Health Day

It’s not easy to lose weight. Often, those looking to get that trimmer, slimmer figure go on harsh diets that can cause bodily harm. For example, when you eat very little your digestive system becomes weaker, while your muscles shrink due to lack of protein. Sure, they lose the fat, but at what cost?

Losing the spare tire or love handles without losing muscle mass is not easy. The body has many mechanisms to maintain a certain level of fat; this is the result of thousands of years of evolution and survival in times of little food. Your body wants to have a reserve of energy, in case of a time you are not able to eat. Instead of trying to trick your body, you can use its own mechanisms.

Eating more protein and less fat and carbohydrates means there is more muscle-building material. Protein maintains and builds muscle, so a larger proportion of it is used as muscle material rather than fuel. Of course, reducing your overall calorie intake to a little below recommended daily values means that you will start using fat reserves as energy. Working out keeps your muscles strong and makes them bigger, meaning that they won’t suffer loss like your fat deposits as you diet and exercise.

Start your exercise around two hours after eating. At this point, your body’s ready energy is declining, and the accessing of fat deposits is just beginning. This is the perfect time to work out.

Eating small meals throughout the day will curb your hunger and cravings, as well as maintain a more constant level of blood sugar and energy. When you go for longer periods without food, your body will want more from each meal. By spreading your food intake to around six small meals a day, you can watch your portions without feeling hungry.

Don’t forget that the best weapon of all is your willpower to stay on the right track.

If you are looking for a natural way to lose weight the answer you are looking for may be right in front of you or actually in you. That’s right, by tapping into the body’s internal fat burning mechanism, your metabolism, you can lose weight and keep it off.

By simply increasing your metabolism you turn your body’s own internal engine into a fat burning machine. Not only will you begin to lose weight but you will keep it off, have more energy, feel better about yourself, and live a more healthy life, keeping any number of diseases and disorders at bay.

Metabolism works just like any other engine; it needs fuel to run. In this case the fuel is the food, or calories, we eat. On a cellular level the body needs a certain amount of calories per day to function. The cells take in calories to produce the energy we need to not only maintain bodily functions but also to supply the energy needed for any activity we may be undertaking. The more active we are the more energy we burn and the more energy we burn the more fuel is needed. In the case of the human body that fuel is calories that come from glycogen stored in muscles and fat stores. It’s really that simple.

The key to any successful weight loss program is increasing your metabolism. And when we say increase your metabolism this does not mean just during exercise. The idea is to increase you basal metabolism, which is your resting metabolism, so that you are burning an increased number of calories while at rest.

So how can you do this?

Just like anything in life it will take a series of lifestyle changes involving diet and exercise. When these two things are done together losing weight is not only easy but also permanent, if you keep doing them. Both are equally important when it comes to living healthy and losing weight so it is important that considerations are made to incorporate both healthy eating and physical activity into your new lifestyle.

• Diet – This can be one of the hardest parts of any weight loss regimen for many people. To suddenly not be able to eat all your favorite foods can be somewhat disconcerting because over the years we all develop certain pleasures from the foods we eat.

Fortunately you do not have to make radical changes in your diet. It can just be a matter of adjusting the amounts of the different foods you eat to give your metabolism the boost it needs. The average male eats a diet made up of 34% fat, 45% carbohydrates, and 20% protein. By simply adjusting their intake to 20% fat, 60% carbohydrates, and 20% protein they will see a significant boost to their metabolism.

• Exercise – There are two base forms that anyone trying to increase their metabolism and lose weight need to do. Aerobic or cardio exercise and weight training.

Aerobic exercise will help boost your metabolism and burn away calories. But more importantly it helps build a good base with which a healthy lifestyle is built. It works your heart, lungs, and cardiovascular system like no other type of exercise. By working and strengthening these bodily systems you decrease the risk for many of today’s most serious diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and others.

Weight training may be one of the most misunderstood parts of any weight loss routine. Building lean muscle mass is one of the best metabolism boosting things you can do. Not only does your metabolism rise while working out but it will also stay elevated afterwards while the body rebuilds and maintains its newly acquired muscle.

Anyone wanting to lose weight will need to stay motivated to their cause and realize that it will take some work in the beginning, but by sticking with a diet and exercise program it will soon become second nature. By increasing your metabolism as a long term goal you will naturally not only lose weight but keep of the excess poundage as well.

Having a training diary can really make your bulking up much more efficient and most professional bodybuilders use this method to keep track of their training. If you’ve made the decision to get the body you’ve dreamed of, a training diary can help you to stay focused and maintain your motivation.

By keeping track of your training in this way you make sure that you work the muscles in the right way, that you don’t overdo the training and that you get the right amount of nutrition. To be able to see your progress in this organized way is quite an exhilarating feeling.

You’ll be surprised to note how fast you can increase the weights you’re lifting. Keeping a diary like this is somewhat like having a carrot in front of a donkey, making it fun to reach for the next level.

All you need is a notebook, unless you prefer a proper training log. Make different columns in this book to keep track on different training aspects. The main ones should be: time and date, muscle group trained, used exercise, weight lifted and number of reps and sets.

If you want you can also use a different page to keep track of your nutritional intake. Those categories could be: what you ate, time and estimated calories.

Planning is another part of your training that can make it more efficient. Take some time once a week and write down a plan on when to work out and what muscles you want to focus on. This helps you to fit the training into your daily schedule and will soon make it a part of your healthy lifestyle.

If you want to gain muscle you have to give your training the importance it deserves. You can also make a goal for each month on how much you want to increase the weights lifted. In this way you might find it easier to stay motivated.

If you do this all properly your focus will be on your achievements and the more you set your mind on muscle growth, the more you will gain. With a training diary the work out becomes a natural part of your life and the results will come for sure.