It seems like every day we are flooded with ads and information on programs that can help us lose weight. Every time you turn on the television, there is a manufacturer trying to sell a miracle cure for losing weight. However, despite the millions of Americans who use some type of weight loss program each year, as little as five percent manage to keep the weight off. Trying to lose weight is difficult enough, so how can you find a program that will give you the lasting results you want? The solution is to find a diet plan that helps you alter your lifestyle, not just lose weight.
There is only one true way to lose weight- you need to increase the calories you use and/or decrease the calories you take in by eating. While that part of the equation is simple, it's finding a program that helps you do just that without making you feel deprived or causing you to pack on pounds as soon as the weight loss program is over. Keep in mind, if you are able to find weight loss programs such as the Atkins or Scarsdale diets that work for you, they can lead to long term weight loss, but only if you can keep following the diet. The same is true of exercise programs, you can lose weight and tone muscle to create the fit body you want, but you're going to have to stick with it. That's why you should begin your search for the right weight loss programs by making a list of things you know about yourself. For example, if you could never live without your afternoon bar of chocolate, picking a diet plan that doesn't allow any sweets or requires you to eat only certain pre-planned meals is a guaranteed recipe for failure. Similarly, if you hate to do the same work out every day, selecting an exercise program that requires you to complete a certain set of exercises each day is bound to let you down and lead you to be discouraged quickly.
Once you have a good idea of the things that are important to you in terms of diet and exercise, you should start reading about different diet and exercise plans. You should also consult with a doctor before you start any program to make sure you are healthy enough for the weight loss programs you are considering. Make a list of programs that you think could work for you, and take the time to find out as much as you can about each one and then select a plan that you can follow. As you begin your new program, spend time motivating yourself by thinking about the benefits of a thinner, healthier body. Reward yourself with non-food treats, like a special shopping trip to buy a new outfit when you have lost a dress size. And remember, if you find that your weight loss program is making you unhappy or is too hard to follow, go back to your list and select a different program. While all diet programs will be challenging, you should look for a program that fits into your lifestyle, allowing you to make changes that you can stick with for years to come. Once you find the right weight loss programs, you'll see that you can make small changes that not only lead to weight loss, they help you keep the weight off for the long run.
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Weight Loss Programs: Overwhelming Possibilities
Weight Loss Products – A Different Solution for Every Situation
The weight loss products industry has been booming for the past few decades simply because of the societal changes in the way we work and eat. It used to be you could pretty much eat whatever you wanted because you were going to burn calories by doing what you needed to survive. These days, we're far more sedentary. That on top of harmful toxins in our food and environment wreck havoc on our body's natural ability to balance stress, hormones and weight.
As consumers, we're left with a slew of commercial weight loss products that purport to increase our metabolism and detoxify the body of harmful substances. Before you buy any weight loss product, you must carefully consider your weight loss goals and expectations. Weight loss diet products fall into three categories: appetite suppressants, fat burners and fat binders.
Appetite suppressants act on the core of our hunger drive: the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is seated at the center of the brain and drives our desire and motivation for food. This is essential for survival but when kicked into overdrive, it leads to cravings, overeating and obesity. Appetite suppressants lower the drive of the hypothalamus, which reduces your appetite and increases your sensation of fullness. Taking an appetite suppressant should be evaluated carefully, especially if you have heart disease or high blood pressure as many of these products contain stimulants. Appetite suppressants are available as pills or patches.
Next, you have fat burners. Fat burners are commonly used by athletes as sports supplements to enhance metabolism. For dieters, fat burners trigger your hypothalamus to produce cortisol and adrenaline, which provides positive feedback to your metabolism to burn more calories.
Finally, there's a relatively new class of weight loss product called fat binders. These are potent chemicals that absorb lipids before they pass into your small intestine. As a result, your body does not absorb up to 75% of the fat taken into your digestive tract. These pills may seem like a "cure all" weight loss product, but they come with side effects. Fat binders can cause diarrhea, gas and bloating.
For adults who are have more than 30% body fat (obese), prescription diet pills can be used for six months or less to help boost initial weight loss. Some of these prescription pills can help you lose up to 10% body fat, but they also require major lifestyle changes in order to keep the weight off. Non-prescription weight loss pills are also effective, but like prescription pills, come with side effects. Both prescription and non-prescription weight loss pills are regulated by the FDA.
A third class of weight loss pills are herbal supplements. These pills are not regulated by the FDA and often come with fewer side effects because they use all natural ingredients. Be extremely careful when using these supplements; check for interactions if you're taking other medicine and always consult with a doctor before you dive into a herbal weight loss product plan.
Any weight loss plan needs to have a holistic approach to your health. There's no "magic pill" that can make you lose weight. Weight loss products help boost your body's ability to lose weight more quickly, but total lifestyle change is needed for sustained weight loss. This is where weight loss programs come into your total weight loss plan. You need to exercise, take care of your body and eat well to have long-lasting weight loss success. Self-acceptance and research are your first, and most important, steps to building a new healthier YOU.
20 Rapid Weight Loss Tips | Weight Loss Help And Tips
If you want to achieve rapid weight loss for those extra pounds, you should be careful on what you eat and how active you are. With a rapid weight loss program, Identify what needs to change and include in your lifestyle the following weight loss tips.
Tip1. Reduce the calories you consume
One gram of fat contains twice the calories of a gram of protein or carbohydrate. Limit foods high in fat, choose products with reduced fat and calories, limit the starters and remove fat from meat. You should include in your diet products with fewer calories, like fruits and vegetables. Good selections are also foods rich in fiber. Try to turn from white to black bread and choose whole grain cereal for breakfast.
Tip 2. Watch the size of your food portions
The sizes of food portions have increased as the year's pass, especially when it comes to ready meals and snacks. This means that we consume more calories, and adapt quickly to eating bigger portions and do not feel congested. Restrict potatoes, pasta, rice, fatty foods and sweets and select fruits and vegetables.
Tip 3. Watch what you drink
Stop the consumption of drinks containing sugar and alcohol, and replace them with water, tea, coffee or drinks with artificial sweeteners and daily exercise. Drinks with sugar add more calories in the diet and do not lead to the feeling of satiety or satisfaction.
Tip 4. Keep a balanced diet
Remember the principles of a balanced diet, to include in your diet fruits and vegetables (at least 5 portions a day for your rapid weight loss program), non-processed foods with more fiber, lean meats and dairy products low in fat.
Tip 5. Be more active
To become more active in your daily life does not necessarily mean to sweat in the gym. Instead of the gym you can utilize the following tips that can indirectly help your weight loss efforts:
Choose physical exercise activities that you like and try to spend more time each week in these activities
Incorporate more activity in your daily life
Buy a step counter and count the steps you do everyday for your rapid weight loss program and maintain healty weight loss.
Another good way to become more active is to reduce the time you are sitting. At home limit the time watching television or sitting in front of the computer. At work, you can make regular breaks and if you want to talk with a colleague you can walk to his office instead of sending e-mail as a weight loss tip.
Tip 6. Avoid the ‘rapid weight loss diets'
These rapid weight loss diets that promise rapid weight loss should be avoided. Initially they give you tips for rapid weight loss but in the long run they are very difficult to follow. Often these weight loss diets are very demanding and they are not providing the necessary nutrients to the body. Diets that promise rapid weight loss, are suggesting that some foods ‘can burn fat quickly', they usually promote one or two foods, have many rules on how to eat and they overall seem too good to be true.
Tip 7. The Yo-Yo dieting
Many people that experience a weight loss have the tendency to regain their weight later. You can restrict this possibility by making permanent changes to your lifestyle and eating habits to maintain healthy weight loss. The best tip to enhance your weight loss efforts is physical exercise. Regular physical activity and exercise plays an important role in maintaining healthy body weight.
(The following factors are important for permanent weight loss: changes in eating habits, regular exercise, realistic objectives and support from friends and family.)
(Although nobody would suggest that the Yo-Yo diets are good, there is little evidence that they are harmful to your health. However, the results are disappointing and may lead to reduced confidence and mobility.)
You have to realise that in the period immediately after a weight loss you are at increased risk of gaining some weight and that you will need to take concrete steps to prevent it.
Remember to weigh regularly. If you notice your weight increasing, act immediately. Do not let a little failure to become a major problem.
Tip 8. Drink green tea
In another weight loss tip, a recent study showed that green tea polyphenols and specifically katechines contribute to the increase of basic metabolism, helping the ‘combustion' of fat.
Tip 9. Eat regular meals!
A daily portion of 2,000 calories for example, can be spread into 3 or 5-6 meals. But when there is division into 5-6 smaller meals each day (e.g. breakfast, snack, lunch, afternoon, evening) then there are small (not big) changes to the levels of sugar in our body and especially of insulin, which is important for our metabolism and good ‘fat combustion' and acheiving rapid weight loss.
Tip 10. Caffeine does not help your weight loss efforts
Caffeine has a leading role in many studies on weight loss with other substances (e.g., ephedrine), but the effect on the metabolism is small and someone should not wait to loose weight by drinking coffee. Its diuretic action (which exists only in large quantities of coffee) can in no case be counted as major weight loss help.
Tip 11. For rapid weight loss do not follow deprivation diets
If you were determined to lose 5 kilos quickly, then you would probably follow a deprivation diet. Perhaps you are not eating anything, only grapefruit or cabbage soup every day. You reduce your daily calories to less than 1,000 and of course you see the pounds to go. But when you eat so few calories, in essence you train your metabolism rate to slow down. Once you stop the diet, your body burns calories more slowly and you will gain weight faster-than ever before.
Tip 12. Do not forget breakfast
Not eating breakfast seems a simple way to reduce some calories, but the result may be insatiable hunger for the rest of the day. This can lead to a non-planned snack in the office, in huge portions for lunch and this as a result will increase the calories you consume. But a breakfast, which is rich in protein and fiber, can reduce hunger throughout the day. In fact, research shows that people who eat breakfast every morning are more likely to maintain normal weight.
Tip 13. Do not underestimate calories of snacks
Possibly you are carefully measuring the calories you take in each meal and you forget about the snacks. There are some cookies in your office, a piece of cake brought by a colleague, the ice cream of your children etc. All this added together can sabotage your otherwise well-designed weight loss diet. If you take seriously the issue of calculating the amount of calories you consume then you better use a notepad to write down every thing that you eat throughout the day.
If the constant consumption of snacks can destroy your silhouette, to eat snacks wisely can do the opposite. People who eat several small meals and snacks a day are more likely to control their hunger and enable rapid weight loss. Snacks can help you keep your metabolism high, especially those snacks rich in protein. Nuts are a good choice and they are high in protein. Research suggests that people who eat nuts as a snack they tend to lose weight fast lthan those who do not consume nuts.
Tip 14. Be careful of ‘light' products
Light products with low fat may play an important role in your diet. Just remember that low fat is not the same as low calorie and this does not give you the right to consume a lot of such products. If you fill your plate with sweets that have little fat, you can eat more calories than if you had a smaller piece of ‘normal' sweets. The best way to find out how much fat, sugar and calories they have is to check the product label.
Light food does not mean food with out nutritional value. Many light products contain large amounts of simple sugars in order to gain their lost taste. This immediately gives them calories, but is often less than fully fat products. To help achieve rapid weight loss, the best thing you can do therefore is to carefully read the food labels that state, often in detail, the content in calories, but also the vitamins and minerals they contain.
Tip 15. Do not forget that drinks also have calories
When counting calories, most of us tend to overlook those in our drink. It is a big mistake, when you consider that some coffees and alcoholic drinks are more than 500 calories. Even the calories in juice and soft drink can be added quickly. The worst is that the calories in liquids are not limiting hunger. We will not eat less after we get many calories with a drink.
Tip 16. Water does not help in rapid weight loss but…
Through the water, our body regulates temperature, eliminates unnecessary metabolic products, and carries nutrients and oxygen to cells. Not to drink water is one of the most common errors people do in a weight loss diet. Water is necessary for the burning of calories. If you let yourself be dehydrated your metabolism malfunctions-and that means slower weight loss. Research indicates that adults who drink 8 or more glasses of water per day burn more calories than those who drink less. So, try to add a glass of water at each meal or snack.
Tip 17. Drink low fat milk
Milk, cheese and ice cream are taboo for many people who are on a diet, but the abandonment of milk can be "counterproductive". Some surveys suggest that the body burns more fat when you take enough calcium and produces more fat when it lacks calcium. The calcium supplements do not have the same benefits, so the milk might have other ingredients that act as well. Most specialists recommend that you remain in milk with low or no fat to help with your raid weight loss diet.
Tip 18. Do not get on the scale daily
The daily weighing is a recipe that causes confusion and gives you no useful information. More important is the tendency to look in the long run and be weighed every week. If your goal is to lose half a kilo a week, you will be satisfied to see that you lost them when you get on the scale. The result gives you a greater reward than to see the variations in scale and get confused when you weight daily.
Tip 19. Do not set unrealistic goals
To tell yourself that you will lose 9 pounds the first week, you are doomed for failure. If you know that you will not succeed you may even not start a diet. If you diet and lose 2.5 kilos a week, rather than being happy and celebrate it, you will feel unsatisfied that you did not reach your target. The realistic goal is important for the success of a weight loss diet. If you are not sure what should be your goal, talk with a specialist to help you set your goals. Remember that fast weight loss diets are too good to be true, so you need to be patient and set realistic goals.
Tip 20. You need to exercise regularly
Exercising intensively for two hours once every fifteen days has no value for rapid weight loss. Conversely, someone who exercises daily, even 30 minutes, can greatly gain from the various benefits of exercise to health, while simultaneously laying the foundation for maintaining a desired weight and enabling rapid weight loss.
If you do not exercise, you put the whole burden of weight loss to the diet. If you become more active, you can eat more of the foods you like and still lose weight. The weight loss tip is to find an exercise that you like. If you do not like the treadmill, try swimming, ballet, cycling or tennis, which burn more calories than walking. Spend time doing different activities to choose what you like and which you can spend more days.
When you are engaging into a rapid weigh loss diet you should also be aware of the following tips:
1. Most ‘diets' are ineffective and have short-term results.
2. You cannot lose ‘five pounds in ten days', as advertised by the various rapid weight loss diets and institutions that are published in women's magazines every May and June. Our organism can lose 2-4 pounds in a month. Most unfortunately are muscle and water. From how many muscles we have in our body dependents how much weight we will lose. Two people of the same age, same height and same weight can lose weight differently.
3. The only ‘diet' that has rapid weight loss results is one personalized for the person and balanced in the standards of the Mediterranean diet, without hysteria and denial, always combined with physical activity and exercise.
4. 'Chemical' diets are one-sided diets. If you consume few calories, you will have better and faster results. With chemical diets you lose muscle and water, something criminal, because after all what you need is to loose fat. But there are also adverse effects on blood lipids, kidney and other body organs.
5.Obesity is a multi disease and has different aspects: organic, psychological, aesthetic and should be treated with care and long term.
6. For medical purposes there is no ‘ideal' weight for a person. There is the so-called body mass index. It is our weight (in kg) divide by our height (in meters) squared. The desire value for everyone is between 18 to 25 kg/m2. Over weight people are those who have the body mass index above 30kg/m2.
People who want to loose weight fast do a lot of mistakes in the process. Some of the common mistakes were outlined in this article. What are the most important rapid weight loss tips is to follow a diet that is healthy and personalized for your own needs and to combine the diet with physical activity and regular exercise.
Contrave Weight Loss Drug Review - An Obesity Cure or No?
The Contrave Weight Loss Drug Reviewed by the FDA panel has recently been given support, and now is waiting to receive full approval which is said to come sometime in early 2011.
It was developed and marketed by Orexigen Therapeutic Inc., and is supposedly different from most other weight loss products on the market because it aims to create a change in the way your brain thinks vs. working directly on your metabolism levels.
Contrave has been able to see some success, while only reporting mild to moderate side effects. If this drug is approved and is seen to find continued success, it may change the way we look at weight loss drugs and how they are developed.
But of course, safety comes first... Let's get a few important questions answered here:
What's Contrave made of?
Contrave is made of a combination of the anti-depressant, Wellbutrin and the addiction drug Naltrexone. These 2 drugs work together to stimulate your brain to help you reduce your food intake and stimulate how your body burns energy. By reducing your food intake and burning more fat, your body will naturally cause weight loss.
Attn! However don't be too fooled, a complete diet is a MUST in order to give you the needed nutrients and minerals to keep your body healthy and of course regular exercise will work to tone your body.
Does it Really Work?
4 test studies, performed by Orexigen Therapeutic, Inc., showed that more than one half of the people taking Contrave were able to see a success rate of weight loss equal to at least 5% of their total body weight.
What are the Negatives?
The Contrave Weight Loss Drug reviewed recently suggested a negative down side - that it is a "chronic drug" - meaning that you will only be able to see success as long as you are taking the drug. At least at this point, patients who go off the medicine are backsliding and gaining back at least some of their lost weight.
So does Contrave really Work?
Good question. This drug is designed to help all of those who are serious about losing weight. A complete nutrition plan along with a regular exercise plan are both an equally important part of this plan. So only people willing to combine all 3 parts of the plan, will see weight loss success. Contrave will only be available by prescription, so it will require your doctor's approval before you can take this drug. It will also require check-ups with your doctor in order to evaluate you on a semi-regular basis.
In all reality, losing weight needs to be thought of as a lifestyle change. You cannot keep off the pounds without knowing how to maintain a long-term plan that includes dieting, exercise and emotional support. These are KEY ingredients to any weight loss regime, even if it's 5 lbs or 250 lbs you want to lose. A diet drug will never be the miracle cure... and as far as Contrave goes, I suppose only time will tell.
Click Here to Compare my Contrave Weight Loss Drug Review today.
Sara:)
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Staying Healthy After Weight Loss Surgery
Obesity has become a major disease in the modern world and brings with it many other health risks such as sleep apnoea, hypertension, diabetes and heart disease to name a few. If you are considering weight loss surgery to improve your health, you should be aware of the steps you may need to take for staying healthy after you go home from hospital.
After the operation there is concern for your immediate health, such as recovering from the surgery, pain relief and your diet. Keeping moving is usually important to avoid blood clots after an operation, as is taking prescribed medication to relieve pain.
Post-surgery diets will depend on the type of weight loss surgery you've undergone and your speed of recovery. In general, there are four stages:
1. In the hospital you may be given a clear-liquids diet, such as diluted juice, clear soups and decaffeinated tea or coffee.
2. At discharge, you may be placed on a high-protein full liquids diet for about three weeks, consisting of milk drinks or high-protein shakes or soups.
3. High-protein soft foods including pureed foods and soft cheeses, eggs or yogurt, with drinks taken between meals, may be the next step on your gradual return to solids foods.
4. Gradual easing in of more solid foods is usually the next step.
The smaller size of your stomach means you will not be able to eat as much as you did before the surgery, without feeling unwell or uncomfortable. It's likely you will need to take several small meals in a day, rather than the larger servings you're used to.
It's likely you'll be advised to avoid certain foods including excess carbohydrates and use of alcohol. It may also be the case that you will need to take supplements, to avoid nutritional deficiencies, particularly if you have had bypass surgery.
You will also need to make several follow-up appointments to track your progress and possibly attend counselling for behavioural modification to help you adjust to your new lifestyle. Some people find attending a support group to be helpful and motivating. Taking exercise is important, and it might be advisable to consult an exercise specialist to help you design an individual program suitable for your condition. Your doctor will give you advice on when it's safe to begin exercise after the surgery.
Staying healthy after weight loss surgery is vital. Some patients do gain back weight over time as it is possible for the stomach to stretch to accommodate over-eating. Undergoing any sort of weight-loss surgery is a major step, but is not enough by itself - your cooperation in the process and commitment to success is required, in terms of permanently altering your diet and lifestyle. Staying healthy after weight loss surgery will help ensure that the surgery is beneficial to you in the longer term.
Paul writes for Life Weight Loss who specialise in Weight loss surgery and other obesity treatments.
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Important tips to go on hcg diet for fast weight loss
In case you are choosing hcg diet for fast weight loss you will have to make sure that you follow certain important and useful tips that might help you getting more effective results. Following are certain important tips that you can choose in order to get more effective results. So make sure that you got through the below mentioned points very carefully.
Make sure that you weight your body weight on a regular basis. It will be good if you do to daily. This will help you give self motivation for losing more weight.
Along with your body weight it is important for you to weigh the food you have daily. Weigh your food so that you come to know the quantity of food that you have daily.
In order to know your past trends and eating patterns you need to keep a journal/his will help you know how much have you had from the past few days and what is amount of weight lost till now.
It is important for you to know about the food calories that you have, when you go on a hcg diet for fast weight loss you need to make sure that you have calories only up to a certain limit which is determined by the expert for you.
Having a good amount of support is really important for you to continue with your hcg diet for fast weight loss. Support from family and friends will help you get motivated and also increase you level of confidence which will eventually make you get better and faster result.
You will have to keep in your mind that the only key to success here is persistence. You need to have lots of determination to attain you objectives in the set time period.
In order to get more effective results of hcg diet for fast weight loss you will have ot be positive from inside. Once you think that you are going to attain your goal no matter what happens then you are bound to see some good results. But for this it is important that you be positive.
You will have to be regular with your exercise also. Proper body exercise will help you get a good and healthy body which will sustain for long time
A very important thing that you will have to avoid all bad habits like drinking alcohol or smoking when you are on hcg diet for fast weight loss.
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Lose Weight Fast With Positive Self Talk
Can positive self-talk actually help lose weight without pills? There is no single easy answer to this query, merely as there is, in truth, no single, easy way that can be used for foolproof weight loss. Certainly just sitting down and self-talking about losing weight will not be the single thing you have to do for real weight loss results, simply because positive self-talk does not work quite that way. It can't move pounds move from your body, but if practised properly and effectively it can alter your intellectual state and your openness to the idea that many parts of a weight loss program will lead you toward long term, balanced weight loss. Positive self-talking is not about getting anywhere without having to do any single thing at all, but rather about motivating yourself to get the willpower you need to reach your goals.
What is the first step toward losing weight through affirmations?
First, you need to make a definite affirmation about the weight-loss procedure. Start by reminding yourself that you are fully committed to getting a healthier body and more balanced life style. Verbalize how fantastic you will feel once you have achieved your goals, and continually reinforce all these statements to completely make them your own.
Next, you should decide if you are carrying extra weight and in need of an actual diet and physical exercise regimen at all. Some men and women have been conditioned to the idea of their weight by spiteful comments made in their childhood or adolescent years or influenced by the media's concept of beauty, but might actually they may have a perfect weight to height ratio.
First, therefore, you ought to first ask a doctor, who will give information that your weight, height and lifestyle are okay. If you are not, there might not be a physical weakness in your current life style but rather a health issue. Maybe your doctor will discover a thyroid imbalance or other health condition that has contributed to your weight, stopping you from achieving a healthy body image. If this is the case, no number of positive self-talking sessions will help you merely because traditional weight loss programs will not be of any use to you, because your trouble will need to be dealt with medically. If, however, your trouble is to do with dieting and/or physical exercise, your doctor might be able to give you suggestions as to how you can go about losing weight in a healthy way.
They may suggest various vitamins, or suggest that you correct other wellness concerns that would make the weight loss process hard or even dangerous, like anemia or high blood pressure. These conditions need to be sorted out and monitored before you are available to start any sort of physical exercise program.
Okay, after you have seen a doctor, how does affirmation and self-talk come into the picture? Once you have discussed your health with a doctor, you can start the process of making affirmations and self-talking as motivation to lose weight fast. Now that you have acquired some real facts from your family doctor, you have an idea on which to concentrate when you look at yourself and the problem you wish to tackle.
Your physician will have given you some medical information about the weight loss procedure, and it is a great thing to do, to retain this and keep it handy every time you sit down to prepare yourself for your exercise and self-talk program. Study the data and remind yourself how wonderful, well and fantastic you will feel once you have accomplished the program, and refer to the materials given to you by your physician. They will provide a sound foundation for reminding yourself of your goals as well as how possible it is to accomplish them.
By spending a few minutes each morning, invigorating yourself with these reminders, you will build yourself the incentive necessary for starting and keeping up healthy dieting and an exercise program that suits you best for losing weight.
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