Quick Weight Loss Tips

These treadmill weight loss tips are a great way to help you shed a few pounds and shape up. A treadmill is designed for the most natural form of exercise which is walking. You don't need any special skills to use these machines because if you can walk, you can exercise on a treadmill.Treadmill weight loss is one of the most successful methods of losing weight. Just be consistent and work within your fat burning target range for 45 minutes or more per session at least 5 to 6 days per week.If you are looking to shed unwanted pounds, implement a treadmill workout routine along with a sensible, healthy diet.  The treadmill allows you the convenience of exercising in a safe, comfortable, climate controlled environment anytime day or night.If you are just starting out, check with your doctor before you begin any exercise regime.  When you begin, start at a nice, easy pace, do shorter workouts for a few weeks and increase the length and intensity as your fitness level improves.The main thing to keep in mind is to keep your body moving for as long and fast as you can but still remain comfortable. The faster the pace the more calories you will burn. The more calories you burn, the more weight you will lose.Regular exercise on a treadmill will increase your body's metabolism and make it work more efficiently to burn more fat. The best treadmill workout plan is one that becomes a daily habit, just like brushing your teeth.If you do a treadmill workout routine everyday you don't have to think about it, and it becomes a good habit. It soon becomes part of your normal day and you look forward to it. Consistency is the key to success.Here are some important tips to remember when walking:
 
Maintain a proper posture, keep you head up, relax your neck and look straight ahead. Let your arms swing naturally at your side and loosely cup your hands. Hold your tummy in and keep your hips relaxed and loose. Take steps that are comfortable for you, not too short or too long. Concentrate on your breathing. Try to breathe normally, taking in deep, smooth breaths.

A few good tips to help break the boredom while exercising on the treadmill are:
 
Listen to up beat music, books on tape or teaching tapes. Read a book or magazine. Chat with a friend on the treadmill next to you. Watch yourself in the mirror to work on your posture and walking technique. Watch your favorite talk show or sitcom.

Walking a treadmill to lose weight will consistently provide you with quality results and lasting benefits. It allows you to work at your own pace to burn calories effectively.If you apply these treadmill weight loss tips they will have a positive impact on your weight loss as well as many other aspects of your life.

When you are working to lose weight quickly and safely, you should keep in mind that you have to both cut your calories and you have to exercise. A mistake that many people make is to only do one of these steps, when both are critical to the success of your fast weight trimming program! Today, we'll be talking about a few basic, simple exercise routines you can get in to help you trim the fat "super fast!"The first exercise that should be a staple of everyone's workout routine when they're looking to drop a few pounds is running, jogging or swimming. If you have health problems that affect your body in ways that prevent you from running or jogging, swimming is an excellent, low-impact exercise routine that you can perform. You shouldn't try to push yourself too much when you get into a running, jogging or swimming routine, though, as this can actually harm you more than help you! Instead of doing your exercise of choice for an hour or two per day, only do it for 30 minutes every few days.On the days that you don't run, jog or swim, you can substitute in other exercises to help "mix it up" and keep your body from adapting to your exercise routine. The next fast weight losing exercise you should try are jumping jacks. Going through a routine of 20-30 jumping jacks every other day (on the days you aren't running or swimming or jogging) can help you lose weight quickly since it attacks different muscles than the other exercises do.The final basic exercise that you should work into your quick weight loss workouts are some form of muscle-building exercises, such as weight-lifting, squats or pull-ups. These exercises should be performed on your fast weight loss days when you aren't running, swimming, jogging or doing jumping jacks. A great routine to establish is one where you run one day, do jumping jacks the next, swim the next, do pull-ups the next, etc. This keeps your body moving and prevents the weight loss from slowing down and plateauing, a symptom of quick weight loss exercises that many people experience.

Many experts and specialist are of the opinion that slow weight loss better then fast loss. they also highlighted that the fast weight loss is very dangerous and some guide a people to dead or very serious problems while slow weight loss is very effective and efficient in manner it is also called that we must also do this exercise which should be very slowly and start with the slowly and the gradually warm up. Furthermore as a whole it will not be wrong ask why Slow Weight is better than Fast Weight Loss.  One beautiful maxims is always stated that "slow and gradually win the race" before now I was not aware with the benefits of this maxims or you can say that I could not get the philosophy which was hidden in Why is Slow Weight Better than Fast Weight Loss? This was very beneficial and informative news for us that one body runs smoothly and get function be performed in a proper way we must realize and know that whether these things which reduce quickly our fat from the body functions bluntly so it is advised that always take some slow methods and getting smart and reduce your weight Why is Slow Weight Better than Fast Weight Loss? is very helpful and getting on well with your diet those who were making the strives for losing the weight quickly here we will advised them don't get any kinds of perplexed idea which help you to create question like Why is Slow Weight Better than Fast Weight Loss? and compelled you to take some hasty decisions be aware that these hasty condition may be destruction of a long life circles. During the survey when this question is rise why is Slow Weight Better than Fast Weight Loss? then many people who were slim and smart they answered that we must use quickly and fast ways of getting weight loss which may be expensive and in heritage with great risk of quicker smart while some more people who were of the opinion that we should use or start slow pattern exercise which may not have any kind of destruction and keep your body alive and attractive by doing slow and powerful tricks in order to get the basic and outstanding personality after reviewing this survey we came to know that Why is Slow Weight Better than Fast Weight Loss? is necessary for you. As well as for keeping your body fit. Many people who are of the opinion that they can get their weight loss so quick as they want but the problem is still lingering we are here to help you out and taking you away from the troubles which make you perturb. Many people still looking idle and doing nothing efficient with respect to their question why is Slow Weight Better than Fast Weight Loss? Don't worry after reviewing our whole articles you will be able to know that which method is most effective.

Here are the lower body exercises you can do to boost your metabolism and build a better butt and legs.

1. Squats

2. Stability Ball Leg Curls (don't worry, these stability balls are super cheap, and you can get them for only 
    $20 at almost any department store)

3. Lying hip extensions

4. Lying single leg hip extensions

5. Split Squats (aka. the stationary lunge)

6. Split Squats with your back foot elevated 6 inches

7. Reverse Lunges

8. Forward Lunges

9. Stepups

10. 1-Leg Squats

Many of those calorie-burning exercises can be done with dumbells as well, if you need to increase the challenge. If you want to build muscle, you'll need to use dumbells as well.

There are many more lower body exercises you can do without machines. And its the same story with upper body exercises as well.

If you want to sculpt your triceps and chest, there are dozens of press-ups (aka pushups) that you can do at home.

1. Regular pushups

2. Close-grip pushups

3. Pushups with your feet elevated

4. Pushups with one hand elevated

Tip #1. Drink, Drink, And Then Drink Some More!

By far the most important and yet the easiest way to accelerate your weight loss results is to hydrate consistently.  There is more research on the positive effects of hydration on weight loss than you can imagine… so I won’t bore you with the details! After all, you are a busy person, right?

Let’s just say that water is the most critical element in maintaining and facilitating your body’s chemistry (after oxygen, of course).  Strip your body of water, and it will strip you of your health, energy, and ultimately, your life! Hydration is so critical that I have dedicated an entire chapter of my e-book “Acid Alkaline Diet Simplified!” (see www.AcidAlkalineDiet.com/letter.htm) to the subject of hydration. The generally advised 8 glasses a day are enough if you are an “average” person:  5’8”, 160 lbs. male in good shape!  I doubt this applies to you, or else you wouldn’t be interested in weight loss, right?

So, what’s the bottom line?  To stay properly hydrated, you must drink a minimum of 7 oz. of pure (not tap) water for every 10 lbs. of body weight.  More if you’re active, work out, or live/work in a dry place.
That’s 105 oz. of pure water if you weigh 150 lbs… just over 3 liters. And don’t try to climb Mt. Everest in one day: GRADUALLY work your way up to the amount that’s right for you. One more thing: get yourself a good water filtration system.  This is not only the most cost-effective way to get pure water, but it’s probably your best bet for getting good quality water.

Finally, to make hydration more effective, all water you drink should be alkaline water. Alkalizing your water not only adds oxygen to your water, but it also helps neutralize the acids that make you fat (see Tip #2).  One of the best ways I know of to alkalize your water is through alkalizing agents like Prime pH

Avoid Coffee, Tea, Soda, And Other Acidic Drinks, I knew that after reading Tip #1 you were going to ask if coffee, tea, and soda counts! It does NOT!  As a matter of fact, you need to avoid these and all other acidic liquids in general. 

Tip #2. Avoid Foods With Preservatives, Food Coloring, And Additives

Remember what we just talked about in Tip #2 above?  Well, the same concept that holds true for acidic liquids also holds true for other poisons.  That includes all food preservatives,  food coloring, and synthetic food additives. You body wasn’t designed to digest these chemical substances, so it must either:
a.    Eliminate them, 
b.    Somehow neutralize them, or
c.    Park them away where they can’t damage your body (at least, not immediately). 

If you’re not hydrating properly (see Tip #1), then forget about (a).  Your body will then do either or both of (b) and (c).  I’ve already told you where all the poisons get “parked” away in your body (see Tip #2), so let’s look at (c). To neutralize acids, your body creates and pulls alkaline buffers from anywhere it can: 

•    It creates cholesterol to neutralize the acids (now you know why so many people
     suffer from high cholesterol problems)
•    It bleaches iron from your red blood cells (can you see how anemia develops?), 
•    It pulls calcium from your bones (can you say osteoporosis?),
•    It steals potassium from your muscle tissues (do you get muscle spasms?),
•    It pulls zinc, magnesium, and other elements from everywhere else.

These not only create additional health problems for you, but they force your body to work overtime, wasting the precious energy you worked so hard to produce on neutralizing toxins. This is energy you could be spending on staying active and losing weight.

Tip #3. Avoid Artificial Sweeteners Like The Plague That They Are Ever heard of NutraSweet, Sucralose, Aspartame, or Saccharin?

If you have been trying to lose weight, chances are you have relied on these artificial sweeteners to cut calories. Well, I’m sorry to be the one to tell you, but you’ve been literally shooting yourself in the foot! Here’s why: You remember what we said in Tip #2 and Tip #3 about acids, preservatives, alcohols, and
toxins?  The same holds true for artificial sweeteners, except it’s even worse here!  Artificial sweeteners not only present your body with an acidic waste removal problem, but they also affect other parts of your body in seriously adverse ways. NutraSweet, the commercial name for Aspartame, has been linked to nervous system
damage and neurological problems through countless studies. The other artificial sweeteners are not much better.  Saccharin manufacturers tell you right on the package that their product can cause cancer!  But that couldn’t happen to you, could it?

What’s the bottom line?

If you are eating or drinking any artificial sweetener, you are not only making your weight loss efforts a virtual impossibility, but you are damaging your body in ways that may not be repairable. 

Tip #4. Always Have Cut Veggies And Soaked Nuts Ready In Your Fridge

How successful do you think you would be in your weight loss program if you had to fight your cravings along the way, every minute of every hour of every day?  I bet not too successful. Well, if you were on an alkaline diet, this would not be an issue because your cravings would disappear by themselves over time. I get into that in much more details in my e-book “Acid Alkaline Diet Simplified!” But for now, I want to show you a quick way to deal with your cravings.  First thing to note is that most people cannot tell the difference between the thirst and hunger signals in their bodies. They reach for food when they are in effect thirsty (dehydrated). But this should not be an issue for you if you follow Tip #1 and hydrate properly. 

Now for the quick way to deal with your cravings… when you feel like eating something, first make sure you’re not actually thirsty.  Drink a couple of glasses of water, and wait a minute or two.  Then, if you’re still craving something, eat something good for you.  The point is to get your jaws moving.  The best trick is to use raw, cut veggies and soaked nuts, since they have the biggest crunch, require more chewing, and take the most volume in your stomach…hence, you feel full faster.

Go to your favorite supermarket, wholesale club, or farmers market, and pick up a large bag of pre-washed, cut veggies.  Optionally, pick up a couple of varieties of hummus to dip the veggies in for added taste. The best nuts to soak are almonds, with hazelnut and walnuts a distant second. Of the three, almonds are the most alkalizing, taste the best, and are the most filling. To soak almonds, just rinse them in cold water, place them in a jar/container, and fill the container with pure water. Make sure there’s enough water to cover the almonds as they plump up.   Leave the container in the fridge over night, and in the morning, take the soaked almonds out of the water, pat them dry in paper towels, and store them in an airtight container in your fridge.  They’ll keep fresh for a good 5-7 days.

Tip #5. Make A Huge Salad Every 3 Days

Ever come home so hungry you’re ready to eat the first thing that you can get your hands on?  Do you regret binging on the junk food, and wish you could have made something better to eat?

Well, this tip is going to make that happen. If you prepare a huge salad that would last you 3 straight days, you will never again come home and wonder what you can eat.  With a salad in your fridge - ready to eat - you can get started eating right away, and make something more substantial (and nutritious) while you
enjoy your salad. It may not sound like much of a tip, but believe me, I have lost count of how many times
this has saved me from binging on junk foods that I know I would later regret eating. Try it!
And you’ll see that it works. If you’re too lazy to make a salad, just go to a wholesale club, and pick up a couple of bags of the ready-made, pre-washed salads.  You must make the salad, decorate it nicely and
place it in a large bowl - ready to eat - in your fridge. Otherwise you may never eat the veggies… the salad doesn’t look too appetizing sitting in a plastic bag, does it? Just don’t cover the salad with any dressing, or mix cut cucumbers or tomatoes in it until you’re ready to eat it.  If you store these in/on your salad in the fridge, they will make the salad all watery and dripping wet – not so appealing. 

Tip #6. Breathe!

No, I’m not kidding! I bet you didn’t know that proper breathing is one of the best ways to alkalize your body – and dispose of fat.  Most people are what we in the field call “chest breathers”.  You can find out if you are one by doing a quick test: 

a.    Lay down on the floor on your back. 
b.    Put your hand on your chest. 
c.    Take a normal breath. 
d.    If your hand moved up and down with your chest, you are a chest breather.

If you find out that you do breathe with your chest, then you’re probably not using your lungs to their fullest capacity.  That, in turn, means that your body is not getting as much oxygen as it could optimally get with each breath. So what? The more oxygen you get into your body, the better you body will function, the more energy
your body will have, the easier it can get rid of the acids in your body. How do you breathe to alkalize?
You take deep breaths, filling the lower parts of your lungs to their fullest extent before filling the upper lungs (chest area). Hold the breath for a brief moment, and exhale slowly in reverse order.  You’ll need to use your diaphragm to make this happen, sticking out your stomach with each breath. What we’re after is keeping the lower parts of your lungs (the most blood-rich part) filled with air for as long as possible with each breath.
Take 10 breaths like this, 3-5 times a day, and watch the weight melt off you!

Tip #7. Combine The Right Foods

Did you know that the healthy foods you eat could be making you fat?  How? Remember what we said in Tip #2 and Tip #3?  The point was that anything that is acidic or toxic will force your body to work overtime, parking the acidic waste into fat cells, producing more cholesterol, and leaching your much-needed minerals to neutralize the acids. If the foods you eat are not combined properly, you could be causing them to spoil right in your stomach, producing acids and toxins your body must clean up. Each type of food, proteins, carbohydrates (carbs), and fats require a different internal environment in your system for proper digestion.  Carbs are mainly digested in your small intestine, and require an alkaline environment.  Proteins, on the other hand, require a more acidic environment and are mainly broken down in the stomach. When you eat carbs and proteins together, these contradicting requirements can delay the digestion of both.  This in turn could let the carbs ferment and the proteins putrefy, right in your stomach!  It’s almost like letting a cup of beef stew sit on your kitchen counter for a day or two (until it’s nice and bubbly), and then eating it!  Let me make that point clear.  Have you ever experienced acid reflux?  What did you eat that made your body revolt like that?  Think about it for a minute… unless you have a digestive disorder, it was because you were combining all sorts of proteins, carbs, fats, and may be even fruits in one meal.

Tip #8. Avoid Stress And Learn To Handle It Better

I know you’ve heard this many times from other people… and I know it’s virtually impossible to go through life these days without some stress. Nevertheless, this is one of the most important tips that can make or break your weight loss program.

You see, when your body is under a lot of stress, you experience the emotions typically associated with stress: anger, fear, anxiety, worry, frustration, hostility, etc.  Each of these emotions produces chemical reactions in your body that usually have adverse effects.  Here  are a few examples:
•    Anger, fear, and anxiety typically cause a complete shut-down of your digestive
      system.  That means the elimination of toxins STOPS!  Then what? See Tip #8 about
      undigested foods.
•    Worry, hostility, and anger cause your stomach to excrete extra acids.  The end
       results in more toxins and half-digested foods to deal with.  Definitely not good!

Tip #9. Buy & Use Top-Quality Green Powders

I saved the best for last!  This tip alone has helped many of my personal coaching clients lose a lot of weight in just a few weeks.  Why is that?  There are several reasons.  Here are two of the most important ones:

a.    Your body is constantly fighting to maintain its delicate pH balance. To do this, your body needs all   
        the vitamins, minerals, trace elements, and phytochemicals it can get.  Unfortunately, most foods these  
       days are totally void of any live nutrients… and you get very little of these from your average  \
       multivitamin pills – most of the vitamins and minerals in these pills ends up in your urine.  Live, top-
       quality, green vegetable powders are the best way to get a concentrated dose of these vital organic
       chemicals.
b.    In its natural process of digestion, respiration, and elimination, your body uses many enzymes, minerals,  
       and trace elements. Again, the best way to get these in  a concentrated form is through top-quality green
       vegetable powders.

Food Myths

Myth: Nuts are fattening and you should not eat them if you want to lose weight.

Fact: In small amounts, nuts can be part of a healthy weight-loss program. Nuts are high in calories and fat.
However, most nuts contain healthy fats that do not clog arteries. Nuts are also good sources of protein,
dietary fiber, and minerals such as magnesium and copper.

Tip: Enjoy small portions of nuts. One-half ounce of mixed nuts has about 84 calories.


Myth: Eating red meat is bad for your health and makes it harder to lose weight.

Fact: Eating lean meat in small amounts can be part of a healthy weight-loss plan. Red meat, pork, chicken,
and fish contain some cholesterol and saturated fat (the least healthy kind of fat). They also contain healthy
nutrients like protein, iron, and zinc.

Tip: Choose cuts of meat that are lower in fat and trim  all  visible  fat.  Lower  fat  meats  include  pork
tenderloin and beef round steak, tenderloin, sirloin tip,  flank  steak,  and  extra  lean  ground  beef. Also,
pay attention to portion size. Three ounces of meat or poultry is the size of a deck of cards.


Myth: Dairy products are fattening and unhealthy.

Fact: Low-fat and fat-free milk, yogurt, and cheese are just as nutritious as whole-milk dairy products, but
they are lower in fat and calories. Dairy products have many nutrients your body needs. They offer protein
to build muscles and help organs work properly, and calcium to strengthen bones. Most milk and some
yogurt are fortified with vitamin D to help your body use calcium.

Tip: The  2005  Dietary  Guidelines  for Americans recommends consuming 3 cups per day of fat-free/
low-fat milk or equivalent milk products.

If you cannot digest lactose (the sugar found in dairy products), choose low-lactose or lactose-free dairy
products,  or  other  foods  and  beverages  that  offer calcium and vitamin D (listed below).

Calcium: soy-based beverage or tofu made with calcium sulfate; canned salmon; dark leafy greens
like collards or kale
Vitamin D: soy-based beverage or cereal (getting some sunlight on your skin also gives you a small
amount of vitamin D)

Myth: “Going vegetarian” means you are sure to lose weight and be healthier.

Fact: Research shows that people who follow a vegetarian eating plan, on average, eat fewer calories
and less fat than nonvegetarians. They also tend to have lower body weights relative to their heights than
nonvegetarians. Choosing a vegetarian eating plan with a low fat content may be helpful for weight loss.
But vegetarians—like nonvegetarians—can make food choices that contribute to weight gain, like eating large
amounts of high-fat, high-calorie foods or foods with little or no nutritional value.

Vegetarian diets should be as carefully planned as non vegetarian diets to make sure they are balanced.
Nutrients that nonvegetarians normally get from animal products, but that are not always found in a vegetarian
eating plan, are iron, calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, zinc, and protein.

Tip: Choose a vegetarian eating plan that is low in fat and that provides al  of the nutrients your body needs.
Food and beverage sources of nutrients that may be lacking in a vegetarian diet are listed below.

Making A Commitment

You have taken the important first step on the path to physical fitness by seeking information.
The next step is to decide that you are going to be physically fit. The decision to carry out a
physical fitness program cannot be taken lightly. It requires a lifelong commitment of time and
effort. Exercise must become one of those things that you do without question, like bathing and
brushing your teeth. Unless you are convinced of the benefits of fitness and the risks of unfitness,
you will not succeed.

Patience is essential. Don’t try to do too much too soon and don’t quit before you have a chance
to experience the rewards of improved fitness. You can’t regain in a few days or weeks what you
have lost in years of sedentary living, but you can get it back if you persevere. And the prize is
worth the price.

In the following pages you will find the basic information you need to begin and maintain a
personal physical fitness program. These guidelines are intended for the average healthy adult. It
tells you what your goals should be and how often, how long and how hard you must exercise to
achieve them. It also includes information that will make your workouts easier, safer and more
satisfying. The rest is up to you.

Checking Your Health

Before starting an exercise program you should consult your physician, who may or may not
recommend a graded exercise test. Other conditions that indicate a need for medical clearance
are: 
1.    High blood pressure. 
2.    Heart trouble. 
3.    Family history of early stroke or heart attack deaths. 
4.    Frequent dizzy spells. 
5.    Extreme breathlessness after mild exertion. 
6.    Arthritis or other bone problems. 
7.    Severe muscular, ligament or tendon problems. 
8.    Other known or suspected disease. 

Exercise And Physical Activity Tips 

• Walk to work.
• Ask a friend to exercise with you.
• Bicycle to the store instead of driving.
• Bike to the barbershop or beauty salon instead of driving.
• Buy a set of hand weights and play a round of Simon Says with your kids - you do it with the weights, they do without.

• Visit museums, the zoo, or an aquarium. You and your family can walk for hours and not realize it.

• Carry your groceries instead of pushing a cart.

• Choose activities you enjoy & you'll be more likely to stick with them.

• Choose an activity that fits into your daily life.

• Clean your closet and donate clothes that are too big. 
• Dance to music.
• Do sit-ups in front of the TV.
• Do yard work.

• Exercise with a video if the weather is bad.
• Explore new physical activities.
• Take a hike.
• Fetch the newspaper yourself.
• Get off a bus stop early & walk.
• Go for a half-hour walk instead of watching TV.

• If you find it difficult to be active after work, try it before work.
• Keep a pair of comfortable walking or running shoes in your car and office.
• Make a Saturday morning walk a group habit.
• Make time in your day for physical activity.
• Mow lawn with push mower.
• Pace the sidelines at kids' athletic games.
• Park farther from destination and walk.
• Perform gardening or home repair activities.
• Play with your kids 30 minutes a day.

• Replace Sunday drive with Sunday walk.
• Run when running errands.
• Sit up straight at work.
• Skate to work instead of driving.
• Stretch before bed to give you more energy when you wake.
• Swim with your kids.
• Take a walk or do desk exercises instead of a cigarette or coffee break.
• Take dog to the park.
• Take family walk after dinner.

• Take small trips on foot to get your body moving.
• Take the long way to the water cooler.
• Take your dog on longer walks.
• Use a snow shovel instead of a snow blower.
• Vary your activities, for interest and to broaden the range of benefits.
• Walk briskly in the mall.
• Walk briskly through the mall and shop 'til you drop ... pounds. 

• Walk during lunch hour.
• Walk instead of driving whenever you can.
• Walk instead of sitting around.

• Walk the beach instead of sunbathing.
• Walk to a co-worker's desk instead of emailing or calling them.
• Walk to your place of worship instead of driving.
• Wash the car by hand.
• When walking, go up the hills instead of around them. 

• Work around the house.
• Get a dog and walk it.
• Join an exercise group.
• Stay active in winter.  Play with your kids.

• Walk kids to school.
• Take stairs instead of the escalator.

Weight Loss - When To Exercise

The hour just before the evening meal is a popular time for exercise. The late afternoon workout provides a welcome change of pace at the end of the work day and helps dissolve the day’s worries and tensions. Another popular time to work out is early morning, before the work day begins. Advocates of the early start say it makes them more alert and energetic on the job, which is a notion that is supported by research studies. 

Among the factors you should consider in developing your workout schedule are personal preference, job and family responsibilities, availability of exercise facilities and weather. It’s important to schedule your workouts for a time when there is little chance that you will have to cancel or interrupt them because of other demands on your time.

You should not exercise strenuously during extremely hot, humid weather or within two hours after eating. Heat and/or digestion both make heavy demands on the circulatory system, and in combination with exercise can be an overtaxing double load. 

Exercise Made Easy

For best weight loss and weight maintenance results it is recommend you find your balance between food and physical activity. Consuming more calories than you expend leads to weight gain. More than half of all Americans don't get the recommended amount of physical activity. To reduce the risk of chronic disease in adulthood, engage in at least 30 minutes of moderate activity a day on most days of the week. Children and adolescents should engage in at least 60 minutes a day on most, and preferably all, days of the week.

To manage body weight and prevent gradual weight gain, people should exercise about 60 minutes at a moderate to vigorous intensity on most days of the week, while not exceeding recommendations for caloric intake. Sixty to 90 minutes may be needed to maintain weight loss.

Heart rate is widely accepted as a good method for measuring intensity during running,  swimming, cycling, and other aerobic activities. Exercise that doesn’t raise your heart rate to a certain level and keep it there for 20 minutes won’t contribute significantly to cardiovascular fitness. The heart rate you should maintain is called your target heart rate. There are several ways of arriving at this figure. One of the simplest is: maximum heart rate (220 - age) x 70%. Thus, the target heart rate for a 40 year-old would be 126. Some methods for figuring the target rate take individual differences into consideration. Here is one of them:

1.    Subtract age from 220 to find maximum heart rate.
2.    Subtract resting heart rate (see below) from maximum heart rate to determine heart rate
       reserve.
3.    Take 70% of heart rate reserve to determine heart rate raise.
4.    Add heart rate raise to resting heart rate to find target rate. 

Resting heart rate should be determined by taking your pulse after sitting quietly for five minutes. When checking heart rate during a workout, take your pulse within five seconds after interrupting exercise because it starts to go down once you stop moving. Count pulse for 10 seconds and multiply by six to get the per-minute rate.

A Workout Schedule

How often, how long and how hard you exercise, and what kinds of exercises you do should be determined by what you are trying to accomplish. Your goals, your present fitness level, age, health, skills, interest and convenience are among the factors you should consider. For example, an athlete training for high-level competition would follow a different program than a person whose goals are good health and the ability to meet work and recreational needs. 

Your exercise program should include something from each of the four basic fitness components described previously. Each workout should begin with a warmup and end with a cooldown. As a general rule, space your workouts throughout the week and avoid consecutive days of hard exercise. 

Here are the amounts of activity necessary for the average healthy person to maintain a minimum level of overall fitness. Included are some of the popular exercises for each category.  

1.    WARMUP - 5-10 minutes of exercise such as walking, slow jogging, knee lifts, arm
       circles or trunk rotations. Low intensity movements that simulate movements to be used
       in the activity can also be included in the warmup. 

2.    MUSCULAR STRENGTH - a minimum of two 20-minute sessions per week that
       include exercises for all the major muscle groups. Lifting weights is the most effective
       way to increase strength. 

3.    MUSCULAR ENDURANCE - at least three 30-minute sessions each week that include
       exercises such as calisthenics, pushups, situps, pullups, and weight training for all the
       major muscle groups. 

4.    CARDIORESPIRATORY ENDURANCE - at least three 20-minute bouts of
       continuous aerobic (activity requiring oxygen) rhythmic exercise each week. Popular
       aerobic conditioning activities include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, rope-
       jumping, rowing, cross-country skiing, and some continuous action games like
       racquetball and handball. 

5.    FLEXIBILITY - 10-12 minutes of daily stretching exercises performed slowly, without
       a bouncing motion. This can be included after a warmup or during a cooldown.

6.    COOL DOWN - a minimum of 5-10 minutes of slow walking, low-level exercise,
       combined with stretching.

7.    A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE -  The keys to selecting the right kinds of exercises for developing and  
       maintaining each of the basic components of fitness are found in these principles: 

8.    SPECIFICITY - pick the right kind of activities to affect each component. Strength
       training results in specific strength changes. Also, train for the specific activity you’re
       interested in. For example, optimal swimming performance is best achieved when the
       muscles involved in swimming are trained for the movements required. It does not
       necessarily follow that a good runner is a good swimmer. 

9.    OVERLOAD - work hard enough, at levels that are vigorous and long enough to
       overload your body above its resting level, to bring about improvement. 

10.    REGULARITY - you can’t hoard physical fitness. At least three balanced workouts a
         week are necessary to maintain a desirable level of fitness. 

11.    PROGRESSION - increase the intensity, frequency and/or duration of activity over
         periods of time in order to improve.

Some activities can be used to fulfill more than one of your basic exercise requirements. For example, in addition to increasing cardiorespiratory endurance, running builds muscular endurance in the legs, and swimming develops the arm, shoulder and chest muscles. If you select  the proper activities, it is possible to fit parts of your muscular endurance workout into your cardiorespiratory workout and save time.

Knowing The Basics of Fitness

Physical fitness is most easily understood by examining its components, or “parts.” There is
widespread agreement that these components are basic: 

1.    Cardiorespiratory Endurance - the ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues,
       and to remove wastes, over sustained periods of time. Long runs and swims are among
       the methods employed in measuring this component. 

2.    Muscular Strength - the ability of a muscle to exert force for a brief period of time.
       Upper-body strength, for example, can be measured by various weight-lifting exercises. 

3.    Muscular Endurance - the ability of a muscle, or a group of muscles, to sustain repeated
       contractions or to continue applying force against a fixed object. Pushups are often used
       to test endurance of arm and shoulder muscles. 

4.    Flexibility - the ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion.
       The sit-and- reach test is a good measure of flexibility of the lower back and backs of the
       upper legs.

5.    Body Composition is often considered a component of fitness. It refers to the makeup of
       the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, vital tissue and organs) and fat mass. An
       optimal ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness, and the right types of exercises
       will help you decrease body fat and increase or maintain muscle mass.

Defining Fitness

Physical fitness is to the human body what fine tuning is to an engine. It enables us to perform up to our potential. Fitness can be described as a condition that helps us look, feel and do our best.  More specifically, it is:  The ability to perform daily tasks vigorously and alertly, with energy left over for enjoying leisure- time activities and meeting emergency demands. It is the ability to endure, to bear up, to withstand stress, to carry on in circumstances where an unfit person could not continue, and is a major basis for good health and well-being. Being fit will  also help prevent the development of certain diseases and can even help cure diseases.  

Physical fitness involves the performance of the heart and lungs, and the muscles of the body. And, since what we do with our bodies also affects what we can do with our minds, fitness  influences to some degree qualities such as mental alertness and emotional stability. As you undertake your fitness program, it’s important to remember that fitness is an individual quality that varies from person to person. It is influenced by age, sex, heredity, personal habits, exercise  and eating practices. You can’t do anything about the first three factors. However, it is within your power to change and improve the others where needed.

Controlling Your Weight

The key to weight control is keeping energy intake (food) and energy output (physical activity) in
balance. When you consume only as many calories as your body needs, your weight will usually
remain constant. If you take in more calories than your body needs, you will put on excess fat. If
you expend more energy than you take in you will burn excess fat.

Exercise plays an important role in weight control by increasing energy output, calling on stored
calories for extra fuel. Recent studies show that not only does exercise increase metabolism
during a workout, but it causes your metabolism to stay increased for a period of time after
exercising, allowing you to burn more calories.

How much exercise is needed to make a difference in your weight depends on the amount and
type of activity, and on how much you eat. Aerobic exercise burns body fat. A medium-sized
adult would have to walk more than 30 miles to burn up 3,500 calories, the equivalent of one
pound of fat. Although that may seem like a lot, you don’t have to walk the 30 miles all at once.
Walking a mile a day for 30 days will achieve the same result, providing you don’t increase your
food intake to negate the effects of walking.

If you consume 100 calories a day more than your body needs, you will gain approximately 10
pounds in a year. You could take that weight off, or keep it off, by doing 30 minutes of moderate
exercise daily. The combination of exercise and diet offers the most flexible and effective
approach to weight loss and weight maintenance.

Since muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue, and exercise develops muscle to a certain degree,
your bathroom scale won’t necessarily tell you whether or not you are “fat.” Well-muscled
individuals, with relatively little body fat, invariably are “overweight” according to standard
weight charts. If you are doing a regular program of strength training, your muscles will increase
in weight, and possibly your overall weight will increase. Body composition is a better indicator
of your condition than body weight.

Lack of physical activity causes muscles to get soft, and if food intake is not decreased, added
body weight is almost always fat. Once-active people, who continue to eat as they always have
after settling into sedentary lifestyles, tend to suffer from “creeping obesity.”

Lessons From Those Successful At Losing Weight

Although many people who lose weight may eventually gain it back, it's a myth that this happens
to everyone, according to Rena Wing, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at Brown Medical School
in Providence, R.I. Wing, the co-developer of a research study known as the National Weight
Control Registry, has worked to deflate this myth. Stored in the registry's database is information
about the weight-control behaviors of more than 3,000 American adults who have lost an average
of 60 pounds and have kept it off for an average of six years.

How Did They Lose The Excess Body Fat?

The successful weight losers report four common behaviors:
ñ    They eat a low-calorie, low-fat diet, 
ñ    They monitor themselves by weighing in frequently, 
ñ    They are very physically active, and 
ñ    They eat breakfast. 

Six years after their weight loss, most of the registry's successful losers still report eating a low-
calorie, low-fat diet. They also exercise for about an hour or more a day, expending about 2,800
calories per week on a variety of physical activities.

1. Set Goals - You must set goals to be successful. A goal must be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and have a timetable. For example, a good weight loss goal would state that you want to lose six pounds in four weeks. This goal is specific; you want to lose six pounds. You can measure your results using a scale. For most people, losing six pounds in four weeks is both attainable and realistic, and you have attached a timetable to it of four weeks.

2. Change Your Mental Picture - In all of us, we have a mental picture or idea of who we are. In order to find success living the healthy lifestyle, your internal mental image must become that of a person already living the healthy lifestyle. In other words, change your thoughts and the actions will follow. You must reinforce this new mental picture constantly until your actions and thoughts become one. It becomes easier over time as old destructive thoughts and habits are replaced with thoughts of a happy, healthy new you!

3. Strength Train - Muscle in the body is metabolically active. That means that the body expends energy maintaining, growing and repairing muscle tissue. Incorporating strength training into your exercise program is important because it allows you to take advantage of what Mother Nature has given all of us - a built in fat burning furnace! When choosing strength training exercises, pick those that target multiple muscle groups. Exercises like the push up, squat, pull up, bench press and shoulder press target several different muscles at once, allowing for faster and more efficient workouts.

4. Cardio Exercise - Jogging, jumping rope and bicycling are just a few examples of cardio exercise. Even brisk walking can be considered cardio exercise if your heart rate is elevated enough. Twenty to forty minutes per day on most days of the week are optimal to achieve the health benefits from cardio exercise. In order to target muscles while they’re fresh, strength training workouts should be completed prior to doing cardio exercise.

5. Heart Rate Monitor - Using a heart rate monitor can be a useful tool for monitoring exercise intensity. It can tell you if you are exercising too hard, or not hard enough. Staying in your target zone ensures that each and every workout is as beneficial as the last. Heart rate monitors have come down in price in recent years, with quality monitors now priced under $100.

6. Exercise Journal - Filling out an exercise journal is a great way to track your progress as you try to reach new goals. The only way to really change your body through exercise is to get out of your comfort zone. That means striving to do more repetitions or more weight than previous workouts, or maybe jogging 3 minutes longer on the treadmill than before. The best way to remember past workouts is to write them in a journal. It’s also fun to look back over time and see the progress you’ve made.

7. Read Food Labels - This sounds like a no brainer, but many people attempting to lose weight and improve their health fail to read food labels. Probably the most important information on a food label is the serving size. You may think that the 20 ounce bottle of soda in your hand is one serving, but guess what; it’s actually two and a half servings. The information on the label is for just one serving though. So it’s up to you, the consumer to know how many calories you’re putting into your body.

8. Good Fat - Don’t be afraid to include some fat in your diet. A basic rule of thumb to follow is if a fat is firm at room temperature, it is high in saturated fats. Saturated fats are bad for the heart and have been shown to clog our arteries. Try to include in your diet more coldwater fish such as salmon, sardines, albacore tuna and herring. Also, use olive oil in place of butter when cooking and eat more nuts and seeds as well.
9. Nutrient Dense Foods - When making food choices, pick foods that are nutrient dense. That means foods that are minimally processed, high in vitamins and minerals, low in fat and high in fiber. Fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates found in whole grain breads and cereals, and lean meats and fish should be staples of your diet.

10. Drink Water - Drinking water helps keep our complexion clear, gives us more energy, removes toxins from the body, helps with digestion and improves athletic performance. Some folks also believe it can help shed unwanted pounds by giving us the feeling of fullness, which may help suppress the appetite. One thing is clear; water provides many wonderful benefits to anyone living the healthy lifestyle.

By Lee Daugherty