If you are like most adults whose metabolism has decreased with the years, then we share a common malady. This conundrum is evident when we step on the bathroom scales or dress in front of a full length mirror.
During our youthful years, we seldom thought of what we ate or whether we were exercising at maximum benefit to our bodies. There were no bulges evident where our underwear fit around our bodies and we never saw these coming through our clothes. A seemingly carefree existence except for the busy social schedules and the drama of youthful endeavors.
One day, we notice a strange bloating of flesh which seems out-of-place in our previous experience and "Flash! I need to start watching what I eat and exercising more" However, unless we spent our college years studying human metabolism, nutrition, and biology, we were ill prepared when we began exercising and dieting. Even so, at that time just about any curtailing of food intake, change of diet, and exercise program still rendered positive results. Thus we satisfied ourselves with those results and never studied more efficient methods of controlling our fat build up.
As years marched on, the battle of the bulge recurred at more frequent intervals and the same "Flash! I need to start..." thoughts popped into our heads again. As this happens at ever-increasing intervals, we suddenly realize that we are spending more time going to the gym, attending aerobic classes, watching work-out videos by famous people, and spending more money on weight-loss diets and supplements. But because these methods severely impacted our schedules and budgets, we could only sustain them for a limited time. Unfortunately, as we continue to sporadically return to these methods time and time again, we notice that it is taking much more work to get the results as our years increase.
We know that our bodies need the right foods, vitamins, minerals, and exercise to remain healthy and fit. But have we really educated ourselves to answer the questions of "What are the right foods?", "How do we get the vitamins and minerals our bodies need?", and "What are the most beneficial forms of exercise that we can use for our busy lives?". The answers to these questions are many in the advertising, medical, and fitness worlds and the media is all around us on TV, in newspapers, magazines, and on the Internet. Many of these "Fitness Guru's" offer miracle methods and products supposedly designed to turn us into fashion models and genetically perfect examples of a human being. But, try as we may, we fail to successfully turn the hands of time back to our youthful figures.
Embedded in all diet and exercise programs are glimmers of truth and many people get results from "Fad diets" and strange or elaborate exercise routines. But I believe the main benefit of these programs are that they convince us that we can be fit and slim, with the bodies that we dream of, and this mindset helps us to continue. However, attaining a lifestyle that sustains our bodies in the shape that we want is a balance between our busy schedules, finances, and the diet and exercise program we are following.
Since we all need the correct proportions of vitamins and nutrients and our bodies require exercise to be fit and healthy, the most efficient application of diet and exercise must fit within our finances and schedule to be effective and long-term solutions. Thus we need to find out what works the most efficiently for ourselves and try not to just be mimics and slaves of the "Miracle" fad diets and exercise programs. Since each of the common methods of diet and exercise contain basic truths that are beneficial to our particular body types, we need to optimize so that we do not spend hours at the gym or exorbitant percentages of our salaries doing things that do not particularly benefit our unique requirements. Dieting and exercising efficiently will ensure that we are only spending the time and resources that we must to attain and maintain a healthy and fit body. Additionally, we must be able to enjoy the diet and exercise program we develop for ourselves so that we can attain and sustain a lifestyle change that works.
So, how is this done? Based on my experience and the positive results I see in my clients, the paragraphs that follow will outline the method that will enable you to establish a lifestyle change. Remember, understand the method and thought process to find what works best for you.
- Food - Our modern foods are processed and preserved so that we can have plentiful supplies which are easily distributed and stored for our use. These foods do have nutritional benefits but they also lose some vitamins and nutrients in the process and contain some questionable preservatives. The natural and organic version of an otherwise processed food product will likely have more vitamins and nutrients that our bodies require than the processed version. I still eat some processed foods, but I endeavor to mix natural organic foods to optimize my intake of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Efficiency is the goal. Why eat a lot of junk that doesn't benefit your body? You pay for these foods whether they are good for you or not. Vegetables and fruits are the bulk of what you should be eating and these are usually available fresh wherever you are. Check this out for great advice on food groups.
- Eating Habits - Most importantly, do not skip meals! In fact, try to eat smaller portions more often than three times during the day. Our bodies have a built in survival instinct that reacts to starvation and causes our metabolism to slow, storing fat. The body needs fuel to increase metabolism so do not starve to lose weight!
- Food Supplements - Often, our body is telling us that we are hungry because it needs nutrients it is not getting. Our diet changes can be optimized and sustained if we provide these nutrients to help fight off hunger. Products I like are Acai Berry and Goji Berry Concentrates and Supplements. The Acai Berry from the Brazilian Rain Forest is famous for its food quality and metabolism increasing capability. The Goji (or Wolf Berry) has been used for centuries as medicine in China (originally from Tibet). Both provide high quality energy for your body and are antioxidants. They increase metabolism to burn body fat and are macro-nutrients that provide a substantial amount of daily our requirements. Products like these are available on my website.
- Calories - Do not overfeed your body. Keep an eye on your calorie intake and understand the number of calories you need to eat daily. Try the iGoogle Calorie Tracker. You can put it on your home page and it does all the work for you. Enter your info in the "Settings" and use it to see how close to your target you are.
- Vitamins and Minerals - Again, our body will cause us to feel hungry if it is lacking something it needs. High quality vitamins and minerals will assist you to offset the expense of natural organic foods and help make up for the shortcomings of processed food. Find a high quality vitamin and mineral supplement, preferably a "One-per-day" tablet, stock up and use it daily. Vitamins for men and women are available on my website.
- Resistance Weight Training - This is my favorite. Using weights that you can do high repetitions (low weight/high reps) causes the muscles to tear down and then rebuild. Your body metabolism must increase to do these repairs so you burn extra calories for 2 - 3 days after each session. I only spend 20 minutes every other day doing this and it works wonders to tone the body and the fat melts away while I'm resting. Remember to do the exercise slowly and you don't need very much weight. Fill in with aerobic exercise for 20 minutes on the days in between your weight training. See weight training tips.
- Water - Probably the most important thing you can do for your body is to keep it well hydrated! This is another hunger response trigger. Drink at least 8 glasses (8 oz.) of water per day. The adult human body requires about 2 quarts of water per day to be healthy and this includes the water in the foods you eat. If you are in an advance exercise program, you will need to increase this.
- Digestive System Maintenance - The food goes in and our body extracts what it needs. However, what it doesn't need has to go somewhere and much of this waste contains toxins. These toxins collect in our lower bowels and are difficult to purge at times causing us to bloat and feel discomfort. Additionally, colon cancer is a danger so use natural products that help purge the bowels to maintain regularity and good health.
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