by Solutions Weight Loss | Dec 15, 2017 | Weight Loss Tips
This time of the year can be like an obstacle course for people trying to lose weight and keep it off, every turn brings another cake, another cookie, large dinners, and to top it all off, many of us wash it all down with a heavy egg nog drink, or wine, which can bring on even more cravings! While seasonal weight gain affects each person in a different way, a study conducted by Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD of Johns Hopkins University found that people tend to gain five to seven pounds during the winter months.
Why do people gain weight in winter?
The most common reason that weight gain happens during the winter include interruptions to exercise schedules, tempting treats and comfort foods, and issues like sleepiness and seasonal affective disorder caused by the lack of sunlight.
So, what is it that you should do to keep those extra pounds away from your body?
Here are six tips that will help you to avoid weight gain and keep up with your fitness goals
1- Exercise – While it can be hard to keep up your workout routine while visiting with family and celebrating the holidays, whatever exercise you can squeeze in will matter. Whether it’s going to a kickboxing class, doing morning yoga, or even just taking a family walk, it is important to stay active.
2- Moderation is key– Don’t deprive yourself by cutting yourself off from enjoying any holiday treats, just make sure to moderate them and balance them out with healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. Not only will you keep the weight off easier, but you’ll feel better too.
3- Limit alcohol– Alcohol is full of “empty calories”, meaning when you drink it there is absolutely no nutritional value. So enjoy a glass of champagne at midnight on New Year’s Eve, but don’t go overboard, because those calories do add up.
4- Say no – Often the hardest part of moderating the treats you eat and limiting your alcohol consumption is dealing with the pressure of family and friends to join them in indulging. No one will be offended if you don’t take a second or third cookie, so get comfortable saying no when someone offers you food or another drink.
5- Don’t go to events hungry – Studies suggest that when we have food outside our homes we might increase our calorie intake by up to 40%. This is because often with the expectation of a party full of free food we choose not to eat normal meals during the hours leading up to it. This can cause binging, which leads to weight gain. Make sure you’re eating breakfast and lunch as normal so that you can choose what treats to eat based on choice and not hunger.
6- Don’t be too hard on yourself– As long as you’re being mindful of what you consume and trying to be active in some way every day, don’t be too hard on yourself when you slip up a little bit with an extra cookie here or there. Be sure to enjoy yourself, and remember that what is truly important this holiday season is spending time with family.
Happy holidays!
by admin01 | Jan 17, 2017 | BLOG, Diet Tips, Popular Diets, Weight Loss Tips
The remarkably effective HCG diet plan was discovered (not created) in the 1950’s by a British researcher named Dr. Albert T. W. Simeons who observed that pregnant women in India shed fat while they were pregnant while still maintaining their lean muscle mass.
They were malnourished, but they still gave birth to very healthy babies. It was then that he realized right away that pregnant women had something most people don’t.
It turns out that pregnant women carry a hormone (HCG) that would pull calories and fuel from stored fat INSTEAD of lean muscle mass to feed the baby in their womb.
Of course, Dr. Simeons believed that anyone could use that same hormone to reach their weight and fat loss goals safely – while keeping their lean body mass. And (surprise, surprise) he was right!
HCG is a peptide naturally produced in large amounts by the placenta during early pregnancy. It has many functions in utero and is used medically to treat a variety of conditions. HCG was thought by Dr. Simeons to work on the hypothalamus of the brain where it encourages the body to release “fixed” or “abnormal” fat stores for fuel.
The plan is simple: eat a low (500-calorie/day) diet and take HCG hormone supplements – the same hormone pregnant women produce – and shave off pounds and pounds of fat safely, without harming your body’s natural metabolic rate.
Sounds easy enough, right?
Well, yes and no. The trick is NOT to just eat less calories. If that was all there was to it, you wouldn’t really need to use the hormones would you? (Trust me: I get that question all time time, so I know that’s what you’re thinking).
The trick is actually NOT in the calorie count but in the strict reduction of fat, sugars and carbs from your diet. ONLY when you reduce fat can your body try to use the fat is already has and ONLY when you take HCG injections does your body turn to your stored fat INSTEAD of your lean muscle mass.
Warning: Without the hormones and only the diet, YOU WILL lose lean muscle mass and risk damaging your natural metabolic rate.
Warning: Without the hormones and only the diet, YOU WILL lose lean muscle mass and risk damaging your natural metabolic rate.
Stage 1: The Indulgence
The first step in the HCG Diet Plan is to get your body ready to burn all that fat in the first place. For the first 2-3 days, you should indulge yourself without overdoing it. Take your HCG supplements or injections, but eat as much of your favorite foods as you would like.
Why not just jump right into the diet plan?
It takes about 2-3 days after taking the hormone for your body to access your “abnormal fat stores,” which are key to losing weight long term. You want to keep your normal fat stores well-stocked until that point. After the first 3 days, you should be ready for the 2nd stage.
Stage 2: The Burn
The 2nd stage is the main stage of the HCG diet. Once the 2-3 day indulgence (or “loading”) phase is over, it is time for the real work to begin. The #1 rule is to limit yourself to 500 calories per day of lean meats, vegetables and fruit.
Note: Just following the 500-calorie a day rule and ignoring the rest will NOT get you the results you desire. You can’t eat whatever you want under that limit. Instead, you need to focus on eating lean proteins, fruit and vegetables, while limiting your fat, sugar and carbohydrates. Also, as always, be sure to drink plenty of water.
To learn more about fats, starches and what to avoid, read this guide from Harvard on good fats, bad fats and those confusing “in-between” fats.
Here is what an average Stage 2 Day on the HCG Diet Plan looks like:
According to Dr. Simeon, breakfast should just be liquids, such as coffee or tea.
Lunch and dinner follow this simple formula: one lean protein, one vegetable, one fruit, and one starch.
Proteins (2 servings a day) can include the following:
- chicken breast (no thighs or fatty pieces)
- lean beef
- lobster
- crab
- shrimp
- veal or any white fish
- *Avoid fatty fish, such as eel, herring, salmon or tuna.
Vegetables (2 servings a day) can include the following:
- Beet Greens
- Spinach
- Green Salad
- Chard
- Chicory
- Tomatoes
- Celery
- Red Radishes
- Asparagus
- Onions
- Cucumbers
- Cabbage
Fruits (2 servings a day) can include the following:
- Strawberries (a handful)
- Small-medium sized orange
- One apple
- 1/2 of a grapefruit
Starches (2 servings a day) can include the following:
- One low-fat breadstick
- One Melba Toast
- Two Melba Rounds
Side note: I have had several patients who spread their dinner and lunch menus out during the day to avoid skipping breakfast. This is perfectly fine! As long as you stick to the basic menu items and 500-calorie plan, you will get the results you desire.
Stage 3: Stabilization
In his book, “Pounds and Inches,” Dr. Simeons recommended following a strict protocol for 3 weeks AFTER finishing Stage 2 and stopping your HCG drops or injections.
Here is what he recommends during this stage:
- Weight yourself every day to make sure you remain within 2 pounds of your most recent injection weight
- Avoid ALL sugars and starches (or, realistically, limit your intake greatly)
- Eat AT LEAST 100 grams of cooked, lean protein per day (if you go over your 2 pounds of Stage 2 weight, plan a steak day right away)
Even though you are done with your injections, this stage is 100% crucial to the success of the HCG diet. Why?
From the day you stop your last HCG injection, your body will be very sensitive to high-sugar or high-carbohydrate foods. It is critical that you follow this phase as faithfully as you did Stage 2.
During Stage 3, your hypothalamus will reset, rewiring your metabolism and erasing the effects of yo-yo dieting and poor eating habits. The weight you reach on the morning of your last injection is the weight that you should use as a basis for your maintenance phase. Many call this Last Injection Weight (LIW).
Here are some words from Dr. Simeons himself that illustrates this point:
“It takes about 3 weeks before the weight reached at the end of the treatment becomes stable, i.e. does not show violent fluctuations after an occasional excess. During this period patients must realize that the so-called carbohydrates (that is: sugar, rice, bread, potatoes, pastries), are by far the most dangerous.
If no carbohydrates whatsoever are eaten, fats can be indulged in… But as soon as fats and starch are combined things are very liable to get out of hand. This has to be observed very carefully during the first 3 weeks after the treatment is ended otherwise disappointments are almost sure to occur.”
Ready to try HCG for yourself and melt those extra pounds away? Here are some key reminders and tips to keep in mind:
- Avoid using oil-based cosmetics or skincare products, as added oils can interfere with the hormones and derail your results
- Always plan your meals ahead of time, and set yourself up for success. If you get hungry before lunch, “borrow” a fruit or vegetable from the other meals. As long as you stay under 500 calories, you will still be on target.
- Take the maintenance phase seriously, as outlined above.
Why use medically-supervised weight loss instead of following the HCG plan myself?
After Stages 1 and 2 of the HCG Diet, it is important to make significant dietary and lifestyle changes to support your body and sustain the weight loss. With medical supervision, the HCG Diet also provides a safe and reliable means to treating obesity.
HCG diet programs that provide the best results offer a medically-supervised program that supports the patient before, during, and after weight loss. As with any weight loss program, it is not uncommon for patients to put pounds back on once they go back to eating the standard American diet.
One of our favorite things about the HCG Diet protocol is that our patients lose the majority of their weight from fat mass and not lean mass. However, the HCG Diet is not a “magic wand.” You cannot remove fat stores forever or simply reset the hypothalamus and go back to eating a normal diet. To achieve the best lifelong results and change, consider a medically-supervised plan with a doctor who is experiencing in helping patients gain long-term results.
by admin01 | Dec 2, 2014 | BLOG, Diet Tips, Popular Diets, Weight Loss Tips
New Year, new resolutions. What does that mean for most people? Well, the first resolution for the New Year is always usually to lose the weight gained over the holidays. This can be difficult, but we don’t have to do it alone. As we know, the New Year is approaching and we are looking to wipe the slates clean, finally conquering those resolutions that we never got to see all the way through before. Losing weight can be the most elusive goal of them all. We tend to forget this resolution midway through January, creating reasons and excuses why we didn’t follow through. Most of those reasons being too much work to exercise, lack of time, or dieting and slow results causing discouragement, etc. but we can change that!
The earlier the better. It is important to start thinking about getting rid of the pounds we have been hoping to lose for the past few years. We are still in the holiday season, it is a good time to start and with the help of Solutions Weight Loss you can achieved that goal. We know thinking about dieting is not priority since it is the season all the delightful and delicious foods are available to us. However having the proper head start on the resolution can make a big difference in accomplishing this goal. Solutions Weight Loss can help you succeed in finally following through with your resolutions by providing you with a product that makes it simple and manageable to lose weight. (more…)
