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By Derek K.
Do you find yourself constantly looking at the clock to find out how long you have been on the treadmill or doing any other exercise? It is extremely difficult to concentrate on the task at hand if you keep repeating ticktock, ticktock in your mind.
Here’s a piece of advice for you, hide all the clocks in and around your workout area. Keep a single timer or a clock that has a timer feature, then set it to the desired amount of time and forget about it. If you keep looking at the clock, 5 minutes will seem like 5 hours and the workout will become more and more tedious.
If you want to see the best result for any amount of time you spend working out, you have to concentrate on your form and your balance. The right motivation is to think how long you can workout at a strong pace rather than timing how long until you stop.
When I used to have a large wall mount clock in front of my treadmill, my twenty minute run seemed to take forever and I would always wait until the last minute or two to start upping the intensity, as if that would make up for my lackluster performance. It wasn’t until I had gotten rid of the clock that I actually started to not only concentrate on what I was doing, but I was also enjoying the workout.
Try this on your next workout and don’t abandon it on your first try because you didn’t like it. With time, you’ll get used to this and eventually you’ll feel much more energized on every workout. You have nothing to lose but the false sense of time and you will burn through calories much more efficiently with better form and balance.
By Derek K.
Having spent half your day working hard at your job, it’s difficult to make the time to go to the gym and get a good workout done. Unless you live right next to a gym, half the time is spent getting there, changing, and getting home after the workout. So here are some easy, but effective exercises you can do at home that you will find easy to follow.
Warm up – You should always warm up before workouts, because not only would this prevent any unnecessary injury, but it also helps burn through calories more efficiently in a shorter time. If you want to save some time or you just want to speed things up, then just speed walk your way back home from work. If you drive yourself home, just speed walk for 5 minutes before entering home and that will get you all warmed up for a workout.
Wall push-ups – If you are able to do the traditional floor facing push-ups, then you should do that. But many people find it hard to do the traditional push-ups and that’s where the wall push-ups come in. Stand facing a wall with your feet about two feet away from the wall and your hands placed on the wall at a width slightly wider than your shoulder. Just imagine doing the traditional push-up and let gravity move your body forward and push yourself up before hitting the wall. For best results, you should do it slowly at a constant pace. Also, if you still find it challenging, just stand about a foot or a foot and a half away from the wall and it will be easier to do since the range of motions become smaller.
Squats – Pull up a chair with the backrest facing your forward. Hold on to each end of the backrest as support and place your feet about shoulder width. Keep your upper body vertical and gently bend your knees. The goal is to go as far down as your thigh would be parallel to the floor, but for now, go down only as far as you feel that is your limit. Push yourself back up to the starting position using your leg power and balance yourself by holding on to the chair. You can get rid of the chair as you get stronger and you can even use weights to increase the difficulty. Just fill couple of bags with books and hold each bag on each hands and squat.
Arm exercises – For beginners, I would advice that you use elastic exercise bands for arm training rather than going straight to dumbbells. Step on one end of the band with both feet spread shoulder width. Hold on to the opposite end of the band with both your hands and spread your hands apart about shoulder width as well. Now raise your hands up and down repeatedly using the resistance of the band to give you a full workout. Keep the motions even, slow, and at a constant pace for maximum result.
All workouts described here are weight free workouts and therefore each set will consist of 15 to 20 repetitions for all three workouts. Start the first week with 4 days of workout. Each day you will complete one set of each workouts. Week two you will exercise 5 days out of the week and you will complete 2 sets for all three workouts. After week two, increase the amount of sets if you feel stronger than the week prior, or you can just keep the same pace until you feel that you can tackle bigger challenges. Think twice before purchasing an expensive workout gear or gadget, there are many effective exercises you can do at home.
By Teri C.
So the summer is fast approaching and you need to drop the holiday pounds. Maybe you have been planning to slim down now for a while without much success. Don’t despair. When in need of a jump start to the slim down process there are a few quick things you can implement that will give you just what you need: a head start.
The breakfast of champions
Stop snoozing that alarm and get yourself up just a little earlier in the morning for the most important meal of the day to help your body slim down. Let your body rev up with the necessary energy. It will pay you back for the time and effort with the full on metabolism and you will be less likely to go for high calorie grab-and-go breakfast or a binge-fest at lunch.
Timing is everything
It’s well known that most Europeans consider lunch their biggest meal of the day and some believe this contributes to the fact that obesity is not as severe a problem there. Now that you’ve treated yourself to a nice breakfast, indulge. It’s better for the larger portion of your daily caloric intake to take place earlier in the day, giving your body the chance to process and utilize the energy from it. But at dinnertime, make adjustments. And on that note,
Don’t listen to your mother
I know. Mom always said: “clean your plate”. Well, this is the one time we can say she was wrong. Don’t feel the need to finish it all. Throw out your notion of a portion size based on today’s restaurant standards. They have become anywhere from double to triple the size they used to be in the 1950s. Supersizing everything is really not helping anyone slim down, especially at dinner time. Be ready to pack a doggy bag for 1/2 your meal when dining out. Better yet, remove the temptation and ask for a box ahead of time to pack away 1/2 at the beginning of dinner.
Fill up on the good stuff first
Start your meals with a great salad. A Salad with plenty of greens, vegetables such as peppers, topped with slivers of crunchy nuts and a light dressing is definitely a winning combination. Forego the usual selection of salads offered by fast food joints as they as very deceiving in that they often times end up close to 1,000 calories. One of these salads alone can make up about 1/3 to 1/2 of the necessary daily caloric intake. You can also opt to start your meals with a soup. Here, the obviously better choice would be a broth-based soup rather than a creamy soup. Either the salad or the soup at the beginning of the meal can help you slim down also by making it easier for you to pack that doggy bag instead of finishing your plate.
Drink up
Drink water or caffeine and sugar free drinks liberally throughout the day. You will become less likely to confuse the “I’m thirsty” messages from the “I’m hungry” ones from your body curbing extra calories. Of course, here it is also important that you make a conscientious choice. Skip the sugar-laden drinks. These are empty calories that you can’t draw any benefits from. They are not going to help you reveal the slimmer you.
Brush your teeth
No, really. If you brush your teeth between your meals, it is less likely that you will snack on unnecessary things. You might skip the couple of potato chips you wanted to indulge on because they just don’t feel like worth another trip to brush your teeth. You can actually derive another benefit from this: heart health. Some studies suggest that people who have gum disease may be at a greater risk of developing atherosclerosis and heart disease. So in helping yourself slim down, why not help your heart out too?
The gym is not the answer
An opportunity for your body to slim down is around every corner. Don’t let yourself believe that you can only “exercise” at the gym. You may take the stairs instead of the elevator from your office to the conference room. You might choose to walk for 15 minutes out of your lunch break. Get up from your chair at least once every hour and shake it up. This will not only help you burn a few extra calories to slim down but also help improve posture.
You’re not perfect
Well, last time I checked, we as humans are pretty riddled with faults and frailties. But, luckily, we also possess a bit of grace. Know that you will sometimes fail. This is not a might or a maybe but you will. It’s really a given. But don’t let it keep you down. Be okay with yourself. Bounce right back up. Understand that by doing right thing most of the time, you are making a difference in your waistline. Just because you didn’t do so well with lunch, don’t give yourself permission to just go for it with abandon. Compartmentalize. A failure at lunch is just that, a failure at lunch. It does not need to bleed into dinner nor the next day.
Happy slim down!
So go forth and, uh, subtract from your excess poundage. Enjoy yourself. Visualize the new and improved you and tackle every task as efficiently as you can. Much like we think before we speak, think before you eat and take the stairs. Celebrate the smaller milestones along the way with that blouse you really wanted or the suit you thought you’d really cool in when you’re slimmer. Even better, for somewhat significant goals met, schedule a vacation to somewhere you always wanted to go. Keep the carrots coming literally as well as figuratively. It will help you slim down that much faster with conviction.
By Teri C.
Know yourself
Slim down strategy is no different from plans for other things we conquer in life. There is the old saying from The Art of War: “If you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss”. First, acquaint yourself with your enemies, that is, the factors that contribute to your weight gain. Then, analyze how they affect you, that is, how do you react or not react to these factors. This simple step will guide you in devising the best plan of action in slimming down your way.
Time Management
Most of us can agree on time as a major factor impeding our slim down. After all, most of us don’t spend our days wondering how come we have so much spare time. The scenario may play differently for every one of us. So do you take the back seat or take charge and put yourself first?
Start Small
Your aim may be high but don’t try to shoot high at one shot. Just like an arrow shot straight up, your weight is likely to respond very quickly then come right back to its starting point. Don’t make unrealistic goals that will not be met anytime soon. It’s safe to say that you can’t slim down enough to be 4 sizes smaller in one week. Instead, make small changes that you can live with. If you’re a soda drinker, you may want to replace your can of soda a day to maybe just twice a week. If you like sweets after each meal, you may cut this down to once a day only. When you see gradual positive changes from the things you commit to, you are more likely to stick with it.
Food Is NOT Your Enemy
Don’t suck the fun out of eating. There really is no such thing as a truly “bad food”. If you like chocolate (and I think I speak for most of us when I says “yes”), don’t make it your enemy. Better yet, make it your friend. Reward yourself when you have had a successful run in making changes in your life by allowing yourself your own “chocolate”. If you make it taboo, you’re more likely to crave it and crash when you finally reach for it sabotaging your slim down.
The Buddy System
Most of us know someone who wants to slim down as much as we do. It could be that friend from school, or a co-worker, or a spouse. Employ the buddy system. Make it a group thing even. There definitely is strength in numbers. When one of you is experiences the lack of motivation, the other can pull you forward and vice versa. Seek out for synergy in slimming down.
Slimming down is a personal experience. After all, no one can do it for you. Simply delving into it isn’t necessarily the best approach. Ensure that you are ready and look to see what changes and support systems you can utilize to guarantee the best outcome possible.
By slimdowncoach
Hello and welcome to Slim Down 101. This is our first post of many more to come and we plan to fill this blog with rich information on healthy diet, fitness regimen, and general tips on staying slim. If you have any suggestions or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us by using the “Contact” form on your right pane of the site. We can’t wait to show you all we have planned for in the upcoming days and we hope to influence you to develop a healthier life style. I’ll keep the introduction short, so welcome and please keep visiting us for updated information on a regular basis.
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