What's the best time of day to workout?

Of course we know that commiting to a well designed exercise plan plays a huge role in how effective our weight loss program is. The best weight loss programs generally recommend a combination of cardiovascular and resistance training at a minimum of 3 to 4 sessions a week.

I am often asked what time of the day is the best time to workout. That entirely depends upon the individual. In order to reap optimal benefits from your exercise and weight loss program, you’ll need to schedule your workout for a particular time of the day when you know you will be feeling wide awake, energized and ready to focus entirley on the workout without interruption.

Many people believe they need to exercise first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach in order to burn the most fat. The theory is that after fasting all night, glycogen stores are low and the body will go straight to using fat for energy. While there may be some truth to this, it certainly isn’t necessary. It is far more important to be energized and capable of working out at your full capacity, with an all out effort, so that a signifcant amount of calories are used and you cause a spike in your metabolic rate.

Some people are early risers and enjoy a workout first thing in the morning so they can get it done and out of the way. If you feel your best first thing upon rising and choose to schedule your workouts for that time of day, that’s what it is best for you. The best time to workout is simply whatever works for the individual.

Some of us (like me) just aren’t awake when we roll out of bed and need a couple of strong cups of coffee and a big bowl of oatmeal before even considering a workout. Different strokes for different folks. I normally get my workouts in about 4 or 5 hours after I start the day. That’s when I feel most energetic and when my schedule allows for a break from work. Usually I’m at the gym sometime between 11a.m. and 1p.m.

Perhaps you’re a night owl and get a second wind later in the evening after the dishes are done and the kids are in bed. That works great too!

My point is, don’t get too wrapped up in scientific formulas that suggest you must workout in a fasted state to optimize fat burning. Don’t worry about hormone fluctuations, cortisol levels or anything else for that matter. The best time to workout is whenever you can schedule it and devote your full attention and effort to it. At the end of the day all that matters is that you burned some calories and worked those muscles.

Plyometrics for Extreme Weight Loss

Plyometrics is a type of exercise program designed to produce fast, powerful movements developing strength and muscular power while simultaneously burning fat.

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Plyometric training was first developed in the 1960s by Eastern European Olympic athletes but in more recent years it has made a crossover into mainstream fitness training as well. Similar to interval training, a plyometric workout is fast and intense. Focus is placed on the power and speed at which the exercises are executed. Due to the massive intensity, the caloric burn achieved through a plyometric workout is increased dramatically, making this an extremely effective choice for those with the goal of burning fat.
Since these particular exercise are extremely demanding and high impact, it is highly recommended that a high level of fitness is achieved prior to trying a plyometric workout. If you’ve been working out regularly and feel that you’re ready to mix in some plyometrics, here are a few things to keep in mind.

1) Always include a proper warm up. Plyometrics places a massive amount of stress on the joints so you’ll need to adequately prepare the body for it’s impending ‘beating’.

2) Don’t overdo it! Less is more with this particular type of training, especially in the beginning. Start with very short intervals and take sufficient recovery days.

3) Learn the form and focus on executing each exercise with precision in order to avoid injury.

Try the following three exercises and work your way up to more intense, advanced moves.

The Squat Jump

Stand with the feet hip width apart and arms parallel to the floor. Bend into a squat and in one quick motion, jump explosively into the air, landing gently on your feet, back in a squat position.

Lunge JumpsStand in a split squat stance with one leg extended to the front and one to the back. Bend knees into a lunge position, jump explosively and in mid air and land gently with the knees bent and the opposite leg now in front.

Step Leaps
Stand in front of a low bench or step, brace your abs, bend the knees and jump onto the step with both feet. Step down and repeat.

How to Change Eating Habits to Lose Weight

When starting on a healthy eating program it is helpful to know where you have been going wrong so that you can learn how to change eating habits to lose weight.

Keeping a food diary is a good idea so that you can see where changes need to be made. The best time to start using that food diary is before you start on your new healthy eating program. So before you start, take a week and monitor how you are currently eating. Get yourself a small notebook that you can carry with you so it is always there every time you put something in your mouth. Then be sure to use it. No one else ever needs to see it, so learn to be honest with yourself.

What to put in your food diary

Write down everything that you have to eat and drink, how much, the time of day and also, how you are feeling at the time. Don't miss out anything, not even the odd fries you pick out when cooking the kids' tea! You need to be able to learn the times when you give in to temptation and learn to recognize your feelings. This will help you to learn how to change eating habits to lose weight.

Are you eating because you are hungry or is there some other reason? Are you bored, anxious, upset?

Keeping track of the times of day that you eat is also important. For many of us who struggle with weight problems, we often skip meals, only to find ourselves ravenously hungry later in the day.

At the end of the week, take a good hard look at your food diary and examine your eating habits. Notice your vulnerable times and try to change your routine so that you will not give in to temptation in the future.

You will also see just exactly how much you have eaten and how all the little nibbles add up. By seeing it all in black and white you will be able to see how you can start to make small changes.

Once you have started your food diary, it is helpful to keep it up so that you are always aware of what you are eating and why you are eating it. You will find this a really useful tool when you are finding out how to change eating habits to lose weight. If you start this habit now, you will be well on the way to a much slimmer and healthier lifestyle.

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Recovering from a weekend of binge eating high calorie, fattening foods.

Well, it’s Monday again and if your weekend was anything like mine, it involved utter reckless abandon of your weight loss diet plan. My family and I celebrated my Mom’s birthday at my place this weekend, indulging in rich, delicious, high calorie, fattening foods. The homemade menu included baked pesto penne (with extra cheese of course), garlic cheese biscuits and chocolate orange cheesecake (I’m seeing a cheese pattern here) along with a vast selection of alcoholic beverages. Some may call it binge eating and drinking, but I just call it a really good party. Thankfully however, it doesn’t happen every weekend, because if it did I certainly wouldn’t be able to fit into my party dress and I doubt I’d be very impressive in my ‘birthday suit’.

I must admit that I struggled with the decision to write this particular post. After all, I’m a professional in the health and fitness industry, offering diet and exercise advice to the entire world. Should I really be confessing to my enjoyment of two straight days spent consuming high fat food, copious amounts of alcohol and appetizers the size of family platters? Well, we’re all human, even us pros and once in a while we all need to just let loose, take the belt off and fill the proverbial trough I suppose.

So what happens Monday morning when you feel extra puffy, your ankles are swollen and the pants you want to wear are slightly less than comfortable? Simple. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off and get back on track. Revisit your weight loss plan and don’t beat yourself up about the previous day or two. Like I said, we’re all human and sometimes we just have to answer the call of triple chocolate torte, french fries smothered in gravy and my personal favorite, the bottomless glass of pinot grigio!

It would be unnatural, boring and totally absurd to resist temptation all of the time and almost certainly would lead to binge eating at some point. Instead of perfection, aim for good behavior 80 to 90 percent of the time. If you follow a healthy eating plan and avoid fattening foods almost all of the time, it allows for the occasional slip up here and there. A day or two of naughtiness once in awhile won’t totally destroy the hard work and commitment you’ve dedicated to your weight loss plan. This is assuming of course that you’ve been on your best behavior for a somewhat lengthy stretch of time.

So, the goal this week is to follow that eating plan to a T and work out just a little harder in the gym. Now that you’ve had your fun, it’s time to tighten the belt and get back on track. Don’t worry, in a week to ten days you can catch up with the pizza delivery guy again!

Extreme Weight Loss - The Definition of Morbid Obesity

If you’re looking for some inspiration as you embark on your weight loss journey, there are a number of amazing, successful weight loss stories out there that will do just that. I personally know of many people that have lost anywhere from 20 to 200 pounds and kept the majority of the weight off. Reading or watching biographies like these can be a fantastic way to offer yourself some support for those times in your weight loss program when perhaps you feel less than motivated.

Flipping through the channels the other afternoon, I came across what undoubtedly is the most extreme of all of the amazing weight loss stories I have ever heard. A man named Michael Hebranko from New York was being interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and I must say his story goes far beyond the definition of morbid obesity and yo yo dieting!

Throughout his 56 years, Michael has lost and gained over 3,000 pounds! By the time he was 34, Michael weighed in at his heaviest of 1,100 pounds. At this point, as I’m sure you can imagine, he had no quality of life and was unable to perform the simplest of tasks. Michael may have been at his highest weight but he was certainly at his lowest emotionally speaking and had seriously been considering suicide. The day he found himself with a gun in his mouth and finger on the trigger was the day he called weight loss guru Richard Simmons. Nineteen months later Richard had successfully guided Michael to achieving a record breaking extreme weight loss of 700 pounds! He didn’t stop there and soon reached his goal weight of 198 pounds! Unfortunately that’s where things started to fall apart. After seeing that goal number appear on the scale Michael says he felt like “I won the gold medal, and the next day I didn’t have to get up and train, so I relaxed.” He says he celebrated that ‘gold medal’ with 4 hot dogs and french fries covered in melted cheese. That wouldn’t have been so bad if it was a once in a blue moon type of indulgence, but Michael was on his way back to regular meals of 2 dozen pork chops, a couple pounds of bacon and 36 eggs.

Six years later, Michael had gained back all of the 700 pounds he had worked so hard to lose. Realizing he was struggling with a serious and life threatening situation, he decided to check in to rehab. Since he was not at all mobile, a forklift was required to remove Michael from his home. After spending 18 months in rehab, he had lost 600 pounds and was able to return to his home. Not long after, Michael was once again back where he started. For a second time, a forklift arrived at his door to take him back to rehab.

mh3imagesThese days, Michael’s weight is around the 350 pound mark. Quite a significant lifestyle change from a bedridden 1,100! He has learned a lot about dieting and weight loss and continues to shed the pounds at a slow, steady rate. He says “It’s not about the numbers anymore. Today I have the same battle as a person that has to lose 5 pounds. We all have to do the same thing…we have to eat healthy, we have to do whatever exercise we can do for our body and we have to make it through the day and do it in a positive way and take care of ourselves.”

Learn from Michael's mistakes. If at first you don’t succeed just keep getting back on that horse and stay positive. If he can do it, so can anyone!

Weight Loss and Dieting Tips for the Mind and Body

A successful weight loss diet involves more than calorie reduction, low fat diet foods and smaller portion sizes. A weight loss diet requires a lot of mental changes and behavior adaptations in order to make the experience a positive one. I’m going to share three helpful dieting tips for weight loss that have much more to do with what goes on in your noggin rather than what goes in to your belly.

Holding yourself accountable for your actions is a major factor regarding success or failure. I often suggest to people starting a weight loss diet that they go public with their plans.You don’t have to shout it from the mountaintops or place an ad in the newspaper, but if you let friends and family in on your plans and goals, it can have a huge effect on your accountability. After all, who wants to face the embarrassment of not following through with a plan when everyone knows about it? Friends and family can also be a valuable source of support and positive encouragement, but only if they are aware of your intentions.

Another one of my favorite dieting tips is to always keep your mouth minty fresh! Brush your teeth, swish some mouthwash around or pop a piece of peppermint gum after meals and snacks. A clean, minty mouth signifies the end of a meal and that nosh time is over. It’s really just a simple little mind trick that can actually be quite effective once it becomes a habit.

Slow down! Chew your food and take time to enjoy your meals. These days we’re all so busy, rushing through our meals in order to get everything accomplished on our lengthy ‘to-do’ lists. When we race through meals and gobble down the food in front of us, it doesn’t allow enough time for the brain to send the ‘I’m full’ signal to the tummy. If you take the time to enjoy food and savor every bite, chewing slowly and thoroughly, you may find that you are satiated long before the meal is over. Your brain will likely send that signal before the food is gone and you’ll end up eating less, therefore losing weight!

When it comes to fighting the battle of the bulge, every little thing helps! Subscribe to our blog for more dieting and weight loss tips and stay on top of all the latest advice, tips, news and programs.

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The Myth of Female Muscle and Women's Bodybuilding

I’d like to clear up one of the common misconceptions surrounding women’s bodybuilding and the development of female muscle. First I must state that it is safe to assume that any post written by this blogger about bodybuilding or any other sport for that matter, always refers to natural, drug free athletics and competitions.

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For many people, the mention of female bodybuilding invokes images of juiced up, square jawed, wig wearing Lou Ferrigno look alikes with a set of double D implants as their only claim left to femininity. While there certainly are female bodybuilders that fit that description, it should be noted that it does not exist in the sport of natural female bodybuilding. In fact, without the use of substances like anabolic steroids and synthetic growth hormone, it is biologically impossible.

Bodybuilding is defined as “the process of developing the musculature of the body through specific types of physical exercise, such as weightlifting, especially for competitive exhibition” or “the application of training sciences to enhance musculature and physical appearance”. Whether or not you would consider yourself a female bodybuilder is irrelevant. Theoretically if you have ever been on a program to build muscle , lose fat and change body composition with the goal of enhancing your appearance, you have been on a type of bodybuilding program.

A large majority of the women I have trained have been under the impression that if they lift weights, especially heavy weights on a regular basis they will get big, bulky and masculine. I cannot stress enough how completely false this is! Without the use of performance enhancing drugs and synthetic hormones like testosterone, it is in fact impossible. It simply won’t happen.

Testosterone is a steroid hormone responsible for muscle growth among other things. In men, the largest amount of testosterone is produced by the testes. Women also produce a very small amount of testosterone in the ovaries but it is a miniscule amount in comparison to men. Without a sufficient amount of testosterone, it is physically impossible to get bulky and masculine, even for those of us that “build muscle really easily”. I am one of those women that does build muscle fairly easily in comparison to others. Thankfully my parents supplied me with good genetics and a mesomorph body type, but even so after 10 years of lifting heavy weights 4 or 5 times a week, I am nowhere near big, bulky or manly. I’m still a girly girl, I’m just a strong, firm bodied, ‘go heavy or go home’ girly girl.

My point is that female muscle shouldn’t be feared. The sport of women’s natural bodybuilding should be revered and respected for the discipline, desire, drive and dedication that is required to be successful in the sport.

Whether or not you decide to compete in natural female bodybuilding, the training can do wonders for your physique. The benefits of following a bodybuilding program are plentiful, including an increased metabolic rate, maintenance of bone density, decreased risk of heart disease, slowing the aging process, improved athletic performance and last but very far from least …. a better sex life.