Can You "Cheat A Little" When You Diet?

Here is a question for you. When you go on a diet do you need to toe the line and never deviate? Remember we believe that diets don't work because over 90% of the people who go on a diet regain the weight unless they also change their lifestyle.

With that in mind our advice as stated in our books on health and wellness is that when you diet it is permissible to "cheat" 10 per cent of the time. We were criticized for this outrageous statement. The comments ranged from "what a stupid statement" to something like this. "Hey stupid either you diet or you don''t. There is no mister in between."

Now we are vindicated by an Australian study that shows that having "cheat days" helps you lose weight. This study published in the Journal of Obesity showed that dieters who took cheat days lost more weight than dieters who never deviated from their diet. Knowing this may help you the next time you decide to diet and have a yearning for a forbidden food.

How Much Exercise Do You Need

You might think that it would be easy to answer a simple question like this.  How much exercise do you need? Actually this is a very difficult question that requires careful thought and a clear definition of what your goals are. For those who are exercising to maintain flexibility and good health the answer will be completely different than for someone who is exercising to lose weight or to build more muscle. The tendency for most of us is to exercise more than we need to in order to achieve our goals.

I saw an interesting study recently that illustrates this point  Researchers at Duke University wanted to determine how much brisk walking was needed to improve blood sugar control in people who were pre diabetic. They divided 237 people into 4 groups. the first group reduced their caloric intake and briskly walked 71/2 miles a week. The second group did not control their caloric intake and briskly walked 71/2 mile a week. The third group briskly walked 11`1/2 miles a week. The fourth group jogged 111/2 miles a week.

After six months group1 had the biggest improvement in blood sugar control followed by those in  group three who did a high amount of moderate exercise. The group that jogged 111/2 miles a week did not do as well as the group that walked  71/2 miles a week. This showed that there was no additional benefit from the increased energy expenditure.

Consider this when you set your exercise goals. More is not necessarily better. For more information on healthy exercise go to trienergeticsblog.com.