My Diet Plan Zone

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.

Love handles are anything but lovely and they are a big problem for most men and women these days. Does it seem the built-up fat that widens your waist never seems to go away no matter how much you diet, how many crunches or how much abdominal work you seem to be doing?

Today I would like to share with you a couple of little secrets about how to get rid of love handles fast and how to keep those love handles off through simple exercise and diet.

Love handles are simply built-up body fat so you will have to clean up your eating habits. For some dieters this will mean omitting the junk food and for some it will require lower calories while others will benefit from carb rotation. Most importantly, quality nutrition is the ultimate key to get rid of love handles.

Increasing your cardiovascular exercise such as an elliptical trainer will benefit the process but you should not over-do it. Instead, you should increase what you are currently doing in small amounts, and challenge yourself with weekly goals. Training your abdominals is important because abdominal work will strengthen the muscle under the fat. In addition to developed abdominals comes increased circulation which can aid in burning fat indirectly.

Abdominal Training Techniques to Avoid

1. Avoid Twists - Twisting exercises, especially the ones done from side to side with a stick, pole or other resistance object can actually widen your waist, not slim it down.
2. Avoid Side Bends - Side bends (weighted or not) can also add size to your waist which will only make it look thicker.
3. Avoid Hanging Leg Raises or Knee-Ups - These do not target the lower abdominal, they actually work the sartorius muscle that runs down the leg.
4. Avoid Adding Resistance - Unless you have a genetically small waist If you lack natural symmetry and have a blocky shape, you should avoid abdominal resistance.

Effective Abdominal Training Techniques

1. Stomach Vacuums - Stand upright and simply pull your stomach in, hold it there for as long as possible and release. Repeat three times.
2. Lying Pelvic Lifts - Lie flat on your back on the floor and put your legs in the air so that your body is in an “L” position. Slowly, in a controlled motion, raise your hips off the floor an inch or two and then return to starting position.
3. Modified Crunches - Lie on the floor with your legs crossed indian style and do a regular crunch exercise.
4. Elbow to Opposite Knee Crunch - Lie on the floor with knees in bent position and crunch your elbow to the opposite knee.

As soon as you get your diet plan in shape, avoid the exercises that can widen your waist and practice the effective abdominal exercises, you’ll be on your way to getting rid of those unsightly love handles forever.