debu papa's guide to weight loss..

The pill that will get you fit..

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:39:00 +0000

Another shocking news..

The scientist now have developed a pill that makes the body fit without the need for exercise. The drug fools the muscles into thinking they have worked out long and hard, which means they rapidly burn fat and boost fitness.

Basically, the drugs target muscle, boosting its ability to burn fat and allowing it to do more work without tiring. That is the principles on how it works.

Number of trials were halted over concerns about safety and its effectiveness over human body. So, expect the arrival on pharmacy shelves in couple of year later. Someone is making money on this drugs.

Whether it's a great news or bad news, it's up to you to decide..

Article source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Dad Vs Kid Workout..

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:03:00 +0000

Once upon a time, somewhere in a public park....

First round: everything was quite well....

Second round: still catching my breath...

Final round: I need some rest..

but this boy looks so steady as he's not doing anything..

lesson from the story: Do not underestimate a kid, they are super-active with high level of metabolism..

p/s: I will beat you next time :)

All about drinking water..

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 01:38:00 +0000

Image credit: Obi-Akpere

I've heard about "Drink more water" in every health website, health magazine, etc. I know we’ve heard this too many times. But yet, many people still ignoring the advice. Ever wonder why God created our planet with 2/3 of water? Of course it's because water is needed. Every living organism on earth needs water, and everything your body does, it does better with a healthy supply of water, every system in your body depends on water. More than 70% of our body system is made from water.

So here I summarize why we should make drinking water part of your daily routine:

1. Get Healthy Skin
Nothing will improve the appearance of your skin better than consuming enough water. It’s a pity women spend so much money on skin products, while neglecting the cheapest and most effective one - water. Water is the single most important element for cellular integrity. Drinking water moisturizes your skin from the inside out. Water is also essential to maintaining elasticity and suppleness and helps prevent dryness. The real fountain of youth can be found in a glass of water.

2. Flush Toxins
Water helps remove toxins from the body, in particular from the digestive tract. Our kidney system is unique in its filtering capabilities and totally dependent upon water in order for it to work. Daily fluid intake is essential to its efficient operation, particularly because there is some decrease in function with age. Water helps get rid of excess nitrogen, urea, and ketones, so it is particularly important when following a high protein diet. You need even more water to help your kidneys do their work if you’re eating big to gain weight.

3. Reduce Your Risk Of Heart Attack
Researchers at Loma Linda University in California studied more than 20,000 healthy men and women and found that people who drink more than five glasses of water a day were less likely to die from a heart attack or heart disease than those who drank fewer than two glasses a day.

4. Cushion And Lube Your Joints And Muscles
Water makes up a large part of the fluid that lubricates and cushions your joints and muscles. And although not the only element associated with muscle cramps, athletes have long recognized that even mild dehydration can produce cramps. So drinking water before, during and after exercise can also help reduce muscle cramping and premature fatigue.
According to the American College of Sports Medicine, adequate fluid replacement helps to maintain hydration therefore optimizing and enhancing performance of those participating in regular exercise. They suggest flavored waters to promote hydration and to increase palatability. Products such as Gatorade’s Propel Fitness Water are, therefore, terrific substitutes for plain water to increase fluid intake and meet the optimum consumption of water per day, thus enhancing performance and lessening the possibility of dehydration.

5. Get Energized And Be Alert
On average, most adults lose about 10 cups of fluid a day through sweating, exhaling, urinating, and bowel movements. Even minor dehydration can cause impaired concentration, headaches, irritability and fatigue.
Water is also essential for proper circulation in the body. The levels of oxygen in the bloodstream are greater when the body is well hydrated. The more oxygen the body has readily available the more fat it will burn for energy without the presence of oxygen the body cannot utilize stored fat for energy efficiently. Not only will the body burn more fat when well hydrated but because there are increased oxygen levels you will also have more energy.
Drinking more water everyday will help your think more clearly. Research has repeatedly shown that staying hydrated is necessary for the human brain, which is 85 percent water, to function at optimal levels. That is why many school systems throughout the country now encourage students to keep a bottle of water at their desks and to drink it throughout the day.

6. Stay Regular
Water helps prevent constipation by adding fluid to the colon and bulk to stools. Something as simple as fluid plays a major role in preventing constipation. Not only does the liquid encourage bowel movement, but it also softens the stools.
Water is essential for proper digestion, nutrient absorption and chemical reactions. The carbohydrates and proteins that our bodies use as food are metabolized and transported by water in the bloodstream. But no less important is the ability of water to transport waste material out of our bodies.

7. Reduce Your Risk Of Disease And Infection
Consistent failure to drink enough water can lead to Chronic Cellular Dehydration. This condition where the body’s cell are never quite hydrated enough leave them in a weakened state, vulnerable to attack from disease. It weakens the body’s overall immune system and leads to chemical, nutritional and pH imbalances that can cause a host of diseases.
When you don’t have enough water in your body, your cells start to draw water from the bloodstream. Your heart has to work harder because your blood gets sludgy, and your body starts to redirect blood away from less vital areas. Dehydration can set in even before you start to feel thirsty. This is a great strain on the body because it impairs the kidneys in their vital function of purifying the blood and helping the body get rid of toxins.
Also Michaud and coworkers found that the incidence of cancer in the urinary bladder was reduced significantly by a high fluid intake in a ten-year study involving nearly 48,000 men. The top 20% of subjects who participated in the study drank 2500 ml per day or more, while the bottom 20% drank 1200 ml or less. The authors concluded that within this range, the risk of bladder cancer decreased by 7% for every 240 ml of fluid added.

8. Regulate Your Body Temperature
Water regulates the body’s cooling system. Sports drinks are useful when consumed after or during vigorous and prolonged exercise in high heat. But most experts agree that water works better than carbohydrates or sugared beverages for moderate exercise. For instance, if you drink 12 ounces of plain water, your body will absorb 8 ounces of it within 15 minutes. If you drink 12 ounces of a 10% sugar solution, less than 1 ounce will be absorbed in the same period. The typical soft drink is a 10 to 12% sugar solution.
Water is the nutrient your body needs the most. Between 55 and 75 percent of adult body weight is water, and it is critical in regulating all body organs and temperature.

9. Burn More Fat And Build More Muscle
It has been shown that dehydration decreases protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is what builds muscle. It is an energy costly process. When you suppress protein synthesis, fewer calories end up building proteins and more calories end up in your fat stores. It’s elementary: calories have two possible fates - they either get burned, or they get stored. When more of the calories you eat get burned, less will get stored.
Increased water consumption can help you control weight by preventing you from confusing hunger with thirst. Water will also keep your body systems, including metabolism and digestion, working properly and give you the energy (and hydration) necessary for exercise.

10. Get Well
The traditional prescription to ‛drink plenty of fluids‛ when you’re sick still holds strong. Water can help control a fever, replace lost fluids, and thin out mucus. Water plays a vital role in nearly every bodily function. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
Water is the substance of life. Life can not exist without water. We must constantly be adding fresh water to our body in order to keep it properly hydrated. Water can be a miracle cure for many common ailments such as headaches, fatigue, joint pain, and much more.

Early Death Comes from Drinking Distilled Water

However not all water is created equally. I read the article written by Dr. Rona in chetday.com about the bad effect of drinking distilled water. Putting distilled water to our daily consumption in the long term could cause an early death to us.

The ideal water for the human body should be slightly alkaline and this requires the presence of minerals like calcium and magnesium.

Distilled water tends to be acidic and can only be recommended as a way of drawing poisons out of the body. Once this is accomplished, the continued drinking of distilled water is a bad idea.

Water filtered through reverse osmosis tends to be neutral and is acceptable for regular use provided minerals are supplemented.

Water filtered through a solid charcoal filter is slightly alkaline. Ozonation of this charcoal filtered water is ideal for daily drinking. Longevity is associated with the regular consumption of hard water (high in minerals). Disease and early death is more likely to be seen with the long term drinking of distilled water. Avoid it except in special circumstances.

source: RirianProject, Chetday.com, Health-in-Motion

Men's Health Malaysia August Run..

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 02:07:00 +0000

I've been waiting for MensHealth July's issue for almost a week, and finally yesterday I found them in bookstore nearby my office. So I grabbed one..

The most interesting part on this issue, they are going to have 10K run on August 24th at Lake Gardens, maybe to celebrate our Malaysian Independence Day on August 31st. If you're amateur and season runner, join this race..

Now here is another reason for you to join, and you would probably love to hear this.. The race is only open for Malaysian, Singaporean and PR, so expect no African runners will be participating, which mean higher chance of winning. Haha. Actually I hate endurance running, but 10K is not distance enough for me to hate.

I don't expect to win the race, but just hope I can train this month and break my personal record on 10K. I put as my mini goal this Quarter. Chasing numbers begin.

Hopefully my new pair of Brooks will bring me luck..

Details of event ==>http://www.mens-health.com.my/index_run08.asp

Bored with your exercise?

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:09:00 +0000

Here is simple switch on how I make my workout more fun. Use this variety when you feel boring..

Car pushing
Looks simple? but wait until you push and move the car 20 meters forward. I don't know how to describe this workout, but each step you take to push the car forward, you'll feel the muscles is firing from your calves, then up to your thighs, moving up to your shoulder and upper back via your core, especially the lower back in one single fluid motion. Guess what? It's a perfect total body workout ever. It could be more taxing than a Deadlift, or maybe on par with..

If you're advance lifter and fit enough to handle this drill, find a fit partner and drive to an empty parking space. Place the transmission to neutral, push the car 15 to 20 meters (depend on your stamina) while your friend take the wheel job. Then switch.

It's fun, but are you sure to complete the 3rd round?

Stair climbing
Climbing those steps required effort and deep determination, but the effort paid off. Turns out there are few approaches to training that we can learn from a pro-boxer's workout routine - think Sylvester Stallone in Rocky screen movie? One simple approach is stair climbing. This is somewhat brutal workout, which is designed to increase muscle definition, power and stamina in the thighs, hamstrings and calves.

To try this workout, select a 5 or 10 pounds om dumbbell for each hand. This may seem light at first, but after starting the exercise, I'm sure you won't be to wait to put them down. Locate a stair set that has a least 5 flight with around 10 steps/flight. Grab the dumbbells and explode all the way up. Don't rest at the top; turn around and come down the steps with controlled pace. Then active rest once you hit the bottom. Repeat for 4-5 sets. Don't forget to warm up your knees thoroughly and do some stretching before climbing.

Swimming
Enough said. One of the great low impact fat burner cardiovascular and a total body workout, if you know how to. Swimming does burn calories at a rate of about 3 calories a mile per pound of bodyweight. It can serve as a cross-training element to your regular workouts.

If you to lose fat faster, and we're not talking about swimming for a leisure activity, think interval training, or superset with Pushup each time after crossing the pool? It could be great workout.

Wall climbing
Fears of falling motivates us. Hence, it's a great adrenalin workout. And, if you think climbing only works your upper body, you're wrong. Actually wall climbing gym's expert claims, climbing emphasize your lower body more than the upper body. That's why I choose this activity sometimes during my weekend. Find wall climbing gym nearby and try this. Thank me later if you get addicted.

If you're staying around Subang Jaya, there is Indoor climbing gym called Nomad Adventure. Pay per entry and rent all safety equipment at very cheap rate, is a good option for first timer. Logon to their website for more info at http://www.nomadadventure.com

p/s: Tarzan's lean and athletic physique is made in the jungle. So, for those who don't have access to this gym, you might want to try climb up any tree, but make sure to take safety measures - and at your own risk, of course..

more information about indoor climbing here.

If there is any new thing to try, I would love to hear from you.

Fat Loss ROI...

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:17:00 +0000

One of the common method used to measure our success of weight loss program is by judging how much weight you lose over a certain period of time. Say, a guy lost 40 pounds of his weight over 5 months of period, sounds quite successful to us, right?

Now, have you ever heard about ROI? It's a short form of Return-of-Investment, a common term for business decision makers to evaluate their investment by comparing the magnitude and timing of expected gains to the investment costs. I use this term very often throughout my prospecting and marketing program.

If let say, there are two guys, "A" and "B" started their weight loss program, with the same starting weight, and then they lost the same amount of 40 pounds fat over 5 months. Guy "A" invested 100 dollars for running shoes for his initial investment, and the other one, guy "B" invested 1000 dollars for his running shoes and treadmill machine. Now, which one is more successful?

If money is one of your concern, then I think you'll need to understand a bit about ROI and payback period, but don't worry: you don't need to be a math expert. Here I will outline the simple way to calculate ROI,

Fat Loss ROI = (Fat Loss - Investment Costs) / Investment Costs

Before that, we have to convert fat into term of dollars. If let say, to lose just one pound of fat you will have to burn up 3500 calories. How much is that? Well if you are on a diet such as the 2000 calories weight loss diet, you are eating 2000 calories a day. So, 3500 calories is about nearly two full days worth of food. Convert 3500 calories in term of dollars spent of two days of food.

Let's do the math based on my weight loss experience and payback period is one year..

Initial weight = 194 pounds (30% Body Fat)
Initial fat mass = 58.2 pounds
Current weight = 151 pounds (13% Body Fat)
Current fat mass = 19.6 pounds
Total fat loss = 58.2 - 19.6 = 38.6 pounds

Gross investment costs so far..
Dumbbell set = $90
Chin-up bar = $50
Running shoes = $140
Gym ball = $60
Flex tube = $25
Gym fee costs (accumulated - 3 months) = $120
Total investment costs = $485

Converting pound into dollar...

If 1 pound = 3500 calories,
then, 38.6 pounds = 135,100 calories

If 2000 calories = one day worth of food,
then, 135,100 calories = 67.55 days worth of food (Let's take it as 68 days)
If 1 day food spent = $20,
then, 68 days = $1,360

Fat loss ROI = ( Fat Loss $$$ - Investment Costs ) / Investment Costs * 100(%)
= (1,360 - 485) / 485 * 100 (%)
= 180 %

From the calculation, I think the best way to getting better ROI is creating exercise plan using bodyweight training eg: Turbulence Training, and next is Dumbbell home-gym training, followed by commercial fitness gym and so forth.

The dumbest ever solution to your fat loss, which yield to worst ROI is liposuction method - If you think you will go for this method, you better stop reading this. Try googling the nearest clinic that have such expertise and call their hotline number for appointment. We're not talking about "Extreme Makeover" TV program, aren't we?

Personally, I don't recommend such surgery as it does not adding value to your inner self. Exercise hard, you'll learn how to love yourself more.

The above calculation is a very basic calculation ROI over your fat loss. But, I understand that some of us will probably don't agree with the calculation. No matter how much you saved (or gained), how much direct or indirect costs involved in detail, by stripping away the excessive fat, you will get a lot of health benefits that help you live longer, which is indirect.

And don't forget the fat dominoes, by reducing your body fat percentage, you will significantly cut the risk factors associated with many diseases, not just diabetes, heart disease etc. Certainly, it doesn't guarantee you a get-out-of-the-hospital free license, but you will save thousand bucks for your medical bills...

Real men, real strength...

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 03:36:00 +0000

I've been subsribing newsletter from Men's Health mag since April 2007, to keep me updated about latest health news, research, workout, etc.

Somewhere on January this year, I received a great article that changed my perspective on weight training. The America's top strength & conditioning coach shares his golden rules to gain explosive strength, and it works for everyone.

Before you step in to any gym in town, I really recommend you to read this article first. This is fundamentals of what does it mean to train hard. Watch the video clip below, or view the articles about strength training principles from Mens Health here.

If you understand these golden rules, I bet you will find bodybuilding exercise which targets on specific muscle group using isolation movement is not really applicable to real world's life.

Think about the legendary Bruce Lee, small, hard and lean physique, but his punch? Could send you to hospital for days. That's the strength I'm talking about. Anyway, we don't have to be like him, but certainly, other than in sports, the strength and functional fitness could benefit us in our real life.

As for me, a non-athlete nor martial arts practitioner, just an average Joe, I'm now building my strength and functional fitness, so that I could be well prepared in the event of emergencies, if any.. What does it feel if there is a critical situation, say about saving one's life, but you don't have that capability to take right action over the situation? Think about it..

Motivation: What drives you so far?

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 02:07:00 +0000

Time goes by so fast, and it's been more than a year since I started my new lifestyle. I realized my lifestyle has changed a lot. Firstly, I gave up McD, and also the other fast food, and only spare them for emergency.

Asian people have bigger and over-expanded stomach because they primarily eat rice, according to Japanese research. That's why they rule eating competition. I used to eat a lot, but now I only eat merely half and feel full. So I think my caloric partitioning strategy especially when dealing with rice done great on shrinking my stomach size. Your stomach; they are only muscle and have their own memory – call it muscle memory, unlike a spring which pulls back to original position, I believe stomach muscle need longer time to forget it origin size too. We have to consistently cheat them.

People surrounds me think I am on diet, which I do not agree, at least for this past six month. I don't the feel the stress now, and happy with what I'm eating now.

Sticking to your right meal plan and workout requires motivation, determination, mind control and they are all interconnected to each other. Lose one of these, you will probably have a hard time to reach your goal. But the biggest one is motivation.

People surround me especially my friend and family members always popped me with the same question, and the most frequent question is “how you lose weight?” – This is my favorite question; I love to share with them the way I lose weight. I can tell them about the tips, how to, nutrition in hours non-stop. But I hate to tell them, what keep me so motivated to my diet and workout. It's all started from an interest, interest become motivation, then motivation creates persistence that eventually help you gets the job done.

Ask me what motivates me to stick to my workout and my diet.. Although I am not sure what drives me to get this far, but the only I know is I keep finding my goals and challenge them along the way. Yes, my answer is “GOAL”. Without any goal, you won’t be sticking to what you are doing. My main goal is generally to improve my overall fitness and health. General goal doesn’t sound compelling enough to us? So I put them as my long term goal.

Then I put my weight loss goal as my mini goal along with the main goal path. I keep finding these so called "short term goals" to be accomplished, and persistently challenging them. For example, I promised to myself to lose that extra fat from my belly last year. I'm so determined towards achieving my goal and finally did it. Then, what next? If you stop there, then you're out..

So, I created another goal, as simple as that.. which is to improve my functional fitness, gain strength and power. I mean really this need strength and power - to keep up with my growing hyperactive kids.. I wish I could have their energy :)

Now I try to follow CrossFit way of improving athletic fitness. I say I'm trying, but I'm still far beyond their radar. Ouchh. I mean they are really total crazy fitness elites in the world. Well at least this is my new goal, to get into their radar..

The point here is make yourself busy finding something to achieve, just like you are chasing your number quarterly, you will exactly do the same towards your goals. Learn how to create the interests. Learn how to dig information by your own, instead of depending on other's knowledge which support the habit of procrastination. Then, keep increasing knowledges about health and fitness that inspires eg; subscribing to health & fitness magazines. I think it will help.

No time for exercise...

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:05:00 +0000

I heard lot of excuses not having time to workout. Busy with work, meeting with clients, dinner with office mates etc.. Now how much time you spent on TV after work, say you got back at 7 pm, you probably take a shower, have dinner, have conversation with your wife and kids, and then nail your butt on the couch with remote control in your hands.. you end up sleeping there with TV watching you.

You know watching TV more than 2 hours can put you on risk of obesity, because the moment you sit down on the sofa, you body will stop the fat burning hormone. Studies show you tend to eat 71 percent more food when watching TV than when you aren't glued to the tube. Google it, you will find lot of articles about TV and obesity risk.

Here are some facts - the health toll of too much TV..

If you watch 14 hours per week, you're 48 percent likely to suffer Metabolic syndrome and 140 percent risk on type-2 diabetes.
If more than 17 hours per week, you increase the risk of obesity by 98 percent.
If more than 20 hours per week, the risk of getting erectile dysfunction is 30 percent.
And if more than 21 hours, you increase all the risks above and risk yourself to insomnia by 105 percent.

Scary enough to reduce the number of hours you spend on the tube each week? Now, find only 90 minutes a week to exercise. By saying you have no time is bogus, because it assumes that everything else in your life is more important than staying in good shape.

When I started my workout, I allocated two quick session of weight training and a session of cardio on weekend. The weight training was funny, because I didn't know much about lifting, tempo, breathing, technique etc. But still managed to shed some pounds of weight after few months.

The motivation drive me to learn more from fitness magazine, internet website and forum to update my knowledge. I was too embarrassed to go to gym and felt that I don't belong there. You may have the same feeling too. So the fix? Don't go to gym, keep away from distraction from those chicks on the treadmill, really lose your belly and build some muscle in-house. Just invest a pair of dumbells and a chinup bar.

I lost almost 26 pounds in 5 months! That was big numbers for a beginner who exercise alone at home and without personal trainer from Fitness First Gym. Within 5 months, I did a lot of exercise movements, and here is no joke, the shortcut for faster fat loss.

They are Squat, Pushup, Chinup and Situp, 2 times a week, more than enough to work your entire body and revving up your metabolism for the entire week. They are very traditional way, yet effective workout.

The only problem you'll be facing here is not able to do a chinup. Substitute jumping chinup. At the same time, aim to do your first chinup with full form using Negative Chinup exercise - hop up to the bar, slowly lower yourself for a count of 5 seconds. Then hop back up to the bar and repeat. Do 5 or 6 reps each set. If it still too hard for you, then lower down the bar just about your waist height, and do inverted row exercise, crack out as many reps you can.

These are combination of simple movements, great total body workout, and good balance by doing a pair of pushing and pulling type of upper body workout.

You don't have to worry about other muscles, these 4 exercise are your main dishes, already covered your legs, chest, upper back and your core muscles. Just give a variety to your dumbbell weight in your squat and grip width in your pushup every week.

If time is not an issue, and you want more challenges, add some side dishes with other compound movement like shoulder press, dumbbell deadlift, lunges, dumbbell row or maybe core stabilization exercise such as plank and side bridge into your workout. Make sure to put your rest time between each set to minimal count for fastest fat loss.

Good luck!

The Fat Dominoes..

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 04:33:00 +0000

Not enough reason to get back in shape and maintain your healthy lifestyle?

Here are some facts about being overweight (or obese)..

50 percent more likely to develop heart disease (obese: Up to 100%)
Up to 360 percent more likely to develop diabetes (obese: Up to 1,020%)
16 percent more likely to die of a first heart attack (obese: 49%)
Roughly 50 percent more likely to have total cholesterol above 250 (obese: Up to 122%)
50 percent more likely to have erectile dysfunction (obese: 200%)
14 percent less attractive to the opposite sex (obese: 43%)

Likely to spend 37 percent more a year at the pharmacy (obese: 105%)

Likely to stay 19 percent longer in the hospital (obese: 49%)

20 percent more likely to have asthma (obese: 50%)

Up to 31 percent more likely to die of any cause (obese: 62%)

19 percent more likely to die in a car crash (obese: 37%)

120 percent more likely to develop stomach cancer (obese: 330%)

Up to 90 percent more likely to develop gallstones (obese: Up to 150%)

590 percent more likely to develop esophageal cancer (obese: 1,520%)

35 percent more likely to develop kidney cancer (obese: 70%)

14 percent more likely to have osteoarthritis (obese: 34%)

70 percent more likely to develop high blood pressure (obese: Up to 170%)

source: Men's Health

Thank you, Buddy!

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:02:00 +0000

I can't exactly remember when did I purchased my running shoes, but somewhere in May last year. I also don't know how far I have ran with this shoes either.

But I know something has changed with the ride and I can feel the shock absorption is getting poorer. Maybe its time to change it. But to toss it? - I don't think I have the heart of doing it now.

This shoes have been with me and watching my transformation since the day I started my weight loss program. So I have decided to keep it and use it on my gym workout. Thank you buddy.

Here is your award - One year service of Excellence!

Now you have a new friend, my new running shoes - Mr Brooks!

Meal replacement diet strategy..

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:31:00 +0000

Let's talk about meal replacement shakes.. a tools that are designed to promote weight loss and due to the formula that rich in protein, fiber, other essential vitamins and minerals, it's widely used to replace one or two of your daily meals - maybe breakfast or dinner. By using meal replacement diet strategy, you will probably lose weight quickly and safely..

However, I didn't use this tactic during my weight loss program just for couple of reasons.

Firstly I think this product is definitely not for men. I'll probably feel somewhat guilty to myself if I succeed using this strategy - not man enough. Secondly, it could cause a limitation to your foods, which means a frustration. Thirdly, I just think I couldn't stay on meal replacement diet for the whole of my life. Even if I did, the transitioning process to normal diet could be so risky. And the most killing reason is, I was ripped on budget, always.. lol

But don't get me wrong, meal replacement shakes will really help us losing weight, if we know how to. My wife is on shakes diet, and by combining the diet with resistance training and cardio, I'm witnessing a very good result on her and she really happy with the result.

Okay, whatever it is, let us lose weight in happy way. Either way would be fine.

Is traveling spoils your weight-loss plan?

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 03:50:00 +0000

Sometimes you have to travel for business trip, and long trip might kill your weight loss plan. Make sure you allocate some time to exercise. I normally bring along my chin-up bar and resistance tube if I'm outstation. but wait, I found some video from YouTube below, one of the good hotel workout sample using no weight at all. So you will save your luggage's space.

From the video, you will find out the squat and push-up is done on the mattress not on the floor, creating instability and force you to work more on core muscle. If the hotel provide no gym facility, or you don't have enough time to go gym, I think this is great yet simple to follow if you are outstation. Now, you have no reason not to workout. Just do your best to maintain your weight loss program on the road.

The video is demonstrated by one of my favorite Men's health trainer, Craig Ballantyne. He is the author of Turbulence Training workout, and also the one who shaped up King Leonidas in 300 movie! (I watched them more than 5 times already)..

Learn more details on www.TurbulenceTraining.com

Start Small, Losing Big - Be Consistent in First Month

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 01:53:00 +0000

When I start resolved to lose weight, I switched my diet, running on weekend, and weight training twice a week. That was quite a drastic change, and I ended up with knee injury- that was bad idea. I was running on extra weight – and I traded my knees for that running impact.. I should have cut down my fat to certain degrees, strengthened my quad muscle to better ability absorbing those impact, before really incorporating running in my exercise regime.

Well, it's not necessary to make mistake as I did, but you can learn from other's mistake. Here is my suggestion if you are beginner to weight loss and new to exercise. First of all, invest in a good pair of running shoe – make sure it has a good cushioning. Then invest in a pair of dumbells – the adjustable one. If you have extra money, buy the chin up bar. Save your money on gym, start your workout at home.

Start with healthy diet plan by understanding your metabolism and caloric partitioning, you don't have to significantly cut down your your calories intake in first month, and make sure your you take moderately low glycemic index carb, high protein food, and good fats from dairy product. Try to avoid the fast food – if you have no other choice than fast food, then follow this guide > “Eat this, Not that” guide.

Then for the exercise, plan your weight training workout twice a week, eg: Monday & Thursday and instead of running, get out for a brisk walk on your weekend. Save your knees first, you will thank later. You can switch your brisk walking into cardio varying your intensity as you become more experienced.

As for the weight lifting exercise, do some total body workout - work your large amount of muscles, your back, chest, legs muscle first, to rev up your metabolism.

I have been tracking my result on how much fat I lose by doing various kind of exercise, and I had to say that circuit set works best in this area. Choose a total of 5-6 movements in a set, make sure each exercise works your legs, chest, upper back, lower back, shoulder and core, with almost no rest in between. You can also mix your circuit set with maximum effort cardio such as sprinting or cycling for 30secs for best result.

Be physically more active everyday, especially if you are on desk job. Double up your walking speed and distance to burn more calories, climb up the stairs instead of using elevator or do something active etc. I always take an elevator to 8th floor then take stairs to my office at 11th floor, and I seldom use the washroom at 11th but 10th or 9th floor by using the stairs. These are just an examples of mine, and you may think yours too.

The key is to be consistent in first month, I'm quite sure you will get the result, so you can plan your next month's weight loss plan.

What is Metabolism??

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:02:00 +0000

Metabolism is the rate at which your body burns its calories just to keep your body alive—for the functioning of the vital organs, such as the heart, lungs, brain and the rest of the nervous system, liver, kidneys, sex organs, muscles and skin. Your body is burning calories 24-by-7, even while you’re hiding from your boss reading these articles. Basically, an average man burns about 11 calories per pound of body weight every day. If you weighed 150 lbs, then your metabolism rate is around 1650 calories.

Okay, now you know your metabolism is helping you to burn calories. What else is burning your calories other than this?

Way #1 – The Physical activity..
..still need the explanation? The more muscles you involve in your physical activity, the more calories you will burn.

Way #2 – The Thermic Effect of Food..
TEF in shorthand is the increment in energy expenditure above resting metabolic rate due to the cost of metabolizing for storage and use. The magnitude is about 10% of the caloric intake of a given time period, though the effect varies substantially for different food components. Basically, a complex food component such as protein, high fiber food, and low glycemic index carbohydrate has a much larger thermic effect, compared with dietary fat and simple sugar.

You can read more details about Thermic Effect of Food here.
I also recommend you to check more about Glycemic Index here.

Bingo! Now after reading these, I believe you already got the idea – how to incorporate your diet plan, exercise plan into your weight loss program. Exercise and pack some muscle to raise your metabolism, choose good that has larger thermic effect as your natural fat burner, and be physically more active. Thats it.

Mind your INPUT first..

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Thu, 29 May 2008 00:29:00 +0000

After reading how your body works in my previous post, I'm quite sure now you begin to understand why every diet plan advise you to eat 5 to 6 meals per day. The idea is all about to maintain your blood sugar tank, not to overflow, while it keeps us from hungry, which in turns slowing down our metabolism.

Think there is a blood sugar tank bandwidth, with lower limit and higher limit. When you take some food, you going to bring your blood sugar level up to higher level, and due to your physical and metabolism activity, it will gradually going down to your lower limit. And when it goes down to lower limit, you probably begin to feel hungry – time for refueling.

So what will happen if you take excessive calories in your meal? The calories derived from your meal will actually burst off your higher limit of your tank, and the excessive calories will be stored into fat cells.

You might be thinking to starve so your body can turn fat cells into your tank? Unfortunately, our body is really smart and its designed to switch into survival mode – and slowing down your metabolism. So during the survival mode, when you run out of fuel, you will probably losing some fats along with your muscles.

There is lot of diet plan been introduced out there such as Atkins diet, South Beach diet, Mediterranean diet, Abs diet etc. I didn't make specific comparison between all those, and of course they have their own good points and bad points, but I strongly believe the same principle still applies. I personally prefer the Abs Diet, written by Men’s Health editor David Zinczenko – I love the powerfoods part, and this diet is really simple - easy to follow.

You are free to choose which diet you'll going to stick to, but if you come from a place where it’s difficult to get those foods recommended by the plan, then how?? The answer is by knowing how our bodies work especially our metabolism, and then create your own diet plan.

Obesity vs Global Warming?

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Thu, 22 May 2008 01:38:00 +0000

Don't be surprise, obesity could contribute to global warming too.

I know what you’re thinking: How could obese people add to this? They are not releasing extra heat? lol..

Because thinner people eat less and are more likely to walk than rely on cars, a slimmer population would lower demand for fuel for transportation and for agriculture.

The researchers found that obese people require 18 percent more than someone with a stable BMI, just to sustain normal energy and to maintain daily activities.

Read full article here

Understanding your body..

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Wed, 21 May 2008 07:55:00 +0000

We all know Obesity is our enemy, and the first thing we should do is to know our enemy. So, let's back to school and begin with knowing how our body works first. Or else, you are just shooting an arrow in the dark.

1, Think your body system as a car..

..the different is, the car is running on gas, but our bodies is running on blood sugar (glucose). If you ever did a blood test, there is a result showing you how much sugar concentrated in your blood, usually stated as mmol/liter.

When your running out of sugar, brain will detect it and send signal to your body system, and then hormone are released that instruct fat cells to metabolize fat and converted them to sugar form into our bloodstream.

And it also works in reverse way, which means if your bloodstream is overflowed by sugar, it will be converted to fat cells. This mechanism translates to our sugar fuel tank.. and the tank definitely has its size and normally its proportionate to our body weight.

2, Don't forget the Law of conservation of energy..

..states that energy can not be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another, e.g. friction turns kinetic energy into thermal energy.

The food you eat, will become a food energy that soon will be converted to different form of energy.

Any under utilized food energy will be converted to potential energy - which is stored as fat cells!

3, Metabolism cause you burn calories 24/7..

..even at your resting state, just as a car still burning gas even on idling state. Oopss, did I mentioned the car again?

Basically,even there is no physical activity, your body still using the energy for the functioning of the vital organs, such as the heart, lungs, brain and the rest of the nervous system, liver, kidneys, sex organs, muscles and skin. For men, caloric expenditure due to metabolism is averagely, say about 1500kcal.

A good handicap for us, I guess. So if you are thinking to lose weight, your strategy is to play with your metabolism and how to rev up you metabolism.

Journey with workout partner begin...

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:49:00 +0000

Its been couples of months since I started my weight loss program, I'm getting familiar with my swiss-ball and dumbell workout. One day, I was working in my office when my long time no see friend ping me on my MSN just to have some chat.

Carl was asking my opinion on what Levi’s jean to purchase, and then I started browsing for good jeans in the Levi’s website and recommended him a low hip kinda jeans.

“Poor you, this jean do not suit you,” he said. “Why not?” I replied..

“Oh, is that your built just not fit them” and laughing at me. “Duh, sorry I’ve had to tell you this – I’m now 74kg! And that is 14kg lighter than I was when we were at KSM (our previous company)”

After telling him how I changed my diet with regular workout, finally we met on weekend in the morning. Well, seeing is believing.. He is kinda inspired about the changed I've gone through, and by adapting some principle of my workout, he started to revised his own workout plan in order to drop more fat.

Well, actually Carl has been a runner for years and own a commercial gym membership, famous gym in town. But still he has problem losing any more fat. He kinda stuck at 18%, while I at the same time at about 17.5% from my original >30% within 5~6 months.

Overcoming the knee-pain...

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Mon, 19 May 2008 04:12:00 +0000

Things did not run smoothly and not always on my side after all. I've been suffering a serious knee pain for more than a month. Until one day I decided to meet my doctor.

An early 50s man is just an outpatient doctor, but I was lucky because the doctor is a runner too. He has experiences participating in many half marathon competition locally.

And his precious advices really cure my pain – R.I.C.E method, strengthen the Quad muscle using body squat exercise, including high quality of protein into diet for recovery and Fish oil as supplement. And within 2 weeks, I recovered from my knee pain.

I got my motivation again. Thanks Doc!

First month of transformation program...

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Mon, 19 May 2008 03:59:00 +0000

On May 2007, I bought a couple of running shorts and a pair of running shoes. And that was my first running shoe ever in 29 years. What a shame. Its a pair from New Balance – a new father need a balance brand. Hahaha.

This time I really promised to myself, I'm going to get back in shape and start running every weekend. I did my own research how to do good running from the Internet, invested on lot of Health magazines, and started to cook my own dinner. I make sure not to skip my breakfast, limited my carb intake and at the same time try to get high quality protein in my diet.

The first month I lost about 3kg. I was quite satisfied by the result but another problem begin to happened – its my knee! It seems my knee hates to take the impact from running by an overweight person like me. And also I doubted my running technique.

I was 85++ kg at the moment when I started running. My knee really de-motivated me. I stopped and hope I could recover immediately...

Why Debu?

noreply@blogger.com (debu-papa) — Mon, 19 May 2008 02:12:00 +0000

The word "debu" here is come from Japanese. Debu means fat, plump, or chubby and its not nice word to say to other than your friends.

Therefore, debu papa means a chubby or an overweighed father. Lol, guess what? I was a "debu papa" until May 2007. And it’s been one year since I started my healthy diet and regular exercise.

Now I maintain my ideal weight around 69kg. Not bad for a 5 ft 8 inch person like me.

Well, I am not debu papa anymore... I started to blog my journey of weight loss and dedicated this blog to those, who are a father out there, and do not know how to do with their weight problem.

Stop making any reason for not having time to workout. I will share my weight loss tips here, we can exchange information related to weight loss and overall fitness and achieve our fitness goals.

Transformation from debu papa to Fit papa. :)