Can you use the information on a food label to help you lose weight? Absolutely.


While it may take a little extra time to check out the Nutrition Facts Panel, it can provide you with valuable information.


To lose weight, you need to reduce the total number of calories that you consume daily and/or increase the amount of calories your body expends through physical activity. Food labels can provide you with the calorie values of food.


So the first thing to do is to look at the serving size on the label. All of the information that follows is for that specific quantity only. If the serving size for a pint of ice cream is a 1/2 cup, the calorie listing is for that amount only.


On the next line, it will tell you how many servings are in the container. In the pint of ice cream, there are four servings per container, because a pint contains 2 cups.


Few people will consume a 1/2-cup portion of ice cream. That's the equivalent of small individual Dixie cups given out at kids' birthday parties. The calorie value per serving will generally need to be doubled or tripled to equal a bowl of ice cream.

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There are many ways on how you can lose weight quickly. Rapid weight loss is achieved through sheer dedication and proper motivation. The way you change your lifestyle is also important to sustain a physically fit body.


Nowadays, there are a variety of trends like work out videos which are also seen on televisions, low carbohydrate cook books, rapid weight loss programs, diet pills, workout equipments and natural weight loss methods that can help you get rid off that excess weight.



The South Beach Diet is one method for achieving a rapid weight loss. A south beach diet teaches you on how to develop healthy eating habits that will subsequently help you to lose weight. But the most important thing that you will realize on a South Beach Diet is to maintain the healthy eating habits.


In fact, there are many diet and weight loss programs that can help you on a rapid weight loss. These programs can deliver quick results that their customers expect. However, once they have achieved the results, they come back to their unhealthy habits and the unwanted weight is back.

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If you're just plain fed up because you haven't lost weight for a long time now on that latest fad diet, well please stop! Don't even think about trying another diet, because it will only produce the same results as you have already seen before.


Have a look at the four sure fire tips found below that are based on "Scientific Principles" that have always been around, but are not followed by the majority of weight loss programs you see these days.


So let's have a look:

In order to produce sustained, permanent and long-term weight loss, it's imperative that you boost your metabolism. And the most effective way to raise your metabolism is to have a greater proportion of functional muscle on your body.


The only way to build this lean muscle so you can raise your metabolism is through "Strength Training". There's no other method that works wonders on the metabolism like Strength Training.


By performing Strength Training, you'll effectively increase the amount of functional lean muscle on your body so that your metabolism will elevate.


After a Strength Training session your body will undergo a significant increase or "Spike" in metabolism, which will allow you to burn much more fat then you were able to before.

"The amount of fat the body can burn is directly related to the more lean muscle your body can hold."


If your muscle system can sustain more energy and use this energy significantly when performing strength training, then it will be able to burn off the calories you eat and the excess fat on your body.


In other words, if your muscles become stronger and can hold more energy then you should be able to release this energy more efficiently to increase your metabolism, and to burn off excess calories that you have eaten.


Once we can build more lean muscle through our own strength, then our bodies will become more efficient at burning fat.


It's also the amount of lean muscle on your body that makes you look good Once you burn off the excess fat from your body, the lean muscle underneath your skin will be exposed making you look healthy, energetic, and well toned.

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What is it like to rediscover your life and begin living it to the fullest? You're about to hear from someone who can answer that question.


John Pozzobon is the modern day equivalent of the incredible shrinking man. His weight loss story is nothing short of phenomenal. Like many obese people, John knows what it means to live life on the outside, but like very few of the 100 million, or so, obese Americans, he did something about it. He proves that losing weight, if done in a manner consistent with good health, yields a lifelong benefit that, unlike today's fad diets, is sustainable for a lifetime.


Source: Bread and Money


B&M: John, you've recently experienced a big change in your life that affects your health. What was it?


JP: The change was what I put into my body. Mostly fresh fruit and vegetables. I completely stopped drinking soda and very seldom drink coffee. I drink a lot of Green Tea and water. I haven't given up on everything but I eat my old favorites very few and far between. I also started walking and running a couple hours a day and I joined a gym and lift weights 3 times a week for a couple hours those days. My attitude towards my health and well being has done a 180 and I have never felt this good ever.


B&M: What was your maximum weight?


JP: My highest weight was back in the mid to late 1990's when I was a manger for McDonald's and weighed around 365-370lbs with a 56 inch waist (ouch).


B&M: Have you always been overweight?


JP: I have struggled with weight my whole life. Not to the extreme it was 10-12 years ago but I grew up having to wear the husky sizes as a kid. Even though my mom and dad would prepare well balanced wholesome meals I would sneak candy etc. As I grew older I watched my diet more carefully and through the 1980's till the early 1990's I was around 165-180lbs with a 34 inch waist. I worked out and played sports constantly. I had to always watch my diet and I was successful for a period of time.


B&M: People often mistakenly assume that weight gain is something a person chooses. They often wonder why people with a weight problem don't just stop eating and get more exercise. What is your response to this?


JP: I feel that a majority of overweight people do eat the wrong things, eat late at night before bed, and do not get enough exercise. That being said I also feel a lot of people have medical conditions such as an overactive thyroid or something like that. They can't help it and are ostracized by society. Until you walk a mile in someone else's shoe you should keep an open mind. Not everyone chooses to be overweight. But there are people who have a choice and don't make the right one.


B&M: Very good point. Ultimately it does come down to personal choice. Where people get stuck, I believe, is that too often their choices are based on poor information. It's really hard to make the right choice without good information. For instance, we're told to diet to lose weight and every year millions of overweight and obese individuals go on one type of diet or another, but the choice to diet is actually based on poor information. As you figured out on your journey, diets don't work. The health and nutrition choices we make have to be sustainable for a lifetime. Once we learn this simple lesson, the choice to go on another fad diet or make real changes that we can live with is up to us.

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It is a firm belief in the battle against cellulite: lose weight and you will help rid yourself of the "orange peel" effect.


But research published yesterday suggested that calorie-counting and chocolate denial - far from improving the situation - could make cellulite worse for some.


Women who were significantly overweight looked better after losing a lot of extra fat. But it was women who had less of a problem who were most at risk of exacerbating the problem.


The research, published in Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, is based on a study of 29 women who enrolled in medically supervised weight loss programmes. These included low-fat meals and the extreme measure of bariatric surgery, such as gastric bypass and gastric banding. Seventeen of these patients (58%) experienced an improvement in the appearance of their cellulite, but nine (31%) saw their condition worsen.

The patients with the biggest improvements were those who lost the most weight and lowered their percentage of thigh fat. They also had a higher body mass index (BMI) to begin with and more severe cellulite.


Patients whose cellulite worsened started with a "significantly" lower BMI, lost smaller amounts of weight and had no change in percentage of thigh fat.

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