Diet and Fitness Tips....from the Personal Trainer

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Type	Title	Replies	Views	Last Post
	Best Lean Muscle Mass by Charbirksson	0	5	Jan 9 2012 - 8:47pm by Charbirksson

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Charbirksson Best Lean Muscle Mass Jan 9, 2012 8:47 PM Best Lean Muscle Mass is an ultimate method to revitalize and energize your skinny body so that you can get most out of your workouts without being tired. This amazing muscle building supplement can render great health benefits, which include sound sleep and improved activity in family, competition and work. So switch to Best Lean Muscle Mass now…. http://leanmusclemasssupplements.posterous.com/best-lean-muscle-mass-supplement-review-get-f

eNutritionist How to speed up your metabolism and get slim for summer! Jun 27, 2011 11:18 PM Whether you’re trying to lose weight or you just want to maintain a sleek physique for the summer months ahead, boosting your metabolism is a fast and effective way to burn up extra calories and lose weight. In this article I have put together a few diet and exercise tips to rev up your metabolism, so you can burn fat faster and look FABULOUS in the sunshine! 1. Power breakfasts Always eat a healthy breakfast. After going 10–12 hours overnight without food, your energy reserves are low so your body, and perhaps more importantly your brain, needs fuel. When you skip breakfast your metabolism slows to conserve energy and this can actually make it more difficult to maintain weight. Many studies have shown that people who regularly eat breakfast are less likely to be overweight than people who don’t and are more inclined to eat less during the course of the day. Like any other meal, a balanced breakfast should include foods from each of the major food groups: some protein, a reasonable amount of complex carbohydrates and a little fat. These three nutrients together will help stave off hunger pangs and keep blood sugar levels balanced until lunch. It’s also a good time to get at least two servings of fruit. For instance, one small glass of fruit juice or a sliced banana and some raisins sprinkled over your cereal. If you can tick off two servings at breakfast you are providing your body with a good boost of vitamins and minerals and are well on target to reaching your ‘5 a day’. 2. Eat little and often As strange as it may sound, eating frequently can actually help you lose weight. This is because our bodies burn up calories solely from digesting and absorbing food. Grazing on small, regular snacks throughout the day can help keep your metabolic rate elevated by about 10 percent for up to 2-3 hours after eating. Ideally, snacks should be spaced around your breakfast, lunch and dinner to help balance blood sugars and sustain energy levels. Healthy snacking options include: a handful of plain nuts and seeds, natural yogurt with mixed fruit, raw vegetable sticks with hummus, a slice of rye bread topped with low fat cottage cheese or two rice cakes with almond butter. Aim to have 2-3 small healthy snacks a day at 2-3 hour intervals for a calorie burning boost. 3. Get moving One of the many great weight loss benefits of exercise is that even after you finish your workout you continue burning calories faster than normal. This ‘after burn’ effect can last up to two hours post workout as your body works overtime to pay off the oxygen debt, replenish energy reserves and repair muscle tissue. Furthermore, this burning effect comes predominantly from your body’s fat stores. For best results, do a mixture of aerobic and resistance training. And don’t forget to be more active in your daily life too- brisk walking to the shops, cycling to and from work and even DIY, gardening and housework can all burn a significant amount of calories. 4. Add muscle If you want to increase your metabolic rate in the long term you need to add muscle. The more lean muscle mass you have the better your calorie burning capacity and the result is fewer calories being stored as body fat. Our muscles act like furnaces and operate by burning food for energy. When we increase muscle mass, we also increase metabolism, the result is that we burn more calories, even when we are resting. If you belong to a gym, aim to fit in a full body weight training session twice a week to add two pounds of muscle. This will help you burn an extra 65 calories per day. Not a gym member? Invest in some kettle bells for a highly effective fat burning work out from home. 5. Get enough protein Foods that are high in protein are best at helping to boost metabolism and can help you burn an extra 150-200 calories per day. This is because protein ingestion produces a high thermogenic effect, which basically means that more of the calories you consume (up to 20 percent) will be burned off as heat. Protein is also the most satisfying nutrient, so helps stop you overeating. Choose low fat protein foods such as lean meat, fish, skinless chicken, low fat cheese, yogurt and milk. Aim to have a fist size serving with every meal. 6. Take up a mid afternoon walk Fancy a walk after Sunday lunch? Research has shown that moderate exercise, such as walking, after eating may turn more of the calories you have just eaten into heat and cause your body to burn more calories. As well as increased calorie expenditure, this can also lead to beneficial cardiovascular effects including lowered blood pressure. Similarly, eating within an hour after vigorous exercise encourages calories to be used for energy rather than stored as fat, as the metabolic rate is accelerated during this time. 7. Milking the benefits Could milk be the secret to weight loss? According to a study published in the January 2003 American Society for Nutritional Sciences Journal of Nutrition, women who consumed milk, yogurt and cheese 3-4 times a day lost 70 percent more body fat than women who didn’t eat dairy. The reason: calcium along with other substances in dairy may actually raise the metabolism, telling your body to burn excess fat faster. The best results come from dairy products such as low fat cheese, yogurt and milk instead of calcium fortified products like orange juice and supplements. Women have the largest fat burning benefit when they consume 3 servings of dairy and 1000 milligrams of calcium a day. 8. Spice things up It’s not an old wives’ tale after all! Adding spices like chilli, turmeric and cinnamon to your meals can temporarily increase your metabolic rate and in turn help you burn fat. Some spices such as chilli may even raise your metabolism by as much as 50 percent and this effect could last for up to 3 hours after eating. The reason behind this could be down to their thermogenic properties. Spices raise your body’s temperature which in turn increases the heart rate and stimulates the body’s fat burning process. The overall result is that eating spicy foods can increase the amount of fat and calories you burn temporarily.

essiefi Choosing the right weight amount... Feb 20, 2011 3:11 PM Hello- I'm new here so please bear with me and my long post. Ok, so there was a great article in the Feb 2011 issue of Fitness Magazine for beginning weight lifters. It included a circuit for beginners and this tid bit on choosing the right weight amount in order to properly get lean: "If you have nothing to show for your sets, chances are you're picking wimpy weights. The optimal weight setting is a percentage of your one-repetition maximum -- the most you can lift just once on each machine. (Quickie gauge: Try to bench press 60 to 80 percent of your body weight for one rep and leg press one and a half times to two times your body weight for one rep. ) Doing 12 reps using at least 50 percent of your one-rep max -- the classic higher-reps-lighter-weight formula -- will help you get more muscle endurance and a leaner look, Porcari says. But whether it's six or 15 reps (the ends of the range most experts suggest), if the last two are strenuous, "you're going to get lean," Esco says. "So don't be afraid to add weight." Newbie lifters should use a weight that is 60 to 70 percent of their max and do sets of 10 to 15 reps; gym pros can go 70 to 80 percent. Get pumped!" Here is a link to the online version of that article and they have a video if you want to see the workout for yourself, http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/tips/strategy/weight-machines-at-gym/ Maybe this is a little lazy (I'm bad at math!) but what do these percentages mean for someone who, say, weighs 115 lbs normally? I got a little confused because they start mention reps vs. sets, and max reps, etc. So if I weigh 115 on average and wanted to lift 60%, 65%, or 70% of my weight (is that right?) what would that be? What is your one rep max? Is that refer to the first set? And what of the leg press mention? I'm going to be joining a gym for the first time and I want to go in and have a plan and get off on the right foot. Thank you for creating this group and answering my question in advance, I appreciate your patience! :)

goddessru Back fat Mar 24, 2010 7:58 AM Hello, I've been working out for the past 3 weeks (getting ready for my wedding!) and I know that isn't a lot for longtime exercisers- but I am trying to start up a healthy and active lifestyle, make exercise an everyday part of my life, and meanwhile, lost weight, tone up and look good! I would like to know what exercises are there to get rid of back fat? You know, the bulge under your bra that makes you not wear fitting tops... my stomach is flattening and coming along nicely but without the back bulge be-gone, I don't look any better. I already do cardio 3-4x a week, and weight circuits with gym equipment 2-3x a week. I also walk anywhere from 3-6 miles a week. I know the bent over fly helps a little with that section, what else can I do to slim and tone that area? Thanks in advance!

ojodeazul BluePrint Cleanse Jan 14, 2010 2:22 PM Has anyone tried this? Gilt Groupe had the 3 and 5 day cleanses on their website today for a steal...Any info would be appreciated...Thanks!

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