How To Lose Fat Fast

Does Eating Eggs Help in Weight Loss

2012-02-29T11:26:00.001+08:00

It is common to see our friends eat only egg white and leave egg yolk aside over the lunch.

Facts about Eggs

It is definitely a misconception about the risks egg yolk leads to our health. Instead, to many people's amazement, egg yolk is the most healthiest part of the whole egg. And this is scientifically PROVED!

A yolk contains more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid found in an egg. In addition, the yolks contain all of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in addition to the essential fatty acids.

Many also perceive that food rich in cholesterol is bad for health, this is correct to certain extent when the food brings more LDL (bad cholesterol) than HDL (good cholesterol). Eggs on the other hand, gives us more HDL than LDL.

Eggs in Weight Management

A convincing study from Surrey University revealed that eating two poached eggs on toast at breakfast compared to cereal with milk and a slice of toast, or a croissant and orange juice is more efficient in helping weight loss. This is because eggs keep us fuller for a longer time and increase our satiety which translates into less hunger pangs after meal. In this way, when unnecessary calories intake is control, then we can lose weight more efficiently.

How Many Eggs to Eat Every Day?

Eating eggs as part of a balanced diet is a great way to obtain a number of vitamins and minerals our bodies need. A study published in 2010, in the journal Nutrition & Food Science, showed that eggs are one of the most nutrient-dense foods that money can buy and recommended we should be eating at least one egg a day to get the optimum benefits.

For most of the healthy people, there is no limit in eating eggs. But to minimize the calorie intake, try to eat poached eggs instead of omelet or scrambled eggs. Enjoy your new day with eggs right tomorrow!

You may be interested in the following posts too:
1. How Does Water Help in Weight Loss
2. Lemon Water Helps to Lose Weight
3. How Does Green Tea Help to Lose Weight

Facts about Six-Packs Abs

2012-02-26T18:23:00.001+08:00

Who would not want to have six-packs abs if given? Almost everyone admires those with six-packs abs, men or women. But the fact is everyone of us has six-packs abs!

Everyone of us has six-packs abs, it has been with us all the time. The reason we cannot see it is because it is hidden underneath a layer of our belly fat.

This tells us that merely doing ab exercise will not make the six-packs abs appear. The right way for it to appear is to shed away the belly fat. To achieve this, always stick to the golden rule of 30% gym, 70% diet!

Diet is of paramount importance in getting rid of belly fat, and thus getting six-packs abs. The trick is to eat healthy and low-calorie food everyday!

Workout is an essential and a must-have complement. Strengthen the abs muscle by doing cardio exercise and undergoing strength training. Cardio exercise is efficient in trimming down belly fat whereas the very good example of training to strengthen the core is Burpee.

How to Build Chest Muscle Without Going to Gym

2012-02-25T17:07:00.000+08:00

You have the aspiration to build great, strong and sexy chest muscles. You have the determination to work it out, but it is not convenient to for gym regularly. Are you in this category? If so, here are a few pushup styles that will keep you going in your chest muscle building:

1. Standard Push Up

The standard push up is pretty straightforward to every muscle builder, or at least those muscle builders to be. By having your palms on the floor, 90 degree to your shoulders, you stress your chest muscles during the pushups. This style stresses the chest muscle as a whole, without giving the stress on any particular part of the muscles.

2. Wide Stance Push Up

This style is similar to the standard push up, except that the distance between your palms is widened. The benefit of this style is that it gives more stresses on the outer part of the Pectoralis major.

3. Heart-to-Heart (Triangle) Push Up

This style is opposite to the wide stance - have your palms close and next to each other, forming a heart (or triangle) shape right at the middle of your chest. This style stresses more on the middle part of your chest muscles, helping you to build a more obvious "rectangular" shape of the chest muscles.

4. The Scorpion Style Push Up

With this style, the initial position is the same as the standard push up. The difference is that each time when you go down, you lift up a leg high, forming a "scorpion" look. There is no particular focus of stress for this style, but it definitely increases the intensity of stress significantly. Try this method if you find standard pushup too easy for you.

5. Moving Style Push Up

This style gives you even more stress on your chest muscle. It is pretty simple: each time when you go down, incline your movement slightly to the left, then to the right in the subsequent stress. By doing this, each time when you go down, the stress is much more focused on one side of your chest muscle, making the muscle building process more intense and effective.

You may be interested in the post below:
1. How to Build Chest Effectively

Reasons For Not Losing Weight

2012-02-25T16:42:00.001+08:00

'I have put in so much effort and yet my weight stays the same! It is due to genetic factor? Or are there any factors I have overlooked during the weight loss program?'

A lot of us have encountered problem like this. Sometimes it is extremely discouraging to find your weight to stay the same despite putting so much of effort in losing weight. Many of us tend to give up half way during the weight loss program. What are actually the main reasons for not losing weight?

Before beginning your weight loss program, it is essential to know that one pound of fat is equivalent to 3500 calories. If calorie input is less than calorie output, you achieve weight loss. The rate of weight loss depends on your diet plan and exercise.

Researchers from the Loyala University Health System in Melrose Park, III, recently discovered that when people fail to lose weight, the same four factors are often to blame.

1. Underestimation of calories input.

Research had shown that this is the top culprit of failure in weight loss. A survey conducted by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation found that ONLY 9% of Americans can accurately estimate their daily calorie intake. As suggested by Jessica Bartifield, a specialist in nutrition and weight management at Loyola University Healthy System's Gottlied Memorial Hospital, writing down every food intake in your diet journal could help us to track calorie intake more efficiently. This link provides some useful tips on how to prepare your diet journal.

2. Overestimation of calories output

On the other hand, many dieters think that getting very exhausted from their workout means that they have burned a lot of calories. It is true to to a certain extent. Sometimes, that simply implies their weak body stamina. Besides, several studies have revealed that treadmill and elliptical machine calorie counts overestimate your calorie burn by as much as 10%. Therefore you can't always trust the cardio machines at your gym. Additionally, for effective fat burn, you should avoid carbohydrate foods within two hours after exercise. Instead, replace it with nutrient-rich foods which are low in calories, but high in protein and fiber.

You might also be interested in the following links:

3. Irregular eating time

Skipping meal not only slows down your metabolism rate, but increases fat-accumulating activity in your body! Research has also shown that skipping meals and irregular eating habit could eventually lead to Type-II diabetes. A far better way is to break your large meals into 5 or 6 smaller portions to eat throughout the day in order to keep your metabolism high.

You might also be interested in this link.

Should I skip meals to lose weight?

4. Insufficient sleep

Good news for those who like to hit snooze! An adequate sleeping time of 7 to 9 hours per day is desirable for fast weight loss. Numerous studies have found the association between proper sleeping habits with weight management. People who have lesser than 6 hours of sleep have higher levels of ghrelin and lower levels of leptin. This consequently stimulates appetite, especially for high-carbohydrate and high-calorie foods. In addition, the level of corticol (a stress hormone) increases as well, which can lead to weight gain.

You might be also be interested in the following link.

Sleeping helps in weight loss

Workout at Work

2012-02-24T01:12:00.004+08:00

It is way too easy for those working in office to fall into the trap of sedentary lifestyle. The risks of sedentary lifestyle is far more acute than we think.

“Our spines, legs, and arms weren’t supposed to be sitting all day. It can make some abnormal curves in your spine that can really create a lot of strain on your back muscles,” says E. Ann Reicherter, associate professor of physical therapy and rehabilitation science at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Most importantly, the less active we are throughout the day, the less productive we will be.

4 Practical Workouts at Work

1. Park farther or get down one stop before the normal alighting bus stop

Don't give yourself an excuse not to exercise when you drive to work. Park at a reasonable distance away from the normal parking lot you use, say at a lower floor; walk the staircase up to the floor you park your car normally and then only use the lift to the work desk.

For those who take public transportation, you can make yourself sweat a bit more by alighting a stop before when you are making your way home. This allows you to burn calories while taking the time to enjoy the nature surrounding you.

2. Take the stairs

Most of the offices provide us a decent fitness center, staircases. Climbing staircases brings us numerous benefits like improving heart pumping, toning muscle, burning calories, just to name a few.

3. Stand up

Grasp every chance of standing up to get your spine relaxed for a while. Whole day sitting creates a lot of strain on our spine which will cause a lot of health problems on our lower back. Try standing up to discuss with peer colleagues instead of using IM.

4. Switch to a stability ball

Get yourself a stability ball at work. It improves our spinal alignment and provides us ergonomic back support as we have to re-balance ourselves from time to time. And most importantly, it strengthens our core. Tips: Arch your back slightly, tuck your tummy in, and keep your feet flat on the floor and all joints (knees, ankles, hips) at 90-degree angles.

You can take these as your habit right tomorrow and get into a healthy lifestyle in no time!

You might be also interested in the following posts:
1. Does Water Help in Weight Loss
2. Does Eating Apples Help in Weight Loss
3. Simple Eating Habit for Weight Loss

Food Combining for Weight Loss Diet

2012-02-19T14:17:00.000+08:00

In our previous posts, we talked about simple eating habits in a weight loss program such as breaking your foods into 5 or 6 meals everyday, minimizing carbohydrate intake and to avoid carbohydrate after exercise etc. However, there is another essential knowledge about your food intake for efficient weight loss that you MUST grasp: food combination.

All of us must have experienced bloated stomach and uncomfortable feeling after eating sumptuous and scrumptious foods. Would you believe that it is due to the combination of different foods that turns our body into toxic condition and hence give you the sick stomach feeling? I tell you, it is true because certain combination of foods in our stomach could actually slow or shut down the digestion as soon as they are in the stomach, and causing them to retain extra calories in your body. In another words, taking certain combination of foods at the same time could actually impede your weight loss plan.

The science of this theory is called Trophology. It is actually the study of the correct food-combining, that is, the art of knowing which foods go best with which others. Understanding and application of this knowledge is of utmost importance in a weight loss diet program.

In this theory, all foods are categorized into one of the five groups below:

1. Proteins (Meat, eggs, nuts, beans, dairy products)

2. Carbohydrate (Rice, sugars, starches)

3. Fruits (Acidic fruits such as oranges and sweet fruits)

4. Fats (Animal- and vegetable-derived fats)

5. Vegetables (Non-starchy and mildly starchy)

So how could Trophology help in weight loss?

There are several rules in Trophology that you should adapt in an efficient weight loss diet plan.

AVOID THESE!

1. Avoid combining Proteins and Carbohydrates!

This is the first and most important rule to follow. Protein digestion requires an acidic environment while carbohydrate digestion is most efficiently performed in an alkali atmosphere. If an acid and an alkali are combined in the stomach, digestion would be tremendously affected and hence the foods would be retained in the stomach for a longer period of time.

However, there is an exception for this rule. You may eat WHITE MEATS (eg. chicken, turkey, pork and fish) with carbohydrate. In another word, you should strongly avoid RED MEATS (eg. Beef, buffalo, deer, lamb) with carbohydrate.

2. Avoid eating fruits with other food groups!

Fruits move through the digestive track very quickly and they they possess digestive enzymes that aid to remove any food residues left in your stomach. Hence, to maximize the benefits of fruits, they should always be eaten solely on an empty stomach. Bear in mind that NONE of the fruits mixes well with any other food because the chemical make-up of fruits does not interact well with any of the other food groups, therefore should be eaten alone as a snack or dessert or meal.

Another point to note down. Fruits are made up of 4 groups: Acidic fruits, Sub-Acidic Fruits and Melons. You should avoid combining any of the fruit with any other food group, and each fruit group should be consumed separately from one another.

Acid fruits

High fiber contents and antioxidant properties. Approximate digestion time: 20 to 30 minutes.

Examples include blackberry, grapefruit, orange, lemon, lime, pineapple, sour plum, pomegranate, raspberry, soup apple, strawberry, tomatoes and so on.

Sub-Acid Fruits

Approximate digestion time: 30 to 40 minutes

Examples include apple, apricot, sweet plum, mango, peach, pear, kiwi, cherry.

Sweet fruits

Require longer time for digestion: 40 to 60 minutes. They are not the best cleansers of the stomach, but provide essential minerals and sugars.

Examples include banana, currents, dates, figs, grapes, papaya, persimmon, prunes, raisins.

Melons

Made up of mainly water, which is very easy to digest (approximately 5 to 10 minutes).

Examples include watermelon, persian, honeydew, crenshaw, casaba, cantaloupe.

3. Avoid drinking milk with other foods!

This is probably the most controversial tip in Trophology as we are taught to drink milk for calcium acquisition. The reason you should avoid milk is because milk combines poorly with any other food except itself. Milk curdles soon upon reaching the stomach. The curds surround other food in the stomach and insulates the foods from digestive enzymes. This therefore delays the digestion process.

Besides, digestion of milk requires an enzyme called lactase. There is 75% of adults worldwide showing decreased lactase activity, making digestion of milk difficult for them. Most of the milk that we buy from store are actually processed and they are more indigestible compared to raw milk. This is because the natural enzymes (such as lactase and lipase enzymes) present in the raw milk have been destroyed during the pasteurization (milk preparation step to kill germs) which could otherwise digest itself in the stomach.

In fact, calcium could be easily obtained from foods such as cheese, yogurt, broccoli, sardines, soybeans, cabbage, salmon, tofu, almonds, beans, and so on.

4. Avoid desserts straight after your meal!

Being slim and thin does not mean you must give up your lovely desserts altogether. You just have to learn the right time to consume it. Desserts should only be taken at least one or two hours after your last meal. This is simply because sweet foods do not combine well with other food groups. If you eat your dessert straight after your meal, the mixture will putrefy in your body. This can cause bloating, nauseous, uncomfortable gassy feeling in the stomach, constipated and inevitably put extra weight on you. Therefore, let me repeat, eat your dessert only after your last meal has moved out from your stomach which usually takes one or two hours. If possible, try to look for those with low saturated fats and trans fats. However, if you want to lose weight fast, this unnecessary calorie should be totally avoided!

5. Avoid alcohol!

As mentioned in this post, 1 gram of alcohol gives you 7 calories which is higher than carbohydrate and protein which only gives 4 calorie per gram. If you need a drink after a meal, plain water, lemon water and green tea are the best alternatives for you. Plain water contains zero calorie while green tea and lemon water help boost metabolism rate and detoxification.

Learn more about how plain water, lemon water and green tea help in weight loss:

- How Does Plain Water Help in Weight Loss

- Lemon Water Helps to Lose Weight

- How Does Green Water Help to Lose Weight

Eat these for fast weight loss!

1. Eat Yogurt!

Yogurt is one of the best foods for weight loss and rapid fat shedding, along with many other benefits. Research from the University of Tennessee has found that people that eat approximately two cups of yogurt everyday lost 22% more weight and 81% more belly fat than dieters who did not eat yogurt. Besides helping in weight loss, yogurt contains probiotics which are bacterial cultures that promote healthy digestive system and lower the risks of colon cancer. Besides, probiotics in the yogurt also boost immune system to fight illnesses.

2. Eat fat to lose fat!

Fats and oils, though, could slow down digestion efficiency, you have to eat fat to lose fat. Fats give you energy and the structure to certain body hormones essential for normal daily activity. But, you have to be careful of the types of fat you eat. Basically they can be broadly categorized into good and bad fats.

Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats are GOOD fats because they are good for your heart, cholesterol, and your overall health. They are normally in liquid but not solid form.

Sources of these fats include olive oil, canola oil, nuts (almonds, peanuts, macademia nuts, hazelnuts, pecans, cashews), sesame oil, sunflower oil, coconut oil (unprocessed, extra virgin coconut oil), soybean oil, corn oil, grape seed oil, safflower oil, walnuts, fatty fish (salmon, tuna, mackerel, herring, trout, sardines), soymilk, tofu and so on.

On the other hand, saturated and trans-fats are BAD fats. They are the main contributor to heart disease, obesity, increased Triglyceride levels, high cholesterol, liver disorders, lymphatic congestion and acne. Unlike the good fats, these fats are usually in soil forms.

Bad fats could easily be obtained from high-fat cuts of meat (beef, lamb, pork), chicken skin, whole-fat dairy products, butter, cheese, ice cream, palm, lard, stick margerine, commercially-baked pastries, cookies, doughnuts, muffins, cakes, candy bars, fried foods etc.

3. Drink plenty of water!

Water is the most vital element in life. It flushes our bodies, keeps us hydrated and removes toxins from our body. Refer to above on ''Avoid alcohol'' for more useful information on how water helps in losing weight.

4. Eat vegetables everyday!

Vegetable is a MUST when it comes to diet plan. They are low in calorie but high in antioxidants. As they are complex carbohydrate, our bodies have to burn more energy to breakdown fibrous foods compared to normal carbohydrate foods. The more you include fiber in your diet, the faster you lose weight! There are two types of vegetables, namely the starchy and the non-starchy types. Both provides wonderful weight loss and healthy benefits, but the non-starchy are more effective.

Examples of non-starchy vegetables include asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, celery, beet greens, garlic, green beans, kale, parsley, spinach, sprouts and so on.

Examples of mildly-starchy vegetables are artichokes, beets, carrots, cauliflower, corn, peas.

5. Opt for fresh and raw foods over processed foods!

Canned and packaged foods are usually loaded with preservatives, saturated fats and artificial colourings and flavourings which are unfavourable for digestion process in the body, which could lead to fermentation and putrefaction.

Food combining is a controversial practice for weight loss. It works for some, but not all. There is no problem for the body at all in this type of eating habit. Whether or not it is effective for you to lose weight, you just have to find out yourself.

How to Lose Thigh Fat

2012-02-19T00:50:00.000+08:00

We know that having skinny and sexy thighs can make a woman much more confident, be it at works or home. It makes a woman feel comfortable to wear shorts or mini-skirt when she is having a stroll by the scorching hot seaside. It definitely makes the guys around feel even hotter!

Nonetheless this has been a castle in the air to many women. Many women have tried their best in losing their body fat in various parts by exercises and diet control. To many of them, the arm fat and belly fat are still somewhat controllable (in terms of shape) but they have been struggling with the strongest enemy - the thigh fat!

There are few reasons for this. First, whenever there is additional sugar in the body, the system will convert it to fat. For women, the converted fat will be primarily stored at the surrounding area of the thighs before belly and arms (as opposed to belly for men). Second, thanks to the advancement of transportation system, the activities of the thigh muscles are relatively less compared to what it is supposed to be. This makes the thigh fat accentuated as the relative size of the thigh muscle is smaller. The third reason is obviously, because many do not know how to focus their exercises on their thigh muscle!

Now we have known the reasons for the "accumulation" of thigh fat. This gives us a good ground to tackle it.

1. We can't change our body system, obviously. Women are born to distribute the fat in the way we discussed. Hence, the golden rule of all is nothing more than having the right diet. Fat comes from excessive sugar, while sugar comes primarily from carbohydrate. So, we have to change our diet - reduce the consumption of foods with high carbohydrate. This includes the "indispensable" choices such as rice, pasta, noodles, breads, potatoes, biscuits and so forth.

Decrease calorie intake by 10% each day to see the notable results you wish quickly. This can be disciplined by tracking the calories by a diet journal.

Drink more water to avoid unnecessary sugar-loaded soda drink and to tone muscle.

2. We are blessed with modern transportation. For those working in the office, the emails, IM, and phones have kept them from the frustration of moving around. As what Drucker said, the modern workers nowadays are knowledge workers, who contribute primarily using their brains instead of physical activities. Thus, the countermeasure is simple - avoid sitting still, and move more frequently. Get the coffee yourself instead of waving to your secretary. (so now you know why secretaries are usually in good shape!)

At home, try to do some gardening and house cleaning during the weekends to increase calories burnt.

3. Try to focus your workout on the thigh area. Out of so many complicated ones, the easiest exercise is cycling. Cycling requires movement mainly from the thighs and therefore it builds muscles around that area most effectively. Please watch the video below for the tempo to optimize fat burning:

You might be interested in the following posts:
1. How to Get Six-Packs Ab for Women - Bicycle Abs
2. How to Lose Belly Fat for Women

How to Lose Fat for Men - Burpee

2012-02-16T17:44:00.001+08:00

The Burpee is a full body exercise that mimics the leap of frogs and is efficient in burning fat as well as strengthening our core muscles and cardio. The Burpee is one of the core trainings for crossfit athletes, football teams, and armies.

The Burpee exercise strengthens our entire body muscle especially chest, arms, shoulders, thighs, buttocks, and abs. It is one of the workouts which can maximize our metabolism rates and burn fat quickly.

This is the complete and simple round of Burpee exercise:

Stand straight.
Squat down with your hands on the ground as a support.
Bring your feet to the back and plank yourself quickly.
Return to the squatting position.
Jump upright to resume the standing position again.

Watch the video for better illustration:

How to Get Six-Packs Ab for Women - Bicycle Abs

2012-02-16T17:16:00.001+08:00

Too lazy to go out gym? Try bicycling at home to lose belly fat and strengthen the abs muscle.

It is very simple and you can even do it anytime you feel tensed up.

Lie on your mat with face up and place your hands behind your head.
Get the knees in to your chest and lift the shoulder blades off the floor without pulling on the neck.
Rotate to the left, bringing the right elbow towards the left knee as you straighten the other leg.
Switch sides, bringing the left elbow towards the right knee.
Continue alternating sides in a 'pedaling' motion for 1-3 sets of 12-16 reps with your legs never touching the floor.
Control your breath tempo with each pedaling.

This exercise is efficient in burning fat and working on the lower abs.

Watch the video below for better illustration:

How to Lose Arm Fat

2012-02-16T01:20:00.002+08:00

Arms are closely associated with confidence especially for female. Having flabby arms not only dampens your confidence in wearing sleeveless clothes, but could be a health problem.

So how can you lose arm fat? Similar to other body parts, you can't just train only your arms to shed away the fat there because you can't be in control of where the fat is being burned. The only way in which you can lose fat from your arms is to lose your overall body fat. This does not mean that arm exercises are useless. They certainly tone up your muscles in your arms. With greater muscle intensity, more calories would be burned even when you are sleeping. This helps in losing your arm fat and hence body fat.

Exercises that helps in losing arm fat:

1. Weight-lifting.

This can be easily performed with anything which you think is heavy. Examples include dumbbels, cables, barbells, or even water bottle which is filled with water or sand. Exercising your whole arms could help in avoiding fat accumulation in the arm if you always working your arm muscles.

2. Aerobic exercises.

Examples include running, dancing, badminton, or any racket games. Doing these will not only help in losing arm fat, but also your overall body fat. You could also attempt some simple exercises at home such as crunches, lunges, squat and so on.

3. Healthy and correct eating habits.

Just like any other weight loss program, you must properly plan your diet. Keeping a diet journal helps tremendously in tracking your own calorie intake. Watch out foods that you should avoid after exercise for most efficient fat-burning, drink plenty of water, and you may also add lemon into your water, drink green tea to help weight loss. And remember, never skip your meal!

Please note that it is impossible to lose fat in only one area of the body. Imagine if this could occur, our body shape would be distorted. Doing exercises for your whole body and keeping a healthy diet help losing fat in your whole body proportionally.

I found this video very useful to workout your arm at home.

How Does Green Tea Help to Lose Weight

2012-02-15T01:23:00.003+08:00

The headline "Green tea blasts away fat!" appears tonnes of times in fitness columns, newspapers, and blogs. It is not a wonder anymore that more and more people are now appreciating the sexy part of the Japanese ancient.

A research was carried out on an obese mouse and green tea showed a positive result on slowing down the mouse's weight gain. The essential component found in green tea in curbing weight gain is EGCG - Epigallocatechin-3-gallate.

If you are looking for alternatives in addition to plain water and lemonade for your diet journal, green tea is absolutely a judicious choice.

How Can Green Tea Help in Weight Loss?

Green tea boosts our body metabolism rate. The concentrated polyphenols content in green tea revs up our fat burning capacity (parthenogenesis). This generates heat in our body and quicken the process of shedding fat away.

Green tea lowers fat absorption and serves as a glucose regulator. The catechins inherited in green tea inhibits fat absorption from our daily meals into fat cells. Besides, it regulates the glucose level after our food intake by reversing the insulin resistance. Insulin functions to convert our excess sugar into glucagon which will be stored as fat in our body eventually if we do not use them. Subsequently, with controlled insulin spikes, fat will find it hard to surround our belly.

Green tea acts as an appetite suppressant. The caffein contained in green tea helps to suppress our hunger pangs. Therefore drinking a cup of green tea half to an hour before meals can prevent us from cravings for too much food at once over a meal.

What to be Looked Out?

If you have health problems or are not feeling well after drinking green tea, please consult a doctor if to proceed.

Never take green tea as the sole energy intake. A balance diet is still needed to maintain a good health.

How Much to Drink Every Day?

Experts suggest that drinking 3-5 cups of green tea every day, be it before or after meals, will let you see a notable result from your scale.

You may find the following posts helpful too:

1. How Does Eating Apples Help in Weight Loss?

2. How to Lose Belly Fat for Women

3. How to Lose Belly Fat for Men

Obesity is Linked to Erectile Dysfunction

2012-02-14T23:50:00.001+08:00

''Stand up and look at your belly, if you can't see your penis, that is the problem.'' says Kevin Billups, M.D. an associate professor of urology at the University of Minnesota.

The Journal of Sexual Medicine had recently revealed that overweight and obesity may increase the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) by 30-90% as compared with those with normal weight. Besides, patients with ED tend to have larger waist than normal healthy men.

How obesity linked to erectile dysfunction?

An erection occurs when penis is filled with blood as a result of the dilation of the blood vessel leading to the penis. This process starts when endothelium (inner lining of the blood vessel) releases nitric oxide, a molecule that causes the surrounding muscles to relax in order for the blood vessel to dilate. (Viagra works by increasing the amount of nitric oxide in the endothelium).

Obesity, especially excess belly fat, appears to cause ED in two ways.

1. It damages the endothelium. When the endothelium does not function properly, nitric oxide production would be affected. Hence, the penis may not get sufficient blood to generate or sustain an erection. A new study revealed losing just 5% to 10% of body weight over a two-month period improved the erectile function and boost up sex drives of obese men with diabetes.

2. The male sex hormone, testosterone, plays a vital role in erection. Low testosterone level is another major cause of ED. A recent study published in the journal Diabetes Care showed that as body mass index (BMI) (a relationship of weight-to-height) increased, testosterone levels fell. In another words, obesity causes testosterone production to plummet and hence ED.

Losing Weight Can be Your Samaritan

Being overweight does not affect a man's self-esteem as much as it does on a woman. However, ED could throw even the most confident men into shame and depression. Even though Viagra could perform magic, it is not a complete cure. A longer-lasting solution to their sexual dysfunction may require healthy lifestyle.

Study has shown that lifestyle changes, mainly focusing on regular physical activity and a healthy diet are effective and safe ways to reduce cardiovascular disease and premature mortality in all population groups; they may also prevent and treat sexual dysfunctions.

You may find the following posts useful:

1. How to Lose Belly Fat for Men

2. Simple Eating Habit for Weight Loss

How to Lose Belly Fat for Men

2012-02-12T20:00:00.000+08:00

Do you feel awkward when you see slim and smart guys in your office? You feel ashamed of your pot belly? Belly fat is not only a bugging issue for women, but it is gnawing at men nowadays.

Men under 40 tend to have a higher proportion of visceral fat to subcutaneous fat than women. Women store more visceral fat after menopause. Visceral fat is the invisible fat which is detrimental to our health if we do not pay attention and take good care of it. The most common diseases related to belly fat are heart disease and high blood pressure.

Before your kid asks if you have a baby in your belly, adhere to the tips below to lose your belly fat:

Diet to Lose Belly Fat for Men:

Drink less beer! If possible stop drinking beer completely to see the drastic and fastest desired result. Beer has a high level of sugar content which on top of the unhealthy and fattening snack accompanying your drinking session will sweep fat into belly faster than your realization.Ask yourself, you gain the pot belly when you stopped going to gym three times a week, or when you started drinking 6 pints of beer three times a week?

Drink plenty of water. During your weight loss schedule, your body needs a lot of water to smooth the fat-burning process and flush away toxins stored. Plain water is the best and healthiest choice as it contains ZERO calorie.

Never skip meals! Are you tempted to skip meals to see the fastest result of trimming down your belly fat? This will only bring you all the side effects and couldn't help you much but bouncing your weight gain!

Eat breakfast. Never skip a breakfast as it is the first activity which facilitates metabolism wake-up after a long night of sleep. However, do not stuff your stomach with oily food like bacon or unhealthy drink like smoothie shake which is loaded with sugar and saturated fat.

Fibrous diet. Try to eat food which contain high fiber as much as possible. Recommended ones are apples, cherries, pears and oat which will lower your insulin level fast and this translates into less belly fat stored.

Avoid fattening food! Keep yourself away from junk food, soft drinks and dairy products. Replace your snacks between hours in office with fruits or water. Cut down unnecessary saturated fat intake which brings only damaging effect to your belly.

Exercises to Lose Belly Fat for Men:

HITT (High Intensity Interval Training)! This is probably the best workout for men to lose belly fat fast. It involves short and intensive training sessions which makes you sweat out and out of breath. If you can still hold a conversation, then you are not working hard enough. But bear in mind, you can only do this every 2 days, which means you give yourself a break after each HITT to rebuild and recover your body.

Focus on heavy compound exercises. The ultimate way to get your fat belly out of sight is to build a muscle around it. Heavy compound exercises include bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press and dips. On top of that, keep changing the direction of your presses to keep your belly muscle stimulated which results in efficient belly fat loss.

Walk. Try to replace car with foot. Delicate yourself an hour on walking, be it for lunch, dinner, to work, or back home. Walking not only helps you to burn the calorie away, it helps also to strengthen your muscle, which in overall will you a better and more balanced appearance.

You may also like the following posts:
1. Body Shapes and Exercises
2. How to Build Chest Effectively

How To Lose Belly Fat For Women

2012-02-12T01:50:00.000+08:00

Belly fat is one of the most common bugging issues for women all over the world. Many are suffering from low self-esteem when facing themselves with the fat belly in front of the mirror. Do not be discouraged if you claim to one of them who has tried every piece of advices and tips from your friends.

There are a number of factors behind belly fat in women. Whether it’s hereditary, due to hormonal imbalances or aging – every woman faces belly fat gain with growing age. Putting aside the eye-soreness with the belly fat, women with fat belly is more susceptible to heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Understand that women nowadays are becoming more occupied with lesser time for complicated remedies and exercises to lose belly fat, here are some simple yet effective ways for you to lose belly fat and achieve your ultimate flat stomach.

A fat belly is made in the diet style!

Diet and Eating Styles to Lose Belly Fat for Women:

Keep a Diet Journal. This helps you to keep track of your calorie intake.

Eat Slowly! Working women tend to eat faster when they are in hurries. As this happens consistently, it becomes a habit to them. Human brain would need about 20 minutes to process information and convey a message to our body, informing our body that we are full. Therefore, by eating slowly with smaller bites, you are giving your brain enough time to process the information and warn you that you should stop eating.

Avoid Fattening Food! Keep yourself away from junk food, soft drinks, processed and canned food, dairy products and sweets.

Eat Healthily. Eat low fat food, green vegetables and drink lots of water. Increase the number of meals and decrease the quantity of each meal. The right thing to do is to eat small meal 5-6 times every day. Eat whole grains like cereals, bread, rice, nuts etc. Fibers in them will keep your stomach filled for a longer period thus preventing you to store fats in your belly. Yogurt, green tea, red-fish, low fat dairy products, beans, oatmeal, whole grains, olive oil, grapefruit and melon are some of the top food items you will find in the list of how to lose belly fat for women.

Drink Water! Stay hydrated throughout the day to keep your digestive system smooth and fat burning process a breeze. You may also take lemon water as the alternative to spice up your diet plan.

Never Ever Skip Meals! Skipping meals consistently lowers your metabolism rate and increase your fat storage activity!

Regular Exercises to Lose Belly Fat for Women:

Exercise consistently. Never every lose the momentum to exercise, as when you halt once, you will stop forever. There are some simple exercises that can help women lose belly fat, running, swimming and jumping rope, just to name a few.

Swimming is a strongly recommended exercise that would help women to burn belly fat. The water resistance provides superb low-impact for joints and muscles, and it’s cardio. And it is the nicest exercise to have during summer without the need to sweat!

Variation of exercises is of paramount importance that your body does not know when is your next attack. Therefore it is recommended to increase the intensity and duration of exercises with the passage of time.

You may also like the following posts:
1. Fitness Myths
2. Simple Exercises to Do at Home
3. Simple Eating Habit for Weight Loss

4. How Does Eating Apples Help in Weight Loss

What to Eat Before, During, After Workout

2012-02-10T02:32:00.000+08:00

Exercising on a empty stomach burns our muscle instead of fat. It is crucial that we remain energetic during the whole workout period to gain the maximum performance.

A little trick on the size, timing and content in your meals before and after workouts can make a significant difference to the energy levels during your workout and your body recovery and rebuilding after your workout.

WATER! Make sure you stay hydrated throughout the day to keep your calories burning process a breeze. This will render you an more efficient workout result. Try to drink 16-20 ounces of plain water 1-2 hours before your workout or take lemon water during the alternate workouts.

The energy/calories consumed during workout comes from carbohydrates, also called glycogen which is stored in your fat cells, liver and muscle and not from the very recent food intake. So if you are not comfortable with loaded stomach, you can even opt not to eat, but NEVER ever go with an EMPTY STOMACH.

2-3 Hours Before Workout

Quick tips: Have an intake about half the calories you expect to burn in the upcoming workout.

Take a balanced and small serving of low-fat food like

* Fruit and yogurt
* Nuts
* Oatmeal
* Cereals (with more than 3 grams of fiber) and milk
* Trail mix with nuts and dried fruit
* Hummus and raw veggies
* Hard boiled eggs (or egg whites)
* Cottage cheese and fruit
* Half a peanut butter or turkey/chicken sandwich on whole grain bread
* Whole grain crackers with nut butter or cheese
* Whole grain fig (or fruit) Newton cookies

You may take more protein in your meal to boost your recovery after workout and to prevent your muscle injuries.

AVOID gassy food like broccoli and beans as they will discomfort your intestine especially during your intensive workout.

15-20 Minutes Before Workout

Quick tips: Choose snack which is easy to digest.

The digestive food provides you the immediate fuel during your workout.

You may choose the following:

* Fruit juice
* Fruit smoothie
* High-glycemic fruits like pineapple, apricots, banana, mango, and watermelon
* Sports drinks
* Pretzels or bagels (but not whole grain varieties, which digest slowly)
* Energy bars (look for 3-5 grams of protein, at least 15 grams of carbs, and very little fat)

DURING Workout

Hydration is the most crucial element to replenish your energy level during the long-haul workout.

Avoid any SOLID food all together. Large volume of fluid at one go may cramp your muscle too. So try a small volume of fluid every 10-15 minutes.

AFTER Workout

To optimize your body recovery after the resistance training, it is important to refill yourself with the energy used up during the workout.

Aim to eat 1.5g carbohydrate/kg body weight within 30 minutes after the workout. And then try to take small meals every 2 hours after that to boost up the metabolism rate. Of course food rich in protein cannot be missed to rebuild your muscle for the next workout.

You may find the following posts to be helpful in enhancing your workout performance:

1. Music Helps in Workout

2. How to Build Chest Successfully

3. Body Shapes and Exercises

4. 2 Types of Foods to Avoid After Physical Exercise

5. Fitness Myths

Lemon Water Helps to Lose Weight

2012-02-09T00:26:00.001+08:00

Lemon is known for their sour taste which is widely used for culinary and non-culinary purpose. The sour taste of lemon juice is derived from the high citric acid content in this fruit.

There have been numerous claims of the effectiveness of a lemon juice diet in weight loss program. Is this true? If yes, how should I apply in my diet plan?

How does lemon juice help in weight loss?

Lemon juice, as aforementioned, contains high citric acid which when consumed, interacts with the digestive enzymes and acids in the digestive track to break down your food.

Research has shown that the high acidic content of the lemon juice can lower the absorption of sugars from the food you eat. This means that the less sugar will be turned into fat when they are not in use in the body. Besides the juice, some dieters even eat the lemon peels along with the juice. This double the effectiveness of lemon in weight loss because the lemon peels contain pectic. Pectin helps in weight loss by turning into a gel-forming material in your stomach which reduces sugar absorption from the food you consume.

In addition, lemon juice helps absorption of calcium. Higher acidity of the digestive system as a result of lemon juice consumption helps the body in the absorption of calcium from the food that you eat. This calcium will then be stored up in the fat cells. Research showed that calcium enhances fat-burning ability of the fat cells.

How to eat lemon for weight loss?

There are several ways to introduce lemon juice into your body in order to achieve weight loss. You can simply drink lemon juice with warm water upon waking up in the morning. Make sure that the outside of the lemon is washed thoroughly. Add a slice to the water and sip like tea.

Some people choose to lose weight through the cleansing effect of lemon juice. To achieve this, you can simply add a slice of lemon to drinking water and drink them throughout the day. You may also consume the lemon peel for its pectin which helps eliminate cravings. Drinking water with a whole lemon for weight loss is effective in weight loss and detox the body.

You may also drink lemon juice with other natural ingredients such as honey. It's effectiveness remains the same.

To achieve fast weight loss, it is recommended that besides drinking lemon juice, you should also properly plan your diet and remember to exercise!

Below are some of the useful links you may refer to.

1. Simple Exercise to Do At Home
2. Simple Eating Habit for Weight Loss
3. Understanding of Weight Loss Concept
4. How Eating Apples Help in Weight Loss
5. How Drinking Water Help in Weight Loss

Simple Eating Habit for Weight Loss

2012-02-08T02:36:00.001+08:00

Can you lose 10kg in just 1 month? Yes! It was only 30 days! I achieved that by following the simple eating tips below! It works really well for me and I hope it works on you as well.

Tip 1. Keep a diet journal

A diet journal helps tremendously in keeping track of calorie intake. It takes very little effort to jot down what you eat and you can always do it once a day before you sleep. For more tips on keeping a diet journal, visit the simple tips here.

Tip 2. Avoid 'white' carbohydrates

Try your best to stay away from any carbohydrates that can be 'white' such as the examples below. They are high in calories!
- Rice

- Bread

- Pasta

- Cereal

- Potatoes

Tip 3. Keep your meals simple, eat them over and over again

Most successful dieters often eat the same few foods over and over again. Ensure you have nutrients from different sources for proper body functions. Mix and match, constructing each meal with one from each of the three following groups.

Proteins

Egg white

Chicken breast or thigh

Grass-fed organic beef

Pork

Legumes

Lentils

Black beans

Pinto beans

Vegetables

Broccoli

Asparagus

Spinach

Peas

Mixed vegetables

The above foods from the three categories are low in calories. Since you are avoiding white carbohydrate, you should eat as much as you like of the above items to give you sufficient energy. Many dieters complain of low energy and give up their diet plan in the end. In fact, the problem is in the diet plan, because they take insufficient calories for their body!

For example, 1/2 cup of rice gives 300 calories compared to 15 calories in 1/2 a cup of spinach!. As explained in this post, vegetables contain fiber which is indigestible carbohydrate, hence very low in calorie. That is the reason you need to add in foods from the legume group to give sufficient calories.

Tip 4. Remove calorie drinks from your meal

Avoid drinks such as fruit juice, soft drinks, or any other sugar-containing drinks as much as possible. Instead, replace them with plain water, or unsweetened ice tea, tea, diet sodas, coffee (without white cream) and so on.

Tip 5. Take one day off per week

I recommend Saturday as your ''Dieters Gone Wild'' day. I always believe in the effectiveness of a reward system. After dieting for one whole week, you should allow yourselves a day off, and eat whatever you hanker for on this day! Go and have your lovely ice-cream, Snickers, chocolate, soft drinks and so on!

For your information, having a day off a week in your diet plan actually increases fat loss by ensuring metabolic rate does not downregulate as a result of extended calorie restriction.

How to Build Chest Effectively

2012-02-08T00:56:00.002+08:00

Men with a firmed chest look defined, muscular and mature. The overall positive and poised appearance will increase the popularity in the social network tremendously.

We can see men who are determined to build chest incline or press on bench whenever they see it. But quality speaks more than quantity. In this post, we are centering on the tips to build chest successfully and efficiently.

1. Focus on heavy compound exercises

To have a strong and firmed chest, there is no other way than to lifting heavy weight for quality muscle mass.

Some heavy compound exercises include bench press, incline bench press, decline bench press and dips. BUT the ultimate secret of doing heavy compound exercises is to keep changing bench press angles. This will stimulate the chest muscle as it does not know where will be your next attack.

2. Have calorie support for size growth

While many thought that calorie is a taboo for a fit body, but in fact, we need calories to support the gradual body size increase.

Since we need to have heavy compound exercises, energy and hence calorie is vital for us to have powerful presses.

3. Gain sufficient rest

Intensive and non-stop chest workout is strongly prohibited. We need to allow our muscle to recover and for it to grow.

After each heavy compound workout, our chest muscle is torn; if we do not allow ourselves to rest, the muscle will be broken further, this not only will injure ourselves, but also make the muscle weaker and smaller.

However, you may consider spending some time in the sauna after a workout as it can relieve any pain in your muscles and speed up the muscle recovery time.

Simple Exercises to Do At Home!

2012-02-06T14:50:00.001+08:00

Calorie burning is the utmost important activity in your body in a weight loss program. A lot of people fail to lose weight for reasons being not having sufficient time to do exercise such as swimming, hiking, jogging. Do bear in mind that exercise can be done anywhere anytime. You don't necessarily have to step out from the house to burn calories. Everything that you do burn calories even those you do it at home.

1. Move around your house or garden

This is extremely simple to do regardless of how big hour house is. A jog or brisk walk around the house, let say for 20 rounds everyday. This is good especially during rainy days and you can't go out for a jog for brisk walk. Make sure you do not break anything at home.

Besides, based on your body shapes, you can choose some activities below to shape yourself better.

2. Abdominal crunches

This must be included into your weight loss plan if you desire great abs. The amount of crunches depends on individual capability. Of course, the higher the frequency and the greater crunches you do, the faster you will see the result! Doing this for 5 to 10 minutes everyday could give you flat stomach and great abs! Take a look a this video!

3. Squat

Squats are good for strengthening your leg muscles. If you have always dreamed of toned thighs and a derriere to kill for, include some squats in your plan! How to squat properly to achieve optimum result? Watch this!

4. Lunges

Lunges are good to tone up your buttocks and make it it look more firmed. Similar to squats, these helps in building muscles in the lower part of body. This is a bit more advanced and difficult than squats but is worth trying it out!

5. Push-ups

Push-up is one of the best exercises for chest, shoulders and triceps as this can be done everywhere. This could be hard for beginner. Trying starting off with 10 push-ups can slowly increasing it as time goes by.

6. Leg lift

Another good workout for great abs! It is simple and you can always do it together with abdominal crunches.

7. Yoga

If you have no time to join for any yoga class in town, why not grab yourselves a yoga DVD and start doing it at home? There are plenty of different yoga exercise DVDs in the market, select whichever you are interested in and start doing it! This not only burn calories but also relax your mind.

8. Gardening

This is a good exercise both in the morning and evening which are the time to flower your plants and mowing lawn.

9. Doing housework or washing your car

Doing simple housework such as sweeping or mopping floor, wiping window, cleaning toilet or car and so on are good exercises! I am sure you had experiences of sweating like a dog while helping out your mums or maids. Keep yourself active while keeping your house clean and tidy!

Sleeping Helps in Weight Loss

2012-02-06T02:06:00.000+08:00

I used to have a wrong perception that by sleeping late, I would burn more calories when doing my work than sleeping like a log on the bed. But I AM COMPLETELY WRONG.

Numerous scientific findings revealed a close association between sleeping and weigh loss. Deprivation of sleep could actually lead to weight gain, and hence, having sufficient sleep is actually a stepping for fast weight loss.

Hormones Factors for Sleep and Weight Loss

The two hormones responsible for this phenomenon are Ghrelin and Leptin.

Ghelin - A hormone synthesized in the gut and it makes you feel hungry and stimulates appetite.

Leptin - Opposite to ghelin, this hormone which is produced by fat cells, tells your brain to give you the feeling of being full and avoid you from eating.

Sleep deprivation leads to increase in ghelin and drop in leptin levels. This significantly stimulates your appetite and produces a feeling of being constantly hungry even after you have just had your meal.

When a person is tired from a lack of sleep, there is a tendency for them to look for fast burning carbohydrate drinks. These starches and sugars elevates blood sugar level and induce fat accumulation in the body!

How much Should I Sleep?

An adequate sleeping time of 7 to 9 hours per day desirable for fast weight loss. This aids in resisting cravings for food and hence avoid unnecessary calorie intake.

2 Types of Foods to Avoid After Physical Exercise!

2012-02-05T22:39:00.000+08:00

Most of the time after any strenuous exercise, we instinctively reward ourselves with certain foods such as quick snack, high sugar recovery energy drink. However, do you know that eating high sugar meals straight after exercise, especially within two hours, could actually sabotage the benefits you just reap from exercise?

An article published in Journal of Applied Physiology stated that eating low-carbohydrate meal after aerobic exercise enhances your insulin sensitivity. This is highly advantageous, since insulin insensitivity, or insulin resistance, is the underlying cause of Type 2 diabetes and a significant risk factor for other chronic diseases, such as heart disease.

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is essential in fat-burning process. HGH Magazine explains that high sugar meals after exercise could STOP the production of exercise-induced HGM. Though you could burn some calories during your workout, you would miss the HGH extra bonus of enhanced fat burning for two hours after exercise. The fat burning process occurs only after exercise. Please remember not to eat any high sugar meal right after your exercise in order to achieve fast fat loss!

Examples of foods to avoid after exercise?

All refined carbohydrates such as breads, pasta, snacks, high sugar candy bar and so on. All these instantly turn to sugar when consumed.

You should avoid fruit juices as well as it contains fructose which is another type of sugar.

What foods are good after exercise?

Protein, fat and high fiber foods such as nuts, seeds, meats and vegetables are highly recommended. Though these may take you a little while to prepare, they will fill you up fast and allow you to maximize the benefits reaped from your exercise.

Fitness Myths

2012-02-04T22:47:00.002+08:00

While everyone is still excited about the resolutions set, with full awareness of carting only healthy food and energetically thronging the pedestrian streets in the morning and evening, it is worthwhile to sit back and see if we are doing the right thing right.

It is wrong! wrong! to think that exercises can offset our bad eating habit. “Your eating has to be in check. About 80% of what you look like is based on diet”, hence, thinking that the excessive high calorie consumption can be burnt in an hour workout is overly optimistic. It is always wise to sit down and do the simple math to see how much calories can be burnt in the usual workout and how much calories is consumed if the current eating habit persists.

While it may be logically true to think that we will burn more fats with empty stomach, it is not appropriate to do so. To our amaze, workout with empty stomach does not only render us lackadaisical performance but burn our muscle instead of fat.

Many think that shake with a blend of protein, vitamin and sugar is ideal for a diet plan. However, they are not able to keep you full and satisfied, and will make you constantly craving for more food. Whole food instead not only makes you full but also increases your metabolism rate in the digesting process.

To get flat stomach, more and more people are avoiding eggs with the presumption of bad cholesterol inherent in egg yolk. However, a recent study pointed out that egg yolk can help to reduce bad cholesterol instead, provided that we do not fry egg with butter or eat with bacon.

It may be true that in relationship, men and women are from different planets; but when it comes to exercise, both men and women are from the same planet. Most often, women and men tend to focus their workout on the particular parts of the body - men on belly, arm and chest, women on legs and gluts. By keeping this, they are neglecting each of the other half of their body.

Many women are afraid of dumbbells! But it is really wrong to think that women can build up muscle easily without chemical assistance because of the much lower testosterone in women’s body.

It is common to see people doing all kind of stretches before workouts, either they feel they should do so or are told to do so. But the truth is stretching does not only weaken the muscle but also increase the chances of getting injury. The right ways to prevent injury are to have some walking and light weight-lift before the intensive training.

It is wrong and too presumptuous to think that we can trim down the fat in one area by only exercising on that part of body. The fastest way to reduce fat is to burn as much fuel as possible by doing intensive exercise while persisting on a strict diet. Keep in mind that no matter how many crunches one does, the one with 80% belly fat will never have abs as the one with 20% belly fat.

We are often misled by the graphing features in the cardio equipment telling us how much heart beat rate will lead to fat burning. However, our body system is too complex for a simple equipment to comprehend and capture accurately. Interval training with a mix of high and low intensity of exercise will yield the most desired results.

Body Shapes and Exercises

2012-02-04T22:00:00.000+08:00

Many may have overly stressed on fashion for their body shape to look good and have missed out another vital aspect which can render them the best proportion they desire - diet and workout. The seamless combination of specialized diet and routine workout is the key for the most desirable size of chest, waist and hip.

How Many Body Shapes Out There and Which One I Belong To?

Hourglass

Hourglass is often touted to be the most desirable body shape with a larger chest, a smaller waist and larger hips. Those with hourglass shape are typically concerned with their thighs and hips areas.

Diet: Choose low-fat dairy products and lean protein to keep your muscle mass high and waist slim.

Workout: Include more cardio and resistance trainings in your workout schedule to burn fat and build your body muscle. With this, your hourglass shape is mostly kept in check.

Pear

Pear is small through chest and belly and the weight is concentrated on the hips. It is the disproportion between top and bottom part.

Diet: Avoid fatty foods. Choose low-fat offerings like lean protein, whole grain and cereal.

Workout: Balance your workout between aerobic activities and strength trainings on the lower half of your body. Running, dancing, squatting, lunging are the commendable ones.

Apple

Apple has weight concentrated in the belly and thighs areas. This kind of people are often looked round in the torso and easily accumulate much fat in abdomen.

Diet: Choose low-carb foods, abdominal fat is the easiest to burn.

Workout: Pair your cardio training with hardcore ab work like crunches, wood chops, and reverse crunches.

Banana

Banana has a straight body without much deviation from the chest, tummy and hips. They often find themselves hard to gain the curve.

Diet: Balance a diet of healthy fats, carbohydrates, and protein.

Workout: Focus on strength trainings like dumbbell and free weight to tone the muscle.

Can I Lose Weight Through SAUNA?

2012-02-04T14:16:00.003+08:00

There is a tendency to think that sweating helps to lose weight. This is partially true because through exercise, we sweat, and so we lose weight. But can you achieve weight loss by taking sauna which could help you to sweat as well? The answer is yes BUT not the kind of weight you wish to lose.

WEIGHT LOSS ≠ FAT LOSS

Spending half an hour in the sauna will definitely make you lose weight. However, the weight loss is actually due to water loss through sweating, but not your fat! And you would definitely gain back the weight once you rehydrate.

Of course you burn more calories sitting in a sauna than sitting at home doing nothing. This is because in the sauna, body energies are required by the sweat glands to release sweat. Besides, your heart will pump harder to overcome the drop in your blood pressure due to the action of heat in the sauna. However, your heart is the only muscle that gets to workout in a sauna! You will actually burn more calories spending the same period of time exercising than sitting in the sauna.

Still, you may include sauna as part of your weight loss plan due to the reasons below:

1. Good blood circulation helps in breakdown of fat deposits which usually has poor circulation. Owing to the fact that sauna improves blood circulation, this indirectly help you to lose fat.

2. A toxic environment in the body and imbalances of your internal organs could create junk food cravings. Sauna could detoxify your body as it improves blood circulation, helps in removing excess salt from the body via sweating. Regular sauna use, therefore, may reduce your cravings for junk foods, i.e. unnecessary calories intake.

3. Exercise is the best way to lose weight. Spending some time in the sauna after a workout can relieve any pain in your muscles and speed up recovery time. This could avoid you from finding excuse for not exercising due to muscle pain.

To conclude, it is erroneous assuming that sitting in the sauna can help you lose fat. While sauna can indirectly help in weight loss, it is essential that you have proper diet plan, healthy lifestyle in conjunction with sufficient physical activity and exercise!

How Does Eating Apples Help in Weight Loss?

2012-02-04T00:32:00.003+08:00

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. NOT ONLY THAT!

Eating an apple before each main meal every day for 2 weeks can reward you 12 pounds off the scale! This is an incredible result which every dieter needs to know!

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University showed that an apple a day keeps the calories at bay. People who ate an apple about 15 minutes before lunch consumed almost 190 fewer calories than when they didn't have the apple.

A similar experiment was carried out on having applesauce and apple juice before lunch, but eating the solid apple still stands out.

How Does Eating Apples Help in Weight Loss?

Apples are rich in fiber which makes you feel full and the sweetness curbs cravings.

People always perceive a solid apple is more fulfilling that a glass of apple juice, this results in lower calorie intake.

In addition, instead of having unhealthy snacks, apples can be an impeccable substitute to be taken as a habit.

Most importantly, the fiber content in apples helps to regulate a healthy bowel habit which flatten your stomach before you realize it!

Still it is not a miracle of relying apples alone and forget about the exercise or the golden rule of eating small meal 5-6 times every day, or worse still skip meals to lose weight.

Eating an apple before main meal is a catalyst to weight loss and a flat stomach, but definitely not the ultimate and sole solution.