Diet

Losing Weight the Healthy Way

01/02/2010

weight loss,Losing Weight,dieting,exercise,Healthy,flat stomach

Obesity continues to be a serious problem and is predicted to reach epidemic levels by the year 2020.

One way to prevent this scenario is to make people aware of the risks of being overweight or obese. Here are some diseases that you are putting yourself in risk of if you are carrying a lot of extra pounds:

1. heart disease

2. stroke

3. diabetes

4. cancer

5. arthritis

6. hypertension

Losing weight helps to prevent and control these diseases.

The quick weight loss methods which have spread like fire these days do not provide lasting results. More often than not, dieting methods which involve dietary drinks, foods and supplement or pills do not work. If they do, the results are just temporary.

It is better to rely on a healthy weight loss option which will provide lifetime results. You have to set realistic goals and not expect to lose a lot of pounds in a short span of time.

Here are some tips on how you can lose those unwanted pounds the healthy way:

Losing Weight, Healthy, weight loss, diet, excersie

1. Do not starve your self.

The key to a healthier way of losing weight is: Do not diet.

You may seem happy and feel that you are losing those unwanted flabs on your belly and thighs by skipping meals. But remember that this would not last long. Your body cannot tolerate having insufficient food to fuel the energy that you use up everyday.

If you get used to skipping one or two meals a day, your stored calories will be used up instead of the energy that should have been provided by your meals. So if you just eat one huge sandwich in one day, it will end up straight to your problem area (i.e. highs, buttocks, hips).

2. Start your day right.

Mothers always say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Have a healthy meal in the morning to jump-start your metabolism.

Your food intake after you wake up will be used to burn fat all day long.

3. Eat small, healthy meals frequently.

Five small-serving snacks per day is better than three hearty meals. Eating more frequently, and in small servings, can prevent over-eating. This will also increase your metabolism and make calories burn faster.

4. Decide on how much weight you want to lose.

Keep your goals realistic. In the long run, it is virtually impossible for you to lose 40 pounds in 2 weeks. Have a mindset that you want to eat healthy to stay healthy for the rest of your life.

Once you have decided on a weight loss plan or program, stick to it and make sure that you follow your own set of dieting rules.

5. Drink lots of water.

Your body needs sufficient water to burn fat and keep your cells hydrated and healthy.

6. Avoid too much sugar.

Plan your meals around lots of fruits and vegetables, some bread, rice or pasta for that carbo fix that you need, plus lean meat and protein rich-foods. Sweets, sodas and pastries should be once-in-a-while indulgences only.

7. Watch your fat intake.

Fat is not the culprit to being overweight. You need this to keep your weight at the proper level.

There is such a thing as healthy fats. Olive, peanuts and canola oil have them. Tuna, salmon and mackerel have omega-3 fats which is good for the heart.

8. Exercise.

Leave your car if you are only going a few blocks from home, take the stairs instead of the elevator, jog, cycle or skate. Use these activites and other home chores if you are too lazy to go to the gym and take exercise classes. Make sure that you do this regularly and you will not even notice that you are already shedding pounds with these mundane activities.

It does not matter how much weight you plan or need to lose. What is important is that you set realistic goals for yourself.

Go slow. If you have already lost 5 or 6 pounds, give yourself a break then try to lose the next 5 pounds.

Eat healthy, drink lots of water, have enough sleep and exercise. This will give you a higher chance of losing weight and improving your health, which would result to a new, healthier you.

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Good Body Building Foods

17/05/2009

Our bodies are complex machines, which demand to be looked after in the best way possible. This means that you have to put the right kind of food, in the right quantities, into it and at the same time show some kind of respect to limits – there is no point hammering away in the gym when you have a pulled muscle because it won’t build as well as it could, and your body will not thank you for the extra pain. Bear in mind that body building exercise has at least three stages – preparation, activity and recovery. For each of those stages you will need to follow the rules in order to benefit.

To begin with you will need good “energy food” which allows you to maintain the workout. This includes – indeed, is dominated by – carbohydrates, or “carbs” as they are often referred to. This food is like the gasoline that makes a car run, and is there in such foods as rice, pasta, bread and potatoes. It is exactly the kind of food that, without an exercise regime, can make you put on weight. This makes it extra important that you are thorough with the exercise element of your body-building plan.

You will also need proteins. Mostly these come in the form of meat (it must be lean meat) and dairy products. This is the muscle-building part of the diet – think of it as the tune-up that gets extra performance out of your car and gives it that extra grunt. Lean beef or pork – not sausages, and if you want a burger it should be 100% beef – as well as eggs and milk are great sources of protein.

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What Should You Eat?

17/05/2009

If you ever watch strongman competitions on the television, you will often see the contestants in a typical clichéd pose next to a kitchen table with their typical daily diet spread over it. Frequently this will include several chickens, enough pasta to feed a family for a week, lots of energy drinks and plenty of veg. Often it will also include some burgers and similar fast food. This is often taken as a sign that these guys can eat as much as they want, and an invitation to the potential bodybuilder to just keep pigging out. The good news is that these guys do generally eat the stuff they say they do. But wait for the bad news.

The fact is that these guys are generally pulling trucks over distances that the average human being would find it hard to carry a couple of liters of milk. To get to the level where you are doing that, you need to be in such prime physical condition that to maintain it requires a routine of physical training that would make the Navy Seals shudder. And to keep up that level of training requires a whole lot of energy.

For the beginning body builder, the opportunity for burgers, fries and sugar-filled drinks will be limited. Meat must be grilled, and come with the fat cut off, at least to begin with. Essentially, when looking at the kitchen table next to that strongman, you can subtract all of the “fun food” and bear in mind that until you have taken your training up a level, you will need to favor the less “exciting” stuff.

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