The Brunette Diaries

Tips To Help You Maintain Your Weight Post Weight Loss

Neither it is easy to lose weight, nor it is a cup of tea to maintain the lost calories. Once you’ve lost a significant weight, you feel proud of having to achieve what once you thought was a dream. But often people feel so proud, they allow themselves a lot of cheat day, that not only harms your system but also puts you off of your daily routine. It is NECESSARY to award yourself some prizes, but if you want to maintain that weight loss, you got to work harder all over AGAIN. Worry not, we have some tips for you, especially that will help you keep your fitness at bay, and your health top notch.

1) Never skip your breakfast

Breakfast is the MOST important part of your meals. It helps the body kick start, provides the right energy for you to keep going the whole day. It’s a proven fact, people who have breakfast as compared to those who DON’T are healthier and at lesser risk of obesity.

2) Exercise daily

Remember the time you worked so hard to lose all the fats that you carried, but now that you achieved your goal, you don’t hit the gym that often. Regular exercise is a MUST, it helps you burn any new fat that the body produces. It also keeps you on track with your health.

3) Weigh yourself quite often

Checking your weight on regular intervals helps you keep a track. It shows if you have gained or are gaining constantly. You can, accordingly, moderate your diet and exercises. Anytime you feel lazy about following your routine, just check your weight.

4) Lift weights

Doing cardio may be fun, but weight lifting is essential for maintaining your weight loss. You may not need to hit the gym every day of the week, if you train in heavy lifting, going 3-4 times a week is more than enough for your body. Lifting weight builds your core stronger, eventually helping your system to be stronger and healthier.

5) Stay hydrated

No matter what, keep your water intake proper. Don’t neglect this point, water is extremely crucial for any problems. Acne – drink water, constipated – drink water, need to lose weight – drink water!

6) Make sustainable changes in your lifestyle

Now that you’ve achieved the unachievable, you need to keep that goal forever. If your work schedule doesn’t allow you working out a time or you have to eat outside often, DON’T. Make sure you remind yourself of all the hardships you went through to achieve wherever you stand today. Make necessary changes in your lifestyle and priority to your health and fitness.

Get on roll, guys! It’s time to take your health seriously! 😉

Happy National Lemon Juice Day!

Yes, there is an entire day dedicated to LEMONS. When life gives you lemons, have tequila shots :P. More like, when life gives you a chance to celebrate lemon Juice Day, JUST DO IT! This fruit is well, may be hard to taste all on its own, but if you add it to different drinks, dishes or simply water, it delivers many health benefits.

WHAT IS LEMON GOOD FOR?

•   The lemon is high in vitamin C, fiber and various beneficial plant compounds.
•   These nutrients are responsible for the health benefits of lemons.
•   In fact, lemons may support heart health, weight control, digestive health and more.

HISTORY OF LEMONS:

• The 1900s: Little Lemon

Lemon is a common name for both boys and girls.

• The 1800s: Posh Lemon

Lemons are a sign of wealth and their trees are grown outside of homes to show affluence and provide fragrant smell.

• 1493: Continental Citrus

Christopher Columbus brings lemons to The New World

SOME MORE BENEFITS OF LEMONS:

1) Treats Indigestion

Lemon juice helps to cure problems related to indigestion and constipation. Add a few drops of this citrus fruit juice to your dish (take care, it does not go well with milk), and it will aid in digestion. It acts as a blood purifier and a cleansing agent.

2) Prevent Kidney stones

Kidney stones are small lumps that form when waste products crystallize and build up in the kidneys. They are quite common, and people who get them often get them repeatedly. Citric acid may help prevent kidney stones by increasing urine volume and increasing urine pH, creating a less favorable environment for kidney stone formation.

3) Hair Care

Lemon juice has proven itself useful in the treatment of hair care on a wide scale. Its juice, when applied to the scalp can treat problems like dandruff, hair loss and other problems related to the hair and scalp. If you apply this juice directly to the hair, it can give your hair a natural shine.

4) Weight Loss

Lemons are often promoted as a weight loss food, and there are a few theories as to why this is. One common theory is that the soluble pectin fiber in them expands in your stomach, helping you feel full for longer. That said, not many people eat lemons whole. And because lemon juice contains no pectin, lemon juice drinks will not promote fullness in the same way. Another theory claims that drinking hot water with lemon will help you lose weight.

5) Controls blood pressure

Drinking lemon juice is helpful for people suffering from heart problems because it contains potassium. It controls high blood pressure, dizziness, and nausea as it provides a calming sensation to both, the mind and body.

So, don’t forget to celebrate National Lemon Juice Day with lemons and do pass on the good information

Unexpected Weight Loss Could Be a Serious Problem

Many unexpected stuff can make you happy, like getting an unexpected holiday or finding money in your pocket, or like unexpected weight loss.

NO, unexpected weight loss might just be a real serious problem, so while you may be celebrating for losing some weight, get checked up if it isn’t a symptom to any diseases or disorder!

1) Muscle loss (sarcopenia)

People tend to experience muscle loss as they age because they neglect to maintain muscle health. This kind of muscle atrophy is sarcopenia, which can begin as early as your 40s and cause unexplained weight loss and reduced strength, energy, and mobility. To avoid muscle loss, one should add more protein and vitamin D to their diet. Older adults require more protein to build muscle at that age. Also, adding weights to your workouts helps build muscle mass and strength.

2) Cancer

Cancer, in general, can cause weight loss, but there are several types of cancer, such as lung, pancreatic, biliary, and colon, that are known to lead to unexplained weight loss. Abnormally functioning cancer cells grow out of control, speed up your metabolism, and wear out your entire body by using its resources, which causes weight loss. Cancer treatments can also lead to weight loss. Radiation and chemotherapy often cause a decrease in appetite, and it can lead to side effects, including nausea, vomiting, and mouth sores that discourage eating.

3) HIV and AIDS

AIDS, Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, chronic and potentially life-threatening disease that is caused by HIV, human immunodeficiency virus. HIV can make it harder for your body to absorb nutrients, which causes malnutrition and can lead to a decreased appetite. While there’s no cure for HIV or AIDS, there are medications that can dramatically slow the progression of the disease and allow you to live an otherwise healthy life.

4) Depression

Usually, when a person is depressed, he or she losses interest in almost everything that exists in life, even the ones they enjoyed previously. In this mood-disorder, giving up eating is one common thing that is found, whereas many start overeating. But, depression does result in weight loss which isn’t healthy at all. While there’s no one single cause of depression, many cases can be treated effectively with medication and therapy, although some antidepressants can also contribute to further weight loss.

5) Diabetes

Diabetes is often associated with weight gain or obesity, but surprisingly, weight loss can be one of the diabetes symptoms. When the body is no longer able to produce insulin sufficiently, glucose is no longer making it into the bloodstream to be used as energy. When there is an insufficiency in insulin, the body starts burning fat and muscle for energy, causing a reduction in overall body weight. If you are a diabetic and are experiencing weight loss, you need to see your doctor asap.

Let us know if this article helped you in any way, also suggest what you’d like us to write on.

All About Vegetarian Keto Diet

The vegetarian diet is commonly regarded as one of the healthiest diets for humanity. Many studies have found that vegetarian diets reduce the likelihood of prevalent diseases like heart disease and diabetes and improve health more than the average non-vegetarian diet. However, this doesn’t mean that the vegetarian diet is the best diet for everyone’s health.

The Ketogenic diet, for example, has been found to be more effective than the vegetarian diet for weight loss! And Just because you don’t eat meat doesn’t mean you can’t try this high-protein plan. Here’s how to turn the Keto diet vegetarian:

What is Keto diet?

With no carbs for fuel, the body produces ketones by breaking down fats in the liver. This helps burn excess fat and jump-start your metabolism, and it can lead to weight loss and increased energy. There is also an emphasis on whole foods with the Keto diet, which means that many types of processed foods are off-limits.

The original Keto diet is extremely high in fatty meats, which is not good for our cardiovascular system, the vegetarian version eliminates these meats and allows for more plant-based options, such as avocado and nuts and seeds. In general, the population is going towards a more plant-based, whole-foods diet, which is why the Ketotarian diet is emerging.

Going Ketotarian:

The diet of the moment is the Ketogenic plan, people turn to it to lose weight, to manage chronic illness, or to find a healthier lifestyle. This high-protein plan focuses on meat, however. The goal is to eliminate carbs, jack up the protein, and force the body to burn fat for fuel (instead of its preferred source: carbohydrates). This phenomenon is called ketosis, but the meat focus prevents vegetarians from experimenting with the plan.

How does a vegetarian Keto diet works?

First, even non-vegetarian Keto eaters shouldn’t focus too much on meat: The misconception that Keto diets require huge amounts of meat or meat products may scare off vegetarians, those concerned about the environment, or people that want to eat healthier. A vegetarian version of the Ketogenic diet may be appealing for its weight loss and other health benefits.

What can you eat as a Ketotarian?

The vegetarian Keto diet menu will include leafy greens and aboveground vegetables such as broccoli, asparagus, and green beans, as well as high-fat dairy, nuts, seeds, avocados, berries, sweeteners, oils, and fats. Ketotarians should ensure that they fit plenty of nuts, seeds (including flax and chia), tofu, eggs, cheese, cream, vegetables, avocados, olives, olive oil, canola oil, and butter into their diets for optimal results. You can make “treats” to help cravings, like chocolate avocado ice cream, from compliant ingredients.

What to avoid?

The list is very similar to the regular Keto diet (except you’re avoiding meat): Be sure to steer clear of grains, sugar, fruit (except for occasional berries), and tubers, like yams and sweet potatoes, while following the vegetarian Keto diet.

What are the benefits of vegetarian Keto diet?

One of the most beneficial things about the vegetarian Keto diet is that it incorporates fresh foods and eliminates many processed foods. The parameters of a Ketogenic diet are simply grams of macronutrients—protein, fat, carbs. The vegetarian Ketogenic diet tries to also focus on the quality of foods eaten, increasing the micronutrient content of the diet.

How challenging is it?

Those who are doing the vegetarian Keto diet will have to pay extra attention to what they are putting in their mouths. It can be harder to manage your diet because you might have to spend more time calculating your carbohydrate intake and spend a lot of time planning meals and considering the foods you are eating. Many plant foods contain carbs so it could be challenging to stay balanced, satisfied, and achieve Ketosis. Another challenge is not falling into the trap of eating foods that may be compliant but aren’t actually healthy. As with any diet, the label itself does not make it healthy. The labels of ‘vegan,’ ‘vegetarian,’ ‘Keto,’ ‘gluten-free,’ and many others include a range of food choices that fit the standards of the diet but aren’t necessarily healthy. This is especially true of processed foods that may carry these labels.

Things Your Doctor Wishes You Knew About Losing Weight

Consulting a doctor or a dietician is the smartest way of losing weight to achieve the proper and RIGHT guidance towards your goal weight. But often 20-30 minutes of meeting isn’t adequate enough to know everything there’s to know about losing weight. We asked doctors, dietitians, therapists, and other weight loss experts the key facts their clients most often miss. Make sure to master these often misunderstood facts if you’re looking to shed a few pounds.

1) Food that seem healthy may also make you gain weight

Many people think if it’s healthy, you can eat as much as you want, but it’s important to limit ‘recreational’ eating, no matter how healthy the snack is. When you do snack, make sure you’re choosing the right kind.

2) WHEN you eat is as important as WHAT you eat

When you eat is important for weight loss. Starving all day and eating a big meal at the end of the day is counterproductive. No matter how nutritious a meal is, if eaten too late in the day, one does not have the time to burn it off and use it for fuel for the day. It ends up being stored in a body gas tank (the fat cells) you can’t readily access.

3) Reaching your goal end isn’t the end

It takes fewer calories and more energy expenditure to maintain weight loss than it takes to initiate weight loss. So if you let up once you start losing weight, you will gain it all back and then some! The good news is that when you start losing weight, it becomes easier to do more things like spending extra time on the treadmill or doing more resistance training reps. The idea is to continuously challenge yourself.

4) The right thyroid test

If you’re having a hard time losing weight, get a proper thyroid assessment. Most people need a test that goes above the standard medical thyroid profile. A standard thyroid test reads as ‘normal’ in 80 percent of overweight individuals, which is incorrect. A proper thyroid assessment includes checking eight different parameters of thyroid function and comparing them to optimal, not normal, values. Evaluated this way, over 80 percent of overweight individuals will actually be properly identified as being hypothyroid. This is a key contributor to overweight.

5) Alcohol prevents weight loss

Alcohol does not only empty calories but also has a huge effect on the weight loss process. It can interrupt and inhibit fat metabolism, making it harder to lose weight. Alcoholic drinks also contain a lot of added calories and carbs that will make it harder to lose weight even when you’re reducing your caloric intake. At the very least, order something you sip slowly, such as wine, rather than something you may drink larger amounts of such as beer.

Be Beautiful Without Having To Sacrifice Your Health

You don’t need to undergo extreme or painful measures to be beautiful. Being good to yourself and maintaining your health are important ways to accentuate your appearance ― it will make you gorgeous inside and out.

Look Younger, Naturally!

You might undergo youth-boosting treatments for your skin but these can be damaging to your health. An example is using chemically-enhanced skincare products that spread toxins into your skin and body. These can cause illness or adverse skin reactions. A much better option is organic skincare that looks after your skin with gentle ingredients while keeping your body free of harmful chemicals. Nutritional ingredients such as Vitamin C and Vitamin A, both in your diet and beauty routine, will also keep your skin firm and young without you having to resort to invasive procedures. Looking after your skin will keep your body functioning healthily so you can be naturally beautiful all over.

Is the Gym Your Friend or Enemy?

You know that it’s important to exercise daily ― when you get your heart pumping, this increases the oxygen in your body and activates your immune system. It also leads to weight loss. However, working out too much can disintegrate tissues, it can release the stress hormone called cortisol that can lead to disease, cause muscle tears that increase injury risk, as well as put your body under strain so that your immune system takes a dive.

How do you know if you’re exercising too much? If you get sick easily, you feel short-tempered, exercise makes you feel really tired all the time, or your body takes days to recover after a session, these symptoms mean you have to scale down your workouts.

Fashion Faux Pas to Avoid

Wearing clothing and shoes that make you look stylish but aren’t comfortable or put pressure on your body in various ways can harm your health. Are you guilty of these fashion faux pas?

Wearing High Heels Regularly

Yes, they’re gorgeous and make you feel like a million bucks, but they also strain your feet because they put your feet into an abnormal position. This can lead to pain, joint inflammation, and pinched nerves. High heels can also harm your spine because they alter your posture. Your lower back will feel the strain as it tries to deal with the unnatural position, causing pain.

Wearing Too-Tight Clothing

You might be trying to squeeze yourself into tight clothing over the holiday season when attending all the festive season parties, but this is dangerous. It can lead to numbness in your body because of constriction. Over time this can cause chronic problems. Tight clothing around your abdomen prevents digestion, so it can lead to problems such as burping and discomfort, which is exacerbated if you already have a health issue such as heartburn. Avoid anything that’s too tight and remember this isn’t flattering― instead of hiding any extra weight on your body, it will actually accentuate it.

Being beautiful should never be about harming yourself. Remember: health and beauty go hand in hand for best results!