• As more people begin to book their summer holidays, more people are signing themselves up to a 12-month contract at their local gym – only to realize after a few visits they are not going to go back.

• Rather than getting yourself into an expensive contract, why not choose to plan your own exercise? Cycling is a great form of exercise and you can do it pretty much wherever and whenever you want, so why would you want to be tied into a gym contract?

• The cycling challenge is up to you, you should make your own rules. Rather than heading towards the car keys in the morning, why don’t you instead pick up your helmet and have a ride to work?

• Set yourself a challenge of how many times you want to cycle per week and stick to it, and this will be your cycling challenge for the summer season.

• If you do not want to set a limit to how many times you are going to cycle each week, there are other ways of going about it –

• Limit the number of times you are going to use the car – if you only want to use your car 5 times a week, you shall have to plan when you are going to cycle.

• Set yourself the challenge of a mile, name the number of miles you want to cycle by the end of the summer, each time you ride, make a note of how many miles you have completed so far.

• There are many benefits of cycling; these benefits should be encouraging reasons for you to pick up your helmet instead of your car keys in the morning…                                                     
• Fitness, fitness, fitness, cycling is great for you! On average you can burn 300 calories for 30 minutes cycling – meaning it is one of the fastest calorie-burning exercises.                              
• It will make you feel better, trust me. Cycling will give you the chance to clear your mind, reducing your stress levels.                 
• Cycling will save you money, you will not have to splash out on car maintenance and fuel costs as often.                                  
• By cycling, you are also doing a world of good for the environment.

• In effect, a juice cleanse is promoted as a way to control your calories by drinking a set number of shakes or juices per day – these contain a blend of fruits and vegetables, as well as some other ingredients like milk and protein. Dieters take in a fixed number of calories per day, and use a juicing diet to lower their weight – detoxification then occurs as the body no longer takes in foods rich in fat, salt, and other substances.                             
• However, there are many downsides to a juice cleanse – it represents an extreme diet that can lead to short and long term problems when abused; even when drinking juice, you still receive a high concentration of fructose, which can cause blood sugar level issues. Similarly, juicing can actually, remove nutrients from the skin of fruit and vegetable, and can mean that you don’t take in the right amounts of protein and other important minerals.                                                                       
• Nutritionists also point out that the detoxifying qualities of a juice cleanse don’t necessarily have any scientific evidence to back them up; indeed, the body does a good job of detoxifying itself through sweating, urination, and other methods, without having to rely on a special diet to do so. The weight loss through a juice cleanse is also mostly water weight, which can be quickly added back on once you start up normal eating and drinking regimen. Juice cleanses can similarly lead to a slower metabolism, making it harder to absorb calories without gaining weight in the future.                                                         
• As with most diets, it’s much better to not take an extreme the route, but rather to moderate your diet; side effects from an extreme juice cleanse can include stress, poor bowel movements from a lack of fiber, as well as irritability and hunger pains. Just drinking juice for several weeks is not something that’s going to improve your mood, and like other extreme diets, it can cause long term issues with yo-yo eating, crashing, and pushing your body without understanding the harm that’s being caused.                                                              
• Juice can be a healthy addition to your diet, though, but in moderation – making fruit and vegetable juices using a juicer can be an excellent way to get your five a day, and can provide an efficient solution to avoiding sugary drinks at work. However, just depending on the juice to cleanse your body probably isn’t going to do you too much good.                            
• If you do have a juicer, you can use it to create a healthy diet that incorporates juice mixes – there are many different options for doing so, while you can also create yogurt-like drinks and shakes that can be used to vary your diet. Again, it’s best to view concentrated juices as one part of a more diverse diet that incorporates plenty of healthy proteins, fiber, and iron from different sources. At the same time, getting regular exercise and limiting portion sizes can be the best way to lose weight while staying healthy. In this context, juice cleanses can work if you want to put your body through torture just for the sake of a few pounds, but shouldn’t be completely relied on if you want to preserve your general well-being.                                             

• Balance of Fats, Proteins, and Carbohydrates.
• Enough vitamin and minerals.
• Plenty of water.

1. Soft drinks: Soft drinks, energy drinks, cordials, and supermarket fruit juices are empty calories and loads of them. Drop these off your shopping list and you will see kilos start to slip away in just weeks. Choose pressed juice, or juice-bar juices and drink them while they are fresh. Swap soft drink for low-fat milk or water, or water with a splash of fresh lime or lemon juice. Always water down juice if giving it to children under 12.
2. Prepared fats: Everyone adores a hot chip occasionally, so satisfy yourself once like clockwork and have a few. The rest of the time, eliminate processed fats from your diet – cooking oils, potato chips, baked goods like muffins and pastries are all very high in “bad” fats that the body can’t get rid of fast enough. Use cold-pressed oils for cooking instead – particularly rice bran for high-heat cooking, and olive oil for salads. Cheese is also a great hip-builder… so save it for special occasions only (birthdays, Christmas), at least till you get that love handles under control.
3. Alcohol: A relaxing glass of wine or a cold beer after work might be part of your daily routine but there are other ways to relax that is better for your digestion and waistline. Beer is particularly fattening, and both affect the way your body metabolizes fat. Save it up for a Friday night dinner or Sunday lunch, and keep your weeknights alcohol free. The weight will literally melt off you. Promise.
4.  Go spicy! : Love a curry? Sweet chili sauce? A cup of tea? Good news! Chilli and green tea help your metabolism get going and that means you burn more calories. Add chili and pepper to your meals, and swap from normal black tea to green and you’ll be glad you did. Never heard of green tea for weight loss? It’s a great little secret. Other foods that help you burn more calories include lettuce (you expend more energy digesting lettuce than it gives back!) and other leafy greens, lemon, and, believe it or not, low-fat milk seems to play a role in maintaining stable body weight, though the scientists haven’t yet worked out how exactly.
5.  Protein: Cereal for breakfast is a habit most of us develop from childhood, but in reality, we really need a protein hit to start the day and get our metabolism moving. The carbs can come in later. Eggs, quiche, chicken, ham, a smoothie with a scoop of protein powder, hummus on toast are all great ways to wake your body up and get it working to burn fat sooner. Avoid sugary foods in the morning – it’ll make you grumpy and tired later. Top up your protein at lunchtime and you’ll be amazed how great you feel into the afternoon. Snack on nuts between meals such as almonds, cashews and Brazil nuts (or try the spread!) – they are a great little protein hit and can help prevent unhealthy snacking.

Are you ready to stop dieting and start losing weight with Cotswold Weight Loss?

• The diet industry is a multi-billion pound profitable industry and there is an overwhelming amount of information available, although not all of it is credible.  The big marketing and advertising companies promote a vast array of health clubs, spas, diets, diet books, pills, supplements, foods, magazines, and websites, weight loss products, cosmetic surgeries and experts in weight management. 

• They have received repeated and critical attention, at best, the scientific data on their effectiveness is either limited or may even counter advice from government agencies or, at worst, there is the internet scams offering ‘miracle weight loss’ solutions, which in reality can cause more damage than good.

• It is well known that diets are a temporary intervention and the weight loss is not permanent.  Most people are reported to return to their old habits when the diet ends, regaining 50% of weight loss within one year and sometimes more.

• Indeed, even the more outstanding eating routine organizations center around a transient limitation of calories and expanding physical activity, be that as it may, they seldom address the underlying drivers of why individuals put on weight, henceforth when the eating regimen is done the old propensities return and the first weight is recovered.

• The positive evidence for most traditional diets relies on stories of exceptional people who have achieved individual results, however, there are little positives stories about weight loss in groups