Exercise Is Not Always About Weight Loss

Exercise is not always about weight loss. Put physical and emotional health for your reason to exercise.

Are you a yo-yo exerciser?

If you work hard to get the body you want, only to let your training regime slip once you've reached your goal, you could be damaging your health.

You’ve squatted, lunged and crunched your way to a beautiful beach body, but now your holiday’s over, you’re tempted to take a break from exercise.  And with autumn just around the corner, the lure of tights and raincoats may entice you to put off your training even longer – at least until the festive season prompts a return to the gym for a party dress quick-fix.

If this stop-start approach to exercise sounds familiar, you may be a yo-yo exerciser – someone who shuns regular exercise for bursts of intense activity, to achieve a weight-loss goal.

Yo-yo exercising is on the increase because our ‘get it quick’ society leads women to think they can get instant results, believes Kathryn Freeland, managing director of Absolute Fitness. 

‘Women exercise or diet intensively for a period, but it’s not sustainable so they stop,’ she says.

‘They also fail to set realistic goals for how often they can fit exercise into their week or think about what they will enjoy doing.’ It’s not surprising we’ve acquired this quick-fix attitude to exercise.

We all want a great body now, not in a few months’ time, but this short-term approach can wreak-havoc with your fitness, and your health.
‘There’s nothing wrong with “upping” your exercise and then going back to your usual level, but giving up completely is damaging to your mental and emotional well-being,’ says Freeland.
It’s disheartening to see your weight and energy levels yo-yo along with your fitness regime and, without the consistent results of regular exercise, it’s easy to lack the motivation to return to your workouts.

Physical toll

Yo-yo exercising can have a negative effect on your body, too. 

Research published by the American Physiological Society shows that irregular exercise may mean you store
more fat at times of inactivity to prepare for the intense activity which follows. It’s well known that people who don’t take regular exercise have higher blood pressure and a higher percentage of body fat, and not only is this unhealthy, it’s difficult to reduce with short bursts of exercise. 

On top of this, intense exercise can also put a strain on your heart if your body isn’t used to it.

The Office of National Statistics’ 2012 report, Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet, recommends that adults do at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week. But being sedentary for months at a time then leaping into a new training regime doesn’t count, and won’t work in the long term. The fitter you are, the more energy you’ll expend during exercise, because you’ll be able to tolerate higher intensities for longer and can oxidize more fat. So, staying consistently fit will help shift the extra weight.
As Hart says, ‘When you make wearing a size 10 dress your priority, exercise will be the first thing you ditch when you reach that goal. When you put your physical, emotional or mental health first, exercise becomes part of your life.’

(article source: Health & Fitness Magazine UK - September 2012)

How to Lose Belly Fat Fast Effectively

Have you seen how many people ask for advice in order to lose stomach fat? Have you read all these columns in magazines and online journals where hundreds of people are wondering how to lose belly fat fast? It seems that belly is the main area of concern both for men and women who are looking to lose some extra weight. Six packs and cut abs are the primer sex symbol of the modern times. But how can someone used to beers and burgers can lose the accumulated fat?

It is not that difficult as many people think; in fact it only require dedication and focusing on the goal. Diet is the most important step to shedding the extra weight on the belly. Regardless of age, a low fat diet can help you maintain good levels of fat in your body, avoiding accumulation of ugly fat. Low calorie diets and low fat plans are equally important, although if you have to stick with one of the two, you should opt for the low calories.

Belly fat bears the same characteristics as any other fat in our body. If you burn more calories than you take, you will burn belly fat fast enough. You can also opt for fat bursting foods that feature a low glycemic index and can help you lose extra fat. Artichokes, asparagus, avocado, broccoli, celery and cucumber are just some of them.

Many people tend to start with weight loss formulas that promise them they will lose weight and fat within a few days; fad diets and shakes can probably help you lose belly fat fast, but they do not ensure that you will not regain it soon after. Eating low calorie foods and avoiding saturated fats will help you reduce the intake of empty calories and bad nutrients that cannot be metabolized or burned easily by your body.

Exercise is also the second most important step in fat busting. Exercise helps you burn calories faster; this makes your body turn into fat reserves which are used as fuel. Belly fat and any other additional fat you have will start disappearing fast - almost a week after you start exercising moderately.

What are the best types of exercises for belly fat loss? Cardio and weight training is the best combination. Cardio will help you burn calories fast and weight training will help you increase muscle mass.

The more muscles you have the faster your metabolism will be. Half hour of cardio exercise such as biking, running and half hour of active and fast paced weight training four times per week can help you lose belly fat fast.

Avoid misleading myths about belly fat can probably help you as well; do not believe claims that you will lose stomach fat if you work on the abs. Fat is not attached on the abdominal muscles but to the skin, therefore working on particular muscles will do you no good. Crunches and other abdominal exercises are not the answer on how to lose belly fat fast.

For more in-depth techniques on how to lose belly fat fast, I strongly encourage you to check out this Truth About Six Pack Abs review.

5 Reasons Why Most People Don't Succeed In Weight Loss Plan

Here are 5 reasons why most people don't succeed in their weight loss diet plan.

1. They simply don't understand the benefits of losing weight
2. They are not ready to the permanent lifestyle changes
3. They don't know how to lose weight in a healthy way
4. They are not motivated enough
5. They don't really care to know what they are consuming everyday.

1. People don't truly understand the benefits of losing weight. Why do most want to lose weight? Most would say to look better. Looking better certainly is a benefit of losing weight, but this shouldn’t be the sole reason to lose weight. There is a higher health risk for overweight people. Being overweight for a long period of time kills thousands of people each year. Thousands of studies have shown and proven without any doubt that losing body fat will improve and lengthen your life. Knowing the dangers of being overweight is a tremendous motivator to not only lose fat, but to keep it off.

2. People don't commit to permanent lifestyle changes. So many people think of a "diet" as something temporary. When they are on a "diet" they restrict themselves so much that they are miserable. Sooner or later failure is inevitable because of the unreasonable demands of most "diets." Some of these diets force you to only eat certain foods (e.g., no carbs, special soups etc…) You, like myself, have probably tried them before. The key to losing weight long term is to make gradual lifestyle changes you can stick to forever.

3. Most individuals are not provided the truthful facts of losing weight and becoming healthier. With the conflicting information in the media, and all of the different lose weight quick fad diets, it’s understandable why so many people really don’t know the truth about losing fat and keeping it off long term.

4. Most people don't understand they are constantly either gaining fat, or losing fat. There is no in-between. Some people justify binging or giving up because they hit a small road-block. This isn’t an all or nothing game. For example, when I was overweight, if I ate an unhealthy lunch, I’d go ahead and eat an unhealthy dinner since I already "messed up" the day. Or I’d say, I’ll start eating healthy on Monday since I’ve already eaten poorly this weekend. Every person at times eats too much. The successful people will not let a road bump completely derail their entire lifestyle change. If you are not implementing positive lifestyle changes and losing weight, you are gaining weight. Again, there is no "in-between."

5. Different foods have different amount of calories and fat. If you want to lose weight fast, you need to know how much calories and how fat you can take foe each day. Most people don't realize what they consume each day. So many overweight people eat thousands of extra calories and fat without realizing it. It’s tough to know if you are gaining weight or losing weight each day unless you are keeping an eye on what you’re consuming.

Things You Should Know about Body Fat before You wants To Lose Fat

Most of us want to lose fat because too much fat, especially subcutaneous fat, can be extremely bad for us. With obesity numbers climbing around the globe every year, we take a closer look at body weight, fat and weight loss.

Now let us look at the few reasons why people need to lose weight.

When a woman is overweight, it can affect her chances of getting pregnant as it affects their ovulation. When a woman is pregnant and overweight can cause many complications such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, certain infections, increased risk or a cesarean and having a baby that is larger than normal.

Being overweight is obviously bad for your health and can put you at risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, some cancers, gall bladder problems, high blood pressure, increase stress on the bones and joints and decreases life expectancy.

In your bid to lose fat, beware of stress. Stress can also cause a person to gain weight because the stress hormone cortical is released and that tells the body to store fat, mostly around your stomach.

Avoid taking bad stuff if you want lose more fat. The liver helps to burn fat, but when it is busy processing and eliminating toxins from alcohol, junk food and other toxic stuff that we put into the body, it cannot process and burn the fat as well as it normally would.

Make sure you have enough sleep if you want to lose weight fast, a lack of sleep can also cause you to put on weight as it causes hormone and chemical imbalances in the body. Leptin, the hormone that makes you feel full, decreases and the hormone ghrelin, which makes us feel hungry, increases.

Some fat cells are difficult to lose

You cannot actually lose the amount of fat cells that you have as once you reach a certain age, the numbers remain constant. While a certain amount will die over the course of a year, the body replaces them. Diet and exercise only shrinks the cells; it does not get rid of them and fat cells can increase as much as a whopping six times their size.

While liposuction and other drastic measures have instant effects and will reduce the number of fat cells you have, the body will actually replace them over the next couple of years. The only way to ensure that those fat cells do not increase in size again is to pay extremely close attention to what you eat and how much your exercise. If you do not change your diet and exercise habits, you will go back to your pre surgery weight.

When you are overweight or have extra weight around your stomach, fat surrounds your internal organs, which is where the health risks come from. In fact you can be you can be as thin as a bean but still have fat (visceral fat) around your organs and the worst kind for your health, in comparison to other body fat, known as subcutaneous fat. It increases your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and cancer.

Lose bad fat but not good fat

Good fat is essential for bodily functions, and if you stop eating it altogether, the body cannot produce energy or absorb vitamins, hormone production is effected and blood has difficulty forming. This of course puts you at risk of a lot of health problems, including internal bleeding and weak bones. Good fats, the unsaturated kind also helps the body lower cholesterol and should make up 30 per cent of your calorie intake.

Reasons To Lose Weight

If you are overweight and still happy with it, you belong to the minority of people in the world, but should be applauded for your positive view on your life and your body. However, there is a time and circumstances where weight loss plays some important roles in life. Many overweight people say that they are happy with their bodies, but the fact remains that it is important to have a healthy weight. There are a number of reasons where you should consider to lose weight, even if you do not mind having a few extra pounds.

4 Reasons Why You Need To Lose Weight.

1. You are at high risk for heart disease.
Primarily, if you are overweight, you are at risk for a number of diseases. The main health risk you will probably experience is heart disease, which can lead to a heart attack. Many heart attacks are fatal. Heart disease develops when your heart has to work extra hard to pump the blood to the body, which causes it to become fatigued. This can occur simply because you are overweight, or can be a result of high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

2. You are at risk for a stroke.
Along with heart disease, having high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels can also put you at risk for a stroke. Strokes occur when a part of the brain experiences a problem with blood flow. This disruption in blood flow cuts off the supply of oxygen to the cells in that part of the brain, and these cells begin to die. This can happen due to high cholesterol. When you have high cholesterol, the fatty deposits build up on your artery walls. If a piece of this plaque breaks off and travels to the heart, it causes a heart attack, and traveling to the brain causes a stroke.

3. Overweight put pregnant women at higher risk of health complications.
Being overweight is also bad for women who wish to become pregnant. When you are overweight, the hormones in your body are changing, and if you do not get the right nutrients, you may find that your body does not produce the right chemicals for the hormones needed to ovulate or carry a child. Even if you become pregnant, being overweight puts you at risk for a miscarriage or health problems with the baby. One of the biggest risks for an overweight woman who is pregnant is the increased risks of complications. Being overweight puts you at increased risk of having a baby that is larger than normal. Being overweight also puts you at a higher risk of needing to have a cesarean section birth, as opposed to a vaginal birth. Being overweight also affects the amount of weight you will have to lose after pregnancy, as well as the difficulty that is involved in losing weight after pregnancy.
There are also some other affects that being overweight can have on your pregnancy. Being overweight during pregnancy puts you at a higher risk for infections, including urinary infections. Finally, being overweight can affect the process of selecting and using anesthesia during labor and delivery.

4. Being overweight can make life uneasy.
Being overweight affects many aspects of your life. You may find it difficult to purchase clothing in your size or you may find that the clothing that does come in larger sizes is more expensive. This is simply due to the manufacturer need more material to make the same article of clothing. Problems extend beyond shopping when doing things like visiting theme parks, where you may not be able to ride all of the rides, or using public transportation, where you may feel crowded in seats made for smaller people.

Reasons to lose weight. Whatever reason one might have, it is always best to have an ideal body weight in order to enjoy a healthy and quality life style. It is never too late to enjoy weight loss benefits, here are some easy weight loss tips for you! (read the previous post).