Benefits of Seasonal Fruits

Eat a fruit every time you have a growling stomach. Its the healthiest substitute for a snack as it is packed with nutrition and can actually boost your metabolism. There are variety of fruits present through out the year offering loads of nutrition packed in different flavors. Binging on fruits is specially helpful when you are trying to lose weight or are on a  weight loss diet. Seasonal fruits then become an ideal in-between meal snacks. Fruits contain phyto-chemicals and antioxidants help fight free radicals and diseases in the body.

Regular consumption of fruits promote healthy heart health reducing the chances of cardiac problems, lower blood pressure and keeps cholesterol in check. The vitamins and mineral quality of fruits can’t be replaced with supplements as it is a natural source and gets absorbed by the body easily. Summers offer a range of fruits which are full of taste, colour and nutrition. Add 1-2 fruits in your diet and experience the change.

Some Summer Seasonal Fruits

Water Melon: Eating 100 gms would add just 20 calories to your diet. Though it is sweet but the high amount of water and fiber lessen the calories present in it. It is refreshing and reduces body temperature, blood pressure, inflammation and many other health conditions. It has the highest concentration of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant which improves heart health. It contains vitamin, A,C and B and minerals like potassium, calcium and is fat free. Enjoy its juice or eat raw in salads.

Mangoes: 65 calories is what it provides for 100 gms. You could eat a small sized mango before a workout as it is high is carbohydrates but with a low glycemic index. vitamin A (beta-carotene), vitamin E, vitamin C and selenium along with phenolic compounds are present in mangoes. It is rich in minerals and has high anti-oxidation and anti-inflammatory properties. Check the portion control while eating mangoes for weight loss.

Plum: 52 calories Potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorous are minerals present in plum along with Vitamin A, E and c. It provides 55-60 calories per 100 gms though consume 2 fruits. It is high in fiber and boost immunity and protects against cancer. It is a healthy fruits.

Jamun/Jambul: High in vitamins and minerals like  iron, manganese, zinc, calcium, sodium and potassium. It contains antioxidants like Tannic acid, Gallic acid and oxalic acids along with alkonoids. It is beneficial for diabetics and eating 100 gms adds 60 calories approx.

Musk Melon: Eating a cup of muskmelon will add 50-55 calories with lots of fiber and carbs for energy. It is rich in vitamin A, B and C along with potassium, magnesium and sodium. Improves constipation problem. It has anti-oxidation properties and improves metabolism.

Ideal Body Weight

Commonly ideal body weight is calculated  with a formula that takes into consideration your height in accordance to your weight ? But is it the ideal body weight to refer to? Not really, as ideal weight does not only depend on height but on many other factors like the fat percentage in the body, muscles and bone ratio and age and gender. Height can give you an approximate idea but not definite ideal weight. We have repeatedly told you that no two people of the same height and weight can have the same ideal weight. Age and body types are some of the few elements that differentiate two individuals.

Click here to know your Ideal Body Weight

Click Here to calculate Body Fat Percentage

Here is a table for ideal body weight range, for both men and women. You can use it as a height-weight calculator as well.

Men			Women
Height	Weight		Height	Weight
4’5	28-35 Kg		4’5	28-35 Kg
4’6	30-39 Kg		4’6	30-37 Kg
4’7	33-40 Kg		4’7	32-40 Kg
4’8	35-44 Kg		4’8	35-42 Kg
4’9	38-46 Kg		4’9	36-45 Kg
4’10	40-50 Kg		4’10	39-47 Kg
4’11	43-53 Kg		4’11	40-50 Kg
5’1	45-55 Kg		5’1	43-52 Kg
5’2	48-59 Kg		5’2	45-55 Kg
5’3	50-61 Kg		5’3	47-57 Kg
5’4	53-65 Kg		5’4	49-60 Kg
5’5	55-68 Kg		5’5	51-62 Kg
5’6	58-70 Kg		5’6	53-65 Kg
5’7	60-74 Kg		5’7	55-67 Kg
5’8	63-76 Kg		5’8	57-70 Kg
5’9	65-80 Kg		5’9	59-72 Kg
5’10	67-83 Kg		5’10	61-75 Kg
5’11	70-85 Kg		5’11	63-77  Kg
6’1	72-89 Kg		6’1	65-80 Kg

According to a study women tend consider ideal weight for their height and age lesser than what is medically recommended forcing them to resort to yo-yo diets to achieve their target.While men tend you lean towards the higher range working on building more muscle through supplements or a high protein diet. Read more

Are Diet Pills the Best Option!

Diet pills are getting more popular for fast weight loss. There are many successful as well as not so successful stories about these fat loss pills.  Lets explore more about these pills and how they really work. Quick weight loss without diet and exercise has created the hype around diet pills which is increasingly finding its space in drug stores & superstores. But the questions remains the same, is it a healthier
option and does it help in weight loss.

What is most commonly seen is that some diet pills work and some don’t depending upon the constitution of chemicals in the pills. Probability of effectiveness of the diet pills also varies with body type Read more

How to Lose Weight Fast

Show us a person who wants to lose weight slowly, and we’ll show you something really rare also

People gain weight over a long period of time, but they want to lose weight fast! Traditionally, the only way to lose weight was to diet and to exercise, but now that are supplements that claim to accelerate weight loss. These weight loss supplements, are either diet suppressants, or fat burners. There are two types- those that energize you with caffeine and its likes, and those that spike up your metabolic rate. Let’s look at them in more detail below:

Diet Suppressants: These pills contain ingredients that suppress your appetite. So, with a reduced diet, your calorie intake goes down, which can help you lose weight.

Caffeinated Fat Burners: There are plenty of such fat burners. These are loaded with caffeine, so they get you all energized. This makes people more active during their daily activities or their workouts. As a result, they burn more calories and fat. Guarana is a plant extract. Guarana based fat burners have caffeine in them- like Stim Trim and Fat Burner with L-Carnitine- these also claim to be appetite suppressants.

Non caffeine Fat Burners: This is a wide range of fat burners and diet pills, but let’s take a popular one- Chromium Picolinate. This supplement sounds complicated, but from our research has shown to be among the least controversial supplements. It is sold as a supplement to prevent or treat chromium deficiency. But its use has indicated that it helps to reduce carbohydrate craving, promote muscle growth and fat loss, aids in reducing insulin resistance, particularly in diabetics and might have antidepressant effects. If you want to buy Chromium Picolinate, click here for more information.

There are also water weight loss supplement. As the name suggests, these help you lose water weight- used for short term and temporary weight loss. These supplements will not help you lose the large fat deposits. For successful weight loss, the body should lose fat, not water.

Fat loss and Weight loss pills and supplements can possibly have side effects, especially at high dosage. So ensure that you get the right guidance on dosage and usage of these products. Consult your doctor for medical effects. Watch the dosage of these caffeinated fat burners, since excess caffeine in your body can have side effects- read more.

Whey Protein- For Healthy Diet & Fat Loss

Protein helps build/maintain muscle and perform biological functions. The Indian diet is high on carbohydrates and low on protein, so most Indians actually do not get their daily protein requirement. Its even harder for vegetarians- an egg contains 6 grams of protein, and a glass of milk contains 8 gms. The daily recommended intake for protein is 56 gms for men and 46 gms for women.

Without enough protein in your diet, your body will eat into its own muscle for maintenance. This slows down your metabolism- so you burn fewer calories, and store more fat! Worry not- Protein powder can supplement your diet to ensure you get the recommended protein intake. One scoop of whey protein delivers 20-25 gms of high quality protein. Mix it with juice or milk, yogurt, fruits and you get a delicious, nutritious snack! Here’s a protein packed delicious dessert recipe.

If you play sports, workout or have a physically active occupation, your protein requirements are higher- they can vary from 1.5-2 gms per kg of body weight. So an 80 kg athlete might need to consume 120-160 gms of protein per day. That much protein is hard to get without protein supplements.

A recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition, found that over a 12 month period, participants on a moderately high protein diet lost as much as 38% more fat, than those who followed the USDA Pyramid guidelines- more on how protein helps reduce fat

Myth: Whey protein is only for ‘body builders’. Fact: its for anyone who wants to ensure that they’re getting enough protein in their diet.

Note that not all protein supplements is equal. To make sure you get high quality whey protein- buy from a reputed international brand. Whey protein is higher quality than soy protein. Currently, Indian protein brands produce lower quality protein as compared to international companies like MegaPro.

Supplements- Vitamins and Minerals

Vitamins and minerals are the most common health supplements. Vitamin are chemicals that are required by our body in tiny amounts. They have diverse functions in our body- Vitamin B helps to catalyze metabolism, C helps to raise immunity, D is used in hormones, E has antioxidants, etc. A deficiency of vitamins can cause a number of diseases, ranging from night blindness to scurvy. We recommend a daily multivitamin. Note that overuse of vitamins is harmful and causes diseases, so only take the recommended dosage- table below. Vitamins are good for you, but do not substitute essential dietary minerals. Read on to know about them..

Minerals, like sodium, potassium, calcium, zinc, iron, etc are also required by the body to perform biological functions. Similar to vitamins, lack or the excess of them can cause health disorders, so ensure you are getting the recommended daily intake (table below). Higher mineral requirements depend on your age, sex, occupation – women are at a higher risk of osteoperosis, so they are recommended to have calcium rich foods. Athletes sweat a lot, so they are recommended to get higher amounts of sodium ions to help maintain their blood pressure.

Nutrient	EAR	RDA/AI	UL	Unit
Vitamin A	2083	3000	10000	IU
Vitamin C	75	90	2000	mg
Vitamin D	NE	200	2000	IU
Vitamin K	NE	120	ND	µg
Vitamin B6	1.1	1.3	100	mg
α-tocopherol (E)	12	15	1000	IU
Biotin	NE	30	ND	µg
Boron	NE	-	20	mg
Calcium	NE	1000	2500	mg
Chloride	NE	2300	3600	mg
Chromium	NE	35	ND	µg
Choline	NE	550	3500	mg
Copper	700	900	10000	µg
Cyanocobalamin (B12)	2.0	2.4	ND	µg
Fluoride	NE	4	10	mg
Folate (B9)	320	400	1000	µg
Iodine	95	150	1100	µg
Iron	6	8	45	mg
Magnesium	330	420	350a	mg
Manganese	NE	2.3	11	mg
Molybdenum	34	45	2000	µg
Niacin (B3)	12	16	35	mg
Nickel	NE	-	1.0	mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)	NE	5	ND	mg
Phosphorus	580	700	4000	mg
Potassium	NE	4700	ND	mg
Thiamin (B1)	1.0	1.2	ND	mg
Riboflavin (B2)	1.1	1.3	ND	mg
Selenium	45	55	400	µg
Sodium	NE	1500	2300	mg
Sulfate	NE	-	ND	-
Zinc	9.4	11	40	mg

Note that vitamins and minerals are best obtained from foods that are rich in them. But since its very hard to maintain a diet that is completely balanced in all nutrients, so vitamins and minerals help us do just that.

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.

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.

3 bite rule to lose inches

Are you one of those people who can’t avoid high calorie, fattening food even though you’re trying to lose that blubber around your midsection? Well, then you’re in the same boat as most people who are trying to lose the inches!

Don’t despair. We have hope for you. An idea where you can have the cake and still lose weight. I know sounds unbelievable, but its true.

Its called the 3-bite rule: When you’re really craving something that you shouldn’t be eating, like sinful chocolate cake, bring out a spoon! ..  Now, take one bite and slowly experience the sensation of that chocolate cake melting in your mouth, while your senses get overwhelmed with the cream, sugar and cocoa. The idea is to do this slowly, so you savour the experience of that chocolate cake. Take a second bite and slowly enjoy the flavour.

By eating slow, you’ll maximize your experience. Now, have a third bite to satisfy yourself. Again slow, and put the spoon away

Over the 3 bites, you would’ve experienced, enjoyed and satisfied yourself.

Try the 3 bite rule- with this you get to enjoy your indulgence and minimize the calorie damage to your diet or to your waistline!

Lose weight with Family & Friends help

When you’re trying to get in shape, what do you think is the biggest environmental factor in derailing your resolution? The obvious answer would be the sight and smell of delicious (unhealthy) junk food!
Wrong: You’ll overcome the craving of delicious junk food, but what makes it really tough is working around the social pressure of your family and friends, that are ready to derail your fitness

Believe it or not, your family and your friends have to be equally empathetic towards your fitness goals.

How often has it been that your mother adds that extra bit of ghee (read as love) to your paranthas knowing that you’re trying to lose weight? Or your friends on an evening out, push you towards food & alcohol binging to kill boredom? We’re not saying that ghee is not good. In fact, uncooked ghee has unsaturated fat that helps in better absorption of vitamins or a glass a week of wine has antioxidants. The problem starts when the portions seize to remain under control. You mother can’t see you get in shape as she thinks you look underfed, while you’ve only shed a couple of pounds. And your friends simply don’t think when they are having a good time. There’s no logical reasoning  when they want you to down the whole bottle!

Most people grappling with weighty issues are victims of considerable alcohol consumption and they don’t realize it. They might be eating right, exercising well but not paying enough attention to their alcohol intake. Also people on a mission to get fit mostly try to eat at home and still not get anywhere with those extra kilos!

A good way to overcome this huge factor is to make all the people you hang out with aware, that you’re trying to lose weight, and that their support counts. If they want the best for you, they will support you in your goals.

With social support from your family and friends, it will be easier to get fit. Watch your weighing machine become your favorite hang out zone with just a little moral support from your friends and family. It’s the teamwork that will help you stay ahead of your race against fat. So, get them to help you win that race! Need help to lose weight: call us or email us, at Fitho!

Eat all you want, and lose weight

Sounds too crazy to be true, but if you do this right, you can actually eat whatever you want and still lose weight.

I want to first introduce you to an uncommon concept: On a physiological level, our brain controls everything that we feel- the feeling of joy, hunger, love, pain is all controlled by our brain. We feel the ‘happiness of new love’ because the brain releases excess dopamine in our system. I know it sounds very unromantic, but it’s true.

Similarly, what we feel about food is how our brain reacts to it. Without any restrictions on our food, we eat what makes us happy. Our brain associates our favourite foods with satisfaction and when it gets enough of it, you feel satisfied. Sugar chemically makes us happy and fat provides satisfaction to our brain. So, very often it’s the combination- fatty and sweet foods that are favourites with people- ice cream, cake, fudge, laddus, …

Now, when you go on a nutrition plan (diet) that has restrictions, your brain doesn’t get as much satisfaction from your food. So, it keeps trying to tempt you to eat the ‘satisfying foods’. Anyone who’s been on a diet that restricts them from eating their favourite foods, knows about those intense cravings.

So, when you’re on a healthy diet, we recommend indulging in your favourite food, on a regular but controlled basis. That way, you’re eating healthy most of the time and your brain gets the occasional satisfaction from your indulgence. We call these meals- cheat meals. Studies have proven that diet plans that include cheat meals result in more effective and long term weight loss results than diets with no cheat meals. This is for two reasons- participants stick with the diet plan for longer, since they’re less ‘deprived’. And because these nutrition plans are easier to incorporate into your lifestyle, they result in long term weight loss.

At Fitho, we truly believe that when helping with fat loss or weight loss, it’s important to create long term weight loss and thus truly create fitter and healthier people. We’re so confident of our nutrition and workout plans, that we even have a money-back program.

Drawback of Ab Crunches

If you’ve tried to lose weight around your belly or hips, we’re positive someone you know suggested that you do ab crunches (commonly known as sit ups). We’re also positive, that the person suggesting this would not exactly be a picture of fitness.

 

 

We say this because, there is actually a myth and huge drawback of ab crunches that sit-ups can help you lose weight or get a six pack.

We’ll show you how this is a myth and a huge drawback of ab crunches. I first want you to understand a basic principle of losing weight or fat. To lose weight, you have to burn calories. To burn calories, you need to exercise. And exercises vary in the amount of calorie burning. Some exercises are more effective than others. The number of calories burnt per exercise is dependent on three factors – the amount of muscle moved, the distance of muscle movement.
‘Amount of muscle moved’ means that if you move larger muscles for the exercise, you burn more calories.

Say for example your thigh muscles are much larger than your bicep muscles. So, a squat (thigh exercise) burns more calories than a bicep exercise.

The ‘distance of the muscle movement’ is just that. If you move the same muscle through a larger distance, you burn more calories.

Now Ab Crunches or Sit Ups work your abdominals muscles. These are a set of 8 small muscles in your abdominal region. When you perform sit ups, it only works this set of small muscles. Since the muscles are small, the calories you burn are also small. Actually, too small to make a dent in your fight against fat!

In fact, researchers at the University of Virginia found that it takes 250,000 crunches to burn 1 pound of fat — that’s 100 crunches a day for 7 years!

So, if someone swears by doing crunches to lose weight, tell them to go take a hike. Crunches help you work those abdominal muscles, but not lose fat on that belly. To lose fat, you need to burn more calories. Crunches don’t burn nearly as much calories as other exercises, like squats or push-ups. The key to burning more calories and building muscle is to work out larger muscles, like your legs, chest, shoulders and back muscles.

So to get a six pack, keep your crunches only as an additive to your workout. Kind of like dessert, not an everyday thing.

Is health ignorance ‘cool’?

A personal contact recently had a life threatening experience. This guy is pretty jovial, 28 years old, is would be considered thin by Indian standards. Though, I would like to put him in the ‘skinny and fat‘ category. You’ll see why.
We’ll call him SnF. He is always willing to eat all the junk offered to him and seems like a happy go lucky guy. On a recent flight, he suddenly experience uneasiness, some chest pain, and this led to temporary paralysis neck down. Once the plane landed he had to be hauled off in a wheel chair. Was quite shaken from the experience.
His doctor thinks it could be a heart issue. SnF is also prone to genetic diabetes. So, his doctor advised he eat healthier and be more cautious of his diet. He told me about this incident, making fun of the doctor’s advice, “You know me. You think I’ll even try to eat better? I might as well enjoy what I do. Who cares about getting sick”
It made me wonder what could it be about SnF’s callous attitude towards his health- he’s not even 30 and is already facing health issues. But even then doesn’t care about taking any precautions. I think he feels that it makes him cool to seem aloof to ‘minor’ issues like health.

I meet a lot of such people in their 20s/30s who seem to throw all health caution to the wind. They’re avid smokers, drinkers and most of them are really out of shape. They know they’re so unfit, that if they attempt to improve their fitness, it could be a huge task. And they’re not willing to seem like they are trying. It is the fear of not always seeming cool that stands between them and better health.

Normally I don’t write about social issues of fitness, but this stark attitude difference between young affluent people in India and their counterparts in the developed Western countries. It might be partly attributed to the lack of physical work when you’re affluent in India. But I find this very concerning. As the Indian economy progresses, access to high calorie food will also increase, and so will obesity, diabetes and
other health related disorders.

How to really lose weight and get fit?

Find it hard to keep your weight down? At some point in our lives, most of us have attempted to improve our fitness levels- whether that meant weight loss, or muscle gain, or just better fitness level. Those lucky ones who have seen an improvement, have also seen how hard it is to maintain the new fitness level. Ever wonder why that is?

Its partly physiological, and partly psychological. Lets first look at weight loss/fat loss. When we are at a certain body weight, our brain and body accepts it, and figures this is our steady state and has a goal of maintaining that. To lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories, but that keeps your body feeling hungry. Your body is not used to your new eating style, so the brain keeps trying to signal to you to consume those remaining calories. So, it uses all means possible to manipulate you. Either you feel your stomach grumble- thats due to a hormone called ghrelin that is a signal from your body to ‘eat’. Or you start thinking about high calorie delicacies. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll start thinking about a big chunk of rich chocolate mousse, or whatever is your weakness. It makes you grab whatever junk comes into sight. Your body sees junk food as a calorie source and a weakness for you, so it signals you to eat them.

This is also the reason that crash diets don’t work. First a very low calorie diet is not sustainable and it deprives your brain of satisfaction, so at some point your brain takess over and makes you go on a binge after your mini diet session. (and you thought that your brain was noble). As a result of a crash dieting, some people actually gain weight in the long run.

So, they key to losing weight and maintaining it, is a strong will- having control over your food related urges. A strong will also help you to exercise when you need to.

Even when you’ve lost weight, your brain will try to get you to eat more to get back to your old weight, till it gets used to your new body weight. It normally takes about 6 months for your brain to get used to the new body weight.

Similarly, when you gain muscle, you need to eat more to consume more calories to feed those muscles. But since your brain is used to consuming only a certain amount of calories, it will make you feel full (even sick) when you start consuming more. But like with weight loss, you really need to take control of that brain and eat more calories. If you trying to gain good weight, you need to ensure you’re getting good calories.

Once you’ve gained some muscle mass, your is still not used to it in the short run and tries all tricks to get you to lose it- by not making you hungry for longer periods. So, you consume less calories and eventually lose the muscle (connect between not eating enough and muscle loss). So, you need to force yourself to get those extra calories till your body accepts it. In my experience, it takes less time for the body to get used to a higher body weight. That might be the reason that some people gain weight easier than lose weight

Whatever you’re trying to achieve, its important that you be mentally strong to control the urges of your body and brain. Don’t let these urges get in the way of your resolve to be fitter.

Its important to note that having the right goal and the right information to achieve the goal is key.

Relationship Between Age and Weight

Here in this article we’ll try to explain to you in detail the relation between age and weight and why people gradually gain weight as they get old. In your early 20′s, you’re young, in college and have an active life. Your hormones are peaking, metabolic rate is on all time high, your immune system is strong. You can abuse your body-tank up on all the alcohol, go on late night eating binges, barely sleep and still look great. You feel like you’re body is like steel plated Armour.

In your late 20′s and early 30′s, you start settling down, maybe have some kids. The partying still goes on, probably not as crazy. You slowly start developing a belly, but ‘its small’, so it seems like ‘not much to worry about’. After a crazy night of whiskey shots and butter c
hicken, you might get the occasional heart burn. But you pop a pill and life is good again. You might think about exercise, but you feel like you’re in good shape.

In your late 30′s, early 40′s, that small belly has gotten bigger. Occasionally you and your friends face health issues like blood pressure, diabetes, etc. Things get more serious and you wonder what you can do to slow things down. Go for a walk, do some yoga, occasionally
You’ve still got 30-40 years to live and want to live them in good health. How do you make it happen? Skip the fried stuff, but it really doesn’t make a dent.

What you need to do is really take control of the situation. As you get older, your metabolic rate starts slowing down. So, for the same amount of food that you ate in your 20′s, your body needs more exercise to burn the same amount of calories. With age, your body starts storing more fat. It is biologically designed to do so, since your body sees fat as stored energy, which it might need in the future. It does not realize that you’re in the 21st century and there’s plenty of food. That’s where your brain needs to step and control what goes into your body. Alcohol consumption increases fat storage in your body. All that fried food along with the beer, leads to even more fat storage. Stress releases cortisol which further increases fat storage in our body. And Indians have a high tendency to store fat on their belly – belly fat is most dangerous fat which is the most dangerous kind of fat.

To fix this, don’t go on crash diets with side effects. Get on a proper plan that combines good diet and exercise. That doesn’t mean spending hours in the gym, or eating boiled veggies. It’s about knowing what you consume and how it affects you and about giving your body some exercise. Build some muscle, look better, feel better, improve your sex life.

Sure, you’re busy with work and travelling. A good health plan does not come in the way of that. It works around it, and keeps you healthy. Did you know? That Brad Pitt is over 40 and still sports a six pack You might not become Brad Pitt, but you can get close. So, take charge of your health. If you need a diet plan to help you lose weight call us or email us at Fitho!

Side Effects of Weight Loss Diets

Before we get into side effects of weight loss diets, let us first define what is diet – “It is the foods eaten by a particular person”. Often, “diet” is assumed to be a low calorie diet to lose weight, etc. But it is not. Its simply what you eat. So, we are all on diets regardless of what we eat. What we use that diet to do is what classifies it – regular diet, weight loss diet, weight gain diet, etc.

Now, when most people decide that they have to get in better shape, often its about losing fat on the belly or hips/thighs. Now, everyone wants to lose weight fast. Regardless of how many months or years it took you to add the fat, everyone’s looking for a quick fix. Search for Weight Loss Diets and you find all sorts of diets. Now, the problem with diets on the internet, is that if you pick them up from just any site, there can be side effects of weight loss diets. There is no way for you to be sure that the diet is good for your health, or will help you lose weight.

Most people think that if your calorie intake is low enough, then you are bound to lose weight, i.e. Weight Loss = Less Calories in & More Calories out. Sure that sounds right but its not as simple. You might lose weight by that way, but you might land up losing is a lot of muscle instead of fat. With less muscle in your body, your body stores more fat. What you need to ensure that you’re losing the right kind of weight, which is fat. Know whether to lose fat or lose weight?

The following are major side effects of various weight loss diets:

- Crash dieting or significantly lowering your calorie intake, is an unhealthy way to attempt weight loss. Since your diet reduces drastically, you are perpetually hungry and thus unsatisfied and this makes people moody, short tempered.

- If your diet has inadequate carbohydrates, it will cause ketosis. If it has inadequate protein, it will create muscle catabolism and reduce your metabolic rate. If it has inadequate fat, it can affect a number of biological processes.

- You will also be low on energy. Since its an unhealthy diet, this can have significant side effects, including affecting your appearance. Its been known to cause dark circles, stretch marks, etc.

- Besides calorie intake, and the basic protein, carbohydrates and fat, your diet should include adequate water, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

- Another key factor is the timing of your food. You shouldn’t just skip a meal. Skipping meals actually puts your body in a mode where it reduces your metabolic rate (and hence burns fewer calories), eats muscle and starts storing fat. Consuming food at the right time is key for providing optimum nutrition to your body, and increase fat burn.

There are many well endorsed diets like the Atkins Diet and the GM Diet (General Motors Diet), which at Fitho we don’t use because we consider them unhealthy since they are not balanced diets. They have their share of side effects -

Atkins Diet: Because of no carbohydrate intake, lack of calcium and high saturated fat content, it is considered dangerous. Your body goes into ketosis resulting in bad breath, weakness, insomnia, constipation, etc

GM Diet: We don’t consider this diet to be balanced. There are claims of hair loss, etc. Drastic loss of weight is not due to fat loss, but due to water loss.

Diets have to be customized to your needs. At Fitho, we provide you diet plans that are customized to you, that you will enjoy, and produce results. See our weight loss success stories.

So the next time you think about losing weight, get advice from a fitness and nutrition expert and also understands you and your needs.