People who go on a diet do so for a few main reasons: to lose weight, to improve their overall well-being or both.Many people who diet for weight loss fail to lose weight or, if they do lose, fail to maintain the weight they lost.

As any fitness expert will tell you, losing weight comes down to two main factors: consuming less calories and exercising. This is so true that if someone significantly increases the amount of exercise they do but maintains the same caloric intake, they will almost certainly lose weight anyway. Forget all that you’ve heard about fad dieting – the safest and smartest way to lose weight is through combining diet with exercise.

One of the best forms of exercise to perform if you are trying to lose weight is strength training. Contrary to what you may think, strength training may be more important than aerobic exercise for weight loss because although it increases muscle tissue, strength training burns more fat than aerobic exercise. Of course, this is not to say that people who are overweight should not perform aerobic exercise – as aerobic exercise has its place in any exercise routine. However, strength training should also be included in your routine as well.

Many people – particularly women, shy away from strength training exercise as they think that strength training will cause them to “bulk up” and look unnatural. The image that many people have about strength training is probably an unrealistic one for most people. Unless you are a serious bodybuilder, you will probably not gain the amount of muscles mass that most bodybuilders have. It is important to emphasize, therefore, that if you are trying to lose weight, strength training exercise will help you to maintain the lean muscle mass that you already have underneath your body fat while you are in the process of losing weight. In the end what you will have is a greater proportion of lean body mass to body fat. This means you will be thinner but you will have the muscle and strength that you had when you were overweight.

Unfortunately, many people who go on rapid weight loss programs will usually lose a good deal of their muscle mass along with the fat they lose. It’s important to note that a significant loss of muscle mass can lead not only to lowered metabolism and a loss of bone density as well.

Conversely, strength training exercise will not only speed up the rate at which you lose weight, it has numerous other health benefits as well, including:

1) Builds and strengthens your bones – which protects you from osteoporosis

2) Increases your endurance – giving you more energy for your activities

3) Tones and sculpts your muscles – giving you a better looking physique

4) Increases your self-confidence – the better you look the better you feel!

If you are considering beginning a strength training program, don’t think, however, that you need to workout in a gym for hours at a time to get the benefit that strength training offers. Significant benefits can be gotten with consistent workouts lasting about 30 minutes each time and performed 2 -3 times per week. An easy way to begin is to train with simple weights in your home.

The most important thing you will need to keep in mind about weight loss is if you want to lose weight effectively and keep it off, including some form of strength training exercise in your routine is essential not only to your overall weight loss program but also to your general health and well-being and the way that you age as well.

Furthermore, by combining strength training exercise and taking full control of your eating habits, you will begin to lose weight the best way possible – safely and steadily.

Contrary to what you may think, strength training may be more important than aerobic exercise for weight loss because although it increases muscle tissue, strength training burns more fat than aerobic exercise.

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First of all, you do not need to lose weight to have a great body, you only need to convert that body fat to muscle tissue and you would have a body that people would be envious of.So, how do you get this god-like body when you are fairly or even slightly overweight? Furthermore, I’m not talking about building a body like those of professional body builders. I’m talking about building a nice, toned, and healthy body.

So, how do you do this without losing weight? First, the same weight in muscle tissue is much smaller than the same weight in fat tissue. Another way of putting it is… let’s say you have one pound of fat tissue and one pound of muscle tissue side by side for comparison. The muscle tissue is much denser and much smaller in size than the fat tissue. Some numbers I’ve seen is that muscle is 18% denser than fat tissue and another number is that fat tissue of the same weight of muscle is 3 times as large. Years ago when I went to the gym, there was a model mockup of this comparison at the personal trainers counter. I do not remember the numbers that model mentioned, only that it talked about the same issue.

Now let us get to the part that most of you want to know, how to achieve this. Do you lift weights to build the muscle or do cardio exercises to burn off the fat? The answer is a bit of both. Many guys I know only weight lift and find themselves gaining weight without looking any better. The reason for this is that they are building muscle but they are building it underneath the fat tissues, so technically, they are not burning off the fat tissue as fast as gaining muscle tissue. For some reason, most guys do not think about doing cardio type exercises but these are the best exercises to do to burn off the fat.

The best way to achieve these results is to do a mixture of weight training and cardio exercises. For weight training, 1 to 2 sets of 12 to 15 reps will suffice for each body part. You do not need to do heavy weight training, just enough weight to exercise the muscle and it’s important to do both the upper body and lower body during the same session. Most weight lifters will alternate with doing the upper body one day, then the lower body the next day. We’re not going for the same results so I suggest one day of a full body workout in weight training, then the next day doing nothing but cardio. Usually, the old adage is to do 3 sets of 12 to 15 reps if you are only doing the upper body or the lower body. But, we are doing the whole body in one session so you want to spread out your energy for the whole body by only doing 2 sets for each area.

For cardio workouts, you have a lot of options. The funny thing is that most guys don’t want to be caught doing aerobics even though that is one good cardio workout. The other options are swimming, boxing, and any other non-conventional aerobic type exercises. Basically, the goal of cardio exercises is to work the whole body with little to no resistance and get the heart pumping. Have you ever seen an overweight water polo player? No! By swimming laps, you work the whole body. It’s like doing weight training with very little weight and reps that count into the hundreds, if not thousands. This doesn’t build big muscles but it will burn off the fat very well.

So why not just do cardio to burn off the fat? Well, do you want to look skinny or toned with a bit of muscle?

If you are only fairly to slightly overweight, you do not need to lose those extra 20 to 50 pounds to look great. All you need to do is convert those fat weight to muscle weight.

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There are a lot of people who would give a lot to increase their metabolism.Having a high level of metabolism enables one to maintain burn fat and lose weight fast with the least amount of activity. Metabolism is the rate by which the body produces and consumes energy and calories to support life.

There are several factors that affect the metabolism of a person, such as the amount of muscle tissue, the frequency of the meals one consumes, genetics, stress levels, personal diet and activity levels. Metabolism slows down due to the following: loss of muscle because of not enough physical activity, the tendency of the body to cannibalize its own tissue because there is not enough food energy to sustain it, and the decrease of physical activity that comes naturally with old age.

Here are several ways to fire up one’s metabolism:

1. Build up on lean, mean body mass. It is only natural that metabolism decreases along with age, but it is possible to counter the effects. The amount of muscle a person has is a very strong determinant in the ability to burn calories and shed fat. So it goes without saying that exercise is essential. Build strength and resistance by working out at least twice a week, preferably with weights. Do easy exercises in between workouts. Simple tasks such as walking the dog and using the stairs in place of the elevator can already take off calories. The key is to match the amount of eating to the amount of activity one has. Here are some guidelines in getting the right exercise:

For Strength Training

a. Increase the amount of repetitions of a particular exercise.

b. Add the level of resistance

c. Utilize advance exercise techniques if possible

For Cardiovascular Training

a. Insert intervals between exercises

b. Perform cross-training and combine the exercises

c. Add up on resistance and speed

2. Eat breakfast. A lot of people are ignoring the fact that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Surprisingly, the ones who eat breakfast are thinner than the ones who do not. Metabolism can slow down considerably if breakfast is taken during mid-morning or if one waits until the afternoon to eat.

3. Avoid sugar. Sugar enables the body to store fat. It is recommended that a person consumes food that helps sustain an even level of blood-sugar. Additionally, progressive execerise 2-3 times a week should be in order to stabilize blood sugar.

4. Eat spicy foods. Hot cuisine with peppers can increase metabolism.

5. Sleep more. According to research, it is riskier for people who do not get enough sleep to gain weight. Also, muscles are regenerated during the last couple of hours of slumber.

6. Increase water intake. Water flushes out toxins that are produced whenever the body burns fat. Majority of bodily functions involves water, and lack of water causes the body system’s operations to decrease its speed, and produces unneeded stress as a result.

7. Eat smaller meals. It is advisable to consume 4 to 6 small meals that are timed 2 to 3 hours apart.

8. Never skip meals. People tend to skip meals in order to lose weight, which is a big mistake since it slows down metabolism.

9. Plan meals in detail. Always prepare the right amount of food to be consumed at the designated intervals. Do not commit the mistake of eating meals in sporadic patterns.

10. Ditch the stress! Stress, be it physical or emotional, triggers the release of a steroid called cortisol, which decreases metabolism. Also, people tend to eat excessively when stressed.

11. Guzzle up on green tea. It can be used as a substitute for coffee. Tea has the ability to stimulate metabolism, and unlike coffee, it has no undesirable side effects when too much is consumed.

12. Include more energy foods in the diet, such as fruits and vegetables, beans and whole grains.

Achieving the desired body weight is never impossible if one has the determination and patience needed to stabilize the metabolism level, which plays an important role in weight loss. A person needs to realize that eating right and working out is not just a passing fancy, but a way of life.

Tips on how to boost your metabolism. This will help you feel better, lose weight, and live a more fulfilling life.

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Cortisol is secreted by the adrenal glands and is actually important for the regulation of blood pressure, the immune system and many other functions.  Cortisol can be good in small amounts but high levels can lead to an increase of abdominal fat, which can lead to heart attacks, strokes and can also increase your bad cholesterol levels and decrease your good cholesterol levels. 

High levels of cortisol can also decrease your bone density, leading to osteoporosis and loss of muscle tissue, which will also slow down your metabolic rate, and it can also increase your blood pressure along with other problems.

Each of you will react differently to stress; some of you will produce more cortisol to a particular stress while others will produce less.  It has been found that those of you that produce more cortisol will actually eat more food as well, in particular carbohydrates.

What you need to do to combat producing too much cortisol is to learn ways to relax and also to maybe change your lifestyle.

Relaxation can be achieved in a number of ways either by exercising, mediation, yoga or breathing to start with.

Maybe one of the easiest and simplest ways is breathing.  This is done by gently breathing in through the nose, gently expanding your abdomen and then gently expelling the air through your nose pulling in your abdomen at the same time.  Whilst breathing out the air you need to focus on that breath.   After several breaths in and out you should start to feel yourself relax.  You need to practice doing this exercise a few minutes a day to start with building up to five minutes in the end.  You can also practice this when you are feeling stressed or when things are getting on top of you.  Just a few minutes can slow your body down and help it to feel relax.

Life style changes can be like changing your eating habits for a healthier diet, getting enough sleep, or even organizing your time more efficiently so that you do not feel so stressed.  Also looking after your body will help your body to cope with stresses that you come across during your day.

So if you are exercising frequently and eating properly but still not losing any weight especially from around the middle then maybe you are suffering from high levels of cortisol caused by stress.  Look at ways to solve the problem and hopefully then you should see a difference in your weight and around your middle.  Women’s Health and Fitness

Shannon Spoon has been a long time fitness and health promoter. Being someone who knows how to lose weight and keep it off. He enjoys article writing, social networking and is the proud dad of a 12 year old daughter.
http://quickweightlossonline.info

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