Reach Fat Loss Goals With Willpower And Smarts, 3

Reviewing again, you need willpower and smarts to reach your fat loss goals. If you have the desire, you can reach your fat loss goals if you:

1. Train smart

2. Eat smart

3. Take care of your body

Getting enough sleep lately? Being "too busy" all the time is not good....sometimes we use it as an excuse to not do the things we should---LIKE EXERCISE! If you aren't sleeping (resting) enough, you are hindering your health and fat loss goals.

When you wake up during the night because you can't sleep, you are likely to eat when you should be sleeping. And, you will throw your metabolism "out of wack."

Researchers have found that the less sleep the test subjects got, the higher their body fat. The shorter sleep time altered the subjects hormone levels, energy decreased and appetite increased. And we already knew that decreased energy affects your workout performance. What's enough sleep? The general rule is 8 hours of sleep a night. Some may need more sleep or a little less than 8 hours. Don't sabotage your exercise program and fat loss goals by not getting enough shut-eye.

If you do happen to wake up at night, eat an apple instead of ice cream!

Exercise consistently and get the sleep you need to stay healthy! Stay tuned for part 4!

Learn how to lose weight the right way and get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

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Reach Fat Loss Goals With Willpower And Smarts, 2

By way of review, you need willpower and smarts to reach your fat loss goals. If you have the desire, you can reach your fat loss goals if you:

1. Train smart

2. Eat smart

3. Take care of your body

Life happens....life brings on stress. A certain amount of stress and tension helps you take on challenges and perform better. Too much stress (left unchecked)over a prolonged period is not good and it causes health problems and affects metabolism. Also, some people respond to stress better than others. One person might crumble under the same workload that causes another person to thrive.

Your body's normal state (homeostasis) is changed by stress. The hormones, adrenaline and cortisol, are secreted in response to a stressful situation. The "fight or flight" response to stress is intended to give you the energy to take on or run away from a particular situation. Stressful situations that go on for months or years signals to your body that the normal state includes excessive amounts of adrenaline and cortisol.

As it relates to metabolism, adrenaline makes the fat cells more efficient at turning fat into energy and speeds up metabolism. On the other hand, cortisol increases the amount of glucose in the blood and creates more energy. If you have an office job, this excess adrenaline and cortisol builds up. Unused excess energy will be stored as fat.

Chronic stress or stress with no end in sight has major health implications. Adrenaline will continue to be secreted but the body and the fat cells will build up a tolerance to it. This means that the fat cells won't be converted to energy and cortisol will continue to increase glucose in the blood. This means the fat gain and weight gain begins to happen if left unchecked.

Life continally has stressful situations and life sometimes brings unavoidable prolonged stress. Regular exercise helps me to deal with stress and brings my body back to the true normal state (or as close as possible).

Exercise consistently and take care of yourself! Stay tuned for part 3!

Learn how to lose weight the right way and get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

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Prolong life with exercise after age 50

Men who start or increase their exercise programs after age fifty live longer than those who remain at their present activity levels, according to a study in the British Medical Journal (March 2009). More than 2200 men were checked at ages 50, 60, 70, 77 and 82 years. The greater the increase in exercise duration over that span, the longer their lives were extended. The reduction in early death from increasing exercise was the same as for men who stopped smoking.

Lack of exercise is associated with obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, osteoporosis, and cancer. Exercising regularly more than halves your chance of dying prematurely (Archives of Internal Medicine, December 2007). Yet more than 50 percent of North Americans do not exercise.

Exercise prevents disease and increases life span by many mechanisms. The major benefit probably comes from the contracting muscles themselves. A high rise in blood sugars and fats after meals damages cells. When blood sugar levels rise too high, sugar sticks to the surface of cell membranes. Once there, it can never get off, eventually killing the cells and leading to blindness, heart attacks, strokes and the other consequences of uncontrolled diabetes. Contracting muscles draw sugar and fat so rapidly from the bloodstream that they usually prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high. This effect is maximized during exercise. The effect is maintained for about half hour after you stop exercising and gradually tapers off until it disappears after about 18 hours. That explains why you get maximum benefit by exercising every day (rather than three times a week), and why greater benefit is gained by exercising more intensely for longer durations. How to start an exercise program

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Reach Fat Loss Goals With Willpower And Smarts, 1

You need willpower and smarts to reach your fat loss goals. If you have the desire then you can reach your fat loss goals if you:

1. Train smart

2. Eat smart

3. Take care of your body

Let's look at one rule today to help you eat smart:

Control your hunger during the day so you don't overeat when you do eat! Do this by eating small meals every 3-4 hours (never skip breakfast) to keep your metabolism ramped up.

Another way to control your hunger pangs is to eat protein with every meal. You don't need to do protein shakes...just eat the right foods. Research has proven that protein keeps blood sugar levels more steady and helps you feel fuller for a longer period (slower digestion). Protein also keeps the hunger hormone (ghrelin) in check so your hunger doesn't spike so high.

If you feel fuller for longer periods, you will eat less and you won't binge eat if your hunger pangs are "not out the roof" when you do eat. Use your eating smarts!

Stay tuned this week as I continue this series!

Learn how to lose weight the right way and get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

Read more »

Saturday, A Good Day To Play With Medicine Balls

Many times, Saturday is a good day for me to do a little different type of workout...after a long week, a change is good....try a circuit-style medicine ball workout to change up your routine...

I rarely see anyone working out with medicine balls beyond doing ab exercises...you can do much more with your medicine balls, like single leg medicine ball squats...

Medicine ball workouts can be a refreshing way to workout for you and can help you burn more fat.....your muscles will learn to "fire in a more natural pattern."

Get your My Fitness Hut "March Madness" Medicine Ball Workout today!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

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Use Soccer For Cardio Exercise

Soccer is great for interval cardio exercise....I have been talking about different ways to do your cardio to change up your routine...

It helps to keep exercise fun as much as possible....if you hate doing exercise, you will quit at some point....by its routine nature, cardio is boring so you need to mix it up...

Playing games is one of the best forms of exercise because you're focused on the game and not on the exercise (especially if you are in shape to play).

Play soccer right and you will get great benefits:

1. Sprinting when you should sprint will burn major calories and fat.

2. Soccer is great for developing agility (change-of-direction skills) and balance.

3. You should do alot of jogging (between sprints) when you play soccer. Notice I said jogging and not walking!

4. If you want a faster version of soccer, play in an indoor soccer league.

Play soccer once or twice a week if you need a change up for cardio exercise!

Learn how to lose weight the right way and get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

Read more »

Stepmill, Stair-Stepper Or......

Cardio machine queens and kings love the stepmill and stair-stepper....as far as cardio machines go, they will definitely give you a pretty tough workout....and, they shape and sculpt your butt, hips and legs better than a treadmill...but, they are still machines---doing some of the work for you!

If you want to further challenge yourself, burn more fat and really "lean out," then take your cardio act outside! Their is something better and tougher than the stepmill and stair-stepper...

The parent of the stepmill and stair-stepper is the stadium steps! Walking or running stadium steps (or stairs) require YOU TO SUPPLY ALL THE MOMENTUM AND FORCE--NO HELP FROM MACHINES.....this makes your workout tougher and gives you more benefit...personally, I would choose running sprints on grass over any cardio machine...

Doing interval cardio on stadium steps is simple: walk fast or run up the steps and walk slow back down. You might need a little more rest when you first start but that's okay....

Go to the great outdoors to "stadium step" your cardio!

Learn how to lose weight the right way and get My Fitness Hut's 7-Day Weight Loss And Fat Loss e-Course! The e-Course is FREE!

"Exercise is not my life.....exercise makes my life better!"

Check out my other great blogs:

Her Fitness Hut Blog Her Fitness Hut is featured on EmpowHER, a great health issues website for women! Her Fitness Hut has also been named in the Top 50 Personal Training Blogs by Physical Therapy Assistant Schools!

Sports Fitness Hut Blog has been recognized by Stanford University Wellsphere as the #1 Sports Fitness Blog and NursingDegree.net as one of the Best 100 Health and Nutrition Blogs for Athletes! The blog has also been named as one of the "50 Best Sports Medicine Blogs by Masters In Healthcare! It is an honor to be recognized by those in the health and academic fields! Afterall, health is number one for everybody---including athletes!

Read more »