When people think of how to exercise to lose weight, they often assume that they will have to buy a gym membership and workout for hours every day. Not true! Not only is it not essential, the image of pumping iron in the gym for hour after hour is a complete red herring, and here’s why…

The basic facts of losing weight are that if you consume less calories, and/or burn more calories, you will lose weight. It really is that simple. So you have a choice. You can either focus on your diet and keep your exercise levels exactly what they are, or exercise a lot more but eat the same (be sure not to eat more!), or try to combine both in some way.

The best type of exercise for weight loss is aerobic exercise. This means anything that works your heart and makes you breathe faster. Examples might be running, fast walking, cycling, swimming. Even slow walking can make a difference if you have a lot of weight to lose. Of course, you should increase gradually and check with your doctor that whatever you plan to do is suitable for you.

If you go to the gym and do a lot of weight lifting, you will burn fat and build muscle at the same time. This will tone your body shape, and the increased muscle will consume more calories, even in a resting state. Muscle can weigh a lot though, so your weight may stay the same or even increase even though your body shape improves. If you plan on doing this type of exercise, it is better to track your process by taking waist and other measurements, rather than relying on the bathroom scale.

If you don’t want to go down that route, you may think of running – but running can cause joint injury. In fact walking can have 75% of the impact that running has. You still need to walk at a pace which leaves you breathing slightly heavier than normal, but you shouldn’t be out of breath. If you do that for 30 minutes, 3 times a week, you will be burning a huge amount of calories compared to when you didn’t walk.

Exercise to lose weight can even be done right there in your chair. Simple exercises can increase muscle usage and aerobic activity, and can be done while sitting in front of the TV. Obviously you should not have a bucket of popcorn on your lap at the same time!

So you can see that when you think of exercise to lose weight, even the simplest of activities can have a big effect, without leaving you in an exhausted heap after a grueling session at the gym.

Looking to make a change and lose some weight? I have reviewed the top diet on the internet and you can go and read over 200 comments people have made about why this diet has worked well for them, as well as some of the problems.

In the past the FDA has stood as a protector of the american people although sometimes slow to act and often without the full enforcement power of some other government branches.

This may soon change.

The new chair of the FDA Margaret Hamburg has spoken out lately and probably with the Obama administration has been given a bit more rein and ear to the Oval Office than her predecessors have had.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, MD, vowed that the agency would be more aggressive in enforcing food and drug safety regulations and quicker to act when a company breaks the law. Read the rest of this entry »

Knee exercise is vital if you are suffering from the painful condition of arthritis in the knee joints. The right kind of exercise can help to maintain or possibly even increase your range of motion, which helps to prevent the knee from causing sudden acute pain or giving way. Exercise helps to maintain healthy cartilage. It is also important to build strength in the muscles and tendons that support the knee, so that you avoid putting unnecessary stress on the joint itself when you walk, climb stairs etc.

Exercise To Strengthen The Knee

Choose a chair the right height so that you can sit on it with your feet flat on the floor and thighs horizontal. Consciously tighten the muscles in the right thigh (it can be helpful to put your hand on your thigh at first to feel the muscles tighten). You should see your kneecap move a little.

Then push out with your heel, point your toes and move your toes around in a slow circle. Continue for up to 30 seconds, then repeat with the other leg.

Do not let your knee fall away to either side. It must stay in a straight line with your leg. Read the rest of this entry »

Suppose that you’ve never worked out in life, and all of a sudden someone tells you that if you wish to get rid of your fat belly you, you would need to hit the gym for two weeks straight and spend an average of six hours there per day. How would you react to that? Your first thought would be that it is better to keep your fat belly intact and watch that cool Hollywood movie instead of working so hard.

Well, that is the exactly the same way your kids think when they are asked to workout like crazy for the purpose of weight loss. However, if you ask them to do some fun activities which would keep them cheerful and help them lose weight at the same time, then nothing like it. In this article I prescribe three such fun activities for your kids.

1. Dog walking: Walking is one of the simplest ways to lose weight, but kids won’t want to walk without any incentive. Do you have a pet dog at home? If yes, the incentive could be that of taking the dog for a walk. If your kids are particularly attached to the pets at home, this would become easier. Be a model to your kids and take the dog with you when going out for your regular morning walks, and your kids would soon follow suit.

2. The twister trick: Board games and video games make your kids fat for sure, but not all games are that bad. Consider for example the twister game. Would you call it dull and boring? Definitely not. It is one game which kids of all ages are sure to enjoy, and since they cannot play it sitting on the couch, it would help them lose weight as well.

Again you could take the initiative by playing the game for your kids at first, and since kids like to emulate adults, they would soon mimic you.

3. Let the chair be filled with music: Okay, I mean musical chairs. This is a very well known game but very few people know that it could be used to make your kids lose the fat belly instantly. The game is pretty simple: just get several hula hoops and chairs and put them all close to each other. Let the music begin.

The kids are supposed to walk in a big circle around the hoops or chairs as soon as the music begins. Immediately after music stops, the kids are required to jump fast into the hula hoops or the chairs; if anyone is unable to jump on the chair in time, he is sent back to the cheering section. Before the start of the next round of the game, you should take away one chair from the group.

You know and I know it too, that exercising is one of the best ways for your kids to remain fit and healthy. Unfortunately, it is not easy to convince little kids about the benefits of exercises. You can do everything possible in your budget: buy home-exercise machines, exercise videos, etc., but your kids would rather play with video games or surf the internet sitting on a chair, than get up and do some workouts. When they see that their parents are sitting on the couch for hours watching television, it makes matters worse.

Here are some steps to make your kids exercise the easy way:

1. Do what you teach them: If you teach your kids that exercise is good for their health, the same set of advice applies to you too. Don’t sit at home for hours; instead, walk the talk by going out to your local gym and spending a couple of hours on the workouts. It will not only keep you fit and healthy, but you would also become a role model for your kids. Kids are in the habit of emulating others. As soon as they see you exercising regularly, they too will emulate it and begin exercising, if for nothing else, then simply out of curiosity.

2. Intensive workouts are not for kids: Don’t let your kids do intensive workouts; they will soon feel tired and bored with them and would start hating exercises altogether. Don’t buy your kids things like exercise equipments and weights as your kids can suffer from bone and muscles injuries. Instead, let your kids do some lighter bodyweight exercises.

3. Engage your kids in other activities: In order to make sure that your kids lead an active and healthy lifestyle, it is important to teach them about a variety of activities instead of letting them stick to a few workouts. Take them out for a swimming or dancing session. Buy them cycles and let them cycle around the neighborhood. Sometimes, let them jog, run, play sports such as tennis and basketball, etc. Sometimes you can even take them to adventurous holidays and let them engage in surfing.

Engaging your kids in a variety of activities will make sure that they lead an active and healthy lifestyle in future instead of being mute spectators to the activities and sports of others. And as you already know, the more active your kids are, the fitter they will be.

Making your kids exercise is not as hard as you think. Just don’t use force, ever. Follow the three simple tips above and you will soon stop worrying about your kids’ health.

Over the years I have seen a lot of flimsy ideas of how to get a set of six pack abs. The most common scams are special machines that will do it and sometimes some kind of drink. I remember at one point Slim Fast seemed to be showing chubby people suddenly spawning a set of six pack abs.

Anyway I wanted to put this notion to rest that there is some magic to getting a six pack. Sure there is some genetics involved in sculpting perfect abs but the two most important factors are diet and exercise.

What? Did you think there was a shortcut?

Six Pack Abs Diet

The diet part is fairly simple; you need to drop any extra fat. You have probably heard this before but there is no such thing as spot reduction when you are losing weight. You will lose weight proportionately, generally, as you lose weight. What you may find is that you have a large stomach and if that is the case of course you will lose that fat faster than you lose the fat on your legs but that is just because that is where the fat deposits will be easiest for your body to use.
Read the rest of this entry »

In this second weightlifting article I want to start by hoping that you are not feeling to sore from your first workout, you will make short term gains regardless but you will want to have interest in doing weights over the long term. Today I want to go over the benefits of strength training as well as go over the Tuesday/Friday workouts.

There are many great benefits to doing weight training. The first benefit is that extra muscle mass will burn more calories allow you either to eat more food or lose fat quicker. The second benefit is that you will improve your posture and the way you move on a daily basis as you will get rid of those little aches and pains caused by weak core muscles. And finally you will feel better about yourself because of the changes that YOU are making to your body.

Here is the 2nd Day of a Two day split

Upper Back Exercises

Bent over Rows, to do a row you hold a light weight in your hand and put your right knee on one chair and your right hand on another chair now with your back straight raise you left hand parallel with your body and slightly back so that the stress is on your upper back muscles. Do three sets of ten repetitions of this with each arm. Read the rest of this entry »

I have had these pictures sitting on my computer for a while now but have not been sure if I should really post them or not.

One of the girls at my work calls Dan on the Biggest Loser Chris. I never knew why until I asked and she said “You know, Chris from Family Guy” I almost fell off of my chair I laughed soooo hard.

Anyway Dan does not look much like Chris from Family Guy so much anymore. You can really see from this picture just how much weight that Dan has lost, I think  he is almost at 100 pounds lost so far and shows no real signs of slowing down. In fact I think that Dan has a real good shot at winning.

The teams on the Biggest Loser Couples are getting smaller, or should I say the group now that the teams are done and it is an individual sport now.

Stay tuned tomorrow to the show. The website for the Biggest Loser says that there is going to be someone coming back that has already been eliminated. Who will it be? It would be nice to see Jennifer come back after her grandfather or dad? Decided not to stay and basically gave up, or maybe Amanda, who’s husband Neil was lazy and gave up. We will have to wait and see.

Warming up before exercise is critically important for you so as to not injure yourself or pull muscles like I did on the weekend. There are a few steps to good stretching and if you do these steps you will have a good workout and not have to fear that you are going to pull, teat, or stretch muscles and stay healthy instead.

1. Start off with a good walk, jog, or run. Whatever you do first. The cardio helps the blood and oxygen flow through your body. Always remember when you do cardio, start off slow and then increase your pace, then slow down towards the end to prevent the blood from rushing to the legs.
2. After you have warmed up is the only time that you should stretch. Stretching is a physical exercise that when done cold can lead to strains and muscle pulls (I can vouch for that just a week ago)
3. Stretch one arm across your chest. Make sure it is straight as you go across. This is very important. Do this twice on each arm. Hold 10 seconds each. This will stretch you upper back and your shoulders.
4. Lift your arm up over your head and touch your shoulder blade with your hand. Make sure everything is straight again to get all the benefits. Do twice on each arm, hold 10 seconds each. This stretch is to stretch all the muscles going down your sides as well as the triceps of your arm.
5. Stretch your neck side to side and down. Hold each for 10 seconds.
6. Do a child’s pose. Sit on your knees and bend down and stretch your arms out in front of you. This stretches the upper and lower back, as well as the arms.
7. Finally stretch you legs by holding your foot to your butt and stretching your quadriceps, put your heel on a chair or table and lean forward so that you stretch your hamstrings, for calves just lean against a wall and move one foot back a couple feet and try to bring your heal down.

These are all of the basic stretches that I try to do every day. If you are looking for agility and a wider range of motion in your everyday life you will find that these stretches in no time at all will help.

I have never mentioned what I do for a living but I am a computer geek. I do application support for a big transport company in Canada and have spent my share of hours over the years in server rooms, at desktops, buried in code on my laptop and now deploying software.

One thing that I think that all computer guys have in common is a pretty sedentary lifestyle. The stereotype tends to fit. I know this because I stare into my laptop most of the day everyday. So in keeping with the idea that one of the big two new years resolutions is to lose weight I will appeal to my geek friends and colleagues to make these changes along with me.

1. Make sure that you get away from your desk once an hour. I know that this can be difficult but it is important. The more time that we spend at our desks the more we get done but there is a couple of downsides. First your concentration tends to drop after an hour dug into a problem looking for a solution, second of all as time goes on your posture gets worse and you will find your shoulders falling and your body will start to hate you for it. The aches and pains in your shoulders and upper back are directly caused from this bad posture. Read the rest of this entry »