The Daily Gain

Tired of Your Same Old Cardio Routine?

Posted by juleslein on June 22, 2009

Try this hot new game that is fun, easy to set up and burns a ton of calories!

What: Speedminton

Calories Burned: About 400 per hour

Body Benefits: Tank-worthy arms. This hot new game is a cross between racquetball, badminton, and tennis but with no nets or walls involved. Players bat a speeder--which looks like the birdie used in badminton--back and forth using lightweight racquets.

"If you can swing a racquet, you can learn to play, and it's great cardio," says 30-year-old Christina Higgins of San Diego, mother to a newborn and a toddler. "The results are similar to those in tennis--sculpted arms and back, toned legs, and better hand-eye coordination."

Weekend Benefits: Time with friends. "Our neighbors introduced my husband and me to the game, so now we all play in our cul-de-sac," Higgins says. "The speeder glows, so we can even play well into the night."

Cost: You can purchase equipment for $30 to $50 at sporting goods stores or at Amazon.com.

How to Play:

Step 1

Set up your court. A speedminton court is made of two 18-inch squares that are 42 inches apart. These are the same dimensions as half a tennis court and can easily be played on one by extending the center line to the back of the court with tape, though no net is needed. You can also set up cones in these dimensions anywhere there's enough space for it to create a court. Some speedminton kits come with the necessary equipment to do both of these things.

Step 2

Choose who will serve first. This can be done by any means to begin the game with service changing every three serves. In subsequent games the person who lost the previous game serves first.

Step 3

Serve the speeder. When serving behind the front line of the square you must hit the speeder below your waist with the head of the racket below your hand. An overhead serve can be done from behind the back line of the square.

Step 4

Hit the speeder back and forth until someone scores a point. A point is scored on every serve and is counted when the speeder lands in the opponent's square (the line is considered in bounds), it lands out of bounds, it hits a person, or it's hit twice consecutively by the same person. A game is won by reaching 15 points first and must be won by two points. Players switch sides after each game. The player who wins three out of five games wins the match.

If you are in a bit of a rut with your workouts, try this fun new game and watch your weight start to drop again!

The Speed of Weight Loss

Posted by juleslein on May 25, 2009

Weight Loss Includes Fat, Muscle and Water

When we lose weight we don't just lose fat. We lose a combination of body fat, and muscle tissue. For example, studies show that when we diet, the weight we lose is on average 75 percent fat and 25 percent muscle. Furthermore, a relatively high percentage of this weight loss is likely to be water loss. Remember, water accounts for about 70 percent of the total body weight of an average person, with muscle tissue containing roughly 75 percent water (plus 20 percent protein and 5 percent minerals), and body fat containing roughly 50 percent water.

Factors That Affect Speed of Weight Loss

The human body does not lose weight at a regular or uniform speed. Different people reduce weight at different speeds. This is because weight reduction is dependent on various factors, including: weight; diet and lifestyle; level of physical activity; health and genes (inc. metabolic rate); the level of stress experienced.

Weight Loss is Not an Exact Science

As you can see, not only does weight loss include other things besides fat-tissue, the actual speed of weight reduction is determined by a variety of individual factors. So it's difficult, if not impossible, to give a precise answer to the question "how fast can I lose weight?" However, as a rough guide, here are some basic guidelines for maximum weight loss.

What is the Most Weight You Can Lose?

It is possible to lose anything up to about 20 pounds of weight per week, but most of this is likely to be water. It will therefore be regained as soon as normal eating resumes.

What is the Most Fat You Can Lose?

The maximum amount of body fat a healthy person can lose is about 3-4 pounds per week. Typically, only obese people are likely to be able to lose this amount of fat. By comparison, a woman of average weight (about 140 pounds) is likely to lose a maximum of about 1-1.5 pounds per week.

Why You Can't Lose More Weight

The human body is not designed to shed weight. It is designed to survive! Our basic body chemistry endures from prehistoric times, when famine, rather than obesity, was the biggest threat. This is why it won't lose excessive amounts of fat in a short period of time. In fact, if you drastically reduce your calorie-intake, your brain takes active steps to slow down your metabolism, in order to conserve calories. This is one reason why we encounter a weight loss plateau.

Side Effects of Losing Weight Too Quickly

Too rapid weight loss (eg. after bariatric surgery) can lead to unpleasant side effects. The two most common effects of over-rapid weight reduction include:

Appearance of Loose Skin

If you reduce weight too quickly, your skin does not have time to shrink to your leaner body shape. The only effective treatment for this is surgical intervention, such as Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck).

Gallstones

Studies have shown that people who lose excessive amounts of weight very quickly, have a greater risk of developing gallstones than those who lose weight at slower speeds. Too rapid weight reduction may also cause "silent" gallstones to become active.

Weight Regain (Weight Rebound)

Sudden fast weight reduction is usually caused by artificial changes to our eating habits as a result of (eg) very-low-calorie diet plans, or bariatric surgery. Not surprisingly, this does not give us enough time to learn new eating habits. So although our physical weight may have changed, our mental approach to food and eating remains the same. In the absence of medical supervision, or other support, we commonly find ourselves unable to sustain the new dietary habits required to maintain our lighter weight, and regain all our lost weight.

source: http://www.annecollins.com/rapid-weight-loss.htm

Dedicated and Disciplined

Posted by juleslein on May 18, 2009

Losing weight can be hard but worth the efforts you make. Here are some ways to make it to your weight loss goals, and stay in the game.

Commit

We all know losing weight is a commitment but what does that entail? It entails making a choice. You decide to make healthy choices and have to wake up everyday and make that decision over and over. We all know just because we say we are on a diet we still have to make that choice again and again through out our day to stay on that diet as we are faced with the temptations that may lead us astray. Here are some tips to help you stay committed and make your choices easier.

Plan and Prepare -The night before plan your workout and meals. Decide what you are going to eat that day at stick to it. Make plans to exercise the day before and get your things (shoes, clothes, gym pass) in order. This way you have your workout scheduled and your meals planned, the healthy choices are easier to make.

Motivation - Remind yourself throughout the day of your workout plans--send yourself a reminder or have a friend call and ask about your workout, so it's always in the front of your mind.

Be Accountable - What will happen if you skip that workout? You need to have consequences so that missing your workout isn't an option--maybe you can't watch your favorite TV show until you exercise. Imagine how you will feel if you miss your workout as apposed to how you will feel when you have finished it. On the other side, you can also reward yourself for working out--just make sure you don't reward yourself with food.

Keep your Goals in Mind - As you're getting ready for the day, remember what your goals are. Weight loss? More energy? Whatever it is, that workout is an important step in reaching it. Remind yourself of the big picture--what you do today counts!

Discipline
Such an ugly word but discipline is a part of successful weight loss and just another way of saying self-control. Think of how you practice self-control in the other parts of your life. Each day you fulfill your obligations to work and family, even when you'd rather just lie in bed and sleep late. That takes discipline. The same can be true of exercise. Of course, it's easy to make yourself go to work because there are consequences if you don't--you won't make as much money or you could lose your job. But if you don't workout, the consequences aren't as immediate, are they?

Try these ideas to get more disciplined with exercise:

Making Exercise a Habit - Part of being disciplined is creating a habit. You may not want to brush your teeth every night, but you do it anyway because you always do it right before bed...it's a habit. You can do the same thing with exercise by keeping your workouts on specific days and times each week (if you can). Knowing that every Monday at 6 a.m. will find you at the gym will make it that much easier to show up for your workouts.

Know the Consequences - You already know what happens if you don't brush your teeth--cavities, gum disease, painful dental experiences, etc. But what are the consequences of not exercising? Make a list of all the things that could happen to your body and mind without exercise such as weight gain, increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer, to name a few.

Get Some Support - One sure way to show up for your workout is to have someone waiting for you. One option is a personal trainer--someone who will hold you accountable for your workouts while educating you all at the same time. Another option is to get a workout buddy and have consequences if you don't show up. Having that support will make exercise more enjoyable AND keep you on track.

Make a Deal With Yourself - Don't feel like working out? Promise yourself you'll just do a warm up. If after 10 minutes you still don't want to workout, you can quit and go home. The majority of the time, you'll keep going because getting there is usually the hardest part.

The Flat Ab Diet

Posted by juleslein on May 11, 2009

Just can't get rid of your flabby belly, even though you do sit-ups and crunches until you're ready to drop? Assuming that you are already physically active and have a sensible diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and low in fat and your belly is still a bit bigger than you wish, read on. If you want to go from fat to fab abs, new research shows that what you eat is just as important as how - or even how much - you work out.

Ab Diet Tip 1. Eat more fiber.

Not eating enough fiber may be a major reason women are getting fatter and flabbier. To ditch the fat and show off firm, beautiful abs, you need to eat at least 25 grams of fiber daily, says leading fiber researcher David J.A. Jenkins, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc., Professor of Nutrition at the University of Toronto, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Food and Nutrition Board. Fiber, which is the indigestible part of fruits, vegetables and whole-grain foods, helps you achieve flat abs.

How to add fiber to your diet comfortably? One cautionary note: It's important to add fiber slowly but consistently to prevent gas. "Make higher-fiber choices throughout the day; don't have all your fiber in one bunch," Jenkins says. "This is particularly important with viscous fiber - a type of soluble fiber found in beans, oats and barley that also has the benefit of lowering blood cholesterol," he says.

For best results, increase your fiber intake slowly over the course of one month and drink plenty of water to keep food moving through your system as quickly as possible.

Ab Diet Tip 2. Opt for a sensible amount of high-quality carbs.

For flatter abs, make carbs 45–- 65 percent (202 - 292) grams based on an 1,800-calorie diet) of your total daily calories. Balance is the key here, so don't go below 45 percent (202 grams), or above 65 percent (292 grams), which can lead to water retention, bloating and temporary weight gain that shows up in your middle.

When you eat carbs, they break down into glucose, which is stored as glycogen in the muscles and liver. When glycogen is stored, it carries with it three times its own weight as water, compared to no water at all for protein and fat, according to Peter Garlick, Ph.D., a professor at Stony Brook University in New York. If you eat an extremely high-carb diet, you may store excess water, experience bloating and gain temporary water weight. (This is why people who go on no- or very low-carb diets can initially lose weight so quickly. They're really just losing water.)

Focus on balanced eating. For best results, eat at least three to five 4-ounce servings of veggies (15 - 25 grams of carbs); two to four 4-ounce servings of fruit (30–60 grams of carbs) and about 1 cup (8 ounces cooked or 2 ounces dry, or 2 slices of bread) of whole grains per meal (90 grams per day).

Ab Diet Tip 3. Drink up!

Many women believe that drinking too much water will give them puffy abs, but just the opposite is true. "Even though we associate water with being bloated, drinking more water can help to flush sodium out of the body, and that reduces the bloat," said Jeff Hampl, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition researcher and assistant professor at Arizona State University.

Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day. Beverages with little or no calories, caffeine or sodium, including herbal tea, are best. Avoid regular soft drinks and soups with lots of sodium. If you are eating plenty of water-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables and low-sodium soups, you can get half of your water requirements from foods, according to a 1998 NAS Food and Nutrition Board report.

Avoid carbonated drinks. Fizzy drinks, including soda pop and spritzers, increase bloating because the carbon dioxide trapped in the bubbles creates gas, which slows down stomach emptying.

Ab Diet Tip 4. Watch the sodium.

Sodium may have a bad rep, but it's essential for regulating body fluids and blood pressure as well as for nerve transmission, muscle function and absorption of important nutrients. But even a small amount of excess sodium causes bloating.

The American Heart Association recommends you consume no more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium daily — roughly 1 teaspoon of table salt. That's enough sodium to replenish your supply even if you work up a major sweat.

Choose fresh, natural foods over fast, commercial or packaged foods. Instead of ordering french fries (265 milligrams of sodium), have a baked potato (8 milligrams). Instead of a pickle (1,730 milligrams!), enjoy a fresh cucumber (6 milligrams). And beware of cured meats: Three ounces of ham packs in 1,009 milligrams of sodium, compared to just 48 milligrams for the same amount of roast pork. Soups are also notoriously high in sodium; some canned varieties contain more than 1,100 milligrams per cup. Read labels carefully and stick with low-sodium brands like Healthy Choice.

Ab Diet Tip 5. Eat light at night.

It never fails: You have a heavier-than-normal evening meal or snack, and when you weigh yourself the next morning, you're up by several pounds. But as depressing as it may seem at the moment, such a quick gain is always water weight; you simply cannot gain that much fat overnight.

In a study conducted by Callaway, people who skipped breakfast or lunch and ate their largest meal later in the day had lower metabolisms. So by eating light at night you'll receive a double benefit: You'll wake up with a flatter tummy, and you'll also have a better appetite for a fiber-rich breakfast, which sets you up for a day of healthful eating. Some tips to get you started:

Eat five times a day. Your body needs food every three to four hours, so instead of eating three large meals, try to schedule five smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day (breakfast-snack-lunch-snack-dinner). By staying full and energized, you'll avoid hunger pangs, maintain an even energy flow, make better, healthier food choices (no binging or craving) and enjoy the most efficient burning of calories.

Ab Diet Tip 6. Reduce stress.

Research shows that stress triggers the hormone cortisol to turn up your appetite and deposit fat around the organs in your abdomen. Pamela Peeke, M.D., M.P.H., author of Fight Fat After Forty (Penguin, 2000) calls this "toxic weight," because it's associated with heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

Excerpt from Shape.com
Original article written by Katherine Tallmadge, author of Diet Simple: 154 Mental Tricks, Substitutions, Habits & Inspirations

Interval Training for Weight Loss and Fitness

Posted by juleslein on April 27, 2009

by Maia Appleby

The theory behind interval training is this: By mixing bursts of high intensity work with low intensity periods of recovery, you're overloading both the aerobic and anaerobic systems at the same time, getting the benefits of both aspects of training simultaneously. You can realistically get a complete workout in thirty minutes with interval training.

How is it done?
Begin as you would on any other day. Start at an easy pace and gradually increase your heart rate for at least five minutes. You can monitor this by taking your pulse for fifteen seconds and multiplying it by four or using a heart rate monitor When you're sufficiently warmed up, you're ready for a burst of high intensity work. If you're on a treadmill, break into a jog or a sprint, depending on what "high intensity" means to you.

During the high intensity periods, you're decreasing your body's ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide. You begin to feel the "burn" as your body eliminates lactic acid (a toxic by-product) and your muscles begin to lose their ability to contract. You wouldn't physically be able to maintain this level of intensity for long.

When you begin to wear your muscles out, decrease the intensity level to something that you could maintain for a longer period. Don't slow down so much that your pulse dips too low, though, or you will lose the aerobic effect completely. Now, you're in the "active recovery period". Your body's ability to exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide increases and it can deliver nutrients to your muscles. The burn goes away and your breathing and heart rate slow down slightly. You have completed one cycle.

Repeat this process of maxing out and recovering your anaerobic system for at least thirty minutes. The high intensity periods should be shorter than the active recovery periods, especially at first. You might walk for five minutes and then run for one when you begin to introduce your body to this type of training. As you become more adept, increase the time you spend in high intensity periods. Forcing yourself to sustain long periods of high intensity activity is dangerous, so do use caution and work yourself up gradually.

Why is it good? Here are four big reasons:

1. It saves time. If you normally spend an hour and a half in the gym following the traditional sequence, you'll work yourself just as hard in 45 minutes with interval training. Finding time to exercise is a big problem for (I dare say) most people. Here's a great solution.

2. It's a great way to get beyond a plateau. I'm by no means claiming that interval training is better than the traditional, tried-and-true warm-up, weight training, cool-down sequence, but when you stop seeing improvements in your physical condition, it's time to do something new and different. Throwing a couple days of interval training into your exercise regimen each week tells your body that it's time to get over the plateau and make additional progress.

3. It combats monotony. Once a routine gets boring, you might decide to do different weight lifting exercises or change around your aerobic activities. You might stop using weight machines and switch exclusively to free weights. Interval training can help you during the transition period between one exercise program and another. It's fun, and the time flies by during each session, because you're working in cycles of high and low intensity work instead of spending a long period of time at any one activity.

4. It's easy! You can do an entire workout without moving from one spot. You set your own rules, using your body's cues, so you feel completely in control of the workout. There's no counting involved and the time seems to go by much more quickly.

How can it help me lose weight?
By challenging both you aerobic and anaerobic systems simultaneously, you're improving your body's ability to burn calories by leaps and bounds. You're adding new muscle, which speeds up your metabolism of fat in general. You're getting an aerobic workout that burns lots of calories. You're pushing yourself beyond any plateaus that you may have hit doing the same thing over and over again. Your body is becoming a more efficient fat-burning machine.

What activities can I use for interval training?
The possibilities are endless, but the most practical are probably walking/running, other cardiovascular machines like stair steppers, elliptical trainers and stationary bikes, aerobic exercise, water exercise and things like that. You could even incorporate it into jumping rope or a sport like racquetball. If you want to be creative, you can really make fitness fun.

How often should I do it?
If you're a beginner, throw in one session a week, along with your normal routine. If you're more seasoned, two or three times a week is great. This is a demanding form of exercise, so use common sense and listen to your body.

When you're finished with your workout (and you'll be surprised at how quickly you get out of the gym doing this), your muscles have been taxed in a brand new way and need to be stretched. Don't skip this part! You'll feel great when you leave, and your body will thank you by improving its condition to prepare itself for the next time.

Article courtesy of Ideal Fitness, Inc. Visit them at www.shapeupshop.com.

Easter Weight Loss & The Easter Bunny - Are They Both A Myth?

Posted by juleslein on April 06, 2009

by Tracie Johanson

Millions of Americans are well into their annual spring diet program, trying to lose weight fast before summer arrives. Unfortunately, Easter can derail our weight loss efforts faster than Peter Cottontail hops down his bunny trail. With mountains of candy eggs and legions of chocolate bunnies, Easter packs enough fat and calories to obliterate even the best weight loss program. Attempting to stick with a healthy diet through Easter may leave the dieter wondering if Easter weight loss is a bigger myth than the Easter bunny.

"Easter is third in candy consumption in the United States with 940 million dollars spent on it in 1998. That's a lot of chocolate bunnies" (Source: about.com). "In 2000, Americans bought $1.9 billion of Easter candy and consumed 7.1 billion pounds to edge ahead of Christmas sales that year" (Source: Topeka Capital Journal, April, 2004).

So what's a weight watcher to do, short of filling the Easter eggs with diet pills and weight loss products? By following a few simple guidelines, it is possible to maintain a diet plan through Easter and perhaps even achieve some healthy weight loss.

All Easter Candy Is Not Created Equal:

First and foremost, it's important to be aware that all Easter candy is not created equal. While no Easter candy could properly be called a diet product, it is true that some varieties are less fattening than others. On the healthier side of the scale are marshmallow eggs and jellybeans. Palmer Marshmallow Eggs, for example, in a 47 gram serving, boast just 130 calories, 0 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat, and 38 grams carbohydrate (13% Daily Value).

Another Easter candy option that may fit into a weight loss plan is Brach's Classic Jelly Bird Eggs. The recommended serving of 14 pieces (41 grams) has just 150 calories, 0 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat and 37 grams carbohydrate (12% Daily Value).

Marshmallow Peeps, one of the most popular choices in the country, are another low fat option. A 5 peeps (42 gram) serving boasts just 160 calories, 0 grams fat, 0 grams saturated fat and 40 grams carbohydrate (13% Daily Value).

Although Easter candy will never be featured as the next big weight loss pill, it is true that some confections are healthier than others. Choose wisely.

Chocolate Is Not A Diet Food:

In spite of the fact that jellybeans will never have a permanent place in a diet and nutrition program, at least they're healthier than chocolate. Far from being a diet food, chocolate packs in the calories because it's so high in fat.

For someone seeking fat loss this Easter season, perhaps the worst thing to find in their basket would be the Palmer Whacky Rabbit Chocolate Bunny (2.5 oz.). The recommended serving size is 1 package (71 grams), which will cost an astounding 360 calories, 20 grams fat (31% Daily Value), 12 grams saturated fat (60% Daily Value) and 46 grams carbohydrate (15% Daily Value).

To maintain some weight control this Easter, cut back on the solid chocolate goodies and opt instead for lower-calorie alternatives like the Cadbury Crème Egg. With a serving size of 1 egg (39 grams), this Easter favorite contains 170 calories, 6 grams fat (9% Daily Value), 3.5 grams saturated fat (18% Daily Value) and 28 grams carbohydrate (9% Daily Value).

Other options may include Snickers Minis, with 170 calories per 4 piece (36 gram) serving, or Nestle Crunch Nest Eggs, with 180 calories per 5 piece (37 gram) serving.

Hide The Easter Basket (Again)
After all the eggs and treats have been found this year, go ahead and hide them again in a kitchen cupboard. Out of sight is out of mind, and hiding that Easter basket (again) may be the weight loss strategy that makes the difference this year.

Join In The Hunt!

While most people acknowledge that they should exercise to lose weight, most lack the motivation to engage in weight loss exercise on a regular basis. The solution this Easter is to join in the Easter egg hunt with the kids. A 170 pound woman will burn approximately 116 calories in 30 minutes of hiding Easter eggs, and another 154 calories in just 30 minutes of egg-hunting (source: caloriesperhour.com). Get out there and have some fun!

Easter may not be the best time to pursue fast weight loss, but it is certainly possible to enjoy the holiday without raising your body fat percentage to new highs. By following the weight management techniques outlined above, you'll be able to greet the Easter bunny with a smile this year.

* Tracie Johanson is the founder of Pick Up The Pace, a 30-minute exercise studio for women, focusing on fitness, health and nutrition for maximum weight loss. Please visit http://www.letspickupthepace.com/ for more information.

Turn Your Body into a Fat Burning Machine

Posted by juleslein on March 30, 2009

By Paige Waehner, About.com

I once had a client who asked, "When I eat too many calories, how do they know to go straight to my thighs? Do they have some kind of homing device or what?" I suppose that's one way to look at it since our genes usually determine where we store excess fat. But, a more important point is that, if we didn't eat too many calories, we wouldn't have any extra calories to store. We have no problem eating those calories, but getting rid of them is a whole other problem.

We all have areas where fat cells seem to congregate and, sadly, thrive. The real challenge is burning that fat and keeping it off. We hear a lot about fat burning, from working out in the 'fat burning zone' to eating foods or taking supplements that supposedly burn more fat. But, gimmicks aside, what we all want to know is: What's the best way to burn fat? Knowing a little more about how your body works can help you become a better fat burning machine.

The Basics of Burning Fat

If you're trying to lose weight, knowing how your body uses calories for fuel can make a difference in how you approach your weight loss program. We get our energy from fat, carbs and protein but. Which one our bodies draw from, however, depends on the kind of activity we're doing. Now, most people want to use fat for energy, which makes sense. We figure, the more fat we can use as fuel, the less fat we'll have in our bodies. But, using more fat doesn't automatically lead to losing more fat.

Understanding the best way to burn fat starts with some basic facts about how your body gets its energy:

* The body primarily uses fat and carbs for fuel. A small amount of protein is used during exercise, but it's mainly used to repair the muscles after exercise.
* The ratio of these fuels will shift depending on the activity you're doing.
* For higher intensity exercise, such as fast-paced running, the body will rely more on carbs for fuel than fat. That's because the metabolic pathways available to break down carbs for energy are more efficient than the pathways available for fat breakdown.
* For long, slower exercise, fat is used more for energy than carbs.
* When it comes to weight loss, it doesn't matter what type of fuel you use. What matters is how many calories you burn as opposed to how many calories you take in.

This is a very simplified look at energy with a solid take-home message. When it comes to weight loss, what matters is burning more calories, not necessarily using more fat for energy. And, the harder you work, the more calories you'll burn overall. Think about it this way: When you sit or sleep, you're in your prime fat-burning mode. But, you've probably never contemplated the idea of sleeping more to lose weight, as lovely as that thought is.

The bottom line? Just because you're using more fat as energy doesn't mean you're burning more calories.

The Myth of the Fat Burning Zone

One thing we know is that exercising at lower intensities will use more fat for energy. This basic premise is what started the theory of the 'fat burning zone,' or the idea that working in a certain heart rate zone (around 55 to 65 of your maximum heart rate) will allow your body to burn more fat.

Over the years, this theory has become so ingrained in our exercise experience that we see it touted in books, charts, websites, magazines and even on cardio machines at the gym. The trouble is that it's misleading. Working at lower intensities isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it won't burn more fat off your body unless you're burning more calories than you're eating. One way to increase your calorie burn is to exercise at higher intensities.

Does this mean that, if you want to burn more fat, you should avoid low intensity exercise? Not necessarily. There are some specific things you can do to burn more fat and it all starts with how and how much you exercise.

Fat Burning Tip #1: Incorporate a Mix of Low, Medium and High Intensity Cardio Exercise

You may be confused about exactly how hard to work during cardio. You may even think that high intensity exercise is the only way to go. After all, you can burn more calories and, even better, you don't have to spend as much time doing it. But having some variety can help you stimulate all of your different energy systems, protect you from overuse injuries, and help you enjoy your workouts more.

Fat Burning Tip #2: Exercise Consistently

It may seem like a no-brainer that regular exercise can help you burn fat and lose weight. But, it's not just about the calories you're burning. It's also about the adaptations your body makes when you exercise on a regular basis. Many of those adaptations lead directly to your ability to burn more fat without even trying. When you exercise regularly, your body:

* Becomes more efficient at delivering and extracting oxygen -- Simply put, this helps your cells burn fat more efficiently.
* Has better circulation -- This allows the fatty acids to move more efficiently through the blood and into the muscle. That means fat is more readily available for fueling the body.
* Increases the number and size of mitochondria, also known as cellular power plants that provide energy for the body.

And, don't forget, regular exercise will also help you manage your weight. The more activity you engage in, the more calories you'll burn, and the easier it is to create the calorie deficit needed to lose weight.

Fat Burning Tip #3: Lift Weights

Adding more muscle by lifting weights can also help with burning fat, especially if you're also dieting. Lifting weights:

* Preserves muscle mass -- If you diet to lose weight, you actually risk losing muscle as well as fat. Muscle is metabolically active, so when you lose it, you also lose the extra calorie-burn muscles can provide.
* Keeps your metabolism going -- Some studies have found that a diet-only approach to weight loss could lower a person's resting metabolic rate by up to 20% a day. Lifting weights and maintaining muscle helps keep the metabolism up, even if you're cutting your calories.
* Helps you burn extra calories -- If you lift weights at a higher intensity, you can actually increase your afterburn, or the calories you burn after your workout. As About.com Weight Training Guide Paul Rogers states in his article, Burn More Fat, "If you can get afterburn...that’s a bonus because you burn fat during the exercise and after you cease as well."

There's no way around the fact that, when it comes to burning more fat, we have to work at it. There is no magic exercise, workout or pill that will do the job for us. But, the good news is that it doesn't take much activity to push the body into that fat burning mode. Try incorporating some type of activity every day, even if it's just a quick walk, and build on that over time as it becomes more of a routine. Do that and you're on the way to burning more fat.

Sources:

Thompson, D.L. et al. "Substrate use during and following moderate- and low-intensity exercise: Implications for weight control." European Journal of Applied Physiology and Occupational Physiology 1998; 78(1), 43-49.

The Scoop on Night Time Eating

Posted by juleslein on March 23, 2009

"Eat breakfast like a king, eat lunch like a prince and eat dinner like a pauper." This maxim can be attributed to nutrition writer Adelle Davis, and since her passing in 1974, the advice to eat less at night to help with fat loss has lived on and continued to circulate in many different incarnations. This includes suggestions such as:

"Dont eat a lot before bedtime"
"Don't eat midnight snacks"
"Don't eat anything after 7pm"
"Don't eat any carbs at night"
"Don't eat any carbs after 3 pm"
and so on.

Eating lightly at night is usually very solid advice for people seeking increased fat loss, especially for people who are inactive at night.

Opinions on this subject are definitely mixed. Many highly respected experts strongly recommend eating less at night to improve fat loss, while others suggest that it's only calories in vs calories out over 24 hours that matters.

The critics claim that it's ridiculous to cut off food intake at a certain hour or to presume that "carbs turn to fat" at night as if there were some kind of nocturnal carbohydrate gremlins waiting to shuttle calories into fat cells when the moon is full. They suggest that if you eat less in the morning and eat more at night, it all "balances itself out at the end of the day."

Of course, food does not turn to fat just because it's eaten after a certain "cut-off hour" and carbs do not necessarily turn to fat at night either (although there are hypotheses about low evening insulin sensitivity having some significance).

What we do know for certain is that the law of energy balance is with us at all hours of the day - and that bears some deeper consideration when you consider that we expend the least energy when we are sleeping and many people spend the entire evening watching TV.

Experts say that the old 24-hour model of energy balance looks at calories in versus calories out in 24 hour units. However, what really happens is that your body allocates energy minute by minute and hour by hour as your body's needs dictate, not at some specified 24 hour end point.

Dr. Fred Hatfield first explained this concept about 15 years ago. Hatfield explained how and why you should be thinking ahead to the next three hours and adjusting your energy intake accordingly.

Although it's not really a new idea, Dr. Benardot has recently taken this concept to a much higher level of sophistication and he calls the new paradigm, "Within Day Energy Balance."
The Within Day Energy Balance

The Within Day Energy balance approach not only backs up the practice of eating small meals approximately every three hours, AND the practice of "nutrient timing" (which is why pre and post workout nutrition is such a popular topic today, and rightly so). it also suggests that we should adjust our energy intake according to our activity.

Let's make the assumption most people come home from work, then plop on the couch in front of the TV all night. Let's also assume that the majority of people go to bed late in the evening, usually around 10 pm, 11 pm or midnight. Therefore, night-time is the period during which the least energy is being expended.

If this is true, then it's logical to suggest that one should not eat huge amounts of calories at night, especially right before bed because that would provide excess fuel at a time when it is not needed. The result is increased likelihood of fat storage.

From the within day energy balance perspective, the advice to eat less at night makes complete sense. Of course it also suggests that if you do intense training at night, then you should eat more at night to support that activity.

Those stuck on a 24 hour model of energy expenditure would say timing of energy intake doesn't matter as long as the total calories for the day are in a deficit. But whoever decided that the body operates on a 24-hour "DAY".

Try this test (or not!):

Eat a 2500 calorie per day diet, with nothing for breakfast, nothing before or after your morning workout, 500 calories for lunch, 750 calories for dinner and 1250 calories before bedtime.

Now compare that to the SAME 2500 calorie diet with 6 small meals of approximately 420 calories per meal and then tweak those meal sizes a bit so that you eat a little more before and after your workout and a little less later at night.

Both are 2500 calories per day. According to "a calorie is just a calorie" and "24 hour energy balance" thinking, both diets will produce the same results in performance, health and body composition. But will they?

Does your body really do a calculation at midnight and add up the day's totals like a business man when he closes out the register at night? It's a lot more logical that energy is stored in real time and energy is burned in real time, rather than accounted for at the end of each 24 hour period.

David Barr wrote a tip on "lower carbs at night" for the bodybuilding website, T-Nation. He said:

"Even when bulking, you don't want to start scarfing down Pop Tarts before you go to bed. Our muscle insulin sensitivity decreases as the day wears on, meaning that we're more likely to generate a large insulin response from ingesting carbs. Stated differently, we're more predisposed to adding fat mass by eating carbs at night because our body doesn't handle the hormone insulin as well as it does earlier in the day."

Many programs suggest a specific time when you should eat your last meal of the day. However, I'd suggest avoiding an absolute cut off time, such as "no food or no carbs after 6 pm, etc," because people go to bed at different times, and maintenance of steady blood sugar and an optimal hormonal balance even at night are also important goals.

A more personalized suggestion is to cut off food intake 3 hours before bedtime, if practical and possible. For example, if you eat dinner at 6 pm, but don't go to bed until 12 midnight, then a small 9:00 pm meal or a snack makes sense, but keep it light, preferably lean protein, and dont raid the refrigerator at 11:55!

Setting a rule to eat fewer calories or to eat fewer carbs at night may be a superbly effective way to keep your daily calories in check and to match intake to activity, whereas people who are allowed to eat ad libitum at night when they're home, glued to the couch and watching TV, etc., may tend to overeat when the energy is not needed in large amounts.

source: http://www.formerfatguy.com/weblog/2007/02/night-time-eating-and-weight-loss.asp

Overcoming Weight Loss Plateaus

Posted by juleslein on March 16, 2009

Weight loss plateaus are complex and are caused by a variety of problems. Here are a few of the most common:

1. Lowering caloric intake too much. It takes calories to burn calories. When you decrease food intake you are decreasing your basal metabolic rate, meaning your body burns less calories at rest. If your caloric intake is too low, your body may go into starvation mode and hold on tight to the calories you do take in.

2. Not enough muscle mass. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so if you are losing muscle, or not building any, you are not burning as many calories as you could be. Make sure strength training is a part of your regimen.

3. Weight Loss. That’s right! When you weigh less your body does not require as many calories to function. Make sure you have adjusted your energy intake as you lose body mass.

4. Adaptation. The human body has the amazing ability to adapt to almost anything that disrupts it. When you first begin exercising and calorie cutting, the body responds because it is faced with something new and disruptive. After a while, the body gets used to the exercise program and calorie cut. The body also becomes better at the exercise you do, thus requiring less calories to perform them.

5. Overtraining. When you exercise too much, your body responds by holding on to the calories you do take in. It is trying to conserve and hold on to energy to function properly.

Tips to Overcoming the Plateau

1. Add or increase resistance/weight training to your exercise routine to increase lean body mass.

2. Change up your exercise routine. Try a different kind of workout. If you usually run, try an elliptical machine, or riding the stationary bike. Surprise your body by working different muscles.

3. Interval training. This is a great way to burn more calories during a workout. Intervals are when you periodically increase and decrease the intensity during a session. For example: walk for 2 minutes, sprint for 1 minute, walk for 1 minute, run uphill for 2 minutes, walk for 1 minute, etc.

4. Re-motivate yourself. Make sure you haven’t slipped in your goal setting. Try to return to the commitment level you were at when you first started.

Think of this plateau as an opportunity to evaluate whether this weight could be the right weight for your body. It might not be the best idea to lose any more. Your body doesn’t want to because this could be your body’s ideal weight.

What is Your Correct Caloric Intake?

To make sure you are consuming the right amount of calories for your weight and daily needs, use this equation:

Men
Kg body weight x 24 = cals/day

*kg = pounds divided by 2.2

Almost everyone hits a plateau when participating in a weight loss program. You are doing all the same great things for your body and for some reason the scale just won’t budge! It is very natural and common. The causes of weight loss plateaus are complex but there are things one can do to overcome these obstacles and continue on the path to successful weight loss.

Do not have a deficit of greater than 500 to 700 calories per day!

Losing the Baby Weight

Posted by juleslein on March 09, 2009

Women who have been pregnant know how hard it can be to lose the weight after you've had a baby. You are so preoccupied with feedings and diaper changing that getting your figure back is usually the last thing on your mind. However, once you're settled in with your baby, you can work on losing the weight that you gained during pregnancy.

1. Choose to breastfeed your baby. Breastfeeding moms find that they lose the baby weight quickly due to the calories burned at each feeding.

2. Make time to exercise. New moms often find that it is difficult to fit daily exercise into their hectic schedules. Get a babysitter or let the newborn spend some time alone with Dad while you workout.

3. Find a mom and baby fitness class. If you're having a hard time leaving the baby, take her with you to workout. Mom and baby fitness classes are offered at many gyms and feature physical activities that you can perform with the infant.

4. Change your eating habits. Try not to rely on fast food for your meals. Instead, prepare healthy menu options and freeze them for quick meals.

5. Keep healthy foods in the house for snacking. Instead of purchasing cookies and chips, have fruits and vegetables handy for snack cravings.

6. Take long walks with your baby. Make it a nightly ritual to take your baby for a long brisk walk through your neighborhood.

*Remember: Don't expect to immediately fit back into your old pre-pregnancy clothes. Losing the weight from a baby can take almost as long as it took to gain the weight.*

source: www.ehow.com