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Your Metabolism And Its Effect On Fat Loss

Metabolism is the process by which your body converts food into energy. Many people hold the belief that fat people have low metabolism rates and skinny people have high metabolism rates. However, the process is not that simple.

Your metabolism depends on three separate factors, and how it works affects how much you weigh. Metabolism is determined by the amount of calories you consume, factors such as age and sex, and how physically active you are.

If you consume excessive calories, you will eventually gain weight. Each human body is designed to run on a certain calorie amount. This can vary from person to person, but is between 1500 and 2500 calories for most adults. If you are trying to lose weight, it will be less.

Men generally need more calories per day than women, unless the woman is pregnant or breastfeeding. The rate at which your body burns these calories is your metabolism; if you burn them more slowly, you’ll gain weight. If you burn through extra calories quickly, you’ll maintain your weight.

Factors such as age, body composition, and sex also determine metabolism. If your body contains more muscle, your metabolism will be faster. If it contains more fat, your body will be slower.

For this reason, women’s metabolism often slows down after pregnancy. Excess fat is accumulated and stored on the hips and breasts. After pregnancy, it can be harder to lose this weight. Age also affects your metabolism; as you age, your metabolism slows down. This can lead to “middle age spread” if you don’t take action to burn those extra calories and kick your metabolism into high gear.

Your rate of physical activity greatly affects your metabolism. This is good news; it means you have some control over the situation! If your metabolism is slowing down due to age, gender, or other factors, you can boost it by exercising. The key to weight loss is burning more calories than you take in.

When you choose to exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet, weight loss is possible. Your metabolism will increase as you add muscle to your body remember; muscle burns more calories than fat!

To jump-start your metabolism, you may need to lower the amount of calories you’re consuming daily and up the amount of exercise you are doing. Choose aerobic and weight lifting exercises for maximum impact. Aerobic exercise burns fat, and weight training will add muscle. Both can greatly increase your metabolism, leading to healthy fat loss.

This article isn’t medical advice nor should it be interpreted or substituted as medical advice. This article is for informational purposes only. Prior to making changes to your physical exercise routine and your diet, you should always consult your personal physician. It is much better to be safe than sorry.

When You Hit A Plateau With Your Weight Loss

Dieters everywhere dread the plateau; the phase of your diet where all your hard work seems to get you no results. It seems that you are dieting and exercising your heart out for nothing. If you feel that you are currently on a dieting plateau, keep in mind that there has to be an up side (your previous weight loss), a leveling off (which you are currently experiencing) and a down side (which you’ll get to soon). Each plateau you come upon in your weight loss journey will have these same characteristics. Learning how to deal with them now will help you in the future.

Follow these guidelines to break through your dieting plateau and get back on the weight loss trail –

Continue to Exercise:
Even if it seems that you are not making progress towards weight loss, it is important to continue to exercise. Not doing so will allow extra pounds to creep back on. In fact, if you are experiencing a plateau, it may be wise to increase the amount or intensity of your exercise, to help you break out of your slump.

Continue to Eat Well:
Maintain the weight that you have lost so far by continuing to eat healthy foods. Do not use your plateau as an excuse for a binge, or drastically reduce your calorie count. Continue to eat the diet that has helped you lose weight so far. Do so consistently, and you will soon be out of the plateau.

Develop a Support Network:
Find a message board or a group of real life friends, and draw on them for support. This will help you to continue towards your weight loss goals, even when it becomes more difficult. If possible, find friends who are also dieting. They will be a great support to you throughout your weight loss journey.

As you fight your way through your dieting plateau, you are responsible for every action you take. Each decision you make will impact your weight loss now and in the future. Do the best you can to continue to make healthy choices, even though the scale may not show it.

If you have been exercising a lot, keep in mind that you may be losing fat and gaining muscle, leading to no drop in scale weight. Use the above guidelines to maintain your diet, and stay strong. Soon you’ll be breaking through that plateau and soaring on down the scale.

This article isn’t medical advice nor should it be interpreted or substituted as medical advice. This article is for informational purposes only. Prior to making changes to your physical exercise routine and your diet, you should always consult your personal physician. It is much better to be safe than sorry.

Weight Training For Fat Loss – How To Burn Calories Quickly

There are many methods of weight training for fat loss. By adding weight training to your exercise program, you can increase the fat loss you achieve. Weight training helps you to burn calories, boosts your metabolism, and helps your body burn fat more efficiently throughout the day. Weight training can be a great way to step up your workout, build muscle, and increase fat loss.

Weight training burns calories as you exercise. The physical exertion and strain on your muscles is a great way to burn calories that would otherwise be stored as fat. Excess calories can be burned quickly and efficiently as you lift weights, leading to increased fitness, strength, and loss of excess body fat.

Weight training for fat loss boosts your metabolism, as well. Muscle is more efficient than fat. Adding muscle to your body increases the amount of calories you burn while resting – your resting metabolic rate is raised. Adding muscle through weight training is a great way to ensure that you burn more fat, even while you’re sleeping or watching TV. It doesn’t get much better than that!

Weight training continues to burn fat after your workout is over. For several hours, even an entire day, after your workout, your body is breaking down and rebuilding muscle. This takes energy to do, and increases your metabolism. Building muscle mass leads to more efficient energy use, and a higher metabolism in general. Adding muscle helps you to burn excess calories more efficiently throughout your day. If you truly wan to burn fat while you rest, then weight training is for you.

Multiple repetitions of weight lifting exercises can tone and strengthen your muscles. Your body will be stronger, and you’ll burn calories efficiently. Your posture, self esteem, and body image will improve as you continue to lift weights. Weight training for fat loss is a great way to mix up your workout, while improving your body image. The exercises are relatively simple to learn, and can be added to your daily routine with little effort.

Weight training is a great method to burn fat. Add weight lifting to your exercise program today, and enjoy the many benefits. Weight training burns calories as you exercise, and boosts your metabolism for continued efficiency. Weight training even burns fat after you’re finished working out! Add some weight training to your exercise routine today – you will be amazed at the results!

This article is not medical advice nor should it be interpreted or substituted as medical advice. This article is for informational purposes only. Prior to making changes to your physical exercise routine and your diet, you should always consult your personal physician. Better safe than sorry.

Weight Loss – Are You Serious

In today’s stressed-out society, it can be difficult to even think about investing the time to eat properly and exercise. You may be struggling with obesity, but also struggling with finding the time to care for yourself properly. As your blood pressure and cholesterol increase, your doctor may recommend weight loss. However, time constraints can lead you to wonder how you’ll ever find the time to improve your health.

If you’re short on time, but need to lose weight, use these time saving weight loss tips to help you on your way. The pounds will begin to drop off, and your self-esteem will increase.

Drink Water:
Drinking water can be a great way to improve your health. Hydration helps the body to process and shed extra fat and toxins. Flushing the fat out of your body on a regular basis will lead to weight loss. Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day for optimal health. If you struggle with the lack of flavor, try adding a lemon or lime wedge, or one of the new sugar free drink mixes.

Build Exercise Into Your Day:
Take small steps to increase your activity throughout your day. Park your car further from your office. Walk between buildings instead of calling your coworkers. Take a walk on your lunch break. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Meet your friends for a morning jog. Every little bit helps towards your weight loss goals.

Swap Out High Fat Foods for Lower Fat Options:
This can be a relatively painless way to decrease your calorie count. Swap out your rich ranch dressing for a fat free or low calorie salad dressing. Skip the cheese. Switch to 2% or fat free dairy products.

Avoid Liquid Calories:
Sodas, juices, specialty coffee drinks, and alcoholic beverages can all pack a high calorie punch. Liquid calories don’t fill you up the same way food does, so it can be easy to overdo it if you aren’t careful. Skip the high calorie liquids, and stick with water.

** As a little sidenote on this particular tip, reducing your intake of these liquids, will also help you save money. Now how cool is that.

Try incorporating a few of these tips into your day to see how easy it can be to make healthy choices. Weight loss is a gradual process, and every small step you take towards your goal helps. Even with time constraints, you can make small daily changes to help move you towards your goal weight. You’ll be wearing a smaller size before you know it!

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, nor should it be interpreted or substituted as medical advice. Prior to making changes to your physical exercise routine and your diet, you should always consult your personal physician. Better safe than sorry.

Weight Loss – 6 Tips For Staying Positive

Staying positive throughout the weight loss process can be difficult. A few setbacks and you may be ready to give up. Staying motivated throughout your weight loss journey requires focus on the goal and positive thinking – but what do you do when you’re feeling less than positive about your efforts?

Use these tips to help you stay positive:

1. List Your Reasons:
List your reasons for choosing to lose weight. Whether it’s for health reasons, or simply to be able to fit into your favorite dress again – list it.

Then make several copies of the list, and place them where you’ll be able to see them regularly. Keeping your goals in front of you will help you remember why you’re doing all this in the first place.

2. Never Say Diet:
Don’t use the word diet if you can possibly avoid it. This conjures up images of deprivation, and you end up feeling sorry for yourself. Instead, tell yourself (and others) that you’re not on a diet, but that you are trying to make healthier choices.

3. Don’t Use the 3 letter “F” Word:
Avoid using the word fat when describing yourself. This includes your thoughts. Thinking about how fat you are and how bad you think you look will only bring you down and stress you out. Stress often equals eating another bag of cookies.

4. Use Positive Adjectives:
Instead, use another adjective that you prefer. Heavy, voluptuous, overweight – these all have nicer connotations than “fat” and will help you to see yourself in a more positive light.

5. Focus on the Positive:
Think about all the things you like about your body, as well. If you have great hair, for example, focus on that as you attempt to lose weight. This takes the focus off of the body parts you dislike, and helps to get rid of the stress.

6. Find a Role Model:
Instead of focusing on celebrities that are thin, find a celebrity that is larger and attractive, or one that is struggling with weight loss. This allows you to choose a realistic role model.

Positive body image can be difficult to find when you’re struggling to lose weight. Focusing on your positive mental and physical traits will help you to be comfortable in the body you have.

This allows you to work towards better health, instead of simply working to be skinnier. Overall, this is a much healthier approach to weight loss, and will help you stay positive throughout the process.

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, nor should it be interpreted or substituted as medical advice. Prior to making changes to your physical exercise routine and your diet, you should always consult your personal physician. Better safe than sorry.

Ultimate Weight Training Exercises – For Tonning Muscle

You’ve been dieting. You’ve been doing your cardio workouts. You’ve been good, but for some reason, you’re still not happy with the way you look. You’re at or near your target weight, but you still don’t look like that picture of that guy on the wall at the gym.

Now you need to start your ultimate weight training exercises. The exercises that use weights, which target specific muscle groups, toning and building the muscle you have.

Be aware, however, this is not targeting specific fat spots on your body. Spot reduction doesn’t work. Dieting and aerobic exercise should have already reduced the amount of fat in your body. The goal here is to tone the muscles that are there. Here are some trouble areas you can target and the way to do it; safely and easily.

* Arms: Stand up straight with your feet about shoulder width apart. Grab something that weighs bout five pounds (a bag of flour in a shopping bag works well). Start with your arms above your head, weight (or bag of flour) behind your head and slowly lift up until your arms are straight up and down. This works your triceps and helps to get rid of that ‘granny flab’ between your elbow and shoulder.

* Butt and legs: Again, start with your feet slightly more than shoulder width apart. Keep your back straight and bend your knees until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Hold this position for a few seconds if you can and rise back up slowly.

This exercise works and tightens your butt and hamstring muscles (the muscles running down the back of your legs to your knees). If you continue the squat all the way down to the ground, you can target your quadriceps (the front of your thighs).

* Love handles: Now you’ve heard of crunches, sit ups, and a hundred other exercises for abdominal muscles. You’ve probably also heard that they are useless. They are; at least for losing weight.

The most effective exercise you can do for toning your abs is total body resistance training. Included in this is walking or running up hills, or some kinds of machines at a health club or gym.

The key to toning muscles is not heavy weights, but rather lower weight with a higher number of repetitions. It will do you more good to lift five or ten pounds 25 times than if you lifted 250 pounds once.

There are even programs out there that show you how to lift weights quickly to raise your heart rate and get some fat reduction as well as muscle toning. It is not easy, no matter what anyone tells you. Losing weight and shaping your body is possible, but you really need to be committed to a goal. Don’t give up! You CAN make it!

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice and should not be used or interpreted as such. You should always consult a medical professional before making drastic changes to your diet and physical exercise.

Ultimate Fat Burning Exercises

If you are interested in losing weight and burning fat, a diet program alone may not suit your needs. The best way to burn fat is to exercise; aerobic exercise, specifically. Aerobic exercise draws on the body’s fat stores for energy – the more cardio you do, the more fat you’ll burn.

Try these aerobic exercises for great fat burning results:

1. Running – Running is an excellent fat burner. Getting started with a running program is relatively easy – get a good pair of shoes and you’re ready to begin. Ease into a running program gradually; to avoid damage to joints.

2. Walking – If you’re not quite up to a running program, a 30 minute daily walk can also do wonders for fat loss. Take the time to add a walk each day in the morning or after dinner to burn fat steadily.

3. Dancing – Dancing can be a great way to burn fat and enjoy yourself at the same time. Choose a fun, upbeat dance style to burn the most fat possible.

4. Swimming – If you have issue with joint pain or other medical problems that make exercise uncomfortable, swimming is a great option. Since it’s a non-weight bearing exercise; it’s easy on your muscles and joints.

5. Cycling – Bicycling is a good way to get exercise and enjoy the scenery at the same time. If you enjoy the outdoors, bicycling on a trail or mountain road could be a great way to burn excess fat.

6. Exercise Classes – If you’re a social person, check out your local gym or fitness club to see what exercise classes are offered. Burn fat and enjoy meeting new friends at the same time – a great combination!

7. Aerobic Weight Training – This special type of exercise class offers heart pumping cardio and light weight training combined. If your gym offers it, take advantage of this double fat burning workout – burn fat and add muscle at the same time!

A healthy diet combined with 30 minutes of one of these fat burning exercises is a great way to encourage weight loss. Your heart will also thank you, as aerobic exercise has definite cardiovascular benefits. Exercise and healthy eating will strip pounds off your frame and add years to your life.

Take the time to try some of these fat burning exercises today, and find one that fits into your lifestyle and you enjoy. If exercise is enjoyable, you’re far more likely to stick with a program. Experiment with your own exercise program today.

This article is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice and should not be used or interpreted as such. You should always consult a medical professional before making drastic changes to your diet and physical exercise.