Burning more calories than you consume on a daily basis is the key to losing weight. You can try the fanciest diet in the world, but when it comes right down to it, eating less and exercising more is essentially what you’re doing. At the beginning of the diet, you’ll probably find that shedding the pounds comes fairly easily. However, there will always be a point when weight loss may no longer occur. A week, or even a month may pass with the same number registering everytime you step on the scale, despite your best efforts at sticking religiously to your diet.

If your diet is giving you sufficient nutrients to sustain your health and your exercise regimen is still burning those excess calories, then it may be your habits that are preventing you from losing weight. 3 reasons why your diet isn’t effective anymore may be due to the following 3 points:

1. You’re stressed out, all the time. Even though you might not be gorging on snacks, boozing, or smoking to help you relax, stress can still be detrminetal to weight loss. It sends your hormones out of whack, preparing your body for tough times. Stress not only slows your metabolism, it also facilitates fat storage and boosts your cravings for sweet and starchy foods, since “tough times” to your body means food scarcity (probably harking back to the past as a method of self preservation when food supplies were not as stable as today). It’s a little counter productive if you’re on a diet, isn’t it?

We know – everyone has stress in their lives. However, those of us who are constantly under pressure tend to have the most difficulty maintaining healthy and controlled weight loss.

Solution? Deal with the stress by solving the problem, practicing breathing and meditative exercises, or indulging yourself in things you enjoy. Gentle stretching can also help.

2. Over exercising. Exercise is good, but not if you overdo it. Spending 5 hours at the gym pumping weights and running for miles on the treadmill may work for a professional athlete, but it’s probably way too much for the average person. The huge discrepancy between caloric output and input causes the body to store fat, since you’re actually putting it into starvation mode. It can also cause serious wear and tear on your body, making you more prone to injury.

Solution? You can exercise most days of the week, but experts say that gentler activity is much more effective than long, drawn out sessions filled with grunting and holding your breath. Even better, follow an exercise regimen as outlined by your physician and the advice of your personal trainer.

3.  Sleep deprivation. And yet another form of stress, not sleeping enough is one of the worst things you can do to your body (regardless of whether you’re on a diet or not). Lack of sleep increases levels of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates the appetite. It also messes up your metabolism and doesn’t allow the body to release toxins and repair itself.

Solution? Get more sleep! While everyone’s requirements are different, aim for at least 8 hours of sleep a night.

Parties, family dinners and edible presents – it’s a dieter’s worst time of the year. Christmas and the New Year translate into, what seems like, endless days of eating and drinking without much care for control. Most of us fall off of the wagon and don’t bother getting back on until January 1, when we vow to reach our goal weight when we’re bloated and hung over, writing out our New Year’s resolutions. (It’s not surprising that it’s Personal Trainer Toronto’s busiest time of the year!) Treating yourself can help to maintain your sanity while you’re dieting, but we tend to go overboard when on holiday, thinking it’s okay since it’s just one or two days and we’ve been good all year.

Binging is not healthy behaviour. It can stretch the stomach, slow the metabolism and make you gain weight more easily, thereby undoing all of the effort you’ve invested thus far. Remember: 3,500 extra calories translates into a pound of weight, and we gain an average of about 1 pound come the first of the new year.

But there’s no need to refuse invitations to parties or turn your nose up at all of the food you’re offered  this season. Just follow these tips instead:

1. Nibble on bread and crackers without dips or spreads, or if you have no choice, opt for the lower calorie types made with yogurt or reduced fat ingredients.

2. Spreadable cheese like Brie and Camembert are loaded with fat. Avoid them like the plague!

3. Remove the skin from your Christmas turkey. It’s where most of the calories hide.

4. Pie crust is packed with fat. For a healthier alternative, choose filo pastry instead.

5. White wine has fewer calories than red wine and champagne.

6. Stay away from the buffet table and go mingle, or better yet, get on the dance floor! It’s time to burn some calories!

7. Want to snack on something salty? Replace that handful of chips or salted nuts with pickles or olives instead.

8. For sweets, avoid chocolates (unless dark) and other “creamy” confectionery. They usually have a higher caloric content than candy made from just sugar and flavouring. Choose gummy bears, drops and candy canes.

Don’t you hate those people who can eat as much as they want and still not gain a thing? They’ve been blessed with a fast metabolism and a good amount of lean muscle mass. But eventually, even they will have to watch how much they eat to avoid becoming overweight. With the natural aging process, their metabolism will slow gradually, forcing them to change their eating habits.

So, for all of you who are watching what you eat, are following an exercise regimen and are on a diet, or used to have a fast metabolism but now don’t, here are 4 helpful tips to keep your appetite satiated without over eating at the dinner table (the kitchen counter, buffet bar, or wherever else you tend to gorge). Controlling your portions will allow you to maintain a healthy balance between the amount of calories you consume and the amount of calories you burn throughout a single day.

1. Eat slowly. It takes a little while to send the message to your brain that your stomach is full – about 20 minutes. That means you have to eat more slowly, savouring every bite you take. Appreciating your food allows your stomach to send the message to your brain that it’s full, before too much food is consumed. This helps prevent overeating, and feeling satiated but not stuffed.

2. Know how much a “portion” is. To control your portions, you need to know what exactly a “portion” is. Monitor what you eat and record what the average size of specific foods are. Then, simply maintain those sizes or reduce them if it’s too much. It may be tedious at first, but your waistline will thank you for your diligence.

If you’d like to know what a healthy portion size is, you can read the nutrition label to see what a serving size is or refer to charts available on sites devoted to nutrition, such as the one available on the Health Canada website called Canada’s Food Guide.

3. Less is more. Fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can provide lasting energy despite being low in calories.  Consider eating more of these foods instead of things like meat and cheese, which are chock full of calories. The good thing about this is that you can eat way more lower calorie foods, both in quantity and variety.

4. Control your cravings. You want a cookie, but to satisfy your craving, do you really need to eat the whole thing? Try taking just one bite and savour it slowly. In many cases, one bite is just enough to satisfy that craving. Or better yet, experts say that the feeling of craving for a food lasts about 10 minutes. So before you even take a bite, try to occupy yourself with an activity for 15 minutes. Chances are, by the time the 15 minutes is up, you won’t be craving that cookie anymore.

The American Heart Association says Americans are eating an average of 22 teaspoons of sugar on a daily basis, mostly in the form of candy and fizzy drinks. The statistics are unavailable for us up here north of the border, but it’s probably safe to say that the figure isn’t much different.

According to the World Health Organization, added sugar should be limited to 12 teaspoons, or 48 grams, per day for people on an average diet of 2000 calories. However, this figure differs from the recommendation of the American Heart Association, suggesting 6 teaspoons, or 24 grams, is better for women and 9 teaspoons, or 36 grams, for men.

Added sugars is defined as any sweetener that has been added to a food/drink by the manufacturer, consumer or chef. It can be in the form of honey, molasses, or maple syrup, or refined or processed and sourced from such things as cane, beets, and corn. These refined sugars are more commonly known as table sugar, corn sugar, corn syrup, fructose, dextrose, molasses and evaporated cane juice.

The category does not include naturally occurring forms of sugars, such as the lactose in milk or the fructose in fruit and vegetables.

Taking The First Step
If you haven’t considered limiting your sugar intake, then it’s probably a good time to start – especially if you’re on a diet, are concerned about developing heart disease, or have a family history of health problems related to obesity or diabetes.

One of the easiest ways to reduce sugar intake is to simply read the ingredient and nutrition label on foods prior to consumption. The amount of sugars present in the product should be listed and if it’s first on the ingredient list, you know that there’s a lot. On the nutrition label, remember to not only check the sugar amount, but also see how much a serving size is to determine whether that’s how much you’ll actually eat. Unfortunately, most labels do not distinguish between added sugars and naturally occurring sugars.

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, another way to reduce sugar in your diet is to satisfy cravings with fruit, fresh and dried. Pineapples are extremely high in naturally occurring sugars, making them an ideal treat for those with a sweet tooth. Dried fruit, like raisins, dates, and figs, are also packed with natural sweetness. You can even try replacing sugar in baked goods with apple sauce, apple juice, or dried fruit.

And if all else fails and you still find yourself consuming too much, increase your daily physical activity. Burning those calories from sugar is vital to control its effects in the body.

Admittedly, reducing sugar intake can be difficult. While it will probably be difficult in the beginning, you’ll find that once your palate has adjusted to less sweet things, you’ll increase your sensitivity to sweetness (much like salt, another topic to discuss in the future!)

The temptation to lose weight quickly leads many people to experiment with crash dieting. A crash diet is a type of short term eating plan that involves depriving yourself of most types of foods and drastically limiting the amount you eat, thereby allowing you to lose weight relatively quickly. Though they may seem like an appealing option, the effects are temporary and the dangers are too serious to be ignored.

Crash Dieting and Nutritional Deficiency
Crash dieting can cause several health risks. One of the greatest dangers of crash dieting is the fact that it deprives the body of essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. This can lead to nutritional deficiencies, illness, and an overall feeling of weakness. Depriving yourself of nutrients will make it more difficult for your body to fight off infection and inflammation. Physical symptoms such as hair loss and dry skin may eventually arise as a result. A diet that lacks carbohydrates (which is typically restricted on fad diets) can lead to an abnormal metabolic state known as ketosis, which can cause bad breath and nausea.

Weight Loss through Crash Dieting is Unsustainable
Crash dieting slows your metabolism and thus lessens your body’s ability to burn fat and calories efficiently. As a result of your slowed metabolism rate, you will end up gaining more weight after you return to your normal eating habits. Moreover, crash dieting causes a yo-yo effect of weight gain and weight loss that may lead to high cholesterol and heart disease over time.

And there are more negative effects: your body does not receive enough energy from calories in order to function, so it must use energy sources from elsewhere. This can have a detrimental effect on your blood sugar, potassium, and sodium levels. By not consuming any carbohydrates while you are crash dieting, your body will eventually use up all of the glycogen it has and then feed on body tissues, eventually leading to internal bleeding and ulcer formation.

The Effects of Crash Dieting on Mental Health
The effects on mental health cannot be ignored. Crash dieting leads to moodiness and depression since the body is deprived of much-needed nutrients. A loss of concentration can also be a problem, making it difficult for you to focus on everyday activities.

Not only is crash dieting ineffective, it can be harmful to your health. There are no easy, overnight solutions to weight loss. You must make permanent changes to your diet and lifestyle in order to beat the battle of the bulge. Crash dieting will make you feel miserable and ultimately cause you to gain weight. Ditch the last-minute attempts to lose weight and make regular exercise and a healthy diet a part of your life plan. Gradual, sustainable weight loss will follow.

Why do I need to do weights if I just want to lose weight?

A common question many dieters ask.

For most of us trying to lose weight, the number on the scale may be the only way you’re determining whether that diet is working for you. Shedding the pounds is of utmost concern when it comes to battling the bulge, but it shouldn’t be the only concern.

Losing weight isn’t only about seeing a smaller number on the bathroom scale – it’s about losing fat and increasing your lean body tissue. Lean body tissue is also known as muscle and is more metabolically active. It burns more calories than fat alone, even when you’re body’s resting.

In fact, relying solely on dieting and aerobic exercise will do the opposite of what you want: reducing your lean body tissue. Without strength training, scientists have found that you may lose about 1 pound of muscle mass for every 3 pounds of fat, making it harder to lose weight and keep it off in the long run since your body will have less lean tissue to burn calories. And if you happen to gain weight on your diet, scientists have found that it tends to be pure fat.

For this reason, it is absolutely vital that any exercise regimen include strength training. If you’re on a diet, you may lose a bit of lean body tissue, but you can control the amount or even prevent it from happening by avoiding crash diets (which make you lose more lean body tissue than fat) and performing intense weightlifting or resistance exercises every other day. Make sure to target the major skeletal muscles, such as the quads, pecs and abs. To support muscle repair and building, remember to take a day off before your next strength training workout and include lean protein sources in your diet, such as chicken, beans and fish.

If you’re trying to lose weight, you’re probably familiar with the bad rep carbs have. Blamed for helping the body pack on the pounds, several of today’s hottest fad diets are all about minimizing or totally cutting out the intake of carbs.

Beware the hype!

The cardinal rule of any healthy sustainable diet is that it should be balanced and well-rounded, meaning all of the food groups have to be represented. So, don’t go chucking out all of that bread, pasta and rice yet. Labeling all carbs as bad is a sweeping generalization that could have disastrous consequences on your health. Here’s why.

Our body needs carbs. They play a vital role in several body processes such as metabolism, growth and waste elimination. They act as an energy source for power and most importantly, as a fuel for our brain, helping it to function. Carbs preside in a many different types of food, from a humble russet potato to a mouthwatering piece of pecan pie. They even exist in beans, seeds, dairy products and meat to a certain extent.

Define Carbohydrate
Carbohydrates are essentially chains of sugar molecules that, when consumed, are processed by the digestive system and broken down into single sugar molecules that are more easily absorbed into the bloodstream. Each sugar molecule in the blood becomes an energy source which can be expended or stored for later use. The exception to this rule, however, is fibre. Fibre is a carbohydrate but cannot be digested. Rather, it simply passes through the intestines to facilitate waste elimination.

Not including fibre, there are two types of carbs: simple and complex. Each type is defined by the way in which the chain of sugar molecules are formed. Simple carbs, such as table sugar, milk, and fruit, are composed of short chains that are easy to break down by the digestive system. This allows the molecules to enter the bloodstream quickly and strongly, raising the levels of blood sugar. Scientists have found that eating too much food that spikes blood sugar levels is associated with a number of problems, such as diabetes and weight gain (this is probably where the bad rep came from.)

Complex carbs, such as dietary fibre and starches, feature longer and more complicated arrangements of sugar molecules (hence the name). Because of their arrangements, they take longer to break down. In addition, natural sources of complex carbs also have walls formed by cellulose fibre that further decreases the speed at which the carb is broken down. Slower entry into the bloodstream prevents blood sugar levels from spiking, and this has been scientifically linked to weight loss.

Health Canada recommends that carbs constitute about 45-65% of a healthy diet. But not all carbs. People on a diet that promotes weight loss should instead choose the right type of carb.

“Natural” Complex Carbs
That’s right. If you’re on a diet, you’ll take comfort in knowing that eating the right amount of natural, unprocessed sources of complex carbs won’t make you fat. Whole grains, yams, corn and beans aren’t just a bunch of sugar molecules; they satiate your appetite for a longer period of time and tend to have the fibre, minerals, vitamins and nutrients your body needs.

However, some complex carbs, like potatoes, can enter the bloodstream as quickly as sources of simple carbs. As a result, rather than simply opting for complex carbs, dieters should pick and choose according to how fast a carb breaks down and enters the bloodstream. This is determined by the glycemic index (http://www.glycemicindex.com/)

Enjoy that wholegrain piece of toast. Relish that steaming bowl of brown rice. We’ve eaten sources of carbohydrates since the dawn of man. Why stop now, even when you’re trying to lose weight? A diet that’s far more palatable and sustainable than any fad – including natural unprocessed sources of complex carbs with a low glycemic index will not only help you lose weight, it’ll also help you keep it off.

Butter, cheese, and deep-friend delights – these are just a few of the common culprits of obesity in today’s diet. In order to achieve fat reduction, you have to exercise regularly and stop consuming fattening food; but as you have probably learned, it’s easier said than done.

Fatty food has become such a mainstay in our diets that fat reduction seems like a far-fetched solution. Nonetheless, in order to shrink your gut, improve your figure, and decrease the risk of illness, fat reduction is an absolute must. Here are 10 practical tips to follow in order to achieve fat reduction through diet.

1. Snack on nuts. Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, and cashews are rich in protein and monosaturated fat, which is good fat. Nuts can be used to replace foods in your diet that contain bad fat. Good fat helps to clear your arteries and makes you feel full. Chances are that if you feel full, you’ll be a lot less likely to crave and consume foods that contain bad fat. For optimal appetite-suppressing effects, down eight ounces of water along with your nutty snack. Limit yourself to two handfuls of nuts per day.

2. If you eat meat, cut off the visible fat when possible and take off the skin for effective fat reduction. For example, chicken skin should always be removed since 45%-75% of chicken fat is in the skin.

3. For easy fat reduction in your daily diet, replace butter and margarine with a healthy spread. Hummus, mashed avocado, and low-sugar jams and marmalades are delicious alternatives. You can also use polyunsaturated margarine in moderation if you can’t go without that buttery taste on your toast.

4. Start eating more chicken and fish, which are much lower in fat than red meat. You can also explore protein-packed foods from non-animal sources such as tofu, tempeh, beans, and quinoa, a nutty grain-like seed that contains all eight essential amino acids.

5. Ditch the whole milk and opt for skim milk instead.

6. Rather than frying your vegetables, consider steaming them. Steaming is the healthiest way to prepare vegetables because it requires no oil and thus reduces fat in your diet. Other benefits of steaming are that it preserves the natural smell, appearance, and taste of vegetables while at the same time conserving the vitamins and minerals they contain when raw.

7. Try eating out less. Not only will it help you save money, you will eat better and increase fat reduction that way. Home-cooked food is more nutritious than restaurant food, which is typically packed with fat and calories.

8. Anytime you grill or roast meat, make sure you use a rack so the fat drains easily.

9. Many people who eat fatty diets claim that they don’t want to switch to a healthy diet because they think that healthy food tastes bland and boring.Make healthy food interesting to eat and stimulate your senses by sprucing up your spice cabinet and exploring the complexity of flavors you can create with herbs and spices. Fat reduction doesn’t have to be boring.
10. Use olive oil as your primary cooking oil or dip your bread in it instead of using butter. Olive oil consumption increases your body’s ability to burn fat and lowers your cholesterol level due to its high monosaturated fat content. Make sure the olive oil you use is extra virgin (it hasn’t been refined.)

Following these fat reduction tips will give you a running start in your quest to lose weight without requiring an immense amount of effort and sacrifice on your part. Making these simple changes to your diet will not only improve your figure and the way you feel, it will also improve your overall health and can be much more effective than those weight loss wonders and miracle cures you see advertised everywhere.