Exercise and Nutrition
Atkins, The Zone, Raw Food Diet, Hollywood Diet, Low Fat, Low Carb, Low Calorie; with all the reducing plans out there how do you know which one to choose, what's the most effective, the most painless.
The principle flaw, the reason most these weight loss programs don't work is... you have to stay on them for them to be effective. That's it. If you're feeling deprived who's going to know if you cheat? Break it once and the second time is that much easier. So what do you do? Set realistic short term and long term goals to start with (less is more here). A new outfit or a vacation is excellent motivators.
Planning a free meal as in (non-diet meal) once a week is important to keep from feeling deprived and keeping a food journal is still one of the most effective tools in weight loss for any diet. Once I know what you like to eat, and what's right and what's wrong I can begin.
Whether you are vegan, vegetarian or a meat eater, I will improve your nutritional status and help you effectively lose fat. Your personality and time schedule are also taken into consideration. Why you eat is just as important as what you eat. Whether it's slow and steady or a date specific goal, let us create a plan that works best for you.
RESOURCES
You can find more detailed information about nutrition and exercise on the following websites.
Below are 10 natural health and fitness tips, in no particular order. From healthy eating habits to exercise programs, these health and fitness tips will help you get smarter about weight loss, wellness and healthy living overall.
Drink more water
You hear this all the time and there's a reason for that - because it's important! Drinking water curbs your hunger, hydrates your body and nourishes you from the inside out, including your skin.
Sprint more
For faster fat loss and a stronger heart, try sprint interval training. The basic format of sprint interval training is sprint/walk/sprint/walk, etc. Pick a stretch of road that is flat for 50 yards - sprint the 50 yards, walk back slowly, repeat - do this 10 times. Make sure you're warmed up before you start sprinting and that you warm down when you're done. Sprint interval training boosts your metabolism, burns more fat, and takes less time to complete.
Stay away from sugar!
When you consume sugar, it causes your body to release insulin - and insulin causes your body to store fat. That's why those fat-free cookies with extra sugar are actually causing you to gain weight. Read the ingredients label and stay away from products heavy in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. "Healthy" breakfast cereals and bars are notorious for being high in these two ingredients.
Correct your diet
Add more of the following foods to your diet: whole grains, olive oil, eggs, natural peanut butter, fish, poultry, berries, apples, almonds, protein powder and water. These foods will help you burn more fat, stay in shape and better your health.
Weight training
Add weight training to your exercise routine. Adding muscle to your body increases your life span, makes you stronger and burns fat. If you're looking to tone up, use a weight that you can lift 8-12 times; if you're looking to add bulk, use a weight you can lift 4-6 times. Weight train 2-3 times per week and keep your weight training sessions to 45 minutes max.
Increase vitamin intake
At a minimum, add a quality multivitamin to your diet and fish oil soft gels (omega-3 fatty acids). Most people don't get a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals from foods alone so it's important you compliment your healthy eating habits with a strong multi. The fish oil softgels are important because most people's diets are severely lacking in omega-3 fatty acids and this is suspected to be a contributing factor to many health diseases, including obesity. Fish oil soft gels are the easiest way to add omega-3's to your diet - consume 2,000 to 3,000 mg of omega-3 per day.
Salmon for fish
Add more salmon to your diet. It's extremely high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids, and low in fat - an incredibly healthy combination.
Say no to processed food
Stay away from foods that contain hydrogenated oils and processed foods altogether. Hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, wreck havoc on your body. Read the ingredients of the food you are eating - it will indicate if it contains hydrogenated oils - and if it does, toss it! Processed foods are the chemically-altered, packaged foods like many of the foods targeted towards kids nowadays. Usually you can tell a food is processed if the ingredients show a list of chemicals a mile long.
Don't over eat
A simple way to keep your weight under control is stop eating before you're full. Portion control is an easy way to make sure you don't over eat and gain weight. If you continuously eat until you're uncomfortably full, you'll consume too many calories and stretch your stomach out, causing you to eat more often.
Try Yoga
Give yoga a try because you'll be amazed at the difference it makes when your body is limber and flexible, plus it will help reduce your chances of injury. Yoga consists of 15-20 minutes of deep stretching and usually meditation. Your body will feel younger and you'll have less stress - combine this with cardio, weight training and a healthy diet, and in 12 weeks you'll be in the best shape of your life.
FITNESS TEST
Before embarking on any new fitness or exercise regime it's always wise to have yourself tested by a qualified Personal Trainer or your own Doctor to make sure that there are no issues which would prevent you from performing certain exercises.
Take a good starting position; this could be for example your resting heart rate. Initially this might be 85 beats per minute, then after 8 weeks, it's been lowered to 75 beats per minute. This very simple result is a good indicator which shows that the training and exercise is working for you.
The purpose of these tests is not only to check your current fitness level and to help assist you by giving you the green light to commence your workout, but also so that you can see and monitor what improvements you're making.
Any negative results should always be looked upon positively, as by having the test done regularly (4-8 weeks) you can see what changes you need to make in your training.
Don't worry if results such as bodyweight may have gone up, this could simply be due to an increase in healthier muscle tissue and you will need this to burn off the fat and to give your body a better healthier shape and muscle tone.
It's very important that you keep a note of all your results, don't just write them down, type them out and email them to yourself. If you lose the scrap of paper that you wrote them on, at least you can get them by surfing through your emails.
Is the positive gains that you can see on paper that will help you stay motivated as sometimes the gains are there, but because the can come slowly, they are often missed
