Running for Weight Loss

Running for weight loss

Are you running to lose weight? You are not wrong. Running is one of the most vigorous exercises out you can think off. It is an extremely efficient way to burn calories and lose weight. If you are running for weight loss, this is how to be successful.

Reasons Why Diets May Not Work for Your Weight Loss

Have you ever started a diet program for weight loss and got extremely frustrated because you are not getting your desired result?  Maybe you lost a few pounds at the beginning but then stalled, or maybe you couldn’t get it right from the start. 

Best Ways To Lose Weight Fast.

According to experts losing weight fast is not encouraged rather it should be a long term plan. One of the reasons being that, fast weight loss is not easy to maintain for a long time. You gain the weight back fast. However there are occasions when you need to lose weight fast because of an event.

Walking To Lose Weight

                                                     

Most obese people experience weight gain in the belly, thighs and hips. The most efficient weight loss exercises for midsection fat are cardio exercises. Walking is a form of light cardio exercise that can help you to achieve, sustain and maintain weight loss.

what Are The Causes Of High Cholesterol?

High cholesterol diets are not the only causes of elevated cholesterol levels. There are many other factors that affect your cholesterol levels. These include controllable and uncontrollable factors.

The uncontrollable factors have to do with things you have no power to change. They include but not restricted to the following.

Your Family History

Your risk of several health conditions and diseases are determined by your family history. This is one of the reasons doctors are interested in the family history of their patients. Some people have a predisposition to high cholesterol.

Your Gender

Researches have shown that men are more prone to high cholesterol than women. It is also a proven fact that women naturally start experiencing increased cholesterol levels around the ages of 50 – 55 years while that of men is 45 years and above.

Your Age

The more you grow old the more your risk of developing high cholesterol level. You definitely have no control over this.

The controllable high cholesterol risk factors have to do with your life style. They include but not limited to.

Your Activity Level

People who are not active stand a more increased risk for high cholesterol levels. Exercise decreases LDL cholesterol (bad) levels in your blood and increases your HDL cholesterol (good) levels. The good news is that you don’t have to engage in a strenuous exercise to get these benefits.

Your Diet

Your diet is contributing to your high cholesterol levels if they are mostly made up of cholesterol promoting foods. These are mostly foods with saturated fat.

Your Weight

Obesity or being overweight increases your blood cholesterol levels. This is due to the fact that your body stores the extra calories you eat as triglycerides. The HDL cholesterol levels tend to be low if the triglyceride levels are high. To improve your cholesterol levels, you have to engage in a weight loss plan.

High cholesterol levels combined with other health conditions put you on a high risk of complications and diseases.

To improve your health and reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke and other health issues you have to lower your cholesterol levels.

You are advised to consult your doctor to help you develop a cholesterol-lowering plan that is safe and effective for you.   

  

Loss Weight - Live a Happy Lifestyle

Obesity has become one of the major problems faced by millions of people in the world. This has resulted in the boom of many weight loss corporate industries in the world. Although there are good programs conducted, however, folks can themselves do quite a bit to lessen their weight. The two most important factors in weight loss are work-out /exercise and controlled diet. Several points have been put in order to benefit the individuals seeking to reduce their weight.

1. Make it a priority to eat least 5 servings of vegetables and fruits every day. Most of the fruits are low in calories and full of nutrition. They also contain many other vitamins and fibers.

2. Be careful with what you take in. It’s a nice idea to know how many calories you are consuming. Some foods combination can be deceiving, for example if you have a plate of salad with the topping of high calories and along with it a bottle of soda, then you have just had more calories than you might get from a combination of grilled chicken sandwich plus diet soda. So be intelligent with what you in take. Try to eat home cooked food as much as possible.

3. Calories are totally cut down if you eat little, but frequently compared to taking three big meals a day.

4. Give yourself a break: Being restrictive all the time can demoralize you, so take breaks at regular intervals. But do not over-eat at the same time, be cautious and strive to make up for it in other meals.

5. Drinks: Juice, soda, cream consist of large amount of sugars which are not generally recommend in diet plans. Drink plenty of water and natural juice.

6. Exercise: It is a well known fact that exercise has a major role to play in our overall health and wellness. Avoid using your car for every movement you want to make, walk whenever and wherever you can. Try going for jogging, running, and other exercise and sporting activities playing football, taekwondo, karate, goju, basket ball and many others as they help to burn extra calories. Make friends who have active life styles, you can join gymnasium or get sports equipment at your home. Remember to increase your exercise in a very proper way daily. Be practical on what your body can take and avoid too much exertion.

7. Get motivation: To get inspired, talk to people who have had success in weight loss as they will give you a lot of inspiration. Set realistic goals.

8. Get good and enough sleep, reduce stress and live happy.

9. Appreciate yourself when you achieve your monthly weight loss targets.

10. Don’t give up, even if you have failed many times in the past.

11. While eating chew the food slowly, this can lead to weight loss. Chewing slowly and very well helps digestion commence from the mouth. The amount of calories consumed before you begin to feel full can vary appreciably depending on how quickly you eat. So slow down, take smaller bites and enjoy every tasty bite of the meal.

Cholesterol Lowering Secrets

Research have proved that there is a definite relationship between high cholesterol and heart disease. It is true that when you reduce cholesterol you reduce the overall risk of a heart attack. The following tips are essential for you to know about the ways you can lower cholesterol safely and naturally.


Regular Exercise
It is a fact that there good cholesterol and there bad ones too.You should aim at improving the good cholesterol (HDL) and reducing the bad cholesterol(LDL). Regular exercise help raise the level of good cholesterol which in turn helps clear the bad ones. Working out for thirty minutes to one hour four to five days a week will be okay to achieve this.


Eat More Of Fiber
It have been proved that fiber binds to bile acid in the intestine to reduce the re-absorption of cholesterol into the blood stream. You can increase fiber intake by eating plenty of plant foods.

Consumption Of Omega 3 Fatty Acids
You can lower bad cholesterol level by consuming more of omega 3 fatty acids.This you can achieve by increasing your daily consumption of fish especially the cold water species like salmon. Fish oil contains a high percentage of omega 3 fatty acid.


Quit Smoking
Quitting smoking can help improve your HDL cholesterol,reduce your blood pressure and also reduce your risk of heart attack and disease.

Drink Alcohol Moderately
Drinking too much alcohol can lead to serious health issues such as high blood pressure, heart failure and stroke. Moderate intake of alcohol can help increase the level of HDL cholesterol in the body.

Menopause And Weight Gain

Speaking with most women over 50yrs you will find out that most of them experience weight gain at menopause. It is very common to put on weight at this time while some of the weight gain may be due to lifestyle changes.

The truth is that hormonal changes play a part in this, although the process is not completely understood. At menopause a woman stops ovulating, her monthly menstruation periods end, and her body produces much lower levels of the female hormone estrogen which is responsible for ovulation. Low estrogen has been shown to cause weight gain in animals and it almost certainly is the reason why our bodies change shape. While women of childbearing age store fat in the lower body, after the menopause they store it on the abdomen instead, like men. This leads to a greater risk of heart disease.

Men and women tend to find muscle turning to fat as they grow older, and the metabolism slows down. This means that you have to adjust your eating habits to avoid gaining excess weight. A person of 60 just does not need as many calories as a person of 40 and below.

If you are gaining weight at menopause, the following tips may be of help in taking care of the excess weight.

- Eat a healthy, low fat diet with plenty of fiber, avoiding sugar. Simply put eat healthy.

- Get regular exercise. As people get older their physical activity levels naturally drop. Work often becomes less physically demanding, there are no kids to run around after, and we take less active holidays and do things more slowly. 30 minutes of moderate exercise every day will help balance the effect of this.

- Maintain muscle strength and mass. Use weights for arm muscles and walking or cycling for legs.

- Accept the changes to the shape of your body. If you are not overweight, but simply have a thicker waist and slimmer legs, see it as a necessary change that has to do with nature and your age.

It is advised that you consult your doctor before starting any exercise program if you have any medical conditions or your fitness levels are low. Your doctor can also help with symptoms of the menopause and weight gain.

Tips to Boost Your Metabolism

A lot of people would give a lot to increase their metabolism. Having a high level of metabolism enables one to maintain, burn fat and lose weight fast with the least amount of activity. Metabolism is the rate by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories to support life. It is very essential in weight loss.

 There are several factors that affect the metabolism of people, this include

1. The amount of muscle tissue

2. The frequency of the meals one consumes

3. Genetics,

4. Stress levels

5.  Personal diet and activity levels.

 Metabolism slows done due to the following:

 1. Loss of muscle because of lack of regular physical activity

 2. The body cannibalizing its own tissue because there is not enough food energy to sustain it

 3. The decrease of physical activity that comes naturally with old age.

Here are several ways to gear up your metabolism:

1. Build up on lean, mean body mass.

 It is natural that metabolism decreases with age, but it is possible to counter the effects. The amount of muscle a person has is a very strong determinant in the ability to burn calories and shed fat. Therefore it goes without saying that exercise is essential. Build strength and resistance by working out regularly, at least twice a week. Do easy exercises in between workouts. Simple tasks such as using the stairs in place of the elevator can already take off calories. The key is to match the amount of food eaten to the amount of activity one under goes. Here are some guidelines in getting the right exercise:

For strength training

-Increase the amount of repetitions of a particular exercise.

-Add the level of resistance

-Utilize advance exercise techniques if possible

For cardiovascular training

-Insert intervals between exercises

-combine the exercises

-Add up on resistance and speed

2. Eat breakfast.

 A lot of people ignore the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. It is not Surprising that people who eat breakfast are thinner than those who do not. Metabolism can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if one waits until the afternoon to eat.

3. Avoid sugar

Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood-sugar. Additionally, exercising regularly for about 2-3 times a week should be in order to stabilize blood sugar.

4. Eat spicy foods

 Hot foods like pepper soup with pepper can increase metabolism.

5. Get Enough Sleep

According to research, it is riskier for people who do not get enough sleep to gain weight. Also, muscles are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber.

6. Increase water intake           

Water help to flush out toxins produced whenever the body burns fat. Majority of bodily functions involve water, and lack of water causes decrease in the body system's operational speed, and produces unneeded stress as a result.

7. Don’t skip meals.

 People tend to skip meals in order to lose weight, however in the contrary it slows down metabolism and increase weight.

8. Ditch the stress

Stress , be it physical or emotional, triggers the release of a steroid which decreases metabolism. Also, people tend to eat more when stressed.

9. Drink green tea.

Tea has the ability to stimulate metabolism. Unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when taken excessively.

10. Include more energy foods in your diet

Foods such as fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains are better.

Achieving the desired body weight is never impossible if one has the needed determination and patience to stabilize the metabolism level, which plays an important role in weight loss. Realize that eating right and working out is not just a passing fancy, but a way of life.

Weight loss tips for busy people

In order to lose weight, one must make a few lifestyle changes as well as a total commitment. What happens if you’re too just too busy? No matter how busy you might be, you can never be too busy to lose weight. You have to approach weight loss the way you approach your business; this means:

·         1.Total commitment to the cause

·        2.  Failure is not an option

·        3.  Never give up until you reach your goal

If you put as much effort into your weight loss plan as you do your job, keeping it like an appointment, then there is no reason why you shouldn’t be just as successful. If you are truly dedicated to losing the extra pounds, then you must understand that it requires a few lifestyle changes. There is nothing too drastic, just small changes that will benefit you in the future because you will look and feel better. 

Find time to do some form of physical activity each day

The first task is to find time for physical activity. It is best to find something that you enjoy doing or even rotate between of different activities so that you don’t get bored. However, if you choose a regular exercise routine, it is best to do it first thing in the morning and schedule a time each day for this. The good thing about doing your exercise in the morning is that it makes you feel good all through the day. Once you get home from work, you won’t have the excuse of being too exhausted to get it done.

Eliminate sweet treats from your daily diet

Once you have established an exercise plan, it is time to change your diet. The first thing you need to do is replace all the junk food in your meal plan with healthy options including fresh fruits and vegetables. You also need to mind what you eat at work each day. If there are no healthy options available at work, then you need to bring your own food to work so that you can still stick to your diet. Many people have issues with eating snacks. You can still snack at work or home if you want. Instead of eating something sweet or fatty, opt for a fruit plate or some delicious nuts.

Drink at least eight glasses of water each day

Water is an essential component in living healthy. It helps to keep your body refreshed throughout the day, and the best part of all is that it has zero calories. This means you can drink as much as you want and you will not gain a pound. Try to drink at least 8 glasses of water per day. You can even have a glass before each meal so that you eat less at mealtime. 

 Limit your caloric intake

One final weight loss tip is to limit your caloric intake to at least 300 calories less than before starting your weight loss plan. This is not very hard to do. It simply means paying special attention to the portion and size of the food you eat. If you generally have seconds at dinner, then try to break out of that habit. If you usually have soda with your meals, replace it with water. If you eat after your dinner, then chose something healthy like a fruit plate. You will be surprised to know how these simple changes can make a big difference in your weight loss efforts.

REASONS YOU REGAIN WEIGHT

                 

In recent time, many people are getting involved in one form of weight loss program or another. There are many reason they engage in this programs which include good outlook, taking care of extra fat, to maintain weight loss, for good health and many more.

Apart from exercise, weight loss diets are added to get a better and faster result. Most people do actually get the needed result only for them to regain the weight in no time. This has made many to doubt the effectiveness of the weight loss program.

However there are many factors responsible for the weight regain. The following reasons might just be the cause.

THE PROGRAM  In  an effort to lose weight fast we follow diet programs that are not sustainable for long term. This may include taking low calorie diets and diets that restrict so many food groups. This is coupled with an unrealistic exercise program which may require getting a little exercise or an extremely intense exercise. You may lose weight fast but your body will start craving for those food you are restricted to eat which you may eventually give in and in the case of extreme exercise it may start having adverse effect on you like dizziness, fatigue, constipation and you may become burned out.

YOUR LIFE STYLE : Living an inactive life style is another culprit of weight regain. Sitting at a place for a long period can actually shut down your metabolism. Most people sit all day without getting active in any way, even when they get home they sit with the TV set and eventually go to bed without any form of exercise. For some people once they lose weight, they go back to their old way of life.

LACK OF REGULAR EXERCISE:  Lack of regular exercise is another known cause of weight regain. Exercise is very vital for successful weight loss and also to prevent weight regain. Studies have shown that regular exercise and active life style are very vital for weight loss to be sustained. However everyone needs a different amount of exercise depending on a variety of factors which include body composition, weight, age, gender, fitness level, stamina etc.

TIME : How long you continue to maintain your weight loss is another crucial factor for you to keep off or regain weight. Studies have shown that people who maintain their weight loss for a longer period tend to keep it. This will also help you to master how to exercise right, to know how much exercise you need and the amount of calories you burn and take in.

WHAT TO DO TO KEEP THE WEIGHT LOSS

-         Exercise regularly

-         Be active

-         Stick to your weight loss program

-         Always think of what you stand to gain, this will give you a lot of motivation

-         Do away with life styles that are set backs to your weight loss

-         Make it gradual and steady

-         Slowly build your strength and stamina before going to extreme exercise

Always look beyond weight loss and be prepared to maintain the weight loss for a long period to obtain a sustained result. Even when you fall off your program which is bound to happen, recognize and admit the mistake as this will help you get back to your program.