Tips to Manage Your Weight Loss Plan Day to Day

2010-08-10T19:06:00.001-07:00

Tips to Manage Your Weight Loss Plan Day to Day
Adrian Gunter

If you want to lose weight, chances are that you would like to start as quickly as possible. This is the rationale that companies who market all the numerous fad diets rely on. It is also the reason so many people engage in the more dangerous ‘crash dieting’ fad.

Any weight loss plan needs to be managed in an assured manner. You need to be aware that losing weight should always be a gradual process. Not only is it better for your metabolism, but it will also get you into the right habits and therefore less likely to go back to your old ways in the future.

One of the biggest perceived problems people have about starting a weight loss plan is how they are going to be able to fit it into their lives. These days people are increasingly busy, and managing to fit everything in can be quite a challenge. Fortunately there are many different ways to pursue an exercise regime with normal everyday activities.

The first thing you can do is create opportunities to be active. Wash your car at home instead of going to the car wash. Leave the car at home and bike or walk to the store. Participate in your children’s activities at the playground or park. If you are a late riser think about getting up and out a little earlier and set yourself up for the day with a little exercise even if it’s just stretching.

Your goal should be to make a healthy lifestyle a way of life, and not just a part of it. The best place to start is always at the beginning which in this case means breakfast. It is called the most important meal of the day and for good reason. Not only does it get your metabolism fired up to burn calories throughout the day, but also discourages you from snacking, especially when you get those hunger pangs around mid morning. The whole snack industry is built on an awareness of when people tend to get hungry.

The right sort of breakfast should include protein rich foods like boiled eggs, fibrous whole grain bread, and healthy dairy options such as low fat milk and yogurts.

There is nothing to feel guilty about if you do feel at little peckish at some point during the day. Snacking is mother nature’s way of topping up energy levels that become depleted throughout the day, particularly if you have a busy lifestyle. What was not intended by nature though was for you to fill yourselve up on cheap processed foods and sugary snacks.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are packed with beneficial fibres, vitamins and antioxidants. The type of snack you can try instead are dried fruits (good selection in health food shops), whole nuts such as almonds which contain the right sort of fat, and raw vegetables like carrot or celery sticks.

They fill up your stomach fast so you feel full quicker. They are also low in calories and help to keep your calorie intake down. Snacking on some grapes or a nice juicy apple is the one of the best ways to fight off the hunger pangs. It has the added advantage that you are actually doing yourself a lot of good by eating them.

I’m sure you have heard the expression ‘His eyes were bigger than his belly’. If you think about it though, it is actually very true. In the last twenty years or so portions sizes have grown significantly in the diets of the western world. In the USA , the birth place of the super-size phenomenon, just one meal from a fast food restaurant can contain more than 3000 calories! That’s more than the recommended amount for an entire day.

Food we prepare at home, such as cheap food from the supermarket – especially frozen processed foods such as burgers and pizzas etc – have led to an increase in size of the portions we eat at mealtimes. This has led to an increase in obesity as people simply have become used to eating more than they need to. Another problem can be that people drink less water or other drinks at mealtimes because they mistake dehydration for hunger.

Look at the size of your own portions. If you are think you are exceeding the recommended daily limit see how you can gradually reduce their size each day. Even if this is by just a couple of hundred calories a day, over a week that adds up to one day’s worth of food.

Unless you have an unusually good memory, this last tip is very important. Day to day you must be aware of what you are putting into your body. With this in mind you should consider keeping a daily food journal which records everything that you eat and drink.

Your journal should be kept accurately and honestly with the exact foods you ate and the times you ate them documented. Don’t neglect to write down foods that you count as cheats should you give into temptation.

Use this journal to spot trends in your eating habits. For instance, can you see a certain time of the day that you are more likely to eat than others, or a pattern in what you eat day to day? With this knowledge you will be better prepared to form a strategy to prevent or correct any deviations or relapses from your new, more healthy lifestyle in the future.

8 Simple Guide To General Health And Fitness

2010-07-24T18:51:00.000-07:00

It never fails but as soon as I wrote all my Weight Loss, Weight Gain, Fitness and Nutrition type of tips I had a few left over that couldn't really be placed into these categories. But as you will see they are right on the money for your general health and fitness and can be used in your everyday activities.

Lets take a peek:

What Is A Healthy Diet - A healthy diet satisfies two criteria: It contains enough fiber and a number of micronutrients including vitamins and minerals to maintain a healthy body. It is balanced in forms of fat, protein, and carbohydrates and micronutrients.

Don't Train With The Flu - This is one of the biggest exercise blunders you can make A number of temperature raising viruses, including the flu can affect the muscles. People often forget that the heart is also a muscle and can be weakened by the flu virus. Normally our hearts can cope with the strain of this, but exercising on top of an already weakened heart is potentially fatal. After a bout of the flu, you should wait at least 48 hours before exercising again.

Cool Down - When you do a strenuous workout the blood vessels in your muscles dilate to deliver more blood for the muscles to operate. The skin vessels also dilate to increase the heat loss from your body, which is why you get flushed after exercise. If you don't give your blood and skin vessels enough time to recover, and jump straight under hot water your skin vessels will dilate even further. Then your heart goes into overdrive trying to pump blood throughout the body. Ultimately you might notice symptoms like faintness, dizziness or at worst, you could even collapse.

Don't Eat Before Exercising - Always try to eat two or three hours before your exercise and not after that. If you do eat before exercise you can develop what is known as "dumping syndrome' where the blood supply that normally goes to your muscles during exercise is diverted to your gut. This means that you're not getting enough blood to your muscles, which can cause you to become lethargic and faint.

Try to Give Up Smoking - the best and easiest way to give up smoking is to replace it with another habit. Unfortunately, quitting has been associated with weight gain if you replace your cigarette habit with a candy or snack food habit. So replace the smoking with the habit of exercise!! Nothing tough or painful at first and build up to it. A five minute walk instead of a cigarette and aim to build it up slowly and easily.

Before, you will be fitter, you will be healthier and your body will be more you realize tight and toned. You will feel better in the morning, your breath will be worth being near again and fingernails, hair and skin will take on a much younger fresher look!! Of the people who die from lung cancer, 95% of them smoke.

Protein Power - Carbohydrates supply the sort of calories easily burned during cardiovascular exercise, but protein plays an important part in building muscle mass - or rather in not storing food as fat. "This is largely because the bulk of protein that is eaten will be used to build muscle". Further the average male will lose 500gms of muscle - not fat - every year once he stops regular exercise. While older men and women are usually touted as the beneficiaries of strength training so to are the young.

Planned Exercise - I suggest you start with 100 minutes per week of mildly puffing exercise be it 2x50 mins, 3x35 mins, 4x25 mins, 5x20 mins all of which produce the same results. Mix up your aerobic activities in the gym; use the treadmill, bike, climber or any other training gear available to you.

Keep A Training Log - Keep a training log for all your fitness requirements, keeping account of the reps you are using, how many sets, what weights you are using and also the date, time and where the workout took place is imperative for gauging your day to day progress. Also recording all cardio- vascular activities is just as important.

In conclusion, these general health and fitness might have been left to last but there are still right up there as far as your health and fitness is concerned.

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Tips to Manage Your Weight Loss Plan Day to Day

8 Simple Guide To General Health And Fitness