Naturally Slim People

Naturally slim women are the envy of females the world over. Whilst some slim people may be the way they are due to weight disorders or due to the “slim gene”, a large number are slim because of the healthy lifestyle that they lead. If you want to look and feel as great as your “naturally slim” friend you might want to look into some of the secret slimming tips described below.

1. Drink Plenty of Water
Instead of reaching for the fridge the instant that you feel hungry, pour yourself a glass of water. Often thirst is mistaken for hunger so why not see how you feel after a glass of water instead? If you’re not keen on the taste of water itself, add some low sugar cordial to your glass – it’s tasty and so much better for you than coffee and fizzy pop!

2. Increase Your Fruit Intake
Naturally slim people tend to eat one more serving of fruit per day than overweight people so if you want to join them take heed of our naturally slim tips and increase the amount of fruit you eat. Keeping fruit on your work desk will keep you away from the vending machines, and eating fruit before your main meal will lower the amount of calories you eat overall. Plus there are so many different fruits available that you are sure to find one you enjoy.

3. Increase Your Activity Levels
Three hours of exercise every week isn’t enough if you want to join the naturally slim brigade. In fact you’ll find that both slim women and slim men spend a lot of their time being active. Whether this is standing instead of sitting when on the phone, taking the stairs instead of the lift or even fidgeting; if you want to lose weight you need to increase your activity level.

4. Eat a Nutritious Breakfast
We’ve all been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day; and that’s because it is. If you want to be like your naturally slim friends you definitely need to follow this secret slimming tip. Start your healthy eating attitude with a healthy breakfast. Aim to eat three meals a day with healthy snacks in between – it’ll save you reaching for that Mars Bar at 11am!

5. Lower Your Salt Intake
Whilst salt on its own isn’t exactly brimming with calories, scientists have found a relationship between salt and sugary drinks; the more salt a person eats, the more they tend to crave fizzy pop. Fizzy pop is incredibly bad for you – in fact it is pretty much liquidised sugar – so by lowering your salt intake you will naturally lower your sugar intake too. Now that’s one secret slimming tip we bet you didn’t know!

6. Learn the Difference Between Hunger and Appetite
Naturally slim people tend to only eat when they are truly hungry whereas the rest of us may choose to have a snack when we have “an appetite”. Feelings of hunger can be caused by seeing a food advert on the TV and even from boredom but don’t run to the fridge as soon as you feel them. One of the best naturally slim tips is to only eat when you are hungry so leave it 20 minutes to see if the feeling passes. If it does you know it was just a craving, if it doesn’t – go ahead and eat something.

7. Variety is Good but Don’t Take it to Extremes
It’s always a good idea to eat a varied diet – that’s what naturally slim people do but make sure that you don’t take it to the extremes. If you mix too many flavours into one meal, you’ll find your tastebuds get overexcited and this can lead to over eating. Another one of our secret slimming tips is to keep your food basic with a 20% variation. This should be enough to stop your tastebuds becoming bored and still help your body to slim down.

8. Cut Out the Sugar
If you want to be naturally slim you need to cut out the sugar. You may think that you don’t enjoy tea or coffee without it in and you may think that unsweetened juice is revolting however once you give your tastebuds a chance to change you’ll find that they can become accustomed to a lack of sugar in your diet… and this is good for the new slim you!

9. Cut Out the Emotion
The final in our list of naturally slim tips is to cut out the emotion. It’s easy to turn to food during emotional times but naturally slim people will find other ways to make themselves feel better. Take some me-time, put some music on or treat yourself to a book. None of these options will lead to weight gain which will leave you much happier in the long run.

Couple watching TV.

In our busy lives it can be incredibly difficult to cut calories, or to try and lose a bit of weight without having to make a big statement about it – you know you always feel deflated if everyone’s watching you and nothing seems to work. So here is our list of the top 7 sneaky tips for cutting calories. All of them have been proven to work, and none of them include hitting the gym for strenuous workout sessions either!

Give Supermarket Aerobics a Go
Do you hate going supermarket shopping? If so you might want to look into burning calories during your trip. Not only will it cure the boredom but it’s one of the great tips for weight loss too. To cut calories whilst shopping, make sure you walk up and down every aisle and then carry your shopping bags to your car. If you do need a trolley, take it back to the supermarket instead of leaving it in the car park. All in all this will help you burn off 100 calories thereabouts.

Change the TV Channels Manually
Hiding the remote isn’t about annoying your partner, it’s all about helping you to burn calories. You can cut around 100 calories a day by getting up to switch the TV channels and turn a lazy evening into a slow workout routine. Just think of how many times you’ll need to switch on a Saturday night!

Leave the Pizza Crust on the Plate
If you’re at a fancy Italian restaurant eating pizza with your loved one or even if you’re at home and have ordered a take-away pizza, leave the pizza crust behind and focus on talking to your partner instead. Pizza crusts are known to be full of fat and by leaving them behind you’ll be avoiding extra calories. If you want to cut calories further when eating out, ask for your dressing on the side and avoid the garlic bread.

Give up Your Seat
Although you may find yourself avoiding extra calories by running for a seat on the train or bus and missing the snack shops on the way, you might want to think about letting someone else take your seat instead. Scientists believe that the more we sit down the more our fat burning enzymes switch off, so stand tall and think thin – it does actually work!

Add Some Spice
Not only do herbs and spices add flavour to your food but they also encourage you to take smaller mouthfuls – have you ever seen anyone heaping in spoonfuls of Vindaloo? No we thought not! This is a great way to cut calories as the slower you eat, the quicker you will feel full up. And, if you do choose to eat the holy grail of spice – the chilli – you will also be increasing your metabolic rate! Now how’s that rate in the tips for weight loss? Quite high we’d say!

Energetic Sex
Energetic sex is one of the best ways to cut calories and is often included on tips for weight loss lists. Whilst you won’t burn off enough to eat a king size mars bar, you will burn off calories whilst having fun. Don’t just lay back and do nothing though – the more effort you put in, the more calories you will burn. Who said early nights were boring?

Add Ice to Your Water
Yes, whilst we know this doesn’t exactly sound appealing during the winter, it is actually a great way to help you cut calories. Ice cold water encourages your body to burn calories as your body doesn’t like the cold feeling and so feels like it needs to regulate it to your body temperature. Plus, if you are fully hydrated you won’t have as much temptation to snack either – again helping you cut calories further. Read more info about thermal dieting and expand this tip for weight loss.

People surprised by fat.

If you have been struggling with your weight for a while now, you may be wondering why you just can’t shift those extra pounds. Surprisingly there are some really random things that make you fat and you may not even realise it! We have put together a list of nine of these and explain why they are among the top getting fat causes in the world today.

1. Tap Water
Surprisingly tap water is one of the things that make you fat, especially if the tap water in your area is fluoridated because fluoride stops the body from absorbing iodine which in turn can slow down the thyroid and the metabolism. To avoid getting fat due to tap water find out whether the water in your area is fluoridated, and if it is, switch to bottled water.

2. Sleep
Not getting enough sleep is one of the main getting fat causes that many of us succumb to. It is widely known that people who get enough sleep at night, have the energy to take part in more physical activity (which burns off calories) during the day. Alternatively, too much sleep can have the opposite effect, so make sure you get the recommended eight hours sleep at night to avoid getting fat.

3. Your Relationship
When you enter into a relationship for any length of time, you are likely to feel comfortable with your partner and often you won’t try so hard. Nights spent cuddling on the sofa with a movie and a takeaway may sound romantic but can all lead to you getting fat. To avoid getting fat engage your partner in some work-out activities or take a break during the week to ensure you are getting in the physical activity your body is craving for.

4. Allergies
If you suffer from allergies, you may be taking antihistamines to cope with the symptoms. Surprisingly, these are known for being one of the things that make you fat – and are even given to anorexic patients to help increase their appetite. To avoid getting fit why not try some natural alternatives instead?

5. Stress
It is near impossible not to be influenced by stress at some point in life, but you should start to watch out if you are flooded with feelings of anxiety from time to time. Anxiety has been linked to comfort eating and it goes without saying that comfort eating is one of the things that make you fat. During moments of stress, our bodies also release a stress related hormone into our systems which unfortunately encourages our bodies to store fat.

6. Smoothies and Fruit Juices
Surprisingly, although smoothies and fruit juices may seem healthy, if you buy them from a shop or stall, they are likely to be full of fat, sugar and calories too. To avoid getting fat from drinking too many smoothies, try eating a piece of fruit as part of your 5 a day instead, or make sure to add up the calories that are included in each drink to make sure you keep within the recommended daily allowance.

7. Coffee
Coffee is wrongly believed to help you lose weight due to the way that it increases the metabolism. Whilst technically it can do this, it’s not going to help you avoid getting fat if you are drinking a 300 calorie latte three times a day! If you still want to drink coffee, avoid the things that make you fat like lattes and mochas and opt for a skinny or a black coffee instead… and watch the number of sugars you include!

8. Sluggish Liver
Your liver is a vitally important organ as it is responsible for turning your body’s fat into energy, removing toxins and maintaining your metabolic rate. If it is overloaded with toxins such as alcohol it cannot do any of the above correctly and as such cannot burn calories effectively. To avoid getting fat due to a sluggish liver, try and eat a balanced diet and cut down on your alcohol intake.

9. Television
Yes television and any sedentary activities can be listed under the getting fat causes. It doesn’t matter how healthy the food is that you eat if you spend your life sitting down in one position. Eating in front of the TV can also increase the amount of food you eat as you don’t notice what you are eating. To avoid getting fat, eat meals at the dinner table and hit the gym or the pool in the evenings… or exercise whilst watching TV!

Woman taking HCG drops.

If you’re worried about the safety of HCG weight loss drops then read on, as we’ll try and give you some more information about them here. HCG in itself is generally regarded as being safe if administered in the correct doses as it is a hormone produced naturally in the human body by pregnant women. The drops are synthesised from purely naturally sources.

A big part of the HCG drops for weight loss is that they follow a diet that involves consuming 500 calories a day. Whilst the drops themselves are considered safe, this part of the diet is dangerous as, for example, women should never consume less than 1200 calories per day.

However, a lot of websites claiming to sell HCG drops or homeopathic HCG drops may not actually be selling you HCG. They could be selling you nearly anything that is cheap for them to produce. In particular, the case of homeopathic HCG drops are synthesised with little trace of HCG in them!

If you are interested in buying HCG drops you should speak to your doctor who can recommend a reliable source for them, and help you discuss whether or not they are suitable for you. However if you do want to buy them online then there are a few ways to try and help you work out whether what you’re buying is safe or not.

First up, check whether there is a reputable doctor listed as the owner of the website. A simple Google search of the doctor’s name found on the website will be able to tell you whether s/he is legitimate or not.

You should then test out their customer support facilities; get in touch with them preferably by telephone to have a chat with them and see what they are like on the phone. If they are overly pushy in trying to sell you the drops then they are best avoided.

Finally, whilst it is not a strict requirement that they have any ‘after sales’ support, you can check to see if, for example, their forum is staffed by appropriately-qualified people or just the general public. If you have the choice between a website with a forum where everyone can contribute, and a dedicated phone line with trained staff on the other end then it is definitely advisable to choose the latter.

As a conclusion we are no fans of HCG drops or any other supplements like HCG injections. However, we felt that we need to cover this subject as this is a controversial subject and our readers need to be informed about it. At WLT we only encourage natural weight loss!

HCG Shot for Weight Loss

HCG injections are shots containing Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, a hormone produced in pregnant women. The role of this hormone is to break down fat stored in the body to use as an energy source for the growing foetus in the womb. Some people claim that it is a wonder solution to weight loss, but very few people have heard of it because world governments want to keep it a secret as it would put many pharmaceutical companies on earth out of business. Believe what you will, but it’s highly unlikely that governments are keeping this quiet since many western countries are facing huge problems with obesity.

One of the main diets that popularised HCG weight loss was one that included following a 500-calorie-a-day diet along with having HCG weight loss injections. A lot of followers reported weight loss, but it is hard to tell whether this came from the 500 a day diet, or from the HCG shots themselves. In any case, following a diet that is so low in calories is very dangerous anyway as it won’t provide you with enough energy to do your daily activities on a long-term basis. This particular diet should certainly be avoided.

Another problem with HCG weight loss programmes is that they are often advertised with ambiguous or sometimes downright absurd claims to try and get you to buy a really expensive product that sounds wonderful, and make the seller rich as a result.

The claims made in support of HCG injections have been disputed for a long time, but in 2009 the American Society of Bariatric Physicians issued a statement saying that there was a lot of evidence that HCG was ineffective in aiding weight loss. They even noted that in some cases it has been shown to increase muscle tissue, thus adding weight to the patient!

Finally, there is another branch of HCG product on the market that you may come across – homeopathic HCG drops; a supposed ‘natural’ way of producing HCG in your body by ingesting certain things. An American government agency recently branded this as a ‘fraudulent’ item as if the item was made by proper homeopathic methods it would contain little or no HCG, resulting in consumers wasting their money on something that doesn’t even contain what they thought they were buying!

To sum up, at the moment HCG injections don’t sound like a credible weight loss idea and it would be best to avoid them for the sake of your wallet. Remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Obesity and Health Insurance

The average weight of people in the western world, particularly the UK and US, is increasing every year so it’s important to address the issue of how obesity affects health insurance. Particularly in the US, health insurance is important as the equivalent of the UK NHS isn’t available.

If you pay for private health insurance, you might find that if you are a particularly heavy person (but not obese) your premiums could rise as much as 50% or 100%. If you are classed as obese your premiums could rise further, and you might even be declined health insurance by some providers. This is because obesity on its own is an illness that you can treat yourself in most cases and doesn’t need particularly expensive medical care.

Obesity also makes you a much higher risk for other serious illnesses, such as heart conditions, strokes and some cancers. The health insurance company must increase their premiums to take the cost of the treatment for these conditions into account; treating someone with a serious long term disease costs a lot of money.

However, if your obesity is caused by an underlying medical condition, such as a glandular condition, you should be able to get adequate health insurance to cover the condition. Some insurers might cover the condition only and any direct obesity effects, but not other costs that arise out of general obesity.

Some companies are recognising that obesity health insurance is a gap in the market, and there are some specialist companies out there that will provide you with the insurance. These companies are always worth getting in touch with to arrange a quote as they deal with health insurance for the obese on a regular basis and will certainly be able to help you with any queries you might have.

They will also be able to provide you with some excellent quotes as they generally have a better understanding of the health risks involved with obesity and so can assign better premiums to the associated risk factors. Life insurance is also an important type of insurance that you can consider, especially if you are obese!

Man With a Sedentary Job

With more and more office jobs springing up in the UK and less people employed in manual, or labour-intensive, jobs, obesity in the workplace is increasing. There are certain sedentary jobs which promote obesity particularly including many jobs in the finance and IT professions that see you not leaving your desk except to go to the toilet or get a drink.

The UK has a huge financial industry, and this is one of the key sedentary occupations in the country. You are literally chained to your desk for hours on end delivering work to very tight deadlines and you feel you don’t have time for exercise. However, most financial services companies know this and will help you try and get on fitness programmes – speak to your welfare representative in human resources. Many larger banks even have gym facilities in the office and if you’re clever about it you can take work there to do – if there’s a long document you need to read through by the end of the day, get an audio copy of it and put it on your iPod to listen to on the treadmill.

Other ways of reducing the obesity effects of sedentary jobs include making every effort to do even the smallest bit of exercise whilst in the office. This includes things like taking a walk over to your colleague’s desk instead of instant messaging him, go for a walk whilst you take your lunch break, or take the stairs rather than the lift to get to your office if you want. If you’re feeling particularly good, run up the stairs!

If you are thinking of following a career path and want to move away from a more sedentary job for the purpose of your health you might want to consider something in construction. If you work in the finance or IT professions, you already have the numerical analysis skills required to go into an engineering job and following a role like this will make you more active – you will be visiting sites on a regular basis which get you out of the office and walking around rough terrain. A construction surveyor will partake in similar work.

Finally, a recent study has shown that Americans sitting at their desks in sedentary jobs for a longer time, show a strong correlation with the amount of extra weight that they have put on since the 1960s. However, the most of that extra weight could be reduced by just 2.5 hours of moderate exercise (or 1.25 hours of vigorous exercise) every week – a small price to pay for your health.

Weight Loss Gadgets

Weight loss is difficult for everyone, but there are ways to make it easier for yourself, as technology steps in to aid you to return to your normal weight. Some new weight loss gadgets available on the market, at a reasonable cost, should help you lose weight easier. They help you out by saving your time and effort when it comes to eating and contribute to improved performance and better results when we talk about exercising.

The first gadget for weight loss we’re featuring is a standard hand-held blender. Blenders are great gadgets to lose weight with as they allow you to make some great-tasting vegetable soups or weight loss smoothies. The hand-held version is particularly good as you can just use it in the pan you’ve mixed or cooked everything in so you don’t have to clean up a blender or another pan afterwards. Research has shown that vegetable soup makes you as satisfied as many other meals that have more calories, so it is definitely one to try out.

If you like to eat chips and are really struggling to cut them out of your diet you don’t have to with this new weight loss gadget; Tefal’s ActiFry will cook you healthy, crusty, french fries. You just need to slice up your potatoes, put them in the ActiFry along with a very small amount of natural oil (a single tablespoon) and the gadget will produce amazing chips every single time. These chips are much healthier for you than regular french fries. You can also use this weight loss gadget to make stir fries, roast vegetables and many other things – recipes come with it and more are available online. It is very easy to clean and only has only two buttons to operate.

If you’re taking on a new exercise scheme, the Nike Plus sports watch (with GPS) is a good gadget to get skinny with. Apart from telling the time, the watch also displays your heart rate and records exactly where you’ve been running with the watch. You then plug the gadget into the SD port of your computer and it will show you the exact route you took so you can optimise your exercise and set better routes for yourself. This watch will help you set goals and give you that extra kick of motivation needed to improve your performance.

The final weight loss gadget we’re featuring is the iPad – this is perhaps one of the most important gadgets to lose weight with, but unfortunately it’s the most expensive of the ones presented in this review. One particularly good app is Fitness Class which is a free app and you can download many fitness classes onto your iPad to watch and follow as you work out. Some of the videos are free to download and others cost about 70 pence each.

Weight Influence Factors

There are a lot of factors that influence your weight. You need to analyze them all and pinpoint those that are causing your overweight status. Then you can begin to do something about them and engage in weight loss. Remember that a single unbalance can spoil your weight loss efforts. Asses your situation carefully and build yourself an efficient plan for losing weight. Feel free to ask a specialist if you have event the smallest uncertainty.

Hereditary Factors
Unfortunately you can ‘inherit’ your weight. This doesn’t mean that you are born as a very big baby, it just means that some of your genes are more conducive to you weighing more. Your doctor can use a variety of methods to work out whether your weight is hereditary and then advise you on how you can reduce it. So, the best way to deal with hereditary factors of weight loss is to see your doctor for advice.

Hormonal Abnormalities
Hormonal abnormalities that influence weight loss occur when there are imbalances of certain hormones within your body, generally the ones that determine your metabolism. In men in particular, lack of testosterone is a good example of a hormone imbalance that will result in weight gain through a change in metabolism. A good way to increase testosterone is to increase levels of activity; this will also help you burn calories. You should note however that hormone imbalances only affect a very small number of people with weight problems.

Lack of Exercise
Sometimes just watching what you eat isn’t enough to lose weight and you need to exercise. Exercising burns off calories – for most weight loss exercises (jogging for example) you can burn around 600 calories per hour, depending on your weight. There are 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, so even if your diet habits stay the same, you can lose a pound of fat for every 6 hours of exercise.

Diet
Eating more calories than your body needs in a day will result in you gaining weight. The recommended amount is 2000 calories a day for women, and 2500 for men. Eating less than this will aid you in losing weight. However, you should note that you should also watch what you eat as well as how much. This is because some foods are particularly bad for you and will increase your weight gain even further; those high in saturated fat for example.

Lifestyle
Finally, your lifestyle takes a big part in your weight loss attempts. This area is an overlap of diet and lack of exercise, but applied more to how you live your life. If you have an active job you are more likely to lose weight than if you are at a desk all day. But there are ways to change this; if you do work to a desk every day then decide to walk to work every day, or at least some distance from your car if you can’t walk the whole way. You can also alter your lifestyle by changing your attitude to life – for example, take the stairs instead of the lift or escalator at every possible opportunity.

Following these tips should help you to lose weight effectively.

Weight Loss Reasons for Women and Men

A recent study conducted in the United States of America by Synovate eNation and financed by Herbalife Ltd. shows that women and men not only have different strategies for losing weight, but also have different reasons when deciding whether to visit the gym or follow a diet to achieve weight loss. The researchers studied 1000 U.S. adults, and has an accuracy of +/- 3%. Now let’s take a look at the results!

• It seems that 18% of women decide to follow a diet when they’ve gained three or even less kilograms (6.6 lbs).
• Men choose to follow a diet only if the diet is so light that they don’t feel the burden of it!
• When they want to lose weight, women prefer to pick a healthy diet, whilst men prefer to work hard at the gym.
• The most important reason that motivates women in starting a weight loss venture is a poor physical look – about 40% of women want to lose weight because their first thought, when they look in the mirror, is: ‘I hate how I look!’
• The main reason for weight loss in men is the fact that they get tired really fast when they have to perform physical jobs. According to the study, 27% of men notice at some point that they are not in the right physical shape and the motivating thought is ‘I’m not in shape!’

However, even if the number of overweight men and women is practically equal, the study concludes that women express their dissatisfaction regarding their excessive weight, earlier than men. Three extra kilograms (6.6 lbs) and sometimes even less, determine 18% of women to start weight loss and do whatever they can to return to normal weight. At the opposite end, men consider that only 10 kilos (22lbs) over their normal weight are a strong reason to consider weight loss. The study also informs that in average, both men and women begin to pay attention to their overweight only when they’ve gained more than 5 or 6 kilograms (11-13 lbs).

It seems that both men and women that aim to lose weight pay more attention to the size of their food portions. However, for men physical exercises are still a priority. Women weight loss is based on eating healthy, while men prefer to eat less but unhealthy. Nevertheless, both men and women have a lot to win and kilos to lose if they learn from one another and share their strategies.

“Men should pay attention to their overweight sooner and not wait until they gain those 10 or 12 kilos (22-26 pounds) above their normal weight,”

says Dr. Luigi Gratton, a Vice President of the Medical Affairs & Education within Herbalife Ltd.

“First of all, it’s much more easy to lose a few kilos than losing 10 or 12 kilograms; the higher the number of gained kilos, the higher the risks for their health,”

he added. Besides, the overexertion at the gym can be harmful and adopting a proper, healthy diet can increase men weight loss success rate.

Women should learn from men to focus more on the final result. This way they won’t feel disappointed when the outcome leaves much to be desired. In addition, they should also exercise and not rely only on a diet.

“Women would concentrate less on their physical look and would easily embrace their natural forms if they felt stronger, toned and more self-confident.”