Doctor, Why Can't I Loose Weight and by the Way Why Do I Feel Sick? By Dr. Steven Zodkoy

Doctor, Why Can’t I Loose Weight and by the Way Why Do I Feel Sick?

This the number one question heard in my office and in physicians’ offices throughout America. There is a strong relationship between weight gain, difficulty in loosing weight and feeling sick. Candida Albicans, an opportunistic fungus, is often the link between weight gain, feeling ill and the difficulties people have with loosing weight. Focusing on removing Candida Albicans from the body rewards the dieter with a feeling of well being and weight loss that is steady, sustainable and healthy.


Americans are embracing the low carbohydrate diet for its ability to reduce their waist size and weight even when other diets have failed. The more important benefits of a low carbohydrate diet are usually lost in our obsession with weight. Low Carbohydrate diets have been used by nutritionists and holistic physicians for decades to control Candida Albicans. The weight loss and feeling of well being that accompanies a low carbohydrate diet is mostly associated with controlling this serious, but often over looked health condition.


I often see patients in my office who want to lose weight and have tried every diet and pill on the market with little success. During their history they often reveal a list of symptoms and complaints that they feel have no relationship to their weight problem. These patients do not realize that their weight problem and their other complaints are symptomatic of a more serious health condition known as systemic Candida Albicans. By concentrating on treating the underlying Candida Albicans my patients are able to loose weight and improve their overall health.


Betty F. . . was consulting with me for continued weight gain. She was finding it difficult to stick to a diet and exercise, partly since she saw such limited results. During her consult she admitted to gas, indigestion and fatigue. Her history included birth control pills, antibiotic use and several yeast infections. Her treatment plan included a low carbohydrate diet, nutritional supplements, and anti fungal herbals. She returned is 4 weeks, she had been able to stick to the diet with much greater ease, she felt more energetic and had no more gas. She was even happier that she had been able to loose 9 lbs. She reached her goal of a total weight loss of 22 lbs over the course of 3 months and has been able to keep it off. She now sticks to a sound diet and only takes a multi nutrient with herbals.



Candida Albicans is opportunistic yeast that often over whelms the body after antibiotic, may be passed from person to person with the exchange of body fluids, and from direct contact. It may be found in the reproductive tract, the mouth, the GI tract and in the blood. There are several common signs of Candida Albicans including vaginal yeast infections, thrush, jock itch and athlete’s foot. Candida Albicans has been linked to a number of health conditions including; asthma, depression, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, hypoglycemia, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), learning disabilities, menstrual problems, Migraines, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity Syndrome (MCSS), Prostatitis, sinus problems, and Urinary Tract Infections (UTI).


One of the major secondary problems associated with Candida Albicans is weight gain. A number of the problems associated with loosing weight and staying with a diet are doing to Candida Albicans. A person with systemic Candida Albicans will often crave sugar and simple carbohydrates because this is the main source of nutrients for yeast. Mood swings and depression are often associated with the rapid change in blood sugar levels caused by the yeast. Patients often complain of gas and bloating caused by the fermentation of foods in their intestines by the yeast which naturally release gas, just like in Champaign and beer. The fermentation of foods in the intestine may also lead to alcohol production that is absorbed through the gut and may lead to symptoms of confusion, altered behavior, and difficulty concentrating. Determining whether you have a Candida Albicans can make a big difference on how easy you will be able to lose weight and keep your weight loss off.


Questions to determine if you may have Candida Albicans:


1. Have you used antibiotics in the last 2 years?


2. Do you have gas or bloating?


3. Do you have sugar cravings?


4. Do you have low blood sugar?


5. Do you have history of yeast infections, vaginal, oral, athletes foot, or jock itch?


6. Does your partner have a history of yeast infections, vaginal, oral, athletes foot, or jock itch?


7. Are you sensitive to smells?


8. Are you sensitive to alcohol?


9. Do you suffer from symptoms that your doctor cannot explain like; headaches, migraines, depression, diarrhea, dizziness, IBS, menstrual or sinus problems?


10. Do you feel fatigued all the time?


11. Do you have a hard time concentrating?


12. Do you just not feel right?


Candia Albicans can be diagnosed by a blood analysis by your physician, though many traditional physicians do not regularly order this test. A major problem with treating Candida Albicans is the low regard most physicians place on controlling it spread. A recent study showed that 27% of nurses and 33% of doctors have Candida Albicans on their hands in a hospital. You can get a reasonable idea if you have problems with Candida Albicans by answering the questions in the box above. A yes answers to 6 or more questions above, associated with any of the signs or symptoms listed above, is a good indicator that you may have a Candida Albicans problem. Dr. Mark Leder, a chiropractor and nutritionist in NYC, states “ I have treated thousands of women for weight loss and I find that over 75% of them are suffering from Candida Albicans. I tell them, you want to loose weight,? You want to be healthy? Deal with the Candida problem and everything else will follow.” A low carbohydrate diet is the first step to dealing with Candida Albicans, but an herbal anti fungal is just as important.


When Candida Albicans presents itself as a vaginal yeast infection or athletes foot will often be treated with medication. Medications may be oral or topical and can be in prescription or over the counter strength. The problems with medications is that they are often short term and or do not get to the root of the problem. To properly reduce the amount of Candida Albicans in the body a low carbohydrate diet is the first step. Nutritional and herbal supplements are also key components. Regular intake of natural anti fungal supplements gives the body a chance to gentle and slowly reduce the amount of Candida Albicans in the body. There are a number of natural anti fungal herbals and products available on the market, but quality and effectiveness vary greatly. One of the best products available, through physicians offices only, is called RxBotanicals Diet Enhancer which contains powerful anti fungal and natural herbal relaxants. The combination of anti fungal and natural herbal relaxants found in RxBotanicals Diet Enhancer gentle lowers the amount of Candida Albicans in the body while making the dieting experience easier and more successful.


America will continue to focus on the weight loss associated with low carbohydrate diets. Nutritionists and physicians will continue to embrace the multitude of health benefits associated with a low carbohydrate diets with herbal remedies and its relationship to reducing Candida Albicans in the body.


Questions or comments can be addressed to Dr. Steven Zodkoy at 732-308-0099 or szo9935741@aol.com

Dr. Steven Zodkoy is the director of Monmouth Advance Medicine in Freehold, NJ. Dr. Zodkoy is a Chiropractor, a Certified Nutritional Specialists, a Certified Clinical Nutritionist and a Diplomat American Board of Clinical Nutritionists. He is frequent expert for news broadcasts, contributing author for magazines and consultant to nutritional companies.

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How To Lose That Pot Belly - Ten Ways To Have A Flat Stomach Without Sit-Ups! By Kamran Minhas

Weight loss is a mental and physical process. First you must have a strong will to lose weight and look great. So when you've made up your mind to lose weight and melt off all the fats in your body, you should make that commitment and go into it with a positive attitude. Second is a physical process, you should work out, cardio workout is a great way to lose weight.The thought of losing that pot belly with cardio (treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike and step aerobics etc etc) and sit ups can be daunting or intimidating and we always think that Wouldn’t it be great if somebody could wave a magic wand over my head and make those extra pounds and pot belly disappear and give me six packs abs? But it is not possible. Slimming down takes time and sweat if you do not have the right method, approaches, and encouragement to assist you along.

So is there any magical way that we dont have to do these painfull situps and still we can lose weight and get a flat abs?
Ofcourse with the right directions and an accurate guideline, it is possible to get a flat stomach and look great and here are these ten simple and useful tips and method you can adopt easily and get your desire results.

POSITIVE APPROACH:
whether it is a weight loss or a better job, When ever you want to achieve something in life you must think like a winner. Always go at it with a positive set of mind and commitment. Slimming down and losing weight is not just about diets. It's about a entirely fresh you and the possibility of creating afresh life for yourself.

SET GOALS:
You can lose fifty pounds in a week if you do physical exercise twelve hours a day and consume nothing but celery, it is not realistic and a human cant do it. Always keep in mind that Slow and steady wins the race. Set your small achieveable and realistic goals, do not bite off more than you can chew. . In the end, you’ll have accomplished more.

WAlKING FOR WEIGHT LOSS:
Walking for weight loss is the easy, Fun, cheap and low impact form of exercise to incorporate into day-to-day life. Walking for weight loss is a easiest weight loss exercise that provides an alternative to increase the calorie deficit required to induce weight loss. It is one of the best methods to slim down.

MAINTAINING A FOOD DAIRY:
Always maintain a food dairy of what you had eaten and what you will eat. Eat five small meals a day instead of taking three big meals a day and always start your day with a break fast and stop eating three hours before going to bed.

SAY NO TO WHITE BREAD:
Did you know that white bread isn’t healthy? Oh, it’s true, just ask any diabetic. Research has shown that people who eat more refined products like white bread are more expected to have belly fat.

DONT SHOP WHEN HUNGRY:
Never go to shopping when you are hungry or you will end up buying more fattening food. Best thing is to eat before going for food shopping and always prepare a grocery list. Only buy food which relates to your each week diet program.

WEIGH YOURSELF:
Weight yourself once every week and maintain your weight loss record.

NEVER SKIP MEAL:
Never Skip your meals because eating step-ups your matabolism so skipping meals can slow down your metabolism. Always eat slowly and chew each bite completely to decrease your appetite.Chew everything from 10 to 20 times and count. Drinking hot water as instead of cold water can step-up the speed of your metabolism and burn more calories.

EGG WHITES:
Always try to make dishes like Omelettes using egg white only. it is very low in fat and high in protein.

JOIN SUPPORT GROUP:
When you are on your way to achieve any goal you set for your self you always need a moral support and a best moral support can be from the person you already achieve the goal or trying to achieve. thats why find a weight loss buddy or join support group. This will help you stay with your goal.

In the end I must say that you should Lose weight for yourself, not to please your love ones like your parents or your friends etc and Drink at least eight glasses of water a day. Water itself helps cut down on water retention because it acts as a diuretic.

written by _K_M_ .
www.kmreports.com Read free reports, articles and information on weight loss, fitness and health and the methods i have used to loss 63 lbs of extra weight.

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How To Lose Arm Fat! By Brian Bonito

Don’t you hate that underarm jiggle? Who doesn’t? The only way to dump to lose the arm fat is to begin an all out assault on your body composition. You’ve got to make a commitment to weight loss, and begin right where you are, with the weight loss and diet tools that you have.

Losing weight seems like such a difficult endeavor. So much has been written, so many books, all these “gurus” have their own way of thought. But what’s the best weight loss plan for you? Answer: the one you can stick with. The best weight loss plan, is a plan you can begin and that will work for you over the long haul.

To lose weight you need to assess your starting point. That means evaluating your life right now. The most prudent way to do this would be to record your actions, on paper, over a three-day period. Get a notepad and carry it around with you. Write down your daily routine, your diet, when you eat, and maybe even record some of your thoughts as they occur to you.

At the end of the third day you should have a pretty good idea as to what your habits (good and bad) are. On the fourth day spare a moment and reassess all that you’ve written, circling the things you feel might be halting your weight loss progress.

Here’s a quick weight loss secret. It isn’t usually what you “need to do” to lose weight, it’s more likely what you need “to stop doing” to begin reaping weight loss benefits, which in turn will help you shrink your body and lose arm fat.

At the beginning there is internal struggle—many people prefer to grab an herbal supplement they heard was effective, rather than cut out engaging in a few of the activities that are causing weight gain. This is a mistake because in the end, no matter how much weight you choose to lose, your success will always be in direct proportion to how much discipline you can muster.

Your weight loss job is to slowly begin cutting back, and then eliminating, any one thing that is stopping you from making progress. Take down each weight loss obstacle on at a time. Once you’ve got one habit beat, begin conquering then next. The beauty of this approach is that while you are conquering a bad weight loss habit, you are automatically beginning a new, good weight loss habit.

There is joy in accomplishment, no matter how small. Follow these weight loss beginnings and you will quickly lose arm fat, belly fat, and thigh fat. You will lose so much fat that friends may not recognize you after a while.

Get a FREE weight loss e-book: “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Weight Loss!”
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Ten Tips To Reduce Stress And Lose Belly Fat by Ryan Cote

No matter what your age or circumstances, stress is an inevitable part of everyone's life and ongoing stress actually contributes to gaining weight. Elissa Epel, PhD and assistant professor in the psychiatry department at the University of California, states, "While the immediate...response to acute stress can be a temporary loss of appetite, more and more we are coming to recognize that for some people, chronic stress can be tied to an increase in appetite - and stress-induced weight gain.

"Short term stressful situations, such as anxiety, excitement or fear, cause an adrenaline rush that temporarily burns fat. However, long term stress increases the level of the hormone cortisol in our bodies, causing the body to store excess fat. Most of this extra fat is stored in your belly and hips - exactly where you don't want it.

Although several products claim to reduce cortisol, there is no medical evidence to substantiate those claims. A proven way to minimize cortisol levels in your body and eliminate excess fat is by reducing your stress. There are many additional benefits of stress reduction, such as lowered blood pressure and increased mental health.

Here are several simple ways to de-stress for maximum physical and emotional fitness:

1. Eat at least 4-6 small, well-balanced meals each day to properly maintain the sugar levels in your body and ensure you are getting all the essential vitamins and minerals you need.

2. Drink at least six to eight glasses of water every day to flush the toxins out of your system.

3. Exercise for twenty to thirty minutes three to five times each week. Choose a physical activity you enjoy, such as biking, weight lifting or walking, because getting pleasure from your exercise routine will also help minimize stress.

4. Avoid foods with sugar and caffeine that offer a false sense of energy.5. Avoid alcohol, which has an impact on the sugar levels in your body.

6. Get plenty of sleep every night because when you are tired, you tend to feel more hungry.

7. Engage in activities designed to help you relax, such as yoga or meditation.

8. Watch less television - statistics show that up to ninety percent of people who watch television an hour or more each day fail at their weight loss goals.

9. Avoid crash diets which could increase your stress level and actually cause the production of additional cortisol, alleviating any potential weight loss you may have been able to experience.

10. When you feel really hungry, choose whole-grain, high-fiber foods, like oatmeal and fruit, which keep insulin levels even to control blood sugar and your hunger.By reducing the stress in your life, you can get rid of excess fat and emotional baggage at the same time!

By reducing the stress in your life, you can get rid of excess fat and emotional baggage at the same time!

About the Author:Ryan Cote is the owner of WeightLoss-Programs-Reviewed.com, a website that reviews the top 4 best weight loss programs & plans. Free health tips & articles also available.

Learn The Fundamentals Of Weight Management by Dan Dailey

Proper weight management is about much more than simply focusing on a single number, your weight. There are other, very important, objective measurements to add to your intellectual toolkit - BMI, waist circumference, body fat percentage, muscle-to-fat ratio and others - in order to achieve a physical result.

That physical result, too, should be more than just reducing a number. Your fundamental goals are to look attractive and optimize your health. Everything else is a means to those ends.

The first step to achieving those interlocking twin goals is to recognize that there are no short cuts, no easy and safe 'miracle cures'. There are aids that modern nutritional and exercise science can supply. By all means, take advantage of them.

But along with proper nutritional supplements, appetite suppressants and the like, it's still essential to have a proper diet and adequate daily exercise.

Some appetite suppressants, when used under a reputable doctor's guidance, can be a helpful short-term addition to the overall program.

But when you stop taking them, in the overwhelming majority of cases, the weight will quickly return unless they are only part of an overall strategy. That strategy has to include good nutrition and proper exercise.

There are hundreds of fad diets around. The 'low carb, high protein' diet is one of the latest. People following them often experience rapid weight loss, initially. But the long term benefits are few and the costs are high.

Carbohydrates are the primary source of energy for the body. When the body has a shortage of available carbohydrates (chiefly glucose) to use to produce energy, it turns to other sources.

One result of that, though, is often muscle loss and not just fat consumption. Low carbohydrate diets reduce the amount of glucose available in the muscles and liver. That leads to muscle fatigue and less tone. At the same time, that fatigue also makes exercise more difficult and less pleasant.

It also leads to a lower basal metabolic rate, which means fewer calories will be consumed per hour than would otherwise be the case.

That's an unhealthy trade off for a rapid, short-term weight loss.

What's needed instead is a disciplined, long-term commitment to lifestyle change. That, admittedly, is much more difficult than simply changing a few things on the menu. It requires learning more about nutrition, and more care in the selection of things to eat.

It may mean substituting whole grain brown rice for potatoes. It means substituting fruits for ice cream and candy as dessert.

At the same time a person is struggling to change eating habits, something very difficult to do when the body is urging a return to the old items, another hurdle needs to be overcome: beginning a regular exercise program.

Regular exercise is the second factor essential to proper weight management.

It isn't necessary to become a fitness fanatic, but a regular series of vigorous running or weight lifting or other form of age-appropriate exercise is critical. That requires great willpower, to be sure.

Most people give up too soon, because they try too hard at first. That results in injury and abandoning the program.

Think long term, make changes slowly but permanently, and you'll find that weight is the last thing you have to think about. Your general appearance and health will improve. Those are the ends to keep in mind.

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Building A Better Body One Brick At A Time By Tom Venuto

The quest to develop a stunningly fit, lean and attractive body is a long, slow journey. It's not something you achieve overnight by popping a few pills or strapping an electric gizmo to your belly.

Which reminds me, did you know that by the time the FTC finally blew the whistle on the electronic ab belt scam, the makers of those "ab zappers" had swindled over $100 million dollars from unsuspecting consumers? Fortunately, some of those companies had to pay it back, and then some! The FTC charged three companies - Fast Abs, Ab Tronic and Ab Energizer - with false advertising and deceptive warranty practices for these "ABSurd" products.

But I digress… back to what I was saying about the journey to a better body...

Last week I looked out my window, and where there was once nothing but a dirt-filled empty lot, there stood a sprawling six story brick condo complex. If someone looked at this massive completed structure for the first time, they might not be impressed. However, since I observed the entire construction process unfold from my living room window, I was impressed - amazed even - at what goes into erecting this kind of structure.

I remember watching the crew humming around diligently every day like busy bees, laying one brick after another. From one day to the next, it didn't seem like much changed. But slowly, over a period of a year and a half, I watched the building gradually morph into the finished product.

When you look at someone with an incredible body as a finished product, you often tend to dismiss the long, arduous journey and hard work it took to build that body. Unless you were side by side with that person in the gym (and in the kitchen), observing the work involved, it's easy to attribute such a chiseled physique to genetics or give credit to a supplement (they just took product XYZ and voila - overnight abs). What you don't see or appreciate are all the months and years of sweat and hard work.

Getting in shape is a lot like a construction project. First, there must be a picture in the mind. Then the vision goes onto paper as a blueprint. It takes months just to lay the foundation. More months of work will follow. On a daily basis, it doesn't seem like much is happening. You look in the mirror and appear, for the most part, the same as you did yesterday. But sure enough, the small improvements are slowly accumulating like compounding interest in the bank. One day, you look in the mirror and "suddenly," your blueprint has become reality.

The body of a fitness pro or bodybuilding champion is no more likely to be built overnight than a high rise is to be built overnight. It's not physically possible. Accepting the idea that any type of pill, powder, drug, supplement or machine of any kind will make it happen sooner is pure folly. You can't force it.

Growth and development of any kind always requires a gestation period. For a baby, it's nine months. For corn, I believe it's about three months. If you were an expectant mother, would you want to hurry the process? Could any new development in nutrition or medical science speed up this wonderful miracle even one iota? If you were a farmer, would you try to harvest your crop before it was ripe? Would you dig up your seeds to see if anything was growing down there?
The answers are obvious. If only we would adopt the same patient, nurturing "mother's" or "farmer's mindset" towards getting in shape, then no one would waste their money on "fast abs" or "exercise in a bottle" or any such silliness ever again. We would understand that one must sow first, then reap the harvest, but that you can't sow and reap in the same season.

If you ever get frustrated with your rate of progress (and who doesn't), just remember; success is always guaranteed to the persistent. Nothing in the world can stop someone who knows what they want and is willing to continue paying the price until they get it. It just takes time.

Become the architect and builder of your own dream body. You WILL build the body you want eventually if you're patient enough and you refuse to quit. And set your goals HIGH! Create a fantastic blueprint. Michelangelo said, “The greatest danger is not that we set our goals too high and miss them, the greatest danger is that we set our goals too low and we reach them.”

Envision a castle - a veritable Taj Mahal of a body! There's nothing wrong with building castles in the sky, as long as you patiently work at putting the foundations underneath them. There are very few unrealistic goals; only goals with unrealistic deadlines. So keep laying those "bricks" - every day - one at a time - and sure enough, eventually, you'll build yourself a palace.

About the Author:Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written hundreds of articles and been featured in IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on dozens of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Fat Loss program, visit: http://tinyurl.com/2d7atf

Don't Be A Big Loser - Why You Should Say No To Quick Weight Loss By Tom Venuto

Patience. It’s the one thing you never seem to have when you’ve got a body fat problem. You want the fat gone and you want it gone now! And why not? It seems so do-able. Everywhere you look, you read and hear promises of quick weight loss and you even see people losing weight quickly. We have reality TV shows that actually encourage people to attempt “extreme” body makeovers or see who can lose weight the fastest, and the winners (or shall we say, the losers), are rewarded generously with fortune, fame and congratulations.

Let’s face it. Everyone wants to get the fat off as quickly as possible - and having that desire is not wrong – it’s simply human nature. However, you must become aware of some serious problems that can occur if you try to force it and lose weight too quickly. The faster you lose weight, the more muscle you will lose with the fat, and that can really mess up your metabolism. An even bigger problem with fast weight loss is that the loss just won’t last. The faster you lose, the more likely you are to gain it back. Think about it: We don’t have a weight loss problem today, we have a “keeping the weight off” problem.

Weight loss will be the healthiest, safest and most likely to be permanent if you set your goal for about two pounds per week (and even if you lose only a single pound each week, that is healthy progress). This is the recommendation of almost every legitimate and respected dietician, nutritionist, exercise physiologist and personal trainer, as well as exercise organizations such as the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Dietetic Association.

Are there any exceptions to this rule? Is it ever okay to lose more than two pounds per week? The answer is yes. It may be ok to lose slightly more than two pounds per week if you have a lot of weight to lose because the rate of weight loss tends to be relative to your total starting body weight. Generally the rule is that it’s safe to lose up to 1% of your total body weight per week, so if you weigh 300 lbs to start, then 3 lbs a week is a reasonable goal.

But there IS a catch.

What really matters is not how much weight you lose, but how much FAT you lose. Where did your weight loss come from? Did you lose body fat or lean body mass?

"Weight" is not the same as "fat." Weight includes muscle, bone, internal organs as well as lots and lots of water. What you really want is fat loss, not weight loss. If you only wanted weight loss, I could show you an easy way to lose 20 or 25 pounds in about 5 minutes. Just come over to my house. I have a really sharp hacksaw in my garage, and we’ll just slice off one of your legs, after all it’s just extra “weight” right?

Let’s look at an example with some numbers so you can really grasp this concept of weight versus fat and then you can see, clearly illustrated, what will happen when you lose weight too quickly (because I know you probably don’t believe me and you STILL want to lose weight as fast as possible… read on and it will all become clear to you).

As an example, let’s take a 260 pound man who has a lot of body fat to lose - let’s call it 32%. With 32% fat, a 260 pounder has 83.2 pounds of body fat and 176.8 pounds of lean mass. Using this example, let’s look at a few possible scenarios with losses ranging from two to four pounds per week.

Weight Loss Scenario 1:

Suppose our 260 pound subject loses four full pounds instead of the recommended two pounds per week. Is this bad? Well, let’s see:

If he loses a half a percent of body fat, here are his body composition results:

256 lbs

31.5% body fat

80.6 lbs fat

175.4 lbs lean body mass

These results are better. Although he lost less body weight than scenario one, in this instance, 2.3 pounds of fat and only 0.7 lbs of lean mass were lost.

Weight Loss Scenario 2:

If he loses a half a percent of body fat and only three pounds, here are his results:

257 lbs

31.5% body fat

80.9 lbs fat

176.1 lbs lean body mass

These results are better. Although he lost less body weight than scenario one, in this instance, 2.3 pounds of fat and only 0.7 lbs of lean mass were lost.

Weight Loss Scenario 3:

What if he only lost two pounds? Here are the results:

258 lbs

31.5% body fat

81.2 lbs fat

176.8 lbs lean body mass

Weight Loss Scenario 4:

Now let’s suppose he loses three pounds but he loses more body fat: .8%

257 lbs

31.2% body fat

80.2 lbs fat

176.8 lbs lean body mass

These are the best results of all. When the weekly fat loss is .8%, 100% of the three pounds lost is fat.

So the answer to the question is yes - it’s safe to lose more than two pounds per week… but only if the weight is all fat or at least mostly fat with minimal lean mass losses.

If you take example one – with thirty percent lean tissue loss and compound that over a few months, you’re talking about a massive muscle tissue loss which can dramatically slow down your metabolism and turn you into nothing more than a “skinny fat person” (a person with low body weight because they lost so much muscle, but still holding stubborn body fat because they shut down their metabolism).

One thing you should know is that water weight losses sometimes distort the numbers, especially when you first begin a new nutrition and training program. It’s very common to lose 3 - 5 pounds in the first week on nearly any diet and exercise program and often even more on low carb diets. Just remember, its NOT all fat - WATER LOSS IS NOT FAT LOSS!

The best advice I can give you is to focus on losing fat, not losing weight. If you lose three to five pounds per week, and you know it’s all fat, and not lean tissue, then more power to you!
Of course the only way to know this is with body composition testing. For home body fat self-testing, I recommend the Accu-Measure skinfold caliper as first choice. Even better, get a multi site skinfold caliper test from an experienced tester at a health club, or even a water (hydrostatic) or air (bod pod) displacement test.

From literally hundreds of client case studies, I can confirm that it’s rare to lose more than 1.5 - 2.0 lbs of weight per week without losing some muscle along with it. If you exceed 2.0 to 3.0 pounds per week, the probability of losing muscle is extremely high. If you lose muscle, you are damaging your metabolism and this will lead to a plateau and ultimately to relapse.

Lack of patience is one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to losing body fat. If you want to lose FAT, not muscle and you want to keep the fat off for good, then you have to take off the pounds slowly.

This is one of the toughest lessons that overweight men and women have to learn - and they can be very hard learners. They fight kicking and screaming, insisting that they CAN and they MUST lose it faster.

Then you have these TV shows that encourage the masses that rapid, crash weight loss is okay. To the producers of these shows, I say SHAME ON YOU! To the personal trainers, registered dieticians and medical doctors who are associated with these programs, I say DOUBLE SHAME ON YOU, because you of all people should know better.

The rapid weight loss being promoted today by the media for the sake of ratings and by the weight loss companies for the sake of profits makes it even harder for those of us who are legitimate fitness and nutrition professionals because our clients say, “But look at so and so on TV - he lost 26 pounds in a week!”

Sure, but 26 pounds of WHAT - and do you have any idea what the long term consequences are?
Short term thinking, folks… foolish. There are hundreds of ways to lose weight quickly, but only one way to lose fat and keep it off in the long term.

Do it the right way. Take off the pounds slowly, steadily and sensibly with an intelligent nutrition and exercise program, measure your body fat, not just your body weight, and make this a new lifestyle, not a race, and you will never have to take the pounds off again because they will be gone forever the first time. No more yo-yoing.

If you’re interested in the healthy, sensible way to take off the fat, while keeping all your muscle and actually increasing your metabolism in the process, then my Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle program can teach you how. No gimmicks or false promises. Just the truth - you have to work at it and you have to be patient. For more information, http://tinyurl.com/2d7atf

About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, "Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written hundreds of articles and been featured in IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on dozens of websites worldwide. For information on Tom's Fat Loss program, visit: http://tinyurl.com/2d7atf