Dietician Lake Orion MI

Trying to lose weight but can't?  Before you blame it on this or that, it may be time to step back and take a good look at at your actions. Are you taking any of these missteps?

Following the Wrong Diet.  There is no "one size fits all" diet, so you may not be doing yourself any favors by following a diet that is too low in calories, or the latest fad diet, unless it is somewhat in line with the way you normally eat or want to eat for the rest of your life. If you choose a diet that is too restrictive, or completely eliminates foods you really enjoy, there's little chance you'll stick to it. The diet that will work for you is one that you can live with, as well as one that helps you lose pounds and maintain a healthy weight once you get to it.

Dieting without Exercising. If you lose weight without exercising, you may lose pounds, but some of your loss may be lean muscle tissue, which is more metabolically active than fat, which means it's better at burning calories. So you don't want to lose it! Exercise not only helps you burn excess calories, it helps you build up lean muscle. Keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat, so when you do develop more muscle, you may not lose as much weight or as quickly as you hoped. But the muscle weight you are carrying is far healthier and looks better than if you don't maintain that muscle and that always makes up for an extra couple of pounds. And according to at least one study, published by researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia, exercise is also essential for preventing further weight gain, and keeping weight off once you lose It.

Too Much Exercise. There are two reasons why over-exercising may interfere with reaching your weight loss goals. Exercise makes you hungry and the more exercise you do, the hungrier you'll get and the more you are likely to eat at your next meal or snack. Overexercising also carries a "burnout" factor. You may start out motivated  but you're more likely to give up before you reach your goals.

Losing Weight Too Slowly. Although slow to moderate weight loss is generally recommended for long-term success, people who are clinically obese may benefit more from greater initial weight loss. A University of Florida study of 262 middle-aged obese women countered this advice when researchers found that the women who experienced greater weight loss in the first month of dieting and exercising maintained their weight loss longer and were less likely to regain the lost weight than those women who lost weight more gradually. Women on the fast track were also five times more likely to reach their goal weight .

Dieting Alone. Most people need a support system when trying to make lifestyle changes. Enlist the help of a friend or family member, someone you can "report" to and, ideally, someone who also wants to lose weight and is willing to follow a similar diet and exercise program with you.

Sources:

Indiana University Nutrition Services. ...

These simple, "homemade" frozen treats will cool you off without killing your diet.

You can find plenty of diet-wise frozen fruit pops and other frozen desserts at the supermarket that contain no more than 100 calories per serving. With few exceptions, however, these goodies get their low-cal count from artificial sweeteners and fats. So, while commercial brands are good in a pinch, there's really nothing like the taste of frozen treats you make yourself, starting with fresh ingredients, especially when they're this easy to prepare.

Frozen Iced Tea Cubes. Take refreshment a step further by freezing iced black, green or herbal tea in ice cube trays. Tea itself contains no calories and neither does any lemon juice you add for flavoring. The less sugar or honey you add to sweeten, the fewer calories you'll have in your iced treat and the more you can enjoy on a hot day.  Once they are partially frozen, you can insert a popsicle stick or lollipop stick  into the center of the cube (both types of sticks are available in cook shops and in the cooking/baking department of many large supermarkets). Or simply pop the frozen cubes out into a cup.

Watermelon Slushie. Freeze chunks of seedless watermelon in a covered, freezable food storage container. Whenever you want a frosty treat, throw a few chunks in a blender or food processor and whirl with an on/off motion until you have a frozen slush. If you like, add a squeeze of fresh lime or lemon juice. Be careful not to over-blend, or you'll end up with cold watermelon soup (also a tasty treat but probably not what you were expecting)!

Frozen Bananas. When it comes to homemade, it doesn't get any easier than this.  Peel a small, ripe banana and sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent browing. Wrap it in plastic wrap, aluminum foil or freezer wrap, and pop in the freezer for several hours or until solid.  Once frozen, or at least semi-frozen, bananas have the consistency of ice cream. If you like nuts, roll and press your banana in just a dusting of very finely chopped almonds or walnuts before wrapping and freezing. For an easy-grab pop, pop, insert a flat popsicle stick into one end before freezing.

Frozen Grapes. Freeze individual grapes on a tray. When frozen, pour the grapes into a freezer-safe food storage bag or container. Frozen grapes make great diet food because they are small treats that you won't gobble up as quickly as fresh grapes. They also seem like more of a treat than fresh grapes because, like bananas, they take on a creamier consistency when frozen.

Raspberry Semifreddo. In Italian, semifreddo means "half cold," and is used to describe a variety of partially frozen (or partially thawed) desserts that include ice creams, cakes, custards and fruit mixtures. You can make a Line a (9 x 5-inch) loaf pan with aluminum foil so that the foil hangs over the long sides of the pan.  In a mixing bowl, combine a large container (32 ounces) vanilla or hon...

When you talk about "your metabolism" you are actually talking about your metabolic rate. That's the rate at which your body breaks down the larger or "macro" nutrients you get from the food you eat-mostly carbohydrates, but also fat and sometimes protein-and uses them to create energy.

Metabolism also involves using some of these same nutrients and other substances as building blocks to create new compounds that play other roles in your body in addition to energy production. The processes involved in metabolism are going on all the time, in every cell of your body. It's a complicated process, the success of which is determined, in part, by the way you eat.

Everyone's metabolism is different. Some people have faster metabolisms and some slower, which accounts, in part, for the fact that two people can eat the same amount of food over time, and one person may gain or lose weight while the other may not. Age also affects your metabolic rate, which tends to slow down by about two percent every ten years.

Eating high-protein foods temporarily increases your metabolism to help with the additional energy needed for protein digestion. Spicy foods also rev up your metabolism. But simply eating a particular type of food, or eating more or less foods from a particular food group, will not increase or decrease your metabolic rate or help you lose weight in the long term. Exercise will. When you are physically active, you burn off additional calories while exercising and continue to burn them for up to several hours afterwards. Staying fit and maintaining your muscle mass by exercising will also help prevent or delay any age-related slowdown.

Although the types of food you eat has little effect on how efficiently you burn calories, the act of eating does help rev up your metabolism. That's why it makes more sense to eat normal, healthy amounts of food throughout the day, rather than starve yourself when you are trying to lose weight. According to nutritionists at Illinois State University, eating small but adequate meals, frequently throughout the day, raises your metabolism, while skipping meals or eating too little at each meal has the opposite effect of slowing your metabolism down.

When you don't eat enough food throughout the day, your body doesn't know if you are starving or if you are on a diet. It responds to the lack of food by slowing down the rate at which you burn calories in order to conserve energy. It's your body's built-in survival mechanis...