We all have heard the “conventional wisdom” about the importance of exercise: if you engage in moderate exercise, like walking, for 30 minutes a day three or four times per week you can lose weight.  But is that true?

In a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on July 28, 2008 (here’s the link: Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight Women) it was discovered that the more you exercise, the more weight you can lose.

In the study, 201 overweight and obese women aged 21 to 45 years old were told to reduce their caloric intake to 1,200 to 1,500 calories per day, and they were split into four groups based on physical activity (from light activity up to vigorous intensity).

They discovered that individuals sustaining a weight loss of 10% or more of initial body weight at 24 months reported performing more physical activity (1835 kcal/wk or 275 min/wk) compared with those sustaining a weight loss of less than 10% of initial body weight.

The study concluded that the addition of about four and a half hours per week of vigorous physical activity, combined with a reduced calorie diet, is very important in allowing overweight women to sustain weight loss. The message is clear: if you want to lose weight, more exercise is better. Don’t just go for a leisurely walk three times a week, go for a brisk walk for 45 minutes to an hour six times a week, or add in other forms of physical activity to enhance weight loss.

People everywhere are constantly searching for the product that will help them to achieve their weight loss goals.  The recently released weight loss pill, alli, with the convenience of being available without a prescription and with the safety and comfort of FDA approval, seems like the answer to everyone’s weight loss dreams.  With the promise of increased weight-loss and the possibility of curing obesity-related diseases, the alli weight loss pill seems too good to be true.

Olistat, the active ingredient in alli has been available by prescription for years by the brand name Xenical.  Alli is a reduced-strength version of this same drug which when taken with meals prevents the body from breaking down and absorbing 25% of the fat in food.  With less fat available for energy, the body must tap into its fat reserves and use up the excesses resulting in weight loss.

Using alli along with a low-calorie, reduced-fat diet and increased exercise could help in losing up to 50% more weight than with traditional dieting alone.  Maximum weight loss is usually achieved within the first six months of using the product.  Unlike some other diet pills, alli acts only in the digestive tract and has no effect on the brain eliminating the addictive qualities that cause other diet pills to be susceptible to abuse.

This all sounds great, however there are some dangers to using alli to lose weight.  Some of the common side effects include increased flatulence and more frequent, difficult-to-control bowel movements.  The alli program suggests that meals include no more than 15 grams of fat to prevent these side effects from worsening; however some people may find it challenging to know exactly how much fat their meal contains.  A multi-vitamin may need to be taken as alli can interfere with the absorption of vitamins A, D, E and K.  Because alli is a relatively new drug, the long-term effects are unknown as of yet.  In clinical trials, when alli stopped being taken, many people gained back the weight they had lost and so the pill may need to be taken indefinitely.

Alli should only be used as a dieting aid for people who need to lose weight for reasons of health and not for already thin people to keep their weight off.   All aspects of the alli weight loss program need to be followed including the recommended dosage, the diet and the exercise.

It is important that a patient have an understanding of the surgery and how it works before it takes place.  It used to be necessary for the surgeon to cut the patient completely open to perform weigh loss surgery. However, they are now able to use cameras inserted in the body to perform most proedures.  This is called laparoscopic surgery, and is less invasive and removes the possibility of wound infection which can cause complications.

Another procedure which may be confused with a surgical weight loss procedure is a tummy tuck.  A tummy tuck is done to remove excess skin from the abdomen after a large amount of weight is lost or after pregnancy.  Some people who have weight loss surgeries may want this eventually if they have a lot of skin left.

Once someone has decided that they would like to have weight loss surgery, they will need to discuss with their doctor which method would be best for them given their current weight, goals and medical history.

Everyone wants to lose weight, it seems; but, based on statistics, nobody seems to know how to do it. Over two-thirds of all Americans are overweight; and over 100-million Americans - one-third of the population - is actually considered, “obese.” The only thing growing faster than America’s waistline seems to be the diet and health industries who are telling us what to do in our “battle of the bulge.” But, if they knew what they were talking about, wouldn’t we be getting fitter instead of fatter?

Weight-loss is really pretty simple; but you have to let-go of some of your old ways of thinking if you want the weight-loss to be permanent. I lost 55-pounds without changing anything but my thoughts about food, fat, and weight. Sure, some of my behaviors changed automatically as my mindset changed; but, for the most part, I didn’t actually “do” anything to make myself lose weight. I simply decided what I wanted to look like and focused on that image as I released any thoughts that didn’t go along with it. Here is a list of Seven-Simple Steps you can take to easily and effortlessly lose weight:

Seven-Simple Steps for Weight-Loss:

1. Recognize the contrast between where you are and where you want to be. Specifically identify the “new” you, or “ideal” you.
2. Eliminate negativity, negative self-talk, fears, worries, doubts, and negative or self-limiting beliefs with EFT, or some other simple, clearing-technique.
3. Think positively and love yourself always. Think positive things about the food you eat. Do not fear food, or believe it will make you fat, and then eat it; or it will.
4. Hydrate yourself properly. Water is one of the great secrets to healthy, rapid, natural, and safe weight-loss. Water gives you a “full” feeling, and helps your body flush out toxins and fat, among other weight-loss benefits. I drink between two and three liters of water each day. Choose water over sugar and caffeine.
5. Breathe deeply, fully, and often. Oxygenate yourself properly; it takes oxygen to burn fuel - even body fat. The more you breathe the more fat you burn! Breathing also massages your abdominal organs and stimulates digestion.
6. Take walks, or do some other activity - outside (sunlight is good for you) - that is physical and you enjoy doing. Don’t be afraid to be tired; do more today than you did yesterday if you want to do more tomorrow than you do today. Move your body and tell it that you are moving it so it can be strong and healthy.
7. Nourish yourself with healthy foods; but, no matter what you eat, love your food - bless it and ask your food for the strength and nourishment to do whatever you must do. Eat well; but eat consciously. And always enjoy your food; if you are feeling guilty, you are experiencing the stress response - and your food is being turned into fat…

Losing weight is simply, but it requires a decision, and continuous awareness in order to stick to that decision and make the best choices for you and your body, health, and life. Following these Seven-Simple Steps will take you to your goal; but, even if you can’t follow them all, think about them all and try to implement as many as you can.If you’re ready to let-go of the baggage you’ve been carrying around, and “get the junk out of your trunk,” get your Free, Illustrated Guide to Emotional Freedom Techniques and start slimming-down now!

*To download your FREE, Illustrated Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Manual, go to: http://www.ExploreExpandEvolve.com/free_download/ It only takes about 10-seconds to get your Free EFT manual and start erasing worries, stress, doubts, guilt, grief, fears, low self-esteem, poor body-image and other limiting beliefs that could be standing between you and your goals and desires!

About the Author:

Pete Koerner is the author of The Belief Formula: The Secret to Unlocking the Power of Prayer. The Belief Formula is a look at how you can use ancient wisdom and modern scientific awareness to learn how to use your mind to reclaim your health and create the life of your dreams.

For a Free Report on Making The Belief Formula Work for You, visit: http://www.TheBeliefFormula.com/

Obviously exercise is good, because it helps burn calories and it makes you feel better. But simple exercise alone is not enough. You must exercise “smart”. As discussed in my article on the 3,500 calorie weight loss challenge, a pound of fat is the equivalent of about 3,500 calories, meaning you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. You would need to walk for seven and a half hours to burn 3,500 calories. That’s not easy, and it’s not smart.

So what’s the smart way to lose weight through exercise?

Weight training, also known as Turbulence Training.

Weight training can be done in a relatively short period of time (30 minutes two or three times per week), and it’s effective because it helps you build muscle. We all know that muscle weighs more than fat, because it’s more dense, but muscle also needs more energy to grow and survive. Energy is another word for calories, and it’s a simple equation: the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn, even when you are not exercising! And, it works equally well for men and women.

Turbulence Training

There are lots of weight training books out there; I’ve been using the strategy developed by Craig Ballantyne in his revolutionary Turbulence Training System, where you can lose fat while gaining muscle with just three short (but intense) workouts each week. Mr. Ballantyne is a world-renowned Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and author articles in magazines such as Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Oxygen, Maximum Fitness, and Muscle and Fitness Hers, so he knows what he’s talking about.

The Turbulence Training System is designed to burn fat in the least amount of time. And guess what: it works. I can tell you from personal experience that weight training is fun, quick, and effective.

After being on the Turbulence Training program for two months, I have lost some pounds, but more importantly I have lost “inches”, and I feel better. If you want an effective weight loss program, read more about Turbulence Training.

Watching what you eat can be stressful. Not eating foods you love (like chocolate) is also stressful. You long for those foods, and it starts to drive you crazy. You go to a party and you have to watch what you eat. It drives you crazy. What’s the solution?

Take a day off from trying to lose weight.

That’s right, one day per week ignore your diet, your exercise rules, and everything else. Have fun, eat what you want.

Does this mean you should spend the day going on an ice cream and fried foods binge? No, that’s not what I’m suggesting. What I am suggesting is that you take a day and not worry about food or exercise. If you want to eat a chocolate bar, fine, do it. If you want to eat a bag of potato chips fine, eat away. This strategy serves two purposes.

First, it satisfies your craving for whatever it is you want. You get it out of your system, without feeling guilty, so you can get back to your weight loss plan tomorrow.

Second, as your body adjusts to eating correctly, you will probably find that pigging out on the garbage you used to eat is not nearly as satisfying as it once was. Your cravings are reduced, because you don’t crave that food anymore. And that’s good.

So take a day off, and then get back to it tomorrow.

Quite well, actually, thanks for asking.

I started the week at 198 pounds, and today I weighed in at 194.5 pounds, for a loss of 3.5 pounds on the week. I of course realize that some of that loss is water weight, but I’m happy; I wanted to lose weight, and that’s what I did.

How did I do it?

First, I gave up carbs for breakfast. Every morning I ate eggs (you can read my egg post for more details). For lunch and dinner I ate a lot of vegetables and chicken and salads. There are lots of things you can do with those foods, so it wasn’t boring at all.

Second, I did a moderate amount of exercise. During the week I went for one 30 minute walk, I did one cardio session (30 minutes of walking and jogging on my Precor 9.33 treadmill). I also did two twenty minute weight training sessions.

Why only 20 minutes each? Because I knew, since I’m just getting back into it, my muscles would be tired and would need time to recover, so I didn’t want to over do it.

Also, one problem with exercise is that it makes you hungry, so I wanted to exercise enough to get the benefit of exercise, but not so much I just had to eat more to satisfy my hunger. (I’m using the Turbulence Training concepts discussed here earlier).

Week one was a success, let’s see how we do in Week #2.

However, I have found that it’s not easy to use exercise to lose weight. As discussed in my article on the 3,500 calorie weight loss challenge, a pound of fat is the equivalent of about 3,500 calories, meaning you need to burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound of fat. That may sound easy, but it isn’t. You would need to walk for seven and a half hours to burn 3,500 calories. That’s not easy.

My point: you cannot rely on exercise alone to lose weight. It is far easier to cut 3,500 calories out of your diet than it is to walk for seven plus hours!

The other problem with exercise is that it makes you hungry! Your body burns calories, which makes you hungry, so you want to eat more. If your eating increases by the same amount of calories you just burned, you won’t lose any weight! It’s simple math.

That doesn’t mean exercise is bad. With exercise your heart gets stronger, you sleep better, and you feel better. But you don’t necessarily lose weight.

So, what’s my plan? I plan to do limited exercise. I want the maximum “bang for the buck”, so I’m not going to walk for seven hours. I am going to do resistance training, also known as weight training.

Weight training can be done in a relatively short period of time (30 minutes two or three times per week), and it’s effective because it helps you build muscle. We all know that muscle weighs more than fat, because it’s more dense, but muscle also needs more energy to grow and survive. Energy is another word for calories, and it’s a simple equation: the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn, even when you are not exercising!

Research Turbulence Training.

I plan to use the strategy developed by Craig Ballantyne in his revolutionary Turbulence Training System, where you can lose fat while gaining muscle with just three short (but intense) workouts each week. Mr. Ballantyne is a world-renowned Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and author articles in magazines such as Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Oxygen, Maximum Fitness, and Muscle and Fitness Hers.

The Turbulence Training System is designed to burn fat in the least amount of time. It takes some work, but I believe the results will be worth it. (For more information, click here to read more about Turbulence Training.)

My plan is to do 30 minutes of high intensity weight training two or three times per week to build muscle mass, burn calories, but not work out so much that I just increase my hunger levels. Check back to see how it works.

To lose weight, I want to keep my carbohydrate intake low, and focus only on good carbs. Therefore, during the week, I’m going to skip having cereal for breakfast, which is high in carbs and sugar, and replace cereal with eggs, which are high in protein.

Today for breakfast I took one whole egg, and three egg whites. (I buy the egg whites separately; it’s easy, and I’m not wasting the egg yolks. I like one whole egg for flavor, and the egg whites for volume with fewer calories.) Today I chopped up some fresh spinach, some feta cheese, and some black olives.

I mixed the egg and egg whites, poured them into a frying pan coated with olive oil, and made an omelette. Once cooked enough to allow for flipping, I flip in over and dump on the spinach, cheese and black olives. I fold it over, and put the pan to the side of the stove for one minute (I don’t want the eggs to cook so much they get rubbery, but I want the spinach limp and the cheese somewhat melted).

Then it’s put it on a plate and eat.

How hard is this? It’s easy, because I do most of the preparation the night before. I chop the spinach, feta cheese, and black olives and put them in a Ziploc container, so in the morning all I need to do is dump them on.

One word of caution: I find that with this diet I need to nd drink lots of water to counter balance the salt in the olives and the cheese, and to keep me regular.

Tomorrow, some thoughts on exercise.

My peak weight was 205 pounds, and I managed to lose about 25 pounds on the Atkins Diet, but I didn’t stick with it, so obviously now some of the weight has returned. I also need to spend more effort on exercise.

So, here’s my plan:

I am going to focus on slow carbs, not no carbs. During the week I’ll skip the cereal and eat eggs instead (tomorrow I’ll post what I mean by that). I’ll eat lots of vegetables and proteins, and avoid anything white (white bread, pasta, etc.). I will avoid all deserts, and drink lots of water.

Also, I’m going to start exercising; I’ll post my thoughts on that in two days time, so check back for more details, and wish me luck.