Some people have a sluggish metabolism while some have problems with their thyroid or other parts of their hormone system. Perhaps you have been told your problem is genetic. Perhaps you were told that only prescription drugs would help. This is simply not true.

Most people start with the same mistake that is common to becoming overweight – we just eat too much of the wrong foods. Okay, so we have identified the problem and want to correct it. Here’s the hard part. You start eating what you are supposed to so you can lose weight – but you don’t. You are told it’s a “plateau” so you keep going. Food cravings get the best of you and you falter. Now you have to start all over.

If this sounds familiar, like you’ve been there and done that, just know that you are not alone. And – you are not the problem. The problem lies in the fact that your body is stuck. What exactly does this mean?

It means that your body and metabolism are clogged with impurities that stop it from doing what it is supposed to do. Normal body functions are supposed to happen to keep the body in balance. This balance includes your thyroid function, your weight, your ability to lose fat and balance in your moods.

Your body must be in balance so that all your systems work the way they are supposed to. It is supposed to be a natural ability to lose excess fat and excess weight. This does not happen because of many factors, and most lead back to the same problem – toxins or impurities.

If your thyroid is sluggish, chances are that chemicals toxins such as bleach and perchlorate are causing this. (Just so you know, perchlorate is used in the manufacture of rocket fuel and has been leaking into our drinking water for at least 15 years if not more. Check the EPA’s website to learn more.)

It all comes down to toxins. Some toxins mimic hormones, causing imbalances. Other toxins cause you to store fat. You could even call high-fructose corn syrup a toxin now that it is becoming clear it may be a major cause of obesity and food cravings.

If you have fat around your stomach area, your body is obviously not eliminating everything it doesn’t need – because you certainly don’t need that.

This is why it is imperative to help your body cleanse these toxins. You must help your body eliminate waste and flush fat.

Cleansing your body means you must stop eating foods that have harmful byproducts in them and to start eating food that is easier to digest. Taking extra fiber can help soften and remove buildup that can cause your body to not work the way it is supposed to.

Remember that it took years to create an unhealthy body and you are trying to undo the damage in a shorter period of time. You can easily help your body remove 40 pounds and more in just a couple or few months that took years to pack on.

Any type of diet or program that helps your body lose excess waste and junk it doesn’t need is a type of cleanse. So take it a step further and add a colon cleanse or body cleanse to your program. It will expedite the process and make your fat loss more permanent.

There are many resources and loads of information to help your. Do your research and don’t overlook one of the most important aspects of fat loss and weight loss. Do yourself and your body a favor by helping it to cleanse.

1. Exercise: this activity is a must for attaining the right body posture. Without exercising you may successfully attain the weight loss or fat loss but you are unable to obtain the right body posture that you want.

2. Train your muscles: the best way of loosing calories is to train your muscles and build them up. When you train and build your muscles, they work efficiently and thus, the metabolic rate of your body increases thus increasing your activity. Hence you can curb lot many calories by just building your muscles and exercising.

3. Eat early: make your larger meals during the day and have smaller dinner meals. Because while you sleep, the calories obtained from your food are all stored into the body in the form of fat. Thus, you gain fat from these dinner meals. This can be avoided by eating larger lunches and breakfasts but cutting down on the dinner.

4. Get proteins: when you consume proteins, it helps increase the metabolic rate of your body thus making you fit for lot of activity. Thus, while you are trying to burn your calories, proteins may help you become stronger and exercise more than you normally do or have done. Also, while you cut down on some food items because of fats, protein consumption helps you maintain protein levels in your body which might have gone low due to giving up of these food items.

5. Planning: plan your meal timetable and your exercise timetable and maintain it in a book. This might help you to get an idea of what things you should continue doing and what you shouldnt, after a few days. If you keep a track of your food, you can show it a nutritionist after regular gaps and get it modified for better results.

6. Do not scrutinize: body fat burning is a long process and requires a lot of time. So, if you measure your body each day, you may see no changes from day to day but if you try and measure it after two months, you might see the changes immediately. These changes might help encouraging you to do it much better than what you are at it now.

7. Continuation: once you have obtained the perfect size, you should not let your diet go out of your hands again. Keep a track of it. You might start eating some calorie rich food stuffs but keep a record on the quantity that you are eating. This might help you maintain your body posture.

Here are two tips for adjusting the way you think to help you succeed with any fat loss plan you choose.

1. Avoid self-sabotaging thoughts: Self-sabotaging thoughts will do you more harm than a bad plan or even a junk food binge. If you are always thinking that you can’t stick to your fat loss plan, can’t do the things you need to do in order to meet your goals, how can you ever achieve them?

Your mind is powerful and if you keep telling yourself you won’t succeed, you won’t. So what can you do to prevent this problem? Do what you can do as best you can, and keep leaning into it. By that, I mean keep pushing toward your goals. If you can’t do the full workout right away, don’t give up. Do what you can and try to do a little more each time until you succeed.

If, for example, thirty push-ups is overwhelming for you, start small. Start with 10, or even 5, and work your way up. Congratulate yourself for doing what you can and try to do a little better next time. When you start with what you can do and keep at it, over time it becomes much easier to reach your goals! And here’s something to watch for. Many of the people who designed the top fitness programs realize that you may not be able to do the full plan right away. They include help like workouts that you can do without a gym or any equipment. That way, you can work your way into the full program successfully.

2. Get support: Proper support is essential in order to keep you determined and motivated. Without real support it is too easy to get discouraged and give up. If you do of course, you won’t be able to lose weight successfully. That’s why it is essential that you enlist the support of your friends and family in achieveing your goals for losing fat. Who else would want you to succeed more than your loved ones?

It also helps if you choose a fat loss program which offers support to its members in the form of a support group or forum. In a forum, you will get support and tips from your peers and experts alike! If nothing else, choose a popular plan. If you are following one of the more popular plans, it’s highly likely that someone you know is too. You can provide support for each other in sticking to the program.

Surround yourself with supportive people and stay away from the negative people who find fault with your efforts or subtly tear you down.

1. Set small goals: Most people are unable to achieve their fat loss goals because they focus on the end result. There’s nothing wrong with thinking big, but if you only look at the final goal, it can be overwhelming and intimidating.

Sure, your overall goal may be to reduce your body fat percentage by 8%. But focusing on that difficult and distant goal makes thing seem do difficult that you might feel tempted to quit your fat loss program altogether!

Instead of thinking how much further you have to go to cut your body fat percentage by 8%, concentrate on what you’re going to do to reduce it by one percent. Start slow and you will find it much easier to stay positive!

Or think about avoiding junk foods completely. Could you give up all your favorite treats today? You can try, but it probably won’t work. You would probably succeed in avoiding all junk foods for a day or two.

But soon you would be craving your favorite snack. After a few more days, you would likely go on a junk food binge and end up fatter than you were when you started avoiding junk food.

Instead of quitting all at once, try to replace one junk food with one good food. You might replace butter with a lower-fat alternative for example. After a week or two you would get used to that change. Then you could replace another white bread with whole grain breads or something like that.

You might not be achieving all your goals immediately, but you are more likely to eventually get there if you do it slowly, bit by bit. Eventually you will have completely replaced your bad foods with the healthy foods, but without going through any stress or temptation!

2. Replace bad habits with the better ones: If you think about it, you’ll realize that you became fat because of bad habits. Sometimes you can completely break an old habit if you try, but it is hard. In other cases, replacing a unhealthy habit with a more healthy one is more practical.

For example, you might have a habit of snacking in the afternoon. Instead of trying to break your afternoon snacking habit, you could change what you snack on. If you eat chocolate chip cookies every afternoon as snacks, you could replace them with low-fat yogurt and fresh fruit. That’s much less stressful than giving up the habit of snacking in the afternoon altogether.

3. Get rid of temptations: If you’re like me, you find it almost impossible to resist your favorite snack foods when they’re in the house. It’s much easier to resist my ice cream cravings when satisfying them requires a trip to the supermarket.

All temptations are much easier to resist when they’re hard to satisfy. So make it easy on yourself and don’t buy the foods you love to snack on or the fattening dinners that you can’t resist. If you keep only healthy stuff in the house, you are much more likely to eat healthy, which means you are much more likely to meet your fat loss goals.

When you don’t get enough sleep (typically between 7 and 9 hours a night) you’re not only going to be tired during the day, you’re going to mess up the levels of key hormones in your body. Researchers have shown that a lack of sleep changes the amounts of two key hormones that control how much we eat. A hormone called Grehlin controls how hungry we feel while one called Leptin tells our brains that we’re full and should stop eating.

When you aren’t getting enough sleep, the amount of Grehlin in your body increases, while the amount of Leptin decreases. The result is that you are hungrier than you would normally be, and you don’t feel full as quickly when you eat. And the result of that is that you tend to eat too much.

Also, if you’re like me, when you are really sleepy, you need to eat to stay awake. When I’m exhausted, I’m much more likely to snack too much, and I’ll usually choose sugary, high-calorie snacks for the quick jolt of energy they give me. More food and less healthy food is a sure formula for fat loss failure.

A chronic lack of sleep also affects your workouts. When you are tired, you don’t have the energy you need to work out as hard as you would if you were well rested. And of course if you don’t work out as hard as you otherwise would, you’ll get less benefit from the workout, which just makes any fat loss program that much less effective.

An indirect effect of too little sleep on your workouts is the increased chance of getting hurt. When you are exhausted, you’re more likely to use improper form in some exercise, or make a mistake that leaves you injured. Missing workouts because you were so tired you hurt yourself will definitely sabotage your fat loss plans.

So make sure you get enough sleep whenever you can. There was a time when people thought that sleeping made you fat. Now we know that not sleeping too little makes you fat, and getting a full nights sleep is a key part of any fat loss plan.

Well, my answer for one of my favorite all around fat burning lunches is:

- 1/2 can chick peas (garbanzos) [Eden brand in non-BPA lined]

- 3/4 cup fresh chopped baby carrots

- 1 tablespoon of raisins – red or green

- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar or red-wine vinegar

- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

- sea salt & crushed black pepper to taste

I always prefer to choose fresh organic foods when possible and convenient…

How does this easy fat reduction/weight loss recipe burn fat?

- it is under 400 calories (a big difference compared to a lot of other unhealthy foods people choose for breakfast, lunch or dinner)

- it has well-balanced amounts of protein, fiber and healthy high nutrient value carbohydrates (the good ones)

- since this fitness meal is highly unprocessed, the body has to work at breaking down the foods, a great thing for boosting metabolism.

You can even add some garlic powder and/or onion powder to give this simple diet recipe a nice spicy kick. You can actually add almost any spice or herb without adding calories – which only helps to enhance the fat loss value of the recipe. This happens by making you feel satisfied since you ate something quite flavorful and appetizing – unlike many other bland or sodium loaded, packaged diet foods.

Feel free to create your own healthy variation of this tasty fat loss combo – buy using a different type of bean, a different vegetable, different spices or condiments – or a different type of dried fruit.

You really can’t mess this fat loss recipe up. It’s fast, easy and in a healthy way – somewhat addicting. It’s also a great model for creating other simple and appetizing weight loss recipes.

What most people like about this type of recipe is that it only takes about 7 minutes to prepare and you can make extra to refrigerate for the next day.

Another untold benefit of this type of recipe is that your family will even like it – making your life that much easier.

So you really have nothing to lose. The only thing you have to lose is unwanted body fat.

From your choice of wrap to how you actually cook it can make the difference between bloating yourself up with unnecessary carbohydrates and fat, or feeding your body in way that leaves you full of energy & satisfied, while keeping you in a favorable calorie range.

Here is how to make your own Fat-Loss Quesadilla:

1) Start with a wrap that is made from whole grain – not just ‘with’ whole grain. Feel free to experiment with other brands and flavors – addressing the types of grains, fiber, etc. – One brand I like is the Wrap-itz from ‘Tam-X-icos!’ – but there are many others.

Pull out 2 tortillas.

2) Scramble an extra large egg using non-stick spray, such as Pam Organic Olive Oil Spray.

3) Keep in mind, this is a 2 serving quesadilla, so you can share it with someone or save the 2nd serving for tomorrow’s lunch. Using a pan that will allow the tortilla to lay flat in, warm the pan on very low heat.

4) Add a tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the pan and a tablespoon of butter. Then place one tortilla in the pan. Add 2 rounded tablespoons of cheddar cheese and spread evenly on tortilla.

5) Add the following:

- quarter cup of canned green beans.

- 2 rounded tablespoons of canned, or fresh corn.

- 2 rounded tablespoons of canned sweet peas.

- Spread the scrambled egg over veggies.

- Add sea salt, black pepper, onion powder & garlic powder to taste.

- Sprinkle with another tablespoon of cheddar cheese.

6) Place the 2nd tortilla on top & gently press with spatula so cheese sticks to it. Check bottom with spatula to see if it is starting to brown. Lift up top tortilla – if cheese is sticking – its time to turn it over. Using your spatula, scoop under & lift out of pan pace your other hand on top, flip over & place in pan.

Cook for about 4 – 5 minutes – the bottom should look like the top – a dark/golden brown.

Cut in half & eat. Remember, this is 2 servings. And here is the nutrient profile for a single serving:

Calories: 350

Fat: 22 grams

Protein: 13 grams

Carbohydrates: 25 grams

Sodium: 380 mg

Fiber: 6 grams

For 350 calories you get a nutrient dense, well-balanced, great-tasting, appetite-satisfying fat loss meal that can fit into almost anyone’s fat loss diet program. You can also create your own variations of this to match it perfectly to your fat loss goals.

One of the biggest myths about fat loss is that it can be achieved without the aid of exercise and a healthy diet. This is definitely not true. The fad diets that you see advertised anywhere you care to look are unsustainable, unhealthy, and some of them are downright dangerous.

When you try to lose fat, you are not aiming to necessarily lose bodyweight, but instead, you are aiming to tone your muscles and lose the overhanging skin. If you are confused about the concept of losing weight versus losing fat, think of a bodybuilder. Most bodybuilders weigh much more per inch than the average person. They also have an infinitely smaller percentage of body fat than most of the rest of us.

Now you are ready to blast some fat, here are some top tips to help you lose the rolls and improve your body the healthy way:

Do Some Cardio Exercise

Though it might sound boring, any kind of cardiovascular exercise will help you to burn fat. You are aiming for a longer duration, lower intensity kind of workout. Perhaps you would like to walk, swim, cycle, jog, or even just take your dog for a long trek in the woods. When you exercise, your body needs fuel for your muscles. Therefore, it uses the food that you have recently eaten first and then turns to your fat stores for energy. Aim for around 45 minutes of cardio exercise four or five times per week for optimal results.

Watch What You Eat

When you consume more fuel than your body uses, the excess is stored in fat cells. If you eat 5000 calories each day, but only use 3000, the extra 2000 will add to your body fat. You need to aim to work towards a small calorie deficit each day of around 10%. This way, you will lose fat in a gradual and healthy manner. Remember that starvation is not the answer. It confuses your body and may actually lead to a substantial weight gain.

Become Less Efficient

Though we all groan loudly when we have to make a second trip up the stairs for a forgotten item, we are actually expending twice the energy, and therefore twice the calories. Park a little further from the store instead of waiting five minutes for a closer space, take the elevator instead of the stairs, or take the dog am extra block for his daily walk. The point is that any exercise is healthy, and any kind of exercise is better than no exercise. You do not have to be pounding away at the gym to burn fat!

Eat More Fiber

Fiber is not only better for your body than many of the other alternatives, but it also makes you feel fuller. Though a chocolate bar might satisfy your sugar cravings, you will be craving more food within an hour of eating it. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains are all packed with fiber, and are also devoid of the nasty chemicals which contribute to fat storage on the body.

Drink Plenty of Water

Water is great for fat loss in several different ways. Firstly, it is healthy for the body and helps rid our system of the toxins we ingest on a daily basis. Secondly, a glass of water will make you feel much fuller when eaten before a meal. Thirdly, water contains none of the sugars, carbs, or calories that can be found in many brands of juice and soda. Not everyone likes to slug down glass after glass of water, but aim for 6-8 glasses daily if you can.

Losing fat is not only preferable for the aesthetic appearance of your body, but it is also crucial to your good health. An overabundance of fat can leave your body susceptible to diabetes, stroke, and heart attack. Small and healthy improvements can make all the difference, so get started today!

rather walk over hot coals than take that step onto the scale? Maybe it is time to fight fat with a fat loss diet.

Obesity and excessive weight gain is reaching epidemic proportions for people around the globe. Not only in the United States, where there is a more

prominent association with poor eating habits and less exercise, but more and more, people in Europe and Asia are seeing signs of growing obesity rates.

This can be associated in part to the increase of high fat, prepackaged convenience foods as well as unhealthy fast food becoming readily available

everywhere. In addition, inactivity is becoming more of a trend around the world as the last few generations have been more able to purchase automobiles

eliminating the need to walk to and from work, shops, and bus stops.

With all these expanding waistlines and increasing sizes, people are clamoring for the next quick fix. The weight loss industry is a multi-billion

dollar yearly industry and most individuals seeking to lose weight spend at least some portion of their annual salaries on weight loss products, diet

pills, gym memberships, and exercise equipment. Mostly the products go unused, the pills dont work, the gym memberships expire and the exercise

equipment you brought home with the best of intentions has now turned into a coat rack.

So how do you shed those extra pounds? How do you fight fat? By selecting a fat loss diet, you are able to lose weight without going hungry, and quickly

find yourself well on the way to weight loss success. The key component of a fat loss diet is to eat more. But isnt eating what made you fat in the

first place? You just might be asking. Doesnt it make more sense to eat less? Actually your body needs food to convert to fuel to keep your body

operating at peak efficiency. So the trick is to eat more often so your body has a constant supply of energy producing fuel. However, as you know, the

items you choose to eat cannot be high-fat foods, high-calorie foods or food high in sugar. If you choose, correct portions of healthful foods such as

fruits, vegetables, grains and sources of protein such as chicken and fish, you can eat up to five or six times per day and still lose weight!

So, what’s the problem with this format?

To be completely blunt, straight sets are an extremely inefficient way to order your exercises. In most commercial gyms you’ll typically see someone perform three sets of 10 reps for let’s say the bench press, or better yet a chest press machine (boy do I hate exercise machines – more on that later). They pump out 10 reps, go to the water fountain, talk with some buddies, watch a couple of highlights on ESPN, and then gingerly walk back to the bench area (or machine area) to hit up their second set. In general, most people, guys in particular, tend to take about 3-5 minutes between sets. In the case of three sets of 10 on the bench that means it would take up to 15 minutes to complete only one movement pattern (a horizontal push). That means you’d need at a minimum of an hour to perform no more than four measly exercises! No wonder body builders spend hours in the gym.

A much more effective and time-efficient approach to ordering your exercises is utilizing the alternating set format. Here you’ll perform one exercise, rest for a short period of time, then perform another non-competing exercise, rest for a short period of time, and so forth. Alternating sets allow you to work different areas of your body when you would otherwise be resting with the straight set format. Plus, by working another area of your body with a non-competing exercise you allow your body to recover from the previous exercise(s). The result is improved training economy and density: more work accomplished in less time, the cornerstone of any sound fat loss program. In addition we can now factor in some important corrective exercises like stretching tight muscles, working on mobility, or even doing some cardio based exercises too.

Here’s a quick example of what I’m talking about

Exercise#1- Squats

Exercise#2- Push up

Exercise#3- Step up

Exercise#4- Inverted row

Exercise#5- Lo – Ab heel taps

Perform this circuit up to five times or as many sets as you can handle in a 30 minute total body fat burning workout.

Basically, instead of getting just three sets on the bench in 15 minutes, you could have gotten in three, four (maybe more) sets of five different exercises. Plus, the intensity on each exercise will be just as high as in the straight set format because in this five exercise circuit you will have full recovery before you return to any given exercise (just as you did with the straight set format described earlier).

To recap, the key to creating the optimal hormonal environment for fat loss is to perform each exercise with maximal intensity while separated by brief rest periods in order to accumulate a high volume of total body work in the shortest amount of time possible. Circuit training provides for the best of both worlds and is thus simply unmatched for simultaneously maximizing fat loss and lean muscle gain. Use the following template I use with my many boot camp clients for some killer, yet simple fat loss circuits:

Exercise#1- Double-Leg

Exercise#2- Push

Exercise#3- Single-Leg

Exercise#4- Pull

Exercise#5- Core

There you have. A more time efficient and more fat loss generating workout. Try it out you will love it.

JZ