3 Body Types

3 Body Types, Metabolism & Losing Weight

There are three different types of human bodies in the world and they are known as “somatotypes.” The three different somatotypes are: ectomorphs, endomorphs, and mesomorphs.
Ectomorphs
These people have a short upper torso with long arms and legs sticking out from it. Their shoulders and chest are typically narrow and have a long and thin muscle structure. People with the ecotomorph body type do not store very much fat on their bodies at all.
Mesomorphs
These people have a long torso with large chests and a solid musculature. People with the mesomorph body type can generally build muscle with little difficulty while not adding on very much body fat at all.
Endormorphs
These people typically have a round face sitting atop a short neck astride a torso that fans out to wide hips. Unlike ectomorophs, people with the endormorph body type can easily store quite a lot of fat on the body.
   
More often than not, a person’s body will be a combination of 2 of these body type, such as an “endo-mesomorph.” This might be a person who gains lots of weight unless they work out steadily and, contrarily, if they ever stop working out, find it easy to put the weight they lost back on again.
One of the primary factors determining a person’s body type is their metabolism. Some people find it easy to burn calories while other people find they have great difficulty burning calories, even if both people have the same diet and lifestyle. It should be clear from the aforementioned definitions that someone with an endormorphic body type would have much greater difficulty burning up calories, even with lots of exercise, when compared against the other two body types. Likewise a person with an ecotomorphic body type would have great ease burning up calories, and normally without having to exert themselves much to do it.
Many people are at least cursorily aware of the existence of different body types, if not then certainly of the differences in people’s metabolisms, but most people are unaware that their metabolism can change over time as their body changes. This key point can make a crucial difference in whether or not someone loses weight and whether or not they can keep that weight off.
Working out with weights, for example, increases your metabolism. For every pound of muscle that you gain, you burn 50 extra calories each day. By the same token, however, when you lose weight, your metabolism will start to slow down.
It seems counterintuitive, yes. If an ecotomorph has a naturally skinny body and a faster metabolism, then why on earth would the metabolism of an endomorph slow down if he or she got skinny? Because our bodies function best when we are at the appropriate or “healthy weight” for our particular body type.
Statistics show that losing 10% of your body weight leads to an approximate 15% decrease in your metabolic rate. What this translates to is that the more you lose weight, the harder it gets to lose any more weight.
This explains why many people “hit a wall” (so to speak) in their weight loss program where they get to a certain weight and just can’t seem to lose any more weight beyond it: why some people just can’t shed those “last few pounds”. And it is why those crash diets with the lofty claims of having you losing oodles of pounds in just a handful of days don’t work for most people who try them. This is also why people who lose weight may initially notice having less energy rather than more.
Your body type and your metabolism are always trying to stay in balance with one another, and a change in one will invariably lead to a change in the other: an opposing changed (or a contrary force) geared to push your body back into the balance.
Losing weight slowly, a pound or two a week (and no more), is the way to lose that weight for good. And as you lose weight, expect your metabolism to slow and respond accordingly.

4 Tips to Reduce Body Fat without Losing Muscle

4 Tips to Reduce Body Fat without Losing Muscle

By Rusty Moore

So It's Time to Reduce Body Fat
If you are like many people working out, you probably have a bit more body fat than you would like. There are tons of guys in gyms that lift hard during the year to gain mass, but they also have put on a bit of fat during this time. If you want a pleasing physique, you are going to need to get down to a respectable body fat level.

Tip Number 1: Continue to Lift Heavy During This Dieting Period
The common mistake that many people make is that they want to "lift for high reps" to tone the muscles. Tone is mainly caused by having a low body fat percentage, not the type of lifting you are performing. The reason you want to continue to lift heavy and make strength gains is that you want to make sure your body holds on to that hard earned muscle. If you lift light for high reps, your body doesn't have any reason to keep that muscle mass.

Tip Number 2: Reduce Body Fat at A Slow Rate
Give yourself plenty of time to get lean. Many people decide they want to get in shape two months before summer or a vacation. I recommend at least 3-4 months, if you want to get super-lean without losing muscle mass. The slower you reduce body fat, the less likely you will lose muscle mass. This makes sense because in order to lose body fat you need to eat less calories than what you burn and you need to perform a significant amount of cardio. In order to drop fat quickly, you have to go too low in calories to maintain the current amount of muscle you have. You will lose muscle mass. If you create a slight calorie deficit and lose only 1 to 2 pounds a week, you are much better off.

Tip Number 3: Perform High Intensity Interval Training
High Intensity Interval Training is the most effective form of cardio to burn body fat without losing muscle. To see the evidence, let's compare these two types of cardio in a real world situation. Sprinters have much more muscle than marathon runners. Sprinters perform a quick burst of effort, followed by a period of resting. Marathon runners train using the "slow and steady cardio" that is recommended by most trainers. I don't know about you, but I would rather look like a sprinter! When you hit cardio, alternate intense sprinting type efforts for 30 seconds followed by a minute or so of a less intense effort. Continue this pattern for 15 minutes. You will burn body fat while keeping that hard earned muscle.

Tip Number 4: Eat a "Realistic" Strict Diet
If you try to go too strict on your diet, you won't be able to maintain your diet for very long. My rule of thumb is this...I try to make sure that at least 75% of my meals are really clean and low calorie. If I do decide to eat a bit junky, I will try to make sure it is after a long and hard work out. Also I will eat pretty low carbs during the day before my workout, to maximize the amount of fat burned in my workout. If you have too much carbs in your system while working out, your body will burn carbs instead of the fat off your body. This really makes a big difference in your quest to reduce body fat.

Top 10 Dieting Myths

Top 10 Dieting Myths

By Hugo Rivera, About.com Guide

In this article you will learn what the top 10 dieting myths are and how falling for one of these can sabotage your dieting and training success.

1. You have to starve yourself to see results.

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Doing this only leads to muscle loss, which kills your body shape and cripples your metabolism.

2. Carbs are bad and need to be eliminated.

The wrong types of carbs need to be eliminated like sugars, pastries, fruit juices, etc. The body works best on a balanced diet that consists roughly of 40% carbs, 40% protein and 20% good fats.

3. Too much protein can damage your kidneys.

There is no study that has been performed that has reached this conclusion. However, we do know that on people with kidney problems, too much protein is contraindicated. Otherwise, in healthy humans, a medium to high protein diet (not more than 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight) is not damaging to the kidneys. Do ensure that sufficient water is consumed in order to help the kidneys process the protein.

4. The best way to lose weight is to eat once or twice a day.

Refer to item #1. In addition, eating this little will cause sugar highs and lows which result in low energy levels and lethargy.

5. Eliminating all fats is necessary to lose weight.

Horrible advice. The body needs essential fatty acids like the Omega 3’s in order to function. The body cannot produce these so we need to consume them. Therefore, a tablespoon of flaxseed oil per day or a serving of salmon will cover this need for most women while a couple of tablespoons will cover the need for most males.

6. High carb/low fat diets produce the best results.

Too many carbs are a problem (unless you are an endurance athlete such as a marathon runner or a tri-athlete), as carbs are fuel that if not used gets stored as body fat. As far as the low fat part of the equation, if 20% of your calories do not come from fat, it will be hard for you to lose body fat.

7. A protein shake based diet is the best way to lose fat.

Wrong again. Protein shakes are a useful tool to allow for the consumption of a meal when you are on the go. On a diet that requires five to six meals, you can have two to three protein shakes respectively at the most. Do not let anyone fool you into thinking that a protein product is better than any real food meal as this is never the case. Bodybuilders emphasize the intake of real food for faster results.

8. Too much water makes you gain water weight.

The opposite is true. The more water you drink, the more you will eliminate, thus making water retention a non-issue. Make sure you drink your bodyweight in pounds times 0.66. This gives you the approximate amount in ounces of water that you need to consume per day.

9. On low carb diets you can eat all you want and still lose weight.

Not a true statement. While you can consume slightly more calories on a low carb diet without putting on additional weight, due to the thermogenic (increase in body heat) effect of protein, there is still a limit to the amount of calories that you can take in. Once you go over that, you will store fat.

10. Low carb diets allow you to lose body fat faster than medium carb diets.

Recent long-term studies indicate this is not the case. On the long term both diets work equally well. However, from personal experience as well as from that of my clients, a low carb diet is a hard diet to stay on, and when most subjects get off from it, they gain all of the weight back and then some. Follow a 40% carb, 40% protein, 20% fats program that you can live with and you will achieve lasting results.

What Women Should Never (but often) Do While Trying to Get in Shape: Part 2 – Dieting

What Women Should Never (but often) Do While Trying to Get in Shape: Part 2 – Dieting

By Juliet Deane Published: May 19, 2011

Crash Dieting

Crash dieting is severely cutting your calories or attempting to follow an unrealistic diet. Diet is a term originally used to describe the food and drink regularly consumed by people or animals for a specific reason. In 2011, diet is truly a four-letter word.

Dieting has become an out-of-control, multi-billion dollar industry that thrives on people’s confusion and dependence. There are fad diets telling you that bananas make you fat, gluten will go right to your hips and red meat will kill you, it’s no wonder people think the only way to lose weight is to simply cut out everything. The ineffective concept of the “super strict” will lead to drastic calorie reduction, unrealistic meal plans, and temporary changes…with consequences. This is assuming you aren’t one of the millions that don’t even bother to try because eating “healthy” is made out to be such a drag.

Severely cutting calories sucks

Cutting calories leads to lean muscle wasting, metabolic slow down, and consequently faster weight gain of what is likely to be more poundage than you lost.  Here are two equations you’ll want to become familiar with:

• Your Body – Too Many Calories = Muscle Loss + Slower Metabolism

• Less Muscle + Slower Metabolism + Previous Eating Habits = Easier and Faster Weight Gain

Let’s be honest, no one can keep up that miserable lifestyle forever. At best, you will return to your previous habits. At worst your deprivation will lead to a body and mind that you do not want. Repeat the above equations enough (this varies from person to person) and you can cause long term or even permanent metabolic damage. Yes. Permanent.

Other smaller but more obvious cons are:

• Constant fatigue – Never having the right amount of fuel for your workouts and your life.
• Shortness of temper – Being moody because you are always hungry.
• Lack of motivation to exercise.
• Poor recovery from exercise – You are always sore and exhausted.
• Inability to manage emotional stress – Always a meal away from a personal, physical or emotional breakdown.

It’s not hard to come to additional conclusions that barely eating what your body needs for your lifestyle will minimize your patience with your kids, your focus for an important work project and likely make you a drag to meet out for dinner. Any of this sounding familiar for you or someone you know? Eating better as opposed to eating minimal is far more productive.

The Unrealistic Diet

If I wanted to knit pick, I would say that all “diets” are unrealistic in the long term. But in sticking with the true meaning of the word, we can go into more about which diet strategies are unrealistic and why the results are a tease. You’ve heard dozens of times that it’s all about lifestyle.

• “Yeah, yeah, yeah… but what’s the fastest way?”
• “I’m more advanced because I already eat good so I need a detailed program.”
• “I know you don’t recommend fad diets or pills but if you HAD to pick…which one would it be???”

Mmmm…hmm. I see where this is going. My answer remains the same.

The biggest problem with diets is that everyone wants them to end and thus, they always do. They drastically restrict or eliminate favorite foods or even worse- healthy foods like certain fruits, meats or starches or they eliminate food all together. Most women want the hardest, most awful diet because they promise the fastest and most dramatic results; they feel they need to suffer to see results. But the more the diet sucks, the more unrealistic it is. In this respect, you can be the judge. Convincing yourself that a crash diet is a good way to jump start your progress is a recipe for failure.

Any physical benefit from a crash diet isn’t nearly as detrimental as the up and down ride on which they take you. Let the emotional, mental and physical roller coaster begin. It starts with the first time you get on “The Wagon”. Once this imaginary diet cart of doom exists in your mind you will always consider yourself either on or off. This is where the real danger lies. The in- between lifestyle stuff fades away and you’re either “on” and dieting, or “off” and feeling lost or out of control.

You can also consider the lure of the binge and quick fix as your official economic contribution to the billion dollar diet conglomerate: diet books, several body image related magazine subscriptions, prepackaged diet products (daily meal bars/replacement shakes, frozen meals, low fat- taste free desserts), pricey supplement routines, gimmicky workout toys that promise to whittle your middle, and of course, the added whammy of two different wardrobes (one for the “skinny” you and one for the “why am I even leaving the house” you).

But I wouldn’t be totally upfront if I didn’t admit that the first 2-3 weeks of any strict diet do actually knock some pounds off the face of the scale. It’s my challenge to show you that where those pounds came from is more important. You did not lose 7-10 pounds of fat in one week. You did not do 24,500-35,000 calories worth of metabolic activity in a week…unless you’re Michael Phelps, which I’ll take a stab in the dark and say you’re not. The initial drop is from lowering your sodium, losing excess water weight, and minimizing bloat from junk foods, high carb/high fat goods, and artificial stuff. It’s also from the digestive clean out from the increase in fibrous veggies, select fruit and many times supplements to evacuate your colon AND depending on which diet, the sheer fact that your stomach and digestive track are practically empty at all times (for example a liquid only diet.) I’m being nice by even generalizing that the diet allows you to eat whole or blended foods. Let’s cover some logical indicators that point to poor dieting tactics. However advanced you feel you are (last stage of show prep competitors excluded), these are not healthy, long- term methods of weight reduction or management.

Fad and Crash Tactics

1.     Elimination Diets – Some examples are the grapefruit diet, fruit only cleanses, liquid diets, vegan eating for weight loss and even the gluten-free diet. In this case, it’s not about what you are eating. It’s about what you’re NOT eating anymore. Of course you’re going to initially drop some weight when you inherently eliminate tons of foods, most of which are higher calorie. This also depends on which fad diet is being analyzed. Take a second and dissect them yourself to see what foods each one eliminates. Find the foods that would obviously lead to severe calorie drops and junk food reduction. I’m serious. Examine three common diets or trends and see what you find. Common sense is nothing unless you apply it.

2.     No “Something Important” Diets – Similar to the above but still deserving of its own niche. Take the Atkins or Ornish Diets for example – one eliminating all carbs and the other severely restricting/eliminating fat. No carbs, no fat, no protein…pick one of these NO diets and you’ve picked wrong. A balanced diet of proteins, carbs and fats provide your body with all the essential nutrients and building blocks it needs to function, build, repair, look good and feel well for THE LONG HAUL. To permanently eliminate a macronutrient for weight loss purposes is potentially harmful and definitely short lived for the majority of people. Removing one from your diet can affect your muscle tone, skin and hair, cholesterol, mood/well-being and your ability to focus. It all comes down to the proper balance. Enjoy eating your favorite, healthy choices from each category. You will look, feel, and perform better for it.

3.     Precision Out of the Gate Diets – You’re just getting in shape and trying to look better in your jeans! You’re not stepping on stage in a posing bikini. You do not need the Ultimate Super Duper Mega Body Buster Precision Eating Program. If you go from eating whatever, whenever you want, to counting every calorie, gram of fat and eating only from a strict selection of foods…what do you think is going to happen? It also begins an obsession with food and your next meal. This is not how you begin a healthy and positive change. You will get better results by picking a few things to commit to and sticking to them until they feel easy. After that step it up another notch for continued results.

4.     Corporate Diets (aka Dependency Plans) –  Think Jenny Craig, Nutri-System, Slim Fast, the Hollywood Cookie Diet etc. These plans require you to consume their products in order to maintain the program and get results. You eat from their pre packaged menu items of frozen meals, prepared drinks and processed snacks with minimal exceptions. If you were on vacation, out of the country on business, suddenly broke, or the world was coming to an end, what would you do then? Would you know how to eat without low cal/low fat vegetarian lasagna microwavable meals or worse…no chocolate chip mint snack bars? Total dependence is not only crippling, it’s tiresome and eventually you will want to eat like a normal, happy person.

So we’ve established that both whacking down your calories and super restrictive diets are less than glamorous solutions to improving your body. Why do so many women still do it? What could possibly be so alluring about crash dieting that women continue to try it over and over again? Here are some of the most popular reasons I’ve come across that might help shed some light on yourself, your friends, your girl, or your clients:

• Fear - being so unhappy with your body that you actually take comfort in knowing that “I might be starving, but at least I can’t possibly gain any more weight.” Or, “I don’t care how I lose it or whether it’s muscle or fat…just get it off now.”
• Deadlines – waiting too long to try to look good for a special event like a vacation or a wedding. This is your fault. Better get started now for whatever’s next.
• Uneducated - thinking there are no repercussions beyond weight loss for putting your body through hell.
• Unwillingness – not stepping it up to educate yourself or put in the time and effort to truly changing your life and therefore your body.
• “It’s Worked Before” – this is a dangerous one. You or a friend has lost a bunch of weight on a crappy diet and just can’t seem to get in the same mind frame to suffer through it again. (I don’t blame you, nor should you keep trying.) If you can’t maintain the diet or keep the weight off it’s just pointless and most likely detrimental to your overall health or well-being.

Solutions

You must change your mindset. If you yo-yo diet or engage in some other serious diet tactics that are harmful, you need to get to the root of it. Just trying another food program is not enough. It’ll be a Band-aid for your real problem. You need to know why you’re doing what your doing and what thoughts or feelings have you up to no good in the kitchen. Here are some great methods for personal growth in helping you change your mindset and realize who you are.

• Journaling - Besides your foods, write down your thoughts and feelings. This is especially important for people that binge eat or use food as an emotional outlet. A pint of Ben & Jerry’s after a break up only looks good in the movies. It feels like crap in real life. Reading your thoughts, feelings and emotions will lead you to some amazing self-discovery.

• Talking - Feeling weak, confused or overwhelmed? Talk about your problems or have your nutrition questions answered by a professional that you find through a referral. Whatever question you have or whatever you’re problem is, an experienced professional has heard it before.  There is no shame or embarrassment to tell someone the truth. This will give you the proper direction.

• Changing Habits - Always celebrating with food and always finding a reason to celebrate? Is having one, two, (or who’s counting) glasses of wine become a regular part of your evening? Do you mindlessly snack or pick while cooking, watching TV or trying to unwind at night? Pick a new “thing” and do it.

• Get a Life - This is my favorite. The best way to stop obsessing over your food and your body is to get real hobby. Working out and dieting should not be your “thing”. Food and exercise is a part of life. NOT A LIFE. Try new things. Look for another way to find self worth within yourself. What else can you do for you that will make you feel good or excited? Not just being a good wife or girlfriend or a good parent…something that you do for yourself as an individual. This will get you away from dwelling on the superficial stuff. Funny how things work themselves out when you release an obsessive grip on them.

My Diet turned Lifestyle Solution
Make a simple grid that shows each day of the week and allows six or so empty boxes for meals and snacks each day. Pick a few goals and guidelines for the next 2-3 weeks and write them at the bottom. Now, log your meals in those boxes each day. Don’t get over whelmed, make your log very general. You don’t even need to start with exact amounts. If the meal is in accordance with your goals, that’s great. You can see it easily and copy it later and stay on track. If it’s a little off (for example, you had some fries with your grilled chicken sandwich) then give THAT MEAL a checkmark. If you have an all out splurge meal because you planned ahead for it or you binged…the meal gets an “X”. At the end of the week you count the X’s (two checks counting as another X). It’s actually very simple and gives you goals each meal, each day, each week AND you get to grade your own paper for immediate feedback. It’s a constant reminder that you can start over anytime, at any meal. No day is “ruined”.

How do you know how well you did? You’ll see the difference as the weeks go on, but you can get more immediate feedback. Count the total number of meals/snacks. Then count the number of total X’s. Use these two numbers to see what percentage you’re actually eating healthy. So if you had 30 meals/snacks that week you can see if you ate well 90% of the time by multiplying 30 x .90 which is 27 good meals. If you didn’t have that, try the next one down and see if you were 80% by multiplying by .8 and so on. Do this at the end of every week and write your percent of success at the bottom. Watch yourself progress. Never throw these out. Even if one week looks like hell and you ate awful. You really need to move past the “all or nothing” concept and watch yourself find balance.  You need to work through your setbacks and grow.

I have used this myself with much success to enjoy relaxed eating. I have also done this with many of my clients. Depending on how you’re eating right now, you can be realistic with your food selections. If you eat kind of crappy, it’s ok to eat stuffing or macaroni and cheese to be an “approved” carb source or cheese to be a fat source. Remember, you’re setting goals for yourself that you know are appropriate for where you’re starting. Don’t make it miserable! It’ll still work.  You’ll notice the less you eat out, the fewer X’s you’ll have, and the more meals and snacks you eat the less X’s you’ll have too. I’ll let you notice other patterns on your own.

I will say this once, with conviction, that until you are eating healthy 90% of the time, you do NOT need anything more detailed. Changing too much too soon, can lead to binging, feelings of failure, and ultimately quitting. Do that a few times around and you have a serious built in “I can’t do it,” mentality and your body will fight you on every diet go-around there after, unless you shape up.

The benefits of a logical approach are long term results, less binges, and no more mood swings. You won’t drag others down, comment on others’ choices, push your goals and changes on others, and talk incessantly about your diet. You’ll feel better, look better, will be healthy and most importantly, you’ll be in control.

So in closing, what IS the best diet out there? If you’re actually reading this and expecting the answer, you’ve officially missed the point. There is no “one way” for all but a best way for one. Only you know what you are willing to do and what you are doing when no one is looking. The best changes and diet strategies are the ones you can stick to. A nutrition plan is only as good as your ability to be compliant to it.

© Juliet Deane, 2011

Stacy Brown's Burn Baby Burn Challenge Journal

Hi ladies, I am doing an online challenge to lose actual body fat and not weight. This is helping me understand my body so much! I love the foods and don't feel deprived, EVER!!!!
I will try to start this blog back up so that we can have a happy medium to delve into conversations.

Encouragement

What do you do for encouragement? What do you do for fun? What do you do to make yourself happy? I don't want any of these answers to involve eating. We do have to eat to live but as far as fun we have to take the emotional attacchment connected to food away from things. Eating when happy, eating, when sad, eating when mad, eating when it's a celebration, eating when it's a termination. Do you get where I am going with that? Like I said before in my profile I have no kind of degrees or anything in this but after years of living this thing and hearing my good friends who do have degrees in this stuff I have to listen. Please believe that I still go through my ups and downs and thank God I have some lean muscle mass otherwise my gains could be far more than average. A woman's weight can fluctuate about 3-5 pounds anyways so if the scale is staying still and I am working out hard I know something is changing. Once it is moving down hopefully it is only fat loss. Try not to weigh yourself around your menstrual cycle; you will weigh heavier! I mean maybe even up to 10 pounds heavier depending on the way your body retains water. Please exercise through your menstrual cycle. I have found out that over the years it makes mine go off sooner. It is also not as painful as it was when I was younger.

So my answers to the above questions:

What do I do for encouragement? I put all my trust in the LORD! Therefore I study the word (BIBLE) so that I may be built up in his promises and what his WORD says about me. I understand that I am fearfully and wonderfully made! I also try to surround myself with others who believe the same thing. I don't stay anywhere I am only tolerated so that I may keep my confidence high!

What do you do for fun? Well to make you laugh I actually feel that my workouts are fun so anything that involves working out, dancing or moving my body. I also like doing different hairstyles.

Lastly, what do I do to make myself happy? I love to shop! I think that's a biggie for alot of women. I like to also pamper myself with spa treatments and etc.

I'm MAD and I am an Emotional Eater

I am kind of mad today cause the scale hasn't moved! What in the HECK? I have been talking with my body building friends and personal trainers and they say I have to move over a certain plateau so keep at it. Keep working hard and document everything! Don't switch up the intense workout and don't give into my upset with a Brownie Sundae or a piece of Cheesecake from the Cheesecake factory! Yes I am too an EMOTIONAL EATER!
One of my girls I hadn't spoken to in a long time contacted me on Facebook and wanted to know my tips and eating plans so she could lose her baby weight. Shoot little did she know I still felt like I had more work to do. I appreciate the compliments though! One of her biggest concerns was trying to stick to an eating plan and feeling like she had just done it in if she deviated. That's what I want to dispell. Please just pick up where you left off if you eat a favorite food. You do not continue to eat bad for a week and then say you will start over on Monday. That will get you real BIG real quick. I saw a contestant on the Biggest Loser that testifiied to that specific instance. She said her and her mother would always start a plan by Wednesday be done with it and they would say they would start over on Monday.
My new comfort foods in which #1 I am sitting here eating now are:
 #1 Air popped Popcorn (I spray mine with olive oil PAM and sprinkle with a lil Sea Salt)
 #2 Apple with unsalted Natural Almond Butter or Peanut Butter
 #3 NON-fat Yogurt
 #4 A favorite Protein bar that doesn't have a ton of sugar in it
 # 5 Roasted Endame (Crunchy cravings)

I alot of times go looking around the Health food store to see what else I can find or what is new on the market.
Oh I almost forgot the altime craving, CHOCOLATE! Well it's like sex nothing will hit the spot but the real thing......so I eat 70% or greater dark chocolate. It was hard to start choking at first but I started with Lindt and it became very good to taste. I can't go darker that 80% in most and 85% in Lindt. The serving size is 1 ounce but its so dark and you are supposed to eat it after a meal so you won't want more.