Did You Lose Weight The Right Way in 2010?

Did your weight yo-yo this year? Did you place emphasis on weight loss instead of fat loss? Losing weight the healthy way is the only way! Health is more important than weight loss. Don't lose your health and self respect trying quick weight loss tactics. Check out this video about a former Biggest Loser television show contestant who experienced major weight loss (and disappointment):Your goal should be to be the biggest fat loser. Losing huge amounts of weight can be gained back quickly if you don't build muscle mass. Build muscle, burn fat, speed up your metabolism and lose weight (and keep it off)!So, here are some tips to help you achieve your best health and fitness:1. Make a commitment TODAY to a lifestyle of health and fitness! Without...

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Top 5 Nutrition Tips For Burning Fat and Losing Weight

If you want lasting weight loss and fat loss, you must monitor what you eat and how much. It takes more than just working out hard to reach your goals. Its important to eat enough but not too much or too little. What you eat matters. Eating 1000 calories of healthy food is more effective than eating 1000 calories of junk food. Follow my Top 5 Nutrition Tips and you will have a better chance of losing the fat and weight and keeping it off.1. Eat breakfast every day! Your body has been fasting all night. A good healthy breakfast gets your metabolism kicked off for the day. Eat small meals every 3-4 hours to keep up your energy and to keep your metabolism humming along all day.2. Plan and pack your meals for the day. This way, you are...

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Top Holiday Eating Tip For Any Season

There is one holiday eating tip that you need to do every day. Eat protein with every meal. At your holiday parties, get full on protein foods first. It will help you eat less of the condiments, desserts and other high-fat foods at the party. Most holiday parties have plenty of foods loaded with protein. Nuts, ham, turkey, chicken, fish, etc. are great foods to eat. Protein helps control your blood sugar if you happen to eat carbohydrates. It takes your body longer to digest protein, so you will fill fuller for a longer period of time by eating more foods rich in protein (this should...

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Better Fat Loss Results with Short Workouts

Are you frustrated with your fat loss and weight loss results. Make adjustments. Doing the same thing will not give you different results. Short, intense workouts will burn more fat and help you lose more weight. Are you working out 1-2 hours a day? You don't need to do that to accomplish your goals. Matter of fact, these long workouts will lead to boredom and repetitive stress injuries. Thirty to 40-minute weight training workouts will get the job done. A woman asked me one day why she wasn't making any progress on her fat loss and weight loss. After asking her a few questions, I found...

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Calcium and Vitamin D Pills Questioned

The prestigious Institute of Medicine issued a report recommending that adult North Americans need only 1,000 milligrams of calcium and 600 IU of vitamin D per day, and that most people do not need supplements. Taking too much calcium can cause kidney stones, and taking calcium without also taking vitamin D may increase risk for heart disease. Very large amounts of vitamin D may increase risk for fractures. The authors believe that adolescent girls may be the only group that is getting too little dietary calcium (Report from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, November 30, 2010).Those of you who have read my newsletters for the past few years know that I am very concerned about vitamin D deficiency. However, I do not recommend...

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Tone Obliques With Cross Body Mountain Climbers

Add cross body mountain climbers to your ab exercise routine. This exercise will build strength and help tone your obliques. Cross body mountain climbers also work the calves, quadriceps, glutes, back, chest, triceps and shoulders. You will need high levels of core strength to do this exercise the right way for each set. External obliques - these muscles are on the side and front of the abdomen and wrap around your waist. Internal obliques - these muscles lie under the external obliques and run in the opposite direction.Do the exercise this way:1. Start by getting in the push up position with...

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Prevent Butt, Hip And Thigh Injuries

You can prevent painful butt, hip and thigh injuries by conditioning your muscles to prepare for workouts. For example, tight hip flexors lead to some very painful injuries. Your athletic movements during workouts are dominated by the hips, glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings. All of these muscle regions need to work properly or you will not go very long without injury. The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle of the buttocks. The anatomy of the gluteal region (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus) is shown below:The glutes don't fire properly when the hip flexors (psoas, iliacus,...

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Children Can Lift Weights at Any Age

Lifting weights before puberty makes children stronger and has not been shown to stunt growth or damage the growth plates in their bones (Pediatrics, November 2010). The older the child, the greater the gain in muscle strength from resistance training. The more and the heavier weights they lift, the stronger they became. A surprising finding was that children did not show a significant increase in strength when they enter puberty, a time when their testosterone levels rise significantly.The best time for future competitive athletes to start training is before they reach puberty. Having large strong muscles makes you a better athlete, and starting training before puberty enlarges the bones that are used primarily in that sport. Muscles growth...

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Burn More Calories And Fat With Balance Exercises

You can burn more calories and fat with exercises that require large amounts of dynamic balance. Why? Because these balance-type exercises are tougher to do than sitting or stand-still exercises.Improve your dynamic balance and you will be more athletic and leaner. Here are some examples: Incorporate many one-legged exercises such as power step ups, single leg squats, single leg good mornings, single leg medicine ball exercises, etc.Include exercises with your eyes closed to improve limb position sense (proprioception).Train your body in all 3 planes of motion to improve multi-planar balance....

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Burn Back Fat With Weight Training

Burn back fat and build up your back muscles with bentover dumbbells rows. Bentover dumbbell rows allow you to work your lats using heavier weights. Your lower back will be worked more if you row with both arms at the same time. You will also work your obliques in the process.If you experience back pain doing two-armed rows, then try doing one-armed rows so you can support your body with the other arm. Do two-armed bentover dumbbell rows this way:1. With your feet about shoulder width apart, bend over and grab the dumbbells. Keep your back straight (don't bow or arch back) and keep your head...

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10 Fat-Burning Strength Exercises

You want your strength exercises to primarily build muscle, burn fat, improve bone density and sculpt your body. One way to build muscle mass is through heavy weight lifting. “Heavy” is relative to your body weight and strength. According to the research, doing this type of weight lifting will give you exercise-induced testosterone increases. Of course, this will help you build muscle mass.So, how much weight is heavy enough? Your repetition range for exercises should be between 3-5 (you would have a difficult time lifting these repetitions). You would typically do 4-5 sets of each exercise. Strength exercises for fat loss should focus on maximizing your time at the gym. Build more muscle mass to speed up your metabolism and burn more...

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Burn Fat, Lose Weight With Plyometrics

Plyometrics remains one of the best ways to help burn fat, lose weight and really sculpt your body. If your body has the needed strength and stability, plyometrics will improve your body's composition (more muscle, less fat) by leaps and bounds. Here is a good general plyometric workout to improve your body's shape and conditioning. 1. In Place Vertical Jumps, full speed, Double Leg, 3 sets/10, 2 minutes rest between sets2. Depth Jumps, 2 sets/10, 2 minutes rest between sets3. Bounding and Lateral Bounding, full speed, 2 sets of each/10, 2 minutes rest between sets4. Lateral Cone Jumps, full...

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Office Workers' Weight Gain Risk

It doesn't take a genius to know that office workers move less during the day and face weight gain risks. Sitting at a desk all day or being confined to a cubicle restricts your movement. And, since all movement burns calories, office workers have to take steps to manage weight. According to a new study from the Université de Montréal, office workers have become less active over the last three decades and this decreased activity may partly explain the rise in obesity. I'm not sure it required a study to discover this finding but I'll take it. Fitness trainers look for solutions to weight gain and fat gain. If you are an office worker, here are some tips to help you manage your weight: 1. Take advantage of your office space...

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Shrinking Waist Size Improves Your Health Risks

Burn fat and shrink your waist size. Doing so will reduce your risk of dying from diseases like cancer and heart disease. Don't just take my word for it....researchers from the American Cancer Society warns us about the deadly risks of having too much belly fat. Read my article about waist-to-hip ratio. In the research study led by Eric J. Jacobs, PhD, American Cancer Society strategic director, Pharmacoepidemiology, researchers examined the association between waist circumference and the risk of death among 48,500 men and 56,343 women age 50 and older who had taken part in the Cancer Prevention Study II Nutrition Cohort, a subset of the larger Cancer Prevention Study II (CPS-II). Participants filled out detailed questionnaires about...

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13 Metabolism Tips For Weight Loss

Metabolism is basically the rate at which your body burns calories. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories you'd burn if you did nothing all day (or the amount of calories your body needs to maintain itself in a resting state). You will use your BMR and daily activity level (including exercise) to set your daily calorie needs for weight loss or maintenance.1. Your metabolism will slow down as you age, especially starting at about age 30. Stay active throughout your life to maintain health and an active metabolism!2. Gender - Men generally burn more calories at rest than women because men have more lean mass. The more muscle mass you have, the higher your metabolic rate will be. Muscle mass can be maintained/increased...

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Burn Fat In Four Minutes

Burn fat with shorter, more intense workouts in as little as 4 minutes. Long, boring workouts are a thing of the past. The research and my experience with clients proves that short bursts of exercise, such as circuit weight training and interval cardio, will sculpt your body better and faster. Improve your body's composition (fat loss, more muscle) without your joints taking a pounding from lifting heavy weights with 2 hour workouts. Circuit workouts are a tried and true method to burn more fat, increase strength/endurance and improve heart health.The BodyBot delivers high-velocity weight loss results in as few as 4 minutes a day. The state-of-the-art BodyBot software is based on the exact same workout system developed by Ryan Lee that...

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Air Conditioning Helps Recovery

A study from the University of Montana in Missoula shows that athletes recover from hard workouts faster in room temperatures of 72 F than in 91 F (International Journal of Sports Medicine, August 2010). Nine male participants completed one- hour time trials at 91 degrees F, followed by recovery in rooms at 91 degrees F or 72 degrees F. They were given recovery carbohydrate beverages at zero and two hours. Four hours after the time trial, the athletes in the air conditioned room had much higher muscle glycogen levels (105 vs 88 mmol/kg).Intense exercise causes the soreness that signals muscle damage that is necessary for muscle growth. Intense exercise also depletes your muscles of glycogen. The faster you replace glycogen, the quicker you...

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Caloric Surplus Causes Weight Gain, Not High Glycemic Foods

You will gain weight and fat if you maintain a daily caloric surplus even if you eat low glycemic foods. This fact remains unchanged: A daily caloric surplus (consume more calories than you burn) will cause you to gain weight! Lose weight by maintaining a caloric deficit over time. That's right, you can still gain weight on a low-carb diet. Having said this, it is important to eat quality carbs, proteins and fats. But, how much you eat will determine if you gain weight or lose weight.Being aware of the glycemic index (GI) and glycemic load (GL) of certain foods can help you control your glycemic response and body fat. The glycemic index is a numerical index that ranks carbohydrates based on their rate of glycemic response, or their...

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Training in Heat to Improve Performance

A paper from the University of Oregon shows that training in the heat can improve racing performance in the cold (Journal of Applied Physiology, October 2010). Twenty competitive cyclists continued their regular training. In addition, they completed ten 1.5-hour training sessions at 50 percent of their maximum effort (VO2max). However one group rode in a lab heated to 104 degrees, the other group rode in 55 degree lab.The cyclists who were heat acclimated improved their time-trial performance four to eight percent, while the cold-trained group did not improve.Training in the heat makes you a better athlete because it cools your body better. Since more than 70 percent of the energy used to drive your muscles is lost as heat, the harder you exercise,...

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Holiday Snacks To Control Weight Gain

The holiday season is long so eating the right snacks to control weight gain is important. What you eat between main meals can make or break your weight management. The snacks can really skyrocket your calorie count if you're not careful! First, a few common sense holiday eating rules:1. Use no more than a pat of butter on whole wheat bread or rolls.2. Use natural sweeteners like cinnamon instead of sugar.3. Use condiments like mustard instead of ketchup or mayonnaise.4. Drink only water or unsweetened drinks, like tea. Cranberry juice and pomegranite juice are not that healthy if they are loaded with sugar!5. Limit alcohol consumption which has 7 calories per gram.6. Sweet potatoes are very healthy (limit the butter and marshmallows)....

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Thanksgiving Day Workouts

If you get the chance, do a short Thanksgiving Day workout. It will help you burn calories, stay energized and alert the rest of the day.I like to get in workouts the night before and the morning of Thanksgiving day. I will enjoy the full Thanksgiving meal and desserts with no guilt at all! Here is my night before Thanksgiving workout:1) Chest press, 4 sets/10 repetitions2) Bentover DB Rows, 4 sets/10 repetitions3) Standing DB Shoulder Press 4 sets/ 10 repetitions4) Step Ups (knee high platform), 4 sets, 10 repetitions each leg5) 20-minute interval cardio on treadmillHere is my workout Thanksgiving morning:1) 20-minute interval cardio on treadmill2) Front Chops with 35 lb. plate, 6 sets/15 repetions3) 10-minute interval cardio on treadmillAnd...

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Ice Delays Recovery from Injuries

More than 30 years ago I coined the term RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) for the acute treatment of athletic injuries. Now a study from the Cleveland Clinic shows that one of these recommendations, applying ice to reduce swelling, actually delays healing by preventing the body from releasing IGF-1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor-1), a hormone that helps heal damaged tissue (Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, November 2010).When germs get into your body, your immunity sends cells and proteins into the infected area to kill the germs. When muscles and other tissues are damaged, your immunity sends the same inflammatory cells to the damaged tissue to promote healing. The response to both infection and tissue damage...

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Burpees Burn Fat

The burpee exercise burns body fat like crazy and is great for conditioning! Always do burpees under control with good technique.If you need to change up your high intensity interval cardio routine, here is a great choice----do full speed burpees for 20 minutes.Trust me, it is a great full-body exercise that will increase your strength endurance, power and anaerobic conditioning (remember, aerobics is an exercise done for more than 2 straight minutes). Exercises like sprints and jumps are anaerobic. Research has proven that anaerobic conditioning will give you superior fat loss, conditioning...

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Functional Training Burns Fat, Improves Life

Functional training can help you burn more fat and help you live a quality life. You see, functional training prepares your body for how you want to live. For example, if you are a hiker, you should train your body with intense exercises to get you ready for hikes. Exercises like mountain climbers, bodyweight squats and pullups would be good to get you ready for hikes. Train movements and not just muscles. A major reason for exerciser (and every day life) injuries is a weak core area. Functional training would definitely include core stability, strength and power training. The...

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Soap Removes Vitamin D

Vitamin D deficiency is very common, even among athletes who spend a lot of time outdoors. Seventy-three percent of athletes tested in a private practice were vitamin D deficient (Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, September 2010). If you spend a lot of time in the sun and still have low vitamin D, you may have a genetic susceptibility to vitamin D deficiency, or you may just use too much soap (The Lancet, published online June 9, 2010).Your epidermis (outer layer of skin) makes cholesterol and converts it to 7-dehydrocholesterol. Some 7-dehydrocholesterol remains in the skin, but much of it is secreted in oil to the skin's surface. There exposure to ultraviolet light converts it to previtamin D3 (cholecalciferol). Since both skin oil and...

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The Twinkie Diet? Forget About It!

You can try the "Twinkie Diet" or any other diet you want. One fact remains unchanged: A caloric surplus (consume more calories than you burn) will cause you to gain weight! Doing the opposite will cause you to lose weight. There's no controversy about this. Professor Mark Haub, a nutrition professor from Kansas State University, lost 27 pounds in 10 weeks on a "Twinkie Diet." He basically ate junk food (with some veggies, protein drinks and vitamins thrown in) to prove a point. He lost weight because he created a caloric deficit by eating 1800 calories a day. His health markers, like cholesterol and triglycerides, improved. For short-term results, this is not that surprising to me. What about long-term results? Would you be...

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Caloric Deficits Work For Weight Loss, Severe Calorie Restriction Doesn't

Cut calories based on a healthy meal plan. With a good exercise program, you will burn fat and lose weight. Starve yourself on a fad diet with severe calorie restriction and it will not work long-term. That's the short story....read on....Cutting calories, eating healthy, burning fat and losing weight can be a confusing process for you. It doesn't have to be that way. You just need a plan and you need to make adjustments as you go.First, don't think you will have it all figured out in 2 weeks time! Experts agree that you are better off making manageable changes to your diet and workout routine. Some of your eating and workout (or no workouts) habits have been developed over a lifetime. For example, severely limiting sugars...

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