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Why do fat people stay fat? Sure we all know that there are a lot of people that lose weight and there are surely a lot of people that take diets seriously. Heck we even know that behind every get skinny for a buck plan there is someone that really does know how to stop people from getting fat by helping people lose weight in a healthy way.
So why are people still fat and getting fatter all the time?

Well there are several reasons that people have so much trouble keeping a healthy weight and I think that there are five key reasons why and how people can lose weight successfully and for good.

1. Fast food – We have been happy to eat fast food for many years now. People still talk with pride of the first Canadian McDonalds going up down the road where I grew up in Richmond BC. The trouble with fast food is everywhere. Serving sizes are way too big, the fat level is too high, there are far too many bready carbs. And the real problem with fast food? It is getting bigger and the hold that the big fast food companies have on kids with free toys means that even parents don’t have as much say as they should have. Read the rest of this entry »

A diet that is higher in protein than the regular diet is going to help you stay healthier in the long run. I find that most people eat a lot of carbohydrates and almost no protein and because of this your body will store a lot of those carbs as fat while your body has more trouble storing protein as fat. Also if you are doing any weightlifting it is important to eat more high protein foods.

Here is a bit of a list of high protein foods. As you look through the list I am sure you will be able to find even more high protein foods just by thinking about it.

Peanut butter (2 tbsp)
Protein- 8 g
Calories- 188

Raw almonds (19 pieces)
Protein- 7 g
Calories- 180

Almond butter (1 tbsp)
Protein- 2 g
Calories- 101

Skinless chicken breast (1 cup)
Protein- 38 g
Calories- 258

Ground beef (90% lean, 3 oz)
Protein- 23 g
Calories- 182

Ground turkey (3 oz)
Protein- 22 g
Calories- 193

Salmon (half fillet)
Protein- 39 g
Calories- 367

Tuna (canned, 1 cup)
Protein- 39 g
Calories- 179

Deli turkey (1 oz)
Protein- 4 g
Calories- 31

My favorite high protein foods? Definitely Tuna and ground Turkey. Grount Turkey is a great alternative to Ground Beef because it is lower in fat.

What is a low carb diet?

I realized that I have mentioned a bunch of times about how people should lower the amount of carbs in their diet and increase the amount of protein in their diet. This is sometimes called carb depleting but the way I look at it if you drop your carbs somewhat and increase protein you are going to be in better shape. Just so not drop the carbs too far.

Low-carbohydrate diets for weight control have been very popular. Anyone who is considering losing weight has heard about low carb diets. Key questions you may have are: What are low carb diets? Are they safe? How do they work? Can low carb diets have any negative side effects to my health in the long term?

As the number of overweight and obese people has increased, calls to overweight people encouraging them to lose weight have also increased. As a result, there are more searches for diets that can help people lose weight and keep it off.

Today, more people who are deformed and overweight are engaging in the low carb dieting for their better health and vitality; and also to prolong their lives. It is noteworthy that low carb diets have also been followed by even those who are healthy and who are not overweight; bust would like to maintain their well-being, energy, vitality and health by following the basics of the low carb diet. Read the rest of this entry »

Every weightlifter looks at two different numbers, their max on their bench and the max on their squat. The max on the bench is what people are always asking about and everyone knows that if you were to gain 100 pounds on your bench press that you would have a lot bigger chest.There are four pieces of the puzzle to increasing your bench press by 100 pounds. These four are the planning, the eating, the workouts and the rest.

The Planning

Planning is something that very few weightlifters do. When you go to the gym you workout as hard as you can but very seldom do people working out ever have an idea of what they will be doing in a month. Plan your workouts, plan your eating, and plan when you are going to be taking breaks. This is pretty easy but often we will forget what is the most important part of the workouts and just do the stuff we like best.

Eating your way to gain 100 pounds on your bench press

We all like to eat and the faster metabolism that you get from working out allows you to eat even more then other people do. When you are trying to make big strength gains you are going to want to do the kind of eating that is considered bulking up. You want to do the following Read the rest of this entry »

I commented on a blog this morning by a fellow blogger that found that he got stronger after not working out for a few days. This is pretty common and I have found this myself in the past.

There are two reasons that you would be stronger after not working out after a few days. First you could be overtraining, which I believe is much more prevelent than we realize, or it could be that after a few days the glycogen levels in your muscles are really back up to a good level.

Overtraining

Overtraining can happen quite easily if you are working a muscle group too often, as you probably realize if you work a muscle group more than a couple of times a week you get really sore because your muscle fibers have not had a chance to heal. Make sure that your rest is good and that you do not directly or even indirectly stress your muscles too often! Also be aware that your muscles really do not increase in strenght durin your workout but instead in the days after as your muscles heal completely.

Glycogen levels

One of the things that you will notice after a few days between workouts is that your muscles get stronger and stronger. At the same time when you workout your muscles seem to get weaker and weaker during your workout. The reason for both of these effects is caused by your glycogen levels in your blood and muscles. As you workout your muscles use glycogen for energy and as it depletes so does your strength. Glycogen is just a derivative of sugar that is found in your muscles. Very soon after your workout it is important to take in a lot of liquid carbs. I used to drink sugar and water mixed together but really it is probably better to drink some kind of a post workout energy drink (not Gatorade) and this will help you quickly raise blood glycogen although it really takes a few days to really bring the level back up to the point where you are stronger.