Long-Term Results In Losing Stubborn Pounds Requires A Permanent Lifestyle Change

During any exercise and diet regimen, losing the first few pounds is often very easy. That’s good because it’s a great motivator when you see results right away. But as you lose more, the rate of loss, and the speed with which you see visible effects, slows down. It’s hard to keep going when you aren’t seeing the benefits.

But don’t lose heart. It’s natural that initial efforts at a certain level will get you only 80% of the way there. The other 20% is going to come harder. That’s just the way things are. There are techniques that can help you get that last 20% - and, more importantly, keep 100% of the results over the long term.

Sometimes the difficulty in shedding that last 10 or 20 pounds can be loss of willpower. After achieving so much, it can be easy to say ‘that is good enough’. If so, that may be ok. You may validly choose to reevaluate your goals and decide that it truly is good enough.

But beware of long term effects.

One long term effect is the difficulty of maintaining staying power for other goals. If you develop a habit of giving up before the job is complete, it becomes that much more difficult to stick with it the next time. On the upside, if you do go that last mile, the positive morale boost is a great reinforcer.

The other possibility in giving up too easily and too soon can be a greater difficulty in keeping the weight off. The earlier you let go of your original goal without achieving it, the more likely you are to gain at least some of that weight back. Sticking with it helps keep those hard earned results permanently.

There are physiological reasons as well why that last 20% can be tough. Some bodies just reach a natural plateau. It can be just a stopping point on the way to a higher peak, however. It’s difficult to know for sure unless you keep climbing.

You may have slacked off of the length of exercises, or it may just require a longer period to get the same results. By analogy, it’s easy to scoop peanut butter out of a full jar, but getting those last bits is harder and takes longer.

If you’ve been doing cardio 30 minutes a day, three days a week, you may need to extend it to four or five days. That’s usually preferable to extending the length of the workout. You can begin to get close to the injury zone if you work yourself too hard during a given workout. But, you can up it to 45 minutes with minimal risk, if you judge that you still have that much more to give.

You may need to increase the intensity, at least for a while. Getting the heart rate up from 65% to 75% of maximum is one possible way. Here again, be careful of overdoing it. You don’t want to achieve those weight loss goals at the cost of serious risk to your overall health.

You may have to try some new exercises. Muscles adapt. Trying some new ones works those that may have been getting less than the most strenuous workout while you were achieving that 80%.

Keep at it until you hit your final desired goal, then keep it steady. Long term results require a permanent lifestyle change.

               

Men and Women, Differences In Fitness Routines

Though stereotypes are dissolving with each generation, there are some that persist - in part, because they are based on real differences between men and women.

While some women can and do achieve the upper body strength of some (even very fit) men, the overwhelming majority of males have a natural advantage in this area. Male aesthetic values, the source of which isn’t clear, reinforce this and so they tend to work on upper body more than some other areas, relative to women’s efforts.

Women, in part out of a desire to be seen as attractive, will focus exercises more on buttocks and legs. But here they also have a slight natural advantage for some exercises. A woman’s pelvis tilts at a different angle than a man’s. This effects the style and efficiency of squats, for example. Women will benefit by tilting the feet outward with legs further apart, while not needing to squat so low.

Overall, (most) women have less muscle mass than men (though they have additional layers in the stomach) and a higher percentage of body fat on average. As a result, a well designed female routine focuses less on bulking up, than toning and achieving flexibility. Women are more likely to incur injuries by lifting too much, too soon as they build up.

Men are somewhat less flexible on average, partly due to natural differences in joints, partly owing to attitude. Men tend more often than women to short change their warm-up routines, including essential stretching exercises.

All these differences (and many more) are a matter of degree, of course. Both men and women can benefit by adapting some aspects of the routines of the opposite sex.

Women are more likely to be more open to trying something new or different, such as yoga or pilates. These focus more on being aware of different body parts, in order to maximize flexibility and overall fitness. They focus very little on achieving strength, though this is often (in part) a consequence of a good yoga or pilates routine.

For example, several yoga routines focus on balance. But balance is optimized when all the muscles help support the joints and skeleton at correct angles in a dynamic way. That is both the cause and consequence of improved strength in the muscles that help achieve that balance.

Pilates, in particular, is a coordinated system for achieving better strength and posture and breathing by using one to aid the other. It concentrates more on controlling muscle groups than building them.

Both yoga and pilates and many other systems popularized in the West in the last 20 years or so focus on the integration of mind and body, one helping the other. Both systems are helpful as therapy for certain spine and joint problems.

While men and women will continue to lay more importance on some exercise values - and hence routines - than on others, both can benefit by peeking over the fence to see how the other half lives.

               

Exercise and the Immune System

Few subjects in health or diet ever get put to a final rest. Present studies often contradict earlier ones, until no one knows what to think. One of the few areas that almost all serious studies seem to agree on is the relationship between exercise and the immune system.

No reputable researcher will claim that exercise will repair a weakened or diseased immune system. Nonetheless, a broad spectrum of studies confirm that moderate exercise can help sustain and strengthen it, even when the effects are indirect.

The role of exercise in helping to lower stress - and the subsequent beneficial effects on health - has been widely studied. Here the studies are less clear, contradicting one another in some details. But overall the conclusion is the same: moderate, regular exercise helps the immune system by moderating the effects of stress.

Most studies carried out over the last 30 years agree: a continual high level of stress has a number harmful effects on overall health. People who experience high stress get more colds, suffer more digestive tract problems and have more frequent bouts of fatigue. Part of the latter is indirect, since it tends to lead to lowered amounts of restful sleep.

Regular exercise helps relieve stress. It does so directly, by providing an outlet for, and consuming much of, the nervous energy produced by stress. It also helps indirectly by shifting one’s focus away from the external factors producing the stress.

Exercise can help the cardiovascular system, which in turn improves blood flow, carries away toxins from muscles and organs, and helps keep the kidneys and endocrine system working well. It helps remove germs and circulate antibodies.

All those promote a healthy immune system by lessening the body’s susceptibility to disease, while increasing the robustness of the immune system itself.

Exercising increases the body temperature slightly. This, as anyone who has suffered from a cold knows, is the body’s natural response to colds, flu and other diseases. The increased temperature helps kill the infecting organisms.

A study at the University of Colorado, Boulder suggests that moderate exercise helps prevent colds as well. It showed that individuals are less likely to get sick after stressful situations when they had engaged in a regular program of moderate exercise. Those that began exercise only on the same day as the stressor didn’t enjoy those benefits.

The study was carried out on rats, but one of the reasons those mammals are used is the similarity in some systems, and their responses, to humans.

Exercise programs, undertaken consistently and correctly, help improve body image - that’s one of most individuals primary goals in making the effort, after all. That improved body image often leads to higher levels of confidence and relaxation in social situations. That in turn helps reduce stress and enhance the immune system.

Whether the effects are direct or indirect, exercising can help you support and enhance your immune system. That leads directly to better overall health.

               

Exercise Is Good For The Young

Individuals under 20 are naturally more flexible, have higher metabolic rates and more energy than those older. But they, too, need to exercise (in appropriate ways) to avoid injury and build strength and endurance, avoid obesity and stay fit.

Particularly today, when there are so many electronic alternatives, young people may exercise less than they should. It’s during the formative years that individuals lay the groundwork for what later become healthy or poor habits.

Kids will usually become quickly bored with routines designed for adults. But the activity doesn’t have to involve organized group sports, either. A gentle jog with an adult, a tennis game, swimming, golf, martial arts, bicycling, dancing, gymnastics and many other sports are enjoyable for the younger crowd.

Kids are usually sensitive to anything that appears inconsistent or hypocritical from adults. Be prepared to follow your own advice and exercise with them. That also helps parents share quality time with their kids outside the house and during activities that benefit both. Parents get the added benefit of monitoring to ensure that the kids are exercising in a safe and proper way.

Like any routine, if it produces pain - even the day after - the individual is less likely to continue. Keep it simple and build up the difficulty and length gradually. Kids are more flexible, but they too need to warm-up and gently stretch before engaging in vigorous exercise. A few minutes of static and dynamic stretching will help avoid injury.

Exercise routines should take into account the age group of the individual child.

Children from about 4-7 should focus primarily on developing basic physical skills, such as coordination and balance. These are the years when motor skills, eye-hand coordination and other things adults take for granted are still fluid. Children take to these activities naturally, as well. Jumping rope, hopscotch and other simple activities help guide the development of these skills.

From the age of 8 or so, exercises can become more vigorous in order to keep that active metabolism from turning food into fat. Here again, though, adults need to guide kids in order to build good habits and avoid injury. Weight machines are almost always a bad idea for pre-teens, for example. They’re risky and unnecessary.

Gymnastics, by contrast, helps build on those basic motor skills learned earlier while developing strength, balance and keeping the endocrine system active and healthy.

For teens, the field is wide open. They have the basic bone and muscle structure that gives them the potential for high performance activity in a wide variety of activities. But here, too, the possibility of injury remains for those who don’t get the proper guidance.

Teens are inclined to roughhousing and rebelliousness. Give them an outlet that directs all that energy and independence to the achievement of positive goals - fitness, endurance, high scores.

               

What Is Fitness?

Aristotle helped define the standards of fitness 2,500 years ago when he taught that a thing that suits its purpose well is fit. Fortunately for us, the cardiovascular system, lungs, skeleton, muscles, endocrine system and all the other amazing components of the body function for our purpose: to live well.

Exercising aids fitness in numerous ways, each involving one or more of those systems.

Increased physical activity causes the heart to work harder than at rest. That increases blood flow, floods tissues with fresh oxygen and removes cellular waste products.

Exercise causes the lungs to draw in extra oxygen to bathe the tissues and help power the heart. Exhalation removes carbon dioxide, a waste product of certain biochemical reactions.

Regular, moderate exercise helps raise HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) cholesterol (the ‘good’ type). It helps regulate blood sugar levels and converts stored fat into sugars that are used to provide energy. That process also prevents obesity.

The other benefits of a regular fitness program are more obvious and usually among the more direct goals of most people who make the effort: increased muscle mass, toned legs, buttocks, arms, stomach and healthier looking skin. Along the way, the individual receives the added value of greater strength, improved balance, higher endurance and (often) a better frame of mind.

Different types of routines will emphasize one area more than another. Aerobic routines help the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems, weight lifting focuses on building muscle tone and mass, yoga and pilates helps balance, flexibility and muscular control. But each of these, and several more, help more than just the intended focus group. The body is an integrated system and improving one area almost always has beneficial consequences for others.

All those benefits, at least to a moderate degree, can be had for minimal daily effort. Moderate intensity activity for 30 minutes per day, at least five days per week, will go a long way toward optimizing fitness.

A brisk walk, taking the stairs up one or two flights, a short daily jog, jumping rope and many other simple activities can be carried out with no special equipment or training.

More intense activity, done properly, can raise that level even further. A vigorous tennis game, a few laps in the swimming pool, an hour on the treadmill or exercise bike, or any of a dozen others, can raise your fitness to a peak with only a moderate investment of time and money.

For the truly committed there are, of course, a thousand and one classes at the gym, and every conceivable kind of home fitness equipment to fit a variety of budgets. A daily routine using free weights, followed by a good jog around the park will keep all systems functioning well.

And, as Aristotle taught all those centuries ago, to function well is to live well.

               

How to Reach Your Fitness Goals AND Watch TV

By Dan Patterson

Here’s a sad truth that arguably a large contribution to the obesity problem in the U.S.: Americans watch a lot of TV. Here are some interesting statistics from TVTurnoff.org:

* The average American home has the TV on for 8 hours a day
* The average American watches 4 hours and 35 minutes of television each day
* The average American household is 2.55 people, but the average home also has 2.73 televisions

Statistically, we have more TVs per household than we do people in this country! We have very quickly become a lazy, entertainment seeking people. No wonder we have such a large problem with people being overweight and obese. This is no news flash, but when you’re just sitting in front of the TV you are contributing to an overall sedentary lifestyle - a lifestyle that is proven to be prime ground for becoming overweight and obese.

The purpose of this article is not to suggest that everyone turn off their TVs for good (although that might not be a bad thing), but rather to suggest that we could all at least make some good use of the time spent sitting in front of the TV.

So how can we make this time more productive? Actually get up and do something rather than just watching the tube! Either during the show you’re watching or at least during the boring commercials, get down and do some pushups. During a standard commercial break you could probably get in at least 20-40 pushups depending on your fitness level. Then maybe during another break do some crunches or other body weight exercise. The idea here is that if you’re going to sit around a watch TV, at least do something productive and helpful towards achieving your fitness or weight loss goals.

Here is a short list of exercises that you can easily do at home that require little or no equipment that you could do while watching TV:

* Pushups
* Wall Squats
* One-Leg Squats
* Quick Jog Around the House
* Chair Dips
* Angled Calf Raises
* Anything with Bands or Free Weights that you have at home

Get creative! You could even come up with little mini workouts you can do, or even have a competition between you and other people watching the show. See who can do the most pushups before the show comes back on. That way not only are you getting in some good exercise, but you’re also have a good time with those around you and motivating each other to achieve your best.

About the Author:
Dan Patterson is an editor of BodyFitnessInfo.com.

Our goal is to help people learn to gain muscle and use techniques for natural weight loss.

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How to Choose a Gym

By Dave Draper

It takes courage to seek out a gym and walk through the front door expecting a throng of obnoxiously confident and shapely bodies to evaluate your hips and biceps. Your nifty home gym in the garage, basement or bedroom becomes most attractive suddenly, limitations and all.

Gyms come in all shapes and sizes: squares, rectangles, L-shaped, U-shaped, upper level, two stories. Go to the cities and they’re on penthouse floors; go to the suburbs and they cover acres, with ball courts, pools, restaurants and golf facilities. Each gym has its own personality largely based on its ownership and operating team, the neighborhood in which it resides and, subsequently, the folks it attracts. Like a mate, there’s a gym for everybody.

Here’s a summary of determining factors to consider, and how they might suit your expectations:

Price
A usual first consideration, but how much it costs to get the most of what you want and need should not be at the top of the list. Hopefully you’ll recognize the imperative nature and true value of your training activity and decide that you’d easily pay more for a gym that inspires.

Location
The nearer to home, work or the center of your activities, the better. The world has become complicated and excuses fly when we’re on the wrong side of town. Time is money. Right? Truth is, there’s no excuse to put your health and well-being in second place to getting home or even going to the bank. Convenience is golden. However, don’t let it dictate joining a gym you find unlikable just because it’s at your offramp.

Hours
Here’s where 24-hour gyms shine. Just knowing you can go anytime you want has a great appeal. Where do you fit in? Try your best to set a time when your minutes in the gym are honored, unrushed and efficaciously applied. Smile. Be happy. Will you really train at 3a.m.?

Phone contact
Let your fingers do the walking for the first curious steps. If you dial a likely gym and the gym employee snaps, “What do you want?,” you might put a little question mark by that name and go on to the next facility on your list. If you ask price and the answer becomes a secret, put a check by that name and move on. Slick talk is not reserved for carnivals and used-car dealerships. We have to be sharp. Listen for honesty as you engage in conversation, whether professionally conveyed or offered through inexperienced youthfulness. Eventually you’ll want your answers made clear in a visit and a week’s worth of complimentary workouts.

Member volume
How crowded does your prospective gym get? This is a major consideration and can be determined only by visiting the facility at those hours when you’ll normally train. Hop on a stationary bike for a 15-minute cruise and assess your surroundings. What if this was your home training ground? A grand gym down the street with all the attractions and equipment is of no use at all if you can’t work out with focus and efficiency because there are too many bodies on the floor. In fact, the anxiety that ensues is a near crisis to the serious trainer. You want to move smoothly from exercise to exercise without mobs, glares or testy attitudes. Hey, is there parking?

Amenities
Don’t pay for a lap pool, giant sauna, lounge and aerobics room if you’re not going to use them. More is not necessarily better, and it might be necessarily more expensive. Larger gyms tend to be clubby. Is that what you’re looking for?

Equipment
The quality and condition of equipment and the choice of the tools of the trade are central to the final decision. Well-maintained, seasoned machinery—not fresh out of the crate—can be more useful and fun than the recent trick gadgetry turned out daily in this big-bucks industry by tacky, techy entrepreneurs. Enough equipment is enough; too much, poorly laid out, can be a setting for a factory and not an appealing, functional gym.

Atmosphere
Are you standing in a muscle-building gym or a scene where boy meets girl and they hang out like it was the mall? Do the babes cheer the big guys as they spear their Olympic bars across the floor and grunt? Do you think this is cool? No? Go to the next merchant of fitness on your list.

Management attitude
Look for respect, politeness, honest and direct answers, and an eagerness to show you around to discuss your needs and the gym’s attributes. Do you feel like a number, a dollar sign or a fellow iron-and-steel aficionado? It happens not infrequently that a good gym is the victim of the bad rap that comes from the bottom-line sharks uptown and several minutes of open conversation brings the dross to the surface.

Clientele
Who’s to your left, who’s to your right and can you stand them? Are they snobs; are they slobs? Do they yell, groan and bang the weights around? I’m bad. Do they tiptoe, wiggle and whimper? You want to feel comfortable, accepted, appreciated and encouraged where ever you are. You want to look forward to your time in the gym when you can focus, learn and grow. A good gym should be a refuge where you can lick your wounds, as well as a haven of energy for hard work and physical expression.

Cleanliness
Cleanliness and neatness are two outstanding qualities that define the ownership and membership. They are marks of order, responsibility and respect. Perfect is not possible where people by the hundreds work and play, but a unified effort to keep the corners clean is admirable, to say nothing of hygienic. Let’s put our weights away and pick up after ourselves, encouraged the merry ole muscle maker in a jolly voice.

Copyright 2006 Dave Draper

Dave Draper, former Mr. Universe, writes a weekly email newsletter — sign up for free at his website, davedraper.com, where you’ll also find workout routines and advice, an active discussion forum and, of course, a hefty instructional blog.

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Seasonal Fitness Solutions For Everyone

By Irene Levy

Seasonal fitness is very common with the general weekend warriors and serious fitness gurus. In fact, seasonal fitness provides variety as a host of new and exciting routines opens up to each and every one of us with changes in the weather. A great example is outdoor exercising. Not only is this influenced by the seasons but also geographically. In the west you can just about workout outside every day (some exceptions for rain of course). On the east coast you can certainly choose to run in sub 30 degree weather but most will choose not to do so. We like to think of this as the attraction factor. The attraction factor is critical as it helps to setup and thus manage one’s enthusiasm towards repeatable exercising and adherence to your overall life fitness goals.

How often do you see the Television Ads where the healthy ads always seem to be on location somewhere near Los Angeles? It’s not by chance it’s a fact that everyone thinks of California as the healthy state (Florida is right in there as well of course!). The land of the creative and fortunate to have been born/raised or moved to the sunshine have almost too many choices for outdoor activities year round. Sometimes this leads to being overwhelmed and it can create a failure to start or implement a fitness program.

Bike riding is probably one of the most misunderstood levels of exercising. People think they need a top of the line product to achieve maximum performance and results. Hardly, find yourself a solid bike within your budget. Then find a course around your neighborhood that offers challenges (hills) and enough soft landings to properly maintain 30 minutes of solid riding. Bike riding can achieve much better results than just walking. We recommend this above and beyond walking if it’s feasible.

So, what to do when we are less than fortunate to live in a year round warm climate? You can invest in a home gym for starters and we have lots of information on our corporate web site for ways to research these options. There are also the private gyms, local community centers and all offers some level of performance that should be a good enough fit for your needs. Swimming indoors is just as effective as outdoors. All across the US and Europe there are choices available to swim year round. Swimming is a great way to tone and maintain great body fitness with the least amount of muscle wear and tear.

In Today’s world there just isn’t an excuse not to exercise. Move that body and get yourself in shape to lead a healthy life style way into your later years of life. Today’s retirees have an enomorous task as their once beloved pensions and healthcare solutions are not what they had hoped. We can all take a step in the right direction by getting ahead of the health curve and get in shape early in life. It’s never too late! Make sure you combine a healthy eating plan as well. Exercise requires solid fuel intake and a well balanced meal plan. In addition we strongly believe is a good (twice a day) natural supplement program. We like adding almonds and Mona Vie International’s acai berry juice to our daily plan. It provides a safe and healthy way to achieve 100+ percent of the RDA for our vitamins and antioxidant needs (and then some when it comes to the benefits of the Acai Berry!).

Irene has been servicing the Health and Wellness industry since graduating from Cal State Fullerton in 1982. Through her professional experiences in primarily the Physical Therapy field (presently working) she has gathered deep understandings on nutrition, exercise and overall healthy programs to share with her readers and clients of Planet Berry LLC. To learn more on Irene or Planet Berry please visit their corporate web site at www.planetberries.com or email at info@planetberries.com

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