Things you shouldn't do to lose weight

 

   

Starvation, fasting, or very low-calorie diets: 

Many diets have helped people meet their weight loss goals, only to watch these people celebrate for about 5 minutes then they gain even MORE weight. 

Don’t cut calories below 1,200 per day; otherwise you will struggle to meet nutrient needs, fuel activity, and satisfy hunger. It also causes a shift toward a higher percentage of body fat, which increases the risk for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes.

  

Dubious supplements and over-the-counter diet pills that make grand promises 

These are unlikely to be effective, and they’re not necessarily safe or capable of delivering on their claims. 

Over-the-counter diet pills may not appear to be dangerous, but some over-the-counter or Internet products “can be harmful, ineffective, and a waste of money,” . “Most diet pills are nothing more than a quick fix loaded with caffeine and diuretics that can lead to dehydration and electrolyte imbalance," says Diekman, director of nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.

   

Cleanses or detox plans: 

Cleanses cause weight loss from water and stool weight, at best, but they can be dangerous and carry risks of dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and more. 

Losing lots of fluid without medical supervision is risky and when combined with fasting, even riskier. Your body is uniquely fine-tuned to detoxify and excrete toxins, so cleanses are unnecessary and can lead to serious complications by messing with your body’s finely-tuned system.

   

Obsessive behaviors such as extreme exercising

Extreme exercise is physically intense on the body, causing severe wear and tear and increasing the risk for injury, dehydration, and electrolyte imbalance and psychologically turns exercise into punishment for eating.

Its all about balance, remember, fitness should be fun!!! It shouldn't cause you pain or substantial discomfort.

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Shortcuts: Do they work?

Hey,

I've seen a lot of so-called "shortcuts" that promise quick results with minimal efforts, but most of them have turned out to be nothing but a waste of time...

The idea of working out less and getting more out of it has undeniable appeal. After all, who wouldn't want to spend less time sweating and straining and more time ...well, doing more of whatever it is you like to do?

 Between eating right and fitting in exercise, there are a few shortcuts you can take when being perfect seems unthinkable. Best of all, none of these shortcuts skimp out on health. Here's a look at the standard gold rules of a healthy lifestyle and the shortcuts that go with them!

Can you get this body in a short time?

Train efficiently

I watch people train and so much of it is wasted effort. Never spend more than 52 minutes in the gym. This is the optimum time to make the biggest gains. Any longer and it’s wasted time.

People constantly talk or text between sets. You are there to train, not to make friends. That’s what clubs and bars are for.

Go Walking

 

Even though you’re busy don’t neglect your exercise program. Studies have shown that walking 45 minutes a day can boost your immune system.

Crack an egg for breakfast.

Go for a little extra protein first thing in the day and your brain will stave off the munchies later on, according to the latest findings from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Former breakfast skippers who ate a morning meal with a side of yogurt showed fewer feed-me brain impulses and felt fuller.

Turn every daily activity into exercise

One of the keys to faster fitness is turning the things you already do regularly into opportunities for exercise. Daily activities such as walking the dog, playing with your kids, and doing housework have built-in calorie-burning potential just waiting to be discovered.Incorporating physical activity into your daily life or intensifying what you already do can be as effective, or even more so, than an exercise routine.

Staircase exercises that blast your hips, butt and thighs

What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger....

You can get the same benefits at home as you would in a step aerobics class at the gym. If you have a staircase in your home, you can get a great workout by simply climbing the stairs.

To start, stand at the bottom of the stairs and walk in place for about one minute to get your leg muscles warmed up.

Next, step up onto the first stair, and then back down. Repeat this move on the first stair only ten times. Walk in place for fifteen seconds.

Next, walk up the first two stairs, and then back down, then walk up one stair and back down. Repeat ten times. Then go up three stairs, come down, walk up two stairs, come down, and walk up one stair and come down. Repeat ten times. Continue the pattern up ten stairs. You will definitely feel the burn by the end of this step routine.

I don't recommend going up more than ten stairs because it will get tricky to walk back down after that point. If you feel winded or dizzy, start slow. Stick with the first three stairs, and gradually build up your endurance over the weeks and months to come.

How to make peace with your body and food

 

Aren't you tired of struggling with food and your body?

Would you like to get of the diet-binge yo-yo?

Are you on a yo-yo diet?

Our culture, unfortunately, is still entrapped in its rigid norms. An unrealistic standard of beauty unattainable by most women is dictated by the beauty industry in particular, and by sex-oriented advertising campaigns in general. 

Barbara Holtzman wrote" Our self-esteem as women suffers as we are told that we are not okay as we are – our noses are too big, our stomachs too round, our breasts too small – leading us to believe that if we fix these “flaws,” we will be “acceptable” and our lives will be perfect. Since all of us long for love and acceptance, we may buy advertising’s well-spend message that we are not okay as we are."

It is important for us to understand that the current standard of beauty is unhealthy for most people. Unless you were born with an ectomorphic body, you cannot have a model’s size and shape and still be healthy. Many models need to starve themselves in order to meet the industry’s current standards. Even then, an “imperfect” body part may be substituted by another’s in a spliced photograph.

For many of us, food has been a source of comfort when none was available. Food is a way to cope with the stresses of life. When we stop using food to stuff our uncomfortable feelings, we become more aware of our sadness, anger, and loneliness (since our feelings live in our bodies).

When we let ourselves experience all of our feelings, we begin to know ourselves better and what is important to us. As we take off the mask, we can relate to ourselves and others authentically. In harmony with our true selves, we can recreate a life of our own design.

To really enjoy the benefits of a weight loss program, we have to ensure that we get out get out of the cycle of dieting and regaining weight? Through lifestyle changes – exercising (a crucial ingredient for our bodies’ health) and changing our eating habits:

1. Fueling ourselves throughout the day. (Underfeeding sets us up for a binge.) 
    
2. Giving ourselves permission to eat what we want, as deprivation sets us up for a binge. 
    
3. Practicing conscious eating. When we eat when we’re hungry, slow down our eating and enjoy each bite to the fullest, we enjoy it more and are satisfied with less. 
    
4. Planning ahead so we have tasty and nutritious foods available at all times. 
    
5. Choosing our foods by how they taste, how they nourish our bodies and how they make us feel – physically and emotionally. 
    
6. Being sure to get enough water, rest and oxygen, as we often use food to fill these needs.
    
7. Realizing that emotional eating means that we need soothing. Breathe and send yourself compassion for the state you are in.

Here is a gift for the holidays; its a book containing food tips for the holidays. Click the link below to get your book.

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Tossing the garbage: Fitness myths that have caused more harm than good

One thing I find fascinating about the internet is that junk is growing almost at the same pace with level of quality content, the more we try to make the internet a sane place, the more some folks pump in junk.

When it comes to diet, health and fitness, the wrong advice can be frustrating and dangerous.  The fitness industry is saturated with organisations trying to make money, and who will tell you anything to get some of yours! Ensure that you weigh each piece of information before applying it to your body.

This article reveals some of the most popular diet and fitness myths out there today, for your safety.Only through understanding how working out affects our bodies can we aim to stay healthy and fit.

Exercise Takes Too Much Time and Effort

It's true that you can't be physically active unless you actually get up and move.

Once you get past that hurdle, you don't have to push yourself hard. You'll gain fitness benefits from very light to moderate exercise. That benefit is even greater if you are overweight or have been sedentary .

As for time, all you need is 30 minutes a day of activity, which you can accumulate in 10-minute chunks.

Start by using time you ordinarily waste sitting in front of the television. Stand up and do 10 minutes of brisk walking while you watch. You can move around the room or walk in place. Swing your arms to ramp up your results. Do that three times daily and you'll see definite results in a short time.

 Weight training will make women bulky.

True, if the woman is on steroids. Female bodybuilders almost single handedly ruined the act of lifting heavy weights for most women in this country by providing a false example.

The average man produces 10 times the amount of testosterone as the average woman. To be truly bulky and "manly" you NEED a lot of testosterone. Without it, you can't be bulky. So, unless you plan to inject yourself with steroids, you have very little to worry about.

If you're concerned about your arms being too big, lose more fat. Don't be afraid of gaining more muscle.

Cardio is more important for fat loss than weight lifting.

Cardio is great for health reasons and you WILL burn calories while doing it. However your biggest concern when you are trying to lose weight is muscle loss.

If you lose fat and lose muscle along with it, you have made your future ability to keep the weight off harder.

Less Muscle = Lower Metabolism.

Fat loss programs should be first about controlling the ratio of calories in, calories out and second about doing everything in your power to prevent losing muscle. In my book, that means a good diet combined with a good weight training routine. If you have time for cardio, be my guest, but that comes third!

 What you eat is as important as how much you eat when you're trying to lose weight.

Your overall health has a lot to do with the quality of the foods that you ingest. But, your overall level of fat does not. As I mentioned above, fat loss is about how many calories are going into and out of your body each day.

There is no getting around the basics of Thermodynamics. If you want to lose fat, you MUST burn you eat. Period. There is no other way unless the laws of physics don't apply to you for some reason...in which case, you can eat whatever you want!

Burn more than you eat

Healthy eating and weight loss are not the same thing. If you over eat, healthy or not you have too many calories and your body can't do anything with that other than store it regardless of source. Its Math. Like a car with 20 gallon gas tank, if I put in 25 gallons in it, it will not matter if I put in 97 octane or 87, it is still 5 gallons over what it needs to maintain 20 gallons.

Don't believe me? Just ask a Sumo Wrestler. They eat very healthy food every day, avoid junk food like the plague, and yet are the poster children of obesity.

Keep carbohydrate ingestion as low as possible, especially in the evenings, this would reduce the amount of calories stored as fat by your body.

 If you don't feel like crap after a workout, you didn't work hard enough.

Workouts are workouts. Competitions are competitions. They are not the same. Workouts exist to prepare you to be good in a competition.

Sadly, too many trainees, especially those in the early stages of the beginners phase think that killing yourself is the goal. They treat every workout like a major national competition where their reputation and prize money are at stake.

"If I don't work my hardest," they say, "then how will I ever make the progress I want?"

It seems reasonable on the surface...until they injure themselves. You don't gain from pain; instead, if you workout until (or after) you have pain, you can injure yourself. If you injure yourself today, what do you think tomorrow’s workout will look like? Working hard is important, but working smart is WAY more important.

You Must Lose Weight to Be More Fit

If you're larger, imagine being let off the hook that demands you must lose 20, 30 or more pounds to achieve good fitness. Well, permission granted!

Research conducted with a group of overweight women aged 30 to 45, showed that those who accepted their bodies as they were, ate according to their natural signals for hunger and fullness (not dieting) and pursued enjoyable activities instead of regimented exercise had a sharp increase in moderate activity. What's more, they were able to sustain that activity level over time.

Accept your body as it is right now. Add physical activity to your life that you find fun. Walking in a natural area is interesting and helps the time pass swiftly. If you like social interaction, play a game with others. 

Avoid workout classes that make you feel discouraged or self-conscious, they do more harm than good.

All “Natural” supplements & health products are safe and effective

These products are not regulated and most do not have clinical studies to back up their various claims of health and longevity. Some may even be toxic under certain conditions.

Ephedra, for example was marketed as a safe fat-loss supplement for years before the number of ephedra-induced heart attacks prompted the U.S. government to ban it.

Most supplements are a waste of money. If you’re involved in a competitive sport, some supplements like protein, glutamine and, creatine may be useful, but for recreational exercise they will have little benefit.

When it comes to health and longevity, there are more conclusive studies about the benefits of happiness, regular exercise, and an enjoyable life than there are about herbal and natural supplements.

Research any supplement that is recommended to you properly. This will ensure that you are safe from some of the potentially harmful substances that are circulating out there.

Remain blessed

Total Body Workout

A total body workout routine is a great way to stay fit, healthy, and energetic.

The goal of total body workouts is to perform more work in less time. An individual can complete a total body workout in half the time of a traditional strength training workout.

Total body workouts are usually completed with circuits, total body exercises and functional training, or a combination of all three. Your fitness level, experience and free time will determine which total-body workout is right for you.

During total body workouts, individuals typically feel more out-of-breath than muscle burn. This feeling equates to more calories burned but less muscular growth. An ideal total-body workout program will incorporate strength-training and aerobic-training days.

The 6 second Ab workout

Basic Crunch

The 6 Second Abs basic crunch is like performing a regular crunch in a seated position.

·         Sit on a stable surface with your feet flat on the floor. Your torso should be upright.

·         Hold the 6 Second Abs machine on your lap with the padded base against your thighs. Hold the handles with your palms facing up.

·          Crunch forward by rounding out your lower back and pressing down on the ab machine.

·         The unit will click six times telling you that you have completed the crunch.

·         Slowly return to the starting position.

Side Crunch

The side crunch with the 6 Second Abs machine targets the obliques, or side abs.

·         Sit on a stable surface with your feet flat on the floor. Place the device next to your right thigh.

·          The base should be sitting on the surface next to you and your arm should be hanging over the unit with the handles pressed into your armpit. Crunch to the right, bending at your waist.

·          Complete the full crunch through all six clicks before returning to the starting position. Complete all repetitions for one side, and then move to the other side.

Reverse Crunch

The reverse crunch is used to target the lower half of the abdominal wall, often called the lower abs.

·         Start in an upright seated position with your feet flat on the floor. The base of the 6 Second Abs device should be against your thighs.

·         Hold both handles with your palms facing up.

·         Keep your upper body still, pulling your feet off the floor and pressing against the  machine with your legs. Continue pressing up with your legs through three clicks before slowly returning your feet to the floor.

    6 Second Abs is very helpful in developing correct form and building discipline while performing crunches.

6 Second Abs: Technology meets fitness

Banner for 6 second abs

The 6 Second Abs machine is a small, portable piece of fitness equipment designed to help you perform a perfect crunch. With 6 Second Abs, you can train all of your abdominal muscles in just a few short sets or you can target specific muscles.

You hold the device in your lap while seated. With your hands gripping the handles, you crunch forward from this position, pressing down on the unit, which offers resistance between 15 and 55 lbs. Audible clicks time you through the crunch, which lasts six seconds. You can hit all the abdominal muscles with 6 Second Abs exercises.

A few years ago, my mum bought one of the '6 second abs' machines in an attempt to tone up her abdominals. It came along with an instruction video and a 30 day diet and exercise plan. I promptly purloined the machine and used it for a full year before it was recovered from my possession (LoL)

I found that doing the 6 second abs programme whilst lying on my back, as you would a normal sit-up works 10 times better than in a seated position. I have the resistance on 55lbs, which isn't actually that much in all honesty. The only downside is that the stronger red bands need to be ordered separately.

That aside I think it’s a good piece of kit and as long as you get an original you should be okay. The burn is GREAT and I found that with commitment and a good diet this kit will actually delivers what it promises!

The Right Crunch... Everytime

The main thing is, it really does get the abs burning with minimal movement. It looks great, feels like a toy and is fun to pick up and use too.

With any form of fitness regime, you need to eat/drink healthily in relation to exercise. You won't notice any difference if you do 20 mins a day and then hit the bar for several hours a week.

You need to curb unhealthy drinking and overly fatty foods. Pasta/Salad/Wholemeal Bread/Smoothies/Fruit are an excellent way to pack in carbs and calories without over eating.

It would seem that there are cheap fakes of this machine on the market. Bands breaking and DVDs not playing properly are two obvious signs that you may have purchased a fake.

Counterfeit 6 second abs pack

Savvier (the Makers of the product) has noticed several identifying marks on the counterfeit 6 Second Abs units that can help distinguish them from the authentic 6 Second Abs:

• Prices that are well below the televised advertised price of $59.90. These may indicate a counterfeit product which is of inferior quality.

 
• Instructional DVD's Rock Hard Abs and Total Body Workout that simply don't work.

• Interchangeable resistance bands that are of inferior quality and finish.

These aren't some generic brand knock offs, these are being sold as original products but unfortunately are of far inferior quality, be careful when purchasing one. Make sure you buy from a genuine dealer, and ensure that the product purchased is working correctly.

Next... the 6 Second ab workout-------->>>>>> watch out

Turbulence Training

Tip for ToDAY:

How many carrots and cabbage do you have in your refrigerator every week? If you have not cultivated the habit of storing these vegetables in your fridge, now is a good time to start, so that you can benefit from the life nourishing experience and vitality that these wonderful vegetables supply.

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS, is a strength and conditioning coach in Toronto, a Men's Health magazine training expert and a member of the Training Advisory Board for Inside Fitness. He created Turbulence Training as a way to get back into shape while keeping a hectic school/work schedule.

Check Out This Awesome Demonstration Of Turbulence Training. This Is A Revolutionary Way For You to Lose Weight And Gain Muscle From 3 Short Intense Workouts A Week. All you need is a 6x6 area, and very little equipment.

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Effective body weight exercises are better than any weight lifting session when it comes to strength training.. It really sets fire to the metabolism and if done intensely enough has a great effect on breathing when it comes to sprints or distance runs!

Never give yourself any excuse to be out of shape, your body is your responsibility.

Belly Dancing Techniques

Rib Slide

Targets: Rectus Abdominus and Obliques

·         Stand with hands on hips and feet together.

·         Move just your ribs to the left, then back through the center of your torso and to the right.

·         Continue moving from side to side.

Hip Circle

Targets: Obliques and Glutes

·         Standing with feet hip-width apart and arms slightly lifted at sides; shift your hips to the right, as if you were hula-hooping.

·         Then move them in a circular motion to the front, left, and back.

·         Repeat in the opposite direction.

·         Continue alternating.

Horizontal Figure Eight

Targets: Lower Portion of Rectus Abdominus

·         Stand with arms out to sides and feet hip-width apart.

·         Lean right hip diagonally forward.

·         Shift it to the right side, then around to the back and center.

·         Repeat with the left hip and continue alternating, as if your hips were drawing a figure eight on the floor.

Vertical Figure Eight

Targets: Lower Portion of Rectus Abdominus and Obliques

·         Lift right hip and heel and lean to the right.

·         Drop hip and heel, returning hips to center.

·         Repeat to left side.

·         Now combine both sides into a smooth motion.

·         Imagine you're drawing a figure eight on the wall in front of you with your belly button.

Camel

Targets: Rectus Abdominus

·      Press chest forward while drawing shoulders and arms at your sides and arching your spine.

·   Reverse this motion by pulling abs in, tucking pelvis, and bringing shoulders forward.

·       Continue alternating to create a rippling S with spine.

Belly Roll

Targets: Rectus Abdominus

·         Lift right hip and heel and lean to the right.

·         Inhale and expand your rib cage, then pull in the lower portion of your abdominals.

·         Reverse the motion by relaxing and expanding your lower belly as you draw in your upper belly.

·         Alternate between the two movements, creating an undulating wave with your abdominals.

Belly dancing is a great fun way to shake off that belly fat. If you are looking for a new way to lose belly fat, and are feeling adventurous, then start belly dancing without delay.