How These 3 Bad Habits Can Lead to Poor Workouts

As human beings, we were born to move. We don’t seem to do a lot of that nowadays thanks to the nature of our push-button world. Most of us lead busy, desk-bound, sedentary lifestyles, however, moderate physical movement and activity on a regular basis is important for maintaining good health, managing diabetes Type II, and reducing the risk of heart diseases.

Perhaps you’ve been carrying out strength training exercises for increasing your metabolism, toning or building your muscles, or strengthening your bones. You’ve been hitting it hard at the gym and as such have begun seeing optimal results. Yet, the results still seem to elude you. What is it that’s preventing you from reaching your actual goals?

In most cases, it can be as simple as some bad habits. In this post, we’ll be taking a look at three bad habits that may be ruining your training program and how you can overcome them.

1.     Never Warming Up

Quick Fix: Arrive Five Minutes Early

You might believe that you’re saving time, but if you are neglecting the warm-up, you are definitely sacrificing results. In case you aren’t properly warmed up, your blood doesn’t flow as it is supposed to, due to which you are likely to struggle to generate more power.

As a result, you end up experiencing a poor performance in your workout and wonder what you did wrong. The simplest solution is to arrive 5 minutes earlier every time and get properly warmed up.

2.     Lifting With Your Ego

Quick Fix: Focus On Form

Most of the people who are working out at the gym tend to let their ego get the best of them. In case you feel you are losing proper form but still want to add weight to the training, this is one habit that you should change.

Always keep in mind that you’ll never see proper results from carrying out an exercise with bad form as you would with a proper form regardless of the amount you are lifting. So leave your ego behind and drop the excess weight. You should add more weight only if you’ve mastered form in that particular exercise and weight.

3.     Going Through the Movements

Quick Fix: Focus On Your Breathing

Lastly, don’t just simply let yourself go through the movements while you are working out. You need to feel every exercise as you perform it. Feeling every activity means feeling the muscular contractions that are taking place.

Focusing on your breathing pattern will help in this regard. It will assist you in tuning out distractions and absolutely zero in on the exercise you are performing.

Take a good look at your workouts and judge whether or not you’re guilty of any of the above mentioned habits. If the answer is yes, then try to fix them as soon as you can so they don’t sabotage your results.

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All You Need to Know About Ketogenic Diet

 

What Is the Ketogenic Diet?

Ketogenic diet is the name given to a group of “moderate protein, high fat” or “moderate fat, high protein” but extremely low carb diets. Ketogenic is a term that simply refers to an increased production of ketone bodies which are occasioned by the augmented rate of fat break down (lipolysis). Ketones are acidic by-products which are formulated during the breakdown of fat into fatty acids through the liver.

How Can It Benefit You With Weight Loss?

Ketogenic diets are created in such a manner that initially they force your body to exhaust its supply of glucose and then finally turn to burning its fat deposits to get energy. Resultant food intakes upon inducing a state of ketosis are meant for keeping the process of ketosis running by adjusting further carb consumption in an appropriate manner to offer only the basic number of calories required by the body.

Resultantly, the concept of reducing carb consumption doesn’t only reduce the production of insulin, but it also forces the body to practically burn its fat deposits for energy, subsequently making the ketogenic diet quite a powerful method of achieving rapid weight loss.

Key Factors You Should Know as a Beginner

The simple truth is that you will have to educate yourself, weigh all the arguments, and then follow your own best judgment. While most of the people may have had positive experiences, you must have undoubtedly heard of people having problems with low carb diets for one reason or another. Needless to say, there isn’t anything such as a miracle diet as most of them are basically variations of the same theme. However, all ketogenic related diets are based on a certain principle, which has been demonstrated to induce loss of weight in several individuals. Perhaps you should attempt to base your own opinion on the evidence that is available, instead of anecdotes. It’s your body and health that matters.

Examples of Ketogenic Meals

The following are a few examples of ketogenic meals that we have for you. You can find other useful ketogenic meals on this website.

Breakfast

·         1 oz of chopped onion

·         1 oz of low carb vegetables, fried in olive oil or butter

·         4 oz of ground beef, mixed with spices

·         unsweetened spiced tea with heavy cream

Lunch

·         1 cup of cauliflower, chopped and sautéed in olive oil or better

·         1 cup salad greens dressed with 1 tbsp of full fat dressing, sprinkled with blue cheese

·         4 oz of baked halibut along with dill butter sauce

·         unsweetened flavored sparkling water or any other unsweetened beverage, or simply water

Dinner

·         2 cups of shredded cabbage sautéed in butter along with caraway

·         6 oz of pork chop baked in garlic cream

·         coffee with heavy cream

·         salad greens along with high fat, low carb dressing

·         unsweetened flavored sparkling water or any other unsweetened beverage, or simply water

For a more detailed guide on ketogenic cooking, click here for some of the best books on Ketogenic cooking, available on Amazon.

6 Ways to Lose a Pound of Fat

You’ve probably heard this tidbit of knowledge a million times: A pound of fat is 3,500 calories, so to lose a pound you need to burn 3,500 calories. It’s not a perfect rule, but if you’re looking to drop a little weight, it’s a good place to start. Here, six strategies will burn a pound of fat in a matter of days. Some don’t even require breaking a sweat.

Drink Green Tea

The catechins — a type of antioxidant — in green tea have been shown to help fat oxidation and aid in weight loss. One study from the Journal of The American College of Nutrition found that four cups of green tea a day, or the equivalent amount of green tea extract, could result in a weight loss of more than a pound per week. The study was done on obese subjects, but other studies have shown similar numbers. As a basic guideline, drinking 20 to 24 cups of tea (spread out over a week and without cream or sugar) could result in one pound of weight loss. Days to Burn One Pound: 7

Fire Up Brown Fat

Brown fat helps regulate body temperature when you get cold by burning calories. Thankfully, research shows that you only need to get a little chilly — in the range of 62 to 64 degrees Fahrenheit — to activate your brown fat. Dr. George L. King, chief scientific officer at Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, says that while this is a relatively easy way to up your overall calorie burn, it’s not going to get you in beach-body shape overnight. “Brown fat can burn an additional 100 to 300 calories a day,” he says, adding that losing a pound from brown fat alone would likely take anywhere from two to four weeks. Days to Burn One Pound:  14 to 28

Cap Carbs

“It is calories in, calories out, but the type of energy you’re burning is important,” says Joe Anderson, PhD, a professor of bioengineering at the University of Washington. “Your body wants to burn sugar,” he says. It’s only after your glycogen stores have been depleted that you’ll tap into your fat reserves.

Currently Anderson is working on creating a device that will measure the level of acetone in a person’s breath — a gauge for whether you’re burning fat. “Acetone is a byproduct of fat burning,” he says. "The more fat you’re burning, the more acetone you’re producing.” According to Anderson, on a typical diet your breath contains one part per billion acetone. On a low-carb diet (less than 130 grams a day), you can increase the amount of acetone to two parts per million, which will translate to burning a pound of fat every two weeks. Days to Burn One Pound: 14  

Gain a Pound of Muscle

“Research shows that one pound of muscle equals 50 calories burned per day,” says Ryan Sonnenburg, Senior Training Department Head, Life Time Athletic, Green Valley, in Henderson, Nevada. “Therefore, 50 calories a day for 365 days a year would burn 18,250 calories.” That equates to losing 5.2 pounds of body fat annually. A pound of muscle mass takes at least one to two weeks to build, and to add it, you should lift weights at least three times a week with compound exercises (like squats and pull-ups) in multiple sets of 10 to 12 reps. Add that extra pound of muscle, and with the 50-calorie-a-day rule, you’ll cut a pound of fat in 70 days. Days to Burn One Pound: 70

Perform Complex Strength Moves

While an additional pound of muscle erases a pound of fat in 70 days, the good news is that if you use multijoint movements to make that gain, you’ll burn more calories as you build muscle. Todd Gates, a New York–based strength and conditioning coach, says that your total energy expenditure goes way up when you load up the weights and use multiple muscle groups at once. “A back squat, for example, you’re using your back, core, quads, glutes, hamstrings,” he says, adding that these are all big muscles that require a lot of oxygen. Spend about an hour doing squats, lunges, and deadlifts, and you’ll burn between 300 to 500 calories. That means it will take between 7 to 10 sessions to burn one pound of fat. Days to Burn One Pound: 7 to 10

Currently Anderson is working on creating a device that will measure the level of acetone in a person’s breath — a gauge for whether you’re burning fat. “Acetone is a byproduct of fat burning,” he says. "The more fat you’re burning, the more acetone you’re producing.” According to Anderson, on a typical diet your breath contains one part per billion acetone. On a low-carb diet (less than 130 grams a day), you can increase the amount of acetone to two parts per million, which will translate to burning a pound of fat every two weeks. Days to Burn One Pound: 14  

Gain a Pound of Muscle

“Research shows that one pound of muscle equals 50 calories burned per day,” says Ryan Sonnenburg, Senior Training Department Head, Life Time Athletic, Green Valley, in Henderson, Nevada. “Therefore, 50 calories a day for 365 days a year would burn 18,250 calories.” That equates to losing 5.2 pounds of body fat annually. A pound of muscle mass takes at least one to two weeks to build, and to add it, you should lift weights at least three times a week with compound exercises (like squats and pull-ups) in multiple sets of 10 to 12 reps. Add that extra pound of muscle, and with the 50-calorie-a-day rule, you’ll cut a pound of fat in 70 days. Days to Burn One Pound: 70

Perform Complex Strength Moves

While an additional pound of muscle erases a pound of fat in 70 days, the good news is that if you use multijoint movements to make that gain, you’ll burn more calories as you build muscle. Todd Gates, a New York–based strength and conditioning coach, says that your total energy expenditure goes way up when you load up the weights and use multiple muscle groups at once. “A back squat, for example, you’re using your back, core, quads, glutes, hamstrings,” he says, adding that these are all big muscles that require a lot of oxygen. Spend about an hour doing squats, lunges, and deadlifts, and you’ll burn between 300 to 500 calories. That means it will take between 7 to 10 sessions to burn one pound of fat. Days to Burn One Pound: 7 to 10

original source: http://mensjournalonyahoo.tumblr.com/post/138545075162/6-ways-to-lose-a-pound-of-fat

The Best Diet

If you’re searching for the “best” diet program, you’ll find a ton of results on Google, but you likely won’t see any results in the mirror.

The secret to losing weight and never seeing those pounds again is to create a lifestyle that helps you live lean and healthy. Research shows that successful dieters create their own strategy to cutting calories that they stick to, even when it’s the weekend, holiday, vacation, or when they don’t have any weight to lose. Bottom line: They never take “time off” from their healthy eating plan.

If a diet program is too restrictive or includes foods you don’t like or that are essentially “foreign” to you, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If you’re a carb-lover, a plan like Paleo or Atkins would be less likely to be successful compared to a vegan or low-fat approach. Likewise, if you like to cook, a commercial weight-loss program that requires you to eat boxed meals, bars, or shakes will be less satisfying for you.

According to results of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) and other studies, there are several tactics associated with weight-loss success. Apply these six lifestyle strategies and create your personalized program to peel off pounds once and for all.

RELATED: For more smart, starvation-free ways to lose weight, try one of these non-diet diets.

1. Write Your Pounds Off

Dieters who keep food journals lose more weight and are more likely to keep it off compared to those who don’t keep tabs on what they eat. Keeping an eating log—whether it’s with an online program like MyFitnessPal or recorded in a notebook—will help you become more mindful of what and how much you put in your mouth. Record the time, what you ate or drank, and rate your hunger before and after eating. (A hunger scale is a great tool to help you monitor your appetite.)

2. Think Quality Calories

Nearly 90 percent of the dieters in the NWCR restrict unhealthy junk foods and beverages to achieve a slimmer physique. A recent study from the University of Pittsburg, published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, found that those who had the most diet success limited desserts, fried foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages. These foods are considered to have the most “addictive”-like qualities and are primed to be stored as body fat, while they stimulate hunger and cravings for more of the junk. On the other hand, foods such as fruits, veggies, lean proteins, and whole grains are nutrient-rich and keep you satisfied.

RELATED: Kick of your new, healthier way of eating with this seven-day clean-eating plan.

3. Put the Brakes on Booze

Alcohol is a two-for-one in a bad way, according to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition: It acts directly on the brain to stimulate appetite and simultaneously makes high-calorie foods more appealing. If you can’t give up alcohol altogether, max out at one to two drinks a week.

4. Turn Off the Tube

Those who watch more than two hours of TV a day also eat more calories and exercise less than those who limit screen time. Eating while catching your favorite programs is also associated with overeating because the distracted nature shuts down your hunger-regulating hormones. In addition, other studies show that images of desirable foods shown on TV trigger ghrelin, the hormone that makes you hungry. The best bet is to limit the telly to no more than two hours a day and use commercial time to do bodyweight exercises.

5. Go with the Pro(tein)

Studies show that protein provides more metabolic advantages over either carbohydrates or fats when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off. Many experts suggest that the success of low-carb diets is due to the higher amounts of protein rather than the low amounts of carbohydrates. Shift some of your carb and fat calories to protein, striving for 20 to 30 grams in each of your main meals for the most benefit.

RELATED: Hey vegans! Whip up some of these high-protein vegan meals to be sure you meat your pro needs. (Non-vegans will love them too!)

6. Move It!

Just 1 percent of successful losers from the NWCR say they lost weight with diet alone and 9 percent slimmed down with only exercise, whereas 90 percent combined diet and exercise. A fitness program that provides aerobic conditioning, intervals, and strength training—which helps the body retain more lean tissue while losing body fat—are most effective to torch calories and keep your metabolism revving.

Original content: http://www.shape.com/blogs/weight-loss-coach/best-diet

This Is the Fastest Way to Lose Weight Safely

"The trouble with dieting," I hear many women say, "is that it takes too long. If I want to look good for my anniversary next month, I should've started losing weight way back in February. Now that I'm finally focused, it's too late." Well, yes and no. Taking the long-term approach to weight loss is wise because it means you'll lose pounds slowly and steadily -- making it more likely that you'll keep them off. But there are ways to rev up your metabolism so you burn calories and lose weight more quickly. Check out my favorite no-fail jump starts.

WATCH YOUR FLUIDS

1. Drink green tea. Get this: When a recent study compared the metabolic effect of green tea (in extract) with that of a placebo, researchers found that the green-tea drinkers burned about 70 additional calories in a 24-hour period. If you can believe it, those 70 calories a day add up to a total of 7.3 pounds of fat a year! It's not magic, it's science: Researchers believe the difference is caused by metabolism-enhancing antioxidants known as catechins, which are found in green tea.

2. Avoid calories in a glass. Scientists now know that the body does not register liquid calories in the same way it does solid calories. Drinking a grande caffe mocha, for instance, won't make you feel satiated the way eating a bowl of pasta will. Which means that although the caffe mocha actually has a greater number of calories than the pasta, you're still more likely to want a second cup from Starbucks than another plate of linguine. So monitor your intake of juice, soda, coffee drinks and wine. If you consume one of each of those beverages during the day, you'll have taken in at least 800 extra calories by nighttime — and you'll still be hungry. (Incidentally, alcohol may suppress the metabolism of fat, making it tougher for you to burn those calories.)

START LIFTING

3. Buy a set of five-pound weights. It's a onetime investment you'll never regret. Here's why: Strength training builds lean muscle tissue, which burns more calories — at work or at rest — 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The more lean muscle you have, the faster you'll slim down. How do you start strength training? Try some push-ups or a few squats or lunges. Use your free weights to perform simple biceps curls or triceps pulls right in your home or office. Do these exercises three to four times per week, and you'll soon see a rapid improvement in your physique.

4. Lose the salt. Sodium contributes to water retention, making you look and feel bloated. Do you eat too much salt? Probably — the daily value suggests no more than 2,400 milligrams of sodium each day (or about one teaspoon), but most of us are getting more than twice that amount. So keep an eye on your sodium intake, and that doesn't just mean ditching the saltshaker. Hidden sources include soups, canned foods and drinks (did you know a serving of regular V8 juice has 800 mg of sodium?), salty snacks such as chips and pretzels and many prepackaged foods.

HEAT THINGS UP

5. Spice it up. Angelo Tremblay, Ph.D., director of the division of kinesiology at Laval University, in Canada, found that eating hot peppers can boost a person's basal metabolism (the total calories the body burns at rest). The reason? Capsaicin, a compound found in jalapeno and cayenne peppers, may increase your body's release of stress hormones such as adrenaline, which can speed up your metabolism and your ability to burn calories. What's more, eating hot peppers may reduce your appetite, Tremblay says, helping to curb your cravings. So spice up your stir-fried veggies, eat low-calorie chili or salsa (try them on salads and baked potatoes), and watch the pounds come off faster.

6. Get some sleep. As funny as it sounds, sleep deprivation may make you fat — and not just because you're susceptible to cases of the late-night munchies (although there's that too). Women who get less than four hours of sleep per night have a slower metabolism than those who snooze for a full eight hours, according to researchers at the University of Chicago. So don't skimp on your zzz's, and you'll be rewarded with an extra edge when it comes to shedding pounds quickly.

MOVE AROUND

7. Go for an evening walk. Don't get me wrong — exercising at any time is good for you. But evening activity may be particularly beneficial because many people's metabolism slows down toward the end of the day. Thirty minutes of aerobic activity before dinner increases your metabolic rate and may keep it elevated for another two or three hours, even after you've stopped moving. What that means for you: Those dinner calories have less of a chance to take up permanent residence on your hips.

8. Eat every meal. Listen up: Skipping meals will not make you lose weight faster. That strategy backfires because your body thinks food is in short supply, so it slows your metabolism in order to conserve energy. Over time, the result is that when you do eat — even if you consume the same foods as always — your body will be slower to use the calories as fuel, thus creating a backlog of unwanted pounds. If a hectic day makes a sit-down meal impossible, stash an energy bar or a piece of fruit in your purse or briefcase -- anything that will keep you from going hungry.

9. Add 20 minutes of exercise per day. If you're on a diet, you're probably already working out a couple of times a week. (No? Well, you should start!) But whether you exercise or not, you can get a leg up on all those other weight-loss wannabes by doing a little something extra each day. Take the stairs instead of the elevator; walk to the bus, train, or all the way to the office; window-shop with your best friend rather than sit over coffee. Taking the dog out, gardening and even housecleaning all increase the number of calories you expend. You don't have to go for a jog (although that would help!) to speed up weight loss. Twenty minutes of moderate exercise a day means you'll burn approximately 700 calories.

DRINK UP!

10. H20, H20, H20. You've heard it before, and you'll hear it again. That's because drinking 64 ounces of water daily is one of the easiest ways to speed up weight loss. Your body needs water in order to efficiently metabolize stored fat. When you shortchange your supply, you're likely to slow down that process, meaning it's more difficult for you to burn calories. An easy eight glasses a day (at least!) will keep your system running smoothly.

11. Don't go for the gimmicks. At any given time, there are dozens of weight-loss hypes in the marketplace that claim to have the ability to take off 10 pounds in 10 days, or whatever. Desperation can tempt us to try anything, but you and I both know these schemes don't work. Save your money, but more importantly, save yourself from the emotional pain when these gimmicks fail. Be realistic. Jump-start your weight-loss program in ways that make sense, and not only will you be thinner, you'll be happier too.

From: Good Housekeeping

Original content:http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/nutrition/a53299/lose-weight-faster-karas-0302/