• Being an athlete, particularly a runner, it was an annoying problem to have ripped tummy with side bellies sticking out. My answer on how to get rid of love handles was diet. The first few weeks were hard; and afterwards, I had to choose healthy, low calorie food. Eventually, I noticed my love handles started to vanish, and I became more assured that I was feeling better after I ate. The first few weeks were hard, but it was worth it.

-Long distance cross-country runner

• Usually, I do side bends with a small dumbbell, 15 to 20 repetitions. I also do the same for the opposite side. I started with two sets and gradually increased my repetitions and sets. I just made sure that I don’t bend my body to the extreme or else I could get an injury.

-Weight training instructor

• People asked a lot about how to get rid of love handles, I for one had an easy time getting rid of them. I simply counted and calculated the calories I was consuming. I made sure I only took less than 2000 calories. With my usual bike route as my cardio, I lost my love handles.

-Mountain biking enthusiast

• Cardiovascular exercise and weight training were key factors of my weight loss. My instructor told me to increase my muscle mass to enhance in burning calories. He also gave me a strict diet regimen.

-Office salary man

How to get rid of love handles? The answer, no matter how difficult it is to do, seems to be reducing your total body fat. Cutting your intake of food that’s high in carbohydrate is a good way to achieve caloric deficit. Doing so will help you take in less calories and burn out the ones stored in your love handles.

In fact, the American Heart Association suggests 60 to 90 minutes of cardiovascular training a day. Not only do you burn more calories while you exercise, but you will also be burning more calories during rest, since the metabolism remains elevated. A 30-minute aerobic, crunch and sit ups exercise routine, done three or four times a week, is the most effective solution to losing your love handles.

Here are tips on how to prepare a low calorie dessert and make it part of your healthy diet.

First, you need to count the calories in your every day meals. This will aid you in preparing how much you can take in daily. And if you have extra calories to fill, you can then have your low calorie dessert. In counting your calories, you are able to keep track of your diet. Keeping a food journal is also necessary.

You can share your high calorie dessert to easily fit a full-fat and full-sugar dessert into your daily food plan.

When craving for something that is not part of your low calorie diet, one of the best ways to cure this crave is just to have a few small bites of it. Limiting yourself to one or two bites of a high calorie dessert can already gratify your taste buds and cannot ruin your diet.

Make sure you are the one making your own desserts. Through this, you can count the calories and choose the right kind of ingredients.

You also have to eat something new every day. In order for your diet not to sound disinteresting because you eat the same thing every day, choose various kinds of ingredients for your desserts. Remember to rotate a menu weekly so you don’t get bored of your food and fall back on your diet.

Learn how to substitute your high calorie ingredients with lower calorie ones. For instance, when you are making a high fat dessert, you can replace butter or oil for fruit puree, fruits or other natural ingredients that suit your diet. This will make a healthier and low calorie version of the usual high calorie dessert. You can also use artificial and healthy sweeteners like Splenda and Stevia to substitute natural sugars in your desserts.

Add more fruit to your desserts. Using water-based fruits are one of the best ways to balance your diet as well as create a low calorie dessert. Fruits like apples, strawberries, watermelons, pears and oranges are most often used ingredients for low calorie desserts.

Avoid adding cream or milk-based desserts since they are highly rich in fat and sugar. Low-fat versions can be alternatives for the full-cream ones. Choose skim milk and dairy-free desserts for the most part.

And lastly, you need to read nutrition labels. Do not be fooled by innocent-looking and “fat-free” desserts. Some of them contain large amounts of sugar, fat and carbohydrates. Choose carefully by checking nutrition labels and make sure to look for each of the calorie sources.

Here are tips on planning and eating your way to a healthier living.

In preparing for a low calorie diet, you have to keep a food journal. It is effective to keep track of the food you eat for about two weeks before you start the calorie diet plan.

Second, create your personal daily menu. Use calorie guides or a calorie counter, which is available online, to find out how many calories are needed in your daily meals. Save those high calorie meals for special occasions and make a menu plan that has ingredients mostly low in calorie amount.

Third, once the menu is made, use it to write a grocery list. Use the list while shopping for food that is fit for your diet plan. Shop wisely by reading and checking the labels to select the lower-calorie groceries.

In following the prepared calorie diet plan, start with a low-calorie breakfast high in protein and fiber to boost your energy and control your hunger for the rest of the day. The breakfast includes two scrambled egg whites, a sugar-free bowl of cereal with skim milk or whole wheat toast with peanut butter. These will keep you energized throughout the morning, adding only about 200 to 350 calories to your diet.

For snacks, prepare regular and low-calorie food to eat all through the day, keeping your diet controlled and your energy stable. With a cup of non-buttered popcorn, a medium peach or nectarine and a small orange or 12 cherries, you are already stuffed adding only 100 calories to your diet.

You can also include various fruits and vegetables in your lunch to get the right amount of vitamins. A cheese or turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread or a green salad with shredded chicken, low-calorie dressing and cheese can add to less than 200 calories.

For dinner, try to avoid snacks. Your dinner needs to have baked fish or poultry, steamed fresh vegetables, brown rice and fresh fruit for dessert. This adds about 500 calories to your diet.

After you follow this diet plan, you should also occasionally bend your diet plan rules. This becomes an ineffective and negative calorie diet if you do not reward yourself with even a bite-size of your craving. It is better to eat a little of what you crave for than to strictly constrain yourself from eating anything that is not part of your diet.

Beginnings
Both were developed by medical doctors (cardiologists) who — according to reports — were trying to help Americans lose weight given their high carb diets.

Atkins Diet was the first to be developed and is thus, the more popular. It was developed by the late Dr. Robert C. Atkins as early as the 1972 but became more widely popular — despite the oppositions — in the 1990s.

Dr. Arthur Agatston, also a cardiologist but from Mount Sinai Cardiac Prevention Center in Miami Beach, Fla., is known as the father of the South Beach diet. His work came a lot later through his book: “The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss” published in 2003.

Similarities
Both popular diet plans advise dieters to avoid carbohydrates and follow stringent steps to ensure that the significant weight lost during the program does not come back.

Both start with the so-called induction phase where the body of the dieter is “trained” for the routine.

Both diet plans come with suggested food lists where dieters can mix and match foods to suit their tastes. Of course, like other diet plans, both plans advise dieters to stay away from food not included in the lists.

Among the “dont’s” in Dr. Atkins’ list are fruit, bread, pasta, grains, starchy vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and some dairy products except cheese, cream, and butter.

Aside from fruit, bread, pasta and vegetables, South Beach dieters are also advised to stay away from potatoes, cereal, rice, and corn, especially for the first two weeks of the induction or introductory period. After this period, these can be slowly re-introduced into the body, albeit in smaller amounts.

Both diet plans have a lifetime “maintenance” phase where hopefully dieters will be so accustomed to either plan that they hardly recognize that they are dieting at all.

Differences
While both diet plans restrict carbohydrate intake, the South Beach diet is said to be more forgiving by not totally eliminating carbs. It distinguishes between “good” and “bad” carbs and even “good” and “bad” fats. South Beach encourages intake of “good” carbs and fats.

Low-sugar carbs with low glycemic index are “good” carbs under the South Beach plan. Food rich in fiber are also recommended.

Atkins’s diet routine helps the body to burn fat instead of carb. The goal is to help the dieter achieve good health. Atkins’s diet plan involves four phases while the South Beach plan has three phases.

In both plans, the introductory stage aims to condition the body for some changes to prepare for the program. In Atkins diet, the body is trained to burn fat instead of sugar to help curb the cravings for sugar and break addiction to some foods.

In South Beach diet, the initial phase involves cutting on high-carb foods, which can be gradually re-introduced in small amounts in the next phase. In this case, South Beach debunks myths that this approach prevents dieters from getting healthy mix from all food groups. Atkins dieters go through the next following phases: ongoing weight loss, pre-maintenance and lifetime maintenance. The last two phases of South Beach diet are called re-introduce the carb and diet for life.

What’s key in the maintenance phase in Atkins is to keep portions of food at small amounts. Atkins diet guarantees no hunger deprivation because its long-term goal is healthy diet. South Beach’s promise is a “change in the way of eating,” with the dieter not recognizing at all that he is on a diet.

Summarizing the Diets

Developed by cardiologist Dr. Robert C. Atkins in 1972, with his “Diet Revolution”, a high-protein, high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet.

The program focuses on a low-carbohydrate diet.

The Program has 4 phases:
1. induction phase (train the body to burn fats instead of carb)
2. ongoing weight loss
3. pre-maintenance
4. lifetime maintenance

South Beach Diet
Developed by cardiologist Dr. Arthur Agatston of Miami, Florida, who in 2003, published the book “The South Beach Diet: The Delicious, Doctor-Designed, Foolproof Plan for Fast and Healthy Weight Loss”.

The program distinguishes between “good” and “bad” carbohydrates, and “good” and “bad” fats. Take in “good” carbs and fats.

The program has 3 phases:
1. 2-week introductory or induction phase (strictly no carbs)
2. re-introduce the carbs
3. diet for life

Please check http://www.OnlineDietReview.com for more information.

The key factor in Zone Diet is all in the hormonal balance that you must achieve while eating each meal. Its food plan is an accurate balanced ratio of fat (30%), carbohydrates (40%) and proteins (30%) to control your body’s insulin production.

Who

The Zone Diet was popularized by Barry Sears who was a former researcher in biotechnology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He wrote The Zone diet book that advocates “hormonal thinking” in lieu of caloric thinking towards eating. It is not really a weight-loss “diet” but a manual about the right way of eating. “The Zone” is Sears ‘s term for the achieving that certain food intake that results to proper hormone balance.

According to this diet, insulin levels must be kept neither too high nor too low so that the human body is not busy storing excess calories as fat. At this time, those stored fats are then available when needed. Since the human body cannot store fat and burn fat simultaneously, it takes more time too because of our unbalanced eating, there’s difficulty to switch from the former to the latter. The using stored fat causes the weight loss.

Consequently, the Zone advises that consuming too many carbohydrates lead to too much insulin. This insulin is the hormone that piles up nutrients in the body. An overload in insulin will only convert carbohydrates into fat and store more of them.

Protein, on the other hand, gives of a contradictory effect as it stirs up the hormone glucagons. This then tells the body to let go of the carbohydrates, especially those that are stocked up in the liver. By the time the carbohydrates are freed, the body’s energy supplies are fulfilled and you can stop eating. By limiting the type of carbohydrates you eat with a 3-4 ounce of low-fat protein, you will be able to keep insulin and glucagon balanced.

Last Word

What’s best about The Zone is that it’s really just all about your hormonal responses to food. Therefore, food, and any food, is nothing more but a good drug which your really body needs. And like all “drugs”, you must take it also in a particular way so that you can attain your weight loss goals. This means, you ought to take your meals and snack regularly. The greatest indicator that you are losing body fat and getting right into “the Zone” is not being hungry. Another important rule you must observe is to always eat breakfast just within an hour of waking.

Therefore, keep an appointment with food and stick to it. Since the Zone is all about your body’s response to insulin, you must be conscious that you eat on a regular basis. A good Zone meal should be able to stave off hunger for 4-5 hours, while a good Zone snack can do it in approximately 2 hours. So keep that regular 3 meals and 2 snacks no matter what. Don’t believe the other diets where they starve of most of your eating periods. Not being hungry is a healthy indication that you are accomplishing your goals in losing body fat only here in the Zone.

Food Samples

For PROTEIN, a good way to determine the amount of protein that’s right for your meal you can always look at your hand. The amount of meat that you should consume at each meal should only be equal to the size and thickness of your own palm. This category would include any meat including chicken, beef, turkey, egg whites, fish, low-fat cheeses, tofu, veal or low-fat pork.

For CARBOHYDRATES, the key is in choosing first your most favorable carbohydrates. This would include fruits or vegetables whose proper portion size can be determined by two loose fists. However, when choosing less favorable carbohydrates like those with higher levels of sugar or starch as potatoes, rice and bread, you can only have one fistful.

For FATS, give yourself a thumbs up” and measure your additional fat equals the size of the tip of your thumb. This fat category would then include butter and olive oil.
For foods that you can only take in very small portions while in the Zone Diet, that would include sugar in all forms, along with potatoes, rice, breads, pastas, bagels, cereals, juices, sodas, and caffeine. Some fruits that are high in sugar and should be also be consumed sparingly while in the zone. This includes Prunes, Bananas, Figs, Raisins and Grapes. Some vegetables that should also be eaten in moderation because of their higher sugar content vegetables are potatoes, peas, carrots and corn.