I am David Scrivner, and I believe I can help you. I have been working in the field of weight loss and bodybuilding for almost fifteen years. I have my own gym and spend a lot of my time trying to understand the process of weight loss and muscle building. So, if you would like to lose weight or build muscle, I have some recommendations that will help you succeed; you will enjoy a physique that will make you proud to be seen in a bathing suit. Below are my simple, straightforward notes to help you easily reach you goal.

1. Burn more calories

Try to burn more calories than merely the ones you consume daily, and measure the result. You can calculate the result by the subtracting sum of the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), the Physical Activity, and the Thermic Effect of Food (TEF) from the calories consumed. To lose weight, there are two important points that you should balance; the amount of energy you take in from food, and that which you burn and expend through your activity. How many calories do you actually need? The amount of energy that you need to reach a specific weight can be determined numerous ways. There are two ways to determine your energy requirements: the accurate way, and the easy way. By determining the number of calories required, it will be easy for you to make nutritional choices.

Three main components form the energy triangle in your body. By knowing these components, you can determine accurately how many calories you require each day. The three components are:

• Basal metabolic rate
• Energy expended during physical activity
• The thermic effect of food

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): About 60-70 % the body's energy mainly supports the metabolic work of body cell activity, such as, heartbeat, respiration and body temperature maintenance. You can determine your BMR this way:

For adult males	For adult females
Your body weight multiplied by 10; add double the body weight to this value. [i.e., for a 150 lb male, 1,500 + (2 x 150)=1,800 cal/day BMR]	Your body weight multiplied by 10; add the body weight to this value. [i.e., for a 120 lb female, 1,200 + 120=1,320 cal/day BMR]

Energy Expended during Physical Activity: This type of energy represents the total energy exerted by the body for physical activity and encompasses about 20-30 % of the body’s total output. Metabolic Energy (MET) Method is an important tool for calculating calories burned during physical activity. You can check an activity calculator that totals calories for 158 different activities.
Thermic Effect of Food: This third kind of energy relates to your body’s behavior toward food. For food digestion, if it requires an increase in energy, it will be called thermic effect of food (TEF), and it can be calculated easily:
TEF = total kcals consumed x 10%
[i.e., 2,000 kcals consumed/day x 0.10 = 200 kcals expended for TEF]
The Easy Way
If the aforementioned calculations are too complicated for you, use the easy way and estimate your daily calorie requirement with this simple formula:

For sedentary people	For moderately active people	For active people
Weight x 14 = estimated cal/day	Weight x 17 = estimated cal/day	Weight x 20 = estimated cal/day

Note: Moderately Active is defined as 3-4 aerobic sessions per week. Active is defined as 5-7 aerobic sessions per week.
Search for an online fitness calculator to easily total your calories, set a goal, and record your calories and physical activities.
You should also set a proper target weight to reach, and it should be realistic for you to succeed.
Adults: http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/body.htm
Teens/Children :http://www.kidshealth.org/kid/exercise/w...
You do not have to lose more than one or two pounds per week, since doing so is not healthy. In fact, it is also quite difficult. To drop one pound you will have to burn 3,500 calories. So, by either lowering your diet by 500 calories daily or exercising to burn 500 calories every day for a week, you will lose one pound.
 

2. Eat natural foods
Natural and organic foods are healthier than those manufactured by a corporation to make money. Small meals derived from organic, natural foods in combination with a good multi-vitamin supplement form the healthiest diet you can ever have undertake.
Instead of fad diets, diet pills, and high glycemic load carbohydrates (sugar, pastries, desserts, refined starches contained in breads, pasta, refined grains [white rice], and high-starch vegetables [potatoes]), eat natural foods and drink as much water as you can.
Carbohydrates
In the past, the popular question, ‘What should I eat?’ was answered with, ‘Get a lot of carbohydrates.’ Now, through scientific evolution in many fields, you know there are good carbohydrates that should be in your diet, plus unhealthy ones that increase your risk for diabetes and coronary heart diseases.
Many low-carbohydrate diets gave carbohydrates a special interest, but some postulates say that easily digested carbohydrates from white bread, white rice, pastries, and other highly processed foods actually promote weight gain and interfere with the losing weight process. However, this is not the case with all carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates in general are very important when balancing a diet. They give your body the fuel to operate and function properly. Fruits, vegetables and whole grains are considered to be the best sources for carbohydrates, as they also provide the body with essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and a host of important phytonutrients.
 › Carbohydrates under scope?
Carbohydrates are found in a wide variety of food: bread, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, spaghetti, corn, and pies. Hey also exist in different forms, the most and abundant ones are sugars, fibers, and starches.
A sugar molecule is the building unit of carbohydrates, and is comprised of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. By connecting chains of sugar molecules in specified order, starches and fibers are formed. Chains can be straight or wildly branched, thus composing hundreds of sugars.

A simple and older grouping of carbohydrates is detailed by two main categories: simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates (the picture today is much more intricate).

Simple carbohydrates	Complex carbohydrates
Sugars such as fruit sugar (fructose) Corn or grape sugar (dextrose or glucose) Table sugar (sucrose)	Included everything made of three or more linked sugars
Considered bad	Considered good

Your digestive system will manipulate all carbohydrates in your diet the same way, by breaking them into single sugar molecules to be absorbed easily into the bloodstream. It also changes digestible carbohydrates into glucose (blood sugar); cells use blood sugar as a universal energy source. Dietary fiber is different, in that its structure is fashioned in a way that prevents the body from breaking it down into simpler molecules for digestion. Because the body cannot digest it, dietary fiber passes through the body.
Carbohydrates and the Glycemic Index
A new system now exists for carbohydrate classification in an attempt to answer the old question, ‘How do carbohydrates affect health?’ It is called the glycemic index, and it measures how quickly and to what extent blood sugar rises after a meal containing carbohydrates is consumed.
For example, white bread is converted almost immediately to blood sugar (glucose). Because of this rapid rise, white bread is placed in a group with a high glycemic index.
On the other hand, brown rice is more slowly digested, and is therefore grouped with foods of a low glycemic index.
You can search the on line-list of the glycemic index of foods published in July 2002 by searching http://www.glycemicindex.com/.
Now you know why it is not healthy engage in a diet filled with high-glycemic-index foods, for it will cause a sudden, dramatic rise in blood sugar levels and increase the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
On the other hand, carbohydrates with a lower glycemic index can help control type-2 diabetes.
An important factor in determining the glycemic index of a food is the extent to which carbohydrates are processed by manufacturers. By heavily processing carbohydrates, the fiber-rich outer bran and the vitamin/mineral-rich inner germ are removed, leaving the carbohydrate as an empty shell in the form of the starchy endosperm.
Other factors also affect the high glycemic index:

• Fat and acid contents: When the fat or acid content is higher in the carbohydrate, it will be slowly converted into sugar and absorbed into the bloodstream.
• Ripeness: Ripened fruits and vegetables have more sugar than unripe ones, naturally affording the with a high glycemic index.
• Fiber content: As fiber content increases, the glycemic index decreases, because fiber shields the starchy carbohydrates from the digestive enzymes, increases digestion time, and slows sugar absorption into the bloodstream.
• Type of starch: There are many configurations for starch. During digestion, some are harder to break down than others. For example, potatoes are easily broken in digestion and absorbed into the bloodstream quickly.
• Physical form: Finely-ground grains are more easily digested than coarse ones are; so, they have a higher glycemic index than coarse grains.

Certain factors can produce unexpected results, such as a rapid increase in blood sugar levels after one eats a complex carbohydrate, i.e., potatoes. In addition, other simple carbohydrate foods may increase the blood sugar level more slowly. Fruits can do this.
The glycolic index is high in a sweet-tasting fruit which may actually contain a very small amount of carbohydrates. Researchers have now found a new way to classify food in a way that we can know the amount of carbohydrate in the food and the amounts of the carbohydrate on the blood. It is called the glycolic load, and is calculated by multiplying its glycolic index by the amount of carbohydrate it contains.
The basis for the glycolic load is very simple: Whenever possible, replace highly processed grains, cereals, and sugars with minimally processed whole-grain products. Eat potatoes less often, because their glycolic index and load are very high.
Unmanaged sugar
Carbohydrates are broken down during digestion into their simplest form called sugar. This process ends up in the intestine where sugar is made available for absorption into the bloodstream.
Because of sugar absorption, a rise in the blood sugar level will take place; this will activate special cells in the pancreas to produce more insulin in the blood, insulin being the regulatory hormone that activates cells to absorb more blood sugar for energy or storage. After digestion, the blood sugar level will fall back to its ordinary level, and insulin will as well.
This is the proper cycle, but in some people it does not happen.
In diabetics with type-1 diabetes, also called insulin-dependent or juvenile diabetes, persons do not produce sufficient insulin; as a result, their cells cannot absorb sugar.
Those with type-2 diabetes, known as non-insulin dependent or adult onset diabetes, experience a problem from another side. The cells response to insulin is poor, so they do not receive the message from insulin to absorb sugar, a condition known as insulin resistance. As a result, the blood sugar and insulin levels remain high after eating. After time, the insulin production decreases to the extent that it finally stops.
This problem is also considered to be a link that leads to other troubles: high blood pressure, high levels of triglycerides, low HDL (good) cholesterol, heart disease, and possibly some cancers.
Many factors can also place a person at risk for insulin resistance: genes, a sedentary lifestyle, excess weight, a high glycemic diet. A study from the Insulin Resistance Atherosclerosis group says that eating more whole grains, instead of refined grains, can improve insulin sensitivity.
So how about “no carbohydrates”?
Carbohydrates are not evil in an of themselves, but there are some diets (Atkins comes to mind) that include almost no carbohydrates in their content. The long-term effects of ‘no-carbohydrate’ or ‘scarce-carbohydrate’ are not known. Moreover, a low carbohydrate diet will produce a loss in weight more rapidly than a low-fat diet will.
Nevertheless, if you are going to follow a low carbohydrate diet, you should add fruits, vegetables and whole grain carbohydrates every to your diet daily, since they contain many essential nutrients for good health, including vitamins, minerals, and other phytonutrients (you cannot get phytonutrients from a supplement bottle.)
Add Good Carbohydrates
You can obtain most of your calories from carbohydrates as fruits, vegetables and grains. By eating unprocessed grains (whole wheat bread, brown rice, whole-grain pasta, and the less familiar quinoa, whole oats and bulgur,) you will be protected from many chronic diseases. And they’re tasty, too.
More whole grains can be added to your diet, and I will give suggest some here:

• Whole grains in the morning. If you like hot cereal, try steel cut oats. If you rather eat a cold cereal, look for those that show whole wheat, oats, barley, or other grains first on the ingredient list..
• Whole-grain breads for lunch or snacks. Always check the label to be certain whole wheat or another whole grain is the first ingredient listed.
• Forget potatoes.Include brown rice, instead, or even newer grains like bulgur, wheat berries, millet, or hulled barley with your dinner.
• Try some whole-wheat pasta. If whole-wheat pasta is too chewy for you, eat one made with half whole wheat flour and half white flour.

3. Exercise
Your exercising should include cardiovascular, core, and/or strength training on an almost daily basis. Also read books or seek a certified trainer to be sure you’re doing your exercises that embrace safety and perfect presentation.


4. Sleep well
For good performance, sleep experts believe it is important that adults sleep between seven and nine hours each night.
5. Update yourself continually
Always be up to dated with health issues, so as to maintain better health and a smooth life. You can check “Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2005” as a free publication, while also looking into http://realage.com to measure your biological age.
Update all other health areas. Perhaps you might be able to improve the quality of the air you breathe with an indoor air purifier.
6. Break the plateau
Let’s say you’ve been attentive at ridding you life of many things you used to do for years, cutting out all the unhealthy food, working hard in the gym. But you just can’t seem to shed the pounds. Don’t despair, for you’re at a crossroads. Ignore the negative thoughts, fight the temptation to quit, and just stay focused. Have faith in your choices, for the scale numbers will decrease in due course, and you are will see lasting results.
Learn the reasons of the plateau
There are many reasons cause a plateau when the one is on a diet. Initially, lost materials are from fluids and fats. In the beginning of the program you can expect to lose two or three pounds per week. Remember, the aim of a diet program is to lose fat on a gradual basis. Because the loss is to only include fat, not fat and muscle, the weight loss rate will decrease from two or three pounds to perhaps one pound a week.
There is another common reason that produces a plateau: You sometimes eat more than you expect to or thought. While those amounts may be small, they might contain a large number of calories. Keep track of calories and calculate every calorie in your food. You need to by increasing your caloric intake by even very small amounts each day will decrease the weight loss rate and send you to a stagnant plateau.
Get back on track
Make sure you count the calories you consume every day, and don’t forget that fats are an enemy that must be ingested in a very limited amounts. Make sure you always keep your calories in check.
To keep the calories burning rate at its peak, vary your physical activity. If you perform the same workout every day, your muscles will get used to the pattern, thereby accomplishing the same result with less effort than the day before. Therefore, cause your muscles to wonder what you are going to do today.
Be sure your exercises contain some degree of strength training. Weight lifting is very beneficial in many ways. It keeps your muscles toned, is not affected by age, and is very effective in producing weight loss.
Medications may interfere and cause plateau
Antidepressants, blood pressure medicines and diabetes drugs sometimes interfere with the weight loss process. If you are using any medication, check with your doctor to see if these medications interrupt any of your weight loss goals. If so, ask for alternatives that will not stand impede you progress toward weight reduction.
Moreover, it is very important that you set a realistic goal, so as not to be wasting time. Measure how realistic your goals are, and how your blood pressure, blood sugar and blood fats react with this goal.
Healthful weight loss may be is slow, but it is better for you to accept this; you will achieve a good end result that lasts long and doesn’t affect your health adversely. The normal rate of drop is about two pounds a week maximum.
Weight loss is a matter of simple mathematics. If the calorie intake is greater than the calorie burn, you will gain weight. If the calorie intake is less than the calories burn, you will lose weight.
If you wish to lose the extra pounds, watch your calories intake. Doing so will lower the scale readings and free you from a plateau.

David Scrivner