August 2007
Monthly Archive
Mon 27 Aug 2007
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People who are slightly heavier than they'd like to be and believe that gradual weight gain over the years could be the cause shouldn't bother about this because so many people are also facing the same dilemma. The reality is many people across the nation and all over the world are struggling with weight problems. Eating right and engaging in regular exercise are the only antidote to the problem, because poor diet and lethargy towards exercise routine are the reasons behind the problem.
If you really want to shed off fat then you should use the two methods mentioned above, because current "lose weight quickly" are bogus and will only succeed in pulling off essential water off your body giving you the false sense that you lost weight. If you are truly desirous of losing weight rapidly, then you must be serious about how the process is accomplished. While watching one of those makeover television shows which my wife enjoys very much, we were surprised by the declaration of the somewhat over weight lady they were giving a make over; she said she is satisfied with her body and appearance based on the fact that she was in good health.
Due to the fact that they are pretty and not too big, many will not admit to being overweight, but the truth is they are overweight because they probably eat lots of fatty foods and do not have a regular fitness regime in place. Granted the lady on the television show was not that huge, especially if you pass her on the street she cannot be considered to be obese, however a crucial factor in this is the body fat content and in her own case I am sure her body fat content is greater than 30 percent. Eating low fat diet, weight lifting and cardio are what people who really want to lose weight quickly should take to, they will not only help you burn off fat but also assist you gain muscles
An effective way to lose weight quickly is to take to low fat diet combined with exercises like weight lifting and cardio, you are rest assured that these will not only help you shed off some fat it will also help you replace them with muscles.
Sun 26 Aug 2007
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How high is your self-confidence right now? If you rated yourself on a scale of 1 to 10, (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10), 1 being extremely low in self-confidence and 10 fully self-confident, how would you rate yourself?
As a result of my experience of working with clients who are overweight, I can guess that if you are overweight and are reading this article, you rate fairly low on the scale. Being overweight or obese affects our realistic perception of ourselves and our abilities. The negative side effects of being overweight can be found in your self-doubt, dependence, taking things too personally, lack of trust, feelings of inferiority and being unloved and often irresponsible behavior, followed with severe self- criticism and low self-worth.
Everyone wants to be self-confident. Everyone wants to be free of self-doubt, worry and anxiety, everyone wants to ooze with the infectious appeal that comes with self-confidence and everyone wants to trust and believe in themselves. What do you need to change about yourself to have all of this? Weight, I believe is just the physical manifestation of what the real issue is. I believe the answer lies in the words of Ezra Taft Benson: Some of the greatest battles will be fought within the silent chambers of your own soul. What is your battle? Are you willing to put fear aside for now and challenge your demons?
Take that first step and change your life for good. Promise yourself not to be a victim of your weight from this moment on and mean it. Right now, call a friend, join a support group, educate yourself on healthy weight loss, find a coach or talk to your family and friends, but get rid of your victim-based thinking and take charge of your body, your mind and your soul. Try something new. Look at your past weight loss and personal history. Look at your patterns and do not judge them, but see it all as an important part of the learning process. What you can do is change those patterns and start life anew from today. Focus on what you can do right now to be successful in your weight loss for good and take steps in that direction.
Become your own best supporter and do whatever it takes. I am willing to bet on the fact that you will move further and further up along the scale of self-confidence with each step you take. Lastly, ask yourself these questions and take action on them, whatever your answers may be:
What would I need to do to move up on the scale of self-confidence?
What would I need to change?
What can I do which I am not doing now?
What would my first step need to be?
Put fear side, commit yourself to change and take that first step today.
Sat 25 Aug 2007
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Many business professionals use a diary to plan their day and week. Whether its a filofax or an A4 book, business people recognize the huge potential of listing their most immediate objectives. This works in business but it also works for weight loss! Through the use of a food diary you can list all yur objectives for the coming days and weeks but you can also do much, much more. Through using your diary you can identify problem areas around yur eating and exercise, adjust your approach to food and structure your day more effectively. Let me show you how.
This type of diary builds the foundations on which you can plan any necessary changes. These changes then act as a guide for setting weight-loss, eating and exercise goals. A food diary is a great way of tracking your progress. You now have the ability of reviewing your approach to your weight loss goals by giving you the chance to look over your behaviours and actions from the previous days, weeks and months. This is extremely motivating and reassuring. As you see how well you have done you are spurred on to even greater action. Likewise, when you see the times that you slipped-up and read your comments about how you were feeling at the time you will find yourself empowered to do something about because you have full control.
A food diary gives you the opportunity to make a conscious choice about your eating habits instead of going on automatic around food. Writing down what you can eat and can't eat and reviewing your goals for the day sets out a clear plan and allows you to think twice before you act. A daily and weekly diary, with goals and strategies, is an approach used in business and by almost all high-achievers. They use it because it works.
To begin with you will just right down everything you eat and drink during the day. You will add your leisure activities like walking, jogging or just watching television. While you are in the middle of the task think about the reason or motivation behind doing it. Then once you have finished write the reason down in your diary. Do this with every activity even when you eat. This will allow you to analyse your motivations.
Once you have a week's full of diary entries look back over it. You will find definite patterns emerging. Look closely at those patterns and use them to structure an eating and exercise plan for the upcoming week. Write an entry each day of what you will eat and what activity you will perform to help shed those excess pounds. For example, if you find that you are eating at certain times during the day because you are bored then this is an excellent time to pen into your diary an exercise activity or anything else that will relieve the boredom! Diligence and persistence is required to keep and follow your food diary but once you do the rewards are tremendous. Many people do not realize just how much they snack or eat due to reasons that have nothing to do with hunger. Your diary will help you see and deal with such times. It will also help you to formulate realistic goals because you have to put the activities and food you will eat down on paper. In the begining you may find that your aspirations outway your capabilities. Many times when we first start using a food diary we cram it with activities that are unrealistic. On the other hand some people don't fill it up enough and find that they have too much time on their hands and we all know this leads to over-eating! However, with practise and time you will reach a comprimise with yourself.
Don't forget to mention how you are feeling. Our emotions truly do rule our behaviour. The more honest you are with yourself the more you will get out of this process. If you find that you are eating from stress or emotional issues then put it into your diary, as one of your activities, that you need to find techniques and approaches to deal with these emotions. Hypnosis, subliminals and other self improvement techniques have high success rates when it comes to re-programming our behaviours and eliminating emotional issues.
Keeping a diary can take some getting used to in the beginning, and to many it may sound like a waste of time, but it is a proven method for helping reach and maintain a healthy weight and has been shown to help people reach goals of all kinds.
Fri 24 Aug 2007
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Does panting on the treadmill give you nightmares? For many, the prospect of losing weight can be a scary thing. However, it's important to first understand that there are many ways to lose weight, without having to exhaust oneself totally.
Myths of weight loss:
There are some popular misconceptions associated with weight loss. Before you actually start an exercise regimen, it's important to remove all pre-conceived notions. We have listed out some of the most popular ones:
Myth 1: Ab exercises flatten the stomach.
Fact: Ab exercises only tone and firm the lower layers of stomach muscle. If you happen to have layers of fat above, it won't make any difference. Therefore do aerobic exercises to shed the fat.
Myth 2: Drinking water before exercise is harmful.
Fact: Water is essential to replenish fluids lost during strenuous exercise. Therefore, drink water in equal amounts.
Myth 3: Eliminating fats helps shed weight faster.
Fact: Fats in small amounts can help you feel fuller during the day. This avoids binging.
Myth 4: High protein, low carb diets burn fat faster.
Fact: Ingesting too much protein can result in high fat and cholesterol levels in the body. Too many carbohydrates in the diet can result in the formation of Ketones which lead to kidney stones. The trick lies in a balanced diet.
Myth 5: One can lose weight no matter what one eats.
Fact: Not watching what's eaten can lead to alarming weight increases
Myth 6: Skipping meals burns fat quickly.
Fact: When you skip meals, your body goes into a conservation mode where its metabolic rate starts dipping, resulting in weight gains.
Myth 7: Weight training doesn't shed weight.
Fact: Weight training can actually be a great way to lose weight in a short time span.
Myth 8: Consuming nuts and dairy products can be fattening.
Fact: If taken in small doses, nuts can actually be good for health.
Myth 9: Counting calories isn't really necessary.
Fact: It is absolutely necessary to keep track of everything you eat "" right from sugar to tea or even snacks.
Myth 10: Salads are a great health snack.
Fact: Yes salads are great but not with the fatty dressing.
Cardio to help shed fat It has been clinically proven that cardio exercise is your one and only ticket to effective and quick fat loss. Cardio exercises involve any form of exercise that raises heart rate to higher levels. Especially when it comes to fat loss goals, the higher the intensity, the greater the chances of your slimming down quicker!
Why high intensity cardio is so great There are many reasons why cardio helps shed weight fast:
- High intensity cardio rapidly raises your metabolic rate - This increased metabolic rate remains at the same rate even after exercise - Increases lean muscle mass which contributes to increased resting metabolic levels
Other benefits include:
- Greater lung strength
- Strengthens your heart
- Improves blood circulation.
Timing and its impact The best time of the day for any cardio exercise is early in the morning, before you've had any breakfast. This is because in the morning hours, muscle and liver glycogen levels are really low. This means that with lower blood sugar levels, your chances at burning fat at this time is much more than later in the day.
Top 5 cardio exercises to shed fat If you think a 30 minute morning walk at moderate pace will help, then you're wrong. While it certainly will help you lose more calories over a period of time, if you're looking for fat loss - you need something extra!
1. Jump rope: On an average if you jump rope for 15 minutes you burn 174 calories!
2. Swimming: The forward crawl stroke seems to burn fat the best and it's also non-impact.
3. Sprinting: It will burn tons of calories, beats fat like none other and reduces stress and tension in the body.
4. Step aerobics: Burns a whopping 400 calories in a 30 minute time span.
5. Cycling: It exhausts carbohydrate reserves in the body resulting in enhanced metabolic rates.
Fri 24 Aug 2007
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Strength training for weight loss is not a tricky issue. Sure, it's taken us women a few more years to wander over to the free weight section, but that's because we tend to associate strength training with weight gain.
Yikes! Muscle bound men lifting extremely heavy weights and grunting. Not very inviting when you are looking to lose fat, drop weight and tone up.
So is it possible for us to strength train, gain muscle, and lose weight? It sure is. And here's a tip...if you can count to 12, you can do it!
This article focuses on strength training for weight loss. It is designed to give you guidance so that you can develop your own strength training for weight loss routine.
Getting back to our strength training for weight loss article... you're here because you are tired of all the mis-information being spouted by Joe Schmo and Suzie Smack. I'm glad you've found me and I'll tell you why- strength training is the best way to lose weight and keep it off!
Let's take a look at how the strength training for weight loss process works over and over again in thousands of women like us.
I started training with a client named Joan. She was your average, typical American woman. She worked full-time and had two kids in grade school. Joan's schedule was packed with baseball practice and dance classes...for her kids...not her.
She rarely had time to work out, and honestly if she had some free time she certainly didn't want to spend it sweating and losing her breath.
Over the years Joan gained 45 pounds. She used to workout at home a few years ago and even bought a treadmill with every intention of using it. And she did, once or twice. Now it takes up space and gathers dust.
I asked Joan if she would be willing to do the following:
- a strength training for weight loss program
- set realistic and tangible goals
- and count to 12 a few times a week.
She looked at me with an arched brow and said, "Sure." So begins a strength training for weight loss success story. Strength training for weight loss is simple and effective.
We began by measuring her fitness levels.
It was essential for us to see exactly where Joan was starting from because in a few short weeks, she was going to notice big time changes.
I wanted her to see first hand how successful she was about to become by strength training for weight loss.
Armed with her fitness levels, Joan set her realistic and tangible goal to lose 10-15 pounds by summer. That meant we had two months to drop 10-15 pounds in a safe way.
No problem. We developed the correct strength training routine for her, and she was off!
--Joan's Strength Training For Weight Loss Plan--
Joan worked with weights 2 days a week and cardio 3-4 days a week. She was instructed to keep a log of her workouts and to check-in.
Joan worked her muscles the proper way for weight loss. She worked her entire body for the next two months.
Each set was 12 repetitions long. Her total workout time was less than 60 minutes 4-5 times a week. Her cardio was a mix of interval training and incline walking on her existing treadmill.
In addition to her treadmill, Joan worked out using only free weights and a stability ball. She did some running outside too. All in all, Joan spent less than $200 to get her new body and new outlook on life.
She reached her goals by summer. Simple. And you can do a strength training for weight lost routine too!
--Recap And Roll!--
Strength training for weight loss adds a nice layer of pure muscle. Lean, toned muscle. This lean muscle devours calories. Even at rest!
The more muscle we have, the more calories our body uses. The more calories our body uses, the more weight we lose. Easy!
Remember-
+ Measure Your Fitness Levels
+ Work each muscle group several times/week
+ Do sets of 12 repetitions or pick another method that suits you better.
+ Set realistic, tangible goals
+ Log Every Workout!
+ Stick with it, even when you don't want to. Make a promise to yourself that you will begin to workout. If after 5 minutes of working out you still want to quit, then by all means take a rest. I can almost guarantee you that you will continue on!
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