Quick Weight Loss Tips

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.

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.

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.”

Just about everybody seems to be interested in weight control. Some of us weigh just the right
amount, others need to gain a few pounds. Most of us "battle the bulge" at some time in our life.
Whatever our goals, we should understand and take advantage of the important role of exercise
in keeping our weight under control.

Carrying around too much body fat is a major nuisance. Yet excess body fat is common in
modern-day living. Few of today's occupations require vigorous physical activity, and much of
our leisure time is spent in sedentary pursuits.

Recent estimates indicate that 34 million adults are considered obese (20 percent above
desirable weight). Also, there has been an increase in body fat levels in children and youth over
the past 20 years. After infancy and early childhood, the earlier the onset of obesity, the greater
the likelihood of remaining obese.

Excess body fat has been linked to such health problems as coronary heart disease, high blood
pressure, osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis and certain forms of cancer. Some evidence now exists
showing that obesity has a negative effect on both health and longevity.
Exercise is associated with the loss of body fat in both obese and normal weight persons. A
regular program of exercise is an important component of any plan to help individuals lose, gain
or maintain their weight.