My Diet Plan Zone

When exercising to lose weight, too many people (especially women) rely on machines for fat loss. They spend at least 30 minutes on an elliptical, bike, or treadmill in hopes of improving their body composition. At the end of those 30 minutes, they see the “calories burned” glaring back at them and think they have given it a great effort. Not to burst your bubble, but those machines can overestimate your caloric expenditure by about 25-30 percent.

How would you like to increase your rate of fat loss in less time? I assure you, this is not B.S. in any way. You truly can get more results in less time.

First things first: say goodbye to the cardio machines. Just say goodbye, and step away.

Done? Good!

I’m sure you’re wondering what you can do in place of spending time on a machine. Well that is exactly what I am going to tell you! Did I forget to mention that you can do these in the comfort of your own home! Not having to drive to the gym will save you at least 30 minutes alone!

Bodyweight Circuits:

What you are going to do is perform several bodyweight exercises in succession without rest. You will rest for a designated period of time at the end of the circuit.

1) Jumping Jacks 30-50
2) Squats 15
3) Pushups 10
4) Reverse Lunges 10 each leg
5) Inverted Row 10
6) Plank 30 seconds
7) Squat Thrusts 10

After completing every exercise, rest 1-2 minutes and repeat the circuit 3-4 more times.

Timed Bodyweight Circuits:
If you prefer to work out for a designated amount of time, try this option. For this method, you will complete the above circuit as many times as possible in 20 minutes. There are no set rest periods; the point here is to rest only when needed. The next time you repeat the workout, try to complete more rounds in the 20 minute time period. You can also add on 1-2 minutes to increase your work time (22 minutes of work).

Dumbbell Intervals:
This option will obviously require a dumbbell, but you can still do it at home.
Arm Dumbbell Swings - 10 each side
Perform 10 dumbbell swings with each side. Rest 30-60 seconds (depending on your conditioning level) and repeat 5-9 more times.

You now have several great options to replace your traditional cardio workouts. Feel free to get creative. There are no rules. I would suggest you perform these circuits/intervals after your weight training sessions or on your off days. If you replace your typical cardio workouts with bodyweight circuits or dumbbell intervals, I bet you will see difference in your body composition!

These workouts are more entertaining, require less time, and can get you better results! What are you waiting for?

About the Author :
Nia Shanks is certified personal trainer who specializes in fat loss. She helps individuals build lean muscle and lose fat with fast, effective workouts. Nia doesn’t believe in spending endless time on cardio machines in hopes of losing fat. Instead, she uses proven training techniques that deliver faster results in less time. For more information visit http://niashanks.blogspot.com/

Cholesterol is one of the major substances that cause heart attacks, high blood cholesterol levels, and weight problems. Despite its “bad guy image,” this waxy, fat-like substances made in the body by the person’s own liver serves a number of vital functions unknown to many.

Basically, there are two types of cholesterol: the Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) and the High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL). The former refers to the bad type of cholesterol that is known to clog the person’s blood vessels, thus, increasing the risk for a heart attack or a heart disease. Studies show that a diet that is high in saturated fat is a main dietary cause of a raised LDL cholesterol level. The latter, on the other hand, is the good type of cholesterol that helps clear LDL cholesterol out of the blood stream, thus, reducing the risk for any heart illness. Researches have shown that a diet rich in fruit and vegetables along with average levels of omega-3 from fish oil greatly helps raise HDL cholesterol levels.

Although diet is the major reason for having high cholesterol levels, experts agree that factors such as genetics, lack of exercise or regular physical activity, obesity, unhealthy lifestyle such as excessive drinking and smoking, hormones, and varying high and low cholesterol levels can trigger the sudden increase of cholesterol levels in the body

GETTING STARTED

Indeed, cholesterol is a growing problem in the health of many people in the world. Experts say that people over 20 years of age should be more concerned about their cholesterol levels; thus, they should start doing everything they can to lower LDL cholesterol. Although it is quite hard to stick to the needed requirements and regiments to combat the growing problem, experts say that it can be controlled with the proper diet to lower cholesterol.

Studies show that a good diet to lower cholesterol can reduce a person’s risk for heart diseases while getting rid of bad fats because this diet to emphasizes on eating heart-healthy foods. But, aside from using the proper and proven low cholesterol diets available today, the most important thing is that knowing and taking in the right foods and effective cholesterol formulas to assist in lowering cholesterol levels.

Experts say that a diet to lower cholesterol includes good foods like grains—especially whole grain products and cereals—fish rich in omega3 such as salmon and tune, a variety of fruits and leafy vegetables, nuts, juices, and the like. Here are other effective means of lowering cholesterol level through diet:

1. Make sure that you visit your attending physician first before trying out any low cholesterol diets so he/she could administer the proper examinations and access your general health status.

2. You can lower your cholesterol levels by replacing saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat in meat, chicken, and whole milk products.

3. Refrain from eating refined carbohydrates contained by bakery products, pastas, and sugary or sugar-added foods.

4. When eating out, makes sure that you ask the waiter to make serving substitutions like steamed or boiled food preparations. If possible, also pick lean meat, fish, or skinless chicken that is broiled, baked, grilled, steamed, or poached instead of being fried and ask for lots of vegetable side dishes and fresh fruit desserts.

5. Cutting down on eggs, margarine, or butter out of your daily diet.

6. Use natural-based oils such as vegetable, corn, and olive oils when cooking instead of the usual cooking oil.

7. Load up on a lot of garlic when you’re preparing dishes because it contains substances that help lower HDL cholesterol.

8. Take in high quality daily vitamin mineral supplements like Vitamin E to improve blood circulation, and Vitamin C and vitamin B3 to lower your high cholesterol levels.

Most of us enjoy the warm summer weather, the sunshine and beautiful days that inspire us to work on our physique. Cold weather doesn’t help motivate a person to exercise or to stick to diet plans. In fact, cold weather can cause people to put on excess weight.

In the summer, we wear cool, revealing clothing because of the warmth. In the winter, we tend to layer clothing which conceals out true body form. When we are looking at our own bodies and making a definite plan to work on our appearance, layered clothing can be decieving. This is just one way that cold weather can hinder weight loss. Another way cold weather affects our diet plans is that it forces to body to naturally layer up on body fat to stay warm. This is just a biological nuisance that can be overcome if you observe a proper diet and don’t snack in between meals.

So how does someone lose weight in cold weather? Here are 5 tips for starters :

1. Exercise in a warm area - When it is cold it is hard to break a sweat which is the whole point of exercise. It is also difficult to motivate oneself when cold. Exercise can also cause injuries in cold weather because bones and joints are brittle. Always make sure to warm up before any serious exercising.

2. Eat fruit and vegetables for snacks - Eating potato chips or cookies as a snack in cold weather is not the way to diet. Dipping your veggies in ranch dressing or your apples in chocolate is not dieting either. Stick to the fruit and veggies and you will see a difference. Cooked vegetables are actually better than raw veggies in winter but raw veggies are still better than a cookie.

3. Drink water or juice, not soda - If you need flavor in your water you can mix some unsweetened Kool-Aid in or some Crystal Light. Soda is one of the worst things to drink when you are trying to lose weight, either in cold or warm weather. Warm beverages are preferrable because the body doesn’t need to bring them up to temperature before digestion.

2. Move around and stay in motion - Don’t just lay there on the couch wrapped in a blanket. Get up and do something productive. You’ll not only feel better, your body will not be trying to conserve heat. If you find yourself feeling hungrier during the winter than in the summer, don’t think it’s just your imagination; a drop in body temperature does stimulate the appetite.

1. Incorporate spices into your diet - Ginger, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric and cloves all contain phytonutrients, antimicrobial and/or anti-inflammatory properties. They also help to increase digestive enzymes, and boost the assimilation of nutrients. Other spices like fennel, cumin, anise seed, dill seed and coriander also aid in digestion which will help you shed excess weight and deliver nutrition the body needs to stay healthy.