Taste Buds Can Be Changed

Taste buds and acquired tastes develop over the years. They are not formed at birth nor are they magically created. What the body is given, it will eventually crave and become used to. So the entire program is simple: get your body used to healthy stuff!

Changing your tatse buds

The most ridiculous lie that dietitians will tell you is that everything is good in moderation. That is completely false. Some foods are just plain horrible and should almost always be avoided. The main problem in our society is that this list is growing. For someone trying to lose weight, the idea of moderating unhealthy food becomes both a mental and physical struggle. These foods that are high in fat and in sugar are created to be addictive and present little nutritional value at all. The moderation of foods like potato chips or cake simply does not work because they are addictive foods that have incredibly small serving sizes. A small ounce of cake can contain up to 200 calories depending on the cake and a small slice is usually about 350 or more calories. A single potato chip is also usually about ten calories or higher. So it becomes relatively impossible to have healthy portions of these foods. The trick is to change your taste buds.

What Dieticians won't tell you!

The main lie that dieticians will tell the people trying to lose weight: "Everything is fine in moderation"

BULLSHIT! Okay, it is fine to have one dinner where you have some bad Chinese food instead of a nice home cooked meal. But to say that you should simply moderate your intake of crappy foods is way past stupid. First of all, moderation has to be defined more specifically rather than just as controlling intake. For example, is moderation having only one serving of potato chips? If so then be ready to starve because that would mean eating 12-14 chips and getting no nutritional value from them. And some foods are just plain horrible for a person trying to lose weight. A slice of cake or pie (surprisingly small) can be easily over 300 calories. Now here is the question every person trying to lose weight should be asking themselves: Is this worth the workout I will need to put in to burn it off? The answer is almost always NO!!!!! 300 calories would take an average person more than half an hour of cardio. So moderation doesn't work here. Also, the foods they tell you to "moderate" are designed to be addictive. They contain high levels of sugar and fat in order to draw you in to eat more and more and become hooked. So in general you can have a bad food once in a while but don't start eating crappy foods in small amounts and think that you are doing a good job for your diet. In fact, your simply creating a craving for more bad foods that will eventually explode into a binge that could erode your entire progress.

The paradox of weight loss

The most unfortunate thing about the task of weight loss is not the act of losing weight. Instead it is the task of keeping the weight off and maintaining a lower body weight than before.
The PARADOX of weight loss is as follows: if someone loses a significant amount of weight they will not be able to consume as many calories as another person who has been at their new weight for a longer period of time. This is why: The person who has just lost weight now has a more efficient body. Sounds like a good thing right? Well this means that the person now burns fewer calories when doing the same exercises as before. Although this may sounds strange it is completely proven and is scientific. The body will burn more energy when it is inefficient because it needs to. So the person who has just lost weight (let us give an example of 40 pounds lost and a new weight of 170 pounds) will NOT be able to eat as much per day as a person who has weighed 170 pounds for most of their life.
There is also the desire to eat which is greater in those who have just lost weight. There are certain hormones created by fat cells in the body which when at a lower level will send the body signals to eat. Because the person will have lost weight recently they will have decreased levels of production of these hormones and will feel more inclined to eat.
Another major and much more general trend for weight loss is that the people who experience a sudden rapid weight loss do so by an extreme program that does little to aid them in maintaining their new weight. Many short term diet programs that result in rapid weight loss include very little HABIT-FORMING TECHNIQUES which are essential for maintaining a healthy weight. They don't try to develop better eating habits or better exercise habits.

Example of a CORRECT DIET PLAN

Now, let's take our example person who over consumes by 300 calories per day and wants to lose weight. Let's say that the dietician makes the right call and suggests an overall weekly calorie burn from exercise of 2100 and to reduce the daily caloric intake by 300.
First, let us examine the 300 calories per day for the food intake. While this may seem scary, it really shouldn't be. There are millions of ways to cut out calories during the day. Eating a salad with grilled chicken for lunch with light or non-fat dressing for 250-300 calories instead of an unhealthy fast food lunch will most likely contribute 150 to that total. Now during dinner simply cut out the most carb-filled part of your meal. Either that or eat some low calorie ice cream instead of a fattening one. If you do all these three methods, you will probably have done the 300 cut that is necessary.
Now let us examine the exercise aspect. 2100 calories may seem like a big number but when divided up over the span of a week it really isn't. If one was to exercise everyday then that would require only 300 calories per day. On a decent cardio machine or with just pure running that should take no more than 30 minutes. This is also not including any muscle building exercises or abdominal exercises (which may burn more calories than you think). Now let us say that this person can only exercise 4 times a week. Even so, that means simply extending the time at the gym to an hour and on many cardio machines this may never even seem like a difference.

Exercise Dilemna (Danger of no exercise plans)

A lot of dieticians will sometimes recommend plans without exercise because they believe it puts added stress on an individual trying to lose weight. BIG MISTAKE! The individual will most likely be unable to alter their daily intake enough to meet the new goals. Let us take for example our past example of a person who consumes an excess of 300 calories per day. They wish to lose weight but this time the dietician suggests cutting out 600 calories per day out of their diet which probably would be around 2300 per day. This would result in a total caloric intake of 1700 per day. However, how is this reduction to come about? 100 per day is simple and 300 per day is still reasonable. But to reduce one's daily diet by 600 calories per day is a horrifying thought. It not only adds tremendous stress onto the person trying to lose weight but prompts them to avoid possibly healthier choices that may be slightly higher in calories (foods high in protein). It makes the obtaining of certain vitamins and minerals difficult and the person will most likely feel a significant drop in energy and increase in frustration. As a result, the metabolism slows down and the amount lost each day would actually decrease to a small extent.
The most likely result from this plan would be one of two possibilities. The first is that the person at first sticks to the diet but then begins to "max out" their calories they are allotted and in fact ends up going over the amount as no one can be 100% exact. The second is that the person eventually grows so upset and frustrated that they end up breaking the diet multiple times and eating incredibly unhealthy food. Either way, the result is not pleasant nor produces the desired weight loss.

The Diet Dilemna (Example One)

Often a person will go on a diet that will either focus solely on eating healthy or exercise. A good diet plan includes both. Take for example a person who eats 300 calories over their limit a day. They want to lose weight and so their dietician tells them that they need to burn 600 calories a day from exercise so that their caloric intake is -300 which would contribute to significant weight loss.
Unfortunately, this person would probably find it very difficult burning 600 calories a day by just exercise (roughly an hour on the treadmill). Most likely, the person would  either cut their workout short or would exercise less frequently. Now instead of burning 4200 calories a week the person only burnt 2000. The diet hasn't changed and so the total caloric intake for the week is -500 which would result in a loss of a pound after 7 weeks. Most likely, the person would give up the exercise plan long before that out of aggravation over not seeing improvement.

Other Benefits of Exercise:
Exercise is good for more than just burning calories or building muscle. It helps both the mind and body to become stronger, more focused, less stressed, and overall better at functioning.
Exercise is the greatest reliever of stress that someone can utilize. Often, a stressed morning can be turned around and turned into a  relaxing afternoon by exercise. The very act of exercising usually helps to alleviate the mind and also allows for things to be put into perspective. In fact, planning things out during a prolonged cardio session is often the best method for it allows the person to calmly organize things.
Exercise contributes to healthy respiratory function and also helps a person improve their physical abilities through out the day. Many people mistakenly believe that having exercised earlier in the day makes them too tired or too weak to perform basic functions. In fact, the metabolism is sped up after an early workout and the body works at higher capacity.

Part 6: Choosing the right type of exercise for you!
There are many different forms of exercise and it is very difficult to know which are best for an individual. A teenager looking to start gaining muscle will require a much different pattern of exercise than a middle aged person looking to get back into shape. So here are some tips to figure out which exercises are best for you:
1. Diversify your workout between muscle building and cardiovascular workouts.
2. Try to build up every part of your body with muscle building (back, shoulder, legs, chest, arms, everything!)
3. Try to use free weights and real running instead of machines and treadmills (they provide better results and make you less dependent on a gym).
4. Use the right cardio machines if you are going to use them (avoid the treadmills and ellipticals).
5. Work your core with crunches and other ab exercises (they burn a decent amount of calories, increase your flexibility, take minimal time, and help to strengthen your core while giving you the satisfaction of seeing some results relatively quickly)
6. When lifting, switch off between long sets of lighter weights and the shorter sets of heavier weights. The first one tones the muscles while the other makes them larger.
7. When working a body part, don't rely on just one exercise or one machine (example: use both curls and hammers to work the biceps rather than just one of them)
8. Shock your muscles! If you keep doing the same exact exercise with just one bland routine than the pace of improvement will slow. Don't be afraid to add weight on after a couple weeks or to try a new exercise.
9. Work your muscles out and don't just do what feels easy!

Part 5: Choosing the Right Foods
This is always a tricky subject. Choosing the right foods to both eat and purchase is often strenuous and many people will either give up and simply buy whatever is on the shelf or they will go overboard and seek out only the most specific things and will never diversify their pallet. In general there are a few good tips to follow:
1. Buy lots of produce. It is generally cheap, healthy, and will last a while.
2. Buy plenty of low calorie snacks that can keep you going through out the day or make your own.
3. Sugar free and fat free can be good choices for some foods but bad choices for others (sugar free cakes are usually higher in fat and fat free Italian ices are horribly high in sugar).
4. Try to find the lowest calorie type of that food and see if it is good (you may be surprised by the quality you find).
5. If you are looking to stay fit then try to maximize the protein content of the food while minimizing the fat content and carb content.
6. Look out for the labels that claim "organic" or "multi-grain" because these often are simply used to lure you into buying an unhealthy food.
7. "Reduced fat" is not the same as "fat free".
8. Avoid most snack foods such as potato chips or crackers. These are usually high in calories and are designed not to fill you up.
9. Be weary of spreads and dips. They can often be higher in calories than the substances you are dipping.
10. Don't waste your time with weight watchers snacks or other variations (skinny cow, etc.) because they are overly priced and are usually not very healthy.
11. Look to make your own delights such as muffins, cakes, brownies because there are many more affordable healthy options.
12. Microwavable meals are usually the worst options: they are small, salty, and jam packed with fat.
13. Stay clear of any prepared sandwiches or wraps because they will almost certainly contain extra sauces and additions which make the food high in fat and low in nutrition.
14. Go for the healthy foods first! Don't waste your food budget on snacks and forget to add your dinners and lunches.