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Weight Loss Exercise

Dealing with Setbacks

This last couple of weeks I feel are all about me but I am hoping that you can learn from my problems.

We all deal with problems and setbacks when we are getting fit or healthier. Usually this is because we are beating our body into changing one way or the other. How you deal with your injury or setback will directly affect how you move forward afterwards.

Dealing with Setbacks

Dealing with Setbacks

Last week I decided that I was going to really pick it up trying to get in the best shape of my life so I could dominate in street hockey next week. I did this by doing lots of cardio, running, riding, rowing, elliptical trainer. But the trouble is that I have been cardio-lazy all winter while doing speed style weight workouts, you know like turbulence training.

Well my body got really mad at that straight out cardio and I seem to have wrecked my back. This happens lots to people and when it happens to you how do you react?

Well the best way to react is to heal and work around the injury. Ice and heat alternating a few times a day, aspirin for the pain and continue trying to exercise.

When eating this happens a lot. You cut your eating and change your diet and in your head you are struggling, starving, and feel like you are doing without. Then suddenly you find a cake and eat it.

What do you do next? Well I would have to ask why you are starving yourself and depriving? My best idea is to regroup after eating that cake and  try to decide what was wrong. Plan what you will do. I will tell you right now that just by drinking more water, spacing out your eating to 6 smaller meals, and cutting out all the bread, potatoes, and rice from your diet will make a huge difference.

So think back, how do you tend to react to setbacks? I know this is always a process that you have to look back at your past and see how you can adjust.

I always used to be disappointed in myself that I did not have unlimited willpower until I realized that I was setting far too high a standard for myself.  You should look at yourself the same way, recognize your limitations and don’t try to be some kind of hero but just always move forward in your dreams and goals.


Dealing with Setbacks

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Weight Loss Exercise

Does Lifting Weights Burn Fat?



I always get asked does lifting weights burn fat? People who want to drop extra pounds often turn to cardiovascular exercise in order to burn fat. Many trainers recommend aerobic exercises to burn calories, saying that strength training is only good for building muscles.

Does Lifting Weights Burn Fat?

Does Lifting Weights Burn Fat?

Does Lifting Weights Burn Fat?

However, more and more people these days are becoming aware of the importance of muscle development for long-term fat loss. That is why people are beginning to ask, “Does lifting weights burn fat?”

Combine Cardio and Weight Training

Not too long ago, people who wanted to lose weight performed intense aerobic workouts such as running, jogging, swimming, or exercising on an elliptical trainer. Cardiovascular exercise elevates the metabolism during workout and for a short time after the workout session.

Weight training, on the other hand, develops muscle mass and increases the body’s metabolism long after the exercise session is over. The reason is that muscles require more calories to maintain than fat does. Thus, lifting weights actually burns fat faster.

Does Lifting Weights Burn Fat – Higher Metabolism

Strength training builds more muscles in the body. Because muscles use up more calories, your body turns into a fat-burning furnace. With more lean muscle in your body, your metabolism will increase. Lifting weights actually helps you burn fat even while you rest. After your weight lifting session, your body will continue burning more calories for a longer period than you would after an aerobic session.

Build More Muscles

Many people think that bigger muscles are developed during strength training. Lifting weights actually tears down the muscles. Muscle development and repair take place during the rest period following the weight lifting session. It is while you rest and recuperate that your muscles grow bigger and stronger.

Burn Fat Faster

Cardiovascular exercise provides a calorie-burning workout that melts fat from all over your body. However, if you want to keep the fat off it’s necessary to combine weight lifting with your cardio workout. This will increase your metabolism so your body burns more calories even while you are resting or sleeping. Strength training using resistance methods or by lifting weights helps you burn fat and keep it from coming back. For every 3 pounds of muscles gained, you burn about 120 calories more per day.

Avoid Quick Weight-Loss Diets

You may be tempted to go on a miracle or starvation diet when trying to lose weight quickly. This is bad because it will cause the loss of muscle mass. Any weight lost will be quickly regained. It is best, instead, to work towards a gradual fat loss by combining weight lifting and cardio activities. This will allow you to build up muscle mass and increase your metabolism. Although it may take longer to attain your ideal weight, the results will last longer.

So, does lifting weights burn fat? You know now that it does.


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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

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