Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Secrets to losing weight

Secrets to losing weight

Many people struggle with losing weight either for a short time in the spring or summer or for their whole life. There are many things that you can do to make the difference between being overweight or not. Based on the way that your lifestyle is there are two big things that you have to concern yourself with, diet and exercise.

Diet is what you eat. We all know that we should not eat food that is bad for us but how about the flip side. How about eating more foods that are better for us. Today at lunch I could have gone out for fast food or I could have stayed in and eaten the soup and fruit that I brought with me. I ate the soup. Today is generally the way that I eat which is eating by design. I plan in the morning what I will eat and then pack it with me so that I do eat it and not something that is more convenient at the time. Tomorrow I may go out for lunch instead but I know that in two weeks I will have eaten all but three meals or so by preparing them myself and not by having a restaurant prepare them for me. I eat what I should and if I eat any prepared food that I know that it is one bad decision compared to all of the good decisions that I make.
Water is also a big part of my diet. I drink water throughout the day so that my body can easily digest my food and also so that I am not hungry and looking for some junk food.

Exercise is the other part of a great health plan and is the basis, to me, of how to best lose weight. I ride a bike to work all summer so I can get two good workouts in a day but on the weekend I take it easy so that during the next week I am not getting too sore to keep up my exercise schedule. Exercising one a day is a great way to get better health and if you can keep up a high heart rate of at least 30 minutes a day it will burn more calories constantly during the day every day. Now that winter is coming I will be balancing my cardio on an indoor elliptical trainer with some weights to gain a bit more muscle. The importance of weight training can not be understated. If you have more muscle your body has to work a little harder to keep itself going, this will burn more calories.

Lastly I think that losing weight has a lot to do with a great, excited attitude. I have always found that when I am in my best shape I have a great attitude about my exercise and my eating. Workouts are a breeze and I am working towards my exercise goals consistently. My eating is really good and I am proud of the things that I am putting into my mouth and finally my outlook is great because I feel excellent about the way I look and feel.

Adopt these tactics and your weight loss will be a lot easier and more fun than it has ever been before

Related Blogs

  • Related Blogs on Bad Decision
Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Guide to a Great Weight Workout



There is always a lot of confusion over how to do a proper weight workout so I will try to explain what I think is important. There are five parts to your workout; the warm-up, stretching, weight workout, cool down, and post workout meal.

Warmup and Stretching

First when you walk into the gym or basement it is always important to warm up and then stretch. If you think about how you are doing a workout and what kind of stress you are putting on your muscles then you have to be aware of how if they are not warm they can stretch or rip¦this is not a good thing.

To do a proper warm up you should probably use all of your muscle groups. Do not warm-up by doing hard cardio for a half hour as this will tire you out for your weight workout. For a warm-up the best machine I have found is an elliptical trainer. An elliptical trainer will allow you to use all of your muscles, is low impact and forces you to focus a little on your balance so you can get focused on what the workout will bring. Only do your muscle warm-up for about 5 to 10 minutes and not at a high intensity but rather medium intensity so you only break a little sweat and get your muscles warm.

Next get water and do some stretching. I am in favor of stretching all of my muscles before a workout not just the muscles that I will be training that day. Find some good stretches and spend another 5 to 10 minutes stretching and focusing on your breathing, you want to be sure to have good oxygen in your system during your weight workout so that you always feel that you energy is up.

Doing your sets

Next get a drink again and the start your weight workout. I will not delve into the sets and reps as that can be covered better by itself. During your workout though make sure that you are waiting one to two minutes between sets and taking in water whenever necessary. Your weight lifting portion of your workout should take about 40-60 minutes. To short a workout and you will not have time to really hit your muscles hard enough but at the other extreme if you workout too long you will have to little energy at the end of your workout and you also risk not being able to recover between workouts.

After you finish your weight workout it is a good idea to stretch again as stretching will allow the muscles to stop cramping, increase blood flow throughout the muscle and relax you before you get back into the car. In the past I found that if I did not stretch after my workout then my arms would be shaking when I got behind the wheel of the car to go home (not much better when I got on a bike instead).

Rest and recovery happen later

It is important to remember that you do not make your gains in the gym; you make strength and mass gains while your body recovers with proper rest and exercise. One of the critical things that you can do diet wise after your workout is to take in lots of carbohydrates to replenish the energy lost during the workout. Some people take Creatine or a Gatorade/sugar drink which can be expensive but if you are trying to replenish your carbs the best thing to take is some sugar in water. Kool aid would be good if you could drink enough but a potato or rice are not good as they will take to long for your body to be able to use the sugar.

About an hour after your workout you can take in some protein, some people try to get in the protein even earlier with some people trying to get in a double sized meal within an hour of the end of the workout. I on the other hand usually can not stomach a large heavy meal that quickly after a workout and am not rich enough to take in a $5 energy drink after every workout.

Follow these simple workouts and you will get better results, have better workouts, recover better, and have a better, healthier time in the gym.

Categories
Weight Loss Exercise

Biggest Loser TV show Week 4





Well this week the contestents were in Las Vegas and got ot play a card for money and lose their Coach if they did so. Out of 10 people 5 took the money. In the end all of the people lost quite a bit of weight so apparently the muscle is starting to pack on an the cardio is definitely working.

The trainers both were horrified when they found out that 5 people took $1,000 to $5,000 to not have a trainer for a week, you have to agree with them as getting kicked out early may stop your weight loss in it’s tracks and having all time access to a trainer is a once in a lifetime experience.

For drama the women were fighting and not working as a team while the men were working really hard, together and as a team.


Biggest Loser TV show Week 4