| Q: | Diets really don't work for me. How can I still lose weight? |
| A: | Perhaps you have selected the wrong diets!
While some diets are harder to stay with than others, we feel that any diet that reduces your daily caloric intake and encourages some exercise will help you lose weight.
If you just start with what you eat right now, you can probably mold and balance it into a "diet" that works by reducing or removing heavy calorie foods and replacing them with fruits and vegetables. |
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| Q: | I'm a yo-yo dieter. Is this harmful? |
| A: | Yes. Yo-yo dieting will send your body into defense mode. Through centuries of feast and famine, our bodies have developed a defense mechanism to stop them from starving to death. That defense is simply to slow down the body's basal metabolic rate (the amount of calories the body burns on a daily basis just by living). If this becomes a chronic state, your body will just slow down permanently, waiting for the next time you go on a diet and starve it again. With a slower than normal basal metabolic rate it becomes nearly impossible to to lose weight. The key here is to have a consistent caloric deficit without starving your body. That means that you have to consume at least 1,000 to 1,200 calories per day no matter what. Learn how your body works by using fatburn.com and you will never yo-yo again. |
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| Q: | What do I do if I have a bad day? |
| A: | Bad day? In other words, you ate too much?
Simple. Enter your foods and go on with life.
In other words, don't panic. It's over. It happened. Get rid of the fear and just objectively look at the numbers. Many times it isn't as bad as you think! You just need to adjust. Eat fewer calories for the rest of the day or week. Or exercise a little more. Or, adjust your goal date.
The war against weight isn't a one day battle. Rome wasn't built in a day. Your excess weight didn't spontaneously appear one day. So don't panic.
It's the long term trend that is the way you will win the war. |
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| Q: | What is "Starvation Mode" and how do I avoid it? |
| A: | If you eat too few calories per day, your body could enter into a starvation mode where it will actually slow your metabolism and slow your ability to lose weight.
It's a simple "caveman" reaction that all of our bodies have to weather the harsh conditions that nature used to place on us--winter, drought, etc. But this "caveman" reaction has no place in trying to lose weight.
To lose weight correctly and keep it off, you need to consume less than you burn each day--but not enough to trip this mechanism.
In general, woman should not go below 1,200 calories and men shouldn't go below 1,500 calories.
Our site, fatburn.com, uses proprietary methods to calculate a proper minimum using your attributes--instead of just using generic guidelines. |
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| Q: | What is bingeing and how can I tell if I have a problem? |
| A: | Bingeing means an unrestrained and often excessive indulgence. We assume your question refers to binge eating. This can become a problem when you're overweight or it can lead to bulimia (bingeing and purging). The best way to find out if you have a problem is to consult your physician. |
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| Q: | How do I lose 5-10 pounds a week? |
| A: | First, this goal isn't completely realistic.
If you set a goal like this, you will set yourself up for failure. A far more realistic goal is losing 1 to 2 lbs per week.
Frankly, there is a lot of misinformation out there. We are here to tell you the truth.
Now... On to the answer. You need to simply burn more calories than you eat. To lose 1 lb a week, you need to burn 500 calories more than you eat each day.
Don't think we are correct? Check with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). They aren't even a medical organization but they give people lots of information on how to spot fake weight loss ads. (See our Link's page.)
Please don't be fooled. There isn't a miracle pill. Exercise machines aren't the complete solution. Eliminating carbs isn't the answer. Please go with the answer that Doctors always cite--journal your foods and activities and burn more than you eat. |
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| Q: | How do I lose weight off my face, butt, thighs, or stomach? |
| A: | The process of losing weight anywhere (face, butt, thighs, stomach) is the same. First, let us dispel a myth. There is no such thing as spot training. There isn't an exercise in the world that will take excess body fat off an area of your body you consider a problem spot.
When you lose weight it comes off all over the body in equal amounts. Think of your extra body fat in layers. For example, let’s say you have five layers around your hips, three around your arms and two in your cheeks. As your body uses stored body fat as energy it draws equally from all these areas. When you burn off a layer of fat you will now have four around your hips, two around your arms and one in your cheeks. What really happens is the cellulite cells begin to shrink (as the adipose tissue inside is used for energy) and it becomes smaller, but the layer example is good for visualizing. |
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| Q: | What is the fatburn diet? |
| A: | The Fatburn Diet starts with your current diet! Eat your normal carbs, fats and protein.
The key to lifetime weight loss is knowing the calories that you eat and burn.
In the beginning, you eat what you normally eat and do your normal exercises. At the end of the day (or during the day, if you can), you enter the information into our web site. (After a small adjustment period, it will only take a few minutes per day.)
Our site, with over 20,000 foods and hundreds of exercises will take care of all of the calorie math. After you click on the Summary button, you will be able to see the totals and if you gained or lost weight.
If you do this for a week, you will quickly start seeing patterns. In other words, you will see what foods are causing the most trouble. You can slowly start to reduce (not necessarily eliminate) these foods.
The same is true for your exercises.
At that point, if you haven't done so already, you should enter your weight loss goal. As soon as you do this, the site will gain a lot more dimension for you.
During each new day, you will be able to directly see how your food and exercise choices allow you to gain or lose weight.
This is the only way to truly achieve your weight goal and keep the weight off forever. |
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| Q: | Isn't it better to be given a meal plan of what to eat to lose weight? |
| A: | Very simply... No.
First, most people can't stay on this type of diet for any length of time. (They hate it!) No one really wants to be told what to do. Ultimately, they say "screw you" and revert to their old habits.
Even if you stick with it and lose the weight--you still will not have learned anything! You wil not learn what food choices work; how often you really need to go to the gym; or about how to handle the situation where you are "bad" for a meal or two.
Isn't it better to start with the diet you have and slowly learn the diet you need for the rest of your life?
Besides, you will be losing weight at the same time! |
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| Q: | Are carbohydrates (carbs) bad for weight loss? |
| A: | No. First, any initial weight loss will be temporary water weight loss. That's part of the reason they have so much appeal. People think that they can do that and stop their diet and keep the weight off.
The truth is that once they start their normal diet again, the water weight will return.
Also, these diets tend to ask you to load up on proteins. Diets excessively high in proteins also tend to be high in saturated fat and cholesterol--which increases your risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers.
For more information, please read our Health & Nutrition article, Is cutting carbs the best way to lose weight? for more information. |
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| Q: | Can I eat out and still be on a diet? |
| A: | Yes. We have an article entitled How to eat out and lose weight. |
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| Q: | Can I use this site if I am pregnant? |
| A: | You should consult your Doctor before beginning or using our site (or any other!) or trying to do any adjustments to your diet or exercise.
Pregnancy is an important time for the growth of your baby and it usually isn't a good time to restrict calories. |
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| Q: | Can I use this site if I recently had surgery, or have high blood pressure or any other medical condition? |
| A: | You should consult your Doctor before using our site (or any other!) or trying to do any adjustments to your diet or exercise.
In fact, if you have any medical questions, you should direct them to your Doctor.
We also encourage you to show them the site! ;-) |
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| Q: | Do I have to give up candy in order to lose weight? |
| A: | You can eat just about anything you want and still lose weight. To lose weight all you have to do is be in a calorie deficit--which means you have to burn more calories than you eat daily. All you have to do is know how many calories are contained in the candy you eat. As long as you stay in a calorie deficit, you will lose weight. |
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| Q: | Does wearing a plastic workout "sweater" while exercising to increase the amount of perspiration help you lose weight? |
| A: | Bad idea. Sweating has nothing to do with weight loss. Sweating is a mechanism for your body to cool itself off. If you deprive your body of this ability by wearing a plastic "sweater" you risk overheating your body and serious injury. The only way to lose weight is to consume fewer calories than you burn. Try fatburn.com for a month (only $7.99) and lose weight the right way. |
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| Q: | How do I burn all of these calories? |
| A: | Fortunately for all of us, your body burns most of the calories you need to burn by just living! For example, a typical woman burns about 1,300 calories per day--even if she slept or read a book all day.
If you are trying to lose weight, you will probably have to add some exercise to your daily routine to reach your goal of losing a pound or two per week.
Once you reach your goal, you can probably trim some of the exercise--as long as you burn about the same calories as you eat. |
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| Q: | How do I lose weight around my hips, stomach, thighs, butt, or any other problem area? |
| A: | Spot weight reduction is a myth! You lose weight all over your body at the same time. In other words, it matters not one bit how many sit-ups or crunches you do. The only way to lose weight in any area is to burn more calories than you eat. |
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| Q: | How long does it take to lose one pound of body fat? |
| A: | The answer is a simple math equation. You must burn 3,500 calories to lose one pound of body fat. If you burn 500 more calories than you eat for seven days, you will lose one pound of body fat. If you burn 1,000 calories more than you eat for seven days, you will lose two pounds of body fat. The key is to know how many calories are going in and out each day so you can accurately track your progress. |
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| Q: | How long will it take you to lose weight? |
| A: | The rate of weight loss varies for each individual. Some will see results right away while others may not see if for a few weeks.
It is important to stay consistent and stay on your plan for at least 3 to 4 weeks. You should see results by then. |
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| Q: | How many calories make a pound of weight? |
| A: | 3,500 calories are in a pound of weight. |
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| Q: | How many calories should I eat a day to lose weight? |
| A: | The answer is as individual as you are. Each person will have a different caloric intake total, each day of the week, to reach the required 3,500 calorie deficit to lose one pound of body fat. If you burn 500 more calories than you eat a day, for seven days, you will burn 3,500 calories. On a day that you burn 2,500 calories, you can eat up to 2,000 calories. On a day that you burn 2,800 calories, you can eat up to 2,300 calories. Each person will be different and each day will be different. |
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| Q: | How many carbohydrates (carbs) should I eat a day? |
| A: | The FDA recommends that you get 50% of your calories from carbohydrates. The NAS (National Academy of Science's) Institute of Medicine, based on thousands recent of scientific studies, recommend a slightly different approach. They recommend that adults get 45-65% of their calories from carbohydrates. But, they both agree on the kind of carbs you should eat.
Whole grains, starchy vegetables, beans, soy foods, green vegetables, and fruits--foods served as nature grew them--are the carbohydrates that pack the highest nutritional octane. They're rich in compounds that support good health, including fiber, nutrients, and phytochemicals. A dietary pattern based on these foods lowers the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and many major cancers.
Highly processed carbohydrates, which are stripped of their nutritious germ and fiber, are another story. Unhealthful diets often contain too many carbohydrates processed into concentrated forms (corn syrup, white flour) that provide calories and little else. The bottom line: when you fill up with carbohydrates, only nature reliably pumps out high octane. |
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| Q: | I have been overweight all of my life. Do I have to stay this way? |
| A: | Of course not. Barring some metabolic issue (hypothyroidism), if you start today by eating at least 500 fewer calories than you burn every day of the week you will lose a pound a week. In a year that will add up to 52 pounds! Use fatburn.com to guide you through your weight loss journey. We give you all the tools to make all the right decisions so you can take control of your life and lose weight your own way. |
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| Q: | I usually skip breakfast? Is this bad? |
| A: | If your question is referring to weight loss, yes. One of the best natural
calorie burning tools you have is your digestive system. It
takes 6-8 hours to absorb and fully digest a meal. This requires a ton
of energy (calories burned). If you eat dinner at 7:00 p.m., your
digestive tract will be functioning until around 3:00 a.m. Now if you
get up and eat again a few hours later the whole process starts over. But,
if you don't, two things will occur. First, your digestive system will
lie dormant until you eat again, probably a full nine hours later. This
causes you to lose a large part of you basal metabolic rate (the amount of
calories your body burns on its own). Second, your body thinks
it's starving and will slow the rest of your metabolism down as a
survival instinct. The end result is that you burn fewer calories
naturally, making it harder for you to lose weight. |
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| Q: | I'm trying to lose weight. Is fast food bad? |
| A: | It depends on what kind of fast food you eat and how often you eat there. Fast food is typically high in calories and low in nutrition. But quite a few fast food chains are incorporating healthy menus. Balance is the key here. If you love fast food and can't live without it, then learn how much of it you can eat and still lose the weight you want. Fatburn.com will help. We have a large database of fast food restaurants that will give you the information to make educated decisions. Under the Find a Food link available to fatburn.com members, simply type in a restaurant name like McDonalds, Baja Fresh, or Taco Bell, and that restaurant's entire menu and corresponding nutritional information will appear. Check it out! |
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| Q: | Is a high protein diet good for me? |
| A: | No. Too much protein in your diet can cause very serious side effects. In an overly high-protein diet, this acidic environment actually stimulates cells called osteoclasts, which loot bone mineral. Calcium is taken from the bones and can lead to bone disorders such as osteoporosis. In the low-carbohydrate diet, the acidic content of animal flesh and the lack of alkaline foods increases your risk of forming kidney stones. High-protein diets can trigger food allergies. Diets excessively high in protein tend to be high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which increases your risk of heart disease, stroke and some cancers. They're also low in potassium, vitamins A and C, folic acid, carotenoids, and fiber--all of which help to prevent certain cancers and heart disease. If you try one of these high-protein/low-carb diets, you may lose some pounds right away. But most of this is water loss--which is never permanent. |
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| Q: | Is alcohol bad for losing weight? |
| A: | It can be. For more information, check out our article entitled Alcohol's Effect on Losing Weight". |
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| Q: | Is it better to eat before or after a workout? |
| A: | Eating before or after you work out is totally your choice. |
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| Q: | What about all of those ads? Lose 5 pounds a day without exercise or changing my diet? |
| A: | Those ads are just wrong.
Even the Federal Trade Commission recommends against spending money on these products--and they're not even a medical organization. You should see their brochure-- "I lost $350 in two weeks. Ask me how!"
Frankly, it's going to take the authorities some time to stop any given fly-by-night operator. But you can help yourself... There is no such thing as a pill that can make you lose significant pounds. There is no such pill that will allow you to keep it off once you stop taking this magic pill. There is no such thing as a pill that will magically allow fat to pass through you without getting digested.
Do not waste your money on dreamy results. That's not how it works. The dreamy results happen over time. See our success stories. |
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| Q: | What is my Daily Metabolic Rate? |
| A: | It is the sum of your basal metabolic rate + your stress levels + your work day activities. Each takes energy (calories) to get you through your day. In other words, it's the amount of calories you burn each day for just being you. |
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| Q: | What's the fastest speed I can lose weight? |
| A: | It is generally excepted that you can lose up to two (2) pounds per week.
If you go faster than that, you are either doing something unhealthy or temporary. |
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| Q: | Why does my BMI (Body Mass Index) seem high? |
| A: | The BMI chart isn't for everyone. It overestimates body fat in people who are muscular or athletic because it doesn't distinguish between body fat and lean body mass. It doesn't take into account location of body fat. It can't accurately classify elderly individuals who are frail and sedentary, and it's not a good index for adolescents or children. The BMI chart shows percentile statistics, so you can compare your weight to others of the same age and height. |
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| Q: | Why should I journal my foods and exercises? |
| A: | It's like asking "why keep a checkbook"? When you eat a dozen jelly donuts or eat a bag of potato chips--its like you just wrote a ton of calorie checks. Instead of your body sending you a "you ate too much message", it just stores the excess as fat.
After the years go by, the body will "collect" those calorie checks with heart disease or diabeties! :-)
Frankly, you need to see the numbers yourself to truly appreciate why your gaining weight. Once you see that, you will be able to adjust your "spending." |
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| Q: | Will I gain weight if I quit smoking? |
| A: | Smoking doesn't make you gain or lose weight. Nicotine does increase the rate of your metabolism, so by quiting you will burn fewer calories during the day. Plus, the physical action of smoking becomes an oral fixation and when one quits he or she may replace that with eating. But the only way you will gain weight is when you eat more calories than you burn. If you quit smoking and are worried that you may gain weight, join fatburn.com so you can track your daily caloric intake and burn to insure that you do not put on those extra pounds. |
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| Q: | How do I cancel? |
| A: | To cancel, please send us a message that specifically requests cancellation. As soon as we receive this message, we will cancel your account. This will stop any further billing. However, you will still be able to use the site until your membership elapses. |
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| Q: | How does the Meals Page work? I will be cooking my own meals. |
| A: | Just enter the foods you cook individually into the "Find a Food" box on the Meals Page. The system will give you all the choices we have in the database and you choose the one that matches what you used. To make your experience easier, be sure to save the meals you create by clicking the "Save this Meal" button and naming the meal. |
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| Q: | How should I weigh myself and how often should I enter my weight into the activities page? |
| A: | You should only weigh yourself once a week. Choose a day of the work week. When you wake up, go to the bathroom, then weigh yourself. Use that weight on the Activities Page for the entire week until you do the exact same thing, at the exact same time, seven days later. |
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| Q: | The calories burned on my profile seem to be incorrect. Am I entering the information correctly? |
| A: | Some people get confused because they don't realize the highest caloric burn for their day will usually be from just being alive. We call that your "Daily Metabolic Rate". That caloric burn total comes from adding together your basal metabolic rate + the calories you burn during your work day + your stress levels. Most people would have to exercise more than two hours a day to equal their Daily Metabolic Rate burn. |
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| Q: | What do I do if I can't find the food I'm looking for in your database? |
| A: | If the food you are searching for is not found, the next page will say "No matches found to "........". Click here to add your own food". Click that link and fill out the next page with all the nutritional information of the food. If you don't have the nutritional information, find a food in the list that is as close as possible. Then, e-mail us and we will find your food for you. |
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| Q: | What does the Net Burn on the Summary Page mean? |
| A: | Your net burn for the day is the difference between the calories you consumed and the calories you burned for the day. We recommend that you make sure that your net burn reads "+500" or more so that at the end of the week you have burned 3500 calories. 3500 calories is the amount needed to lose one pound of body fat. |
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| Q: | Why does the weight loss profile give me a warning and tell me my goal is unrealistic? |
| A: | We designed the goal setting process of the site to help you achieve your weight loss goal in a timely and healthy fashion. If you are trying to lose too much weight in too short a period of time, the system will give you a warning. There is usually one thing that went wrong with your goal. You tried to burn too many calories per day without burning enough calories (exercise). When this happens the system recognizes you have drop below the minimum amount of calories need to keep your metabolism functioning normally. These minimums are 1000 calories for the average woman and 1500 calories for the average man. When you get the warning you have two choices. 1) Increase the amount of exercise you do each day. 2) Increase the amount of time you give in weeks to lose the desired weight. |
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| Q: | How many calories are in protein, carbohydrates, and fat? |
| A: | Protein and carbohydrates each contain 4 calories per gram and fat contains 9 calories per gram. |
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| Q: | Is folate the same as folic acid? |
| A: | Yes, folic acid, also known as folate, is a B-vitamin that can be found in some enriched foods and vitamin pills. It's an especially important vitamin for women who are trying to get pregnant. If women have enough of it in their bodies before pregnancy, this vitamin can decrease the risk for neural tube defects, which are birth defects of the baby's brain or spine. You should consume 400 micrograms (400 mcg) of synthetic folic acid daily from vitamin supplements and/or fortified foods in addition to eating food folate in a healthful diet. The Food and Drug Administration is requiring that folic acid be added to specific flour, breads, and other grains. These fortified foods include most enriched breads, flours, corn meals, rice, noodles, macaroni, and other grain products. The FDA also emphasizes that adequate levels of folic acid, in the form of folate, can be obtained by eating natural sources such as leafy dark green vegetables, legumes (dried beans and peas), citrus fruits and juices, and most berries. |
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| Q: | If I see a trainer on your site that I would like to get advice from, what do I do? |
| A: | You can contact them by e-mail. |
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| Q: | How long have you been in business? |
| A: | Tom Williams, our founder, has been a trainer since 1992.
In 2000, Tom created faturn.com as a free site for Tom's clients.
In 2001, Fatburn, Inc. was incorporated. In April of 2002, fatburn.com released a subscription based site that has been operating ever since. |
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| Q: | Who's behind fatburn.com? |
| A: | Fatburn was founded by Tom Williams--a certified trainer, world-class athlete and doctor in psychology who understands why people fail to lose weight and keep it off.
Tom created this site to use fundamental principals of proven weight loss with some basic self-behavior modification.
Fatburn, Inc. has a small (but growing) staff of professionals to answer your questions, add news and articles to our site and add new features. |
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| Q: | How does the fatburn.com work? |
| A: | It is a simple three-step process:
1. Begin with clicking on the meals button. This takes you to the meals page, where you enter all the food you eat for the day. Everything! If you eat a
one-calorie breath mint, enter it. (You will see later...)
2. Next, click on the activities button. On this page you enter your weight and choose
your workday activities and stress levels. This gives
you a daily caloric burn. Then you choose the workout activities you did and see your total caloric burn for the day.
3. Finally, click on the summary button. This is the pay off page. You will see how many calories
you consumed verses how many calories you burned and what your net burn
totaled. You want your net burn to equal or be greater than your net
burn goal (found at the top of the page or on your goals page).
When your on the Summary page, you will see the number of pounds (or partial pounds) that you have lost for that day.
We even have the system email you the results! |
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| Q: | Why does the fatburn diet work? |
| A: | It works for several reasons. First, you're starting with the eating habits that you currently have and like. By starting there, you will learn where you can improve your diet and lose weight. Also, because it is based on your current habits, you will find it easier to stick to--which is key to success!
Second, our diet is founded on basic scientific principals--you must eat less than you burn each day to lose weight.
Fatburn teaches you about calories and how to live within your body's caloric means. |
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| Q: | What surprises do I learn by being on the fatburn diet? |
| A: | You learn that 20% of the foods you eat are responsible for most of your weight gain. By controlling those, you can succeed!
You learn that some foods that you would associate with health are truly not helping you! For example... Eating a salad with dressing can be the same as eating a big cheeseburger, fries and a soft drink. Or a better one... That sports drinks (even one with vitamins) have significant amounts of calories and that your workout was just made useless by gulping down one of these.
You also learn that food choices are more important than exercise choices. 1 soft drink equals 10-20 minutes of aerobics!
Frankly, your eyes will become wide open. You will truly see the world of food and exercise differently. |
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| Q: | Why are you so inexpensive? |
| A: | We don't have a meeting hall, office or store that you need to drive to.
We don't have refrigerators and trucks delivering food to a store.
In essence, we have a web site that has the information to teach you to gain control of your weight loss. All of the money that we collect goes into maintaining the site, adding new foods, writing new articles and advertising. |
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