Everyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that it is no walk in the park. We try and try and only get more frustrated as our efforts show no results. But, it is possible that we are doing everything right, but are not getting enough sleep. There are two hormones which are at work here: leptin, which sends signal to our brain that we had enough to eat, and ghrelin, which affects our hunger and appetite. Scientists say that the less we sleep the more ghrelin is found in our blood and the hungrier we feel. So, a few extra hours of sleep would decrease the concentration of ghrelin and we would wake up with no appetite for those pancakes.

But, if you think that now you can stop dieting and quit your gym membership and just go to sleep, think again. Nothing is ever that simple. We know that lack of sleep makes us slow and with no energy and that we often turn to carbs, especially sweets, to bust us up. Experts claim that there are many factors that affect production of the hormones guilty for our appetite. Stress, genetics, our diet and exercise level also affect the production of ghrelin and leptin in our bodies.

So, no magic bullet for losing weight, just good old healthy diet and increased exercise. Good night sleep should be just another part of a healthy lifestyle. At least now we know why we feel so hungry when we wake up after a sleepless night. The choice is a no brainer: good seven or eight hours of sleep and a light breakfast vs. short, restless sleep and a big bacon and eggs breakfast. We do not need scientists to tell us the results of a wrong choice.

BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a measurement attained by calculating a person’s weight and dividing it by the square of their height. This does not actually measure fat, just where your weight falls on a chart as it pertains to your height. The categories that you may fall into on the chart are underweight, normal, overweight, and obese. These categories are further divided, for instance if you are underweight or obese, you may find your weight classified as mild, moderate, or severe. A BMI calculator simplifies the whole process.

Doctors sometimes use this calculation to help diagnosis eating disorders, but your BMI is not a true indicator of body fat.

Those who are very tall, have large bones, or are very muscular may have a BMI number that indicates being overweight or even obese when that is not the case. A pound of muscle and a pound of fat obviously weigh the same, but they look a lot different on your body. A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat.

If you use a BMI calculator, you may consider using it in conjunction with other methods to put your numbers into perspective.

Using a BMR Calculator

A BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) calculator tells you how many calories are burned while you are doing nothing. Once you figure out how many calories you burn in a day if you just stayed in bed, you have a good indication of the calorie count you need to adhere to in order to lose weight, or gain weight. Lowering your calorie count by 100 calories a day and increasing exercise for 30 minutes a day above your norm can produce results in just a few weeks.

The heavier you are, the faster the weight comes off during exercise. This is because of the extra weight. If you are 100 pounds overweight, and you walk for 30 minutes, it’s like a person that has a normal weight carrying 100 pounds of weights with them on that 30 minute walk. The weights add significantly to the calories burned.

Using BMR and BMI calculators can help you plan a healthy lifestyle. Formulating a plan to meet your goals is much easier when you know just what your starting point is.

Paying for the lifestyle

According to the Forbes magazine, Americans spent $76 billion on heart conditions, $42 billion on high blood pressure and $34 billion type 2 diabetes. Medical costs linked to obesity cost Americans $147 billion, or about 9% of total medical costs. All of these expensive medical conditions are directly linked to our lifestyle. So, let’s change it. Instead of waiting for the government to decide the future of our health care and worrying if we are going to be able to pay for the doctor when we get sick, let’s do everything in our power so that we do not get sick. That means changing our diet, becoming more physically active and taking care of our mental and emotional needs.  You can take the HealthStatus Health Risk Assessment to find out what specific lifestyle changes you should make to live a healthier life.

Go slowly

Changing to a healthy lifestyle takes time. If you were a couch potato your entire life, joining the gym only means that you will have another bill to pay and will probably use it once or twice. If your grandmother and mother deep fried everything, or if you think that the height of culinary delights is a quarter pounder with cheese, you will need to start with small changes if you want them to stick.

Before you start making big changes in your nutrition and lifestyle, you have to convince yourself that the changes are possible and that you can do it. It is in your power. Slowly but surely, one day by one, you can change life-long habits and start living healthy life.

Changing diet

If you are obese, this is going to be your most important change. Obesity affects every organ in our body, it causes many chronic disease including heart condition, diabetes and stroke. It makes you depressed, too heavy to move, too unhappy to socialize. Forget all radical diets that force you to starve yourself. Make sure that your nutrition is balanced and that it contains a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Choose lean meats, drink water and fruit juice instead of sodas, yoghurt instead of ice cream. Try to prepare your meals at home so that you know exactly what is it you are eating. Buy smaller plates so that your portions look bigger. Drink a lot of water. And do not forget that it takes time for any changes to start showing. Be persistent and believe in yourself.

Get out

Starting exercising if you have never done it can be overwhelming, if you go to the gym and watch all those lean bodies pumping away. Think of exercising as Karate Kid did: turn your household chores into aerobics. Vacuum with music on, dust while dancing, run around with your kids, walk your dog around the block three times a day. Walk everywhere. Use stairs instead of elevators. Don’t forget sex, it can be a great calorie burner.

Be happy

It is easy to be miserable. We often have too many responsibilities, we feel completely out of control of our own lives and it feels like there is no way out. The result is depression, abuse of drugs and alcohol and general sense of unhappiness. Our mental and emotional balance is as important as our physical health for our overall sense of well-being. And just like making changes with our physical health, changes in our emotional and mental lives should be small and gradual. Start by watching funny movies and hanging out with happy, positive people. If you hate your job, go back to school and then look for the job you always wanted to do. If you are miserable in your marriage, go see a marriage counselor. A good one will tell you that there are marriages that are not worth saving. Go to the park and look at flowers and trees. Catch a sunset. Volunteer at the shelter and do something nice for someone else. It will make you feel great about yourself.

However strange it sounds, one important part of your program of cutting your medical bills is going to see a doctor once a year for a general check-up. A check-up can catch a problem early on before it becomes serious or chronic. Many diseases can be prevented if caught early. Many cancers can be cured if detected early. And there is not price for the peace of mind you will have when the doctor gives you a clean bill of health.

What is ovulation?

Every woman is born with millions of eggs that are waiting in the ovaries. Once a month, one mature egg descends from the ovary down the fallopian tube, to be fertilized, or not. Once released from the ovary, egg lives 12 to 24 hours. This is what we call the time of ovulation. If the egg is not fertilized during this period, it will be expelled with the uterine lining during the next menstruation.

For most women, possible time of ovulation is between 11^th and 21^st day of their menstrual cycle, counting from the first day of the last period. This is fairly long period, but if you want to conceive, this is the time to put most effort into it. Ovulation can happen on any of these days and it does not even happen on the same day every month.

More precise timing

Much more precise timing of your ovulation can be done by monitoring LH (Luteinizing Hormone, which triggers ovulation, as well as estrogen, which is present in increased quantity just before ovulation. There is number of electronic fertility non-invasive monitors that allow you to pinpoint the exact time when you are fertile. Great advantage of these devices is that they can detect raise in the two hormones a day or two before ovulation, giving you increased time to conceive.

Listen to your body

An old-fashioned way of monitoring fertile days is by monitoring your basal temperature. Increase is estrogen in the body gradually raises your temperature by almost one degree. The problem is that it happens a day or two after the ovulation, and many doctors believe that it might be too late to conceive when you detect that your temperature spiked. One way to use this method is to monitor your temperature for a few months, to figure out the cycle and to find out exactly when the temperature starts rising.

You can probably feel your ovulation by sensing discomfort and slight pain in the abdomen. Listen to the signs your body is sending you, and you will know exactly when you are most ready to conceive.

You can use an ovulation calculator to help determine the days that you are most fertile.

Of course, you can try to stack the odds by combining all of the known methods. Don’t forget the most important part: make sure that your partner is not going on any business trip during the crucial time, or all monitoring will be for nothing.

Women get UTIs more often than men do simply because men have a longer urethra, its opening is further away from other body parts, and bacteria have a longer trek to the bladder.

Symptoms of a UTI

Urinary tract infections are painful. Bladder infections cause pain upon urination and urgency. You may feel like your bladder is not emptying, or like you need to go every few minutes. Kidney infections cause abdominal and back pain, though you may have both symptoms at the same time. You can also run fever. Chronic UTIs can cause irreversible kidney damage.

UTIs are completely preventable and treatable. Go to your physician at the first symptom. Once they begin, they only get worse and can really put your life on hold.

Prevention of UTIs

One way to stop and prevent UTIs is to acidify your urine. Bacteria cannot live in this environment, and it’s an easy thing to do. Drink two glasses of cranberry juice per day. If you don’t like the taste of the juice you can buy cranberry concentrate capsules that work just as well.

You can also increase the acidity in your urine by increasing your Vitamin C intake on a daily basis.

Drink lots of water. Diluting your urine and flushing your urinary tract out helps get rid of any bacteria, and it’s just good for you.

Keeping Bacteria Out

Bath water is full of bacteria. If you are having problems with reoccurring urinary infections, take showers instead of baths.

Women should always wipe from front to back to avoid introducing bacteria toward the vagina and urethra. A very high percentage of UTIs are caused by E-coli found in fecal matter.

Wash well after having sex. Consider changing sexual positions during sex that won’t introduce as much bacteria to the urethra.

Urinate often. Don’t hold your urine while trying to complete a task. The longer your urine is held, the more time bacteria have to replicate and grow.

Chronic Urinary Tract Infections

Some people have these infections as a chronic condition no matter what they do. In these cases, a doctor will prescribe a low dose antibiotic to take daily as a preventative. Even so, you may also benefit from following these guidelines. None of them will interfere with your prescription medication.