According to an article in New York Magazine exercise on its own does not help you lose weight. Exercise brings about many benefits but if you are thinking of joining a gym to lose the extra pounds, it won’t work unless you watch what you eat, drink, how much and when! Reducing processed, sugary and fatty foods on the other hand will reduce insulin production and thus help you reduce your weight.The American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine recently published joint guidelines for physical activity and health. They suggested that 30 minutes of moderate physical activity five days a week is necessary to “promote and maintain health.” What they didn’t say, though, was that more physical activity will lead us to lose weight. Indeed, the best they could say about the relationship between fat and exercise was this: “It is reasonable to assume that persons with relatively high daily energy expenditures would be less likely to gain weight over time, compared with those who have low energy expenditures. So far, data to support this hypothesis are not particularly compelling.” In other words, despite half a century of efforts to prove otherwise, scientists still can’t say that exercise will help keep off the pounds.
to lose one pound a week, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities. That’s about 500 calories a day that you need to either cut out or burn with exercise”
If you want to lose weight, it is simple maths — to lose one pound a week, you must burn approximately 3500 calories over and above what you already burn doing daily activities. That’s about 500 calories a day that you need to either cut out or burn with exercise. Be Warned! Skipping meals doesn’t count, just slows down your metabolism. If you skip let’s say Breakfast, or decrease your calories significantly (to less than 1000 calories a day), you’re not helping your body lose weight. You’re actually decreasing the rate of your metabolism. You go into “starvation mode” where the body tries to compensate for the low calories. Your metabolic rate can actually decrease as much as 10-15%, and your body will hold onto the fat and burn lean muscle instead. Skipping a meal also makes you really hungry, so when you do go to eat your next meal, you’ll probably end up overeating, which also won’t help you lose weight. Try to reduce your daily caloric intake by 250 calories and burn the other 250 calories by working out. Try passing on that extra slice of pizza at lunchtime, and take a walk.
Clean Eating
There is no fitness goal which you can achieve without first cleaning up your diet. Changing your diet is one of the biggest challenges when faced with improving ones health and losing weight. A majority of people are used to eating highly processed foods on a regular basis and breaking away from that can be difficult. The good news is, it isn’t impossible and once you make it a habit to eat clean, it becomes a part of your life. In a nutshell, eating clean is the practice of eating whole, natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates. It also means staying away from the junk that typically makes up the Standard British Diet. These types of food include man-made sugar, bad fats (hydrogenated, trans-fat), preservatives, white bread, and any other ingredients that are unnecessary. An easy way to remember if a food is clean is: “if man made it, don’t eat it.”
A person that eats clean generally practices the following:
- Eliminates refined sugar
- Cooks healthy meals
- Packs healthy meals
- Makes healthy choices when dining out
- Drinks a lot of water
- Eats 5-6 small meals per day
- Eliminates alcoholic beverages (or significantly limits it)
- Always eats breakfast
Eating clean can be a major transition for a majority of people due to addictions to sugar, white bread, and fast food. It takes discipline in order to make eating clean a habit but it is possible and has so many long-term health benefits.
Cardio Exercise:
Cardio exercise is just one of the things you need in your weight loss toolbox. The trouble is figuring out how much you need, how hard to work and the best cardio exercises. Your first step in setting up an effective cardio program is to learn just what it can do for your body.
The truth is, there really is no best cardio exercise. The best activity is the one you’ll do on a regular basis. So, finding something you like is critical to reaching your weight loss goals. That said, some exercises offer more intensity than others.
To get an idea of just how much cardio can do for you, check out the following list of common exercises. Below is the number of calories burned for a 150-pound person in 30 minutes:
- Step aerobics: 340 calories
- Stationary bike: 238 calories
- Swimming: 270 calories
- Walking 4 mph: 170 calories
- Running 5 mph: 270 calories
- Mowing the lawn with a push mower: 200 calories
As you can see, everything from walking to cutting the grass can burn a significant number of calories, which is one reason cardio is so important for losing weight.
It’s tough to know exactly how much cardio we need for weight loss. The American College of Sports Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend about 60 minutes of moderate- to vigorous-intensity activity on most days of the week. But, the truth is, how much cardio you need varies from person to person and depends factors such as:
- How many calories you eat
- How hard you exercise
- Your metabolism, age and gender
- Your fitness level
- Your body fat percentage and weight
- Your exercise schedule
That said, there are some tips for setting up an effective cardio program:
If you’re a beginner, start with 3 to 4 days of the cardio exercise of your choice, working at a level you can handle.
Add time each week to work your way up to 30 to 45 minutes of continuous exercise.
As you get stronger, try interval training once a week to help boost endurance and burn more calories.
Work your way up to 5 to 6 days of cardio and try to vary what you do and how hard you work.
Positive Thinking
If you want to be thin, picture yourself thin. Visualize your future self, six months to a year down the road, and think of how good you’ll look and feel without the extra pounds. Dig up old photographs of your thinner self and put them in a place as a reminder of what you are working toward. Ask yourself what you did back then that you could incorporate into your lifestyle today. Think about activities you would like, clothes you would like to wear but can’t because of your weight!
Keep that image strongly in your mind when the going get though! Think about how good it will feel to succeed rather than focusing on what you think you are giving up! In no time you will have formed new healthy habits and lost weight!
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