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Weight Loss with Facial Exercise Means Your Face Doesn’t Have to Look Older

Poor Valerie Bertinelli. Here she loses a great deal of weight, probably thirty pounds, maybe more, and instead of the media congratulating her on her new, svelte body, they are maligning her face, saying that she looks older now than she did two years ago when she still wore a size twelve. Facial exercise, not twists, puckers or contortions, is a safe and sane alternative for a healthier, younger looking face. The exercises are painless, there is no risk and you look like you did ten to fifteen years ago.

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Poor Valerie Bertinelli. Here she loses a great deal of weight, probably thirty pounds, maybe more, and instead of the media congratulating her on her new, svelte body, they are maligning her face, saying that she looks older now than she did two years ago when she still wore a size twelve.

Losing weight means that your face will lose weight too. Volume as unwanted pounds is shed throughout the entire body when a person loses weight.

There is really no such thing as “spot” reducing as in ‘I will only lose weight in my waist, tummy, hips and thighs,’ so as you put away mounds of carrots, broccoli and organic lettuce leaves, just know that having a skinny body means you will have a skinny face.

If you experience weight loss in your thighs, you will also experience weight loss in your face. Loss of volume in the face is especially noticeable as previous atrophy like slightly sagging cheeks now are actual lines or grooves between your nose and your mouth.

Jowls and pouches also seem to form almost overnight as the pounds melt away. You probably feel this is a very unfair scenario – losing weight to look better yet your face is losing the battle against aging.

There are hollows that can form along the sides of the cheeks when weight is lost quickly. Sometimes hollows are thought to only plague those over 65 but if your weight has taken a sudden plunge, you might find your skin acting in ways you have never seen.

Fat surrounds our muscles and our internal organs as it weaves and marbles throughout our bodies. Fat nestles between our skin and body muscles. You may or may not know that it is very easy for our bodies to store fat; if we overeat and are under active, our bodies glom on to ingested calories.

Most of us gals need only 1500-1800 calories per day to maintain our ideal weight; overeat and you outgrow your clothes as you become a candidate for obesity, Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure issues and other health challenges. In addition to watching our caloric intake we certainly need to include some type of physical activity to energize our bodies and to put the roses back in our cheeks.

When our faces show aging whether we have lost weight or not, there is sometimes great temptation to use extraneous methods to recapture our youthful appearance.

Thinking that temporary injections that plump and paralyze will enhance your face may leave you feeling cold and offish. Injections cost a lot of money and carry a certain amount of risk. Oh sure, there will probably be redness or bruising at the injection site but if you choose to allow toxins and chemically altered cadaver material to be injected inside your body, you will first have to read and sign a very comprehensive disclosure that will absolutely let your practitioner off the hook if you have an adverse reaction.

Surgery is another avenue men and women consider when their face looks drawn and tired but if you stop and think about it carefully, cutting perfectly healthy muscle and skin, then draping it and suturing it into place may not be ideal either. In fact, some people may think it is a barbaric practice and not in line with healthy alternatives; after all, it is surgery and surgery always carries risk like infection, disappointment and even death.

There are non-surgical alternatives and less invasive practices but not all of them produce the desired results of a younger looking face.

Facial exercise, not twists, puckers or contortions, is a safe and sane alternative for a healthier, younger looking face. The exercises are painless, there is no risk and you look like you did ten to fifteen years ago.

Facial exercise that uses resistance training is likened to weight training. When you train your body with weights, the muscles sculpt, tone, tighten and reposition.

Just as exercise works for the body, exercise will work for the face. Using white exercise gloves to hold and anchor tiny facial muscles, the facial exercises quickly work to enhance the face by engaging the muscles hidden under the skin.

Most users see immediate results when using isometric facial exercise with resistance although in the beginning the results are not long lasting because the muscle needs sufficient strength training to hold the new look. After a few weeks of training, the face begins to lose the tired, drawn look as muscles and skin become revitalized with oxygenated blood.

Learning the techniques is easy, the steps are simple and the results are stunning.

Now you can keep your face looking toned, tightened and lifted when you are ready to shed a few pounds without worry that your face will look tired or old.

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Get Slim With Atkins Diet Plan

The Atkins’ diet has been a craze for a couple of decades. Here’s how you can gain from it.

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All of you who are reading this article right now have definitely been on a diet at some point or the other of your lives. The battle of the bulge is an ongoing problem and we are always on the lookout for various means to win this war.

Along with exercise, our diet and nutrition also plays an important role in reducing our weight. Hence, this obsession persists in all of us to undertake some form of dieting. But going on a diet is definitely not an easy thing. What to eat and what to stay away from is always a perennial problem.

One of my friends told me that she ate the normal menu which she cooked for the family, but her weight loss recipe is “portion control.” This is a really simple diet plan. In this plan, you cut down on the portion of food you consume. For example, if you usually have two pieces of toast for breakfast, you should eat only one piece. If you normally eat two cups of rice for lunch, cut it down to one cup. In this way, you are automatically reducing your calorie intake by half.

Another popular method of dieting is to stop all intake of fatty foods and sugar. In this diet, you cut down on your oil, butter and ghee intake which automatically reduces your fat deposits.

While I was leafing through a magazine, I read about one of our Hollywood celebrities following the Atkins’ diet. This immediately aroused my curiosity about the diet. Though I have heard about the diet many times, I had no inside knowledge about it. So, I immediately set to work on it and found out certain basic facts’ about the Atkins diet which I want to share with my readers.

The Atkins’ diet made its first appearance in 1972 and was invented by its namesake, Dr Atkins. According to him, this method enables us to lose weight by inducing a change in metabolism. Our body burns both fat and carbohydrates to provide energy. If we reduce the intake of carbohydrates significantly, our body starts burning only fat to provide energy. This method is called “lipolysis”, which in turn induces ketosis. In ketosis, our body burns fat as fuel. Atkins also felt that ketosis will affect insulin production which will result in less fat being formed. And, once your body enters ketosis, your cravings for carbohydrates will reduce significantly which, in turn, will reduce your body weight.

The major difference between Atkins’ diet and other types of diet is that, while most diets restrict calorie, intake, the Atkins’ plan encourages us to eat more. While most of the diets recommend low fat, high carbohydrate intake, Atkins’ does just the opposite. Instead of carbohydrate and sugar, this diet wants us to consume plenty of fat and protein.

The core principle of the Atkins’ diet is that, by limiting carbohydrates, our body is forced to burn its stored fat, rather than carbs for fuel.

The Atkins’ diet has a four carbohydrates stage plan induction, ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. With the help of these four stages, you can reduce as well as maintain your weight throughout your life.

Induction – phase 1: This phase lasts for two weeks, by the end of which you can obtain significant results. Another point is that, in this diet plan you can begin at any of the phase. But it is recommended to start with induction. As you cut back on your carbohydrates significantly in this phase, you will jump start your weight loss programme. In this phase, only 20 gm of carbohydrates are allowed and hence your weight loss is significant. As you drastically cut down on carbohydrates your body shifts into high gear and starts burning fat. This takes about 48 hours to occur and you may feel hungry and irritated for the first three-four days. But don’t worry, as soon as your fat starts getting converted to fuel, you will feel fit as a fiddle. Induction will strengthen your immune system and also improve our long-term health.

Ongoing Weight Loss (OWL) phase 2: In this phase, the weight loss pace slows down as you add nutrient-rich carbohydrates to your diet. During this period, you will boost your body’s ability to burn fats as well as understand your body better. You will find the right amount of carbohydrates which you can consume and still lose weight. Your body will also prepare itself for permanent weight management. The amount of carbohydrates which you can eat is increased to 25 gm per day for the first week and increased in five gm instalment for the next few weeks. If your weight loss is significant, you can increase your carbohydrate intake. A person has to be on OWL till he or she is within three-five kg of their goal weight.

Pre-maintenance – (phase 3): Pre-maintenance is a practice run for lifetime maintenance. In this phase, you are fast approaching your target. As long as you continue to lose weight, you can increase your weekly allotment of carbohydrates by another 10 gm. You will be in this phase till you reach your goal and stay on it for one month. The ultimate goal here is to achieve a state of balance called Atkins’ Carbohydrate Equilibrium (ACE). The ACE is your individual level of carbohydrate intake wherein you neither gain nor lose weight.

Lifetime maintenance phase 4: In this phase, you have to focus on your individual ACE and strive to stay within two kg of your ideal weight for the rest of your life. By following a sensible eating plan, you gain energy, better health and confidence in yourself.

By following these four phases, you not only achieve your dream weight but are also able to maintain it throughout your life. You can learn more about this diet by reading the book, Dr Atkins’ New Diet Revolution. But, as with any other diet, this plan also has its pros and cons. The good point is that this diet recommends exercise as a vital part of the weight loss programme. Another point to be noted is that you cannot start on carbohydrates after you lose weight as this will result in your gaining back all that you have lost.

Medical experts advise that people who have gout, kidney problems, diabetes or are pregnant women should not follow this diet plan. As this diet is very stringent, do consult your doctor/dietician for proper advice.

Your dietician will provide you with a proper menu chart as to what should be eaten, in what quantities, etc, based on your eating habits and general lifestyle.

Happy dieting and hoping to see slimmer and fitter readers.

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Weight Loss – Your Eating Habits Hold The Key To Your Success

You can help yourself to lose weight, just by making a few changes in the way you eat, how much and when?· The scales may, if you let them, become your master. Checking your weight everyday for example can be negative.
You may find the scales show the same weight day after day. So you think your dieting is not working and you give up.

What you have to realise, is that you may be losing fat but gaining muscle. And as muscle is heavy, your weight won’t go down.

Your tape-measure used once a week, should give you a more accurate assessment of your weight loss than the lying scales.

· Food you pile on to your plate is important. Even if it is a plate of good, healthy, nourishing food, too much is too much.

Also, eat slowly, chewing every mouthful. It is better for your digestion and definitely for your waistline. Eating slowly kids your body to believe it is full much sooner.

· Avoid fried foods. Steamed vegetables will keep all the vitamins and minerals in them. The idea is to use as little water as possible. This way, you won’t throw the vitamins away when you drain the water off your vegetables.

· Movement as in exercise will help to burn the calories. So, if you are a couch potato, start doing gentle exercises every day. A little is always better than nothing. Your war cry should be – move it and lose it.

· When you go shopping, remember you can only eat that cream cake if you firstly buy it. Don’t tempt yourself.

· Socially, if this means going out and eating meals at restaurants you are not doing yourself any favours. If your friends talk you into bingeing, maybe it’s time to find some new friends.

However, if you still want to keep your friends and eat out, go for grilled meat and salads. Your body will thank you.

· If you are inclined to eat when you are unhappy or lonely, sometimes called comfort eating, you will eat more than you should.

Remember food is for fuel. To keep your body working as it should. Don’t treat food as a friend. It’s just an evil necessity.

· Being bored can also cause you to binge eat. If you are bored because you have nothing to do, maybe doing some voluntary work, will take your mind off your tummy.

· Daydream your way to weight loss. Keep telling yourself you are slim and attractive. Imagine it. See yourself wearing clothes you may not have worn for some time. Your subconscious mind has no mind of its own. It just believes everything the conscious mind tells it.

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