Posts Tagged ‘Calories’

Some strategies to get you on your way to ideal weight…

Lifestyle plays an important role in maintaining an ideal weight. Instead of burning away inches with a single pill, concentrate on these few strategies to have an ideal weight.

Record everything that you are eating
Keeping a record of what you are eating helps in managing your weight. It actually tells you how much you are eating. It can tell you what unhealthy diet you are having in your day to day life. It can motivate you to achieve your goals. Few steps in this are:
- Decide how detailed you want your food journal to be.
- Record everything. Do not even miss the sauces, gravies and even a small thing that you eat.
- Service sizes should be specific while noting them in the food journal.
- Include the time interval and food groups.
- Maintain the food journal for two weeks to get a consistent record.
- Maintain a record of physical activity.
- Every food has a calorie and nutrition content. Keep a knowledge of that.

Be more active
- More calories should be burn than consuming.
- At least 60 minutes of workout daily is necessary to keep yourself active. Workout can be a walk or any other physical activity.
- Exercise will keep the weight off.
- Exercise will also take a large amount of weight off the abdomen.
- Besides walking, some other ways to be active are swimming, dancing or biking.

Goals set should be reasonable
The key to successful weight control is to set goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and track-able. Setting an unrealistic goal will lead to your disappointment. The focus should be on making performance goals rather than outcome goals.

Triggers should be identified
There are always some factors that are responsible for making you overweight. These factors should be identified and accordingly changes should be made.
- You should be honest with what you are eating.
- Sometimes, eating is related to the mood of the person. Identify the cause of eating by:
1. You tend to eat more sweet when you are depressed over something.
2. Is there any kind of pressure which is making you eat more?
3. Is the environment trigger over eating?
Try to do:
- Are you really physically hungry?
- Say no to extra calories.
- Distract yourself from your desire to eat.
- Direct negative energy into a positive energy.

Watch out for foods that you eat
- Reduce the caloric consumption which means choosing the foods wisely.
- Reduce food high in sugar or fat.
- Say no to junk food.
- Favor fruits, vegetables and whole grain products.
- Select foods that are low in energy density.

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Some quick and easy exercise routines….

A toned belly keeps the back healthy. Try pilates or yoga moves that work you ab and back muscles. Kickboxing, running or swimming are all great ab workouts. Always remember not to hold your breath while doing crunches as it can prove to be harmful and increase the blood pressure and heart rate especially during the moves that work on the side muscles.

To improve the coordination, balance and stability, do the following exercises without shoes:
- Spread toes apart like a fan.
- Flex your toes up towards you and then pointing them away.
- Move your foot in circles both clock-wise and anti clock-wise.
- Do toe curls as much as possible and then releasing them.
- With our foot flat on floor, lift the big toe without lifting the other toes and then try to lift little toes but not the big toe. Follow up by keeping your toes and heel on the floor and lifting up the arch of the foot.
- Use the toes on one foot to squeeze a towel on the floor.
- Keep heel in place and drag the towel from side to side.
- Use feet to pick up items and after having a grasp on the item, toss it away from you using your toes and leg.
- Stand with the outside edge of your foot against a wall and push your foot out into the wall. Switch the position so that the inside edge of the foot rests against the wall and push in against the wall.
- Roll a small rubber ball under the sole of your foot to massage it.

Staircases provide a good away to burn off calories in 15 minutes.
- For first 4 minutes, warm up by repeatedly walking up and down one flight of stairs maintaining a steady pace.
- For next two minutes, stand facing stairs. Step right foot to the right side of first stair. Do the same with left foot with left stair. Continue.
- For a minute, squat the jumps. Face the stairs, hop up with both feet and land in a squat. Hold for 2 counts and then jump up to next step.
- For next two minutes, stand with left side facing stairs, left foot on first step. Step right foot in front of left onto second step. Repeat. This is called left side cross steps.
- For next two minutes, stand with right side facing stairs, right foot on first step. Step left foot in front of right onto second step. Repeat. This is called right side cross steps.
- For next two minutes, do some step lunges. Step up two steps with right leg, bending knee 90 degrees into a lunge, bring hands down to touch step in front of you. Stand and repeat with left leg.
- For next two minutes, power walk up and down as fast as you can.

This is a 15 minute routine.

Some equipment to help you:

Quick Fix: Total Cardio Kick

The Best Pilates Core Workout Video

Pilates Workout Routine For Toning Butt ‘n Thighs

YOGA FOR WEIGHT LOSS

20 Minute Weight Loss & Fatburning Yoga Workout

10-Minute Cardio Kickboxing Workout

Walk Around – The best exercise to live a life free of illness and have an ideal body weight

Walking is considered to be the best exercise and medicine for slowing the aging process, reducing the chances of illness and slashing down body fat. Walking is the best no stress, no sweat answer to lifelong conditioning. All you need is a good pair of shoes, a little time, a few guidelines from some fitness expert. Walking has always been one of the best ways to strengthen the bones, control your weight, tone your muscles, maintain a good posture and eventually improve your self image.

- Walking involves almost every muscle of the body. Blood circulation to joints is improved and massages the blood vessels keeping them more elastic.
- Walking helps to maintain efficient metabolism.
- Walking in convenient too as you do not need a gym or any special equipment.
- Weight loss from low calorie and especially low carbohydrate diet consist mostly of water and muscle. When the weight returns, it comes back as fat. To avoid getting fatter over time, you must increase your metabolism by exercising daily.
- Walk at a steady and brisk pace as it burns more fat because it burns more calories. Increase your pace over time.
- To lose weight, it is ideal to alternate the walking sessions between high intensity and lower intensity days. Walk on the first day with a steady and moderate pace. Increase your speed the following day. You can also break up your walk with some sets of squats, lunges, bench push ups or other body weight exercises to make it a real cardiovascular and muscle blaster of a workout.
- Make walking a fun and keep it up consistently.
- Slow and casual walking has benefits but you will not get as much out of walking at a very slow pace because we all have a built in mechanical advantage for walking long distances at normal speeds.
- Always walk after each meal. It prevents from building up of fat.
- Climbing two flights of stairs a day burns off half a pound of body fat in a year.