Everywhere you look you are surrounded by constant reminders which tell you that in order to be happy, successful, respected and have strong personal relationships you need to be thin and beautiful.

However from this description alone, this desire to fit into what is considered ‘beautiful’ can undermine your self esteem, your confidence and how you actually perceive yourself.

It is no wonder with such constant pressures that the following statistics have emerged:

• In the past 20+ years, the centrefold for Playboy has lost 25lbs and weighs 18% less than the medical ideal
• Fashion models are a staggering 23% below the average weight of an ordinary woman. In a recent BMI study many actresses and models were found to have 10-15% body fat compared to 22-26% for a normal, healthy woman
• In the Miss World contest a few years ago it was discovered that the average contestant weighed below the US’s standard weight for anorexia
• In a 1994 survey by Glamour (conducted on 33,000 women), 75% thought they were overweight when in fact only 25% fitted into this category
• Placed in a hall of distorting mirrors, of the women surveyed, the vast majority believed the mirror which made them look fatter was their real selves whilst the mirrors which reflected their real selves or made them look thinner they thought were false

More worryingly, as the ideal body becomes thinner, we as a nation are becoming bigger creating an even more substantial gap between the two.

How to lose weight

If you are genuinely interested in losing weight, it is important that you don’t get caught up in these preconceptions of what is or isn’t considered to be beautiful.

As the above statistics prove, an unhealthy obsession with your weight can result in dangerously low BMI’s or even anorexia; neither of which are not good for your overall health or wellbeing.

To achieve your why lose weight goal you need to plan a proper diet, exercise regularly and possibly use diet pills to help you experience a safe, steady weight loss of 1-2lbs a week.

Natural herbal supplements such as Proactol can help you to reduce your dietary fat intake by up to 28% whilst suppressing your appetite, thus helping you to naturally decrease your meal portions at a pace that is right for you.

Research by the British Society of Gastroenterology (BSA) has found that our unhealthy attitude to why lose weight can trigger eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and orthorexia (where suffers become obsessed with only eating good foods).

How does the Alternate-Day Diet (ADD) Work?

Under this weight loss plan, you alternate between days where you eat what you want one day (without intentionally overeating) to the next limiting your calorie intake to just 500 calories.

Slimmer’s are advised to follow this extreme diet for 2 weeks – although 3 sessions of this alternating can be enough – in order to turn on the gene SIRT1 which is designed to reduce the amount of fat your body stores. After these 2 weeks, you can increase your 500 calorie a day intake to 50% of your recommended daily calorie intake (1,200 calories).

Now although this type of diet will promote fast weight loss if you are conscious of your calorie consumption on your ‘up’ days; the ADD is not a safe long term solution and can in fact cause overeating if you are not able to maintain these eating habits.

And this unfortunately is the same of all dietary fads.

Despite their best intentions to help your lose weight fast, the limited longevity and nutrient deprivation that they encourage can ultimately worsen the effects of obesity when they end.

Why? Because after such restricted periods of limited calorie consumption, once your body is free of it, it will seek to supplement your food cravings, triggering overeating and eventual weight gain.

How to experience safe weight loss?

It may seem like the longest route to your why lose weight ambitions, but modifying your eating habits steadily and increasing your exercise levels can ensure that your body has the time to adapt to these dietary changes and perceive them as the norm.

So take your time, and plan your diet carefully. Fad diets may feel like a fast weight loss solution, but all they will do is promote increased weight gain in the future.

This vicious cycle has been around for decades but it has increased rapidly in the last five years. No matter how many different diets are invented, there are still those desperate people who can’t lose weight. Why? Well, most of the diets that become fad diets are radical, impractical, and some are dangerous to your health. A restriction from any type of natural food is not good for the body. Remember that wonderful little pyramid that taught you how to eat in grade school? Well, do you remember any of those sections having a big X over it? No.

If you really want to lose weight, first you need to think “why lose weight?” What is your motivation? Do you need to lower your cholesterol? Are you looking to get fit and look good? Do you want to prevent heart disease or diabetes when you get older? All of these will result from a balanced, nutritional diet, but not from any fad diet. Don’t you wonder why they are only fads? How does weight loss happen with these diets? Well, the blunt answer to that is short term. No one can stick with a crazy diet. So they lose a little weight, break down and revert back to their original diet and put that weight back on. They invest in the next fad diet, see some results again but fail once more to keep it off. This yo-yo dieting is dangerous to that persons health.

So, how does weight loss happen for good? Well, the best thing to do is take a sensible, healthy step to change your lifestyle to the better. Practice this new step until it becomes a force of habit and then move on to the next. Allow yourself some treats but stay strong. Baby steps are the easiest steps to take! Don’t set yourself up for failure with these fad diets.

Of course back then there weren’t an abundance of artificial sweeteners available at the supermarket, so sugar was the sweetener of choice. Unfortunately, consuming large amounts of sugar will add extra calories to our food and which causes us to gain weight. This is why so many people choose sugar substitutes or low cal sweeteners instead of sugar. They can enjoy eating their favorite foods without worrying about consuming extra calories. Diabetics may use artificial sweeteners to give their food a sugary taste without raising their blood sugar levels. However, if you are diabetic you’ll want to keep in mind that some foods like sugar free yogurt can actually raise your blood sugar levels. This is because of other carbs and proteins mixed in. Other sugar free products may also contain flour which is known to raise blood sugar levels too so be sure to check the ingredients first. You’ll also want to remember that foods containing sugar substitutes may also contain calories which you don’t need if you are trying to lose weight.

Artificial Sweeteners
We’ve added a list of artificial sweeteners that the FDA or Food and Drug Administration have approved of. The (ADI) is the “acceptable daily intake” for each sweetener listed. This is the maximum amount considered safe to eat each day.

Artificial Sweetener ADI Estimated ADI OK for cooking?
Equivalent

Aspartame 50 milligrams per NO
(NutraSweet, Equal) kilogram (kg) 18 to 19 cans of diet cola

Saccharin
(Sweet’N Low, SugarTwin) 5 mg per kg 9 to 12 packets Yes

Acesulfame K
(Sunett, Sweet One) 15 mg per kg 30 to 32 cans of diet soda Yes

Sucralose (Splenda) 5 mg per kg 6 cans of diet soda Yes

Ok, I’ll tell you what it is. This new best answer on how to lose weight is called Proactol. Proactol blocks almost a third of all of the fat that you consume to ever enter your blood stream. It also helps you as an appetite suppressant. So why diet when you can Proactol? Due to the stressful time restricted schedules most of us live everyday; it can be very difficult to spend hours at the gym, count calories, or even prepare a healthful dinner. With the economy how it is, we can’t spend thousands of dollars on a personal trainer, premade “diet foods”, or weight loss camps. We can however, take a convenient little pill, that is affordable, and effective in helping us reach our desirable body weight.

The greatest thing about Proactol is that it comes from an organic natural source, a cactus plant, so we don’t have to resort to damaging our bodies to make them look better. How does weight loss help you if your body is all tore up on the inside? That is why Proactol is the best diet for 2010. It is safe, affordable, convenient, and effective. Where else can you find that?

Think about your alternatives. You could diet to the point of starvation, you could kill yourself on the treadmill, you could try dangerous diet pills, or you could try ineffective diet pills. You could go broke trying everything under the sun but you will never get the results as with Proactol without strenuous conditions. So take the year 2010 as your year to look and feel great. With help from Proactol, it can be done!

Commonly known as ‘obstructive sleep apnea’ (OSA), this disorder causes you to stop breathing for 10 seconds whilst you are asleep.

Causing a collapse in your upper airways, moderate to severe cases of OSA (which are defined as 15+ breathing pausing per hour) can result in vehicular collapses, heart disease and if left untreated premature death.

What causes sleep apnea?

One of the leading contributors to this condition is obesity. Providing unnecessary pressure on your lungs, this excess weight can cause your airways to collapse more regularly than if you are slim.

However, if the Karolinska study is to be taken seriously, you too can easily reduce the harmful effects of this condition by simply losing weight.

During their study of 63 obese men aged between 30 and 65 (all of whom had got OSA only moderately); researchers found that those placed on an intensive weight loss programme for 9 weeks managed to halve the number of apnea events they experienced.

Losing 19 kilos on average, none of these participants exhibited signs of severe sleep apnea; 50% had only mild apnea and 1 in 6 were declared completely healthy.

In fact those with the most severe cases of sleep apnea experienced the best results from this weight loss, improving their overall health substantially.

How can this help you?

Even if you do not suffer from sleep apnea, quick weight loss can have a huge impact on your body, health and well being. Helping to reduce the risks of heart disease, strokes and cancer, by making the decision to why lose weight you can avoid developing conditions such as the one listed above and ensure you live a healthy, happy future.

Many of the weight loss medications available on the market today are labeled as appetite suppressants and are approved by the FDA. Appetite suppressants are usually available in the form of tablets or time released capsules. They can either be prescribed by your doctor or purchased over the counter. Diet pills work by making your body believe that it is either not hungry or very full. This is done by suppressing your appetite with the increased production of serotonin or catecholamine, two chemicals in the brain which affect both your mood and appetite. Fat absorption inhibitors are also used to prevent weight gain. These diet pills prevent your body from degrading or absorbing lipids or harmful fat molecules inside you body. After taking the inhibitors any harmful or unwanted fat eaten during meal time is eventually discarded by the body during bowel movements.

Consulting with your doctor is the first step to take before choosing a diet pill. Your doctor will know which medications will work best for you based on your current medical evaluation. Once you choose a diet pill that’s right for you will notice that your maximum weight loss will occur within 6 months. After six months your weight loss will begin to decrease. This is because weight loss pills are not to be used long term.

Weight loss drugs have been known to help you not only lose weight but also help reduce the number of health risks associated with obesity. Unfortunately, there are a few risks associated with diet pills that you should be made aware of by your physician.

Addiction- Like any other drug, whether prescription or OTC, diet pills can be potentially addicting when used long term. By consulting with your physician you can avoid addiction, lose weight effectively and be healthy for the long run.

Tolerance- For most people taking diet pills, weight loss seems to level off after about 6 months. It is not clear if this is due to your body’s developed tolerance or the medication’s limit.

Side Effects- It’s rare that any serious life threatening side effects of slimming pills will occur from the use of weight loss drugs. However, most side effects are mild and sometimes unpleasant and usually improve over time as your body gets use to the medication. The following are a list of potential side effects of slimming pills:

• Increased heart rate
• Increased blood pressure
• Sweating
• Constipation
• Insomnia
• Excessive thirst
• Lightheaded
• Drowsiness
• Congestion
• Headache
• Dry mouth

The answer to this question is “yes”. You can lose weight quickly, effectively and naturally. There are many different ways to lose weight that are both safe and effective with long lasting results. The first is with weight loss medications. For those who are interested in taking this route, a variety of natural weight loss pills are available to you in two main categories. One category is the prescription weight loss medication also known as appetite suppressants. Appetite suppressants are usually prescribed by doctors and work by manipulating the hormones which control mood and appetite. Over the counter or OTC drugs are weight loss pills available without a prescription. This group of pills is commonly known as dietary supplements. Dietary supplements work by helping you to feel full. A good example of a dietary supplement would be a fat binder. Fat binders work when the fiber molecules in diet pills combine with the fat molecules you ingest with your food. Once the harmful fat molecules and the fiber are combined they become too big for your body to digest and are then discarded as waste.

The second way to achieve quick weight loss is with good old fashioned hard work through diet and exercise. It is always very important to not only monitor what you eat but how much you eat as well. Everything you eat should be in moderation. When you decide to diet you should not skip meals or eat from just one food group and avoid the rest like some fad diets suggest. This is dangerous because your body requires a specific amount of vitamins and minerals. Skipping meals or eating from just one food group may help you lose weight but will eventually cause health problems and nutritional deficiencies.

One of the best ways to achieve quick weight loss is to exercise a little each day by performing 10 minute work out routines. It’s been reported that women who exercised for just 10 minutes a day lost approximately 30% more body fat than those who exercised for 35 minutes 3 times a week. That’s right! Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh conducted a study and found that multiple short workouts can be just as effective as longer less frequent workouts in men. They found that men who did two 15 minute workouts 4 days per week improved their cardiovascular endurance twice as much as men who worked one 30 minute workout routine 4 days per week.

So remember that quick weight loss and fitness is possible. It really doesn’t take much to lose weight and feel great. The key to quick weight loss is to be persistent. Consult with your doctor, find a diet and exercise routine that’s right for you, and don’t give up.

Here are a few examples of some commonly used OTC natural appetite suppressants that are both safe and effective. Remember to always consult a doctor before you take any kind of weight loss medication.

• St. John’s Wort. This product is an herb commonly used as an antidepressant. Very few studies have been conducted to prove its effectiveness in promoting weight loss. If you use St. John’s wort, you should avoid tyramine-containing foods such as, aged cheese, cured or aged meats, wines, etc. It is important to check with your doctor before taking any other medications. It has many potential harmful interactions with antidepressants, birth control pills, blood thinners, heart medications and dextromethorphan (contained in various cold remedies). The use of St. John’s wort for weight loss is potentially very dangerous.
• Chitosan (KITE-o-san). This dietary supplement is made from chitin. Chitin is a starch found in the skeleton of shrimp, crab, and a variety of shellfish. Since Chitosan cannot be digested, it passes through your intestinal tract unabsorbed adding 0 calories. The chemical structure of Chitosan makes it bind with fatty foods. It helps to remove some of the fat from your body as it passes through and prevents it from being absorbed.
• Chromium is a mineral which is thought to enhance the effect of insulin. It results in the breakdown of carbohydrates acting as a weight loss aid and a fat burner.
• Pyruvate. Pyruvate is made in the body during the digestion of carbohydrates and protein. According to researchers, it may have a slight effect in helping with weight loss. While in the form of pyruvic acid, pyruvate can be found in a variety of foods such as red apples, cheese, and red wine.
• Aloe. Aloe is often used as a topical ointment for healing wounds. Oral forms of aloe are often used in herbal weight-loss products. Aloe taken orally has been known to produce strong bowel movements giving it the nickname “internal cleanser.” However, aloe or aloe-containing products should not be taken orally if you have intestinal problems.
• Cascara. Cascara is a common ingredient included in many weight loss products. It’s one of the few herbs that have been approved by the FDA as an OTC drug. Cascara is a strong stimulant laxative. Misuse of this herb may cause problems with the body’s use of minerals like potassium and sodium)
  Dandelion. Dandelion is considered to be a natural diuretic. It may produce significant weight loss by decreasing the amount of water in the body. However, it’s been known to cause allergic reactions and heartburn.
• Guarana. Produced from the seeds of a Brazilian plant, guarana helps increase brain activity and is also used to promote weight loss. This is due to its stimulant and diuretic effect. Guarana contains 3% to 5% caffeine and possibly causes high blood pressure. Some of the extracts have been known to cause prolonged bleeding and interact with blood thinner medication such as Coumadin.
• Herbal Diuretics. There are a wide variety of herbal diuretics available on the market today. Many are commonly found in over-the-counter weight loss products or prescription medications. Most herbal OTC diuretics are derived from caffeine. They are non-toxic but have been known to interact with some medications. Consult with your doctor before using.

A diet is not something which should add stress to your life. It should help to improve your overall health and maintain a reasonable body size. According to the people I come in contact with on a daily basis there are two main reasons why people choose a diet. 1- To maintain good health and avoid medical problems and 2- to lose weight. However, before you choose a diet program there are a few things to consider.

What’s your motivation? There are some people who think that losing weight will help them to get a certain job or help meet Mr. or Mrs. Right. You should remember that a diet program should be chosen for good health reasons and will not guarantee you success in anything else.

Why have I failed at diets before? Some of you may have tried fad diets in the past. Unfortunately, fad diets may work for a short period of time but they are not meant to sustain good health. Fad diets may be popular and some of them may even work for a while, but they are not encouraged by doctors ore any other health professionals. So watch out for them.

What are your family members like? You might want to ask yourself, “Is my body built like my other family members? Check out some of your close relatives. Take note of your similarities and differences. It doesn’t matter how much you diet, you just can’t change you genetic make up but by choosing a proper diet and exercise program you can help sculpt your body into the best possible shape you cam be in.

Do I have specific health issues? Some people are more at risk for certain diseases than others. You should examine your family health history to see what diseases run in your family. Does anyone in your family have heart disease, high blood pressure, or diabetes? Are you allergic to certain foods or ingredients? Do you have high cholesterol, or high levels of glucose? If so consult with your doctor on how to choose a diet and nutritional plan that’s right for you.