Exercise and Weight Loss

The Importance of Weight Loss and Exercise:

Carrying around too much weight feels uncomfortable, and it can also damage your health. According the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), obesity rates have skyrocketed in the United States in recent years. As of 2010, more than one-third of American adults were considered obese, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher. Body mass is derived by dividing weight in pounds by height in inches squared, and then multiplying the result by 703 (weight (lb) / [height (in)] 2 x 703). You can calculate your body mass by following these three steps:

1.       Multiply your weight in pounds by 703.

2.       Calculate your height in inches squared.

3.       Divide the resulting number from step 1 by the resulting number in step 3.

Obesity can lead to a number of serious health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and some types of cancer.

One method that can help a person How to lose weight is to limit the number of calories taken in through their diet. The other way is to burn extra calories with exercise.

Benefits of Exercise vs. Diet:

Combining exercise with a healthy diet is a more effective way to lose weight than depending on calorie restriction alone. Exercise can prevent or even reverse the effects of certain diseases. Exercise lowers blood pressure and cholesterol, which may prevent a heart attack.

In addition, if you exercise, you lower your risk of developing certain types of cancers such as colon and breast cancer. Exercise is also known to help contribute to a sense of confidence and well-being, thus possibly lowering rates of anxiety and depression.

Exercise is helpful for weight loss and maintaining weight loss.  Exercise can increase metabolism, or how many calories you burn in a day. It can also help you maintain and increase lean body mass, which also helps increase number of calories you burn each day.

How Much Exercise Is Needed for Weight Loss:

To reap the health benefits of exercise, it is recommended that you to perform some form of aerobic exercise at least three times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes per session. However, more than 20 minutes is better if you want to actually lose weight. Incorporating just 15 minutes of moderate exercise — such as walking one mile — on a daily basis will burn up to 100 extra calories (assuming you don’t consume excess calories in your diet afterwards). Burning 700 calories a week can equals 10 lbs. of weight loss over the course of a year.

Calculating Your Target Heart Rate:

To receive all of the health benefits of exercise, you’ll need to mix in some higher intensity exercises.  To get an idea of how hard you are working, you can check your heart rate. The basic formula for determining your target heart rate is to subtract your age from 220 and then calculate 60 to 80 percent of that number.

Talk to a trainer or your healthcare team to help you determine your best intensity for each workout. Those with special health concerns such as an injury, diabetes, or a heart condition should consult a physician before beginning any fitness program.

What Are Some Examples of the Different Types of Exercise:

The type of exercise you choose for weight loss doesn’t matter as much as whether or not you’re doing it. That’s why experts recommend you pick exercises you enjoy, so that you’ll stick to a regular routine.

Aerobic

No matter what exercise program you implement, it should include some form of aerobic or cardiovascular exercise. Aerobic exercises get your heart rate up and your blood pumping. Aerobic exercises may include walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, and dancing. You can also work out on a fitness machine such as a treadmill, elliptical, or stair stepper.

Weight Training

A big advantage of working out with weights is that, in addition to shedding fat, you’ll build muscle. Muscle, in turn, burns calories. Talk about a healthy feedback loop! Experts recommend working all the major muscle groups three times per week. This includes:

·         abs

·         back

·         biceps

·         calves

·         chest

·         forearms

·         hamstrings

·         quads

·         shoulders

·         traps

·         triceps

Yoga

Yoga is not as intense as other types of exercise, but it can help you lose weight in other ways, according to a recent study by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The study found that people who practice yoga are more mindful about what they eat and, therefore, less likely to be obese.

Incorporating Exercise Into Your Lifestyle:

The total amount of exercise you engage in during a day matters more than whether or not you do it in a single session. That’s why small changes in your daily routine can make a big difference in your waistline.

Healthy lifestyle habits to consider include:

·         walking or riding your bike to work or while running errands

·         taking the stairs instead of the elevator

·         parking farther away from destinations and walking the remaining distance

Activities and the Amount of Calories They Burn:

The average adult male who doesn’t exercise requires approximately 2,200 calories a day to maintain his average weight. A female needs about 1,800 calories to maintain her weight.

The following list contains common activities and the approximate amount of calories burned per hour:

Activities                                                                                                         Calories Burned

playing baseball, golf, or cleaning the house                                                   240 to 300

brisk walking, biking, dancing, or gardening                                                  370 to 460

playing football, jogging (at a nine-minute-mile pace),                                   580 to 730

or swimming

skiing, racquetball, or running (at a seven-minute-mile pace)                         740 to 920

Before You Start an Exercise Program:

Talk to your doctor before you start a new exercise program, especially if you are planning on doing vigorous exercise.  This is especially important if you have:

·         heart disease

·         lung disease

·         diabetes

·         kidney disease

·         arthritis

People who have been very inactive for the recent months, who are overweight, or have recently quit smoking should also talk to their doctors before staring a new exercise program.

{Source:  http://www.healthline.com/health/exercise-and-weight-loss#BeforeYouStart8}

Weight Loss

I love food and I love eating. But, I don’t love dieting. Although I have always been a mostly healthy eater, I’m not one to turn down a piece of birthday cake or a glass of wine during cocktail hour. But indulging a little too much and a little too often resulted in a slow gain of 25 pounds by my early 20s.

When I was younger, I’d managed to maintain my weight of 130 pounds by being active. I belonged to the dance team and played intramural sports and get tips How to lose weight, so it wasn’t difficult for me to motivate myself to exercise. After college, I started a desk job, and with that came long hours, pizza lunches, and plenty of happy hours. I continued to exercise almost every day, but it wasn’t enough—and my weight climbed to 153 pounds, which was too much for my 5-foot-4-inch frame.

My Tipping Point:

I wasn’t happy at my heaviest, but I wasn’t really motivated to do anything about it until a ski trip with friends in 2004 put things in perspective. The vacation was a blast, but I quickly lost my getaway glow when I saw photos from our trip. Looking at the physical proof, I was embarrassed by how much weight I had gained. Every photo was a “bad” photo of me. I was so depressed that I threw most of them away.

Soon after the ski trip, I left my desk job to pursue graduate school and took a part-time job working at the front desk of an upscale health club. One of the perks was a free membership, which was the motivation I needed to take control of my weight. I started exercising at the health club most mornings, taking Body Pump and spinning classes on a regular basis. Finding workout buddies helped too. I made some new friends who were avid runners and I began training for and participating in road races with them.

Even though I was burning plenty of calories through exercise, I knew my eating habits were preventing me from losing weight. I wasn’t eating unhealthy foods—I stuck with salads, turkey sandwiches, and stir-fry dishes—I was just eating too much of everything. I started tracking my daily calories online at fitday.com. Counting calories really helped me understand my overblown portion sizes and just how many calories I was consuming.

A New Life:

Almost a year and a half later, in the summer of 2006, I finally reached my goal weight of 130 pounds. My weight loss didn’t happen overnight—in fact it took a pretty long time—but that was because I wasn’t “dieting.” Through trial and error and figuring out what worked best for me, I made lifestyle changes, which have stuck with me to today. For example, I almost always have oatmeal with nut butter and a piece of fruit for breakfast. It helps set a healthy tone for my whole day, plus it keeps me full until lunchtime.

Now I’m committed to maintaining my weight without missing out on any fun, like birthday celebrations or nights out with friends, which is the main philosophy behind Carrots ‘N’ Cake. Hopefully, my tips and tricks are helpful to you and you’ll share some of your own secrets and successes with me too. 

{Source: http://carrotsncake.com/weight-loss}

GENERAL TIPS ON LOSING WEIGHT AND GETTING HEALTHY

After posting the advice on what I would say to someone who is just starting out, I got a lot of positive feedback via email, but most people also asked for some more practical advice on how to start out. Like what small changes they should make first. Well, I did mention some of the small steps in the previous post, but here are some more for How to lose weight. Some of these are taken from my weight loss diary I kept and some of them I have only learned myself during maintenance. They are going to be different for everyone, so you just have to figure out what works for you.

– Don’t give up: This is the most important one. It is not going to be easy, but it IS going to be worth it!

– Don’t take on too much: One of the points I made in the last post was to make small changes. Don’t change everything at once, otherwise you will get overwhelmed and something will have to give. Not being able to do everything will be frustrating and stressful and you don’t need any more stress. Start with the easiest things, like drinking more water and eating breakfast and then add on more changes from there.

– Snack wisely: No joke, I used to have a whole bucket full of unhealthy snacks when I was obese. I would never let the bucket get half empty before I filled it up with snack sized cakes, chocolate bars and other fattening treats. They would give me an instant hit of energy, but I would soon come crashing down. Choose nuts, seeds and fruit for a snack that will do exactly what a snack should do – carry you to your next meal and keep your energy levels up.

– Make sure you are eating enough: It might seem that seriously restricting your calories will help you lose weight quickly, but you will end up doing more damage than good. Make sure you are eating enough to fuel your body. I often found when I hit a plateau that upping my calories helped me start losing again. This is a good calculator to tell you how many calories you should eat if you just sat down all day: http://www.health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced

– There is no finish line on health: don’t see it as you have a certain amount of weight to lose and then you have finished. You will never finish. You always have to work hard at looking after your health. You will reach your weight loss goal, but you can’t just go back to your old habits.

– Move on from days where you go off track: I went off track countless times. Sometimes for one meal, sometimes for one day and sometimes for a whole week. But I always got back on track again and I didn’t punish myself for it. What is done is done, it is going to happen to all of us. As the saying goes, “fall down 7, stand up 8”.

– If you are hungry, then eat: you will see a lot of “diet plans” that say when you feel hungry, to drink a glass of water. I don’t necessarily agree with this. If you can identify it as real hunger, and not emotional hunger (which takes some time to tell the difference), then you need to eat. Trying to cover it up with water is most likely going to lead to a binge later on. But, if you can identify it as emotional eating, then a glass of water is a good idea.

– Don’t reward yourself with food: this is a bad cycle to get yourself into. Having a cupcake because you lost 1lb is not going to help in the long run. Sure, you can have a cupcake once in a while, but have it because you want it, not because you “earned” it. Reward yourself with a manicure or some  new shoes. Let’s just say I have a lot of shoes.

– Food is not the enemy: I have written about it before, but stop giving food all the power. There is no good and bad food (this of course doesn’t include people who have allergies) and you don’t have to 100% cut things out of your diet and never eat the things you enjoy again. Getting healthy and losing weight is about creating a healthy relationship with food, not an even unhealthier one.

– Eat real food: try to make sure that the majority of your diet is made up of real food. Not things that are made in a factory or come in a box or packet. Your body will thank you for it.

– Find balance: you need to still enjoy your life, so if locking yourself in a gym 6 days a week isn’t enjoyable for you, do a little less. Make sure you are eating enough, but don’t over eat. It takes a while to find what is right for you and it is never going to be the same as anyone else. So take your time and figure out your perfect balance.

– Keep your body guessing: Again, when I hit plateaus in my weight loss, it was normally because I had been eating the same things, and doing the exact same workouts. If you body gets used to something, the weight loss will usually slow down. Try some new recipes out and go to a new workout class – it might just make a difference.

– Don’t be scared of weights: I never did weights in the beginning, and I was a bit of a “cardio bunny”. If I had of done weights at the same time, I am convinced that I would have toned up a lot more. Women are often scared of using weights as they think they will turn into a body builder overnight. To look like that, that takes hours of weight lifting and sometimes supplements. You don’t just have to lift 2lb weights either, lift heavy (but work your way up to it).

– Positivity goes a long way: and that includes not being negative to the way your body currently looks. You may want to change the way your body looks, but constantly saying negative things about yourself is not going to help. You can still love your body as it is at the time and work on changing it to make it healthier.

– Plan, Prepare, Schedule: The saying goes, fail to plan and you plan to fail – I agree with that to an extent. Sometimes you can get by without planning but I think it is my planning that helped me stay on track so much. Plan out a realistic workout schedule and stick to it. Schedule in workouts like you would a meeting and don’t back out of it. Plan your meals for the week and do an hour or 2 of food preparation on a Sunday and you will save yourself a lot of time.

– Build a support network: do you have friends or family members that want to get healthy too? Ask them to join the gym with you and host healthy dinner parties where everyone brings a healthy dish. Having like minded people around you will make the process that little bit easier.

– Exercise doesn’t have to be a chore: if you really, really hate running – don’t force yourself to do it. Not everyone is a runner and not everyone enjoys it. Find a workout that you enjoy and you will want to keep doing it. Dancing is normally a good place to start, as it is fun. Give Zumba  try.

– Take time to relax: a long bath or an hour spent reading a good book can do wonders to de-stress.

– Get enough sleep: sleep is so important. It is a change for your body to repair and it gives your brain time to relax as well. Sometimes 8 hours isn’t realistic for everyone, but try to aim for that and see what things (like computer and TV time) you can cut back on to sleep a little more.

– Learn how to cook: it really isn’t that difficult. You don’t have to become a professional chef over night, but get some cookbooks, bookmark some recipes and try them out. Start experimenting in the kitchen too – throw things together that you think will work and see what happens. Very rarely will you make something inedible.

– Watch your portion size: one of the first steps you should make is making sure you are eating the right portion sizes. You will be surprised what a portion of food actually is, as most of us over eat.

– Don’t confuse simple with easy: weight loss is simple in the sense of eating better and working out more, but it is not easy. It is going to be tough, but improving your health makes it so worth it.

I hope that this helps you! Thanks for all the awesome messages after my last post. I know a lot of you said you wanted to be able to comment under the post. You will be able to soon – I promise. I am starting to re-design the blog tonight!

You have to find what works for you, and not all of these tips will be right for all of you – but they worked for me and that is what I am here to share.

{Source: http://www.hungryhealthyhappy.com/general-tips-on-losing-weight-and-getting-healthy/}

20 Effective Ways To Lose 10 Pounds In 3 Weeks

Weight loss has become a sticky subject of confusion, conflicting information and myths. Before you know it How to lose weight, you’re on the crash-course diet from hell and getting no-where! Sustainable weight loss is not a fad diet or program, it’s a lifestyle. With these 20 proven weight loss tips, you can lose 10 pounds in 3 weeks. Best of all, you will set yourself up for continued progress every week!

1. The Golden Rule: Calories In vs. Calories Out

This simple fact simply cannot be overruled – to lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume.

Use tools to help track and measure your daily intake then slowly taper down. Start with 500kcal steps or lower until you observe a consistent weekly loss.

Never go dangerously low, eating much below 1200-1600 can stall your progress and harm your health!

2. Set Attainable Goals And Track Your Progress

Achieving each goal will help spur you on, so be realistic and start small. Here is an example of an easily achievable goal progression:

– Lose weight each week

– Lose 1-3 pounds per week

– Lose 10 pounds in 3 weeks

– Fit into size 30 jeans!

3. Consider Skipping Breakfast:

Breakfast is commonly considered the most important meal of the day, however, it is not so when it comes to weight loss.

Intermittent fasting can be a useful fat-loss tool. Restrict yourself to a smaller eating window by skipping breakfast and only eating from 12-8pm. You will reduce your daily calorie intake without restricting your lunch and dinner!

4. Drink More Water (Especially Before Meals):

Drinking water an hour before eating has two proven benefits for weight loss:

24-30% boost in metabolism for 1-1.5 hours after intake

Increased chance of consuming less calories which further supports weight loss

5. Make Coffee Your New Best Friend:

Coffee has received a bad reputation in the past, however, it should be known that quality coffee is rich in antioxidants and beneficial to weight loss.

The caffeine content will boost your body’s metabolism by up to 10%, leading to a 10-29% increase in fat burning power. Take it black, with no added sugar!

6. Make Green Tea Your Second Best Friend:

Green tea provides a milder dose of caffeine but it is abundant in wonderful catechins. These antioxidants will work with the caffeine in a perfect fat burning harmony!

7. Always Check For Added Sugar:

Sugar has demonstrated worryingly strong links with obesity, diabetes and heart disease (to name a few).

But even if you do not add it yourself, you should check the ingredients of your sauces or packaged foods. Even self-proclaimed health foods can be riddled with added sugar!

8. Cut Out Simple Carbohydrates:

Simple/refined carbohydrates are quickly absorbed, spiking your blood sugar and insulin levels in the process. As a result, you will feel hunger and cravings come back again in no time!

Avoid all sugar or refined grains by avoiding the following foods:

Cookies, candy and sweets

Packaged cereals

White bread and rice

Cakes

9. Scale Down Your Portion Sizes:

It pays to become aware of how much you are eating, exercise portion control and slowly scale it down.

Even small reductions of 10-20% are often enough to tip the balance and trigger weight loss. Try measuring your portions more carefully and don’t underestimate the power of using smaller bowls!

10. Keep Healthy Food On Standby for Stacks:

The power of temptation is mighty, so why not remove it completely?

Only keep healthy snacks within reach, then you won’t be able to binge on junk food! Here are some healthy ideas to stock your cupboard:

Whole fruit

Handful of nuts

Hard boiled eggs

Vegetables

11. Spice Up Your Life

Breathe new life into your dishes and reinforce your weight loss efforts with the power of cayenne pepper! Capsaicin from cayenne pepper and other spicy foods helps to ramp up metabolism and decrease appetite.

12. Top Up Your Protein Intake:

Protein rich foods not only keep you fuller for longer but burn more energy during digestion. Studies have shown that swapping calories for whey protein supplements can boost weight loss whilst increasing lean muscle!

Alternatively, here are a number of protein-rich food sources:

Lean beef

Skinless chicken breasts

Eggs

Salmon

Low-fat yogurt

13. Balance Your Diet With Complex Carbs:

Consuming complex carbs will produce a sustained energy release and keep blood sugar levels manageable. You can easily keep hunger and cravings at bay with these nutrient dense complex carbs:

Vegetables

Fruit

Brown rice

Wholegrains

Beans and legumes

14. Forget About Fast Food:

Not matter how healthy it may claim to be, fast food is almost always laden with heart-clogging trans fats, excessive sugar and salt.

Worse yet, these meals are high in calories whilst low in nutritional value, making them a terrible choice for fuel. Before you know it, you will have broken the cardinal rule of calories in vs. calories out!

15. Watch Out for “Hidden Calories”:

There’s no need to completely forgo your favorite condiments, just make sure you are aware of their true caloric impact. It’s easy to go overboard and negate much of your hard work!

Go easy with the following condiments and toppings, they are surprisingly heavy in calories:

Mayonnaise

Salad dressing

Cream

Cheese

Butter

Oils

16. Choose Low-Medium GI Foods:

High GI foods sources cause sugar levels to shoot up, the resultant spike in insulin will actually encourage dreaded fat storage!

Check out the GI scale and choose low-medium GI foods. Your insulin levels will remain under control, you will feel fuller for longer and find it easier to lose weight!

17. Opt For Weight Training Over Cardio:

Weight training burns a significant amount of calories, keeping you strong, fit and healthy in the process. It’s more effective than cardio for body recomposition as it helps preserve essential muscle mass whilst you lose weight.

Studies have also shown a significant increase in metabolic rate both during and after your workout, further supporting your weight loss efforts!

Choose a routine that uses compound lifts such as Presses, Squats and Deadlifts. These exercises recruit the largest amount of muscles per movement, ideal for maintaining lean muscle mass and trimming body fat.

18. Go Walking or Cycling:

Consistent small actions soon add up to big changes. For this reason, why not choose to walk or cycle whenever you can? You will burn more calories as you go about your day without the need for further diet restrictions.

You can burn more calories as you go about your day, without any further diet restriction. If you’re physically able there is no excuse, take the stairs over escalators and lifts!

19. Get Enough Sleep:

Sleep is highly underrated for weight loss. Forget about the 6-hour minimum claim, many of us require 8-9 hours to operate at peak efficiency.

Both duration and quality of sleep will have a great influence on hormones that control body composition. In fact, poor sleep has shown worrying links to obesity, increasing the risk in adults by 55%!

20. Be Careful Of Liquid Calories!

We all know alcohol dehydrates and damages our liver and kidneys. But it can also thwart weight loss efforts as an unexpected source of calories.

You may be surprised to know a beer can equate to 150kcal, 125kcal for a glass of red wine and a whopping 400Kcal for a single sweet Piña Colada! Instead, try sticking to tonic water with a slice of lime, your body will thank you!

So there you have the 20 simple lifestyle tips that will support you in achieving healthy weight loss. Adopt as many as you can and you will easily lose 10 pounds or more in 3 weeks!

{Source: http://www.lifehack.org/382488/20-effective-ways-to-lose-10-pounds-in-3-weeks}

How to Lose Weight Fast, the Healthy Way

We’re bombarded with so many new fad diets and quick fix tips that working out how to lose weight fast, but healthily, can be totally confusing. We’ve spoken to top diet and fitness experts to find out how you can shed any unwanted pounds.

1. ‘Make sure you have protein with every meal. Protein helps you feel fuller for longer and also helps balance your blood sugar to reduce any sweet cravings,’ says Shona Wilkinson, head nutritionist at Nutri Centre.

2. If you suffer from sugar cravings, consider taking a chromium supplement to help prevent them,’ she adds.

3. 'Increase your intake of vegetables. Focus on dark green leafy vegetables such as spinach, kale and broccoli.  These are packed full of nutrients and will also help keep you full.’

4. ‘Downsize your dinner plates, says Shona. ‘It may sound mad, but plates have got bigger in the past few years. In turn, your portion sizes get bigger.’

5. Try a nutritionist-approved health and weight loss product like Almased. Available in the UK for the first time, it's a two-week programme that offers sustainable weight loss by initially replacing all meals with a healthy soya, yoghurt and honey drink, and then gradually adding in low-fat, high-protein meals. Nutritionist Katie Hipwell says: 'Almased’s highly nutritional content itself has very positive health benefits. How to Lose Weight will be motivated by the good start to their diet and can continue on light balanced meals and Almased meal replacements once or twice a day.'

6. ‘Stay away from high sugar fruits, such as grapes, raisins and bananas,’ says Patrick Holford, author of Burn Fat Fast. ‘Choose low sugar fruits, such as berries, plums and cherries, instead.’

7. ‘Do 8 minutes of resistance exercise three days a week. And do 30 minutes of cardio exercise – anything that gets your heart rate up – three times a week.’

8. ‘For your main meal, make sure that half the plate is made up of vegetables, one quarter is protein – a piece of lean meat or fish that would fit in your palm – and no more than a quarter is carbs,’ adds Patrick.

9. ‘Drink green tea,’ says diet expert Marisa Peer, author of You Can Be Thin. ‘It is proven to burn body fat, especially around the waist. If you don’t like the taste, have green tea capsules.’

10. 'And limit bread to a few slices a week,’ says Marisa. ‘Eat rye or pumpernickel, instead of wheat bread.’

11. ‘Have protein for breakfast. Motivate yourself by remembering that your body wakes up in a fat-burning mode and eating protein first thing will help you keep burning fat right up until you next eat carbs,' adds Marisa.

12. ‘Make sure you drink 1 litre of water per 20kg of your body weight,’ says fitness expert Jacqueline Wilson. ‘This is absolutely essential.’

13. ‘Go for natural foods as much as possible and do not eat any processed foods,’ says Jacqueline. ‘Nothing in a packet!’

14. ‘To beat bloating, reduce your salt intake,’ says diet expert Jane Michell, founder of Jane Plan. ‘Avoid adding salt to your meals or while cooking. Your tummy will become flatter and you will see a positive result on the scales.’

15. ‘Cut out alcohol,’ says Jane. ‘It contains a lot of hidden calories – a glass of wine has at least 100.’

16. ‘Choose healthy snacks that contain no more 120 calories. That’s equivalent to a very small handful of nuts and dried fruit.’

17. ‘Include pineapple, grapefruit and celery in your diet,’ says celebrity fitness trainer Jenny Pacey. ‘They contain enzymes that have been found to mobilize fat.’

18. ‘Get 8-9 hours of sleep per night,’ says fitness and nutrition expert Darryl Edwards. ‘Just a few nights of sleep deprivation can increase the levels of hormones that boost appetite and reduce your ability to register that you’re full.’

19. ‘Remove common food allergens, including dairy, wheat and nuts, from your diet,’ says fitness expert Phil Haws worth. ‘You will quickly lose bloating from around your stomach.’

20. Invest in a pair of Zaggora HotPants to lose weight more rapidly during workouts.  The fabric has been scientifically proven to increase the amount of calories you burn during exercise by raising your body temperature.

[Source: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/544136/lose-weight-fast-the-healthy-way.html]