As I'm sure most of you are aware there is no Dr. in front of my name or MD behind it, so what I post here is always things I've researched, via google most times, asked my own doctor and follow my gut on.

Some things I know I should do but for various personality reasons or it may be a future future goal, I don't do, like stretching. So what I posted about water, mostly comes from what I've learned about it in recent years, but mainly b/c in my gut, I just believe it's a good thing for me to do. I'm not that thrilled to stretch so I tend to find sources to back up my inner belief by saying stretching is overrated. All that to say, you can find anything to justify your position on the net. I thought I'd share some of my sources for where my POV came from:

From what I've read, 64 oz per day is suggested. When a person is overweight, it's also suggested they drink 8oz for every 25lbs they are overweight and for heaver exercisers or those who live in warm climates and/or workout outdoors 8oz for every hour of exercise.

[snip]

As for the overdose, I read about that too, based on what I read, it was people drinking way more water than that and doing more extreme exercising, think marathon runners, for a longer period of time. It's quite rare while I'm manic, I'm not a maniac about it

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - If you want to tip the scales in your favor, try stepping on one each day.

Research presented Sunday at an obesity conference suggests that the simple act of regularly weighing in helps prevent people from regaining lost pounds.

That's important because experience shows that most dieters regain a third of what they lost within the first year, and two-thirds of it in the second year.

Jim Brown started doing aerobics, running and lifting weights two years ago to slim down. Now his employer is giving him another reason to stay in shape and eat right: Money.

Cha-ching...sign me up!

Obviously I still got the munchies.

11 Superfoods for Weight Loss - by Linda Kallman

These nutritious foods will satisfy your appetite and help you get to your ideal weight.

Foods for Weight Loss

Here are some suggestions from Sasson for meals and snacks that are loaded with the nutrients your body needs and that will keep those hunger pangs at bay.

Scrambled Eggs, Toast, and Strawberries
Fasting or skipping meals does not lead to successful, long-term weight loss. A healthy breakfast gets your body going, boosts your metabolism, and helps to regulate your appetite for the rest of the day. So scramble a few eggs, which are a great source of protein, vitamins A, B2, and B12, phosphorus, and iron.

Add some whole wheat toast and fresh strawberries for fiber, plus almost 150 percent of the RDA for vitamin C in the berries. Using a little bit of butter or margarine on the toast or for cooking the eggs will help your body absorb fat-soluble vitamins.

Recommended Serving Size: 2 medium eggs, about 130 calories or 1 medium egg and the egg white from 1 egg, about 80 calories 2 slices whole wheat toast, about 138 calories 1 pat butter, about 36 calories or 1 pat of margarine, about 32 calories 1 cup of strawberries, about 49 calories

Nectarines and Almonds
Having the right midmorning snack will keep your metabolism humming and your energy levels up, and will help you avoid eating too much at lunch out of extreme hunger. A medium nectarine along with some almonds gives you fiber, protein, a variety of vitamins and minerals, and heart-healthy fat.

Recommended Serving Size: 1 medium nectarine, about 60 calories 6-8 almonds, about 40-60 calories

Colorful Spinach, Veggie, and Chicken Salad
Throw together a spinach salad with cucumbers, carrots, red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and some cooked chicken breast. Top it with an olive-oil-based vinaigrette dressing for a low-fat, low-cal, and filling lunch. Vitamin- and mineral-rich spinach provides over 50 percent of your RDA for vitamin A, plus dietary fiber and iron. As a rule, colorful vegetables are more nutritious, and this combination is rich in fiber, tons of vitamins. and the phytochemicals that may help prevent chronic disease. Finally, the protein in the chicken will keep you full until your midday snack.

Recommended Serving Size: 1 cup spinach, about 7 calories 1/2 cup sliced cucumber, about 12 calories 1/4 cup grated carrots, about 10 calories 1/2 cup red peppers, about 12 calories 6-8 cherry tomatoes, about 18-24 calories 2 oz. chicken strips, about 75 calories 2 tablespoons vinaigrette dressing (with olive or canola oil), about 90 calories

Yogurt and Grapes Snack
You'll get calcium, protein, fiber, and vitamin C from this super snack. Plus, grapes pack cancer-fighting antioxidants.

Recommended Serving Size: 6 oz. low-fat yogurt, about 160 calories 10 grapes, about 50 calories

Tuna Steak and Broccoli
This dinner will satisfy your taste buds and fill you up without adding on the calories. Fresh tuna is a great source of heart-healthy fat and omega-3 fatty acid, which helps prevent heart disease and stroke. Broccoli, a cruciferous vegetable, gives you over 80 percent of the RDA for vitamin C, 30 percent of your daily calcium, and disease-fighting phytochemicals. A side dish of Spanish rice is an excellent complement to the fish.

Recommended Serving Size: 3 oz. cooked broiled or grilled tuna steak, about 118 calories 1 cup broccoli, about 25 calories 1/2 cup Spanish rice, about 140 calories

Low-Fat Vanilla Ice Cream with Fruit Topping
Don't deprive yourself of that tasty dessert you crave. This one is refreshing and satisfying but is also a source of calcium, as well as some vitamins and minerals. Just remember to watch your portion size.

Recommended Serving Size: 1/2 cup low-fat vanilla ice cream, about 120 calories 1/2 cup mixed fruit, about 60 calories [source]

Seventy-one percent of women said that their doctor never told them that excess weight, including high-risk abdominal fat, boosted their risk for heart disease.

[snip]

"We are living in a world that promotes obesity," Daniels said. "We have become more sedentary. We have more eating opportunities and those opportunities have higher calorie-density food. It really becomes a day-to-day approach to changing behaviors to eating and physical activity. A big step in the right direction is to build in at least 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity." [source]

As if one needed another to get & stay moving...

Regular excercise when young, makes old age less painful

A recent study carried out by researchers of Stanford University, USA claims that people who regularly perform a daily routine of excercises during their lives experience 25% less muscle and joint pain in their old age as compared to those who are less active. [source]

What I like most in this article is the slice of bread slathered in baked? beans on a styrofoam plate. Something about it makes me chuckle.

A diet rich in beans, nuts and cereals could be a way to prevent cancer, believe UK researchers. [source]

Then there's this:

Eating more raw vegetables every day, especially yellow and dark green ones, may help cut the risk of pancreatic cancer in half, according to researchers.

Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco found eating five or more servings of yams, corn, carrots, onions or other similar vegetables is linked with lower risk of the disease - one of the most deadly and hard-to-treat cancers. [source]

The 12 Best Foods
Black Beans
Blueberries
Broccoli
Chocolate
Oats
Onions
Salmon
Soy
Spinach
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Walnuts

Bolded text are the same cancer fighters mentioned in the two articles.

So. Jealous.

THE Australian government is considering subsidising weight-loss programmes to help tackle the country's growing obesity problem.

Despite its image abroad as the home of a fit and healthy population which enjoys an outdoor lifestyle, participates in extreme sports and lives off a diet of barbecued seafood, Australia in fact has the second-highest obesity rates in the world. The problem costs the government about A$1.5 billion a year (£940 million) to treat the diseases it causes, such as diabetes, strokes, heart disease and some cancers, and the country's health-care and hospital system is collapsing under the weight of it all.

Weight-loss fads come and go. But no matter what you hear, limiting fat in your diet, particularly saturated fat and trans fat, is one of the most important diet changes we can make for optimum health. The Mayo Clinic offers 10 ways you can cut down on fat.

Red text my emphasis.

Enjoy an occasional splurge then get back on track - by Michele Stanten

It happens--a piece of cheesecake here, a missed workout there. But diet detours needn't become guilt-wracked weight loss disasters.

Proof: When researchers put 142 overweight people on the same weight loss program, one group followed it for 14 straight weeks; another took a 6-week hiatus at the midpoint; the final group took a 2-week break every few weeks. Eleven months later, everybody had lost an average of 16 pounds.

"It's not the breaks that hurt weight loss efforts," says study author Rena Wing, PhD, of Brown University Medical School. "It's your negative reactions to the breaks and the subsequent downward spiraling." So enjoy your time off, and then get back on track. [source]

Well then. I'll be continuing to enjoy my time off for another...oh...10 days or so.

And my day was going so well

There are 4 life stages when your body clings to fat. Here's what you can do to lose it.

"Your metabolism slows by about 5% each decade, which means that at age 35 you're burning about 75 fewer calories a day than you did at age 25,"

[snip]

For looking and feeling your best, the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, DC, recommends gaining no more than 11 pounds--for life--after age 18. Tell that tidbit to my tummy, hips & thighs. - Renee

What you can do with diet, exercise, and behavior:

Slow losing beaker babes, rejoice! (Red text is my emphasis.)

Why you don't seem to be losing weight - by Sarah Robertson

Q: I started a weight loss program 2 weeks ago, but the scale hasn't budged. Why?

A: It's not uncommon for people to lose weight at different rates, even if their eating and exercise habits are the same. The most likely explanation is fluid retention, says Franca Alphin, MPH, RD, nutrition director of student health services at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC. Some people are just more prone to retaining fluids.

To prevent this, watch your salt intake, drink more water, and be patient. Come next week, you may suddenly drop the few pounds you were hanging on to as your body starts adjusting to your new regimen, Alphin says.

However, if you don't see a change by the fourth week, reevaluate what you're doing. If you started walking, great. But realize that, at most, you'll be burning about 100 calories for each mile walked. Since there are 3,500 calories in 1 lb of fat, you'll get faster results by also trimming some calories. Most people can expect to lose an average of 1 to 2 lb a week. (If you have 10 lb or less to lose, the weight will come off more slowly: about 1/4 to 1/2 lb a week. [source]

Deconditioning, or losing fitness, when you stop training due to illness or injury is one of the 5 principles of conditioning. The principle of use/disuse refers to the 'use it or lose it' concept. However, how quickly you lose fitness depends on how fit you are, how long you have been exercising and on how long you stop.

Deconditioning theories are becoming more clear thanks to several research studies focused on aerobic fitness. One study had well-conditioned athletes who had trained for year stop exercise all together. After a three month hiatus researchers found that the athletes lost about half of their aerobic conditioning. New exercisers, however, didn't fare as well. Another study followed new exercisers through the conditioning and deconditioning process.

Sedentary individuals started a bicycling program for two months. During that time they made dramatic cardiovascular improvements and boosted their aerobic capacity substantially. Then they quite exercising for the next two months. When re-tested, the researchers found that these new exercisers lost all their aerobic gains and returned to their pretraining fitness levels.

There is also research being conducted that looks at decreases in training level, rather than completely stopping all exercise. The results are very promising and should provide comfort to athletes who need to cut back on training due to time constraints, illness or injury. One study followed sedentary men through 3 months of strength training, 3 times a week, and then had them cut back to one session per week. They found that these men maintained nearly all the strength gains they developed in the first 3 months.

There are also many individual differences in deconditioning rates, and it is impossible to apply all these studies to your situation. But it appears that if you can maintain some exercise on a weekly basis, you can maintain your fitness levels fairly well.

If you do need to stop exercise completely for several months it is difficult to predict with accuracy how long it will take you to return to your former fitness levels. Again, individual differences come into play. Some research shows that after a 3 month break, you can not return to peak condition in a week. In some cases, it takes as long as 3 months to regain all your conditioning. Here again, it seems to depend on your original level of fitness and how long you stopped.

The take-away for athletes who need to take time off is to try to do something at least once a week during your break, but don't quit completely. Cross-training through an injury is always a great option. [source]

Weight management is a balancing act between taking in calories and burning them up. New research suggests that the way your body burns energy may be at least as important as how much you eat. Try these tips for keeping your body's idle speed high.

I believe the messages we get about our body, which translates into how we approach & feel about weight loss, are multi pronged. On top of our own personality and lifestyle, there are many factors, people and situations playing a role.

Ultimately it is the individuals responsibility to make their own choice, but I don't rule out the pervasive message the media both blatantly and covertly hits us over the head with.

Let me be clear, I am not saying it's solely the media's fault.

However, since the media is showing no sign of changing it's message or going away, I've made my own choice of limiting what I watch, read & listen to.

So it's when I run across the following story, I just...oh I dunno...blow my top?

At some point over the last few months, it began to feel like an assembly line: Jessica Simpson, Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan ....

All of a sudden, you couldn't tell them apart: the drapey gowns clinging to skinny hips, the long blond tendrils falling over matchstick-thin arms, the smoky eyes accenting bottle-bronzed faces.

[snip]

...there's actually a mastermind behind this look-of-the-moment: celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe.

[snip]

She dresses some of the world's most visible teen idols for film junkets, premieres and magazine shoots.

[snip]

...her power as an image maker cannot be underestimated. A recent entry on a Lohan fan site read: "I would do anything to look like her!"

[snip]

Thinness is essential...(Fashion insiders have whispered privately that she is single-handedly bringing anorexia back.)

She's begun preaching the virtues of tan and slinky to the rest of America, as a regular contributor to Cosmopolitan magazine and a guest on "Oprah," and she was recently hired as a spokeswoman for GapBody, where her duties include "Bra Bar" fit clinics for customers, despite the fact that most days she doesn't even wear a bra.

I'm going to dissect this badboy one segment @ a time.

Continue reading In her image

via dietblog

"Jessica wanted more of a bump for her rear end instead of a flat butt," [I don't got that prob Jessie poo ] says Alexander, who works at Beverly Hills' Sports Club LA. He trained Simpson there nearly every day — one hour with weights and a half-hour of cardio. To achieve a toned butt and legs, Simpson took on a rigorous program of lunges and squats while holding 7 ½-pound weights.

[snip]

...Alexander, who encouraged Simpson to eat grilled chicken, seared fish, broccoli and asparagus. She avoided bread baskets brought to the table and declined extra sugar for her iced tea. Free desserts brought to the table were refused. [source]

In preparing for the role (and to be able to fit in those short shorts), Jessica first had to give up her No. 1 vice -- dessert! "She's a big sweet tooth person," reports Mike. "She likes to cook desserts -- brownies and cookies and banana pudding and stuff like that -- so she wasn't allowed to do that. And being from the South, she loves chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes and chips and hot sauce and Mexican food -- fried and carbs, basically -- so she had to give that all up."

So you know what's next right?

Simpson Launches Treadmill Line

The singer spent six days a week getting her body into the perfect shape for her role as sexy Daisy Duke in new movie The Dukes Of Hazzard and she's so impressed with the results she wants to give fans the chance to get into Duke shape.

[snip]

She says, "I have a workout video coming out and now everybody can do the Daisy Duke workout and I have a treadmill line that I'll be selling.

[snip]

"...I was in the gym six days a week, two-and-a-half-hours a day with a trainer."

Snark aside, there is no secret.

It's a given she may have access to some super secret celeb goodies the rest of us don't. Still, I commend her for keeping it real and not pretending she just looks like that. Hell she is childless and 25 and STILL had to workout @ least an hour a day to get that bod.

Tailor strength and cardiovascular workouts to your goals.

TO BUILD MUSCLE

1. Work to fatigue. Weight should be heavy enough so muscle is fatigued after 6 to 15 repetitions.

2. Add weight progressively. Start with one set, one to three times a week, with a weight that tires the muscle after 8 to 15 reps. Once that gets easier — usually in two to four weeks — work up to three sets. Then increase weight slightly and go back to one set, working up to three.

3. Include heavier weights. Once a week, hoist a weight heavy enough to fatigue you after three to five reps. Do two sets.

4. Fuel workouts. Before a strenuous session, Karen Reznik Dolins, an adjunct professor of sports nutrition at Columbia, suggested eating carbohydrates, and within an hour after, carbohydrates and protein.

TO LOSE WEIGHT

1. Focus on cardiovascular exercise. Do workouts like running or aerobics five or more days a week, for at least 45 minutes, but also include weight lifting one to three times a week, said Joseph Donnelly, the director of the Energy Balance Laboratory at the University of Kansas.

2. Be active throughout day. If you sit at a desk, get up and walk around for five minutes every hour.

3. Eat regularly. Pace meals and snacks every three to four hours for the right amount of calories when the body needs them, Dolins said. [source]
You may need to register to read. Make use of

Pretty much confirms an idea I flirted w/earlier this year. I also heard a naturopath say something similiar last week and also read this on a forum. Methinks it now sticks.

It'll be hard, if not impossible, for me to build muscle AND lose weight. My best bet is to work on maintaining the muscle I have or just try not to lose too much.

The naturopath said it takes quite a bit of protein in addition to some heavy resistance to add muscle and it doesn't just happen overnight. The forum said it's to be expected that some muscle loss will happen when eating restricted calories. It's only when bulking starts and calories are ramped up does one actually add muscle.

I dig that.

Atkins Nutritionals files for bankruptcy

Atkins has been hurt by waning popularity of its namesake diet, which focuses on eliminating carbohydrates such as bread and pasta to shed weight. The diet became one of the most popular in U.S. history, spawning a virtual cottage industry of low-carb regimens — but also drew criticism from experts for its focus on fatty foods and low fruit and vegetable consumption. [source]

Ironically in the last week I've been reading a lot about the wonders of protein My prediction? Get ready for the High Protein diet craze, coming soon to a supermarket near you. *snort*

Red text my emphasis.

Exercising In Heat

The heat can decrease your appetite, but it's important to eat normally. Try to eat small meals 5-6 times per day. Include lots of fruits and vegetables. Aside from being nutritious, fruits also tend to help with hydration.

You have heard of "Sad" occurring in the winter when the days are shorter and there is less sunlight. Well, it can also occur during the summer. The extreme heat and humidity can throw us into the deepest of moods.

What's funny is when my appetite returned yesterday and I mentally planned my grocery list, I thought of just eating fruit salads for lunch and 3-4 types of veggies for dinner. Anything w/meat or bread or frozen dinner just sounded so heavy. So yea Sian, sometimes it's good to know it's not just you feeling whacked out and better still, there's a scientific explanation.

Don't wait to live fit -- start now! - by Carol Sorgen

Are you waiting until you've reached your goal weight to "think thin?" Don't, say weight loss experts. The time to start thinking -- and living -- as a thinner, healthier person is right now.

Too often, people hold on to the belief that they can't think or act like a thin person until they reach their goal weight, says Linda Spangle, RN, MA, owner of Weight Loss for Life in Denver and author of Life is Hard, Food is Easy: The 5-Step Plan to Overcome Emotional Eating and Lose Weight on Any Diet. But staying trapped in your old, unhealthy mindset can sabotage the very behaviors you're trying so hard to change.

"I encourage people who are trying to lose weight to build an image of how they would not only look, but also how they would act and feel when they are thin," says Spangle.

If you are a visual person, for example, hang a favorite outfit where you can see it every day, then picture how well the outfit is going to fit you. If you're a movement-oriented person, picture how it would "feel" to slide easily past the empty seats in the theater row, or imagine the ease of fastening a seat belt in an airplane.

Yesterday I sorta summed up a few theories I apply to myself and it may not have been very clear. Never said I was a writer . These theories are things I've read @ various times over the last few years. B/c they just made sense to me, I try to incorporate them into my overall plan. Keep in mind there are many many many theories, I don't know what's the right or wrong one. I just pick the one that makes sense to me and matches my lifestyle and/or plans. These aren't the orig sources I read, but a quick search on the same topic gave me the language I was looking for that may explain it better.

By Dianne Hales - Published: January 2, 2005

You've vowed, yet again, to pare down the pounds this year, but you know that the odds of keeping them off are bleak. Diets may work, but research and experience show that it's often only for a while. Exercise helps—as long as you keep at it.

Even with the best diet, people have trouble keeping their resolve, and health experts are beginning to deal with this problem. With two in three adults overweight or obese, those experts are looking beyond carbs and calories to the cognitive-behavioral techniques that have helped many Americans overcome other unhealthy habits, such as smoking and alcohol abuse.

Thankssssssssss y'all!!

I'm feeling a *tad* better today. I think it's what what EC (exercise chick) said, stress & tension. Lately I've been distracted by some offline worries and feeling pretty tense overall. That walk I did on Saturday, coupled w/me being worried seems to have collided into a nice muscle strain.

Ever get a kink in your neck from turning too quick or sleeping wrong? That's what it feels like going down my left glute. It was so bad Sunday, laying flat on my back I couldn't raise myself up like I normally did, today wasn't anything close to that, so the kink is working itself out.

I took a diff't pain med yesterday and as soon as I got home I laid on my back trying to relax. I feel it more when I sit in a chair for a long period of time, but compared to Monday when sitting was the hardest thing to do, today it's just a mild irritation.

I'm playing each day by ear on when I hit the gym again. I may finally be able to attempt yoga tomorrow, just thinking about that on Monday sounded scandolous.

********

I'm really missing my exercise. It has me feeling depressed. Not like depression depressed, but that chemically goodness that goes on after I work out has vanished. I'm all like, blah. If I were a color, this would be gray week. What's the official word for that chemically goodness? Endorphins.

1. If I say I want to lose 50 pounds, I will! I know, I know, what's the point of dieting if you don't have a specific number in mind? Well, it's important to understand that as your body matures, it responds to exercise and reduced calorie consumption in different ways. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the older we get, the harder our weight loss efforts become. In other words, remember when you were in your 20's and you could go a couple of days without eating and BINGO, suddenly the scale was back down where you wanted it? Well, as we lose muscle mass and go through the lovely changes of life, our body doesn't bounce back like that anymore. So, set a goal of becoming more active while keeping an eye on nutrition. This is an attainable and realistic goal.

2. Diet is deprivation! Generally speaking, a diet will act as a jump-start for your weight loss efforts. The hope is that you will find certain aspects of your selected diet and apply those to your lifestyle permanently. The problem is that so many people view diets as their last chance to lose weight, and they completely exempt any "fun food" from their diet. Granted, if you are serious about losing weight, you need to rid yourself of too much sugar and junk food. But, once in a while, a treat is just fine.

3. I will look like a movie star! How often have we said to our kids, "If Johnny jumped off a bridge would you?" OK, maybe the names have been changed, but you get the gist. Our bodies are uniquely ours and how they respond to exercise, stress, love, happiness and so on is very different. We have to respect our bodies, our unique strengths and weaknesses and build upon the things we recognize as strengths. Your friend, family member or neighbor may have lost a bunch of weight, but her body type and yours are probably very different. Sure, you can find out what she did to attain her goal, but it's more important that YOU find out what will help you achieve a realistic goal!

4. Once I'm finished with the diet, I can go back to what I did before! All too often people view diets with a starting point and an ending point. The hope is that you will use the diet to shift what you're doing now, whether it's limiting your sugar intake, reducing your daily calorie consumption, increasing your water or whatever it may be. Your attempt should be to lose the bad habits you've grown accustomed to. I remember a reader once wrote in to my column saying, "A good friend of mine just lost 60 pounds on a diet, does that mean he can go back to his 'old' way of eating?" I wasn't sure if the reader was serious or not, but let's think about that question. If he had 60 pounds to lose because his health was poor, why in the world would he want to go back to his old way of eating (which clearly got him into trouble)? So, when you begin a diet, look at the aspects that make sense to you and your current lifestyle. These are the pieces you want to apply to your lifestyle. If there are aspects of a diet that are not appealing, let them go and stick with what works for you!

5. I need someone to tell me what to eat! Here's the deal, we all KNOW what we should be eating. However, due to the plethora of information available, we have become a society confused with which foods are good for us and which are not. We have become consumed with eating to lose weight versus eating to be healthy. When you eat well and are active, nine times out of 10, your weight will be where it needs to be. It might not jibe with the weight charts that are out there, but eating well and exercising will give your body what it needs to be healthy. In other words, daily activity and mindful nutrition results in an appropriate weight! You know you should be eating more fruits and veggies and less processed foods, right? So you DO know what you should be eating. Believe in yourself enough to know that you've got what it takes to make the right changes!

6. If I just exercise a couple of hours a day, I can eat whatever I want! Yeah, and if I just wish hard enough, I can sing like Barbra Streisand. The truth is that exercising simply in an effort to lose weight just won't cut the mustard. Your success will be short-lived and never become a regular part of your lifestyle. Exercise needs to be embraced for all of the right reasons including: more energy, improved quality of life, reduced risks of cancer, cardiovascular risks and osteoporosis. Find one of the hundreds of benefits that speaks to you and go for it. If you exercise simply to keep your weight in check, it will never be enough to maintain weight loss.

7. I don't have time to exercise so I'll just cut out more calories! Again, you need to focus on health. If we make decisions to alter our lifestyle simply for weight loss, "Fuget about it!" -- it will never last. You MUST figure out incentives valuable enough to you that will get you to exercise and eat well for all of the right reasons. How many calories are you willing to cut out and at what cost? Here is something that has helped me immensely: Living Healthy 80/20. If you can exercise and make sound nutritional choices 80 percent of the time, you'll have a 20 percent margin of error. We usually don't exercise and eat right every day of our lives, even those of us who are committed to doing so. Life happens and for whatever reason, you don't exercise or you're forced to pick up fast food. But if that only happens 20 percent of the time, the odds are pretty good that you'll maintain a healthy lifestyle.

8. Writing things down doesn't make a difference! Trust me, it does. Some of my greatest client success stories come from those who were committed to keeping track of what they put in their mouth. Come on, how many times do you pop something into our mouth and then say, "It was small, it doesn't count?" We all have, but if you're writing things down you can clearly see where your biggest struggles lie. Additionally, if you are able to see where those struggles are, you can begin taking steps to change them, one at a time. And that, my friends, is the secret to long-term success -- baby steps!

9. You're bad! No, actually, murder is bad, YOU are not bad. Making an unhealthy food choice is NOT bad. As long as we continue to view our choices as bad or good, we will always struggle with change. When making choices about exercise or food, more often than not we TRY to make the best choices. Sometimes stress, time constraints, and lifestyle change can have a huge impact on our choices. Being unable to make healthy choices upon occasion is not BAD. We all have challenging weeks, sometimes even challenging months. Doing the best you can do is all you can do. I often pose this question to my clients when they tell me they've been bad, "What would you tell a friend who was struggling with good decisions?" Nine times out of 10, they end up answering that question with what they need to be telling themselves: "It will be OK, there's always tomorrow." So stop beating yourself up, stop calling yourself BAD. If your kids come home from school and tell you that they answered a couple of math questions wrong on a test do you call them bad? Of course not, you figure they will learn from their mistakes and answer them differently next time. Right? Right!

10. New Year's Resolutions! Let's just say here and now, that never again will you look to the New Year as your time to drop weight and get active. Why? Because you're going to do it today and tomorrow and the next day and the day after and so on. Waiting until a particular time of year, because you believe it will be the key to your success just doesn't work. Think about how many New Year's resolutions you have made to lose weight... probably more than you'd like to count. Start taking baby steps toward healthy living. Start making small changes that will have a BIG impact on the quality of your life. Only you can make the decision to make changes in your lifestyle, and only you can decide which changes are reasonable and which are not. [source]

Dee motivated me to dust the inch of dust off my Mari Winsor DVD and take another crack @ pilates this week. B/c I have to double up on weights this week, due to a missed upper arms workout yesterday, tomorrow afternoon my schedule is open to try it out. Ironically when I make a decision to do something, I stumble upon an article or get an email that reinforces what I want to do. Kismet I think.

Pilates: Your Ticket to a Longer, Leaner Look - By T.A. Sloane

Pilates, an old exercise regimen made fashionable in recent years by athletes and movie stars, builds strength and flexibility without adding bulk.

Unlike conventional weight training, which emphasizes repetition on one muscle group at a time, Pilates focuses on a series of precise, controlled movements that work muscles in several positions. The result: a longer, leaner look such as that seen on such Pilates converts as Madonna and Julia Roberts.

The low-impact exercises concentrate on strengthening the abdomen, lower back and buttocks. They are done on floor mats or by using several pieces of equipment that look like medieval torture devices but are actually gentle on the body. [Read more]

To lose weight you need a strong commitment, the right attitude, the right foods, the right exercise and you need to get rid of STRESS! Here are some keys that will open the door to your weight loss. By using these keys you can have permanent weight loss, feel full of energy, and be your ideal weight without diet or struggle.

Here are the 4 types of stress and how they effect weight gain:

Type Stress Why How it Affects Weight Gain Nutritional Improper or inadequate foods & nutrients Body doesn't get balanced nutrients and/or food is improperly processed. Emotional Eating for “wrong reasons” / “holding on” to weight Body/Mind develops cravings, food dependency and overeating Physical Not enough exercise or illness Slows body metabolism and increases fat storage in the body Environmental Outside pollutants; bad food/drug pollutants Slows down food processing and other body processes

To lose weight without sacrificing energy or performance, you have to eat the right foods at the right times. Here's how by: Madelyn H. Fernstrom Ph.D., C.N.S.

It seems almost impossible that runners could become overweight. All that running, all those calories burned along city streets and down park paths--it just doesn't seem right (or fair).

The problem is that we read about the performance-oriented nutritional habits of ultrathin elite runners (lots of carbo-loading and truckloads of energy bars, gels, and drinks), then assume that as recreational runners we should do the same. But we're not elite runners. We're average people who use running to manage our weight, increase our energy, and lead healthy lives.

Think about this scary fact: It takes only 100 extra calories a day to gain 10 pounds in a year. That's one high-calorie prerun snack that you didn't need. Or one unnecessary bottle of sports drink before a 30-minute walk. The extra weight many runners carry around is simply the result of eating for energy or performance--with little regard for total calories. But calories do count, and as runners we tend to underestimate the amount we eat and overestimate the amount we burn.

What you need to do is match your eating plan to your running habits. You need to know exactly when to eat those carbohydrate-rich foods that will give you the energy you need to run well.

You also need to know when to consume the lean proteins and heart-healthy fats that will keep you satiated while still losing weight. You need the Runner's Diet.

The Runner's Diet helps you determine the real number of calories you need to maintain or lose weight based on your current running schedule. It's a 50-25-25 eating plan, where 50 percent of your calories come from carbohydrates, 25 percent from protein, and 25 percent from fat. With half of your calorie intake coming from carbs, the diet provides you with plenty of readily available fuel for your runs. And with the rest of your calories split evenly between proteins and fats, you feel full longer, which is key to losing weight. The diet also focuses your carbohydrate intake around your runs and emphasizes the right proteins and fats for all other meals to optimize performance and weight loss. Finally, you'll have lots of choices when deciding what to eat. To start the Runner's Diet, follow this simple, six-step process.

If weight loss is your main reason for running, follow these rules for results by Amby Burfoot.

While some people run to lose just a few pounds, others have much bigger targets. They want to lose 20, 30, or more pounds. And, naturally, they want the pounds to melt off quickly and easily.

Imagine their surprise--and disgust--when they sometimes gain a pound or two in the first weeks of their training and when their subsequent weight loss is steady but not spectacular.

Running is perhaps the most effective way to lose weight, but that doesn't make it either fast or magical. In fact, you may gain a few pounds early on as your body converts fat tissue to muscle tissue, which is denser and heavier than fat. But if you stick with the program, you'll literally run off the excess pounds.

Here are some of the strategies that have proven most successful for runners interested in maximum weight loss.

Run 25 to 30 miles a week. According to statistics from the National Weight Control Registry, which studies people who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept the weight off, individuals who succeed in their weight-loss efforts burn about 2,800 calories a week through planned exercise. Note that you don't have to run fast or win races, you simply have to be disciplined enough to put in 25 to 30 miles a week of relaxed running.

Run long and slow. Slow workouts that last 90 minutes or more put you into the fat-burning zone, where your body begins to use stored fats, rather than carbohydrates, as a source of fuel. You can't and shouldn't do these longer workouts every day. With good planning, you may be able to fit in two a week. And, yes, it may take you months to work up to a run this long. (For more information, see "Running and Walking" on page 22). Don't be afraid to mix running and walking to reach your goal.

Several times a week, at the end of an easy run, do five or six strides on the grass or on a smooth road surface. Strides are 60- to 80-meter bursts of running at a fast but controlled speed. You don't have to sprint like an Olympian; simply pick up the pace and run smooth and fast for about 10 seconds. Then decelerate, jog for a minute or two until you feel recovered, and do another stride. These bursts of faster running at the end of a workout will boost your afterburn, increasing the number of calories that your body burns after you have finished running.

Eat often and eat everything in moderation. Restrictive diets simply don't work. Everyone falls off the wagon at some point. Better to start the day with a good breakfast, eat many small carbohydrate-packed meals during the day, and even occasionally include small portions of those forbidden, fatty foods. Satisfy your cravings, then get on with your healthy nutrition and exercise program.

5 Principles of Maximum Weight Loss

1. Running burns more calories than any other simple exercise and has produced more weight-loss success stories than any other activity. But the pounds don't just magically disappear. You must be disciplined and consistent in your training program and take a long-term approach.


2. To lose more weight, run more. You don't have to run fast. You just have to spend the time moving on your feet. The best results seem to come from 25 to 30 miles of running a week.


3. If possible, run 90 minutes or longer several times a week. (Yes, it may take you months to work up to this duration.) Also, do strides several times a week. Both of these strategies can give a boost to your calorie-burning efforts.


4. Drink plenty of water. You can cut up to 15 percent of your daily calorie intake by substituting water for juices, colas, and similar beverages.


5. Don't go on a restrictive very low calorie diet. This will only lower your metabolic rate. Eat breakfast and other carbo-packed meals and snacks regularly throughout the day.
[source]

Thanks to Ninjette for mentioning the final puzzle piece to those two ♥ rate specific posts from yesterday. [red text is my emphasis].

Generally speaking, the higher your resting heart rate, the less physically fit you are. The lower your heart rate, the more fit you are. If your resting heart rate is 80 beats per minute today, it should definitely be lower after 8 to 12 weeks of regular exercise, a clear indication of progress. Some long-distance runners have resting heart rates in the 40's but the average resting heart rate is about 70 beats per minute (bpm) for a man and 75 bpm for a woman.

The rate at which our heart beats is a good indication of our level of fitness. It is also a good way to measure intensity during running, swimming, cycling, and other aerobic activities. Exercise that doesn't raise your heart rate to a certain level and keep it there for 20 minutes won't contribute very much to cardiovascular fitness. [source]

That 8-12 week till results tidbit is very true. When I started back in January my resting ♥ rate was 82. Ten weeks later it was 76. Ya darn tootin girlie, we should both pat ourselves on the back.

My bad, guess I should've included this info earlier.

In order to figure out which zone you're in, you first need to figure out what your own target heart rate is. You can do this by using the Karvonen Formula. You can also use any number of target heart rate calculators to get your heart rate zone, but many of them do not incorporate your resting heart rate (which makes it a bit more accurate).

Below is an example of the Karvonen formula for a 23 year old person with a resting heart rate of 65 beats per minute (*to get your resting heart rate, take your pulse for one full minute.):

220 - 23 (age) = 197
197 - 65 (resting heart rate) = 132
132 * 65% (low end of heart rate) OR 85% (high end) = 85.8 OR 112.2
85.8 + 65 (resting heart rate) = 150 112.2 + 65 (rhr) = 177
The target heart rate zone for this person would be 150 to 177

For this person to work in his 'fat burning' zone, he would need to stay around 150 beats per minute or lower. To work within his 'cardio' zone, he would need to work at 150 bpm or higher. [source]

For the math challenged, such as myself, here are 3 online target heart rate calculators for all: one from about.com, another from liquafit.com & picking up the rear is polarusa.com, which is also the ♥ rate monitor brand that I use (model A1).

To get the most out of exercise, you should monitor your intensity throughout your workout. This will insure that you are working within your heart rate training zone, thus getting an effective workout without killing yourself. Working too hard could lead to injury and burnout while not working hard enough can lead to frustration when you don't see results.

Dropping a pound a week is safe, sensible, effective...and really slow. Lucky for you, there are ways to speed up the process.

I repeat: "To lose 10 pounds in...1 month...Have rough sex for 10 hours a day." Oh my.

[source]

People not swayed from poor eating habits despite facing chronic diseases, survey says.

[snip]

Although the majority of people she surveyed say they want to lose weight, and many actually go on a diet for a short time, dieting isn't a priority.

[snip]

The best source for weight loss inspiration comes from a social network. If a friend is on a diet and successfully dropping pounds, you're more apt to try it. However, if everyone around you is overweight, you're less likely to feel a need to change...[source]

For Elle Jay & anyone else who wondered what the hell I was talking about when I uttered the phrase HIIT yesterday.

HIIT training, which stands for High Intensity Interval Training, is one of the best methods for fat loss and muscle retention. HIIT training is not new, but is a form a interval training which has been used for many years. HIIT training is the best way to burn fat without burning muscle. Studies have shown that long endurance activates such as aerobics cause muscle catabolism (the breakdown of muscle tissue). HIIT training allows you to lose the fat without losing muscle. If you need proof all you need to do is look at sprinters to see that they have low body fat and lean, defined bodies.

HIIT and interval training are very similar, the only difference is the intensity in which they are done. So what is interval training? Interval training is a varying of intensities within one workout , where you add a low intensity bout with a higher intensity bout. HIIT training is a very high intensity bout with a lower intensity bout. You can perform your interval training in many ways, and you should use variety. You can perform it on a stationary bike, stairmaster, mountain bike, local track, etc. Change it up often. [source]

This site gives a pretty good overview and training plan. Having done BFL (book) before, I'm doing their version:

The cool thing about HIIT, is that you can do it w/anything. Biking, running, rope jumping. So the possibilities are endless. I'm doing walking now, but when level 10 no longer makes me wanna hurl, I'll up the intensity all around. The muscle media version intrigues me but I don't quite get it, I'll read up on it more and give it a shot over the summer.

Cardio Timing: The Secret to Burning Fat Up To 300% Faster - by Tom Venuto

When is the best time of day to do your aerobic exercise? The answer is any time! The most important thing is that you just do it. Continuous cardiovascular exercise, such as walking, jogging, stairclimbing, or cycling, sustained for at least 30 minutes, will burn body fat no matter when you do it. However, if you want to get the maximum benefits possible from every minute you invest in your workouts, then you should consider getting up early and doing cardio before you eat your first meal - even if you're not a "morning person." Early morning aerobic exercise on an empty stomach has three major advantages over exercising later in the day:

Good lord. If these pictures don't make anyone run to suckle the teat of the nearest cow...though I guess taking a walk down the dairy aisle will also suffice...I don't know what it would take to stress the importance of bone density. I admit my lack of regularity has always been cool w/me but now I'm not so sure. Gotta do some research today.

On the plus side, I don't drink soda more than once a month, it leeches calcium from the bones. Despite that factoid always being in the back of my mind, seeing those pictures and making the connection makes me want to swear of those bubbly things forever!

I've also been weight lifting & eating lots of calcium rich food during the week: 1-2 glasses of milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, slice cheese, spinach & broccoli. I don't think I need calcium supplements @ this point. Besides I prefer taking a pill as a last resort or in a pinch, especially since it's easy enough to find foods w/calcium.

More reading: Care about your calcium. Of particular interest to me is this part:

Couch-potatoism, or lack of exercise, may contribute as much, or more, to osteoporosis than lack of calcium. Weight-bearing exercise (just about any exercise except swimming or cycling) not only builds muscle, it builds bone.

Hussman.org is always a good read. Everytime I read it, I find another golden nugget. This article in particular especially goes out, to well, Me. B/c truth be told it's something I needed to hear today. My commentary will appear as [red].

REPOST
[*whew* I don't know what on earth caused that glitch. ::furrows brow:: @ some point on Monday the full article was available. Thank goodness I had my site up @ home where the full entry still showing. A quick copy & paste and voila. Once again, enjoy, especially Fran ]

Blame Sunday afternoons nap for the delay in updating that middle picture. :: This evening fer shure. But as originally promised, then repromised on Friday, here's that pretty good 2 part article talking about fat loss. I'll add my commentary which will appear as [red].

Ya know how two days ago, well all week really, I've been in cravings hell? I got this in my email today from the lovely folks over @ beachbody.com (red text is my emphasis):

Food cravings happen commonly when you don't eat for long periods of time and usually signal that you need to add something to your diet. They can be especially bothersome at the onset of an exercise program or any time you restrict your diet. Most commonly, they signal a blood sugar crash but other things can trigger them. Meat cravings may mean excessive muscle breakdown, veggies a vitamin deficiency. Ice cream, or any fat, might signal a fat deficiency. A quick way to calm cravings is to eat a good form of the type of food you are craving. If it's a true craving, it will subside with the right foods even if it's something you don't like. For example, a teaspoon of flaxseed oil might appease your ice cream craving if you haven't been getting enough essential fat. A protein shake will have ! the same effect as a Big Mac. An apple might just work for the piece of chocolate you were dying for. Your cravings should be indulged; you just should do it wisely.

I didn't realize other things could sooth the craving. Remember how I was scarffing down bread & cheese? Up to that point I was salivating @ all the fast food commercials. The salty fries & large coke urge was strong and for real.

After I ate the bread and cheese, I saw other commercials, even one for my favorite buffalo chicken pizza and was like, Feh. So I guess I inadvertently did what he suggested. Soothed my cravings with something else. Who knew?

Oh & to piggyback on what I chatted about earlier, I found a GREAT article that explains losing body fat, gives tips and overall has some pretty sound advice. And naw I'm not just saying that b/c it tells me I'm just about doing all the things it suggests......I have a lot of room for improvement, especially in the food area. But I'll post it tomorrow.

I'm not sure what's up w/me and these two part posts. Watching too much "To be continued" sitcoms I s'pose.

If you work out seriously, whether it's running, weightlifting or any other intense sport, you have to make sure that you're giving your body the fuel and nutrients it needs to recover adequately from the effort.

After a workout, your body's stores of glycogen -- the carbohydrate that is stored in the muscles and liver -- are depleted. If you don't replenish them, your body won't recover properly and your performance will suffer during your next workout. This is particularly important for athletes who partake in intense training sessions or competitions. If you only work out a couple of times a week, you will likely restore your glycogen in between sessions. However, athletes who train hard almost every day must really pay attention to what they eat immediately after they exercise.

There is so much conflicting info when it comes to health and fitness. What I'm starting to notice is the conflict seems to come from people trying to sell something. For the most part the medical community seems to agree on some basic points, but when that info gets used to sell product it gets all twisted and convoluted.

*sigh*

It's hard for me to keep track, so I gave up trying. What I do is read as much as I can and pick things that I can live with or makes sense to me.

Take water. This month on the cover of O says something like we don't really need 8 glasses of water. Then there are news reports about getting too much water. Then you read that juice and soda counts as water.

That's all well & good, but I'm all about drinking water period.

Since I've started my 100oz a day kick my fingers are no longer swelling even a little bit in the morning. Even though I was already drinking close to that amount, I was slacking on the weekend. After I got sick it slowed down even more. I noticed yesterday & today my fingers felt fine.

I came up w/the minimum of a 100oz a day based on reading that you should drink ½ your body weight in ounces and add 8 ounces for every hour you workout and 8 ounces for every 25lbs you are overweight.

So for me ½ of 181lbs = 90oz + 16oz (50lbs to lose) + 8oz (1 hour workout) = 114oz.

It wasn't an automatic thing drinking water. I had to wean myself off my daily coca cola habit and I didn't like how water tasted. So I started w/4 oz a day and built up to 64oz a day. Last year I prolly got in more water than I've ever purposely drank in my life. But I still had days or a week or two I'd slack.

This year it's my drink of choice period. I've never been big on juice. Plus it's expensive. Water is free. I fill up my 50 oz bottle @ any water fountain. I promised Stacey I'd post some water related entries last week but I got sidetracked. They are all in my old archives and it's a monster to go thru that thing. I'll get into it this weekend and next week for sure devote a few posts to the benefits of water.

For now I found this:

Lose weight with water

'Must drink more water, must drink?' We all know that the wet stuff is essential for life - but did you know it can help you lose weight?

Water keeps us cool, lubricates our joints and flushes toxins from our bodies, but admit it, how many of us really drink the recommended two litres a day? For those of us who do struggle to drink enough, the great news is that water actually can help you in the battle against the bulge.

Now for the science bit
Your metabolism is the bio-mechanical process that breaks food down and turns it into energy. In a nutshell, it consumes calories. Since metabolism is your best ally in the frontline against weight, you want it to be working at full speed. Water is the fuel that drives metabolism's chemical reactions. So, if you're not drinking enough, you won't burn as many calories as you can. Simple.

Running on empty?
If you're not drinking enough water - at least 2 litres a day - here's how your body is being affected:

Your weight loss will slow right down. This is because about 2.5 litres of water is naturally lost through daily bodily functions such as going to the loo and sweating. If you don't replenish this water you'll soon become dehydrated, and your metabolism will be among the first to shut down. So, if you're dieting and you can't seem to shift the weight, perhaps it's because you aren't drinking enough water.

Your digestion will suffer. Water is essential for digestion and elimination. Poor digestion means you won't be absorbing the goodness from your food. Your body in turn will send up signals (read: cravings) for food that has minerals your body lacks.

You'll feel 'fake' hunger. When dehydrated, your body sends out the same signals that prompt you to eat and you may end up answering that response with food. Water will not only curb those hunger pangs, but it will fill you up. Fitness trainer Bob Greene recommends drinking a tall glass of water half an hour before a meal to fill the void and prevent overeating (For more information, check out Get With the Program, Getting Real About Your Weight, Health and Emotional Well-Being by Bob Greene, Simon and Schuster, ?15)

You won't get the full benefit of exercise. Your metabolism increases with exercise, and as we mentioned earlier, water is essential to maximise your metabolism. Drink plenty of water before, during and after your workout. read more

Get Moving!: Top 7 Exercise Motivation Secrets

Let's face it, we all know we need to exercise. Many of us know how to exercise. How many books and videos do you own? How many gym memberships have you had in your life? You may even be an expert on the perfect exercises for your body. But you're not doing it! Why? Well the problem isn't lack of knowledge, it's lack of motivation. Does this sound familiar?

What can you do? Focus less on gaining more knowledge, and more on getting and staying motivated. As you become more consistent and start seeing results, you will be able to apply all that knowledge. Here are seven secrets to getting and staying motivated:

Secret One: Find Your "Why"
In order to be successful at any endeavor, we must have a good reason for doing it in the first place. Exercise is no exception. What will get you up in the morning on those cold, dark days when you just want to stay in bed? Many people say "because I want to lose weight" or "I want to be fit". While these are good goals, they are not good enough reasons for long term success. You must dig deeper. What is important to you? What do you value in life? Answer these questions, then see how a regular exercise program can support your values.

Secret Two: Make a Commitment
Once you find your "why", it's time to make a commitment. Here is a definition of commitment you may not have heard: a commitment is the ability to carry out a worthy decision, even when the excitement of making that decision has passed. Read that definition again, and really understand it. How many times have you been excited to start an exercise program, only to become bored or distracted by other things? As soon as the excitement passes, so do your exercise plans. Be sure you are ready to commit, and if you are not, then commit to not exercising. That way you can let go of the guilt and commit when you are ready.

Secret Three: Set Daily, Measurable and Realistic Goals
If your only goal is to lose 40 pounds it will be a while before you feel successful. After all, it can take a while to see such results. Rather, set daily measurable, achievable goals that allow you to feel successful every day. Keep a weekly diary and set goals each day for what kind of exercise you will do, how long you will workout, how hard you will exercise, etc.

Secret Four: Keep Track of Your Progress
After you set your goals and write them down, you want to also chart your progress. Be sure to write down your daily achievements to compare to your goals. This will become extremely motivating as you see yourself meeting your goals. With consistent exercise, you will also see your workouts becoming easier and your ability to work harder and longer. This often happens faster than visible results on your body, such as weight loss or definition. Many people become frustrated and quit exercise right before big changes are about to happen, because they don't see the results on their bodies. Seeing measurable progress on paper will keep you motivated while you work towards the bigger goals you have set for yourself.

Secret Five: Get Objective Feedback
You may know what a good workout feels like - you have that endorphin "high" after exercise, or you have energy to spare all day long. But do you know what an effective workout feels like? It is hard to know how effective your workout is every day without waiting for weeks or months to see the results. What if you could see day after day how many calories you burned, or what your heart rate was each workout? Using a heart rate monitor can tell you if you are working too hard or not hard enough. What about calories? An accelerometer can tell you all day long how many calories you are burning and keep you motivated to move! When you look for ways to add activity to your day it becomes a fun game and you can instantly see the results.

Secret Six: Avoid the "All or Nothing" Mentality
Have you had plans to exercise five times one week and the first day something happened and you didn't exercise? When this happens, many people give up on the rest of the week This is known as the All or Nothing Mentality. Keep away from this - it doesn't work. If you approach your exercise and nutrition program in that manner, you set yourself up for failure. Allow for flexibility in your exercise plans and know one missed day is not a setback.

Secret Seven: Be Accountable!
About 95% of all participants in an exercise program will stop exercising. Why? No support. Research has shown that exercisers with some kind of support system have a better chance of continuing exercise. You need someone who will also hold you accountable for your exercise. Working with someone like a personal trainer, a coach or a mentor will give you the support you need and you can work together to identify barriers to keeping your commitment and develop strategies to overcome these obstacles. Most people need far more support, follow up and accountability than they think to start and maintain an exercise program.

In the interest of avoiding the all or nothing mentality, don't try to implement all these secrets at once. Pick one or two and when you have those working, add another secret. Just like results from exercise, building motivation and consistency will take time. Fitness is not just about reaching a destination, it is a journey where you will learn much about yourself and grow from your experiences. Keep your short term goals in mind, and enjoy the journey to reaching your ultimate goals. [source]

Ok back to the real topic of this blog

Sorry I nor Google have the original source on this. I found & posted it on my old blog early last year and for some reason didn't link to the source.

The italicized emphasis is mine & highlights the MAIN reason I strive to drink 100oz *gulp* or more of water every day & just lurveeeeeee to sweatdrop.

What happens to the fat I lose? How does it get out of my body and where does it go?

The science behind fat-loss is interesting as well as misunderstood. Fat is energy and energy is best expressed in calories, which are units of heat measurement. Remember that one pound of body fat contains 3500 calories. Your body gets rid of fat or calories in three ways: through your skin, through your lungs, and through elimination of fluids as urine.

Surprisingly, most of the calories are eliminated through your skin. Your skin is your body's largest organ, and as much as 85% of your daily energy emerges through it as heat. You lose heat through your skin by radiation, conduction, convention, and evaporation.

Radiation is the most important of these and it's the reason a tall woman generally has an easier time losing fat than a shorter woman of the same weight. The taller woman generally has more skin than the shorter woman does and thus she is able to radiate more heat to the environment.

Conduction is the transfer of calories through direct contact. Conduction is why cold-water immersion and the concept of remaining cool are valid ways to eliminate calories.

Heat also exits through your lungs and through warm urine. Exercise increases your respiratory rate, and that is helpful. Superhydration directly increase your volume of urine, and that is another significant, mostly ignored way of generating heat loss.

Years ago Albert Einstein and others proved that you cannot create or destroy energy; you can only transfer it. Thus, fat transfers out of your body where it is put to use by other living organisms and by the environment. With each use, there is a transfer, and the cycle continues endlessly.

Man do I lurrrrve my google.

"As you get in better shape, your body learns to cool itself more efficiently. Blood is shunted to the skin's surface more quickly via tiny blood vessels that dilate and radiate heat away from the body. At the same time, the sweat glands increase their output of a fluid-and-sodium mixture, which cools the body as it evaporates. While fit people produce more sweat than sedentary folks, they lose less salt, because more of it is reabsorbed by the body's cells as it travels from the sweat glands to the skin's surface. The result: More copious and diluted sweat, and more rapid cooling," Flippin said. [source]

The better shape you're in, the more you'll sweat and the faster you lose fluids. [source]

Our bodies have two to four million sweat glands and, as a person becomes more fit, their sweat glands actually increase in size and become more effective at cooling the body. [source]

...when people have more muscle mass their ability to utilize food and generate energy increases placing the coolong mechanism under the gun to respond...so generally people that have more tone and muscle mass per unit body in relation to their body size, fat, etc will sweat more when they exercise. [source]

QUESTION: I read somewhere that people who are aerobically fit sweat more than people who are less fit. Is this true?

ANSWER: Studies have shown that people who are aerobically fit do sweat more, and begin sweating more quickly, than people who are less fit, when they are exercising at similar relative intensities.

[snip]

Fit people get more sweaty, more quickly when they are pushing themselves equally hard with respect to their own physical limits. [source]

How much you sweat depends upon several factors. Warm weather and high humidity both increase sweat production. And the faster you run, the more heat you generate, so the more you sweat. Sweat rate is also influenced by your fitness level: the sweat glands in a fit body enlarge and increase in number, so you sweat more. All these bodily adjustments create more efficient cooling while you run. [source]

This is pretty long, but it's a good read. It explains what fat is, why excess fat is dangerous, how even modest exercise aids in reducing fat, how fat leaves the body & what cellulite is. All bolded text is my emphasis.

[snip]

What is fat?

First, a bit of chemistry, but nothing you can't handle. Fat is an oily compound composed of the elements carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. In the body, the carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen molecules bind together like links to form chains of fatty acids. When chains of fatty acids connect together with a molecule called glycerol, it's called a glyceride. Triglycerides?three fatty acid chains connected to a glycerol molecule?are the main type of fat in the foods we eat and in our bodies.

Even though body fat would appear to just sit there on our hips, thighs, and abdomens, it actually serves many roles. It insulates us from the cold, pads and supports our vital organs, muscles, and bones, and is part of the structure of every cell membrane. It's an active organ, too. Scientists have discovered that fat cells behave very much like endocrine glands, secreting many different substances. At last count, more than 27 different enzymes, hormones, and neurotransmitters have been identified that are secreted by fat cells. They are responsible for, among other functions, controlling and regulating appetite, blood pressure, some nervous system and hormonal signals, gene expression, and the formation of testosterone and some forms of estrogen. In short, fat cells are important organs with vital regulatory functions that help our bodies run smoothly.

Humans have anywhere from 25 billion to 275 billion fat cells stored in their bodies. The average person has around 35 billion. For the average man, fat accounts for about 22% of his body weight; for the average woman, 28%. (In comparison, a trained, male athlete has about 10% body fat, and an obese person has between 40% and 50% body fat.) Fat cells are microscopic, 10?20 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair (which is about 100 microns), but they are packed with energy. The average person has more than 100,000 calories stored as fat on his body, theoretically enough fuel to jog from New York City to Chicago.

Fat is stored in special compartments called adipocytes, which are located all over the body and are often referred to as fat cells. Your genes determine where fat accumulates on your body; you don't have any control over it. Women tend to accumulate it in the adipocytes on the hips, buttocks, and thighs, and men tend to accumulate it in the abdomen. The reason for the different accumulation patterns between sexes has not been identified, but one thing is certain: The fat that accumulates in the abdomen is associated with a high risk for Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and other medical conditions. The fat that accumulates in the lower extremities, although it may not be cosmetically appealing for some, does not present any cardiovascular or metabolic health risk.

Men are generally at higher risk for cardiovascular disease than women, and one of the reasons may be their higher percentage of abdominal fat. The recommendation for a healthy body circumference measured around the belly button is less than 40 inches for men and less than 35 inches for women. If your abdomen is larger than that, your risk for cardiovascular disease and other conditions increases.

Where does fat come from?

Fat comes from foods we eat, particularly animal and dairy products. Every time you eat a food with fat, the fat gets digested by bile and pancreatic enzymes in the small intestine. The resulting fatty acids are then absorbed and transported to the liver, where essential nutrients are removed. Then the rest is wrapped up and packaged together with proteins to form chylomicrons, so that it can travel through the bloodstream to all the organs and cells that need it.

If you eat more fat than your body needs, it either gets stored in the arteries of your heart (which is not a good thing), in your liver (which can give you a fatty liver and is also not a good thing), or in the adipocytes on your hips, thighs, buttocks, or abdomen (another not-so-good thing). Adipocytes love to store fat. They gobble it up like there's no tomorrow, and with the ample amount of inexpensive, fatty foods available in our society and the copious amounts many of us eat, most adipocytes in the United States are well-fed, happy buckaroos.

When you fill an adipocyte with fat, it gets larger, just as a balloon gets larger when you fill it with air. Contrary to popular belief, however, when adipocytes get too big, they do not divide and multiply to form more adipocytes. Instead, the adipocyte grows like an overinflated balloon until it reaches a maximum diameter of approximately 15?20 microns, then it sends a biochemical signal to adjacent, immature preadipocytes in the body to begin storing the extra fat. These preadipocytes then grow larger, too, and when they become fully mature, plump adipocytes, you gain more body fat. The larger your adipocytes become, the higher your percent body fat will be.

During childhood and into puberty, both the number of mature adipocytes and the size of the adipocytes increases. It is believed by many scientists that the number of adipocytes stays fairly stable after adolescence and that instead of an increase in the number of adipocytes during adulthood, the mature adipocytes enlarge in size, stimulating the preadipocytes to get bigger too. There is some recent evidence to suggest that the number of adipocytes can also increase during adulthood, but whether we increase our body fat through increases in the number or the size of the adipocytes, one thing is certain: Excess fat intake leads to increases in body fat.

It's not just fatty foods that make us fat, however. Whenever we eat excess calories, we stand a good chance of gaining fat. Excess carbohydrate that isn't used by the body may be converted to fat, and then it too gets stored in the adipocytes. However, some very interesting research has recently suggested that not as much carbohydrate as was once thought gets converted to fat. Scientists are looking carefully at the role of carbohydrate and its role in making people gain excess fat, but for now, it's believed that excess calories in any form causes fat gain.

Burning fat

Remember that fat cells are active glands. Not only do they secrete important proteins, enzymes, and hormones, but they also secrete fat. They secrete it because it's a valuable fuel for muscles. It's packed with energy, providing nine calories per gram, whereas a gram of glucose contains only four calories. A calorie is a unit of energy contained in our food that provides fuel for our muscles, just like gasoline provides fuel for an automobile. Think of muscle as the engine in your body, and think of fat as high-test fuel, providing more than twice the amount of calories or energy as a gram of glucose. This means that you can go more than twice as far on a gram of fat as you can on a gram of carbohydrate. The catch is learning how to get the fat to the muscle so that it can be burned for energy.

Whenever you move, whether you?re doing an endurance exercise like running or just taking a walk around the block, your muscles need fuel to burn. The fuels that muscles use are glucose and fat. If you?ve ever checked your blood glucose level before and after a bout of exercise or a brisk walk, you know that it usually drops, because the muscles use the glucose in the blood for fuel. Fat is used for fuel by the muscles in much the same way. Here's how it works, step by step:

1. You take a brisk walk.
2. In response to the movement, certain hormones, including epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine, get released from the adrenal glands, and the blood levels of these hormones start to rise.
3. The hormones circulate around the body and attach to special hormone receptors on the adipocytes.
4. Once attached to the receptors on the adipocytes, a complex chain of biochemical events takes place in the cell, signaling the adipocyte that the body needs fuel.
5. Being the clever devil that it is, the adipocyte receives the signal and processes the stored fat, mobilizes it, and sends it out of storage and into the bloodstream.
6. Once in the bloodstream, the fat gets wrapped up again in chylomicrons so that it can travel in the bloodstream to the muscles that need it.
7. Once the package of fat and protein arrives at the muscle, another complex chain of events occurs, stimulated by an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase and, lo and behold, the fat enters the muscle.
8. Once in the muscle, a truly biochemical magic act occurs. What happens is that fat gets broken down to its smallest elements (carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen), and inside a part of the muscle cell called the mitochondria, known as the power house of the cell, enormous amounts of energy are produced, which allow the muscles to move.

Dozens of complex biochemical reactions have to occur to produce the energy for our muscles to move, but the good news is that you don't have to remember how to do any of it. All you have to do is move. The body takes care of all the rest.

The physical activity recommen-dation for improving health is to accumulate 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week. The key words in this recommendation are ?accumulate,? which means you can do it in three bouts of 10 minutes, two bouts of 15 minutes, or one bout of 30 minutes, and ?moderate-intensity,? which means the work should leave you feeling warm and slightly out of breath but not exhausted. Walking, biking, dancing, weight lifting, swimming, climbing stairs, hiking, gardening, housework, and many other activities of daily living such as walking your dog, washing your car by hand, and mowing your lawn with a push mower will all do the trick. In most studies of physical activity, even modest amounts of activity help the body reduce fat, if not all over the body, then certainly in the abdomen and deeper in the visceral fat where it counts most for good health.

Building muscle?through weight lifting or other resistance exercises?will help, too. Muscle burns calories and helps you maintain your metabolic rate. The more muscle you have, the bigger your body's engine, and the more likely you will be to burn fat.

Once adipocytes get the signal from hormones and release fat into the bloodstream, they shrink just like a balloon that you let air out of. When they shrink, so does your body fat. But if you eat excess fat once you?ve shrunk your adipocytes, chances are it will find its way right back to the adipocyte, and once again you?ll gain fat.

No matter how much physical activity you do, adipocytes never shrink so much that they disappear entirely. Like a balloon that you let all the air out of, you?re always left with some remnant. The only way to totally remove adipocytes from your body is with a surgical procedure such as liposuction or excision. But even with these procedures, if you go back to eating excess fat, you?ll put all the fat back on.

Spot reduction

Many people subscribe to the idea that you can do a specific exercise for a specific body part and the fat will come off that particular area first. For instance, some people think that if they do sit-ups they will lose abdominal fat. However, that's not the way it works.

Fat on your body belongs to all of your body, and when you start to move, you have no control over which adipocytes release fat first. When you take a brisk walk, for instance, the muscles in your legs may be burning fat that was released from an adipocyte in your gut, or from your face, from your legs or from within the leg muscle itself. And it's usually a consistent pattern. Everyone who has ever lost and regained weight more than once can tell you that the pattern of their weight loss is almost always the same. Many people lose fat from their face first and from their hips, thighs, and buttocks last. Genetics probably determines the pattern of weight loss and, of course, we have no control over our genes. However, we can shape and tone our physiques by building muscle through exercise.

The other good news is that abdominal fat, particularly the deeper abdominal fat known as visceral fat, which is implicated in heart disease, insulin resistance, and other medical conditions, is known to be very lipolytic. What that means is that abdominal fat is very sensitive to physical activity and readily releases fat in response to movement. That's good news because it means that a relatively small amount of activity can have a significant impact on your health.

In one study of 24 people with Type 2 diabetes who exercised for 45 minutes three times per week for 8 weeks, visceral fat and subcutaneous abdominal fat?the fat just below the skin?was reduced significantly. Moreover, insulin resistance improved by 46%. Most interesting was that the subjects lost significant amounts of abdominal fat and improved their insulin sensitivity even though they lost very little body weight.

What about cellulite?

The lumpy fat that is often called cellulite is nothing special; it's just ordinary fat. Its appearance is caused primarily by irregular patterns of connective tissue beneath the skin. What happens is that the adipocytes, which form in compartments in the shape of little honeycombs, get pushed into the skin by the irregular connective tissue, causing the dimpling that is characteristic of cellulite. Studies have shown that people who have cellulite have different patterns of connective tissue than people who don't, and men tend to have this irregular pattern much less often than women.

Cellulite is not directly a function of excess weight, but rather a genetic difference in the way adipose tissue and connective tissue form. In fact, cellulite occurs in people who are lean as well as in those who are overweight. Skin creams sold to reduce cellulite make the skin swell so that the appearance of the cellulite changes, but the effects are short-lived, and the creams do nothing to change the structure of the connective tissue. There is no health risk to cellulite, and although weight loss and exercise can have some effect on it, in most cases, physical activity does not significantly change its appearance.

The bottom line

The bottom line to losing weight and fat is that you must burn more calories than you consume. If you eat 2,000 calories a day and only burn 1,500, you?re going to gain weight. On the other hand, if you consume 1,500 calories and burn 2,000, you?ll be in caloric deficit by 500 calories. Since it takes 3,500 excess calories to gain a pound, you?d lose one pound per week if you produced a 500-calorie deficit each day of the week. To do that, you could reduce your calorie intake by 250 per day and increase your physical activity by 250 calories per day (for a 150-pound person, a 2.5-mile walk is all it would take). Do that each and every day of the week and you?ll drop a pound per week.

Fat isn't so bad if we manage it. We need it to survive, but we don't need lots of it. The average person has more than enough stored fat on his or her body to sustain life for weeks. What we need to do is keep an eye on how much fat we eat (your dietitian can help you with that) and be physically active. No other intervention will do more to burn fat and improve your health than physical activity. Remember that you don't have to do Herculean amounts of activity. If performed regularly and at a moderate intensity, just about any type of physical activity will help you burn fat, achieve good health, improve your diabetes control, and perhaps most important of all, improve the quality of your life. There's no time like the present to get started. Results are just around the corner.

[source]

How to Lose Body Fat: Fat Loss Basics by Anthony Ellis Believe it or not, losing a little or a lot of fat involves pretty much the same concept - consistent dieting coupled with cardiovascular exercise and weight training. This is how the professionals do it, and it works.

Many of you may be hesitant to start a weight training program, but the benefits far outweigh any reservation you may have. Weight training enhances your fat loss by increasing your muscle mass and more muscle means more calories burned (faster metabolism). It also it gives your skin a more tone, tight appearance, lowers your blood pressure, strengthens your bones, improves your agility, increases your flexibility, strengthens your immune system and gives you more energy and a brighter outlook on life.

If you have a high level of body fat, or you have never been able to successfully lose fat, you should consider trying a program that not only focuses on dieting, but also includes adequate cardiovascular activity and weight training.

If you are already very muscular, and you just want lose a little body fat, then a fat loss program that includes regular cardiovascular activity and weight training is perfect for you. The best way to get ripped and maintain as much muscle as you can is to diet slowly. The truth is, when you are on a low calorie diet, your body prefers to use muscle tissue for fuel rather than excess body fat. So, the slower you lose weight, the more likely you are losing fat and not muscle.

Ideally, you should aim to lose no more than 1lb - 1.5 lbs per week that's it. If you are obese, then you should try to lose no more than 1% of your bodyweight per week. Any more than that and you are sacrificing muscle.

Women do tend to lose fat at a slower rate than men, but don't let this discourage you. Women simply store fat more efficiently than men because it is needed during and after pregnancy. As your body fat levels drop, you will notice that the fat loss comes off in reverse of how it was put on. So, the most recent fat gains will come off first, while the old fat that has been there for a while will take the longest to lose.

The most difficult fat to lose usually centers around the waist, belly and lower back areas for men, and the upper thigh and buttocks, area for women. The fat in these areas are the most difficult to totally get rid of. These areas are comprised of mostly brown adipose tissue (fat). This type of fat is difficult to lose because the low blood flow in these areas hinder the fat mobilization. So, if the fat can't be moved into the bloodstream to be used as fuel, those love handles will never go away.

That's why thermogenic agents like ephedrine and blood thinning supplements like aspirin help to improve fat loss - they increase circulation into these hard to reach areas and mobilize the stubborn fat.

Remember that you cannot spot reduce! What I mean by this is that you can't pick and choose the areas that you would like to lose the fat and do exercises that work those areas expecting the fat to just magically disappear in those areas. Your body does not work that way. The only way to decrease the amount of fat in certain key areas is by lowering your total body fat levels. As you lose fat, it will come off all over your body, not just in specific areas.

If you follow a complete diet and weight training program for at least 12 weeks, you will begin to see dramatic changes occurring with your body, and I'm not just talking about the obvious physical changes, I'm also talking about the psychological and physiological changes. You can expect lower body fat (of course), increased muscle mass, increased metabolism, increased sense of well-being, more energy, lower bad cholesterol level, increased good cholesterol level, decreased risk of heart disease, deeper more restful sleep and most important, increased self-confidence.

To be successful, your fat loss program should include the following:

• A calorie restrictive diet, which requires you to eat no less than 10x and no more than 15x your LEAN bodyweight in calories.
  
• Regular cardiovascular activity for at least 30-45 minutes 3-4 times per week. Some recommend a moderate pace while other recommend a vigorous pace -- it doesn't really matter as long as you are exercising.
  
• Weight training.
  
• Supplementing your diet with vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Vitamin C, L-glutamine, and a good multi vitamin are the bare essentials.
  
• Adequate dietary fat, including high amounts of Essential Fatty Acids (Omega-6 and Omega-3).
  

Finally, make sure that the program you decide on is compatible with your lifestyle and schedule. You can have the greatest program in the world, but if you cannot implement it then it is worthless. There are thousands of fat loss diets and workouts that will work, but the hard part is finding one that works for you and the specifics of your diet and schedule restraints.

A WORD ON CONSISTENCY

Ok, so you want the secret to fat loss? Well, here it is: CONSISTENCY. You can have the best diet, the best training schedule, join the best gym that has the best equipment, but without consistency it's all worthless.

Over the past two years, I've talked to hundreds of people who have successfully transformed their physique. Though most of them trained in totally different ways, there was one common denominator that appeared throughout each success story: Day in and day out, they followed their pre-determined plan, consistently without fail. There are many paths to your goal but you will never reach it unless you consistently put one foot in front of the other. You must find the determination and drive within yourself to see this through. If not now, then when?

In the grand scheme of your life, can you afford a slight inconvenience to create a fantastic physique -- or will you continue to be an "Average Joe" for 80 more years! Which sounds more inconvenient to you?

I can see it's easy to make excuses, after all, I used to do the same thing. Don't get caught up in this. The truth is, the hardest part any training routine is getting started. You've got to break your old habits and make new paths for yourself. If I can do this, anyone can. The only thing that separates me from most other people, is the fact that once I decide on a goal, I will not stop until I reach it. It's that simple.

Gaining muscle or losing fat, like anything in life, is a simple matter of staying focused and being consistent. Fortunately, it's never too late to get started, and you will thank yourself a few months down the road. Remember that saying, "Do what you've always done, and you will get what you've always gotten". Now, read it again.

[emphasis mine]

Everyday I become more and more fascinated with the body. I find myself looking up facts on a daily basis. This week I found quite a few articles explaining biological functions @ a level even I can understand. Over the next few days I'll post the articles I found.

A recurring theme I'm seeing says that eating right & exercising can cure just about every single common ailment that's advertised on TV.

The human body is truly a beautiful thing.

        Fat Loss For Beginners - 8 Tips For Getting Started by Tom Venuto

EVERYONE who wants to get leaner should read this article. Yes, I know it says "Fat loss for beginners," but sometimes we veterans forget what we once knew or we don't practice what we now know. If you're a beginner, this will be an introduction. If you're experienced, let this be a reminder.

1. JUST GET STARTED - TAKE DECISIVE ACTION!

There are so many opinions about how to lose body fat that many people end up completely confused and they don't do ANYTHING!

They've read about 27 ways to diet, 34 ways to do cardio, 101 ways to lift weights and 79 supplements to take. But they still don't have a clue how to start.

You stuff your brain with so much information it feels like it's going to explode, but then you never do anything about it. You're like a deer stuck in headlights. Sound familiar?

I call this the "paralysis by analysis" syndrome.

The most important thing you can do is take action. Just begin the journey and figure it out as you go. Better still; get a coach or trainer right from the start.

Actually, losing fat is not that complicated. You don't need a PhD in exercise physiology to figure out that any exercise is better than no exercise. You don't have to be a genius in nutritional biochemistry to figure out that an apple is better than a pop tart. Getting lean is simple: Exercise. Eat healthier foods. Eat smaller portions. Isn't this stuff just common sense? Didn't your mother tell you this?

So what's stopping you? What makes you freeze up?

If you're like most people, FEAR is stopping you. You're so afraid of doing something wrong, you choose to do nothing rather than make a mistake or look foolish.

What you must understand is that people who accomplish much and people who accomplish little BOTH have fears. The difference between the two is that the latter feels the fear and lets it immobilize them. The former feels the fear and does it anyway.

Begin the process. You can always fine-tune your program as you go. Naturally, it's better to aim and then fire, but its better to fire and then adjust your aim later than not to fire at all. You can't win a battle by hiding in the trenches.

2. WALKING IS A GREAT WAY TO START A CARDIO PROGRAM

Ok, so you've decided to forge ahead in spite of your fear and start working out. Congratulations. Now what? How do you choose between Stairmaster, Tae Bo, Lifecycle, Yoga, Kickboxing, Elliptical machine, jogging, swimming, etc.?

Any exercise is better than no exercise so stop over-analyzing: just pick something and start. Just do it.

If you can't make up your mind, then here's the simplest, easiest, most guaranteed way for any beginner to successfully start a fat loss program:

Walk!

Here's why:

• It requires no equipment
  
• It requires no knowledge of exercise technique
  
• It can be done by almost everyone, regardless of experience
  
• It can be done almost anywhere
  
• It's safe

For all these reasons, walking is the perfect way to begin. However, the better your condition becomes, the more you'll need to advance to higher levels of exercise intensity to reach higher levels of fitness.

I'm not saying you should abandon walking, but if you decide to keep walking, a casual stroll will no longer do. For an experienced exerciser, I would consider walking a method of locomotion more than a serious workout.

There's a big difference between walking for health vs walking for fat loss. Even a 10 or 15-minute casual walk has health benefits. But if you want to turn walking into an effective, fat-melting workout, you'll need to push yourself for 30 minutes or more several days per week. Walking briskly uphill (or on an inclined treadmill) is an excellent fat-burning workout for anyone.

3. DON'T GET CAUGHT UP IN MINUTIA - FOCUS ON FUNDAMENTALS

Read any book about success and it will tell you "pay attention to detail." Sounds like good advice - unless you haven't mastered the fundamentals yet. In that case, it's the worst advice you could follow.

Every day people send me questions like these:

"Should I use a fast acting protein powder like whey or would casein be better? What if I mix both and also add a little bit of Soy? If I use all of them, what ratio of the three would be ideal and when should I take them?"

"I want to do the ephedrine-caffeine stack and it says to take 20 mg of ephedrine with 200 milligrams of caffeine. The ephedrine comes in 25 milligram tablets, so should I chip a little bit off the tablet to get the right ratio?"

Do you see the problem here?

These are legitimate questions, but they're completely moot if you're eating doughnuts and sitting on the couch all day long. Fix your diet and get your butt moving first, then worry about the little things.

Emerson said, "The height of the pinnacle is determined by the breadth of the base." The heights you reach will depend entirely on how broad a foundation you build. Great coaches such as Vince Lombardi and John Wooden credited most of their success to drilling their players on fundamentals.

Forget about ALL the minutia until you have the fundamentals down cold!

• Forget about supplement dosages
  
• Forget about macronutrient cycling
  
• Forget about tempo manipulation
  
• Forget about glycemic indexes
  
• Forget about the latest Bulgarian or Russian periodization program

Master the fundamentals first!

The fundamentals of fat loss include:

1. Do your cardio,
   
2. Lift weights,
   
3. Burn more calories than you consume
   
4. Eat 5-6 small, frequent meals and never skip meals,
   
5. Keep your fat intake low, but include small amounts of good fats,
   
6. Eat natural foods; avoid processed & refined foods,
   
7. Eat more complex carbs, fruits & vegetables,
   
8. Eat lean proteins with each meal,
   
9. Think positive: visualize yourself as you would like to be.
   

If you're not doing all these things, and you're looking for the perfect supplement stack or the optimum periodization plan, I'm afraid you're barking up the wrong tree.

I don't want you to think that details don't matter - they do. The "Law of Accumulation" states that every success is a matter of hundreds or even thousands of tiny efforts that often go unnoticed or unappreciated. Everything counts. Everything either helps or hurts. Nothing is neutral.

The problem is when you get bogged down in minutia before you've even learned the basics. Minor details produce minor results. Major fundamentals produce major results.

Don't major in minor things. Lay your foundation first, then move on to the finer points. And remember, as Jim Rohn says, always be suspicious of someone who says they've found a new fundamental.

4. KNOW YOUR CALORIES

The most important dietary factor in fat loss is not how many grams of carbohydrate, protein or fat you eat, the most important factor for fat loss is calories. Eat more than you burn each day and you will store fat. Eat less than you burn each day and you will lose fat.It's just that simple.

Where the calories come from is important too, but unless you understand the calorie concept, nothing else matters.

I'm appalled at how many people claim to sincerely want to lose body fat who admit they haven't a clue how many calories they eat.

Get serious! If you don't have the faintest idea how much you're eating, how can you expect to make any progress?

Did it ever occur to you that your ONLY problem might be overeating!

Do you realize that too much of anything gets stored as fat?

That's right - even if you're eating nothing but "natural and healthy" foods, if you eat too many of them, you're still going to get fat.

Portion control, my friend, portion control!

On the other hand, maybe you're under-eating and slowing down your metabolism. There's a fine line.

For all the details on your daily calorie needs, refer to my article Calorie Calculators

5. NEVER, EVER QUIT! MAKE FITNESS A LIFESTYLE!

Do you know what is the biggest mistake made by beginners?

They quit!

Remember in the January issue, where I mentioned how attendance in our gym shoots up for about 6-8 weeks around New Year's? Well, it's back to normal now because all the quitters dropped out already.

What's especially sad is that most people quit right when they're on the verge of making substantial progress.

Remember: You're never a failure as long as you're working on the progressive realization of a worthy goal. But the second you quit, then it's official - you're a failure.

Quitting should not even be an option because...

FITNESS IS A LIFESTYLE!

Don't let these four words slip by you just because it's an oft-repeated clich鮠This is an important mindset! You have to stop thinking of getting in shape for a New Year's resolution, vacation or wedding (or a contest, you bodybuilders). You must start thinking about getting healthy and in shape FOR LIFE.

When you're just starting out, firmly resolve that quitting is not even an option. Don't approach this endeavor with an "I'll try" attitude. If you accept quitting as a possibility, you might as well not even start; just grab that remote control, a bag of chips and get back on the couch where you were before.

Also, understand that results may come slowly in the beginning if you're not the genetically-gifted type. This process requires great patience and persistence for most people.

Most beginners never allow themselves the time it takes to get any momentum going. They expect too much too soon, get discouraged and quit.

It takes a big push to get started. It's like getting a rocket off the ground - it uses most of its fuel just launching off the pad, but once it's in the air and the inertia has been overcome, it can keep going with very little energy expenditure. Don't quit just because it's difficult to "launch!"

6. GET A PERSONAL TRAINER, COACH, OR MENTOR

Life is too just too short to learn everything there is to know on your own. Don't waste time climbing the ladder only to find it's leaning against the wrong wall! Learn from the experts. Get a trainer, personal coach, or mentor to help you start right - right from the start.

7. JOIN A GYM IF YOU CAN, BUT A SET OF DUMBBELLS ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH TO GET YOU STARTED

I admit I'm showing my bias by saying everyone should join a gym (I'm in the health club business), but I sincerely believe nothing beats working out in a high quality health club. In a well-equipped gym, the possibilities are endless, the atmosphere is motivational and people are there to help you.

More often than not, however, beginners start at home. That being the case, I admit that you don't need a gym to get started. You also don't need any of that garbage advertised on late night TV. The only piece of equipment you need has existed for over 100 years - that's right, the humble DUMBBELL!

Remember - don't overcomplicate this - think basics, basics, basics (and dumbbells are as basic as it gets.)

Dumbbells are the single most versatile piece of equipment in existence. You can perform hundreds, even thousands of exercises with dumbbells.

Ladies, a set of 3 to 20 pounds will be more than sufficient. Guys, a set from 10 to 40 pounds should do the trick (for now). I've also heard wonderful things about Powerblock dumbbells for space-saving, although I don't have first hand experience to cite.

If you also get yourself a bench and clear out a little corner in your favorite room, then you're ready to roll!

Here it is - The beginner's all-dumbbell routine:

• Dumbbell bench press (chest)
  
• Dumbbell side lateral raise (shoulders)
  
• One arm dumbbell row (upper back)
  
• Dumbbell extension behind head (triceps)
  
• Dumbbell Bicep curl (biceps)
  
• Dumbbell Lunges (thighs)
  
• Dumbbell One leg calf raise (calves)
  
• Dumbbell leg curl (hamstrings)
  
• Crunches (abs)

There you have it. Simple and effective. At home or in a gym.

If you're just starting, do this routine for 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise, except calves and abs which you can go up to 20 reps. Rest 1 minute between sets. You'll train your whole body in each workout, 2 -3 three days per week, non-consecutive days.

After 3 - 6 months, you'll probably need to add exercises and move up to a split routine. (So I guess I have to do another article, called 8 tips for intermediates: How to keep going).

8. WEIGHT TRAINING IS NOT OPTIONAL - IT'S MANDATORY!

It's is a common misconception that you should start with aerobic workouts and lose the fat first before adding weight training.

Unfortunately, the best you can hope for from diet and aerobics alone is to become a "skinny fat person." You may lose weight, but you'll have a poor muscle to fat ratio and a "soft" appearance.

Obviously, weight training is the key to developing strength and muscle. What few people realize is that weight training also increases fat loss, although it occurs indirectly.

Weight training is anaerobic and burns carbohydrates (sugar).Cardio is aerobic and therefore burns fat. So it seems logical to focus on aerobic training for fat loss.

However, something interesting happens "beneath the surface" when you lift weights. Weight training increases your lean body mass - aerobic training does not.

Low calorie dieting and aerobic training without weight lifting can make you lose lean body mass. If you lose lean body mass, your metabolism slows down, and this makes it harder to lose fat.

If you increase your lean body mass, you increase your metabolic rate and this makes it easier to lose fat. With a faster metabolism, you'll burn more fat all day long - even while you're sleeping!

If you have limited time, and your main priority is fat loss, then do a very brief weight training program and spend the majority of your time concentrating on cardio. But never neglect the weights completely - always do both, and if possible, devote equal attention to each.

[source]

Q. How long does it take to get noticeable results from a workout regimen?

A. First, define for yourself what you mean by "noticeable" This is a very hard question to answer because everyone has a different idea of what they want to see as "noticeable results." If you mean "reduction in inches" you can see some changes in 3-6 weeks. If you mean "increased energy and decreased hiking times" you can experience that in as few as 2-3 weeks, with gained speed on each and every outing. If you mean "lose the excess 50 pounds and have a six-pack" that could take an entire year or more. If by "noticeable results" you mean an increase in a specific lift (i.e. more pull-ups or pushups) you can see changes in as little as 1-2 weeks. If you are starting your training right now (i.e. in February) for a summer activity, you have plenty of time to strengthen your body for your favorite outdoor activity, decrease hiking times, as well as start to transform the outward appearance of your body.

Second, consider the following variables There are literally so many variables that affect your training and how your body will react to your workouts. To get started on your way to "noticeable results," whatever that may mean to you, remember the following five points:

1. STARTING POINT What is your current activity level? Do you know your percent body fat? Most importantly, do you have the right GENES to see fast results? Most of us do not. If you are brand new to exercise, you will probably "see" faster results than someone who has been training for several years, as nearly any exercise plan out there will make a difference when you are just starting out. As your body gets stronger and more fit, "noticeable" results take more time to see.
2. TIME It took time for you to put on the weight, and it will take at least as much time to lose it (it seems like losing weight is far more challenging for most people than gaining!) Quick fix solutions almost always backfire, so what you really need to keep in mind is that you need to make LIFELONG HABIT CHANGES, things you can enjoy and include for many years to come, not merely a few short weeks. A new habit takes at least 3 weeks to become firmly established; it will take at least that much of a time commitment for most people simply to adapt the HABIT of exercising and eating well, and another 3 weeks to feel and look better. Anytime you are starting a new program, allow at least 6 weeks to "see results."
3. CARDIOVASCULAR TRAINING Analyze how much cardiovascular exercise you are performing (how much, how often, when, what kind, and how intensely you train). If you are doing the same workout 4 days a week and have been doing so for months, you simply are not providing enough stimulus for change - your body has already adapted to what you are doing and you need to either increase duration of your workouts, up the intensity, or try another type of exercise. See our articles on Interval training for ideas on how to get out of a rut with your aerobic training at www.bodyresults.com/E2FartlekIntervals.asp.
4. STRENGTH TRAINING What is your current routine? Are you using strength machines or free weights? Are the exercises appropriate for your training goals? How long are your strength sessions? How many sets, reps, and weight are you using? And when was the last time you changed your routine? If you continue to use the same weight for each exercise and have for months, again, as in number (2) you need to change something about your program. If you usually do sets of 15 repetitions and would like to see noticeable gains in strength, you need to increase the weight you are using and perform sets of 6-10 repetitions. If you have been doing sets of 100 abdominal curls but still have lower back problems and cannot see your "six-pack" showing, not only do you need to include exercises to help strengthen the lower back, but you also need to pay more attention to your nutrition. If your number one goal is to change your body composition (i.e. reduce body fat) but you do not include any strength training, then your top priority should be to start including strength training in order to build lean muscle mass.
5. NUTRITION For most people interested in "seeing results" and "losing bodyfat," this is by far the hardest but most important component to manipulate. By reducing your intake by 250 calories a day (the equivalent of roughly a small serving of McDonald's French Fries or 2 pieces of buttered toast) and increasing exercise expenditure by 250 calories a day (a 30 minute walk or bike ride) you will lose weight at a safe rate of a pound a week. Any adults (21+ years of age) consuming fewer than 1200 calories in order to "crash diet" are literally setting themselves up for suffering from the "yo-yo diet" syndrome: destruction of lean muscle mass and reduced metabolic rate, so as soon as you return to your "normal eating habits" you will likely regain what you lost and then some. REMEMBER, these are LIFELONG HABITS you need to establish now. For more on whether a Low Carb diet might work for you, see our new article at www.bodyresults.com/E2lowcarbdiets.asp.

SUMMARY When starting out on a strength training program, you can literally start to see results in 1-2 weeks; adding cardiovascular exercise can help you feel a difference (increased energy and stamina) in as little as 2-3 weeks, or weekly on some measured outing such as a hike. Your body gets used to whatever workout program you are doing in roughly 3-4 weeks, so if you don't keep changing SOMETHING about your workouts, you may find yourself reaching what's called a training plateau and stop making noticeable progress. Rule of thumb: whenever you start to get a little bored with your routine, it's time to change things to keep it interesting and varied. If you are not getting the results you want in 6 weeks, it's time to make some more dramatic changes! [italicized text emphasis mine]

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I loved this article the first time I found it and originally posted it on my old blog. Now that I reread it, I have finally decided to post my official pudge pic comparison pics @ the 6 week point better known as Day 42. For those keeping score @ home, that means Friday March 4th.