It is very, very hard to lose weight without both watching your calories and regularly exercising. But it's not that simple. For years, doctors and personal trainers (including me) told clients: "You've got to burn off more calories through exercise than the calories that you eat. If you do that, you'll maintain a healthy weight." We even implied that not being able to maintain a healthy weight, since it was so simple, reflected a weakness of character. It's true that calories in, calories burned, and self-discipline are important. However, in my opinion, it's always been clear that some people really do have more trouble than others in achieving a healthy weight. You had only to observe your friends and family. The folks who always have seconds yet remain thin. The folks who pick at their food yet stay heavy. Now, we're learning why. In over 20 years, medical science has discovered a lot of the body chemistry that controls our appetite and metabolism. Some animals are born to be hungrier: the natural hormones that drive appetite overpower those that suppress appetite. The same probably is true of humans. Also, some of us are born to burn calories more readily. And in the past 10 years, we've discovered a new reality that may profoundly affect our ability to achieve a healthy weight: the microbiome. We've known for over a century that many microorganisms (for example, bacteria and viruses) live on us and within us, like in our gut. All their genes, collectively, are called our microbiome. And, boy, are there a lot of them: our microbiome has 250 to 800 times more genes than there are human genes. Why that matters are that these microbial genes make natural chemicals that can enter our bloodstream and affect our body chemistry. As just one example of how the microbiome likely affects our weight, we have long assumed that the calories we swallow each day all get absorbed into our blood and distributed around our body, including into our fat cells. That isn't entirely true. Without getting too graphic about it, some of what we eat leaves our body as waste, taking some calories with it. There are people whose gut microbiome appears to cause them to absorb a lot more of the calories that they consume before the calories leave as waste. Finally, don't forget that regular exercise produces health benefits even for those people who haven't achieved a healthy weight. Weight loss is only one reason for regular exercise.
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A high-protein breakfast may help curb your appetite later in the day, suggests a major study in the October 2018 Journal of Dairy Science. Researchers assigned over 400 healthy adults to eat a breakfast containing two servings of a high-carbohydrate cereal, with either 1 cup of commercial milk that contained 12.4 grams of protein, or 1 cup of milk mixed with a whole-milk protein concentrate or a whey protein powder that boosted protein intake to 28 grams. The participants then had their blood sugar levels measured. After two to three hours, the participants ate a high-carb lunch and had their blood sugar checked again. Later, everyone's appetite was assessed with a questionnaire. The researchers found that people who consumed extra protein at breakfast had lower blood sugar levels and reduced appetite later in the day compared with those consuming less protein. Protein takes longer to digest than carbohydrates do, which explains why it can suppress appetite, but the study also suggests that the more protein you consume, the longer the effect may last. This could be helpful for people who fight afternoon cravings or who need help to lose and manage their weight. Although this study used milk and whey protein powder, the researchers added that it's conceivable that any protein source would work as well. Here is a simple way to add more protein to your diet at breakfast within minutes, , while you still pack in some good fibre, carbs and other important nutrients to keep you going throughout the day. Protein Porridge in minutes · ½ cup porridge oats · 1 full scoop of Tranquillity 360 fitness meal replacement protein powder · 1 cup water · ¼ tsp cinnamon powder Method bring water to the boil the add porridge oats, cook for three minutes Whisky in cinnamon powder and protein powder. Pour in a bowl and off you go, healthy breakfast packed with nutrients. Tips: You can also used Weetabix for the same results, as you would get from porridge oats or even spice it up with a bit of Nutella and dried or fresh fruits This is one thing that I have mention over a million times if you are training for fat, you are not alone, in fact you are one out of 100s if not 1000s of people each day going to the gym each for the same reasons Fat loss is one of the most discussed topics in the fitness industry and among gym members or any one looking for healthier life. If you ask half the people in your local gym what is their training goals are or what they hope to accomplish by going to the gym, half will say fat loss. How many of these people reach their goal? Most never reach their goals of having a six-pack or even taking a couple of inches off their waist. Here are five common reasons why people fail to reach their fitness gaols. 1. Your Diet Starts Tomorrow If you haven’t discovered by now that fat loss is almost always a nutrition problem, now you know! Take some time to learn about proper nutrition if you already have an idea of what proper nutrition looks like, the biggest reason that you fail at fat loss is because you don't apply the knowledge of good nutrition that you have learned! and one diet does not fit all You can calculate all the macros, calories, micros, resting metabolic rates, and whatever else you want to calculate, but those numbers are worthless if you never start your diet, and sticking to it, you often times keep telling yourself you’ll start next week. Then Monday comes around and instead of starting your diet you decide you need a little more time to prepare. The next thing you know it’s been a month and you are no closer to your fitness and health goals than you were a month before. Or even worse, you’re fatter than when you originally began planning your diet. Don’t fall into this trap. Start now! You can always adjust along the way but quit planning to plan and start making small changes to your diet today. The biggest mistake you can make on the road to hitting your fitness goals is to never start, so just start! Not on Monday, NOW! If you thing you don’t have an idea of how to go about this, then don’t just download some program online, get help from the professionals to design a diet plan that will fit well your goals and desired. 2. Consistency The results you gain, come from making steady progress day in and day out for extended periods of time which should really be measured in months, or even years depending on where you are starting from, not weeks. Getting fit and strong is a process and you must be consistent. Focus on showing up to the gym day in and day out over the long haul. It is popular to perform workouts that leave you crushed and vomiting on the floor. While this may have a place in the gym, these workouts should be spread out over months of training. This gut wrenching intensity should not be applied to your daily training because you can't maintain high intensity for very long before running yourself into the ground and having to take a break. Consistent, less intense training will beat sporadic, high intensity training performed inconsistently for those trainees looking to get ripped. This is especially true for those who are dieting and struggle to find the energy to train intensely. Train consistently over the long haul with a consistent nutrition strategy instead of running yourself into the ground for a month or two and then having to take a break because of injury or exhaustion. 3. Heavy Drinking, You Don't Lose You might not guess this one, but alcohol is the biggest red light if you are trying to get fit and into shape. It's that simple. It's not just that alcohol itself has seven calories per gram, making it more calorically dense than carbohydrates or proteins, but also the fact that it compromises your ability to make good choices when it comes to nutrition. You know what I mean! Who hasn’t stopped at a drive thru or a kebab van after a night of drinking! In addition, alcohol creates a hormonal environment that is primed for fat storage. If it’s your goal to get a six pack or another fitness goal, then you need to find something else to do besides going out for a beer or ten. Stay focused on your goals, and once you achieve them, then you can go out and celebrate with your friends! 4. Can’t See Progression Another massive reason that a lot of people fail to get results is they fail to progress their training and nutrition methods once they have plateaued. In training it is very common for people to get comfortable with a certain workout program (which is fine if there is progression factored into that program) and the exercises, loads, reps, and sets stay the same from week to week. Initially this works, but after a couple of months the body catches up and progress stalls unless you put in place some form of progression that will allow you to make further gains. The same goes for your nutrition. You can get your bodyfat down low with simple balance of nutritional practices, but the last couple of kilos require progress with practices like carb or calorie cycling and nutrient timing to help with the last remaining fat hiding the definition you are after. Don’t get stuck doing the same training and eating the same ways or you will end up stalling and lose momentum on your quest to get your fitness goal. You have make that your training and nutrition change as your weight and strength change! Progression and consistency are the keys elements to unlocking your gains. 5. Stress Levels If you are trying to get a desire fitness goal, you need to learn to relax, chill out and deal with stress. Not only does being in a constant state of fight or flight cause your body to cling to bodyfat, it can also cause you to gain more fat! Yes, gain more fat! When you are stressed how well do you follow your diet? It’s easy to ditch your diet and training when you feel like you don’t have time, or you are feeling pressure from other areas of your life whether that's work or family. This is especially true if you use food to cope with stress. Find ways to manage stress to find your abs and the rest of the definition that you are seeking. Some of the best ways to reduce stress are to ensure that you are getting enough restful sleep, massage, meditation, and taking care of any personal issues that have been causing you stress. You might be surprised just how much relaxing and reducing stress can help you get lean! Getting fit is simple. You need to train smart, eat appropriately, and make sure that your lifestyle supports your goals. Although the process may be simple, that doesn’t mean that it's easy. Best of luck on your quest to get ripped. Most people go to the gym for two reason and two reason only, to lose fat and tone up. This is probably one of the most common fitness goals for everyone, you would be surprise to know that you’re certainly not alone on your journey. Many have tried and failed badly, I mean some people go in the gym and came out worse than how they go in, but many have also succeeded in reaching fitness target, which is rarely easy, but the right strategy is definitely a big help. The biggest questions when starting out is whether to work on exercise, nutrition, or both: is cardio or munching on celery the answer, is if you’re wondering about cardio for fat loss, we’ve got the know-how so all you need is the willpower. Exercise More or Eat Less? People are constantly battling over whether they should be exercising more or eating less in order to lose fat. If you want to make a change to become healthier, it’s easy to assume that simply reducing calorie intake alone will suffice. The problem with this is that a reduction in calories through a change solely in nutrition will only help to lose fat and won’t improve muscle tone. Cardiovascular activity causes the body’s muscles to work and adapt, so you should be taking on some cardio as well as resistance training if you want to change your body composition. For instance, a moderate intensity exercising session on the cross-trainer will burn calories, incorporate muscles mainly from the legs and arms, and cause your cardiovascular system to work within its aerobic capacity by pumping enough oxygenated blood around the body to sustain the exercise. This helps the heart and lungs grow stronger as well as visible body muscles become stronger and more conditioned to exercise. So yes, you should take up some cardio for fat loss, but is this all you need to do? The Big Mistake When starting your journey to a healthier lifestyle, all of the changes you make are a shock to your body. People often tend to bite off more than they can chew when they begin their new quest for a summer body by setting themselves unrealistic fat loss goals. It’s common for people to jump into a 500 calorie deficit worth of cardiovascular based physical activity each day and then become shattered in the first week and give up. You could also go the other way and starve yourself silly, but this also isn’t sustainable and certainly isn’t healthy. The Compromise In order to make the process easier, it’s smart to use a combination of a deficit in calories through both nutrition and cardio for fat loss and muscle tone. This means that you’ll also spend less time on the treadmill, which wasn’t really that appealing in the first place, was it?! However, if you’re not scared to get involved in more cardio it does have plenty of benefits. Besides the elevated perceptions of well-being, stronger muscles and decreased risk of heart disease and stroke, it also allows you to eat more calories in order to replenish your body after exercise. That’s right, just because you burn off 500 calories doesn’t mean you have to suffer and receive no rewards — roll on that slice of cake! Cardio for Fat Loss Let’s say you burn 500 calories in a tough cardio workout — something reasonably attainable in an hour. Not only are you improving your muscle tone, but you’re also giving yourself a bit of leeway in terms of what you can eat. A 500 calorie daily deficit will see you lose about 1 lb per week, so by doing an hour’s worth of exercise, you can afford to eat a little more to compensate for this. If you imagine trying to meet your calorie deficit solely through a deficit in your nutrition now, does it seem very appealing? Would you be able to eat as flexibly, or as much? Would you feel as healthy? Would your muscles be getting enough work to improve your body composition? I’m sure you can answer those questions yourself. No one wants to be stuck eating salad all of the time. A combination of a small calorie deficit and cardio for fat loss will be enough if you get the balance right. Even if you do a 300 calorie workout and eat a 200 calorie deficit (cut out that chocolate bar!), then you should begin to meet your goals. |
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