Today it seems people are willing to go through almost anything to lose body fat. Fad diets, pills and magical exercise equipment are costly and most often simply ineffective. In order to lose those pounds you have to have a basic understanding of the food you are eating, and how to utilize various forms of exercise..
There are three things to consider when losing body fat.
Diet- watch your carbs in general and especially simple carbs. Avoid consuming lots of carbs in the evenings. Quite simply, to lose weight you must burn more calories than you consume.
Weight training - having more muscle mass is a huge aid to burning calories and getting lean. Each additional pound of muscle burns 30-50 calories per day at rest.
Cardio - to burn the most fat it helps to do it in a glycogen depleted state, such as immediately after waking (before consuming any carbs or fat) or right after lifting weights. HIIT - high intensity interval training has been shown to be exponentially more effective at fat burning than endurance type (level resistance) cardio.
All too often people are looking for the hidden secret when ti comes time to lose a few pounds, when in reality, it just takes a bit of work and some basic understanding of diet and exercise.
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Do you remember the day you first joined your gym? Wasn’t it a great feeling, knowing that you had finally taken that first step towards living a healthier life? Making a conscious, positive decision to improve is rewarding, and hopefully we’ve all kept that promise to ourselves. But try as we might, it seems that there’s always a handy excuse to not exercise.
While gym attendance peaks around January, it slacks off every March/April as people forget about their New Year Resolutions. Summer BBQ’s and vacations tend to make people stay away from the gym, and six months later holiday parties and planning to the same thing. Finally, we can all relate to those days when we simply don’t want to work out!
The International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, a trade association serving the health and fitness club industry, reports that the average health club member in the United States spends only about 90 days at the gym per year.
The purpose of this article is to help you STAY MOTIVATED to exercise! We don’t just want to help you with the ‘how’ of exercise - we want to help you with the ‘why’ too! We want you to look forward to exercising!
So what can you do to stay motivated? Here are five great ideas to help us all keep that inner fire burning..
1) Find an exercise buddy! When we know that someone else is going to meet us at the gym at a certain time, we will automatically be much more likely to show up ourselves. After all, who wants to abandon their friend? Don’t have a friend at the gym? Invite one along! She will appreciate the invitation, and will be much healthier for it!
2) Get to know people in the gym! One of the many reasons why women enjoy the gym so much is that it’s part exercise facility and part social club! Visiting with friends and family while we’re exercising makes the time go by so fast it hardly even seems like we’re doing something good for us. It’s great to get out of the house or office and just have some fun with other ladies!
3) Talk with your doctor! We all know that exercise is good for us. From helping to prevent cancer to lowering our blood pressure to helping us fit into that swimming suit, exercise is the best thing we can do for ourselves. Even with that knowledge, it’s sometimes encouraging to hear about our progress from our doctor. Here’s a hot motivation tip: ask your gym for a copy of your fitness records (monthly body fat analysis and measurements) and then share that information with your doctor. He or she will be so happy that you’re exercising, and will encourage you to continue!
4) Chart your progress! The CEO of a Fortune 500 company once said “What gets measured gets done”, and that advice is as good for us as it was for that business. Take the time to keep a food journal, an exercise log, or simply write down your fitness goals. Post it where you will see it every single day (on the ‘fridge, in the car, on the mirror, etc.). Life is just so busy these days, a constant visual reminder of our goals may be just the motivational push we need.
5) Give yourself a reward! Sometimes the ‘big picture’ can be too intimidating. For example, if you have 80 pounds to lose it’s tempting to think “It’s too much! I shouldn’t even try.” That’s one of the biggest motivation-killers out there, so combat those discouraging thoughts by rewarding yourself for smaller accomplishments. Treat yourself to a manicure when you lose that first five pounds. Buy a new outfit when you’ve lost ten pounds. Take a mini-vacation when you’re halfway to your goal. Give yourself small rewards for achieving smaller goals, and guess what…..many small steps make up a long journey! Before you know it, you’ll have accomplished your overall goal!
There are many other ways to give yourself the motivation to succeed. Try some of these tips today - the only thing you have to lose is the fat!
* Copyright 2005 Pick Up The Pace. Permission is not required for the distribution of Pick Up The Pace articles as long as they are used in their entirety, are properly credited to Pick Up The Pace, and are accompanied by our website link: www.letspickupthepace.com.
* The information in this article and on this site is for general reference purposes only and not intended to address specific medical conditions. This information is not a substitute for professional medical advice or a medical exam. Prior to participating in any exercise program or activity, you should seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health professional. No information in this article or on www.letspickupthepace.com should be used to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any medical condition.
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.
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Most people simply don’t pay attention to what they eat. They choose food solely on the basis of taste (or worse, packaging). While everyone agrees that food should certainly taste good, there is also a need for our food to be nutritionally sound. If you are not accustomed to evaluating your food choices, grab a package of you favorite food with a nutrition label on it and let’s get started!
When evaluating a nutrition label, pay attention first to the serving size. A particular food, for instance ice cream, may only have 150 calories per serving, but if the serving size is
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