Beautiful World: November 2012

Friday 30 November 2012

8 Tips to Take Control of Your Weight

Anyone who is overweight will testify that losing weight is not as easy as it seems. The people that are lean, or have gone from fat to skinny will say it’s just a matter of motivation and elbow grease. Although it is not as simple as that. Our environments have waged war on us. Their weapons are sedentary lives and trans fats of mass destruction. All is not lost though, here are some quick simple tips to get ahead!

Substitute Water. Our bodies are about 65-70% water. It follows that water would be not only essential, but the best possibly choice of liquids to ingest. In fact, our bodies will sometimes simulate a hunger response, when in reality the body is craving hydration. When hungry, drink a glass or two of water to check if it suppresses your hunger.
Chew Your Food. Chewing our food very slowly and deliberately has several benefits that are often overlooked. It gives us the ability to relax, and enjoy our meal. Slow chewing is the first, and highly important, step in a complex system of digestion. Besides, if we eat slowly, we might feel full before finishing the whole meal, and can leave the rest for the next meal.
Exercise daily. How silly of me to include something as obvious as exercise. I did a 30 day trial with waking up, and walking for 30 minutes first thing in the morning. My journal records that I was feeling amazing during the period of time that I was following this habit.
Publicize your intentions. Start a blog, join a forum, and have other people keep you accountable to help. Tell other people your plan, it would help you get the motivation to go with it!
Create a food schedule. Plan your day so that you’re eating at approximately the same time each day. This scheduling will incorporate itself into your circadian rhythm, and aid in digestion.
Do not over eat. Know your limit and stop eating when you are full. I have often been a victim of wanting to finish a meal so that it doesn’t go to waste. This has left me with many a stomach ache. Next time, doggy bag it for later, and don’t hurt yourself!
Choose your snacks wisely. Put down the Lays® and cheese puffs. Pick up the apple and baby carrots. Make the right decision, I know you can do it.
Lifestyle. Remember, it’s not about special diets, or special exercise programs. The real secret is in turning your health into a lifestyle, and focusing on this healthy lifestyle with every choice you make.

Simple Weight Loss Exercises

Weight, BMI and visiting the gym; Junk, tasty and munching away, these six terms have become an important part of each urban individuals life. Balancing them all is the task that most fail at, striving for a healthy heart everyone aims at.

We have looked into simple methods that each individual can implement in order to maintain that BMI as well munch on those cheesy, delicious meals.

1) Walking: This is one of the simplest exercises and can be very enjoyable, especially if the weather is nice. Walking helps tone up your legs and improves overall health. Even if the weather does not permit you to go outside, you can still get an effective walking workout at home. If you have a flight of stairs either inside your home or your building, go up and down them a few times. This will also help you get some low impact aerobic exercise as well. Walk for 40 minutes 4 times a week and watch as your weight reduces. If your weight is 70kgs and you walk for 40 minutes, you will burn 162 calories.

2) Swimming: Swimming is one the most refreshing exercises, especially during the hot summer months. It is also the exercise that burns maximum calories. Along with this, it also has many other health benefits such as building muscle strength, toning upper and lower body and many more. You should aim to swim 20-25 minutes 3 days a week. If you can, swim laps as this is by far the most popular way to lose weight. An individual weighing 70kgs can burn up to 450 calories while swimming laps vigorously or swimming breaststroke.

3) Water Aerobics: Water exercises are not only limited to swimming. When you step into a pool, your body reduces to one-tenth its original weight. This makes it a perfect time to increase lower body strength, power and agility. A great aerobic exercise that can be done, even if you don’t know how to swim is the power jump. A person weighing 70kgs can burn approximately 145 calories in 30 minutes with water aerobics. Following are the steps for different types of power jumps:
i. You should always start with in shallow water, with the water level between your ribcage and underarm.
ii. For 6-8 minutes, jog around the pool doing kicks, jumping jacks, strikes and knee lifts. This warms up the body.
iii. Lightly stretch the quadriceps, calf muscles, hip flexors and hamstrings.
iv. Repeat the moves in step 2 but with a higher intensity for 8-10 minutes. Make the movements long and exaggerated.
v. The first jump to perform is a tuck jump. Start by standing up straight. Keep your knees and ankles together as you pull the knees into the chest. Return to a standing position. While doing this, move the arms in a circular motion at the side of the body. Bend at the elbow as the legs straighten.
vi. Next, carry out a frog jump. Begin with the toes, knees and thighs slightly turned out. Bend your arms into a diamond shape, with the fists close to the chest. Push your arms down to your hips while lifting your legs up and into a diamond shape. Make sure the knees point to opposite sides at the top of the jump and imitate frog legs. Return to the starting position.
vii. Execute a scissors jump. Start in a standing position. As you jump, one leg movies straight forward and other movies directly behind your body. Alternate your legs in the front and back position. The arms should move in opposition to your legs.
viii. Kick your legs and jog for two or three minutes.
ix. Finally, you must remember that any weight loss exercises are incomplete without stretching. Stretch the quadriceps, hamstrings, hip flexors and calves deeply.

4) Dancing: Dancing is a fabulous form of exercise because not only does it help you lose weight, it’s also a great way to have fun. Choose a dance form based on not only the amount of calories it burns but also one you like best as you’ll be more likely to stick with it in the longer run.

There are a variety of options ranging from salsa and hip-hop which are vigorous to ballroom and jazz which are slower but still burn calories. You can burn about 190 calories through fast dancing and if you’re slow dancing then you can burn about 100 calories. This is assuming that you weigh 70kgs.

5) Squats: In addition to losing weight overall, squats also tone up your legs and buttocks. To perform a squat, stand with your feet apart in such a way that your toes, knees and hips are in a straight line. Pull your belly burn towards your spine and contract your abdominal muscles. Slowly lower your body as though you’re lowering yourself into a chair. Make sure your knees are behind your toes. If you can, go down until your butt is in line with your knees. If not, then go as low as you can. Keeping the weight in your heels, slowly push your body back to starting position. Repeat the exercise 10-15 times. You can burn about 125 calories in a 30 minute session while doing squats if you weigh around 70kgs.

Fat Burning Foods

This article will make every girl’s dream come true. According to Janet Starr Hull, there are certain foods that burn fat before it can before it can be stored in the body. Hence, calories in fatty foods are reduced. This is also because the amount of calories required to digest these foods is more than the amount of calories you gain eating these foods. So read on and eat your way to a thinner and fitter you!

Fruits

Fruits are an excellent fat burning food as majority of them are low in calories and contain a lot of fiber. Fiber helps to burn fat in 3 ways: it helps in speeding up your metabolism, aids in slowing down digestion and helps in extending a person’s energy. Due to this reason, you can combine them with fatty foods like cheese and meats to prevent weight gain. Apples, oranges, limes, grapefruit, tangerines, raspberries, grapefruit, blueberries and guava are an excellent source of fiber. Moreover, eating watermelon eliminates toxins from the body and removes excess water. Have it when you feel bloated or have consumed high sodium foods.

Vegetables

Most vegetables contain some form of natural fiber. It is of two types: soluble fiber and insoluble fiber. Soluble fiber forms a gel in the digestive tract while being digested. This gel not only requires energy to be digested but also helps you to stay full longer. Vegetables rich in soluble fiber include carrots, artichokes, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes and celery. On the other hand, insoluble fiber moves quickly through the digestive tract taking waste and toxins along with it. Eating these foods when you’re feeling overfull or constipated helps relieve these symptoms and burn excess calories. The vegetables which contain insoluble fiber are spinach, mustard greens, kale, green beans, legumes, Brussells sprouts and cabbage. You can reduce the gas caused by some of these foods by cooking them.

Proteins

Most of the fat burning sources of protein is found in seafood. Fish and shellfish are the two sources of protein that require a lot of energy to burn. One 4 oz. fillet of tilapia has 93 calories and four large shrimp have 22 calories all together. However, there are other types of protein that are fat burning. These include crabs, clams, mussels, lobsters, oysters, shrimp, sea bass and flounder. Team one of these up with a fat burning vegetable cabbage or spinach to create a healthy meal.

Additionally, there are quite a few foods which are high in protein that help burn belly fat. These are both vegetarian and non vegetarian options to choose from. Lentils, broccoli, kidney beans, corn and baked potatoes are all excellent sources of protein. If you prefer non-vegetarian food, then there is an array of meats to choose from such as lean hamburger, fish, tuna, broiled beef steak and roasted chicken. Plenty of other foods such as dairy products, rice, whole wheat bread, eggs and tofu also contain significant amounts of protein. Mix and match the ingredients while cooking to get the best results. The key is to make sure that your sources of protein are lean and very low in fat.

Follow these tips and experience the difference fat burning foods can make!