Health & Fitness Blog

In our last fitness articles we discussed the types of fats, fitness and weight loss tips, micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).Today we will discuss the facts about building muscles and diet. Macronutrients like protein, carbohydrates and fats helps in building muscles. Despite the fact that carbohydrate and protein synthesis are vital to build muscles, many of us don’t pay enough attention to the food we eat.

One can write a book on muscle building and diet.  Even though science is fairly straightforward, researchers have determined that a person trying to build muscle needs between 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day. Many nutritionists like to use the lower number of 1.5 grams per kilogram of body. Trainers in health centres tend to round the number up to 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight daily for building muscles.

A lot of extra protein ie more than 2 grams per pound of body weight may not help for muscle building. Protein has two qualities that help in weight loss and may curtail weight gain. First protein is metabolically expensive for our body to process, our body burns 20% of each protein calorie just digesting it (for carbs is 8% and  fats 2%).This is called thermic effect of feeding, second protein keeps you feeling fuller for longer, this is great tool for fat loss but not advisable  when you trying to gain muscle. On the other hand for fat loss via strength training we need to take in more than the recommended upper limit of protein while cutting back on fats or carbs. Without extra protein your body could lose muscle mass with fat, and lost muscle means a slower metabolism which can stall weight loss and fat can be regained at a faster pace.

The highest quality protein is found in meat, fish, eggs, milk and other dairy products. And the use of whey protein and meal replacement powders seem to be grudging support among nutritionists because of the convenience, the high quality of protein and safety of these supplements.

The timing of protein intake has gotten more attention recently. Research at university of Texas shows that ingesting a protein-carb supplement before strength training leads to more protein synthesis than a post workout supplement does. The most likely reason of this is that the blood flow increases during exercise, so if we have more protein in blood during exercise, more protein goes to the muscles thereby helping in muscles building.

Top 10 Weight loss tips

Weight loss has always been an issue for many people who are struggling to loose weight.

Obese people are at a higher risk for many health problems like diabetes, heart attack etc. Fat deposits in our bodies when the calories or energy we consume from our daily food becomes greater than the energy used by the body in performing daily activities. Weight Loss is not an easy journey; there are times when you want to give up. Patience and strict discipline is one of the key factors that help in weight loss apart from doing exercise and proper.

Weight loss is a long-term commitment with your mind and body.

To keep you motivated and to help you achieve your weight loss goals, here are the top ten weight loss tips for you:

1. Go for low fat dairy products. Dairy products are good source of protein & calcium. Calcium helps in preventing the absorption of fats in our body. This may help in weight loss. If you want more details about fats, you can read my articles on Types of fats

2. Often we check fat in the nutrition label, and ignore the sugar content, which are disguised as carbohydrates in some labels. It’s best to go for lowest amount of sugar in your diet. It’s just empty calories without any nutrition, a big hurdle in your weight loss journey.

3. Cut down or eliminate alcohol and fizzy drinks and switch to Green tea, which is loaded with anti oxidants. Make sure you drink plenty of fresh water. We all know that muscle is Protein + Water.

4. Avoid processed foods, and fast food such as pizza and burgers are full of empty calories and virtually has no nutritional value. Try to eat good carbohydrates such as oats, brown rice, and sweet potatoes and low starch vegetables with protein for dinner.

5. Exercise keeps your metabolism up and you end up spending more calories. Your RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) increases with exercise, which means you burn more calories even when you are resting. If possible, try to do weight training with help of a professional personal trainer or fitness expert. Weight training will help you to gain lean muscle mass, which means your body will burn more calories thereby helping loosing weight.

6. Portion Control is very important for weight loss as well as weight gain. Try to eat at least 5-6 meals in a day. By eating small portions throughout the day, your digestive system is not overstressed and it helps in keeping your metabolism up and in loosing weight  as well.

7. Never skip your breakfast. Your body has been without food for 8-10 hours, so fuel it in the morning to have an energetic start of the day. Try to include eggs, oats, milk etc in your breakfast. Skipping breakfast or any other meal would not help you loose weight.

8. Fibre makes you feel full and also takes care of your bowel system. Try to include fibre in your diet. When you feel full, you will have less craving for sugar and other junk food.

9. As fibre, lean Protein helps you keep full for longer periods, and prevents sugar cravings and energy falls. It maintains and builds muscle mass, and as already mentioned above good muscle mass is crucial in the fat burning and weight loss process.Try to consume protein rich food  with every meal.

10 Mind is the most powerful thing in this universe. If you believe you can achieve your weight loss goal, you can. If you think you cannot do it, you can’t. With all the hard work, dedication and diet, try to visualise your dream body in your mind everyday and feel it. Mind Power helps in everything including weight loss.

Physical Fitness is very important for all of us. Do you sometimes think you’d like to get fit and toned, but you’re not sure how to achieve your fitness goals or how to set up your fitness routines- or at least, you want to achieve it but you don’t want to spend hours in the gym to get fit?

Most of us do.   But in fact, do we need to join gym to be fit?  No – not necessary, if you don’t like!

Many of us have jobs where we sit most of the time, and in general there are less opportunities to get fit with our modern lifestyle of cars, labour-saving appliances, and machines which save us from having to do any kind of heavy manual work.  This means that we are not physically active, and therefore we feel physically tired, and maybe we become susceptible to coughs and colds and general poor health. However we need to be active for fitness.

General health and fitness has become more and more of a hot topic with lot’s of fitness strategies in the market, and now many people are interested in making an effort to eat a more healthy diet. With this increased awareness of the value – and fragility – of our health and fitness, many of us are also wishing we could incorporate some physical activity and exercise into our daily routine in order to complement our improved eating habits.

Of course, overall fitness improves quality of life.  Being fit help us to keep healthy and looking great. Fitness helps to increase body flexibility, which in turn helps to reduce aches and pains.   Fitness routines and exercise helps build stronger bones. It helps to keep us from the perils of obesity, stress, insomnia, diabetes, depression, heart disease – the benefits of fitness and exercise are endless!   Fitness is the magic bullet.

So how do you motivate yourself to do what you need to do to achieve all the benefits of fitness?

Here are some fitness tips to help you stay motivated.

Walk and move whenever you get an opportunity, take the stairs instead of the elevator, especially if you’re only going up or down one or two floors. Get off the tram or bus one or two stops before your destination, and then walk the rest of the way.

If you have the time and the facilities, and the dedication, you may get to enjoy swimming, or cycling, or running – whatever you like, so long as you enjoy it and don’t push yourself too hard. Combining your hobby with the fitness goals will help you achieve results faster.

The latest research has shown that the benefits of exercise can be gained even from low-intensity activity, like gardening, golf, and others – it doesn’t have to be hard and sweaty work out to help you keep fit!
And then there’s another way to achieve your fitness goals which opposite of exercise – relaxation.  I’m talking about more subtle “exercise” like yoga, meditation, or tai chi.   It’s a good idea to take sometime off from your schedule and relax like this, as these are all good ways to relieve stress.   And this is important, because stress is one of the common factors in many diseases, from headaches to heart attacks.

Exercise and Fitness routines combined with meditation is the best medicine to help you sleep better, relieve stress and renew your energy for the coming day.

As we’ve been discussing in earlier blogs, healthy food plays a very important role in fitness. And always remember one rule of Fitness – Diet comes before exercise, whether you want to gain muscle mass or reduce excess body fat, healthy diet combined with a good work out will help you achieve your fitness goals soon.

As an example, labourers who work hard for eight hours a day, they are getting a real good physical workout, but you see them with fat guts and double chins because when they get home they eat twice as many calories as they’ve worked off during the day – and then they go to bed so all the food turns to fat.

I hope these ideas will help you stay motivated and achieve your fitness goals.

Here are some Best Fitness routines for you. If you’ve been visiting this health and fitness blog for fitness tips, over last couple of weeks you’ll know by now all about how to get fit and healthy by following my free fitness routines.

For those of you who are new to this, I’ve been giving advice about fitness routines and fitness tips and how to make great improvements in your diet without making any major changes to the food you eat, and how to have a good exercise workout without taking any time out to exercise in a gym.

We’ve talked a lot about healthy diet, but last week we focused on exercise, and I’d like to continue with Fitness Routines and exercise tips this week.   The great news is that you can get an essential minimum amount of exercise in daily life without going to the gym, and without even setting aside time to exercise at home.   Refer back to last week’s article about exercise at home to get a couple of great workouts  for your legs and abs.

You probably drive to work, and even if you don’t, then you probably spend some time in the car going to the shops or wherever.   And isn’t it frustrating and boring when you get stuck at the lights, or caught in the peak-hour traffic!   Well, here’s a way to make it not so boring, using my system of fitness routines in your daily life while you are driving.

Next time you have to stop at the lights, put your hands on the wheel in the “quarter to three” position.   Now, pull outwards as though you were trying to stretch the wheel out to the sides.   You don’t have to strain, just use about 70% of your strength.  You’ll feel a very pleasant stretch in the muscles of your shoulders and your back.    Pull like that for a slow count of 5, and then relax. This kind of stretching fitness routines helps you do your stretching exercises while doing other chores.

If the lights have changed, then that’s passed the time for you, but if you’re still at a standstill, hold the wheel again, in the same position, and this time push inwards, as though you were trying to compress the wheel flat.  This time, you’ll feel a very nice stretch in your pecs. You may also notice a good stretch in your lats – these are the big muscles that run down outside of your back from your shoulders down towards your waist. Remember by following these fitness routines, you will be able to motivate yourself to go at a next level of your fitness journey. Just hold this squeeze for a slow count of five, and that’s all you need to do.   Probably the lights have changed now so you can go with this great workout and your daily fitness routines while driving.

You had to stop at the lights anyway, and instead of getting frustrated and filling your bloodstream with all those anger-chemicals, you’ve actually had a little workout or a nice and easy exercise that comes under the fitness routines it helps tone up your upper body, and worked off some of that traffic frustration !

Here’s another one of the easiest  fitness routines for you.   Next time you have to stop, put the handbrake on and try this.   Put your hands on the wheel and push yourself back into your seat to hold you steady, and just lift your feet off the floor.   Just a couple of centimetres is all that’s needed, as soon as your feet aren’t supported on the floor any more you’ll get a really good stretch on your abs, your stomach muscles.   Just hold your feet like that for a slow count of 5, and then put them back down.   If the traffic is still stopped do it once more, then put your feet back on the pedals and get ready for the traffic to move again.   This is a great one, it’s one of the excellent fitness routines and stretching workout for your abs, and it only takes a few seconds.

The beauty of all this is that you don’t have to put aside half an hour of your precious home-time to exercise, because you‘ve done one of your fitness routines while you were driving home!   These 3 exercises or you can say your fitness routines will help to tone your body.

Exercise without exercise, that’s the secret.  Now, like I said last time, these fitness routines will give you more energy, and might motivate you to actually take it to the next level of your fitness journey and start going to a gym, and if that happens then I can give you some seriously good fitness routines to follow in the gym.

Contact me today for any questions about how to get fit doing your daily fitness routines.