Exercise and Fat Loss – Effective Steps to Successful Fat Loss

by: Michael Lee

Exercise and fat loss may not be as easy as some advertisements claim it to be; oftentimes, you don’t reap the fruits of your labor until much time and effort has been exerted. However, by knowing and applying a few simple exercise and fat loss principles, you will not only lose stubborn fat effectively, but you’ll be able to keep it off successfully as well.



Exercise Any Chance You Get

Keep moving. Make yourself busy with errands. Walk or ride a bike instead of driving to the store. If you do take the car, park as far away from the entrance as possible and walk the rest of the way there. Do the same at work. Shun the elevator and make a beeline for the stairs. Take a walk around your office building for fifteen minutes during lunch. At home, perform household chores — from the dishes to the laundry. Not only are you getting a nifty workout, you’re getting things done, too. Remember, as long as you’re on the move, you’re burning calories.

Muscle burns fat and calories all day long, even when you stay put and do absolutely nothing. Therefore, build more muscle! Do weights or strength training as this boosts metabolism, so that you’re still losing the fat long after you’ve cooled down. You may notice at first that your body seems to be doing anything but lose weight, but that only means you’re gaining muscle tissue, which will then help you lose fat and drop the pounds eventually.

When doing aerobic or cardiovascular exercises, the best time for this would be first thing in the morning, when your body does not have any carbohydrates to burn. To get the energy needed for your workout, your body will burn fat instead. Make sure you drink lots of water beforehand, though, to prevent dehydration.

One great motivation for having a proper exercise and fat loss program, as well as building muscle tissue, is the food you get to eat. If you’ve got plenty of muscles, then you can afford to eat a little more; and you don’t have to worry about your body hoarding all the calories as the muscle will just burn them right up anyway. That’s not to say, however, that you’re free to gorge on all the chips and sweets you can eat to your heart’s desire (and demise). Neither should you deprive yourself of the occasional treat. Moderation is key. Remember, proper diet and nutrition go hand in hand with exercise.



Lose the Lard by Eating Right

Eat frequently but not heavily. Eating five or six small meals throughout the day is ideal than eating three bigger meals. Do not plunge yourself headlong into this, leaving no room to get accustomed to it. Take time to adjust, until you are comfortable with fewer portions at every meal. This strategy also helps the body absorb nutrients more efficiently as it has fewer amounts to work on each time. Keep in mind to consume the most food at breakfast, and the least at dinner, as you have a whole day ahead of you to burn those calories you acquired in the morning.

Never allow yourself to get hungry as this slows metabolism considerably. When that happens, your body is not able to burn as much fat as you would like. Instead, it will only get ‘greedy’ and will want to hold on to whatever you feed it when you do decide to eat, thus, making it more difficult to shed the extra fat.

Do not load up on carbohydrates, as this will keep your body too preoccupied to concentrate on the fat. Eat protein-rich foods like fish, poultry, eggs, beans, milk, and tofu, because protein takes longer to digest and requires the most energy in doing so. Thus, the act of digesting is, in itself, a calorie buster. Fiber foods such as wheat bread will make you fuller faster and, like water, is also very effective in flushing out toxins from the body.

Following a proper exercise and fat loss program really aren’t that complicated after all. And don’t worry about the smallest of actions not making the slightest bit of difference. They do. The numbers may be negligible, but they all add up eventually—and quite sizably, too.



About The Author
Self-help expert Michael Lee has prepared a FREE extreme fat-burning course that reveals amazing secrets on quick weight loss and how to lose belly fat fast at http://www.20daypersuasion.com/fat-secret.htm

Seniors Living Longer - 5 Steps You Must Do Now

Of all the high priority activities you re now doing in your life, what could be more important than those that promote your ability to increase the quality and length of your life? Here are five major steps that you must start developing now to accomplish this.

There are of course some uncontrollable causes of death. But there are many causes of premature death over which you have total control. These are the areas that we are going to explore, which if acted on in a sincere manner will allow you to live a longer and more healthful life.

1 - Improve Your Attitude Toward Life

If you want to live longer, start by improving your attitude toward all aspects of your life. It has been well established that being an optimist will add more than seven years to your lifespan. Your habitually cheerful outlook can actually boost your immune system and reduce the probability of contracting various diseases.

2 - Improving Your Longevity Through Better Nutrition

Your nutrition plays a major role in your healthy longevity. Recent studies indicate that as much as 80% of heart disease and 90% of diabetes can be traced to unhealthful eating. And of course, we all know the negative consequences of any level of obesity. Cutting calorie input is probably one of the most important factors in improving your health and longevity.

Also, I am a strong advocate of taking supplements to enhance ones diet. With nutrient depleted farm soil becoming more common, and having to resort to the greater use of strong fertilizers to offset this makes our food less nutritious than in the past.

May I suggest eating an oatmeal and raison based breakfast, having a piece of fruit for lunch and a reasonable proportioned dinner each day.

3 – Reduce Unnecessary Everyday Stress

Monitor yourself throughout the day and observe what causes an increase in your stress level. Being self-aware of what causes stress in your life is a major step in reducing or eliminating it. When you detect yourself becoming stressed, step back and examine the situation. For me, just becoming aware of stressful situations is a major step forward.

During each day, picture yourself as a small bird sitting on your shoulder, ever watchful of what’s going on in your life. Often you can break the pattern leading up to being stressed by interrupting what you are doing and perhaps performing some light physical exercise.

Consider setting aside 15 minutes a day to meditate. Don’t worry about the loss of time, your increased subsequent productivity will more than make up for it.

4 - Develop the Habit of Daily Exercise

Physical inactivity causes muscle loss and a weakened immunity system, which may contribute to the shortening of your life span. When you do not do regular exercises your muscles get smaller causing you to tire more quickly, get sore too easily, which discourages you from continuing to do exercises.

To the extent possible, interlace your day with several 10 minutes periods of exercise, followed by perhaps three times a week taking brisk 30-minute walks.

5 – Improve Your Lifestyle

Most of the lifestyle factors you have heard before. But how seriously have you addressed them in your life?

- Eliminate smoking! This is the number one cause in shortening your life. A shocking 18% of all deaths can be attributed to smoking.

- The next major cause of death is poor diet and physical inactivity.

- Car crashes will be minimized by practicing defensive safe driving techniques. These are particularly important as we age and our sensory skills tend to become poorer.

- Alcohol consumption contributes to over 3% of all deaths. Stick to your daily one drink of red wine.

In conclusion, without having to make major sacrifices, there are a number of areas you can improve upon to live a longer and more healthful life. I challenge you to stand up and starting now, take full responsibility for enhancing your own life.

Larry Viles has explored, evaluated and practiced a healthy living style over most of his 70 plus years of life and wishes to share what he has discovered with you. http://www.UCanLiveLonger.com

Simple Steps Fibromyalgia Sufferers Can Do For Back Pain

People suffering from Fibromyalgia know that back pain is one of the major symptoms that can disrupt your life and cause a lot of suffering. Targeting upper back pain can be difficult but you can find relief through some simple tips that target this specific area and help relieve the aching and suffering. Suffering from back pain can make even the little things in life difficult, like sitting in one position. Sore backs can cause different problems such as fatigue, soreness, frustration, and depression. Let's take a look at some steps you can take to ease your upper back pain.

Your back is made up of a mesh of muscles that support your spine and give alignment to your spine. This is what allows the flexibility of your body to move, bend, sit up, rollover, etc. You get the idea. These muscles are the most important role in our ability to balance, have good posture, etc. They also play an important role with other nearby muscles that have the connections to pain receptors in our brain. As a sufferer of fibromyalgia, you may already know that fibromyalgia is characterized by overactive pain processing. This is a big factor in chronic pain conditions. So how does this affect the back?

Understanding the pain process along the spine will help us understand and choose certain treatments or lifestyle changes that will be the most effective for you. The more pain that you have and the longer you have had it affects these muscles in the spine and weakens them. This causes more pain!

So what do you do about it? Exercise is one option. You'll need to decide with a healthcare specialist if this is right for you. You will want to start an exercise program that can be consistent and one that fits with your type of pain. Talk with a physical therapist or chiropractor if you want to get specific back exercises and stretches that can help you target the muscles in the back. This will help you increase their strength and help you to improve your posture, balance, pain, etc.

Heat can be a great source of relief from chronic back pain as well. If you have fibromyalgia, you have probably made really good friends with your heating pad by now. If not, you should! Also, a warm bath at night and in the morning can help you to ease your pain and relax your muscles. At night, this bath will help sooth you and prepare you for rest, allowing the healing time of sleep to take over. In the morning, a warm bath can help loosen stiff backs and provide you with the mental get up you sometimes need in the morning to be able to go about your day. There are also products on the market that help with heat therapy that you can wear on your back for hours at a time. These can be very beneficial.

Another factor to consider when dealing with back pain issues is what type of bed you are using. Some people tend to forget that the bed plays a key role in your sleep patterns and fatigue, which can lead to chronic back pain.

You may want to take a long look at your bed and see if it is the best for your type of pain. Along with the bed, if you are working long hours in a chair, have that looked into as well. You want a chair that provides great support to your back and spine. Make sure that it is adjusted to your height and frame to provide the maximum benefits.

There are other techniques that you can look into to help relieve your back pain. There has been great proven success with acupuncture. Studies have shown that fibromyalgia sufferers have experienced great relief of their pain through this technique. You may also want to consider acupressure if you are scared of the needles with acupuncture.

Therapy may be a helpful tool to you if you are extremely depressed due to the chronic back pain. There is hope and there are effective treatments out there. You don't have to resign yourself to a life full of pain and frustration. Although the process may take awhile, never give up.

Talking to your doctor may help you find the treatment that is best for you and your back pain. Your doctor will likely give you advice on medication as well as helping you know if these alternative therapies may assist in your recovery. Combining these treatments may help you speed your recovery along.

Copyright (c) 2007 Hailey Harris

Hailey Harris is an expert in dealing with Fibromyalgia after suffering for more than 8 years with health problems. She is now symptom free and living a pain free life. She developed Ridfibromyalgia.com found at http://www.ridfibromyalgia.com to help others learn to do the same. To receive tons of info, tips, and healing strategies for free visit http://www.ridfibromyalgia.com/how.html .