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Lose Weight or Fat? Part 4

Hi,

In this series on losing weight or fat, you have seen that just going on a diet and doing some lower intensity aerobics is not the answer to getting rid of body fat.

Yes, you can lose weight, but you will lose organ weight, bone weight, muscle weight as well as some body fat.   In other words you will be a tinier you, but with the same  body shape.

Low intensity to medium intensity exercise sessions whether they be aerobics or calisthenics do not keep your metabolism raised beyond the point of doing the actual exercises. 

That is because there is no afterburn effect.  You lose weight because you do raise your metabolism and do burn some calories while actually doing the exercise. 

As mentioned several studies have shown that these low to moderate intensity exercises do not burn as many calories over a period of time as higher intensity exercises. 

So that is the key.  In order to burn more body fat and to change your shape you need higher intensity exercises.

And as mentioned last time you need the fuel or calories to do these kind of exercises. 

That is why you shouldn’t drop your calories so much right away.  Just start eating better quality food and that will go a long way in providing you the energy you need.

So just what is high intensity exercising? 

Well, there is no easy answer to that.  What is high intensity for a professional athletes might be almost impossible for the average person. 

The goal is to improve yourself, not kill yourself. 

Everyone will have different levels.  If you are 70 years old, 150 pounds overweight and have never exercised a day in your life, then maybe just walking around the block is intense for you. 

But, you know what.  It does not matter.

Here is what matters.  Start doing something now.  Do something that you can do.  And you have to do one more thing.

This one more thing is the key and something in which almost everyone stops doing or doesn’t know they have to keep doing.

That one more thing is do a little more as often as you can. 

The great Russian weight lifter Vasiliy Alekseyev recognized this principle very well.  He set record after record by increasing the weight he lifted in small increments. 

He never (at meets) tried to lift the very max he possible could.  And neither should you. 

But, you need to start somewhere. 

Here is an example of something I started doing and built up to.

At the gym I got under a chin up bar that I could just barely touch by reaching up on my toes.   I did a squat and jumped up to grab the bar.  As I grabbed the bar I brought my knees up and pulled my self up into a pullup position. 

Then I came back down and repeated it.  The first time I did it I was breathing like a steam engine after 10 reps.  I did 10 more reps after resting and that was it. 

Eventually I worked up to 20, 30 and 35 reps with only a few breaths inbetween.  Then 1 day I did 50. 

Now I could never have done 50 on day 1.  Or maybe I could have, but it would have taken me a couple of hours.

So that is how you make progress.  You do an exercise(s) that is hard and taxes you.  And you keep making progress. 

Another point here.  Change up the exercises you do.  I do not do that exercise every time I go to the gym.  But, it is a great warm up for me and I will crank out 25-30 to really get me going. 

So bottom line, to burn body fat and make positive changes in your body, eat enough to keep your energy levels up with good quality foods.

Do more intense exercises and make progress. 

Thanks

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Lose Weight or Fat?

Hi,

Okay, you have to lose some weight (or fat) for an upcoming event.  Maybe it is for your wedding, an upcoming show, or you just got sick and tired of weighing so much.

If you are like most people you will reduce your calories and do some aerobics.  If you watch most people “running” outdoors or indoors on the machines you will notice that very few actually run.

Most jog at best or do some type of motion between a walk and a jog. 

Now, let me say there is nothing wrong with that.  After all everyone has to start somewhere.  And even walking – if done consistently – will help you lose weight.

But, is this the most efficient way to reshape your body?

The answer is no and here is why.

Low or medium intensity exercise will help you lose weight.  That is fat weight, muscle weight, bone weight, organ weight.  At most it is estimated that you will not lose more than 35-50% body fat following a low intensity aerobics or jogging/walking program.

This translates to a smaller you.  But the worst part of this is that you have not upped your metabolism. 

Low intensity exercise is not demanding on your body.  And it does not switch on the after burning effects of a raised metabolism.    So you are only burning up your body (fat, muscle, etc.) while you are doing the exercise.

Once you stop the burning effects of exercise stop.   And since you have not raised your metabolism the  body perceives that you do not need to burn as much fuel for energy.

The overall effect is that your body gets smaller and your metabolism drops.  Your body shape will pretty much remain the same. 

And what happens if you start eating a little more or exercise a little less?  Fat gain quickly is what happens.

There have been several studies that compare weight loss, fat loss and raised metabolisms.

While weight loss exercise does help you lose weight, it does nothing to raise your metabolism. 

If you can raise your metabolism you will burn more calories and more fat even if you are exercising 1/2 of the time. 

We will continue this lose weight or fat series for the next few posts. 

Thanks

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Hi,

Well, here it is, the new year and I am a little late getting started.  This is my first post this year. 

Had several trying experiences hit me all at once, but now I am semi-situated and ready to get back to providing you with the fitness information you want. 

Which brings up a good point.  What do you want.  Some of you are okay with what I have been writing.  Others not.

So let me hear from you.  Make your comments and let me know what you would like to hear more about.

I have listened and will be utilizing social bookmarking and videos much more this year. 

I will also introduce my own products and overall system that anyone can use in pursuit of their health and fitness goals. 

My basic premise and goal is for everyone to be able to get in the condition that they want to be in.

And to do this with a program they can use for life.

And that puts me apart from almost everyone else in the health and fitness world. 

Yes, there are several good programs for reaching your fitness, nutrition and health goals.  Usually they only concentrate on one aspect. 

Yet, each of these programs has a serious flaw.  Will anyone do this – or even be able to do this for the rest of their lives. 

You have a bunch of 20 year olds going through fitness routines that are very advanced. 

How is that going to help a 45 year old mother that has 3 kids and gained 40 pounds over the last 20 years?  It isn’t. 

You have programs that tell you to fast for 24 hours, then eat only protein for the next 24 hours and then pig out on carbs for 1 day.  Who is going to do that consistently for the rest of their lives?  No one. 

You have programs that tell you to take these pills (that only cost $80.00 per month) to fix this one thing.  Then take another pill (for another $80.00 per month) to fix one other thing.  Who can afford that?  Not many. 

So the key to any fitness, nutrition and health program is that it is something you can do and will do for the rest of your life.  It becomes a habit and fits into your circle of health. 

That is what my program will be about.  And even though it seems like common sense, no one else seems to be doing it. 

This is what I have been doing my whole life.  And even though there are stressful times (like this whole year already) and my cortisol levels were sky high, I still made it to work everyday and never got sick once.

I also still made it to the gym about 1/2 of time compared to my normal schedule. 

If I didn’t have a healthy fitness and nutritional base then I would have not been able to function at that level. 

So my goal is for everyone, no matter what is happening in their life, to be able to function and maintain their health and fitness all year long. 

You can do this when you have a program that is a part of your lifestyle and not something you have to force yourself to do. 

Stay tuned.

Thanks

Mike Val

The one thing that will guarantee your success in diet, fitness and health for 2011. Part 2

Hi,

In the first part of this series we saw how commitment is the number one factor you need to accomplish your diet, fitness and health programs in 2011. 

(Read it here in case you missed it: health success)

The first part of commitment is acting upon your commitment.  You saw how you need to decide what to do and how to do it. 

Now we will look at the second part of commitment. 

The second part of commitment has an endurance factor.  Binding yourself to the course of action.  Sticking with it long after the mood has left you.  Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year. 

You have made the commitment.  You have acted and started eating better and exercising.

Now life gets in the way.  It happens to everyone. 

It doesn’t matter.  Did you think this was going to be easy? 

If it was easy, then no one would be overweight or out of shape. 

So making a commitment – the first part of commitment – is relatively easy.  Remember that is the first step.

The second, third, fourth and so on steps are the hardest. 

Keeping the commitment going – that is the hard part.  And this is where who you are comes into play. 

The last three lines of the poem by Ashbash sum it up much better than anything I can say to you.

Commitment is the stuff character is made of.
It is the power to change the face of things.
It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism.

Okay, what I am about to say right now will probably shock you. 

If you want to be successful with your commitment and your diet, fitness and health programs you must take it slow. 

I would bet that the number one reason people fail at doing something –even if they are committed to it- is because they try to do too much too fast.  And they then expect to much in the way of results immediately.

The body does not work that way. 

Drastic changes in eating, drastic changes in exercising cause the body to rebel.   Cause the body to fight the very things you are doing – even if these things are better for your overall health.

So instead of trying to change everything you eat overnight, instead change one thing. 

Maybe you forgo the bagel and cream cheese at breakfast.  Maybe you drink your coffee black instead of with 500 calories of whipped cream. 

Do this for a week or two and then change something else. 

If you decide to go to the gym, don’t try to act like a professional body builder and do 20 sets for every muscle. 

Instead do 1 set of a very moderate weight 2 or 3 times a week.  Introduce your body to changes – don’t try to knock it out. 

The key point is that you want to get fitter and healthier.  To do this you need to change your life.  You do this by gradually introducing new things into your life. 

This way they will stick and become your life.   

Now you know what you have to do. 

Act upon what you really, really want and do it for the long haul. 

Those 25 pounds and flabby muscles will disappear easily.

You will be healthier, fitter, stronger and have tons more energy.  

Isn’t that worth committing to?

Thanks
 

The one thing that will guarantee your success in diet, fitness and health for 2011.

Hi,

Are You Willing To Do The Number One Thing That Will Guarantee Success In Your Diet, Fitness and Health Programs for 2011?

This one thing always works.  It actually works for anything you attempt to do – it doesn’t just have to be with your health or fitness.

Yet, it is something that almost no one does.

Part of it is because they aren’t even aware of it.  Part of that is because they aren’t aware of how important this is.  Part of it is because they don’t understand how to do it. 

So what is this thing? 

It is commitment. 

So now you are aware of it. 

It is everything. 

So now you are aware of how important it is. 

We will get into how to do it later.

So exactly what is commitment? 

Commitment has many different definitions.  Here are a few that I like:

The trait of sincere and steadfast fixity of purpose.

The act of binding yourself to a course of action.

Sticking with something long after the mood you have said it in has left you… by jojo 11 Sep 20, 2008

Commitment is what transforms the promise into reality.
It is the words that speak boldly of your intentions.
And the actions which speak louder than the words.
It is making the time when there is none.
Coming through time after time after time, year after year after year.
Commitment is the stuff character is made of.
It is the power to change the face of things.
It is the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism…by Ashbash Jan 13, 2005

Wow.  I know that is a lot of definitions. 

But, let’s look at just a couple of them. 

First of all it is an act.  It is something you do.  

It is not something you just do by rote – like brushing your teeth or breathing – it is something you have to think about and then act upon.

So start out your commitment by deciding what it is you really, really want.  You have to want this more than anything. 

You can not commit to something that you really don’t care about.  Remember it is something that you really, really want. 

The operative word here is “you”.  If it is something that someone else wants for you, that will never work. 

If you spouse wants you to lose weight and you are only lukewarm to the idea, it is not going to happen.  Oh sure, you might make some pathetic attempts, but they won’t stick. 

You must be the one that really, really wants it. 

Since we are talking about your health let’s say you want to lose 25 pounds and “tone” your muscles (there is really no such thing as toning your muscles, but since it is a common term I am going to use it here).

You know that the 25 pounds aren’t just going to fall off by themselves.  You are actually going to have to do something. 

The first step is figuring out what that something is. 

Now maybe that something is eating less food or eating healthier foods or starting an exercise program.  Or a combination of the above.

Now you know what you really, really want to do.  That is to lose 25 pounds.

And you know what you have to do.  That is to eat healthier foods and exercise more. 

This is actually the easy part. 

Now comes the commitment.  Now comes the time to act upon what your want to do and have to do.

You have taken the first step.  Remember the saying that the first step is the hardest?  Well, that is a lie.

The first step is actually the easiest. 

The next post we will get into the harder part and the second part of commitment to your diet, fitness and health program for 2011.

 Thanks

Hi,

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a fantastic holiday season.

And a heartfelt thank you to all the readers of this blog.  And to those that comment.  It is very humbling and gratifying.

Again thank you.

Mike

Discerning Decisions About Your Health

Hi,

Are you making discerning decisions about your health?

Just making a decision is something you make every day.  But, are they good decisions?

Before you can make the everyday decisions you need to make you have to make the decision of what you want.

What do you want for your health?  What do you want for your life?  What do you want for you wealth?

Asking these kind of broad questions allows you to go in a certain direction. 

From this point you then have the opportunity to discern.  This means you can use your insight and judgement to decide what to do to get to having a healthy life (for example).

When you use your insight or knowledge you will make decisions based upon your overall desires or goals that you have.

Let’s use an example.  Let’s say your overall desire is to be healthy.  You know that eating good nutritious foods will help you in your desire to be healthy.

Now you have decisions to make.  You know what time you have to be at work.  Do you get up a little earlier and eat a good breakfast.

Or do you stay in bed a little longer and grab a sugar and cream laced coffee on the way to work.

If you did not have the ability to discern, either choice would be okay. 

However, since you do have the ability to discern you search your knowledge base and determine that gettin up a little earlier is the thing to do. 

Now when the alarm goes off is when you make your decision.  You either get up and eat a good breakfast based upon what you discerned is most important to you.

Or you blow it off.  Either way is a decision. 

If you find that you are continuously blowing off what you discern is best for you then you have to go back and reevaluate what it is that you really do want. 

Discerning what you should do and not doing it means you are not congruent with you life. 

You are at odds with yourself. 

In order to decide to eat healthy to become healthier, what you do is more important than what you say. 

It is easy to say you are going to do something.  A little harder to do it. 

Thus the saying, “You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk”?

So what is the point of all this philosophical stuff.

What ever you decide to do (in any area of life) has to be based upon you making decisions.  These decisions come from your beliefs and thoughts.  From there you can discern what to do.

If all of that is alligned you can easily achieve anything you want.  If they aren’t alligned then you will struggle to acheive everything you want.

So instead of just saying you want six pack abs, because everyone else says it, you have to spend some time thinking about do you really want those 6 pack abs. 

If you do, then great.  Now you can get started on making that happen.  You can discern what you need to do.  And then you can make the decisions to do these things. 

When you start doing this with everything you do in life, you will find that life becomes much easier. 

It does take some time and some thought. 

Take that time and pretty soon it will be easy to determine what you want and to act upon that.

Thanks

Hi,

What do you want your fitness level to be?

Do you want to win a fitness contest?  Do you want to win a body building contest?  Do you want to be able to play with your kids without getting winded?

Everyone has different levels of fitness right now.  No matter what that level is, that is your existing level.

Are you happy with that level?  If you are is that a good thing or a bad thing?

You could be happy with your level of fitness and be in absolutely terrible shape. 

I had a roommate once that was very heavy.  And not solid heavy.  He was way out of shape and was in his mid 20′s. 

But, he was okay with that.  He ate more greasy food than you could shake a stick at.  He didn’t care. 

He said he would probably die before 30 so he was going to eat whatever he wanted.  Exercise was not a part of his life. 

I had moved back to CA and needed a place to stay immediately.  That is how I came to move into his place. 

His attitude towards life and fitness was no where close to mine and I moved out within a month, but it was interesting to see a different lifestyle.

And there are many people like that.  Maybe they don’t think they are going to die soon, but many people just don’t care that they are in terrible shape and terrible health.

I am assuming you are not like that.  Otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this right now.

What if you aren’t at the fitness level you want to be at?  How do you get there?

Most diet, fitness and health gurus will tell you that you have to make changes immediately.

They will give you programs that reduce your calories a lot.  They will give you programs that try to make you a magazine model within a few weeks.  They will give you health foods to eat.  They will give you supplements to take.  They will give you medications to force changes in your body.

All of that is the absolute worst way to make changes.

I am talking about permanent changes.  Changes in your lifestyle that are easy to implement.  Changes that are so gradual that you hardly even notice them.

Changes that you want to do. 

That is if you make the decision to change your fitness level.  If you make that decision to change then you have to realize that you will have to do some things.

You aren’t going to go from 50 pounds over weight to a gymnastic body type without doing something.

Now the question becomes, are you willing to do what it takes?

A lot of people try to change, but most fail.  Part of the reason is because whatever program they go on doesn’t work, works only temporarily or is too hard.

These programs try to change you too quickly, too drastically. 

You need something that will help you make changes easily and gradually.  That will be easy to incorporate into your lifestyle.

But, no matter what program you decide on only you can make the decision to change and improve your fitness level.

Stay tuned for updates on the program I am developing.

Thanks

Hi,

So what in the world does brushing your teeth have to do with fitness?

Do you remember when you were a kid and how you never wanted to brush your teeth?

“Why do I have to brush my teeth” you probably screamed – or was it just me?

Or how about this excuse – “I just brushed them yesterday, why do I have to do it again?”

But, guess what?  I brush my teeth every day, at least twice a day.  And I will bet that almost everyone else does also.

This is just one of those daily habits that we all have. 

A habit is the key word in the above sentence.  This is what your fitness program should be also.

A daily habit.

Sure, you might kick and scream to start with, but if you keep doing it pretty soon it will be a daily habit.  And your life will be much better for it.

Sure, you can say that brushing your teeth only takes a couple of minutes a day. 

Still, you know that brushing your teeth has benefits.  Like a nicer smile, better smelling breathing, no particles inbetween your teeth and better dental health. 

So you do it.  Every day and ususally a couple of times a day.

And you know that a good fitness level has benefits.  Better health, more strength, more energy, better looking body and many more.

But, being fit takes more time per day than just brushing your teeth.

You have been led to believe that you need 60, 90 or even 120 minutes a day to exercise like so many fitness gurus will tell you. 

Up until a few years ago this was the fitness mantra.  Fortunately, that time has come down to a more resonable level. 

Today there are exercise programs that are higher intensity for shorter periods of time. 

However they are all longer than a couple of minutes. 

So you fight and scream and say you just can’t do it.  You don’t have the time or you just exercised last week, why do you have to do it again .
To get over this problem of not being fit, you have to make getting fit a habit. 

Now, it would be easy if you really liked to exercise.  It would be easy if you had your parents yelling at you to exercise like they did when they told you to brush your teeth.

But, ususally those things aren’t in place in your life now.

So it is up to you. 

You have to actually start doing it.  Now you don’t have to start doing 20-30-60 minutes or more.

In fact that is crazy if you are just trying to start. 

Here is a quick and easy way to make fitness a habit. 

Get up a few minutes earlier in the morning.  Like 5 minutes. 

Take 1 minute and just stretch.  (you’ll find more info on exactly what to do in my fitness modules – coming soon). 

Take one minute and do one simple exercise.  Example.  For squats, just sit down in a chair and get up again.  Repeat for the full minute. 

Do a complex exercise.  Example.  Lay down on your stomach and do a pushup (push up and go down), turn over on your back and raise your arms and legs into a “V” position.  Turn over and do a pushup.  Turn over and do another “V”.  Repeat for 1 minute. 

Lay down on your back.  Put your hands on your abdomen.  Breath in and feel your abdomen expand.  Hold you breath for 4 seconds.  Force the air out by contracting your abdominal muscles.  Repeat for 1 minute.

That is 4 minutes.  This still leaves you one minute to brush your teeth.

That is it. 

Start with these 4 simple exercises and do them every day for the rest of your life.  (Please note if you have injuries please feel free to substitute any exercises you need to.)

Make it your daily habit.   Just doing these simple things will do 2 things.

It will get you in the habit of doing something for your fitness everyday.  It will improve your fitness levels.  It will improve your energy levels. 

And the best part is, that you will find that you want to start doing more.  And you will get even fitter. 

You can do this routine, or similar ones a couple of times a day or even several if you like. 

The more times you do the routine the fitter you will become. 

So you see, brushing your teeth and fitness do have something in common.

Thanks

Hi,

Do you want 6 pack abs or flat abs?  Of course the big rage is 6 pack abs so all of the marketing is about how to get 6 pack abs. 

But, do you really need them?

And is it realistic to get them?

Now if you are a fitness competitor then yes you need to have 6 pack abs.  Just having a nice flat abdominal area isn’t going to win you any prizes.

However, if you are just the average person trying to improve their abdominal muscles, then let’s start with making your abs flat.

Why do I say that?  Basically because getting 6 pack abs is extremely difficult.

Not only do you have to develop those muscles in your abdominal area, but you also have to burn almost every ounce of fat of of your waistline. 

That is the hard part. 

Then you have to keep that fat off, because there is nothing in the world that disappears faster than your six pack.  All you have to do is look at that chocolate covered eclair and bye, bye 6 pack!

This isespecially true if you are overweight right now.  And even more so if you are over 30. 

Then go ahead and double the effort if you are married, have kids, have responsibilities, have to work and so on – you know like most people in the world. 

If you are any or all of the above just losing enough body fat around the waist and working your core muscles to acquire flat abs will be a great accomplishment. 

So first, no matter which way you decide to go, you are going to have to burn some body fat.  You can do this by taking in less calories than you use each day. 

And you can do it by exercising more. 

We have already discussed this in previous posts.  The key is to get your hormones involved. 

If you exercise the correct way and eat the correct way you will be able to burn body fat pretty quickly. 

The key is to get started and stick with it.  Once you get your flat stomach then you can start thinking about whether you want to put in the effort to get the coveted 6 pack. 

From a health perspective the 6 pack is not necessary.  They do look nice however.  So do flat abs, with no excess fat hanging out over the pants. 

So whether you want 6 pack abs or flat abs, start out with going for the flat abs.  You will find that is a much more realistic goal for most people.

Thanks