The Real Life Show

28May/10Off

Easy Diet Plans – The Calorie Shifting Diet



Among the myriad of diet plans that exist out there, calorie-shifting is one of the more easy diet plans to follow. You can eat as much food as you want from each of the four food groups, and still expect to lose 9 pounds in eleven days. You even get a 3-day "cheat break" every two weeks while on this diet. The only thing you have to do is follow a structured meal plan which requires you to group your calories together at each meal in such a way so as to increase your metabolism and induce fat burning and weight loss, and then rotationally shift your calories around regroup them from meal to meal.

What does this mean? How does the calorie-shifting diet works? Calorie-shifting is based on the principle that you can effectively manipulate your metabolism at will to induce weight loss, not by eating less food or cutting out carbohydrates or even by exercising, but by systematically removing and reintroducing various types of calories from your body at specific intervals. Somewhat analogous to how a low-carb diet induces weight loss due to the lack of carbohydrates in your body, the calorie-shifting diet reacts to the loss of certain types of nutrients, but as soon as your body begins to compensate for this loss, you reintroduce that nutrient and withhold another type. Thus, you are able to effectively maintain rapid weight loss, but without the actual nutritional deficit as is the case with the low-carbohydrate diet.

So what makes this diet plan so easy to follow? Because you can eat as much as you want on this diet, you will always feel satisfied and never hungry. Because you will be eating from all four food groups on this diet, you will never feel deprived. Thus, remaining motivated on this diet should be a non-issue.

There are only four basic rules you need to follow:

Eat as much as you want at each meal until you are satisfied but not too full. Overeating is never conducive weight loss, no matter what diet plan you are on. Space your meals out by at least 2.5 to 3 hours. You must take a mandatory 3-day break from the diet every 12th through 14th days on the diet. This gives your body a chance to rest from the rapid weight loss you will be experiencing. During these 3 days you must adhere to healthy eating guidelines, much like you would if you had basically finished losing all of your weight. You must follow a customized diet regimen as prescribed by the guidelines of this diet plan.

18Jan/10Off

Combat Overeating – Get Even!





Everybody needs to eat. It is essential for living and growth. How about overeating? A different story. Let's just say, once upon a time there's this teen age girl who makes eating her favorite past time. A heavy meal three times a day is just the minimum. You might associate her with Po, the best-loved panda from the movie Kung Fu Panda. She is not that humongous or something like Po just chubby and large for her age but they definitely have something in common-they eat when they are upset. Frustration is just one of the many root cause of overeating.

For some, it is their way of expressing unwanted feelings inside them. Those that they can't simply release through other means they know but to stuff their mouths with anything edible within reach even if they are not hungry at all. This is sometimes called emotional eating. What drives you to eat more is not the lurching sounds from your stomach but the raging feelings inside you. Anything that makes you upset fuels your desire to release that negative feeling. You really want it out of your system so instead of crying, hitting people or even fighting back you resort to eating.

The logic behind overeating is the inability to find other safe and physically advantageous means to combat one of the forms of stress and that is frustration. One simply has to know that overeating does not solve their problems or it can even give rise to a new one. The ultimate solution to your frustration is to face it. However, if you are not yet prepared you have to compose yourself. Never do things that will make you feel sorry later on because you made abrupt decisions when you're still blinded and confused. Aside from eating why don't you pray or meditate to create serenity at the comfort of your homes or at your favorite spa? You can also consider watching movies, attend to concerts (if you are the party type), or if you want to be just by yourself pop up your most listened to records.

Take note that some music has healing and soothing effects especially the classical ones. But if you really want to get somewhere, you can try a short walk on your favorite park (and if it rains you can stroll without an umbrella for a little bit of drama just don't overdo it or some will think you're nuts!) or even go out of town. Attend camps, retreats and other forms of social recreation to help your mind wander to other things even for a while. It really helps to try new things so that you can divert your attention. After you've done these kinds of things expect that what you felt before is not as bad as what you feel now.

And if you are already prepared to face your frustrations, that's good! You can think well when you're not angry. Face that person, that fact or whatever it is that makes you upset and attain some closure. There are many ways to get even with frustration and the least that you could do is to harm yourself thru overeating.
25Jun/09Off

The Best Diet Pill in the World



I lived with an obese person for over 20 years. So I know a bit about dieting. Although I am not overweight, I was witness to my wife's battle with overeating and her addiction to food. She tried most of the more common diet fads of the day. Together, we tried them all as I attempted to be the supportive husband. We ate diets consisting of grapefruit, eggs, low-cal foods, high-protein foods, Slim-fast shakes, Lean-Line foods, and so forth. Then came Jenny Craig and Weight-Watchers. This was followed by Dr. Atkins and his revolution. A short time later, "The Zone" raised it's head. Then there was the South Beach Diet.

Fast-forwarding to today, we have the little Hoodia pills. In the past, appetite suppressants were always plentiful. After all, there had be something that did the trick, right? My wife never had the will-power necessary to cut portions and calories or eliminate sweets and snack foods. She was heavy, so exercise did not come easily. It was a vicious cycle. She was overweight, which made simple exercises less appealing and she balked at the thought.

So we explored other options. She actually wasn't much of a pill-popper, except for dealing with the pain in her legs. But the diet programs always ended up about the same. She would be excited for the first few weeks and actually lost some weight. Bolstered by the results, she was anxious to tell anyone and everyone about her success. But, eventually, she reached a plateau where she languished without losing for several weeks. It was during this period she began doubting the program. After all, she was doing the same things, but the weight remained constant. She would get discouraged and began cheating. This was the crack in the dike. Within a few weeks, the whole dam burst and she was back to her old habits, diet forgotten.

With the failure apparent, she quickly regained the lost poundage twice as fast as it came off. Now she was distraught, disillusioned, and heavier than when she began. I knew that I couldn't even bring up the "d" word for the next six months, until the bitterness of defeat wore off. So, how is she doing now, you may ask? Well, upon a doctor's recommendation, she had gastric bypass surgery and was into her fourth month of recovery when she suddenly died of a heart attack, apparently brought on by decades of obesity. But this is not about her, this article is about you.

If you have read this article hoping to read about a miracle pill to lose weight, then you've still come to the right place. That means you're desperate. Great. You have already realized that (a) obesity can kill, as I explained with my wife, (b) diets don't work because you have also probably tried them all, and (c) nothing in this world comes easily. The only pill I know of that really works is a sleeping pill. That's because if you're asleep, you're not eating. There, that's the answer. Of course it won't cause you to lose, but then again, you won't gain anything either.

In harsh reality, the hardest pill to swallow is the one that you don't want to hear: eating less and having lower caloric intake while properly exercising, is the only viable solution that is guaranteed to work every time. So make your decision right now. Live as a fat person or take charge before you either die or suffer poor health. Just like a cigarette smoker, you are doomed. But, unlike them, you are not scarred for life. You can change and should change for the sake of your family and friends and loved ones. They really want you to succeed and that's a prescription for the best outcome of all; longer life.

3Apr/09Off

Overeating Or Stress Eating Can Land You in Trouble





Stress, in modern life, is so commonplace that for most people it has become a way of life. It is not always bad though. In fact, a moderate level of stress helps you stay focused and alert; and hence, you perform better. But the problem starts when it gets chronic and goes beyond your normal tolerance limit. Different people can tolerate different stress levels and cope with it in different ways. Eating disorders are a common coping mechanism and can often show up as overeating or stress eating.

Stress related overeating is also called emotional eating. Unlike normal eating which is triggered by hunger signals from your stomach, it is activated by stress generated emotions. Eating food is comforting; it is a common experience. So, when in emotional trouble, many people look for comfort in food, particularly in the delicious variety which is usually fattening.

Rather than solving problems, overeating or stress eating only multiplies them. Your ever increasing weight invites further health troubles, besides making you feel guilty about your out-of-control eating habits. This is when you get weight conscious and go into all types of weight-loss programs and dietary controls. But the basic stress related issues that precipitated your overeating habits in the first place, remain unresolved.

You must understand clearly that emotional eating is primarily a stress related problem. So it is better to identify the stress triggers that cause overeating rather than wasting time and resources on mere weight control programs. The stress triggers may originate from conditions like unhealthy work atmosphere or financial difficulties; or from your emotional shortcomings such as a lack of assertiveness or a low self-esteem.

A good understanding of what causes you to over-eat prepares the ground for your efforts to break the habit. Now you have to work on two things simultaneously - try to eliminate the causes of the stress that prompt overeating and come up with healthy alternatives that can easily replace stress eating. For instance, if low self-esteem is an issue, work to boost your morale or if you find that the work place is too stressful you may think of changing your job.

For substituting the habit of compulsive eating, you can pick up activities that can stop you from reaching for food. You may try listening to music, calling a friend, going for a walk, or any other pleasurable thing. Soon your urge for food will pass away. With consistent effort you will not only come out of your habit of overeating or stress eating, but you will also be feeling more confident and relaxed.