Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Most people want results and want results now. I don’t blame them. It’s our nature to get something we want as soon as possible. When it comes to our bodies, it’s no different. People will do whatever it takes to achieve their desired results as soon as possible… even if there’s major risk involved! When it comes to your body, patience is key. There are tons of reasons why but the most obvious would be one thing. Health.

When somebody is willing to do whatever it takes to change their body now, there is usually some sort of health risk involved. Take losing a few pounds before the weekend. Many will just flat out stop eating. This is probably the stupidest thing you can do. Sure your body may use up some reserve energy but it will also put your body in starvation mode and slow your metabolism way down which will in fact make you store more fat. This will also cause a weak immune system and fragile bones. All in all, bad idea.

Other will go to “magic pills” that promise to tone your body and reduce inches off your waist. Bull crap! No such pill exists and never will. Your body is a machine that will no change how it works by adding a pill which in most cases is a placebo that puts it in your head that it is working when it isn’t. If you want that rock hard, sexy body, you have to actually work for it. Remember, laziness is the reason why you may be overweight in the first place.

Next, surgeries another quick fix that usually don’t work long term. Some surgeries with the word “band” in the title promise results and entice you by saying insurance will cover it. Well lets look at what really happens shall we? First the shrink your stomach so you just can’t overeat. Okay. This next part is huge. They require you stay away from certain foods and eat new ones you normally stay away from. Hmmm, anybody know what they are doing? They are making you eat small portioned healthy foods while you cut out all bad foods. Sounds like plain healthy eating to me… and that will give you results without a risky surgery.

So here’s what it comes down to. Your body has to grow accustomed to change and that takes time. When you start a new workout program, the first changes you will feel are neurological, meaning you will feel stronger and perform better. Afterward, you will see the changes you want. The longer you keep these changes the way you want them, the more likely your body is to keep your new body. There are things you can do to increase the speed of results such as making sure your workouts are vigorous. Walking or even jogging on a treadmill will do nothing for you. Change your eating habits. Eat 5 small meals a day instead of 3 big ones and make sure they are healthy. Live a more active lifestyle and don’t give up. This way you are likely to enjoy your new body for a much longer time than any other quick fix.

What’s the Best Diet?

What do you think of when you hear the work diet? I’ll bet it’s something like weight loss or carb cutting. It’s understandable. When most people talk about dieting it’s because they want to lose a few pounds or get back into their skinny jeans. What I’m trying to get you all to understand is that a diet isn’t really for weight loss. Think of a diet as specific eating habits for a specific health and fitness goal.

The reason I want you to redefine your image of diet is because diets are more often than not used to gain muscle and in many cases extra weight. It’s true most diets are designed to cut down extra weight… usually not fat, but weight. A good diet will help you build that lean and sexy muscle to show off when you burn that fat away. In many cases some may not lose any weight but will lose many inches over their waist, hips, thighs and arms. The reason for this is that they burned away tons of fat and replaced it with lean and toned muscle. The reason why their weight stays the same is because muscle weight takes up only one third of the space of fat! That’s awesome for someone who would rather look 25 lbs lighter than possibly be 25lbs lighter and unhealthy.

So what diets best? Well, you can’t really say because everyone’s body has different nutritional demands to go with their fitness goals. I think it’s safe to say that Atkins is the worst way to go. Healthy carbs are essential. Other diets ask you to cut out all fat. This could be just as bad considering your body needs healthy fats to help your organs function properly and even bun bad fats. Some tell you that you can eat what you want as longs as you eat only certain amount of points worth of food a day. This sucks cause you are still limiting you calories to crappy foods that will all turn to fat anyways. I personally feel that the Mediterranean diet is the best way to go. Foods such as fresh fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, legumes and nuts are the foundation of the diet. It also encourages you to eat fish and sea food which is great for your omega-3 fatty oils. Next you can eat the eggs, poultry, cheese and yogurt (healthy ones of course) followed by the limited red meats and sweets. This diet provides a great balance of all foods and keeps out almost all of the saturated fats and simple carbs found in pastas and breads.

When it comes down to it, you have to find out what your body needs in comparison to your health and fitness goals and adjust it accordingly. Once you do this, the rest is easy

Late Night Eating = Weight Gain?

So one question I hear over and over again concerns eating at night. Most of the time it’s from a person who is overweight and claims the reason why is because their hours at work leave them no choice. I totally understand this and I think it sucks. I would hate to have to work late nights. Unfortunately, that’s not the reason why they are gaining weight. So let’s go through a couple things to help you understand why this is just a myth used as a scape goat.

Calories are the deciding factor of weight gain. Weather that weight gain is muscle or fat is up to you and your food choices. 1 pound of muscle or fat is about 3500 calories. Now most of us eat a number of calories that help us maintain our weight. Others eat more than their daily need and when you add those extra calories up over a period of time, the pounds start coming. Same goes for those who are losing weight. If you’re not eating what your body needs every day to run and maintain, it will start to feed off itself and you will lose weight.

Now i’m sure you already know that the more you move around throughout the day, the more calories you burn. Well because most of us sleep at night, we don’t move around so naturally we don’t burn as many calories. That doesn’t mean your body isn’t working and doesn’t mean the body is storing the food as fat. Truth be told, the reason many people believe this myth is because they are less aware of the food choices at night and tend to choose the more unhealthy choices to snack on. Remember, you want to stick to the most natural foods as possible such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains as well as healthy meats you can cook at home. Not the ones you get from the fast food joints.

So just remember, if you are gaining unwanted weight and you work nights, know that it’s not that you’re eating at night but eating to much and unhealthy. MYTH BUSTED!

What Drives You?

So it’s safe to say almost everybody knows that eating healthy and a good workout regimen are key to not only being in the best shape of their life but also feel better than ever before. We all watch the news and have that friend that’s a fitness fanatic that can’t stop talking about it. Hell, I am that friend. But how many of us really do anything about it… even if we know we need it? No many and there’s 1 simple reason why. We don’t have the motivation.

You can say that I am going to get in shape this year as my resolution but how long does that really last? a month or two tops. It’s not even that persons fault because they are missing the key element to make them achieve their goals faster than they thought possible. That element is “Drive”.

We all know what it is and we know it helps us get through the day but in the end, drive is broken down to this one question. Why? Why do I wanna get is shape more now than two weeks ago? Why do I want to eat better? Why do I need to make sure I’ll still be here in 20 years. There is that one reason that pushes everyone over the edge and drives them to reach these goals. It can be cause someone said you never could and you wanna prove them wrong. Or the is a girl or boy you want to impress (this is the biggest one). How about cause you are suffering from obesity and want to see you grandchild born?

Whatever it is, there is an obstacle that will be presented in front of you and you have to find the answer to give you that drive. Once you do, everything else is left in the dust. People will see those results, compliment and give you the fuel to keep going as hard as you did when you first started.

Bread Busters

So what’s the one thing that people tell you to stay away from the most that is loaded with bad carbs? Well, if you don’t know, it’s bread. And for good reason. Most bread out there has tons of simple carbs that digest way to quickly and store away in you body as fat. Even the self proclaimed “healthy bread” you’re eating is probably just as bad for you as white bread. This is why I am going to help you not only tell the difference between good and bad breads but how to find them.

So how can you tell what bread is bad for you? Well first look at the name of the bread. If it says whole wheat, 3-grain, 7-grain or even 15-grain it doesn’t mean it’s good for you because most of these breads share 1 terrible ingredient. That ingredient is enriched flour or enriched whole wheat flour which is the company’s way of saying plain ol’ bleached flour. If you have been eating any “healthy” bread with this in it, you’ve been had. Also take a piece of your bread and squish it up. If you can roll it up into a ball, you have you low quality bread that will sit in that waist line for a long time.

Now if you want the best bread for you go to the store and take a look at the ingredients label again. You want the first ingredient to say whole wheat flour, grain, whole grain or sprouted grain flour. This will ensure you it’s absolutely loaded with tons of nutrients that your body will use. Check the weight too. A loaf of healthy bread is heavy. Also try to squish up a slice of the whole grain bread an you will notice it will crumple up and fall apart. This is a good thing. It means it doesn’t have junk like corn syrup in it. This is the bread you don’t have to be afraid of eating. From my experience, the best brand money has to offer is Ezekiel.

So if you want to start keeping off those useless carbs and put something in your body that will help make and keep you lean, you know how to get it.

Lose weight with ice

Yes, that’s right. If the title of this blog got your attention then you are right for checking it out cause I am going to share with you a weight loss secret that sounds so stupid you may not even believe it. To make things even crazier, you don’t even have to change the way you eat to do this. So what is this magic method for losing weight? Well… Ice water.

Now before you leave here without finishing this blog, let me explain why this does what it does. There is actually a lot of science behind it that is very confusing if you’re not familiar with measurements of calories or what a calorie actually is. So the secret isn’t actually the water (which is still great for you) but the ice that cools the water down. You see a calorie is actually a measurement of energy that requires your body to heat up whatever it takes in before absorbing it. So with the ice water, your body needs to warm it up to body temperature before it can process it. It takes energy to do that and it does that by burning calories. Now I’m not saying you will lose all this weight by drinking 1 glass of ice water a day. That’s ridiculous cause most of us do that anyways. Instead, try drinking 5 24oz glasses of ice water every day. This can burn up to an extra 70 calories a day and even though that doesn’t sound like a lot, that equals to over 8 pounds of fat melted away a year. The best part of that is you didn’t even have to change you eating habits. All you had to do was drink 5 large glasses of ice water a day which is something you should be doing anyways. Enjoy

Food Pyramid… It’s a Scam

So many people don’t know what a good balance of food is for their diets. Let’s face it, unless you really studied the benefits of all different types of foods then you really don’t know. This is why most people turn to the food pyramid. It seems to have a sensible balance of what to eat and how much of it is best. Well I have some news for you. It’s wrong.

That’s right. If you look at the bottom of it you will see breads and grains taking up the most important part. It says you should get most of your calories from this category. It apparently says that these grains you would find in bread and pastas is more vital to your health than fruits, vegetables and proteins. Well the reason for this is political. The grain industry was in a pinch when the Food Pyramid was created. And wouldn’t you know it… the grain industry increased their “contributions” (read: bribes) to certain politicians to get placement atop the pyramid… or in this case at the very bottom. The “foundation” if you will.

As a matter of fact, it would actually be more accurate to turn the food pyramid upside down (taking away the simple sugars). You should look at it like this, 30-40% of your daily intake should come from health fats your body needs to keep organs functioning properly. Another 30-40% of the diet should go towards the protein your body needs to build, maintain and repair lean muscle. The rest of your diet should go towards healthy carbs that you can get from fruits and vegetables.

If you think it sounds a little rebellious then you would be right. Most people are convinced that the standard pyramid is right but if you want to prove me wrong then try it out for yourself. As a matter of fact, I dare you to try it. I’ll accepts you thanks later when you have a killer six pack.