eMedex Weight Loss Guide

It must be a good sign when you’re able to afford to get a lot of food on your plate every time you eat. A good sign for your finances, however, might not bode well for your waistline. Large portions are often the culprit for weight gain, and you save yourself a lot of pounds just by keeping an eye out for those bingeing bonanzas. Do you want to learn how to lose weight when there’s so much food around you? Keep reading.

Many restaurants and eating establishments – especially the not-so-fancy ones you frequent for workday meals – have more than one person’s serving of food per order. Forcing yourself to scarf everything on your plate could put a big hamper in your efforts to cut down on consumption. It’s time to change how you view your food or, at the very least, how you eat.

No matter what your mother told you when you were young, you don’t have to finish every single morsel on your plate. When the serving on the plate is enough for three people, you’re just asking for trouble – and extra weight – if you eat all of that down. Instead of tucking in, you could just divide the serving, eat just the portion you need to sate your hunger and then have the rest wrapped up to take home.

You could also try eating out with friends or co-workers so that you could split the servings – and the bill – between yourselves. Not only will this help you stick to your weight loss program, but it’ll also add a social dimension of fun to every meal. Think about all your savings from splitting the bill, too.

Back in 2004, Pilates made waves in the exercise and training world as an emerging trend for slimming down and building up. It had a whole range of low-impact yet highly effective exercise moves that could easily be modified for injuries or people with special needs. If you’re bored or unchallenged by the typical old crunch, you might want to add this exercise – the Pilates 100 – to add a bit of variety to your core exercises.

Although it’s not necessary, this exercise is best done on an exercise mat to prevent any unnecessary strain on your back. Lie face-up on the ground or your mat with your body straightened out and your hands at your sides. Raise your legs straight up to a comfortable angle; if you’re just starting out, a 90-degree angle would be best for practice. Without bending your neck, bring your shoulder blades up off the mat and then pump your hands up and down at your sides. Count 100 pumps, breathing normally the entire time. Remember to keep your arms and hands straightened for all 100 pumps!

You exercise your abdominal muscles by making them support the weight of your upper body. As your abs get stronger, gradually lower your legs and make increasingly smaller angles with the floor. The lower your legs go, the greater the additional strain they put on your abs and a greater challenge the exercise will be. It’s a great exercise because you can easily adjust the difficulty and intensity according to your needs, without needing a single piece of extra equipment.

Crunches have been a part of every core exercise regimen since time immemorial. However, many people make the mistake of thinking that the ever-popular crunch is enough to get them meeting their fitness goals. Crunches, in fact, are not enough, and you’ll leave yourself shortchanged unless you add more exercises to your routine. Here’s a modified version of the crunch that’ll have you slimmer and fitter in less time – the bicycle crunch.

Lie face-up on the floor and place your fingers behind your head or your ears, just as you would for a crunch. Draw your left knee in towards your torso, while at the same time lifting your shoulder blades off the floor and bringing your right elbow towards your drawn-in left knee. Straighten out your left leg to about a 45-degree angle to the ground, then draw in your right knee and bring up your left elbow to meet it to finish off 1 rep. Start from 20 reps and then build up the numbers as you get stronger.

The secret to this exercise is in the rotation of your upper body and the movement of your legs. Rotating your upper body forces your obliques to take on some weight. At the same time, your raised and moving legs place additional strain on your abdominal area. All things considered, this exercise targets more areas than the typical crunch, and would exercise your abdominal areas a lot faster besides. You could do this as a complement to a set of crunches. This exercise is definitely a must for you if you’re serious about building up your core and eliminating those love handles.

It’s really simple to lose weight. If you want to lose, say, 5lbs by next week, you eat just a third of what you usually do and you’re bound to shed that weight, right?

Wrong.

Crash dieting is often listed as one of the most common mistakes that people make in their attempts to lose weight. Not only is it ineffective in the long run, but it’s also unhealthy for your body in the short run because of the drastic changes that occur.

What’s Up with Crash Dieting?

Crash diets rely on the drastically reduced intake of food – and calories in general – for the expected weight loss. However, crash diets also fail to take one major factor into account. The human body adapts to stimuli that are related to survival, which includes the hunger that accompanies a crash diet.

Some dieting books will not tell you that your body will react to the lower levels of nutrients that it gets. It will attempt to adjust itself to perform at a lower level in order to save as much nutrients as possible. This reaction diminishes the results you’d get from crash dieting. Even worse is that it does not readjust immediately; when you go back to eating normally, you gain fat faster because your body is still operating at the lower nutrient-saving level.

If you simply must lose weight fast, crash dieting isn’t the way to go. You’d be better off switching to a healthier menu of fish, vegetables and lean meats, while at the same time stepping up with your cardiovascular exercise. Sure, it’s a bit slower than a crash diet, but at least you’re likelier to keep off all that weight you’ll lose.

You may have seen some tempting advertisements and more than likely have been attracted by slogans such as, ‘Lose 20 pounds in a week!’, ‘Eat whatever you wish and still lose weight!’, ‘Try our miraculous fat buster and lose kilos and inches fast!’, and so on.

It’s easy to get allured and confused with such catchy slogans. There are several products and weight-loss myths out there that people believe to be true by ignoring the facts. Such an approach can be very dangerous. Here are some myths and facts related to weight loss:

Myth 1: Fad diets are best for weight loss permanently.

Fact 1: Fad diets are not the best for permanent weight loss. You may lose some weight initially, but strictly limiting calories and food choices is an easy task. After some time you tend to regain the lost weight as you get bored with such a strict eating regimen. Besides, it’s unhealthy to deprive yourself of essential nutrients. Research has proved that losing 1 to 2 pounds per week through healthy eating, physical exercise, and smaller meals, is the best way to lose weight.
Myth 2: High-protein and low-carbohydrate diets are the healthiest way to lose weight quickly.

Fact 2: Though the long-term side effects of a high-protein and low-carbohydrate diet are yet well known, concentrating on a high-protein diet such as red meat, eggs, and cheese, can be considered a balanced diet. Eating too little fruits, whole grains, and vegetables can lead to vitamin, fiber, and other nutrient deficiencies.

Myth 3: Cardio Exercises help you lose weight fast.

Fact 3: It’s true but, cardio exercises alone cannot give you your desired weight loss results. In order to maintain a healthy weight, you need to combine cardio with strength training.

Myth 4: Intake of starches should be minimized to lose weight.

Fact 4: There are certain foods such as bread, rice, beans, fruits, pasta, and cereals, etc…  that are low in fat and calories, but high in starch. Eating too much of these foods, coupled with high-fat foods like oil and butter, etc… only add fat and calories. Besides, these complex foods high in carbohydrates are an important source of energy.

Myth 5: Foods such as grapefruit, cabbage soup, celery, etc… can burn fat.

Fact 5: Food cannot burn fat by itself. Certain foods that contain caffeine can accelerate your metabolism, but it cannot cause weight loss.

Myth 6: Avoid weight lifting if you want to lose weight.

Fact 6: Weight lifting, as an exercise, can help you maintain good body weight if done on a regular basis. Such exercises help you build muscles and burn body fat.

Therefore, if you are passionate about weight loss, before trying any diet or exercise program, it’s very important to understand the facts behind certain beliefs and to always be realistic.

Pregnant women with bad eating habits and excess weight run the risk of giving birth to an unhealthy baby. Furthermore they may even be risking birth related complications for themselves. Hence it is all the more important to take care of your health in these situations. As it is you have the responsibility of another life hanging upon you so would want to be doubly cautious.

Achieving weight loss during pregnancy is not as hard as it may seem. It is true that pregnant women generally will not feel like exercising or restricting themselves from eating food but there are certain compromises that one has to make in order to ensure one’s own health and that of one’s baby.


The secret to giving birth to a healthy bay is to have a healthy diet coupled with light yet effective exercise. There are many good diet programs that have been especially devised for pregnant women. These diets will give them basic guidelines on the do’s and don’ts related to food.

A pregnant woman must not make the choice to follow any diet program on her own because certain diets can be devastating for her health. This is why certain diet programs state clear warnings warning pregnant women not to go with the program. The South Beach diet is one particular diet that pregnant women can go with but that too only from phase two. Phase One of this Atkins diet like program is definitely not recommended for pregnant women.

Foods that need to avoided

There are certain foods that fall in the category of definite no-no in these especially composed diets for pregnant women. These foods will not only make the pregnant women put on weight but they can also lead to poor health for both the mother and the baby. These include
•    Fish: Shark, king mackerel, swordfish, tilefish. These items contain a high level of mercury which is dangerous for the babies nervous system
•    Tuna and albacore
•    All sorts of junk food
•    Alcohol
•    Caffeine

Food that is imperative for pregnant women

There are certain foods rich in vitamins and nutrients that are essential for pregnant women. The reason why women will need food rich in vitamins and minerals is because they will be producing blood for the baby. So they will need iron for the blood and calcium for the bones and folic acid for the prevention of diseases during the early stages of pregnancy, especially related to the brain and spine.

For this purpose pregnant women are highly encouraged to increase the intake of fruits and vegetables. Since the demand for minerals during pregnancy is increased women must increase their intake as well. There are also special mineral supplements that women can take during pregnancy that will help them to maintain the desired amount of minerals in their body.

Weight loss exercises during pregnancy

Since a pregnant woman cannot go on strict diets due to the fact that her body requires an increased number of nutrients and minerals she has to couple her little dieting efforts with exercise. You will find most of the weight loss programs for pregnant women to have exercise routines that pregnant women can manage. Of course the exercises wont be as intense as they could have been under normal circumstances but it will require some physical movement and breaking of sweat for the pregnant woman.

When these efforts are coupled with a sensible way of eating which means a diet based on a moderate fat content the results can be fruitful. The diet should be in sensible quantity and from various sources sighted by the professionals such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables along with which the exercise pattern should be strictly followed in order to achieve weight loss and maintain it during the nine long months of pregnancy.