Sweets Cravings rule

Cravings for sweets and chocolate are common. If this occurs, remember to eat well the next day, and follow this simple rule: eat well 80 % of the time and have treats 20% of the time. Exercising in between this rule is key.

To satisfy your chocolate craving, you could try good treats like a couple of Tootsie Rolls, a fat-free fudgesicle, or hot chocolate with 1 % milk. And occasionally you could go for a real chocolate bar!

Enjoy and stay healthy!

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Fitness Food: Protein after a work out helps lose weight

The right food for a workout starts with protein and fat. Protein should be part of your major meals because it will help slow absorption of carbohydrates. Chicken, Fish, eggs,  meat, and beans are excellent sources of protein, and about 3 ounces per meal is enough, the protein burned after a work out will help you lose weight.

Fat. You need some fat in your diet, too.  Low-fat dairy products, like 1 percent milk, and lean cuts of meat will give you the fat your body needs to recouperate after a workout, and provides stable dietary nutrition elements essential to building a proper diet. even though it's fat! it's the good fat we're talking about.

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Tips to Lose Weight This Spring

Over the holidays such as March Break and Easter, many people load up on carbohydrates.  Resulting in everyone being a little bit fatter.
And many of you probably did the same. So the press is on to work out and lose weight. It’s only a few months until spring and all that it entails (namely: bathing suits).

So here are a few tips to lose weight in the new year:
Set a fun fitness goal.
If you set a fun goal, you're more likely to want to get into shape.  Practicing to run a marathon in the spring, since it is on the way, it would provide you with something fun to do that will help in loosing weight, getting into shape, rather than an big weight-loss goal. And it’s more fun to get out and do something you want to do, than it is to sit in a gym counting reps over and over.
Revamp your eating habits
Throw out any leftovers from the holidays, Easter, or March Break. Loosing weight starts not only with exercise, but maintaining a healhty diet. Quit eating a 12-ounce steak with big scoops of mashed potatoes for dinner.  Eat whole-grain breads, whole-grain pastas and fiber-packed cereals. Stop eating processed foods. Eat smaller meals (a few hundred calories) every few hours, rather than enormous meals three times per day and a bunch of junky snacks in between. You can track your calories easily by counting the calories on most health foods.

Do cardiovascular exercise.
A rough estimate of your maximum heart rate is 220 minus your age. A more accurate maximum heart rate can be determined by a doctor with a stress test (which is recommended). So do a challenging activity (running, hiking, climbing, swimming, fast walks, etc) for a sustained time (20 to 45 minutes at least every other day) that raises your heart rate to 80% or so of its maximum. After doing cardio for 2 months, you will start to notice how much better you look.
Find activity partners.
Get your friends or siblings to work out along with you. It can be easier to stay focused if you’re active with people of a similar skill level. If you brisk-walk 4 miles, find a running partner who can walk 4 miles fast. Or: Find an instructor you like to teach you a sport that you enjoy, or have always wanted to try. 

The key in looking and feeling better, and maintaining healthy living and weight loss, is through exercise, healthy diet nutrition and being conscious of all these things. Good luck!

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High Intensity Exercise: Preventing Heart Attacks and Stroke

Regular exercise helps to prevent heart attacks and strokes, this is widely known and accepted as an aspect of healthy living. But, recently it has been shown that high-intensity exercise may prevent these diseases more effectively than low intensity exercise (Thrombosis Research, August 2006), which Researchers at Michigan State have recently proven. 

Most heart attacks and strokes can occur when special plaques lining the arteries break-off and pass down the artery to form a clot that blocks the flow of blood to the heart and in most cases, the brain. Intense exercise helped prevent clotting by increasing tissue plasminogen activator far more than low-intensity exercise did. Certain other studies also show that vigorous exercise is highly effective in helping people lose weight. However, vigorous exercise can also cause or preciptate heart attacks and strokes, so it is advised you get a stress electrocardiogram before you start an exercise program or increase the intensity of your current regiment. If advised by your doctor, you can increase the intensity of your workouts once or twice a week.  Of course a proper diet nutrition should also be followed. More on nutrition later this week here at our blog.

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Ideal Amount of weekly Exercise for Weight Loss Management

For people looking to not only better overall health and your fitness level, but to actively loss weight, should increase the frequency, duration, and intensity of your daily exercise. To increase the impact of your weight loss, try working out for longer than 30 minutes, 3 times a week. The goal is to burn calories. Although high intensity aerobic exercise, such as power walking or jogging works well for burning calories, the focus can be on any aerobic exercise that takes over 30 minutes. Walking an hour a day is an excellent way to burn calories, providing a method of consistent aerobic exercise with little risk of injury.

Every reputable weight loss expert will stress that losing weight and maintaining weight loss can almost never be successful unless physical activity is consistent. Exercise is a vital component of dieting and weight management, for succesfully losing weight, and you can impact your healthy living goals with proper diet nutrition.

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