Do not become discouraged when it comes to the overwhelming options available to you for weight loss. Take a breath, read this article and you'll find the advice you need to ease your mind and allow you to start out on the road to weight loss.
If all you need to take off is five pounds, hydration will get you most of the way there. Cutting back on your calorie intake and consuming more water will help you get rid of fluid weight. You're not actually losing any fat with this method, but it will take off a bit of weight and get you motivated to lose more.
Shed old weight gaining habits for new weight loss habits. It's easier to stick to your goals if you focus on positive changes. Don't think so much about what you can't have, but focus on exchanging something good - like a fruit smoothie - for that sausage and egg morning biscuit you used to pick up. When you provide a replacement for donuts, you will not miss them as much!
Try cardio if you plan on losing weight, with less focus on weight training. Cardio training is important for burning fat and losing weight, whereas weight training helps to tone and maintain muscle mass. Cardio work that increases the heart rate and breathing is more effective at burning fat than is adding muscle.
Get a friend to be your exercise partner. This helps you to socialize so that you are having fun while burning calories. You and your buddy can share stories and encourage each other. It is a great way to connect with your friends and you will start to really enjoy exercising as you shed those pounds.
Eat butter that is whipped. There are people who don't want to reduce the amount of butter they consume or substitute it for a lighter alternative. Many people love the taste of actual butter. Thankfully, you don't need to get rid of butter completely to lose weight. If you want the taste of real butter, but the calories of a substitute, try switching to whipped butter. It contains 1/2 of the calories.
As part of your weight loss regimen, make sure that you include exercise. Make sure to commit time each day for exercise. Include this time in your calendar or schedule, and take care not to plan anything to conflict with this important appointment.
Many people mistakenly hide their weight loss goals from others. If you let them in on your new healthy plan, they can help provide support and motivation along the way. They will also avoid offering you food that can be bad for your weight loss program.
You may need to increase your workout's intensity if you've reached the point in which exercising is too simple. You body will become accustomed to your workouts; therefore, it is important to increase the intensity if you hit a plateau.
Stay positive, and the weight will drop off. You can control your weight; just stay motivated so that you can reach your goals.
------------------------
Darryl Peacock owns <a href="http://www.TheIncomePowerBuilder.com">http://www.TheIncomePowerBuilder.com</a>
where popular home business ideas and opportunities are tested
rigorously to find out what works and what doesn't. Visit today for
more information and check out the #1 Fitness work at home program
<a href="http://www.7minuteworkout.com/?id=darrac1066">http://www.7minuteworkout.com/?id=darrac1066</a>
Showing posts with label calories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label calories. Show all posts
Monday, 7 October 2013
Friday, 13 September 2013
fitness benefits of cycling
High carbs, low carbs, moderate carbs – depending on who you talk to, you will likely hear one of these recommendations being touted as the optimal approach to maximum fat loss. So what's the truth? The truth of the matter is that there is really no one best way. Each of the above methods has been used by countless people – from bodybuilding and fitness competitors all the way to your every day gym rat – and used successfully at that. In actuality, how many carbs you are eating is not the key determinant of your fat loss progress; calories are. More on that later though. The key to successful fat loss is paying attention to your body, following a plan designed for your body and making the necessary adjustments to your program as your body changes. With that said, a nutritional strategy that includes both carbohydrate and calorie cycling in a structured plan built around your training program could be just what you're looking for. Let's take a closer look at this carbohydrate issue first.
Truth be told, there are benefits to having a fair amount of carbs in your diet and there are benefits to keeping them low. So why not use both strategies? Said in a simpler way, why not cycle your carb intake, and subsequently your caloric intake? By cycling your carb intake you get the best of both worlds. Assuming you keep your protein and fat intakes relatively constant, and only manipulate your carb intake, you are automatically cycling calories as well. The first benefit to doing so is that it keeps your body from adapting to what you are doing. Your body will always try to adapt to what you're doing and the further you move away from your natural set point, the harder your body is going to try to pull you right back. This is just in part related to the regulatory hormone, leptin.
Leptin levels are related to things like insulin, your caloric intake and your current level of body fat. Think of it as one of the big "fat-loss decision makers". The leaner you are the lower your circulating levels of leptin are going to be. On the flip side, under normal conditions, leptin is plentiful. However, while on sub-maintenance calories, and particularly on low-carb diets where circulating insulin levels are low, leptin levels drop and they can drop quickly. Decreased leptin levels cause a cascade of other regulatory changes, namely a decrease in thyroid output and metabolic rate, as well as an increase in catabolic hormone activity and appetite. In an attempt to become more efficient, your body will try to adapt to make your newly lowered caloric intake its new maintenance intake; that is, it will make the necessary changes needed to do the same amount of work on less energy. Unfortunately, this usually means having to continuously lower calories to maintain fat-loss progress, which inevitably makes it very hard to hold onto all your hard-earned muscle. None of this sounds too good does it? There has to be a better way, and there is. Planned and structured days of high calories and high carbohydrates may help with this.
As previously mentioned, there are benefits to both low-carb intakes and to high-carb intakes. When carb intake is drastically reduced you create a temporarily greater caloric deficit. In addition, low-carb intakes result in decreased levels of circulating insulin, increased levels of the fat-burning catecholamines and therefore a much heightened rate of fat oxidation. Quite simply, when insulin levels are low, you create an environment in which fat is more likely to be used for energy. Low muscle glycogen, as a result of decreased carbohydrate intake, obviously results in depleted muscles, but there are benefits to this as well. Low muscle glycogen tends to promote a higher rate of free fatty acid burning. Result? More fat loss.
On the flip side however, most people do not enjoy eating few carbs for very long. While there are clearly benefits to doing so, there are other things that need to be considered. Chronic low-carb intake can actually impair insulin sensitivity and promote insulin resistance. As already noted, low-carb intakes result in overly flat, depleted muscles and gym performance typically suffers. Throw in a day of high carbs and your muscles fill out, you find yourself more vascular, your workouts are great, and you look and feel much better. There is also research to support the fact that these higher-carb/calorie days may stimulate leptin production, which as we already noted is an important player in the fat-loss game. Carbohydrates are also very protein sparing – meaning they prevent protein from being oxidized as fuel – which is an important consideration when muscle retention is a primary focus.
There are psychological factors to consider as well. How you feel on a diet is arguably just as important to your progress as any other variable. There are not too many people that enjoy looking flat and depleted all the time. And lets not forget one of the reasons most people can appreciate – carbohydrates simply taste good.
So to summarize, we want some days where carbohydrate intake and calories are higher and some days where carbohydrate intake and calories are lower. The simplest way to set this is to just cycle your carbohydrates and calories according to your weekly training schedule. For example, assuming four workouts per week, you might have your high days on your two big workouts, medium days on your two easier workouts, and low days on your off days.
PRACTICAL STEPS There is no one best way to cycle carbs or calories. In fact, there are many, many different permutations that can be used successfully. Here is just one example that you could use as a template. Feel free to tweak it to suit your needs if necessary.
First off is caloric intake. Determine all the macronutrient totals (protein, carbs, fat, and calories) for the medium day and then just let the carbohydrate intake change the calories for the high and low days. So, assume the medium day is a standard dieting day. As an aside, but a valuable note to keep in mind, there are many different calorie equations you can use – however be aware that they all have the potential to be off by as much as 20%. So for the sake of simplicity you could just assume maintenance to be approximately 15x total bodyweight and subtract 20-25% to create a healthy caloric deficit. Remember, if you are not progressing based on your caloric intake, simply adjust it up or down until progress resumes. Next up is protein. I am sure we are all in agreement that we need to eat sufficient amounts of protein when trying to lose fat and maintain muscle, so set it anywhere from 1.0-1.5g/lb of bodyweight and split it up evenly throughout the day. You are going to have three carbohydrate intakes – one for high days, one for medium days, and one for low days. Carbohydrate intake for the medium days is going to be set at 1.0g/lb of bodyweight. So now we know our calories, our protein and our carbs. All that remains is to figure out how much fat we're to eat. In this case, fat simply serves as a caloric ballast. Simply make up the rest of your calories from fat. Your protein and fat intake from these days will stay constant throughout all three days. Carb intake for your high days should be set at 2.0g/lb of bodyweight and finally for your low days it is going to be minimal as you're only eating fibrous vegetables; no starch type carbs at all.
Remember the truth of the matter is that there is no one best method for fat loss. Carbohydrate and calorie cycling is just one logical and effective way of approaching it. Many who opt for this kind of approach find it very easy to follow as you get a few days a week where you get to eat some fun carbs, and like I said, who doesn't like eating carbs?
Truth be told, there are benefits to having a fair amount of carbs in your diet and there are benefits to keeping them low. So why not use both strategies? Said in a simpler way, why not cycle your carb intake, and subsequently your caloric intake? By cycling your carb intake you get the best of both worlds. Assuming you keep your protein and fat intakes relatively constant, and only manipulate your carb intake, you are automatically cycling calories as well. The first benefit to doing so is that it keeps your body from adapting to what you are doing. Your body will always try to adapt to what you're doing and the further you move away from your natural set point, the harder your body is going to try to pull you right back. This is just in part related to the regulatory hormone, leptin.
Leptin levels are related to things like insulin, your caloric intake and your current level of body fat. Think of it as one of the big "fat-loss decision makers". The leaner you are the lower your circulating levels of leptin are going to be. On the flip side, under normal conditions, leptin is plentiful. However, while on sub-maintenance calories, and particularly on low-carb diets where circulating insulin levels are low, leptin levels drop and they can drop quickly. Decreased leptin levels cause a cascade of other regulatory changes, namely a decrease in thyroid output and metabolic rate, as well as an increase in catabolic hormone activity and appetite. In an attempt to become more efficient, your body will try to adapt to make your newly lowered caloric intake its new maintenance intake; that is, it will make the necessary changes needed to do the same amount of work on less energy. Unfortunately, this usually means having to continuously lower calories to maintain fat-loss progress, which inevitably makes it very hard to hold onto all your hard-earned muscle. None of this sounds too good does it? There has to be a better way, and there is. Planned and structured days of high calories and high carbohydrates may help with this.
As previously mentioned, there are benefits to both low-carb intakes and to high-carb intakes. When carb intake is drastically reduced you create a temporarily greater caloric deficit. In addition, low-carb intakes result in decreased levels of circulating insulin, increased levels of the fat-burning catecholamines and therefore a much heightened rate of fat oxidation. Quite simply, when insulin levels are low, you create an environment in which fat is more likely to be used for energy. Low muscle glycogen, as a result of decreased carbohydrate intake, obviously results in depleted muscles, but there are benefits to this as well. Low muscle glycogen tends to promote a higher rate of free fatty acid burning. Result? More fat loss.
On the flip side however, most people do not enjoy eating few carbs for very long. While there are clearly benefits to doing so, there are other things that need to be considered. Chronic low-carb intake can actually impair insulin sensitivity and promote insulin resistance. As already noted, low-carb intakes result in overly flat, depleted muscles and gym performance typically suffers. Throw in a day of high carbs and your muscles fill out, you find yourself more vascular, your workouts are great, and you look and feel much better. There is also research to support the fact that these higher-carb/calorie days may stimulate leptin production, which as we already noted is an important player in the fat-loss game. Carbohydrates are also very protein sparing – meaning they prevent protein from being oxidized as fuel – which is an important consideration when muscle retention is a primary focus.
There are psychological factors to consider as well. How you feel on a diet is arguably just as important to your progress as any other variable. There are not too many people that enjoy looking flat and depleted all the time. And lets not forget one of the reasons most people can appreciate – carbohydrates simply taste good.
So to summarize, we want some days where carbohydrate intake and calories are higher and some days where carbohydrate intake and calories are lower. The simplest way to set this is to just cycle your carbohydrates and calories according to your weekly training schedule. For example, assuming four workouts per week, you might have your high days on your two big workouts, medium days on your two easier workouts, and low days on your off days.
PRACTICAL STEPS There is no one best way to cycle carbs or calories. In fact, there are many, many different permutations that can be used successfully. Here is just one example that you could use as a template. Feel free to tweak it to suit your needs if necessary.
First off is caloric intake. Determine all the macronutrient totals (protein, carbs, fat, and calories) for the medium day and then just let the carbohydrate intake change the calories for the high and low days. So, assume the medium day is a standard dieting day. As an aside, but a valuable note to keep in mind, there are many different calorie equations you can use – however be aware that they all have the potential to be off by as much as 20%. So for the sake of simplicity you could just assume maintenance to be approximately 15x total bodyweight and subtract 20-25% to create a healthy caloric deficit. Remember, if you are not progressing based on your caloric intake, simply adjust it up or down until progress resumes. Next up is protein. I am sure we are all in agreement that we need to eat sufficient amounts of protein when trying to lose fat and maintain muscle, so set it anywhere from 1.0-1.5g/lb of bodyweight and split it up evenly throughout the day. You are going to have three carbohydrate intakes – one for high days, one for medium days, and one for low days. Carbohydrate intake for the medium days is going to be set at 1.0g/lb of bodyweight. So now we know our calories, our protein and our carbs. All that remains is to figure out how much fat we're to eat. In this case, fat simply serves as a caloric ballast. Simply make up the rest of your calories from fat. Your protein and fat intake from these days will stay constant throughout all three days. Carb intake for your high days should be set at 2.0g/lb of bodyweight and finally for your low days it is going to be minimal as you're only eating fibrous vegetables; no starch type carbs at all.
Remember the truth of the matter is that there is no one best method for fat loss. Carbohydrate and calorie cycling is just one logical and effective way of approaching it. Many who opt for this kind of approach find it very easy to follow as you get a few days a week where you get to eat some fun carbs, and like I said, who doesn't like eating carbs?
Sunday, 30 September 2012
5 Reasons Why Diet Soda Is Making You Fat And Sick
Diet Soda.
I'm going to keep this short and sweet.
Drinking any diet soda seems harmless but lots of studies show the exact opposite. It appears that diet soda is free of calories, but not consequences.
But just how bad can reduced calorie sodas be?
I have to admit, years ago I drank quite a bit of a well known diet soda. I have never drunk regular soda as I have always been aware of the sugar content but I would have diet soda nearly every time I went out if I wasn't drinking alcohol. Not being a huge drinker, this would be quite often but now I TRY to avoid it when I can. After reading this, perhaps you might too.
Firstly, it reduces the PH levels of your blood which can cause an extremely acidic environment which in turn lowers the alkalinity in our bodies. There are many things that we eat that are acidic, things like eggs and coffee for example but we can balance this out by eating green vegetable and drinking green tea. Diet soda on the other hand provides no nutritional value and a whole host of other problems.
It can over time, alter the chemistry of your mind.
Bisphenol-A or BPA is a chemical used to make plastics hard and also line cans. The acidic nature of diet soda increases the exposure to this chemical from the can and studies now show that exposure to BPA can lead to increased aggressiveness, hyperactivity and impaired learning in children. Please DO NOT let your children drink these drinks if you care about their health.
The link between obesity and diet drinks have been well documented but can drinking diet sodas ACTUALLY cause you to gain body fat?
YES THEY CAN.
When you drink any artificially sweetened drink, it tricks the body into thinking it is eating sugar. The body will release insulin from the pancreas to combat that supposed rise in sugar (which isn't there) and then have nowhere to go and no job to perform. We know that if you can effectively control the insulin response from food you can avoid gaining fat. Diet soda has been shown to stimulate the release of insulin and you WILL gain fat.It gets worse.
Artificial sweeteners trigger appetite and inhibit brain cells that signal the feeling of being full which means that regular diet soda drinkers have a tendency to over eat.
Diet soda causes your gut bacteria to adapt in a way that interferes with your satiety signals and metabolism. When the gut is exposed to this new sweetened environment, the bacteria in the gut produces more short-chain fatty acids. These short-chain fatty acids decrease satiety signals and may cause disruption in our feeling full and can cause us to over eat.On top of that, these acids promote inflammation in the lining of the gut. Scientists are not entirely sure how but they do know that inflammation damages gut tissue and results in leaky gut syndrome. This means bacteria can leak through the stomach into your blood stream and cause serious problems like insulin resistance which can lead to type 2 diabetes and the increased risk of heart disease.
Diet soda doesn't sound so cool now does it?
Gavin
------------------------
Gavin Gillibrand BSc. Fat loss and Body Transformation Expert in the City of London, UK
Please visit our website <a href="http://ultimatecityfitness.com">http://ultimatecityfitness.com</a> for more great articles on fat loss, weight loss and health & fitness.
I'm going to keep this short and sweet.
Drinking any diet soda seems harmless but lots of studies show the exact opposite. It appears that diet soda is free of calories, but not consequences.
But just how bad can reduced calorie sodas be?
I have to admit, years ago I drank quite a bit of a well known diet soda. I have never drunk regular soda as I have always been aware of the sugar content but I would have diet soda nearly every time I went out if I wasn't drinking alcohol. Not being a huge drinker, this would be quite often but now I TRY to avoid it when I can. After reading this, perhaps you might too.
Firstly, it reduces the PH levels of your blood which can cause an extremely acidic environment which in turn lowers the alkalinity in our bodies. There are many things that we eat that are acidic, things like eggs and coffee for example but we can balance this out by eating green vegetable and drinking green tea. Diet soda on the other hand provides no nutritional value and a whole host of other problems.
It can over time, alter the chemistry of your mind.
Bisphenol-A or BPA is a chemical used to make plastics hard and also line cans. The acidic nature of diet soda increases the exposure to this chemical from the can and studies now show that exposure to BPA can lead to increased aggressiveness, hyperactivity and impaired learning in children. Please DO NOT let your children drink these drinks if you care about their health.
The link between obesity and diet drinks have been well documented but can drinking diet sodas ACTUALLY cause you to gain body fat?
YES THEY CAN.
When you drink any artificially sweetened drink, it tricks the body into thinking it is eating sugar. The body will release insulin from the pancreas to combat that supposed rise in sugar (which isn't there) and then have nowhere to go and no job to perform. We know that if you can effectively control the insulin response from food you can avoid gaining fat. Diet soda has been shown to stimulate the release of insulin and you WILL gain fat.It gets worse.
Artificial sweeteners trigger appetite and inhibit brain cells that signal the feeling of being full which means that regular diet soda drinkers have a tendency to over eat.
Diet soda causes your gut bacteria to adapt in a way that interferes with your satiety signals and metabolism. When the gut is exposed to this new sweetened environment, the bacteria in the gut produces more short-chain fatty acids. These short-chain fatty acids decrease satiety signals and may cause disruption in our feeling full and can cause us to over eat.On top of that, these acids promote inflammation in the lining of the gut. Scientists are not entirely sure how but they do know that inflammation damages gut tissue and results in leaky gut syndrome. This means bacteria can leak through the stomach into your blood stream and cause serious problems like insulin resistance which can lead to type 2 diabetes and the increased risk of heart disease.
Diet soda doesn't sound so cool now does it?
Gavin
------------------------
Gavin Gillibrand BSc. Fat loss and Body Transformation Expert in the City of London, UK
Please visit our website <a href="http://ultimatecityfitness.com">http://ultimatecityfitness.com</a> for more great articles on fat loss, weight loss and health & fitness.
Sunday, 19 August 2012
cardio exercise routies
Running
Running is a great choice for a variety of reasons:
It doesn't require
special equipment (except some quality shoes)
You can do it just
about anytime, anywhere
It's high impact,
which helps build strong bones and connective tissue
It gets your heart
rate up more quickly than low or no impact exercise
It helps you burn
serious calories, especially if you add hills, sprints or try interval
training.
In fact, a 145-lb person can burn 300 calories by running at
5.2 mph for 30 minutes. The same person would burn about half of that with a
brisk walk. The downside is that it
takes time to build the strength and stamina to run continuously and, because
it's high impact, it may not work for every person.
Swimming
Swimming is another great choice because, like cross-country
skiing, it's a full body exercise. The more body parts you involve in your
workout, the more calories you'll burn. Spend 30 minutes doing the breastroke
and you'll burn almost 400 calories. Best of all, your joints are fully
supported so you don't have to worry about high-impact injuries. It's also
great cross-training for other cardio activities.
Jumping Rope
Jumping rope is another calorie-scorcher and, as an added
bonus, a jump rope packs easily in your suitcase, making it an excellent travel
exercise. A 145-lb person can burn a
whopping 330 calories with a 30-minute workout, but you'll want to slowly work
your way up to that.
Start by jumping for 1-2 minutes at a time, taking breaks by
marching in place and swinging your rope in a figure eight motion. Continue alternating for 10-20 minutes and,
over time, gradually increase the amount of time you jump while decreasing your
rests. You can add variety by trying
different foot patterns (jumping on one foot, scissor jumps, etc.).
http://exercise.about.com/od/cardioworkouts/tp/cardioexercise.htm
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