How Do You Maintain Weight Loss?

Get your head working and the middle will take care of itself!

The key to losing weight and keeping it off is to understand what really motivates you. Once you’ve felt the initial excitement of losing the first few pounds, you must find a way to turn that enthusiasm into the willpower to stick with your eating plan. You will encounter both ups and downs as you learn to maintain your weight. To help you through the downs, you need coping strategies. Think about what you really want to achieve. That desire will help you turn your eating and exercise strategies into a lifestyle that leads to lifelong weight control.

• Ask Questions. What gives you the strength to resist temptation? Can you form new habits that you can live with forever? What are the rewards of weight loss for you? How much do you want those rewards?
• Get Real. Losing 1 to 2 pounds a week is a realistic goal. Don’t burden yourself with unrealistic expectations. Talk with your healthcare professional to determine a healthy goal weight.
• Stay Balanced. To maintain your weight, you must balance your intake of calories with the energy you burn. Just the difference of one 12-ounce soda (150 calories) versus at least 30 minutes of brisk walking on most days can add or subtract about 10 pounds to your weight each year!
• Step Up to the Challenge. Strap on a pedometer and find out how many steps you take each day. Gradually add just 250 steps per day averaged out over the week. That will give you a good start on a healthy routine of physical activity. Most sedentary adults take only 2,500 to 3,500 steps a day. Aim to add between 4,000 to 6,000 to whatever you are doing now, for a total of 10,000 or more each day. The more steps you take, the better.
• Shop Smart. Start your food control at the grocery store. Shop on a full stomach, use a list, read the labels on every food you buy, and skip any food that is not part of your chosen eating plan.
• Take Notes. As you plan your eating and activity strategies, keep records. What types of foods are you eating? How do the calories add up? How much are you moving? As you lose weight, record what works for you and what doesn't. Review your notes so you can change strategies if needed.
• Weigh Less. Don’t get on the scales every day. Once a week is fine. Try measuring inches lost instead of pounds.
• Plan Ahead. Plan your meals, plan for ups and downs, plan for holidays and plan to feel great when you’ve made health a daily habit. If you can do what’s right 75 percent of the time, you’re going to succeed in the long run!

Simple Ways to Live a Healthy Lifestyle

By Paige Waehner, About.com

You hear a lot about living a healthy lifestyle, but what does that mean? In general, a healthy person doesn't smoke, is at a healthy weight, eats healthy and exercises. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

The trick to healthy living is making small changes...taking more steps, adding fruit to your cereal, having an extra glass of water...these are just a few ways you can start living healthy without drastic changes.

Exercise

One of the biggest problems in America today is lack of activity. We know it's good for us but avoid it like the plague either because we're used to being sedentary or afraid that exercise has to be vigorous to be worth our time. The truth is, movement is movement and the more you do, the healthier you'll be. Even moderate activities like chores, gardening and walking can make a difference.

Just adding a little movement to your life can:

* Reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes
* Improve joint stability
* Increase and improve range of movement
* Help maintain flexibility as you age
* Maintain bone mass
* Prevent osteoporosis and fractures
* Improve mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression
* Enhance self esteem
* Improve memory in elderly people
* Reduce stress

So, even if you opt for small changes and a more modest weight loss, you can see the benefits are still pretty good. One study has found that just a 10% weight reduction helped obese patients reduce blood pressure, cholesterol and increase longevity.

Simple Ways to Move Your Body

You can start the process of weight loss now by adding a little more activity to your life. If you're not ready for a structured program, start small. Every little bit counts and it all adds up to burning more calories.

* Turn off the TV. Once a week, turn off the TV and do something a little more physical with your family. Play games, take a walk...almost anything will be more active than sitting on the couch.
* Walk more. Look for small ways to walk more. When you get the mail, take a walk around the block, take the dog for an extra outing each day or walk on your treadmill for 5 minutes before getting ready for work.
* Do some chores. Shoveling snow, working in the garden, raking leaves, sweeping the floor...these kinds of activities may not be 'vigorous' exercise, but they can keep you moving while getting your house in order.
* Pace while you talk. When you're on the phone, pace around or even do some cleaning while gabbing. This is a great way to stay moving while doing something you enjoy.
* Be aware. Make a list of all the physical activities you do on a typical day. If you find that the bulk of your time is spent sitting, make another list of all the ways you could move more--getting up each hour to stretch or walk, walk the stairs at work, etc.

Learn about more ways to fit in exercise.

Eating Well

Eating a healthy diet is another part of the healthy lifestyle. Not only can a clean diet help with weight management, it can also improve your health and quality of life as you get older. You can use the new Food Guide Pyramid to determine how many calories you need and what food groups you should focus on or, if you're looking for smaller changes, you can use these tips for simple ways to change how you eat:

* Eat more fruit. Add it to your cereal, your salads or even your dinners
* Sneak in more veggies. Add them wherever you can--a tomato on your sandwich, peppers on your pizza, or extra veggies in your pasta sauce. Keep pre-cut or canned/frozen veggies ready for quick snacks.
* Switch your salad dressing. If you eat full-fat dressing, switch to something lighter and you'll automatically eat less calories.
* Eat low-fat or fat-free dairy. Switching to skim milk or fat free yogurt is another simple way to eat less calories without having to change too much in your diet.
* Make some substitutes. Look through your cabinets or fridge and pick 3 foods you eat every day. Write down the nutritional content and, the next time you're at the store, find lower-calorie substitutes for just those 3 items.

Find more ideas for healthy foods with this Healthy Foods Grocery List.

Creating a healthy lifestyle doesn't have to mean drastic changes. In fact, drastic changes almost always lead to failure. Making small changes in how you live each day can lead to big rewards, so figure out what you can to be healthy today.

Bodybuilding 101: The Total Body Workout

By Michael Russell

The trend in bodybuilding over the past many years has been to train one body part at a time, once a week. While this protocol can be very effective, it often can lead to overtraining and it requires a heavy commitment of time. If you find yourself too busy to make it to the gym 5-6 times per week or you feel that your body is overtrained and you need a refreshing change, the total body workout may be just the thing you need.

At first you may wonder how you can ever work your whole body in one workout. After all, most people are so accustomed to performing 4-5 exercises per body part for around 12-20 sets that they cannot imagine properly training a body part with anything less. This mindset must be opened up. In working your whole body in one workout, you will be performing only 1-2 exercises and 4-6 sets per body part. However, the training frequency will be 3 times per week.

The total body workout involves a focus on basic, multi-joint movements. These exercises stimulate the most response from the body in terms of not only the muscle fibres recruited, but also in the release of the necessary hormones to promote muscular growth. Also, working all major muscle groups in one session will have a synergistic effect on your body's response to the training session. In short, your body should respond well to this type of training, especially if it is a drastic change from what you have been currently doing.

The key is to keep the training sessions relatively short (less than one hour) and intense. Work the large muscle groups first (legs, chest, and back) and then the smaller muscle groups (shoulders and arms). By focusing on basic, compound movements you will provide your body with the maximum recruitment of muscle fibres in the shortest amount of time. For example, when you train chest with bench or incline presses, you are also recruiting heavy work from the shoulders (especially the front deltoids) and triceps. This is efficient training. Combined with sufficient intensity, it will create really good results.

With this program, leg training simply cannot be neglected. The simple old-fashioned barbell squat is the best bodybuilding exercise, period. Regular intense squats performed in good form will stimulate muscular growth over your whole body. As a matter of fact, most individuals would benefit from a routine focused on just squats, deadlifts, bench, bentover rows, and chins. These exercises work because they stimulate muscle growth. These are what the old-time greats focused on. So do them.

Here are the exercises recommended for the Total Body Workout:

Quads: Squats, Leg Press, Hack Squats

Chest: Bench press, Incline press, dips (presses may be performed with dumbbells or barbells)

Back: Deadlifts, Chins, Pulldowns, Bentover Rows, T-Bar Rows

For a sample workout, simply choose 1-2 of these basic movements for each body part and perform no greater than 6 sets. For example, a workout could consist of squats for 5x5, bench press for 3x8, incline press for 3x8, chins for 3x10 and bentover rows for 3x8. You get the idea? It's pretty straightforward. By the way, a 5x5 or 3x8 protocols works really well for the total body workout.

You can follow these basic movements with the following isolation exercises:

Hamstrings: Lying or seated ham curls

Calves: Seated or standing calf raises

Shoulders: Shoulder Press (dumbbell or barbell), lateral or front raises

Arms: Dumbell or preacher curls, lying triceps extension, triceps pushdowns

Abs: Crunches

For the routine, simply choose 2-3 of these muscle groups and perform 2-3 sets of your favourite isolation exercise. The next workout, do the other 2-3 muscle groups. For example, if you did shoulders and arms one workout (at the end of your legs, chest, back routine) do hams, calves and abs the next workout.

The total body workout should be performed 3 times per week on alternate days. A Monday-Wednesday-Friday routine works well and it leaves the weekends free for you weekend warriors. The important thing is to remember never to do the same exercise twice in a row. So if you did squats, barbell bench and chins and barbell rows on Monday, change it to leg press, dumbbell incline press, pulldowns and deadlifts on Wednesday. This is an easy routine to follow.

If you are looking to get maximum results with limited time, this routine rocks! If you are looking for a change or something new to stimulate new growth and strength, the total body workout could be just the ticket. Give it a try - you may just love it! Now get to the gym and train with intensity!

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Body Building Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell