Browsing all articles tagged with fitness
Jan
17

Walking – The Most Practical Way To Lose Weight

Walk your way slim

Many of overweight people know that they must alter their lifestyle.  They must follow proper diet alongside with daily exercise. Along with this, drink green tea on a regular basis.

The problem is, dieting entails a very strong resolve, and exercises demand restraint.  Worse, workouts require that the individual to invest a considerable amount of time each day to go through the routines vital to reduce his weight.

Not all possesses such determination.  Not everyone can show of such regulation.  And not everyone can allot such time for fitness and weight loss exercises.

Fortunately, there is a more realistic alternative.

Any specialist, and gym trainer, and any medical professional will be prompt to inform you that strolling- indeed, plain and simple walking- is the better exercise you can carry out for weight loss and to keep a well and healthy body.

Mull over this reality: 30 minutes of continuous walking per day will aid you lose an average of 20 pounds yearly.

Professionals strongly prescribe that an individual should be able to walk at least 10,000 steps every day.  10,000 steps is nearly equivalent to 2 kilometers.  This may seem like an intimidating duty particularly if we consider that it is a daily requirement.

On the other hand, you don’t have to go out of your place to walk 2 kilometers to the next town.  You can achieve those 10,000 steps without even departing your room.  Simply pace within your room, without stopping, for an hour or so, and you will acquire the equivalent of 2 kilometers without having to find a bus ride home.

Walking is a practical and convenient type of workout that will not only help us shed weight, but will also offer our heart a nice exercise.  Walking will aid fortify our cardiovascular system, making us more tough to variety of heart ailments.

Walking likewise trains our metabolism to keep an effective rate.  Metabolism is the key to weight loss. Metabolism converts calories into usable energy.  A quick metabolism will signify lesser calories to build up as fat.  A slow metabolism will denote more calories that will give rise to extra weight for our bodies.

Walking will ensure that our body’s metabolism will forever stay fast and effective.

Jan
14

Why Your Dieting Resolution Will Fail

 

Researchers have recently shown that a low-carbohydrate diet appears to be effective in helping overweight people shed pounds safely. In 2008, a study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, with the title, “Weight Loss With a Low-Carbohydrate, Mediterranean, or Low-Fat Diet.” The results seem reasonable conclusive, as participants lost more weight on the low-carb diet than on the others, without any sign of the health problems that some people assign to low-carb eating.

The results of this study are certainly encouraging. Now we know that a low-carbohydrate diet is generally the most effective. So that’s all you need to do. Just go on a low-carb diet and after a while you’ll get fit and healthy. Unfortunately, there’s more to it that that, and even the most effective diet ever won’t get you the results you need.

First, dieting alone doesn’t help you to build or even help you retain your muscle mass. As you may know, once people reach thirty or so years of age, we begin to start losing our muscles. An average person will lose 5-10 pounds of muscle per decade. And dieting does nothing to change that. A good diet will reduce the amount of fat over your shrinking muscles, but it won’t do anything to build new muscle, or even retain what you already have.

Secondly, the results cited in this study are lame. The participants were overweight men and women, or people with Type 2 diabetes. They were split up into three groups, one for each of the three diet approaches. Each person also received instructions and information related specifically to the type of diet they were on. Over the course of two years, each group of people got a total of 27 hours worth of meetings with a dietician who helped them stay with the plan. People who had trouble sticking to the plan got motivational phone calls as well.

So what were the actual weight-loss results during this study? When people stuck with it, the low-fat diet gave the worst results, followed by the Mediterranean diet, with the low-carbohydrate diet giving the best weight loss results. The diets also produced some encouraging changes in blood chemistry, such as lower levels of cholesterol. If you want actual numbers, the people on the low-carbohydrate diet lost just over 12 pounds across the two-year study.

This sounds good at first, but think about it. The best performing type of diet, with more support than most of us would have, caused a loss of just over a dozen in 24 months. One type of diet may be better than the others, and for overweight and diabetic people to lose weight safely is great. But that’s not a lot of weight to lose over 2 years, and would it really give you the body and fitness you’re looking for?

A healthy diet is surely a good first step, and a key element in building the body you want. But as this study shows, dieting alone isn’t enought. The key to superior health and fitness is A complete fitness plan.

Jan
7

Fitness & Your Eating Schedule

The food we eat affects our fitness and our looks. No one disputes that. But not only is the type and quantity of food you eat is important, when you have your meals and how often you eat is crucial too. If you want to succeed in improving your health and fitness, you should keep reading.

When you eat has a huge impact on your results. Let’s start at the beginning of the day. When you first wake up, your body has been without food for many hours. Your blood sugar level is low, and your body is running on stored energy. Once those reserves are used up, your body will turn to its next available source of fuel, your muscles! It’s very difficult to get in shape when you’re groggy, hungry, and your body is cannibalizing the muscles for energy. You really should eat something nutritious as soon as you can after waking up in the morning. This gives your body the fuel it needs to start the day, and spares your muscles.

So now you know why it’s so important to have a good meal when you first get up. To summarize, eating healthy foods soon after you get up in the morning will help you function better, work out better, and protects your muscles from being used as fuel. This is one part of the equation for getting fit quickly.

The quest to keep your blood sugar level in the right zone also tells us how often you should eat. Within 3 to 4 hours after a meal, your body will have digested that food and your blood sugar level will start heading down again. That means you really should eat something every 3 hours or so (except when you are sleeping at night).

When you think about this, it’s clear that you need to eat a lot of meals in a day. To really keep your blood sugar stable and gain all the benefits that brings, you need to move toward five meals a day, instead of the traditional three. If you wake up at say 6:00 AM, all you need to do is eat every 3 to 3.5 hours and your blood sugar should should be stable all day.

One last thing. If your new diet requires you to eat five meals a day, you’re going to have to eat less in those meals. Asimple approach is to make the second and fourth meals into healthy snacks of just 100-200 calories, and cut back on the other three a bit. Doing it this way should make it easier for your body to adapt. Forcing yourself to have a small healthy snack mid-morning and mid-afternoon isn’t a hard habit to pick up. And you should be less hungry at lunch and dinner than you used to be, so cutting back a bit on those meals easier too.

Eat this way for a few weeks and see what you think. It will take you a lot closer to becoming as fit as you want to be.

Oct
26

Some Supplements Can Aid You When Used Properly

Health And Weight Loss

Indivduals all around are using supplements to try to help them in many ways. Some people use them to make their exercising give them more results. Elderly people take supplements perscribed by their physicians to keep them going strong for as logn as possiable. No matter what your reason for using supplements they can definatly help you out a great deal.

I had a friend who thought using supplements as like cheating. After a lot of discussion I finally covinced him to give them a shot. He got so big by pumping supplements into himself and working out almsot non-stop that I had to convince hime to take a break and relax before it got redicoulous. Even with that in mind there is a definate maxium to how much they can help, so read the label and if you want to take more than one at a time talk to a doctor.

One big problem people have is that they can’t always pay for supplements. I can usderstand why as if you want to buy nutrition supplements, it can get pretty expensive. The best place to buy them is probally online as you can find some pretty great deals, especially on ebay and other sites like that. If you can only afford to get one type of sports supplement I would suggest you buy ephedra supplements. They can be a big boost for practically any use that you want.

One thing people should keep in mind is that you don’t need to go crazy with supplements. Heck, you don’t even NEED supplements to get a good work out. Everything really depends on your needs and desires. If you want to get the best bang for your buck in the gym then supplements can likley help you. For most people a little physical activity it all that they require. It’s all about getting the right fit for you. Keep fit, have fun, and always remember, if you are going to start a supplement regement consult an expert.

Sep
24

Water: The Fastest Way To Lose Fat

Forget all of those lose weight fast gimmicks out there. Your body is already set up for quick weight loss; you just have to know how to kick it into gear. Here’s how:

Water

This may sound unbelievable, but water can be one of your best allies to rapid weight loss. The more water your drink, the more pounds you lose. In fact, many health and weight loss gurus tout water as the best way to lose 10 pounds fast.

How does it work? A well hydrated body burns 3% more calories than a dehydrated body because hydration increases your metabolism.

Water also calms hunger pangs, too. Studies show that when you feel hungry, most of the time it’s your brain interpreting thirst as hunger. So, a well hydrated person will eat less than one that’s dehydrated. A person who drinks enough water also eats less at meals because their stomach is full of water and there isn’t much room for food.

Since water is such a great quick weight loss tool, you don’t want to counteract it by taking diuretics. Sure taking diuretics may make it seem like you lost 10 pounds fast, but all that weight is just lost water. To counteract the water loss your body will go into a natural defense starvation mechanism called hording mode. Believing that it’s starving, a body on diuretics stores extra water. You end up weighing even more than you did before you took the diuretic.

Exercise Fat Burning Plan

The best way to burn fat through workout is to start a two-fold exercise and weightlifting regimen. Basically, you choose a high impact cardio workout, like running, and follow it up the next day with weightlifting. This is the fastest way to lose fat.

Why is weightlifting so important? Because having lean muscle is the best way to up your metabolism and burn fat.

Some people think that gaining muscle makes you gain weight. This is true, to a point. Most people do have some initial weight gain, but in a few days the weight is gone again because the extra muscle has gotten rid of so much extra fat. And the truth is, muscle weights a lot less than fat, and looks a lot better, too.

The best high impact cardio workout/muscle building workout for a fat burning plan is circuit training. This incorporates two minute bursts of different cardio exercises and muscle exercises that work different muscle groups. The benefit of this type of program is that you get a whole body workout, which will create more rapid weight loss.

Many gyms offer circuit training programs, but you can also create your own to at home. For example, you could run in place for two minutes, then do a set of squats, jump rope for two minutes, then a set of crunches, then go back to running in place.

Meals

The best meal plan for quick weight loss is a high fiber diet. It may not sound pleasant, but it really is the best way to kick your metabolism up a notch just by eating. Foods high in fiber stay in your system longer, keeping your blood sugar at an even level. Also, high fiber foods block seven calories for every gram of fiber you eat.

The average adult eats 10 to 15 grams of fiber per day, but, the ideal amount to eat when trying to lose weight quickly is 20 to 35 grams per day. The best way to kick start your metabolism for the day is to start your it with a high fiber, low fat cereal such as oatmeal. Throughout the day, keep your metabolism working fast with small, high fiber meals every few hours.

If you combine all three of these strategies, you will lose 10 pounds fast, and continue rapid weight loss.