LOSE WEIGHT

LOSE WEIGHT

In order to lose weight, you need to get workout for at least 5-6 days a week at 60-70% of heart rate for 30-45 min. Start slow and work your way up but, if you're in good condition and have no restrictions, challenging yourself with harder workouts is the best way to burn more calories. Introduce interval training in order to burn calories even after you've stopped exercising.
We are always being told to exercise more in order to lose weight, after all the more regular we workout the more calories and fat we burn. So it may seem weird to discuss the importance of gaining plenty of rest between exercise sessions.

When we exercise our muscles breakdown, tiny fragments of protein within the muscle cells shatter. The more we exercise during a workout the greater the muscle catabolism (degradation); it’s one of the reasons why we actually become weaker as we progress through a particular routine. How quickly muscles degrade also depends on the strength of the individual and the intensity of the exercise. Obviously the stronger and fitter the person the slower the rate of breakdown, also the more effort we put into an exercise the faster the rate of muscle catabolism, it’s the reason why we can all walk a hell of a lot further than we can run!

This may seem obvious, but unless you're tracking your calories each day, you may be eating more than you think. High-fat, high-sugar foods light up the brain’s dopamine pathway just like cocaine does, making us slaves to overwhelming cravings.

If you're really serious about losing weight, you need to get serious about you're eating. Start by keeping a detailed food journal for one week, without changing any of your eating habits. Be as specific as possible, measuring when you can, looking up your calorie and nutrient content and adding up your calories for each day. You'll be surprised how those calories can sneak in when you're not keeping track.

Another thing you need to keep in mind is your metabolism can drop as you get older if you don't preserve your muscle mass. Muscle mass declines about 4% each decade from age 25 to 50. If you're still eating the same number of calories as your metabolism drops, your weight may creep up over time. Start exercising and lifting weights now to keep your metabolism in check.

After any workout routine the muscles need to replace all elements lost, both proteins and energy stores need replacing for muscles to make a full recovery. But if muscles are not given enough time to recover fully before another workout is repeated then the muscles progressively become smaller. What this could mean for weight loss is a gradual decline in lean tissue, thus lowering the metabolism over the course of a few weeks.

In addition to your cardio workouts, you'll need to lift weights for all your muscle groups at least 2 non-consecutive days a week. And, by lifting weights, that means using enough weight that you can only complete the desired number of reps. For example, if you're doing 12 bicep curls, you need to use enough weight that you can only do 12 bicep curls and not one more.

Despite what you hear on the news or read in popular magazines, not all of us need to lose weight. In fact, many of us have unrealistic ideas of what a healthy weight and body shape is. We all have different shapes and, though we can make changes to our bodies, we can only improve on the bodies we have--not turn them into someone else's body.

Is your BMI in an unhealthy range? Are you within your ideal weight range? If you're at risk, losing weight may be important for staying healthy. But, if you're very close to your goal and can't seem to get rid of those last few pounds, ask yourself if you really need to lose them. Would it be possible to be happy at your current weight?