We know very well that we need to reduce our calorie intake in order to lose weight. But by how much should we reduce it? As a matter of fact, our body has a daily calorie requirement, which is nothing but the minimum amount of calories it needs to perform its day to day functions, such as digesting foods, maintaining the normal heart rate and blood pressure, controlling and maintaining your breathing, etc.

If you consume more than this minimum calorie requirement, you gain weight, but if you provide your body fewer calories than what it needs, your body would refuse to burn fat. In order to know how many calories are enough for your body, you need to know your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR as it is called.

Once you know your Basal Metabolic Rate, it won’t be hard for you to determine your body’s minimum calorie requirements. After that, you would simply consume the required number of calories and leave the rest to your body. Read the rest of this entry »

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Tags: energy, outdoor sports

People learn only from their peers, and this holds true for adults as well as kids. It is no secret that the level of childhood obesity in the world is rising alarmingly with every passing year. Even though parents tend to blame their kids’ unhealthy lifestyle habits as the root cause of obesity, the fact remains that if parents are willing, they can change those habits during the growing years of their children.

Remember that a stitch in time saves nine; if you nip these bad habits of your kids in the bud then they would always remain fit and healthy. If you are clueless about what to do in this direction, I will tell offer you two tips on that.

Make no mistake, even though now I am a fitness professional, I too was a big, fat ugly kid hated by my class mates and neighbors alike. Just like your kids I too loved all the tasty and yummy junk foods my parents used to feed me.

My parents believed that I would cry less if they feed me delicious foods all the time; however this didn’t help at all as I cried even after all that ‘pampering’; if anything, I fell prey to unhealthy eating habits for which I had to pay dearly later on.

When I grew up a little, Mac Donalds became my regular destination and their burgers my all-time favorites. To top it all, my parents even took me to a doctor for they thought I was grossly underweight and malnourished, and oddly enough, that doctor only gave reassurance to my parents’ fears.

I don’t even need to tell you the end result of it all; soon I had a fatty belly and a pair of flabby arms which I hated very much (even though my parents seem to have no issues with them).

After keeping up with the taunts of my schoolmates for a while, I thought that enough was enough, and one day decided that I would lose weight no matter what.

1. Encourage your kids to idolize professional athletes and bodybuilders: These days, kids usually idolize movie stars and prefer to sit on the couch the entire day and watch movies of their favorite idols. There is nothing wrong with hero worship at all, as long as it helps your kids stay fit and avoid weight gain. Idolizing movie heroes and heroines won’t be of any use to them; on the other hand, idolizing professional sportspersons, body builders and athletes would really help them stay active all the time.

While it is true that I indulged in hula hopping because it was a very popular sport among our neighborhood kids, I played tennis mainly because famous tennis players such as Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick were my idols (they still are).

When kids consider athletes to be their heroes, they like to emulate their active lifestyle and have a have a healthy body like them, which in turn means that your kids would start eating healthy and indulging regularly in outdoor games.

2. Don’t stop your kids from participating in sports: So when I decided to lose weight, I started spending much more time in my favorite sports than I used to.. Thankfully, unlike the parents of some of my peers, my parents never prohibited me from indulging in outdoor sports.

Take a cue from this: if you are a parent and wish to keep your kids fit and healthy then keeping them from indulging in sports is just stupid. Far from making your kids sit at home and forcing them to stick their eyes on books throughout the entire day, you should actually encourage them to become active in life, since only active kids are able to keep the fat away for the rest of their lives.

Really, that is the only thing I did, apart from changing my unhealthy eating habits, in order to acquire the fit body that I still maintain. And you thought it was too difficult to help your kids lose weight.

Tags: Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, favorite sports, obesity, outdoor sports, Tennis

It is said that America tops the obese adult population in the world, which is of course true. However, one seems to overlook the fact that America is also home to the highest population of obese children. If WHO (World Health Organization) is to be believed, our world contains more than twenty million obese kids, most of whom are in the age group of five-eight.

WHO also says that childhood obesity has reached the level of an epidemic in America, so much so that in the past three decades the number of obese American kids has more than tripled. Isn’t your child one of them too? It is time to take control of your kid’s life and help him lead the kind of comfortable and healthy life we would want him to lead. And this is only possible by helping him get rid of the extra pounds.

In fact, if America tops the number of obese kids, even third world countries are not far behind. You would think that an economically backward continent like Africa would have skinny kids because most of their parents are too poor to feed them properly, let alone overfeed them. However, very often our beliefs don’t coincide with reality. Just recently a special task force sent to Africa to gauge the health stats of the people living there encountered more obese kids than malnourished children.

You maybe thinking: why all this hullabaloo about childhood obesity? What is wrong if the belly of your kid if a tad fatter than his peers? The answer is: just like overweight adults, fat kids are also likely to suffer from harmful diseases such as high blood pressure, type 1 diabetes, hypertension, fatigue, heart diseases, and in some cases, even early death.

Believe it or not, the root cause of childhood obesity has little to do with genetics and more with poor lifestyle habits. Often people add two and two and jump to the conclusion that the kid is fat because of his parents. But that is not true at all. Kids emulate the unhealthy habits of their parents and naturally become fat like them. If you and your kids follow healthy lifestyle habits, both of you would be able to get rid of fat very quickly.

Truth to be told, the onus of the rising levels of childhood obesity lies on parents to a great extent. We parents prefer our kids to have junk foods since they can be easily procured from outside and help save the time we would have spent on cooking. A diet rich in fat and sugar could only make your child fatter and fatter. There is really nothing new to be said about it. Unless you are willing to spend a little time and energy in cooking healthy foods at home, don’t expect your kids to become any slimmer.

Apart from making them eat healthy foods such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, it is also important that you try to reduce their intake of soda and fizzy drinks.

Controlling the food habits of your kids is only half the battle won, the other half being that of encouraging them to become more active. If you are concerned about your child’s future and wish to offer him a healthy life, you would need to take him away from Xbox and PSPs to outdoor sports such as cricket, basketball, tennis, etc. Encouraging them to indulge in cardiovascular activities such as swimming, dancing, rope jumping, etc., would also help them burn fat and lose weight.

Tags: Africa, America, basketball, cricket, diabetes, energy, fatigue, food habits, heart diseases, high blood pressure, hypertension, obesity, outdoor sports, Swimming, Tennis, World Health Organization

Even a few years ago the position of ‘epidemic’ was hold either by cancer or drugs. Not any more. Thanks to the fast and unheeded lifestyle lived by most American teenagers, teenage obesity has almost become one of America’s leading epidemics, and this is not an exaggeration.

Believe it or not, it didn’t become an epidemic in one day or year. During the last five decades Americans have become somewhat lazier and started preferring easy and comfortable lifestyle to hard work. American adults were probably the first to fall prey to obesity, followed by children and teenagers. Today American teenagers ape the unhealthy lifestyle habits of their parents, and teenage obesity is the natural outcome of it.

If you are a red-blooded American citizen you would probably voice a loud “NO” against obesity. After all, if a large percentage of a country’s population suffers from the pangs of killer obesity, what would be the future of such a country. It is no secret that people can keep their native country healthy only when they are fit and healthy themselves, and the secret to living a long and healthy life lies in losing the extra pounds.

Apart from the fact that obesity is itself a disease, it also brings forth several other killer diseases into the human body such as diabetes, hypertension, fatigue, irritability, high blood pressure, heart-related problems, stroke, etc., and even though instances of obesity-related deaths are rare, they DO occur nonetheless.

As for remedy, there is really nothing unique and new to be said here. Since it all started with following an easy and fast lifestyle, people need to revert the process by copying the healthy habits followed by their forefathers. In good old times, teenagers used to play outdoor sports such as volleyball, tennis, basketball, etc. Some of them even used to indulge in hula hooping, rope jumping, skiing, scuba diving, etc. Today’s teens prefer to sit at home and watch television or play video games. Is it then any wonder if they become overweight in due course of time?

Coming over to foods – chips, popcorn balls, candies and chocolates are as much favored by a teen as a pre-teen. In fact even adults take a fancy to these delicious foods. When teens see their parents enjoying a packet of popcorn while watching a Hollywood movie, they get even more encouraged to follow the same routine. Add to that the fact that today’s teens attend dozens of parties just like their parents and you cannot expect a party without beer or soda.

Junk foods have entrapped us so much that we have almost made them an integral part of our staple diet by eating them all the time, be it at breakfast, lunch or dinner. Once again the outcome of following such unhealthy eating habits couldn’t be anything else except obesity.

It is difficult to modify a teenager’s eating habits unless you take recourse to coercion in some form or other, which in turn would do more harm than good. The best way to tackle the situation is by monitoring your kid’s lifestyle habits right from the start.

From a very young age, they should be taught the benefits of playing tennis over watching videos games or PSPs. They should also be taught that chips and cookies are not their friends and that they should eat organic fruits and vegetables as often as possible. These simple measures would go a long way in keeping them fit and healthy throughout their whole life.

Don’t forget that you should also follow the same healthy lifestyle you expect your children to follow.

Tags: America, basketball, cancer, diabetes, fatigue, high blood pressure, hypertension, obesity, outdoor sports, scuba diving, skiing, stroke, Tennis, volleyball

When it comes to flabby arms or fatty thighs, people often tend to put the blame squarely on their genes and parents. It is true that genes do affect our body weight to an extent, but they cannot make you so fat as to give your thigh an ugly and bulky look!

If you have fatty thighs, it just means that you have eaten too much of fatty foods (fatty foods = fatty thighs, makes sense eh?) and led a sedentary life. However, if you are willing to do the needful, it is possible to get rid of those fatty thighs in no time! Ready? Okay let me tell you what you need to do for this purpose.

1. Be patient: While I am not trying to be a sexist here, I have found that when it comes to weight loss, women usually tend to become more impatient than men. The fact remains that just as you didn’t gain weight overnight, you also shouldn’t expect to lose the same within twenty-four hours!

Even if you don’t see the scales dropping after a week of rigorous workout and dieting, don’t give up yet and don’t panic! Weight loss takes time and it is possible that you won’t see any positive results in the first few weeks. However if you stay on track and keep doing the things others have done to lose weight successfully, you are sure to reach your goal at some point of time!

It is wrong on your part to assume that losing weight is too hard, and it is equally wrong to believe that obesity is a family curse which you have to bear throughout your entire life. Remember that you have the freedom to choose the way you want to lead your life, and if you wish to become slimmer by getting rid of the extra pounds, you CAN!

two. Don’t shy away from workouts: Women often shy away from workouts, partly because they are strenuous and boring, and partly because they are afraid of acquiring muscular bodies like those of the WWF wrestlers and losing their femininity. That is not true at all!

There are usually two types of weight loss workouts: one which helps you lose weight by burning your fat deposits and the other which makes you strong by build strong lean muscle mass for you. However, neither would be able to provide you a bodybuilder’s body, firstly because a female body lacks the amount of testererone needed to build that kind of body and secondly, it takes more than just workouts to become a bodybuilder (think supplements and pills).

In my opinion, working out is probably one of the best and quickest ways to get rid of fatty thighs! However I don’t recommend doing long boring cardios. Cardios are good for sure, but they alone cannot help you achieve the kind of slim figure you want within a very short time.

For best results, you should combine cardios with intense workouts. Weight lifting is one of the best intense workouts for quick thigh fat loss. As for cardios, walking is simple, easy and effective. Besides walking, rope jumping, running, dancing, swimming, playing outdoor sports such as basketball or tennis, etc., are all equally effective in helping you acquire slimmer and sexier thighs!

Now that you know how to get rid of fatty thighs, what are you waiting for? Get started right now, and five or six months from now you would be able to show off your slim legs proudly to your friends!

Tags: basketball, obesity, outdoor sports, Swimming, Tennis

If you are like others, you have certainly made a strong New Year’s resolution to shed all those extra pounds of flab which bother you so much. This time you have promised yourself that you would really show off your new-found slim body much before the Valentine’s Day! However, January is almost about to end and your body shows no signs of getting slimmer or lighter. Is the problem is with your diet, or something else? If you are confused and don’t know the answers to these questions, this article is for you!

Making and breaking New Year’s weight loss resolutions is nothing extraordinary; in fact I have done that many times myself and finally came to the conclusion that resolutions can do little if you are not willing to get started on the job! Yes, you should treat weight loss with the same dedication with which you perform at your office!

Weight loss is not about starving for a few days, or following one fad diet for a couple of weeks and then hopping on to something more attractive! Weight loss can be achieved only when you make a long term commitment to follow a healthier lifestyle!

Believe it or not, the first few days of your weight loss journey would probably be toughest, as you simply don’t know whether you would be successful or not or if it is the right time to start losing weight, etc. Once you push yourself hard and sail smoothly through these first few days, you would be on a roll, burning fat and losing weight non-stop!

What I am offering in this article is solid, practical advice which works for any individual; what I won’t offer is suggestion for weight loss fads, since they have neither worked for me nor anyone else I know about!

1. Drive procrastination away by setting a realistic goal: The only thing that is keeping you from starting the weight loss journey is lack of a proper goal and target. You primary task should be to set a weight loss goal, and more importantly, the goal needs to be realistic!

Instead of wishing for a body like Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston, you could set a much more meaningful and achievable goal of losing “1two pounds by the end of March”. Assuming that you would be shedding two pounds of weight per week on an average, that timeframe is more than enough for you to become as slim as you wish!

2. Fix your bad food habits: Controlling your portions is surely important, but even more important than that is to discard all the unhealthy, junk foods from your daily meals and import healthy foods in their place! To give you an example, try to have a glass of fruit juice instead of chocolates or cookies; this would satiate your sugar cravings but without making you any fatter!

Similarly, grilled chicken meat is healthier than its fried version. Also, instead of gulping down on dozens of soda cans, try to drink eight glasses of water per day!

3. Leave the couch: I know it sounds harsh but the couch is the biggest stumbling block in your way of successful weight loss and as such, you need to start hating it right away! Leading an active lifestyle would not only help you lose weight faster but also make you more energetic!

If your local club sponsors outdoor sports, make sure you participate in them. If the club comes with a swimming pool as well, then that is an added advantage. Whether you play tennis or swim, you would be burning fat and losing weight either way! Dancing is also not a bad idea-how about joining a dance school?

Tags: bad food habits, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, new years day, outdoor sports, Swimming, Tennis, Valentine's Day

In good old times, when there was no video game, PSP, IPOD or computer, one needn’t worry about telling their kids to engage themselves in outdoor sports and exercises. Children would do it on their own, having no other (read better) choice. However, in this age of gizmos and gadgets, kids have become so much addicted to video games, TV and computers that rarely, if ever, do they venture out of home except for school classes, forget about exercising or playing sports.

As times change, parents need to change too. Now that kids no longer have any inclination for exercise, you, as a parent, need to be proactive about it, IF you want to ensure a healthy future for your kids, that is.

How would exercise benefit my kids, you may ask. Well, for starters, exercises would keep your kids fit, not only now but also forever, provided that they continue with the exercises. When kids are accustomed to leading an active life, there is little chance that they would become inactive as they grow into adulthood.

In fact, several studies have pointed out that people who lead active lives as kids usually continue with the same active lifestyle as adults; such people are much less likely to suffer from obesity, or obesity-related diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, coronary diseases, sleep apnea, etc., than those who lead a sedentary lifestyle right from childhood.

Apart from making him physically strong and immune to diseases, exercises also make your child mentally healthy. A kid who exercises regularly is more likely to get good grades in exams, have more self-confidence, and be in a better position to socialize, than one who doesn’t exercise at all or exercises rarely. Again, these are not all lame speculations but rather proven scientific facts.

Now, here are some exercise tips for Kids:

a) Kids, being impatient by nature, won’t stick to anything, especially hard work, which lasts for more than half-an-hour. This is why kids shouldn’t be made to exercise for more than half-an-hour per day, unless they want to. If they exercise for too long, they are likely to become either bored or frustrated with their exercise routine, and that is something that you won’t want to happen.

b) Kids are least likely to be motivated to exercise if they have to go to a gym and do boring workouts. A much better alternative is to buy them a treadmill. Keep the treadmill at home and let your kids have fun with it.

c) Kids become bored very quickly, so make sure that you don’t force them to engage in the same workout day after day. For example, if your kids do the treadmill workout on the first day, have them do some hula hooping on the next day. Then send them on a scavenger hunt on the third day, tell them to play a sport like cricket or baseball on the fourth day, and engage them in relay race, swimming, skiing, or dancing on the fifth day.

With a variety of exercise activites for Kids to be done throughout the week, you can be rest assured that your kids would never become bored of exercises. Don’t forget to engage your kids in domestic chores too, as this would also help them stay fit.

Tags: baseball, coronary diseases, cricket, diabetes, high blood pressure, ipod, obesity, outdoor sports, skiing, sleep apnea, Swimming

Teenage obesity is slowly gaining the dimension of an epidemic. At least 14-15% of the word population suffers from teenage obesity. This of course, is just the official figure; I am sure the actual figure is much more than that. In America alone, you would get to see more fat than skinnier teenagers.

If you don’t already monitor the lifestyle habits of your teen kid, it is time to start doing so since unhealthy lifestyle habits would lead to obesity, which in turn could lead to diabetes, high blood pressure, heart diseases, and even early death. Now the big bold question is, how do you make sure that your teen kid is always fit and healthy? In this article I will tell you just that.

It pays to know about the reasons behind teenage obesity. Part of it is caused because unlike in good old days, kids no longer take any interest in playing outdoor sports such as volleyball, cricket, baseball, tennis, etc. There are indeed very few teens who engage in swimming, dancing, yoga and such other healthy activities that would not only keep them physically sound but also mentally alert and healthy.

These days, teenagers prefer to stick to the idiot box, PSPs, video games, computers, etc. As such, their average daily activity level remains low, resulting in weight gain.

There is yet another and bigger reason behind teenage obesity – the changing face of our society. In times of our forefathers, joint families were the norm and nuclear families the exception. The system of nuclear family existed back then too, but it was not as widespread as today.

In a joint family, there used to be a lot of kids; they used to mingle and play with each other and thus, were able to maintain an active life. On top of that, they used to eat more healthy foods than fast foods.

Back then, there were no processed fruit juices to eat; you would have to extract the juice of the raw fruit itself to make it. The juice extracted from organic fruits is much more healthy, nutritious, and low on calorie, compared to the packaged fruit juices we buy. Compared to modern times, the level soda and alcohol intake was very low.

As joint families started breaking up into nuclear families, people became close-minded, selfish, and careless. Our society has degenerated in such a way that instead of befriending neighborhood kids, teenagers now prefer to sit at home and watch video games. Parents have become busier by the day and as such, couldn’t care less.

In fact, in most households, parents are too busy to even cook healthy meals for themselves and their teenage kids; as a result, the teenagers have to go with the fast food options available outside. The combination of all these factors has resulted in the rise of teenage obesity.

The solution to this problem is very simple. Your teen kid doesn’t need pop in diet pills or follow an extremely restrictive diet in order to lose weight. He just needs to do what he is not doing ought to. He needs to eat healthy, get rid of fast food, play actively, mingle with nature, etc.

Of course, parents are the ones who should guide their kids properly. Remember that obesity is the death knell for your teen kid; the faster you help him get rid of it, the better.

Tags: America, baseball, cricket, diabetes, food, food options, heart diseases, high blood pressure, obesity, outdoor sports, Swimming, Tennis, volleyball

So your doctor has told you that you are too overweight to live long, unless you take time to do some exercises. You panic on hearing the very name of exercises, let alone doing them. In fact, you are not alone. Lots of people feel that exercises have to be long, hard and boring; such people fail even before trying anything.

Of the few who actually take the time to workout, most waste time and energy in the wrong types of workouts because they don’t have the right knowledge and goals; as such, these people also fail to lose weight. However if you take the time to read this entire article, I can guarantee that you would never fail to lose weight.

Imagine driving across a highway with no clear cut goals of where to go. What would you do? You would drive and drive aimlessly, until you or your car becomes too tired to move an inch. In the process, you have merely wasted your time (and gas as well), since you didn’t take the time to set a clear-cut goal of your journey as well as take a map of the destination along with you.

The same applies to weight loss. If you don’t know what you want from your exercise regimen, how would you know when you achieve the results? Setting a clear-cut goal of what you aim to achieve from your workout routine would not only give you a clear path to the destination you wish to reach, but also motivate you whenever you feel frustrated or fatigued with your weight loss efforts.

Setting a goal is as important as setting a realistic and attainable goal. If your goal is to have a body like Jessica Alba or Jennifer Lopez, you are not going to succeed because your goal is just too vague. If you have a goal of ‘losing all the extra weight within a month from now’, you won’t succeed either because it is not a very realistic goal. On the other hand, if you set a goal of ‘losing twenty pounds within the next six months’, you should definitely achieve it because your goal is not only clear but also realistic.

Once you have setup a clear-cut weight loss goal for yourself, you need to plan your workout routine as well. In order to keep yourself away from the ‘exercise-related boredom’, your workout regimen should consist of a variety of workouts.
You should not focus on doing only cardios or only intense workouts; rather, you should be doing BOTH of them. When your workout regimen consists of a variety of interesting and exciting exercises, you would be doing a different workout each day. With such a “loaded” workout routine, you are unlikely to become bored, ever.

Sometimes, in order to break away from the routine, you may want to engage in some forms of outdoor sports such as cricket, baseball, tennis, etc., depending on your preferences. You may also want to participate in swimming, dancing, yoga, etc. Just like the conventional workouts, these activities would also help you burn fat and lose weight.

Lastly, here are a few extra tips for you:

1. Always track your progress with your workout regimen to make sure that you are really going where you want to go. If you feel that your current workout routine is not working as expected, choose something else.

2. If necessary, hire a professional trainer. In fact, there would come a point when you would need professional help and guidance. Don’t be mean with your expenditure at this point of time. Keep in mind that your health is more precious than your entire wealth and riches. If your health goes haywire, would you be able to enjoy your wealth?

3. Start with short workouts. If you have never worked out in life, it is best to start with a 15-minute workout, then increase it to 30-minutes, then one hour, and so on. If you start off with long, boring workouts, you would become bored and fatigued at the outset and quit your workout routine.

Tags: baseball, cricket, energy, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Alba, outdoor sports, Swimming, Tennis

Teenage obesity is fast becoming an epidemic. Even a couple of decades ago, the level of teenage obesity was not as high as it is now. So what is the reason behind such a huge increase in the number of obese teens? Junk food intake is obviously the primary cause. Nowadays, teenagers prefer to gorge on junk foods over eating healthy meals. Leading an inactive lifestyle is the secondary cause behind teenage obesity. Instead of playing outdoor sports, you would find most teenagers glued to either video games or the idiot box.

Forget about parents, even doctors are worried about the increasing number of overweight teenagers. Obesity is often linked to harmful diseases such as heart attacks, high blood pressure, hypertension, high blood sugar, etc. Previously, heart attacks used to afflict middle-aged adults; nowadays it is not surprising to find teens and young adults becoming susceptible to heart attacks, and obesity is the primary reason behind it.

It is time that we forget about high-caloric pizzas, soft drinks, colas, sodas, sweets, burgers, beer, alcohol, etc., and focus on low-caloric organic and natural foods. Obesity not only makes you physically weak and unhealthy, but also affects your mental health. Depression, which is affecting so many teens today, is often a direct side-effect of obesity.

Now, we all know that reduction in food intake is one of the best ways to combat obesity. However, you cannot ask a teen to eat less since adolescence is the period of growth for the body and as such, it needs plenty of nutrition during this time, even more than an adult. However, you can certainly ask your teenage kid to make the right food choices and lead an active life. Here are a few tips:

a) There are basically two types of calories out there: simple and complex. Simple calories are available in junk and sugary foods (cakes, biscuits, soda, pizza, etc.) while complex calories are available in natural fruits such as orange, apple. You should develop a taste for complex calories and avoid simple calories.

It is not that you would never be able to taste junk foods. Eating junk foods once in a while is okay, but eating them regularly means inviting trouble for yourself.

b) Your present sedentary lifestyle has to go. Realize that you can never remain fit if you don’t ever move your body. Participate in outdoor sports, workout in the gym; engage in swimming or dancing, etc. Do anything that MOVES your body. DO NOT sit on the couch for 24 hours because that couch is going to be your deathbed.

Tags: anything that MOVES, depression, food choices, food intake, heart attacks, high blood pressure, hypertension, junk food intake, obesity, outdoor sports, Swimming