So you made a new year's resolution to lose some weight, to get in shape... and part of the plan is to work out for an hour a day, seven days a week!
No, wait... make that 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week.
No, better stick to 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week.
Oh, what the heck, why bother doing it at all. You'll just end up breaking the resolution like 95% of all people do, right? So it's easier to forget the heartache and frustration, and nip it in the bud, quit before you start.
Well, how about this instead. Don't make huge goals that you find daunting and you know you won't achieve... pick goals that you can get your head around and definitely continue to do forever.
A little bit here and a little bit there adds up. If you try to carve out an hour or half an hour, chances are you'll get busy and miss out on it a few times, then you'll just stop trying so hard, and it will turn out that you have to revise your plans or cancel them altogether, which will probably feel like failure.
But what if you do just 5 minutes, a few times a day? That will add up to the same amount of workout time, but it will be very easy to keep it up because it doesn't feel like it's taking any time at all.
Maybe every time you get up to grab a coffee, you do 20 squats. And while you're waiting in line, you do calf raises. And when you're washing dishes, you do leg lifts.
Sitting at your desk, you do some side stretches or virtual rows, or use a paperweight to do some bicep curls. And while you talk on the phone, you stand up and do some lunges.
Then maybe instead of taking the elevator all the time, you walk if it's four flights of stairs or less. And you walk to the store instead of driving if you're not buying too much stuff that you won't be able to carry it.
By the end of the week, you'll probably have done more exercise than you would have if you had forced yourself to work out for a certain period of time each day, and not been able to keep the schedule.
You won't break into a sweat with all your mini workouts, which some people say is key to getting the benefits of exercise, but it is arguable that this type of regular and consistent movement has a huge benefit for your body... and your mind, because you'll feel happier and more in shape just by the act of stretching, let alone doing the tougher moves.
So don't let a busy schedule stop you from being in shape. Do what you can every day, and keep yourself fit a bit at a time.
(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)
Showing posts with label body fat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label body fat. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Burn-off the Fat
Burn-off the fat and keeping your weight down to a good level is something that seems to be beyond a lot of people. There are dozens of methods out there that supposedly help you cut down on your weight, ranging from crash diets involving quirky food, to medications designed to burn off fat, to radical new age psychic methods of self hypnosis for fat burning.
Okay, fine. Reality check... you can't wish and vibrate fat away, and miracle pills might work, but they generally have unhealthy side effects. If you really want to keep your weight down and do it in a healthy fashion, you have to work for it. And that involves the one weight loss method that is actually the most effective but the one that a vast majority of people dread: Exercise!
Before jumping out and buying yourself a pair of running shoes though, consult with your doctor and make sure that you're in fit enough shape to exercise strenuously. Ask your doctor's advice and find out what levels of strain, wear and tear you can put yourself through without risking your health.
If you want to make it easy on yourself, start slow. Brisk walks and jogging are nice easy cardiovascular exercises that get rid of excess fat slowly. You can take this at your own pace; remember, how fast you lose weight is directly proportional to the amount of effort involved. Even something as simple as walking up flights of stairs at the office instead of taking an elevator can be incorporated into part of your daily weight loss routine.
Next stop on the agenda after you've got your walking and jogging habits down is to get into calisthenics.
Here is one of the best: Crunches
As opposed to sit-ups, crunches are medically proven to be healthier and easier on the body, even as they burn up more fat. To do crunches, lie on the floor, lock your legs straight, and raise your feet and upper body simultaneously, bending at the waist.
Essentially, you form a shallow letter V. Start with small repetitions, pace yourself, and don't raise your feet or head more than a foot above the ground. Crunches are a great way to target the stomach, which is a problem area for most of us. Variations on crunches include raising only your legs, to target your lower abdomen, or raising only your head and upper body to target higher abdominal muscle groups. Twisting crunches involve turning your upper body alternately with each crunch and target love handles. Crunches are just one example of calisthenics. There are other exercises that are meant to target other body parts. Find a gym with a good calisthenics instructor and visit it regularly.
Another approach to weight loss is to engage in classic sports. Any good sport will eventually help you lose weight; if there is one that you actually like engaging in, go for it. Assuming you don't have a preference, however, try biking and rowing. These two activities burn off fat and replace it with lean muscle, and are actually quite exhilarating.
While weight training may seem like an option, it actually doesn't reduce weight much. Weight lifting replaces fat mass with muscle mass, usually of the bulky type. Both biking and rowing keep the muscle mass you gain lean, giving you a more streamlined look and keeping your weight down.
The most effective physical activities for weight reduction, however, involve ones that require great amounts of neuromuscular activity. These sharpen reflexes as well as burning off fat. Some of the best examples of these activities are dancing, martial arts, fencing, and gymnastics.
Because of the greater need for dexterity and agility in these sports, a person who trains in them naturally develops a much higher metabolic rate.
Also, since the emphasis in these arts is in rapid, efficient movement, the burn rate of calories is a lot higher than regular sports. However, these arts are also the most demanding, not only physically, but also in terms of mental alertness and coordination.
They are not for everyone but if you want an exercise that will help you lose weight fast and keep it off, you can't go wrong with them.
That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Don't bother coming up with excuses. Most people claim that they either don't have the time, the equipment, or the opportunity to exercise and lose weight.
In truth, opportunities are always available. Even taking just the first option, and spending 30 minutes a day walking, will eventually make you lose weight.
The important thing is to stop rationalizing that it's something you can't do. You can burn that fat off; it just takes a bit of persistence.
(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)
Okay, fine. Reality check... you can't wish and vibrate fat away, and miracle pills might work, but they generally have unhealthy side effects. If you really want to keep your weight down and do it in a healthy fashion, you have to work for it. And that involves the one weight loss method that is actually the most effective but the one that a vast majority of people dread: Exercise!
Before jumping out and buying yourself a pair of running shoes though, consult with your doctor and make sure that you're in fit enough shape to exercise strenuously. Ask your doctor's advice and find out what levels of strain, wear and tear you can put yourself through without risking your health.
If you want to make it easy on yourself, start slow. Brisk walks and jogging are nice easy cardiovascular exercises that get rid of excess fat slowly. You can take this at your own pace; remember, how fast you lose weight is directly proportional to the amount of effort involved. Even something as simple as walking up flights of stairs at the office instead of taking an elevator can be incorporated into part of your daily weight loss routine.
Next stop on the agenda after you've got your walking and jogging habits down is to get into calisthenics.
Here is one of the best: Crunches
As opposed to sit-ups, crunches are medically proven to be healthier and easier on the body, even as they burn up more fat. To do crunches, lie on the floor, lock your legs straight, and raise your feet and upper body simultaneously, bending at the waist.
Essentially, you form a shallow letter V. Start with small repetitions, pace yourself, and don't raise your feet or head more than a foot above the ground. Crunches are a great way to target the stomach, which is a problem area for most of us. Variations on crunches include raising only your legs, to target your lower abdomen, or raising only your head and upper body to target higher abdominal muscle groups. Twisting crunches involve turning your upper body alternately with each crunch and target love handles. Crunches are just one example of calisthenics. There are other exercises that are meant to target other body parts. Find a gym with a good calisthenics instructor and visit it regularly.
Another approach to weight loss is to engage in classic sports. Any good sport will eventually help you lose weight; if there is one that you actually like engaging in, go for it. Assuming you don't have a preference, however, try biking and rowing. These two activities burn off fat and replace it with lean muscle, and are actually quite exhilarating.
While weight training may seem like an option, it actually doesn't reduce weight much. Weight lifting replaces fat mass with muscle mass, usually of the bulky type. Both biking and rowing keep the muscle mass you gain lean, giving you a more streamlined look and keeping your weight down.
The most effective physical activities for weight reduction, however, involve ones that require great amounts of neuromuscular activity. These sharpen reflexes as well as burning off fat. Some of the best examples of these activities are dancing, martial arts, fencing, and gymnastics.
Because of the greater need for dexterity and agility in these sports, a person who trains in them naturally develops a much higher metabolic rate.
Also, since the emphasis in these arts is in rapid, efficient movement, the burn rate of calories is a lot higher than regular sports. However, these arts are also the most demanding, not only physically, but also in terms of mental alertness and coordination.
They are not for everyone but if you want an exercise that will help you lose weight fast and keep it off, you can't go wrong with them.
That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Don't bother coming up with excuses. Most people claim that they either don't have the time, the equipment, or the opportunity to exercise and lose weight.
In truth, opportunities are always available. Even taking just the first option, and spending 30 minutes a day walking, will eventually make you lose weight.
The important thing is to stop rationalizing that it's something you can't do. You can burn that fat off; it just takes a bit of persistence.
(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Exercise Melts Body Fat
If you want to reduce your body fat, focus on increasing the amount of exercise you get rather than decreasing your food intake. A recent national study was done using two groups of sedentary men, one group in their 20's and the other over age 65. A lot was learned from this accumulated data and it is interesting to note that there was a significant relationship between lack of physical activity and fat. Not surprisingly, the most sedentary men had the most body fat.
These studies have also indicated that the government’s current recommended daily allowance for calories does not correlate with the body's actual energy needs. For example, although 2400 calories have been calculated for older men, they in fact burned an average of 2800 calories daily.
The leading experts now recommend that people who want to lose weight start increasing their physical activity. Just being more active in general (such as climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, moving around instead of sitting still, sitting up instead of lying down as well as showing some excitement and enthusiasm instead of boredom), are things that more effectively burns calories and reduces body fat. Everyone seems to have lost sight of the value of being active. Consider this, a half-hour aerobic workout accounts for far less energy expenditure than our minute-to-minute movement in the office or at home.
Millions of Americans are trying to lose weight, spending approximately $30 billion a year on diet programs and products; often they do lose some weight. But, if you check with the same people five years later, you will find that nearly all have regained whatever weight they lost. A national panel recently sought data to determine if any commercial diet program could prove long-term success. Not a single program could do so. Being seriously overweight and particularly obesity predisposes individuals to a number of diseases and serious health problems, and it's now a known fact that when caloric intake is excessive, some of the excess frequently is saturated fat.
People who diet without exercising often get fatter with time. Although your weight may initially drop while dieting, such weight loss consists mostly of water and muscle. When the weight returns, it comes back as fat. To avoid getting fatter over time, increase your metabolism by exercising regularly.
Walking is one of the best exercises for strengthening bones, controlling weight, toning the leg muscles, maintaining good posture and improving positive self-concept. To lose weight, it's more important to walk for time than speed. Walking at a moderate pace yields longer workouts with less soreness - leading t more miles and more fat worked off on a regular basis. High intensity walks on alternate days help condition one's system. But in a walking, weight-loss program, you are not required to walk an hour every day as some people would have you believe.
When it comes to good health and weight loss, exercise and diet are inter-related. Exercising without maintaining a balanced diet is no more beneficial than dieting while remaining inactive.
(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)
These studies have also indicated that the government’s current recommended daily allowance for calories does not correlate with the body's actual energy needs. For example, although 2400 calories have been calculated for older men, they in fact burned an average of 2800 calories daily.
The leading experts now recommend that people who want to lose weight start increasing their physical activity. Just being more active in general (such as climbing the stairs instead of taking the elevator, moving around instead of sitting still, sitting up instead of lying down as well as showing some excitement and enthusiasm instead of boredom), are things that more effectively burns calories and reduces body fat. Everyone seems to have lost sight of the value of being active. Consider this, a half-hour aerobic workout accounts for far less energy expenditure than our minute-to-minute movement in the office or at home.
Millions of Americans are trying to lose weight, spending approximately $30 billion a year on diet programs and products; often they do lose some weight. But, if you check with the same people five years later, you will find that nearly all have regained whatever weight they lost. A national panel recently sought data to determine if any commercial diet program could prove long-term success. Not a single program could do so. Being seriously overweight and particularly obesity predisposes individuals to a number of diseases and serious health problems, and it's now a known fact that when caloric intake is excessive, some of the excess frequently is saturated fat.
People who diet without exercising often get fatter with time. Although your weight may initially drop while dieting, such weight loss consists mostly of water and muscle. When the weight returns, it comes back as fat. To avoid getting fatter over time, increase your metabolism by exercising regularly.
Walking is one of the best exercises for strengthening bones, controlling weight, toning the leg muscles, maintaining good posture and improving positive self-concept. To lose weight, it's more important to walk for time than speed. Walking at a moderate pace yields longer workouts with less soreness - leading t more miles and more fat worked off on a regular basis. High intensity walks on alternate days help condition one's system. But in a walking, weight-loss program, you are not required to walk an hour every day as some people would have you believe.
When it comes to good health and weight loss, exercise and diet are inter-related. Exercising without maintaining a balanced diet is no more beneficial than dieting while remaining inactive.
(Note: This article is the opinion of the author and may or may not be substantiated by scientific fact.)
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