Trying to lose weight? Chances are you doing it all wrong. Here
are 5 Effective Weight Loss Tips t
YOU ARE WELCOME TO REPRODUCE THIS ARTICLE AND DISTRIBUTE AS LONG
AS:
-The entire article remains intact -You do not remove or alter
any html/links -You do not distribute this article to any
website that is affiliated with pornography, warez, gambling or
hate.
BEGIN ARTICLE:
So you want to lose some weight? Here are 6 tips that will help
you melt some body fat and lose some unwanted weight.
1. Throw away your scale
First off throw away your scale (okay don't literally do that).
You naturally gain and lose weight throughout the day due to
slight changes in your metabolism and how well hydrated you are.
Body weight is not always an accurate measure of a healthy body
composition. Instead you should focus on your body fat
percentage.
There are many inexpensive tools available to measure your body
fat. Many electronic scales now come with electronic body fat
measurements. These can be fairly accurate although they can
have up to have 25% margin of error depending on your hydration
levels (and if your taking supplements). If possible visit your
local gym to get a body fat test. The caliper test (pinch test)
can be very accurate. Also ask about getting your basal
metabolism measured. Your basal metabolism is how many calories
your body burns a day at rest. There are now many devices such
as bodygem that accurately measure this.
2. Get off the treadmill and hit the weights
Unless you train cardio like Lance Armstrong you must do weight
resistance exercise if you want effectively lose weight (i.e.
bodyfat). The obvious goal of resistance exercise is to gain
more lean muscle mass. One pound of lean muscle burns up to 50
calories a day in comparison to one pound of fat which burns
around 9 calories a day. If you are able to gain 10lbs of lean
muscle mass you will be burning an additional 500 calories a
day. At this rate you will lose 4 lbs of bodyfat a month.
Don't get me wrong about cardio; I think it is also extremely
important for your weight loss program. It also has a benefit
list about a mile long from decreasing your chances of heart
disease to lowering depression. However you must put your weight
training program before cardio if you really want to lose body
fat.
If you are unfamiliar with weight training exercises it may be a
good idea to hire a personal trainer to get you acquainted with
the gym. Also try subscribing to magazines such as Men's Health
and Shape which often write beginner programs for people looking
to start weight training programs.
If you are woman and are afraid of "bulking up" please repeat
after me, "I will not become bulky from weight training". This
is perhaps the single biggest misconception that women have
about weight training. This is due to the fact "bulking up"
requires certain anabolic hormones that occur in much high
percentages in men. Unless you are a female body builder taking
steroids your chances of bulking up are slim to none. Weight
training will only leave you with a toner, slimmer better
figured physique. Interesting fact: Hollywood legend Marilyn
Monroe lifted weights.
3. Mix it up
Fitness professionals use the fancy term "periodization" for
adding variety in workouts. Periodization is a strategy to keep
your body from hitting plateaus in training. A suggested cycle
would look like this.
-Phase 1: 4-6 weeks of heavy resistance exercise (6-12 reps per
set). Please limit cardio to 1-2 days week. Yes I do mean only 1
to 2 days a week of light cardio. Intense cardio can inhibit
your weight training efforts to put on more lean muscle mass for
the end goal of a higher metabolism.
-Phase 2: 4-6 weeks of moderate weight training/cardio. This
phase is when you already built up some muscle. Now is the time
to add some cardio on top of your elevated metabolism to reduce
fat stores. Your week should have 3 days of cardio workouts and
3 days of resistance exercise.
-Phase 3: 1-3 weeks of mostly cardio and some weight training.
You should be doing 5 days of cardio and 2 days of full body
weight training.
After this cycle is complete repeat back to Phase 1.
3. Your Diet
This is probably the most confusing and misrepresented component
of health weight loss. I've decided to break it down to a few
key points
-Eat 5-6 small meals a day. Eating the traditional diet of 3
meals a day will inhibit your weight loss goals for several
reasons. When you go past 4 hours without a meal your blood
sugar levels begin to drop. When you finally do eat your insulin
levels spike which encourages your body to store more calories
as fat. You are also much more likely to binge which pushes your
stomach out further and leaves only more hungry for the next meal
-Eat whole grains, fiber and veggies. Okay I know you've
probably heard that million times. But complex carbs (not
sugars), fiber and good fats (peanut butter) are crucial for
your weight loss regimen. If you really miss your tasty fatty
foods allow yourself one day a week where you can eat whatever
you want. If you break this rule you will end up just cheating
yourself.
-Drink up! Not only does water help your body recover quicker
and keeps your skin looking healthy but it can help you burn
more calories too. How? Try drinking ice cold water. It requires
more energy from your body to warm up and will help you burn
some additional calories.
4. Get to bed!
I know sleep is becoming a more of a luxury in modern day
America. But not getting a full night of sleep (6-8 hours for
adults) can make you fat! Here are a few reasons why:
First is lack of sleep interferes with your body's natural
mechanisms from recovering from a workout. Remember that when
exercise you are only creating an opportunity to get in shape.
The final hours of a good night's sleep is when your body
releases growth hormones to rebuild you're broken down muscle
tissue. If you cheat yourself out of those last couple of hours
of sleep you're cheating yourself out of gains from the hard
workout earlier.
Lack of sleep can also throw off other hormones that regulate
your metabolism and fat storage. Studies have shown that
sleeping less than 5 hours a night can reduce bloodstream leptin
levels by 15% (slowing down metabolism) and increases ghrelin by
15% (increase appetite).
Lack of sleep will inevitably make you less motivated to hit the
gym because you are already fatigued! You want to be as well
rested as possible before any workout. Get some sleep!
5. Supplements can help
I'm not telling you to go out and down a bottle of ephedrine
every day. Supplements are intended to exactly what their name
entails...they supplement your weight loss program. If you are
on a weight loss program you should be taking a multivitamin
everyday. There are some excellent weight loss supplements that
can aid your weight loss efforts. If you can use these
supplements responsibly I would recommend the following:
- V/M Multivitamin complete by ISS. This is complete
multivitamin supplement that is fortified with antioxidants.
-Hot-R
ox by Biotest - This non-ephedrine weight loss supplement
can help increase your basal metabolism rate.
-Lipo 6
by Nutrex - This supplement works to reduce your appetite.
It can be very effective.
-Lean System 7 by iSatori - This is a very potent
weight loss product.
-Myo
plex Whey Protein by EAS - It is crucial to up your protein
intake to gain more lean during resistance training.
I have experimented (and been ripped off a few times) with
several supplement stores. I found GNC was the most accessible
but way too expensive. So far the company I have been most
pleased with is Rocky Mountain Sports Nutrition. They offer the
best selection of bodybuilding supplements
and weight loss products. When it came to prices and
customer service their business was second to nobody. Check them
out at www.discountanabolics.com.