Drastic Calories Burn Makes You Moody
Sometimes we feel like the world around has suddenly gotten crazy. Sometimes we notice that red lights are more annoying than usual. While many things can cause irritability, such as lack of sleep or the regular hormonal changes due to a woman’s monthly cycle, the timing and amount of food that we are eating and drinking are also to be blamed for such matter mood swings.

If we talk about Low-calorie diets, they can either motivate you highly for your weight-loss efforts or just get on your nerves. As gaining weight might occur gradually over many years, like wise if you want healthy weight loss, it will also require time and thus it needs so much of efforts and patience.
Physical Effect During Calories Burn
Our body always needs some amount of calories just for sustenance of respiration, temperature regulation and digestion. Any physical activity you engage in ups the calorie count you need to function. When you cut back severely on the calories you eat, you might lack the available carbohydrates needed for fuel. Stored fat helps fuel low-intensity exercise, but when you don’t eat enough, your performance during intense activities such as tennis or running might suffer. Even at rest you can get hunger pangs and feel irritable when starting a low-calorie diet. The “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition” reports that irritability and hunger issues peak in evening hours and gradually lessen as the weeks of a diet progress
Psychological Effects During Calories Burn
Hunger and energy deprivation can make you angry or exacerbate existing irritation. Performing a task that requires some strength and dexterity becomes harder when you have flagging energy and focus due to lack of food. Feeling lethargic, you might give up on exercise; abruptly stopping habitual exercise can further darken your mood, creating an unhealthy cycle. In extreme cases, you may become hypoglycaemic, when your blood sugar level drops dangerously low. To avoid the condition and its confusion, dizziness and nausea, always eat at regular intervals when you restrict calories too.
Energy Density During Calories Burn
Low-calorie diets need not leave you feeling famished. Select foods that are lower in energy density so that you can eat a larger volume of food and feel full for a longer time. Generally, foods that have a high percentage of water have fewer calories, so vegetables such as zucchini/cucumber/bottle gourd etc cooked in with foods like chilli help lighten the calorie load. Dietary fibre present in bran and brown rice also provides low-calorie heft to a low-calorie diet. The Canters for Disease Control and Prevention lists fibre as having an energy density of between 1.5 and 2.5 calories per gram. Carbohydrate and protein both have an energy density measured at 4 calories per 1 g. Fats have a higher energy density, measuring at 9 calories per 1 g.
Considerations During Calories Burn
Extremely low-calorie diets can backfire if you cannot sustain the effort it takes to adhere to one. Your body might react to a sudden and drastic reduction in food by lowering its metabolic rate. You ingest fewer calories, but you burn off fewer calories as well. A modest 500-calorie-per-day deficit yields a 1-lb.-per-week weight loss. One pound is the equivalent of 3,500 calories. So in order to manage your body functioning smoothly, one needs to provide the basic nutrition in appropriate portions. This not only makes you reach an ideal weight steadily, but also helps you manage excess cravings and unexplained mood swings.
How To Gain Weight
Are you lean and thin and want to gain weight to look muscular and a well proportioned body. Gaining weight is not difficult once you understand the right approach to achieve your target. The basic of weight gain revolves around the calorie requirement and the calorie consumed with a smart choice of foods for them. One needs to consume extra calories in order to gain weight.
Often people get confuse while trying to gain weight and increase the fat intake resulting in disproportionate distribution of weight, constant feeling of sluggishness and over a period of time can become vulnerable to lifestyle diseases caused by being over-weight. While the other approach is to stick to a healthy diet routine along with the correct exercise that ensures substantial calorie intake and even distribution of muscle gain all over the body, respectively.
If you are interested to know how to get started on a weight gain plan here are some easy tips for you to follow:
Healthy Breakfast Ideas
Skipping breakfast doubles your odds of obesity says a research. It is a must for everyone, especially if you’ve got a busy lifestyle. A good nutritious breakfast gives you energy, promotes brain activity and helps you lose weight as you will be craving less for the unhealthy snacks. If you skip breakfast you might not make up for the nutrients missed for the day.
Healthy Breakfast
Here are some healthy breakfast ideas and about how it should not be a large meal. ‘Breakfast like a king’ does not mean eat a huge breakfast, as even one very large meal increases your chances of gaining weight.
Basics for a Healthy Breakfast
The breakfast should have a balance of complex carbohydrates, fiber, protein and some amount of fat in moderation. This will give you maximum health benefits and keep you satisfied and not giving the churns in your stomach.
Here are a few options that you can include in your daily breakfast:
Whole grains: This includes breads and cereals made with 100% whole grain.
Low Fat Protein: Eggs, beans, lean meats, nuts and seeds.
Low Fat Dairy: Low fat milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, soy milk, low fat cream.
Fruits and Vegetables: Fresh fruits and vegetable juices without any sugar or eat the fruits raw.
Portion Control: Don’t over eat because the extra calories will just get stored as fat.
Benefits of Eating Breakfast
Get the body requirement of nutrients.
You will eat less later through out the day.
Eating healthy breakfast helps lower cholesterol level.
Gives you energy and concentration during work, making you less sluggish.
It helps you in controlling weight.
Keeping cholesterol level down will keep your heart healthy and keep you pumping for longer time.
So, make sure you don’t skip breakfast, and eat it correctly!
How to Gain Weight
How to gain weight or gain muscle? .. is a very common question. More specifically, men ask how to gain muscle & weight, and women ask just how to gain weight. To gain weight the healthy way, you need to get on a weight gain plan - that helps you gain some muscle also- this applies for both men and women.

Photo- Ideal hip to waist ratio- Get a model butt (menblog@flickr)
Honestly, gaining muscle or gaining weight is not magic. But gaining muscle a science, and you’ve got to know how to gain weight or how to gain muscle correctly. So, to make gaining muscle weight simple for you, we have our top tips to gain muscle weight. These are the main cornerstones to gaining muscle weight. So, pay attention and follow them for weight gain results: Read more
Avoid extra weight gain during pregnancy
When you’re pregnant it is understood that you are eating for two but that does not really mean twice as much as you normally do. Its healthy to gain 10-15 kg during the course of pregnancy, but some people gain over 20-25 kgs. That’s not healthy. All these extra kilos will show the most after pregnancy and will be extremely difficult to get rid of. So, we’re here to tell you how you can avoid gaining extra weight during your pregnancy.

Big Pregnant Woman Belly (ivona&kris@flickr)
Important thing to keep in mind is that exercise during pregnancy is no to lose weight. It is so that you prepare your body for the physical stress of baby weight, and birth, makes you feel & look better, and helps you regain shape faster again your pregnancy. Here are a few ways to stay fit during pregnancy. The key is doing everything in moderation:
Eat right: Most women need 2500-3000 calories. Get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. Avoid excessive sugary and fatty food- its only empty calories. So, even though pregnancy seems like a great excuse to chow down on two big double chocolate chip brownies after your meal, its only an excuse. You will pay for it in weight gain.
Pre-Natal Yoga: Yoga poses are a great way to ease the discomforts of pregnancy and prepare the body for child birth. It also helps in healthy development of the fetus, reduces stress, helps calm the mind and increases awareness of the bodily changes. Practicing yoga has added benifits of helping you lose weight after delivery.
Walking: As you go into pregnancy its important to reduce high impact exercise. Walking is the simplest and the easiest way to stay fit when you’re pregnant. It also helps increase your endurance level resulting in easier labour pains, and is great way to rejuvenate and reduce stress. Note: Pregnancy or physical ailment is the only time we recommend walking as a great way to exercise and stay fit
Cycling: Indoor cycling is a safe, low impact way to exercise. Check with your doctor and take the necessary precautions. At all times, keep your self hydrated with lots of water.
Ensure that your exercise is not very strenuous, and don’t over exert yourself. And as we mentioned earlier, do not try to lose weight during your pregnancy.
How many daily Calories do I need?
Do you know your body’s daily calorie requirement? All labels provide exact calorie counts and fat content in food servings. You know how many calories in your drinks. You might also know how calories you burn through exercise. But do you know how many calories you should be eating to lose weight, or how many calories you should eat to maintain your current weight, or even gain weight? How to calculate your daily calorie needs? Most people have no clue, so we’ve got a really fast and easy way to know that.
There are many ways to calculate your daily requirement- also known as your basal metabolic rate (BMR) or resting metabolic rate. For really accurate estimates, you need fancy equipment and fancy mathematics. just need an estimate, since we don’t So, for most of us, a fast and easy method to determine calorie needs is to multiply you total current body weight by the multiplier provided below:
Calorie intake for Weight loss
Sedentary Lifestyle: 20 calories per kg of body weight
Moderately Active Lifestyle: 25 calories per kg of body weight
Heavy Activity Lifestyle: 30 calories per kg of body weight
Calorie intake for Weight Maintenance
Sedentary Lifestyle: 25 calories per kg of body weight
Moderately Active Lifestyle: 30 calories per kg of body weight
Heavy Activity Lifestyle: 35 calories per kg of body weight
Calorie intake for Weight gain
Sedentary Lifestyle: 30 calories per kg of body weight
Moderately Active Lifestyle: 35 calories per kg of body weight
Heavy Activity Lifestyle: 40 calories per kg of body weight
Lifestyle Key
Sedentary Lifestyle: Not much activity.
Moderately Active Lifestyle: Varying between completely sedentary and some activity through the day (like working out in the gym).
Heavy Activity Lifestyle: Extremely active throughout the day
Due to an average lower body weight, women will require fewer daily calories than men. This is a very easy way to estimate caloric needs, but there are obvious drawbacks to this method because it doesn’t take into account, your body composition.
Because body fat percentage is not accounted for, this formula is not completely accurate. To know your exact (calorie requirement) Resting Metabolic Rate, call us or email us (info below), to get a Body Composition Analysis performed. Its a detailed report, on the fat, muscle, skeletal mass and detailed body analysis. And it takes 5 minutes.
Calculating calories from packaged food is easy, since they have clear nutrition labels. Knowing the calories for home cooked food requires some home work. You can also use Fitho’s calorie counter to search for your food, calculate its calories and see its full nutrition facts.
As mentioned above, this is not the most accurate method of determining your metabolic rate, but its an easy and fast way to guess your daily calorie requirement.
Weight Gain Supplements- gain weight fast
We have many articles and tips to Gain Weight. Here, we’ll address how you can easily gain weight using weight gain supplements, since they can really help you develop size and look fuller.
Essentially to gain weight, you need to eat more calories than you burn. But its not always easy for people to increase their calorie intake, by eating more food. Also, to gain weight, its important to make sure that you gain healthy weight. How do you do gain healthy weight? By consuming more healthy calories. Again, not easy to do. So, what’s an easy way to gain healthy weight? Read below for more..
Try weight gain supplements, like the Massive Weight Gain Supplement or the Jumbo Weight Gainer. Whether you just want to gain weight, gain mass or gain muscle, they work for both. These weight gain supplements basically contain a mix of protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
To use these supplements to gain muscle, combine them with an intense muscle growth workout, and grow your muscle size.
Which is the best weight gain supplement? The best weight gain supplement is one that uses high quality ingredients and the right calorie intake to promote weight gain, like these weight gain supplements.
Can both men and women take this weight gain supplement? Yes, both men and women can take this supplement to gain weight.
Are these supplements legal? Yes, these weight gain supplements do not contain any illegal chemicals, steroids or anything like that. See the ingredient list in weight gain supplements.
Are supplements good for health?
We often associate ‘supplements’ with steroids, but supplements are simply what we consume to supplement our diet. With the state of our diets, to ensure we get complete nutrition, it can help to use supplements. There are many types of supplements. In the next series of articles, we will consider the basic health supplements, what they contain, what you should look for, and their health effects.

Photo- Health Supplements (andrei z@flickr)
Here is the listing of categories:
Vitamins and Minerals: These are probably the most commonly used supplements. Most of us have had a multi-vitamin or a calcium pill.
Protein Powders: Protein powders are also getting very popular, since many diets do not get enough protein, so these powders can help to supplement those. Good for gaining muscle and burning fat
Fat Burners/Diet Pills: These supplements help people reduce body fat content, help them control their diets and claim to increase fat burning rates.
Weight Gainers: These are high calorie supplements for quick weight gain- good for those looking to gain muscle and those just looking to fill up
Muscle Builders: These are supplements like Creatine and Amino Acids. These are chemicals that are used by our body to enhance or control certain processes that can speed up muscle building, slow down fat storage, or improve muscle recovery.
This list can go on, but we’ll cap it here. Over the next few articles, we’ll cover these supplements and their health effects.
White Bread- your weight loss enemy
The title says it all- white bread is not on your side in the war against fat, health, diabetes. If anything it promote fat storage, and diabetic tendencies. Read on to find out.
White bread is made from refined wheat flour (maida) which gives it a high content of simple carbohydrates. Then, it contains added sugar to improve flavour, further increasing the simple carbohydrate content. To top it, many people add a layer of sugar laden jam to their white bread- completely loading their snack with simple carbohydrates. These simple carbohydrates (carbs with high GI- read more here) promote fat storage in the body. There are also theories that also link consumption of excess sugar to suppression of the immune system.

patchworkpottery@flickr
So, you should really watch your white bread consumption. People with high blood sugar (diabetes) or those trying to get in shape, you should completely avoid white bread. Due to the high glycemic index of white bread, the glucose level in your blood spikes, that leads to fat storage and an increase in the production of insulin to compensate.
Wheat bread is a great alternative to white bread- it provides you with long lasting energy from the complex carbohydrates, more soluble fiber which helps to cleanse your arteries of the plaque choking them and does not promote fat storage in the body. So, give wheat bread a shot!
Nutrition timing is key to muscle building
Before most of the women stop reading this article, we have to tell you that this article is as important for you as it is for guys. Building muscle is key to looking good and being healthy for both men and women. Losing fat is good, but if you don’t have muscle, how will you get those toned arms, that flat midriff, the shapely butt, and those hot legs. All these body parts have muscle supporting them. And if the muscle is in good shape, then it looks good

rondavis @ flickr
Coming back to the topic- timing of nutrition. For ease of explanation, I will break the day up into 3 parts, pre workout, post workout and regular.
Pre-workout nutrition is important because this is the fuel for your workout. Sure, you might be eating through the day- remember that your body was probably using up what you ate. So, before your workout, eat a snack which is low in fat, and has a carboydrate:protein ratio of 1:1. So, if it has 25 gms of carbohydrates, then it should also have 25 gms of protein. This ratio is suggested, since the carbohydrates will help to fuel your workout and the protein will be used to supply to the muscles during your workout. Note, that it should be a low fat snack/meal. Fat slows down the absorption of nutrients into the body, so if your pre workout snack is high fat, then it won’t be absorbed quick enough by your body to really fuel your workout. Ensure that the carbs are not all simple carbohydrates, since that will give you instant energy, but will also create an energy crash, which affects motivation. A good protein shake should provide you with this mix of nutrients (Note, protein shake mixes vary, so note their contents). If you don’t have access to protein shake, then a chicken/turkey sandwich, with some cheese and wheat bread should do. If you’re vegetarian, then try the protein shake, or some lightly spiced chole (since they have both complex carbs and protein in them)

skinnyguyworkoutplan@flickr
Post workout nutrition is key since after your workout, your muscles are sore and all the glycogen from your muscles in completely depleted. Your muscles are in a repair mode, and you want to supply it with nutrition to ensure that they repair themselves and build further on the existing muscle. Your post workout snack should be eaten within 30 minutes of completing your workout. It should again be a low fat snack, with a carb:protein ratio of 2:1. Low fat because it will speed up the absorption process. This snack needs a higher carbohydrate content because your muscles’ glycogen stores are depleted and to repair them, to supply them with nutrients your body needs fast dissolving carbohydrates. So, this is the time you want to eat simple carbohydrates (carbs with high Glycemic Index). The protein should be preferably whey protein since it is absorbed faster by your body. For this snack, high nutrient absorption rate is key. If your snack is liquid, all the better. An ideal post workout shake is low fat chocolate milk. Or a protein shake with honey, or other simple carbs. Another simple snack is low fat yogurt with sugar- yogurt has a combination of whey (fast absorbing protein) and casein (slow absorbing protein), and the sugar/yogurt will give you fast absorbing carbohydrates. At this time, you can also pop in a multivitamin with your snack. The vitamins and minerals are micro-nutrients that help perform body functions and help with building muscle.
Rest of the day: Through the rest of the day, feed yourself every 2-3 hours. Your muscles need food for maintenance, so you need to keep supplying them with it. Ensure you get healthy fats, from sources like nuts, fish, olive oil. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables to ensure you get all the nutrients.
Time your nutrition correctly, and you’re all set to get that hot body!
Healthiest Indian Sweets and Desserts
With the Indian festive season and celebrations at their peak, we all love to indulge in the delicacies, specially the delicious sweets and desserts. We’ve told you how sugar makes you fat. Now, all these desserts are loadd with sugar, so consuming too much of them will promote weight gain. If you’re trying to stay fit, its hard striking a balance, but its not impossible. Besides providing you with tips to stay fit during the festive season, we have a list of which Indian sweets are healthy, unhealthy and downright health disasters. With our health guide to Indian sweets, you can satisfy your sugar cravings and avoid the harmful belly fat:

Sandesh- Healthy Indian Bengali Dessert
The healthy Indian Sweets: Rasgulla (rosogolla) and Sandesh are both paneer based (Indian cottage cheese) and in most cases are lightly sweetened. So, their calorie content is relatively lower. They are not fried, so their fat content is lower. Since they are paneer based, they have good protein content as well as calcium. Protein keeps you full for longer and helps you burn more calories. It also helps to build and repair your muscles! To make Rasgulla healthier, squeeze out the syrup- its just sugar loaded syrup.
Besides these healthy Bengali sweets, Kheer (or Payasam) can be made healthy too-Use low fat milk, lightly sweeten with sugar, and add slivered almonds to add some health and taste oomph to it. Similarly Shrikhand can be made healthy.
The unhealthy Indian sweets: Unfortunately, this list is longer. It covers all types of Laddoos, Sohan Papdi, Barfi. What makes these worse than the previous list is their higher fat and sugar content. Along with being intensely sweet, many of these are deep fried, so they have high fat content. Note: There are many types of laddus and barfis. Some unhealthier than others. Since not all can be covered here, they’ve been generalized to this category.

Delicious Jalebi- Loaded with sugar and fat
The unhealthiest Indian sweets: This list is the one that you want to really watch out for. Once you know what’s on this list, you’re not going to be happy since they’re all lip smacking. All these delicacies are just absolutely loaded with oil/ghee and soaked in sugar- Halwa, Mysore Pak, Gulab Jamun and the mighty Jalebi. On this list, there’s really no way to get away with a healthy option. Its close to impossible to make these healthy.
If you really must indulge, go ahead and do so. But watch your portions. The calories can really add up!
If you need help to lose weight, call us or email us at Fitho.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie Breakfast Recipe
Everyone’s heard that breakfast is good for you, but here’s a breakfast that really is. It is lip smackingly delicious and healthy.
Take 1/2 cup of low fat milk, 2 tbsp of chocolate syrup, 2 tbsp of peanut butter, 1 frozen ripe banana and 1 cup low fat yoghurt. Place it all in a blender and process until smooth. To make it better, you can use vanilla flavoured yoghurt. To increase the protein content and reduce carbohydrate count, substitute the chocolate syrup with chocolate whey protein powder.

Healthy Breakfast Smoothie- magerleagues @ flickr
This breakfast is loaded with protein, fiber to keep you satiated for longer. So you won’t get to the office and dig into all that junk food. Potassium from the banana will help you keep the blood pressure down on the morning drive
The calcium from the dairy is good for your bones, and a recent study showed that dairy promotes belly fat loss. Also, this smoothie gives you good carbohydrates which will fuel your body through the morning.
This is a great breakfast smoothie recipe. Or even a pre workout smoothie. For a post workout smoothie, we recommend using only 1 tbsp of peanut butter.
To make it a weight gain smoothie, swap the yoghurt with vanilla ice cream and enjoy
Fat – Easy Come, Easy Go?
Most people trying to lose weight and get fit, want quick fixes. As a result, people attempt quick fix solutions like crash diets, which fail miserably.
Think about how long it took you to put on weight. It took time and most people don’t think about this, but it took some hard work too. Do you know what kind of hard work goes into putting on weight?
Let’s do some simple math and find out:
Take a small-medium* sized Pastry or a similar Samosa. They both have approximately 100 calories individually. 1 kg of fat equates to 7700 calories. Which means, to gain 1 kg of fat, you need to eat 77 pastries or samosas.
So if you have put on 10 kilograms over the last two years you have consumed an excess of 770 pastries or samosas!
That’s some serious hard work!
Now that you worked so hard to put on fat, maybe you need to put in some hard work to lose the fat also.
Assuming that at your current diet and activity, you’re weight is constant. If you’re trying to lose weight, try 500 calorie fixes per day. Which means, you can eat 250 calories less than your current diet and perform exercise for the remaining 250 calories. Read our previous post on the calorie damage of chocolate cakes.
Don’t attempt to lose too much weight too soon as fat is not an easy come and easy go thing. First, it’s unhealthy for human body to experience such drastic changes and drastic measures are short term fixes which result in long term weight gain. If you really want to get into better shape, think small lifestyle changes, like eating more fruits, getting regular exercise and soon you’ll be on your way to losing all that extra lard from your problem areas.
So get smart. Getting into shape is easy, as long as you have the right strategy.
If you just want to know more about losing weight or gaining muscle, stay tuned to www.fitho.in
While those who have made up their mind that they want to lose the fat and not the fun write to us and we will help you out. Till then happy reading.
*Medium size is an estimation of weight. This can vary based on location and experience.
Jahanpanah City Forest- Running route South Delhi
Jahanpanah City Forest at Chirag Delhi has a 6.7 km running trail in the middle of the south Delhi. Its a great running location, considering that the forest is surrounded by really crowded, high traffic areas- Alakhnanda, Chirag Delhi, Lado Sarai, Greater Kailash-2, GK-3, GK-4, Tughlakabad Extension, Saket, etc.

Running Trail Jahanpanah City Forest, New Delhi (raveningumarov@flickr)
Its a completely paved trail, with markers every 200 meters. The main entrance of the Jahanpanah City Forest park is opposite Don Bosco school in Alakhnanda. There is a small parking lot too.
A lot of the trail is covered in thick foliage- provides a good respite from the heat. The track has some inclines and declines also. Delhi has mostly flat running tracks. Uphill parts of the track really help to build those calf muscles. And we all love running down hill
Most of the trail is quite desolate, and it runs by a number of areas in the city, so its best to have some company when running there. The park also have benches throughout the trail, and well as playing areas for kids. The forest timings are 6 a.m. to about 7.30 p.m.
Its a good place to for training for Airtel Delhi Half Marathon. Have you started training?! .. Not from Delhi- then start training anyway and make that trip to Delhi for the Airtel Half Marathon. Its an experience you won’t want to miss!
Besides running, you can cycle there as well. Along with playing in the little parks all over Jahanpanah forest
Want to know where Jahanpanah forest is- Here is a the Map location of Jahanpanah Forest, New Delhi.
Push Ups- Best exercise for upper body & abs
If you had to pick one exercise to build everything in your upper body, it would be the mighty push-up. There isn’t any gym equipment that can replace the old school push-up. It works your chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, back and abdominal muscles.

Strong Woman performing Push Up (fer@flickr)
Done right, it works your whole upper body, including your core. And as a test of fitness, it is probably one of the best exercises out there. A push-up tests how much strength you have in your upper body, to lift your own weight.
So, how do you correctly perform a pushup?
Kneel on a mat or the floor. Bend over placing your palms on the floor just outside your shoulders. Straighten your legs so the only contact points with the floor are your palms and the front of your soles. Keep your legs straight, and in line with your torso, ensuring your back is also straight. This is your starting position.
Now, slowly lower your body by bending your arms, till you’re almost touching the floor. Pause for a moment at the bottom, and lift yourself back into the starting position.
If you cannot perform a push-up, then make it easier by supporting yourself at the knees. So, your contact points with the floor are your palms and your lower legs. This is your starting position. Lower yourself in the same manner
This is also called a girl push-up; though I’m always impressed by women who can do full push ups. If you can’t do a proper push up, start with this, but build yourself towards doing proper push ups.
Ladies, the push up is for you too. It’s a great exercise to get those toned arms, well shaped shoulders and a hot bod. Push-ups will not only burn calories while you’re working out. But you will build some muscle, which helps you burn calories even as you sleep! And note that you will not get bulky by doing push-ups (You need the male hormone testosterone and lots of food to make your bulky. Testosterone is a male hormone, so don’t worry about it).
So, drop now and give me 30… Seriously, go and do 30 push-ups, now!






