Weightloss + Fitness (General Fitness Tips)

Member Name: Shorrtybearr

Product:	General Fitness Tips
Date:	13/05/09 (9 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Self-esteem, longer life, higher "ahem" drive...the list is endless

Disadvantages: None.....maybe jealousy

"The Internet is for fat people"

The words of a friend. Now before you rip into him you to take into consideration that he is in fact an idiot.

So with his stupidity ringing in my ears I decided to write this up. It is essentially a no nonsense guide to weight loss and general fitness.

I could be all scientific and start quoting facts, percentages and all this other heebeejeebee to make myself sound like I know what I'm talking about but I wont, for two main reasons.

One, It bores people

And two, I'm not a scientist.

---------

Right, with that out of the way I'm going to go and do what I just said I wouldn't and quote some percentages.

Losing weight is about 60% diet, 20% weights and 20% cardio. But what exactly are Diet, weights and cardio?

Diet:

Well a diet isn't what the media portrays it to be, it is in fact just "what you eat regularly". So in my own "insider joke" way I tend to smirk when people are defiant that they are "not on a diet".

A diet is not a weight loss program, it is not something builders laugh at, it is not something for fat people, it is not something that celebrities are all on.
It is something we are all doing, constantly.

Weights:

According to the dictionary weights are exercise equipment used for strength training. Which to be fair is quite right, however a weights routine doesn't have to incorporate an 8ft machine that looks something like a torture rack!
No sir, weights can be undertaken with anything that has weight for example like a bag of sand, a bag of sugar, a child, a dog, or a small person (although I wouldn't advise the last one, they don't like it when you pick them up)

Cardio:

Possibly the worst of the three yet the easiest and cheapest to perform!

Cardio (meaning cardiovascular exercise) is any form of exercise that benefits the heart. Cardio is essentially Aerobic in nature (meaning it involves oxygen consumption by the body in order to produce energy) and is often and most effectively coupled with long periods of exercise. I.e. running, cycling, swimming and so on.

---------

So now that you know what all three are you need to decide how they relate to you. For example ask yourself a few questions.

Is my diet healthy?

Do I work out hard enough/often enough/at all?

Do I do anything cardio in nature?

---------

Good Diet bad Diet!

Now what I usually get is "How do I know if my diet is healthy?" well you can look at a three basic things.

Are you over weight?

if you are then chances are you diet isn't up to scratch, if you're one of these rare people that have the perfect diet yet are still overweight then you simply don't move....at all ( as you can see I don't subscribe to this excuse )

What types of foot do you eat?

Eating Mac Donald's is not healthy, eating pizza is not healthy, and chewing on large quantities of cheese is unsurprisingly not healthy.

Other foods that aren't particularly healthy are chips (fries), ice cream, fizzy drinks (soda), crisps and so on. It doesn't take a genius to work out what is not healthy.

Good foods on the other hand are things like brown rice, lean steak (lean means meat that is low in fat), chicken, turkey, whole meal pasta, fish, eggs, oatmeal, or potatoes.

Again take into consideration about how much of these you eat. Too much of anything is bad for you.

How often do I eat?

Not technically diet specific but still important.

Three square meals a day was the general rule however this is kinda iffy. I would recommend you eat every 3 hours, now don't go and have dinner every 3 hours, in fact don't have dinner at all! The reason you should eat every 3 hours is to give that vital metabolism a steady boost. Look at it as burning wood at the fireplace, too much wood and you set your house on fire, too little and you die of hypothermia but just the right amount and your sitting pretty.

---------

Lifting Weights!

The next thing to look at is your weight lifting routine!

I can imagine some of the female people reading this thinking

"I don't want to be no Amanda Schwarzenegger!"

Well ladies let me enlighten you, not only is it incredibly difficult to get to Arnie's size it is also nigh-on impossible for women to do it.

Weight lifting is a vital part of getting fit and more muscle means that your body burns more calories. Think of it like a sports car, its big, it's powerful and it eats fuel by the barrel load.

You'll benefit from it whoever you are. General consensus suggest Ladies should do more reps (lift more times at a lower weight) and guys should lift heavier with less reps for toned and bulkier physiques respectively. A 10 minute cardio session before lifting weights is a great idea to warm up the body and boost the metabolism.

---------

Annoying Cardio!

Cardio, the most hated of the three.

Cardio is essentially aerobic exercise. You've probably heard of the two types which are Aerobic and Anaerobic exercise. I could write a ten page article on the two but I'm going to keep it simple.

Aerobic exercise is generally lower intensity activities performed for longer periods of time. (Running, walking, cycling, swimming)

Anaerobic exercise is generally higher intensity activities performed for short periods of time. (Weights or strength training and I think plyometrics are too)

To lose weight you should be doing a bit of both, we've covered the anaerobic stuff with the weights but we now need to look at the aerobic aspect.

Cardio is hard to advise on because it really doesn't matter what type you do just as long as you keep a good steady intensity for at least 30 minutes a day.

Doing say 30-45 minutes at a high tempo on the bike is a good idea but hard, however what exactly is hard? Hard is relevant to the person's fitness, so if you're working yourself at 70 or so percent of your maximum for at least 30-45 minute then that's all you need to do. Anything over 60 minutes is just grinding joints, try not to go over that amount regularly, once or twice is ok but 7 times a week and you'll do yourself an injury and make yourself susceptible to viruses and other afflictions.

---------

Some slightly misc issues I wanted to mention were:

Fad diets:

The low calorie diets I see I the popular women's magazines make me sick, yes they'll work but for how long? Your body is inconceivably intelligent so a five paragraph article stating the simple notion of "eating less" is hardly going to trick it, is it?

A few things I noticed about these type of diets and those who are on them Is how fast the weight comes back when your diet is over, the restricted calories will force the body to think there is no food and force it into what is commonly referred to as "starvation mode". When coming off the diet and resuming normal calorie consumption your body will use its aforementioned natural defence to store everything! Just remember the body goes into "starvation mode" a lot faster than it comes out.
Another thing I noticed was the inability of these diets to deal with the plateau's of weight loss and fitness. When the body adapts (and believe me it will) the dieter enters what is know as a plateau where weight loss slows down to the point where it almost stops. How do you drop more calories from an already restricted diet? Too low and you'll effect your daily functions and even worse cause serious damage.

An effective way to counter act this is to drop calories in stages, say knock 500 off your daily allowance, then in a few weeks when you hit a plateau up it to 750.

Water consumption:

Water consumption is so ridiculously important that I cant put it into words (which is great for a review...)

Your body is made up from about 70% water so please please drink as often as you can, it helps you feel better, flushes out waste products, helps cell renewal, is vital for practically every function and will also help you curb hunger.

Anyway that's enough from me, so there it is! A basic guide to something we should all be doing. Its by no means an expert guide aiming to educate the enthusiast but a little bit of help from someone who's been doing it for years.


Take care, SB

Summary: A no nonsense guide to weight loss and general fitness