Tips on Exercise and Training for your Health and Weight Loss

Resistance Training:

• Should be done at least 2-3 times a week

• Will increase your lean muscle mass and you will burn fat quicker.

• Incorporate larger muscle groups while working the smaller ones.

• Rest and recover - do not work the same muscle groups 2 days in a row

Cardio Training:

• Can be done everyday at least 3-5 days per week.

• TALK TEST - you should be able to hold a conversation with someone or sing along to a song without being out of breath while doing cardio training.

• Remember cardio shouldn't feel like a "stroll around the shops" it sould make your body sweat.

Stretching:

• Very important, but overlooked by lot of people.

• Help you to improve your flexibility

• Help repair and increase your muscle strength

• Stretch before and after exercise/sport

• Can help to relieve a bit of muscle soreness.

You don't have to go to the gym or use dumbbells and barbells; you can get just as good a workout using your own environment and body weight.
Some examples:

• Brisk walk

• jog/run

• use a local park and you can do squats onto the park bench or step-ups onto the bench

• Push ups onto a rail they don't have to be on the ground.

• Don't have dumbbells - use empty milk bottles filled with water or use bags of oranges to add resistance.

• Get yourself a skipping rope.

• Use your imagination & share your ideas with others.

If you lack motivation and need a push to get started or just like to be pushed to your limits!
You can always get help from a personal coach or trainer within the gym or outside. They will help you to achieve your goals.

Remember variety is the spice of life so change your exercise routine regularly to achieve the best results!

Return of the Fat...

Have you ever known anyone, who made a decision to go on a diet, actually stuck to it until
they lost the all the weight the wanted to?

Only to run into them a few months later and find that they had gained all of it back...plus more?

Has this ever happened to you?

It doesn't have to be that way...

You can Program Yourself Thin

One of the reasons that this happens over and over again is because people have not been taught how to use their brains effectively.

EVERY PERSON... is a master at maintaining their weight perfectly.

Granted they may be 20kgs too heavy, but they are able to stay within 2 to 3 kgs of their their usual weight, without much thought.

You see we have an internal setting that automatically controls our weight.

When you change this setting through the Mental Programming Techniques for Weight Loss.

Your habits begin to change automatically and you find that your body begins transforming
before your eyes with barely a thought.

Now, when you notice those people that lose the weight only to gain it all back...

You are looking at people that made the tragic mistake of not changing the self image they have
on the inside, to one of a thin person.

And...

the mind rejects this new body because it doesn't match up with the person they believe they are on the inside.

Remember... we are built to be successful.

It is only a matter of understanding how to Use Our Mind Correctly to Keep the Weight Off.

It's never too late to transform your body.
It just starts with a decision to Program Yourself Thin

Make long-term Changes to your Food Choices without sacrificing Good Taste

Make Smart Food Choices to Lose Weight and Keep it Off

PROTEIN:

Did you know the large majority of your body is protein?
80% of your body is protein.

It is a no brainer that you must include adequate amount of protein to your daily diet.

If you don't you will suffer from low energy, weak immune system, hormonal imbalance, premature aging....
The worst of all When there is not enough protein in your diet, your body actually uses protein from its own tissues, breaking down your hard-earned muscles, organs, etc..

When you reduce your lean muscle you reduce your metabolism and you'll burn less calories.
It is so important that you look after your protein intake.

FATS:

We don't like to hear this word, but there are some fats that are essential to our normal body function.

Fat has twice more calories than other types of foods, but your body needs some fat.

So be careful not to go for Fat-Free products as they have so much carbohydrate.

Good fats are unsaturated fats. You can find them in foods such as olives, avocados, extra-virgin olive oil, safflower oil, flax oil, nuts..etc.

Bad Fats are the ones that clog arteries and increase your cholesterol levels and blood pressure. You can find them in meats, dairy products, lard and cream.

STAY AWAY FROM ALL SATURATED FATS!

CARBOHYDRATES:

All carbohydrates eventually turn into sugar when they are broken down and absorbed by your body.

You need Carbohydrates as a primary source of fuel and essential to your survival.

Carbohydrates can be found in fruits, vegetables, rice, pasta, beans... etc

Simple carbohydrates are very easy to absorb by your body. They are the worst kind of carbohydrates to eat.

Complex carbohydrates take the longer to break down hence longer-lasting release of energy.

Did you know that the most fattening food type after fat is carbohydrates?


How should you pick your food types for life-long wellness and weight loss?

1. Add more protein to your diet. (Contact Damayanthi to find out your personalized protein grams per day)
2. Eat few table spoons of good fats
3. Eliminate all bad fats4. Eliminate white flour, rice, pasta and sugars
   

This may sounds like a challenge to most of you, but when you take the right amount of protein and drink 6-8 glasse of water you will enjoy eating well when you start seeing the results.

Here is a summary of foods in each category:

PROTEIN - Egg whites, Chicken/Turkey breast (without skin)Beef, Soy protein, Fish, Shell fish, Veal, Lamb, Pork, Venison, Nonfat cottage cheese, Egg substitute, Protein powders, Protein bars

FATS - Olive Oil, Olives, Nuts, Seeds

CARBOHYDRATES - All Vegetables

BEVERAGES - Water, water, water and more water.Herbal Tea

Reading Food Labels

Reading food labels is not interesting for most of us.

Most of the time when we are shopping (or doing anything for that matter) we are in a hurry and don't pay much attention to reading food labels.
I know it is not an easy task the food manufacturers try their best to confuse us as much as possible.

If you want to be healthy, you need to eat healthy so make an effort to find out what you are eating.

Basic things you need to be aware of or pay attention to:

• Serving size
• Grams of Fat
• Trans Fat / hydrogenated fat
  
• Saturated fat
• Carbohydrate
• Sugar
• Fiber
  
• Sodium

Without me going on and talking about all these I am linking the following 2 videos done by health experts on label reading.

This one gives an overview and a basic understanding of label reading

This one helps us to understand how food manufactures manipulate the system to give acceptable labels to consumers.

Planning What to Eat Before and After Exercise

As we know exercise is very important aspect not only with weight management but also for our health and wellness.

It is hard to exercise while you are still digesting your food or if you had skipped your last meal.
It is important to be careful about what you eat both before and after exercise.

Eat too much -->> your intestine will steal blood flow from your muscles and you may end up getting a cramp.

You should not exercise for about 30 minutes after a meal, and you should avoid a heavy protein meal just before exercising. - Dr David Heber's advise in his book L A Shape Diet

What is best to eat before exercise?
A light meal of easy to digest carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables) and a small amount of protein.

A great choice is a protein shake made with berries that contain lots of antioxidants such as blue berries.

Dr Heber says "I usually exercise in the morning for 30 minutes after having my soy shake with fruit and a cup of coffee."

If you are working out in the late aftrnoon a carbohydrate snack before you start will give you some energy to get going.

** Make sure that you drink enough water to restore your fluid balance**

After Exercising : Eat a snack such as Protein Bar or Protein Drink with both protein and carbohydrates providing 100 - 200 calories within 30 minutes.

You need:
Carbs -> to restore your muscle glycogen
Protein -> to provide amino acids to help build muscle tissue
Water -> to help maintain normal circulation to the muscles

Eating colourful fruits and vegetables provides phytonutrients and antioxidants that help protect your muscle cells from excessive oxidation when you exercise.

Dr Heber mentions that in addition to eating fruits and vegetables, some antioxidant supplements, including vitamin E, have been shown to reduce excess damage to muscle fibres following exercise.

Metabolism and Your Weight Loss

"It's my metabolism!" that’s why I cannot lose weight easily.

Sound familiar? If you're carrying some extra pounds (and having a hard time losing them), it's tempting to put the blame on a sluggish metabolism.

But is your metabolism really the reason it's often so hard to lose weight?

And, more important, is there anything you can do about it?

The good news is, there are things you can do to help boost your body's calorie-burning power.

What Is Metabolism?

Metabolism is the process by which your body makes and uses energy or calories for everything from absorbing nutrients to running a marathon.

Your metabolism, experts say, involves a complex network of hormones and enzymes that not only convert food into fuel but also affect how efficiently you burn that fuel.

In many countries outside of the US and UK, food energy is measured by the kilojoule. 1 Calorie (technically kiloCalorie) = 4.184 kilojoules

Each of us have what is called a Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) or Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) – It is the energy that you burn at complete rest.

If you need to lose weight you will need to have calorie intake less than your RMR.

Also you need to remember that women need minimum of 1200Calories a day & men 1500Calories a day.

Of course, not everyone burns calories at the same rate.

What influences your metabolism?

• Your age (metabolism naturally slows about 5% per decade after age 40); - That’s why we find that when we get to middle age we tend to gain weight easily.
  After the age of 25, for every decade we lose 3.4-4.0kg’s of muscle – unless we do regular strength exercise.
• Your sex (men generally burn more calories at rest than women)
• Proportion of lean body mass (the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate tends to be). One pound of lean muscle burns around 30Calories a day.
• Heredity makes a difference.
  "Some people just burn calories at a slower rate than others," says Barrie Wolfe-Radbill, RD, a nutritionist specializing in weight loss at New York University Medical Center.
• Occasionally, a defect in the thyroid gland can slow metabolism, though this problem is relatively rare.
• And here's a fact that may surprise you: the more weight you carry, the faster your metabolism is likely running.
  "The simple fact is that the extra weight causes your body to work harder just to sustain itself at rest, so in most instances, the metabolism is always running a bit faster," says Molly Kimball, RD, sports and lifestyle nutritionist at the Oscher's Clinic's Elmwood Fitness Center.
  That's one reason it's almost always easiest to lose weight at the start of a diet, and harder later on, Kimball says: "When you are very overweight your metabolism is already running so high that any small cut in calories will result in an immediate loss."

How to Increase Your Metabolism

Among the best ways is exercise.

This includes aerobic workouts to burn more calories in the short term, and Weight Training to build the muscles that will boost your metabolism in the long run.

While 30 minutes of aerobic exercise may burn more calories than 30 minutes of weight training, Calabrese says, "in the hours following the cessation of exercise, the weight training has a longer-lasting effect on boosting metabolism."

Having extra muscle also means you can eat more and gain less.

Eating and your Metabolism

1. Eat Breakfast – Recommended that you eat within 45min of waking.
2. Eat more often, and you'll lose more weight. Small, but frequent, meals help keep your metabolism in high gear, and that means you'll burn more calories overall.
3. The gap between the meals shouldn’t be more than 5-6hrs.
   If you then eat a huge meal -- at the same time your metabolism is functioning as if you're starving -- your body wants to hold on to every calorie.
   

Fat-Burning Foods!

Any food will increase your metabolism, mostly in the first hour after you eat

Protein generally requires about 25% more energy to digest.
A high-protein snack might rev metabolism a little more than a carb-heavy food with the same number of calories.

"Some studies have shown hot pepper and very spicy foods can increase metabolism by about 20% for about 30 minutes, but no one really knows if the extra burn lasts any longer than that, "
Green Tea – Dr David Heber mentions in his book LA Shape Diet that studies have shown that Green Tea can stimulate metabolism by about 80Calories a day.

Your best bet for keeping metabolism revved: Build muscles, snack on low-calorie, high-protein foods, and keep moving!

Be in Control of Your Body Fat Level!

Are you ready to be in control of your body fat levels?

Yes... Then read on..

Lets talk about one of the most important elements of human body:
It makes up approximately 70% of our muscles and about 75% of our brain.
Plays a vital role in the proper functioning of the body.
It is an essencial pat of a healthy diet.

Water

How is it going to help you to be well and shed extra Fat?

• Drinking water forces fat to be used as fuel
• Without adequate water kidneys are unable to function properly - this will in turn affect the liver function --> when liver cannot properly metabolize fat as energy fat will be stored in the body.
• Water effectively suppresses appetite.
• Aids proper digestion
• Water is a vehicle for circulating nutrition and oxygen through the body
• Helps with eliminating waste
• Lubricates joints
• Protect organs
• Helps maintain normal body temperature
• Helps to have healthier skin, nails
• Increased energy, alertness
• ... far more..

Hope now you have enough reasons to drink water!

How much water? - About 6-8 glasses or 2 litres a day

Do you find drinking water is hard?

Lets try this;

1. Staring tomorrow drink a glass of water when you wake up. For a nice morning pick me up - you can add lemon juice , Herbal Aloe , Green Tea
2. Prepare a large water bottle to take with you on your drive to work or school
3. Drink a glass of water in between every meal
4. Take a filled water bottle with you where ever you go
5. At work, keep your water bottle filled and with you at your desk reach for your water instead of unnecessary, high fat, high sugar snacks.
6. Sip on it all day - add ice cubes if necessary
7. You can also drink Green Tea - which counts as water & also helps to increse your metabolism.

Are you drinking Caffinated coffee, tea and soda?

Caffeine depletes your water supply.

For every caffeinated beverage you drink ->> drink an additional glass of water.

Remember exercise, hot weather, low humidity, altitude, a high-fibre diet, and consumption of caffeine and alcoholic beverages increase your water loss.

This means that you need to increase your water intake at these times.

Keep up Your WATER intake!

It is easy to do and easy not to do!

It is your choice...