Blog on weight, How to Lose Fat on the Cheap

Can you believe it, it's true there are better times of the day to exercise depending on your goal. I'm being sarcastic, there are really some people that workout and they don't have to lose weight. I didn't know that. Well, of course, there are. Is there a best time of day to exercise? Two of the top reasons people give for not exercising regularly include lack of results and lack of time. So, for many people, the best time to exercise is the time that is most convenient and the time that fits into a busy schedule. Okay, I understand that, but if you're not getting the results you've been hoping for, maybe you should think about changing the time of day. Research on exercise and time of day is growing, but still limited and not without controversy. In general, if you can find a time for exercise that you can stick with consistently, you will be much more likely to train regularly and get better results. Circadian Rhythms and Exercise Human sleep and

Physical activity promotes health, and for years, several public health bodies –- including the American Heart Association, US Centers for Disease Control, and the World Health Organization –- have recommended getting 30 minutes of moderate exercise, 5 or more times per week. Surprisingly, though, only a couple of more recent major studies have examined how exercise relates to longevity, and how much you should do to lengthen your life. The research : In 2007, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) looked at more than 250,000 men and women between the ages of 50 and 71, and confirmed that the standard exercise recommendations did in fact improve subjects’ longevity. An average of 30 minutes of moderate activity, 5 times or more a week, gave participants a 27% lower risk of dying during the study period, while more vigorous exercise (20 minutes, 3 or more times a week), dropped the risk of death by 32%. The problem is, not enou

This is a post from WebMd that points out some things we all overlook.  I'm just going to come out and say it: The truth is, many of us get too many calories and not enough nutrients from fast food, candy, prepackaged foods, and sodas. Even if you’re not overweight, don’t be too quick to write off your junk-food habit as acceptable. Outwardly thin people aren’t necessarily healthy, as it’s possible to be skinny and in poor metabolic health, thanks to bad nutrition and lack of exercise. Many of us feel compelled to eat junk food (after all, it can taste  so  good ), but is a diet high in fat, sugar, and salt worth the trade-off of the elevated risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers? Kicking the junk-food habit -- coupled with regular, heart-pumping exercise -- will tip the scales of healthy living in your favor. I want to point this out now before I go any farther. Eating food with no nutritional value, like a bag of chips, may fill you up,

Hara Hachi Bu: The Okinawan's Secret to Longevity Experts Attribute Longevity to the Traditional Okinawan Diet By Mark Stibich, PhD This post is worth your time. I have believed in calorie reduction way before I knew about the people of Okinawa.  More Okinawans live over 100, by percentage of their population, then anywhere else on earth. And maybe that has something to do with genes. But I do know that calorie reduction is the healthy way to eat. The less body fat you have, the more energy you'll have, the more active you'll be, and the less your heart has to work. It is a fact, that if you do stay healthy and live a long life that you will usually die because your heart stops. Hara hachi bu is one of many and lifestyle customs that medical professionals in the western world attribute to the Okinawa's famously long and healthy lives. The Practice of Hara Hachi Bu The Japanese phrase,  hara hachi bun me , roughly translates into English as "belly 8

What You Can Eat Oz provides a long grocery list of recommended foods. Load up on fresh fruits and vegetables, lean proteins such as skinless chicken breasts and salmon, low-fat dairy, and whole grains. Follow the "Rule of 5s" to figure out what not to eat. If foods have any of these listed as one of the first five ingredients on the label, stay away: sugars, syrups, white flours, saturated fats and trans fats. Alcohol is OK, but only one drink a day, taken toward the end of dinner. Remember: Alcohol has calories, and if you let loose, you may end up eating more than you planned to. Level of Effort: Medium Apart from eliminating simple sugars, white flour, and certain kinds of fat, the Ultimate Diet gives you flexibility in terms of choosing what to eat from all the food groups. Limitations:  Oz's "grocery list" is a long one and includes plenty of different foods to fit all taste buds. Cooking and shopping : Your cooking and shopping routines sho

Most of us want a flat stomach (I know I do), but when it comes to our collective dream of a flatter tummy, there’s good news and bad news. First the good: It's possible to get a flatter stomach without doing endless sit-ups or crunches. In fact, all of the tips I'm going to discuss are non-workout-related, meaning it's possible to flatten your belly by making changes to your lifestyle, not necessarily to your workout routine (though hitting the gym once in a while is never a bad idea). Now for the bad news: Carrying excess pounds in your midsection isn't good for your health, and I'm not even talking about the extra weight. "Storing fat in the belly (i.e., being apple-shaped) [is] associated with a higher risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke," says Tammy Lakatos Shames, RD, certified personal trainer. "Excess fat around the hips and thighs (i.e., being pear-shaped) isn’t as dangerous." Extra poundage around t

Great post from  VeryWell.com  tells us about the different fats in our body and which ones are dangerous to our health. Visceral fat is adipose tissue (fat tissue) that surrounds your vital organs. Visceral adipose tissue is located deep inside your body and is sometimes referred to as belly fat. If you have too much visceral fat, you may be at higher risk for certain health conditions and diseases. The Definition of Visceral Since visceral fat is often called belly fat, you might wonder why we use the term "visceral" to describe it. The reason is that there are two different kinds of fat in your belly and visceral fat is only one of them. In a health setting, the word visceral means in or near your vital organs (your viscera). These are the organs deep in your gut, like your stomach and your intestines. Visceral muscles are found in the walls of your visceral organs. Visceral fat surrounds those organs. Since your vital organs are located in your midsection, visc

Breakfast: Is It the Most Important Meal? Breakfast kick-starts your metabolism, helping you burn calories throughout the day. It also gives you the energy you need to get things done and helps you focus at work or at school. Those are just a few reasons why it’s the most important meal of the day. Many studies have linked eating breakfast to good health, including better memory and concentration, lower levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol, and lower chances of getting diabetes, heart disease, and being overweight. But this much is clear: Skipping the morning meal can throw off your body’s rhythm of fasting and eating. When you wake up, the blood sugar your body needs to make your muscles and brain work their best is usually low. Breakfast helps replenish it. If your body doesn’t get that fuel from food, you may feel zapped of energy -- and you'll be more likely to overeat later in the day.  Breakfast also gives you a chance to get in some vitamins and nutrients f

Some calorie calculators help you find out how many calories you need to maintain your current weight. But what if you want to slim down? Then, what you really want to know is how many calories to lose weight? It's an easy process to get the right number. Just follow three simple steps. Then, you'll know how many calories to eat each day and how many calories you need to burn for weight loss. Step 1: Use a Weight Loss Calculator To get the best weight loss numbers, you should use a calorie calculator or a simple weight loss calculator. My favorite is the weight loss calculator at "Calorie Count". It's simple and easy to use. Use the Calorie Count Calculator The calculator will ask you a few questions about your activity habits and your goal weight in order to calculate the most accurate number. Be honest about your exercise and realistic about your weight. If you fudge the numbers, you won't get an accurate result.  It sounds easy, right? The fi

This post from WebMd verifies the fact that excess body fat over several years increases a person's chances for Cancer. Now this post was written about women and the cancers that women are more likely to get. But overweight men that carry excess body fat for years are also at high-risk for those cancers that men commonly get later in life, like colon cancer and prostate cancer. The more years a person spends overweight, the higher their risk of several cancers. Is it any wonder, with two-thirds of our adult population overweight, that it seems like all of us know someone that has or had cancer. A study, which followed nearly 74,000 U.S. women, found that the longer a woman carried excess poundage, the greater her risk of breast, endometrial, colon and kidney cancers. "We've known for a long time that excess weight is important in cancer risk," said Susan Gapstur, vice president of epidemiology for the American Cancer Society. The cancer society says excess w

Yoga is more than just exercise. We talk about stress a lot of how stress can cause weight gain, and that's where Yoga can help.  Yoga will actually relax you. After you get accustom to doing Yoga, you will find that the poses that stretch your muscles will actually relieve built up stress in your muscles. When your muscles tighten up like when you get a stiff neck, that's a form of stress and many people do Yoga to relieve those tight muscles. Workout fads come and go, but virtually no other exercise program is as enduring as yoga. It's been around for more than 5,000 years. Yoga does more than burn calories and tone muscles. It's a total mind-body workout that combines strengthening and stretching poses with deep breathing and relaxation. Some forms of Yoga are for meditation but the trend today is using Yoga for exercise. There are more than 100 different forms of yoga. Some are fast-paced and intense. Others are gentle and relaxing. Examples of differ

Apps can be handy tools to help you lose weight and eat a healthier diet, but how do you get the most out of the app you use? For advice, we turned to registered dietitian nutritionist Angela Lemond, RDN, CSP, LD,  who practices in Plano, Texas. She’s a big proponent of apps. “We know that apps can help with accountability, and the research tells us that accountability is key when it comes to consistency and being able to make and maintain changes,” says Lemond. “And changes are not easy.” The Key Feature to Look For The most important feature of any app designed to help you lose weight and improve your diet, says Lemond, is its ability to track your eating patterns over time. Why? Because what’s important is not a single meal but what and how you’re eating over the long haul. “Look at your food patterns as much as your total calories,” she says. This means using the food diary function to track your meals, snacks, and beverages on a daily basis. Most people underestimat

The Best Time of Day to Exercise to Lose Weight We are firm believers that exercise should be a part of a daily healthy lifestyle no matter what your end goal is. It keeps the mind alert, the muscles fresh, and the heart ticking properly. However, if your end goal is to shed a few pounds while you’re at it, you may be wondering the best time of day to exercise. Here’s a piece from the New York Times about a study done regarding weight loss focused workouts.  You're probably wondering, "what difference does it make"? It will make a difference if you're trying to lose body fat. I've read several articles on exercise and the consensus as I see it is that morning, afternoon, or evening doesn't really matter. It depends on your schedule. The important thing is that you stick to the same time of the day and don't over exercise the same muscle group.   You might try setting your wake-up alarm earlier and exercising before breakfast. There is some evidence