Diet or Exercise for Losing Weight?
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
One Leg Squat
Wrong question! Obviously both- and a new study confirms that. There has been a training misconception that if you exercise, you can eat anything you want. But that only applies to Michael Phelps! Actually, the “Afterburn” effect has been written and talked about quite a bit and it turns out that for the average exerciser, the effect is very minimal. But, keep in mind that the average exerciser really doesn’t do very much. I still think that the afterburn effect is valid, but only for people who are exercising with a high intensity level. For instance, on days that I train arms, the afterburn effect is minimal. But on the day after I do legs, the afterburn effect is noticeable and even my appetite is much greater. So, if you are a 30 minutes on the treadmill or bike type of person, don’t count on your body burning extra calories due to afterburn. But if you are a powerlifter or bodybuilder with a high intensity workout, it does have an effect. At any rate, read the article, learn what you can from it and adjust your workout and diet accordingly. The final word is this- for weight loss, it is diet first and exercise second. You can eat more calories in 5 minutes than you can burn off on the treadmill in 2 hours! Eat smart.
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The new paper offers additional evidence that exercise does not boost metabolism as much as widely believed, Endress says. In addition to the misperception that exercise greatly hikes fat burning after exercise, there is also the false belief that weight training dramatically increases metabolism by adding muscle, he notes.
While it’s true that a pound of muscle burns more calories than a pound of fat — about seven to 10 calories a day versus two calories — most people don’t put on enough muscle to make much of a difference, Endress says.
“Building muscle is very difficult for most individuals because it requires heavy weight workouts and a higher intake of calories,” he says. “Average fitness enthusiasts [who are working out to gain muscle] will only add four to five pounds of lean mass,” he says, and burn an additional 28 to 50 calories a day. (Men tend to gain more muscle, on average, than women.)
Getting a Good Night’s Sleep- Essential for Training
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Spiritual/Emotional, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
We all know how good we feel when we get a good night’s rest and we all know how tired and crappy we feel when we don’t sleep well or get enough rest. But it actually goes further than that since getting enough quality sleep is essential for your body to heal and grow- especially for athletes. I can attest to this since my chronic back problems often wake me during the night to roll over and change positions. For a lot of other people, it is just anxiety and stress that keeps them from sleeping well. The irony is that when you do sleep well, you are usually a lot less anxious and stressed. So here is a good article from Prevention that can probably help most of us sleep better and be more productive during the day. While not all of the suggestions apply to everyone, you will find some good advice that will help you sleep better, feel better, train harder and grow faster!
Unplug an hour before bed. That includes the television, computer, cell phone, and any other glowing tech tools. Research shows that the brain misreads artificial light as daylight, so it doesn’t release melatonin, a sleep-regulating chemical, which is normally triggered by darkness.
Take a warm shower or bath. Your body temperature goes down when you get out, which makes you feel sleepy. That’s because it mimics what occurs deep inside the body at night, when internal temperature drops to its lowest level.
Meditate or pray for 10 minutes. Several studies show that it can help reduce anxiety, release negative thinking, and improve sleep. Sit quietly in a comfortable position and repeat a phrase you find relaxing, such as Keep letting go.
Limit liquids after 6 p.m. The reason she wakes up so often to use the bathroom is simply because she drinks too much fluid during the second half of the day. After 6 p.m., have just one to two glasses of water…
Set a bedtime and stick to it. Going to bed at different times throws the internal body clock out of whack. It’s better if she hit the sack at the same time every night and set the alarm for the same time every morning — even on weekends, suggests Naiman. This will help get her body on a regular pattern, which makes it easier to fall and stay asleep.
Try a small dose of melatonin. The brain makes this chemical naturally, but it’s often in short supply in people with insomnia. Studies have shown that taking a melatonin supplement helps improve sleep, but you need only a small amount: 0.5 mg, 15 minutes before bed.
Recession Eating is Bad for Your Cholesterol
Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, 50's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | Add Comment
As the recession wears on, McDonald’s profits are increasing every quarter because people are apparently eating fast food instead of “good food”. There is probably some truth to this, but I suspect a lot of people are just eating more fast food because they like it. The guy who wrote this article sure likes it! McDonalds actually has several decent offerings on the menu and no one is making you eat fries. You actually have to order them. So don’t blame it on the recession. At any rate, his point is well taken and you will certainly see a rise in your cholesterol if you start eating 3 meals a day (or even 1 meal per day) at fast food places. My advice is to make a list of “healthy ” fast food places and go there when you need to eat on the run. Places like Subway, Chic-fil-a and the deli at your local grocery store will all have a lot of options for eating healthier than traditional fast food. It is just a choice you will have to make- don’t blame it on the economy!
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Nope, this bleak figure comes straight from my medical chart. Over the past year — while I was trying to save bucks by eating on the cheap — my cholesterol count chugged 46 points higher. Put another way — for roughly every 95 points the Dow dropped since early 2008, my cholesterol gained one point.
…For me, the cholesterol-busting binge began with a crunch — the financial kind. It wasn’t a total job loss, but I’m a freelance writer and as the market steadily snuffed one paying gig after another, I cut my spending. I sliced my grocery bill in half by dining on a tasty array of hot dogs, grilled-cheese sandwiches, chicken wings, fish sticks and the occasional $2.89 fast food monster meal.
The diet disaster wasn’t immediately obvious. My weight didn’t budge from 185 pounds and I maintained my regular gym habits. But my serum cholesterol, which stood at 180 milligrams per deciliter in January 2008, shot up to 226 by my next checkup in February 2009.
Posted by: Curt | Under: General Fitness | Add Comment
It has been pretty quiet on the fitness scene lately, so I thought I’d post some info on how I treat common gym injuries and muscle pain. First, it is important to be honest with yourself about whether you are sore or hurt. Sore really doesn’t require anything except maybe a couple of Ibuprofen and rest. Hurt, requires a lot more. In fact, if you are hurt- pulled muscle, sore joints, tendonitis, etc, you need to be careful and do the right things. First, if you are really hurt and it is painful to do normal things, you should consider going to the doctor and getting professional treatment. But if you are sore or have tendonitis in a joint, try the old standbys of ice, ibuprofen or Aleve, rest and massage. Usually, if you do all of these, you will fell better in a few days. But it is important to give the affected area enough time to recover, so if it is still painful when you get ready to do that body part again, give it a few more days off. This is really important with tendonitis since people tend to re-injure the same area over and over because it never gets enough time to heal. These are simple steps, but they can really help most common gym aches and pains!
Hydroxycut Weight Loss Pills Recalled by FDA
Posted by: Curt | Under: General Fitness | Add Comment
Bodybuilders have been using Hydroxycut for decades to get ready for shows. For years is was basically a mix of ephedrine and caffeine that simply turned up the thermostat on your body. It was relatively safe back then although some people did not tolerate that much ephedrine and caffeine well and found that it caused jitters and even heart problems. And of course a lot of people abused it and took way more than the recommended dosages. When the government banned the sale of ephedrine since it is the basic material used to make methamphetamine, Hodroxycut changed their formula. This was generally thought to be a good thing since people did become dependent on the old formula. Well, now the FDA has discovered that the new formula causes liver problems and well as other unnamed problems- From MSNBC Health:
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WASHINGTON – Government health officials are announcing the recall of popular weight loss pill Hydroxycut, after reports of liver damage and other health problems.
Food and Drug Administration officials said Friday the manufacturer of Hydroxycut has launched a nationwide recall of the dietary supplement, used by people trying to shed pounds and by body builders to sharpen their muscles.
Hydroxycut is advertised as made from natural ingredients. It accounts for about 90 percent of the market for weight loss supplements, with sales of about 1 million bottles a year.
The bottom line is simple- there is no free lunch. The short cuts almost always have unintended negative consequences. So my advice is the same as always- diet with strict portion control and exercise. Adding 30 minutes of exercise toy your daily routine will be far more effective and far safer than supplements like Hydroxycut. So if you do have some in your cabinet at home make sure you return it for a refund or simply throw it away. Hyrdoxycut’s website is down right now, but check back in a few hours and they should have info available. I can feel the lawsuits coming…
