Month: October 2015

Are you avoiding a plant-based diet because you think it is impossible to build muscle and strength?

Unfortunately, this myth is alive and well. Serious bodybuilders preach eating lots of steak, chicken and other types of animal protein to build muscles. There is no mistake about it, protein is definitely required if you want to strength train and build muscle.

However, your body does not care where that protein comes from. Your body uses 1 ounce of plant-based protein the same way it does 1 ounce of animal-based protein.

So if you decide to take up a healthy vegan diet, don’t worry about losing muscle mass.

The Key Is in Your Protein Ratio

If you eat nothing but plant-based protein, you can experience pretty fast weight loss. One of the key reasons is that plant based diets are very high in water and low in calories.

This means you need to eat more than just protein. That is because many fruits, plants and vegetables deliver a minimal amount of carbohydrates and calories.

Your body needs carbohydrates, calories and protein for a healthy life. Get the right ratio of these healthy fitness requirements into your diet and you can turn your vegan lifestyle into a muscle building machine.

After you strength train, you need carbohydrates for energy and protein to build muscle. Within 60 minutes of working out you want to focus on a meal that is 2 or 3 parts carbohydrates per 1 part protein.

You should also remember your body cannot process more than 1.0 to 1.25 grams of protein per 1 pound of body weight every day.

Use the above information hand-in-hand with your recommended daily caloric intake and you will give your body the perfect plant-based recipe for building muscle.

Strength training (like lifting weights or body weight training) builds muscle much more quickly and effectively than aerobic training.

So make sure you are strength training while enjoying a vegan diet. Make sure you get plenty of rest at night, and stay hydrated. With the above recommended protein/carbohydrate ratio and a sensible calorie count each day, strength training helps to build muscle and promote overall health on a plant-based diet.

Plant-Based Foods High in Protein

Make sure you are eating plenty of protein-rich plant-based foods or you will have a tough time building muscle. Red meat, chicken and fish in many cases deliver more protein per ounce than plants and vegetables. That is why the traditional muscle-building recipe includes lots of animal-based protein.

Look at these numbers though. There is protein in vegetables:

• Cauliflower – 2 grams per cup
• Brussels sprouts – 3 grams per cup
• Broccoli – 2.6 grams per cup
• Mustard greens – 1.6 grams per cup
• Collard greens – 1.1 grams per cup
• Spinach – 0.9 grams per cup
• Artichokes – 3.3 grams per cup
• Sweet corn – 5 grams per cup
• Lima beans – 15 grams per cup
• Peas – 8 grams per cup
• Bean sprouts – 9.2 grams per cup

One of the numbers really stands out doesn’t it? Lima beans with 15 grams of protein per cup. Actually beans in general are amazingly rich in protein.

For vegans to build muscle, that protein needs to be replaced. Focus on the following plant-based foods and you are sure to get plenty of protein for muscle-building efficiency.

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I am on Twitter quite a bit and am really excited by it still. There are few places online where you can have access to seeing what more than 200 million people are thinking and doing.

Today I thought it would be nice to find some great Hashtags to follow, 90 hashtags that are good for twitter and Instagram. If you are not aware of how hashtags work they are kind of like and indexing. People can post on Twitter and include one or more hashtags and these hashtags will help people find the posts that are most related to what thet are looking for.

Twitter also allows yout to do a keyword search but I think that Hashtags allow us to really see the posts that we would be most interested in seeing. By the way, especially for inspiration these are great hashtags in Instagram as well,

I thought I would break these 90 fitness hashtags down to a few categories; Food, exercise, and inspiration

Food Hashtags

These hashtags are great ones for watching what you eat, getting recipes that are healthy, and also to see different diets

#cleaneating #cleanRecipe #cleanrecipes #EatClean #EatLocal #fitfood #foodporn #GlutenFree #HealthyChoice #HealthyEating #HealthyRecipes #Nutrition #organic #paleo #PlantBased #PlantStrong #Preva #protein #Vegan #Vegitarian #weightloss

Exercise Hashtags

Not really sure what to say about these group of exercise hashtags. Not only will you get diferent exercises and workouts but some of them will be showing off and insiration to just get lots more out of your viewing pleasure

#BodyBuilding #Cardio #CardioParty #crossfit #Elliptical #Exercise #Exercise #FitChallenge #FitFam #FitMotivation #Fitness #fitnessaddict #fitnessbarbie #fitnessfreak #gainz #geekabs #GetFit #gym #GymTime #Health #IndoorCycling #lift #personaltrainer #strong #Training #Treadmill #weightraining #Weights #WeightTraining #wod #Workout

Inspiration Hashtags

Inspiration is always important. When we are being inspired on a bad day it can really get our head in a better place. Also if we are having a great day, why not inspire others?

#abs #aesthetic #beachbody #DreamBig #dreambitviral #FitnessMotivation #FitnessQuote #FitQuote #Fitspiration #GetHealthy #GetStrong #GoalSetting #HealthQuote #HealthTalk #HealthTips #healthy #HealthyLife #healthylifestyle #HealthyLiving #InItToWinIt #inspiring #justbringit #justdoit #motivation #muscle #noexcuses #quote #quotes #ripped #SelfMotivation #shreadding #shredded #sixpacks #squad #staypositive #Success #TheSweatlife #YouCanDoIt

I wouldn’t expect anyone to follow all of these hashtags but as you go through your Twitter and Instagram tweets check one or more of these hashtags out. As with regular accounts I always find that each of these fitness hashtags get a feel and attitude of their own thanks to the posters of posts with the hashtag

 

Let me know which are your favorite Fitness Hashtags and maybe you will see some of my posts there. Follow me on Twitter at FitnessGuy

 

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In today’s “I want it now” society, is it any wonder more and more people are searching for that magic pill that will not only offer fast weight loss, but painless loss as well.

Fast weight loss is likely something you’ve toyed with a million times, and many people aim to accomplish but only a few really figure out the facts of how to actually make it happen.

Is Fast Weight Loss Possible?

Fast Weight Loss

In the judgment of many people fast weight loss is linked up with starving or consuming a bunch of drugs because marketers have succeeded in creating the perception that in order to lose weight quickly you have to follow a strict diet or purchase a miracle product.

In fact, if you believe the crap put out there by some books, magazines and television, it may seem like your ideal body is precisely one diet or gizmo away.

Fast weight loss is neither the most beneficial nor the safest way to lose excess weight, however when someone who’s over starts to see results immediately they are more likely to stick to a plan, and that’s a good thing.

The problem is that fast weight loss is typically unhealthy and difficult, if not out of the question, to sustain in the end. It’s frequently too good to be true because it’s not true fat loss.

Avoid Diet Pills for Fast Weight Loss

During periods of starving yourself and usage of diet pills, more water is lost than fat, and this is why fast weight loss is often deceiving.

The key is to increase the power of your body to burn fat and calories by increasing your metabolism through exercise.

You reach your desired body by burning more calories than you take in. The best exercise for fast weight loss is any kind that will raise your heart rate by at least 60% and keep it going for 20 minutes or so.

The trouble with using exercise alone to try and achieve fast weight loss is that it doesn’t always provide immediate results, as it usually takes at least a couple of weeks before you notice any measurable changes in your body.

The reason for this is because fat weighs less than muscle. During regular exercise, fat is converted to muscle so the scales won’t show any significant loss from exercise. A tape measure is a much more accurate indicator of progress than the scales.

It takes a delicate balance of diet and nutrition to keep from burning muscle along with the fat, and this is where the problem comes in.

Lifestyle Change is Critical For Fast Weight Loss

Fast weight loss is achieved not only by dieting and exercise, but by changing the whole lifestyle and perspective of a person.

The first thing you should have is a positive state of mind because you’re going to have to limit or give up completely some of the foods you’ve been accustomed to.

It’s tough. If you haven’t got the willpower to be able to avoid eating certain foods or to push yourself to exercise, then you are running against a brick wall.

The biggest problem is that it takes extraordinary efforts in diet and exercise that are usually not sustainable over the long term, and the weight quickly comes back once you stop trying so hard.

That’s where the lifestyle change comes into play. Adopting new eating and exercise habits will not only help you drop the pounds, but keep them off later.

If the image of your new body isn’t enough motivation, adding hypnosis to the equation will increase your willpower, self-control and discipline.

I want to reiterate one thing here. Fast weight loss although possible can be unhealthy and is very much related to a complete lifestyle change.

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