Entries Tagged 'exercise' ↓
June 5th, 2008 — alternative ideas, exercise, motivation
There are literally hundreds of different ways that you can get exercise, but not all of them are suited for you. Each one of us has different likes, dislikes and capabilities. The problem facing most people who try to adopt an exercise plan is choosing one that does not fit their body’s needs. By aiming too high or picking the wrong plan, you can easily doom yourself to failure.
In order to avoid this, you’re going to need to find your exercise niche. It make take a lot of trial and error, but there are exercises that will keep you motivated and will help you have fun while you’re losing weight. Exercise is hard enough, there is no need to torture yourself while you’re at it.
Let’s look at just a few of your options:
Aerobics -
When it comes to burning fat quickly, it’s hard to beat aerobics. However, it can be difficult, especially at first. If you are interested in this type of exercise, but you have some physical issues that make it too hard, it’s ok to start slow. Go with a low or no impact work out and pick an instructor that you can actually like. It may not be easy, but the right teacher really makes the difference when it comes to sticking with your exercise plan.
Spinning/Stationary Bike -
If organized aerobics are not your style, you can still get your heart pumping in private with a spinning machine or stationary bike. In many cases, you can even get one for your home where you can exercise in private. This is usually a lot easier for those who have issues with their knees or backs and it is a great way to get started.
Organized Techniques -
Tae Bo is a great example of a technique that incorporates several different elements. The classes are usually quite fun and focus on building upper body strength as well as losing fat. If you need a high energy workout that will keep you coming back for more, this is a great choice.
Weight Lifting -
While weight lifting this isn’t the best for weight loss, it can be a good place to start. You’ll need to add some sort of aerobic element however to keep burning fat. It is important to lift in order to build lean muscle mass however, so everyone can benefit from this type of exercise.
Walking/Running -
If you want to do your own thing, one of the best ways to get started is by walking. You can gradually increase the distance each day until it becomes easier to make it. Running is usually pretty tough to start with, especially if you are really out of shape, but you can try walking for five minutes, running for ten, walking for five, etc… By changing it up, you’ll be building up your endurance levels.
There are numerous other techniques and it is a great idea to explore several to see what is really right for you.
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June 2nd, 2008 — exercise, goals, waistline
Nearly everyone wants to lose inches off their waist and there are many schools of thought on how to accomplish this. Many people believe that the best way to trim your waist is to do hundreds if not thousands of sit-ups or crunches, but in reality, this method will not do much good. In fact, you may end up actually thickening your waist as a result.
Another common misconception is that you can target specific areas on your body for weight loss. While it would be great if it were true, there are absolutely no proven techniques that will allow you to lose weight only from your waist. It simply is not genetically possible to target only one area on your body for fat loss.
A trim waist is best achieved by using the right kinds of exercises in the right amount. We’ll get to the second way in just a minute, but let’s focus first on the types of exercises you should be doing. We already mentioned that crunches can make your waist bigger, so let’s look into that a little further.
If you are just doing crunches and you’re not working on a fat loss plan, you are essentially building up muscles underneath a layer of fat. While it is true that some calories can be burned with these exercises, it is not enough to burn that fat away from your midsection.
So, you are essentially building up those muscles under that fat, which will increase the volume of your waist, not decrease it. In addition, chances are you may not be doing your crunches effectively. They are only effective when you are using your abdominal muscles, not your back muscles to pull yourself upward. The abs are only in use from the time you lift your shoulders off the ground until you get a few inches up in the air. After that, your pelvic muscles take over and you’re not getting much benefit.
The best exercises that you can use to isolate your waist are the ones that require cross over your body. This twisting motion will reduce the size of your waist much more effectively than crunches. Whether you’re standing or on the floor, cross body movements are the most effective means of whittling your waist.
In truth however, the absolute best way to make your waist smaller is to burn the fat that is deposited there. Once you do that, you’ll be able to see the actual results in your muscles and you’ll be able to peel off inches from your body. In order to burn up that fat, you’re going to need to reduce your calorie intake and increase your aerobic workouts.
Pumping iron without an aeorobic component doesn’t do any good here. True you are using energy to lift the weights, but you need to ramp up that heart rate and get your body working to burn that fat. If aerobics aren’t your thing, find exercises that do get your heart rate up and stick with them. Even spinning can help you burn abdominal fat if you do it long enough.
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June 1st, 2008 — exercise, healthy eating, wellness
Here is the weekly roundup of the Fitness Health Network. The following are my personal favorites for this week:
You might also find these posts worth reading:
- My sister use to be a picky eater. She had to grow out of it naturally but Getting Picky Eaters to Eat Healthy by Nutrition Fitness for Life might start you and your picky eater on the process. This post includes a smorgasbord of healthy snacks.
- Could Placebo Diet Pills Help You Lose Weight? Is losing weight all in the mind? Read through Starling Fitness’ post and come to your own conclusions.
- Weight Master offers a fresh way to exercise with Horse Back Riding. I haven’t done this before, but it sounds like a complete body workout.
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May 30th, 2008 — Meals, about, activities, diet, exercise, goals, gym, motivation, weigh in, weight loss
After 6 weeks on the medically assisted weightless program JumpStart medicine with Dr. Sean Bourke, I have lost 46 pounds in 45 days (just over a pound a day… Wow!) This week I lost 7.1 pounds and I am ecstatic to have achieved 109.2% of my goal. I have been feeling great, but the larger dose of Phentermine caused me to get light headed nearly to the point of passing out several time this week. (In addition to Phentermine, I have a weekly Methionine, Inositol, and Choline (MIC) Injection and daily I take Chromium, a multivitamin, B6 and B12 supplements.) I have decided I wanted to reduce the dose of Phentermine back to 30 mg (from 37mg). I had much less trouble with portion control on the higher dose, but the risk of passing out and falling is not worth it… I am 6′10″ and that is a long way to fall.
Having over-achieved my goal of 6.5 pounds (the previous goal was set to 6.5 to make up for missing a 5 pound weekly goal several weeks ago.) I am setting a more modest goal this week of 5.4 pounds. Why 5.4? :) My weight at this weight was 344.4, so if I succeed I will weigh an even 339. Here’s to a great week in the past and a great week upcoming.
Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.
I didn’t get a chance to work out as much as I would have liked because of work consideration… I didn’t swim, play volleyball, or golf this week. I did play basketball twice and go on several walks… I am going to try and get to the gym for volleyball or basketball 5 times this week, I plan on playing (walking carrying my golf bag) at least 1 round of golf, and I would like to swim more than a few laps.
I plan to continue trying to eat less fat free cheese and more lean protein. I have been getting my dairy with a double tall non-fat no-foam latte from Starbucks.
I have not tried to stop my intake of caffeine, but my consumption of caffeine is drastically curtailed from where it was. (I need that morning java and coffee with skim milk just isn’t the same.)
Good luck to all that are working on losing the weight…
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May 30th, 2008 — Book Review, diet, exercise, healthy eating, nutrition
With summer coming, many of us are focusing on how we’re going to look at the beach or the pool. There is a lot of money to be made off of spring diet books and every year, we are besieged with the latest plans that will help us get that bikini body we’ve always wanted. (Editor’s Note: review written by Weight Ladder’s wife 
) The main problem with many of these titles is that they don’t focus on healthy weight loss and that weight does tend to creep back on once you stop the diet. This book promises results in just two weeks, and that set off our radar systems right away. While you can lose a lot of weight in just two weeks, the majority of it is going to be water weight and this can give a false sense of hope to dieters and work to actually derail them from the diet when that water weight comes back.
While there are some very good tips in the book, such as eating the right kind of fats and focusing on foods that contain the nutrition you need to get healthy, the one major failing is that it requires a huge commitment for exercise. For many dieters that are just getting started the two hour daily minimum commitment is going to be just to hard to reach. This can lead to feeling like a failure and instead of staying on track towards getting healthy and losing weight, many people may just give up.
More than 75 recipes are offered and most are delicious and well balanced. The exercise plan is actually quite reasonable, but the time commitment required is a major drawback. The exercises in and of themselves are not terribly difficult, but it’s the sheer amount that may turn a lot of people off of the program. Some people just cannot do that level of activity, especially if they are just starting out.
Our main problem with this diet is the promise that you’ll be ready in two weeks. It takes a lot longer than that to lose weight in a healthy fashion and unless you’re only wanting to lose 5 to 10 pounds, this diet will be pretty discouraging. That and the fact that the two hour exercise requirement is really kind of glossed over, the whole book fell short of what it could have been.
Although it contains healthy recipes and some great advice on lifestyle changes, we just cannot recommend this book as a healthy way to lose weight. If you’re in it for the long term and you have an extra two hours a day, this may be the perfect diet for you. But you’ll need to go in with the right expectations and realize that Rome wasn’t built in a day and if you want to look good in your bikini, it may take a little longer than 2 weeks. That said, there is some useful information and if you go in with the right mindset, this diet may actually work for you.
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May 28th, 2008 — calories, exercise, healthy eating
When you are trying to lose weight, it is very common to go on a strict diet and add in exercise on top of that. There is a problem with this however and you can end up feeling too exhausted to keep going. This usually leads to quitting your diet entirely or giving up your exercises. If you want to avoid feeling exhausted, you need to provide your body with the right amount and kind of fuel to keep going.
First, let’s talk about that simple ratio of reducing calories in + increasing exercise = weight loss. However, there is a problem in this simple equation. If you’re not getting enough calories in, your body will go into starvation mode. You’ll need to add another item to this equation to make sure that you’re getting the right balance.
You’ll need to figure out how many calories a day that you need, and then how many calories you burn at your exercises. For example, if you’ve cut down to 1200 calories a day, and you’re burning 400 at the gym, that leaves you with only 800 calories for fuel. This is not nearly enough to keep you going. (I am on 1200 calories and exercising with my Jumpstart Medicine medically assisted weight loss… but I am under the supervision of a physician and I am getting all of my calories from lean protein (70%), complex non grain carbohydrates (25%), non fat dairy (5%), and I am taking a multivitamin.)
In this scenario, it would be better to eat a few more calories a day so that you’re not running on empty. You can find the right balance by seeing how many calories your body needs to exist. This is usually around 1500 for women and 2000 for men. Anything above that and you’ll gain weight. Too much below it and you won’t have enough to stay healthy.
This means that on days where you exercise, you may need to eat a little bit more. Don’t go overboard, but try to add a healthy snack on exercise days to help avoid having too little fuel. Remember, 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat. Without getting into complicated math, for each pound you want to lose, you’ll need to cut 3500 calories out of your diet.
Simply put, if you’re burning 400 calories a day in exercise, within a little over 8 days you would have lost a pound, if you’re sticking with your normal caloric intake. It can get a little complicated, but the easy way is just to add up the calories you eat, subtract the amount you burn in exercise and see what you have left. Anything below 1200 calories a day for women and 1500 calories a day for men is not recommended.
You’ll also need to supply your body with the right kind of fuel. You can’t eat a brownie and expect to have it help you keep your strength up. Look for foods that are high in protein and low in fat with a low glycemic index. This will give you the energy you need to avoid feeling rundown. Healthy nuts like almonds are a great snack that can give you plenty of fuel for your workouts. Avoid sugary treats and stick with healthy alternatives for the best results.
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May 25th, 2008 — exercise, nutrition, wellness
With Memorial Day this Monday I just wanted to take the time to say just how grateful I am for the service of our country’s Veterans. God bless.
For those of you that don’t already know… All Top is attempting to aggregate all of the very best blogs in a plethora of topics. Alltop has selected Weight Ladder for an addition into the Health topic… There are a lot of other great blogs here and I am honored to be included… You should check out alltop… here is a little more from their about page:
We help you explore your passions by collecting stories from “all the top” sites on the web. We’ve grouped these collections — “aggregations” — into individual Alltop sites based on topics such as environment, photography, science, Muslim, celebrity gossip, military, fashion, gaming, sports, politics, automobiles, and Macintosh. At each Alltop site, we display the headlines of the latest stories from dozens of sites and blogs.
You can think of an Alltop site as a “digital magazine rack” of the Internet. To be clear, Alltop sites are starting points—they are not destinations per se. The bottom line is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed. In other words, our goal is the “cessation of Internet stagnation” by providing “aggregation without aggravation.”
Now it is time for the weekly roundup of the Fitness Health Network. The following are my personal favorites for this week:
- Did you know that most Americans suffer from depression? Lazy Man and Health brings up this interesting fact with Fight Depression with Talk Therapy on Friday.
- If you’re on a diet you might want to check out 20 Worst Foods in America written by Journal of Healthy Living. Just be sure you’re not one of those people who gain weight simply by thinking about food.
- So if you’ve read that, by now you’re probably thinking you might never eat out again. But wait! 10 Healthiest Chain Restaurants posted at Get Fit Slowly could just change your mind.
- Rising Gas Prices Can Help Your Weight Loss That’s right, they can. Save money on gas this summer, this fall, this year simply by finding an alternative way to go besides your car. Learn how at Fat Man Unleashed.
Here are some more blog posts that interested me. I hope you like them as well.
Thanks to Natural Pain Relief for having us in their The Best Blogging Carnival of Healing #139.
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May 24th, 2008 — about, exercise, healthy eating, motivation, weigh in
After 5 weeks on the medically assisted weightless program I have lost 39 pounds… This week I lost 5 pounds which is incredible (the results of this diet and program are remarkable and fast.) 5 pounds was 77% of my weekly goal of 6.5 pounds per week. This week even though I lost 5 pounds I had trouble with portion control at the evening meal… This is been slowly building over the 5 weeks, but this week I asked my doctor if we could increase the Phentermine dose. So for this week I am on 37.5 mg (instead of 30 mg) of Phentermine.
I attribute missing the goal for the same reason as missing last week’s goal… a later than normal and larger than normal (for a 1200 calorie diet) dinner last night and missing my regular movement this morning. I except that there are normal fluctuations in the weekly number as even on a daily basis I can fluctuate 5 pounds from morning through evening with the ups and downs of water loss and water consumption with the Ketosis and exercise.
Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.
So if I am to believe my claim that 1.5 pounds is within a normal fluctuation and that I am still maintaining a 5 pound a week average weight loss (from missing my goal last weigh in.) Then I need to set my weekly goal for 5 pounds plus the pound and a half that the scale failed to recognize lost in previous weeks. So my goal for next week is to end the week at 345 or to have lost 6.5 pounds for the week.
I played 2 hours of basketball twice and 2 hours of volleyball twice and went of several walks and played 9 holes of golf at Harding Park Golf Club. I did not get a chance to swim… My plan is about the same for this week, only with more swimming.
I was able to drastically reduce my fat free cheese intake and plan to continue with more lean meats instead… I feel more satiated and frankly they taste better too. I ran out of sugar free Metamucil (non water soluble) and switched to benefiber (water soluble). If Metamucil is an orange cream shake, benefiber is like dirty water (in plain water) and noticeable but ignorable in crystal light. I plan on switching back as soon as my current container is used.
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May 18th, 2008 — exercise, healthy eating, wellness
Thank you Weight Master for including Weight Ladder in the weight management and fitness forum.
Best posts from the Fitness Health Network blogs for the week:
- Most of us have been there; down to those last few pounds to reach our goal weight. Sometimes when we’re there it’s frustrating because we can’t seem to lose them. Well stress no more over at Get Fit Slowly we learn just how to accomplish Losing Those Last Few Pounds. For instance, eating grapefruit will help you regulate your insulin levels.
- What Are Probiotics? Journal of Healthy Living explains that one probiotics is Lactid Acid Bacteria used to keep food from spoiling and to help out our digestive tract. So eat more yogurt!
- This week at Lazy Man and Health we learn how to Keep Walking Programs Interesting simply by changing our scenery. So take a walk while you run an errand.
- Weight Ladder this week talks about the risk factors, warning signs, and treatment of sudden cardiac arrest in I am at Risk, Are You? Know the Facts on Heart Attacks.
- Many people love to golf, myself included. No Calories Needed talks about golf stretches in Going To Play Golf this week. Try them and see if they improve your game.
- Healthy Weight and Fitness Blog says Health Magazines Sorta Suck. In this video blog learn how to weed the true articles from the advertisements that look like articles.
Best posts from other wellness blogs that I read throughout the week:
- What are the Three Steps You Need to Achieve Your Goals? Nutrition Fitness Life responds with: desire, commitment, and knowledge.
- Watch Out For Ghrelin! Starling Fitness warns us that it can it make you eat more than you would otherwise by instilling more hunger in you. Protect yourself.
- Weight Master presents Wedding Exercise this week at his blog. Who knew dancing at wedding receptions could keep you in shape?
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May 16th, 2008 — about, exercise, goals, gym, healthy eating, weigh in, weight loss
After 1 month on the Jumpstart Medicine medically assisted weightless program I have lost 34 pounds… This week I lost 3.5 pounds with was 70% of my weekly goal of 5 pounds per week. I attribute missing the goal to a later than normal and larger than normal (for a 1200 calorie diet) dinner last night and missing my regular movement this morning. I except that there are normal fluctuations in the weekly number as even on a daily basis I can fluctuate 5 pounds from morning through evening with the ups and downs of water loss and water consumption with the Ketosis and exercise.
Here is a graph of my weight loss (if you are reading this in the future this graph will have updated for future weigh ins as well)… Clicking the image will open to a larger image.
So if I am to believe my claim that 1.5 pounds is within a normal fluctuation and that I am still maintaining a 5 pound a week average weight loss. Then I need to set my weekly goal for 5 pounds plus the pound and a half that the scale failed to recognize lost in the weigh in. So my goal for next week is to end the week at 350 or to have lost 6.5 pounds for the week.
My plan to accomplish the goal is to stick to the diet, reduce my fat free cheese intake and replace those proteins with more lean meat. My plan to address the lack of a normal movement is to continue to consume a 2 regular servings of sugar free Metamucil.
I had a good week for an exercise perspective… I played almost 2 hours of basketball twice and almost 2 hours of volleyball twice. I went for a short swim and several walks. My plan is about the same for this week, only with more swimming.
In talking with the doctor about my long term goal, he was hesitant to talk about a final weight number. Instead he focused on Body Fat percentage. At this week’s weigh in we did the electroanalysis again and my body fat percentage was 36% (down from 39% when I started). He thought he first goal is to get the BFP below 25% and ideally below 20%. At that point my actual weight is irrelevant. So, even though I have a number in mind for my final weight (230-260), I am now officially making it my goal to get to under a 20% body fat percentage. If I can continue to lose 5 pounds a week I should be able to reach my goal by the end of the year.
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