TEN TOP FAT LOSS ERRORS

1. You focus too much on exercise and forget nutrition. The workout is not nearly as important as proper nutrition.

 

2. You don't eat enough.

3. You think you can outtrain a bad diet.

4. You think that the more you exercise, the better.

5. You actually believe you can lose 14 kg in 4 weeks

6. You believe fat converts into muscle, and you fail to plan to build muscle.

 

7. You spend hours on the cardio machine.

8. You forget that fitness is more than losing fat.

9. You fail to congratulate yourself for the small successes

10. You don't read LegallyMuscled

CAN TOO MUCH CARDIO MAKE YOU FAT?

Culled from fitness bloggers

 

So, everyone who reads my blog knows that I love to exercise. I suppose you could say I am a little addicted. I can’t live without it. But that isn’t such a bad thing right? What’s wrong with keeping yourself active and healthy? However, I was surprised to find that too much exercise can actually be a bad thing for those of us who exercise for weight loss. That’s because too much exercise can actually cause our bodies to store fat rather than burn it.

 

 

A recent study showed that too much cardiovascular exercise at too high an intensity can cause the body to become depleted and worn down and this can actually slow the body’s metabolism as we go into survival mode. This means that our bodies will try to hold on to our fat stores rather than burn them. In such situations its not uncommon to actually lose muscle and preserve fat. Not what we want!

 

So how can we ensure that we are exercsiing in a way that will ensure we burn fat not muscle?

 

1. Firstlly make sure that you enjoy exercise. Keep the workouts at a level that ensures you still enjoy what you’re doing. If you work so hard that you begin to totally dread every new workout and feel drained, chances are you are doing too much. It doesn’t have to be pure agony for you to derive benefit.

 

2. Make sure that you add resistance training to your workout regime at least twice a week. Too much cardio and not enough resistance can cause your body to stop burning fat effectively. This can be in the form or weights or just by using body weight exercises. Using our muscles and building them ensures that we don’t lose muscle.

 

3. Try to reduce cardio if you are pushing yourself too much. 2-3 cardio workouts a week of 30-45 minutes at moderate to high intensity is sufficient for most people.

 

4. Try using intervals as a way of breaking up your workouts. You can speed up your metabolism and burn fat whilst spending less time exercising. Replace long runs on the treadmill with short 15 minute interval circuits to help boost your metabolism.

 

5. Ensure that you get plenty of sleep. This helps your body to repair and recover from the day’s stresses and strains. Look at ways to reduce your stress if you have trouble sleeping.

 

6. Eat a healthy balanced diet and don’t cut out food groups or starve yourself. Sensible eating and portion control ensure that you eat a balanced diet that will give you all the energy your body needs.

High Intensity Workouts to bring out the athlete in you

Achieving an ultra-lean figure - not just losing weight, but losing bodyfat, and lots of it - requires an aggressive training plan. It takes high-intensity workouts and big, bang-for-your-buck exercises that hit large muscle groups to burn tons of calories and stimulate the metabolism. Passive workouts where your mind wanders off to other matters while you go through the motions won't cut it. You need to push it to the limit to get what you want.

High Intensity Interval Training involves a short burst of high-intensity cardio, followed by a period of lower-intensity activity, or even rest, usually performed at a 2:1 interval.

For example, a HIIT sprint workout would be one minute of sprint work followed by a 30-second walk or jog; two minutes of sprint work followed by a one-minute walk or jog.

This cycle would be repeated in some fashion for 20-25 minutes. Between exercises in a circuit, rest only as long as it takes to move to the next exercise. Taking an extended break will cause the heart rate to slow down more than you want it to

HIIT has been proven to be one of the most effective methods of burning fat, so don’t get left behind in the weight loss train.

Guideline Daily Amounts and your fitness

I'm sure you've seen this picture before; its on every pack of food you purchase, just that most people dont pay any attention to it.

Well, today's your lucky day, because I'm going to simplify the body of knowledge of GDA's for your benefit.

GDAs are guidelines for healthy adults and children about the approximate amount of calories, fat, saturated fat, total sugars, and sodium/salt in the particular product. The GDA labels have the percentage of daily value per serving and the absolute amount per serving of these categories.

Although these key nutrients form an important part of a balanced diet, unfortunately many people tend to consume too much of them. Long term overconsumption of calories in combination with a lack of physical activity is associated with gaining weight and obesity, which increases risk of poor health and various diseases.

Calories (Energy GDA: 2,000 kcal)

Calories are a measure of how much energy food and drink products contain. The calories a food delivers depend on the nutrients it contains. A gram of carbohydrates has four calories, just like a gram of protein. One gram of fat instead has nine calories and a gram of alcohol seven calories.

Being overweight is a direct consequence of excessive calorie/energy intake, which in turn can increase the risk of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and ill health. However, eating too few calories is just as damaging to your general wellbeing and can lead to serious health conditions caused by nutrient deficiencies. 

The Guideline Daily Amount for energy is 2,000 calories, 

Sugars (Sugar GDA: 90g)

Sugars, together with starches, are the two main types of carbohydrates and the main sources of energy. Sugars provide a sweet taste, texture, structure and consistency to foods.



Sugars play a role in functions of the body; the brain needs glucose (a simple sugar) as its only source of energy and the body's tissues use sugar (stored in liver and muscles) to carry out their main functions.


While neither starch nor sugars have been found to have any special role in the development of serious diseases such as diabetes it is still important to keep an eye on their intake if you are already suffering from some diet-related medical condition, if you are watching your waistline, and to limit the risk of tooth decay.

The Guideline Daily Amount for sugars is 90 grams.

Fat (Fat GDA: 70g)

Fat provides energy (nine calories for each gram of fat), and foods that contain a lot of fat provide a lot of energy. 

Fat is made up of different types of fatty acids. You can have monounsaturated (such as those found in nuts and vegetable oils), polyunsaturated (such as those found in oily fish) and saturates fatty acids (such as those found in butter and animal fat). 

It is important to have some fat in our diet because it's a critical nutrient for many functions that take place in our body and because some of them (the essential fatty acids) cannot be produced by our body and must be supplied by the diet.

Fats are important for the formation of hormones, which carry fat-soluble vitamins, and are necessary for their absorption. However fat is only needed for health in small amounts. No more than about one third of our energy intake should come from fat. 

Some examples of foods high in fat are oils, butter, full-fat milk and cheese, pies and pastries.

Whilst monounsaturated and especially polyunsaturated fatty acids are good for our health, a high intake of saturated fatty acids can have a negative impact on health, which is why we can have a GDA for both total fat and saturates (saturated fat), so we can help you keep an eye on your intakes. 

The Guideline Daily Amount for fat is 70 grams,

You will see on the food label GDAs for both fat and for saturates (saturated fats). The GDA figure for fat is the total amount of fat a food contains - this includes saturated and unsaturated fats.

Saturated fat (Saturates GDA: 20g)

Saturates (saturated fat) are the type of fat you should try to eat less of because too much can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which in turn increases the chance of developing heart disease. Eating less of it minimises the risks.

Experts recommend that not more than 10 percent of your calories should come from saturates (saturated fats). This means that on a 2,000 calorie diet you shouldn't eat more than 20g per day. 

Some examples of categories of foods high in saturates (saturated fats) are meat products and pies, sausages, hard cheese, butter, pastry, cakes and biscuits, cream and palm oil.

The Guideline Daily Amount for saturated fat is 20 grams.

Salt (Salt GDA: 6g)

Salt is used in food manufacturing as a flavour enhancer, a food preservative, to inhibit microbiological spoilage and to give texture to some foods. Salt is made up of sodium and chloride and it's the sodium that, at high doses, can be bad for your health. 

Sodium together with other nutrients plays many important roles; for example, it helps to regulate the body's water content and it's involved in nerve function, in muscular activity and in energy utilisation.

An excessive intake of salt (sodium) in the diet can increase the risk of high blood pressure which is a risk factor for heart disease and stroke. This is why it is generally recommended to limit the daily intake of salt to 6 grams (2.4g sodium) and to check and compare the salt/sodium content of a food on the front of pack or back of pack nutrition labels.

The Guideline daily Amount for salt is 6 grams (2.4 grams sodium).

Know your Nutrition!!!!!