Testimonal From a Bootcamp Participant
I am a 47 year old mom who has been struggling with my weight for the past 10 years. I have tried other programs to lose weight and I have not been very successful. Recently I've joined Better Bodies Training and it has been 3 weeks so far,and I have to say that I find this program very appropriately challenging and very rewarding. I like especially, the early schedule of the program, since I will be done with my exercise for the day before I start my day. I also like the variety of exercises alternating with running and hiking every other day. Knowledge of our program leader, Chris about the program. He is also very encouraging when it gets to the point that its hard to go on. Every Monday morning you get weighed and monitored for the result of the week. So, no cheating would be possible on weekends.
I have just entered my fourth week. Even though I have not kept a food log the way the program has asked me to, I have thus far lost about 6 lbs,. 4% bodyfat, and shed 3 inches off my waist; if I keep the food log and keep the recommended calories per day I should be able to lose much faster. I am enjoying this program very much, and I definitely recommend this to everyone.
Dori
Tarzana, CA
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Inspirational/Motivational
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Source: http://www.teachnet.ie
What is metabolism?
According to Wikipedia, metabolism "is the set of chemical reactions that occur in living organisms to maintain life.… Metabolism is usually divided into two categories. Catabolism breaks down organic matter; anabolism, uses energy to construct components of cells such as proteins and nucleic acids”.
The process of metabolism determines the rate at which your body burns calories while at rest (Resting Metabolic Rate or Basal Metabolic Rate), in motion or during exercise (PAEE). Whether you are sleeping, sitting, reading, eating, working, exercising, the body and its bodily functions are constantly moving; these movements require fuel; some moments require more fuel than others. Nonetheless, these body and bodily functions use of energy is called caloric burn.
What is my metabolism affected by?
It is generally accepted that metabolism is affected by both controllable and uncontrollable factors. The uncontrollable factors include:
- Sex (men tend to burn calories at a higher rate than women);
- Age: (metabolism naturally slows 5% per decade after age 40);
- Hereditary.
The controllable factors include:
- Amount of lean body mass;
- Whether you exercise;
- What you eat;
- How often you eat;
- Stress levels;
How to Increase my metabolism?
In weight management (weight loss or weight maintenace,) our concern with metabolsim is how to increase metabolic rate so that you burn not just calories while exercise but also the calories while resting (resting metabolic rate). There are many theories about just how to do this. Very few, it seems have been proven to effectively work for the long term. What has been shown to work for both the short and long run is the following 7 Steps.
- Don’t skip meals; slows your metabolism causing your body to slow down and burn less fat (fat is the primary fuel source for metabolic activities and other bodily functions, when the body is not exercising).
- Eat smaller meals; the body makes better use of the nutrients in smaller quantities than in large quanties, after all, anything in excess is either stored, primarily as fat, or excreted like water soluble vitamins.
- Include a snack between each meal; this reduces the chances you will overeat at your next meal.
- Eat often: if you eat more often, but in smaller quantities, you will be priming your metabolism to work at an optimum level; also, when there is too many hours between meals, your metabolism actualy slows down to compensate.
- Increase your physical activity level; the total amount of calories you burn includes your resting metabolic rate and the calories expended in exercise. The more active you are, the more calorics you burn.
- Include cardio in your exercise program; the fast pace and constant motion of cardio tends to burn more calories than weight training or any other anaerobic exercise.
- Include Weight training; even though it does not burn as much calories as cardio while working out, you are building muscles which burn more calories throughtout the entire day.
Final Thoughts?
If you follow these 7 steps, I can guarantee that you will see amazing results in the total amount of calorics burn; which will result in losing that unwanted weight. So what are your thoughts? Do you now have a better understanding of nutrition and the two major components: diet and metabolism? What has been your experience with dieting? Do you find that you have a slow metabolism? What, if anything, have you done to increase its efficiency? Your thoughts, suggestions and questions are welcomed.
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Metabolism
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Source: http://www.mypyramid.gov/
What is nutrition?
Nutrition is defined as the science that studies the process by which living organisms acquire all the things that are necessary for them to live and grow. Nutrition deals with both diet (ingestion) and metabolism. To help understand these concepts, asks yourself these questions. What do I eat? How much do I eat? And How often do I eat? In this posting, I will touch a little on the diet component, which deals with the questions of what and how much do I eat?
My Diet?
Your diet is what you eat and drink, the solids and fluids your intake to satifsy the body’s nutritents requirment. In the fundamental sense of weight management, gaining control of your diet entails understanding what you consume or intake, but also how much you consume. To lose, maintain or gain weight, you need to pay attention to both factors. For example, if you eat all the right foods but in too large of portions, you will gain weight. If you eat the right amount of foods (total calories) but only eat a limited number of food types, then you will be lacking essential nutrients that the body needs.
What should you be eating?
The Federal USDA, has long established that individal need to be intaking foods from the 6 major foods grous. http://www.mypyramid.gov/pyramid/index.html. Depending on your age, weight, sex and other factors, the actual amounts will vary; but as a general rule, the following should be considered for:
- grains vary from 3-11 ounces;
- vegetables vary from 1-6 cups;
- fruits varies from 1-4 cups;
- milk and other dairy products vary from 2 – 4 ounces;
- meats and beans vary from 2 – 8 ounces;
- oils vary from 3-6 teaspoons;
Now, the actual caloric amount is another question.
How much should you be eating?
How much should you be eating is determined by your weight goal? If you want to lose weight, you should be reducing caloric intake; if you want to maintain weight, then you can keep your caloric intake constant; or if you want to gain weight you need to increase your caloric intake above what you are currently consuming. Whether is is decreasing, maintaining or increasing caloric intake, it is good to have an ideal of what your current caloric consumption is. At weight-loss-center.net, there is an online caloric intake calculator that estimates how many calorics you are consuming based on body stats and current exercise levels, click link to assess http://www.weight-loss-center.net/daily_calorie_calculator.html.
Once you have this number, you can either increase, decrease or maintain depending again on your weight goal. The general though is that if you are wanting to lose at least 1 pound a week via dieting alone, then you should subtract, or reduce your dailiy caloric intake by 500 calories a day. The reverse is the case if you want to put on a pound in a week, you need to increase you daily caloric intake 500 calories per day. You can alternatively use a few online calculators to make this detemination as well. For example:
For determining weight loss or weight maintenance
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
For determining weight loss, maintenance or gain
http://www.hpathy.com/healthtools/calories-need.asp
A very important part of this nutrition component and understanding dieting and dieting control is the frequency of caloric consumption. This factor is one of the major factors that affect your metabolism (i.e.,. what happens after you intake that food/fluids into your body). Fortunately, this will be the focus of tomorrow’s posting.
Final Thought?
We at Better Bodies in Training, strongly believe that knowledge is power. Knowledge empowes you by giving you more options and informing your decisions. Our goal will this posting is to help you better understand that nutritional component to not just our program but to any effective weight management program.
As we stated in yesterday’s posting, weight loss or weight mangement can be very difficult, some more so than others, a truly effective program will tackle the problem many fronts. Tomorrow we will discuss the particular details of the metabolism aspect to the nutritional component. In that time, what are your thoughts about the points explored in the posting? Do you understand what nutrition is? What about the two major component of nutrition, diet and metabolism? Your thoughts, suggestions and questions are welcomed.
Published in
Weight Management
Source: http://topnews.in
What is Weight loss?
According to Wikipedia, “Weight loss,… is a reduction of the total body mass, due to a mean loss of fluid, body fat o adipose tissue and/or lean mass, namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon and other connective tissue. It can occur unintentionally due to an underlying disease or can arise from a conscious effort to improve an actual or perceived overweight or obese state”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_loss. In other words it is a decrease in body weight (muscle weight and/or fat weight) resulting from either voluntary acts (diets, exercise, surgery) or involuntary (illness) circumstances.
What is the goal?
The goal in any weight loss program is to assist in losing the excessive weight and maintaining a desirable weight for a variety of reasons be they medical in nature, as the case with individuals who are clinically obese, or for more personal and esthetic reasons. The point is that most people attempt to lose weight not by sure luck or chances but because of a very important underlying reason, a reason that should serve as an inspirational force.
How to lose weight?
Losing weight via any non-surgerical procedures, is a simple equation, “Burn more calories that what you consume”. Let me repeat this,Burn more calories than what you consume”. In other words, eat less and exercise more. Again, eat less and exercise more. However, this is easier said than done for most people. Consider the fact. According to the CDC,( US Center for Disease Control) about
- 67% of noninstitutionalized adults age 20 are overweight or obese:
- 34% of noninstitutionalized adults ages 20 years are obese:
So, while effecting weight loss is a simple equation, a large number of people either do not want to lose weight or find it difficult to do so. For those that do not want to lose weight, this posting is not for them; but for those who are overweight and who want to lose weight, you might asked, how can I lose the unwanted weight and maintain a desirable weight?
Methods of Losing Weight?
As mentioned earlier, there are two major ways of losing weight. The first is via surgery. Now, I am not a big proponent of weight loss via surgery unless for some medical reasons like being morbidly obese which is classified as being either 100 pounds over the recommended weight for the person or having a BMI of 40 or a BMI between 35-40 with an obesity related disease. This method while being both effective and controversial is very popular with those who have the economic means to afford it. According to http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/oct/17/saving-lives-through-weight-loss-surgery/ nearly 200,000 American each year will have some type of weight loss surgery.
The other major category of weight loss methods would be to diet, exercise, and take medication or supplementation, or any combination therefore. Now, there are many programs in the market today that emphasis one element over the other. Programs like Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem, Atkins Diets, etc..., emphasize the dieting and caloric restriction aspect. Gyms, fitness programs, some bootcamps, etc....emphasizes the exercise component; and some medically approved and non- medically approved program emphasis the taken of some from of medication, pill or supplement, be it Xenical, Apidexin, Full Bar, Nuphedragen, to name a few.
What We Do at Better Bodies in Training?
At Better Bodies in Training we take a combination approach. That is, our weight loss program is a program that includes:
- Dieting or caloric control;
- Exercise;
- Weight loss supplementation or aids that are non-medically prescribed, for some of our clients;
- Psychological in the way of inspirational and motivational support.
We take this approach because research after research and our own experiences have proven that any effective weight loss program has to be a multi pronged approach. Because while part of the goal is getting the weight off, the other part is keeping it off and maintain a desirable weight for the long term.
Final Thoughts?
While it is true that weight loss can be very difficult, some more so than others, a truly effective program will tackle the problem many fronts. Tomorrow we will discuss the particular details of our program and explore the rationale behind them. In that time, what are your thoughts about the points explored in the posting? Do you understand the simple equation of how weight loss occurs? Do you struggle with actually getting and/or keeping the weight off? Have you consider weight loss surgery? What elements of a the weight loss program are you tackling? Or do you have a multi step approached? Your thoughts, suggestions and if questions are welcomed.
Published in
Weight Management
Tagged under
Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov
An Aid to the Weight Loss Process
Are you clinically obese? That is, do you have a BMI (body mass index) of 27 or greater? Are you struggling to lose the weight, even though you are exercising and monitoring and controlling your caloric intake? If so, then you may benefit from a weight loss pill that aids that weight loss process.
What is Xenical?
While visiting a weight loss forum online the other day, I came upon a question posed by one of the members. The member wanted to know what others, who had been prescribed Xenical where eating. Granted, I did not know what Xenical is. Being in the weight loss business, I thought I should educate myself; so I did a little research. According to the official site http://www.xenical.com/default.asp, Xenical “…is prescription medications that can help considerably overweight people lose weight and keep it off”. Also known as Orlistat (http://www.emaxhealth.com/journal/benefits-xenical-orlistat-weight-loss-pill) it is a in essence a prescribed weight loss pill
How does it work?
“While other weight loss pills, work on he brain or central nervous system to suppress appetite or to speed up metabolism XENICAL works in your digestive, system” by blocking about one-third of the fat in the food you eat from being digested”, according to the office site of Xenical. Enzymes in your digestive system …help digest (or break down) fat. When taken with meals, XENICAL attaches to the lipases and block them from breaking down some of the fat you have eaten. The undigested fat cannot be absorbed and is eliminated in your bowel movements. By working this way, XENICAL helps block about one-third of the fat in the foods you eat from being absorbed by your body.
Who is it for?
According to http://www.annecollins.com/xenical-obesity-drug.htm and the Xenical official site, “Like all prescription diet pills, Xenical® is designed only for clinically obese patients, with a body mass index of 30+.” In other words, XENICAL is for people who are considerably overweight and for those who have a body mass index of 27 or greater) and also have other risk factors such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease or diabetes.
How can I get Xenical?
According to the site, Xenical is by prescription only, so you will have to make an appointment with your doctor and inquire about getting it.
Are there any health risk?
According to sites like http://www.annecollins.com/xenical-obesity-drug.htm, individuals taking Xenical may experience an urgent need to go to the bathroom, an increased number of bowel movements, plus some uncontrollable bowel movements. Other sites like
- http://www.emaxhealth.com/journal/benefits-xenical-orlistat-weight-loss-pill
- http://www.webmd.com/drugs/drug-17218-Xenical+Oral.aspx?drugid=17218&drugname
- http://www.consumerreports.org/health/prescription-drugs/orlistat/while-taking.htm
All lists the benefits and side affects of the drug. There are some sites like:
- http://www.emaxhealth.com/journal/benefits-xenical-orlistat-weight-loss-pill
- http://www.annecollins.com/xenical-obesity-drug.htm,
Which rates Xenical as being safer than most herbal solutions in the market place, and safer than other weight loss pills because it works on the digestive system rather than the nervous system.
Final Thought?
After the research, I now have a better idea of what Xenical is, who it is for, and how to take it. Each article that I read emphasize the fact that Xenical must be taken with a well-balance diet focused on caloric reduction, as well as adequate exercise. Xenical's official site states that Xenical should be taken with a [nutritionally balanced] reduced-calorie diet containing no more than 30% of calories from fat. So, in essence Xenical is simply an aid that clinically obese people may use in conjunction with the other two pillars of effective and sustained weight loss (nutrient and exercise).
Your FeedBack?
What are your thoughts? Are you currently obese? Are you taking any weight loss pills to aid in your weight loss? If so, what type and brand of pill are you taking? Are you taking any supplement to aid you your weight reduction? We welcome any and all comments on this matter.
Published in
Weight Management
Source: http://inteyesummer.files.wordpress.com
What is exercise?
According to http://www.diabetes.org/weightloss-and-exercise/exercise/what-is-exercise.jsp “ exercise [also known as physical activity] includes anything that gets you moving, such as walking, dancing, or working in the yard” Or as stated by http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153390.php “exercise is the physical exertion of the body - making the body do a physical activity which results in a healthy or healthier level of physical fitness and both physical and mental health.” Whatever definition we use, the central understanding is that exercise is activities that go beyond the daily activities of our day. It involves some form of physical exertion that increases heart and respiratory rates.
What are the benefits of exercise?
Pick up any health and fitness magazine or book, look at any exercise program online or offline, you will find that these sources tend to list many benefits to exercising. These sources state that exercise:
- Makes you fitter
- Makes you healthier
- Makes you feel good
- Reduces stress
- Slows down the aging process
- Reduces cholesterol levels
- Reduces blood pressures
- Alleviates depression
- Reduces Obesity
- Improves glucose tolerance
Why do you exercise?
If you have yet to begin any exercise program, if you are just starting, or even it you are re-evaluating your current exercise program, it is good to know why you want or need to exercise. Your particular reasons will vary from:
- seeking to get fitter and in shape (general fitness);
- seeking to lose weight;
- wanting to reduce inches so that you can fit into your favorite goals;
- seeking to increase muscular strength, muscular size, muscular tone, or muscular endurance;
- wanting to improve your cardiovascular endurance, maybe for blood pressure reasons or maybe to run a marathon;
- wanting to increase your flexibility or range of motion because you have lost flexibility over the years;
No matter what your current level of fitness is, beginner, intermediate or advance, having a goal or set of goals will help guide your exercise program and help you assess whether or not your exercise program is effective. Moreover, it will help keep you motivated especially during those times when you feel like quitting.
What should you do?
Depending on your goals or reasons for wanting to begin an exercise program, the particular exercises you do will vary. If your goal is simply to increase cardiovascular endurance, then walking, jogging, running or using any cardio machine will make up a large portion of your program. If your goal is to increase muscular strength, tone and/ or size, then resistance training either with bodyweight or external weight like free weight or weight machines will make up a large portion of your regime. Also, if you want to increase your range of motion, be more relaxed, reduce stress, then stretching exercise like yoga will need to be incorporated into your regime. There are agility exercise, balance exercise, coordination exercise, speed and power exercise, etc… The point is that having an exercise goal or goals will determine what training modality you will incorporate into your exercise program.
Having a balance exercise program is extremely important for best results. Thus, any exercise program should have elements of flexibility training, cardio training and resistance training. This does not have to make up the entire exercise program, particularly if you are performing any technical skills training, like boxing, martial arts, gymnastics, etc… For most people however, flexibility, resistance, cardio, agility, balance and coordination exercises will be sufficient components of their exercise program. This latter description is exactly what constitutes our fitness and weight loss bootcamps at Better Bodies in Training.
Is this your experience? Are you participating in any exercise programs? If so, what are the benefits that you have experienced? Moreover, why are the goals that you have set for yourself? We welcome any contributions that you might have as a reader. After all, it is through dynamic interaction with other that we grow our understanding of how training theories and methodologies affect real people.
Published in
Exercise
Tagged under
Featured Guest Blogger: Adrian of 36pounds.com
Bodybuilding vs. Strength training
If you train to look good and be comfortable in your own skin, which training type is better? Bodybuilding or Strength training? Which one is more effective? Which one is “the magic pill”? In this post I will answer these questions and, hopefully, help you get the best training available.
Two sides of Training
There are two approaches to training and fans of both have “my method is the best” attitude. On one side there is bodybuilding training, which is most popular today and is widespread due to bodybuilding magazines and gyms (a.k.a, Spa). On the other side there is power lifting (strength or functional) training. The latter training method is not as popular as the former; it is mostly done in basement-type gyms or actual basements. The average trainee is a bit afraid of this training because he/she doesn’t want to look big and fat; he just wants to be “ripped”.
Bodybuilding Training
Bodybuilding is training done of the purpose of looking as good as possible (having a lot of well defined muscles) and being as big as possible while maintaining low body fat percentage. The main goal for pro bodybuilders is to have the best physique on the contest day where judges decide the winner based on symmetrical and aesthetics’ grounds rather than on how strong the contestant is. Bodybuilding training therefore, is not aimed at increasing strength, flexibility or speed. Bodybuilders train more with machines to isolate the muscles in order to “polish” how the muscle looks; this type of training is conventional now and uses mostly 3 sets of 8-10 reps of isolation exercises.
Source: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/
Strength (Functional) Training
Here is a good quote from Tom Venuto, famous author of Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle ebook, which was very popular (and probably still is):
Functional training would help the average person develop strength that carries over into daily activities such as pulling open a heavy door, hiking up a rocky, uneven trail, starting a lawnmower, carrying a child, unloading heavy packages from the trunk of a car, or reaching up and pulling down a bulky box from an overhead shelf.
Strength training, unlike the training with isolation machine like bodybuilding, is more about free weight exercises, core training, stability balls, dumbbells (often larger ranges of motion as compared to barbells; this type of training means more muscle fibers working, which means better stimulation for muscles to grow. Strength trainers using compound movements like squats, deadlifts, presses, and rows. Powerlifters and Strongmen, most common types of strength trainers, use this type of training. While they don’t look as good as average trainee wants to look, they are incredibly strong. They just have a lot of mass and therefore are big. One very popular way of training is 5x5 training written about in books by Mark Rippetoe, Stuart McRobert and other “old-school authors”.
Source: http://www.criticalbench.com
Look great and Be strong as an ox!
So for an average trainee, I think finding the middle road is the best option. Getting that great looking body and gaining a lot of strength is a huge thing! To accomplish this task, we first need to focus on using compound exercises like squats, deadlifts, presses, and rows; we should also stay away from machines and only do a few isolation exercises once in a while to keep your body from imbalance. I prefer isolation exercises not to make up more than 20 percent of total exercises (1 in 5 exercises only). While we still need to do some, trainees need to build a solid base of muscles first and only then finish off their physique with some isolation exercise work. Work your face off with Strength training and total body training three times a week with 20% of your exercises being isolation. Do this training for half a year or a year, then go on an upper/lower split bodybuilding type training to finish off your masterpiece.
Cheers, Adrian
Adrian is a blogger who writes about his personal experiences with exercises. You may read more of his posting by visiting his personal blog http://www.36pounds.com/
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