Special Report on Weight Loss, Exercise and Health

With the overwhelming epidemic of obesity and preventable diseases in this day, the public needs to made aware of the simple steps that can be taken to improve overall health, control weight, and increase energy levels.  In this report below, I have put together the basic facts needed to attain healthy goals for anyone at any age.  It’s never too late to start a healthier lifestyle.  Simple steps are what it takes to achieve these goals.  The report takes you from the basic knowledge of weight loss, thru the methods of eating right and the importance of adding activity to your daily routine with easy to follow facts, tips and suggestions for a healthier you. 

Importance of Calories

It’s a simple trade-off…. calories in (eat) vs. calories out (activity)…

Your body burns calories for fuel.  Everything you eat contains a certain amount of calories, which stores in your fat cells to be used as energy throughout your day.  The more energy you expend, the more calories your body burns.

One pound equals 3,500 calories.  Once your body burns 3,500 more calories than you take in, you’ll lose a pound.  The reverse is true, taking in 3,500 calories more than you burn (not necessarily what you eat), and you’ll gain a pound.

Weight loss done correctly is a slow and continuous process.  You didn’t just put those extra pounds on overnight, therefore, you must realize that taking them back off requires time and patience and a continuous calorie deficit (burning more than you take in) just as putting the weight on required a continuous calorie overload.  If you are wishing to lose weight at a steady and healthy pace, you must burn about 500 less calories per day than you are taking in to lose a pound per week.  An easier way to do this is to cut back about 250 calories and perform an activity to burn the other 250 (about ½ hour avg. per day), which is ultimately the healthiest approach to weight loss.  Exercise will strengthen body and reduce stress, making everyday tasks easier to accomplish.  You won’t feel deprived cutting out only 250 calories per day and the exercise may help you burn an extra pound or two in the process by boosting your metabolism (the body’s calorie burning regulator).

One easy step in doing this is to begin eating more fruits and vegetables with every meal.  Try new ones you haven’t tried to give yourself a large array of choices in your meals.  The more variety of foods you eat, the more fulfilled you’ll feel, even on less calories.  Find easy, delicious recipes and use spices to liven up your meals.  Eat very lean cuts of meat and low-fat dairy choices which will give you the protein needed to stay full until your next meal.  Eat 5-6 small meals per day to keep your body burning calories consistently.  Make each meal between 300-500 calories per day, depending on your ideal calorie intake for the day.

Figure out how many calories you are now taking in vs. how many you should be taking in to get to the weight you want to be at:

To figure this out, take your goal weight divide by 2.2 = [A]

Multiply [A] x 24 (hours per day) = Your Total Calorie Intake to get to and remain at this weight.

Do the same with your current weight and compare the two numbers to see how much you should cut your calorie intake.  It’s never a good idea to cut more than 500 calories per day for extended periods of time, unless you are under a supervised eating plan.  Otherwise, your body will think you are in the middle of a famine and slow down into ‘starvation mode’ which will cause you to store fat for energy.  In this state you’ll be burning water and muscle instead of fat.  You want to keep your metabolism running consistently by staying nourished throughout the day with good foods.  Exercise will up your calorie burn and increase your metabolism, even while you rest. 

Here are some suggestions to begin a healthier eating regimen:

Cut out the highly processed foods, such as boxed dinners and potato chips.  Watch the high sugar content in sweetened fruit juices and fat-free snacks.  Keeping your processed sugar intake low will surely help to shrink your fat cells.  Processed sugar has no nutritional value.  Don’t waste precious calories on non-nutritional contributors such as soda and alcoholic beverages.  Start drinking unsweetened teas or add lemon to your water.  Drink a lot of these to keep your body hydrated, which also keeps you feeling full longer.  Drink water with every meal to help fill your stomach.

Steer clear of starchy foods, such as enriched breads, pastas and cereals.  Replace them with whole-grain choices as they do not contain the starches that turn directly to fat and they contain fiber as a benefit.  White potatoes and corn are other starches that you should avoid eating in large quantities, but don’t cut them out completely.  The fiber in a potato is beneficial to your digestive system.  Eat saturated fats in moderation, instead replace them with good fats such as monounsaturated as found in fish, nuts and olive oil.

Always include your favorite foods into your improved eating plan, but watch the portion sizes so you don’t overdo it all in one meal.  If you go out to eat your favorite dish, box half of your plate before digging in and enjoy it as another meal.  That is one way you won’t deprive your body of the foods you love and it’s a painless way to keep your calories in check.  Just be sure to take your time and savor every bite of your meal.  Another tip is to drink water in between bites so you’ll feel satisfied with the smaller portion of food.

For more great eating tips, there is a very informative “how to” book that takes you thru steps of successful weight loss.  It called the “Successful Weight Loss” E-book and is available at www.GetThatBody.com.

Portion Control

The size of your meals alone is how you can eat most of your favorite foods and still control your weight.  When it comes to portions, size does matter!  The amount of food people eat are more of a problem than what they eat.  For instance, a restaurant sized portion of pasta is usually 4 times the recommended serving amount.  Because it is labeled low-fat or heart-smart, you would tend to eat the entire portion, however, these extra servings could add an extra 600 calories to this meal alone.  Learning portion control and serving sizes is a definite plus in controlling your calorie intake.  Carefully read serving sizes on food labels as many packages can be misleading. 

Know your portions by using these guidelines:

1 cup = size of fist

½ cup - cupped hand

1 tsp. = size of thumb tip

2 Tbsp. = size of golf ball

1 oz. cheese = size of six dice

3 oz. servicing of meat = size of deck of cards

Also, use the convenient 1, 2 and 3 cup size Ziploc or other brand disposable bowls to make measuring your foods easy and foolproof.

Portion Control Made Easy - The Divided Plate Plan

This is an extremely easy concept that works for everyone who doesn’t want to or have the time to measure their foods.  You can easily control your portion sizes by following these three easy steps:

Divide your plate into 4 quarter sections.

1.  Fill 2 sections with vegetables and fruit (half the plate)

2.  Fill 1 with a protein food such as meat, beans or low-fat dairy

3.  Fill the last with carbohydrates such as whole grain rice, bread or low-fat potato dishes

Do not pile the food high, keeping portion control in mind.  Eat slowly--If you are still hungry after one plate, fill your plate again with vegetables only.   Whether fresh, canned or cooked you will fill up on vegetables before the calorie content becomes a concern.  Just be sure not to use fattening or high sodium sauces in the cooking process.

This plan alone will help you to control portions, control your calorie intake and help you achieve your weight loss goals.  It is especially helpful when dining out and eating at buffet-style restaurants.  If you can’t help but go up a second time at buffets, and just can’t do all veggies, eat some lean protein, like skinless turkey or chicken, but leave out the starches such as potatoes and pasta.  Don’t go for a third keeping overall portion control in mind!

Up Your Calcium Intake

Like most people, you watch your dairy intake because of it’s bad reputation of being high-calorie and high-fat.  However, it has been discovered that when calcium levels are low, your body promotes fat production and energy storage and suppresses your fat-burning system.  In recent studies, subjects obtaining their calcium from dairy products have had significantly greater weight control, less fat around the middle and more lean body mass.  Unfortunately, calcium supplements don’t compare to eating actual dairy products.  And leafy greens, although they do contain calcium, are not absorbed as quickly and sometimes nutrients get lost in the process.

To add more dairy calcium to your diet, look for low-fat yogurt that is also low in sugar.  Eat at least one serving per day.  Add fresh berries and lemon juice to plain unsweetened yogurt for the ultimate disease-fighting benefits, also great for your digestive system.  Have a glass of non-fat milk 2-3 times per day.  The recommended calcium (from dairy) intake is about 3 servings, or 900 mg per day. of the recommended 1,200 mg.  In most cases, other foods you consume will contain the remaining amount of calcium needed, but dairy calcium in a must in any well-rounded weight control plan.

The Body’s Natural Exercise

Walking is your body’s most natural form of exercise.  Most people don’t think of walking as exercise because it’s not strenuous of difficult.  It’s something you can do easily, alone or with a friend, at your convenience, and at no cost, except for maybe a good pair of walking shoes.

Walking has many hidden health benefits.  Regular walks will help you to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight when combined with a sensible diet.  It strengthens your cardiovascular system; tones all of your major muscle groups; helps the body resist disease by strengthening your immune system; and reduces stress to promote an overall sense of well-being.

The U.S. government even recognizes walking as a health benefit!  It is currently considering a “national walking program” promotion to motivate people to get moving for improved health.  The national obesity rate has skyrocketed in recent years and regular walking is being recommended by top researchers as the easiest way the majority of our inactive citizens can make positive health changes.  You may have heard of L. Brooks Patterson’s “Count your Steps” program in the Michigan school system where children wear pedometers to reach a certain number of steps per day.  Research suggests you walk at least 10,000 steps per day for health benefits.  Buying a pedometer is a great motivator if you want to begin a walking program.  It gives you an easy way to set goals to achieve.

To start a walking program, be sure to have comfortable footwear and begin your walks at a regular pace.  Try to walk at least every other day to build flexibility and endurance.  Gradually increase the distance of your walks, and as you become better conditioned, increase your pace, swing your arms and concentrate on your breathing.  Walk at a pace where your breathing and heart rate are escalated and you are able to talk comfortably, but not sing.  This is the proper intensity at which you’ll achieve the best cardiovascular and calorie burning benefits.  Make it a goal to walk for at least 30 minutes per day.  Make small weekly goals such as adding an extra 10 minutes or 5 blocks per walk to gain a good sense of accomplishment, which will keep you motivated. 

A brisk one-hour walk can burn up to as much as 400 calories!  Recommended exercise guidelines suggest the average person should burn between 700-2,000 calories per week in some form of exercise for improved health.  That means just a half hour to 45 minute walk per day puts you at the high end of this spectrum to gain ultimate health and weight loss benefits. 

Following dinner with a walk is a great way to get your digestive system moving, eliminating that sluggish feeling you may often experience after a large meal.

As long as you can walk free of any pain, you’re never too young or too old to start a regular walking program.  It is recommended that, regardless of age, you talk with your doctor before beginning any program of physical activity, especially if you haven’t exercised lately or have existing health concerns.

Pick up a professionally designed walking program for the treadmill, track or trail at www.GetThatBody.com.  This program has been designed to give you the best calorie burning benefits by increasing your heart rate to your ultimate calorie burning level using the highly-recommended “Interval Training” technique.

Interval training causes cutting edge fat loss.  The idea is to elevate the intensity of exercise to extreme levels for brief periods of time.  For example:  Walk on a treadmill for 7 minutes at a semi-fast pace, then incline the platform or jog to increase to a higher intensity for about 30 seconds, and back off again for 1-3 minutes.  Do these 30 second sprints 8-12 times within a 30-40 minute workout to get the ultimate calorie burn in the minimal amount of time.  The same can be applied to an outdoor walk by climbing steps or bleachers, or simply by picking up the pace to your fastest walk for 30 seconds, then slowing again.

Experience the many great benefits of weight loss and improved health through a simple walking plan.

Aerobic Exercise

Aerobic exercise is constant movement which strengthens your heart and cardiovascular system by forcing it to adapt to the stress of the exercise.  By performing any type of exercise that heightens your heart rate, you will burn extra calories, thereby complimenting your weight loss program.  You should perform some type of aerobic exercise for about 30-40 minutes, a minimum of 3 days per week.

A good fast walk, running, swimming, step-class or in-line skating are just a few good examples of aerobic exercise.  You can also put on your favorite music and fast dance your way to a good calorie burn.  Doing activities you enjoy will get you doing it more often and will add to your weight loss success.  You don’t want to dread your work-outs do you?  Find activities you enjoy.  Any activity that gets your heart racing, but does not leave you gasping for breath is a good calorie-burner.

Here is a look at how to figure your ideal calorie-burning heart rate zone:

220 minus your Age = [H]

85% (x .85) of [H] = Maximum Heart Rate

70% (x .70) of [H] = Ideal Exercise Heart Rate (for best calorie burning benefits)

40% (x .40) of [H] = Resting Heart Rate

Track your Heart Rate:  Take your wrist pulse:  Count the beats for 6 seconds and multiply it by 10 to get your current heart rate. 

Do this before exercise, which is your Resting Heart Rate (RMR) and during exercise to get to your ideal heart rate (IHR). 

Tip:  Get to know this feeling of intensity in both breathing and effort to easily recognize your ideal calorie-burning zone.

Resistance Exercise

Any exercise that uses your muscle as resistance will keep your bones and muscles healthy which is beneficial to your ongoing good health and well-being.  Each year as we age after the age of 25, we lose essential muscle mass, which is why elderly people lose the ability to bend down and get back up, or even walk.  It’s caused by years of not challenging the muscles and weakened bones. 

The good news is, this decline in muscle and bone mass can be reversed at any time in your life.  Weight training does more than build muscle, it can also strengthen bones. Even if you haven’t lifted a weight before, you’ll find it’s easy to do and the benefits are many, now and especially into your later years.

You should start any resistance program with light weights or resistance bands as not to cause injury.  Muscles should always be warmed up prior to resistance moves simply by using easy motions like marching in place, arm circles and jumping jacks.  Never stretch cold muscles, save the stretches for after your workouts.  A cold muscle can snap and cause injury (think cold silly putty).

Muscle strengthening activity should be included 2-3 times per week in addition to aerobic for ultimate fat-burning, weight loss and health. For each pound of muscle you gain, you'll burn 30 to 50 extra calories daily by boosting your metabolism.
In other words, by replacing 5 pounds of fat with muscle, you can burn up to 250 calories more throughout the day than you do now, in addition to the calories burned during the workout!

By building muscle, you will burn more calories even while sleeping!

How To Build the Muscle You Want

For Bulk - Use Heavy Weights and 5-8 Reps per Set

For Toning - Use Moderate Weights and 10-12 Reps per Set

Need to Lose 30+ Pounds? - Use Light Weights and 15-25 Reps per Set

(Rep or Repetition = 1 complete movement; 1 set = a certain number of reps)

To use the correct weight for your goal, you want to fatigue the muscle by the last repetition.

Get a weight resistance program designed by a Professional Fitness Trainer.  This program targets large muscle groups first, then secondary muscles, as recommended by all top Fitness Professionals and is only available at GetThatBody.com.  It is designed as a circuit training routine for constant movement, so you are getting your aerobic and weight lifting all in one work-out!  Designed to be efficient and effective! 

This is a program you can do easily from the privacy of your own home with basic equipment like dumbbells and a bench, or take it to the gym for a great muscle building, calorie burning routine using free weights or machines.

Summary

Finally, don’t believe the fad diets, magic pills and gimmicks you see.  Diet pills give false promises and often require you to change your eating habits, which are not mentioned in the ads.  Some fad diets may work, but are unhealthy in the long-run and you will regain the weight once you go back to normal eating patterns.

The only real way to a healthy body weight is to redesign your menu to include healthy but exciting meals and add regular activity to your life.  Remember to choose foods closest to their original form, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, low-fat dairy, beans and lean meats.  Get moving to your favorite exercise at least 3-4 times per week for optimum health well into your later years.  You may also want to take a multi-vitamin to get the nutrients you may not always get from your daily diet.

I hope you found this special report informative. 

Add years to your life and life to your years!