WEIGHT-LOSS

Friday, June 02, 2006

8 Simple Ways To Lose Fat
Shawn LeBrun

1. Set a goal for yourself and get real about achieving it.

Until you set a goal of how much body fat you want to lose, you are just
dreaming. It needs to be specific and written down. If losing body fat is
what you want to do, you must be willing to achieve it at all costs.

If you do not want to lose body fat enough, you will continue to give
yourself reasons not to work out. Get real and tell yourself that you are
going to do this, no matter what. Before any other step, this is the most
important one.

If you are not real and serious about losing fat, all the other steps will
not help you.

YOU MUST SET A GOAL FOR YOURSELF. You need a reason to keep going, to do
cardio first thing in the morning, to skip that extra slice of pizza. You
need a reason or you will not follow through.

So step 1 is to stop dreaming and start doing. Tell yourself you are going
to achieve your goal no matter what. Write down what you want to achieve and
then go after it!

2. Drink your life away! (well, not really)

If you have ever doubted the importance of water, try going a few days
without it. You can live weeks without food, but only days without water. It
is used in EVERY single physiological process your body undergoes.

Its importance cannot be stated enough, especially when it comes to fat-loss
and fitness training. Shoot for at least a gallon a day, preferably more.
The inconvenience of constantly using the bathroom is a minor drawback
compared to the benefits you will receive.

Keep a bottle wherever you spend most of your day, at your desk at work, in
your car, hell, wear a water bottle around your neck, but just get enough
water.

3. Eat 5-6 (or more) small meals a day consisting of high protein, moderate
carbs, and low-fat.

This is important in keeping your metabolism efficiently burning calories.
Constantly grazing on meals every 3 hours will allow your body to burn off
what it has consumed quicker and more efficiently.

Eating one or two larger meals will actually cause your body's metabolism to
slow down. Skipping meals altogether will actually cause your body to store
fat as a defense mechanism.

Your body is not sure when its going to get its next meal so it tends to
store more in case of perceived famine. Make each meal consist of higher
protein (builds muscle), moderate carbohydrates (fuel for the body) and low
fat (energy and protection).

Use the 50-40-10 rule as an approximate guideline. 50% of your calories
coming from protein, 40% carbs, and 10% fats.

4. Do INTENSE cardiovascular workouts 3-4 times a week.

This is where the majority of the calorie burning takes place.

Not necessarily from the cardio you just did, but from the fact that doing
cardio increases your metabolic rate so that the rest of the day you will
burn off more calories as well.

Treat your cardio days like you do your workouts. That means, put all of
your energy and intensity into your cardio. Do 20-30 minutes of cardio 3-4
days a week. During a session of cardio, warm-up for 5 minutes, then do 20
minutes at a high intensity pace.

Then cool down for the last 5 minutes. Go at a fast enough pace where you
are sweating, panting, huffing, puffing, turning red. Get your body out of
homeostasis (everything's normal and in balance).

Doing cardio for the sakes of doing it will not burn fat. Going for a
leisurely walk will not sufficiently burn fat, unless you walk ten miles.
Riding a stationary bike while relaxingly reading the paper will not burn
much fat.

Hey, its only 30 minutes. Bust your butt for this time and the return on
your investment will be great. Choose cardio machines that get more of your
body moving. The more you move, the more you burn.

Stairmaster and running on the Treadmill are good examples. The recumbent
bike is good also, because you can focus on high intensity without worrying
about falling off. The more your whole body moves, the more energy you
expend.

5. Do INTENSE Weight training at least 3-4 times a week.

Do not mistake weight training w/ trying to burn fat. Weight training will
not burn a sufficient amount of body fat. What weight training will do is
help you burn fat in the future. When you add muscle to your frame, your
body has to expend more energy (burn more calories) to maintain that muscle
tissue.

So when you are at rest, even sleeping, the more lean muscle mass you have,
the more calories you will expend. Weight training will not only strengthen
existing muscle, but will add additional lean muscle tissue to handle any
future demands placed on the muscle.

The more lean muscle tissue you have, the more calories you will expend at
rest. Not bad, huh?

6. Figure out your daily energy expenditure and reduce it.

Most people do not like to calorie count, me included. But in order to
properly lose body fat, you need to determine your daily energy expenditure
or caloric maintenance level. You then need to reduce your energy
consumption to be below your energy output.

It's difficult to place a number on how much below your consumption you
should go, because everyone is different. A good place to start would be
150-200 calories below your maintenance levels.

Then continue to observe the effects in the mirror to determine if this
number needs to be changed. If you continue to see no results, try reducing
your energy consumption to 300 calories below your energy output.

7. Instead of a 30 minute cardio session, do 2, 15 minute sessions.

This is definitely a tough thing to do because of busy schedules, but if it
is possible, do a 15 minute cardio session first thing in the morning and
another session later in the afternoon or early evening.

Research has shown that compared with subjects that did a 30 minute cardio
session, those that did 2, 15 minute sessions burned twice as many calories.
Make each 15 minute session still very intense, which is easier to do if you
are going 15 minutes.

Warm-up for 2-3 minutes and then go all out for 13-15 minutes, then cool
down for 2-3 minutes.

Once again, if you can fit 2, 15 minute cardio sessions into your day (avoid
doing it on weight-training days), you will burn twice the amount of
calories than doing a 30 minutes session.

8. Continue to up your weight (overload) when doing resistance training.

Remember that building lean muscle will assist you in the fat-burning
process later on. The more muscle you have, the more energy your body
expends to maintain that muscle, even at rest.

In order to make constant and significant gains, remember to train intensely
and for short durations. I like to call them "bursts of exercise!" Try and
work no more than 2 muscle groups a workout, 3 workouts a week.

Or you can do 1 muscle group each workout, training 5-6 days a week in
shorter bursts.

Keep reps lower than higher. This will cause you to maintain high enough
resistance to add overload to the muscle, causing more muscle growth. Do
only 2-3 heavy sets per exercise and keep workouts no longer than 45
minutes.

Keep your workouts intense and to the point. Do it and get out of the gym.
DO NOT DO YOUR CARDIO BEFORE WEIGHT TRAINING! It's hard to focus intensely
on both weight training and cardio in the same session. Do not rob one to
pay the other.

These are 8 simple (well, not so simple if you do them well!) ways you can
maximize fat burning while increasing the likelihood of not losing much
muscle.

Cardio and proper nutrition are two of the most vital areas to focus on when
attempting to shed fat and gain muscle.

Shawn LeBrun is an online fitness expert that will show you how to lose fat,
gain muscle, and increase your strength in the least amount of time! Visit
http://www.shawnlebrunfitness.com for info.

7 Fast Weight Loss Tips To Speed Up Metabolism
Copyright Phil Beckett

These fast weight loss tips will help you to drop a lot ofextra pounds, if you need to lose quite a bit of weight.These 7 fast weight loss tips will also help you, if you arealready in decent physical condition, to sculpt your body toan even greater degree.Any weight loss tips to help speed up metabolism do justthat. They help you. You still must have your overall fitnessand nutrition plan in line with the goals you want toachieve.You need to be focused on each aspect of your plan. If youexpect to use these fast weight loss tips but don't exerciseand just watch television eating a bag of chips every night,they won't do a thing for you.Are you ready to add these fast weight loss tips to yourlifestyle?

In order to get rid of any amount of excess weight, youmust speed up metabolism. Your metabolism is abiochemical process that occurs in your body.Your metabolism helps to break down nutrients in yourbloodstream. This helps you to add more lean muscle,resulting in a greater expenditure of energy, meaning you'llget rid of more fat.You have billions of cells in your body that can use up anenormous amount of energy if you are active. The fastweight loss tips listed below will help you do this. However,if you aren't active they won't burn up much at all, meaningyou'll have a tendency to easily add fat to your body.Thankfully, using the fast weight loss tips in conjunctionwith your healthy and active lifestyle you can speed up yourmetabolism quite noticeably.Fast weight loss tips:

#1. Eat specific foods. A number offood additives, like spices, can help to speed up yourmetabolism by creating a thermodynamic burn that hasbeen shown to last a few hours after you eat.Fast weight loss tips:

#2. Time your meals. The majority ofyour calories should be earlier in the day. Your meals shouldcontain less total calories as the day goes on. Try to eatlittle or preferably nothing at all after your evening meal.Don't skip any meals. You should be eating 4 - 6 meals eachday.Fast weight loss tips:

#3. Make sure you eat enough. Oneof the biggest mistakes people make when trying to loseweight is they don't eat enough.If you don't consume the proper amount of calories you willsend your body into what is known as a survival mode. Thishappens when your body does not have enough calories,so it conserves energy to prepare for possible starvation.On the opposite side of this, is if you eat too many caloriesthe excess will be stored as fat. You need to exercise inorder to burn more calories than you eat. Therefore,moderation is the key when it comes to calorie intake.Fast weight loss tips:

#4. Increase your daily activities. Toprevent fat storage and to drop any excess that you mightbe carrying you must increase your daily activities.This needs to include weight training and cardiovasculartraining. The more calories you burn, the faster you will loseweight. It's that simple. An increase in lean muscle massresults in a dramatic increase in fat burning.One more thing; try to exercise first thing in the morning.Research has shown that you can dramatically increaseyour fat burning ability if you exercise after a fasted state.Meaning just after you wake up.Fast weight loss tips:

#5. Do weight lifting before doing anycardiovascular work. The only exception of course is toperform 5 - 10 minutes of cardio before your weight trainingin order to warm up your muscles.This is important because you need the energy in yourmuscles for weight training. By the time your weight trainingsession is complete you will have used up all of yourpreferred energy sources.This means that you will actually be burning fat cells duringyour cardio session.Here's what happens if you do this in reverse.First, you will only be burning carbohydrate sources ofenergy during your cardiovascular workout. No fat cells willbe used up for energy. Next, you will not have the energy inyour muscles in order to get the most out of your weighttraining.You will not be able to increase your lean muscle, which isvery important if you want to lose your excess weight.Fast weight loss tips:

#6. Change up your exercise routineon a regular basis. For the most part you should changesome aspect of your workout every 2 - 3 weeks. This can beanything from the number of reps or sets per exercise. Theexercise order you perform and the exercises themselves.If you do the same thing week after week, month aftermonth your body will start to get used to what you're doingto it and will eventually stop making changes. You will alsostop adding any more lean muscle.The more muscle you have the more calories you will burneven when at rest.Fast weight loss tips:

#7. Meal combinations. Always eatprotein / carbohydrate meals earlier in the day. Eat protein/ fat combination meals (meaning little to no carbohydrates)in the late afternoon and evening.The only exception is if you normally exercise in theevening. Then your first meal after your workout shouldconsist of protein and carbohydrates.Never eat carbohydrates and fat together in the samemeal.With these seven fast weight loss tips you will speed upmetabolism and burn excess body fat at a much faster rate.Try these fast weight loss tips out for a while and you'llnotice a difference after a couple of weeks.Phil Beckett is a health & fitness trainer, author & educator.Get the results you want with less work. For more info onfast weight loss tips & how to speed up metabolism, visit:http://www.womens-health-fitness.com/fast-weight-loss-tips.html

Can Fat Turn Into Muscle Or Muscle Into Fat?
Chris Chew

Can muscle turn into fat or fat turn into muscle? How many timeshave you heard this hilarious fats and muscles myth?Yes, this is one fats and muscles myth that will never go away.Get this straight. Fat will never turn into muscle and musclewill never turn into fat.The reason is simple. Your body fats and muscles are made up ofcompletely different cell structure and they are so differentthat they cannot be converted to each other.

Your muscle isvery much alive and work very hard whereas fat just sits theredoing nothing and just plain looking ugly. How can they be thesame or can be converted to each other?How did this fitness myth come about then? Well, let me offersome suggestions.When a fat person train with weights, he will build muscles andthen for his muscle definition to show, he will have to losefat. He will do cardio exercises and eat healthily to achieve ahealthy fat loss. When that is accomplished, he will revealed alean muscular body because he has alreadypacked on some muscle mass and have lost a substantial amountof body fat from his lose fats and build muscles program.

So when people see his new found lean muscular body and noticedthat his body fat is now gone, some will comment that his fatshas turned into muscles. Isn't that a nonsensical comment? Notjust nonsensical, it is downrighthilarious.Now, just say that this same guy has lost his motivation totrain for whatever reasons and because he no longer wants tomaintain his lean muscular body, he naturally will lay offexercises and start to eat unhealthily.

Gradually, he will puton body fat because of his unhealthy diet and the fact that heno longer exercise to burn calories. Then as he put on morefat, the fat begins to cover up his muscles and his muscles areno longer noticeable.Ahhhh....these same people who do not know the biology ofmuscle and fat will proclaim that his muscles has turned intobody fat. Well, these chaps must be magicians or how else canmuscle turn into fat or fat turn into muscle?Why am I exposing this fat and muscle myth? Because it isfunny?

Well perhaps that too. But the main reason is that thisfat and muscle myth has put a lot of people away from exercisingto build muscles and continue to indulge in unhealthy eatinghabits by proclaiming that there is no point building musclesbecause once they stop, they will get fat. Again, this isrubbish because most of them are fat to begin with anyway. Itis just a lazy excuse not to exercise and eat healthily.

So if you have friends who tout this fat and muscle myth toyou, send them this article. You may be doing them a greatfavor when they realized the truth and head for the gym tobuild some muscles and lose some body fat.Then what about you? Are now convinced that muscle will neverturn into fat and fat into muscle? If not, write to me and tellme why.About The Author: Chris is a personal trainer of fashionmodels, male pageant winners, actors and other celebs. Morefree fitness tips in his websites. http://www.sgfitness.com andhttp://www.sgfitnessonline.com

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