Category: weight loss

Categories
weight loss

#weightloss How To Eat Wisely For Weight Loss

Please bear in mind that I am not a dietician, or a physician, and my opinions are those of a Yoga teacher and life-long student of Ayurveda. Always consult your family physician before changing your diet.

It may be generally agreed that eating wisely and weight loss do not often agree. Just look back that the parade of “fad diets” that didn’t seem to work over the long term and, in retrospect, were not wise from the onset.

This article will be a “union” of ideas from Ayurvedic principles, modern fitness concepts, and overall strategies for better health.

It goes without saying that a vegetarian diet is healthy. Only a decade ago, there were many reservations, among local physicians in New England, in regard to this concept. How rapidly knowledge, insight, and opinions change.

Marie, my wife, exposed me to the vegetarian diet. Before that, I ate what is now called the “Mediterranean Diet.” The diet I eat, to this day, is a combination of the two. The combination of these two, “classic” diets, are easy for me to live with and it is not an effort, at all, for me.

That is the biggest hurdle for most people. Many of us take on a radical dieting change that we cannot live with. Most of us can afford to make a few small changes at a time, instead of changing everything at once – unless you are dieting under the guidance of your doctor or dietician.

Therefore, I propose a few small changes to your eating habits that will make sense. You do not have to change them all at one time.

Sit down and focus on eating your meal.

Avoid television, reading, heated conversations, etc.

Thoroughly chew your food at a slow pace and do not put more food in your mouth until you have swallowed the previous bite.

Be aware of how hungry you are before your meal.

Try to avoid too much time between meals, as this leads to over consumption and your stomach should never be more than three quarters full, after a meal.

Exercise tip: Some of you practice Yoga and understand the many benefits of Sun Salutations, but have you ever tried weight resistance?

Strength training increases energy expenditure during a weight resistance training session. The high intensity of strength training indicates a high utilization of carbohydrates during a training session.

During the post-exercise recovery period, energy expenditure is elevated for a period ranging from two to fifteen hours (1). The increased energy demands are obtained by burning more calories, and a good portion of the calories are coming from fat stores.

Reference (1) – Melby C, Scholl C, Edwards G, Bullough R. Effect of acute resistance exercise on post exercise energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate. Journal of Applied Physiology 75(4): 1847-1853, 1993.

Even if you work every body part just once a week, this method of cross training will effectively burn calories. When you combine this with any aerobic activity, you have a powerful combination. Rowing and bicycling are good substitute forms of resistance too.

Strategies for results: Get help from a qualified Personal Trainer, Dietician, or a Life Coach. You could do it all yourself, but how much time do you have to “spin your wheels.” without any progress? These services exist for those who don’t want to waste time and want solutions now.

Categories
weight loss

The Best Breakfast for Weight Loss

Did you know that simply eating breakfast raises your metabolism by 10 percent ?

best breakfast for weight lossOatmeal is one of the most powerful breakfast foods of them all. If you are looking to get your body in great shape, you should incorporate this as a staple food in your diet.

Oatmeal is the perfect meal to start your day because it boosts your energy and has plenty of fiber to keep you full and satisfied. Oatmeal breaks down slowly in the stomach, giving you long-lasting energy. It is also full of water-soluble fibers, which play a crucial role in making you feel full over a longer period of time. Studies have also shown that oatmeal reduces cholesterol, maintains blood sugar levels and fights against heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer, and obesity.

If you want to add some powerful antioxidants to your oatmeal, simply throw on some blueberries and raspberries. These delicious fruits are packed with antioxidants that fight against heart disease, cancer, and a multitude of other ailments. Blueberries have also been proven to preserve vision. This powerful fruit rated highest in antioxidants among over 40 fruits and vegetables.

What more could you ask out of the first meal of your day? However, oatmeal doesn’t just have to be for breakfast. You can use it a couple hours before you exercise to energize your workout. You can even include oatmeal in your smoothies. It is also a wonderful addition to muffins and even as a covering for chicken breasts.

Keep in mind that you must buy the unsweetened, unflavored variety. To spice it up a little, you can use bananas, berries, or milk. The downfall of pre-flavored oatmeal is that it often comes loaded with sugar calories. So, stick to the good stuff.

If you’re looking for oatmeal with a little more texture, you can try out the steel-cut oat variety. Although this type does take a little longer to cook, I find that it is well worth the wait. They have a somewhat chewier texture and heartier flavor than rolled oats. Once you try this variety, you may never go back.

If your having trouble with late night binges, have a bowl of oatmeal instead. This will help squash your cravings. Not to mention, you’ll be avoiding any junk food or empty calories.

If your looking to get in the best shape of your life, I suggest your alternate your morning meals between oatmeal on one day and have eggs and meat on another. This will put your fat-burning into overdrive.

Categories
weight loss

Common Fat Loss Myths

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to eat as much as you want as often as you want and have body fat melt away while you sleep, watch TV, or sit behind your desk at work ? I’d certainly go for that – being able to be fit with very little or no effort at all.

Turn on the TV and what do we see ? Television ads promising you weight loss and fitness with no effort. Want to lose that extra fat around your belly? Just take these pills. Walk into the bookstore and browse through the rows and rows of books advocating one diet fad or the other.

The problem is that most of them offer conflicting information. I’ll be straightforward in telling you that rather than separating the fat from your body, most of these people are more interested in separating your money from your wallet.

I’ve tried many of these diet and exercise fads and can tell you that most of them flat out do not work. Some of the diets will work, but will force your body to do things that it was designed to not do, therefore your body thinks it’s deathly ill and starts burning fat as an energy source. Losing fat is not a bad thing at all, but tricking your body into burning fat by responding with a survival mechanism is. What are the long term effects of these fad diets? Who really wants to live the type of restrictive lifestyle that these diets push on you? Who really wants to work hard and suffer for something that in 20 years from now will be the laughingstock of the fitness community? There has to be a better way…

The true path to fat loss is so simple, yet no diet book author would ever admit it. The secret is this:

Burn more calories than you eat.

That’s all. There’s really nothing more to it than that, and you probably already know this! There is no more effective way, no special fruit from the amazon jungle, no machine that you can use that will give you better results.

Unfortunately there are plenty of people who would like to pull the wool over your eyes about what to eat, how to starve yourself, what machine to use to get the perfect body. Next time you reach for the next diet fad book, brochure on an ab exerciser, or pick up the phone to dial a number you got off of an infomercial, think about this – they didn’t work in the past, and they won’t work again because you’re still not burning more calories than you’re taking in.

After scouring the internet, bookstores, and trying just about any diet I could find to lose that extra 30 pounds I’ll tell you what’s worked for me:

Keep a food journal, tracking all of the calories that you take in. Be detailed. You’ll be surprised at how much stuff you can cut out if you just write it down. Personally, I was disgusted at the amount of sugars and junk foods I was ingesting on a daily basis. I didn’t eliminate them, only cut back a little.

Find out how many calories you burn in a day. You burn most of your calories just by existing. This is called basal metabolism. Find a chart to see how many calories are burned for certain activities for your weight class.

Exercise regularly. It doesn’t take much, only around 20 minutes a day 3-5 days a week. Regular exercise will increase your metabolism and cause your body to burn even more calories even while you’re not active.

Being fit is a lifestyle. It doesn’t have to be severely limiting and it doesn’t even have to be painful. Being fit is always easier in the long run than putting yourself through the ringer with limiting or starvation diets.

My search for the perfect diet and exercise program took me 8 years and ironically the one thing that worked for me was the easiest and least expensive thing out of all of the others I tried.

Please share this post on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. Thanks !

 

Categories
weight loss

Quickly Lose 10 lbs or more Safely

As reported in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s recently published “Calories Count – Report of the Working Group on Obesity”, people who are overweight is a serious public health problem in the United States. Since the late 1980’s, adult obesity has steadily and substantially increased in the United States. Today, 64 percent of all Americans weigh too much and over 30 percent are obese; in 1988 through 1992, fewer than 56 percent were overweight and fewer than 23 percent of American adults were obese.

The trends for children are even more worrisome. Recent research by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 15 percent of children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 are overweight – double the rate of two decades ago. As Americans get heavier, their health suffers. Overweight and obesity increase the risk for coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers. According to some estimates, at least 400,000 deaths each year may be attributed to obesity.

What people must know is that you can improve your health quickly with just a small amount of weight loss. “We know that physical activity along with reduced calorie consumption can lead to the 5 to 10 percent weight loss necessary to achieve remission of the obesity-associated complications,” says William Dietz, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Losing one to two pounds a week is safe and recommended by most doctors for most people. This breaks down to 250 to 1,000 calories per day. You can achieve this easily if you follow some or all of the following guidelines :

1. Use skim milk instead of whole milk or cream in your coffee.
2. Eat low fat yogurt instead of ice cream.
3. Eat more bright colored (green, yellow, orange, red) fruits and vegetables.
4. Eat more lean fish, chicken, or turkey, instead of red meats.
5. Eat whole wheat or multigrain bread, instead of white bread.
6. Use a sugar replacement instead of sugar (avoid Aspartame).
7. Drink water instead of soft drinks.
8. When you eat out, avoid fried foods.
9. Walk or do similar exercises (e.g. Golf, Tennis) at least 20 minutes a day.

If you do even just a couple of these every day for the next month, you’ll feel much better and you will lose weight (10 lbs. or more in 6-8 weeks).

And if you are concerned about getting hungry all the time, or losing your energy, try taking a safe appetite suppressant, like Herbal Phentermine. This supplement is not to be confused with the drug Phentermine, which has side effects like stomach upset, dry mouth and sleeplessness. The herbal variety is a non-prescription medication and has been tested for years to be safe for most people.

It contains ingredients like green tea, acetyl L-carnitine, alpha lipoic acid, biotin and others, that control your appetite, yet increase your metabolism and energy.

However, do not take any herbal supplement without checking with your Doctor first, if you are on any prescription medications, due to possible interactions between the two, or if you have a special medical condition.

If you follow these simple steps, you will surely reach your weight loss goals and become a much happier, healthier, and oh yes, lighter person.

Categories
weight loss

Easy Weight Loss Made Simple

easy weight lossOh dear, oh dear, it’s that time of year but yet again! The holidays are coming, which means lots of tempting food !

I must confess that at the moment, even the thought of a holiday horrifies me, because after my over-indulgence during the festive season, the last thing that I want to be doing is even more eating and drinking.

Here’s one thought for you, start right now and get fit. I suggest that not only will that make you feel heaps better, after a few weeks, you will even start to look forward to that summer vacation. Let me give you another more serious and compelling reason for this, and that is that we all shoud start to take our long term health much more seriously than we do at present.

At least that is my humble opinion.

Did you know for instance that current statistics reveal that at least 60 to 75% of Americans are overweight and 40% are obese ? That is just in the US, and I am prepared to hazard an educated guess that the rest of the developed world is not far behind.

For those who desire to lose weight and obtain optimal health therefore, it can be overwhelming trying to figure out where to start.

From the Atkins Diet to the South Beach Diet, from low fat to low carb diets, there are numerous weight-loss plans to choose from. In addition, given conflicting information as to what works best, it can be difficult deciding what to do.

For those who have tried many diet plans with no success, it becomes more difficult and frustrating. Many people forget that a diet might work wonders for their friend but won’t work well for them. This is not necessarily because the diet is “bad”, but because each body reacts differently.
However, there is a way to lose weight that is easy, fast, and doesn’t involve deprivation or calorie counting.

It is important to address some background information about body genetics and why weight loss can be difficult before I start to discuss weight loss tips.

At the start of any diet, it is important to note that each person has a different body build. Some people are short and stout, while others are tall and thin. Some have big hips and shoulders, and others are short and very muscular. Genetics can determine body shape and a person’s natural build just as it can do eye color, hair color, skin color, and so on.

The good news is that genetics do not determine whether or not one will be fat, but will determine one’s body shape.

This means that not every woman can expect to be tall and thin like a Hollywood actress or supermodel such as Tyra Banks. Not every man can expect to be defined and muscular like The Rock. The goal really, in my opionion, is to be at a comfortable weight for one’s body shape and to feel good about it.

Having said all that, why is it that people are overweight! I have listed ten of the most common reasons below:-

1. Slow metabolism – People who are overweight have a hard time “burning off” their intake of food. As a result the fat is stored up in the body, rather than used.

2. Emotional eating – Those who struggle with weight often eat when stressed, or when other emotional upheavals are happening in their life.

3. Hormonal imbalances – This does mainly apply to the ladies, (complex creatures that we are!).

4. Eating portions – We can all be guilty of the syndrome that I like to call “greed not need”. So watch out for those portion sizes.

5. A build up of toxins in the body – This can be due to too much junk food, candies, sodas, too much coffee, these can all contriubute to this.

6. Eating too late – Late-night eating can cause food to convert to fat a lot more easily, as well as making sleep more difficult.

7. A high susceptibility to growth hormones – These are the hormones which are given to animals to help them grow faster and larger. Some meat and dairy can have some residual growth hormones. These hormones can sometimes result in increased fat storage.

8. Not eating breakfast – This really does make your metabolism slow and sluggish.

9. Numerous diets – Going from diet to diet has a negative impact on the metabolism and causes weight loss to be much more difficult.

10. Food ingredients – The reasons why are amazing and beyond the scope of this article.

Here Are Seven Simple Steps For Easy Weight Loss

Now that there is a better understanding of body genetics, and why people have a tendency to be overweight, here are my tips for fast easy weight loss.

#1: Drink some water first thing in the morning. Ideally you should drink eight ounces of distilled water, bottled water, or filtered water (not tap water).

#2: Eat a big breakfast. Suggested foods to choose from are apples, bananas, rye bread with no sugar, plain yogurt, tuna, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, raw honey, and such like.

#3: Drink distilled water throughout the day: I recommend that you try and drink at least eight glasses per day.

#4: Walk non-stop one hour each day. This doesn’t have to be power walking, just walk at your own pace. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise you know!

#5: Try and stop eating after 6:00 PM. This is very hard for many people, but do the best you can. You will be surprised at how much you benefit from this.

#6: Do a candida cleanse. Candida is yeast overgrowth in the colon that can cause all kinds of health problems. Check online for “Candida Cleanse” or go to your local health food store.

#7: Do a colon cleanse: This cleanse cleans out the digestive system, which is clogged and sluggish in many overweight people. Once again, check online or go to your local health food store.

More and more people worldwide are becoming overweight. Extra weight can result in many health issues and negatively impact your emotional state and self-esteem. However for those struggling with this problem, there is hope, because you can lose it and keep it off if you really want to.

Now that you have a understanding of body genetics and why you might be overweight, why not take some positive action today!

Commit to trying at least a few of the steps, you will be glad that you did.

Categories
weight loss

Eating Moderately Is The Key To Losing Weight

Did you know that your new automobile is likely to have a larger cup-holder than your older model ? That restaurants use larger plates, bakers are selling larger muffins, pizzerias have larger pans, and fast food companies are using larger French fries and drink containers than 20 years ago? Did you know that identical recipes for cookies and desserts in the old editions of “Joy of Cooking” specify fewer servings?

It is evident to all of us that overweight and obesity have increased sharply in the USA in adults and children in the last few years. Since studies show that activity of people has not changed much in the last decades, the increase in body overweight must come from a change in the food intake. Considering that about half the people in the USA consume their meals outside the home, the portion sizes become an important factor in the increase of body overweight.

The American Journal of Public Health published a study about the current sizes of portions in restaurants, fast foods, and food manufacturers. The authors compared the data with the sizes of the past 30 years, and they came up with some amazing numbers. First they noted that all the portions offered in every category exceed by far the guidelines of the USDA and the FDA. Cookies are seven times bigger than recommended, cooked pasta five times larger, muffins three times larger, and so on.

Then they discovered that portion sizes began to grow in the 1970s and have continued to grow at the same rate as body overweight. Food and fast food companies today promote larger items and use larger sizes as selling points. Widespread price competition has induced manufacturers to introduce larger items as a means to expand market share, since they discovered that profit rises when the product size is increased. In the mid ‘50s Mc Donald offered only one size of French fries: that size today is called “small”. The food industry invests billions in making their products more attractive, sexier, saltier, or sweeter and we are vulnerable to their promotions. This happens at a moment when we became more sedentary and kids spend longer hours in front of the TV or their computers.

Going to Europe or other countries we see some striking differences in the food habits. First of all there is not so much advertising about food. Most of the Italian TV ads are about basic ingredients such as olive oil, wine, and pasta, and not so much about prepackaged food or fast food chains. In addition the portion sizes are considerably smaller than in America. I recently had dinner in a steakhouse and the smallest portion available on the menu was a 10 oz filet mignon. That is about three times larger than the average size of a portion of meat in Italy.

I have noticed myself many times that people moving to the USA from other countries would gain weight in a few months. There is no doubt in my mind that the large amount of food we ingest today is one of the main causes for the general growth of overweight in America. This doesn’t affect only people with a weight problem, but also those who are maybe only a few pounds over and struggle to control the size of their waistline. In an environment where lifestyle and advertising pushes to eat out more and in larger quantities it is imperative that we learn how to control ourselves.

One very good way to start I learned from a trainer at the gym, and I encourage everyone to try. It is very simple: On a notepad write down everyday for a week everything that you ingest. Take note of the quantities, not only for the main meals, but even the smallest things such as drinks, candies and snacks. Then with the help of a calorie chart add up the numbers. Many people say “I don’t know how I gain weight. I don’t eat very much”. I bet they are ready for a big surprise. It is incredible how all those little things we munch during the day add up to a large number of calories.

After the shock, the realization will come that something needs to be done. First it is important to understand what a regular portion looks like. 3 oz meat: is approximately the size of a deck of cards or a bar of soap (when was the last time you saw a steak of that size?); 3 oz fish: the size of a checkbook; 1 oz cheese: the size of matchbox; one medium potato: the size of a computer mouse; 1 cup pasta: the size of two eggs.
When eating out choose the small or medium sizes instead of the large ones. Ask for half of the meal to be packed to go. Share your portion with a friend. Don’t eat the bread and butter before the meal. For your home don’t buy a lot of food, but buy single serving packages. If you snack don’t eat from the bag, but place a few chips or crackers on a dish. Cut in the amount of sauces, mayonnaise and cream cheese, and use low calories types. If you are a big eater fill yourself with a large quantity of vegetables and eventually fresh fruit.

In conclusion: Everyone that tries to keep weight under control knows how difficult it is. The first step is to be inventive in ways to reduce the sizes of the food portions.

Categories
weight loss

Drink More Water To Aid Weight Loss

I am a great proponent of permanent and safe weight loss by changing the mental picture you have of yourself. If you change the way you view yourself and the way your mind sees you and talks to you, you can then easily change your weight successfully.

glute exercises

That being said, you can help yourself along greatly by making small and simple changes to your diet. Eating healthier foods is a great way to add to your program.

First, drink more water. Add at least one more glass a day to what you already drink. And, at the same time, make it fun. Try these:

1. Seltzer
Add a lemon or lime for a nice “punch.”

Bored with lemon and lime slices? Then try something more adventurous like a wedge of orange, a slice of pineapple, or a few cut up strawberries. All will add a little flavor.

2. Herbal Tea
Put an herbal teabag into a bottle of water and let it sit in your fridge for a while. It flavors the water.Strong flavored teas work best. Stay away from the ones that contain caffeine.

If its cold outside drink hot herbal tea. You’ll enjoy the refreshing pause in your day.

3. Flavored Syrups
Raspberry, peach, cherry or your favorites add splash to a glass of water. Just a splash will work so it does not add calories. Sugar free syrups don’t add calories but are full of chemicals, so be careful in your choices.

4. Soup
Broth and bouillon are great choices. If you like the creamy soups be wary of the extra fat in them and use these only occassionally.

As daunting as it seems to drink those 6 to 8 glasses of water a day, all evidence has shown that drinking enough water helps weight loss, improves skin, and is just plain good for you. Studies have shown that people sometimes eat when they are in fact dehydrated. So drink up and enjoy trying some of these methods.

Categories
weight loss

Slim Down by Eating Breakfast Regularly

Did you know that dieting and weight loss are two of the most common resolutions or goals by many people but usually results to failure? Don’t give up yet. Stay committed and read through.
slim down

If you really want to lose weight, forget the fad diets and eat breakfast and drink milk. Starting each day with milk and cereal may be the success for achieving a healthy weight.

Many people don’t realize to eat breakfast but to skip entire morning tastes, either because you’re in rush or lazy, or just want to reduce weight. Considerable number of people finish with a soft drink or a cup of coffee as their morning meal. Chances are this is going to have an opposite effect on you because skipping meals almost always leads to overeating at lunchtime. This is especially true with breakfast, because you’ve just been asleep for 7 or 8 hours and your body needs to recover from this brief period of starvation.

Studies show that people who regularly eat breakfast, particularly cereal with low fat or fat-free milk, tend to be leaner compared to those who skip the morning meal or eat other options. Also, breakfast eaters are more likely to have long-term success in maintaining a reasonable weight. There is a finding that a cereal and milk breakfast is a habit common to successful weight loss maintainers.

Combine that with studies drinking 24 ounces of milk a day with healthy weight loss, and you’ve got a strategy that may lead to lost pounds. Multiple studies have shown that people who drink milk and get adequate amounts of calcium in their diets tend to weigh less than their peers who don’t drink milk. A diet deficient in calcium has a higher risk for being overweight.

Weight Control by Eating Eggs

Eating eggs for breakfast can reduce hunger and caloric intake by more than 400 calories, both at lunchtime and over the next 24 hours. As a result, eggs are useful in helping overweight people reduce their energy intakes, a prerequisite of losing weight. This is great news if you’re trying to lose weight as it means you may find it easier to cut calories without feeling hungry. In fact, you could expect to lose up to 2lb. a month, simply by eating eggs for breakfast!

Eggs are packed with various nutrients but contain just 85 calories each. There’s also no limit to the number of eggs you can eat in a week contrary to popular belief.

Other studies found that protein-based breakfasts improved weight loss better than carbohydrate-focused breakfasts. The better effects are increased when it’s combined with exercise.

Should I avoid eating certain foods for the sake of weight loss?

Forget about avoiding eating a certain food that you like to eat – that’s a dieter’s mentality and it doesn’t help you lose weight. It just makes you obsessed about food and eating. Instead, if you are really hungry, then eat, and stop as soon as you’re satisfied. Just don’t eat until you’re totally full! So, if you’re hungry during breakfast, then eat. If you’re not hungry during lunch or dinner, then have a smaller meal.

Keep in mind that you should not eat too many sweet foods. No matter what time you eat sweets, if it’s more energy than your body can use, it will be stored, meaning excess kilos.

Fad diets won’t work and only provide short-term results. Instead, always enjoy a wide variety of healthy foods and be physically active. Fad dieting is a hindrance that you don’t need in your life.

Things to Remember:

* Eating breakfast increases your metabolism and burns more kilojoules during the day, which can help you lose weight.
* Protein-based breakfasts improved weight loss better than carbohydrate-focused breakfasts.
* Eggs are great protein-rich breakfast, complete with zinc, iron and vitamins like A, B, D, E and B12. Long ago, people thought that eating many eggs contributed to health risks. This is not true and it’s already proven that they don’t contribute to high cholesterol or heart disease.
* Don’t be afraid to eat a reasonable portion of your favorite dessert or snack food every now and then.
* Try to eat steamed vegetables and drink soup in the morning. Did you know that this is common in Japan? It may take some time getting used to, but the benefits are: reduced fat and added nutrients from the vegetables.

Categories
weight loss

Quick Weight Loss for Special Occasions

Most of us have been through it before, the family wedding is coming up next month and you can’t seem to fit into that suit or dress because you have put on too much weight. So you must lose at least ten or more pounds quickly.

quick weight loss

Losing weight quickly is not advisable as most of the loss will be muscle tissue and water; you put on the weight slowly (usually over years) so normally you should take it off slowly and then you will know that the majority of the loss will be body fat.

But you have a problem here and the clock is ticking so you will have to diet pretty hard to meet your target weight loss. Let’s look at that first, you all know that diets don’t work; they send the body into starvation mode, a survival mechanism from long age when humans faced periods of famine.

Going too low in calories causes the body to lower its metabolic rate, which reduces its ability to burn fat. At the same time, hunger signals increase and you quickly start to crave high-energy foods loaded with fats and sugar, the same foods you are trying to do without.

Research shows repeated dieting actually makes it harder to lose weight and easier to put it on because when you dump the diet and return to normal eating habits the drop in metabolic rate caused by the diet means that your old habits actually represent an excess in calories. Not only do you regain the fat stores just lost, but also you may even gain an extra bit.

Knowing this, you really don’t want to put yourselves through this rigorous process, but for this special occasion you will. First though, you will have to boost the metabolism that has been lowered by the dieting. To do this you will have to perform a “Strength Train” workout to generate that initial spike in your metabolism. By increasing the lean muscle on your body by using Strength Training, your metabolism will increase, burning fat along the way.

The strength training technique I use requires just twenty to thirty mins per week. Gone are the days of the five-day a week program with 6 to 12 sets per body part that, method has never worked. One short intense strength-training workout a week will elevate your metabolism more than you ever thought possible.

While the calories expended doing exercise are important, the increase in metabolism especially after strength training continues long after the exercise is finished, burning calories at the same time.

The two main components of this technique are the intensity of the exercise and the recovery after the exercise. Infrequent, short, high intensity weight training sessions, followed by the required amount of time to recover and become stronger is what is needed to increase functional lean muscle and lose body fat.

The way to lose body fat and maintain muscle is to have a food program for life. Quality food and more energy output are the basics you’ll need to go for. Bulk foods that fill you up and don’t fill you out, foods that are low in fat and sugar which aren’t refined should be the ideal.

Small frequent meals should be consumed during the day each containing a little protein to maintain muscle mass and energy levels. A high quality broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement should also be taken on a daily basis.

As before get the calories from high quality food but if you can’t, utilize a blender to make concoctions from skim milk with whatever additives you want to use, just as long as you keep count of the calories for your daily total.

Now use these blender mixtures and solid food for your daily feedings. Spread it out over many small meals a day instead of the traditional three meals a day. The way to keep track of weight loss is to buy a calorie counter and record your daily calorie intake for a week.

Now average out how many calories you consume a day with the use of a seven-day eating plan and calorie counter, once you have this figure subtract 1000 calories and this will be the target number of calories you will be aiming for.

Remembering that one-pound of fat contains 3500cals, losing 1000 calories a day will total 7000 for the week, which equals two pounds lost by dietary means alone. Another technique for low calorie eating is to watch your fat intake as this has the most calories.

Incidental activity is also very important if you want to lose this amount of weight in this short period of time, by increasing incidental activity you can burn at least another pound a week The best exercise for the purpose of fat-loss is quick walking either indoors on the treadmill or outdoors.

Walk until you are mildly puffing and hold that rate until the allotted time. If your aerobic activities leave you panting or breathless, your going too hard, your energy is coming from your carbohydrate reserves and not from your fat stores. Try quick walking for one hour a day every day of the week.

Well there you have it, as an experienced trainer I wouldn’t recommend this type of program to my clients. The weight loss is just too quick and the program would be very hard to maintain owing to the very low caloric intake.

I advise my clients to decrease their calories by just 500 per day (and no more) below their maintenance levels and they will be losing 1 – 2 pounds of body fat every week, safely, without craving and without too much disruption to their lifestyle.

Remember, think long term here and that’s between 30 and 50 pounds of fat lost in six months. Any quicker and all you will be losing is water and precious muscle tissue.

Categories
weight loss

About Dieting and Fitness

When it comes to living a long and healthy life, there are two necessary ingredients: diet and fitness. While some believe that they are one thing all together, nothing could be further from the truth. It is quite possible to have a perfectly healthy diet with deplorable fitness habits. It is equally possible to be very physically fit with less than savory eating habits.

There’s a clever little line in the Jimmy Buffet song “Fruitcakes” when his ‘lady’ is lamenting:

“I treat my body like a temple

You treat yours like a tent”

I can’t help but think of this line whenever I think about all the people around the world who are going on these garbage in, garbage out diet plans hoping to achieve the weight loss success of those who are endorsing these products.

To be completely honest, it is possible to shed pounds through diet alone. It is difficult but possible. It is also possible to be physically fit and have a few extra pounds hanging around. To a large degree we are what we eat. If we consume a high fat low substance diet our bodies are going to lack the fuel required to burn the fat. At the same time if we aren’t providing our bodies with the tools it needs to build muscle it doesn’t matter how many weights we lift.

When it comes to diet and fitness, the best results are achieved when they work together rather than separately. Use your fitness routine to burn excess calories and use your diet in order to properly provide your body the nutrients and fuel it needs to build muscle. I’ve heard many times in my life that a pound of muscle weighs less than a pound of fat. While this is not true at all, a pound is a pound regardless; a pound of muscle occupies less space on the body than a pound of fat. Pound for pound, I would much rather mine be composed of muscle than fat. Dieting alone does not build muscle and that is something you will do well to remember in your efforts.

You should also realize that as you are building muscle you may be shedding inches while not showing a great deal of progress on the scale. It is very important that you keep this in mind throughout the weight loss process. Do not measure your progress by the scales alone or you will achieve misleading results. The problem is that far too many people do just this and get frustrated and give up when they are actually making progress. Do not allow yourself to be a victim of the scales. Look in the mirror, try on your tight pants, and measure your waistline. Measure your success by how you feel after climbing a flight of stairs not by how many pounds fell of the scale this week.

By incorporating fitness into your diet routine you are also enabling your body to burn off any extra calories you may have consumed during the day. This means that if you want to have a small ‘cheat’ during your day, you can make up for it by burning a few more calories than normal in the evening. This isn’t something that should happen often but an occasional occurrence isn’t going to make or break your diet.

You should also look at dieting and fitness as a ball and glove type of relationship. While you can play ball without the glove, it seems to work so much better if you have both. Diet and fitness when combined can create fantastic weight loss results for those who take them both seriously. The thing to remember is that neither works as well alone and neither will work unless you are willing to do the work. You must make this a priority in your life in order to achieve the best possible results.

Copied with permission from: http://plrplr.com/45138/dieting-and-fitness/