting in front of the TV, whilst probably feeding your face with the wrong type of calories.

Here are some sample circuits

Circuit 1. Bodyweight squats for 30 seconds immediately followed by press-ups for 30 seconds
(Repeat 3 times).

Circuit 2. Static wall sit, hold for 30 seconds immediately followed by alternating lunges 30 seconds. (Repeat 3 times).

Circuit 3. Alternating Step Ups on to a Chair for 30 seconds immediately followed by chair dips for 30 seconds. (Repeat 3 times).

Circuit 4. Static wall sit, hold for 30 seconds immediately followed by a plank, hold for 30 seconds.
(Repeat 3 times).

Circuit 5. Bent leg raise with a pelvic tilt for 30 seconds work immediately followed by reverse crunches for 30 seconds. (Repeat 3 times).

Remember to stretch any tight muscles for around 20 seconds before and after your circuits. This could be done whilst watching the TV show so it doesn't interfere with any of the circuits. When designing an exercise programme there are millions of circuit options to choose from and more than one right way to do it. The best way is always the simplest way. If you opt for the simple way i.e. fewer exercises it will give you more focus on getting the technique correct.

After doing this for a few weeks your body's demand for proper nutrition to supply the energy needed for the extra work will be overpowering. Make sure you don’t neglect the most important ingredient for fat loss or you will never achieve the results you want.
Don’t just sit in front of the TV stuffing your face with the wrong calories – get up and move!