September 2014 – Slim Fit Digest

6 Easy Ideas For Successful Weight Loss

Successful weight loss means losing weight and keeping it off. People who shed pounds rapidly tend to put them all back on. Before you can set out to reach a healthy weight, you must understand how important it is to adopt a whole-lifestyle change. In this article we will tell you how to make this transition.

HIIT cardio

A great way to lose weight is to start doing HIIT cardio. “HIIT” is short for high intensity interval training. This training is great because you drastically reduce the amount of time you spend in the gym, and this method is proven to be more effective than regular cardio.

Drink green tea

If you want to make a lifestyle change that will help you to lose weight now and keep it off in the future, switch from drinking coffee to green tea. The caffeine in coffee can cause you to retain water and become dehydrated. The antioxidants in green tea not only help you to feel better, they can also aid in maintaining a healthy weight.

Blended drinks

If you have a blender, you can make some terrific treats that will help you lose weight. Blended drinks are a great way to incorporate fresh fruits into your diet; a tasty, high-fiber way to drink your breakfast.

Just combine any mixture of your favorite fruits in season (berries, oranges, bananas, and peaches are all good choices), with a little OJ added and/or dry milk powder or yogurt for a protein boost, and you will have a wonderfully refreshing quick breakfast that gives energy to your day and gets your motor running.

Reduce dressings

Use less sauces and dressings in your foods. Sauces and dressings are often made with oil or contain lots of sugar. Drowning your green salad in dressing or smothering your baked potato in sour cream, adds a lot of fat and calories. You can try using substitutes, such as non-fat sour cream, but you should also experiment with more spices to flavor your food.

Eat your breakfast

Eat breakfast every day to help you slim down. In general, people who eat breakfast weigh less than those who do not. Because you have not had anything to eat since before you went to bed, by morning your body has started into a fasting mode.

Breakfast (“break” the “fast”), breaks that cycle and keeps your metabolism normalized. If you go another four or more hours without eating, your body begins to enter starvation mode and you are much more likely to overindulge on a high-calorie snack or a huge lunch.

Don’t restrict yourself

To keep your nutritious diet in check, don’t feel that you need to restrict any particular food. By doing that, you are going to crave that food even more and that will throw your diet completely off track. Just eat the not so healthy food in moderation and you will be fine.

Again, the key to real weight loss is lifestyle adjustment. Apply what you’ve just learned to lose weight and then maintain it. This article provides a compass when you lose your way on your weight loss journey.

Avoid Dieting – Make Positive Changes Instead

Why is it that merely saying the “D” word, you know “diet” brings immediate thoughts of failure to the minds of many men and women around the world? Could it be that we have all learned through trial and error that diets simply do not work? I know many of you are sitting back with jaws dropped at the moment. After all, this is an article about dieting, right? It is and it isn’t. Dieting is the kiss of death for many while a new phase in your life or lifestyle adjustment may be just the thing that will mean success for you and your fitness and health goals.

Eating for some is an addiction. Unfortunately, you can’t exactly give up eating all together as a smoker can give up cigarettes. I’m not applying by any means that giving up cigarettes is easy but how much more difficult would it be if you were forced to have three a day? At that point you may as well enjoy them every time the urge hits right? The same holds true for food. You must eat in order to survive. You cannot live without eating. This means that if food is a problem in your life, you must find a healthier way of viewing food.

Isn’t this where diets generally come in handy? The short answer is no. This is where diets often fail. Diets do very little to change how we view food. In fact, most diets only serve to tell us which foods are good, which foods are bad, and which foods (typically most of the foods we enjoy most) are strictly taboo. Diets begin by forcing people to feel deprived or punished. And no one likes to feel either of these things.

Even worse however, is that we punish ourselves further when we slip along the straight and very narrow pathways upon which our diets place us. This means that we are going to wallow in guilt over every little misstep we make until we give up all together and decide to over indulge once again and ignore the guilt all together.

In order to have real success you must make a lifestyle change. This is the only way that you will be able to shed those unwanted pounds without experiencing the horrible guilt that so many dieters go through each and every step of the way with their diets. Set goals for yourself. Keep them aggressive but realistic for fitness, dropping pounds, and eating new healthy foods. Even if your goal is as simple as eating 5 vegetable servings a day it is a great place to start.

Change your way of eating. Then change your way of seeing food and you will experience amazing changes in your attitudes toward your health, your body, and even your fitness level. As the first pounds begin to drop you will begin to experience more energy and less pain when exercising. This should help keep you motivated to do even more as time goes by.

Do not think that long term weight loss goals will be as easy to achieve as the first five or ten pounds. Consistency is vitally important when making these lifestyle changes. Take each day as it comes and begin again the very next day. This means that even if you fall completely “off the wagon” today, you can start over tomorrow. The trick is in staying the course more days than not and learning moderation and balance when it comes to straying from the straight and narrow.

There are many ways to fail when it comes to dieting and I know people who have failed in almost every one I can possibly imagine. There is no way to fail, however, when you are making positive changes in your life that are getting positive results. It may take weeks, months, or even years to reach your goal. As long as you are making steady and continuous efforts and progress, you are doing many great things for your health and well being.

10 Ways for Women to Stay Fit and Healthy!

Here are 10 tips for women to stay fit and healthy:

1. Staying fit and healthy starts with a balanced diet

Know and monitor the right weight for your age. Consult your doctor to learn what food you should avoid and follow your eating discipline routines. If you are trying to lose some weight, foods with high calories should be omitted from your meals. Food with high fiber and low fat should be included a priority in your grocery list instead of red meat, sugars and fats.

2. Drink plenty of water

Drinking at least eight glasses of water everyday. This cleanses the body from impurities. It is also advised for lactating women to increase water intake to keep the body hydrated.

3. Take vitamins and supplements

Do not forget your Calcium supplement. Sufficient Calcium intake is beneficial for women of all ages. This has been proven to prevent having cramps and Pre-Menstrual Period (PMS) Symptoms. It also prevents Osteoporosis especially for menopausal women. Vitamin E boosts strong immune system.

Women who undergo menopausal period should take Vitamin E-400 as it stops night sweats and hot flashes. Also, Vitamin E is said to be best in avoiding wrinkles when aging.

4. Quit smoking

If you are smoking, stop. It is also a big “NO” for pregnant women, as this will affect the health of the baby. Pregnant women who smoke may pass the harmful content of cigarettes to babies through the bloodstream.

Recent studies have shown that women smokers are more prone to diseases than men smokers. Women who smoke have a high risk of getting breast cancer. Also limit your alcohol intake.

5. Incorporate exercises in your daily routine

Take a walk after work, use stairs instead of elevator or play with your kids when you are at home. Home exercises are also effective especially when you do not have time to go to the gym and would like to lose some weight. Yoga and Pilates are only a few of the many effective exercises you can do at home. Exercises help in limiting the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

6. Avoid stress

Many women are prone to too much stress. Stress has been known as cause to many sicknesses. As much as possible take time to relax. Read a good book, hang out with friends and engage into sports. Pamper yourself by going to parlors or you can do some shopping. And do not forget to get enough sleep to revive your energy.

7. Protect your skin

Use sunscreen to protect your skin from the harmful rays of the sun. Wear hats when under the sun to protect your skin. Too much sun is bad for your skin. The skin is prone to cancer when exposed to too much sunlight. It also speeds up the aging of skin cells, which causes wrinkles to women.

8.Take care of your teeth

Make sure to visit your dentist to keep that beautiful smile. Always have it cleaned to prevent cavities and bad breath.

9. Visit your gynecologist

Women who are eighteen and above should have their Physical Examination annually especially for the Pap Smear test. Women who are forty and up should have their mammograms and the Breast self-exam is encouraged once puberty has been reached and should be a habit as they mature.

10. Safe sex

Safe sex is strongly recommended. Use condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases.

Choosing The Right Exercise For You

The type of exercise you do all depends on you and what you like to do. What you hate doing, paying membership fees, and whether or not to buy equipment
are all things you need to consider as well as answer.

If you choose something that you don’t like to do, you aren’t going to keep doing it for a long period of time. Give it some thought – if you don’t like jogging, you aren’t going to get up at 6 AM and go running. If you can’t find something you like to do, choose something you hate the least, which will normally be walking.

Walking

Walking is great exercise, as it suits all levels of fitness. Anyone can start a walking program at any time, it’s normally the intensity and duration that differs.

Walking is also a social exercise, as it isn’t difficult to find a training partner
to chat with while you exercise. Walking with a partner will also make time go by faster.

If you are really in bad shape, you should start off by walking for 10 minutes each day. Then, increase it by 5 minutes every 2 weeks. To make things more interesting, you should try walking a different course every few days. You can also roster a different friend to walk with you each day of the week.

Join Fitness Center

If walking isn’t your thing, then you may want to try a fitness center. They have loads of variety and normally have trainers on hand to answer any questions you may have. When you choose a fitness center, make sure that they give good service. If they aren’t willing to treat you well before you join, then they certainly won’t after you join.

You should also make sure that the equipment they use is well taken care of. It’s easy to find out, as all you have to do is listen to the machines. If they squeak a lot or make noise, then chances are they aren’t being taken care of.

Pick Up A Sport

If you still aren’t sure what you should do, then you should look into golf or tennis. Both are good social activities in most areas, and you can even meet new friends. Tennis is great for fitness although it isn’t for someone who is just starting out. If you haven’t exercised in a long time, then golf may be the best activity for you.

No matter what exercise you choose, you should start at a low level of intensity and build it up over a period of weeks, which is essential to the longevity of your exercise program. If you start off too hard, you could end up with an injury
which will require time off to get over.