Category Archives: Weight

psycho fat burning

Psycho Fat Burning

Psycho fat burning? If you’re looking for lots of serious fat melting, calorie crushing, ab revealing results from your workout, this is for you.

There are a lot of reasons to hit a workout like this, including travel, or just being plain busy, or you can’t make it to the gym. Or hey, maybe you’re just tired of paying that monthly gym membership!

Psycho Fat Burning

We’re going to fire up two exercises and 30 minutes of your time. The two exercises are bodyweight squats and push ups.

The idea is to get as many reps as possible in 30 minutes. A cycle may go like this.

  • Bodyweight squats – 30 reps
  • Push Ups – 15 reps
  • Repeat (resting when necessary)

In order to get a little static contraction back work in as well, be sure to hold your arms straight out in front of you for all your squat reps. Or lightly lace your fingers behind your head and do the bodyweight squats in “prisoner” style.

On the squats, go as low as you can on each rep, under control. Pause for a second at the bottom of the repetition.

Now, your strength level may vary a lot so I’m going to give you a list of bodyweight squat and push up variations so you can make this routine tougher or easier on you, as needed.

Strength levels can vary widely for people in bodyweight exercises. While someone may crank out 50 push ups non stop, someone else might only get two. So here are some variations for you.

For bodyweight squats you can do the following:

* Half Squats (don’t go down all the way, stop around top of thighs parallel to ground)

* Full Squats (down as far as you can go)

* Close Squats (feet turned out about 45 degrees with heels an inch apart, or touching if you can handle it). Arms pointed straight out in front of you.

Push Ups:

* Wall Push Ups

* Incline Push Ups (standing and leaning forward into a bench or table, so you’re lower than leaning
into a wall)

* Kneeling Push Ups

* Half Push Ups (put something like a ball or stack of books under your chest)

* Full Push Ups

You could do:

Bodyweight squats – 20 reps
Push Ups – 10 reps
Repeat (resting when necessary)

OR:

Bodyweight squats – 10 reps
Push Ups – 5 reps
Repeat (resting when necessary)

Give this routine a try for 20 minutes, or 30 if you’re up to it. See how many reps you can get (30 may be too much on the squats. Try 20). You can adjust the push up number as well.

Even 20 minutes might be too brutal to start. You’d be surprised how much you can make 10 minutes of this hurt!

Next time you do it, try beating your rep total. That is for those serious about psycho fat burning.

If you have one simple piece of equipment (a chin up bar) you can make it a tri-set with Bodyweight squats, push ups and pull ups (or inverted rows if you can do that).

You can also flip it. Instead of trying to hit a certain number of rounds in a set time, you can set a rep total and go for time, trying to beat that time in a future workout.

So maybe you go for 200 squats and 100 push ups (whatever variation you choose) with the same rule of double the squat reps to push up reps each time before going back to squats.

Really feeling it? 400 bodyweight squats and 200 push ups! Come on, Rocky!

Brutal, short and effective.


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Tips For Healthy Eating During The Holiday Season

The time from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day has to be the hardest few weeks to stick to a healthy eating lifestyle or any diet for that matter. We are constantly tempted by sweats, treats and just way to much food in general. I would like to share a few tips with you that have helped me in the past to stay on track between now and the end of the year.

Tips For Healthy Eating During The Holiday Season

1) Make sure you eat before you go to any holiday gathering. You know you will be temptedTips For Healthy Eating During The Holiday Season by all sorts of unhealthy but yummy foods. Make sure you don’t go overboard by eating something that is good for you before you go. Try to make sure you are not hungry when you arrive, or you will be much more tempted to overeat as well.

2) Drink some water before you go and alternate higher calorie drinks like alcoholic beverages, eggnog or hot chocolate with water while you are at the holiday party. Drinks can have a lot of hidden calories in them, so watch out. Diet sodas are another good option.

3) Fill you plate with some “good “ foods first. Pick some raw vegetables, but go easy on the dip. Turkey breast, and lean ham or pork roast are other good choices. Don’t forget a nice plate of salad with a low fat dressing and some fresh fruit for dessert.

4) Don’t cut your favorite holiday treats completely out. If you don’t allow yourself the occasional small indulgence, you will be much more likely to break down and binge on all those cookies and treats. The key is to enjoy small portions or bites of your favorite foods. If you have a soft side for chocolate chip cookies then go ahead and indulge, but limit yourself to one a day or every few days. Of course the same applies if you prefer cheesecake or gingerbread men.
Eat several small meals a day. This old tip holds especially true during the holiday season. We tend to skip meals and indulge in one large holiday dinner with the entire family. Don’t starve yourself all day. Get some snacks in and most importantly start your day with a good, healthy breakfast. You will be able to enjoy your holiday more by stabilizing your blood sugar. You don’t want to spend the day being grumpy from not eating for hours, or be the first ready for a nap after overeating.

5) Use the busy shopping season and burn some extra calories. If you are heading to the mall, park a little further away, or take your time and do a round of window shopping all through the mall before you buy. Every few extra steps that you take count. Just don’t reward yourself afterwards with food. For extra motivation to get more walking in, consider wearing a pedometer. See http://www.walkingofftheweight.com for more information on walking and using a pedometer.

6) Take some time to relax. The holidays can be a very stressful season if we let them. Many of us (including myself) tend to overeat or medicate ourselves with food when we are stressed. Work in some extra time just for you. Sit in front of the fire with a good book or your favorite magazine, go get your nails done, take a bath or go for a walk. Do whatever works for you to calm you down and help you distress.

Above all, enjoy the holidays and remember they are not only about food, but more importantly about family spending quality time together. Treat yourself to some new holiday candles, listen to your favorite Christmas tunes, or go for a drive through a lit up neighborhood this year. Have fun during this special time of the year and enjoy that occasional cookie.

Happy Holidays!

Lose Weight App – Your Smartphone And Your Diet

Is there such a thing as a lose weight app? There are plenty. Pull out your phone right now and see.

Lose weight app

Now for the fun part. At least if you like tech things. And who doesn’t these days?

You will want to find some great tracking apps to keep track of what you eat. There are plenty out there. And many great ones are free.

Now the weight loss program you are with may have their own. But even so, check the app store and see what is new.

This is where losing weight can almost be like a game. Tracking what you eat is not only fun. But it is incredibly useful.

Not only will you see the calories you are taking in. But you will be able to measure it against your goals. You can see how many calories you have yet to eat today. Or maybe how many you need to shave off tomorrow.Lose Weight App

Now these apps are getting better and better all the time. That is why I don’t necessarily want to give a bunch of links here. Because something newer is always coming out. And that is what you want.

You will be amazed at the amount of detail they can provide. And how they can be used to track and motivate you on your weight loss journey.

One of my favorite features is scanning what I eat. That’s right, those little bar codes can used for all kinds of things. Like telling you if that is something you should be putting in your mouth in the first place. I am waiting to find the app that makes noise when I go over the limit. They are probably out there. Or should be.

So have some fun here and checking out the lose weight app. It isn’t like the olden days when the best you could do was get a food scale and weigh everything. We have come a long way since then. Tech is your friend when you decide to lose weight. And we can’t say that about many things.

 

Weight Loss By Drinking Water

Is there a ways you can weight loss by drinking water? Well, not just water alone. That isn’t going to work. But to help yourself stick to the program, drink lots of water.

Weight loss by drinking water

Water is going to be your friend. We are told a lot of the time that we should drink several glasses of water every day. Some say it should be 8 glasses. Some more. But the story is the same. Drink water.

The most obvious benefit is that it will keep you from feeling hungry. To a degree. So use that benefit to your advantage. When you get hungry, think about drinking water instead.

Now it has been my experience that this is a learned activity. Once you start to consistently drink water when you know that you would rather have a Krispy Crème donut, you will be training your body to like water.Weight loss by drinking water

Another suggestion is to switch out your current beverage selection with water. How often do you just drink water with a meal at a restaurant? Or with dinner at home? For me that was not usually the case. But after you start getting used it, it will be amazing how easy it is.

What about coffee? Is that a good substitute? Okay, to be honest I have no medical basis to give advice on this. But I have heard that coffee is not always the right thing to be turning to. Now coffee has its benefits.

I have to admit that I like seeing those stories on the internet about how good coffee is for you. But the best advice is to do it in moderation. (Don’t we hear that a lot? About a lot of things?) I can’t say that I have been good at cutting way back on coffee here. But it is up to you.

Water could still be a good alternative. Just remember weight loss by drinking water. Some of the time at least, right. Give it a try and see how it works out? It can’t hurt.

What If I Mess Up My Diet?

What if I mess up my diet. And eat something I shouldn’t? What then? Don’t let a slip throw you off.

What if I mess up my diet?

You know what will happen. You have been there before. I have been there before. You decide to lose weight. Good for you. And you have some success. But then you slip up. That dessert just looks too good. Or that waffle is calling your name at breakfast. Or a Big Mac is a necessity.

So what do you do? what if i mess up my diet? The typical response is to beat yourself up. Think that is it hopeless. That there is no way that you can be successful at losing weight. What were you thinking? And you just might give up.

But the best way to think of it is like the GPS in your car. Or on your phone. Let’s say you have the destination programmed in. And you are your way. You are making good progress. But then you mess up and miss an exit or a turn.What if I mess up my diet?

What does the GPS do? Does it turn on you? Call you a loser? Start berating you? No. Just the opposite. It just starts plotting a new path back to the destination, right? There is no name calling. (If name calling is involved, I suggest getting a new system.)

So treat your journey to a slimmer you the same way. When you fall off the path – thinking what if i mess up my diet – you have set out on, just get back on course. Remember your motivation. And get back on the horse, so to speak.

And when it happens again, you will know how to react. Just get back on track. Because you know it will. In fact there is an excellent chance that you will fall off a few times. But once you learn how to manage your reaction, then you will have an incredibly powerful tool to use.

Never Go Hungry Diet

Don’t go hungry. It won’t last.

Never go hungry diet

If you have made the decision that it is time to lose some weight, the greatest fear is not being able to stick with it. You are not alone.

How many times have you started a new diet? And then soon you were just so sick and tired of being hungry that you threw in the towel? This is me. I can identify with this.

To be a success, any program of controlling what you eat, and losing weight, is to not be hungry all the time.

Never go hungry diet

Okay, to be honest, you are going to be hungry some of the time. After all, your body is trying to tell you that you need more calories. Expect it.

But it is how you much hunger you can tolerate that will be the most important factor in whether you are successful. Or not. That is key to a never go hungry diet.

So how do you do it? Not feel hungry all the time? There are a few tricks.

  1. First space out what you eat
  2. Keep busy to keep your mind off it
  3. And keep hydrated by drinking lots and lots of water. More on this later.
  4. Learn what foods can help make you feel fuller – there are some good resources out there. Just let me know if you want some recommendations. For example I have heard that cinnamon can do this. And you know it works for me.

Concentrate on your motivation. Remind yourself why you are doing this.

Is it to lose weight? To fit into those clothes? To be able to look in the mirror? Probably not.

You are doing it because you know how you will feel about yourself once you are successful, right? And how you know others – the important ones – will feel about you too.

So go out there and try out the never go hungry diet.

7 Calorie Burning Tips

These are just a few habits you can embrace to start revving your metabolism right away. You may have heard stories about people who have lost dozens of pounds simply switching to diet soda or walking a few minutes each day. These are all small habits that contribute to a big difference and increase your metabolism over time. You will make weight loss quicker and easier by increasing your metabolic rate and burning more calories.

7 Calorie Burning Tips

1) Move More

Sedentary people burn about one-third less calories per day. By simply taking every opportunity to move can make quite a dramatic difference to the amount of calories you burn in one day. 7 Calorie Burning TipsSmall movements will add up over time to lots of calories. The trick is to keep moving throughout your day. Write the word ‘move’ on post-it notes and put them in places you’ll notice them when you’re sitting still. Then, take every opportunity to move – here’s some ideas for burning extra calories:

Tap your feet
Swing your legs
Stand up and stretch
Move your head from side to side
Change position
Wriggle and fidget
Pace up and down
Use the restroom upstairs
Park in the furthest corner of the parking lot
Stand up when you’re on the phone and step from side to side
Clench and release your muscles

2) Eat Little and Often

Evidence suggests that eating small meals every 2-4 hours will keep your metabolism burning faster than larger, less frequent meals. When you eat small amounts often your body is constantly working to digest and absorb food which requires energy.

3) Eat Fat

If you want feel good and keep the fat off you need to first put it in. Fat not only tastes good our bodies need it to work efficiently. By consuming several servings of ‘healthy’ fats every day you will actually increase your calorie burning potential. Try incorporating fats like Flaxseed oil, hempseed oil, olive oil, avocados, salmon, albacore tuna, nuts and seeds into your diet daily.

4) Drink Cold Water

Evidence shows that your body might expend more calories trying to raise cold water to the temperature of your body then hot beverages. And overall being well hydrated will help your body’s metabolic processes burn quicker.

5) Exercise With Weights

Training with weights boosts your metabolism in a number of ways. By lifting weights you will build muscle tissue. And muscle tissue is metabolically active, so it requires calories even when at rest and so it helps to increase fat-burning enzymes in your body.
6) Spice up

Eating hot spices might speed up your metabolism. Just half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day can help boost metabolism and keep blood sugar levels in check. Can’t stand the thought of cinnamon in your morning cup of coffee? Spice up with cayenne, crushed red pepper or wasabi.

7) Eat More Protein

Protein requires a more complex chemical breakdown by your body in order to be digested and used as fuel. For example, 100 calories of protein may take up to 30 calories to process. Protein also takes longer to digest and helps to stabilize blood sugar for longer periods of time and this can help you to not overeat later in the day. Eat a portion of protein at every meal and as part of your snacks and you will increase the total number of calories you burn each day.

Click here to check out the weight loss program that helped me lose 40 lbs.

A Nutritious Diet while Traveling

Once you have made the firm decision to change your eating habits, you will find many little tests along the way. Places we visit in the form of travel, Restaurants, Parties, friend’s places, A Nutritious Diet while Travelingwork situations and also our biggest enemy, Time. These situations can present challenges to our resolve in maintaining good Nutrition in our diet and while we have covered a few points in our previous articles, we will now look at what I consider a major test, Travel!

Sticking to a nutritious diet while traveling can be one of the more difficult things to do. However, if you learn how to make smart choices, a healthy diet is really not that difficult. It’s probably not the best time in which to start a healthy diet, but if you are currently making healthy choices in your foods already, modifying your diet slightly to accommodate travel, is not as difficult as it first may seem.

A Nutritious Diet while Traveling

If you are traveling by airplane, your diet may have to include airplane food, which can often be of poor nutritional value, depending on the selection. When you book your flight, ask about your food options, ask if a vegetarian dish is available? Vegetarian dishes are sometimes more nutritional in this case, but it really depends on what they may be serving. If you can, eat a larger meal before your flight, so that you don’t have to eat the entire meal that is served, to feel full.

When driving or taking a bus, you may be tempted to stop at fast food restaurants and eat the meals found there. Avoid this whenever possible! If you’re on vacation, you may wish to splurge a tiny bit, but having fast food more than once during a week can really be bad for your health. If you must, choose the healthiest options available, like chicken breasts and diet soda.

Also, remember that you can take your own meals when traveling. Carrying a loaf of whole-wheat bread or pita wraps, some lean lunchmeat, and low-fat cheese in a cooler is a great way to avoid high-fat and high-cholesterol junk food meals. These are much better choices and you’ll save a lot of money as well. Call ahead to ask if there will be a refrigerator in your hotel room.

Lastly, make smart choices when you eat out. If you choose salads or pasta get the dressing on the side and ask about low-carb options. In fact, many places print these dieting options directly in the menu for the health-conscious people. Control your portions by ordering lunch menu sizes or splitting the meal in have and getting a doggie bag, and you’ll be well on your way to healthy eating, even away from home.

Yes, eating healthy foods when you travel can be a challenge. However, your health is worth it. Eating meals high in nutrition will also assist in fighting illnesses that you are likely to encounter when traveling and you will find yourself more alert so that you can enjoy your trip.

Are you currently interested in losing weight? Click here to check out what has been working for me.

Eating Out Wisely

People I know love eating out at different cafes and restaurants. They love trying out new places almost as much as they love returning to their old favorite spots. They love trying new menu Eating Out Wiselyitems and discovering new ways to eat the foods they enjoy the most. Eating out can be both a wonderful and very dangerous thing.

In America we are blessed to have restaurants dotting the streets of many streets in towns and cities of all sizes. We are rarely at a loss for places to eat out. One of the greatest things about eating out is that it saves time that many busy people do not have to waste. After spending long hours at our workplaces, few people have the time or energy to return home and cook a gourmet meal. Eating out seems to be a great solution at the end of a long, tiring day.

Eating Out Wisely

Eating out can also be great because we can try a wide variety of foods and drinks that we don’t have the ability to make ourselves. No one loves eating the same basic foods over and over again, so eating out can be a good way to give our tastebuds something new.

However, if we are not careful, eating out can also be dangerous for a couple of big reasons. First, we must use caution in eating out for the sake of our health. Most restaurants and cafes offer huge portions of items that are unhealthy to eat and drink. Eating out often means filling up on appetizers, a main course, a few high calorie beverages, and a dessert to finish off the evening. Think about how many calories you can consume during a meal like this. I am not, of course, saying that we should never enjoy eating out. I am, however, saying that we need to be careful, for our health’s sake, about eating out too frequently. We must be careful to watch our choices when we are eating out. Choose healthier items or commit to only eating half of the meal you choose. There are ways of eating out healthily, it just takes conscience effort.

Another huge reason to be careful about eating out too often is your pocketbook and budget. It is no secret that eating out costs more, on average, that cooking meals in your own home. It is easy to accumulate large bills, especially at nicer places. So be careful that you stick to a budget when you make plans for eating out.

Beware. Eating out can be one of the greatest pleasures or one of the most dangerous things. Enjoy it, but do it with caution.

Are you interested in losing weight? Click here to check out how I was able to actually lose 40 lbs.

Winning The Losing Weight Game

Are you more or less constantly thinking about your weight, or whether you’re eating or not eating?

Winning the losing weight game

Winning The Losing Weight GameDo you find that at times when you start eating that you just can’t stop yourself? And then when your clothes don’t fit do you decide to resolve that by eating more?

Often as a consequence of this common behaviour is that you will feel bad about yourself and imagine that everyone is thinking how big you are, thus increasing your anxiety about your eating and image, so that you eat more to comfort yourself.

You might not believe it yet there are steps you can take to get you out this self-destructive cycle and turn around the negative feelings that you experience.

When we are in these ‘mind-traps’ we are habitually repeating thought patterns and acting on them without questioning where they come from and what they do for us.

A simple question such as: ‘What will that do for me?’ can often be the beginning of understanding ourselves better and our behaviour. Approaching the problem in this way can be the first step towards doing things differently.

It works like this: a bad experience gives you the urge to go to the biscuit tin and eat as many biscuits as you can. But this time, instead of binging on biscuits, as yourself: ‘What will that do for me?’

If the answer is something like ‘It gives me a treat,’ ask yourself: ‘And if I have this treat, what does that do for me?; Again, wait for your answer, it may be something like, ‘If I have this treat then I will feel appreciated.’ If this is your response carry on and ask yourself: ‘If I get to feel appreciated, what does that do for me?’ Listen for an answer and keep asking yourself the same question, until you can go no further with your responses. What you’re looking for is the higher motivation behind the behaviour ‘eating too many biscuits’. By doing this on a regular basis you will get in touch with what you really want and take your first step to controlling the food cravings.

I worked with a client who was unhappy with her weight and eating. Her name was Mary, a wife and working mother of two young boys. We did this exercise and she realised that she wanted to feel comforted.

When we looked at other aspects of her life it became clear that she never put herself first in terms of what she wanted and one way or another she now felt unappreciated and lacking.

Mary also realised that rarely gave her self permission to have ‘me time’ to do things like soak in a luxurious bath, or go out with friends, or watch what she wanted on TV, These all may seem like small trivial things, but added together they became the source of her feelings of being invisible, not appreciated and generally unloved.

Mary worked on creating ways that she could reward, comfort and appreciate herself that didn’t have to mean eating. Very soon she became very clear about her goals and how to achieve them. People around her noticed a change and responded by being more receptive and positive towards her. As a result, she easily shed weight, looked and was much happier, and forgot all about eating for comfort.

I know what has worked for me to winning the losing weight game. Check out my story: http://bit.ly/1rLhW2c