Weight Loss

You may have decided that using a diet meal replacement plan or diet food plan would be the easiest way for you to lose weight. However, there are so many plans available; you may not know which program would work the best for you. In this article I will compare two very popular diet food, meal replacement plans Nutrisystem and MediFast. These diet plans may seem similar, although once you read about each plan, you will find they are very different.

Nutrisystem Overview:

Nutrisystem offers prepackaged, pre-portioned diet meals for breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks. You are advised to add fresh vegetables, fruits, salads to lunch, and dinner meals. The meals are low calorie, yet nutritionally sound with the added fresh fruit and vegetables. The diet meals are based on low glycemic, good carbs, with the right amount of protein and fiber that your body needs for increased fat and calorie burning.

The Nutrisystem program also offers a free weight loss community website where you can get free diet counseling, weight loss tips and community support in your weight loss endeavors.

Nutrisystem advises if you eat their prepackaged diet meals and follow their plan, you can potentially lose 1 to 3 pounds a week.

MediFast Overview:

MediFast offers prepackaged diet meal replacement foods including shakes, soups, bars, pudding, drinks and cereals. Their name basically sums up how their plan works; you are “fasting” most of the day. Their most popular program is the 5 and 1 diet program where you eat 5 MediFast meals a day and 1 low calorie, low fat meal you cook and prepare yourself. Their plan is designed to be calorie deficient (between 800 – 1000 calories a day), thereby allowing your body to use fat for energy.

MediFast also offers a free weight loss community website where you can get diet support, weight loss tips, diet recipes and more.

MediFast advises if you follow their 5 in 1 diet program and use their diet meal replacements you can potentially lose up to 20 pounds in a month.

The Cost:

Nutrisystem costs about $11 a day, $77 a week and $308 a month plus shipping, although if you choose their auto-ship program, you will get a discount and a free week of diet meals and free shipping.

MediFast costs about $10 a day, $70 a week or $275 a month if you order one of their 4-week variety packages.

Both Nutrisystem and MediFast offer a money back guarantee minus shipping if you choose to return unopened packages of the diet meals within 30 days.

The Difficulty:

Nutrisystem: Using the Nutrisystem diet meals for weight loss should be an easy transition since you will be eating regular meals and snacks. You may find the calorie reduction in the meals leave you hungry or not satisfied. The convenience of the prepackaged, very little preparation of the diet meals should make the program easier to follow. Staying on the diet for a long term may become difficult because of the lower calorie intake makes you feel unsatisfied. The taste of the foods (which will be discussed next) may also be hard to enjoy.

MediFast: Transitioning to the MediFast meal replacement plan may be difficult at first since you will be replacing most of your meals with a meal replacement shake, soup or bar. Sometimes a drastic change in your eating habits can be a bonus because it may give you a greater feeling of dieting control. Staying on the diet for a long term may be very difficult because of the monotony of replacing 5 meals a day with the MediFast foods and the taste of the foods.

The Taste:

Nutrisystem: There are reports and reviews throughout the internet regarding the taste of Nutrisystem’s diet meals. Some people rave about the taste (although these “raves” may be biased if the person is promoting the program), and many people absolutely **** the taste of the diet meals. On average, many Nutrisystem dieters report they have favorite diet meals, while some suffer through the taste of the meals because of the convenience of the program and the weight loss achieved. Recently, Nutrisystem listened to their customers and introduced many new “better tasting” diet meals that may be more palatable.

MediFast: There are also mixed reviews on the taste of MediFast meal replacements. On average, many MediFast dieters report that the tastes of the meal replacement foods are “okay,” not overly tasty, yet good enough to stay on the diet program to achieve weight loss goals.

Conclusion:

Nutrisystem diet meal plan is a convenient, diet food program that offers a membership site with diet counseling and diet tips. The transition to using their diet foods should not be too difficult since it is recommended to eat 5 diet meals a day supplemented with fresh fruit and vegetables. Since the diet meals should be less calories than you normally eat, and designed to increase your body’s ability to burn fat, you can expect to lose 1 to 3 pounds a week. The diet plan may work best for people who may need a support group for weight loss, yet are too busy to shop for and prepare diet meals, and don’t have time to continually analyze food calories and fat grams.

MediFast diet meal replacement program is also a convenient weight loss program that offers a community forum, diet support and tips. The transition to using their diet meal replacements 5 times a day may be difficult. Yet, it may also help many dieters resolve to stay on the diet plan since the results may be realized fast with up to 20 pounds lost in the first month. The diet program may work best for people who need to lose a significant amount of weight. In addition, it can also work well for those who desire convenient meal replacements, yet also wish to prepare a fresh meal once a day.

By: Michelle Dixon

About the Author:

Adult weight loss camps evolved in the 1980’s from the traditional children’s summer camp experience. Predictably, as the incidence of obesity grew across all age ranges in the 70’s and 80’s, weight loss camps for kids, teens and adults became popular and gained terrain.

Typically, the weight loss camp setting featured a low calorie diet and a fitness or exercise program. In the beginning, many so-called fat farm and weight loss boot camp programs also failed to address fundamental behavioral and emotional issues, including body image and body acceptance struggles.

While many children, teens and adults enrolled in these programs lose weight and return home fitter, little data exists in the literature about whether these outcomes are permanent. Many experts suggest that the results are short-lived because true behavioral change cannot occur in the absence of teaching how to eat (opposed to how to restrict/diet) and without learning how to deal with the emotions and stresses that trigger overeating. Finally, experts also questioned – and still do — whether younger age campers are emotionally ready to create long-term changes, regardless of the program curriculum.

Weight loss is more efficient and can be helpful in creating healthy lifestyle behaviors if the weight loss program is followed in an adult weight loss camp. These conditions should be accomplished if you want to follow an adult weight loss camp:

o Is the overall philosophy geared towards weight loss at any cost, or is it focused on creating healthy lifestyles that promote healthy weights?

o How do the various components of the program support that philosophy to achieve the desired results?

o Does the staff include qualified counselors, health professionals such as nutritionists, registered dietitians, psychologists and exercise physiologists?

o Is the program tailored to meet individual needs; how many participants does the program allow per session?

o Is counseling available to help make changes in eating and lifestyle choices?

o Does the program include stress management and a behavioral component dealing with emotional aspects of eating?

o What aftercare support is provided? How long does this last?

The result obtained in the adult weight loss camps shows us that the group work is more efficient than working alone. Some causes of these result are the strictly program applied by the dieters, the food that contains the right calorie intake for weight loss, and the fact that everyone makes new friends and the atmosphere is friendly. There are also non-diet philosophy of an adult weight loss camp small-sized program — where the emphasis is on helping each adult successfully attain a healthy weight, feel good about itself and have fun in the process — remains the same as it was conceived in the beginning of these organizations, only modified to meet the changing needs and realities of today’s busy adult.

By: A. M. McKain

About the Author:

“Sound the alarms! I need an emergency weight loss plan!”

Two weeks before her wedding, my sister yelled, “The heck with your healthy diets…I need to lose weight and lose it now.”

Unfortunately, we have become accustomed to immediate gratification and demand it at all times. With weight loss, it just can’t happen immediately. Yes, I can show my sister how to lose weight fast, but I can’t guarantee she’ll keep it off.

And isn’t that what it’s all about? Keeping weight off and not needing to diet in the first place–this is your goal.

Quick weight loss is not a solution; instead, it is the problem. Trying to lose weight fast causes physiological changes that promote weight gain, the exact opposite of keeping weight off.

However, people, like my sister, want to lose weight fast. So is there a way to produce fast weight loss and not promote future weight gain? Not really.

But I do have a system for fast weight loss while minimizing the future weight gain potential inherent in quick weight loss plans.

Fast Weight Loss Plan

This is the same plan I published a few months ago. It works. You’ll lose weight fast and, if you diet right afterwards, you’ll keep it off.

The Emergency Weight Loss Steps: Week One, Part One — drink a protein shake supplement everyday. Do not change anything else. Drink a protein shake that’s a 50:50 mix of whey to casein proteins. The best time to drink the shake depends on your physical activities. Since most bodybuilders know what to do, I suggest for the rest of us, a protein shake between breakfast and lunch or between lunch and dinner. The time you choose depends on when you have the longest period of fasting. For me, it’s between lunch and dinner, so my shake comes around 3pm. Week One, Part Two — Start an exercise program, with the first week involving nothing but stretching major muscle groups. Stretching increases the tonal stimulation to muscles (tone) causing them to burn more calories at rest. Plus it protects against injuries. Week Two — Start dieting by replacing 1/2 of a meal with the same protein shake from last week. Do this for 1 week. Week Three — Replace one whole meal with a protein shake. Change the mixture of the shake to 60% whey and 40% casein proteins. For most people, this comes out to about a 500 calorie reduction. Week Four — Reduce caloric intake by another 250 calories. I suggest adding a second protein shake, made up of the same 60:40 mix and use it to replace 1/2 of a another meal. Record the amount of weight you’re losing. Never let it reach a rate of more than 4 pounds per week (that’s double what I normally recommend). Week Five — Repeat week four. Week Six — Add back the last 250 calories you dropped and stop drinking the second shake.
My sister tried it and lost weight just in time for her wedding. Did she keep it off? No.

Emergency Weight Loss–Build It & Lose It!

She currently is following my “Weight Lose It!” system which includes “Diet Build It!”. She started it three weeks ago and has lost 4 pounds and feels fantastic.

I’ll update you soon on her progress and, at that time, I’ll show you how “Weight Lose It!” can work for you.

Visit my website at Weight Lose It! [http://www.weight-loss-professional.com/weightloseit.html] and submit your first name and email address for a 50% discount on the only diet program designed to keep weight off!

It will be available to the general public soon. Folks, this is a great system that I personally researched and developed. It’s based upon pure science and my expert knowledge.

I am not just another affiliate of some popular fad diet…I am a real doctor with real credentials. Sign up today for a 50% discount on the net’s only non-Hollywood, non-Beach, and non-Magical dieting system — Weight Lose It! and Diet Build It!

Powerful and Unique…no other system can help you lose weight and keep it off.

To Healthy Living!

Michael A. Smith, MD

Chief Medical Consultant

Diet Basics Website

By: Michael Smith, MD

About the Author:

Losing weight can sometimes be a very difficult task, requiring a large amount of energy and a lot of motivation. Knowing how to calculate weight loss percentage can really be a morale booster for your rough times because your actual results can only encourage you to perform more of the taken actions – like jogging, dieting or others.

It can also help you stay on track and not exaggerate with anything, as we do know that anything done in excess can harm your body. It can help you set goals and achieve them step by step.

But how do we calculate weight loss percentage? Is it a difficult math task? No way! It’s a pretty basic formula. First of all you’ll need to remember your initial weight.
Secondly, you’ll need your actual weight at this point.
Now, the formula goes like this:

((IW-AW)/IW) * 100= weight loss percentage

In this formula IW is your initial weight and AW is your actual weight at this point.
It’s not as complicated as it initially seems: practically all you do is subtract the actual weight from the initial weight and divide the number obtained by your initial weight. Multiply the result with 100 and you’ll get the exact percent.

Now you can see that it’s pretty basic – but opening a lot of possibilities. For example, you can measure your weight once a week and create an Excel table which instantly calculates the weight loss percentage for you. This can really help you keep track of your progress and can be a real motivation booster as I previously mentioned.

With this you can also create a weight loss percentage graphic – actually drawing your progress at certain points.

Well, if you fully understood how this works, you can conclude that now you know how to calculate weight loss percentage. If not, try to re-read the article more carefully.

By: Flavius S.

About the Author:

Cobalamin or as it is better known, is one of the vital nutrients our bodies need in order to work properly. It is necessary to perform many of the body’s more important tasks, including the making of DNA during cell division and the healthy formation of red blood cells.

B12 is known as the “energy vitamin” because it gives a real energy boost. It is used to remedy fatigue and it speeds up the metabolism. Red blood cells are also responsible for producing hemoglobin, the part of the blood that takes oxygen from the lungs and transports it to all the different parts of the body.

It has many functions and uses but does it help people lose weight?

What is the link between Vitamin B12 and weight loss?

Vitamin B12 Injections and Weight Loss

Some people might go to a clinic to get shots. These shots are administered directly into the muscle, allowing for better absorption. People who get these shots mainly suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome or a deficiency. They might also claim that taking these shots help them to lose weight.

However, injections by themselves do not directly induce weight loss, nor are they intended to. So why do people who get them lose weight?

There are many factors to take into consideration.

B12 causes the metabolism to speed up, which in turn increases weight loss. People who go to get injections tend to be more conscious of their health and are already on a vegetarian, or other weight loss diet.

Shots give a tremendous boost of energy. This generally helps people to maintain their diets, and motivates them to exercise and increase physical activity. Vitamin B12 also helps to fight stress and depression, symptoms which are sometimes associated with weight gain.

While the shots can be a great benefit to some, particularly those with a B12 deficiency, there can be some negative side effects when taken excessively or along with certain other substances. There is also a risk for those who have certain pre-existing conditions. It’s important to consult a physician before undergoing injections.

Vitamin B12 Deficiency

Deficiencies can become a serious health threat. The body can normally stock up many years supply of vitamin B12, so it more often materializes when the body is unable to properly absorb vitamin B12 because of illness or old age. Incidentally, deficiencies can cause weight loss, among other symptoms. Extreme cases can even result in permanent nerve damage if left untreated.

A person diagnosed with a B12 deficiency will need to take supplements. These are most often taken as capsules or via intramuscular injections. Although vitamin B12 does not directly cause weight loss, it is still an essential nutrient that is needed by the body. It is important to get a sufficient amount of it and doing so will ensure better health, all around.

Vitamin B12 and Dieting

When undergoing any new weight loss program it is important to make sure that the diet is well balanced and contains all of the essential nutrients. This of course includes vitamin B12 and other essential nutrients.

By: Susan Bell

About the Author:

There are foods that help women loss weight fast and healthily. If you can follow the recommended weight loss food for women, you will lose weight completely and at the same time feel healthier, happier and livelier without dangerous diet pills.

Foods that help women lose weight are genuinely health-giving, such as fresh fruit and vegetables, brown rice, oats, herbal teas, carob, pulses, unsalted nuts, jacket potatoes, tofu, salad, olive oil and low-fat live yogurt.

Weight loss food for women forbids women from eating the following, wheat, diary products, eggs, food with added sugar, chocolate, rice pudding, processed foods, salted nuts, marmalade, jam, pasta, cakes, biscuits, ice cream, crisps and ready-meals. Coffee, tea, cocoa, alcohol, fizzy drinks and packet soups are also out.

The best foods that help women lose weight are strictly vegetarian foods, where no animal products, including dairy produce, are eaten. Vegetarian foods are easier to digest.

The one golden rule is: no high-fat dairy products. This means no eggs, double cream, full-cream milk, butter or full-fat cheese.

This is because dairy products are mucus-forming which means they encourage cells and arteries to become clogged. Only low-fat yogurt and quark are allowed, and even these should only be eaten occasionally. Dairy foods also tend to contain added hormones and chemicals, which encourage the build up of fats. Instead, you should buy plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, preferably organically grown.

Buy soya or oat flour instead of wheat flour and try carob powder instead of chocolate. You should always have seeds and unsalted nuts at home. These are healthy choices of weight loss food for women that you must always make when buying food items.

Buy brown rice, buckwheat spaghetti and stock up on dried lentils and other pulses. Keep a variety of seasonings, herbs and spices, including sea salt and whole peppercorns, vegetable stock cubes, fresh ginger root, garlic and onion powder. All the curry spices – turmeric, cumin, garam masala, coriander, fenugreek and cardamom -are useful as well.

Whenever possible, buy fresh herbs, but dried herbs are better than nothing.

All flavorings, for example vanilla essence, should be the real thing and not artificially made substitutes.

You should start with a thorough cleansing of your system. You must stick to raw fruit and vegetables for up to 10 days and drink 8 glasses of water a day before embarking on the weight loss diet for women.

For healthy weight loss, you should not drink any alcohol for the first 2 weeks. After that, a glass of wine a day is fine, but avoid spirits. Smoking is one of the worst thing you must avoid so cut it out if you can and avoid coffee which kill off valuable nutrients.

Drink herbal teas like Oolong tea and green tea instead, or for breakfast, a glass of hot water with a squeeze of lemon is ideal.

You have the power to follow the recommended weight loss food for women. These are foods that help women lose weight with the additional benefits of making your skin healthier and you look livelier, more beautiful and disease-free.

By: Flaviu Serban

About the Author: