Posts Tagged ‘weight loss’

Could a Weight Loss Blog Help You Achieve Your Health and Fitness Goals?

Wednesday, March 30th, 2016

If you’ve never kept a blog before, the idea of documenting your fitness progress online could seem a little daunting. In fact, to some, blogging itself may seem somewhat intimidating or confusing. But, blogging is actually quite easy – especially with the help of user-friendly blogging platforms such as WordPress. Fat Loss Blogger The best part is that a blog is actually a wonderful fitness tool because it allows you to document your progress and motivates you to keep going. It also doesn’t hurt that you can make money blogging, turning your fitness or health blog into a full-time job. After all, who doesn’t want to turn their passion into a business?

Starting a Weight-Loss Blog

More and more people are realizing the benefits of documenting their weight loss progress on public platforms such as social media or blogs. Learning how to start a lifestyle blog is a great choice, as it gives you complete freedom to write stories and include information about how you’re feeling, which recipes you’ve tried, new workouts that you’ve had a go at in the gym or even display before and after pictures and progress pictures of yourself fitting into clothing two sizes smaller.
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The K.I.S.S. Approach

Friday, August 30th, 2013

I read a blog post about how Tori Spelling recently lost weight simply by eating a balanced diet. This kind of ticked me off. Not because she is successful using this method, but because a common sense approach like this is news.

I have written about the “evil” diets before, you know the ones that tell you to eat no carbs, or no fat, or all protein and fat… or better yet, only eat this food that we happen to sell. I am not a fan of these, largely because as soon as they are over, the weight comes back on.

The best approach to diet and exercise is the simple one. I love the K.I.S.S. theory of Keep It Super Simple. The bottom line is to always maintain balance. The very second that we lose our balance, we go crashing face first to the floor.

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Losing those last few pounds of belly fat

Monday, May 13th, 2013

How to drop those last pounds

Hot Chick on Scale

Anyone who goes to the gym knows the work that needs to be put into sculpting a fit body. Building muscle and cutting fat are the main goals of working out for many people, and one may be more difficult than the other. Gaining muscle mass is easy for some people, but often, there is a layer of fat obscuring the muscle that is much harder to lose than the muscle was to gain. Weight loss is a complex process, but there are many options available.

What are my options to lose fat?

It can be frustrating to lose fat. Cardio training, dieting, and other lifestyle changes are difficult to stick to, and can be slow to take hold. When exercising, it is ideal to maintain an optimal heart rate for 20 minutes to an hour at a time, and it may be impossible to see fat loss for weeks or months after beginning a solid exercise routine. In addition, eating with a mind to burning fat can be complicated and time consuming; maintaining good eating habits is difficult, especially with temptation at restaurants and parties.

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Maintaining Proper Meal Times Can Promote Weight Loss

Wednesday, May 8th, 2013

Schedule Your Meals for Speedier Weight Loss

Meal Times Girl
For those who get awesome results from Intermittent Fasting, don’t bother reading the following article. This is for people, for whom fasting either doesn’t work, or doesn’t agree with their schedule. However, if you follow a regular 3-5 meals a day diet, pay attention to the following piece.

How do Meal Times Affect Weight Loss?

New research is being done that indicates that there is more to healthy eating than many originally thought: not only does what you eat play a role in overall health, but when you eat may play a significant role as well. Researchers working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital collaborated with Tufts University and the University of Murcia have released results of a study that has shown that when you eat throughout the day might have an impact on weight loss.

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Understanding the Pros and Cons of Weight Loss Surgery

Tuesday, April 2nd, 2013

Weight Loss SurgeryWeight loss surgery is becoming increasingly popular all over the world, and for a very good reason. It offers a solution to a problem that plagues millions of people worldwide. However, determining whether weight loss surgery is right for you can be difficult. There are many benefits to these surgical procedures, but there are downsides as well. It’s important to understand this issue from both sides to decide what’s right for you.

Pro: Guaranteed Weight Loss

If you’re like many people in the world today, you’ve had a hard time trying to lose your excess weight. Some people try everything under the sun in an effort to shed pounds, yet they still find themselves unable to achieve their weight loss goals. Surgical procedures like gastric bypass and gastric banding offer guaranteed results. Liposuction can get rid of excess fat instantly. Those who seek a guaranteed solution to their weight loss problems can find that solution with weight loss surgery.

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How to Fight Your Cravings for Midnight Munchies

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

Midnight MunchiesWhether you’re bulking, cutting, or straight-up losing weight, you have no doubt developed a targeted diet meant to enhance your exercise regimen in order to help you meet your goals.

Restrictive or specific diets can leave you feeling unsatisfied or craving your favorite foods, and if you’re not smart about how you get your daily caloric intake you can find your tummy grumbling before you go to bed, or even waking you up in the middle of the night, just begging for a midnight snack that is definitely not diet-approved.

However, there are plenty of ways that you can keep yourself satisfied and full on nearly any diet plan so that you can stave off cravings for midnight munchies.

Here are just a few tactics you may want to try.

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5 Great Foods for Burning Fat and Building Muscle

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

Health FoodIf you are weight training to build muscle, your biggest goal is to keep your body mass index in check. Body builders around the world will tell you that having the perfect, sculpted body is also about staying lean and keeping your body fat at a minimum.

To be pure muscle and no fat you have to find creative ways to exercise, but you also have to eat the right food. In order to sculpt your muscles, you need food with enough protein to keep you energized, but also food that helps burn fat – you also want to suppress those unwanted cravings.

Here are 5 great foods for burning fat and building muscle.

  1. Oatmeal.

    Oatmeal is the secret weapon for a lot of body builders that want to sculpt the perfect body. Eating oatmeal 1 to 2 hours before an exercise or weight lifting session will give you an adequate amount of sustained energy, which will allow you to work out longer. Oatmeal is also great at regulating your blood sugar levels, which can stave off cravings. It is also a great source of fiber, which can prevent your body from storing excess fat.

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5 MORE Ways to Burn MORE Belly Fat During Exercise

Wednesday, February 27th, 2013

No Belly Fat ChickOne of the first places the average adult body stores spare fat is around the belly, and this can be a real nightmare for anyone trying to trim down their midsection.

You might think that you’re doing everything right when it comes to your diet and exercise regimen, and yet, for some reason you just can seem to shed the unsightly padding around your abdominals.

If this is the case, you could find that doing everything right is actually all wrong. Your lifestyle might be sabotaging everything.

Here are just a few tips and tricks that could help you to finally melt away the belly fat that’s been plaguing you for years. Sure, they say diet is responsible for 75% of your progress, but if you are doing everything else wrong, your lifestyle could derail 90% of your progress.

Here are 5 more tips to help you lose belly fat:

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Weight Loss vs Fat Loss

Wednesday, February 20th, 2013

Weight Loss vs Fat Loss

To optimize fat loss rather than weight loss, use the Project Shred diet plan for only 3 weeks, then scale back to a less restrictive meal plan. Be sure to use a workout routine like Fat Loss for Men or Fat Loss for Women, in order to maintain muscle mass during your weight loss phase.

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How to Transform Your Body After Age 50

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Exercise is Recommended at Any Age

Fitness Woman
For some reason, people seem to harbor the misconception that turning fifty means you’re old. In truth, it wasn’t really so long ago that the average life expectancy was about fifty-five, but thanks to modern medicine and advancing technology, many people now live to be far older than that. A growing awareness about the role diet and exercise play in human longevity hasn’t hurt, either.

What’s truly astonishing is how many people still believe that there is ever a time in life when it’s too late to start paying attention to your relative state of health and making changes that can benefit you for the rest of your life.

While you might not be surprised to see those in the 50+ category changing their diets to lower blood pressure or cholesterol, it’s likely that you’ll register wonder that your contemporaries are starting a workout routine.

The honest truth is that exercise at any age has the power to transform you if you go about it in the proper way. So here are a few tips to help you get the physique you seek, even if you’re starting to get letters from AARP.

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How to Lose Weight Without Losing Essential Nutrients

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

Lose Fat, Stay HealthyIn today’s society, many people put premium on being thin. Many factors, especially the media, contribute to the notion that what is beautiful is a well-sculpted body that doesn’t show the slightest hint of fat. This has led many people to interpret fitness as looking like those sexy models as an epitome of ideal body. Some has been into different weight loss plans, such as the Medifast, and other crash dieting just to get rid of their extra pounds.

The results of crash diets are dire. Those people trying to lose weight by sacrificing their nutrition are actually punishing themselves. They are constantly living in a condition of hunger which eventually leads them to feel exhausted all the time. Worse, it can lead to collapse and many other health risks. Crash dieting can literally make someone crash.

Those who intend to shed those extra fats in their body must realize that there are weight loss plans which do not lose the essential nutrients of the body. Healthy choices in food and proper exercises are the major keys in losing weight the healthy way.

For beginners, it must be understood that a variety in the foods a person eat is actually essential. One should not be easily taken by the low carb/high protein diet mindset which some fitness people propagate. Maximizing protein intake, in and of itself, is not a balanced diet. Sure low carbs and high protein can help retain and build muscle while simultaneously losing fat, but a diet consisting of, for example, 5 meals of chicken and broccoli each day, is not a healthy diet and can actually make you sick.

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3 Weight Loss Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Weight Loss TipsWhether you’re trying to lose those 20 pounds or just looking to fit into your old jeans, steering clear of weight loss mistake is of upmost importance for long term success. Let’s face it, we all make the odd mistake—and when it comes to burning the flab, it’s all too easy.

Without further ado, here are the 3 most common weight loss mistakes and how to avoid them.

Mistake 1: the Fat Burning Zone

Though when exercising at lower intensity level, the body relies heavily on fat as the main source of energy than when doing high intensity exercise, the total calorie burn at the end of the training will be lower, thus leading to more weight loss plateaus and setbacks.

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Burn Body Fat Through Weight Training

Friday, June 29th, 2012

Ripped ManAny physical activity makes you expend more energy and as a result, if you are an active person, you will burn fat. Normally, the body will transform carbohydrates into energy. However, fat is used as fuel for metabolism and movement.

You could also use thermogenic foods and supplements, such as caffeine and hot peppers, to facilitate faster results, but diet and high intensity exercise are the two top ways to lose weight fast.

Weight Training and Burning Fat

Aside from a sensible diet, your fat loss program should include physical activities such as weight training and conditioning drills. However, the training sessions should implement an appropriate fat loss strategy for optimal results. Training with heavier weights and fewer reps has shown in numerous studies to preserve muscle mass on a low calorie diet, increase strength, stimulate fat burning, and elevate metabolism.

It is a common myth that we should train with low weight and high reps when trying to lose fat – that strategy is just a prescription for strength and muscle loss.

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Running for Weight Loss

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

How to Eat Properly When Running to Lose Weight

Female SprintersAside from getting out there and running some serious interval sprints, losing weight is a matter of calories in versus calories out.

When it comes to the burning side, running is one of the best training programs out there for burning the extra pounds and keeping them off for good. Not only that, running is cardiovascular exercise per excellence, thus doing it a regular basis will boost your endurance levels, help you ward off heart related problems, and get you in the best shape of your life.

Nonetheless, backing up your running program with a proper diet is the surest way for permanent weight loss results. For that, here are the diet guidelines you’ll need to lose the weight without sacrificing performance and energy for the workout.

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Prone to Box Jumps

Friday, May 11th, 2012

Here is a great plyometric exercise that you probably never do. It can be used in HIIT training or any other kind of conditioning workout. You can even use it at the end of a leg workout to really kill those wheels.

How to use this single exercise for a 20-25 minute HIIT workout:

  • Lie on your belly, on the floor, jump up to a standing position, then immediately jump up onto a box. Very simple.
  • Do 5 sets of 5 reps with 30-45 seconds rest between sets. Execute the reps as fast as possible with good form.
  • Take 3 minutes to rest and do some ab work – maybe some fold-ups or something.
  • Do another 5 sets of 5 reps.
  • Finish up with 3 more minutes of abs.

Stretch for 3-5 minutes.

HIIT workout complete!

Watch the Prone to Box Jumps video below.

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The Very Best HIIT Routines for Fat Loss and Fitness

Sunday, May 6th, 2012
Male Sprinter

If you want a debriefing on my most recent stance on endurance cardio versus high intensity intervals, check out this post:

High Intensity Intervals are Far Superior to Endurance Cardio

Once you understand how useful HIIT training is for fat loss, read about the following routines that you can use to burn fat and get in awesome cardiovascular shape.

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Common Myths About Sculpting Your Abs

Saturday, April 28th, 2012
Bruce Lees's ripped abs

How to Build a Ripped Midsection

Frustrated? Tired? Upset? Ready for change? If you’re answering all of these questions with a loud YES from your living room, then you are in good company. And that’s why I keep writing these pieces, honestly — there’s a lot of frustration going on.

I look down at a body in progress and I think about everyone else doing the same. Are we on track? Are we falling off the mark? It just depends on your goals. But if you’re dreaming of abs, dreaming of a nicely sculpted body from top to bottom, then you need this guide too.

I know that it’s time to think differently about the way we work out, but in order to start down that path, you have to know what you’re up against.

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For Extreme Fat Loss Check out Intermittent Fasting

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

I have always been a big supporter of eating breakfast and eating frequent, small meals all day long. Both for fat loss and for muscle gain. That is, until a year ago when I started investigating Intermittent Fasting and Martin Berkhan’s Leangains protocol, Jon Pearlstone’s EET, and the ‘Eat. Stop. Eat.’ plan.

Since I started believing in the Intermittent Fasting hype, I have learned so much more about the benefits of IF, and I use the strategy pretty much every day. It is unusual for me to eat before noon or 1pm, and my most productive time of day is pre-meal.

Aside from IF and sporadic gym training, I’m not actively trying to lose weight, yet I’ve lost about 15 pounds in the last year while keeping my strength level. I haven’t decided whether or not IF is best for muscle gain, but you can’t beat it for fat loss.

Here are some links you can check out for more info about Intermittent Fasting:

4 Reasons Why You Should Start Skipping Breakfast
Eating the ‘Most Important Meal of the Day’ Will Make You Fat
Leangains
EET Fit

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Transitioning From Cutting Phase to Lean Mass Phase

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Lean Woman

Transitioning from bulking to cutting can be complicated. Most often, the transition is done improperly and we end up either losing precious muscle mass during a cut or gaining too much fat during a bulk. I’ve been there and so have you, don’t kid yourself.

When switching from cut to bulk, we might overestimate the rate at which we can gain muscle, which results from a lack of knowledge about the human physiological response to dieting. Some inexperienced bodybuilders might make an immediate switch from a strict diet to free eating, which results in the immediate reversal of any recent diet progress.

Of course strategies will differ dependent on the individual, but the basic concept should remain the same. You will have to accept that your first couple attempts at bulking will result in either very little muscle gain or unnecessary fat gain. It is all a matter of trial and error.

Let’s examine a couple different diet transition strategies.

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How to Use the Intermittent Fasting Method Eat. Stop. Eat.

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

How to Drop Weight If You Are Tired of Restrictive Diets

Eat Stop Eat

If you’ve had trouble following your current diet plan, you might do well with a diet that is tracked on a weekly basis.

It’s hard to follow a strict diet plan every day. The demands of most popular diets require users to keep a log of everything they consume and keep constant track of calories – and many times, people fail at their diets because they don’t fee like they’re able to keep up with all the details. Constantly monitoring caloric intake is simply too tedious for most individuals.

Strict Diets Often End in Failure

Here’s an illustration: An article published in the International Journal of Obesity in 2007 shared the results of a study of several diet plans with strict calorie tracking requirements. The study gathered 311 overweight females and randomly placed each of them on either the Atkins Diet, the Zone Diet, the Ornish Diet, or the LEARN Diet.

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