Walking is a wonderful way to take off that weight we all want to get rid of.  But it does take time, and who wants to wait?  Here are some great ways to make walking burn calories faster.

Strengthen those muscles.  Doing weight bearing exercise in addition to walking burns through almost twice the fat just walking does.  Add some squats or lunges to put the extra pressure on the thighs, hips and butt, you don’t even have to use weights, just use your own body.  You can do this while you walk, or any time you have the chance.  Make sure you don’t do it more than every other day, this gives the muscles time to recover, and get ready to burn more fat.

While you walk, add some extra bursts.  If you put on some extra speed for a few seconds, you can burn fat even faster.  High intensity intervals during exercise burns more than twice the fat.  Just put on some speed for a few seconds (or longer) then walk normally until you get your breath back, then do it again.  This will really kick up your metabolism and help you burn calories, even when not walking.

Walking and losing weight can help in all sorts of ways.  You will lower your risk of breast cancer, stroke, depression, colon cancer, diabetes, heart attack, it can even help with the symptoms of PMS and menopause.  Exercise boosts your body’s natural defenses.

Make sure you are eating enough.  You need at least 1200 calories a day to keep your body working properly.  Having too much will make you gain weight, but having too little will do the same.  No, I’m not kidding, eating too little will make you gain weight.  Your body expects a certain number of calories each day to maintain itself.  If it gets too much, it stores it because it doesn’t know what else to do with it.  If it gets too little, it stores it because it thinks it needs to save it for emergencies.  Your body doesn’t understand that we can just run to the store and get food.  It thinks we are going into a famine, and won’t be able to get food for a while, so it stores the fat away until we need it.

Drinking plenty of water is a great weight loss tip, too.  I know, it seems if you drink more water, you will weigh more, and retain more water.  Believe it or not, drinking more water keeps you from retaining water.  Just like the food, if your body doesn’t think it is going to get enough, it will horde it for emergencies.  Water also flushes the impurities out of your system so your body doesn’t decide to store them since it doesn’t know what else to do with them.

Build up those muscles, add some intensity, eat plenty of food, and drink plenty of water and you will be well on your way to losing all the extra weight on your body.

Don’t you just hate men who can lose weight quickly and easily? Why is it that women usually have such a tough time with achieving maximum fat loss and keeping the weight off? Have you ever wondered why a man and a woman can follow the exact same diet and not get even close to the same results?

Well, scientists have found that approximately 95% of all women suffer from estrogen dominance. Excessive estrogen in the woman’s body causes disruption and imbalance of the three weight control systems. The three weight control systems that must be balanced in order for a woman to lose weight are hormonal, neurochemical and glandular.

If these three systems are not balanced you will have extreme difficulty achieving maximum weight loss. Once your weight control systems are balanced, you will find it much easier to lose weight and keep the weight off.

To help balance your hormones you should consume eight servings of foods rich in phytonutrients each day. Phytonutrient rich food includes carrots, broccoli, kale, spinach, turnip greens, leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, pink grapefruit, oranges, peaches, strawberries and blueberries.

To help balance your neurochemicals add omega-3 fatty acids to your diet. You should consume around 1g of omega-3s each day. Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids include nuts, salmon and tuna. If you have trouble getting enough omega-3 fatty acids from food you can take a omega-3 supplement like fish oil.

Your adrenal and thyroid glands need to be in good shape and well balanced to help you achieve maximum fat loss. Sea salt works well with helping balance your glandular system. Add 1/4 tsp of sea salts a day to your food. Consuming dark leafy greens and bananas also help with the balancing of your glandular system.

To balance your diet you should also consume four servings of breads, cereals and grains. These fiber rich foods also help flush xenoestrogens. Also consume four servings of protein each day. Good sources of protein include poultry and fish.

Now let’s not forget the water! You need to drink at least 32 oz. of water every day. Water helps flush out fat trapping xenoestrogens and helps to repair worn thyroid and adrenal tissue.  Water is a great way to help lose weight, make your skin look healthy, and just make you feel better.

As with all dietary recommendations and changes, please consult your doctor and make sure any changes or recommendations you plan on using are safe and right for you.

Water is one of the least recognized diet supplements.  If we drink and eat enough water, we can lose weight.  Yes, that’s not a misprint, I said eat water, this will be explained a little later.  We are supposed to get a minimum of eight – eight ounce glasses of water each and every day.  How many of us actually drink half a gallon of water daily?  Water does so much to make you healthier, and most of us don’t get near enough of it.

Water is the easiest dieting idea in the world, but most people ignore it.  It is available everywhere and  doesn’t need anything special to go with it.  Even when you aren’t dieting, always keep water with you.  Many people don’t realize all the wonderful things water does for you every day.  Never go without water, it can have dangerous consequences on your health.

Water will help you to lose, especially around the stubborn stomach area.  Getting more water really helps get rid of the weight you carry around in your midsection.

Eat food with high water content.  Foods such as cucumber, berries, celery contain large amounts of water. Fruits also all have a high water content and help to shrink your waistline.

Fluids, like the ones you get in fruits, help to dilute your blood sugar, which means your body needs less insulin to function properly.  And that in turn means your body doesn’t need to store the excess fat in your belly area.  When your insulin is lower, your body doesn’t like to be heavy.  It wants to lose, and it wants to lose from your stomach area first.

Most fruits are mostly water, so you pretty much can’t go wrong choosing fruit to eat every day.  Apples, strawberries, oranges, blueberries, bananas, melons, etc are all good choices.

When you eat and drink lots of water, you feel much more full.  You don’t feel near as hungry.  Water can fill you up just as much as food can.  And it is better for you than most foods we like.  You can actually cut your calorie count by eating more water-rich foods each day.

By drinking more water and eating more high-water content foods, we will feel fuller, lose weight in that tricky abdominal area, lower blood sugar, and not feel as hungry. I hope this short article opens your eyes to how beneficial water can be to losing weight.

Fiber is a great food for dieting.  It fills you up, and keeps you feeling full for hours.  It also keeps some calories from being absorbed and helps to curb cravings.  It keeps your blood-sugar from spiking, and as a side benefit it keeps you from storing some fat.  One of the best benefits I feel you get from adding fiber to your diet is it helps keep you from being hungry all the time.

Fiber will fill you up very fast, so you end up eating less.  High fiber food is bulky, so it you feel full for a longer amount of time than when you eat non fiber rich foods.

Fiber rich foods help to stop carb cravings.  By eating fiber when your blood-sugar spikes, it will help you to not crave more carbohydrates between meals.  You also won’t feel like snacking at night, since you will still feel full when night time comes.

Fiber also grabs onto some of your calories, and keeps them from being digested and absorbed by the body.  When excess calories are digested, they go straight into fat cells. That’s not a good thing. A fiber rich diet will help to prevent this.

Eating high fiber foods like whole wheat breads and pastas will keep you feeling full much longer than a carbohydrate rich diet.  Since you feel full, you will cut down on the snacking, and lower your overall calorie intake each day.

Fiber keeps you from storing as much fat.  By keeping the blood-sugar from spiking, it limits fat-storage and keeps you from feeling as hungry during the day.

Fiber is such a great fat loss supplement.  You can do almost anything with it.  Get some high fiber pasta, throw in some spices, and you have a great snack you can take and eat anywhere.

Water is a great addition to fiber.  It helps flush your system and keeps you well hydrated.  Be sure to drink your eight-eight ounce glasses of water a day.  That translates to a half gallon since many people use bottled water. Why not also do your part and help keep disposable water bottles out of our landfills and purchase a water filter and reusable water bottles.

Make sure you talk to your doctor about any new diet and/or exercise plan before you start.  Let’s make sure it fits in with your medications and any special limitations you may have.

Long, long ago, before we learned to preserve our food, had electricity and central heat, our bodies had certain things they did during different seasons.  The main one we are concerned with right now is that our bodies had to use our stored fat during the winter.  We are going to see what we can do to trick our body into thinking it is winter long enough to get rid of that extra weight.

Don’t eat fruits, grains, flour, sugar, or any artificial sweeteners.  Since fruits and grains don’t grow in the winter, our bodies think it is summer when we eat them.  That means your body starts storing fat to live off during the winter months.

Turn down all of the lights.  If you keep it dark longer each day, you will simulate the winter sun.  As in not so much of it.  Keeping it dark is another clue that tells your body to burn that fat because it is winter time.

Go to bed earlier each night.  We had to go to bed when it got dark because we didn’t have electricity like we do now.  Not only will you be telling your body to burn fat, you will be getting more sleep, which is something that most of us don’t get nearly enough of in the first place.

Eat more lean meats, cheese, nuts, and drink some wine.  Lean meat could be hunted for in the winter months. Cheese and nuts could be stored for later use much easier than fruits.

Eat before you workout.  Walking or other exercise after you have eaten helps burn more fat.  Remember your parents or grandparents taking a walk after dinner?  It really does help keep the weight off.

If you can do this for just a year, you will be doing your body a huge favor.  But most of us can’t go without for that long.  So if you find you are one of these, do it for two weeks, then add in two fruits a day, and a small amount of starchy food.  One half cup of beans or whole grains will work best.

Some supplements that will be useful while using these weight-loss tips are St John’s Wort, SAMe, chromium picolinate, Garcinia cambogia, selenium, and a probiotic.

As always ask your doctor before beginning any weight-loss, diet or exercise plan, and don’t forget to drink plenty of that most forgotten dieting supplement – water.

Spring is the best time to detox your body.  In the winter, your body becomes sluggish because we tend to eat higher fat foods, and exercise less.  When spring comes along, our bodies are ready for the change.  This will make dieting and losing weight so much easier.

When spring comes, so does the sun.  The sun affects us more than we realize, just like the plants renew themselves, our bodies do the same, so let’s help out.  Since our organs are renewing themselves, what better time to detox?  We are already getting more energy, and our body is ready to quit gaining weight from those fatty foods, and is ready to start slimming down for summer.

The sun also starts our bodies making more hormones and chemicals that help us deal with possible side effects of dieting.  We will be better able to deal with cravings, and have fewer withdrawal headaches.  We will sleep better, our skin will look better, our digestion will work better, and we will feel better mentally and physically which gives us more energy.

Two cups of dandelion tea every day will help you detoxify your body throughout the year.  If you don’t want to take these two weeks, drinking dandelion tea throughout the year will help heal your digestive tract, speeds metabolism, gets rid of toxins, and flushes extra fluid.

If you get spring colds, have high blood pressure, get headaches, have stomach problems, and are slow to heal from injuries, try these tips.  Have a fruit & veggie smoothie twice a day instead of your normal meals.  Combine half a cup of spinach or parsley, one cup of water, one banana, one stalk of celery, and a little bit of beets or cucumber.  Blend.  This helps your liver and your immune system.

Sip lemon water all day long.  Add one lemon’s juice to six cups water, about 1 teaspoon fresh grated lemon zest, and shake it up.  This adds Vitamin C to help heal your body.

If you have skin problems, yeast or urinary tract infections, or have cellulite even in skinny areas, try this.  Drink hot lemon water in the morning.  One half lemon in one cup water helps eliminate toxins more efficiently.

Mix one cup of unsweetened cranberry juice with seven cups water, and drink it all day.  This juice mix will release fat trapped in your body so it can be flushed out.  Mix one tablespoon ground flaxseed into one cup of your juice mixture.  Drink this when you get out of bed, and when you go to bed.  This helps metabolize toxins and body fat.

If you have frequent upper back pains, bloating at the end of the day, gas, indigestions, cramping or diarrhea, these ideas should help.  Mix juice from one half lemon into a cup and a half of hot water.  This cleans your liver and gallbladder.  Combine one cup organic butter and one cup virgin olive oil, cover and refrigerate.  During lunch and dinner, have a bowl of steamed mixed vegetables with one tablespoon of your butter/oil mixture.  Don’t toss the water!!!  Water from steamed vegetables hold vitamins and minerals that help you detox.  Add a little vegetable salt or garlic salt, and drink all day long.

Using one of dieting ideas for spring will help you detox your body, and make your skin glow, give you energy, and keep you feeling healthy all year long.  Using all of them will do even more wonderful things for your body.

Dieting with fast food?  You’ve got to be kidding me!  Nope, you really can use fast food in your diet.  Just follow these tips, you will be able to lose not only the extra weight, but also lower your cholesterol, and lower your blood pressure.

Make sure you eat at a table, and not in your car.  When you eat in your car, it makes you feel like you are sneaking.  And when you think you are being sneaky, why not eat more?  Eat inside at a table and you will eat less.

Choose wisely.  Don’t eat one of everything, don’t eat the fried stuff, don’t have more than one.  Be careful of things like the triple Whopper, large anything, 6-piece anything, and anything with caramel is sure to be a calorie hog.  You can get your whole days calories – plus – from any of these things by themselves.  You will have other days to make other choices.

Eating fast food will reduce your time in the kitchen, and give you more time for other things that are more enjoyable.  You won’t think about eating as often when you are doing something you enjoy.

Be careful of the little extras.  Condiments have a way of sneaking calories into you without you realizing it.  A couple packets of ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, etc, and you have added a lot more than you thought.  Even the cream and sugar in your coffee can creep in there without you noticing.

Just think, you can have french toast sticks, egg McMuffin, a donut, or cereal for breakfast.  Not all of them at once, but you can choose between them and have a variety throughout the week.

Lunch can be a baked potato and a salad, a sub sandwich with chips (baked, not fried), 2 soft tacos, or tuna, cheese and lettuce salad.

Dinner can be a Quarter Pounder with cheese, or chicken with veggies, or even reduced-calorie pizza.

You can have pretzels, fruit, lite yogurt, or a pudding cup for snacks.

Look at all the choices you have.  Eat and still lose weight.  What a deal!

Drink as much water as you want.  Maybe even more.  Most of us don’t get enough water in our diet.  We usually have a cup of coffee, or a soda and count that as the same as water.  It isn’t.  You need to drink a half gallon of water daily.  If you drink caffeine, you need to add even more water, because the caffeine just makes the water go right through you.

Just think.  Eat at fast food places, drink water, and you will spend less time in the kitchen, lose weight, lower your cholesterol and blood pressure, and feel better.  That’s my kind of diet.