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Attempting to answer the question "How did yo |
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| Ok. Sooo... since losing 20 lbs and?shaping up my body a few years back (and posting?a before/after pic http://a102.ac-images.the internetcdn.com/images01/14/l_0e2f75bed4ac717d31a89a12dc3346fd.jpg)?I?ve been getting asked for weight loss and fitness advice left and right and I never knew how to answer anyone back without writing them a book, so I decided to attempt a blog with my own personal tips and advice and hopefully a few people will find it helpful.Where to begin...The absolute first thing you should do is clean up your diet.Without proper diet it really doesn?t matter how much you exercise.Exercise only burns a few hundred calories at a time, yet it?s easy to consume a thousand or more calories at a time if you are not being careful about what you eat.- Cut out sugar.It is the true white devil.(lol) It?ll make you fat faster than anything else because it has absolutely no nutrients, doesn?t fill you up or satisfy hunger, and makes your blood sugar go crazy.If you consume it by itself your blood sugar and mood will shoot way up for a short amount of time, and then come crashing down making you sluggish and irritated and craving MORE sugar.Sugar is a vicious cycle that must be broken if you want your body to be the best that it can be.- Read labels.If one of the main ingredients reads fructose, sucrose, or anything -ose, it?s made with SUGAR.This would be in stuff like fruit juices (don?t drink it.Eat actual fruit!), yogurt, salad dressings, low fat cookies, sauces, and a million other products you wouldn?t even suspect.Even some protein bars and shakes can be packed with sugar like a candy bar.- Don?t worry about following a strict low carb or low fat diet.Instead what you want is to replace saturated fats with heart healthy fat (olive oil, avacado, fish) and simple carbs (white rice, bread, pasta) with moderate portions of complex carbs (whole grains, veggies, fruit).When I first got serious about slimming down, I remembered my dad had found success with Atkins so I followed the Atkins diet with some success at first but I wasn?t able to maintain the extremely strict diet and I became depressed and felt constantly deprived.The diet that I found worked and still works for me today is South Beach and I recommend it to anyone.Atkins was way too strict for any human being to follow.It allowed less than 20 net carbs per day for the first phase.To give you an idea of how strict this is, an average sized apple has 20 carbs.You couldn?t eat too many carrots or any fruit at first and it encouraged eating as much animal fat as you wanted without counting calories.o_O South Beach is far better because it allows healthy carbs and replaces the saturated fat with good fat and is calorie conscious.- Eat lots of lean protein, preferably the center of every meal.It controls your hunger longer and helps build and keep your lean muscle mass which is also your metabolism.A pound of muscle burns an average of 50 calories a day just to stay alive.A pound of fat, only a few calories a day.This is why when you starve yourself your body sheds muscle and not just fat.That way you require less food, and thus a slower metabolism which of course is BAD!The only way to retain or build muscle is to do strength training and eat a healthy diet that includes lots of good protein.It?s especially essential to eat protein about 30 minutes after a really good strength training workout.- On alcohol, cut it out if your current goal is to cut body fat.Alcohol is empty calories.Your body doesn?t actually store alcohol as fat, but rather it will use the alcohol as fuel instead of the food you ate that day.It also throws your willpower completly out the window and increases your appetite.I used to drink every time I would go out to a party or to the club to hang out with friends.It?s part of how I initally put on extra pounds when I was 21, 22.Now, I do still enjoy drinking but I only drink about once or twice a month, and I limit my drinks to liquor.I don?t drink beer or sugary mixers.I?ll have something like rum and diet coke or a shot of tequila.I used to be a huge margarita fan until I started doing research and found that the average sized margarita drink is 12 oz and has 540 calories.That?s for one drink. |
| That?s for one drink.As for exercise that I do, it?s a mix of low and high impact cardio along with at least two good days of strength training.Sometimes I throw in an abs workout on cardio days as well.When I first started working out I followed The Firm workout tapes which I had good results from, more than other workout tapes I?d tried.It combined cardio and strengh into one workout with handheld weights,step up box, and floor exercises.After several years of doing the same tapes though I wasn?t getting the same results and probably because I was becoming extremely bored and started to dread doing my workout.When I moved back to Augusta I joined a gym and it was exactly what I needed.I started taking the gym classes and working out with real live people which was a lot more fun and motivating to me than tapes.On days that I just can?t make it to the gym or the gym is closed I do still have my home tapes as an option, and I also purchased a treadmill.When I do a treadmill workout I liston to my iPod or I use my portable DVD player to watch movies.Sometimes I watch movies on subtitle while listening to upbeat music.On average I run 3 miles, but I try to push myself to 4 or 5 on good days.I like treadmill over eliptical or other cardio machines because I know exactly how good my workout was but that?s just my preference.I lot of people don?t like impact of running and prefer eliptical or stairmaster which is good too.Rule of thumb is that 1 mile of running burns about 100 calories.The "calories burned" counters on machines lie, btw.Like rugs.Other than the gym classes or tapes or treadmill I also have an extremely high energy dog constantly begging me to take her for walks which I do at least a few times a week.Sometimes I wear a pedometor on walks and usually when I get back it reads 1-2 miles which isn?t a full workout to me but it?s something extra.Two of my other favorite forms of impromptu exercise are dancing at clubs and shopping.Even if I don?t spend money I?ll to go the mall for a few hours and walk all over.Wear comfortable shoes, not high heels.You?ll get a ton more walking in.Just be careful of the food court.lol.If you do get hungry and your mall has a Chik-fil-a and you?re not veg, probably the best choice you can make is the Southwest salad with light italian dressing.It?s my favorite fast food salad.Skip the croutons, or only sprinkle on a tiny few.Something else that has been very helpful is that I keep a fitness calendar to track my progress.Whenever I accomplish exercise I always write it down on that day and circle it.I try to fill up the calendar with as much ink as possible.I?ll write something like (Treadmill - 4 miles) or (Gym - Muscle Works class).Even if I just took a walk or did my abs for 10 minutes I?ll write (walk) or (abs) down for that day.I also track my weight and sometimes measurements on the calendar.I used to track my calories for the day also but I no longer count calories really.I just listen to my body and eat when I?m truely hungry.I?m definitely not perfect with my diet and exercise.I fall off the horse.Sometimes I don?t workout for a week straight or I get depressed and stop caring and eat everything in sight.I always get back on though and I think that?s the key.A diet or fitness program isn?t something you?re on until you?ve achieved a goal and then you can go back to the way you were before, so make sure it?s changes that you can stick with.I?m no fitness or diet expert.It?s definitely something I have a lot of interest in and these are things that have worked for me personally and I hope it helps to answer some of the e-mails I recieve!If I?m horribly wrong about something or anyone has any other questions feel free to input. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 July 2008 )
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