I’ve learned from experience that buying your dog a new toy without his input is usually the wrong thing to do. She usually looked at me with a snotty look as if to say, “I am way to cool to play with that.” (My last dog was a German Shepard with a real prima donna complex). So I solved the problem by taking her to the pet store with me.

Most pet stores will let you bring your dog inside with you as long it is on a leash. And please, if you do this, make it a short leash. Inside a pet store are some of the most interesting and fascinating smells your dog will ever encounter. The better control you have over your pooch in a pet store, the better.

There are numerous types of toys for your dog to choose from. Chew toys are likely going to be your first purchase in the early years when your little pooch is always chewing on something. There are rubber bones, squeaky toys, calves hooves, rope toys, balls, Frisbees…and an abundance of every type of toy under the sun. That’s why it’s best to let your dog choose his own toys. With all of those choices, you’re bound to choose the wrong one.

Soft plush toys are not necessarily the best toy in the spectrum for the destructive dog; unless you want to spend endless hours cleaning up the stuffing. But again, if you know your dog, and you know he, or she, is a lover and not a fighter, you may want to consider a plush toy. A huge advantage to this toy is that your dog has a companion when you are gone.

Chew toys come in all kinds of shapes, sizes and materials. Flavored rawhide bones are very popular because they last a long time. But the “flavor” tends to get all over everything. Calves hooves are another popular chew toy and in my own personal experience I have never seen a dog that didn’t like them. But if this is your dog’s chew toy of choice, make sure you save room in the pet budget for doggie breath mints.

Kong is another popular chew toy. The Kong is a rubber, hollow toy that kind of looks like a decapitated snowman. Kong is hollowed out so you can put snacks inside the toy. Most dogs will chew on a Kong for hours trying to get that little piece of liver out of there. And Kong comes in all sizes so all dogs from the Chihuahua to the Great Dane can have one.

Rope toys and balls can be used as chew toys as well. But most of the time, these toys are more for interactive play. Most dogs like to play tug-of-war and fetch. But, again, speaking from experience, don’t use your own teeth to pull on the toy with your dog. That’s a good way to be wearing dentures before your time.

The ever popular noise-making toy, more affectionately known as squeaky toys, is another good toy for the curious dog. Dogs can spend hours trying to find the source of that darn squeak. But be forewarned, when they finally find it, they are liable to swallow it. And until they do, that “darn” squeak is likely to drive you crazy.

But no matter what toy you decide on, make sure you let Fido have say in the choice. Dog toys can get a little expensive at times and you don’t want to spend a fortune on a toy and have you’re lovable pooch be more interested in the box it came in.

Allen Shaw is a successful author who provides information on dogs, dog toys and dog bones.

We’ve all been there before. Your website isn’t pulling in any hits and your advertising campaign is a bust. The leads you’ve been contacting either don’t want what you have or couldn’t handle it if they wanted to. Your trying like mad to make something for yourself to avoid having to go back to a dreaded J.O.B. but it seems like all of your efforts are in vain. In the beginning, you were psyched, motivated and driven to succeed in a business where 99% of people fail. You had confidence in yourself. You were willing to do whatever it took to reach your goals and make it to the top. So what happened?

Well, somewhere down the line, you dropped the ball. No, it has nothing to do with what kind of leads you are using, or your advertising budget. You dropped the ball when you invited a very unwelcome guest into your home business enterprise…your own doubting ego. Ego is a vicious fighter. It must be right at all costs. It lives and breathes to remain unscathed. As soon as you step out of your comfort zone and take a risk, your ego stands up at attention and tries to talk some sense into you. “There are so many people who don’t make it in this business…who am I kidding?” “Maybe I should just cut my losses and get out now. At least I tried.”

When you fall for these tricks, ego rests easy, knowing that it’s got you by the throat and you’ll be hard pressed to take such risks again. Safety. Security. The familiar. These are what keeps ego alive. The problem with that is that life is always changing. Our existence from moment to moment is changing. Our bodies completely regenerate…every single cell of our body is totally recreated within the course of two years. But, in spite of the fact that change is the only constant, ego thinks it can get by without it.

It’s easy to blame the economy, the advertising, or just ‘bad luck’ as the reason why most home businesses fail. But the truth is more difficult to accept. The truth is that we are slaves to our ego. We are the destroyers, through listening to that niggling voice in our head and giving our power over to it. We cannot stand the thought of failure or being laughed at even if we are the only ones doing the laughing.

When you begin to realize the tight grip your ego has over every aspect of your being, you see that the road ahead is indeed a long one. But there’s hope! You can begin to quiet the voice of the ego. It takes dedication…not just to your website and your advertising. It takes dedication to yourself…the real you that’s been sacrificed at the mercy of ego. The real you that knows that anything is possible and that you deserve to succeed.

The very best way to take control of your ego is to adopt the habit of daily meditation. As you come to know stillness each day, little by little you can chip away at that annoying ego, revealing in the space between your thoughts; the essence of who you truly are. Know this part of yourself, and you will be more able to keep ego at bay. Visualize your goals as if they have already happened.

We create our reality by the thoughts that we think in each moment. Refuse to allow the negativity and doubt to creep in. When you recognize yourself having a doubting thought, do not give it one more millisecond in your head. Replace it with a positive affirmation or a powerful image of yourself being as successful as you want to be.

Get to know yourself in your head as you aspire to be, not as you ‘think’ you are. Assume success with every fiber of your being. Intend to be successful. Give thanks for your success, in advance and often. You will see things begin to go your way. You will see the success that you envision begin to manifest in your external life. Make each thought a positive and valuable thought. Hold lofty goals and assume that they are being made manifest, no matter what ego tells you is ‘reality’. We create our own reality, with or without ego’s input.

Running a home based business takes more than organization, time management and good luck. It takes faith and a consistent desire to succeed. Throw ego out the window and create success for yourself one thought at a time.

Angie Hewerdine is a successful home business owner and entrepreneur with a driving passion for helping others change their lives. She has assisted many in recognizing and achieving their personal and financial objectives. Visit her at http://www.TheTimeForChange.com or call 1-800-491-4758.

I hated math in high school, which explains why I struggled through Algebra One two times and finally passed it my senior year. I hadn’t expected math to become a major influence in my life. I didn’t care how many apples Johnny had to have if he needed to eat one, three time a day over 14 days. I didn’t like apples that much. I didn’t get it then, but I love numbers today and I like apples too.

How Much Will Johnny Sell?

If you ask me how much Johnny will sell this month, well, this is an equation I can get into. If we run the numbers, we can pretty accurately determine where Johnny will end up this month, quarter and year. As the numbers and ratios change so will the final results. This can be exciting, when we are interested in growing our business through sales activities.

The problem associated with calculating sales numbers is that many salespeople and sales managers don’t keep track of the vital numbers to make the analysis. The numbers are an important indicator of success and failure. The numbers aren’t that difficult to track but many people are afraid of what the numbers will reveal. There is a dark side to numbers when used to point out only the negatives.

Let’s go back to the old early algebra scenarios. We ask Johnny how many sales contacts it will take him to reach 50,000 dollars in sales this month. We could calculate this out, if we knew how many contacts it takes Johnny to get an appointment. This will lead us to his average sale. If we know what these numbers are and apply them to the sales formula, we have our answer.

Improving Success Through Ratios

The great thing about numbers and ratios is they can tell us where Johnny needs help and support. We wouldn’t normally have this unless we have Johnny’s contact numbers to calculate his success ratios. If it takes Johnny 30 telephone contacts to get one appointment, the numbers tell us that Johnny is at a very low 30-1 ratio. If this was his baseball batting average, we wouldn’t want him on our team. Johnny would be in a terrible slump and in serious trouble. Now we can look at several things, his telephone script, and the quality and type of the contacts on his telephone list. Perhaps the timing of his telephone calls and the tone and rhythm of his voice needs work too.

The good news is that Johnny only needs a few hits to improve his ratios. All of a sudden Johnny is looking pretty good. It usually doesn’t take much to make this transformation. If we don’t have the numbers, we won’t know where we are and what our ratios can tell you.

What Is A Good Ratio For YOU?

Keeping track of your sales and contact numbers is an easy thing for some people and difficult for others. Those that know them have an advantage. ACT! is a great tabulator for this. If you examine your numbers and ratios, they will tell you where you need improvement and where you are awesome.

Steve Martinez implements sales management strategies with a focus on automating sales for printing organizations. Selling Magic teaches businesses how to automate and customize ACT or Outlook with the best practices of sales management while integrating email marketing and technology for greater profits. http://www.sellingmagic.com

Bulgarian property prices have risen consistently in Bulgaria over the last four years due to the interest from foreign investors, primarily from the UK and Ireland.

But does Bulgaria still offer investment potential or is it a speculative bubble ready to burst?

Experts in the Bulgarian property market give their thoughts and opinions and how they advise their clients wishing to buy property in Bulgaria.

There is no doubt that even though property prices have risen strongly over the last few years there are still some excellent areas for investment. There are also some areas that clearly offer less value from an investment perspective.

Bulgaria is a beautiful country and offers fabulous beaches, clean mountain air and excellent skiing and winter sports facilities. This attraction means that some property purchasers do so for specific reasons, to use as a family holiday home or a base for skiing, mountaineering or walking. The price of property and potential for investment return is of less importance for these buyers.

It is of concern that some areas are attracting buyers for pure investment reasons and prices are becoming unrealistic, at least in the short term.

In Sofia, the National Real Property Association reports that 500 000 m 2 of residential floor space will be constructed by the end of 2005. This exceeds the demand by 250 000 m 2. There is an oversupply of property in this area and investors will be lucky to get any rental income and if they do the returns will be very low. What is worrying, if investors need to sell the property quickly, the resale market is almost non existent because buyers have the choice of buying one of the many new properties. This could result in having to sell the property at a substantial loss.

This is also repeated in the Sunny Beach area. This area offers cheap summer holiday to tourists, yet it is not to everyone’s taste. Here too, there is a huge oversupply of apartments, poor resale market and potential for large losses if you need to sell quickly. Some apartments have been reduced in price from 1000 euro / m 2 to 600 euro / m 2.

So what are the potential investment areas? The areas around Balchik are very exciting, with the development of the new golf course at Topola and the huge investment recently announced to develop Balchik into a premier leisure yachting facility.

Still there are some areas around the ski resorts of Pamporovo and the mountain areas surrounding the Stara Planina mountains that have yet to be discovered. As a result, property can be bought at much lower and attractive prices.

The purchase of land is proving a solid investment for many buyers, it requires no maintenance and plots in good coastal areas that are not becoming overdeveloped have risen by 40% this year. This looks set to continue as good quality land for building becomes more scarce and Bulgaria gears up for entry into the EU in 2007/2008.

Ian Hunt

Best Bulgarian Estates Ltd

http://www.bestbg.co.uk

What are millions of people doing on the Internet everyday ? Have you ever thought about what YOU are doing on the Internet ?

The answer is: you, like most people, are on the Internet because you are looking for information. Like most people, you are also probably hoping to get this information for FREE for that has been the culture since the Internet came into popular existence.

How is it then possible to make any money on the Internet if everyone’s mindset is “FREE”, “FREE”, “FREE” ?

The answer is: “Knowledge” - sell YOUR special knowledgesomething you know which they don’t know, and something which they are looking for. Most people are searching for information to gain some knowledge about something which they have an interest in or are passionate about. If this “something” happens to be what you have, you already own the rights to a potential goldmine. All you need to do is to set yourself up to start mining it.

People who are looking for freebies CAN be converted to paying customers if you can convince them that your knowledge or any information that you might have about their hobby, interest or favourite subject CANNOT be found anywhere else for free. This is the PRIMARY KEY to online success.

The knowledge market is an unlimited one. Each and every one of us have certain unique knowledge but only some of us have figured out what that is and have capitalized on it.

Ever heard of the old saying -”Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” ? In a way, each of our unique knowledge can be perceived in this manner; yours may well be of no value to me, but that does not mean that it is of no value to everyone else. It is highly likely that there is a small group of people out there who ARE craving for this bit of knowledge which you hold. Your job is to identify this niche and then market directly to them.

To begin tapping into your goldmine, you will need the following:

• Your special knowledge in the form of an ebook i.e in a digital format that can be downloaded immediately from the Internet. It should also have an appropriate title with an attractive and professionally designed ebook cover.

• A professional looking website (not just another mile long scrolling web page used by every other online marketer) with good copy about the subject matter and leading your readers onto the order page.

• An order page where you can easily accept orders and payments online and in real-time by credit cards. If you do not have this in place you WILL LOSE out on many potential sales, many of which would have been impulse buyers.

If you have knowledge for sale and you want to get started, check out the wide selection of low cost eBook Mini-sites from MillionEbooks.com that will kick-start your dreams of online wealth.

Copyright © 2004, MillionEbooks.com. All rights reserved. http://www.MillionEbooks.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~ Permission is hereby granted for this article to be freely published and distributed in e-zines, included in ebook compilations, sold or given away as a bonus provided the article is not modified in any way and the copyright and web links are included as it appears.

If you were to walk up and ask successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs what they did to succeed or fail, most of them would cite some mentor or lack of trait… Blame genetics or outside influence. But if you were to ask the exact same group if they used this secret, 99% of successful entrepreneurs would say yes - and almost all of the unsuccessful entrepreneurs would ask what you were talking about…

The secret to being a successful entrepreneur is very, very simple. It is called “Quantifiable Goals”. It might sound complicated, but when you have finished reading this article you will completely understand what it means - and why it is so important.

Let’s say, for example, that you walk into a room full of entrepreneurs, and ask them to state their goals. To state why they are ultimately in business for themselves. Most of them will respond something along the lines of time or money. But watch them puzzle when you ask them WHY they want to earn money or have that extra time. This is the most essential part of Quantifiable Goals. Any John Doe can say he wants to make money, but why? Is there something in particular he wants to buy? Something he wants to do with that time?

Once you establish WHY you want that extra time or money, you have just taken a big step towards success. You now have a goal. For example, you want that extra money to buy a house. Buying a house is your goal. Now comes the Quantifiable part.

How much are you going to spend on this house? $250,000? $1 million? You need to come up with a dollar amount or time amount, something of quantity, to properly set your goals. That way, once you earn that $250,000 or gain those 3 hours, you have essentially attained your goal.

But waking up one morning and deciding to earn $250,000 doesn’t make it happen. So how do you achieve your long-term Quantifiable Goal? By breaking it up into smaller, medium term quantifiable goals.

For the example we have been using, buying a house for $250,000, your medium-term goals would most likely be monetary. You could set goals to complete two projects that would each bring you $125,000, or even 10 projects that would bring you $25,000, or break it down even further.

But what good are these goals anyway? They are still difficult to achieve, and how do you know what to do to achieve these goals?

Well, you break each of your medium-term quantifiable goals into short term goals. For example, if you chose to get two projects with a price tag of $125,000 each, your first goal might be to think of what kinds of projects you can do that would bring that kind of money in for you. Your next goal would be to close the sale on such a project, and then to complete the project, and finally to collect payment. That way, each medium-term goal is broken down into manageable tasks.

At this point, you want to break everything down into a flow chart to help establish your goals. Put your life quantifiable goal at the top on its own piece of paper. Then, put each of your medium-term goals on their own paper in a horizontal line directly beneath your life goal. Then directly below each medium goal, fill a sheet with the short term goals that it will take to achieve each medium term goal.

This method will help you visualize what you are working towards, and how each step is necessary to achieve your dream.

Now you’ll want to check off each short term goal as you complete it, completing one sheet at a time. By doing this, you will be able to visually SEE your results progress quickly. Each time you complete a short-term goal, you are one step closer to completing a medium-term goal, which brings you one step closer to completing your life goal.

Now that you know the secret, what are you going to do about it? I suggest following the visualization techniques given, and build yourself a “life pyramid” on a wall that is visible while you are working. Glance at it every so often, and it will keep you on track. Reward yourself when you complete your goals - from the smallest achievement to completing the entire pyramid. It will most likely be the most positive experience in your life to see that pyramid completed - and the construction process of the pyramid itself will set you on the right path.

Cherilyn R. Lester, an entrepreneurial coach with Novus Life & Career Coaching, is both a successful entrepreneur and a successful coach. She can help you through the construction process, guiding you up each tier of your life pyramid, and help you through all the bumps along the way. With her business experience alone, she is an invaluable resource for other entrepreneurs. Novus is currently offering a free 30 minute session, during which you can ask questions, get advice, or just talk about the results of constructing your very own life pyramid. Visit their website to take advantage of this offer at http://novuslife.cjb.net

When I became a coach six years ago, I had a dream that took me a while to admit toeven to myself. What I really wanted to do was to combine the two great passions of my lifecoaching and working with horsesbut I had no idea what that might look like. As I bravely shared my fledgling dream with others, people began to point me to other people who had the same dream. I started exploring and discovered that the field of Equine Guided Education is a lively and growing one, where there’s plenty of space for the coaching process to be incorporated.

You might be surprised to learn that coaching with horses provides a depth and immediacy that brings new information, even about business development. Synchronicity happens in the domain of energyenergy from our thoughts, our emotions, our body, our spirit. Horses, unencumbered by language, read and reflect this energy, providing unbiased feedback. How does coaching with horses work, you ask? To give you an example of how this process works, I want to share my experience of doing my coaching process with horses around my own business questions.

Here’s what happened…

Background: I am deeply committed to bringing Equine Guided Coaching and Education to the world, but unsure of how, exactly, to grow my business. So the question now is “What’s next?”

Equine Guided Coaching Process: One warm, sunny October day when I had a few extra minutes at the barn, I went out into the pasture where the six horses I work with were grazing. As I stood in the middle of the pasture, I posed the questionto myself and so to the horses”What is next for my business, for this business with horses?”

Very quickly a horse named Digby came up to me. Digby is a thoroughbred horse who takes his rider over those 4- and 5-foot jumps you see in the Olympics. His athleticism and performance are not small potatoes. I said, “Hi Digby, why are YOU here?” As I looked at him, the thought occurred to me (openness to the synchronicity of thoughts is key to this work with horses) that he is large, the second largest horse in the pasture. I said, “Well, you are big. Am I supposed to play BIG with this business?” Just as I finished that thought, Colin came up. Colin is a Clydesdale-quarter horse cross and is the biggest horse in the pasture, with big feet, bones and a tall, strong stature. As I looked at Colin and petted his nose, it came to me that I’m supposed to play REALLY big. Gulp! I immediately noticed the fear that came up for me around this. Then I thought: “What does ‘playing big’ mean for me? How would it look in my business?” As I accepted that this was the message they came to tell me, both horses turned and went back to grazing, leaving me alone to let this idea settle in, confirming that I’d understood what they’d had to say.

Now these messages from the horses come quickly, and the full implication doesn’t always sink in immediately. What happened in the hour after my time with Digby and Colin started to clarify what “playing big” actually meant. My business partner and I had invited our insurance representative to the pasture to experience a sample equine-guided coaching session since she had expressed interest in what we were doing. As is typical, she experienced deep and profound shifts in her thinking about the actions she could take in her life. She became aware of important new options that had simply never occurred to her before. For example, normally a type A personality, she had never thought of the possibility of a more relaxed lifestyle. She saw that she could use space and openness to see what is next for her rather than more busy-ness. As we talked about it over lunch afterwards, our agent expressed such enthusiasm about our work and strongly urged us to incorporate our business to fully professionalize our work. And she asked if she could invite people she knows in the horse world to a workshop so that they could also experience the power of this process!

Synchronously, once I offered my question about how to direct my business to the process of equine-guided coaching, I not only received an inner direction to consider building my business to be really big, but also began to discover what that might entail, actually taking a first step to begin to grow it. Coaching with horses this way grounds the process so that we step out of our minds and invite all of ourselvesbody, mind, and spiritto engage with our intentions and clarified direction. The response is almost always startling and exciting, filled with the lively energy of newness. In these few months since Digby and Colin made the message known to me, we have conducted a workshop with eight influential friends of our insurance representative, incorporated a new business called Wisdom Horse Coaching, which will serve as an umbrella for all of our work with horses, and have presented a demonstration of our work at the first annual Equine-Guided Education Association conference held in California to 70 people from all over the USA and seven other countries in the world who are doing this work with horses.

For more equine coaching information go to www.WisdomHorseCoaching.com.

Below are ten categories of real estate, and different ways to invest in them. The best one for you is something only you can decide, according to your particular needs. To help you do that, I list a couple good points and bad points for each type.

1. Renting single family homes. Good points: An easier way to get started, and good long term return on investment. Bad points: Being a landlord isn’t much fun, and you typically wait a long time for the big pay-off. You also lose all your income when a house is vacant.

2. Fixer-uppers. Good points: Fast return on your investment, and it can be more creative work. Bad points: More risk (many unpredictables), and you get taxed heavily on the gain.

3. Low income housing. Good points: Similar to any other rentals, but with higher cash flow. Bad points: Similar to any other rentals, but with more repairs and tenant problems.

4. Selling rent-to-own houses. Good points: If you buy, then sell on a rent-to-own arrangement, you get higher rent, and the buyer is usually responsible for maintenance. Bad points: Bookkeeping can be tricky, and most tenants don’t complete the purchase (this can be an advantage too, but it does mean more work for you).

5. Commercial properties. Good points: Multi-year triple-net leases mean little management and high returns. Bad points: A tough market to break into, and you can lose income on vacant storefronts for a year at a time.

6. Land, split and resold. Good points: Simpler than some real estate investments, with the possibility of great profits. Bad points: It can be a slow process, and you have expenses, but no cash flow while you wait.

7. Boarding houses. Good points: You’ll generate more cash flow renting a house by the room, especially in a college town. Bad points: You’ll generate more headaches renting a house by the room, especially in a college town.

8. Invest cash, sell with terms. Good points: A high rate of return is possible by paying cash to get a good price, and selling on easy terms to get a high price AND high interest. Bad points: You need a lot of cash, and you tie up your capital for a long time.

9. Invest, live in it, sell it. Good points: The tax law lets you fix it up, and sell it for a big tax-free profit after two years (if you live in it), then start the process again. Bad points: You may become attached to your investment, and you’ll have to move a lot.

10. Pure speculation. Good points: You can make large profits buying in the path of growth and holding until values rise, and it is a low-management investment. Bad points: Growth in value isn’t always predictable, you have expenses with no income while you’re waiting, and transaction costs can eat much of the profits.

There are many ways to invest in real estate. These ten are just to get you thinking about what is possible, and what type of investing suits your personality. Once you figure that out, you may want to look into other categories of real estate investment.

Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To learn more, get a free real estate investing course, and see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com

Spending a day at the Magic Kingdom can be a truly magical experience or a very stressful one. What makes the difference is being prepared for the park and arriving with a plan. Families that travel to the Magic Kingdom without researching the park layout, park attractions and features of the park will find their day spent tackling long lines, hot weather and confusing park details.

The best way to approach a trip to the Magic Kingdom is to review all the available information on the park while planning your trip to Orlando. First time visitors will be overwhelmed by the number of attractions, shows and sheer size of the Magic Kingdom. If you plan to spend only one day at the park you will have to plan on making some tough choices on what you really want to see. When traveling with children, it is always best to plan on spending two full days at the Magic Kingdom. This will enable you to see all the attractions and get the full Disney experience.

By reviewing the park layout in advance you can prepare a “plan of attack’ for the park. Even in the off season, the Magic Kingdom is always the most crowded of all four Disney Parks. Many of the most popular attractions, such as Dumbo the Flying Elephant and Winnie the Pooh’s Adventures always seem to be packed with people waiting on line. You will maximize your time at the Magic Kingdom if you understand the best ways and times to visit each attractions.

Also, Disney is always adding new attractions, refurbishing current ones and introducing new park policies (security checks, FastPass tickets for attractions). Learning about these procedures in advance will only maximize your day, touring the park. Advance planning will definite save you time and money as you visit the Magic Kingdom.

While reviewing the park layout and policies you will also be able to see which attractions are geared for the members of your family. Height and size restrictions do apply on some attractions, and some even include warnings for small children (attractions that contain complete darkness, loud noises, etc). This advance information will prove important so your children are not disappointed once they arrive at the park.

Advance planning can not be stressed enough when planning a trip to the Magic Kingdom. Do your homework before traveling and when you arrive at the park you will have a truly Magical Day.

© Copyright MouseManual.com, All Rights Reserved.

Jessica Mitchell is the author of the Mouse Manual a Walt Disney World Travel Guide (www.mousemanual.com). She and her family have vacationed at Walt Disney World every year for the past 7 years.

All successful weight loss programs rely on one common denominator; calorie restriction.

What is calorie restriction? Calorie restriction is an effort to reduce the amount of calories one consumes in order for the body to achieve a negative energy balance. This is simply a person reducing food consumption to the point that they are burning more energy than they are consuming. The body is then forced to use stored fuel (muscle tissue, glycogen and body fat) in order to survive. The burning of these stored fuels is cause of the weight loss phenomenon.

How does a person achieve this negative energy balance through calorie restriction? First a person must have an idea on what a calorie is. A calorie is a measure of heat. Food is the fuel our body needs to generate heat. If the body is not getting enough fuel from food consumption then the fuel must be found elsewhere. That fuel is found in our body fat.

The best analogy for this process is gasoline and an automobile. Cars run on gasoline. Without gasoline, a car is useless. We drive our car and fill up with gasoline when we are getting low on fuel.

What would happen if we put 18 gallons on gas in our car if we only burned 16 gallons? We would have extra gas left over. That extra gas has to go somewhere so it goes into storage for when we only have 14 gallons available but we need 16 gallons.

What would happen if we never tapped into our gas reserves? The surplus would keep growing and growing causing a need for larger storage tanks.

The human body works in the exact same way. The surplus fuel (food) is turned into stored energy (body fat) and the only way to reduce how much fuel is stored in reserve is to limit new consumption of fuel (food). This is the only way that the human body can body fat. A caloric deficit must be established so stored energy (body fat) can be burned to keep us alive.

How is a calorie deficit achieved? The simplest answer is to eat a fewer number of calories then it takes to fuel your basal metabolic rate. The BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the measure of energy a person needs to subsist. People can figure out their BMR by using any of the numerous BMR calculators that can be found online.

Once the BMR is calculated a person can then have a goal to shot for. If the BMR is 2500 calories a day, they a person should shoot to try to eat fewer the 2500 calories a day for a consistent period of time.

How can a person effectively create a caloric deficit? Part 2 of this article will address this issue.

W.S. Evans (Bill) is one of the millions of people who have battled a life long weight problem. Bill has a passion for helping others battle their weight problems by sharing what he has learned with his struggles with obesity. Bill’s struggle can be viewed on his blog called “My next 60 pounds”. Bill’s blog can be found at http://billgetsfit.blogspot.com.