A smoothie diet isn't really a diet at all. It's more of a modification to your eating plan. Losing weight has always been at the forefront of modern society. With high-profile celebrity icons being paraded like something in a shop window, we often find ourselves compelled at how these people achieve their gorgeous physiques. Well the truth is that I, just like you are a normal person with work constraints and other commitments which simply take too much time for me to be able to commit myself to attending the gym everyday.

Wouldn't you love to lose weight, manage your five-a-day intake, improve your energy, and improve your skin, hair, and nails? If you answered 'yes' to these questions, then perhaps its time you implemented a smoothie diet into your life.

A smoothie is a mix of various ingredients, mainly fruits and/or vegetables which are blended together to create a great tasting and refreshing 'drink'. However, if we look closely at the ingredients involved in creating a smoothie, you will be amazed at how beneficial a smoothie can be to your body. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Pyramid recommends three to five servings of vegetables and two to four servings of fruits per day. Eating just the minimum number of these servings adds up to what is called the "five-a-day." Fewer than 15 percent of Americans eat the minimum five servings of fruits and vegetables a day.

A typical smoothie recipe that I make in the mornings would be one made up of one apple, one banana, one cup of orange juice, a handful of strawberries and two table spoons of natural yoghurt. If you look at the ingredients in that list, I am already consuming the majority of my five-a-day - I am loading my body with goodness and the necessary vitamins and energy I require to have a healthy, balanced body. And I'm doing this whilst enjoying what I'm drinking! Wouldn't you love to experiment with a smoothie diet that actually tastes delicious? Nobody wants ridiculous diet fad ideas such as eating lettuce, or only meat. In the following paragraph I will explain why.

A typical diet will advise you to stick to some sort of eating plan where you are essentially cutting out many of the foods you enjoy and eating fewer portions. Have you ever noticed why there are so many dieting fads? The reason is because they are all temporary fixes for a permanent problem!

Consider this study from the UCLA; "You can initially lose 5 to 10 percent of your weight on any number of diets, but then the weight comes back," said Traci Mann, UCLA associate professor of psychology and lead author of the study. "We found that the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more. Sustained weight loss was found only in a small minority of participants, while complete weight regain was found in the majority. Diets do not lead to sustained weight loss or health benefits for the majority of people."

So why the smoothie diet? I recommend the smoothie diet because essentially it's not really a diet. I'm not asking you to stop eating certain foods, nor am I limiting your quantities. I'm asking you to take the time to integrate smoothies into your lifestyle. Have one for breakfast or lunch, and have one for after your evening meal perhaps? What you will notice is an increase in the amount of energy you have as well as how full you feel. The fibre from the fruit/vegetables is slower to digest, so you will feel fuller for longer. Consume two smoothies a day and you will be literally loading your body with vitamins and minerals, essential to having healthy hair, skin, nails, better eyesight, a stronger immune system and many more beneficial qualities.

All this in addition to the real goal - Losing weight! Yes, you don't need to worry about calorie-counting when it comes to smoothies. Just have fun making them, and have fun drinking them. Fit the smoothie diet around your job; share the fun with your children and most importantly of all, take control of your weight and your future. You will soon notice the pounds drop off and stay off, purely because you will find yourself needing to eat less and because what you are consuming, is naturally good food.

Having a baby is a wonderful experience for any woman and wish to lose weight after child birth as soon as possible. Celebrity moms with the help of dietitians, nurses and fitness experts, in average will get back to their original shape faster than the average women. But they are not a good example upon which to base your own postpartum weight loss goals. Don't be too impatient, trying to lose weight too fast can rebound on you. You should "Go Easy" and take these few steps to lose your weight after giving birth to your baby.

If you're a new mother, then you'll know that to lose weight after child birth is something that all new mothers are concerned about. It's all right stacking on the weight when you're pregnant and for some, pregnancy is a great excuse to gorge however once the baby is out and breastfeeding is either established or finished, then the question of how to lose weight after having it moves to the forefront of a mothers' mind.

It's important to remember that during the first few months after the birth of a baby, so many changes and new things are happening that the thought of how to lose weight should not be the priority. Eating nutritiously, getting enough sleep, and taking care of the new infant should be where first efforts are focused. Once these are in place, then working on how to lose weight can begin in earnest.

The average woman gains more than 25 pounds during her pregnancy. The procedure of childbirth may result in a weight loss of up to 14 pounds, which means that new moms still have considerable weight to lose once they leave the hospital. However, some women simply assume that this "baby fat" will never go away. Yet, it is entirely possible to lose weight during the post pregnancy period.

Diet should generally be low-fat but not fat-free; vitamin rich; and high-fiber. Under no circumstances should you go on a fad diet. Such a diet could be quite harmful to your health and could actually slow your recovery from childbirth. It's a good idea to set weight-loss goals, but don't go overboard. Recognize that there is a limit to the amount of weight you can lose during a given period of time.

Do you want to know how to lose 5 pounds a week? More importantly, do you want to know how to lose weight safely? I know I did. I tried Denial and it worked for a while until my zippers kept popping and I finally got tired buying one size larger every time I went shopping.

I tried Atkins, the Zone, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, hmm; let's see what else? Well, you get the picture! The fat loss thing; been there and done that. So, how do my old fat loss days help you? Well, I finally found out how to lose my fat. I learned how to lose 5 pounds a week and just as important, I learned how to lose weight safely.

Plus, I have even more good news. The information is the same whether you want to know how to loose 30 pounds in a month or if you want to loose 15 pounds in a week or like I asked earlier, if you would like to know how to lose 5 pounds a week?

Basically it works just the opposite of your financial budget. The financial budget says that you need to keep more than you spend. But, with the belly budget, you have to spend more energy than you take in. Down and dirty that means, if you use more calories than you store, PRESTO, you simply won't have a weight problem. Ok, so specifically what will help? You are in luck; I have some tips for you.

1). Increase Protein - I don't mean you have to become some cave man or cave woman and walk around with a smoked turkey leg in your hand, I am talking lean meats and fish which stay in your stomach longer so that you won't overeat. .

2). Decrease or Eliminate Alcohol and Sugar drinks - Lay off wine, beer, liquor and soft drinks. These are empty calories that will only add weight.

3). Increase Water - I know, I know, so how does drinking more water help lose weight? Specifically, how to make you lose 5 pounds a week? Drinking more water helps your body burn and process fat.

4). Increase Exercise - I don't mean you have to try out for the Olympic team, just get active, it doesn't matter what you do, just get moving and stay moving a minimum of 20 minutes 3-4 times a week. Really, when you think about how many hours are in a whole week; this isn't much time at all.

5). Eliminate Or Reduce Starches From Your Diet - Since the body needs more water to digest starches, eating fewer starches will actually create a fluid loss. Learning how certain foods affect your weight, helps you know how to lose 5 pounds a week.

If you will follow these diets tips, you will lose weight, I can't absolutely promise that you will know how to lose 5 pounds a week, but you will consistently lose weight. However, for optimum health, you need to get an overall healthy lifestyle program and live that way. Eating a certain way for a few days or few weeks won't cut it over the long haul.

We all know that eating salads and fresh veggies is healthy for us. Eating that salad can not only keep you healthy, it can also help you lose weight by increasing the amount of fat you burn. Even if you decide to eat an unhealthy meal, eating a salad along with it can help to prevent further weight gain.

The key to the fat burning element of a salad is found in the "pH level" of the dark, leafy greens. Dark, leafy, green vegetables tend to be "alkaline", falling on the higher end of the pH scale. In contrast, most standard American foods are highly "acidic", falling on the lower end of the pH scale. pH level of the food you eat is important because your blood is slightly alkaline.

Acidic foods include: dairy, meat, vinegar, breads, sugars, soft drinks, and many fruits. These deadly acids can burn a hole right through your blood vessels if left un-buffered! In order to keep you alive, your body will bind these acids with fat, neutralize the acids and then store them in your fat storage area (i.e. hips, butt, mid-section, love handles, etc.).

Now remember, opposites attract! The green veggies are alkaline and will bind with the acidic toxins that you are storing in your fat deposits and eliminate them from your body. The more alkaline foods and drinks you consume, the easier it is for the excess fat to melt away.

Even if you chose to eat a "bad" meal, at the very least have a salad with it. By eating an alkaline salad with your acidic meal, you will help to neutralize the acids that you are eating and minimize the potential of packing on the pounds.

When eating your salad, try to avoid the typical salad dressings as these are usually very acidic. Traditional salad dressings often contain a lot of vinegar, sugar, or dairy which are all acidic and fat forming. Instead, use some extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice which are both alkaline. You can also add some sea salt, pepper, or other herbs and spices to give your salad the flavor you enjoy.

So, if your goal is to lose weight and eat healthier, start by increasing your salad and fresh vegetable consumption. You can start by having half of your plate be salad and the other half can be a small sandwich, or whatever it is that you normally eat. Eventually, you want to increase the size of the salad so that it takes up about 70-80% of your plate. Once you are eating 70-80% alkaline foods and drinking alkaline fluids, the fat on your body will have no choice but to "melt" off.

After weight-loss surgery, your long-term success will be determined by your commitment to exercise and healthy eating. While your diet will incorporate a wide variety of foods, nearly all of your exercise - regardless of your health - will begin with one simple activity: walking. Though walking is often taken for granted, a deeper understanding of the activity can yield remarkable weight-loss results. Here are several ways you can turn a seemingly simple activity into an effective calorie-burning workout.

Talk to your doctor

Before you begin a regular regimen of walking or any other form of exercise, you should consult your physician. Your doctor will be able to tell you what types of activities are best for your health and help you structure a healthy walking schedule that fits your needs.

Use a pedometer

A pedometer is one of the best tools you can use to both encourage and organize your walking habits. This incredibly affordable device will keep track of your steps throughout the day, allowing you to see how your daily habits affect your movement. After your competitive impulses kick in, you will want to top your number of steps each day. After remaining committed over time, you will also notice your walking totals increasing hand-in-hand with your weight loss numbers.

Keep a journal

The easiest way to keep track of your steps and compare your daily results is the creation of a journal. Beyond a catalog of your walks and the steps counted on your pedometer, you can use your journal to document your exercise, meals and weight-loss results. As weight-loss surgeons often recommend keeping a journal after surgery to encourage healthy eating habits, adding your walking and exercise results in one convenient book will help you simplify your entire routine.

Dress the part

When getting ready to walk or exercise, it can be very helpful to wear comfortable, loose-fitting clothing. By wearing garments that promote healthy movement, you will be more inspired to push on during your walks. More importantly, you should always wear supportive athletic shoes when exercising or walking. Failing to wear the right shoes could not only end your walk early, it could lead to injury and potentially the end of your healthy routine. And don't forget to include sunscreen as part of your walking attire!

Work on your posture

Much as the right pair of shoes will help you avoid injury, practicing good posture while walking can allow you to extend your workouts and limit your downtime. To avoid back pain and make the most of your walking, focus on standing up straight without arching your back or leaning forward. Next, keep your chin up and try to suck in your stomach and behind. Lastly, relax your shoulders by shrugging and letting your arms fall to your sides naturally.

Move your arms

While you are walking, swinging your arms will help you maintain your good posture and burn a few extra calories along the way. You might also notice that using your arms while walking can propel you forward, helping you maximize your workout and hit your weight-loss targets.

Get warmed up

Before setting out on a walk or beginning an exercise routine, you should always warm up to prolong your energy and prevent injury. Prior to walking, you should perform some simple movements that allow you to stretch your arms and legs. As you merely want to prepare your muscles for walking, your warm up does not need to be strenuous.

Cool yourself down

After you have finished walking, you should stretch again to ward off the pains and cramps that often follow exercise. More importantly, a healthy stretching regimen - both before and after walking - will allow you to maintain your exercise schedule for the long term. Obviously, if pain or injuries prevent you from walking or exercising, you will burn fewer calories and find it far more difficult to meet your weight-loss goals.

When thinking about the exercise required to meet weight-loss goals, it is important to remember that your activities don't need to be complicated or difficult to perform. In fact, the tips outlined here will allow you to build an entire exercise regimen out of nothing but walking. When the time comes to try new sports and activities, you can then use all of the skills you developed while walking to take both your weight loss and healthy lifestyle to the next level.

Fat is stored as energy for use when you don't have any available food. However, today we don't have to hunt for our food we can just get it from the shops. But are body still has the survival mechanisms from thousands of years ago. So we must use a certain method to tell our body that we have enough food.

To lose weight you must eat less calories that you burn. This will give you body less energy than it needs, so it will have to use fat to make up for the loss of energy. But, if you lose too much energy your body won't use the fat it will store it so you can use it as backup energy. Your body will use muscle as energy instead. Muscle helps to keep you metabolism high, so losing it would be bad for you fat loss.

To prevent you body from thinking that you are starving you must only slightly decrease your food intake. 500 calories should be a maximum decrease amount. If you want to lose more calories you should use exercise to burn them off.

Lift weights to build up muscle mass. Muscle drives you metabolism and should be maintained when losing weight. Do cardio in the morning before breakfast, this will burn more fat.

Eat 6 small meals instead of 3 big meals. Eat each meal every 3 hours, this will make your body realise that you aren't starving and it will keep your metabolism high. Eat protein with every meal. Protein is needed by your muscles to maintain them, if you don't eat some every 3 hours your muscles will start to breakdown and be used as protein.

Eat the majority of your carbohydrates in the morning and gradually decrease the amount, until you eat non at night. This will stop any carbohydrates being stored as fat when you go to sleep. When you are asleep you don't use many calories and so any extra food will be stored as fat. Your body finds it hard to store protein as fat and will use up all the protein for repairing cells and muscle.

Drink plenty of water. Every process in your body is based in water and needs water to work properly. Water helps to wash out toxins and keep things running smoothly within your body. Always stay well hydrated and your body will be able to perform at it's optimum level.

Follow these tips to get rid of stubborn fat. You will also become healthier, fitter and more energetic. Using these techniques is the best way to lose fat and keep it off permanently.

There are many claims out there that say you can lose up to 10 pounds in one week However, the weight will mostly be water and muscle. If you want to lose fat you will have to be patient, as you body can only lose a maximum of 2 pounds of fat a week. Here are some techniques that will make sure you lose those full 2 pounds.

Decrease you calorie intake by 500 calories a day. A pound of fat contains 3500 calories, so this will get you losing 1 pound a week. Don't try to lose any more, as you body won't be able to survive will the decrease in energy and will start to use muscle as energy and store fat for backup energy.

A way to make sure your metabolism stays high is to change your calories every other day. One day eat your usual calories, this will keep you body happy. Then the next day reduce you calorie by 500. This is a great way to trick your body into losing weight and keeping you metabolism high.

Increase your metabolism by eating 6 small meals a day. Eat a meal ever 3 hours. This will prevent you metabolism from slowing down between meals. Your will also have more energy and the food will be digested more effectively. It will be less likely for there to be any excess food that can be stored as fat. Your will be satisfied and won't get cravings for bad sugary foods.

Use exercise to burn off another 500 calories a day. High intensity exercise is best as it will challenge your body. Increase the intensity and you become more fit. This will gradually build up muscle which will increase the calories you burn throughout the day.

Drink at least 2 litres of water a day, the more the better. Every process in your body needs water. The process of burning fat needs water. Keep you body hydrated especially around exercise. Drink lots of water when you wake up in the morning, this will make sure you are fully hydrated for the rest of the day.

Get plenty of sleep. 8 hours should be a goal. Your body needs sleep to perform processes it cannot do when your awake. It will have time to repair and build new cells. Your mind will be able to refresh and be ready for the next day.

Use these methods to lose weight properly and healthily. Your will have more energy and will be healthier by using these proven techniques. For more information on how to lose weight fast and easily visit my website at www.fat-loss-secret-online.com to gain instant access to my Fast Fat Loss course.

Have you tried unsuccessfully to reach your desired weight only to be disappointed? The truth is that many people who venture out to lose weight will not have success; In this article we decided to list some of the reasons the people fail to reach their goals.

1) Are you the type of person who has been struggling with being overweight for most of your life and you swear that everything you have done does not work? Are you wanting to lose weight because you hate the image that stares back at you when you are looking in the mirror? Well while losing weight will help you feel better; but the main reason to want to get into shape is your health. We all know that being overweight causes you to experience certain health problems that could most likely be ignored if you were in better shape.

2) People like to say that they have tried to lose weight and yet it does not come off. This is a lie; because if you learn to eat right and being using physical exercise to lose weight then you will eventually begin to notice the weight fall off your body. You have to remember that you are not going on a diet; it is a lifestyle change.

3) People who want to lose weight are sucked in by all the infomercials that are shown on television promising you to shed weight easily without even exercising. Then they are quick to pull out their credit card and the bad thing is that they purchase this product only to be disappointed.

4)The sad truth is that this is going to be a huge topic because we as a society are not willing to make the changes that are necessary for people to live a healthy lifestyle. It is up to us as an individual to lose weight. Yet people are not willing to get off the couch and get outdoors more often.

Get all the information on the truth about losing the weight you want by visiting our site below. Why not get off your butt and get into shape and learn how to turn your body into a fat burning machine so that you can begin to feel good about the way you look and feel.

The truth is that you can reach your weight loss goals if you know what it takes to reach them. Therefore it will benefit you to learn what types of foods are good for burning calories and building your metabolism.

I'm going to show you exactly how to get defined abs fast. Everyone is looking to get themselves six packs and look fit, but most people never even attempt it. The reason is that they don't believe they can achieve it. They don't think they have the right genetics or they don't have the right body for it. This is all baloney. The fact is that anyone can get the abs they always wanted. They key is to apply the correct methods and information, which happen to be hidden behind a lot of misinformation. The average person at the gym doesn't know what they're doing, so I'll show you how to get defined abs fast.

The first step is to focus primarily on your diet. Most people think the magic will happen in the gym, but your diet will determine your results, so make sure you put as much time as you can into planning it. I find that eating smaller meals more often actually speeds up the process. This consistent eating actually helps to speed up the metabolism, which leads to more fat being targeted on the body.

When it comes to the gym, you need to understand one basic principle on how to get defined abs fast. Sit-ups and other ab exercises aren't going to help you. You can't choose where the fat comes off, so doing sit-ups and push-ups will give you the same results. What you need to do is focus on the entire body, so you burn more calories and more fat.

Wandering how long does it take to lose pregnancy weight? It takes up to 6 months to lose pregnancy weight and return your body to normal. It depends on how much weight you gained during your pregnancy. Here are some great tips to use so that you can finally say "I am back in shape after pregnancy".

No hurry! I know exactly how you are feeling. Apart from the physical trauma of giving birth, which itself can leave you feeling exhausted, looking after and being responsible for a new baby can be very stressful. It will require all your energy.

1. Focus on eating healthy food

So rather than focusing on "weight loss", concentrate for the first 3 months or so after the birth on eating healthy food with enough calories and nutrients to give you the energy and nutrition to cope.

2. When to start with exercising?

You should be able to start gentle exercise almost immediately after returning home from the hospital. But avoid any type of vigorous or sustained exercise until after your first post-pregnancy check-up. Exercising too soon and too vigorously after giving birth can be damaging to health.

Enjoy it!

Go for a nice long walk with your new baby, or by running up and down the stairs a few times.

3. When to start with weight loss diet?

After 2-3 months you can start following a healthy weight loss diet and begin doing more vigorous exercises, such as running or training on an Elliptical. For optimum health, aim to lose no more than 1 pound per week, and continue to focus on eating nutritious foods.

4. How to choose the best weight loss diet to lose pregnancy weight

Features of effective weight loss programs:

- Inexpensive

Sure there may be a small, one-time investment to lose weight but extra expense and fees outside of this should be kept to a minimum.

- Slow

Avoid of quick weight loss programs. The results that they produce are temporary! They give you a false sense of hope and are highly unhealthy and toxic to your body.

- Based on the combination of healthy diet and a regular exercise routine

Working out obsessively and getting on a diet are not the perfect ways to lose weight. It takes much more than just this. Why do you feel that there are so many people out there who have gone through all the weight loss diets but are still struggling with weight issues and seem to get no results whatsoever? These people are lacking some of the most essential keys. Read on to discover what these keys are and achieve mind blowing results extremely fast.......

Not acting today- Well this is the very first key which will really determine your eventual success or failure in terms of weight loss. Always remember that if you don't start now you might never start. Life is not going to wait for you, time stops for no one therefore the more you delay the worse your condition would get. Start doing instead of thinking over it too much as doing will take you places.

Not having the right amount of drive- Do you have something which will push you when you feel like giving up? Why do you feel a lot of people out there just give up after a certain amount of time? They seem to start off very well with a great diet and a workout program but why do they mellow down after a few days? It's simply due to the reason that they were not motivated enough to keep going. Therefore you must find something which will keep you going all the time.

Being consistent with your plan- And this is the most important key if you really want to see some pounds off your belly. You can never grow a plant within a day in your garden. You will have to water it every single day and if you stop watering it for a few days it will eventually die. The same concept applies to your weight loss efforts. You must be at it every single day as the day you give up you will gain it all back up again.