Tag: Body Fat

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Weight Loss Exercise

Does Conjugated Linoleic Acid Work?

Conjugated linoleic acid is a natural substance found in many of our foods that according to many studies can reduce fat and improve muscle mass in the body. Taken as a supplement with no change in eating or exercise habits, it would not make you lose weight but it could help you lose fat. It is often taken by men looking to lose weight and bodybuild at the same time, but it can also be useful for anyone who is overweight and under-exercising, as any increase in muscle will increase the metabolism, burning more calories.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid

Like many natural weight loss products, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) combined with a flexible healthy eating plan can lead to gradual long term weight loss and help you get out of the yoyo dieting cycle where you are constantly losing and gaining the same 10, 20 or 50 pounds. Yoyo dieting is very bad for the health. It is better to remain overweight than to keep on losing and gaining, losing and gaining.

CLA SupplementsMost experts (unless they are trying to sell you something) agree that the diet that works best in the long term is the non-diet, where instead of eating special foods and banning others, you eat slightly smaller quantities of a normal healthy diet. If you are currently living entirely on pizza, fries and chocolate, then okay, some changes may be overdue. But you can still have small portions of all of those foods from time to time. If this is the kind of diet that you want, then CLA can help reinforce your plan by boosting your fat loss. Dr Michael Pariza of University of Wisconsin-Madison, reported to the American Chemical Society that CLA “doesn’t make a big fat cell get little. What it rather does is keep a little fat cell from getting big.”

Many studies have been done on CLA. One study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that people taking CLA lost on average six pounds of body fat more than a group that took a placebo. The researchers discovered that you need around 3.4 grams of CLA per day for it to be effective. CLA is found in food, especially meat and dairy products, but supplementation is necessary for most people to reach that level.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid Studies

Another study at Purdue University, Indiana, found that CLA improved insulin levels in about two-thirds of diabetics, and slightly decreased their blood glucose level and triglyceride levels, suggesting that it may help to maintain normal insulin levels. But see your doctor before taking any supplements if you have diabetes.

There are no magic pills for weight loss but if you are willing to commit to reducing your body fat permanently, CLA may help you. Keep in mind that its main effect is to convert fat to muscle, which by itself will not weigh any less. But your body will look slimmer and feel healthier if you do this, and combined with a good weight control eating plan conjugated linoleic acid can help you move toward your ideal weight too.

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Weight Loss Exercise

Why Your Waist Size Is So Important for Your Health


While a lot of people place emphasis on losing weight, you don’t see much as much press about waist size. However, the fact of the matter is that having a suitable waist size is even more important than being the right weight. This is because a big waist circumference is linked to a variety of health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, and other obesity-linked disease. What’s more, a study found that people with bigger waist sizes had twice the risk of dying compared to people with smaller waistlines. This shows how dangerous it can be to have a big waist.

To clear things up, the waist is the area between the bottom of your ribs to the top of your hips. You may call this your abdomen or belly area. Most of the time, people with large waists tend to have an apple-shaped body, as opposed to a pear-shaped body when more of the body fat is stored in the hips. If you have an apple-shaped body, you should certainly measure your waist size and ensure that it is not too big.

You must be wondering what a ‘large waistlineâ? means. In general, if you are a man and your waist circumference is more than 37 inches, and if you are a woman and your waist circumference is more than 32 inches, you already have a higher risk of contracting diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. The risk is heightened even more if your waistline is above 40 inches (for men) and 35 inches (for women). So, try your best to reduce your waist size to below the mentioned levels.

A bigger waist means more of your fat is stored in your abdomen, on and around your organs. This can impair the ability of your organs to function properly, which is why many health problems afflict people with bigger waistlines.

It’s important to know that you cannot target weight loss to happen around your waist only. The only way to drop the fat is to eat a lower-calorie diet and do regular exercise to burn overall fat. Generally, fat burns off last from the abdomen, so you will have to work on it if you are going to reduce your waist size.

It won’t be easy, but for your health’s sake, strive to achieve a healthy weight as well as a healthy waist size.


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Weight Loss Exercise

High Intensity Cardio Exercise



Should you do High Intensity Cardio Exercise or is walking good enough? Everyone has wondered at some point in time which cardio exercise is better. To put it in simple terms, both low and high intensity exercises will help you to burn off body fat. The question here is which is the most effective to burn off more body fat.

When scientists first discovered that during intensive exercises, your body burns glycogen, which is a form of stored carbohydrates that are stored in your liver and muscles for energy. During low intensity exercises, your body will burn a lot of fat.

What Burns More – Low Intensity or High Intensity Cardio Exercise

If your wondering whether or not it works, the answer is no because there are so many obese people still around. Even though they are working out with low intensity routines, it still makes you wonder how it can be.

High Intensity Cardio Exercise

High Intensity Cardio Exercise

The scientists were right when they said the human body burns more body fat during low intensity exercises like walking or swimming. During a high intensity exercise such as running, the body will burn a lot more calories. Even if some of the calories burnt are from glycogen, there are still many fat calories burned as well.

To put the icing on the cake, when your store of glycogen gets low, the carbohydrates from your food you eat will later get converted into glycogen to fill up the store and won’t be converted to body fat when they are left unused for energy.

High intensity cardio exercise will juice up your metabolism even after you have completed your workout. What this means, is that your body will continue to burn body fat hours after you have left the gym. This effect is nearly non existent in low intensity cardio or aerobic workout.

Accumulatively, your body will burn up more and more calories during and after you have finished a high intensity cardio exercise that it will with low intensity. You can inject high intensity exercises into your cardio workout by introducing some interval training. You can walk for 5 minutes or so, then break into some jogging for another 5 minutes or so. Then, walk briskly again until you have caught your breath and then sprint for a minute before you walk again. From this point, simply alternate your running and walking for the next 15 minutes until you are finished.

One of the best things about cardio is the more you do it, the more energy you’ll have. Cardio will help you to burn calories, although its more useful for keeping your energy levels high.

If you’ve never tried cardio before, you should give it a shot. If you like to exercise, you’ll find cardio the best way to boost your energy and keep in top shape. If you are just starting out, you’ll want to go slow and keep your cardio exercise in track – as it is very easy to over exert yourself.


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