It’s a well known fact that people who are working out to build extra muscle, need extra protein. But it’s not as widely known that protein is also essential for anyone attempting to lose weight.

New scientific studies are consistently proving that protein can offer serious help when you’re trying to shed your unwanted pounds. In fact weight loss is actually hindered without sufficient protein in the diet.

Let’s take a closer look at the role of protein in the body and why you should be ensuring adequate quality protein intake, irrespective of your goals.

Protein 101

The protein you consume in your diet is made up of 3 different types of amino acids.

• Essential amino acids:Your body cannot make these, so they must be supplied in your diet.They include Leucine, Isoleucine, Valine, Lysine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Methionine, Phenylalanine And Histidine.
• Non-essential amino acids:Your body can make these from the essential amino acids you consume.These include Asparagine, Alanine, Arginine, Aspartic acid, Cysteine, Glutamic acid, Glutamine, Praline, Glycine, Tyrosine, and Serine.
• Conditional amino acids:Not usually essential, other than in times of illness or stress.These include include Arginine, Cysteine, Glutamine, Glycine, Proline, Serine, And Tyrosine.

The typical food sources of protein include animal products such as meats, fish, milk and eggs, while  plant sources include whole nuts, seeds, grains, pulses, legumes and soy.

Remember that protein is needed for all growth and repair in the body.

It’s an essential component of all muscles, tissues and organs, along with being vital for many processes in the body like the production of antibodies, digestion, metabolism and transporting both oxygen and nutrients in the blood.

Protein also helps to make sure your hair is healthy and shiny, your skin looks great and your nails and bones are strong.

Before we go any further, let’s quickly dispel a few misconceptions regarding protein.

“Only Serious Bodybuilders Need Extra Protein.”

Any regular exercise routine, not just hardcore bodybuilding, will increase the number of calories you burn and the amount of muscle your body breaks down.

Because of this it makes sense to supplement your protein intake, for extra fuel (calories) and amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscle.

This is the same no matter what form of exercise you are engaged in. In fact endurance exercise and cardio routines create an even greater need for extra protein, than pure weight training.

As you’ll discover a little later, protein is not just essential for repairing worn muscle and building new lean muscle, it’s also proven to be a potent fat burner in its own right.

“Protein Will Make Me Bulky.”

There’s a common misconception that women shouldn’t use protein powder because it will ‘bulk them up’. This is not actually true.

Women don’t get bulky when they use protein powder, or from working out with weights, due to their lower levels of testosterone. But when combined with a workout routine, protein will help to develop some extra muscle and the muscle they already have will be firmer and more toned.

“Protein Will Make Me Fat.”

With regard to making you fat, as you are about to learn, protein is actually proven to reduce fat storage in the body, not add to it.

Remember that because you are combining extra protein along with a workout routine, whether you are aiming for weight loss or muscle gain, your body will NEED extra protein and nutrients for energy, recuperation and growth. Without it, your body could start burning  muscle for the energy it needs.

Don’t forget of course, you’ll also be burning far more calories due to your higher activity levels, so this also supports the need for extra nutrient dense replacement calories in the form of protein.

On the other hand, if you have a sedentary lifestyle, ‘couch potato’ style, then ANY extra calories are more likely to be stored as fat.

If you are also concerned about the fat in the high protein foods you consume, stop worrying. Keep in mind that your body actually needs fat for many metabolic processes to take place and for your body to function correctly.

Fats also maintain cell membranes and blood vessels, provide energy, transmit nerve impulses and produce some essential hormones. Many disease preventing phyto-chemicals found in food, along with vitamin A, D, E, and K, need some fat to be absorbed by your body.

On top of that, remember that the extra protein you consume while exercising, along with your higher activity levels will help fat burning.

Now we’ll have a closer look at why protein is essential for weight loss.

Protein For Weight Loss

No matter what you eat, you’ll only lose weight if you use more energy through your daily  activities than your body can produce from the food you consume.

However, your body has to work harder to digest and use foods containing protein, so your body burns more calories as it processes them. Not only that, but as they also take longer to leave your stomach, you feel full faster and for longer.

How Does Protein Burn Fat?

There are actually two reasons why protein helps fat burning:

• It helps to curb your hunger. Proteins help because they take your body longer to digest, making you feel fuller for longer.
• It increases your rate of thermogenesis. Longer digestion also uses more calories and raises your core body temperature and metabolic rate, known as ”thermogenesis”.

Protein’s steady release of energy means it’s sustained and doesn’t cause your blood sugar to spike like carbs, so you get fewer craving too.

“In a study published in Nutrition Metabolism, dieters who increased their protein
intake to 30 percent of their diet ate nearly 450 fewer calories a day and lost around 11 pounds during the 12-week study without employing any other dietary measures.“

The Importance of Leucine

Scientists are finding that Leucine is one of the most important amino acids for regulating  metabolism and helping weight loss.

Donald Layman, PhD6, from the University of Illinois, has published many papers on the subject and is one of the key Leucine researchers. He found that a high protein, leucine-rich diet, along with lower carbohydrates intake (150 grams or 600 calories per day) supports not only weight loss, but also blood sugar metabolism and various other factors that support cardiovascular health.

His research shows that when we lose weight our bodies can also lose muscle and bone mass. But Leucine acts as a signal, directly communicating with insulin and making it work efficiently in the muscle. This leads to preserved muscle mass and glucose being used by the muscles as fuel, thereby supporting healthy insulin function.

A high-carbohydrate weight-loss diet on the other hand, causes more muscle to be lost.

*Leucine Unlocks Metabolic Door  J Nutr.   Layman DK, Walker DA.

One of the best sources of leucine is high quality whey protein. Animal and dairy products are the food sources with the highest Leucine content, especially red meat and cottage cheese, followed by cheese, milk, eggs, pork, chicken fish, legumes, peanuts, nuts and seeds.

It harder to get plenty of leucine if you’re not eating red meat and dairy products, so a whey protein supplement would be especially beneficial in this case.

Whey Protein: Great For Weight Loss Not Just Muscle Gain

In another study involving 95 men and 32 women, subjects used a 15 gram whey protein meal replacement for two meals a day for six months, then went to one meal replacement for six more months.

While this amount of whey protein is actually on the low side for weight loss, the subjects still experienced great results.

• During the first six months participants lost on average 20 pounds.

• Over the following six months while consuming just 15 grams of whey
  protein per day, they kept their weight off and lost a further 2 pounds.

Along with the weight loss, many key signs of cardiovascular health were improved during the study, including lowering of total cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, insulin and systolic and diastolic blood pressure, while increasing HDL Cholesterol.

*Modest Whey Protein Intake Supports Weight Loss  Am J Clin Nutr.   Keogh JB, Clifton P.

When you are trying to lose weight make sure you eat 5 or 6 small protein rich meals a day, to ensure your body has a constant supply of protein, along with keeping your blood sugar levels steady.

If your weight loss efforts aren’t giving you the results you want, even when you include quality protein in every meal, try replacing 2 or 3 of your meals with a high quality Whey protein based shake.

Around 1 gram of protein for each pound of body weight, per day should be your target. So for instance if you weigh 150 pounds, you should aim to consume 150 grams of a day.

Eat a high-protein breakfast and wake up your liver

Because your liver is basically your body’s metabolic engine, eating a high-protein breakfast, rather than a carb based one, can raise your metabolic rate by 30% for as long as twelve hours. That’s equal to a three to five mile jog.

This is because carbohydrates and fats are much easier for your liver to process and only increase liver metabolism by around 4%. Protein however, has to be broken down and re-built to be used by the body, so your body will burn it at a slower rate.

A study published in the International Journal of Obesity shows that “eating two eggs for breakfast, as part of a reduced-calorie diet, helps overweight adults lose 65% more weight and feel more energetic, than those who eat a bagel breakfast of equal calories”.

Plus, studies have shown protein-rich breakfasts can help to regulate your appetite for the rest of the day.

*Higher Protein Boosts Muscle Metabolism and Weight Loss  J Am Coll Nutr.   Layman DK.

*Vanderwal JS et al , et al. Egg breakfast enhances weight loss. Int J of Obesity, published online on August 5, 2008.

Protein For Building Lean Muscle

Quiet simply, protein is essential for building new lean muscle. The building blocks of muscle are Amino Acids and that’s exactly what protein is made up of.

Although you consume protein with most meals, real muscle growth needs musch more protein than you’ll get in an average diet. For muscle gain you need to ensure your body has a good sized reserve of quality protein to use for muscle growth.

How much protein for muscle growth?

As with weight loss, a good ‘ball park’ figure is 1 gram of protein for each pound of body weight, per day. So let’s say you weigh 200 pounds, you should aim to consume 200 grams of quality protein a day. This ensures you have a constant pool of ready to use protein in your body.

You may find it hard to eat enough protein rich foods during the day to reach that figure, so whey protein shakes can help enormously, as they make it easy to significantly add to your daily intake in a convenient way.

Try and eat 5-6 small but nutritious, high in protein meals per day (including protein based shakes). This will ensure your muscles are well fed, your metabolism is steady,  you have the energy to complete your workouts and your insulin levels are kept stable.

Don’t worry if you think 5 – 6 meals a day sounds a lot. It’s easy to have a ‘protein shake’ meal that you can drink, as a replacement for 2 or 3 of the full meals.

You can also up your protein levels by basing your meals around the high protein foods listed below.

High Protein Foods:

• Steak (6 oz = 42 grams protein) Most cuts of beef average 7 grams of protein per ounce
• Chicken breast (3.5 oz = 30 grams protein)
• 3 ½ oz fish fillets/steaks average around 22 grams protein cooked. (6 grams per ounce)
• Tuna (6 oz can = 35 grams protein)
• Pork chop (average = 22 grams protein)
• Pork loin or tenderloin (4 oz = 29 grams protein)
• Ham (3 oz serving = 19 grams protein)
• Ground pork (3 oz cooked = 22 grams protein)
• Bacon (1 slice = 3 grams protein)
• Egg (large = 6 grams protein)
• Milk (1 cup = 8 grams protein)
• Cottage cheese (½ cup = 15 grams protein)
• Yogurt (1 cup = around 8-12 grams protein)
• Soft cheeses (6 grams protein per oz)
• Medium cheeses (7 or 8 grams protein per oz)
• Hard cheeses (10 grams protein per oz)
• Tofu (½ cup = 20 grams protein)
• Soy milk (1 cup = 6 -10 grams protein)
• Most beans (half cup of cooked beans = 7-10 grams protein)
• Soy beans (½ cup cooked = 14 grams protein)
• Peanut butter (2 Tablespoons = 8 grams protein)
• Almonds (¼ cup = 8 grams protein)
• Peanuts (¼ cup = 9 grams protein)
• Sunflower seeds (¼ cup = 6 grams protein)
• Pumpkin seeds (¼ cup = 8 grams protein)
• Flax seeds (¼ cup = 8 grams protein)

Breakfast. Most important meal of the day.

Whatever your goal . . . do not skip breakfast.

According to Donald Layman, Ph.D. (mentioned in the experiment above), you should aim  to consume at least 30 grams (approximately the amount of protein in two eggs and a cup of cottage cheese) of your protein intake for the day, at breakfast.

Your body is usually running on empty by morning and without proper nutrition it could start burning muscle tissue for fuel. That’s the last thing you want when your goal is to build new muscle.

If your trying to lose weight, you still need to eat a nutritious breakfast. This will help to keep your snacking urges to a minimum and give you the slow burning energy to cope with your activities.

To recap

No matter what your fitness goals are, protein is essential. It’s proven to help fat reduction, lean muscle gain and is also essential for good health in general.

To ensure your body gets adequate amounts for recovery and growth, 5 or 6 protein rich meals spread out throughout the day, equalling around 1 gram of protein for every gram of body weight, along with supplementation with a highly bio-available quality protein such as whey, is recommended.

This will ensure you have enough protein in your body at all times, for your body to call upon for recovery, fat reduction and growth.

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas and maintains blood sugar levels by regulating whether your body uses or stores the energy from carbohydrates. When blood sugar levels are high, insulin is released to convert excess blood sugars into glycogen (energy stores). When blood sugar levels drop, insulin levels also drop.

How insulin works in the body

When you eat, your body converts digestible carbohydrates into glucose (also known as blood sugar) which is used by your body as an immediate source of energy.

When blood sugars levels rise too high, insulin is released and this stimulates the cells in the liver, muscles and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood. The excess glucose is then stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen (energy stores). When blood sugars levels start to drop, the amount of insulin released also drops and blood sugars level begin to stabilise.

How insulin can hinder fat burning and weight loss

High blood sugar levels, and consequently high insulin levels, can greatly impact upon weight loss and fat burning as they can:

•  INCREASE Hunger levels
• DECREASE Energy levels
• PREVENT your body from burning up its fat stores
• INCREASE Fat Storage

High levels of insulin can increase hunger pangs and decrease energy levels

As mentioned above, insulin tells your body to remove excess glucose from the blood and store it for future use.

When you eat foods high in sugar (one form of carbohydrate, sometimes referred to as simple carbs) – such as cakes, sweets, fruit juice, sugary drinks and refined foods like white bread, white pasta and white rice – your pancreas goes into overtime to produce the insulin necessary for all this blood sugar to be used for energy.

A surge of insulin causes too much glucose to be transported out of the blood and this causes blood sugar and insulin levels to drop below normal. This leaves you feeling tired and hungry and wanting to eat more as your blood sugar levels are now too low. This then turns into a vicious cycle as when your blood sugars are too low, it makes you want to eat something with high sugar content.

It’s not the best situation to be in when you are trying to burn fat and lose weight.

High levels of insulin can prevent fat burning and increase fat storage

When insulin levels are high, glucose is removed from the blood and excess glucose is stored as energy stores. Unless your body uses these energy stores, they essentially turn into body fat.

It is impossible to burn fat whilst having high levels of insulin in your system. This is because high levels of insulin inhibit the release of glucagon – not to be confused with glycogen.

Glucagon is a hormone also secreted by the pancreas and it has the opposite effect to insulin by raising blood sugar levels. When blood sugar levels drop too low, glucagon is released and it causes the liver to convert glycogen (energy stores sometimes called fat stores) back into glucose to be used as energy. Therefore insulin and glucagon work together to stabilise blood sugar levels.

So the important message for weight loss and fat burning is that high insulin levels prevent fat burning.

High insulin spikes can also prevent muscle gain

We now know that insulin turns off fat burning and turns on fat storage, but along with this it can also cause lean muscle loss.

This is because when insulin brings down the blood sugar levels it can “over correct” (glucagon release) and cause low blood sugar. The body usually controls low blood sugar by releasing energy from stored fat, but when insulin is high this can’t happen.

So the only source of energy it can use is muscle protein. In other words when this happens you’ll be gaining fat while losing lean muscle. Once again that’s not good, when you want to  lose the pounds or add lean muscle.

Women Are More Sensitive to The Effects of Insulin than Men

One of the reasons many women seem to have a leaner upper body in comparison to their lower body, is that their lower body fat is more sensitive to insulin spikes than their upper body.

A small rise in insulin can shut down fat burning on her lower body. Keeping insulin levels stable throughout the day, is the best way to combat this.

Here’s a way to help this and still eat some of your favorite carbs.

Only eat small, low GI meals for both breakfast and lunch. Then you can eat a higher carb meal after your afternoon workout as your body can cope with a spike in your blood sugar, when your muscles are somewhat starved.

How to maintain steady insulin levels

Maintaining blood sugar levels is the key to weight loss and fat burning as it keeps your energy levels constant, it prevents hunger pangs and it allows your body to access its glycogen stores (fat stores) as a source of energy when needed.

To maintain your blood sugar levels you need to eat foods which will not spike (increase) your blood sugar levels and consequently, your insulin levels. The key culprit that affects blood sugar levels is carbohydrates. However, there are good types of carbohydrates and bad types.

Foods high in slow releasing carbs (sometimes called complex carbohydrates), such as whole grains and vegetables, should be an important part of your diet. Whereas foods high in sugars (sometimes called simple carbohydrates), such as cakes, sweets and refined foods like white bread, white pasta and white rice should be avoided as these foods could spike insulin levels.

You may have heard of the term low GI and high GI?

GI referrers to the glycemic index which ranks carbohydrates according to their effect on blood sugar levels. Low GI foods are burned steadily throughout the day to give you a constant supply of energy. High GI foods can spike insulin levels and are also readily transported to fat cells if you don’t burn them off quickly.

To read more about the glycemic index click here to read an in-depth article about carbohydrates.

Eating Protein rich meals helps keep insulin levels steady

Protein’s steady release of energy means it’s sustained and doesn’t cause your blood sugar and therefore insulin to spike like carbs, so you get fewer craving.

Protein also helps because it takes your body longer to digest, making you feel fuller for longer. Longer digestion also uses more calories and raises your core body temperature and metabolic rate, known as “thermogenesis”.

Below are some tips to keep blood sugar and insulin levels stable:

• Eat low GI foods
  It is vital that you eat low GI foods as these contain slow releasing carbs which do not spike insulin levels. Slow releasing carbs are harder for the body to break down which means smaller amounts of glucose are released over a period of time. This helps to maintain blood sugar levels which decreases hunger pangs and allows your body to access its fat stores for energy. Click here to read more about Low GI Foods.

• Avoid high GI foods
  High GI foods will spike your insulin levels. As mentioned above a spike in insulin levels leaves you feeling hungry, less energetic, stops your body from burning fat. Click here to read more about high GI foods.

• Eat small and often
  Eating 5-6 small meals/snacks a day, every 2-4 hours, is extremely important. It helps to stabilize blood sugar levels and thus, helps to keep a steady flow of insulin in the blood.

• Eat high fibre snacks
  Snacks and meals high in fibre (a complex, slow releasing carbohydrate) help to regulate your blood sugar level. Fibre slows down glucose absorption and your rate of digestion which helps to keep blood sugar levels stable. Always look out for the fibre content on the nutritional information on foods and ensure that it is higher than the sugar levels. High fibre snacks include wholegrain cereals, nuts and seeds.

• Never skip a meal
  Skipping meals lowers your blood sugars and puts your body in to starvation mode. Therefore, when you do eat, your body stores the glucose from foods as fat. If you regularly skip meals, your body does not know when to expect the next meal and will store all food as fat.

• Plan food ahead
  It is important to plan your food ahead, especially when you’re away from home and cannot grab a healthy snack as and when you need it. Planning ahead will ensure that you eat healthy snacks and meals at regular intervals to maintain blood sugar levels. You then won’t be tempted to snack on junk food.

Remember – healthy eating is crucial for weight loss, fat loss and long-lasting results. It’s about making a permanent life-style change away from processed, refined, sugary, junk food towards whole, clean, healthy foods. To find out more about how to change and improve your diet, click here to read diet plans for:

• Pure Weight Loss (a diet plan for people new to diet, nutrition and exercise and want to lose a lot of weight)
• Fat Loss and Toning (a diet plan for people who want to transform their bodies by toning up and burning fat)
• Build Lean Muscle (a diet plan to take your body to the next level helping you get lean and ripped)
• Maintaining a Healthy Weight (a diet plan to help you maintain a healthy body)

To Recap

The key message is that controlling insulin levels, and preventing them from rising too high, is the major factor effecting fat burning and weight loss. You can’t have high levels of insulin in your system while burning fat at the same time.

Maintaining blood sugar levels and eating a lower carb and higher protein diet is a much more effective, healthy and natural way to lose weight compared to the traditional method of calorie counting. Although calorie intake should still be monitored, but stabilizing insulin levels is crucial if you want to successfully lose weight and tone up.

Okay, this may sound like a redundant question – of course you can workout at home – but the thing is, we are not talking about the many exercise DVDs you can buy at your supermarket..

No. In this post we want to discuss the many fun ways you can exercise at home, using items from your house.

1. Chores – chores may be the bane of your existence but you may feel very differently once you know how many calories they burn.- Painting: 288 calories in 1 hour
   - Gardening: 256 calories in 1 hour
   - Cleaning the gutters: 320 calories in 1 hour
   - Washing dishes: 75 calories in 30 minutes
   - Laundry: 210 calories in 30 minutes
   - Light house cleaning: 216 calories in 30 minutes

   A simple combination of these chores everyday can help you to burn 100s of calories without you even realising it.

2. Step exercises – you can use your stairs to do these. Simply choose to either go repetitively up and down a whole flight of stairs or use the bottom two as a stepper.NOTE: whilst doing this one, use some weights (i.e. cans of peas) to tone your arms and put on some music to keep you entertained.

   Similarly, as you get more practiced with this routine, make it harder by adding some weight to your workout. For instance, fill a rucksack with some heavy items, increasing the weight slightly every time you exercise. Alternatively you can attach some weights to your ankles.

3. Light weight lifting – you don’t need weights to tone your arms. Simply get 2 cans of peas out of your cupboard and use them as weights. As you get more used to them, you can opt for heavier objects to lift.
4. Go for a walk – whether you choose to play outside with your kids or take a walk around your house, you can create a circuit which will get your whole body working out.
5. Dancing – you don’t need a workout video to get a sweat on, simply put on a CD or find a music channel on your TV and dance around your front room for 30 minutes.
6. Jogging on the spot – you’ll be surprised by how long you can jog for. To keep you entertained and motivated put on some music or watch TV. Just remember to stretch first before you start and cool down afterwards to avoid pulling any muscles. Also make sure you have got a drink to hand to keep you hydrated.
7. Exercises –crunches, jumping jacks and squats are all exercises you can easily do at home, so if you don’t fancy doing them in a class, why not do them in your front room?- Crunches: lie down on your back and breathing out pull yourself up using your stomach NOT your back. Repeat 30 times and aim to do 3 sets every day.
   - Squats: space your legs shoulder length apart and crouch down keeping your back straight. Lower yourself until your bum is level with your knees and hold for 10 seconds. Repeat 30 times
   - Jumping Jacks: these are simple enough, simply jump spreading your arms and legs out and jump again returning to your original standing position. Keep doing this for 2 minutes

Exercising at home is incredibly easy once you know how, so give the above exercises a try and help your body to naturally burn 100s of extra calories a day.

Easily one of the hardest things about losing weight is finding the time to eat right, cook properly and exercise regularly. It is not that you don’t want to but when you throw your day to day life into the mix it can all get a little hectic.

That is why slimming communities are so helpful…

In one place you can chat to others about your experiences, exchange recipes and get a friend to join you at those ever daunting aerobics classes.

But what if you haven’t got the time to join a slimming club?

Well this is where platforms like Slimming+ come in handy.

How does Slimming+ work?

I think you’ll agree that just because a diet works for one person, doesn’t necessarily mean it will work for you. And this is through no fault of your own. Your dietary habits, activity levels, current fitness levels and even your age and gender can all affect how well a diet works for you.

Luckily Slimming+ can help you to change all that…

After signing up and providing info about your age, gender, weight, height and BMI (they will work this one out for you); Slimming+ will provide you with recipes, exercise videos and fitness suggestions which are specifically designed to suit you and the weight loss you hope to achieve.

All in all, Slimming+ can provide you with the platform to safely manage your weight loss and ensure you stay on track.

So if you are looking to improve your dietary plan, why not explore Slimming+ and witness how their personalised diet and workout plans can help you to transform your health and fitness?

Based on its parent product Zotrim, Fibretrim takes the powerful effects of Yerba Mate, Guarana and Damiana to the next level by combining it with Inulin, a dietary fibre that has been clinically proven to improve digestion and increase feelings of satiety.

How does Fibretrim work?

Unlike Zotrim, Fibretrim is available as an infusion of these 4 ingredients, which you are advised to drink before breakfast and again before a main meal.

Once in your system, each of these ingredients can help to boost your weight loss efforts by doing the following:

• Inulin– extracted from chicory roots, Inulin encourages the production of friendly bacteria in your large intestine ensuring that your digestive system works efficiently.At the same time, studies of Inulin have found that it suppresses the production of ghrelin (the hormone responsible for stimulating your appetite), thus helping you to control your appetite and feel fuller for longer.
• Yerba Mate – studies of this herb have found it can have a beneficial effect on your body fat and cholesterol levels, herbing to lower both and stimulate your metabolism.
• Guarana – proven to contain 3 times more caffeine that coffee, Guarana helps to stimulate your metabolic rate and fat burn, encouraging healthy weight loss.
• Damiana – found to boost your mental power, Damiana also helps to stimulate the efficiency of your body, speeding up weight loss.

Can Fibretrim help me to lose weight?

Yes it can and it is 100% safe too.

Countless studies have revealed Fibretrim’s potential to reduce your pre-lunch hunger; cut fat consumption from sweet items by 50% and lower your calorie intake by 200 calories at lunch.

This combined with the powerful effects of Zotrim’s proven formula of Yerba Mate, Guarana and Damiana, and Fibretrim can successfully help to suppress your appetite, boost your metabolism and help you to feel fuller for longer.

Why choose Fibretrim ?

Easy to take and supported by clinical studies, Fibretrim is a 100% safe and effective way to manage your diet and take control of your eating habits. In one weight loss drink you can experience the reassurance of increased satiety as well as fewer cravings and a smaller calorie intake.

So if you are looking for a credible route to manage your weight loss, Fibretrim can offer you the tools to manage your meal portions and say no to high fat, sugary foods.

Tried Fibretrim? Let us know what you think of it by leaving a review below or putting a few words in the comments.

It’s true what they say. Having a good role model can inspire you to make positive changes in your life, including taking the steps to manage your diet and lose weight safely.

And this is what Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is hoping to achieve with his latest weight loss campaign…

Teaming up with his brother, city councillor Doug and potentially the Mayor of Calgary, Ford is hoping that by publically displaying his campaign to lose weight that he will inspire and motivate local citizens to shape up as well.

But is he doing it for the right reasons?

When it comes to losing weight, nutritionists believe that the best role models are those who are choosing to lose weight to improve their health, friendships and family, NOT because someone is telling them to.

And this is true of you as a slimmer too…

Choose to lose weight for the wrong reasons, and you will find it harder to stick to your guns. Instead, doubts and temptations will seep in leaving you tempted to revert back to old habits.

How can I keep myself motivated?

Aside from finding yourself a good role model, whether it be a sibling or a celebrity such as Jennifer Hudson who has managed to lose 80lbs; there are other tools you can use to help you take control of your weight loss and stay on track:

1. Make a list of reasons why you want to lose weight – there is nothing better than having a list to remind you of all the reasons you want to lose weight, when you are feeling low. These points will help you to refocus on your end goals, and keep you motivated towards losing weight.
2. Surround yourself with support – it is easy to feel isolated when you’re losing weight, especially when everyone around you is enjoying the foods you no longer can have. But you don’t have to face your weight loss journey alone. Joining a fitness club, forum or getting your partner involved in your healthy eating plan can all help to relieve the pressure and offer you the support to keep going.
3. Set small, achievable targets – don’t focus on the end game, but set yourself realistic weight losses of a couple of pounds a week. By treating your weight loss on a week to week basis, you’ll feel less overwhelmed and more focused on achieving this result.
4. Reward yourself – for every 7lbs you lose, offer yourself the reward of a new outfit, shoes, meal out or spa day. Pick something you love to do – which is obviously not too expensive – and offer it as a reward whenever you reach a new milestone.

Staying motivated is probably one of the hardest things about losing weight, but as the above tips clearly prove, it is possible to remain in control of your diet and achieve your dreams of a slimmer you.

So take your first steps to a healthier you today, and make sure you are losing weight for the right reasons: for you. With the right support, you’ll never be lacking in motivation.

Nutritionists agree that the safest and healthiest way to lose weight is to eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly and aim for weight losses of 1-2lbs a week.

Bearing this information in mind, it is refreshing to come across Alli, as unlike other dietary supplements which choose to make miracle weight loss claims, Alli doesn’t do this. Instead, the makers of Alli describe is as a support programme to boosting your weight loss plan.

How does Alli Work?

Made from the active ingredient orlistat, this attaches itself to some of your body’s natural enzymes (which are responsible for breaking down fat), to form a complex which prevents some of the fats you consume from being absorbed into your body.

Too large and complex to be absorbed, 25% of these fats are forced to pass naturally out of your body, helping you to lose weight.

And it works!

Numerous clinical studies have proven, that Alli can be incredibly effective at increasing your weight loss.

So much so, that Alli confidently claims to help you burn an extra 1lb for every 2lbs you work to lose naturally.

Is it really that simple?

It is important to note that you cannot simply rely on Alli to help you to lose weight. The makers of this diet pill have made it clear that you need to combine it with regular physical activity and a low calorie, low fat diet in order to achieve optimum results.

Fail to do this i.e. continue to eat a high fat diet, and your weight loss results will be limited and will happen more slowly.

Is it safe?

Having undergone 100s of clinical trials and being proven to encourage weight loss, Alli is completely safe to use.

Yes, it may cause a few side effects such as wind, oily spotting, frequent bowel movements and loose stools, but these are simply a consequence of blocking your fat absorption and rarely happen. More importantly, these side effects can easily be avoided by ensuring that you eat less than 15g of fat per meal.

Is it worth the investment?

Now, whilst its potential side effects may have put you off (NOTE: these side effects are actual proof that Alli is doing its job by preventing your body from absorbing too much fat), this is nothing when you consider the numerous health benefits this supplement can offer your body.

Offering you the bonus of additional weight losses of 1lb for every 2lb you lose, Alli can essentially help to increase your weight loss by 50%!

So if you are struggling to burn fat and lower your fat content, why not incorporate this natural supplement into your weight loss. Preventing 25% of the fats you consume from being absorbed, Alli can help you to experience healthy weight loss and keep it off.

Let us know you experience with Alli by voting below or leaving a comment!

Your body loves carbs, partly because it is its preferred source for energy. Yet when the carbs you consume are converted into glucose (your body’s fuel source), not all of this glucose gets used. Instead it ends up being converted into glycogen and stored in your liver and muscles.

And this happens more often than you think, as your body only needs so many carbs a day in order to help you function. Eat too many, and all you are actually doing is adding to your fat stores.

How much is too much?

Now the amount of carbs you need everyday will greatly depend on your activity levels. For instance if you consider yourself to be a bit of an athlete, then you’ll need more carbs per day than someone who spends all day at a desk.

However, to give you an idea here are some examples:

1. If you are trying to lose water weight, then consuming between 0-50g of carbs a day will help you to do so. This will force your body to go into ketosis which is a metabolic state when your body burns your own fat as its main source of energy.Now before you get any ideas, ketosis does come with its own risks and shouldn’t be done long term as at the end of the day, your body is not receiving enough carbs (leading to other health issues).
2. To achieve healthy weight loss you should aim to eat between 50-100g of carbs every day as this offers your body the right balance between what it needs whilst preventing excess glucose from being converted in glycogen.
3. Depending on the types of carbs you are eating (some are better for you than others), 150-300g of carbs a day will lead to gradual weight gain.
4. As you can guess, if 150-300g per day can contribute to gradual weight gain, then over 300g of carbs a day is certain to cause you to put on weight.

Is there anything I can do to increase my carb burn?

As mentioned above, the amount of carbs you can have will be greatly depend on how much you exercise. So if you have got a bit of a ‘thing’ for carbs, then the more you exercise, the healthier your weight loss will be.

Now out of all your exercise options, cardio workouts are probably your best route to increasing your daily fat burn and keeping your body in tip top shape. By doing short bouts of cardio consisting of high intensity intervals, you can expect to burn a larger quantity of calories.

Which cardio workouts are best?

Obviously some forms of cardio will help you to burn fat easier than others. That is why we have done a little research and come across the following workouts.

Now your cardio workouts don’t all have to be on a treadmill. You can also incorporate running, swimming and kickboxing into your routine – and these can be surprisingly effective at helping you to burn calories.

Take a look at these figures:

So give these workouts a try, and witness the difference they make to your weight loss and energy levels. If going for a walk 4 times a week can help you to burn 720 calories, imagine what 4 sessions of swimming can do…

When you’re dieting, you tend to pass up on fun occasions such as Valentines day, Shrove Tuesday and Easter. The temptation to overindulge on chocolates and sweet pancakes, is simply too strong, and sometimes it’s easier to just say no to them all.

But why should you miss out on all the fun?

Sure, you want to lose weight, but does that really mean you can’t enjoy a pancake? No it doesn’t. In fact, with our low calorie pancake recipe, you can enjoy a pancake or two and only consume 66 calories.

How do I make them?

Only 66 calories per plain pancake, using the following recipe you can make 10 pancakes for you and your family and finish them off with a twist of lime or lemon:

To Make:

1. Start by mixing your milk and water in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl sift your flour (using a sieve and spoon), then make a well in the centre. Break your 2 eggs into this well and immediately starting whisking until it is smooth.
3. Next start to slowly pour in your milk/water mixture – a little bit at a time – remembering to keep whisking as you pour. Continue whisking until you have got a smooth batter.
4. Set your batter to the side and start heating a frying pan over a high flame.
5. Whilst your pan is heating, measure our 2tbsp of batter into a ladle, then spray your pan twice.
6. Reduce your flame to medium and pour your batter into the centre, tipping your pan from side to side until your batter has evenly coated the bottom.
7. Wait 20 seconds until the edges become loose and your batter has solidified, then flip your pancake over.
8. Continue cooking for a few seconds, then remove from the pan and serve.

What about fillings?

Now whilst it might feel tempting to cover your pancake in sugar or turn it into a crepe using chocolate spread – all very fattening – it is possible to add some flavour to your pancakes without bumping up the calories.

Here are a few suggestions we’ve found to be quite appetising:

• If prefer savoury pancakes, then the following combinations will excite your taste buds: salmon, cream chive and chives and avocado and tomato salsa.

However,

• If you have got more of a sweet tooth, then these filling are sure to satisfy: pineapple, mango and passion fruit; strawberries covered in a sprinkle of sugar and banana and maple syrup.

Valentines day, Shrove Tuesday or Easter, you don’t have to miss out on the fun, just because you are dieting. Simply look out for low fat alternatives such as the pancake recipe above and remember to keep track of all the calories you consume.

Wouldn’t it be incredible if the clothes you wore could help you to lose inches off your hips? It would certainly help to lessen the pressure…

Well, with the support of Slimming Leggings, you can do just that!

How do Slimming Leggings work?

Infused with microcapsulated caffeine and Shea Butter, Slimming Leggings essentially act as a second skin under your clothing, secretly working to trim your hips, thighs, stomach and bum throughout the day.

Worn for 8 hours a day, for 6 consecutive days over 3 weeks, studies have found that Slimming Leggings can help you to lose 1.2 inches of your thighs and 2.1 inches off your hips in just 21 days.

This is achieved by the caffeine in the leggings mobilising fats, whilst the Shea Butter acts to smooth and soften the appearance of your legs.

Does it work?

We know. It’s hard to imagine how wearing a pair of leggings can help you to lose weight, but clinical studies have proven that Slimming Leggings can help you to lose the inches and successfully keep off (when combined with a healthy and nutritious diet).

Is there a catch?

No. Simply wear them everyday underneath your clothing, and they’ll essentially do all the work for you (though exercising will help to improve your results).

Are they worth the investment?

If you are prepared to put in the time, and remember to wash them everyday, then Slimming Leggings can easily help you to shed the inches off your hips, stomach and thighs and feel great.

So if you are looking for a simple solution which can help to lose those unwanted inches, then why not give Slimming Leggings a try? In 3 weeks, you will be one step closer to becoming a slimmer you.

If you’ve tried the Slimming Leggings why not let us know what you think of them? Use the stars below or leave a comment in the comments section regarding your experiences.