Diet and Exercise are the inseparable twins that are seen and heard everywhere weight loss and fat loss are mentioned. This article will focus on techniques and tips that will help you to maximize the time you spend exercising.

According to a survey of 3,000 professionals certified by the American Council on Exercise, there are ten common mistakes that people are making as they are working out at the gym or at home.

1. Not stretching enough. Before we begin a workout, it is very important to stretch. According to the survey, you can help to prevent injury by stretching before and once again immediately following a workout.

2. Working out with too much weight. Lifting more weight than you can handle will almost guarantee an injury of some sort. Injuries cause setbacks, which create delays and can completely disrupt the establishing of a new workout habit. Go easy on yourself to begin with. Increase weight slowly over time.

3. Neglecting to warm up before a workout. Just like old, rusty parts on a machine, muscles that have not been used lose their flexibility and elasticity. Take time to allow your muscles to adjust to the workout by warming up. Start slowly and ease into your maximum workout intensity.

4. Forgetting to cool down after a workout. 98, 99, 100…. Okay you’re not quite done yet. Take some time to ease your heart-rate back to normal. Stretch your muscles again encouraging the blood to flow through the regions you have just worked. Doing so will help you feel better after your workout and will better prepare you for your next workout.

5. Working out too intensely. A slow and steady approach is better than racing out of the gate. Your exercise will be more effective and you’ll build a better foundation upon which more weight and/or more repetitions can be added.

6. Not drinking enough water. Water is the vehicle that your body uses to carry waste out of the body and to keep you cool. If you don’t properly hydrate, you’ll ache more and feel worse. Don’t let thirst be your guide. Drink water well before thirst sets in.

7. Leaning too heavily on a stairstepper. Doing so can be harmful to your back and wrists. Try decreasing the intensity of the session to the point where you can keep good posture and only lightly rest your hands on the rails. Once you’ve mastered this speed, you can increase from that point on.

8. Not exercising with enough intensity. Assuming you are properly hydrated, your exercise should be intense enough to cause you to lightly perspirate. Check your heartrate to see that you are getting it into the target zone. If you don’t know yours, first calculate your maximum heart rate by subtracting your age from 220. Your target zone should be sixty to ninety percent of that number.

9. Jerking while you are lifting weights. Jerking weights is a sign that you are using too much weight or too many reps. An exercise must be done correctly to be beneficial. Jerking weights is your body’s attempt to use your back (or some other stronger muscle group) to compensate for a lack of strength elsewhere.

10. Eating energy bars and drinking sugary sports drinks. These items are very helpful for extreme athletes who are working out more than two hours at a time. If you are like the average exerciser and you consume these items, you’re really only creating more work for yourself down the road.

I mentioned this in a previous article and want to mention it again. I really feared starting to workout again because of the soreness I had experienced in years past. I began to take R+ Alpha Lipoic Acid (http://www.ralapure.com) and my soreness was minimal. At age 43, it had been ten years since I had been to the gym and I expected the soreness to be worse than a decade before. The R+ ALA did an amazing job of preventing muscle stiffness and soreness.

Do what works for you, but if the fear of not being able to tie your own shoes the day after your first workout is keeping you from exercise (like it was for me), you may want to give it a shot!

Michael Callen is the author of the Weekly Weightloss Tips Newsletter (ccwebgroup.com/tips) and the Chief Technology Officer for WellnessPartners.com, an online retailer of dozens of health and wellness products such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), r+ alpha lipoic acid (R+ ALA), and Green Tea Extract.

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Let’s take a look at how your attitudes and perceptions affect the results you acheive and how slight modifications can achieve mighty results.

When attacking any problem, it is always best to break it into small sections that can be approached individually. Every war is made up of many battles. Stringing together a series of battles helps to win the war. If you are dealing with personal debt, credit counselors will tell you to pay off one card or account at a time; building momentum with each little victory.

In many ways, our battle of the bulge is very similar. If you have ten, or twenty, or thirty, or one hundred pounds to lose, it is self-defeating to try to lose that amount in any given time. However, anyone can lose one pound or two. Once done, you simply repeat the steps you took to win that small (but significant) battle, and you’re on your way to winning the war!

According to the Wellness Letter (published by UC Berkeley), the average American gains about two pounds each year. Well, someone at the American Dietetic Association (ADA) crunched the numbers and look what they came up with. Each pound of body weight is equivalent to 3500 calories. Dividing those 3500 calories by 365 days, each pound of body weight gain comes from an extra 19 calories per day. Now this is generalized, so don’t write me letters…. just hear me out.

If you can see what 19 calories a day can do over the course of a year, imagine what decreasing your diet by 100 calories per day can do. This would equate to a five-pound weight loss (roughly) over the course of a year.

How difficult would it be to leave out 100 calories each day? Well, the folks at the ADA came up with a few — amazingly easy — suggestions.

– eat water packed tuna instead of oil packed tuna

– have one cup of cereal in the morning instead of two cups

– put tomato slices, lettuce and pepper strips on a sandwich instead of mayo

– substitute skim milk for whole milk (two cups is all it takes…)

– snack on a cup of low fat yogurt and fruit instead of doughnuts or cookies

– drink a big glass of water with green tea extract, instead of a soda

Once you see how easy it is to trim some calories away, you need only diligence and will-power to stick to it. The old saying goes “if you fail to plan, it’s like planning to fail.”

To win the battle of the bulge, you’ve got to have a battle plan. That plan will involve (your number one ingredient) CHANGE. When you undertake a challenge such as this, you need to take an assessment of your attitude.

The good folks at the ADA came up with a few questions to ask yourself:

Are you willing to make regular physical activity a part of your routine?
Are you committed to making small gradual changes in your eating plan?
Do you have a realistic weight-loss goal in mind?
Can you control your food choices and meal preparation methods?
Are you losing weight to improve your health and feel better?

If you go into this with the right plan, the right attitude, and have the ability to persevere, you can’t help but achieve your goals.

If you haven’t started off with a plan and the right attitude, do so now! Don’t go through all of the effort it takes to ATTEMPT to lose weight and fail. Instead, make the effort and LOSE weight!

References:
http://www.eatright.org American Dietetic Association,

http://www.berkeleywellness.com/index.php The Wellness Letter

Michael Callen is the author of the Weekly Weightloss Tips Newsletter (ccwebgroup.com/tips) and the Chief Technology Officer for WellnessPartners.com, an online retailer of dozens of health and wellness products such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), r+ alpha lipoic acid (R+ ALA), and Green Tea Extract.

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You can overcome the desires of your sweet-tooth by incorporating some intelligent snacking. Sometimes dieting and weight control can drive you nuts — well, we’re going to put those nuts to work for us.

Many people believe that nuts are fattening and should be avoided if you are trying to lose weight and/or fat. The fact of the matter is that nuts — in moderation — can be a healthy and nutritious part of your daily diet, even to the point where they can help you to lose weight.

Nuts offer protein, fiber and minerals such as copper and magnesium, but remember, only one-third cup of nuts can contain around 270 calories! While nuts are high in calories and fat (the reason for moderation), the fact is that the fat is the “good type” and does not plaque your arteries.

According to the website Vegetarian Nutrition Info published by the Nutrition Department at Andrews University, nuts can assist in lowering blood cholesterol and preventing diabetes. Studies reported by their website came to the following conclusions:

- “Peanuts, or peanut butter, as part of a moderate fat diet produced a 14 percent drop in LDL cholesterol and a 13 percent drop in triglyceride levels in persons with normal blood cholesterol levels after one month. In another study, 1-2 ozs of peanuts a day for 6 months lowered the LDL cholesterol levels of postmenopausal women by 12 percent.”

- “In the Nurses’ Health Study, consuming nuts 1 to 4 times a week was associated with a 16% reduction in the risk of type 2 diabetes. Eating nuts 5 or more times a week reduced the risk of diabetes by 27 percent. Consuming peanut butter 5 or more times a week, reduced the risk by 21 percent.”

I know, I know… enough of the health stuff… you want to know how nuts can help you battle the bulge. It seems that those nutty researchers at Purdue University took a break from basketball long enough to learn that people were able to lose weight by adding almonds to a calorie-controlled eating plan.

While the reasons are unclear, a few theories are “pecan” up over the top. The first one says that the substantial nature of nuts helps to promote a feeling of fullness, or satiety (think satisfaction), thereby allowing you to stop eating sooner. Another theory says that the protein found in nuts helps to burn more calories while you digest your food.

Whatever the reason, the bottom line is that we fat-fighters have to give up a lot, but nuts don’t seem to be one of them! Nuts, a healthy calorie-controlled diet, and moderate exercise can lead to a lighter you.

Not only that, researchers have found that nuts have anti-cancer properties, and researchers have found a negative correlation between the consumption of nuts and coronary heart disease (that is — the more days per week a reasonable amount of nuts were consumed, the LESS likely you are to suffer from heart disease or heart attack.)

Do your friends think you’re a little nutty?? Tell them that it’s okay, it’s just a part of your plan for a healthier you!

References:
http://win.niddk.nih.gov/index.htm The Weight-control Information Network,

http://www.eatright.org American Dietetic Association,
http://www.vegetarian-nutrition.info Andrews University, Nutrition Department

Michael Callen is the author of the Weekly Weightloss Tips Newsletter (ccwebgroup.com/tips) and the Chief Technology Officer for WellnessPartners.com, an online retailer of dozens of health and wellness products such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), r+ alpha lipoic acid (R+ ALA), and Green Tea Extract.

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