A diet and exercise program must be for the long haul. No diet and exercise program will succeed if you only stick to it for a week or two; it ought to be a change to your whole lifestyle, a reconditioning of your appetite as well as your body. A diet and exercise program must concentrate on your wellness and not only your shape and ought to call for reducing slowly, in order that the weight does not go right back on again.
However, with diet and exercise programs being what they are, this is easier said than done. Whatever you call it, a diet means not eating what you are used to eating as well as kicking that sedentary lifestyle for one of activity.
So how do you keep motivated to stick with that diet and exercise program, without it becoming so tedious that it drives you mad?
1. Diet and exercise with someone else. If a friend is suffering too, it makes it more bearable. Make it into a contest, perhaps with a small prize for whichever of you reaches their desired weight first. Take exercise together; you could go to the gym or go running or swimming. It’s much more entertaining and you can have a chat as you workout and a cup of coffee together (black, no sugar of course) afterwards.
2. Keep a personal record, writing down everything you eat and the exercises you do with numbers completed or time, depending on your program. You can record your weight each week and how much you’ve lost. Make sure that you have it with at all times so you can jot things down whenever you need to.
3. Take pictures of yourself to maintain your enthusiasm. If you can see how overweight you were to begin with and how much weight you’ve lost now, you won’t want to stop your diet and exercise program. If you’re really fearless you can put your pictures on Facebook and your videos on Utube so that you can show your friends how well you’re doing.
Continue Reading September 11th, 2009
Achieving weight loss has become the prime objective for many in this day and age. This is due to the fact that it is such a big cosmetic requirement as well as a health necessity these days. With a wide variety of proven weight loss diet programs to choose from, the main challenge that many are now faced with is retaining their weight loss results. Dietitians have always been vocal in reminding people that reaching their weight loss goal should not spell the end of their healthy diet. There will still be a need for them to continue with eating and living healthy if there is any hope of retaining the results from losing weight. The process involved with retaining ones weight loss results is what will be addressed below in this article.
Following through with a weight loss plan makes no sense if after losing the desired pounds — a person regains it equally as fast like an elastic band that has been released. There has to be a plan that is put in place that ensures that the lost weight does not return. For this reason, a person who has lost weight must pay continued attention to the total calorie intake, the frequency of meals consumed, and the overall nutritional balance in much the same way the focus was at the beginning of the weight loss plan.
That is why a regime of proper dieting should be continued immediately following weight loss, in order to preserve the results from the pounds shed. At this stage, the struggle of giving up certain foods or resisting the temptation to visit a favorite fast food joint would have already been placed under control. Once that battle between the mind and the body, or we can call it the struggle between indulgence and reason, has already been won, keeping up that necessary diet may not be difficult. This is because the body can be easily trained at this stage into getting accustom to the healthy long-term diet pattern which should follow.
The importance of continuing with a healthy diet plan immediately following weight loss can never be overemphasized. If at this stage a person reverts to eating those foods that were avoided while focusing on achieving weight loss — it will only be a matter of time before such an individual is brought back to square one. The results obtained from weight loss would then be neutralized by this. It would be like a former alcoholic picking up the bottle again. So, when setting a weight loss goal, weight maintenance should be as much a part of the goal as the amount of weight you are hoping to shed.
Continue Reading September 10th, 2009
To Sara of Fit by Sara: “What’s the best way to tone up my inner and outer thighs?”
From Sara of Fit by Sara: “This question is three fold. First of all, how you eat will effect your body fat. Usually women gain weight in the hips and thighs. Take note of what foods you may be eating that are contributing to adding body fat, and/or keeping it on. That’s not to say to deprive yourself! Believe me, I eat my share of chips, and sugary snacks, but in moderation! The second part is to be aware of what exercises strengthen and tone your body. To target the inner thigh, do exercise where you bring your leg towards your body (i.e., working the adductors…note the “add”). So you could do this by laying on your side, cross the top leg over the bottom, and lift the bottom leg straight up, while squeezing your inner thigh. Do 10-20 reps for 3 sets (add pulses as you get stronger). Conversely, if you want to target the outer thigh, do exercises where you bring your leg away from your body (i.e., working the abductors). Lay on your side bend the bottom leg for support, then lift your top leg approximately one foot away from your bottom leg (don’t raise it too high, or your not targeting the outer thigh). Do 10-20 reps for 3 sets (add pulses as you get stronger). The third part is to implement cardio workouts where you get your heart rate up for 30-45 min. 3-5 X per week. A great cardio workout to tone the inner and outer thigh is kickboxing. For more info check out Total Body Toning–burn fat, lose weight, and tone from head to toe in just 30 min. 3 x per week!” -Sara Holliday
**Have a question for me? I’d love to answer it! Email me at info@fitbysara.com or leave a comment.
Continue Reading September 8th, 2009
A healthy weight loss program is one where you lose between half a pound and two pounds a week. This slow loss can be maintained and should be permanent rather than a quick weight loss where the weight will go back on as soon as you return to more normal eating.
The premise behind weight loss is that you should only put into your body what you can use up. Unless you have an extremely active lifestyle, for normal weight loss this equates to eating about 1500 calories a day for women and 2000 for men.
A healthy weight loss program should not include more than between 35 and 45 grams of fat per day and it should include some complex carbohydrate (e.g. wholemeal bread, pasta, etc.), protein and lots of fruit and vegetables. Avoid refined sugars and baked goods altogether as well as fried snacks; these foods have very little nutritional value but are very high in calories. They won’t satisfy your appetite and before you know it you’ll want something else to eat. Use diet drinks and if you want to drink alcohol, don’t forget to count the calories.
It’s easiest to stick to your weight loss program if you have menus including portion sizes written out for each meal and snack for a whole week. For a start, you will know what shopping you need to do and won’t be tempted to buy forbidden foods or help yourself from the biscuit tin. In fact, if you live alone, you may do well not to have anything in the biscuit tin! To help you with your plan, you may want to buy a book which has calorie counted recipes in it as it’s actually very difficult to remember to count the calories of every ingredient in a home made dish. Avoid pre-made diet meals if you can as they frequently contain far more salt than is healthy.
As well as a meal plan, you will need an exercise plan. There are two schools of thought here; one which advocates aerobic exercise and one which supports resistance training, such as using weights. Aerobic exercise is probably better for overall health, particularly the heart, but resistance training targets fat more quickly and takes less time. A brisk forty minute walk three times a week would probably be sufficient but twenty minutes every day would be better. Alternatively, you could bicycle, play tennis or badminton or swim. There are charts which show you how many calories you use up doing certain activities, so you could look up what you need to do to use up more calories than you’re putting in. Resistance training would require about twenty minutes twice a week, but you do need to do this kind of exercise in a very structured way with very short periods in between exercise sets, or they just won’t work at all.
Finally, you need a weight loss plan which will train your appetite to expect smaller meals and your taste buds to dislike sugar, which will ensure that you are able to maintain your weight loss when you are no longer actually “on a diet”. Equally, you should maintain an exercise program which is good for overall fitness and wellbeing.
Continue Reading September 8th, 2009
The South Beach Diet weight loss plan is a three phase diet plan which, rather than banning carbohydrates and fats altogether, seeks to educate dieters about which are the right carbohydrates and fats to eat. If someone eats refined sugars and simple carbohydrates (eg baked goods) they are absorbed quickly into the bloodstream, raising blood sugar and soon resulting in hunger again. However, complex carbohydrates such as grains, cereals and so on are good in that they are digested slowly and give the fullness factor which prevents immediate cravings for more to eat.
Phase one of the South Beach Diet weight loss plan lasts for two weeks and is incredibly strict. There is no carbohydrate allowed i.e. bread, cereals, baked goods, potatoes, yams and even carrots are prohibited, although some fats are permissible such as olive oil and some hard cheeses, for example cheddar. A dieter who follows this plan rigorously could lose as much as 1 stone (14 lbs, 6.4 kg) in this initial two week phase.
Phase two gradually reintroduces some of the forbidden foods such as wholegrain bread and cereal and should be followed until the weight loss goal has been achieved and serves as a retraining phase. In other words, the dieter gets used to eating good carbs and good fats and snacking on fruit rather than cakes and biscuits.
Phase three is the maintenance phase. The dieter has reached his or her goal in terms of weight and that’s exactly where they want to keep it. This is the adoption of a lifestyle change whereby, although the occasional cake or bag of crisps is not prohibited, it should be a very rare treat. Some people find that they don’t even enjoy sweet or processed foods any more and are much happier snacking on a carrot stick or piece of celery.
Many people find that the South Beach Diet weight loss plan really does work for them, especially if they can get through the first two weeks, which is a real baptism of fire for those who have previously lived on junk food.
Continue Reading September 6th, 2009
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