Top Tips for Slimming Down This Summer

So if you live in a cold climate like me, you know that Summer time is always a season that is looked forward to. It is the time that you can put on your shorts and tank tops and pop down to the shops in your flip flops. The only drawback of summer is that it comes right after the cold seasons, where you are more likely to have put on the pounds so if you are feeling a bit nervous about getting your bikini on this summer, take a look at these top tips for slimming down:

1.) Swap the Soda for Water - OK, now I know that this is not easy for some people. I can think of quite a few people I know who don't even like water!! But you can jazz it up... Ever thought about having sparkling water with a bit of lemon or maybe even some cucumber? It is very refreshing and you can almost convince yourself that you are sipping on a Gin and Tonic!

2.) Steaming is For The Winter - When it is cold outside you may need some 'comfort food' to keep you going but now the sun is out, ditch the steaming. Get your veggies on a barbeque instead. Not only is it good for weight loss it makes the veggies taste completely different which is always a good thing.

3.) Try Alternative Exercise Methods - Would you rather jump in front of a train than run on the treadmill at the gym for 30 minutes? You are not the only one. If you find conventional exercise boring, think of some alternative ways to get your body into shape. What about belly dancing? or Salsa dancing? There is also a great new exercise which is becoming popular called Piloxing. (Yep, that's right, it is a combination of Pilates and Kick Boxing and people are having some great results from this. Remember exercise does not have to be conventional so spice up your life a bit.

4.) Eat In: OK - now you will have to be the judge of this for yourself obviously. But the problem with restaurants (even some of the ones which claim to be healthy) is you just don't know what the EXACT ingredients are when you have ordered something, nor do you have any control of the cooking methods which are used to produce meals. So I am not saying never eat out but you will find it a lot easier to count your calorie intake if you are preparing the food yourself.

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7 Facts About Healthy Eating

Healthy eating is all about taking nutritious foods on a daily basis. It's an important habit that should be acquired. There are lots of benefits that come with the habit. You'll always enjoy sound health if you're committed to consuming nutritious diets on a daily basis. There are unique facts you need to know about healthy eating. Let's examine some of them.

• Healthy eating protects the human heart. The condition of your heart depends a lot on the kind of foods you eat on a daily basis. Nutritious foods improve the condition of the heart. They also fight all forms of heart diseases on a regular basis.

• Balanced eating helps a lot in controlling weight gain. You can easily maintain your weight by consuming nutritious diets on daily basis. If you're obese, you can easily slim down by consuming lots of fruits and vegetables. If you're extremely slim, you can add adequate weight by consuming starchy foods. You'll always maintain your weight as you keep following a good diet plan.

• Consuming nutritious meals helps a lot in reducing the risk of diseases. It helps you remain physically fit on regular basis. When you eat properly, you can be free from all kinds of diseases like diabetes, stroke, cancer, and so on. You'll also be free from kidney infection, lung disease and other diseases.

• Healthy eating improves your energy level. You can boost your daily energy level by consuming quality foods regularly. You'll always be strong and fit. Your strength will always be renewed as you keep following a good diet plan.

• Regular consumption of nutritious diets helps a lot in enhancing your immune system when your immune system is improved, you'll find it difficult to fall sick. You'll continue to build enough resistance against sicknesses.

• Your brain improves when you take quality diets. You'll start thinking correctly. You'll also start taking the right decisions on regular basis. Your nervous system will also be in good condition as you keep following a good diet plan.

• Taking quality foods makes the skin to look beautiful. Your entire body will start to shine on daily basis. You'll not have any reason to worry about rashes, eczema and other skin diseases as you keep eating nutritious meals.

In all, healthy eating remains the best avenue of enjoying sound heath. It improves your overall physical appearance on daily basis. You need to create time to discover the right steps to take in consuming quality foods. You can consult your dietitian for further assistance.

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Ladies, You Can Eat Pizza and Still Lose Weight

It's well established that in order to lose body fat and body weight, you need to bring your daily calorie intake below your maintenance level for a certain time period. At first you lose weight, then your progress slows and then you hit a plateau where you seemingly can't lose any more weight. If you reduce your calorie intake even further, now you start to lose muscle in addition to losing fat due to your insufficient calorie intake. Again, that's not good because this will lower your metabolic rate, making it even harder to lose fat. Also, when you restrict your calorie intake for a period of time, your body starts to think that you're starving and reacts by lowering your metabolic rate and increasing your appetite.

Researchers believe that the reason your body does this relates to levels of a hormone in your body called leptin. The role leptin can play in keeping you lean is yet another reason not to banish carbohydrates (carbs) from your diet, since occasionally overfeeding on carbs can revamp your leptin levels.

If you're on a reduced calorie diet, leptin levels will begin to fall in your body. When leptin levels fall in the body, this effectively reduces your resting metabolic rate (RMR), triggers increased cortisol production (a catabolic hormone that promotes muscle loss and makes it hard to lose fat), and also increases your appetite, essentially promoting body fat gain. It is your body's defence mechanism because it thinks you are starving. To keep your leptin levels normal and hence your appetite sated and your RMR at optimal levels, it is helpful to have occasional overfeeding days (particularly of carbs). This could be one day a week where you forget all about your diet and eat whatever you want in whatever quantities you want. Most likely you're going to consume a lot of high carb foods, which will aid in increasing your leptin levels.

Try to make the majority of your overfeeding day comprised of carbs but avoid sugary foods such as fizzy pop, sodas, biscuits, and other sources of high fructose corn syrup. Also, try to go approximately 1000 calories higher than your maintenance calorie intake for the overfeeding day to assure a good response.

You could still lose a lb a week even with the overfeeding day. For example, if you stay at a 750-calorie per day deficit below your maintenance level during the other 6 days per week and you're 1000 calories over your maintenance during the overfeeding day, that's still a 3500-calorie deficit for the week (+1000 - 750x6 = -3500). Since the overfeeding is only one day per week, it will not ruin the benefits of the other 6 days per week where you're following a good diet and will actually supercharge your metabolic rate to make sure you keep your fat loss or weight loss efforts on track. What you're actually doing is tricking your body into thinking that food is plentiful once again and it doesn't have to lower your metabolic rate since it no longer thinks it is starving.

Besides being important physiologically for maintaining continual fat and weight loss, the overfeeding day is also very important mentally by giving you that one day a week to look forward to where you can overeat and not worry about it.

NOTE that for a smaller individual with lower daily calorie requirements, you need to modify the calorie deficits and surpluses to smaller amounts.

Personally, my typical overfeeding day includes a large pizza and a cake! I may also have the occasional glass or two of red wine or even a couple of pints of beer. I look forward to my treat day as it gives me the opportunity to let my hair down (for those of you who know me, I have very little hair but you get my drift!!).

When you initially undertake a weight loss programme, I wouldn't recommend the overfeeding day until you have reached at least your short-term goals. Otherwise, you just think it's OK to eat pizza and drink wine a lot. Only incorporate the overfeeding day WHEN you feel ready.

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Fast and Effective Ways to Build Your Muscles

90 % of the individuals who want to build muscles fast do not know how to do it successfully. The effective ways of carrying out muscle building are muscle training and a healthy diet.

Healthy Diet
Meals of high protein content that have low lactose supply commendably help in the building of muscles and the reduction of excess fats from the body. Eat enough protein while effectively avoiding fat. Ingesting lean protein helps in the building of muscles because lean protein contains no fat.

Small Meals
Eat carbohydrates and proteins immediately after training. This will initiate muscle repair and build up because proteins are digested quickly. You should make an effort to take a minimum of five small meals every day so as to provide a steady supply of energy to the body by keeping the rate of metabolism accelerated.

Alcohol
Completely excludes alcohol or effectively reduce it from your diet. This is because alcohol interferes with muscle building through disrupting the muscles' ability to produce ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate). ATP is a product of respiration that is necessary for muscle contraction and thus essential for muscle buildup.

Hydrate your body
Ensure you take a lot of water before, during and after your workout for the purpose of hydration. This is because when lifting weights you sweat a lot and the water lost should be replaced. Sufficient supply of water will ensure a high metabolic rate while dehydration will slow down the rate of calorie burning thus resulting in storage of the calories as fat.

Muscle Training
Muscle training should be conducted in a well divided manner which is as follows:

1.) Exercise
Do warm ups with a set of 50% of the weights you will use in the actual training session. Lift weights that will allow you to complete six to ten repetitions of the same exercise without tiring up. Working out with heavy weights will encourage faster growth of muscles. Faster muscle growth will be achieved through carrying out full body movements in your training. In carrying out a compound exercise ensures the combination of two lifts for example, a squat and a shoulder raise.

2.) Allow repair
Ensure you lift weights for up to 45 minutes per session, then skip a day between lifting weights in order to allow muscle repair. This can be done through training your upper body on every other day and training your lower body in the days skipped.

3.) Training Log
Make notes of all the exercises you perform, the weights you use and the number of sets and repetitions done. In order to achieve fast muscle growth increase the amount of weights you lift and constantly challenge your muscles.

4.) Less Aerobic Exercise

Do more cardio exercises or High-intensive interval training (HIIT) over aerobic exercises. Cardio exercise improves your health by making the heart and lungs efficient and reducing fat gain. Cardio exercise is done through three 30 minute sessions while HIIT is done through a 20 minute session.

5.) Enough Sleep
Get enough sleep in order to facilitate muscle recovery of the body through repairing of the small muscle tears that occur during weight lifting. Enough sleep must be 7 to 8 hours of rest.

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