Everyone who wants to lose weight wishes that his or her fat loss will be as fast as possible. Many diets promise just that with a varying degree of success and reliability. But there are some simple steps you can take that, regardless of the diet plan you’re using, can boost the pace of your fat loss.

5 tips to a fast fat loss

1. Write down what you eat – Carry around a small notepad in which you’ll write down what you eat and the time in which you do so. That way you’ll have a small task to give you pause between any sudden cravings you may have and satisfying them. You’ll also be able to go over what you eat every day and be much more aware of what you can cut back on.

2. Get a good night sleep – sleeping well is very important to keep a healthy physical balance. Sleeping also insures that all the systems in your body are working as well as they normally should and therefore are burning more calories and fat. If you don’t sleep well, your fat loss will slow down considerably. It is best to sleep 7. 5 – 8 hours each night.

3. Replace deserts with fruit – You can’t imagine how tasty a fresh and juicy piece of fruit can be. Fruit is often much tastier than regular deserts and is much healthier. Replacing your deserts with fruit will also cut down on the amount of useless calories, processed sugar and fat that you eat.

4. Tell everyone that you’re on a diet – Being on a diet should not be a secret and you shouldn’t hide it. On the contrary, if you know that the people around you know that you’re on a diet, it will get you much more motivated to succeed in what you’re doing.

5. Eat 4-5 medium sized meals a day – Eating 3 meals can prove disastrous to your fat loss quest, because when you eat 3 meals, each meal tends to be a large one. Your body has a hard time dealing with that amount of food all at once, so it does a poor job of digesting your food as well as it should, and it ends up converting more of your food into fat. Don’t overeat, just spread the amount of food into more meals.

Follow these 5 tips and you’ll enjoy a faster fat loss.

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Zone Diet Plan

The Zone Diet Plan is a popular diet plan among celebrities. People often choose a celebrity endorsed fad diet in order to lose weight. And if a fad diet is used and endorsed by their favorite celebrities, then they would obviously prefer it over other diets.

The Zone Diet is one of those Celebrity endorsed diets with users like Mekhi Phifer from ER, hockey player Brian Leetch, and Brad Pitt.

I will tell you to start that the Zone diet plan is difficult to follow but the carb to protein to fat levels seem to be quite good for any active person.

Now, as a matter of fact, just because a diet works for your favorite celebrity doesn’t mean that it would work for you too. Different people have different body compositions and what works for one doesn’t necessary work for another! Another thing to note is that the Zone diet is said to be miles apart from a strict vegetarian diet. Considering the fact that experts say that vegetarian diet is the best diet for quick weight loss, and that people who thrive on a vegetarian diet usually remain fit and healthy, you maybe curious as to how the Zone diet works.

So what is Zone diet plan all about?

According to the Zone die tplan, your meals must consist of 30% fat content, 40% carb content and 30% protein content. With this combination, your insulin level will be balanced. When your insulin level is balanced, you automatically lose weight (since higher levels of insulin trigger the storage of fatty tissues in our body). As you can see, the Zone diet is particularly useful for those who want to get rid of diabetes or any heart-related ailments.

Barry Sears is the creator of the Zone diet plan. Some people will call the Zone Diet a fad diet, I don’t know if that is true as the Zone Diet and variations of it have been around for quite some time. Considering the fact that the Zone diet is a fad diet, I have found that it is much more flexible than the other diets in the same category.

The problem with this diet, however, is that it is not only hard to follow, but it also comes with a couple disadvantages:

1. The recommended ratio of protein in the Zone diet is a bit high compared to protein and carbs. Experts however contend that the ratio of fat is all right

2. By restricting the intake of certain foods, the Zone diet also restricts the intake of the essential nutrients and vitamins. This can adversely affect your health so supplementing with multivitamins is essential.

So whats the verdict, Is the Zone Diet Plan any good?

I kind of like the Zone diet. As a book it is a great one to have in your bookshelf and try it out for yourself. When you do look around though the Zone diet plan is probably most popular with athletes as the high protein is especially good for people that need the muscle recovery.

Have you ever wondered where Universities and Drug Companies find people to participate in their weight loss clinical trials? By utilizing the internet, companies and universities open these studies to a wide audience. Trying all types of weight loss programs, pills, and diets can be very costly. All these clinical trials are available at no cost. Some of these studies even pay you to participate.

The University of Kentucky has done/do all types of studies. They did clinical weight loss study which was quite impressive. They completed a 44 week weight loss study where the average weight lost was 134 pounds. WOW!!!!!

The University of Kentucky is located in Lexington. They have various studies available in which you can participate if you meet the criteria. The study on diet programs: You can also put your name on a list for upcoming studies.  You can check out the U of Kentucky program here.

There is another site in which offers various clinical trials. They cover a multitude of conditions as well as weight loss. All you have to do is type in what type of research you are interested as well as which area and it will research clinical studies available in that field for that area. The site is called Clinical Trails.gov.

A site which does clinical research on various types of cancer is the, National Cancer Institute. At this site you can find a clinical trial in which to participate. At this site, Yyou can also read the results of studies done on various types of cancer.

Another site which recruits people for various clinical research is clinical connection. At this site, you can sign up for type of research that meets their criteria. If there isn’t a clinical trial available when you are research, you can sign up using key words (eg: obesity, weight loss, gastric bypass surgery, diet, hypertension) for a study in which you are interested. When a clinical trial becomes available that meets your needs, they will notify you. They have an introductory video called Clinical Trials Guide. It will walk you through how to use the site.

Clinical Connection also has a message board in which you can discuss health as well as clinical trials. Presently, there are over 100,000 clinical trials going on in the United States. There are also over 100,000 international studies available through out the world.

Last but not least is another site in which you can apply to be a participant in various clinical studies. This site is called Center Watch. This site covers a multitude of studies, ranging from weight loss to breast cancer. The studies are carried out in all parts of the country.

If you have a local university near your home, check with the research department to see what type of studies they are doing. You may find one you are interested in participating.

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I saw this comment on Facebook yesterday from Geneen Roth, it really hit home for me why I’m doing this challenge.

“The most radical part of my own story is not that I stopped dieting; it’s that I stopped trying to fix myself. I stopped fighting with myself, stopped blaming myself, my mother, my latest boyfriend for my weight. And since diets were my most flagrant attempt at fixing myself, I stopped them as well. What would your life be like if you stopped trying to fix yourself?”

I’m curious to know…

What would your life be like if you stopped trying to fix yourself?

Side note: I will be out of the comments until this evening.

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Serotonin is a compound that most persons have heard about and we all wan t to increase serotonin naturally. It’s what is known as a neurotransmitter, which is a compound that allows the brain to deliver chemical messages. Some other common brain neurotransmitters are acetylcholine and dopamine. If neurotransmitter levels are low, especially in the case of serotonin, it can cause a person to feel terrible. Complex emotions like attitude, mood, disposition toward contentment, mental focus, memory and others are all linked to neurotransmitters in the brain.

Serotonin Deficiency Symptoms

Ben Mester Increase Serotonin Naturally

A deficiency in one or more neurotransmitters can cause the onset of depression, lack of motivation, memory loss, and lack of focus. So being sure that you’ve got a good supply of the building blocks the body needs to create these neurotransmitters is very important.

Serotonin and other neurotransmitters though are very complex compounds, and the body needs lots of different building blocks to be able to make them. Not only that, but a person’s lifestyle also affects the manufacturing and release of neurotransmitters. So if you are looking to boost your levels of serotonin and other neurotransmitters naturally, you will most likely want to approach the situation from multiple angles.

How to Increase Serotonin Naturally

The main and most important contributor to Increase Serotonin Naturally is diet. Like I said before, neurotransmitters are complex compounds and the body requires lots of building blocks in order to build. So being sure that you’ve got a nice balance of veggies, proteins, fruit, and complex carbohydrates can help ensure that you are getting the correct building blocks. Also, be sure that you are getting a good supply of Omega 3 essential fatty acids into your diet. These are brain foods which boost overall brain function, and have been shown to be very deficient in most diets. The Standard American Diet is horribly deficient in a variety of essential nutrients. The foods we typically eat are usually void of nutritional elements.

Your lifestyle is also very impactful. With neurotransmitters, it’s important to not just keep adequate production levels, but also to have consistent release. The body may have an adequate supply of serotonin on hand, but might not be releasing a lot of it into the blood stream. There are specific habits and routines that you can try that could help encourage your body to both produce and release more serotonin.

Exercise and raising Serotonin Levels

Another way to increase serotonin naturally is exercise. But before you go complaining that you don’t have the time, money, or motivation to get into a habitual exercise routine, know that even taking a short sunset walk everyday can be enough to get more serotonin into your blood stream. And if you don’t have time or motivation for something as simple as that, then there’s really nothing more I can tell you.

Without at least a minimal level of exercise or activity, it’s difficult to get the body to produce and release enough serotonin to feel good. Aside from that, sleep too is very important. If you have lots of stress in your life or if you aren’t getting adequate sleep at night, it’s tough for your brain to maintain a healthy level of function. Sleep is very important in the realm of neurotransmitters. People who don’t sleep well are often groggy, fatigued, lacking mental clarity, and suffering from memory impairment.

Natural serotonin boosters can be very powerful at helping your body make and release serotonin. If you’re trying to find serotonin supplements or dopamine supplements, you must first know that the body cannot absorb them through pills. It must create them itself.

Now that you know how to increase Serotonin naturally it is up to you to get the diet and exercise right as well as sleeping and resting enough.

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I am sure that most people that have tried a diet have wondered about all of these diets or plans that seem to go to be true. I have found a great site for researching Diet Scams and it is worth checking out.

Also Ediets has a diet scam page. There are also other kind of scams, every now and then some kind of product comes on the market that is supposed to help you lose weight and often they can be dangerous.

It all comes down to a few factors to see if a weight loss plan makes sense to try or if it is a diet scam.

1. Does the diet have a reason to work? Do you do exercise to increase metabolism? Do you decrease your caloric intake to lose weight? If not it is probably a diet scam.

2. Is the diet sustainable for the rest of your life? Most diets are just that, a diet to be on for a few months with no plan as to how you will eat after it is over. Although some of these work it is really a diet scam if there is not plan that you know of to come off the diet.

3. Is there some strange herb that will increase your metabolism? I have seen at least a couple dozen of these magic herbs over the last few years and none of them has stayed for long. One of the problems is that to increase your metabolism to magically lose weight these herbs are a danger to your heart or liver. All of these herbs are in my opinion a diet scam unless they can prove otherwise with scientific backing not just testemonials.

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OK, I thought I had mentioned Dr Phil before here but it appears that I did not. I have always thought that Dr Phil means well in his show, on his CDs and with his weight loss books but he does get very irritating.

I just saw that there is some kind of a lawsuit being filed against him and I thought it was another one of those crappy “I don’t like you so I’ll sue” type suits but it appears there is more to it

Dr Phil’s Supplements: Class Action Lawsuit?

It seems that Dr Phils program included taking a ton of pills a day to improve your weight loss. I am really against any pills and have to be proved otherwise whenever something new comes out.

The one thing that I am in favor of and take a fair amount of is Vitamins. I feel that in taking vitamins you are just replacing the nutrients that you can not get from food thanks to the bad way in which our meat and vegetables are produced and processed. I have never been in favor of taking excess vitamins to create some kind of thermogenic effect.

In looking at diets and trying to decide which diet is right for you the only important parts are the food and types of food you take in and the exercise that you do. Any extra pills in a diet are something that you would not want to incorporate into your lifestyle forever so you would not want to rely on them in your initial weight loss phase of any diet.

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Fats in your diet

Fats are always looked at as a negative in a diet…well in almost all diets anyway, as Atkins tends to think that they are OK. The reason that most people try to avoid fats is that they tend to be less of a priority for your body to metabolize; the body would rather metabolize the carbohydrates and then Fat or Protein. Another issue with fat is the number of calories per gram, a gram of fat has 9 calories as opposed to Protein and carbohydrates which have 4 calories per gram. So your body is going to more than likely store any extra fat taken in as, well, fat.

What Kind of Fats in Your Diet to Watch For

So you should watch out for the Fats in your diet in most cases. Still it is important to take in some fats, you body can not exist without any fats and in fact stores vitamins A, D, E and K in fat. These vitamins are needed to maintain good health. One thing to be aware of is that these vitamins because they are stored in fat can build up and be toxic¦how toxic? Well I have not heard of anyone getting sick from them but without them you would surely get sick.

Research has shown, because that people who consume a high-sugar diet tend to consume lower amounts of fat and vice versa. If you think about this it means that your mind will look at a sugary or a fatty food in the same way and will crave both in the same way.

Different Types of Fats in Your Diet

Most people’s questions about fats in your diet are what kind they can eat to be eating healthy. There are three types of fat that comes from food. Saturated Fats, Polyunsaturated Fats, and Monounsaturated Fats. All three are found in foods that come from animals or plants, but the amount varies. As a rule, more saturated fat is found in animal than vegetable foods, where more polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are found in vegetables than animal foods. Cholesterol is also found in foods from animals.

Saturated fat is mainly found in foods of animal origin, but some vegetables also have large amounts. These are called saturated vegetable fats and are often found in processed bakery goods and nondairy milk or cream substitutes. These are: Beef, Brazil Nuts, Butter, Cheese, Chocolate, Coconut, Coconut Oil, and Lard

As a rule of thumb when shopping, saturated fats are solid at room temperature. When you have a lot of saturated fat in your diet, your liver responds by making more cholesterol. This raises your blood cholesterol level. It is the most harmful type of fat you can eat.

Polyunsaturated fats come mainly from plants. They are liquid at room temperature. Eating polyunsaturated fat can reduce blood cholesterol levels. Examples are Almonds, Corn Oil, Cottonseed Oil, Filberts, Fish, Margarine, Mayonnaise, and Pecans

Monounsaturated fats are mainly found in foods that come from plants. They are liquid at room temperature and can reduce blood cholesterol levels, but less than polyunsaturated fats do. They can, however, raise HDL cholesterol (the ‘good’ kind of cholesterol) levels. Examples are Avocado, Canola Oil, Cashews, Olives, Olive Oil, Peanuts, and Peanut Butter.

Trans fats are what make vegetable margarines have a butter-like texture, and prolong the shelf life of packaged foods. The effects of trans fats are still not known, but it is believed that they, like saturated fats, cause blood cholesterol levels to increase. As we have learned over the last couple years trans fats can not be metabolized by our body so they are poisonous and very unhealthy

You can see that these Fats in your diet are important but some should be eaten with caution

Have you ever thought that you could lose 25 pounds in 25 days? I am listening to an interview right now by Joel Marion, John Romaniello and Vince Del Monte. These guys are three of the top experts in getting fit and losing weight today.

What these three guys are talking about is really wide ranging but mostly it is around the idea of one of the guys sisters losing 25 pounds in 25 days ahead of her wedding. This interview is really cool for no other reason than it is full of rambling and stories. Here is what is being covered.

How to Lose 25 Pounds in 25 Days

Intermittent fasting – taking a day off of eating one every few days.

Taking a cheat day once every 5 days – Cheating means that you can eat mostly anything that you want for a day.

Working out on a fasting day – I have never worked out on an empty stomach and these guys are saying that it is really great and the workouts are really good.

How to Lose 25 Pounds fast – There is no way it seems that you can lose a pound a day for any length of time.

Depleting Glycogen – This is the energy sitting in your liver and muscles and this should help you lose weight by not retaining fat on your cheat days.

Cycled Eating – You eat for a few days and then cheat. They have added the fasting day after though.

Well the reason that these guys are talking about this is because Joel Marion is going to be launching a new weight loss program called The Extreme fat loss Diet – That is a link to a free ebook. I am always intrigued by these diets as they come out so watching the run up to the diet and it seems like doing the intermittent fasting, cycled eating, workouts on fasting days and more stuff is really great.

I will do a full review of the program sometime in the next few days but this really looks like something interesting. Whether you lose 25 pounds in 25 days is up to you.

I was asked to join in on another TLC book tour, remember this one from last year? I agreed and when the book arrived I found myself skimming the first few pages. Pages about Mark’s efforts to lose fat and gain muscle, to get back in shape, watching his mom struggle with her weight and eventually his wife when she was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. And then I get to the first chapter: Why Diets Fail.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard this line many times before. So I was prepared to read the same information that I’ve read before. But what he wrote stunned me because it was so accurtate and spot-on.

He talks about that one moment in our lives when we felt in control of our health. This could be a week, or several months. A time when we were breezing through diet or exercise- or both. Everything was working, we felt good…we look good. And then it’s gone. The effort goes away with life circumstances. We get thrown off course.

I don’t know about you, but this has happened to me countless times. I think back to my days on Atkins.. And then the time when I did Weight Watchers and I was losing 10lbs a month. Both times I dropped 30-40 lbs. And then stopped.

Mark says “we spent endless hours focusing on the past, trying to figure out what had changed. That moment becomes our hope, out future possibility–our ace in the hole. We believe that at any time we can pull out that ace and get back to where we were during that moment.”

We justify that life is too busy, that we will get there when projects are complete, after the holidays or when the timing is right. Each day telling ourselves that we know what we need to do but are just not doing it. We keep tight hold of the ace in the hole, ready to use it at any time.

And then the day comes when we pull the trigger and dive right back in. Trying to minic those ace in the hole days, and it’s much harder. We try again the next day, and then on the third day we are wondering what is so different this time. This is when panic sets in…and when as he puts it “diets attack”.

“People use diets in their moments of frustration and desperation.”

And there you have it friends. The cycle.

So what’s the solution? According the Mark, blood sugar stabilization through meal intervals, nutrient ratios and calories per meal. He believes that nutrition should be used to create an internal balance.

Mark will guide you through meal plans for your body type (your metabolism), creating a set-point with your weight, and helps you to discover the “why” in your goals. He calls his place Venice nutrition and shares many meal plans and recipes for each body type. He talks about the difference between high quality and low nutrients, such as protein.

The meals he suggests are easy and would take minute to prepare. Such as Salmon with rice and asparagus, italian tuna salad with a side of fruit, steak with sweet potatoes and steamed cauliflower, seared scallops with brown rice and spinach, and spicy turkey club wrap.

In the last chapters of the book he helps you  in creating an exercise plan, how to adopt this way of eating into your current lifestyle and he has a whole chapter dedicated to staying true to the process.

Here is what I like about the book and Venice Nutrition:

I like that he focuses on real, clean food that is easy to prepare. This is food that we should eat 90% of the time. He focuses on quality of food rather than calories in, calories out.

His plan is about eating for life, rather than “how I will eat when I’m losing weight”.

He talks extensively about blood sugar, nutrition and the way we metabolize food.

He gives real-world solutions for all lifestyles.

He focuses more on what you should eat rather than what you can’t or shouldn’t eat.

He covers the importance of both cardio and strength training. He provides a plan for both.

He is positive and hopeful.

What I don’t like about the book:

I’m not a big fan (at all) of food products: protein bars, shakes etc. Some of the recipes include protein powders.

The recipes are simple. This is a good thing for some people. But for me, I enjoy cooking. I like following recipes. To me, a turkey burger is about as sad as it gets. I don’t like to buy ground meat unless I know the source and most of the ground meat the I buy is local and doesn’t promote “leanness”. Rolled up deli meat with a side of cashews is not a meal. I don’t know if I believe turkey or chicken should be ground up and made into burgers or meatballs or whatever else. I’ve done this before, but it just seems wrong.

The book doesn’t seem to address eating out, or social occasion. I could have missed this section, but I enjoy eating out with my husband. I enjoy trying out new to us restaurants that are locally owned. I like long meals with friends. These things are non-negotiable. I’m not going to bring a shake with me, or have a cooler of prepared food to a gourmet/real food establishment. Not gonna happen. I also realize that these are special occasion meals.

Bottom Line:

I believe that the Venice Nutrition can be done 80% of the time. It’s about eating smaller meals about five times a day. This stabilizes blood sugar, boosts your metabolism and prevents cravings. It focuses on eating real food: lean meat, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

Mark helps you to set goals for yourself and gives you the tools to see them through.

Visit his site, Venice Nutrition for more information.

Thank you to TLC Book tours for including me.

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me free of charge, for review.

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