Archive for July, 2009

Squats As Cardio

Friday, July 31st, 2009

With squats, there is no doubt that you can break a sweat, and this has led some to actually use it as a form of cardio or at least they think so.  You can get your heart rate pumping in general from lifting heavy weights as well and break a sweat.  It can certainly help you to achieve greater results in your workouts.  However, it is not a form of cardio.  It should be combined with good cardio routines. 

 

Generally, people tend to follow a pretty standard routine of a few reps and maybe 5 sets of reps, which is highly unusual.  This will not actually get you up to a sufficient level of cardio, let alone extend through the time frame you would need it to.  So unfortunately, despite what you may like to think, you will actually have to participate in aerobics, running, walking, or some other kind of actual cardio training in significant amounts to give yourself those kinds of workouts.  This is not to say you shouldn’t use squats.  You should use squats, just don’t use it in place of your cardio workouts among other things.  You have to remember a greater balance.  Of course, some don’t prefer squats in general.

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Workout Music

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

When you are working out, one of the best things to do is actually to listen to music.  As simple as it may seem, it actually works.  I mean honestly, you can’t tell me that if and when you’ve tried it, you haven’t been slightly distracted.  If you’re exerting yourself as you should, you certainly won’t be singing along.  But you may be singing along in your head, which is good enough.  It’s more distracting for some of us. 

 

But the point is that you actually focus less on the time, and you check your time less, making it seem to go by faster.  I’ve also been better able to ignore by little downtime till I push past it, and it really helps in varying capacities.  I’ve used generally music I like, because otherwise I spend way too much time skipping past it, and I have a certain mix that is more upbeat and will keep me going rather than the slower songs that make me want to stop.  But who knows, maybe you only like David Lanz or something, which is basically all pretty calm.  It depends on your personal preferences as to what you choose and how you use it.

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Finding The Best Weight Loss Products

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Many users are often fooled by packaging.  They see the junk food and other foods they like to eat, or they even see healthy foods that they think are more healthy therefore spending money on these products thinking that they will lose weight, obtain better health, or otherwise see serious benefits.  One of my personal favorites is the “free run” eggs.  There are no regulations surrounding free run chickens.  They do put them in cramped spaces otherwise.  But that doesn’t mean that they are not cramped in free run farms.  It means that they could literally get an extra inch of space in their small cages and that could be called free run. 

 

 If you are skeptical, try contacting your favorite seller thereof to ask them what their conditions are.  They will often tell you they don’t provide the chickens with many things you would think they would, and they will have a list of excuses a mile long.  But there are others like the organic junk food, which claims that it is “USDA organic.”  You see organic and assume healthy.  So you buy it, Annie’s is actually a classic line of this kind of product.  The reality is it often has just as much fat and otherwise as other competitors.  The second is those that claim to have 25, 50, or even 90% less fat than their competitors. 

This does not mean that they don’t use the fats or otherwise, it means they use artificial fats that your body cannot process and can actually cause various side effects.  And they still have the same old fats and fillers anyway.  Plus they may also replace that fat with sugar, other empty calories that will turn into fat.  Third, there’s the claim about “no trans-fats.”  Essentially speaking, trans fats have really been cracked down upon by the government for a reason.  Just about nobody uses trans fats, let alone in significant amounts, and this basically tells you that they have other types of fats they are not mentioning.

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Maintain Weight Around Thanksgiving

Monday, July 6th, 2009

If you are a fan of Thanksgiving as I am to some degree, though only in certain parts, you have to of course remember the parts that are bad versus the parts that are somewhat better.  For example, my nasty habit of loving stuffing is not so good.  It should only be eaten in moderation and is generally stuffed with carbs, fats, and empty calories in general.  But there are other habits that are not so bad.  If you get certain types of these foods I mean. 

 

For example, a classic after Thanksgiving food for me is the combination of turkey and cranberry in a croissant.  I got the idea from a local deli, and ever since then, I haven’t dropped it.  Now the turkey, as long as it is the lighter brand of turkey not the dark that is higher in fats, is great.  Cranberry of course is great, especially if you get it without so many added sugars.  It is high in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, and of course turkey is high in protein, low in fat, and otherwise.  But instead of a croissant, which is high in fat and otherwise, try using a low calorie wheat roll or even cutting out the bread all together.  This will make it significantly healthier, lower in calories, and more apt to give you the things you are looking for.

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Motivation For Weight Loss

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

It is important to have motivation for your weight loss.  As I’ve found with others around me, I can’t motivate them to lose weight, and even if I could, it wouldn’t last because they wouldn’t keep it up.  You always have to do it for yourself and for your own needs.  Some people hit that moment and it can be related to a few things, and some just do it on their own.  Either way, there are 4 basic causes.

1.       Health-health is a big motivation.  It may be the heart attack, stroke, or the doctor telling you that you have to diet and you have to lose weight or you are going to die.  Or you may not feel as healthy as you used to, you may lack energy, and you may decide upon it before your doctor does.

2.       Self confidence-obesity is often embarrassing, especially with the fact that the airlines are cracking down making people buy two seats, you can’t necessarily do all the things a more fit person could do, and in general people often treat you differently.  So some people do it for reasons of self confidence.

3.       Energy-like I’ve said above, you can’t necessarily do all the things you want to do.  If you are carrying that much weight around, you may be strong, but it’s still a lot of weight to haul around.  So you become winded more easily than you would without it and you just don’t have the right amount of energy that you want.

4.       Better relationships-some do it because they want a romantic relationship.  Others do it because their relationship with their kids and the part they can play in their loved ones’ lives is suffering.  Either way, relationships are a big motivation.

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