Tag Archive for: 7 keys to body transformation (free ebook)

5 Steps to Setting Successful Weight Loss Goals

/in , ,

If you want to be successful in your weight loss, the first thing you have to do is set realistic goals that will help you keep your weight loss on track and keep you motivated. However, if you set unrealistic goals that you’re not able to reach, it will quickly become discouraging and you may find yourself giving up long before you reach your goal.

So, here are 5 steps to setting successful weight loss goals.

successful

1. Make Your Primary Goal be Health

When your overall goal is to live a healthier life, it’ll be a lot easier to feel successful as you work to make better eating choices every day. This will also help you stay motivated since you can evaluate yourself at the end of the day to determine what you can to better the next day to keep reaching your goal of being healthier.

2. Do Some Research

Before you set your main goal, you’ll want to spend a bit of time doing research to determine what a realistic goal is for you. Ask other people who have already lost weight how long it took them to help you determine how much you can expect to lose and how long it might take you. Then, you will be able to set up a realistic goal for your own weight loss.

3. Set Your “Big” Goal

This is your total weight loss goal and could take you several years to reach. However, it’s important to have this big goal so you know what your target weight loss is. Add a timeline into your goal, whether it’s one year, two years, or five years. It’s important to give yourself plenty of time to reach that goal so that you don’t feel rushed, but also keep it a short enough time to keep you focused and on track.

4. Set Up Milestones

These are little goals along the way that will help you reach your big goal. You’ll want to set these up the same way you set up your big goal: after doing some research and with a timeline. These will be spread out every month, every few months, or even every year.

What’s most important to keep in mind when setting up these goals is that weight loss is typically easier at the beginning and then takes longer as your body’s metabolism changes. So, you may be able to lose 10 pounds in the first month, but will need 3 months to lose the last 5 pounds.

5. Set Up Rewards

For reaching your big goal, set up a big reward, whether it’s buying your dream car or going on your dream vacation. Getting to your ideal body weight and to a point where you can live a healthier life is a big deal and should be celebrated, so don’t be afraid to go all-out.

For your smaller milestones, these should also be celebrated, but in smaller ways. Just make sure that the rewards you set up are activities or anything non-food related, since rewarding yourself by eating junk food contradicts the whole point of a healthy lifestyle!

Can I Lose Weight with Diet Alone?

/in , ,

The short answer is yes, you can lose weight with diet alone. The truth is, that diet is the main determining factor in whether or not you will lose weight. Many people think they need to devote hours a day to exercising if they want to lose weight, but the truth is that if you want real, lasting weight loss, all you need to do is change your diet.

Here are some small diet changes that anyone can make to start losing weight without making any other changes:

lose weight

1. Cut Out Soda

Even drinking just one can of soda a day can increase your chances of being overweight by up to 65 percent, according to a study done by the American Diabetic Association. By simply cutting out the soda that you’re drinking and replacing it with unsweetened green tea or plain water, you can lose weight without even trying, and save money on sodas to boot.

2. Eat More Protein

You should be getting between 25 and 30 percent of your daily caloric intake from protein. The best way to make sure you’re doing that is to cut out half the carbs on your plate and replace them with a lean source of protein. Getting more protein in your diet will help you feel fuller for longer so you won’t need to eat as much at your next meal.

3. Eat on a Schedule

When you set up an eating schedule for yourself, you’re much less likely to over-eat during meals because you’ll be eating before you get too hungry. The best schedule to set up is 5 – 6 smaller meals spread out throughout the day, about 2 – 3 hours apart. Set alarms on your phone if you need to, and you’ll soon find yourself losing weight without trying.

4. Snack Right

When you’re looking for something to snack on, it’s usually junk foods that are easiest to grab, so keep yourself from falling into this temptation by providing plenty of healthy snacks for yourself. Keep fresh fruit like apples, bananas, and oranges on the counter where you can see them, and bagged veggies or yogurt at eye level in the fridge where they’re easy to see and take with you.

5. Quit Pre-Eating

Many people fall into the trap of eating before they actually eat, especially if they’re cooking a big meal and frequently taste test it as they go. These little tastes add up to hundreds of extra calories that you’re not counting since they’re not in your actual meal. To avoid pre-eating, have a big glass of water on hand while cooking or baking and drink that instead of sampling your food before dinner.

6. Satisfy Your Cravings

Often, when you have a craving for something, it can be hard to know exactly what you want, so you end up eating a bunch of things until you find something that finally satisfies it. Take a few moments to identify what exactly you’re craving, then look for a healthy version of that to satisfy you. Most cravings fall into one or two of the following categories: sweet, salty, crunchy, or creamy.

5 Must-Have Foods to Aid Weight Loss

/in , ,

Choosing the right foods will help you lose weight faster and then keep it off. These foods help in a variety of ways to ensure that you will be able to lose weight. When put together along with an overall healthy diet, then these five foods will aid in weight loss.

Here are 5 must-have foods to aid weight loss:

foods

1. Leafy Greens

There are a number of plants that fall under this category that all work the same way to help you lose weight. The best are spinach, kale, swiss chard, and collards. The first way they help you lose weight is by providing you with a number of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. These work together to make sure your body is working the way it should.

The other way that these help you lose weight is because they are high in fiber. Fiber keeps your digestive system working the way it’s supposed to which helps you lose weight. It also makes you feel full for longer, which keeps you from eating too many snacks in between meals and can prevent you from eating too much as your next meal.

2. Whole Eggs

Contrary to what was believed for a while, the yolks of eggs are beneficial to people that want to lose weight. Recent studies have proven that whole eggs don’t increase cholesterol or increase your risk of heart attack. In fact, eating eggs will help you lose weight and are a vital part of low-carb diets since they are low in carbs but high in healthy fats and protein.

3. Cruciferous Vegetables

This family of vegetables include cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. Like leafy greens, they are high in fiber but low in carbs. They also contain surprisingly high amounts of protein compared to other vegetables, making them an excellent choice for people who want to lose weight. Additionally, they have a number of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

4. Salmon

Salmon, along with other oily fish like trout, mackerel, herring, and sardines are excellent for losing weight. The first way they can help you lose weight is by providing you with a good amount of healthy fat. These will help keep you feeling full for longer, and also do a lot for different processes in your body, especially your brain.

Another way that salmon and other fatty fishes can help you lose weight is the amount of iodine they contain. Many people don’t get enough iodine from their diets which can lead to low thyroid function. Because the thyroid controls metabolism, it’s important to keep it running the way it’s supposed to if you’re going to lose weight.

5. Chicken

Along with other white and lean meats, chicken can help you lose weight. This is because of the amount of protein it contains. Protein is a vital part of weight loss because of how much a high-protein diet can contribute to weight loss. In fact, studies have shown that by getting between 25 and 30 percent of your calories from protein, you can lose up to a pound a week just by reducing cravings.

3 Ways to Exercise On A Busy Schedule

/in , ,

Most exercise programs are started with the best intentions. So why then, do treadmills turn into storage platforms, and walking shoes are worn only to Saturday night movies? The answer is more of a matter of poor planning then low motivation.

For exercise to be viable, it should include activities you enjoy, be accessible, and fit easily into your daily schedule. Here are 3 three ideas:

exercise

Arm your exercise space for battle.

What would it take for your treadmill to be used? What about the weights? Maybe all you need is for your exercise space/room to be more inviting. You could accomplish this by decorating. Add color, texture, and other elements that will appeal to your senses-sight, smell, and sound. Do simple things like keeping a water pitcher on a table, or adjusting the light to fit your mood. If instead of comfort, your worry is infringing on productive time, consider adding a television with a VCR. This allows you to watch the news or watch a movie that you wouldn’t normally have time to watch. You can view it in 20-30 minute increments. View it only when exercising, forcing you back on the equipment to see what happens next. It might be the motivating factor you’ve been looking for. Another possibility is to listen to a book on tape or recorded meeting notes through a headset. You can also record notes or the next day’s “to do” list as you think of things while exercising.

Walk whenever possible.

This includes the old stand bys like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking a distance from your destination, and delivering messages in your office by foot instead of by email. You can also walk on your lunch hour and breaks instead of sitting down to eat or snacking. To get your lunchtime nutrition, eat a quick salad at your desk before you take off. Bringing your food from home will save drive time to a restaurant, enabling you to get more from your breaks. Invite co-worker to walk with you.

Choose active family activities.

Instead of eating a big dinner out-eat a healthy meal at home and then take a walk around the neighborhood together. You’ll save the calories of the large restaurant portions, the time it takes to drive to an establishment, and gain that much need family time. Other “active” activities include walking around at the zoo, hiking on local nature preserves, bicycling, ice-skating, and swimming. The list is endless. Let these types of activities replace television watching and video games.

Turn your good intentions into action. You’ll be healthier and will improve your overall well-being. You may end up with better work relationships as a result of hand delivering your messages. You will certainly strengthen family relationships by focusing on your time together. By investing a little time each day in the development of a healthy lifestyle, you could add years to your life, enabling you to enjoy the days when you no longer have such a chaotic schedule.

Effective Cardio Workouts In Only 20 Minutes

/in , ,

The perfect workout routine is one that combines strength training and some form of cardio. The problem is, most people hate doing cardio and will make up any excuse not to do it. A popular excuse is not having enough time. This article, however, will show you how you can spend only 20 minutes on a cardio workout and still reap the benefits.

So first of all, why is it necessary that you add cardio to your workouts? Most people understand the benefits of strength training because it adds muscle and muscle makes you healthier, more lean and stronger overall.

cardio

But what are the benefits of cardio? Here is a short list that names just a few:

  • it helps reduce stress
  • it burns calories which leads to weight loss
  • it makes your heart and lungs stronger
  • it reduces your risk of certain diseases
  • it reduces depression and increases confidence
  • it gives you more energy and helps you sleep better
    To sum it up, adding cardio to your workout improves your health and well-being which leads to a better quality of life. Combine this with strength training and you’re on your way to feeling great, fast.

So how can you reap the benefits of cardio in only 20 minutes per workout? It’s called Interval Training and it can be applied to many different forms of cardio including boxing, running and biking.

The concept in a nutshell is shorter workouts, but higher intensity. This is accomplished by pushing hard for say two minutes and then slowing down for two minutes. If you repeat this cycle four more times then you have your 20 minutes. You could also do one minute hard, one minute easy and then repeat this nine more times.

Here is an example:

Interval training is perfect for running. If you’re working out on a treadmill or running outdoors, it’s the same routine. Start out with a warm up jog followed by two minutes of a challenging pace. This won’t be your all out because you have to maintain it for two minutes, but a pace that will be very hard for you. You then follow this with two minutes of either a walk or a very slow jog. Repeat four more times and you’ve got yourself an effective cardio workout in only 20 minutes.

This concept can be applied to many different forms of cardio: two minutes hard, two minutes easy, repeat four more times. Or one minute hard, one minute easy, repeat nine more times. You’ll get your blood flowing, your heart pumping and reap all the benefits cardio has to offer…all in only 20 minutes.

What Is A Fitness Tracker?

/in ,

Technological advancement has given rise to many smart applications that not only improve efficiency
but also make tracking and monitoring of different activities easier. It’s always important to monitor
your progress as far as your health and fitness regimen is concerned. A fitness tracker is therefore that
application or device used in tracking and monitoring fitness goals.

It measures metrics such as distance run or walked, rate of heartbeat, calories consumed and sometimes even the quality of your sleep. Most of these tracking devices are wirelessly synchronized to a smartphone or computer for the purposes of regular data tracking and reporting.

fitness

In many cases, people have fitness goals or targets, whether monthly or on a daily basis, that they hope
to achieve. Monitoring the progress of your fitness regimen can be a challenge especially if you are not a
certified fitness trainer or health practitioner. Fitness tracking devices give you the capability to monitor
your progress and determine how far you are from meeting your targets, or if indeed you achieved or
exceeded them.

Most of them are wearable and can also serve as regular digital watches. Some people wear them as accessories because of their fashion forward designs. These devices have become so main stream that some firms have decided to use them in encouraging consumers to live healthily.

The electronic fitness trackers are basically an advanced version of pedometers. Apart from counting
steps, they also use accelerometers to determine distance covered, graph general physical activity and
calculate calorie usage. In some cases they also keep track of and graph quality of sleep and heart rate.

As you go about your fitness routines, there are various activities that you engage in such as walking,
running, swimming, jogging, bike rides and normal house chores. It is important that you stay true to
your goals and monitor your progress because that is the only way you’ll be able to achieve your
objectives.

A fitness tracker is an ideal way to easily monitor your activity with great accuracy. You can imagine it to
be an electronic finger on your pulse, measuring your vitals on a regular basis. These trackers have made
use of the latest technology to enable fitness enthusiasts monitor their activities and keep track of their
progress. Most people spend so much time on their smartphones or tablets which is why fitness trackers
are synchronized with these devices for report displays.

Trackers can also be connected to social media apps like Facebook but one has to be careful since there are some instances when private information has ended up in the internet and public domain. There are different trackers available in the market and people can therefore make buying decisions based on prices, functionality and personal style.

Muscle Fiction

/in , ,

If you’v been training, here’s a short list of bodybuilding fiction.

1. 12 Rep rule

Most weight training program include this much repetitions for gaining muscle. The truth is this approach places the muscles with not enough tension for effective muscle gain. High tension e.g. heavy weights provides muscle growth in which the muscle grows much larger, leading to the maximum gains in strength. Having longer tension time boosts the muscle size by generating the structures around the muscle fibers, improving endurance.

ficton

The standard prescription of eight to 12 repetitions provides a balance but by just using that program all of the time, you do not generate the greater tension levels that is provided by the heavier weights and lesser reps, and the longer tension achieved with lighter weights and more repetitions. Change the number of reps and adjust the weights to stimulate all types of muscle growth.

2. Three Set rule

The truth is there’s nothing wrong with three sets but then again there is nothing amazing about it either. The number of sets you perform should be base on your goals and not on a half-century old rule. The more repetitions you do on an exercise, the fewer sets you should do, and vice versa. This keeps the total number of repetitions done of an exercise equal.

3. Three to four exercises per group

The truth is this is a waste of time. Combined with twelve reps of three sets, the total number of reps amount to 144. If your doing this much reps for a muscle group your not doing enough. Instead of doing too many varieties of exercises, try doing 30 to 50 reps. That can be anywhere from 2 sets of 15 reps or 5 sets of 10 reps.

4. My knees, my toes

It is a gym folklore that you “should not let your knees go past your toes.” Truth is that leaning forward a little too much is more likely a cause of injury. In 2003, Memphis University researchers confirmed that knee stress was almost thirty percent higher when the knees are allowed to move beyond the toes during a squat.

But hip stress increased nearly 10 times or (1000 percent) when the forward movement of the knee was restricted. Because the squatters needed to lean their body forward and that forces the strain to transfer to the lower back.

Focus on your upper body position and less on the knee. Keep the torso in an upright position as much as possible when doing squats and lunges. These reduces the stress generated on the hips and back. To stay upright, before squatting, squeeze the shoulder blades together and hold them in that position; and then as you squat, keep the forearms 90 degree to the floor.

5. Lift weights, draw abs

The truth is the muscles work in groups to stabilize the spine, and the most important muscle group change depending on the type of exercise. The transverse abdominis is not always the most important muscle group. Actually, for most exercise, the body automatically activates the muscle group that are needed most for support of the spine. So if you focus only on the transverse abdominis, it can recruit wrong muscles and limit the right muscles. This increases the chance of injury, and reduces the weight that can be lifted.

Top Exercises to Use With HIIT

/in , ,

HIIT is high intensity interval training. By now, most of us will know what this term means and be familiar with how to go about using it. Simply put, it means that you are going to be alternating between periods of high intensity (normally at around 90-100% of your MHR) and periods of relatively low intensity and recovery (at around 70% of your MHR).

What this does, is to deplete your stores of glycogen and ATP, so that the only way your body can get the energy it needs to carry on with the low intensity training is to burn fat. You thus burn more fat both during the workouts and also continuously after the workout has finished! 

But HIIT doesn’t just have to mean running. Actually, there are a number of different exercises you can use in order to burn more fat and build more muscle and these work perfectly when combined with a HIIT workout.

Here are some great examples:

Kettlebell Swings

The kettlebell swing is an exercise that involves swinging a kettlebell up in the air and then letting it fall back down again. The momentum generated by this allows you to continuously exert yourself and ultimately, it’s a great way to provide a cardio challenge that burns fat while at the same time challenging and building up your muscles as well.

This is the perfect example of ‘concurrent training’ and will not only burn more fat but also tone and build muscle and generally help you to see amazing results.

Pull Ups

Pull ups are very well suited to HIIT, as long as you can perform enough of them with good technique. When you start to tire, you can always try to use a bit more momentum, at which point they become ‘kipping pull ups’ like those taught in CrossFit classes.

High Knees

If you can’t get outside to run, then another way to burn a lot of calories with a similar motion is to perform high knees. Stand on the spot, hold your hands up high and then run so that your knees hit your hands.

Tuck Jumps

Jump up in the air and then hug your knees in toward your chest each time you reach the apex of your jump.

Jack in the Box

Here, you squat down into a huddled position and then jump straight up in the air and kick your hands and arms out like a starfish. This not only challenges your legs to deliver a lot of explosive power but also involves your entire body in the movement!

Clapping Push Ups

HIIT works best when you involve your fast twitch muscle fiber. Fortunately, clapping push ups are a type of exercise that do exactly that thanks to their plyometric nature. These are much harder and more ballistic than regular press ups and can be used to burn through calories as a result.

Other CV

Of course running is just one example of a CV workout. Just as good is rowing, swimming, bike… Try them all and see what works best for you!

What Not to do if You Want to Lose Weight

/in ,

Nearly everyone you speak to wants to lose weight. This is not to say that they are necessarily obese or seriously overweight – but just that most of us are less active than we should be and possibly overindulge on the sweeter things in life.

But if so many people want to lose weight, why are so many of us still not in the shape that we would really like to be? The answer comes down to a number of very common mistakes that tend to hamper our performance. In this post, I’m going to break down a number of those mistakes and demonstrate which behaviors you should look to change in order to make your next diet successful.lose weight

Be Overly Ambitious

One of the biggest mistakes that we will often make when trying to lose weight is to be overly ambitious in terms of our diet plan and our exercise.

A common example of this might be planning to exercise 5 times a week for an hour at a time. This is a big mistake because it is unsustainable. Even if it works for the first few weeks, the reality is that it is going to eventually become too much at which point you’ll return to your old shape.

When looking at any diet plan, ask yourself whether it’s something you can realistically do forever. If not… what’s the point?

Forget Drink, Butter and Others

Another common mistake is to overlook the role that certain less obvious things have in your diet. That is to say that it is easy to remember to eat the right dinner or to avoid cake… but less obvious things like soda drinks, butter on your sandwiches and more can all also have similarly disastrous effects.

Wait

When I speak to people who want to lose weight, they will often tell me that they’re planning to use a certain diet plan or a certain exercise regime but that they’re waiting until life is less busy, until they have bought a fully-written training program from a fitness guru etc.

The point is that losing weight is really not complicated. There are some methods that are more effective than others but ultimately, as long as you are eating a little less and exercising a little more, you will begin to improve.

If you want to lose weight and you haven’t already started, then it suggests that you are putting it off or procrastinating – that you don’t have the motivation. That’s what you should focus on.

Overlook Lifestyle

What’s the best way to lose weight? Quit your job! Imagine it: you’d suddenly have much more time, much more energy and much more inclination to train and to eat correctly.

Of course most of us don’t have the luxury of being able to walk out of our offices, but what we can do is to pay more attention to the role that our work plays. Likewise, focusing on sleep, on our emotional state and on our routine is also important if you really want to make a big difference in your health.

The Best Diet and Supplement Regime to Combine With HIIT

/in ,

So you just discovered HIIT? No doubt you’re loving just how easy it is to get a fat burning, calorie melting workout in now and you’re getting a kick out of pushing yourself so hard.

But while you’re probably feeling great, you should know that fat loss and muscle gain do not happen in the gym or on the track. Rather, they happen in the kitchen. If you really want to make the very most of HIIT, the you should combine it with the right diet… hiit

The Basics – Calories In, Calories Out

The great thing about HIIT is that it is a form of MetCon – metabolic conditioning. That is to say that it doesn’t just burn calories while you’re training, it also increases your calorie burn at rest by making your cells more efficient at burning through fat stores and sugars. Thus, even when you’re resting, you’re going to lose more weight.

But you still need to try and calculate this as much as you can and to do that, you need to figure out a rough ‘AMR’ – the total number of calories you burn in a day (this stands for ‘Active Metabolic Rate’). Likewise, you should track the calories you’re taking in with an app like MyFitnessPal and what this will then allow you to do, is to make sure you are consuming fewer calories than you are burning off. If you do this, then you should lose weight – and especially with the metabolic benefits.

Carb Backloading

Some people will tell you that it is important to reduce carbs – at least the simple kind. That’s because carbs spike the blood sugar and your body responds by producing insulin, absorbing that sugar and then storing it as fat.

If you’re concerned about this, you can try something called ‘carb backloading’. Here, you simply consume carbs only immediately following a workout. This wouldn’t work with aerobic training but HIIT will deplete the glycogen stores in your muscles. Thus, the priority of your body will become refuelling those glycogen stores, meaning that you’ll be less likely to store the excess energy as fat!

This way, you can still enjoy your carbs but without the guilt!

Supplements

One supplement that makes a lot of sense in conjunction with a HIIT workout program is creatine. That’s because creatine allows you to recycle ATP in your system, which in turn means you can rely on the ATP-CP energy system just a little longer. This in turn means that you can go all out for a second or so more when performing the high intensity portion of your workouts. That’s a big difference and it will result in better results. All that and creatine has also been shown to add muscle (by increasing water retention in the muscles) and to boost IQ!

Meanwhile, you can also try other supplements that will enhance your cellular energy. Popular choices include l-carnitine, CoQ10 and omega 3.

You don’t need any supplements, but adding a little l-carnitine and creatine can only help you see results faster!