Archive for May, 2008

Too Much Cardio For Weight Loss?

Saturday, May 31st, 2008

Can we do too much cardio for weight loss? When doing any form of cardiovascular exercise, it is important that you understand that more is not always better in terms of losing fat. The reason is because when you do too much cardio, your body starts to go into catabolic mode and releases a hormone called cortisol, which starts breaking down muscle tissue so it can be used for energy. Although during cardio, your body uses mainly glycogen reserves, after a certain period of time you start to lose lean muscle mass. Sure you may lose weight this way, but you risk losing your hard earned muscle in the process. This is why it’s important to do just enough cardiovascular endurance to maximize fat loss, and minimize muscle loss.

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Lose Weight Without Pills

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Even if you goal is not to be a muscular person as seen in fitness magazines, the truth is that most people won’t ever reach that. The reason for this is because the majority of the people in those magazines are on steroids! It’s a fact! They are trying to promote products for companies which are ultimately trying to suck your hard earned money. How come they never give you the truth anyway? How come these magazine companies never reveal how to actually lose weight most efficiently and without supplements? It CAN be done without any supplement whatsoever, and you can lose weight without pills. Supplements are NOT required in order to become fit. These are all lies promoted by the supplement companies because of their greed! Is it no coincidence that the majority of people fail in trying to achieve their ideal bodies? Why is this? Why don’t these magazines confront these issues straight up, without the nonsense of always promoting something? Have you asked yourself these questions? 75% of those magazines are full of advertisements anyways, and serve us no purpose.


We want the bread and butter of a properly structured workout routine! Aren’t you fed up yet of being lied to by everyone, including your professors?? It’s time to start your life now! It’s time to excel in life and be the person you want. No more of being stuck in the rat race they are trying to put you in. It’s your choice if you want to break free from these chains and rise above all the hype out there. It’s time to truly take things to another level. We don’t want to fall victims to the growing amount of overweight people as reported by the media everyday. We have other things to worry about, such as building great relationships not only with ourselves, but also with our friends and families. We suffer and make others suffer around us because we truly aren’t happy with ourselves.


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Lose Weight Safely - Part 2

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Fruits And VegetablesNow lets look at an in depth example for calculating your daily calories that you need in order to lose weight safely. If you haven’t done so, read part 1 of this section. Part 2 is quite long and you should take the time to work through your own requirements, but first take a look at the example. Once you have you have read through it, then calculate your own daily caloric requirements using the exact same process below. Once you have done this once, everything else will become easier. Just get this part done.

Example

Female (Jane)

Weight: 62 kg

Height: 165 cm

Age: 25

Activity Level: Moderately Active (moderately exercises 3-5 times per week)

Step 1) Calculate BMR for women:

BMR = 655 + (9.6 X bodyweight in kg) + (1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

= 655 + (9.6 X 62) + (1.8 X 165) – (4.7 X 25)

= 655 + 595 + 297 – 118

= 1429

Step 2) Multiply BMR by Activity Multiplier

Total Caloric Intake = BMR X Activity Multiplier

= 1429 X 1.55

= 2215 Calories/Day

We can now see that Jane’s caloric intake should be approximately 2215 calories per day in order to maintain her weight. In order to lose weight we know that we must create a caloric deficit, so that means that she should be consuming about 20% less calories than the maintenance requirement. She should also be consuming this many calories on a daily basis from a variety of healthy foods comprising of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, lean meats, legumes, unsaturated fats, etc.

Step 3)

Final Calories = (Weight Maintenance Calories) - 20%

= 2215 – (2215 X (0.20))

= 2215 - 443

= 1772 Calories

Therefore Jane should be consuming approximately 1772 calories per day in order to lose weight safely. It’s not necessary to be exact on the numbers calculated, but to be as close as possible, since these figures are fairly accurate.

Now that we know her caloric intake per day in order for her to lose weight safely, we need to calculate what types of calories Jane should be consuming daily. Neglecting to eat the right amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fats will not allow her to fully maximize her potential for optimal weight loss and health. As stated before, the right ratio should be approximately 40% protein, 40% carbohydrates, and 20% fats. Let’s now calculate Jane’s requirements per day for each of these ratios. To understand how we calculate this a bit better we need to know a few things. Carbohydrates and protein contain 4 calories per gram, while fats contain 9 calories per gram. Fats contain more energy than either carbohydrates or proteins; therefore they are considered to be more calorie-dense foods. This is another reason why we need to consume less fat than the other macronutrients.

Step 4) Macronutrient Daily Requirements

Calories from carbohydrates = 1772 X 40%

= 1772 X (0.40)

= 709 Calories

Grams per day from carbohydrates = 709/4

= 177 grams

Calories from protein = 177 grams (since the ratio and density is the same as carbohydrates 40% and 4 cal/gram respectively)

Calories from fats = 1772 X 20%

= 1772 X (0.20)

= 354 Calories

Grams per day from fat = 354/9

= 39 grams

Jane’s daily requirements for carbohydrates, proteins and fats are 177 grams, 177 grams and 39 grams respectively.

Since Jane should be eating 6 small meals per day as opposed to 3 larger meals, we can now calculate how many grams of each macronutrient Jane should be consuming:

Step 5) Macronutrient requirement per meal

Carbohydrates = 177 grams/6 meal

= 30 grams/meal

Protein = 30 grams/meal

Fats = 39grams/6 meal

= 6.5 grams/meal

Therefore, approximately 30 grams of Jane’s meal should come from carbohydrates and proteins each, and 6.5 grams from fat. Jane should be consuming 6 of these nutrient rich meals everyday spaced about 2-3 hours apart, in order to ensure an adequate supply of energy throughout the day.

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Lose Weight Safely - Part 1

Wednesday, May 28th, 2008

Food CaloriesSo how many calories do you need to consume in a day to lose weight safely? After all, one can eat 500 calories of healthy foods and burn off 250 of that, and lose weight, right? Wrong! Our bodies need a certain amount of calories to give us the energy needed to carry out basic tasks, especially when we are doing strenuous activity such as cardio and weight training. And if you aren’t getting the necessary calories in the body, then you won’t have the energy needed to lose weight safely. Now the easiest way to estimate our daily requirements of calories is to calculate our basal metabolic rate (BMR). Basal metabolic rate is the total amount of calories the body requires in order to properly carry out its daily functions such as digestion, breathing, regulating body temperature etc. In other words, our basal metabolic rate gives us the approximate number of calories needed in order to maintain our weight. There is a formula that allows us to calculate our BMR, called the Harris-Benedict Formula. Once you’ve figured out your BMR then you can plug that into the activity multiplier to determine your caloric maintenance level. Once we have all that, then we can look at how to lose weight safely and efficiently while maintaining as much as lean muscle mass as possible. This should be our goal at all times.

Calculating Basal Metabolic Rate

Men: 66 + (13.7 X bodyweight in kg) + (5 X height in cm) - (6.8 X age in years)

Women: 655 + (9.6 X bodyweight in kg) + (1.8 X height in cm) - (4.7 X age in years)

Take that number and multiply it by…

Activity Multiplier (choose only one from below)

Sedentary = BMR X 1.2 (little to no exercise)

Lightly Active = BMR X 1.375 (light exercise: 1-3 days a week)

Moderately Active = BMR X 1.55 (moderate exercise: 3-5 days a week)

Very active = BMR X 1.725 (intense exercise: 6-7 days a week)

Extremely Active = BMR X 1.9 (intense daily exercise and strenuous physical job)

Whatever number you get is the number of calories you should be eating everyday in order to maintain proper bodily functions. Then in order to lose weight safely we must burn off MORE calories than we are consuming through cardio and weight training. Take the number you calculated and cut off 20% of calories. This should be your daily caloric intake everyday.

In part 2, we will look at an example that you can follow.

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Meditation For Weight Loss - Part 2

Tuesday, May 27th, 2008

Now in order to meditate, find a comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed. Sit comfortably on the floor by crossing your legs and keeping your spine straight. You can also sit on a chair if that is more suitable for you. The key is to feel very comfortable while doing this process. Intertwine your fingers loosely on your lap and keep your head straight. Now close your eyes and keep your mouth closed. Take a few long and deep breaths through the nose to start slowing your heart rate and relaxing your body. Inhale slowly and then exhale slowly. Next, focus your attention on your inhale and exhale breaths from the nostrils. Don’t take very deep inhale and exhale breaths after your first few deep breaths. It should be normal and comfortable and fluent. Don’t breathe from your chest, but through your diaphragm and stomach. As you exhale, just feel the breath leaving your nostrils. Do the same for the inhale. Just concentrate on the movement of the breath as it flows in and out through the nostrils. If your mind starts wandering by either some form of mental imagery, or inner voice, and it starts to pull you in to those thoughts and sounds, slowly bring your attention back to the breath.

At first you will have a lots of thoughts and inner voice distractions, but overtime the mind will slowly start to calm down and become more calm and quiet. Don’t strain or try to hard when trying to do this process, but let it be gradual and just become aware that you are thinking and getting distracted, and slowly turn your attention back to the breath. Do this for as long as you feel comfortable. It can be 5 minutes, twice per day, or longer. There have been many studies done to show that meditation has it’s greatest effects after 20 minutes. So doing 20 minutes twice per day can have a tremendous effect on the mind and body. Also, doing meditation when you first wake up in the morning and before sleeping have also proven to be the best times to meditate. You shouldn’t also meditate right after you ate, but you should not be hungry either. So if you just ate, wait at least an hour before meditating.

Now after a few weeks of doing this, your mind will be a lot more sharper, clearer, quiet and calm. You won’t feel as agitated, and you will start to feel more gratitude for who you are as a person. You will be able to concentrate better and thus be more efficient and productive in all your daily activities. However, this is not the end. In the next part, I will cover specific weight loss manifestation techniques which will allow you to literally transform your body quickly. This is only the beginning, and meditation for weight loss will become easier for you the more you do it. When you learn to quiet the mind, you will be able to use these specific techniques I will show you that will help direct those thoughts into reality.

Find the best online weight loss programs here!

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