Jog to live longer, in Delhi (Hauz Khas)

Researchers have found that regular jogging or any constant aerobic exercise may reduce people’s risk of disabilities and help them live longer and healthier. Read this article by Time magazine for more detail: Joggers live longer

For jogging/running in Delhi, a great place is in Hauz Khas park. There is a large man made lake built in the 14 century by the Tughlaqs. It has a running track all around it. Its a beautiful place to run. There are many buildings of the 14 century Tughlaq dynasty, lots of birds, plenty of greenery and the company of other runners/walkers. Part of the lake track in soft, while some of it has stone tiles. Early mornings and evenings are a great time in this park.

There is also an unpaved trail around the deer park, that is good for trail running. Well shaded trail, so it protects from the sun and the heat. Both trails are about 1.6 kms long, and a visual as well as physical respite from the hustle and bustle of Delhi.

If you need to lose weight, get on a healthy weight loss plan, with a balanced diet and an effective exercise routine. We even provide a personal manager to help you stay on track, and answer any questions. If you need more motivation, try our personal trainer program. On any of these programs, besides losing weight, you will be fitter, look better and be healthier. Isn’t that the point of weight loss?!

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Weight Loss Diets- Side Effects

Before we get into weight loss diets, let us first define diet- “it is the foods eaten by a particular person”. Often, ‘diet’ is assumed to be this low calorie diet to lose weight, etc. But it is not. Its simply what you eat. So, we are all on diets regardless of what we eat. What we use that diet to do is what classifies it- regular diet, weight loss diet, weight gain diet, etc.

Now, when most people decide that they have to get in better shape, often its about losing fat on their belly or hips/thighs. Now, everyone wants to lose weight fast. Regardless of how many months or years it took you to add the fat, everyone’s looking for a quick fix. Search for Weight Loss Diets and you find all sorts of diets. Now, the problem with weight loss diets on the internet, is that if you pick them up from just any site, there is no way for you to be sure that the diet is good for your health, or will help you lose weight.

Most people think that if your calorie intake is low enough, then you are bound to lose weight, i.e. Weight Loss= Less Calories in, More Calories out. Sure that sounds right but its not as simple. You might lose weight by that way, but you might land up losing is a lot of muscle instead of fat. With less muscle in your body, your body stores more fat. What you need to ensure that you’re losing the right kind of weight, which is fat. Know whether to lose fat or lose weight?

Crash dieting, i.e. significantly lowering your calorie intake, is an unhealthy way to attempt weight loss. Since your diet reduces drastically, you are perpetually hungry and thus unsatisfied and this makes people moody, short tempered.

If your diet has inadequate carbohydrates, it will cause ketosis. If it has inadequate protein, it will create muscle catabolism and reduce your metabolic rate. If it has inadequate fat, it can affect a number of biological processes.

You will also be low on energy. Since its an unhealthy diet, this can have significant side effects, including affecting your appearance. Its been known to cause dark circles, stretch marks, etc.

Besides calorie intake, and the basic protein, carbohydrates and fat, your diet should include adequate water, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

Another key factor is the timing of your food. You shouldn’t just skip a meal. Skipping meals actually puts your body in a mode where it reduces your metabolic rate (and hence burns fewer calories), eats muscle and starts storing fat. Consuming food at the right time is key for providing optimum nutrition to your body, and increase fat burn.

There are many well endorsed diets like the Atkins Diet and the GM Diet (General Motors Diet), which at Fitho we don’t use because we consider them unhealthy since they are not balanced diets. They have their share of side effects-

Atkins Diet: Because of no carbohydrate intake, lack of calcium and high saturated fat content, it is considered dangerous. Your body goes into ketosis resulting in bad breath, weakness, insomnia, constipation, etc

GM Diet: We don’t consider this diet to be balanced. There are claims of hair loss, etc. Drastic loss of weight is not due to fat loss, but due to water loss.

Diets have to be customized to your needs. At Fitho, we provide you diet plans that are customized to you, that you will enjoy, and produce results. See our weight loss success stories.

So the next time you think about losing weight, get advice from a fitness and nutrition expert and also understands you and your needs.

To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, like personal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..

Healthy Mughlai food options

There’s a common myth that to get in better shape or stay in it, you need to eat a diet of steamed, bland, tasteless, sugarless, fat free food. But that’s not true at all. Lets take Mughlai food as an example. When you think of Mughlai food, you probably think greasy deliciousness- no good for you. Again, wrong (about all of it being greasy).

Its about making the healthier choices in it. For eg, all the tandoori kebabs are high protein and relatively low on oil. They are marinated in some oil to make them moist and help them absorb flavour, but then they are cooked in a tandoor, with no added fat. Tandoori kebabs are packed with protein. Protein takes longer to digest in our system, thus it leaves you feeling full for longer. Chicken/fish based kebabs are better choices than red meat, since its easier to separate the fat, or often, its just lean meat that’s used for cooking the kebabs.

Even the Tandoori vegetarian is not all bad. In a tandoor, they get caramelized on the outside, adding that hint of sweetness, making it delicious. While they are still somewhat raw on the inside, so it preserves more nutrients than completely cooked vegetables.

With lentils, its best to go with yellow dal, since the black dal (maa ki dal) is cooked in cream, which loads it with fat. Chana is also a good option, since its got lots of fiber and protein. Raita is yoghurt based, and you know how good that is. If you don’t, read this article on yogurt.

Feel free to gorge on the raw or vinegar based onions/green chilli (don’t worry about the breath- that’s why we have after mints). Sprinkle lots of lime on your kebabs- it makes them moist and delicious, along with adding all that Vitamin C, which helps to build immunity.

What you want to avoid is the curried and masala rich food- like the butter chicken, kadai meat, etc. They have high fat content from the cream and oil that is used. And its saturated fat, so its the kind that clogs your arteries and raises cholesterol and blood pressure. Also, avoid kebabs that are made from mince meat like sheekh kebab. Mince meat often has a lot of fat in it and the cooking process also uses some, so these kebabs are loaded with calories. The naan is mostly made from refined flour (maida) which basically has the same effect on your body as sugar

The next time you hit that Mughlai joint, use this guide to decode your healthy options and you should be set!

Green Tea Benefits Weight Loss

Eat something and then burn calories because you consumed it. Sounds perfect or what? Green tea probably comes pretty close.

Green tea is packed with antioxidants. All the wear and tear of our body along with our meat consumption releases free radicals in the body. Many of these free radicals serve useful physiological functions, but they can be toxic when generated in excess by causing damage to DNA, tissues, etc; possibly creating cancerous cells.  Anti-oxidants react with these free radicals and mitigate their effects on our body.

Green tea also contains EGCG, that is known to stimulate brown fat, is even extracted and used as a weight loss supplement.

Studies have shown that green tea is also effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels and reducing the abnormal formation of clots.

There is more good news- a study at the University of Geneva found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those only on caffeine. Green tea also has anti bacterial properties, so its helps prevent tooth decay also.

So, drinking green tea helps to live longer (reduces your cancerous cells), live healthier (reduces your bad cholesterol), be fitter (helps you burn more calories) and prevent bad breath (tooth decay). And you’re still wondering whether you should start drinking green tea?

To prepare green tea, boil a cup of hot water. Pour the hot water into tea cup. Dip a green tea bag in a cup of hot water, for 30-60 seconds. If you need, add sugar or honey. Do not add milk to green tea.
This the easiest way to prepare this wonder weight loss drink!

To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, like personal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..

Fitter people have better sex

Do fitter people have better and more sex? I don’t know if its better and if its more, but sex for sure is better for people who are in better shape.

There are plenty of reasons for this:

1. When you are fitter, it is easier for blood to flow through your arteries, to supply blood to every part of your body. Now, your genitals are part of that system. When you get aroused, the physical effects happen because of the increased blood flow to your genitals. So, if its easier for blood to flow through your arteries, it’ll be easier for it to flow to your genitals to get aroused. Erectile dysfunction is partly physiological, and is due to the reduced blood flow to penile tissue.

(Viagra, the world famous drug was concocted to help patients with high blood pressure. The goal was to increase blood flow to all parts of the body, but in clinical trials, it induced marked penile erections. And Viagra happened.)

2. For men, when you have more muscle in your body, your body produces more testosterone, the male hormone. This hormone is responsible for making you manly and attracting more women towards you. Its surprising, but hormones have a strong role to play in attraction between the sexes. When people talk about chemistry between individuals, it happens at a more primal level that most of us think.

Why are men attracted to women with a nice shapely butt? Sure its attractive, but its attractive because at a primal level, our brains look at it as prime property for making babies.

Why are women attracted to men with well developed shoulders? Because her brain at a primal level suggests that a man with muscle can not just protect her, but also has more testosterone and thus will produce higher quality semen and thus is a better baby making machine.

(Unfortunately, at a primal level, our brains are tuned to ensuring that we keep producing babies. Thank god for contraception!)

3. Last but not the least, fitter people are better looking. For the same individual, being in better physical shape makes them more attractive to their partners. So, even if you’re in a steady relationship, chances of your sex life sizzling are way more if you’re in better shape.

In a recent study, women were shown photos of men to rate based on their attractiveness. The highest rated men had the highest testosterone levels.

So crank out those push ups and crank up the sizzle of your sex life!

Is your office making you fat?

Most people spend more waking time in the office than anywhere else. And if you care about your health, or are trying to get healthier, why should you ignore the office as a space where you can’t be healthy. You’ll be surprised to know that most offices are not. There are health hazards all over the office. Its not that the office doesn’t want you to be healthy, its that you need to make some choices to stay healthy.

Office Tea/Coffee- Tea and Coffee are big things in most offices in India. A cup of tea and coffee isn’t harmful. The problem is that when they’re made in the office, they come loaded with sugar. That’s the stuff that’s not good for you. Most people in desk jobs aren’t active enough to burn off the extra calories from sugar. So, when you consume all that sugar, it goes and hits your belly and hips. Read here about the effects of sugar. What you can do to avoid this in your office is to either have tea/coffee without sugar. But if you can’t deal with that, tell them to bring you sugar separately. If that’s not possible, then keep tea bags of your favourite tea in the office. Get some hot water, dip, let brew and drink up. (I do that with green tea). Honey is a better alternative to sugar.

Office Snacking- All the cakes and samosas that are served in the office are probably worse than the tea. Tea at least has some antioxidants. But that samosa- its made of maida (refined flour) which has the same effect as sugar on your body, stuffed with oily potatoes and then deep fried! So, each samosa as wonderful as it tastes goes straight to that belly. Don’t even get me started on cakes/pastries- their basic ingredients are sugar, refined flour, butter, cream. Other snacks to watch out for- patties, rolls, cup cakes – equally bad for you.
So you’re wondering, what can I really eat in the office? Some commonly available foods- nuts (peanuts, almonds, etc), chana (roasted gram), fruits (don’t get me started on the delicious seasonal fruits in India), brown bread sandwich, low fat cheese- there are plenty of healthier food options. All these have vitamins, fiber, antioxidants, protein and give you the energy to get through your day! You can either bring these from home or easily find them around your office.

Smoking Coworkers- If you’re not smoking cigarettes, that’s great. But if someone around you is, then you are exposed to the second hand smoke. Everyone knows about the effects of smoking. Did you know that the effects of second hand smoke are about as bad as you smoking yourself? So, steer clear of areas that are the smoking joints in your office.

Staying healthy in the office takes some effort, but once you set it up, its easy to roll with.
Get yourself and then your co-workers on these habits and get fit.

Lose Weight or Lose Fat?

Often, both fat loss and weight loss are mistaken to be the same, but think about it- losing weight basically means that when you step on that weighing scale, you should weigh less. Now you’ve lost this weight since there is less of something in your body. The options are fat, muscle or water.

Losing fat is ideal, but losing muscle is detrimental to your health. Muscles help burn calories even when you’re sleeping. Basically, your body takes energy to maintain itself. If you have more muscle in your body, then it takes more energy to maintain it. In fact, it takes about 10 times the energy to maintain the same amount of muscle as it takes to maintain fat.

With weight loss strategies that people adopt, like skipping meals and staying hungry, they end up losing muscle. Your body has to maintain itself whether you feed it or not. So, when you don’t feed it for a long time (like when you skip meals), it starts looking for stored energy in your body. Instead of burning fat, it burns muscle to get that energy. So, when you skip a meal the next time, remember that you’re harming your muscles. Lesser muscle in your body, lesser energy is takes to maintain it. But you still eat the same amount of food, so you land up storing the extra energy in the form of fat. Its a vicious cycle.

Also, muscle is more dense that fat. So, you might lose fat, gain muscle- as a result you look slimmer and are much fitter. But on the weighing scale, you might still weigh the same.

So you see, using your weight as a yard stick is incorrect from a fitness standpoint.

The solution, use your fat loss as a yard stick. How do you measure it? The simple way but not completely accurate way, is a measuring tape. Measure your waist, thighs, hips, arms- whatever your problem areas are. Note down the measurements on a periodic basis, keep track and watch that shy six pack reveal itself!

The more accurate way for tracking body fat through a Body Composition Analysis machine. To get your body fat content tracked, book your free consultation and get a Free Body Compostion Analysis. To book your consultation, email fitness@fitho.in.

Belly fat is harmful to your body and tracking your fat, helps you measure key areas and will help to keep track of your fat loss. That .

Besides the obvious benefits of fat loss- looking hot, healthy heart- did you know that it benefits your sex life too!

So, don’t fret about the weight. Worry only about the fat. Get on a Fat loss plan now!

Almonds- Benefits your health

Almonds or rather nuts in general get a bad name because they have high fat content, but almonds have plenty of health benefits. We’ll tell you about these benefits.

There are two kinds of fat- saturated (Bad) and unsaturated (Good) fat. And almonds are high in unsaturated fats, the same type of healthy fats found in olive oil. Almonds are packed with mono-unsaturated fats. A recent study at the University of Toronto led to the discovery that eating about an ounce of almonds per day can decrease LDL cholesterol by as much as 20 percent over time. Incredibly, this decrease is comparable to results from medication.

Besides this, almonds pack a punch of protein. Protein takes longer to digest, so it keeps you satisfied for longer. Thus reducing those hunger pangs, while feeding those muscles of yours.
Almonds also contain calcium, Vitamin E, Magnesium, Potassium, Magnesium, and last but not the least, antioxidants.

In a recent study published in the International Journal of ORMD, adults who were put on a low calorie diet enriched with almonds lost more weight, lost more fat, reduced more waistline inches than those who did not have almond enriched diets. (Both diets had equal calorie values)

You can eat almonds raw, roasted, or chop them up toss them into dessert or yogurt. Try to eat them with the skin, since that contains nutrition too. They have benefits, but they’re loaded with fat and thus calories, so control your portions. Have a handful for that 4 p.m. craving, with a fruit. They’ll keep you going for longer without feeling hungry, reducing your snacking on unhealthy food, thus reducing your risk of gaining weight from it.

Almonds have low GI (Glycemic Index) value, so when you include them in your diet, your overall blood sugar rises up less than without almonds.

We could go on about almonds, but the point is made. Go nuts!

Note, that the healthiest almonds are the regular crispy almonds. The roasted, salted or sugar coated almonds only reduce the health benefits of eating almonds.

To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, like personal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..

Tips for Healthy Weight Gain- Natural & Effective

Wanting to gain weight might not be a predicament for most, but there are the select few out there. There are skinny men and women who want to look more filled out, but just have a really hard time doing it.

The obvious answer. Just eat high calorie junk food, relax on your couch and you’ll see yourself filling out. But we wish it was that simple. First, because even that doesn’t work sometimes. And if that does work, then you only get fat from it. And who wants to get fat?!

So, for those of you looking to gain weight, read on … hopefully, you’re not losing weight as you read this, but it’ll be worth it

We’ll break the concept down a little. Our body is like a machine, a pretty phenomenal one. To perform any activity, your body requires fuel. We fuel it through food. Now, if you perform activities that require more fuel than you provide it, it starts looking for fuel in your body. But if you provide it with more fuel than it requires, then it stores it for use some other time.

That seems simple, but right there it becomes a little complicated. Our body stores energy in multiple way- fat, glycogen and muscle, depending on what you eat and what kind of activity you do. The ideal way to gain weight is to add muscle, but its the trickiest. (Ladies, do not worry that muscle will make you bulky. If it was so easy to become bulky, then wouldn’t all the men be like Hulk Hogan)
And as is obvious, gaining weight from fat isn’t ideal but it is the easiest.

Now, how do you really gain weight by adding muscle? By doing the right combination of exercise and diet.

Since many cases tend to be specific, some general advice is to regularly exercise, and feed your muscles appropriately. Instead of eating 3 large meals a day, break them up into 6 more frequent ones. Muscles need fuel often, otherwise they start cannibalizing themselves (How crazy is that, but its true)

So, feed yourself often and more. Add some protein and good carbohydrates in your diet. Feed those muscles and watch yourself gaining weight in the right places.

There are many sources of protein that we’ve listed before. Find the best protein source

Yoghurt is an excellent source of protein and carbohydrates. See these benefits of yoghurt

Low Carb, High Protein Dessert Recipe- Mocha Custard

Want to indulge, without totally going of track. Try this delicious and nutritious mocha custard. Takes 10-15 minutes to prepare, and is truly lip smacking:

Ingredients
1 can coconut milk/cream
3-4 eggs
3 scoops chocolate whey protein
2 cups coffee (or 2 heaped teaspoons of instant coffee powder and half cup milk)
2 teaspoons honey

Mix the coconut milk, whey protein, whisked eggs, coffee and honey together. Pour it into a saucepan over medium heat and stir it continuously. Once the mix gets a little thick (sticks to the back of a spoon), pour it into a container and let it cool in an ice bath and then in the fridge. (or put it in the freezer for 10 minutes right before eating)

Once it has cooled down, serve yourself some and enjoy.
If you want a a cold coffee drink, then mix some crushed ice with a serving of this dish, run it through a mixer and serve!

Note: This recipe makes 6-8 servings. It has a good amount of fat from the coconut milk, so be conscious of your potions.

Health benefits of Yoghurt: Weight Loss

Milk and Yoghurt (curd) are such essential part of the recommended ‘healthy Indian diet’. We’ve all heard about the calcium in milk and yoghurt and how it makes our bones stronger, but there is a lot more to yoghurt than just calcium. Can yogurt help you lose belly fat?

Yes, latest research shows that yogurt can even help you lose weight. The calcium in yoghurt not only helps to make your bone stronger. A study at University of Tennessee found that participants who consumed 3 daily servings of fat free yoghurt on a 12 week basis gained less fat around their mid-section than those who didn’t consumed dairy products containing less calcium. The mineral appears to help curb production of the stress hormone cortisol, which has been linked to the accumulation of abdominal fat

Yogurt provides essential carbohydrates and a punch of protein. The carbs are good since they provide you the energy you need to get through the day. And the protein is good for building those muscle and their regular functioning. Yoghurt with fruits makes for a great post workout meal.

It is also a good source of your daily vitamin needs like vitamins B6 and B12. Yogurt is also a good source of Potassium. Studies have shown that potassium consumption helps with reducing hypertension and increase muscle retention. The bacterial cultures in yoghurt help to keep you regular.

There are plenty of ways to consume yoghurt: If you don’t like plain yoghurt, then you can always throw in some fruits and nuts. Or try these yoghurt smoothies or low calorie healthy smoothie recipes. Or just honey. Even granola tastes good with yoghurt.

To really lose weight, get on a proper weight loss plan. Or see any of our customized fitness plans, like personal training, diabetes management, hypothyroid, pregnancy weight loss, and more..

Does spot reduction work in weight loss, fat loss?

So often, we’ve been approached by people who say ‘oh you know, I want to lose fat only from my hips & thighs’ or ‘my thighs are too fat. I want to lose fat from there’ .. ‘how do I just lose fat from my belly (as they rub their belly)’.
Our reply to all these people is ‘it isn’t natural for your body to do spot reduction of fat loss from particular spots’.

You might have a tendency to put on more at on a certain part of your body, the two big areas being hips and belly. Most men tend to put on fat on their belly, and women tend to gain fat on their hips. But when you gain or lose fat, it happens all over your body, including your toes and your fingers. So, you can’t choose to lose fat from certain spots. Start making the effort the right way and results will happen.

The important thing is that you’ve identified an area that you want to reduce and you should get on a plan to help you lose the fat. Use this problem area as a yardstick to measure your progress. But don’t assume that you will only lose fat from your arms and not your shoulders.

So, get on a weight loss plan and lose all that extra weight you’re carrying around. Try it out. It really works. See all our weight loss success stories.

And beware of anyone promising spot reduction!

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