When it comes to living a long and healthy life, there are two necessary ingredients: diet and fitness. While some believe that they are one thing all together, nothing could be further from the truth. It is quite possible to have a perfectly healthy diet with deplorable fitness habits. It is equally possible to be very physically fit with less than savory eating habits.
There’s a clever little line in the Jimmy Buffet song “Fruitcakes” when his ‘lady’ is lamenting:
“I treat my body like a temple
You treat yours like a tent”
I can’t help but think of this line whenever I think about all the people around the world who are going on these garbage in, garbage out diet plans hoping to achieve the weight loss success of those who are endorsing these products.
To be completely honest, it is possible to shed pounds through diet alone. It is difficult but possible. It is also possible to be physically fit and have a few extra pounds hanging around. To a large degree we are what we eat. If we consume a high fat low substance diet our bodies are going to lack the fuel required to burn the fat. At the same time if we aren’t providing our bodies with the tools it needs to build muscle it doesn’t matter how many weights we lift.
When it comes to diet and fitness, the best results are achieved when they work together rather than separately. Use your fitness routine to burn excess calories and use your diet in order to properly provide your body the nutrients and fuel it needs to build muscle. I’ve heard many times in my life that a pound of muscle weighs less than a pound of fat. While this is not true at all, a pound is a pound regardless; a pound of muscle occupies less space on the body than a pound of fat. Pound for pound, I would much rather mine be composed of muscle than fat. Dieting alone does not build muscle and that is something you will do well to remember in your efforts.
You should also realize that as you are building muscle you may be shedding inches while not showing a great deal of progress on the scale. It is very important that you keep this in mind throughout the weight loss process. Do not measure your progress by the scales alone or you will achieve misleading results. The problem is that far too many people do just this and get frustrated and give up when they are actually making progress. Do not allow yourself to be a victim of the scales. Look in the mirror, try on your tight pants, and measure your waistline. Measure your success by how you feel after climbing a flight of stairs not by how many pounds fell of the scale this week.
By incorporating fitness into your diet routine you are also enabling your body to burn off any extra calories you may have consumed during the day. This means that if you want to have a small ‘cheat’ during your day, you can make up for it by burning a few more calories than normal in the evening. This isn’t something that should happen often but an occasional occurrence isn’t going to make or break your diet.
You should also look at dieting and fitness as a ball and glove type of relationship. While you can play ball without the glove, it seems to work so much better if you have both. Diet and fitness when combined can create fantastic weight loss results for those who take them both seriously. The thing to remember is that neither works as well alone and neither will work unless you are willing to do the work. You must make this a priority in your life in order to achieve the best possible results.
So now, let’s take a look at some specific ways you can start looking and feeling healthy.
Nutrition: Nutrition is the most important part of athletic/fitness achievement. A proper nutrition program is eighty percent of an effective fitness program! Proper eating habits must be consistent, efficient and persistent. Adhering to proper and consistent nutrition will ensure maximum performance for your workouts and maximize results achieved from your exercise program. If you choose not to follow a good nutrition program, you can plan on seeing about twenty percent of the results that would be possible.
Water: Water is the most important nutrient in your body, and is essential to a good, healthy diet. You must drink at least 80-100 oz. (10-12 glasses) every day. No exceptions!
Foods: Your daily food intake should consist of 30% protein, 50% carbohydrates and 20% fats. Eat good, lean sources of protein such as fish, chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites, or any of numerous protein powders/shakes that are on the market. Its best to consume complex carbohydrates such as white and brown rice, sweet and white potatoes, fresh fruit and vegetables, Low-fat whole wheat bread or wheat/oat bagels. You do need to allow for some fat in your diet, but try to avoid saturated fat from animal protein. Try to get you fat from monounsaturated sources like, olive oil, walnuts, peanuts, almonds and various others. Allow yourself one small dessert daily (don't go overboard). A little treat can take the edge off, but that's it, only one time daily! Oh, if your not already a label reader you are going to need to become one. Unless you're a dietitian or nutritionist you're probably not going to always know what you're eating, so always read the nutrition label.
Avoid : High calorie foods and dishes containing fatty dairy products, and high saturated fat. If you must eat something really fattening, eat only small, cautious and infrequent portions. Whenever possible avoid rich dressings and dips altogether. Don't eat desserts before bed and avoid anything two hours before bedtime if possible. You do not burn a lot of calories while sleeping. Calories in your stomach during sleep risk being stored as fat.
Try to get in the habit of eating for what you are going to do, instead of what you have done. If you are going to be burning a lot of calories, eat more complex-carbohydrates. If you are going to be lying around, eat less.
Multivitamin/mineral and Protein supplements: As your diet may be lacking in the essential vitamins and minerals, it is a good idea to get a time-released multivitamin. Get something a little better than Centrum. Most gym and health food stores offer a variety of good and effective vitamin formulas. A power/shake mix is another useful aid in your quest for a faster, more efficient metabolism. It is an easy way to get in a quick meal replacement, but don't make these the bulk of your diet. Try to limit yourself to around two liquid meals daily with the other 2-4 meals being solid meals. The shakes contain high quality protein; some even contain carbohydrates, so pick one you like and use it in conjunction with your food. Supplement shakes are a quick alternative to eating a meal. A shake can be blended up on the run, quickly and efficiently.
Meal Frequency: Meals need to be eaten more frequently and in smaller portions, three to four hours apart. Frequent meals are important in helping to speed up your metabolism. Speeding up your metabolism is the only way to permanently lose body fat and obtain lean muscle mass. When you begin eating your meals more frequently your body will begin to burn energy at a faster rate. A faster metabolism will result in more calories being burned during the day, as well as giving you higher levels of energy. Eat 4-6 small meals each day!
The Cooler Plan: Avoid eating out at all cost! This may be extremely hard for some and easier for others. Restaurant food simply is not going to be low in fat. If a restaurant does serve some lean dishes, you are probably not going to be lucky enough to have ordered it. The bottom line is you don't always know what you are getting. It is amazing how it always taste better at the restaurant. Have you every wondered why? Fat and sodium that's why! Good old grocery store food will be leaner every time (nobody said it would taste better!). You are going to need to get in the habit of precooking/preparing your meals! Here is where Mr. Coleman and his products come in handy. A hand held carry cooler will save you every time, provided it is packed with your low fat, home cooked meals. You are going to need to plan ahead of time (always) in order to have meals prepared to eat. Find low-fat foods that you can tolerate, and stick to them. You need to allow time to ease into your new way of eating. Some may need only a couple of weeks others may need a few months, but your efforts must be consistent. Consistency in your meals and efforts are required for successful transition to living a low fat, high protein, frequent meal, and lifestyle. A drastic change in your eating habits is not something that you can just jump into.
Challenge: Getting and maintaining a consistently low body fat is something that requires a certain amount of personal challenge and sacrifice. For many, this will require a lifestyle change. Let's face it! There are not a lot of really lean folks out there, and with today's fast pace society it can be difficult to eat frequently. Eating a small meal every three to four hours can be done. It may require a bit more time, but if you learn to think and plan your grocery store visit and your meals, well ahead of time, you are certain to be successful. I recommend making a priority list. Make a List your priorities and remember that a serious diet needs to be way up there on your list! Your quest for a faster and more energy efficient metabolism needs to be your focus, as you make changes in your eating habits.
Effective Time Management: Many people fail in their quest to get lean because they do not utilize time better, and more efficiently. Allocating time to eat in frequent intervals and to religiously perform cardiovascular work combined with weight training is the core to lowering your body fat. It is simply a matter of giving up leisure time to prepare meals and workout! Certainly, a learner healthier body is worth a few hour of your leisure time. If you are going to get lean, you must plan your day thoroughly. Spontaneity will kill your lean and frequent eating habits every time. Plan out your day, everyday, and work your plan!
Eliminate Negative Influences: Getting away for those negative influences in your life is a huge part of getting lean. This bad influence could be anyone, brother, husband, wife, best friends, etc. I am not saying that you should completely block them out of your life, but resist the negative statements, comments or actions that they may have towards your fitness goals. If your particular negative influence is not a loved one, try to eliminate hanging around them all together, at least for the first few months of starting this program. Remember, a person that does not care about getting lean and physically fit, is prone to drag others down with them. Do not let anyone, or anything sideline you. Stay focused on your goals!
Cardiovascular Exercise: (Running, Walking, Stepper, Treadmill, Bike, etc.) Consistently performing cardiovascular exercises is essential to speeding up your metabolism and effective in burning away fat, as well as strengthening the heart. Your card exercise is best done when blood sugar is low. First thing in the morning or after you workouts, are the best and most effective times to do your cardio. You need to do at least 20 min. and no more than an hour per session. In order for cardio to be effective, it must be done no less than three times weekly. It needs to be somewhat difficult, really working hard but not to the point to where you can't talk or hold a conversation (don't go so fast that you are gasping for your breath) but get moving! Keep your pulse rate at your target heart range (Take 220 minus your age), then work at 60-75% of that for the endurance of your session. For Example: If you are 40 years old (220-40=180) to get your maximum working heart rate. Then 180 multiplied by .75=135 Beats per min. 135 beats per minute being your target heart rate, and needs to be maintained during you cardio session. Oh yeah, vary your cardio exercises, maybe do the stepper for 15min. and then the treadmill for 15. Variation may prevent burnout, and shock your muscles, but remember to sustain 60-75% of your maximum heart rate. Maintaining a certain amount of intensity during your cardiovascular exercise will help ensure that your metabolism speeds up.
Recovery: Your body will need rest to achieve your fitness goals. Never workout more than 4 days a week and be sure to get 6-8 hours of sleep nightly. One of the most common mistakes among gym patrons is over training! Don't fall victim to over training. Too much of a good thing can be bad.
Consistency: is the most important thing of all, in both your eating habits as well as your weight training and cardiovascular exercise. You must perform at least three days of each in order to see results! Less than three days a week just doesn't cut it for most. Remember that in order to keep fat off permanently, you must speed up your metabolism. A faster metabolism will result in more calories being burned during the day. Your metabolic rate will not speed up unless you are consistent in your cardio and weight training efforts.
Finally, let’s take a look at how how you can use “Negative Calories” to help achieve your weight loss goals.
We can have a diet using negative calories. The main idea is that our body uses more calories to digest some aliments than the calories we know those aliments contain themselves by analyzing the combination of nutritional components of the specific aliments. If we burn more calories than we consume, then we will lose weight.
The theory is in fact very appealing: the body has to consume energy in order to digest the food. For example, an orange has about 50 calories. To process all nutritional components and vitamins that an orange contains, our body will burn more than just 50 calories.
The diet using negative calories is more a solution we can call on in some specific periods, when our body is overwhelmed with nutrition, like holidays, Christmas, New Year’s, birthdays, weddings, and less of a solution that can be used on a long term.
Some specialists say that the lost of weight is obtained mostly by losing parts of the muscular tissue, which is not recommended at all.
So if you decide to use the diet with negative calories keep in mind the following:
- Make sure it is done in a period your body has already too many calories stored and you won’t be affecting your health by doing this.
- Ask a medic if you can resist only eating this types of aliments and also ask him the time limit for this diet in your case so you can avoid getting sick.
- Try to combine them as much as you can, do not eat just oranges or other fruits that contain citric acid as they are not good for your stomach activity when eaten in huge quantities.
- Review your schedule for the days you want to use this diet and make sure you don’t have any important or stressful things to do. Stress also causes caloric burn and weight reduction and if it occurs during a diet that weakens the organism you can feel physically powerless. If such a thing happens give up on the diet and eat something with many calories and glucose fast.
If all above points are checked and passed you can start a negative calories diet and give a try to actually eating something instead of taking slim pills and drinking tea.
For more great health and weightloss advice, for a real chance at easily having the body you’ve always dreamed of, visit www.URLHERE.com today!
There’s a clever little line in the Jimmy Buffet song “Fruitcakes” when his ‘lady’ is lamenting:
“I treat my body like a temple
You treat yours like a tent”
I can’t help but think of this line whenever I think about all the people around the world who are going on these garbage in, garbage out diet plans hoping to achieve the weight loss success of those who are endorsing these products.
To be completely honest, it is possible to shed pounds through diet alone. It is difficult but possible. It is also possible to be physically fit and have a few extra pounds hanging around. To a large degree we are what we eat. If we consume a high fat low substance diet our bodies are going to lack the fuel required to burn the fat. At the same time if we aren’t providing our bodies with the tools it needs to build muscle it doesn’t matter how many weights we lift.
When it comes to diet and fitness, the best results are achieved when they work together rather than separately. Use your fitness routine to burn excess calories and use your diet in order to properly provide your body the nutrients and fuel it needs to build muscle. I’ve heard many times in my life that a pound of muscle weighs less than a pound of fat. While this is not true at all, a pound is a pound regardless; a pound of muscle occupies less space on the body than a pound of fat. Pound for pound, I would much rather mine be composed of muscle than fat. Dieting alone does not build muscle and that is something you will do well to remember in your efforts.
You should also realize that as you are building muscle you may be shedding inches while not showing a great deal of progress on the scale. It is very important that you keep this in mind throughout the weight loss process. Do not measure your progress by the scales alone or you will achieve misleading results. The problem is that far too many people do just this and get frustrated and give up when they are actually making progress. Do not allow yourself to be a victim of the scales. Look in the mirror, try on your tight pants, and measure your waistline. Measure your success by how you feel after climbing a flight of stairs not by how many pounds fell of the scale this week.
By incorporating fitness into your diet routine you are also enabling your body to burn off any extra calories you may have consumed during the day. This means that if you want to have a small ‘cheat’ during your day, you can make up for it by burning a few more calories than normal in the evening. This isn’t something that should happen often but an occasional occurrence isn’t going to make or break your diet.
You should also look at dieting and fitness as a ball and glove type of relationship. While you can play ball without the glove, it seems to work so much better if you have both. Diet and fitness when combined can create fantastic weight loss results for those who take them both seriously. The thing to remember is that neither works as well alone and neither will work unless you are willing to do the work. You must make this a priority in your life in order to achieve the best possible results.
So now, let’s take a look at some specific ways you can start looking and feeling healthy.
Nutrition: Nutrition is the most important part of athletic/fitness achievement. A proper nutrition program is eighty percent of an effective fitness program! Proper eating habits must be consistent, efficient and persistent. Adhering to proper and consistent nutrition will ensure maximum performance for your workouts and maximize results achieved from your exercise program. If you choose not to follow a good nutrition program, you can plan on seeing about twenty percent of the results that would be possible.
Water: Water is the most important nutrient in your body, and is essential to a good, healthy diet. You must drink at least 80-100 oz. (10-12 glasses) every day. No exceptions!
Foods: Your daily food intake should consist of 30% protein, 50% carbohydrates and 20% fats. Eat good, lean sources of protein such as fish, chicken breast, turkey breast, egg whites, or any of numerous protein powders/shakes that are on the market. Its best to consume complex carbohydrates such as white and brown rice, sweet and white potatoes, fresh fruit and vegetables, Low-fat whole wheat bread or wheat/oat bagels. You do need to allow for some fat in your diet, but try to avoid saturated fat from animal protein. Try to get you fat from monounsaturated sources like, olive oil, walnuts, peanuts, almonds and various others. Allow yourself one small dessert daily (don't go overboard). A little treat can take the edge off, but that's it, only one time daily! Oh, if your not already a label reader you are going to need to become one. Unless you're a dietitian or nutritionist you're probably not going to always know what you're eating, so always read the nutrition label.
Avoid : High calorie foods and dishes containing fatty dairy products, and high saturated fat. If you must eat something really fattening, eat only small, cautious and infrequent portions. Whenever possible avoid rich dressings and dips altogether. Don't eat desserts before bed and avoid anything two hours before bedtime if possible. You do not burn a lot of calories while sleeping. Calories in your stomach during sleep risk being stored as fat.
Try to get in the habit of eating for what you are going to do, instead of what you have done. If you are going to be burning a lot of calories, eat more complex-carbohydrates. If you are going to be lying around, eat less.
Multivitamin/mineral and Protein supplements: As your diet may be lacking in the essential vitamins and minerals, it is a good idea to get a time-released multivitamin. Get something a little better than Centrum. Most gym and health food stores offer a variety of good and effective vitamin formulas. A power/shake mix is another useful aid in your quest for a faster, more efficient metabolism. It is an easy way to get in a quick meal replacement, but don't make these the bulk of your diet. Try to limit yourself to around two liquid meals daily with the other 2-4 meals being solid meals. The shakes contain high quality protein; some even contain carbohydrates, so pick one you like and use it in conjunction with your food. Supplement shakes are a quick alternative to eating a meal. A shake can be blended up on the run, quickly and efficiently.
Meal Frequency: Meals need to be eaten more frequently and in smaller portions, three to four hours apart. Frequent meals are important in helping to speed up your metabolism. Speeding up your metabolism is the only way to permanently lose body fat and obtain lean muscle mass. When you begin eating your meals more frequently your body will begin to burn energy at a faster rate. A faster metabolism will result in more calories being burned during the day, as well as giving you higher levels of energy. Eat 4-6 small meals each day!
The Cooler Plan: Avoid eating out at all cost! This may be extremely hard for some and easier for others. Restaurant food simply is not going to be low in fat. If a restaurant does serve some lean dishes, you are probably not going to be lucky enough to have ordered it. The bottom line is you don't always know what you are getting. It is amazing how it always taste better at the restaurant. Have you every wondered why? Fat and sodium that's why! Good old grocery store food will be leaner every time (nobody said it would taste better!). You are going to need to get in the habit of precooking/preparing your meals! Here is where Mr. Coleman and his products come in handy. A hand held carry cooler will save you every time, provided it is packed with your low fat, home cooked meals. You are going to need to plan ahead of time (always) in order to have meals prepared to eat. Find low-fat foods that you can tolerate, and stick to them. You need to allow time to ease into your new way of eating. Some may need only a couple of weeks others may need a few months, but your efforts must be consistent. Consistency in your meals and efforts are required for successful transition to living a low fat, high protein, frequent meal, and lifestyle. A drastic change in your eating habits is not something that you can just jump into.
Challenge: Getting and maintaining a consistently low body fat is something that requires a certain amount of personal challenge and sacrifice. For many, this will require a lifestyle change. Let's face it! There are not a lot of really lean folks out there, and with today's fast pace society it can be difficult to eat frequently. Eating a small meal every three to four hours can be done. It may require a bit more time, but if you learn to think and plan your grocery store visit and your meals, well ahead of time, you are certain to be successful. I recommend making a priority list. Make a List your priorities and remember that a serious diet needs to be way up there on your list! Your quest for a faster and more energy efficient metabolism needs to be your focus, as you make changes in your eating habits.
Effective Time Management: Many people fail in their quest to get lean because they do not utilize time better, and more efficiently. Allocating time to eat in frequent intervals and to religiously perform cardiovascular work combined with weight training is the core to lowering your body fat. It is simply a matter of giving up leisure time to prepare meals and workout! Certainly, a learner healthier body is worth a few hour of your leisure time. If you are going to get lean, you must plan your day thoroughly. Spontaneity will kill your lean and frequent eating habits every time. Plan out your day, everyday, and work your plan!
Eliminate Negative Influences: Getting away for those negative influences in your life is a huge part of getting lean. This bad influence could be anyone, brother, husband, wife, best friends, etc. I am not saying that you should completely block them out of your life, but resist the negative statements, comments or actions that they may have towards your fitness goals. If your particular negative influence is not a loved one, try to eliminate hanging around them all together, at least for the first few months of starting this program. Remember, a person that does not care about getting lean and physically fit, is prone to drag others down with them. Do not let anyone, or anything sideline you. Stay focused on your goals!
Cardiovascular Exercise: (Running, Walking, Stepper, Treadmill, Bike, etc.) Consistently performing cardiovascular exercises is essential to speeding up your metabolism and effective in burning away fat, as well as strengthening the heart. Your card exercise is best done when blood sugar is low. First thing in the morning or after you workouts, are the best and most effective times to do your cardio. You need to do at least 20 min. and no more than an hour per session. In order for cardio to be effective, it must be done no less than three times weekly. It needs to be somewhat difficult, really working hard but not to the point to where you can't talk or hold a conversation (don't go so fast that you are gasping for your breath) but get moving! Keep your pulse rate at your target heart range (Take 220 minus your age), then work at 60-75% of that for the endurance of your session. For Example: If you are 40 years old (220-40=180) to get your maximum working heart rate. Then 180 multiplied by .75=135 Beats per min. 135 beats per minute being your target heart rate, and needs to be maintained during you cardio session. Oh yeah, vary your cardio exercises, maybe do the stepper for 15min. and then the treadmill for 15. Variation may prevent burnout, and shock your muscles, but remember to sustain 60-75% of your maximum heart rate. Maintaining a certain amount of intensity during your cardiovascular exercise will help ensure that your metabolism speeds up.
Recovery: Your body will need rest to achieve your fitness goals. Never workout more than 4 days a week and be sure to get 6-8 hours of sleep nightly. One of the most common mistakes among gym patrons is over training! Don't fall victim to over training. Too much of a good thing can be bad.
Consistency: is the most important thing of all, in both your eating habits as well as your weight training and cardiovascular exercise. You must perform at least three days of each in order to see results! Less than three days a week just doesn't cut it for most. Remember that in order to keep fat off permanently, you must speed up your metabolism. A faster metabolism will result in more calories being burned during the day. Your metabolic rate will not speed up unless you are consistent in your cardio and weight training efforts.
Finally, let’s take a look at how how you can use “Negative Calories” to help achieve your weight loss goals.
DIET USING NEGATIVE CALORIES
We can have a diet using negative calories. The main idea is that our body uses more calories to digest some aliments than the calories we know those aliments contain themselves by analyzing the combination of nutritional components of the specific aliments. If we burn more calories than we consume, then we will lose weight.
The theory is in fact very appealing: the body has to consume energy in order to digest the food. For example, an orange has about 50 calories. To process all nutritional components and vitamins that an orange contains, our body will burn more than just 50 calories.
The diet using negative calories is more a solution we can call on in some specific periods, when our body is overwhelmed with nutrition, like holidays, Christmas, New Year’s, birthdays, weddings, and less of a solution that can be used on a long term.
Some specialists say that the lost of weight is obtained mostly by losing parts of the muscular tissue, which is not recommended at all.
So if you decide to use the diet with negative calories keep in mind the following:
- Make sure it is done in a period your body has already too many calories stored and you won’t be affecting your health by doing this.
- Ask a medic if you can resist only eating this types of aliments and also ask him the time limit for this diet in your case so you can avoid getting sick.
- Try to combine them as much as you can, do not eat just oranges or other fruits that contain citric acid as they are not good for your stomach activity when eaten in huge quantities.
- Review your schedule for the days you want to use this diet and make sure you don’t have any important or stressful things to do. Stress also causes caloric burn and weight reduction and if it occurs during a diet that weakens the organism you can feel physically powerless. If such a thing happens give up on the diet and eat something with many calories and glucose fast.
If all above points are checked and passed you can start a negative calories diet and give a try to actually eating something instead of taking slim pills and drinking tea.
For more great health and weightloss advice, for a real chance at easily having the body you’ve always dreamed of, visit www.URLHERE.com today!
