Friday, February 26, 2010

Reasons For Not Losing Weight & Non Food/Exercise Related Solutions

Reasons other than food for lacking progress with shifting stubborn weight and fat!
Dieters always assume if they are not achieving fat loss the reasons must be food related. This may be the case for some people but I can assure you that there are other reasons other than food for lacking progress with shifting stubborn weight and fat.

Lets look at two of them.

Glossy magazines and the media
The kind of magazines I am talking about is the kind that heavily feature celebrities. In these magazines you can find unattainable body shapes and unhealthy diet crazes. One look at these magazines is enough to throw anyone off course and feel inferior. Just how healthy do you think these stick insect celebrities actually are?

The media is responsible for distorting and cherry picking health and fitness related information in order to gain your attention so they can stay in business by selling more copies. It is very important to be cautious when reading and using advice in these publications. The full picture is seldom discussed in the magazine or newspaper article. It is best for you and your fat loss goals if you steer away from these publications for your own good. If a diet sounds too good to be true it normally means it isn’t true and is just made up to make it sound interesting.

Social support
Are you running out of motivation and steam? Let me tell you from experience having a good set of friends and family around you is essential for successful fat loss. You need to tell those closest to you what your intentions are so you can gain their support during your journey. Sharing conversations about your goals and the difficulties you face can be the best thing you can do to motivate yourself towards the fat loss you want. More often than not a problem shared is a problem solved.

The more open you are the more support you will receive; you may even encourage and gain a diet buddy along the way. Those that try and do things on their own and shut themselves off from the outside world are more likely to fail due to the lack of support. Don’t be a statistic, be a success and share your goals.
Reasons other than food for lacking progress with shifting stubborn weight and fat!

Monday, February 22, 2010

The Quickest Way to Burn Fat & Train Abs

A really simple exercise routine!
The thought of doing any kind of exercise turns many people off because of the impression it can have. If you don’t know any different then you would assume it is a long drawn out process only suited for nut cases with nothing else better to do. What if I told you that exercise doesn’t have to be long and boring? Would you be interested if I showed you a way to make exercise challenging but over before you knew it? Better still, what if I told you the way I’m about to show you to exercise is more beneficial than probably 97% of what anybody else is doing in the gym right now. It only takes 15 minutes so even the busiest people can’t make excuses with this one.

This exercise routine is really simple, once you are fully warmed up this is what you do.

Choose two exercises
Decide which areas you need to prioritise and choose the exercises accordingly.

Tip: choose multi joint exercises when applicable. This will burn more calories and give you a better response.
E.g.
Legs = squats, lunges or leg curls using a ball.
Back = dead lifts, bent over rowing or alternating superman.
Chest = press ups, dumbbell press or presses and chest fly on a ball.

Considerations for the abs only workouts
You may decide to use this routine format for just training the abs. In which case be careful not to opt for the same movement pattern.

Tip: there are three planes of movement, make sure to include 2 different ones when training the abs so you achieve a balanced look.
E.g.
Crunch type exercises = forwards and backwards.
Side bends and other oblique exercises = moving sideways.
Wood chops = rotational movement.

Once you decide which exercises you are doing this is how to work them to their fullest potential for 15 minutes.

Do the first exercise for 30 seconds followed immediately by the second exercise for another 30 seconds then take a rest for 30 seconds. Repeat this 10 times which will give you a 15-minute workout. Beware it looks easy on paper but is very challenging.

Tip: use a digital stopwatch to time yourself. I have found it to be easier to monitor where you are and you don’t need to count how many rounds you have done because you simply stop when the clock reads 15 minutes.
A really simple exercise routine!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Sensible Advice About Dieting & Losing Stubborn Body Fat

Food selection is just as important as food quantity for successful fat loss!
Eating a well-balanced healthy diet can become a bit of a chore especially when you have to fit all the recommended nutrients and the five a day into a normal busy day. It can be difficult to say the least even for the most dedicated individual. Most of us are aware that cutting calories to a ridiculously low level and skipping meals isn’t the right way to lose weight.

Eating the right type of calories frequently is essential to weight loss programmes. The more calories you cut the more stress it is for your body. Did you know your body would eat itself if you didn’t feed it? All your hormones would become out of flux, fat-storing hormones would increase and the body would tell your thyroid to slow down, as a natural protective mechanism for the body to keep what little fuel it has to live on and survive.

The choices of foods are just as important as the amounts you eat. Time constraints and practicality can tempt many of us to live on processed junk food. So what is the best solution? Planning the next day’s meals in advance is the key, preparing the night before if necessary and using the convenience of food supplements in your daily diet if and when you need to. To help keep hunger at bay until meal times a meal replacement drink mid morning or mid afternoon is practical and achievable for just about anyone. That is just one way you could get nutrients your body needs and help keep the metabolism fire burning.

Caution needs to be applied to food supplements; many contain high amounts of sugars and artificial sweeteners. Choose one with low sugar contents. Only rely on food supplements when time doesn’t allow you to eat a solid meal, food is more thermogenic than liquid meals. Always favour a liquid meal over skipping a meal though as it is more likely to prevent you from heading over to the vending machine.

When planning meals careful selection is necessary with food quality and also with the amounts you eat. The ratio of protein, fat and carbohydrate per meal is dictated by your response to that meal afterwards. Unwanted side effect such as feeling tired, bloated or hungry should be recorded in a food log so adjustments can be made the next time you eat that meal. From there you will be able to modify the meal and keep fine-tuning it until you get a positive response and a sense what works best for your body. Everyone responds differently at a biochemical level to the same foods so it is important to discover what works best for you.

The key is to try and eat a wide selection of foods every week, eating the same meals day in day out can be boring and detrimental to your digestive system. The correct selection of foods that suits your body and passes on a good response after the meal is highly recommended.
Food selection is just as important as food quantity for successful fat loss!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

What Not To Do if You Want To Be Slim

Why you don’t need weighing scales - just the right kind of diet!
If you are following a diet and want to lose weight then it is only natural to think you need to weigh yourself frequently to see if you are losing weight. You have to ask yourself what you want to achieve from your diet, is it to look slimmer or is it to reach a number on the scales? Think very carefully before you answer that question because they are completely different things.

You don’t need to get weighed to see if you are getting slimmer, all you need is a mirror and a tape measure. To be completely honest you don’t even need a tape measure because if you are sticking to the right kind of diet you will be able to see results without the confirmation of a few measurements to satisfy your mind.

If you follow the right kind of diet you should be able to see changes through the mirror every ten days and should feel energised and look healthy. The weighing scales can’t tell you how you look or how you feel. Are you prepared to allow the scales to tell you otherwise with a number?

The real reason dieters like to go through the mental torture of routinely getting weighed is because they are looking for something to make them feel better for their lack of effort. They simply aren’t trying hard enough and allowing too many banned foods into their diets. They rely on the scales to tell them a number they want to see to make everything all right even though they know deep inside everything isn’t as it should be.

Getting weighed everyday or even every week simply isn’t necessary for you to reach your goal. You are going to get results if you follow the right kind of diet regardless of whether you get weighed or not. Achieving results with a diet begins inside your mind. Cheating yourself won’t get you very far and turning to the scales in the hope they will make you feel better is a never ending waste of time which will help you fail.

Any success with dieting always shows on the outside of your body with the way you look. The biggest achievement with progress is how you feel inside, if you feel healthy and have loads of energy then you know you are on to a winner. Remember you don’t need weighing scales; a tape measure or even a mirror to achieve results, all you need is to just stick to a proper diet.
Why you don’t need weighing scales - just the right kind of diet!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Free Exercise Tips - Get Lean & Toned

Some of the best ways to get rid of fat!
Clocking in at the gym and putting the time in doesn’t mean you are going to end up with the body of your dreams. Forget marathon type workouts where they only allow you to exercise half-heartedly. It is time to stop guessing and living your life in hope of waking up one day and miraculously discovering the abs you have always wanted. You must try different approaches to get the best results. You are expecting too much if you think the same exercise routine will give you everything you want. It is important to modify and experiment with different exercise routines as you go along or you will never reach your goal.

Here are some of the best ways to stop your body adapting to what you are doing and keep progress running smoothly.

#1 Assess strengths and weaknesses
Before you start do you know which muscles are tight in your body and need stretching? Do you know if other muscles are compensating when you perform a movement because of a weakness in the chain? Do you know which exercises will make your posture or pain worse? How do you know you are doing the right exercises that are right for your body? These are just some of the questions that need answering before embarking on a regular exercise programme.

#2 Train intense but keep it real
This means training within your capabilities that allows a minimum of a good technique on everything you do. This mainly points to lifting a weight that is too heavy, doing part of the range of movement or doing more reps than you can manage resulting in quick and poorly performed reps. Good reps are real reps; you can either work the body part the exercise is designed for or take the stress away from the body part by performing a poor rep, it’s as simple as that.

#3 Include big movements in your workout
Multi joint exercises work more muscles and burn more calories than isolation exercises. Most pieces of gym equipment cater for working only one or two muscles at a time. Performing multi joint exercises like squats and bent over rows correctly have the best carry over effect that helps you in work, sports and many of life’s tasks.

#4 Use gravity
Have you noticed the physiques of gymnasts? You will never see overweight or out of shape gymnast, that’s because training against gravity is one of the best things you can do to look your best. The feedback I get from clients that do bodyweight exercises within their exercise routines report how challenging and how much effort they take to perform. Make sure to include gravity-based exercises in your exercise programme. You can start off basic by doing floor exercises and work up to more demanding exercises where you push or pull your bodyweight with your feet off the ground.
Some of the best ways to get rid of fat!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

How to Exercise at Home with Minimum Equipment

Easy to follow workouts you can do anywhere!
There is a way of achieving muscle fatigue if all you have are a pair of light dumbbells kicking around in your spare room. As long as you stick to some guidelines you will be able to feel the burn with all your workouts.

Here are the rules:

#1 Choose isolation exercises
#2 Perform high repetitions
#3 Use a short rest between each set


If you have a pair of adjustable dumbbells, ones where you are able to make one heavy dumbbell from the two opt for single limb exercises to achieve more intensity when possible.

Easy to follow workouts you can do anywhere!

Example exercises using dumbbells:

Legs
Squats, progress to split squat or lunges. Advanced option is to squat, curl and overhead press or squat holding the dumbbells overhead.

Chest
Dumbbell Chest fly - with back on the floor.
Press ups – no weights required.

Back
Bent over rowing holding the body in static bent over position and bringing the dumbbells to the side of the chest.
Upright rowing – row the dumbbells as high as the collarbone.

Shoulders
Side raises followed by overhead pressing.
Bent over side raise.

Biceps
Curls and hammer curls.

Triceps
Triceps extension - with back on the floor.
Close grip press ups. No weights required.

Abs
Seated reverse wood chops.
Abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest.

Lose Weight, Fat & Inches

Repetition range:
Don’t be afraid to try anything up to 50 repetitions per exercise. Just because you are lifting light dumbbells doesn’t mean you can rush the set. Never sacrifice proper training technique no matter what the circumstances are. A strict training technique makes the targeted muscle group work harder and brings quicker results.

Recommended sets and rest:
If you choose to work on one exercise at a time and you are doing over 15 repetitions because of the light dumbbells it is recommended to rest no more than 60 seconds before you repeat the set. Depending on how difficult the next sets are will determine if you can afford to shave seconds from your rest time in between sets.

For best results at least 2-3 sets per exercises is required to create a training response.

An example legs, chest and abs workout using light dumbbells:

50 bodyweight squats
No rest and immediately followed by
25 dumbbell squats
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.

25-50 Chest flies
No rest and immediately followed by
Press-ups to failure
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.

Seated reverse wood chops – up to 30 each side
No rest and immediately followed by
Up to 30 abdominal crunches holding the dumbbells with straight arms directly above the chest
Up to 60 seconds rest and repeat until 2-4 rounds are completed.
Easy to follow workouts you can do anywhere!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Easy Way to Stick to a Fat Loss Diet

I will show you how to stop eating foods that contribute to more body fat!
Are you sick and tired of wasting your time on diets that never work? I am going to teach you how to write a simple fat loss plan and show you an example of how it should look.

I know time is precious for many of you so I will keep this short and as brief as possible.

In order to progress it is very important to set goals. Without goals you are on a road to nowhere. You should have an end goal in mind and little goals leading up to it. The way forward is to achieve each little goal until you accomplish them all and end up where you want to be. This system is ridiculously easy and straightforward but how many people set goals properly and put effort into achieving them?

Don’t make the mistake of being over ambitious with each goal you set because that will only knock you back if you fail to reach them.

The next step then is to set a time frame for each goal. The reason for doing this is to turn on a little pressure and is also a great way to make you try harder. Only you know what results you want so it is critical you write down your own goals and plan a time frame that you think you are capable of achieving.

In my example I will show you how to stop eating the foods that contribute to more fat on the body. Lets look at Mr X; Mr X wants to lose weight and fat but the biggest obstacle that stands in his way is that he likes to eat a lot when he gets in from work and enjoys a Beer or three after dinner. This is what his last meal of the day looks like:

Pringles and different flavoured dips
Pizza or flavoured pasta or chicken pie with baked beans or jacket potato with baked beans
Ice cream
Beer

To stop eating all those foods straight away and change to healthier alternatives would be too much of a struggle for most people. People fail with diets because they try too hard too soon. Trying to do everything at once nearly always results in packing it in altogether and resorting back to old habits.

The following method is the best way for Mr X to turn his eating habits around for his last meal of the day.

He’s got a beach holiday booked in 12 weeks time; this not only is a massive incentive for him but can also be used as a deadline for his goals. Already we have a fat loss plan unfolding in front of us.

1. The end goal is to lose weight and fat
2. The time frame is 12 weeks
3. The first goal is to change his last meal of the day to a healthier alternative, hoping it will give him the ambition to change his other meals in the same way.

This is how to breakdown the goal:
The best place to start would be to trim down the meal i.e. stop having the Pringles, ice cream and the Beers.

The second step then would be to replace the main meal for something healthier. But without getting too carried away too soon lets look at the little goals.

Week 1 – either have the Pringles or the ice cream but not both! Don’t have more than one Beer. Make sure to drink enough pure water everyday.

Week 2 – have the Pringles or the ice cream every other night but not every night and don’t have both! Have a Beer every other night but not every night!

Week 3 – have the Pringles or the ice cream just 2 nights per week preferably at the weekend. Have a Beer just 2 nights a week also preferably at the weekend. Begin to look at healthier options for the main meal and introduce at least one vegetable everyday to your diet.

Week 4 - have the Pringles or the ice cream just 1 night per week and don’t have both! Have a Beer just one night per week. Introduce another vegetable to your diet so you are eating 2 different types of vegetables a day with your main meal. Eat non-processed foods with your main meal i.e. fish or meat.

Week 5 – Stick to the above guidelines if you are finding it tough going. If you aren’t then introduce the above methods to other meals. The guidelines are to change processed foods to non-processed foods, increase protein intake from natural sources and eat mainly vegetables in place of grains.

It may be necessary to make little goals for the other meals too. In which case by the time the 12-week deadline comes around the diet will be cleaned up dramatically and all the effort will be evident when on the beach.
I will show you how to stop eating foods that contribute to more body fat!