Diets: Fat Loss For Idiots

We looked into Fat Loss 4 Idiots (FL4I) at the request of a Diet Inn member.

Summary: Give FL4I money. Follow the FL4I rules, most of which are simple common sense. Follow the FL4I online meal planner. Supposedly lose almost a pound a day.

Pros: Paying attention to your diet and trying any change may make you more aware of what you eat. Some of the FL4I rules such as drink more water and eat more meals at home may help.

Cons: Your hard earned money is spent for dubious advice.

Bottom line: Avoid.

FL4I is a very heavily promoted website. There are dozens of associated blogs. Many claim to be critical of diets but appear to be purely FL4I promotional tools. The most fascinating site looks into several different diets. It recommends them with sponsored pointers to those websites. They continue by pointing out some negative with that method and suggest FL4I might be better. This website makes a promotional fee no matter which link you click.

The rules themselves are common sense like don't eat between meals, drink water, walk a bit and so on. The remaining rules are to eat 4 meals a day and to mix up your foods to confuse your metabolism.

Many statements made by FL4I don't make sense and are not found in mainstream nutritional research. They say things like "Using a Calorie Shifting diet, you induce your body to release more Fat Burning Hormones and Less Fat Storing Hormones." Nearly identical statements can be found on dozens of websites on almost as many different domain names all pointing back to the main FL4I site.

Other arguments like "Think low fat diets work? Why have low fat foods existed for years, yet the population is fatter now than it ever has been?" are meaningless. Though meaningless some people may accept these statements without thinking them through especially after seeing them repeated on several different sites.

From one of their websites: "The idea of this weight loss program is to eat 4 times a day, 2 1/2 hours apart. This where your metabolism kicks into gear and burns through the fat much faster. By changing your eating habits day by day, your meatabolism gets confused (Calorie Shifting) and that’s when you begin to lose weight."

It is not healthy to lose 9 pounds in 11 days. Following the FL4I diet plan for 11 days then take days off only to repeat doesn't sound like a sustainable diet to us.

The only way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than you burn. Don't try to confuse your metabolism. It is much easier to confuse your mind than your metabolism.

Our advice is to avoid the FL4I website. Keep you hands on your wallet whenever they are around.

bon appetit!
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Read the full article and lose weight with us at: Diet Inn

Happy Valentine's Day!

Enjoy life, but don't eat too much chocolate. It's most fun if you can find somebody to share your chocolate with. :)

bon appetit!
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Read the full article and lose weight with us at: Diet Inn

What changes will you make to lose weight?

Honestly, what are you willing to change to lose weight?

To lose weight you must take in fewer calories than you use. You can increase your activity to use more calories than before. You can eat fewer calories. Or you can do both.

To keep the weight off the changes you make must be permanent. Fasting won't cut it. Eating just one thing won't work. Those are not sustainable changes. Some reasonable suggestions are listed below.

Commit publicly to making at least one change. Tell your friends you don't eat more than one dessert per day, ever. Write your change on a post it note and post it on your mirror or refrigerator. Select your change from our poll. It may not be enough to simply tell yourself in your mind you will make the change; let it out, shout it out. Be proud of yourself, you are changing your lifestyle for the better.

I will exercise more every day.

I will eliminate all snacks except fruit/nuts between meals.

I will eat no meat at all at least 1 day each week.

I will eat more fish and poultry and less red meat.

I will eat more whole grains and less refined carbs.

I will eat the same foods as before only smaller portions.

I will drastically reduce my consumption of sweets & desserts.

I will make 2 or 3 of the above changes.

I will make 4 or more of the above changes.

bon appetit!
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Read the full article and lose weight with us at: Diet Inn

Labels: Cheez-It vs Triscuit

Do you read labels on the food you buy? You should, there is a lot of information there. As an example let's compare two snack cracker labels: Big Cheez-It and Triscuit Rosemary & Olive Oil. In what follows I will always list the Cheez-It number first followed by the Triscuit number.

First the serving size is 30 grams vs. 28g. About the same. Since Cheez-Its are smaller we are comparing 13 of them to 6 Triscuits. These are small serving sizes, most people we know like to eat more than that if they get a chance. 150 calories doesn't seem that much more than 120 but the difference is in fat calories. Cheez-Its has 70 calories from fat while Triscuit has 35. Score 1 for Triscuit.

Neither has Trans Fat. Frankly it is hard to find Trans Fat any more. That is great news! It shows the manufacturers are responding to some combination of scientific evidence, consumer demand and government regulation. Tie.

Cheez-Its has 8 grams of Fat with 2 of them being Saturated which is the worst kind of fat outside of Trans Fat. Triscuit manages to keep Saturated fat to 1/2g. Cheez-It has more of good fats too, 3.5g Poly and 2g Mono with Triscuit at 2.5g and 1g. Neither has any cholesterol. The harm cause by Saturated fat outweighs the benefit of Poly and Mono unsaturated fats so score another for Triscuit.

Cheez-It has 250mg Sodium which is almost twice as much as the 130mg in Triscuit. Cheez-It has no Potassium while Triscuit has 110mg which is 3% of the recommended daily value. Both Sodium and Potassium are necessary nutrients. It is very easy to get too much Sodium and sometimes hard to get enough Potassium. Triscuit likely has an edge here.

Cheez-Its have 17g Carbohydrates compared to 20g for Triscuit. Fiber is <1g vs. 3g which makes the products equal in digestible carbs. Fiber is very good so advantage Triscuit.

Protein is 3g each so a tie there.

Cheez-Its have 2% Vitamin A, 4% Calcium and 6% Iron with Triscuit containing 8% Iron and 10% Phosphorus daily requirement. These are small amounts but many of us don't get enough Calcium so advantage Cheez-It.

The ingredients section at the bottom is always telling. Ingredients are listed in order of quantity used. Cheez-Its is mostly made from enriched flour. This is a highly processed wheat flour with the bran and germ removed and some vitamins added. Triscuit uses whole grain wheat flour. The whole wheat explains Triscuit's better fiber numbers. Both use soybean oil but Cheez-Its also uses the less desirable Palm oil. These main ingredients are followed by salt, flavorings and preservatives with Cheez-Its having a longer list of unpronounceable ingredients. Score a big one for Triscuit.

Triscuit is the clear winner here. The use of whole grains with lower fat and salt and better oils creates a healthier snack that is likely to fill you up for longer.

bon appetit!
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Read the full article and lose weight with us at: Diet Inn

Diets: The Diet Inn Diet

Summary: Make small improvements to your diet and exercise routine, publicize your commitment, implement and repeat.

Pros: It really helps some people permanently lose weight.

Cons: The Diet Inn diet seems vague to some and too slow to others.

Small changes are doable. Making one change at a time is not daunting or drastic. If you are unable to make one change you can try others and will find some you are able to make. Once you have successfully changed one thing you know it is possible to change. Successful change is very empowering and will lead to achieving all your goals.

The secret is publicizing your commitment. Tell your friends and co-workers about your commitment. Writing it down helps too. State your goal on our forum: http://dietinn.com/forums/state-your-goal.

What changes help? ...

bon appetit!
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Read the full article and lose weight with us at: Diet Inn