Strength Training

Exercise

Strength training is anaerobic style of physical activity that increases the strength of muscles through resistance training, isometric training or weight lifting. The Strength training routine puts the muscles through short duration, high intensity activities that result is better performance and effective weight loss.

Strength training is safe for both men and women of all ages and can be worked according to one physical ability and benefits mental and emotional health. Strength training also helps people with health problems like diabetes, arthiritis, osteoporosis and heart diseases can benefit from it with a good exercise program made around their needs. Old people have many problems like knee pain, back pain which can be a problem in movements. Strength training with light exercise can slowly work on the problem and help you reduce the pain and become fit.

Working on your muscles has many advantages. Read more

Fire Up Your Metabolism

Firstly we need to understand what metabolism is and then can we have a picture of how metabolism effects weight loss . Metabolism is the amount of energy (calories) your body burns to maintain itself. Whether you are eating, drinking, sleeping, cleaning etc… your body is constantly burning calories to keep you going.

Cold Water

Metabolism is affected by your body composition i.e.  the amount of muscle you have versus the amount of fat. Muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat. People who are more muscular… (and have a lower percentage of body fat) are said to have a higher metabolism than others that are less muscular. For example, lets take two people who are the exact same height and weight. One exercises on a regular basis with weights, in addition to aerobic exercise, and has a low percentage of body fat. The other never exercises and has a higher percentage of body fat. The first person who exercises will have a higher metabolism than the second person. The reason is that even when person 1is not exercising his body continues to burn calories because of the muscle to fat ratio difference. Where as person 2 will not have any increase in the metabolic rate. What this basically means is that person 1′s body will use more calories to sustain itself than person 2.

As you begin to age, your metabolism has a natural tendency to start slowing. There are some easy to follow, simple tricks that can help you to eliminate body fat, improve your flab-burning metabolic process, and  start losing weight fast even before you start exercising.

Here are some easy tips that can change you into a fat burning machine

Stop Dieting and Start Exercising

It isn’t about eating less, it’s about eating more nutrition-dense food, to keep you full all day. Restricting food will kill your metabolism or slow it down. It makes our body think, am i starving here. The body responds to it by slowing down the metabolism in order to slowly spend the existing energy packets.
This means that your body starts to consume less calories and store more.

Build some Muscles

Rev up your metabolism by doing some resistance exercises like weightlifting, hand lifting etc. Also you can decrease body fat by doing some aerobic exercises like swimming, cycling, jogging, dancing, walking . Muscle uses more calories to maintain itself than fat thus increasing your metabolism or calorie consumption increases.

Go to Bed Early

A research suggests that people who  slept less and were under more stress had more body fat than people who slept properly.

Eat Protein Rich Food

The faster your metabolism works the more fat you will burn and the slower your metabolism the more fat you will store. Eating protein is a good way to increase metabolism, especially since the body burns more calories to digest protein than it does digesting carbs or sugars.

Go Organic Whenever Possible

The accumulation of toxins in the body slows down the metabolism because the body has to work extra hard to eliminate these toxins on a daily basis. So going on a organic diet leads to less toxins in the body in the form of pesticides. Going the organic way is always a healthier option.

Get Up and Move a Little

Whether you sit or stand at work may play as big a role in your health and your waistline as your fitness routine. Researchers suggest that inactivity for 4 hours or more causes a slowdown in an enzyme that controls fat and cholesterol metabolism. Stand up from your desk and walk around the office, go up and down the stairs a few times. If you use these little bursts of energy throughout the day then your metabolism will stay revved up and you’ll keep burning more calories.

Drink Cold Water

Researchers found that drinking 1 liter of cold water a day can raise resting metabolism by about 50 calories daily. The increase may come from the work it takes to heat the water to body temperature. Start drinking cold water to accelerate your metabolism to up to 30%.

Eat Some Hot Food

Eating hot food can also fire up your metabolism. Eating  red or green chilies boosts your body’s production of heat and the activity of your sympathetic nervous system (responsible for our fight-or-flight response), according to a research. If they’re hot enough they’ll rev your metabolism into high level and you’ll break a sweat!

Dont Skip Breakfast

Eating breakfast jump-starts metabolism and keeps energy high all day. Eat often because that will keep your metabolism pumping all day long, and when you eat many small meals through the day you tend to eat
less at one time, which puts less burden on your digestive system and lets it work more efficiently.

Drink Coffee or Tea

Women metabolize caffeine about 25 percent faster than men. Metabolic rate remains highest during the first three hours following consumption of caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant that increases heart rate and mental acuity. While the blood pumps faster, the metabolic rate increases. While tea can increase your metabolism by 12% according to a research. Researchers believe the antioxidant catechins in tea provide the  boost.

Fight Fat with Fiber

Fiber can raise your fat burn by about 30 percent. Research has found that those who eat the more fiber gain the least weight over time. Aim for about  three servings each of fruits and vegetables  a day. Fiber leads to a less calorie intake which lessens the calorie count.

Eat Iron-Rich Foods

Iron is essential for carrying the oxygen your muscles need to burn fat. Unless you have a consistent diet of this mineral you will have a slow metabolism. Lean meats, beans and spinach are excellent sources. Get this essential mineral in natural doses from real foods.

Drink Milk

There’s some evidence that calcium deficiency may slow metabolism. Research shows that consuming calcium in dairy foods such as fat-free milk and low-fat yogurt may also reduce fat absorption from other
foods.

Dont Get Stressed

Research says that being stressed out  causes high levels of a hormone called cortisol in your body, which leads to belly fat . Relax and let go the extra kilos!

Stay Hydrated

All of our body’s basic reactions, including our metabolism, depend on water. If you are dehydrated, you may be burning lesser calories, according to researchers. In the study, those who drank more glasses of water a day had higher metabolic rates than those who had fewer.

At last eat metabolism boosting foods like Apple, spinach, tomatoes, cabbage, papaya, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, pineapple, grapefruit, lemon, garlic, onions, mangoes, cucumber, cauliflower, carrots and avocados. These  fruits and vegetables belong to the negative calorie list of foods that will help you boost your metabolism.