Article Advise

submitted: Sep 2nd 2008 | by: KrisSeneca | Total views: 1 | Word Count: 944 | |

Every week you are bombarded with advertisements claiming that the fastest and most effective path to losing weight is to diet, and there are thousands of fad diets to choose from, each claiming to be the simplest, easiest and fastest way to lose weight. But stop for a moment and think: if you "go on a diet" the implication is that you will, sooner or later, "go OFF the diet". It's a temporary solution! I'll show you how you can make tiny and incremental changes to your lifestyle that, taken together, will leave you feeling great and give you a set of tools that you can use to lose unwanted fat and keep it off.

Revving up your resting metabolic rate is a proven method for losing extra body fat and keeping it off. By increasing your resting metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns calories while at rest, also known as your RMR) you can lose extra pounds and keep them off. Since muscle burns calories, adding muscle to your body will raise your RMR - you'll feel better, have more energy, and you will maintain your weight loss as your body burns more calories even when you are not exercising.

Loss of muscle mass is one of the most well documented problems that comes with aging, and it has major healthcare implications. After age fourty men and women both begin to lose between 1/2 and 1 pound of muscle mass per year. Over the years that decline in muscle mass can result in a significant decline in strength. This is called Sarcopenia (loss of muscle strength and mass due to aging) and it is estimated to account for over $18.5 billion in health care costs. As people age and become less active they feel worse and are more susceptible to disease including heart disease, one of the top killers globally. And as for appearance, the loss of muscle mass results in a reduced number of calories that your body metabolizes while at rest, so the calories you eat turn into fat! So loss of muscles leads to an increase in FAT!

You must remember that diets are temporary fixes. Unless your diet is a life long change in your eating habits, it won't address the long-term issue of losing fat and keeping it off, and it will not address the fact that the gradual loss of muscle mass over time accelerates the rate at which you put on fat. The best approach to losing fat and keeping it off is to find an acceptable level of exercise that will get you and keep you strong, fit and lean. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you develop such a plan:

1) Start slow, keep it simple. Most important if you're new to exercise. If you are new to exercising, you're in for a surprise: your routine does not have to be difficult at all to start with in order to make a big difference in the way you feel. Start by making simple changes to your everyday activities. Take the stairs when you can, don't use that elevator or escalator. It doesn't matter whether you are at home or at your place of work, walking, even if it's just for a short distance, is a great form of exercise and a wonderful way to break the tedium of a workday.

2) Set a goal. DO NOT set a difficult goal - set a goal that is very simple and easy to obtain. For example, start with a goal of five minutes of exercise per day. You can grow this to ten minutes after a month and so on, but start easy! Don't set an initial goal that will be difficult to obtain - it's a recipe for failure.

3) Write it down, and tell others. If you can choose a goal and write down daily how you perform against this goal, you will begin to see progress. This is key. Also, if you make it a part of your routine to report your performance against your goal to other people - friends, family - it will help motivate you and keep you true to your program.

4) Grow your goal. Gradually increase your goal by adding increments of time, and adding more strenuous exercise.

The initial steps described above are designed for people who are new to exercise as a way of losing weight - if you follow these steps for several months you'll find that you feel better and are in better shape. In time you will exhaust your personal knowledge and ability to determine the next best approach for growing your exercise program. By the way, this happens frequently with those who are very familiar with exercise and its benefits - the pros who still need guidance in growing or aligning their exercise routine to fit their goals. (Even Tiger Woods has a coach!) You could build in new and fun additions to your workout such as jogging, swimming or weight training. These are just a few examples of exercise that all will permit you to place dramatic increases on the demands that you place upon your body (gradually!), and will result in an increase in the returns that you gather - returns such as improvements in your sense of well-being, your appearance and weight loss. When you're ready for more action, there are wonderful written training guides and professional advice available that can lead you to a stronger, leaner you.