Ever notice the color-coded exercise "zones" listed on cardio machines?
There's a "fat burning" zone, an "endurance training" zone, and so forth. The colors look nice, but how many times have you chosen the "fat burning" zone and watched as your fat stayed put? That's because fat-burning programs keep you at a lower intensity level, when to lose weight you really need to burn big calories. That only happens when you exercise at a higher-intensity level.
Let's look at the math. In a half hour of low-intensity exercise, you might burn 100 calories. Of those 100 calories, roughly 80 percent will be fat calories, meaning that you've burned 80 fat calories. In a half hour of high-intensity exercise, you might burn 300 calories. Of those 300 calories, roughly 33 percent will be fat calories, meaning that you've burned around 100 fat calories.
Get it? Even though the percentage of fat calories burned is higher during a low-intensity workout, you're burning so many more total calories during a high-intensity workout that, percentages aside, you are still burning more fat calories — not to mention the 200 additional carb calories.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Three Easy Ways to Make Healthy Meals
Three Easy Ways to Make Healthy Meals
Okay, I don't pretend to be the world's greatest cook, but here's the thing: Most healthy cooking methods are so easy even I can do them. And if I can do it, you can do it. So drop the excuses, get into the kitchen for just a few minutes, and whip up something that's good for you. Here are some ideas.
Break out the grill. It's official: Grilling season has begun. Chicken, beef, turkey burgers, and meaty fish like salmon are all great when cooked on the grill. While you're at it, throw on some marinated vegetables — like eggplant, zucchini, and peppers — and you'll have a healthy side dish. If you don't have an outdoor grill, no problem — you can get almost the same results with a grill pan on the stove top, or with your oven's broiler.
Steam some veggies. If you grew up hating vegetables, I'm guessing it's because the cook in your house boiled them lifeless. Steaming is a much better way to cook vegetables because it preserves more of their nutrients, and it's much easier to test their doneness so you don't overcook them. Asparagus, broccoli, carrots, and green beans are just a few examples of veggies that steam in just a few minutes. If you don't have a steamer, simply place your veggies in a metal colander and put the colander in a pot with an inch or two of water in it. Turn the heat high to bring the water to a boil, and cover the colander with the pot's lid. After a few minutes, test the vegetables with a fork to see if they're done.
Use a slow cooker. Before you head to work in the morning, throw some organic chicken, organic veggies, and water or low-sodium organic chicken broth into a slow cooker and switch it on. When you get home, a healthy stew will be waiting for you. It just doesn't get any easier!
Okay, I don't pretend to be the world's greatest cook, but here's the thing: Most healthy cooking methods are so easy even I can do them. And if I can do it, you can do it. So drop the excuses, get into the kitchen for just a few minutes, and whip up something that's good for you. Here are some ideas.
Break out the grill. It's official: Grilling season has begun. Chicken, beef, turkey burgers, and meaty fish like salmon are all great when cooked on the grill. While you're at it, throw on some marinated vegetables — like eggplant, zucchini, and peppers — and you'll have a healthy side dish. If you don't have an outdoor grill, no problem — you can get almost the same results with a grill pan on the stove top, or with your oven's broiler.
Steam some veggies. If you grew up hating vegetables, I'm guessing it's because the cook in your house boiled them lifeless. Steaming is a much better way to cook vegetables because it preserves more of their nutrients, and it's much easier to test their doneness so you don't overcook them. Asparagus, broccoli, carrots, and green beans are just a few examples of veggies that steam in just a few minutes. If you don't have a steamer, simply place your veggies in a metal colander and put the colander in a pot with an inch or two of water in it. Turn the heat high to bring the water to a boil, and cover the colander with the pot's lid. After a few minutes, test the vegetables with a fork to see if they're done.
Use a slow cooker. Before you head to work in the morning, throw some organic chicken, organic veggies, and water or low-sodium organic chicken broth into a slow cooker and switch it on. When you get home, a healthy stew will be waiting for you. It just doesn't get any easier!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Carb Cycling: The Fat Loss Plateau Buster
High carbs, low carbs, moderate carbs – depending on who you talk to, you will likely hear one of these recommendations being touted as the optimal approach to maximum fat loss. So what's the truth? The truth of the matter is that there is really no one best way. Each of the above methods has been used by countless people – from bodybuilding and fitness competitors all the way to your every day gym rat – and used successfully at that. In actuality, how many carbs you are eating is not the key determinant of your fat loss progress; calories are. More on that later though. The key to successful fat loss is paying attention to your body, following a plan designed for your body and making the necessary adjustments to your program as your body changes. With that said, a nutritional strategy that includes both carbohydrate and calorie cycling in a structured plan built around your training program could be just what you're looking for. Let's take a closer look at this carbohydrate issue first.
Truth be told, there are benefits to having a fair amount of carbs in your diet and there are benefits to keeping them low. So why not use both strategies? Rather than choosing one or the other, why not get the benefits of both by cycling your carbohydrate and caloric intake throughout the week? By cycling your carb intake you get the best of both worlds. Assuming you keep your protein and fat intakes relatively constant, and only manipulate your carb intake, you are automatically cycling calories as well. The first benefit to doing so is that it keeps your body from adapting to what you are doing. Your body will always try to adapt to what you’re doing and the further you move away from your natural set point, the harder your body is going to try to pull you right back. This is just in part related to the regulatory hormone, leptin.
Leptin levels are related to things like insulin, your caloric intake and your current level of body fat. Think of it as one of the big “fat-loss decision makers”. The leaner you are the lower your circulating levels of leptin are going to be. Under more normal circumstances, higher body fat, maintenance caloric intake, etc., leptin levels are higher. However, while on sub-maintenance calories, and particularly on low-carb diets where circulating insulin levels are low, leptin levels drop and they can drop quickly. Decreased leptin levels cause a cascade of other regulatory changes, namely a decrease in thyroid output and metabolic rate, as well as an increase in catabolic hormone activity and appetite. In an attempt to become more efficient, your body will try to adapt to make your newly lowered caloric intake its new maintenance intake; that is, it will make the necessary changes needed to do the same amount of work on less energy. Unfortunately, this usually means having to continuously lower calories to maintain fat-loss progress, which inevitably makes it very hard to hold onto all your hard-earned muscle. None of this sounds too good does it? There has to be a better way, and there is. Planned and structured days of high calories and high carbohydrates may help with this.
As previously mentioned, there are benefits to both low-carb intakes and to high-carb intakes. When carb intake is drastically reduced you create a temporarily greater caloric deficit. In addition, low-carb intakes result in decreased levels of circulating insulin, increased levels of the fat-burning catecholamines and therefore a much heightened rate of fat oxidation. Quite simply, when insulin levels are low, you create an environment in which fat is more likely to be used for energy. Low muscle glycogen, as a result of decreased carbohydrate intake, obviously results in depleted muscles, but there are benefits to this as well. Low muscle glycogen tends to promote a higher rate of free fatty acid burning. Result? More fat loss.
On the flip side however, most people do not enjoy eating few carbs for very long. While there are clearly benefits to doing so, there are other things that need to be considered. Chronic low-carb intake can actually impair insulin sensitivity and promote insulin resistance. As already noted, low-carb intakes result in overly flat, depleted muscles and gym performance typically suffers. Throw in a day of high carbs and your muscles fill out, you find yourself more vascular, your workouts are great, and you look and feel much better. There is also research to support the fact that these higher-carb/calorie days may stimulate leptin production, which as we already noted is an important player in the fat-loss game. Carbohydrates are also very protein sparing – meaning they prevent protein from being oxidized as fuel – which is of paramount importance when retaining all your hard-earned muscle is a priority.
In addition to the numerous physiological factors, there are psychological variables that need to be taken into consideration as well. How you feel on a diet is arguably just as important to your progress as any other variable. There are not too many people that enjoy looking flat and depleted all the time. And lets not forget one of the reasons most people can appreciate – carbohydrates simply taste good.
To recap, in order to take advantage of the benefits of both higher and lower carb intakes, we want to fluctuate our carb intake from high to low throughout the training week. The simplest way to set this is to just cycle your carbohydrates and calories according to your weekly training schedule. For example, assuming four workouts per week, you might have your high days on your two big workouts, medium days on your two easier workouts, and low days on your off days.
PRACTICAL STEPS There is no one best way to cycle carbs or calories. In fact, there are many, many different permutations that can be used successfully. Here is just one example that you could use as a template. Feel free to tweak it to suit your needs if necessary.
First off is caloric intake. Determine all the macronutrient totals (protein, carbs, fat, and calories) for the medium day and then just let the carbohydrate intake change the calories for the high and low days. So, assume the medium day is a standard dieting day. As an aside, but a valuable note to keep in mind, there are many different calorie equations you can use – however be aware that they all have the potential to be off by as much as 20%. So for the sake of simplicity you could just assume maintenance to be approximately 15x total bodyweight and subtract 20-25% to create a healthy caloric deficit. Remember, if you are not progressing based on your caloric intake, simply adjust it up or down until progress resumes. Next up is protein. I am sure we are all in agreement that we need to eat sufficient amounts of protein when trying to lose fat and maintain muscle, so set it anywhere from 1.0-1.5g/lb of bodyweight and split it up evenly throughout the day. You are going to have three carbohydrate intakes – one for high days, one for medium days, and one for low days. Carbohydrate intake for the medium days is going to be set at 1.0g/lb of bodyweight. So now we know our calories, our protein and our carbs. All that remains is to figure out how much fat we’re to eat. In this case, fat simply serves as a caloric ballast. Simply make up the rest of your calories from fat. Your protein and fat intake from these days will stay constant throughout all three days. On your high carb days, set your carb intake at 2.0g/lb of bodyweight and finally for your low days it is going to be minimal as you’re only eating fibrous vegetables; no starch type carbs at all.
Remember the truth of the matter is that there is no one best method for fat loss. Carbohydrate and calorie cycling is just one logical and effective way of approaching it. Many who opt for this kind of approach find it very easy to follow as you get a few days a week where you get to eat some fun carbs, and like I said, who doesn’t like eating carbs?
Article Source: http://physicalfitnessarticles.net
Truth be told, there are benefits to having a fair amount of carbs in your diet and there are benefits to keeping them low. So why not use both strategies? Rather than choosing one or the other, why not get the benefits of both by cycling your carbohydrate and caloric intake throughout the week? By cycling your carb intake you get the best of both worlds. Assuming you keep your protein and fat intakes relatively constant, and only manipulate your carb intake, you are automatically cycling calories as well. The first benefit to doing so is that it keeps your body from adapting to what you are doing. Your body will always try to adapt to what you’re doing and the further you move away from your natural set point, the harder your body is going to try to pull you right back. This is just in part related to the regulatory hormone, leptin.
Leptin levels are related to things like insulin, your caloric intake and your current level of body fat. Think of it as one of the big “fat-loss decision makers”. The leaner you are the lower your circulating levels of leptin are going to be. Under more normal circumstances, higher body fat, maintenance caloric intake, etc., leptin levels are higher. However, while on sub-maintenance calories, and particularly on low-carb diets where circulating insulin levels are low, leptin levels drop and they can drop quickly. Decreased leptin levels cause a cascade of other regulatory changes, namely a decrease in thyroid output and metabolic rate, as well as an increase in catabolic hormone activity and appetite. In an attempt to become more efficient, your body will try to adapt to make your newly lowered caloric intake its new maintenance intake; that is, it will make the necessary changes needed to do the same amount of work on less energy. Unfortunately, this usually means having to continuously lower calories to maintain fat-loss progress, which inevitably makes it very hard to hold onto all your hard-earned muscle. None of this sounds too good does it? There has to be a better way, and there is. Planned and structured days of high calories and high carbohydrates may help with this.
As previously mentioned, there are benefits to both low-carb intakes and to high-carb intakes. When carb intake is drastically reduced you create a temporarily greater caloric deficit. In addition, low-carb intakes result in decreased levels of circulating insulin, increased levels of the fat-burning catecholamines and therefore a much heightened rate of fat oxidation. Quite simply, when insulin levels are low, you create an environment in which fat is more likely to be used for energy. Low muscle glycogen, as a result of decreased carbohydrate intake, obviously results in depleted muscles, but there are benefits to this as well. Low muscle glycogen tends to promote a higher rate of free fatty acid burning. Result? More fat loss.
On the flip side however, most people do not enjoy eating few carbs for very long. While there are clearly benefits to doing so, there are other things that need to be considered. Chronic low-carb intake can actually impair insulin sensitivity and promote insulin resistance. As already noted, low-carb intakes result in overly flat, depleted muscles and gym performance typically suffers. Throw in a day of high carbs and your muscles fill out, you find yourself more vascular, your workouts are great, and you look and feel much better. There is also research to support the fact that these higher-carb/calorie days may stimulate leptin production, which as we already noted is an important player in the fat-loss game. Carbohydrates are also very protein sparing – meaning they prevent protein from being oxidized as fuel – which is of paramount importance when retaining all your hard-earned muscle is a priority.
In addition to the numerous physiological factors, there are psychological variables that need to be taken into consideration as well. How you feel on a diet is arguably just as important to your progress as any other variable. There are not too many people that enjoy looking flat and depleted all the time. And lets not forget one of the reasons most people can appreciate – carbohydrates simply taste good.
To recap, in order to take advantage of the benefits of both higher and lower carb intakes, we want to fluctuate our carb intake from high to low throughout the training week. The simplest way to set this is to just cycle your carbohydrates and calories according to your weekly training schedule. For example, assuming four workouts per week, you might have your high days on your two big workouts, medium days on your two easier workouts, and low days on your off days.
PRACTICAL STEPS There is no one best way to cycle carbs or calories. In fact, there are many, many different permutations that can be used successfully. Here is just one example that you could use as a template. Feel free to tweak it to suit your needs if necessary.
First off is caloric intake. Determine all the macronutrient totals (protein, carbs, fat, and calories) for the medium day and then just let the carbohydrate intake change the calories for the high and low days. So, assume the medium day is a standard dieting day. As an aside, but a valuable note to keep in mind, there are many different calorie equations you can use – however be aware that they all have the potential to be off by as much as 20%. So for the sake of simplicity you could just assume maintenance to be approximately 15x total bodyweight and subtract 20-25% to create a healthy caloric deficit. Remember, if you are not progressing based on your caloric intake, simply adjust it up or down until progress resumes. Next up is protein. I am sure we are all in agreement that we need to eat sufficient amounts of protein when trying to lose fat and maintain muscle, so set it anywhere from 1.0-1.5g/lb of bodyweight and split it up evenly throughout the day. You are going to have three carbohydrate intakes – one for high days, one for medium days, and one for low days. Carbohydrate intake for the medium days is going to be set at 1.0g/lb of bodyweight. So now we know our calories, our protein and our carbs. All that remains is to figure out how much fat we’re to eat. In this case, fat simply serves as a caloric ballast. Simply make up the rest of your calories from fat. Your protein and fat intake from these days will stay constant throughout all three days. On your high carb days, set your carb intake at 2.0g/lb of bodyweight and finally for your low days it is going to be minimal as you’re only eating fibrous vegetables; no starch type carbs at all.
Remember the truth of the matter is that there is no one best method for fat loss. Carbohydrate and calorie cycling is just one logical and effective way of approaching it. Many who opt for this kind of approach find it very easy to follow as you get a few days a week where you get to eat some fun carbs, and like I said, who doesn’t like eating carbs?
Article Source: http://physicalfitnessarticles.net
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Fast Food Dilemma - How Eating Junk Food Effects Your Body & Health
Fast Food Dilemma - How Eating Junk Food Effects Your Body & Health
There is something to be said about fast food being more convenient then healthy food that helps you be thin. I will give you that. But wait, how about this. Convenient when? It is definitely convenient now. How about later, when you don't have enough energy to do anything but go to sleep? Or when you cannot focus because all you feel like doing is taking a nap. Or is it more convenient when you have indigestion and heartburn and don't feel like doing anything?
We live in a world of now. A world of cause and effect. But the problem is that most people only look at immediate cause and immediate effect. Not fully realizing the body does not work on an instantaneous process. If you put something in your mouth, it can take hours to process the food, even days if your system is not working so good. So when people get heart burn, or are tired, or get headaches they often miss the fact that it may have been something other than what happened immediately before.
You cannot "save time". You can only spend it wisely. And no matter how convenient it may seem at the time, food that is "fast" never saves you time in the long run. This is also a little trick that is interesting and works everywhere in your life. The solution to why it seems like there is never "enough time." It is because we falsely believe we are doing things that save time. Almost everything you do to "save time" only ends up costing you more time. If you eat fast food because you are in a rush, you will lose at least double the time later you supposedly saved.
How much time is wasted because you have no energy to do what you want at the end of the day? How much time is wasted because you don't feel like doing anything? How much time do you spend not feeling ready to go? How much time do you spend being unproductive because of brain fog? These are the type of things that your body does when you eat fast food to "save time". And these are only the semi-immediate effects. Later in life your body starts doing all kinds of things that slow you down and don't allow you to do everything you want. This is in a large part due to what you put into your body. Because as you remember, if you try and build a brick house with rocks and stones, sooner or later will fall.
Eat This Food In Place of Junk Food - Sweet Potato
The sweet potato, a root vegetable, is an excellent source of vitamin A and vitamin C, two very powerful antioxidants that eliminate free radicals in the body.
Antioxidants also reduce the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancer.
The sweet potato is the richest low-fat source of vitamin E and can help regulate high blood pressure and anemia.
Today's The Day!
Join the ultimate fitness revolution. Beachbody is more than just a great business, it's a healthy lifestyle. See how others are improving their health and lives and showing others to do it as well.
10 Essential Health Tips
10 Essential Health Tips
(The Basics to Practice Every Day)
1. Move More
Make it a daily challenge to find ways to move your body. Climb stairs if given a choice between that and escalators or elevators. Walk your dog; chase your kids; toss balls with friends, mow the lawn. Anything that moves your limbs is not only a fitness tool, it's a stress buster. Think 'move' in small increments of time. It doesn't have to be an hour in the gym or a 45-minute aerobic dance class or tai chi or kickboxing. But that's great when you're up to it. Meanwhile, move more. Thought for the day: Cha, Cha, Cha…. Then do it!
2. Cut Fat
Avoid the obvious such as fried foods, burgers and other fatty meats (i.e. pork, bacon, ham, salami, ribs and sausage). Dairy products such as cheese, cottage cheese, milk and cream should be eaten in low fat versions. Nuts and sandwich meats, mayonnaise, margarine, butter and sauces should be eaten in limited amounts. Most are available in lower fat versions such as substitute butter, fat free cheeses and mayonnaise. Thought for the day: Lean, mean, fat-burning machine…. Then be one!
3. Quit Smoking
The jury is definitely in on this verdict. Ever since 1960 when the Surgeon General announced that smoking was harmful to your health, Americans have been reducing their use of tobacco products that kill. Just recently, we've seen a surge in smoking in adolescents and teens. Could it be the Hollywood influence? It seems the stars in every movie of late smoke cigarettes. Beware. Warn your children of the false romance or 'tough guy' stance of Hollywood smokers. Thought for the day: Give up just one cigarette…. the next one.
4. Reduce Stress
Easier said than done, stress busters come in many forms. Some techniques recommended by experts are to think positive thoughts. Spend 30 minutes a day doing something you like. (i.e.,Soak in a hot tub; walk on the beach or in a park; read a good book; visit a friend; play with your dog; listen to soothing music; watch a funny movie. Get a massage, a facial or a haircut. Meditate. Count to ten before losing your temper or getting aggravated. Avoid difficult people when possible. Thought for the day: When seeing red, think pink clouds….then float on them.
5. Protect Yourself from Pollution
If you can't live in a smog-free environment, at least avoid smoke-filled rooms, high traffic areas, breathing in highway fumes and exercising near busy thoroughfares. Exercise outside when the smog rating is low. Exercise indoors in air conditioning when air quality is good. Plant lots of shrubbery in your yard. It's a good pollution and dirt from the street deterrent. Thought for the day: 'Smoke gets in your eyes'…and your mouth, and your nose and your lungs as do pollutants….hum the tune daily.
6. Wear Your Seat Belt
Statistics show that seat belts add to longevity and help alleviate potential injuries in car crashes. Thought for the day: Buckle down and buckle up.
7. Floss Your Teeth
Recent studies make a direct connection between longevity and teeth flossing. Nobody knows exactly why. Perhaps it's because people who floss tend to be more health conscious than people who don't? Thought for the day: Floss and be your body's boss.
8. Avoid Excessive Drinking
While recent studies show a glass of wine or one drink a day (two for men) can help protect against heart disease, more than that can cause other health problems such as liver and kidney disease and cancer. Thought for the day: A jug of wine should last a long time.
9. Keep a Positive Mental Outlook
There's a definitive connection between living well and healthfully and having a cheerful outlook on life. Thought for the day: You can't be unhappy when you're smiling or singing.
10. Choose Your Parents Well
The link between genetics and health is a powerful one. But just because one or both of your parents died young in ill health doesn't mean you cannot counteract the genetic pool handed you. Thought for the day: Follow these basic tips for healthy living and you can better control your own destiny.
Water Works for Weight Loss
Motivational Quote
"I just love when people say I can’t do something... because all my life people said I wasn’t going to make it." -- Ted Turner
Tip of the Week
Water Works for Weight Loss
Nothing quells the appetite like water, lots and lots of water. Start out with two quart bottles in the morning and carry one with you to work or wherever you go. If you like, divvy up the 64 ounces of water into eight (8-ounce) bottles or four pint (16-ounce) bottles to carry around with you all day. Freeze half of them the night before and they will last all day, even in a hot car. Keep some unfrozen so they will be ready to drink immediately.
Yes. You will have to make more frequent bathroom trips, but it is worth it. Drink your 64 ounces of water before dinner, if possible, so you're not up half the night going to the bathroom.
Water not only fills you up and lessens your appetite, it prevents those "hungry horrors" we all encounter when our blood sugar drops and we reach for cookies, candy, ice cream, fries or other high-calorie treats. Water also flushes out the system, rids the body of bloat and toxins and rosies up the complexion. Now, start splashing.
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