Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Burn 100 Calories in 10 Minutes

Think you are too busy to exercise? Think again. A little workout is better then no workout. Short mini-workouts, 2 or 3 ten minute workouts throughout the day, can be just as effective as longer workouts, and are a great way to boost your metabolism. The key is to focus on intensity and use your time wisely.

These workouts don't require you to go to the gym, leave your home, or office, and can be done anywhere. The sample workouts offer a variety of cardio and strength ideas to get the most out of your exercise time. The key here is to maximize your time and focus on working harder then usual during the time you have. Substitute exercises to fit your fitness level and don't forget to cool down and stretch after each workout. Please share any tips or other ideas you have.

* 1 minute - Brisk walk or march in place
* 1 minute - Light jog outside, around the house or in place
* 1 minute - Jumping jacks
* 1 minute - Long jumps - jump forward, landing with both feet
* 1 minute - Light jog
* 1 minute - Jumping jacks
* 1 minute - Squat and kick, alternating legs
* 1 minute - Light jog
* 1 minute - Long jumps
* 1 minute - Brisk walk to cool down

Friday, September 18, 2009

Secret Ways to Lose Weight

There are many ways to lose weight and incorporate exercise into your daily life and activities. You do not have to go to the gym to workout or to burn calories. Weight loss and fat burning activities are all around you. The biggest secret to weight loss and how to lose weight is to keep moving and move every chance you get. When it comes to exercise, you just need to be creative and come up with your own list of activities that you can do, or be doing while you are doing something else to lose weight and burn calories. Even doing just a little more activity each day can make a difference in your weight loss goals.A little more activity, in the long run, can add up to many many more calories burned and weight lost.

Here are a few helpful tips I have used to lose weight and keep it off.

  • Stand up every chance you get.
  • Pace when you're on the phone.
  • Walk everywhere.
  • Visit your co-workers instead of emailing them or use a pedometer and see how many steps you can get in each day.
  • Don't take the elevator.
  • When at the mall, make three laps around the mall before you can buy anything.
  • When you park the car, make a complete circuit around the parking lot before entering the building.
  • Park your car as far away from the door as possible.
  • When carrying groceries, bring the bags in one bag at a time.
  • If you're stuck sitting for long periods of time, change position, shift in your seat or even do some isometric exercises - squeeze your hands together, contract your abs or squeeze your glutes.
  • Hide the remote control and get up to change the channel.
  • Sit on an exercise ball and roll around while you watch TV or work at the computer.

These are just a few basic ideas that have worked for me. All you need is your imagination and you can add to the list. Hopefully this helps with your weight loss goals as much as it has helped me.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Weight Loss Tips

Weight Loss Tip #1:
Add fruits or vegetables with every meal you eat. This will fill your stomach and help you cut down on the calories you would take in from the other foods.

Weight Loss Tip #2:
Eat breakfast daily. You would have gone hours without eating since the previous night, hence eating breakfast would not decrease your tendency to overeat later during the day and also boost your metabolism.

Weight Loss Tip #3:
Have some healthy snacks every 4 hours. You could have any snack: Oranges, Apples, Chips, String Cheese, Pretzels etc. Eat anything you want (in small quantities), just make sure you have something in your stomach at all times, you shouldn't feel hungry.

Weight Loss Tip #4:
Eat at regular intervals. Eating at odd irregular times would upset your whole diet. It is always advisable to maintain a specific schedule and always stick to it.

Weight Loss Tip #5:
Always know your portions: Half a cup of rice is about the size of your fist, one ounce of cheese is as much as a large marble; a three ounce serving of meat is the size of a deck of cards. Divide your plate into parts: Three fourths of it should be filled with vegetables, grains, beans and fruits while the other quarter should be extra-lean meat or low-fat dairy products.

Weight Loss Tip #6:
NEVER skip your meals. NEVER!Skipping a meal might seem like cutting on calories but that's not the case. You are basically starving yourself which is very wrong. The next meal that you eat will be converted to pure fat. This will eventually cause you to gain weight rather than losing any.

Weight Loss Tip #7:
Drink A LOT of water. This is one of the most essential components of your diet plan. One glass of water every hour would do wonders to your body. It helps you eat lesser without making you feel hungry. The large amount of water intake also flushes out all the unwanted waste in your body and helps in digestion too. Drink at least two to three litres of water daily.

Weight Loss Tip #8:
Eat slowly. Munch and chew every bite. Grind it to pieces before swallowing it. Generally when we're in a hurry, we just tend to swallow down whole chunks of food. We do not realise when we're full and when we're overeating. Eating slowly will not only give you satisfaction from every bite but you will also realise when to stop.

Weight Loss Tip #9:
Cut 100 calories a day from your diet. Replace your daily bar of chocolate with a banana or an orange. These 100 calories a day sum up to 1 pound a month. Just by giving up that one bar of chocolate, you can lose 1 pound of weight in one month!

Weight Loss Tip #10:
Buy pre-cut fruits and vegetables. You're more likely to munch on them as a snack or make a salad from them if they're already cut. You might feel lazy on one particular day and decide to wipe those veggies and fruits out for that one single day. However, if they're already cut, you'll feel like eating them.

Weight Loss Tip #11:
Go in for the less processed food. Its less fattening. For example: Potatoes versus chips, Whole Wheat Bread versus Doughnuts etc.

Weight Loss Tip #12:
Don't eat on auto-pilot. For example: Tasting the food you are cooking, Noshing from the serving bowl etc.

Weight Loss Tip #13:
Limit your alcohol intake. Limit it to only occasions. Alcohol is not only extremely fattening but also deteriorates your will power. Alcohol is also very harmful for your body in the long run. Try your best to limit your consumption, if not call it to quits.

Weight Loss Tip #14:
Don't do it alone. Get a friend or relative to go on a diet with you. In this way, both of you will inspire and push each other and keep going.

Weight Loss Tip #15:
Eat beans every now and then. Add a handful to your salads to curb your hunger pangs longer.Sweeten your food with spice. use spices like cinnamon and vanilla to desserts instead of sugar. They're less fattening.

Weight Loss Tip #16:
Keep moving, Don't be a couch potato. Daily physical activity, like walking, along with healthy eating is key to long-term weight-loss success and maintenance. Once again, more is better.

Weight Loss Tip #17:
Make a strong start, Contrary to common wisdom that "slow and steady wins the race", weight loss is best, recent articles have found that dieters who lost weight quickly, lost more total weight and kept off more weight long-term. Researchers concluded that how well dieters do in the first 2-4 weeks predicts their success up to five years later.

Weight Loss Tip #18:
Fight your temptation. Don't break your whole diet plan just because of one outing with friends of family. Order just steamed veggies or maybe a grilled sandwich or even a soup and salad combo.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Secret Ways to Lose Weight

There are many ways incorporate exercise into your daily life and activities. You do not have to go to the gym to workout or to burn calories. This is the biggest secret to weight loss and how to lose weight. You just need to be creative and come up with your own list of activities that you can do, or be doing while you are doing something else to lose weight and burn calories. Even doing just a little more activity each day can make a difference in your weight loss goals.

When it comes to weight loss, we're always looking for ways to burn the most calories. Cardio, strength training and diet are often the best ways to burn calories and lose weight, but what you may not know is that your body has secret ways of burning calories as well just by doing ordinary things. Here are a few helpful tips I have used to lose weight and keep it off.

  • Stand up every chance you get.
  • Pace when you're on the phone.
  • Walk everywhere.
  • Visit your co-workers instead of emailing them or use a pedometer and see how many steps you can get in each day.
  • Don't take the elevator.
  • When at the mall, make three laps around the mall before you can buy anything.
  • When you park the car, make a complete circuit around the parking lot before entering the building.
  • Park your car as far away from the door as possible.
  • When carrying groceries, bring the bags in one bag at a time.
  • If you're stuck sitting for long periods of time, change position, shift in your seat or even do some isometric exercises - squeeze your hands together, contract your abs or squeeze your glutes.
  • Hide the remote control and get up to change the channel.
  • Sit on an exercise ball and roll around while you watch TV or work at the computer.
These are just a few basic ideas that have worked for. All you need is your imagination and you can add to the list. Hopefully this helps with your weight loss goals as much as it has helped me.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Nine Tips For Flat Abs

1 Improve Your Posture.
  • Slouch and your stomach pooches. So straighten up, and you've done your abs a favor without breaking a sweat! For better posture while standing, align your ears over your shoulders, shoulders over hips, hips over knees, and knees over ankles. Keep the fronts of the shoulders open like a shirt on a hanger, instead of a shirt on a peg. Draw your navel to your spine and keep your weight even on the balls of your feet and your heels.
2 Think Whole-Body Exercise.
  • Don't get so into your abs that you overlook your other muscles. Your core muscles also include your glutes and back muscles, for instance. Pilates is one way to work all of the core muscles, plus the arms and legs, for a whole body workout that does strengthens the abs and much more.
3 Try the Canoe Twist.
  • Stand upright, feet apart. Interlace your fingers to create a solid grip. Exhale, and sweep the interlocked hands, arms, shoulders, and chest to the left, as if "rowing a canoe." Simultaneously lift the left knee up and to the right. Inhale and return to the starting position. Exhale and perform the movement to the right. Alternate for 20 repetitions.
4 Do the Cat Kick.
  • Stand with feet together, arms extended like airplane wings. Exhale, and lift the right leg forward and up. At the same time, sweep the arms forward at shoulder level and round your spine, like a cat. The navel should feel as though it's pressing toward the spine. Inhale, and open back up and return to the starting position. Repeat with the left leg, alternating for 20 repetitions.
5 Practice the Pilates Zip Up.
  • Stand upright with heels together, toes slightly turned out. Bring your arms up, hands joined underneath the chin. Exhale, press your arms down, keeping hands and arms very close to the body. Simultaneously, lift your heels off the ground onto your tiptoes. Hold for two seconds at the "top," inhale and return to the starting position. The abs go "in and up" and the arms go down. Perform 20 repetitions.
6 Examine Your Diet.
  • You can do ab exercises until the cows come home, but if you've got extra belly fat, your strong abs won't show. To budge the belly fat, you have to look at what you eat and how active you are. In other words, eat less and move more, and spend your calorie budget wisely.
7 Props Are Optional.
  • Stability balls, straps and bands, and gym memberships can be wonderful, but they aren't necessary for stronger abs. Even in your everyday life, while taking a walk, standing in line at the grocery store, or socializing at a cocktail party you can engage your abs by standing straight and exhaling to draw the navel to the spine.
8 Set Realistic Goals.
  • Your genes may play a role in your body's shape, but don't make that an excuse to give up and head for the cookie jar. Your goals should be realistic and focused on your body, not on some idealized image. Beyonce's abs may motivate you, but you shouldn't expect to mimic them.
9 Take Things Slow.
  • There are no fast fixes. Even the promised quick fixes end up being temporary. Plan on slow and steady progression, and prepare for setbacks and even frustration. Rewards come with time and consistency.